the Antilles and San Domingo, and added Corsica and
Lorraine to the crown of France. His management of home affairs in
general satisfied the _philosophes_. He allowed the _Encyclopedie_ to be
published, and brought about the banishment of the Jesuits and the
temporary abolition of the order by Pope Clement IV.

Choiseul's fall was caused by his action towards the Jesuits, and by his
support of their opponent La Chalotais, and of the provincial
parlements. After the death of Madame de Pompadour in 1764, his enemies,
led by Madame Du Barry and the chancellor Maupeou, were too strong for
him, and in 1770 he was ordered to retire to his estate at Chanteloupe.
The intrigues against him had, however, increased his popularity, which
was already great, and during his retirement, which lasted until 1774,
he lived in the greatest affluence and was visited by many eminent
personages. Greatly to his disappointment Louis XVI. did not restore him
to his former position, although the king recalled him to Paris in 1774,
when he died on the 8th of May 1785, leaving behind him a huge
accumulation of debt which was scrupulously discharged by his widow.

Choiseul possessed both ability and diligence, and though lacking in
tenacity he showed foresight and liberality in his direction of affairs.
In appearance he was a short, ill-featured man, with a ruddy countenance
and a sturdy frame. His _Memoires_ were written during his exile from
Paris, and are merely detached notes upon different questions. Horace
Walpole, in his _Memoirs_, gives a very vivid description of the duke's
character, accuses him of exciting the war between Russia and Turkey in
1768 in order to be revenged upon the tsarina Catherine II., and says of
his foreign policy, "he would project and determine the ruin of a
country, but could not meditate a little mischief or a narrow benefit."
"He dissipated the nation's wealth and his own; but did not repair the
latter by plunder of the former," says the same writer, who in reference
to Choiseul's private life asserts that "gallantry without delicacy was
his constant pursuit." Choiseul's widow, a woman "in whom industrious
malice could not find an imperfection," lived in retirement until her
death on the 3rd of December 1808.

See _Memoires du duc de Choiseul_, edited by F. Calmettes (Paris,
1904); P. Boutaric, _L'Ambassade de Choiseul a Vienne en 1757-1758_
(Paris, 1872); Duc de Cars, _Memoires_ (Paris, 1890); F.J. de P.,