8785. VERGENNES (Count de), Reputation.—
The Count de Vergennes had the
reputation with the diplomatic corps of being
wary and slippery in his diplomatic intercourse;
and so he might be with those whom he knew
to be slippery and double-faced themselves. As
he saw that I had no indirect views, practiced
no subtleties, meddled in no intrigues, pursued
no concealed object, I found him as frank, as
honorable, as easy of access to reason, as any
man with whom I had ever done business; and
I must say the same for his successor, Montmorin,
one of the most honest and worthy of
human beings.—
Autobiography, Washington ed. i, 64.
Ford ed., i, 90.
(M.
1821)
