 As one of them would later say, they were forced to “remain French despite France”.Arnaud de La Porte was not implicated in any wrongdoing, and in any case he had, after an immensely successful twenty-year career at the Ministry of the Marine, taken his retirement, on January 27, 1758.He had, during his long tenure there, also had influence in other spheres as well, in particular in the advancement of science (this was, after all the age of enlightenment).