Another opinion is that Malesherbes or Choiseul was anxious to please the dauphin and the Jesuit party at Versailles.

The most probable explanation is that the authorities were eager to silence one at least of the three elements of opposition, the Jansenists, the lawyers, and the philosophers,--who were then distracting the realm.

The two former were beyond their direct reach.

They threw themselves upon the foe who happened to be most accessible.
The government, however, had no intention of finally exterminating an enemy who might at some future day happen to be a convenient ally.

They encouraged or repressed the philosophers according to the political calculations of the moment, sometimes according to the caprices of the king's mistress, or even a minister's mistress.