Louis XVI soon gave him proof of his feelings when a pamphlet was published at the beginning of 1791 which accused his Intendant of weakness and even incompetence. The king, under no illusion as to the real aim of this slander which was getting a great deal of publicity at the time, was the first to go and speak to Laporte of it. His Intendant immediately offered his resignation if the king did not feel his services had been adequate, to which the Louis responded " Would you too, wish to leave me then?" Laporte, deeply moved, threw himself at his master's knees, and at that moment his fate was irrevocably sealed. Whether because the king was satisfied with Laporte's account of his work, or because the ever-mounting danger of being in the king's service kept even the most ambitious from seeking such a post, in any event Laporte was able to hold onto the king's confidence. It was this close collaboration with Louis XVI that led a great many people to come into contact with him, some no doubt in hope of acquiring an entrée with the king in the event that royal authority might eventually be restored, others with perhaps purer motives. All took him for their mediator with the king to whom, via Laporte they communicated their expressions of affection and zeal to serve him. After the tenth of August Laporte's first care was to destroy all evidence of this correspondence. That his retiring behaviour was not a sign of timidity in Laporte is shown by the fact that every time it was his duty to appear in public he did so with great courage. One reads in the accounts of the day that when he was called upon to appear before the National Assembly to present the declaration the king had prepared before the royal family's flight to Varennes, he refused to disclose the letter his unfortunate master had written him which he regarded as a sacred trust which he would not violate. He was equally firm when called upon to explain what had become of the "Memoires" of Madame de La Motte of which the entire edition had been bought up by the king so it could be suppressed. It had been decided that the books would be burnt in their entirety in the furnaces of the Sèvres porcelain factory. Laporte, assigned to oversee this operation (which he had considered a mistake in the first place), nevertheless undertook the task out of duty and discipline, feeling that such a delicate matter had to be seen to properly. It is known that Louis XVI, departing from Paris in 1791 was headed for Montmédy where he would centre his provisional government.