“that he there devoted himself entirely to his agricultural occupations, and that the kind of life he led did not foster any suspicion that he kept up his old campaigns of intrigue.”
Six months later, Desportes, in returning to the subject, showed himself more positive than ever, for he affirmed—
“that no active correspondence can be traced to d’Auerweck, and that he saw scarcely any one. He is a man of a caustic and critical turn of mind, who often lets himself go in conversation without reflection in his anxiety to talk brilliantly. A point which is particularly reassuring about him is that he is without credit, without fortune, and of no personal account, and that if he wanted to mix himself up afresh in intrigues he would choose some other place than Offenburg, where there are now only three émigrés, the youngest of whom is seventy-seven years of age.”
But, in spite of these very positive statements, the Minister preserved his attitude of mistrust, which was strengthened by the arrival of fresh notes, in which the same denunciations of the “little Baron” were repeated. He was described as being “restless by inclination, violently fanatical in all his opinions, and longing to make himself notorious by some startling act.” But his position was made worse by the information which was received, that in the autumn of 1805 d’Auerweck had absented himself from home for several days, frightened, no doubt, by the proximity of the French armies, which were dotted about on the banks of the Rhine. How could this sudden flight be accounted for? And his alarm at the sight of the Emperor’s soldiers at close quarters? Such conduct struck Fouché as being very suspicious. He ordered a supplementary inquiry, and this time he did not content himself with the information afforded by the prefect of the Upper Rhine, but let loose one of his best bloodhounds on his scent. At the time, two years ago, when preparations were being made for the kidnapping of the Duc d’Enghien and for watching his residence at Ettenheim, recourse was had to the services of the Commissary of Police, Popp by name, who was stationed at Strasburg. In this frontier town near Basle an active and intelligent man was needed, who could maintain a constant watch on the underhand practices of the Royalist agents. Commissary Popp seemed to be made for the job. His handling of the Duc d’Enghien’s affairs earned the approval of Napoleon; and Fouché, since his reinstatement in the Ministry, recognized in him a clever and expert functionary, on whom he could always count.
This was the man who was charged with the task of spying on d’Auerweck, and throughout the whole of 1806 Popp was hard at work on this mission. His original authentications differed very little from what Desportes had written, and there was nothing to prove that the Baron had in any way departed from his passive attitude.
“I have not discovered,” wrote Popp on April 22, 1806, “that he is in correspondence with the English agitation, or that he shows any inclination to excite and embitter people’s tempers. I believe that he, like many others, is more to be pitied than to be feared.”
Some weeks later Popp managed to loosen the tongue of an ecclesiastic, a dweller in those parts, and from him he got information about the business and movements of the Baron. “He is quite absorbed in rural economy, which is his chief thought to all appearances,” he reported to Fouché; but then, stung to the quick by the repeated orders of his chief (who never ceased from impressing upon him the necessity for the closest watch on d’Auerweck’s traffickings), Popp, impatient for an opportunity to prove his zeal, began to magnify his words by introducing subtle insinuations.
By this time d’Auerweck had come to the conclusion that his stay at Schutterwald was too uncomfortable, and having heard of a bit of land at a reasonable price in Elgersweier, which was not far from Offenburg, indeed about the same distance from the town, he made up his mind to take shelter there and to build a little house, which would be his own property. The question was asked how could he, whom every one looked upon as a penniless man, obtain the funds required to complete this bargain? Without doubt he borrowed from his mother-in-law, Madame de Gelb, who had always lived with him, and whose modest income was so pleasantly augmented by the pension which she received from the English Government. And so, in the middle of the summer of 1806, the “little Baron” transported his penates to Elgersweier, where he settled his belongings very comfortably. By this time two other sons, Armand and Louis, had been added to the one born at Munich, and shortly after arriving at the new home Madame d’Auerweck gave birth to a daughter, who was named Adelaide.
Commissary Popp knew all about these happenings, and his supervision never slackened for an instant. Encouraged by his success in arranging the preliminaries for the affair at Ettenheim, he was perfectly prepared to repeat the operation. With this in view, he began to show the Minister, in ambiguous language at first, his very good and sufficient reasons for desiring d’Auerweck’s presence in France. If necessary, he urged, we could easily get permission from the Grand Duke of Baden to arrest him in his own home. This suggestion was expressed very cautiously at first, but was soon made more explicit, although there was not the slightest shadow of an excuse for such violence, for all his statements “agreed in demonstrating the perfectly peaceful nature of the “little Baron’s” existence.
“It would be advisable to make certain of his person,” wrote Popp, “and my opinion will always be the same if certain difficulties with the House of Austria happen to be renewed; for d’Auerweck, posted as a sentinel on the opposite bank, and doubtless possessing friends on our side, would be one of the very first bearers of information about our military position and political topography.”