one and undivisible.
(May 20th, 1796).
“Citizen Minister,
“I hasten to reply to your despatch, dated the 20th floréal, which accords remarkably with one I sent you from here on the 21st. It even seems that we have had the same sources of inspiration, and I shall not be surprised to find that the same Baron d’Auerweck, whom I denounced to you, had been in his turn the denouncer of Le Cormier. From the impressions I have been given of his character and principles, it is quite possible. However that may be, I have lost no time in having an interview with Colleville, who had already told me of the arrival of the Bishop of Arras, and who then further informed me (before he knew what my business with him was) that this person had written to him yesterday that his arrival was postponed, and that perhaps it would not take place at all, on account of the prolonged stay of the King of Verona with Condé’s army. The King (Colleville assured me) would not leave this army, as it had been averred that he would.
“I began by telling Colleville that I had had a favourable reply from you about his affairs. He assured me of his gratitude, and at once spoke to me of his favourite idea of obtaining permission to serve you elsewhere than at Hamburg—a very natural desire, whether one explains it by his conviction that he would play a more active part somewhere else, or by his possible apprehension that his relations with us may be in the end discovered.
“I thought it better not to tell the man all I knew. I told him that before leaving Hamburg he would have to throw some light upon the things that were going on in that town; and I said enough to him to explain what I meant and to put him on his mettle. He replied that he knew nothing whatever of the meeting I had mentioned; that he was sure that if there was a question of it, Le Cormier, whom he saw every day, would have told him; and that the latter had been thinking for some days past of going into the country with M. de Bloom (who was formerly Danish Minister in Paris), but that it seemed that he would not now go. He added that he knew enough of the emigrants at Hamburg to be certain that, with the exception of Le Cormier, there was not an enterprising man in the ‘Ancien Régime’ section; that if such a plan had existed, he thought it was more than likely that the King of Verona’s change of position would have caused another to be substituted for it; and that, in any case, he would investigate and explain, and might depend on his giving me all the information he could get. He further said that the Prince of Carawey, whom he knew privately, was expected at Hamburg from Lucerne within the fortnight, and if there was anything to be learnt from him, he (Colleville) would make it his business to learn it. I asked him what Lord Mc. Cartally had come here for. He did not know. I hope that I shall have found out whether he has left or not before the courier goes.
“In fact, Citizen Minister, Colleville’s absolute ignorance of the meeting you speak of leads me to have some doubt of its reality. But I shall not leave it at that. I have already taken measures to get hold of my man, and also to have the plotters whom you indicate to me well watched from other quarters. I am aware that with men of Colleville’s stamp there is always the evil, if not of being spied on in our turn—which is easily avoided with a little prudence—at any rate of being given information with a double purpose. It was as such that I regarded what he told me of a general plan of the émigrés, which was to operate in the very heart of the Republic, and to re-establish the Monarchy by the organs of the Law itself. He thought himself sure of a man in the Legislative body (he told me his name was Madier). He knew all the details of the system they were to follow, and the details of the prosecution of the 2nd of September were actually to enter into it. As to the 2nd of September, I answered, every Frenchman regards it with horror, and the scoundrel ought to be punished. The Government will certainly take care that an act of justice does not become an anti-revolutionary instrument.
“Le Cormier has a brother-in-law called Buter (sic), who goes and comes from Paris to Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, carrying despatches and money from England. Dr. Theil, who is settled in London, continues to serve as go-between for the Princes’ correspondence. At Hamburg a man named Thouvent does the business.
“The prime mover in the new Royalist manœuvres, and the designer of the plan they are conducting in the interests of the Republic, is (so Colleville says) the Duc de le Vanguyon. Maduron, that brother of de la Garre, whom I once denounced to you, said that he had been arrested once or twice at Paris, and taken before the police, but that he had got out of it by means of his Swiss passport. It is certain that the émigrés, when they talk of a journey to France, do not anticipate any more dangers than if they were going from Hamburg to Altona. An Abbé de Saint-Far, residing at Hamburg, has, it is said, a quantity of arms in his house. I told you some time ago that he had contracted for some millions of guns. I suppose it was at that time for England. My next despatch, Citizen Minister, shall contain more positive information on the matter you desire me to investigate. If the meeting is actually to take place, I think I shall certainly be able to solve the problem you suggest to me.
“Greetings and respects,
“Reinhard.”