IC^ 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



fo tranqnillize the different govern- 

 ments of Europe, and to put an end 

 to an order of things too alarming 

 ■for their independence and security. 

 This very independence of the states 

 of Europe is attacked by the pro- 

 teftion afforded by Russia, at Dres- 

 den and at Rome, to tlic authors 

 of plots ; by the Russian ministers 

 at most of the courts, pretending to 

 place nnder the safeguard of the 

 law of nations, natives of the very 

 country where those mininisters re- 

 side, as Mr. Marcoff attempted to 

 do in the instance of a Genevese, 

 and by not removing from their si- 

 tuations French emigrants in the 

 employment of Russia. (Laying 

 aside all decency, the question is 

 then asked:) If, when England 

 planned the murder of Paul the first, 

 (supposing intelligence to have been 

 received that the authors of the plot 

 ■were at a league's distance from 

 the frontiers,) would not pains 

 have been taken to arrest them ? — 

 That the obje6t of such persons was 

 to rekindle the flames of war, which 

 could only be advantageous to Eng- 

 land. The first consul then de- 

 <'larcs his repugnancy to a war 

 ■with Russia, but that he should 

 prefer it to a state of things, which 

 did not place France on an equality 

 with other great powers.* 



Thetragical scciie to which wehave 

 just adverted had scarcely closed, 

 when another intrigue was denounc- 

 ed by the grand judge. In his report, 

 Avhich M'as accompanied by a vari- 

 ety of documents and intercepted 

 letters, it is stated that the British 

 minister, resident at the court of 

 Munich, was engaged in a clandes- 

 tine correspondence with certain in- 

 dUviduals in the heart of France ; 



with a view to overturn the govern - 

 ment. That these agents had been 

 supplied with large sums of money, 

 which were to be employed in ob- 

 taining information of the measuret 

 in contemplation, by establishing 

 an intelligence in the different pub- 

 lic offices ;— in gaining over those 

 employed in the powder-mills ; — in 

 having at their disposal a number of 

 printers and engravers ;-— in procur- 

 ing a corred knowledge of the dif- 

 ferent parties in France ; — and in 

 taking evci'y means to disorganize 

 the armies. 



Such is the substance of the in- 

 structions cited by the grand judge, 

 as given by Mr. Drake to his prin- 

 cipal correspondent, Mehce de La- 

 touchc, who was supposed to be at 

 the head of a committee of malcon- 

 tents assembled at Paris. + 



This M. Mehe(5 was a man of 

 notoriously infamous character, but 

 M'ho, it ap|)ears, had had sufficient 

 hypocrisy and address to obtain a 

 degree of confidence from some 

 members of the British govcrnmei.t, 

 and, through their introduction, to 

 have gained access to Mr. Drake, 

 to whom he made a tender of his 

 services. 



No British subject, wlio had the 

 interests of his country at heart, 

 but particularly a British minister, 

 could well refuse, under similar cir- 

 cumstances, to receive any useful 

 intelligence wliich might be impart- 

 ed to him. But this proposal from 

 Mehee, was merely a snare, in or- 

 der to discover the views and the 

 private means of procuring infor. 

 mation, adopted by the English 

 cabinet, for he appears to have 

 been, from the beginning, in the con- 

 fidence of the French government. 



* Vide State Papers, p. S4.2. 



t Vide State Paper9, p. 619, 



The 



