STA.TE PAPERS. 



e>v 



letters which I received on their 

 hearing the news of lliis conspi- 

 racy, discovered how great was 

 the consternation among all classes 

 of the citizens, and subsequent ones 

 testify the general felicity on hear- 

 ing that this plot has been com- 

 pletely crushed. 



(Signed) Abel. 



Aiiszrcr of the Minhfer of the Lan- 



grave of Hesse Darmstadt. 

 Citizen iMiuister, 



I have hastened to transmit to my 

 court the letter with which your 

 excellency has honoured me, and a 

 copy of the report of the grand 

 judge with the printed letters, au- 

 thentic papers of the minister of his 

 Britannic majesty at Munich. — 

 Every honest man must be deeply 

 aftlicted on discovering that i\Ir. 

 Drake has so far forgotten what he 

 owes to the dignity of his public 

 character and to himself, as to be- 

 come the author of the vile conspi- 

 »>« racy against the French republic 

 and its august chief. — I am per- 

 suaded that the opinion of the first 

 consul relative to the diplomatic 

 corps will be fully justified by each 

 of its members, and I hope in re- 

 gard to myself that, after a resi- 

 dence of many years, the respectful 

 attachment which I have always 

 fntertaiiicd for the person of the 

 first consul is so well known to your 

 excellency, that you need no as- 

 surances to be convinced of the sen- 

 timents of indignation and horror 

 vith which the dishonourable con- 

 din I of Mr. l>rakc has ins|)irud me. 

 (Signed) Augustus dc I'appenheiin. 

 i*«m, March '20, 1804. 



jinmcer of the Batavian Miniatcr. 

 Citizen Minister, 



Thw aiiibaksador, who while at 

 1 



London, saw the vessels of his na- 

 tion, brought into English ports, 

 during the time of peace, had rea- 

 son to expect that a war preceded 

 by such a flagrant violation of tho 

 common principles of justice, and 

 of the rights of nations, would be 

 carried on with little delicacy as to 

 the choice of means. It is with 

 governments, as with individuals, 

 when once the barriers of justice 

 liave been broken down, power is 

 the only guide, and neither know 

 where to stop their career. Al- 

 though the history of every nation 

 attested this melancholy truth it 

 was still difficult to conceive the 

 possibility of an event, such as is 

 detailed in the reports you have 

 transmitted to me, and it has been 

 reserved for the present age to fur- 

 nish so fatal and daring an attempt. 

 — If the facts developed in this cor- 

 respondence inspire the deepest af- 

 fliction in the breast of every indi- 

 vidual capable of calculating the 

 fatal consequences arising from the 

 abuse of one of the most sacred and 

 respectable of characters, how poig- 

 nant must be the sensations of one 

 who is invested with this character, 

 and who has endeavoured, by an 

 adherence to his own duties, to ac-i 

 quire a right to that respect, pro- 

 tection, and inviolability, which the 

 laws of nations* assure him. — The 

 Batavian ambassador, the minister 

 of a nation renowned in all ages for 

 its justice and incorruptibility, to 

 whom loyalty has become habitual, 

 and which observes a religious re- 

 spect for the laws of nations, must, 

 in the present case, feel a dou- 

 ble i)ortiou of the general uidvgna- 

 tion. 



(Signed) 



Schimmelpcnnick. 

 Pcm, March 26, 1804. 



