presence of mind, however, to
deny my handwriting, and affect astonishment at so crafty a trick. The
Landgrave endeavoured to convict me, told me what Lieutenant Kemnitz had
repeated at Vienna concerning my possessing myself of Magdeburg, and
thereby showed me how fully I had been betrayed. But as no such person
existed as Lieutenant Kemnitz, and as my friend had fortunately concealed
his name, the mystery remained impenetrable, especially as no one could
conceive how a prisoner, in my situation, could seduce or subdue the
whole garrison. The worthy prince left my prison, apparently satisfied
with my defence; his heart felt no satisfaction in the misfortunes of
others.

The next day a formal examination was taken, at which the sub-governor
Reichmann presided. I was accused as a traitor to my country; but I
obstinately denied my handwriting. Proofs or witnesses there were none,
and in answer to the principal charge, I said, "I was no criminal, but a
man calumniated, illegally imprisoned, and loaded with irons; that the
King, in the year 1746, had cashiered me, and confiscated my parental
inheritance; that therefore the laws of nature enforced me to seek honour
and bread in a foreign service; and that, finding these in Austria, I
became an officer and a faithful subject of the Empress-Queen; that I had
been a second time unoffendingly imprisoned; that here I was treated as
the worst of malefactors, and my only resource was to seek my liberty by
such means as I could; were I therefore in this attempt to destroy
Magdeburg, and occasion the loss of a thousand lives, I should still be
guiltless. Had I been heard and legally sentenced, previous to my
imprisonment at Glatz, I should have been, and still continued, a
criminal; but not having been guilty of any small, much less of any great
crime, equal to my punishment, if such crime could be, I was therefore
not accountable for consequences; I owed neither fidelity nor duty to the
King of Prussia; for by the word of his power he had deprived me of
bread, honour, country, and freedom."

Here the examination ended, without further discovery; the officers,
however, falling under suspicion, were all removed, and thus I lost my
best friends; yet it was not long before I had gained two others, which
was no difficult matter, as I knew the national character, and that none
but poor men were made militia officers. Thus was the governor's
precaution fruitless, and almost everybo