m
their town. I was a spy on their evil deeds, of whom they would have rid
themselves. I knew that the two sheriffs, Kloss and Furth, and the
recorder, Geyer, had robbed the town-chamber of forty thousand dollars,
and divided the spoil. To these I was a dangerous man. For such reasons
they sought a quarrel with me, pretending I had committed a trespass by
breaking down a hedge, and cited me to appear at the town-house.

The postmaster, Heinsberg, of Aix-la-Chapelle, although he had two
thousand three hundred rix-dollars of mine in his possession, instituted
false suits against me, obtained verdicts against me, seized on a cargo
of wine at Cologne, and I incurred losses to the amount of eighteen
thousand florins, which devoured the fortune of my wife, and by which
she, with myself and my children, were reduced to poverty.

The Gravenitz himself, in 1778, acknowledged how much he had injured me,
affirmed he had been deceived, and promised he would try to obtain
restitution. I forgave him, and he attempted to keep his promise; but
his power declined; the bribes he had received became too public. He was
dispossessed of his post, but, alas! too late for me. Two other of my
judges are at this time obliged to sweep the streets of Vienna, where
they are condemned to the House of Correction. Had this been their
employment instead of being seated on the seat of judgment twenty years
ago, I might have been more fortunate. It is a remarkable circumstance
that I should so continually have been despoiled by unjust judges. Who
would have had the temerity to affirm that their evil deeds should bring
them to attend on the city scavenger? I indeed knew them but too well,
and fearlessly spoke what I knew. It was my misfortune that I was
acquainted with their malpractices sooner than gracious Sovereign.

Let the scene close on my litigations at Aix-la-Chapelle and Vienna. May
God preserve every honest man from the like! They have swallowed up my
property, and that of my wife. Enough!

CHAPTER VIII.

From the year 1774 to 1777, I journeyed through England and France. I
was intimate with Dr. Franklin, the American Minister, and with the
Counts St. Germain and de Vergennes, who made me proposals to go to
America; but I was prevented by my affection for my wife and children.

My friend the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who had been Governor of
Magdeburg during my imprisonment, offered me a commission among the
troops