Carlos de la Huerta - The Great Conspiracy: Britains Secret War against Revolutionary France, 1794-1805

Dedicated to my mother, Carmen Luz Castellon

First published 2016

Amberley Publishing
The Hill, Stroud
Gloucestershire, GL5 4EP

www.amberley-books.com

Copyright Carlos de la Huerta, 2016

The right of Carlos de la Huerta to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 9781445659480 (PRINT)
ISBN 9781445659497 (eBOOK)

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Typesetting and Origination by Amberley Publishing.
Printed in the UK.

Paul Barras (17551829) Jacobin politician, regicide and one of the most powerful members of the Directory.

Napoleon Bonaparte (17691821) Revolutionary general, First Consul and Emperor of France.

Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon-Cond (17721804) Grandson of the Prince de Cond and last Duke dEnghien.

Georges Cadoudal (17711804) Breton general, leader of the chouans and political assassin.

Antoine Balthazar Joseph DAndr (17591825) French politician and royalist agent in the service of England.

Philippe dAuvergne, Prince de Bouillon (17541816) Vice-Admiral of the British Navy and governor of the island of Jersey.

Pierre Marie Desmarest (17641832) Head of Napoleons secret police.

Francis Drake (17641821) British Diplomat and spy, he was accredited to the court of Genoa and Munich during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Louis Bayard Lewis Duval (17691844) Royalist spy and perhaps the real-life inspiration behind Baroness dOrczys fictional creation, the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Louis Fauche-Borel (17621829) Swiss bookseller and royalist agent in the service of England.

Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, King of France and Navarre (17551824) Younger brother of Louis XVI, head of the emigration 17891814 and claimant to the throne.

Marie Pierre Louis de Frott (17661800) Soldier and leader of the Norman rebels.

Balthazar Franois, Marquis de Barthlemy (17471830) French diplomat and elected member of the Directory for a few months.

Joseph Fouch, Duc dOtrante (17591820) French Politician, regicide and Minister of Police under the Directory and Napoleon.

James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury (17461820) Career diplomat, Minister Plenipotentiary and twice Britains peace envoy.

Louis Joseph, Prince de Cond (17371818) Only son of the Duke of Bourbon, Prince du Sang and commander-in-chief of the migr army.

Frdric Michel de Lajolais (17651808) Revolutionary general and diplomatic emissary.

Louis-Alexandre de Launay, Comte dAntraigues (17531812) Pamphleteer, diplomat and royalist spy.

Jacques Pierre Lematre (17421795) Advocate, royalist agent and founding member of the Paris Agency.

General Jean Victor Marie Moreau (17631813) Esteemed republican general and Victor of Hohenlinden.

Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville (17761857) Aristocrat of English descent, French diplomat and royalist agent for the exiled Bourbon princes.

Jacques Mallet du Pan (17491800) Career journalist and one of the most respected contemporary observers of the French Revolution.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Prigord, Prince de Talleyrand (17541838) Master diplomat and statesman, Foreign Minister from 1797 to 1807.

Louis Edmond Antoine le Picard de Phlippeaux (17671799) Engineer, royalist agent and former classmate of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Jean Charles Pichegru (17611804) Celebrated Revolutionary general and Conqueror of Holland.

William Pitt the Younger (17591806) Britains youngest serving Prime Minister, led the countrys war effort against revolutionary France.

Thomas Laurent Madeleine Duverne de Presle (17631814) Naval officer, royalist agent and one of the leading members of the Paris Agency, Louis XVIIIs principal spy network in the capital.

Pierre Franois Ral (17571834) Politician, jurist, policeman and Councillor of State.

Claude Ambroise Rgnier, Duke de Massa (17461814) Lawyer and politician, served as Grand Juge and Minister of Justice under Napoleon.

Jean Gabriel Maurice Rocques, Comte de Montgaillard (17611841) Adventurer, royalist spy and double agent.

Anne Jean Marie Ren Savary, 1st Duke of Rovigo (17741833) General and Commandant of Napoleons special bodyguard, he later served as Minister of Police.

Sir William Sidney Smith (17641840) British Admiral and Spy, he served in a number theatres during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Jean-Claude Hippolyte Mhe de la Touche (17621826) French Jacobin and spy.

Jacques Jean Marie Francois Boudin de Tromelin (17711842) French migr and counter-revolutionary, he later became a general under Napoleon, his former enemy.

Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl of Whitworth (17521825) British diplomat, ambassador to Paris and later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

William Wickham (17611840) Police magistrate, minister plenipotentiary to the Helvetic Body and Britains spymaster on the Continent.

William Windham (17501810) Whig politician and Secretary of War, he was one of the staunchest advocates of the counter-revolution.

John Wesley Wright (17691805) Gallant naval commander and intelligence officer.

At five oclock in the evening on Tuesday 28 January 1794, a dark, unmarked carriage pulled up before a small white house in Londons fashionable Kensington Square and two men wrapped in plain frock coats clambered down. Ringing the bell, the pair stood in the cheerless winter cold as the resident of the building shuffled slowly to the door, his right foot dragging behind his left due to a congenital defect which he otherwise ascribed to a childhood fall. Moments later, the door swung open and an unpleasant-looking individual of medium height with a high forehead, pale blue eyes and a nose slightly retrouss appeared.

After a brief respite, during which time he was permitted to arrange his affairs, he quit England, his country of exile since September 1792. He had originally thought of seeking asylum in Geneva or Florence but was made to understand that his appearance in either city would not be welcomed on account of his early support of the Revolution. So, equipped with letters of introduction to George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, he set sail on the William Penn for America. The departure of the vessel was delayed by a storm in the English Channel, forcing her captain to seek repairs in Falmouth, and it was not until 28 April 1794 that she docked in the port of Philadelphia, after a pleasant and uneventful crossing lasting thirty-eight days.

This exile, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, was just one of the many migrs who were expelled from Britain during this great and turbulent period in history. On 29 January 1794, a day after Talleyrand received the summons,