Germany from the Earliest Period Volume 4 by Wolfgang Menzel
page 41 of 470 (08%)
page 41 of 470 (08%)
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phrases and fine words he pretended to be one of the noblest of
mankind, he was addicted to the lowest and most monstrous vices. His immorality brought him into trouble in Switzerland, and the man, who had been, apparently, solely inspired with the love of republican liberty, now paid court, for the sake of gain, to foreign princes; the adulation that had succeeded so well with all the lordlings of Switzerland was poured into the ears of all the potentates of Europe. He even rose to great favor at Rome by his flattery of the pope in a work entitled "The Travels of the Popes." He published the most virulent sophisms against the beneficial reforms of the emperor Joseph, and cried up the League, for which he was well paid. He contrived, at the same time, to creep into favor with the Illuminati. He was employed by the elector of Mayence to carry on negotiations with Dumouriez, got into office under the French republic, and afterward revisited Mayence for the express purpose of calling upon the citizens, at that time highly dissatisfied with the conduct of the French, to unite themselves with France. Vide Forster's Correspondence. Dumouriez shortly afterward went over to the Austrians, and Mueller suddenly appeared at Vienna, adorned with a title and in the character of an Aulic councillor.] [Footnote 6: While in his proclamations he swore by all that was sacred (what was so to a Frenchman?) to respect the property of the citizens and that France coveted no extension of territory.] [Footnote 7: Forster was so blinded at that time by his enthusiasm that he wrote, "all of those among us who refuse the citizenship of France are to be expelled the city, even if complete depopulation should be the result." He relates: "I summoned, at Grunstadt, the Counts von Leiningen to acknowledge themselves citizens of France. |
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