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Social Casework Methodology A Skills

Handbook for the Caribbean Human


Services Worker Emmanuel Janagan
Johnson
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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN SOCIAL WORK

Emmanuel Janagan Johnson


Camille L. Huggins

Social Casework
Methodology:
A Skills Handbook
for the Caribbean
Human Services
Worker
123
SpringerBriefs in Social Work
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13578
Emmanuel Janagan Johnson • Camille L. Huggins

Social Casework
Methodology: A Skills
Handbook for the Caribbean
Human Services Worker
Emmanuel Janagan Johnson Camille L. Huggins
Department of Behavioural Department of Behavioural
Sciences, St. Augustine Campus Sciences, St. Augustine Campus
The University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

ISSN 2195-3104     ISSN 2195-3112 (electronic)


SpringerBriefs in Social Work
ISBN 978-3-030-27318-7    ISBN 978-3-030-27319-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27319-4

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of
following Christ, if his love has made any
difference in your life, if being in a
community of the Spirit means anything to
you, if you have a heart, if you care— then
do me a favour: Agree with each other, love
each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t
push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk
your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and
help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed
with getting your own advantage. Forget
yourselves long enough to lend a helping
hand. Philippians 2:1-4 (MSG)

This book is dedicated to my beloved mother


Late Mrs. Suganthi Johnson
Preface

Working in the Caribbean for the past few years, it was striking how different the
environment was from other countries and how it altered the prescribed approach
when working with clients. Professional practice encircles a diverse range of case-
work methods including direct work with individuals, families, groups, communi-
ties, and policy work on a macro level, to achieve the betterment of all individuals.
The International Federation of Social Worker (2001) defines the purpose of profes-
sional social work as the promotion of social change, problem-solving in human
relationships, and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being.
Those working and advocating for people seek to improve the interaction between
people and their social environments by facilitating change on multiple levels,
including personal change, change in families, groups, communities, formal institu-
tions, and the societal systems that impact a person in each of these areas. The abil-
ity to be equipped with a broad range of knowledge, method, and skills that enable
the social service worker to intervene effectively in the various systems in order to
influence and impact individuals is essential.
The social casework method has many benefits in providing a solid foundation
with a broad range of practice methods. These benefits include a vast yet specific
set of skills that enables the social service worker to respond with more flexibility
and creatively with clients and communities. A diverse set of skills enables better
cooperation among social workers as it enhances our appreciation of the value of
different practice approaches offered by agencies and practitioners. For example,
with the multiple levels of skills, a social service worker working in an agency can
appreciate how the interventions offered by a community level worker may be ben-
eficial to clients entering an agency or a community agency. Similarly, a commu-
nity worker with knowledge of casework methods is well positioned to identify
when a community member may benefit from other kinds of casework or group
work interventions. The capacity to articulate the value and practice of a diverse
practical yet professional base can also help the social service worker become more
polished and professional.

vii
viii Preface

Why the Caribbean? Oftentimes people describe the Caribbean as paradise, with
crystal blue waters and specular beaches. So what social problems do these 30 tiny
island states have that we must consider as detrimental. What is often overlooked is
how complex the Caribbean truly is with residents who have either migrated there
voluntarily or were brought to these islands due to slavery or indentureship, hun-
dreds of years ago. There is a history of slavery, emancipation, failed attempts at
emancipation, as well as the eradication of indigenous people.
To say the least, the Caribbean has a sordid past with people presently suffering
from the remnants of this history. These Caribbean islands have thousands of people
who are vulnerable (e.g., poverty, lack of education) and is in need of professional
assistance in order to effect social change. Social service workers must be able to
speak and understand various languages (e.g., Spanish, English, French, Dutch).
They must be culturally humble enough to interact with various cultures and reli-
gions (e.g., Hindu, Muslim, Arawak Indians). They must be able to differentiate the
definition of various social justice terms in diverse cultures such as Does equality
mean the same in an indigenous peoples’ village as it does in a large city? Does
empowerment translate in patriarchal homes as opposed to matriarchal focal
homes? Lastly, the social service worker must be flexible and build true trust with
their clients, where the client is actively participating in the process along with the
worker. This is sometimes an untenable task in the Caribbean, where some people
lack autonomy due to years of oppressive structural practices.
Social casework method encapsulates diverse and multiple methods that a social
service worker must have available, but it does not mean all these methods will be
used at the same time. Every social service worker should have some level of spe-
cialization in the field and understand a method in order to respond in an increas-
ingly complex practice. Specifically, if you are a social service worker that works in
agencies of mental health, child protection, or homeless services. The worker should
have a detailed knowledge of matters such as indicators of risk, signs of strength,
and evidence of best practices with their specific field. There is also a need for
operational specialists in a wide variety of fields of practice. These specialists com-
mit significant proportions of work to develop a deep understanding of the casework
method. The term casework method appears simple but it is an intricate set of prac-
tices to help the worker attune themselves to the client, build trust, develop a work-
ing relationship, set goals, and carry through with interventions.
In this book, there is an introduction of the Caribbean and its diversity of people,
the social problems the Caribbean is facing, the current social welfare infrastruc-
ture, and how social work education is taught, today. It will then outlay the history
of the casework method, as well as the pioneers of the different iterations of this
method. The book presents the principles that bracket the casework method as well
as the theoretical frameworks that were originally used for the casework method as
well as theoretical frameworks needed to work in the Caribbean. The book then
journeys the reader through the components of the casework method comprehen-
sively describing the complexity of the client, the worker, the relationship, assess-
ment, and intervention. One of the unique features of the book is that it is a mixture
of traditional casework methods with the innovative attributions necessary to work
Preface ix

with people in the Caribbean. There is also a workbook component with case stud-
ies of people and families situated in the Caribbean along with exercises to improve
your problem-solving skills to understand the presenting problems, the assessment,
and the intervention for each case. The hope is the material presented in this book
deepens the reader’s understanding of all the aspects of the casework method and
how it is applied in the Caribbean.

St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Emmanuel Janagan Johnson


Camille L. Huggins
Acknowledgments

There are many people who have been instrumental in the completion of this book
and deserving my gratitude. First, I thank the Lord Almighty for the blessings
to make this project a success. My sincere gratitude and thanks to my coauthor
Dr. Camille Huggins who fine-tuned my idea and helped to make this possible.
Thanks to my students who over the years have served as the inspiration for the
ideas, content, and resources in this book, especially for their contribution in the
form of case studies. I thank the Editor, Jennifer Hadley; Sara Yanny-Tillar,
Assistant Editor; and Sofia Geck, Editorial Assistant, from Springer, who have been
with me throughout this project and who have been diligent in keeping me on track
and providing us with excellent feedback. The authors thank the entire editorial
team for their tireless work. Special thanks to my Social Work colleagues and other
well-wishers who are with me extending their support. Finally, thanks to my aca-
demic friends, who were always supportive and committed to helping me see this
through.
Very special thanks to my daughter Jessica Evangelin and wife Jane who sacri-
ficed their time and extended their full support to me to work on this project.

Emmanuel Janagan Johnson

I would like to thank Dr. Emmanuel Janagan Johnson for believing in me enough to
collaborate in writing this book. It has been an honor. This would not be possible if
it were not for my mother Cynthia Carrington Murray, a single mother who immi-
grated from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States. She enticed my curiosity and
allowed me to pursue my education, as young women of color are often disadvan-
taged in pursuing their dreams. Part of the impetus for this book is my fifteen years
of social work practice in New York City, which provided me with an understanding
that students must critically think about appropriate theories in order to properly
assess and implement action steps to help our most vulnerable people. The Caribbean
is a special place with a diverse and rich history that cannot be ignored when
treating clients. The environment in which we live oftentimes determines one’s

xi
xii Acknowledgments

life trajectory. I would also like to thank the University of the West Indies at
St. Augustine for the opportunity to work and research in the Caribbean, as it has
enriched my life experience.

Camille L. Huggins
Contents

1 The Unique Environment of the Caribbean��������������������������������������������    1


Introduction to the Various Races and Ethnicities Currently
Living in the Caribbean����������������������������������������������������������������������    2
The Importance of Anti-Oppressive Practice in the Caribbean ������������������    3
Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP)��������������������������������������������������������������    3
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    4
2 Social Problems in the Caribbean������������������������������������������������������������    5
Social Problems ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    5
Review of Prevalent Social Problems in the Caribbean��������������������������    5
Access to Health Care and Ageing��������������������������������������������������������������    7
Natural Disasters: Climate Change��������������������������������������������������������������    9
Social Welfare Systems in the Caribbean����������������������������������������������������   10
Social Welfare Education in the Caribbean ������������������������������������������������   11
A Way Forward��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   12
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   13
3 History of the Social Casework Method��������������������������������������������������   15
The Beginning of Casework Methods���������������������������������������������������������   15
Casework Method Definition ����������������������������������������������������������������������   17
Principles of the Social Casework Method��������������������������������������������������   21
Explanations of the Principles of Social Casework ������������������������������������   22
The Casework Approach������������������������������������������������������������������������������   22
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   24
4 Theoretical Frameworks of the Social Casework Method ��������������������   25
Historical Philosophical Underpinning of the Social
Casework Method ������������������������������������������������������������������������������   25
Theoretical Frameworks������������������������������������������������������������������������������   26
Freud’s Structural Theory����������������������������������������������������������������������������   26
Common Defense Mechanisms ������������������������������������������������������������������   28
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development������������������������������������������   30

xiii
xiv Contents

Systems Theory��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   33


The Family System��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   34
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory��������������������������������������������   36
Person-Centered Approach��������������������������������������������������������������������������   37
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   39
5 Theoretical Underpinnings Needed for the Caribbean��������������������������   41
Anti-Oppressive Practice ����������������������������������������������������������������������������   41
Resiliency����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   42
Intersectionality��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   43
Cultural Humility ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   45
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   47
6 Components of the Social Casework Method������������������������������������������   49
The Client vs. Family and Friends��������������������������������������������������������������   49
Mandated Client��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   49
A Client’s Personality����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   50
Client’s Communication Patterns����������������������������������������������������������������   53
The Caribbean Perspective of Communication ��������������������������������������   53
The Problem������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   55
The Worker��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   57
Providing Warmth����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   58
Facial Expressions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   58
Empathy and Genuineness��������������������������������������������������������������������������   58
Body Movements ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   59
Active Listening������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   59
Building Trust����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   60
Empowerment����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   61
The Agency��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   62
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   64
7 The Helping Process����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   65
The Interview ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   65
Interview Preparation����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   66
Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication������������������������������������������������������   67
Place of Interview����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   68
Observation��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   69
Worker-Client Relationship ������������������������������������������������������������������������   71
Building Rapport������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   71
Data Collection Methods ����������������������������������������������������������������������������   72
Lifespan Interview ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   73
Childhood������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   73
Adolescence ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   73
Young Adulthood (Ages 19–30)��������������������������������������������������������������   74
Middle Adulthood (Ages 31–55) ������������������������������������������������������������   74
Late Life (Ages 56+)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   75
Contents xv

Genogram����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   76
Exercise��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   77
Ecomap��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   79
References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   80
8 Assessment and Intervention��������������������������������������������������������������������   81
Assessment��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   81
The Behavior-Therapy Assessment�������������������������������������������������������������   82
Problem-Solving Framework Assessment ��������������������������������������������������   82
Task-Centered Assessment Process ������������������������������������������������������������   84
Intervention/Treatment��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   86
Behavior Therapy – Intervention ����������������������������������������������������������������   86
Problem-Solving Approach: Intervention����������������������������������������������������   86
Task-Centered Approach������������������������������������������������������������������������������   87
Evaluation-Termination ������������������������������������������������������������������������������   88
Problem-Solving Approach: Termination����������������������������������������������������   89
Task-Centered Termination��������������������������������������������������������������������������   89
Case Studies ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   93
Valerie������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   93
Rhonda ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   94
Tammy ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   96
Ms. Wallis������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   98
Janice��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   99
Alicia�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 100
Laure�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 102
Janice�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 103
References���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 107
List of Diagrams

Diagram 3.1 Principles of casework method ������������������������������������������������������ 24


Diagram 4.1 Maslow hierarchy of needs ������������������������������������������������������������ 31
Diagram 4.2 Hierarchy of needs from the lowest drive to the highest���������������� 32
Diagram 4.3 Ecological systems theory�������������������������������������������������������������� 36
Diagram 4.4 Person-centered approach�������������������������������������������������������������� 38
Diagram 5.1 Resiliency process�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 42
Diagram 5.2 Intersectionality wheel�������������������������������������������������������������������� 45
Diagram 5.3 Cultural humility���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Diagram 7.1 Trifecta of collecting data information ������������������������������������������ 76
Diagram 7.2 Genogram symbols ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 77
Diagram 7.3 Mapping the family’s supports and services���������������������������������� 80

xvii
List of Tables

Table 2.1 Life expectancy in the Caribbean ���������������������������������������������������������� 8


Table 5.1 Two perspectives on inclusion and diversity in building
partnerships������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 46

xix
About the Authors

Emmanuel Janagan Johnson, MSW, MPhil, PhD, is


a senior lecturer and chair in the Social Work Programme
at the Department of Behavioural Sciences, the
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, in
Trinidad. Dr. Johnson holds a PhD in Social Work, an
M.Phil. in Social Work, an MA in Social Work, and a
BA in English Literature from Bharathiar University,
India. He has been teaching for over 26 years and has
received several awards. Dr. Johnson’s areas of special-
ization include social work education, qualitative
research, social work with children and families, domes-
tic violence, child abuse, and community health. He has
published two books, and contributed to chapters in several books and articles in more
than 60 international refereed journals. Dr. Johnson is currently involved in two
research activities and has a research ID website: https://www.researchgate.net/pro-
file/EmmanuelJohnson4.

Camille L. Huggins, PhD, is a lecturer at the University


of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, in Trinidad.
Her research interests include older adults, Caribbean
culture, and social policy. Dr. Huggins obtained a mas-
ter’s in social work from Columbia University and a PhD
in clinical social work from New York University, both
located in New York, USA. She has been working with
older adults in long-term care for eight years and has held
various administrative positions. Dr. Huggins has pre-
sented papers at conferences and seminars, and contrib-
uted to several public, professional, and departmental
service articles. She has published chapters in several
books and articles in international refereed journals.

xxi
Chapter 1
The Unique Environment of the Caribbean

Important Highlights:
• Introduction to the various races and ethnicities currently living in the Caribbean.
• The importance of anti-oppressive practice in the Caribbean.

Courtesy: Google Maps

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1


E. J. Johnson, C. L. Huggins, Social Casework Methodology: A Skills Handbook
for the Caribbean Human Services Worker, SpringerBriefs in Social Work,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27319-4_1
2 1 The Unique Environment of the Caribbean

I ntroduction to the Various Races and Ethnicities Currently


Living in the Caribbean

The Caribbean sits in the cradle of the Americas (e.g. North, South and Central).
It has always been a unique microcosm of the developed world with similar politi-
cal, social and economic processes and systems. There are approximately 44 mil-
lion people living on thirty islands (e.g., 13 sovereign states and 17 dependent states,
Engerman 2000) speaking various languages such as, English, Spanish, French and
Dutch to name a few. A sovereign state (or independent state) is responsible for their
own people and governs themselves while dependent states do not exercise the full
range of power over their own affairs and rely on a sovereign state to protect them
economically. Since 1945 there has been strong international pressure to eliminate
forms of dependency associated with colonialism (Brown 1963). The ethnicities,
races, religions, and cultures of the Caribbean represent most of the developed
nations of the world because every one of these nations has at one point in history
transverse the Caribbean, leaving their imprint. Therefore, the Caribbean is very
diverse with cultural practices and ethnicities.
In fact, the word the Caribbean may denote that it is one country unified by many
islands but it is not, each island has its specific history, dialectic, and cultural mani-
festations. Each island has its own ethnical composition of whites, blacks, browns,
yellows, reds, and an assortment of shades in between. There are Europeans, Africans,
Asian Indians, Indonesian Javanese, Chinese, Aboriginal Indians, and many mixes.
There are Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Rastafarians, Santería, Winti, Vudun,
etc. They speak in a multitude of tongues—Spanish, English, Dutch, French, English,
and a diverse number of Creoles such as Papiamentu, Sranan Tongo, Ndjuka,
Saramaccan, Kromanti, Kreyol, as well as Hindustani, Bhojpuri, Urdu, etc. In what-
ever combinations of race, religion, language, and culture they cohere and coexist,
they dwell on small islands and large (Premdas 1996). However, the majority ethnici-
ties and races on these Caribbean islands are of an African descent, Indian descent
and, Latino descent (Premdas 1996). These ethnicities have been traditionally
oppressed through colonization and enslavement. Therefore, it is important for the
casework method to have a flexible framework that is suitable for people of different
races, ethnicities, genders, religions and or historical backgrounds. Social work
casework method allows social service workers to be innovative in their methods of
advocating for people who have been traditionally disenfranchised and excluded
from accessing help (Bailey and Johnson 2014).
These disenfranchised and excluded persons have been excluded or ignored from
receiving government assistance to the extent that they have developed their own
coping mechanisms to survive whether it is beneficial (e.g., relying on the family)
or negative (e.g., alcohol or drug abuse). These are people who have suffered from
the shame and stigma from being discriminated against and as a result they are often
insular within their own community on how they think, how they access resources
and how they resolve issues even to their own detriment. So it is important to practice
anti-oppressive social work.
The Importance of Anti-Oppressive Practice in the Caribbean 3

The Importance of Anti-Oppressive Practice in the Caribbean

Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP)

Anti-oppressive practice (AOP) is geared to raise social justice issues in order to


improve the outcomes of the clients. The AOP lens is that of power based on group
identities or affiliations (such as race, class, gender, and sexual identity), and when
practitioners notice group identities, they can anticipate an array of experiences that
are associated with positive or negative life outcomes (such as health, income, educa-
tion, marginalization, violence, status, and social inclusion/exclusion). The simplest
directive for AOP practice is to minimize power hierarchies, by assisting to build the
power of those who hold a marginalized identity and/or reducing the unfair power of
those of privileged status (Dominelli 2002).
The larger social and political context of the last generation that gave impetus to
the emergence of AOP is the deepening of globalization and the rise of neoliberal
policies, including cuts to social programs, rising inequality, and dominant dis-
course that blames individuals for their distress. In this deteriorating environment,
social work has retained its divide of a more clinical orientation that is strongly
aligned with counseling and psychology and a more social justice orientation to
practice that focuses attention upstream on causal and contributing features to
downstream distress. Anti-oppressive practice embodies a person-centered philoso-
phy; an egalitarian value system concerned with reducing the deleterious effects of
structural inequalities upon people’s lives; a methodology focusing on both process
and outcome; and a way of structuring relationships between individuals that aims
to empower users by reducing the negative effects of hierarchy on their interaction
and the work they do together (Dominelli 2002).
Although the Caribbean is similar to the developed world all of the islands hold
the status as a ‘developing’ country where they have a less developed industrial
economy (United Nations Statistical division 2018). Developing countries are char-
acterized by having less access to proper amenities relating to health, shortage in
water supply and, shortcomings in the area of medical supplies. These countries
also experience higher birth rates and poor nutrition and as a result a higher suscep-
tibility to natural diseases (e.g., infectious diseases) with eventual higher than nor-
mal death rates (Cox and Pawar 2013). Some countries are more developed than
others because they have resources and a more developed industrial economy such
as Trinidad (Butterfield and Cohen 2017). Many other Caribbean islands’ govern-
ment face the challenge of increasing their economic independence from larger
developed countries.
Review Questions
1. What does the term anti-oppressive practice?
2. Name a few races and ethnicities that currently live in the Caribbean.
4 1 The Unique Environment of the Caribbean

References

Bailey, K. R., & Johnson, E. J. (2014). Internet- based technologies in social work education:
Experiences, perspectives and use. The Caribbean Teaching Scholar Journal, 4(1), 23–37.
Brown, M. B. (1963). After imperialism. London: Heinemann.
Butterfield, A., & Cohen, C. (2017). Practicing as a social work educator in international col-
laboration. Virginia: Council on Social Work Education, Inc.
Cox, D., & Pawar, M. (2013). International social work: Issues, strategies and programs (2nd ed.).
Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Dominelli, L. (2002). Anti-oppressive social work theory and practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Engerman, S. L. (2000). A population history of the Caribbean. In M. R. Haines & R. H. Steckel
(Eds.), A population history of North America (pp. 483–528). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Premdas, R. (Spring, 1996). Ethnicity and development: The Caribbean and Oceania. Working
Paper #221. Kellogg Institute.
United Nations Statistical Commission. (2018, March). 49th session of the United Nations
Statistical Commission on better data, better lives. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/.
Chapter 2
Social Problems in the Caribbean

Important Highlights:
• A review of prevalent social problems in the Caribbean.
• A highlight of the current social welfare systems in the Caribbean.
• An understanding of social welfare education in the Caribbean.

Social Problems

Review of Prevalent Social Problems in the Caribbean


Poverty

Caribbean countries have larger than normal pockets of poverty and related problems
for decades. The Caribbean’s small island economies face formidable challenges in
dealing with globalization. Race, class and gender hierarchies of colonial domination
have left a legacy of exclusion of the poor. Despite general improvements in living
standards, poverty rates average 30% of the Caribbean population (UNEP 2008).
Social and human development indicators show that Barbados, Antigua-Barbuda and
the Bahamas are doing better than Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, and
Suriname. Plagued by political and economic problems, Haiti consistently scores
lowest.
The causes and characteristics of poverty in the Caribbean are low educational
attainment, the intergenerational transfer of poverty as well as, stigmatization and
discrimination. Education plays a fundamental role in people’s life trajectories
and it is the principal mechanism for overcoming unequal social status that a per-
son may be born into and level the playing field (Franco et al. 2011). In the
Caribbean, educational attainment on a primary level may be achieved but there is

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 5


E. J. Johnson, C. L. Huggins, Social Casework Methodology: A Skills Handbook
for the Caribbean Human Services Worker, SpringerBriefs in Social Work,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27319-4_2
6 2 Social Problems in the Caribbean

still limited access to secondary and tertiary education for all people in the
Caribbean whether it is access to a nearby learning institution or the intergenera-
tional transfer of poverty.
Poverty is a complex set of positive and negative factors that affect an individu-
al’s chances of experiencing poverty, either in the present or at a future point in their
life-course. The factors influencing an individual’s likelihood of being poor include
both the ‘private’ transmission (and lack of transmission) of capital and the ‘public’
transfer (or lack of transfer) of resources from one generation to the next (Bird
2010). Stigmatization and discrimination also contribute to poverty as a person or
persons are excluded from participating in the general population due to an illness
(e.g., HIV/AIDS). There are also the historical structural effects of racism, cultural
and ethnic battles for dominance are often played out here in Caribbean politics.
Islands such as the Dominican Republic, the poorest half of the population receives
less than one-fifth of the Gross National Product while the richest 10% benefit from
40% of the national income (The World Bank 2014).
There is also factors that contribute to extreme poverty (e.g., Haiti) such as
political corruption, the ‘brain drain’ (e.g., educated citizens leaving the coun-
try for more developed countries), business monopolies, deforestation, decreased
tourism and the economic embargo for specific countries (e.g., Cuba, UNEP
2008).

Human Trafficking

The act of trafficking a person includes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, or


harbouring someone by means of threat or force or other forms of coercion, or
abduction, or by fraudulent means, or deception, or the abuse of power or of a posi-
tion of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve
the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of
exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the pros-
titution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (United
Nations Office on Drug and Crime 2018).
In the Caribbean human trafficking may begin or be a point of origin where
the person may be abducted and then shipped to another county such as to the
United States or to Venezuela, a transhipment point where the person is brought
from another country (e.g., Columbia) to the Caribbean temporarily and then
sent to the intended country (e.g., Canada) or as a final destination point where
the person is transferred from another country and brought to the Caribbean to
stay permanently (Amesty International 2016). With regards to drug trafficking,
the Caribbean is also a point of origin (e.g., Marijuana) as well as a trans-ship-
ment point (e.g., cocaine) from South to North America. Sixteen percent of all
cocaine that is transported to the United States comes through the Caribbean.
Access to Health Care and Ageing 7

Crime and Drugs

With high levels of unemployment and the persistent presence of poverty in the
Caribbean islands, it is a huge trans-shipment route for drugs heading to the United
States which has resulted in high rates of violence and gang-related crime. Youths
aged 25 years or younger living in the Caribbean are usually responsible for 52% of
arrests for total major crimes in 2005 (52% of murders; 59% of shootings; 54% of
robberies).
In the 1980s, the Caribbean Sea was the preferred route for Latin America’s
drug traffickers, with around 80% of all US-bound cocaine transiting through the
region. It slowed down for a period due to anti-narcotic operations in the Caribbean
but in 2013, cocaine flow to the United States via the Caribbean reportedly reached
its highest levels in a decade. There are large amounts of cocaine and marijuana
in transit through the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago,
The Bahamas, the Dutch Caribbean (e.g., Antiqua) and the Eastern Caribbean
(e.g., St. Kitts) to the United States.
The illegal drug trade has fuelled high levels of violence in the Caribbean region.
In Puerto Rico, for example, at least 80% of killings are believed to be drug-related.
The region continues to see local gang wars over control of criminal economies and
is characterized by high gun use. There are an estimated 1.6 million illegal firearms
circulating in the Caribbean.

Access to Health Care and Ageing

Health care systems in the Caribbean need improvement and strengthening by the
way of health care systems and personnel. Although some Caribbean islands pro-
nounce health care is free and accessible to the public, what is available is extended
waiting times to see a physician or specialist, lack of medication and limited services
for cancer care or other related diseases. In the Caribbean most people or eight of 10
deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs, e.g., diabetes, heart disease,
strokes). Diabetes, ischaemic heart disease and strokes are among the top three
causes of death in the Caribbean. The estimated lifetime cancer risk is 18%; 20% for
men and 16% for women. Prostate, breast, colorectal and cervical cancer are the
commonest types of preventable cancer. Cervical cancer is the most preventable, yet
in many countries, only half the women have had a cervical cancer screening test.
There are also threats of contagious diseases all over the world, like Chikungunya
and Ebola. These threats also pose potentially negative effects on the tourism sector
in the Caribbean. High and middle-income population may get their health care
from abroad or the private sector while the poorest rely on the public system. Most
citizens have to pay out of pocket expenditures to get the most rudimentary health
care assistance (Caribbean Public Health Agency 2015). Threats to health posed by
extreme weather events in the Caribbean include insect- and rodent-­borne diseases,
8 2 Social Problems in the Caribbean

Table 2.1 Life expectancy in the Caribbean

Attributes Guyana Jamaica Trinidad & All Caribbean


Tobago

Population age 6.9 11.5% 13% (Central 9.9


60+ (Older Persons in statistical office
Jamaica 2012) 2011)

Life expectancy

Women 66.0 77.0 77.2 70.9

Men 58.0 73.0 72.5 65.4

% in poverty 35 19 21 28

such as dengue, leptospirosis, malaria and yellow fever; water-borne diseases,


including schistosomiasis, cryptosporidium and cholera; food-borne diseases,
including diarrhea, food poisoning, salmonellosis and typhoid; respiratory diseases,
including asthma, bronchitis and respiratory allergies and infections; and malnutri-
tion resulting from food production or distribution disruptions.
Although Caribbean people are living longer the life expectancy is still 6–8 years
shorter than in developed countries (e.g., Japan, Switzerland) (Table 2.1).
Older adults in the Caribbean have trouble with their quality of life due to
retirement some may not receive little to no compensation from the government
or from a pension. About one-third of those older than 60 years are greater than
75 years. One in three men and one in six women over 60 years old are in the
workforce but experience regular income-insecurity (Palloni and McEniry 2007).
Disability in this age group is four times higher than the general population,
particularly for women. There is also a higher burden of all chronic diseases
(e.g., diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s) among the elderly. It is also a high
risk for older people becoming poor because of disability. A high portion of
Caribbean people work in the informal sector (i.e., domestic, entrepreneurship)
and did not pay into the pension program.
Some older adults may have issues with intergenerational relations where the
younger generation (e.g., children, grandchildren) may not be able to care for them
as they did traditionally because the younger generation is working more or emi-
grate and older adults are left with irregular family support. Many older adults live
in urban areas in the Caribbean but about 30% still live in rural communities with
little access to services and appropriate living conditions. Overall, access to quality
health care and aging are problematic in the Caribbean and there is little informa-
tion about the circumstances of older adults which may hinder policy development
and services.
Natural Disasters: Climate Change 9

These are just a few of the social problems that plague the Caribbean there are a
myriad of others such as; child abuse, domestic violence and issues that have grown
in the advent of globalization such as; instability in economic and government
structures (e.g., corruption, oil, tourism), and the remnants of colonization. It is
important to keep in mind these social problems are specific to the environment
and should be assessed and evaluated for the unique Caribbean environment so the
intervention can be mutually understood and agreed upon by the social service
worker and the client(s).

Natural Disasters: Climate Change

Caribbean countries generally consist of island states, the exceptions being Belize
in Central America, and Guyana and Suriname, situated on the South American
continent. The topography is generally rugged and mountainous with small areas of
flat land in coastal areas. Several islands are volcanic in origin, while others are
comprised primarily of coral. Many Caribbean islands rely almost entirely on a
single source of water such as groundwater, imports, rainwater, surface reservoirs,
rivers and other surface flows. In islands such as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda,
Grenada, and Barbados, more than 65% of total annual rainfall may be recorded in
the wet season from June to December (UNEP 2008).
The Caribbean region is vulnerable to natural hazards (e.g. hurricanes, earth-
quakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions); deforestation, which over time reduce
intrinsic ecosystem resilience; transport of toxic waste; and global climate change,
the effects of which are particularly severe on small island states (UNEP 2008).
Serious vulnerability to extreme climate events (e.g., shifting rainfall patterns and
cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes) and other natural disasters. Environmental vul-
nerability is related to the risk of damage to a country’s natural capital. Caribbean
islands are susceptible to the effects of climate change with rising sea levels and
extreme meteorological events (e.g., extreme rainstorms), economic and social
vulnerability.
In the Caribbean, production is heavily dependent on their limited natural resource
base (e.g., agriculture, forestry, fishing, tourism) and scarce land resources. The
major foreign exchange earning sectors and employers are mining, tourism, agricul-
ture and offshore banking, all of which are very likely to be disrupted by extreme
meteorological events of which hurricanes are the most common. There is also
increased pressure on coastal and marine environments and resources to trade and
export as a result there is limited ability to develop economies of scale. There is also
a limited ability for economic diversification possibilities. Tourism is also a major
and most rapidly growing industry across the region. Mining and mineral extraction
industries, located principally in the larger islands, are also important engines of
economic growth and development. As well as, mining is an important sector in
some Caribbean countries. Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago accounting
for respectively, 19.3%, 7.9% and 10.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the
10 2 Social Problems in the Caribbean

Caribbean region. In Jamaica, the bauxite-alumina industry is one of the most


important economic earners. Gold, diamond, and bauxite mining are important in
Guyana (gold, diamond, bauxite). The Dominican Republic is also an exporter of
ferronickel and gold.
Natural disasters and unfavorable weather have also caused major damage to
infrastructure and have further increased economic pressures (Johnson 2014). For
example, in August 2017 Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico, Barbuda, and St. Maarten
were devastated. Virtually all the major tourism facilities located along the coast
were ruined and resulted in closures and lost revenue. These phenomena have put a
huge amount of the region’s resources at risk, including coastal infrastructure,
human settlements, utilities and coastal ecosystems (e.g. mangroves, seagrass beds,
and coral reefs).

Social Welfare Systems in the Caribbean

Social Welfare programs were essentially brought to the Caribbean via colonialism
and Christian centered organizations. Its main purpose was to meet the needs and
objectives of those in power. Those who colonialized for all extensive purposes
truly believed they were bringing a kind of civility to their captured territories and
social welfare services were established to reflect this objective. Social welfare and
social workers were historically recruited from the colonial home country to govern
the organization and any support staff was formally trained in the colonized way of
operations. In a number of colonies, training regarding social welfare and commu-
nity development were introduced as more and more local people were recruited to
staff the developing social service agencies and systems. Local-born social service
workers although few were chosen via a scholarship to study abroad in the colo-
nizer’s country. Once the local-born social service worker returned they were
assigned to work in rural and disparate locations where the foreign-born workers
were hesitant to venture.
The purpose of the social welfare systems was to emphasize health, education
and law and order in accordance with the colonizers. The social welfare organiza-
tions usually catered to classes whose roles were deemed important to the colonial
system, with the needs of many others ignored (Cox and Pawar 2013). Those that
were not in the sphere of these programs would receive services that were not neces-
sary to meet their welfare and developmental needs but to civilize and Christianize
individuals. The mindset was if the population were civilized and Christian they
would be able to meet their own needs (Hoogvelt 2001).
Post-colonization, in the 1950s and 1960s the United Nations established a
stance for the development of professional social work and social welfare in devel-
oping nations. As per the United Nations Social Welfare Commission (UNSWC) an
organization promoting social development across the world. It is the mandate to
provide substantive support to Governments in developing policy measures and ini-
tiatives to promote inclusive “societies for all”, where each individual has rights and
Social Welfare Education in the Caribbean 11

responsibilities regardless of economic status (poverty), social status (gender, marital),


specific age group (older persons, youth), disability or cultural or religious affilia-
tion. The aim is to ensure that individuals and communities are enabled to partici-
pate in society and contribute to national development while enjoying basic human
rights and fundamental freedoms (United National Department of Economic and
Social Affairs 2011). The United Nations felt those countries that were not colo-
nized were affected by colonialism because some were not allowed to participate in
economic trade between countries (i.e., Haiti) and did not benefit in developing their
country and the quality of life of its people (Cox and Pawar 2013). Another perspec-
tive of the United Nations was although colonialism involved imposing Western
standards in the developing world it at least laid a foundation for modern social
welfare and social work developments. The reality that a number of developing
countries who did not establish and maintain a state-run social services or modern
social work practice were categorized as least developing countries with limited
hope of survival of its people long term (Cox and Pawar 2013).
Social welfare programs provide basic services but there is little provision for the
able-bodied. Maintaining the poor at the threshold of poverty may be valued politi-
cally in some areas. Social safety net programs such as national insurance, food
stamps, and student loans aim to target resources where they are needed most.
Though forming the mainstay of publicly funded programs in the Caribbean, they
serve to alleviate rather than reduce poverty.

Social Welfare Education in the Caribbean

Social work and human services education established during the post-colonial period
in the Caribbean often framed its philosophical underpinning and curriculum from
American and British models of professional social work. There are some positives to
this approach as the American and British models are the architects of the social wel-
fare and social work philosophy. These models provide the technical assistance and
principles and those countries that have emulated these systems to some degree have
advanced in the welfare of its people and the production of its industries and economy
(Cox and Pawar 2013). However social problems and helping people change behavior
is embedded in the culture and social-political practices. No longer are colonizers
available to enforce proper health, education and law and order practices. The advent
of free will infused with societal practices, there is no mechanism to make individuals
comply with behavior modification even if it is for their own good. The belief that
Eurocentric, knowledge-based profession of social welfare and social work can apply
to any part of the world, regardless of the diverse social practices, beliefs and culture
has been proven to be false because of its failings as a profession in parts of India and
Africa (George and Krishankumar 2014; Olaleye 2013). For example, in India,
professional social work emerged as a profession in 1936 but has failed to gain social
recognition because it has not responded effectively to local social issues such as;
poverty, suicide, child labor (George and Krishankumar 2014).
12 2 Social Problems in the Caribbean

Indigenous social work education and practice draw its inspiration and nourish-
ment from society but it, in turn, contributes to the growth renewal and development
of that society. In developing countries, the cultural paradigms through which indig-
enous knowledge is transmitted differ significantly from American and British cul-
tural models of education and ways of knowing of being and doing. Indigenous
methods of social work practice, pedagogy and epistemologies are an important
aspect of social work practice in the Caribbean. Cultural or indigenous knowledge of
society is fundamentally based upon the transgenerational transmission of culture
and knowledge (Olaleye 2013). Indigenous Caribbean education and knowledge
have generally been understood as a simplistic process of socialization involving the
preparation of children for work in the home, the village and within an ethnic domain.
To be a professional social service worker in the Caribbean ‘knowledge about how
the indigenous context affects the relationship between individuals and their sur-
rounding is essential. The social work method framework provides the room for
indigenous practice within the worker-client-environment model paradigm.
The textbooks for schools in non-Western countries are also not reflective of
developing countries social welfare systems and especially not indicative of the
Caribbean. American and British models of professional social work are unable to
address the unique needs and cultural characteristics of the Caribbean. These text-
books do not include the cultural patterns of problem-solving for local communities
and how knowledge is shared and dispersed into the communities’ understanding
(Olaleye 2013). Most textbooks are from the West; course instruction and theories
discussed in the classroom focused on their applicability to Western countries rather
than to Caribbean’s social context. This has developed a chasm between the local
social issues and needs and what the local social welfare and social worker is trained
to deal with. Local social issues in the Caribbean like poverty, suicide, mental health
issues and violence against children and women are not clearly understood and dealt
with because of cultural differences of what is taught in the classroom and what is
seen in the community (George and Krishnakumar 2014).

A Way Forward

It is estimated that over 44 million people live in the Caribbean which includes
island countries within the Caribbean Sea, from Cuba to the north and Trinidad and
Tobago to the south which includes the Bahamas, though it is not geographically
within the Caribbean, along with Belize, Suriname and Guyana (United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2017). Most of the Caribbean islands
have high levels of poverty and all the ailments that attribute to poverty. There is
some form in varying degrees of the social welfare system in every Caribbean island
with fragile institutional structures (Cloos et al. 2009). Most Caribbean islands have
burgeoning social welfare systems that are developed at the discretion of govern-
ment or if there is an immediate social ill that must be addressed. Many small islands
have child welfare organizations and social welfare systems that do not address the
majority of the needs of the population.
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formerly head of a department in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in
Paris. There could be no mistake about the nature of the instructions
with which this personage was provided. If the condition of the
commercial relations between the two states was the official pretext
for his embassy, an investigation into the affairs of the émigrés was
its real object. The Senate of the town were quick to realize this.
However, Reinhard’s conciliatory bearing and his expressed dislike
for the police duties imposed upon him by the Directoire prevented
his mission from having too uncompromising an aspect. He could not
shut his eyes, of course, to what was going on, and, in spite of his
repugnance to such methods, he was forced to employ some of the
tale-bearers and spies always numerous among the émigrés. In a
short period a complete system of espionage was organized. It did
not attain to the state of perfection secured by Bourienne later under
the direction of Fouché, but its existence was enough to enhance the
uneasiness of the Hamburg Senate. Their refusal to acquiesce in
certain steps taken by the Directoire forced Reinhard to quit the town
previously, in the month of February, and to take up his abode at
Bremen, afterwards at Altona. This suburb of Hamburg, separated
from it only by an arm of the river, was yet outside the limits of the
little republic, and suited his purpose excellently as a place from
which to conduct his observations. Everything that went on in
Hamburg was known there within a few hours.
It was at this period that Reinhard received a visit from a
somewhat sinister individual, named Colleville, who came to offer his
services to the Directoire. He volunteered to keep Reinhard informed
as to the doings of the émigrés, to whom he had easy access. On
March 5, 1796, he turned up with a lengthy document containing a
wealth of particulars regarding one of the principal agents of the
princes—no other than our friend d’Auerweck, for the moment a long
way from Hamburg, but soon expected back. “He is one of the best-
informed men to be met anywhere,” Colleville reports. “He has
travelled a great deal, and is au courant with the feeling of the
various courts and ministers.”
It must be admitted that the spy was well informed as to the
character and record of the “little Baron.” D’Auerweck would seem in
intimate relations with a certain Pictet, “Windham’s man.” Through
him he was in correspondence with Verona. He was known to be the
“friend of the Baron de Wimpfen and of a M. de Saint-Croix, formerly
Lieutenant-General in the Bayeux district. In his report upon
d’Auerweck, Colleville had occasion inevitably to mention his friend
Cormier. He stated, in fact, that at the moment d’Auerweck was
located at Mme. Cormier’s house in Paris in the Rue Basse-du-
Rempart.
Colleville could not have begun his work better. D’Auerweck was
not unknown to Reinhard, who, five months before, in a letter to
Delacroix, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, had mentioned the fact of
his presence in London, “where he was in frequent touch with du
Moustier and the former minister Montciel.”
By a curious coincidence, on the same day that Reinhard got his
information, the Minister of Police in Paris, the Citoyen Cochon, had
been made aware that a congress of émigrés was shortly to be held
at Hamburg. The agent who sent him this announcement drew his
attention at the same time to the presence at Hamburg of a person
named Cormier.
“It should be possible to find out through him the names of
those who will be taking part in the Congress. He is a
magistrate of Rennes who has been continually mixed up in
intrigue. His wife has remained in Paris.... The
correspondence of this Cormier ought to be amusing, for he is
daring and has esprit.”
Reference is made in the same communication to “the baron
Varweck, a Hungarian, passing himself off as an American, living in
Paris for the past five months.”
This was enough to arouse the attention of the Directoire. The
persistence with which the two names reappeared proved that their
efforts had not slackened. By force of what circumstances had they
been drawn into the great intrigue against the Revolutionary Party? It
is difficult to say. For some months past Cormier’s letters to Lady
Atkyns had been gradually becoming fewer, at last to cease
altogether. Having lost all hope in regard to the affair of the Temple,
the ex-magistrate, placing trust in the general belief as to what had
happened, came to the conclusion that it was vain to attempt to
penetrate further into the mystery, and he decided to place his
services at the disposal of the Princes.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs lost no time about sending
instructions to Reinhard, charging him to keep a sharp watch on the
meeting of the émigrés and to learn the outcome of their infamous
manœuvres. He should get Colleville, moreover, to establish
relations with Cormier, “that very adroit and clever individual.” In the
course of a few days Reinhard felt in a position to pull the strings of
his system of espionage.
Two very different parties were formed among the émigrés at
Hamburg. That of the “Old Royalists,” or of the “ancien régime,”
would hear of nothing but the restoration of the ancient monarchy;
that of the “new régime” felt that it was necessary, in order to
reinstate the monarchy, to make concessions to Republican ideas.
Cormier would seem to have belonged to the former, of which he
was the only enterprising member. His brother-in-law, Butler, kept on
the move between Paris and Boulogne, and Calais and Dunkirk, with
letters and supplies of money from England. D’Auerweck had left
Paris now and was in England, eager to join Cormier at Hamburg,
but prevented by illness.
Cormier was now in open correspondence with the King, to whom
he had proposed the publication of a gazette in the Royalist interest.
He was in frequent communication, too, with the Baron de Roll, the
Marquis de Nesle, Rivarol, and the Abbé Louis, and all the
“monarchical fanatics.” Despite his age, in short, he was becoming
more active and enterprising than ever. Too clever not to perceive
that he was being specially watched, he was not long in getting the
spy into his own service by means of bribes, and making him
collaborate in the hoodwinking of the Minister. The report that had
got about concerning his actions, however, disquieted the Princes,
and at the end of June Cormier is said to have received a letter from
the Comte d’Artois forbidding him “to have anything more to say to
his affairs,” and reproaching him in very sharp terms. At the same
period, Butler, to whose ears the same report had found its way,
wrote to rebuke him severely for his indiscretion, and broke off all
communication with him. Meanwhile, he was in pecuniary difficulties,
and borrowing money from any one who would lend, so altogether
his position was becoming critical. Soon he would have to find a
refuge elsewhere.
When, in the autumn, Baron d’Auerweck managed to get to
Hamburg, he found his old friend in a state of great discouragement,
and with but one idea in his head—that of getting back somehow to
Paris and living the rest of his days there in obscurity.
The arrival of the “18th Brumaire” and the establishment of the
Consulate facilitated, probably, the realization of this desire. There is
no record of how he brought his sojourn at Hamburg to an end.
D’Auerweck we find offering his services to Reinhard, who formed a
high estimate of his talents. His offer, however, was not entertained.
At this point the “little Baron” also disappears for a time from our
sight.
It is about this period that Cormier and d’Auerweck fall definitively
apart, never again to cross each other’s path.
Reassured by the calm that began to reign now in Paris, and by
the fact that other émigrés who had returned to the capital were
being left unmolested, Cormier made his way back furtively one day
to the Rue Basse-du-Rempart, where the Citoyenne Butler still
resided. The former president of the Massiac Club returned to his
ancient haunts a broken-down old man. Like so many others, he
found it difficult to recognize the Paris he now saw, transformed as it
was, and turned inside out by the Revolution. Wherever he turned,
his ears were met with the sound of one name—Bonaparte, the First
Consul. What did it all matter to him? His return had but one object,
that of re-establishing his health and letting his prolonged absence
sink into oblivion. The continual travelling and his ups and downs in
foreign countries had brought him new maladies in addition to his old
enemy the gout. He had lost half his fortune, through the pillaging of
his estates in San Domingo. Thus, such of his acquaintances as had
known him in the old days, seeing him now on his return,
sympathized with him in his misfortunes and infirmities.
He seemed warranted, therefore, in counting upon security in
Paris. The one thing that threatened him was that unfortunate entry
in the list of émigrés, in which his name figured with that of his son.
In the hope of getting the names erased, he set out one day early in
November, 1800, for the offices of the Prefecture of the Seine. There
he took the oath of fidelity to the Constitution. It was a step towards
getting the names definitely erased. His long stay in Hamburg was a
serious obstacle in the way, but both he and his son looked forward
confidently now to the success of their efforts.
Suddenly, on August 21, 1801, a number of police officials made
their appearance at Cormier’s abode to arrest him by order of the
Minister of Police. His first feeling was one of stupefaction. With what
was he charged? Had they got wind of his doings in England? Had
some indiscretion betrayed him? He recovered himself, however,
and led his visitors into all the various apartments, they taking
possession of all the papers discovered, and sealing up the glass
door leading into Achille’s bedroom, he being absent at the time.
This investigation over, Cormier and the officials proceeded to the
Temple, and a few hours later he found himself imprisoned in the
Tower.
What thoughts must have passed through his mind as he
traversed successively those courts and alleys, and then mounted
the steps of the narrow stairway leading to the upper storeys of the
dungeon!
In the anguish of his position had he room in his mind for thoughts
of those days in London when the name of the grim edifice was so
often on his lips?
Three days passed before he could learn any clue as to the cause
of his arrest. At last, on August 24, he was ordered to appear before
a police magistrate to undergo his trial. An account of this trial, or
interrogatoire, is in existence, and most curious it is to note the way
in which it was conducted. The warrant for his arrest recorded that
he was accused “of conspiracy, and of being in the pay of the
foreigner.” These terms suggested that Cormier’s residence in
England, or at least in Hamburg, was known to his accusers. Had
not the Minister of Police in one of his portfolios a dossier of some
importance, full of all kinds of particulars calculated to “do” for him?
Strange to relate, there is to be found no allusion to this doubtful past
of his in the examination.
After the usual inquiries as to name, age, and dwelling-place, the
magistrate proceeds—
“What is your occupation?”
“I have none except trying to get rid of gout and gravel.”
“Have you not been away from France during the
Revolution?”
“I have served in the war in La Vendée against the Republic
from the beginning down to the capitulation. You will find my
deed of amnesty among my papers.”
“What was your grade?”
“I was entrusted with correspondence.”
“With whom did you correspond abroad?”
“With the different agents of the Prince—the Bishop of
Arras, the Duc d’Harcourt, Gombrieul, etc.”
“Did you not keep up this correspondence after you were
amnested?”
“I gave up all the correspondence eight months before
peace was declared.”
“Do you recognize this sealed cardboard box?”
“Yes, citoyen.”
And that was all! Cormier’s replies, however, so innocent on the
surface, seem to have evoked suspicion, for on August 30 (12
Fructidor) he was brought up again for a second examination.
“With whom did you correspond especially in the West?” he
was asked.
“With Scépeaux, d’Antichamp, Boigny, and Brulefort.”
“And now what correspondence have you kept in this
country?”
“None whatever.”
“What are your relations with the Citoyen Butler?”
“I have had no communication these last two years, though
he is my brother-in-law.”
“Where is he now?”
“I have no idea. I know he passed through Philadelphia on
his way to San Domingo. I don’t know whether he ever got
there or whether he returned.”
“When was he at Philadelphia?”
“He must have been there or somewhere in the United
States not more than two years ago.”
Thus no effort was made in the second inquiry any more than in
the first to search into his past. It should be mentioned that
immediately on his return Cormier had made haste to destroy all
documents that could compromise him in any way.
After a detention of three weeks he was set free, his age and
infirmities doubtless having won him some sympathy. He and his son
—for Achille had been arrested at the same time—were, however,
not accorded complete liberty, being placed en surveillance, and
obliged to live outside Paris. On September 20 they were provided
with a passport taking them to Etampes, whence they were not to
move away without permission from the police.
At this period Fouché had immense powers, and was organizing
and regulating the enormous administrative machine which
developed under his rule into the Ministry of Police. The prisons
overflowed with men under arrest who had never appeared before
the ordinary tribunal, “on account of the danger there was of their
being acquitted in the absence of legal evidence against them.” He
was reduced to keeping the rest under what was styled “une demi-
surveillance.” His army of spies and secret agents enabled him to
keep au courant with their every step.
The reports furnished as to Cormier’s behaviour seem to have
satisfied the authorities, for at the end of a certain time he was
enabled to return to Paris. Having learnt by experience how
unsatisfactory it was to be continually at the mercy of informers, he
now set himself energetically to trying to secure a regular and
complete amnesty. His petition was addressed to the First Consul on
June 18, 1803, and in it he described himself as “crippled with
infirmities,” and it was covered with marginal notes strongly
recommending him to the mercy of the chief of the state.
At last, on October 10, the Minister of Police acceded to his
request, and Cormier received a certificate of amnesty, freeing him
henceforth from all prosecution “on the score of emigration.” With
what a sense of relief must not this document have been welcomed
in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart! Bent under the weight of his
sufferings, Cormier enjoyed the most devoted care at the hands of
his family. His younger son, Patrice, had returned to Paris after an
existence not less adventurous than his father’s. He had thrown
himself into the insurrection in La Vendée, and for three years had
served in the Royalist army of the Maine. Benefiting, like his father,
by the general amnesty, he found his way back to the paternal roof in
Paris, and went into business, so as to throw a veil over his past,
until the day should come when he might appear in uniform again.
Achille, the elder, devoted himself entirely to his father, but the old
man was not to enjoy much longer the peace he had at length
secured for himself. The loss of almost all his income forced him,
moreover, to quit his residence in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart, and to
betake himself to a modest pension in the Faubourg Saint Antoine,
in which he occupied a single room, in which he kept only a few
items from the furniture of his old home—some rose-wood chairs, a
writing-table, a desk with a marble top, a prie-dieu, and a small
wooden desk, “dit à la Tronchin.” The rest of his furniture he sold. It
was in this humble lodging that he died on April 16, 1805, aged sixty-
five. Some months later Mme. Cormier died at the house in Rue
Basse-du-Rempart.
It is strange to reflect that Lady Atkyns, in the course of her many
visits to Paris, should not have ever sought to meet again her old
friend. The Emperor’s rule was gaining in strength from day to day.
Of those who had played notable parts in the Revolution, some, won
over to the new Government, were doing their utmost to merit by
their zeal the confidence reposed in them; the others, irreconcilable,
but crushed by the remorseless watchfulness of a police force
unparalleled in its powers, lived on forgotten, and afraid to take any
step that might attract attention to them. This, perhaps, is the
explanation of the silence of the various actors in the drama of the
Temple, once the Empire had been established.
CHAPTER VII
THE “LITTLE BARON”

Cormier’s departure did not for a single moment interrupt the fiery
activity of Baron d’Auerweck, nor his co-operation in the most
audacious enterprises of the agents of Princes and of the Princes
themselves. He lost, it is true, a mentor whose advice was always
worthy of attention, and who had guided him up to the present time
with a certain amount of success; but the ingenious fellow was by no
means at the end of his resources. The life which he had led for the
past five years was one which exactly suited him. A practically
never-ending list might be drawn up of acquaintances made in the
course of his continual comings and goings, of encounters in this
army of emissaries serving the counter-Revolution, and of
particularly prosperous seasons. Besides the d’Antraigues, the
Fauche-Borels, and the Dutheils, there was a regular army of
subordinates, bustling about Europe as though it were a vast anthill.
Amongst them d’Auerweck could not fail to be prominent, and he
was soon marked as a clever and resourceful agent. His sojourn in
Hamburg also continued to arouse curiosity and observation on the
part of the representatives of the Directoire. They recognized now
that he was employed and paid by England. “He serves her with an
activity worthy of the Republican Government,” Reinhard wrote to
Talleyrand; and it was well known that Peltier’s former collaborator,
always an energetic journalist, assisted in editing the Spectateur du
Nord.
An unlooked-for opportunity to exploit his talent soon offered itself
to d’Auerweck.
The Deputies of the ten states, which at that time formed the
Empire, had been brought together by the congress which opened at
Rastadt on December 9, 1797, and for eighteen months there was
an extraordinary amount of visits to and departures from the little
town in Baden. The presence of Bonaparte, who had arrived some
days before the commencement of the conference in an eight-horse
coach, with a magnificent escort, and welcomed throughout his
journey as the victor of Arcole, increased the solemnity and scope of
the negotiations. All the diplomatists, with their advisers, their
secretaries, and their clerks, crowded anxiously round him. Agents
from all the European Powers came to pick up greedily any scraps of
information, and to try to worm out any secrets that might exist.
Rastadt was full to overflowing of spies and plotters, and the name of
this quiet, peaceful city, hitherto so undisturbed, was in every one’s
mouth.
From Hamburg the “little Baron” followed attentively the first
proceedings of the Congress through the medium of the
newspapers, but the sedentary life which he was leading began to
worry him. In vain he wrote out all day long never-ending political
treatises, crammed with learned notes on the European situation,
wove the most fantastic systems, and drew up “a plan for the
partition of France, which he proposed to a certain M. du Nicolay;” all
this was not sufficient for him. D’Auerweck was on friendly terms with
the Secretary of the French Legation, Lemaître by name (who, by
the way, had no scruples about spying on him some years later, and
informed against him without a blush), and, giving full play “to his
romantic imagination and to his taste for sensational enterprises,” he
one day submitted to his confidant a scheme to “kidnap the Minister,
Reinhard, and carry him off to London; his attendants were to be
made intoxicated, his coachman to be bribed, ten English sailors to
be hidden on the banks of the Elbe!” At the back of these schemes
of mystery there figured a certain “Swiss and Genevan Agency,”
which at the proper time would, he declared, generously reimburse
them for all their expenditure. But, for all these foolish imaginings,
d’Auerweck displayed a knowledge of the world and a sound
judgment which struck all those who came in contact with him, and it
was certain that with strong and firm guidance he was capable of
doing much good and useful work. In the winter of 1798 we are told
that “he left Hamburg secretly” for an unknown destination. Lemaître
believed that he had buried himself “in the depths of Silesia,” but he
had no real knowledge of his man. For, as a matter of course,
d’Auerweck was bound to be attracted to such a centre of affairs as
Rastadt then was, in order to make the most profitable use of his
ingenuity, seeing that, according to report, the British Government,
which was making use of his services, in fear of being kept in the
dark as to what was going on, had begged him “to go and exercise
his wits in another place.”
He made Baden his headquarters, for the proximity of Rastadt,
and his intimacy with the de Gelb family, which has already been
mentioned, led him to prefer Baden to the actual field of battle, at
which place he must have come under suspicion as an old English
agent. One of the Austrian envoys at the Congress was Count
Lehrbach; and d’Auerweck managed to get into relations with him,
and even to be allowed to do secretarial work for him, on the
strength of the connection which he declared he had possessed with
Minister Thugut during the early days of the Revolution and the
confidence which had lately been reposed in him. He had reason to
hope that with the help of his ability and his gift of languages he
would soon be able to secure active employment. And, indeed, it
was in this way that d’Auerweck succeeded in re-establishing himself
at once, to his great satisfaction, as an active agent, with a footing in
the highest places, ferreting out the secrets of the Ambassadors, and
carrying on an underhand correspondence openly. His intention was,
doubtless, to return to Austria as soon as the Congress was over, by
the help of Count Lehrbach, and there to regain the goodwill of his
former patron, the Minister Thugut.
But the sanguinary drama which brought the Conference to such
an abrupt conclusion completely spoiled his plans and undid his
most brilliant combinations. We can realize the universal feeling of
consternation throughout the whole of Europe which was caused by
the news that on the evening of April 28, 1799, the French Ministers,
Bonnier, Roberjot, and Debry, who had just made up their minds to
betake themselves to Strasburg, along with their families, their
servants, and their records—a party filling eight carriages—had been
openly attacked as they were leaving Rastadt by Barbaczy’s
Hussars; that the two first-mentioned gentlemen had been dragged
from their carriages and treacherously murdered, and that the third,
Debry, had alone escaped by a miracle. Even if the outrage of
Rastadt was “neither the cause nor the pretext of the war of 1799,”
its consequences were, nevertheless, very serious.
One of these consequences, and not the least important, was that
Bonaparte’s police, magnificently reorganized by Fouché, redoubled
its shepherding of émigrés and agents of the Princes, who swarmed
in the country-side between Basle, the general headquarters of the
spies, and Mayence. Once an arrest took place, the accused was
certain to be suspected of having had a hand in the assassination of
the plenipotentiaries, and if by any bad luck he was unable to deny
having been present in the district, he found it a very difficult task to
escape from the serious results of this accusation.
A few months after this stirring event, Baron d’Auerweck, tired of
such a stormy existence, and seeing, perhaps, a shadow of the
sword of Damocles hanging over his head, determined himself to
break away from this life of agitation, and to settle down with a wife.
During the last days of the year 1799 he was married at Baden to
Mademoiselle Fanny de Gelb, a native of Strasburg, whose father
had lately served under Condé; she also had a brother who was an
officer in the army of the Princes. But, in spite of a pension which the
mother, Madame de Gelb, was paid by England on account of her
dead husband’s services, the available resources of the future
establishment were very meagre indeed, for the “little Baron” had not
learned to practise economy while rushing about Europe; so, as
soon as the marriage had been celebrated, the turn of the wheel of
fortune forced the young wife to leave the Grand Duchy of Baden
and to wander from town to town in Germany and Austria.
They travelled first to Munich and then to Nuremburg, but
d’Auerweck’s plans were to establish himself in Austria close to all
his belongings. He had the fond hope of obtaining employment from
Minister Thugut, to whom he reintroduced himself. But he
experienced a bitter disappointment, for on his first attempt to submit
to his Excellency the greater part of his last work (in which he had
embodied, as the result of desperate toil, his views on the present
political situation, the outcome of his conversations with the
representatives of the different European states, his reflections and
his forecast of events) d’Auerweck found himself unceremoniously
dismissed. Thugut flatly refused, if the story is to be believed, to
have anything further to do with a man who was still suspected of
being an English emissary. Consequently he was obliged to abandon
his idea of establishing himself in Austria, and to hunt for other
means of existence, more particularly as Madame d’Auerweck had
just presented him with his first child at Nuremburg. He turned his
steps once again in the direction of the Grand Duchy, and after
successive visits to Friburg, Basle, and Baden, he decided to make
his home in Schutterwald, a village on the outskirts of the town of
Offenburg. There he determined to lead the life of a simple, honest
citizen, and renting a very humble peasant’s cottage, he installed his
wife and his mother-in-law therein. He himself set to work on the
cultivation of his garden, devoting his spare moments to writing, so
as not to lose the knack, the sequel to his Philosophical and
Historical Reflections.
He soon got to know his neighbours and all the inhabitants of the
country very well. He was considered to be a quiet, unenterprising
man, “with a positive dislike for politics, although loquacious and
vain.” It was impossible to find out anything about his past life, for the
prudent Baron considered it inadvisable to talk of this subject, but he
was always looked upon “as an argumentative man, who wanted to
know all that was going on, whether in reference to agriculture, to
thrift, or to politics.” In spite of the apparent tranquillity in which he
was allowed to remain, d’Auerweck followed with a certain amount of
anxiety all the events which were happening not far from him, on the
frontier of the Rhine. Troops were continually passing to and fro in
this district; the French were close at hand, and their arrival at
Offenburg inspired a feeling of vague unrest in him, although he
never recognized, to tell the truth, the danger which threatened him.
He had taken the precaution to destroy, before coming to
Switzerland, his vast collection of papers: all that mass of
correspondence which had been accumulating for the last few years,
those reports and instructions, all of which constituted a very
compromising record. At last, after a residence of some months, to
make matters safe, he contrived, thanks to his marriage, to be
enrolled as a freeman of the Grand Duchy; for it seemed to him that
as a subject of Baden he would be relieved of all further cause of
alarm.
But all d’Auerweck’s fears were reawakened by the much-talked-of
news of the Duc d’Enghien’s arrest on March 15, 1804, and by the
details of how the Prince had been captured openly in the jurisdiction
of Baden, at Ettenheim, that is to say, only a short distance from
Offenburg. He absented himself for some days from Schutterwald,
so the story goes, and took himself to the mountains.
Just at the same time there arrived at the offices of the Ministry of
Police in Paris a succession of memoranda, mostly anonymous,
referring to Baron d’Auerweck, and to his presence in the
neighbourhood of the Rhine.
Some of them came from Lemaître, Reinhard’s former secretary at
Hamburg. Many of them, inexact and inaccurate as they were with
regard to the details of the alleged facts, agreed on this point, viz.
that the individual “was one of those men, who are so powerful for
good or bad, that the security of every Government requires
complete information as to their resting-places and their doings.”
Then followed a medley of gossiping insinuations, the precise import
of which it was difficult to discover.
“I shall never forget,” said one, “that, when d’Auerweck left
Hamburg two months before the assassination of the French
Ministers in order to take up his quarters only three leagues
away from Rastadt, he said: ‘I am about to undertake an
operation which will make a great sensation, and which will
render great service to the cause of the Coalition.’”
“Now supervenes a whole year, during which his doings
and his whereabouts are most carefully concealed,” wrote
another; “however, I am certain that he is acting and working
pertinaciously against the interests of France. I have heard
him make this remark: ‘We shall take some time doing it, but
at last we shall conquer you.’” A third added: “His tranquillity
and his silence are but masks for his activity, and I, for one,
could never be persuaded that he has all of a sudden ceased
to correspond with Lord Grenville in London, with the Count
de Romanzof, with a certain Nicolai in St. Petersburg, with
Prince Belmonte, with the Chevalier de Saint-Andre, with
Roger de Damas in Italy, with Dumoustier, who is, I believe, a
Hohenlohe Prince in Berlin, and directly with the Count de
Lille.” Finally, d’Auerweck, according to the same report,
“complaisantly displayed a spot in the shape of the fleur-de-
lys, inside his fist, declaring that ‘this is a sign of descent; it is
a mark of predestination; I of all men am bound to devote
myself and assist in the return of the Bourbons!’”
It would be a fatal mistake to believe that these fairy tales, all
vague and absurd as they often were, remained lost and forgotten in
the despatch-boxes of the Ministry of Police. The region, near as it
was to Rastadt, where d’Auerweck was reported to have made his
appearance, was a valuable and important indication, which of itself
was sufficient to make the man an object for watchful suspicion. The
ominous nature of the times must, of course, be remembered.
Fouché, who had just been restored to favour, and had been placed
for the second time at the head of the Ministry of Police, was anxious
to prove his zeal afresh, to please the Emperor and to deserve his
confidence, while his mind was still troubled by the execution of the
Duc d’Enghien, by the exploits of Georges Cadoudal, and by the
discovery of the English Agency at Bordeaux, which were all fitting
reasons for attracting the Minister’s attention and for exciting his
curiosity. So, when on October 11, 1804, his Excellency decided to
make further searching investigations into d’Auerweck’s case, and
gave precise orders to the prefects of the frontier departments of the
Grand Duchy, it is doubtful whether he was careful to note in his
charge the principal reasons for attaching suspicion upon the Baron,
viz. those which had to do with the assassination of the
plenipotentiaries at Rastadt.
It was some time before the required information could be
obtained, and though the first inquiries about d’Auerweck made by
Desportes, the prefect of the Upper Rhine, added little in the way of
news, they agreed, nevertheless, in certifying that the Baron lived
very quietly in the outskirts of Offenburg—
“that he there devoted himself entirely to his agricultural
occupations, and that the kind of life he led did not foster any
suspicion that he kept up his old campaigns of intrigue.”
Six months later, Desportes, in returning to the subject, showed
himself more positive than ever, for he affirmed—
“that no active correspondence can be traced to
d’Auerweck, and that he saw scarcely any one. He is a man
of a caustic and critical turn of mind, who often lets himself go
in conversation without reflection in his anxiety to talk
brilliantly. A point which is particularly reassuring about him is
that he is without credit, without fortune, and of no personal
account, and that if he wanted to mix himself up afresh in
intrigues he would choose some other place than Offenburg,
where there are now only three émigrés, the youngest of
whom is seventy-seven years of age.”
But, in spite of these very positive statements, the Minister
preserved his attitude of mistrust, which was strengthened by the
arrival of fresh notes, in which the same denunciations of the “little
Baron” were repeated. He was described as being “restless by
inclination, violently fanatical in all his opinions, and longing to make
himself notorious by some startling act.” But his position was made
worse by the information which was received, that in the autumn of
1805 d’Auerweck had absented himself from home for several days,
frightened, no doubt, by the proximity of the French armies, which
were dotted about on the banks of the Rhine. How could this sudden
flight be accounted for? And his alarm at the sight of the Emperor’s
soldiers at close quarters? Such conduct struck Fouché as being
very suspicious. He ordered a supplementary inquiry, and this time
he did not content himself with the information afforded by the
prefect of the Upper Rhine, but let loose one of his best bloodhounds
on his scent. At the time, two years ago, when preparations were
being made for the kidnapping of the Duc d’Enghien and for
watching his residence at Ettenheim, recourse was had to the
services of the Commissary of Police, Popp by name, who was
stationed at Strasburg. In this frontier town near Basle an active and
intelligent man was needed, who could maintain a constant watch on
the underhand practices of the Royalist agents. Commissary Popp
seemed to be made for the job. His handling of the Duc d’Enghien’s
affairs earned the approval of Napoleon; and Fouché, since his
reinstatement in the Ministry, recognized in him a clever and expert
functionary, on whom he could always count.
This was the man who was charged with the task of spying on
d’Auerweck, and throughout the whole of 1806 Popp was hard at
work on this mission. His original authentications differed very little
from what Desportes had written, and there was nothing to prove
that the Baron had in any way departed from his passive attitude.
“I have not discovered,” wrote Popp on April 22, 1806, “that
he is in correspondence with the English agitation, or that he
shows any inclination to excite and embitter people’s tempers.
I believe that he, like many others, is more to be pitied than to
be feared.”
Some weeks later Popp managed to loosen the tongue of an
ecclesiastic, a dweller in those parts, and from him he got
information about the business and movements of the Baron. “He is
quite absorbed in rural economy, which is his chief thought to all
appearances,” he reported to Fouché; but then, stung to the quick by
the repeated orders of his chief (who never ceased from impressing
upon him the necessity for the closest watch on d’Auerweck’s
traffickings), Popp, impatient for an opportunity to prove his zeal,
began to magnify his words by introducing subtle insinuations.
By this time d’Auerweck had come to the conclusion that his stay
at Schutterwald was too uncomfortable, and having heard of a bit of
land at a reasonable price in Elgersweier, which was not far from
Offenburg, indeed about the same distance from the town, he made
up his mind to take shelter there and to build a little house, which
would be his own property. The question was asked how could he,
whom every one looked upon as a penniless man, obtain the funds
required to complete this bargain? Without doubt he borrowed from
his mother-in-law, Madame de Gelb, who had always lived with him,
and whose modest income was so pleasantly augmented by the
pension which she received from the English Government. And so,
in the middle of the summer of 1806, the “little Baron” transported his
penates to Elgersweier, where he settled his belongings very
comfortably. By this time two other sons, Armand and Louis, had
been added to the one born at Munich, and shortly after arriving at
the new home Madame d’Auerweck gave birth to a daughter, who
was named Adelaide.
Commissary Popp knew all about these happenings, and his
supervision never slackened for an instant. Encouraged by his
success in arranging the preliminaries for the affair at Ettenheim, he
was perfectly prepared to repeat the operation. With this in view, he
began to show the Minister, in ambiguous language at first, his very
good and sufficient reasons for desiring d’Auerweck’s presence in
France. If necessary, he urged, we could easily get permission from
the Grand Duke of Baden to arrest him in his own home. This
suggestion was expressed very cautiously at first, but was soon
made more explicit, although there was not the slightest shadow of
an excuse for such violence, for all his statements “agreed in
demonstrating the perfectly peaceful nature of the “little Baron’s”
existence.
“It would be advisable to make certain of his person,” wrote
Popp, “and my opinion will always be the same if certain
difficulties with the House of Austria happen to be renewed;
for d’Auerweck, posted as a sentinel on the opposite bank,
and doubtless possessing friends on our side, would be one
of the very first bearers of information about our military
position and political topography.”
About the same time, Bourrienne, one of Minister Reinhard’s
successors at Hamburg, arrested an émigré who had lately landed
from London, and who was supposed to be in possession of
important secrets. This was the Viscount de Butler, Cormier’s half-
brother, who, after having “worked,” as we have seen, for the
Royalist Committee in London, now found himself stranded in
Hamburg in the greatest misery. It was decided to send him to Paris,
as he offered to give up certain documents. He was imprisoned in
the Temple, and there questioned by Desmarets, who extracted from
him all kinds of information with regard to his missions. Naturally,
Butler related all he knew about d’Auerweck, how he had made his
acquaintance, and what sort of terms he was on with Dutheil and
with Lord Grenville. As his answers proved satisfactory he was sent
back to Hamburg, where Bourrienne continued to make use of him
for many years.
Finally, to complete the bad luck, the police were warned of a
certain Sieur de Gelb, a former officer in the army of the Princes,
whose behaviour had been discovered to be very mysterious, and
who paid frequent visits to the frontier. Now, this émigré was no other
than Baron d’Auerweck’s brother-in-law.
All these stories, cleverly made the most of and carefully improved
upon, served to greatly excite the curiosity of the Minister of Police,
all the more as the Royalists were showing much increased activity
in many places. To add to the effect, Normandy became the theatre
of several audacious surprises, such as coaches being robbed,
convoys plundered, and attacks on the high road, many of which
were the handiwork of the inhabitants of the castle of Tournebut, led
by the Viscount d’Aché and the famous Chevalier. Besides, the
Emperor was waging war in Prussia at the head of his armies, a
thousand leagues from Paris, and in his absence the conspirators’
audacity redoubled; but he did not lose sight of them, and from his
distant camps he kept so closely in touch with all that was happening
in France that he compelled Fouché’s incessant vigilance. An event
which took place next year, when war with Germany broke out
afresh, clearly demonstrated once more the danger of attracting for
too long the attention of his Excellency the Minister of Police.
One evening, in the month of June, 1807, a policeman on his
rounds noticed in one of the squares in the town of Cassel a young
man behaving very strangely, and speechifying in the middle of a
crowd. He drew near, and ascertained that the individual, who was
very excited, was pouring forth a stream of insults and threats
against Napoleon, whom he went so far as to call “a good-for-
nothing scamp.” This was quite enough to decide the representative
of public order upon arresting the silly fellow. He was taken off to the
police station and questioned. He stated that his name was Jean-
Rodolphe Bourcard, “formerly a ribbon manufacturer,” aged twenty-

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