The spies and officers of police sent by the French minister and acting under the directions of de Guerchy, continued to watch every movement of the Chevalier, who they no doubt still hoped to kidnap, as had been the Marquis de Fratteau[193] some years previously. Five were lodged in Gerrard Street, close to Brewer Street, where he resided. His precautions he describes to an old friend, Captain Pommard, in Paris. When he went out, as he did daily, it was with all the vigilance a captain of dragoons should observe in time of war. His own spies were about. He had met his enemies, and had any attempt been made against his person, they would have been cut to pieces by the party he led. Every evening he reconnoitred at Ranelagh and Vauxhall; but acts of violence were not to be apprehended in England, and he was more on his guard against the stratagems of those with whom he was unacquainted, and of his false and therefore dangerous friends. That French emissaries were actually on the look-out to seize the Chevalier and carry him off to France in a vessel appointed for the purpose, does not appear to have been generally credited in London, judging by the obituary notices which appeared in the newspapers, where it is stated that if the Chevalier was not the author of the reports to that effect, he at any rate believed in them.[194] Were official confirmation of the plan for his abduction needed, it is to be found in de Guerchy’s handwriting, and in the instructions he asks, under date June 23, 1764, as to whether D’Eon is to be seized before or after his trial for libel. The Chevalier’s case met with a good deal of sympathy, which found its way into the papers, and exhibited itself in anonymous letters cautioning him to be wary against his countrymen. His unknown correspondents recommended him to withdraw to Oxford, Bath, or other distant town, taking care not to allow even his most discreet friend to know the time of his departure or his destination. ‘... The people are already agitated, and favourably, in your behalf, and the greater the agitation the more will the people be on the _qui vive_ to protect you against any kind of abduction, by stratagem or by force. Even the ministry will be obliged, in the interests of the public, to watch against any such attempts as are contrary to the rights of persons and the laws of the country....’