The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12, 1864.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE FRENCH

EMPEROR'S LIFE.

(From the Paris Correspondent of the Times.)

The discovery of the conspiracy against the Em-
peror's life, mentioned in my letters of Thursday
and Friday, has filled with consternation every one
who has heard of it. The agents of this plot, which
was to have been executed with circumstances of
extraordinary atrocity, are found. It was at first
said that one of the party was a Belgian, and then
a Pole. The circumstance of a Pole who was em-
ployed on the Northern railroad having been arrested
in consequence of the last fatal accident on that line
led to the mistake. It would now appear that the
four are Italians; their names are Greco, Impera-
tori, Trabuco, and Saglio, otherwise'called Marpholi.
They were arrested in the afternoon of Sunday last.
When they were examined before the Juge d'ln-
struction, Greco, who, it seems,was at the head of the
band, unhesitatingly, and with audacious frankness,
avowed his crime, affected to glory in having been
employed to execute it, and regretted that he had
not succeeded. If the disclosures made by this man
are to be trusted, it would appear that towards the
end of September, or beginning of October last, he
and his three accomplices were summoned to Lugano
by Mazzini, with whom they had been for some time
in correspondence. It was then and there arranged
that they should proceed to Paris to assassinate the
Emperor. Mazzini gave them four shells which
he had received or brought from England ; four
shells of a similar description which he had caused
to be made at Genoa; four revolvers and four
poinards. On leaving Lugano Mazzini gave him
4,000 f., telling him he was going to London to
await the result of the attempt, and would then
send him more money. He at the same time left
him the address of a person through whom he wa
to write to him in case he wanted more funds.
The address, in Mazzini's handwriting, was found
on Greco's person. Among other papers was a
copy of instructions from Mazzini written in cipher,
and containing certain signs which he was to send
him on the eve of the day the crime was to be at-
tempted. Mazzini also gave him two photographic
portraits of himself, with his name at the bottom
written in his own hand. Those papers were
found in Greco's trousers, between the lining and
and the cloth. There was also found in Greco's
pocketbook a letter addressed by Imperatori to
Mazzini, stating that, having heard of a plot for
the murder of the Emperor, he claimed to be one
of the party. Greco admitted that this letter had
been handed to him at Lugemo by Mazzini.
It was on Christmas-day that the men bent on
this mission of blood arrived in Paris. It was at first
said that they had come direct from London to
France; but it appears from the depositions that
they entered the French territory from Switzerland,
and with passports perfectly en regle, without a
single flaw, which had been given them by the Swiss
authorities. Each had two shells uncharged on his
person. From the day of their arrival to that of
their arrest they changed their lodging more than
once in order to throw the police, whom they seemed
to know were on the watch for them, off the scent.
They did not all live together, but met in the day-
time to concert the means of carrying out their
object.

Greco, who appeared to be as eager an approver
as he had been a conspirator, related to the Judges
every movement, every particular of himself and his
accomplices since their coming to Paris. They had
made a careful inspection of the approaches to the
Operain the RueLepelletier, and of those of the other
theatres which the Emperor was in the habit of visit-
ing. They had examined every place which gave
access to the Palace of the Tuileries, and repeatedly
visited the Bois de Boulogne when the Emperor
went to skate. Their plan was that wherever, or
whenever, the opportunity presented itself they were
to throw their shells (said to be more destructive
than those of Orsini) under his horses' feet, and at
once rush on him and his attendants with their
revolvers and poniards. Greco added that the
poniards, which he had received from Mazzini,
were poisoned, and it seems on examination that
the points and blades are of a peculiar colour,
as if they had been long steeped in some liquid.
The conspirators, who declare that they were in
constant correspondence with Mazzini, resolved to
effect their purpose on Monday or Tuesday last at
the Bois de Boulogne. On the previous Saturday
the shells were loaded and everything prepared.
They were, however, out of money, having al-
ready spent the 4,000 f. Mazzini had given them
in October. Their way of life contrasted strangely
with the secret object on which they were bent.
They had been constantly traced by the police, and
from their frequent changes of domicile seemed to
be perfectly aware of it, yet they acted as if they
wished to give every facility to those who were so
vigilantly watching them. They denied themselves
no pleasure; they lived joyously, and a dinner for
the four cost over 200 f. They contemplated escaping
from Paris after the perpetration of their crime ; but,
as they had spent their money in orgies of every
kind, they wrote to Mazzini, who is now in Lon•
don, for more. Tho Emperor had been kept ac-
quainted with what was going on, but it did not
prevent him from going out as usual, and the
police, knowing that Monday or Tuesday was fixed
for the attempt, made all sure by arresting the con-
spirators on Sunday evening. The money they had
written for did not arrive the day they expected ;
but I hear that a letter, containing an order—some
say for 500 f., others for 4,ooof—addressed to one of

them, was intercepted on Saturday at the Post-
office. Had the funds arrived before Sunday they
would, they said, have at once proceeded to action.
Such in substance is the confession of Greco, and
it is in all respects corroborated by his accomplices.
The only one who has shown compunction for the
crime in which he was to have a share, is Saglio. alias
Marpholi, a young man of two or three and twenty,
and he declares that when matters came to the point
he would have refused to act. Imperatori and
Trabuco describe themselves as formerly belonging
to the band of Garibaldi, as having taken part in
the affair of Aspromonte when he was wounded ;
and both wore the Marsala medal. Trabuco, who
had passed under another name, is said to have been
tried and convicted in France for swindling, and in
London for theft, Greco, the head of the party,
was in a state of great excitement during his ex-
amination by the Juge d'lnetruction, He blas-
phemed, foamed at the mouth, cursed himself for
having failed, and declared that there were others
bound like himself by oath to complete the crime.
The shells found at the house where they lodged
are about the same size as the Orsini ones, but some-
what differently shaped. Orsini's were in form like
a pear; these are perfectly oval, and very thick, and
instead of being charged with fulminating powder•
werefilled with ordinary powder. The conspirators
are now lodged in the prison of Mazes ; their pre-
liminary examination is not yet quite ended, and it
is believed they will make further disclosures. Tra-
buco was seised at the door of his house on Sunday
afternoon, Imperatori ,almost at the same moment
while preparing to go out, and Greco and the other
in another house in the Rue St. Honore.