The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-06 00:00:00

THE PLOT AGAINST THE EMPEROR.

The solution of the various difficulties attendant upon
the story of the plot just unearthed by the Paris police, is
materially aided by a very circumstantial account give°
in the Gazette des Tribunaux. It shews that the Interns'
tional Working Men's Association is not implicated in the
assassination conspiracy, but it would appear that it is
charged with being engaged in a plot of another kind'
The narrative in the legal journal says :—" It is known
that Baurie was the principal instrument chosen by the
most excited members of the Republican party to bring
to an issue the abominable design they had formed.
On the day of his arrest—which was effected as he was
going home to his lodgings at an hotel in the Rue des
Moulins—after spending the nL,c,ht with a girl nanaled
Aimee, Baurie was the bearer of arms and letters which
left no doubt as to the nature and object of his correspow
dence and intercourse with Gustave Flourens, at pre-
sent in London, and with various members of the Inter'
national Working Men's Association. When Baurie
found that the letter of Gustave Flourens had been
seized by the police, he fell into a state of great prostre•
tion, got very nervous, and shed tears. He was then
gradually brought to confess. The letter of Flourens con-
tains this passage : ' The man with the patent will soon
leave for the country. . . . Therefore no time should be
lost. When a man has made a promise he is bound to keep
it, and to succeed.' In the draft of a letter written bar
Baurie and found on his person, the following lines eh,:
lenged attention :--` The surgical amputation will P,.e
effected this day.' Other documents seemed to establish
the complicity of several persons not belonging to' the
International Association. Thus M. Protot, an advocate
who had undertaken the defence of Megy, corresponded
with Gustave Flourens, and acted as an intermediary ,13°'
tween this latter, his client, and other participators in
plot. A warrant was issued against M. Protot, an
yesterday morning (i. e., Sunday) M. Clement, commie:
sary of police, and two policemen, proceeded to his real
deuce. They found him at home ;he answered the I[loot
himself, and showed no intention to offer any oppositi°l
to the execution of the warrant. The commissary
police proceeded to search the premises, but as he wl"'
about to open a portfolio such as barristers use, Protot
took it up, precipitately left the room, closing the door be-
hind him, and ran down stairs. M. Clement rushed
after him, and to get down faster slid down the balusters;
He reached the court-yard nearly as soon as Protot ; 1).'!"
as he was alone with him he pulled a revolver out of hea
pocket and fired a shot in the air to hasten the arrival °
the officers. But the officers were not the first to
make their appearance ; individuals in blouses,
who, excited by M. Protot's shouts, rushed °l3
the commissary of police, but M. Clement
soon released, and was able to take the prisoner to th:
prefecture, whence he was removed to Mazas, where
Baurie had been already incarcerated. Roussel,
cabinet-maker, at whose lodgings the bombs were seized,
lived at Ruelle des Rosiers, a court near Phre In Chaissi
On the 14th of April, under the name of Renard, he cage':
on M. Lepet, an ironfounder in the Rue St. Maur, to order
the bombs, which he described as intended for axles for
velocipedes. Roussel is married, and the father oft wed'
young children. He had long since been P
out to the police as attending public meetings, where
he was notorious for the violence of his speeches.
In October last, at one of these meetings, whit
the commissary of police had ordered to dissolve, he too
up a bench to strike a policeman who was trying t° t°:
him out. On the following day a Socialist paper c,°i.;
plained of ' Citizen Roussel' having been ill-treated
the police. He has as yet continued to escape arrest. of
addition to the bombs and compromising papers, a 9:
full of picrate of potash was discovered at his lodgin_ng".
Two fresh warrants of arrest were issued yesterday vac'''.
ing by the juge d'instruction against two wine-shog
keepers named Tavernier and Bichet. They were arreste,
in the course of the day. Here are the names of the Per,
sons at present in custody :—MM. Leveille, Greffier, Frog!:
and Protot ; also the following members of the lute!
national Association—Heligon Johannard, Lecat's,
Flahault, Duguanquie, Murat, 'Callot, Germain Cass!'
Avrial, Pindy, Rocher, Theisz, and alon. Taverni,7;
who was arrested yesterday, M
erday, is one of the most t
propagators of the Freethinkers'Association, whose obJetict
is to attend and encourage " civil burials " [i.e., wit
°
prayers or clergy.] In the course of the seas 9
effected at the houses of the- various persoet,ll,
arrested, documents are said to have been se i-°,3,0
showing in the most unmistakable manner b'es
reorganisation-of the International Association on bits t
threatening social order. These documents set forth
a central committee of action has been formed in Paris, °-
active correspondence with the general board of that ass_.,.
ciation in London, and the central board in Belgic,lo
The members of the Parisian section of these two boaro
appear to have taken a leading part in recent events, tee
particularly in the various strikes which have taken Preir
in manufacturing towns since 1868. Traces of of
goings on are discovered in the strike nnilhet
with the building trades at Geneva in 1869 ; in that a
the bronze workers at Paris ; in those which broke vi°
among the miners at Seraing and Borinage in Belgil.w2; iii
the strikes of the tailors and tanners in
Paris ;/„11°
the strikes at Creuzot, Aubin, Fourchambault,
organisation of this society, the members of which
Europe and America amount to several millions (8e Cop
tent par millions), constitute a formidable power,
of
leaders of which are said to have conceived the ides
To
bringing about a Socialist and Republican revolution:,_oi
prove the participation of the branches of the Internal I' ill,
Association in the political questions recently. trun3P'o.tio
for the purpose of disturbing order and security chug:foes
present year, it is sufficient to read the many nianlL:ve no
published by the Marseillaise. These manifestoes 1,e,,,„,."
doubt as to the tendencies of the International Assoc:To°
Many persons consider these and other facts which
just transpired to disprove the assassination ttriary
The plot, it is thought, was primarily an insurree'Aieve
one. M. Paul de Cassagnac of the Pays, does no,trould
that Gustave Flourenrs, with whom he once fought,
have any dealings with au assassination scheme.