The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-21

chiefly the property Of Farmer Head, 3 prudent
aud CLOSE man who at erst Yves inGneo 70 s"S
perceivinR there was some mystery about the
youths presence there. thought better OFT, and
hols made FinaHy, when uericault was we'll
enough TO tell his story, Head married him to
bis own' with a secret passage into the cave
which he and Gericault explored thoroughly.
SMUGGLING UNDER THE SEA.
As socn a. possible, communication was had
and rage. Arnaud had the ruins Of the tower as
his own possession, but was Ignorant both Of the
cave and OF his sons fate, At Healds suRges.
firm OF Glyn, Jansen. Gericaut x Head was es-
tablished. The business was that OF smuggling
laces, silks, brandy, tobacco, &c. Glyn bought
and sold In London Jansen bought and sold in
Arras and Lille, In Client and Antwerp Head
and ueiicaut were the sole depositarl les OF the
secret OF the submarine passage, and they did
the smuggling. A. the operation was perfectly
safe. 1t was Immensely profitable.
The secret, its custody always restricted to the
eldest of each house, was well kept. The Heads
always lived quietly In their apparent rank In
NE, but frequently intermarried with the GER.
cauts who, from being provincial mobiles, fell at
the time OF tho revolution into the order OF the
commonalty.
The transit OF the tunnel was made usually In
two days aud n night, and the goods were trans
ported In packs on the backs OF tho cOntem-
porary Gericsult and Head. They only made
twenty or thirty trips year Mt first, but about
the beginning Of this century, wnen smuggling
was unusually profitable, they became more
secret, and added some donkeys TO their trans
port tion service. In this way tho firm grew
rapidly rich. hut, at the same time, tue secret
was nearly lost. The tunnel had never been
used TOR any hut smuggling purposes, but one Of
the younger Gericallts, an ardent royalst ven-
dean. and particularly hostile to Napoleon, on
one occasion took French oficer through II
from England to Franco. Head did not know
this persons name. but shortly after his transit.
the word came to the Heads that the tunnel
was suspected. and tho Gericaults had closed
their end. rho Heads thereupOn closed theirs.
- N N n IN
was then carried on again with more or less ao-
tivitv until the present narrator, Fleetwood
Head. VINO had some time been n member Of
the banking nrm, succeeded BY seniority to the
secret.
His frat and immediate act was to destroy the
Dover entrance to tho tunnel by blowing the
chalk into It with gunpowder, at the same time
notifying the Gericaults that II must no more be
used. Mr.. Head, however, said thit 1t would
be easy to open the tunnel again. lie gave the
secretary chart and profile of 1t, anu explained
all the courses and he rings.
have myself seen small sketch of the pro-
| hle, which resembles somewhat those Of the
Consulted OF The subject, and has taken extreme
interest In II, seems To think It probable that in
that early period when Dover was still united to
Calais, these caves through the chalk were occu-
pied by the cave bears, and perhaps 10y men
also, aud were probably OF much greater extent
than at present. He believes that the assures In
| the chalk will DO found to reacn on the English
side Of the Channel far beyond the Isle Of Wight
ana inland many miles. while on the French
coast they should be traced as far rs the mouth
| OF tho SOmme. He thinks there NAV be found
more than one assure leading nearly II not quite
| be so the construction OF the submarine rail way.
thus shown to be feasible, will be comparatively
OF level aggregate some 900 feat and are in some
| places almos. abrupt. Doubtless the Gsrioauits
and Heads bad much work TO do TO make the
route practicable to their donkeys. The widest
| part Of the tunnel Is said to be over = hundred
| feet horizontally, and nearly AS much IN height.
Its narrowest Is about twelve feet.
SAPoLEoS's KNOWLEDGE or THE TUNNEL
vi 1 have
| communicated TO the French Ministry, they
| were anxious to know II Head could give them
the name OF the French ofncer. and the date OF
| hts transit. This he could not do, but there
were papers to show that he IN ade the passage
| thasar de Gericault. The French Board Of Pub
| lie Works then transmitted to Mr.. Cross q very
| curious dtde-nemoire which bad boon handed to
the Commission by NJ. Pougere- Ciaucin, mem
| Der OF the Assembly from Grsnobls, and who
Is understood to have been tho author of the
| probe lie i0i under which tho Commission was
appointed. The facts upon wnich this docu-
| ment was based had been derived from NJ. Gam
| vats papers oil the Emperor Napoleon Ill, seized
at the time Of Sedan, utter the hignt Of tue IL
The envelope In which these letters were en-
| closed contained All endorsement In the Empe-
ror's own hand Received from Queen Hor.
| tense, who had them from Gen. bertrand.
| Emperor from NJ. Pietrl: "Have thoroughly
examined into this matter. but can md no clue
| Am persuaded that Col. Leblanc lied TO get
| himself employed but his death WAS suspi
cious," On this was endorsed, also in tho En-
| peror's hand, Showed to VI. Schneider. lie
| pronounced II un prdt h0mbotIJF'
| The nrst OF these papers was report TO the
| Emperor Napoleon the First then First Consul
upon the death OF one Col. Leblanc, said to be
| Implicated in the famous conspiracy of Gen
plohegru and George Cadoudal which ended II
| the death Of the Due Enghien Leblanc was
| an emigr6, who had, however. served, like
| Pichegru. ~ Flanders. lie was known to he a
| cOnspirttor with Pichegru. and to have asso
ciatsd with Georges. Arrested In Paris at the
same time with these men, he was tried and
| army. Two days before his intended execution
| he managed To- get scrap OF paper To the First
Consul, on whlcn he mad written: "Six week.
| dry snod. The revelation Of a route for the ia
yason Of Albion ov land Is tue price will pa,
for liberty and pardon"
NAPOLEON CONVINCED.
Leblanc was taken from prison, aud had an In
terview with the First Consul. What he tOlC
| has not transpired; but he certainly must hay,
| convinced Napoleon of the truth Of his story
lie was enlarged, and two days later was assas
| sinated IN the streets OF Paris. man OF TIM
name Of Francois dc Gericault was known L
have been In LeDlancs coinpinv. and was ar
| rested and detained a long whilo on Suspicion
Of completely In hts DEATH but nothinf wa,
ever discovered to connect him with the crime
| aud the fact that lac was secret agent OF this
French Goyssrnment for procuring early inteln
genco from Engltnd weighed IN MS favor.
At the time when Napoleon was at Boulogn,
preparing for the Invasion Of England he wrut,
70 Major Of Engineers chs was also among
the papers). e have proof that smugglers pas
sometimes from SHORE to shore OF the Cnanne
by some underground means. Seek solution
OF the problem, without attracting attention I,
your operations" The engineers report, ais,
accompanying. was to the effect that smuggler
descended tho olln on either shore through
caves, aud then embarked their goods In lncOn
spicuous boats. The Emperor had endorsed OF
TINS, Not satisfactory am sure Leblanc wen
by n tunnel" Another engineer was ordered
under pretence Of Notifications, to excavate tn
chalk In deep trenches from Boulogne to Calais
but this work was suspended by tue Ulm cam
psign, and never resumed.
A note Of Gen. herLrand's, accompanying tn
papers, stated that Leblanc's communicable
was one day the subject Of an after-dinner tall
at 81. Helena, when Napoleon asserted his be
lief In secret passage. which, n II did exist, 81
Dr. Antommarchi contended, must simpy b
from the cliffs OF the Cutentin to tue island o
Alderney. 10 THIS Napoleon said perhaps
However, Keep these papers for my son"
II Is only In the most accidental way that
have cone dpon all these curious circumstance go
which VI course are among the dead secrets o
the Foreign ONCE and the French Ministry.
am not able TO say II any progress IS been mad,
Ia opening the old tunnel aud verifying the dis
clos ures OF Mr.. Fleetwood Head.