Litchfield enquirer., 1880-05-13
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| ATTEMPTS so AssAssINATE LOUIS NAPOLEON. It was in 1852 that this sovereign's life was | tried for the first time; and another attempt l was made upon it by Radical shoemaker in
 1853. This ear-1853-was prolific in regici-
 dal outrages. for a traitor called Libenyi tried
 in February to murder the Emperor Francis Joseph at Vienna, while in March a soldier
 sought to dispose of the reigning Duke of Par
 ma, Charles III. Three years passed now | without any more crimes of this sort ; but in | 1856 Napoleon III. was twice put in peril of I his life, both his aggressors (Pianori and Bell
 amare) being Italians It is said that after
 the attempt of Beilamare the Emperor took to
 wearing shirt of mail under his linen It 1 was not, however, until after the fearful en- | terprise of Orsini, on Jan. IA, 1859 that he l got to be so seriously uGnerved as to live in constant dread of assassination. Count Felice | Orsini was not a mere vulgar fanatic, but a l gentleman by birth. education, and fortune.
 An ardent patriot, and partisan of the unif-
 cation of Italy, his grudge against Napoleon | ILL was that the latter, when political refu-
 gee in Italy, had joined Free Masonic lodge,
 and sworn certain oaths which, by an by, as
 Emperor, he had neglected to fulfil, princi-
 pally as regards Rome. Orsini was furious at
 seeing the temporal power of the Pope main-
 tained by French garrison of 18,OOO men and two years before attempting NapoleOn's | life he wrote anonymously to warn him that
 the Carbonaro lodges had decreed his deatl, | and that the sentence Would infallibly | be carried out if the imperial policy | toward Italy were not altered. Had Count | Orsinis ccomplices-Pierri, Rudio and Go- | mex-been men of his mettle and determi- 1 nation, the attempt against Napoleon on the
 night of Jan. IA, 1858. must have been crown | ed with success but they were poor, ignorant cravens, who did their work for pay, not from | conviction, and their hearts failed them at the | critical moment. Each of them had been pro- | vided with two explosive shells, which were 1 to be thrown under the Emperor's carriage as | it drove to the opera. Orsini threw his two | shells, and Pierri one; but the other two men
 ran of in fright when they heard the first | explosion. The damage done by the shells | was ghastlY. Five people were killed out | right, and nine wounded all the soldiers of | the mounted escort were bruised or scratched;
 the Emperor's coachman fell off his box | stunned on to the carcas of one of his horses
 who lay dead and one of the footmen was
 blown 20 yards of, with his skull battered in.
 Meanwhile, hundreds of panes of glass in the
 street had been smashed, all the gas-lamps | were extinguished, and in the darkness there
 resounded an appalling tumult of plugging | horses and shrieking women. Lanterns and
 torches had to be brought out of the opera, and | then it was seen that the imperial coach was
 complete wreck. How the Emperor and Elm
 press managed to escape, with not so much as
 a single hair or cut finger, IS nothing short | least by what had happened, the Empress said
 to the Emperor, "We must go into the house
 to show them we are not afraid" and lew l minutes later the entry of the imperial 1 couple into their box became the signal for q
 magnificent ovation, all the spectators rising
 en masse and cheering to the echo. Neverthe-
 less from this time -Napolean III. was an
 altered man. In the following year he under
 took the war against Austria for the liberation
 of Italy, and ever afterward he went in fear of l his life. Not towards fear for he was a
 thoroughly bravesman, but fear which the l French call Cr0i1lte rGiSonnee He expected | to be murdered and took the minutest precau- | tions to insure that the Government should be | carried on by strong regency in case of his
 demise. He never went out without leaving | directions as to where the latest copy of his
 will was to be found and at times, when ne | was in low spirits, he used to say that be had l dreamed he should be assassinatcd within
 such and such a time. During the remainder
 of his reign all Italians visiting France were required to exhibit passports and II not per-
 sons of undoubted responsibility, were closely | watched till an excuse was found for eXpelling | them from the country. In despite of these
 precautions Napoleon's life was again at-
 tempted, by an Italian, in 1868, while in 1866
 three other intriguers of Orsinis interesting
 country-Greco, Trabuca, and Imperatore-
 entered into murderous plot against his life,
 which was happily nipped in the bud by the
 Police. There is said to have been another
 and more mysterious attempt agalnst the Em-
 peror, of which the public heard nothing ex-
 cept by rumor. A gamekeeper, of the forest
 of Compiegne, shot at his Majesty while the
 latter was engaged in a ph esant bGttate but one of the equerries in attendance on Napo- | loOp Hical rUoH hOth the hQrrpIQ Of his Drppcll- loader into the head of the murderer and kill
 ed him on the spot So the story runs; but
 whether it be true'o or not will probably
 never be known till some of the secret me.
 mors of the imperial era come to light.-The
 C0rnhU Magazine.
 The story is told of Emile de Girardin' that,
 coming out of his house the other morning, he
 saw his servant getting soap, brush and water | raadu fn affnca ttEmiln de Girardin is A thief :"