Year: 1863




which has attracted more attention than the
execution of the Duke d 'Enghein. The facts,
as admitted by all parties, are as follows =
The Bourbons and their partisans were get
ting up innumerable plots for the assassina
ton OF Napoleon. The leading conspirators
were lowering upon the frontiers of France,
where they held interviews with the assassins
in France, and occasionally, secretly and by
night, crossed the line to confer with them.
The Duke d'Enghein, one of the princess of
Conde, had left France, and had joined the
Prussian army to march upon Paris. 1t was
one of the laws of France that any French
man who should join foreign army, drawing
the sword against his own country, was to be
adjudgdd traitor, to suffer the penalty of
death. The duke committed this crime, and
if arrested was legally exposed to the penal
ty.


He was residing at Ettenheim, near Stras-
burg. There was the strongest evidence that
he was actively engaged in these conspiracies
for the assassination of the First Consul, and
was busy on the frontier fomenting them. 1t
was known that he frequently, in disguise,
visited Strasburg, by night, and returned to
Ettenheim before the morning light. He was
in the pay of the British Government, in its
war of the coalition against republican
France, and was on the Rhine, avowedly to
seize upon the first opportunity to invade his
native land. This was, according to univer-
sal admission, high treason.


The circumstantial evidence was almost de-
monstrative, that in addition to the crime of
high treason, he was also an accomplice with
murderers. Napoleon had so much sympathy
with the ruin of the Bonrbon princess, that he
had no wish to trouble them, if they would
leave France in peace. Though it was cap
ital offense for Frenchman to serve against
France, Napoleon would not have enforced
this law had he not believed that the duke
was implicated in ccnspiracies against his
life, and that it was necessary, in order 20 Sc
cure himselffrom assassination, to strike terror
into the hearts of the Bourbons There was
no difficulty in proving that the duke was
guilty of high treason. That no one could
deny. The evidence that he was in compli-
city with assassins, though very strong, was
only circumstantial. A very atrocious conspi-
racy had just been discovered, in which Ma
poleon's life had been exposed to the utmost
hazard. A council was called to decide W hat
should be done. The ministers were divided
in opinion. Some urged sending secret
fo ce to arrest the duke, with his accomplices,
and bring them to Paris. But as the duke
was in Germany, this could not be done with
out violating neutral territory. Cambaceres,
apprehensve of the effect which such vio-
lation would produce in Europe, opposed the
measure. Napoleon replied, kindly:


g know your motive for speaking thus
your devotion to me. | thank you for it. But
| will not allow myself to be pat to death
without resistance. Imust make these peo-
pie tremble, and teach them that my blood is
not ditch WATER


Three hundred dragons were sent to dash
across the Rhine, upon Ettenheim, and seize
the prince, with his retinue, and convey them
to Strasburg. At the same time Caulaincourt
was sent to the Grand Duke of Baden. with
an apology for this violation of his territory
The Grand Duke expressed himself satisfied.
The Duke d'Enghein was arrested in his bed,
placed in a carriage, and conveyed with the
utmost speed to Strasburg. and thence to the
castle of Vincennes, near Paris. A military
commission was formed, in accordance with
established law, composed of the colonels of
the garrison, with Gen. Hulin as President.
The duke was brought before the commission
and accused of high treason, in endeavoring
to excite civil war, and in bearing arms
against France. Defantly he declared that
he had borne arms against France, and that
he was on the Rhine for that purpose only.


81 esteem" said he, General Bonaparte
as a great man but being myself a prince of
the house of Bourbon, have vowed against
him eternal hatred. A Conde can never re-
enter France but with arms in his hands. My
birth, my opinions render me forever the en-
emy of your government"


The prince wished for personal interview
with Napoleon, but the Court refused his re-
quest. If the request had been granted, it
would doubtless have saved his life. Napo-
leon had sent from Paris friend, NJ. Real, in
whose prudence he reposed great confidence,
to examine the prisoner. Had he arrived in
season 10 see the duke, his life would proba-
bly, have been saved, for he would have been
pardoned for his treason had it not been sup
posed that he was also guilty of attempts at
assassination. In consequence of sickness,
NJ Real did not reach Vincennes until itwas
too late.


As the duke was clearly proved guilty of
treason, the court sadly pronounced sentence
of death, and, in accordance with the custom
of the times, he was almost Immediately led
out to execution. By torchlight he was con-
Quoted down the winding staircase of the
castle into dry ditch Of the chateau. There
he saw, through the gray mist of the morn
ing, file of soldiers drawn up for his execu-
ton. This was the emphatic testimony that
his last hour had come. Calmly be took OH
lock of his hair, and taking his watch from
his pocket, requested an officer TO solicit Jo-
sephine to present these tokens of his love to
the Princess de Rohan, lady to whom he
was engaged to be married. Then turning to
the soldiers, he said, with great composure
and dignity, 9 die for my king and for
France" Giving, himself, the word of COM
mani to fire, he fell. instantly dead, pierced
by four balls.


There are many indications that Napoleon
deplored this tragical fate of the prince. He
afterwards said that it was his intention to
have had him condemned for treason and then
to have pardoned him. Still, when the legal
execution of a condemned traitor was denounc-
ed as murder, Napoleon assumed the whole
responsibility ofthe transaction upon himself.
writing, at St. Helena, in his last will and
testament:


81 arrested the Duke d'Enghein because
that measure was necessary to the security,