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Page 19
CHAPTER XXIII.
1804.
General Ordener's mission--Arrest of the Due d'Enghien--Horrible
night-scene---Harrel's account of the death of the Prince--Order for
digging the grave--The foster-sister of the Duo d'Enghien--Reading
the sentence--The lantern--General Savary--The faithful dog and the
police--My visit to Malmaison--Josephine's grief--
The Duc d'Enghien's portrait and lock of hair--Savary's emotion--
M. de Chateaubriand's resignation--M. de Chatenubriand's connection
with Bonaparte--Madame Bacciocchi and M. de Fontanes--Cardinal Fesch
--Dedication of the second edition of the 'Genie du Christianisme'
--M. de Chateaubriand's visit to the First Consul on the morning of
the Due d'Enghien's death--Consequences of the Duo d'Enghien's
death--Change of opinion in the provinces--The Gentry of the
Chateaus--Effect of the Due d'Enghien's death on foreign Courts--
Remarkable words of Mr. Pitt--Louis XVIII. sends back the insignia
of the Golden Fleece to the King of Spain.
I will now narrate more fully the sanguinary scene which took place at
Vincennes. General Ordener, commanding the mounted grenadiers of the
Guard, received orders from the War Minister to proceed to the Rhine, to
give instructions to the chiefs of the gendarmerie of New Brissac, which
was placed at his disposal. General Ordener sent a detachment of
gendarmerie to Ettenheim, where the Due d'Enghien was arrested on the
15th of March. He was immediately conducted to the citadel of Strasburg,
where he remained till the 18th, to give time for the arrival of orders
from Paris. These orders were given rapidly, and executed promptly, for
the carriage which conveyed the unfortunate Prince arrived at the barrier
at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 20th, where it remained for five
hours, and afterwards proceeded by the exterior boulevards on the road to
Vincennes, where it arrived at night. Every scene of this horrible drama
was acted under the veil of night: the sun did not even shine upon its
tragical close. The soldiers received orders to proceed to Vincennes at
night. It was at night that the fatal gates of the fortress were closed
upon the Prince. At night the Council assembled and tried him, or rather
condemned him without trial. When the clock struck six in the morning
the orders were given to fire, and the Prince ceased to exist.
Here a reflection occurs to me. Supposing one were inclined to admit
that the Council held on the 10th of March had some connection with the
Due d'Enghien's arrest, yet as no Council was held from the time of the
Duke's arrival at the barrier to the moment of his execution, it could
only be Bonaparte himself who issued the orders which were too punctually
obeyed. When the dreadful intelligence of the Duc d'Enghien's death was
spread in Paris it excited a feeling of consternation which recalled the
recollection of the Reign of Terror. Could Bonaparte have seen the gloom
which pervaded Paris, and compared it with the joy which prevailed on the
day when he returned victorious from the field of Marengo, he would have
felt that he had tarnished his glory by a stain which could never be
effaced.
About half-past twelve on the 22d of March I was informed that some one
wished to speak with me. It was Harrel.
--[Harrel, who had been unemployed till the plot of Arena and
Ceracchi on the 18th Vendemiairean IX (10th October 1800) which he
had feigned to join, and had then revealed to the police (see ante),
had been made Governor of Vincennes.]--
I will relate word for word what he communicated to me. Harrel probably
thought that he was bound in gratitude to acquaint me with these details;
but he owed me no gratitude, for it was much against my will that he had
encouraged the conspiracy of Ceracchi, and received the reward of his
treachery in that crime. The following is Harrel's statement:--
"On the evening of the day before yesterday, when the Prince arrived,
I was asked whether I had a room to lodge a prisoner in; I replied, No--
that there were only my apartments and the Council-chamber. I was told
to prepare instantly a room in which a prisoner could sleep who was to
arrive that evening. I was also desired to dig a pit in the courtyard.
--[This fact must be noted. Harrel is told to dig a trench before
the sentence. Thus it was known that they had come to kill the Duc
d'Enghien. How can this be answered? Can it possibly be supposed
that anyone, whoever it was, would have dared to give each an order
in anticipation if the order had not been the carrying out of a
formal command of Bonaparte? That is incredible.--Bourrienne.]--
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