|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 20
CHAPTER XXIV
1811
Arrest of La Sahla--My visit to him--His confinement at Vincennes--
Subsequent history of La Sahla--His second journey to France--
Detonating powder--Plot hatched against me by the Prince of Eckmuhl
--Friendly offices of the Due de Rovigo--Bugbears of the police--
Savary, Minister of Police.
I had been in Paris about two months when a young man of the name of La
Sahla was arrested on the suspicion of having come from Saxony to attempt
the life of the Emperor. La Sahla informed the Duo de Rovigo, then
Minister of the Police, that he wished to see me, assigning as a reason
for this the reputation I had left behind me in Germany. The Emperor, I
presume, had no objection to the interview, for I received an invitation
to visit the prisoner. I accordingly repaired to the branch office of
the Minister of the Police, in the Rue des St. Peres, where I was
introduced to a young man between seventeen and eighteen years of age.
My conversation with the young man, whose uncle was, I believe, Minister
to the King of Saxony, interested me greatly in his behalf; I determined,
if possible, to save La Sahla, and I succeeded. I proceeded immediately
to the Duo de Rovigo, and I convinced him that under the circumstances of
the case it was important to make it be believed that the young man was
insane. I observed that if he were brought before a court he would
repeat all that he had stated to me, and probably enter into disclosures
which might instigate fresh attempts at assassination. Perhaps an
avenger of La Sahla might rise up amongst the students of Leipzig, at
which university he had spent his youth. These reasons, together with
others, had the success I hoped for. The Emperor afterwards acknowledged
the prudent course which had been adopted respecting La Sahla; when
speaking at St. Helena of the conspiracies against his life he said,
"I carefully concealed all that I could."
In conformity with my advice La Sahla was sent to Vincennes, where he
remained until the end of March 1814, He was then removed to the castle
of Saumur, from which he was liberated at the beginning of April. I had
heard nothing of him for three years, when one day, shortly after the
Restoration, whilst sitting at breakfast with my family at my house in
the Rue Hauteville, I heard an extraordinary noise in the antechamber,
and before I had time to ascertain its cause I found myself in the arms.
of a young man, who embraced me with extraordinary ardour. It was La
Sahla. He was in a transport of gratitude and joy at his liberation, and
at the accomplishment of the events which he had wished to accelerate by
assassination. La Sahla returned to Saxony and I saw no more of him, but
while I was in Hamburg in 1815, whither I was seat by Louis XVIII., I
learned that on the 5th of June a violent explosion was heard in the
Chamber of Representatives at Paris, which was at first supposed to be a
clap of thunder, but was soon ascertained to have been occasioned by a
young Samson having fallen with a packet of detonating powder in his
pocket.
On receiving this intelligence I imagined, I know not why, that this
young Saxon was La Sahla, and that he had probably intended to blow up
Napoleon and even the Legislative Body; but I have since ascertained that
I was under a mistake as to his intentions. My knowledge of La Sahla's
candour induces me to believe the truth of his declarations to the
police; and if there be any inaccuracies in the report of these
declarations I do not hesitate to attribute them to the police itself,
of which Fouche was the head at the period in question.
It is the latter part of the report which induced me to observe above,
that if there were any inaccuracies in the statement they were more
likely to proceed from Fouche's police than the false representations of
young La Sahla. It is difficult to give credit without proof to such
accusations. However, I decide nothing; but I consider it my duty to
express doubts of the truth of these charges brought against the two
Prussian ministers, of whom the Prince of Wittgenstein, a man of
undoubted honour, has always spoken to me in the best of terms.
There is nothing to prove that La Sahla returned to France the second
time with the same intentions as before. This project, however, is a
mystery to me, and his detonating powder gives rise to many conjectures.
I had scarcely left Hamburg when the Prince of Eckmuhl (Marshal Davoust)
was appointed Governor-General of that place on the union of the Hanse
Towns with the Empire. From that period I was constantly occupied in
contending against the persecutions and denunciations which he racked his
imagination to invent. I cannot help attributing to those persecutions
the Emperor's coolness towards me on my arrival in Paris. But as
Davoust's calumnies were devoid of proof, he resorted to a scheme by
which a certain appearance of probability might supply the place of
truth. When I arrived in Paris, at the commencement of 1811, I was
informed by an excellent friend I had left at Hamburg, M. Bouvier, an
emigrant, and one of the hostages of Louis XVI., that in a few days I
would receive a letter which would commit me, and likewise M. de
Talleyrand and General Rapp. I had never had any connection on matters
of business, with either of these individuals, for whom I entertained the
most sincere attachment. They, like myself, were not in the good graces
of Marshal Davoust, who could not pardon the one for his incontestable
superiority of talent, and the other for his blunt honesty. On the
receipt of M. Bouvier's letter I carried it to the Due de Rovigo, whose
situation made him perfectly aware of the intrigues which had been
carried on against me since I had left Hamburg by one whose ambition
aspired to the Viceroyalty of Poland. On that, as on many other similar
occasions, the Duc de Rovigo advocated my cause with Napoleon. We agreed
that it would be best to await the arrival of the letter which M. Bouvier
had announced. Three weeks elapsed, and the letter did not appear. The
Duc de Rovigo, therefore, told me that I must have been misinformed.
However, I was certain that M. Bouvier would not have sent me the
information on slight grounds, and I therefore supposed that the project
had only been delayed. I was not wrong in my conjecture, for at length
the letter arrived. To what a depth of infamy men can descend! The.
letter was from a man whom I had known at Hamburg, whom I had obliged,
whom I had employed as a spy. His epistle was a miracle of impudence.
After relating some extraordinary transactions which he said had taken
place between us, and which all bore the stamp of falsehood, he requested
me to send him by return of post the sum of 60,000 francs on account of
what I had promised him for some business he executed in England by the
direction of M. de Talleyrand, General Rapp, and myself. Such miserable
wretches are often caught in the snares they spread for others. This was
the case in the present instance, for the fellow had committed, the
blunder of fixing upon the year 1802 as the period of this pretended
business in England, that is to say, two years before my appointment as
Minister-Plenipotentiary to the Hanse Towns. This anachronism was not
the only one I discovered in the letter.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|