ENGHIEN ENIGMA. 



863 



this mystery. Individuals have accused each other ; 

 but (according to the words of Louis Bonaparte, 

 count de St Leu, in his Reponse) cette affaire est loin 

 d'etre eclaircie. Count Hullin accuses Savary of 

 the haste, and himself of the irregularity of the pro- 

 cess, pleading ignorance respecting the forms of 

 courts-martial. Savary accuses Talleyrand, most 

 positively, of the whole crime, and, it cannot be 

 denied, makes it plausible. His motive is said to 

 have been to precipitate the first consul into an act 

 which should stain him with Bourbon blood (with 

 which Talleyrand and many others were themselves 

 stained), so as to prevent him from becoming a 

 second Monk, and restoring the Bourbons, which, of 

 course, would have ruined Talleyrand. Talleyrand, 

 on the other hand, defended himself in a letter to 

 Louis XVIII., on this subject, with which the king 

 was fully satisfied. History, we trust, will eventually 

 fix the guilt on the name to which it belongs. 



As for Napoleon, we cannot but believe that he 

 actually considered the duke of Enghien guilty of hav- 

 ing plotted against France (he could not imagine him 

 so insane as to live on the frontier of France without an 

 object); probably, also, of having been concerned hi, 

 or at least acquainted with, the conspiracies of 

 Georges, &c. at Paris ; that he therefore believed the 

 duke might be sentenced to death by the court-martial; 

 but, at all events, intended to pardon him, (for such 

 a pardon would not only have accorded with Napo- 

 leon's disposition, but have been serviceable to his 

 politics : he wanted peace); that, however, others, 

 either from a criminal desire to please the first con- 

 sul, and acting under, the supposition that he wished 

 the duke's death, or from some other motive, hast- 

 ened the execution ; that Bonaparte, justly, was 

 then unwilling to have it supposed that such an act 

 could be committed against his will, as he was just 

 forming a government, and establishing order in its 

 'different departments, and the belief in his power 

 was indispensable ; and that he finally thought it 

 beneath his dignity to accuse his servants, on his 

 death-bed, preferring to take the odium upon himself, 

 pleading in excuse the emergency of the times, rather 

 than to throw it upon others, who could not plead 

 this excuse, and who, probably, would find means 

 to exculpate themselves after his death ; particularly, 

 as the chief accusation would probably have been 

 against Talleyrand, who had just betrayed him, so 

 that a charge then preferred might have looked like 

 dn act of revenge. As to the illegality of arresting 

 a person on the territory of another and friendly 

 power, the first consul must have thought himself 

 sufficiently excused by the plots constantly detected 

 against his life, and the immense danger in which he 

 himself and the peace of France were placed. 

 " This was a matter," says Napoleon at St Helena, 

 " between the French government and that of 

 Baden."* 



* A singular example of an arrest, attended with circum- 

 stances of the same illegality which marked that of the 

 duke, some time since took place in Germany. During the 

 prosecutions against the liberals in that country, the Prus- 

 ian government wished to secure the person of M. Cousin, 

 ttie distinguished French metaphysician then in Saxony 

 (1824), and Prussian officers were sent into Saxony to 

 arrest him. This was in a time of profound peace, when 

 the government and its chief were in no danger. 



We will only observe, In conclusion, that the per- 

 son who was supposed to be the duke of Enghien, 

 and to visit Georges at Paris, was Pichegru. The 

 consequences of the death of the young prince were 

 not favourable for Napoleon, except, perhaps, that it 

 struck the conspirators with fear, and may thus have 

 prevented some new conspiracies. But in France, 

 where the prince was respected for bravery, all 

 classes were afflicted, and the friends of the first con- 

 sul not the least ; for he had arrived at, and thus far 

 maintained, his high station without shedding blood, 

 so that people had begun to feel secure, and now, all 

 the former apprehensions were awakened. Foreign 

 courts generally showed great reserve on this occa- 

 sion, except those of Russia, and Britain ; but the 

 higher classes, who were essentially opposed to a 

 revolution, the chief trait of which was opposition to 

 the feudal system, exclaimed loudly against it. The 

 court of St Petersburg went into mourning, and made 

 the duke's death a point of diplomatic discussion. 

 The execution of the duke of Enghien was a fruitful 

 source of libels and falsehoods against Napoleon, 

 repeated so often, that the opinion of many is still 

 influenced by them ; and we have given so much 

 space to the consideration of the subject, from its 

 important bearing on the history of Napoleon. After 

 the restoration of the Bourbons, a monument was 

 erected to the memory of the unfortunate prince in 

 the chapel of Vincennes, by the king of France and 

 the chambers. 



naon respecng e voaon o e terrtory o e eec 

 of Baden after the arrest ; some Letters published by the du 

 of Dalberg, minister from the court of Baden to the Fren 



ENGIA ; an island near the coast of the Morea, 

 in a gulf to which it gives name ; anciently called 

 Egina (q. v.), JEnone and Myrmidonia; about 30 

 miles in circumference, but rendered by rocks nearly 

 inaccessible, except on the N. W. It has no harbours, 

 and but one town, which contains about 800 inhabi- 

 tants. In it are seen the remains of a temple dedi- 

 cated to Venus, and another dedicated to Jupiter, 

 25 miles S. S. W. Athens Ion. 23 35' E. ; lat. 

 37 42' N. 



ENGIA, GULF OF (anciently Saronic Gulf) ; a 

 gulf on S. E. coast of European Turkey, so called 

 from the island situated m it ; about sixty miles in 

 length from N. W. to S. E., and twenty-five in 

 breadth, at the mouth. 



ENIGMA. See ^Enigma. 



END OF VOLUME SECOND. 



