288 
Offensive and Defensive [May, 
stated that a hundred furious Jacobins — the real authors of 
the scene of September, the ioth August, &c— had resolved 
to get rid of the First Consul, for which purpose they in- 
vented a 15- or 16-pound howitzer (sic) [howitzer-shell ?] , 
which on being thrown into the carriage would explode by 
its own concussion, and hurl destruction on every side. To 
make sure of their object they proposed to lay chevaux de 
frise along a part of the road, which, by suddenly impeding 
the horses, would of course render it impossible for the 
carriage to move on. The man who was employed to lay 
down the chevaux de frise , entertaining some suspicions of 
the job which he had been set upon, as well as. of the mo- 
rality of his employers, communicated the business to the 
police. The conspirators were soon traced, and were appre- 
hended near the Jardin des Plantes, in the act of trying the 
effect of the machine, which made a terrible explosion. The 
First Consul, whose policy it was not to divulge the nume- 
rous conspiracies of which he was the object, did not give 
publicity to this, but contented himself with imprisoning the 
criminals. He soon relaxed his orders for keeping them in 
close confinement, and they were allowed a certain degree 
of liberty. In the same prison in which these Jacobins were 
confined some Royalists were also imprisoned for an attempt 
to assassinate the First Consul, by means of air-guns. 
These two parties formed a league together ; and the 
Royalists transmitted to their friends out of prison the idea 
of the infernal machine, as being preferable to any other 
plan of destruction. 
It is very remarkable that, on the evening of the catas- 
trophe, the Emperor expressed an extreme repugnance to go 
out. Madame Buonaparte and some intimate friends abso- 
lutely forced him to go to an oratorio. They roused him 
from a sofa where he was fast asleep ; one fetched his sword, 
and another his hat. As he drove along in his carriage he 
fell asleep again, and awoke suddenly, saying that he had 
dreamed he was drowning in the Tagliamento.. (To explain 
what he alluded to it is necessary to mention that some 
years previously, when he was General of the Army of Italy, 
he passed the Tagliamento in his carriage, during the night, 
contrary to the advice of everyone about him. In the ardour 
of youth, and heedless of every obstacle, he crossed the 
river, surrounded by a hundred men armed with poles and 
torches. His carriage was, however, soon set afloat ; Napo- 
leon incurred the most imminent danger, and for some 
minutes gave himself up for lost.) At the moment when he 
now awoke, on his way to the oratorio, he was in the midst 
