x88o.] Torpedo War . a8g 
of a conflagration, the carriage was lifted up, and the passage 
of the Tagliamento came fresh upon his mind. The illusion, 
however, was but momentary ; a dreadful explosion imme- 
diately ensued. “ We are blown up !” exclaimed the First 
Consul to Lannes and Bessieres, who were in the carriage 
with him. They were for stopping the carriage, but the 
First Consul enjoined them not to do it on any account. 
He arrived safe, and appeared at the Opera as though 
nothing had happened. He was preserved by the desperate 
driving of his coachman. The machine injured only one or 
two individuals who closed the escort. 
The most trivial circumstances often lead to the most 
important results. The coachman was intoxicated, and 
there is no doubt that this proved the means of saving the 
life of the First Consul. The man’s intoxication was so 
great that it was not until next morning he could be made to 
comprehend what had happened. He had taken the explo- 
sion for the firing of a salute. Immediately after this event 
measures were adopted against the Jacobins who had been 
convicted of meditating the crime, and a considerable number 
were banished. They, however, were not the real criminals, 
whose discovery was brought about by another very singular 
chance. Three or four hundred drivers of fiacres subscribed 
a louis or twelve francs each, to give a dinner to the First 
Consul’s coachman, who had become the hero of the day 
and the boast of his profession. During the feast one of the 
guests, drinking to the health of the First Consul’s coach- 
man, observed that he knew who had played him the trick, 
—alluding to the explosion of the machine. He was imme- 
diately arrested ; and it appeared that on the very night, or 
the night preceding the explosion, he had drawn up his fiacre 
beside a gate, whence had issued a little cart that had done 
all the mischief. The police proceeded to the place, and it 
was found to be a coach-yard, where all kinds of vehicles 
were lent on hire. The keepers of the yard did not deny the 
fact ; they pointed out the stall in which the cart stood : it 
still presented traces of gunpowder. The proprietors de- 
clared that they were given to understand the cart had been 
hired by some Bretons who were concerned in smuggling. 
The man who had sold the horse, together with every indi- 
vidual who had participated in the affair, were easily traced 
out, and it was proved that the plot had been formed by 
some Chouan Royalists. Some aCtive and intelligent men 
were despatched to their head-quarters in Morbiham They 
took no pains to conceal their share in the transaction, and 
only regretted that it had not succeeded. Some of them 
