588 P A K 
was executed with peculiar fecility, and at the decifive 
moment; for M. Barbe Marbois, after feveral requefts, 
was reluctantly obliged to fend, on the evening of the 
day before, to his majefty’s attorney-general, the papers 
which palled through his hands from the court of cafl'a- 
tion. It was even rumoured that he, in fome degree, 
committed himfelf, by keeping thofe important docu¬ 
ments two days longer in his poffeffion than the law au- 
thorifes. The attorney-general, had he received thefe 
papers before, mull have done his duty immediately, and 
Lavalette would have been no more. 
It is necelfary here to obferve, that the king of Bavaria 
on hearing of the convi&ion of Count Lavalette, to whom 
he was nearly related, demanded, through his minilter, 
his full and entire acquittal, in virtue of the 12th article 
of the Convention of the 3d of July, which guaranteed 
the lives and property of all thofe who had taken any part 
in the revolution. This pofitive and well-timed demand 
ftaggered not only the French minifters, but the king 
himfelf; nay, it ftaggered even the duke of Wellington, 
who made that convention. The faCt is, that the duke, 
in that very a£t, folemnly guaranteed the lives and pro¬ 
perties of the individuals in queftion ; and, in his letter 
to marftial Ney, it is plain that he ftirunk from his duty 
in maintaining them. The trials of thefe men was a mere 
farce ; for their condemnation was previoufty determined 
upon by the king and his minifters. In the trial of Ney, 
whenever his advocate urged a point of law in his favour, 
he was hifled and coughed down; and the prefident of 
the chamber of peers, who was a violent ultra-royalift, 
authoritatively difmifled, but without attempting to find 
even the ftiadow of an argument, theimportant plea which 
refulted from the 12th article of the capitulation of Paris, 
although the chief of Davouft’s ftaff fwears, that “his 
orders were to break off the conferences, had a refufal 
of it been made.” The French attorney-general, how¬ 
ever, objected to the article, as being “ the work of fo¬ 
reigners,” when, at the fame time, he mult have known, 
that, had it not been for “ the work of foreigners," his 
mafter would not then have been in the Tuileries. 
The circumftances we have mentioned being combined 
together, namely, the proteft of the king of Bavaria, and 
the detention of the papers, &c. caufed it at firft to be 
very generally furmifed that the king, or at leaft fome of 
his minifters, had connived at the efcape of this culprit. 
But it has fince been difcovered that he was affifted in his 
plans by three Englilh gentlemen of fome diftinCtion : 
Sir Robert Wilfon, who, as a foldier and a writer, had 
ftrongly manifefted his antipathy to Bonaparte; Capt. 
Hutchinfon, of the guards, nephew to lords Hutchinfon 
and Donoughmore ; and Mr. Bruce, fon of Crawford 
Bruce, efq. banker. 
Thefe gentlemen were acquainted with the intended 
efcape of Lavalette, and took meafures to conceal him. 
Mr. Bruce procured the meafure of his perfon, which 
Hutchinfon tranfmitted to a French tailor, informing 
him that it was for an Englilh general who had already 
left Paris, but wifhed the clothes to be fent after him 
without delay. On the 7th of January, 1816, in the even¬ 
ing, all matters being previoufty arranged, Bruce and 
Wilfon met at Hutchinfon’s rooms, under pretence of 
taking a bottle together. Between feven and eight 
o’clock, Lavalette was brought thither by a Frenchman. 
He leemed at firft in great emotion, and was fo dilguifed 
that they did not know him. However, he was foon dif- 
embarralfed of his mafquerade drefs, furnilhed with a pair 
of piftols, and left to the care of Bruce for that night. 
The next morning, at half-paft fix, Sir Robert Wilfon 
was at Hutchinfon’s door with a cabriolet and two faddle- 
horfes, as if he was going to infpeCl: fome troops at a dif- 
tance from the capital. Bruce and Lavalette entered the 
cabriolet. Sir Robert and Hutchinfon rode near it, oc- 
cafionally convening with the perfons within, one of 
whom, of courfe, contrived to keep his features concealed. 
On one occasion, they changed horfes in the prefence of 
I s. 
four gensdarmes, whofe fufpicions were lulled by telling 
them the party were going to look out cantonments for 
a divifion of the Englilh army. When they reached Com- 
peigne, they found a ferjeant ready to condufl them to 
the aide-de-camp’s lodgings, where they took fome re- 
frelhment, the latter having unfufpicioufly fent a note 
beforehand for that purpofe. They met with no obftacle 
whatever, except at Cambray, where they were detained 
three hours at the gates. On their progrefs to Valen¬ 
ciennes, they were three times examined, and their pair- 
ports carried to the refpeftive commandants. They made 
noltop until they had crofted the Meufe, when they dined, 
and made arrangements for the ulterior deftination of 
Lavalette ; and, having taken leave of him, returned by 
Maubeuge and the Porte St. Martin. 
On the return of Sir Robert Wilfon and his companions 
to Paris, they were arrefted in their beds early in the 
morning of the 13th of January, by an order from the 
minifter of police, and carried to the prefefture, and 
from thence to the prifon of the Abbaye, where they were 
confined in feparate apartments. They demanded to be 
admitted to bail ; but that was refufed. After various 
examinations and confiderable delays, they were brought 
to trial before the aflife-court of the department of the 
Seine ; together with Jacques Eberle, turnkey of the 
houfe of juftice ; Jean Baptifte Roquette de Kerguifec, 
head-gaoler of the fame prifon ; Guerin, alias Marengo, 
Mad. Lavalette’s chairman ; and Benoit Bonneville, valet 
of M. Lavalette ; charged refpeftively with having taken 
a part, more or lefs direft, in the efcape of Lavalette. 
On the fafts charged againft the accufed, after their 
frank avowals, corroborated by the fulleft proof, docu¬ 
mentary and parole, no poflible doubt could remain : 
and, at half-paft five in the afternoon of the next day, 
the jury delivered their verdift into court. It was read 
by their foreman, and contained an acquittal of all the 
Frenchmen, except the turnkey, Eberle, who, as well 
as Sir Robert Wilfon, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Hutchinfon, 
were found guilty. The prefident then proceeded to 
read the penal code, applicable to the convicted perfons. 
Eberle was fentenced to two year’s imprifonment. The 
article applicable to Sir Robert Wilfon, and his friends, 
prefcribes imprifonment for a term not exceeding two 
years, nor lefs than three months, at the difcretion of the 
judge ; and the prefident, without hefitation, pronounced 
for the fhorteft allowable period. 
The French government were not deterred by the de¬ 
fence which was made founded on the 12th article of the 
Convention of Paris, from profecuting and bringing other 
generals to trial, many of whom were condemned and 
fhot. Thefe mealiires, however, created general diffatis- 
faftion throughout the kingdom. At Lyons, this fpirit 
a&ually burft forth about the end of January 1816, in 
which generals Meunier and Lagrange were implicated. 
This attempt againft the government, however, failed; 
the former was killed, and the latter afterwards fecured 
a few leagues from the city. An infurreftion of a more 
alarming nature took place at Grenoble, in May. This 
city is fituated to the fouth-eaft of Lyons, and was the 
firft great town that opened its gates to Bonaparte on his 
march, after landing from Elba. An attempt was made 
to take it by furprife, on the night between the4th and 5th 
of May. The infurgents at firft met with fome fuccefs; 
but they were at length defeated with the lofs of about 
200 killed, wounded, and taken prifoners. Their force 
amounted to nearly 2000 men ; and, as they confifted 
chiefly of half-pay officers and difbanded foldiers, they 
made a moft defperate refiftance to the troops oppofed to 
them. This confpiracy was of a very general charafter, and 
its ramifications extended totheremoteftpartsof thecoun- 
try. Of thofe taken prifoners in this affair, thirty-eight 
were tried on the 9th of May, and fourteen fliot on the 
following day. Didier, the leader, was fubfequently fe¬ 
cured, tried, and executed. Anotherfet ofconfpirators 
were difcovered at Paris, twenty-eight of whom were ar- 
6 refted 
