Had the Duc d’Enghien kept himself aloof from conspirators, and been willing to recognize the facts he would never have been molested.  He took the risk of co-operating with desperate men, and paid the penalty by being shot on the 24th March, 1804, at 6.0 a.m., at Vincennes.  Had the ruler of any state in Europe carried out a death-sentence for the same reason and under the same circumstances, it would have been regarded as well-merited punishment, and the Press would have preached the gospel of warning to evil doers.  But with Napoleon it was different.  He was an interloper who had nothing in common with the galaxy of monarchs who ruled Europe at that time.  Subsequently they licked his boots, not for love, but through fear.  The shooting of the Duc was a fine opportunity for his enemies.  They sedulously nursed the Press, published books and pamphlets in every language, and employed the most poisoned pen that could be bought to portray the future ruler of kings in terms of obloquy.  The performance of the scribes who direct the pen, which is said to be mightier than the sword, is enough to kill any one with a real sense of humour.  Some of the literary productions which were to send the greatest of living men off the face of the earth are quite grotesque in their feminine, shrill advocacy of force towards the “eater of pigs”; the “Anti-Christ”; and the murderer of a kindly-disposed gentleman who was on an innocent visit to the frontier of France for the purpose of negotiating a few private matters that had no political significance; what if he were one of the leaders of a band of fine, desperate fellows who had combined, and sworn to rid France of the Usurper, even at the risk of death!  This being their aim and heroic determination, they had no ground of complaint if the iron hand which ruled the country took measures to prevent them from carrying out their beneficent intentions.  Of course, I give the sense and not the actual words of the gallant writers of that time who, with a glare in their lion eye (judging from the style of their vapourings), thought that Napoleon could never survive so vigorous a stream of invective!  What loose fabrications have been scattered over the earth about this regrettable incident, and what abominable cant has been sent forth extolling the virtues of men like the unfortunate Duc, who put the law at defiance by secretly carrying out a purpose that he knew was pregnant with danger to himself!

Let us contrast, if we can, the Duc d’Enghien’s reckless gamble, the consequences of which have been used so consistently to blacken the fame of the Emperor Napoleon, with Nelson’s connection with the hanging of the rebel prince Carraciolli; of the latter little has been said, though the shooting of the Duc seems to have been more justifiable than the hanging of the prince, who was an old man.  Both were tried and condemned to death by men who, it is said, were prejudiced against them.  Nelson could have saved the aged Admiral had his heart been free from