Pichegru betrayed—­His arrest—­His conduct to his old aide de camp—­ Account of Pichegru’s family, and his education at Brienne—­ Permission to visit M. Carbonnet—­The prisoners in the Temple—­ Absurd application of the word “brigand”—­Moreau and the state of public opinion respecting him—­Pichegru’s firmness—­Pichegru strangled in prison—­Public opinion at the time—­Report on the death of Pichegru.

I shall now proceed to relate what I knew at the time and what I have since learnt of the different phases of the trial of Georges, Pichegru, Moreau and the other persons accused of conspiracy,—­a trial to all the proceedings of which I closely attended.  From those proceedings I was convinced that Moreau was no conspirator, but at the same time I must confess that it is very probable the First Consul might believe that he had been engaged in the plot, and I am also of opinion that the real conspirators believed Moreau to be their accomplice and their chief; for the object of the machinations of the police agents was to create a foundation for such a belief, it being important to the success of their scheme.

It has been stated that Moreau was arrested on the day after the confessions made by Bouvet de Lozier; Pichegru was taken by means of the most infamous treachery that a man can be guilty of.  The official police had at last ascertained that he was in Paris, but they could not learn the place of his concealment.  The police agents had in vain exerted all their efforts to discover him, when an old friend, who had given him his last asylum, offered to deliver him up for 100,000 crowns.  This infamous fellow gave an enact description of the chamber which Pichegru occupied in the Rue de Chabanais, and in consequence of his information Comminges, commissary of police, proceeded thither, accompanied by some determined men.  Precautions were necessary, because it was known that Pichegru was a man of prodigious bodily strength, and that besides, as he possessed the means of defence, he would not allow himself to be taken without making a desperate resistance.  The police entered his chamber by using false keys, which the man who had sold him had the baseness to get made for them.  A light was burning on his night table.  The party of police, directed by Comminges, overturned the table, extinguished the light, and threw themselves on the general, who struggled with all his strength, and cried out loudly.  They were obliged to bind him, and in this state the conqueror of Holland was removed to the Temple, out of which he was destined never to come alive.

It must be owned that Pichegru was far from exciting the same interest as Moreau.  The public, and more especially the army, never pardoned him for his negotiations with the Prince de Conde prior to the 18th Fructidor.  However, I became acquainted with a trait respecting him while he was in Paris which I think does him much honour.  A son of M. Lagrenee, formerly director of the French Academy