CHAPTER XXIII.

1804.

General Ordener’s mission—­Arrest of the Due d’Enghien—­Horrible night-scene—–­Harrel’s account of the death of the Prince—­Order for digging the grave—­The foster-sister of the Duo d’Enghien—­Reading the sentence—­The lantern—­General Savary—­The faithful dog and the police—­My visit to Malmaison—­Josephine’s grief—­ The Duc d’Enghien’s portrait and lock of hair—­Savary’s emotion—­ M. de Chateaubriand’s resignation—­M. de Chateaubriand’s connection with Bonaparte—­Madame Bacciocchi and M. de Fontanes—­Cardinal Fesch —­Dedication of the second edition of the ‘Genie du Christianisme’ —­M. de Chateaubriand’s visit to the First Consul on the morning of the Due d’Enghien’s death—­Consequences of the Duo d’Enghien’s death—­Change of opinion in the provinces—­The Gentry of the Chateaus—­Effect of the Due d’Enghien’s death on foreign Courts—­ Remarkable words of Mr. Pitt—­Louis XVIII. sends back the insignia of the Golden Fleece to the King of Spain.

I will now narrate more fully the sanguinary scene which took place at Vincennes.  General Ordener, commanding the mounted grenadiers of the Guard, received orders from the War Minister to proceed to the Rhine, to give instructions to the chiefs of the gendarmerie of New Brissac, which was placed at his disposal.  General Ordener sent a detachment of gendarmerie to Ettenheim, where the Due d’Enghien was arrested on the 15th of March.  He was immediately conducted to the citadel of Strasburg, where he remained till the 18th, to give time for the arrival of orders from Paris.  These orders were given rapidly, and executed promptly, for the carriage which conveyed the unfortunate Prince arrived at the barrier at eleven o’clock on the morning of the 20th, where it remained for five hours, and afterwards proceeded by the exterior boulevards on the road to Vincennes, where it arrived at night.  Every scene of this horrible drama was acted under the veil of night:  the sun did not even shine upon its tragical close.  The soldiers received orders to proceed to Vincennes at night.  It was at night that the fatal gates of the fortress were closed upon the Prince.  At night the Council assembled and tried him, or rather condemned him without trial.  When the clock struck six in the morning the orders were given to fire, and the Prince ceased to exist.

Here a reflection occurs to me.  Supposing one were inclined to admit that the Council held on the 10th of March had some connection with the Due d’Enghien’s arrest, yet as no Council was held from the time of the Duke’s arrival at the barrier to the moment of his execution, it could only be Bonaparte himself who issued the orders which were too punctually obeyed.  When the dreadful intelligence of the Duc d’Enghien’s death was spread in Paris it excited a feeling of consternation which recalled the recollection of the Reign of Terror.  Could Bonaparte have seen the gloom which pervaded Paris, and compared it with the joy which prevailed on the day when he returned victorious from the field of Marengo, he would have felt that he had tarnished his glory by a stain which could never be effaced.