The Duke d'Enghien, Louis Antoine, Henri de Bourbon, son of the Duke of
Bourbon, and a descendant of the great Condé who had done so much for
France in her wars, was living at Ettenheim, under the protection of the
Margrave of Baden, to be near the lady whom he loved, the Princess
Charlotte de Rohan, and "to be ready," says Walter Scott, "to put
himself at the head of the royalists in the east of France," if
opportunity offered.
It was reported to Napoleon that the duke came over into France probably
on political errands, and that he was corresponding with disaffected
persons in France.
Napoleon sent some officers to seize the duke on the night of March 15,
1804; he was carried to Strasburg, and thence to the Castle of
Vincennes, near Paris, arriving on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 20.
He was aroused from sleep a little before six on the morning of the
21st, and innocently asked if he were to be imprisoned. He was conducted
outside the castle; by the light of a lantern his sentence was read to
him. He denied any complicity in the conspiracy against the life of the
First Consul, which was doubtless true; requested to see Napoleon, which
was refused; asked an officer to take a ring, a lock of hair, and a
letter to his beloved, and was shot at six in the morning, by his open
grave, his devoted dog by his side. Bourrienne says, "This faithful
animal returned incessantly to the fatal spot.... The fidelity of the
poor dog excited so much interest that the police prevented any one from
visiting the fatal spot, and the dog was no longer heard to howl over
his master's grave."
Josephine had heard of Napoleon's intention to send terror among the
Bourbon conspirators, and had begged him, on her knees and with tears,
to save the life of the young prince. It would have been well for him
had he listened to her entreaties.
France, and Europe as well, were shocked at this death. The Russian
court went into mourning for the Bourbon prince. No doubt Napoleon was
incensed by the Bourbon plots, and after this death these ceased; but
Las Cases, at St. Helena, said Napoleon always regretted it, saying,
"Undoubtedly, if I had been informed in time of certain circumstances
respecting the opinions of the prince, and his disposition, if, above
all, I had seen the letter which he wrote to me, and which, God knows
for what reason, was only delivered to me after his death, I should
certainly have forgiven him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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