Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume III.Scott, Walter
History
Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume III.
Scott, Walter
France -- History -- 1789-1815; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
[62] "I deplore as much as any man can possibly do, the catastrophe of
the Duke d'Enghien; but as Napoleon has himself spoken of it, it does
not become me to add another word. I shall only observe, that this
affair is far from having been cleared up--that it was impossible that
my brother should have brought the prince to Paris to be immolated--that
he who established a Bourbon in Tuscany, had quite a contrary design,
and one which could but be favourable; else why cause so distinguished a
prince to make a journey to Paris, when his presence in traversing
France could but be dangerous? If it be asked, why the commendable
design attributed to Napoleon was not followed up, and was so cruelly
changed, I cannot explain: but I am persuaded that impartial history
will one day reveal this secret."--LOUIS BUONAPARTE, p. 40.
[63] "M. de Bourrienne does not scruple to charge with a frightful crime
the man whom he calls the friend of his youth, in whose service he had
been for years, and by whom he sought to be again employed, as long as
fortune was on his side. In my conscience, I believe there never existed
a man less capable of committing such a crime than Napoleon; yet it is
he whom the schoolfellow of Brienne dares to accuse. On the morning of
Pichegru's death, I was in the first consul's cabinet in the Tuileries,
searching for some papers, when Savary was announced, and I heard him
detail the particulars of the suicide, precisely as they were afterwards
published. I read on Napoleon's countenance the surprise which the event
created, and little imagined that there were men so base as to charge
him with so detestable and uncalled-for a murder; for the meeting
between Pichegru and Moreau had been fully established."--JOSEPH
BUONAPARTE.--"What advantage could accrue to me from Pichegru's
assassination?--a man who was evidently guilty, against whom every proof
was ready, and whose condemnation was certain. The fact is, that he
found himself in a hopeless situation; his high mind could not bear to
contemplate the infamy of a public execution, he despaired of my
clemency, or disdained to appeal to it, and put an end to his
existence."--NAPOLEON, _Las Cases_, tom. iv., p. 258.
[64] See Napoleon in Exile, vol. ii., p. 215.
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