false and
absurd! How could that Prince write to Bonaparte to offer him his
services and to solicit the command of an army? His interrogatory makes
no mention of this letter, and is in direct opposition to the sentiments
which that letter would attribute to him. The truth is, no such letter
ever existed. The individual who was with the Prince declared he never
wrote it. It will never be believed that any one would have presumed to
withhold from Bonaparte a letter on which depended the fate of so august
a victim.

In his declarations to his companions in exile Napoleon endeavoured
either to free himself of this crime or to justify it. His fear or his
susceptibility was such, that in discoursing with strangers he merely
said, that had he known of the Prince's letter, which was not delivered
to him.--God knows why!--until after he had breathed his last, he would
have pardoned him. But at a subsequent date he traced, with his own
hand, his last thoughts, which he supposed would be consecrated in the
minds of his contemporaries, and of posterity. Napoleon, touching on the
subject which he felt would be one of the most important attached to his
memory, said that if the thing were to do again he would act as he then
did. How does this declaration tally with his avowal, that if he had
received the Prince's letter he should have lived? This is
irreconcilable. But if we compare all that Napoleon said at St. Helena,
and which has been transmitted to us by his faithful followers; if we
consider his contradictions when speaking of the Due d'Enghien's death to
strangers, to his friends, to the public, or to posterity, the question
ceases to be doubtful Bonaparte wished to strike a blow which would
terrify his enemies. Fancying that the Duc de Berri was ready to land in
France, he despatched his aide de camp Savary, in disguise, attended by
gendarmes, to watch the Duke's landing at Biville, near Dieppe. This
turned out a fruitless mission. The Duke was warned in time not to
attempt the useless and dangerous enterprise, and Bonaparte, enraged to
see one prey escape him, pounced upon another. It is well known that
Bonaparte often, and in the presence even of persons whom he conceived to
have maintained relations with the partisans of the Bourbons at Paris,
expressed himself thus: "I will put an end to these conspiracies. If any
of the emigrants conspire they shall be shot. I have been told that
Cobentzel harbours some of them. I do not