ught out, and I gave the word to fire. The man fell,
and after the execution I learned that we had shot the Due d'Enghien.
Judge of my horror! . . . I knew the prisoner only by the name of the
brigand of La Vendee! . . . I could no longer remain in the
service--I obtained my discharge, and am about to retire to my family.
Would that I had done so sooner!" The above has been related to me and
other persons by Davoust's secretary, whom I shall not name.
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: th
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