ermined to have the duke and
Dumouriez seized. That they were on German soil was naught to him.
Talleyrand promised that he could soon prevail on the Elector to
overlook this violation of his territory, and the question was then
discussed in an informal council. Talleyrand, Real, and Fouche advised
the severest measures. Lebrun spoke of the outcry which such a violation
of neutral territory would arouse, but bent before the determination of
the First Consul; and the regicide Cambaceres alone offered a firm
opposition to an outrage which must embroil France with Germany and
Russia. Despite this protest, Napoleon issued his orders and then
repaired to the pleasing solitudes of La Malmaison, where he remained in
almost complete seclusion. The execution of the orders was now left to
Generals Ordener and Caulaincourt, who arranged the raid into Baden; to
Murat, who was now Governor of Paris; and to the devoted and
unquestioning Savary and Real.

The seizure of the duke was craftily effected. Troops and gendarmes
were quietly mustered at Strassburg: spies were sent forward to survey
the ground; and as the dawn of the 15th of March was lighting up the
eastern sky, thirty Frenchmen encircled Enghien's abode. His hot blood
prompted him to fight, but on the advice of a friend he quietly
surrendered, was haled away to Strassburg, and thence to the castle of
Vincennes on the south-east of Paris. There everything was ready for
his reception on the evening of March 20th. The pall of secrecy was
spread over the preparations. The name of Plessis was assigned to the
victim, and Harel, the governor of the castle, was left ignorant of
his rank.[296]

Above all, he was to be tried by a court-martial of officers, a form
of judgment which was summary and without appeal; whereas the ordinary
courts of justice must be slow and open to the public gaze. It was
true that the Senate had just suspended trial by jury in the case of
attempts against the First Consul's life--a device adopted in view of
the Moreau prosecution. But the certainty of a conviction was not
enough: Napoleon determined to strike terror into his enemies, such as
a swift and secret blow always inspires. He had resolved on a trial by
court-martial when he still believed Enghien to be an accomplice of
Dumouriez; and when, late on Saturday, March 17th, that mistake was
explained, his purpose remained unshaken--unshaken too by the high
mass of Easter Sunday, March 18th, which he