s time, indeed; a formidable conspiracy was formed against him
in the heart of France. At the head of this conspiracy was Pichegru, a
French refugee in England. Pichegru, acting with the royalist agents,
corresponded with Moreau, whom Buonaparte had recently slighted, and
entered into a plot with him for overthrowing the consular government.
With them the Chouan leader, George Cadoudal, was also associated.
Pichegru, left England early in the year 1804, to assist in carrying
their plan into effect; but the conspiracy was discovered in February,
and Pichegru and Cadoudal suffered death, while Moreau was banished.
Others of less note were likewise executed for this conspiracy. Coupled
with it stands a fearful deed in the page of Napoleon's history--the
foul murder of the Duke D'Enghein. This noble youth, who was the last
scion of the house of Conde, inhabited a place called Ettenheim, in the
duchy of Baden. As he was an emigrant, and naturally attached to the
fortunes of his house, it was resolved that he should be sacrificed,
in order to strike terror into the heart of the Bourbons. By Napoleon's
order he was surprised in his castle, which stood on neutral ground,
conducted to Vincennes, tried by a military commission, and shot in the
fosse of the chateau, with the grave in which he was to be buried full
in his view. Yet it was immediately after this execrable deed that
Napoleon ascended the summit of his desires--the throne of France. By
it he endeared himself to the old regicidal Jacobin party; and they
promised to support him in his attempt to mount the imperial throne.
The blood of the Duke D'Enghein, indeed, cemented the steps of the
adventurer's throne. Immediately after the senate prayed him that he
would govern France under the name of Napoleon Buonaparte and with the
title of "emperor;" and on the 18th of May they passed a decree styling
him "Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French." The remainder of this
year was spent by Napoleon in making arrangements on assuming his new
title. Excepting England, all the states of Europe were consulted; and
even Austria, his ancient foe, recognised his title. Finally the pontiff
was brought to Paris from Rome in order to consecrate the new dynasty.
He was crowned on the 2nd of December, 1804, on which occasion Pope Pius
VII. in his homily compared himself to Elias and Samuel, and Napoleon to
Hazael, Jehu, David, and Saul.

"Look now on that adventurer who hath paid