De Bourbon

A man was shot at dawn at the base of the Chateau of Vincennes after a sham trial. His crime: to have been born a Bourbon. Napoleon (in his will): "I had the Duke of Enghien arrested and judged because it was necessary for the safety, the interests, and the honor of the French people, when the Count d'Artois , according to his confession, sixty assassins in Paris. In similar circumstances I would do the same again."

Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, left France when the revolution began. He served as a night in the army commanded by his grandfather. When it was disbanded he retired to Ettenheim, the old bishopric of Strasburg, turned grand duchy of Baden, a neutral country neighboring France. He lived peacefully, dividing his time between hunting and his amorous liaison with the princess of Rohan-Rochefort.

What happened was not unexpected. One of Cadoudal's lieutenants was arrested and confessed the plot contrived against the first consul and mentioned the participation of "a prince of the house of Bourbon."

Perhaps at the instigation of Talleyrand and Fouche suspicions were raised against the duke. A gendarme, sent to Ettenheim to investigate, misunderstood the names of the emigrant friends of the duke. Thumery became Dumouriez, Schmidt became Smith, an English agent.

In the Tuileries the decision was made. On March 15, 200 armed men surrounded his house and seized the prince, in the greatest contempt of the sovereignty of the State of Baden. It was kidnaping pure and simple.

The same night he arrived at the stronghold of Vincennes the duke was awakened to be judged. It was Murat, then governor of Paris, who against his will had to sign the naming of the commission charged with judging. The trial was fast. After a brief examination the duke, who received no response to his request to speak with the first consul, was judged without evidence, without witnesses, without a lawyer, by a few officers. Afterwards he was led into the moat of the castle. As a fine rain was falling, he was shot. They buried him there. Still today historians argue passionately about the affair. To what extent was Napoleon influenced by his familiars? What were his true motives? To Fouche, who had come to make him relent at the last moment he is supposed to have said, "Why is proof necessary? Isn't he a Bourbon, and the most dangerous of them all? Haven't you and your crowd said a hundred times that I would end up playing the role of Monk in France and reestablishing the Bourbons? Oh well, there's no longer a way to back out. What stronger guarantee could I give to the revolution which you have sealed with royal blood? I am surrounded with plots. I have to terrify or perish."

Ten days before he died, seventeen years later, Napoleon had his will reopened to add that he had had the duke arrested and judged because it was necessary for the safety, the interests, and the honor of the French people, when the count d'Artois , according to his confession, sixty assassins in Paris. In similar circumstances I would do the same again."

What is certain is that the affair of the duke of Enghien was ably exploited by Bonapartist propaganda. Arguing that the life of the first consul was in danger, the press prepared people for the idea of hereditary power.