MEMOIRS OF THE BAEON DE EIMINI. AT EVERY LIBRARY. THE PRIMA DONNA: Her History and Surroundings, from the 17tli to the 19th Century. H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS. Gives a picture of the life, Professional and Social, of every Prima Donna, down to the present day. 2 vols, demy 8vo., 24s. "Volumes so full, not only of useful fact, but of pleasant anecdote and gossip, that they are sure to be read, not only with profit, but with pleasure." — Globe. " Biographies of most of the very distingruished operatic singers of the last three centuries are piven by Mr. H. Sutherland Edwards in the * Prima Donna : Her History and Surroundings, from the 17th to the 19tli Century,' Mr. Edwards has collected from its repositories a great deal of information, and placed it in convenient form for reference. . . . The two volumes of the ' Prima Donna' can be cordially recommended to all who feel an interest in their subject."— Gra^sAic. " Mr. Sutherland Edwards haswritten a couple of volumes full of interesting particu- lars of the career of the celebrated prime donne of ancient and modern time^."—Obsei~oer. *' * The Prima Donna,' by Sutherland Edwards, is amubin;? and interesting. It must be read carefully, or many of the excellent short anecdotes may be missed. . . . Nobody knows better than Mr. Edwards what the public expect to find in such a book, and, though he is invariably decorous, he is never dull."— PmwcA. " The subject is well suited to Mr. Edwards' delicate and gracpful style, and his two volumes are certain to be read for enjoyment, as well as consulted for information." — Daily Telegraph. " The latest issue from the well-stocked store of Mr. Edwards is a pair of very entertainingr volumes concerning Prima Donnas, from Grisi to Mrs. Mapleson." — Pall Mall Gazette. " The two new volumes from the pen of Mr. H. Sutherland Edwards, entitled ' The Prima Donna: Her History and Surroundings from the 17th to the 19th Century,' form what is essentially a book to read, and to read with satisfaction. Mr. SutherLmd Edwards knows his field, and tells us the life's history and surrounnings of the Prima Donna with unfailing grace and skill. ... It is, indeed, a careful and judicious as well as a thoroughly readable hook."— Yorkshire Post. " Enough has been said to show the prodigious extent of Mr. Sutherland Edwards' researches. He has left nothing untouched— not even the husbands of prime donne, about whom he has some uncomplimentary, if deserved, things to say." — Newcastle Chronicle. " The book will interest and amuse a wide circle of readers."— Zeerfs Mercury. " It will be welcome as a popularly-written work on a popular subject." — Scotsman. " It would be hard to find a man more fitted for the work than Mr. Sutherland Edwards, who is an admitted authority on opera. He has all the needful knowledge and experience ; his philosophy is superficial, as befit=i the suViject ; and he is not afraid to be flippant and even frivolous if the occasion lies in his way. His two volumes form an entertaining and instructive, not to say exhaustive, history of the * lyrical star,' from her first appearance to the present time. . . . Everyone who is concerned with the development of the musical drama and wishes to study the peculiar relations which exist between the creators of lyrical art and its interpreters will find something attractive in the brilliant paues of Mr. Sutherland Edwards. His facts are trust- worthy, and his method of presenting them is lucid and excellent." — Manchester Guardian. "Odd comers of operatic history have been ransacked for the apt anecdotes and characteristic touches that here give life to the portrait.— iJ/wsicaZ World. REMINGTON & CO., Henrietta Stkeet, Covent Garden. MEMOIES BARON DE EIMINI (GRISCELLI DE VEZZANI) li it n SECKET AGENT NAPOLEON III (1850-58) CAVOUR (1859-61) ANTONELLI (1861-62) FRANCIS II (1862-64) THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA (1864-67) REMINGTON & CO PUBLISHERS HENRIETTA STREET COVENT GARDEN 1888 lAll Rights reserved'] CONTENTS. PART I. CHAP. PAGE Editor's Preface 1 I. Birth ... 5 II. Soldier ... 10 III. Prisoner 28 IV. Secret Agent 32 V. Due de Morny 49 VI. Fialin de Persigny ... 60 VII. Bacciochi 65 VIII. Doctor Conneau 67 IX. Fould ... 70 X. Saint- Arnaud (Arnaud Leroj) 77 XI. Baroche 84 XII. Troplong ... 86 XIII. Collet Maigret ... 88 XIV. Rothschild ... 90 XV. Mouvillon de Glimes ... 96 XVI. Deux Decembre (coup d'etat) ... 99 XVII Comte de Glaves ... 108 XVI 11. The Opera Comique ... 110 XIX. Prince Menschikoff ... 113 XX. Palmerston ... 117 XXI. Miss Howard ... 124 XXII. Duchess Castiglioni ... ]32 XXIII. Countess de Gardonne ... 137 XXIV. The Countess of St. Marsaud ... 146 XXV. Sinibaldi ... 150 XXVI. Morelli, or the Man from Calais . ,.. 153 XXVII. Pianori ... 156 XXVIII. Orsini ... 158 XXIX. Prince Cammerata ... 160 273581 PART II. CHAP, PAGE XXX. Cavour 167 XXXI. Victor Emmanuel 175 XXXII. The Ricasoli War and Conspiracy ... 181 XXXIII. Massimo d'Azeglio 187 XXXIV. Farini 192 XXXV. Garibaldi 201 XXXVI. Pius IX.— Antonelli 205 XXXVII. The Sicilian Campaign 221 XXXVIII. Royal Infamies ... 226 XXXIX. The Romagna and Naples Expedition ... 234 XL. Geneva, Brussels, and London 239 XLI. Monsignor Bovieri ... ... ... 243 XLII. Comte de Chambord at Lucerne ... ... 248 XLIII. Travels, Missions (anecdotes) 255 XLIV. Mission to Madrid 267 XLV. Mission to London and Warsaw 273 XLVL The Congress of Malines 279 XLVIL The Congress of Frankfort 283 XLVIIL In Rome 290 XLIX. Espionage in the Tyrol 293 L. Espionage at Florence ... ... ... 297 LI. The Battle of Custozza 805 Conclusion 310 Index ... 311 EDITOR'S PREFACE. In 1866 I made the acquaintance of a man who was short and thick-set, with an agreeable, intelligent face, over which, however, there passed at times, quick as a flash, a gleam of ferocity. This man's language was animated and fanciful; his conversation most agreeable and diverting. He was intimately acquainted with all the small political secrets, spoke of the most distinguished men as if he had lived on intimate terms with them, and related the most detailed anecdotes about their private life. The groundwork of his character was a sovereign contempt for all mankind, whom he looked upon as vile, mean, and capable of the basest actions to gratify their ambition. He said frequently that if there were no kings the nations would soon invent them, because the ambitious need a king to enable them to reach the desired goals. " Kings," said he, " are mirrors which reflect the glory qw'on leur prete» Remove those mirrors, and any number B 2 * * ' "J^DITV^'S PREFACE. of people will at once complain at no longer being able to gaze at the tinsel in which they are arrayed. The basis of mankind is made up of vanity and stupidity." The man who thus spoke was known as the Baron de Rimini. In a short time I became his indispensable companion, and the confidence with which I inspired him was such that he revealed to me all the details of his past life, and gave me a voluminous manuscript containing his memoirs. He even drew up a regular deed of sale. It is this manuscript which I now place before the public. I warn the reader that I have not changed a single word of the author^ s. The style is his own, with all its imperfections and all its originality. In the beginning of the year 1867 Baron de Rimini suddenly disappeared from the little room which he occupied in the Rue de la rian9ee, Number 51. What had become of him? I never knew. But some time afterwards I was summoned before the examining magis- trate, who, after asking me several questions about the Baron, ended by demanding the manuscript which he knew to be in my possession. I did not deny the fact, but did not see why I should obey the order to place it in the hands of justice; I even resisted a threat of seizure. Later, I was again summoned to the inferior court for civil causes, and assisted at the nonsuiting of Arthur de Yezzani, who had illegally used the name of Baron de Rimini. I have never been able to understand the motive of the condemnation, the great care taken to nonsuit, and the EDITOR'S PREFACE. 8 small concern of police and magistrates at this mysterious disappearance. I am convinced that it is only a fresh adventure in our hero's life, and that at some time I shall receive an explana- tion of the conduct of the Court. Meanwhile I publish Baron de Rimini's memoirs up to 1866, and feel certain that the readers will find therein ample means of satisfying their curiosity. CHAPTER L BIRTH. I WAS born at Vezzani (Corsica), a little village lying between the mountains of Tanno and Cali, nearly in the centre of the island which was the birth-place of the greatest soldier of modern times. My family are regarded with well-deserved esteem throughout the canton. The mayor and the rector are two Griscellis, kinsmen of mine. Although not a lawyer, my father was frequently chosen by the magistrate and the chief justice as an arbitrator in certain questions of boundaries or family law-suits. He always managed so well to satisfy both parties that no appeal was ever made on his decisions. My mother, an angel of goodness and charity, much loved throughout the country for her great kindness to the poor and infirm, and the services she rendered to all who addressed themselves to her, was mourned by the entire canton the day she died, leaving her husband and children in the deepest grief. My brother was two years old, I was four, and 6 MEMOIRS OF TEE BARON DE RIMINI. my father twenty-six. "With great self-sacrifice he remained a widower rather than place his sons in a stepmother's power. Our grandmother under- took to bring us up ; she was too fond of us not to gratify all our childish fancies, a great contrast to my father, who, while he loved us passionately, overlooked no action of ours, and corrected our most trifling faults. My brother, who was gentle and good, and physically frail and delicate, obeyed all our father's orders. As for me, I listened to no one ; my character and nature were indomitable. At home as well as at the village school, instead of obeying others I wanted everyone to bend to my will. Being unable to make me respect her, my grand- mother sent me to the village school, conducted by an ex- Quartermaster of the Empire, who, although he felt a certain affection for his pupils, ruled them in a military way. Well, I confess with shame that the former Quartermaster in the grande armee, with all his punishments and privations, unable to get the better of me, was forced to go to my father and own himself beaten, " Because," as he said, " not only does your son worry me incessantly by his bad conduct, but he turns the others from their duty, and woe to the schoolmate who does not obey him to the letter ! Blows, kicks, and very often bites, fall like hail upon the child who dares to resist his caprices." My good father loved me dearly, but at the reports BIRTH, 7 of the schoolmaster and ray grandmother he decided to send me to my uncle, Jean Pierre Baldovini, my mother's brother, and a shepherd at Pi^tre-Bionchi. I did not enter my uncle's house as a hired servant, but to help him look after bis goats and ours, which formed part of my mother's dowry. I cannot express the joy I felt in being at full liberty to act, speak, and play, without hearing some- one take me to task. My uncle was very affectionate to me. Never a reproach ! never a counsel ! All his moralizing con- sisted in saying — " See how T do. Try to* imitate me, and before long you will be the first shepherd in the canton." What a future ! At that time I had no thought of ever seeing Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Vienna, or Constan- tinople. My uncle and I lived six months in the mountains and six months in the plain — in the summer on the Sal^ mountain, above the village, in winter in Alesia, near the Mediterranean. In these two spots I stayed alternately for six years, from the time I was nine years old ; and if I had had the good fortune to be Arago or Bernardin de Saint- Pierre, I might have willed to posterity works on astronomy and nature which would have vied with those of the illustrious secretary of the Academy, and the no less illustrious author of " Paul and Virginia." In the mountain as on the plain (except on stormy 8 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. nights), the sky was our cover, the earth our mat- tress. Ah ! how -many times, seated on a rock or some tree which the gale had overthrown, did I not see the stars come out and fade away again. When T was fifteen my father replaced me by my brother Ange-Paul, who hoped to gain some strength in the country air. Besides, my father wanted me to help him farm. For the first few days I was well satisfied with the change. Being with my father was a source of great happiness to me ; besides, I could meet my former friends ^and my relations, whom, as a shepherd, I had seen only at rare intervals. I saw once more the familiar country side, the church, and listened to the village bells, which I had not heard since my departure. But in spite of all these pleasures there was one thing which made me forget them and bitterly regret the days which I had spent with my uncle. It was the pains which ran through my back, arms, and legs, during the first days, for our occupation allowed us but little rest. We worked all the week, going to the village on Saturday evening. On Sunday we assisted at divine service, and in the evening we returned to the farm with our provisions for the ensuing week. My brother had grown much stronger during his stay with our uncle. BIRTH. 9 My grandmother, who had brought us up, died and left us the house in which our forefathers had lived for generations past. As we could not get on without a woman in the house, my father, who liad not been willing to give us a stepmother when we were little lads, persisted in a resolution he had formed, and forced me, in a way, to marry one of my cousins, a beautiful young girl of seventeen, who might have made us happy, and prevented many extraordinary things which would never have occurred had she not listened to her mother's counsels. She was our relative, she knew that my father and brother were working for us, and that they would have helped us to bring up our family. Per- haps my brother would have remained a bachelor, had not my wife, an angel of gentleness before her marriage, become an infernal demon the moment she was settled in the house. Her sole occupation was (in accordance with her mother's advice) to strip us of all she could to give to her family, not to mention the continual quarrels which she raised between my father and his two sons. Fortunately the recruiting time came, and in spite of the tears and prayers of my relatives, and the substitute whom they had bought for me, I left to Join the army. Had it not been for my wife's malice I should never have gone outside of my native village. CHAPTER II. SOLDIER. Two days after I had drawn the number which made me a soldier, my father, who had lamented unceas- ingly, took me aside and said — " "When are you going ? " " Why ? " said I, astonished at the way in which he had divined my thoughts. " I have plenty of time after the claims of exemption ! " " You are deceiving your father, my son," said he, grasping my hand with tears in his eyes. " That is true, father. I intend to leave this evening at six o'clock." " I knew it. A father's eyes see a great deal. I have already prepared everything for your depar- ture. Only, to escape the tears and lamentations of your relations, we will leave at ten instead. The horses will be waiting for us outside the village." At ten o'clock precisely my father, my brother, and I left the house as if we were going to the cafe ; I SOLDIER. 11 then we went separately to the place where my cousin, Ange-Pierre, was waiting with the horses. My brother and my cousin, after saying good-bye, returned home, whilst my father and I started for Ajaccio, where, on my arrival, I was entered as Number 7,703 on the register of the 60th regiment of the line. The recruiting captain, after examining me, sent me to Bastia, to the 1st Battalion, 4th Company. The same day, my father, without shedding a tear, gave me his blessing and returned home, whilst I started for Bastia to join my Company. On my arrival at the barracks a sergeant took me to the stores to equip me, gave me a knapsack, a cartridge box, a rifle, etc., took me back to the barracks a transformed man, and left me at the foot of the bed in which I was to sleep. A soldier's life has been so often described by abler pens than mine that I shall only briefly relate the principal events, most of them curious, and sometimes tragic, which concern me personally. They are all strictly true. The next morning, after fatigue-duty (which all conscripts have to undergo as soon as they join), I was taken, without my gun, to a plain where the drilliug went on. Two Corsicans, Major Riston and Lieutenant Risbrussi, came up to me and gave me such good advice about my military future that I already looked upon myself as a future General, 12 MEMOIRS OF THE BAROJST DE RIMINI. but tliej also told me that before anything else I should have to learn to drill in order to be admitted into the battalion, and to read and write, that I might master the theory of fighting, and teach others. Their counsels made so great an impression upon me that from that day forth I gave myself up entirely to learning how to handle my gun and studying military art in all its branches. Two months later, the drill-instructor, after having made me drill alone and with my company, allowed me to join the battalion. That evening, when I entered the barracks, I hastened to enrol my name in the regimental school, where I was to learn French, and in the fencing- school, where I intended to acquire the art of killing my fellow-man properly, in accordance with all the rules of the game, as will unfortunately be seen later on. With my insular vivacity and mountaineer's agility I became in the course of a few months the best pupil at the fencing-school. The head-master, Duillestre, an old soldier, who retired shortly after that, grew so fond of me that he had me made a corporal, exempted from service, and attached me to the regimental fencing-school to help him and take his place when necessary. The regiment received orders to return to France ; we landed at Toulon, and went into garrison at Rodez (Aveyron). SOLDIER. 13 Although exempted from service by order of the Captain, I performed the duties of Quartermaster during the entire march, with Adjutant Duchemin and Quartermasters Santelli, Casanova, etc. Reach- ing Rodez at mid-day, we obtained the billets at the Mayor's office, then went to the barracks which the 5th regiment of the line had just vacated. While waiting for the troops, who were not to arrive before three o'clock. Quartermaster Santelli invited me to go to the cafe with him. When we entered we were obliged, in order to get to a table, to pass two civilians who were already seated, and who, seeing Santelli so young, and particularly so slender, offered him an outrageous insult. They had hardly uttered the last word before one of them received a blow on the face. At that moment I had hold of the chair in which I was about to seat myself. But seeing that I might use it in another way, I raised it and struck both of the men, without asking what it was all about. The guard was called for. Our soldiers arrived. One of the civilians, who had received the slap and a blow from the chair, went up to the corporal and asked him not to arrest us, although we had begun the affair. As soon as the soldiers were gone they approached us, and a duel for the next day was proposed by one side and accepted by the other. The reader will pardon me if I enter into all these U MEMOIRS OF THE BAROJST DE RIMINI. details ; but as it was mj first duel, and we were more or less deceived in our antagonists, I think it worth while to say that Santelli and I accepted this duel with pleasure, persuaded beforehand that we were going to fight inexperienced civilians, and that we could thus get up a reputation as good swords- men. Our two adversaries thought the same, as will be seen. The next day, at six o'clock in the morning, Santelli and I were awakened and summoned by the two men of the day before to the gate of the quarter. Instead of being two they were now three ; I accord- ingly called Corporal Yersini, a second-rate fencer. We six left the town together, and went as far as the river which gives its name to the department (Aveyron). The preliminaries were soon over. Quartermaster Santelli and the civilian who had been struck in the face took off their shirts and grasped their weapons. At the first pass, looking at Versini, I remarked that the Quartermaster, whose adversary was a skilled duelHst, was as good as dead. Then I recommended my friend to play close and pru- dently. He took no notice of me, however, for I had hardly finished speaking before he made two full passes, as in a fencing-lesson, then lunged forward. His adversary adroitly caught the Quartermaster's SOLDIER. 15 foil by a semicircular stroke from below and sent it flying a dozen paces behind him. Then, without leaving his place — he could have killed Santelli had he so wished — he lowered his arm, and turning to his friends, said regretfully — " It is as I feared ; these are conscripts." *' Conscripts ! '* cried I, then throwing ray coat, cap, and shirt on the ground, I added, " Another conscript, master civilian ! " As soon as he felt my stroke he saw that he had quite another arm to deal with. I made the same pass as Santelli with the difference that my adversary, while trying to send my weapon a dozen paces behind him, found it in the centre, clear through him, a couple of inches above the right breast. When he fell my foil remained in his body. His friend drew it out, sucked the two wounds, and, helped by the other civilian, took him to the hospital. My colleagues and I, to whom I recommended the strictest silence, returned to the barracks. I own, to my shame, that I was rather proud of it all. Santelli and Versini, my pupils, countrymen, and friends, could not praise me enough. Four days afterwards the Adjutant called all three of us and conducted us to the reporting room to the Colonel. I felt frightened, and my friends were 16 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. afraid for me. My fear and theirs increased when we entered the Praetorium and saw, contrary to custom, the General and a gentleman in plain clothes to whom all the officers showed great respect, and who, when he came forward, took our names, surnames, rank, birthplace, etc. When he heard that we were all Corsicans he turned to General Durieu, saying — " Corsicans ! I am not surprised." Then the General asked us in so many words — " Which of you murdered a civilian ? " The word murdered fell like a flash of lightning into the room, making much more commotion than the latter would have done amongst the officers, non-commissioned officers, and the corporals on duty belonging to the 60th line. The spectators looked at us silently, stiff with horror. No one answered. General Durieu, almost angry, called — "Griscelli!" " Here, General," I replied. «« Why did you not answer before ? " " Because I have not murdered anyone." " What, you have not murdered anyone ? And how about the man whom you killed four days ago just outside the town ? " Up to that moment I had been frozen, but a& soon as I knew what I was accused of doing I SOLDIER. 17 raised my voice, and, looking steadily at the General, said — "Mortally wounded, yes, Greneral ; but not mur- dered ! " And without waiting to be asked I re- lated the affair from the time we entered the cafe to the end of the combat. When I had finished the General turned to the gentleman in the white cravat and asked him if I had told the truth. " Yes, General," replied the Public Prosecutor. The General, whom we had all thought very angry, approached me laughing and said — " That is right, my man. Here are twenty francs for you. You know how to make your regiment respected. The man whom you killed was a quarrel- some scoundrel, who, while he sponged on the 5th, killed five of the men belonging to that regiment. Colonel, put this young Corporal into a crack com- pany." Then a change took place which may easily be imagined. All the officers who had looked upon me as lost approached to congratulate me. The Colonel asked me to go to his lodgings. When we got there he gave me a pair of epaulettes and twenty francs, counselled me, and particularly praised me for my discretion. ** Any other man," said he, " would have told the whole town.** 18 MEMOinS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. Santelli and Versini, who, although fond of me, were jealous of me that day, are now : Santelli, chief of a squadron of gendarmery in Corsica, and Versini a Captain in the 20th Rifles of Yincennes ; and I, who was the hero of so many scenes, must languish in exile. Some time after that our regiment went into garrison at Lyons, whither my reputation as a duellist had preceded me. But that which com- pleted my fame as a fencer and a fighter, was a duel which my regiment had with the 30th (a duel between two corps) and which deserves being published. One night, during the roll-call, the voltigeur Gruis entered the barracks without his sword, and covered with blood. This man was the confidential servant of Monsieur Berthelin, the officer on duty. After the roll-call, before reporting, the latter sum- moned his servant and made him tell what had happened. Guis said that while he was in a cafe (Simon) at the Croix-Rousse seven corporals of the 30th of the line had insulted, disarmed, and beaten him. At this tale the Lieutenant, looking at me, told the company that it was a stain on the regiment, and particularly on the company of voltigeurs belonging to the first battalion, and that he would gladly exchange his gold epaulettes (for two days) for woollen ones that he might wipe out the stain with SOLDIER. 19 blood. All the voltigeurs were gathered around the officer, and waiting for my answer. " Lieutenant," said I, " you will keep your epau- lettes. Guis will be revenged by to-morrow night. After that we shall see." His eyes sparkled with joy. He took me by the hand, made me go out into the court-yard, gave me twenty francs, and assured me that he would see to everything. " I give you carte hlanche^^^ said he. " Only revenge my voltigeurs ! *' The next day he came to me at the fencing-school, to tell me that Colonel Lamane counted on me. " The Colonel ? " said I. " Who told him ? " " I did, last night at his house. The whole regi- ment knows about it, and all the officers who were with me expect something from you as you are a corporal of voltigeurs." In the evening, after soup, I took Versini, Casa- nova, Santelli, and Guis with me, and we went to the cafe where the latter had been beaten. We had hardly seated ourselves before the corporals of the 30th came in, and seizing the billiard cues, said — " Oh I oh ! they have come in numbers." " What do you mean by numbers ? " asked a certain Jocquet ; " they are only four. Well, four blows of my fist and I stretch them all four on the floor ! " 20 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. At these words the uproar began. Tables, stools, and billiard cues flew around. At each blow of his stool Casanova knocked one down. We were left masters of the cafe. Our adversaries made off with- out their swords. We took them and spoilt the sheaths. Meanwhile the guard arrived with police- men. The mistress of the establishment, who was an intimate friend of Guis', took our part, saying that we had been attacked, and that they had ran away to avoid paying her. The guard contented themselves with taking the swords of the 30th, and we were sent back to the barracks, where each soldier already had his own version of the battle. They said that some had been killed, some wounded, etc. The officer appeared at roll-call, and when we announced the victory to him his joy knew no bounds. Without even asking for the details he hastened to the Colonel, to tell him that the 60th had been nobly revenged. There was a great commotion the next day at the Colonel's reporting-room, whither I was summoned with the officer in charge of the fencing- school. As soon as the officers and non-commissioned officers on duty were at their post, seeing me talking to the Adjutant, the Colonel called me by name, and pretending to be very angry, addressed me in these terms : — SOLDIER. 21 ** What did you do last night ? Ah ! so you think that you alone have the right to make the regiment respected ? I hope they will settle you this time, at any rate. By order of the General of Division, Baron Aymard, a duel will take place to-morrow between two corps. Seven fencing-masters of the 30th will be at Fort Calvaire to-morrow to meet seven fencing- masters of the 60th (commanded by their officer) to settle their quarrel by means of the sword." I confess that while the Colonel was speaking my eyes flashed with joy, and when he had finished I cried wildly — " Long live General Aymard ! " Although the staff were present everyone burst out laughing. The Lieutenant-Colonel, Monsieur Courr^ge, who was very fond of me, gave me twenty francs with which to drink his health. ''Drink it to-day," said Colonel Lamarre,'* for you are not sure of being able to do so to-morrow ! " " I shall drink it now, with the fencing-masters who are going with me. Colonel, and I am certain that you will give me some more to-morrow after the duel." " Who is going with you ? " asked the Colonel. " If Lieutenant Bondeville and Sergeant Duillestre, the senior master, will allow me, I shall choose Versini (now Captain in the 20th Eifles), Casanova (discharged, now a justice of the peace), Santelli 22 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. (now chief of a squadron of gendarmery), Simoni (who died a captain in Africa), Antomarchi (dis- charged, now mayor of Noesi), Deconsimi (who was murdered in Corsica), and Gruis, the promoter of the quarrel." My -choice was approved. All that day the two regiments, and, indeed, the whole garrison, could talk of nothing but the hand- to-hand fight. Throughout the division everyone was impatiently waiting for next day to come, when it would be known which of the two regiments was the victor. A great many of my readers will perhaps not believe these things, and will ask if, in the nineteenth century, the public can possibly find any pleasure in such wholesale murder and bloodshed ? I will answer that the soldier is moved by the honour of arms alone. Horse-races, where the bets are publicly made, the rise and fall of stocks, bull-fights, diplomatic fencing, and the discussions of the two Chambers are nothing to the trooper. A duel, a battle alone can rouse him ! The next morning, at precisely six o'clock, four- teen soldiers, headed by two officers, met on the road to Fort Calvaire (14th December, 1836), at the Croix- E/Ousse, for the purpose of killing each other, by order of General Aymard, and Colonels de Lamane and Husson, to save the honour of the regiment. SOLDIER, 23 Arrived on the ground, the two oflScers saluted each other. Jocquet of the 30lh and I took our weapons. He was the first corporal who had struck Guis ; accordino^lj he was the first champion chosen by his colleagues. After a few very guarded passes he parried tierce and tried to make a lunge, thinking that he had hurt me mortally ; I made a counter-pass, and putting ray weapon back to prime with a turn of my wrist, he killed himself by falling with all his weight on my blade. The sapper Millet took his place, with Jocquet*s weapon, and attacked me furiously. I hardly had time to ward off his blows. Fortu- nately for me he did not lunge forward. He was drenched with perspiration, and we had as yet accomplished nothing. The officer of the 30th, Monsieur Petit, asked us to rest a moment. " No ! " said I, and we continued. Jocquet died parrying tierce. Millet died parry- ing quarte. With a parry and thrust, pressing his weapon back and lunging forward against it (as in a fencing lesson), I planted my sword in his right breast. A third, Corporal Martin, undressed and took his stand opposite me. While Martin was taking Millet's place, Yersiui and Casanova, without their shirts, 24 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. and a sword in their "hands, insisted upon taking mine, saying that I had done my share, that I was tired and that I ought to be relieved. A discussion arose. During this time Martin and I were resting, looking at each other without speaking. After a few words together the two officers decided that I was to continue until I was either wounded or killed. " Killed ! " I said aloud. Then, as soon as our weapons were crossed, I drew my feet together, parrying quarte, then lunged forward with such violence that my blade entered his body up to the hilt. He fell on his back, and I went down with him. As I rose he coughed up some blood into my face ; at the sight of his blood, the two corpses, and the sound of Millet's groans, I tore my weapon violently from Martin's chest ; then, turning to the officer of the 30th — " Now for another ! " I cried, " now for another ! Here's the butcher ! " For a moment I was quite mad. At these cries a commissary of police (Monsieur Martinet) and a squad of policemen leapt the wall and put an end to the fight. They disarmed me forcibly ; Versini and Casanova dressed me and took me back to the barracks. They shut me up in my room. Of course, by this time the whole garrison knew what had happened. Versini stood at my SOLDIER, 25 door (where half the soldiers had gathered, anxious to see me) and allowed no one to enter. A moment later the Lieutenant- Colonel came in. I rose immediately to salute him. He (Monsieur de Courrege) congratulated me and told me that the Colonel had made me a Sergeant in the room of Duillestre, who had become a veteran. I was to go to his lodgings to get my galoons and commis- sion. Monsieur Bondeville came up and asked me to go to the officers' quarters. There I met a Captain of Gendarmery, Meunier, who took me to his house to introduce me to his family, as he wanted me to give fencing lessons to his son and his daughter, a charm- ing child of fifteen. A year afterwards the regiment received orders to go to Paris. On reaching the capital the 60th was lodged in the barracks of Dussine, Sainte- Genevieve, and Ave-Maria. It was in this last that the Colonel installed me with the fencing-school, and where something happened which forced me to leave the regiment. Our Surgeon-Major having just retired, was replaced by Monsieur Allard, head-assistant of Saint Cyr. This young doctor was accompanied by his brother, a Sergeant in the same regiment. When he entered the corps he kept his stripes and was ordered to the Ave-Maria barracks. He was 26 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. as vain and insolent as his brother was gentle and modest. He knew everything. He was a master of fencing, dancing, riding, and so forth. After his arrival I invited him several times to come to the school, but in spite of my entreaties he would never do so. On the other hand, nearly every day after I had left he came in, fenced with my pupils, criticized my method in vulgar language, broke up our foils, and generally conducted himself like the creature he was. Of course my pupils told me about it ; I in turn reported it to Monsieur Bondeville, and pretended not to notice anything. The regiment having been in Corsica three years, half the soldiers were countrymen of mine, and they could not bear to see anyone try to get the better of me. The other half were Provencials, who declared me to be a mere novice compared with Allard. A very unimportant affair proved the strength of the two antagonists. While we were breakfasting a great many things were said against the officer Ristunier, who, his calumniators said, stole two pounds of meat every day from the soldiers' rations to give to a particular lady friend of his. The most rabid of all was Allard, who came up to me and demanded if I were ready to deny it. A smart box on the ear was my reply. Instead of proposing a duel he went to the Captain to complain, SOLDIER. 27 and I got eight days' imprisonment. This way of denouncing a fellow-soldier, instead of offering to fight him, lost him the good opinion of the entire regiment. As soon as I was at liberty again I succeeded with the utmost difficulty in dragging him to the duelling ground, which he left on a stretcher. The new Colonel Roussel (Monsieur de Lamarre had been made a General at Perigueux) came to me in the fencing-school and informed me, in my pupils' presence, that the first duel I fought with my regi- mental comrades would bring a court-martial upon me. Two days after that, thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Courrege, I was made head-nurse and baggage- master at the military hospital at Val-de-Grace. CHAPTER III. PEISONEE. Although my stay in the hospital is quite worth relating, I hasten to speak of graver matters, that I may not always speak of myself alone. Meanwhile, my father, who had corresponded regularly with me, informed me one day, some time after I had left the regiment, that my wife was dead. I did not regret her, so completely had she made me dislike her. And to prove to my relations that I had forgotten the woman who had separated us, I gave her a successor by marrying Mademoiselle Bechard the very day I was discharged. Being in Paris without employment, and at daggers drawn with my wife's family (and on still worse terms with her), I resolved to return to Corsica and realize certain moneys coming from my mother's dowry, and to come back to Paris and get something to do, as I would not owe my support to my father- in-law. PRISONER. 29 So I left my native village, where I had been welcomed with open arms by my relations — especially by my father and brother — and started for Paris. Passing through Lyons I was unlucky enough to meet Monsieur Meunier and his daughter, to whom I had once given fencing lessons. Louise and her father seemed delighted to see me, took me to their house, and almost forced me to take up my quarters in the room of young Meunier, who happened to be travelling. That evening they took me to the theatre, and the next day we went to the He d' Amour, where Captain Meunier had a country house, and where, in spite of my entreaties, they insisted upon my spending a fortnight. All men, young and old, who read this will pity me, for I was left nearly always alone with a young, pretty, witty, and very sweet girl. No wonder I could not resist the temptation. She would take my hands, and say — " You need not be afraid of speaking to me before my father. He loves you as much as I do. Indeed, it is partly his fault that I am so fond of you, for after you left Paris no day ever passed in which we did not speak of you. I used to learn your letters by heart ; and our favourite walk was on the very spot where you fought that famous duel with the corporals of the 30th line. My brother would represent the 80th, and I was the 60th, and I nearly always ended so MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. by getting the upper hand. Our father would laugh at our warlike games, and explain every particular of the fight. He would show us just where Jocquet, Martin, and Millet stood, and what passes you both made. He always ended by saying : ' What a lucky thing it was that the fencing-master did not remain mad.' " If Joseph turned his back on Potiphar's wife I am certain that it was because she was old and ugly. He would not have left his cloak with Louise. Days, weeks, and months rolled by — I had forgotten Paris, my wife — everything ! A malicious woman whom I had known in the capital, and who knew me to be a married man, sold me to the Commissary of Police, who, in spite of the prayers of Captain Meunier and his daughter, arrested me and took me to prison. Examined and tried, I was condemned (without being prosecuted). Commissary Birberin's hatred alone procured me two years' imprisonment. Thanks to Monsieur Charles Abbatucci, deputy, instead of working out my time at Lyons, I was transferred to the prison at Poissy. During my captivity Louise gave birth to a boy and died. On leaving Poissy I became the nominal director of the Printers' Courier. It was during Cavaignac's dictatorship (June, 1848). One morning as I was PRISONER, 8) goiDg to the office, Number 5, Rue Ponpde, the porter stopped me, saying — ** Escape as soon as you can, my friend. The police have been here and broken open everything, and have taken the directors Rigol and Froment to the Prefecture." I waited until Monsieur Pietri had been nominated Prefect of Police. CHAPTER IV. SECEET AGENT. After the coup d/etaf, which a witty man has called the catastrophe, de Maupas' place as Prefect of Police was taken by Monsieur Pietri, my compatriot and friend. The same day he arrived in Paris — he came from Toulouse, where, during the coup d'etat, he had shown both courage and energy — his title of Corsi- can had caused him to be called to fill the most im- portant post in the whole capital. He sent for me^ and on the score of old acquaintance, and all that the Abbatuccis had told him, begged me to accept em- ployment as a secret agent. "You are the only Corsican who knows Paris. You will receive no orders except from me, and you will come in by the Cour des Comptes instead of entering with the others through Rue Jerusalem." In consequence of all these solicitations, and as I wished to make a position for myself, I accepted the more or less delicate functions of a secret agent. SECRET AGENT. 33 Secret agents, secret police, are, in my eyes — in mine, who have had the honour to belong to them— • institutions invented by tyrants eager to procure funds without control and thirsting for despotism. Save in certain very rare cases, tho police are oc- cupied only in watching each other. Some agents who are ambitious and intelligent invent plots, draw up the rules of the societies which they have created, and then, at the moment of action, have the wretches arrested who have let themselves be enticed away. And if the society have taken up arms and made a demonstration, then the instigating agent is made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, an oflficer of the peace, a commissary of police, &c. Several cases, which I shall choose from many others in order to make them public, will edify my readers as to the morality of the secret police. Nevertheless, there are occasions on which an intelligent secret agent is indispensable. The following two are amongst the number : — A few days after my admission the Prefect of Police summoned me to him and handed me a note worded thus : — " Monsieur le Prefet, — I hasten to tell you that, in the Faubourg St. Honord, No. — , some wretches are fabricating an infernal machine with which to 34 MEMOinS OF THE BAHON DE RIMINI. assassinate the President of the Republic while he is on his way to the Eljsee. " (Signed) E. P/' When I had finished reading it. Monsieur Pietri said — "Keep this note; act as you think proper. I wish to find out what you can do, and if you may be entrusted with more important missions." I left the room without any settled plan, and went straight to the Faubourg St. Honore. Above the entrance to the house mentioned I saw : " Ten- roomed apartment to let, 7,000 francs." The means of visiting the place were right to my hand. I hastened home to the Eue des Moulins, and dressed myself very smartly, adding several crosses to my buttonhole. Then I hied me to the Rue Basse du Rempart, to a Yeuve Constant, livery-stable keeper. I ordered a two-horse carriage, with coat-of-arms, and a coachman and footman with powdered hair, and bade them take me to the 7,000 franc lodgings. When I arrived at the house the footman opened the door, and I told him to announce the Marquis de Chalet. At this aristocratic name, porter, door- keeper, footmen, and servants all hastened to the entrance to see me alight. The porter took a bunch of keys and mounted the steps first to open the doors. I went through the apartment, examining I SECRET AGENT. 35 overj detail : salons, bedrooms, kitchen, &c., and pretending to be enchanted with the premises, gave a hundred francs earnest-money, then, taking the porter familiarly by the flap of his coat, I said, curtly — "Whose house is this? Who lives underneath? I warn you that, although I have given the earnest- money, I will not live here if one of those blood- drinkers of Badinguet (Napoleon) lodges here, be- cause I have no fancy for meeting an executioner of tho Elysee Bourbon on the staircase." As I spoke the factotum's eyes darted fire, and before I had ended he threw himself at my feet, crying — " Your Excellency, my Lord, my Lord Marquis," &c., &c., " why, you are in the house of his Excel- lency the Minister of his late Majesty King Charles " What ! " I said. " I am in the house of ? Go at once and announce me ! Tell him I have just come from Frohsdorf." 'Trohsdorf ! " repeated the porter; then added: " It is impossible for me to announce you ; his Ex- cellency, our master, left yesterday for Laintonge. Ah ! so you have just seen His Majesty Henry VI. How many times he rode on my back when he was small ! And it was I who taught him to ride. Ah ! tell His Majesty, if you are returning to Frohsdorf, 36 MEMOIRS OF TEE BARON DE RIMINI. that we are working for him, and that before long the place at the Tuileries will be vacant, for Badin- guet is to be struck dead beneath our windows when he is passing on his way to the Elysee Bourbon." Then, signing to me to follow hira, he led me to a small room looking out in the street, where five infantry guns had been placed side by side on a prop and bound together. I knew all that I wanted to know. I gave twenty francs more with which to drink to the health of Henry V., and was driven in the same carriage to the Prefecture of Police. Monsieur Pietri was still at his desk, and as soon as he saw a gentleman in dress-coat and white cravat, gloved, and wearing several decorations, he rose and came towards me, bowing ; but as soon as he recognized me he threw himself into an arm-chair, holding his sides with laughter. "Where the devil are you going dressed like that?" • " I have just come back," I said, and told him of my first police exploit. Whilst I talked he laughed heartily, and gave me five hundred francs, saying — " Bravo ! bravo ! I know now what you can do." From that day forth he confided all important matters to me. That evening oJBScer Lagrange went to Number SECRET AGENT. 37 35 and arrested three men who were loading the guns with bullets, and the servants. I never heard what became of them. Several months later Monsieur Walewski, then ambassador to London, sent a ciphered telegram to Napoleon, informing him that a certain Kelshe, who had escaped from Lambessa and was in Mazzini's pay, was coming to Paris to assassinate the Emperor. His Imperial Majesty immediately sent for the Prefect of Police, acquainted him with the contents of the telegram, and asked for an intelligent, devoted, and energetic agent. Although I was quite new to the business. Monsieur Pietri mentioned me to the head of the State, who answered — *' Bring him to me this evening at the Opera. I will have you called during an entr'acte.'* That evening, after the first act, I saw Bacciochi go in search of Pietri. I was afraid of not being called. It was the first time I had had an opportunity of speaking to a crowned head, and being a Corsican shepherd I thought a great deal of it. Whilst I was making these reflections, the acting aide-de-camp. Count de Montebello, came in search of me, and led me to the Imperial box, where were their Majesties, General Montebello, Marshal Yaillant, and Mesdames de Montebello and de Bassano, ladies-in-waiting. as MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. On my entrance Napoleon rose with Monsieur Pietri and signed to me to follow him. As I passed behind the Empress she asked the General — " Who is that gentleman ? " '' He is a Corsican ; but I do not know his name.'* At this reply she burst into a laugh. I followed His Majesty and Monsieur Pietri to the terrace which faces Rue Pelletier and Eae Rosini. Three chairs stood ready. The Emperor took one and signed to us to be seated as near as possible, because we had to speak in low tones. Then he said — " Griscelli, I am glad that you are a Corsican ; men hailing from that island have always been devoted to my family. I know that you are, other- wise the Prefect would not have chosen you from among all his agents. You know that a certain Kelshe has] come to Paris to try and put an end to us. This man must be found. And when you have found him I wish to see him ; after that you can await my orders." "I will await your orders if I can, sire." Pietri, who considered this reply extremely bold, began to speak. Napoleon stopped him. Then, looking me in the face — " Why, and how will you not await my orders ? " SECRET AGENT. 8d *' Because, perliaps after I have found Kelshe he will try to approach too near to your Majesty's person before I have had time to point him out to your Majesty." " In that case, what will you do ? *' " I shall either blow his brains out or stab him.'* " That is right," they both answered. " And how will you manage to find him, seeing that you do not know him? " ** Nothing easier, sire. The Prefect will give me his papers this evening, for he was arrested in Paris when at the garrison. I shall not only have his age and personal description, but I shall be able to see what people he frequented." " Bravo ! " said Napoleon, " I see that you need no advice. Pietri, give Griscelli all the agents he asks for." " I don't want any at all, sire." " In case of need," said His Majesty. " And see that he wants nothing." This was my first interview with the Emperor. When I left the Opera that evening I could not help thinking — " Who would have dreamed, when I was sur- rounded by our goats, with my old uncle, that one day I should talk with a crowned head ! And at the Opera, amongst all that France contains illus- trious, in science, letters, and art 1 " 40 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. After the Opera we accompanied tlieir Imperial Majesties to tlie Tuileries, then went to the Prefec- ture of PoHce to get a thousand francs and look at Kelshe's papers, which Balestrino, chief of the municipal police, gave us. Monsieur Pietri made him believe that His Imperial Majesty intended to pardon the would-be assassin. " Pardon him ! " repeated Balestrino, '* why, he is the most dangerous man I know. The day he was arrested at the barricade of the Porte-St. -Martin fourteen agents had the greatest trouble in the world to get him to the station. He had to be tied. He is a formidable Hercules ! " The Prefect replied that he would tell the Emperor, and Balestrino suspected nothing. On looking at the papers I saw : *' Five feet seven inches in height, herculean build, a dangerous man, lives with his brother at Rue Trancy de Yaugirard. He goes often to see Desmaret, restaurant -keeper, in the same street, where he courts the innkeeper's daughter." Armed with these particulars and my one thousand francs, I went back home and lay down in my clothes. It was three o'clock, and I wanted to get to Rue Trancy early, hoping to see Kelshe and find out something. At six o'clock, although it was in the month of December, I was standing opposite his brother's SECRET AOENT. 41 house. An hour later a young girl came down stairs, called a commissioner, and handed him a letter, warn- ing hitn to give it to no one on the way, but to deliver it himself. The young girl's injunction ap- peared to me to be worthy of note. I therefore followed the bearer of the missive, who traversed Paris, and only stopped at Mdnilmontant. He rang at the house of a bourgeois. A man, Kelshe himself, descended, took the letter, and said to the carrier — " Thank you. I will go at once. I shall be there before you." His voice and appearance made no impression whatever on me, but if I had no dazed feeling, I re- marked, on the other hand, as a bad sign, that it was Friday. As he had told the man who brought the letter, he came out a moment later, and followed the E/Ue Menilmontant to the Boulevard du Temple, where he took a cab and was driven to his brother's house, going by the Boulevards by the Madeleine, the Place de la Concorde, the Boulevard des Inva- lides, E-ue de Vaugirard, etc. As soon as his cab reached the door the entire family ran precipitately out, fell on his neck, and made him go in, sending away the cab. About two hours later he appeared again, accom- panied by his brother, and they went to No. 13, Rue de Trancy, to Desmaret's, the restaurant keeper. There he was oXso feted. The young girl particularly 42 MEMOinS OF THE BARON DE BIMINI. did not leave him, and took coffee with the two brothers, whilst, in a small room adjoining the large one, I ate a cutlet, which I paid for beforehand. When they had finished their coffee they went to Cremieux's, livery-stable keeper, in the Champs Elysees ; there the two brothers separated, and I caught Kelshe's parting words — " Napoleon s police are too stupid to discover me. They think me stagnating in London. It is useless for me to stay at Girard's. I shall sleep at home* Fear nothing. Until to-night ! " Poor Kelshe, he did not know that his words would be gathered at that moment by one of Na- poleon's police-agents, who was charged not to lose sight of him, and that before long he would have the unpleasantness of finding himself face to face with the same man. Although I do not wish to anticipate, I will say just here that on entering Desmaret's a dazed feeling came over me with such force that I nearly fainted. Was it a presentiment of the drama which was to be enacted several days later, or what was it ? When I saw Kelshe leave Cremieux's on horseback and go towards the Tuile- ries, I ran to the Eue Montaigne (the Imperial Mews), had a horse saddled, and went to the Place de la Concorde, where, to my satisfaction, I found the assassin, sitting a pure-blooded horse like an accomplished rider. At precisely two o'clock His SECRET AGENT. 4S Imperial Majesty, Colonel Fleury, and Captain Merle, appeared on the spot, having come by the Rue Eivoli. Kelshe, who was then near the Pont Eoyal, came galloping up to Napoleon. I was already behind him, my horse's head touching the crupper of his, when the Emperor passed near us. In my left hand I held my horse's reins, the right grasped the handle of my dagger. Napoleon glanced at him while he talked to his aide-de-camp, then continued on his way to the Bois. Kelshe did not move. His death was not to take place at the Champs Elysees. As soon as His Imperial Majesty had passed he broke into a hard gallop as far as the Arc de Triomphe. More than thirty riders, including Kelshe and myself, followed to the lake ; there, wishing to shake off the crowd which surrounded him, Napo- leon again started off at a gallop as far as the Porte Maillot. Then we went to the Pont de Neuilly at a walk, and the Eoyal party returned to the Tuileries by the Pare Monceau and the Faubourg St. Honord. He left us in the Eue de la Paix. It was then four o'clock. I shall not relate all the incidents which occurred during this surveillance, which lasted fifteen days and fifteen nights; it would only lengthen this chapter, already too long. But I wish to say that Kelshe was always kept in sight. I have eaten at the 44 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. same table, often taken coffee in tlie same partition. Whether on horseback, in carriages, or walking we were continually meeting, and to such a degree was the fanatic blinded by the thought of the assassina- tion that he never once discovered that he was being watched. All the letters whicb he received from London and those whicb he himself wrote were un- sealed, read, and then sent to their address. At the hour mentioned, while Kelshe, arrayed in cap, riding-boots, and green jacket, beneath which something protruded, was making his horse prance, His Imperial Majesty and Monsieur Fleury entered the Place de la Concorde. When he saw them Xelshe went towards them at a triple gallop, and they, seeing that, went through the Avenue de I'Etoile as hard as they could. I had time to tell the jockeys to keep very close to His Imperial Majesty, and to let no one pass in front of them. When they arrived at the Bois de Boulogne a furious chase began. Walls, brooks, and paths were crossed at full gallop. The pedestrians who saw us pass told each other that the head of the State was either mad or drunk. Alas ! he was neither the one nor the other, but he was in fear of his life. After three hours of mad careering, we passed the Porte Maillot to return to the Tuileries, traversing the Avenue de I'Etoile. Our horses were white with foam. On entering the SECRET AGENT. 4& Avenue Kelshe's horse refused to go any further, in spite of his rider's whip and spurs. I dashed forward^ and passing the Emperor waved ray hat in the air, crying, ''Beaten I beaten ! Long live the Emperor !" His Imperial Majesty turned round, and seeing the assassin at a distance ordered me to follow him to the Castle. When he entered his study, Napoleon, bathed in perspiration, opened a drawer and gave me five thousand francs, saying — " Go and rest, we shall need you later on ; and send Pietri to me." An hour afterwards I was sound asleep, when the latter came to the Eue des Moulins to awaken me, and order me to be at his office at midnight to arrest Kelshe, dead or alive. Twelve o'clock was just striking when I presented myself at the Prefecture, where I was astonished to find forty agents whom the Chief of Police made me take to help in arresting Kelshe. After a lively dis- cussion in the Prefect's presence, during which Bales- trino complained that he had been kept in ignorance of the affair, I consented to take two with me, saying that if they wanted Kelshe dead I did not need anyone. Hebert, Letourneur, and I left the office with orders to arrest the assassin, alive or dead. At exactly six o'clock on another Friday we arrived at Desmaret's, where our man came every day to drink his absinthe; we ordered a dinner for six 46 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. persons. At eight o'clock a certain Morelli arrived, having come from London to help in the Emperor's hunt ; he asked Desmaret where Kelshe was. He was told that he would arrive at nine. At the hour named Kelshe appeared. While he was drinking his glass I ordered Letourneur to arrest Morelli. Hubert and I seized Kelshe, who, although there were two of us, got away and ran through the dining-room, the salon, and the other rooms, and springing through a window fell inside the surrounding wall, at one end of which was a door. Had this door been open the assassin would have been saved ; but it was Priday, Desmaret's house bore the number 13, and I had had his dazed feelings ; blood must be shed ; his doom was sealed.* J^ot being able to get out through the door, and feeling that his crime had been discovered, Kelshe, like a brave man, deter- mined to sell his life dearly. He stopped and cocked a pistol ; I did the same. We were thirty paces from each other; the two shots made one detonation. He fell bathed in blood — my ball had entered between the nose, forehead, and right eye, and had come out behind the left ear; his had whistled past my head. His accomplice Morelli ran out at the pistol-shot. While he was jumping to the wall I broke his left shoulder-blade with my other pistol. * Corsicaii superstition. SECRET AGENT. 47 At exactly ten o'clock we were entering the court- yard of the Prefecture with a wounded man and a corpse. Monsieur Pietri fell on my neck, and ran to break the news at the Tuileriesand to the Ministers, who, since the first attempt, were all impatiently awaiting the announcement of this important arrest. That evening I was the hero of all the Ministerial salons. The Emperor gave me ten thousand francs ; de Maupas, Minister, five thousand ; and as to Monsieur Pietri, his generosity was unbounded. The Empress kept my daughter at her expense in the Convent d'Josy until her eighteenth year. That same day I was attached to the person of His Imperial Majesty Napoleon III., and entrusted with his safety. In confiding this delicate mission to me, Messieurs de Persigny and Pietri gave me these orders : " We entrust the Emperor's safety to you. No matter where His Majesty goes, you are never to leave him, either in France or abroad. Once outside the Tuileries, no one, no matter who he may be, must be allowed to approach the Emperor without being especially summoned. Here, unless called, you are not responsible. When you travel in France, in every place through which you pass with their Majesties all the police and Gendarmerie will be under your orders. The Prefects have received official instructions to that effect." 48 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIM INT. Sometimes I think it cannot possibly be I, who was once a Corsican shepherd, living five years with my uncle amongst the peasants, without seeing either house or village — in fact, almost a savage. And now, by some fabulous change, by some ex- traordinary chance, I can say that I have walked in the Tuileries with Napoleon, at Windsor with Queen Yictoria, at Turin with Yictor-Emmanuel,. at Eome with Pius IX., at Madrid with Queen Isabella, at Portici with Francis II., at Frankfort with Francis-Joseph, Maximilian of Bavaria, and a host of others. Yet it is true. It is the truth, and nothing but the truth ; two-thirds of France will support my statement, having seen me at Court. Besides, there are all the Ministers and dignitaries whom I saw and spoke with at Paris, Lyons, Mar- seilles, Bordeaux, Lille, Grenoble, Dieppe, Biarritz, Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau, and last, but not least, every day from the Tuileries to the Bois de Boulogne. Well ! the man who saved his Emperor's life, and much more besides, is now languishing in a foreign land ; whilst those who insulted, fought, denounced, arrested, bullied, judged, and condemned Prince Louis Charles Napoleon are receiving from the Emperor Napoleon the sums of twenty-five, thirty, forty, and a hundred thousand francs. Now let any man say that the Bonapartes are not ungrateful I CHAPTER V. DUO DE MOENY. I SHALL speak neither of the Due de Morny's mysterious birth nor of his having been an African officer in his youth, still less of his commercial enterprises — and particularly that of the Great Central ! — nor of his performances at the Czar's Court, so wittily exposed by Peel, after his journey to St. Petersburg ; but of an occurrence of which most people are ignorant. What is certain is that he was accepted as their son by Count and Countess de Morny, poor gentle- folk from Auvergne. Europe still remembers the extraordinary festivi- ties which took place in the capital of Russia at the coronation of the Emperor Alexander II. The entertainment which was most admired, most dazzling, was, according to all reports, that given by the Duo de Morny, Envoy Extraordinary E 50 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. and representatiye of France, on the occasion of the historical event which followed the Crimean War. A few days afterwards the newspapers, describing the splendour and ceremony of the fete (at which their Imperial Moscovite Majesties had assisted), an- nounced that JSTapoleon's proxy was about to marry a Princess of the Russian Court. On reading this news the Countess de Lehon, who certainly had a right to be surprised, wrote the following letter to her colleague : — '' MONSIEUE, " The European papers announce your mar- riage with a Eussian Princess. I warn you that if you do not have it denied immediately on receipt of this I will publish all your letters, which are, as you know, in my possession, beginning with those con- cerning the coup d'etat of the 2nd of December, 1851. ''(Signed) Countess de Lehon." I do not know what effect this missive produced at St. Petersburg, as I was not there, but it created an immense sensation at the Tuileries. On receiving his former friend's letter de Morny had written these words on the margin : '' Sire, act quickly, or we shall be the objects of a great scandal." Then he had sent the letter to His Majesty Napoleon III. by a special courier. The Emperor DUG DE MORNY. 51 read it, then summoned Pietri at once, acquainted him with the contents, and asked for a man who would go to the Countess de Lehon's house and take the papers from her by force if he could not by persuasion. All the police at the Castle were sent to look for me. General Ilollin, more fortunate than the others, found rae sitting on the parapet of the Pont Royal, took me by the arm, and told rae that all Paris was searching for me to take me, living or dead, before His Imperial Majesty. While he talked we reached the salon used by the aides-de-camp and chamber- lains on duty, who, when they saw me, all rushed to the door of the Imperial study to announce my arrival. Entering the sanctuary of the head of the State I found Pietri there alone, standing. His Imperial Majesty rose, showed me the letter, and asked me if I thought I should succeed. At this moment an aide-de-camp handed in a letter addressed to the Prefect of Police, who hastily opened it and gave it to the Emperor, who read as follows : — " Prefect, " I regret to tell you that the Countess Lehon, on the announcement of the Count de Morny's marriage, sold all the papers, letters, etc., etc., which concerned the coup d'etat of the 2nd of December to the Orleanists." 52 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. His Majesty stopped and thought a moment. " It is too late," exclaimed Pietri. " Not at all, Prefect." " And why ? " asked Napoleon, looking at me. " Because, sire, I do not believe that the Countess would sell the papers before she received any reply to her letter." " I agree with you," replied the Emperor. *' Go at once," he added, '' and be strong if prudence avails nothing." I left the study and started in the direction of the Champs Elysees. As I was crossing the Tuileries gardens the Prefect of Police joined me, growling : " That rascal de Morny ! if he had only been hanged when he stole those millions ! What made him trust that gabbler with the Emperor's papers ? Just think what a position he has placed us in if those papers are in London now ! We are dis- honoured in the eyes of the whole world ! If you lay your hand on that w^oman the Orleanists will raise a scandal ! And if you don't bring back the papers what will His Majesty say ? " "He may say what he likes," I answered, absently, trying to devise some means of getting the papers out of the Countess's hands. Pietri was entirely devoted to Napoleon III., but he was equally afraid of scandals. When we reached the door, Pietri left me. I DUC DE MORNY. 68 ascended the staircase, without any fixed plan of action, and, being announced, entered the salon and found myself face to face with the former friend of the Duke of Orleans. It was then eight o'clock in the evening. " What miracle," asked she, when she saw me, ** brings you here at this hour ? " " I have come for the Count," replied I. " To make an Ambassador of him ? " " Oh ! madame, he is as yet somewhat young for that position ; but we will make him something «lse meanwhile." " Never, monsieur ; my son shall accept nothing from your Government ! " *' Not even the appointment of Ambassador?" said I, laughing, as I seated myself near her. Then she informed me that de Morny had wanted to take her Leon to Kussia with him, but that Prince Murat had got the best of him and had his cousin appointed. During this recital her son came in. 1 told him (for his mother s benefit) that I had come to take him to a dinner at the Mais on Dor^e. We left the Countess, but instead of going to the Boulevard des Italiens I took the young Count to the Barri^re de TEtoile. As we passed under the Arc de Triomphe I told the Countess's son that I wished to speak to him on a most important subject. As soon as he found himself in the dark his 54 MEMOIBS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. courage deserted him, and instead of waiting for me to question him, he met me half-way. Taking me by the arm, he said — " Where are you taking me ? You have been and are still a friend of the family. I do not, therefore, mind telling you that I feel sure that the letter which has appeared in the newspapers will cause my mother and me a great deal of trouble. I expect anything and everything, only regretting my inability to tell His Imperial Majesty that he has no more devoted subject than I, and that my mother's opinions have never been shared by me." " I am glad. Count, to hear you say that, particu- larly this evening^ for some wretches have profited by that very letter to send in a frightful report, and, in their hatred, they have gone so far as to say that you had started for London with all the Due de Morny's private papers, intending to sell them to the Orleanists." " Then they lied ! It is false ! utterly false ! All Monsieur de Morny's papers are in a box, in mamma's bureau ! " " I was sure of that beforehand, and have come to you neither for the papers nor the box, but as a friend to advise you to set your mind at rest and be quiet. But as you say you should have such pleasure in being presented to His Imperial Majesty, I will take you to him at once, not for a visit, but DUC DE Id on NT. 55 in order that you may categorically deny the false reports. These secret agents are so infamous that if you do not refute their first assertion they are quite capable of sending a couple of reports every day." The Prefect of Police, behind us, had not lost a word of our conversation. He turned back ; he was in a hurry to speak to the head of the Government. As we returned by the Elysee, I went to the Police Station, and ordered an Inspector to surround the Countess's house at once, and to let no one either enter or leave without a permit from either the Count or myself. '^Why are you doing that? Have you arrested mamma ? " " Your mamma is free. Count, but I don't want any false agents or zealots to have an opportunity of fleecing her." On entering Napoleon's study, whither Pietri had preceded us, I said — '' Sire, I have the honour to present to you Count de Lehon, who wishes to lay his respectful homage at his august Sovereign's feet, and to announce with his own lips that de Morny's papers are in the Countess's room." At this announcement, somewhat awkwardly made. His Imperial Majesty looked up, laughing, but when 56 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI, he heard the last words he held out his hand to young Lehon, and made him sit down near him, saying — '' Did you see the papers to-day ? " "Yes, sire; and if your Majesty will allow me I will go at once and fetch them." " Thanks, Count ; write a line to the Countess, and we will send Griscelli with it." The young fellow sat down at the Emperor s desk and wrote the following note — '' Dear Mama, " I am writing from His Imperial Majesty's study, where I still am, much moved by the manner in which His Majesty received me. Please oblige me by giving our friend Griscelli the box containing Count de Morny's papers ; the Emperor wishes it, and your devoted son entreats it. " (Signed) Count de Lehon." Provided with this talisman I hastened into the garden, where Pietri joined me, and asked why I had had the Countess's house surrounded. '' I will tell you about it to-morrow," said I. I left the Prefect at the door once more, and mounted the stairs rapidly. When I entered the salon the Countess came to me, threatening me with her fist, and screaming like a madwoman. DUG DE MORN 7, 57 " What have you done with my son ? You have murdered him ! I am guarded by the police whilst awaiting my execution I My son, my son I Why don't you answer ? What have you done with de Lehon?'' During these reproaches I had remained like a statue. When she ordered me to speak, for all answer I gave her the letter. She took it trembling, and read as far as " give the box." " Never ! never ! " she cried with such violence that Pietri, hearing her outside, at once ran up- stairs, thinking that I was stabbing her. At sight of Monsieur Pietri, whom she knew, the Countess ran into her room, vociferating — " I yield to force. I shall protest before Europe against this sword-and-spy Government ! " I followed her into her room, took the box, and was going to give it to the Prefect, but he said — " Carry it yourself. I will stay awhile to calm this madwoman. Only, tell the agents to return to the station." When I entered the study with the box. His Imperial Majesty took it from my hands with a feverish movement. " There is no key ! Call the manager of the Castle, Monsieur Galis." Just as I was crossing the salon to look for the manager, Monsieur Pietri arrived with the key. 58 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. When he had opened the box and examined certain letters the face of the head of the State grew bright with satisfaction. As soon as he had finished he offered his hand to Count de Lehon, saying — " Count on my affection." Then turning to Pietri — "You must come and breakfast with the Empress to-morrow. You, Griscelli, will present yourself at ten o'clock." All three of us went out; it was midnight. Monsieur Pietri treated us to a supper at Douir's,. in the Palais Eoyal. The MoniteuT of the next day announced that young Lehon had been appointed Referendary, a few days afterwards Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, then Deputy, then President of the General Council of the Ain. As for me, I received six thousand francs. De Morny was married. The first persons whom the couple saw at the Gare du Nord on their return were M. and Mme. de Lehon. The first time the President and his wife left their palace, after their arrival in Paris, they paid a visit to the Countess de Lehon. That day I told the Prefect of Police that de Lehon had made fools of us all. " Add that de Morny was his gabbler's accom- plice,' replied Pietri. DUG DE MORNT. 6^ When I was at Baden-Badon, in 1861, Count de Lehon met me, came to me, and invited me to dine at Stephani-Bad, where he was staying. Just as he was leaving for Paris he handed me a letter ad- dressed to myself, which I at once read. It con- tained these words — "MONSIETTE GeISOELLI, " The service you rendered my family is one which can never be repaid. I regret not having more than the enclosed (2,500 francs) at my disposal. Accept it as a remembrance from the man who will always be delighted to be able to please you. " Your affectionate friend, " (Signed) Count de Lehon, " Deputy of the Ain." CHAPTER VI. FIALIN DE PEESIGNY. The personage who gives the title to this chapter was born near St. Etienne, of very poor parents. He was baptised under the name of Fialin, drew lots, and served his time (rising to the grade of non-commissioned officer) under the name of Fialin. He was dismissed from the regiment under that name, without a certificate of good conduct, for some indelicate action. On arriving at Paris he boldly introduced himself to Commander Parquin, a Bonapartist recruiter, saying that he had been victimized on account of his Napoleonic opinions. This party leader received Mm — at that time the Napoleons considered num- bers only — and sent him to London to the Prince, who needed partisans with whom to cross the frontier. During the Strasburg affair, Fialin, dressed like a sergeant-major, instead of following the Prince to FIALIN DE PERSI0N7, 61 the quarter where the artillery was stationed, quietly went to the stafF of the town, and told General Voirol that he had been forced to take part in the plot. His accomplices were all arrested and tried ; Master Fialin was not even questioned. The Stras- burg chronicles said that Fialin was an agent of Louis Philippe. On leaving Alsatia, which he did at will, he again went to Paris. His manner of life was somewhat mysterious. He was known to be poor, and yet hia pockets were constantly well lined. People declared that Fialin signed his name every week for services rendered to the Prefecture of Police ! When Louis Napoleon again presented himself at Boulogne, in order to overthrow the July Govern- ment, Fialin, in his sergeant-major's uniform, carried the cage containing the Imperial eagle.* There he was arrested, and tried under the name of Fialin, and condemned to twenty years' imprisonment. They said in Paris that the Peers had given him the severest punishment because they had proof that Fialin had deceived the July Government by send- ing in false reports. The February Republic opened the doors of Fort St. Michel for him. He went straight to Forcy, presenting himself as a martyr to liberty. His countrymen elected him as the ♦ Which was said to have been trained to alight on Napoleon's- Iiead, as a sign of the Divine will. 62 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. representative of the people in tlie Constituent Assembly. His master, his chief in the Boulogne conspiracy, being also a people's representative, and staying at the Hotel du Rhin, Fialin sought him out, and from that day stuck to him like his shadow. The next day the ex-sergeant of dragoons signed his name de Persigny. At the time of the coup d*etat de Persigny was one of the most active agents. He was given the custody of the Bourbon Palace, along with Colonel L'Espinasse. After the tenth of December Louis Napoleon married him to Mademoiselle de la Moskova— about whom people said a great many things — in spite of the mother's refusal to consent to the match. The dowry was seven million francs. The other seven millions, coming from the Lafitte fortune, belonged to the bride's brother, a lad of seventeen, who was at boarding-school, Eue d'Enfer, where, several days after Persigny's wedding, the young fellow was found dead in his bed.* The ex-sergeant of dragoons had, therefore, four- teen millions. The first seven millions he obtained in spite of the wife's mother s refusal to consent, the other seven millions he had inherited through death. Both of these things occurred under the protectorate * It was reported in the quarter that Zambo had been seen prowling about the College. FIA LIN BE PERSIONY. 68 of his friend the Boulogne conspirator, in the nine- teenth century, in the capital of France ! To be impartial, and in order to be able to add new facts relative to the hero of this article, I will add that the illustrious banker, perhaps foreseeing the miseries which would come to his daughter, married to a wicked and cruel husband, from whom she was separated, had left her the legatee of the fourteen millions until the majority of her children, who, unless they wished to be disinherited, were to remain under the sole guardianship of their mother. Well, notwithstanding this will. His Imperial Majesty Napoleon III. married Mademoiselle de la Moskova to his favourite, without the mother's consent, and under his reign Pietri's and de Persigny's police took the fourteen millions away from the banker's daughter by the following means. Madame la Princesse de la Moskova, riee Lafitte, lived a very retired life in her father's house, No. 37, Eue Lafitte, with a young girl named Yictorine, whom she had brought up. A spy, Delagnan, paid by Napoleon's two functionaries, introduced himself into the house under a disguise of seeming modesty and good morals. Not succeeding in seducing and carrying off the Princess's only friend, he had her arrested, and taken to the Madelonnettes. Her mistress, accompanied by the illustrious poet 64 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMTNL Beranger, went to Procurer-Greneral Rowland to ask for her ^protegee, Yictorine was restored to liberty. Then the Princess, thinking that her ward's beauty was the reason for all this, married her to Monsieur Dumont, formerly employed in the Maison Lafitte. Alas ! the illustrious and honest banker's dauo^h- ter, that banker from whom Napoleon I. refused a receipt for four millions, counted without the police.. The very night of the marriage Pietri had Yictorine's husband carried off as a measure of general safety, and expelled him from French territory. Mean- while, all these atrocities did not gain the end of the ex-sergeant of dragoons; the fourteen millions were still not in his cash-box. This is what was done in order to get them there : By the sentence of complaisant judges the Princess was interdicted as a madwoman. Lafitte's fourteen millions passed on to Persigny ! Then William Tell's countrymen saw the only daughter of the banker, and ex-Presi- dent of the Ministerial Council, the wife of Prince de la Moscova, and mother-in-law to Count de Per- signy, Minister of the Interior, member of Napoleon's Privy Council, &c., living miserably at Chaux-de- Fonds (Switzerland) with Yictorine and her husband. Monsieur Dumont, who worked night and day to get bread for their former mistress and their owa family. CHAPTER VII. BACCIOCHI. Monsieur Bacciochi was born at Ajaccio, and claims to be a kinsman of the Bonapartes. All Corsicans do. In 1848 he ran away from home to escape being arrested for debt, and took refuge at Bastia in the house of a vine-dresser named Catoni. After Prince Napoleon's election as President of the Re- public he borrowed two hundred francs of the lawyer Cartuccia and went to Paris. A few days later he was installed at the Elys^e, near his so-called cousin, and was made a Count. Although utterly devoid of brains, he knew how to amass a considerable fortune by obtaining his sovereign master's signature to the following more or less honest concessions : — The Napoleonic Docks, the monopoly of the Paris omnibuses, the increase of hackney cabs by five hundred additional vehicles, the Vichy waters, the Marseilles Docks, and the F 66 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. Port of Ajaccio, given to Armand without a sealed tender. During the examination of the Mires bankruptcy it was discovered that Count de Bacciochi had received a million for services rendered. On hearing of his Chamberlain's dealings with the Jew his august cousin made him Superintendent of Theatres and Director of Music in the Imperial Chapel. In his princely opulence as an habitual guest at the Imperial table he found means to reward his friends in a befitting manner. Catonij the vine-dresser of Bastia, is now Inspec- tor of Theatres, and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. A son whom he had by Catoni's servant was taken to the Tuileries as a body-servant. Now young Bertora is the Chamberlain's secretary, and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Lawyer Cartuccia, who lent him the two hundred francs, was unanimously elected President of the Senate at the Imperial Court at Bastia. His friends declare Bacciochi to be worth five millions. CHAPTER VIII. DOCTOR CONNEAU. Some gossips have said that Doctor Conneau was once assistant cook to Queen Hortense. I do not know if it is true. All that I know is that the Queen of Holland, on her death-bed, made him promise never to leave her son, and that, except at rare intervals, Conneau kept his word. In 1831, when the Prince escaped from Aunenberg and went to Poland, the doctor was sent to fetch him back, and was arrested at Augsberg. While he was being taken to prison he said that he had the cholera. His gaolers were terrified. Two days afterwards he brought the fugitive back to his mother. Arrested at Strasburg and Boulogne, he always shared his master s fortunes. When he helped him to escape from Fort Ham, and was questioned by the President, he replied — " I helped him to escape because I love him ! ** 68 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI, After the Empire he was made successively Head Physician to the Court, Director of the Chapel of Ease, and Deputy. He married the painter. Made- moiselle Pasquelini, whom he had attended profes- sionally. With all his good qualities, Dr. Conneau, if he had lived in Moli^re's time, would certainly have figured with Harpagon and Fozias, on account of the weakness which he displayed after the Crimean war. Why was it. Doctor Conneau, that with all your good qualities you could not deny yourself the ambition of wearing a sword of honour ? After the Crimean war, during which Generals MacMahon and Pelissier had made themselves illustrious, the Irish for MacMahon, and the Nor- mans for Pelissier, opened subscriptions with the design to offer each of them a sword of honour. In the face of this deserving glory our ^sculapius sent to Corsica for his wife's cousin, and spoke to him in the following manner — " You must send in your resignation as member of the General Council of the Department; the Prefect will receive orders to nominate me in your stead. The day of the ballot you must open a sub- scription for a sword to present to your Emperor's physician. Here is money with which to buy it, and for all the necessary expenses." DOCTOR CONNEAU. 69 Some months afterwards the Moiiitear announced to its readers that His Imperial Majesty's head physician, Doctor Conneau, had been unanimously elected member of the General Council of the District of Corsica in the room of Monsieur Colom- bani, whose resignation had been accepted, and that the electors, in a patriotic outburst, had, when the vote was carried, voted by acclamation a sword of honour to the faithful servant of His Imperial Majesty Napoleon III. I will add in conclusion that the same number of the ofl&cial organ contained in the official portion these words : " Monsieur Colombani, Dockyard Collector at the Porta, has been appointed financial receiver at Certi." CHAPTER IX. rOULD. In order to relate the somewhat curious anecdote concerning the celebrated financier, I must go back a little, as far as the journey to Dieppe, where it took place. After their Imperial Majesties had been united, they both conceived a great desire to travel in France — certainly a legitimate desire, if there ever was one. He was anxious to show the new Empress to the nation who had given him so many proofs of almost blind devotion by electing him Deputy, President of the Republic, and Emperor ; she was equally anxious for the French to see her in her new character of Empress, a considerable change from that of a simple young Spanish girl. The Cabinet was consulted, and opposed the journey for the following reasons : — 1st. Two-thirds of the departments were in a state of siege. FOULD. 71 2nd. More than 20,000 Frenchmen were either in prison or exiled. 3rd. The country people did not like the union with Spain. His Excellency Saint Arnaud, Minister of War, combated these arguments ; he wanted the Emperor to travel through two lines of bayonets. His Excellency de Maupas, Minister of Police, also wished the journey to take place, but he thought that the royal safety should be ensured by putting in motion the entire gendarmery and police of France ! These notions were warmly opposed by Fould, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Monsieur Pietri and I were summoned to de Persigny, Minister of the Interior. His Excellency made us go into his study, and the discussion began. The Minister of the Interior told us that their Imperial Majesties wished to travel, they did not care where, and that they wished the journey to last a month. We spread out the map of France, and stopped at Dieppe, a little seaport town in the Lower Seine. There the Emperor might (ap- parently) take sea-baths. Dieppe was approved of the next day in a Cabinet Council. In a few hours a hundred picked policemen were dressed in plain clothes ; they were to draw up, two by two, at all the stations along the route, to excite 72 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. the populace to crowd together and cry " Long live the Emperor ! Long live the Empress ! Long live the saviour of France ! " etc., when the Imperial party passed. Then they were to repair to Dieppe, take separate lodgings, and pretend not to know each other, unless something serious happened. They were to walk on the beach, bathe, and generally conduct themselves like people out on a holiday. \ Besides his expenses, each man received 10 francs full pay per diem. Meanwhile, in order to win over the townsfolk and neighbourhood, de Persigny left Paris ten days before the departure of the Court, carrying with him a whole basketful of crosses and decorations. The mayor, his two colleagues, four municipal councillors, two chemists, the directors of the hospital, the bank, the Mont-de-Piete,* and nearly all the rural mayors received the red ribbon. Fifty thousand francs were distributed amongst the relief-ojfices, the hospitals, the convents, and the poor of the district. All the articles at the Mont-de-Piete were redeemed ! These preparations completed, their Imperial Majesties, M. and Mdme. de Montebello, General Fleury, and Tascher de la Pagerie left Paris. At every station the well-dressed men showed their * Government pawnshop. / FOULD. 78 'devotion and strength of lung by shouting through the whole programme. In spite of all these expenses and crosses, which .reached an enormous total, the bourgeoisie of Dieppe refused to lend their daughters, dressed in white, to go to the station and offer a bouquet to Mdme. de Montijo's daughter. They were obliged to take twenty orphans out of the hospital to perform this portion of the festive programme. In 1831, when Louis Philippe entered Dieppe, on his way to Eu, he was received with an immense roar of ''Long live the Duchess de Berry! Long Jive Henry Y. ! Down with Philippe Egalit6 ! " The compatriots of the great Daguesne still remembered the benefactions of the elder line, who left throughout Normandy proofs of generosity which could never be forgotten. At six o'clock in the evening, when the Imperial train entered the station, a formidable vocal ex- plosion was heard of, ^^ Long live the saviour of France! Long live,'' etc., etc. The well-dressed men and the new Chevaliers had indeed earned their pay! The Imperial carriage was surrounded by the young girls, the newly-decorated officials, and Pietri's sea-bathers, and accompanied through the town to cries of " Lo7ig live,'' etc., until it reached the Town Hall. When he entered, Napoleon caught 74 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. sight of de Persigny, and in his popular glee went straight to the Minister, saying : '' Listen to those cries of joy ! They have accom- panied us ever since we left Paris ! You Ministers do not really know Bonapartist France ! " "With all his intelligence, the Emperor of the French had not discovered that Pietri was the wire-puller, and these cries of joy cost the taxpayers one million francs, without counting other expenses connected with fetes, balls, and steeplechases that the departments incurred in their efforts to welcome their Sovereign. On the occasion of a grand performance given by artists who had been sent for from Paris, the aide- de-camp on duty, General Montebello, ordered me to accompany him to the theatre, where he said — " You must station two of your men underneath the box. You will stand at the door, and must let no one enter, be he whom he may, unless he has been sent for." An hour later the auditorium of the Dieppe theatre presented a fairy-like appearance — epau- lettes and embroidery, united with the fluttering toilettes of the great ladies who had come from the capital with the Imperial dignitaries. The agents of the Prefect of Police were scattered throughout the theatre. At the end of the first act a crowd of people made- FOULD. 75 their way towards the Imperial box. Monsieur Fould, Monsieur Leroy, Prefect of the department, and Monsieur Frank Carr^, Chief Justice, came to the box. I told His Excellency very politely that my instructions would not allow anyone to enter. " Police instructions ! " replied the Minister with disdain, passing the door. I seized him so violently by the collar of his coat that he fell back amidst the crowd which filled the hall, then putting my hand on my dagger, I said — " If you were not Napoleon's Minister you would be a corpse." The music of the second act summoned the spectators back to their places, but noisy conversa- tions attracted the attention of the Emperor, who called the aide-de-camp and inquired the cause. In a few words I told the General about the affair before he appeared before their Imperial Majesties. At the end of the act the promenaders in front of the Imperial box were still more numerous. Abbattucci, Pietri, de Morny, and de Persigny, enemies of Fould, congratulated me as they passed. Leroy and Frank Carr6 complained to the acting aide-de-camp, who replied that Monsieur le Ministre ought to consider himself lucky at having got off with only a scare. At the end of the performance I accompanied their Imperial Majesties to the Town Hall. A crowd 76 MEMOIRS OF THE BAHON DE RIMINI. at once surrounded me to ask what had happened. In reply, I went to bed. Then began the gossiping ; some saying that the Minister had been stabbed because he wanted to assassinate Napoleon and proclaim the Comte de Paris; others that Fould had been murdered by a stranger. Each one had his own particular story.' Next day, at twelve o'clock, I was summoned to the salon where all the great dignitaries were assembled at a general reception. As soon as His Imperial Majesty arrived he called me and made me relate what had happened the evening before. I did so accurately up to the moment when I had said, '' You would be a corpse ! '* " And if the Minister had persisted in entering, what would you liave done ? " asked the Emperor, looking at Fould. '' I should have stabbed him, sire.'' " Bravo ! " cried Marshal Magnan, behind me. At this the entire assembly burst out laughing. From that day forth Monsieur Fould dedicated to me a hatred which only died out five years after- wards in a hunt at Fontainebleau. CHAPTER X. SAINT- ARNAUD (aRNAUD LEROY). General Saint-Abnaud, after having got his living as an actor and a fencing-master in London, managed, more or less honestly, to attain the positions of Marshal of France, Minister of War, Grand Equerry, Commander-in-Chief of the Crimean army, etc. Whilst he was Minister of War he accompanied the Emperor to Yincennes, where His Imperial Majesty was reviewing the garrison of the fort and the Captains who, before being made commanders of battalions, were going through the riding-school. After the march past we started to return to the Tuileries ; while we were passing through the Faubourg St. Antoine, Napoleon III. called me to him, and gave me a letter, saying — " Read that ; you will see what is to be done, and report to Monsieur Pietri." After leaving His Imperial Majesty at the bottom of the small staircase, I opened the letter and read : — 78 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. " Sire, " General Athalin, aide-de-camp to the man whom the people drove from France in 1848, is in Paris since the day before yesterday. I am assured that he is recruiting ofl&cers for the Orleanist party. I warn your Imperial Majesty that if he presents himself at Vincennes I shall have him shot like a dog. " The Commander of the Fort of Vincennes. " (Signed) db Bouejeoly." After mastering the contents of this statement I started at once in the direction of the Palais Royal to see a certain Dremoulin, ex-valet to General Athalin, now Prince Jerome's porter, who told me that his former master, the General, had been dangerously ill at Colmar for two months past, and begged me, in order to get more certain news, to go to ISTumber 45, Rue du Mont- Blanc, where I would find someone who could furnish it. On leaving the Palais Royal I went straight to Number 45, where, indeed, I discovered de Bourjeoly's report to be a lie from beginning to end. The General had not been in Paris since the 25th of February, 1848. He had come to France solely on account of his health, and was now so ill that a number of Orleanists had left for Colmar to assist at their friend's funeral. I will not conceal the fact that I was never so SAINT-ARNAUD {ARNAUD LEROY.) 79 •delighted at any matter entrusted to me. I was pleased at being able to say that the General had deliberately lied to the Emperor. Armed with this valuable information, which I took care to have written down, I hied me to the Prefect of Police, to whom I first gave the General's report. On reading it Pietri grew crimson with a,nger. " Beast of a General ! " said the Prefect ; '' does he want a place as police-spy ? Do I mix myself up with his affairs ? Why does he interfere with mine ? " " To brave the lie given him," said I, handing tim what I had written. " Oh 1 good ! very good ! bravo ! " and the Prefect's face cleared more and more as he read the counter report. " Thank you,*' said he, when I told him that I had had the report from His Imperial Majesty, who had commanded me to give him an account of it. " He might take it to the Tuileries this evening,'' added Pietri, " but I want Saint- Arnaud to see it first. Come to me to-morrow at nine o'clock. We will go together to see the Minister for War." The following day, at nine, the Prefect and I entered the office of Saint-Arnaud, who came forward to greet us, saying — " Behold ! the two Corsicans have come to arrest the Minister for War ! " 80 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. '^ Not to arrest your Excellency, but to make- you angry," replied Pietri, handing him Greneral Bourjeoly's report. Marshal Saint- Arnaud, tall, lean,, of nervous, bilious habit, read the report and broke out into an extraordinary rage. " The ingrate ! the traitor ! the cowardly, in- famous General ! And without Baron Athalin this wretch would still be sub-Lieutenant Bourjeoly \ Ah, wretch ! you leave for Africa to-morrow, or I am no longer Minister." And with a movement of nervous haste he turned to put the report in his desk. Monsieur Pietri stretched out his hand to take it, saying that he must carry it to His Imperial Majesty. Saint-Arnaud, who was irritated by the contents of the report, answered the Prefect of Police somewhat dryly that he, and not the Pre- fect, was the one to deliver it to the Emperor.. Both rose, ready to stab one another. I boldly stepped in between, sayiug, in rather a loud voice — " Pardon me, gentlemen ! but neither of you shall carry that report to the Emperor ; I, your humble servant, shall do so ! " My bold sally astonished them both. " His Imperial Majesty gave it to me yesterday in your presence, your Excellency ; and it is I who obtained the reply and should give it up to him. If I reported it to Monsieur le Prefet, it is in the interest of the service. If Monsieur le Prefet SAINT'ARNAUD (ARNAUD LEROY.) 81 gave you an account of it, it was out of deference, because we have had it in our hands since last night. Monsieur Pietri might have taken it to His Imperial Majesty. He preferred not doing so until to-day, that he might have the pleasure of showing you both the General's false report and the infor- mation which I have obtained, and which prove that the Commander of the Fort of Vincennes is a calumniator." Whilst I was talking Monsieur Pietri tried his best not to laugh. When I had finished Saint- Arnaud said — " Brigand of a Corsican, you deserve to be shot by the guard ! " " I am certain that your Excellency will think twice before giving such an order ! " " Ah ! yes ; I had forgotten the dagger you showed Fould." Then taking out a superb Arabian poignard, " But we have such things too ! " said Saint- Arnaud, laughing, and shaking Pietri's hand. Then he gave me his dagger and purse, saying, " I wish all the Prefect's employes were like you." I requested the Prefect to make His Excellency the Minister acquainted with the second report. , The perusal of this second sheet calmed the Minister to such a degree that he stretched out both hands to the Prefect, with the two reports, and burst out laughing. 82 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. "And without this brigand of a Oorsican we should have fought like two street porters ! " He gave me his purse without counting what was in it, and an African dagger of great beauty. Monsieur Pietri proposed that we should all go to the Tuileries together. The Marshal agreed, and we all three rode in the same carriage as far as the entrance to the Pont-Royal, where I got out, the other two going to see Napoleon III. A moment later the Chamberlain on duty, de Gricourt, called me and ushered me into the Imperial study, where the two above-mentioned dignitaries already were. His Imperial Majesty ordered me to repeat what had taken place at the War Office. I gave a very precise account ; whilst I was speaking my three hearers laughed heartily. At the end I threw the purse and the dagger on the Imperial table. Napoleon picked up the purse and counted twenty- seven Napoleons, then said to Pietri — " And what will you give ? " " All I have with me." He had twenty- three Napoleons. The Emperor added fifty from his cash-box, which made two thousand francs. Then he took the Arabian dagger and asked for mine (which was a superb Corsican stiletto). " Which do you prefer ? " SAINT-ARNAUD {ARNAUD LER07.) 83 " The Corsican stiletto, sire, because I know what it can do ! " From that day forth the Marshal seemed to take a special interest in me ; and when he left for the Crimea I accompanied him as far as Fontainebleau. That evening's Moniteur announced that General Bourjeoly had been placed at the disposal of the Governor of Algeria. Six years later, in 1859, I was sitting tranquilly in a room in the Hotel Victoria, at Geneva, when the major-domo came to beg me to move my luggage out, as he was forced to change my room, a traveller having arrived who wanted two rooms on the first floor. I told him that I did not want to change, as my money was as good as anyone else's. The General, who was behind the hotel-keeper, presented himself to view, and said in his soldier- like way — *' Very well, you will be kicked out if you won't go of your own accord ! " " And then they will shoot me like a dog I General de Bourjeoly ! " An hour later Baron Athalin's false denunciator was on his way to Lyons. CHAPTER XI. BAEOOHE. Monsieur Bakochb, a Parisian lawyer, was one of the first to offer his services in the Napoleonic cause. In turn Procuror- General and Minister, President of the Assembly charged to draw up the new Constitution, President of the State Council, and Government orator, he passed from the Chan- cellorship of the Exchequer to the Home Office, and is now Administering Justice. For a long time he boasted of having been one of the Deputies who demanded the trial of Minister Guizot. On the 2nd of December, although he had long before that sold himself to the President of the Re- public, when he heard of the coup d/etat and the arrest of his colleagues, he immediately hid himself in his cellar, ordering the servants to say that he had gone into the country. It was not until the evening of the 4th, after he had heard from the lips of his wife and sons that the President had put down the BAROCHE. 85 revolt, that he consented to emerge from his hiding- place, where he had slept two nights. On the morning of the 5th he threw himself at Napoleon's feet and vowed eternal fidelity to him. He was made President of the Government Com- mission. It was Baroche who announced to his august master the results of the votes for the Presidency and the Empire. When the Mires affair was made known Baroche's eldest son was discovered to be implicated to the extent of two hundred thousand francs, received for services rendered ! At this news Baroche hastened to his Sovereign to offer his resignation. The Emperor refused, ordering the son, who was Secretary-General to the Ministry of Agriculture, to be deprived of office and sent beyond the frontier for two years. The other son was made Keceiver- General of a department, so that he might get along without Mires ! CHAPTER XII. TROPLONG. This great magistrate of the Empire was a plain Attorney-Greneral at Bastia (Corsica) at tlie time His Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans journeyed thither. His young and very beautiful wife {nee Girard) attached herself to the Royal Prince, acted as his cicerone, and did not leave him alone until she had obtained the nomination for her husband of Presi- dent of the Court of Justice. In 1848 she repaired to Paris, and settled at Cremieux, saying — like all Corsicans — that she was a kinswoman of Louis Blanc. And Madame Trop- long, still beautiful, did not depart from the waiting- room of the Minister of the Republic until her husband had been nominated Chief Justice of the Paris Court. After the Chief Justice's election Madame Troplong knocked at the door of Pietri, the Bacchiochis and the Casabiancas, and did not cease intriguing until the day on which her husband was TROPLONO. 87 called to the Court of Appeal. After the Empire the Justice's wife (still passably beautiful) haunted the Elys^e until she had become the first Presidentess of the Senate. Later, Madame Troplong wanted to be an Academician's wife. But she is no longer young, and it is doubtful if her husband's talents would suffice to gain for him the votes of the immortals. Now Madame la Presidente, installed at the Luxembourg, dreams of being made a Duchess. But, alas ! the title has not yet come. CHAPTER XIII. COLLET MAIGRET. The chameleon who forms the subject of this chapter was secretary to Du Jarry, Louis Philippe's Minister, before the revolution of 1848. In this capacity he was renowned for his ultra-Philippist opinions. The day following the February episode the Eepublic contained no more rabid Republican than he. He founded a newspaper at Lyons, and the arguments with which he had attacked the Republicans, when Royalty was in the ascendant, he vomited forth with even more cynicism against his former chiefs and early benefactors. Ledru-Rollin, who he took care should see his paper, wishing to reward this new neophyte's zeal, made him Sub- Prefect at Bedarieux. During the Presidential elections he forsook the fading star of his party, and attached himself to that of Louis Napoleon. During the coup d'itat the first sound of firing found him in the cellar of Monsieur Salamon, the COLLET MAIORET. 89 Engineer of the Department, and he did not emerge until three days later, when he had been assured that everything was once more in order. Then he seized his reporter's pen and drew up an account of the events in which he proved that, thanks to his energy and strategic measures, the Republicans and Socialists had been crushed at all points by the cry of, " Long live Napoleon I Long live the saviour of France ! " The Minister of the Interior, de Morny, summoned him to Paris to become Secretary- General to the Prefecture of Police. By regularly visiting the great men of the day, and much cringing, he got himself appointed Director of the General Safety of the Empire. The first report he made to the Emperor was aimed at Pietri, his former friend, chief, and benefactor. The Prefect of Police found it out, and, being a Corsican, he had no rest until he obtained his dismissal from office for certain irregularities in the handling of the secret funds. Solely that he might steal without check, he was made Receiver-General of the Finances of the Jura. At the time of the Mires overthrow it was discovered that the ex-Director-General of Imperial Safety had given receipts to a Jew for the sum of two hundred thousand francs, coming from the sale of telegrams containing State secrets. This time he was dis- missed for good and all. CHAPTER XIV. EOTHSOHILD. A FEW days after the elections of the tenth of December, 1851, three men were sitting at a table at the Elysee — Napoleon, the President of the Republic, Rothschild, the banker, and Yictor Hugo, the poet and people's representative. While stoop- ing the latter let fall a paper. " These are the verses of a young girl who asks Monsieur the President of the Republic to pardon her father confined at Clichy." " Head of the State though I am, I can do nothing in this case," replied Napoleon. " Where debts are concerned the Baron is more powerful than I." " Read us the verses, if you please," said the Jew to the great poet, " then, if you desire it, I will do all that is necessary." The verses were pronounced to be admirable. Next day Mademoiselle Geffrotin left the convent where her father had placed her before his incarcera- ROTHSCHILD. 91 tion so that she should not be left alone, and went to the house at Clichy to fetch him whom a stranger had liberated. They went back joyously to their modest lodging. But oh ! what a surprise ! Every- thing was changed I The old furniture and curtains had been replaced by furniture from Boule^s, and the curtains were of French muslin. Everything in old Geffrotin's room was of velvet and red damask. In the young girl's chamber white silk and green damask velvet abounded. To all this the unknown had added a bundle of banknotes to the amount of ten thousand francs. Questioned by the father and daughter, the old servant said that a gentleman had come in the morning with a van, furnished the house, and left the banknotes for her to give her master without saying another word. " It is he ! " cried the released prisoner. ** I knew quite well, when I was organizing the Society of the tenth of December, that if I spent my savings for Louis Napoleon the President of the Republic would reimburse me with heavy interest. Long live Napoleon ! " again repeated the old soldier of the first French Empire. I say " old soldier of the first French Empire '* because the young girl's father was formerly a cap- tain in Napoleon I.'s army ; from 1815 to 1830 he had refused to serve the Blancs, as he called the Bourbons ; but at sight of the tricoloured flag he 92 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. ha"d again entered the ranks, gone through a cam- paign in Africa, and then retired. When Louis Napoleon arrived in Paris the old Captain became, with General Piat, one of the organizers of the Society of the tenth of December. His purse being much smaller than his Napoleonic enthusiasm, he had been forced to run into debt, and had given bills to a certain Lehonith, a red-hot Orleanist, who thought he had performed a political action the day on which he had the equally rabid Bonapartist shut up at Clichy. Ten months after the occurrences recounted above Mademoiselle Geffrotin gave birth to a male child. At the sight of the creature and the sound of its cries the old soldier sprang to the cradle and demanded in a stentorian voice — " Tell me the name of the father or I will strangle it!" "Monsieur de Rothschild," answered the mother. " Rothschild ! . . . Ah ! I have it now ! . . . This gilded furniture, these banknotes, this luxury were the price of my honour ! And I, old fool that I am, who thought that it was he I I might have known ; he does not look at all like the other one ! He has the face and manner of a German Baron ! " Captain Geffrotin took his hat and cane and repaired to the Stock Exchange^ Going up the staircase of that temple of finance he saw Baron ROTHSCHILD. 98 Rothschild talking amidst a group of exchange brokers. The old soldier went forward, and calling him aside, told him the object of his visit. " A child I a child ! Whose father I am ? " said the Jew. " Come, no more blackmailing ! " He had not finished before he received a frightful blow in the face. The police arrested Geffrotin and took him to the manager of the Stock Exchange (Monsieur Hubeau). Without examining him, this gentleman, as soon as he heard that the prisoner had dared to strike the money-king, sent him to the Conciergerie, where, three days afterwards, he was summoned by Monsieur Ehau, the examining magistrate, to be questioned. At the first words the Captain stopped the magis- trate, saying — " Write that I shall kill Baron Rothschild the first day I regain my liberty for having dishonoured my daughter. I will sign nothing else." The examining magistrate had him taken to prison, and hastened to give Baroche, the Attorney- General, an account of the prisoner s declaration. Two hours afterwards Captain Geffrotin reached his home at Montmartre. His old servant announced that his daughter had been summoned to the banker's. Without sitting down Geffrotin hastened to the Rue Florentin and went to the room which his daughter had just entered. 94 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON BE RIMINI. The Procuror-General was in the Croesus' sanc- tuary with the Baron. As soon as the girl-mother came in Rothschild gave her his hand, made her sit down by him, and asked — " What day was the child born ? " " The twenty-second of October." " Ha ! let me see ! " said the Baron, drawing a memorandum-book from his pocket, *' this date corresponds exactly with the twenty-second of January. Now read, Procuror-General. That day Mademoiselle Geffrotin went to the Ely see. Kow, I ask her, is Napoleon, Victor Hugo, or am I the father of your child ? Leave my house, you dis- reputable girl, and tell your dullard of a father that we will have him taken to Cayenne the first time he dares to speak to us ! " '^ Then I will go to Cayenne to-day," said the Captain, entering, and he seized the Jew by the throat with a vigorous hand, crying, " Ah ! scoundrel ! so you dishonour young girls and then have their fathers put in prison ! " Baroche seized Geffrotin, and leading him to the door, said — " Go home quickly ; I take everything upon myself." Father and daughter descended the staircase with different feelings — the father glad at having ROTHSCHILD. 95 squeezed the windpipe of the man who had got him three days' imprisonment ; the daughter humiliated by the affront she had received. On leaving the Rue Florentin, and before returning to Montmartre, they both stopped at the Elysee, which Geffrotin entered in order to tell Persigny, then the factotum of the President of the Republic, all that had happened to him from the time he went to Clichy up to the present moment. When they reached home, Number 9, Place de la Mairie, Montmartre, the father and daughter found ten thousand francs and a title-deed for an annuity of one thousand francs, with these words — " I desire the child to be called Solomon ! " CHAPTEE XV. MOUVILLON DE GLIMES. M0UVILL013 DE Glimes — although a Spaniard by birth, he was educated in France — was Don Carlos' Am- bassador to St. Petersburg. At the fall of this un- crowned king he became intimate with Countess de Montijo, a young widow, who shared his political con- victions. They went all over Italy, France, Germany, England, Belgium, etc., together, accompanied by young Eugenie. All three stopped at the same hotels, shared the same apartments, and ate at the same table. People seeing them pass, would say — "Father, mother, and daughter." On their dear Eugenie's marriage, Madame de Montijo left for Madrid, and de Glimes became a financier. He founded at Glichy-la- Garonne a limited joint- stock company, with a capital of six million francs, and called it. Chemical Products, He assumed MOU VILLON DE QLIMES. 97 the qualification of chemist, and laid hold of the title of manager. Is it credible — and yet it is the pure truth — that a Spaniard, without management, without employes, without having had a single share printed, was able to get the shares up to from thirty to thirty-five francs premium, exchange-brokers' quotations, thanks to a pressing recommendation coming direct from the steps of the Throne ? To oblige the young Queen, Napoleon's partisans and many of the castle employes took shares in the Chemical Products, General Schram fr. 80,000 General Fleury „ 25,000 Chamberlain Tascher de la Pagerie ... „ 30,000 Deputy Belmontet „ 20,000 Deputy Husson „ 15,000 Colonel Thirion „ 12,000 General Vaudrey „ 10,000 Manager Gelis „ 10,000 Employe Griscelli „ 72,000 Employe Alessandri „ 10,000 Employe Bertora „ 5,000 Monsieur de Bassano „ 25,000 Monsieur de Pierre ,, 25,000 Monsieur de Lourmel „ 25,000 Monsieur de "Wagner „ 25,000 The Banker Vallet, passage Saunier ... „ 450,000 H 98 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. The Banker Leveque, Rue de la Yictoire f r. 600,000 „ 5, Exchange Agent Gouin ... „ 150,000 Total fr 1,539,000 One million five hundred and thirty-nine thousand francs. The very day the Montijo's lover stole this sum Count Mouvillon de Glimes crossed the Pyre- nees and repaired to Madrid, rejoining his former companion. A complaint was at once lodged with Chaix- d'Estange, then Procuror-General, who transmitted it to Monsieur Camusat de Busseroles, Examining Judge, that the latter might begin an inquiry. But, alas ! notwithstanding the power of the injured sub- scribers, who asked for de Glimes' arrest and extra- dition, a still greater power put a stop to it all — complaint, witnesses' evidence, etc., etc. A short while after that Monsieur Ohaix became a Senator, and Monsieur Camusat was made a Councillor. The Mouvillon trial had been buried without hope of resurrection ! CHAPTER XVI. DEUX DEOEMBRE (OOUP d'^TAT). The same thing might be said of the author of this coujp d'etat that was said by all Europe : '' Ho did too much good to deserve being badly spoken of, but he did too much evil to deserve being well spoken of.'* Considering the many opinions expressed by the many writers who have described this anniversary of Austerlitz, I require a great deal of boldness to enable me to venture on this page of political history. But do not fear, oh, reader ! I have only the boldness of my position, and as such, I shall not add one more page of history to the many we already have. It is simply the report of a secret agent, who has had the sad privilege of being an actor and at the same time a spectator of this unique deed in the world's history. The intelligent reader will, no doubt, remember the proposal of the questors Baze, Parent, Leflo, etc., who wanted to replace the executive power in the 100 MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RIMINI. command of the enemy in Paris. It is this memo- rable day wliicli made our national historian ex- claim, " The Empire is made ! " and which gave birth to the coiijp d'etat of the 2nd of December. If Monsieur Baze's demand had been voted for^ the shooting and a new 18th Bruraaire would have begun at once. The troops had their orders, car- tridges had been distributed, and the horses were saddled. Saint-Arnaud (Minister for War) was waiting outside the doors of the Assembly, surrounded by the acting aides-de-camp, ready to receive their master's orders. When the Assembly rose, Saint-Arnaud proceeded to the Elysee. Monsieur de Maupas and Monsieur de Morny were summoned to the Prince President's study. When the deliberation was over, de Maupas was in possession of the suspects, and the 2nd of December had three godfathers. On reaching the Prefecture, the Prefect of Police immediately summoned as many agents as there were men to be watched, and without letting one know what the other was doing, he gave each man the following order : — '* You are to follow Monsieur , Deputy, day and night. You must know where he goes, what he does, and the names of his visitors. You are to obey no orders except mine. Every night, when he is safe in bed, you are to DEUK DECEMBRE {COUP D'ETAT). 101 bring me a full report.'' The next day all these re- ports were taken to the President of the Republic. On the other hand, Messrs. Baze and Co. were conspiring too. They drew up lists of suspects, uld only be retained by corrupticm. In every chapter we come on scandalous examples of the waste of the national wealth. With the single exception of Saint-Arnaud, Mr. King- lake himself has not i-pokeo so sc ■thiui'ly as Viel Castel of tue President's confidants and immediate entourage. He declares Saint-Arnaud to have been a spendthrift, over- whelmed with debts; but subsequently, when alladin? to the Marshal's death, he tones down the translation of Kinglake's vie orag&use into ' a restless and rather adventurous life,' and sajs that the Marshal's last years more than compensated for the wildness of his \ outh. "The Count writes tiironghout with the consistent animositv to England of a jealous and narrow-minded Frenchman. He assures us that, through the entente cordiale, while accepting State hospita ities at Windsor and rtturnieg them at Compiegne and the Tuileries, the Emperor was reiilly playing us false and looking forward to the war of revenge. He critic zes the action of our statesmen from the most malevoL nt point of view, and confirms himself in his credulous belief of English impotence with trans- parently ai ocryphal utterances. " What he has to tell about the Crimean war will be read with interest in relation to Mr. Kinglake's recent volumes. It seems that at one time the Emperor's departure was actually settled, and was only a question of days. Whaf made him reconsider his resolution was the attitude of Prince J^iome, who desired to act as Re.ent in his absence. In that event, the .Vlinistry threatened to resign, so the Eniperor decided to remain at the he m. Of course there are many sketches of social and literary cele- brities. He talks of About and Prince Napoleon, when they were supposed to have laid their heads together to compose a manifesto, as mixing like the waters of two common sewers ; and the epitaph on Eugene t^ue is that his death is a scandal the less, as he was a mediocre i^riter without morality or conviction, and a disri putable individu>tl in every sense Perhaps in that instance we are not so much incined as in some others to blame Viel Castel for acting up to his maxim of de mortms nihil nisi malum. "Through the scandals are scattered curious and piquant revelations." REMINGTON & CO., Henrietta Street, Covknt Garden. W v^iui- DAV AMD ov eRD^' J^t^ 21 J^o^f^^^^^^^ I.I> 21- .lOOtTi" .7,'40< 7.m 5 ? D 3 5^ • ? THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Mi i'lii I i; il II jilllii :|S!I i If tj^f}| \m lH]N!l!;;U;i: :CUi^l