er the
sanction of the British name. _It was agreed that their persons
and property should be safe, and that they should be conveyed to
Toulon._ They were accordingly put on board a vessel, but before
they sailed, their property was confiscated, numbers of them
taken out, _thrown into dungeons_, and some of them, I
understand, notwithstanding the British guarantee, _absolutely
executed_.[21]

This appalling narrative, which was never refuted, is really too
horrible to ponder over. It puts in the shade any responsibility
Napoleon had for the death of the Duc d'Enghien. It is needless to
enlarge on the silly and altogether baseless attacks that were not
only allowed to be made, but, we have good grounds for stating, were
manufactured by members of the Government and their agents, and
circulated for the purpose of distracting the public mind from their
own iniquities, and inflaming bitter passions and prejudices by
accusing Napoleon of deeds of blood for which he was in no greater
degree responsible than were they. The nations were all out for blood
at that period (just as they are now), and each claimed a monopoly of
all the virtues. "Down, down, with the French is my constant prayer,"
shouts our greatest hero, and by way of addendum, he announces in
Christ-like accents that he hates a Frenchman as he hates the devil.
"Down, down, with the British is our constant prayer" shout back the
French, who are at present our Allies against another nation who were
our Allies against them at that time, showing that Fraternity is
decidedly a possible consummation, though it fluctuates from one to
another with amazing eccentricity.

In the name of this fraternal spirit, we see the great Napoleon
surrounded by a hotbed of assassins demanding his life in the name of
the Founder of our faith. He was the ruler, as I have said, of a vast
Empire, sworn to protect its laws, its dignity, and its citizen rights
by defending himself and his country against either treachery,
plotters against his life, or open enemies, no matter from what
quarter they came. The Duc d'Enghien violated the law, and was
therefore as liable to suffer the consequences as any peasant or
middle-class person would have been. But this did not meet with the
approval of the international oligarchy, so they set up a screaming
factory and blared this murderous deed into the minds of all the
Western world. These fervent professors of the Christia