ainst royalist assassins, English gold, and Moreau's treachery, the
First Consul was hurried into an enterprise which gained him an
imperial crown and flecked the purple with innocent blood.

There was living at Ettenheim, in Baden, not far from the Rhine, a
young prince of the House of Conde, the Duc d'Enghien. Since the
disbanding of the corps of Conde he had been tranquilly enjoying the
society of the Princess Charlotte de Rohan, to whom he had been
secretly married. Her charms, the attractions of the chase, the
society of a small circle of French _emigres_, and an occasional
secret visit to the theatre at Strassburg, formed the chief diversions
to an otherwise monotonous life, until he was fired with the hope of a
speedy declaration of war by Austria and Russia against Napoleon.
Report accused him of having indiscreetly ventured in disguise far
into France; but he indignantly denied it. His other letters also
prove that he was not an accomplice of the Cadoudal-Pichegru
conspiracy. But Napoleon's spies gave information which seemed to
implicate him in that enterprise. Chief among them was Mehee, who, at
the close of February, hovered about Ettenheim and heard that the duke
was often absent for many days at a time.

Napoleon received this news on March 1st, and ordered the closest
investigation to be made. One of his spies reported that the young
duke associated with General Dumouriez. In reality the general was in
London, and the spy had substituted the name of a harmless old
gentleman called Thumery. When Napoleon saw the name of Dumouriez with
that of the young duke his rage knew no bounds. "Am I a dog to be
beaten to death in the street? Why was I not warned that they were
assembling at Ettenheim? Are my murderers sacred beings? They attack my
very person. I'll give them war for war." And he overwhelmed with
reproaches both Real and Talleyrand for neglecting to warn him of these
traitors and assassins clustering on the banks of the Rhine. The seizure
of Georges Cadoudal and the examination of one of his servants helped to
confirm Napoleon's surmise that he was the victim of a plot of which the
duke and Dumouriez were the real contrivers, while Georges was their
tool. Cadoudal's servant stated that there often came to his master's
house a mysterious man, at whose entry not only Georges but also the
Polignacs and Riviere always arose. This convinced Napoleon that the Duc
d'Enghien was directing the plot, and he det