his virtuous and indignant warrior, "you will spare my
life only upon condition that I prove myself unworthy to live. As this
is the case, my choice is made without hesitation; I am prepared to
become your victim, but I will never be numbered among your accomplices.
Call in your executioners; I am ready to die as I have lived, a man of
honour, and an irreproachable citizen."

Within twenty-four hours after this answer, Pichegru was no more.

That the Duc d'Enghien was shot on the night of the 21st of March, 1804,
in the wood or in the ditch of the castle at Vincennes, is admitted even
by Government; but who really were his assassins is still unknown. Some
assert that he was shot by the grenadiers of Bonaparte's Italian guard;
others say, by a detachment of the Gendarmes d'Elite; and others again,
that the men of both these corps refused to fire, and that General Murat,
hearing the troops murmur, and fearing their mutiny, was himself the
executioner of this young and innocent Prince of the House of Bourbon, by
riding up to him and blowing out his brains with a pistol. Certain it is
that Murat was the first, and Louis Bonaparte the second in command, on
this dreadful occasion.

LETTER V.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Thanks to Talleyrand's political emigration, our Government has
never been in ignorance of the characters and foibles of the leading
members among the emigrants in England. Otto, however, finished their
picture, but added, some new groups to those delineated by his
predecessor. It was according to his plan that the expedition of Mehee
de la Touche was undertaken, and it was in following his instructions
that the campaign of this traitor succeeded so well in Great Britain.

Under the Ministry of Vergennes, of Montmorin, and of Delessart, Mehee
had been employed as a spy in Russia, Sweden, and Poland, and acquitted
himself perfectly to the satisfaction of his masters. By some accident
or other, Delessart discovered, however, in December, 1791, that he had,
while pocketing the money of the Cabinet of Versailles, sold its secrets
to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. He, of course, was no longer trusted
as a spy, and therefore turned a Jacobin, and announced himself to
Brissot as a persecuted patriot. All the calumnies against this Minister
in Brissot's daily paper, Le Patriote Francois, during January, February,
and March, 1792, were the productions of Mehee's malicious heart and able
pen. Even after