CANTILLON'S ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND THE BOULOGNE EXPEDITION. (From the Morning Chronicle.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1193, 24 September 1858, Page 3

CANTILLON'S ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND THE BOULOGNE EXPEDITION. (From the Morning Chronicle.)

As the Duke of "Wellington was riding in his carriage through the streets of Paris, a French officer, named Cantillon, fired a pistol point blank at him, but happily missed his aim. Cantillon was arrested, tried, and acquitted by a French jury because the ball could not be found* The attempt at assassination, and the assassin himself, would, probably, both have been forgotten but for the appearance of the Emperor's will, which was executed by him at St. Helena, and deposited in Doctors' Commons. To the astonishment and disgust of any man possessed of the slightest sense of decency Napoleon not only left Cantillon a legacy, but bequeathed it on the ground of his attempt to murder, and formally justified assassination. This immoral bequest and more infamous doctrine were contained in the fifth legacy of the fourth codicil of the testament, which was verbatim as follows : "o. Idem (10,000) ten thousand francs to the subofficer Cantillon, who was tried on the charge of having wished to assassinate Lord Wellington, of which he was declared innocent. Cantillon had as much right to assassinate this oligarch as he had to send me to perish on the rock of St. Helena. Wellington, who proposed this aftentat, sought to justify it in the interest of Great Britain. Cantillon, if he had really assassinated the Lord, would have been covered and justified by the same motive, the interest of France, in ridding himself of a General who had violated the capitulation of Paris, and who, by that, had rendered himself responsible for the blood of the martyrs, Ney, Labedoyere, etc., and for the crime of having stripped the museums, contrary to the text of treaties "The present codicil is entirely written with our hand, signed and sealed with my aims. "Napoleon." There does not exist in the historical records of any civilized nation so daring a defiance of every moral law, and so deliberate a justification of the right of private murder. The audacity of the doctrine is. only equalled by the flimsiness of the pretexts for it. Cantillion had the same right to assassinate Lord Wellington as Lord Wellington to propose the banishraeut of the common pest of Europe! Cantillion was justified in murdering "the lord" because Ney was tried and shot for treason by the French Chamber of Peers and because Europe reclaimed from French museums a portion of what it had been plundered of ! This sanguinary sophistry was not born, of misery and prompted by the fury of diespair, but w,os the last and solemn, act of a despot's ijif^

bequeathing a code of assassination to the world, -and four hundred pounds to an assassin ! The assassin remained in. inglorious obscurity till after the coup d'etat. He pined un honored »nd unrewarded whilst Louis Nspoleon continued responsible to real legislative control. But when he "saved society," established '"order and religion," and was Emperor of the French, hp made them pay his Uncle's debts, and execute lus Uncle's will. Cantillion was sought in his modest retreat irv a grocer's shop in Brussels, and this virtuous and long neglected patriot got his four hundred pounds with interest. The charge of making this payment to Caniillon has been openly preferred again and again, and it has never been rebutted If he made that payment, Napoleon the Third paid blood-money to an assaasin by virtue of a deed which justified an assassination. Qui capit facit, he who carries out an act becomes the accomplice nfan actor. If Napoleon the Third chose to make himself executor to the will of Napoleon the First, he was bound to .repudiate any provision which involved immorality or crime. If he does not, he makes himself amenable to its logical or legal consequences, and if he paiJ Cantillon for attempting to assassinate the greatest of English Generals, he is the last man who should dare to charge England with abetting assassination. Leaving Cantillon to enjoy his legacy, and his Ma-, jesty his reflections, let us turn to the expedition to Boulogne. It was on the 4th or sth August, 1840, Napoleon having hired in London the City of Edinburgh, steamer, embarked in her with Count Montholon, General Viosin, fifty-three men, and an eagle. He also put on board of her swords, pistols, muskets, eagles (not live ones), but imperial proclamations. The conspiracy was hatched, the men were levied, the arms were provided, the live eagle was trained, -the colours and coppergilt eagles were made, and the proclamations were all drawn up and duly printed in London. When on deck, the men were dramatically dressed in the imperial uniform, and Louis Napolecn came out eu grande tenue us the Commander-in-Chief. The proclamations were addressed to the French nation, declared that the Bourbons had ceased to reign, and nominated the Council of state of the nephew of the uncle. At 5 a.m., of the 6th of August, thra wyaffipg-wmj landed at Wimereux, in spite of-two Cuttsilywttjke officers. They marched victorJiausly into Batuogop, when everybody v»;as in bed, bellowing VivejTSmpe. reur ! Coming t<S a post of four men and a sergeant, they'made a during attempt, first to seduce, and! next to over-power them. Repulsed in both assaults, the grand army made off, and arrived at the barracks, where they found two companies of the 42nd Regiment of the line. ."These companies seemed to have,joined them with shouts of Vive Napoleon II ! At this triumphant crisis'there appeared $ Captain Col-Puy-gellier, the officer in command. Louis Napoleon cried to him, "Be one of .-us, and you shall have whatever you wish." Capfam Col-Pnygellier, who had been disarmed, politely declined to be a traitor. M. de Persigny then rushed up to • kill him," but was prevented by a Lieutenant Aladcnize, who had previously deserted to the Emperor. The rappel of the .National Guard was now heard, and Captain Col-Pnygeilier cried Vice le Roi ! a,n<t told the Emperor to retire. He was about to address the men of the 42nd, when, his back being turned, the Enperor fired a pistol at him. The precision of the aim w»s not quite equal to the gallantry of the intention, for though the Emperor shot at Captain Col-Puygellier, he shot a gtenadfer in the very mouth which had bawled Vive Napoleon 11. Having thus proved himself his uncle's nephew, and done more than etiough for glory, the Emperor retreated to his uncle's column, on which the live eagle was to have perched, and where he " plauted •' his copper one. But though "planted,'' it did not take root, for however valiant, the Emperor was aware that the better part of valour is discretion ; and so he discreetly retreated to the beach, where he valiantly took to the water. He was hauled into a boat, clapped into limbo, and thus ended the expedition to Boulogne. In due time the Chamber of Peers proceeded to try Che invaders. Their proclamations, colours, arms, and accoutrements, as well as themselves were produced. Defence was difficult, denial was impossible, and Louis Napoleon, who had been pardoned for his first invasion, was lightly and mercifully punished for this second one by condemnation to Ham. It is an historical fact, then, proved by the archives of the highest French court of justice, that Louis Napoleon, with his friend Persigny, actnally levied, while a refugee in England, au army of 53 men. He chartered an English steamer, which he turned into a vessel of war. He printed in England, proclamations, declaring that the Bourbons had ceased to reign, and thereby compassed the dethronement and perhaps the death of Louis Phillipe, our ally. Nor were these guilty acts, which constitute x misdemeanor by our laws, the whole of his offences against those laws, and the laws of a frendly government, for he invaded its coasts, proclaimed himself Emperor, tampered with its soldiers, and would have shot its officer in the execution of his duty. After doing all this, he escaped from the prison in which lie was so leniently confined; ffed^gatn to England and was again protected by her, anunow, by hit mouthpiece, denounces the laws which both of them violated with impunity. It is hard to say which is most revolting — their gratitude or insolence. The most disgraceful incident in the expedition to Boulogne was the attempt on the life of Captain ColPuygellier, by both Louis Napoleon and Persigny. Captain Col-Puygellier was disarmed, and his men had joined the Bonapartists. Louis Napoleon offered him whatever he wished, if he would only declare for him, and Captain Col-Puygellier having nobly refused to desert his flag and king, Persigny endeavoured to bayonet him. The following extract from the trial shows how this intention was viewed by the Chamber of Peers :— "M. Persigny, having been next interrogated, admitted that he landed at Wimereux, being informed of the Prince's object but not in detail. He was, he said, at the barracks near the Prince, and when Captain Col-Puy-gellier came, would have killed him, had he not been prevented by M. Aladenzie. " President — Killed him ? It would have been murder. "M. Persigny— l would have killed him, but it would have been face to face. " President — You went up with a mnsket and fixed bayonet. You would have murdered him. "M. Persigny — I have made my delaration ; I have nothing to add. 1 have brought my head here, let them take it." So this ambassador, who reads us lectures on assassination, and demands repressive laws against tlie press, clubs, jirivate and public meetings, was ready to baynonet an unarmed man because he would not be a traitor, and was only prevented by a manly traitor from being a cowardly assassin. He was told this twice to his face by the President of the Court of Peers, and he shamelessly repeated that, if he could, " he would have been '' a " murderer." What Persigny or Fialin (for his real name is Fialin) was not permitted to do, Louis Napoleon attempted. He fired at Puygellier when his back was turned, and only missed him, it seems by his own account, because his courage failed him. The trial supplies us with the authentic version of this great Napoleonian feat. The following is the question put to the " Emperor " and the said " Emperor's " reply :— Question — " Did you not, finding that you could not win Captain Col-Puygellier to your cause, fire a pistol at that officer V Answer — " There are moments when we do that of which we aie unconscious. The pistol wsnt off against my will." Such are the men who insult England as a " den of wild beasts " and " assassins/ 1 and such is their right to arraign her laws, and to demand the abrogation of them. Napoleon the Frst, on his death bed, deliberately justified assassination, and paid his legacy to the assassin. His ambassador in England at this moment was accused from the highest judgment seat in France with being willing to " murder ;'' and, being so accused, he had the cynical audacity to tell the Court that he was. Napoleon the Third was within an ace of doing what Persigny " would have done; and his defence against the charge of murder was the plea of cowardice, that " the pistol went off against his will."