THE COUP D'ETAT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9305, 4 August 1908, Page 2

THE COUP D'ETAT.

HOW IT WAS CONSUMMATED. In the "Memoirs of M. Claude," lately translated from the French and published by Constable, there are' some interesting remiaiscenees of the Third Napoleon. The writer, who was a French police officer, gives a very dramatic account of some of the incidents in the Coup d'Ebat. On the night of December I—that1 — that is to say, a few hours before the Coup d'Etat — Louis Napoleon gave a concert in the Elyeee, whore he lived; while the Count de Morny (his half-brother) — who was the chief agent in the conspiracy — went ix>' the Opera Comique, also to allay suspicion. There is a striking picture of Louis Napoleon during the lone hours of the night co big with his fate. " At midnight, M. de Moray rejoined his accomplices at the Ely see. The concert was over; the guests had departed. The Presidential mansion was once more in darkness and solitude. A single lamp gleamed in the private office of Louis Napoleon. It stood on. a little table beside which M. de Maupas had waited a full hour, sitting before a pile of placards which, before dawn, were to cover the walls of Paris. Morny was the last to enter the room. He took his seat between Louis Napoleon, Saint-Arnaud (Minister of War) and De Maupas (Prefect of Police). General Magnan did not join, the four others until later, and then only to take Saint-Arnaud's. orders. , 'If his Excellency the Minister of War will give me half an hour, his orders shall bo obeyed,' he said. The orders being given, 'he departed. The decrees were then, signed, and Colonel Beyille, who was waiting in an adjoining room, started with them for the National Printing Office, where a company of so-1-diers stood, over the printers, one to each man, until they had printed the proclamations, which, in one night, changed the whole form of government. " During this time the Prince, who had sworn to respect and maintain the Republic, unlocked a cupboard and took from it four packets, bearing the names of the four persons present. The first, addressed to the Due de Morny, contained 500,000 francs; he received it, together with his appointment as j Minister of the Interior, and departed to take possession of that post. ( The 6econd packet, addressed to Saint-Ar-naud, also contained 500,000 francs, and an additional 50,000 for Colonel Espinasso, who, during the night, was to introduce a battalion of soldiers into the Chamber of Deputies. The third packet, addressed to M. de Maupas, contained, with money, a list of all the representatives , generals, men of letters, leaders of parties, whom he wa& to arrest by his. Corsicans, among whom, by special * favour, I was honourably included. The fourth packet, and the smallest was intended for the police of the Elysee. It contained only 100,000 francs, for the aide-de-camps, employees, spies and agents who posted the proclamations printed under the vigilant eye of the soldiers. « "The distribution made of these various sums, the Prince dismissed his accomplices' and awaited in silence and solitude the result of his ' coup de Jarmac.' Smoking his cigar while' he gambled the fate of France, ho held himself ready to cross th© frontier or to take up his' abode in the Tuilleries." It was thue that Napoleon consummated the crime for which he was afterwards to pay so heavy a penalty.