CHAP. XXXIII.

1836.

June 26,

The Moniteur, King 1836; Ann. him, 220, 221;

Hist. xix.

Cap. ix. 42,

a shot was suddenly heard in the carriage, which was filled with smoke, and it was discovered that a ball had passed through the vehicle, immediately above the King's head, and lodged in the roof. The King, who evinced the greatest coolness on the occasion, merely inquired if any one was hurt outside, and ordered the coachman to drive on. The assassin, whose name was Alibaud, was seized on the spot, with the pistol still smoking in his hand, and carried to the nearest police office, from whence he was sent to the Conciergerie. Being interrogated by the public prosecutor what his motive was for firing at the Sovereign, he replied: "I wished to kill the King, whom I regarded as the enemy of the people. I was unfortunate. Government was the cause of my misfortune; the is its chief that was my reason for wishing to kill and my only regret is the not having succeeded in doing 43. so." 1 The proceedings for the trial of this great criminal were conducted with unwonted celerity; and early in July Execution the Court of Peers commenced the trial. Alibaud con- and seclutinued his intrepid demeanour in presence of his judges; King. he avowed his crime, and gloried in it. "Since the King put Paris in a state of siege," said he, "and he showed that he wished to govern, and not to reign-since he first massacred the citizens in the streets of Lyons, and at the Cloister of St Méri-I have formed the resolution to kill him. His reign was an infamous one-a reign of blood; and I was determined to put an end to it." He was of course convicted, and sentenced to be executed in the dress appropriated to a parricide; a sentence which was carried into execution on July 11, at five in the morning. A confessor having approached, he received him with civility, but declined his services. " I have no need," he said, "of your assistance; I am at peace with my conscience." 2 He exhibited the same stoical firmness on the scaffold as he had done ever since his apprehension: his last words were, "I die for

65.

of Alibaud,

sion of the

2

Ann. Hist. xix. 201, 202; Chron.

XXXIII.

CHAP. liberty, for the people, and for the extinction of the monarchy." Then turning to the guards, who surrounded him, he added, "Adieu, my comrades!" and the axe fell.

1836.

66.

ment of the

his palace.

This nefarious attempt led to a measure which excited Announce- a great sensation in Europe, and demonstrated more than seclusion of anything had yet done the precarious foundation on the King in which the throne of Louis Philippe rested. On the 23d July an announcement appeared in the Moniteur, that the King was not to leave his palace, and that there was to be no review on the 29th July, the last of the three glorious days. This excited the greater surprise and disappointment, that the inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe, at the barrier of Neuilly, was to take place on that day, and that a military spectacle of more than ordinary magnificence was anticipated. The most sinister rumours were immediately in circulation: one that the ceremony had been remonstrated against by the diplomatic body, as likely to awaken dangerous recollections; another, that a hostile demonstration against the Government from the National Guard was apprehended. The Government hastened, by articles in the Moniteur, to put a negative upon these surmises, by confessing what was the simple truth, that the measure was dictated solely by a necessary regard for the King's safety, and a knowledge of the numerous conspiracies on foot against him. Thenceforward the Monarch remained a prisoner of state in his own palace; no review took place on the 29th; the Arc de Triomphe was unveiled without any ceremony; and the celebration of the Revolution of July sunk into an unmeaning ceremonial that excited no attention. This change produced the most melancholy impression: it was at once a confession, in the face of teur, July Europe, of the extreme unpopularity of the reigning 1836; Ann. dynasty, and the inability, even of its mighty army and vast police, to defend the life of its chief.1 "The soil," says the French annalist, "was so sown with assassins,

1 Cap. ix.

48; Moni

23 and 28,

Hist. xix.

227, 228.

that there was no safety for the Monarch but within the CHAP. walls of his palace."

XXXIII,

1836.

67.

secret so

Switzer

The repeated conspiracies which had necessitated this humiliating act of seclusion imposed by the Cabinet on State of the the King, had their chief seat in Switzerland. The cieties in secret societies, in some degree kept down in France by land. the rigid laws of September 1835, took refuge in that secluded and neutral State. Its situation, midway between France and Italy, presented a central point from whence the democratic action could be kept alive in both countries, while its lofty mountains and republican institutions seemed to afford an asylum alike from the jealousy of kings and the persecution of ministers. All the secret societies, accordingly, which were undermining society in France, Italy, and Germany, had their committees in Switzerland, and it was there that the regulating orders for their operations were determined on. The following account of their proceedings was given by a deputy in the National Assembly of Switzerland. "The association," said M. Chambrier, "styled "Young Europe,' has taken for its device the words Liberty, Equality, Humanity,' and it professes to be founded on the rights of man; the manifesto of France to Europe when it was covered with scaffolds. Its members are bound to contribute with all their strength to the destruction of established governments in all countries ; they would level everything to let in the flood of revolutionary ideas. Its act of association bears date, Berne, April 19, 1834. There also have successively arisen the other societies, entitled Young Italy,' Young Poland,' Young Germany,' Young France,' and Young Switzerland.' A directing committee, sitting at Paris, holds in its hands the threads of the different associations which compose Young Europe.' Separate committees are at the head of the different sections; but they all implicitly obey the orders of the unknown committee, which, shrouded in darkness, sits at Paris. Young

6

XXXIII.

1836.

CHAP. Switzerland,' established on July 26, 1835, is intrusted with the duty of organising the whole of Switzerland, overturning the government in all its cantons, annihilating the compact of 1815, preparing an appeal to arms, and organising, in conjunction with 'Young Germany,' the free corps which are to liberate both countries. A 94, 95; L. province of the latter country is to be immediately invaded, and all Europe stirred to support the movement." 1

1 Cap. ix.

Blanc, v. 74,

75.

68.

France and

against the

By means of those secret societies, Switzerland was Measures of stirred to its foundation, and revolutionary movements Austria were prepared to convulse all the adjoining States. The refugees. Napoleonists, as will immediately appear, were not less active than the Republicans; and the Château of Arenenburg, in the canton of Berne, the residence of the Duchess of St Leu, formerly Queen of Holland, and her son, PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON, became the great centre of this party, from whence an inroad into France was openly discussed, and generally expected. In these circumstances, the Cabinets of the Tuileries and of Berlin not unnaturally took the alarm, and several joint notes were presented in the names of France and Austria, revealing the existence of secret conspiracies, and requiring the instant expulsion of the refugees. A long negotiation ensued, the executive Government of Switzerland promising compliance, and the Vorort protesting against such a violation of the national independence, and declaring they would rather perish with arms in their hands than submit to it.* At length, finding that the executive, placed between two opposite parties and sets of dangers, hesitated, and de

*"Les Cantons confédérés de Berne, Lucerne, Schwitz, Soleure, Bâle, et Argovie, réunis à Reiden, déclarent unanimement :

"1. Qu'ils repousseront comme attentatoire à l'honneur, à la liberté, et à l'indépendance du peuple Suisse, toute intervention du diplomate étranger dans les affaires de la patrie: qu'ils sont déterminés à sacrifier leurs biens et leur vie pour appuyer les autorités constitutionnelles Suisses, dans leurs efforts pour maintenir ces biens précieux hérités de leurs ancêtres, et que toute autre conduite serait honteuse.

"2. Qu'ils regardent en particulier comme chose urgente le rappel de l'Am

XXXIII.

layed compliance, M. Thiers brought matters to a crisis CHAP. by causing the Duke of Montebello, the French Minister at Berne, to intimate to the Swiss Government, that if 1836. the demands of France and Austria were not instantly complied with, their respective ministers would leave Berne, all commercial intercourse between Switzerland and the adjoining States would be suspended, its territory blockaded, and the expenses of the blockade claimed and levied from their territories. This demand was made by the Duke of Montebello on the President of the Swiss Directory, on the 6th August, in the night, and made a Aug. 6. great sensation. The Liberal journals everywhere exclaimed in the loudest manner against what they termed this shameful violation of the law of nations, and were particularly vehement against M. Thiers, "the child of revolution, whose impious hands would strangle his own mother." But the parties were too unequal to render a contest possible; the threat of blockade to a mountainous country depending for its existence upon the import of grain from the surrounding plains, and the export of cattle to them, was too formidable to be disre- xix. 236, garded, and at length the demands of the foreign Powers Blanc, v. were complied with, and the refugees received notice to ix. 92, 99. quit the Swiss territories.1

238; L.

74, 92; Cap.

69.

on this sub

The right of a nation in whose territories refugees from a neighbouring State have sought and found an asylum, Reflections to maintain them against the requisition for removal by ject." a neighbouring State, against which their machinations are thought to be directed, is one of very frequent recurrence in recent times, and in which all nations and all parties have an equal interest. It is difficult to say whe

bassadeur Français, le Duc de Montebello, attendu que par son affectation à prétendre que le peuple ne défendrait ni les constitutions qu'il s'est données ni les autorités qu'il a choisies, par son manque d'égard vers le Président de la Diète, qu'il est venu surprendre par une visite nocturne; et avant tout, par ses prétensions à vouloir s'immiscer dans nos affaires nationales, et par sa conduite en général, ce diplomate a perdu la confiance de la nation."-Déclaration des Cantons de la Suisse, Sept. 17, 1836; CAPEFIGUE, Dix Ans de Louis Philippe, ix. 85, 86.