Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/150

 A Mysterious Stranger Appears at the Paris Consulate with Proof of an Imperial Plot—The Iron-clad Rams of Napoleon III—The Death Knell of the Fleet and the Threatened Bombardment of New York—The Intrigues of an Emperor—The Fallacy of Neutrality—The Diplomatic Methods of John Bigelow—A Cunning Ruse—The Planted Dispatch—The Collapse of the Conspiracy. 

was during the Civil War. John Bigelow, consul-general of the United States, was transacting business in the consulate in Paris, France. It was Sept. 10, 1863. Entered David Fuller, messenger. He presented the card of a stranger. The stranger demanded an immediate audience, and that it be personal and private. Years afterward the distinguished journalist and