Page:Memoirs of Baron Hyde de Neuville; outlaw, exile, ambassador; (IA memoirsofbaronhy01hyde).pdf/224

190 owing to the searches by the police, he was obliged to change his retreat every night. As he was crossing Paris in a gig driven by Lérident, one of his Chouans, he was recognised, and followed; the swiftness of the horse was powerless to save him; he saw that he was overtaken, and was about to leap out and fly, when he was seized at the crossways of Bucy.

As a rule, governments seck, by a demonstration of power and popularity, to prove that they are un- assailable ; they are inclined to make light of conspiracies, rather than to exaggerate them. But here, the future Emperor had other designs, George and Pichegru had supplied the prologue to the terrible deama that was being secretly prepared.

To Buonaparte’s great regret, Savary had failed in his mission. Sent into Normandy to seize the Comte d’Artois whose approaching arrival had been announced, Savary had in vain patrolled the coast, and guarded that rock of Biville, upon which I had leaped from the boat four years before, and which had become the usual route of the émigrés returning to France; it was there that George had landed in August, followed, after a time, by Pichegru and the other accomplices. Buonaparte’s plans were foiled by the check to Savary. He wanted the blood of a Bourbon! To this day, it is impossible to understand to what rational policy he thought to sacrifice him, and the murder of the Duc d’Enghien has remained inexplicable to history. . ..

In nearly every reign, there is a moment when a downward course begins, when faults are followed