Page:Once a Week, Series 1, Volume II Dec 1859 to June 1860.pdf/398

28, 1860.] these embarrassed by the succeeding news of the victorious march of French armies into Italy and Switzerland, and the rumoured preparations for a descent of the Republican troops on the coast of Great Britain. With every despatch announcing the conquest of a town or a county beyond the Alps, the demands of Messrs. Treilhard and Bonnier d’Arco increased in importance; and they, who would have been content at first to treat on the basis of the Campo Formio preliminaries, and to return part of the left bank of the Rhine to Germany, were ultimately not satisfied with even the river frontier, but required important portions of territory on the eastern side. Their demands at last became so exorbitant, that the Austrian commissioners thought themselves justified in openly complaining to the French government, the result of which was that M. Treilhard was recalled, and M. Jean Debry, an ancient member of the Convention, sent in his stead to Rastadt. The French commission was further increased by M. Robergot, who was to act as assistant to the envoys, and M. Rosenstiel, French consul at Elbing, and formerly an employé in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was to be the general interpreter. Hitherto their complete ignorance of the German language had exposed the Republican plenipotentiaries to many misunderstandings, which it was thought hereby to prevent. This change seemed to be at first very successful in accelerating the negotiations; and already was the draught of a complete treaty of peace drawn up between the plenipotentiaries, when suddenly the news reached Rastadt that the Czar of Russia had declared war on France, and that a body of 25,000 Russians, commanded by Prince Ferdinand of Wurtemberg, had already crossed the frontier and arrived, November 26, 1798, at Brünn, in Moravia. On this, the French commissioners, in a note dated January 3, 1798, demanded the immediate interference of the German Diet, declaring that if Russia were allowed to occupy the territory of the empire without being seriously opposed by troops, this would be regarded as a breach of neutrality, and, as a first consequence, the Congress would be broken up immediately. The message spread general consternation among the envoys of the smaller German States, all of them sincerely desirous of peace; and they replied that they would remit directly the demand in question to the Diet. The deliberations thus hung for some time, no movement being made on either side until the 7th of April, 1799, when Count Metternich announced to the plenipotentiaries that he had been recalled from the Congress, and that it had been resolved at the same time by the Emperor, his master, to annul everything done and concluded during the meeting. On the following day the same minister forwarded a note to the French ambassadors, advising them to leave the seat of Congress as soon as possible, seeing that actual hostilities had already begun, and that consequently their personal security could not be further guaranteed. To this note the envoys of the Republic paid no attention, but continued treating, in the absence of Prince Metternich, with the representatives of the other German States; and it was not until the 25th of April, after several of their couriers had been seized by Russian troops, that they at last decided on quitting Rastadt. To do so in complete security, it was arranged that they should be accompanied across the Rhine by a troop of horsemen under the command of Colonel Barbaczy, commanding the Austrian depôt at Gernsbach, who was to see them from their own residence into the territory of France, not many miles distant. The 28th of April was fixed for the day of departure, and accordingly, early on the morning of that day, everything was ready for the purpose. However, M. Bonnier d’Arco declared that he was not then prepared to start, but had to arrange a few more private affairs, in the completion of which the whole day was occupied. As late as nine o’clock in the evening the French ambassadors at last departed, alone, and unescorted. They had scarcely proceeded a thousand yards beyond the walls from the town when they saw themselves surrounded by a number of armed men, some of them in the uniform of hussars, others dressed like peasants. The ambassadors were sitting in separate carriages, Jean Debry in the first, Bonnier in the second, Robergot in the third, and Rosenstiel in the fourth. M. Jean Debry’s carriage was a little ahead when they were attacked, and its occupant found time to escape by throwing himself into a ditch, where, owing to the darkness of the night, he remained unperceived. Bonnier d’Arco, however, was killed on the spot, as well as Robergot,—the latter in the arms of his wife. As to Rosenstiel, he was severely wounded, but escaped with his life, by his presence of mind in throwing himself on the ground, simulating a corpse. He and Jean Debry crept back late at night into Rastadt, where the Prussian ambassador took them under his special protection.

The authors of this horrible assassination were never known. The police pretended to make the strictest investigations; but the war which immediately followed, the impotency of the civil authorities, and the general lawlessness of the period, according to official reports, prevented all chance of success. Since then numberless books have been written on the subject, without, however, throwing more light on the whole mysterious affair. The most generally accredited opinion among historians now is, that the real authors were the delegates of some smaller German Powers, who, being drawn into forbidden intercourse with the French envoys at the beginning of the Congress, and dreading the publication of their correspondence, bribed a number of freebooting soldiers and other rabble to steal the papers which Bonnier and Debry were carrying with them into France. No orders were given for their assassination, nor even for violence on the persons of the ambassadors; but the excited bravos, some of them fresh from the late wars, and seeing nothing but hated foes in their victims, overstepped the command, taking life as well as property. This is one probable version: another, mentioned by Schoell, is, that the French Directory itself had a hand in the crime, and committed it for the purpose of getting up a national agitation against