Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/289

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 247 upon the coast near Boulogne, Magnan had had chap. the misfortune to be singled out by the Prince as XIV - a person to whom it was fitting to offer a bribe of £4000. He had also had the misfortune to be detected in continuing his intercourse with the officer who had thought it safe to come with a proposal like that into the presence of a French general. Magnan did not conceal his willingness to go all lengths, and the brethren, it appears, wished to bring him completely into the plot ; * but his panegyrist (not seeing, perhaps, the full import of his disclosure) causes it to be known that the General, though ready to act against Paris and against the Assembly, declined to risk his safety by avowedly joining in the plot. 'He ' expressly requested,' says Granicr de Cassagnac, ' not to be apprised until the moment for taking ' the necessary dispositions and mounting on ' horseback.' f In other words, though he was willing to use the forces under his command in destroying the Constitution, and in effecting such slaughter as might be needed for the purpose, he refused to dispense with the screen afforded by an order from the Minister of War. In the event of the enterprise failing he would be able to say, • I refused to participate in any plot. The duty ' of a soldier is obedience. Here is the order ' which I received from General St Arnaud. I + Granier de Cassagnac, ' Histoire de la Chute du Roi Louis- 1 Philippe, de la Rdpublique de 1848, et du Rdtablissement de •l'Empire,' vol. ii. p. 406.
 * This is inferred from what follows.