1804, à l'âge de 31 ans, 7 mois, 18 jours_.

Beyond this descriptive notice of the last-mentioned event, little
need be said. The reader who wishes to pursue the subject further may
with advantage consult Sir Walter Scott's _Life of Napoleon_, vol. v.,
and No. 5 of the Appendix to that work. The political worshippers of
Napoleon have set up, or rather attempted, many points of defence.
That the Duke's grave was dug before the judgment was pronounced, has
been denied by Savary. Sir Walter Scott in a note says, "This is not
of much consequence. The illegal arrest--the precipitation of the
mock-trial--the disconformity of the sentence from the proof--the hurry
of the execution--all prove the unfortunate prince was doomed to die
long before he was brought before the military commission." The affair
is similarly regarded in the Life of Napoleon in the _Family
Library_, where the writer emphatically says, "If ever man was
murdered, it was the Duke d'Enghien." Fouché's remark on this act has
even passed into a proverb: "It was worse than a crime--it was a
blunder." Lastly, although many pages have been written on Napoleon's
conduct, his anxiety to justify or clear up his conduct on this occasion
is not less worthy of attention.

We pass from this atrocious incident in the history of the prison-house
to its last eventful scene, which is closely associated with the
political mischief of the past year in France--the imprisonment of the
ministers of Charles X. which has been too recently described in the
journals of the day to render necessary its repetition.

* * * * *