been seen, and had been recognised.
He had come to Dresden to see his counsel, and ask him to use his
influence to obtain his complete discharge from police supervision,
and restoration to his rights as an honest man and a soldier, with a
claim to a pension.
A vast crowd of people rolled from the place of execution to the
house of Eisenstück, shouting, and threatening to tear Fischer to
pieces.
But Eisenstück was not the man to be terrified. He summoned a
carriage, entered it along with Fischer, and drove slowly, with the
utmost composure, through the angry crowd.
On August 26th, 1822, by command of the king, Fischer's name was
replaced in the army list, and he received his complete discharge
from all the consequences of the accusations made against him. He
was guaranteed his pension for his "faithful services through 16
years, and in the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815, in which he had
conducted himself to the approval of all his officers."
How are we to explain the conduct of Kaltofen? The simplest way is
to admit that he spoke the truth; but against this is to be opposed
his denial that Fischer was guilty during the first six months
that he was under arrest. And it is impossible to believe that
Fischer was guilty, on the sole testimony of Kaltofen, without any
confirmatory evidence.
It is rather to be supposed that the inordinate vanity of the young
culprit induced him to persist in denouncing his innocent brother
gunner, so as to throw off his own shoulders some of the burden
of that crime, which, he felt, made him hateful in the eyes of
his fellow-citizens, and perhaps to induce them to regard him as
misled by an older man, more hardened and experienced in crime, thus
arousing their pity and sympathy in place of their disgust.
Jaspis, the pastor, did not himself believe in the criminality of
Fischer, and proposes a solution which he gives conjecturally only.
He suggests that Kaltofen was misled by the confession of Fischer
into the belief that he really had committed a murder or two,
though not those of Winter and Kügelgen, and that when he declared
on the scaffold that "Fischer deserved to die as much as himself,"
he spoke under this conviction. This explanation is untenable, for
the miserable man had repeatedly charged Fischer with assisting
him in committing these two particular crimes. The explanation
must be found in his self-conceit and eagerness to present himself
in the best and most affecting light before the public. And he
gained his point to some extent. The mob believed him, pitied him,
became sentimental over him, wept tears at his death, and cursed
the unfortunate Fischer. The apparent piety, the mock heroics, the
graceful attitudes, and the good looks of the murderer had won their
sympathies, and the general opinion of the vulgar was that they had
assisted at the sublimation of a saint to the seventh heaven, and
not at the well-deserved execution of a peculiarly heartless and
brutal murderer.
A month had hardly passed since Kaltofen's execution before Dresden
was shocked to hear of another murder--on this occasion by a young
woman. On August 12th, 1821, this person, who had been in a state
of excitement ever since the edifying death of Kaltofen, invited to
her house a young girl, just engaged to be married, and deliberately
murdered her; then marched off to the police and confessed her
crime--the nature of which she did not disguise. She desired to make
the same affecting and edifying end as Kaltofen. Above all, she
wanted to get herself talked about by all the mouths in Dresden. The
police on visiting her house found the murdered girl lying on the
bed. On the door in large letters the murderer had inscribed the
date of Kaltofen's martyrdom, July 12th, and she had committed her
crime on the same day one month after, desirous to share his glory.
Such was one consequence of this execution. A small farce also
succeeded it. Influenced by the general excitement provoked by the
murder of Kügelgen, the Jews had assembled and agreed, should any
of them be able to discover the murderer, that they would decline
the £150 offered by Government for information that might lead to
the apprehension of the guilty. But Hirschel Mendel, the Jew who had
produced the watch, put in his claim; whereupon Löbel Graff, who had
produced the coat, put in a counter claim. This occasioned a lawsuit
between the two Jews for the money. A compromise was finally patched
up, by which each received half.
Gerhard von Kügelgen had been buried in the Catholic cemetery at
Dresden on Maundy Thursday evening by moonlight. A great procession
of art students attended the funeral cortège with lighted torches,
and an oration was pronounced over his grave by his friend
Councillor Böttiger.
His tomb may still be seen in the cemetery; on it is inscribed:--
FRANZ GERHARD VON KÜGELGEN.
Born 6 Feb., 1772.
Died 27 March, 1820.
On the other side is the text, St. John xiv. 27.
Kügelgen left behind him two sons and a daughter. The eldest son,
Wilhelm, pursued his father's profession as an artist, and the
Emperor of Russia sent an annual grant of money to assist him in his
studies. There is a pleasant book, published anonymously by him, "An
Old Man's Youthful Reminiscences," the first edition of which was
issued in 1870, and which had reached its eighth edition in 1876.
Kügelgen's twin brother, Karl Ferdinand, after spending some years
in St. Petersburg and in Livonia, settled at Reval, and died in
1832. He was the author of a "Picturesque Journey in the Crimea,"
published in 1823.
Authority:--F. Ch. A. Hasse: Das Leben Gerhards von Kügelgen.
Leipzig, 1824. He gives in the Supplement an excerpt from the
records of the trial. As frontispiece is a portrait of the
artist by himself, very Raphaelesque.
The Poisoned Parsnips.
At the time when the banished Bourbons were wandering about
Europe seeking temporary asylums, during the period of Napoleon's
supremacy, a story circulated in 1804 relative to an attempt made
in Warsaw, which then belonged to Prussia, upon the life of the
Royal Family then residing there. It was said that a plot had been
formed, that was well nigh successful, to kill Louis XVIII., his
wife, the Duke and Duchess of Angoulême, and such of the Court as
sat at the Royal table, with a dish of poisoned parsnips. It was,
moreover, whispered that at the bottom of the plot was no other than
Napoleon himself, who sought to remove out of his way the legitimate
claimants to the Gallic throne.
The article in which the account of the attempt was made public was
in the _London Courier_ for August 20th, 1804, from which we will
now take the leading facts.
The Royal Family was living in Warsaw. Napoleon Bonaparte employed
an agent of the name of Galon Boyer at Warsaw to keep an eye on
them, and this man, it was reported, had engaged assassins at the
instigation of Napoleon to poison Louis XVIII. and the rest of
the Royal Family. The _Courier_ of August 21st, 1804, says: "Some
of the daily papers, which were not over anxious to discredit the
conspiracy imputed to Mr. Drake,[1] affect to throw some doubt
upon the account of the attempt upon the lives of the Royal Family
at Warsaw. They seem to think that had Bonaparte desired such a
plan, he could have executed it with more secrecy and effect.
Undoubtedly his plans of assassination have hitherto been more
successful, because his hapless victims were within his power--his
wounded soldiers at Jaffa, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Pichegru, and
the Duke D'Enghien. He could send his bloodhounds into Germany to
seize his prey; but Warsaw was too remote for him; he was under
the necessity of having recourse to less open means of sending his
assassins to act secretly. But it is deemed extraordinary that the
diabolical attempt should have failed. Why is it extraordinary that
a beneficent Providence should interpose to save the life of a just
prince? Have we not had signal instances of that interposition
in this country? For the accuracy of the account we published
yesterday, we pledge ourselves[2] that the fullest details,
authenticated by all Louis XVIII.'s Ministers--by the venerable
Archbishop of Rheims--by the Abbé Edgeworth, who administered the
last consolation of religion to Louis the XVI., have been received
in this country. All those persons were present when the poisoned
preparation was analysed by very eminent physicians, _who are the
subjects of the King of Prussia_.
[1] Drake was envoy of the British Government at Munich; he and
Spencer Smith, Chargé d'Affaires at Würtemberg, were accused by
Napoleon of being at the bottom of a counter revolution, and an
attempt to obtain his assassination. It was true that Drake and
Smith were in correspondence with parties in France with the
object of securing Hagenau and Strassburgo and throwing discord
among the troops of the Republic, but they never for a moment
thought of obtaining the assassination of the First Consul, as
far as we can judge from their correspondence that fell into the
hands of the French police.
[2] Unfortunately the British Museum file is imperfect, and does
not contain the Number for August 20th.
"The two wretches who attempted to corrupt the poor Frenchman were
openly protected by the French Consul or Commercial Agent.
"The Prussian Governor would not suffer them to be arrested in order
that their guilt or innocence might be legally investigated. Is it
to be believed that had there been no foundation for the charge
against them, the French agent would have afforded them less open
protection, and thereby strengthened the charge brought against
them? If they were protected and paid by the French agent, is it
probable that he paid them out of his own pocket, employed them in
such a plot of his own accord, and without order and instructions
from his own Government, from Bonaparte? Besides, did not the
President Hoym acknowledge his fears that some attempt would be made
upon the life of Louis the XVIII.?
"The accounts transmitted to this country were sent from Warsaw one
hour after the king had set out for Grodno."
The _Courier_ for August 24th, 1804, has the following note:--"We
have another strong fact which is no slight evidence in our minds
of Bonaparte's guilt. The plot against Louis the XVIII. was to be
executed at the end of July--it would be known about the beginning
of August. At that very period Bonaparte prohibits the importation
of all foreign journals without exception--that is, of all the means
by which the people could be informed of the diabolical deed. Why
does he issue this prohibition at the present moment, or why does
he issue it at all? Fouché says in his justification of it that it
is to prevent our knowing when the expedition sails. Have we ever
received any news about the expedition from the French papers? No,
no! the prohibition was with a view to the bloody scene to be acted
at Warsaw."
The _Courier_ of August 22nd contained full particulars. We will now
tell the whole story, from beginning to end, first of all as dressed
out by the fancy of Legitimists, and then according to the real
facts of the case as far as known.
Napoleon, it will be remembered, had been appointed First Consul for
life on August 2nd, 1802, but the Republic came to an end, and the
French Empire was established by the Senate on May 18th, 1804.
It was supposed--and we can excuse the excitement and intoxication
of wrath in the minds of all adherents of the Bourbons which could
suppose it--that Napoleon, who was thus refounding the Empire of
Charlemagne, desired to secure the stability of this new throne by
sweeping out of his way the legitimate claimants to that of France.
The whole legend of the attempt to assassinate Louis XVIII. by means
of a dish of poisoned parsnips is given us in complete form by the
author of a life of that prince twenty years after the event.[3] It
is to this effect:
When the King (Louis XVIII.) was preparing for his journey from
Warsaw to Grodno an atrocious attempt to assassinate him was brought
to light, which leaves no manner of doubt that it was the purpose
of those who were the secret movers in the plot to remove by poison
both the King and Queen and also the Duke of Angoulême and his wife.
Two delegates of Napoleon had been in Warsaw seeking for a man who
could execute the plan. A certain Coulon appeared most adapted to
their purpose, a man indigent and eager for money. He had previously
been in the service of one of the emigré nobles, and had access to
the kitchen of the Royal Family.
[3] A. de Beauchamp, Vie de Louis XVIII. Paris, 1824.
The agents of Napoleon gave Coulon drink, and as he became friendly
and lively under the influence of punch, they communicated to him
their scheme, and promised him money, the payment of his debts, and
to effect his escape if he would be their faithful servant in the
intrigue. Coulon pretended to yield to their solicitations, and a
rendezvous was appointed where the plans were to be matured. But
no sooner was Coulon at liberty than he went to his former master,
the Baron de Milleville, master of horse to the Queen, and told him
all. The Baron sought the Duc de Pienne, first gentleman of the
Royal household, and he on receiving the information communicated
it to the Count d'Avaray, Minister of Louis XVIII. Coulon received
orders to pretend to be ready to carry on the plot. He did this
with reluctance, but he did it. He told the agents of Napoleon that
he was in their hands and would blindly execute their orders. They
treated him now to champagne, and revealed to him the details of
the attempt. He was to get into the kitchen of the Royal household,
and was to pour the contents of a packet they gave him into one of
the pots in which the dinner for the Royal table was being cooked.
Coulon then demanded an instalment of his pay, and asked to be given
400 louis d'or. One of the agents then turned to the other and asked
if he thought Boyer would be disposed to advance so much--this was
Galon Boyer, the head agent sent purposely to Warsaw as spy on the
Royal Family, and the principal mover in the attempt.
The other agent replied that Boyer was not at the moment in Warsaw,
but he would be back in a couple of days. Coulon stuck to his point,
like a clever rascal, and refused to do anything till he felt gold
in his palm, and he was bidden wait till Boyer had been communicated
with. He was appointed another meeting on the moors at Novawies
outside the city.
As, next evening, Coulon was on his way to the place named, he
observed that he was followed by a man. Suddenly out of the corn
growing beside the road started a second. They were the agents.
They paid him a few dollars, promised to provide handsomely for
him in France, by giving him 400 louis d'or and a situation under
Government; and handed him a bottle of liquor that was to stimulate
his courage at the crucial moment, and also a paper packet that
contained three parsnips, that had been scooped out and filled with
poison. These he was to insinuate into one of the pots cooking for
dinner, and induce the cook to overlook what he had done, and serve
them up to the Royal Family.
The King then lived in a chateau at Lazienki, about a mile out of
Warsaw. Thither hastened Coulon as fast as his legs could carry
him, and he committed the parsnips to the Baron de Milleville. The
Count d'Avaray and the Archbishop of Rheims put their seals on the
parcel; after that the parsnips had first been shown to the Prussian
authorities, and they had been asked in all form to attest the
production of the poisoned roots, and to order the arrest of the
two agents of Napoleon, and to confront them with Coulon--and had
declined. Louis, when informed of the attempt, showed his wonted
composure. He wrote immediately to the Prussian President, Von Hoym,
and requested him to visit him at Lazienki, and consult what was to
be done.
Herr Von Hoym did not answer; nor did he go to the King, but
communicated with his superiors. Finally there arrived a diplomatic
reply declining to interfere in the matter, as it was the concern
of the police to investigate it, and it should be taken up in the
ordinary way.
Thereupon the King requested that Coulon and his wife should be
secured, and that specialists should be appointed who, along with
the Royal physician, might examine the parsnips alleged to be
poisoned.
But the Prussian Courts declined again to take any steps. The policy
of the Prussian Cabinet under Count Haugwitz was favourable to a
French alliance, and the King of Prussia was among the first of the
greater Powers which had formally recognised the French Emperor.
On condition that the French troops occupying Hanover should not
be augmented, and that war, if it broke out with Russia, should
be so carried on as not to inconvenience and sweep over Prussian
territory, Prussia had undertaken to observe a strict neutrality.
In return for these concessions, which were of great moment to
Napoleon, he openly proclaimed his intention to augment the strength
of Prussia, and it was hoped at Berlin that the price paid would be
the incorporation of Hanover with Prussia.
At this moment, consequently, the Prussian Government was most
unwilling to meddle in an investigation which threatened to lead to
revelations most compromising to the character of Napoleon, and most
inconvenient for itself.
As the Prussian courts would not take up the matter of the parsnips,
a private investigation was made by the Count d'Avaray, with
the Royal physician, Dr. Lefèvre, and the Warsaw physician, Dr.
Gagatkiewicz, together with the Apothecary Guidel and a certain Dr.
Bergozoni. The seals were broken in their presence, and the three
roots were examined. It was ascertained that they were stuffed
with a mixture of white, yellow, and red arsenic. This having been
ascertained, and a statement of the fact duly drawn up, and signed,
the president of the police, Herr von Tilly, was communicated with.
He, however, declined to interfere, as had the President von Hoym.
"Thus," says M. Beauchamp, "one court shuffled the matter off on
another, backwards and forwards, so as not to have to decide on the
matter, a specimen of the results of the system adopted at this time
by the Prussian Cabinet."
No other means of investigation remained but for Count d'Avaray
to have the matter gone into by the court of the exiled King. They
examined Coulon, who held firmly to his story as told to the Baron
de Milleville, and all present were convinced that he spoke the
truth.
As the King could obtain no justice from the hands of Prussia, he
suffered the story to be made public in order that the opinion of
all honourable men in Europe might be expressed on the conduct of
both Napoleon and of the Prussian Ministry. "The impression made,"
says M. Beauchamp, "especially in England, was deep. Men recalled
Bonaparte's former crimes that had been proved--the poisoning at
Jaffa, the--at the time--very fresh indignation provoked by the
murder of the Count de Frotté, of Pichegru, of Captain Wright, of
the Duke d'Enghien, of Toussaint l'Ouverture; they recalled the lack
of success he had experienced in demanding of Louis XVIII. a formal
renunciation of his claims, and weighed well the determination of
his character. Even the refusal of the Prussian courts to go into
the charge (for if it had been investigated they must needs have
pronounced judgment on it)--encouraged suspicion. Hardly an English
newspaper did not condemn Napoleon as the instigator of an attempt
that providentially failed."
Such is the legend as formulated by M. de Beauchamp. Fortunately
there exists documentary evidence in the archives of the courts at
Berlin that gives an altogether different complexion to the story,
and entirely clears the name of Napoleon from stain of complicity in
this matter. It throws, moreover, a light, by no means favourable,
on those of the Legitimist party clustered about the fallen monarch.
Louis XVIII., obliged to fly from one land to another before the
forces of Napoleon, was staying for a while at Warsaw, in the year
1804, under the incognito of the Count de l'Isle. His misfortunes
had not broken his spirit or diminished his pretensions. He was
surrounded by a little court in spite of his incognito; and as
this little court had no affairs of State to transact, it played a
niggling game at petty intrigue. This court consisted of the Count
d'Avaray, the Archbishop of Rheims, the Duke de Pienne, the Marquis
de Bonney, the Duke d'Avré de Croy, the Count de la Chapelle, the
Counts Damas Crux and Stephen de Damas, and the Abbés Edgeworth and
Frimont. Louis had assured Napoleon he would rather eat black bread
than resign his pretensions. At Warsaw he maintained his pretensions
to the full, but did not eat black bread; he kept a very respectable
kitchen. The close alliance between Prussia and France forced him to
leave Warsaw and migrate into Russia.
At this time there lived in Warsaw a certain Jean Coulon, son of
a small shopkeeper at Lyons, who had led an adventurous life. At
the age of nine he had run away from home and attached himself
to a wandering dramatic company; then had gone into service to
a wigmaker, and had lived for three years at Barcelona at his
handicraft. But wigs were going out of fashion, and he threw up an
unprofitable trade, and enlisted in a legion of emigrés, but in
consequence of some quarrel with a Spaniard was handed over to the
Spanish authorities. He purchased his pardon by enlisting in the
Spanish army, but deserted and joined the French Republican troops,
was in the battle of Novi, ran away, and joined the corps raised at
Naples by Cardinal Ruffo. When this corps was dispersed, he went
back to Spain, again enlisted, and was shipped for St. Lucia. The
vessel in which he was, was captured by an English cruiser, and
he was taken into Plymouth and sent up to Dartmoor as prisoner of
war. After two years he was exchanged and was shipped to Cuxhaven.
Thence he went to Altona, where he asked the intervention of the
Duke d'Avré in his favour. The Duke recommended him to the Countess
de l'Isle, and he was taken into the service of her master of horse,
the Baron de Milleville, and came to Warsaw in September, 1803.
There he married, left his service and set up a café and billiard
room that was frequented by the retainers and servants of the emigré
nobility that hovered about the King and Queen. He was then aged
32, could speak Italian and Spanish as well as French, and was a
thorough soldier of fortune, impecunious, loving pleasure, and
wholly without principles, political or religious.