Tim Clayton - The Secret War Against Napoleon: Britain’s Assassination Plot on the French Emperor

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THE
SECRET WAR
AGAINST
NAPOLEON

Britains Assassination Plot
on the French Emperor

TIM CLAYTON

T HE S ECRET W AR A GAINST N APOLEON

Pegasus Books, Ltd.

148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor

New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2019 by Tim Clayton

First Pegasus Books hardcover edition March 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

ISBN: 978-1-64313-057-6

ISBN: 978-1-64313-104-7 (ebk)

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

In memory of my close friend
David Bradshaw and of my mother
Avice Clayton; and for her close
friend Anny Cousin and her family.

The Bonaparte Family

Napoleon Bonaparte, born 1769, general of the Army of Italy 1796, First Consul 1799

His brothers Joseph (born 1768), Lucien (born 1775), Louis (born 1778), Jrme (born 1784)

His sisters Elisa (born 1777), Pauline (born 1780), Caroline (born 1782)

His mother Letizia, born 1750

His wife, previously Rose de Beauharnais, known as Josephine, born 1763

Her son Eugne (born 1781) and daughter Hortense (born 1783)

Bourbons

Louis Stanislas Xavier de Bourbon, comte de Provence, born 1755, lived in Warsaw as comte de Lille 18014; self-styled Louis XVIII

Charles, comte dArtois, born 1757; after 1789 lived in Turin, then Edinburgh, then London

Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Cond, born 1736; emigrated to Coblenz 1791 and raised a royalist army; to London 1800

Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon, duc dEnghien, Conds grandson, born 1772

French politicians

Maximilien Robespierre, born 1758, the Incorruptible, a leader of the Jacobins and mastermind of the Terror until his execution in 1794

Paul, vicomte de Barras, born 1755, Provenal nobleman, the most important of the five Directors who ruled France from 1795 until Bonapartes coup in 1799

Joseph Fouch, born 1759, son of a Nantes slaver; teacher at the Oratory school then Jacobin politician; minister of police in summer 17991802 and 1804

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Prigord, born 1754; bishop of Autun 1789, excommunicated 1791; to Britain 1792 but expelled; America 17936; minister for foreign affairs 1797

Alexandre-Maurice Blanc dHauterive, born 1754, professor before the revolution; consul at New York 179098; foreign ministry 1798

Franois-Marie (marquis de) Barthlemy, born 1747, French minister in Switzerland; Director 1797; exiled 1797, rescued and came to England; returned after Brumaire ; senator

Louis-Guillaume Otto, born 1754, French representative in London 18002; minister to the Palatinate 18034

Michel Regnaud de Saint-Jean-dAngly, born 1761, lawyer and state counsellor

Pierre-Franois Ral, born 1757, lawyer, state counsellor and special investigator

Claude Ambroise Rgnier, born 1736, Grand Judge and minister of justice 1802

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, born 1769, school friend and private secretary to Bonaparte

Henri She, born 1739, prefect of the Bas-Rhin 1802

Am Masclet, born 1760, sub-prefect of Boulogne 1800

Andr Dumont, born 1764, sub-prefect of Abbeville 1799

Antoine-Franois Bertrand de Moleville, born 1744, minister of marine to Louis XVI ; exiled to London

Emmanuel-Henri-Louis de Launay, comte dAntraigues, born 1759, agent of Louis XVIII

Louis-Antoine-Marc-Hilaire de Conzi, born 1732, bishop of Arras, head of Artoiss council

Armand de Polignac, born 1771, raised at Versailles, went to London in 1800, courtier to Artois

Jules de Polignac, born 1780, his brother, courtier to Artois

Jean-Franois Dutheil, financial agent for Artois, manager of secret service and link with British government

Charles-Franois de Riffardeau, marquis de Rivire, born 1765, first aide to Artois

French armed forces

Jean-Charles Pichegru, born 1761, sergeant-major of artillery before revolution; general in 1793 and commanded the army of the Rhine; army of the North 1794; changed sides and exiled 1797; escaped to Britain

Auguste Thvenet dit Danican, born 1764, as lieutenant colonel in Parisian national guard fought royalists in the Vende 1793; suspected of treachery after defeats; denounced colleagues; led revolt in Paris in 1795; fled to London and became royalist publicist

Amde Willot, born 1755, private 1771; republican general 1793 in Pyrenees and in Vende 1795; exiled 1797 and escaped with Pichegru to Britain

Jean Victor Marie Moreau, born 1763, lieutenant colonel of Breton volunteers 1791; served as general under Pichegru in Flanders 1794; commander of the army of the Rhine 17957; dismissed with Pichegru 1797; commanded in Italy 1799, then army of the Rhine and victor of Hohenlinden 1800

Frdric Lajolais, born 1765, volunteer 1778; general 1793 under Pichegru; arrested 1794 over Pichegrus supposed treachery; acquitted but not re-employed

Henri Rolland, born c.1758, old acquaintance of Pichegru and of Moreau

Charles-Lon Tinseau dAmondans, born 1748, aide to Artois, military engineer and royalist publicist

Athanase-Hyacinthe Bouvet de Lozier, born 1770, adjutant-general of royal army

Etienne-Franois Rochelle, born c.1768, royalist officer

Jacques Jean-Marie Franois Boudin de Tromelin, born 1771, fought at Quiberon, then assisted Sidney Smith before returning to France in 1802

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, born 1754, commissioned 1778; general of the Army of the Western Pyrenees 1794; suspected royalist; led a corps under Bonaparte 1800; inspector-general of the gendarmerie 1802

Anne Jean Marie Ren Savary, born 1774, staff messenger to Pichegru, then to Moreau; aide to Desaix, then to Bonaparte; commander of the Gendarmes dlite of the Consular Guard 1801

French police

Louis Nicolas Dubois, born 1758, prefect of police for Paris 1800

Pierre Marie Desmarest, born 1764, Fouchs assistant from 1799, chief of the secret police; astronomer, botanist, novelist

Pierre Fardel, investigated Hydes network in 1800 and the Boulogne network in 1803

Charles Pasques, said to be a sadistic colossus

Pierre Hugues Veyrat, an enthusiastic police chief inspector

Joseph Mengaud, born c.1750, envoy to Switzerland 17978; police commissioner for Manche and Pas-de-Calais 18014

Hanoverians

George III , born 1738, King of Great Britain (after 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) and Elector of Hanover