ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI DE BOURBON

This article appears in Volume V09, Page 406 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI DE BOURBON COND$, Duc D' (1772-1804), was the only son of Henri Louis Joseph, prince of

Conde

, and of Louise Marie Therese Mathilde, sister of the duke of Orleans (Philippe Egalite), and was born at

Chantilly

CHANTILLY

on the 2nd of August 1772. He was educated privately by the abbe Millot, and received a military training from the commodore de Virieux. He early showed the warlike spirit of the

house

Conde

, and began his military career in 1788. On the outbreak of the French Revolution he " emigrated " with very many of the nobles a few days after the fall of the Bastille, and remained in

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

, seeking to raise forces for the invasion of France and the
restoration of the old monarchy. In 1792, on the outbreak of war, he held a command in the force of emigres (styled the " French royal army ") which shared in the duke of Brunswick's unsuccessful invasion of France. He continued to serve under his father and grandfather in what was known as the Conde army, and on several occasions distinguished himself by his bravery and ardour in the vanguard. On the dissolution of that force after the peace of Luneville (February 18o1) he married privately the princess Charlotte, niece of Cardinal de Rohan, and took up his residence at

Ettenheim

ETTENHEIM

in Baden, near the Rhine. Early in the year 1804

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

, then First

Consul

of France, heard news which seemed to connect the young duke with the Cadoudal-Pichegru conspiracy then being tracked by the French police. The news ran that the duke was in company with Dumouriez and made

secret

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

journeys into France. This was false; the acquaintance was Thumery, a harmless old man, and the duke had no dealings with Cadoudal or Pichegru.

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

gave orders for the seizure of the duke. French mounted gendarmes crossed the Rhine secretly, surrounded his

house

and brought him to Strassburg (15th of March 1804), and thence to the castle of Vincennes, near Paris. There a commission of French colonels was hastily gathered to try him. Meanwhile Napoleon had found out the true facts of the case, and the ground of the accusation was hastily changed. The duke was now charged chiefly with bearing arms against France in the

late

LATE

war, and with intending to take part in the new coalition then proposed against France. The colonels hastily and most informally drew up the act of condemnation, being incited thereto by orders from Savary (q.v.), who had come charged with instructions. Savary intervened to prevent all chance of an interview between the condemned and the First Consul; and the duke was shot in the moat of the castle, near a grave which had already been prepared. With him ended the house of Conde. In 1816 the bones were exhumed and placed in the chapel of the castle. It is now known that Josephine and Mme de Remusat had begged Napoleon for mercy towards the duke; but nothing would bend his will. The blame which the apologists of the emperor have thrown on Talley-rand or Savary is undeserved. On his way to St Helena and at Longwood he asserted that, in the same circumstances, he would do the same again; he inserted a similar declaration in his will.
See H. Welschinger, Le Duc d'

Enghien

ENGHIEN
ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI DE BOURBON

1772-1804 (Paris, 1888) ; A. Nougaret de Fayet, Recherches historiques sur le prods et la con-damnation du duc d'

Enghien

ENGHIEN
ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI DE BOURBON

, 2 vols. (Paris, 1844) ; Comte A. Boulay -de la Meurthe, Les Dernieres Annees du duc d'Enghien 18o1-1804 (Paris, 1886). For documents see La Catastrophe du duc d' Enghien in the edition of Memoires edited by M. F. Barriere, also the edition of the duke's letters, &c., by Count Boulay de la Meurthe (tome i., Paris, 1904; tome ii., 1908). (J. HL. R.)

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