The Italian conspiracy against Napoleon — official Accusation of Mazzini as the "Head of the Plot."
The acts d'accusation, or bill of indictment, read at the trial of the Italian conspirators — just convicted in Paris — against the life of the Emperor Napoleon, contains the following charges against Mazzini: At the head of this plot is Mazzini. This ardent conspirator, already condemned by default on the 3d of September, 1857, by the Assize Court of the Seine, was found guilty of having formed, with certain persons named Tibaldi, Bartoletti, and others, a plot for the assassination of the Emperor, and has not ceased to attack, in the person of Napoleon III, the principle of order and authority of which the revolution is the implacable enemy. During the trial of 1857 papers were seized which revealed these plots, and it is requisite to refer to them in order to show the criminal persistence of the chief of the party of action in Italy. On the 10th of June, 1857, Mazzini wrote to his fellow conspirators, Massarenti and Campanella, these words: ‘"The carrying out this attempt is a vital affair for the country. * * It is nearly the whole question. * * The affair of Paris is more than ever desirable and urgent."’ He recommended them to call to mind all he had told them as to the line of conduct they were to follow; he informed them of the means of procuring funds, and he added, "I would give millions, but I cannot." At this period he again wrote on the subject of the conspiracy, which was to spread over all Italy, but which he had not been able to bring to maturity: ‘"The structure that has been raised with infinite pains and unhoped for success up to yesterday has been overthrown. * * It is enough to make one dash his head against the wall. I do not do so, however; we have to begin again."’ Mazzini was preparing for 1863 a vast revolutionary movement, the signal for which was the assassination of the Emperor. Greco, a second class conspirator, seemed to him at once obscure enough and resolute enough for the matter to be entrusted to him.--"Greco," said Mazzini, in a letter addressed to the London Times on the 14th of January last, "is an enthusiastic patriot, who has taken an active part in the expeditions of 1860 and 1861 in the south of Italy, and as such was in relation with me. " The relations of these two became intimate in April, 1863. Mazzini was then at Lugano. The plan was then arranged, and it was decided that Greco should proceed to Paris in the beginning of May to examine the state of affairs, and, when opportunity offered, to make the attempt. At the moment of his departure Mazzini wrote, in his presence, a note to serve as the key of the correspondence. In it everything was carefully provided for — the relations to be formed in Paris, with a view to baffle the vigilance of the police; the necessity for money, arms, and assistants; the notice to be given on the ever of the attempt. Finally Mazzini mentioned as the place to which letters were to be addressed to him in London the house of a woman named Roselly, the daughter of a man with whom he had political relations at Lugano. The note was in these words:From Paris to London.
To Madams Roselly, 58 Middleton Square, Pentonville, London:
If you come in contact with Murat, you are to tell him, among other things, that you have good hopes as to your military career.
If you are absolutely in want of arms, you are to ask permission to dedicate to him a fantasia of your own composition, il voto, for the piano.
If you are absolutely in want of pecuniary aid, you will tell him to send you, buying it for you, Baife's last opera.--Address and hour.
If there is a great probability of doing the thing, you are to write an insignificant letter, and conclude, "I will write to you in a week, in three or four days." If there be absolute want of an intimate, "be pleased to tell me the price of a Broadwood piano in London."
This note was one of the documents found in possession of Greco.
It is manifestly from the hand of Mazzini, and an expert has abundantly demonstrated it. Together with Greco. Greco then set out for France, by way of Turin and Mont Cenis, and reached Paris early in May.
Under the name of Floretti, and sometimes under his own name, he lodged successively at the Hotel Saint Marie, Rue de Rivoli and at No. 128 Rue St. Honore.
He found a pretext, as had been agreed upon, to present himself at the house of Prince Murat, one of whose secretaries he frequently saw; and he succeeded in this way in making the police agents, who had at first watched his movements, believe that their surveillance was superfluous.
The Emperor had for a short time left Paris.
It was decided, in a correspondence between Greco and Mazzini, that the attempt should be postponed.
Greco quitted his hotel in July; leaving behind him a portmanteau containing various articles, and saying he was going to London.
He returned to Lugano, where he again found Mazzini.
His relations with him were continual.
In consequence of measures adopted by the Swiss authorities, the Mazzinians who resided at Lugano found it expedient to disperse.
Greco retired to Mendrizio, but became several times in the week to Mazzini's lodgings.
It was during these interviews the organization of the conspiracy was concluded.
Mazzini, from the commencement, declares that, having gone to London, he left the address, written with his own hand, to which letters for him should be directed, "M Flowers, 85 Thurloc square, London." This note was seized, with several other notes signed by Mazzini with his usual abbreviation, together with four of his photographs, two of which were signed by him.
Eight days before Mazzini quitted Lugano he left thirteen hundred francs with Greco.
He next sent him one thousand francs from London, and again two thousand francs in bank notes.
At the same time he collected arms.
Greco received ten bombs, revolvers and poignards, through various Mazzinian agents, and particularly through a person named Mostet, of Genoa.
Finally, Greco selected, with the approbation of Mazzini, the comrades who were to accompany him to France.
He had already secured the assistance of Imperatori.
Being at Milan in July, 1863, where he was known as possessing the confidence of Mazzini, he had a visit from Natale Imperatori, who had been one of Garibaldi's companions in the expedition of Marsala in 1859, and for that reason was in the receipt of the pension of "the Thousand." Imperatori announced himself as the originator of the plan to make an attempt on the life of the Emperor of the French.
Greco and he met at Lugano in the month of September.
Imperatori persisting in his determination, Greco requested him to write to Mazzini, and received from him (for the latter) the following letter, dated the 15th of September, 1863:
"Respectable M. Mazzini: After having several times communicated to your friend G. my desire and my firm resolution to proceed to Paris, in order to attempt the life of L. N. --seeing that the aforesaid did not seem disposed to second my enterprise and my firm determination, I have determined to address myself to you, certain of being seconded in my firm resolve.
This letter was communicated by Greco to Mazzini, and then returned by Mazzini to Greco as useful to try and to hold Imperatori. * * * But his letter to Mazzini, seized upon Greco, left no doubt as to the part he had performed. He in vain endeavored to make it believed, that the letter had not the bearing attributed to it; next, that it had been forced from him, and that since then he had never ceased to be the victim of moral constraint. He was at length obliged to admit his relations with Greco. He admitted that he introduced Scagtioni. That he was aware of the object of the journey; that be assisted in bringing the bombs into France, and that he knew Greco had assumed the name of Floretti. The other prisoners explained that no arms were found in his room because the furniture could not be firmly closed. Scagtioni had possession of the two bombs which were to be used by Imperatori. In fact, the proceedings of Imperatori in Paris, as proved by the police agents, that he was incessant in preparing for the execution of the plot. As for Mazzini, the protest which, according to custom, he made in the foreign press, both on the present conspiracy and on that of 1857, cannot prevail against the precise and corroborative declarations, the information, and particularly the written proofs collected during the preliminary proceedings. Competent judges were appointed to examine the arms sieged on the conspirators. It was ascertained by firing two of the bombs that each of them broke into more than forty fragments, which would produce the most terrific results. As for the pollards, which Greco confessed were poisoned, a gummy matter was found, and tin sheets which had served to fix a poisonous substance, but that substance, which had left a trace on the blades, had evaporated, and experts could not discover its nature. At the time the prisoners were arrested the execution of the plot was evidently near at hand. Trabuco was about to leave. He had announced at his hotel that he was going to London; he asked for a hammer and some nails to close a box, and he wrote an address for it, which was found in his room. Scagtioni had written to his family to request they would send him money to Geneva. Greco wrote to London to say that all was going on well, and asked for money, which, in fact, arrived on the 6th, after his arrest, under the form of a draft for 500£, supplied by a house known to have relations with Mazzini. In fine, the bombs, which it was agreed should not be charged until the last moment, were filled with gunpowder the evening before the arrest of the prisoners.--This was done by Trabuco and Greco, with the help of Scagtioni, and in the presence of Imperatori. Trabuco, for a purpose which it is difficult to understand, sought to maintain that he had not participated in it; but, being confronted with his accomplices, he answered, in his last examination: ‘"I accept the answers given by my friends."’ Never was crime more skillfully prepared — never were conspirators better chosen, and supplied with arms more terrible and more sure. Never was attempt against society as large so near its accomplishment, when the vigilance of the authorities penetrated their designs, foiled their plots, and delivered over to justice the guilty. Wherefore the persons named--1. Pascal Greco, aged 28 years, professor of music, born at Pisa, Italy, residing in Paris, No. 178 Rue St. Honore; 2. Raphael Trabuco, aged 40, born at Citta di Averse, Italy, residing in Paris, No. 176 Rue St. Honore; 3. Natalo Agestino Imperatori, aged 33, bookbinder, born at Lugano, Switzerland, same residence; 4. Angelo Scagtioni, aged 22, student, born at St Joseph, Italy, same residence; 5. Giuseppe Mazzini, born in Italy, absent — are accused of having, in 1863 and 1864, with the design concerted and decided between them, formed a plot having for its object to attempt the life of the Emperor, the said plot having been followed by an act committed or commenced towards its execution, the said crime being against the 86th and 89 articles of the first section of the Penal Code.
