BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 213 of the men whom lie wanted to have accused. CHAP: Naturally, the legal authorities of the department L_ were horror-struck by the proposal, and they de- nounced the Prefect to the Keeper of the Seals. Maupas was ordered to Paris.* From the indig- nant and scornful presence of M. Faucher he came away sobbing, and people who knew the truth supposed him to be for ever disgraced and ruined ; but he went and told his sorrows to the President. The President of course instantly saw that the man could be suborned. He admitted iieis him into the plot, and on the 27th of October ap- and made Prefect of pointed him Prefect of Police. Police. Persigny, properly Fialin, was in the plot. lie Persigny. was descended, on one side, of an ancient family, and, disliking his father's name, he seems to have called himself for many years after the name of his maternal grandfather. j- He began life as a non-commissioned officer. As he himself said, J his instinct was ' to serve ; ' and at first, he served the Legitimists, but chance brought him into con- tact with Louis Bonaparte, and he very soon be- came the attached friend of the Prince, and his partner in all his plans and adventures. If Morny was merely taking up the Bonaparte cause as one
- See the ' Bulletin Francais', p. 08 et scq. This publication
appeared under auspices which make it a safe authority. It is to be regretted that its statements extend to only a portion of the events connected with the 2d of December. t This, I think, was the account which he gave upon his trial in 1840. He was tried by the description of Fialin dit Persigny. J Before the Chamber of Beers, 1810.
