BETWEEN THE CZAK AM) THE SULTAN. 253 "What is certain is, that, whether in hope or chap. whether in fear, the plotters went on with their 1_ midnight task. The order from the Minister of ^£ from Wan was probably signed by half- past two in the ofwai!" 8161 morning, for at three it was in the hands of Magnan* At the same hour Maupas (assigning for pretext Arrange- the expected arrival of foreign refugees) caused a the intended i p n • . . ,, arrests. number ot Commissaries to be summoned in all haste to the Prefecture of Police. At half-past three in the morning these men were in attend- ance ; Maupas received each of them separately, and gave to each distinct instructions. It was then that for the first time the main secret of the confederates passed into the hands of a number of subordinate agents. During some hours of that night every one of those humble Commissar- ies had the destinies of Prance in his hands ; for he might either obey the Minister, and so place his country in the power of the Ely see ; or he might obey the law, denounce the plot, and bring its contrivers to trial. Maupas gave orders for 1 lie seizure at the same minute of the foremost Generals of France, and several of her leading Statesmen. f Parties of the police, each under the orders of a Commissary, were to be at the doors of the persons to be arrested some time beforehand, but the seizures were not to take place until a quarter past six. At six o'clock a brigade of infantry, under
- Granier de Cassagnac, vol. ii. p. 405. ' Annuaire,' p. 3G4.
t Grauier dc Cassagnac, vol. ii. p. 401.
