What did he mean by this?

In 1809, Napoleon and his troops occupied Vienna. On October 12 of that year, a German university student named Friedrich Staps attempted to assassinate Napoleon during a military parade at Schönbrunn Palace. Staps approached Napoleon on the pretense of presenting him with a petition. General Rapp became suspicious of the young man, whose right hand was thrust into a pocket under his coat. Staps was arrested and found to be carrying a large carving knife. When Rapp asked whether he had planned to assassinate Napoleon, Staps answered in the affirmative.

Napoleon wanted to speak to Staps directly, so the prisoner was brought to the Emperor’s office with his hands tied behind his back. Using Rapp as an interpreter, Napoleon asked Staps a series of questions.

>‘Where were you born?’ – ‘In Naumburgh.’

>‘What is your father?’ – ‘A Protestant minister.’

>‘How old are you?’ – ‘I am eighteen years of age.’

>‘What did you intend to do with the knife?’ – ‘To kill you.’

>‘You are mad, young man; you are an illuminato.’ – ‘I am not mad; and I know not what is meant by an illuminato.’

>‘You are sick, then.’ – ‘I am not sick; on the contrary, I am in good health.’

>‘Why did you wish to assassinate me?’ – ‘Because you have caused the misfortunes of my country.’

>‘Have I done you any harm?’ – ‘You have done harm to me as well as to all Germans.’

>‘By whom were you sent? Who instigated you to this crime?’ – ‘Nobody. I determined to take your life from the conviction that I should thereby render the highest service to my country and to Europe.’ …

>‘I tell you, you are either mad or sick.’ – ‘Neither the one nor the other.’ (12)

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After a doctor examined Staps and pronounced him in good health, Napoleon offered the young man a chance for clemency.

>‘You are a wild enthusiast,’ said he; ‘you will ruin your family. I am willing to grant your life, if you ask pardon for the crime which you intended to commit, and for which you ought to be sorry.’ – ‘I want no pardon,’ replied Staps, ‘I feel the deepest regret for not having executed my design.’ ‘You seem to think very lightly of the commission of a crime!’ – ‘To kill you would not have been a crime but a duty.’ … ‘Would you not be grateful were I to pardon you?’ – ‘I would notwithstanding seize the first opportunity of taking your life.’ (13)

Staps was executed by a firing squad on October 17, 1809. His last words were: “Liberty forever! Germany forever! Death to the tyrant!” (14) Napoleon refers to this assassination attempt when he visits his former police chief Pierre-François Réal in Napoleon in America.

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seems pretty obvious

What does "illuminato" mean?

Isn't that the Italian/French word for Illuminati?

Was Napoleon worried about the Illuminati killing him?

It's all Masonry

Interesting...

Napoleon was a nice guy, this german was an brainwashed idiot who thought that he would be remembered as an "Hero".

Funny thing is, had the assassination attempt succeeded, Napoleon's reputation as a statesman and general would be higher now than it actually is. 1809 was before Napoleon's setbacks began. I wonder if, on St. Helena, reduced to nothing but his legacy, Napoleon ever thought of the young man, and wished that his attempt had succeeded.

and here were are, posting in a thread about him on a mongolian cattle futures exchange forum two hundred years hence.

Don't you think the tragedy of spending the rest of his life in exile gives his like a 'fuller' story?

>Was Napoleon worried about the Illuminati killing him?
If you were a rising dictator, wouldn't you be worried about the Illuminati?

Yes, but it lowers him in ranks of history's greatest politicians and generals. Imagine if Alexander of Macedon had lived ten years longer, but those ten years were full of defeats that reversed all of his conquests. We would look at him a bit differently now.

Was Napoleon really that shocked that there were people who didn't like him?

I wouldn't be surprised if the story of the encounter was a bit exaggerated. Wikipedia has a simpler version of it. The version OP provided seems suspiciously similar to Christ before Pilate.

Here is my source:

Jean Rapp, Memoirs of General Count Rapp (London, 1823)

Ah but you should never just trust a personal eye witness account. At least not to the exact letter, just as you just shouldn't just trust wikipedia.

You can never determine these words to be truelly said. It is a fun mindworkout, but no historian can give you answers to these kind of questions. Let alone this board

Sure but General Rapp was the translator in that instance and I'm inclined to believe it

Ah, cool. Thanks for the reference. I do find the parallels to one version of Christ before Pilate interesting. Pilate offering Christ multiple ways out, Christ denying them... although to be fair, I might just be remembering that from Jesus Christ Superstar rather than any more primary sources.

Sure, I get that. But he wrote his memoires 14 years after the actual conversation and we are having a conversation about a memory of a conversation that took place 200 years ago.

I too belief that it is probable that something of the kind could have been said then. But what do you mean when you ask what does he mean by this?

Probably not, but perhaps yes also. There was an idea that was seriously considered for a time by some Scotsman who played a part in Chilean war for Independence from the then Spanish Empire to fetch Napoleon from St Helena and to install him as the Emperor of (I suppose, memory is fuzzy) all Latin America. It didn't happen for various logistical reasons (and of course for being bonkers mad) but I think that the Napoleon just had the all fight gone out of him by then.

>‘Why did you wish to assassinate me?’ – ‘Because you have caused the misfortunes of my country.’
>‘Have I done you any harm?’ – ‘You have done harm to me as well as to all Germans.’

Nappy should have replied
>Well, maybe yall n00bs shouldnt have attacked France first then

He should