Pichegru’s Conspiracy.
A conspiracy to overthrow the Consulate and bring back the Bourbons, planned by Georges Cadoudal, the Breton leader, and General Pichegru in 1804. The Comte d’Artois was privy to it, and the English Ministers at the Courts of Bavaria and Würtemberg were also supposed to have had knowledge of it. Certain information reaching the police, the conspirators and many who were entirely innocent were arrested. Among other innocent victims was the young Duc d’Enghien, son of the Prince de Condé, who was shot by order of Napoleon. It is of this action that Fouché said, “It is worse than a crime, it is a blunder.”
Piés Poudrées, Court of.
A special court established during the great fairs in Scotland and England to try trivial offences, such as disturbances of the peace, committed within the fair limits. It derives its name from the “dusty feet” of the pedlars, who were the principal vendors at these gatherings. In England it was called the Court of Pie Powder.
Pilgrim Fathers.
The Puritan emigrants who left England in the Mayflower, and were the first colonists of New England in 1620.
Pilgrimage of Grace.
The Catholic rising in the North of England in the reign of Henry VIII (1537).
Pilnitz, Treaty of.
A treaty signed in August, 1791, by the King of Prussia and the Emperor, by which the former agreed to support the allies in their efforts to suppress the French Revolution. The two monarchs subsequently issued a manifesto, known as the Declaration of Pilnitz, declaring that the position of the King of France was a matter of interest to all sovereigns, and that if the European rulers united to aid Louis, they would combine with them for the purpose. The price of Prussia’s co-operation in this movement was a secret undertaking on the part of Austria not to interfere with her proceedings in Poland.