This postcard is a reproduction of an engraving showing Pierre Robinault de Saint-Régent, a royalist officer, igniting the wick of the infernal machine, in fact a barrel of powder placed on a cart on the rue Saint-Nicaise, intended to explode as the carriage of the First Consul passed that way. But his accomplice, Joseph Pierre Picot de Limoëlan, who was supposed to be watching the arrival of Bonaparte from his vantage point at the Carrousel, lost his cool and gave the signal too late, allowing the First Consul to escape. The attack left 22 dead and hundreds injured.
An Infernal Machine – Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise
