GEORGE III.—CONTINUED. (continued 4)

In August General Wellesley left Poonah, Colonel Stevenson acting in correspondence with him further to the east. He marched direct to Ahmednuggur, which he captured, crossed the Godavery river, and arrived at Aurungabad. Meanwhile Sindia had fallen back northward, and in September the two English commanders joined their forces a little to the east of Aurungabad, and advanced to meet him. Sindia's forces, reinforced by sixteen battalions Battle of Assye. Sept. 23, 1803. officered by Frenchmen, lay not far from Assye on the river Kaitna; between them and the English extended a range of hills; to prevent their escape the English commanders separated—Stevenson marching by the eastern, Wellesley by the western end of the range. When Wellesley heard that the enemy were moving off, he determined upon an attack without waiting for Stevenson's arrival. To get at the enemy it was necessary to cross the river which was on his right; although assured by his guide that it was impassable, he conjectured the existence of a passage from the appearance of two villages immediately opposite each other on the two banks of the river. He found his conjecture was correct, and his troops, when they had crossed the river, exactly occupied the space between that and another stream on which Assye stands. His two flanks were thus covered. He there with 4500 men entirely defeated Sindia's army, numbering more than 30,000. At the close of the day he found himself in possession of nearly 100 cannon and the whole of the camp equipage. The General mentioned it afterwards as the bloodiest battle for the numbers that he ever saw; the killed and wounded among the English amounting to more than 1500, a third of their entire force. The Mahratta army separated into two divisions, one division under the Rajah of Berar retiring westward as though to attack Poonah. Leaving Stevenson, therefore, to follow the northern division under Sindia, Wellesley hastened in pursuit of the Rajah. Sindia, being close pressed by Stevenson, begged for a truce; but as it was found that his troops were still serving in the army of the Rajah of Berar, and Battle of Argaum. that the truce was merely deceptive, the pursuit was recommenced, and the enemy brought to a final engagement on the plain of Argaum, where they were again entirely defeated. The war in the Deccan was closed by the capture, by the combined armies, of Gawulgur, near the sources of the Taptee river. Two days afterwards, on the 17th of December, the Subsidiary treaties with Sindia and Berar. Rajah of Berar submitted, and before the end of the month Sindia also consented to treat. By these treaties the province of Cuttack was annexed to the English possessions, Sindia was driven entirely from the Deccan, and lost some strong places in the Douab. Both princes entered into subsidiary arrangements, and promised to admit no foreigners but English to their confidence.

Lake's successes in the Douab.

These treaties were the consequence of the combined campaigns of Wellesley and Lake; for during the brilliant campaign of Assye in the Deccan, Lake had been carrying on war with equal success in the valley of the Ganges. The French province in the Douab had given but little trouble. Perron had retired from one of his fortresses, Coel, without fighting; his second stronghold, Alleghur, had been captured; his troops had indeed remained to fight, but he had himself surrendered to the English. The capture of Alleghur had been followed by a great victory over the Mahrattas within sight of Delhi. Lake had entered that capital, restored the aged Shah Allum to the Mogul throne, and attached to the English by so doing the whole Mahommedan population of India. He had won further victories at Muttra and Agra on the Jumna, and finally, on the 1st of November, at the same time that Wellesley was carrying out the pursuit which preceded the battle of Argaum, won the great battle of Laswari. The secondary attacks had been no less successful. While Murray had captured Baroach and subjugated the rest of Sindia's possessions in Gujerat, Harcourt had secured Cuttack at the mouths of the Mahanadi and the great temple of Juggernaut. The subsidiary treaties signed Conclusion of the war. 1805. at the close of the year were the consequences of this series of victories. In reward for their services Lake was raised to the Peerage and Wellesley made a Knight of the Bath. Holkar alone remained unsubdued. The following year, 1804, he was again in arms, and though thoroughly defeated by General Lake, succeeded in obtaining the support of the Rajah of Berhampoor, and prolonged the war till the close of the year 1805.

Sad close of Pitt's career.

The success in India was no doubt of great importance both in sustaining the courage of the people and in cheering the last days of Pitt; but he was not destined to close his life in happiness and triumph. He lived, indeed, long enough to see the great coalition for which he had been working completed, and to receive the adhesion to it of Russia, Austria, Sweden, and Naples; he lived long enough to see the English again triumphant upon the ocean, to hear the news of the greatest victory which had ever attended their arms, and to rejoice at the dispersion of the threatening cloud which for more than a year had hung over the country. But he also lived just long enough to see, as far as his foreign policy was concerned, the whole of his careful structure dashed to pieces, and the complete triumph of his arch enemy at the battle of Austerlitz.

Attack on Lord Melville.

If the close of his life as a foreign minister was sad, a still thicker mist of misfortune hung over the last years of his home government. The man on whom he most relied in the ministry was his old friend Lord Melville, who had fairly justified his confidence by the energy and success with which he had reconstituted the navy. It was through him that the Opposition found means to inflict a deadly blow upon the minister. Lord St. Vincent, though his general administration had been weak, had been laudably anxious to improve the condition of the Admiralty, especially Naval inquiries. Feb. 1805. in regard to its expenses. He had therefore established a commission of naval inquiry, which from time to time sent in its reports. The last of these, the tenth, had been sent in in February 1805. Even before its publication it was understood to reflect upon Lord Melville's conduct as Treasurer of the Navy, an office which he had held along with several others in Pitt's first administration. On one point he had certainly shown remissness. He had allowed Mr. Trotter, Paymaster of the Navy, to pay public money to his own account at his banker's, and to use it as his own. No loss had accrued to the State in consequence; but no doubt it was a highly censurable misapplication of public funds. But beyond this, it was asserted that Lord Melville had himself acted in a similar way, and undoubtedly there were certain sums unaccounted for. Lord Melville's own account of this matter was, that since his retirement from office he had destroyed all old vouchers; but that even if he possessed them, as he at that time held various offices, and did not keep the accounts entirely separate, he would not have been able to give a satisfactory account without disclosing confidential transactions of Government. This no doubt meant that the money had been employed for some secret service; but his enemies did not scruple to say that he had appropriated it to his own uses. Upon the report Mr. Whitbread founded a parliamentary attack upon Melville, and gave notice that he would bring in a vote of censure upon the 8th of April. Government had now to determine what they would do. Pitt and his own immediate friends, entirely disbelieving the charge against Melville, resolved to withstand it openly. But there was a division in his own Cabinet. Lord Sidmouth and Melville were great enemies, and, declaring that he regarded it as impossible for Melville to clear himself, Sidmouth warned Pitt that if he persisted in defending him he should be obliged to resign. As this would have been complete ruin, Pitt yielded to a middle course, and determined to request that the inquiry might be referred to a select committee. On the 8th the Vote of censure against Melville. April 8, 1805. great debate came on. It was plain that the question would rest with the votes of the independent members, and when Wilberforce, whose character carried great weight, declared that he must support the vote of censure, those members who were pledged to neither party were induced to follow his lead. The anxious moment for division arrived, and the numbers were declared to be equal—216 having voted on either side. The Speaker was then called upon to give his casting vote. The scene is thus described by Lord Fitzharris:—"I sat wedged close to Pitt himself the night when we were 216; and the Speaker Abbot, after looking as white as a sheet, and pausing for ten minutes, gave the casting vote against us. Pitt immediately put on the little cocked hat that he was in the habit of wearing when dressed for the evening, and jammed it deeply over his forehead, and I distinctly saw the tears trickling down his cheeks. We had heard one or two, such as Colonel Wardle, say they would see 'how Billy looked after it.' A few young ardent followers of Pitt, with myself, locked their arms together and formed a circle, in which he moved, I believe unconsciously, out of the House, and neither the Colonel nor his friends could approach him." The Opposition were not content with the vote of censure; although Melville at once resigned his office, Whitbread proceeded to move an address to the King that he should be removed from the King's Councils and presence for ever. The feeling of the House did not justify so extreme a measure, and the motion was withdrawn. But before long the minister thought it necessary so far to yield to public opinion as to have Lord Melville's name withdrawn from the Privy Council.

Sidmouth resigns. July 7.

The disagreement between Pitt and Sidmouth upon Lord Melville's conduct terminated in the withdrawal of the Lord President and his followers from the ministry. On the appointment of Sir Charles Middleton, a very old man, to the Admiralty, in which he had been the constant assistant of Melville, Sidmouth took the opportunity of expressing his displeasure and resigned. The charge against Lord Melville was pressed to impeachment. He delivered a defence before the House of Commons, but it was not regarded as satisfactory. The House of Lords were therefore called upon to decide the question, and when it subsequently came to the vote (June 12, 1806) a very large majority, on all the charges, declared the prisoner not guilty. But Pitt did not live to hear either this declaration of the innocence of his friend or to suffer from the desertion of his colleague Sidmouth. Parliament prorogued. July 12, 1805. The impeachment was not carried up to the Bar of the House of Lords till the 26th of June; on the 12th of July Parliament was prorogued, and Pitt did not live to see the opening of another session.

Progress of the war. 1804.

While misfortune was thus following the minister in Parliament, his great plans of European policy had been continued and had at last met with success. In fact, in this matter Napoleon had been his best ally, and had been gradually forcing the great powers of Europe into hostility. The ill feeling which had arisen between the Emperor Alexander and Bonaparte in the preceding year had been increased by subsequent events, and the Czar had been gradually taking up a position of more defined hostility. On the 24th of May 1804, he contracted a defensive alliance with Prussia, though not intending immediate war if it could be avoided. The murder of the Duc d'Enghien and the violation of neutral territory had forced him further in the same direction. So strongly had he resented this act, that it was through his representations to the Diet of Ratisbon (July) that Austria and Prussia, who would otherwise have passed it over in silence, were induced to take any notice of it, and at length, finding his indirect action through the German powers of no avail, he had remonstrated directly with France and withdrawn his ambassador from Paris (Aug. 18). Prussia, which pursued throughout a weak and vacillating policy, also expressed its disapprobation of Napoleon's conduct by a change of ministry, which removed Haugwitz, a constant friend of France, from office. But instead of seeking to allay its fears, Napoleon still further excited its jealousy by intriguing with the smaller States of Germany, and making a violent inroad into the territory of Hamburg (Oct. 25), to carry off thence the English minister. Austria too, though restrained by her weakness from overt action, in November contracted a treaty with Russia similar to that of Prussia. Very little was wanted to bring all three powers into open hostility with France.

The character of Alexander gave indeed to Napoleon an opportunity which he ought to have seized. He was full of high-flown notions for the regeneration of Europe, for the more equitable division of states, and some generally established system of public law. With some such scheme his minister Nowosiltzoff came to England in 1805. Pitt speedily modified his views, and proved to him that before so grand a scheme could be realized the practical work to be done was to insist upon the establishment of the terms of the treaties of Lunéville Treaty of St. Petersburg. April 11, 1805. and Amiens. Accordingly, on the 11th of April, the Treaty of St. Petersburg was signed. The two countries pledged themselves to support a general European league, for the purpose of demanding the evacuation of Hanover, Italy, and Elba, the real independence of Holland and Switzerland, and the complete establishment of the kingdom of Naples: they especially pledged themselves not to interfere with the internal government of France, and to close all questions by a general European congress. As England refused to evacuate Malta, the Czar declined to ratify the treaty, and determined to make one more effort singlehanded to avoid war. For this purpose he despatched an ambassador with much more favourable terms than those implied in the late treaty. But Napoleon declined to see him for two months, and in those two months he had had himself declared King of Italy (May 26), had accepted the offer of the Doge of Genoa to comprise the Ligurian Republic in his Italian kingdom (June 3), had created Lucca into a principality for the husband of his sister Eliza (July 21), and had received an ambassador from the Court of Naples with the most stinging threats and insults. The Russian ambassador was therefore recalled, and, though without declaration of war, the coalition was in fact in existence, and arrangements for a general attack The coalition practically formed. Sept. 1805. upon France began. The coalition was thus the fruit rather of Napoleon's conduct than of Pitt's diplomacy; the occupation of Hanover, the violation of the neutral territory of Baden, the murder of the Duc d'Enghien, the establishment of the kingdom of Italy, the annexation of Genoa and Lucca, and virtually of Holland and of Switzerland, supplied ample reasons to excite the alarm of Europe and to drive the powers into coalition.

Napoleon prepares to invade England.

But while the coalition was forming, and Napoleon seemed wantonly to be insulting Europe and ignoring the danger of exciting fresh enemies, he was in fact urging on with all rapidity his schemes for the invasion of England, which he probably hoped might be so successful as to paralyse all action on the part of the European powers. The constantly repeated representations of his naval officers had forced him, much against his will, to believe that his descent upon England would be impracticable unless secured by the presence of his fleet. In spite of the general voice of those who knew the condition of the French navy, he determined to act with his fleet on the same principles as he would have acted with his army; a gigantic combination of various squadrons was to be effected, and a fleet great enough to destroy all hope of opposition to sweep the Channel. For this purpose the eighteen ships of the line at Brest under Admiral Gantheaume, the squadron at Rochefort under Villeneuve, and the Toulon fleet under Latouche-Tréville, were to unite. The last mentioned admiral was intrusted with the chief command. Sailing up the coast of France, he was to liberate from their blockade the squadrons of Rochefort and Brest, and with their combined fleets appear before Boulogne. But Latouche-Tréville died, and Napoleon intrusted his plans to Villeneuve. Those plans, all of them arranged without regard to the bad condition of the French ships, or to the uncertainty of the weather, were frequently changed; at one time Villeneuve from Toulon, and Missiessy, his successor, at Rochefort, were to proceed to the West Indies, drawing the English fleet thither; then Gantheaume was to appear from Brest, throw troops into Ireland, and thus cover the flotilla. At another time, all the fleets were to assemble at the West Indies, and, joining with the Spanish fleet at Ferrol, appear in the Straits of Calais.

To complete this last measure Villeneuve set sail from Toulon on the 30th of March 1805, joined Gravina at Cadiz, and reached Martinique on the 13th of May with twenty-eight ships and seven frigates. His voyage was so slow that Missiessy had returned from Nelson's pursuit of Villeneuve. May 1805. the West Indies to France, and the junction failed. In hot pursuit of Villeneuve, Nelson, who had at length found out his destination, had hurried. At Martinique Gantheaume, with the Brest fleet, should have joined Villeneuve; unfortunately for him Admiral Cornwallis blockaded his fleet. Villeneuve therefore had to return to Europe alone, sailing for Ferrol to pick up a squadron of fifteen ships. He was then, at the head of thirty-five ships, ordered to appear before Brest, liberate Gantheaume, and appear in the Channel. Back again in pursuit of him Nelson sailed, but supposed that he would return to the Mediterranean and not to Ferrol; he therefore again missed him; but as he had found means to inform the English Government that Villeneuve was returning to Europe, Calder, with a fleet of fifteen ships, was sent to intercept him. The fleets encountered off Cape Finisterre. The French had twenty-seven vessels, Calder but fifteen, and after an indecisive battle, in which two Spanish ships were taken, he was afraid to renew the engagement, and Villeneuve was thus enabled to reach Ferrol in safety. However, all the operations towards concentration had led to absolutely nothing, and the English fleets, which the movements towards the West Indies were to have decoyed from the Channel, were either still off the coast of France or in immediate pursuit of the fleet of Villeneuve. Nelson returned to Gibraltar, and as soon as he found out where Villeneuve was, he joined his fleet to that of Cornwallis before Brest, and himself returned to England.

The day before Calder had also left nine ships with Cornwallis, who had thus a fleet of thirty-five vessels. He divided them into two equal parts, sending one to Ferrol, and keeping the other to guard Gantheaume in Brest. Meanwhile Villeneuve had not been able to get ready for sea till the 11th of August. Had he then sailed he would probably have encountered with his own nineteen ships Cornwallis' fleet of thirty-five vessels off Brest. Had he indeed postponed his sailing for a few days he would have found Cornwallis' fleet separated, but even then it was improbable that he would have escaped one or other of its divisions. But in fact he did not know of its division, and therefore, acting in the belief of the union of the great fleet off Brest, he was afraid to venture northwards, and with the full approbation of his Spanish colleague Gravina, determined to avail himself of a last Failure of Napoleon's schemes. Aug. alternative which Napoleon had suggested, and sailed to Cadiz. This was a fatal blow to the gigantic schemes of Napoleon. Up till the 22nd of August he still believed that Villeneuve would make his appearance, and in fact wrote to him that day at Brest, closing his letter with the words, "England is ours." As the time for his great stroke drew near he grew nervously anxious, constantly watching the Channel for the approach of the fleet, and at last, when his Minister of Marine, Decrès, told him that the fleet had gone to Cadiz, he broke forth in bitter wrath against both his minister and Villeneuve, whom he accused of the most shameful weakness.

But Napoleon was not a man who let his success be staked upon one plan alone. Though studiously hiding from his people the existence of the coalition, and not scrupling to have recourse to forged letters and fabricated news for the purpose, he was fully aware of its existence. He knew too of the movements of the armies of Austria and Russia, and had already taken some steps to meet them. Without much difficulty, therefore, he at once resigned his great He changes his plan and marches against Austria. plans upon England, and directed his army towards the eastern frontier, determined to wipe out by a great campaign, in which the chances were all in his favour, the disgrace and ridicule of his long-threatened but abortive attack upon England. The largest and best part of the Austrian army was in Italy under the Archduke Charles. On the Inn there were barely 80,000 men, commanded by General Mack. The Russians had yet far to go before they could form a junction with the Austrian troops, and Napoleon, when he first changed his plan on the 25th of August, intended to march by the most direct route to meet the Austrians, and if possible prevent them from crossing the Inn. For this purpose he could bring, counting the army of occupation of Hanover, nearly 200,000 men into the field. The passage of the Rhine was open to him; it was no longer necessary as of old to fight his way through the Black Forest. By pursuing a direct course he would be able to pick up the troops who were in Hanover on his way, and bring his whole army to bear at once upon the Inn. The Austrians, however, little calculating on the rapidity of his movements, believing that the army was engaged on the northern coast, and desirous of securing the assistance of the Bavarian army of 25,000 men, rashly crossed the Inn on the 7th of September, and advanced to Ulm. Their movements were accurately known to Napoleon, who had sent Murat in disguise into Bavaria to watch them; and when he heard that they had taken up their position so far in advance of their base of operations, he formed his great plan for surrounding and capturing the whole army at Ulm.

While Napoleon was thus hurrying off to destroy the Austrian troops, Nelson, having heard of the destination of Villeneuve, and feeling that the fleet he had so long pursued was his fair prey, offered his services to Government. They were gladly accepted, and on the 13th of September he left his home for the last time to take command of the fleet off Cadiz. Thus, each on its own element, the two great nations of Europe, commanded by the two great leaders of the day, were engaged almost simultaneously in undertakings of the last importance, and almost simultaneously the results of those undertakings became known. On the 19th of Capitulation of the Austrian army at Ulm. Oct 19. October, Mack, finding himself surrounded and cut off from Vienna, with all hope of relief gone, capitulated at Ulm, and his whole army of 30,000 men laid down their arms before the enemy. On the 21st of the same month the English and French fleets encountered just within sight of Cape Trafalgar, outside the Straits of Gibraltar.

Battle of Trafalgar. Oct. 21.

The fleet of the English numbered twenty-seven vessels, Villeneuve had the command of thirty-three, without reckoning five frigates and two smaller ships. In other respects, in ability of seamanship, and in knowledge of the management of guns, the English were undoubtedly superior. Some days before the battle Nelson had conceived and made known his plan of action. The assault was to be made in two lines; at the head of one Nelson was himself to break the line in the centre, while Collingwood led the second to the attack of the rear squadron. The French were formed in one line, and were sailing in a south-easterly direction. Nelson's plan was therefore calculated not only to destroy the enemy, but also to cut off his retreat from Cadiz and the north. This part of his plan Villeneuve saw through and avoided. He changed the direction of his line, so that the rear squadron became the leading squadron, and the road to Cadiz was kept open. In this order, in full sail, with the wind in their favour, the English attacked and broke the French line. All the advantages of this well-known manœuvre were gained, and by half-past five in the evening, of the thirty-three vessels of the enemy eighteen were in the hands of the English, eleven with difficulty retreated towards Cadiz, and four others, which had formed the leading squadron of the French, were standing out to sea, only to be captured a few days afterwards by another fleet. But the victory was dearly won. Nelson, who had appeared as usual with his orders on his coat, had formed a mark for the riflemen with whom the rigging of the French ships was filled. He fell early in the action, but lived long enough to hear of his complete victory. He died thanking God he had done his duty, and even to the last, mindful of the safety of his fleet, giving orders that it should at once anchor to await a gale whose approach he had foreseen. The storm came as he had expected; a considerable part of our prizes was lost, and three of the French fugitives were wrecked before they reached the port of Cadiz. Of the whole fleet eight vessels alone escaped, which remained blockaded in Cadiz till they fell a prey to the Spanish insurgents.

Battle of Austerlitz. Dec. 2, 1805.

But though the sea thus passed entirely under the command of the English, though all chance of invasion had disappeared, a crushing blow upon the Continent shattered for the time all hope of permanent opposition to the advance of Napoleon. The catastrophe at Ulm was followed by a rapid advance upon Vienna. The wisdom Napoleon had shown in concentrating his troops for one great and decisive blow at once bore fruit. The army of Italy was obliged to retreat before the advance of Massena, in time to defend if possible Austria itself. It was too late even for that, and it was compelled to withdraw into Hungary, for the Emperor, desirous of saving the Viennese from the horrors of a siege, had withdrawn with his troops into Moravia, in the hopes of there meeting the main body of the Russians whom Alexander was bringing to his succour. Thither Napoleon pursued him, and there, with his back to the citadel of Brünn, not far from Olmutz, he brought on the great battle of Austerlitz, and before the close of the day the forces of the coalition were completely beaten, losing upon the field 27,000 killed and wounded, 20,000 prisoners, and 133 pieces of cannon.

Death of Pitt. Jan. 23, 1806.

While these stirring events had been happening, the health of the English minister had been sensibly declining. Cheered for a moment by the news of Trafalgar, clouded though they were by the death of Nelson, the rapidly-occurring disasters of Ulm and Austerlitz, and the dissolution, by the Treaty of Presburg, of the coalition he had so laboriously established, went far to render fatal the disease which was already threatening him. He returned from Bath, still hoping against hope that he might be present at the opening of Parliament, withdrew for quiet to his villa at Putney, and there died on the 23rd of January 1806.

New ministry.

The death of Pitt was followed by the break-up of his Cabinet, which was not so constituted as to be able to stand without him. The King did indeed attempt to continue it under the leadership of Lord Hawkesbury; but upon his refusal to accept the responsibilities of the Premiership, the King was obliged to have recourse to the Opposition, and to summon Lord Grenville to his Councils. The admission of Grenville to the ministry implied the admission of Fox; the close political alliance they had formed, the determination they had already expressed, when rejecting Pitt's offers, never to join in any separate arrangements, rendered it quite impossible for either to accept office without the other. In spite, therefore, of the King's anger and dislike, he was compelled to admit his old enemy Fox to the ministry. The basis on which Grenville and Fox had been united in opposition was the strong belief which both felt that in the present crisis a ministry of a broad and national character was required. On this principle they formed their new administration, which was known by the name of "the Ministry of all the talents." Lord Grenville became First Lord of the Treasury; Earl Spencer and Mr. Windham, members of Pitt's first administration, Secretaries for the Home and War departments; Fox became Foreign Secretary, and his friends Earl Fitzwilliam and Grey (now Lord Howick), the one Lord President of the Council, and the other First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Moira, Master-General of the Ordnance, represented the friends of the Prince of Wales; while Lord Sidmouth became Lord Privy Seal, and as he insisted on bringing one friend with him into the Cabinet, introduced with questionable wisdom Lord Ellenborough, the Lord Chief Justice. It has since this time been generally held that such a position is incompatible with high judicial duties. Lord Henry Petty, afterwards Lord Lansdowne, was Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before the ministry went out all due honour had been paid to the late minister; a public funeral and monument had been voted, together with the sum of £40,000 for the payment of his debts.

Character of Fox.

The character of Fox as a statesman was now upon its trial. After thirty years of exclusion from office, in perpetual opposition to the King and the general feeling of the upper classes, Fox had at length an opportunity of proving the justice of the reliance which men of liberal opinions had always placed in him. Large-hearted, with great warmth of personal affection, and general love of the human race, he had uniformly opposed war, had constantly declared that either the mismanagement or ill-will of the ministers had been the main obstacle to peace: he had believed devoutly in the excellence of the Revolution, traced its excesses to the wanton opposition of the crowned heads of Europe, and still persisted in believing that straightforward and friendly negotiations would bring about a right understanding with Napoleon. The brief period which elapsed between his acceptance of office in January and his death on the 13th of September, sufficed to prove to him the futility of his hopes; and the ministry found itself obliged to take up identically the same position as that of their predecessors. Like his great rival, he closed his life in the midst of the unutterable sadness caused by the complete frustration of those plans on which, according to his view, the welfare of his country rested, with this additional bitterness in his cup that upon him was forced the conviction, not only that circumstances were too strong for him, but that the optimism which had been the very breath of his political life rested upon no solid ground, and that the work to which he had devoted himself, and the maintenance of which had perpetually debarred him from a share in the government of the country, had been wholly misdirected. That destruction of illusions which comes to most men in their youth fell upon him when he was already breaking with age and disease, and when he must have been conscious that no time was left him to correct the errors into which he had been led. It is difficult to conceive a sadder close to a noble political career than that which fell upon the minister as he discovered too late that the practical logic of facts contradicted all those high aspirations which had throughout guided his conduct. So complete, however, was the proof afforded him by his short ministry of the futility of his hopes, that his friend Lord Howick, after just a year of office, was compelled to declare of the late negotiations that "there never was any opportunity of procuring any such terms as would have been adequate to the just pretensions and consistent with the honour and interests of this country; 'one thing is clear, the progress of Bonaparte has never yet been stopped by submission, and our only hope therefore is in resistance, as far as we can resist his ambitious projects.'"

Negotiations for peace. March.

The negotiations of which Lord Howick thus confessed the disastrous conclusion were opened by Fox almost immediately after his accession to office. A few days after his appointment an unknown person called upon him, and disclosed a plan for the assassination of the Emperor. With natural indignation, Fox caused the man to be apprehended, and while warning Bonaparte that the law of England prevented his lengthened detention, he promised that it should be long enough to enable the Emperor to provide against the nefarious plan. It is not improbable that the whole conspiracy was devised by Napoleon himself for the purpose of opening a negotiation with Fox, in whom he believed he had a sincere well-wisher, and on whose simple-hearted optimism he believed he could play. He caused a copy of a speech to reach Fox in which he expressed his willingness to make peace with England on the stipulations of the Treaty of Amiens. This led to a direct negotiation between Fox and Talleyrand, in which the English minister, in accordance with his views, attempted, as he said, to act upon the assumption that the countries would treat as two great powers, despising any idea of chicane. But this was not at all Napoleon's view of negotiation. His diplomacy constantly assumed the same form—separate treaties with different members of the coalition, and the hurried continuance of aggression during the time that negotiations were pending, so as to compel the treating power either to accept the aggressions or to break off the treaty. This had been his plan before the Treaty of Amiens, and this he had just repeated after the battle of Austerlitz.

Treaty of Schönbrunn, Dec 15, and Presburg, Dec. 26, 1805.

Prussia was already so far pledged to join the coalition that it was on the point of receiving the first payment of a subsidy from England. But Bonaparte succeeded in inducing the vacillating court to break with both its allies. Two separate treaties were made, one at Schönbrunn, by which Prussia withdrew from the coalition, and entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with France, receiving Hanover in exchange for Anspach, which was to be restored to Bavaria, and the Principality of Neuchatel, which was to be annexed to France, and the other at Presburg, in which Austria, having lost all hope of any assistance Prussia might have rendered, was induced to accept the most disastrous terms. The kingdom of Italy was to receive Venice and the Adriatic provinces; the three German powers which were consistently friends of France—Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden—obtained portions of the German dominions of Austria; the royal title was secured to Bavaria and Wurtemberg; the rights of the Empire over the immediate nobility were renounced; the reorganization of Italy was admitted; and Austria even agreed not to interfere in the affairs of Naples. On these terms the constitution of the Germanic Confederation was guaranteed. It is needless to point out what a seed of hatred was sown by these treaties, in which one of the German powers was humiliated by its ignominious bargain, the other driven almost to despair by the ruthless manner in which it was pillaged.

Napoleon erects dependent kingdoms. 1806.

It was shortly after this that Pitt died and Fox entered office. There were left of the coalition England and Russia, with whom Napoleon had now to deal. Fox felt, as any honourable man must have felt, that it was his duty to stand by his allies, and to engage only in negotiations in common with them. Napoleon, on the other hand, pursued his old policy, and determined to treat separately; but while treating he continued the work on which he was then engaged—the erection of a number of small independent kingdoms and principalities in vassalage to France. In February and March he overran Naples and established his brother Joseph as king. In March he ordained a similar fate for Holland, and before June had established his brother Louis there. Numerous other principalities were called into existence for his relations and marshals, and the work was completed by the organization in July of the Confederation of the Rhine, consisting of Baden, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and several other smaller states, who acknowledged the protectorate of France, and promised to keep on foot an army of 63,000 men at Napoleon's disposal.

Progress of the negotiations.

While thus proceeding with his aggressions he was treating with both Russia and England. To the letters of Fox had succeeded personal negotiations between Talleyrand and Lord Yarmouth, who had been detained a prisoner after the Peace of Amiens. The terms which were first offered to Lord Yarmouth show the contempt with which Bonaparte regarded Prussia, the change in the terms as the treaty continued shows how little intention there was of really coming to an honest arrangement, should it prove possible to separate the interests of Russia and England. At first Talleyrand told Yarmouth that no difficulty would be found in taking Hanover, which had already been given to Prussia, and restoring it to England, or in giving Sicily back to the King of Naples. Sicily indeed Napoleon had not yet conquered; but as the separate treaty with Russia advanced and became more possible, Yarmouth found the terms changing. He was told that Sicily was to be conquered and added to the kingdom of Joseph; and finally, when the treaty with Russia was provisionally signed, although Yarmouth had been assured that the constitution of Germany should be unchanged if peace were made, the Confederation of the Rhine was called into existence. Fox's eyes had been almost opened by this time. The refusal of Sicily, the separate peace with Russia, the interference with the constitution of Germany, led him to see that his friendly negotiations were not likely to lead to much result. He therefore sent Lord Lauderdale, with fuller authority than Lord Yarmouth, to re-establish the old basis of negotiation. His complaints were listened to, but there were no signs of withdrawal on the part of France. As for the compensation of the King of Naples, it was desirable enough, but it must not be at the expense of France. He might perhaps have Albania, which belonged to Turkey, or Ragusa, which belonged to Austria, or the Balearic Isles, Negotiations broken off. Death of Fox. which belonged to Spain. While affairs were in this unpromising situation news arrived that the Czar had entirely rejected the provisional treaty his minister had signed, and almost immediately afterwards Fox died. The diplomatic intercourse continued about a month longer, and was then broken off.

Fox's friends thus learnt the error of their previous views, and the necessity of carrying on the war with vigour; but Fox's ministry was not entirely without fruit. As he had himself stated, the second great object of his life was the abolition of the slave trade. For upwards of thirty years the horrors of slavery had occupied the minds of a large Abolition of the slave trade. section of benevolent men in England. In 1783 the Quakers had petitioned against the slave trade. From that time till 1788, Clarkson, a young Cambridge man, had devoted his life to collecting evidence on the horrors of the trade. He had succeeded in interesting in his cause Pitt, Fox, and, before all, Wilberforce; and in that year Pitt had brought the matter before Parliament, and a resolution had been carried to take the slave trade into consideration. Circumstances and the interests of public business had prevented Pitt from entering fully into the plans of the abolitionists, although Wilberforce was constantly urging him to do so. Still, again and again, in 1792 and 1796, Bills had been carried in favour of abolition in the House of Commons, though subsequently defeated in the House of Lords. In 1804, on Pitt's resumption of office, Wilberforce renewed the question, which had been allowed to slumber by the Addington Cabinet, and a Bill for abolition, or rather suspension of the trade for a term of years, was again carried. In the House of Lords it was again postponed, but Pitt tried what could be done by a royal proclamation, which was issued to prevent the trade at all events in the conquered colonies, the possession of which had greatly increased the trade, so that nearly 60,000 slaves were yearly imported in British vessels. In February 1805 a larger measure had been rejected in the House, but on the accession to office of Fox, who was known to be more enthusiastic on the matter than Pitt had been, the hopes of the abolitionists rose high. Nor were their hopes disappointed, though the party against the measure was strong. The West India merchants were all against it, and a number of Tories, with the King at their head, regarded slavery as a natural and scriptural institution by no means to be lightly touched. On the 10th of June 1806, Fox pledged the House of Commons, almost without opposition, to take measures as speedily as possible for abolishing the trade. Even in the House of Lords the minister found that there would be no serious opposition, and determined to produce a Bill to prohibit the slave trade entirely. This Act prohibited slave trading from and after the 1st of January 1808, but as the punishments were only pecuniary, it required a new Bill, introduced by Mr. Brougham in 1811, making slave trading felony, to secure its final extinction. These Bills did not abolish slavery, but only the slave trade. Fox did not live to bring in the Bill, but it was produced by his colleague Lord Howick, afterwards Lord Grey, on the 2nd of January 1807, and in spite of the opposition of the royal dukes, of Lord Eldon and of Lord Sidmouth (Feb. 3), the Bill was passed by a The Abolition Bill passed. March 25, 1807. majority of sixty-six. When it was brought to the House of Commons (Feb. 23) it met with quite an enthusiastic reception, and was passed by an overwhelming majority of 283 to 16. The Bill was rapidly hurried through its other stages, in order that the ministry which had been successful in passing it might have the honour of completing it; for before the royal assent was given it was well known that the Grenville ministry had ceased to exist.

Fall of the Grenville ministry.

The cause of this rapid termination to a ministry which had begun under such good auspices was the attempt again to bring forward the Catholic claims, against which the King was set with immoveable obstinacy. Grenville's conduct was dictated by high policy, and in itself wise, although, if we regard the minister as a mere party politician, in the last degree indiscreet. As he himself told the King, he and the majority of the Cabinet thought that in the present critical state of England it was most necessary to secure content and unanimity at home, and to be in a condition to use to the full the military capacity of every class of his Majesty's subjects. For this reason he was desirous of removing so much of the disabilities both of the Catholics and of the Dissenters as affected their military position. There seems, however, to have been some complication in the matter. The Irish Catholics, headed by Lord Fingal and Mr. O'Connor, were preparing a great petition, demanding not only change in the army regulations, but the admission of Catholics to the offices of sheriff and to corporations; and although Grenville was careful to forestall the presentation of their petition and to avoid all appearance of compromise, it is probable that his measure was in fact in some degree a concession to prevent further agitation; besides which he could not help feeling that the just expectations of the Catholics had not been satisfied at the Union. By a law passed in Ireland in 1793 the Roman Catholics had been permitted to hold rank in the Irish army up to the rank of colonel; but certain restrictions had been Revival of the question of the Catholic claims. laid on their holding staff appointments. By the Union the two armies of Ireland and of England had been made one, and the anomaly had therefore arisen, that officers capable of holding their rank while in Ireland were incapable of so doing when they came to England. The ministry determined to remedy this glaring anomaly, and at the same time to remove the disabilities which tended to exclude the English Dissenters from the army. For that purpose a clause was added to the Mutiny Bill of the year. Some of the High Tories in Parliament, such as Lord Eldon and Mr. Perceval, thought it unnecessary, and the King's friends, as Lord Sidmouth and Ellenborough were called, offered some opposition, but on the whole the proposal was regarded as reasonable. The intention was notified to the Viceroy in Ireland, and the King himself was finally induced to consent, at the same time declaring that he would not allow any further step in the matter. The question then arose in Ireland as to whether the new clause retained the restrictions as to rank or not, and the majority of the Cabinet determined that they were removed, and that the whole army and navy were thrown open to the Catholics. This determination was laid before the King, and for some reason or other he took no notice of it, conduct which the ministers (although the Bill undoubtedly exceeded what the King had already accepted) construed as giving the royal consent. It was then thought better to make a separate Bill instead of merely adding a clause to the Mutiny Act; Lord Howick took the Bill to the King, and understood that he had his consent. But meanwhile Lord Sidmouth had had interviews with the King, and attempted to rouse his fears, and for the same purpose had sent in his resignation. Even more than this, Lord Malmesbury and the Duke of Portland thought they saw an opening for dislodging the ministry, and between them concocted a letter, exaggerating the difficulties of the situation, and containing an offer on the part of the Duke of Portland to form a ministry according to the King's wishes. Thus, apparently alarmed as to what he was doing, and feeling his hands strengthened by the Duke's offer, the King sent for the ministers, and told them he did not agree to anything beyond the completion of the Act of 1793. As soon as this determination of the King was known, the conduct of all Pitt's friends was fixed, and although they were at that moment thinking of joining the ministry, they now expressed their determination to oppose the Bill; the whole party felt itself bound by Pitt's promise that the question should never be moved; so strong was this feeling that even the ministry expressed themselves willing to drop their Bill. But in dropping it they were guilty of a most impolitic act. They drew up a minute of the Cabinet, reserving to themselves the right of avowing their sentiments if the petition from the Catholics, which was at that time in preparation, was presented, and of submitting to the King from time to time such measures as they deemed advisable for the good of the country. Upon this the King demanded from them a withdrawal of their minute, and a written declaration that they would never offer him any advice upon the The Grenville ministry resigns. March 18. subject of Catholic concession. It was of course impossible for any constitutional ministers to give such a pledge; and it was upon this point—a point of real constitutional importance—that the Cabinet were dismissed. On the 19th of March the Duke of Portland received orders to form a ministry in consultation with Lord Chatham. The health of the Duke was such that his Premiership could be little more than nominal. Indeed, from the first he suffered Lords Hawkesbury and Eldon in fact to supersede him, and when Mr. Perceval became Chancellor of the Exchequer he virtually assumed the lead of the new administration. Canning became Foreign Secretary, Lord Hawkesbury Home Secretary, and Castlereagh Secretary for War and the Colonies.

Constitutional importance of the question.

We have here, then, the final triumph of the policy of George III. It was again his personal wish which overthrew the ministry, it was again the underhand intrigues of those professing to be his friends which strengthened his hands in doing so, and we again find such things mentioned as that the nephews of the Duke of Portland had had his distinct orders to vote against the ministers' Bill should it be produced. The same exercise of prerogative that secured the ministry of Pitt and supported the feeble ministry of Addington now again introduced into the ministry men entirely after the King's own heart—pledged to oppose the great Liberal measures of the day, and, say what they would, really answerable for the unconstitutional pledge the King had demanded from his late ministry. The conduct of the incoming ministry was not allowed to pass without comment. Attempts were made in both Houses to establish two points of constitutional law now absolutely received—first, that it is contrary to the first duties of the confidential servants of the Crown to restrain themselves by any pledge, expressed or implied, from offering to the King any advice which the course of circumstances may render necessary for the welfare and security of the Empire; and, secondly, that it was impossible for the King to act without advice. In upholding this last point, Sir Samuel Romilly asserted that there could be no exercise of prerogative in which the King could act without some advice. No constitutional doctrine is more important than this, for without it the King, who theoretically can do no wrong, would be answerable for his own acts. On a motion by Mr. Brand supporting these doctrines, the Opposition thought themselves secure of a majority. But so great was the royal influence, so strong the Protestant feeling of the country, that they found themselves in a minority of more than thirty. A dissolution of Parliament followed on the 27th of April. And as the King, in the speech with which Parliament was closed, appealed as it were to the constituencies for the vindication of his conduct, the personal loyalty of the people, combined with their attachment to the old cry of Church and State, placed the ministry in possession of a majority which secured its permanence.

Continuation of the war. 1806.

During the last days of the Grenville ministry it had been compelled to pursue the warlike policy of its predecessors, and had exhibited an incapacity which might have been expected from so mixed a body acting upon compulsion, and in contradiction to its preconceived ideas of policy. The renewed war which at once followed upon the cessation of the negotiations undertaken by Fox was on this occasion directed towards a new enemy. We have seen the contempt with which Bonaparte habitually regarded Prussia: his conduct seems to have been wilfully directed to drive that country into war, and it is interesting to observe that it was this unjustifiable conduct which gave the first obvious proof of the changed character of his policy, and roused that animosity, not of the Court, but of the people assaulted, which finally caused his ruin. All his late acts had tended to the detriment of Prussia. By the Confederation of the Rhine the constitution of Germany, in which Prussia might at all events have claimed some voice, was entirely changed; French fortifications had been raised on the German side of the Rhine at Mayence, and the fortress of Wesel had been re-established; the very bribe with which the apparent friendship of Prussia had been secured had been tampered with. Hanover, which in the winter had been given in full possession to Prussia, was in June without scruple offered to England; as a sort of counterpoise to the Rhenish Confederation, the King of Prussia had been invited by Napoleon to form a Confederation of the North; but he soon found how illusory the offer was, for he was everywhere practically thwarted by the diplomacy of the French. The people even more than the Court had smarted under the disgrace of the Treaty of Schönbrunn; and when Napoleon showed the temper in which he intended to interfere in Germany,—by the apprehension (in a neutral town which chanced to be occupied by French troops) of the bookseller Palm, and his cold-blooded murder on the charge merely of selling a book exciting the Prussia declares war with France. Oct. 1, 1806. national feeling of Germany,—the popular anger grew so high, that the King of Prussia was obliged to act with some energy, especially when the young Queen put herself prominently forward as the leader of the national war party. A declaration of war with France was the consequence.

But it was too late to be of any use. The French army, considerably more numerous than any troops Prussia could bring against it, was already in Franconia, a few marches from the frontier. There was no time to put to good account the strong national feeling which had been excited. Prussia could rely upon its army alone, and though strong in the military reminiscences of the Great Frederick and admirably appointed, the Prussian troops had never seen war; the generals were old men wedded to obsolete traditions, while the King, in his anxiety to please Napoleon, had even gone so far as to discharge Mismanagement of Prussia. many of his troops in the previous year. The consequence of an encounter between such an army and the veterans of Napoleon might have been foreseen. The catastrophe was hastened by the bad arrangements of the generals. The King and his Court and crowds of enthusiastic nobility were with the army, but the chief command was in the hands of the Duke of Brunswick, an old man past seventy. Anxious to incorporate the troops of Hesse-Cassel, he repeated the error of the Austrians of the previous year, and advancing far beyond the Elbe, which forms the only good line of defence of which Prussia can boast, he took up a position between Eisenach and Weimar, covered by the Thuringian Forest, behind which the French could make any dispositions for the assault they pleased. The mistake was much too obvious to escape the eyes of Napoleon. His army passed rapidly through the defiles which lead to the upper waters of the Saal, and proceeding down the course of that river, interposed themselves between Brunswick and the Elbe. Perceiving too late his false position, the Duke attempted to withdraw towards Magdeburg. With the larger portion of his army he found himself stopped near Auerstadt as he approached Naumbourg on the Saal, by the division of Davoust, while the Prince of Hohenlohe, with a smaller division Battle of Jena. Oct. 14, 1806. of the army, who was to have followed him, was fallen upon and overwhelmed at Jena by Napoleon himself with the greater part of his army. Beaten back from Auerstadt, Brunswick retired towards Weimar, only to meet the fugitives of Hohenlohe's army and their victorious pursuers. His troops were involved in the disaster, the whole Prussian army was broken and destroyed, and that one day's defeat drew with it the destruction of the monarchy. Such fugitive detachments as still kept together were one by one destroyed, and Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph (Oct. 27).

The temporary annihilation of Austria at Austerlitz, and the complete overthrow of Prussia at Jena, had made Napoleon master of nearly the whole of Europe. Nothing is more remarkable than the rapid expansion of his ambition; each new success seemed to supply him with a new starting-point for further schemes. His mind, in spite of its practical character, had a strong tendency towards romance; as in his youth he had been fired with the idea of a great Eastern monarchy, so now, as circumstances had been favourable to him, the idea of repeating the rôle of Charlemagne, and the re-establishment of the Empire of the West, seems to have been prominent in his mind. Already, in his dealings with the Pope, in the Confederation of the Rhine, and in the creation of vassal kingdoms, he had shown his wish to imitate the conduct of that great ruler. The idea was confirmed by the conquest of Prussia, and strengthened by a petition from one of his armies that he would take the title of Emperor of the West. Russia was the only opponent left upon the Continent. If Russia could be either conquered or won over, not only would he have been in truth the Western Emperor, but he would have the means, as he believed, of wreaking his vengeance upon his detested rival England, which still refused to yield to his ascendancy. Already The Berlin Decree. Nov. 21, 1806. in fact, he believed that this vengeance was in his grasp. On the 21st of November he issued the extraordinary measure known as the Berlin Decree. Even during the negotiations with Fox he had insisted upon Prussia closing against English traffic the mouths of the Elbe and Weser. The measure had not been a success, 400 Prussian vessels had been seized in reprisal, and the mouths of the North German rivers declared in a state of blockade. That blockade had been real. But the Emperor now, as he said by a just use of the law of retaliation (while he was unable with safety to place a single ship upon the ocean), declared that the whole of the British Isles were in a state of blockade, forbad on the part of all his dependent countries any commerce or correspondence with them, declared every subject of England found in a country occupied by French troops a prisoner of war, and all English merchandise, even all private property of Englishmen, confiscated. Thus was established what is known as the Continental system. It laboured under three disadvantages. In the first place, it was absolutely impracticable, Europe could not be supplied without England, as Napoleon himself found in the course of the year when he authorized the clothing of his own army with English cloth; secondly, it enabled England by retaliatory measures to destroy every mercantile marine in Europe except its own; thirdly, it was so distressing and vexatious, and interfered so wantonly both with private property and the supply of necessaries for the people, that, more than anything else that Napoleon did, it excited popular indignation against him, and tended to his downfall. And yet it was not without a certain plausible excuse, which rested on the difference then existing between the laws of war as carried on by land and upon the sea. By land the property of an enemy was not considered lawful prize unless it belonged to the hostile government itself; by sea the property of peaceable merchants was liable to seizure and confiscation. By land no one was considered a prisoner of war unless taken with arms in his hand; by sea the crews of merchantmen were imprisoned as well as those of armed vessels. The second point which formed Napoleon's excuse was the extension given by England to the right of blockade. These two points afforded the pretext under which the Decree was promulgated, and was declared to be a fundamental law of the French Empire, till England should recognize the laws of war to be the same by sea and by land, and should consent to restrict the right of blockade to fortified towns actually invested by a sufficient force. In issuing his Decree, then, Napoleon put on a specious appearance of magnanimity, and took upon himself the part which he was fond of assuming, that of champion of the rights of nations against the tyranny of the English.

The necessity under which England as a belligerent lay of employing to the full the power which usage gave it of necessity inflicted considerable inconvenience upon neutral powers. The retaliatory measures which the Government thought it wise to take still further injured the neutrals, and threatened almost to Orders in Council. annihilate the American trade. A series of orders in Council was issued, extending from January to November 1807. By the first of these orders vessels were forbidden to trade between any ports in the possession of France, or of her allies if under her control. By the second, issued in November, after the extension of the Continental system to the Mediterranean, general reprisals were granted against the goods, ships, and inhabitants of Tuscany, Naples, Dalmatia, and the Ionian Islands. By the third, all ports from which the flag of England was excluded were declared in blockade, all trade in their produce unlawful, and their ships a prize, while all vessels carrying certificates of origin (a measure which Napoleon had insisted upon to prevent evasion of his system) were declared liable to capture. By the fourth, another plan of evasion was forbidden; the sale of ships by a belligerent to a neutral was declared illegal, because the French had managed to preserve much of their commerce by fictitious sales, enabling them to continue their business under neutral flags. The Americans were the chief sufferers Their effect on America. by these orders, and the irritation already felt by them was so increased that it ultimately ripened into war. Their two special grievances were the constant search of their vessels for deserters, and the refusal of the British authorities to recognize their customhouse arrangements. By the English law as then existing an English subject could not get rid of his nationality. But America was full of English and Irish emigrants and deserters from English ships, and the Americans had the constant mortification of seeing even their war-ships stopped and searched, and the asylum of their flag violated by the apprehension, under the rough justice of English naval officers, of many of their best seamen. By the neutral laws direct trading between the colony of a belligerent and its mother country was forbidden, but neutrals might trade for their own supply with the colonies. More than this, if they imported from the colonies more than they wanted they might re-export it even to the mother country; the proof of a bona fide interrupted voyage was the payment of the customhouse dues in the ports of the neutral. But these dues were in America paid not in money but in bonds, which were cancelled when the goods were re-exported. The payment of goods was therefore fictitious, and English officials refused to recognize them. The irritation produced by these two causes was but slightly allayed by negotiations in 1809, and, as will be subsequently mentioned, the people, especially the Southerners, forced the States into war in 1812.

To enable Napoleon to carry out his idea either of a Western Empire or of the complete annihilation of English trade it was necessary that war with Russia should continue. As a means for injuring that power he had already held out hopes of restoration of liberty to Poland, and in December he was received as a national saviour at Warsaw; but some remnant of the Prussian army had formed a junction with the forces of the Czar, and Benigsen, in command of the combined armies, refused to give the French a resting time in their new quarters. Napoleon had again himself to take the Battle of Eylau. Feb. 7, 1807. field. The allies fell back northwards to Eylau, not far from Königsberg, and there, on the 7th of February, was fought a great battle, which, for almost the first time, the French could not claim as a victory. Their exhaustion was great. Three times within seven months fresh conscriptions had been ordered in France. The firmness of the Russians at Eylau gave rise to well-grounded hopes that the chance of checking Napoleon had arrived, but money and reinforcements of troops were sorely wanted.

Incapacity of the Grenville ministry.

But at this critical moment the Grenville ministry exhibited to the full its incapacity for carrying on war. The Emperor of Russia was told that he need expect no great assistance from England, and money was doled out to him with ridiculous parsimony. There was indeed in England a total misapprehension of the necessities of a great war. Since the time of Marlborough and Queen Anne the idea of war on a large scale, except upon the sea, seemed to have wholly disappeared from the minds of the public men of the country. Even the great successes of Chatham had depended principally upon his good fortune in securing the alliance of Frederick the Great, and now all the resources of England were frittered away in a ridiculous series of small expeditions. When a concentration of troops and a frank and open-handed assistance to its allies might have saved Europe, the English Government taught them by its conduct, that while urging them to fight it would practically desert them at the moment when its assistance was wanted, and spend its men and money on such frivolous expeditions as the attack on Buenos Ayres, Alexandria, or upon the Dardanelles. These were the three military projects of the Grenville ministry.

Expedition to Buenos Ayres. May 1807.

In 1806 the English had recaptured from the Dutch the Cape of Good Hope. Sir Home Popham, who commanded the fleet, without orders from Government, determined upon a similar assault upon the Spanish colonies in America, and proceeded to capture Buenos Ayres. He thence wrote home a triumphant letter calling upon the English merchants to come to the magnificent new market he had opened. His triumph was of short duration. The colonists rallied under command of a French colonel, the city was recaptured, and the troops compelled to surrender as prisoners of war. In February 1807, 3000 men were sent out under Sir Samuel Auchmuty to assist Popham. Too late to save Buenos Ayres, he attacked and captured Monte Video. Before his success was known fresh reinforcements were sent out under General Whitelocke, with orders to assume the chief command, and with Popham's forces recapture Buenos Ayres. The attempt was a disgraceful failure; the troops were ordered to enter the city with unloaded muskets, and to rendezvous in the central square. The effect of so strange an attempt at street fighting may be easily conjectured. From the side-streets, housetops, and barricades thrown up across the roads, a destructive fire was kept up. Though Auchmuty met with some success, by nightfall 2500 of the English were either killed or prisoners, and Whitelocke was glad to accept the freedom of the prisoners both of the present engagement and of the past year, and to withdraw his troops, surrendering Monte Video and all he had conquered. In the judgment of the court martial which tried Whitelocke he was held totally unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever, and the popular voice changed his name to General Whitefeather.

Turkey declares war against Russia.

During the continuance of the great European war the friendship of Turkey had been a constant object with the great powers. The ambassadors from Russia, France, and England had used all their powers of persuasion and menace to secure the adhesion of the Sultan. Before the end of the year 1806 the threats of Russia had had the effect of driving the Sultan to the friendship of France, and the Porte had declared war with Russia just after the battle of Jena. Wanting his troops for the defence of his own country, and being at that time in close friendship with England, Alexander requested the English Government to take charge of his interests at the Turkish capital, and Expedition to the Dardanelles. Feb. 1807. despatch a fleet to oblige Selim to give up his friendship with France. The plan, being one which could be carried out by the navy, suited the policy of the Grenville Government, and orders were sent to Lord Collingwood, then cruising off Cadiz, to send a squadron to the Dardanelles. He was not allowed to choose his own commander, but received orders from home to appoint Sir John Duckworth. Nothing could be worse managed than the expedition. Collingwood had given strict charge to Duckworth not to be drawn into negotiations. But when the passage of the Dardanelles, at that time almost unfortified, was forced, Duckworth, forgetful of Collingwood's advice, suffered himself to be entangled in negotiations. Sebastiani, the French ambassador, aroused the temper of the Turks, and instructed them in the best manner of fortifying their coasts. The English fleet was in danger of being shut up in the Straits. It became necessary to withdraw; but that step was no longer easy. On the 1st of March the fleet sailed back through the Dardanelles. Batteries had been erected at every point, and though the fleet succeeded in running the gauntlet through the terrible fire, with the loss of only some 300 men, it found itself entirely prevented from any return. The object of the expedition had completely failed, and the only resource left was to keep the Turkish fleet blockaded.

Expedition to Alexandria. March to August.

In connection with this expedition a body of troops had been despatched under General Fraser to capture Alexandria. It was hoped that on the receipt of the news of Duckworth's expected success, it would have been able to advance to the reconquest of Egypt. Want of food necessitated an attack upon Rosetta. It was undertaken in the same foolish spirit as Whitelocke's attack upon Buenos Ayres. Entangled in the streets, the English soldiery were shot down in great numbers, and with the loss of a third of his troops the general in command withdrew to Alexandria. A subsequent effort was made to besiege Rosetta in form, but the forces of the Pasha of Egypt proved too strong for the besiegers; with heavy loss they withdrew to Alexandria, and in August 1807 were compelled to evacuate the country.

Expedition to Sicily. July, 1806.

The only gleam of success which attended the military operations of the Grenville ministry was gained in the south of Italy. It will be remembered that immediately after the battle of Austerlitz the kingdom of Naples had been appropriated by France. Sicily, however, was not conquered, and in that island there was an English army commanded by Sir John Stewart. Urged to do something for the assistance of the Neapolitan Court, he landed in Calabria in July, and there fought and won the battle of Maida, in which the French general Reynier was completely beaten. The forces at Stewart's command were insufficient for the reconquest of the country, which fell again into French hands on the retirement of the English, after a lengthened opposition on the part of the peasantry.

Complete dissolution of the coalition.

The attempt made at the Peace of Westphalia to establish the balance of power in Europe, and to secure the rights of small states, had proved unsuccessful. It had been rudely shocked by the career of Frederick II., and almost annihilated by the partition of Poland. A spirit of jealousy and a desire for selfish aggrandizement had taken possession of the great reigning houses, and had proved a fatal obstacle to the formation of loyal coalitions for a general purpose. It is to this that may be traced the failure of united effort in the last war, and the terrible reverses which both Austria and Prussia had undergone; England had in the same spirit just been frittering away its strength in attempts to secure the mastery of the sea, and the opening of new markets for her trade; thus left without the assistance they had a right to demand, the Russians were completely defeated at the battle of Friedland (June 14). It was now the turn for Russia to seek its own ends, and to secure them by deserting its allies. Disgusted with the lukewarm assistance afforded by England, attached to the principles of the Armed Neutrality, and eager to carry on its schemes of aggression against Turkey, the Czar allowed himself to be dazzled by the flattering offers of Napoleon. The Emperor had found his difficulties increase with his empire; he had discovered that the Russians were more difficult to conquer than the Austrians or Prussians, and he was now willing to purchase the friendship of the Czar and his assistance against England by an arrangement by which Alexander should be Emperor of the East, while he kept for himself the envied position of Emperor of the West.

The meeting between the Emperors took place, as upon neutral ground, on a raft in the middle of the Niemer at Tilsitt. "I hate the English as you do," Alexander is reported to have said. "Then," replied Napoleon, "peace is made;" and the two Emperors set to work to arrange Europe according to their own fancies, upon the common basis of dislike to England, and under the showy pretext of checking her overweening pride upon the sea. As Russia was fighting not Treaty of Tilsitt. July 7, 1807. for herself but for her allies, a treaty of peace and amity was all that was wanted between her and France, and of course the lately conquered King of Prussia had to pay the price of the treaty, the terms being chiefly in favour of France. Prussia was deprived of all its provinces between the Rhine and the Elbe, and of its Polish possessions. The former were incorporated with Hesse, Brunswick, and a part of Hanover, to form a kingdom of Westphalia, which was given to Jerome Bonaparte; the latter were formed into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and given to the King of Saxony, one province only excepted, which was given to Russia, nominally to cover the expenses of the war. All the alterations which Napoleon had effected in Europe were accepted; the Duchies of Oldenburg and Mecklenburg were restored to their possessors, on the condition that the French should hold their ports till the conclusion of a general peace; Silesia and the German provinces on the right bank of the Elbe were restored to Prussia, but a military road was allowed to Saxony through Silesia, to afford the Saxon Prince access to his new dominions. Prussia was, however, to acknowledge the Berlin Decree, to reduce its troops to 42,000 men, to pay France £6,000,000 of money, in addition to the charges of the war, amounting to about £20,000,000, and to leave Berlin and its chief fortresses in the hands of the French till the debt was paid; as the yearly revenue of Prussia was not much more than £3,000,000, this promised to be for some time.

Secret articles of the treaty.

But the real point of the treaty was its secret articles, which were dimly suspected at the time, and the existence of which has subsequently been fully proved. By these articles, if England had not consented by the 1st of November to conclude peace—recognizing that the flags of all Powers ought to enjoy an equal and perfect independence on the seas, and restoring all conquests won from France or its allies since 1805—Russia was to make common cause with France against her, and oblige the Courts of Lisbon, Stockholm and Copenhagen to join in the alliance. In exchange for this, which was to wreak Napoleon's vengeance upon England, it was stipulated that if the Porte did not accept the mediation of France, France would make common cause with Russia against the Porte, and would agree to take from the Turks all the provinces of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, with the exception of the town of Constantinople and Roumelia. Napoleon had thus thrown over, for his own advantage, the Poles, on whose hopes of liberty he had traded, and the Turks, whom he had induced to declare war with Russia; Spain and Portugal were left open to his ambition; Sweden was placed at the disposal of Russia, which was likewise rid of all difficulty from Poland.

Conduct of Alexander.

The conduct of Alexander has an appearance of extreme treachery. Only a few days before he had written to the English King that "there was no salvation to himself or to Europe but by interminable resistance to Bonaparte;" moreover, he did not refuse to accept a considerable portion of the territories of his ally the King of Prussia. His apologists assert that his readiness to accept Napoleon's terms was assumed to afford him an opportunity for strengthening himself for future opposition to French aggrandizement. More probably he was led away, partly by his peculiar enthusiastic temperament, which made him wish to have a large share both in the establishment of peace and in the rearrangement of Europe, and partly by an undercurrent of ambition which laid him open to offers securing him the acquisition of Poland, and the command both of the Baltic and the Black Seas.

Consequences of the Peace of Tilsitt.

Already, before the signing of the Peace of Tilsitt, information had been brought to Canning, our Foreign Minister, that the fleets of Portugal and Denmark were to be taken by the French and used for an assault upon England. The secret articles of the treaty vindicate the truth of this information, and justify in some degree the immediate action which the English Government took upon it. For although there seems to be proof that the Danes themselves were anxious to maintain their friendship with England, it was more than probable that they would be unable to resist the combined pressure of Russia and France. Refusing the mediation offered by Russia, unless England was put on a fair footing with France by a frank disclosure of the nature of the late treaty, the English Government despatched a squadron to require the immediate surrender of the Danish fleet. It was no doubt a harsh measure, rendered still harsher by the courageous conduct of the Danes. Although Copenhagen was unprepared for an attack, the demand was refused, and it was found necessary to Capture of the Danish fleet. Sept. 8. bombard the city. The effect of this step was, on the one hand, a surrender of the whole Danish fleet, which was brought to England, and on the other, to make Denmark, whatever its previous intention may have been, a close ally of France. In a second direction the consequences of the treaty became immediately obvious. Russia demanded of Sweden her adhesion to the Continental System. Christian IV., the king of that War between Russia and Sweden. Oct. 31. country, was chivalrous and impetuous to the verge of madness. He refused all solicitations to forsake his alliance with England, and became entangled in a war with France and Russia at once. When scarcely strong enough to defend his own country, he began an assault upon the Danish province of Norway, and consequently lost all his territory in Pomerania and Finland, which amounted to nearly a third of his kingdom. Sir John Moore, with an army of 10,000 men, were sent to his assistance, but found him so wild and unreasonable that he thought it better to sail home without even landing his troops. Frightened at the eccentricities of their sovereign, the Swedes removed him from the throne, setting up his uncle in his place.

In the North, then, the Treaty of Tilsitt had produced the effect which Napoleon had desired. Advantage had been taken of the bombardment of Copenhagen, which was held to be a fresh proof Continental System acknowledged everywhere except in Portugal. of the lawless ambition of England, to oblige Austria, Russia, and Prussia all to declare war with England. Denmark had joined the French alliance, Sweden had been compelled to forego the friendship of England. But there still existed one part of Europe where the Berlin Decree was unacknowledged, and the blockade of the British Isles was thus incomplete; this country was Portugal.

Condition of the Peninsula.

Napoleon had long had his eyes fixed upon the Peninsula; by the Treaty of Tilsitt it had in fact been delivered into his hands as Finland into the hands of Alexander. The condition of the Peninsula was very favourable to his schemes. Charles IV., a weak old man, was on the throne, governed by his wife and by her favourite minister Godoy, the Prince of the Peace. In strong opposition to his father and to the Queen was Ferdinand, the Prince of Asturias. Both parties intrigued for the support of Napoleon, but Godoy had been able to offer the more tempting bait. Napoleon had induced the Prince of Asturias to enter into communication with regard to a marriage with a lady of the Bonaparte family. The secret correspondence had been brought to the knowledge of the King, and made use of by him and his minister to affix a charge of treason upon the Prince, and to imprison him for having conspired to drive his father from the throne. By the people the story of the conspiracy was regarded as a calumny of the minister to destroy the Prince, and fearful of the storm he had excited, Godoy now attempted to mediate a reconciliation between the King and his son. The Prince in his imprisonment was induced to write penitential letters, and a solemn pardon was given. But though the attempt to remove the Prince had thus failed, Godoy's own connection with Napoleon, who had probably been at the bottom of the late affair, was almost immediately shown by the publication, on the 29th of October, of the Treaty of Fontainebleau. This treaty disclosed the bait with which Godoy had been enabled to secure the alliance of Bonaparte. He suggested that France and Spain should join in appropriating Portugal if only he were allowed a principality out of the spoil. The house of Braganza was to be dispossessed; the northern province of Portugal was to be given to the King of Etruria,[21] whose own province, Tuscany, might thus be appended to the Italian kingdom; Godoy was to be rewarded with the principality of Alentejo and Algarves. Some excuse was of course wanted for this wanton attack upon Portugal. It was found in the way in which the Court of Lisbon obeyed the demand addressed to it after the Peace of Tilsitt, to close Napoleon's pretext for war with Portugal. the ports of Portugal against England, to detain all Englishmen resident in Portugal, and to confiscate all English property. Meanwhile all Portuguese merchant ships in the ports of France were to be detained. The Prince Regent of Portugal was not strong enough to resist the demand. He obeyed the first order, without however forfeiting the friendship of England, which confessed the coercion laid upon him. To the other two demands he also at length conceded, but not till he had given plentiful warning to the English to withdraw and to sell their property. The delay was, however, sufficient to afford Napoleon the pretext he wanted.

While negotiations were still proceeding with Portugal, the real intention of the Emperor—to appropriate both that country and Spain—became obvious. For this purpose nearly 30,000 French troops were to enter Spain, and 40,000 more were assembled at Bayonne. While Junot, with "the first army of the Gironde," Junot's army enters Spain. Oct. 18. poured through Salamanca (in October 1807), and proceeded to the conquest of Portugal, the domestic quarrels of the Spanish Court continuing, the 40,000 men assembled at Bayonne moved in two armies into Spain, and while apparently preparing to follow Junot, really occupied the line of mountains north of Madrid, and cut off that capital Ferdinand VII. succeeds his father Charles IV. March 19, 1808. from the northern provinces, which were thus practically conquered without a blow. In March 1808 riots both in Madrid and Aranjuez, ending in the abdication of Charles and the accession of Ferdinand, gave the French, now under the command of Murat, Murat occupies Madrid. March 23. an excuse for crossing the mountains by the Pass of Somo Sierra and occupying Madrid. By a series of shameless intrigues Napoleon attracted both Ferdinand and his father to Bayonne. Ferdinand was there induced to restore Napoleon places Joseph on the throne. the crown to his father (May 5), who abdicated a second time, placing the crown in the hands of Napoleon. Napoleon immediately established his brother Joseph upon the vacant throne (June 15).

Insurrection in Spain.

But the Spaniards, especially the Castilians, were a people of high temper; in spite of a century's degradation, certain remembrances of a former greatness hung about them. They saw with scorn and disgust the treacherous conduct of their own rulers, who were handing them over, bound hand and foot, to a foreign prince, whose very virtues rendered him doubly detestable to them; for the rule of the French meant splendid and centralized organization, restraint, self-denial, and wise government, very much opposed to Spanish feeling. While their rulers were basely truckling to the invader the people rose; the flame of insurrection spread far and wide; great riots in Toledo and Madrid were followed by similar exhibitions of national anger throughout the country, and Napoleon's armies, though they found no regular opposition, though intrigue and treachery had apparently removed all obstacles, found themselves in the midst of a hostile population, and masters only of the ground on which they stood. To meet this new difficulty the fertile mind of the Emperor had at once a plan ready. Madrid was to be a centre from which should radiate in all directions expeditionary armies to suppress the insurrections, Operations of Napoleon's three armies from Madrid. Madrid itself resting for support on France. To hold the communications between Madrid and France therefore became a prime object. This work was intrusted to Bessières, while Duhesme operated in Catalonia, and expeditions were sent out from Madrid against Valencia under Moncey, and against Andalusia under Dupont. Bessières, though his general Lefèbvre failed before the desperate energy of the Saragossans, thoroughly defeated the Gallician troops under Blake and Cuesta at the Rio Seco. Duhesme effected nothing, and was obliged to raise the siege of Gerona. Moncey, though he reached the town of Valencia with success, was unable to take it, and had to retreat. Dupont pushed at first as far as Cordova, but losing heart, and badly supplied from Madrid, also attempted to retreat, was pursued by the Spaniards, and compelled to lay down his arms with 18,000 men, Joseph evacuates Madrid. Aug. 1, 1808. after the battle of Baylen, before he could recross the Sierra Morena. Unsuccessful, therefore, on all sides, and though victorious yet hard pressed upon the North, the French were obliged to retire, and King Joseph, evacuating Madrid, withdrew to France.

The Portuguese royal family emigrate to Brazil. Nov. 29, 1807.

Meanwhile Junot's army had proceeded direct to Portugal with orders to occupy it by the 30th of November 1807. As Junot approached the capital, the Prince Regent, acting under the advice of Lord Strangford, the English ambassador, determined to leave his European dominions and to transfer the apparatus and seat of government to Brazil. On the 29th of November as many as 15,000 persons were carried by the English fleet down the Tagus. The last ship had hardly sailed when Junot arrived. He had wished to stop and reorganize his troops in Salamanca, but pressed by the Emperor, Junot's army occupies Lisbon. Nov. 30. he hurried forward in spite of the difficulties of the way, and marched upon Lisbon with only a few thousand weary and travel-worn soldiers. He however met with no opposition there, and after the manner of Napoleon's lieutenants, at once set about Gallicizing the country. The Portuguese army was chiefly sent away to France. The police in the hands of the French was well administered, and though the people of Lisbon obeyed unwillingly, order was successfully maintained. The position of Spain and Portugal was thus closely analogous; in both cases the people had been deserted by their natural rulers, in both cases the consequences were the same. The insurrections in Spain were followed by similar movements in Portugal. The people took the government into their own hands, and a popular Junta was established at Oporto under the influence of the Bishop.

Enthusiasm in England for the Spanish insurrection.

The insurrection in Spain had been observed with enthusiastic admiration by the people of England. It seemed at last as if that popular insurrection against the tyranny of Napoleon, which had long been expected, had arrived. Nevertheless, the total absence of central authority produced its inevitable effects upon a country so ill ruled and so ignorant of self-government as Spain. Ambitious men everywhere laid hold of the local authority, and irresponsible juntas arose. The provincial feeling, always unreasonably strong in the Peninsula, found full vent. Junta disputed with junta, and the whole country was involved in the wildest anarchy. None the less the feeling of the English people was a true one. Napoleon had reached the point when he came into collision with that very power which formed the basis of his own success—the power of the people. Already his behaviour in Germany had excited among the lower classes enthusiastic feelings of hatred to their conquerors and of desire for national liberty; and the outbreak of the Spanish insurrection added fresh vigour and raised Asturian envoys arrive in England. June 1808. fresh hopes in the lovers of liberty throughout the whole of Europe. To the English Government the arrival of two Asturian envoys in the month of June seemed to offer an opportunity which had long been wanted of giving a national and unselfish character to our opposition to the great conqueror. In the course of time it afforded also a battle-ground on which at length the military power of the country found room to move in larger and more combined action, than in the feeble expeditions of the earlier part of the war. But as yet this was not foreseen. For some years the great war in the Peninsula was starved, while money was lavished upon useless and isolated efforts in other parts of the Continent; it was only slowly and by degrees that the genius, the steadfastness, the success, of Wellington taught England the necessity of large and well-continued efforts in one direction. The Asturian envoys were received with enthusiasm not only by the Opposition but by the Government. But the opportunity offered was not wisely made use of. Spain was inundated with agents of no political ability, who were deceived by the boasting assertions of the Spaniards. Money and arms were sent over in lavish quantities to be left unopened on the quays, appropriated by the rival juntas for their own personal or local advantage, or to fall into the hands of the enemy, and the Spaniards, who did little or nothing for themselves, were taught to demand the assistance of England as a right.

An English force sent to Portugal.

The position of Portugal seemed to offer a more favourable ground for action, and thither it was determined to send an English armament. But the Government could not yet conceive of war upon a large scale, and in entire ignorance of the real condition of Spain believed that a mere handful of English troops, aided by the boasted enthusiasm of the Spanish nation, would be able to withstand the enormous armies Napoleon was ready to pour into the Peninsula. The army at first sent was little better than an expeditionary force. A body of troops ready at Cork for war in South America were despatched under Sir Arthur Wellesley, at that time Secretary for Ireland; but by some ridiculous mismanagement two senior officers, Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir Hugh Dalrymple, Governor of Gibraltar, were put over his head, and Sir John Moore, who was despatched with a second body of troops to reinforce him, though he had served as commander-in-chief both in Sicily and Sweden, also found himself in a subordinate position. The expedition touched first at Corunna, but was persuaded by the members of the local junta to proceed to Portugal, where they declared the numerous Spanish army was already collected, and whither they promised speedily to send reinforcements. Upon reaching Oporto, however, the commander found that there were no Spanish troops in the north of Portugal, neither were there any Portuguese troops; but upon the river Mondego there appeared to be a disorganized body of about 5000 men, representing 40,000 for whom the Bishop of Oporto had received accoutrements. With them there were some 10,000 peasants without arms. Wellesley had now a choice left. He might land north of Lisbon and act against Junot, or proceed to Cadiz, and joining Spencer, who had a small command Wellesley lands at Figueras. Aug. 1, 1808. there, act against the French in Spain. He preferred the first alternative, and determined to land at the mouth of the Mondego, near Figueras. He sent to Cadiz for Spencer's troops, but fortunately that general, on hearing of the victory of Baylen, had already determined to sail for the Tagus. The two corps when joined amounted to about 12,000 men. The landing of the English at the Mondego confined the operations to that tongue of land which lies between the sea and the Tagus in its south-westerly course, and which is terminated by the city of Lisbon.

Wellesley determined to strike rapidly, and bring affairs in Portugal to a crisis at once. Therefore, although deserted by the Portuguese troops, he advanced directly southward towards Lisbon. Junot's troops were somewhat scattered, and the temper of the people prevented him from energetic action. He proceeded, however, to concentrate his troops, and while this movement was going forward the English army came into contact with one of his divisions Combat of Rorica. Aug. 17. under Laborde, occupying a strong position at the end of a valley leading from Obidos to Rorica. Here, after a sharp contest, the French general found himself outflanked by the hills which line the valley, and withdrew, allowing Wellesley to proceed. Meanwhile Junot had been continuing his concentration, and had collected 14,000 men at Torres Vedras, to bar the road to Lisbon. Sir Harry Burrard, Wellesley's superior officer, had now arrived at the coast, and Wellesley begged him to allow Sir John Moore's division, on its arrival from England, to land on the Mondego river, and cross the tongue of land to the Tagus, thus cutting off the natural line of retreat into Spain, which would be up the valley of that river. He then proceeded to advance against Junot. But Burrard, a commonplace general, disregarding his advice, determined to bring Sir John Moore up as a reinforcement, and forbad Wellesley to undertake any offensive movement till that general's arrival.