Chapter XXXIX.

George III. And The Emperor Napoleon. (1806-1810.)

Lord Grenville succeeded Pitt, as Prime Minister. His alliance with Fox had brought forth fruits; the Cabinet now had the good fortune to contain only eminent men: Fox, Grey, Windham, Lord Sidmouth, Lord Henry Petty, second son of Lord Landsdowne, whose title he was one day to wear, and whose renown he was to sustain. Canning alone was excluded.

Fox had charge of foreign affairs. His physical strength already failing, had nevertheless triumphed over the health of his great rival. Years before, Lady Holland, in comparing the two in their early youth, had said to her husband that she had seen at the house of Lady Hester Pitt, the little William who was only eight years old, but was the most extraordinary child that she had ever seen: "he is so well educated," said she, "and has such good manners, that he will be all his life a thorn in the flesh, for Charles. Remember well what I say to you."

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The thorn had fallen: after seventeen years of exclusion from power, amidst the alternatives of passionate struggles and of midly indolent discouragements, Fox seized the rudder in an hour of dolorous and patriotic agony. His admiration for the Emperor Napoleon, and the sympathy which he had constantly shown for France, inclined him naturally towards peace. He immediately made overtures; his envoys were moderate in their demands as in their tendencies. A happy chance furnished the minister with the opportunity of rendering a signal service to the emperor. An adventurer had offered to assassinate the enemy of England. Mr. Fox at once notified Talleyrand. However they might differ in their methods, the emperor and his minister were equal adepts at flattery. "Thank Mr. Fox," replied Napoleon, "and say to him, whether the policy of his sovereign causes us to continue much longer at war, or whether as speedy an end as the two nations can desire, is put to a quarrel useless for humanity, I rejoice at the new character which, from this proceeding, the war has already taken, and which is an omen of what may be expected from a cabinet, of the principles of which I am delighted to judge from those of Mr. Fox, who is one of the men most fitted to feel, in everything, what is excellent, what is truly great."

The conditions of peace proposed by England were moderate; for the first time, those of France indicated seriously the desire for peace. Only one stumbling-block hindered the success of the negotiations: England would not treat without Russia. Napoleon refused absolutely to admit Russia among the number of the contracting powers. "The obstacle is for us, insurmountable," wrote Fox to Talleyrand; "if the emperor could see, with the same eye that I behold it, the true glory which he would have a right to acquire, by a just and moderate peace, what happiness would not result from it for France and for all Europe!"

{417}

Nevertheless, negotiations continued. The emperor proposed to George III. to restore Hanover, but recently assigned to Prussia, and to cede to him, at the same time, the Hanseatic cities. He had just taken possession of the kingdom of Naples, and placed his brother Joseph upon the throne. He intended to join to it, Sicily, still in the hands of the Bourbons, and under the protection of the English. The Russian envoy, M. d'Oubril, who had arrived at Paris, complicated the negotiations. The long deferred hope of Fox began to fail. "The first wish of my heart," said he to the House of Commons, "is peace; but such a peace only as shall preserve our connections and influence on the continent, and not abate one jot of the national honor. That peace only, and no other." The pretensions of Napoleon were of a contrary nature. The treaty concluded by M. d'Oubril, at Paris, was not confirmed by the Emperor Alexander. Almost at the same moment, Prussia, offended by the arrogance and premeditated insults of Napoleon, officially declared war; too late, however, to be of any effectual service to England. On the 13th of October, 1806, the battle of Jena delivered that kingdom into the hands of the Conqueror, who devastated it. Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph. It was there that he signed his decree of a continental blockade, interdicting throughout the whole extent of his dominions the importation of English merchandise.

The French armies were everywhere charged to enforce this decree. They began by the seizure of all English commodities in the port of Hamburg. Some months before, the invaders had arbitrarily arrested, at Nuremburg, a bookseller named Palm, accused of having written a libel against the emperor and king. Judged and condemned by a court-martial, the unfortunate man was shot on the 26th of August, 1806.

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This flagrant violation of the rights of nations, as well as of common justice, powerfully contributed to convince Mr. Fox of the futility of his efforts to obtain for England and Europe a durable peace. He rendered his name honorable, however, by accomplishing finally the work which he had so long pursued in concert with Mr. Pitt, and at the instigation of Wilberforce and his Christian friends. A bill passed by the two Houses interdicted the slave trade to English vessels from the 1st of January, 1807. One of the bas-reliefs on the tomb of Fox, recalls this noble remembrance of his life. "If God spares the health of Fox, and his union with Grenville is preserved," said Wilberforce, "the next year we may end our labors." The health of Fox was failing. Before the battle of Jena came to break down the last rampart which opposed the irresistible waves of French conquest in Germany, Fox had died at Chiswick, September 13th, 1806. He had never admired the philosophy of the eighteenth century, and the disorders of his life had not destroyed in his soul certain noble aspirations towards a higher life. "Since God exists, the spirit exists," said he; "why should not the soul live in another life?" "I am happy;" said he to his wife, as death approached. "I am full of confidence, I might say of certainty." Born ten years earlier than his illustrious rival, he had survived him only eight months. Pitt died at the age of forty-seven, Fox was scarcely fifty-seven.

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Exceedingly popular during the greater part of his life, and admired even by those who did not share his opinions, Mr. Fox's reputation has nevertheless declined, as the magic of his words and the supreme influence of his eloquence have ceased to act upon succeeding generations. History has judged him eminent in parliament and master of political eloquence. An ardent and sincere patriot when not blinded by the hatreds or the enthusiasms of party, generous and charming in his private relations and personal intercourse, mediocre in his views of government; in turn feeble and violent, and imperfect as a writer, notwithstanding his pronounced taste for letters and the favor he showed toward literary men. His death deprived the ministry of great prestige; it enfeebled it in Parliament, and even in the eyes of Europe, long dazzled by the parliamentary glory of the great orator. It modified neither the direction nor the attitude of the government, already weak, in hands that were incapable of struggling against the overwhelming success of the Emperor Napoleon abroad, as well as against the attacks of its adversaries, and the growing difficulties of the situation at home.

Negotiations with France were broken off. Russia came to the assistance of Prussia. Both reckoned upon subsidies from England. The finances of that country were gravely embarrassed, and the courageous expedients of Mr. Pitt, to fill the treasury, were wanting. Canning forcibly attacked in parliament both the parsimonious subsidies accorded to the allies, and the feeble position assumed by the government, even after important victories. Sir John Stuart had defeated at Maida, in Calabria, a superior force of the enemy. Admiral Popham had retaken the Cape of Good Hope. "He who adds to the glory of his country," said the eloquent orator, "renders her a greater service than if he gained for her vast possessions. Time and subsequent events do not alter glory. The territory that England acquired in the glorious days of Crecy and Poictiers has long since passed from us, but the renown they added to the English name lives, and will ever remain immortal." A fatal torpor had affected all military operations since the death of Mr. Pitt.

{420}

"All the talents," united, were not sufficient to replace a chief naturally called to govern men, either in Parliament, or at the head of armies, in peace or in war. The cabinet tottered to its very foundation; the question of Catholic emancipation struck the final blow. The increase of the allowance accorded to the college at Maynooth, had already excited great resistance. Lord Howick proposed to substitute for the Test Act, an oath which would permit Irish Catholics to enter the service either in the army or navy. The opinions of the king had not changed. In the House of Commons a considerable majority held the views of the king.

After the dissolution in the preceding year, the ministry made an appeal to the electors, and were beaten. They were dismissed and replaced by the Tories, who in their turn again appealed to the country. The new Parliament, ardently conservative, united itself with the friends and disciples of Mr. Pitt. Mr. Canning was placed at the head of Foreign Affairs, Lord Castlereagh became Minister of War, and the Duke of Portland First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Eldon was Chancellor, and Lord Hawkesbury was made Minister of the Interior.

Moderate in its political principles, and more pronounced in its ecclesiastical and protestant convictions, the new cabinet was in sympathy with the sovereign, and from the first Lord Harrowby indicated to Parliament the confidence the king felt in the counsellors that he had chosen. The maritime expeditions planned by the Grenville ministry had not succeeded either in South America or against Turkey. The victories of Eylan, of Dantzic, and of Friedland, had just terminated in the peace of Tilsit, concluded on the 7th and 9th of July, 1807, between France, Russia and Prussia. England remained alone, delivered from the prospect of invasion, but virtually isolated in consequence of the continental blockade, confirmed by the articles sighed at Tilset. The Emperor Alexander, young, ardent, and credulous, allowed himself to be seduced by the flattering advances and apparent generosity of Napoleon. {421} He engaged to serve as mediator between France and England, and in case the latter refused to accept the conditions offered by the French Emperor, Russia was to join her forces to those of France, and immediately declare war against Great Britain. Louis Bonaparte was recognized as king of Holland. The kingdom of Westphalia, detached from the Prussian provinces, became the appenage of Prince Jerome.

England meanwhile did not remain idle, but prepared herself to strike an effective blow. Denmark had remained neutral, but was believed, in London, to be hostile to British interests; her feebleness, likewise, placed her at the mercy of her powerful neighbors, Holland, France or Russia. Lord Cathcart and Sir Arthur Wellesley were charged to prepare an expedition against Copenhagen. Some negotiations preceded the armed demonstration. The Crown Prince smiled bitterly at the offers of assistance from Mr. Jackson, the English envoy: "You offer us your alliance," said he; "we know what it is worth. A year ago, when your allies waited in vain for your assistance, we learned to estimate at its just value the friendship of England."

The British fleet appeared before Copenhagen on the 17th of August, 1807. A proclamation invited the Danes to place themselves under the protection of England. Neutrality was no longer possible, and their arms were in danger of being turned against their natural allies. The Danish government responded by seizing the merchant vessels belonging to the English.

{422}

The bombardment of the capital began on the 2nd of September, 1807. All the advanced positions were occupied by the English troops, and on the 7th a capitulation was signed. The entire Danish navy fell into the hands of the English. It was the purpose of one of the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit to place it at the service of Napoleon. The anger of the French was great, and the news of commercial reprisals, decreed at London, by order of the Council (November 11th, 1807), increased it. France, and the countries subject to her, were declared in a state of blockade, and all ships engaged in commerce with them, were subject to the right of seizure. A new decree of Napoleon, dated at Milan, the 17th of December, 1807, extended this imprudent and violent measure to all the English possessions upon the surface of the globe. The United States of America, the only maritime power remaining neutral, had the embargo also laid on her, and henceforward the commerce of the world was suddenly destroyed or condemned to the perilous condition of piracy. All rights and all interests were for a time disregarded.

It is sometimes the glory of a feeble and courageous people, to accept tyranny for a time. Charles IV., King of Spain, had bowed to the yoke of revolutionary and absolute France. The Spanish nation, however, was weary of bearing the burdens and fighting the battles of a foreign master, under the name of its legitimate sovereign. On the 17th of March, 1808, a popular insurrection dethroned the feeble monarch and his servile favorite, Godoy, as they were preparing to flee to America. Prince Ferdinand, drawn to the opposition by his hatred of the Prince of Peace (Godoy), was proclaimed king, after the abdication of his father. The army of General Junot already occupied Portugal, and Murat had established himself at Burgos, as lieutenant of the emperor; he marched upon Madrid, of which he soon became master, deceiving and abusing, in turn, both the father and the son, the dethroned sovereign and the new monarch. {423} General Savary came to second Murat in his diplomatic mission. His address and his promises drew Ferdinand to Bayonne. The emperor was already there. The Prince expected to be recognized as King of Spain, but instead found himself a prisoner, carefully guarded. The demands of Napoleon were peremptory: it was necessary, he said, to be assured of the co-operation of Spain, and in consequence he had decided to place upon the throne a prince of his own blood. Ferdinand's renunciation of the throne was the price of his liberty. He resisted. The intrigues of the Prince of Peace, who had been delivered from prison by order of Napoleon, brought to Bayonne the old King Charles IV. who protested against his own abdication and the coronation of his son; at the same time he ceded the crown of Spain and the Indies to his faithful ally, the emperor of the French, to be disposed of at his convenience, with the only conditions, that the same monarch should not reign at one time at both Paris and Madrid, and also that the Catholic religion should remain sovereign and supreme in Spain. The compensations offered by Napoleon to the princes that he had betrayed, were: the estates of Navarre and Chambord, the use of the palace at Compiègne, a civil list, the preservation of their personal treasures, and the society of the Prince Talleyrand at Valencay. "That which I have done here, is not politic from a certain point of view," said Napoleon himself, "but necessity demands that I do not leave in my rear, so near Paris, a dynasty hostile to me."

Riots and bloodshed took place at Madrid. A Spanish insurrection resisted the authority of Murat, whom Charles IV. had designated as his lieutenant. The Council of Spain hesitated, troubled by the prospect of war, and ashamed to proclaim the overthrow of the House of Bourbon. On the 6th of June, nevertheless, Joseph Bonaparte was declared King of Spain, to the great discontent of Murat, who had counted upon receiving the kingdom which he had secured for Napoleon. The crown of Naples was soon to soften his regrets, without, however, removing all bitterness. On the 20th of July, the new sovereign entered Madrid.

{424}

A national Junta organized itself at Seville, renewing the oath of allegiance to Ferdinand VII. General Castanos, who commanded an army of 20,000 men in Andalusia, announced his resolution of remaining faithful to the exiled dynasty. He entered into negotiations with Sir Hugh Dalrymple, the English Governor of Gibraltar, and a subscription from English merchants furnished the first funds necessary. A tardy dispatch from Lord Castlereagh announced a succor of ten thousand English troops. Lord Collingwood took the command of the fleet that was to proceed to Cadiz. Some days after the proclamation of Joseph Bonaparte, even before he had placed a foot upon Spanish soil, the peninsula became the theatre of a war which was to become as sanguinary as desperate. Ninety-two thousand Spaniards, of whom one-third were militia, sustained the rights of the House of Bourbon, and the national independence. A French army of eighty thousand soldiers overran the kingdom. Junot occupied Portugal with thirty thousand men. At Bayonne, Druot, with a reserve of twenty thousand troops, was ready to march. On the 14th of June, 1808, the first serious engagement took place near Valladolid, between Marshal Bessières and the old General Cuesta. The Spaniards were defeated. The same day they avenged themselves at Cadiz, by seizing the French fleet in that port.

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On the 19th of July, General Dumont, blockaded in Andalusia by the Spanish forces, was defeated at Baylen. On the 22nd he signed a disastrous capitulation, in the hope of saving his troops, who were to be sent back to France. The Spaniards, however, unscrupulously violated the conditions and retained the army as prisoners. The universal joy and the national hopes were excited, and alarmed Joseph Bonaparte, who hastened to leave Madrid. The siege of Saragossa was raised.

Notwithstanding the presence of Junot, a movement hostile to France manifested itself in Portugal. Sir Arthur Wellesley landed at Oporto, with ten thousand men. Junot advanced to meet him, but his forces were insufficient, and he was defeated at Vimeiro. The Convention of Cintra, on the 30th of August, 1808, decided the evacuation of Portugal by the French.

The unjust invasion of the peninsula already brought forth its fruits. King Joseph, in desperation, wrote to his brother, on the 9th of August: "I have an entire nation against me. The nobility themselves, at first uncertain, have ended by following the movement of the lower classes. I have not a single Spaniard left who is attached to my cause. As general, my part would be endurable, nay easy, for with a detachment of your veteran troops, I would conquer the Spaniards; but as king my part is insupportable, since I must slaughter one part of my subjects to make the other submit. I decline therefore to reign over a people who will not have me. If you wish it, I will restore Ferdinand VII. to them, in your name. I shall demand back from you the throne of Naples."

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The will of Napoleon was more tenacious and his passions stronger than those of his brother. Joseph was obliged to remain King of Spain. The Convention of Cintra, definitively adjourned, after the surrender of Torres Vedras to the English, was not approved either by Sir Arthur Wellesley nor by the English Cabinet. The French armies had obtained in Spain numerous partial successes. Saragossa was again besieged. After a long campaign Sir John Moore was defeated and killed, at the battle of Corunna. His troops hastened to embark for England. They scarcely took time to bury him. "We left him alone with his glory," says Wolfe the poet. Marshal Soult took possession of the city. The negotiations between France and England, through the intervention of Russia, had failed. An interview between the two emperors, at Erfurt, had strengthened their alliance. Napoleon evacuated Prussia, and concentrated his efforts upon Spain. He reached there on the 29th of October, 1808. On the 4th of December he was at Madrid, ordering upon every side and in all directions, the movements of his lieutenants. When he returned to Paris, January 22nd, 1809, King Joseph was firmly established in his capital. Napoleon accorded to his troops a month of repose before completing the conquest of Spain. The threatening attitude of Europe, encouraged by the resistance of the Spaniards, compelled the emperor to leave to others the task of conquering enemies constantly defeated, but never subdued.

The heroic defence of Saragossa was the type and example of the war in Spain. General Palafox commanded there. To the demand to surrender, he replied with this laconic message: "War to the knife:" and this finally became the watchword. The ramparts were taken only after a desperate resistance, in which even the women took part. Then began, perhaps, the most heroic contest the world ever saw. Street by street was obstinately defended; every house became a fortress, and every church and convent a citadel. "Never," wrote Marshal Lannes to the emperor, "have I seen so much desperation as our enemies have shown in the defence of this place. {427} I have seen women bravely confronting death in the breach. This siege resembles nothing that we have had in war heretofore. It is a position where great prudence and great vigor is necessary. We are obliged to take with the mine or by assault, every house. Finally, sire, it is a horrible war." After twenty-nine days of siege and twenty-one days passed in conquering the streets, one by one, Saragossa finally capitulated, on the 21st of February, 1809. Of the one hundred thousand inhabitants enclosed in the city, fifty-four thousand had perished. Henceforth the name of Saragossa is added on the roll of those cities which have been made forever famous and glorious by their heroic defences, to that of Numantia and Jerusalem, of Leyden and Londonderry.

Parliament opened on the 19th of January, 1809. The Whigs at once attacked the ministry on the conduct of the war and predicted its fatal termination. The campaign had added nothing to the glory of the arms of the great belligerant powers; only the patriotic perseverance of the Spaniards encouraged their defenders. Mr. Canning concluded with the Junta of Seville a close treaty of alliance. The military and financial preparations necessitated great efforts. The command of the troops was given to Sir Arthur Wellesley. Marshal Soult again invaded Portugal. It was against this country that the English General at first directed attacks. Landing at Lisbon, on the 22nd of April, 1809, he left the capital on the 28th, to proceed to Coimbra. All his forces concentrated there, and on the 11th of May, he found himself on the banks of the rapid Douro. The river was crossed at midday, in the face of the French army. On the 12th, Oporto was taken. While Marshal Soult was retreating towards Spain, the English general published a proclamation in favor of the French wounded and prisoners left in the city. The Spaniards had often treated their conquered enemies with great barbarity. "I appeal to the mercy of the people of Oporto, in regard to the wounded and prisoners," said Sir Arthur Wellesley. "By the laws of war they are under my protection, and I am resolved to give it to them."

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On the 2nd of July the English entered Spain, at Placencia. On the 27th the victory of Talavera delivered to Wellesley a strong military position, but without the provisions or munitions of war that he much needed. "They have no magazines," wrote Sir Arthur. "We have none, and are unable to form any. It is a positive fact that during the last eight days the English troops have not received a third of their rations, although they fought during forty-eight hours, and defeated an army twice their number. There are at this moment in the hospitals of this city nearly four thousand wounded soldiers, who are dying for the want of the commonest necessaries of life, that any other European nation would provide for its enemies. Here I can obtain nothing, they will not even bury my dead." Without aid from the Spaniards, who were in fact secretly hostile to the English, the latter were compelled to fall back upon Portugal.

After the victory of Talavera, Sir Arthur was raised to the peerage, under the title of Baron Duro of Wellesley, and Viscount Wellington of Talavera. "We have at this time the entire cohort of French marshals in Estramadura," wrote Wellington: "Soult, Ney, Mortier, Kellerman, Victor and Sebastiani, without counting King Joseph and the five thousand men of Suchet." Wellington fixed his headquarters at Badajoz. Everywhere the Spanish generals were defeated by the French. "It is deplorable," said Wellington, "that affairs which were in such good condition a few weeks ago, have been ruined by the ignorance and presumption of those who have the charge of directing them. {429} I declare that if they had preserved their two armies, or even one of them, the cause was safe. The French could have no reinforcements which could have been of any use; time would have been gained; the state of affairs would have improved daily: all the chances were in our favor. The French armies must have been driven out of Spain. But no, they must fight great battles on the plains, where the defeat of the Spanish troops was assured from the first. They have never been willing to believe what I have told them regarding the French forces. Up to the present time, when upon the field of battle, they have found them superior to themselves under all circumstances."

Austria re-opened hostilities. A great English expedition was directed, against the naval preparations of Napoleon in the Scheldt. The fleet invested and took Flushing. The troops occupied the Isle of Walcheren, the possession of which, however, was of no practical utility, and led to no important results, but was attended with great suffering and frightful mortality. Another English expedition, directed against the south of Italy, was equally unsuccessful, although Sir John Stuart took possession of the Ionian Islands.

Napoleon pursued his triumphant way in Germany, but his victories were more severely contested and more dearly bought. At Paris Prince Talleyrand had been disgraced, and the most violent councils prevailed. "It appears," said Napoleon to Prince Metternich, the Austrian ambassador, "that the waters of Lethe, and not those of the Danube flow by Vienna. New lessons are necessary, and they will be terrible, I promise you. Austria saved the English in 1805, when I was about to cross the Straits of Calais, and has just saved them once more, by hindering me from pursuing them at Corunna: she will pay dear for this new diversion. I have no desire to draw the sword except against Spain and England, but if Austria persists, the struggle will be immediate and decisive, and will be such, that in the future, England will find no allies upon the continent."

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In this great struggle for the independence of European nations, against an insatiable conqueror, and a heroic people which he had intoxicated by his glory, the successive reverses of the Austrians finally delivered Vienna to the Emperor Napoleon. The battle of Essling lasted two days, and was more desperate and more bloody than all the battles which had preceded it. Fortified on the Island of Loban, in the middle of the Danube, General Mouton, with an army of forty thousand men, firmly withstood for six hours, the fire of the batteries of the Archduke Charles; always on horseback among the guns and the troops, with no other word of command as the files of soldiers fell under the fire, than these sinister words: "Close the ranks."

When Napoleon demanded of Massena if he was able to defend the heights of Aspern: "Say to the Emperor," replied he, "that I will hold it two--six--twenty-four hours, if he wishes; as many as may be necessary for the safety of the army." In the council of war held on the evening of the first day at Loban, when Napoleon, now upon the borders of an abyss, developed the plan which was to lead to the victory of Wagram, the same Massena, often jealous, and always morose, exclaimed, with a passionate admiration for that superior genius that he recognized in spite of his envy: "Sire, you are a great man, and worthy to command such as me." The battle of Wagram led to the peace of Vienna, signed on the 14th of October, 1809.

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When Pope Pius VII. protested against the occupation of his states by French troops, he was shut up in the Quirinal. The Emperor decided the question, in his usual manner, by uniting the Roman States to the Empire. The successor of Charlemagne withdrew the gift which that great conqueror had bestowed upon the Holy See. This violence was followed by the papal excommunication. The Pope was rudely taken from Rome and transported to Savona. The superior judgment of Napoleon was not long deceived regarding the fatal effects of this insult to the religious sentiments of Catholic Europe. He wrote from Schonbrunn on July 18th, 1809, that he regretted that the Pope had been arrested; that the arrest was a great piece of folly; that although it was necessary to arrest Cardinal Pacca, the Pope should have been left in peace at Rome; but nevertheless there was now no remedy for what was done. He did not, however, want the Pope in France, and if he would cease his mad opposition, his return to Rome would not be opposed.

Some days later new projects developed themselves in that brain constantly excited by the intoxication of absolute power. The Pope, who had been taken to Grenoble, was carried back to Savona by orders from the Emperor himself. Indomitable and patient, he was detained there for three years. "You have not grasped my intentions," wrote Napoleon, on the 15th of September, to the Minister of Police; "the movement from Grenoble to Savona, like all retrograde steps, has been fatal; it is that which has given hopes to this fanatic. You see that he wishes to make us reform the Napoleonic Code; to deprive us of our liberties, etc. Could anything be more insane? I have already given orders that all the Generals of the Order, and the Cardinals who have no Episcopal see, or do not reside at one, whether Italians, Tuscans, or Piedmontese, should report at Paris; and probably I will end by summoning the Pope himself, whom I will place in the suburbs. It is just that he should be at the head of Christianity. This of course will create a sensation the first months, but will soon subside."

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Napoleon desired to have heirs to the throne. He dissolved his marriage with the Empress Josephine by a decree of divorce. After an abortive negotiation with the Emperor Alexander on the subject of a union with the grand Duchess Anne, the peace of Vienna was confirmed by a contract of marriage, signed on the 7th of February, 1810, between the Emperor Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. The triumphant conqueror took by assault the sovereign families as well as their states; but he was not able to subdue either the conscience of the Pope nor the passionate resistance of the Spaniards, sustained by the policy and determined resolution of England.

Important changes took place in the government of Great Britain; a disagreement upon the subject of the conduct of the war, led to a duel between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning. The latter was wounded, and immediately retired from the Cabinet, taking Mr. Huskisson with him. Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool, but lately Lord Hawkesbury, called to their aid the Marquis of Wellesley. Lord Palmerston took part, for the first time, in public affairs, as Under Secretary of War. The Spanish possession of San Domingo was delivered to the English, who also seized the French settlements in Senegal and Guadaloupe. Overwhelmed by his fatigues and patriotic efforts. Admiral Collingwood died at sea, on the 7th of March, 1810. He had asked to be retired: "I have deferred making this request until I am entirely unfitted for service," said he. "As long as I am good for anything, my life belongs to my country."

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Some weeks after the dispersal of the French fleet at Toulon, Collingwood was lying very ill on board his flagship, the City of Paris, when the signal officer expressed fears of a coming tempest, which would be exhausting to the invalid: "Nothing in this world will now trouble me," said the veteran; "I am dying." He was not yet sixty years of age, but since his childhood he had constantly given to the English navy the noblest example of courage and virtue.

In England all eyes and all thoughts were directed towards Spain. The old king, George III., had finally become hopelessly insane. The grief caused by the death of his daughter, the Princess Amelia, had brought about that final relapse that the physicians declared incurable. The Prince of Wales accepted the Regency, with the conditions prescribed in 1788 by Mr. Pitt. Notwithstanding the constant opposition of Mr. Perceval and his friends, the Regent decided to retain the Tory Cabinet, without providing any places for his friends or Whig partisans. The haughty tone of Lord Grenville and of Lord Grey towards him, had, it was said, decided the Prince to this generally popular measure. Resolved, in common with the rest of the royal family, to obstinately pursue the war, but without military ardor or personal incentive, the Regent gave no direction to the national movement which sustained in England the terrible burden of that great European struggle, which became each day more violent against England. A decree of the Emperor, on the 27th of August, 1810, ordered that all English merchandise in any port, wherever smuggled since the declaration of the continental blockade, should be burned. Sweden, the last maritime power in Europe remaining neutral, after a revolution which had dethroned the foolish and incompetent King Gustavus IV., had formed an alliance with France and Russia. Swedish ports were henceforth closed to the English.

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The King of Holland, Louis Bonaparte, soon wearied of that throne which he had accepted with regret, abdicated without consulting the Emperor, and immediately took refuge in Germany. Napoleon responded by a decree uniting the Low Countries to France. The Hanseatic cities had met the same fate. The Emperor confided to Massena the command of the French armies in Spain. The old Marshal accepted the task with dissatisfaction, and his lieutenants were still more displeased. Wellington had chosen for his base in Portugal, the fortified lines of Torres Védras, without allowing himself to be turned from his plan by the insults of the enemy or the inconsiderate ardor of his officers, who wished to march at once against the French. The first encounter took place at Alcola, on the 27th of September, 1810, but without brilliant results to either army. Massena saw the impossibility of forcing the English entrenchments, and demanded reinforcements. Napoleon was preparing for the fatal Russian campaign: he was unable to detach even a single army corps; his forces were recruiting, but with difficulty and slowly. Soult refused to aid Massena, who was now reduced to the most extreme distress. "They have but few resources other than pillage," wrote Wellington; "they receive scarcely any money from France, and very few contributions are raised in Spain."

On the 4th of March, 1811, Massena began slowly to retreat. On the 10th of May the French had once again evacuated Portugal, and Marmont was ordered to replace Massena at the head of the armies in Spain. The campaigns of 1810 and 1811 had this sad result for the French: their victories were scarcely sufficient to preserve past conquests, while the national resistance lost none of its desperation; and at the same time Wellington had not been compelled to yield a single foot of ground in the Peninsula. In the West Indies the Isle of France had fallen into the hands of the English.

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The campaign of 1812 was to be still more active and more fatal to France. Before Napoleon entered Russia, during the month of January, Wellington quitted his intrenchments and boldly took the offensive. On the 19th he recaptured Ciudad-Rodrigo, but recently taken under his very eyes, by the troops of Massena. On the 7th of April, he wrested from Marshal Soult his conquest of Badajoz, and on the 22nd of July, he defeated Marmont at the battle of Arapiles before Salamanca, where the Marshal was so grievously wounded that he was believed to be dying. On the 14th of August the English entered Madrid, without, however being able to remain there long. After having failed before Burgos, the English forces concentrated themselves near Salamanca. When the three French armies united themselves to pursue and crush him, Wellington was out of reach, and secured his retreat upon Ciudad-Rodrigo without difficulty.

While the prudent and sagacious English general slowly continued his work in Spain, the Emperor Napoleon had ventured, played, and lost his great stake against Russia. Moscow was set on fire through individual resolution, as patriotic as cruel. From victory to victory, the French army, destroyed by the climate, by the distances, by fatigue, and sufferings of all kinds, disappeared, little by little, in the snows; abandoned by the Emperor, who had secretly taken his departure for Paris on the 5th of December. Some lines inserted in the Moniteur had alone preceded him. These announced that he had assembled his generals at Smorgoni, transmitted the command to King Murat for the time being, as the cold paralyzed military operations, and that he was coming to Paris to personally direct the affairs of the empire. {436} Some months later he entered Germany, where a national movement, encouraged by the disasters of the Russian campaign, was becoming each day more determined against him. The King of Prussia finally took up arms. Everywhere the Emperor Alexander was hailed as the liberator of Germany. Only the terrible battles of Lützen and Bantzen slackened the zeal of the allies. The mediation of Austria obtained an armistice; more useful, however, to the allies than to Napoleon. He rejected all the conditions proposed by the Emperor Joseph. The terrible battles of Dresden and of Leipsic were the final struggles of the dying lion.

Mr. Perceval, the Prime Minister of England, a prudent, moderate, and determined statesman, was assassinated by a personal enemy, in the vestibule of the House of Commons. Lord Liverpool at once assumed the entire responsibility of affairs, recently complicated by a declaration of war from the United States. The English government had not revoked, in time, those decrees of the Council which were opposed to, and abused, the rights of nations, and which were particularly unfortunate in the present instance, as Napoleon had raised the continental blockade in their favor. When the English finally withdrew their prohibitions, it was too late, as hostilities had already begun on sea and land. An American army invaded Canada, and the English and American fleets fought with desperation. There, however, England did not expend her warlike efforts; for in 1813 the progress of Wellington in Spain absorbed all her thoughts and all her hopes.

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For a time Marshal Jourdan took command of the French army that supported King Joseph, in Spain. On the 21st of June he was defeated by the English at Vittoria. Joseph narrowly escaped being captured. Marshal Soult succeeded Jourdan. In a proclamation to his army, he attributed the defeats to the cowardice and incapacity of those who had preceded him in the command: a sad presumption which was soon to receive its chastisement. The conflicts of Roncesvalles, on the 28th and 31st of July, 1813, forced the Marshal to fall back upon the Bidassoa, without being able to make even an effort for the relief of the besieged city of San Sebastian, which fell into the hands of the English, on the 8th of September. On the 7th of October Wellington, in his turn, crossed the Bidassoa, and while Pampeluna surrendered to the Anglo-Spanish forces, on the 31st of October, Marshal Soult was forced within his lines at St. Jean de Luz. French territory was invaded. Delivered in advance to the anger of its enemies, it was to suffer cruel reprisals of which France has not even yet ceased to bear the weight or pay the price.

Napoleon defended Champagne and Lorraine; calling to his aid the troops from Spain, as well as the remnants of the German army, and blaming Marshal Augereau, who was slow in joining him. More than ever master, and more than ever imperious, he continued indomitable and inexhaustible in the fecundity of his genius. "The Minister of War has shown me your letter of the 16th," wrote Napoleon to Augereau, his old comrade of the revolution: "that letter has grieved me deeply. What! six hours after receiving the first troops from Spain, and you are not already on the march! Were six hours of repose necessary? I gained the battle of Nangis with a brigade of dragoons from Spain, who had not been off their horses since they left Bayonne. The six battalions of Nîmes lack, you say, clothing and equipments, and are inexperienced. What an excuse to make me, Augereau! I have destroyed 80,000 of the enemy, with battalions composed of conscripts, having no cartridge boxes, and but half clothed. {438} There is no money, you say; and where do you expect to find money? We will have that, only when we have torn our receipts from the hands of the enemy. You lack horses? Take them everywhere. You have no magazines? That is too ridiculous! I order you to take up your line of march within twelve hours, after you receive this letter. If you are still the Augereau of Castiglione, obey this order; but if your sixty years weigh too heavily upon you, turn over your command to the oldest of your general officers. The country is threatened, and in danger. It can only be saved by audacity and good-will, and not by vain temporizations. You ought to have a nucleus of more than six thousand veteran troops; I have not as many, and I have moreover destroyed three armies, made 40,000 prisoners, taken two hundred cannons, and three times saved the capital. The enemy fly in all directions toward Troyes; be the first at the ball. It is no longer a question of acting, as in the last days, but it is necessary to act with the spirit and resolution of '93. When the French soldiers see your plume in the advance, and when they see you the first to expose yourself to the fire of the enemy, you will be able to do with them whatever you wish."

The blows of despair, although heroic, were not sufficient to destroy the consequences of a long series of faults and fatal errors. The empire succumbed beneath the efforts of combined Europe, driven to extremities, and finally resolved to shake off a yoke which England alone had never submitted to. During the month of February, 1814, the forces of Marshal Soult and those of Wellington were nearly equal. A series of minor conflicts compelled the marshal to leave his intrenched camp, under the walls of Bayonne. On the 27th of February, the battle of Orthez was lost by the French army, and General Foy was wounded. Soult was obliged to fight while retreating.

[Image] Waterloo.

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Bordeaux already proclaimed the Bourbons. The army of Soult covered Toulouse, and there was fought, on the 10th of April, the last battle of that war, which had already lasted more than twenty years. The glory of the marshal was increased, although the disaster which menaced France was not lessened. Before the army of Wellington had again met their old adversaries of Spain before Toulouse, the Emperor Napoleon had abdicated at Fontainbleau (April 11th, 1814).

The Duke of Wellington returned to Spain, to bid adieu to his faithful army. He returned to France in the month of August, as the English ambassador to King Louis XVIII. Some months passed, and the throne of the Bourbons, scarcely raised again, was once more overthrown.

All Europe arose, for Napoleon had secretly quitted the Island of Elba, and had reappeared in France. At sight of him, the army forgot its oath. A breath of delirium passed over their souls. Napoleon himself was not deceived regarding the serious and definitive results of his enterprise. In descending from his carriage at the door of the Tuilleries, he said to the young Count Molé, but recently strong in his good graces: "Ah, well! This is a fine prank!"

Meanwhile the allies united their forces; all nations marched together against the insatiable ambition of that conqueror, who placed for a second time the fate of the world at the hazard of his destiny. Wellington was at Brussels, collecting his forces and awaiting those of the allies. Placed by public consent at the head of all the allied armies, he was prudent and moderate; careful to avoid violent sentiments and exaggerated resolutions; friendly to the Bourbons, but without ill-will either towards France or the Emperor Napoleon. The wise attitude which he imposed upon the English, by the ascendancy of his authority and character, was not imitated by all the powers, Prussia, especially, having grievous injuries to avenge, acted with intense bitterness.

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Napoleon entered Belgium. On the night of the 15th of June, 1814, the English officers were at a ball at the house of the Duchess of Richmond in Brussels. During the festivities they were informed, one after the other, of the approach of the French army; they quietly withdrew, and at once placed themselves at the head of their troops. On the 16th the two battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought by the Prussian General Blücher and the Duke of Wellington, and cost the allies more than 15,000 men. On the 18th, at Waterloo, the English army alone left 15,000 dead upon the field of battle. The Emperor Napoleon there lost his crown, and France lost all the conquests she had so unjustly and imprudently acquired, and which had caused her so many tears and so much blood.

Yet once more, after a hundred days of agitation and of anguish, the French people, tossed from one master to the other, vacillating and thoughtless, wounded nevertheless by their reverses, to the depths of their souls, and sad notwithstanding their deliverance, saw returning to his palace their fugitive king; while Napoleon rendered to England, his persevering enemy, the involuntary homage of demanding an asylum upon her territory. Accompanied by General Becker to Rochefort, he entered into negotiations with Captain Maitland, commander of the Bellerophon. Maitland received him on board, refusing to make any engagement in the name of the English government, but resolved not to allow his illustrious guest to escape. That government promptly decided that the Emperor Napoleon, who was so dangerous to the repose of Europe, should be detained during the remainder of his life on the island of St. Helena.

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He departed, while England, through the intervention of the Duke of Wellington, lent to the monarchical restoration, as well as to the French nation, the support of her wise counsels and prudent moderation, without any one, at that time, being able to divine the role that his name and the prestige of his glory was yet to play in the history of the French nation and in the history of Europe.

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