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."
{416}
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.
{418}
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.
{419}
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.
{425}
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."
{426}
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."
{428}
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."
{430}
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.
{431}
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."
{432}
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."
{433}
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.
{434}
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.
{435}
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.
{437}
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.
{439}
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.
{440}
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.
{441}
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.
{442}