THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON.
The war between France and Russia, publicly threatened in August,
1811,[53] was long deferred. On Russia's part the adherence to a
defensive policy delayed action until France was ready. But there was
another reason why the preparations for war were only slowly pushed
forward. Even at the court of St. Petersburg there was a French party
which retarded such preparations as committing Russia too definitely to
an open rupture. On the part of France, also, delay was necessary.
Though deliberately provoked by himself, the war was not altogether
welcome to Napoleon. It suited him best to have a strong but friendly
neighbour in Russia, and victory promised him but the half-hearted
friendship of a power to which he could no longer dare to leave much
strength. Besides it was necessary to make far more extensive
preparations than had been required for any of his previous campaigns.
Russia was too poor and too thinly peopled for it to be possible for war
to support itself, and immense supplies with correspondingly large
transport arrangements were needed for a large army which would have to
fight at so vast a distance from its base. It would have been impossible
to be ready in time for a summer campaign in 1811; the country was not
favourable to transport on a large scale during winter, and the war was
therefore postponed till the summer of 1812. The end of May or beginning
of June was the date originally selected for the beginning of
operations, as it was expected that the difficulty of providing fodder
would be greatly reduced when the grass had grown. But the preparations
were not sufficiently advanced by that date, and hostilities were only
opened on June 24.
The interval was spent by both powers in securing allies and pacifying
enemies. Early in the year 1812 Prussia had made a last attempt to avert
a French alliance by inviting Russia to join in a peaceful compromise.
After the failure of this negotiation her position was helpless, and
resembled that of Poland before its national extinction. Russia could
not become her active ally without exposing her own army to destruction
at a second Friedland, and Prussia could not fight France alone.
Frederick William, therefore, accepted the terms dictated by Napoleon.
By a treaty concluded on February 24 he agreed to supply the emperor
with 20,000 men to serve as a part of the French army, and was to raise
no levies and give no orders without his consent. The king was also to
afford a free passage and provide food and forage for the French troops,
payment for which was to be arranged afterwards. In return for this a
reduction was made in the war indemnity due to France. This was probably
as much as Napoleon could have obtained without authorising a dangerous
increase in the Prussian army.
[Pageheading: _RUSSIAN ALLIANCES._]
Austria was more fortunate, because an Austrian war would have been a
serious diversion, not a step towards the invasion of Russia. She was in
consequence able to impose her own terms on France. These terms, so far
as the nature and extent of the Austrian assistance to France were
concerned, had been sketched by Metternich to the British agent, Nugent,
as far back as November, 1811, and they were accepted by France in a
treaty of March 16, 1812.[54] Austria was to provide an army of 30,000
men to guard Napoleon's flank in Volhynia. In return France guaranteed
the integrity of Turkey, and secretly promised a restoration of the
Illyrian provinces to Austria in exchange for Galicia, which was to form
a part of a reconstituted Poland. Elsewhere Napoleon's negotiations were
unsuccessful. In January he fulfilled his threat of occupying Swedish
Pomerania, but it had no effect on Swedish policy, and when in March he
offered Finland and a part of Norway as the price of an alliance, his
terms were rejected and Sweden allied herself with Russia. On April 17
Napoleon made overtures for peace with Great Britain, offering to
evacuate Spain and to recognise the house of Braganza in Portugal and
the Bourbons in Sicily, if the British would recognise the "actual
dynasty" in Spain and Murat in Naples. The offer was certainly illusory.
"Actual dynasty" was an ambiguous phrase, but would naturally mean the
Bonapartes. Castlereagh declined to recognise Joseph, but declared his
readiness to discuss the proposed basis if "actual dynasty" meant a
recognition of Ferdinand VII. in Spain. Napoleon was enabled to say that
his offers of peace had been rejected, and made no answer to
Castlereagh.
Russia in her turn had to conciliate the Porte, Sweden, Persia, and
Great Britain. The Turkish negotiations were prolonged, and it was only
in May that the treaty of Bucharest was signed, by which Russia gave up
all her conquests except Bessarabia. Sweden had offered Russia her
alliance in February. She was prepared to surrender Finland to Russia on
condition that Russia should assist her in the conquest of Norway. A
joint army was to effect this conquest and then make a descent on North
Germany, threatening the rear of the French army of invasion. The
adhesion of Great Britain was to be invited. On April 5 an alliance
between Russia and Sweden was signed on the terms suggested. This was
followed on August 28 by the treaty of Åbo, which was signed in the
presence of the British representative, Lord Cathcart. By this treaty
Russia was to assist Sweden with 30,000 men and a loan, Sweden undertook
to support Russia's claim, when it should be made, for an extension of
her frontier to the Vistula. Shortly afterwards it was agreed to
postpone the attack on Norway till the following year, and thus at
length the Russian army in Finland was set free. The treaties with the
Porte and Sweden were too late to liberate troops to oppose Napoleon's
advance, but the troops thus liberated greatly endangered his retreat.
With Persia no peace could be made. Great Britain was still nominally at
war both with Russia and with Sweden. Negotiations with Russia in April
came to nothing because the British government refused to take over a
loan of £4,000,000, but on July 18 a treaty of alliance between the
three powers was signed, in which Great Britain promised pecuniary aid
to Russia. A further sign of friendship was given when the tsar handed
over the Cronstadt fleet for safekeeping to the British. The formal
treaty was, however, only the public recognition of a friendship and
mutual confidence which had begun with the breach between Russia and
France. This good understanding was shared by the nominal allies of
France, Prussia and Austria. Russia was fully informed of the military
and political plans of Austria, and knew that her forces would not fight
except under compulsion.
At last, on June 24, Napoleon's grand army began the passage of the
Niemen, which formed the boundary between the duchy of Warsaw and the
Russian empire. The main body, at least 300,000 strong, was commanded by
Napoleon himself. A northern division, including the Prussian
contingent, was commanded by Macdonald, and, after advancing to Riga,
which it pretended to besiege, remained idle throughout the campaign.
The Austrians, under Schwarzenberg, formed a southern division, but they
merely manoeuvred, and made no serious attempts to impede the
movements of the southern Russian army on its return journey from the
war on the Danube. Napoleon himself drove the main Russian armies before
him in the direction of Moscow. At last Kutuzov, who had taken over the
command of the Russians in the course of the retreat, made a stand at
Borodino, where on September 7 one of the bloodiest battles on record
was fought. The figures are variously given, but the French army
probably lost over 30,000 in killed and wounded out of a force of
125,000; and the Russians lost not less than 40,000 out of an army of
slightly smaller dimensions. This awful carnage ended, after all, in
little more than a trial of strength. The French gained the ground, but
the Russians made good their retreat, and six days later Kutuzov retired
through the streets of Moscow, taking the better part of the population
and all the military stores with him. The French vanguard entered on the
14th, and Napoleon himself next day. A fire, kindled either by accident
or by Russian incendiaries, raged from the 14th to the 20th and
destroyed three-fourths of the city.
[Pageheading: _NAPOLEON'S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW._]
The capture of Moscow was far from being the triumph that the French
emperor had anticipated. Deceived by his recollections of Tilsit, he had
fully counted upon receiving pacific overtures from Alexander or at
least upon his eager acceptance of conciliatory assurances from himself.
But as the weeks passed and the vision of negotiation with the Russians
proved illusory, retreat became inevitable. On the night of October 18
the French army, now about 115,000 strong, evacuated Moscow. Kutuzov,
who was stronger in cavalry, though perhaps still weaker in infantry,
hung upon its rear, and, while avoiding a pitched battle, was able to
prevent Napoleon from retreating by any other route than the now
devastated line of his advance. It has often been questioned whether
Kutuzov did not deliberately refrain from destroying the French army. He
certainly informed Sir Robert Wilson on one occasion that he did not
wish to drive Napoleon to extremities, lest his supremacy should go to
the power that ruled the sea. The remark may have been nothing more than
an outburst of ill-temper, but, whatever the motive, there can be no
doubt as to the policy adopted. The retreating French army suffered
terrible hardships from the cold, for which it was ill prepared. Twice
it seemed on the point of falling into the hands of the Russians; at
Krasnoe 26,000 prisoners are said to have been captured by Kutuzov's
army, while at Borisov the southern army under Chichagov and the army
returning from Finland under Wittgenstein joined hands, and disputed the
French passage of the Berezina on November 26-29. According to
Chambray's calculation, the French army numbered 31,000 combatants
before the passage, of whom but 9,000 remained on December 1. All the
non-combatants had been left in the hands of the enemy.
This was the last direct attack made by the Russians on the relics of
the grand army. But the worst ravages of the Russian winter had yet to
come. On December 3 the cold became intense. As the survivors of the
expedition dragged themselves homewards through the Polish provinces,
they were met by large bodies of reinforcements pouring in from the
west; these recruits, comparatively fresh, were at first appalled by the
gaunt and famine-stricken aspect of the returning veterans, but soon
perished themselves in nearly equal numbers. It is estimated that
altogether only 60,000 men recrossed the frontier out of a total of
630,000, and in the estimate of 60,000 is included Macdonald's division,
which was exposed to comparatively little hardship. That division with
the Prussian contingent began to fall back on December 19. On the 30th,
however, the Prussians were reduced to neutrality by the convention of
Tauroggen, signed by the Prussian commander, Yorck, with the Russians,
without the sanction of his government. Had Russia been in a condition
to press onwards at once and carry the war into French territory, it is
possible that Europe might have been spared the misery and bloodshed of
the next few years. But, for the moment, her strength and resources were
exhausted, nor was it until months had elapsed that other nations, or
even France herself, became aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe
which had overtaken Napoleon's host. That he was able to rally himself
after it, to carry the French people with him, to enforce a new
conscription, and to assume the aggressive in the campaign of 1813, must
ever remain a supreme proof of his capacity for empire.
[Pageheading: _DISPUTES WITH THE UNITED STATES._]
In the year 1812 war broke out between Great Britain and the United
States. For a time the continental warfare had led to a great increase
in American commerce, which was free from the attacks of privateers and
from the restrictions which the opposing parties placed on one another.
Presently, however, both parties attempted to force the United States
into a virtual alliance with themselves. Orders in council on the one
side and imperial decrees on the other had, as we have seen, declared a
blockade of the ports of the continent of Europe and of Great Britain,
and the United States saw their commerce threatened with disabilities
approximating to those suffered by the belligerent powers. President
Jefferson, who was supported by the republican party, adhered to a
policy of strict neutrality, and prepared to suffer any commercial loss
rather than be drawn into an European war. The only action which he took
was the defence of the river mouths with a view to resisting any
offensive movement. The federalist party on the other hand were in
favour of energetic action against France, so as to secure English
favour and the great commercial privileges which the mistress of the
seas could bestow. For a time no hostilities resulted, but constant
irritation was caused by the British claim to a right of search and to
the impressment of sailors of British nationality found on American
ships, while American ships accused of infringing the blockade were
seized by either of the European combatants. To some extent the
differences between Great Britain and the United States depended on
rival views of the law of allegiance. The British maintained the
doctrine _nemo potest exuere patriam_, and regarded all British-born
persons, unless absolved from their allegiance by the act of the
mother-country, as British subjects. The law of the United States, on
the other hand, permitted an alien to become a citizen after fourteen
years' residence, and previously to 1798 had required a residence of
five years only. In this way it often happened that sailors who had
received the American citizenship were impressed for service on British
ships, and sometimes sailors of actual American birth were impressed.
But it was impossible to justify the practice to which the Americans
resorted of receiving deserters of British nationality from British
ships of war, who were induced by offers of higher pay to transfer
themselves to the American service.
Jefferson at first preferred to coerce the European powers by
retaliatory legislation. As early as April, 1806, a law had been passed
forbidding the importation of certain British wares, but was suspended
six weeks after it came into operation. In June, 1807, irritation was
intensified by the incident of the _Leopard_ and the _Chesapeake_. Five
men, four of whom were British born and one an American by birth, were
known to have deserted from the British sloop _Halifax_, lying in
Hampton roads, and to have taken service on an American frigate, the
_Chesapeake_. After application for their surrender had been made in
vain to the magistrates of the town of Norfolk, where the _Chesapeake's_
rendezvous was, and to the officer commanding the rendezvous,
Vice-admiral Berkeley sent his flagship, the _Leopard_, carrying fifty
guns, with an order to the British captains on the North American
station to search the _Chesapeake_ for deserters from six ships named,
including the _Halifax_, in case she should be encountered on the high
seas. The _Leopard_ arrived in Chesapeake bay in time to follow the
_Chesapeake_ beyond American waters, and then made a demand to search
for deserters. On the captain of the _Chesapeake_ refusing compliance,
the _Leopard_ opened fire. The _Chesapeake_ was not in a condition to
make any effectual reply, and, after receiving three broadsides, struck
her flag. Only one of the deserters from the _Halifax_, an Englishman,
was found on the _Chesapeake_; but three deserters from the British
warship _Melampus_, which had not been named in Berkeley's order, all
Americans by birth, were removed from the _Chesapeake_, which was now
permitted to return to port.[55] Although the British government offered
reparation for this action, recalled Berkeley, and disavowed the right
to search ships of war for deserters, the incident could not fail to
make a bad impression on American opinion.
But still Jefferson adhered to a policy of pacific coercion. In
December, 1807, the act of April, 1806, was again put into force, and an
embargo act, passed by the American congress, now cut off all foreign
countries from trade with the United States. But the policy of embargo
was disastrous to its promoters. It ruined the commerce and emptied the
treasury of the United States. On March 1, 1809, a non-intercourse act,
applying only to France, Great Britain, and their dependencies, was
substituted for the embargo act.[56] The new act enabled the president
to remove the embargo against whichever country should cancel its orders
or decrees against American trade. Three days later Jefferson was
succeeded by Madison as President of the United States. The change made
no difference to the policy of the United States government. But the
opposition was now much stronger and more violent than formerly; so much
so that Sir James Craig, the Canadian governor, actually despatched a
spy, John Henry, to sound the willingness of New England, where the
federalist party was the stronger, to secede from the union and join
Great Britain against the United States. This venture becomes the less
surprising when we observe that in the previous year, 1808, John Quincy
Adams, the future president, had predicted such a secession. Nothing,
however, came of the attempt. Madison attempted to obtain concessions
from the British government, but while the Perceval ministry lasted he
met with no success. In May, 1810, the non-intercourse act expired, but
a proviso was enacted that, if before March 3, 1811, either Great
Britain or France should cancel her decrees against American trade the
act should, three months after such revocation, revive against the power
that maintained its decrees. Madison was cajoled into believing that
Napoleon had recalled his decrees on November 1, 1810, and the
non-intercourse act was accordingly revived against Great Britain and
her dependencies in February, 1811.
[Pageheading: _WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES._]
Almost the first act of the Liverpool administration was to cancel the
restrictions on American trade. But it was too late. Five days earlier
the United States had declared war against Great Britain on June 18,
1812. The explanation of this step must be sought in the party politics
of the United States. While the federalists courted British alliance,
the younger members of the republican party had conceived a hope of
conquering Canada as a result of a victorious war against Great Britain.
This was the reply of the national party in the United States to the
action of the Canadian governor. Madison knew the impracticability of
such a step, but, finding that he could only carry the presidential
election of 1812 with the support of this section of his party, he
declared war. Great Britain, with her best troops in the Peninsula, was
in no condition to use her full strength in America, but the United
States were entirely unprepared for war. Their treasury was still empty,
and their army and navy were small, while Canada generally was contented
and loyal to the British crown. Upper Canada was full of loyalists, who
had been expelled from the revolted colonies, and who with their
descendants hated the men that had driven them from their homes; lower
Canada was half-French and had nothing in common with the United States,
while the Roman catholic clergy threw the whole weight of their
influence on the British side. General Hull, who commanded the forces
employed against Canada, succeeded in crossing the river Detroit in July
and threatened the British post of Malden. But an alliance with the
Indians enabled the British first to possess themselves of Mackinac, at
the junction of lakes Huron and Michigan, and afterwards to imperil
Hull's communications through the Michigan territory.
Hull accordingly fell back on Detroit. The British, with 750 men under
Major-General Brock, together with 600 Indians, now prepared to attack
Hull at that place. Hull, who believed his retreat to be cut off by the
Indians, did not await the British attack, but surrendered on August 16
with 2,500 men and thirty-three guns. The effect of the capitulation was
to place the British in effectual possession, not merely of Detroit, but
of the territory of Michigan, and thus to render any attack on Canada
from that quarter extremely difficult. The advantages gained by the
British through this success were unfortunately neutralised by the
policy pursued by Sir George Prevost, who had succeeded Craig as
governor of Canada. Prevost was of opinion that, when the news of the
withdrawal of the orders in council reached Washington, the United
States government would be ready to abandon hostilities; and he
accordingly concluded a provisional armistice with General Dearborn, the
commander-in-chief of the enemy's forces in the northern states. But
President Madison, having engaged in war, was anxious to try the effect
of another attack on Canada before negotiating for peace, and therefore
declined to ratify the armistice. The interval enabled the United States
to bring up reinforcements, but their new army failed in an attack on a
British post on the Maumee river.
Meanwhile a second attempt was made to invade Upper Canada, this time
from the side of Niagara. On October 13, Brigadier-General Wadsworth,
acting under the orders of General Van Rensselaer, led an attack on the
British position of Queenstown on the Canadian bank of the Niagara
river. Brock commanded the defence, but was killed early in the fight.
The position was momentarily seized by the enemy, but was presently
recaptured by the British, who had in the meantime been reinforced by
Major-General Sheaffe, the son of a loyalist, with a force from Fort
George, and before the day closed Wadsworth found himself compelled to
surrender with 900 men. The remainder of the enemy's forces, consisting
of militia, rather than exceed their military obligations by crossing
the frontier, chose to leave these men to their fate. In spite of the
ignominious surrenders with which the first two expeditions against
Canada had terminated, a third attempt was made by Brigadier-General
Smyth to force the Canadian frontier; but on November 28 he was repulsed
with loss by the British under Bishopp between Chippewa and Fort Erie,
above the Niagara Falls, and at the end of the year the Canadian
frontier still remained unpierced.
[Pageheading: _AMERICAN SUCCESSES AT SEA._]
The glory of the British military successes was unfortunately obscured
in large measure by American successes on the sea. The maritime war
resolved itself into a series of fights between individual frigates.
This was the necessary result of the nature of the British force kept in
American waters. Ever since the renewal of hostilities with France in
1803 a species of blockade had been maintained along the coast of the
United States by British vessels on the watch for deserters or
contraband of war. It was also found necessary to employ ships of war
to guard against pirates in the West Indies and to protect British
commerce in that quarter against French privateers. For all these
purposes speed was of more importance than strength, and the British
force in the west contained a disproportionate number of smaller vessels
as compared with line of battle ships. The actual numbers of British
warships in North American waters at the beginning of 1812 were three
ships of the line, twenty-one cruisers and frigates, and fifty-three
small craft. The United States navy was still weaker, and amounted
merely to seven efficient frigates and nine small craft.[57] There was
no question of a contest between fleets, and though the numbers of the
British warships enabled them to destroy American trade, they were ship
for ship inferior to the American frigates, which were thus enabled to
win an empty glory in single-ship encounters. The American frigates
were, in fact, superior in every respect to the British ships which
nominally belonged to the same class. They were larger and more strongly
built, a frigate being as strong as a British seventy-four. Their crews
were more numerous, and were recruited entirely from seamen, about
one-third of whom would appear to have been of British nationality,
while, as has been seen, many of them had been decoyed from British
war-vessels by offers of higher pay. The British ships on the other hand
were manned largely by landsmen, often impressed from the jails. A false
economy had induced the British admiralty to impose narrow limits on the
use of ammunition for gunnery practice. The Americans on the other hand
were very liberal in this respect, with the result that in the early
years of the war they were greatly superior to their enemies in point of
marksmanship.
A good example of the disproportion between the British and American
frigates is furnished by the fight between the British frigate
_Guerrière_ and the American frigate _Constitution_, on August 19, one
of the first naval actions in the war. The _Guerrière_ was armed with
twenty-four broadside guns, discharging projectiles with a total weight
of 517 pounds; the _Constitution_ with twenty-eight broadside guns,
discharging a weight of 768 pounds. The crew of the _Guerrière_,
counting men only, numbered 244, that of the _Constitution_ with a
similar limitation 460. Finally the _Guerrière's_ tonnage amounted to
1,092, as against the _Constitution's_ 1,533. The _Guerrière's_ guns
proved very ineffectual from the start, while the marksmanship, not only
of the American gunners but of the riflemen in the _Constitution's_
tops, was the wonder of the British. It is stated that none of her shot
fell short. After a fight lasting nearly two hours the _Guerrière_
surrendered. The ship was a complete wreck, and she had lost fifteen men
killed and six mortally wounded as against seven killed and three
mortally wounded on board her opponent.
The effect of the engagement both on British and on American public
opinion was altogether out of proportion to its intrinsic importance.
The inequality in strength of the opposing frigates was not understood,
and any defeat of the mistress of the seas seemed an event of
considerable significance. The Americans soon met with other similar
successes. On October 18 their sloop _Wasp_, of eighteen guns, reduced
the British sloop _Frolic_, a weaker vessel, though of similar armament,
to a helpless hulk after a ten minutes' cannonade. The moral effect of
this victory was not impaired by the fact that the conqueror and her
prize were compelled to surrender a few hours later to the British
seventy-four _Poictiers_. On the 25th the _United States_, of forty-four
guns, captured the _Macedonian_, of thirty-eight, after three hours'
fighting, and on December 29 the British thirty-eight-gun frigate
_Java_, with a very inexperienced crew, was captured by the
_Constitution_ after a running fight of three hours and a half.[58]
[Pageheading: _THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN OF 1813._]
With the retreat of the French army from Russia the main scene of
operations on the continent was shifted from Russia to Germany. Great
Britain took little part in the actual warfare in Germany, and if she
had a larger share in the political negotiations which ultimately
determined the distribution of forces, still Austria and not Great
Britain was the power whose diplomacy had most effect on the course of
events. The upheaval of Europe against Napoleon, however, would have
been much less effective if it had not been supported by English
subsidies, and Austria, in the crippled state of her finances, would
probably have had to remain inactive if she had not been able to rely on
English gold and perhaps still more on English credit.
The campaign of 1813 falls naturally into three parts. During the first,
from the beginning of January to the latter part of April the victorious
Russians swept over North Germany, and, carrying the Prussian monarchy
with them, strengthened a reaction which had already begun against the
rule of Napoleon. The second part began with the arrival of Napoleon on
the scene of action towards the end of April and lasted to the
conclusion of an armistice on June 4. In this period of seven or eight
weeks the allies were forced to retire at all points and the war was
carried into Prussian territory. The armistice, which terminated on
August 10, preceded the opening of the third part of the campaign in
which Russia and Prussia were joined by Austria and Sweden, and, after
gradually drawing closer round the main French position in Saxony,
finally inflicted a crushing defeat upon Napoleon at Leipzig in the
middle of October. The campaign was virtually over when Napoleon secured
his retreat by the victory of Hanau on October 30; but it is impossible
to sever it from the events outside Germany which were directly
occasioned by the downfall of Napoleon's German domination. These are
the revolt of Holland in November, that of Switzerland in December, and
the Austrian attack on Northern Italy in October and November.
In the opening months of the campaign the movements were merely a sequel
to those of the previous year. The French retreat was continued from the
Niemen to the Vistula, the Elbe, and finally the Saale. The Russians
entered Prussia proper a few days after Yorck's capitulation, and the
French retired before them. Stein, the Prussian statesman who had
received a commission from Russia to administer the Prussian districts
occupied by her, ordered the provincial governor to convoke an assembly.
Although some indignation was felt at such a step being taken by Russian
orders, the assembly met and voted the formation of the Landwehr. In
this way Prussia actually began to arm against France, while the
Prussian government still professed to maintain the French alliance. A
few days later King Frederick William left Berlin, which was still
occupied by the French, for Breslau. Before the end of February he had
concluded the treaty of Kalisch with Russia, by which the two powers
were to conduct the war against France conjointly, and Russia was not to
lay down her arms till Prussia should be restored to a strength equal to
that which she had possessed in 1806. On March 2 Cathcart arrived at
Kalisch as British ambassador to the Russian court. He actively promoted
Russia's alliance with Prussia, from which Great Britain stood apart for
the present. He was able to obtain from Prussia a renunciation of her
claims on Hanover, but Frederick William was still opposed to any
increase of Hanoverian territory. On the 17th Prussia declared war on
France. By that time the Russians had entered both Berlin and Breslau,
and had freed Hamburg from French dominion, thus reopening Germany to
British commerce. The declaration of war by Prussia was accompanied by a
convention with Russia providing for the deliverance of Germany and the
dissolution of the confederation of the Rhine. This convention embodied
Stein's policy. It relied on popular support and it aimed at an unified
government, at least in the territories occupied at that date by
adherents of France.
[Pageheading: _THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN OF 1813._]
But the popular upheaval in Germany was confined to the kingdom of
Prussia, and the attempt to spread it elsewhere only provoked distrust
in Austria and the South German states; it was not until the
conservative elements in Germany were won over by Metternich's policy
that the anti-Napoleonic movement became truly national. For the present
Austria played the part of mediator. Lord Walpole, who had been sent on
a secret errand to Vienna in December, 1812, tried in vain to win
Austria to the side of the allies by promising the restoration of the
Tyrol, Illyria, and Venetia.[59] Her government would probably have
preferred a reconciliation with France, which would have arrested the
growth of Russia and left Germany divided, to a unified Germany such as
Stein desired; but Metternich, who directed her policy, cherished little
hope of the success of his endeavours, though he knew when to employ
agents more optimistic than himself. The Austrian treasury was empty,
and it therefore suited Austria to remain neutral as long as possible,
while in the event of a doubtful struggle this very neutrality would
raise the price of her ultimate alliance. It was in this way that she
came at last to exercise a decisive voice in the resettlement of
Germany, not to say of Europe. True to this policy, the Austrian court
concluded a truce of indefinite duration with Russia at the beginning of
the year, and withdrew its forces within its own borders. This was
followed by an offer of mediation made to France, which was, however,
declined. A renewed offer was declined early in April by both France and
Great Britain. The British still distrusted Austria, while France
desired to buy her active co-operation and made an offer of Silesia in
return for an army of 100,000, should Prussia or Russia open
hostilities. Austria did not, however, abandon her project, but notified
Prussia and Russia that she would proceed with the task of armed
mediation, and steadily busied herself with military preparations.
The vigour of the Prussians in recruiting had surprised Napoleon, but
his own vigour was the marvel of Europe. In spite of the losses of the
Russian campaign, he was able to take the field at the end of April with
an army which at the lowest estimate was 200,000 strong. But his
soldiers were for the most part mere boys, and he was sadly deficient in
cavalry. The veterans of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Friedland, and of
Wagram had been recklessly sacrificed on the plains of Russia. He was
victorious at Lützen on May 2, was joined by the King of Saxony, entered
Dresden, and thence pushed across the Elbe. On the 21st the victory of
Bautzen enabled him to advance to the Oder and occupy Breslau. A renewed
offer of Austrian mediation drew from him a declaration in favour of an
armistice and a diplomatic congress. On June 4 an armistice was actually
concluded at Poischwitz to last until August 1, and a neutral zone was
provided to separate the combatants. On June 7 the demands of Austria
were presented to Napoleon. They involved the renunciation by France of
all territorial possessions, and even of a protectorate in Germany, and
the restoration to Prussia and Austria of most of their lost provinces.
Napoleon refused these terms, but accepted the mediation of Austria, and
arranged for a congress which met at Prague in the middle of July. The
armistice was prolonged till August 10. Both France and Austria were
merely striving to gain time while they prepared for war, and there can
be no doubt that the allies profited most by the delay. During the
interval the news arrived of Wellington's great victory at Vitoria on
June 21, and Napoleon, recalled to Mainz, occupied himself in arranging
plans for the defence of the Pyrenees.
During the armistice Prussia and Russia not only greatly reinforced
their troops, but received valuable assistance from Great Britain,
Sweden, and above all Austria. Already, on March 3, Great Britain had by
the treaty of Stockholm given her sanction to the seizure of the whole
of Norway by Sweden, after a vain attempt to induce Denmark to consent
to a peaceable cession of the diocese of Trondhjem. At the same time
Great Britain promised Guadeloupe as a personal gift to Bernadotte, and
a subsidy of £1,000,000 for the Swedish troops fighting against
Napoleon. A new treaty between Russia and Sweden on April 22 guaranteed
the cession of Norway. On June 14 and 15 Cathcart, having at last
obtained Prussia's consent to an increase in the territories of Hanover,
signed treaties at Reichenbach with Prussia and Russia, by which Great
Britain undertook to pay a subsidy of two-thirds of a million pounds to
the former and a million and a third to the latter power. It was also
agreed to issue federative paper notes to an extent not exceeding
£5,000,000 to pay the expenses of the armies of the two powers during
the year 1813, and Great Britain undertook the responsibility for
one-half of these notes. Soon afterwards Austria received a promise of a
loan of £500,000 as soon as she should join the allies. Half of this
last sum was actually paid within a few days of the resumption of
hostilities.
[Pageheading: _DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG._]
When the armistice expired, French forces were threatening Austria from
three sides--from Bavaria, Illyria, and Saxony; and Napoleon's intention
seems to have been to amuse the Austrian court with negotiations until
he could defeat the Prussian and Russian armies, after which he counted
upon overwhelming the Austrians with his entire force. The task of
defeating the Prussians was entrusted to his army in Saxony with which
Davoût was expected to co-operate from Hamburg, retaken by the French on
May 30. Austria, however, declared war on France the moment the
armistice had elapsed, August 12, and the main army of the allies,
principally composed of Austrians with large Prussian and Russian
contingents, assembled in Bohemia. Napoleon was opposed in Silesia by an
army of Prussians and Russians, while Bernadotte, in command of a mixed
army, consisting mainly of Swedes, Prussians and Russians, but including
3,000 British troops and 25,000 Hanoverians under Walmoden, operated
against him from the north. These three armies were eventually able to
join hands, while Davoût's army, the French armies in Italy and Illyria,
and 170,000 French troops in various German fortresses were unable to
render effective aid in the struggle. On August 26-27 Napoleon himself
won the last of his great victories at Dresden over the main army of the
allies, while his lieutenants were defeated by the northern army at
Grossbeeren on August 23, and again at Dennewitz on September 6, and by
the Silesian army at the Katzbach on August 26. The capitulation of
Vandamme at Kulm, with some 10,000 men, neutralised Napoleon's victory
at Dresden, and his enemies were increased by Austrian diplomacy. The
treaty of Teplitz, concluded on September 9, and accepted by Great
Britain on October 3, committed the allies to the complete independence
of the several German states. On the 10th Bavaria renounced the French
alliance, and on October 8, by the treaty of Ried, she engaged to join
the allies with 36,000 men, in return for a promise that she should
suffer no diminution of territory. On the 7th the northern and Silesian
armies had united west of the Elbe; Napoleon, who had quitted Dresden on
the 6th and vainly attempted to engage the separate northern army,
arrived at Leipzig on the 14th. But it was now too late.
On the 16th the allied armies, which had concentrated on Leipzig,
compelled him to stand at bay, and to risk all upon the fortunes of a
single battle. This battle, lasting three days, was not only one of the
greatest but one of the most decisive recorded in modern history, for it
finally crippled the warlike power of Napoleon, and inevitably
determined the issue of the campaigns yet to be fought in 1814 and 1815.
It would appear that Napoleon had under his command about 250,000 men,
and that he lost at least 50,000 in killed and wounded on the field. The
allied forces were much larger numerically, and their losses fully
equalled those of the French. But their victory was crushing. One of its
immediate results was that Napoleon was forced to abandon Saxony, and
with it the French cause in Germany. The French garrisons were reduced
one by one. Of the fortresses east of the Rhine, Hamburg, Kehl,
Magdeburg, and Wesel alone held out until the conclusion of peace in
1814. The general rising of Central Europe against French domination
which followed the battle of Leipzig extended itself to Holland. The
French were expelled in the middle of November, and on December 2 the
Prince of Orange was proclaimed sovereign prince of the Netherlands. On
the 29th the Swiss diet voted the restoration of the old constitution.
The confederation of the Rhine was practically dissolved, but in Italy
Napoleon's viceroy, Eugène Beauharnais, after falling back before the
Austrian army, was able to hold the line of the Adige. On November 9 it
was decided to offer peace to Napoleon on condition of the surrender of
all French conquests beyond the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. These
terms represented the policy of Metternich. The Earl of Aberdeen
consented to them on behalf of Great Britain and Nesselrode on behalf of
Russia, but they were not accepted by Napoleon before the date by which
an answer was required, and the war proceeded. On December 31 the
Prussians under Blücher crossed the Rhine near Coblenz and opened a new
campaign.
[Pageheading: _AMERICAN SUCCESSES._]
Meanwhile the war on the American continent was carried on with varying
success, though the balance of fortune was rather on the side of the
United States. The operations were in the main of a desultory character,
no permanent conquests being made. The first engagement in the year 1813
was at Frenchtown on the Raisin River in Michigan, where Colonel
Proctor, commanding 500 regulars and militia, and 600 Indians, defeated
an American force of 1,000 under Brigadier-General Winchester, and took
500 prisoners, while many of the remaining Americans fell into the hands
of the Indians. The immediate effect of this victory was that General
Harrison, who was leading an American force of 2,000 men against
Detroit, determined to retrace his steps. Three months later Proctor
made a descent upon an American position on the Maumee River in the
north of the State of Ohio. After besieging the enemy for a few days he
was compelled to retire, but, before he left, an engagement took place
on May 5, in which the British forces, with a total loss of less than
100, inflicted severe losses on their opponents and made about 500
prisoners. A subsequent attempt to capture Fort Sandusky, near the head
of Lake Erie, was repulsed on August 2; ninety out of 350 British troops
were returned as killed, wounded or missing.
The British had hitherto commanded the lakes, but Commodore Perry now
occupied himself in building a fleet at Presqu'isle in Pennsylvania on
the coast of Lake Erie. Commander Barclay, in command of such ships as
the British possessed, was badly supported and encountered the same
difficulties in obtaining seamen as had been experienced for the
sea-going ships. The ships in the service of the United States were in
consequence again the more powerful and the better manned. On September
10 the two squadrons engaged. The British had six vessels with a
broadside of 459 lb., while the enemy had nine vessels with a broadside
of 928 lb. With such odds the result could not be doubtful, and the
whole British squadron was compelled to surrender. This success enabled
the enemy to strike with effect at the south-western end of Lower
Canada. The British immediately evacuated the whole territory of
Michigan with the exception of Mackinac; and Proctor, now raised to the
rank of major-general, commenced a retreat in the direction of Lake
Ontario. On October 5 he was attacked at Moraviantown on the Thames by
Harrison, and the greater part of his forces were captured in an
engagement which reflected small credit on British generalship. The
remainder of his forces reached Burlington Heights, at the west end of
Lake Ontario, but the whole country to the west of the Grand River had
to be abandoned to the enemy.
On Lake Ontario the fortune of war was more equally divided. The
Americans had been gradually collecting a naval squadron at Sackett's
Harbour and had gained command of the lake as early as November, 1812.
The command was, however, precarious, since it might be disturbed by the
arrival or construction of new warships. One such was building at York,
now known as Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada, when, on April 27,
1813, the American squadron under Commodore Chauncey attacked the town
and succeeded in landing a detachment of troops under General Dearborn.
The British general, Sheaffe, withdrew his regular forces from the town
without awaiting an assault, but not before he had destroyed the ship of
which the enemy were in quest. The Americans captured some naval stores,
but did not attempt to hold the town; they set an evil precedent,
however, by burning the parliament house and other public buildings
before evacuating the place. On May 27 Chauncey co-operated again with
Dearborn in an attack on Fort George, the capture of which threw the
whole line of the Niagara into American hands. On the same day Prevost,
whose naval strength had been reinforced, availing himself of Chauncey's
absence, made an attack on Sackett's Harbour. The attack, which was
renewed on the 29th, was miserably conducted, and ended in failure,
though the Americans were compelled to burn the naval stores captured at
York. The reinforcements had, however, transferred to the British the
command of the lake, which was not challenged again till the end of
July. Meanwhile their land forces were not idle. On June 6 the Americans
were surprised by Colonel Vincent at Burlington Heights and over 100
prisoners, including two brigadier-generals, were taken. This defeat,
combined with the approach of the British naval squadron under Sir James
Yeo, induced Dearborn to abandon his other posts on the Canadian side of
the Niagara and to concentrate at Fort George, but on the 24th another
surprise ended in the surrender of a detachment of more than 500
Americans to a force of fifty British troops and 240 Indians. By the end
of July Chauncey's squadron was once more strong enough to put to sea.
It raided York on the 31st, but did not venture to join battle with Yeo;
though a skirmish on August 10 enabled Yeo to capture two schooners.
Meanwhile on the frontier of Lower Canada the British were everywhere
successful. On June 3 two American sloops attacked the British garrison
of Isle-aux-noix at the north end of Lake Champlain. Both ships were
compelled to surrender. On August 1 a British force raided Plattsburg
and destroyed the barracks and military stores. A combined movement on
Montreal was now made by the forces of the United States; it was mainly
owing to the loyalty of the French Canadians that they were repulsed.
General Hampton advancing from the south with a force 7,000 strong was
defeated at the river Chateauguay on October 26, by 900 men belonging to
the Canadian militia, commanded by Colonel McDonnell and Colonel de
Salaberry. The defeated general withdrew his troops into winter quarters
at Plattsburg. Not long after, on December 7, the American general
Wilkinson who had sailed down the St. Lawrence to Prescott and was
marching towards Cornwall, was defeated with heavy loss by Colonel
Morrison at Chrystler's Farm, and made no further attempt on Canada. In
the same month General McClure, who commanded at Fort George, retired to
the eastern bank of the Niagara before Colonel Murray's advance. His
retreat was disgraced by the burning of the town of Newark, where women
and children were turned homeless into the cold of a Canadian winter. At
the same time the American forces were withdrawn from south-western
Canada but still retained Amherstburg at the head of Lake Erie, the sole
conquest of the campaign.
[Pageheading: _NAVAL WARFARE._]
The naval warfare of 1813 was less rich in individual encounters than
that of 1812. The British captains were better acquainted with the
strength of the American ships and did not rashly engage vessels
stronger than their own. There was also a marked improvement in British
gunnery, and an increase in the strength of the British naval force in
American waters. At first the blockade of the American coast had not
been strictly maintained further south than New York, but as
reinforcements arrived it was made more complete, and after June of this
year it was only occasionally that any warship or privateer contrived to
elude the blockading vessels. Meanwhile the British constantly raided
and harassed the American coast, and had no difficulty in availing
themselves of the Chesapeake and Delaware estuaries as naval bases. A
new feature of this year's warfare was the appearance of American
cruisers, especially privateers, in British waters, and even in the St.
George's Channel. To such ships the French ports were a very serviceable
naval base. The Americans would appear to have captured more of British
commerce than the British captured of theirs, but this was no
compensation for the almost complete cessation of their foreign trade.
Of single ship actions the destruction of the British _Peacock_ by the
American _Hornet_, commanded by Captain Lawrence, on February 24, the
capture of the American _Argus_ by the British _Pelican_ not far from
the Welsh coast on August 14, and the famous duel between the
_Chesapeake_ and the _Shannon_ on June 1 were the most important.
The British frigate _Shannon_ (38) was commanded by Captain Broke, who
was famous not merely for the attention he paid to gun practice, but for
the care he had bestowed on the laying of his ship's ordnance. Ever
since the beginning of April the frigates _Shannon_ and _Tenedos_ (38)
had been lying off Boston, where they hoped to intercept any American
frigate that dared to leave the harbour. Two succeeded in eluding them.
The _Chesapeake_ frigate (36) commanded by Lawrence, lay in the harbour;
and Broke, having detached the _Tenedos_ in order to tempt her out, sent
a challenge to Lawrence on the morning of June 1, but before it could be
delivered the _Chesapeake_ had sailed. She steered for the _Shannon_,
who waited for her. The fight began at 5.50 P.M. about six leagues out
from Boston; it was brief and bloody. After ten minutes' firing the
_Chesapeake_ fell on board the _Shannon_, and was immediately boarded.
In four minutes more every man on board had surrendered. In this short
fight the _Shannon_ had lost out of a crew of 352 twenty-four killed and
fifty-nine wounded, two of the latter mortally, while the _Chesapeake_,
according to American official figures, had lost out of 386 forty-seven
killed and ninety-nine wounded (fourteen of the latter mortally). No
fewer than thirty-two British deserters were found on board the
_Chesapeake_. The victory made the best possible impression. The two
ships had been of approximately equal strength, the American having a
slight superiority of force, and the _Chesapeake_ had been captured in
the way in which most turns on individual courage, by boarding. Both
captains had distinguished themselves in the fight, and both were
severely wounded, Lawrence, as the event proved, fatally.
[Pageheading: _CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE._]
The abandonment of Germany by the French at the close of 1813 left the
outlying provinces and allies of France exposed to invasion. The
Austrian general, Nugent, aided by British naval and military forces,
captured Trieste on October 31. Dalmatia had been invaded by the
Montenegrins as early as September, 1813, and was afterwards attacked by
Austrians and British marines, but the town of Cattaro held out till it
was taken by the British in January, 1814. On the 14th of the same
month Denmark was compelled by the treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to
Sweden in exchange for Swedish Pomerania and Rügen, Sweden undertaking
to assist Denmark in procuring a fuller equivalent for Norway at the
conclusion of a general peace. A treaty signed between Denmark and Great
Britain at the same time and place provided for the restitution to
Denmark of all British conquests, with the exception of Heligoland,
while Denmark undertook to do all in her power for the abolition of the
slave trade. The people of Norway and their governor, Prince Christian
of Denmark, refused to submit to the transference of their allegiance,
and on February 19 the independence of Norway was proclaimed. At first
the Swedish government attempted to obtain the submission of Norway by
negotiation only, but so important a diversion of her interest and
energies was sufficient to prevent Sweden from joining in the new
campaign against France. In Italy on January 11 Napoleon's
brother-in-law, Murat, whom he had made King of Naples in 1808, formed
an alliance with Austria. The treaty was never confirmed by Great
Britain, but the British government subsequently consented to support
Murat, if he should loyally exert himself in Italy against Napoleon's
forces. Although Murat did actually engage in hostilities against the
French, the British were far from satisfied with his operations and
considered that his remissness left them a free hand. Accordingly on
March 9 a British fleet entered the port of Leghorn and landed 8,000
men, of whom Lord William Bentinck took command. From Leghorn he marched
upon Genoa which surrendered to him on April 18.
Meanwhile the main forces of the allies were concentrated for a campaign
against Napoleon in Champagne. Of the three armies which had combined at
Leipzig the Austro-Russian army under Schwarzenberg made its way through
Switzerland, Alsace, and Franche-Comté, while Blücher's army of
Prussians and Russians passed through the region which afterwards became
the Rhine province and Lorraine. The two armies united in the
neighbourhood of Brienne in Champagne. Bernadotte's army did not as a
whole take part in the campaign; but a portion of it, consisting of
Russians under Wittgenstein and Prussians under Bülow, was engaged in
the conquest of Belgium and was able to invade France itself later in
the year. Schwarzenberg's army was accompanied by the Emperors of
Russia and Austria, the King of Prussia, and the leading European
diplomatists, including Castlereagh. From the outset there was a marked
difference between the Austrian and Russian policies. Metternich was
content with reducing France to the natural frontiers already offered to
her, and aimed merely at compelling Napoleon to recognise the _fait
accompli_ in Germany, and to evacuate Italy and Spain. He was therefore
in favour of slow advances and of giving Napoleon every opportunity for
coming to terms. The tsar, on the other hand, wished to reduce France to
her ancient limits, and was anxious to enter Paris as a conqueror. He
also excited Austrian jealousy by his scheme of annexing what had been
Prussian Poland, and compensating Prussia with Saxony. Castlereagh and
the Prussian minister, Hardenberg, supported the tsar's policy towards
France, but without sharing his ardour.
On the first arrival of the allies in Champagne the tsar had only
induced Metternich to advance by threatening to prosecute the war alone.
After they had gained what appeared to be a decisive victory over
Napoleon at La Rothière on February 1, negotiations were commenced at
Châtillon. Napoleon insisted on continuing the war during the
negotiations and interposed every possible delay. The allies first
demanded that France should recede within the limits of 1791 and offered
a partial restoration of French colonies, but refused to specify the
colonies which they were willing to relinquish until France should
accept the first condition. To this the French demurred, and on the 9th
the tsar impetuously withdrew his minister. From the 10th to the 14th
Napoleon inflicted a series of crushing blows upon Blücher's army.
Negotiations were now resumed; they lasted till the middle of March, but
as Napoleon would not surrender his claim to Belgium and the Rhine
provinces they were fruitless, notwithstanding the pacific efforts of
Caulaincourt, the French negotiator. On the 21st Napoleon tried in vain
to detach Austria from the allies by a private letter to the Emperor
Francis, and on March 1 a permanent basis was given to the alliance by
the treaty of Chaumont (definitely signed on the 9th), by which the four
allied powers bound themselves to conclude no separate peace, and not to
lay down their arms till the object of the war should have been obtained
by the restriction of France to her ancient frontiers. Each power was
to maintain 150,000 men regularly in the field, and Great Britain was to
pay the three other powers a subsidy of £5,000,000 for the current year
and a like sum for every subsequent year of warfare. The signatory
powers were to maintain their present concert and armaments for twenty
years if necessary.
[Pageheading: _NAPOLEON'S FIRST ABDICATION._]
After this treaty on March 4 Blücher united with Wittgenstein and Bülow
near Soissons. On the 20th Napoleon was repulsed by Schwarzenberg's army
at Arcis-sur-Aube, after which he attempted to cut off its
communications by a movement to its rear. In consequence of this
movement the allied armies advanced on Paris, while the Austrian emperor
fled to Dijon taking Castlereagh and Metternich with him.[60] This left
the war to be concluded under the influence of the most vigorous of the
allied sovereigns, the Tsar of Russia. Paris capitulated on the 30th and
on the next day was occupied by the allies. The tsar now issued "on
behalf of all the allied powers" a proclamation in which he declared
that they would not treat with Napoleon or his family, but were willing
to respect the integrity of France, and to guarantee the constitution
that the French people should adopt. This prepared the way for a
reaction against Napoleon in France. A provisional government was formed
on April 1; on the 3rd the French senate proclaimed the deposition of
Napoleon, and on the 6th it published a constitution, and recalled the
Bourbons in the person of Louis XVIII., the younger brother of Louis
XVI. On the same day Napoleon signed an unconditional abdication at
Fontainebleau. On the 11th a treaty was signed between Napoleon and the
sovereigns of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by which he renounced all
claim to the crowns of France and Italy, and was assigned the Isle of
Elba as an independent principality and a place of residence, together
with a liberal revenue charged on the French treasury, which, however,
was never paid. The duchy of Parma was secured to the Empress Maria
Louisa and was to descend to her son. The treaty was afterwards
confirmed by Great Britain, with the exception of the clauses providing
revenues for the fallen emperor and his family. The promise of Elba had
been made by the tsar in the absence of Castlereagh and Metternich. It
was vigorously opposed by Castlereagh's half-brother, Sir Charles
Stewart, but the tsar considered his honour bound to it, and Napoleon
sailed from Fréjus for Elba on the 28th.
In America the war was conducted with more vigour in 1814 than in
previous years, but with equally small effect on either side. In March
the American general, Wilkinson, advancing from Lake Champlain, was
repulsed by a small British garrison at La Colle Mill. In July an
American army under Brown invaded Upper Canada across the river Niagara.
It was attacked by General Riall, near Chippewa, on the 5th, but it
repelled the attack and occupied that place. Brown was, however, checked
by British regulars and Canadian militia under Sir Gordon Drummond at
Lundy's Lane, near Niagara Falls, on the 25th. Both sides claim the
victory, but on the reinforcement of the British troops Brown abandoned
the invasion. After the close of the Peninsular war some of the best
regiments of the Peninsular army, numbering about 14,000 men, were sent
to America. But they were not commanded by any of the generals who had
made their names illustrious in that war, and did not effect so much as
had been expected. On August 19 and 20 General Ross landed with 5,000
men at the mouth of the Patuxent in Chesapeake Bay. On the 24th he
defeated a large body of militia under General Winder at Bladensburg,
and occupied Washington, where he burned all the public buildings.
However deplorable such an act may seem, it is well to note that it was
a fair and even merciful reprisal after the action of the Americans at
York and Newark. Ross did not attempt to retain the city, but evacuated
it on the next day and re-embarked on the 30th. On September 12 he
landed near Baltimore, but was immediately killed in an attack on the
town. The attack had to be abandoned because it proved impossible to
obtain adequate support from the fleet, and the troops returned to the
ships on the 15th.
On September 1 Prevost invaded New York State by Lake Champlain. He
advanced against Plattsburg, which he bombarded on the 11th, but his
flotilla was defeated by an American flotilla during the bombardment,
and he felt himself compelled to retreat into Canada. At the end of the
year Sir Edward Pakenham took command of a force operating against New
Orleans, but on January 8, 1815, he was defeated and killed by the
American forces under the future president, Andrew Jackson. No
expedition was ever worse planned than this; the veterans of the
Peninsula were mowed down by a withering fire, and, losing confidence in
their leaders, forfeited their reputation for invincible courage in
attack. The fighting, however, was desperate while it lasted, and was
compared by one engaged in it with the storm of Badajoz, and the deadly
charges at Waterloo. It was but a small compensation for these failures
that the British were able to annex a strip of territory belonging to
the State of Maine. On the sea no general engagement took place, nor was
there any naval duel so famous as that between the _Shannon_ and the
_Chesapeake_ in the previous year. The Americans lost two of their best
frigates, but, with crews largely composed of British sailors, captured
several British ships of war.
[Pageheading: _THE TREATY OF GHENT._]
As early as January, 1814, advances had been made towards negotiations
for peace, but they were not actually begun till August 6. In the course
of a few days a serious difficulty arose, as the British commissioners
demanded the delimitation of an Indian territory which should be exempt
from territorial acquisitions on the part of either power, and also
claimed the military occupation of the lakes for their own government.
The Americans thereupon suspended the negotiations, and Castlereagh
expressed grave discontent with the conduct of the British negotiators
in pressing these points. Late in the year negotiations were resumed,
when the British abandoned these claims. The far more comprehensive
questions about the rights of neutrals, which had occasioned the war,
had ceased to be of practical importance now that peace was restored in
Europe. They were therefore, by tacit consent, suffered to drop, and a
treaty signed at Ghent on December 24, 1814, ended a war of which the
Canadians alone had reason to be proud.
The most dramatic incident in the domestic annals of England in this
year was the visit of the allied sovereigns to this country, after their
triumphal entry into Paris, and the signature of a convention, to be
described hereafter, for the resettlement of Europe. Louis XVIII. left
his retreat at Hartwell on April 20, and reached his capital on May 3
to find it occupied by foreign armies, and to discover that his French
escort, composed of Napoleon's old guard, was of doubtful loyalty. On
July 8 the Tsar of Russia and the King of Prussia, having accepted an
invitation from the prince regent, which the Emperor of Austria
declined, landed at Dover, and were afterwards received with the utmost
enthusiasm in London. Their appearance betokened the supposed
termination of the greatest, and almost the longest, war recorded in
European history, but it was also accepted as a tribute of gratitude for
the unique services rendered by Great Britain, the only European power
which had never bowed the knee to the French Republic or the French
Empire. They attended Ascot races, were feasted at the Guildhall,
witnessed a naval review at Portsmouth, and were decorated with honorary
degrees at Oxford, where Blücher was the hero of the day with the
younger members of the university. There were men of calmer minds and
maturer age, who must have remembered the time, but seven years before,
when Alexander swore eternal friendship with Napoleon, on the basis of
enmity to Great Britain, and Frederick William of Prussia shrunk from no
depths of dishonour, first to aggrandise his kingdom and then to save
the remnants of it from destruction. Others foresaw that a restoration
of the Bourbons portended reaction, in its worst sense, throughout all
the continent of Europe. But such memories and forebodings were hushed
in the sincere and general rejoicing over the return of peace, marred by
no suspicion of the new trials and privations which peace itself was
destined to bring with it for the working classes of Great Britain.
FOOTNOTES:
[53] See p. 105.
[54] George, _Napoleon's Invasion of Russia_, p. 33.
[55] James, _British Naval History_, iv., 470-84.
[56] See above, p. 58.
[57] See _Cambridge Modern History_, vii., 336, 338.
[58] For details of the naval warfare of this year see James, _British
Naval History_, vi., 115-202.
[59] Rose, _Life of Napoleon I._, ii., 372.
[60] For the importance of this flight of the Emperor Francis see Rose,
_Life of Napoleon I._, ii., 418, 425. The flight did not take place till
after the advance on Paris was begun.