arguments of this letter; but, unfortunately, circumstances on both
sides were such as really precluded any hope of making peace. Great
Britain foresaw Italy under the foot of France; Holland and Belgium
in the same condition; Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, and other smaller
German States, allied with France against the other German States. It
was impossible for her to conclude a peace without stipulating for the
return of these States to the _status quo_; and was Buonaparte likely
to accede to such terms? On the contrary, at this very moment, besides
being in possession of Hanover, George III.'s patrimony, he had been
exercising the grossest violence towards our Ambassadors in various
German States, was contemplating making himself king of Italy, and was
forcibly annexing Genoa, contrary to the Treaty of Lunéville, to the
Cisalpine Republic--that is, to the French State in Italy. Whilst he
was thus perpetuating want of confidence in him, on the other hand a
league for resistance to his encroachments was already formed between
Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, and Austria. Peace, therefore, on
diplomatic principles was impossible, and Napoleon must have known it
well. True, we had no longer any right to complain of the expulsion of
the Bourbons from France, seeing that the nation had ostensibly chosen
a new government and a new royal family, any more than France had a
right to attack us because we had expelled the Stuarts and adopted the
line of Brunswick. But the very nature of Napoleon was incompatible
with rest; for, as Lord Byron says, "quiet to quick bosoms is hell."
Buonaparte had repeatedly avowed that he must be warlike. "My power,"
he said, "depends upon my glory; my glory on my victories. My power
would fall if I did not support it by fresh glory and new victories.
Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest alone can maintain me.
A newly-born government, like mine, must dazzle and astonish. When
it ceases to do that, it falls." With such an avowal as that, in
entire keeping with his character, there must be constant aggressions
by him on the Continent which intimately concerned us. Accordingly,
the British Government replied to Buonaparte by a polite evasion.
As Britain had not recognised Napoleon's new title, the king could
not answer his letter himself. It was answered by Lord Mulgrave, the
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, addressed to M. Talleyrand, as the
Foreign Secretary of France, and simply stated that Britain could not
make any proposals regarding peace till she had consulted her Allies,
and particularly the Emperor of Russia. The letter of Buonaparte and
this curt reply were published in the _Moniteur_, accompanied with
remarks tending to convince the French that the most heartfelt desires
of peace by the Emperor were repelled by Great Britain, and that a
storm was brewing in the North which would necessitate the Emperor's
reappearance in the field.
Pitt had returned to office in anything but promising circumstances.
Britain was at war with a great nation, and as yet the coalition which
he was laboriously building up was far from being complete. Pitt's
health was failing: his energies were prematurely worn out by the
gigantic task that was forced upon him; his end was fast approaching,
and his majority was shrunk and attenuated to an alarming degree.
The Fox and Grenville opposition held together firmly, and Addington
had carried a strong party along with him on retiring. Pitt felt his
situation keenly and the king was sensibly alarmed at it. He attempted
to conciliate Grenville, but, as Fox could not be accepted too, that
failed. He then turned to Addington, and as the king was favourably
disposed to his old minister, he warmly recommended this coalition.
It was effected, and Addington was made a peer--Viscount Sidmouth,
of Sidmouth. This was one of those rapid political promotions of
George III.'s reign in which politics were made to ennoble men of
no particular mark or abilities; and certainly the son of Pitt's
father's doctor had never shown those splendid talents or rendered
those brilliant services which justified such an elevation. But, as
Pitt would take the lead in the Commons, it was, no doubt, felt more
convenient that one who had lately been Prime Minister should not serve
under the present Prime Minister, but should represent the Cabinet in
the Upper House. There were some other changes at the same time. The
Duke of Portland, who was growing old and infirm, retired from the post
of President of the Council, which Sidmouth took up. Lord Harrowby,
a warm friend of Pitt, retired, in consequence of continued illness,
from the Foreign Department, and Lord Mulgrave took it, the Earl of
Buckinghamshire succeeding to Lord Mulgrave's post as Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster.
But the Ministry of Pitt contained many elements of weakness and
discord. Addington and Melville were violently opposed to each other.
Wilberforce found this to his cost when he returned to his annual vote
for the abolition of the Slave Trade. Addington and Melville, hostile
to each other, were both hostile to him and to his project. Pitt warned
him of this, and begged him to let his usual motion lie over this
Session; but Wilberforce had been so fortunate in carrying it last
Session through the Commons, that he was sanguine of succeeding now
with both Commons and Lords. He introduced the Bill, obtained a first
reading on the 10th of February, and had the second reading fixed for
the 28th, but then it was thrown out by seventy-seven against seventy.
The Scots members, who the preceding year were neutral, now, probably
influenced by Melville, voted against him in a body; the Irish, who
had been his warm supporters, now opposed him or held aloof, incensed
by his having voted for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in
Ireland. It was a terrible blow to Wilberforce, but a worse blow was
impending over one of his underminers--Melville.
A Commission had been appointed to inquire into the Department of
Naval Affairs. The Commissioners, at whose head was Mr. Whitbread, had
extended their researches so far back as to include the time when Lord
Melville, as Mr. Dundas, had presided over that Department. They there
discovered some very startling transactions. Large sums of money had
been drawn out of the Bank of England on the plea of paying accounts
due from the Naval Department; these sums had been paid into Coutts's
Bank in the name of the Treasurer of the Navy, Mr. Trotter, who, for
long periods together, used these sums for his own benefit. Other
large sums had been drawn in the name of Dundas, and had been employed
for his profit. Other sums had disappeared, and there was no account
showing how they had vanished; but these were scored under the name of
Secret Service Money, and Melville declared that the money paid into
his account had gone in the same way. As much as forty-eight thousand
pounds had been paid over to Pitt at once, and no account given of its
expenditure. Indeed, as Pitt had nothing to do with that Department,
the payment to him was altogether irregular. These discoveries created
a great sensation. George Rose, who had begun life without a sixpence,
but who, after attracting the attention of Pitt, had rapidly thriven
and become extremely wealthy, had confessed to Wilberforce that some
strange jobs had come under his notice as a member of that Department.
There was a loud outcry for the impeachment of Melville. Melville
appears to have been a jovial, hard-drinking Scotsman, of a somewhat
infidel turn, according to Scottish philosophy of that period. Amongst
Melville's faults, however, it does not appear that he was of an
avaricious character, but rather of a loose _morale_, and ready to fall
in with the licence practised by the officers of all departments of
Government in the duties entrusted to them.
[Illustration: THE CORONATION OF NAPOLEON IN NOTRE DAME. (_See p._
499.)]
On the 6th of April Whitbread brought forward these charges against
Melville in the House of Commons, as detailed in the tenth report of
the Naval Commissioners. In doing so, he paid a high compliment to the
manner in which the naval affairs had been conducted since Lord St.
Vincent became head of that Department; but he charged Lord Melville
with having applied the public money to other uses than those of
the Naval Department, in contempt of the Act of 1785--an Act which
Melville himself, then Dundas, had supported: that he had connived at
a system of peculation in the Treasurer of the Navy, Mr. Trotter, an
individual for whom he was responsible. The salary of this Mr. Trotter
had been fixed by the Act of 1785 at four thousand pounds a year, but
he contended that Dundas had allowed Trotter to draw large sums from
the Bank of England out of the navy deposit, pay them into Coutts's
Bank, and use them for his own benefit; and that, moreover, he had
participated in the profits of this system. This charge called forth
a vehement contest of parties. Tierney, who had been Treasurer of the
Navy under Addington, declared that he had found no inconvenience in
complying with the Act of 1785, whilst holding that office. Fox, Grey,
Ponsonby, Windham, Wilberforce, Lord Henry Petty, afterwards Lord
Lansdowne, supported Whitbread's charges, and Pitt, Canning, and Lord
Castlereagh defended Melville. On putting the resolutions moved by
Whitbread, after a debate till quite late in the morning, they were
carried by the casting vote of the Speaker. The scene, which is one
of the most striking in our Parliamentary annals, has frequently been
described, notably by Lord Fitzharris:--"I sat edged close to Pitt
himself," he wrote, "the night when we were two hundred and sixteen,
and the Speaker, Abbot, after looking as white as a sheet, and pausing
for ten minutes, gave the casting vote against us. Pitt immediately
put on the little cocked hat that he was in the habit of wearing when
dressed for the evening, and jammed it down deeply over his forehead,
and I distinctly saw the tears trickling down his cheeks. We heard
one or two, such as Colonel Wardle, say they would see 'how Billy
looked after it'! A few young ardent followers of Pitt, with myself,
locked their arms together and formed a circle, in which he moved, I
believe unconsciously, out of the House, and neither the colonel nor
his friends could approach him." But the Opposition were not content
with the vote of censure. Whitbread moved that an Address should be
presented to his Majesty, praying him to remove Lord Melville for ever
from his councils and presence, but the motion was withdrawn as soon as
Melville's resignation was known. On the 6th of May Whitbread was about
to move a resolution that his Majesty should be requested to erase the
name of Lord Melville from the list of the Privy Council, but Pitt rose
and said that the motion was unnecessary, as his Majesty had already
done it.
Melville was now permitted by the House of Peers to go down to the
House of Commons, notwithstanding their conclusion on the subject, to
make his defence, and he made a very long speech, contending that he
had not embezzled a farthing of the public money, and exalting his
services to the country, especially in his India administration. But
on the head of Secret Service Money he was as close as the grave. He
declared that "if he had disclosed any of these transactions he should
have felt himself guilty not only of a breach of public duty, but of
a most unwarrantable breach of private honour." There were twenty
thousand pounds which he never did, and never could, account for on
this ground, and there were forty thousand pounds drawn at once by
Pitt from the Navy Fund. He said he knew very well for what purposes
these sums had been paid, but that nothing would compel him to disclose
it. When it was asked him whether Mr. Trotter had not kept large sums
belonging to the Navy Fund in Coutts's Bank, and speculated with them
to his own great enrichment, he admitted that Trotter had had such sums
for considerable times in Coutts's Bank, but that they were always
forthcoming when wanted, and that no single payment had been delayed on
that account; and that out of the one hundred and thirty-four millions
which had passed through his hands, nothing had been lost. He praised
Trotter in the highest manner, but was silent as to the private use
that he had so long, and to such advantage to himself, made of the
public money. He admitted that he had himself held considerable sums
of this money at different times in his own hands, but had repaid
the whole before quitting office, and this was all that the Act of
1785 required. He seemed to admit that he had paid money out of the
Navy Fund for other than naval objects, and for these secret service
purposes. Some of these were in Scotland, of which, also, he had the
administration to a certain degree. And here the public called to
mind that Watt, the spy and informer against the Scottish Reformers,
had acknowledged to have been employed and paid by Dundas, so that it
was clear whither some of the Navy Fund had gone. Melville entered
into long explanations regarding a written release which had passed
reciprocally between him and Trotter on winding up their affairs, in
which they agreed to destroy all their vouchers for the sums paid
away. This looked very black, but Melville contended that it was only
a matter of course--a thing constantly done by officials in like
circumstances, which, if true, made the matter all the worse for the
country. But Melville contended that this clause in the release was
merely a form; that it did not mean that they should literally destroy
the vouchers, but only that they should be rendered invalid as evidence
in any prosecution, which very little mended the matter. Melville
declared that he had not, in consequence of the clause, destroyed a
single paper.
On the withdrawal of Melville, Whitbread moved for his impeachment, and
Mr. Bond for his prosecution in the ordinary courts of law, and this
amendment was carried. But Melville preferred impeachment to a trial
at common law. Mr. Bond was induced to withhold any further procedure
in consequence of his motion, and Mr. Leycester, one of Melville's
friends, made a fresh motion for impeachment, which was carried, and on
the 26th of June Whitbread, accompanied by a great number of members,
impeached him at the bar of the House of Lords. A Bill was also passed
through both Houses regulating the course of his impeachment. The
impeachment itself, owing to very important events, including the death
of Pitt, was not proceeded with till April, 1806. On the 10th of July
Lord Sidmouth and the Earl of Buckinghamshire resigned. It was supposed
that difference of opinion regarding Lord Melville's case was the
cause, and the surmise was correct, Addington taking strong exception
to the appointment of Sir Charles Middleton, a very old man, to succeed
Melville. Lord Camden succeeded Sidmouth, and Lord Harrowby Lord
Buckinghamshire. Castlereagh obtained Camden's post of Secretary of
Colonial Affairs. This secession weakened Pitt's Ministry considerably.
On the 12th of July Parliament was prorogued, but a message was sent
down to the House to enable his Majesty to carry out some arrangements
in the north of Europe, which were necessary for the security and
independence of Britain, and a sum, in addition to the large supplies
already granted, was voted, which was not to exceed three millions and
a half.
Great exertions had been made to draw Prussia into the confederation
that was forming, and on the 25th of May, 1804, a defensive alliance
had been concluded between Prussia and Russia. But the King of Prussia
was, at the same time, listening to the offers of Buonaparte, who was
encouraging him to expect the annexation of Hanover, and also further
territory at the cost of Austria. In these circumstances, Prussia
kept a dubious position, but continued to strengthen her armies for
an emergency, holding herself ready to close with the best offer.
Austria herself was afraid of another war with Buonaparte, and strongly
urged that negotiations should be opened with him before proceeding
to extremities. However, she too concluded a treaty with Russia
in November. It was Pitt's object to draw these threads together.
Fortunately the Czar sent his Minister, Nowosiltzoff, to England in
1805, and he readily fell in with Pitt's ideas. Accordingly, on the
11th of April the Treaty of St. Petersburg was signed on the basis of
the maintenance of the Treaties of Lunéville and Amiens. The great
coalition was thus practically complete, when news arrived that
Buonaparte had annexed Genoa to France. This was a most gross violation
of the Treaty of Lunéville. But the annexation of Genoa was but a
small part of the aggressions of Buonaparte on Italy. On the very same
journey he made himself King of Italy. On Sunday, the 26th of May,
he was crowned in the cathedral of Milan. The Archbishop of Milan
performed the ceremony, blessing the old iron crown of the ancient
kings of Lombardy, and Buonaparte putting it himself on his head, as he
had done that of France. Nor did Napoleon stop here. He wanted a little
snug principality for his sister Eliza and her husband, the Corsican
Bacciochi, and he turned the Republic of Lucca into such an one, and
conferred it upon them.
But these assumptions of new territories and new honours had, as we
have seen, alarmed the Northern Powers and Austria. They saw that
they could have no peace with such a man, except it were a peace of
continual encroachment, humiliation, and slavery, and Russia went so
far as to recall her Ambassador, though without a declaration of war.
There was the utmost necessity for union, caution, and the exertion of
every ability. But the folly and incapacity of those nations appeared
to rise in intensity in proportion to the actual need of wisdom, and
to the genius of their enemy. Britain, could give them money, but she
could not give them talent and sagacity. Before Russia could march down
to unite with Austria, Austria, which had so long hung back, and thus
delayed the operations of Alexander, now showed as fatal a temerity,
and commenced the campaign alone. She rushed into Bavaria, whose
Elector, Maximilian Joseph, had entered into league with Buonaparte,
in common with Würtemberg and other German States. The Emperor Francis
had despatched Schwarzenberg to Munich, to endeavour to prevail on him
to unite with Austria against the common enemy of Germany. Maximilian
Joseph pleaded that he was quite resolved on doing that, but that
his son was travelling in France, and he prayed time to recall him,
or Buonaparte would wreak his vengeance upon him. This should have
induced Francis of Austria to delay at least a sufficient time for
this purpose, especially as it gave another chance for the decision of
Prussia in their favour, when it saw the Russians already on the march.
Whether the Elector of Bavaria would eventually have kept his promise
is doubtful, for Napoleon was, on the other hand, pressing him close,
through his Ambassador, M. Otto, to proclaim openly the secret alliance
concluded with France.
The troops of Austria were already in Bavaria on the 21st of August.
They amounted to eighty thousand men, under the nominal command of
the Archduke Ferdinand--a prince of high courage and great hopes--but
really under that of General Mack, whose utter incapacity had not
been sufficiently manifested to Austria by his miserable failures in
the Neapolitan campaign, and who was still regarded in Germany as a
great military genius. His army had been posted behind the Inn, in the
country between the Tyrol and the Danube, into which the Inn falls at
Passau. This was a strong frontier, and had the Austrians waited there
till the arrival of the Russians, they might have made a powerful
stand. But Mack had already advanced them to the Lech, where again
he had a strong position covering Munich. Meanwhile, the Archduke
Charles, Austria's best general, was posted in the north of Italy, with
another eighty thousand men, and the Archduke John in the Tyrol with an
inferior force. Such were the positions of the Austrian armies when
Mack was invading Bavaria, and Buonaparte was preparing to crush him.
Buonaparte had watched all the motions of the Northern Powers and
of Austria from the first, and was fully prepared to encounter and
overthrow them. Even before his return from Italy his plans were
laid. No sooner, indeed, was he in France again than he proceeded to
his great camp at Boulogne, and dated several decrees thence, thus
drawing attention to the fact. All France was once more persuaded that
he was now going to lead his invincible Army of England across the
strait, and add perfidious Albion to his conquests. He had increased
that army greatly; it had been diligently disciplined, and contained
soldiers who had carried him to victory in Italy and in Egypt.
Such an army of a hundred and fifty thousand picked men was deemed
capable of achieving anything, with the Emperor at their head. But
Napoleon had no intention of making the desperate attempt to cross
the Channel without an overwhelming fleet, and this, for reasons
which we will mention by-and-bye, did not come. The maps of England
had all been thrown aside, and those of Germany substituted. He was
busy collecting material for artillery; he was sending everywhere to
buy up draught-horses to drag his baggage and ammunition and guns;
and suddenly, when people were looking for the ordering out of his
flotilla, they were surprised by hearing that he was in full march for
the Rhine. On the 23rd of September he sent a report to the Senate
in these words:--"The wishes of the eternal enemies of the Continent
are accomplished; hostilities have commenced in the midst of Germany;
Austria and Russia have united with England; and our generation is
again involved in all the calamities of war. But a very few days ago
I cherished a hope that peace would not be disturbed. Threats and
outrage only showed that they could make no impression upon me; but
the Austrians have passed the Inn; Munich is invaded; the Elector
of Bavaria is driven from his capital; all my hopes have therefore
vanished. I tremble at the idea of the blood that must be spilled in
Europe; but the French name will emerge with renovated and increased
lustre." This was accompanied by two decrees: one for ordering eighty
thousand conscripts, and the other for the organisation of a national
guard. The next day he was on the way to Strasburg. He said to Savary,
"If the enemy comes to meet me"--for Mack, like a madman, was rushing
towards the Rhine, far away from his allies--"I will destroy him
before he has re-passed the Danube; if he waits for me, I will take
him between Augsburg and Ulm." The result showed how exactly he had
calculated.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR AND THE VICTORY OF LORD NELSON
OVER THE COMBINED FRENCH AND SPANISH FLEETS, OCTOBER 21ST, 1805.
FROM THE PICTURE BY CLARKSON STANFIELD, R. A., IN THE NATIONAL
GALLERY.]
Mack, who was advancing rashly out of reach of any supporting bodies of
troops, expected to encounter the French in front. He therefore took
possession of Ulm and Memmingen, and threw his advanced posts out along
the line of the Iller and the Upper Danube, looking for the French
advancing by way of the Black Forest. But Buonaparte's plan was very
different. He divided his army into six grand divisions. That commanded
by Bernadotte issued from Hanover, and, crossing Hesse, appeared
to be aiming at a junction with the main army, which had already
reached the Rhine. But at once he diverged to the left, ascended the
Main, and joined the Elector of Bavaria at Würzburg. Had Mack had a
hundredth part of the strategic talent attributed to him, he would
have concentrated his forces into one powerful body, and cut through
the cordon which Buonaparte was drawing around him, and, under good
generalship, such soldiers as the Hungarians would have done wonders;
but he suffered his different detachments to be attacked and beaten
in detail, never being ready with fresh troops to support those which
were engaged, whilst the French were always prepared for this object.
Accordingly, Soult managed to surround and take one entire Austrian
division at Memmingen, under General Spangenberg, and Dupont and Ney
defeated the Archduke Ferdinand at Günzburg, who had advanced from
Ulm to defend the bridges there. Ferdinand lost many guns and nearly
three thousand men. This induced Mack to concentrate his forces in Ulm,
where, however, he had taken no measures for supplying his troops with
provisions during a siege. He was completely surrounded, and compelled
to capitulate on the 19th of October, 1805.
[Illustration: HERRENHAUSEN CASTLE, HANOVER.]
On the day after the surrender of Ulm, Buonaparte announced by
proclamation to the army that he was going to annihilate the Russians,
as he had done the Austrians; that Austria, in fact, had no generals
with whom it was any glory to compete; and that Russia was only brought
by the gold of England from the ends of the earth, for them to chastise
them. At the end of October, accordingly, he commenced his march on
Vienna.
The Emperor Francis did not attempt to defend his capital--that
capital which had twice repelled all the efforts of the Turks--but
fled into Moravia, to join his Russian ally, the Czar Alexander, who
was there at the head of his army. On the 7th of November Francis took
his departure, and on the 13th of November Napoleon entered Vienna
without any opposition. Whilst Napoleon remained there he continued to
receive the most cheering accounts of the success of his arms in Italy
against the Austrians. There, Massena, on hearing of the capitulation
of Ulm, made a general attack on the army of the Archduke Charles, near
Caldiero. The French were victorious, and were soon joined by General
St. Cyr, from Naples, with twenty-five thousand men. At the moment of
this defeat, the Archduke received the news of the fall of Ulm, and the
march of the French on Vienna. He determined, therefore, to leave Italy
to its fate. He commenced his retreat in the night of November 1st, and
resolved to make for Hungary.
Napoleon had so far executed his plans with wonderful success. He
had rescued Bavaria, reduced the enemy's army and _prestige_ at
once by the capture of Ulm and Vienna, and had driven the Austrians
simultaneously from Upper Italy and the Tyrol. But still his situation,
for any general but himself, was very critical. The defeated army of
the Emperor Francis had united itself to that of the young Emperor of
Russia, in Moravia; the two archdukes were mustering great bodies of
troops on the confines of Hungary, ready to rush forward and swell the
Austro-Russian army; and the King of Prussia was watching the movements
of the two parties, ready to strike, if France met with a reverse.
Napoleon saw that his only security lay in a bold and decisive blow. He
therefore crossed the Danube on the 23rd of November, and began a brisk
march into the heart of Moravia, to attack the main body of the Allies
under their two Emperors. He was soon before Brünn, its little capital,
and the Allies retreated, at his approach, as far as Olmütz. This
movement was, however, made to form a junction with the twenty-four
thousand men under Benningsen. This being effected, they amounted to
about eighty thousand men, but of these, many of the Austrians were
troops already discouraged by defeat, and many more were raw recruits.
The French were in number about equal, but consisting of veteran
soldiers flushed with victory. On the 2nd of December Napoleon brought
on the battle of Austerlitz, and before the close of the day the forces
of the Coalition were completely beaten, losing upon the field some
27,000 killed and wounded, 20,000 prisoners, and 133 pieces of cannon.
Even now, had the Russians and Austrians possessed the spirit which the
circumstances of the time demanded of them, they were far from being in
a hopeless condition. Buonaparte was at an immense distance from his
country. Besides the army still remaining with the two Emperors--at
least sixty thousand in number--there were the strong forces of the
Archdukes Charles and John in Hungary, and of Prince Ferdinand in
Bohemia. By bold and skilful manœuvres they might have cut off his
communications with France and Italy, and have harassed him, without
committing themselves to a decided battle, till he must have found
himself in a most perilous position. But Francis of Austria gave up the
struggle in despair; he sent Prince John of Lichtenstein to propose
a suspension of arms. Buonaparte insisted that they should first
break with the Russians, and Lichtenstein said that Francis was quite
willing, and to treat with Napoleon for a separate peace, but that
he must claim for the Emperor Alexander the privilege of retreating
into his own country without molestation. Buonaparte granted this as
a favour, and added words so complimentary to Alexander, that they
betrayed a wish to complete an agreement also with him. He returned
to Vienna, and again occupied the palace of Schönbrunn. There he and
Talleyrand concerted the demands which should be made; and an armistice
was signed, on these terms, with Prince John of Lichtenstein, on the
6th of December. The final treaty was signed by the Emperor Francis, at
Pressburg, on the 26th of December, a fortnight after Austerlitz. By
this treaty Austria surrendered to Buonaparte all her territories in
Italy, as well as her Venetian provinces of Dalmatia and on the coast
of Albania. She surrendered her only seaport on the Adriatic, Trieste,
and thus reduced herself to a mere inland power. She was compelled
to cede to her rival, Bavaria, the Tyrol--a country most faithfully
attached to the House of Hapsburg,--the bishopric of Passau, and
other regions. Bavaria and Würtemberg, for their hostility to their
own German race, were elevated into kingdoms, and Baden, for the same
unpatriotic services, into a grand duchy. Thus France and her allies,
or rather subjects, were now in possession of Switzerland, Italy, and
the Tyrol on one side, and of Holland and Belgium on the other, so
that she had everywhere an open high road into Germany, and nations
of tributary princes, which were to aid in further enslaving it.
Prussia had made up her mind on hearing of the victory of Austerlitz,
and Haugwitz appeared at Schönbrunn, not to declare war on Buonaparte,
but to compliment him on his victory. Buonaparte could not conceal his
contempt for this despicable conduct. He said, "Ah! this compliment was
intended for others, but fortune has transferred it to me;" but as he
still intended to make use of Prussia, and could humiliate George III.
by her means, he concluded a treaty with Haugwitz, by which he handed
over Hanover to our late ally, and claimed Anspach in lieu of it. He
then strengthened the Confederation of the Rhine, of which he was
Protector, and so completely broke up the old federation of Germany,
that Francis of Austria soon abandoned the title of Elective Emperor of
Germany, and assumed that of Hereditary Emperor of Austria.
Pitt's expeditions were not particularly well arranged. Instead of
sending an army of thirty or forty thousand to the Baltic, and calling
on Russia to do the same, which she could have done, notwithstanding
the army under the Emperor Alexander, he sent only about six thousand,
and sent another eight thousand from Malta, to co-operate with
twelve thousand Russians in a descent on the kingdom of Naples. This
expedition might have been left till the success in the North was
secured; in truth, it had better have been left altogether. When
General Don and Lord Cathcart landed in Swedish Pomerania, and were
joined by the king's German legion and some other German hired troops,
our army amounted only to sixteen thousand men, the Swedes to twelve
thousand, and the Russians to ten thousand--altogether, not forty
thousand men. But what was worse than the paucity of numbers was the
disunion amongst the commanders. Lord Harrowby was sent to Berlin,
to endeavour to induce Prussia to join this coalition, but Prussia
was well aware of the want of unity in the Allied Army, and, weighing
probabilities, she could not be moved. The King of Sweden was so
incensed at the cold, shuffling conduct of the King of Prussia, that
he wrote him some very indignant and undiplomatic letters, which only
furnished him with a further excuse for holding aloof. Gustavus,
seeing no good likely to be done, resigned his command of the Allied
Army, where, indeed, he had enjoyed no real command at all, and
retired with his forces to Stralsund. This was a fatal exposition of
want of unity, and it was not till three weeks were gone that the
breach was healed. By this time it was the middle of November. Ulm
had surrendered, Napoleon was master of Vienna, and Prussia was still
watching what would be the fate of the coming battle between Napoleon
and the Emperors of Austria and Russia. The union of the Allies came
too late; the force was altogether too small to turn the scale of the
campaign. Had Gustavus marched into Hanover a month earlier, with sixty
thousand men, he might have rendered Austerlitz a nonentity; as it was,
he had only time to invest Hameln, where Bernadotte had left a strong
garrison, when the news of Austerlitz arrived, and caused the Allies to
break up the campaign, and each to hurry off to his own country.
The consequence of the ill-advised despatch of a miserable force
of British and Russians to Naples was equally as abortive and as
mischievous to the King of Naples as the Northern expedition had
proved to the King of Sweden. On the 27th of September of this year,
only, a convention had been entered into in Paris between Napoleon
and Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, which was ratified by Ferdinand
on the 8th of October. By this the French engaged to withdraw their
forces from the kingdom of Naples, and Ferdinand to preserve a strict
neutrality. The French did, indeed, withdraw, under St. Cyr, to assist
Massena in the north of Italy against Austria; and no sooner was this
the case than Ferdinand raised his army to the war strength, and the
British and Russians came to his support with their united army of
twenty thousand men. But the news of the decisive victory of Buonaparte
at Austerlitz, which had squandered the Northern coalition, had the
same effect here. The Russians and British withdrew, and St. Cyr was
ordered by Napoleon to march back into Naples, and punish severely the
perfidy of the Court of Naples. He was particularly bitter against
the Queen of Naples, to whom he attributed the movement and the total
guidance of the king. He declared that she should be precipitated
from the throne, should it cost another Thirty Years' War. He sent
his brother, Joseph Buonaparte, to take the command of the army, and
to assume the government of the country. The king and queen fled,
abdicating in favour of their son, the prince royal; but this did not
stop the march of the French, who were only too glad of such a plea for
possessing themselves of the kingdom of Naples. Pescara, Naples itself,
rapidly surrendered to the French. Gaëta alone, which the governor,
the Prince of Hesse Philippsthal, refused to surrender, stood out till
the following July. When summoned by the French to yield the fortress,
he replied that Gaëta was not Ulm, nor was he General Mack. But the
defence of Gaëta had no influence on the general fate of Naples, and
only precipitated that of its brave defender, who died suddenly, as was
asserted, of poison.
We have now to turn from the feeble and ill-directed efforts of Britain
to counteract the plans of Napoleon on land to the successful ones on
her really protecting element--the sea. All Napoleon's endeavours to
cross the Channel with his Grand Army he had seen to be impossible.
Nelson was riding there in his glory, and the French fleets were
only safe while they were in port. The impatience of this restraint
caused Napoleon to urge on his admirals a greater daring; and these
incitements to a rash hazard brought, eventually, that which must have
occurred sooner, had the admirals listened to his suggestions rather
than their own knowledge of the truth--the utter destruction of the
French navy. Under such stimulants from the Emperor, Villeneuve seized
the opportunity, when the weather had driven back the blockading
British fleet, to steal out of Toulon on the 18th of January, 1805,
and another fleet of ten vessels escaped out of Rochefort on the 11th
of the same month. These squadrons stood away for the West Indies,
and managed to get home again without meeting with a British fleet.
Thus encouraged, Villeneuve made another venture. Nelson, who was
watching Villeneuve off Toulon, in order to tempt him out, bore away
along the Spanish coast as far as Barcelona. Villeneuve put out to
sea on the 31st of March, with ten ships of the line, seven frigates,
and two brigs. Nelson had gone a little too far, and it was not till
the 7th of April that he heard of their issue from port. Before he
could prevent it, they had passed the Strait of Gibraltar, and struck
once more across the Atlantic. He was joined by the Spanish admiral,
Gravina, from Cadiz, with six Spanish ships of the line, and two other
French ships of the line. This combined fleet now amounted to eighteen
sail of the line, six forty-four gun ships, and a number of smaller
craft. Nelson did not hesitate to pursue them with his ten ships of
the line and three frigates; but contrary winds withheld him, and it
was the 7th of May before he could get out of the Strait of Gibraltar.
His ships were, most of them, in very bad condition, one of them, the
_Superb_, not having been in a home port for four years. Villeneuve
had upwards of a month's start of Nelson, and his orders were to bear
away to Martinique with five thousand one hundred troops, which he
had on board, to capture St. Lucia, and strengthen the garrisons of
Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Dominica. He was afterwards to wait and see
if Gautheaume could get out of Brest and join him with twenty-one more
sail of the line, when they were to do all possible mischief amongst
our islands and merchantmen. But the chief scheme was, by this means,
to draw the British fleet after them, and then, hurrying back, enable
Buonaparte to cross the Channel for England. Villeneuve did nothing
but take the Diamond Rock, a fortification of the British, lying
opposite to Fort Royal Bay, into which he had entered. He then sailed
to Guadeloupe, where he was joined by two seventy-four gun ships; and
an American having apprised him of a homeward-bound British convoy,
he went after it, and succeeded, off Antigua, in capturing fifteen
merchantmen. His success was, however, spoiled in the possession of
it, for one of the prisoners informed him that Nelson was already in
the West Indies in quest of him. Terrified at this news, he burnt all
his prizes, and made all sail homewards. Nelson, in the meantime, was
misled by some of the Yankee skippers abounding in those seas, and
sent on a false scent after Villeneuve towards Venezuela and the mouth
of the Orinoco. Not finding him, he was satisfied that he had sailed
for Europe, and he made after him. Nelson sighted Cape St. Vincent on
the 17th of July, after a run of more than three thousand two hundred
miles. The next day he fell in with Admiral Collingwood, who was
watching Cadiz, but who had no news of Villeneuve, but informed him
that Sir Robert Calder was blockading Ferrol. On the 19th he anchored
in the Bay of Gibraltar, and went on shore for the first time for two
years, short only of two days. Hearing that Villeneuve was still out
in the Atlantic, he bore away westward again to intercept him, but in
vain; and, on returning to Ushant, where Collingwood was cruising, he
learned that Sir Robert Calder had met with and attacked him at the
very time Nelson was off Gibraltar, namely, on the 22nd of July.
[Illustration: LORD COLLINGWOOD.]
Calder had been sent after Nelson, with the hope that, if he missed
Villeneuve and Gravina, he (Calder) might fall in with and intercept
them. Scarcely was he under sail, when he discovered this fleet,
on the 22nd of July, about thirty-nine leagues north-west of Cape
Finisterre. Villeneuve and Gravina were congratulating themselves on
having made their voyage in safety, when this British squadron stood
in their way. They were twenty sail of the line, seven frigates, and
two brigs; and Calder had only fifteen sail of the line, two frigates,
and two smaller craft. The Spanish and French admirals endeavoured
to give them the slip, and get into Ferrol; but Calder would not
permit this. He compelled them to fight, and the battle lasted from
half-past four in the afternoon till half-past nine in the evening.
Calder captured two sail of the line, and killed and wounded between
five hundred and six hundred men. He himself lost thirty-nine killed,
and he had a hundred and fifty-nine wounded, and his ships, some of
them, had suffered much damage. A thick fog parted the combatants for
the night, and at daybreak the hostile fleets were distant from each
other about seventeen miles. Villeneuve had the wind, and made as if
he would renew the battle, but did not; and the same happened on the
following day, when he sheered off, and Calder turned homewards without
pursuing them. This action, though a victory, was regarded, both in
France and England, as inferior to what was expected of British naval
commanders. The French claimed a success; the English public murmured
at Calder's conduct. They said, "What would Nelson have done had he
been there?" Such was the popular discontent, that Sir Robert Calder
demanded that his conduct should be submitted to a court-martial, and
the verdict of the court confirmed the outcry:--"This court," it said,
"are of opinion that on the part of Admiral Sir Robert Calder there
was no cowardice or disaffection, but error in judgment, for which
he deserves to be severely reprimanded, and he is hereby severely
reprimanded accordingly." Buonaparte, however, was greatly exasperated
at the result, and at Villeneuve putting into Ferrol instead of getting
into Brest, where Napoleon wanted him to join the rest of the fleet.
After this, endeavouring to obey the Emperor's positive orders to
reach Brest, he put to sea, but was glad to run for Cadiz instead, on
account of the union of Admiral Collingwood with Calder's fleet. In
that harbour now lay five-and-thirty sail of the line, and Collingwood
kept watch over them. Indeed, being soon reinforced, he kept a blockade
on all the Spanish ports between Cadiz and Algeciras, in the Strait of
Gibraltar. It was at this juncture that Napoleon came to the conclusion
that it was hopeless to attempt the invasion of England.
Nelson, who had returned to England, by the 15th of September was on
board of his old flagship, the _Victory_, and immediately sailed for
Cadiz, accompanied only by three other ships of war. On the 29th he
arrived off Cadiz, and was received by the fleet with enthusiastic
acclamation. It was his birthday. He posted himself about twenty
leagues to the west of Cadiz, in hope that the French fleet would come
out. He knew that it was in great distress for provisions, because
Napoleon, intending the fleet to assemble at Brest, had laid in the
necessary stores there, and could not convey them, in any reasonable
time, to Cadiz. Still more, it was believed that Napoleon refused to
send any supplies there, having given Villeneuve imperative orders to
make his way to Brest. But it is also asserted, by French authorities,
that Napoleon had ordered the Minister of Marine to take the command
from Villeneuve, and that the admiral was piqued to show the Emperor,
by a daring exploit, that he had done him injustice. Under these or
similar motives, Villeneuve determined to sail out, and encounter the
British fleet. Nelson was watching for him behind Cape St. Mary, like
a cat watching a mouse, as he said in a letter to the Abbé Campbell,
of Naples, a friend of his and of Lady Hamilton's. On the 9th of
October, certain that the enemy would soon come out, Nelson sent to
Lord Collingwood his plan of the battle. It was to advance in two
lines of sixteen ships each, with an advanced squadron of eight of
the fastest-sailing two-decked ships. They were thus to break the
enemy's line in three places at once. Nelson was to aim at the centre;
Collingwood, leading the second line, to break through at about the
twelfth ship from the rear; and the light squadron, at three or four
ships from the centre--Nelson's point of attack. "I look," wrote
Nelson, "with confidence to a victory before the van of the enemy can
succour their rear; and then the British fleet will, most of them, be
ready to receive their twenty sail of the line, or to pursue them,
should they endeavour to make off. If the van of the enemy tack, the
captured ships must run to the leeward of the British fleet; if the
enemy wear, the British must place themselves between them and the
captured and disabled British ships, and, should the enemy close,
I have no fear for the result. The second in command will, in all
possible things, direct the movements of his line by keeping them as
compact as the nature of the circumstances will admit. Captains are
to look to their particular line as their rallying-point; but, in
case signals cannot be clearly seen or understood, _no captain can do
very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy_!" Such
were Nelson's general orders, and they were entirely approved by Lord
Collingwood.
On the 19th Collingwood signalled Nelson that the French fleet was
coming out of Cadiz. On the morning of the 21st, when the British fleet
lay about seven leagues north-west of Cape Trafalgar, the hostile fleet
was discovered about seven miles to the eastward. Nelson ordered the
fleet to bear down on the enemy. As Villeneuve approached, he veered
so as to bring Cadiz under his lee, and thus secure a retreat into it.
This compelled Nelson to shift his course a little more northward.
Villeneuve had preconcerted a plan of action which he boasted would
prevent Nelson from cutting his line, as was his custom. He determined
to advance in two lines, with each alternate ship about a cable's
length to the windward of her second ahead and astern, so that his
fleet would represent the chequers of a draft-board. This plan,
however, did not succeed. Nelson found now the shoals of San Pedro and
Trafalgar under the lee of both fleets, and, dreading that he might
be carried upon them at the end of the battle, he signalled, from the
_Victory_, for the fleet to anchor at the close of the day. He then
told Blackwood that he should not be satisfied unless he took twenty of
the enemy's ships, and asked him whether he thought a general signal of
action were not wanting. Blackwood replied that he thought the fleet
all understood what they were about. But Nelson hoisted on his mizen
top-mast his last signal--"ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY."
It was seen, and responded to with loud hurrahs.
[Illustration: THE "VICTORY" TOWED INTO GIBRALTAR AFTER TRAFALGAR.
AFTER THE PICTURE BY CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A.]
As the wind was light, the British vessels set their studding-sails,
and bore down steadily on the enemy. There were of the British
twenty-seven sail of the line, four frigates, one schooner, and one
cutter. Of the French and Spaniards there were thirty-three sail of the
line, five frigates, and two brigs; but the French vessels were in far
superior condition to the old weather-worn ones of Nelson. The French
had two thousand six hundred and twenty-six guns, Nelson two thousand
one hundred and forty-eight. Collingwood's line first came into contact
with the enemy in the _Royal Sovereign_, and was speedily in the midst
of a desperate conflict. It was some time before Nelson's line got up,
and Collingwood, amid the din of cannon and the crash of spars, turned
to his captain, and said, "Rotherham, what would not Nelson give to
be here?" It was just past twelve o'clock at noon as Collingwood's
vessel came to close quarters with the Spanish flagship, _Santa Anna_,
and it was more than a quarter of an hour before Nelson's ship came
close up to the stupendous four-decker Spaniard, the _Santissima
Trinidad_. He was soon in a terrible contest not only with this great
ship, but with the _Bucentaure_, of eighty guns, the _Neptune_, of
eighty guns, and the _Redoubtable_, of seventy-four guns. The _Victory_
and _Redoubtable_ were fast entangled together by their hooks and
boom-irons, and kept up the most destructive fire into each other with
double-shotted cannon. Both ships took fire; that in the _Victory_ was
extinguished, but the _Redoubtable_ finally went down. But it was from
the mizen top-mast of this vessel that one of the riflemen marked out
Nelson by his stars, and shot him down. He fell on the deck, on the
spot where his secretary, John Scott, had fallen dead just before.
Captain Hardy, to whom Nelson had shortly before said, "Hardy, this
is too warm work to last long," stooped, and observed that he hoped
that he was not severely wounded. He replied, "Yes, they have done
for me at last, Hardy." Hardy said he hoped not. "Yes," he answered;
"my back-bone is shot through." He was carried down to the cock-pit,
amongst the wounded and the dying, and laid in a midshipman's berth.
The ball was found to have entered the left shoulder and to have lodged
in the spine; the wound was mortal. For an hour the battle went on in
its terrible fury, as the dying hero lay amid those expiring or wounded
around him. He often inquired for Captain Hardy, but Hardy found it
impossible, in the midst of one of the fiercest and most mortal strifes
that ever was waged--the incessant cannonades sweeping away men, masts,
tackle at every moment--to go down. When he was able to do it, Nelson
asked how the battle went. Hardy replied, "Well, fourteen or fifteen
vessels had struck." "That is well," said Nelson; "but I bargained
for twenty." He then told Hardy to anchor, foreseeing that a gale was
coming on; and Hardy observed that Admiral Collingwood would now take
the command. At this the old commander blazed forth in the dying man
for a moment. He endeavoured to raise himself in the bed, saying, "Not
while I live, Hardy! No, do you anchor!" And he bade Hardy signal to
the fleet this order. His last words were again to recommend Lady
Hamilton and his daughter to his country, and to repeat several times,
"Thank God, I have done my duty!"
Nelson fell about the middle of the action, and for hours it continued
with terrible fury. Whole masses of ships lay jammed together, pouring
into one another the most tremendous broadsides. When all was over,
the vessels on both sides appeared mere ruins. Nineteen ships of the
line were taken, but some of them were so battered that they were
useless, and incapable of moving. Six or seven of the enemy's ships
immediately went down or were burnt. The Spanish admiral, Gravina,
was mortally wounded; the rear-admiral, Cisneros, was taken, and the
French admiral, Villeneuve. The French and Spaniards, in the few ships
which had escaped into Cadiz, seeing the helpless condition of many of
the British vessels, made a sortie, and re-captured two of the prizes,
and carried them into port. The _Algeciras_, another of the captured
ships, was also rescued, and carried into Cadiz by her crew, who rose
the next morning on the English lieutenant and prize party in charge
of her during a gale, the English having taken off the hatches to give
the Spaniards a chance for their lives, should she drive on shore. In
the end, the prizes were found so riddled by shot that they were burnt;
so that, with some of them running on shore in the gale, only four of
the whole--three Spanish and one French--were saved, and brought to
England as trophies. But the French and Spanish navies might be said
to be annihilated; and, whatever might happen on the Continent, for
the remainder of Napoleon's career England was for ever put beyond his
reach. Nelson had indeed finished his mission. He had revived all the
maritime glory of the days of Drake and Blake, and shown that, with a
man like him at the head of her fleet, Britain might sit on her ocean
throne, and smile at the hostile efforts of a world combined to crush
her.
[Illustration: SAILING INTO ACTION AT TRAFALGAR.]
A new and vigorous campaign was this year carried on in India by
General, now Lord, Lake, against the Mahrattas. Holkar had refused to
enter into amicable arrangements with the British at the same time
as Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar, but had continued to strengthen
his army, and now assumed so menacing an attitude, that Lord Lake and
General Frazer were sent to bring him to terms or to action. They
found him strongly posted near the fortress of Deeg, in the midst of
bogs, tanks, and topes, and formidably defended by artillery. On the
13th of November, 1804, General Frazer attacked them, notwithstanding,
and defeated them, but was killed himself in the action, and had six
hundred and forty-three men killed and wounded; for the fire of round,
grape, and chain shot by the Mahrattas was tremendous. On the 17th
Lord Lake fell on Holkar's cavalry near Ferruckabad, commanded by
Holkar himself, and thoroughly routed it, very nearly making capture of
Holkar. He retreated into the Bhurtpore territory, the Rajah of that
district having joined him. Lord Lake determined to follow him, and
drove him thence, reducing the forts in that country. He had first,
however, to make himself master of the fortress of Deeg, and this
proved a desperate affair. Still the garrison, consisting of troops
partly belonging to Holkar and partly to the Rajah of Bhurtpore,
evacuated it on Christmas Day, leaving behind them a great quantity
of cannon and ammunition. On the 1st of January, 1805, Lord Lake,
accompanied by Colonel Monson, marched into the territory of Bhurtpore,
and on the 3rd sat down before its fortress, one of the strongest
places in India. On the 18th of January Major-General Smith arrived
from Agra with three battalions of Sepoys and a hundred Europeans. But
these advantages were counterbalanced by Meer Khan arriving with a
strong force from Bundelcund to assist Holkar.
[Illustration: THE "VICTORY" AT PORTSMOUTH.]
On the 21st of January another great breach was made, and another
attempt to carry the place by assault; but it was repelled with
terrible slaughter, upwards of six hundred men being killed or wounded.
At the same time, Meer Khan, with eight thousand horse, endeavoured to
cut off a great train of camels and bullocks bringing up provisions,
but was defeated, as were the united forces of Meer Khan, Holkar,
and the Rajah of Bhurtpore, in a similar attempt to intercept another
provision train on its way from Agra. In order to compel Lake to raise
the siege of Bhurtpore, Meer Khan made an incursion with his own
cavalry, and a powerful reinforcement of Pindarrees, into the Doab, the
Company's territory. But Lord Lake was not to be drawn away from the
fort. He despatched Major-General Smith with a body of horse and the
horse artillery, who followed the track of Meer Khan, marked by burning
villages and desolated fields, and coming up with him, on the 1st of
March, near Afzulgur, he routed him with great slaughter, dispersing
and almost annihilating his force. During this expedition, which lasted
a month, and in which the British crossed and re-crossed the Ganges and
the Jumna several times, they gave a splendid example of the effective
condition of our troops in India.
During the absence of Major-General Smith Lord Lake maintained the
bombardment of the fortress of Bhurtpore. As Holkar continued to
hover near with a large body of cavalry, Lord Lake went in quest of
him, and coming up with him, now again joined by Meer Khan and some
bands of Pindarrees, he gave him a most crushing defeat on the 2nd of
April, and drove him across the Chumbul river. On this, the Rajah of
Bhurtpore consented to treat; and, on the 2nd of April, he agreed to
surrender the fort of Deeg to the British till such time as they were
satisfied of his fidelity; to renounce all connection with the enemies
of Britain; to pay by instalments twenty lacs of Ferruckabad rupees; to
surrender a portion of his territory, and deliver one of his sons as a
hostage for the fulfilment of his engagements. This was settled on the
10th of April, and on the 21st Lord Lake went in quest of Scindiah and
Holkar, who had united their forces. At his approach they retreated
towards Ajmere. As the rainy season was approaching, Lord Lake
returned, and quartered his troops at Agra, Muttra, and neighbouring
towns. Lord Wellesley was now superseded in the government of India by
Lord Cornwallis, who was averse from the system of extensive annexation
which Lord Wellesley had pursued. But his own health was failing, and
as he ascended the country in order to confer with Lord Lake on his
future policy, he died at Ghazee-pure, near Benares, having returned
to India only three months. Sir George Barlow assumed the direction of
affairs till the appointment of a new Governor General; and as Lord
Lake was of opinion that there could be no security till Holkar and
Scindiah were driven over the Indus, it was resolved to carry out that
object. Scindiah, however, came in and made peace, and Holkar went
northward, boasting that he would cross the Indus, and then return
with a new avalanche of Sikhs and Afghans, and sweep away the British
forces. But the Sikhs, who wished both him and us away, refused all
aid to Holkar, except to mediate for him. Even then he hung back, and
made great difficulties about the conditions; but Lord Lake at last
informed him that unless the treaty were signed by a certain day, he
would cross the Sutlej and advance to attack him. This brought him
to, and on the 7th of January, 1806, the treaty was duly signed by
him. By it Holkar renounced all claims on Poonah and Bundelcund, and,
indeed, on any territory on the northern bank of the Chumbul, as well
as all claims on the British Government and its allies. On her part,
Britain agreed to restore to him, eighteen months after the treaty,
Chandore, Galnauh, and other forts and districts south of the Taptee
and Godavery, provided he fulfilled his engagements, remained peaceful,
and did not molest the territories of the Company and its allies. By
the treaty with Scindiah, which was completed on the 23rd of November,
that of Surjee Anjengaum, made by General Wellesley, was confirmed:
to restore to him Gwalior and Gohud, with the right to resume them in
case he violated the treaty. The river Chumbul was made his boundary.
In exchange for certain jaghires, amounting to fifteen lacs of rupees
annually, which had been granted to some of his officers by the
former treaty, he received an annual pension of four lacs of rupees
for himself, a jaghire, worth two lacs of rupees, for his wife, and
another, worth one lac, for his daughter. As for his father-in-law,
Surjee-Row-Gautka--a man most hostile to the British, and who was
supposed to have stimulated both Scindiah and Holkar to their late
war--he was bound, like Holkar, not to admit him again to his counsels
or service. No interference was made with his conquests between the
rivers Chumbul and Taptee, nor with his arrangements with his tributary
chiefs in Mewar and Marwar; but, on the other hand, he was required not
to take into his service any Europeans, without consent of the British.
French officers, indeed, who had served under M. Perron, were found to
have directed the defence of the hill forts in this campaign, greatly
to our damage.
These treaties were regarded by Lord Lake, Sir John Malcolm--who had
to negotiate them--and many men of eminence in Indian affairs, as
based on a policy which could not last; that there could be no quiet
in Hindostan so long as the restless Mahrattas and Pindarrees were
not broken up, nor till the Indus was made the boundary of our Indian
empire towards the north-west. We shall see that a few more years
justified their foresight. These treaties, however, having, for the
present, restored peace to the north, Lord Lake, after giving a grand
review of the army on the banks of the Hyphasis, to impress the Sikhs
with a sense of our military superiority, commenced his march back
to Delhi, and in February, 1807, quitted his command in India, few
commanders having rendered more brilliant services in that part of our
empire, or left behind them more sincere esteem and admiration.
Parliament opened gloomily on the 21st of January, 1806. The total
failure of Pitt's new Continental coalition, the surrender of Ulm, the
battle of Austerlitz, the retreat of Austria into peace with Napoleon,
and of Russia into her northern snows, Germany, Italy, Switzerland,
Holland, and Belgium nearly all prostrate at the feet of Buonaparte,
were killing Pitt. He had sought for renovation in the autumn at
Bath; but its salutary waters and atmosphere had failed to restore
his spirit, or to remove what Fox called the "Austerlitz look" from
his face. He was dying at Putney as the House met, and the king was
not in a condition to open the Session personally. The Royal Speech,
read by a Commissioner, referred, with just pride, to the great
victory of Trafalgar, and had but little to say on the defeat of all
our endeavours on the Continent. The Opposition determined to move an
amendment to the Address; but this was prevented by the announcement
of the death of Pitt on the 23rd, two days after the opening of
Parliament. Mr. Lascelles gave notice of a motion for a public funeral
in Westminster Abbey. Fox moved that this question should be postponed
till after the discussion on the Address, which was considered by
Pitt's friends as a great want of generosity in Fox. The amendment was,
of course, overruled, and it was voted, on the 27th of January, by a
majority of two hundred and fifty-eight against eighty-nine, that Pitt
should be buried in Westminster Abbey; which accordingly took place,
the royal dukes, the Archbishop of Canterbury, eight bishops, a great
number of peers, and about a hundred members of the House of Commons
attending.
A second question regarding the late Minister became immediately
necessary. He had died deeply in debt. It was one of the fine qualities
of Pitt that he never had a love of money, or an ambition to create a
great estate at the expense of the country, like too many statesmen. At
an early period of Pitt's ministerial career, though a bachelor, he was
so hopelessly in debt, that his friend, Robert Smith, afterwards Baron
Carrington, had looked into his affairs, and declared that, of all
scenes of domestic robbery by servants, and wild charges by tradesmen,
he had never witnessed anything to compare with it. The financial
management of his own income and that of the nation were just on a par
in Pitt's case. He let his own money go like water, and he would have
flung any quantity of the nation's property away on his quixotic scheme
of propping up the thoroughly rotten and hopeless condition of the
Continental governments. A strong effort was now made by such of Pitt's
creditors as had advanced money to him, to be repaid by the nation.
In this endeavour none were more eager than his great friends and
relatives, who had been enabled by him to draw a hundredfold from the
nation what they had lent him. Wilberforce, however, proposed that they
should not only forego their individual claims, but should contribute
each a moderate sum towards the raising of forty thousand pounds, which
would pay his tradesmen; but here the great relatives and friends
became dumb and motionless. Spencer Perceval offered a thousand pounds,
and one or two others made some offers; but the appeal was in vain, and
a motion was proposed by Mr. Cartwright, on the 3rd of February, that
the nation should pay this sum. This was carried at once.
Though the genius and services of Pitt to his country have been
overrated, he was a man of great and persevering energies, of
remarkable talent and conspicuous oratory; but his temperament was
cold, proud, self-glorifying, and imperious, without either the deep
insight or the comprehensive grasp of genius.