CHAPTER XIII. FOREIGN HISTORY: Sudden Death of the Crown Prince of Sweden-Marshal Bernadotte elected BONAPARTE, by subdividing the states of Europe, gratified the two most prevailing passions of his mind-his ambition and his hatred to England. In this way, he extended his power with his means of annoyance, and he hoped ultimately to obtain a maritime peace, by cutting off the commerce of Great Britain from the continent. The annexation of Holland to the French empire, the intermarriage of Napoleon with the princess of the house of Austria, and the extension of his influence in Sweden and along the shores of the German Ocean, emanated from these feelings, and tended to the accomplishment of these purposes. The possession of Sweden could not be so openly and directly acquired, as the possession of other continental states; but a fortunate conjuncture in public affairs, soon afforded the opportunity of gaining such an influence in that country, as seemed to advance Napoleon's grand scheme of foreign policy. Charles Augustus, Prince of Augustenburg, who had, on the 24th of January, 1810, been elected to the dignity of Crown Prince of Sweden, died suddenly, on the 29th of May, in the same year, while he was reviewing some regiments of cavalry on Bonorp Heath; and his death was preceded and accompanied by circumstances, which excited in the minds of the populace, a strong and general suspicion, that he had been poisoned. In other times, his death might have appeared perfectly natural, as it probably was; but suspicions fixed upon the two families of Fersen and Piper, who were thought to be jealous of his popularity, and apprehensive that his elevation to the throne would destroy that influence which they had long enjoyed in the government. The interval which elapsed between the death of the prince and his interment, gave time for suspicion to spread; and when the funeral procession arrived at Stockholm, on the 20th of June, the agitation had increased to so alarming a degree, that the populace fell upon Count Axel Fersen, who led the procession in his carriage and six, and 1810 actually tore him to pieces. In order to calm BOOK IV. On the 15th of August, the four estates of Early in the month of October, Bernadotte proceeded to Sweden; and on the 1st of November, he addressed the king, and the estates of the realm, in a complimentary speech, unfolding views of government, and maxims of policy, worthy of a statesman and a sage: "Gentlemen, deputies of the nobility, the clergy, the burghers, and the peasants,' said he, "sound policy, that which alone the laws of God authorize, must be founded upon justice and truth; such are the principles of the king; they shall also be mine. I have beheld war close at hand, I know its desolating properties; there is nothing which can console a country for the blood of its children, shed in a foreign land.Peace is the first object of a wise and enlightened government. It is not the extent of a state which constitutes its force and independence, it is its laws, its industry, its commerce, and above all, its natural spirit. Sweden, it is true, has sustained great losses, but the honour of the Swedish nation has not suffered the least attaint. Let us submit, Gentlemen, to the decrees of providence, and let us recollect, that they have left us a soil sufficient to support our wants, and iron to defend it." From this moment, Charles John, the official name given to the Crown Prince, may be considered as the efficient ruler of Sweden. Adverse to open and actual hostility with Great Britain, he continued for some time to permit the commercial intercourse to be carried on between the two countries; and when, in the month of December, war was declared against England, the Swedish declaration of war contained a frank, and almost explicit avowal that this resolution was taken at the instigation of Bonaparte. The Emperor Napoleon, taking counsel of his vanity, sought a family alliance with the royal house of Austria; and Marshal Berthier, the Prince of Neufchatel was dispatched on a special mission to Vienna, to demand the Archduchess Maria Louisa in marriage. The prin cess exulting in the conquest of the conqueror of the world, was easily won; and her royal father had penetration enough to perceive, that, by this union, he should be enabled either to participate in the glory and prosperity of Napoleon, or to recover his lost dominions by precipitating his fall, if adversity should overtake him. The council of Vienna, influenced by the interests of the state, removed the scruples of the father, by dwelling upon the duties of the sovereign; and moderated the emperor's feelings of humility, by unveiling to him the future, and expatiating upon the advantages of the proposed alliance. On Bonaparte himself, this alliance operated as a sort of talisman, it obscured all objects, unsettled his judgment, and introduced contrarieties into his whole system of government. Many of his own court, and those near his person, partook of the infatuation of their sovereign, and those who perceived the snare into which he was advancing, wanted courage to exhibit to him the consequences of his new engagements with Austria, The marriage ceremony, in which the Archduke Charles, as the proxy of Napoleon, received the hand of his august relative, was performed on the 11th of March, at Vienna, in the church of the Augustines, and in the presence of the Emperor and Empress of Austria. On the 18th, the Empress and Queen, Maria Louisa, left Vienna, and arrived at Compeigne on the 27th, where she was met by the emperor. From Vienna to Paris, the road by which the princess advanced, seemed strewed with flowers; and this alliance afforded an inexhaustible source of amusement and gaiety to the volatile French and the stately German nations. On the 1st of April, the civil ceremony of the celebration and ratification of the marriage of the Emperor with the Princess Maria Louisa, took place in the hall of Mars, in the imperial chateau of St. Cloud; and on the following day, the religious ceremony was performed by the grand almoner and two assistant bishops, in the chapel of the Louvre. To mark the epoch of this marriage by acts of indulgence and benevolence, Bonaparte presented a free pardon to all deserters from the French armies, previous to the year 1806, and to all others on immediately joining their corps; all unpaid fines imposed by the judgment of the police were remitted; six thousand girls, each portioned by the state with *It was at first generally, indeed almost universally imagined, that the Arch-duchess was an unwilling, though resigned victim to the preservation of her family-another virgin of Gilead, obedient to the calls of filial reverence and duty; but no supposition could be more erroneous. It soon appeared how much of the blood of the Lorraines Bowed in her veins; she was gay, lively and almost playful; and so early did she begin to identify herself with the French nation, and to exult in the glory of her future lard, that, according to the foreign journals, she one day, before she left Vienna, hastened eagerly into her father's apartment, and announced to him a French victory in the peninsula, by exclaiming in a tone of triumph, "We have obtained great advantages in Spain." from six to twelve thousand francs, were to be married to as many retired soldiers of their communes; and twelve thousand dishes of meat, twelve thousand loaves of bread, and a hundred and forty-four pipes of wine, were ordered to be distributed by lottery among the poor. The day after their marriage, Napoleon and Maria Louisa received the felicitations of the senate, and the great public officers of the state: "Sire," said the president to the emperor, "Europe contemplates with rapture the august daughter of the sovereign of Austria on the glorious threne of Napoleon. Providence, in reserving for you this illustrious spouse, has been pleased to manifest more and more that you have been born for the happiness of nations, and to secure the repose of the world." The orator next addressing the empress, said: Madame, the shouts of joy which have every where accompanied your majesty's steps; that concert of benedictions, which still echoes from Vienna to Paris, are the faithful expressions of the sentiments of the people. The senate comes to offer to your majesty testimonies of homage not less ardent-not less sincere. The imperial crown, which sparkles on your brow, and that other crown of graces and virtues which tempers and softens the lustre of its rays, attract towards you the hearts of thirty million of Frenchmen, who make it their joy and pride to salute you by the name of their sovereign. The French, whom you have adopted, and to whom, by the most sacred of promises, you have vowed the sentiments of a tender mother, you will find worthy of your kind regard. You will more and more cherish this good and tenderhearted people, who always feel an anxious wish to love those who govern them, and to place affection and honour by the side of zeal and obedience. The sentiments which we have the happiness to express to your majesties are, under the guarantee of heaven, like that sacred oath which has for ever united the great and splendid destinies of Napoleon and Maria Louisa." From the moment that Bonaparte contemplated this new family alliance, additional en croachments upon the liberties of his country seem also to have been contemplated; and no year in the whole course of his memorable reign presents such flagrant instances of a rapid advance towards absolute despotism, as the year of his marriage. Besides the various decrees issued with the hope of preventing the introduction of British merchandize into France, and which from the very nature of commerce, must have operated as much to the prejudice of the French merchant as to the injury of the British exporter, he struck more directly and fatally at the liberty of the subject by his decrees for regulating state prisons registering domestic servants, and restricting the operations of the BOOK IV. press. The decree regarding state prisons, which CHAP. XIII. The decree for the registration of servants BOOK IV. extended in its operations to masters, and the intercourse it opened between domestics and the CHAP. XIII police afforded an admirable opportunity for placing all the families in Paris under a species of espionage, or menial inspection. 1810 Several imperial decrees were issued in the course of the present year for the purpose of reducing the number of printers and booksellers in France, and for subjecting the press to a rigid system of censorship. By these decrees a director-general was appointed, under the order of the minister of the interior, charged with the superintendence of every thing relating to the printing and publication of books. The number of printers in each department was limited, and the printers in Paris reduced to sixty. The printing of any thing contrary to the duty which the subject owes to the sovereign or to the state, was prohibited, and offenders against this law exposed themselves to the punishments of the penal code. All manuscripts intended for publication were made subject to a previous inspection, when the censor was to point out to the author such alterations or erasures as he should think proper; if the author refused to agree to these alterations, the sale of his work was to be inhibited, the forms broken, and possession taken of the sheets or copies printed. All booksellers were directed to take out a license, and no license was to be granted to any person wishing to begin the business of a bookseller, but such as should have recommended themselves by their good character, and an attachment to their sovereign and to their country. Only one newspaper was to be published in any of the departments, except the Seine; and all the newspapers in France were placed under the authority of the prefects, and were never to be published without their approbation. These measures, no doubt, diminished the attachment of the people of France to the emperor, and would probably in their ultimate consequence have undermined his throne; for, enig. matical as it may appear, it is an unquestionable fact, resting upon the authority of all history, that every blow directed against the liberties of a nation has a tendency to recoil upon the hand that inflicts it; and those measures, which at first seem to strengthen the government of a tyrant, seldom fail to overthrow the fabric of despotism, which, by a short-sighted policy, they are intended to uphold. From the period when the house of Orange were deprived of their hereditary power, the Dutch people had maintained a strict alliance with France; their government had been changed in obsequious imitation of every change in that country; they had lost their colonies and their commerce by their fidelity to their new allies, and they had at last accepted as a sovereign the brother of the French emperor. They had been fortunate in the king, which it had pleased Napoleon to place over them; Louis Bonaparte took a deep interest in their sufferings, and the manner in which he attempted to soften those measures which oppressed the Dutch nation, and paralized the public exertions, won the affections of his subjects. In the war waged by France against the commercial prosperity, and the maritime greatness, of England, it became peculiarly necessary that Holland should lend her cordial co-operation. The coast of that country, indented by rivers and inlets, and placed at a distance of only a few hours sail from England, presented innumerable opportunities for the infraction of the continental system. The character and necessities of the Dutch-a nation indebted to commerce for the very land they inhabit, who had been nurtured in trade till it had become their second nature, and who foresaw in the accomplishment of Bonaparte's schemes, the overthrow of their ancient habits and pursuits, operated powerfully against the project for the total exclusion of British commerce, and induced Napoleon to issue the most strict and peremptory orders to Louis to enforce his decrees with rigour. For a short time these orders were obeyed, but the wretchedness which every where presented itself, and the numerous and urgent petitions of the sufferers, so far prevailed in the mind of Louis over every consideration of state policy, that he threw open the Dutch ports, and repealed his decrees against commerce. This conduct of the tributary sovereign of Holland was highly resented by the French Emperor; and Louis at length, finding that all his endeavours and sacrifices on behalf of the Dutch nation were unavailing, abdicated his throne in favour of his eldest son, Louis Napoleon. This act of abdication, which bore date the 1st of July, not having been previously concerted with Bonaparte, was declared invalid; and on the 9th day of the same month an imperial decree was issued from Paris, by which the kingdom of Holland was united to the French empire. The annexa. tion of Holland to France was stated to be the necessary consequence of the union of Belgium to that empire," It completes," says the Duke of Cadore, the French minister, in a report made to Napoleon, "your majesty's empire, as well as the execution of your system of war, policy, and trade. It is the first but a necessary step to the restoration of your navy; in fact it is the heaviest blow which your majesty could inflict upon the navy and commerce of England.” The next act of usurpation consisted in the annexation of the Hanse Towns to France. "The orders published by the British consul in 1806 and 1807 had," it was said, "rent in pieces the public law of Europe, and created the necessity for the junction of the mouths of the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Rhine, the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, to the French empire."* Thus, after having extorted immense contributions from the imperial cities of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, for the support of the French armies, the guilt of these acts of rapacity was consummated by a decree depriving them of their independence. In the course of the present year, Frederick-William of Prussia returned to his capital after a long and afflictive absence. The queen, whose high spirit had been broken by the disasters of her country, languished till the 19th of 1811 July, when she expired in the prime of life. BOOK IV, The loss of a beloved consort, not less distinguished for her domestic virtues than for her CHAP.XIV. personal charms, almost overpowered the disconsolate monarch, and he was with difficulty prevailed upon to abandon a resolution which he had taken to quit the affairs of state, and to seek in retirement and seclusion a solace for his accumulated distresses. Absorbed in these feelings he saw, without emotion, the electorate of Hanover, once so highly valued by him as to be placed in competition with the safety of Europe, pass into the hands of Jerome Bonaparte, and become an integral part of the kingdom of Westphalia. CHAPTER XIV. NAVAL AND COLONIAL CAMPAIGN: Gallant Exploit performed by a small British Squadron under Captain Hoste-Destruction of the Enemy's Ships in the Bay of Sagone-Descent on the Coast of Naples-Capture and Destruction of the Enemy's Convoys on the Coasts of Calabria, Normandy, and the Adriatic Sea-Capture of a French Convoy within the Mouth of the Gironde-Desperate Action in the Indian Seas-Dreadful Shipwrecks-Surrender of the Island of Java, the last of the Enemy's Colonies in the East Indies-The actuating Motives of the Policy of the French Government-Energy in the Naval Department-Substitutes for Colonial Produce-State of the Gallican Church-System of National Education-Birth of the King of Rome. THE year 1811, though not characterized by the fall of empires, was by no means destitute of events calculated to render this portion of history interesting to the present, and memorable in future ages. On the continent of Europe the germ of a tremendous contest had already begun to take root; and the long-pending differences between the European powers and the United States of America assumed an aspect that portended an approaching storm. In the peninsula of Spain and Portugal the war still continued to rage with undiminished fury and with various and dubious success; while the navy of England, finding no adequate antagonist on the ocean, was obliged to satisfy itself with those minor exploits which occasionally presented themselves, but in which the skill and superiority of the lords of the ocean were always sufficiently conspicuous. Early in the month of March a small English squadron, under the command of Captain Hoste, consisting of the Amphion and Cerberus, each of thirty-two guns, and of the Active and Volage, the former of thirty-eight, and the lat * Message of Napoleon to the ter of twenty-two guns, discovered off the island of Lissa, in the Italian seas, a French squadron of five frigates, one corvette, four brigs, two schooners, and two smaller vessels, commanded by Captain Dubordieu. On the approach of the English fleet, the enemy formed themselves into two divisions, and bore down under a press of sail in order to carry into effect the British system of tactics, by breaking their adversary's line. This attempt having failed of success, the French commodore, who led the van in the Favourite, of forty-four guns, attempted to place the English squadron between two fires, but while he was manoeuvring for this purpose, his ship approached too near the shore, and was driven on the rocks of Lissa. The enemy, undismayed by the fate of their commodore, persisted in the attempt to place the British between two fires, and the starboard division having passed under the stern of the British ships engaged them to leeward, while the larboard division tacked and remained to windward. Though the enemy displayed more than their accustomed skill on this occasion, and followed up that skill Senate, dated Dec. 10, 1810. |