in his rear, and to those Colonel Gillespie, being joined by Colonel M'Leod, of the 59th regiment, directed his attention. Here the greater part of the enemy's artillery, surrounded and protected by their cavalry, was posted; the redoubts, however, were carried in the same heroic style as those in advance,-their artillery was captured, and their cavalry compelled to flv. Soon after Cornelis surrendered; and in this engagement the whole of the hostile army was killed, taken, or dispersed. General Jansens, who had thrice rallied his retreating troops, escaped with difficulty from the field, followed only by a few cavalry. The loss of the enemy in these different actions was immense-about a thousand men were buried in the works; vast numbers were cut down in the retreat; the rivers were literally choaked with the bodies of the slain, and the adjacent huts and woods were filled with the wounded, most of whom afterwards died. Nearly five thousand prisoners were taken, among whom were three general-officers and thirty-six field-officers; and the number of artillery and field-pieces, taken in this memorable campaign, amounted to upwards of seven hundred. No day was ever more bravely won, nor was there ever a victory more complete. Such a conquest could not be achieved without considerable loss on the part of the victors, and twenty-seven native troops, and one hundred and fourteen British, killed, and one hundred and twenty-three natives, and six hundred and ten British, wounded, was the price paid for the island of Java. As soon as these conquests were secured, and the British army had recovered from their fatigue, a body of troops was embarked on board the ships of the fleet, under Rear-admiral Stopford, and ordered to proceed to Samerang, where they were joined by Sir Samuel Auchmuty. General Jansens, who had retired to that town, answered a summons sent to him to surrender the island, by expressing a determination to persevere in his resistance; but, on the 12th of September, it was discovered that he had evacuated the place, and taken up a position on the road to Solo, the capital of the Soesoehoenam, or Autocrat. This position Colonel Gibbs was directed to attack on the 16th; but the allies and native troops of the enemy had no zeal in the service, and dreading the attack of men who had displayed such prodigies of valour at Cornelis, they fled at their approach, leaving the road covered with the equipments which they had thrown away in their retreat. Early in the night, a flag of truce arrived from General Jansens, with an offer to surrender, and a negociation was immediately entered into, which 1811 terminated in a capitulation, by which the Dutch BOOK IV. It had now become the leading feature of The annexation of Holland and the Hanse BOOK IV. marine conscription, by which it was enacted, that in the thirty maritime districts of the empire CHAP.XIV. the conscription should be devoted to the recruiting of the navy, and that ten thousand con1811 scripts of each of the classes of the years of 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816, should be immediately placed at the disposal of the minister of marine. In every branch of the naval department the most strenuous exertions were made to secure the "liberty of the seas," and in the port of Antwerp alone twenty ships of the line were upon the stocks at one time, eight of which number were three-deckers. In the mean time the want of colonial produce was felt as a severe inconvenience in every part of the widely extended dominion of France; peas, beans, and lupens were dried for coffee, the astragalus baticus was cultivated in great quantities in Moravia, for the same purpose; and the leaves of the horn-bean were dried for tea, and scented with the roots of the Florence Iris. One experimentalist transmitted to the minister of the interior samples of sugar extracted from raisins, and another obtained a similar substance from chesnuts; and at Brest it was discovered that "palm sea-weed, when dried, contained sugar as well as salt, which did not indeed chrystalise like that of the cane, but which had nearly as pleasant a flavour, and had moreover the advantage of being perfectly white." No sooner did any experiment promise success, than the law was called in to its aid, and in pursuance of this policy, an edict was issued directing that a certain quantity of ground should be appropriated in each department to the culture of the beet root for sugar, and of woad for indigo. "The discovery of the needle," it was said, " produced a revolution in commerce; the use of honey gave way to that of sugar; the use of woad to that of indigo; but the progress of chymistry operating a revolution in an inverse direction, had arrived at the extraction of sugar from the grape, the maple, and the beet root; and by extracting a residuum from the woad of Languedoc and Italy, has given it the advantage over indigo in price and in quality." Two subjects of essential importance to the interests of every community, occupied this year a prominent situation in the annual exposition of the French empire-the state of the national religion, and a system of public education. On the first of these subjects Bonaparte touched in his speech to the legislative body. "The affairs of religion," said he, "have been too often mixed in, and sacrificed to, the interests of a state of the third order. If half of Europe have separated from the church of Rome, we may attribute it specially to the contradiction which has never ceased to exist between the truths and the principles of religion which belong to the whole universe, and the pretensions and interests which regarded only a very small corner of Italy. I have put an end to this scandal for ever. I have united Rome to the empire. I have given palaces to the popes at Rome and at Paris; if they have at heart the interest of religion, they will often sojourn in the centre of the affairs of christianity. It was thus that St. Peter preferred Rome to an abode even in the Holy Land." Of the disorganized situation of the Gallican church, owing to the existing differences between Pope Pius VII. and the Emperor Napoleon, the following picture was exhibited by the organ of government:+ "Twenty-seven bishoprics have been for a long time vacant, and the pope, having refused at two different periods, from 1805 to 1807, and from 1808 to the present moment, to execute the clauses of the concordat, which bind him to institute the bishops nominated by the emperor; this refusal has nullified the concordatit no longer exists. The emperor has been therefore obliged to convoke all the bishops of the empire, in order that they may deliberate about the means of supplying the vacant sees, and of nominating to those that may become vacant in future." Upon these grounds, Bonaparte summoned all the bishops of France and Italy to hold a national council in the church of Notre Dame, at Paris. From this ecclesiastical council, which assembled on the 17th of June, and of which Cardinal Fesch, the uncle of the emperor, was president, it was intended to procure decrees, which should satisfy scrupulous consciences, fill up vacant sees, and give to the primate of the Gauls a species of vice-papal authority during the life of the pope. But the bishops, though by no means indisposed to offer the incense of courtly adulation at the shrine of imperial power, could not be prevailed upon to support the pretensions of Napoleon in opposition to the claims of the pope; and when they were called upon by Cardinal Maury to act in defiance of the catholic church, their suppleness made a pause, and the members of the convocation in the interest of the emperor, could, it is said, only obtain fourteen votes against one hundred and six. The proceedings of this council have never been suffered to transpire, but it is well understood that the result neither satisfied the expectations of the emperor, nor bealed the schisms in the Gallican church. *June 16, 1811. Education in France, upon the university + Exposition of the State of the French Empire in 1811. system, had now become a national concern. The number of Lycæums, and of commercial colleges, continued to be augmented, and the number of private seminaries were to be gradually diminished till the moment when they were all to be shut up. This system of national education, which had for its object the formation of soldiers as well as of scholars, was regulated on the principles of military discipline, rather than upon those of civil or ecclesiastical policy,† and served as a powerful engine to recruit the armies, by giving to the youth of France a military character. Nor was it to France alone that this system was confined; it extended to the inhabitants of all the territories annexed to the French empire, and aimed at giving to the youth of these countries the manners and the character which were to identify them with the French nation. The Empress Maria Louisa, to whose illustrious progeny the people of France looked for a successor to the Napoleon throne, this year presented the emperor with a son. The birth of this " august infant," upon whom so many destinies reposed, took place on the 2d of April, and the joyous event, which was communicated by telegraphic messages to every part of France, was celebrated in Paris by rejoicings, illuminations, and public thanksgivings. The second city in the empire afforded a title to the heir epparent, who, from the day of his birth, took BOOK IV. The birth of the King of Rome had fulfilled * By a decree, promulgated at the beginning of the year 1808, the imperial university of Paris was 'exclusively charged with the public instruction, and had the controul over every school and seminary of education throughout the empire. Without the permission of the grand master of the university, no individual was allowed to conduct an establishment of any kind for tuition, and every school-master was required to be a member of the university. This institution was composed of as many academies as there were tribunals or courts of appeal in France, and there were schools attached to each academy in the following order :-1. Universities, called Les Facultés ; 2. Lycæums; 3. Colleges, or Grammar Schools; 4. Institutions, or Seminaries; 5. Boarding Schools, called Pensionats; and 6. The Lesser, or Primary Schools. The universities were composed of five faculties, viz. theology, jurisprudence, physic, mathematical and physical science, and literature. The Lyceums however formed the most important part of the system; there were originally thirty-two of these institutions, but they were afterwards increased to forty-five, in order to bear a relative proportion to the increased extension of the French territory. Of the pupils, six thousand four hundred were educated at the public expense, and of this number two thousand four hundred were to be selected during the space of ten years from the foreign territories annexed to France. + Exposition of the State of the French Empire in 1811. +1 BOOK IV. 1811 CHAPTER XV. DOMESTIC HISTORY: Opening of the First Regency Parliament-Refusal of the Prince Regent to accept a Provision for the Royal Household-Motion regarding his Majesty's Health in 1804Commercial Distresses-The Bullion Question-Lord King's Demand of Cash Payments from his Tenants-Lord Stanhope's Act for upholding the National Currency-Ex-Officio Informations-New Office created in the Court of Chancery—Amelioration in the Discipline of the Army-British Subjects carrying on the Slave Trade made liable to Transportation-Lord Sidmouth's Bill to amend and explain the Toleration Act-Public Finances-Re-appointment of the Duke of York to the Office of Commander-in-chief-Lord Milton's Motion thereon— State of his Majesty's Health-Affairs of Ireland-Letter of Mr. Wellesley Pole-Convention Act-Proceedings of the Catholics-Arrest and Trial of the Delegate to the Catholic Committee-National Education-Population Returns of 1811. AT the commencement of the present year, the two houses of parliament were principally CHAP. XV. Occupied with those measures which the lamented indisposition of the king had rendered necessary to supply the deficiency in the exercise of the royal functions; and after the passing of the act for investing the Prince of Wales with the powers requisite, in the opinion of the estates of parliament, for exercising the office of regent, his royal highness took the prescribed oaths before the privy council, and from that time became the representative of the sovereign.* On the 12th of February, parliament was opened with the usual formalities, when the Prince Regent, regarding his situation as that of the ceremonial, rather than the efficient head of the state, declined to open the session in person. The speech, which was delivered by commission in the name of the regent, expressed the most unfeigned sorrow on account of the calamity which had imposed upon his royal highness the duty of exercising the royal authority; the Prince Regent, at the same time, congratulated parliament upon the success of his majesty's arms, both by sea and land; and trusted that he would be enabled to continue to afford the most effectual assistance to the brave nations of the peninsula. With regard to the United States of America, it was his earnest wish to bring the discussions with that country to an amicable termination, consistent with the honour of the crown and the maintenance of the maritime rights and interests of this kingdom; and he trusted to the zeal of parliament for adequate supplies in order to bring the great contest in which the country was engaged to a happy issue. In the house of lords, the Earl of Aberdeen moved the address, which was seconded by Lord Elliot, and carried without a division. In the lower house of parliament, the address, which was moved by Mr. Milnes, seconded by Mr. Richard Wellesley, encountered no other opposition than that which might seem to be implied in a declaration made by Mr. Ponsonby, that in acquiescing in the address he should not be precluded from discussing any particular topic in the speech when the subject came before the house in a separate and detached form. Another proof of the manner in which the Prince Regent regarded the temporary authority with which he was vested, was afforded by a communication made to the house of commons on the 21st of February, when the chancellor of the exchequer stated, that his royal highness, on being informed that a motion was intended to be made for a provision for the royal household, declared that he would not add to the burthens of the people, by accepting of any addition to his public state as Regent of the United Kingdom. This subject was further illustrated by Mr. Adam, who stated that the regent had put into his hands the letter from Mr. Perceval, relating to the intended provision, accompanying it with written instructions, that, should any proposition for an establishment, or a grant from the privy purse, be made to the house, he should inform that assembly that his royal highness wished to discharge the duties of the temporary regency without increasing his establishment. In case, however, of such circumstances occurring as might lead to a permanent regency, he conceived that the question would then be opened anew to the consideration of his royal highness. * See Vol. II. Chap. XII. p. 160. amine the journals of the house of lords for the BOOK IV. Lord Castlereagh, as a member of admi- On the 26th of February, a motion was submitted to the house of commons on a subject in which the feelings of the country, and the dignity and essential interests of the crown, were deeply involved. In the course of the examination of the physicians before the committee of the two houses of parliament, in December last, touching the state of his majesty's health, it was necessary to advert to the malady under which the sovereign had laboured in the years 1801 and 1804, and some very curious and important particulars were elicited by this examination. It appeared from the evidence of Dr. Heberden, that in 1804 his majesty continued indisposed, and actually under the care of Dr. Simmons and his men, long after the bulletins were discontinued. At this period Lord Eldon was chancellor, and in that capacity was regularly and officially responsible for having procured the royal signature to public documents, and the royal assent to parliamentary acts, when, in the words of one of the physicians, "his majesty's judgment was in eclipse." On these grounds it was moved by Mr. Whitbread, that the examination of the physicians should be laid before the house; and the honourable gentleman pledged himself to prove, if the opportunity was afforded him, that the period of the royal incapacity lasted from the 12th of February, 1804, to the 10th of June in the same year; and that, during that period, Dr. Simmons and his subordinate agents exercised a controul over his majesty, such as is known to be exercised towards persons afflicted with the deprivation of reason: notwithstanding which, Lord Eldon was found, on the 5th and 6th of March, taking his majesty's commands on a proposed measure for the alienation of certain crown lands in favour of the Duke of York; and on the 9th, venturing to come down to parliament with a commission, purporting to be signed by the king, at a time when, by the acknowledgment of his physicians, his majesty was labouring under mental infirmity. During the period between the 12th of February and the 23d of April, when such unconstitutional proceedings were occurring, the Lord Chancellor Eldon was the only minister who had access to his sovereign, being at that moment in the exercise of the same judicial superintendence over the king as that which he is in the habit of holding over unhappy private persons, against whom a commission of lunacy has been issued. Similar transactions had, Mr. Whitbread said, taken place in the year 1801, at which time also Lord Eldon was chancellor ; but as two of the persons then high in his majesty's councils were now lost to the country, it was not his intention to extend the inquiry to the events of that period. Mr. Whitbread Mr. Whitbread concluded by moving for a committee "to ex Sir Francis Burdett maintained that ministers had usurped the sovereign power; that the king. was acting under restraint at the time that he was acting as king; and that the fact was not and could not be contradicted. If ministerial responsibility was any thing but a name, and if the king was not a mere puppet for the purpose of coming down to parliament in a gilt coach occasionally, this act of the ministers amounted to a high crime and misdemeanour. If ministers could go on without the kingly office, they were innocent; but as he thought that, while the constitution existed, they could not, the motion should have his cordial support. After a forcible reply from Mr. Whitbread, the house divided, when the motion for inquiry was negatived by a majority of one hundred and seventeen voices. The increasing commercial distresses of the nation were now so seriously felt that the attention of government was necessarily fixed upon them; and on the 1st of March, a committee of twenty-one members distinguished for their knowledge of commercial concerns, and nominated without any regard to political party, was CHAP. XV. 1811 |