ties, largely paid, and possessing entire control over his province; but accountable to the Emperor for every action,-receiving instructions, and transmitting reports to him. Thus, every department seemed as if under his personal superintendence. There was not a functionary of his government who did not feel a consciousness that his vigilant eye was upon him. As far as a form of government essentially vicious, could be rendered beneficent by the wisdom and power of one intellect, that of the Emperor was beneficent. The finances were regulated with a clearness and accuracy seldom equalled in a private family. The fine system of laws combined in the "Code Napoleon," had come into operation throughout the whole of the empire. Two great causes of evil, however, were all the time sapping the foundations of the prosperity of France. The first arose from Napoleon's iron will, attempting to bind under one uniform system the people of different countries, who were accustomed to other laws and other habits: the second, from his continental system; itself originating in the exasperating continuity of hostility pursued towards him by England. This favourite measure of his, was already ruining trade and commerce, exciting dangerous discontent, and soon led him into new and fatal wars.

The Emperor appeared in the legislative assembly shortly after the establishment of peace, and addressed them in a speech which presented, with his usual felicity of condensation, the results of the war and the present condition of France. The fêtes of the period were terminated by a splendid banquet, given by the senate to the imperial guard in the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace.

ON

SWEDEN-ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS-BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN-FRANCE DECLARES WAR PORTUGAL-PROCLAMATION OF GODOY-TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU-INVASION OF PORTUGAL-FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY-JUNOT ENTERS LISBON-AFFAIRS OF SPAIN-NAPOLEON VISITS ITALY.

THE treaty of Tilsit established peace throughout the continent of Europe, with one single and feeble exception. The King of Sweden had maintained his alliance with England, yet he was left, at the conclusion of the campaign, opposed, without assistance, to the mighty power of France. He had established himself at Stralsund, supported by an English armament; but, at the conclusion of the peace, the English re-embarked, and Gustavus retreated to his capital. A French army,

under General Brune, immediately occupied the whole of Pomerania, which was thus lost to Sweden.

Though the British ministry abandoned their faithful ally in this manner, they shewed no inclination towards a pacific policy in other

respects. They pursued a system of petty and inefficient warfare; wasting the strength and resources of the nation in distant expeditions, with various success, but uniform nothingness of result, except in the conquests of Curaçoa, and the Cape of Good Hope: the latter in particular, was a most valuable possession. They had sent an armament to Calabria, to reconquer that wild portion of the former dominions of the King of Naples, and transfer it from the government of Joseph Bonaparte to that of its legitimate monarch. The British troops gained a complete victory over the French sent to oppose them under the command of General Regnier; but re-embarked afterwards without effecting anything towards the object for which they had fought. British expeditions had also been sent to Buenos Ayres, to Turkey, and Alexandria, all of which were unsuccessful. The final proofs, however, that the English government had resolved still to maintain the war, was afforded by their refusal to accept the mediation of the Emperor of Russia, offered in compliance with the terms of the treaty of Tilsit. Their refusal was the signal of new woes and fresh horrors.

This

That

The first event which startled Europe from its dream of peace, was the appearance of a powerful British fleet in the Baltic, early in August, 1807. It consisted of twenty-seven sail of the line, bearing twenty thousand men, under the command of Lord Cathcart. overwhelming force proceeded to establish a strict blockade round the shores of Zealand, and then landed a British envoy, Mr. Jackson, who proceeded to the Danish court. The purpose of his mission was to convey a requisition to the Crown Prince of Denmark, that he should unequivocally explain the part which he meant to take between England and France. Denmark was at that moment strictly neutral. Napoleon would permit its neutrality to continue, was very unlikely; he was almost certain to enforce his continental system there, as elsewhere, and to compel the exclusion of British ships from its ports. Backed by Russia, his power, it was evident, must prevail over a state so inferior as Denmark. The English envoy, therefore, demanded that the Danish fleet, consisting of sixteen line-of-battle ships, besides frigates and smaller vessels, and the whole of their naval stores, should be delivered up to Great Britain, to be kept in deposit until more peaceful times. The closest alliance, and every possible protection, was promised in case of compliance; but it was intimated, that the British force would compel the demands should they be refused.

The Crown Prince, seeing dishonour in compliance, and perceiving besides that the conditional promise of restoring his fleet "in more peaceful times" afforded a large latitude for evasion, refused the offered terms, and made the best preparations for defence in his power.

At

the same time, he declared all the British property in Denmark to be confiscated, and shut all his ports against British ships. Lord Cathcart immediately disembarked his troops, erected batteries, and summoned General Peymann, commandant of Copenhagen, to surrender, under pain of a rigorous siege by land and sea. The Danish land forces, assembled in the interior of the island, were dispersed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, a name heard for the first time in European warfare on this occasion, though already well known in India. On the 2nd of September, at seven o'clock in the evening, the British ships commenced a terrific bombardment of the city, which lasted seventy-two hours, and reduced three hundred houses to ashes. After a brave but unavailing resistance, General Peymann, who had been dangerously wounded, offered to capitulate, surrendering the citadel and forts of Copenhagen, together with the whole fleet, to the English. The Crown Prince had ordered the latter to be blown up if it could not be saved, but his dispatch was intercepted. Lord Cathcart took possession, fitted out the Danish ships for sea with all possible celerity, seized upon the naval stores to a very large amount, and sailed off with the prize on the 8th of September.

The King of Denmark, outraged in so unheard-of a manner, joined heart and hand with Napoleon in his system of exclusion; signed with him a treaty offensive and defensive against England, and, never forgiving the injury he had received, was the only sovereign of Europe who respected his engagements to the last moment. All Europe exclaimed against the violence committed by England. The Emperor

Alexander immediately declared his adherence to the continental system, according to the principles of the armed neutrality established by Catherine II. The English were thus entirely excluded from the north of Europe.

Napoleon discussed the subject of the bombardment of Copenhagen with O'Meara in St. Helena. "That expedition," said he, "shewed great energy on the part of your ministers; but, setting aside the violation of the laws of nations which you committed-for, in fact, it was nothing but a robbery-I think that it was injurious to your interests, as it made the Danish nation irreconcilable enemies to you, and, in fact, shut you out of the north for three years. When I heard of it, I said, 'I am glad of it, as it will embroil England irrecoverably with the northern powers.' The Danes being able to join me with sixteen sail of the line, was but of little consequence. I had plenty of ships, and only wanted seamen, whom you did not take, and whom I obtained afterwards; while, by the expedition, your ministers established their characters as faithless, and as persons with whom no engagements, no laws, were binding."

Napoleon soon diverted the attention of Europe from the wrongs of Denmark, by displaying, in his turn, an instance of "great energy,” very similar in its nature and purposes to that of the English ministry. Portugal had purchased peace from France at a heavy price in 1801 (see Vol. i. p. 270). England had, however, too powerful a hold over the interests of that country to suffer the fulfilment of the treaty of Madrid in all its parts. Portugal continued to be, as of old, the firm ally of England, and the receptacle of British commerce. The continental system was, therefore, frustrated in the south of Europe, though triumphant in the north.

Immediately upon the refusal of England to accept the mediation of Russia, the following note was delivered by the French chargé-d'affaires at Lisbon to the Prince Regent of Portugal: it bears the date of August 12th, 1807, exactly ten days after the appearance of the English fleet in the Baltic. "The undersigned has received orders to declare, that if, by the 1st of September next, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent has not shewn his intention of withdrawing from English influence, by declaring, without delay, war against England, dismissing the minister of His Britannic Majesty, recalling the Portuguese ambassador from London, detaining as hostages the English established in Portugal, confiscating the English merchandise, shutting his ports to English vessels, and, in short, uniting his fleets with those of the continental powers,-His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal will be considered as having renounced the continental system; and in that case the undersigned has orders to demand his passports, and to withdraw by declaring war.

"The undersigned, on considering the motives which should determine the court of Portugal at the present juncture, cannot but hope that, enlightened by wise counsels, it will embrace openly and without reserve, the political system most conformable to its dignity and interests; and that it will at last openly decide on making common cause with all the governments of the continent against the oppressors of the sea, and the enemies of the navigation of all nations."

The ambassador of the King of Spain presented a note to a similar effect on the same day. At the same time, a French army of fiveand-twenty thousand men was assembled at Bayonne under the name of the "corps of observation of the Gironde," the command of which was entrusted to Junot.

The counsels of the court of Portugal were divided into two parties, one of which clung to the English alliance, seeing nothing before them but ruin if the Brazils and English commerce were lost to the country by offending the masters of the seas. "As soon as the foreign armies appear," said they, "we must retire on board our ships, and take refuge