1808.]

THE DEFENCE OF SVEABORG.

121

contain the fleets of the world, lay a fleet of Swedish galleys. It was garrisoned by 3,000 Swedish troops, commanded by Admiral Cronstadt, when on the 8th of March it was invested from the land side, but the frozen waters of the Baltic prevented effectually the sea face of the fortress from being surrounded. The orders to the governor were " to defend the fortress to the last extremity." Yet, although no landing had been attempted from the ice, and a very weak bombardment had been opened from the shore, the place was most shamefully surrendered on the 6th of April, under a strong suspicion of bribery.

66

66

The Swedish fleet consisted of 11 or 12 sail of the line, under Admiral Nauchhoff, and 6 or 7 frigates. Fortunately for Sweden, Denmark had at this time only two line of battle ships left to oppose her, but Russia possessed a fleet far greater than Gustavus could send to sea. It was necessary, therefore, to look to Great Britain for assistance; but, with true Muscovite finesse, although the peace of Tilsit naturally suspended all friendly relations with England, she waited until the Baltic was frozen over before she declared war. However, as soon as the ice broke up, on the 17th of May, a British fleet assembled off Gottenburg under ViceAdmiral Sir James Saumarez, consisting of "Victory," 100, Captain George Hope, bearing the Admiral's flag, "Centaur," 74, Captain Webley, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 'Superb," 74, Captain Jackson, bearing that of Admiral Goodwin Keats, Implacable," 74, Captain Bryan Martin, Brunswick," Captain Graves, "Mars," Captain Lukin, "Orion," 74, Captain Sir Archibald Dickson, "Goliath," Captain Paget, Vanguard," Captain Baker, Dictator," 64, Captain Donald Campbell, Africa," 64, Captain Barrett; with the " Africaine," " Euryalus," 66 Salsette," ," "Tribune," and "Tartar" frigates, besides sloops, gunbrigs, &c. About 200 sail of transports, having on board 12,000 men, under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, were with the fleet, ready for disembarkation. In the meanwhile, General Klingspor, at the head of the Swedish troops in Finland, after having fallen back as far as Ulenborg, boldly resumed the offensive on the 17th of May, and, aided by a gallant band of peasants, who rallied around the Swedish General, to avert the dreaded Muscovite yoke, had repeated success against the Russians, took from them 99 pieces of cannon, and expelled them from the whole of East Bothnia. In the same month of May the Swedish fleet recaptured the islands of Aland and Gottland, which had yielded to the Russian arms, and Admiral Bodikoff, with the Russian garrisons, were made prisoners.

66

The British repaired to Stockholm to concert measures with the King for the employment of this force in conjunction with His Majesty's army; but it was no easy matter to deal with the eccentric monarch. His mind, although he had scarcely strength enough to defend his kingdom, was bent on conquest, and he first proposed the conquest of Zeeland. The British General represented to the King, that not only was the island strongly fortified, but full of

122

CONFERENCE WITH THE KING OF SWEDEN.

[A.D

Danish troops, and that there was a strong force of French and Spanish in the adjoining island of Fünen. The next proposition made was, that the British troops should land in Finland, and take a position there; but it was shown him that the British army was wholly insufficient to make head against a Russian force that would assuredly march in strength against an enemy so near to their capital. The end of the conference was, that Sir John Moore adroitly managed to escape from the rash consequence of a total disagreement with Gustavus IV., and returned to Gottenburg, where, under the new phases of the contest, he received orders not to disembark his army, but to carry them to the Peninsula.

Whatever may have been the faults in the character of Gustavus IV. of Sweden, a disregard to solemn obligations was not one of them. He was proof against the wiles and threats of the French Generals, when, after Jena and Auerstadt, they strove to detach him from the cause of the Allies; nor would he separate from the King of Prussia until Frederick-William wrote himself to him to say that his cause was hopeless; and when, after the battle of Friedland, the whole of Northern Europe came under the power of the Conqueror, that true Swedish truth and boldness, which showed him a legitimate descendant of so many heroes, kept him staunch to England, and ready to jeopardize his kingdom in fulfilment of his solemn engagement. He might have readily made peace at Tilsit with France and Russia, but he chose a braver but less politic part.

23. INTESTINE WAR AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

The Russians, at the same time that they were engaged in war with Sweden, were also intent on establishing themselves in the Turkish provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia; and troops to the number of 80,000 men were poured into these frontier provinces. In order to hold these in check, a great number of Turkish troops were assembled from time to time in Roumelia and Bulgaria, but important revolutions now took place in the turbulent populations of the Porte. The Sultan Mustapha, who had been raised to the throne on the deposition of Selim, was sensual, indolent, and ignorant, so that he gave up the entire conduct of affairs into the hands of the Kaimacan and Mufti; and in the rivalry which occurred between these functionaries the former went to the wall. Mustapha Bairachdar was at this time collecting the disaffected to overturn the government. This man was of a bold and enterprising character, but of more enlightened views than were usual among his countrymen, for he had assisted in the organisation of a force upon the European model, called the Nizam-genites. At the head of 12,000 of these men, he now marched to Constantinople, bearing with them the Sandjak-Sheriff, or standard of Mahomet. On the 21st he entered the capital, and made known his conditions to Sultan Mustapha, but he negotiated craftily, with a view of restoring Selim to the throne. The enervated Mustapha, seeking his present ease and pleasure, gladly acceded to the demands of his powerful

1808.] INFLEXIBLE CHARACTER OF SULTAN MAHMOUD.

a

123 subjects, and on the 28th of May he went, as was his custom, to pass the day with his women in one of his kiosks. Bairachdar marched to the Seraglio and demanded the release of Selim; but the black eunuchs in charge of this unhappy Prince asked moment's delay, which being conceded, they put the deposed Sultan to death, and threw his body among the enraged soldiery. The Sultan Mustapha was then followed, seized, and imprisoned; and his younger brother Mahmoud, the last of the royal and special race, was put on the throne, Bairachdar being at the same time installed as Grand-Vizier. For some months the vigour of this man's character produced a calm, and the best of the Nizam-genites were expedited to serve against the Russians. Bairachdar then, with unabated energy, turned his attention to the fleet, and crews were collected from trading vessels and other craft to strengthen and improve it. Both Sultan and Vizier proceeded with other innovations, notwithstanding the many examples before them of the danger of so doing; and accordingly the jealousy of the Janissaries became soon awakened, and the Ulemas, the Mufti, and the leaders of former tumults, organised an insurrection against Bairachdar. On the 14th of November, a furious multitude surrounded the barracks of the new troops, fell upon the officers of the Nizamgedid, and massacred all the partisans of the Grand-Vizier that came in their way. Another column of insurgents marched to the palace of Bairachdar, who, finding his personal guards overpowered and himself on the point of becoming a prisoner, set fire to his powder magazine, and perished in the explosion. A strong column had attacked the Seraglio, but the Sultan, placing himself at the head of 4,000 faithful troops, defeated all the efforts of the insurgents. Mahmoud joined to a superior mind an inflexibility of character that now displayed itself. He ordered his brother Mustapha to be put out of the way, that he might obtain for himself all the advantage against his enemies of being the last of the sacred race, and he then sallied at the head of his troops from the Seraglio into the city, which for 48 hours was the scene of continual combat and unceasing horrors. At length the Sultan's enemies, the Janissaries, prevailed, and he was compelled to purchase peace by the sacrifice of all the ministers who had been agents in his reforms; but the force of old attachment to the race of Ottomar saved his life, and he became even an object of care and veneration to the very men who had subverted his government.

These repeated convulsions at Constantinople appeared admirably calculated for the success of the traditionary policy of Russia to get possession of this capital of the East, but the Czar had at this time more pressing objects of solicitude and ambition nearer home. The prosecution of the war in Scandinavia, which promised to gain Finland, so long an object of desire to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, and so essential to the safety of that capital, deferred, of necessity, all immediate plans for southern acquisitions, till this province should have been annexed to the Russian Empire, and the state of affairs in Europe had become more settled.

124

THE CONGRESS OF ERFURTH.

[A.D.

24. INTERVIEW BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND THE CZAR at

ERFURTH.

It had become evident to Napoleon that the Spanish insurrection was assuming a magnitude too serious and formidable to be crushed by other means than the largest force that he could collect. The surrender at Baylen and defeat of Junot in the open field at Vimiero, together with the successful defence of Zaragoza, gave undisguised delight to those who had succumbed at Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland. Austria was now under the administration of Count de Stadion, a man of intelligence, but very anti-Gallican; and the Archduke Charles was at the head of the Council of War of that Empire, and had shown his accustomed activity in reorganising the Imperial army, and placing the landwehr, amounting to 300,000 men, in a state of respectable efficiency. Prussia had been treated with much generosity since the termination of the campaign, but Napoleon was too sensible of the firm hostility of the entire German people to his authority to be doubtful as to the course they would adopt in any reverse that might befall his arms. Russian friendship, therefore, was at this moment his most necessary security, and he determined on proposing a personal interview with Alexander. The Conqueror had flattered himself that he had by his address at Tilsit obtained a very considerable influence over the mind of the Czar, and he resolved to turn this ascendancy to account at a moment when he saw that he had in reality to trust the safety of his empire to the generosity of his Russian brother.

Erfurth was the town agreed upon for this conference, and there, on the 27th of September, the two Sovereigns met. In every matter, great or small, the mind of Napoleon showed that attention to details, and that activity in their prosecution, which are characteristic of minds of the first order. Accordingly, the Grand-Marshal of his Court was instructed to look to the proper guards, ceremonies, lodgement, subsistence, and police of all the sovereigns and ministers who were to be called upon to assist at this grand interview, and that never-absent resource of French amusement, the drama, was provided for, by sending a company of the Théâtre Français, from Paris, to give nightly representations of the best tragedies and comedies before the royal and noble company. The Emperor Alexander reached Weimar late in the evening of the 26th, and at 10 o'clock next morning the two Sovereigns met on the highway between the villages of Öttsted and Nora. They both alighted from their horses and embraced; and then, after an interchange of civilities and gorgeous presents, both mounted their horses again and rode side by side into Erfurth, amidst the roar of artillery and the acclamations of 10,000 troops. A crowd of princes and inferior potentates swelled the train, a brilliant cortège of marshals, generals, diplomatists, and statesmen were assembled, and, for a fortnight, nothing, to the superficial gazer, could exceed the splendid cordiality of the pageant. It is related that, at one of the theatrical representa

1808.] NAPOLEON prepares for tHE CONQUEST OF SPAIN. 125

tions, which both Sovereigns witnessed from the same box, the tragedy of Edipus was performed, in which occurs the line

"L'amitié d'un grand-homme est un bienfait des dieux;"

and, no sooner was it pronounced, than Alexander turned to Napoleon and gave him his hand, amidst the thundering plaudits of all the courtiers present.

One

But it was not for such courtesies and amusements that this assemblage had been brought together. What passed, however, between Napoleon and Alexander was not reduced to writing, and nothing has transpired regarding it, except that the former admitted at St. Helena that he clearly stated his objection to his Imperial brother's views upon Constantinople. At length, on the 14th of October, the two Emperors took an affectionate leave of each other, when Napoleon returned to Paris, and Alexander to Poland. overt act, indeed, resulted from this conference, in an agreement to propose peace to England; and, accordingly, on the 21st of October, two officers, one a Frenchman and the other a Russian, arrived at Dover with a flag of truce. The issue of this proposal was announced by King George III., in His Majesty's "Declaration " of the 15th of December, which announced that "the overtures made to His Majesty by the Governments of Russia and France have not led to negotiations," &c.

Napoleon, on his return to the capital, at once prepared vigorously for the conquest of Spain, and resolved to place himself at the head of an army for this purpose. He called back troops from Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, in order to assemble a force of 100,000 or 120,000 men; and, in a gasconading spirit, he gave directions that the soldiers returned from Portugal under Junot should form a part. He summoned troops from the Princes of the Confederation of the Rhine, and required his obedient Corps Législatif to call out the Conscription of 1809, and even a portion of that of 1810. The great difficulty was to provide the money required for setting in motion these vast levies, with all the clothing, sustenance and material they required; but he overcame the finances as he overcame armies, by resolute and determined will, so that, after discussing all difficulties with his finance minister, M. Mollien, he exclaimed: "Voilà les baisseurs vaincus."

25. NAVAL WAR - CRUISE OF ADMIRAL GANTHEAUME.

Such had been Napoleon's exertions since the battle of Trafalgar, that the spring of this year saw him in possession of 80 sail of the line, including 20 ships recently ordered to be laid down at Antwerp and other ports. In Brest, a squadron of 8 men-of-war and 4 frigates was in the course of the summer made ready for sea. A squadron of 6 sail-of-the-line, with some large and powerful frigates, was also prepared for a start from the roads of the Isle d'Aix. The naval yards of Toulon, Venice, and other Mediterranean ports, were