46

BONAPARTE LOSES HIS OPPORTUNITY.

[A.D.

sation of the two mightiest sovereigns of Europe touched upon any topic of which it might be justly and reasonably asserted that it was worthy of the occasion, of the meeting of monarchs ruling over millions, or that evinced they had any other object than power and aggrandisement for themselves. After a fortnight of conferences, two treaties were concluded the one between France and Russia on the 7th of July, and the other between France and Prussia on the 9th. By these, Poland was partially resuscitated into the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw, but not rendered an independent state; while the whole of Northern Germany, to be called the Kingdom of Westphalia, was assigned to Jerome Bonaparte; nevertheless, both one and the other were to remain fiefs of Napoleon's Empire, so that the world benefited nothing by the arrangement. The kingdom of Prussia was also restored to Frederick William, but this from no higher motive than as a mark of the French Emperor's regard for the Emperor of Russia. The Czar kept his dominions intact, but was called upon to withdraw his troops from Wallachia and Moldavia, and to conclude his differences with Turkey, although he was flattered by the hope, always nearest the Muscovite heart," that the high contracting parties would unite their efforts to wrest from the vexatious and oppressive government of the Turks all its provinces in Europe." There was something like a Christian principle involved in the covenant, to drive the Moslem out of Europe; and there was something like a principle of freedom promulgated in the further stipulation, that a peace with England should only be concluded by united Europe, on condition that the flags of every Power should enjoy a perfect and entire equality on every sea;" but the motive of either clause may be suspected.

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What wonderful results might not have emanated from the Raft of Tilsit! Perhaps, in the whole history of the world, there had never existed such an opportunity for an exercise of absolute power for the benefit of mankind. All the foundations of the great deep, social and political, had been broken up by the outburst of the French Revolution; the territories of Princes and Potentates lay prostrate in every direction; and their peoples had too much suffered by wars and contributions to be induced to raise a finger for or against any result. After three of the most decisive victories ever gained by one man within four months, Napoleon saw the European Continent at his disposal, and, if he had possessed as much talent for the re-construction of kingdoms as he evinced at all times for the re-assembling of armies, he might at this juncture have called into existence as many empires as there were nationalities and languages, or have re-modelled the map of Europe in a manner that might have promised some permanence. His word might have constituted a new State, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, of all the (so called) Sclavonic provinces, and Austria might have obtained in exchange for her German dominions a much more extensive and compact Empire, by being placed at the head of these hereditary possessions. Germany might have been reconstituted, from Copenhagen to the Alps, with Dresden for her capital, and a Saxon or

1807.]

REVOLUTION OF THE JANISSARIES.

47

some other of her Princes might have been found to govern it. Italy might have been united with all the islands of the Mediterranean into one grand mercantile community; and Rome was at this time free enough from her Papal Lord to be made her capital. Scandinavia and Greece might have been formed into kingdoms. The absorption of small and isolated governments, which have no strength in themselves, would have offered the only real security for the repose of the world. These in their isolation always necessarily form objects of desire to the powerful, and their existence as states depends on the favour of the mighty. Had Naples and Portugal been real sovereignties, not even Napoleon would have dared to decree that the houses of Bourbon and Bragança had ceased to reign; and had Denmark been a real Power, with corresponding military means, it would not have been possible for Great Britain to fit out an expedition against her for the mere purpose of securing her fleet against France; she would have been rather forced into negotiations for that object. At this moment, Prussia could gainsay nothing, and Britain would have readily agreed to any arrangements that might have given reasonable hopes of terminating a state of war of which she was weary, nor would she have opposed herself to the perfect freedom of every flag in every sea; while, as Protector of the new Confederation of Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte would have established his throne, and escaped the subsequent mortification of his decline.

16. REVOLUTIONS AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

We must now retrace our steps a little to relate that the Russian Emperor, after the doubtful and well-contested fields of Golymin and Pultusk, had become fully sensible of the necessity of increasing the force opposed to Napoleon in the north, so that early in February he had ordered four divisions of the army in Moldavia to be marched up to strengthen the corps of General Essen, then posted near Ostrolenka. But the Turks were, at the same time, so crippled by Sultan Selim's military reforms, and by the revolts of the Pacha of Widdin and Czerny Georges, that they had retreated before the invading army of Michelson, and crossing the Danube abandoned entirely the Principalities, and prepared to defend the line of fortresses on that river, which were supposed to be in a good state of defence. On the 17th of March the Russian army laid siege to Giurgevo, but the desperate defence of the Turkish garrison prolonged the siege for some months, and checked the further advance of Michelson towards the Balkan. The progress of the Servian revolt was now become a source of great anxiety, amidst the complicated difficulties of the Porte at this juncture. Muchtan Pacha, the son of the Pacha of Janina, had been ordered to march against the rebels at the head of 8000 Albanians, and to devote the whole nation of the Servians to death or slavery, without distinction of age or sex; and, in order to carry out this savage decree, the Grand Vizier, at the head of an immense but most disorderly army, advanced from Adrianople. On the 8th of May, however,

48

THE SULTAN SELIM DEPOSED.

[A.D.

The

when on this march, a mutiny broke out among the troops, and Hussein Effendi, the Commissary-General and Cadi Pacha of Conia, who was exerting himself to restore some discipline in the army, was massacred in the affray. A new military force had been instituted by Sultan Selim, called, from the name of the firman authorising it, "The Nizammi Geddid," which was intended to form a considerable corps, disciplined after the European fashion, for the purpose of checking in some measure the tyranny of the Janissaries over their sovereign. In a conflict which occurred in 1805, the Janissaries had been worsted by this corps, and accordingly bore an irreconcilable animosity against the Nizammi Geddidites. Sultan, following up the blow, issued a new hatti scherif establishing the conscription throughout the Empire, the consequence of which was a fresh outbreak, before which the Nizammi Geddidites quailed and had been driven out of Adrianople. During the dangers which threatened the capital from the presence of Duckworth's fleet and the invasion of the Russians, the rivalry of these two armed bodies had, for the moment, ceased; but an unfounded rumour had arisen at Constantinople that advantage of the absence of the main body of the Janissaries, then marching with the army of the Grand-Vizier against the Servians, was to be taken to place the forts of the Dardanelles, now strengthened by French engineers, entirely in the hands of the new soldiery. Accordingly, the Ulemas and the Janissaries remaining in the capital had a meeting in the last days of May, at the place of El-Meidan, when it was resolved that Sultan Selim should be deposed, and that his nephew Mustapha should rule in his stead; and they grounded this decision upon a law of Mahomet, that a Sultan loses his right to the throne if, in the course of seven years after his accession, he has no children. Now, not only was this the case with Selim, but it was well known he could never have any. The Janissaries at Burgahdere, consequently, rose on the 1st of June, and fell upon Mahomed Effendi, when he came amongst them to induce them to adopt the new uniform; and, at the moment of his death, the Janissaries, amounting to 15,000 men, arriving from the other batteries, seized the Seraglio, and holding a council of war in presence of the Grand-Mufti and Caimacan, put the solemn question to the former, "What punishment did he deserve who had established the new military force of Nizammi Geddid?" On the reply, that it was death according to the judgment of the Koran, the Mufti was ordered to go in and announce to Sultan Selim his deposition. He was accordingly seized and conducted to prison, and on his way thither met his nephew Mustapha, who had been released, and was now brought forward to succeed him in the empire. He embraced him in passing, and wished him a happier reign than his own had been. The news of these events reached Napoleon whilst in the midst of the negotiations of Tilsit. He did not lose a moment in endeavouring to turn them to his advantage, and, with that insatiable appetite for territory which has never yet failed any conqueror, be at once despatched Count Guilleminot to Sebastiani, at

1807.] MILITARY RENOWN CONTAGIOUS TO ROYALTY.

49

Constantinople, to explain to the Porte his policy, that he never would permit any European Power to possess Byzantium, but that he was willing to admit that Russia should obtain Moldavia, Wallachia, and all Bulgaria, and that Servia should be allotted to Austria, but at the same time he required that Bosnia, Albania, Epirus, Peloponnesus, Attica, Thessalia, Macedonia, Dalmatia, and all the sea-coast of the Adriatic, as well as the Septinsular Revublic, should be added to the dominions of France.

17. WAR IN THE BALTIC.

The King of Sweden, who had never ratified the armistice concluded between Marshal Mortier and General Essen, not only permitted his marine to continue hostilities against France, but concluded a new treaty with England on the 17th of June. Marshal Mortier, with his corps, having been withdrawn by Napoleon to the grand army, other troops had been brought up for the defence of Hanover, and to watch any British expeditions in the Baltic. With these views, the two divisions of Generals Boudet and Molitor, and a Spanish division, which, under an engagement from Spain, had been expedited to the north, under the Marquis de la Romagna, were now placed as a separate corps of about 30,000 men, under Marshal Brune, while Bernadotte, who had gone to Hamburg for recovery from his wounds at Friedland, now received the supreme command of all the forces destined to occupy the Hanse Towns and Hanover. By direction of the Emperor, the armistice with Sweden was to terminate on the 13th of July, and hostilities were ordered to be recommenced.

The King had under his command about 15,000 Swedes, 6000 Prussians under General Blücher, and about 10,000 British under Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart; but the Prussians were ordered to withdraw from the Swedish army after the Peace of Tilsit, and the British then retired to garrison Stralsund, until the arrival of the Conjunct Expedition preparing in England. Alison relates an anecdote of Gustavus IV., in which he sadly resembles many monarchs of greater sanity, who expose themselves to the contagion of that royal disease-military renown. He had narrowly escaped a fate not unlike that of his great ancestor Charles XII., and immediately sent in a flag of truce to the French Commander-in-Chief, offering a purse of gold to the gunner who had levelled the gun that missed him. The Swedes retired before Brune's advance on the 13th; Molitor, Boudet, Loison, and Granjean, crossing the river Peene in pursuit in different columns. On the 14th, however, Molitor found the enemy formed up at Martenshagen, but after a few shots they retired until they reached Steinhagens, when they appeared determined to make a stand, having received reinforcements out of Stralsund. They here occupied a strong position, having a marshy wood on their right, and the lake of Zeemuht on their left, and their whole front was garnished with artillery. The battle came off on the 15th of July, the King commanding the Swedes in person. General Boudet, with the advanced guard, first came upon this position, and

50

CONVENTION BETWEEN SWEDEN AND FRANCE.

[A.D.

finding it could not be turned, he resolved to carry it by assault. General Valory was ordered on this service, at the head of two regiments, who advanced in close column, covered by all the guns pouring in grape at a short distance. The Swedes gave way before the boldness of the attack, and fled, leaving behind them all their cannon, nor did they stop till they reached Stralsund the same evening. The next morning Marshal Brune invested that place. The King sent an aide-de-camp to propose to renew the armistice, but the flag of truce was not received. The few British troops that remained now withdrew from the fortress into the island of Rugen, and Stralsund was besieged in form. Trenches were opened on the night of the 15th of August, and General Chasseloup, who had so eminently distinguished himself in directing the siege of Dantzig, now pushed forward the approaches with such extraordinary vigour that in four days they were within 300 yards of the covered way, and the batteries were already armed and ready to commence. On the 20th, the King retired from the town, which was given up to the French in the act of their preparing for the assault. The besiegers, however, found that all the guns on the ramparts were already withdrawn from the side of the sea, and that everything that could float had been carried away. It was necessary, however, for the besiegers to get possession of the islands of Rugen and Dänholm; and accordingly every effort was made to obtain fishingboats and vessels of any description from the adjoining waters, so that by great activity they had already, on the 23rd, collected 200 bateaux. Batteries were now established on the shore to silence those of Dänholm, and to keep back the enemy's gun-boats. On the night of the 24th-25th General Trinion made an assault upon Dänholm, and, in conjunction with Captain Montcabrié of the French navy, took it, with its governor and garrison of 580 men. It was next resolved to attack the island of Rugen, which the King held with about 15,000 men. For this purpose large rafts were prepared for the transport of heavy artillery, and the means were collected of disembarking 6000 men, when His Majesty sent Baron de Toll to conclude a convention for the surrender of one-half of the island, to be given up on the 9th of September, the remainder as soon as the Swedish army should have evacuated it. On the 7th of October, when this condition was brought to Napoleon to be ratified, he observed that the plenipotentiaries on both sides acted in the name of their respective armies instead of their sovereigns. This convention highly displeased him, though it relieved him from much anxiety as to the security of the North of Germany; but he had calculated on capturing the King and all his army. He forthwith superseded Marshal Brune by giving the command of the army of Pomerania to Marshal Bernadotte: and it was principally owing to the kindness and rectitude of the marshal's government of this Swedish province that he was elected, three years afterwards, suc cessor to the crown of Sweden. Brune was never again restored to favour, but, nevertheless, returned to the service of Napoleon in the Hundred Days.

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