Chapter XXVI: {george III. 1804—1807} (1)

His Majesty’s Indisposition..... Change in the Ministry:
Pitt Resumes Office..... The Slave-Trade Question.....
Additional Force Act..... Debate on the Corn Laws..... The
Budget: Parliament Prorogued..... Affairs of France:
Napoleon created Emperor..... Naval Affairs..... Coalition
between Pitt and Addington..... Meeting of Parliament.....
Army and Navy Estimates, &c. Debate on the Rupture with
Spain..... Claims of the Catholics..... The Slave Trade
Question..... Impeachment of Lord Melville..... Parliament
Prorogued..... Dissensions in the Cabinet.....
Napoleon crowned King of Italy..... Conquests of Napoleon
in Bavaria..... The Battle of Trafalgar, &c.
Meeting of Parliament..... Death of Mr. Pitt..... The
Grenville Administration..... Negociations for Peace.....
Windham’s Military Plan..... The Budget..... Trial of
Lord Melville..... The Slave-Trade Question.....
Parliament Prorogued, &c. Death of Fox..... Naval
Successes..... Disputes with America..... Affairs of
Sicily..... War between France and Prussia, &c.,..... Meeting
of Parliament.

HIS MAJESTY’S INDISPOSITION.

Parliament had scarcely reassembled after the Christmas recess, before it became known that the king was suffering from an attack of his old malady. It was announced by a bulletin on the 14th of February, that his majesty was much indisposed, and a succession of similar notices left little doubt as to the nature of the complaint. The attack, however, was not so serious as to render a suspension of the royal functions necessary; and on the 14th of March the lord chancellor declared that “the king was in such a state, as to warrant the lords commissioners in giving the royal assent to several bills.”

CHANGE IN THE MINISTRY—PITT RESUMES OFFICE.

At this time a systematic attack on ministers was pursued by all parties in opposition, through the medium of investigations into the military and naval affairs of the empire. Pitt himself at length appeared in the character of a direct antagonist to Addington. On the 15th of March he moved for an address, requesting that his majesty would order to be laid before parliament an account of the number of ships in commision on the 31st of December, 1793, on the 30th of September, 1801, and on the 31st of December, 1803, specifying the service in which they were respectively employed. The debate on this motion lasted several hours, but it was lost on a division, by a majority of two hundred and one votes against one hundred and thirty. Addington was next attacked by Fox, who, on the 23rd of April, moved for a committee to revise the several bills that had been proposed for the defence of the country. Fox had supported Pitt in his motion, and Pitt now stood forward to support his ancient rival. There was, indeed, but one point on which these two eminent men differed on this occasion, and that was, the power vested in the sovereign of calling all his subjects out to defend the country in case of an invasion. Fox questioned the royal prerogative in this particular, while Pitt asserted and maintained the principle. The concurrence of opinions, on all other points between the two rivals, however, produced a division, in which ministers had a majority of only fifty-two in a full house. Two days after the attack was renewed in a more effective manner; Mr. Yorke moved for the house to resolve itself into a committee on a bill for suspending the army of reserve act, and though Pitt resisted this, ministers had a majority of only thirty-seven. Mr. Addington now resolved, as soon as the financial concerns of the year could be adjusted, to retire from office. This was effected on the 12th of May; the supplies granted, being £36,000,000 for Great Britain alone; and on that day it was announced that Addington had resigned the office of chancellor of the exchequer, and that Pitt had been appointed to succeed him. Those of the Addington ministry retained were the Duke of Portland, president of the council; Lord Eldon, chancellor; the Earl of Westmoreland, lord privy seal; the Earl of Chatham, master-general of the ordnance; and Lord Castlereagh, president, at that time, of the board of control. The new members were Lord Melville, first lord of the admiralty; Lord Harrowby, secretary for foreign affairs; Lord Camden, secretary for the department of war and colonies; and Lord Mulgrave, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with a seat in the cabinet. The government of Ireland was left unchanged, except that Mr. Wickham, chief secretary, retired on account of ill health, and was succeeded by Sir Evan Nepean. The appointments made in the subordinate offices of state, were, Mr. William Dundas, secretary at war; George Rose and Lord Charles Somerset, joint paymasters of the forces; the Duke of Montrose and Lord Charles Spencer, joint paymasters general; Messrs. Huskisson and Sturges Bourne, secretaries to the treasury; and Mr. Canning, treasurer to the navy. No changes were made in the law departments of the country, and very few in the household offices; the most important in the latter was the appointment of the Marquis of Hertford to be master of the horse.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

On the 30th of May Mr. Wilberforce, who had been labouring in his vocation session after session, without making any visible progress in the noble cause he had espoused, moved for the appointment of a committee to consider the propriety of introducing a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade, after a time to be limited. Both Pitt and Fox supported the philanthropist, and his motion was carried by a majority of seventy-five against forty-nine. A bill was now brought in for the abolition, and the third reading was carried on the 28th of June, by a majority of sixty-nine voices against thirty-three. Mr. Wilberforce began to have hope that his long labour was about to be rewarded—that the one grand object of his life was now about to be accomplished. But he was doomed to be disappointed. It was rejected in the upper house, on the ground, that having been introduced at so late a period of the session, interested parties would be unable to obtain substantial justice.

ADDITIONAL FORCE ACT

On the 5th of June Pitt introduced a bill for raising and supporting a military force, and for a general reduction of the additional militia, and which was denominated, “The additional force act.” The essential part of his plan was to increase the permanent strength of the regular army, to which end he proposed limiting the militia to its usual amount of 40,000 for England, and 8000 for Scotland, and removing the difficulties which now stood in the way of recruiting for the regular army, by destroying the competition existing between those who recruited for the regular service, and those who recruited for limited service only. He likewise proposed that the army of reserve should be raised for five years, and that while it was not to be called out for foreign service, it should serve both as an auxiliary force to the regular army, and as a stock from which that army might be recruited. According to his plan, it was to be joined to the regular army in the way of second battalions; and he considered that from so close a connexion, a considerable number of the reserve might be induced to volunteer for the regular army, Pitt’s bill was opposed by Windham, Fox, Addington, and others, but it was carried through the commons with small majorities, and in the lords, by one hundred and fifty against sixty-nine.

DEBATE ON THE CORN-LAWS.

In consequence of a report of the commons, it was thought expedient, at the close of this session to adopt some new legislative regulations concerning the corn-laws. From that report, it appeared that though yielding, on an average, a fair remuneration to the grower, the price of corn from 1791 to 1803 had been irregular. It was also found that the effect of high prices had begun to stimulate industry, and to bring-large tracts of waste land into cultivation. This added to the last two favourable seasons had occasioned a great depreciation in the value of grain, and it was thought agriculture would be discouraged unless immediate relief were afforded. Under this impression, although £30,000,000 had been paid to foreign countries for the supplies of corn, it was proposed to annex a bounty to exportation. A bill was introduced allowing exportation when the price of wheat was at or below forty-eight shillings a quarter, and importation when the price, in the twelve maritime counties of England, should exceed sixty-six shillings. This “bill to starve the poor” passed, and became the law of the land.

THE BUDGET—PARLIAMENT PROROGUED.

The budget had been discussed before Pitt’s return to office; but on the 2nd of July, the house of commons resolved itself into a committee of supply, to which several accounts were referred relative to the augmentation of the civil list, which was now greatly in arrears. During the session the total supplies granted were £12,350,600 for the navy; £6,159,114 for the militia and fencible corps; £3,737,091 for the ordnance; £4,217,295 for miscellaneous services in Great Britain; £2,500,000 for miscellaneous services relating to Ireland; £591,842 for discharging arrears and debts on the civil list; and £60,000 for an additional sum for the better support of his majesty’s household. The sum total granted was, £53,609,574; to raise which recourse was had to new taxes and duties, loans, annuities, and to three lotteries. Little other business of importance was transacted during this session. The session closed on the 31st of July, when the king expressed a hope that the exertions of the country might, by their influence on other states, lead to the re-establishment of a system which would oppose a barrier against those schemes of ambition which threatened the ancient monarchies of Europe.

AFFAIRS OF FRANCE: NAPOLEON CREATED EMPEROR.

In the midst of this prosperity Napoleon was not without his enemies; about this time, indeed; a formidable conspiracy was formed against him in the heart of France. At the head of this conspiracy was Pichegru, a French refugee in England. Pichegru, acting with the royalist agents, corresponded with Moreau, whom Buonaparte had recently slighted, and entered into a plot with him for overthrowing the consular government. With them the Chouan leader, George Cadoudal, was also associated. Pichegru, left England early in the year 1804, to assist in carrying their plan into effect; but the conspiracy was discovered in February, and Pichegru and Cadoudal suffered death, while Moreau was banished. Others of less note were likewise executed for this conspiracy. Coupled with it stands a fearful deed in the page of Napoleon’s history—the foul murder of the Duke D’Enghein. This noble youth, who was the last scion of the house of Condé, inhabited a place called Ettenheim, in the duchy of Baden. As he was an emigrant, and naturally attached to the fortunes of his house, it was resolved that he should be sacrificed, in order to strike terror into the heart of the Bourbons. By Napoleon’s order he was surprised in his castle, which stood on neutral ground, conducted to Vincennes, tried by a military commission, and shot in the fosse of the château, with the grave in which he was to be buried full in his view. Yet it was immediately after this execrable deed that Napoleon ascended the summit of his desires—the throne of France. By it he endeared himself to the old regicidal Jacobin party; and they promised to support him in his attempt to mount the imperial throne. The blood of the Duke D’Enghein, indeed, cemented the steps of the adventurer’s throne. Immediately after the senate prayed him that he would govern France under the name of Napoleon Buonaparte and with the title of “emperor;” and on the 18th of May they passed a decree styling him “Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French.” The remainder of this year was spent by Napoleon in making arrangements on assuming his new title. Excepting England, all the states of Europe were consulted; and even Austria, his ancient foe, recognised his title. Finally the pontiff was brought to Paris from Rome in order to consecrate the new dynasty. He was crowned on the 2nd of December, 1804, on which occasion Pope Pius VII. in his homily compared himself to Elias and Samuel, and Napoleon to Hazael, Jehu, David, and Saul.

“Look now on that adventurer who hath paid
His vows to fortune; who, in cruel slight
Of virtuous hope, of liberty, and right,
Hath followed wheresoe’er a way was made
By the Wind goddess—ruthless, undismayed;
And so hath gained at length a prosperous height,
Round which the elements of worldly might
Beneath his haughty feet like clouds are laid.
Oh, joyless power that stands by lawless force
Curses are his dire portion, scorn, and hate,
Internal darkness and unquiet breath;
And if old judgments keep their sacred course,
Him from that height shall heaven precipitate
By violent or ignominious death.”
—WORDSWORTH.

On ascending the throne of France Napoleon surrounded himself with all the array of courts. His brothers Louis and Joseph were created princes, and many of his officers dignified with the title of marshals. Dignitaries of the crown were also appointed, and pages and chamberlains swarmed in his palace. His court vied with that of the Bourbons in their most palmy days for its magnificence. “Princes of the house,” it has been observed, “grand dignitaries without emoluments, without other functions than the ceremonial of presentation; grand officers of the empire, officers of the court in manifold gradation, with all the oriental pageantry, formed a barrier between the sultan and his people.” Then, indeed, was the proud nation of France humbled. From a nation of kings they became a nation of slaves to one man, and that one man of men the meanest. Their one cry had been “Equality and liberty,” and now they saw themselves under the feet of one of their own order; of one who was able to keep them in a state of utter and abject subjection.

NAVAL AFFAIRS.

During this year Napoleon made great efforts to acquire the means of meeting the British navy on equal terms. By a convention with Genoa he obtained the service of 6000 seamen, with the use of its harbours, arsenals, and dock-yards; while the Ligurian republic engaged to enlarge the basin for the reception of ten sail of the line at its own expense. The fleet of Spain also was now at his own disposal, the Spanish government being compelled by France to make preparations for the resumption of hostilities. A Spanish squadron was preparing for action in the port of Ferrol; and Captain Moore was sent with four frigates in order to intercept such Spanish vessels of war homeward bound as contained Dullion or treasure; it being supposed that the Spanish government waited only for their arrival before they commenced war. In the month of October Captain Moore fell in with four large frigates, and an engagement took place, in which one of the Spanish ships blew up, and the others struck in succession after sustaining considerable loss. This squadron was from the Rio de la Plata, and it contained about four millions of dollars, besides merchandise of great value.

Early in this year a gallant action was sustained by the British off the straits of Malacca. When Admiral Linois, whose departure for the East Indies has before been noticed, withdrew from the road of Pondicherry, he captured several East India ships, made a successful descent on Bencoolen, and then, collecting his whole force, he cruised off the Straits of Malacca, in expectation of the British homeward-bound fleet from Canton. As he had with him one ship of the line, three frigates, and a brig, and as our merchant-vessels had no men-of-war to convoy them, he made sure of a rich prize. On the 14th of February he fell in with his expected prey. But by this time the company’s ships were generally armed and well officered, and Captain Dance, who was acting as commodore to the fleet of traders, gallantly hoisted his colours and offered him battle. The French admiral, however, stood aloof; and Dance formed in order of sailing and pursued his course. Linois now followed him; and on the 15th Dance finding that the enemy’s intention was to cut off his rear, made the signal to tack, and bear down on them, and engage in succession. The “Royal George” bore the brunt of the action, being ably seconded as they came up by the “Ganges,” “Warley,” “Alfred,” and the “Earl Camden.” The action lasted nearly one hour, and then, before any of the other ships could come up, the enemy hauled away to the eastward with all the sail they could set. This was two o’clock in the day, and Dance pursued Linois till four in the afternoon; when fearing that a longer pursuit would carry him too far from the Straits of Malacca, he made the signal to tack, and by eight in the evening they all anchored safely in a situation to enter the strait next morning. Nothing more was seen of Linois; and the squadron returned safely to England, when Dance was knighted by the king, and with his brave crew rewarded by the East India Company. Liberal sums were also given him and to the officers and crews by the committee of the “Patriotic Fund.”

During the autumn of this year, after various attempts to destroy the French flotillas in their own harbours had failed, Lord Keith was directed to make an experiment with the catamaran flotilla. The catamaran’s were copper vessels filled with combustibles, and so constructed as to explode at a given time by clock-work. They were to be fastened to the bows of the vessels by the aid of a small raft rowed by one man who, being up to the chin in water, was expected in the darkness of the night to escape discovery. Sir Sidney Smith with other able officers were selected for this perilous enterprise; and the attack was to be covered by Lord Keith’s squadron. The expedition anchored about a league and a half from Boulogne on the 2nd of October; and soon after nine at night a detachment of fire-ships was launched. But this enterprise proved signally abortive. The catamarans sent exploded with an awful noise, and created a great alarm, not only in the French flotilla, but also in the shore batteries; but the explosion only wounded some half-dozen Frenchmen, while they blew up nothing but themselves. In the whole affair, which lasted till four o’clock in the morning, the French had only fourteen killed and seven wounded, while the English had not a single man hurt. This catamaran expedition, indeed, from which mighty things were expected by the whole nation, ended only in laughter and derision. It brought disgrace not only on the projectors, but to our national character, it being a plan unworthy OF men of valour. It had been projected by the Addington administration; but as it was tried under the present cabinet, the admiralty won for themselves the dishonourable appellation of “The Catamaran Admiralty.” As for Napoleon, it served him for a pretext for disseminating the most bitter invectives against the English throughout the continent; and many, even in England, were induced to believe that he had not adopted his own violent measures without the means of justification.

{GEORGE III. 1804—1807}

COALITION BETWEEN PITT AND ADDINGTON.

At the close of this year Pitt felt his ministerial condition to be one of extreme difficulty. Under these circumstances he was compelled to make peace with Addington, who had carried with him a considerable force to the mixed opposition. It is said that the king insisted upon this reconciliation; and it appears to be proved, not only by expressions used by Pitt himself in hisletters to Wilberforce, but from the fact that Addington was raised to the peerage as Viscount Sidmouth of Sidmouth. He was brought into the cabinet as president of the council, in the room of the Duke of Portland, who resigned office on account of age and infirmity. At the same time Lord Mulgrave was appointed secretary of state for the foreign department, in the place of Lord Harrowby, who was suffering from a severe illness; and the Earl of Buckinghamshire took Lord Mulgrave’s post, as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1805}

Parliament was opened by the king in person on the 15th of January. In his speech the king announced that preparations for invasion were still carried on by France with unceasing activity; and that Spain, under French control, had declared war against this country. But his majesty was still confident of ultimate success; for after referring to the skill and intrepidity of the British navy, the formidable state of the army, and the general ardour manifested by all classes of his subjects, he characterized the intended invasion as “presumptuous and desperate.” The usual addresses were passed unanimously in both houses.

ARMY AND NAVY ESTIMATES, ETC.

On the 23rd of January the commons voted 120,000 men, including marines, for the service of the navy during the present year. A few days after the secretary at war moved the army estimates, which amounted to £12,395,490 for 312,000 men under various heads of service; on which occasion lie stated that in the United Kingdom there were 600,000 men in arms, including volunteers, of whom 240,000 were fit for active and immediate service. The budget was opened on the 13th of February, when the supplies stated amounted to £44,500,000 for Great Britain and Ireland. The ways and means comprised a loan of £20,000,000 for Great Britain, and £2,500,000 for Ireland; and a considerable addition was made to the war-taxes. Thus the income-tax was raised to six and a quarter per cent., and the salt-duty was augmented by one-half. The new taxes were estimated at £1,000,000; yet Pitt, while thus adding to the public burden, and while war menaced England on every hand, congratulated the house on the increasing prosperity of the country. At this time, however, the prime minister had lost much of his usual confidence, arising partly from his declining health. Although in the prime of life, Pitt, from the task which he had undertaken, and which he so energetically performed, was now in constitution a worn-out man. The burden of office was too great for his strength; and it had become manifest that he would never arrive at the allotted age of man.

DEBATE ON THE RUPTURE WITH SPAIN.

In the month of February a debate took place on the rupture with Spain. Opposition endeavoured to prove that it arose from our attack on its frigates, before recorded. Ministers, they said, had rushed into this war unnecessarily; and Lord Grenville reprobated the act of attacking the frigates of Spain, as contrary to all the laws of civilized warfare. “No capture of treasure,” he remarked, “could wash away the stain of innocent blood thus brought on our arms.” Ministers replied that Spain, by her treaties with France, in which she bound herself to furnish, on demand and without demur or inquiry into the justice or policy of the war, a certain aid of ships and men to France, became a principal in the war—an argument which could not be refuted. It was plain to all the world, indeed, that Spain intended to declare war as soon as her treasure-ships arrived at Cadiz; she had, in truth, no alternative, for the Spanish government was under the vassalage and dictation of the ruler of France.

CLAIMS OF THE CATHOLICS.

In the debate on the address in the commons, Pitt had been reminded that he had done nothing to redeem the pledge which he was understood to have given to the Roman Catholics. In his reply the prime minister stated, that on a future occasion he should have an opportunity of explaining what had induced him to let their claims remain unsatisfied, and that he had no doubt the house would then, for the reasons he should give, give him credit for consistency. Notwithstanding this assurance, petitions, praying relief from civil disabilities, were presented by Lord Grenville in the lords, and by Fox in the commons. Pitt, however, declared that existing circumstances were unfavourable to their request; and it was accordingly rejected by large majorities. As he resigned office because he could not compel the king to grant the claims of the Roman Catholics, and as he resumed it with an acquiescence in their disabilities, Pitt’s character has been vehemently attacked on this question—he stands charged with sacrificing principle to ambition. There is no good reason for such a charge: it is evident that Pitt did intend bringing this question before the house whenever a favourable moment should arrive. That moment did not arrive during the present session; and before the next was two days old Pitt was dead. It is unreasonable therefore to stigmatize his memory as unprincipled, on a subject which he had no opportunity of bringing forward; for, from the time of his resuming office till the day on which he died, his mind was wholly occupied in providing for the safety of his country.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

During this session, contrary to the advice of Pitt, the question of the slave-trade was again brought forward by Wilberforce. His bill was read the first time on the 10th of February, and the second reading was fixed for the 28th. He seemed to have nothing to fear in the house of commons; but on the 28th his constancy in the righteous cause he had undertaken was severely tried. On “that fatal night,” as he called it, not one of his usual supporters, excepting Fox, spoke in its favour; and several who had been neutral in the last session now voted against him. The Irish members also were either absent or hostile, although they had hitherto been warm in his favour. His bill was lost by seventy-seven against seventy.

IMPEACHMENT OF LORD MELVILLE.

Early in this session Lord Melville was threatened with impeachment. In February Wilberforce wrote, “Rumour has for some time impeached Lord Melville’s integrity. I have had much talk with George Rose about him. Rose is confident that Pitt will defend him, though he tells me some stories, and strong ones, of jobs which have fallen under his own view.” The storm which menaced Melville fell upon his head in April. In 1803 a bill had been passed, appointing commissioners to make inquiries into the abuses of the naval department. These commissioners produced many reports, the truth of which appeared to implicate Lord Melville, who, while he filled the office of treasurer of the navy, had illegally retained balances of the public money. This report was brought under the consideration of the commons by Mr. Whitbread, who exhibited three charges against Lord Melville:—first, his application of the public money to other uses than those of the naval department, in express contempt of an act of parliament;—secondly, his connivance at a system of peculation in an individual, for whose conduct he was officially responsible;—and, thirdly, his own participation in that system. This second charge had reference to Mr. Trotter, who, it was said, appropriated the public money to private purposes, at the express connivance of Lord Melville. In making these charges Whitbread remarked:—“To the honour of public men, charges like the present have seldom been exhibited; and it is a remarkable circumstance that the only instance, for a long-period, is one that was preferred against Sir Thomas Rumbold by this noble lord himself, on the ground of malversations in India.” With respect to the first point of accusation, it appeared from the report that there had been for several years deficiencies in the accounts of the treasurer of the navy, to the amount of £600,000 a year and upwards. When Lord Melville was asked a plain question respecting the appropriation of this money, he, as well as Trotter, professed total ignorance of the deficiencies; but presently, beginning to recover his recollection, he confessed that from the year 1788 down to the period of his examination, he had been in the habit of drawing out public money, and placing it in the hands of his own bankers. When the commissioners extended their inquiries a little further, he had the assurance to declare that they had no right to interfere in his private affairs. In a letter to the commissioners he acknowledged the fact of advances having been made to him, but said that he could not give the other information required, because he could not disclose state secrets, and because he was not in possession of the accounts of advances made to other departments, having himself committed them to the flames. And not only had the noble lord destroyed the papers, but he had actually lost all recollection of the whole transaction. This was the principal charge against the noble lord; and Mr. Whitbread concluded by moving thirteen resolutions, founded on the circumstances which he developed in making the whole of his charges. Lord Melville was defended by Pitt, who observed that neither the report nor Mr. Whitbread himself alleged that any loss had proceeded from the transactions set forth to the public. The subject, he said, was of a grave and solemn nature; and that if, in a great pecuniary department, irregularities had been committed, though unattended with loss, the house might justly set a mark on such proceedings. As, however, all the circumstances of the case were not before them in the report, he contended that till they were the house could not be in a situation to come to any vote. Pitt moved the previous question; and after some observations from the attorney-general, Mr. Canning, the master of the rolls, and Lord Castlereagh, in support of Pitt’s views,—and from Lord Henry Petty, Messrs. Ponsonby, Fox, and Wilberforce in support of Whitbread’s resolutions, the house divided. On a division there were two hundred and sixteen votes for, and an equal number against Mr. Whitbread’s motion, and the speaker gave a casting vote in its favour. This led to Lord Melville’s retirement from office. On the 10th of April the house was informed that he had tendered his resignation to the king, and that it had been accepted. On the 6th of May Mr. Whitbread proposed the erasure of the delinquent’s name from the list of the privy-councillors; but as Pitt observed that the measure was generally considered expedient, no motion was made on that subject. Later in the session, after a long and able speech, he moved that “Lord Viscount Melville be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors;” and this measure was adopted on the 25th of June, Mr. Whitbread being appointed manager. On the next day, in company with a great number of members, Whitbread impeached Lord Melville at the bar of the house of lords; and subsequently he brought a bill into the commons to avoid those differences of opinion which had arisen in the case of Warren Hastings, or to prevent the proceedings in the impeachment of Lord Melville from being affected by any prorogation or dissolution of parliament. This bill was carried without a division; but here the proceedings rested for the present. Before any further progress could be made in them, Pitt, on whose health and strength they had operated unfavourably, was laid in Westminster Abbey.

PARLIAMENT PROROGUED.

Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 12th of July. On that occasion, his majesty sent a message to the lords and commons, stating that the communications which had taken place, and were still depending between him and some of the powers on the continent, had not yet been brought to such a point, as to enable him to lay the result of them before the house, or to enter into any further explanation with the French government consistently with the sentiments he uttered at the opening of the session. At the same time he recommended parliament to consider the propriety of making provision for enabling him to take such measures, and entering into such engagements, as the exigencies of affairs might require. A sum, not to exceed £3,500,000 was instantly voted by the commons, for the purposes stated in the message.

DISSENSIONS IN THE CABINET.

Soon after the Easter recess, Lord Sidmouth had suggested the propriety of removing Lord Melville from the privy-council, but Pitt imagined that the country would be satisfied with the resignation of his office, and therefore refused to comply. Lord Sidmouth was also offended by the premier’s refusal to place his friend, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, at the head of the admiralty; and expressed his intention of retiring from office, together with the Earl and Mr. Vansittart. This intention was delayed by the erasure of Lord Melville’s name from the list of privy-councillors, and the vote of impeachment which followed; but the breach made was too wide to be thus healed. Two days before the prorogation, Lord Sidmouth and the Earl of Buckinghamshire resigned, and were succeeded by Lords Camden and Harrowby, while Lord Castlereagh obtained Earl Camden’s place of secretary for foreign affairs. These dissensions, as well as the loss of so able a colleague as Lord Melville, occasioned deep anxiety to Pitt, and contributed to oppress and wear down a constitution already on the decline. His anxiety was further increased by the uncertain state of affairs on the continent.

NAPOLEON CROWNED KING OF ITALY

An Italian historian, writing of Napoleon’s character at this period, says: “The nature of Napoleon was restless, disordered: constant only in ambition. He never remained long at the same point, changing continually to rise the higher. It appeared, and it was even solemnly, and with magnificent words, said by him, and by Melzi, the vice-president of the Cisalpine republic, that the regulations made at Lyons with the Italian consulta, were to be unchangeable and eternal; but before two years those regulations were described as defective, insufficient, and not conducive to anything good or lasting. All this signified, that he who had made himself an emperor in France, must be made a king in Italy. It was not without a design that so many Italians of note had been invited to Paris, to attend, in the name of the Cisalpine republic, the imperial coronation and ceremonies. Melzi, the vice-president, the councillors of state, together with deputies from colleges, &c., obeyed the summons, and remained some considerable time in France. They were given to understand, that the emperor must be king on the other side of the Alps; that the Italian republic was an anomaly; and that the proceedings at Lyons must be condemned and reversed.” This plain language was understood by the state consulta of the Italian republic, and they chose the powerful monarch of France King of Italy. On the 26th of May in this year Napoleon placed the iron crown of Charlemagne upon his head in Milan, and appointed Eugene Beauharnois, his step-son, viceroy. By a stroke of his pen he also annulled the constitution of the Ligurian republic, and incorporated Genoa with the French empire. Three departments, Genoa, Moulenotte, and the Apennines were formed out of this republic; and the incorporation of Parma and Piacenza was subsequently formed by an imperial decree. About the same time, the people of Lucca having expressed a wish to be governed by a prince of the house of Napoleon, the emperor gave them his brother-in-law, Pascal Felix Bacciochi, for hereditary prince. Moreover, in Batavia the republican principle became incompatible with the interest of the new imperial state, and that country had to accommodate itself to the monarchic form; its government was dissolved, and superseded by a grand pensioner, elected for five years, and invested with almost unlimited power. By incorporating Genoa with the empire, Napoleon said that he had only one end in view—that of obtaining 15,000 seamen, for the purpose of venturing a great naval struggle, in which, if he proved victorious, he should then invade England. His plan was to distract the British government; to scatter its fleets, by despatching his own squadrons, some to the West Indies, and others to the Spanish ports; and then to effect a junction of all, and collect such a force as would ensure success in a naval combat. This, however, could not have been his principal object. At this time he could not have been ignorant of the coalition forming against him, which it was his interest to provide against. So many violations of treaties, and such unbounded desire of aggrandizement this year promoted the formation of a third coalition against him, of which England was the centre. Sweden first, then Russia, and next Austria, joined themselves with the British government in a league against France; and though Prussia stood neutral, yet she secretly approved the spirit of this coalition. But its ruin was nevertheless induced by the policy of Russia. Austria was exposed alone to the blows of the enemy; the aid of Russia was too remote, and England fought only with money and vessels. The treaty aimed at nothing less than a league of all the European states against France, and the re-establishment of all the relations that existed before the war of the revolution. But these designs were frustrated, and that chiefly by Prussia’s remaining neutral; without the accession of this power, it was scarcely possible to make an effectual attack on the enemy. Its neutrality was, in fact, a protection to the northern half of the French empire.

CONQUESTS OF NAPOLEON IN BAVARIA.

Certified of the nature and extent of the coalition formed against him, Napoleon hastened to secure Bavaria to himself, by the promise of a large aggrandizement of territory. In consequence of this, Austria advanced her troops, peremptorily requiring the elector to join the imperial standard. This he refused to do, and then the Austrian army was ordered to occupy Munich. On his return from Italy, Napoleon had spoken of the invasion of England as an enterprise fully determined upon; but on the 28th of August he announced that “the army of England” was to become “the army of Germany.” Forthwith, the 150,000 men collected at Boulogne, and along that coast, struck their tents, and forming into five separate corps, marched for the Rhine. He affected great disappointment in abandoning his scheme of invasion; but it is doubtful whether he ever really intended to take such a step. The readiness, indeed, with which he dictated his masterly plan for a continental campaign, proves that it had been the subject of a long and mature reflection, and would indicate that this was in reality his grand design. At the same time, such was his mortal hatred to England, that, if he had discerned the remotest chance of success, there is little doubt but that he would have engaged in the desperate enterprise. But England was freed from all fears, and the armies destined to act against her took another route. The five great columns which marched from Boulogne were led by Marshals Soult, Davoust, Ney, Lannes, and Murat; but in the month of September Napoleon took the command of the whole in person. He prefaced his departure for the “Grand Army” by going in state to the senate, and there delivering a speech on the causes of the present war. He remarked: “The wishes of the eternal enemies of the continent are at-last fulfilled; war is begun in the middle of Germany. Austria and Russia have joined England; and our generation is again plunged into the calamities of war. The Austrian army has crossed the Inn; the elector of Bavaria has been driven away from his capital: all my hopes of the preservation of peace have vanished. In this instance, the wickedness of the enemies of the continent has fully revealed itself. They feared the manifestations of my deep love for peace—they feared that Austria, at the sight of the abyss they have dug under her feet, might return to sentiments of justice and moderation, and they have hurried her into war. I sigh in thinking of the blood that this will cost Europe; but the French name shall derive a lustre from it. Senators, when, at your request, at the voice of the whole French people, I assumed the imperial crown, I received of you, and of all citizens, a solemn engagement to preserve it pure and without stain. My people will rush to the standard of their emperor and of his army, which in a few days will have crossed the frontiers. Magistrates, soldiers, citizens, are all determined to keep our country free from the influence of England, who, if she should prevail, would grant us none but an ignominious peace, the principal conditions of which would be, the burning of our fleets, the filling up of our harbours, and the annihilation of our industry.” At the time Napoleon joined his “Grand Army” at Mayence, and when the Austrians commenced operations, the Russians had scarcely arrived in Gallicia. The Austrian army was commanded by Field-marshal Mack, who, notwithstanding his shameful discomfiture in the south of Italy, in the year 1799, still passed with the Aulic Council as a great military genius. Under him were 80,000 men, with which army he took post at Ulm, thinking that Napoleon must of necessity take the same route which Moreau had formerly taken. The French emperor, however, finally divided his immense army into seven corps; and before Mack was aware, an overwhelming force was in his rear. Retreat was impossible; Mack was defeated on every hand, and he shut himself up in Ulm, where he was soon compelled to capitulate. An imperial bulletin announced the capture of 60,000 prisoners, two hundred pieces of cannon, and eighty stand of colours, in a campaign of fifteen days. Nothing now arrested the onward march of the French. Although the Russians, commanded by Kutosow, had finally arrived on the banks of the Ister, they were unable to arrest the enemy’s progress. The French, attended by continual victory, arrived at Vienna on the 13th of November; and on the same day they crossed the Danube, on the left bank of which the Russians were marching to Moravia. Napoleon concentrated his forces at Bruma; and on the 27th of November the forces of Austria and Russia, under the command of their respective emperors, who had united at Olmutz, marched against him. The battle of Austerlitz was now fought and lost. On the 1st of December Francis and Alexander saw the destruction of thirty thousand of their soldiers, the capture of fifteen thousand more, and the wild flight of those who escaped the slaughter; one hundred cannon and a rich booty fell likewise into the hands of the French. In the meantime the Austrian army in Italy, under Archduke Charles, and another in the Tyrol, under the Archduke John, had been compelled by the French to retreat; and having united, they marched towards Vienna. But the Emperor of Austria had now lost all heart. Prussia had recently made peace with France; and two days after the battle of Austerlitz Francis repaired in person to the camp of Napoleon, near Saroschuez, and entered into a preliminary convention relative to an armistice and peace. Finally, a treaty was signed at Presburg, on December the 26th, which broke the power of Austria, and gave the continent into the hands of France. By this treaty, all the countries usurped by Napoleon before the war were ratified to him, and Austria likewise ceded the Venetian territory on both sides of the sea to his “Kingdom of Italy;” to Bavaria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Eichstaedt, and a part of Passau; and to Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, the Suabian territories, and the Breisgau. In return, Austria received Salzburg, and Berchtesgaden; and the dignity of Grand Master of the Teutonic order was to be assigned, hereditarily, to an Austrian prince. By this treaty, likewise, the electors of Bavaria and Wurtemburg were acknowledged as kings, and the elector of Baden as independent. The Emperor of Russia was invited to become a party in this treaty, but he disdained it, and led his forces into his own dominions. It was not merely the loss of territory that made the peace of Presburg, humiliating to Austria: the moral effects of a fall of such unexampled rapidity, and the complete change of all relations in Germany, made it still more depressing. South Germany, hitherto the vassal realm of Austria, now acknowledged the rule of France. The German imperial dignity no longer possessed importance; and the whole system of the European states was overthrown. The smaller German States of the Rhine, were formed by the conqueror into what was called “the Confederation of the Rhine;” the old Germanic empire was therefore dissolved, and the influence of the French fully established over a great part of Germany. Very soon after this treaty, indeed, the Emperor Francis formally renounced his title of Elective Emperor of Germany, and assumed that of Hereditary Emperor of Austria. The conquests of Napoleon were followed by the aggrandizement of his house. Less than three weeks after signing the treaty of Presburg, Eugene Beauharnois married the daughter of the King of Bavaria, and shortly after, Princess Stephanie Beauharnois, Eugene’s cousin, was given in marriage to the son and heir of the Grand Duke of Baden. Another matrimonial alliance was also contemplated with the family of the King of Wurtemburg.

{GEORGE III. 1804—1807}

THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, ETC.

Though successful on the Continent, the power of Napoleon by sea was this year broken. Nelson had been appointed to the command of the Mediterranean fleet in the autumn of the year 1803. In the first month of the present year, while at anchor off Sardinia, he received intelligence that the Toulon fleet had put to sea. Nelson instantly weighed, and after beating about the Sicilian seas for ten days, he ran for Egypt, under the impression that they were bound for that country. Subsequently he discovered that the enemy had put back to Toulon; and, in the hope of tempting it out to sea, he bore away for the coast of Spain, and ran down as far as Barcelona. This stratagem failed of effect; but on the last day of March he received intelligence that Villeneuve had put to sea, with eleven ships of the line and seven frigates, and when last seen was steering towards the coast of Africa. Under the impression that the enemy was bound for Egypt, Nelson covered the channel between Sardinia and Barbary, and when he found that he was mistaken, he bore up for Palermo, and despatched cruizers in all directions, lest it should pass to the north of Corsica. At length, feeling that Villeneuve was not gone toward the Levant, he despatched frigates to Gibraltar, to Lisbon, and to Admiral Cornwallis, off Brest, beat up against contrary winds, and arrived in sight of Gibraltar, on the 30th or April; but being unable to pass through the Straits, by reason of a strong westerly gale, he anchored off the coast of Barbary. In the mean time the French admiral had hastened on to Cadiz, and Sir John Orde, who commanded the blockading squadron, retired at his approach. Villeneuve was joined at Cadiz by six Spanish, and two French ships of the line; making his whole force, eighteen line-of-battle ships, six frigates of forty guns each, and four smaller vessels. The united squadrons now sailed for the West Indies, and Nelson having discovered their place of destination, set sail with ten ships of the line, and three frigates, in pursuit of them. It has been supposed that Nelson would not have engaged his enemy, had he met with them, his force being so disproportionate: but it is clear from his own words that he would have fought had he come up with them. “Take you each a Frenchman,” he observed to his officers, “and leave the Spaniards to me: when I haul down my colours, I expect you to do the same.” But Nelson was again doomed to be disappointed in his search. He sought the enemy at Tobago, Trinidad, and Grenada, but not being able to discover or to gain any certain intelligence of them, he came to Gibraltar, where he went on shore for the first time since June, 1803. While at Gibraltar, he communicated with Admiral Collingwood, who, with a detached squadron, had taken his station off Cadiz, to prevent any progress of the Spaniards, and who had divined that the enemy’s intention, or at least a part of it, was to invade Ireland. Subsequently Nelson sought the enemy off Cape St. Vincent, at Cadiz, in the Bay of Biscay, and on the north-west coast of Ireland. Frustrated in all his hopes, after a pursuit which exhibited the most indomitable ardour, and which scarcely has its parallel in history, he judged it best to re-enforce the Channel-fleet, and accordingly, on the 15th of August, he joined Admiral Cornwallis, off Ushant. While off Ushant, Nelson received orders to proceed with the “Victory,” his own ship, and the “Superb,” to Portsmouth. It was at Portsmouth that he first received certain intelligence of the enemy’s movements. Sir Robert Calder, who had been sent out to intercept their return, fell in with them on the 22d of July, sixty leagues west of Cape Finisterre; and though his force consisted only of fifteen ships of the line, and two frigates, he boldly attacked the enemy, who now numbered twenty-seven of the line, three of fifty guns, and two frigates; and after a combat of four hours succeeded in capturing two ships of the line, and defeated the greatest and best combined project ever formed by the genius of Napoleon. The French admiral sought refuge in Ferrol, and then threw himself into Cadiz. Nelson was now once more appointed to the command of the fleet, and once more he went in search of the enemy. He considered the enemy’s fleet, which he had so long pursued, his own proper game, the price and reward of his long and anxious search. In this feeling, also, his country joined.

Describing his departure from Portsmouth, his biographer remarks:—“Many were in tears, and many knelt down before him, to bless him as he passed. All men knew that his heart was as humane as it was fearless; that there was not in his nature an alloy of selfishness or cupidity, but that he served his country with a perfect and entire devotion; therefore they loved him as truly and fervently as he loved England.” Nelson arrived off Cadiz on the 29th of September, the very day on which the French admiral received orders to put to sea the first opportunity. That it might not be known to the enemy that the hero of the Nile was watching them, Nelson did not suffer his flag to be saluted, and took every precaution of keeping his arrival secret, as well as the numerical force of his fleet. He took his station fifty miles westward of Cadiz, near Cape St. Mary, where he prepared his plan of attack, which he sent to Admiral Collingwood, who was blockading all the small ports between Cadiz and Algesiras, in order that Villeneuve might finally be compelled for want of provision to set sail. Nelson’s plan was to be nearly that of sailing, which was in two lines, with an advanced squadron of eight fast-sailing two-deckers: the second in command, having the direction of his line, was to break through the enemy about twelve ships from their rear, and Nelson himself was to lead through the centre, while the advanced squadron was to cut off three or four ahead of it. This plan received Collingwood’s cordial approbation; and Nelson then called his admirals and captains together, and thus addressed them:—“The enemy’s fleet is supposed to consist of forty-six sail of the line, the British forty; if either is less only a proportionate number of the ships are to be cut off. British to be one fourth superior to the enemy they cut off. Something must be left to chance. Nothing is sure in a sea-fight; shot will carry away the masts and yards of friends as well as of foes; but I look with confidence to a victory before the van of the enemy could succour their rear; and then that the British fleet would most of them be ready to receive their twenty sail of the line, or to pursue them should they endeavour to make off. If the van of the enemy tack, the captured ships must run to leeward of the British fleet; if the enemy wear, the British place themselves between the enemy and the captured and disabled British ships; and should the enemy close I have no fear for the result. The second in command will, in all possible things, direct the movements of his line by keeping them as compact as the nature of the circumstances will admit. Captains are to look to their particular line as their rallying point; but in case signals cannot be seen clearly or understood, no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of an enemy.”