Chapter XXVII: {george III. 1807—1809} (2)

In opening the budget for this year the chancellor of the exchequer stated the amount of supplies at about £43,000,000 for England, and £5,700,000 for Ireland. The produce of the war-taxes was estimated at £20,000,000, and among the ways and means was a loan of £8,000,000, and more than £300,000 additional taxes. As Portugal was occupied, Sicily threatened, and Sweden brought to the brink of ruin by its alliance with England, an increase of soldiers and sailors was demanded. The number of seamen voted for the year was 130,000; and the total number of soldiers, cavalry and infantry, was 300,000. All the corps were represented as being in a higher state of discipline than heretofore; and although 24,000 men had been drafted from the militia into the regular army, it was stated that it was nearer to its establishment than it had been last year. On the motion of Lord Castlereagh a bill was introduced for establishing a local militia of 200,000 men, to be trained for twenty-eight days every year; and this bill, which passed into a law, extended to Scotland. Lord Castlereagh moved, likewise, for the insertion of a clause in the mutiny bill, to permit soldiers to enlist for life; and this was carried in spite of the stern opposition of Windham, whose system it affected. Early in the session Mr. Bankes reproduced his bill for preventing the grant of offices in reversion, or for joint lives with benefit of survivorship; but though it passed the commons, it was rejected by the lords. Subsequently he brought forward a new bill, limited to one year’s duration, which passed into a law.

DEBATE ON IRELAND.

In the course of this session there was a vehement debate on Ireland. The late ministry and their friends attributed the disaffection which still prevailed in that unhappy country to the coercive policy of the present administration. The appointment of Dr. Duigenau, to a seat in the privy-council, which took place about this time, was considered as a wanton insult to the feelings of the Irish people; and as Mr. Canning was mainly instrumental in making that appointment, he was unsparingly condemned for the act. Mr. Tierney asked how ministers could suppose, that in recommending such an appointment, they were cherishing that unity and harmony which it appeared to be his majesty’s earnest desire to cultivate. It was the boast of Mr. Canning, he said, to be the representative of Mr. Pitt’s opinions; but, he would venture to say, that if Mr. Pitt were living, he would be ashamed of such an appointment; and that he never would have lent himself to the contemptible system of irritation which the present administration seemed to have adopted. This debate took place on the presentation of the Roman Catholic petition, on which occasion ministers were anxious to elude the question. Opposition, however, not only pressed it upon them in this debate, but also in others, when it was wholly out of place; going occasionally to some unjustifiable lengths, in the way of assertion. Thus Lord Hawkesbury affirmed, that ministers and the country had learned from the disaffected in Ireland, that there were secret engagements in the treaty of Tilsit, which secret engagements he declared in his speech. All the powers of Europe, he said, were to be confederated to engage or seize on the fleets of Denmark and Portugal; and then Ireland was to be attacked from two points, i.e. from Lisbon and Copenhagen. This ministers, he added, had learned from the disaffected in Ireland, and they had never yet found the information of these parties false!

MOTION RESPECTING THE DROITS OF ADMIRALTY, ETC.

Sir Francis Burdett, considering that the proceeds from the droits of admiralty were so large as to become dangerous to public liberty, moved, with a view to ulterior inquiry, that an account of the net proceeds paid out of the court of admiralty since the 1st of January, 1793, with the balances now remaining, be laid before the house, which motion was agreed to. This year witnessed a diminution of rigour in our criminal code. Sir Samuel Romilly introduced a bill to repeal so much of an act of Elizabeth as tended to take away the benefit of the clergy from offenders convicted of stealing privately from the person. A clause was introduced by the solicitor-general, providing that the act, instead of being punished by death, should be punished by transportation for life, or for a term of years, according to the discretion of the judge. During this session a bill was also passed for the better administration of justice in Scotland; its object being to divide the court of session into two chambers of seven or eight judges; to give those courts certain powers for making regulations with respect to proceedings, and to executions in pending appeals, and also for issuing commissions to ascertain those cases in which it might be proper to establish a trial by jury. In the course of this session the charges against the Indian administration of the Marquess Wellesley were fully disposed of by his full and entire acquittal. Sir John Anstruther’s motion, that the noble marquess had been actuated by an ardent zeal for the service of his country, and by an ardent desire to promote the interests, safety, and prosperity of the British empire, was carried by one hundred and eighty-nine against twenty-nine. Subsequently a vote of thanks was given to the noble marquess for his services in the Copenhagen expedition; and in communicating this, the speaker of the house of commons dilated on his Indian exploits, and pointed him out as the officer best fitted to command in chief a great expedition. While parliament was sitting, a grand movement had begun in Spain against the French nation; and Sheridan called the attention of the house to this subject, and demanded its exertions in favour of the Spanish cause. But ministers seemed to think, that though they fully sympathized with the patriots who had taken up arms in that country, the time had not arrived for the interference of England.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 4th of July. By this time ministers had become convinced that it was their duty to aid the Spaniards in their struggle against Napoleon; for the commissioners stated, in his majesty’s name, that the Spanish nation must now be considered as the ally of Great Britain, and that it was his majesty’s intention to make every exertion in his power for the support of their cause.

RISING OF THE SPANISH NATION, ETC.

It has been seen that a compact had been entered into between Napoleon and the Spanish court for a division of Portugal, when the conquest of that country should be made. Napoleon, however, never intended that Spain should share in the spoils of his conquests. Contrary to the treaty, the Spaniards were almost wholly excluded from the occupation of the country; and added to this, French troops suddenly marched by different routes into the very heart of the Spanish kingdom. The Spaniards saw their soil in the hands of a foreigner, and their proud hearts beat high with indignation at the outrage committed. Godoy, the “Prince of Peace,” saw that he had been overreached, and that his empire, as well as that of his master, was at an end. He advised the royal family to take refuge in flight; but the people seeing that this was determined upon, resolved upon a desperate resistance. One voice alone was heard throughout the provinces, and that one voice loudly accused Godoy of imbecility or treason. A terrible sedition broke out at Aranguez, in March of the present year. Summoned to arms by Ferdinand, the Prince of Austria, an avowed foe to Godoy, the whole population rose, stormed the palace in which the favourite dwelt, abused him, and would have murdered him, but for the intercession of the queen. Covered with wounds, he was, however, conducted to prison, and then they compelled the king to resign, and placed the sceptre of power in the hands of his son Ferdinand, who had incited the revolt. Ferdinand entered Madrid in the character of King of the two Spains; but the French troops, under Murat, entered that city on the next day, and the newly-created king soon discovered who was to be master. Murat refused to acknowledge the Prince of Austria as king, and announced the near arrival of Napoleon in Madrid. He was advised to go to meet Napoleon, in order to secure his favour; but when he met him at Bayonne, he was informed that the French emperor’s determination was to remove the Bourbon house from the Spanish throne. He was compelled to declare the unconditional restoration of the crown to his father, who was called to Bayonne for the purpose of receiving it; and then the old monarch ceded to Napoleon by treaty all his rights to the throne of Spain and India, with the single condition, that the prince whom the emperor intended to place thereon should be independent, and that the Roman Catholic religion should continue to be the only religion in Spain. The king, the queen the royal family, and Godoy received in return an assured abode in France, with certain pensions; and the whole court went immediately to the castle of Compeigne, which the conqueror allotted them. Napoleon now gave the throne of Spain to his brother Joseph, who reigned at Naples, giving the latter throne to Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Bergand Cleves. The members of the national junta were now convoked to Bayonne from all parts of the kingdom, and anew constitution was formed, after which Joseph set out for his kingdom in Spain. Napoleon thought his work consummated; but events proved that it was only now commenced. The royal house of the Bourbons had vanished, but the nation still lived. The news of what had passed at Bayonne filled all Spain with fury: the national pride revolted against the yoke of the foreigner, and a contest was roused, the flames of which raged over all the provinces of the kingdom. In the very day that Napoleon declared his brother King of Spain, the junta of Seville proclaimed war against the oppressor; and on the day of the entrance of King-Joseph into Madrid, the French were repulsed from Saragossa, and compelled to lay down their arms at Baylen, to the number of 26,000 men. So furious was the storm of war which Napoleon had thus called up throughout the whole country, that his brother Joseph was obliged to quit Madrid one week after his entry therein. In every part the population rose to arms and massacred the French: the very clergy aiding the people and the army to root them from their soil. From this time for six long years Spain fought against the formidable forces of the world’s tyrant; and, as will be seen in a future page, she came off victorious. At the very first onset, indeed, by the capitulation at Baylen, the charm of French invincibility was broken, and the star of Napoleon was covered with an opaque cloud. It was this battle, fought in July, which induced England to assist the Spaniards. Money, arms, munitions of every sort, and troops were sent to both Spain and Portugal; and, as regards the latter country, their power was soon rendered effective.

{GEORGE III. 1807—1809}

AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL. CONFEDERATION OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA.

Upon receiving the intelligence of these reverses, Napoleon assembled a far more powerful army, and resolved to crush the insurrection of Spain at least in person. Other dangers, however, awaited him. Alarmed at the treaty of Tilsit, and invigorated by its consequences, Austria had increased her regular force, and organized a militia; and the French reverses in Spain and Portugal gave a new impulse to her evident preparations for war. Napoleon saw this with alarm, and he resolved at once to menace and insult that country, by arranging the co-operation of Russia and the confederated states of the Rhine against the Emperor of Austria, should he attempt to take advantage of the Spanish war. A meeting between Napoleon and Alexander of Russia took place at Erfurt in September and October; and although the sovereigns of the confederation of the Rhine were permitted to pay their court there, Austria was excluded as a secondary power. Thus insulted afresh, the Emperor of Austria resolved in the course of the next year to renew the struggle with France, though he should find himself opposed to Russia likewise. A mysterious veil covered for a time the transactions of Erfurt; but what transpired in relation to them and what ensued justified the conjecture that they confirmed the conventions of the treaty of Tilsit; and that the new dynasty in Spain was acknowledged by Russia for permitting her to aggrandize herself in the north and the east. From Erfurt the two emperors directed a common proposal of peace to the King of England, accompanied by the declaration, that this step was the consequence of the most intimate connexion of the two greatest monarchs of the continent for war as well as for peace; but this proposal was without effect. They were answered that, however desirous both the government and the people might be to put an end to the miseries of war, they were prepared to endure any extremity before they sacrificed the interest of their allies by negociating a separate peace, and leaving Sicily, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain to the tender mercies of Napoleoa. “The hideous presence of the British leopards” was still to prove a terror to Frenchmen.

OPERATIONS IN SPAIN.

Having strengthened his alliance with the Emperor of Russia, Napoleon recalled his legions from the banks of the Niémen, the Spree, the Elbe, and the Danube, in order to reduce Spain. Placing himself at the head of them, he crossed the Pyrenees early in November, and the battles of Burgos, Espinosa, and Tudela, fought under his auspices, once more placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. Napoleon, accompanied by Joseph, again occupied Madrid; and he now sought to appease the fury of its inhabitants and of the people in the provinces by conciliatory measures. The promises made to the Spanish people were ample; but he spoke to men who had no ears for his offers, On every hand the population flew to arms, and all vowed to drive him from their land. Even conflicting parties agreed to shake off their natural enmity to each other, in order to effect this triumph. A guerilla warfare was now pursued: agile bands of men appeared, and having cut off some of their enemies, retired with equal rapidity. In the meantime a British army, under General Moore, was marching to their aid from Portugal. When this army had arrived at Salamanca, however, the Spaniards had already experienced successive defeats, so that when Napoleon advanced against him, General Moore deemed it prudent to retreat. The French emperor expressed his joy aloud at seeing the “British leopards” fly before him; but while pursuing them he received fresh accounts of the preparation of Austria, and suddenly turning his horse, he returned to Burgos, and from thence hurried to Paris. Soult was left to combat with the English; and that general, overtaking them at Corunna, was defeated by them, though inferior in numbers. The greatest loss on the side of the English was that of their commander, Sir John Moore, who was mortally wounded by a cannon-ball. So great was the bravery displayed by General Moore on this occasion, that his very antagonists erected a monument to his memory. After his death the command of the army devolved on Sir John Hope, who pursued a plan devised by General Moore, that of embarkation during the night, and who carried this plan into effect with complete success. The British quitted Spain in January, 1800, leaving the Spaniards to struggle with the French by their own prowess.

The flame of patriotism enkindled in Spain soon spread to Portugal. The Portuguese arose against Junofc, and they were quickly aided in their struggle by the English. A small army, collected for a distant enterprise, was ordered thither, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. This army landed in August at the mouth of the river Mondego, north of Lisbon; and soon after Sir Arthur defeated the French forces, under de la Borde, at Rohia, and the main army, under Junot, at Vimiera. The result of this last victory was the capitulation of Cintra, in virtue of which Junot’s army was conveyed to France upon English vessels; and all Portugal was left in the power of the British. From this time the English had a firm, foundation for their campaigns in the Peninsula. Subsequently a Russian fleet of nine ships of the line, which lay in the Tagus, under Admiral Siniavin, surrendered by convention: it was to be held with all its stores by England as a deposit, till six months after the conclusion of a peace; the admiral, officers, and seamen being sent to Russia at the expense of England. After the evacuation of Portugal by the French troops, a regency was established; which, by restoring comparative tranquillity, taught the people to estimate the advantages they had obtained from their British allies. It was not long, indeed, before the Portuguese, laying aside their characteristic pride and vain boasting, clung to their ancient protectors, and submitted to their direction with a docility and patience that produced the happiest result.

NAVAL AFFAIRS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Napoleon had not yet abandoned all hopes of assistance from his navy, or relinquished the fond wish he had entertained of diminishing the power of the British on the sea. Nay, he had recently declared that a true Frenchman could not rest till the sea was open and free. This year he had collected a large squadron at Toulon, to co-operate with his troops on the side of Calabria, in an attack on Sicily. Possessed of that island, he would have been able to injure our commerce effectually; and in order, therefore, to counteract his views, measures were taken to fortify that part of the Sicilian coast where a landing could be effected; while Lord Collingwood blockaded the port of Toulon as closely as he could consistently with his efforts to second the Spanish patriots in their noble cause, which double duty was imposed upon him by the British Government. A considerable French fleet, stationed at Cadiz, surrendered in June to that people who had experienced so many insults and injuries from its flag. Collingwood wished these men-of-war to join his squadron, for the purpose of intercepting any French fleet that might be sent against the Spanish dominions in South America; but the supreme junta of Seville, instead of complying with his request, began to dismantle them. A want of confidence in the British government, and an overweening trust in their own internal resources, notwithstanding the serious reverses they had recently met with; still pervaded the Spanish nation.

STATE OF THE CONTINENT.

During this year the Russian autocrat and the Emperor Napoleon pursued that system of aggrandizement, which they had contemplated in making the treaty of Tilsit. In February a Russian army entered Finland, which province had always been an object of cupidity to the court of St, Petersburgh, and on the accession of Frederic VI. to the crown of Denmark, that monarch declared war against Sweden. After several bloody battles, the fate of Gustavus Adolphus appeared inevitable; when, to avoid falling under the yoke of Russia, he entered into a convention which virtually left the granary of Sweden in the hands of his conqueror.

This year Napoleon affected great changes in the affairs of Italy. Having adopted his son-in-law, Eugene Beauharnois, as his own son, he settled that kingdom upon him in tail male, and incorporated with the legations of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata, and Camerino, which were the pope’s dominions; stating in a decree as the sole reason for this act of undisguised despotism, “that the sovereign of Rome had refused to make war against England.” Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, were also annexed to the kingdom of Italy, as were Kehl, Wesel, Cassel, and Flushing to France. To complete his domestic policy, Napoleon now instituted an hereditary nobility; princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights of the empire sprung up like mushrooms on every hand, in order to ennoble his newly created empire. Napoleon likewise instituted an imperial university; but his school was rather calculated to train up agents of imperial despotism, than men of learning and enlightened minds. As the sworn enemy of liberty, he declared himself the head of this university, and decreed that all schools or seminaries should be under its control.