1807 influence nominal head of the new Ministry was the Duke of Portland; but Mr. Perceval, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the real leader, although its guiding spirit was George Can- Rising ning, the Foreign Secretary, a young and devoted ad- of Canning. herent of Pitt, whose eloquence gave him a commanding influence in the House of Commons, while the vigour and breadth of his mind gave a new tone and energy to the war. The following Ministers were enrolled in this administration : First Lord of the Treasury.... Lord President of the Council..... Secretaries of State.... President of the Board of Trade Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Duke of Portland. Mr. Spencer Perceval. Earl Camden. . Earl of Westmoreland. Foreign, Mr. George Canning. War and Colonies, Lord Castle- .... Earl Bathurst. ..Hon. Robert Dundas. . Earl of Chatham. Among other appointments, Sir Arthur Wellesley became Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Mr. George Rose Treasurer of the Navy, in lieu of Sheridan. "No Popery." The Grenville Ministry was dismissed on the 25th of March, 1807; Parliament was then adjourned for a fortnight, during which interval, the new Ministers appear to have done all they could to excite a cry in the country against Popery. Portland, as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, requested that university to petition Parliament against Catholic concessions; the A new cry of Duke of Cumberland, Chancellor of the University of Dublin, also desired that body to send a petition; and Perceval at his re-election urged upon the electors of Northampton, to resist the inroads of Popery. A general alarm was thus spread; and the Ministers, knowing the value of the old popular cry of "No Popery," dissolved Parliament, although it had sat little more than four months (26th April). The efforts which were made by both parties to secure a majority in the elections which followed, were almost unprecedented in violence and corruption; even the royal proclamation which dissolved the Parliament, was used as a party Assembling manifesto, to excite the people against the Whigs, who Parliament. had made such a "scandalous attempt to force the of a new CHAP. VIII. King's conscience; and petitions were got up, in which His Majesty was addressed as the preserver of our religion, laws and liberties, and the protector of the religious interests of his people. Thus stimulated, popular feeling was decidedly in favour of the new Ministry; and when Parliament assembled on the 22nd of June, the first division, on the Amendment to the Address, showed a majority for the Government of 195 in the Commons and 97 in the Lords.* 14. The Battles of Heilsberg and Friedland.-The change of ministry produced an immediate alteration in the continental policy of England; and by a convention signed at London (17th June) with Russia, Prussia, and Sweden, it was agreed to provide 20,000 men to co-operate with the Swedes in Pomerania, and to furnish a subsidy of a million to Prussia. These succours, however, came too late; the battle of Friedland, three days before, had broken the power of Russia; and the Czar, deeply irritated against the British Government for neglecting to send him timely aid, concluded a peace with Napoleon, and even agreed to support his schemes of hostility against Great Britain. Condition of the French and Russian armies. After the great battle of Eylau, the belligerent armies remained inactive for several months, reinforcements being necessary to repair the terrible destruction of that winter's day. The Emperor Alexander, having a war with Turkey on his hands, was unable to send large reinforcements to Benningsen, and the Russian army never exceeded its original computation of 90,000 men. The French army, on the contrary, was largely recruited with gallant and enthusiastic Poles, with fresh conscriptions from France, and with a contingent of 16,000 men, which Napoleon extorted from Spain, in accordance with the terms of her alliance with France. By these means the French army was raised to a total of 200,000 men, who now lay in their quarters behind the Passarge, amply supplied by the agricultural riches of Old Prussia and the immense requisitions levied from the conquered provinces in the The bulk of the Russians lay in an intrenched camp round Heilsberg on the Alle; and to compensate for his inferiority of force, Benningsen rear. Repulse entrenched himself on both banks of the Alle, where he intended to await the arrival of further reinforcements. But the exposed situation of Ney's corps at Guttstadt, tempted him to leave his lines, and hazard a blow for its destruction. In this movement he was successful; Ney's division being driven across the Passarge with a loss of 2,000 men. Moved by the danger of his lieutenant, Napoleon immediately concentrated his troops in such masses, that the Russians in their turn fell back to their intrenchments at Heilsberg, where they were attacked in force by the French army on the 10th of June. After a terrible struggle of twelve hours, the assailants were driven off at Pictorial History, VIII., 262-267. 1807 every point, with the loss of 12,000 men; but the Russians, although victorious, found it necessary to retreat-a movement which they executed without opposition, through Bartenstein, to Friedland, a considerable town on the left bank of the Alle (13th June). That night, Benningsen learning that the corps, which had been greatly weakened at Heilsberg, then lay at a village only three miles in front of Friedland, resolved to make another bold dash, and crush it as he had crushed the corps of Ney. The attack was made on the morning of the 14th; and immediately brought on the battle of Friedland. The corps of Lannes was soon supported by that of Mortier, and while Benningsen with only 55,000 men, was engaged with these two divisions, with the river Alle and the town of Friedland, in his rear, Napoleon arrived on the scene of action with not less than 80,000 men. Benningsen then sought to make good his retreat across the river; but the French signal for attack being given, he was compelled to accept the battle under veryunfavourable circumstances. Yet the Russians fought with indomitable courage. Ney's column, charging their left under Bagrathion with the fury of a tempest, was repulsed with great slaughter; the battle was then restored by Victor; and the Russians, in the confusion of their retreat, fired the town and bridges of Friedland, and thus cut off the retreat of their right and centre, which had meanwhile successfully held their ground against overwhelming numbers. But these undaunted bands, closing their ranks, forced their way through the surrounding masses of the enemy, at the point of the bayonet, and retired slowly and in solid order to the fords. The water was breast high, and many were drowned; but not a single battalion surrendered; and except 5,000 wounded, few prisoners were made. The total loss was 17,000 men, but no colours and only 17 guns were taken. The French lost 8,000 men, besides two eagles; and they had suffered so severely that they were unable to attempt a pursuit. The Russians therefore slowly retired to Tilsit, on the Niemen, destroying all the bridges. 15. The Treaty of Tilsit. This disastrous battle destroyed the confederacy against France. Alexander had no longer any object or interest in continuing the war; Napoleon was also desirous to Euspend hostilities; an armistice was therefore readily concluded, and on the 25th of June, the famous interview took place between the two emperors, on a raft moored in the middle of the Niemen. At a second conference on the following day, the King of Prussia was present; but the two emperors had now become so intimate, that everything was settled by themselves in private conferences. After a fortnight two treaties were formally signed, that between France and Russia on the 7th, and the other between France and Prussia on the 9th of July. By these Treaties, Silesia and the provinces on the right side of the Elbe were restored to the King of Prussia; but that portion of his territories acquired by the partition of Poland in 1772, with the exception of one province which Russia coveted, was now taken away and bestowed on th King of Saxony, under the title of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw Dantsic was declared a free city; and the Prussian provinces on the CHAP. VIII. bank of the Elbe were erected into the new kingdom of Westphalia and given to Jerome, the brother of Napoleon. Spoliation of Nearly half her dominions were thus severed from Prussia at one sweep; and even the fortresses and territories, of which she was nominally left in possession, were still occupied by French troops, as security for the payment of the war contributions-a pretext which was used to justify their retention up to the campaign of Moscow; while the establishment of the new kingdoms of Westphalia and Saxony, with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, virtually brought the French frontier up to the Niemen. These changes, important as they were, were insignificant when compared with the secret convention concluded at the same time between Napoleon and Alexander. Secret articles of the Treaty. By these secret articles, Prussia and France concluded an offensive and defensive alliance; they were especially to join in hostility against the maritime power of England, and to summon the three Courts of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Lisbon to concur in the same project; the existing dynasties in Spain and Portugal were to be replaced by princes of the Bonaparte family; and while the greater part of the Ottoman Empire was to be taken by Russia, Egypt and the Adriatic coasts were to fall to the share of France. Roumelia and Constantinople, however, were still to remain subject to the Sultan, but Russia could compensate herself for this sacrifice by the appropriation of Finland, which then belonged to Sweden.* 16. The Berlin and Milan Decrees, and the Continental System. -Throughout both these treaties, the means of giving effect to the Berlin Decree, and of totally excluding the commerce of Great Britain from the Continent, were kept steadily and constantly in view. On the renewal of hostilities in 1803, one of the first military operations of the French was the seizure of Hanover and the Hanse Towns, and the forcible closing of the Elbe and Weser against British commerce. At the same time, Tarentum and Leghorn were seized in Italy, and British merchandise in their ports confiscated; while by a decree dated 23rd June, 1803, any vessel coming from, or which had touched at, a British port, was declared liable to capture. Such was the commencement of that virulent strife against the trade of Great Britain, which Napoleon so long maintained. In May, 1806, the British Government declared all the ports between Trieste and the Elbe to be in a state of blockade, and Napoleon thereupon retaliated by the famous Berlin decree 's Durere, Chap. 10, Par. 71-80. 1806-7 (21st November, 1806) which extended the new system of hostility to its extreme limit. By this decree the British Islands were declared in a state of blockade; all commerce or communication with them was prohibited; and all British subjects found in the countries under the control of The France were made prisoners of war. All British property or Berlin decree. merchandise wherever found was confiscated; and all vessels coming from Great Britain or any of its colonies were declared good prizes. The British Government retorted by an Order in Council (7th January, 1807) directing the capture of all vessels trading between any two ports from which British ships were excluded; and finding British this measure not to be sufficiently rigorous, issued a second Orders in Order in Council (11th November), which, reciting the Berlin Council. Decree as a preamble, proclaimed a blockade of France and the States under her sway, as the blockade of the British Islands had been published by Napoleon; and declared all vessels good prizes which should be bound for any of their ports, unless they had previously touched at or cleared out from a British harbour. In reply to this second order, Napoleon forthwith fulminated the Milan decree (17th December), declaring all vessels which submitted to be searched by British cruisers, or paid any British imposts, to The have thereby lost their neutral privileges; and that all ships Milan decree. coming from or going to any harbour in Great Britain or its colonies, or any country occupied by British troops, should be made prize.* these decrees The result of these decrees, and of the British Orders in Council upon the trade of neutrals, and especially the Americans, will be shown hereafter; but the immediate result of Napoleon's policy was the commencement of his own downfall. The numberless vexations and miseries caused throughout Europe by the Effects of tyrannical enforcement of a system which cut off the in Europe. sources of industrial wealth, and deprived the people of that interchange of produce and manufactures which was necessary to their comfort, created the greatest exasperation, and gave a greater impulse to the general hatred of Napoleon's rule than any of his numerous exactions. Armies of inspectors, custom-house officers and other officials overspread the countries occupied by the French; and in Northern Germany particularly, the search for British goods, which were smuggled in large quantities from the adjacent island of Heligoland, became the pretext for numerous extortions and abuses. So ruinous were the consequences, that Louis Bonaparte, the King of Holland, refused for some time to enforce the decrees in his dominions. The poor were the chief and almost the only sufferers, for the * Alison's Europe, Chap. 50, Par. 1-13. |