L. 1807. CHAP. length a hundred ships of the line and two hundred thousand men were prepared, on the coasts of the Channel, to carry to the shores of England the terrors of Gallic invasion. "When in this manner," said Napoleon, "I had established my ground, so as to bring the two nations 1 Las Cas. to wrestle, as it were, body to body, the issue could not be doubtful, for we had forty millions of French against fifteen millions of English. I would have terminated by a battle of Actium."1* v. 14. Jom. ii. 499. Thiers, viii. 55, 56. 4. Object of the Berlin Decree. It was therefore no momentary burst of anger or sudden fit of exultation, occasioned by his unparalleled triumphs, which induced Napoleon, by his celebrated decree from Berlin, to declare the British Islands in a state of blockade. It was the result of much thought and anxious deliberation, of a calm survey of the resources at his disposal, and the means of resistance which yet remained to his antagonists. The treaty of Tilsit gave the English government ample room for serious reflection on the dangers which now beset them. The accession of Russia to the Continental league was thereby rendered certain; the secret articles of the treaty, of which, by great exertions, # 2 Ante, chap. Napoleon's projects, in regard to the maritime war against England, have xxxvi. § 121. been already explained; but this is a point of such vital importance to the future security of the British empire, that it will well bear a second note from an additional authority." He said,” says Las Cases, “that he had done much for Antwerp, but nothing to what he proposed to have done. By sea, he proposed to have made it a mortal point of attack against the enemy; by land, he wished to render it a sure resource in case of great disasters-a true point of refuge for the national safety; he wished to render it capable of containing an entire army after defeat, and of resisting a year of open trenches, during which the nation might have risen in a mass for its relief. The world admired much the works already executed at Antwerp-its numerous dockyards, arsenals, and wet-docks; but all that, said the Emperor, was nothing-it was but the commercial town; the military town was to have been on the other bank, where the land was already purchased; three-deckers were to have been there constructed, and covered sheds established to keep the ships of the line dry in time of peace. Everything there was planned on the most colossal scale. Antwerp was itself a province. That place, said the Emperor, was the chief cause of my being here; for, if I could have made up my mind to give up Antwerp, I might have concluded peace at Chatillon in 1814.”—Las Cases, vii. 43, 44. Gigantic as these designs for Antwerp were, they were but a part of what Napoleon meditated or had constructed for his grand enterprise against England. "Magnificent works," says Las Cases, "had been set agoing at Cher L. 1807. they soon obtained possession,* made them acquainted CHAP. with the intention of France and Russia, not only to unite their forces against Great Britain, but to compel Denmark and Portugal to do the same. In addition to having their flag proscribed from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Bothnia, they had the prospect of seeing all the maritime forces of Europe arrayed against their independence. The assistance of Sweden could not much longer be relied on, pressed as she would soon be by her colossal neighbour; the harbours of South America were still closed to her adventure; the neutrality of North America was already more than doubtful, and would certainly be soon abandoned, to range the United States by the side of France, in open enmity against Great Britain. Thus had England, proscribed from all civilised commerce over the whole world, and weakened in her resources by the internal suffering consequent on such a deprivation, the prospect of soon being compelled to maintain a contest with all the naval and military forces of Europe, directed by consummate ability, and actuated by inveterate hostility against her independence and renown. bourg, where they had excavated out of the solid rock a basin capable of holding fifteen ships of the line and as many frigates, with the most splendid fortifications for their protection: the Emperor intended to have prepared that harbour to receive thirty more line-of-battle ships of the largest size. Innumerable works had been prepared to receive and protect the flotilla which was to be immediately concerned in the invasion of England; Boulogne was adapted to hold 2000 gunboats; Vimereux, Etaples, and Ambleteuse, 1000 more. The harbour of Flushing was to have been rendered impregnable, and enlarged so as to hold twenty of the largest ships of the line; while dockyards for the construction of twenty line-of-battle ships were to be formed at Antwerp, and constantly kept in full activity. So immense were the preparations on the French coast for the invasion of England! The Emperor frequently said that Antwerp was to him an entire province; a little kingdom in itself. He attached the greatest importance to it, often visited it in person, and regarded it as one of the most important of all his creations."-LAS CASES, vii. 51, 57. It is not a little curious that, within twenty years after his fall, the English government should have united its forces to those of France to restore this great outwork against British independence to the dominion of Belgium, and the rule of the son-in-law of France. *They were obtained by the agency of the Count d'Antraigues.—HARD. ix. 431, note. In the King's speech, on the 21st January 1808, it was said-" We are commanded by his majesty to inform you, that no sooner had the result of the negotiations at Tilsit confirmed the influence and control of France over L. 1807. CHAP. A clear and constant perception of this prospect is indispensable both to the formation of a just opinion on the measures to which she was speedily driven in her own defence, and of the character of the illustrious men who, called to the direction of her councils and armies in such a gloomy situation, speedily raised her fortunes to an unparalleled pitch of glory and prosperity. 5. cree of 21st The English government, in 1806, after the occupation Berlin De- of Hanover by the Prussian troops, had issued an order, November. authorised by Mr Fox's cabinet, declaring the coasts of Prussia in a state of blockade. That the English navy was amply adequate to establish an effectual blockade of the two rivers which constitute the only outlet to Prussian commerce, cannot be doubted, when it is recollected that their fleets at that very moment kept every hostile harbour closed from the North Cape to Gibraltar.* This blockade, the powers of the Continent, than his majesty was apprised of the intention of * As this order in council is referred to by the French writers and their supporters in this country, as a vindication of the Berlin Decree, its provisions merit attention. It proceeds on the narrative, "That the Prussian government has, in a forcible and hostile manner, taken possession of the electorate of Hanover, and has also notified that all British ships shall be excluded from the ports of the Prussian dominions, and from certain other ports in the north of L. 1807. however, and one at the same time declared of the coasts CHAP. of the Channel, gave Napoleon an excuse for the famous Berlin Decree against English commerce, which, on the preamble "that the British government had violated the law of nations, so far as regarded neutral vessels; that it regards as enemies every individual belonging to a hostile state, and, in consequence, makes prize, not merely of the crews of merchant vessels equipped as privateers, but also of those of such vessels when merely engaged in the transport of merchandise; that it extends to the ships and the objects of commerce that right of conquest which does not properly belong except to public property; that it includes commercial cities and harbours, and mouths of rivers, in the hardships of blockade, which, on the best interpretation of the law of nations, is applicable only to fortified places; that it declares harbours blockaded before Europe, and not suffered to enter or trade therein ;" and then declares, "That no ship or vessel belonging to any of his Majesty's subjects be permitted to April 5, 1806. enter or clear from any ports of Prussia, and that a general embargo or stop be made of all Prussian ships and vessels whatever, now within, or which shall hereafter come into, any of the ports, harbours, or roads of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, together with all persons and effects on board the said ships and vessels; but that the utmost care be taken for the preservation of the cargoes on board of the said ships or vessels, so that no damage or embezzlement whatever be sustained.”—Ann. Reg. 1806, 677. This was followed, upon 16th May 1806, by an order in council, signed by Mr Fox, which, "considering the new measures adopted by the enemy for the obstruction of British commerce, declared the whole coasts, harbours, and rivers, from the Elbe to Brest inclusive, as actually blockaded; provided always that this blockade shall not extend to neutral vessels having on board merchandise not belonging to the enemies of his Majesty, and not contraband of war; excepting, however, the coast from Ostend to the mouth of the river Seine, which is hereby declared 1 Mart. Sup. subject to a blockade of the strictest kind." There can be no doubt that the v. 437. coasts thus declared in a state of blockade were, in the strictest sense, subject to such declaration, since the peril of leaving the harbours they contained was such that hardly one of the enemy's armed vessels ventured to incur it. This decree, such as it was, was repealed as to all ports from the Elbe to the Ems inclusive, by a British order in council of 26th September 1806.—See MARTENS, v. 469, Sup. These orders in council, thus providing only for the blockade of harbours and coasts, which it was at the moment in the highest degree perilous to enter, or for the interim detention of the Prussian cargoes, in retaliation for the unprovoked invasion of Hanover by the Prussian troops, and exclusion of British commerce, in pursuance of the offers of Napoleon already detailed, were clearly within the law of nations, as admitted by the French Emperor himself, and, in truth, a most moderate exercise of the rights of war. They afford, therefore, no excuse or palliation whatever for the Berlin Decree.—See Ann. sions. L. 1807. CHAP. which it has not a single ship of war, although a place cannot be considered as blockaded till it is in such a manner beset that entry cannot be obtained without imminent danger; that it even declares blockaded places which all its naval forces are inadequate to blockade, as entire coasts and a whole empire; that this monstrous violation of the law of nations has no other object but to obstruct the communications of other people, and elevate the industry and commerce of England upon the ruins of that of the Continent; that this being the evident design of England, whoever deals on the Continent in British merchandise by that very act favours its designs, and becomes participant in them; that this conduct of England, worthy of the first barbarous ages, has hitherto turned to its own great profit and the detriment of all other states; and that the law of nature entitles every belligerent to oppose its enemy with the arms with which it combats, and the mode of hostility which it has adopted, when it disregards every idea of justice and liberality, the result of civilisation among mankind:" on this preamble it declared 6. "1. The British Islands are placed in a state of blockade. Its provi- 2. Every species of commerce and communication with them is prohibited; all letters or packets addressed in English, or in the English characters, shall be seized at the post-office, and their circulation interdicted. 3. Every British subject, of what rank or condition whatever, who shall be found in the countries occupied by our troops, or those of our allies, shall be made prisoner of war. 4. Every warehouse, merchandise, or property of any sort, belonging to a subject of Great Britain, or coming from its manufactories or colonies, is declared good prize. 5. Commerce of every kind in English goods is prohibited; and every species of merchandise belonging to England, or emanating from its workshops or colonies, is declared Reg. 1806, 677; and see the previous Prussian proclamation, excluding British trade, on 28th March 1806. Ibid. 692; and MARTENS, Sup. v. 435. |