the state of destitution to which the ill-judged parsimony of the late administration had reduced the British arsenals, and such the effect of their total dismissal of transports from the royal service, that it was found impossible by their successors to fit out an expedition for the shores of the Baltic for several months after their accession to office; and, in consequence, the formidable armament under Lord Cathcart, which afterwards achieved the conquest of Copenhagen, and might have appeared with decisive effect on the shores of the Elbe or the Vistula at the opening of the campaign, was not able to leave the shores of Britain till the end of July-a fortnight after the treaty of Tilsit had been signed, and the subjugation of the Continent, to all appearance, irrevocably effected.*

5. While the Allies were thus drawing closer the bonds which united their confederacy, and England, rousing from its unworthy slumber, was preparing to resume its place at the head of the alliance, Napoleon on his side was not idle, and from his camp at Finkenstein carried on an active negotiation with all the powers in Europe. In his addresses to the French senate, calling out the additional conscription of eighty thousand men, which has been already mentioned, he publicly held out the olive branch; the surest proof of the magnitude of the disaster sustained at Eylau, and the critical situation in which he felt himself placed, with Austria hanging in dubious strength in his rear on one side, and Great Britain preparing to organise a formidable force on the other. "Our policy is fixed," said he : we have ofLORD LEVESON GOWER, Tilsit, 30th June 1807; Parl. Deb. v. 111, 112.

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sacrifice himself for others, he might ultimately come to compromise the fate of his own empire. The conduct of the British "When the present ministers came into government in later times has been of a office," said Mr Canning, then foreign miniskind completely to justify the determination ter, on July 31, 1807, "they found the transwhich his Majesty has now taken. The di- port department totally dismantled. This version on the Continent which England so originated in the economical system of Lord long promised, has not to this day taken H. Petty; but it was a false parsimony, eviplace; and even if, as the latest advices from dently calculated, at no distant period, to London show, the British government has render necessary a profuse expenditure. The at length resolved on sending ten thousand mandate of dismissal came from the treamen to Pomerania, that succour is noways sury, and was applicable to all transports proportioned either to the hopes we were but those necessary to maintain the commuauthorised to entertain, or the importance nication with Ireland, Jersey, and Guernsey. of the object to which these troops were The saving produced by this order did not destined. Pecuniary succours might, in amount to more than £4000 a-month, and it some degree, have compensated the want of dispersed 60,000 tons of shipping which was English troops; but not only did the British left to the late ministry by their predecesgovernment decline facilitating the loan the sors. Ministers thus, in the beginning of imperial court had intended to negotiate in April last, had not a transport at their disLondon, but when it did at length resolve posal; and from the active state of trade at upon making some advances, it appeared the same time, it required several months that the sum destined for this purpose, so before they could be collected. If they had far from meeting the exigencies of the Allies, existed, a military force would in that very would not even have covered the indispen-month have been sent out, and twenty thousable expenses of Prussia. In fine, the use which, instead of co-operating in the common cause, the British government, during this period, has made of its forces in South America and in Egypt, the latter of which was not even communicated to the imperial cabinet, and was entirely at variance with its interests, at a time when, by giving them a different destination, the necessity of maintaining a Russian army on the Danube might have been prevented, and the disposable force on the Vistula proportionally increased, sufficiently demonstrates that the Emperor of Russia was virtually released from his engagements, and had no course left but to attend to the security of his own dominions." It is impossible to dispute the justice of these observations.-Note. GENERAL BUDBERG to

sand British troops would have turned the scale at Friedland. This ill-judged economy was the more criminal, that, by having a a fleet of transports constantly at command, and threatening various points, 20,000 men could easily paralyse three times that force on the part of the enemy. The Whigs had apparently parted with this transport force for no other purpose but that of registering their abandonment of the Continent." The facts here alleged, Mr Windham, on the part of the late government, did not deny, alleg ing only the absurdity of sending British forces to the Continent; which required no reply."-A curious argument from so able a man, when it is recollected that the nation was on the verge of Wellington's career.Parl. Deb. ix. 1035-1038.

fered to England peace before the fourth | Napoleon was not without hopes, notcoalition; we repeat the offer; we are withstanding the hostile disposition of ready to conclude a treaty with Russia its sovereign, of detaching, through on the terms which her ambassador dread of Russia, from the coalition. subscribed at Paris: we are prepared to Immediately after the battle of Eylau, restore its eight millions of inhabitants, he began to take measures to excite and its capital, conquered by our arms, the court of Stockholm against the alto Prussia." There was nothing said liance.* "Should Swedish blood," said now about making the Prussian no- he, in the bulletin on the 23d April, bility so poor that they should have "flow for the defence of the Ottoman to beg their bread; nor of the queen, empire, or its ruin? should it be shed to like another Helen, having lighted the establish the freedom of the seas, or to fires of another Troy. But amidst subvert it? What has Sweden to fear these tardy and extorted expressions from France? Nothing. What from of moderation, the Emperor had no- Russia? Everything. A peace, or even a thing less at his heart than to come to truce with Sweden, would accomplish an accommodation; and his indefati- the dearest wish of his Majesty's heart, gable activity was incessantly engaged who has always beheld with pain the in strengthening his hands by fresh hostilities in which he was engaged alliances, and collecting from all quar- with a nation generous and brave, ters additional troops to overwhelm linked alike by its historic recollechis enemies. The imprudent and pre- tions and geographical position to the mature proclamation has been already alliance with France." In pursuance mentioned, [Ante, Chap. XLII. §. 19], of instructions framed on these prinby which the Prince of the Peace an- ciples, Mortier inclined with the bulk nounced, on the eve of the battle of of his forces towards Colberg, to proJena, his preparations to combat an secute the siege of that town, leaving enemy which no one could doubt was only General Grandjean with a weak France. Napoleon dissembled for a division before Stralsund. Informed while his resentment, but resolved to of that circumstance, General Essen, make this hostile demonstration the the governor of the fortress, conceived ground for demanding fresh supplies hopes of capturing or destroying the from Spain; and accordingly great presumptuous commander who mainnumbers of the Prussian prisoners tained a sort of blockade with a force were sent into the Peninsula to be fed inferior to that which was assembled and clothed at the expense of the court within its walls. Early in April, acof Madrid, while an auxiliary force was cordingly, he issued from the fortress, peremptorily demanded from that and attacked the French with such power to co-operate in the contest in superior numbers, that they were comthe north of Europe. Trembling for pelled to retire, first to Anclam, where its existence, the Spanish government they sustained a severe defeat, and had no alternative but submission; and accordingly sixteen thousand of the best troops of the monarchy, under a leader destined to future celebrity, the MARQUIS DE ROMANA, crossed the Pyrenees early in March, and arrived on the banks of the Elbe in the middle of May. Thus was the double object gained of obtaining an important auxiliary force for the Grand Army, and of securing, as hostages for the fidelity of the court of Madrid, the flower of its troops in a remote situation, entirely at the mercy of his forces.

6. Sweden was another power which

"I re

*In furtherance of this design, early in March, he explained to Marshal Mortier, who was intrusted with the prosecution of hostilities in that quarter was not to take the war in Pomerania, that the real object of Stralsund, nor inflict any serious injury on Sweden, but to observe Hamburg and Berlin, and defend the mouths of the Oder. he, "and most of all that the fine suburbs gret much what has already happened," said of Stralsund have been burned. It is not our interest to inflict injury on Sweden, but propose an armistice to the governor of Stral to protect that power from it. Hasten to sund, or even a suspension of arms, in order to lighten the sufferings of a war which I regard as criminal, because it is contrary to the real interests of that monarchy."-72d Bulletin, Camp. en Saxe et Pologne, iv. 243-246.

rect, should be forwarded through the Swedish lines either to Dantzic or Col berg-and no debarkation of troops hostile to France take place at Stralsund.* The armistice was not to be broken without ten days' previous notice, which period was, by a supplementary convention on the 29th April, extended to a month. No sooner was this last agreement signed, than Mortier in person resumed the blockade of Colberg, while a large part of his forces was despatched to aid Lefebvre in the operations against Dantzic, and took an important part in the siege of that

ultimately to Stettin, with the loss of above two thousand men. No sooner did he hear of this check, than Mortier assembled the bulk of his troops, about fourteen thousand strong, under the cannon of that fortress, and prepared for a serious attack upon the enemy. The Swedes, though nearly equal in number, were not prepared for a conflict with forces so formidable, and retired to Stralsund with the loss of above a thousand prisoners, and three hundred killed and wounded; among the latter of whom was General Arnfeldt, the most uncompromising enemy of France in their councils. 7. After this repulse, Mortier renew-fortress, and the brief but decisive camed his secret proposals for a separate accommodation to the Swedish generals; and on this occasion he found them more inclined to enter into his views. The Swedish government at this period was actuated by a strong feeling of irritation towards Great Britain for the long delay which had occurred, under the administration of the Whigs, in the remittance of the stipulated subsidies; and its generals at Stralsund were ignorant of the steps which were in progress, since the change of ministry in England, to remedy the defect. Deeming themselves, therefore, deserted by their natural allies, and left alone to sustain a contest in which they had only a subordinate interest, they lent a willing ear to Mortier's proposals, and concluded an armistice, by which it was stipulated that hostilities should cease between the two armies that the islands of Usedom and Wollin should be occupied by the French troops-the lines of the Peene and the Trebel separate the two armies-no succours, direct or indi

* In the letter of Napoleon, which Mortier despatched to Essen on that occasion, he said, "I have nothing more at heart than to re-establish peace with Sweden. Political passion may have divided us; but state interest, which ought to rule the determinations of sovereigns, should reunite our policy. Sweden cannot be ignorant that, in the present contest, she is as much interested in the success of our arms as France itself. She will speedily feel the consequence of Russian aggrandisement. Is it for the destruction of the empire of Constantinople that the Swedes are fighting? Sweden is not less interested than France in the diminution of the enormous maritime power of

paign which immediately ensued. The conditions of the new treaty between England and Sweden, signed at London on the 17th June, came too late to remedy these serious evils. And thus, while the previous ill-timed defection of the cabinet of London from the great confederacy for the deliverance of Europe, had sown the seeds of irreconcilable enmity in the breast of the Emperor Alexander, it entirely paralysed the valuable array in the rear of Napoleon, which, if thrown into the scale at the decisive moment, and with the support of a powerful British auxiliary force, could hardly have failed to have had the most important effects, both upon the movements of Austria and the general issue of the campaign.

8. In justice to the Swedish monarch, however, who, though eccentric and rash, was animated with the highest and most romantic principles of honour, it must be noticed, that no sooner was he informed of the change of policy on the part of the cabinet of London, consequent on the accession of England. Accustomed by the traditions of our fathers to regard each other as friends, our bonds are drawn closer together by the partition of Poland and the dangers of the Ottoman empire; our political interests are the same; why, then, are we at variance?" And in the event of the Swedish general acceding to these propositions, the instructions of Mortier were "instantly to send to Dantzic and Thorn all the regiments of foot and horse which can be spared; to resume without delay the siege of Colberg, and at the same time to hold himself in readiness to start with the whole blockading force, at a moment's warning, either for the Vistula or the Elbe."-JOMINI, 389, 391.

on the road to Asia, had strongly excited his imagination; his early visions of Oriental conquest were revived, and the project was already far advanced to maturity, of striking, through Persia, a mortal stroke at England in her Indian possessions.

12. These extensive projects, however, which the rapid succession of events on the Vistula prevented from being carried into execution, were wellnigh interrupted by a precipitate and ill-timed step on the part of the governor of the Ionian Islands, Cæsar Berthier. The consent of the Divan had just been given to the march of the French troops across the northern provinces of the empire, when intelligence was received that the towns of Parga, Previso, and Butrin, on the coast of the Adriatic, though then in the pos

the most flattering expressions of regard. In a public audience given to that functionary at Warsaw on the 28th May, he said, "that his right hand was not more inseparable from his left than the Sultaun Selim should ever be to him." Memorable words! and highly characteristic of the Emperor, when his total desertion of that potentate two months afterwards, by the treaty of Tilsit, is taken into consideration. In pursuance, however, of his design, at that time at least sincerely conceived, of engaging Turkey and Persia in active hostilities with Russia, he wrote to the minister of marine :"The Emperor of Persia has requested four thousand men, ten thousand muskets, and fifty pieces of cannonwhen can they be embarked, and from whence? They would form a rallying point, give consistency to eighty thou-session of the Turks, had been sumsand horse, and would force the Russians to a considerable diversion. Send me without delay a memoir on the best means of fitting out an expedition to Persia." At the same time he conceived the idea of maritime operations in the Black Sea, in conjunction with the Ottoman fleet; and in a long letter to the minister of marine enumerated all the naval forces at his disposal and on the stocks, in order to impress him with the facility with which a powerful squadron might be sent to the Bosphorus, in order to co-operate in an attack upon Sebastopol.

11. Still more extensive operations were in contemplation with land forces. Orders were sent to Marmont to prepare for the transmission of twentyfive thousand men across the northern provinces of Turkey to the Danube; and a formal application was made at Constantinople for liberty to march them through Bosnia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. In these great designs, especially the mission of General Gardanne to the court of Teheran, more important objects than even a diversion to the war in Poland, vital as it was to his interests, were in the contemplation of the Emperor. The appearance of the ambassadors of Turkey and Persia at his headquarters, when five hundred leagues from Paris,

moned in the most peremptory manner by that officer as dependencies of the Venetian States, out of which the modern republic of the Seven Islands had been framed, with the threat to employ force if they were not immediately surrendered. This intelligence excited the utmost alarm at Constantinople. The Turks recollected the perfidious attack which, under the mask of friendship, the French had made on their valuable possessions in Egypt, and anticipated a similar seizure of their European dominions from the force for which entrance was sought on the footing of forwarding succours to the Danube. Napoleon, though this step was taken in pursuance of orders emanating from himself, expressed the utmost dissatisfaction at their literal execution at so untimely a crisis; the governor was recalled, and the utmost protestations of friendship for the Sultaun were made. But the evil was done, and was irreparable: Turkish honesty had conceived serious suspicions of French fidelity; the passage of the troops was refused, and the foundation laid of that well-founded distrust which, confirmed by Napoleon's desertion of their interests in the treaty of Tilsit, subsequently led to the conclusion of a separate peace by the Osmanlis with Russia in 1812,