1809.

BOOK VIII. to restore their legitimate sovereign, from whom they had not been taught to expect any very CHAP. XI. earnest endeavours for the bettering of their condition. Yet, notwithstanding this disappointment, Sir John Stuart deemed it adviseable to retain Ischia, in order to control the operations of the enemy, and to prevent him from sending any assistance to the army in Upper Italy. After some further hostilities, however, during which the castle of Scilla was taken, and for a short time held by the British, the increased force of the French rendered it necessary to evacuate these conquests, and the British troops at length returned to Sicily.

Meanwhile, the preparations that were making on the English coast for a grand expedition, were stimulated and encouraged by the reverses of the French on the Danube, and by the reviving spirit of the German patriots. A force amounting to upwards of 40,000 men, aided by nearly thirty sail of the line, and a full quota of frigates, gun-boats, &c. forming the most numerous and well-appointed armament that ever left the shores of this country, was at length in perfect readiness for sailing, when intelligence arrived announcing the defeat of the Austrians at Wagram, and the armistice between the Emperors of Austria and France. A reverse, so untoward, occasioned serious embarrassment, but the cause was not on that account given up for lost; the impression made by a force so mighty, might give new impulse to the war, and at all events might answer the other purpose for which it was destined, the capture of Antwerp and of the French navy in the Scheldt. The expedition, under the command of the Earl of Chatham, sailed, and landing at Walcheren, after a fortnight's siege took Flushing. It was soon afterwards discovered that the ulterior objects of the enterprise were defeated. The French had by some means or other acquired an early intimation of the point to which this great armament would be directed; and before it left the English coast, had taken measures for the defence of Antwerp, and for the protection of the navy stationed there. Lord Chatham, determining not to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to the attainment of a fruitless victory, embarked with the greater part of the army and returned home. The troops that remained gave up all their conquests except Walcheren, which the British ministry determined to retain, as a key to the Scheldt, in order to assist the trade between Great Britain and Holland. Here the troops were attacked by an enemy far more formidable than the French army, a pestilential fever incident to the climate. Against this foe a reinforce ment of physicians was sent, whose operations, combined with that of the frost, partly checked its ravages. Still the mortality was dreadful,

and therefore a greater loss to the nation than could ever be compensated by the retention of so dear-bought a conquest. The army, thinned and weakened by disease, quitted and destroyed the barracks they had built, blew up the fortifications they had repaired, evacuated this ill-fated island, and returned to England.

Bonaparte, in his letter to the Emperor of Russia, stated "that the English ministers were fighting against each other." A duel had indeed taken place between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, which was attended with no serious consequences. The only letters which passed on this unhappy occasion were the following:

pre

"It is unnecessary for me to enter into any detailed statement of the circumstances which ceded the recent resignations. It is enough for me, with a view to the immediate object of this letter, to state, that it appears a proposition had been agitated, without any communication with me, for my removal from the War-Department; and that you, towards the close of the last session, having urged a decision upon this question, with the alternative of your seceding from the government, procured a positive promise from the Duke of Portland (the execution of which you afterwards considered yourself entitled to enforce), that such removal should be carried into effect. Notwithstanding this promise, by which I consider you pronounced it unfit that I should remain charged with the conduct of the war, and by which my situation as a minister of the crown was made dependent upon your will and pleasure, you continued to sit in the same cabinet with me, and to leave me not only in the persuasion that I possessed your confidence and support as a colleague, but you allowed me, in breach of every principle of good faith, both public and private, though thus virtually superseded, to originate and proceed in the execution of a new enterprise of the most arduous and important nature, with your apparent concurrence, and ostensible approbation.

"You were fully aware that if my situation in the government had been disclosed to me, I could not have submitted to remain one moment in office, without the entire abandonment of my private honor and public duty. You knew I was deceived, and you continued to deceive me.

"I am aware, it may be said, which I am ready to acknowledge, that when you pressed for a decision for my removal, you also pressed for its disclosure, and that it was resisted by the Duke of Portland, and some members of the government supposed to be my friends. But I never can admit, that you have a right to make use of such a plea, in justification of an act affecting my

honor, nor that the sentiments of others could justify an acquiescence in such a delusion on your part, who had yourself felt and stated its unfairness. Nor can I admit that the head of any administration, or any supposed friend, (whatever may be their motives) can authorize or sanction any man in such a course of long and persevering deception. For, were I to admit such a principle, my honor and character would be from that moment in the direction of persons wholly unauthorized, and known to you to be unauthorized, to act for me in such a case. It was therefore your act and your conduct which deceived me; and it is impossible for me to acquiesce in being placed in a situation by you, which no man of honor could knowingly submit to, nor patiently suffer himself to be betrayed into, without forfeiting that character.

"I have no right, as a public man, to resent a public man, to resent your demanding, upon public grounds, my removal from the particular office I have held, or even from the administration, as a condition of your continuing a member of the government. But I have a distinct right to expect, that a proposition, justifiable in itself, shall not be executed in an unjustifiable manner, and at the expense of my honor and reputation. And I consider that you were bound, at least, to avail yourself of the same alternative, namely, your own resignation, to take yourself out of the predicament of practising such a deceit towards me, which you did exercise in demanding a decision for my removal.

"Under these circumstances, I must require that satisfaction from you to which I feel myself entitled to lay claim. "I am, &c.

"CASTLEREagh. "The Right Hon. George Canning, &c. &c. &c."

Gloucester Lodge, Sept. 20, 1809.

“MY LORD, "The tone and the purport of your lordship's letter, which I have this moment received, of course preclude any other answer on my part to the misapprehensions and misrepresentations with which it abounds, than that I will cheerfully give to your lordship the satisfaction which you require.

"I am, &c.

GEORGE CANNING.

"Lord Viscount Castlereagh, &c. &c. &c."

The consequence of these dissentions was, that a new administration was formed, at the head of which was placed Marquis Wellesley.

It was hinted in the preceding chapter, that Sir Arthur Wellesley had been raised to the peerage of Great Britain. The London gazette, August 26, stated "that the Right Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley, Knight of the most ho

norable order of the Bath, and lieutenant-general BOOK VIII. of his majesty's forces, (and his heirs male lawfully begotten) is raised to the dignity of the CHAP. XI. peerage, by the names, styles, and titles of Baron Douro of Wellesley, in the county of Somerset, and Viscount Wellington of Talavera, and of Wellington, in the said county.

The Emperor of France now appeared sole uncontroled lord of the continent; all submitted to his will; and only one consolation appeared to remain, that he himself was under the will of a higher power. The blockade system adopted by Napoleon for the purpose of crippling the British trade, which confirmed his inveterate malignity against the country, having been improved upon by the British cabinet by similar measures, induced M. Champagny, the minister for foreign affairs in France, to transmit the following official letter to General Armstrong, minister of the United States of America, at Paris.

"His majesty understanding that you are about to dispatch a ship to the United States, commands me to make known to you the unalterable principles which have and will regulate his conduct in the great question respecting neutrals.

"France admits the principle, that the flag protects trade. The trading vessel which carries the license of its government may be considered as a moving colony. To insult such a vessel by search, pursuit, or any act of arbitrary power, is a violation of the fundamental law of colonization, and is an attack upon the government of the same. The seas belong to every nation, without exception; they are the common property, and the domain of all mankind.

66

Consistently with this doctrine, merchant vessels belonging to individuals may pass by inheritance to persons who never exposed themselves to be made prisoners of war. be made prisoners of war. In all her conquests. France has considered sacred private property deposited in the warehouses of the vanquished state, and such have had the complete disposal of matters of trade; and at this moment convoys by land of merchandise, and especially cottons, are passing through the French army and Austria, to proceed to the destination commerce directs. If France had seized the monopoly of the seas, she would have accumulated in her territory all the products of the earth, and she would have obtained unmeasurable wealth.

"Undoubtedly, if England had the dominion of land which she has acquired on the ocean, her acquisitions would have been equally enormous. She would, as in the times of barbarism, have sold the conquered, and distributed them as slaves throughout her land. The avarice of trade would have absorbed every thing, and the government of an enlightened nation, which has

1809.

BOOK VIII. brought the arts of civilization to perfection, would have given the earliest instances of the return CHAP. XI. of the savage ages. That government is fully impressed with the injustice of its naval code. But what has that government to do with justice, which only inquires for profit?

1809.

"When France shall have established her naval power, which, with the extent of her coasts and her population, will be soon accomplished, then will the emperor reduce these principles to practice, and apply his mandate to render it universal. The right, or rather usurpation, of blockading rivers and coasts by proclamation is palpably contrary to reason and equity. A right cannot possibly spring from the will of an interested party, but must always be founded on the natural relations of things. A place is not properly blockaded unless it be besieged by land and water. It is blockaded to prevent the introduction of assistance, by which the surrender of the place might be protracted; and then we have only the right to prevent neutral ships from entering the port, when the place is thus circumstanced, and the possession of it is matter of doubt between the besiegers and besieged. On this is grounded the right to prevent neutrals from entering the place.

"The sovereignty and independence of its flag, like the sovereignty and independence of its territory, is the property of every neutral. A state may transfer itself to another state; it may destroy the archives of its independence, and pass from prince to prince; but the right of sovereignty is indivisible and unalienable; no one can renounce it.

"England has placed France in a state of blockade. The emperor has, in his decree of Berlin, declared the British Islands in a state of blockade. The first of these regulations forbid neutral vessels to proceed to France; the second prohibited their entering English harbours.

"England has, by her Orders of Council of the 11th of November, 1807, levied an impost on neutral ships, and obliged them to enter its ports before they sail to France. By the decree of the 17th of December of the same year, the emperor has decreed, that all such ships be denationalized which had entered English ports, or submitted to be searched.

"In order to ward off the inconveniencies with which this state of things threatened her commerce, America laid an embargo in all her harbours; and although France had done nothing more than used the right of retaliation, its wants, and those of its colonies, suffered much from this measure; yet did the emperor magnanimously connive at the proceeding, in order rather to endure the privation of commerce than to acknowledge the authority of the usurpers of the seas.

"The embargo was raised, and a system of non-intercourse was substituted for it. The powers

on the continent, in alliance with England, having the same object in view, made a common cause with her, that they might derive the same advantages. The harbours of Holland, of the Elbe, of the Weser, of Italy, and of Spain, were to enjoy those benefits from which France was to be excluded; and the one and the other were to be opened or closed to commerce as circumstances rendered expedient, so as France was bereft of it. "Thus, Sir, in point of principle, France recognizes the freedom of neutral commerce, and the independence of the maritime powers, which she respected up to the moment when the maritime tyranny of England, that respects nothing, and the arbitrary proceedings of its government, compelled her to adopt measures of retaliation, to which she resorted with regret. Let England revoke her blockade with France, and France will recal her declaration of blockade against England. Let England revoke her Cabinet Or ders of the 11th November, 1807, and the Milan Decree will expire of itself. The American commerce will then recover its complete freedom, and be assured of finding in the harbours of France favour and protection. But it belongs to the United States to attain this happy object by their firmness. Can a nation, resolved to remain free, hesitate between certain momentary interests and the great cause of maintaining her independence, her honour, her sovereignty, and her dignity?

"M. CHAMPAGNY."

There was certainly more virulence than truth exercised towards the British government in the above document. It was natural and prudent in that government, when threatened by France by every mode that could argue inveterate rancour, to provide for its own defence and security against the malignant efforts of the common enemy; consequently, the Orders of Council were justified by the reasons which caused their publication, whatever plea of justification France could assert to the contrary.

Bonaparte, not satisfied with secular victories and dominion, aimed at another conquest, and thought it right to attack the apostolic see of Rome. Pius VII. who filled the papal throne, alive to all the feelings of his situation, entered his protest against the encroachments suggested by Bonaparte, in which he declared, that

"The dark designs, conceived by the enemies of the apostolic see have been accomplished.

"After the violent and unjust spoliation of the fairest and most considerable portion of our dominions, we behold ourselves, under unworthy pretexts, and with so much the greater injustice, entirely stripped of our temporal sovereignty, to which our spiritual independence is intimately united. In the midst of this cruel persecution we are comforted by the reflection, that we encounter

such a heavy misfortune, not for any offence given to the Emperor of France, which has always been the object of our affectionate paternal solicitude, nor for any intrigue of worldly policy, but for an unwillingness to betray our duties.

"To please men and to displease God is not allowed to any one professing the catholic religion, and much less can it be permitted to its head and promulgator.

"As we, besides, owe it to God and the church, to hand down our rights uninjured and untouched, we protest against this new violent spoliation, and declare it null and void.

"We reject, with the firmest resolution, any allowance which the Emperor of the French may intend to assign us, and to the individuals composing our college.

"We should all cover ourselves with ignominy in the face of the church, if we suffered our subsistence to depend on him who usurps her authority.

"We commit ourselves entirely to providence, and to the affection of the faithful, and we shall be contented piously to terminate the bitter career of our sorrowful days.

"We adore, with profound humility, God's inscrutable decrees; we invoke his commiseration upon our good subjects, who will ever be our joy and our crown; and after having in this hardest of trials done what our duties required of us, we exhort them to preserve always untouched the religion and the faith, and to unite themselves to us, for the purpose of conjuring with sighs and tears, both in the closet and before the altar, the supreme Father of Light, that he may vouchsafe. to change the base designs of our persecutors. "Given at our Apostolic Palace, del Quirinale, this 10th of June, 1809..

"PIUS PAPA VII."

This protest was accompanied by the following excommunication against Napoleon Bonaparte:

"Pius VII. Pontiff.

"By the authority of God Almighty, and of St. Paul and St. Peter, we declare you and all your co-operators in the act of violence which you are executing, to have incurred the same excommunication, which we, in our apostolic letters, contemporaneously affixing in the usual places of this city, declare to have been incurred by all

CHAP. XI.

1909.

those who, on the violent invasion of this city on BOOK VIII. the 2d of February last year, were guilty of the acts of violence against which we have protested, as well really in so many declarations, that by our order have been issued by our successive secretaries of state, as also in two consistorial collocations of the 16th of March, and the 11th of July, 1808, in common (with all their agents, abettors, advisers, or whosoever else have been accessary to, or himself been engaged in, the execution of those attempts.

"Given at Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, June 10th, in the tenth year of our Pontificate.

"PIUS PAPA VII."

On the 3d of October, the prince arch-chancellor, pursuant to instructions from his majesty the emperor, repaired to the senate to officiate at their meeting as president. Having been received with the accustomed ceremonies, and taken his seat, he addressed them as follows:

"Messieurs,-A message from his majesty, which you will hear read, acquaints the senate with fresh proofs of the magnanimous bounty with which his majesty has been pleased to acknowledge important services.

"His illustrious highness, the Prince of Neufchatel, vice-constable, is created Prince of Wagram. Marshal the Duke of Auerstadt, is created Prince of Ekmul, Marshal the Duke of Rivoli, is created Prince of Eslingen.

"To these hereditary titles are annexed considerable estates, which the emperor has purchased from the legion of honour.

"The appellations given to the new principalities forcibly impress on our remembrance the victories and valour of the titulars, who have cooperated with the genius of his majesty.

By means of this happy association, the reward which the emperor confers in honour of personal services, becomes, at the same time, a monument of national glory.

"The senate will feel no less satisfaction in receiving this communication, than I experience in making it, in conformity to the orders of his majesty the emperor and king."

Count Semonville, the secretary,' then read the emperor's message, which described the various domains respectively attached to the new titles..