BRITISH AND FOREIGN HISTORY For the Year 1806. CHAPTER I. Cursory View of the Affairs on the Continent-State of Europe at the Renewal of the Confederacy-Campaign in Germany-Victory off Cape Trafalgar His Majesty's Speech, and subsequent Debate upon it, in the Lords and Commons-Impeachment of Lord Melville -Supplies-Papers relating to the Marquis of Wellesley - Public funeral Honours to Mr. Pitt-Public Treaties-Thanks of Parliament to Lord Collingwood-Accusation of Earl St. Vincent-Continental Treaties - Public Honours to Lord Nelson-India Affairs-Irish Population-Public Honours to Marquis Cornwallis-Payment of Mr. Pitt's Debts. been so suddenly blasted as was she was by the power of Russia. The state of Europe at the re- A 2 1 rounding states and nations with a dread of his power, and alarm for their own independence. The aggrandisement of France had justly become an object of extreme jealousy to the whole of Europe. A solid peace, or indeed a truce of any length, could not be expected; the gigantic projects of the emperor of the French seemed to portend a new order of things on the continent, and to demand every energy that could be brought to oppose his views. Many causes have, however, fatally conspired to prevent any grand exertion in behalf of the independence of Europe; of these, no one presented so insuperable a bar to an effective public league as the jealousy that subsisted between Austria and Prussia. To this may be added the languor that seemed to pervade the greater part of the continent who had been dispirited by the successive triumphs of the French, and were now looking with painful anxiety at the facility with which a French army might burst upon almost any part of Europe, by the advantages which the peace at Luneville had given them over the German empire. Great Britain had entered into a war, and had carried it on almost single-handed nearly two years; and such was the indifference or timidity of the powers of Europe, that a confederacy could scarcely be expected, till necessity should oblige them to enter into an union, as the last measure to which they could resort for the means of self-defence and security. In the autumn of 1804, the impossibility of their continuing any political relations with France was publicly announced. It was then discovered that forbearance on their part was no pledge for their safety, and that the hope of any lasting ranquillity was vain, as depending upon him who was destroying principalities and powers at his pleasure, and creating new ones that should be subservient to his views, and that should second his ambition. At the end of August 1804, M. D'Oubril, the Russian envoy at Paris, in demanding passports, presented a farewell note, in which it is declared, that, "in case the French government shall compel Russia, either by fresh injuries, or by provocations aimed against her or against her allies, or by still threatening more seriously the security and independence of Europe, his majesty will then manifest as much energy in employing those extreme measures, as he has given proofs of his patience in resorting to the use of all the means of moderation consistent with the maintenance of the honour and dignity of his crown." Sweden renounced her political relations with France from the period of the violation of the neutral territory of Baden, and the destruction of the duke D' Enghien which followed it. These two nations, by alienating themselves from the French empire, afforded to the British minister a favourable opportunity for the revival of a continental alliance, and it should seem that some considerable progress had been made in the formation of a treaty with Russia and other powers, before the arrival of the letter from Buonaparte to the king; for in his majesty's speech to the parliament on the 15th of January 1805, after referring to that letter, he observes, "I have, therefore, not thought it right to enter into any more particular explanation, without previous communication with those powers on the continent with whom I am engaged in confidential intercourse intercourse and connection." On the 19th of June following a message of a much stronger nature, and calculated to encourage and to make provision for a continental Confederacy, was delivered to the house of commons, in such terms as could not be misconstrued either by this country or by the enemy. The die was evidently cast, and a general war was the consequence. Preparations were accordingly made on the part of France, as well as on that of the allies; and that army which had for many months menaced this country with the vain threat of invasion, was suddenly marched from the coast for the purpose of more active operations. On the 24th of September, Buonaparte left his capital: he passed the Rhine on the 1st of October, and, in the course of a few days only, captured an immense Austrian army, consisting of sixty thousand men, with the loss on his part of less than two thousand. In Italy the campaign, though less disastrous to the allies, was nevertheless very unfortunate to their cause. Scarcely had this intelligence been received, when the exhilarating news of the victory obtained by the British fleet off Trafalgar arrived. While the misfortunes on the continent exhibited the superiority of the French over our allies, the achievements made by the navy of England, under the command of lord Nelson, removed all anxiety at home respecting an invasion, exalted us as a nation in the eyes of our friends, and have checked the ambition of him who hoped to found his own greatness, "in commerce, in colonies, and in ships," at the expense of our humiliation. The emperor of Germany could not but be sensibly affected at the loss which he had experienced, yet his mind did not bend under the pressure of the calamity: he did not despair of the goodness of his cause or of the means of retrieving his loss, great as it was; he accord ingly published, and caused to be circulated throughout Europe, an excellent state paper, and prepared with the aid of Russia to meet the power of France in another situa tion. He was, however, under the necessity of making great sacrifices: he had applied for an armistice, to which the conqueror was willing to accede, upon the condition of having the Tyrol, Venice, and the strong posts of Germany put into his possession. Upon such ignominious terms, an armistice was equal to a surrender of the Austrian states and crown at discretion. The emperor therefore immediately dropped his solicitations, and published a manifesto, in which he declares his resolution not to make a separate peace, but, relying on the pledged assistance of Russia, to pursue his fortune to the last extremity. He had already abandoned his capital, which was in possession of the enemy on the 12th of November. In six days after, the French entered Brunn, where they found sixty pieces of cannon, and an immense quantity of ammunition, and whatever else that was necessary for recruiting an army. From this period to the second of December nothing of importance happened; but on this day was fought the grand battle in the plains of Moravia between Brunn and Olmutz. Five days before, the emperor of France, foreseeing the dreadful carnage that must result from a contest be tween two such formidable armies * See the commencement of the last volume, also the Public Papers contained in it. as were almost in sight of one another, had offered an armistice. The terms, however, were such as the allies did not think proper to accept: they had indeed presumed too much upon their own strength, and had notsufficiently reckoned up on the experience and talents of him with whom they were to contend. He, on the contrary, soon discovered that the affairs of the opposing armies were conducted with presumption and inconsiderateness. Of this ill-judged confidence Buonaparte resolved to profit: he ordered his army to retreat in the night as through fear, though in truth it was only that he might secure a stronger and more advantageous position, three leagues in the rear of his present ground: he pretended also an anxiety for fortifying his camp, and afterwards proposed an interview with the emperor of Russia, who, disdaining to accede to the proposal himself, sent his aid-du-camp, with a view no doubt of observing the actual state of the French army. This officer, who was a very young man, completely misled by the arts and manoeuvres of Buonaparte, returned with a most delusive account of the state of things in the enemy's camp. Some of the veteran Austrian and Russian generals ventured to remonstrate against too much confidence, and to warn their sovereigns of the folly of confiding in such a report as that presented to them by the young officer. The important day of the 2d of December at length arrived: at one in the morning Buonaparte visited the posts, reconnoitred the fires of the opposite camp, and, trust ing to no one, gained for himself and with his own eyes every possible information. He learnt that, with the army he was about to contend, the night had been spent in riot and drunkenness at sun-rise, orders for a general attack were given, and in an instant every field-marshal joined his corps. A tremendous cannonade took place along the whole line: not an hour had elapsed before the left wing of the allies was completely cut off; and by one o'clock at noon the victory was decided. From the heights of Austerlitz, the two emperors had the mortification of seeing their armies routed, and the flower of their military cut off. The result of this day's battle was, that the allies lost 150 pieces of cannon, and 45 stand of colours. The loss of lives was proportionally great. The allies, after a day so disastrous to their cause, retired, and on the next there was an interview between the emperors of France and Austria, which led first to an armistice and then to a peace. It has been thought necessary to give this brief sketch of the affairs on the continent, which, though it properly belongs to the history of the former year, is so closely connected with the parlia mentary proceedings of the present, as to render a view of the one imperfect without a short detail of the other. For the same reasons, it behoves us to refer to the funeral rites of the hero of Trafalgar, and to the death of Mr. Pitt, events which absorbed the public attention during the early part of the year, and which make a conspicuous figure in the proceedings of par liament. The meeting of the legislature had already been fixed, and men of all parties had assembled in the metropolis, either for the purpose of rendering their homage to the heroism and naval talents of the great Nelson, or in anxious expectation of learning the causes which had produced the dissolution of the continental continental confederacy, when the death of the minister, by whose efforts it had been excited, occasioned a short suspension of public business. Mr. Pitt, as will be found in another part of the volume, departed this life on Thursday, the 23d of January, after a long and painful illness, brought on, or hastened, by the fatigues of his official duties. Parliament assembled on the 21st, and was opened by commission; his majesty's speech was read by the lord chancellor: it referred to the success of his majesty's arms by sea, and particularly to the victory obtained over the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar, which is justly described as an exploit beyond any recorded even in the annals of the British navy. His majesty most deeply regrets that the day of that memorable triumph should have been unhappily clouded with the fall of the heroic commander, and he calls upon his parliament to concur in enabling him to annex to those honours which he had conferred on the family of lord Nelson, such a mark of national munificence as may preserve to the latest posterity the memory of his name and services, and the benefit of his great example. His majesty next adverts to the application of the means which had been placed at his disposal, for the resisting of the formidable encroachments of France. The treaties entered into for this purpose, he said, had been directed to be laid before them, from which it would appear that he had left nothing undone on his part to sustain the efforts of his allies, and that he had acted in conformity to principles declared by him, and recognised by parliament, as essential to the security of his own dominions, as well as to the safety of the continent. His majesty is consoled in the prospect of the unshaken adherence of the emperor of Russia to the general cause, although the emperor of Germany had been compelled to withdraw from the contest, and he feels no doubt that parliament will be fully sensible of the important advantages to be derived from preserving the closest and most intimate connection with that sovereign. The In the commons his majesty expressed a full confidence in their granting him such supplies as the public exigencies might appear to require and as it was his earnest wish to contribute, by every means in his power, to alleviate the burthens imposed on his people, he had directed the sum of one million sterling, part of the proceeds aris ing from the sale of such prizes. made on the powers with which he is at war as by law were vested in the crown, to be applied to the public service of the year. speech concludes with declaring his majesty's full confidence that the attention of parliament will be invariably directed to the improvement of those means, which are to be found in the bravery and discipline of his forces, in the zeal and loyalty of every class of his subjects, and in the unexhausted resources of his dominions, for rendering the British empire invincible at home as well as formidable abroad.-Such is the outline of the opening speech. In the house of lords, the address was moved by the earl of Essex, who, after having referred to the several topics noticed in the speech, called upon their lordships to prove to the world that the country was united in itself, and that there was but one opinion A 4 among |