raising a revenue, somewhat modified his system. By the Decree of Trianon, August 5th, 1810, completed by that of September 12th, colonial productions, such as tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, &c., instead of being prohibited, were subjected to an ad valorem duty of fifty per cent. He also adopted the method of licenses, by which speculators were permitted to import a certain quantity of colonial goods, on condition of exporting their value in certain fixed sorts of French manufactures. These licenses he afterwards sold. Such were the main features of the Continental System, which we have here flung together, without regard to their chronological order, to avoid recurring to the subject. The design of it, which was the ruin of England, of course totally failed. English commerce found outlets in other quarters of the globe, and also still to a considerable extent in Europe. For the system was, in reality, a blockade, not of England, but of the Continental States, which suffered to a degree that threatened a return of the misery and barbarism of the dark ages. Russia, which had so readily accepted the plans of Napoleon, found the value of the rouble sink rapidly from three francs to one.' We now return to the narrative. The Peace of Tilsit was immediately followed by a rupture between England and Denmark. The Danes had hitherto succeeded in maintaining their neutrality; but now the tide of war had rolled up to their very frontiers, and it was evident that a neutral policy would not much longer be possible. Compelled to choose between France and England, it was evident from her antecedent policy that Denmark would decide for France. Napoleon had three motives for desiring possession of Denmark: it would enable him to close her ports against the English, to attack Sweden by an invasion from Zealand, to seize the Danish fleet and employ it against England. There could not be a reasonable doubt that the policy pursued by the First Consul and the Emperor Paul I. in 1801, would be renewed-that Denmark and Sweden would be called upon to declare war against England, and to shut the Sound against her. See the Report of a financier, ap. Garden, t. x. p. 321. It is a singular fact that, a few months after the Berlin Decree, an order having arrived at Ham. burg for clothing for the French army which the Hanse Towns were not able to execute, Bourrienne, the French agent, was obliged to contract with English houses. Thus the French soldiers who But the Cabinet of St. James's fought the battle of Friedland were 236 DENMARK REJECTS ENGLISH HELP. [CHAP. LXIV. had good grounds for something more than mere suspicion. A French bulletin, published after the battle of Friedland, had announced that the Continental blockade would very soon become effectual. When the Berlin Decree was communicated to the Danish Court, it was requested to withdraw its troops from Holstein, and to shut its ports against English and Swedish commerce. Besides these overt indications, the English Government had gotten possession of the Secret Treaties of Tilsit, of which we have already recorded the designs against Denmark and the Danish fleet.' These designs they resolved to anticipate. No time was to be lost. Holstein was already menaced by the French; the winter was approaching, when any expedition to the Baltic would become impossible. Fortunately an armament was in readiness which had been prepared for the assistance of the Swedes and Prussians, and which was instantly diverted to meet the emergency. Part of it, under Lord Cathcart, had already arrived at the Isle of Rügen; and an additional force of 25 sail of the line, 9 frigates, a number of smaller vessels of war, and 377 transports, having on board 27,000 troops, was despatched to Copenhagen, July 27th. These were to be joined by the force at Rügen, when Lord Cathcart was to take the command in chief. Under him served Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Lord Wellington. The f was commanded by Admiral Gambier and Commodore Keats. At the same time Sir F. Jackson was despatched to Copenhagen to propose to the Danish Government that their fleet should be carried to England and kept there till the peace, when it was to be restored in the same condition in which it had been found. To the Crown Prince, who ruled during the incompetence of his father, Christian VII., were offered an intimate alliance with Great Britain, a guarantee of all the Danish possessions, and even an augmentation of territory; in a word, the fleet, the armies, and the treasure of Great Britain were placed at his disposal to protect him against present danger and shelter him from future injury. But the Crown Prince, whether from a secret inclination to France, ut which he was suspected, or from natural indignation at a demani. which, notwithstanding its conciliatory and advantageous terms. was a breach of his sovereignty and independence, peremptorily The English Ministry is said to have obtained these treaties by bribing Talleyrand. Schlosser, Gesch. des 18en Jahrhts. B. vii. S. 275. They themselves announced in their Declaration of December 18, 1807, in answer to that of Russia of November 7th, that they were not ignorant of tnature of the engagements which Russ a had been forced to subscribe during the conferences at Tilsit. Ann. Reg. refused to listen to these proposals. The British troops were in consequence landed; Copenhagen was twice summoned to surrender, and General Peymann, the commandant, having refused to comply, a bombardment by sea and land was commenced, September 2nd, with such terrible effect that on the 5th the town capitulated. It was stipulated that the Danish fleet and naval stores should be surrendered; in consquence of which condition eighteen ships of the line, fifteen frigates, six brigs, with a number of sloops and gun-boats, were carried to England: also upwards of 2,000 guns and an immense quantity of naval stores, a considerable part of which is said to have belonged to the French Government.1 This was, no doubt, a high-handed act, which can be justified. only by the necessity of it. The violation of the independence of a peaceful, but high-spirited, nation was calculated to produce a sympathy for it; and it is not surprising that the proceeding of the English Ministry, though far outdone by many of Bonaparte's acts, should have been loudly denounced, not only on the Continent but also by many persons in England. Of the indignation of the latter much was doubtless genuine and unaffected, much also the offspring of party spirit. But whoever shall calmly weigh the exigencies of the moment, the position of England in that portentous struggle, the importance of the Danish fleet, not only from its intrinsic force but also from its position at the entrance of the Baltic, the moral certainty that it would be seized and used against us, the fact that the French were already threatening the Danish frontier, the knowledge that Russia would be a voluntary, Sweden a forced enemy of England, and that the fleet of Portugal was also to be seized and employed like that of Denmark, will perhaps admit that the prompt and vigorous act of the British Government was both justified by the circumstances and of the greatest utility to the country. Of this nothing can be a stronger proof than the fury of Napoleon on learning that he had been anticipated. He had, in fact, been foiled at his own weapons. The Danish Government having rejected all proposals of accommodation, England declared war against Denmark, November 4th, 1807. The capitulation of Copenhagen was, however, faithfully observed, and the English troops evacuated that city and the Island of Zealand towards the end of October. The war between Denmark and England lasted till the Peace of Kiel, 1 Lord Galloway's speech in Parliament, January, 1808. 238 ENGLAND AND SWEDEN. 3 2 [CHAP. LXIV. January 14th, 1814. The Danes immediately lost their colonies of St. Thomas and St. Croix; nor were they able to make reprisals, though they entered into an alliance with France by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, October 31st, 1807. They published, however, some virulent edicts against England; by one of which. dated at Rendsborg, November 6th, 1807, all correspondence with that country was to be punished with death.' By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, 30,000 French, under Bernadotte, were to invade Sweden from Denmark. The Peace of Tilsit had left Sweden still at war with France. Gustavus IV. entertained for Napoleon a hatred almost approaching to insanity. Even after the overthrow of Prussia, Gustavus was still dreaming about the restoration of the Bourbons! Napoleon, on his side, deplored the war with Sweden. He had offered neutrality for Swedish Pomerania, and when on its rejection Marshal Mortier occupied that province, he was instructed to do the Swedes as little harm as possible. Early in February, 1807, Mortier had laid siege to Stralsund, which was occupied by General Essen, with 15,0 Swedes. Mortier having withdrawn the greater part of his troops from before Stralsund in order to press the siege of Colberg Essen seized the occasion to make a sortie, defeated the French and drove them beyond the Peene (April 1st); upon which Mortier returned from Colberg and defeated the Swedes at Belling. But in conformity with Napoleon's instructions to spare the Swedes, he concluded with Essen the armistice of Schlatkow April 18th, 1807. Hostilities were not to recommence without ten days' notice on either side; and during the armistice no troops were to be landed at Stralsund, nor in the Isle of Rügen nor at any point of Swedish Pomerania. An additional article of April 29th extended the notice to thirty days, but the King of Sweden never ratified it. Gustavus IV. was at this time negotiating with the King of Prussia respecting the means of a join attack upon the French; and by the Convention of Bartenstein April 20th, 1807, it was agreed that a Prussian corps should join the Swedes in Rügen, for the purpose of driving the French from Pomerania. After ratifying this Convention at Malmo Gustavus IV. suddenly embarked and arrived at Stralsund, Ma 12th, with a corps of French Royalists: and Blücher, in pursuance of the Convention of Bartenstein, also entered Stralsund with a Prussian corps. 1 Garden, t. x. p. 341. 2 Koch et Schöll, Traités, t. ix. p. 77. See his letter to the King of Prussia, June 2nd, 1807, ap. Garden, t. x. p. 269. The King of Sweden had been very dissatisfied with the conduct of England under Lord Grenville's administration. Large promises had been made, but nothing done, though the forces of the country, which might have been better employed nearer home, had been dissipated by distant and abortive expeditions to Buenos Ayres, Egypt, and other places. But towards the end of March, 1807, Lord Grenville had been succeeded as First Lord of the Treasury by the Duke of Portland, with Canning for Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh as Secretary-at-War, and Mr. Perceval as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The new Ministry adopted a more vigorous line of foreign policy. The expedition to Rügen, under Lord Cathcart, to which we have already referred, was resolved on; and, after some negotiation, a Convention with Sweden to that effect was signed at London, June 17th, by which, however, Great Britain reserved the power of employing her troops in Pomerania for other purposes. About the same time, a new treaty of subsidies was also concluded with Sweden, on condition that her army should be increased; and another with Prussia, June 27th. These steps, as we have seen, were rendered abortive by the battle of Friedland and the Peace of Tilsit. Gustavus IV., in ignorance of those events, and inspired with a blind confidence by the presence of the British and Prussian troops, denounced the Armistice of Schlatkow, July 3rd, and declaring that he had not recognized the additional article of April 29th, fixed the 13th of July for the recommencement of hostilities. 2 Meanwhile the French army on the coasts of the Baltic and North Sea had been reinforced and placed under the command of Marshal Brune. Among the reinforcements were 15,000 Spaniards under the command of the Marquis de la Romana, despatched by Charles IV. as a pledge of his fidelity. Only a few days after the rupture of the armistice, Gustavus was informed by the King of Prussia of the Peace of Tilsit: Blücher and his troops were in consequence withdrawn from the Swedish army, and Lord Cathcart and his division were, as before related, transferred to Zealand. Gustavus now evacuated Stralsund, in order to spare it a bombardment; that place was entered by Brune, August 20th, and the Swedes were also compelled ultimately to abandon Rügen by a Convention of September 7th.3 Agreeably to the Peace of Tilsit, the Emperor of Russia offered to the British Cabinet his mediation for a peace with France; All these treaties will be found in Garden, t. x. Notes et Documents. 2 Lefebvre, ch. xxiii. See below. 3 Martens, t. xi. p. 467. |