The flame of patriotism enkindled in Spain soon spread to Portugal. The Portuguese arose against Junofc, and they were quickly aided in their struggle by the English. A small army, collected for a distant enterprise, was ordered thither, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. This army landed in August at the mouth of the river Mondego, north of Lisbon; and soon after Sir Arthur defeated the French forces, under de la Borde, at Rohia, and the main army, under Junot, at Vimiera. The result of this last victory was the capitulation of Cintra, in virtue of which Junot’s army was conveyed to France upon English vessels; and all Portugal was left in the power of the British. From this time the English had a firm, foundation for their campaigns in the Peninsula. Subsequently a Russian fleet of nine ships of the line, which lay in the Tagus, under Admiral Siniavin, surrendered by convention: it was to be held with all its stores by England as a deposit, till six months after the conclusion of a peace; the admiral, officers, and seamen being sent to Russia at the expense of England. After the evacuation of Portugal by the French troops, a regency was established; which, by restoring comparative tranquillity, taught the people to estimate the advantages they had obtained from their British allies. It was not long, indeed, before the Portuguese, laying aside their characteristic pride and vain boasting, clung to their ancient protectors, and submitted to their direction with a docility and patience that produced the happiest result.
NAVAL AFFAIRS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
Napoleon had not yet abandoned all hopes of assistance from his navy, or relinquished the fond wish he had entertained of diminishing the power of the British on the sea. Nay, he had recently declared that a true Frenchman could not rest till the sea was open and free. This year he had collected a large squadron at Toulon, to co-operate with his troops on the side of Calabria, in an attack on Sicily. Possessed of that island, he would have been able to injure our commerce effectually; and in order, therefore, to counteract his views, measures were taken to fortify that part of the Sicilian coast where a landing could be effected; while Lord Collingwood blockaded the port of Toulon as closely as he could consistently with his efforts to second the Spanish patriots in their noble cause, which double duty was imposed upon him by the British Government. A considerable French fleet, stationed at Cadiz, surrendered in June to that people who had experienced so many insults and injuries from its flag. Collingwood wished these men-of-war to join his squadron, for the purpose of intercepting any French fleet that might be sent against the Spanish dominions in South America; but the supreme junta of Seville, instead of complying with his request, began to dismantle them. A want of confidence in the British government, and an overweening trust in their own internal resources, notwithstanding the serious reverses they had recently met with; still pervaded the Spanish nation.
STATE OF THE CONTINENT.
During this year the Russian autocrat and the Emperor Napoleon pursued that system of aggrandizement, which they had contemplated in making the treaty of Tilsit. In February a Russian army entered Finland, which province had always been an object of cupidity to the court of St, Petersburgh, and on the accession of Frederic VI. to the crown of Denmark, that monarch declared war against Sweden. After several bloody battles, the fate of Gustavus Adolphus appeared inevitable; when, to avoid falling under the yoke of Russia, he entered into a convention which virtually left the granary of Sweden in the hands of his conqueror.
This year Napoleon affected great changes in the affairs of Italy. Having adopted his son-in-law, Eugene Beauharnois, as his own son, he settled that kingdom upon him in tail male, and incorporated with the legations of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata, and Camerino, which were the pope’s dominions; stating in a decree as the sole reason for this act of undisguised despotism, “that the sovereign of Rome had refused to make war against England.” Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, were also annexed to the kingdom of Italy, as were Kehl, Wesel, Cassel, and Flushing to France. To complete his domestic policy, Napoleon now instituted an hereditary nobility; princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights of the empire sprung up like mushrooms on every hand, in order to ennoble his newly created empire. Napoleon likewise instituted an imperial university; but his school was rather calculated to train up agents of imperial despotism, than men of learning and enlightened minds. As the sworn enemy of liberty, he declared himself the head of this university, and decreed that all schools or seminaries should be under its control.