Napoleon desired to have heirs to the throne. He dissolved his marriage with the Empress Josephine by a decree of divorce. After an abortive negotiation with the Emperor Alexander on the subject of a union with the grand Duchess Anne, the peace of Vienna was confirmed by a contract of marriage, signed on the 7th of February, 1810, between the Emperor Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. The triumphant conqueror took by assault the sovereign families as well as their states; but he was not able to subdue either the conscience of the Pope nor the passionate resistance of the Spaniards, sustained by the policy and determined resolution of England.
Important changes took place in the government of Great Britain; a disagreement upon the subject of the conduct of the war, led to a duel between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning. The latter was wounded, and immediately retired from the Cabinet, taking Mr. Huskisson with him. Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool, but lately Lord Hawkesbury, called to their aid the Marquis of Wellesley. Lord Palmerston took part, for the first time, in public affairs, as Under Secretary of War. The Spanish possession of San Domingo was delivered to the English, who also seized the French settlements in Senegal and Guadaloupe. Overwhelmed by his fatigues and patriotic efforts. Admiral Collingwood died at sea, on the 7th of March, 1810. He had asked to be retired: "I have deferred making this request until I am entirely unfitted for service," said he. "As long as I am good for anything, my life belongs to my country."
Some weeks after the dispersal of the French fleet at Toulon, Collingwood was lying very ill on board his flagship, the City of Paris, when the signal officer expressed fears of a coming tempest, which would be exhausting to the invalid: "Nothing in this world will now trouble me," said the veteran; "I am dying." He was not yet sixty years of age, but since his childhood he had constantly given to the English navy the noblest example of courage and virtue.
In England all eyes and all thoughts were directed towards Spain. The old king, George III., had finally become hopelessly insane. The grief caused by the death of his daughter, the Princess Amelia, had brought about that final relapse that the physicians declared incurable. The Prince of Wales accepted the Regency, with the conditions prescribed in 1788 by Mr. Pitt. Notwithstanding the constant opposition of Mr. Perceval and his friends, the Regent decided to retain the Tory Cabinet, without providing any places for his friends or Whig partisans. The haughty tone of Lord Grenville and of Lord Grey towards him, had, it was said, decided the Prince to this generally popular measure. Resolved, in common with the rest of the royal family, to obstinately pursue the war, but without military ardor or personal incentive, the Regent gave no direction to the national movement which sustained in England the terrible burden of that great European struggle, which became each day more violent against England. A decree of the Emperor, on the 27th of August, 1810, ordered that all English merchandise in any port, wherever smuggled since the declaration of the continental blockade, should be burned. Sweden, the last maritime power in Europe remaining neutral, after a revolution which had dethroned the foolish and incompetent King Gustavus IV., had formed an alliance with France and Russia. Swedish ports were henceforth closed to the English.
The King of Holland, Louis Bonaparte, soon wearied of that throne which he had accepted with regret, abdicated without consulting the Emperor, and immediately took refuge in Germany. Napoleon responded by a decree uniting the Low Countries to France. The Hanseatic cities had met the same fate. The Emperor confided to Massena the command of the French armies in Spain. The old Marshal accepted the task with dissatisfaction, and his lieutenants were still more displeased. Wellington had chosen for his base in Portugal, the fortified lines of Torres Védras, without allowing himself to be turned from his plan by the insults of the enemy or the inconsiderate ardor of his officers, who wished to march at once against the French. The first encounter took place at Alcola, on the 27th of September, 1810, but without brilliant results to either army. Massena saw the impossibility of forcing the English entrenchments, and demanded reinforcements. Napoleon was preparing for the fatal Russian campaign: he was unable to detach even a single army corps; his forces were recruiting, but with difficulty and slowly. Soult refused to aid Massena, who was now reduced to the most extreme distress. "They have but few resources other than pillage," wrote Wellington; "they receive scarcely any money from France, and very few contributions are raised in Spain."
On the 4th of March, 1811, Massena began slowly to retreat. On the 10th of May the French had once again evacuated Portugal, and Marmont was ordered to replace Massena at the head of the armies in Spain. The campaigns of 1810 and 1811 had this sad result for the French: their victories were scarcely sufficient to preserve past conquests, while the national resistance lost none of its desperation; and at the same time Wellington had not been compelled to yield a single foot of ground in the Peninsula. In the West Indies the Isle of France had fallen into the hands of the English.
The campaign of 1812 was to be still more active and more fatal to France. Before Napoleon entered Russia, during the month of January, Wellington quitted his intrenchments and boldly took the offensive. On the 19th he recaptured Ciudad-Rodrigo, but recently taken under his very eyes, by the troops of Massena. On the 7th of April, he wrested from Marshal Soult his conquest of Badajoz, and on the 22nd of July, he defeated Marmont at the battle of Arapiles before Salamanca, where the Marshal was so grievously wounded that he was believed to be dying. On the 14th of August the English entered Madrid, without, however being able to remain there long. After having failed before Burgos, the English forces concentrated themselves near Salamanca. When the three French armies united themselves to pursue and crush him, Wellington was out of reach, and secured his retreat upon Ciudad-Rodrigo without difficulty.