CHAPTER IV. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIBE TO THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN (1804-1812).
THE EMPIRE (1804).—Various attempts had been made against Napoleon's life. An "infernal machine" was exploded near his carriage. On that occasion, only the swift driving of the coachman saved him from death (1800). There were now royalist plots against his life, of which Count d'Artois was cognizant. Pichegru was an accomplice; and Moreau, although not favoring the restoration of the Bourbons, was not entirely innocent. The former died in prison; Moreau escaped to America. Napoleon, exasperated by these plots, caused the Duke d'Enghien, a young prince of the Condé branch of the Bourbons, to be seized on German territory,—in Baden,—and dragged away into France, where, at Vincennes, after a hurried military examination, he was shot, and buried in a grave that had been dug for him before the sentence was pronounced. Of this act of Napoleon, it was said by Fouché, "It was worse than a crime: it was a blunder." The young prince was really innocent. He was a victim of the natural, but violent, wrath of Napoleon, who wanted to strike a blow that his enemies would feel. The event opened the way for him—as it was perhaps intended that it should—to the object of his ambition, the imperial title and throne. He was authorized to adopt a successor. This, the different parties felt, would make his government stable and secure. He was proclaimed emperor, the election being ratified by popular vote. The crown was to be handed down in his family. In imitation of Charlemagne, whom he affected to consider a Frenchman and a predecessor, he was crowned, with splendid pomp, by Pope Pius VII. (Dec. 2, 1804), in Notre Dame. He took the crown from the Pope's hands, and placed it on his own head.
THE NEW ROYALTY.—The emperor surrounded himself with the insignia and ceremonies of royalty. The members of his family became princes and princesses. A new nobility, with the various ancient titles, was called into being. He made his generals—eighteen in number, most of whom had sprung from the ranks—marshals. He first diminished the number of the Tribunate, then (1807) abolished it. The republic of 1789 had now passed into an absolute military monarchy.
THIRD COALITION AGAINST FRANCE (1805).—Napoleon turned the Italian Republic into a vassal monarchy, with himself for its ruler (1805). He incorporated Genoa with France. His step-son, Eugène Beauharnais, he made viceroy of Italy. Pitt had come back to office. Events since the death of the Duke d'Enghien made it possible for him to create the third coalition of England (in union with Austria, Russia, and Sweden) for restoring the balance of power in Europe. Paul I. of Russia had been won over from the previous coalition by the adroit efforts of Napoleon, and by the Czar's hostility to England on account of Malta (1800), he being grand master of the knights. His ordinary state of mind bordered on derangement, so that he was not fit to reign. Refusing to abdicate, he was assassinated by nobles (1801), and his son Alexander I. (1801-24) succeeded him. Russia was now reconciled to England, and the Northern Neutrality Convention against her maritime oppression was dissolved.
POSITION OF PRUSSIA.—The king of Prussia, Frederick William III. (1797-1840), and the ministers whom he trusted, refused to listen to his spirited queen, Louisa, and the more earnest, patriotic party, by which he was urged to unite with the coalition. He clung to his policy of neutrality, and was to be bribed by the gift of Hanover. The attitude of Prussia, which had been governed by selfish considerations, was long the pivot on which the success of Napoleon's aggressions hung.
FAILURE OF VILLENEUVE.—If Napoleon ever seriously projected an invasion of England he abandoned the scheme before 1805, although he retained an army at Boulogne to alarm the English. Villeneuve, whose fleet was to command the Channel, had escaped from Nelson and was on his way back from the West Indies. The admiralty were warned of his movement by a vessel of light draught which Nelson, when he could not find his foe, dispatched to inform them of the danger. Villeneuve, after an indecisive action against the force sent to meet him under Sir Robert Calder, put first into the harbor of Ferrol, and then repaired to Cadiz. Nelson came back with his fleet to the Channel.
ULM AND TRAFALGAR.—The allies marked out four lines of invasion. The second and principal advance was to be up the valley of the Danube, and to be pursued by the Russians and Austrians. Napoleon did not wait for them to unite. He now made use of the army collected for the proposed invasion of England. He suddenly broke up his camp at Boulogne, and swiftly led his splendid and thoroughly drilled army across the Rhine, to the rear of the Austrian forces, of which Mack was the commander. Other detachments from Hanover and Holland came down the Main to take part in the movement. The Austrians were surrounded in Ulm, and gave themselves up, thirty thousand in number, as prisoners of war (Oct. 17, 1805). The strategy was like that pursued in the campaign of Marengo: the result was even more astonishing. It was not long, however, before news came to him of a great disaster to the French on the sea. Four days after the surrender at Ulm, Nelson achieved a grand victory off Cape Trafalgar, over the French and Spanish fleets. Before Villeneuve decided to leave the shelter of Cadiz, he had been obliged to weaken himself by sending away a number of his ships. The watchword sent from the flag-ship just before the encounter—"England expects every man to do his duty"—called forth shouts of enthusiasm from the decks of the British fleet. Two-thirds of the French ships were captured or ruined. Nelson himself was struck by a bullet, and died the same night. His private life was not free from grave faults, but he was the greatest naval hero England has ever produced.
AUSTERLITZ: CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.—On the land, the career of Napoleon was triumphant. The "Grand Army," with its system of corps and reserves, marched on Vienna, which was occupied on the 13th of November. The Russians were still to be encountered. The army of Alexander was a very powerful one; but he made, instead of awaiting, the attack, and, on the 2d of December, was utterly defeated on the memorable field of Austerlitz. The Peace of Pressburg followed (Dec. 26, 1805). Austria gave up Venice, which was annexed to the new Italian kingdom, of which Napoleon was the head. The Tyrol went to Bavaria, whose elector was recognized as a king, as was also the elector of Würtemberg. Soon after, the Bourbons were dethroned at Naples, and Napoleon's brother Joseph took that kingdom. Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, and other smaller states were united into a Confederation of the Rhine (1806), with Napoleon for its protector. The Holy Roman Empire from that time had no longer even the shadow of a reality. Francis I. was simply emperor of Austria, and Austria was greatly reduced in power.
FALL OF PRUSSIA.—Prussia now stood by herself. Out of alarm at the progress of the French arms, and anger because French troops had been led across her territory without her consent, she had preferred to join the coalition. Austerlitz moved her to retrace her steps. She received Hanover as the price of a renewed alliance. England now declared war against Prussia. But Fox, who was an advocate of peace, had come into power in England (Jan. 23, 1806); and Prussia discovered that Napoleon, who was friendly to him, was negotiating for the surrender of Hanover to that country. This crowning indignity moved Prussia, at this inopportune moment, to take up arms against him. Prussia had no ally but Russia. The Prussian army was full of pride and hope; but its organization and method of warfare were after the old, traditional fashion which had come down from the days of Frederick the Great, and its commander, the Duke of Brunswick, though brave, was superannuated. In the two battles of Jena and Auersfadt, fought on the same day (Oct. 14, 1806), the Prussian forces were routed, and either captured or dispersed. A fortnight later (Oct. 27), Napoleon was in Berlin. Fortress after fortress was surrendered, and corps after corps captured by his troops. The royal family, including the Queen Louisa, were treated personally with harshness and disdain. The Prussian monarchy, to all appearance, was in ruins. Its museums and picture-galleries were robbed of their treasures, which went away as trophies to Paris. The Saxon Elector, made a king, joined the Rhenish Confederacy.
Fox died on Sept. 13, 1806. In 1807 (March 31), the Duke of Portland became prime minister; the rival and rising statesmen, Castlereagh and Canning, being both in the cabinet.