Illyria.
It has been said that when Napoleon made himself Emperor he likewise assumed the title of King of Italy, and that he did not undertake the government, but conferred it upon his step-son, Eugène de Beauharnais, as Viceroy. The original Kingdom of Italy only comprehended the dominions of the Cisalpine Republic,—that is to say, Lombardy, the Duchies of Modena and Parma, and the former Papal Legations of Bologna and Ferrara. By the Treaty of Pressburg in 1806 the Kingdom of Italy was increased by the addition of Venice and of the former Venetian territories on the mainland. Genoa, Lucca, Piedmont, and Tuscany, were, however, directly administered by France, and the city of Rome and the Campagna was added to the French Empire in the year 1810. In the south of the Italian peninsula Naples was erected into an independent kingdom, which was intended to include the island of Sicily. This kingdom was conferred upon the elder brother of Napoleon, Joseph Bonaparte, on the 30th of March 1806. Joseph, like King Louis of Holland, tried to act as a good king. He formed an able ministry, consisting almost entirely of Neapolitans, and containing but two Frenchmen,—Miot de Melito, Minister of War, and Saliceti, Minister of Police. He introduced good laws, and made efforts to put down the brigandage which ravaged the southern districts of his kingdom. The island of Sicily meanwhile resisted all the attempts of the French. It acknowledged the rule of Ferdinand, King of the Two Sicilies, who had retired to Palermo, and it was garrisoned by an English army. This army kept Joseph in perpetual embarrassment. The English encouraged the brigands of Calabria, and in the summer of 1806 they made a descent upon the mainland, and on the 3d of July the English general, Sir John Stuart, defeated the French general Reynier at Maida. This victory, however, was followed by the capitulation of Gaeta on the 18th of July, after which event the French army in Calabria was strengthened to such an extent that the English were unable to do more than defend Sicily. The internal administration of Joseph Bonaparte deserves every praise; he abolished feudalism; he endeavoured to introduce honesty and uprightness in the collection of the taxes; he declared the equality of all citizens before the law; and by the suppression of many monasteries he improved the finances of the country and largely increased the number of peasant proprietors. Lastly, must be noticed the Illyrian provinces of Dalmatia and Istria, which had been ceded by the Treaty of Pressburg. They were directly administered by General Marmont, who reported to Napoleon himself and not to the Viceroy of Italy. After the Treaty of Tilsit they were augmented by the Ionian Islands, and Napoleon kept a powerful army in this quarter to threaten the Turks. It is probable, indeed, that he dreamt of restoring the independence of Greece, and his Illyrian army was well placed for carrying out such a project.
Napoleon’s Reorganisation of Germany.
In his rearrangement of the states of Germany and of the balance of power in Central Europe, Napoleon, like the Directory, followed out the traditional policy of Richelieu and Mazarin. He held it to be an advantage for France that there should be a number of small German states between the Rhine and the hereditary dominions of the House of Austria, but he considered that the very small size of the states maintained by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 made them inadequate buffers. He, therefore, enlarged the Western German states and endeavoured to unite their interests with those of France. The reconstitution of Germany after the Peace of Lunéville in 1803 destroyed the old Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon worked on the same lines, and his measures have had almost the same permanence as the arrangements of 1803. The changes took place gradually in accordance with the Treaties of Pressburg and of Tilsit, but their final results may be considered as a whole.
Bavaria.
Würtemberg.
Baden.
Westphalia.
Grand Duchy of Berg.
Saxony.