This series of events caused much gloom in the British councils, and with other painful circumstances, among which was the impeachment of his colleague Lord Melville, for malpractices in the Admirality, proved a death-blow to Mr. Pitt, who expired on the 23d of January 1806, completely worn out with state business, at the early age of forty-seven, half of which time he had spent in the public service. Mr. Pitt is universally allowed the praise of high talent and patriotism. But his policy has been a subject of dispute between the two great political parties into which British society is divided. By the Tories it is firmly believed that his entering into the war against the French Republic was the means of saving the country from anarchy and ruin; by the Whigs, that this step only ended to postpone the settlement of the affairs of France, and loaded Britain with an enormous debt. Of the absence of all selfish views in the political conduct of Mr. Pitt, there can be no doubt; for, so far from accumulating a fortune out of the public funds, he left some debts, which Parliament gratefully paid.
Mr. Pitt’s ministry was succeeded by one composed of Lord Grenville, Mr. Fox, and their friends; it was comprehensively called Whig, although Lord Grenville was a Tory, except in his advocacy of the claims of the Catholics for emancipation. In the course of 1806, the new cabinet made an attempt to obtain a peace from France, which now threatened to bring the whole world to its feet. But the Grenville administration encountered serious difficulties from the king, who never could be induced to look with the least favor on the Catholic claims, or those who advocated them. Exhausted by his useless labors, Mr. Fox died, September 13, 1806. Few names are more endeared to the British people than his, for, though the leader of the Whigs, he never excited any rancor in his opponents. He was remarkable for his frankness and simplicity. His abilities as a parliamentary orator and statesman were of the first order, and he was invariably the consistent and sincere friend of popular rights.
A new coalition, excluding Austria, but involving Prussia, had been subsidised by Britain, and was preparing to act. With his usual decision, Napoleon led what he called his ‘Grand Army’ by forced marches into Prussia; gained, on the 14th of October, the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, which at once deprived that country of her army, her capital, and her fortresses; and then proclaimed the famous ‘Berlin Decrees,’ by which he declared Great Britain in a state of blockade, and shut the ports of Europe against her merchandise. The King of Prussia, Frederick William III, took refuge with his court in Russia, which now was the only continental power of any importance that remained unsubdued by France.
Towards that country Napoleon soon bent his steps, taking, as he went, assistance from Poland, which he promised to restore to independence. After a series of skirmishes and battles of lesser importance, he met the Russian army in great strength (June 14, 1807), at Friedland, and gave it a total overthrow. He might now have easily reduced the whole country, as he had done Austria and Prussia; but he contented himself with forming a treaty (called the treaty of Tilsit, from the place where it was entered into), by which Russia agreed to become an ally of France, and entered into his views for the embarrassment of Britain by the exclusion of her commerce from the continental ports. France had thus, in the course of a few years, disarmed the whole of Europe, excepting Great Britain, an amount of military triumph for which there was no precedent in ancient or modern history.
The Grenville administration was displaced in the spring of 1807, in consequence of the difference between its members and the king on the subject of the Catholic claims, which had long been urged by the Whig party, with little support from the people. The next ministry was headed by the Duke of Portland, and included Lords Hawkesbury and Castlereagh (afterwards Earl of Liverpool and Marquis of Londonderry), and Mr. Canning, as secretaries; Mr. Spencer Perceval being chancellor of the exchequer. After being accustomed to the services of such men as Pitt and Fox, the people regarded this cabinet as one possessing comparatively little ability. One of its first acts was the despatch of a naval armament to Copenhagen to seize and bring away the Danish shipping, which was expected to be immediately employed in subserviency to the designs of France, and for the injury of Britain. The end of the expedition was very easily obtained; but it was the means of lowering the honor of Britain in the estimation of foreign powers.
FIRST PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN—SUBSEQUENT EVENTS.
The retaliation of France, for the interferences of other powers with its Revolution, even supposing such retaliation justifiable, was now more than completed. Further measures could only appear as dictated by a desire of aggrandizement. But France was now given up to the direction of a military genius, who had other ends to serve than the defense of the country against foreign aggression or interference. The amazing successes of Napoleon had inspired him with the idea of universal empire: and so great was the influence he had acquired over the French, and so high their military spirit, that the attainment of his object seemed by no means impossible. There was a difference, however, between the opposition which he met with before this period, and that which he subsequently encountered. In the earlier periods of the war, the military operations of the European powers were chiefly dictated by views concerning the interests of governments, and in which the people at large felt little sympathy. Henceforth a more patriotic spirit rose everywhere against Napoleon: he was looked upon in England and elsewhere as the common enemy of humanity and of freedom; and every exertion made for the humiliation of France was animated by a sentiment of desperation, in which the governors and governed alike participated.
The Spanish peninsula was the first part of the prostrated continent where the people could be said to have taken a decidedly hostile part against Napoleon. He had there gone so far as to dethrone the reigning family, and give the crown to his elder brother Joseph. A sense of wrong and insult, mingled with religious fanaticism, raised the Spanish people in revolt against the French troops; and though their conduct was barbarous, it was hailed in Britain as capable of being turned to account. In terms of a treaty entered into with a provisional government in Spain, a small army was landed, August 8, 1808, in Portugal, which had been taken possession of by the French. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who afterwards became so famous as Duke of Wellington, was the leader of this force. In an engagement at Vimeira, on the 21st, he repulsed the French, under Junot, who soon after agreed, by what was called the Convention of Cintra, to evacuate the country. Sir Arthur being recalled, the British army was led into Spain under the command of Sir John Moore; but this officer found the reinforcements poured in by Napoleon too great to be withstood, and accordingly, in the end of December, he commenced a disastrous, though well-conducted retreat towards the port of Corunna, whither he was closely pursued by Marshal Soult. The British army suffered on this occasion the severest hardships and losses, but did not experience a check in battle, or lose a single standard. In a battle which took place at Corunna, January 16, 1809, for the purpose of protecting the embarkation of the troops, Sir John Moore was killed.
Much of the public attention was about this time engrossed by circumstances in the private life of the eldest son of the king. The Prince of Wales had been tempted, in 1796, by the prospect of having his large debts paid by the nation, to marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, for whom he entertained no real affection. Almost ever since the marriage, he had shown the most marked disrespect for his consort, who consequently lived separate from him, and was herself considered by many as not altogether blameless in her conduct as a matron.
In 1809, Austria was induced once more to commence war with France. Upwards of half a million of men were brought into the field, under the command of the Archduke Charles. Bonaparte, leaving Spain comparatively open to attack, moved rapidly forward into Germany, and, by the victory of Eckmühl, opened up the way to Vienna, which surrendered to him. After gaining a slight advantage at Essling, the archduke came to a second decisive encounter at Wagram, where the strength of Austria was completely broken to pieces. The peace which succeeded was sealed by the marriage of Napoleon to Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor of Austria, for which purpose he divorced his former wife Josephine.