1876
PAGE
[Chap. XLIX.]—Conduct of Russia and England during the War with Austria—Meditated Expedition of British Troops to the Continent—Sent to Walcheren—Its Calamitous Details and Result—Proceedings of Napoleon with regard to the Pope—General Miollis enters Rome—Napoleon publishes a Decree, uniting the States of the Church to the French Empire—Is Excommunicated—Pius VII. is banished from Rome, and sent to Grenoble—afterwards brought back to Savona—Buonaparte is attacked by an Assassin—Definitive Treaty of Peace signed at Schoenbrun—Napoleon returns to France on the 14th November, 1809, [1]
[Chap. L.]—Change in Napoleon's Domestic Life—Causes which led to it—His anxiety for an Heir—A Son of his Brother Louis is fixed upon, but dies in Childhood—Character and influence of Josephine—Strong mutual Attachment betwixt her and Napoleon—Fouché opens to Josephine the Plan of a Divorce—Her extreme Distress—On 5th December, Napoleon announces her Fate to Josephine—On 15th they are formally separated before the Imperial Council—Josephine retaining the rank of Empress for Life—Espousals of Buonaparte and Maria Louisa of Austria take place at Vienna, 11th March, 1810, [17]
[Chap. LI.]—Almost all the Foreign French Settlements fall into the hands of the British—French Squadron destroyed at the Isle of Aix, by Lord Cochrane—and at the Isle of Rosas, by Lord Collingwood—Return to the Proceedings in Spain—Soult takes Oporto—Attacked and Defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley—Ferrol and Corunna retaken by the Patriots—Battle of Talavera, gained by Sir Arthur Wellesley—Created Lord Wellington—The French Armies take many Towns and Strong Places—Supreme Junta Retreat to Cadiz—The Guerilla System—Growing Disappointment of Buonaparte—His immense Exertions—Battle of Busaco—Lord Wellington's famous Retreat on Torres Vedras, [28]
[Chap. LII.]—Change in Napoleon's Principles of Government—Becomes suspicious of Talleyrand and Fouché—Fouché endeavours, without the knowledge of Napoleon, to ascertain the Views of England with respect to Peace—His Plan is defeated by a singular Collision with a similar one of Napoleon—and Fouché is sent away as Governor-General of Rome—His Moral and Political Character—Murmurings of the People against the Austrian Alliance—Continental System—Ignorance of Napoleon of the Actual Political Feelings of Great Britain—The License System—Louis Buonaparte—Endeavours in vain to Defend Holland from the Effects of the Continental System—He Abdicates the Throne, and retires to Gratz in Styria—Holland is annexed to the French Empire, [41]
[Chap. LIII.]—Gustavus IV. of Sweden is Dethroned and succeeded by his Uncle—The Crown Prince killed by a fall from his Horse—Candidates proposed for the Succession—The Swedes, thinking to conciliate Napoleon, fix on Bernadotte—Buonaparte reluctantly acquiesces in the Choice—Parting Interview between Bernadotte and Napoleon—Subsequent attempts of the latter to bind Sweden to the Policy of France—The Crown Prince unwillingly accedes to the Continental System—Napoleon makes a Tour through Flanders and Holland—Returns to Paris, and takes measures for extending the Continental System—Seizure of the Valois—Coast along the German Ocean annexed to France—Protest by the Czar against the appropriation of Oldenburg—Russia allows the Importation, at certain Seaports, of various articles of British Commerce—Negotiations for Exchange of Prisoners between France and England; and for a General Peace, broken off by Buonaparte's unreasonable demands, [59]