HISTORY

OF

THE WARS

resulting from the

French Revolution.

BOOK III.

FROM THE ELEVATION OF BONAPARTE TO THE IMPERIAL

AUTHORITY, 1804, TO HIS ABDICATION OF The throne, 1814.

CHAP. I.

Speech of Bonaparte to the Legislative Body. Remonstrance of the Emperor of Russia. Attack upon the Flotilla at Boulogne. Naval Transactions.

THE legislative body was opened with great ceremony, on Dec. 26, 1804. Here the Emperor, attended by all his ministers of state, was seated on the throne, and the members having taken the oath of fidelity to the Emperor, he then addressed the assembly for the first time in his Imperial capacity, in the following speech:

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Deputies from the departments to the legislative body, and members of my council of state, I am come, gentlemen, to preside at the opening of your session. My anxious desire is to impress a more imposing and august character on your proceedings. Yes, princes,

magistrates, soldiers, citizens, we have all of us, in the course we have to run, but one object-the interest of the country. If this throne, to which Providence and the will of the nation have raised me, be dear in my eyes, it is because that throne can only defend and maintain the most sacred interests of the French people. Unsupported by a vigorous and paternal government, France would have still to fear those calamities by which she has been afflicted. The weakness of the supreme power is the deepest misfortune of nations. As a soldier, or first consul, I entertained but one thought; as Emperor, I am influenced by no other; and that is, every thing which contributes to the prosperity of France. I have had the good fortune to illustrate France with victories, to consolidate her by treaties, to rescue her from civil broils, and to revive among her inhabitants the influence. of morals, of social order, and of religion. Should death not surprise me in the midst of my labours, I fondly hope, I shall transmit to posterity a permanent impression that may operate as an example, or reproach to my successors. The minister of the interior will submit to you a statement of the situation of the empire. The deputation from my council of state, will present to you different objects that are to occupy the legislature. I have given orders that there be laid before you those accounts which my ministers have given me of their respective departments. I am fully satisfied with the prosperous state of our finances; whatever may be the expenditure, it is covered by the revenue. How extensive soever have been the preparations imposed upon us by the exigencies of the war in which we are engaged, I call upon my people for no new sacrifice. It would be highly pleasing to me, on so solemn an occasion, to behold the blessings of peace diffused over the world; but the political principles of our enemies, their recent conduct towards Spain, but too strongly speak the difficulties that oppose. I am not anxious to enlarge the territories of France, but to assert its integrity. I feel no ambition to exert a wider stretch of influence in Europe, but not to descend from that which I have acquired. No state shall be incorporated with the empire; but I shall not sacrifice my rights, or those ties which bind me to the states I have created. In bestowing the crown upon me, the people entered into an engagement to exert

every effort which circumstances may require, in order to preserve unsullied, that splendor which is necessary for their prosperity; and indispensable for their glory as well as for me. I am full of confidence in the energy of the nation, and in the sentiments it entertains for me, its dearests interests are the constant objects of my solicitude.

"Deputies from the departments to the legislative body, tribunes, and members of my council of state, your conduct, gentlemen, during the ensuing session, the zeal with which you glow for your country, your attachment to my person, I hold as pledges for the assistance which I shall call for, and which I trust I shall receive from you during the time of your deliberations."

The exposé, or political state of the country, was drawn up and presented to the assembly. It was couched in strong and energic language, and gave a most flattering picture of the resources of the nation, and its prosperous situation. It was full of invective against England, and of eulogium on the wisdom, piety, and virtues of the Emperor; with respect to Great Britain it was observed, "That whatever might be the operations of Great Britain, the destinies of France were fixed, strong in her union with the chief powers of Europe; strong in her resources of wealth, and in the value of her brave defenders, France would faithfully cultivate the alliance of her friends, and would act in a manner as not to occasion enemies, or to fear them. When England should be convinced of the impotence of her efforts to embroil the continent; when she should be brought to a knowledge, that she will ever be a loser by a war without proper motives, or a determinate end; when she shall find that France will never accept of any other conditions than those of the treaty of Amiens, and will never consent to leave to her the right of breaking treaties at pleasure, by appropriating Malta to herself; then, and then only, will England evidence pacific sentiments. Envy and hatred are evanescent in their

nature."

The different States of Europe, from the aggrandisement of territory which France had recently acquired, were not a little jealous of the consequences which might

hereafter result from her great increase of power. Prior to the coronation of Bonaparte, the court of St. Petersburgh had presented a memorial through the medium of the Russian charge d'affaires, at Paris, in which it was stated, that his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of all the Russias, had ordered him no longer to remain at Paris, unless the ensuing demands were unequivocally complied with:

"1. That agreeable to the fourth and fifth articles of the secret convention, made October 11, 1801, the French government shall cause troops to evacuate the kingdom of Naples; and when that is done, that it shall engage to respect the neutrality of that kingdom, during the present, or any future war.

"2. That in conformity to the second article of that convention, the French government shall promise to establish immediately some principle of concert with his Imperial Majesty for regulating the basis upon which the affairs of Italy shall be finally adjusted.

"3. That it shall engage, in conformity to the sixth article of that convention, and the promise so repeatedly given to Russia, to indemnify, without delay, the King of Sardinia, for the losses he has sustained.

"4. That in virtue of the obligations of mutual guarantee and mediation, the French government shall promise immediately to evacuate and withdraw its troops from the north of Germany, and enter into an engagement to respect, in the strictest manner, the neutrality of the Germanic body. A categorical answer is required to each of these four points."

This note produced an answer to the following purport: "That France was justified in reproaching Russia with having neglected to perform her engagements of the secret convention, by having changed the government of the Seven Islands without the previous acquisition of the consent of France; that large bodies of troops had been assembled at Corfu; that Russia had patronised the emigrants and their projects against France; that, in many other instances, Russia had been acting in actual defiance of stipulated engagements, which must be fulfilled before she expected France to comply with the terms she had demanded; the latter was not to be intimidated by the menacing of the Declaration of the

former, which was couched in terms of a conqueror to a vanquished nation: Russia had no more right than any other power, to act in so dictatorial a manner, as the history of the war preceding the peace with Russia amply demonstrates; but if, notwithstanding the solicitude of France to remain on terms of peace and amity with the court of St. Petersburgh, the Emperor of Russia should join in concert with England, and make war upon France, the French nation would firmly resist all such acts of aggression, there being no power on earth it had reason to fear."

The flotilla at Boulogne remained yet a favorite object of attraction to the French nation; there were frequent manoeuverings where it was stationed, and frequently was this ridiculous menacing flotilla attacked by the gallant English sailors. On May 16, 1804, a flotilla from Flushing, was ordered to sail to join another at Ostend. Sir Sidney Smith received instructions to prevent this junction taking place, but was unsuccessful in the attempt. Fifty-nine sail of the Flushing division arrived at Ostend; and the English force, after some loss, was obliged to retreat. The brave Captain Owen, of the Immortalité frigate, made an attack upon the Boulogne flotilla, but the success was not adequate to the expectations of the gallant commander.

In July and August, another attack was made by Captain Oliver, upon the vessels in the harbour of Havre de Grace, which was attended with very trifling advantage. But the grand attack upon the Boulogne flotilla was made by Lord Keith, on October 2, 1804. Great ideas were formed of the tremendous effects which would be produced in this attempt, as there were a number of fire-ships, having on board a newinvented kind of combustible, called Catamaran; and so elevated were the hopes of the public, from the pompous description which had been given of these supposed engines of destruction, that it was augured that the whole flotilla would be annihilated; but when the attack took place, the Catamarans were found non-effective, and the affair terminated in a disgraceful and ignominious

manner.

In the East Indies, Admiral Linois, with his fleet, greatly annoyed the English; he made depredations