1806. Prussia re quired by France to accept Ha nover in full sovereignty. Measures of the king against the of Prussia British trade. CHAP. dain the proposal of altering the arrangements LXXV. made at Vienna, and dictated new terms, by which Prussia was to accept the sovereignty of Hanover, and he himself was to have the right of making peace or war. The treaty was signed on the 15th of February, and immediately carried into execution. On the 18th the Prussians evacuated Wesel; on the 21st the French troops were withdrawn from Hameln; and on the 24th Bernadotte took possession of Anspach and Bayreuth for the king of Bavaria, to whom those provinces were transferred by France. On the 28th of March a proclamation was issued by count Schulemburg, in the name of the king of Prussia, ordering the ports and rivers opening into the German ocean to be closed against British shipping and trade, in the same manner as when Hanover was occupied by French troops and on the 1st of April a patent appeared under the authority of the same monarch, formally annexing the electorate of Hanover to his other dominions, on the pretence, that belonging to the emperor Napoleon by right of conquest, it had been transferred to Prussia in consideration of the Retaliation cession of three of her provinces to France. The tish govern- indignity offered to Great Britain by these proceedings against her commerce demanded prompt and efficient measures of retaliation. Accordingly, the rivers Ems, Weser, Elbe, and Trave were blockaded; a general embargo was laid on all Prussian vessels in British harbours, and the English mission at Berlin was recalled. The royal message, which announced these measures to parliament on the 21st of April, was answered by unanimous addresses of thanks from both houses; and on this occasion the strongest animadversions were directed against Prussia for her abject subservience to the injustice Remark of and rapacity of the French ruler. In reference to the transfer her acceptance of Hanover from Napoleon, under of Hanover an acknowledgment of his right of conquest, Mr. of the Bri ment. Mr. Fox on to Prussia. LXXV. 1806. Fox observed, that no example could be found in CHAP. all the histories of war, and no mention had ever been made by writers on the law of nations, of any power having a right to receive as a present a country occupied during a war by one of the belligerent powers, but not ceded by the other. He reprobated with equal severity the principle lately acted upon in Europe of transferring the subjects of one prince to another in the way of equivalents, and under the pretext of convenience and mutual accommodation. The wildest schemes, he observed, that were ever before broached, would not go so far to shake the foundations of all established governments as this new practice. This just and energetic censure, though delivered in general terms, applied with peculiar force to the Machia velian policy of Bonaparte. It was consonant with Policy of his inordinate ambition, with his haughty contempt for mankind, and with his habits of life, that he should weaken the powers of the continent by undermining existing establishments, and by dissolving the social ties which bound men together; and that he should transfer whole communities and even nations from one sovereign to another, in as arbitrary a manner as he would distribute or change the appointments in his own armies. By the same principle he managed his senate, his council of state, and every other department of his government; and it was sarcastically observed by one of his own ministers, that his whole system both of rule and conquest was founded on the simple expedient of forming men into regiments. His conduct toward Prussia became more imperious and arrogant in proportion to the concessions which she made to propitiate his good will. Of the three provinces, Anspach, Bayreuth, and Cleves, which he obtained from her in exchange for Hanover, he transferred the two former to the elector of Bavaria, on condition of receiving the duchy Bonaparte. His con duct toward Prussia. Confers the duchies of Berg and Cleves on Murat. Offers to nover to CHAP. duchy of Berg, which, together with that of Cleves, LXXV. he conferred on his brother-in-law, Murat. In 1806. treating with the cabinet of St. James's he made no scruple of offering to the king of Great Britain the complete restitution of his electoral dominions; and during the negociations which were at the same time carried on between Talleyrand and the Rusrestore Ha- sian minister D'Oubril, at Paris, he distinctly intithe king of mated that if the emperor Alexander were desirous Great Bri- of annexing any part of Polish Prussia to his dominions, no opposition would be made to such a project on the part of France. Availing himself of the pretext afforded by the occupation of Cattaro, he not only withheld Braunau from Austria, but maintained a large army in the free towns and states of Suabia and Franconia, for the purpose of overawing Prussia, while he carried into effect a scheme for subverting the ancient constitution of the German empire. tain. Confede Rhine. THIS Scheme was developed by the conclusion ration of the of a treaty for establishing what was called the confederation of the Rhine. The members of this confederation were, the emperor of the French republic, the kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, the archbishop of Ratisbon, the elector of Baden, the duke of Berg, the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, and several minor German princes. By the articles of the compact these princes, separating themselves from the Germanic empire, and renouncing all connection with it, appointed a diet to meet at Frankfort to manage their public concerns and settle their differences; and chose Bonaparte for their protector. They established among themselves a federal alliance, by which, if one of them engaged in a continental war, all the others were bound to take part in it, and to contribute their contingent of troops in the following proportions: France two-hundred thousand; Bavaria thirty thousand; Wirtemberg twelve thousand; Baden three thousand; CHA P. LXXV. 1806. thousand; Berg five thousand; Darmstadt four thousand; Nassau, Hohenzollern, and others four thousand; making a total of two-hundred and fiftyeight thousand men. It was settled that none of the members of the confederacy should be dependent on any foreign power, or enter into any service but that of the confederated states and their allies; neither was any member to alienate the whole or any part of his dominions except in their favour. Other German princes and states might be admitted into the confederacy whenever it should be found consistent with the general interest. A great number of petty princes and counts were deprived of their ancient rights of sovereignty; and these, without equivalent or indemnity, were transferred to the members of this federal union. The imperial city of Nuremberg was given to the king of Bavaria, and that of Frankfort on the Maine to the archbishop of Ratisbon, formerly elector and arch-chancellor of the empire, and now prince primate of the confederation of the Rhine. THREE days after the conclusion of this important treaty, preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris between France and Russia. Bonaparte then signified to the Austrian monarch that he must prepare to lay aside the title of Emperor of Germany and accede to the new arrangements which were on the eve of being promulgated at Ratisbon. Conformably to this mandate, Francis resigned his Francis II. office and title, and annexed his German provinces the and states to the empire of Austria. On the 1st empire. of August the confederates announced to the diet of Ratisbon their separation from the empire, and a note was presented in the name of the French ruler, declaring that he no longer acknowledged the existence of the Germanic constitution. Prelimina ries signed between France and Russia. title to the LXXVI. 1806. Prussia's confede ration in CHAP. LXXVI. Confederation of the northern states of Germany, under the - CHAP. IN acceding to so important a change in the empire, the king of Prussia had entertained the hope of forming a confederation of states in the north of The king of Germany, of which he should be the protector. project of a Bonaparte favoured that hope as long as it suited his views; but having secured the submission of the north of Austria, he declared that from deference to Germany. England he could not allow the Hanse towns to be included in the northern confederacy, and that he was determined to take them under his own protection. He also declared that his sense of justice and his respect for the law of nations would not permit him to tolerate any compulsory measures Frustrated by Bona. parte. for |