صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

But lo! the phantoms fade in flight,

Like fears that cross the mind,

Like drowning seaman's shrieks, by night,

That faint along the wind.

They were, they are not,-all is past:
-Tell me, but who can tell
In what mysterious regions cast,
Immortal spirits dwell?

I know not, but I soon shall know,
When life and suffering cease;
When this desponding heart lies low,
And I shall rest in peace.

For see,-on death's bewildering wave,
The rainbow, Hopé, arise;
-A bridge of glory o'er the grave,

That bends beyond the skies.

From earth to heaven it swells, and shines

A pledge of bliss to man,—
Time with eternity combines,
And grasps them in a span.

Sheffield, May 2, 1806.

RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN 1806.

THE events of the year which has just terminated, are in general a continuation of that progress of successful ambition, which has so long thrown Europe into a revolutionary state, and overwhelmed it with disasters and changes of which no limit or conclusion can as yet be foreseen.

The treaty of Presburg between France and Austria, signed at the close of 1805, had left the French emperor and his allies triumphant in the south of Germany and the north of Italy, and dissolved the grand confederacy which had worn so formidable an aspect. The em peror of Russia returned to his own country, not pacified, but disabled from further action; and the British troops which had been landed in the north of Germany were glad to re-embark unmolested. The gloom with which the new year opened upon Great Britain was augmented in the general opinion by the illness of Mr. Pitt, which termin ted in his death on January 23d. This event was followed by the formation of a new ministry, composed of a part of those who had been in office previously to Mr. Addington's administration, and the leaders of the old opposition, headed by Mr. Fox. The union of talents which were now

K

called

called into exertion, inspired hopes of either a more efficacious prosecution of the war, or of well-conducted negotiations for peace.

The beginning of the year was signalized by an important success to the British arms in the capture of the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope by Sir Home Popham and Gen. Baird.

In the month of February the French emperor put in execution his threats against the king of Naples, by an invasion of the Neapolitan territory, of which no part resisted his arms except the citadel of Gaeta, and the remote districts of Calabria. The king retired to Sicily under the protection of a British force. His Neapolitan crown was transferred by the victor to Joseph Bonaparte, who took quiet possession of the capital.

In the same month a brilliant naval action took place in the West Indies, where Adm. Duckworth captured three French ships of the line, and destroyed two, off St. Domingo.

In March, the budget was brought forward, and a heavy loan of 18 millions for Great Britain and two millions for Ireland, was negotiated upon favourable terms for the public. Among other modes of raising the supplies, the Property tax was augmented to ten per

cent.

The occupation of Hanover in his own name by the king of Prussia, and the exclusion of British shipping from his ports on the German ocean, were regarded as acts of hostility which justified the recal of the English minister from Berlin, and the detention of all Prussian ships. Sweden was at the same time at variance with Prussia, and acted as an ally of Great Britain; whilst Prussia seemed entirely devoted to the interests of France.

During this session of parliament Mr. Windham brought in his bill for the regulation of the land-forces, of which the leading features were, altering the term of enlistment into the regulars from an unlimited to a limited period, and putting the volunteers upon the footing of serving without pay. This discouragement, and the diminished fears of invasion, naturally affected the spirit of volunteering, which lay nearly dormant during the course of this year.

An expedition of the revolutionary general Miranda against the Spanish dominions of South America, began to excite considerable interest early in this year. It was undertaken from North America, without any participation of the United States; and was at first but dubiously encouraged by the British.commanders in the West Indies. operations hitherto have been unprosperous; and the hope of final success appears to have been nearly abandoned.

Its

Among domestic events, the impeachment of Lord Melville by the House of Commons, and his acquittal by the Lords of all the charges brought against him, were topics of public conversation during the earlier part of this year.

The Cape of Good Hope had not been long in the British possession before its enterprising conquerors planned an expedition against the Spanish settlement of Buenos Ayres. Sir Home Popham and Gen. Beresford arrived in the river de la Plata in June, and after a defeat of the Spanish troops in the beginning of July, the town was surrendered. Its

port

port was immediately opened for the reception of British merchandise, and the demand has given activity to several branches of manufacture which were before in a languid state.

The constitution which had been imposed on Holland under the dictatorial influence of France not fully answering the purposes of that court, it was changed in June to a kind of mixed monarchy, of which Louis Bonaparte was proclaimed the head, with the hitherto unknown title in the annals of Europe, of King of Holland. Thus Napoleon, in one half-year, almost without a contest, raised two of his brothers to the throne!

In July a signal triumph accrued to the British army in Calabria under the command of General Stuart, by a victory over the French commanded by General Regnier, at Maida, near the gulf of St. Euphemia. British valour has seldom been more conspicuously displayed; but independently of the glory of such a display, the consequences were of little advantage. It operated, indeed, to the injury of the Calabrese, who were excited by it to an insurrection against the French dominion, in which the English force was insufficient to give them effectual aid. The British troops have since been withdrawn to Sicily, with the exception of the garrisons of two or three fortresses, and the country has been abandoned to an enraged enemy.

be

The French court, apparently desirous of a peace with the only remaining foe which defied its power, had made various overtures to a treaty with Great Britain on the basis of actual possession, which were thought by the ministry so far worthy of attention, that Lord Lauderdale was sent to Paris in July as a negotiator. A separate peace tween France and Russia, signed by the plenipotentiary of that power, d'Oubril, was the first untoward circumstance which obstructed the negotiation. It was followed by incidents in Germany that eventually changed the whole face of affairs.

Ever since the humiliation of the house of Austria, the French emperor had projected such a complete predominancy in Germany as should prevent any future resistance to his ambitious schemes from that quarter. He had on various pretexts kept a large body of troops in that country, the purpose of which was to enforce an acquiescence in a grand innovation on the constitution of the empire. A confederation of the Rhine, comprising the new kings of Bavaria and Wirtemburg, with several neighbouring petty sovereigns, under the protection of France, was announced in August, and at the same time Napoleon's minister at the diet openly declared that his master no longer recognized the existence of a German empire or its head. The Austrian emperor was humbled enough to submit to this annihilation of his dignity, and to renounce his authority over the former Germanic body. Prussia, however, felt this as a stroke directly levelled at its political influence, and endeavoured to counteract it by a northern confederacy. The king was forced by a strong war-party from his yielding and temporizing system, and began to make warlike preparations. A change in the Russian ministry about the same time produced a refusal to ratify the treaty signed by d'Oubril, on the ground of his hav

ing exceeded his powers or deviated from his instructions; and thus every thing on the continent seemed to tend to a new war.

During this critical state of affairs, Mr. Fox, whose constitution had been breaking eve rsince he had assumed the burden of administration, died, Sept. 13th, and thus England lost within a few months the two political characters who stood highest, not only with their respective parties, but in the estimation of the public in general, which had once fondly hoped to see them act in conjunction for the extrication of their country from its difficulties.

The hostility manifested by the king of Prussia against France, naturally produced his reconciliation with England, and a nobleman was sent over to settle all differences and cement a new friendship. The king of Sweden followed the same example, and the courts of Petersburg and Berlin entered into a close alliance. Thus was formed a new confederacy, which, in the sanguine, excited confident expectations of setting limits to that overgrown power whose ambitious views extended with every new success. The negotiations at Paris were at a stand, though Lord Lauderdale did not return till October.

The Prussian army now assembled in great force, and the elector of Saxony, probably through the inability of preserving a neutrality, joined it with his troops. The elector of Hesse, however, declared his resolution of remaining perfectly neutral. The Duke of Brunswick took the chief command, and the king of Prussia in person marched into the field. The French emperor was not backward to meet the approaching storm. He sent the separate columns of his army by different routes under his ablest generals, and himself proceeded towards the scene of action. His brother Louis at the same time was directed to advance with an army from Holland into Westphalia.

The two main armies came in presence of each other on the northern borders of Franconia; and after some fruitless negotiations, the king of Prussia declared war against France, issuing at the same time an elaborate manifesto, in which he exposed his numerous grievances, and the boundless ambition of his adversary. Napoleon, without deigning an answer, hastened to bring the quarrel to a decision. After some manoeuvres, in which his generals displayed an undoubted superiority of skill, and pushed bodies of men between the Prussians and their capital, a general engagement was brought on at Auerstadt to the north of Jena, on October 14th. The sum of the contending armies exceeded 200,000 men, and the contest was obstinate and bloody. The Duke of Brunswick, receiving a wound at the commencement, was obliged to quit the field. A number of Prussian generals were killed or wounded, and the action terminated in a defeat of the Prussians, so entire, that nothing of an army remained to oppose the conqueror. Bonaparte advanced through Saxony, to which he granted a pacification, to Berlin, without the least resistance, and in the meantime the strong fortresses of Spandau, Custrin, and Stettin, opened their gates to his generals. Magdeburg, defended by a numerous garrison, and possessed of immense maga

zines, capitulated after a short bombardment. Of the two most considerable bodies of retreating Prussians, that under the Prince of Hohenloe was obliged to surrender before it could reach the banks of the Oder; and that commanded by General Blucher, after crossing the whole of Lower Saxony, and reaching Lubeck, was pursued into the heart of that city by the French, who, after a dreadful combat, made prisoners of all that remained. The Duke of Brunswick died

of his wound and of anxiety of mind. The King of Prussia fled to his Polish dominions; while Napoleon from Berlin issued his orders for the regulation of the north of Germany as its sovereign. One instance of his despotic power was the seizure of the free city of Hamburgh, which was entered by the French troops on November 19th. The confiscation of all British property was the first measure of the invaders, and its consequences must be severely felt by our merchants and manufacturers.

While these great and disastrous scenes were acting on the continent, their impression was in some degree lightened at home, by the bustle of a general election, which succeeded the dissolution of parliament on Oct. 25th. The contested elections seem upon the whole to have been fewer than upon former occasions, and to have arisen rather from local and personal competitions, than from the struggles of public parties.

In the early part of the year, great heats subsisted in the United States of America respecting the conduct of the English cruizers in making prize of American vessels laden with the produce of the French West-India islands, and conveying them to Europe; and a nonimportation act passed in congress relative to articles of British produce, to take place in the November following. The differences between the countries were unfortunately aggravated by the conduct of the commander of an English frigate stationed off the harbour of New York. Commissioners were, however, appointed by both nations to discuss in an amicable manner the subjects in dispute; but it is doubted whether they have been able to come to an agreement concerning the fundamental principles of the right of a neutral nation to carry the property of a belligerent power.

Contests have also arisen between the United States and the Spaniards on the borders of Louisiana and the Mexican territory, which threatened immediate hostilities, but upon the advance of some troops of the States, the Spaniards retired from the disputed territory.

Soon after the occupation of Hamburgh by the French, an extraordinary proclamation was issued by Napoleon, dated Berlin, Nov. 1st. which, by way of retaliation for the maritime policy of England, declared the British islands to be in a state of blockade; all English subjects found in countries occupied by the French arms to be prisoners of war; and all British produce and manufactures to be confiscated. A spirit of hostility and revenge was displayed in the language of this proclamation, which proved how deeply its author was exasperated with the only power that has opposed any effectual resistance to his ambitious schemes.

On November 15th, Breslaw was entered by the French; on the

« السابقةمتابعة »