should, to its utmost latitude, give it countenance and sanction.

Accordingly, Roederer, one of the counsellors of state, proposed, in a florid harangue, on the 15th of May, the appointment of a legion of honor, as the best means of supporting the grandeur of the French nation, and of guarding its dominions; nor did he fail to remind them, that although peace was so recently concluded, it was far from improbable but that it might soon be violated.

The project for this new order was then read, the principal provisions of which were as follow: "The legion should be divided into fifteen cohorts, which were to be stationary in different quarters of the empire. Each cohort should consist of seven great officers, twenty commandants, thirty inferior officers, and 350 privates. Each great officer to receive 5000 franks per annum, during life; each commandant 2000 franks, each inferior officer 1000 franks, and each private 250: all for life. Every individual was to swear, on his admission to the legion, on his honor, that he would devote his life and services to the wellbeing of the republic; to the preservation of its territorial indivisibility; to the defence of its government, its laws, and the property by them consecrated; to oppose, by all the means which justice, reason, and the laws authorize, every undertaking which might tend to the restoration of the ancient forms and government, of the titles and privileges attached to them; and to exert his best and most strenuous efforts for the maintainance of the present order of things. All military men, who had received honorary distinctions of arms from the first consul, were members of the legion; or who had rendered essential service in the defence of liberty in the late war, either in the field or in the councils; and citizens who, by their abilities, knowledge, or talents, had contributed to establish the principles of the republic, or who had been eminent in the administration of justice, or who had by their virtues caused it to be respected, might be nominated candidates."

On the 12th of July following, a decree of the first consul established finally this singular esta blishment, consisting of nearly 6000 individuals, all of whom were bound, by solemn oath and their individual interest, to look up to the first consul, (who was declared de jure chief of the legion, and president of the great council of the administration of the order), as the soul and spring of all their movements; for whose security they were distributed, a titled and armed body of spies, throughout the whole of the empire; and on whose favor and protection was grounded their sole dependance. By this arrête the administration of their domains was finally arranged in the most minute manner; repositories were appointed for the archives of the order; the mode of electing the great officers of the order was ascertained;

and finally, this decree was entered, with every BOOK V. usual ceremonial, into the bulletin of the laws.

On the 13th of July, Citizen Joseph Bona- CHAP. XII. parte was declared elected grand officer and member of the grand council of administration of 1802. the legion of honor, he having a plurality of votes ; and thus was permanently organized a privileged order, for the avowed purpose of protecting absolute authority in the person of an individual, and confirmed to him for life; in that very capital, which had witnessed, but a few years before, the proscription of its nobles, and the murder of its sovereign, as the sole means by which these distinctions could be for ever abolished!

A constitution perfectly conformable to his will was all that now remained to be imposed by this fortunate usurper, on his abject and submissive subjects.`

It was promulged on the third day after the consulate was confirmed to him for life, was finally determined and accepted in the course of a single sitting of his obsequious legislative body, and was immediately proclaimed to the people in the usual form of a senatus consultum.

It consisted of ten separate heads, the substance of which was as follows:

"The consuls are for life: the first consul presents the names of the other two to the senate, who may reject the first and second so offered to them, but the third presentation must be accepted. The first consul may name his successor. Should he, however, not choose or neglect so to do, the second or third consuls nominate one, who may be rejected as above; but the third nomination is imperative. The succession must be declared within twenty-four hours after the death of the first consul. The first consul has the right of pardoning in all cases; of making war and peace; ratifies all treaties; nominates all inferior officers; can appoint forty members of the senate of his own absolute authority, which, when entire, consists but of 120; prescribes to them the only subjects they can deliberate upon; and has the power of introducing into every deliberative body a majority of his own creatures."

Thus arbitrarily and absolutely was vested a power in the first consul and bis successors, more despotic than any European monarch had ever dreamed of assuming, much less of compelling his subjects to be parties to, by solemnly and gravely declaring, their slavery irrevocably established by laws of their own making.

It would be little worth while to comment further on the other provisions of this detestable code, at once the mockery and punishment of the abject wretches, who preferred the government of this unprincipled stranger to the mild and beneficent sway of the Bourbons.

The public papers and public men condemned the peace and its makers, and constantly abused

1802.

BOOK V. the first consul in the vilest terms. The "Courier de Londres," conducted by French emiCHAP. XII. grants, gave the greatest offence. It was circulated in La Vendée and other French provinces, and its design was to stir up a rebellion in favor of the old monarchy. Bonaparte was highly offended with the liberty of the English press, as will appear by the following article, taken from the Paris official paper, the Moniteur, of the 9th of August, 1802.

"The Times, which is said to be under ministerial inspection, is filled with perpetual invectives against France. Two of its four pages are every day employed in giving currency to the grossest calumnies. All that imagination can depict, that is low, vile, and base, is by that miserable paper attributed to the French government. What is its end? Who pays it? What does it wish to effect?

“A French journal, edited by some miserable emigrants, the remnant of the most impure, a vile refuse, without country, without honor, sullied with crimes which it is not in the power of any amnesty to wash away, outdoes even the Times.

Eleven bishops, presided over by the atrocious Bishop of Arras, rebels to their country and to the church, have assembled in London. They print libels against the bishops and the French clergy; they injure the government of the pope, who has re-established the peace of the gospel among forty millions of Christians.

"The isle of Jersey is full of brigands, condemned to death by the tribunals for crimes committed subsequent to the peace; for assassinations, robberies, and the practices of an incendiary.

"The treaty of Amiens stipulates, that persons accused of crimes, of murder, for instance, shall be respectively delivered up. The assassins who are at Jersey are, on the contrary, received. They depart from thence unmolested, in fishing-boats, disembark on our coasts, assassinate the richest proprietors, and burn the stacks of corn and the

barns.

46

Georges wears openly at London his red ribband, as a recompense for the infernal machine which destroyed a part of Paris, and killed thirty women and children, or peaceable citizens. This special protection authorizes a belief, that if he had succeeded he would have been honored with the order of the garter.

"Let us make some reflections on this strange conduct of our neighbours.

"When two great nations make peace, is it for the purpose of reciprocally exciting troubles, or to` engage and pay for crimes? Is it for the purpose of giving money and protection to all men who wish to trouble the state? And as to the liberty of the press, is a country to be at liberty to speak of a nation, friendly, and newly recon

ciled, in a manner which they durst not speak of a government against whom they were prosecuting a deadly war?

"Is not one nation responsible to another nation for all the acts and all the conduct of its citizens ? Do not acts of parliament even prohibit allied governments, or their ambassadors, to be insulted?

"It is said that Richelieu, under Louis XIII. assisted the revolution in England, and contributed to bring Charles the First to the scaffold. M. de Choiseul, and, after him, the ministers of Louis XVI. doubtless excited the insurrection in America. The late English ministry have had their revenge; they excited the massacres of September, and influenced their movements, by means of which Louis XVI. perished on the scaffold, and by means of which our principal manufac turing cities, such as Lyons, were destroyed. "Is it still wished that this series of movements and influence, which has been productive of such calamitous consequences to both states, for so many ages, should be prolonged? Would it not be more reasonable, and more conformable to the results of experience, to make use of the reciprocal influence of proper commercial relations, as the means of protecting commerce, of preventing the fabrication of false money, and opposing a refuge to criminals?

"Besides, what result can the English government expect from fomenting the troubles of the church? from receiving and vomiting back upon our territory the brigands of the Cotes-du-Nord and Morbhian, covered with the blood of the best and richest proprietors of those unfortunate departments-from spreading by every means, instead of severely repressing, all the calumnies circulated by English writers, or by the French press at London? Do they not know that the French government is now more solidly established than the English government? And do they think that reciprocity will be difficult for the French government?

“What would be the effect of such an exchange of injuries, of the influence of insurrectional committees, of the protection and encouragement granted to assassins? What would be gained to civilization, to the commerce and the happiness of both nations?

"Either the English government authorises and tolerates those public and private crimes, in which case it cannot be said that such conduct is consistent with British generosity, civilization, and honor; or it cannot prevent them, in which case it does not deserve the name of a government; above all, if it does not possess the means of repressing assassination and calumny, and protect ing social order!"

THAT the reader may form a just and complete view of the foreign policy of that memorable administration, in and over which Mr. Addington and Lord Hawkesbury possessed the chief direction, it will be necessary, in this chapter, impartially to pursue those measures adopted by them and by the consular government which led to a renewal of hostilities.

The new imperial parliament met on the 16th of November, 1802. His majesty, in his opening speech, expressed himself in language, respecting foreign affairs, well calculated to keep alive the spirit of uncertainty and anxiety. "In my intercourse with foreign powers," said he, "I have been actuated by a sincere disposition for the maintenance of peace. It is nevertheless impossible for me to lose sight of that established and wise system of policy by which the interests of other states are connected with our own; and I cannot, therefore, be indifferent to any material change in their relative condition and strength. My conduct will be invariably regulated by a due consideration of the actual situation of Europe, and by a watchful solicitude for the permanent welfare of my people."

The address was moved in the house of lords by Lord Arden, and seconded by Lord Nelson, who declared his approbation of a plan of government, which promised to maintain the ancient dignity of the country, without hastily throwing away the blessings of peace. "War," added he, "had not exhausted our resources; our national industry had not been slackened, nor had it been frustrated of its rewards. The condition of the country's unexampled prosperity immediately after the war, was such as would render the English inexcusable, were they to sacrifice its honor. He

CHAP. I.

1802.

had himself seen much of the miseries of war, BOOK VI. which had made an indelible impression on his heart; he was therefore, in his inmost soul, a man of peace; yet could he not consent for any peace, however fortunate, to sacrifice one jot of England's honor. Honor was the most valuable of her interests; it was that which always procured her the respect and regard of the nations on the continent. The nation had been satisfied with the sincere spirit of peace in which the British government had negociated the treaty; and if a restless and unjust ambition in those with whom Britons desired a sincere amity, gave a new alarm, the country, doubtless, would rather press the government to assert its honor, than shrink from the supplies which a vigorous state of preparation would require."

During the debate upon the address, some very severe animadversions took place upon the general policy and conduct of the new ministers. Lord Grenville declared," that the measures of vigilance and preparation now proposed, were necessary in consequence of a peace in which all concern for the interest of the rest of Europe, and all regard to the honor of this country, were abandoned. Subsequent to the period of signing the preliminaries, ministers had seen the first consul extort new concessions from Portugal, contrary to the spirit of his engagements with Great Britain. The King of Sardinia had kept his faith with this country inviolate; and yet he was suffered to be stripped of his dominions at a time, when, if the restitution of Piedmont had been insisted on, it would scarcely have been denied. Why did France hesitate to annex Piedmont to its departments till after the conclusion of the definitive treaty, but that she might not preclude

CHAP. I.

1802.

BOOK VI. herself from that restitution if resolutely demanded? The treaty of Amiens gave Piedmont to France, and with Piedmont the sovereignty of Italy. Martinico, Malta, the Cape; every thing was resigned; and did we now presume to remonstrate against the fortune of Parma, or of Switzerland? It was the want of energy, of plan, of foresight, that subjugated the genius of Britain before the first consul of France. It was as if ministers had conspired with the adversary to bind Great Britain hand and foot. The ruin they had prepared was upon us." His lordship concluded by expressing his opinion, that Great Britain might still be able to rouse the powers of Europe, if its councils were under the direction of a leader of courage and capacity; of the man (Mr. Pitt) to whom Europe looked up for the preservation of its dearest rights and liberties.

In the house of commons the address was moved by the Hon. Mr. French, member for Galway, and seconded by the Hon. Mr. Curzon, who remarked " that the acquisitions of France upon the continent, and her extended line of maritime frontier, directly opposite Britain's eastern coasts, required a much stronger defensive system than was ever before deemed necessary.'

Mr. Fox wished to know whether France was for ever to be considered England's rival? Whether Englishmen were to be always, even when apparently at peace, in such a state of rivality as bordered upon hostility? England appeared to him never to have a fairer chance of superiority than at the epoch of the present peace. As to the French navy, the most timid had ceased to dread it. The general objects of the French government were, it appeared to him, to revive commerce and improve its commercial and manufacturing system, by imitating the means which had raised Great Britain. Such rivalship should give no alarm. He acknowledged the power of France to be greater than he or any Englishman could wish it, but that was no ground for going to war; and he hoped the sense of the nation might be, to retain the advantages of the peace they had made.

Mr. Windham declared "Destruction was inpending over Englishmen. Europe might be said to be in ruins. This country seemed to touch the moment of dissolution; and he thought, upon the present, system of amity with France, her fall inevitable. What was become of Holland? of Genoa? of Switzerland? of Modena and Parma? all swallowed up in the inordinate encroachments of the first consul. Germany was no longer GerGermany was no longer Germany; and England would soon be in the same melancholy situation. In times past, France was formidable with a population of twenty-four millions, but now her power was gigantic and tremendous. He was astonished at the indifference

of the honorable gentleman, (meaning Mr. Fox,)
who seemed to have lost his feelings when he
spoke of the French revolution. For his own
part, he must exclaim with MACBETH—
Can such things be,

And overcome us, like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
E'en to the disposition that I owe,

When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheek,
When mine is blanch'd with fear.-

He cautioned ministers to weigh well the situa-
tion this country would be in when war comes,
which he thought could not be far off; and he
believed it was much safer to anticipate the blow
than to defer it. That, however, must be left to
the responsibility of ministers; but, in his opinion,
they ought not to part with any measures or
means which chance or circumstances may have
left in their hands, even though keeping them
should risk an immediate war.
"We were," he
said, " at present in so awful a crisis, that it
brought into play all the strongest impulses that
could actuate the heart of man.
The country
could not be saved without the co-operation of
the majority of the nation; and he advised mi-
nisters to appeal to the high-minded and proud of
heart, to those susceptible of an ardent love of
their country: and he hoped that the heroic spirit
for which England had been so long and so de-
servedly celebrated, would be found much more
general than is now supposed. At all events,
whether ministers succeeded or not in their efforts
to save the nation, they would at least save their
characters: they would not go down like the
AUGUSTULI, but would show that they dared to
adopt those vigorous measures which the danger
they saw rising up on all sides, and threatening
to overwhelm them, so loudly called for."

In this debate, ministers argued as strongly in favor of peace, as if they had made every effort for its preservation, instead of having exerted, in the recent instance of Switzerland, all the means which they possessed, futile and feeble as indeed they eventually proved, to renew the war on the continent. Lord Hawkesbury declared," that he could not coincide with those who would have this country the knight-errand, or Drawcansir, in every case of contest on the continent." He maintained that the interference of France was to be expected in the affairs of Switzerland. He allowed that this interference had been attended with gross partiality; but nothing had occurred which could warrant a renewal of hostilities: and he assured the house, that no excitement in the first instance, or encouragement in the second, had ever been lent to the people of Switzerland from this country.

Mr. Addington professed himself proud to say,

"that at no period of our history had despondency so little to fear, or hope so much to expect. He could truly assert, that if he were to take a retrospect of his past life, and fix on that portion of it which could afford him most gratification, he should always consider the share he had in making the late peace as the most fortunate part of it. He acknowledged the political aggrandisement of France; but it must be something more than the arguments he had then heard, which would induce him to think that war would now tend to the reduction of her power." The address was at length voted without a division.

It was reasonably to be expected, as perfectly consonant with the general tenor of their policy, that the Grenville party should appear the zealous opponents of the peace, and the severe accusers of the first consul. The concessions made on the part of England to France. by the treaty of Amiens, were indeed such, that, if a mutual spirit of amity did not accompany the return of peace, it was impossible not to allow that they were far too great and the most undeviating wisdom of conduct was requisite, on the part of ministers, to prove to the world, that the sacrifices they had consented to were not the result of intimidation and pusillanimity, but of moderation and equity. So problematic, however, had been the conduct of administration, in the whole of their transactions with France since the peace, imperfectly known as they were to the public at this period, that the most intelligent persons began to augur very disastrous consequences. As long, nevertheless, as ministers professed themselves, from whatever motives, adverse to the policy of involving the nation in a second war with the French republic, upon any grounds which had yet been stated, it was necessary to give them every prac ticable support.

At this time, the Grenville party received a great addition of force from a quarter where they had least right to expect it, viz. from divers individuals of the old or whig opposition, who had so meritoriously contended against the late system, and who had approved the treaty of peace as the best, or nearly the best, which circumstances would permit the new ministers to obtain from France; but who now, from a sudden aversion to the first consul, whom they publicly stigmatised and denounced as a tyrant and usurper, seemed no less eager than the avowed impugners of the peace, to plunge the country into a new war. The most distinguished person of this, by no means small or insignificant party, was Mr. Sheridan, who, in direct contradiction to the arguments of Mr. Fox, took every occasion of uttering vehement invectives against the government of France, and the person and character of the first consul, not to be exceeded by the rage of those who were more emphatically, though not more

justly, designated by the appellation of the war BOOK VI party.

66 a

1802.

On the 8th of December, Mr. Yorke, secretary CHAP. I. at war, proposing an enormous peace-establishment of 130,000 men, Mr. Sheridan supported the motion, in a speech which was not at all in unison with those formerly delivered by him in that house."I find," said this gentleman, disposition in some gentlemen to rebuke any man who shall freely declare his opinion respecting the first consul of France. I will abstain from offending them if I can-I say if I can, because I feel that even a simple narrative may be construed into invective. I perfectly agree with my honorable friend (Mr. Fox), that war ought to be avoided; though he does not agree with me on the means best calculated to produce that effect. From any opinion he may express, I never differ but with the greatest reluctance. For him, my affection, my esteem, and my attachment are unbounded, and they will end only with my life. He (Bonaparte) has discovered that we all belong to the western family. I confess I felt a sentiment of deep indignation when I heard that this scrap of nonsense was uttered to one of the most enlightened of the human race. To this family party I do not wish to belong. He might invite persons, if he pleased, to dinner; and, like Lord Peter, say, that this tough crust is excellent mutton.' He might toss a sceptre to the King of Etruria to play with, and keep a rod to scourge him in the corner: but my humble apprehension is, that, though in the tablet and volume of his mind there might be some marginal note about cashiering the King of Etruria, yet the whole text was occupied with the destruction of this country.. This was the first vision that broke upon him through the gleam of the morning; this was his last prayer at night, to whatever deity he addressed it, whether to Jupiter or to Mahomet, to the goddess of battles, or the goddess of reason. He said he was an instrument in the hands of Providence; I believe he was so; to make the English love their constitution better-to cling to it with more fondness, and to render them determined, with one hand and heart, to oppose to any aggression that might be made upon them a prompt, resolute, and determined resistance, bet the consequences what they might. We ought to meet the hostility of France with a conviction of the truth of this assertion, that the country, which, like England, had achieved such greatness, could have no retreat in littleness; that if Englishmen could be content to abandon every thing, they should find no safety in poverty, no security in abject submission. The Bourbons. were ambitious; but it was not so necessary for them to feed their subjects with the spoils and plunder of war; but I see, in the very situation and composition of the power of Bonaparte, a