Ferrol. A descent was made near that port, and a skirmish ensued with a body of Spaniards, in which the British troops gave them a repulse. On reconnoitring the port from the neighbouring heights, however, the commanders, who, were also informed by the prisoners that it was prepared for defence, thought it advisable to re-embark the troops,

Although the British government was not encouraged to persevere in these enterprises against the coasts of our several enemies by any signal advantage which had arisen from them, yet it was deemed advisable to continue them, as the best means to distract their attention; and, moreover, as a cover for the grand expedition, projected for the ensuing campaign, against that French settlement in Egypt which Buonaparte intended to be the first step towards the subversion of the British power in India. Before the close of this campaign, † lord Keith's fleet of twenty-two sail of the line and twenty-seven frigates, with 20,000 landmen on board commanded by sir Ralph Abercrombie, appeared' off Cadiz, and threatened an attack on that city. The governor addressed a pathetic letter to the admiral, representing the deplorable condition of the place, where the plague at this time raged, and intreated him not to embitter the afflictions of the citizens, and bring down their execrations on his head, by adding the evils of war to the heap of their calamities.— The admiral and general replied, "that as the ships in the port were to "be employed in augmenting the naval force of the French republic, and prolonging the calamities of Europe, an attack was to be averted only by a surrender of those vessels.-The governor rejecting these proposals with disdain, preparations were made for a descent. But when the strength of the place was considered, with its state of defence and other circumstances, it was thought expedient to retire.'

66

The British arms in the mean-time, had been crowned with success in different parts of the world.-In the East Indies our settlements were secured by the death of Tippoo Sultan' and the final overthrow of his dominion.' In the West Indies, the Dutch settlements of Surinam and Curacoa, had fallen into our hands. And the conquest first of Minorca, and afterwards of Malta, so essential to the success of our medi

1800

1800 tated enterprises in the Mediterranean, 'were events which cheered the spirits of the British nation, and gave them a pleasing anticipation of good fortune. Among other advantages, these ports afforded excellent stations for the different divisions of our fleet; where they were prepared to enter upon the memorable expedition to Egypt, which will be given in the French history of the ensuing year.

1800

FRANCE, ITALY, AND GERMANY.

Ar no period of his career did Buonaparte discover more judgment than in the general system of policy adopted by him subsequent to the establishment of the new constitution. He was sensible of the weight of public opinion, and conformed his conduct to it. He knew that the nation were disgusted with the tyranny and malepractices of the directory, and looked forward with sanguine hopes to a more just and liberal administration of government under the present system; that they had patiently submitted to the levy in mass and enormous taxes, which the directory had employed to promote their personal interests or their passion for conquest, because they considered them as the only means of preventing the reestablishment of absolute monarchy, but that they were ardently desirous of peace. And he knew that, although a strong party and an ascendency in the army had enabled him to possess himself of almost unlimited power, yet the people flattered themselves with the idea of liberty, and therefore that it was necessary to encourage that self-flattery, in order to gain the public opinion in his favour; that, having thus confirmed himself in power, he might prosecute his ambitious designs without danger of a revolt. Accordingly we find the same man who had grasped the sovereign power making moderation, a regard for liberty, and a pacific disposition the outline of his policy. He demeaned himself with liberality towards the exiled princes and nobles: he empowered general Hedoville, who commanded what was called the army of England, employed to suppress the Chouans and other royalists, to conclude an armistice with several of their chiefs, and to invite their follow

ers to return to their obedience to the existing government by displaying 1800 the merits of the new constitution. 66 Frenchmen," said he, in a proclamation now issued by him, "the happy change which has taken place in the government will bring to our country peace, both internal and external. The legislative committees and the consuls of the republic belong to no faction. Their object is the happiness and glory of the French nation. They have the firmest confidence in the victories of our armies, and every "heart partakes with them in this confidence. There is already a suspension "of arms in some of the western departments, and orders have been given "for carrying it into execution. It is not to be doubted but the chiefs of "insurgents, and the inhabitants of districts occupied by the republican ar"mies, will submit themselves without delay to the laws of the republic. "A solid peace in the interior is to be established only by the united efforts " of all good citizens, to conciliate and gain mutual affection."

To bring the revolters back to their duty, he signified that he viewed them in the light of deluded persons, and that their crimes had originated in the late unjust and oppressive government. "It is," said he, "in order "to remedy these acts of injustice and these errors that a government "founded on the sacred basis of liberty, equality, and a system of repre"sentation has been proclaimed to the nation, and recognised by it."

Whilst he was using these prudential methods to attach men to the new constitution and his own person, and to restore internal tranquillity, he endeavoured at the same time to conciliate their zealous support in his views of foreign policy.-To persuade the nation that he was desirous of peace with all the world, by that means, should he not succeed in prescribing terms of peace to the belligerent powers, to reconcile them to the vast expences and exertions which would be required to accomplish his ambitious enterprises, he addressed a letter to his Britannic majesty, at the close of the late year, expressing an earnest wish to concur with him in giving that blessing to mankind.—The answer given to this letter by the English secretary,† savouring of disdain, and expressing diffidence in the government which the French nation had established, and the person whom they had raised to the station of chief magistrate, enabled him to make the desired im

+ January 4.

pression

Annual Register 70.

VOL. IV.

2 D

1800

pression on the public mind, and to prepare the way for a vigorous prosecution of his warlike measures.

b

His first care was to subdue the royalists, who were again in considerable force in the western departments, and in that of Dinan in Bretagne were become so confident in their strength that they affixed placards in the most public places in the city inviting men to join the standard of Lewis the eighteenth, and threatening vengeance against those who refused.

These unhappy partisans of the exiled prince, however, with much indiscreet zeal, had neither union, resources, nor able chiefs: and their unsuccessful efforts only served to prejudice the government against the more moderate and prudent royalists.-The chief consul, perceiving that they were inattentive to his conciliatory overtures, adopted the most determined coercive measures for suppressing them.-General Brune, who was, sent to take the command against them, easily dispersed the detached bodies of insurgents, and brought them to submission. And the event was that a pacification was concluded, by which the royalists in the western departments were required to surrender their arms-Count Lewis de Trotté the only chief of repute since the death of Charette, refusing to purchase his life at the expence of his principles, was taken prisoner in his place of refuge, with six of his officers. Being condemned by the court martial to be shot, they suffered the sentence with great magnanimity; falling the last victims to the unfortunate Bourbon dynasty.

These insurgents being suppressed, Buonaparte, as a means of reconciling the ecclesiastics to his government, and, by their means, reclaiming the royalists, endeavoured to conciliate the friendship of the non-juring bishops. By his desire, the constitutional bishops assembled at Paris invited them to evangelical communion and religious peace.

d

During these proceedings in France the confederates had been preparing for a trial of strength with the republic, renovated by its new constitution If the danger which threatened the European powers from the principles and enterprises of the French government had been before deemed a just ground of war, and such as constituted it defensive on their part, it was now rendered more so by the government of a person who

had

February 15.

Annual Register 74. and State Papers 204.

Ann. Regist. 165.

■ Idem. 167.

had shewn his adventurous disposition by the schemes of conquest which he had already executed and the still greater which he had projected; and who was rendered more formidable than any of those who had before possessed an ascendency in the state by the vast power which the constitution had given him; which extended not only to the appointment to all civil offices, but to the sole disposal of the military and naval force, and transactions with foreign nations relative to peace and war.-He professed pacific councils, it was said, only to deceive his own people, and to disunite the allies; thereby to enable him to prescribe such terms of peace as might confirm him in his power, and give him that ascendency in Europe to which his vast ambition aspired.

For these reasons it concerned the confederates to unite more firmly, and to act more vigorously, in order to prevent this enemy to their liberties from carrying his designs into execution, and to support their own independency. Had public spirit, had their individual interests in an enlarged view, been their actuating principle, such a system of policy would, probably, have been the result; and the allies might have maintained the conquests which they had made in the late campaign.-On the contrary, while the courts of London and Vienna were incensing the first consul by rejecting his overtures on the ground of the instability of his government, we find the emperor Paul, who had entered so warmly into the war in the late campaign, weakening the common cause by his defection from the confederacy at this important crisis, and thus affording their enemy an advantage which all the exertions of the other allies could not compensate. Buonaparte, in the mean-time, was preparing to avail himself of these auspicious circumstances and his own good policy. Having restored domestic tranquillity and provided a justification for warlike councils, and the vast levies which he was about to make, by his pacific overtures to the courts of London and Vienna, he issued a proclamation, calling on the French nation to support him with energy in such measures as were necessary to obtain that peace by force of arms which was denied him by negotiation.

The disasters of the late campaign in Italy, and the unpropitious aspect of affairs in that country, afforded him a field whereon to regain the honour which

1800

Annual Register. 171.