a numerous and disciplined army; and, while he possessed a standing force, such as Europe never before witnessed, to secure for it a source of permanent supply.

After the object of the imperial interviews at Tilsit was accomplished, Bonaparte proceeded with little delay to Paris, where his arrival was expected with all the ardour of curiosity and impatience. His birth-day was celebrated, after his arrival, with peculiar distinction. A grand fete took place, in which ingenuity is said to have exhausted itself in endless devices, expressive of gratitude and admiration. On the enbuing day, the legislative body and the tribunate were assembled in the usual forms. In his address to them, the emperor observed, that since their last meeting new wars, triumphs, and trophies, had changed the political relations of Europe; that the house of Brandenburg, which was the first to combine against French independence, was permitted to reign only through the friendship of the emperor of the north; that a French prince would speedily reign on the Elbe; that the house of Saxony again possessed the independence it had lost for fifty years; that the inhabitants of the duchy of Warsaw and Dantzic had recovered their country; and that all nations concurred in joy at the extinction of the pernicious influence of England on the continent. By the confederation of the Rhine, France was united with Germany; by her own peculiar system of federation, she was united with Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. Her new relations with Russia were founded on the mutual esteem of two great nations. He wished for peace by sea, and would never suffer any irritation to influence his decisions on this subject; indeed there could be no room for irritation against a people, the sport and victim of the parties which devoured it, and which was misled as much with respect to the affairs of other nations as its own. The tranquillity and order of the French nation, during his absence, had excited his ardent gratitude. He had contrived the means of simplifying their institutions; he had extended his principle on which had

been founded the legion of honour; the finances were prosperous; the contributions on land were diminished; various public works had been completed; and it was his resolution. that, in the remotest parts of his empire, and even in the smallest hamlet, the comfort of the citizen and the value of the land should be increased by the developement of a general system of improvement.

While Bonaparte was thus congratulating his French subjects on the enviable state in which he had placed them, he expressed the utmost compassion for the unhappy nation of England, which afforded some amusement to the miserable islanders, who certainly had not calculated upon having excited his commiseration. At the same time the once flourishing country of Holland was suffering the greatest distress, and their king, unable to move the resolution of his brother, could only lament his inability to mitigate the evils it suffered.

While the pages of the Moniteur abounded in phillippics against the English government for the Danish expedition, Bonaparte was preparing to invade the territories of the house of Braganza, merely because it would not deviate from that neutrality which herself pronounced thus sacred and inviolable. Menaces to this effect had been long thrown out, and their execution had been repeatedly bought off by vast premiums. During the preceding year it had become a topic of serious deliberation, between the cabinets of Great Britain and Portugal, whether, in the case of actual invasion by France, the Portuguese court might not be advantageously transferred to its dependencies in South America; and the adoption of this plan is stated to have been then resolved on, in the event supposed. This event, however, did not then take place, but appeared now by Bonaparte to be finally decided on. An army of 40,000 men was ordered to be assembled at Bayonne. The French ambassador having failed in every attempt to shake the firmness of the prince regent, quitted Lisbon, and the Spanish ambassador soon followed his example. The

activity and confusion were extreme. The most extravagant terms were demanded for the conveyance of British settlers, with their families to England, in vessels but ill adapted for accommodation and even for security.

In the mean time the Portuguese navy was prepared with all possible expedition. The royal furniture and treasures were packed up. The conveniences and necessaries for a long voyage, and for various establishments on the arrival of the fleet at its destination, were assiduously collected, and arrangements were made for the new government abroad, and for a regency at home. The British ambassador was indefatigable in his attempts to confirm the resolution of the court, and perpetually contrasting the independence and glory of the new empire in South America, with the abject vassalage and contemptible insignificance which alone could be expected, were the prince to continue in his European dominions. A reluctance, however, to quit the shores of that country which he had so long governed, and which had given him birth, was not unfrequently manifested by the prince; and, in proportion as the time approached for his embarkation on an enterprise of such magnitude and crisis, he appeared less disinclined to make sacrifices from which he had previously shrunk with disdain. So far indeed did his wishes to conciliate France prevail, that on the 8th of November he signed an order for retaining the few British subjects, and the small portion of British property, which remained in his dominions. On the publication of this order Lord Strangford demanded his passports, and, presenting a final remonstrance to the court, proceeded to join the squadron under Sir Sydney Smith, which had been sent to the coast of Portugal to assist in saving the royal family, or, in the worst event, to prevent, by all possible means, the Portuguese fleet from falling into the possession of the enemy. A most rigorous blockade of the Tagus was immediately resolved on; but, after a few days, the intercourse of the British ambassador and the court was renewed, at the request of the former, who, on proceed

ing, under assurances of protection, to Lisbon, found all the apprehensions of the prince now directed to a French army, and all his hopes to a British fleet. To explain this singular change it must be observed that, between the departure and return of Lord Strangford, the prince had received intelligence, that Bonaparte had fulminated against him one of those edicts which have almost invariably been followed by his subversion of thrones. It had been pronounced that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign. To this alarming denunciation, which cut off all hope of compromise even by the most humiliating submission, may be ascribed the complacency, or rather rapture, with which the proposition for renewed intercourse with England was accepted; a proposition, indeed, which there can be no boubt, would, within a short interval, if not received by the court, have been made by it. So great was the agitation now exhibited by this court, that it manifested as much avidity to accomplish the enterprise, as it had previously shown hesitation and reluctance. The interview took place on the 27th of November, and on the morning of the 29th the Portuguese fleet sailed out of the Tagus with the whole of the royal family of Braganza, and a considerable number of faithful counsellors, and respectable and opulent adherents. The fleet consisted of eight sail of the line and four large frigates, and several other vessels of war, besides a number of Brazil ships, and amounted in all to 36 sail, containing about 18,000 Portuguese subjects. As they passed through the British squadron, a reciprocal salute was fired, and the spectacle was in several respects grand and interesting, from the circumstance of the two squadrons meeting in the most cordial friendship, which but two days before were in hostility, and from the singularity and magnitude of the enterprise, for the accomplishment of which they were now co-operating.

A scene of villainy unparalleled in the annals of mankind. was now exhibited to Europe. Bonaparte had long kept Spain. in a state of degradation and dependence, yet this did not

satisfy his ambition. He resolved to destroy every vestige of her political independence, and to aggrandize his family by exalting one of his brothers to the throne. The means adopted for accomplishing this object, were not those of open force, but a combination of such disgusting and singular acts as to form an era in the history of crimes. His proceedings in this instance, excited a revolution as unexpected as sudden. In order to rouse to its highest pitch the indignation of the Spaniards against their oppressor, and to hold him up to the rest of the world and to posterity in the perpetration of one of his most foul and tyrannical acts, it was thought proper to publish an authentic document of his behaviour to the royal family of Spain. This document, from which the following account is extracted, was entitled, 'An Exposition of the Practices and Machinations which led to the Usurpation of the Crown of Spain, and the means adopted by the Emperor of the French to carry it into Execution.' The author of it is Don Pedro Cevallas, first secretary of state to his Catholic majesty Ferdinand VII.

The favour which Don Manuel Godoy enjoyed with Charles IV. is well known to have arisen, or at least to have been much strengthened, from the peace and alliance he concluded with France in the year 1796. Don Manuel (or the prince of the peace as he was called from that treaty) found it necessary, both for the purpose of preserving his favour with Charles, and in compliance with the interests and wishes of the French government, by whom his power and influence were in a great measure supported, to adhere closely and in all circumstances to the alliance formed between France and Spain in 1796. The demands of the French were generally very exorbitant, and the system she insisted on Spain pursuing was evidently destructive of the power and welfare of that kingdom: yet to preserve the prince of the peace in the situation and favour he possessed, every thing was sacrificed. The demands and plans of the French government seem not have gone beyond the complete subserviency of Spanish