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of our day; though we may hope that our modern London would show the same alacrity of spirit if a similar appeal should ever be made to our national courage. On this very day, while the citizens were saying "Amen to the thanksgiving for the King's recovery, the Duke of York was writing to Lord Eldon, as Mr. Pitt did the next day, on the alarming things the poor sufferer was saying and doing. "He is not aware," wrote the Duke of York, "of the dreadful consequences which may attend him, if any unfortunate circumstance can be brought forward in parliament. He had talked about some unreal and absurd plans of foreign policy, the day before, in one of the audiences: and, as every body might not know them to be purely imaginary, they might fatally increase the Minister's difficulties, at his entrance upon office.

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Such were the circumstances of Mr. Pitt's return to power.

CHAPTER VI.

Napoleon Emperor-Mr. Pitt as War Minister-Additional Force Bill -National Condition-Continental Alliances-The Catamaran Expedition-Relations with Spain-Seizure of Treasure Ships - Reconciliation of Pitt and Addington-Declaration of War with SpainNaval Administration-Lord Melville-Motion of Censure-Lord Melville's Defence-His impeachment-Resignation of Lord Sidmouth-Catholic Question-Prospects of the War-General Mack's Surrender-The French at Vienna-Nelson in the MediterraneanRoving the Seas-Battle of Trafalgar-Death of Nelson-His character-Accession of Prussia to the League-Battle of AusterlitzAustrian Treaty-Mr. Pitt's Illness-His Death—[1801–6].

IF Napoleon had not, by courtesy, been placed on the list of sovereigns in the Court Calendar, he must now have been so by right. There could be no doubt about acknowledging him after May 1804, for then he was made Emperor with all formality. After the discovery of the Pichegru plot, his obsequious Senate told him in an address that he ought to complete his own work, and that splendour was of no avail without stability. After consideration, Napoleon desired the Senate to furnish him

with their confidential opinion, "whether it was desirable to make hereditary succession the basis of the government of France." The Senate consulted for four days, during the latter portion of which time the leaders were warned confidentially, that if they did not make haste, they would be forestalled by the army, who would certainly lift up their General when he went to review them, and make him Emperor. The movement had begun in March. It was on the 18th of May that the Senatus Consultum was summoned for the purpose of proclaiming Napoleon Emperor, and the dignity to be hereditary in his family. He at first styled himself Emperor by the constitutions of the Republic; but presently exchanged the word "Republic" for "Empire." Some officers of his army resigned their commissions on the occasion; but on the whole, the change was popular. Louis XVIII. issued from Warsaw his formal protest; but the Pope was induced to go to Paris, to confer the Crown; and the Bourbons could do nothing in the face of such a sanction. The coronation took place on the 1st of December, 1804. -Then closed the best part of Napoleon's public life. Up to this time, the good wishes and hopes of the best men in society, both abroad and at home, had been with him; and he had so far respected liberal opinion, and wrought for the real good of France, as to justify the hope of the wise who were too far off to be aware of what he said in unguarded moments. It is now known, however, that he had throughout contemplated war, and meant to make it the business of his life. At the time of the formation of the peace of Amiens, he told one, of his councillors, in a conversation reported by Thibaudeau, and in others given to us by his own secretary, Bourrienne, that old victories lose their immediate effect on the minds of the people; that masterpieces of art are the delight of only a few; that public works, though glorious in the eyes of posterity, do not suffice for such present popularity as was necessary for him and his new state; and that military glory was indispensable to the consolidation of the empire, surrounded as France was with open enemies and resentful victims. "It must become the first of all states," he said, "or it will fall." He declared that he

considered all treaties as mere truces; and that, though he intended to leave to his foes the odium of renewing the war, he was secure that it would not be long before they would resume hostilities, or afford him a fair opportunity of doing so. There is thus no doubt-and men presently began to see this—that Mr. Pitt's first and third opinions of Napoleon were right; and that the intermediate mood of hope and relenting was an amiable error, for which the time was now come for him to atone.

Those who knew him best (not too nearly, so as to be under his fascination, but keen observers at a sufficient distance) were grieved and alarmed that Mr. Pitt should have to cope with Napoleon by means of a new war. What kind of Peace Minister Mr. Pitt would have made, there was but too little opportunity for knowing; but it had become pretty clear that he was not a good War Minister. His love of peace was as ardent, and, to those who knew him, as unquestionable as that of Mr. Fox, or any other advocate of conciliation. He had the high spirit, patriotic instincts, and strong will, required by his position; but he had not the faculty for it. Untaught by experience, his notion of the continental war was precisely what it had been before: we must seek continental alliances; we must subsidize the smaller states, or aid them with loans. Upwards of 12,000,000l. had before been thus paid away; and the states so aided had been successively conquered and drawn within the power of France; yet this was what Mr. Pitt planned to do again, being as sanguine as he was before "about setting Europe to rights."

His first measure, brought forward on the 5th of June, was his Additional Force Bill, by which he hoped to render the Reserve a means of recruiting the general army by an annual reinforcement of 12,000; and this by a method which would lessen the enormous bounties created by a competition between men enlisting for a limited, and those for the general, service. The force would now be disposable, in case of its service being needed abroad; and, the militia being reduced from 74,000 men to 40,000 for England and 8,000 for Scotland, and it being made more for a man's interest to serve in person,

it was hoped that the recruiting would go on better than hitherto. It certainly could hardly go on worse, if Mr. Pitt's own account was true-that out of 30,000 ballotted, not more than 2,000 or 3,000 appeared to serve. The parishes were to be ordered or encouraged to furnish the requisite proportion of men, who were to serve for five years; and if they failed, they must pay a moderate fine, which was to go into the general recruiting fund. There was to be no compulsion to serve abroad on the men who enlisted, but they were to reinforce the regulars at home : and it was hoped that the relation thus established between the reserve force and the regulars would naturally lead to a more easy reinforcement of the troops which might have to serve abroad. Such was the famous Additional Force Bill of Mr. Pitt; famous, less on account of its nature than because it served as the rallying point of all the opponents of the restored Minister. The first reading was permitted, after some adverse speeches, without a division. On occasion of the second reading, the Premier found his own relatives and old comrades, the Grenvilles, against him, joining their influence with the weak and aimless cavillings of Addington, and the vehement opposition of Fox, and the vociferous rage of Sheridan. During the late debates on this Bill, the Minister openly expressed his surprise and disappointment at the treatment he met with from the Grenvilles; and the conflict was as vehement a one as has often been seen in parliament. The second reading was carried by a majority of only 42; and there were crises in Committee afterwards: but there was no division on the third reading, and the Bill became law, after an opposition in the Lords, carried on by the Grenville and Addington representatives in that House. Already the Minister found what it was to have the proud Grenvilles against him.

The supplies granted by the Commons before they separated amounted to between 53,000,000l. and 54,000,000l. On the 7th of July, the King had, by message, desired a vote of credit which might enable him to defeat or disappoint any enterprise of his enemies, and to meet the exigencies of the time. When the Speaker presented to the King, on the last day of July, an account of what the

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Commons had done, he said some things which appear surprising to us who feel the effect of the expenditure of that time. However willing we may be to bear it, and to admit its necessity, we cannot but wonder at the view taken by the House of Commons of a matter to us so plain. In providing for these grants," said the Speaker, large in their amount, and commensurate with the extraordinary demands of the times in which we live, we have nevertheless steadily persevered in our former course, by raising a large proportion of our supplies within the year: and we have now the proud satisfaction to see that the permanent debt of the nation is rapidly diminishing, at the same time that the growing prosperity of the country has strengthened and multiplied all its resources." Sinking Fund was still believed to be paying the Debt by some magical operation; and we wonder the less at that part of the Speaker's doctrine: but his mention of the growing prosperity of the country is remarkable. During the spring, prices had so far fallen as that wheat was at 498. 6d. The relief felt by the majority was less likely to make itself known to parliament than the fear and anger of the agricultural classes, which were sending up loud complaints of distress. By the time the Speaker made his boast, however, those classes were somewhat consoled, for wheat was rising. The weather had been such that the harvest in England was deficient from a fourth to a third; and before the end of the year, wheat was at 868. 2d. These fluctuations were bad for all parties. At this moment, when the prices of food were rising, when taxes were increasing, when the large government expenditure had considerably raised the interest of money, when there was a demand for soldiers and sailors which encouraged strikes for wages among operatives and labourers, and when our foreign trade was threatened by the declaration of a new war, it may be doubted whether many of the manufacturers of Great Britain would have said "Amen" to the Speaker's thankfulness for the growing prosperity of the country.

Towards the close of the Address, there was a reference to the States of the Continent which seemed to point to a probable alliance against France. The Royal Speech of