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 42 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE king of Italy, in the midst of imposing cer- emonies and theatrical pomp. The same sum- mer the northern powers listened to the solici- tations of England, and united in a coalition against the new emperor. Russia, Austria, and Sweden joined in the charges of territorial usurpation which were levelled at Napoleon ; but Prussia, already bribed by him with the promise of Hanover, could not be seduced into becoming a party. By September the French forces in eight divisions, and number- ing 180,000 men, were upon the Rhine, ready to act against Austria. That country, gov- erned by decrepit bureaucrats, sent forward its troops under an incompetent general, Mack, without waiting for the Russian allies. On Oct. 17, being completely surrounded by Napo- leon at Him, he conditionally capitulated, and on the 20th he surrendered his whole army of 23,000 men. The next day, however, the great victory of Nelson at Trafalgar, over the com- bined fleets of France and Spain, compensated the allies for this reverse. Nothing daunted by the naval disaster, Napoleon advanced to Vien- na, which city he entered Nov. 18, where he made his preparations to meet the combined armies of Russia and Austria, then concentra- ting on the plains of Olmutz. On Dec. 2, 1805, the grand encounter came on at Austerlitz, and after a struggle of unexampled energy in which three of the greatest armies of Europe, each commanded by an emperor, with the mas- tery of the continent for the prize, met in des- perate strife Napoleon won the victory, the most glorious perhaps of his career. The allies were thoroughly routed ; the emperor of Aus- tria made instant peace, while the emperor of Russia withdrew into his own territories. The king of Prussia was rewarded for his neutrali- ty by the possession of Hanover, and England alone remained to stem the tide of success which was bearing forward the victorious Cor- sican. As the king of Naples, instigated by his wife, an Austrian princess, had received the troops of Russia and England into his domin- ions during the recent war, Napoleon con- strued the act into one of predetermined hos- tility, and in February, 1806, sent an army under his brother Joseph to occupy the country. The king fled to Sicily, when Napoleon declared the crown vacant, and conferred the title of king of Naples and Sicily upon Joseph, March 30. Following this by another decree, he transformed the Batavian republic into a king- dom, dependent upon France, and gave the crown to his brother Louis, June 5. About the same time he erected various districts in Germany and Italy into dukedoms, which he bestowed upon his principal marshals. But a more important act was that of July 12, which created the confederation of the Rhine, and which some 14 princes of Germany were in- duced to join, thereby placing themselves under the supremacy of France, and detaching some 16,000,000 people from the tottering German empire. The policy which Napoleon had pur- sued in making two of his brothers kings, he now extended to his sisters and brothers-in- law, who were distributed as rulers over various countries of the continent. William Pitt, the minister of Great Britain, having died Jan. 23, 1806, and Charles Fox succeed- ing to his place, negotiations were opened be- tween France and England in regard to the termination of hostilities. In the course of these, propositions were entertained looking toward a restoration of Hanover to the latter power, which at once opened the eyes and aroused the jealousies of Prussia. It was not long before the Prussian monarch acceded to the coalition against Napoleon, and entered into active preparations for war. The em- peror, whose celerity of action was prodigious, instantaneously moved toward Prussia with a powerful force, and by Oct. 8, 1806, had reached the Prussian outposts. On the 14th he routed the enemy with fearful slaughter at Jena, and the same day Marshal Davoust achieved most important successes at Auer- stiidt, the duke of Brunswick being among the killed. By this double encounter, in which more than 20,000 Prussians were killed, the strength of the kingdom was fatally broken, and Napoleon followed up his victories with such signal energy that, in two weeks from the commencement of hostilities, Oct. 27, he entered the Prussian capital in triumph. After occupying almost all the fortresses, and re- ducing such towns as still maintained a show of resistance, he issued from Berlin, Nov. 21, the famous decree, declaring the British islands in a state of blockade, forbidding all correspon- dence or trade with England, defining all articles of British manufacture or produce as contraband, and the property of all British subjects as lawful prize of war. Meanwhile the Russian allies, who had advanced as far as the Vistula, were driven back through Poland, and the French entered Warsaw. A winter campaign was then begun against the Russians ; but after the indecisive battle at Pultusk, Dec. 26, the Russians retreated to Ostrolenka, and the French behind the Vistula, toward the north. The month of January, 1807, was spent in repose and preparation by both sides, and on Feb. 7 and 8 a desperate engagement took place at Eylau, in which a loss of 50,000 men was divided between them, and both claimed the victory. The following May Na- poleon attacked and conquered the important fortress of Dantzic, and having reeuforced his army with 200,000 men, he once more advanced against the Russians. On June 14 the battle of Friedland was fought, and the Russians were so worsted that Alexander asked for an armistice. The two emperors met for the first time, June 25, on a raft in the middle of the Niemen, and on July 7 a treaty of peace was concluded at Tilsit. The Prussian monarch received back about half his domin- ions ; the duchy of Warsaw was created and given to the elector of Saxony, an ally of the