of so much human excellence and glory!" Wilberforce wrote in his diary: "Austerlitz killed Pitt." A monument was erected to his memory at the national expense. Pitt had been the soul of the coalition against Napoleon. His rival, Mr. Fox, succeeded him as Prime Minister of Great Britain and opened negotiations for peace, which, however, failed; and Mr. Fox was as resolute in opposing the ambition of Napoleon as Pitt had been. Both parties in England sustained Mr. Fox in this policy, and all internal questions were subordinated to this one question of saving Europe from the grasping power of Napoleon. But in September, 1806, Fox also passed to his grave; and Lord Grenville became his successor as Prime Minister of Great Britain. The most decisive act in Napoleon's foreign policy was the subversion of the Germano-Roman Empire, the constitution of which had already received a terrible blow by the elevation of the Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Würtemberg to the rank of independent kings. Napoleon therefore entertained the project of removing Southern and Western Germany entirely from the influence of Austria and of uniting them under his own power. Self-interest was more powerful than patriotism with these German princes, who subordinated the interests of the German Fatherland to their own individual aggrandizement. A prospect of enlarging their own respective territories, and fear of the mighty potentate who seemed absolutely invincible in arms, induced many of the German princes to transfer their allegiance from the German Emperor to the French Emperor. Fox's Ministry and Death. Napoleon's Designs on the Germano Roman Empire. eration of the Rhine Accordingly sixteen princes in the South and West of Germany-in- Confedcluding the Kings of Bavaria and Würtemberg, the Grand Dukes of Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt and the Prince-Primate-concluded a treaty with Napoleon at Paris, July 12, 1806, by which they seceded from the German Empire, formed the Confederation of the Rhine, or, as it is called in German, the Rheinbund, and placed themselves under Napoleon's protection; while the French Emperor, as Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, recognized the full sovereignty of the individual members of the Confederation on condition of their maintaining a certain contingent of troops under arms and at his disposal. Bavaria, Würtemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau and several others of the most important German states formed the nucleus around which the lesser principalities, such as Hohenzollern, Leichtenstein, Solms and others, collected themselves, until at length almost all of the German states joined the Rhenish Confederation. The Elector-Archchancellor Dalberg-who had been made Prince-Primate, and who had received Frankfort, along with Hanau and Fulda, in Hesse-Cassel, as a principality-was made Napoleon's representative in the Confedera End of the Germano Emperor tion of the Rhine. The power of most of the princes of the Confederation was considerably augmented by the subjection of many small and formerly-independent states of the German Empire under Napoleon's dominion. On August 1, 1806, the French ambassador at Ratisbon notified the German Imperial Diet that his sovereign, having accepted the ProRoman tectorate of the Confederation of the Rhine, no longer recognized the Empire. existence of the German Empire; and on August 6, 1806, Francis II. Renunci- published a declaration in which he stated that, finding it impossible ation by to fulfill the obligations which devolved upon him as the elective head Francis I. of the German nation, he considered the bonds which attached him to the Germanic body-politic forever dissolved, renounced the title of the elective office of Emperor of Germany, withdrew the whole of his hereditary Austrian states from the German Union, and thereafter reigned only as Francis I., hereditary Emperor of Austria, which title he had assumed in 1804 and which has ever since been borne by the imperial House of Hapsburg. Debase ment of Germany. Thus ended the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, after an existence of one thousand and six years, from the time that Pope Leo III. placed the diadem of the Cæsars upon the head of Charlemagne, A. D. 800. It had long been reduced to a mere shadow by internal dissensions and a powerless imperial government. Its mightiest limbs had now become the vassals of a foreign despot. Many a patriotic German heart felt keenly the degradation of the Fatherland; but none dared to utter their inmost thoughts after the bookseller Palm, Judicial of Nuremberg, had become the victim of an infamous judicial murder for his refusal to give the name of the author of a pamphlet which he published on the debasement of Germany. Palm's Murder. Addition to Napo leon's The accession of so numerous and powerful a vassalage was of vast importance to Napoleon, as it placed an army of seventy thousand Military men at his disposal-a number afterward increased to one hundred Strength. and twenty thousand by the enlargement of the Confederation of the Rhine. The German Princes The princes of the Confederation of the Rhine had kept their movements secret from King Frederick William III. of Prussia; although and his brother-in-law, the Prince of Orange, who had been deprived of the Prussia. Stadtholdership of Holland, thereby became a vassal of Joachim Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law, the new Grand Duke of Berg. Momen Results. Such were the momentous results of Napoleon's celebrated campaign tous of 1805-the results of the great battle of Austerlitz and the Peace of Pressburg-Austria humiliated at the French Emperor's feet and the thousand-year-old Germano-Roman Empire practically a complete wreck and in the final stages of dissolution. SECTION VIII.-NAPOLEON'S PRUSSO-RUSSIAN WAR OF 1806-7 AND RESULTS. THE wavering policy of the King of Prussia during the late campaign in Germany and Austria had aroused Napoleon's anger, and convinced him that Frederick William III. would be untrustworthy as an ally and cowardly as an enemy. The French Emperor therefore cast aside all respect and forbearance, and intentionally inflicted many mortifications upon the Prussian government. The irritation thus produced soon developed into a complete rupture between France and Prussia from two causes. The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine indicated Napoleon's intention of gradually making Germany as dependent upon the French Empire as Italy and Holland were already. Prussia therefore attempted to thwart Napoleon's design by the formation of a North German Confederation in opposition to the Confederation of the Rhine, inviting all the German states which had not yet joined the Rhenish Confederation to join this rival league. Prussia was highly exasperated when Napoleon frustrated this project. At the same time it became known to the court of Berlin that, during the renewal of the negotiations for peace between France and Great Britain, Napoleon had offered to restore the Electorate of Hanover to King George III., without consulting Prussia on the subject, although that Electorate had been conferred upon the Prussian king by Napoleon after the Peace of Pressburg. The French Emperor had conferred Hanover on the King of Prussia, ostensibly as a reward for his neutrality during the Austerlitz campaign, but really for the purpose of involving him in a war with the King of Great Britain; and it had been considered a badge of his humiliation. Napoleon's design of wresting from King Frederick William III. the territory so recently conferred upon him was a mark of contempt too palpable to be endured. Napoleon's action in the case of Hanover, together with the violations of Prussian territory by the French, strengthened the war party at the Prussian court, in which Queen Louisa was the moving spirit and which also included the leading Prussian statesmen and generals. Unfortunately for herself, Prussia had lost the confidence of all Europe by her vacillation during Napoleon's Austro-Russian campaign of the previous year, when she finally decided not to join the coalition against France; and she now found that she had to oppose Napoleon's entire force with no immediate aid but that of the Elector Frederick Augustus of Saxony. Most of the Prussian generals were old men. Their commander-in-chief, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, had won his spurs in Her Warlike Action. leon's Invasion the Seven Years' War as the companion-in-arms of Frederick the Great. Convinced that nothing was to be expected from France, the Prussian government issued an ultimatum demanding a redress of all grievances, placed its army on a war-footing and severed its diplomatic intercourse with France. While the people of Berlin were expecting the Napo- final answer from France, Napoleon and his experienced marshals with one hundred thousand troops were already in the heart of Thuringia and Saxony, the Elector of which had formed an alliance with Prussia after some hesitation. Thus Napoleon began his Prussian campaign of 1806 with his usual promptitude and energy, and while the Prussian commander expected to find the French forces dispersed in Franconia they were on his left flank and cutting off his communications with the Russians. of Prussia. Battles of The Prussians were defeated by Marshal Bernadotte at Schleitz and by Marshal Lannes at Saalfeld, where Prince Louis of Prussia was Saalfeld. killed, October 10, 1806. When Napoleon got into the rear of the and Double Battle of Jena and Auerstadt. Napo leon's Great Prussian army, destroyed Naumberg, the chief place of deposit for the Prussian stores and magazines, and was marching on Leipsic the Duke of Brunswick perceived the true condition of affairs. He then attempted to retreat, accompanied by King Frederick William III., the Prince of Orange and many of the most distinguished Prussian generals, leaving a part of his army under Prince Hohenlohe at Jena; thus bringing on the great battles of Jena and Auerstadt, fought on the same day and which placed the Prussian monarchy prostrate at the feet of Napoleon, October 14, 1806. At Jena one part of the French army under Napoleon annihilated the Prussian army under Prince Hohenlohe. Marshals Lannes, AuVictory gereau, Soult and Murat carried destruction into the Prussian ranks, Double driving their infantry and cavalry in headlong flight from the san in that Rapid Surren guinary field and compelling them to retreat to Weimar. The fleeing army of Prince Hohenlohe met the other portion of the Prussian army fleeing in the same wild panic from the sanguinary field of Auerstadt, where old Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick was defeated and mortally wounded by the French under Marshal Davoust. In this double battle of Jena and Auerstadt the victorious French lost fourteen thousand men and the vanquished Prussians forty thousand. On that fatal day the Prussians also lost twenty generals, sixty standards and three hundred cannon. The effect of this great catastrophe was that the former presumption der of and rashness of the Prussian generals turned to despondency and panic, Prussian and they became utterly helpless. The routed divisions of the Prusments. sian army roamed about the country, seeking to escape, but every Detach where falling an easy prey into the hands of the triumphant French. Quick Surren der of For tresses. With such wonderful celerity did the strong Prussian fortresses surrender to the French that the commandants of many of them were suspected of treachery. So utterly unaccountable did such cowardice and Prussian such entire lack of self-reliance appear. Thus the fortresses of Spandau, Stettin, Kustrin, Hamelen and Magdeburg all fell into the possession of the French. The garrison of Magdeburg, which numbered twenty thousand men, was superior in number to the French force to which it surrendered. Napoleon entered Berlin, the Prussian capital, October 25, 1806. The French Emperor visited the tomb of Frederick the Great, and sent the sword and insignia of that famous warrior king as precious trophies to Paris. In November, 1806, Napoleon issued his famous Berlin Decree from the royal palace at Berlin, declaring the British Isles in a state of blockade and excluding British manufacturers from the ports of Continental Europe, thus establishing the Continental System, by which Napoleon hoped to destroy English commerce and thus strike a deadly blow at the prosperity of his most powerful foe. Great Britain's retaliatory Order-in-Council, declaring the blockade of all Continental ports from which the British flag was excluded, was followed by Napoleon's Milan Decree, December 17, 1807, threatening the confiscation of any vessel submitting to British search. The paralyzing effects of the Continental System were mainly felt by the Continental nations; and, in spite of Napoleon's Berlin and Milan Decrees, contracts for the clothing of French soldiers had actually been made in England, as the Hanse towns were unable to execute such contracts. Napoleon's Corti nental System and the Paper Block ades. French Con quests and In the meantime Louis Bonaparte conquered the country as far as the Weser, while Jerome Bonaparte subdued Silesia, and the Prussian monarchy was almost annihilated. Jena and East Friesland were annexed to Holland; and the Hanse towns and Leipsic were deprived of Trophies. English goods and oppressed with heavy military taxes for the support of the French army; while the trophies of former Prussian vic |