The existing situation of Prussia was very critical; Frederick had suffered greatly by his connexion with the allied powers, and if he opposed Bonaparte, he event ually would suffer more; therefore, the only line of policy he could pursue, and which he wished to take, for his own welfare and that of his subjects, was an inviolable and strict neutrality: but this he was not able to do, for what Napoleon had blasphemously said to the Elector of Wirtemberg, quoting the words of the Divine Founder of the Christian religion,† he also said to the King of Prussia, "He that is not with me, is against me." And that monarch could find no security or safety but in abandoning that neutrality which he fondly hoped to maintain, and becoming an ally of France. Such was the state of Prussia.

As to the once mighty and potent house of Austria, it was totally shorn of those beams of splendor which for a long series of ages had shone with dazzling refulgence; and at the opening of the year 1806, it exhibited a melancholy spectacle of the mutability of human events; bound to the triumphal car of Napoleon, Francis II. saw a great part of his dominions wrested from him, his resources exhausted, his empire demolished, and himself an automaton, to be acted upon according to the will and caprice of the Emperor of the French, who was treading on the neck of empires, arrogating to himself the prerogatives of a god, and involving the world in slaughter and consternation.

Far different was the prospect which Russia presented to view, the magnanimous Alexander had most heartily co-operated with the allied powers, and had personally signalised himself in the field of battle; when the disgraceful peace of Presburgh was on the tapis, he refused to be a party concerned: he even paid a visit to the King of Prussia to urge him to break off his connexion with France; but the selfish policy of that monarch rendered the advice of Alexander nugatory. The empire of Russia was in a most flourishing condition under the wise and excellent administration of a prince worthy to be the successor of Peter the Great, and Catherine II, Although the Emperor had himself beeu an eye witness of the great loss Austria had sustained in the battle of

+ Luke xi. 23

Austerlitz; although he himself had lost an immerse number of his troops in the contest in which he was engaged; his spirit of opposition remained undiminished with respect to the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon, whom he viewed as a sworn enemy to the political existence of all the states of Europe.

The King of Sweden had evidenced a bold and determined hostility to France; he entered with glowing enthusiasm into the views of the powers confederated to oppose the exorbitant increasing power of France; eager to join the alliance Gustavus had, in 1805, negociated with Great Britain, a treaty of subsidy, on the following conditions: That a depot of Hanoverian troops should be formed in Swedish Pomerania; that England should immediately supply the sum of sixty thousand pounds, for the purpose of improving the defence of Stralsund; and that in case hostilities should commence against France in the course of the year, that the Swedish troops should be taken into pay, at a fixed rate of Great Britain.

The occupation of Swedish Pomerania, by Hanoverian forces, was highly offensive to Napoleon, who ordered the King of Prussia to interfere to prevent such an event taking place; Frederick William was too much united in the policy of Napoleon to neglect obeying his mandate. He accordingly addressed a note to Gustavus, prohibiting the sending any Hanoverian troops into Swedish Pomerania; declaring, that it should not become either the scene of preparation, or the actual theatre of war: and that should the King of Sweden actually commence hostilities against France, he, the King of Prussia, must be compelled, however reluctantly, to take the most decisive measures with respect to that province, in order to guard against the disturbance of that system of ensuring the tranquillity of the north of Germany, which he had adopted, and pursued, for such a length of

time.

The King of Sweden was in no respect dismayed by this authoritative language of the Prussian monarch; he gave an immediate reply, couched in the most energetic terms, in which he reprobated the line of conduct pursued by the King of Prussia, and his mean, dastardly, and selfish policy; and if he should dare to act in an hostile manner, at the instigation of Bonaparte, he should,

notwithstanding, pursue that line of conduct which he considered as just and proper, without being dictated to by any power whatever.

The auxiliary aid of Sweden appears to have been strangely neglected by the allies; perhaps, if it had been thought proper to have made an earlier use of the Swedish forces, it might have caused a favorable operation on the side of the allies at the battle of Austerlitz. Gustavus, although his subsequent conduct was singularly strange and incoherent, and, at length, occasioned his deposition, at this period evidenced not only every symptom of a sound mind, but of a great and magnanimous spirit. The marked abhorrence with which this prince viewed Napoleon, excited the fierce indignation of that potent usurper; and he never ceased to display his malice, until he had succeeded by his machinations in hurling him from his throne.

The situation of Denmark was truly insignificant, the politics of the court of Copenhagen were confessedly in favor of France, to which the Prince Royal, who had the chief management of affairs, was peculiarly attached. Bonaparte had the peculiar art of gaining many allies, who, while they were afraid of incurring the vengeance of the great powers who had waged war against France; under a pretended neutrality, were ever ready to render service to Napoleon; of all those neutral powers none so shamefully abused the term as Denmark. Some writers have been vehement in their praise of Denmark observing a strict and guarded neutrality. In what did she evidence it? Even as early as 1801, her nefarious conduct had drawn down upon her the just vengeance of the British nation; and it will soon be our painful task to record a more signal instance of retributive justice inflicted by Great Britain, as a chastisement for the perfidy of Denmark. A breach of confidence, or of friendship, in private life, is viewed as a gross violation of moral duty; but a breach of neutrality is so flagrant an infringement of the law of nations, as will admit of no palliation of sophistry, but must be viewed in its principle as diametrically opposite to justice, and in its consequences injurious in the extreme. We are sensible that Denmark has been praised at the expence of truth, both with respect to her crooked policy, and her pretended flourishing resources; for it is a fact which can

not be controverted, that Denmark, at the close of 1805, was in an impoverished state, her trade crippled, and her government held in contempt.

Holland, and the whole of the Belgian Republic, exhibited a melancholy and mournful portraiture of penury and distress; those once renowned provinces which had acquired glory in the reign of Louis XIV. How degenerated since the time of the Van Tromps, the De Ruyters, the De Witts? How was the gold changed? and the fine gold become dim? The Batavian republic was now reduced to the lowest pitch of degradation, becoming an integral part of the French republic, it had been despoiled of its glory; the sinews of its strength, its commerce, had been annihilated; its finances exhausted, its naval power had been destroyed at the battle of Camperdown, and its military power was transferred into the hands of foreigners; such was the unfortunate situation of Holland. And while contemplating the distress which pervaded the United Provinces at this era, who can forbear lamenting that the Dutch people should have brought all these calamities upon themselves, should have become the architects of their own misfortunes. Happy if they had but known their happy state, while a flourishing people under the Stadtholderian Princes of the house of Nassau.

Switzerland, alas! exhibited a more affecting scene; the brave and independent Helvetians exhibited nothing but a wreck of its original constitution; the dæmon of discord, under the French influence, had worked the work of destruction, and rent asunder the social tie which had bound together the children of William Tell. Many writers, who have carefully marked the manners of the Swiss of late years, have asserted, That the manners of that once simple and generous people have sustained a great injury from the number of manufactures carried on there. "The ever increasing and unquenchable thirst of gold, soon extinguishes that noble emulation by which a man is prompted to acquire honorable distinction."+ Berue, the Athens of Helvetia; and Geneva, so celebrated for its arts, science, and literature, were both the seat of party intrigue, cabal, faction, and

+ Vitam transeunt veluti pecora. Sallust.

intestine revolution.+ The French agency was well calculated to satiate this ruling inclination; and from thence may be deduced some of the primary causes which led to the destruction of Swiss liberty, and the establishment of French tyranny. Whatever were the causes, certain it is, that the Cantons of Switzerland, at the close of 1805, were in a disorganised and ruinous

state.

Spain, owing to the imbecility of the King, and the known connexion of the Prince of Peace with the Emperor of the French, had for some time been the ally of France; and what advantage did she obtain thereby? Her navy destroyed at Trafalgar, by the hero of the Nile; her South American treasures poured into the coffers of Great Britain; her armies vanquished; her national provinces deranged;§ she yet remained tamely subservient to the will of a tyrant, who at this very time was aiming to dethrone the reigning monarch, and introducing a new dynasty of sovereigns, branching from his family. The torpid disposition of the people, aided by the power of superstition, and religious bigotry, rivetted those chains which Napoleon had forged for the French people. And well did that crafty potentate profit by his reconciliation with the Pope; such a measure rendering him highly popular in the Catholic countries on the continent.

The acting representative of the royal house of Braganza, the Prince Regent of Portugal, acted with profound wisdom, remaining neutral, and thus preserving the peace and prosperity of the country at this time; although a very short period elapsed ere Portugal became the scene of war.

Italy, of which Bonaparte had constituted himself

+ A traveller who visited Switzerland in 1790, observes, "That in the Canton of Zurich, whose aggregate population does not exceed a hundred and seventy thousand souls, a mass of sixty or seventy thousand common workmen, prone to debauchery, intemperance, and riot, are a very dangerous body of men." Switzerland as it was in 1790.

The French papers, at the period when Mr. Wickham was in Switzerland, were perpetually exclaiming about the "distribution of English gold."

ý Cardinal Ruffo nobly distinguished himself in defence of the Neapolitan government, while Cardinal Maury most impiously apostatised. VOL. II.-26.

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