194 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



in war with l^^ngland, it was impos- 

 sible that her navy could aft against 

 that of the emperor ; nor had Rus- 

 sia, unallied with some intermediate 

 power, the means of conveying 

 troops sufficient, to make any im- 

 pression on the compaA mass of the 

 French territory. The year, there- 

 fore, was passed by both powers, 

 in making warlike preparations, 

 and in the increase of their military 

 establishments. Prussia still seemed 

 warm in the interest of France, and 

 Austria maintained a strift and 

 guarded neutrality. 



The assumption of the imperial 

 dignity, by Bonaparte, gave a new 

 interest to the political concerns of 

 Europe. As soon as that event was 

 notified to the court of Vienna, the 

 emperor of Germany resolved im- 

 mediately upon conferring the he- 

 reditary diguity of emperor upon 

 the house of Austria. The patent 

 for the purpose, stated the object 

 of this measure to be, " the preserva- 

 tion of that degree of equality which 

 should subsist between the great 

 powers, and the just rank of the 

 house and state of Austria, among 

 the nations of Europe."* As the 

 emperor and the Germanic body 

 had acquiesced, with scarcely an ex, 

 ception, in the increase of title in 

 the French ruler ; so, on the other 

 hand, did the self- appointed emperor 

 of France offer no opposition to the 

 head of the Austrian house assuming 

 the same hereditary dignity. The 

 measure, in itself, indeed, appear- 

 ed indifferent in the eyes of all the 

 sovereigns of Europe, except the 

 ling of Sweden, who presented a 

 note thereon, at Ratisbon, declar- 

 ing, " that he considereid it as a 

 matter that ought ttt be seriously 

 weighed and discussed at the diet 

 there sitting, and not as the subjcdl 



* Sta,te Papers, p, 695. 



of a verbal communication by th* 

 Austrian minister." + But this step, 

 however, excited some uneasiness in 

 the political circles of almost every 

 country in Europe, as it appeared 

 to be an aft undertaken in concert 

 with P'ranc : that this mutual 

 assumption of title was the fruit of a 

 perfectly good understanding be- 

 tween these powers, and many 

 feared that there was still a farther 

 connexion between them ; a conjec- 

 ture not disproved by any event 

 which took place within this year. 

 The French journals even insinu- 

 ated that Austria was extremely 

 jealous of the preponderant inliu- 

 ence Russia had gained over the 

 councils of the Porte, and of her 

 approach to Dalmatia, by the occu- 

 pation of Corfu. 



But the power, in Europe, which 

 was most undisguisedly hostile ta 

 the French government, was the 

 king of Sweden. All his notes on 

 the subject of the German empire, 

 of what nature soever, teemed with 

 expressions of the utmost severity 

 against France and her upstart em- 

 peror. In the spirit of retaliation, 

 Bonaparte thought proper to have 

 inserted, in his official public paper, 

 " the Muiu'tc'ur,^' an article of the 

 most offensive and galling nature to, 

 the feelings of that monarch. It 

 treated with the utmost contempt 

 those notes which the king of Swe-. 

 den wrote, with so muqli precipita- 

 tion, " as he travelled post through 

 the different states of Germany;" it 

 ridicujed his travels, and affefted to 

 consider his Swedish majesty as a 

 very weak young man, deficientbolh 

 in understanding and experience ; 

 it upbraided him with shamefully de- 

 serting the German empire, of which 

 he now boasted hewas the guarantee, 

 and with the making a separate 



p.ei«ce 

 t State Papers, y. 697. 



