188 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



the electors of Saxony and Hesse, 

 and the duke of BrunsMJck ; those 

 princes remaining inactive, and 

 took no part whatever in the war : 

 Hanover liad continued, to the open- 

 ing of the campaign, in the occupa- 

 tion of a P'rench corps of about 

 30,000 men, commanded by mar- 

 shal 13ernadotte. It had been part 

 of the original plan of the campaign 

 to have made a formidable diveision 

 in this quarter of Euro])e, and a 

 body of English, Russians, and 

 Swedes, were to have effected the 

 liberation of his majesty, the king 

 of England's, German dominions 

 from the French yoke, which had 

 so long, and so severely, pressed 

 upon them, and then have acted 

 as occasion and opi)ortunitj' sug- 

 gested. This operation, which was 

 perfectly feasible, -would certainly 

 have been attended with the happiest 

 consequences, had it not been pro- 

 tracted to a moment, when it bo- 

 came entiicly useless, and even con- 

 temptible, in the eyes of all Europe. 

 Had the confederates assembled to 

 the amount of 60,000 men, com- 

 manded by the king of Sweden, in 

 Hanover at an early stage of tlie 

 war, Bernadotte would have found 

 ample employment for his corjjs in 

 that quarter, instead ot marching 

 for the Danube, and very materially 

 contributing to the successes of the 

 French over general Mack. But 

 notwithstanding the opening of the 

 campaign and its jieriod were en- 

 tirely optional in the allied powers, 

 it was not till near the middle of 

 November, when Vienna was ac- 

 tually in the hands of the French, 

 and the fate of the war decided in 

 that quarter, that the troops destin- 

 ed to act in Hanover were assem- 

 bled, and then scarcely in suffici- 

 ent force to besiege Hamein, >Tliere 



Bernadotte had left a strong garrL 

 son ! The battle of Austerlitz was 

 decisive upon the further progress 

 of this small army, and its disper- 

 sion, and provision for a retreat to 

 its respective countries, was all 

 that remained to be eflected by its 

 leaders. In this precarious situ- 

 ation, and entirely at the mercy of 

 the conqueror, was it left at the 

 close of the year. 



During the whole of the disas- 

 trous period of which we have 

 treated so much in detail, the con- 

 duct of the youthful emperor of 

 Russia was such as fully to justify 

 the estimation in which his charac- 

 ter was held by all mankind, and 

 which, not even the reverses of for- 

 tune, which he encountered, could dc- 

 prive him of. At the head of themost 

 extensive dominions in the ■world, 

 his empire M'as hourly increasing 

 in consequence and importance. 

 Attemion to commerce, and its re. 

 giilatious, had extended fiie trade 

 of Russia to an incalculable degree, 

 while the encouragement held out 

 to the settlers in the new possessions 

 upon the Euxine, had increased 

 their population very considerably. 

 Tlie recent acqtiiiitions, in the 

 Ionian seas, had also greatly added to 

 her political influence, checking the 

 progress of the French in that quar- 

 ter, and possessing the means of 

 annoying Turkey, to an extent which 

 must prove fatal to the latter, in 

 the event of a future contest be- 

 tween these powers. Her armies, 

 frequently opposed to the French, 

 had shewn themselves truly formi- 

 dable, and her marine force was on 

 a most respectable footing. la 

 some recent engagements, which 

 took place near the borders of the 

 Caspian sea, between the Russians 

 and Persians, the former were 1 



uniformly ' 



