190 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Nor must the praise due to the 

 Icing of Sweden, for his steady at- 

 tachment to the cause of Europe, 

 his determined resistance to the en- 

 croachments of Bonaparte, and his 

 personal magnamity be denied him. 

 Unawed by the increasing power of 

 the ruler ofthe French nation, he had 

 uniformly, by every means within his 

 reach, resisted the spirit of dictation 

 and lust of unireral dominion, which 

 pervaded the conduct of the former 

 upon every occasion. His efforts 

 ■were however ill seconded by his 

 power ; and it was only in concert 

 ■with the other states of Europe 

 that he could hope effectually to 

 oppose the gigantic strength of the 

 common adversary. Accordingly we 

 find him, early in the present year, 

 negociating with Great Britain a 

 treaty of subsidy, the principal con- 

 ditions of which w*re, that a depot 

 of Hanoverian troops should be 

 formed in Swedish Pomerania ; 

 that England should immediately 

 supply a sum of 60,000^. for the 

 purpose of improving the defences 

 of Stralsund, and that, in case hos- 

 tilities should commence in the 

 course of the year against France, 

 that the Swedish troops should be 

 taken into the pay, at a fixed rate, 

 of Great Britain. 



The wakeful jealousy of Bona- 

 parte early saw through these pro- 

 posed measures, and he consequent- 

 ly applied to the court of Berlin, as 

 the protector of tl e tranquillity of 

 the north of Europe, to interfere in 

 them, at least so far as to prevent 

 the occupation of Pomerania by 

 the Hanoverians. The influence of 

 France, at the court of Berlin, was 

 .such as to induce the transmission of 

 a strong note thence to the king of 

 Sweden, expressive of the determi- 

 nation of the Prussian monarch 



*' not to suffer Swedish Pomerania 

 " to become either the scene of 

 " preparation, or the actual theatre 

 " of \tar," and that, should the 

 king of Sweden actually commence 

 hostilities against France, he, (the 

 king of Prussia) must be compelled, 

 although reluctantly " to take the 

 " most decisive measures, with re- 

 " spect to that province, in order 

 " to guard against the disturbance 

 " of the system of ensuring the tran- 

 " quillity of the north, which he 

 " had adopted and pursued for 

 " such a length of time." To this 

 remonstrance the king of Sweden 

 gave an immediate reply, couched 

 in terms of strong and deep indig- 

 nation, at the line of conduct pursu- 

 ed by the king of Prussia, and 

 avowing his determination to pro. 

 cced in that which he had laid dowri 

 for himself, without further re- 

 ference to the will or dictation of 

 any other power whatever. 



We have already stated the 

 baleful consequences of the inacti- 

 vity of the allied powers, to the 

 issue of the cauipaign, as not hav- 

 ing, at an early period, assei^bled a 

 strong force in the north of Europe : 

 and that it was not till the middle 

 of November that the British, 

 Swedish, and Russian troops took 

 the field in Hanover. This force 

 the king of Sweden was destined to 

 command, but the fatal battle of 

 Ansterlitz producing the nego- 

 ciations at Presburgh, all further 

 measures were suspended, and, at 

 the close ofthe year, the troops of 

 the allies in the north of Germany 

 were placed in an extremely critical 

 situation. 



During the same period, while the 

 greater part of Europe was coir- 

 Tulsed in war, Denmark, saw her best 

 interest in preseiving a strict and 



guarded 



