HISTORY OF EUROPE. 325 
that not only Spain and Portugal, 
but all their rich possessions in 
South America, were in fact be- 
come the property of the first consul, 
from which he could derive, at 
pleasure, whatever contributions he 
_ pleased to exact. Such were the 
-effect that, not war, but peace had 
produced on Spain and Portugal. 
Italy remained in the same situ- 
ation. Piedmont had been for- 
mally annexed to France; the king 
of Sardinia had received no compen- _ 
sation; Lombardy was directly go- 
verned hy the first consul ; .and the 
newly-created kingdom of Tuscany 
was, to all intents and purposes, 
a French province. The pope was 
a mere dependant on his will; and 
the king of Naples had no ‘other 
protection from the power of his 
neighbour, the first consul of the 
Italian republic, than a formal as- 
surance of the friendship of the em- 
peror of Russia. This protection, 
as might be expected, was of no 
avail. At the very commencement 
of the war, the kingdom of Naples 
was invaded by a French army, 
who seized on all the ports upon 
the Adriatic, and particularly on 
Tarentum, which was formerly de- 
clared, to be occupied as an equi- 
valent for Malta. The. French 
army that invaded Naples, con- 
fined themselves to the eastern 
coasts ; if they had possessed them- 
selves ofthe city of Naples, it 
would have probably induced Eng- 
land to occupy Sicily; and, on 
. that ac®ount, it must be supposed, 
_ that, for a season, they abstained 
from entering those districts, which 
would doubtless have been most de- 
sirable, as affording the richest 
‘plunder. 
| We haye already seen, that Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland, 
had not been gainers by the peace ; 
on the contrary, they saw in that: 
interval, their independence anni- 
hilated. 
The Batavian republic too, which 
had been so formally promised in- 
dependence, was forced, against its 
wishes and its obvious interests, to 
join in the war against England» 
The loss of the little commerce it 
possessed, and of ‘its foreign colo- 
nies, was the necessary consé- 
quence of a contest, from which 
it could not by any possibility, 
derive the slightest advantage; but 
their sailors were necessary to man 
the flotilla of Bonaparte, and their 
docks and arsenals to contribute to: 
its equipment; Holland was there- 
fore forced into a war, thejconse- 
quence of which to her must be 
utter ruin! 
Not content with exercising the 
most unlimited sway over France, 
Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzer- 
land, and Holland, the first consul 
was also determined to obtain a 
. similar dominion in the German 
empire, mm which project many cir- 
cumstances promised him too great 
a certainty of success. The an- 
cient rivality between Austria and 
Prussia, had been artfully fomented, 
in the discussion of the question of 
the indemnities, while all the lesser 
states of the empire, which lay in 
the neighbourhood of France, saw in 
the first consul the only power thag 
was able, either to protect or annoy 
them. Prussia, as we have before 
observed, had, for sordid and selfish 
views, sold herself to the interests 
of France; and Austria, alone and 
unsupported, was no longer able to 
wage war, singly, against so power- 
ful an opponent. Thus the German. 
OE empire 
