HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
assuming next the character of a 
mediator, after having concluded a 
secret treaty of alliance with the 
coalesced powers and obtained the 
promise of a subsidy from England ; 
and lastly pretending to negotiate 
for the neutrality of Hanover, while 
meditating with unexampled perfidy 
to appropriate that country to her- 
self. We are now to behold her, 
enraged at the disappointment of 
her ambitious projects, impatient of 
the contempt with which she is 
treated, and goaded on by the 
‘universal indignation of her subjects, - 
seeking to retrieve her honour and 
character by resistance to France, 
but without wisdom or foresight in 
her plans, and constant to the last 
in her dissimulation. 
It is probable, that Bonaparte 
never thoroughly forgave the court 
of Berlin, for the danger to which 
he was exposed, by the vacillation 
and momentary change of its politi- 
cal system after the affair of Ans- 
pach ; but while he stood in awe of 
its power, and had reason to fear 
* the consequences of its hostility, he 
continued to be lavish of assurances 
of friendship, and flattered and 
amused its ministers with protesta- 
tions of regard and professions of 
moderation. The journey which 
Haugwitz took to Paris, opened the 
eyes_even of that minister to the 
Sincerity and value of these declara- 
tions ; but the first public act of the 
cabinet of St. Cloud, which gave 
Serious offence and alarm to the 
‘court of Berlin, was the investiture 
of Murat with the dutchies of Berg 
and Cleves.* Berg had belonged to 
the king of Bavaria, as count Pala. 
tine of the Rhine, and been ceded to 
France in exchange for the Prussian 
163 
provinces of Anspach and Bay- 
reuth in Franconia. Cleves, which 
had been already dismembered by 
the extension of the French empire 
to the banks of the Rhine, was one 
of the three provinces given up by 
Prussia for Hanover. Various spe- 
culations had been formed with 
regard to the destination of these 
provinces, when they fell into the 
hands of France, but the general 
sentiment in Germany Was-that of 
surprize and indignation, when they 
were given to Murat, a foreigner, a 
soldier of fortune, and the brother- 
in-law of Bonaparte. ‘There seemed 
to be no end to the encroachments 
of France, nor reliance on her most 
solemn and reiterated declarations, 
that the Rhine should be the boun= 
dary of her empire. To Prussia, in 
particular the establishment of Mu- 
rat in the midst of her Westphalian 
provinces, was far from being ac- 
ceptable; and very soon she began 
to experience the inconvenience of 
such a neighbour. [Possession was 
taken in his name of the abbeys of 
Werden, Essen and Elfen, on pre- 
tence that they belonged to the 
dutchy of Cleves, without respect- 
ing the. prior occupation or claims 
of Prussia; and Wesel, though on 
the German side of the Rhine, was 
annexed to a French department, 
and strongly fortified. 2 
But a deeper arid more sensible 
injury awaifed the Prussian govern- 
ment. While Jaaforest, the French 
resident at Berlin, was urging its 
ministers to persist in the measures 
they had adopted for ' retaining 
Hanover, lLucchesini discovered at 
Paris, that the French government 
had offered to the king of Great 
Britain, the complete restitution of 
* March 15, 
M 2 his 
