4 
FRANCE. 
| Mistory: occupied it ;. but at first he’ seemed disposed to be con- 
- tent-with the annexation of only part of it,—the left 
bank of the Waal. As tis, baer. did not ide 
his purpose of totally excluding British goods, about 
the middle of June 20,000 French ti assembled in 
the neighbourhood of Utrecht, and on 29th of that 
> : 
fore resi tis throne, but at first only in favour of 
Holland an- his son. Soon afterwards, however, H was an- 
aco nexed to France. As a justification of this measure, 
Bonapertic inj ammree 6 the Conservative Senate, 
7 , that, in consequence of the English orders in 
council meee arenes 18 Sone 
es. 
internal navigation between France and the Baltic. 
About the same time, the Hans Towns and the Valais 
were annexed to France; and the Count of Semonville, 
i ‘genius that ever nature in her munifi- 
Seals waitiaeat Tad cas , and held in his trium- 
hands, the scattered wrecks of the empire of 
A to the plan of the annexation of Holland, 
Amsterdam was to rank as the third city in the French 
Rome, 
amounted to 88,080,443 persons, not including the mi- 
ly bearing arms. After these annexations, 
at 43,000,000. Hanover was annex- 
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ce 
ly intimated that 
content with the em 
pire of Charlemagne, the most 
decrees were passed at Paris. 
ants of both sexes were obli 
kept by the Prefect of 
‘olice. By another decree, the liberty of the 
nent... Not only were military governors appointed at 
the ports of Germany annexed to France, but at Dant- 
zic, Colberg, &c. for preventing its introduction. Ge- 
neral | , who commanded the army employed on 
~ this service, had his head quarters at the for- 
mer. All English merchandize, whether taken 
by or sea, was ordered to be burnt. 
As, however, the prohibition of colonial produce crea- 
651 
ted great dissatisfaction in his dominions, a decree History 
was passed on the 25th of March, 1811, enjoining the ““y"~" 
culture of the beet root and the plant woad, to supply _ 
the place of the sugar cane and indigo; and so confi- 
dent was Bonaparte of success in this scheme, that the 
rohibition of the sugar and indigo of the Indies, as 
English commodities, was announced for the Ist of Ja- 
nuary 1813. 
On the 20th of April, the Empress was delivered 
of a son, for whom was revived the title of King of 
Rome. On the 17th of June, the French national 
ecclesiastical council was opened at Paris ; the proceed- 
ings and result of which were kept a profound secret ; 
but it is generally supposed that they were not eens 
ble to the wishes of te. On the 29th of June 
the minister of the interior presented the usual annual 
exposé of the state of France. On these state papers no gxposé for 
implicit confidence can be , as they evidently 19]1.- 
contain much of what mi; false, and much nat is ex- 
aggerated ; yet, by a ul comparison of them with 
one S: with what the other official papers furnish 
us with, and with what ’we know must have taken 
place, we may be able to glean some interesting and im-- 
portant facts from them. The expont of this. year 
states, that, “since the last session, the empire re- 
ceived an addition of 16 departments, five millions of 
, a territory yielding a revenue of 100 millions of 
ivres, 300 of coast, with all their maritime 
means, The mouths of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the 
Scheldt, were not then French ; the circulation of the 
interior of the empire was circumscribed ;. the produc- 
tions of its central departments could not reach the sea 
without being subjected to the inspection of foreign 
custom-houses. These inconveniences have for ever 
disappeared. The maritime arsenal of the Scheldt, 
whereon so are founded, has thereby re- 
ceived all the developement which it needed. The 
mouths of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, place in 
our hands all the timber that Germany furnishes. The 
frontiers of the empire lean on the Baltic ; and thus, 
having a direct communication with the north, it will 
be easy for us to draw thence, masts, hemp, iron, and 
such other naval stores as we may want. We at. this 
moment unite al] that France, Germany, and Italy pro- 
duce as materials for the construction of ships.” 
This statement of the exposé deserves particular at- 
tention, as it at once points out the extent and resources 
of the empire of Bonaparte, at the.period when it was 
at its test height ; and demonstrates the extreme 
ae and madness of that ambition, which, not satisfied 
with such an empire, brought it to ruin by aiming at 
enlarging it. 
The restlessness of this ambition, which, when there pyrijoy en. 
was no opportunity for. making. real accessions to the Jargement 
French empire, employed itself in the nominal annexa- of the 
tion of territories, which in fact had been before annex- French 
ed, was displayed by the decree of the 5th of August ; 7" 
by which the territories belonging to the kingdom of 
Italy, situated on the left bank of the river that flows 
between Parma and Modena, were united to France, and 
its course, from its mouth to its source, was to be the 
future boundary between France and Italy, the boun- 
dary then proceeding along the Apennines to the fron- 
tiers of Tuscany. 
On_the 19th of September, Bona 
on a tour to the coast; visitin logne, where he. 
caused the attack on the English frigate, noticed in the 
History of Barrarn, and thence proceeding to Ostend, 
Flushing, and Antwerp, where he minutely examined . 
te left Compeigne 
