FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



257 



companion in arms of the emperor, was created 

 prince of Neufchatel ; Talleyrand, the minister of 

 foreign affairs, prince of Benevento ; Bernadotte, 

 prince of Ponte-Corvo ; Joachim Murat, grand duke 

 of Cleves and Berg ; and Stephanie Beauharnais, 

 niece of the empress, whom Napoleon had adopted, 

 was given in marriage to the crown-prince of Baden. 

 All those who immediately belonged to the new 

 dynasty, or were united with it, were to be attached to 

 France by a federative system. The imperial family 

 statute was promulgated March 30, 1806. The ac- 

 cession of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, to the 

 federal system of the " great empire, "and the incor- 

 poration of the electorate of Hanover with Prussia, 

 hail torn asunder the political union of the German 

 states. Napoleon established the confederation of 

 the Rhine (q. v.), of which he was recognised pro- 

 tector, July 12, 1806 ; and Francis II. resigned the 

 imperial crown of Germany, August 6. Meanwhile, 

 I'OK'S communication to Talleyrand of a plot against 

 the life of the emperor had awakened feelings of 

 mutual confidence. Russia, who had not been in- 

 cluded in the peace of Presburg, entered upon nego- 

 tiations ; but the death of the British minister, Fox, 

 and the changes in the situation of affairs, prevented 

 them from resulting favourably. The emperor of 

 Russia refused to ratify .the preliminaries adopted by 

 Oubril. The British ambassador Lauderdale was 

 recalled ; and, in the autumn of the year 1806, 

 Prussia was seen united with Russia, Sweden, and 

 Britain against France. The Prussian cabinet had 

 been induced to assume a threatening posture to- 

 wards France, by information of the offers of France 

 to restore Hanover to Britain, and had projected a 

 northern confederacy, to counterbalance that of the 

 Rhine. Napoleon, after offering peace more than 

 once in vain, accepted the cliallenge, and the battles 

 of Jena and Friedland cost Prussia half of her terri- 

 tory ; three German princes (Hesse-Cassel, Bruns- 

 wick, and Orange) were erased from the catalogue 

 of sovereigns, and two new kings (of Saxony and 

 Westphalia) were created. The confederation of 

 the Rhine was strengthened by the accession of 

 eleven princes ; and the accession of Russia and 

 Prussia to the continental system was made the basis 

 of the peace of Tilsit (July 7 and 9, 1807). Austria 

 had remained neutral, awaiting a more favourable 

 opportunity of effecting its long-cherished projects 

 against France. Napoleon had no sooner secured 

 himself in the east and north, than the condition of 

 the Peninsula of the Pyrenees drew his attention to 

 that country. Portugal was still reluctant to break 

 with Britain. A French army was therefore marched 

 through Spain, which occupied Portugal without 

 resistance. The royal family fled to Brazil (Novem- 

 ber, 1807). A family quarrel, of the most indecorous 

 character, distracted the court of Madrid. Napoleon 

 interfered in the character of a mediator, and the 

 feeble Charles IV. was induced to resign the crown 

 of Spain, at Bayonne, in the emperor's favour. The 

 Spanish princes, too, were obliged to renounce their 

 claims. Joseph, the king of Naples, was created 

 king of Spain, and the grand duke of Berg ascended 

 the throne of Naples. But the events in Spain affected 

 the family interests of the house of Hapsburg ; and 

 the resistance of the Spanish nation, supported by 

 the British, to the French troops, seemed, to the 

 cabinet of Vienna, to afford an opportunity for over- 

 throwing the new arrangements in Germany and 

 Italy. Notwithstanding the interview of Napoleon 

 mid the emperor of Russia at Erfurt (q. v.), (Septem- 

 ber, 1808), the pending negotiations with Vienna and 

 London, the union of Paris and Petersburg, and the 

 progress of Napoleon in the Peninsula, Austria, 

 though she had previously disavowed unfriendly 



ntentions towards France, entered into a new alliance 

 with Great Britain, and resumed hostilities in April, 

 1809 ; but the battle of Wagram compelled her to 

 submit to the treaty of Vienna (October 14, 1809 ), 

 which dismembered her provinces, and distributed 

 them among the neighbouring states, erected a new 

 state from the Illyrian provinces, incorporated the 

 aapal dominions with France, and cut oft' Austria 

 lerself from all communication with the sea, by the 

 oss of her ports on the Adriatic. She lost about 

 42,300 square miles, with more than 3,000,000 inha- 

 aitants. The dominion of France in Italy and Ger- 

 many now seemed firmly established. The dominions 

 of the emperor of Austria were still, indeed, consider- 

 able, but entirely surrounded by states under the 

 protection and influence of France. The powerful 

 mperor of Russia, united by the ties of personal 

 friendship with the emperor of France, compelled 

 Sweden to accede to the continental system ; whilst 

 Jie Ottoman Porte, fluctuating between France and 

 Britain, was prevented, by the fear of Russia, from 

 undertaking any thing of consequence. In France, 

 the revolution was considered at an end when the 

 emperor divorced his former wife, and married Maria 

 Louisa, archduchess of Austria (April 1. 1810). 

 Even at an earlier period, to give splendour to his 

 throne, and surround himself with faithful adherents, 

 Napoleon had, by an ordinance, March 1, 18D8, in 

 conformity with the decree of the senate of August 

 14, 1806, but contrary to the constitution, re-estab- 

 lished a hereditary nobility and the primogeniture. 

 This was, however, different from the former feudal 

 nobility, since the title was connected with a certain 

 income, without any privileges in regard to taxes, 

 jurisdiction, conscription, offices, &c., and the rank 

 was lost with that income. While lying before 

 Vienna (1809), Napoleon added to the two orders of 

 the legion of honour and of the iron crown, that of 

 the three golden fleeces. (See Fleeces.) Thus he 

 provided for the splendour of the throne, for the 

 reward of merit, and the gratification of vanity. 

 Meanwhile he directed his attention to all the depart- 

 ments of government. He provided for the more 

 effectual administration of justice by a new code, 

 and for the execution of the laws by the organization 

 of courts of every degree. To repress usury, he 

 issued a decree (March 17, 1808), which secured the 

 peasantry from the extortions of the Jews ; and it 

 was one of the favourite but impracticable plans ok 

 the emperor, to effect a political and moral regenera- 

 tion of the Jews throughout Europe. (See Jews.) 

 He exerted the same activity in the encouragement 

 of industry and internal commerce, witness the 

 efforts to discover useful substitutes for the prohibited 

 colonial products ; the great' prize offered for the 

 invention of the best machine for -spinning flax ; the 

 construction of roads, canals, ports, and his various 

 architectural works. But comparatively little was 

 effected, because everything was subjected to mili- 

 tary orders, where free action is the soul of success, 

 and because of the disturbed state of Europe. The 

 institutions for education in the empire received a 

 military organization. March 17, 1808, the imperial 

 university, which united all the seminaries of instruc- 

 tion hi the empire into one great whole, was estab- 

 lished. Napoleon's policy in regard to colonial pro- 

 ducts exerted the greatest influence on the political 

 connexions of Europe. It determined the political 

 direction of all the continental powers, and was most 

 injurious to commerce. (See Continental System ami 

 Colonial Products.) Britain opposed her orders in 

 council to th decrees of Berlin and Milan, and still 

 kept up her commercial intercourse with some parts 

 of the continent. Napoleon, therefore, had recourse 

 to violent measures, in which we are to look for the 



