888 
FRANCE. 
the French, nor the emperor of Ruffin, would comply 
with that defire. Both were equally felicitous to attach 
me to their catife ; and even a powerful German court, 
(Pruflia.) in which I was jellified in placing the greateft 
hope, came to no determination. All my endeavours 
were inefFefliul. The French armies inundated my do¬ 
minions ; my very relidences were not fpared ; the one 
was partly taken by (form, and the other was threatened 
with it. I remained firm ; I defpifed tlie danger which 
menaced my pe fon, my dignity, and thole who are united 
to me by the mod facred ties of blood, my wife, my chil¬ 
dren, in a word, all that is dear to my heart. I had pledg¬ 
ed myfelf not to abandon my (objects—I remained. The 
French emperor came in perfon to me ; I intreated him 
to giant me a neutrality. ‘ He that is not with me ) is againjl 
me,’ —was his anfwer. 
“ At this moment the fate of Wirtemberg was in my 
hands. Had 1 made oppofition, my dominions would have 
been involved in ruin. My eleftoral liottfe was expofed 
to the danger ot incurring the melancholy fate of fo many 
other fovereign families, who are reduced to the necefiity 
ot living upon the charity of other courts, and who re¬ 
ceive, by way of alms, the film affigned for their mainte¬ 
nance. My country w'ottld have been treated by the victo¬ 
rious French army as a conquered province; it would have 
been compelled to furnifii a contribution of eight millions, 
two tboufand horfes, and as many men as were required 
for conveying the artillery, and for other purpofes. 
“ The terms offered to me were, that Wirtemberg 
fliould join to the French army a force of ten thoufand 
men, including one thoufand cavalry. I anfwered, that 
this exceeded the limits of my ability ; that the refources 
tor tlie maintenance of my troops were infuffieient, with¬ 
out difcharging a confiderable portion of them in the 
coui fe ot the year. ‘ If you cannot maintain them, your 
country can,’ faid Napoleon. ‘ My (fates will not con¬ 
tent,’ replied I. ‘ Againrt them I will fupport you,’ re¬ 
joined the French emperor. I had no choice left; Iftib- 
mitted to inevitable necefiity, and thus faved my country 
and my people from ruin.” 
The hotife of Bavai ia was driven into the arms of France 
by the oppreflive treatment of the emperor of Auftria. 
Its treaty was openly avow'ed as foon as the war com¬ 
menced. By this meafure it fecured its dominions, on 
the fame principle as did tlie elector of Wirtemberg. 
Both thefe electors were rewarded by Napoleon at the 
peace of Prefburgh, by confiderable acquifitions to their 
dominions, and with the title of “ kings.” Further to 
enhance the acquifitions of the elector of Bavaria, the em¬ 
peror Napoleon cliofe to unite himfelf with that family, 
by marrying his adopted fon prince Eugene Beatiharnois, 
v ith the princefs royal 6f Bavaria. This prince is the fon 
ot the emprefs Jofephine by her firft hufband ; the nup¬ 
tials were celebrated in the prefence of Napoleon on his 
return from Vienna, when it was announced that this 
prmce was defigned to fway the fcepter'of Italy. 
I he next object of Napoleon was to fecure and organize 
the Venetian (fates. For this purpofe he difpatched an 
army under general Miollis to take pofiefiion of the city 
of Venice, and all its dependencies ; upon which occafion 
he ilfued the following addrefs : 
“ Vknetians,—Y ou now coiiftitute a part of tlie king¬ 
dom of Italy. The fureties of your happinefs are infepa- 
rable from the fate of Napoleon the great, and tlie intrepid 
and worthy character of his imperial highnefs, Eugene 
Napoleon Beatiharnois of France, viceroy of Italy, in 
whole name I addrefs you. Concord, and thofe virtues 
by which you are diftinguidied in hiftory, muff be the 
foundation ot your happinefs, which is now irrevocably 
united with that of the brave Italians.” 
General Miollis convoked the principal merchants of 
this city, and invited them to communicate their ideas 
upon the means of reftoring to their commerce its former 
fplendotir, and for re.efiablifiiing the bank upon a (olid 
foundation. A fleet of men of war was ordered to be 
conflrutted in the naval arfenal ; and a fupply of timber 
and"feamen to be procured from Dalmatia. 
England, chagrined at the total failure of her extenfive 
plans on the continent, was determined to make another 
grand effort to deffroy the flotilla in the harbour of Bou¬ 
logne. Several fire-fiiips, filled with combuftibles were 
prepared to he fent in amidft the flotilla. Thefe veffels 
were fo loaded with (frata of powder and (hot, and 
heavily charged with alternate layers of each, that the 
explofion would of courfe be extremely forcible and dread¬ 
fully tremendous. The immenfe chain acrofs the bar was 
intended to be broken by the explofion of one of thefe 
machines, when a palfage would be opened into the har¬ 
bour, and the whole of the gun-boats blown to atoms. A 
pyrotechnic invention of rockets and arrows was likewife 
to be made ufe of, as a collateral and auxiliary inftrument 
of deftruttion, in the event of a partial failure, Thefe 
engines were fo confirufted as to (lick in the hull, and 
catch in the rigging, of the vefiels they (ltould be diretted 
againft, for the purpofe of communicating their flames. 
It was computed that upwards of a thoufand of them 
could be thrown the diftance of a mile and a half, in a 
point-blank direttion, within the fhort fpace of a Angle 
minute. But this attempt, like the former, proved wholly 
abortive ; and the year 1805 was clofed, without any fur. 
ther att of hoftiiity occurring on the courts of either of the 
rival powers. 
But the new year 1806,-proved very early propitious 
to the Britifh arms in the fouthern extremity of Africa, 
by the conqueft of the rich and extenfive fettlement of the 
Batavian republic at the Cape of Good Hope. The de- 
fcent was made by fir David Baird, on the 6th and 7th of 
January, fupported by a fquadron of men of war under 
the command of fir Home Popham. On the morning of 
the 8th, general Baird marched at the head of his army, 
which amounted to four thoufand men, and took the road 
for Cape Town. Having dillodged the light troops and 
fliarp-lhooters which occupied the defiles, he afcended 
the Blue Mountains, where he faw the troops of the gar- 
rifon, confiding of five thoufand men, drawn up in battle 
array, with twenty-three field-pieces, ready to receive him. 
The battle was obftinate and bloody ; but the victory fell 
to the lot of the Englifh, who had nearly two hundred 
killed and wounded ; while the lofs of the garrifon troops 
is dated at upwards of feven hundred in killed and wound¬ 
ed. General Baird, early the next morning, advanced 
upon Cape Town; when he was met by a deputation 
from the garrifon to propofe a capitulation, which was 
agreed to and fettled upon the mod honourable terms ; 
and on the 10th of January, the army of the king of Great 
Britain took formal poflelfion of the Cape and colony, with 
all the rtores, magazines, (hipping, &c.-—See the article 
Great Britain. 
The emperor of the French, in the mean time, was for¬ 
warding his meafttres for reducing the kingdom of Naples. 
Marefchal Malfena took the command of the army on the 
17th of January, and fixed his head-quarters at Spoletto. 
From hence he removed with the whole army to Feren- 
tino, where it was joined by Napoleon’s brother, prince 
Jofeph, who immediately aflumed the chief command, 
and on the 9th of February, ilfued the following procla¬ 
mation : 
“ Jofeph Napoleon, French prince, grand elettor of the 
empire, lieutenant to the emperor, commandant in 
chief of the army of Naples, governor of the kingdom 
of Naples and Sicily. 
“ People of the kingdom of Naples! The emperor of 
the French and king of Italy, williing to fave you from 
the calamities of war, had figned a treaty of neutrality 
with your court. He believed he could aiftire you tran¬ 
quillity in the inidrt of that vad flame by which Europe 
was threatened by the third coalition. But the court of 
Naples was cordially engaged with our enemies, and opened 
its territories to the Rudians and the Englifh. The em¬ 
peror of the French, whole judice is equal to his power, 
wifhes 
