184 
LON 
thorities, who appear plainly to have had a fecret corref- 
pondence with the enemy, had already come to a deter¬ 
mination on the fubjeft. Madrid was undoubtedly given 
up through treachery. 
Napoleon nowaddreffeda nrsnifefto to the Spanifii nation, 
in which he prornifed them all good things if they received 
Jofeph for their king fincerely and with all their heart. If 
not, he would put the crown on his own head, treat them 
as a conquered province, and find another kingdom for his 
brother; for God had given him both the inclination and 
the power to furmOju.ni all obftac-les.—The troops that had 
fled from the Puerto, or Gate, of Guadarama, having ar¬ 
rived, on the 3d of December, ahnoft under the walls of 
Madrid, demanded with loud cries to be led to its defence. 
Their commander, count St. Juan, who oppofed fo dan¬ 
gerous an attempt, was maftacred. 
The fupreme junta, in conformity with the uniform in¬ 
tentions of the provincial juntas, had declared that the 
colonies in Afia and America ihould not be confidered as 
dependent provinces, but enjoy all the privileges of the 
metropolis and mother-country. This was alfo declared 
in the new conflitution framed for Spain by Bonaparte. 
But in the Canaries, in Mexico and the Floridas, in Cuba 
and the.other iflands, and throughout the whole of South 
America, every Spaniard, as if animated by the fame foul, 
breathed the fame fentiments of devotion to the king, and 
deteftation of the monfter who wifhed to ufurp his throne. 
In the Floridas, the French were fo apprebenfive of fall¬ 
ing victims to the vengeance of the Spaniards, that they 
fled with their effects into the territories of the United 
States. But the moderation, wifdom, and jultice, of men 
in authority, reitrained the fury of the populace. The 
proclamations of the Spanifh governors in the colonies, 
for fenfe, reafon, and jultice, equal thole of Old Spain, and 
for a fervent eloquence perhaps even exceed them. The 
proclamation of Marcius Somernelos, commander-in-chief 
of the land-forces, and governor of Cuba,- dated on the 
18th of July, exhorts'the natives to reprefs the natu¬ 
ral impetuofity of their character, and to let the peaceable 
French, who had fought an afylum amonglt them from op- 
prefiicn, find protection. The marquis of Villa Vicenfis, 
commander-in-chief of the marine, in one of the fame 
date, fays, “Let us (Wear, that, if every Spaniard in our 
mother-country fbould fall, vvhich ought not and cannot 
be feared, Spain, notwithstanding this, fliall not ceafe to 
exift. Is not this country alfo Spain ? Are not we alfo 
.Spaniards ? And fhall not Ferdinand VII. and his fuc- 
ceffiars reign over 11s ?—Remember !—The French in Cuba 
are not mercenary affaffins! Not fervants or fubjects of 
Napoleon.” General Linieres, governor of Buenos Ayres, 
a Frenchman, in his proclamation upon the Hate of affairs, 
after recommending concord, Laid, “Let us imitate the 
example of our anceftors in this happy land, who wifely 
efcaped the difafters that afflifted Spain in the war of the 
fucceffion, by awaiting the fate of the mother-country, to 
obey the legitimate authority occupying the fovereignty.” 
Holiilities were every-where elfe declared againft France, 
and the molt liberal and prompt contributions remitted to 
the patriots in Old Spain. This year the French were 
driven out of the iflands of Porto Rico, Defeada, and 
Marie Galante. 
The great affairs of Europe in 1808 are exhibited in the 
conteft between Spain and Portugal, with their ally Great 
Britain, on the one part; and the ruler of France, aided 
by his vaff.il princes and kings, on the other. The annals 
of other countries fink almoltinto provincial niftory. To 
what concerns France, it may be proper to add, that in 
the beginning of the year Bonaparte, as a preparation for 
the farther extension and confolidation of his empire, an¬ 
nexed to France, and took poffeflion of, the military polls 
of Kehl, Wefel, Caflel on the Rhine, and Flulhing. It 
was probably with fimilar views that he eftablilhed and 
endowed a Greek bifhopric in Dalmatia. 
Sweden, in the beginning of the year, might have made 
her peace with France and Ruff a. The king, with the 
D O N. 
general voice of the nation, ehofe a braver, but more im¬ 
politic, part. After the bafell attempts on the part of the 
Ruffians, tutored, it would feem, in the fchool of their al¬ 
lies the French, to feduce the Swedilh nation from their 
allegiance to their king and- their duty to their country, 
and a rapid iucceffion of the molt fanguinary battles, where 
the Swedes were bending and ready to fall under the 
overwhelming power of Ruffia, the Swedilh government 
figned a convention on the 7th of November, by which 
Finland, the granary of the kingdom, was virtually given 
up to Ruffia. The heroic King of Sweden was not de¬ 
ferred in this extremity of fortune by his ally, Britain. 
A naval force under admiral Keats drove the Ruffian 
fquadrons into their ports, where they were held in a (tate 
of blockade. A land-force of 10,000 men, under the 
command of fir John Moore, was fent, in the month of 
May, to affiltSweden againft a combined attack from Ruffia, 
France, and Denmark. On the 17th of May this army 
reached Gottenburgh, but was not permitted to land. 
Sir John Moore repaired to Stockholm to communicate 
his orders, and to concert meafures for the fecurity of 
Sweden. He there found, to his furprife, that, though 
the Swedilh army was quite inefficient for even defendve 
operations, his majefty’s thoughts were wholly intent on 
conqueft. It was firlt propofed, that the Britilli Ihould 
remain in their Ihips till fome Swedilh regiments Ihould 
be collected at Gottenburgh, and that the combined forces 
Ihould land, and conquer Zealand. Upon an examination 
of the plan, it was found and admitted, that the ifland of 
Zealand, befides feveral ftrong fort relies, contained a regu¬ 
lar force farfuperior to any that could be brought to bear 
againft it ; and alfo, that the ifland of lumen was full of 
French and Spanifii troops, which could not be prevented 
from crofting over in linall parties. It was next propofed 
that the Britilli alone Ihould land on Finland, Itorm a 
fortrefs, and take a pofition there. But fir John Moore 
reprefented, that ten thoufand Britilli troops were wholly 
infufticienc to encounter tiie principal force of the Ruffian 
empire, which could quickly be brought againft them at 
a point fo near Peterffiurgh.—Sir John efcaped from the 
rei'entment of his Swedilh rnajefty in difguife, and, conform¬ 
ably to his inftrudions, brought back his little army to 
England. 
In Italy the moft prominent events were the transfer¬ 
ence of the crown of Naples to Murat grand duke of Berg, 
Bonaparte’s brother-in-law ; the ufurpation of the papal 
throne, and annexation of Rome, with all the ecclefia’ftical 
ftates, Placentia, Parma, and Anconia, to the French em¬ 
pire. The cardinals were banilhed from Rome, but al¬ 
lowed confiderable penllons. The perfon of his holinefs 
was fecured in a ftate of confinement. Bonaparte laid, 
that he only took back what had been given to the church 
for the fupport of religion and promotion of piety; but, 
as the munificent donations of his predecefi'or, Charle¬ 
magne, had been ufed for very different purpofes, it was 
very fit that they Ihould be recalled. The kingdom of 
Chrift, he obferved, like a found divine, was not of this 
world. 
The fame pope, Pius VII. that had gene to crown Na¬ 
poleon at Paris, and agreed to the fubverfion of the Gal- 
lican church, and the diminution of the apoftolical power, 
by the eftabliftrment of the concordat, in this terrib'e cri- 
lis afl'umed the courage and the character of a martyr. 
He protefted, by a public manifefto, againft the irreligious 
'and unjuft proceeding of the emperor of the French to¬ 
wards the holy apoftolical fee. He formally excommuni¬ 
cated him. In proclamations addrefled to the Spanilh, 
Portuguefe, and all other Catholic, nations, he exhorted 
them to the defence of the altar and the throne, at the 
hazard of their lives, as well as the expenle of their for¬ 
tune. The affecting paffigein the evangelifts, deferibing 
the remade of the difciple and apoftle Peter, at having de¬ 
nied his Saviour, was applied by the Roman-catholics to 
Pius VII. See Luke xxii. 61, 2. 
It feetned matter of aftonifliment to manv, that fo futi¬ 
tle 
