46 
Me m o irs of Netpoteon. [ A u g« I f 
vertlieiess, opposed his decrees with 
vigour. After a short pursuit of the 
English, under Sir John Moore, he left 
to Marshal Soult the care of pursuing 
them to Corunna, and lie privately 
quitted Spain to return to Paris. He 
was received there as on his former 
days of glory. The senate compli¬ 
mented him in a body, observing, 44 You 
have quitted Spain, after hdviug con¬ 
ferred on the people of that kingdom 
the greatest benefits, and given them a 
country; it is one peculiar circumstance 
of your triumphs, that you always make 
reasou victorious.” 
On the 2d of April (having turned 
his attention to the holy see) he pub¬ 
lished a decree, by which, considering 
that the Pope had constantly refused 
to make war against the English, he 
uni ted .the provinces of Ancona, Urhino, 
and Macerata, irrevocably and perpetu¬ 
ally, to the kingdom of Italy. On the 
16th of January, 1S09, he said to the 
deputies from the lioly^ father, whom 
the latter had sent to him to soften the 
rigour of the decree, 44 Your bishop is 
the spiritual chief of the church ; as 
for me, T am the emperor of it!” At 
length, ou the 17th of May, he finished 
his decrees by another, uniting the 
Papal States to his empire, and ordering 
that the city of Rome should be a free 
imperial city. 
In fact, France, at this epoch, had 
swallowed up all the powers on the 
continent. The turn of Austria next 
arrived: she had made hostile prepara¬ 
tions during these engagements in 
Spain. Napoleon quitted Paris on the 
13th of April, 1809, and arrived, on 
the ISth, at Ingolstadt; he fought six 
battles, and routed the Austrians. On 
the lOtli of May he was at the gates of 
Vienna. The occupation of Vienna 
did not terminate the campaign : on 
the 21st of May a battle was fought at 
Essling, which lasted for two days 
without interruption ; it was terrible, 
and the slaughter was immense. Na¬ 
poleon had passed the river with his 
usual rapidity; he found the Austrians 
occupying an excellent position on the 
left bank, and after vainly attacking 
them for several hours, during which 
he lost several of his generals, he was 
obliged to retire to the island of Lobau. 
Tlie Archduke Charles did not profit 
by this success, and the French being 
reinforced, the battle of Wagram took 
place on the 5th and 6th of July. Na¬ 
poleon attacked the Archduke, and ob¬ 
tained a decisive victory. On the 12tli 
of July, the belligerent powers signed 
a suspension of arms, and on the 14th 
of October a definitive treaty of peace. 
On the opening of the legislative body 
on the 3d of December, 1809, he said,— 
44 When I again appear beyond the 
Pyrennees, the terrified Leopard Avill 
seek the ocean to avoid disgrace, de¬ 
feat, or death.” About this time Na¬ 
poleon made preparations for dissolving 
his marriage with the Empress Jose¬ 
phine, in order to become the son-in-law 
of his old enemy, the Emperor of Aus¬ 
tria. The marriage was accordingly, 
for reasons stated to the senate, annulled 
by that august body. Josephine retired 
to the estate of Navarre, thirty leagues 
from Paris. On the 2d of April, 1810, 
he espoused Maria Louisa, Princess of 
Austria, daughter of the Emperor 
Francis. The issue of this marriage, 
Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, was 
born on the 20th of March, 1811, and 
named King of Rome. 
Three months after his marriage, he 
united to France the provinces situated 
on the left bank of the Rhine ; and by a 
decree of the senate of the 13th of Dec. 
Holland and the three Hanseatic cities 
of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, and 
a part of the kingdom of Westphalia, 
were also annexed to France: by 
another decree, the Valais was also 
united to tlie empire. On this occa¬ 
sion Napoleon made his new subjects 
an especial visit; he was accompanied 
by a numerous suite on his journey in 
the Low Countries, where he was re¬ 
ceived with much joy. 
In the midst of all this apparent 
triumph, he never forgot his views of 
extending the power of France; for 
this purpose he issued a decree towards 
the end of the year 1811, for raising 
80,000 conscripts for the land-service, 
and 40,000 seamen. These levies were 
the first indications of a Avar Avith Rus¬ 
sia. Having a clear view of the pro¬ 
ceedings and secret machinations going 
forward, he never lost sight of the 
offensive posture. He had often said— 
44 In five years, or less, I shall be master 
of the Avorld, notAvithstanding these 
intrigues ; Russia Avill not allow me to 
rest, but I Avill crush that povrer!” 
In 1812, he imagined that the time 
had arrived when he could crush Rus¬ 
sia, which had fomented for half a cen¬ 
tury all the troubles of Europe, and 
had tAvice headed confederacies against 
him; and he intimated in tlie Moniteur 
of the 10th of May, that he AA'as about 
to inspect the grand army united on 
