interrupt the conference between the British envoy and the Turkish negociator, or incite him to greater exertion; he still smoked his pipe, and hoped that all things would end well. His confidence was possibly increased by a terrible disaster which befell the "Ajax," one of Sir J. Duckworth's squadron. While at anchor off Tenedos, she took fire, and about two hundred and fifty men and women perished in the flames; the rest, including the Captain, Blackwood, escaped by leaping into the sea, where they were picked up by boats sent for their relief.

Sir John Duckworth had orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles, anchor before Constantinople, and bombard the city, unless certain conditions were complied with. The passage of the straits was effected in the midst of a fire from the forts of Sestos and Abydos. At the same time Sir Sidney Smith directed his efforts against a squadron; and a battery, which, if completed, might have defended the Turkish vessels, was stormed by a party of the British. The Turkish squadron and bastion were destroyed, in which enterprise Sir Sidney Smith lost only four men killed and twenty-six wounded. Sir John Duckworth now passed in apparent triumph into the Bosphorus, whence he sent a letter to the Reis Effendi, demanding a declaration of the sultan's views- whether he was determined to espouse the cause of France, or renew his alliance with England, and second her efforts in opposing the tyranny of Napoleon. The British were again overreached by French subtilty. Sebastiani, the French envoy, inspired the Sultan with confidence, and persuaded him to enter into a negociation, while in the mean time all the approaches to Constantinople should be fortified. All this was done, and when the proposals of the British government were rejected, the wind and current, as Sebastiani had foreseen, prevented the hostile fleet from taking such a position as would enable it effectually to bombard the city. Sir John Duckworth, therefore, was obliged to hasten his departure; and in repassing the Dardanelles, he sustained considerable loss from the fire of the castles. A new enemy was added to the list already in battle array against England. In Turkey, her agents and settlers were exposed to considerable annoyance, and a sequestration of British property to a large amount was promptly executed in various quarters. The fate which awaited the Mussulman negociator was a lamentable one: he was accused of imbecility or treachery; and his head was taken off his shoulders to decorate the niche over the Seraglio gate: he paid dear for his friendly feelings towards the English. So ended the famed expedition to the Hellespont and the Bospho

fire was directed against the assailants. The attempt to take it was a complete failure: the British were obliged to retreat with loss. A second attempt was made with about half the army; but it was fruitless : a retreat again became necessary, and the troops were obliged to fight their way back to Alexandria. General Fraser remained at Alexandria till September, when, finding that its retention was impracticable, he obtained the release of every British prisoner by con senting to evacuate Egypt.

DISASTERS IN SOUTH AMERICA.

It is an old proverb that "misfortunes never come alone." Thus it was with the expeditions planned by the "all talents" ministry It was hoped that the reverses in the Mediterranean might be compensated in the South Atlantic Oceans; but this hope was illusive. In October 1806, a re-enforcement had been sent to the Rio de la Plata, under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, who, on arriving at Maldonado, resolved to attack the strong post of Monte Video, the key to the navigation of that river. His efforts were at first successful, --the town and castle with fifty-seven vessels of war and trade were captured. This success, however, was followed by a series of reverses, induced by rashness and misconduct. When intelligence arrived in England of the re-capture of Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards, orders were transmitted to General Crauford, who had been sent against Chili with 4,200 men, accompanied by a naval force, under Admiral Murray, to proceed with his army to the river Plate. He reached Monte Video on the 14th of June, where he found General Whitelocke, with a re-enforcement from England of 1,600 men. The chief command of the British forces was entrusted to General Whitelocke, and he had orders to reduce the whole province of Buenos Ayres. A general attack on the town was ordered to be made on the 5th of July, each corps being directed to enter the streets opposite to it, and all with unloaded muskets. No mode of attack could have been so ill-adapted against a town consisting of flat-roofed houses, disposed in regular streets, intersecting each other at right angles. Volleys of grape-shot were poured on our columns in front and flank as they advanced, and they were equally assailed from the house-tops. The service was executed, but it was with the frightful loss of 2,500 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Sir Samuel Auchmuty succeeded in making himself master of the Plaza de Toros, where he took eighty-two pieces of cannon, and an immense quantity of ammunition; but General Crauford, with his brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Duff, with a detachment under his command, were obliged to surrender. Surrounded with foes, General Whitelocke, who had arrogantly refused to treat before the attack, now consented to a negociation with the Spanish com▾ mandant; and he not only agreed to evacuate the town, on condition of recovering his own prisoners, and those taken from General Beresford, but to give up Monte Video, with every other place on the Rio de la Plata held by British troops, within the space of two months. The result of this expedition brought General Whitelocke before a court-martial, and he was sentenced to be cashiered for lack of zeal, judgment, and personal exertion. Against the ill-success of these expeditions, the solitary capture of the Dutch colony of Curacoa only can be recorded: this island surrendered, on the 1st of January, to a squadron of our frigates under Commodore Brisbane.

WAR WITH RUSSIA.

soon realized. A manifesto soon issued from the imperial palace of Petersburgh, in which this country was not only accused of provoking a war by the enterprise against Denmark, but as "cooly contemplating a bloody war, which had been kindled at her will, while she sent troops to attack Buenos Ayres; and as despatching from Sicily another army, which appeared destined to make a diversion in Italy, to the African coast, for the purpose of seizing and appropriating Egypt to herself." This declaration was followed by a spirited reply on the part of the British government, by the British ambassador's leaving Petersburgh, and by a grant of Jetters of marque and reprisals against Russian vessels. The Emperor of Russia now issued a declaration of war against England, and proclaimed anew the principles of the armed neutrality, and engaged that there should be no peace between Russia and England until satisfaction should have been given to Denmark. Such were his pretexts for declaring war against his late powerful ally; but it is clear from the treaty of Tilsit, that war was in his heart before England had committed the aggressions, if aggressions they were, of which he so loudly complained. Moreover, had English subsidies still been forthcoming, Alexander had yet been the friend of King George.

FRENCH INVASION OF PORTUGAL.

Napoleon was equally clamorous against England as was Alexander for her conduct towards Denmark. While, however, he was making Europe ring with his maledictions against her, for violating the neutrality of Denmark, he was devising schemes and giving positive orders for falling upon Portugal in a time of peace. On the 27th of October it was agreed between France and Spain-That Spain should grant a free passage through her territories, and supply with provisions a French army to invade Portugal; that she should also furnish a body of troops to co-operate with the said French army; and that as soon as the conquest should be completed, the provinces which now composed the kingdom of Portugal should be divided between the King of Etruria, the King of Spain's grandson, and Manuel Godoy, who was the Queen of Spain's infamous favourite. Thus the province of Jutra Douro, and Minho, with the city of Oporto, was to fall to the lot of the King of Etruria, and was to be erected into a kingdom,

under the name of Northern Lusitania; and the sove

reignty of the Alentejo and Algarves was to be given to Godoy, who was to assume the title of the Sovereign Prince of the Algarves. These two principalities were to own the King of Spain as their protector; but France was to keep the city of Lisbon, and the provinces of Tras-os-Montes, Beira, and Estremadura until the period of a general peace. In consideration of obtaining this new kingdom, the Queen of Etruria, acting as regent for her son, was to abdicate and give to Napoleon those districts in Italy which he had previously annexed to the King of Etruria's kingdom. This treaty was not signed, as before seen, until the 27th of October; but nine days before this a French army had crossed the Bidaso, and had commenced its march through Spain for the Portuguese frontier. This army was commanded by Junot; and on the 26th of November that commander advanced to Abrantes, within three days' march from Lisbon. The Moniteur had already announced that "the house of Braganza had ceased to reign;" and as if to fulfil this imperial edict, the royal family embarked on board a British fleet and set sail for the Brazils, leaving the country in the hands of the enemy. In the whole, about 18,000 Portuguese abandoned their homes and their country with their sovereign. They were accompanied a part of their voyage by a strong British squadron, under the command of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith; and when that commander left them, he returned to blockade the Tagus. Junot's first measure was, on entering Lisbon, to disarm the inhabitants; and this done he commenced

The British order in council of the 7th of January, prohibiting neutrals from trading to any port in the possession or under the control of the enemy not being efficient, additional orders were issued on the 11th of November, declaring every port from which England was excluded to be in a state of blockade, and all trade in its produce illegal, and liable therefore to be captured. The Americans were allowed still to trade with the enemy's colonies for articles of their own consumption; but the double restriction was imposed on their intercourse between France and her colonies, of calling at a British port and paying a British duty. the measures of the two great belligerent powers, the To avoid the losses and hostilities apprehended from British council likewise laid a strict embargo on all American vessels, by which they were prohibited from leaving their ports, while the ships of all other nations were ordered to quit the harbours of the United States, with or without cargoes, so soon as they should receive notification of the act. sponded to by Napoleon, by his celebrated Milan decree, France after having touched England should be seized which enacted "that all vessels entering a port of and confiscated, with their cargoes, without exception or distinction." This decree was succeeded by another on the 19th of December, which had more explicit reference to our late orders in council, and which declared "that every neutral which submitted to be searched by an English ship, or which paid any duty to the British Government, should, in consequence, become liable to seizure, as a lawful prize, by French ships of war."

These directions were re

Neutral powers, as it has been observed, were thus placed between two fires : if they entered a French port without paying a duty on their cargoes in England, they were subjected to capture by that purpose, they became subject to confiscation in the British cruizers; and if they touched at England for ports of France. The system, however, which Nawhich gave rise to these perplexities among nations, poleon had adopted towards British commerce, and was the means by which he was hurled from his throne.

DISPUTES WITH AMERICA.

The orders in council described above gave rise to much irritation in the United States. Another unfortunate subject of dispute also rose between the two countries: an American vessel was seized by Captain Humphries, because the commandant refused to admit a search for some deserters which were supposed to be on board. In consequence of this a proclamation was issued by the president, ordering all British ships of war to quit the harbours of the United States. Satisfaction for the outrage was demanded of Great Britain; and although the British ministry expressed their readiness to make reparation for the act of unauthorized aggression which had been committed; disavowed the conduct of Admiral Berkley, under whose orders Captain Humphries had acted; and sent a special envoy to America, with overtures of conciliation, as will be seen in a future page, the breach was not healed.

commons, it was rejected by the lords. Subsequently he brought forward a new bill, limited to one year's duration, which passed into a law.

DEBATE ON IRELAND.

In the course of this session there was a vehement debate on Ireland. The late ministry and their friends attributed the disaffection which still prevailed in that unhappy country to the coercive policy of the present administration. The appointment of Dr. Duigenau, to a seat in the privy-council, which took place about this time, was considered as a wanton insult to the feelings of the Irish people; and as Mr. Canning was mainly instrumental in making that appointment, he was unsparingly condemned for the act. Mr. Tierney asked how ministers could suppose, that in recommending such an appointment, they were cherishing that urity and harmony which it appeared to be his majesty's earnest desire to cultivate. It was the boast of Mr. Canning, he said, to be the representative of Mr. Pitt's opinions; but, he would venture to say, that if Mr. Pitt were living, he would be ashamed of such an appointment; and that he never would have lent himself to the contemptible system of irritation which the present administration seemed to have adopted. This debate took place on the presentation of the Roman Catholic petition, on which occasion ministers were anxious to elude the question. Opposition, however, not only pressed it upon them in this debate, but also in others, when it was wholly out of place; going occasionally to some unjustifiable lengths, in the way of assertion. Thus Lord Hawkesbury affirmed, that ministers and the country had learned from the disaffected in Ireland, that there were secret engagements in the treaty of Tilsit, which secret engagements he declared in his speech. All the powers of Europe, he said, were to be confederated to engage or seize on the fleets of Denmark and Portugal; and then Ireland was to be attacked from two points, i.e. from Lisbon and Copenhagen. This ministers, he added, had learned from the disaffected in Ireland, and they had never yet found the information of these parties

false !

MOTION RESPECTING THE DROITS OF ADMIRALTY, ETC.

Sir Francis Burdett, considering that the proceeds from the droits of admiralty were so large as to become dangerous to public liberty, moved, with a view to ulterior inquiry, that an account of the net proceeds paid out of the court of admiralty since the 1st of January, 1793, with the balances now remaining, be laid before the house, which motion was agreed to. This year witnessed a diminution of rigour in our criminal code. Sir Samuel Romilly introduced a bill to repeal so much of an act of Elizabeth as tended to take away the benefit of the clergy from offenders convicted of stealing privately from the person. A clause was introduced by the solicitor-general, providing that the act, instead of being punished by death, should be punished by transportation for life, or for a term of years, according to the discretion of the judge. During this session a bill was also passed for the better administration of justice in Scotland; its object being to divide the court of session into two chambers of seven or eight judges; to give those courts certain powers for making regulations with respect to proceedings, and to executions in pending appeals, and also for issuing commissions to ascertain those cases in which it might be proper to establish a trial by jury. In the course of this session the charges against the Indian administration of the Marquess Wellesley were fully disposed of by his full and entire acquittal. Sir John Anstruther's motion, that the noble marquess had been actuated by an ardent zeal for the service of his country, and by an ardent desire to promote the inte

rests, safety, and prosperity of the British empire, was carried by one hundred and eighty-nine against twentynine. Subsequently a vote of thanks was given to the noble marquess for his services in the Copenhagen expedition; and in communicating this, the speaker of the house of commons dilated on his Indian exploits, and pointed him out as the officer best fitted to command in chief a great expedition. While parliament was sitting, a grand movement had begun in Spain against the French nation; and Sheridan called the attention of the house to this subject, and demanded its exertions in favour of the Spanish cause. But ministers seemed to think, that though they fully sympathized with the patriots who had taken up arms in that country, the time had not arrived for the interference of England.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 4th of July. By this time ministers had become convinced that it was their duty to aid the Spaniards in their struggle against Napoleon; for the commissioners stated, in his majesty's name, that the Spanish nation must now be considered as the ally of Great Britain, and that it was his majesty's intention to make every exertion in his power for the support of their cause.

RISING OF THE SPANISH NATION, ETC. It has been seen that a compact had been entered into between Napoleon and the Spanish court for a division of Portugal, when the conquest of that country should be made. Napoleon, however, never intended that Spain should share in the spoils of his conquests. Contrary to the treaty, the Spaniards were almost wholly excluded from the occupation of the country; and added to this, French troops suddenly marched by different routes into the very heart of the Spanish kingdom. The Spaniards saw their soil in the hands of a foreigner, and their proud hearts beat high with indignation at the outrage committed. Godoy, the "Prince of Peace," saw that he had been overreached, and that his empire, as well as that of his master, was at an end. He advised the royal family to take refuge in flight; but the people seeing that this was determined upon, resolved upon a desperate resistance. One voice alone was heard throughout the provinces, and that one voice loudly accused Godoy of imbecility or treason. A terrible sedition broke out at Aranguez, in March of the present year. Summoned to arms by Ferdinand, the Prince of Austria, an avowed foe to Godoy, the whole population rose, stormed the palace in which the favourite dwelt, abused him, and would have murdered him, but for the intercession of the queen. Covered with wounds, he was, however, conducted to prison, and then they compelled the king to resign, and placed the sceptre of power in the hands of his son Ferdinand, who had incited the revolt. Ferdinand entered Madrid in the character of King of the two Spains; but the French troops, under Murat, entered that city on the next day, and the newly-created king soon discovered who was to be master. Murat refused to acknowledge the Prince of Austria as king, and announced the near arrival of Napoleon in Madrid. He was advised to go to meet Napoleon, in order to secure his favour; but when he met him at Bayonne, he was informed that the French emperor's determination was to remove the Bourbon house from the Spanish throne. He was compelled to declare the unconditional restoration of the crown to his father, who was called to Bayonne for the purpose of receiving it; and then the old monarch ceded to Napoleon by treaty all his rights to the throne of Spain and India, with the single condition, that the prince whom the emperor intended to place thereon should be independent, and that the Roman Catholic religion should continue to be the only religion in Spain. The king, the queen the royal family, and Godoy received in return an

assured abode in France, with certain pensions; and the whole court went immediately to the castle of Compeigne, which the conqueror allotted them. Napoleon now gave the throne of Spain to his brother Joseph, who reigned at Naples, giving the latter throne to Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Bergand Cleves. The members of the national junta were now convoked to Bayonne from all parts of the kingdom, and a new constitution was formed, after which Joseph set out for his kingdom in Spain. Napoleon thought his work consummated; but events proved that it was only now commenced. The royal house of the Bourbons had vanished, but the nation still lived. The news of what had passed at Bayonne filled all Spain with fury: the national pride revolted against the yoke of the foreigner, and a contest was roused, the flames of which raged over all the provinces of the kingdom. In the very day that Napoleon declared his brother King of Spain, the junta of Seville proclaimed war against the oppressor; and on the day of the entrance of King Joseph into Madrid, the French were repulsed from Saragossa, and compelled to lay down their arms at Baylen, to the number of 26,000 men. So furious was the storm of war which Napoleon had thus called up throughout the whole country, that his brother Joseph was obliged to quit Madrid one week after his entry therein. In every part the population rose to arms and massacred the French: the very clergy aiding the people and the army to root them from their soil. From this time for six long years Spain fought against the formidable forces of the world's tyrant; and, as will be seen in a future page, she came off victorious. At the very first onset, indeed, by the capitulation at Baylen, the charm of French invincibility was broken, and the star of Napoleon was covered with an opaque cloud. It was this battle, fought in July, which induced England to assist the Spaniards. Money, arms, munitions of every sort, and troops were sent to both Spain and Portugal; and, as regards the latter country, their power was soon rendered effective.

AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL.

The flame of patriotism enkindled in Spain soon spread to Portugal. The Portuguese arose against Junot, and they were quickly aided in their struggle by the English. A small army, collected for a distant enterprise, was ordered thither, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. This army landed in August at the mouth of the river Mondego, north of Lisbon; and soon after Sir Arthur defeated the French forces, under de la Borde, at Rohia, and the main army, under Junot, at Vimiera. The result of this last victory was the capitulation of Cintra, in virtue of which Junot's army was conveyed to France upon English vessels; and all Portugal was left in the power of the British. From this time the English had a firm foundation for their campaigns in the Peninsula. Subsequently a Russian fleet of nine ships of the line, which lay in the Tagus, under Admiral Siniavin, surrendered by convention: it was to be held with all its stores by England as a deposit, till six months after the conclusion of a peace; the admiral, officers, and seamen being sent to Russia at the expense of England. After the evacuation of Portugal by the French troops, a regency was established; which, by restoring comparative tranquillity, taught the people to estimate the advantages they had obtained from their British allies. It was not long, indeed, before the Portuguese, laying aside their characteristic pride and vain boasting, clung to their ancient protectors, and submitted to their direction with a docility and patience that produced the happiest result.

CONFEDERATION OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA.

Upon receiving the intelligence of these reverses, Napoleon assembled a far more powerful army, and

resolved to crush the insurrection of Spain at least in person. Other dangers, however, awaited him. Alarmed at the treaty of Tilsit, and invigorated by its consequences, Austria had increased her regular force, and organized a militia; and the French reverses in Spain and Portugal gave a new impulse to her evident preparations for war. Napoleon saw this with alarm, and he resolved at once to menace and insult that country, by arranging the co-operation of Russia and the confederated states of the Rhine against the Emperor of Austria, should he attempt to take advantage of the Spanish war. A meeting between Napoleon and Alexander of Russia took place at Erfurt in September and October; and although the sovereigns of the confederation of the Rhine were permitted to pay their court there, Austria was excluded as a secondary power. Thus insulted afresh, the Emperor of Austria resolved in the course of the next year to renew the struggle with France, though he should find himself opposed to Russia likewise. A mysterious veil covered for a time the transactions of Erfurt; but what transpired in relation to them and what ensued justified the conjecture that they confirmed the conventions of the treaty of Tilsit; and that the new dynasty in Spain was acknowledged by Russia for permitting her to aggrandize herself in the north and the east. From Erfurt the two emperors directed a common proposal of peace to the King of England, accompanied by the declaration, that this step was the consequence of the most intimate connexion of the two greatest monarchs of the con. tinent for war as well as for peace; but this proposal was without effect. They were answered that, however desirous both the government and the people might be to put an end to the miseries of war, they were prepared to endure any extremity before they sacrificed the interest of their allies by negociating a separate peace, and leaving Sicily, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain to the tender mercies of Napoleon. "The hideous presence of the British leopards" was still to prove a terror to Frenchmen,

OPERATIONS IN SPAIN.

Ilaving strengthened his alliance with the Emperor of Russia, Napoleon recalled his legions from the banks of the Niemen, the Spree, the Elbe, and the Danube, in order to reduce Spain. Placing himself at the head of them, he crossed the Pyrenees early in November, and the battles of Burgos, Epinosa, and Tudela, fought under his auspices, once more placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. Napoleon, accompanied by Joseph, again occupied Madrid; and he now sought to appease the fury of its inhabitants and of the people in the provinces by conciliatory measures. The promises made to the Spanish people were ample; but he spoke to men who had no ears for his offers, On every hand the population flew to arms, and all vowed to drive him from their land. Even conflicting parties agreed to shake off their natural enmity to each other, in order to effect this triumph. A guerilla warfare was now pursued: agile bands of men appeared, and having cut off some of their enemies, retired with equal rapidity. In the meantime a British army, under General Moore, was marching to their aid from Por tugal. When this army had arrived at Salamanca, however, the Spaniards had already experienced successive defeats, so that when Napoleon advanced against him, General Moore deemed it prudent to retreat. The French emperor expressed his joy aloud at seeing the "British leopards" fly before him; but while pursuing them he received fresh accounts of the preparation of Austria, and suddenly turning his horse, he returned to Burgos, and from thence hurried to Paris. was left to combat with the English; and that general, overtaking them at Corunna, was defeated by them, though inferior in numbers. The greatest loss on the side of the English was that of their commander, Sir John Moore, who was mortally wounded by a cannon

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