that afflicted Spain in the war of the succession, by awaiting the fate of the mother country, to obey the legitimate authority occupying the sovereignty." Hostilities were every where else declared against France, and the most liberal and prompt contributions remitted to the patriots in Old Spain. This year the French were driven out of the islands of Porto Rico, Deseada, and Morie Galante. The great affairs of Europe in 1808 are exhibited in the contest between Spain and Portugal, with their ally Great Britain, on the one part; and the ruler of France, aided by his vassal princes and kings, on the other. The annals of other countries sink almost into provincial history. What is most prominent and important in the history of Spain, Great Britain, and France, during that period, has been seen in the present narrative. To what concerns France, however, it may be proper to add, that in the beginning of the year Buonaparte, as a preparation for the farther extention and consolidation of his empire, annexed to France, and took possession of the military posts of Kehl, Wesel, Cassel on the Rhine, and Flushing. It was probably with similar views that he established and endowed a Greek bishoprick in Dalmatia. The state of the French empire in its internal as well as external relations, as exhibited by the ministers of Buonaparte, will be found in another part of this volume *. Such papers, notwithstanding their false colouring and misrepresntation of facts, disclose the spirit and views of government. The most remarkable article in the statement is the creation of hereditary nobility, which is declared to be essential in a hereditary monarchy. The main drift of Buonoparte, in his internal regulations, seems to be to root out all memorials of liberty, and to establish in France a despotic government, a military costume, and a military spirit. Sweden in the beginning of the year might have made her peace with France and Russia. The king, with the general voice of the nation, chose a braver, but more impolitic part. After the basest attempts on the part of the Russians, tutored, it would seem, in the school of their allies the French, to seduce the Swedish nation from their allegiance to their king, and their duty to their country, † and a rapid succession of the most sanguinary battles, where the Swedes were bending, and ready to fall, never to rise again, under the overwhelming power of Russia, the Swedish government signed a convention on the 7th of November, by which Finland, the granary of the kingdom, was virtually given up to Russia. The heroic king of Sweden was not deserted in this extremity of fortune by his ally, Britain. A naval force under admiral Keats drove the Russian squadrons into their ports, where they were held in a state of blockade. A land force of 10,000 men, under the command of Sir John Moore, was sent in the month of May to assist Sweden, against a combined attack from Russia, France, and Denmark. On the 17th of May, this army reached Gottenburgh, State Papers, p. 553. The base arts of the Russians do not seem to have been altogether fruitless. The loss of the Swedish fortress and flotilla of Sweaborg, there is every reason to be.. lieve, was the effect of treachery. The fortress of Sweaborg is second only to those of Gibraltar and Malta. Gottenburgh, but was not permitted, to land. Sir John Moore repaired to Stockholm to communicate his orders, and to concert measures for the security of Sweden. He there found, to his surprise, that though the Swedish army was quite insufficient for even defensive operations, his majesty's thoughts were wholly intent on conquest. It was first proposed, that the British should remain in their ships, till some Swedish regiments should be collected at Gottenburgh, and that the combined forces should land, and conquer Zealand. Upon an examination of the plan, it was found and admitted, that the island of Zealand, besides several strong fortresses, contained a regular force, far superior to any that could be brought to bear against it and also, that the island of Funen was full of French and Spanish troops, which could not be prevented from crossing over in small parties. It was next proposed that the British alone should land on Finland, storm a fortress, and take a position there. But Sir But Sir John Moore represented, that ten thousand British troops were wholly insufficient to encounter the principal force of the Russian empire, which could quickly be brought against them at a point so near Petersburgh. Sir John escaped from the resent ment of his Swedish majesty in disguise, and conformably to his instructions, brought back his little army to England. In consequence of the disastrous and menacing as pect of affairs in Sweden, Lewis XVIII. of France, with the queen and the duchess of Angoulême, took refuge, in the month of August, in England. As the Russians acquired an extension of territory on the one hand by the acquisition of Swedish Finland, they still kept a steady eye on the long-meditated project of extending their empire to the Bosphorus, by the acquisition of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia. The number of their troops in Moldayia and Wallachia, in the autumn of 1808, was raised to upwards of 80,000 men. To face these a great number of Turkish troops marched from time to time from Constantinople and other places, to the Danube: and of these no inconsiderable number had been trained in the European manner, and taught the use of the bayonet. The reigning sultan had been deposed, and a new one placed on the throne, under the influence of Mustapha Bairactar, a rigor. ous, bold, and, for a Turk, an enlightened man. Notwithstanding the many examples of the destruction of those who attempted innovations, he dared, with an energy that shewed no mercy, to give offence to the janissaries, by the in troduction of important regulations into the army, which he proceeded in new modelling, as well as increasing its numbers. He was equally attentive to the strength and improvement of the Turkish fleet. He demanded a certain number of hands, not only from all trading vessels, but also from fishing boats. The career of Bairactar, in propor tion to its vigour and audacity, was of short duration: on the 14th of November, at day-break, the janissaries fell upon the siemens, principal officers of the Nizommi Gedid. and massacred all the partizans of of the grand vizier that came in their way. The siemens were forced to submit, after a long resistance. On the 15th, the janissaries assaulted the high walls of the seraglio, Imme * See Vol. XLIX. Hist. Eur. p. 191. diately diately on this, the grand vizier strangled the unfortunate Mustapha IV. who was a prisoner there, blew himself up in his own palace with gun-powder, of which he had purposely provided a large quantity before-hand, to prevent his falling alive into the hands of his enemies. This was the third revolution that had happened at Constantinople in the space of eighteen months: never before had the turbulent imbecility of the Turkish government been exhibited in so striking a mamer. In Italy the most prominent events were the transference of the crown of Naples to Murat, Buonaparte's brother-in-law, the grand duke of Berg; the usurpation of the papal throne, and annexation of Rome, with all the ecclesiastical states, Placentia, Parma, aud Anconia, to the French empire. The cardinals were banished from Rome, but allowed no inconsiderable pensions. The person of his holiness was secured in a state of coufinement. Buonaparte said, that he only took back what had been given to the church for the support of religion and promotion of piety: but as the munificent donations of his predecessor, Charlemagne, had been used for very different purposes, it was very fit that they should be recalled. The kingdom of Christ, he observed, like a sound divine, was not of this world, The same pope, Pius VII. that had gone to crown Napoleon at Pars, and agreed to the subversion of the Gallican church, and the dimiution of the apostolical power, by the establishment of the concordat, in this terrible crisis, assumed the courage and the character of a martyr. He protested, by a public manifesto, against the irreligious and unjust proceeding of the emperor of the French towards the holy apostolical see. He formally excommunicated him. In proclamations addressed to the Spanish, Portugueze, and all other Catholic na tions, he exhorted them to the defence of the altar and the throne, at the hazard of their lives, as well as the expence of their fortune. The affecting passage in the Evangelists, describing the remorse of the disciple and apostle Peter, at his having denied his Saviour, was finely and pathetically applied by the Roman Catholic to Pius VII. "And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice; and Peter went out, and wept bitterly.” It seemed matter of astonishment to many, that so subtle and refined a politician as Buonaparte, should incur the hazard of exciting the indignation, and a spirit of resistance to his aggressions, in all Catholic countries, by the spoliation and imprisonment of the pope. But Buonaparte's power had by this time risen to so enormous a pitch, that he did not think it necessary to manage or keep any terms with the opinions and prejudices of men or nations. His general plan was, to arm and direct one half of the world against the other: ruffians and villains against men of good principles and peaceable dispositions and habits; and to make every thing bend under the weight of military despotism. It is a maxim of Machiavel's, that when a prince wants to establish his power on changes, he should leave nothing of the old system, but make all Luke xxii. 61---2. things things new. Buonaparte, who is no doubt well acquainted with Machiavel, appears not to have considered himself as secure until all the venerable institutions of society had been trodden under foot.-It is possible to overrun and subjugate nations by a war against both morality and religion: but whether a vast empire is to be long preserved without both, is a problem that experience has not yet resolved. The foundation of Buonaparte's empire is military force and ingenious combination; the spoils of proprietors distributed among military adventurers; and the efforts of states and kingdoms against one another, dextrously turned to the destruction of the whole. But this career of destruction seems to be calculated, by its very nature, to come, at no great distance of time, to a termination. The altar indeed was restored, in some fashion, by the concordat, but not religion. Lucian Buonaparte and Portalis, recommending the concordat to the assembly, said, that "Religion was an useful instrument in the hands of government, as well as a consolation to weak minds and timorous consciences." Such a nation as the French cannot venerate a system of pomp and ceremony, avowedly adapted merely to such purposes; and considered by the legislature as mere mummery. The Roman Catholic clergy, too, have been vilified and brought into contempt; not by the ruling powers of France, but by themselves: by swearing, abjuring, and swearing again, according to circumstances, and by the blasphemous adulation of so many bishops and archbishops, who in their pastoral letters, as well as their sermons on public occasions, do not hesitate to call Buonaparte a "new Cyrus whom God has chosen and supports for the accomplishment of his impenetrable designs-whom God brought back from Egypt, in order to make him the man of his right-hand. This is the doing of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes." In British India, the company's ministers made great progress in reducing, according to directions from home, the public expenditure, with other improvements; and in conciliating the favour of the Persians: both of them subjects to which our attention will be particularly called by events of 1809. An attempt was made by the government of Bengal to secure the possession of the Portugueze settlement of Macao for the prince regent, under British protection, in the same manner, or by similar arrangements, as Madeira had been. But the emperor of China sent orders to the governor of the district, within which Macao is situated, not to allow the English company's ships to trade, until such concessions and apologies should be made, for the attempt to station a military force in that island, as might be amply sufficient for the purpose of inducing him to pardon them:concessions were made to the celestial empire; and harmony was reestablished.+ The Americans still held out against the British orders in council: and Britain still held out against the American embargo, * See Appendix to Chronicle, p. 286. CHRONICLE. CHRONICLE. JANUARY. 1st. The British THE state of Navy.- the British na. vy, according to the returns up to the present day, is as follows: There are in commission 795 ships of war, of which 144 are of the line, 20 from 50 to 44 guns, 178 frigates, 226 sloops of war, 227 armed brigs, &c. Besides which there are building and in ordinary, ships which make the total amount of the British navy, exclusive of catters and other small vessels, 1000 ships of war, including 253 of the line, 29 from 50 to 44 guns, 261 frigates, 299 sloops, 258 armed brigs. Particulars of the Loss of the Anson Frigate. The following far. ther particulars of the melancholy loss of this ship are given, chiefly on the authority of the officers who were saved:-The Anson sailed from Falmouth on Christmas-eve for her station off the Black Rocks, as one of the look-out frigates of the Channel fleet. In the violent storm of Monday, blowing about W. to S. W. she stood across the entrance of the Channel, towards Scilly, made the Land's End, which they mistook for the Lizard, and bore up, as they thought, for Falmouth. Still VOL. L. The ship was doubtful, however, in the evening of Monday, Captain Lydiard stood off again to the southward; when a consultation being held, it was once more resolved to bear up for Falmouth. Running eastward and northward, still under the fatal persuasion that the Lizard was on the north-west of them, they did not discover the mistake till the man on the look-out a-head, called out "breakers!" instantaneously broached to, and the best bower let go, which happily brought her up; but, the rapi dity with which the cable had veered out made it impossible to serve it, and it soon parted in the hawse. hole. The sheet anchor was then let go, which also brought up the ship; but after riding end on for a short time, this cable parted from the same cause, about eight in the morning, and the ship went plump on shore, upon the ridge of sand which separates the Loc-pool from the Bay. Never did the sea run more tremendously high. It broke over the ship's masts, which soon went by the board; the main-mast forming a floating raft from the ship to the shore; and the greater part of those who escaped, passed by this medium. One of the men saved, reports, that Captain Lydiard was near him on the mainA mast: |