ONE: Unsettled Condition of EuropeMachinations of Russia and Austria against TurkeyDisasters of the AustriansCapture of OczakoffFurther Designs of CatherineIntervention of PittGustavus of Sweden invades RussiaHis Temporary CheckHe remodels the Diet and pursues the WarJoseph renews the WarDisaffection in HungaryRevolution in the Austrian NetherlandsAbolition of the Joyeuse EntreThe Emperor declared to have forfeited the CrownThe Austrian Troops retired to LuxembourgDeath of JosephOutbreak of the French RevolutionEfforts of Turgot and his Successors to introduce ReformsLomnie de BrienneRecall of NeckerAssembly of the States GeneralThe Third Estate becomes the National AssemblyThe Meeting in the Tennis CourtContemplated Coup d'tatProject of a City GuardDismissal of NeckerInsurrection in ParisThe City GuardCapture of the BastilleThe Noblesse renounce their PrivilegesBankruptcy and Famine"O Richard, O Mon Roi!"The Women and the National Guard march on VersaillesThe King brought to ParisEffect of the Revolution in EnglandDifferent Views of Burke and FoxRejection of Flood's Reform BillThe Nootka Sound AffairSatisfaction obtained from SpainMotions of Reform in the Irish ParliamentConvention of ReichenbachContinuance of the War between Sweden and RussiaRenewal of the War with Tippoo SahibDebates in ParliamentDiscussions on the Eastern QuestionThe Canada BillIt is made the occasion of speeches on the French RevolutionBreach between Fox and BurkeAbuse of Burke by the WhigsWilberforce's Notice for Immediate EmancipationColonisation of Sierra LeoneBill for the Relief of Roman CatholicsFox's Libel BillBurke's "Reflections on the French Revolution"Replies of Mackintosh and PaineDr. PriceDr. PriestleyThe Anniversary of the taking of the BastilleThe Birmingham RiotsDestruction of Priestley's LibrarySuppression of the RiotsMildness of the Sentences.
TWO:To any one viewing the situation of Buonaparte at this moment, it can appear nothing but an act of madness to invade Russia. The British, in Spain, were now defeating his best generals, and this would at an earlier period have caused him to hasten to that country and endeavour to settle the war in person. It is remarkable that he was not desirous to cope with Wellington himself, all his ablest generals having failed. But to leave such an enemy in his rear when he proceeded to the North, impresses us with the idea that his enormous success had now turned his head, and that the term of his career had been reached. Besides Spain, too, there were Prussia and Austria, with whom it was only politic to enter into some terms of security; for assuredly, if his arms suffered a reverse in Russia, all these would rise and join his enemies.
FORE:At first victory seemed to attend the French. Lefebvre defeated the Spaniards in Aragon, on the 9th of June, and General Bessires beat the insurgents, in several partial actions, in Navarre and Biscay. But his great success was over the united forces of Generals Cuesta and Blake, on the 14th of June, at Medina de Rio Seco, a few leagues from the city of Valladolid. Duchesne thought he should be able to send reinforcements to assist in reducing Valencia and Aragon; but he soon found that he had enough to do in his own district. Marshal Moncey, all this time expecting the co-operation of Duchesne, had advanced into Valencia. For a time the country seemed deserted; but as he advanced he found the hills and rocks swarming with armed people, and he had to force his march by continual fighting. There were Swiss troops mingled amongst the Spanish ones opposed to him, and whilst they attacked him in front, the Spaniards assaulted his flanks and rear. When he arrived before the city of Valencia, on the 27th of June, he found the place well defended. On the 29th Moncey retired from before the walls, despairing of the arrival of Duchesne. Moncey, like Bessires, now found himself called to Madrid to defend the new king, who, it was clear, could not long remain there; and already the British were landing on the shores of the Peninsula, to bring formidable aid to the exasperated inhabitants.The Georges conspiracy, as it is commonly[498] called, was followed by a still more startling act of violence. As the Bourbons still continued to watch for the overthrow of his power, Buonaparte determined to take a deep revenge on the persons of any of that family whom he could by any means get into his hands. Could he have inveigled the Count d'Artois and the Duke of Berry, as he attempted, to leave London and land in Brittany, he would have seized them and put them to death without ceremony or mercy. But there was another member of the family, though the farthest off from succession to the throne, who was living on the French frontiers, within a tempting reach of his soldiers in Alsace, and him he determined to kidnap and kill. This proposed victim of a most lawless and wicked vengeance was Antoine-Henri de Bourbon, Duke d'Enghien, the son of the Prince of Cond. The project was so odious, so certain to cover both Napoleon and France with inextinguishable infamy, that it startled the not very sensitive mind of Talleyrand, who, it is said, gave the duke secret warning of his danger, and advised him to remove farther from the Rhine. In consequence, the duke applied to Sir Charles Stuart to get him a passport from the Austrian Minister, to enable him to cross the Austrian territory to rejoin his grandfather, then at Warsaw with Louis XVIII. Sir Charles Stuart applied to M. de Cobenzl for this purpose, and had the Austrian Court been quicker in its movements, the duke would have been safe enough from the myrmidons of Buonaparte; but, whilst lingering at Ettenheim in Baden for the necessary passport, the duke had so little suspicion of the prompt and deadly nature of the usurper's design against him, that he took no means to conceal himself, or he might still have escaped. But in the middle of the night of the 14th of March he was aroused by the sound of horses' hoofs, and, looking out, saw that the chateau was surrounded by a troop of French cavalry. Buonaparte had despatched his aide-de-camp, Caulaincourt, to Strasburg to effect this capture, and he had sent on Colonel Ordenner to bring the duke away from the heart of a neutral territory. The duke was summarily tried by a military tribunal and shot (March 21, 1804) at Vincennes. The news of this most audacious crime soon transpired, and filled Europe with horror and execration against its perpetrators.
Nunc at viverra risus. In euismod quam ac dictum varius. Nunc at viverra risus.
Nunc at viverra risus. In euismod quam ac dictum varius. Nunc at viverra risus. In euismod quam ac dictum varius. Nunc at viverra risus. In euismod quam ac dictum varius. Nunc at viverra risus.