Atlas

Introduction

— MEETING OF THE STATES-GENERAL, 1789, TO THE DEATH OF THE KING, 1793. 1. State of France and England at the commencement of the Revolution, . .3 2. Causes in France which predisposed to revolution, . . 7 3. States-general — National Assembly — Constituent Assembly, 1 1 4. Legislative Assembly — fall of the monarchy — the September massacres, 23 5. National Convention — execution of the King, ... 32

Part II From The Opening Of The War

1792, TO THE ESTAB- LISHMENT OF THE DIRECTORY, 1795. I, State of Europe prior to the commencement of the war, . 37 2. Campaign of 1792, 43 3. Fall of the Girondists, 49 4. Campaign of 1793, 53 5. War in La Vendee, 61 6. Reign of Terror — execution of the Queen Marie-Antoinette — and of Danton, ........ 67 7. Reign of Terror — fall of Robespierre, 72 8. Internal state of France during the Reign of Terror, . . 76 9. War in Poland, 78 10. Campaign of 1794, 81 11. Campaign of 1795, 88 12. Establishment of the Directory, _ VI CONTENTS.

Part III. From The Establishment Of The Directory To The Seizure Of

POWER BY THE FIRST CONSUL. — 1795-99. Page 1. Campaign of 1796 in Germany, 97 2. Italian campaign of 1796-7, 104 3. Internal transactions, and naval campaign of Great Britain in 1797, 113 4. Campaign of 1797 — fall of Venice — treaty of Campo Formio, 117 5. Expedition to Egypt, 122 6. Establishment of the affiliated republics, . . . 1 30 7. Campaign of 1799, 140 8. Internal state of France— the Directory — return of Buonaparte from Egypt — elected First Consul, .... 152

Part IV. From Buonaparte's Election To The Consulate To His Assumption Of

THE IMPERIAL CROWN. — 1799-1804. 1. Measures of France and Britain, . . . . . .164 2. Campaign in Germany and Italy — armistices of Parsdorf and Alexandria, . . . . . . . . .168 3. Campaign of Hohenlinden — peace of Luneville, . . . 175 4. The Northern Maritime Confederacy, ..... 181 5. British expedition to Egypt — peace of Amiens, . . .188 6. Reconstruction of society in France by Napoleon, . .195 7- RevoltofSt Domingo — affiliated republics reorganised — rupture between France and Britain, ...... 202 8. Napoleon's assumption of the imperial crown, . . .211

Part V. From The Rupture Of The Peace Of Amiens To The

TREATY OF TILSIT. — 1803-7. 1. Renewal of hostilities — rupture between Spain and England, 216 2. Threatened invasion of England— battle of Trafalgar, . . 223 3. Campaign of Austerlitz, ........ 232 4. Joseph Buonaparte made King of Naples — battle of Maida — formation of the Rhenish Confederacy, . . . .213 CONTENTS. Page 5. Campaign of Jena — fall of Prussia, 251 6. Campaign of Eylau, ........ 258 7. Domestic and foreign measures of the British government, . 265 Battle of Friedland — peace of Tilsit, . . . . . 270

Part VI. From The Opening Of The Peninsular War To The Peace

OF VIENNA. — 1807-9. 1. Continental System, and imperial government of Napoleon, 277 2. The Copenhagen expedition — war between Russia and England, 283 3. Origin of the Peninsular war, . • 288 4. Spanish war — battle of Corunna, 297 5. Fresh war with Austria — battles of Landshut and Echmuhl, 316 6. Battle of Aspern, . . . . . . . . .321 7. War in Tyrol, North Germany, and Poland, . . . 326 8. Battle of Wagram, 332 9. Walcheren expedition — second war in Tyrol — dethronement of the Pope, 339

Part VII. Peninsular War

— 1809-12. 1. Domestic history of Great Britain from 1809 to 1812, . . 345 2. Maritime war, and campaign of 1809 in Portugal and Spain, 352 3. Divorce of Napoleon, and his marriage with Maria Louisa — campaign of Torres- Vedras, ...... 364 4. Proceedings of the Cortes — war in Spain, .... 373 5. Campaign of 1811 on the Portuguese frontier, . . . 381 6. First invasion of Spain by Wellington, 389

Part VIII. Turkish War

— INVASION OF RUSSIA — LIBERATION OF SPAIN.— 1808-13. 1. War between the Ottomans and Russians, from 1808 to 1812, 400 2. Accession of Bernadotte to the Swedish throne — causes which led to the Russian war of 1812, 407 3. Advance of Napoleon to Moscow, . . . . . .412 CONTENTS. Page 4. Retreat from Moscow, ........ 423 5. Preparations of Napoleon for the final struggle, . . . 434 6. Resurrection of Germany — battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, . 439 7. From the armistice of Pleswitz to the renewal of the war, . 451 8. Renewal ofthe war — battles of Dresden and the Katzbach, of Culm and Dennewitz, . ...... 457 9. Battles of Leipsic and Hanau, ...... 467 10. Campaign of 1813 in Spain — battle of Vitoria, . . 477

Part IX. From The Invasion Of France By The Allies In

1814 TO THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON IN 1815. 1. Battles of the Pyrenees — invasion of France by Wellington, 483 2. Europe in arms against France, ...... 494 3. Campaign of 1814 — battles of La Rothiere, Champaubert, and Montereau — armistice of Lusigny, .... 500 4. Congress of Chatillon — battles of Craone and Laon, . . 507 5. Battles of Orthes and Toulouse — close ofthe war in the south of France — dissolution of the Congress of Chatillon, . 513 6. Loss of Italy — last struggle of Napoleon — fall of Paris. . 522 7. Fall of Napoleon — restoration of the Bourbons, . " . . 530 8. Congress of Vienna— return of Napoleon from Elba, . . 538 9. The Hundred Days — Napoleon's death, .... 547 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF REMARKABLE EVENTS, ....

ADVERTISEMENT.

. The general interest taken by the public in the events treated of in my " History of Europe," and the importance of some information on the subject to every one desirous of obtaining even an ordinary education, has suggested to the Messrs Black wood the idea of publishing an Abridgment of it for the use of Schools and young persons. An Author is in general the person of all others least adapted for such a task, as he is unavoidably biassed by partialities contracted in the course of composition, from which a third party is free. I have con tented myself, therefore, with taking a general superintendence of this Abridgment. Great care has been taken to retain mention of all the material facts in the work, but to dwell at length on such only as were likely to interest youthful minds, and impress the great moral and religious prin ciples which it was the object of the Author to illustrate by his narrative.

A Chronological Table has been subjoined of all the principal events, which will be found of use in impressing them upon the memory, and giving a correct idea of the order in which they succeeded each other, even to those of more a

ADVERTISEMENT.

. advanced years. In a word, nothing has been omitted which could render the Epitome suitable for the purpose for which it was intended — that of combining historical information, on a period of unexampled interest and importance, with those still more valuable moral truths which may be deduced alike from the transactions of men and the works of nature. A. ALISON. Possil House, August 7, 1-48. EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF EUROPE. 1789 — 1815.

Part I

INTKoi/UCriON — MEETING OF THE STATES-GENERAL, 1789 TO THE DEATH OP THE KING, 1793. 1. State of France and England at the commencement of the Revolution. The Great Rebellion in England and the French Revolution have been regarded by many as occurrences almost parallel in character ; but on closer examination it will be found that, possessing a few marked features in common, they were strikingly different both in origin and results. Their resemblance to each other consisted in the overthrow of monarchy by the multitude, and the execution of the reigning prince ; in the assumption of the supreme power by military rulers, and the ultimate restoration of the hereditary line : and with these points the similitude ends. The consequent wars in England, extending over many years, lay between the King and the principal gentry arrayed on the one side, and the cities and the popular mass on the other ; while in Prance none remained loyal to the crown save the Vendean peasantry : the King, yielding without a struggle, was brought STATE OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. to the block by a faction in Paris — a catastrophe which a little energy at first could have easily averted ; while the privi leged classes, to the number of 70,000, fled during the panic from the country, and took refuge on foreign shores.

In England, religion was the great lever by which the leaders of the move ment acted on the people ; in France, democracy triumphed in the temporary prostration of Christianity itself. It is also remarkable that, while no massacres or proscriptions took place during the great civil war in England, and not a manor-house was given to the flames — that while, excepting the death of the King, of Strafford, and of Laud, no unnecessary cruelty was indulged in by the republican victors, and little alteration took place eventually, either as to property or the general laws of the realm ; — in France the higher ranks were universally treated with the most revolting barbarity, and every one elevated above the mere populace was marked out as a victim : the peasants rose against their landlords, burned their houses, and plundered their property ; and to these crimes the rural population of La Vendee was the only and the honourable exception.

The advantages of fortune and the distinctions of rank were fatal to their possessors, liberty and equality being the universal outcry of the revolutionary party — who on these grounds not only usurped the entire estates of the church, and the great part of those of the nobles, but annihilated all private rights and privileges, and instituted an entirely new code for the administration of justice. We thus see, that these great Revolutions differed in many more things than in what they agreed ; and we must seek for an explanatiou of these discrepancies, not so much in any original distinctions of national character as in the widely different states of the two countries at the commencement of these out breaks. In attempting to do this, we must be allowed briefly to glance at some prominent points of their previous history ; because after the overthrow of the Roman dominion, very different circumstances tended to mould the character of the Gauls and Britons.

STATE OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 5 Borne down by centuries of oppression, and humiliated by a long submission to tyrannic power, the Britous became a prey to the lawless aggressions of the Scots and Picts, almost as soon as the Roman yoke was removed from their shoulders ; nor was it until the Anglo-Saxon Conquest re-animated afresh the na tional spirit, that they recovered from the lethargy into which they had been subdued. The continuous wars of the Heptarchy, which stretched over five centuries, and in which Saxons, Danes, and Britons were alike involved, tended gradually to re-awaken the warlike energies, which had been originally characteristic of the British nation. During this process, however, the frame of society was greatly disorganised : the community unfortunately arranged itself under two separate and distinct classes — the aris tocracy, and their slaves or vassals — and such a division between them as the middle class of tenants was completely swept away.

At this era the IVorman Conquest induced a new order of things : with an arbitrary despotism, not less oppressive than the Roman, property was reft from its owners, who were speedily degraded almost to the rank of the serfs who had formerly been a part of it. But the spirit of independeuce passed not away from the humbled Anglo-Saxons, and the most happy results were destined to arise from these occurrences ; for, from their intermarriages with the Normans sprang the forefathers of the English Yeomanry, whose prowess with the bow rendered them the most formidable troops in the wars of the middle ages. It was thus that the ancient English spirit gradually rose in the ascendant ; and the mass of the people came ultimately to be possessed of even more than their ancient privileges. The con stant use of arms taught them their own importance in the state, and the ancient institutions of the country came at length to be objects of veneration, even to the descendants of those who had overturned them.

In process of time, these were solemnly rati fied in Magna Charta, and recognised as the basis of the British constitution. At a subsequent period, it may be said that the balance of power amid the classes of the empire was destroyed by the wars STATE OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 6 of the houses of York and Lancaster, as the almost extermination of the ancieDt nobility, and the constant changes of property from one hand to another, tended greatly to augment the power of the crown. This was exhibited, not only in the tyranny of the Tudor princes, but in the servility of their parliaments. But the balance was restored by the Reformation, throughout which the religious zeal which inflamed the people, and their natural love of liberty, were more than a match for the loyalty and de votion of the gentry to their sovereign ; and although matters terminated in the overthrow ofthe throne for a season, the ten dencies towards republicanism gradually relaxed, and the result was the re-establishment of the constitution on a broader basis, and encircled with surer safe-guards.

So much for England ; let us now glance at Gaul, which was left in a state of even deeper degradation on the withdrawal of the Roman forces. There were only 500,000 freemen in the country when it was overrun by the barbarian Franks, into whose hands, before the eleventh century, the whole property of the country had fallen. The original proprietors of the soil were never able to extricate themselves from the entanglements of the degradation into which they had fallen. Every great feudal lord exercised the prerogatives of a petty king ; and in their endless and sanguinary wars with each other they kept up that military spirit, which looked with disdain on the peaceable avocations of commerce. A chivalric enthusiasm, no doubt, pervaded the higher classes ; but the serfs and burgesses were degraded to the verge of absolute slavery.

A reaction at length took place in the dreadful insurrection of the Jacquerie : the nobles were hunted like wild beasts, and subjected to deaths of torture, and their castles burned or thrown down. But the triumph was brief : masses of half-armed and undisciplined men. could not stand the shock of the feudal cavalry, and blood was shed in torrents. The French municipalities yielded almost without a struggle, and in 1389 was erected that Bastille which was not thrown down till the commencement of the era of which we are now to treat. 2,. Causes in France which predisposed to Revolution. Situated iu the centre of European civilisation, it was im possible that France, in the eighteenth century, should escape the general tendency towards free institutions. All classes, except the privileged ones, were discontented ; and the univer sality of this disaffection proves the existence of grievances affecting all classes in the state.

It is true that, in every prosperous, opulent, and advancing country, the higher ranks must be constantly exposed to collision with the incessantly increasing vigour of the lower orders, and, if without advantages to counteract the superior energy and industry of their inferiors, must in general fall a prey to their ambition. But in France, besides the operation of this general rule, and besides the various checks on the growth of constitutional liberty which were detailed in the last section, numerous peculiar causes had combined both to rouse the revolutionary feeling, and to facilitate the success of its outbreak. For a century and a half before the Revolution, France had been undisturbed by civil war or foreign invasion : wealth had accumulated in the lower orders during this long interval of peace and tranquillity ; while the military spirit of the nation had been developed to the utmost by continual wars with the European powers.

The church, in the mean time, had experienced the fate of all attempts, in an advancing age, to fetter the human mind : the growth of philosophic investigation had exposed the corruption and absurdity of many of its doc trines ; and superstitious belief had been succeeded, from the natural tendency of the human mind to pass from one extreme to another, by the irreligious scepticism of Voltaire, Diderot, and their followers. The unpopularity of the church was further augmented by the unequal distribution of its revenues and honours, (from which the clergy of plebeian birth were almost wholly excluded,) and by the luxury and dissipated lives of the high-born dignitaries : hence the superior ecclesiastics shared in the odium directed against the exclusive privileges of the aristo cracy. All appointments of value in the law, the church, the court, or the army, were monopolised by a class containing 150,000 individuals : the great body of the people were absolutely excluded.

Hence the industrious classes, and the men of wealth and talent, were unanimous in their hatred of the nobles ; and hence arose the watchword of Liberty and Equality — a phrase unheard in the English Rebellion. A still more practical grievance was the weight and inequality of taxation. The total revenue amounted to 469,000,000 of francs, (£18,750,000,) of which the taxes on articles of consumption formed 260,000,000. But this immense burden was unequally divided among the different provinces ; and the intendants, who regulated these proportions, exercised an arbitrary power, from which there was practically no appeal. The nobles and the clergy were exempt from the tail le, and others of the more oppressive imposts ; while the cultivator was so heavily mulcted, that only one-twelfth of the produce of an acre (instead of three-fourths, as in England) remained to him after payment of rent and taxes.

The culti vators were consequently reduced to the lowest misery, which was aggravated by the vexatious severity of the local burdens, and services due to their feudal superiors. The game-laws, the corvees, or forced requisitions for the repair of roads, &c, and innumerable other imposts, for which we cannot even find names in our language, weighed as dreadful grievances on the peasantry ; and the general non-residence of the landlords (except in La Vendee) completed the disunion between them and their rural dependants. Nor was the administration of justice free from censure ; in many of the local courts it was even venal and infamous ; and the independence of the provincial parliaments did not always exempt their decisions from the suspicion of partiality. Yet the free and courageous conduct of these bodies had preserved all that still remained of public liberty, by the contest which they had maintained during half a century against the ordi nances of the crown.

These edicts, for nearly two hundred years, had usurped the authority of the law, and the royal prerogative had become virtually absolute. The undisguised profligacy ofthe court, under the Regent Orleans and Louis XV., was carried to an extent unknown since the Roman empire : the favour of royal mistresses openly disposed of the highest appointments ; and such was the dissolution of morals, that no less than .£20,000,000 of the public debt had been contracted for ex penses too disgraceful to bear the light. This enormous national debt, incurred by the crown without national authority, amounted in 1789 to above £244,000,000, while the revenue presented an annual deficit of above £7,000,000 ! — and this, by compelling the King to summon the States-General in order to avert national bankruptcy, proved the immediate cause of the Revolution.

The spirit of innovation had been increasing through the latter part of the eighteenth century, and the American war blew the embers into a flame. The enthusiasm of the nation forced the government to take part in the contest ; and the soldiers who were sent to support the Transatlantic insurgents imbibed intoxicating ideas of patriotic resistance, and returned eager to instil into their countrymen their own admiration of republicanism. At the same juncture, the government alienated the army by introducing the Prussian discipline, with all its severe and degrading punishments, and by making a hundred years of noble descent indispensable for a commissioned officer. Thus in every quarter some cause of disaffection existed, and many of them had been long in operation. Of all the monarchs who ever sat on the French throne, Louis XVI. was the least calculated either to provoke or to subdue a revolution.

Endowed with all the virtues which adorn private life, he was destitute of the firmness and decision necessary to control the conflicting interests which, during his reign, were brought into such fearful collision : hence, in difficult periods, he vacillated between the wish to concede the demands of the popular party and the fear of offending the pride of nobles, till both were led to abandon him from distrusting, the one his constancy, the other his sincerity. Maurepas, whom he chose at his accession for prime-minister, further accustomed him to a system of half-measures and temporisation ; and his plans of reform, though supported by the eminent talents of Turgot, Malesherbes, and Necker, were thwarted by the selfish opposi tion of the nobles. Their influence, united with the jealousy f-i Maurepas at the ascendant of Turgot over the King, pro cured from Louis, against his better judgment, the dismissal of this virtuous statesman.

Necker, whose economical projects had alarmed the courtiers, shared the same fate shortly after ; and on the death of Maurepas himself, which soon followed, the abortive movement towards reform, which he had at least the merit of attempting, was abandoned by his successors. The Queen, the young and beautiful Marie Antoinette, now assumed a paramount influence over the King's mind, which she retained down to the overthrow of the throne. Vergennes was made prime-minister, and Calonne minister of finance. This extravagant but showy speculator was in every respect the reverse of the cautious Necker. For a time he supported the public credit, and maintained the court in unexampled splen ■ dour, by the incessant contraction of new loans. But this system. could not long be kept up : between 1781 and 1786 the govern ment had borrowed £64,000,000 ; and the publication of this astounding fact, which was elicited on the assemblage of the Notables, or chief nobility, for the imposition of fresh taxes, was the signal for the fall of Calonne.

But his successor, Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, was not more adequate to cope with the crisis. He had attracted the Queen's approbation by his conversational brilliancy — but his schemes were both rashly formed and feebly executed ; and the assembly of Notables, proving both parsimonious and refractory, was dissolved in 1787. But the ferment which their convocation had excited still continued ; and when two new taxes were soon after imposed by the ministry, the parliament of Paris refused to register them — a form indispensable for their legalisation. The resistance of the parliament was punished by banishment to Troyes, whence they were recalled only on consenting to the registration. But STATES-GENERAL. a. d. 1789. 11 the same scene was ere loug repeated on the proposition of a new loan ; and the King himself registered the edict by the in terposition of his personal authority in what was termed a Bed of Justice.

But, in spite of some promised concessions, the move ment had now become general ; and the parliament of Paris placing itself at its head, boldly declared that it had no power to register taxes, and demanded the convocation of the States- General. In this emergency, Brienne determined on a bold stroke (May 5, 1788) for the maintenance of the power of the crown. The parliament was confined to its judicial functions, while its political powers were summarily transferred to a cour pleniere, composed ofthe court party. But public opinion was too strong for this violent step : the nation united in opposition ; and the convocation of the States- General was called for alike by the nobles, the commons, the provincial assemblies, and the clergy. Driven to extremities, the court and the ministers were forced to yield : the parliament was re-established, the cour pleniere abolished, and Necker recalled ; and in August 1788, the meeting of the Estates was fixed for May 1, 1789. 3.

States-General — National Assembly — Constituent Assembly. The 5th May 1789 was the day on which the French Revolu tion was virtually commenced, by the opening of the States- General. On the evening of the 4th, the royal family, the ministers, and the deputies of the three orders, (viz. the nobles, clergy, and commons,) had walked in solemn procession to hear mass ; and the next morning the Assembly was opened with great pomp, according to the ceremonial of the last convocation, in 1614. As the King seated himself on the throne, all the deputies rose and covered themselves — an ominous change from the days when the Tiers Etat remained uncovered, and spoke only on their knees ! But this Tiers Etat (third estate, or com mons) was now, in the words of a famous pamphlet by the Abbe Sieyes, " the French nation, minus the nobles and the clergy;" a. d. 1789. 12 STATES-GENERAL. and the doubling of the number of their deputies, which Necker had conceded to the impulse of democratic ambition, threw a heavy preponderance into the scale ofthe popular party.

So little care had been taken to regulate the franchise, that nearly three millions had voted in the elections ; no qualification whatever, either of age or property, had been required of the representatives themselves ; and the deputies were reduced to mere delegates, by being absolutely bound by the cahiers, or instructions drawn up by their constituents for the guidance of their votes. Of the deputies thus chosen, scarcely any were men of property, talent, or previous influence : many were reckless and needy adventurers, who sought only an opportunity of advancing their own fortunes ; and of 565, (the entire number of the Tiers Etat,) not less than 279 were law)Ters, chiefly from the lower ranks of the profession. From this last class sprang Robespierre, Danton, and nearly all the associates of their crimes.

The Chamber of Nobles comprehended 270 members, including one prince of the blood — the Duke of Orleans: the numbers of the clergy were 293 — but 210 of these were curates, whose prepossessions were mostly on the side of the Tiers Etat. Such was the composition of this memorable assembly. The proceedings were opened by a speech from the throne, in which the King detailed the urgent causes which had induced him to re-establish the meetings of the states, and concluded by a wish "that unanimity might prevail among them." But the following day showed how fallacious was this hope. The plan of Necker had been to form the states into two chambers, as in England — the nobles and clergy in one, and the Tiers Etat in the other : but the two higher orders insisted on constitut ing themselves in separate chambers ; while the commons, on the other hand, refused to begin business till they were joined by the other orders.

For several weeks this contest continued, to the complete stoppage of public affairs : public opinion being vehement in favour of the Tiers Etat, who increased in their pretensions as their adversaries showed signs of irresolution. At length, (June 17,) after a violent debate, which lasted till past A. D. 1789. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 13 midnight, the deputies of the commons, by a majority of 491 to 90, took the decisive step of declaring themselves to be the representatives of the nation ; constituting themselves (in dis regard of both the crown and the nobles) by the title of the National Assembly, and declaring all taxes illegal except those voted by themselves. The aristocratic party were thunderstruck by the audacity of this measure, which excited the popular enthusiasm in the highest degree.

Necker proposed the adoption of a mixed con stitution, similar to that of England ; and the King announced his intention of declaring his will, on the 23d, to the assembled estates. In the mean time, (June 20,) the hall of the Tiers Etat was closed, aud guarded by grenadiers ; but this step, which was misconstrued into a threat of coercion by arms, led to disastrous results. The members, with their president Bailly, repaired to an adjoining tennis-court, where each of the deputies, with a single exception, pledged himself, by an oath con firmed by his signature, not to separate till they had fulfilled the task for which they were called together, — viz. the reform of the constitution. This famous Tennis-Court Oath at once involved the Assembly in a contest with the government : and they were reinforced, two days later, by the accession of 148 of the clergy.

The ma jority of the nobles still dissented, and the royal sitting took place, as announced, on the 23d. The declarations of the King were read, abolishing the exemptions from taxes of the nobles and clergy, with most of the feudal imposts ; and guaranteeing the liberty of the press, the consolidation of the national debt, and the reform of the criminal code. But these concessions, which at any other time would have excited transports of gratitude, were accompanied by the annulment of the resolutions of 17th June as illegal. The orders were further commanded to meet in separate chambers, and threats of punishment held out to the contumacious. The Tiers Etat, however, were now conscious of their own power : on the motion of Mirabeau and Sieyes, they refused to separate ; and next day they were NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. a. d. 1789. joined by the Duke of Orleans, the Duke of Rochefoucalt-Lian court, the Marquis Lafayette, Count Lally-Tollendal, and about forty other nobles.