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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 586: MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH

A few days after the king’s message had been sent to parliament, the French admiral, Linois, was despatched with a strong squadron for the East Indies. The armies of the republic were increased to 480,000 men; that of Holland being destined to occupy Hanover; and that of Lombardy to invade Naples, garrison Tarentum, and other parts of the Adriatic. The first consul was resolved to occupy Hanover, as a pledge for the restitution of Malta. The electorate was summoned by Mortier on the 25th of May, and the Hanoverians being unable to resist, soon capitulated possession was taken of the country, and Mortier was enabled to control the navigation of the Elbe, and the Weser, as well as to levy contributions on the rich towns of Hamburg and Bremen. A British squadron, however, blockaded the mouths of those rivers, which measure caused such distress to Hamburg and Bremen, that they appealed to the King of Prussia for protection, as one of those sovereigns who guarded the neutrality of the empire. The King of Prussia, however, declined to interfere, and the French were left to continue their exactions with impunity. Napoleon, also, made severe exactions on the Batavian and Italian republics; drew pecuniary assistance from Spain and Portugal; and augmented the supplies of the French treasury, by the sale of Louisiana to the United States, for three millions of dollars. His grand objects, however, at this time, were the army and flotilla for the invasion of England. His army was swelled by contingents of allied states, and the command of it was given to Soult, Davoust, and Ney; the familiarity of his old generals having by this time offended his pride. It was for this invasion chiefly that he drew his contributions from the neighbouring countries. Rome and Naples were plundered on base pretexts, and the latter was obliged to let the French occupy a part of its territories and ports.