1802-1806 WELLESLEY IN INDIA 859 afterwards known as British Guiana, and by the capture of West India Islands which had hitherto been held by the French and Dutch. 12. The Overthrow of the Mahrattas. 1802 1806. Since the destruction of Tippoo Sahib in 1799, Lord Mornington (see p. 838), recently created Marquis Wellesley, had discovered that Sindhia, one of the Mahratta chiefs, had a large force organised by a Frenchman, Perron. He therefore attempted to introduce a subsidiary system, compelling native rulers to pay the expenses of troops under British officers which could be used against them if they were not submissive. In 1802, the Peishwah having been driven from Poonah by Holkar (see p. 802), Wellesley entered into a compact to restore him on condition of his agreeing to a subsidiary treaty. Two other great Mahratta chiefs, Sindhia and the Bhonsla, who was Rajah of Berar, joined Holkar against the English, and in 1803 Wellesley sent against the confederacy his brother Arthur Wellesley. On September 23, 1803, Arthur Wellesley at the head of 4,500 men defeated Sindhia's 30,000 at Assaye, whilst Lake defeated Perron's force on August 29 at Alighur, and after various successes crushed Sindhia himself on November 1, in a hard-contested battle at Laswaree. On November 29 Wellesley again defeated the united forces of Sindhia and the Bhonsla at Argaum. On this, both chiefs made their submission, ceding territory to the English, and to the allies of the English, the Nizam, and Shah Alum, who held nominal rule at Delhi as the Great Mogul. Holkar, who was again joined by Sindhia, held out till January 1806, at one time gaining no inconsiderable successes, though all three, Sindhia, Holkar, and the Bhonsla, were in the end compelled to submit. No 13. Wellesley's Recall. 1805.-In 1805, before Holkar had submitted, Lord Wellesley was recalled. His wars had been expensive, and the East India Company never liked expense. one now doubts that Wellesley was right. The Mahratta chiefs were freebooters on a large scale, and freebooting was incompatible with the peace and civilisation which it was the glory of British statesmen to introduce into India. Wellesley, when he landed in 1798, found the British occupying certain portions of India. When he left the country in 1805, almost the whole of the South had passed under British administration, what are now the NorthWestern Provinces had been annexed, and the military predominance of the Mahrattas had been brought to an end. 14. The Continental System. 1806-1807.-In the meanwhile Napoleon, hopeless of overpowering Britain at sea, attempted to subjugate her in another way. On November 21, 1806, soon after his victory at Jena, he issued the Berlin Decree, closing all European ports under his influence—that is to say, almost all the ports from the Vistula to the Adriatic-against British commerce. All British ports were declared in a state of blockade, though Napoleon could not watch any one of them with a single vessel, and all goods coming from Great Britain or her colonies were to be destroyed. On November 11, 1807, Great Britain retaliated by Orders in Council declaring all ports of France and her allies to be in a state of blockade, and all vessels good prize which attempted to enter them unless they had previously touched at a British harbour. To this, on December 17, 1807, Napoleon replied by the Milan Decree, declaring all neutral vessels liable to seizure if they touched at any British ports before attempting to land their cargoes in any part of Europe under the control of France. The Berlin and Milan Decrees together established what is known as Napoleon's Continental System. 15. Effects of the Continental System. 1807.-Ultimately the effects of the Continental System were most injurious to Napoleon. As the British fleet controlled the sea, no colonial goods could be obtained except through British vessels. A gigantic system of smuggling sprang up, and the seizure and destruction of British goods only served to raise the price of those which escaped. Sugar, coffee, and calico grew dear, and the labourer soon discovered that, in consequence of the Continental System, he had to pay more for the coffee which he drank and for the shirt which he A strong feeling opposed to Napoleon manifested itself for the first time amongst the conquered populations. wore. 16. The Bombardment of Copenhagen. 1807.—At sea Englishmen were almost as high-handed as Napoleon by land. They searched neutral vessels for goods destined for France, confiscating them in accordance with decisions of their own admiralty court in a fashion which would not be tolerated now. Shortly after the Treaty of Tilsit Canning learnt that Napoleon meant to seize the fleet of Denmark, which was at that time neutral, and to employ it against Great Britain. A British fleet and army were sent to Copenhagen, and the Crown Prince of Denmark (see p. 845) was asked to deliver up the Danish fleet on a promise that it should be restored at the end of the war. On his refusal, Copenhagen was bombarded till at last the Danes gave way. The fleet was surrendered, and the British Government, on the plea that it had been driven to use force, refused to be bound by its offer to restore the ships ultimately to their owners. There were many in England who found fault with the whole proceeding, and even George III. seems to have been very much of their opinion. Speaking to the gentleman who had carried to the Crown Prince the message asking him to give up the fleet, the old king asked whether he found the prince upstairs or downstairs. "He was on the ground floor, please your Majesty,” was the reply. “I am glad of it for your sake,” said the king; “for if he had half my spirit, he would have kicked you downstairs.” 1. Napoleon and Spain. 1807-1808.--Napoleon had been gradually maturing designs against Spain. The king, Charles IV., was too witless to govern, and the queen was living in adultery with Godoy, an unprincipled favourite who ruled the kingdom. The heir to the throne, Ferdinand, despised his father and hated Godoy. Spain, indeed, had been most subservient to Napoleon, and had sacrificed her fleets to him at St. Vincent and Trafalgar, but even Godoy discovered that Spain received all the loss and none of the advantages of the alliance, and began to show signs of independence. Napoleon resolved to bring Spain entirely under his control, and in October 1807, in order to procure the entry of his troops into the country, signed a treaty with Spain, by which France and Spain 1808 THE SPANISH TROUBLES 863 were to make a joint attack on Portugal, and to cut it up into three parts, one of which was to be given to Godoy. Napoleon then stirred up Ferdinand against his parents, and on this Godoy, not knowing that Napoleon had a hand in the matter, obtained from the king a proclamation announcing that he intended to bring his son to justice. Napoleon, partly on the pretence of attacking Portugal, and partly on the pretence of protecting Ferdinand, sent 80,000 men into Spain, and in February 1808 placed Murat, his brother-in-law and his best cavalry officer, at their head. 2. The Dethronement of Charles IV. 1808. On March 17 a Spanish mob rose against Godoy, and the old king, Charles IV., abdicated in favour of his son. Before long, however, he repented and declared his abdication invalid, whilst Ferdinand insisted that it was in full force. Napoleon, to whom both father and son appealed for support, invited them to Bayonne, where he forced them both to abdicate. In the meanwhile Murat had entered Madrid. On May 2 Madrid rose against him, but the insurrection was put down with great cruelty. Napoleon fancied that all resistance was at an end, but before the end of May the Spanish people, town by town and village by village, rose in a national insurrection against the French, without any one part of the country having previous communication with another. Except in his relations with England, Napoleon had hitherto had to deal with the resistance of governments and armies. He had now to deal with a people inspired with hatred of a foreign conquest. It is true that the Spaniards were ignorant and backward, and that they had no trustworthy military organisation; but for all that, they had what neither the Germans nor the Italians as yet had, the spirit of national resistance. 3. The Capitulation at Baylen. 1808.-In June Napoleon got together a certain number of Spaniards at Bayonne who, by his directions, chose his brother Joseph, hitherto king of Naples, to be king of Spain, after which Napoleon sent Murat to replace Joseph at Naples. Napoleon also urged his generals to put down the resistance of the peasants. They pressed forwards victoriously, but one of them, Dupont, pushing on too far, was obliged, on July 19, to capitulate at Baylen in the Sierra Morena. Joseph had to fly from Madrid, and the whole French army retreated behind the Ebro. 4. Battle of Vimeiro and Convention of Cintra. 1808. In the preceding winter a French army under Junot had invaded Portugal, and had occupied Lisbon, though the whole of the royal family escaped capture by sailing away to the great Portuguese colony of |