1805 THE DEATH OF NELSON 853 long enough to enable him to get his army across. Consequently, the Toulon fleet, escaping by his orders from that port, made its way to Cadiz, and picking up the Spanish fleet there, sailed along with it to the West Indies. As Napoleon expected, Nelson, who commanded the British Mediterranean fleet, sailed to the West Indies in pursuit of the French and Spanish fleets. Whilst Nelson was searching for them, they, in accordance with Napoleon's Lord Nelson: from the picture by Abbott in the National Portrait Gallery. instructions, were already on their way back to Europe, where they were to drive off the British squadron blockading Brest, and then, combining with the French fleet which had been shut up there, to make their way up the Channel and hold the Straits of Dover in irresistible force in Nelson's absence. Part of Napoleon's expectation was fulfilled. Nelson indeed sailed to the West Indies with thirteen ships after the enemy's fleet, which numbered thirty. Not finding them there, he sailed back in pursuit. They, however, reached the Bay of Biscay before him, and were there attacked by Sir Robert Calder, who happened to meet them with fifteen British ships. Two Spanish ships were taken, and the rest of the fleet was so terrified that it betook itself to Cadiz. 4. The Battle of Trafalgar. 1805.-England was saved from invasion, but it was Napoleon's pride which completed her triumph. Though the French sailors had been too long blockaded in various ports to be efficient seamen, he insisted on his admiral's putting again to sea. With a heavy heart the admiral obeyed orders, and on October 21 Nelson fell in with him off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson gave the signal of "England expects every man to do his duty." In the battle which followed, the French and Spanish fleets were almost entirely destroyed, but Nelson fell mortally wounded by a shot from a French ship. Never again during the war did a French or Spanish fleet venture to put out from harbour, or had a British navy to contend for the mastery over the sea. Yet, so deeply was Nelson honoured in England, that when the news of the triumph arrived, it was doubtful whether joy for the victory or sorrow for the loss was the greater. 5. The Campaign of Austerlitz. 1805.-In 1805 there was strife on land as well as at sea. In April the foundations of a third coalition against France were laid by an alliance between England and Russia. Napoleon defied it by annexing Genoa to France, and by converting the old Cisalpine Republic, which had been named the Italian Republic in 1802, into a kingdom of Italy of which he was himself the king. Austria joined the coalition, and in August Napoleon, knowing that by Calder's victory his scheme for the invasion of England had failed, marched his army off from Boulogne to attack Austria and Russia. His enemies had no time to combine against him. An advanced force of Austrians about 40,000 strong was at Ulm on the Upper Danube. The main Austrian army was still around Vienna, whilst the Russian army was slowly advancing to its aid. On October 14 Napoleon compelled the Austrians at Ulm to capitulate. On November 11 he entered Vienna, the Austrian army having retreated to join the Russian. On December 2 he signally defeated the two armies at Austerlitz. The Russians fell back on their own country. On December 6 the Emperor Francis signed the Treaty of Pressburg, abandoning Venetia to the new kingdom of Italy, and Tyrol to Bavaria. 6. Pitt's Death. 1806.-Pitt, worn out with work and anxiety, 1806 DEATH OF PITT 855 did not recover the blow. "How I leave my country!" were the last words spoken by him. On January 23, 1806, he died. In modern times he is chiefly respected as the enlightened financier and statesman of the years of peace. His resistance to France, it is thought, was weakly planned, and his management of the war disastrous. In his own time he was regarded as 'The Pilot that weathered the storm.' If he failed in his military efforts against France on the Continent, where he had but governments to oppose to a nation, he made England safe by the impulse which he gave to her power at sea. "England," he once said in replying to a toast at the Guildhall, "has saved herself by her exertions, and will save Europe by her example." Such words forms Pitt's best epitaph. He showed what could be done by a nation conscious of its strength, and resolute not to bow to the dictates of a despotic conqueror. 7. The Ministry of All the Talents. 1806.-Pitt's death left the king no choice but to take Fox as a minister. A ministry known as the Ministry of All the Talents was formed out of various parties. Lord Grenville, who had been Foreign Secretary at the end of Pitt's first ministry, became Prime Minister, bringing with him an air of respectability of which the Whigs were in want, whilst Fox was Foreign Secretary, and a place was even found for Sidmouth, the leader of the stiffest Tories. Fox did his best to bring the war to an end by opening a negotiation with France, taking advantage of the confession of a man, in all probability an agent of Napoleon himself, that he intended to murder the Emperor of the French. Fox, however, soon discovered that Napoleon was too slippery to be bound by treaties. At one time the French Emperor offered to restore Hanover to the King of England, and at another time he drew back and offered it to Prussia. Even Fox became convinced that a continuance of the war was unavoidable. He was himself suffering from dropsy, and had not many weeks to live; but, though unable to give peace to his country, he had time to signalise the close of his career by moving a resolution for the abolition of the slave trade (see p. 823), as far as British ships and colonies were concerned. Fox died on September 13; and though the slave trade was not abolished by law till after his death, he lived to know that all real difficulties had been surmounted. Whether, if he had held office for a longer term, he would have been distinguished amongst practical statesmen, it is difficult to say. It is true that he was not an originator of new schemes of policy; but a minister may be none the worse for that, if he has the tact and skill to secure the acceptance of the schemes of others. Fox's main defect was his want of power to forecast the temper with which his words and acts would be received, and he thus frequently, as in the cases of the coalition with Lord North (see p. 800) and of the Regency Bill (see p. 811), made himself unpopular, much to his own surprise. The generous warmth of his disposition, and his hopeful sympathy with all good and great causes, give him a high place amongst British statesmen. 8. The Overthrow of Prussia. 1806.-The spring and summer of 1806 had been spent by Napoleon in remodelling Germany. He united the middle-sized states of the south into a confederation of Fox: from his bust by Nollekens in the National Portrait Gallery. the Rhine, practically under his own authority, to support France against Austria and Prussia. On August 6 Francis II. abandoned for ever the futile title of Roman Emperor which had come down to him from the Cæsars, and was thenceforward known by the new title of Emperor of Austria which he had given himself in 1804. Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Naples, and though a British force landed in the Neapolitan dominions and defeated the French invaders at Maida, it could not save the mainland, and the English Government had to content itself with keeping Sicily |