obliged to retire, leaving Colonel Vande- the enemy, two thousand were taken prileur, and several of their gallant comrades, soners, and the greater part of the remaindead upon the field. At twelve o'clock at der slain. In addition to this irreparable, noon, the infantry, who had that morning loss, the whole of their bazars, camp equipperformed a march of five-and-twenty age, and baggage, fell into the hands of the miles, arrived on the banks of the rivulet, British troops; with a considerable numwhere the cavalry were assembled. After ber of elephants, camels, and upwards about an hour's delay, spent principally in of seven hundred bullocks; seventy-twe preparation, the British infantry advanced pieces of cannon of different calibres; fortyto the attack, and as soon as they became four stands of colours, and sixty-four tumexposed to the enemy's artillery, opened brils completely laden with ammunition. their batteries and commenced their fire. Three tumbrils with money were also capThe enemy, whose artillery was decidedly tured, together with fifty-seven carts laden superior to that of the British, both in num- with match-locks, muskets, and stores. ber and weight of metal, discharged grape- During the action, several tumbrils with shot from large mortars, as well as from ammunition exploded; and five thousand guns of very heavy calibre. The 76th re- stand of arms thrown down by the enemy giment, which headed the attack, suffered were found on the field. so much from the fire of the enemy, that On this memorable day, his majesty's General Lake judged it preferable to pro- 76th regiment maintained the high reputaceed to the attack with that regiment, and tion it had so justly acquired for bravery, a small body of native infantry which had steadiness, and discipline. The victory, closed to the front, rather than wait for the however, was in a considerable degree atremainder of the column. As soon as this tributed to the skill, judgment, and valour small band of heroes had arrived within of General Lake, whose illustrious name, reach of the enemy's guns, a most tremen- and heroic example, inspired the army with dous fire of cannister-shot was opened universal confidence. In the midst of the upon them. The loss sustained by the slaughter, the general had two horses killBritish troops was so severe, that the ene-ed under him; but while the shot poured my were encouraged to attempt a charge; round him in every direction, he displayed but they were repulsed with loss, and the most resolute fortitude, and the most arobliged in their turn to retreat. Their ca- dent valour. Of every advantage presentvalry, however, immediately rallied, and ed by the enemy, he availed himself with their posture became so menacing, that admirable promptitude, and manifested the General Lake deemed it necessary to order highest degree of professional ability. His the cavalry to advance and to charge them. unrivalled personal activity carried into imAt this instance, Major Griffiths fell, by a mediate execution his various and masterly cannon-shot; but Captain Wade, by whom plans of attack; and in the front of every his station was immediately supplied, principal charge he appeared with all the achieved this service with the most dis- ardour and enthusiasm of matchless coutinguished gallantry and success. The re- rage. mainder of the first column of British infantry having arrived in time to join in the attack on the enemy's reserve, Major-general Ware was proceeding to execute this service, but was killed by a cannon-shot. The loss of this distinguished officer was deeply lamented. To the last moment of the battle, the enemy opposed a vigorous resistance, nor did they abandon their ground until all their artillery was lost. Their left even then attempted to retreat in good order, but this movement was entirely frustrated by Lieutenant-colonel John Vandeleur, who broke in upon their column and completed the victory. The staff of the army maintained their distinguished reputation. The conduct of Major G. A. F. Lake, of his majesty's 94th regiment, son to the commander-in-chief, was conspicuously meritorious. He attended his father, throughout the whole campaign, in the capacity of military secretary and aid-de-camp. In executing his father's orders, he displayed the utmost gallantry and valour in every service of difficulty and danger. He constantly attended his father's person, and, independently of the ties of natural affection, he possessed the highest place in the commander-in-chief's confidence and esteem. In the heat of the acGeneral Lake very truly states, in his de- tion, his father's horse was killed under spatch to the governor-general, that the him by a shot; Major Lake immediately zeal which the British army displayed on dismounted, and after much earnest solicithis memorable day was plainly proved by tation prevailed on his father to mount his the returns of the killed and wounded. horse-mounting himself a horse of one of The numbers amounted to eight hundred the troops. At that instant, he was struck and twenty-two, including many merito- by a shot, which wounded him severely, ious and sincerely lamented officers. Of in the presence of his affectionate father. At the same moment, General Lake found it necessary to lead the troops against the enemy, and leave his wounded son upon the field of battle. Exerting the last efforts of human fortitude, the commander-in-chief, in this dreadful and distracting moment, prosecuted victory with undiminished ardour. At the close of the battle, he had the satisfaction to learn that the wound, though severe, was not dangerous. Thus terminated, the short but brilliant campaign of the east. In the brief interval between the 8th of August, the day on which hostilities commenced, and the 1st of September, the British army conquered all the possessions of Scindiah in Guzerat, the city of Boorhanpoor in Candeish, the province of Cuttack in Orissa, the Mahratta dominions between the Jumna and the Ganges, the city of Delhi with the right bank of the Jumna, and the city of Agra and the adjoining territory. The fortified town of Ahmednuggur, the fort of Allyghur, Baroach, and Cuttack, were taken by storm. The forts Ahmednuggur, Powanghur, and Champoneer, the fort of Asseerghur, denominated the key of the Deccan, and the fort of Agra, which the natives term the key of Hindostan, surrendered, after batteries had been opened against them, by capitulation. The British army completely defeated the enemy in three general engagements: at Delhi, on the 11th of September; at Assye, on the 23d of September; and at Laswaree, on the 1st of November. According to the official returns, the British troops took, in those engagements, and under the walls of Agra, two hundred and sixty-eight pieces of ordnance, five thousand stand of arms, two hundred and fifteen tumbrils, and fifty-one stand of colours, with a large quantity of stores, baggage, camp equipage, and ammunition. It does not appear that any official returns of the artillery, stores, &c. taken from the enemy in the greater part of the fortresses mentioned above, had been transmitted to the supreme government in India, at the time this statement was prepared. But according to the returns which had been received, the total number of ordnance, exclusive of tumbrils, stores, &c. captured from the 8th of August to the 1st of November, amounted to seven hundred and thirteen. After this splendid termination of hostilities, treaties of peace and alliance were, in conformity with instructions from the governor-general, concluded with the following chieftains of Hindostan : the Rajahs of Berar, Bhurratpore, Macherry, Jeynagur, and the Rajah Umbajee Rao Englah. Two separate treaties were concluded with Dowlut Rao Scindiah; a partition treaty with the Peishwah, and with the Soubahdar of the Deccan; and a treaty was also concluded with the Ranah of Gohud. In the terms of peace, the governor-general was as moderate as the British forces were irresistible in the prosecution of the war. The combined exertion of the talents and wisdom of the Marquis of Wellesley, and the military genius and courage of Generals Lake and Wellesley, accomplished every object for which the war was undertaken. In every part of the company's possessions in Hindostan, the glorious events of the campaign diffused the most enthusiastic joy. The inhabitants of Calcutta voted that a marble statue of the governor-general should be erected, as a last ing memorial of his eminent public services; and it was at the same time agreed to present swords of considerable value to Generals Lake and Wellesley. At home, the public gratitude was not less alive to the extraordinary ability and exertions of the governor-general of India. The thanks of parliament were voted to his excellen cy, and to the commanders, officers, and soldiers of the several armies which had shared in the dangers and in the glories of the contest; while his majesty, in order to express the royal approbation of the signal services conferred upon the country by the generals of the east, was pleased to create General Lake a peer of the realm, and to confer upon General Wellesley the honour of the noble order of the Bath. CHAPTER IV. FOREIGN HISTORY: State of France-Conspiracy against the French Government-Arrest of Georges, Pichegru, Moreau, and others of the Conspirators-Death of General Pichegru-Of Captain Wright -Execution of Georges, and eleven of his Confederates-Moreau permitted to exile himself-Ar rest and Execution of the Duke d'Enghien-Charge exhibited by the French Government against Mr. Drake and Mr. Spencer Smith-Arrest of Sir George Rumbold-Plot against the Life of Louis XVIII-Proposal to elevate Bonaparte to the Imperial Dignity-Ineffectual Opposition by CarnotOrganic Senatus Consultum conferring the Title of Emperor-Voted by the Senate-Accepted by Napoleon-Protest of Louis XVIII.-The Pope invited to perform the Ceremony of ConsecrationAllocution of his Holiness issued on his Departure from Rome-Coronation-The Title of Emperor of Austria assumed by Francis II.-Situation of Europe at the Close of the year 1804-Indications of the Renewal of War on the Continent. lish THE French legislative body was this year assembled on the 7th of January, and on the 16th of the same month the annual expose of the state of the republic was submitted to that assembly. This publication, which was the last in which the ruler of France was to be contemplated as a citizen giving an account to his fellow-citizens of the origin and success of his measures, portrayed the state of the republic in the most captivating colours.* Although France had been forced to change her attitude, her situation, according to the government organ, was in no respect deteriorated; the internal tranquillity of the country had not been disturbed since the torch of war had been rekindled by a jealous enemy; against that enemy, the public indignation had been as much increased, as the devotion to the first consul had been augmented, and all danger of internal divisions was at an end, in despite of every effort made by the Enggovernment to promote them. In short, the war had not even interrupted the plans marked out for a time of peace; the construction of roads, canals, bridges, and harbours, as well as the promotion of all objects of a similar nature, proceeded with undiminished zeal; and the government had pursued with constancy every measure that tended to attach all interests and all hopes to its duration. The finances were described as in the most prosperous situation, the revenues were collected with unprecedented facility, and public credit had maintained itself in the midst of the shocks of war. Out of two hundred millions (of livres) which might have been captured by the enemy, more than two-thirds of that amount had been saved. In Hanover, success had invariably attended the French troops; the Hanoverian army, to the number of twenty-five thousand men, had laid down their arms, and the cavalry of the republic had been remounted at the expense of a possession dear to the King of England, and which Expose of the state of France laid before the legislative body, on the 25th of Nivose, 12th year. presented a security of the justice which that monarch would be obliged hereafter to return to France. It was in conclusion declared, that France would never acknowledge less advantageous conditions than those of the treaty of Amiens; that the most perfect harmony subsisted between the French republic and the United States, Helvetia, Italy, and the Ottoman empire; and that the tranquillity given to the continent by the treaty of Luneville was secured and ratified by the proceedings of the diet at Ratisbon. The public mind being thus prepared to repose implicit confidence in the government of Bonaparte, an event occurred which materially contributed to accelerate the completion of his projects, and to elevate this modern Charlemagne to the summit of his ambition. Early in the month of February, a plot was detected, the object of which seems to have been the overthrow of the existing government. The principal persons implicated in this conspiracy, were General Pichegru, Georges Cadoudal, formerly a leader of the insurgents in Brittany, and Lajollais, a confidant of General Pichegru. It likewise appeared that General Moreau had, to a certain extent, been made acquainted with the views of Pichegru, and that he had held secret interviews with the general since his return from England to Paris. The first intimation of this intrigue was given by a confidential agent of the conspirators, who had been arrested near Calais; and on his information, Lajollais, Moreau, and several others, were placed under arrest. This treason against the consular government was announced to the public in a report to the first consul, prepared by Regnier, the minister of justice, and which ascribed the whole plot to England and her emissaries. On the promulgation of this report, the genius of the French nation displayed itself in a profusion of legislative provisions, and in copious and abject addresses. The tribunate, the senate, and the legislative body, all vied with each other in terms of courtly adulation. The army and the navy, following the example of their rulers, in which he shot the police officer by swelled the number of addresses, and the whom he was stopped, dead upon the spot, right wing of the armament collected at and wounded another of the officers of Ostend, declared, that they waited with justice, he was secured and conveyed to impatience the arrival of the moment when prison. the first consul should "proclaim the hour of vengeance against England." To the addresses of felicitation on the discovery of the conspiracy, delivered by the deputation from the senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate, the first consul replied: Immediately on the arrest of General Pichegru, he underwent an examination before the prefect of the police, the object of which was to obtain from him a confession, that he returned to France under the direction of the French princes, and that his intention was to replace the Bourbons Since I have attained the supreme magistracy, on the throne of their ancestors. After a many plots have been formed against my life. second examination, he was committed to Educated in camps, I have never regarded dan: the tower of the Temple, where he regers which give me no fear. But I cannot avoid mained for about a month, when on a sudexperiencing a deep and painful feeling, when I consider the situation in which this great nation den the government announced that he had would have been placed, if this plot had been terminated his existence by suicide. The successful, for it is principally against the glory, account given of this event by the governthe liberty, and the destiny of the French people ment, was, that the general went to bed that the conspiracy was formed. I have long about midnight on the 6th of April, and since renounced the hope of enjoying the plea that when the boy who waited upon him sures of private life. All my days are employed in fulfilling the duties which my fate and the will had retired, he drew from beneath his bolof the French people have imposed upon me. ster, where he had secreted it, a black silk Heaven will watch over France, and defeat the cravat, which he wound round his throat, plots of the wicked. The citizens may be with- and introducing into the two ends of the out alarm. My life will last as long as it shall be useful to the nation; but I wish the French peo- cravat a piece of stick, which he had also ple to understand, that existence, without their secreted, he twisted it about until strangeconfidence and affection, would be for me without lation was produced; and to prevent the consolation, and would for them have no object." stick from returning, he placed one end of These congratulatory addresses did not it behind his left ear, and then placing the left side of his head upon his pillow, so much engross the attention of government, as to induce them to relax their vigi- expired in that situation. At seven o'clock lance for the detection of the persons in the morning, the turnkey entered his implicated in the conspiracy. Pichegru room to light his fire, but seeing the prisohad hired of one Le Blanc, a broker, a ner a corpse, with his face discoloured, his small apartment at an enormous price, re-jaw locked, and his tongue pressed belying on the fidelity and attachment of his tween his teeth, he immediately gave the host for his security. But his confidence alarm. No sooner had the fact of the was misplaced; for this unprincipled death of General Pichegru come to the wretch, having obtained from Murat, the knowledge of the criminal tribunal, than governor of Paris, and the brother-in- they despatched eight physicians and surlaw of Bonaparte, a promise of one hun- geons to inspect the body, and their report dred thousand livres, introduced six gens agreeing in substance with the above repred'armes into the general's apartment, on sentation, was publicly read in the tribunal the night of the 27th of February, while of the section, by the officer of health. But he was asleep, and secured his pistols and with whatever art and care these proceeddagger, which were laid upon a table nearings were drawn up, the account they conhis bed. Awaked by the noise, the gene- tained was by no means satisfactory. The ral sprang on to the floor, naked and un- formation of an artificial tourniquet, by armed, and it was not till he was exhaust-means of a piece of fagot stick, and the ed by fatigue and loss of blood, that he persevering use of it, as described in the surrendered, and was conveyed to prison. report, were considered as improbable and The description of the deThe following day, the legislature passed unnatural. a law, that any person concealing Georges, ceased general taking his handkerchief or any of the individuals who were named from under his bolster, at a time when no as associates in his plot, should be consi- eye could see him was deemed an absurd dered as principals in guilt, and should invention; and the moral and religious expiate their offence with their life. For character of the man was considered a some days, Georges had the good fortune strong presumptive proof that he had not to escape the vigilance of the police, but committed the crime imputed to him I on the 10th of March, he was discovered was, on the contrary, said, but it must be in a chaise with his friend Leridan the confessed that the assertion rested on no younger, and after a desperate resistance, positive evidence, that while General Pichegru was in prison, attempts were made to extort from him confessions, by the application of the torture, but that his unconquerable firmness rendered these barbarities unavailing, and that in order to conceal the marks of the torture, and to avoid the exposure which must have taken place on his trial, recourse was had to the last expedient of a despotic government, and the victim of private assassination was calumniated as a suicide.* Soon after the death of General Pichegru, died, in the same prison of the Temple, a British naval officer, whose fate was deeply deplored, and the circumstances of which gave rise to the suspicion that his death proceeded from the hands of violence, rather than from the ordination of Providence. On the 15th of May, accident threw into the hands of the enemy, Captain Wright, who, while cruising on board a corvette, in the Bay of Quiberon, was becalmed and made prisoner by the French gun-boats. He was a person in whose capture Bonaparte would for every reason rejoice. He had been the fellow prisoner of Sir Sidney Smith, and, after escaping with that officer from the Temple, had served with him in Egypt and Syria, and had already been named in the reports as the person who effected the landing of Georges, Pichegru, and their companions, on the coast of France. Captain Wright, on his ar rival in Paris, was immured in the Temple, where he resisted every temptation that was held out to allure him to make disclosures to the injury of his country, and where he fell the victim, as is supposed, of his virtue, honour, and constancy.(53) The (53) On this subject, we can have no higher authority than Napoleon himself. In conversation with Mr. Warden, he asked the latter "If he remembered the history of Captain Wright?"-"Perfectly well," was the reply," and it is a prevailing opinion in England that you ordered him to be murdered in the Temple." With the utmost rapidity of speech, he replied, "For what object? Of all men, he was the person whom I should have most desired to live. Whence could I have procured so valuable an evidence as he would have proved, on the trial of the conspirators, in and about Paris? The heads of it, he himself had landed on the French coast."-" My curiosity," says Mr. Warden, "was at this moment such as to be betrayed by my looks. Listen," continued Napoleon, "and you shall hear. English brig of war, commanded by Captain Wright, was employed by your government in landing traitors and spies on the west coast of France. Seventy of the number had actually reached Paris; and so mysterious were their proceedings, so veiled in impenetrable concealment, that although General Ryal, of the police, gave me this information, the name or place of their resort could not be discovered. I received daily assurances that my life would be attempted, and though I did not give entire credit to them. I took every precaution for my preservation. The brig was afterwards taken near L'Orient, with Captain Wright its commander, who was carried before the prefect of the department of Morbeau, at Vannes. General Julien, than prefect, had accompanied me in the expedition to Egypt, and recognised Captain Wright on the first view of him. Intelligence of this circumstance was immediately transmitted to Paris; and instructions were expeditiously returned, to interrogate the crew se The trial of the other parties concerned in this plot, took place in Paris in the month July, before the criminal tribunal of the department of the Seine, when Georges, and nineteen others, were convicted, and condemned to suffer death, with confiscation of property. General Moreau was sentenced to two years imprisonment. To Armand Polignac, M. de Riviere Lajollais, and M. de Lozier, who were in the number of the convicted, a pardon was extended. On the 25th of July, Georges, and eleven others were guillotined at the Place de Greve. They died with the most heroic firmness, and were accompained to their graves by the regrets of thousands. How far General parately, and transfer their testimonies to the tion was at first very unsatisfactory, but at length, minister of police. The purport of their examinaon the examination of one of the crew, some light was thrown upon the subject. He stated, that the brig had landed several Frenchmen, and among them, he particularly remembered one, a Thus a clue was found, that led to the discovery very merry fellow, who was called Pichegru. of a plot, which, had it succeeded, would have thrown the French nation a second time into a state of revolution. Captain Wright was accordingly conveyed to Paris, and confined in the Temple, there to remain till it was found convenient able design to trial. The laws of France would to bring the formidable accessaries of this treasonhave subjected Wright to the punishment of death; but he was of minor consideration. My grand object was to secure the principals, and I considered the English captain's evidence of the utmost importance towards completing my object." He again and again most solemnly asserted, that Captain Wright died in the Temple, by his own hand, as described in the Moniteur, and at a much earlier period than has been generally believed. At the same time, he stated, that his assertions was founded on documents which he had since examined. The cause of this inquiry arose from the visit, I think he said, of Lord Es rington to Elba; and he added, "that nobleman appeared to be perfectly satisfied with the account which was given him of this mysterious business." On the subject of the death of Pichegru, he ob served, "Your country also accuses me of his death." I replied, "It is most certainly and unversally believed throughout the whole British empire, that he was strangled in prison by your orders." He rapidly answered, “What idle, dis ingenuous folly! a fine proof how prejudice can destroy the boasted reasoning faculties of Englishmen! Why, I ask you, should that life be taken away in secret, which the laws consigned to the hands of a public executioner? The matter would have been different with respect to Moreau. Had he died in a dungeon, there might have been grounds to justify the suspicion that he had not been guilty of suicide. He was a very popular character, as well as much beloved by the army; and I should never have lost the odium, however guiltless I might have been, if the justness of his death, supposing his life to have been forfeited by the laws, had not been made apparent by the most public execution.”— Warden's Letters. |