PREFACE. THE present HE present volume of the Annual Register is some months later in appearing, than, from the arrangements into which the publishers had entered, they had reason to expect. This delay is solely to be attributed to the editor, whose over anxiety to render the historical part of the work as full and accurate as possible, prevented him from completing his labours within the time, in which he had undertaken to bring them to a conclusion. The publishers, however, have the satisfaction of assuring the readers of the Annual Register, that such delays need not be apprehended in future, and that henceforward no consideration shall be allowed to interfere with the regular publication of a work, which has been so long, and they will venture to say, so deservedly esteemed by the public. The editor of the present volume has, in the mean time, the satisfaction to reflect, that in consequence of this delay, he has been enabled, enabled, by means of the numerous papers presented to parliament during the last session, to place in a clear and intelligible light, several transactions of the period of which he treats, which, till these papers had appeared, were involved in comparative obscurity. He alludes, in particular, to the origin of the war between Russia and the Porte; to the expedition of Lord St. Vincent to Portugal; and to the nature and grounds of our differences with the United States of America. He also flatters himself that his account of our domestic history will be found more than usually full as well as impartial, THE ANNUAL REGISTER, For the YEAR 1806. THE HISTORY OF EUROPE. C HAP. I. State of Europe at the Commencement of 1806.-Consequences of the Battle of Trafalgar.-Animosity of Bonaparte against England.-Probability of Invasion. Effects of the disastrous Coalition of 1805.-Ministry of England.-Meeting of Parliament.-Speech from the Throne.-Address.Amendment read, but not moved.-Last Illness and Death of Mr. Pitt.Remarks on some Parts of his Character.-Honours rendered to his Memory. THE HE situation of Europe at the commencement of 1806 was unexampled in history. Two rival nations had acquired, not merely a decided preponderance, but an absolute and uncontrouled dominion, the one over the seas, the other over the land. If the battle of Auster. litz had confirmed the military superiority of France over other nations, and left her without a rival on the continent, the victory of Trafalgar had no less decisively esVOL. XLVII. tablished the naval superiority of England, and crowned all her former victories on the ocean. The accumulated fruits of four years persevering labour and painful industry, on the part of France and her dependencies, to form and col lect a navy, fit to cope with the maritime forces of England, had been swept away and annihilated in a single action. The importance of such a victory, at such a crisis, to England, cannot be easily exag. B gerated, gerated or over-rated. For, it was not merely that the high-formed expectations of France from her newly repaired marine, in which she had so weakly indulged and prematurely exulted at the begin. ning of the campaign, were thus abruptly and thoroughly frustrated; or, that her projects of invading the British islands, under the protection of a powerful fleet, were again defeated nor was it even that the most splendid victory had, on this occasion, been won by England, that was ever gained at sea; or, that the greatest number of vessels, of first-rate magnitude, had, in this action been taken and destroyed, that ever rewarded a conqueror in in any naval combat. But, the great and incalculable advantage to England, was the universal conviction arising from this victory, that, in the skill, bravery and discipline of her naval forces, she was so incomparably superior to her enemies, that all their future efforts to contend with her for the empire of the seas, must be as unavailing as their past endeavours had been fruitless. It was now clear, that, if the contest for pre-eminence between the rival nations were to be decided solely on the ocean, England had nothing to fear from the conflict. It was now manifest, that if England could not be invaded, without her enemies obtaining a temporary superiority, at least, at sea, the pc. riod of her invasion was still dis. tant. If the trident of Neptune be really the sceptre of the world, England was now its undoubted mistress. The maritime trade of all nations was at her mercy, and subject in many respects to her control. It might now be said of her with greater truth, than when Gro tius addressed these lines to the most pacific of her monarchs: -Quæ meta Britannis, Littora sunt aliis; regnique-accessio tanta est, Quod ventis velisque patet- No There was no country which England could not visit with her fleets, to conciliate its friendship, or take vengeance for its enmity; and, what was of more importance to her true interest and permanent good, there was no independent state, out of the reach of France, which she might not hope, by a wise and enlightened policy, to at tach stedfastly to her party. For, whatever petty jealousies and tem. porary grounds of discontent might occur, to embroil her with other nations, it was her permanent interest, that the blessings of peace and civilization should extend to every corner of the earth. country, independent of her enemy, could prosper, without England partaking in its prosperity: no country could increase in wealth or population, without finding by experience, that the ties connecting it with England, were drawn closer by its own progress and improvement. While the dominion of France was founded on military force and usurpation, and her power was chiefly felt by her neighbours, in the acts of rapine and oppression, of which they were victims, the eleva. tion of England was owing to a long and successful cultivation of the arts of peace and industry, and could not be maintained an instant longer than she persevered in the paths in which she had risen to greatness. The only tribute she could exact from other nations, was the price which they a |