TRIAL OF LORD MELVILLE.

383

After dilating in this strain upon his personal achievements, and the glory of France, the conqueror deigned to acknowledge that one circumstance of an untoward nature had occurred. In consequence of a battle, imprudently commenced, said he, "we have lost some ships by the storms." Having thus noticed the defeat of his fleet, Napoleon added, "I desire peace with England. Not a moment's delay shall it experience on my part. I shall be ready always to conclude it, taking for its basis the treaty of Amiens."

This declaration occasioned a correspondence between Mr. Fox and Talleyrand, the result of which was, the appointment of Lord Yarmouth, now Marquis of Hertford, to the office of negociator; but he was soon succeeded by the Earl of Lauderdale.

On the 12th of June this year, the trial of Lord Melville, by impeachment, before the peers in Westminster Hall, terminated in an acquittal of all the charges. The Prince of Wales took no part in the proceedings; and his brothers were divided. The Dukes of Clarence, Kent, and Sussex, voted Lord Melville guilty of several of the charges; while the Dukes of York, Cumberland, and Cambridge, pronounced him not guilty, on the whole matter of accusation.

In this session of Parliament, which terminated on the 23d of July, the incomes of the junior branches of the Royal Family were increased; that of the Duke of Clarence and his younger brothers was raised from twelve to eighteen thousand pounds a year.

During the summer, public curiosity was strongly excited, but not gratified, by an inquiry, instituted at the command of the King, into the conduct of the Princess of Wales, on charges of the most serious nature, alleged

384

DEATH OF MR. FOX.

against her by Sir John and Lady Douglas. The investigation was conducted by the noble commissioners, Erskine, Grenville, Spencer, and Ellenborough, with great secrecy; nor were the particulars made public for some years. The result was, however, favourable to the Princess, and there the matter ended for the present. While the examination was going on, the Prince and the Duke of Clarence made a tour through the northern part of England. On Thursday, the 29th of September, the royal brothers visited Liverpool, where they were sumptuously entertained by the Corporation, who presented the Prince with the freedom of the borough in a gold box, which His Royal Highness graciously accepted. The Duke of Clarence had before received that mark of respect; and his portrait at full length, for which he was pleased to sit to Mr., since Sir Martin Shee, at the request of the same body, adorned the grand hall where the illustrious guests were entertained.

While the two Princes were on this tour, the administration, which had been so lately formed, suffered a severe shock by the death of Mr. Fox, whose remains on the 10th of October, were deposited by the side of his great rival, Mr. Pitt, in Westminster Abbey.

Mr. Fox had for a considerable time laboured under a dropsical complaint, which in the middle of June bore such an alarming appearance, that the physicians declared it necessary he should refrain from business. On the 7th of August he underwent the operation of tapping, when about sixteen quarts of water were extracted. The next day, the Prince of Wales came from Brighton, on purpose to visit his friend, and expressed the satisfaction he felt at finding him much relieved. This, however, as in most cases, was but a temporary respite.

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.

385

The symptoms returned with accumulated force; and on the 13th of September, this eminent politician, and accomplished orator, expired.

Three days after the interment of Mr. Fox, his friend Lord Lauderdale arrived in London, to report the fate of his mission to France. It appeared that, in all his interviews with Talleyrand, his lordship had met with nothing but evasion, chicanery, and deceit. During the time of his stay, the French government was busily engaged in preparations for an attack upon Prussia; and it was not until Napoleon and Talleyrand had left Paris to join the grand army, that the English minister thought of moving. His lordship, indeed, was kindly offered such accommodation as the country-house of General Junot afforded, for the benefit of his health; but being of opinion that his native air would be more salubrious, he demanded his passports, which, after much delay, and not a little insult, he obtained.

Thus ended a negociation, which, from the very beginning, was inauspicious, and soon rendered England ridiculous in the eyes of all Europe. It, however, completely answered the purpose of Napoleon, whose designs began to be developed, in a treaty which detached Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and several other minor states, from their connexion with the German empire, and, by the name of the Confederation of the Rhine, placed them under the protection of France. The next step adopted for the dissolution of the Germanic constitution, was the degradation of the Emperor Francis, who, on the 7th of August, became the herald of his own disgrace, by publishing an explicit renunciation of the Imperial crown, and taking in exchange the inferior title of Emperor of Austria.

Alarmed by these strides of gigantic ambition, the king of Prussia now changed his conduct, and renewed his connection with Britain. But it was too late: the French, with Napoleon at their head, entered Prussia on the 8th of October, and, on the 14th, the battle of Jena decided the fate of that country. The king retreated from the field with his guards, and the Duke of Brunswick was mortally wounded. From this time no effectual resistance was made by the Prussians; and, on the 27th, Victor made his grand entry into Berlin. In the proclamation which Napoleon issued from Potsdam, he announced his intention to march immediately against the Russians, who would, he said, if they advanced, "find another Austerlitz in Prussia." He concluded his philippic with this emphatic comment on the recent negociation with the British government: "We will be no longer the sport of a treacherous peace. And we will not lay down our arms, till we have obliged the English, those eternal enemies of our nation, to renounce the scheme of disturbing the Continent, and the tyranny of the seas." This declaration was followed up by the confiscation of all British merchandise at Hamburgh, and other ports and territories occupied by the French armies. Marshal Mortier was entrusted with the execution of this edict, and he fulfilled his commission with a rigour which the inhabitants of Hamburgh have not forgotten to this day.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

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CHAPTER IV.

A. D. 1807 TO 1809.

SUCH was the gloomy state of affairs when Parliament re-assembled on the 2nd of January, 1807. Lord Grenville in the Upper, and Lord Howick in the Lower House, moved an address to the King; the tenor of which was, to express their approbation of his Majesty's efforts to restore the blessing of peace. Long debates ensued, but the address was carried without opposition.

On the same day, Lord Grenville introduced a bill for the abolition of the slave trade, which, after a few observations from the Duke of Clarence, was read the first time, and ordered to be printed.

On the 5th of February, the order of the day for the second reading of the bill having been read, Lord Grenville repeated all his former arguments against this nefarious traffic, and concluded his speech with a brilliant encomium upon the talents, virtue, and perseverance of Mr. Wilberforce, to whom millions yet unborn, he said, would be indebted for liberty and happiness.

The Duke of Clarence rose, and said, he was glad to find that the negroes now employed in the laborious business of our colonial establishments, were not to be included in the present arrangements, but were to be permitted to fulfil their important duties. He was pleased also to find it admitted, that those at present concerned in the African trade, had engaged in their commercial pursuits under