New coalition against France—­Sweden—­Russia—­Austria joins the Alliance—­Napoleon heads the Army in Germany—­Ulm surrendered by Mack—­Vienna taken—­Naval Operations—­Battle of Trafalgar—­Battle of Austerlitz—­Treaty of Presburg—­Joseph Buonaparte King of Naples—­Louis Buonaparte King of Holland—­Confederation of the Rhine—­New Nobility in France.

On the 27th of January, 1805, Napoleon, in his new character of Emperor, addressed a letter (as he had done before at the commencement of his Consulate) to King George III. in person; and was answered, as before, by the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.  The new Emperor’s letter contained many well-turned sentences about the blessings of peace, but no distinct proposition of any kind—­least of all any hint that he was willing to concede Malta.  The English minister, however, answered simply, that in the present state of relations between the cabinet of St. James’s and that of St. Petersburg, it was impossible for the former to open any negotiation without the consent of the latter.

This sufficiently indicated a fact of which Napoleon had just suspicion some time before.  The murder of the Duke d’Enghien had been regarded with horror by the young Emperor of Russia; he had remonstrated vigorously, and his reclamations had been treated with indifference.  The King of Sweden, immediately after he heard of the catastrophe of Vicennes, had made known his sentiments to the Czar:  a strict alliance had been signed between those two courts about a fortnight before Napoleon wrote to the King of England; and it was obvious that the northern powers had resolved to take part with Great Britain in her struggle against France.  The Consul now made the Moniteur the vehicle of continual abuse against the sovereigns of Russia and Sweden; and the latter caused a note to be handed to the French minister at Stockholm, complaining of the “indecent and ridiculous insolence which Monsieur Buonaparte had permitted to be inserted” in that official journal.

The cabinets of London, Petersburg, and Stockholm were parties in a league which had avowedly the following objects:  to restore the independence of Holland and Switzerland:  to free the north of Germany from the presence of French troops:  to procure the restoration of Piedmont to the King of Sardinia; and, finally, the evacuation of Italy by Napoleon.  Until, by the attainment of these objects, the sway of France should be reduced to limits compatible with the independence of the other European states, no peace was to be signed by any of the contracting powers; and, during several months, every means was adopted to procure the association of Austria and Prussia.  But the latter of these sovereigns had the misfortune at this time to have a strong French party in his council, and, though personally hostile to Napoleon, could not as yet count on being supported in a war against him by the hearty goodwill of an undivided people.  Austria, on the other hand, had been grievously weakened by the campaign of Marengo, and hesitated, on prudential grounds, to commit herself once more to the hazard of arms.