—­[In July 1806, after Austerlitz, Napoleon had formed the “Confederation du Rhin.” to include the smaller States of Germany, who threw off all connection with the German Empire, and formed a Confederation furnishing a considerable army. ]—­

—­[The Emperor of Germany, Francis il, had already in 1804, on Napoleon taking the title of Emperor, declared himself Hereditary Emperor of Austria.  After the formation of the Rhenish Confederation and Napoleon’s refusal to acknowledge the German Empire any longer, he released the States of the Holy Roman Empire from their allegiance, declared the Empire dissolved, and contented himself with the title of Emperor of Austria, as Francis I.]—­

who endeavoured to point out to the Hanse Towns how much the Confederation of the North would turn to their advantage, it being the only means of preserving their liberty, by establishing a formidable power.  However, to the first communication only an evasive answer was returned.  M. Van Sienen, the Syndic of Hamburg, was commissioned by the Senate to inform the Prussian Minister that the affair required the concurrence of the burghers, and that hefore he could submit it to them it would be necessary to know its basis and conditions.  Meanwhile the Syndic Doormann proceeded to Lubeck, where there was also a deputy from Bremen.  The project of the Confederation, however, never came to anything.

I scrupulously discharged the duties of my functions, but I confess I often found it difficult to execute the orders I received, and more than once I took it upon myself to modify their severity.  I loved the frank and generous character of the Hamburgers, and I could not help pity the fate of the Hanse Towns, heretofore so happy, and from which Bonaparte had exacted such immense sacrifices.

On the principal gate of the Hanse Towns is inscribed the following motto, well expressing the pacific spirit of the people:  ’Da nobis pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris’.  The paternal and elected government, which did everything to secure the happiness of these towns, was led to believe that the sacrifices imposed on them would be recompensed by the preservation of their neutrality.  No distrust was entertained, and hope was kept alive by the assurances given by Napoleon.  He published in the Moniteur that the Hanse Towns could not be included in any particular Confederation.  He thus strangled in its birth the Confederation of the North, to which those feeble States would otherwise have been obliged to consent.  When in 1806 Napoleon marched against Prussia, he detached Marshal Mortier from the Grand Army when it had passed the Rhine, and directed him to invade the Electorate of Hesse, and march on Hamburg.  On the 19th of November the latter town was occupied by the French army in the name of the Emperor, amidst the utmost order and tranquillity.