Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4Menzel, Wolfgang
History
Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4
Menzel, Wolfgang
Germany -- History
But philanthropy, Christian wisdom,
the virtues of the Prince of peace, were not his. If he bestowed
excellent laws upon his people, it was merely with the view of
increasing the power of the state for military purposes. He was ever
possessed and tormented by the demon of war.
On the 18th of May, 1804, Bonaparte abolished the French republic and
was elected hereditary emperor of France. On the 2d of December, he
was solemnly anointed and crowned by the pope, Pius VII., who visited
Paris for that purpose. The ceremonies used at the coronation of
Charlemagne were revived on this occasion. On the 15th of March, 1805,
he abolished the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics, and set the ancient
iron crown of Lombardy on his head, with his own hand, as king of
Italy. He made a distinction between _la France_ and _l'empire_, the
latter of which was, by conquest, to be gradually extended over the
whole of Europe, and to be raised by him above that of Germany, in the
same manner that the western Roman-Germanic empire had formerly been
raised by Charlemagne above the eastern Byzantine one.
The erection of France into an empire was viewed with distrust by
Austria, whose displeasure had been, moreover, roused by the arbitrary
conduct of Napoleon in Italy. Fresh disputes had also arisen between
him and England; he had occupied the whole of Hanover, which
Wallmoden's[1] army had been powerless to defend, with his troops, and
violated the Baden territory by the seizure of the unfortunate Duc
d'Enghien, a prince of the house of Bourbon, who was carried into
France and there shot. Prussia offered no interference, in the hope of
receiving Hanover in reward for her neutrality.[2] Austria, on her
part, formed a third coalition with England, Russia, and Sweden.[3]
Austria acted, undeniably, on this occasion, with impolitic haste; she
ought rather to have waited until Prussia and public opinion
throughout Germany had been ranged on her side, as sooner or later
must have been the case, by the brutal encroachments of Napoleon.
Austria, unaided by Prussia, could scarcely dream of success.[4] But
England, at that time fearful of Napoleon's landing on her coast,
lavished her all-persuasive gold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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