The prince of Hohenlohe, hard pushed by Murat and Marshal Lannes, had capitulated before Prenzlow, on the 28th of October; General Blucher, who had seized by force the free city of Lubeck, in the hope of finding there a place of support, was constrained, on November 7th, to follow his example. On the 8th, Magdeburg surrendered to Marshal Ney. Lannes occupied Stettin, and Davout occupied Custrin. "Sire," wrote Lannes to Napoleon, "I read your proclamation to the soldiers; they all began to cry 'Long live the Emperor of the West!' I beseech your Majesty to let me know if, for the future, you wish me to address my despatches to the Emperor of the West, and I ask it in the name of my _corps d'armée_." Napoleon did not reply; this dream of supreme glory, which he had had an idea of realizing in the footsteps of Charlemagne, doubtless appeared to him still beyond his reach. More than one sign, however, betrayed the undying hope, that he was never to realize. It is only by reason and the general good that genius is effectively sustained in extraordinary enterprises. From day to day, and from victory to victory, these great supports of the human mind became less and less visible in the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon. Hanover and the Hanseatic towns were occupied by the French army; Prussia asked for a suspension of hostilities, in order to treat for peace. But the emperor had conceived a new project. In the ceaseless activity of his thoughts he reasonably enough looked on England as the implacable and invincible enemy who directed and excited against him the animosity of Europe. It was against England that he henceforth directed his efforts. "I am about to reconquer the colonies over the globe," he wrote to the King of Holland. It was in the same spirit that he made his declaration to the Senate: "We have unalterably determined not to evacuate Berlin or Warsaw, or the provinces which have fallen into our hands by force of arms, until a general peace be concluded, the Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies restored, the foundations of the Ottoman power confirmed, and the absolute independence of this vast empire, the first interest of our people, irrevocably secured." These brilliant pledges of victory, which Napoleon kept in his hand as hostages for the purpose of enforcing submission on England, did not, however, appear to him sufficient; he resolved to strike at the wealth of his enemy a mortal blow, which should exhaust its resources at the fountain-head. On the 21st of November, 1806, he sent from Berlin to Talleyrand a decree, putting England in the Index Expurgatorius of Europe --at least, of that part of Europe which was in submission to his rule. The continental blockade was established and regulated in the following terms:-- "The British Isles are declared in a state of blockade.