executed within sight of their own houses at Vincennes. This horrid murder was aggravated by a mock trial, in which every form of law and every principle of justice were violated. The unhappy prince was arrested in a neutral state, tried for a civil offence before a military tribunal, at the hour of midnight, when it was against the laws of France to hold any trial; no counsel was allowed for his defence; the execution took place immediately after the sentence, without any time being allowed for the prince to lodge an appeal, and finally, had even all the legal forms been observed, the duke owed no allegiance to the government of France. He died with a firmness and constancy worthy of his noble birth, and was buried in the ditch of the castle of Vincennes. This fatal event is the greatest blot on Napoleon's character; its imprudence was to the full as great as its wickedness, for such an act of wanton cruelty provoked against him the personal hostility of the European sovereigns. The remark of the callous Fouché on the subject has passed into a proverb-"It was worse than a crime-it was a blunder."

37. The first consul soon afterwards obtained the object of his highest ambition; he was created by a subservient senate emperor of the French, the philosopher and statesman Carnot having alone had the courage to protest against the appointment. Thus vanished like a shadow the French republic, the establishment of which had been purchased by so many lives.

The only important military event in this year was the seizure of the Spanish plate-fleet by the English without any formal declaration of war; this of course produced a close alliance between the courts of Paris and Madrid, though there is reason to believe that they had been previously united in hostility to England.

38. The conspirators against Buonaparte were brought to trial; George Cadoudal and ten of his associates were executed; General Moreau was permitted to transport himself to America; the remainder were pardoned. Freed thus from dangers, Napoleon prepared for the ceremony of his coronation, and, to the astonishment of all Europe, prevailed on the pope to officiate on the occasion. He was crowned emperor of the French on the 2d of December, and in the following year assumed the title and ensigns of king of Italy at Milan.

His coronation as emperor of the French, took place in the cathedral of Notre Dame. The capital was thronged with crowds of visiters from every part of France. The people were represented at the ceremony by deputations of the presidents of the cantons, the presidents of the electoral colleges, and the whole corps of the legislative body, which had been convoked in the month of October; the army, by deputations from every regiment. By all these, increased to a vast multitude of spectators of the highest station in the country, the walls of the splendid old cathedral were clothed with what a spectator has described as living tapestry," galleries having been erected almost to the roof. The pope first left the Tuilleries, and went in procession to the cathedral, preceded, according to established custom, by his chamberlain on a mule, which novel sight had nearly proved destructive to all solemnity, by exciting the risibility of the Parisians; but the functionary thus humbly mounted preserved his gravity of countenance so admirably, that he repressed the fatal sound which had impended. The emperor and empress, in the same open carriage, traversed Paris, through a great crowd of spectators, who, it is said, looked on the procession rather coldly. They first seated themselves with their backs to the horses, by mistake; and though the error was instantly rectified, it was observed, and said to be "an evil omen." They, and their whole retinue, arrayed themselves in splendid robes in the archbishop's palace, and with their long and gorgeous line of courtiers, marshals, and dignitaries, in gold and rich colours and waving plumes, gained the cathedral by a long gallery, erected for

the purpose. At the moment the emperor appeared in the cathedral, there was one simultaneous shout, which made but one explosion, of " Vive l'Empereur!" All was performed in order; mass was said, and the crown was blessed by the pope but at that point the emperor ceased to be submissive. Not even the supreme pontiff himself was permitted to place the crown upon the head of Napoleon. It was placed there by his own hand; immediately removed; and again, by his own hand, placed on the head of Josephine; then laid on the cushion, where it had rested before. "This scene," says Norvins, "is a scene of yesterday; yet it belongs not to our age. We can scarcely believe ourselves the contemporaries of events so strange and so unlike our time."

1. THE murder of the duke d'Enghien facilitated A. D. the formation of a coalition between the cabinets of 1805. Petersburgh, Stockholm, and London, against France. It was not, however, until after the delay of some months, that Austria and Prussia could be prevailed upon to unite with the

other allies for maintaining the independence of Europe; and the indecision of the latter power prevented her from sharing in the contest. 2. From the extreme of sloth, the Austrian government, irritated by the news of the usurpations of the French in Italy, suddenly passed into the opposite and more dangerous one of inconsiderate rashness. Without waiting for the Russian troops, or even securing the co-operation of Prussia, the Austrian emperor commenced the war. 3. His first proceeding was almost as tyrannical as any of which he complained on the part of the French. The elector of Bavaria having a son travelling in France, was anxious to remain neutral, and submissively entreated the German emperor to grant him permission to do so; his request was not only refused, but he was ordered forthwith to incorporate his forces with the Austrians, and place his soldiers under their chiefs. This was of course refused. The Austrians poured their forces into Bavaria, and acted as if they were in an enemy's country, while the elector retired into Franconia, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the French as his deliverers.

4. The army which Napoleon had designed for the invasion of England, immediately was ordered to march on the German frontier, while Massena was directed to commence offensive operations, and penetrate, if possible, into the hereditary dominions of Austria. 5. On both sides the French were pre-eminently successful; Mack, the Austrian general, after a series of blundering operations which completely proved his incapacity, shut himself up in Ulm with 20,000 men, and surrendered the town on the 17th of October, under circumstances that show he was not only a coward but a traitor. Massena defeated the Austrians in Italy, and Napoleon was consequently enabled to make himself master of Vienna without any opposition. But Austria had still some chances in her favour; the Russian emperor had at length brought up his forces, and the two armies were concentrated in Moravia. Napoleon, with a precipitancy that might have cost him dear, passed the Danube, and after a series of manœuvres, in which the allies showed but little skill, the two armies met on the second of December, to decide for a time the destinies of Europe, on the plains of Austerlitz. The Russians having incautiously too much extended their line, Napoleon poured a force through the gap which completely severed that wing from the centre; the centre itself was soon broken by the French cavalry under Murat, and the right wing of the allies, which for a moment had held the fate of the day in suspense,

6.