Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1799]
BATTLE OF
THE TREBBIA. 175
The
disasters
of the French
in
Upper
Italy
were fatal to
their
ascendancy
in the
south,
and Macdonald received orders
to
abandon
the
Parthenopsean
republic,
and
unite his forces
with those
of Moreau.
His retreat was
exposed
to
great
dangers by
the
universal
insurrection of the
peasants
;
but
he
accomplished
it with
great rapidity
and
skill.
The two
French
commanders
then concerted
measures
to
dislodge
the
allies from
their
conquests
;
a
project
which
seemed
not un-
likelv to be
fulfilled,
so
obstinately
had
the
Aulic council
adhered to the
old
system
of
dispersing
the
troops
all
over
the
territory
which
they
occupied.
Though
the
allies had
above
a hundred thousand
men
in
the
field,
they
could
hardly
assemble
thirty
thousand at
any
one
point
;
and
Macdonald
might
easily
have
destroyed
them in
detail could
he
have
fallen
upon
them
at once
;
but the
time he
spent
in reor-
ganising
his
army
in
Tuscany,
and
in
concerting
measures
with
Moreau,
was
well
employed
by
Suvarof
in
promptly
concentrating
his forces. Macdonald
advanced
against
him
with
an
army
of
thirty-seven
thousand
men,
taking
Modena
on
his
way,
and
driving
Hohenzollern
out of it after a
bloody
engagement.
The two armies met on the
Trebbia,
where a
first and
indecisive
action took
place
on the
17th
of
June
;
it was
renewed
on each of
the
two
following
days,
and
victory
finally
remained
with the Russians.
In this terrible battle
of three
days,
the most
obstinately
contested
and
bloody
that
had
occurred since the
beginning
of the
war,
the
loss on
both
sides was excessive
;
that of the Trench
was above
twelve
thousand in
killed
and
wounded,
and that
of
the
allies
not
much less.
But
nearly equal
losses
told with
very
several
points,
which
will
save Moreau from total destruction. That
cabinet
which
fears a
too
rapid
conquest
of
Italy
from
designs
which
it dares
not
avow,
as
it
knows well
those of our
magnanimous
em-
peror,
has,
by
the
Aulic
council,
forced the archduke
Charles
into
a
state
of
inactivity,
and
enjoined
our
incomparable
chief to secure
his
conquests
rather
than
extend
them;
and the
army
is to
waste its
time
and
strength
in the
siege
of
fortresses which would fall
of themselves
if the French
army
were
destroyed.
What terrifies them even more
than the
rapidity
of our
conquests,
is
the
generous project,
openly
an-
nounced,
of
restoring
to
every
one what
he has
lost.
Deceived
by
his
ministers,
the
emperor
Francis
has,
with 1 1
is own
hand,
written to
OUT
illustrious
general
to
pause
in
a
career of
conquest,
the
very
rapidity
of
which filled
him with
alarm."
—
IlarJcttbcrg,
vii.
249.
176
HISTORY
OP
RUSSIA.
[OH.
LI.
unequal
severity
on the
respective
combatants
;
those
of
the
allies
would
speedily
be retrieved
by large
reinforcements,
but
the
republicans
had
expended
their last
resources,
were
cut
off
from
Moreau,
and had
no second
army
to fall
back
upon.
Macdonald
with
infinite
difficulty
regained
the
posi-
tions
he
had
occupied
before the advance
to the
Trebbia,
after
losing
an immense number
of
prisoners.
The fall of the citadel of Turin on the 20th
of June
was
of
great importance
to
the
allies
;
for besides
disengaging
their
besieging
force,
it
put
into their hands one of
the
strongest
fortresses
in
Piedmont,
and an immense
quantity
of
artillery
and ammunition. This
event,
and Suvarof's
victory
on the
Trebbia,
checked the successful
operations
of
Moreau,
and
compelled
him to fall back
to
his former
defen-
sive
position
on the
Apennines. Again,
contrary
to Suvarof's
wishes,
the allied forces were divided for the
purpose
of re-
ducing
Mantua and
Alexandria,
and
occupying Tuscany.
After the
fall
of
those
two
fortresses,
Suvarof laid
siege
to
Tortona,
when
Joubert,
who
had
meanwhile
superseded
Mo-
reau,
marched
against
him
at
the head of the
combined
forces
of
the
French.
On the
15th of
August,
another
desperate
battle was
fought
at
JNTovi,
in which Joubert was
killed,
but
from which neither side
derived
any
material
advantage.
The French returned to their former
positions,
and the
Italian
campaign
was
ended.
Suvarof
now received
orders to
join
his forces
with those
under
Korsakof,
who was on
the
Upper
Rhine
with
thirty
thousand
men. The archduke Charles
might,
even without
this fresh
reinforcement,
have
already
annihilated Massena
had he not remained for three
months,
from
June
to
August,
in
complete
inactivity;
at the
very
moment
of Suvarof's
ex-
pected
arrival,
he allowed
the
important
passes
of
the St.
Gothard
to be
again
carried
by
a
coup-de-main
by
the
French,
under
general
Lecourbe,
who
drove the
Austrians
from
the
Simplon,
the
Furca,
the
Grimsel,
and
the
Devil's
Bridge.
The
archduke,
after
an
unsuccessful
attempt
to
push
across the
Aar at
Dettingen, suddenly
quitted
the
scene
of
war and advanced
down the Rhine for
the
purpose
of
supporting
the
English
expedition
under
the
duke of York
against
Holland.
This
unexpected
turn in
affairs
proceeded
from Vienna.
The
Viennese cabinet
was
jealous
of
Russia.
A.X>.
1799]
CAMPAIGN
IN SWITZERLAND.
177
Suvarof
played
the master
in
Italy,
favoured
Sardinia
at the
expense
of
the
house of
Habsburg,
and
deprived
the Aus-
trians
of the
laurels
and the
advantages they
had
won.
The
archduke,
accordingly,
received
orders
to
remain
inactive,
to abandon
the
Russians,
and
finally
to
withdraw
to
the
north
;
by
this movement
Suvarof's
triumphant
progress
was
checked,
he
was
compelled
to cross
the
Alps
to
the aid of
Korsakof,
and
to
involve
himself in a mountain
warfare
ill-
suited to
the
habits of his
soldiery.
Korsakof,
whom
Bavaria
had been bribed
with
Eussian
gold
to furnish
with a
corps
one
thousand
strong,
was
solely
supported
by
Kray
and
Hotze
with
twenty
thousand
men.
Massena, taking advantage
of the
departure
of
the
archduke
and
the non-arrival
of
Suvarof,
crossed
the Limmat
at
Dieti-
kon and
shut
Korsakof,
who
had
imprudently
stationed
him-
self with
his whole
army
in
Zurich,
so
closely
in,
that,
after an
engagement
that lasted two
clays,
from the
15th
to
the 17th
of
September,
the Russian
general
was
compelled
to
abandon
his
artillery
and to force
his
way
through
the
enemy.
Ten
thousand
men were all
that
escaped.
Hotze,
who had ad-
vanced from
the Grisons
to
Schwyz
to
Suvarof's
rencontre,
was,
at the same
time,
defeated
and killed
at Schiinnis.
Su-
varof,
although
aware
that
the
road
across
the
St. Gothard
was
blocked
by
the
lake
of the
four
cantons,
on
which
there
were no
boats,
had
the
temerity
to
attempt
the
passage.
In
Airolo,
he
was
obstinately
opposed by
the French
under Le-
courbe,
and,
although
Shveikofski contrived
to turn
this
strong
position by
scaling
the
pathless
rocks,
numbers
of the
men
were,
owing
to
Suvarof's
impatience,
sacrificed
before
it.
On
the 24th of
September,
1799,
he
at
length
climbed
the St.
Gothard,
and a
bloody
engagement,
in which
the
Trench
were
worsted,
took
place
on
the
Oberalpsee.
Lecourbo
blew
up
the
Devil's
Bridge,
but,
leaving
the Unerloch
open,
the
Russians
pushed
through
that
rocky
gorge,
and,
dashing
through
the
foaming
Reuss,
scaled
the
opposite
rocks and
drove the
French
from their
position
behind
the
Devil's
Bridge.
Altorf on
the lake
was readied
in
safety
by
the
Russian
general,
who was
compelled, owing
to
the want
of
boats,
to seek
his
way
through
the
valleys
of
Skachen
aud
Muotta,
across
the almost
impassable
rocks,
to
Schwyz.
The
heavy
rains
rendered
the
undertaking
still
more arduous
;
the
VOL.
II.
N
178
HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LI.
Russians,
owing
to the badness
of the
road,
were
speedily
barefoot
;
tbe
provisions
were also
exhausted.
In this
wretched
state
they
reached
Muotta on the 29th of
Sep-
tember
and learnt
the
discouraging
news of
Korsakof
's
de-
feat.
Massena
had
already
set off
in
the
hope
of
cutting
off
Suvarof,
but had
missed
his
way.
He reached
Altorf,
where
he
joined
Lecourbe on
the
29th,
when
Suvarof was
already
at
Muotta,
whence
Massena found
on
his
arrival
that he
had
again
retired across
the
Bragelberg,
through
the
Klonthal.
He
was
opposed
on
the
lake of Klonthal
by
Molitor,
who
was,
how-
ever,
forced to retire
by
Auffenberg,
who had
joined
Suvarof
at Altorf
and formed
his advanced
guard,
Rosen,
at
the
same
time,
beating
off Massena
with
the
rear-guard,
taking
five
cannons
and one
thousand
of
his
men
prisoners.
On
the 1st
of
October,
Suvarof
entered
Glarus,
where
he
rested
until
the
4th,
when
he crossed
the Panixer
mountains
through
snow
two
feet
deep
to
the
valley
of
the
Rhine,
which he
reached
on the
10th,
after
losing
the
whole of his beasts
of
burden
and two
hundred of his
men
down the
precipices
;
and here ended
his
extraordinary
march,
which
had
cost
him
the whole
of his
artillery,
almost
all
his
horses,
and a
third
of
his
men.
The archduke
had, meanwhile,
tarried
on
the
Rhine,
where
he
had
taken
Philippsburg
and
Mannheim,
but
had
been
un-
able
to
prevent
the defeat
of
the
English expedition
under
the
duke of
York
by
general
Brune
at
Bergen,
on
the
19th
of
September.
The
archduke
now,
for
the first
time,
made a
retrograde
movement,
and
approached
Korsakof
and Suvarof.
The
different
leaders,
however,
did
nothing
but find fault with
each
other,
and
the
czar,
perceiving
his
project
frustrated,
suddenly
recalled
his
troops,
and
the
campaign
came to
a
close.
Paul's
anger
fell
without
measure or reason
on his
armies
and
their
chiefs.
All
the
officers
who were
missing,
that
is
to
say,
who Avere
prisoners
in
Prance,
were broken
as
deserters,
and
Suvarof,
instead
of
being
received with
well
merited
ho-
nours,
was
deprived
of
his
command,
and
not
suffered
to
see
the
emperor's
face.
This
unjust
severity
broke
the veteran's
heart.
He
died
soon
after
his return
to
St.
Petersburg
;
and
no
Russian
courtier,
nor
any
member
of
the
diplomatic
body
except
the
English
ambassador,
followed
his remains to
the
grave.
A.D.
1800]
PAUL RECONCILED
AVITH
FRANCE.
179
CHAPTER
LII.
PAUL RECONCILED WITH FRANCE REVIVAL
OF
THE
AEMED
NEUTRALITY
—
MURDER
OF
PAUL.
Frustrated
in
the
objects
for which he had
engaged
in
war,
Paul was now
in a
mood
easily
to
be moved to turn
bis
arms
against
the allies who had
deceived his
hopes.
He had
fought
for
the re-establishment of
monarchy
in
Prance,
and
of
the old status
quo
in
Europe
;
and the
only
result had been the
aggrandisement
of
Austria,
bis
own immediate
neighbour,
of
whom
he bad much
more reason to be
jealous
than of the
remote
power
of Prance.
The
rapid
steps,
too,
whicb Bo-
naparte
was
taking
for
the
restoration
of
monarchical forms
in that
country
were
especially
calculated to conciliate Paul's
good-will
towards
the
first
consul. The latter and his able
ministers
promptly
availed
themselves of
this
favourable dis-
position through
the
connexions
they
had made
in
St.
Pe-
tersburg.
Fouche
had such
confidential
correspondence
even
with
ladies in
the
Eussian
capital,
that he afterwards
received
the earliest and
most correct
intelligence
of
the
emperor's
murder. Two
persons
at
the
court
of
Petersburg
were
next
gained
over
to
Prance,
or rather to
Bonaparte's rising
em-
pire
;
these were the minister
Eostopshin,
and the
emperor's
favourite,
the
Turk
Kutaisof,
who had risen
with
unusual
rapidity
from the
situation of
the
emperor's
barber to the
rank
of
one
of the first
Eussian
nobles. He was also
nearly
connected
by
relationship
with
Eostopshin.
Eostopshin
first found
means
to send
away
general
Dumourier from
Petersburg,
whither
he had
come
for
the
purpose
of
carrying
on
his
intrigues
in
favour
of
the
Bour-
bons. He
next
sought
to
bring
Louis
Cobenzl also
into
discredit
with
the
emperor,
and he
succeeded in
this,
shortly
before
the
opening
of
the
campaign
in
Italy
in
1800,
when
the
cabinet
of
Vienna was
called
upon
to
give
a
plain
and direct
answer
to
the
questions
peremptorily
put
by
the
emperor
of
Eussia.
Paul
required
"
that the
cabinet
should
answer,
without
if
or
but,
without
circumlocution
or
reserve,
whether
or not
Austria
would, according
to
the
terms
of the
treaty,
restore
the
pope
and the
king
to
n2
180
HISTOBY OF
EUSSIA.
[CH.
LII.
their dominions
and
sovereignty."
Cobenzl
was
obliged
to
reply,
that
if Austria were
to
give
back
Piedmont
to the
king
of Sardinia
it must still
retain Tortona
and Alessandria
;
and
that it never
would restore
the three
legations
and Ancona.
The measure
of
the
emperor's
indignation
was
now full
;
he
forbade count
Cobenzl
the
court,
and at
a later
period
not
only
ordered
him to leave
the
country,
but
would
not
even
allow
an
embassy
or a
charge-d'
affaires to remain.
The
emperor
proceeded
more
deliberately
with
regard
to
the
English.
At
first he
acted
as
if
he had
no
desire
to
break
with
them
;
and he even allowed
the
Russians,
whom
they
had
hired
for
the
expedition
against
Holland,
to re-
main
in
Guernsey
under
Viomenil's
command,
in order to
assist their
employers
in an
expedition
against Brittany.
The
English
government,
however,
at
length
provoked
him to
extremities.
They
refused
to redeem
the Russians who
had been made
prisoners
in their
service,
by
giving
in
exchange
for them
an
equal
number of
Erench,
of whom
their
prisons
were full
;
they
refused
to listen to
any
arrangements
respecting
the
grand-mastership
of the
knights
of
Malta,
or
even
as to the
protectorate
of the
order,
and
gave
the clearest
intimations
that
they
meant to
keep
the
island for themselves.
Bonaparte
seized
upon
this
favourable
moment for
nattering
the
emperor,
by acting
as
if he had
really
more
respect
for
Paul than
the two
powers
for whom he had made such
magnanimous
sacrifices. "Whilst
the
English
refused
to
redeem
the
Russians made
prisoners
in their
service
by
exchange,
Bonaparte
set
them
free without
either
exchange
or
ransom. The
emperor
of
Germany
had broken his
word,
and
neither restored the
pope
nor the
king
of
Sardinia,
whilst
Bonaparte
voluntarily
offered
to
restore the
one
and
give
compensation
to the other. He assailed the
emperor
in a
masterly
manner on his weak"
side,
causing
the 6000 or
7000
Russians,
whom
the
,English
refused
to
exchange,
to
be
provided
with
new
clothing
and
arms,
and
he
wrote a
letter
to
Panin,
the
Russian
minister,
in
which
he
says
"
that he
ivas
unioilling
to
suffer
such
brave soldiers
as
these
Russians were to
remain
longer
away
from
their
native
land on account
of
the
English."
In the same
letter he
paid
another
compliment
to the
emperor,
and
threw
an
apple
of
mortal strife
between
him
and
England.
Knowing
as
he
A.D.
1800]
EUPTUBE
WITH ENGLAKD.
181
did that
his
garrison
in
Malta
could not
hold
out
much
longer,
he
offered to
place
the island
in the
hands
of
the
emperor
Paul,
as
a
third
party.
This
Avas
precisely
what
the
emperor
desired
;
and
Sprengporten,
who was
sent
to
Prance to
hring away
the
Russians,
and
to
thank the
first
consul,
was to
occupy
Malta with
them. The
Russians
were
either
to
be
conveyed
thither
by
Nelson,
who
up
to this
time
had
kept
the
island
closely
blockaded,
and was
daily
ex-
pecting
its
surrender,
or at
least
he was to
be
ordered
to
let
them
pass
;
but
both lie
and the
English
haughtily
re-
jected
the Russian
mediation.
Paul now came
to a
complete
breach
with
England.
Pirst
of all he
recalled his Russian
troops
from
Guernsey,
but on
this
occasion
he was
again
baffled.
It was
of
great importance
to
the
English
cabinet
that
Bonaparte
shoidd
not
immediately
hear
of the decided
breach
which
had
taken
place
between
them and the
emperor,
and
they
therefore
prevailed upon
Viomenil,
an
emigre,
who had
the
command of the
Russians
in
Guernsey,
to remain
some
weeks
longer,
in
opposition
to the
emperor's
will.
Paul
was
vehemently indignant
at
this conduct
;
Viomenil,
how-
ever,
entered
the
English
service,
and
was
provided
for
by
the
English government
in
Portugal.
Lord
Whitworth
was next
obliged
to
leave
Russia,
as
count
Cobenzl
had
previously
been.
Paul
recalled
his
am-
bassadors
from the courts
of
Vienna
and
London,
and forth-
with
sent count
Kalitchef to Paris
to
enter
into
friendly
negotiations
with
Bonaparte.
In the mean
time,
the
English
had recourse
to some new
subterfuges,
and
promised,
that
in case
Malta
capitulated,
they
would
consent
to allow
the
island
to
be
administered,
till the
conclusion
of a
peace, by
commissioners
appointed by
Russia,
England,
and
Naples.
Paul
had
already
named
Bailli
de la
Perretto
for this
pur-
pose;
but
the
English
refused to
acknowledge
his
nominee,
and even
to receive
the
Neapolitans
in
Malta. Before
this
took
place,
however,
the
emperor
had come
to issue
with
England
on
a
totally
different
question.
The idea
of
a
union
among
the
neutral
powers,
in
opposi-
tion
to the
right
alleged by England,
when at
war
with
any
power
whatsoever,
to
subject
the
ships
of all
neutral
powers
to
search,
had
been
relinquished
by
the
empress
Catharine
182
HISTORY OF EUSSIA.
[CH.
III.
in
1781,
to
please
the
English
ambassador
at her court
;
Paul
now
resumed
the idea.
Bonaparte
intimated his
con-
currence,
and Paul
followed
up
the
matter with
great
energy
and
zeal,
as in this
way
he
had an
opportunity
of
exhibiting
himself in
the character of
an
imperial
protector
of
the
weak,
a
defender of
justice
and
right,
and as the head
of
a
general
alliance
of
the
European
powers.
Prussia
also now
appeared
to do
homage
to
him,
for the weak
king
was
made
to
believe,
that
by
a close
alliance between
Russia
and
Erance,
he
might
be
helped
to an
extension
of
territory
and an increase
of
subjects,
without
danger
or cost to
himself,
or without
war,
which he abhorred
beyond
everything
else.
The
first
foundation, therefore,
for an alliance between
Russia
and
France,
was
laid
in
Berlin,
where
Beurnonville,
the
Erench
ambassador,
was commissioned to enter
into
nego-
tiations with the
Russian
minister
Von Kriiderer. Beur-
nonville
promised,
in
Bonaparte's
name,
that the Russian
mediation in
favour
of
Naples
and Sardinia would be
ac-
cepted,
and
that,
in
the
question
of
compensations
for
the
German
princes,
particular
regard
would be had
to
the
cases
of
Baden
and
Wurtemberg.
As to
the
armed
neutrality by
sea
against
England,
Prussia could
easily
consent
to
join
this
alliance,
because
she
had in fact no
navy
;
but it
was much more difficult for
Sweden and
Denmark,
whose
merchant
ships
were
always
accompanied by frigates.
In
case,
therefore,
the
neutral
powers
came to an
understanding
that no
merchant vessels
which were
accompanied by
a
ship
of
war should be com-
pelled
to submit to
a
search,
this
might
at
any
time
involve
them in
hostilities with
England.
In addition to
Denmark,
Sweden and
Prussia, which,
under Paul's
protectorate,
were to
conclude an
alliance
for the
protection
of
trading
vessels
be-
longing
to neutral
powers against
the
arrogant
claims
of
Eng-
land,
Bonaparte
endeavoured
to
prevail
upon
the
North
Ameri-
cans to
join
the alliance.
They
were the
only
parties
who,
by
a
specific treaty
in
1794,
had
acknowledged
as a
positive
right
what the
others
only
submitted to
as an unfounded
pretension
on the
part
of
England.
On
that occasion the
Americans
had
broken
with
the Erench
republic
on
the
subject
of this
treaty,
and
Barras and
Talleyrand
had
been
shameless
enough
to
propose
that
the Americans should
pay
A..D.
1S00]
THE ARMED
NEUTRALITY.
183
them
a
gratuity,
in
order to the renewal of
their old friend-
ship
with
France,
which
proposal,
however,
the
Americans
treated
with
contempt.
On the 30th of
September,
1800,
their ambassadors
concluded an
agreement
at
Bonaparte's
country
seat of
Morfontaine,
which referred
especially
to the
resistance which all the neutral
powers
under
the
protec-
torate
of
the
emperor
of
Russia were desirous
of
making
to
the
pretensions
and claims
of
England.
The
Americans
first
of all
declared
that
neutral
flags
should
make
a
neutral
cargo,
except
in cases where the
ship
was
actually
laden
with
goods
contraband of war. It
was
afterwards
precisely
defined what
were to be considered
goods
contraband
of war.
By
the
fourth article it
was determined that
neutral
ships
must
submit to be
detained,
but that the
ships
of Avar
so
detaining
a
merchantman with
a view to search
should
remain
at
least at the
distance of
a
cannon-shot,
and
only
be allowed
to
send a boat with
three
men to
examine
the
ship's papers
and
cargo
;
and
that in all
cases
in which a
merchantman
should be
under
convoy
of
a
ship
of
war,
no
right
of search
should
exist,
because the
presence
of the
convoy
should
be
regarded
as a
sufficient
guarantee
against
contraband.
Inas-
much as
England
and Denmark
were at
open
issue
concerning
this
last
point,
the
Americans
would
have
been
inevitably
involved
in
the
dispute
had
they immediately
ratified the
treaty
of
Morfontaine :
they
were, however,
far
too
cunning
to fall
into
this
difficulty
;
and
they
did not
therefore
ratify
the
treaty
till the
Russian
confederation
had
been
dissolved.
Sweden
and Denmark
had
come
to
issue
with
England
concerning
the
right
of
search
in 1798
and
1799,
when
four
frigates,
two
Swedish
and two
Danish,
were
captured
and
brought
into
English
ports.
True,
they
were
afterwards
given up,
but without
any
satisfaction,
for
the
English
still in-
sisted
upon
the
right
of
search.
The
dispute
became most
vehement
in the
case of
the
Danish
frigate Freya,
which,
together
with the
merchantmen
under
her
convoy,
were
brought
into an
English
port,
alter
a
sharp
engagement
on
the 25th of
July,
1800
;
and the
English,
aware of the
hos-
tile
negotiations
which
were
going
on
in the
north,
at
once
despatched
an
expedition
against
Denmark.
Sixteen
English ships
of war
suddenly
appeared
before
Copenhagen,
and
most
unexpectedly
threatened
the
harbour
184
HISTORY
OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LII.
and
city
with a
destructive
bombardment,
if
Denmark
did
not
at
once
acknowledge
England's right
of
search at
sea.
Had
this
acknowledgment
been
made,
Bonaparte's
and the
emperor's
plan
woidd have been frustrated
in
its
very
origin
;
but
Denmark
had the
good
fortune
to
possess,
in its minister
Bernsdorf,
the
greatest
diplomatist
of
the
whole
revolutionary
era,
who
contrived for that
time
to
save
Copenhagen
without
the
surrender of
any
rights.
It
was
quite impossible
to
resist
by
force,
but
he refused to
enter
upon
the
question
of
right
or
wrong
;
and
in
the
agreement
which he
signed
with
Lord
"Whitworth
on
the
25th of
August,
1800,
he consented
that
in
the mean
time all
occasion for
dispute
should be
avoided,
and
thus
the
difficulty
be
postponed
or removed.
Den-
mark
bound
herself
no
longer
to
send
her merchantmen
under
convoy
—
whereupon
the
Freya,
and the
vessels
by
which she
was
accompanied,
were set
at
liberty.
On
this
occasion
the
emperor
Paul offered himself
as arbitrator
;
and
when Lord
Whitworth
rejected
his interference
or arbitra-
tion,
he
immediately
laid an
embargo
on
all the
English
ships
in
Russian
ports.
The
news
of the
agreement
entered
into at
Copenhagen,
however,
no sooner
reached
Petersburg,
than this
first em-
bargo
was
removed,
and
the
dispute
carried
on
merely
in
a
diplomatic
manner. At last
the
emperor
Paul
put
an end
to
this
paper
war,
when
Vaubois,
who had defended
Malta
since
July,
1798,
against
the
English,
Eussians,
Neapolitans,
and
sometimes also the
Portuguese,
at
length
capitulated,
on the
5th
of
September,
1800.
The island was taken
military pos-
session
of
by
the
English
without
any
reference
whatever to
the
order,
to
Naples,
to
the
promise
which
they
had made
to
the
emperor,
or to Bailli de la
Ferrette,
whom Paul
had
named
as the
representative
of the
order.
As
soon
as this
news
reached
Petersburg,
Paul's
rage
and
indignation
knew
no
bounds. On the 7th
of
November,
he not
only
laid an
embargo
upon
three
hundred
English
ships
then
in
his
ports,
but sent
the
whole of
their
crews
into
the
interior
of
Russia,
and allowed
them
only
a few
copecks
a
day
for
their
support.
Lord
Carysfort,
the
English
ambassador
in
Berlin,
was
unable for six weeks
to obtain
any
answer from
the
Prussian
government
with
respect
to its connexion
with
the
northern
confederation,
although
he
insisted
strongly
upon
it;
and