L8 Britain and the Continental System.pptx

Britain

1. Britain and the Struggle Against Revolution The Continental System “Paris is full of Englishmen… They come here to insult us with their openly counter-revolutionary clothes. By their jeers they provoke any Frenchman who fails to adopt English manners and customs. They flaunt their luxury at the same time that they spy on us and betray us.” Barère Speech of 1 August 1793.

2. British Politics Addington 1802-1804 Pitt April 1804-January 1806 Ministry of All the Talents 1806-1809 [Whigs] Fox – Secretary of State until his death in Sept 1806 Spencer – Secretary of State Windham (Grenville) – Secretary of State Erskine – Lord Chancellor Howick (Grey) - First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Henry Petty – Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Moira – Master of the Ordnance Addington (Viscount Sidmouth ) – Privy Seal William Pitt The Younger

3. Government Changes Duke of Portland 1807-1809 Perceval Lord Eldon Lord Castlereagh (37) George Canning (36) Lord Castlereagh

4. Government Changes cont’d Spencer Perceval 1809 - 1812 Combined First Lord of the Treasury and Exchequer Lord Wellesley - Foreign Secretary Lord Liverpool - Secretary of State for War Richard Ryder - Home Secretary 1812-27: Earl of Liverpool , Tory – wins elections in 1812, 1818, 1820, and 1826. Spencer Perceval

5. Finance and Taxation Reliance on income tax: Government income doubled in the years 1803-1815 Nearly two thirds of govt expenditure/ army and navy By 1815, 260,000 men were in the pay of the British Army Pitt’s emphasis on debt repayment was abandoned. By 1801 the pound was depreciating. Addington had much opposition Finance policy was his way of gaining popularity He reduced the army and navy in manpower/salaries He overhauled the civil list He abolished Pitt’s income tax He kept duties, import/export/stamp consolidated the sinking funds

6. New Taxes In 1803 after the war recommenced he reintroduced Income tax but improved Pitt’s model by reducing the target amount and by simplifying the collection process. The new tax was at a rate of 5% (half) E xpected to yield £4.5 M instead of £6 M.

7. Militia Acts Problems over raising militia Acts of 1802 (51,500) and 1803 (25,000) produced extra men for home defense . The problem of volunteers set in and thwarted systematic conscription. Created problems around what they were and were not required to do and inserted contradictions re what periods they were to serve for. Political infighting was the result and with Britain on the verge of invasion it brought down Addington and restored Pitt to office. Windham later ended the volunteer system so that men might enlist for short periods of time and enjoy higher rates of pay if they chose to re-enlist.

8. Pitt back in Office Pitt retained most of Addington’s ministers in office including Addington (January- June 1805) when he resigned. After Pitt’s death the problems became only too clear. Confidence in the Commons died with Pitt. Crisis management characterised financial control for the rest of the war. Disaster was avoided only because the economy could sustain the demands being made upon it and patriotism played its part in subduing unrest.

9. Economic Warfare Prussia’s defeat (1806) enabled Napoleon to attack Britain’s industrial stranglehold on Europe. The peace with Russia at Tilsit brought Russia into the loop. The Continental system’s success relied on Napoleon’s unprecedented control of mainland Europe betw 1807 and 1812 It was never complete enough to starve Britain into submission. Exports in 1806 were £40.8 M in 1808 £35.2 Raw cotton imports 143,000 sacks in 1807 to 23,000 in 1808 Grain imports fell by a twentieth corn 66s a quarter in 07 to 94s in 08.

10. The Continental System The imperial camp at Berlin, 21 November 1806 Napoleon , Emperor of the French and King of Italy, etc., considering: 1.That England does not recognise the law of nations universally followed by all civilised peoples ; 2.That she considers an enemy any individual belonging to the enemy’s state, and consequently makes prisoners of war not only the crews of armed ships of war , but also the crews of merchant ships and ships of commerce, and even commercial agents and merchants travelling on business ; 3.That she extends to the vessels and commercial merchandise and to the property of individuals the right of conquest, which is only applicable to that which belongs to the enemy’s state ; 4.That she extends to unfortified towns and commercial ports, to harbours and the mouths of rivers, the right of blockade which, in accordance with reason and the customs of all civilised peoples, is only applicable to fortified towns; that she even declares in a state of blockade places before which she has not even a singleship of war, even though a place may not be blockaded except when it is so completely besieged that no attempt to approach it can be made without imminent danger ; that she even declares in a state of blockade places which all her united forces would be incapable of blockading, entire coasts and whole empires ;

11. 5.That this monstrous abuse of the right of blockade has no other aim than to prevent communication among nations, and to build the commerce and industry of England on the ruins of the commerce and industry of the continent ; 6.That , since this is the obvious aim of England, whoever deals on the continent in English merchandise thereby favours her designs and renders himself her accomplice; 7.That this behaviour of England, worthy of the earliest stages of barbarism, has profited that power to the detriment of all others ; 8.That it is a natural right to oppose the enemy with such arms as it makes use of , and to fight it in the same way as it fights, when it has disregarded all ideas of justice and all liberal sentiments, a consequence of civilisation among men: [.The French Revolution and Napoleon: A Sourcebook]

12. We have consequently decreed and do decree the following : Article 1 . The British Isles are declared to be in a state of blockade . Article 2. All commerce and all correspondence with the British Isles is forbidden . Consequently , letters or packages directed to England or to an Englishman, or written in the English language, shall not pass through the post and shall be seized . Article 3. Every individual who is an English subject, of whatever state or conditionhe may be, found in any country occupied by Our troops or by those of Our allies,shall be made a prisoner of war . Article 4. All warehouses, merchandise or property of whatever kind belonging toa subject of England shall be regarded as a lawful prize . Article 5. Trade in English goods is prohibited, and all goods belonging to England,or coming from her factories or her colonies, are declared a lawful prize . Article 6. Half the product of the confiscation of goods and property declared alawful prize by the preceding articles shall be used to indemnify the merchants for thelosses they have experienced by the capture of merchant vessels taken by Englishcruisers . Article 7. No vessel coming directly from England or from the English colonies,or having visited these since the publication of the present decree, shall be received inany port .

13. Article 8. Any vessel which, by means of a false declaration, contravenes the above provisions shall be seized; and the vessel and cargo shall be confiscated as if it were English property . Article 9. Our Court of Prizes in Paris is charged with the final judgment in alldisputes which may arise in Our Empire or in the countries occupied by the French army relating to the execution of the present decree. Our Court of Prizes in Milan is charged with the final judgement in the said disputes which may arise within the territory of Our Kingdom of Italy . Article 10. The present decree shall be communicated by Our minister of foreignaffairs to the King of Spain, Naples, Holland and Etruria, and to Our other allies whose subjects, like Ours, are the victims of the injustice and the barbarity of English maritime legislation . Article 11. Our ministers of foreign affairs, war, the navy, finance and the police , and Our directors general of the post office are charged, each with that which concerns him , with the execution of the present decree . Source : Correspondance de Napoléon ler , vol. 13, pp. 682–5 . [. The French Revolution and Napoleon: A Sourcebook]

14. Reaction Britain retaliated by putting European ports from which she was excluded in a state of blockade. Alienated the neutrals. The flaw in Napoleon’s plan was that he could not seal of all of Europe without a navy . The Baltic remained open as did Portugal while outside Europe Napoleon was powerless to stop British trade. It was this extra-European trade which provided Britain with new opportunities .

15. Elau and Friedland Prussian Poland in the North European Winter Battles of Elau 7-8 Feb and Friedlland 14 June 1807 Friedland ended the Fourth Coalition and Alexander I signed Tilist . https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=slaNADrdPMA A charge à Elau .

16. Treaty of Tilsit Involved recognition of the Napoleonic settlement of Italy, Germany and Poland. Russian obtained a large part of Prussian Poland Russian was to mediate with Britain and join with Napoleon in the case of rejection. Denmark, Sweden, Portugal and Austria were to be encouraged to do likewise. Prussia forced to pay a heavy indemnity Prussia was required to maintain a large French garrison Also to accept the loss of half their territory because their western territories and the bulk of Prussian Poland became Berg, Westphalia and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

17. Napoleon’s policy also hurt France During grain shortages 1809-10 he allowed trade with Britain under license From 1810 Russian ports were reopened to Britain He engaged the enemy on his strongest ground France’s customs receipts dropped by four-fifths 1807-1809 were reopened to Britain Britain was hurting nevertheless; E xports to the US went from £7.8M in 1810 to £1.4M in 1811 S upplies of cotton to the Lancashire mills were 45% down 1812-1814

18. Foreign Policy British involvement focused mainly on the Peninsula war 1808 Castlereagh sent 15,000 men to aid nationalists Arthur Wellesley (Viscount Wellington Sept 1809) was the architect of the Spanish campaigns His victory over Joseph Bonaparte enabled him to invade France. Wellington’s campaigns betw 1809-1813 were brilliant but costly. The Peninsula was a hard slog The British had entered the conflict on the basis of providing limited armed support to European adversaries of the French In the Peninsula they did most of the fighting and Wellington was always begging for more men and supplies.

19. Britain and the Peninsula The army in the Peninsula never exceeded 60,000 men Naval supremacy was key it ensured that Wellington’s men were better supplied than the French. £ 18M subsidies were paid to the Spanish and Portugese By October 1813 when Wellington finally broke French resistance and entered South-West France Britain was in the process of securing alliances. The Treaty of Reichenbach – Britain Russia and Prussia with Britain paying £2M in subsidies to keep Prussia and Russia in the field

20. Diplomacy 1813-1815 The diplomacy during these years settled relations betw the major European states for 40 years and facilitated the emergence of Great Power politics in the 19 th century. Britain playing the dominant role and Viscount Castlereagh was the architect of the peace His aims were threefold: To keep the allies together long enough to defeat Napoleon To satisfy the territorial integrity of all nations To achieve total victory

21. The Treaty of Chaumont B rought together Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria. Signatories agreed not to make separate peace with France. It also allowed for 150,000 men to be kept under arms. After this Britain had 225,000 troops on the Continent in its pay 70,000 of them British.

22. British aims and objectives Britain neither sought nor required European territory European stability based on a balance of forces would enable Britain to fulfil all her peacetime goals France was not to be humiliated A United Netherlands created a strong buffer Britain took some colonial acquisitions Malta, Guiana, Tobago, St Lucia, the Cape of Good Hope, Singapore and the Malay peninsula. Her influence in India was acknowledged by all. Britain came out of the negotiations the only country in Europe equipped or able to exploit a global market