. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. estimated it—was a prisoner of war. Every dollars worth of Englishproperty found within Napoleons boundaries, whether itbelonged to rich trader or inoffensive tourist, was prize ofwar. If one remembers the extent of the seaboard whichNapoleon at that moment commanded, the full peril of thismenace to English commerce is clear. From St. Petersburgto Trieste there was not a port, save those of Denmark andPortugal, which would not close at his bidding. At Tilsithe and Alexander had entered into an agreement to completethis seaboard, to close the Baltic, the Channel
. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. estimated it—was a prisoner of war. Every dollars worth of Englishproperty found within Napoleons boundaries, whether itbelonged to rich trader or inoffensive tourist, was prize ofwar. If one remembers the extent of the seaboard whichNapoleon at that moment commanded, the full peril of thismenace to English commerce is clear. From St. Petersburgto Trieste there was not a port, save those of Denmark andPortugal, which would not close at his bidding. At Tilsithe and Alexander had entered into an agreement to completethis seaboard, to close the Baltic, the Channel, the EuropeanAtlantic, and the Mediterranean to the English. This wasnothing else than asking Continental Europe to destroy hercommerce for their sakes. There were several serious uncertainties in the retaliation would England make? Could Napoleonand Alexander agree long enough to succeed in dividing thevaluable portions of the continents of Europe, Asia, andAfrica? Would the nations cheerfully give up the English. JOACHIM MURAT (177I-1815). Engraved by Ruotte, after Gros. 194 THE BERLIN DECREE 195 cottons and tweeds they had been buying, the boots they hadbeen wearing, the cutlery and dishes they had been using?Would they cheerfully see their own products lie uncalledfor in their warehouses, for the sake of aiding a foreignmonarch—although the most brilliant and powerful onearth—to carry out a vast plan for crushing an enemy whowas not their enemy? It remained to be seen. In the meantime there was the small part of the coast lineremaining independent to be joined to the portion alreadyblockaded to the English. There was no delay in Napoleonsaction. Denmark was ordered to choose between war withEngland and war with France. Portugal was notified thatif her ports were not closed in forty days the French andSpanish armies would invade her. England gave a drasticreply to Napoleons measures. In August she appeared be-fore Copenhagen, seized the Danish fleet, and f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1901
