From this time therefore to
the end of the war England was wholly governed by the Tories. The
nominal head of the ministry which succeeded that of Lord Grenville was
the Duke of Portland; its guiding spirit was the Foreign Secretary,
George Canning, a young and devoted adherent of Pitt, whose brilliant
rhetoric gave him power over the House of Commons, while the vigour and
breadth of his mind gave a new energy and colour to the war. At no time
had opposition to Napoleon seemed so hopeless as at the moment of his
entry into power. From foes the two Emperors of Western and Eastern
Europe had become friends, and the hope of French aid in the conquest of
Turkey drew Alexander to a close alliance with Napoleon. Russia not only
enforced the Berlin decrees against British commerce, but forced Sweden,
the one ally that England still retained on the Continent, to renounce
her alliance. The Russian and Swedish fleets were thus placed at the
service of France; and the two Emperors counted on securing in addition
the fleet of Denmark, and again threatening by this union the maritime
supremacy which formed England's real defence. The hope was foiled by
the decision of the new ministers. In July 1807 an expedition was
promptly and secretly equipped by Canning, with a demand for the
surrender of the Danish fleet into the hands of England, on pledge of
its return at the close of the war. On the refusal of the Danes the
demand was enforced by a bombardment of Copenhagen; and the whole Danish
fleet, with a vast mass of naval stores, was carried into British
ports. It was in the same spirit of almost reckless decision that
Canning turned to meet Napoleon's Continental System. The cry of the
British merchant fell upon willing ears. Of trade or the laws of trade
Canning was utterly ignorant; nor could he see that the interests of the
country were not necessarily the interests of a class; but he was
resolute at any cost to hinder the transfer of commerce to neutral
flags; and he saw in the crisis a means of forcing the one great neutral
power, America, to join Britain in her strife with France. In November
1807, therefore, he issued fresh Orders in Council. By these France, and
every Continental state from which the British flag was excluded, were
put in a state of blockade, and all vessels bound for their harbours
were held subject to seizure unless they had touched at a British port.
The orders were at once met by another decree of Napoleon