far back as February, 1806, Napoleon had lent a ready ear to the
plans which Godoy, the all-powerful Minister at Madrid, had proposed
for the partition of Portugal; and, in the month of July following,
Talleyrand held out to our plenipotentiary at Paris the threat that,
unless England speedily made peace with France, Napoleon would annex
Switzerland--"but still less can we alter, for any other
consideration, our intention of invading Portugal. The army destined
for that purpose is already assembling at Bayonne." A year's respite
was gained for the House of Braganza by the campaigns of Jena and
Friedland. But now, with the tenacity of his nature, the Emperor
returned to the plan, actually tried in 1801 and prepared for in 1806,
of crushing our faithful ally in order to compel us to make peace. On
this occasion he counted on certain success, as may be seen by the
following extract from the despatch of the Portuguese ambassador at
Paris to his Government:

"On Sunday afternoon [August 2nd] there was a diplomatic Levee.
The Emperor came up to me as I stood in the circle, and in a low
voice said: 'Have you written to your Court? Have you despatched a
courier with my final determination?'--I replied in the
affirmative.--'Very well,' said the Emperor, 'then by this time
your Court knows that she must break with England before the 1st
of September. It is the only way to accelerate peace.'--As the
place did not permit discussion on my part, I answered: 'I should
think, Sire, that England must now be sincerely anxious to make
peace.'--'Oh,' replied the Emperor, 'we are very certain of that:
however, in all cases, you must break either with England or
France before the 1st of September.'--He then turned about and
addressed himself to the Danish Minister, as far as I could judge
to the same purport."[169]

Equally confident is Napoleon's tone in the lately published letter of
September 7th:

"As soon as I received news of the English expedition against
Copenhagen,[170] I caused Portugal to be informed that all her
ports must be closed to England, and I massed an army of 40,000
men at Bayonne to join the Spaniards in enforcing this action, if
necessary. But a letter I have just received from the Prince
Regent [of Portugal] leads me to presume that this last measure
will not be necessary, that the Portuguese ports will be closed to
the English