tember contained provisions of a like kind. Frederick William III. of
Prussia, seeing that Austria was at its last gasp, was anxious to please
him, for he hoped to gain some advantage from him in Germany, and
specially coveted the possession of Hanover. He complained that a
Prussian ship, laden with timber and bound for Amsterdam, had been
seized by a British cruiser and taken into Cuxhaven, a port belonging to
the state of Hamburg, and he ordered his troops to occupy Cuxhaven, a
measure which threatened George's electoral dominions. That would not in
itself have concerned England, but Cuxhaven was at the mouth of the
Elbe, the principal route by which British commerce was carried on with
central Europe. In the existing state of affairs it was not advisable to
give the Prussian king a cause of grievance. The government, therefore,
directed the restoration of the ship in the hope of pacifying him, but
he nevertheless persisted in the occupation of the port. On December 16
the maritime confederacy was signed by Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, and
on the 18th by Prussia.

[Sidenote: _ENGLAND TO BE HUMBLED._]

In January, 1801, Paul sent an ambassador to Paris to arrange a treaty
of alliance. Bonaparte's hopes seemed likely to be more than fulfilled.
An attempt made on his life on December 24, which many Frenchmen
absurdly believed to have been abetted by the English government, gave
him the opportunity of crushing his domestic foes. England, the object
of his passionate hatred, was bereft of her Austrian ally; he was
pressing Spain to invade Portugal unless she would close her ports
against English ships; the northern powers were striking at England's
maritime lordship; her navy would be deprived of stores, and her people
of foreign wheat. An alliance with Russia would enable France to become
dominant in central Europe, to overthrow the British supremacy in the
Mediterranean, and to preserve her hold on Egypt. Soon every state would
shut its ports against British ships, and England's sea-power would be
overthrown by the power of France on land. Paul held out yet greater
hopes; he would undertake a joint invasion of India and drive the
British from the east. Though his wild schemes did not meet with
Bonaparte's approval, Paul set an army in motion for the conquest of
India. Yet neither the government nor the people of England was dismayed
by the isolation of their country nor the number of their foes. Nor had
they cause. Bona