nty-eight merchantmen, and two British captured
East Indiamen were taken by the conquerors. In the West Indies a
combined naval and military force, under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
and Lieutenant-General Beckwith, made the important conquest of the
island of Guadaloupe, the last colonial possession of France. Nearer
home the arms of the British were also successful. In the month of
July Murat collected a large armament on the coast of Calabria, for
the invasion of Sicily; but 900 of his troops were taken prisoners by
General Campbell, and the rest were driven for shelter to their vessels.
With similar success the island of Anholt, in the Baltic, was defended
by Captain Maurice with 380 men, against a Danish force of eight times
the number.

THE MARRIAGE OF NAPOLEON, ETC.

In Paris this year "all went merry as a marriage bell." After the treaty
of Vienna at the close of 1809, Napoleon caused it to be intimated to
Josephine that she must be supplanted by an imperial bride; and she
submitted to his will. His divorce with the faithful Josephine was soon
followed by his marriage with the daughter of the Emperor of Austria. On
the 11th of March Berthier, acting as his proxy, received, in the palace
of Schonbrunn, the hand of the Archduchess Maria Louisa, who soon
left the home of her fathers for France. The act of divorcement from
Josephine and Napoleon's marriage with the Austrian Princess received
the sanction of the senate, who in an address expressed their gratitude
for the steps he had taken, and predicted that this "child and champion
of democracy" would live to see children and grandchildren, who would
perpetuate his empire and the glory of France. Yet it was manifest, even
to Napoleon himself, that his marriage was looked upon by the nation at
large with dislike. His own clergy, in fact, were ashamed of the scene
of the celebration of the marriage at St. Cloud, deeming it neither
more nor less than an act of bigamy, while very few of the cardinals
or prelates would sanction it by their presence, As for the mass of the
people, among them there was a great party that still loathed the name
of hereditary monarchy, and that thought it monstrous that a son of
the revolution should ally himself with a branch of the "corporation
of tyrants." His marriage, in a word, was universally admitted to be a
capital error in his political career. Mignet says:--"Napoleon quitted
his position and part as a parvenu and revolut