Excerpt from History of the Consulate and the Empire of France Under Napoleon, Vol. 15: Forming a Sequel to the History of the French Revolution Washington and salamanca. Page. The course of events in Europe during the Russian expedition Difficult position of England; increasing distress amongst its commercial and working classes; and general desire of its people for peace - Assassination of Mr. Percival, the chief member of the British Cabinet - Had it not been for the Russian war, this death, although purely accidental, would have occasioned a change in the English policy - Imminent danger to England of a war with the American Union - State of the questions respecting maritime right between Europe and America - Renunciation on the part ot the Americans of the system of non-intercourse, in favour of those powers which should restore to them the legitimate rights of neutrality - Taking advantage of this opportunity, Na poleon promises to revoke the decrees of Berlin and Milan, if America would on her part obtain the revocation of the Orders in Council, or, failing in this, enforce respect to her flag - America eagerly accepts this proposal - Negotiation, lasting more than a year, for the purpose of obtaining from England the revocation of the Orders in Council - England persists in maintaining her system, and refuses the American proposals on the ground that the revocation of the decrees of Berlin and Milan was fictitious Puerile disputes on the part of British diplomacy on this subject Napoleon, no longer confining himself to a simple promise of revocation, revives the decree of the 28th April, 1811, by which the decrees of Berlin and Milan were, as regarded America, abso lately and simply revoked - As England still disputes the reality of what had become an evident fact America is strongly disposed to declare war against her - Still hesitates, however, to take this step on account of some acts on the part of Napoleon which are misunderstood, and of the state of her various political parties American ceralists and Republicans - President Maddison. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.