Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/375

Roloff : Die Koloiiialpolitik Napoleons 365 ports his statements bysutificient proof, and he shows satisfactorily how the central stream of European history was now and then affected by Na- |)oleon's lavish expenditure of men and money at the ends of the earth. When the Directory fell, the French colonial empire, once so splendid, was no more. French rule had disappeared from India, Senegal and most of the Antilles ; San Domingo was wrecked and virtually independ- ent ; mismanagement and peculation had almost ruined Guadeloupe, Reunion and the He de France ; there was but one remaining possession, CUiyana, where French authority was paramount. The French merchant marine had disappeared from the seas and the traffic of what were still called French colonies was conducted by traders from the United States. Napoleon's Egyptian e.xpedition, his Mediterranean policy in general, so ably sketched by Albert Vandal, the Herculean efforts he put forth to rescue San Domingo and the course of events in the Antilles : all these our author examines in the light of Napoleon's efforts to restore French control where but lately it had been complete. Further, he holds up the acquisition of Louisiana, and the reorganization of the colonies between the negotiation and breach of the treaty of Amiens as conclusive evidence that Napoleon had formed and was carefully working out a comprehen- sive plan. Incidentally a matter of vital historical importance is dis- cussed, namely Napoleon's confidence in the solidity of his peace, as shown by his exertions for the colonies without reference to upbuilding a sea-power adequate for their defence, or a system of coast and harbor fortifications which would make them impregnable. This certainly does not point to a secret determination on Napoleon's part to bring on the wars which so long devastated western and central Europe. Further we have a somewhat inadequate account of the social and economic conditions of the Antilles and of Decaen's interesting expedi- tion to India. Between .^usterlitz and Erfurt it became clear that in the complications of affairs in Europe France could not hope either for mas- tery at sea or for a marine peace. But even then Napoleon's activity was prodigious. He covered a new plan of colonial policy comprehending the Balkan peninsula, the shores of the Mediterranean, and the annexa- tion of Spain with all the Spanish colonies to his system. It is a serious fault that the volume under review does not sufficiently dis- cuss this last point nor recount the French efforts in Argentina. We are utterly at variance with the author in the scant note he gives on page 242. The effect of Trafalgar was to emphasize a fact already patent, the weak- ness of the French navy. But thereafter not even the slightest diminu- tion of effort for colonial expansion is noticeable. What man could do was done. Even when England seized the last remnants of F"rench colonial empire in the east. Reunion and the He de France, Napoleon was undismayed. Spain was intractable but Holland was not : when the latter country became a satellite kingdom of the French empire her splendid colonies likewise entered the French system. Fairly assured of continental peace Napoleon at once turned his attention to his colonies old and new. In May, 181 1, an expedition of two frigates and a cor-