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INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 493only a mask, under which he might prepare for anotherobject.Its effect "upon England, however, was to drive thewhole nation to arms. The military spiritwas not onlyevery where aroused, but it breathed a new power; adifferent kind of enthusiasm was naturally kindled in thebreasts of troops who were to fight for their country, theirfamilies, and their homes, to that felt by men enlisted forforeign war and conquest.The labours of Pitt were not in vain.He succeeded inthe summer of 1805, in bringing about a third confederacyagainst France. The transfer of the left bank of the Rhineto that country the distribution of all the; ecclesiasticalstates, on the German side, among those whom she wishedto favour ;the powerful movements upon Switzerland, andabove all, upon Italy, rendered it no longer problematical,that with this predominating power of France and the useshe made of it, an independent European state-system couldnot possiblyexist. To the aid of these sound political con-,siderations, there came about this time an event, no lesspowerful, which roused the moral indignation of nearly allEurope the arrest and murder of the Duke d'Enghien.This was not only, as it has generally been admitted, acrime, but unquestionably a great political error, whichcannot find an apology in the design of renewing a continental war, as that might have been effected without it.From this moment the sullen spirit of Prussia began tomuch increased bywork, and,the contumelious dismissaland treatment of her ambassador, communicated itself to thecabinets of Austria, Prussia, and, above all, to Sweden. Themore keen the sense of justicethat prevailed in the dispositions of those princes, the more deeply must they have feltthe wound thus givenit ;and however undefined the plansof these sovereigns, a party from this time soon becameformed, not only of men, but even among women of thefirst rank, in the courts of Vienna and Berlin, as well as ofPetersburg, which preferreda renewal of the war to a dishonourable peace. Thus when Pitt re-entered the ministryhe found the national feeling and cabinets of the continentHow much was done by Britishfavourable to his designs.ambassadors to win over completely, posterity perhaps