gmertca, , ?|emp, an& JUapoleon - Vote Hemp

Alliances and Embargopower—i.e., the United States—for an alternative to dependenceon Great Britain. Count Rumiantsev, Chancellor ofRussia, asserted to John Quincy Adams in 1811 the greatattachment of his country to America and summed up thepolicy of his government by saying, "It was the interest ofRussia to encourage and strengthen and multiply commercialpowers which might be the rivals of England, to form a balanceto her overbearing power." 18In spite of the then current opinion of Rumiantsev and histsar, the most dangerously overbearing power in Europe in thefirst decade of the nineteenth century was not England butFrance. France was at the height of La Gloire, and Napoleonwas changing the map of Europe.Th e struggle between France and her allies and Englandand hers went into itsfinal world-quaking stage in 1805. Inthat year Nelson caught the combined French and Spanishfleets off the Cape of Trafalgar, and Napoleon caught thearmies of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz. Each man, a masterof warfare in his medium, routed his opponents. England,triumphant at sea, and France, triumphant on land, glared ateach other across the most insurmountable barrier that couldhave separated them—the insubstantial line of surf that curledon the beaches of Europe.Britain and France, each seeking a way to deal the other amortal blow in a situation in which they really could not cometo grips, turned to economic warfare. Economic warfare hadbeen constantly utilized since 1793, but never in such grimearnestness as after 1805. Since the exports and imports of eachof these super-powers were often carried in neutral bottoms, itwas inevitable that the neutrals of the world would be caught99