brought back to England, though at the cost of a bombardment of
the Danish capital. The French Emperor's eye was fastened on the
fleet of Portugal as another auxiliary, and when the Regent
refused to accede to his request, Napoleon dispatched Marshal
Junot to drive him from his kingdom and hold its ports and
fortresses against England.

England now stood almost alone, and Napoleon hoped to complete
her ruinous isolation by destroying her trade with Europe. His
"Continental System," which was to make the continent
commercially independent of Great Britain, was foreshadowed in
his Berlin Decrees. Fresh decrees were now met by fresh Orders in
Council, "shutting out from the continent all vessels which had
not touched at a British port." It was Canning whose genius
caught at the strategic possibilities of a war in the peninsula
(Spain-Portugal) as a practical opening on the French flank for a
final blow at the Napoleonic power. Napoleon's interference in
the government of Spain by dethroning its monarchs and giving the
crown to his brother Joseph had exasperated that proud nation and
provoked the spirited people to arm against the intruder. The
Portuguese were scarcely less bitter against the French
conqueror. Canning perceived the possibility of gaining a
foothold in these kingdoms, which were easily accessible by sea,
and by utilizing the spirit and resources of the aroused nations
to consolidate a power there which would threaten France itself,
whose borders the great soldier had thus far kept inviolate. How
ably Sir Arthur Wellesley fulfilled Mr. Canning's desire the life
of Wellington has already shown.

The Peninsular Campaign was scarcely under way when Canning and