General Surveys

These are not very numerous and are of less value than might be expected. The first of a serious tendency appears to be Kiesselbach's Die Continentalsperre in ihrer ökonomischpolitischen Bedeutung (Stuttgart & Tübingen, 1850). It is very far from impartial and is sadly confused on the economic side; but a large number of what have been taken to be recent discoveries will be found there, especially in regard to the matters treated in part I, chapter IV, of the present work. The book is throughout dominated by the ideas of Friedrich List and advocates the necessity of combating England in order to free the Continent from the bondage of the 'agricultural state'. I know only by name the next work, by Sautijn Kluit, Geschiedenis van het Continentaal stelsel (Amsterdam, 1865). An Italian work by Baron Lumbroso, Napoleone I e l'Inghilterra: Saggio sulle origini del blocco continentale e sulle sue conseguenze economiche (Rome, 1897), should properly come next in chronological order. It is a somewhat undigested collection of abstracts and information gathered from different sources. Quite recently two general surveys on a fairly large scale have been attempted. One of them is a German-Austrian work by Peez and Dehn, Englands Vorherrschaft, vol. I, Aus der Zeit der Kontinentalsperre (Leipzig, 1912), an uncritical and biased work, mainly directed against England, which, however, does not lack information of value and may lead a critical reader to more authentic accounts. Of quite another kind is Tarle's Kontinental'naja blokada (Moscow, 1913), which is based on exhaustive studies, especially in the French archives, and contains a great mass of material; but the first part of it—and the only one that has so far appeared—treats of nothing but French commerce and industry. Owing to the language in which it is written I have been able to use the text only to a very limited extent, but the notes and appendices are accessible to everybody and contain an abundance of valuable information. Last in time probably comes the work of Dr. Frank E. Melvin, Napoleon's Navigation System (New York, 1919); but it had not reached me at the time of writing. There is yet another work, however, which, though dominated by a somewhat antiquated conception of history, as well as by a very obvious pro-British and anti-French bias, may probably be regarded as containing the best survey that has so far appeared of the ideas of the Continental System and their application, namely, the last three chapters of Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812, vol. II (London, 1893). Despite its weaknesses, this work is still well worth reading. Its general thesis has several times been discussed in the preceding pages.

Of general historical surveys of the time, two should be named in this connexion, namely, Sorel, L'Europe et la révolution française, vols. I-VIII (Paris, 1885-1904), which has been sufficiently characterized in the preceding pages; and Thiers, Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire, the twelfth part of which (Paris, 1855) contains bk. XXXVIII, entitled Blocus continental, which despite a highly uncritical admiration of Napoleon—particularly surprising with regard to the Trianon policy—is based upon materials which still give value to an unusually absorbing account.

A contemporary source of great value in regard to commercial conditions, especially in the north of Europe, is Oddy, European Commerce, showing New and Secure Channels of Trade with the Continent of Europe (London, 1805), published little more than a year before the Berlin decree. The full and greatly needed particulars of the commerce and economic character of the northern countries, particularly Russia, are supplemented by a lengthy section on Great Britain, which is, however, more in the nature of an economic pamphlet, and besides, distinctly inferior to the rest.