In 1809 Napoleon formally incorporated the Papal States
into the French Empire. And when in the next year Louis Bonaparte gave
clear signs of an intention to promote the best interests of his Dutch
subjects, even to his brother's detriment, by admitting British goods,
he was peremptorily deposed, and Holland, too, was incorporated into
the ever-enlarging French Empire. Henceforth, the Dutch had to bear the
burdens of conscription and of crushing taxation.
[Sidenote: Napoleon's Interference in Portugal]
Meanwhile Napoleon was devoting special attention to closing Portugal
and Spain to British goods, and political conditions in these countries
seemed to favor his designs. For over a hundred years Portugal had been
linked in close trade relations with England, ever since the Methuen
Treaty of 1703, which, in return for the admission of English woolens
into Portugal, had granted differential duties favoring the importation
of Portuguese wines into England and had thus provided a good market
for an important Portuguese product to the exclusion largely of the
French.
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