Toussaint entered the room with two letters open in his hand: "There, general," said the chief," read these before we talk together; the one is a letter just received from Roume, and the other my answer. I would not come to you, till I had written my answer to him; that you may see how safe you are with me, and how incapable I am of baseness." General Maitland read the letters, and found the one an artful attempt to excite Toussaint to seize his guest, as an act of duty

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to the republic; the other, a noble and indignant BOOK V. refusal. What," said Toussaint," have I not passed my word to the British general? How CHAP. VIII. then can you suppose that I will cover myself with dishonor, by breaking it? His reliance on my good faith leads him to put himself in my power, and I should be for ever infamous, were I to act as you advise. I am faithfully devoted to the republic, but will not serve it at the expence of my conscience and my honor."

WHILE every shore re-echoed with the thunder of hostile squadrons, and opposing fleets and armies alternately threatened the coasts of Britain and France with insult and invasion, an active intercourse had taken place between the two governn ents. Flags of truce and of defiance were actually displayed at the same time and in the same strait; so that while Boulogne and Dunkirk were bombarded or blockaded by inimical fleets, the ports of Dover and Calais were frequently visited by the packet-boats, and the messengers of the courts of St. James's and the Thuilleries. Although it was well known, that discussions relative to peace had taken place between the two governments, the public opinion augured ill of the success of the negociation. Almost three weeks elapsed before an answer was returned by the French government to Lord Hawkesbury's letter to M. Otto, dated June 25; and it noticed the offers of the court of London, merely to express the indignation excited by them. "Can it be believed," said the minister, M. Otto," that the French people are reduced to such a sad extremity as to sign a disgraceful peace? If, after eight years of a war, which has caused so much blood to be shed, after so many assurances of moderation, so many reciprocal protestations, the French people see themselves obliged to continue the war, is it to be doubted that it will find in its constancy, its population, and its strength, the means of repairing the losses which its allies and itself have only in part restrained; occupied by treasons, by the consequences of the revolution, and the efforts of continental nations?"

The reply of Lord Hawkesbury, dated July 20, after expressing the surprise which he felt at the rejection of proposals so equitable; concluded

by demanding, "that the French government would distinctly state to what part of the propositions of his majesty its objections applied; and that it would communicate, with the same frankness which had marked the conduct of his majesty, the conditions which, after a general consideration of circumstances, it might judge proper, to conduct the negotiations to a prompt and happy conclusion."

M. Otto, without delay, made a rejoinder, couched in language extremely cold, and approaching to contempt. He declared, "that the French government was forgetful of nothing that might lead to a general peace, because it was at the same time the interest of humanity and of the allies. It was for the King of England to calculate, if it was equally for the interest of his politics, his commerce, and his nation." M. Otto then stated, that England should keep Ceylon; adding, in explicit terms, " that Egypt should be restored to the Porte; that Minorca should be given back to Spain; that Malta should be restored to the order; that the Cape of Good Hope and the other conquests of England should be restored to the allies: as to Martinico in particular, France would never renounce her right to it. Nothing now remains," added the French minister, in a tone somewhat haughty," for the British cabinet, but to manifest the part which it will take; and if these conditions cannot satisfy it, it will be proved in the face of the world that the first consul has neglected nothing, and that he has evinced his disposition to make every kind of sacrifice, to re-establish peace, and to spare to humanity the tears and blood which will be the inevitable consequences of a new campaign."

Lord Hawkesbury's answer to the above note was delayed till the 5th of August." His ma

BOOK V. jesty," the minister said, "had every right to expect that the unreserved and moderate proCHAP. IX. positions to which he was disposed to accede, for the re-establishment of peace, would have been 1801. favorably received by the French govern ment, or, at least, that in the plan of pacification which was offered, there would have been no essential difference. His majesty was convinced that no reasonable objection would be made by the French government to the substance of the conditions which he had proposed: he had therefore a right to expect, that every proposition that might spring from it should be conformable to those principles which had been acknowledged, as those were which appeared in his last communication.---The andersigned flattered himself that the French government would be guided by the same princi-· ples, and that the success of the negotiation would not be frustrated by a demand, on its part, of restitutions which the relative situations of the belligerent powers would not allow, and which its own example, in regard to its conquests, did not give it any right to expect, and which his majesty did not consider as according with those principles on which alone an honorable and permanent peace could be concluded. In this view his majesty was disposed to give a new proof of his moderation and sentiments; and he did not make any difficulty in declaring, that, if the French government would admit of a reasonable arrangement relative to the East Indies, in conformity to the principle which had been acknowledged as the true basis of the negotiations, his majesty was ready to enter into further explanations relative to the island of Malta, and desired seriously to concert the means to form an arrangement which would render it independent both of Great Britain and France."

After this great concession on the part of England, the discussions were resumed, and tended rapidly towards a favorable conclusion. M. Otto informed Lord Hawkesbury, by a note dated 24th Thermidor, (August 11,) that he did not delay a moment to communicate to his government that which he had received of the 5th of August. "It was," said that dexterous negotiator, "with the sincerest satisfaction that the first consul perceived, in the last communication of the British government, that the negotiation began on its part to assume a character calculated to inspire confidence, and to afford the prospect of a termination to those evils which are the inevitable consequences of a war of so long duration. His Britannic majesty having consented that the island of Malta and its dependencies should be placed in such a position as to belong neither to France nor to England, the sole obstacle was removed which the arrangements respecting the Mediterranean still continued to offer. And as to America-his majesty having declared that

he was not influenced by any view of ambition and aggrandisement---he thought proper to remark, that the ancient possessions of his majesty in that quarter have their central point in Jamaica, an extensive and opulent colony, strong from its position, but impregnable by the accumulated works which render it superior to all attack; consequently the antient possessions of his majesty in America did not require to be augmented, in order to their consolidation or to assure their means of defence. Nevertheless, the French government would not put the peace of the world in balance with the possession of an island but of secondary consequence to France and its allies, and which had been conquered by the arms of his Britannic majesty."

The cession of Trinidad being thus virtually secured to England as a compensation for the acquisition of Olivenza by Spain, nothing of magnitude, long to impede the conclusion of the preliminary treaty, seemed to remain. Another effort was however made, in these circumstances, by Lord Hawkesbury, to retain the island of Martinico, or at least to obtain something, though of inferior value, by way of exchange. In a note, addressed August 14, therefore, to M. Otto, the English minister declared, "that, if the possession of Martinico by his majesty be considered by the French government as an insurmountable obstacle to the return of peace, his majesty might be induced to renounce his just pretension in this respect, on condition that the French government would consent to the following alternative: In the 1st place, That his majesty might keep, in the West Indies, the islands of Trinidad and Tobago; and, in this case, Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice, should be free ports. 2dly, That his majesty should retain possession of St. Lucia, Tobago, Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice.”

This note occasioned some discussion; and France being desirous to spare his Catholic majesty the mortification of ceding the island of Trinidad, in which case Portugal might doubtless have preserved the district of Olivenza, the first consul was induced---" contrary to the immoveable basis which had been so long established in France, that the peace ought not to cost any per sonal sacrifice to the republic"---to offer Tobago and Curaçao in lieu of Trinidad; for, as to the cession of Martinico, the French government would not deign to hearken even for a moment to the mention of a proposition so degrading. But the English government refused to depart from its demand of Trinidad.

On the 7th of September a long conference took place between the two ministers, in which the substance of the preliminary articles was finally arranged. The most remarkable difference which arose on this occasion related to the article

stipulating the integrity of the kingdom of Portugal. For Lord Hawkesbury proposing to substitute, for the word kingdom, the words "territory and possessions of her most Faithful majesty," citizen Otto refused to consent to the alteration, as it might weaken the arrangements made at Badajoz respecting the limits of Guiana.--Agreeably to the views of the English cabinet, Lord Hawkesbury still continued to exert some efforts to gain the island of Tobago from France, in addition to Trinidad, as well as to prevail that Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice should be declared free ports---concessions which the utmost firmness, combined with the greatest address, could alone hope to obtain. But, by their wavering conduct, the English ministry incurred the mortification of a peremptory, not to say imperious, declaration, on the part of the French government, as communicated from M. Talleyrand to M. Otto, 24th Fructidor (September 11)," that, if the propositions in question were sustained, they would destroy all the dispositions announced on the part of the English government, and which they had given room to hope for, and to have seen the salutary work of peace immediately terminated. For, in fine." said this minister, "it is not when it has ceded all that is compatible with its honor that a government can suffer new sacrifices to be torn from it; and the first consul, treating in the name of the French people, will never subscribe to conditions in which the honor of the nation is compromised. It is prescribed to you, citizen, to give a formal assurance of it." M. Otto was also charged to add verbally to this declaration, "that the first consul having gone as far as honor would permit him, there was no room to hope that he would make one step more.

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In the reply, September 22d, to this ultimatum on the part of France, Lord Hawkesbury consented that the limits of French Guiana should be extended to the river Ariwari, provided that the integrity of all the states of her most Faithful majesty in Europe be maintained. He also renounced the pretensions of his Britannic majesty respecting the settlements of Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice: but, persisting in the indulgence of a hope as to the third point of difference, this nobleman added, "From the disposition that his majesty has shown to get rid of every other difficulty, he cannot suppose that the French government will raise a new obstacle on the possession of the island of Tobago. It is an ancient property of his crown; the people are almost entirely English colonists; and it is not of any value or interest to France."

This attempt being rejected by the French government, the preliminary articles of peace, fifteen in number, were at length signed, on the

evening of the 1st of October (1801), by the two BOOK V. ministers plenipotentiary.

1801.

Conformably to the tenor of these articles, his CHAP. IX. Britannic majesty agreed to restore to the French republic and her allies all the possessions and colonies conquered by the British arms during the war---the island of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon excepted. "The port of the Cape of Good Hope shall be open to the commerce and navigation of the two contracting parties, who shall enjoy therein the same advantages. The island of Malta, with its dependencies, shall be evacuated by the troops of his Britannic majesty, and restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. For the purpose of rendering this island completely independent of either of the two contracting parties, it shall be placed under the guarantee and protection of a third power, to be agreed upon in the definitive treaty. Egypt shall be restored to the sublime Porte, whose territories and possessions shall be preserved entire, such as they existed previously to the present The territories and possessions of her most Faithful majesty shall likewise be preserved entire. The French forces shall evacuate the kingdom of Naples and the Roman territory. The English forces shall, in like manner, evacuate Porto Ferrajo, and generally all the ports and islands which they may occupy in the Mediterranean, or in the Adriatic. The republic of the Seven Islands shall be acknowledged by the French republic. The fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland, and in the Gulph of St. Laurence, shall be restored to the same footing on which they were before the present war. And, finally, plenipotentiaries shall be named on each side, who shall repair to Amiens for the purpose of concluding a definitive treaty of peace in concert with the allies of the contracting parties."

war.

Fortunately for ministers, the desire of peace was so great, that few persons were inclined very severely to scrutinize the articles of this pre liminary treaty. The intelligence that peace was concluded, diffused through the nation the most sincere and cordial satisfaction. The publie were well aware that France was made great by the war, and not by the peace; respecting the specific conditions of which they displayed almost a frigid indifference. Even judges of a far superior class, knowing the difficulties with which ministers had to contend, confiding in their good intentions, and weary of a senseless contest, seemed willing to view the errors and omissions of this treaty with extreme indulgence. It was thought, indeed, an extraordinary procedure, virtually to transfer the possession of Porto Ferrajo to France, without securing either Malta or Minorca to England. It was believed that abler negotiators might at least have obtained the res

1801.

BOOK V. titution of the island of Tobago, which England was under the necessity, in very different cirCHAP. IX. cumstances, of ceding to France by the treaty of 1783. But, above all, it excited astonishment, not altogether unmixed with indignation, that no regard whatever was paid, in this preliminary treaty, to the interests of the antient and unfortunate ally of England, the King of Sardinia; the integrity of whose dominions had been, at the cominencement of the war, guaranteed by Great Britain, who had even engaged, by a positive convention with that power, not to conclude any peace with France till Savoy was restored. This omission, however, they hoped might be rectified by some provision of the definitive treaty. On the 12th of October the ratification of the first consul was brought to London by Colonel Lauriston, one of his aides-de-camp, who was welcomed with loud and universal acclamations; and the event was celebrated in both countries by every public demonstration of joy. The Count D'Artois, then anxiously waiting in London the issue of the negotiation, and other emigrants of distinction, acknowledging this treaty as the utter extinction of their hopes, and dreading the arrival of a French ambassador, retired precipitately to their former asylum in the city of Edinburgh.

The second session of the Imperial parliament was opened on the 29th of October, 1801, by the king in person, who in his speech announced the favorable conclusion of the negotiation begun during the last session of parliament. He declared his satisfaction that the difference with the northern powers had been adjusted by a convention with the Emperor of Russia, to which the kings of Denmark and Sweden had expressed their readiness to accede. "The essential rights," said his majesty, "for which we contended, are thereby secured; and provision is made that the exercise of them shall be attended with as little molestation as possible to the subjects of the contracting parties." He then proceeded to state, that preliminaries of peace had also been ratified between himself and the French republic; and he trusted that this important arrangement, whilst it manifested the justice and moderation of his views, would also be found conducive to the substantial interests of this country, and honorable to the British character.

In the house of peers the address was moved by Lord Bolton (formerly Mr. Orde), who observed, that it was a magnificent triumph for England, to make a peace in the very midst of her conquests from the frozen seas of the north to the Pillars of Hercules, and from Africa to the remotest shores of Asia and America. His lordship contrasted, on this occasion, the conduct of Great Britain with that of Germany, which he styled "disunited, parricidal, and treacherous."

Our allies, he said, had in an evil hour chosers to desert us, and we had been left to fight the battle for ourselves; but the struggle was glorious, and the termination happy. At the period when the peace was made, it was evident that the integrity of Europe could not be preserved: had this been possible, it would have been effected by the power of Great Britain.

The Duke of Bedford, in a speech which contained much censure of the late, and praise of the present administration, declared his cordial concurrence in the address, which was carried without a dissentient voice.

In the house of commons Mr. Fox expressed the same sentiments of approbation respecting the peace, in which he was warmly seconded by Mr. Pitt. On the other hand, Mr. Windham, the late secretary at war, professed his entire disapprobation of the preliminaries recently signed with France, and avowed himself to be a solitary mourner in the midst of the public rejoicings upon that event. In signing the peace, he thought that his honorable friends, the present ministers, had signed the death-warrant of the country.

Mr. Sheridan adverted to the language in which Mr. Pitt had spoken of the terms of the peace as glorious and honorable-in which he could not agree. It was, in his opinion, a peace of which every one was glad, but no one proud: it was such a sort of a peace as might be expected after such a sort of a war---a war the most pernicious in which this country had ever been engaged; and the peace was, perhaps, as good as any minister could make, considering the circumstances in which the country was placed. The motion was finally carried with the same unanimity as in the upper house.

On the 3d of November the subject of the preliminaries was taken formally into consideration by the lords, and a decided opposition to the terms of the peace expressed by the Earls Spencer, Caernarvon, and Fitzwilliam, the Marquis of Buckingham, Lord Grenville, and the Bishop of St. Asaph. It was defended by the Lord-chancellor, the Duke of Bedford, the Earls of Moira, Westmoreland, and St. Vincent, Lords Hobart and Pelham, and the Bishop of London. On this occasion Lord Nelson avowed it to be his opinion, that Malta was, in a naval and political view, of trivial consequence, being at too great a distance from Toulon to watch the French fleet from that port. In time of peace it would have required a garrison of 7000 men, and a much larger in time of war, without being of any real utility. The island of Minorca also (though in the vicinity of Toulon) his lordship declared to he of no importance as a naval station; neither did he consider the settlement of the Cape as of any great value. The war had, indeed, been

long; but he believed his majesty had seized the first opportunity of making peace, the conditions of which, he was convinced, were the most advantageous that could be procured in the existing circumstances.

The house at length divided, when there appeared for the address, as moved by ministers, 114-against it, 10.

On the same day a similar address was moved in the house of commons; when the peace was fiercely assailed by Mr. Windham, Mr. Thomas Grenville, and Lord Temple.

Mr. Pitt said, that it was his misfortune to differ from those with whom it had been his happiness to live in habits of the strictest friendship. He did not pretend to state that this peace fully answered all his wishes; but the government had obtained the best terms they could; and they were such as could not be rejected without incurring the imputation of continuing the war without any adequate necessity. He spoke highly of the value of the conquests Britain had retained---Ceylon and Trinidad: and though he would not depreciate the importance of Malta, he thought it, compared with the Indies, but a secondary consideration. It appeared to him sound policy rather to place Malta under the protection of a third power, capable of defending it, than, by retaining it ourselves, to mortify the pride and attract the jealousy of the enemy. He asserted that the resources of the country ought not to be lavished away in continuing a contest with the certainty of an enormous expense, and when it was by no means clear that we might not ultimately be obliged to sit down in a worse relative situation than the present. He would not occupy the attention of the house by going back to the origin of the war; but, peace being restored, forbearance of language and terms of respect were proper.

Mr. Fox expressed his cordial concurrence in the address. Upon the whole, and in reference to situation and circumstances, he regarded the peace as both safe and honorable. A glorious A glorious peace he could not style it; for such a peace could be the result only of a glorious war. He confessed himself not one of those who deemed Trinidad or Ceylon preferable to Malta; but, by insisting on Malta or the Cape, either the war would have been prolonged, or a loss of national dignity sustained by making the concession on our part from compulsion; for these were points which France, he was convinced, would never have yielded. He commended ministers in not having sought to delude us by the jargon of their predecessors; by senseless assertions of the French being now on the verge, and now in the gulf of bankruptcy. They justly considered France as a great and formidable foe, in treating with whom, they had wisely tempered firmness

1802.

of conduct with moderation of tone. As to the BOOK V. real object of the war, Mr. Fox confessed, that he always understood it to be the restoration of CHAP. IX. the house of Bourbon. Not that it was the sine qua non; but he contended that the late ministers had avowed it with confidence, prosecuted it with perseverance, and relinquished it with reluctance. Not having been able to obtain their end, it was now allowed that the nation must content itself with gaining its secondary purpose. But what rational person ever deemed even this secondary purpose to be attained by the acquisition of Ceylon and Trinidad? Who could have thought that ministers, who had for a series of years entertained such grand and magnificent designs, should at last content themselves with Ceylon in the east, and Trinidad in the west, wrested from Holland and Spain, by way of indemnity for the past, and security for the future, against the ambitious projects of Gallic aggrandisement in Europe?

The terms of the treaty were, on grounds analogous to those argued upon by Mr. Pitt, zealously defended by Lord Hawkesbury and the other members of administration; and the house, justly weary of the war, was easily impressed by the reasonings of ministers in favor of the peace. The chancellor of the exchequer concluded the debate with some judicious and conciliatory observations. He remarked, "that the duty of negotiation commenced when all hope of continental aid in checking the power of France was at an end. We had closed the contest on our part with honor." But he acknowledged it to depend upon the wisdom of government, whether this peace should be a blessing or a misfortune to the country. He could only say, as it had been made sincerely, it should be kept faithfully. No encouragement should be given to any person in this realm to subvert the present government of France; and a line of conduct ought to be pursued, not of suspicion and jealousy, but of prudence and circumspection: and it would be necessary, he added, "to provide means of security never before known in times of peace." The motion was then agreed to without a division.

In the course of a few months, Amiens, the city assigned for this meeting, was visited by the ministers of the respective powers, and after long and tedious delay, the definitive treaty was signed by Lord Cornwallis, Joseph Bonaparte, the chevalier D'Azare, and Mr. Schimmelpenninck, on the 25th of March, 1802.

2

The principal point gained by England in the course of the negotiation, was the concession made by France respecting the treaty concluded by that power with Portugal, at Madrid, almost at the same moment in which the preliminary articles were signed between Great Britain and