CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF TREATIES. 413 1797 October 17: treaty of Campo Formio, between France and Austria, the latter power yielding the Low Countries and the Ionian Islands to France; and Milan, Mantua, and Modena, to the Cisalpine republic; Venice assigned to the Emperor. 1797 December 9: congress of Radstadt commenced its labours to treat concerning a general peace with the Germanic powers. 1798 Switzerland invaded by the French. 1798 September 12; war declared against France by the Porte, and an alliance, offensive and defensive, entered into between the latter power, Russia, and Great Britain. 1798 October 3: Naples and Sardinia commence hostilities against France. 1798 December 29: a treaty of alliance and subsidies, agreed upon between Great Britain and Russia, against France. 1799 June 22: the second coalition against France, by Great Britain, the Emperors of Germany and Russia, part of the German empire, the Kings of Naples and Portugal, Turkey, and the Barbary States. Conference of Radstadt broken up. 1800 June 20: a treaty of subsidies ratified at Vienna, between Austria and England, stipulating that the war should be vigorously prosecuted against France, and that neither of the contracting powers should enter into a separate peace. 1800 December 16: a treaty of armed neutrality ratified, between Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, at Petersburgh, in order to cause their flags to be respected by the belligerent powers. 1801 February 9: peace of Luneville, between the French Republic and the Emperor of Germany, confirming the cessions made by the treaty of Campo Formio, stipulating that the Rhine, to the Dutch territories, should form the boundary of France, and recognizing the independence of the Batavian, Helvetic, Ligurian, and Cisalpine republics. 1801 March 3 war declared by Spain against Portugal. 1801 March 21: a treaty signed at Madrid between France and Spain, whereby the estates of Parma were yielded to France, who in return ceded Tuscany to the Prince of Parma, with the title of King of Etruria. 1801 March 28: a treaty of peace between France and the King of Naples, signed at Florence, by which France acquired the Isles of Elba, Piombino, and Presides. 1801 June 17: a treaty concluded between Great Britain and Russia at Petersburgh. 1801 July 15: the Concordat between Bonaparte and Pius VII., signed at Paris. 1801 August 8: a treaty of peace concluded between Spain and Portugal. 1801 September 29 : a treaty of peace signed at Madrid, between France and Portugal. 1801 October 1: preliminary articles of peace between France and England, signed at London by Lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto. 1801 October 8: a treaty of peace ratified at Paris between the Emperor of Russia and the French government. 1802 March 25: peace of Amiens between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Holland. 1802 June 25: definitive treaty between France and the Ottoman Porte. The Peace a precarious armistice-Demands of Bonaparte-English in France-French encroachments-The king's allusion to them in his Speech-French expedition to St. DomingoToussaint L'Ouverture-Mr. Addington's policy-Bonaparte and lord Whitworth-Trial of Peltier-Speech of Macintosh-Despard's conspiracy-Militia called out-Violence of Bonaparte towards the British ambassador-Malta-War declared-Negotiations for Mr. Pitt's return to power- Detention in France of English travellers-Great Britain roused -Preparations for invasion-Emmett's insurrection-Rapid enrolment of VolunteersBonaparte at Boulogne-Pitt at Walmer-The Volunteers reviewed-Weakness of the Addington ministry-The king's illness-Negotiations for a change of ministry-Pitt presses for an administration on a broad basis-His failure-Pitt prime minister-Conspiracy against the First Consul-Murder of the Duc d'Enghien. LET us compare the opinions of two historians on the likelihood of the duration of peace. "The treaty of Amiens had scarcely been signed, when the restless ambition and the insupportable insolence of the First Consul convinced the great body of the English people that the peace, so eagerly welcomed, was only a precarious armistice."* We turn from the view of Macaulay to that of Thiers: "The treaty of Amiens had been signed only a few months, and their joy at the peace had a little cooled amongst the English, when there remained before their eyes, as if it were a bright and troublesome light, the grandeur of France, unhappily too little disguised in the person of the First Consul. Some civilities to Mr. Fox, on his visit to Paris, did not prevent their seeing that the First Consul had the attitude of * Macaulay-"Biographies," Pitt, p. 217. 416 DEMANDS OF BONAPARTE-ENGLISH IN FRANCE. [1802, master, not only in the affairs of France, but in the affairs of Europe. His language, full of genius and ambition, offended the pride of the English; his devouring activity disturbed their repose."* What the English historian calls "insupportable insolence," the French historian describes as "language full of genius and ambition." Two months only had passed since the conclusion of peace, when M. Otto said that if paragraphs against Bonaparte continued to appear in the English papers, there would be "war to the death." The casual conversations of M. Otto soon took the form of positive demands on the part of the First Consul. They were these: To put a stop to offensive publications; to send away certain disaffected persons and transport others; to require the princes of the house of Bourbon, resident in England, to repair to Warsaw; to expel all French emigrants who may wear decora tions belonging to the ancient government of France. M. Otto was told by lord Hawkesbury that "no representation of a foreign power would ever induce government to violate those rights on which the liberties of the people of this country are founded:" that if emigrants did not break the laws they could not be molested; that the law admitted no previous restraints upon publications; and that the law alone was the only protection which the government itself possessed or required against libels. Words incomprehensible to despotism! "Alas," says M. Thiers, "the First Consul descended from his glorious height to listen to pamphleteers, and to deliver himself to transports as violent as they were unworthy of him. To outrage him, the wise, the victorious, what an unpardonable crime! Torrents of blood must flow, because pamphleteers, always assailing their own government, had insulted a stranger-a great man, without doubt, but a man, after all, and the chief of a rival nation."+ The Session of Parliament was closed on the 28th of June, and the Parliament was dissolved on the following day. Mr. Speaker Abbot, in addressing the king, said, "We now indulge the flattering hope that we may cultivate the arts of peace." The country generally did not indulge that hope. The people began "at last to apprehend that neither credit, satisfaction, nor even security, had been attained by the treaty of Amiens."§ Yet there was a feeling amongst the higher and richer classes more intense than dread of the ambition, or indignation at the arrogance, of Bonaparte: "Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it, that ye go forth to see? Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown; sick, lame, and blind, Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the new-born majesty."|| Much of the rush to France was a natural curiosity. Certainly amongst many there were higher motives in the desire to look upon a country in which ten years had produced such marvellous changes, than a slavish Thiers-"Le Consulat et l'Empire," tom. xvii. p. 845. 1860. "Le Consulat et l'Empire," tom. xvii. p. 846. 1802.] FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS-THE KING'S SPEECH. 417 admiration of irresponsible power. And yet Romilly, who was in Paris in September, had a kindred feeling with the poet who had seen France, "When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty." "Talleyrand sent me word, by Charles Fox, that I might be presented to-day (Anniversary of the Republic) to the First Consul, together with Erskine, at his levee at the Tuileries. I had been disgusted at the eagerness with which the English crowded to do homage at the new court of a usurper and a tyrant, and I made an excuse." Bonaparte had then become Consul for life, with power to choose his successor. "A more absolute despotism," says Romilly, "than that which now exists here, France never experienced." The police was never so vigilant; there was no freedom of discussion; the press was never so restrained; all English newspapers were prohibited; spies were in every society; all this machinery of despotism was carried on in the name of liberty and equality. The despotism was endured and even coveted, for it "is a sort of paradise, compared with the agitation, the perpetual alarm, the scenes of infamy and bloodshed which accompanied the pretended liberties of France." The When the Session of the new Parliament was opened on the 23rd of November, there was something ominous in the King's Speech. In his intercourse with foreign powers he had been actuated by a sincere disposition for the maintenance of peace; but it was nevertheless impossible to lose sight of that established and wise system of policy, by which the interests of other states are connected with our own. "I cannot, therefore," continued the king, "be indifferent to any material change in their relative condition and strength." During the progress of the negotiations at Amiens, Bonaparte had become the Dictator of the Cisalpine Republic. After the conclusion of the peace, the First Consul, to use the sugared words of M. Thiers, "exercising in Switzerland his beneficent dictation, sent an army to Berne." government of Mr. Addington made a mild remonstrance, which was answered by Bonaparte asserting that the king of England "had no right to complain of the conduct, or to interfere with the proceedings, of France, on any point which did not form a part of the stipulations of the treaty of Amiens." In September, Piedmont was formally annexed to the French territory. The First Consul had stipulated with the Batavian Republic, that he would withdraw the French auxiliary troops on the conclusion of the Definitive Treaty. At the end of October the British minister at the Hague reported that 11,000 French soldiers were halted on the Dutch frontiers, and that their pay and maintenance was demanded from the Batavian government. It was time that the recommendation in the king's speech should be attended to-that the means of security for preserving peace should be adopted. These means were represented by a vote for 129,000 land forces, and 50,000 seamen and marines. The necessity for an additional military establishment was supported by the statement that France had a total regular force of 427,000 men, and altogether had at command 929,000 men. The vote for Romilly-"Diary," October, 1802. + Declaration of the British Government, 18th May, 1803. |