Part 54

Although the preliminary treaty had been signed, it cost some time and much anxious negotiation before its final ratification in the March of the following year. These negotiations were held at Amiens, on the part of England by Lord Cornwallis, on that of France by Joseph Bonaparte, assisted by Talleyrand. At the opening of Parliament, on the 29th of October 1801, the minister had been able to mention in the King's speech with satisfaction both the preliminary treaty with France and the arrangements with the Northern powers which put an end to the threatened Armed Neutrality. By the bulk of the people the return of peace had been hailed with extreme delight. General Lauriston, who had brought the authority for signing the preliminaries, had been received with a public ovation, the populace had dragged his carriage through the streets, and London and other towns had been illuminated. In completing these preliminaries Addington and his friends had acted with the entire approbation of Pitt, who, at heart cordially disliking war, had brought himself to believe that Bonaparte, having now obtained the supreme power in France, would probably be satisfied; at the same time, as he himself pointed out, Jacobinism had been already checked in England, and the lesson taught to the world that the fruit of Jacobin principles was terrorism and anarchy, and its end a military despotism. Seeing the isolated position which England now occupied, and believing the causes for further war removed, Pitt accepted the terms of the peace, although the concessions on the part of England, especially the surrender of the Cape of Good Hope, were no doubt great. With the support then of Pitt and of the general feeling of the country, the ministry found in Parliament large majorities in favour of their peace. But Pitt's views were by no means shared by a considerable number of his late colleagues. Grenville, Windham, and Spencer clung tenaciously to their old view that Bonaparte's career was but beginning, that his policy would continue to be one of aggression, that his present offers of peace were delusive, and that for the honour of England and the safety of Europe the war should be continued.

[Sidenote: Napoleon appropriates Holland, Switzerland, and Italy.]

Before the preliminaries were ratified abundant proofs were given that they were right and that Pitt was wrong. Taking advantage of the exhausted condition of the Continent, of the eager desire of Addington to secure peace, and of the position of England, which was not only without allies, but unable while negotiations were still pending to make objections upon the score of treaty rights, Bonaparte hastened to complete his ambitious projects--by the appropriation of those smaller States which had already fallen into a state of dependence upon France (the Republics of Holland, Switzerland, and the North of Italy, now called the Cisalpine Republic), and by the re-establishment of the French colonial power by means of a great expedition to reconquer St. Domingo. His method of proceeding with regard to the Republics was craftily arranged so as to give to the assumption of French supremacy the appearance of voluntary action on the part of the people themselves. For Holland a constitution was drawn up in France of a strongly republican character, which, when rejected by the National Assemblies of Holland, was put to the vote of the whole body of the people, and being accepted by a very small minority, while the rest abstained from voting, was declared established by the national will (Oct. 17, 1801). In Switzerland, not yet ripe for annexation, instructions were given to the French minister to thwart all efforts at the formation of a stable constitution, and to keep things so unsettled that an appeal to France was certain sooner or later to be made, while French troops garrisoned the Republic ostensibly for the purpose of keeping order. Less delicacy was used with regard to Italy. The chief rulers of the Cisalpine Republic were summoned to Lyons, a constitution of Bonaparte's creation given them, and they were ordered to elect as their President Bonaparte himself (Jan. 1802). The expedition to St. Domingo was made still further to advance Napoleon's projects; for thither was sent, to be destroyed by the climate, almost the whole of the army of the Rhine, the only part of the military establishment of France not wholly devoted to him.

[Sidenote: Negotiations at Amiens.]

[Sidenote: Peace concluded. March 27, 1802.]

Meanwhile the projects for the ultimate annexation of Piedmont and Genoa were carried on, and distinct orders sent to the negotiators at Amiens to withdraw entirely from discussion the affairs of Holland, Switzerland, and the Italian Republics, in other words, to treat with England as if the affairs of Europe were entirely beyond her cognizance. The withdrawal of these points of discussion left little to be settled except minute points with regard to fisheries and prisoners, for Bonaparte also entirely refused to entertain the idea of a commercial treaty with England. The only point of interest left was Malta. According to the preliminaries this island was to be evacuated and to be restored to the Knights under the guarantee of Russia. But a new sovereign was now upon the Russian throne less likely to be under the immediate influence of France. Bonaparte therefore wished to change the terms, to destroy the fortifications of the island, thus rendering it useless in a military point of view, and to place it under the guardianship of the King of Naples; in other words, to render it at once worthless to the English and an easy prey to the French whenever they should desire to reoccupy it. In their eagerness for peace the English ministry consented to be blind to Bonaparte's aggressions, though firm upon the point of Malta, and though they refused to acknowledge the existence of the newly-organized republics. No doubt, what the English meant was that, for the sake of peace, they would bear what Bonaparte had already done, but that any further step would produce war. Bonaparte, on the other hand, argued that the refusal to acknowledge these republics was in fact a resignation on the part of England of the right of interference with them; henceforward that country could not complain although they were incorporated with France. There were thus a number of outstanding questions left unsettled at the peace, which was finally completed on the 27th of March 1802.

[Sidenote: Napoleon mistakes the temper of England.]

[Sidenote: Continues his aggressions.]

But it had begun to be plain to all thinking men that it could be but a short truce; and indeed Napoleon was already writing that "a renewal of war was necessary for his existence, as the memory of old victories was likely speedily to pass away." In fact, he totally mistook the temper of England. Addington's ministry, no doubt, was pledged to peace, and was anxious at all hazards to make it durable. The people of England were indeed weary of the war and eagerly desirous for peace; but they had lost none of their independence and pride, and anything which should prove either that their honour was attacked, their commercial activity trammelled, or their independence of action limited, would easily produce a reaction, and bring them back to their warlike temper. Bonaparte, while intending to renew the war sooner or later, meant to keep the occasion in his own hands, but, trusting to the weakness of Addington, he pursued a line of conduct exactly fitted to prove to England the absolute necessity for an immediate renewal of hostilities, and which touched the sensitive nation in its most tender points. He never ceased from his course of aggression, thus treating the remonstrances of England as if they were completely worthless and beside the point. In August he annexed the island of Elba, in September the whole of Piedmont, in October Parma and Placentia; and at length, taking advantage of the carefully fostered disorders in Switzerland, he suddenly occupied that most important military point with an army of 30,000 men under Marshal Ney, and took to himself the title of Mediator of the Swiss Republic. It has been mentioned that he refused a commercial treaty with England at the Peace of Amiens; this under the plea of a desire for the protection of native commerce he undoubtedly had a right to do; but he now obliged all the countries dependent on him to adopt a similar course, to exclude English productions, and thus closed half Europe to English trade.

[Sidenote: Demands the repression of the English press,]

[Sidenote: and the expulsion of the emigrants from England.]

Not content with this conduct abroad, he took upon himself to interfere with the internal affairs of England. His course of policy was such as to be wholly incompatible with a free press; his underhand machinations were certain to be exposed where such a press existed. On the Continent he had succeeded in enforcing silence; in England alone an unfettered press was able to direct its assaults both on his policy and his character. No doubt some of the attacks were sharp enough; especially had an emigrant, one Jean Peltier, established a French paper in London called _L'Ambigu_, which was full of strong invective against the First Consul. Again, the emigrants had not ceased from forming conspiracies against the French Government, conspiracies which Bonaparte delighted to exaggerate, to mingle with doubtful charges of assassination, and to connect (wholly without grounds) with the English ministry. Those emigrants were enjoying the hospitality of England: Otto, the French agent in London, was therefore instructed to bring the matter to the notice of Lord Hawkesbury, and to demand the suppression of the obnoxious papers, and the dismissal of the emigrants from England. Hawkesbury's answers were at first of a peaceful and conciliatory character. He replied that he would consult the law officers on the matter of the press, and would go so far in the matter of the emigrants as to withdraw them from the isle of Guernsey. This answer was followed by still more peremptory demands, requiring effective measures of repression with regard to the press, the withdrawal of the emigrants from Jersey, the removal from England of the Bourbon princes, and the expulsion of all emigrants wearing the orders or distinctions of the old régime. What rendered these demands more grotesque was the fact that the _Moniteur_, the official paper of France, was constantly full of assertions of the complicity of the Government with the attempts of assassins in France, and of libels on the English Constitution; there was even an English paper, the _Argus_, published in Paris, a counterpart of the _Ambigu_ of Peltier. To demands thus formulated no English Government could afford to give a temporizing answer, and Hawkesbury replied that the freedom of the English press was limited by English law alone, and that the exercise of hospitality could not be curtailed. At the same time, as Peltier appeared to have exceeded all legal license in his writing, an action was commenced against him, and in spite of a brilliant defence by Macintosh he was found guilty.[19]

[Sidenote: Consequent change of feeling in England.]

[Sidenote: Negotiations for Pitt's return. Nov. 1802.]

Such conduct on the part of Bonaparte was rapidly changing the feeling of England and rendering war inevitable. It became evident that, no longer to uphold an aristocratic government, but for our very existence as an independent country, we must plunge into war. As this feeling gained ground, so did the desire that when that war should come it should find England in the hands of its ablest statesmen, and not in those of an incapable man like Addington. Even from the first, as soon as it was understood that Pitt, in deference to the King's weak state of health, had consented to forego the support of the Roman Catholics, his immediate friends had desired his return to office, and had regarded as false his position as the supporter out of office of Addington's weak ministry. Already, in November 1802, Canning, the most eager of his supporters, in conjunction with Lord Malmesbury, had set on foot an address to Addington begging him to resign. This plan had been peremptorily closed by Pitt himself. Indeed, the obstacles in the way of his resumption of office were very awkward. In some sort the creator of the present ministry, and known to have had a share in most of their earlier measures, Pitt could not come forward in opposition till some flagrant instance of incapacity or some great national crisis should justify such a step. The only other hope was that modesty (which was not one of his characteristics) might induce Addington to acknowledge his incompetence, and himself advise the restoration of Pitt to the ministry. Fully aware of these obstacles, and feeling his position an anomalous one, Pitt withdrew for a time from Parliament.

[Sidenote: Napoleon examines the resources of Egypt, England, and Ireland. 1803.]

[Sidenote: His interview with Lord Whitworth. Feb. 18, 1803.]

During his absence the difficulties with France continued to increase, and the signs of Bonaparte's intention of making war sooner or later became more obvious. At length, in January 1803, was published a report of Colonel Sebastiani, who had been sent by Napoleon, nominally for commercial purposes, to examine the resources of Egypt and the East; in fact, so far from being commercial in its character, the report was devoted almost entirely to show with what ease Egypt could be again conquered by the French. It was impossible that such an official document could be issued by a power which was really friendly. At the same time Bonaparte had sent both to England and to Ireland agents who, under the same commercial pretext, were really minutely examining the resources of England and instigating Irish rebellion. Nor was the question of Malta as yet at rest. The project of obtaining a guarantee from the European powers had failed, and in face of the constant aggressions of Bonaparte, it was impossible for England to evacuate the island with the certainty that it would be immediately occupied by the French. But Bonaparte was still anxious to keep the occasion of war in his own hands, and still hoped to impose upon the feeble ministry of England. He summoned Lord Whitworth, the English ambassador, to an interview, in which he declared that he did not desire war, but that he would rather see England in possession of the Faubourg St. Antoine than of Malta, that he was ready to attempt a descent upon England if necessary, but how much better would it be for England to join with him and share his spoils and his greatness. Two things only were necessary for this,--the suppression of the press, and the removal of Georges, a Chouan leader and emigrant, from English protection. As for the counter-charges of the appropriation of Piedmont and of Switzerland, they were but trifles not worth mentioning. Almost immediately after this the _Moniteur_ declared, in its annual account of the condition of the nation, that as long as party government existed in England an army of 500,000 must be kept on foot for defence and vengeance.

[Sidenote: The militia embodied. March 11, 1803.]

[Sidenote: Failure of renewed negotiations for Pitt's return.]

[Sidenote: War declared. May 18, 1803.]

This was too much even for Addington, and on the 8th of March a message was brought down from the King to the Commons, declaring it necessary that measures of precaution should be adopted, alleging for this the great military preparations which were going on both in Holland and in France, which were in fact intended for St. Domingo, but which in the feverish state of international feeling were a just cause of uneasiness. In accordance with this message the militia were on the 11th ordered to be embodied. In spite of all that Bonaparte had done he pretended to be indignant at this step; and at a public reception at the Tuileries accosted Lord Whitworth with passionate words, accusing England of driving him into war. Then at length Addington began to yield to public feeling, and through Lord Melville opened negotiations for the return of Pitt to office. But a frank resignation and an open acknowledgment that Pitt was the better man of the two was beyond him. He stipulated that Grenville and Windham, who had throughout opposed him, should be excluded from the new arrangements. He wished Lord Chatham to assume the position of nominal Prime Minister, while he and Pitt should be equal Secretaries. Pitt was not a man to accept a position of even nominal subordination; he did not even hear Lord Melville's proposition to the end. "Upon my word," said he, "I had not the curiosity to ask what I was to be." And thus England plunged afresh into war, while all her best statesmen were still excluded from office. For the crisis came rapidly nearer. The feeling of the nation was aroused, and Addington could no longer withstand it. An ultimatum with regard to Malta was drawn up, demanding its retention for ten years, its surrender after that period to the inhabitants, and the cession to England in its stead of the island of Lampedusa. Bonaparte was somewhat taken aback by this exhibition of vigour, but as his answer to the ultimatum was not satisfactory, Lord Whitworth demanded his passports, and withdrew from Paris on the 12th of May. The French ambassador left London on the 16th, and on the 18th a declaration of war was published.

[Sidenote: Character of the war.]

[Sidenote: Napoleon arrests all the English in France.]

This war was of a distinctly different character from that which preceded it. The one had been undertaken in the interest of aristocracy and of property, in a panic of fear of the growth of the liberty of the people; now the whole nation was driven to defend itself, and, while defending itself, Europe also, from the aggressions of a gigantic and all-absorbing ambition. The outbreak of this war marks a change in the career of Napoleon. He had hitherto acted, nominally at all events, as an agent for the propagation of national liberty. He had pretended throughout to be spreading the principles of the French Revolution; he had met with much sympathy from downtrodden nations; he had found it easy to overwhelm effete and unpopular dynasties. He was now entering upon a war against the people themselves, and, though success at first attended his arms, when it became evident that it was not assistance against tyrants but subjugation to a foreign power that he brought, the efforts to oppose him became national, and before the uprising of nations he ultimately succumbed. Bonaparte's first step after war was declared corresponded exactly with this change. Crowds of Englishmen had thronged to see with their own eyes the condition of revolutionized France. All the English in France between the age of eighteen and sixty, numbering it is believed about 12,000, were suddenly by a single decree taken prisoners, and kept confined till the close of the war, thus spreading sorrow and discomfort broadcast through England. The pretext was the capture of two ships before war was declared; they were not however captured till after the ambassadors had withdrawn, nor, as has subsequently been made evident, till Bonaparte had himself ordered an embargo to be laid on the English shipping.

[Sidenote: He excites discontent in Ireland.]

Bonaparte's interference in the affairs of Ireland had also its share in rendering the war truly national. It had been hoped that the great work of the Union, following the suppression of the Rebellion of 1798, would have introduced peace and prosperity into the island. Nor at first did the hopes appear ill founded. Both Lord Hardwicke, the Lord-Lieutenant, and Lord Redesdale the Chancellor, appear to have believed in the rapid improvement both of the physical and political condition of the country. The Catholics, although disappointed of their hopes, seem to have understood the state of affairs which obliged Pitt to refrain from the further prosecution of their claims, and to have postponed all idea of present agitation.

[Sidenote: Emmett's Rebellion. 1803.]

But the miserable cultivation and the prevalence of waste lands in Ireland allowed of the existence of an extremely ignorant and prejudiced peasantry, and among them it was not difficult to excite again their old animosity to England. Bonaparte took advantage of this opening, and while the Peace of Amiens lasted many French agents seem to have been poured into Ireland, both for the purpose of inquiring minutely into the resources of the English Government there and of establishing a connection with the discontented peasantry. Many intercepted letters proved to Government the existence of these agents; their presence in Ireland was excused, like Sebastiani's mission to Egypt, by the assertion that they were merely commercial agents, following a system which had obtained in France ever since the time of Colbert. Their success was limited by the distaste of the Catholics for the French Revolution. In spite of Bonaparte's intercourse with Rome and the establishment of the Concordat with Pius VII., by which he established Roman Catholic Christianity as the religion of France, the Catholics could not forget the destructive doctrines which had attended all the former steps of the Revolution. It was therefore among the republicans only (not an influential body) and the ignorant mob that the agitation took any hold. A leader was found in Robert Emmett, the son of a Dublin physician, who with his brother had been more or less implicated in the affairs of 1798. He visited Paris early in the Peace, had personal interviews with the First Consul, and returned home ready to instigate the rebellion. The other leaders were Russell, a religious enthusiast, and Quigley, a professional agitator. About Christmas 1802 the conspirators began their operations. Arms and powder were collected at depôts in Dublin, and members of the conspiracy were enrolled. Some of these informed the police of what was going on. The explosion of the powder in one of the depôts, and the discovery of pikes there, still further warned the Government, and Emmett considered it necessary to hasten the outbreak. Saturday the 23rd of July was the day fixed for the rising. It proved to be little more than a city riot. As no soldiery had been brought into Dublin, it was for some time in the hands of the mob, who plundered and got drunk. The only important incident of the riot was the murder of Lord Kilwarden, the Chief Justice, who, returning from his country-seat with his daughter and nephew, was met in the streets by a part of the mob and brutally murdered. The arrival at the castle of his daughter, who had contrived to make her escape from the murderers, at length set the military in motion, and the mob was dispersed without much difficulty. The depôt was discovered, with the supply of arms, green uniforms, and the proclamation of the provisional government which was to have been established. Emmett sought safety by pretending to be a French officer; but the French were not liked; his flight was not favoured by the people; he was captured and hanged. The importance of the outbreak lies chiefly in the disclosure of the deepseated hostility of the Irish, and the necessity laid upon the English of establishing a series of coercive laws, which remained in force for many years, and went far to neutralize the healing effect which it was hoped the Union would have exercised.

[Sidenote: Difficulty of Addington's position.]

[Sidenote: His vigorous measures inefficiently carried out.]