was now at peace with all the world, Great Britain alone excepted, who, single-handled, had nobly maintained its pre-eminence among the nations. Various circumstances concurred to render a peace between England and France acceptable; the war had become very unpopular throughout Great Britain; the national debt had been grievously increased; the people were weighed down with the pressure of new and accumulated taxes; and there had been serious riots on account of the monopoly of corn, the very high price of bread, and other necessary articles of subsistence.

The Duke of Portland, in a letter, had publicly announced a scarcity, and the public were placed under restrictions with respect to the consumption of bread and flour,

Mr. Pitt had recently effected a measure which had been attempted in vain by several sovereigns, and especially by the Protector Cromwell; this was the union of the kingdom of Ireland with that of Great Britain, by which the ci-devant parliament of that kingdom, was incorporated, by a representation of the Irish nation by a select number of peers and commoners, in the British parliament, which was now denominated, "The Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland." Lord Castlereagh, son of the Earl of Londonderry, greatly distinguished himself in promoting this measure, which, at first, excited a great degree of popular discontent in Ireland.

In bringing about this union a pledge, or something nearly approximating to it, was given, relative to the emancipation of the Irish Catholics. Some disputes arising in the cabinet, Mr. Pitt resigned his situation as Chancellor of the Exchequer, alleging the non-compliance with the stipulated pledge relative to the Catholics, as the cause. But it was shrewdly, and, probably, justly, conjectured, that the real cause of Mr. Pitt's resignation was, the absolute necessity he found of terminating a war which had so greatly enhanced the power of France; and the disinclination of becoming an agent in the busiHis Majesty was graciously pleased to accept of the resignation of the premier, who had so long and, in many respects, ably guided the helm of government.

ness.

VOL. II.-21.

The right honorable Henry Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons, was appointed his successor.

Mr. Addington had been greatly distinguished for his eminent abilities in that high station he had lately filled; it was the unanimous opinion of the country, that a more able, impartial, and dignified Speaker, never filled the chair of the House of Commons. The eyes of all Europe were placed on the new minister; the French nation was peculiarly delighted at the change which had taken place, and the French papers already augured a speedy peace, in consequence of the respectable Mr. Addington, as the editors were pleased to term him, coming into office.

It was an ascertained fact, that while England was tired of the war, France was also desirous of peace. Mr. Addington was resolved to pursue a different line of political conduct to that of his predecessor; and he had not long been at the head of administration ere there were demonstrations of a pacific disposition evidenced. Negociations had been secretly carried on between the court of St. James's and the chief consul; and to the joy and astonishment of the metropolis, and the whole of the united kingdom, preliminaries of peace were publicly announced as having been signed between England, France, Holland, and Spain, on the first of October,

1801.

It was agreed, that the conferences for amicably discussing the terms of the definitive treaty should be held at Amiens: the Marquis Cornwallis was the minister deputed by his Britannic Majesty, on his part; Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of the first consul, was selected on the part of France; Don Azarra, was the plenipotentiary for Spain; and Schimmelpennink, for Holland.

When the news arrived in London of the signing of the preliminaries of peace, after so long and destructive a war, the popular feeling burst forth into an ecstatic delirium of joy; public illuminations continued for three nights successively; on the third night, although it was the commencement of the winter season, a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning took place, which lasted for many hours, and formed an awful contrast to the display of general hilarity. The Marquis Cornwallis embarked for the continent early in November, and was received with the most distinguished honors on his arrival

in France. The treaty was, at length, definitively settled on March 27, 1802.

Thus happily terminated a war of the most fierce and sanguinary nature, which, for a long series of years, had desolated Europe, and filled the habitable globe with terror and consternation. It was naturally to be expected that the circumstances which gave rise to the peace of Amiens, were such as to occasion England to make great concessions to her aspiring enemy. All the possessions and acquisitions she had made were restored, excepting the island of Trinidad, and the Dutch island of Ceylon. Great Britain endeavored to procure indemnities for her allies; endeavors were also made to obtain favorable stipulations in behalf of Portugal, and the exiled House of Orange, but to little effect; great jealousies were excited respecting the possession of Malta, and the sovereignty of the Ionian isles: the arrangement relative to these places formed the basis of the tenth article of the treaty. The newly organised Cisalpine Republic was firmly guaranteed to France, while she in return gave to Austria the possession of the Venetian states; Genoa was formed into a republic, by the title of the "Ligurian Republic;" and the possession of the Ionian isles, was adjudged to the Sublime Porte, under the name of the "Republic of the Seven Isles." In almost every quarter France received a great augmentation of territory; from Austria the acquisitions were immense, all the Belgic provinces, a portion of the isle of Elba, the vast part of country on the left bank of the Rhine; the duchies of Deux Ponts, and Juliers, added by Bavaria; and many other advantages arising from this extension of territory. From Sicily France obtained Porto Legano; and from Spain the whole of Lousiana. Holland surrendered Dutch Flanders, and the French had equal maritime rights established with the Dutch, extending to the port of Flushing. Sardinia was divested of Piedmont and Savoy. The hereditary Prince of Parma, was constituted King of Etruria, having Tuscany and Piombino allotted to him. Switzerland, which had so essentially befriended the interests of the French republic, received an ample compensation for past services, at the expence of the degraded house of Austria, all the ci-devant territories of the Emperor of Germany on the left bank of the Rhine, between Zanzach

and Basle, were ceded to Switzerland, or, as the Cantons were designated collectively, "The Helvetic Republic."

Such were the prominent features of the peace of Amiens, a peace which, from various existing circumstances, it required no great share of political sagacity to predict would be of no long duration. In fact, Great Britain, notwithstanding the magnificent triumphs of her fleets, and her conquests in every quarter of the globe, was laid open to the insidious attacks of a man, whose ambition equalled that of Alexander, Cæsar, or Charles XII, and who spurned at all ideas of justice and equity, when in competition with his insatiable thirst for power.

CHAP. V.

Mission of Sebastiani.

Lord Whitworth's RemonTM strances on the Conduct of the First Consul of France. Renewal of the War with France.

ALTHOUGH the treaty concluded at Amiens was received with enthusiastic joy throughout the united kingdom, yet there was a numerous body of individuals, both within and without the walls of the British senate, who loudly exclaimed against it, as humiliating and degrading to the dignity and honor of the British empire. When the terms of the treaty were discussed in parliament, Mr. Windham, the ex-secretary at war, declared, that the House ought to cover itself with sackcloth, and sit down in ashes. Every measure was adopted to represent Mr. Addington as having betrayed the interests of his country by that party who had co-operated with the late minister; but the majority of the nation were perfectly satisfied with the purity of the intentions of the new minister, and viewed it better to make a few sacrifices for the attainment of peace, than further to prosecute a war, the effects of which had been so injurious to the allied powers.

The proclamation of peace was followed with still greater demonstrations of joy than was displayed at the first announcing of the signing of the preliminaries: the club at Boodle's gave a grand fete at Ranelagh, consisting of a series of amusements, which continued two or three days. M. Otto was the accredited envoy from France, until the arrival of the French ambassador, General Andreossi.

The extraordinary character of the first consul, excited a vast multitude of the English nobility and gentry to make an excursion to France; Mr. Erskine, and Mr. Fox, were among the number of distinguished visitors, to behold and converse with Bonaparte. This flattering attention to a man whom Mr. Pitt had stiled the child of Jacobinism, was highly pleasing to the first Consul, who, instead of finding himself held in abhorrence, discovered that he was the theme of admiration even in England; and every day he found an influx of English resorting to the capital of the French republic. The incense thus burnt before him by the inhabitants of a country which had, for a long time, curbed his inordinate ambition, appears to have had the bad effect of stimulating him to designs of more widely extending the power of the French republic, or, more properly, of enlarging his own authority.

While Bonaparte was receiving the homage of the English who daily flocked around his person, bowing and envying at his levees, he was forming a deep concerted plan, which at once was flying in the face of the solemn treaty so recently concluded with Great Britain. General Sebastiani, an intimate friend and favorite of the first consul, was dispatched on a secret mission to Syria, Egypt, and the Grecian isles, to sound the inclination of the leading rulers of those governments, with respect to their emancipation from the authority of the Turkish Sultan. To accelerate this design, Sebastiani had peremptory instructions to pay no regard to the late treaty with England, but to make use of every means to cause the French power to be predominant in the East. Sebastiani, upon his arrival in Egypt, began intriguing with the Beys, and demanded of the governor of Alexandria, the evacuating of that city by the English. At Zante, one of the Ionian isles, he made an harangue in honor of the first consul. The adroitness with which