BRITAIN. 



two nations, our nccustomcd superiority was main- 

 tained. On the channel station, Admiral Cornwallis 

 menaced or blockaded Brest ; in the south, Sir Jolin 

 Borlase Warren intercepted the trade and communi- 

 cation of Toulon ; Sir James Saumarcz cut off the 

 trade of Cadix ; Dickson and Greaves menaced the 

 Dutch shores ; Admirals Keith and Bickcrton pos- 

 sessed the Levantine and Egyptian seas ; Duckworth 

 and Seymour protected our West India islands ; and 

 Nelson threw back the terrors of invasion on the 

 shores of France. 



The Dutch colony of St Eustatia was captured 

 early in the course of the year by Captain Perkins of 

 the Arab, and a detachment of the 3d regiment of 

 foot under Colonel Blunt. Ternate, the most con- 

 siderable of the Molucca islands, surrendered to the 

 arms of the East India Company. 



In the Mediterranean, Sir James Saumarer finding 

 three French ships of the line and a frigate at anchor 

 near Algesiras, embraced the bold resolution of cut- 

 ting them out. But the batteries on shore opening a 

 tremendous fire, and several ships of his fleet being 

 disabled from succouring those which commenced the 

 attack, he was obliged to desist from the attempt, 

 and to leave the Hannibal, a 74, which had struck on a 

 shoal beneath the Spanish batteries. The news of 

 this disaster occasioned a boundless exultation in 

 France ; it was publicly announced in the Parisian 

 theatres, that six British ships of the line, had been 

 beaten by three French ships, and one of the British 

 ships taken. No allusion was made to the Spanish 

 batteries. 



With his few remaining ships, Admiral Saumarez 

 did not hesitate to follow a fleet of the enemy from 

 Cadiz, amounting to ten French and Spanish sail of 

 the line. A cluster of these were attacked by two 

 British ships, on the night of the 1 1th of July, and in a 

 short time it was discovered that two of the Spa- 

 niards were on fire. Two thousand four hundred 

 men were on board these vessels, inextricable from de- 

 struction by friend or foe. Saumarez continued to 

 pursue the enemy, who dispersed before him, but two 

 French stventy-fours were made prizes. The bold- 

 ness and dexterity of this exploit, deservedly received 

 the thanks of parliament. 



After consolidating his power, and humbling the 

 great nations, the establishment of peace with Eng- 

 land could not be unwelcome to Bonaparte, to whom 

 it would necessarily bring popularity ; while the 

 protraction of the war eventually exposed him to far- 

 ther losses of his colonies, and demanded from him 

 an attempt at the hopeless invasion of England, or a 

 tacit acknowledgment that it was beyond his power. 

 It is needless to recapitulate tne circumstances which 

 made the prospect of peace acceptable to the admi- 

 nistration of Britain, as the most wished-for boon 

 which they could confer upon the great bulk of the 

 country. 



In the midst of these hostilities, flags of truce were 

 daily passing amidst vessels of war, from both sides of 

 the channel, and couriers passing between London 

 and Paris. 



M. Otto, who had been agent for the release of 

 prisoners, still continued in the British capital ; and 

 soon after the preliminaries of peace had been rati- 

 fied between the French and Austrian government, 

 Mr Merry was sent to Paris as an agent of the Bri- 



ti'ih ministry. At length the secretary of state for 

 foreign affairs, after a long and nr. 

 lion with M. Otto, suddenly announced the si, 

 ot prrlmtinaih-.i of peace with France, Spam, and 

 Holland The intelligence spread such universal 

 joy, as never was remembered in the country ; and 

 when the French plenipotentiaries arrived with the 

 ratification of the terms, their carriage was drawn 

 through the streets by the populace. Amiena was 

 the place assigned for concluding the definitive treaty : 

 thither the Marquis Cornwallu went as plenipoten- 

 tiary from Britain, Don John Azara from Spain, 

 Joseph Bonaparte from France, and Roger John 

 Schimmelpinnich from the Dutch republic. 



The definitive treaty was signed at Amiens on the 

 27th of March 1802. Great Britain ceded by this 

 peace all the colonies which she had pained during 

 the war, except the Spanish island of Trinidad, and 

 the Dutch settlements in Ceylon. Egypt was to 

 be restored to the Porte, and the integrity of the 

 Turkish empire was guaranteed. The dominions of 

 our ally, Portugal, were to remain entire ; and the 

 French troops were to evacuate the territory of Na- 

 ples, and ot Rome. By an agreement, however, 

 which was admitted in the course of the treaty, the 

 limits of French Guiana were extended, and the do- 

 minions of Portugal curtailed, conformably to the 

 treaty of Badajos, which had been concluded between 

 France and Portugal in the preceding year. With 

 respect to Malta, it was stipulated, that no French or 

 English langue or class of knights should be allowed ; 

 that one half of the soldiers in the garrison should be 

 natives, and the rest furnished for a time by the king 

 of Naples ; that the independence of the island should 

 be guaranteed by France, Great Britain, Austria, 

 Spain, Russia, and Prussia ; and that its ports should 

 be free to all nations. 



The Prince of Orange was to receive indemnities 

 for his losses ; but it appeared that the Batavian re- 

 public was not made responsible for this indemnity, 

 nor were the sources from whence it was to come 

 distinctly ascertained. 



While the nation at large ws too much delighte4 

 at the prospect of peace, to criticise the terms with 

 severity, there was a party strong in talents, if not 

 in numbers, who filled the nation and the parliament 

 with invectives at the treaty of Amiens. Such, 

 however, as that peace was, we are probably justified 

 in saying of it with the greatest statesman of the age, 

 that " we shall probably never look upon its like 

 again." 



When the united parliament commenced their se- 

 cond session, in the winter of 1802, the nature of 

 their first measures and debates cast a deep shade of 

 uncertainty over the hopes of peace which the nation 

 had fondly cherished. The ministers called for, and 

 obtained, a vote for 50,000 seamen for the ensuing 

 year, and 129,000 land forces. For the magnitude 

 ot this peace establishment, they held out only vague 

 and general reasons. Unable to disguise their own 

 fears, they increased those of the public by an indis- 

 tinct allusion to the danger. But whilst a part of the 

 accustomed opposition in parliament, deprecated the 

 peace establishment, which wo have mentioned, as 

 unnecessarily large, there was a party the most zeal- 

 ous promoters of the late war, who sounded a more 

 distinct note of alarm. Lord Grenville in the peers, 



Bnuin. 



(iron..i III 

 1*31. 



Peace of 

 Amieni. 



March jr. 

 1803. 



Meeting crt 

 Parliament- 



1802. 



