ENGLAND. 245 



tice was soon after concluded with sir Hyde Parker by the Danish 

 court. 



On the 19th of April the British fleet appeared off Carlscrona, and 

 the admiral acquainted the governor that the court of Denmark, hav- 

 ing concluded an armistice by which the unfortunate dispute with 

 the court of St. James had been accommodated, he was directed to 

 require an explicit answer from his Swedish majesty, relative to his 

 intentions of adhering to or abandoning the hostile measures he had 

 taken in conjunction with Russia. An official answer to this demand 

 was communicated from the king of Sweden to sir Hyde Parker, in- 

 timating that his Swedish majesty would not fail to fulfil the engage- 

 ments entered into with his allies ; but that he would not retuse to 

 listen to equitable proposals made by deputies furnished with proper 

 authority to regulate the matters in dispute. 



The termination of the contest, however, at that time, was, perhaps, 

 not so much to be attributed either to the battle of Copenhagen, or 

 to the victorious progress of the British fleet, as to the death of the 

 emperor Paul of Russia, who on the 23d of March expired suddenly, 

 and was succeeded by his son Alexander, who soon after his acces- 

 sion entered into negotiations for a pacific accommodation with Eng- 

 land, in consequence of which a convention was at length signed at 

 St. Petersburg, by which the principal claims of Great Britain were 

 recognized and ratified. 



By the dissolution of the confederacy of the northern powers, one 

 of the great obstacles to the peace between Great Britain and the 

 French Republic was happily removed ; as was another, soon after, 

 by the complete conquest of Egypt from the French, by general 

 Hutchinson ; general Abercromby, who originally had the command 

 of that expedition, having unfortunately but gloriously fallen in the 

 battle of Alexandria on the 21st of March. The ministry therefore 

 entered seriously into negotiations for peace with the French govern- 

 ment, the preliminaries of which were signed at London on the 1st 

 of October 1801, between M. Otto on the part of the French republic, 

 and lord Hawkesbury on the part of his Britannic majesty; and after 

 further negotiations, the definitive treaty was signed at Amiens on the 

 27th of March 1802, by marquis Cornwallis on the part of England, 

 and Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of the First Consul, on the part of 

 the French republic. 



By this treaty Great Britain agreed to restore all her conquests, the 

 island of Trinidad, and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, excepted. 

 The Cape of Good Hope was to remain a free port to all the-contract- 

 ing parties, who were to enjoy the same advantages. The island of 

 Malta was to be evacuated by the British troops and restored to the 

 order of St. John of Jerusalem, but under the guarantee of the prin- 

 cipal powers of Europe. Egypt was to be restored to the Ottoman 

 Porte. The territory of Portugal was to be maintained in its integrity, 

 and the French troops were to evacuate the territories of Rome and 

 Naples. The republic of the Seven Islands was recognised by 

 France, and the fishery of Newfoundland was established on its for- 

 mer footing. 



But the restless and insatiable ambition of the French government 

 did not suffer this treaty long to remain unviolated. It affected to 

 treat England as compelled by necessity to conclude peace, and 

 incapable of resisting the encroachments of France, unsupported by- 

 foreign allies. But the principal subject of dispute was the island of 



