The Prince of Orange was to receive indemnities for his losses ; but it appeared that the Batavian republic was not made responsible for this indemnity, nor were the sources from whence it was to cone distinctly as certained.
While the nation at large was too much delighted 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 second session, in the winter of 1302, the nature of their first measures and debates cast a keep 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 of this peace establish ment, they held out only vague and general reasons. Unable to disguise their own fears, they increased those of the public by an indistinct allusion to the danger. But whilst a part of the accustomed opposition in parlia ment, deprecated the peace establishment, which we have mentioned, as unnecessarily large, there was a party the most zealous promoters of the late war, who sounded a more distinct note of alarm. Lord Grenville in the peers, and Me Windham in the commons, denounced the peace as the most degrading and dan gerous evil that could have befallen the country. They declaimed against the aggressions of Bonaparte, and the tame and imbecile security of ministers. Mr Fox and the majority of his party exhorted to cultivate peace, and, while they deplored the humiliation of the con tinent, thought that it could not be saved by our inter ference. The ministry seemed divided, between the views of their divided opponents.
The great aggressions of Bonaparte, both pending and after the treaty of Amiens, on which those alarms were founded, were his dispatching a large fleet and armament to the West Indies ; his assumption of the do minion of the Italian republic, in his own person ; the an nexation of Parma to his dominions; his treaty with Spain, by which Louisiana was ceded to France ; and his occupa tion of Porto Ferrajo, and the island of Elba in the Medi terranean. His harsh remonstrances against the liberties of the British press, and his insisting on the unfortunate emigrants of France being driven lrom the hospitality of our shores, were rather indignities than injuries ; but the public indignation of Europe was roused to the highest pitch against him, when Switzerland fell under his yoke. On this occasion the British ministry ven
tured to interpose. They sent Mr Moore to Constance, with a view to stimulate the exertions of the Swiss, who arrived there on the 31st of October, (1802,) but found not a trace of resistance existing in the country. After the subjugation of Switzerland, they seem to have dropt for a time the intention of quarrelling with the French ruler, and dispatched orders to surrender all our con quests in pursuance of the treaty of Amiens. Of this measure, they soon after repented, and sent out counter orders to retain our conquests. While it was uncertain whether the latter dispatches would arrive in sufficient time to prevent a violent resumption of those ceded places, the discussions respecting the restoration of Malta were continued, and furnished at last the avowed occasion of the war.
It had been stipulated in the treaty of Amiens re specting this island, " that a grand master should be elected in full chapter by the knights of St John of Jerusalem ; that a Maltese langue should be established in the room of the French and English, which were to be for ever abolished ; that the British troops were to evacuate the island, provided that there were a grand master or commissioners fully empowered to receive the possession, and that a force of 2000 Neapolitan troops, which were to be furnished by his Sicilian majesty, should have arrived in the island as a garrison ; that Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia and Spain, should guarantee this arrangement, and the indepen dence of the island ; that these powers should be invited to accede to it, and that the Neapolitan troops were to remain till the knights had raised a sufficient force to protect the island." It might well be remarked, that if Britain desired the independence of Malta, this treaty was not the best calculated to preserve it. The pro perty of the knights was known to lie in other coun tries, and they were not capable of defending their territory. The revenues of the order had been already confiscated in France and Lombardy. Pending the treaty, its property in Spain was also confiscated, and that in Portugal was likely to follow the same fate. Yet did the British minister, in the open view of these circumstances, conclude the treaty.