War with France: the Second Coalition

In 1797 Great Britain desired peace with France, and Pitt entered into negotiations at Lille in that year for the purpose of ending the war. But the negotiators could not agree on the terms. A financial crisis had just occurred in London, and a mutiny had taken place among the British seamen at Nore. The French commissioners, believing that Great Britain was exhausted, refused to allow her to retain Trinidad and the Cape, and proposed to take Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and perhaps a part of Newfoundland,—concessions that Great Britain would not for a moment listen to. Therefore the war went on, but under new conditions.

The general of the French army in Italy was now Napoleon Bonaparte, who, after a series of magnificent victories, had forced Austria to sign the treaty of Campo-Formio (1797). After the campaign in Italy, Bonaparte became the real director of the French policy, and soon showed that his chief object was to compass the overthrow of Great Britain. To accomplish this object he formed three plans of attack, any or all of which might be brought into use: (1) to invade England directly;

(2)”to attack her on the Continent by depriving her of Hanover; (3)“ to undertake an eastern expedition which would menace her trade with the Indies." Inasmuch as only the last of these plans seemed practicable at that time, Bonaparte set out for Egypt in 1797, to force Great Britain to a peace, by destroying her eastern commerce. He seems to have had in mind also the restoration of French supremacy in India, by means of an alliance with Tippoo Sahib, son of Hyder Ali, with whom Warren Hastings had warred for four years. But his elaborate undertaking ended in disaster. His fleet was annihilated by the British admiral, Horatio Nelson, in the battle of the Nile, August 1,1798, a victory which cut off Bonaparte from France and won for England the control of the Mediterranean. At St. John Acre, in Syria, the British general, Sydney Smith, checked the advance of Bonaparte and compelled him to be satisfied with establishing French control in Egypt.

During the absence of Bonaparte, Russia and Austria formed with Great Britain the Second Coalition and renewed the war. Bonaparte returned from Egypt in 1799, and overthrowing the government of the Directory, made himself, as First Consul, the head of the French state. In this position he was able more vigorously than ever to carry on the war with the Second Coalition; for a single head is always more powerful in war and diplomacy than a board of directors or a ministry dependent on parliament. In 1800 he overwhelmed Austria in the battles of Hohenlinden and Marengo, and in 1801 forced her to sign the treaty of Luneville. Russia had already withdrawn from the coalition, disgusted by the conduct of her allies and jealous of Austria. Great Britain alone remained, and Bonaparte seemed powerless to injure her. She maintained her hold on Malta and the Mediterranean and finally won back Egypt. She checked all Bonaparte's attempts to aid the revolt in Ireland, and by winning the battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801, obtained the mastery of the Baltic. Bonaparte was master on the land, but Great Britain was still mistress of the sea.

The Peace of Amiens

In 1801 both France and England desired a cessation of hostilities. Bonaparte wished to restore order in France, to organize the government there, and to prepare for the gigantic struggle for empire that he knew was before him. Great Britain was equally willing to have peace. Her people were passing through an industrial revolution which was unsettling the economic condition of the country. Population and wealth were increasing, towns were growing, workmen were shifting their occupation from the cottage to the factory, employment was becoming uncertain, the poor were suffering, and on every hand new economic and social problems were arising. The national debt had increased to more than £500,000,000. Ireland was not yet reconciled to the Act of Union, and time was needed to improve the conditions in that island. In February, 1801, Pitt had resigned, because George III had positively refused to consider any measure whereby the Roman Catholics in England might be granted political rights ; and a Whig ministry, with Addington at its head, had come into power. By an irony of fate, this commonplace and nerveless leader, a minister at the king's command, was called upon to conduct the foreign affairs of Great Britain at one of the most critical periods in the history of the war. Once more the influence of the king was to have a disastrous effect on England's politics.

After many negotiations during the year 1801, preliminaries of peace were agreed upon in London, October 1. The Addington ministry gave way on almost every important point. Great Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic all that she had taken from them, retaining only Trinidad and Ceylon. Egypt was restored to Turkey, and Malta was promised to the former owners, the Knights of St. John, under the protection of a third power, a clause which was modified later to read, "under the protection of the European powers." Great Britain restored all ports and islands that she held in the Adriatic and Mediterranean; and to complete this exhibition of amiability, George III threw in the title of "King of France," which he and his predecessors had borne since 1340.

In arranging these preliminaries Bonaparte scored a great diplomatic victory. “ The only British gains after nine years of warfare, fruitful in naval triumphs, but entailing an addition of £290,000,000 to the national debt, were the islands of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon." The formal treaty, differing in but few particulars from the preliminaries already agreed upon, was signed at Amiens, on March 25,1802.