to compass their ends. To facilitate their conquest of Egypt, they first
used an Islamic fanatic to murder the able General Kleber in Egypt. Next
they turned their attention to the dangerous Paul of Russia. In March
I8oi Paul was strangled in his bedroom by officers who had taken bribes
from British agents. Deprived of this powerful ally, Napoleon tried vainly
to make inroads on British seapower by treaties with other littoral
nations. A treaty with Spain yielded not just six warships but the more
important prize of the vast Louisiana territory in North America; the
King of Naples ceded Elba to France and closed his ports to the British;
and important naval agreements were signed between France and the
U.S.A, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
By I8oi Britain and France both desperately needed peace. The
government in London had the violent aftermath of the '98 in Ireland,
domestic riots, inflation and the bad harvests of I799-I8oo to deal with,
to say nothing of a mad king. The principal personal obstacle to peace
was removed when the warmongering Pitt stood down (in March I8oi)
and was replaced by Addington, who immediately put out peace feelers.
A draft peace was negotiated on the basis that Britain would pull out of
Malta and France out of Naples. The Egyptian campaign of reconquest
being waged by the English complicated matters, but it was provisionally
agreed that Egypt should be returned to France. When Napoleon heard
of Menou's defeat in Egypt and realized that word of this had not yet
filtered through to England, he ordered his negotiators to rush through a
treaty before Egypt could become a factor in the negotiations. The peace
of Amiens was accordingly signed on I October I80I and in March I8oz.
Napoleon's official negotiators at Amiens were his brother Joseph and
Talleyrand, between whom an odd entente had sprung up. In I8oo
Joseph speculated on a rise in government stocks but lost spectacularly
when the reverse happened. The sums involved were so vast that not
even Napoleon could bail him out, but the crafty Talleyrand came to
Joseph's rescue by suggesting an ingenious 'scam' involving the state
sinking fund. But as a negotiator Joseph was naive, being convinced that
the British sincerely wanted a lasting peace.
In fact both sides were simply playing for time and needed a breathing
space before recommencing hostilities. For the time being, exhausted as
she was and discouraged by the collapse of the Continental coalition and
the defection of Austria and Russia, Britain was ready to allow France to
retain the Rhineland and Belgium. British public opinion demanded
peace, and the elite was worried about a rising tide of domestic
disaffection in a country where I 5% of the population was classified as
indigent. None the less, giving up all colonial conquests except Trinidad
marcin
(Marcin)
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