Treaty of Amiens

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The Treaty of Amiens was signed on March 25, 1802 (Germinal 4, year X in the French Revolutionary Calendar) by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and the United Kingdom. Under the treaty, the United Kingdom recognised the French Republic; the consequent peace, which lasted only one year, was the only period during which the United Kingdom was not at war with France during the so-called 'Great French War'.

Together with the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) the treaty of Amiens marked the end of the Second Coalition. The War started well for the Coalition, with General Bonaparte's reverses in Egypt. But, after France's victories at Marengo and Hohenlinden, Austria, Russia and Naples asked for peace. Nelson's victory at Copenhagen (April 2, 1801) halted the creation of the League of Armed Neutrality and led to a ceasefire (October) and negotiations. The Treaty was made possible by William Pitt's resignation in London on a separate issue with Addington replacing him. The British negotiators were led by Robert Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool.

[edit] Terms

The treaty, beyond confirming "peace, friendship, and good understanding" arranged for the restoration of prisoners and hostages; the United Kingdom gave up the Cape Colony (occupied after Napoleon's invasion of the United Provinces in 1795), and much of the West Indies to the Batavian Republic, and also withdrew from Egypt but was granted Trinidad and Tobago and Ceylon; France withdrew from the Papal States; it fixed the borders of French Guiana; Malta, Gozo, and Comino were restored to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the islands were declared neutral.

[edit] Breakdown

However, objections to the treaty quickly grew in the United Kingdom, especially as it seemed that the UK was making all the concessions. In addition, Bonaparte had interfered with the Batavian and Cisalpine Republics and sent troops into Switzerland, breaking earlier treaties. Concerns were also raised by the sending of a major French Army to the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo, where it reimposed slavery and cracked down on the independence movement. As a result the British Government balked at implementing certain terms, such as evacuating their military presence from Malta, due to this French refusal to respect other terms of the treaty. Despite appeals from French Foreign Minster Talleyrand, Bonaparte refused to concede much, especially as it was rumoured that he had designs on Egypt again. As a result Addington strengthened the Royal Navy, and imposed a blockade of France.

Although it has been alleged that the United Kingdom seized all French ships in British ports, there appears to be no evidence to support such an assertion. Napoleon certainly believed (or invented) it, stating that six ships had been seized "on the high seas," although these ships and their captains have never been named. In response, on 22 May 1803 (2 Prairial, year XI) Bonaparte, as First Consul, ordered the imprisonment of almost all British civilians in France. This was an act that was denounced as illegal by all the major powers. The detenus were men between the ages of 18 and 60. Napoleon claimed in the French press that the British prisoners that he had taken amounted to 10,000, but French documents compiled in Paris a few months later show that the numbers were 1,181. It was not until the Abdication of Napoleon in 1814 that these British prisoners were allowed to return home.

Addington proved an ineffective prime minister in wartime, and was replaced on 10 May 1804 with William Pitt, who started the Third Coalition. Pitt has been alleged to be behind assassination attempts at the Bonaparte's life (by Cadoudal and Pichegru).

Napoleon, now emperor, assembled armies on the coast of France to invade the British Isles, but Austria and Russia, the United Kingdom's allies, were preparing to invade France. The French armies were christened La Grande Armée and secretly left the coast to march against Austria and Russia before their armies could combine. It defeated Austria at Ulm the day before the Battle of Trafalgar, and France effectively destroyed the Third Coalition thanks to Napoléon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. In 1806, Britain re-took the Cape Colony from the Batavian Republic, which Napoleon abolished later that year in favour of the 'Kingdom of Holland', ruled by his brother Louis.

[edit] Miscellany

• A street in Dublin was named after the treaty; the street's name is generally pronounced "Ay-me-ens" (though the city after which it is named is pronounced more closely to the French manner).