The Treaty of Amiens

Writing about the Treaty of Amiens Mr Chris Galea (The Sunday Times, October 30) said: "However French policy made the treaty unworkable". This is opinion and not based on historical facts.

Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother) signed the Treaty of Amiens on March 25, 1802 for the French and Marquis Cornwallis for the English. Under this treaty England recognised the French Republic.

The treaty was made possible when Addington, head of England's government, replaced William Pitt, who was absolutely against the French Revolution and Napoleon. Several members of France's nobility found refuge and protection in England.

It is also known (and here I write from memory) that Pitt introduced income tax in England to be able to finance a war against France. On his part, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the US to finance this war.

Under the treaty, better called Peace of Amiens, both France and England had to renounce some territories, and one was Malta. However William Pitt returned to power on March 16, 1803, and refused to implement certain terms, particularly military presence in Malta.

In the meantime the King of England sent a message to Parliament where he complained that France was filling its ports with armaments and that England had to defend itself. Napoleon considered this untrue statement as a show of bad faith because his intention was to strengthen his hold on France through peace.

He therefore sent for the British ambassador, Lord Whitworth, and in a tête à tête he expressed his desire for peace and his displeasure that England was not observing what was decided by the Treaty of Amiens. Inter alia he bluntly told the ambassador that his decision was taken. He would rather see the hills of Montmartre and Chaumont occupied by the British Forces than Malta (Thiers: History of the Consulate and the Empire: breach of the Peace of Amiens).

It was therefore Pitt who violated the Treaty. He also declared war on France, and started a "Third Coalition". He was also behind a terror attempt on Bonaparte's life.

Cadoudal, the head of what was known as the "Chouan" in Brittany, and Pichegru, a French general, sided with the royalists and fought against the Republic and Napoleon. Both had found refuge in England from where they plotted to assassinate Napoleon with the diabolical machine ("machine infernale") :

On his way to the opera in Paris, a barrel full of explosives hidden in a cart under a load of hay, exploded just a few minutes before Napoleon's passage. The terrific explosion claimed several victims, particularly a young girl, who unaware, had been told by the plotters to take care of the cart. (cf. Larousse)

Cadoudal was executed and Pichegru committed suicide (cf. Larousse)

These historical facts show who was really responsible for the breach of the Peace of Amiens, which stipulated that:

(i) Malta, Gozo and Comino be restored to the Order of St John of Jerusalem;

(ii) The Knights be invited to return to the island;

(iii) The French and English languages be completely abolished;

(iv) A Maltese language be established;

(v) The British forces evacuate the islands within three months of ratification or earlier;

(vi) One half of the garrison, at least, shall consist of native Maltese;

(vii) France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Spain and Prussia shall guarantee Malta's independence;

(viii) Malta should be a neutral;

(ix) Ports of Malta should be open to all nations. The Barbary states are excepted from this clause until an agreement is reached with them.