The victory was glorious. On landing, three days later, Nelson concluded an armistice with the crown Prince, by which Denmark abandoned the alliance of armed neutrality and the confederation against Great Britain. Some weeks later the Emperor Paul was assassinated, and the coalition of the powers of the north vanished. The first care of the new Russian Emperor was to restore liberty to English sailors.
To the joy which the success before Copenhagen aroused, was added the satisfaction inspired by the news from Egypt. Kleber was assassinated, by a fanatic; on the 14th of June, 1800, General Menou, who succeeded him, preserved the positions gained by the victory of Heliopolis. At the beginning of the year 1801, and during the ministerial crisis, a body of English troops landed in Egypt; a desperate engagement took place near Aboukir. Sir Ralph Abercromby was seriously wounded, and died some days later. The French were hemmed in near Alexandria: Cairo was invested, and General Belliard, who defended it, was obliged to surrender before the end of June. The English received reinforcements from India, and General Menou was obliged to capitulate on the 27th of August. The French obtained all the honors of war, and were permitted to withdraw, with their arms and baggage, unconditionally, and were to be transported free, to their own coasts.
At London, negotiations were in progress. Mr. Pitt took an active part in them. Lord Hawksbury, who had charge of them, was one of his most intimate friends. On the 1st of October, 1801, Mr. Pitt personally announced the signature of preliminaries to Mr. Long, but recently a member of his cabinet: "I have only a moment to say to you, that the die is cast, and that the preliminaries have been signed. The conditions, without being precisely and in all respects, as one might desire, are certainly very honorable; and taken all in all, very advantageous. I do not expect that our friends will be entirely satisfied, but the great mass of the public will be, I believe, extremely satisfied, and I regard the event as very fortunate for the government and the country."
On the 25th of March, 1802, peace was signed at Amiens, between France, England and Spain. All the colonial conquests were restored to France and Holland, with the exception of the Island of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon. Malta was given back to its Knight Templars, and Egypt to the Sublime Porte. The French evacuated the kingdom of Naples and the States of the Church. "It is a peace," said Sir Philip Francis, "which everybody is glad of, though nobody is proud of." The outbursts of popular enthusiasm forced the opposition to accept the peace without a contest. Fox alone was partisan enough to boldly rejoice over the brilliant successes of France. "Some persons complain that we have not attained the end of the war," said he; "assuredly we have not attained it, but this fact only pleases me better than the peace itself." In a letter to Lord Grey, who had reproached him for his imprudence, he wrote: "For the truth is, I am gone something further in hate to the English government than perhaps you and the rest of my friends are, and certainly further than can with prudence be avowed. For the triumph of the French government over the English, does, in fact, afford me a degree of pleasure which it is very difficult to disguise."
The peace which had but just been concluded was already tottering. Bonaparte's ambition for conquest, encouraged by the weariness of Europe, increased each day the pretensions of the French government. English travellers crowded to the continent, curious to visit that new France, so long closed to them. Fox was in Paris, and often saw the First Consul, for whom he had conceived the liveliest admiration. Bonaparte one day conducted his illustrious visitor to the Louvre; both stopped in front of a large globe. The General, putting his finger upon the spot occupied by England, sneeringly remarked: "See what a little place you occupy in the world."—Fox's English pride was awakened: "Yes," said he, approaching the globe and attempting to encircle it in his extended arms: "England is a small island, but with her power she girdles the world." The First Consul did not continue the conversation.
Some dissatisfaction had arisen between Pitt and Addington: the protégé had many times failed to defend his protector when violently attacked in the Houses; the counsels asked and given, were not always followed. Efforts had been made, more than once, to restore Pitt to power, but he felt that he could neither direct nor overthrow the cabinet that he had so long sustained, and for some time past he had absented himself from the House of Commons. "I am more and more persuaded," wrote he to his friend Mr. Rose, "after all that I see of affairs and of parties, that the role that I would play at present, if I were in town, would do more harm than good; it is therefore better, upon all accounts, that I remain, for the present, in the country." Pitt prolonged his stay at Walmer Castle some three months (February-May, 1803).
The general state of affairs was in fact disquieting and serious, and the execution of the treaty of Amiens seemed doubtful. New revolutionary movements agitated Holland; the Cis-alpine republic was recognized, under French influence. The mediation of Bonaparte in the affairs of Switzerland, assured to him a weighty and firm ascendancy. Piedmont was annexed to the French republic. An expedition of Col. Sebastiani into Egypt disturbed the English. The cabinets in London and in Paris exchanged complaints and recriminations regarding the delays in consummating the treaty. "We claim the treaty of Amiens, all of the treaty of Amiens, and nothing but the treaty of Amiens," said the French. England still retained Malta, under the pretext that the Knights had not yet re-established themselves there, and that Malta was for them the only guarantee of good faith on the part of the French. General Bonaparte made complaints regarding this subject, to Lord Whitworth, the English Ambassador at Paris. "I would rather see you in possession of the Heights of Montmartre, than of Malta," said the First Consul. He subsequently complained of the libels which were circulated against him in England, and of the delays in the trial of Peltin, the French pamphleteer and refugee. At the same time the consul himself wounded the legitimate pride of England by the arrogant language of his message to the Corps Legislatif. "The government declares with just pride that Great Britain cannot contend alone against France."