In 1801 both France and England desired a cessation of hostilities, especially France as it had recently concluded the Treaty of Lunéville, which meant that only Great Britain was still at war with France. Napoleon wished to end the War and turn to domestic matters in France, and Great Britain was equally willing to have peace as her people were passing through an industrial revolution which was unsettling the economic condition of the country.
After many negotiations during the year 1801, preliminaries of peace were agreed upon in London, October 1 and it was ratified on March 25, 1802. It ignored some questions that divided Britain and France, such as the fate of the Belgian provinces, Savoy, and Switzerland and more importantly the trade relations between Britain and the French-controlled European continent. The lack of clarity on the trade issue was a primary reason for the resumption of hostilities 14 months later as Great Britain formed the Third Coalition and declared war on France.
Notwithstanding military reverses overseas, France and its allies recovered most of their colonies, though Britain retained Trinidad (taken from Spain) and Ceylon (taken from the Dutch). France recognized the Republic of the Seven Ionian Islands and agreed to evacuate Naples and the Papal States. The British were to restore Egypt (evacuated by the French) to the Ottoman Empire and Malta to the Knights of St. John within three months. The rights and territories of the Ottoman Empire and of Portugal were to be respected, with the exception that France would keep Portuguese Guinea. George III also threw in the title of “King of France,” which he and his predecessors had borne since 1340.
A British author on the Peace of Amiens writes,
“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.”
A copy of the Treaty can be found here:
