Malta and the Treaty of Amiens, 1802-1803

The anti-France War of the Second Coalition (part of the French Revolutionary Wars) had started badly for the French, with losses in Egypt, Italy and Germany, but the tide of war soon turned and the French victories at Marengo and Hohenlinden forced Austria, Russia and Naples to sue for peace, with Austria signing the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801.

On the other hand, the British naval victory at the Battle of Copenhagen prevented the creation of the anti-British League of Armed Neutrality and led to a negotiated ceasefire.

From as early as 1799, the French First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, had proposed a truce to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Grenville, but, together with Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, he distrusted Bonaparte and rejected the proposal.

In February 1801, Pitt resigned over domestic issues and was succeeded by Henry Addington, who was more bent on peace-making and ending entanglements on the continent. His policy is clear from what he wrote to Lord Malmesbury, in that “his maxim from the moment he took office was first to make peace, and then to preserve it …”.

Addington’s Foreign Secretary, Robert Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury, opened communications with the French, mainly through the diplomat Anthony Merry, who engaged with French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, and, by September 30, a preliminary agreement was signed in London and published the next day.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury (1770-1828) in a portrait by Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) in 1796. Photo: Wikipedia.com

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pèrigord (1754-1839) in a portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1758-1823). He was the French Minister for Foreign Affairs. Photo: Wikipedia.com

News of the signing was greeted with great joy throughout Europe. King George III proclaimed the cessation of hostilities on October 12. In November, Marquess Charles Cornwallis was sent to France with plenipotentiary powers to negotiate a final agreement.

The French negotiators now included Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, who together with Talleyrand, constantly shifted their positions, leading an exasperated Cornwallis to write: “I feel it as the most unpleasant circumstance attending this unpleasant business that, after I have obtained his acquiescence on any point, I can have no confidence that it is finally settled and that he will not recede from it in our next conversation.”

Moreover, the Batavian Republic’s (Holland) representative, Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, who arrived at Amiens on December 9, was treated with a lack of respect as the French regarded his country as a vanquished and conquered client. Nevertheless, the British and the Dutch negotiated agreements as to the status of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the Cape Colony: the former was to remain British, while the latter was to be returned to the Dutch but to be opened to all.

Joseph Bonaparte did not immediately agree to these terms, probably because he needed Napoleon’s fiat.

The Spanish negotiator, Marquis Josè Nicolàs de Azara, did not arrive before early February 1802, only to be rebuffed by the British when he proposed that Spain and Britain should reach a separate agreement.

Charles, First Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805) in a portrait by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) at the National Portrait Gallery, London. He represented Britain at Amiens.

Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) in a portrait by Luigi Toro (1835-1900). He represented France at Amiens. Photo: Wikipedia.com

Josè Nicolàs de Azara (1730-1804) as depicted in 1774 by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-79) in a portrait at the Museo del Prado, Madrid. He represented Spain at Amiens.

Since the preliminary agreement had been published in October 1801, it was quite natural that the Maltese got to know about the fact that Malta would be restored to the Order of St John under the protection of Russia, a settlement that was generally unpopular in the island, even though the Knights had their adherents too.

France wanted the restoration of the Order of St John to ensure Britain did not retain possession of the island

The British Civil Commissioner of Malta, Charles Cameron, reported to Lord Hobart in London that the mere rumour of the agreement “has occasioned most violent fermentation” in the island. The local population were concerned about possible reprisals against the people and also remonstrated that, since France had confiscated the Order’s property in 1792, the French could have an indirect control over Malta.

A Maltese delegation went to London to protest with the British government but it was to no avail because they were arguing against a fait accompli.

On April 20, 1802, Lord Hobart wrote to the delegation that abandoning Malta was what he termed “an indispensable sacrifice” that was necessary so that a general peace would be secured. They were fobbed off by an assurance that the settlement would include a guarantee of greater political freedom for the Maltese. Actually, the finalised treaty had already been signed on March 25 and became effective two days later.

On March 14, the British government gave Cornwallis a hard deadline of eight days for signing a final agreement, failing which he was to return to London. Three o’clock on the morning of March 25 was the end of a gruelling five-hour negotiating session, followed by the signing of the final agreement.

The page of the Treaty of Amiens containing the eight seals and signatures of the parties. Photo: Wikipedia.com

Actually, Cornwallis was unhappy about the agreement but he was sincerely worried by what he termed would have been “the ruinous consequences of… renewing a bloody and hopeless war”.

Abandoning Malta was ‘an indispensable sacrifice’ necessary so that peace would be secured

The signatories of the treaty, drawn up in English and French only, were Joseph Bonaparte for France, Marquess George Cornwallis for Great Britain, Josè Nicolàs de Azara for Spain and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck for the Batavian Republic. The terms of the treaty, comprising 22 articles, concerned a number of countries and colonies, but we are here concerned only with Malta.

French medal commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.

Article X (10) was all about Malta. In a nutshell, France wanted the restoration of the Order of St John to ensure that Britain did not retain possession of the island. In turn, Britain wished to deny Malta to France. The treaty conferred greater rights upon the Maltese, provided for the restoration of the Order, the neutrality of Malta, the withdrawal of British civil and military authorities, the establishment of a Neapolitan garrison to be present only until the Order could muster sufficient forces to garrison the islands, and enhanced political rights for the Maltese, who would have their own langue within the Order and would, therefore, participate in the election of the Order’s grand master.

British medal commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.

On the other hand, Russia expressed its displeasure at the civil and political guarantees for the Maltese; however, Russia had not played a part in the negotiations leading to the treaty.

Malta’s declaration of rights of June 1802, on a commemorative marble tablet at Palazzo Parisio, Valletta, Malta’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

That the Maltese were not happy with the outcome at Amiens was amply shown in La dichiarazione dei diritti degli abitanti delle Isole di Malta e Gozo (Declaration of rights of the inhabitants of the islands of Malta and Gozo), signed by 104 representatives of the towns and villages in June 1802. They proclaimed George III of Britain to be their king but that he had no right to surrender Malta to another power. The declaration also proclaimed that Malta should be self-governing while under British protection.

The Treaty of Amiens turned out to be an uneasy truce that was ended by Britain’s declaration of war on France in May 1803. Both sides blamed each other for breaking the terms reached at Amiens. Britain refused to remove its troops from Egypt or Malta and, in January 1803, most of the European powers were alarmed with the publication of a report by Horace François Sebastiani (1772-1851) that included observations on the ease with which France could capture Egypt.

In February 1803, in an interview with Lord Charles Whitworth (1752-1825), the British ambassador in France, Napoleon threatened war if Malta was not evacuated, an exchange that left Whitworth feeling that he was being given an ultimatum. In fact, Whitworth left France on May 13.

James Gillray’s (1756-1815) caricature of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. It is titled “The First Kiss This Ten Years” and caricatures the peace between Britain and France after ten years of warfare. Photo: Wikipedia.com

Meanwhile, the Russian Tsar Alexander I was preoccupied with implicit and explicit threats that Hamburg and Hanover would be seized if war was renewed.

The Russian position is clearly spelled out in the way expressed by the Russian foreign minister when he wrote that “the intention already expressed by the first consul [Napoleon] of striking blows against England wherever he can, and under this pretext of sending his troops into Hanover, [and] northern Germany,… entirely transforms the nature of this war as it relates to our interests and obligations”.

On his part, Bonaparte moved to occupy Switzerland and ensured his position in Italy. The official British reasons for resuming hostilities were France’s imperialist policies in the West Indies, Italy and Switzerland.

The war, named and known as the Napoleonic Wars, dragged on for 12 years and only ended with Bonaparte’s final defeat at Waterloo in June 1815. Britain never evacuated Malta, which was destined to remain British for a further century-and-a-half.