re to point out with what wind vessels
can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of water with
which vessels can enter the river deeply laden."

Still there was no actual breach of the nominal peace between the two
countries until the 12th of May, on which day Lord Whitworth left Paris.
He landed at Dover on the 20th, meeting there General Audreossi,
Napoleon's minister to the English Court, on the point of embarking for
France.

ENGLAND DECLARES WAR.

For two days before, that is to say on the 18th of May, 1803, England
had issued her declaration of war against France. In this document, our
government alleged that the surrender of Malta to the knights of St.
John of Jerusalem had been rendered impossible by the action of France
and Spain, who had destroyed the independence of the Order itself.
Reference was made to Bonaparte's attempts to interfere with the liberty
of the English press, and the indignities he had offered to our
ambassador; but the real ground of quarrel was to be found in an
official gasconade of Bonaparte's, in which he declared that "Britain
could not contend single handed against France," a vainglorious boast,
which (in those days at least) touched a chord which thrilled the
patriotic feelings of every Englishman that loved his country.

Napoleon's next step--a simply detestable action--was quite in
accordance with the faithless policy which he pursued towards this
country. The treaty of Amiens had induced crowds of English to cross the
Channel, and on the specious pretext that two French ships had been
captured prior to the actual declaration of war, he issued a decree on
the 22nd of May, 1803, for the arrest and imprisonment of all Englishmen
in France, over eighteen and under sixty years of age, all subjects of
the king of England between those ages being considered, for the purpose
of this outrageous order, _as forming part of the English militia_. This
measure was carried out with the utmost rigour, and the eleven thousand
English who thus became prisoners of war were deprived of their liberty
fifteen years, and regained it only in 1814.

[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _January 11th, 1796._

TWOPENNY WHIST.

Mistress Humphrey and Betty, of St. James' Street, their neighbour
Mortimer (a well-known picture dealer) and a German guest.

[A satire, by contrast, on the high stakes of "White's" and
"Boodle's."]

_Face p. 16._]

ENGLISH ENTHUSIASM.

T