russian troops and
the indemnities to be sought for the House of Orange and the House of
Savoy. The circumstances of these two dispossessed dynasties were
explained so as to show that the former Dutch Stadholder had a very
strong claim on us, as well as on France and the Batavian Republic;
while the championship of the House of Savoy by the Czar rendered the
claims of that ancient family on the intervention of George III. less
direct and personal than those of the Prince of Orange. Indeed,
England would have insisted on the insertion of a clause to this
effect in the preliminaries had not other arrangements been on foot at
Berlin which promised to yield due compensation to this unfortunate
prince. Doubtless the motives of the British Ministers were good, but
their failure to insert such a clause fatally prejudiced their case
all through the negotiations at Amiens.

The British official declaration respecting Malta was clear and
practical. The island was to be restored to the Knights of the Order
of St. John and placed under the protection of a third Power other
than France and England. But the reconstitution of the Order was no
less difficult than the choice of a strong and disinterested
protecting Power. Lord Hawkesbury proposed that Russia be the
guaranteeing Power. No proposal could have been more reasonable. The
claims of the Czar to the protectorate of the Order had been so
recently asserted by a treaty with the knights that no other
conclusion seemed feasible. And, in order to assuage the grievances of
the islanders and strengthen the rule of the knights, the British
Ministry desired that the natives of Malta should gain a foothold in
the new constitution. The lack of civil and political rights had
contributed so materially to the overthrow of the Order that no
reconstruction of that shattered body could be deemed intelligent, or
even honest, which did not cement its interests with those of the
native Maltese. The First Consul, however, at once demurred to both
these proposals. In the course of a long interview with Cornwallis at
Paris,[186] he adverted to the danger of bringing Russia's maritime
pressure to bear on Mediterranean questions, especially as her
sovereigns "had of late shown themselves to be such unsteady
politicians." This of course referred to the English proclivities of
Alexander I., and it is clear that Bonaparte's annoyance with
Alexander was the first unsettling influence which prevented the
s