ravened the Treaty
of Luneville, but to international equity.

Certainly, the Addington Cabinet committed a grievous blunder in not
inserting in the Treaty of Amiens a clause stipulating the
independence of the Batavian and Helvetic Republics. Doubtless it
relied on the Treaty of Luneville, and on a Franco-Dutch convention of
August, 1801, which specified that French troops were to remain in the
Batavian Republic only up to the time of the general peace. But it is
one thing to rely on international law, and quite another thing, in an
age of violence and chicanery, to hazard the gravest material
interests on its observance. Yet this was what the Addington Ministry
had done: "His Majesty consented to make numerous and most important
restitutions to the Batavian Government on the consideration of that
Government being independent and not being subject to any foreign
control."[231] Truly, the restoration of the Cape of Good Hope and of
other colonies to the Dutch, solely in reliance on the observance of
international law by Napoleon and Talleyrand, was, as the event
proved, an act of singular credulity. But, looking at this matter
fairly and squarely, it must be allowed that Napoleon's reply evaded
the essence of the British complaint; it was merely an _argumentum ad
hominem_; it convicted the Addington Cabinet of weakness and
improvidence; but in equity it was null and void, and in practical
politics it betokened war.

As Napoleon refused to withdraw his troops from Holland, and continued
to dominate that unhappy realm, it was clear that the Cape of Good
Hope would speedily be closed to our ships--a prospect which immensely
enhanced the value of the overland route to India, and of those
portals of the Orient, Malta and Egypt. To the Maltese Question we now
turn, as also, later on, to the Eastern Question, with which it was
then closely connected.

Many causes excited the uneasiness of the British Government
about the fate of Malta. In spite of our effort not to wound the
susceptibilities of the Czar, who was protector of the Order of St.
John, that sensitive young ruler had taken umbrage at the article
relating to that island. He now appeared merely as one of the six
Powers guaranteeing its independence, not as the sole patron and
guarantor, and he was piqued at his name appearing after that of the
Emperor Francis![232] For the present arrangement the First Consul was
chiefly to blame; but the Czar vented his displeasu