d oppression. They
parted with cold civility, and negotiations were resumed in the usual
manner: but England stood firm in the refusal to give up Malta--at least
for ten years to come. The aggressions of Napoleon had wholly changed
the arrangement of territory and power contemplated when the treaty of
Amiens was drawn up; what security could there be for the retention of
Malta by Naples, or any such minor power, if Buonaparte wished to have
it? To surrender it would in fact be to yield an impregnable harbour and
citadel in the heart of the Levant, to a government which had gone on
trampling down the independence of state after state in the west.
Meanwhile the English government openly announced, in Parliament, that
the position of affairs seemed to be full of alarm--that the French were
manning fleets and recruiting their armies, and that it was necessary to
have recourse to similar measures; and, accordingly, a considerable
addition to the military establishment was agreed to.

Thus stood matters on the 13th of March, when Lord Whitworth made his
appearance at the levee of the Chief Consul, in company with all the
rest of the diplomatic body. Napoleon no sooner entered, than, fixing
his eye on the English Ambassador, he exclaimed aloud and fiercely, in
presence of the circle, "You are then determined on war!" Lord Whitworth
denied the charge, but the Consul drowned his voice, and pursued
thus:--"We have been at war for fifteen years--you are resolved to have
fifteen years more of it--you force me to it." He then turned to the
other ministers, and said, in the same violent tone: "The English wish
for war; but if they draw the sword first, I will be the last to sheath
it again. They do not respect treaties--henceforth we must cover them
with black crape." Then, turning again to Whitworth, "To what purpose,"
he cried, "are these armaments? If you arm, I will arm too; if you
fight, I can fight also. You may destroy France, but you cannot
intimidate her." "We desire neither to injure nor to alarm her, but to
live on terms of good intelligence," said Lord Whitworth. "Respect
treaties, then," said Napoleon; "woe to those by whom they are not
respected!--they shall be responsible to Europe for the result." He
repeated these last words sternly, and immediately quitted the
apartment, leaving the assembled ministers utterly confounded by this
indecent display of violence.

Some persons, who knew Buonaparte well, have always asse