and, wished to make France a party to the
cessions made by her allies, and successfully insisted on the
negotiation of a single comprehensive treaty. Joseph Bonaparte granted
this point on December 11, but, as he had not full powers to negotiate
with any power except Great Britain, he continued to interpose delays
till the end of the year.

In the meantime France had failed in her attempts to meet the British
claims on behalf of the Prince of Orange by demands for further
privileges and territory in the oceans and colonies. On the whole, the
first month's negotiations had contributed much to a settlement, without
giving a decided advantage to either side. The lapse of time, however,
turned the balance in favour of the negotiator who was the more
independent of his country's desire for peace. On January 1, 1802,
Hawkesbury wrote to Cornwallis, treating the acquisition of Tobago as
unimportant; on the 2nd Addington expressed his readiness to accept a
separate arrangement with the Batavian republic for the Prince of
Orange. By the 16th Hawkesbury had yielded the claim of Portugal to be a
party to the treaty. The refusal of the French to cede Tobago in lieu of
payment for the French prisoners, and the difficulty of assessing the
payment, opened a way to the evasion of compensation altogether.
Cornwallis, preferring to sacrifice this claim rather than re-open the
war, suggested to Joseph Bonaparte on the 22nd that the treaty should
provide for commissioners to assess the payment, while it should be
secretly provided that they should not be appointed. On the same day,
Joseph Bonaparte communicated his brother's consent to a clause engaging
France to find a suitable territorial possession in Germany for the
Prince of Orange.

If Hawkesbury and Cornwallis imagined that they had made sure of an
early peace by these extensive concessions, they were greatly mistaken.
Napoleon, flushed with this unexpected success, was encouraged to make
further trial of the pliability of the British diplomatists. Two events
occurred at this stage of the negotiations which tried the temper of
both sides to the uttermost. On January 26, Bonaparte was elected
president of the Cisalpine republic, to be styled henceforth the Italian
republic. This event seems to have taken the British government by
surprise; they thought it a distinct indication that he still
contemplated further aggressions in spite of the series of treaties by
which he appeared to