be securing peace, and were therefore much less
inclined than formerly to make concessions. About the same time
Bonaparte was not unreasonably enraged at the outrageous attacks made on
him in the press conducted in London by French exiles, especially by
Jean Peltier, the editor of a paper called _L'Ambigu_, and he blamed the
British government for permitting their publication. He therefore
instructed his brother Joseph to raise further difficulties over the
garrison and permanent organisation of Malta, as well as over the
proposed accession of the sultan to the treaty. Vain attempts were also
made by Joseph to retain Otranto for France till the British should have
evacuated Malta, and to secure the inclusion of the Ligurian republic in
the treaty.

[Pageheading: _THE TREATY OF AMIENS._]

At last on March 8 Napoleon agreed that no important difference
remained, and urged his brother to conclude the treaty. A little more
time was wasted in providing for a temporary occupation of Malta by
Neapolitan troops, and a more marked division of opinion arose as to the
compensation for the Prince of Orange. In spite of instructions to the
contrary from Hawkesbury, Cornwallis accepted an engagement on the part
of France to find a compensation, not defined, for the house of Nassau,
instead of charging it on the Dutch government; and the treaty was
finally concluded on March 25. It was signed by Great Britain, France,
Spain, and the Batavian republic, while the Porte was admitted as an
accessory power. It differed from the preliminary convention in no
important respect, except in the illusory safeguards for the claims of
the Prince of Orange, the secret arrangement for evading the cost of the
French prisoners, and the provisions concerning Malta, pregnant with the
seeds of future enmity. These provisions were as follows: Malta was to
be restored to the knights of St. John, from whose order both French and
British were hereafter to be excluded. The evacuation was to take place
within three months of the ratification of the treaty, or sooner if
possible. At that date Malta was to be given up, provided the grand
master or commissaries of the order were present, and provided the
Neapolitan garrison had arrived. Its independence was to be under the
guarantee of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia.
Two thousand Neapolitan troops were to occupy it for one year, and until
the order should have raised a force sufficient