, in the judgment of the
guaranteeing powers, for the defence of the islands.[3]

On October 29, 1801, parliament was opened with a speech from the throne
briefly announcing the conclusion of a convention with the northern
powers, and of preliminaries of peace with the French republic. General
Lauriston, bearing the ratification of the preliminaries by the first
consul, had reached London on the 10th, when he was received by the
populace with tumultuous demonstrations of joy. Soon afterwards the
"feast of the peace" was celebrated in Paris with equal enthusiasm.
Short-lived as they proved to be, these pacific sentiments were
doubtless genuine on both sides of the channel. The industrial, though
not the military, resources of France were exhausted by her prodigious
efforts during the last eight years; while England, suffering grievously
from distress among the working-classes and financial difficulties,
welcomed the prospect of cheaper provisions and easier times, as well as
of emerging from the political difficulties originating in the French
revolution.

The preliminary treaty, however, did not escape hostile criticism in
either house of parliament. It was the subject of discussion in the
lords on November 3, and in the commons on the 3rd and 4th. Its most
strenuous assailants were Lord Grenville, who had been foreign secretary
under Pitt, and the whigs who had joined Pitt's ministry in 1794, among
whom Lords Spencer and Fitzwilliam and above all Windham call for
special notice. Windham's powerful and comprehensive speech contained
more than one shrewd forecast of the future. For once, Pitt and Fox
supported the same measure, and Pitt, dwelling on _security_ as our
grand object in the war, specially deprecated any attempt on the part of
Great Britain "to settle the affairs of the continent". Fox, in
advocating peace, fiercely denounced the war against the French
republic, and gloated over the discomfiture of the Bourbons.[4] It was
admitted on all sides that France was stronger than ever in a military
and political sense. She had already made treaties with Austria, Naples,
Spain, and Portugal; other treaties with Russia and Turkey were on the
point of being signed; while the still more important concordat with the
pope was already ratified. On the other hand, Great Britain had largely
increased her colonial possessions, and the chief question now discussed
was whether she would be the weaker for abandoning some of the