destroyed some gun-boats; but a subsequent attack on the
flotilla in the harbour failed. During this year the islands of St.
Martin and St. Eustatius were reduced; while in the east, the Batavian
settlement of Ternate, the principal of the Molucca islands, surrendered
to the British, under Captain Haynes.

TREATY OF AMIENS.

Many circumstances rendered the first consul at this time really
desirous for some short suspension of hostilities with England.
Preliminaries were agreed to on the 1st of October, and in the month
of November the Marquis Cornwallis went over to France as ambassador
plenipotentiary. He was received with great joy by many of the
Parisians, who were equally desirous of peace, as were many of the
English nation. From Paris, his lordship repaired to Amiens, the place
appointed for holding the conferences; and, after much angry discussion,
on the 2nd of March, 1802, a definitive treaty of peace was signed. By
this treaty, England agreed to restore all the acquisitions made during
the war, except the island of Trinidad, and the Dutch possessions in
Ceylon: the Cape of Good Hope was to be given back to the Dutch as a
free port: the Porte was to be preserved in its integrity; France was to
recognise the republic of the seven islands; apart of Portuguese Guiana
was given up to France by a new adjustment of boundaries; and the Prince
of Orange was to receive compensation for the loss of property and
power. "Thus," it has been remarked, "ended the first act of the
revolutionary war, though most persons thought the whole concluded,
fancying that the chief ruler of France would find his real interest in
the preservation of peace; and relying on his repeated declaration
of regret, that the two first nations of the world should waste their
resources and the blood of their people in enmity. Some persons,
however, took a different view of the subject, seeing neither indemnity
for the past, nor security for the future in the restitution of all
our colonial conquest, and in the recognition of that gigantic plan of
continental sovereignty which had been conceived by the first founders
of the French republic, and pursued with unremitting diligence by its
successive rulers."

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1802}

Parliament met in the autumn of 1801; but the chief business done before
the Christmas recess was to debate on the preliminaries of the peace of
Amiens; some defending--and among them Pitt hims