The Treaty of Amiens: Conclusion and Implementation

The Treaty of Amiens was the definitive peace treaty concluded in 1802 between Britain, France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic. Its preamble referred back to the preliminary articles agreed in London on October 1, 1801, under which the governments were to send plenipotentiaries to Amiens to draw up a final text with the relevant allies. The preliminary settlement and definitive treaty were thus connected but distinct stages.

Britain was represented by the Marquess Cornwallis, France by Joseph Bonaparte, Spain by José Nicolás de Azara, and the Batavian Republic by Schimmelpenninck. The text states that they presented their full powers to one another; France did not formally sign on behalf of all its allies. Hawkesbury’s notice attached to the London edition of 1802 states that the four parties’ representatives signed the treaty at Amiens on March 27 and that its bearer subsequently reached Britain.

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Article XXII required the parties to ratify within thirty days, or sooner if possible, and exchange ratifications in Paris. Drawing on the collection of French decrees, Destouches dates that exchange to April 18, 1802. Signature in March, the exchange of ratifications in April, and completion of the various handovers therefore cannot be collapsed into a single day.

Nor did the treaty require every overseas position to change hands simultaneously after signature. Article XII set deadlines according to distance: evacuations, cessions, and restitutions were generally to be completed within one month of ratification in Europe, three months in the Americas and Africa, and six months in Asia, unless special provisions applied. The articles on Malta and prisoners of war expressly counted from the exchange of ratifications. A period of implementation thus separated the establishment of treaty obligations from actual colonial handovers.

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Articles III–V required Britain in principle to restore colonies and dependencies captured from France and its allies, while retaining Trinidad and the settlements in Ceylon formerly belonging to the Dutch or the Dutch East India Company. Spain ceded Trinidad; the Batavian Republic ceded the former Dutch possessions and settlements in Ceylon. The provisions concerned the formerly Dutch parts and do not establish that all the island’s inhabitants and territory were already under a single British administration.

The Cape of Good Hope remained with the Batavian Republic but was to be open to vessels of the other contracting parties for calls and supplies, with charges assessed on the same basis as for domestic vessels. In the Mediterranean, Article XI required French evacuation of the Kingdom of Naples and Roman territory, and British evacuation of Portoferraio and the other ports and islands they occupied in the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

These arrangements concerned sea routes and supply conditions as well as the reestablishment of government in occupied territories. The treaty specified recipients of restitutions, tariff treatment, and withdrawal deadlines, but those rules alone cannot establish that every port and colony was handed over on time.

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Article X created a separate system for Malta, Gozo, and Comino. The islands were to be restored to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which would no longer have French or British langues and would instead acquire a Maltese langue. At least half the municipal, administrative, judicial, and other local offices were to be held by island residents, while at least half the garrison would be Maltese, with local troops commanded by local officers.

British troops were to withdraw within three months of the exchange of ratifications, but handover also depended on the presence of the Grand Master or an authorized representative and the arrival of troops supplied by the king of Sicily. He was invited to provide 2,000 men for an initial year; their stay could be extended if the Order still lacked sufficient defensive forces. These conditions made withdrawal dependent on cooperation among several parties, rather than a unilateral announcement.

The treaty declared the islands neutral and envisaged protection and guarantees by Britain, France, Austria, Spain, Russia, Prussia, and the other relevant powers, which were to be invited to join the arrangement. Ports were in principle to be open to all nations on equal and moderate terms, but the provisions retained an exception for the North African states then at war with the Order.

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Article II required prisoners of war and hostages to be released without ransom within six weeks of the exchange of ratifications. It also addressed debts incurred in captivity and provided for a special commission to settle the countries’ advances for maintaining prisoners. Article XIII gave inhabitants of ceded territories three years to dispose of property, protected religious practice and enjoyment of property during that period, and prohibited proceedings against residents solely for their political conduct during the war. Implementing peace therefore required accounting, courts, and local administration.

Restoration of former colonial sovereignty did not mean a general expansion of freedom. Destouches notes that the return of Martinique and Saint Lucia gave France an opportunity to reorganize colonial administration. Regulations in May 1802 established new local leadership structures, while a law on the colonial system that same month maintained or reestablished slavery and expanded the government’s power to govern colonies by executive order. These social consequences arose from subsequent legislation and governing practices; they cannot be presented as explicit provisions of the Treaty of Amiens.

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Callister’s study of Anglo-Dutch relations argues that Britain did not understand the treaty as a permanent withdrawal from European affairs. Instead, it hoped gradually to restrict French influence through restored diplomatic relations. Its insistence that the Batavian Republic negotiate independently was related to that expectation, while France was unwilling to relinquish its effective control over the Netherlands.

By 1803, British forces still occupied Malta. Britain demanded the right to retain a garrison for ten years and linked the question to disputes over French withdrawal from the Netherlands and Switzerland. The parties tied disagreements over implementation in different regions together, and negotiations failed to save the peace. Britain declared war on France on May 18. Amiens remained an attempt at peace with specific exchanges and institutional designs that failed to stabilize the European balance of power.

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