have not been used; and that for the future, what has been observed, and ought to be observed, with regard to, and on the part of powers who are in the practice and possession of giving and receiving copies of like treaties in any other language, shall be conformed with; the present treaty having, nevertheless, the same force and virtue as if the aforesaid practice had been therein observed.

In witness whereof, we the underwritten plenipotentiaries of his Britannic majesty, of the French republic, of his catholic majesty, and of the Batavian republic, have signed the present separate article, and have caused our respective seals to be affixed thereto. Done at Amiens, the 27th day of March, 1802, the 6th Germinal, year 10 of the French republic.

(L. S.)

Cornwallis.

Joseph Bonaparte.

J. Nicholas De Azara.
R. J. Schimmelpenninck.

Separate Convention between France and the Batavian Republic, explanatory of the 18th Article of the Definitive Treaty between France, Spain, and Holland, on the one Part, and Great Britain on the other Part.

The undersigned plenipotentiary of the French republic declares, conformably to existing stipulations between the French and Batavian republics, and in virtue of special instructions with which he is furnished to that effect on the part of his government,

that it is understood that the indemnity stipulated in favor of the house of Nassau, in the 18th article of the present treaty, shall not, upon any account, or in any manner, be at the charge of the Batavian republic; the French government being guaranteed to this effect towards the said republic.

The undersigned plenipotentiary of the Batavian republic, in the name of his government, accepts the above declaration, as explanatory of the aforesaid 18th-article of the definitive treaty, signed this day by the plenipotentiaries of the four contracting powers.

The present act shall be presented at the ratifica tion of the two respective governments, and the ratifications exchanged in due form.

Done at Amiens, March 27th.

(Signed)

J. Bonaparte.

R. J. Schimmelpenninck.

CHAP. VIII.

Inordinate Views of Bonaparte.---Continental Changes effected by him.---Gives Uneasiness to the British Ministry.---Designs of the First Consul on the French Colonies in the West Indies.---Ostensible Cause of the second Rupture with France. Recal of the British Ambassador.--- War declared.

IT was not till after the peace of Amiens, that Bonaparte developed that restless disposition which has since formed a striking feature in the character of this extraordinary man. Secure in the exercise of the chief consulate, which was confirmed to him for ten years, and shortly afterwards for life, he assumed an air of state, and evinced a despotism in his conduct, utterly inconsistent with the principles of republicanism; and further to aggranize his power, he fomented divisions amongst his less powerful neighbors, in order that by appearing to espouse the cause of one party, he might embrace the opportunity of bending the whole beneath his iron yoke.Under this impression, he cast his eyes on Switzerland; and quickly found an excuse for marching large bodies of troops into that republic, as well as the Pays de Vaud and the Valois. It was in vain the disinterested and patriotic part of that once free

and happy part of the world, foresaw and wished to avert the storm-in vain even they bled-the day of retribution was come, and at length the tottering vestiges of the liberties of the Swiss were trod to dust beneath the foot of an adventurous tyrant. In fact, a corrupt aristocracy had gradually sapped the foundation of the Swiss republic, and had at length rendered the government a stalking-horse, by which wealthy ignorance might crush the wretch that dared to lament the liberty of his forefathers, or contemplate the future prospect of emancipation.

Bonaparte contrived to become president of the Italian republic, and first commenced his business of king-making, by changing Tuscany into a seat of contemptible royalty. But all his transmutations at this period (and perhaps since) are to be regarded in no other light than as gradual and cautious ascensions on the scale of his own power, liable at any moment to be metamorphosed, should not the first form happen to answer the intended purpose.

Yet, amidst all these continental changes, the British ministry narrowly watched the conduct of the first consul; and as he appeared so anxious to re-mold the rotten governments of Europe to his own fancy, so they manifested an eager desire to interfere, though not one of the changes that had hitherto taken place, affected in the least the interest of Great Britain. It is more than probable, that Mr. Pitt was chagrined at the successful progress of a man whom

he had so materially assisted (against his inclination certainly); and, although he did not figure ostensibly in the character of prime minister, his baleful genius still seemed to preside in the cabinet, and direct the energies of the state towards the total annihilation of that which raised this country so pre-eminently among the nations of the world. In a word, Mr. Addington was a mere good-natured play-thing in the hands of Mr. Pitt; nor did the former seem aware of the consummate hypocrisy of the latter, till the majority of the house of commons drove him from the premiership, the moment Mr. Pitt thought proper again to resume that station, which the circumstances of the times had compelled him reluctantly to resign.

However, Bonaparte did not confine his views to the continent, but cast a longing eye to the burning islands of the Atlantic. In short, the first consul, immediately after the preliminaries were signed by the respective powers, employed the time, which the peace with England had thus given him, to carry those schemes into execution, by which he meant to surround himself with a formidable phalanx, and thus consolidate his colossal power. The recovery of the colonies of St. Domingo and Guadaloupe, which had formerly been of the first importance to France, was, no doubt, a project which, subsequent events sufficiently evinced, had occupied the mind of the supreme ruler of France.

The news of the French revolution no sooner