England restored
all her conquests; she restored Malta, of which it had been said,
when it was taken by the French, that if there had been nobody in
the fortress, they would never have been able to enter it. In short,
she gave up every thing, and without compensation, to a power which
she had constantly beaten at sea. What an extraordinary effect of
the passion for peace! And yet this man, who had so miraculously
obtained such advantages, had not the patience to make use of them
for a few years, to put the French navy in a state to meet that of
England, Scarcely had the treaty of Amiens been signed, when
Napoleon, by a senatus-consultum, annexed Piedmont to France. During
the twelve months the peace lasted, everyday was marked by some new
proclamation, provoking to a breach of the treaty. The motives of
this conduct it is easy to penetrate; Bonaparte wished to dazzle the
French nation, now by unexpected treaties of peace, at other times
by wars which would make him necessary to it. He believed that a
period of disturbance was favourable to usurpation. The newspapers,
which were instructed to boast of the advantages of peace in the
spring of 1802, said then "We are approaching the moment when
systems of politics will become of no effect." If Bonaparte had
really wished it, he might at that period have easily bestowed
twenty years of peace upon Europe, in the state of terror and ruin
to which it was reduced.
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