annulled." The concluding words of this passage are, it is true, not borne out by the experience of the Treaty of Versailles, nor generally by the modern practice in such matters, but it expounds a theory which appeared to the writer to be reasonable and just, and to which, as we conceive, there would be no difficulty in giving practical efficacy.

But, indeed, the Treaty of Amiens affords an instance, and a remarkable instance, of the adoption of the principle laid down by the Comte de Garden. It may be interesting to note the formalities which, out of deference to parliamentary authority, some remnants of which survived, even in those days, marked the proceedings in this case.

The king in his speech on opening Parliament, referring to the preliminaries said-" Copies of the papers will be forthwith laid before you, and I earnestly hope that the transactions to which they refer will meet with the approbation of my Parliament." The Lords in their Address thanked His Majesty for the promised papers, and assured him that "they would with the utmost diligence take them into their most serious attention; "-the Commons on their part declared that they "would not fail to apply their immediate attention to the transactions to which they related." On the motion of the Ministry the 3rd November, 1801, was fixed for taking the subject into consideration in both Houses, when addresses were moved which led to long discussions, in which all the details were closely scrutinized.

The Definitive Treaty was negociated at Amiens, where it was signed on the 25th March, 1802. It

differed from the preliminaries in many important particulars, being mostly those which had been already the subjects of discussion in Parliament. The following are some of the principal points in which the two treaties differed. In regard to the Cape of Good Hope, the Preliminary Treaty, Art. 3, provided that "the Port and Cape of Good Hope shall be open to the commerce and navigation of the two contracting parties (Great Britain and France), who shall enjoy therein equal advantages." The Definitive Treaty between France, Spain, the Batavian Republic, and Great Britain stipulated that "the ships of every kind belonging to the other contracting parties shall be allowed to enter the said ports, and there to purchase what provisions they may stand in need of as heretofore, without being liable to pay any other imposts than such as the Batavian Republic compels the ships of its own nation to pay." In regard to Malta the Preliminary Treaty stipulated that "for the purpose of rendering this Island completely independent of the two contracting parties, it shall be placed under the guarantee and protection of a third power to be agreed upon in the Definitive Treaty." The Definitive stipulates (Art. 6) that "the independence of the Islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, as well as the present arrangement (making provision for their government under the Knights of the Order) shall be placed under the protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia." By Art. 12, Sicily was invited to furnish 2000 men to garrison the above places for one year, after the

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Errors of Modern Diplomacy.

restoration of the Knights of Malta, or, if the Knights should not then be prepared, "until they shall be replaced by a force deemed sufficient by the great powers." It was added that the ports should be open to all nations. There are several discrepancies between the two Treaties in what related to the payment of the charges on prisoners on either side, and to restitutions to be made to Portugal. There was also an article added in the Definitive Treaty (Art. 18), stipulating for the indemnification of the House of Orange for losses which they had sustained. Finally another additional Article (19) in the Definitive Treaty declared the Treaty common to the Sultan of Turkey, who was to be invited to accede to it; and who accordingly sent in his adhesion to it on the 13th May, 1802. De Koch in his history of the negociations describes several other changes and additions which were proposed, some by Prince Jerome Bonaparte, who attended as the Plenipotentiary for France, but which were not agreed to.

Lord Hawkesbury, in laying the Definitive Treaty on the table of the House of Commons, on the 29th of May, said, "it was the wish of Ministers to adhere to the usage observed on former occasions of this kind, and as there was no instance where any proceeding had been instituted respecting a definitive treaty, after a preliminary treaty had received the approbation of the House. He was aware, however, that it was competent to every member to bring the subject under the consideration of the House, on the ground of a specific objection to any part of it; of it being inconsistent

with the preliminaries, or of any change of circumstances, and to submit a regular motion on the subject." Mr. Windham said that he would, on Monday, shortly state the reasons which would induce him to move "that the Definitive Treaty be taken into consideration on a future day;" and Lord Grenville gave a similar notice in the House of Lords. In the Commons, on May 3rd, Mr. Windham, after a long speech, in which he discussed the provisions of the Treaty, and more particularly the alterations contained in it, moved that the House would take it into consideration on the 18th instant. Mr. Addington said that "delay might be productive of very great inconvenience, and that of keeping the minds of the people in suspense was not a slight one," and proposed that the Treaty be considered on the 11th instead of the 18th instant; which was agreed to. In the Lords the discussion was fixed for the 13th May. There were divisions in both Houses, in the result of which the Treaty was approved of by large majorities.

The Treaty of Amiens was the last of which preliminaries, in the strict sense of the term, laid before Parliament. The first Treaty of Paris, (Definitive), was signed on the 30th May, 1814, and laid before both Houses of Parliament on the 6th June, when days were fixed for its being taken into consideration. In point of fact, however, this treaty was nothing else than a preliminary treaty, laying down the general principles upon which definitive arrangements were afterwards to be made. Article 32 provided that "within a period of two

months all the powers who had been engaged on both sides in the present war should send plenipotentiaries to Vienna, in order to regulate, in a general congress, the arrangements necessary for completing the dispositions of the present treaty.” The opinion of Parliament which was often expressed between the signing of this treaty and that of the Definitive Treaty of Paris, which took place eighteen months afterwards, was not without effect upon the result. For instance, in the debates on the Treaty in both Houses of Parliament, very strong animadversions were expressed upon the unsatisfactory manner in which the question of the abolition of the slave trade had been treated, being disposed of in a separate Article between Great Britain and France, in which both powers agreed to use their best exertions to obtain the universal recognition of the principle, the latter undertaking to abolish the trade amongst her own subjects within a period of five years. In the House of Lords, Lord Grenville, after some forcible and indignant remarks on the subject, "hoped there might yet be some mode in which Parliament and their Lordships might act in pursuance of their unanimous resolutions with a view to the attainment of their object." In the Commons, Mr. Wilberforce moved an amendment to the Address, on the Treaty declaring that the House "relied on the known justice and humanity of the Prince Regent to give the fullest effect which the circumstances of the negociations may allow to the wishes so repeatedly declared by it for the abolition of the slave trade;" which amendment