Amiens 1802: The Phoney Peace

The definitive Peace Treaty signed between Britain and France at Amiens on March 27th, 1802, was welcomed on both sides of the English Channel. London and other towns across Britain were illuminated, and within weeks there were fireworks, feasts, congratulatory addresses, sermons and poems celebrating the return of peace after nine long years of European conflict. More significantly, corn prices came down and income tax was abolished. Since the Treaty of Lunéville of February 1801, between France and Austria, Britain had been left alone to carry the torch of resistance against the Napoleonic war machine. Amiens was nevertheless a phoney peace. Neither government really believed that it was more than a truce; both countries were exhausted and in need of breathing space; and in consequence they each had their own agenda in seeking a pause in the conflict. The agreed peace terms were almost wholly favourable to Napoleon – basically an acceptance of the status quo in Europe – and for this the British government met widespread criticism at home. But, significantly, the renewal of conflict on May 17th, 1803, was orchestrated by Britain from a more favourable situation, putting Napoleon for the first time on the defensive. For this the British prime minister Henry Addington’s new administration, formed in February 1801, deserves more credit than either contemporaries or historians have traditionally given it.