he month of August, 1802, Bonaparte prohibited the
circulation of the English newspapers, and immediately after the issue
of the order, the coffee houses and reading rooms were visited by his
police, who carried away every English journal upon which they could lay
their hands. By way of answer to English abuse (to which Napoleon was
singularly sensitive), the First Consul now established an English
newspaper in Paris, which was thenceforth unceasingly occupied in
vilifying the Government and people of England. This paper was called
_The Argus_, and an Englishman, one Goldsmith,--whilom proprietor of the
_Albion_ newspaper in London,--was actually found mean enough to
undertake the peculiarly dirty office of its editor.

The _denouement_ was not long delayed. On the 13th of March, 1803,
occurred the extraordinary and well-known scene between the First Consul
and the English ambassador, Lord Whitworth. Bonaparte, in the presence
of a numerous and astonished Court, vehemently accused England of breach
of faith in not carrying out the provisions of the treaty, by still
remaining in possession of Malta. The episode appears to have been of an
extraordinary character, and the violence and ferocity of Bonaparte's
language and behaviour, maintained till the very close of the interview,
must have contrasted strangely with the coolness of the English
ambassador.

The restoration of Malta to the Knights of St. John was of course a mere
nominal restitution, for, except in name, the Knights of St. John had
ceased to exist. The First Consul really wanted the island for himself;
and while he accused us of breach of faith, was himself acting all the
while contrary to the spirit of the treaty of Amiens. While requiring
that we should drive the royalist emigrants from our shores, he demanded
that the English press should be deprived of its liberty of speaking in
such frank terms of himself and his policy. His unfriendly conduct did
not end here. At this very time he was actively employed in fomenting
rebellion in Ireland, and in planting (under the nominal character of
consuls) spies along our coast, whose treacherous objects were
accidentally discovered by the seizure of the secret instructions issued
to one of these fellows at Dublin. "You are required," said this
precious document, "to furnish a plan of the ports of your district,
with a specification of the soundings for mooring vessels. If no plan of
the ports can be procured, you a