officials of Whitehall. Whereas, if he now
acceded to their demand that Malta should be the compensation, he at
once committed that worst of all crimes in a French statesman, of
rendering himself ludicrous. In this respect, then, the scene of March
13th at the Tuileries was indirectly the cause of the bloodiest war that
has desolated Europe.

Napoleon now regarded the outbreak of hostilities as probable, if not
certain. Facts are often more eloquent than diplomatic assurances, and
such facts are not wanting. On March 6th Decaen's expedition had set
sail from Brest for the East Indies with no anticipation of immediate
war. On March 16th a fast brig was sent after him with orders that he
should return with all speed from Pondicherry to the Mauritius.
Napoleon's correspondence also shows that, as early as March 11th,
that is, after hearing of George III.'s message to Parliament, he
expected the outbreak of hostilities: on that day he ordered the
formation of flotillas at Dunkirk and Cherbourg, and sent urgent
messages to the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Spain, inveighing
against England's perfidy. The envoy despatched to St. Petersburg was
specially charged to talk to the Czar on philosophic questions, and to
urge him to free the seas from England's tyranny.

Much as Addington and his colleagues loved peace, they were now
convinced that it was more hazardous than open war. Malta was the only
effectual bar to a French seizure of Egypt or an invasion of Turkey from
the side of Corfu. With Turkey partitioned and Egypt in French hands,
there would be no security against Napoleon's designs on India. The
British forces evacuated the Cape of Good Hope on February 21st, 1803;
they set sail from Alexandria on the 17th of the following month. By the
former act we yielded up to France the sea route to India--for the Dutch
at the Cape were but the tools of the First Consul: by the latter we
left Malta as the sole barrier against a renewed land attack on our
Eastern possessions. The safety of our East Indian possessions was
really at stake, and yet Europe was asked to believe that the question
was whether England would or would not evacuate Malta. This was the
French statement of the case: it was met by the British plea that
France, having declared her acceptance of the principle of compensation
for us, had no cause for objecting to the retention of an island so
vital to our interests.

Yet, while convinced of the immense impo