At London, negotiations were in progress. Mr. Pitt took an active part in them. Lord Hawksbury, who had charge of them, was one of his most intimate friends. On the 1st of October, 1801, Mr. Pitt personally announced the signature of preliminaries to Mr. Long, but recently a member of his cabinet: "I have only a moment to say to you, that the die is cast, and that the preliminaries have been signed. The conditions, without being precisely and in all respects, as one might desire, are certainly very honorable; and taken all in all, very advantageous. I do not expect that our friends will be entirely satisfied, but the great mass of the public will be, I believe, extremely satisfied, and I regard the event as very fortunate for the government and the country." {395} On the 25th of March, 1802, peace was signed at Amiens, between France, England and Spain. All the colonial conquests were restored to France and Holland, with the exception of the Island of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon. Malta was given back to its Knight Templars, and Egypt to the Sublime Porte. The French evacuated the kingdom of Naples and the States of the Church. "It is a peace," said Sir Philip Francis, "which everybody is glad of, though nobody is proud of." The outbursts of popular enthusiasm forced the opposition to accept the peace without a contest. Fox alone was partisan enough to boldly rejoice over the brilliant successes of France. "Some persons complain that we have not attained the end of the war," said he; "assuredly we have not attained it, but this fact only pleases me better than the peace itself." In a letter to Lord Grey, who had reproached him for his imprudence, he wrote: "For the truth is, I am gone something further in hate to the English government than perhaps you and the rest of my friends are, and certainly further than can with prudence be avowed. For the triumph of the French government over the English, does, in fact, afford me a degree of pleasure which it is very difficult to disguise." The peace which had but just been concluded was already tottering. Bonaparte's ambition for conquest, encouraged by the weariness of Europe, increased each day the pretensions of the French government. English travellers crowded to the continent, curious to visit that new France, so long closed to them. Fox was in Paris, and often saw the First Consul, for whom he had conceived the liveliest admiration. Bonaparte one day conducted his illustrious visitor to the Louvre; both stopped in front of a large globe. The General, putting his finger upon the spot occupied by England, sneeringly remarked: "See what a little place you occupy in the world."--Fox's English pride was awakened: "Yes," said he, approaching the globe and attempting to encircle it in his extended arms: "England is a small island, but with her power she girdles the world." The First Consul did not continue the conversation. {396}