Too much stress has been laid upon this incident, so characteristic of Napoleon's studied impetuosity. Little more than a fortnight later he received the British ambassador with courtesy. Overtures now succeeded overtures, and much was expected on both sides from the influence of the Tsar Alexander, to whom France suggested that Malta might be ceded.[12] At the last moment, a somewhat more conciliatory disposition was shown by the French diplomatists; and the British government was blamed by its opponents, alike for having failed to break off the negotiations earlier on the broadest grounds, and for breaking them off too abruptly on grounds of doubtful validity. But we now see that national enmity, fostered by the press on both sides, rendered friendly relations impossible, and that, even had Napoleon been willing to refrain from aggressions, peace was impossible. On May 12, two months after the king's message, Whitworth, having presented an ultimatum, finally quitted Paris. A few days later an order was issued for the detention of all British subjects then resident in France, and justified on the ground that French seamen (but not passengers) were liable to capture at sea. On June 10 Talleyrand announced the occupation of Hanover and the treatment as enemies of Hanoverian soldiers serving under the King of Great Britain. Meanwhile, on May 16, the rupture of peaceful relations was announced to both houses of parliament; on May 18 war was declared, and in June volunteers were already mustering to resist invasion. FOOTNOTES: [1] So Vansittart himself, in Pellew, _Life of Sidmouth_, i., 371. Southey and Captain Mahan have erroneously supposed that Vansittart accompanied the naval expedition and was sent by Parker in the frigate from the Skaw. [2] _Annual Register_, xliii. (1801), chapter i. The average price of wheat in 1800 was 112s. 8d. the quarter, whereas the highest annual average in the half century before the war had been 64s. 6d. On March 5, 1801, the price of the quartern loaf stood as high as 1s. 10½d. On July 23 it was still 1s. 8d. The harvest of this year was, however, an excellent one. The price fell rapidly during August, and by November 12 was as low as 10½d. [3] Cornwallis, _Correspondence_, iii., 382-487. [4] In a letter to Charles Carey, dated October 22, Fox went the length of expressing extreme pleasure in the triumph of the French government over the English (_Memorials of C. J. Fox_, iii., 349). [5] Malmesbury, _Diaries_, iv., 60, 62. [6] Lecky, _History Of Ireland_, v., 465. [7] Lanfrey, _Napoleon I._ (English edition), ii., 202; Pellew, _Life of Sidmouth_, ii., 164. [8] Browning, _England and Napoleon in 1803_, pp. 1-6. [9] Browning, _ibid._, pp. 6-10. [10] See especially Hawkesbury's despatch in Browning, _ibid._, pp. 65-68, and Whitworth's despatches, _ibid._, pp. 73-75, 78-85. [11] Whitworth's despatch of March 14, in Browning, _England and Napoleon_, p. 116. [12] Browning, _England and Napoleon_, p. 218.