The Definitive Treaty of Peace between and his Britannic Majesty and the French Republic, his Catholic Majesty, the Batavian Republic : signed at Amiens the 27th day of March 1802.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, being animated with an equal desire to put an end to the calamities of war, have laid the foundation of peace in the Preliminary Articles signed in London the Ist of 0ctober 1801.
And as by the 15th article of the preliminaries it has been agreed on, “that plenipotentiaries should be named on the part of each government, who should repair to Amiens, and there proceed to arrange a definitive treaty, in concert with the allies of the contracting powers”.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has named the Marquis Cornwallis, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, one of his Majesty's Privy Council, general in his Majesty's army, &c. &c.
The First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, has named as plenipotentiary the citizen Joseph Buonaparte, counsellor of state:
His Majesty the King of Spain and the Indies, and the government of the Batavian Republic, have appointed the following plenipotentiaries, to wit, his Catholic Majesty has named Don Joseph Nicolas d'Azara, his counsellor of state, Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, Ambassador Extraordinary of his Majesty to the French Republic &c. &c.:
And the government of the Batavian republic, Jean Schimmelpennick its Ambassador Extraordinary to the French republic, &c.:
Which said plenipotentiaries having duly communicated to each other their respective Powers, which are transcribed at the conclusion of the present treaty, have agreed the following articles:
Articles 1-3
Art. I. There shall be peace, friendship and good understanding between H. M. the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his heirs and successors, on the one part ; and the French Republic, H.M. the King of Spain, his heirs and successors, and the Batavian Republic, on the other part. The contracting parties shall give the greatest attention to maintain, betxeen themselves and their States, a perfect harmony, and without allowing on either side any kind of hostilities by sea or by land, to be to be commited for any cause or under any pretence whatsoever. They shall carefully avoid everything which might affect the union happily re-established, and thez shall not afford any assistance or prtection, directly or indirectly, to those who should cause prejudice to any of them.
Art.2. All the prisoners taken on either side, as well by land as by sea, and the hostages carried away or given during the war, and to this day, shall be restored without ransom in six weeks at latest, to be computed from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, and on paying the debts which they shall have contracted during their captivity. Each of the contracting parties shall respectively discharge the advances which have been made by any of the contracting parties for the subsistence and maintenance of prisoners in the country where they have been detained. For this purpose a commision shall be appointed by agreement, which shall be specially charged to ascertain and regulate the compensation which may be due to either of the contracting Powers. The time and the place where the Commissioners who shall be charged whith the execution of this Article, shall take into account the expenses occasioned, not only by the prisoners of the respective nations but also by the foreign troops, who, before they were made prisoners, were in the pay, and at the disposal of one of the contracting parties.
Art.3. His Britannic Majesty restores to the French Republic and her allies namely, his Catholic Majesty and the Batavian Republic, all the possessions and colonies which belonged to them repectively, and which had been occupied or conquered by the British forces in the course of the war, with the exception of the island of Trinidad, and of the Dutch possessions in the island of Ceylon.
Articles 4 -9
Art.4. His Catholic Majesty cedes and guarantees, in full right and sovereignty, to his Britannic Majesty, the island of Trinidad .
Art.5. The Batavian Republic cedes and guarantees, in full right and sovereignty, to his Britannic majesty, all the possessions and establishments in the island of Ceylon, which belonged before the war to the Republic of the United Provinces or to their East India Company.
Art.6. The Cape of Good Hope remains in full sovereignty to the Batavian Republic, as it was before the war. The ships of every description belonging to the other contracting parties shall have the right to put in there and to purchase such supplies as they may stand in need of as heretofore without paying any other duties than those to which the ships of the Batavian Republic are subjected
Art.7. The territories and possessions of his most Faithful Majesty are maintained in their integrity, such as they were previous to the commencement of the war. Nevertheless, the limits of French and portuguese Guiana shall be determined by the river Arawari which empties itself into the ocean above Cape North, near the islands Nuovo and Penetentia, about a degree and a third of North latitude. These boundaries shall run along the river Arawari, from its mouth, the most distant from Cape North, to its source, and afterwards on a right line, drawn from that source, to the Rio Brunco, towards the west.
In consequence, the northern bank of the river Arawari, from its said mouth to its source, and the territories that lie to the north of the line of boundaries laid down as above, shall belong in full sovereignty to the French Republic.
The southern bank of the said river, from the same mouth, and all the territories to the south of the said line, shall belong to her most Faithful Majesty.
The navigation of the river Arrowary, along the whole of its course, shall be common to both nations.
The arrangements which have been agreed upon between the courts of Madrid and Lisbon, respecting the settlement of their boundaries in Europe, shall nevertheless be adhered to conformably to the stipulations of the Treaty of Badajos.
Art.8. The territories, possessions and rights of the Ottoman Porte are hereby maintained in their integrity, such as they were previous to the war
Art.9. The Republic of the Seven Islands is hereby acknowledged.
Article 10
Art.10. The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino shall be restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and shall be held by it upon the same conditions on which the Order held them previous to the war, and under the following stipulations :
i. The knights of the Order, whose Langues shall continue to subsist after the exchange of the ratification of the present Treaty, are invited to return to Malta as soon as the exchange shall have taken place. They shall there form a General Chapter and shall proceed to the election of a Grand Master, to be chosen from amongst the natives of those nations which preserve their langues, if no such election shall have been already made since the exchange of the ratifications of the preliminary Articles of Peace. It is understood that an election which shall been made subsequent to that period, shall alone be considered as valid to the exclusion of every other which shall have taken place at any previous to the said period.
ii. The Governments of Great Britain and of the French Republic, being desirous of placing the Order of St. John and island of Malta in a state of entire independence on each of those Power, do agree that there shall be henceforth no English nor French langues, and that no individual belonging to either of the said Powers shall be admissible into the Order.
iii. A Maltese langue shall be established, to be supported out of the land revenues and commercial duties of island. There shall be dignities with appointments, and an Auberge-appropriated to this langue. No proofs of nobility shall be necessary for the admission of knights into the said langue. They shall be competent to hold every office and to enjoy every privilege, in the like manner as the knights of the other langues. The municipal, revenue, civil, judicial and other offices under the government of the island, shall be filled at least in the proportion of one-half by native inhabitants of Malta, Gozo and Comino.
iv. The forces of his Britannic Majesty shall evacuate the island, and its dependencies, within three months after the exchange of the ratifications, or sooner if it can be done. At that period the island shall be delivered up to the Order in the state in which it now is, provided that the Grand Master, or commissioners fully empowered, according to the statutes of the Order, be upon the island to receive possession, and that the force to be furnished by his Sicilian Majesty, as hereafter stipulation, be arrived there.
v. The garrison of the island shall, at all times, consist at least one-half of native Maltese ; and the Order shall have the liberty of recruiting for the remainder of the gariison from the natives of those countries only that shall continue to possess Langues. The native troops shall be officered by Maltese . The commandership in chief of the garrison, as well as the nomination of the officers, shall pertain to the Grand Master, and this right he cannot resign even temporarily, except in favour of a knight, and in concurrence with the advice of the council of the order.
vi.The independence of the isles Malta, Gozo, and Comino, as well as the present arrangement, shall be under the protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain,France, Austria, Russia, Spain and Prussia.
vii. The perpetual neutrality of the Order ,and of the island of Malta and its dependencies, is hereby declared.
viii. The ports of Malta shall be open to the commerce and the navigation of all nations who shall pay equal and moderate duties : these duties shall be applied to the maintenance of the Maltese Langue, as specified in paragraph 3, to that of the civil and military establishments of the island, as well as to that of a general lazaret, open to all colours.
ix. The Barbary States are excepted from the provisions of the two preceding paragraphs until, by means of an arrangement to be made by the contracting parties, the system of hostility which subsists between the said Barbary, States, the Order of St. John, and the Powers possessing the Langue, or taking part in the formation of them, shall be terminated.
x. The order shall be governed, both with respect to spirituals and temporal matters by the same Statutes that were in force at the time when the Knights quitted the island, so far as the same shall not be derogated from by the present Treaty.
xi. The stipulations contained in the paragraphs iii, iv, vii, viii, and x, shall be converted into laws, and perpetual Statutes of the Order, in the customary manner. And the Grand Master (or, if he should not be in the island, at the time of its restitution to the Order, his representative) as well as his successors, shall be bound to make an oath to obverse them punctually.
xii. His Sicilian Majesty shall be invited to furnish 2,000 men, natives of his dominions, to serve as a garrison for several fortresses upon the islands. This force shall remain there for one year from the period of the restitution of the island to the Knights ; after the expiration of which term, if the Order of St. John shall not, in the opinion of the guaranteeing Powers, have raised a sufficient force to garrison the island and its dependencies, as is specified in the 5th paragraph, the Neapolitan troops shall continue there until they shall be replaced by a force deemed sufficient by the said powers.
xiii. The several Powers specified in the paragraph vi, viz., Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Spain and Prussia, shall be invited to accede to the present arrangement.
Articles 11 – 13
Art.11. The French troops shall evacuate the kingdom of Naples and the Roman territory. The English forces shall, in like manner, evacuate Porto Ferrajo, and generally all the ports and islands which they may occupy in the Mediterranean or the Adriatic.
Art.12. The evacuations, cessions and restitutions, stipulated for the present Treaty, except where otherwise expressly provided for, shall take place in Europe within one month, in the continent and seas of America and of Africa within three months, and in the continent and seas of Asia within six months after the ratification of the present definitive Treaty.
Art.13. In all cases of restitution agreed upon by the present Treaty, the fortifications shall be delivered up in the state in which they may have been in at the time of signature of the Preliminary Treaty; and all the works which shall have been constructed since their occupation shall remain untouched.
It is further agreed that in all the cases of cession stipulated, there shall be allowed to the inhabitants, of whatever condition or nation they may be, a term of three years, to be computed from the notification of this present Treaty, for the purpose of disposing of their property acquired and possessed either before or during the war; in which term of three years they may have free exercise of their religion and enjoyment of their property.
The same power is granted in the countries restored to all those, whether inhabitants or other, who shall have made therein any establishments whatsoever during the time that those countries were in the possession of Great Britain.
With respect to the inabitants of the countries restored or ceded, it is agreed that non of them shall be prosecuted, disturbed or molested in their persons or properties, under any pretext, on account of their conduct or political opinions, or of their attachement to any of the contacting Powers, nor on any other account, except that of debts contrcted to individuals, or on account of acts posterior to the present Treaty.
Articles 14 – 16
Art.14. All the sequestrations imposed by any of the parties on the funded property, revenue or debts, of whatever description, belonging to any of the contracting Powers, or to their citizens or subjects, shall be taken off immediately after the signature of this definitive Treaty.
The decision of all claims brought forward by against individuals, subjects or citizens of any of the others, for rights, debts, property or effects whatsoever, which, according to received usages and the law of nations, ought to revive at the period of peace, shall be heard and decided before competent tribunals; and in all cases prompt and ample justice shall be administred in the countries where the claim are made.
Art.15. The fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland, and of the adjacent islands, and in the Gulf of St. Laurence, are replaced on the same footing on which they were previous to the war.
The French fishermen, and the inhabitants of St. Pierre and Miquelon, shall have privilege, of cutting such wood as they may stand in need of, in the bays of Fortune and Despair, forthe the space of one year from the notification of the present Treaty.
Art.16. In order to prevent all causes of complaint and dispute which might arise on account of prizes which may have been made at sea, after the signature of the preliminaty Article, it is reciprocally agreed that the vessels and effects which may have been taken in the British Channel and in the North Seas, after the space of 12 days, to be computed from the exchange of the ratifications of the said preliminary Articles, shall be restored on the each side; and the term shall be one month for the space, from the British Channel and the North Seas, as far as the Canary islands inclusively, whether in the ocean or in the Mediterranean; two months from the said Canary island as far as the equator; and lastly, five months in all other parts of the world, without any exceptions, or more particular description of time or place.
Articles 17- 22
Art.17. The ambassadors, Ministers and other agents of the contracting Powers, shall enjoy respectively in the States of the said powers the same rank, privileges, prerogatives and immunities public agents of the same class enjoyed previous to the war.
Art.18. The branch of the House of Nassau, which was established in the Republic formerly called the Republic of the United Provinces, and now the Batavian Republic, having suffered losses there as well in private property as in consequence of the change of Constitution adopted in that country, an adequate compensation shall be procured for the said branch of the Hous of Nassau for the said losses.
Art.19. The present Definitive Treaty of Peace is declared common to the Sublime Ottoman Porte, the ally of his Britannic Majesty, and the Sublime Porte shall be invited to transmit its at of accession thereto in shortest delay possible.
Art.20. It is agreed that the contracting parties shall, on requisitions made by them respectively, or by their Ministers or persons or officers duly authorized to make the same, deliver up to justice persons accused of crimes of murder, forgery, or fraudulent bankruptcy, committed within the jurisdiction of the requiring party, provided that this shall be done only when the evidence of the criminality shall be so authenticated at that the laws of the country in where the persons so accused shall be found would have justify his apprhension and commitment for trial, if the offence had been there cimmited. The expenses of the arrest and prosecution shall be defrayed by the party making the requisition ; but it is understood that this Article does not regard in any manner crimes of murder, forgery or fraudulent bankruptey, committed antecedently to the conclusion of this defenitive Treaty.
Art. 21. The contracting parties promise to observe sincerely and bona fide all the Articles contained in the present Treaty; and they will not suffer the same to be infrnged, directly or indirectly, by their respective subjects or citizens, and the said contracting parties generally and reciprocally guarantee to each other all the stipulations of the present Treaty.
Art.22. The present treaty shall be ratified by the contracting parties in the 30 days, or sooner if possible, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in due form in Paris.
In testimony whereof, we, the undersigned plenipotentiaries, have signed with our hands, and in virtue of our respective full powers, the present definitive treaty, causing it to be sealed with our respective seals.
Done at Amiens, the 4th Germinal, in the year X (March 25, 1802)
[Signed] Bonaparte.
Cornwallis.
Joseph Bonaparte.
J. Nicolas de Azara.
R.J.Schimmelpennick.
(A correct copy) J. Bonaparte.
The definitive treaty of peace, between His Britannick Majesty, and the French Republick, His Catholick Majesty, the Batavian Republick: signed at Amiens, the 27th of March 1802. Published by authority, London: Printed by A. Strahan, 1802, 19 p
Separate Article
It is agreed that the omission of some titles, which may have taken place in the present Treaty, shall not be prejudicial to the Powers or to the persons concerned.