The Peace of Amiens
Mary Jo
Most Regency readers and writers are generally aware of the Peace of Amiens, a 15 month period of peace from March 1802 until May 1803. It's the marker between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and was the only period of general peace in Europe until 1814, when Napoleon abdicated his throne. (1815 was when he returned from exile, reigned for the Hundred Days, and was responsible for the slaughter of masses of men at Waterloo.)
The Treaty of Amiens had a lot of provisions about returning conquered territories and economic issues. In practice, both Britain and France broke most of the terms of the treaty and got busy re-arming for what everyone rightly assumed would be a renewal of hostilities. Napoleon was busily rearranging the face of Europe and saying that Britain had no voice in European affairs and their opinions didn't count.
Britain has always had a certain ambivalence about whether or not the nation is part of Europe, but they did not appreciate being told they had no seat at the table. So as one does, Britain refused to remove troops from Egypt, Malta, and the Cape Colony. (The picture above left is the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of grandest sights of the city.)
Britain declared war first in May 1803. Napoleon was annoyed because he'd apparently intended to declare war in September when he'd be better prepared and the British were not following his timeline. Just before the peace ended, Napoleon offered the surprised American ambassador in Paris the Louisiana Territory, doubling the size of the United States, for the bargain price of $15 million dollars. France could use the money, and Napoleon wanted to keep the vast territory out of British hands.
The political events are relevant to the story I'm researching, but the social ones are far more interesting. Paris had always been the cultural and fashion center of Europe, and Britons had always been inveterate travelers. Young gentlemen were sent on Grand Tours of the Continent to acquire polish and maybe buy European art and artifacts to ship home. Grand Tours could visit any of the great cities of the Continent: Rome, Athens, Berlin, Florence, and more, but Paris was always on the itinerary.
There was nowhere near as much traffic in the other direction because once travelers reached London, there wasn't much beyond except Ireland, sea gulls and a long voyage to Boston. So when the Peace of Amiens began, masses of Britons headed over the Channel. The astronomer William Herschel, discoverer of the planet Uranus, came to Paris to confer with his French colleagues. Artists like Turner came to study art and fill notebooks with sketches. And it wasn't only the British who came. Russians, Germans, and more came to shop till they dropped. Paris was the place to be! (Picture on left is Westminster Abbey, a grand London sight.)
Martin Lewis, author of the very interesting Napoleon and His British Captives, says that close to a third of the British House of Lords came to Paris during this period: five dukes, three marquesses, thirty-seven earls and countesses, eight viscounts, seventeen barons, and forty-one elder sons and other heirs.
Any visitors who was paying attention realized it was just a matter of time before hostilities resumed, and the smart ones returned home before that happened. But others didn't recognize the potential dangers and lingered too long.
I got a whole book out of this scenario. In No Longer a Gentleman, the hero, Wyndham, was one of those heirs to an earl. He was a golden haired charmer who never met a problem he couldn't talk his way out of until he was caught in bed with a high official's wife and ended in a private dungeon for the next ten years, which improved his character if not his temper.
But while his situation was my invention, on May 23 Napoleon issued an order detaining every British male between the age of 18 and 60 on the grounds that they could potentially join the militia if they returned to Britain. The men were first called hostages and later detainees, and in an era when birth certificates were virtually unknown so travelers had no written proof of age, French soldiers felt free to arrest well grown young teenagers and healthy men over 60.
As one might expect, the detaining order created a great deal of chaos and confusion. A number of Britons were arrested in Calais before they could cross the Channel. Some men were captured but managed to slip away. A few of the very rich and influential managed to buy their way back home.
I believe that at one point Napoleon claimed that 10,000 Britons were detained, though the real number was probably around a thousand. But detained they were and would stay. A man turning 60 was not sent home. Also, in previous military engagements, clergy and medical people were usually exempt from captivity. This time Napoleon's soldiers seized them all. The gentlemanly rules of honor that had governed earlier wars were forever dead. (The portrait of Napoleon on the left is by Jacques-Louis David.)
The French city of Verdun was the designated place for them to live, and a British community developed there with all the services a gentleman needed to live comfortably with his family. Some less wealthy Britons were content to stay in France because the cost of living was lower and they were quite comfortable in Verdun. Which is fortunate since the detainees were not released to return home until 1814, when Napoleon abdicated the throne of France and the wars were over, except for Waterloo a year in the future.
The detention of civilians was a footnote to vast changes and damages wrought by the Napoleonic wars, but as I said, their situation was interesting, and one of the events that changed warfare forever.
And writer that I am, I intend to make use of this interlude and the collapse into war!
Mary Jo