Meanwhile the first overtures for peace were exchanged between Paris, London, and St. Petersburg.  In the spring of 1806 there seemed some ground for hope that Europe might find repose, at least on land, after fourteen years of almost constant war.  France was no longer Jacobinical.  Under Napoleon she had quickly fallen into line with the monarchical States, and the questions now at stake merely related to boundaries and the balance of power.  The bellicose ardour of the Czar had melted away at Austerlitz.  The seizure of Hanover by Prussia moved him but little, and he sought to compose the resulting strife.  As for the other Powers, they were either helpless or torpid.  The King of Sweden was venting his spleen upon Prussia.  Italy, South Germany, Holland, and Spain were at Napoleon’s beck; and the policy of England under the new Grenville-Fox Ministry inclined strongly towards peace.  There seemed, then, every chance of founding the supremacy of France upon lasting foundations, if the claims of Britain and Austria received reasonable satisfaction.  Napoleon also seems to have wanted peace for the consolidation of his power in Europe and the extension of his colonies and commerce.  As at the close of all his land campaigns, his thoughts turned to the East, and on January 31st, 1806, he issued orders to Decres which, far from showing any despair as to the French navy, foreshadowed a vigorous naval and colonial policy; while his moves on the Dalmatian coast, and the despatch of Sebastiani on a mission to the Porte, revealed the magnetic attraction which the Levant still had for him.

A peculiar interest therefore attaches to the negotiations for peace in 1806, especially as they were pushed on by that generous orator, Fox, who had so long pleaded for a good understanding with France.  On February 20th, 1806, he disclosed to Talleyrand the details of a supposed plot for the murder of the French Emperor, which some person had proposed to him, an offer which he rejected with horror, at the same time ordering the man to be expelled from the kingdom.  It is more than probable that the whole thing was got up by the French police as a test of the esteem which Fox had always expressed for Bonaparte.

The experiment having turned out well, Talleyrand assured Fox of the pacific desires of the French Emperor as recently stated to the Corps Legislatif, namely, that peace could be had on the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.  Fox at once clasped the outstretched hand, but stated that the negotiations must be in concert with Russia, and the treaty such as our allies could honourably accept.  To this Talleyrand, on April 1st, gave a partial assent, adding that Napoleon was convinced that the rupture of the Peace of Amiens was due solely to the refusal of France to grant a treaty of commerce.  France and England could now come to satisfactory terms, if England would be content with the sovereignty of the seas, and not interfere with Continental affairs.[78] France desired, not a truce, but a durable peace.