Bonaparte was at St. Cloud when Lord Whitworth left Paris.  A fortnight was spent in useless attempts to renew negotiations.  War, therefore, was the only alternative.  Before he made his final preparations the First Consul addressed a message to the Senate, the Legislative Body, and the Tribunate.  In this message he mentioned the recall of the English Ambassador, the breaking out of hostilities, the unexpected message of the King of England to his Parliament, and the armaments which immediately ensued in the British ports.  “In vain,” he said, “had France tried every means to induce England to abide by the treaty.  She had repelled every overture, and increased the insolence of her demands.  France,” he added, “will not submit to menaces, but will combat for the faith of treaties, and the honour of the French name, confidently trusting that the result of the contest will be such as she has a right to expect from the justice of her cause and the courage of her people.”

This message was dignified, and free from that vein of boasting in which Bonaparte so frequently indulged.  The reply of the Senate was accompanied by a vote of a ship of the line, to be paid for out of the Senatorial salaries.  With his usual address Bonaparte, in acting for himself, spoke in the name of the people, just as he did in the question of the Consulate for life.  But what he then did for his own interests turned to the future interests of the Bourbons.  The very treaty which had just been broken off gave rise to a curious observation.  Bonaparte, though not yet a sovereign, peremptorily required the King of England to renounce the empty title of King of France, which was kept up as if to imply that old pretensions were not yet renounced.  The proposition was acceded to, and to this circumstance was owing the disappearance of the title of King of France from among the titles of the King of England, when the treaty of Paris was concluded on the return of the Bourbons.

The first grievance complained of by England was the prohibition of English merchandise, which had been more rigid since the peace than during the war.  The avowal of Great Britain on this point might well have enabled her to dispense with any other subject of complaint; for the truth is, she was alarmed at the aspect of our internal prosperity, and at the impulse given to our manufactures.  The English Government had hoped to obtain from the First Consul such a commercial treaty as would have proved a death-blow to our rising trade; but Bonaparte opposed this, and from the very circumstance of his refusal he might easily have foreseen the rupture at which he affected to be surprised.  What I state I felt at the time, when I read with great interest all the documents relative to this great dispute between the two rival nations, which eleven years afterwards was decided before the walls of Paris.