Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==Prelude==
[[File:Battle of zurich.jpg|thumb|French victory over the Austrians and Russians at the [[Second Battle of Zurich|Second Battle of Zürich]]]]
Britain was irritated by several French actions following the [[Treaty of Amiens]]. Bonaparte annexed [[Piedmont]] and [[Elba]], made himself President of the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Italian Republic]], a state in northern Italy that France had set up, and failed to evacuate [[Batavian Republic|Holland]], as it had agreed to do in the treaty. France then continued to interfere with British trade despite peace having been made and complained about Britain harbouring certain individuals and not cracking down on the anti-French press.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=220–222}}

[[Malta Protectorate|Malta]] was captured by Britain during the war and was subject to a complex arrangement in the 10th article of the Treaty of Amiens, where it was to be restored to the [[Knights of St. John]] with a Neapolitan garrison and placed under the guarantee of third powers. The weakening of the Knights of St. John by the confiscation of their assets in France and Spain along with delays in obtaining guarantees prevented the British from evacuating it after three months as stipulated in the treaty.{{sfn|Adams|1805|p=239}}

[[File:Philip James de Loutherbourg - The Battle of Alexandria, 21 March 1801 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Battle of Alexandria (painting)|The Battle of Alexandria]]''. The British victory over the French at the [[Battle of Alexandria (1801)|Battle of Alexandria]], resulted in the end of [[Napoleon]]'s military presence in Egypt.]]
The [[Helvetic Republic]] was set up by France when it [[French invasion of Switzerland|invaded Switzerland in 1798]]. France had withdrawn its troops, but [[Stecklikrieg|violent strife broke out against the government]], which many Swiss saw as overly centralised. Bonaparte reoccupied the country in October 1802 and [[Act of Mediation|imposed a compromise settlement]]. This caused widespread outrage in Britain, which protested that this was a violation of the Treaty of Lunéville. Although continental powers were unprepared to act, the British decided to send an agent to help the Swiss obtain supplies, and also ordered their military not to return [[Cape Colony]] to Holland as they had committed to do in the Treaty of Amiens.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=248–252}}

Swiss resistance collapsed before anything could be accomplished, and, after a month, Britain countermanded the orders to not restore Cape Colony. At the same time, Russia finally joined the guarantee regarding Malta. Concerned that there would be hostilities when Bonaparte found out that Cape Colony had been [[Battle of Muizenberg|retained]], the British began to procrastinate on the evacuation of Malta.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=252–258}} In January 1803, a government paper in France published a report from a commercial agent which noted the ease with which [[Egypt Eyalet|Egypt]] could be conquered. The British seized on this to demand satisfaction and security before evacuating Malta, which was a convenient stepping stone to Egypt. France disclaimed any desire to seize Egypt and asked what sort of satisfaction was required, but the British were unable to give a response.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=258–264}} There was still no thought of going to war; Prime Minister [[Henry Addington]] publicly affirmed that Britain was in a state of peace.{{sfn|Adams|1805|p=265}}

In early March 1803, the [[Addington ministry]] received word that Cape Colony had been [[Battle of Blaauwberg|reoccupied]] by the British army, in accordance with the orders which had subsequently been countermanded. On 8 March they ordered military preparations to guard against possible French retaliation and justified them by falsely claiming that it was only in response to French preparations and that they were conducting serious negotiations with France. In a few days, it was known that Cape Colony had been surrendered in accordance with the counter-orders, but it was too late. Bonaparte berated the British ambassador in front of 200 spectators over the military preparations.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=264–268}}

The Addington ministry realised they would face an inquiry over their false reasons for the military preparations, and during April unsuccessfully attempted to secure the support of [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] to shield them from damage.{{sfn|Adams|1805|p=277}} In the same month, the ministry issued an ultimatum to France, demanding a retention of Malta for at least ten years, the permanent acquisition of the island of [[Lampedusa]] from the Kingdom of Sicily, and the evacuation of Holland. They also offered to recognise French gains in Italy if they evacuated Switzerland and compensated the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|King of Sardinia]] for his territorial losses. France offered to place Malta in the hands of Russia to satisfy British concerns, pull out of Holland when Malta was evacuated, and form a convention to give satisfaction to Britain on other issues. The British falsely denied that Russia had made an offer, and their ambassador left Paris.{{sfn|Adams|1805|pp=268–278}} Desperate to avoid a war, Bonaparte sent a secret offer where he agreed to let Britain retain Malta if France could occupy the [[Otranto]] peninsula in Naples.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahan |first=A.T. |url=https://archive.org/stream/influenceofsea02maha#page/106/mode/1up |title=The influence of sea power on the French Revolution and Empire |year=1892 |volume=II |pages=106–107}}</ref> All efforts were futile, and Britain declared war on 18 May 1803.