ABSTRACT
The Addington Government had great good fortune in the character of the war-news that came in during the first months of its existence. It reaped, to begin with, the benefits of the remarkable success that attended the operations of the powerful armament, collected by the William Pitt Government, to bring the Armed Neutrality to “reason”. The British diplomatic position was further improved by almost every event of the summer. The First Consul seems to have hoped against hope that the mediocre British Ministry would flinch before the necessity of taking the last irrevocable steps toward war. On June 17th, for example, was signed a treaty at St. Petersburg dissolving the Armed Neutrality; in mid-August it already seemed certain that England would enjoy, perhaps, the most abundant harvest ever known; and in September news arrived in France of the capitulation of the last French forces in Egypt.
