March of 1802 was when the Treaty of Amiens was signed, ending the French Revolutionary War and heralding the start of a 14-month period of peace known as the Peace of Amiens. This would have impacted towns along the Kent Coast because open trade across the Channel would have restarted after nine years of war. Vessels carrying cargoes and people across the English Channel would have been able to do so without fear of being seized by privateers or Naval forces.
Sadly, it was all to end when what is commonly known as the Napoleonic War broke out in May of 1803. The situation was exacerbated by the Orders in Council in 1807, themselves the British retaliation to a French embargo, which led to an explosion in smuggling all along the south coast, in which fortunes were made by those involved in it.