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Extract from the Minute-Book of exception or distinction of produce the Office of the Secretary of State. or merchandize.

IV. The captains of ships arriving Palace of Fontainbleau, in the niouth of the Eibe or of the

Nov. 13, 1807. Weser, must make declaration to We, Napoleon, emperor of the the chief officer of the imperial cusFrench, king of Italy, and protector toins on that station, of the place of the confederation of the Rhine, from which they sailed, as well as upon the report of our minister of of those which they touched at; and finance, have decreed, and do de- shall deliver to himn their manisests, cree, as follows:

bills of lading, sea-papers, and reArt. I. The enactments of our gisters. When the captain shall imperial decree of the 6th of Au- have signed this declaration, and degust, 1807, are applicable to the livered up liis papers, the customcargoes of vessels which may arrive house-officer shall interrogate the in the mouth of the Weser; those sailors, one by one, in presence of articles of merchandize, therefore, two head collectors; if it appear, specified in the second article of the from this examination, that the ship said decree, shall be seized and con- has touched at an English port, befiscated ; and all colonial produce side the seizure and confiscation of shall be accompanied by certificates the ship and cargo, the captain, as of origin, delivered by our commer- well as those of the sailors, who, cial commissaries at the different upon their examination, have made ports where they were taken on a false declaration, shall be made board.

prisoners, and shall not be liberated II. Our commercial commissaries till after paying a sum of six thoushall not confine themselves, in their sand francs by way of penalty for the certificates, merely to attest that the captain, and a suin of five hundred colonial produce comes neither from francs for each of the arrested sailors, the colonies of England, nor from in a:Idition to the penalties incurred her commerce; they shall also poiut by those who falsify their sea-papers out the place of their origin, the and registers. papers which have been submitted to V. If the advices and information ihem in support of the declaration communicated to the director of our made to them, and the name of the customs resident at Hamburgh, excite ship on board which they have been suspicions with regard to the origin of originally transported from the place the cargoes, they shall be provisionwhere they were produced to that ally deposited in warehouses, till it where the commissaries reside. They has been ascertained and decided, shall address duplicates of their cer- that they coine neither from Engtificates to the director-general of land nor from her colonies. the customs.

VI. The line of officers of the III. All ships which, after having customs formed upon the Elbe, and touched at any British port on any the frontiers of Holstein, shall be account whatever, shall arrive in the augmented by one hundred men. mouth of the Elbe and of the Weser, The director-general of our customs shall be seized and confiscated, toge: shall give the necessary orders for ther with their cargoes, without any placing overseers detached from that line, at the ports situated on will attend with all solicitude, vigithe mouth of the Weser, and for lance, and activity, in the adminitheir exercising the strictest inspec- stration of justice, distributing the tion of all ships which shall ap- same impartially, and maintaining a proach.

that

rigorous observance of the laws of VII. The inspectors of customs this kingdom. are authorised to make visits, to the They will preserve to the natives isle of Neuwerk, and to the Wats, all the privileges which had been or other little isles situated in the granted to them by me and my royal mouths of the Elbe and Weser. predecessors.

VIII. The commandants of troops The plurality of votes will decide of the line, and of the gens d'ar- on the reports the respective tribumerie, are bound to lend their aid nals may lay before them, regulating to these inspectors, as often as they themselves according to the laws and shall be required to do so by the customs of the kingdom. chief custon-house-officer of the They will direct literary, profesdistrict.

sions, offices of criininal and civil IX. Our ministers of war and of judicature and revenue, accordios finance are charged, each in his own to the forms heretofore practised by department, with the execution of me. this decree.

They will protect the persons and (Signed) Napoleon. properties of my loyal subjects, se

HUGUES B. MARET, lecting for military occupations those

Secretary of State. who may be deemed worthy thereof. (A true copy) GAUDIN,

They will endeavour to preserve Minister of Finance. to their utmost the tranquillity of (A true copy) COLLIN,

this kingdom, to provide for the Director-General of the troops of the emperor of the French Customs.

and king of Italy good quarters, (A true copy) EUDEL,

and to supply thein with every thing -Director of the Customs. they may require during their stay

in this kingdom, averting all and

every ivsult that may be perpetrated, Portugal.- Additional Edictal, or and punishing with rigour any that

Proclamation, issued by the Prince may occur; maintaining always that Regent, previous to his Embarka- good harmony which ought to be tion.

displayed to the armies of nations

with whom we find ourselves united Instructions to which my Royal on the continent.

Decrec of the 27th November, Should it by any occurrence hap1807, bears reference. (See pen, that any of the said governors p. 776.]

are absent, a plurality of votes will The governors whom I was pleas- elect a successor. I trust to your ed to nominate by my royal decree honour and virtue, that my people of this present date, to govern these will not suffer inconveniences during kinzcions during my absence, will my absence; and should it be God's have the usual oxths ainsistered to will that I should return shortly to them by the cardinal patriarch, and my kingdoins, that I may neet every

one care.

one contented and satisfied; that good are passed not for mere plea santry order and tranquillity reigning among and to be broken. The king is not them which should exist among ignorant that measures demanded by subjects who have rendered them- the general welfare often injure the selves so worthy of my paternal personal interest of some of his sub

jects; but the testimony of his conPalace of onr Lady of Ajuda, on science consoles him, having prethe 26th of Nov. 1807.

served as long as possible to his people (Signed) THE PRINCE. the benefits of peace; and having

altered his couduct only at the period

when the most revolting aggressions Danish State Paper. provoked the most vigorous re

sistance against a perfidious enemy. Copenhagen, Dec. 19. (Signed)

« FREDERICK, The merchants at Copenhagen

Prince Royal. presented a petition to the prince, to “ Given at the Head-quarters at authorize, under the superintendance Copenhagen, Nov. 27." of the police, a correspondence with England, relative to the personal affairs of Danish subjects, and to

Imperial Decree. establish a distinction between objects sent on English-account, and Rejoinder to his Britannic Majes those destined to reimburse the Da- ty's Order in Council, Nov. 11, nish merchants. The prince has just 1807.-At our Royal Palace, at sent the following reply:

Milan, Dec, 17, 1807. I must acquaint the trade, that Napoleon, emperor of the French, it is impossible to modify the orders king of Italy, and protector of the contained in the publications of the Rhenish Confederation: gth and 14th of September. The Observing the measures adopted king, in confining 'hinself to the se- by the British government, on the questration of enemy's property, has i1th of November last, by which done all that was in his power to vessels belonging to neutral, friendly, assist those of bis subjects whose for- or ever powers the allies of England, tunes might fall into the hands of are made liable, not only to be the English-he has even exceeded searched by Englisli cruizers, but to what so perfidiouis an enemy merits, be compulsorily detained in England, -besides, notining ought to chill the and to have a tax laid on them of so ardour of a noble vengeance; and much per cent, on the cargo, to be the merchants way at once, by arm- regulated by the British legislature: ing privateers, recover their capital, Observing that by these acts the Briand avenge the country and the king. tish government denationalizes ships With respect to the re-establishment of

every nation in Europe; that it is of a correspondence, that measure not competent for any government to is incompatible with the orders given detract from its own independence to break off all communication be- and rights, all the sovereigns of Eutween England and the continent. rope having in trust the sovereignties We ought to reject such an idea in a and independence of their flag; that country like Dempark, whose laws it, by an unpardonable weakness,

and

a

and which, in the eyes of posterity, would be an indelible stain, such a tyranny was allowed to be established into principles, and consecrated by usage, the English would avail them selves of it to assert it as a right; as they have availed themselves of the intolerance of governments to establish the infamous principle, that the flag of a nation does not cover goods, and to give to their right of blockade an arbitrary extension, and which infringes on the sovereignty of every state; we have decreed, and do decree, as follows:

"ART. I. Every ship, to whatever nation it may belong, that shall have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or to a voyage to England, or that shall have paid any tax whatsoever to the English government, is thereby, and for that alone, declared to be denationalized, to have forfeited the protection of its king, and to have become English property.

"II. Whether the ships thus denationalized by the arbitrary measures of the English government, enter into our ports, or those of our allies, or whether they fall into the hands of our ships of war, or of our privateers, they are declared to be good and lawful prizes.

"III. The British islands are declared to be in a state of blockade, both by land and sea. Every ship, of whatever nation, or whatsoever the nature of its cargo may be, that sails from the ports of England, of those of the English colonies, and of the countries occupied by English troops, is good and lawful prize, as contrary to the present decree; and may be captured by our ships of war or our privateers, and adjudged to the captor.

"IV. These measures, which are

resorted to only in just retaliation of the barbarous system adopted by England, which assimilates its legislation to that of Algiers, shall cease to have any effect with respect to all nations who shall have the firmness to compel the English government to respect their flag. They shall continue to be rigorously in force as long as that government does not return to the principle of the law of nations, which regulates the relations of civilized states in a state of war. The provisions of the present decree shall be abrogated and null; in fact, as soon as the English abide again by the principles of the law of nations, which are also the principles of justice and of honour.

"All our ministers are charged with the execution of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the bulletin of the laws.

(Signed) "NAPOLEON. "By order of the Emperor, the Secretary of State.

(Signed) "H. B. MARET."

Circular Letter, addressed by the Minister of the Interior to the Chamber of Commerce.

"You are not unacquainted, gentlemen, with the late acts of the British government, that last stage of the oppression of the commerce of the world; you know that it has resolved to destroy the feeble remains of the independence of the seas. It now thinks proper, that henceforth no ship shall navigate the seas without touching at its ports, without a tribute to its pretended sovereignty, and without receiving from it an ignominious licence.

"Thus the ocean is henceforward only the field of slavery: the usur

pation of the most sacred of the rights of nations is consummated, and this tyrannic yoke is to press upon them until the day of vengeance; or antil, brought to a due sense of moderation, the English government' will itself calm its rage, and break that sceptre to which the nations of the continent will never consent to submit.

"I am calling our common attention to the important circumstances which must powerfully induce us to awaken your patriotism and your wisdom. One would have imagined that every obstruction and restraint that clogged the course of the commerce on the continent had been exhausted; still, however, they are going to be aggravated by the measures lately adopted by England; but they will find our minds made up to struggle against, and to overcome, this new mode of oppression.

"We must not shut our eyes to the consequences. Importation and exportation, already so much restricted, will soon be much more so. Every thing connected with maritime commerce, every thing that depends upon it, will now be liable to more difficulties, to more uncertainty. There are, however, two channels that still remain open.

"The power of attacking every ship that renounces the independence of its national flag, by a shameful submission to the British sovereignty, or by navigating under a British licence, will open a wide field to the hopes of our commanders. Such a resource will not prove ineffectual; and French commerce will not devote itself uselessly 'to that sort of warfare which never lets courage, dexterity, and decision, go unrewarded.

"We have, moreover, to hope

that neutral ships will elude the vigilance of the English cruizers. The immense extent of the coast of the empire will favour and protect their enterprizes.

"These resources ought not to be undervalued, nor counted for nothing. France will submit to a temporary situation, which can only change with time, and with new exertions; but her enemy shall not deprive her of the main basis of her prosperity, her internal communication, her relations with the continent, where she no longer sees any but friends and allies; her soil will not be less fertile, her industry will not maintain itself the less, though deprived of some materials which it is not impossible to replace.

"To this last proposition I am rather anxious, gentlemen, to direct your attention. You have advice to give, and examples to hold out to commerce. You must already foresee the effect of the privation of certain materials, more especially of cotton, and of ingredients for dying cotton, of which a quantity has been stored up in France. That which we shall derive from the Levant, and that which, at a more distant period, we shall reap from our indigenous culture, not unsuccessfully essayed, will suffice to support, in a great measure, our manufactures; but in the expectation that some of them may experience privations, we must have recourse, as far as possible, to hemp and flax, in order to provide occupation for those manufacturers who would no longer be employed with articles of cotton. It were desirable that we could circumscribe our consumption within the products of the materials the growth of our soil, and restrain the unhappy effects of habits and taste contracted for manufac.

tures,

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