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Extract from the Minute-Book of the Office of the Secretary of State.

Palace of Fontainbleau, Nov. 13, 1807. We, Napoleon, emperor of the · French, king of Italy, and protector of the confederation of the Rhine, upon the report of our minister of finance, have decreed, and do decree, as follows :—

Art. I. The enactments of our imperial decree of the 6th of August, 1807, are applicable to the cargoes of vessels which may arrive in the mouth of the Weser; those articles of merchandize, therefore, specified in the second article of the said decree, shall be seized and confiscated; and all colonial produce shall be accompanied by certificates of origin, delivered by our commercial commissaries at the different ports where they were taken on board.

II. Our commercial commissaries shall not confine themselves, in their certificates, merely to attest that the colonial produce comes neither from the colonies of England, nog from her commerce; they shall also point out the place of their origin, the papers which have been submitted to them in support of the declaration made to them, and the name of the ship on board which they have becu originally transported from the place where they were produced to that where the commissaries reside. They shall address duplicates of their certificates to the director-general of the customis.

-III. All ships which, after having touched at any British port on any account whatever, shall arrive in the mouth of the Elbe and of the Weser, shall be seized and confiscated, toge ther with their cargoes, without any

exception or distinction of produce or merchandize.

IV. The captains of ships arriving in the mouth of the Elbe or of the Weser, must make declaration to the chief officer of the imperial customs on that station, of the place from which they sailed, as well as of those which they touched at; and shall deliver to him their manifests, bills of lading, sea-papers, and registers. When the captain shaff have signed this declaration, and delivered up his papers, the customhouse-officer shall interrogate the sailors, one by one, in presence of two head collectors; if it appear, from this examination, that the ship has touched at an English port, beside the seizure and confiscation of the ship and cargo, the captain, as well as those of the sailors, who, upon their examination, have made a false declaration, shall be made prisoners, and shall not be liberated till after paying a sum of six thousand frånes by way of penalty for the captain, and a sum of five hundred francs for each of the arrested sailors, in a idition to the penalties incurred by those who falsify their sea-papers and registers.

V. If the advices and information communicated to the director of our customs resident at Hamburgh, excite suspicions with regard to the origin of the cargoes, they shall be provision-, ally deposited in warehouses, tillit has been ascertained and decided, that they come neither from England nor from her colonies.

VI. The line of officers' of the customs formed upon the Elbe, and the frontiers of Holstein, shall be augmented by one hundred men. The director-general of our customs shall give the necessary orders for placing overseers detached from

that

that line, at the ports situated on the mouth of the Weser, and for their exercising the strictest inspection of all ships which shall approach.

VII. The inspectors of customs are authorised to make visits to the isle of Neuwerk, and to the Wats, or other little isles situated in the mouths of the Elbe and Weser. VIII. The commandants of troops of the line, and of the gens d'armerie, are bound to lend their aid to these inspectors, as often as they shall be required to do so. by the chief custom-house-officer of the district,

IX. Our ministers of war and of finance are charged, each in his own department, with the execution of this decree.

(A true copy)

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will attend with all soliciinde, visi. lance, and activity, in the administration of justice, distributing the same impartially, and maintaining a rigorous observance of the laws of this kingdom.

They will preserve to the natives all the privileges which had been granted to them by me and my royal predecessors.

The plurality of votes will decide on the reports the respective tribunals may lay before them, regulating themselves according to the laws and customs of the kingdom.

They will direct literary profes sions, offices of criminal and civil judicature and revenue, according to the forms heretofore practised by

me.

They will protect the persons and properties of my loyal subjects, selecting for military occupations those who may be deemed worthy thereof.

(Signed) NAPOLEON.
HUGUES B. MARET,
Secretary of State.
GAUDIN,
They will endeavour to preserve
Minister of Finance. to their utmost the tranquillity of
COLLIN,
this kingdom, to provide for the
Director-General of the troops of the emperor of the French
Customs.

(A true copy)

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and king of Italy good quarters, and to supply them with every thing they may require during their stay in this kingdom, averting all and every insult that may be perpetrated, and punishing with rigour any that may occur; maintaining always that good harmony which ought to be displayed to the armies of nations with whom we find ourselves united on the continent.

Should it by any occurrence happen, that any of the said governors are absent, a plurality of votes will elect a successor. I trust to your honour and virtue, that my people will not suffer inconveniences during my absence; and should it be God's will that I should return shortly to my kingdoms, that I may meet every

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Copenhagen, Dec. 13.

The merchants at Copenhagen presented a petition to the prince, to authorize, under the superintendance of the police, a correspondence with England, relative to the personal affairs of Danish subjects, and to establish a distinction between objects sent on English account, and those destined to reimburse the Danish merchants.-The prince has just sent the following reply:

"I must acquaint the trade, that it is impossible to modify the orders contained in the publications of the 9th and 14th of September.-The king, in confining himself to the sequestration of enemy's property, has done all that was in his power to assist those of his subjects whose fortunes might fall into the hands of the English-he has even exceeded what so perfidious an enemy merits, -besides, nothing ought to chill the ardour of a noble vengeance; and the merchants inay at once, by arming privateers, recover their capital, and avenge the country and the king. With respect to the re-establishment of a correspondence, that measure is incompatible with the orders given to break off all communication between England and the continent. We ought to reject such an idea in a country like Denmark, whose laws

are passed not for mere pleasantry and to be broken. The king is not ignorant that measures demanded by the general welfare often injure the personal interest of some of his subjects; but the testimony of his conscience consoles him, having preserved as long as possible to his people the benefits of peace; and having altered his conduct only at the period when the most revolting aggression's provoked the most vigorous resistance against a perfidious enemy. (Signed) "FREDERICK,

Prince Royal. "Given at the Head-quarters at Copenhagen, Nov. 27."

Imperial Decree.

Rejoinder to his Britannic Majesty's Order in Council, Nov. 11, 1807. At our Royal Palace, at Milan, Dec. 17, 1807. Napoleon, emperor of the French, king of Italy, and protector of the Rhenish Confederation:

Observing the measures adopted by the British government, on the 11th of November last, by which vessels belonging to neutral, friendly, or even powers the allies of England, are made liable, not only to be searched by English cruizers, but to be compulsorily detained in England, and to have a tax laid on them of so much per cent. on the cargo, to be regulated by the British legislature:

Observing that by these acts the British government denationalizes ships of every nation in Europe; that it is not conipetent for any government to detract from its own independence and rights, all the sovereigns of Europe having in trust the sovereignties and independence of their flag; that if, by an unpardorable weakness,

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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 pri vateers, 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 fiag. 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 jus tice 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 consuminated, and this tyrannic yoke is to press upon them until the day of vengeance; or until, 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 decisiou, 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. I

"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. i 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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