was connected with a general arrangement, las blunted all that feeling which Holland would otherwise have inspired; so far, indeed, as not to draw any attention to the very important motives, which should induce them to consider this question separately and under an immediate point of view. The undersigned, perceiving in this state of things no chance for success in any ulterior proceedings which the Dutch Government might be disposed to adopt, unless such proceedings were specially authorised by France, and that, therefore, with respect to that country, its fate entire ly depends upon the question of general ace, he thinks that, conformably with binstructions, he ought no longer to usely prolong his residence in this country-He, therefore, proposes to embark in a few days, and on his arrival he will have the honour to present himself to their Excellencies, the Ministers, and give them verbally a further and detailed account of every thing relating to the mission he was sent upon, and which he endeavoured to fulfil with all the zeal and anxiety with which the importance of the subject must necessarily have inspired him. He requests, in the mean time, that your Excellencies will receive the assurance of his respect. LABOUCHERE. FRANCE AND AMERICA. -Letter from the Grand Judge to the Counsellor of State President of the Council of Prizes, relative to the revocation of the Berlin and Milan Decrees, in reference to American commerce.-Paris, 25th Dec. 1810. Mr. President,-In conformity to the orders of his Majesty the Emperor and King, the Minister for foreign affairs, on the 5th of August, addressed a note to the Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, containing the following passage;-I am authorized to declare to you, Sir, that the decrees of Berlin and Milan are revoked, and that, from the 1st of November, they will cease to be in force; it being understood that in consequence of this declaration, the English shall revoke their orders in Council, and renounce the new principles of blockade which they have attempted to establish; or that the United States, conformably to the Act which you have just communicated, shall cause their rights to be respected by the English. In consequence of the communication of this note, the President of the United States, on the 2d of November, published a proclamation, announcing the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees; and declared that, in consequence, all the restrictions imposed by the Act of May 1, should cease with respect to France and her dependencies: the department of the Treasury, on the same day, addressed a circular to the several Customhouse Agents in America, enjoining them to admit French armed vessels into the ports and waters of the United States; and directing them from the 2d of February next, to apply the law prohibiting every commercial relation to English ships of every kind, and merchandize proceeding from the soil, industry and commerce of England, if at the above date the revocation of the British orders in Council, and every Act militating against the neutrality of the United States, should not have been announced by the Treasury department.In consequence of this engagement on the part of the Government of the United States, to cause its rights to be respected, his Majesty orders, that all causes pending in the Council of Prizes, on account of captures of American vessels, made from the date of November 1, and those which shall be thereafter made, shall not be judged according to the principles of the Berlin and Milan decrees; but that they shall remain in sequestration: the vessels taken or detained before being alone under sequestration, and the rights of their proprietors being reserved till the 2d of February next, the epoch when, the United States having reached the term of their engagement to cause their rights to be respected, the said prizes would be declared null by the Council, and the American vessels, along with their cargoes, restored to their proprietors.- (Signed) The Duke of MASSA. LONDON.-Resolution of the Common Council, 8th Jan. 1811. SMITH, MAYOR.--At a Common Council, holden in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the City of London, on Tuesday the 8th day of January, 1811. Resolved, That while we view with the deepest sorrow the declared incapacity of his Majesty, to discharge the duties of the Regal Office, we cannot but regard with the liveliest fears and alarm the means that have been proposed to provide for the exercise of the functions of Royalty.-That we deem it an indispensible duty to our Sovereign and our Country, to declare in this solemn manner our sentiments upon a matter so vitally affecting the stability and dignity of the Throne, and the rights and liberties of the people.-That the prerogatives of the Crown have been given in trust, and are in fact held for the benefit of the people. That these prerogatives could not have been so given unless necessary for the administration of the Magistracy of Royalty. That they must be no less necesary to a Regent, expressly appointed to exercise the functions of that Magistracy. That the avowed design of vesting the Regency in his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, with restrictions and limitations, would, if carried into effect, necessarily destroy the equipoise which ought to exist between the three branches, and, by violating the integrity of the Constitution, essentially impair the interests and liberties of the people.-That holding as we do," That it is an undoubted and fundamental principle of the Constitution that the powers and prerogatives of the Crown, are vested there as a trust for the benefit of the people, and that in that character only they are sacred;" holding most firmly this opinion, in the expression of which we repeat the ever-memorable and patriotic declaration of his Royal Highness himself, we cannot form to our minds any arguments for abridging those powers and prerogatives in the hands of his Royal Highness which would not justify and call for an entire and perpetual resumption on the part of the people. That besides the constitutional objections just stated, the proposed abridgment appears to us as a similar proposition did to his Royal Highness on a former melancholy occasion, to contain "a project for dividing the Royal Family from each other; for separating the Crown from the State; for allotting to the Prince all the insidious duties of Government, without the means of softening them to the Public by any act of grace, favour, and benignity-a project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity, in every branch of the Administration of Affairs;" and, in short, for reducing his Royal Highness to the sad and disgraceful alternative of submitting to the dictates of men, whose implacable hostility to public opinion, exemplified in their open contempt of the right of petitioning, is not less notorious than their hostility to himself, or of resorting to the use of that baneful influence, the effects of which we feel in the enormous addition to our burthens; in the diminu tion of our liberties; in the impunity with which the people have been insulted; and which influence, while it is an object of just and deep abhorrence to us, cannot be otherwise to the noble and exalted mind of his Royal Highness.-That, anxious as we must at all times be for the full and efficient correction of abuses, and for a fair and practical Reform in the Representation of the People in Parliament, we deem ourselves equally bound to consider every attempt to impair and abridge the powers and prerogatives of the Crown, as a blow aimed at the very existence of the Constitution.-That Addresses and Petitions be thereupon presented to the House of Lords and to the House of Commons, humbly and earnestly entreating, that in such Bill or Bills as may be brought in for supplying the present melancholy incapacity of the Sovereign, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales may be invested with all the Prerogatives of the Royal Office, whether they relate to the exercise of substantial power, or to the genuine lustre of the King of a free People.That by a full and efficient provision for the incapacity of the King, which can alone restore the Sovereign to the Constitution, can that Constitution be reinstated, the suspension of which, at all times highly dangerous and alarming, is at this moment rendered infinitely more perilous by the flagrant arrogance, and notorious imbecility, of men, who have the presumption to call themselves the Ministers of the Crown-by the overwhelming weight of taxation-and by a war, the declared object of which, on the part of an inveterate enemy, is not alone the extinction of our commerce and best interests, but the total subversion of our rights, liberties, and independence, as a nation. That the command over his Majesty's Seals, assumed and exercised in the late instance, by ordering an issue of treasure from his Majesty's Exchequer, exercised by the two Houses, appears to be subversive of the independence, and dangerous to the existence of the royal part of our Government; and that, to prevent the necessity of having again recourse to such perilous expedients, and thereby confirming and extending still further the alarming precedent, it is the opinion of this Court, that in the present suspension of the exercise of the Royal authority, the most constitutional course of proceeding would be, to imitate the glorious example of our ancestors, in the year 1688, by the two Houses of Lords and Commons addressing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to take upon himself the civil, military, and financial administration of the Government, until the proposed Regency Bill shall have acquired the form and authority of an Act of Parliament. WOODTHORPE. LONDON.-Resolutions of the Livery, 9th Jan. 1811. highly dangerous and unconstitutional, establishing a new Estate in the realm, to controul and counteract the Executive Government, and tending to render it feeble and inefficient, at a time when the state of the nation peculiarly requires its full energies.-6. Resolved, That we, therefore, view with concern and indignagrade the Kingly Office, and to render it tion the attempts which are made to dedependent upon those Ministers, who have SMITH, MAYOR.-In a Meeting or Asso long abused the confidence of the Sosembly of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Livery-vereign, who have uniformly shewn a men of the several Companies of the City of marked contempt for public opinion, whose London, in Common Hall assembled, at the whole career has been a series of incapaGuildhall of the said City, on Wednesday, the city, misconduct, and violation of the 9th day of January, 1811. Constitution: who have added to the catalogue of their crimes by usurping the Royal Authority, and who, not content with having engrossed patronage and emolument, and secured to themselves and adherents a profusion of pensions and sinecures, are now endeavouring to retain an unconstitutional power and influence, which would enable them to embarrass and impede the Executive Government in all its operations, and render it subject to their controul.-7. Resolved unanimously, That the command over his Majesty's Seals, assuined and exercised by the two Houses of Parliament in the late instance of ordering an issue of treasure from his Majesty's Exchequer, appears to us subversive of the independence, and dangerous to the exist ence of the regal part of our Government, and that to prevent the necessity of having again recourse to such perilous expedients, and of thereby confirming and extending still further this alarming precedent, it is the opinion of this Meeting that in the present suspension of the exercise of the Royal Authority, the most constitutional mode of proceeding would be to imitate the glorious example of our ancestors in 1688, by the two Houses of Parliament addressing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to take upon himself the civil, military, and financial Administrations of the Government.-8. Resolved unanimously, That this Common Hall do petition the Right Honourable the House of Lords, and the Hon. the House of Commons, agreeably to the foregoing Resolutions.-[The Drafts of the Petitions being read, were unanimously agreed to.]-9. Resolved unanimously, That the said Petition be signed by the Lord Mayor, four Aldermen, and ten Liverymen.-10. Resolved unanimously, That the Sheriffs do wait upon, and request some Lord in Par Resolved unanimously, That the end and design of all Government is, or ought to be, the good of the people-that the Prerogatives of the Crown are vested in the King, as a sacred trust for their benefit.-2. Resolved unanimously, That it is, therefore, equally their duty to guard, by every Constitutional means, against all encroachments and innovations upon the just and necessary Powers and Prerogatives of the Crown, as to oppose those encroachments and innovations which have so notoriously been made upon the Representative Branch of our Constitution.-3. Resolved unanimously, That, anxious as we are, to remove from the Government every species of unjust influence, equally injurious to King and People, and to promote a system of general reform, especially in that Branch of the Legislature, the corrupt state of which has been the great source of all our national calamities, the Commons House of Parliament; we, nevertheless, feel equally anxious to maintain the real splendour and dignity of the Crown, and all its just and necessary Powers and Prerogatives.-4. Resolved unanimously, That, deeply lamenting the afflicting incapacity of our most gracious Sovereign, by which the functions of the Executive Government have been suspended, we derive a cheering consolation in contemplating the many amiable qualities of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and the attachment he has invariably evinced for the Rights and Liberties of the People, affording the Nation the best grounds of confidence of seeing the Royal Functions wisely and ably exercised.-5. That, impressed with these considerations, we cannot but view all attempts to abridge the Royal Authority, and impose Restrictions upon the Regent. in the person of his Royal Highness, as liament to present the said Petition to the Right Hon. the House of Lords.-11. Resolved unanimously, That Mr. Alderman Combe, one of the Representatives of this City in Parliament, be requested to present the said Petition to the Hon. the House of Commons.-12. Resolved unanimously, That the Representatives of this City in Parliament, be instructed to support the said Petition in the House of Commons, and to oppose all attempts to abridge and fetter the Regent with restrictions. 13. Resolved unanimously, That the Thanks of this Common Hall be given to Thomas Smith, Esq. Alderman, our late worthy Chief Magistrate, for his very able, upright, and independent conduct, during the time the ardent and important duties of that Office were confided to him, wherein he evinced the most kind and friendly attention to his fellow-citizens, a dignified and unostentatious hospitality, a strict impartiality on all occasions, and a constant regard for the rights, liberties, and franchises of this City,-14. Resolved unanimously, That the Thanks of this Common Hall be given to Robert Waithman, Esq. who moved, and Samuel Favell, Esq. who seconded the several Resolutions which have been agreed to this day.-15. Resolved unanimously, That the Thanks of this Common Hall be given to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, for his readiness in calling this Meeting, and his impartial conduct in the Chair this day. FRANCE.-Report to the Senate by the Counsellor of State, Count Caffarelli, relative to a Marine Conscription, 15th December, 1810. SENATORS; We are commissioned by his Majesty to present to you the projet of a Senatus Consultum, in which you will take pleasure in remarking the character af public utility, of energy, and of foresight, which belongs to the vast conceptions of his Majesty.-The empire enjoys the most profound peace; the nations which surround it, deeply convinced that the surest pledge of their repose will coustantly be found in their alliance with the French people, every day draw closer the ties which unite them to it, and appear to constitute only one and the same great family, by their sentiments towards the august chief of France. And if the horrors of war still desolate the extremities of Europe, if the misled portion of a neighbouring nation, agitated by factions, still mistake its true interests, you know, Gentlemen, that the cause must be sought for in the perfidious machinations of that Government, the enemy of Europe, which, repelled and menaced on all sides, has no longer any thing but a single_corner, where it is still able to fan the flame of discord and of civil dissentions.-England blockades the ports of Europe; she parades upon the seas her ships, every where the objects of reprobation; she seeks openings for the produce of her manufactures, piled up in the warehouses of her dismayed inhabitants. Her criminal system is recognized; her snares have lost their effect; the nations at last know how to appreciate both her fatal alliance and her disastrous services.-Amidst the calm which his Majesty has re-established in the empire and in Europe, he is occupied with the amelioration of his marine; and his genius suggests to him efficacious means for opposing to his enemies upon the seas, numerous fleets, animated, like his veteran and formidable phalanxes, with a desire at last to conquer an universal peace. The will of his Majesty shall be always that of destiny; for power and genius never will in vain.-Already, Gentlemen, at the voice of his Majesty, maritime establishments are created; our coasts the extent of which is augmented, are every where defended by courage and fortified by art; the arsenals are provided with necessary materials! ships are rising in our ports, and our fleets will one day try their strength with those of the enemy, and reign upon the seas.-But to arm has felt that he stood in need of seamen. these vessels, to equip them, his Majesty Those who at present man his squadrons, would not be sufficient for the greatness of his plans; new means are necessary for new views.-Commerce and the fisheries, which were wont to furnish seamen for the State, are at present too inconsiderable, and a new system must be forthwith resorted to for supplying the wants of the country.-At the voice of his Majesty there issues from the maritime departments, a crowd of young men, who, being at once sailors and soldiers, will shew themselves worthy rivals of those who have raised so high the glory of the arms of the Empire.-We shall now unfold to you, Gentlemen, the basis of that Institution, from which his Majesty expects the most advantageous results.-The Emperor has perceived that the mode of conscription can alone procure for the marine those re Projet of the Senatus Consultum. Art. I. The coast-districts of the thirty departments hereafter named shall cease to contribute to the conscription for the land-army, and shall be reserved for the conscription for the sea-service. sources in men which it requires; but he | the experience which they will acquire in has felt that this mode could not be ex- the navigation of the coasts and in the tended through the whole of our territory, roads, will not be so great as that commufor the inclinations of men are generally nicated by distant expeditions; but they the fruit of their habits. Thus, the inha-will thus be familiarised with their state, bitant of the towns of the interior never they will see and will vanquish its diffisees the sea or seamen; a stranger to that culties; they will acquire a taste for it, element, to that mode of life, he forms to even in this way, that it will present to himself only a monstrous idea of it: he them obstacles which they will have to prefers the land-service, for which the in- surmount; and in a few years they will numerable victories of our armies have be fit to serve in a more useful manner on already excited his early enthusiasm.- board the ships of his Majesty.-At the The inhabitant of the coast, on the con- same time that his Majesty projected trary, from his earliest years is hearing means for training to himself seamen, he the sea-service talked of; around him has ordered the necessary measures for every thing presents the image of it; forming the officers who are to command while yet a child he gambols in that ele- them. Every thing is connected in his ment, upon which he will one day brave conceptions; their whole always bears the storm and the battle. Born on coasts the impression of the genius who presides adjacent to those of the enemy, he feels over the prosperity of the Empire. the necessity of defending them, because he has to protect his family and his property. He is actuated more than any other with the feeling of resistance to aggression; he is at once a man and a citizen. It is from the maritime departments, then, that the marine must be recruited; it is from the line of coasts that must be made the selection of men destined to serve on the sea.-But the profession of the seaman is liable to so many vicissitudes and dangers, that it is necessary to commence it from the most tender age, when the organs are docile, the body flexible, and habits are contracted without diffi. culty. It is necessary that the mariner should be early accustomed to peril, and learn to face it with a smile.--Young sailors shall therefore be selected at the age of from 13 to 16; if younger, the State would wait too long before it enjoyed their services; if older, the physical constitution of man could only be bent with difficulty to all the toils of seamanship. Here it is our duty to communicate one of those fine thoughts of the Emperorthat of initiating from the present moment, these young conscripts, in the career which they are destined to run.-His Majesty has formed crews for ships, and crews for flotillas. The former, composed of experienced mariners, will man the ships; for the latter, his Majesty is fitting out in his ports small vessels, commanded by skilful officers; on board which will be exercised in manœuvres, in steering, in the use of arms, those young seamen, whom the Senatus Consultum, which we present, summons to the honour of serving their country. Doubtless, Gentlemen, II. The following are the thirty departments in which the maritime districts shall be reserved :-Maritime Alps, Appennines, Aude, Mouths of the Rhone, Calvados, Lower Charente, Coasts of the North, Dyle, the Scheldt, Finisterre, Gard, Genoa, Gironde, Herault, Ile and Vilaine, Landes, Lower Loire, Lys, Manche, Montencate, Morbiban, Two Nethers, Nord, Par de Calais, Lower Pyrenees, Eastern Pyrennees, Lewer Seine, Somme, Var, Vendee.-III. Ten thousand conscripts of each of the classes of 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816, shall be immediately placed at the disposal of the Minister of Marine. IV. The present Senatus Consultum shall be transmitted in a message to his Majesty the Emperor and King. FRANCE.-Address of the Conserpative Senate to the Emperor, in answer to his Message, of the 10th of Dec. 1810, relative to the Marine and Military conscription. The Conservative Senate, assembled in the number of members prescribed by Article XC of the Act of the Constitution of 1799, having taken into its consideration the Message of his Majesty the Emperor and King of the 10th of December, and the Report of their Special Commission thereon, decrees that the following Address be presented to his Majesty by the |