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This item is filmed at t le reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taiix de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2SX 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy filmed h«r« has b—n rsproducvd thanks to ths ganarosity of: Legislature du Quebec Quebec Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha beat quality possibia considaring tha condition and iagibility of tha original copy and in Icaaping with tha filming contract spacifications. Original copias in printad papar covars ara filmad beginning with tha front covar and ending on the last page with a printad or illustrated impres- sion, or the bacic cover when appropriate. All other original copiaa ara filmed beginning on the first page with a printad or illustrated imprea- sion, and ending on the laat page with a printad or illustrated impreasion. 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Toua lea autrea exemplairaa originaux sont filmte en commenqant par la premiere page qui comporta una ampreinte d'impreaaion ou d'illuatration at 91% terminant par la darniAre page qui comporte une telle emprelnte. Un dee symboles suivants apparattra sur la dami*re image de cheque microfiche, selon le caa: le symbols — »• signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartea, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fllmte A dea taux da rMuction diff«rants Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra reproduit en un seul ciich«, it est film* A partir de I'angle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en baa, en prenant la nombre d'imagea n^caaaaira. Lea diagrammas suivants illustrant la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 -^ %i '1 \ % 1'. iy "A' AN EXPOSITION OF THE CONDUCT OF FRANCE TOWARDS AMERICA : ILLUSTRATED BY CASES DECIDED IN THE COUNCIL OF PRIZES IN PARIS. BY LEWIS GOLDSMITH. -'• Semperque recentes, Convectarejuvat praedas &vivere rapto." Virgil. HonUon : PRINTED FOR J. M. RICHARDSON, 93, CORNHILL, OPPOSITE THE ROYAL EXCUANOE. 1810. ...»jd:^a^.^^.»«.-jj:t. j.v.jj:. '* Printed by Mercier and Chervct, No. 32, Little Barthoiomew Close, London. 'umsk^iM.i;^.*, '' TO THE PUBLIC. A RESrDENCE of eight years in the me^ tropolis of France, an intimate acquaintance with some of the most conspicuous persons in that country, and the dilFerent situations in which I have myself been placed, have given me opportunities which few others have pos- sessed, of collecting information on the state of society in Paris, and the politics pursued by the French government and its agents. This information I have formed a resolu- tion of giving to the public, as soon as I can prepare it for the press ; and I flatter myself I can render it interesting without betraying confidence or private friendship. As a first essay, which I now offer to the Public, I have selected the subject of the conduct of France towards America, which, from every thing I have read or heard since I returned to England, appears to me to have been much misunderstood. IV I have given faithfully the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and the British Orders in Council, with a statement of the circumstances under which they were respectively issued ; and I trust that the comparison I have made between the conduct of Great Britain and France respectively towards America, and the view I have given of the conduct of the latter, will be found to be candid and impartial. I do not think I have made a single as- sertion in the body of the pamphlet which is not supported by the interesting cases detailed in the Appendix. At the present moment the subject of itself is of important interest, and I hope I shall not have diminished that interest by the manner in which I have treated it. The Author. London f \st Nov. 1809. ...J EXPOSITION, Sfc. Sfc, IT is well known that the French Revolution pro- duced a ferment in all the civilized states of the world. The principles on which it was pretended that revolution was founded, had been long i^nder- stood and recognized in this country, and were the real foundation of the emancipation of the North American Colonies, and of their erection into an independent state. America had for neariy ten years been recog- nized by the Government of this country as an in- dependent state : and, in that character, had, with- out foreign interruption, carried on her commerce to all parts of the world. The French Revolution burst forth in all its terrors. Excesses were committed which alarmed some even of the most ardmt partisans, and assertors of the principles on which it was founded. «f«i^«WW(B|PI In those states which may be supposed to hav^ possessed some degree of political freedom, parties were divided as to the policy o{ favouring or oppos- ing it. The old Govemnoents of Europe trembled : even England, from whence the pretended * prin- ciples had been adopted, took the alarm ; and in the year 179i^> became a party in the continental war which had been raised against Republican France. America was connected with England in ami- cable commerce : it was not her interest to take part in the quarrel against France : it was not her interest to oppose England: the commerce of the world was open to her ; and, if she could have been permitted to act as a perfect neutral^ she would have reaped great advantage from carrying on the trade of the naval belligerent powers. America was, however, at that time divided into two political parties, nearly etjually balanced : the one attached to the cause of England, and called the English or Aristocrat ical Partys the other, from probably i\ie same motives in addition to others less honourable, called the Democrailc or French Party. * I say pretended I because the Leaders df the French Revo- lution only held them out as a pretence to the people, aa I jjUkU in a future publication prove by iocontestible evideace. America, remote from the scene of contest, •ould have had no in-'i idual interest in it, had it not been for her commerce ; but this rendered it irn* possible for her not to be in some degree involved in the quarrel. Washington endeavoured to keep the balance even. Adams, his immediate successor, shewed an evident propensity to favour the English Party : on this account, he became in some degree unpopu- lar; and Jefferson, who followed him, seems to have pursued quite a contrary poUcy : he is accused of having favoured the French. Soon after the accession of Jefferson to the office of President of the United States, Bonaparte assumed the reins of Government, and daring the continuance of th^t Presidency, had become Em-* pcror of France, The commercial relations between AnAerica! on the one hand, and the two principal belligerent powers and their respective allies on the other, hod become of great importance to America. The contending parties had, or supposed they had, each an interest in throwing obstacles in the vfay of the commerce of America with the other. The preponderancy of England on the seas wajj the great object of the jealousy and envy of Bona- parte : to destroy her commerce, appeared to hitn the only means of destroying thaS prepondf raucy : B 2 A nrohibilion upon prohibition was issued to gfeat degree the carriers. Thev had in various instances endeavoured toeludethelaw of nations with -pect to contra- L„a trade ■ England did not so much want their as 'icea France: they had firstdirectly.and then TZw carried on the commerce between that ':tStdIr colonic, which she could n.t.from ^relative condition of the naval power of Eng- land with her own, carry on for herself. Several captures were made. a. a condemna- tions pronounced of American vessels founa under uch Trcumstances. Complaints were made on h' part of the American Government to ours It must have been wished by both the Enghsh and American Government., that those disputes should be settled in an amicable manner. It is not the object of the writer of these few sheets, toenter into a '^ ,<»-"7" "^ *^, P^; nrietv or impropriety of the conduct of the two '"f belligerent powers towards Amenca. nor of Lt of America towards each of *em respe.^ ve^ y., but to Rive a plain statement of ^fl^^^ which tlie unbiassed reader may judge for h.«»elf of which of the two the Americans have had most reason to complain. In the year I806. the American Minister, Mr. Monroe, arrived in London for the purpose of concluding and signing a treaty of commerce with th,s country, jointly with Mr. Pinckney. the American Resident at the Court of St. James's. Bonaparte was soon apprised of this negotia- tion: This monopohzer of domination immediately burst into a paroxysm of rage ; " Assum'd the God, " Affected to nod, " And seem'd to shake the spheres." He DECIARED THAT IP THE AMERICAN OOVBBNMENT SHOULD CONCLUDE A TREATV WITH txREAT Britain, he would i«mediatelv CONSIDER America as his enemy, and de- clare WAR AGAINST HER.* Thi. denunciation prevented the ratificadon of^ treaty which had been actually Z^I LoTSon. Such was the mDEPENDENT s^ir't If »uppon S X -r teS p,X':" "' "•!■' '"•?»">•.« fact. „„. every American »ho kne wi^e frpi," ^"' t"Kli«hn,an and in London, whether they do „„ "know thTf ^' T^""' ""^ '"» «f information which wm wi hin th- -ij '""''"??»""""'« private individuals. """'" "i" = 23cu ol but ,ery few America, and such her impartiality towards the two belligerent powers: — And to prove to the American Government that he was in earnest, he issued the famous Decree of Berlin in the month oi November 1806, which is so often mentioned and so little known or recollected. It was expressed in these terms : " BERLIN DECREE. *' The British Isles are in a state of blockade— *' All trade and communication with Great Britain are strictly prohibited — " All letters going to or coming from England, or addressed to English persons, are not to be forwarded 5 and all those written ia English are to be suppressed*. * I» consequence of this aiticle of the Decree, orders were sent to all the clerks (Commis) of the Post'Offices, to Veize all letters addressed to persons having Eftglish name.o. Two American Merchants, Mr, C. and Mr. S. then residing 9t Paris, waited on the Post-Master General, Monsieur Lavallette, a Conseiller d'Etat (Counsellor of State). They remonstrated with him on the hardship imposed by this Decree on the Americans; and represented to him that English and American names were in general so much alike, that it was jmpf)ssil;le to distinguish them. They requested, therefore, ta know how they were to act, with regard to correspondiag in the English Language : the answer was " Correspond in your cun language." !!! This Conseiller d'Etat, it seems, did not know that I he English and American language were the same. But this needs not excite surprise, when it is known that Monsieur De la Vallette was originally a Garfon Lemonor 4icr (a Waiter in a Cofiee House), afterwards a soldier, th«n % general, ii.c. Si.c. « Every individual who is a subject of Great Britain is to be made prisoner of wav wheretiet h€ may be found, ** All goods belonging to Englishmen are to be confiscated, and the amount paid to those who have suffered through the detention of ships by the English. ** No ships coming from Great Britain, or fcaving been in a port of that country, are to be. admitted. " All trade in English goods is rigorously prohibited.*' At that period there was hardly any state or nation in Europe that could be called neutral j the Decree could therefore be construed in no other way than as pointed against the indepen- dence of American commerce. ii '' The American Minister in Paris, Generalf Armstrong, seems to have considered it in that light. No sooner was the Decree made known there, than he applied to the French Minister of Marine, requesting that he might be informed, whether it was applicable to American vessels, stating as a more especial reason for making this inquiry, that there were several American vessels at that time in England ready to sail for America. To this question the French Minister of Marine replied, that he would dispatch a Courier to his Imperial Majesty, to know his intentions on that subjects and shortly after, before he could have had nn answer from Bonaparte, he sent a letter to Gene- ral Armstrong to inform him that the Emperor had decided that the Berlin Decree was not in contravention pftheexisting treaties between France and America'^. The substance of this letter was sent to Mr. Monroe in London, who had it publicly made known to the merchants in this metropolis con-, cerned in the American trade. We shiill now see what confidence the Ame- ricans were justified in placing in the Imperial faith of Napoleon. At this period there was in the river Thames, an American vessel called the Horizon, Captain Mac Clure, cousin to the owner. She had been at Lisbon ; when there, she had been chartered by the Spanish Government, to carry out certain articles to Lima, and to bring from thence a cargo in return to S pain. To complete this engagement, it was necessary for her to come to the port of ^ See the letter in the Appendix, with the remarks upon it. \ London. She was lying there taking in her cargo at the time when this famous Berlin Decree> and the assurances of the French Minister of Marine upon it with respect to Americans, became known here. In full confidence of the faith tliat might be supposed due to the Imperial deciswriy sh© sailed richly laden from the river. On the coast of France, she experienced a very heavy gale of wind, and was driven on sliore. The Custom house officers went on board and sequestered provismiaU^ (provisdirement) both ship and cargo. The question was ultimately to be tried in Paris by the Council of Prizes*. Mr. De la Grange, aa intelligent, and respectable and respected man. Advocate for the Claimants, produced the letter of the French Minister of Marire in defence of his clients j it was to no purpose. He produced the charter-party signed at Li^^bon before the pro- mulgation of the Berlin Decree, between Captain Mac Clure and the Spanish Ambassador in that city : he urged that Spain was a friendly power, and not merely so, but that she was an active ally of France, and in open Iiostitity with Great Britain, against zvha7}i, it was supposed, the • A person disposed to ridicule, and fond of a pun, might be tempted to call them the Council of Blanks. They are themselves Blanks, because they have no freedom of decision according to ?ffnera/ principles ; and in every individun I case they must decide according to the dictates of their master. They may be called the Council of Blanks, because no Claim- ant, however just his cause, hrv ever flagrant h's proofs, ever draws 'iprixc. C 10 Decree was principally directed : Vain attempt ! to use the language of the mighty Napoleon himself. The ship and cargo must at all events be confiscated j she was too rich a prize to be per- mitted to slip through the hands of the rapacious government of Frarjce. The ship and cargo were condemned* In the course of this trial, if trial it can be called, the Council of Prizes took occasion to expresk their opinion on the Letter of the French Minister of Marine to Mr. Armstrong, in a manner which fd^vk^ their servilitij, and their little regard to the assurances given by the adntinisti'atioir of one country to the minister of another\ requiring an official explanation of a doubtful measure. They sirfd that the Minister of Marine had stepped beyond his sphere, when he took upon himself to write such a letter j that a ministerial letter ought not to be admitted to destroy or in- validate an Imperial Decree, and it could not have' that effect *. * Some time ago, Mr. Baring published a very well writfeu pamphlet, in which he took notice of the French Minister's Letter before mentioned, as an instance of French forbcurmce towards the Americrns; but unfortunately for him, or for his fame, for candour and impartiality, he either did not himself know, or to suit his purpose, he did not choose that his readers should know, that the Horizon was condemned in despite of the letter in question. The same intelligent gentleman, in the course of his Work, states, " that the Berlin Decree was only issued to try the temper of Great Britain." This is not correct. It was not to try the temper of Great Britain, but to deter Ame- s 11 On board the Horizon was a Mr. Mac Clure, brother to the owner of the ship and cargo -, he acted as supercargo : he came, impressed with the idea ofthe justice and impartiality of the " enlightened Government of France," as he liad been taught to believe it by the documents published under the sanction of his own government: he was fur- nished with the necessary passports ; he wished to be present at Paris while the cause was depending, in order to instruct his counsel and agents in person: he thought himself secure against all personal attack j he found himself, however, under a woeful mistake ; his passports availed him no- thing : he was arrested in the capital of that " enlightened government," and sent to prison on suspicion of beintj, What?-.an Englishman! The highest crime of which a man can be accused, who is found en the territory of France— whether Aristocrat or Democrat : of the two the Democrat is the more odipus. He was permitted to be at large on surveil' lance* y finding sureties to procure from America a rica from entering into a^y amicable arrangement with this country. The cases of the Horizon, the faulina, Captam Chuke, and the Victor^,,, Captain Caleb Hopkins-prove that the Americans were the victims to the Berlin Decree before the second British Order in Council was issued.— bee the ** We'^raay be thankful that no single English wor^ can adequately eipress this. Englishmen, be pleased that you do not ^^know fhe system of French Police-God forbid you should ever kpow it by experience. C 2 12 certificate, not of his being an American vitizeut but of his having been bom in that country. The Americans mhmitted to this Decree, which so evidently infringed their rights as an i'ndepen and was going from thence j but she was not going to France ; if she had, she might, under this article of tlie Decree, have been refused admittance ; but the only consequence would have been, tiiat she must have sought another market. She w as strand- edj as it is called, by the act of God *, vdiich, in correct language, means something vvhicli human foresight could not [)revent : she was, however, con- demned, because she had come from a British port, and perhaps because she vvas a rich prize. Even ships belonging to hostile po.vcrs, ])utting into au Citam/s port, have been relicvedy and sent to prose- cute their voyage i but it seems, the Droit d'Aii-' • Much has been said {igainsi the humanity of Maximiman jRouF.spiEuar. ; let us contrast liis conduct on a similar occasion WiTU THAT OF Napoleon BoNAPAiirE on this. In the time oi' the Oommittce of Public Safety, au English transport coming from U<'»many with some French Emigrants on board, amongst whom were the Dukes of Choiseul and Montmorency, vvas stranded near Calais. The unfortunate Emigrants were of course put into confinement, and tried by a Military Com- mission. They were all acquitted, by order of the Executive Government, upon the principle that stranding was an act of C».od, and that to condemn these men for coming to France invo- luntarilv would be not only a violation of the laws of nations, but (jf humanity. baine is not yet forgotten in France * : the circum* stance ol the ship having been strandedy and a mi- nisterial letter, expressing the decision of the au-f thor of the Decree with respect to the won-operatioii of it against the existing treaties between France and America, could not protect her. Again t *' All trade in English goods is rigor* ously prohibited." To xohom prohibited ? to the French ? to the slaves under the domination or immediate controul of the Despot who assumes to Jiimself the power of dictating in what manner men shall carry on their trade ? — No; this hadbeert dcrne before : it was manifestly dictated to Inde* pendent States ; and principally to the Americans, who could not biing to England a cargo of thei^ rtwn raw materials, or of the produce of any other country, and take back to Americ^a for their own consumption a cargo, whether of English* manufacture or produce, or of any other country, ^'hich liad once found ils way to England. What is his Majesty's Order in Council to this ? It is manifest, that it was meant as a mere measure of retaliation against the Berlin Decree j but how short is it of retaliation? " No vessel bhall * The truth is this, that it is \\o\ forgotten but revived: it was rtboUshed in the first paroxysms of ihe Revohition ; but has^ been restored with all its rigour by the great Patron and Pro- tector of Nations, against the feudal barbarity of their ruler», «»See Code A^aj3o/co», chapter 1. art. xi. Id be pernnttcil to trade from one port to anot/iet, BOTH vvhicli ports shall belong to, or be in the pos- session of France, &c." What is there in this re- sembling the Berlin Decree? A neutral, in other words, an American, shall not be permitted to carry on the trade of France or her allies, while they cannot carry on their trade themselves — ** or shall be so far under their i'^ontroul, as that Bri" tish vessels may not freely trade thereat." Whcre- fjver therefore British vessels may trade, there may American vessels trade, without interruption from Great Britain. And what are the on:ders given to the Com^ nmnders of His Majtsty's ships of war, &c. ? To seize all ships of America that shall have been in a port under the dominion or controul of France, Or to prevent such ships from being admit led to an English port ? No ! But to zvani every neutral TCssel coming from any such portj and destined to another such port, to discontinue her voyage, &c. She might go back to the port from which she had set out, and unload : she might go to any other port in the world, but one under the domi- nion or controul of France, and dispose of her cargo without molestation from the British cruisers. She was to be captured and brought in for cor. demnation, o?ilij in case of attempting to get into the destined other French ports, after such warning given. 11 This Order in Council was ineflectual witli respect to America ; no disposition appeared on the part of the Government of that country to re- sist the Berlin Decree ; in consequence of which, the British Government .hoiight fit to publish the following Order in Council, Nov. 17, 180?. After taking notice of the inefficacy of the first order, it is said, His Majesty is, therefore, pleased, &c. to order, and it is hereby ordered, " That all the ports and places of France and her allies, or of any other country at war with His Majesty, and all other ports and places in Eu- rope, from which, although not at war with His Majesty, the British flag is excluded, and all ports or places in the Colonies belonging to His Majes- ty's enemies, shall from henceforth be subject to the same restrictions, in point of trade and navi- gation, with the exceptions hereinafter mention- ed, as if the same were actually blockaded by His Majesty's naval forces in the most strict and rigorous manner* : audit is hereby further ordered and declared, that all trade in articles which are of the produce or mantifacture of the said Coun- tries or Colonies, shall be deemed and considered to be tinlawful: and that every vessel trading from or to the said Countries or Colonies, toge- ther with all goods and merchandizes on board, and all articles of the produce or manufacture of Following only the phraseology of the Bcrlia Decree. SiiiiJiiiMi.iPM«nuH^(ij« 18 the said Countries or Colonies, shall be captured, and condemned as prize to the captors.'* Those who made no resistance to the Ber- lin Decree, nor even any serious remonstrance agamst it, have clamoured incessantly, and in the most virulent terms, against this British Or- der m Council, as a violation of the laws of na- tions. Let those clamourers compare to this Order the Berlin Decree, and point out where the differ- ence exists : they will, if they reason fairly, be obhged to admit, that this order is moderate in comparison with the Berlin Decree : it is but an humble imitation of that decree, intended by way only o^ retaliation to the French decree j but it is far from being a complete retaliation. The Ameri- cans, it is true, are like the ass between the hay j but they liked the bite on one side better than on the other; whether they have been wise in their choice, will be seen probably in the sequel. Two enemies are contending: the Americans are perfectly neutrals to the quarrel ; but for some reason known only to themselves, they submit qui^ etly to the restraints arbitrarily imposed on them by the owe; and when the oilier teXh them you shall not lend my enemy a sword, with which he means to accomplish my destruction ; they complain bit- tqriy of this prohibition. . I 19 Let any advocate of America i clamours against this Order in Council compare it to the Berlin Decree, to which it was meant to be an an- swer ; and let him, if he can, point out in what it has exceeded that, decree : exceeded ' no ! it ■will appear that the British Order is far short of the Decree— and not only so ; but the severity of the order is mitigated by exceptions — These are, I. Vessels, and their cargoes, which shall be- long to any country Jiot declared by this order in a state of blockade, and which shall have cleared out of some port of such country, either in Europe or in America, or from some free port in His Majesty's colonies, direct to some port in the colonies of His Majesty's enemies, or dhx'ct from those colonies to the country to which such vessels shall belong, or to some f?'et' poiv in His Majesty's colonies. II. Vessels belonging to aiiy country not at war with His Majesty, which shall have cleared out of any port of tiiis kingdom, or from Gibraltar or Malta, under regulations to be prescribed, direct to the port specified in their clearance. III. Vessels belonging to anij country .lot at war with His Majesty coming dirccily from any port in this Order declared in a state of blockade, to any port belonging to His Majesty in Europe. These exceptions, however, to exempt from D 2 20 capture vessels entering or departing from any port actually blockaded by His Majesty's squad- rons, or having enerm/s property on board, or any other circumstances therein as stated in these exceptions, are subject to some restrictions. Cer- tificates of origin obtained in neutral ports from enemies' agents, declaring the cargoes of vessels not to be of the produce or manufacture of His Majesty s dominions, are to subject to capture the vessels having such documents on board, after reasonable time for notification of this Order, at the port from which they clear out— vessels, which may have cleared out before this Order for any port declared in a state of blockade, to be warned not to proceed to such port, but to proceed to some port in thii kingdom, Gibraltar or Malta •, and if after such zvarni?ig or reasonable time to have this Order known at the port whence they clear out, vessels shall be found proceeding to any port declared in a state of blockade, they shall be captured and condemned as prizes to the captors. Much clamour has been raised against this Order— deputations have been sent to the Mi- nister to ask what it mea?it ; when the slightest knowledge of the English language, with a very small attention to the composition of the words, might have saved the Constituents of the Depu- ties, and the Deputies themselves, the trouble and the ridicule of such an inquiry. It seems to me extraordinary, that men of good sense could 21 doubt about the meaning. The Decree of Ber-^ lin is obscure, and may admit of doubtful interpret tation : it was calculated and intended to entrap \ and that it has answered its purpose in this re* spect, will be seen by the cases faithfully de^ tailed at the conclusion of these sheets. But it seems out of the compass of the English, or of any other language, to express in words more clear, the general meaning of the order, or the cases which are meant to be an exception to it. It would be wasting words, and a prostitution of time, to attempt to give an explanation of the one or of the other ; he that runs may read, and if zvilli?ig to understand, may after reading understand. Of the same date with the foregoing Order in Council, there is another, of which the sub- stance is j " That vessels so warned, which shall come into any port of His Majesty's dominions, shall be allowed to report their cargoes for ex- portation, and to proceed to their original des' filiation, or to any port at amity with His Ma- jesty, or they may be allowed to import the said Cargo, on paying certain duties, in respect to all articles which may be on board, except sugars, cof- fee, wine, brandy, snuff, tobacco, which articles may be exported by licence to ports prescribed by His Majesty." It has been represented that this order pre- tended to impose a duty on neutral commerce ; it -'IlK-UMl ,IJ1 * has been said that by it every American ship, in order to avoid capture by British cruisers, must come into a British port, and pay a duty at the arbitrary will of the British government, before she shall be permitted to proceed on her destined voyage, wherever that might be. Thank God, the British Government, I mean the executive Government, has no such power. The King in Council might order ships found under such cir- cumstances to be brought in and conjiacated ; and with infinitely more justice than exists in the Berlin Decree : but they could not, and I am sure they woidd not attempt to order neutral ships, at all events^ to come into a port of Great Britain, and pay a duty before they should be permitted to pro- ceed on their destined voyage. But what is the order in question ? nothing more than this, that behig found in circumstances wliich the British Government have thought fit to consider a^ an act favouring their enemy, you shall not be permitted to enter the enemy's ports : we might, if we chose, declare you lawful prize ; but we will not proceed so far : provided you de- sist from your intended voyage, the object of which was to assist our enemies, you shall be per- mitted to enter our ports, if you be so disposed, and to make the best market of your cargo there, with certain excepted articles, on paying a certain fluty ; and as to the articles excepted, you may go 23 to any port to be prescribed by his Majesty, having a licence for that purpose. Then comes the Milan Decree issued De-* cember 17, 1807* • After a preamble, and allusion to the last order in Council, this notable Decree orders: " I. That every ship> to whatever nation it may belong, which shall have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or which shall be on her voyage to England, or which shall have paid any tax what- ever to the English Government, shall be declared to be (denationalis^e) unnationed, if such an un- national word can be admitted into the English language ; or in other words stripped of the rights or privileges to which she was before entitled afS a ship belonging to the nation of which her pro- prietors were subjects ; to have forfeited the pro- tection of her Sovereign, and to have become I^NGLISH property." The second article attempts to give additional clTect to the former. It is in these words : " Whether the ship denationalised by the ar- bitrary measures of the ENGLISH GOVERNMENT enter our ports or those of our ALLIES, or whether they fall into the hands of our chips of war or pri- vateers, they are declared to be good and lavAfui prize." i j !24 The ships visited and f?ie7'€lj/ VISITED by Englisk ships of war or English privateers, are to be de- nationalisedy and declared out of the protection of their Sovereign : for an act not their own^ but of a party whom they could not resist, they are to be confiscated : a traveller on Finchly Common is sa- luted by the excise officer, who suspected he is carrying on an illegal trade*, he submits to be searched ; nothing contraband is found upon him, and he is permitted to pursue his journey. But he meets afterwards with a band of smugglers, who ask him only whether he has been saluted by the excise officers ? He answers yes 1— Then, Sir, you are our prize ; whatever you have belongs to us. This is the true interpretation of the Milan Decree. But the ship is to be denationalised by the aj'bitrary measures of the ENGLISH Government. Now, what are these arbitary measures ? a ship of war, or a privateer meets a ship at sea ; if she belong to an enemy, she may be legally captured; if she be a neutral, she may be searched ; she is by force compelled to submit to this search, and is permitted to proceed on her voyage : but this search is fatal to her : " she is, by this arbitrary measure of the English Government denationa- lised' '■a.\.\^ deprived of her rights; she shall not enter our ports, no ! nor those of our allies, whose conduct and politics we take upon ourselves com- pletely to controul, and to subject to our will : Stat pro ratione voluntas. i j 25 If they enter they shall be confiscated: if they fall into the hands of our ships of war or privateers, they shall be declared lawful prize. It has been stated in our houses of par- liament, and also in some pamphlets, that our Orders in Council produced the second Decree of Bonaparte. In answer to this charge, I will take the liberty to quote a letter from Monsieur Colin, Director General of the Customs and Counsellor of State, dated Paris, the 17th of March 1808, addressed to the proper authorities in the sea- ports of France, Holland and Italy. « The sequestration of neutral vessels must be carried into execution according to the orderg of his Imperial Majesty, which express in formal terms, that all neutral vessels must be detained under sequestration, which have been visited by the enemy, whether ANTERIORLY or subsequently to the Decree of the 17th of December, and conse- quently referred to the Council of Prizes." The substance of this letter appears in a memoire presented to the Council of Prizes, by Mr. De La Grange, Advocate for the captured in the case of the American Ship the Sally, Captain Jacob Hastings*. If Bonaparte had really wished to support * See Appendix. E 26 his claim to the title of Champion of the Liberty of the Seas against the tyranny of the « Usurping Isle*," as he has been pleased to style Great Britain, he would have done well to imitate the tyrant's conduct, in allowing a sufficient time to neutrals to be ac(iuainted with the existence of his pira- ratical orders ; but he chose rather to adopt a conduct for the ocean, which JONATHAN WILD the Great, whom he seems to have taken for his prototype, established for his depredations on Terra Fir ma. We have another Decree of Bonaparte, dated Palace of the Tuilleries, January 11th, 1808 1> by which he holds out inducements to sailors to impeach their Captains. " Art 1. Whenever a vessel shall have entered a French port, or that of a country occupied by our armies, any man of the crew, or a passenger, who shall declare to the principal of the Custom house that such ship comes from England, or her * About three years ago, Bonaparte, in one of his Speeches to his servile Senate, tailed Great Britain L'Isle Usurpatrice. This word was then new to the French language; it is the femi- nine of Uswpateur. The word was adopted. An eminent bookseller in Paris, of the name of Moutardier, published some time after a new edition of the French Dictionary, known by the title of Dictionnaire de V Academic Ftanfaise, with an Ap- pendix of newly-invented words since the Revolution, and the names of the persons who introduced them. Opposite to the words " Usurpaieur Masc." — " Usurpatrice. Fem."— -was placed the name of L' Empereur Napoleon, who immediately order, d the bookseller to be arrested, and every copy to be seized, wherever it was found I f bee the London Papers of the 2ith of January 1808. 1 1 1 «7 colonies, or countries occupied by English troops, or that she has been visited by any English vessel, shall receive a third part of the produce of the nett sale of the ship and cargo, provided his declaration be found correct." The second and third articles prescribe the form for the interrogatories. As a sample of the execution of this decree, let the reader peruse the following case : Captain Ralph Linzee was condemned on the denunciation of his crew, that he had a brottier in the British Navy ; this crew were properlij re- warded for their perfidy ; they were pressed into the French Navy at Porto Ferrajo, and never received a shilling for their denunciation. Linzee* was treated in a most barbarous manner: he was confined in a common dungeon at Porto Ferrajo ; was not suffered to make a pro- tes^, or converse with a living creature until his ''-'-^ pnd cargo were coridemned : he wished to go -:, in order to appeal to the Council of State. Gc Armstrong sent him a passport, coun- tersigned by Fouche, Minister of Police: the Com- missary of Marine at Porto Ferrajo refused to let him proceed, alleging that the passport ought to have been countersigned by the Minister of Ma- Tine : it was sent back to Paris for this purpose, ♦ The name of his ship was the Grace. I have seen his subsequent protest, from which tliese facts are taken. — The Case is detailed in the Appendix. E2 MMMH 28 and at length Captain Linzee was permitted t«j depart. The object of these proceedings was merely to gain time, in order to prevent Linzee from stating the hardship and oppression which he ex- perienced: and tlie better to accomplish this object, he was constantly attended by a guard, who was ordered to see that he should have no op- portunity of writing. His appeal was ineffectual. It would be an insult to English jurisprudence to suppose it possible that a similar instance could be found in the conduct of England towards America. To return for a moment to the Milan Decree, which condemns to confiscation every neutral vessel that has been met at sea by an English cruizer and searched by her. The French word in the Decree is " visey" which, in English means searched: a sworn ^Interpreter to the Council of Prizes, whom I well know, was employed by that Council to trans- late the documents found on board of an American ship which was brought in as a prize : he found in the log-book that the ship had been hailed by an English man of war, and permitted to proceed on her voyage : the word " hailed" he knew did not correspond to the word vise (searched): he translated it into the corresponding French word « hile—*' He was well acquainted with the English language, as he was with the French, and he perfectly well knew the import of the terms : ^9 Bat the Council of Prizes thought thcxf knew better j they would have the world " hailed" trans- lated into " vise'* (searched) to answer the words of the Decree : the translator refused to make the alter- tion, because he thought it contrary to his oath as a sworn interpreter He was never employed again to translate for the Council of Prizes. The Council of Prizes is composed of twelve members and a president. The present president is Monsieur Berlier, who, in the time of the directory, obtained the name of Berlier Otage*, from the circumstance of his having proposed the Law of Hostages. A procureur Imperial, who at present is M. Collet Descotils, an intelligent and very honest man, and a substitute f. * Mr. Berlier, when Member of the Council of 500, in the Directorial Government, proposed a law to detain as hoslagea all those persons whose relations were Emigrants, and to make them responsible for their conduct. His motion was negatived. jA.t present the relations of those who are subject to the laws ol' Conscription are responsible lor them. And if a son, or a ne- phew, or even cousin, is not forthcoming wlien called upon, the nearest relations, either male or female, are obliged to procure a substitute, or are subject to be tried by tlie Tribunal Coriec- tiontlle, for aiding and abetting the evasion of a Conscript. The punishment is two years imprisonment, and a fine from one to live thousanil francs, according to tlu- means of the parties. Thiii is done on purpose to induce people to give information to Go- vernment, if thev suspect their relations intend to avoid the Conscription laws". Thus are persons called upon to act a« spies or denunciators on their own relations. f The last substitute, to wiiom no successor has been ap- pointed, was Monsieur Fl'irent Guyot, an Ex-constitiitional, now a prisoner in the " Ho. el de la Force, ' one of the strongest prisons in Paris, on accusation of conspiracy with others to assassinate Bonaparte ; his companions in misfortune are Jac- cjuemont, Ex-tribun, and late Chef de Division at the Mi- nister's of the interior. Generals Mallet and Giliiet. In thii conspiracy were also implicated Garat and Tracy, Senators, and General Lemoine, 'this accusation was believed in Pari* so public is not The proceedings are private; the i 4 -vV 1 to hear the debates: they are earned admitted to hear tnc u ex,u.ssion, on huis dos. which .s an old lltm.^ e > ^^ adopted into the French famdy, and mcuas house shut up." Yet His not altogether •■nu.scu,s:" Thej^- vccatc presents hiM.n-eaa.e.onaA tot. ^^.^^^^^^^ which has been probably c.rculatcd betor . .11 the friends of the party n. Pa''^- ^ "^ rctnOW^Attorney Genera./.; U^.^^^^^^^^^^ XtiontotheearofanE,.Ujhr^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I literal translation of the Title,) tue for the CAPTOas. because Sa MajcsU interest in the condemnation. Wl.enaship and cargo are sou, the Fodu^ f th^sales is deposited in the Caisse d Amort s f a nublic establishment for the cKtn.cUon :;tnatirnaUebt. and one third of the produce goes to government. The Procure,. General is in efeet the O.^ Justice though he has not the name; he stes, beSnd. as well as the Ju-lges do, the ...no.res o te pa.ties. audi«s,.rsonaiconversJ.onw.h them and their friends : He sums up as .t .s called .„be an i..le .ale. "---'tfrr^yi" rS'fH/I'«^ro''li of Police, f»'- '"l" P»'P°f "JJe'e °?ffio acertai.. ext.n. sac the Minister of Generai. PphM . "> ^ jg^ „j „ ceeded. They were comra.ttea to pi.son -n - J June last they were still there. » Sinking Fund. 31 in this country, or to use the French phrase, he draws his CONCLUSIONS, which are in almost every instance an Imperial Decree to the Judges, who whisper together, and in general decide as he has concluded. But this is not enough for Bonaparte. He wishes to know personally whatever passes in the Council of Prizes : he has his spif there, one of the pretended judges who, at present is Monsieur Camus Le Neville. When the conclu,- sions of the Procureur General are not quite con» elusive, which sometimeSy though rarely happens, this gentleman always directs the deliberations of this immaculate Court of Justice. About two years ago a Decree of Bonaparte excluded all neutral ships from the Elbe and Weser, and directed that the French authorities at the mouth of those rivers should apprize the Neutrals of this Decree and not suffer tliem to enter. They were, however, suiTered to enter quietly, but, when they reached Hamburgh and Bremen, they were sequestered, and afterwards condemned by the Council of Prizes at Paris. A Monsieur Dukerque, merchant at Hamburg^a, went as agent to Paris, for claiming thoise neu- trals, but his efforts were unsuccessful. It must, however, be ^idmitted, that this conduct to the Americans by Bonaparte is not without a precedent J he is not the original of all the measures he ha$ pursued ; though he is 32 very ready to adopt every thing in the conduct of former depredators, which he thinks will suit his views. He Ukes to follow great precedents, when they answer his purpose. The people of America have been plundered and pillaged ever since the beginning of the French Revolution. The Americans furnished the French from the beginning with the means of subsistence; they thougUt it would be a bene, ficial commerce ; but the adventurers have been woefully deceived : few of them indeed have been paid in full, and some nothing at all. In theyear 1802, when the French obtained Louisiana from the Spaniards, they sold it to America for a certain sum, which was reduced by four millions of piastres, to be applied by the French government to answer the claims of Ame- rican citizens on that government. The New Jersey, with a cargo of great value, belonging to Nicklin and Griffiths, merchants, of Philadelphia, was on her voyage from China to the latter city taken by the French, and carried into St. John's at Port Rico. Gene- ral Hedouville, who was Governor General of the West-India Islands, then resided at St. Domingo : he ordered the ship to be seques- tered on suspicion that she and her cargo were Enghsh property; aim the auaii w o^ .cs to the Council of Prizes in Paris. The American II : (I : 33 owner, fearing that the cargo would spoil, deposited 400,000 piastres with General Hedouville, to ob- tain a main levee*, and to be permitted to send away the ship and cargo to the place of her desti- nation. The Council of Prizes at Paris declared the capture to be illegal: but General Hedouville having expended for iiis Government the money deposited, gave bills for the amount on the Direc- tory, who being without a soiiSy could not honour the bills. The matter stood over till the affair of Louisiana, before mentioned; it was of course ex- pected that Nicklin and Griffiths would be paid their demand in full. This was not the case. In this instance there may be some appearance of justice; had Nicklin and Griffiths been paid in full, the other claimants could not have received a farthing. This affair gave rise to a great deal of discussion in America, between Nicklin and Griffiths on the one hand, and General Armstrong on the other. The General was blamed for not having insisted on their full claim; but it is not the object of these few sheets to enter into private disputes. When the expedition was fitted out by Bona- parte for St. Domingo, under the husband of his • Amain levee is in general equivalent to what we call a rep.evin; but m this case it is rather correspondent to an " Amoveas Manus." *^ F \ sister, General Leclerc, now the Princess Borghese, the Americans supplied that colony for the use of the French invading it. Generals Leclerc, Ro- chambeau, and Ferrand, gave drafts or orders for payment on the Minister of Marine in Paris; but not one of these drafts has been paid, unless the following case may be deemed an exception. In the short interval of peace, if peace it can be called, a Mr. AIlsop u as sent to Paris by the house of Messrs. Lindo and Co. merchants in Lon- don, to negotiate bills drawn by Le Clerc on the French Minister of Marine, which had been ac- cepted by him for stores furnished by Mr. Lindo's house at Jamaica, for that colony. Thisperson negotiated some of thebills,andwas proceeding to negotiate others. This was a crime sufficient to deprive him of his liberty. It was said he knew they would not be paid: he was immured in prison for some time ; but was at last discharged j and by some extraordinary circumstance of good fortune, Mr. Lindo was paid. Truth and its connection with the subject on which I am writing, compel me here to relate an affair which happened in St. Domingo during Ro- chambeau's command in that island. I state it with reluctance, because he is now a prisoner in this country, and because, if he should ever return to his ou?i, it is probable he will fmd himself in a worse 35 situation than that of a prisoner here: but not for the transaction which I am now going to relate. General Roohambcau, when commander-in- chief of St. Domingo, had a dispute with General Clauzel, and some other officers ^ he had them all arrested to the number of sixteen. An American vessel happened to be there, and consigned to Mr. Anthony Laussat, merchant in Port-au-Prince: she belonged to Smith and Ridgeway, merchants, of New-York; she was taking in a cargo for Ame- rica. General Rochambeau sent for the Captain, and told him to prepare for sea in twenty-four hours, to take General Clauzel and suite on board, and to land them in France, America, or {ou d Venfer) in hell. The Captain remonstrated that his ship was only half full, that his masts and rig- ging were not in order, and that his ship was leaky. The General answered that she must depart at the time mentioned; otherwise he would have him shot. The commander of the vessel went to the Port-Captain, entreating him to examine her, and report to the General whether it was possible for her to put to sea in that state, without endangering the lives of the persons on board. The Port- Captain confirmed to General Rochambeau the American Captain's first statement, but without effect. The vessel was compelled to put to sea. After having been out three lays, the ship and cargo F i 96 were lost on the shores of the Floridas ; though for- tunately the people were saved. Till this hour Mr. Ridgeway, who is the American Consul at Antwerp, has not received a farthing of compen- sation ! The loss was estimated at six C -msand pounds sterling! ! Here a question naturally arises: What part has the Government of America taken in this affair ? The reply is easy : it appears evident that they have never taken ani/ part. They have not thought fit to interpose with their great and powerful ally, who guides the destinies of France. The experi- ment might be ungrateful. I state as a fact that Mr. De la Grange, the able and disinterested advocate for most of the un- fortunate Americans in Paris, receives no kind of assistance from the American legation there, though sometimes in his professional capacity he requires it. General Armstrong is admitted to be an in- telligent and firm man, and his private character without exception. It is supposed he guides his conduct m conformity to the vishes of his GO- VERNMENT. While the Americans make such loud com- plaints on the asserted violation, by the ENGLISH 37 Government, of the law of nations, in searching on board their ships for English seamen ; let us see how they are treated in France. All the crews of the ships taken in the manner before stated, were made prisoners of war, and sent to the different depots. Hundreds of Americans taken on board of British merchantmen are now prisoners there. They have been reclaimed by the American Minister, but in vain. About twelve months ago, some few were liberated; but the order was countermanded, and they were re- taken. It may perhaps be argued, and with a degree oi plausibility y by those unacquainted witli the laws of nations, that these Americans, neutrals, were found on board the ships of an enemy ; this would be correct, if they had been found on board an enemy's ships of war, but they were on board mer- chant ships. But granting that which, on no principle of the law of nations, can be granted, that this conduct of the French Government towards these poor individual Americans could be palliated or excused; what shall we say to the clamour raised by the partisans of America against the seizure from the Chesapeake, of British seamen, acknowledged deserters from British ships of war!! When Bonaparte was at Bayonne in May last year, organizing robbery and murder in Spain; an S8 American vessel arrived at L 'Orient, under a flag of trace from Jier own Government, with dispatches for General Armstrong, and a bag of commercial ^tters on board, and also a messenger (Lieutenant Nourse). This vessel was to proceed immediately to England, as she had clearly a right to do as a neutral. In the first place, the vessel w^; • nbargoed • the Messenger, however, was allowed to proceed to* i'aris; but the dispatches were sent to the Empe- ror, for his previous perusal *, and were not till a fortnight afterwards transmitted to General Arm- strong. Such an indepcfidcnt situation does the American Minister hold at Paris; and such pro- *ound regard has the magnanimous Napoleon for the rights of neutral and allied nations ! ! The commercial bag of letters was forwarded to the office of Fouche, Minister of General Police where the letters being read, about one half were dekvc;'cd, and the other, because, as i supposed, • In the office of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs- there IS u collection of fuc similes, impressions of the varilu^ hand ssntwgs and arms o< Sovereigns, Ministers, and of all dTs tmguishcd men in Europe and in America. Bonaparte Cn i^euher mud. difficulty nor qualms of conscience to C dif patches addressed to Ministers accredited to him Csuih means he procured easily the surrender of Magdebur«h~a iorged etter, purporting to be from the King of Prussia, ordered General Kiei.t, the Governor, to evacuate that fortross and t" Jo,n the kmg on the Oder [ This letter v.as sealed wth a sell rcsemblmg that of the King of Prussia. The GnveTior vvl. thmctore, easily imposed upon. ' "' ^-""^^^^^ ^^a«* 39 they contained some political remarks, were sup- pressed. Lieutenant Nourse, though having dispatches for the American Envoy in Loudon, was detained six weeks in Paris. A similar circumstance occurred in the case of another flag of truce, which arrived at Havre some time after; hut things of this kind do not transpire in America. The agents in Europe of the Ame- rican Government have, in general, too great a predilection for their august ally to make a faithful report of such infamous transactions. In justice, however, it must be admitted that the Great Regenerator of Governments and of nations, the champion of the libert}'^ of the seas, and of the international code, acts with some degree of im- partiality. He treats his own slaves, and the sub- jects of his brothers, no better than he does the citizens of neutral states. The case of Messrs. Faesch and Co. mer- chants of Amsterdam, which is given in the Ap- pendix, deserves attention*. • When the war broke out between Prussia anA France, up- wards of two hundred Prussian vessels were embargoed as a preparatory step to condemnation. It was proved that all these vessels were Dutch property. Nevertheless they were all condemned. 40 Havannah. came to France with his ship • she h»H been visited by the Ensrli^h nf « '^ ' ^ to "P ^«. • '^"g"'", of course, as supposed merchant, for having, n a memorial made asniritpH remo t i ,^„„^ . ^ wht ^2 months" r '^ ' ""' '"" '-^ "'^ Temple for sbc The house of Buff and Co at P.„.;. • considerable quantity of that article. In thetnte nor of Greece there are „o Fn-nc-, CoJl Z consequently there could be no cerflficafT ■ huterper^, (persons skilled i„ ZtZir^'"!' frontiers of Hungary n„,. k ' a ^ °" "'^ Paris ! ! "'timately condemned at Several other hoii«:f^« ,« v materially from ttr • • '"' '"'^■'^^'^'' «»»' Decree. "^ "' '""^""^ "' "- cajolm nr possible, because the com- 41 mercial ^''orld are marLed as the victims of them. When at Bayonne in May last year, this subtle tyger was plotting the means of drawing within the reach of his grasp the unfortunate and misguided Royal Family of Spain : he issued a De- cree, permitting colonial produce to be sold for home consumption, which should be taken by pri- vateers or other ships of war. Till then the pro- perty could be sold only for exportation, by reason of which prize-goods sold for a mere trifle. To enhance the value, therefore, he pretended to per- mit them to be sold for home consumption: but mark the consequence. This Decree induced a number of merchants from Holland, and elsewhere, to order colonial produce from England: but at the same time they intended to send out a privateer to take them, it being hinted that the French Government winked at this. Bonaparte caused private circular letters to be sent by his Minister of Marine, and by Mr. Colin, one of his Conseillers d*£tat, and his Directeiir General des Douanes *, to the different authorities • Comptroller General of the Customs. 6 42 in the sea-ports of France and Holland, ordering them to conliscate all property brought in by t,he Fretich privateers, unless it could be proved that the ships in question made a proper resistance, and were captured en home forme ! ! ! What resistance can a merchant ship make against an armed force fitted out on purpose to at- tack her, while by this insidious Decree, she was lulled into security ? Luckily for the merchants, it was soon whis- pered that such circulars had been sent, and they countermanded their orders. Every six weeks or two months, when he wanted to extort money from his brother Louis*, or hyhis means, he permitted the entry into France of colonial produce; but frequently, when the goods were at Antwerp, a counter Decree ap- peared, by which they were to be confiscated. This happened to a number of merchants at Ant- werp in October, 1808. In May last, several cargoes of colonial pro- duce were advertised for s^Ie at Flushing: in conse- Loujs IS an unwilling king; he is considered in Hoi- JancI as a good man, a friend to the commerce of that coun try, and adverse to his brother's measures; but he is obliged to 43 quence of the Decree which had permitted such articles to he sold for home consumption, they i'etqhed a comparatively high price. After the sale, the purchasers wrote to Mr. Colin at Paris, for the necessary permits ; but to their astonishment they were informed by that gen- tleman, that his Imperial Majesty had changed his mind since the passing of the Decree, and that no permission could or would be granted. The purchasers, in this dilemma, resolved on the dangerous experiment of smuggling their goods along the coast to France. They sent them along shore to Gravelines. They were there seized with their property. The cargoes were condemned; and the persons sent to Boulogne, where they were to be tried as spies. They were respectable inha- bitants of Dunkirk; and Mr. Coffin, the American Consul at that port, being intimate with Mr. De- villiers. Commissary General at Boulogne, con- trived by his generous exertions to save their lives. The chief object of these few sheets, is to prove that those who have cast so much blame on our Orders in Council, with respect to neutral naviga- tion , have laboured under a gross mistake in im- G!2 puting to them our disputes with Americftj and to shew by ati historical deduction that they are pro- perly to be imputed to the senseless and mad De- crees of him who takes upon himself the title of assertor of the freedom of the seas against their tyrant; that those Orders in Council are even mo- derate efforts at self-defence against a determined enemy, and a pretended friend insidiously acting in conjunction with that enemy for the destruction of our commerce ; and that the reader may judge how far America has or has not been impartial in her conduct towards the two contending powers. I have perhaps here and there indulged in some degree that indignation, which every honest mmd must feel, on contemplating, with sufficient knowledge of the facts, the egregious usurpations and insolence of the ruler of the destinies of France, and the tame and uncalled-for submission of thJ Government of America and their marked hostility to England. But J can vouch for every fact that I have stated; and justify every conclusion or re- mark I have made. The Cases contained in the following Appen- dix, will carry conviction to every unprejudiced mmd; they are extracted from printed Memoires of the proceedings of the Council of Prizes at Paris, now in my possession *. * They may be seen at the Publisher's. 4i I will add but a few observations more. A gentleman, to the veracity of whose report I can trust, had an opportunity of seeing a distin- guished Member of the Council of Prizes, in rela- tion to the capture of an American vessel: the gentleman in support of his argument cited a pas- sage from Vattel j to which the Frenchman jocosely replied : — " We know nothing of public law, or what YOU call the law of nations: we must follow the Decrees of f'le Emperor: we leave it to you Eng- lishmen to speak of it at this moment. Your Lord Auckland must be very simple indeed to trouble himself about it at this moment*." This was in allusion to a speech of his Lord- ship, mentioned in that day's paper, in which he was represented as complaining of the conduct of the British Government as incompatible with the laws of nations. The Member of the Council of Prizes alluded to knows perfectly well that Lord Auckland is a consummate statesman, a scholar, and a gentle- man} but Frenchmen in oflice, or out, cannot conceive how persons of rank and condition can make any apology for the conduct of Bonaparte, ^ * Nous ne connoissons pas Ic droll public ; nous laissons ccla « voiis autres. II faut ji'en tenir aux dccrets de I'Emperetir. U est bien bon voire my Lord Auckland, de\^'en occuper a cetie hture. 46 enemies of the tyrant adopt against him. French ">en know him well, and of what he is ^apabr "^^e cannot," continued the ,ame Gentleman go so far as Sir mUiam ScM, who said Z ; he were sitting at Stockholm, l^ wou' gi ^ Jif \ ^^"^ "» hesitation in saying, that th. I. , and enlightened judge of Doctfr, r """ not be more respected for I T ?"""°"' '""" -grityinEnglardtlt- in";:;:;" '""'*''- t'oyd'sCoflee-house? ^ underwriters at The pamphlet of « /ra,- ;„ n,v„ ■ „ much interest in Fr-,,, ^''gwe," excited avidity by tlose,^r''r """"'' ""'" "-"^h '-ted for ieull otl r °""" ''• '' '^^ '™- '"e reply Z m"'"'' "' ^'^'"^^ - -- of AmcTiea but tl r ""' "" '"""'' P-'^^i'I-^nt -ecorrect'sS; ?':T""""^^'''''""- Wethataau:t'dr:L^"■^'''"°'^"" '^ uiiich was carried on * I had in inv post^fssinii 'i„ji i. 47 from that country, was carried on by means of neutral agents, who neutralized the property for a commission of 10 per cent. Upon the whole, it is a poor recommendation in France to write or to have written in favour of the measures adopted by the respective govern- ments of that country since the Revolution ! , 49 'i APPENDIX. * Cop^ of a Letter frmn Mons» Decres^ Mini- ster of the Marine and of the Colonies^ to General Armstrongs American Minister at Paris, dated 24th December, 1806 *. . I HASTEN to answer the note you did me the honour to address to me on the 20th of this month. 'I * When General Armstrong received the above letter, he waited on the Minister of Marine, to learn from him all the explanations which that Minister wished General Ainistrong to obtain from the Prince of Uenevento! who was at Berlin with his Imperial master. The result of that interview was, that General Armstrong, knowing that no French Minister can take upon himself to give an interpretation to Bonaparte's decrees without his consf nt, was therefore so fully convinced that the Minister's letter would be acted upon, that he lost no time in communicating the same to the Ameiican Legation in London. At all events, the //orison ha\ing heen stranded, ought not to have come within the meaning of any decree. It is also necessary to observe, that as the Berlin Decree was only in- tended against America, Bonaparte's intentions were made known to the Minister of Marine at the same time that he forwarded to him his Berlin De- cree. Thus, while the Decree was held out to the Americans tn /errorcw/, the above letter was intended to delude them into an heedlesssecurity. 1 have heard even sftsne nf ihe Members of she Council of Prizes say, that the latter was only iatended "pour mystijier lei Americains ! I .'" 50 , consider the Imperial Decree of the 2.st of No.emher Us. r llr conveying no modiBcation of the rcRulafon, at pre- Irle V il Fra'ce with .egard to neutral n-jgators nor r^Veotly of the convention of the 30.h of September ,800, (8 Vendemiaire 9th year) v».th the Unu.d Slates ^ r: aUhough. by this answer, the foor questions npon .hich vour E«elleocv has desired to know my op.oion have been Clicitiy resoWed. . thinU -^^r ^ ---" r ::::r:or:--t:;-^::::t..^ r„„g.na,iti,ne captures, there is no reason for ■nqu.rmg latinterpretatio.. restriction, or e.,ension, ntaybe g^ven to "■'X' -n"' -i-«» -"trary to the existing regulations con- cernin" cruisers, will not be allowe,! to the captors. Iv" That an American vessel cannot be taken at sea for , .hot »he is Boing t<. 3 port of England, or is re- the mere reason that she is goni„ y .urning from one; because, conformably with the ,th article If le said Decree, we are limited in France not to „.„,. ves- sel, coming from England or the English colonies. Ith y That the p^vlsions of the 2a and Mh articles of the ,aid De ree naturally apply to foreign citizens ^«-"-""" K Ice or in the countries occupied by the troop, of His Ma- ■:: t e Emperor and King, inasmuch as they have the cha Zv 'f a general law; bu, .hat it will be proper that yo Excellency should communicate with the Minister of Ex- Lior Relations as to what concerns the corre.,ponde„ce of the citizens of the United States of America with England. 1 pray your Excellency, &c. DECRES. p s -It will not escape OenetBl Armstroug. that my an- .„e„ cannot have the developement which they would receive frrthe Minister of Exterior Relations ; that i. .. naturally t. 61 him that he ought to address himself for these explanations, which I am very happy to give him, because he Irishes them, but upon which I have much less positive ioformation than the Prince of Benevento. No. 1. Case of the Victory^ Caleb Hopkins, THIS man, entrusted with the command of an Americanshlp called the Victory, sailed from New York on the 25th of July, in the year 1807, with a cargo for Cherbourgh. On the 30th of August following, he was met by an English privateer, called the Cochrane, and carried into Plymouth. His papers had been seized by the privateer; some hours after he had anchored, he was conducted on^joard the ship of the Port Admiral, where he found his papers, and was told that he might pursue his vo^iage to Cherbourgh, without inter- ruption. He set sail from Plymouth, and arrived at Cherbourgh on the first of September. He had hardly cast anchor, when he was boarded by a boat from a man of war; he informed the party of his short detention at Plymouth ; and as they understood but imperfectly his language, and he did not understand theirs, he sent his documents on board, and oflercd them his journal, which they refused. The next day another boat assailed him; he made the same declaration he had made to the former, aud as the same diffi- &2 culty of mutual understanding existed, he was conducted bn board the frigate " Le Departement de la Manche *," The American went down to the cabin, where he expected to meet the officer on guard, but he saw only a yo^ng man aboot sixteen years of age, nho was busied in writing. As they could not understand one another, the lad called the Mirgeon, who spoke a little English. The surgeon interpret- ing, asked the Captain whether he was an Englishman f he replied that he was '*areal Yankey." He was then asked, as he understood, fronj what port he had come ? of what his loading consisted ? and how long he had been on his pasvsage ? When he had answered these questions, a written paper in French was presented to him; he was asked to sign it, as o mere form necessary for his admission into the harbour. He signed in confidence without knowing the contents, as he could not read it, and the surgeon who acted as interpreter could not translate it. The next morning, the 3cl of September, he went into the iraier harbour, and the Commissary of Police having come on board to make his visit, the Captain declared to him, without hesitation, his detention for some hours in Plymouth roads. On the 4th he went with his crew to the custom-house, where he voluntarily made the same declaration* The Members of the Board then observed to him that, on board the frigate, he had signed a declaration, •' that he had not been in England." He answered that nothing of the kind had been asked him; that he had signed, in confidence, a writing which he did not understand, and that he must have been drunk or mad^ to have declared that he had not been in England, as the fact declared by him at the moment of his arrival was known by all his crew, and written at length, on his journal. He was permitted to land his cargo. It was almost all on • The namrs of persons aod ships are imuiaterial to the narration of facts, Imt I insert them, that the partisans of French politics may not suppose that i ipcak without authority. 53 Aore, tvhen goods, ship, and tackle, ^vere all seized at the re- quest of the Custom-house, on the 2Ist of the same month of September, He was stripped of every thing: he wished to go to Paris to defend his rights: for eight months he solicited a passport without success, he was starving at Cherbourgh, and in com- plete Ignorance of what was passing in the council of Prizes when at last he was informed that his ship and her loading were confiscated to the use of the State. Thus this vessel was condemned by virtue of the Berlin Decree. No. 2. Case of the Paulina^ Captain Clarke. THE Paulina, Clarke, of Baltimore, sailed from Morlaix to Guernsey, with a cargo of wheat for neutral account, consigned to the mercantile house of Brock, Laserre, Maingy, and Co. at the latter city. In the month of September, 1806, Captain Clarke signed a charter party to proceed to Malaga in ballast, to take in a cargo of w.ne, fruit, and wool, from the house of Maury, Brothers, and Co and from thence to proceed to England and Riga ; the whole for account and risk of Mr. George Bimbel, merchant, of^ K>ga. The Pauhna was proceeding to her place of destination. When passmg through the Straits of Gibraltar, she was taken by • Spanish privateer, and carried into Algeziras, where she H .^4 was condemned by virtue of the Berlin Decree, which had just then been promulgated in Spain. The house of Maury, Freres, and Co. having heard of this tapture and condemnation, commissioned their correspondent at Algeziras to re>purchase the Paulina, which was done for 6500 Spanish piastres. The ship then proceeded to Malaga, where she took in her cargo, and departed for England or Riga. On the 7th of January, 180S, the Requin privateer, of Mor- laix, took the Paulina and carried her into Morlaix. In the course of the trial it appeared that the reason why the Paulina was taken and carried into Morlaix, was, that she had spoken an English brig of war, called the Redwing, on the 17th of December, 1807, (the same day that the Milan Decree was dated ;) and on the 25th of the game month had been hailed by several English ships of war off Lisbon, especially by the Tonnant. In the course of the proceedings it was stated by the captors, that the ship had been in Guernsey, and what had happened at Algeziras, &c. &c. The captors therefore demanded the con- fiscation of ship and cargo, as having acted in contravention to the Berlin and Milan Decree. The counsel for the claimants, M. Loiseau, on the other hand, contended that what had happened to the Paulina at Algeziras was in favour of his clients, as they had already paid for the Berlin Decree, although the ship sailed from Guernsey before that Decree passed. The Paulina having since become the property of/the house at Malaga, ought not at this moment to be liable to condemnation for acting in contravention to the Berlin Decree ; and as to the Milan Decree, it ought not to apply to his clients, as the visits or the hailing by the English ships was made before that Decree could be known to the cap- tors or captured, and that the ship and cargo being neutral property should be restored to the parties. At all events, whatever guilt was attached to the ship, the cargo ought to be distinct, as it was put on board after the Paulina was re- purchased at Algeziras, &c. Nevertheless, ship and cargo "i'i f ,i «* I 65 were condemned by the Council of Prizes in Paris, the 23d of July, 1808. (Signed) Mr. Chompre, Juge Rapporteur ; Mr. LoisEAU, Advocate for the Paulina; and Mr. Le Procureu/i General, for the Captors. No. 3. Case of the American Ship Hopewell^ Captain Jeremiah Shephard* \ THE facts relating to this case are not given in a distinct and separate detail in the Memoire ; but they are sufficiently ex- plained in the course of the argument of the advocate, and not at all contradicted on the part of the captors. I give a transla- tion of that argument, because it contains every thing that can tend to shew the iniquity of the decision in this, as well as in all the others which are mentioned in this Appendix. " The captors," says the advocate, •* think they have discovered four grounds for the confiscation of the Hopewell and her cargo. " We shall see, on a discussion of these grounds, that not one of them can justify a measure so severe. " The first ground is that the Hopewell had just come out of an English port when she was taken, and consequently that there is a contravention of the Decrees of the 21st November, 1806, and 17th December, 1807. H 2 56 " It is nugatory to speak here of the first of these Decrees. It 13 sufficient to read it, and compare it with those which have followed it, to be convinced that it did not in any manner in- terd.ct direct commerce between England and a neutral coun- try; that the prohibition was confined to the exclusion hom Fiench ports, vessels which should have been in those of the enemy. "This truth has been demonstrated so many times; it is so evident to the councl, that it appears perfectly useless to em- ploy longer time upon it, " We must f heie/brc absolutely exclude from the discussion, not only the Decree of the 2l.st November. 1806, but even that of the 23d November, 1807, because it is certain that the ab- SOLUTE pnoriiBiTioN was established only by that of the \7th De. t-ember of this last year. " But can this Decree of the I7th December be applied to the lioPEWELL?-We maintai,, the negative, and that upon two grounds : — « "It is ascertained, in the first place, that the Hcpcwell, dis- patched from8ale.n for liourdeaux, the 5d December. 1807, was •»et on the 2ith of the same mouth by the armed English vessel the .SPKEDWELt, which forced her to change her course, and steer tovvards Lng/and; that yielding to superior force, the Hopewell sailed for Cowes; and that the bad weather having prevented her from getting in there, she arrived at Dartmouth, from whence she went to London, after a long and indispensable repa'r. " ';''^«^f«cts,provedby the ship's papers, and by the proceed. >ngs m the cause, are further confirmed by three other papers which we produce to-day. Shlnf "f ?' 1 '^u ^"'"'' '"''^'"^^^ '^ ^'•^-''■«' >^J^-h Captain Shephard had obtained for his voyage to Bourdeaux : these, cond IS the certificate of health, delivered at Salem for thesame voyage; and the third the protest made at Dartmouth, by the Captam and hisoftlcers, the 1 5th of February, 1808. "'J his beir.- the case, the first ground of inapplicability will result from this, that the Captain having sailed from Salem the 57 3d December 1807. could net know of the Decree promulged at Milan fourteen days after ; and that he could have no know- lege of it on the 24th December, when he was met by the C^:-"lwelt. Whence this consequence is inevitable, that he could not know that in yielding to a superior force, he incurred the confiscation attached to such a passive act. Whence also the consequence, that the Decree in question cannot be applied to the present case, without giving it a retrospective effect; an excess of power which all laws natural and positive haye denied to the French tribunals. "The second ground of inapplicability results from this, that theforccJ entry into an English port, being once legitimated by the ignorance of the law, the Hopewell must be acknowledged to have had the right to quit that port "It is a principle universally recognized, that no interruption ofcommerce can have a retro-active effect ; and that when a port or a country are declared in a state of blockade, all vessels found there before that declaration ought to have the liberty of re- turning home. "This principle, guarantied by the law of nations, has been formally consecrated by the J 2th Article of the Convention with America, in the year 9, which is expressed thus :— ' No ship of the one or of the other nation, which shall have entered into a port or place, before they have been really blockaded, besieged, or invested by the other, shall be hindered from coming out with her cargo ; if she be found there when such place shall be surrendered, the ship and her cargo shall not be liable to colifiscation, but shall be sent back to the owners.' " To resume the argument, we say that the Hopewell, from the single circumstance that she could not know of the Decree of the 17th December, could not contravene it, by yielding to the violence which this Decree had in view to punish ; and "further we say, that once legitimately entered into an enemy's port this vessel had the right at any period, to come out of that port. "The having been in an enemy's port, therefore. Droves qq, thing here in favour of the capture; the Decree is evidently < N 58 inapplicable, and this first ground •( confiscation is inad- missible. " The second ground is, that the cargo was put on board at London ; whence, according to the captors, the necessary con- sequence is that this cargo was for Englmh account. " Whether the cargo was put on board at London, we have neither a right, nor do we feel an interest to dispute: but ad« mitting this fact, the consequence by no means follows, that the cargo was for English account. " It has been attempted to make out this allegation, from what the crew of the Hopewell may have been brought to declare; but to be convinced of the futility of this attempt, to recollect that the cargo was on freight, and sent on board by a variety of freighters, so that we have reckoned not fewer than fifty-five particular invoices. " This being understood, the crew of the Hopewell could know nothing of the account for which the shipment was made, in which the Captain could have no interest, because, whatever it might be, the goods always answered to hina for his freight. And accordingly we find the Captain uniformly declaring that he is totally ignorant, who are the real owners of the cargo, " His Mate declares, it is true, that the cargo belonged to differ- ent merchants, whose names he does not know, but that they were in London at the time of the loading, " Supposing this officer not to have confounded the loader with the owner, it is evident that his declaration proves the cargo to be for Aineriean account ; for if the owners had been Englishmen established in London, he could not have simply said, that they happened to be in London at the time of the loading. These expressions can only be applied to jimerican merchants, come for a time to London for the purpose of making their purchases, and d'tspatching them for their houses in the United States. " To this let it be added, that twelve invoices formally announce that they are for American account ; let it be added that it is an invariable nrinrinle. that the caren is oresumed. 59 of right, to belong to the consignee; and no longer doubt can be entertained of the neutrality of that of the HopntelL " It is useless afler this to observe on the one part, that aocord- ingtothe 14th Article of the Convention of the year 9, the enemy's goods are protected by the flag; and on the other, considering the interest of the Captain in his freight, that the objection attaching to the goods cannot affect the rights of the ship. " We come to the third pretext for confiscation — it is that there was no muster roll (Role d' Equipage) on board the Hopewell. This is, in the fir^t place, not true; and in the J)ext« if it were, it is not a ground of confiscation. " With respect to this last point, we have only to confine our- selves to this irresistible observation: — this document hdts ceased to be requisite since tho Convention of the year 9, and in the terms of the 4th Article, which has, in this point, derogated from all contrary regulation, American ships are not bound to have any other proof of their regularity, than the passport, of which the form is inserted in that article. " Two motives may have caused the adoption of this dispo* sition: — " First, There being no distinction of ranks in the United States, there could be no Role d' Equipage in the sense which we attach to this expression ; and, "Secondly, The Convention is founded in sound policy, which says that, far from excluding English sailors from American navigation, we ought to facilitate the means of their being em- ployed in it; for every time that an English sailor is employed on board an American ship, we have a friend the more, and an enemy the less, "But it is not true that this document was not found on board the Hopewell. There is such a document among the ship's papers; and we cannot conceive why the captors could not find it. Let them give themselves the trouble of examining again, and they will find the Role d* Equipage made at Salem the first December, 1807, consisting of eight men. of whom sevrn are Americans, and one a Dune^. 60 'V i I . !J f " They vvill further fmd a certificate delivered by the Ame »nat Mr and maintain that the ;• Besides that the receipt for the duties says nothing of what >t .s made to say, it is absurd to look in such a document for the destmafonofa vessel to which it has been given. The person " ho recaves the duties has neither interest in knowing where the vesse) is going, nor the means of ascertaining It His ^.ngle office isto fix the quantity of the duties, to take care that he receives good money, and to give a good receipt. " It .s, therefore, in the other documents, and particularly in the c/.«r.«c., that we must exclusively look for the realdeK- tmationoftheship. "Now, this document fjat^d ♦hf !A«K \r u , .!_i.,u .ne J4in iNovember, J808, the M 1 ..4 61 M same day as the receipt for the duties, says positively that the Ifopwf// is destined for Calais, and makes no mention of the port of Cadiz. " Let us add the proofs referred to in the proceedings, and the demonstration will be complete. Captain Shephard, and the nine men of his crew have been interrogated. All unanimously declare that the Hopewell was destined for New York. "But there is still something better than these ojicial decla- rations— witnesses who cannot be suspected, as they have no kind of interest in the event ; the passengers in the Hopewell have attested the same truth. " These passengers, to the number of six, have also unani- mously declartd that the Hopewell was going to New York : several of them had even declared that it was certain she was going to New York, and that they never heard the smallest hint that she was to touch at any otlier port. " And how can it, in fact, be supposed, that American passen- gers would have been prevailed upon to lengthen a winter pas- sage, and brave, without any motive, the dangers they might have to run, whether for arriving at Cadiz, or to sojourn in that city, the unfortunate theatre of external war, and of civil dis- tensions? " We may, therefore, confidently "say that a direct destination to New York is positiveli/ demonstrated, and that the allegations in thenegative, which have been hazarded, are not justified by any species of proof. " But here we may expose the absurdity in addition to the rash- ness of the assertions. Why should it be presumed that the Hopexuell would have undertaken the dangerous entrance into Cadiz, to carry thither a few pounds of powrfer to shoot game, and a few pounds of saltpetre ? " First let it be observed that we find no saltpetre, either in the manifest or in the invoices; and that on the whole, this coalition with the enemies of France is reduced to 325 quarters of a pound of gunpowder, which, from the very circumstance of its being p,,t. in quarters of a pound, must be nothing but superfine powder, fit only for shooting game. These, to b* I 62 M < sure, are powerful succours for a place of war, in a state of siege ; As =^ the English governnienf had any occasion to load on board a neutral, the perftoious succours they wished to give to the victims of their seduction *; as if they had not their own transports ; as if, in short, some cwts. of powder for shooung game, were succours to furnish to a city menaced by the most formidable armies in the universe ' " All this is wretched ; and we think too well of the good sense of our adversaries, to hesitate to tell them that they are already convinced, that the articles in question could havfi no other des- tination than the United States ; a country where fine powder fetches a good price, because it is not yet manufactured there; and where saltpetre is still of more value, because the country does not produce it, though gunpowder has been manufactured there for some years, while on the contrary everybody knows that Spain produces this article in abundance. *' Thus then fail the four grounds of confiscation weakly pro- posed by the cap^c.o. *' We cannot see a fifth in what they say with respect to the renconire of the 24th December, 1807, and of the contra- vention, resulting from it, of the Decrees of hi^ Imperial Majesty. "This pretended ground is confounded with the first; and from the moment it has been proved that the Decree of the I7th of December, the on/j, law on the subject, is inapplicable to the case of having been in an enemy's port, it must also necessarily be inapplicable with respect to th^ visit of which the conse- quence was that the Hopnvell was conducted to England "Here we might conclude our argument; but it will not be foreign to mention a trifling incident, which will shew some- thing of the spirit in which those interested in the RaJeur nhe pnvateer) wish to exercise the r.ghts which they think beLg To them. ° "There were found, on board the Hopc^,•elf, some cloaths and iFrL^ld'o:^^"! Krr; - ^"'^ ""^ ""'y '^' »»'^-^^^'<- of iK« n 5 '■ D 65 . other things for the personal use of Mr. John H. Purviance, an accredited agent of the United States at London. " Informed of this circumstance, the American Consul of the arrondisentent to which the prize was conducted, reclaimed these effects of Mr. Purviance, in virtue of his office. His reclamation was founded on the law of nations, the constant usage of civilized nations, which respects the per- sonal effects of accredited agents, ere;* when the question con- cerns agents of enemies, and effects taken on board enemy's ships. " What can it be supposed the captors answered to this de- mand, so trifling m its object, and so strongly recommended by the dignity of the Fr. nch name ? " It must be copied to be believed : — " John Purviance," they say, " claims by a specia mean rial, a trunk, a box, and a writ- ing desk, put 0.1 board the Hopewell, — the remonstrants are obliged, on this point, to insist on the execution of ihe regulations: the effects were found on board a ship denationalised; th-sy ought to be subject to the forfeiture to vohich they have been expose, ," *' Ab l'no disce omnes, says the French advocate; captors who forget themselves so far as to covet the very cloaths of an agent accredited and avowed by his Government, must have en- gendered many chimeras and accumulated many sophisms, to plunder those who are protected by a law common to all, and by the justice of their cause." All this reasoning was in vain. Tho ship and cargo were condemned on the ground of the meeting of the 24th of Decem- ber, being a contravention of the Decree of the 17th, which issued at Milan only three days before, and Mr. Purviance never recovered an atom of his private property ! ! D ^>-* , -- ^^*' 64 No. 4. Case of the American Ship the Catherine^ Thomas Beckford^ Master* THE Catherine sailed from Boston in America, the 23d of November 1807, bound to Leghorn. Her cargo, which con- sisted of sugar, coffee, salt fish, logwood, &c. estimated at 48,332 dollars. The ships papers produced were all regular, viz. Her register proving her to have been built in America, and belonged to William Gray, junior* merchant at Salem.- A permission from the President of the United States to pro- ceed to Leghorn. The cargo belonging to the owner of the ^said ship was consigned to Messrs, Grant, Webb, and Co. mer- chants of Leghorn, as appeared by the invoice, bill of lading* and a certifeat d*originc, by the French Consul at Boston, at- testing the origin of the cargo, &c. &c. When off Cape St. Vincent, she was hailtd by a Spanish gun brig, who suffered her to proceed on her voyage. On the 28th of Decembjr 1807, she was boarded by the iinglish brig of war, the Grasshopper, Lieutenant Joseph W'ilkes, who wrote the following on the ship's register: " Not to proceed to any port of those countries at war witli ** Great-Britain, or which are under the influence of France." This mandate was duly entered on the log book of the Ca- therine. On the 2d of January, she was captured by the privateer La Josephine and conducted to the port of Palma in Majorca. This capture is not to be wondered at, as the owner of the pri- vateer, long before the decree of the 17th of December (the Milan decree) sent his instructions to his captain ordering him " to stop all American vessels and to bring them up in the " nearest port/' Thus, without any reason assigned, notwith- standing the protest of the captain, the cargo was sold ia '4: 65 'Si direct violation of the 20th article of the treaty of the year 9, and of the formal orders of the decree of the 2 Prairial, aa 1 1 ». But it did not stop J)ere ; the captors even refused to allow the crew of the ship the common necessaries of life. Convinced of the inutility of their application to the French agents in that Port, the parties concerned have thought proper to appeal to the Council of Prizes. These are the facts :— We will now see what the captors have alleged in support of their conduct. They pretend that the Catherine had 1. Refused to bring to. 2. That the Catherine was denalionalise by the visit of ^e Knglish ship of war. 3. That she was bound to arotherport than that of Leghorn, -t. That the cargo was for English account, and consisted ol" British produce. '!<) support these (rharges, the Captors allege ; 1st. That when they first gave chace to the Catherine, she hoisted more sail, as if she had been an enemy. That when the privateer fired a shot at her, she hoisted American colours, and instead of lying to, continued her course, and it was only after a chace of five hours that the privateer could come up with her. In answer to which, the claimants say, and which the cap- tors admit, that it blew hard with a rough sea, and that the privateer did not hoist French colours till after she fired a shot. Besides, lhor<' is a positive law passed the 2d Prairial, year 1 1, which says, " That all vessels rt-fusitig to shorten sail or " bring to, may be compelled to do so, and in case of ra/5/fl«c- in for the port, which was about nine miles ciistance. She was proceedinij towards the port with her colours still up for a pilot, when at about four miles from the said port, a row boat, with French colours hoisted, came towards her, which proved to be the French Row-boat privateer, L\4/c;ie: she was iinmediatclj tak»!n possession of and carried by force into Malaga. As it is necessary for these depredators to set all their ingenuity at work to find out pretexts for capturing ships and cargoes be- tonging to the subjects of our allies, let us see what their allegations are. 1. The Sally is accused of Ixing bound to Sardinia, and that the captain concealed his place of destination. 2. Because some of the cargo was missing. 3. Because the fresh water which was in the casks, did not appear to have beun long there, and that there appeared to be small shells at the bottom of the ship, and at her sides, as if she had recently been ut unclior in a port (to make it appear as if the Sally had been at Gibraltar to pay her tribute). To the first of these charges we must admit that the captair^ did not say at first that he intended going to Cagliari, and for rhis reason, the destination to Cagliari was only simulated, to get rid of the English cruizers, but her rea^ destination was the first port of France or Spain in the Mediterranean. From the very direction in which she was captured it was evident that she could have had no pretension of going any where else than to Malaga^ and the reason why she was subject to capture rn being bound to Cagliaii, the privateer's owner pro- Wf'- 69 duced the circular letter of the Minister of Marine, dated 18th of January, 1808, " to embargo all Sardinia ships in the "ports of f ranee aiid Italy, and to capture all ships bound to '* Sardinia, or coming from that island.'.'" and as an additional reason for the capture of the Sally, he produced a circular letter from Mr. Colin, Comptroller of the Customs at Paris, ^.aying " Slue le siquestre des Navires neutres doit 6lre muintenu d'aprh Ics " ordres de S. M. portant formellement que I'on doit retenir sous le " sequestre tons Navires neutres qui ont tie viaites par I'ennemi " SOIT ANTERIEUnF.MENT, SOIT POSTEKIEUREMENT ttU dkret du " 1 7 Dicembre (de Milan), et par consequent renvoj/es au Cmseil " des Prises." * Mr. De la Grange then argues upon the existing treaty of the year 9 betwen France and America, allowing two months time for all the property of the Americans to arrive even in enemy's ships before they are subject to be captured. As to the second charge of her cargo being deficient ; the privateer's captain alleged that there were 650 pounds weight of salt fish less on board than what there is designated in the bill of lading and invoice, and that the said fish had been paid to the captain of the man of war as a tribute conformable to the British orders in Council of the 11th of November. (To this charge the counsel for the claimants very justly observes, that they cannot account for a deficiency of 650 pounds of salt fish ; but surely no English captain of an English man of war will take salt fish in payment !!! ) As to the charge of her having been at Gibraltar, Mr. 1 Ift Grange produced the two following documents. " American Consulate at Gibraltar" " These are to certify, that on examining my registers for the *' entering of all American vessels at Gibraltar, no vessel called * This letter certainly justifies tlie capture on the part of the privateer, had the Sully been visited by the English. But this case, UJte all the others, are the acts of the so calltd government of Frame. The privateers are nothing more than the agents of that Anointed Brigand. /,fe is t» blame and noMhe privateers. " Quifacit per alitm, facit perse. But as to the letter itself, is it not evident that Bonaparte'i intention was to cap- lonijing to America that his cruizers could pick up f-— L. G. ture every ship belonging i K *t It 70 Ihe '2:^7t 'T ""'^^'' *•" "^^^ •" "^^ p«^ f- me month of December till March last. (Signed) "John Gavino, " Consul for the United States at Gibraltar." ti Office of Customs a Chroma, ^ nth of May 180* •■n.o^.h„fDece™t:rMa:htt"" '" "" ""^ "^ '"^ (Signed) "Wii,imf?,4EETi,AND " Captain of the Harbour at Gibraltar." As to the charge of the waters beim too fr..h Mr n . ^^-se thought it too ridiculous to rfplTtCt:^^^^^^^ TUe ship and cargo were condemned, Mr. La Lor, J uge Rapporteur. Ma. Le Procureur Genbka. Lmp.kul for the Crown. Mr. De La Grahg£, for the Claimants. ■I No. 6. e^^^e 0/ //,, Grace, Captain Ralph Linzee. 1807, with a nch cargo from Boston to Leghorn ; she JT ^ going to enter into her port of dest.nation tjfe Xth f 1 ' when she was .et bythe private, the Cos^lS^; 71 I •i**" ,.>, her, and carried into Porto Ferrajo. The violence exercised as well by the French agents at that place, as by the privateer's crew on the person of Captain Linzee and his ofiiccrs,are without example. To support this capture the captors pretend 1. That the cargo is for English account. 2. That the Grace was visited by an English privateer the fl9th of December, 1807. 3. That having on the 21st of January spoken with a vessel coming from Marseilles, by which she was informed of the Milan decree. Captain Linzee had in consequence thrown over- board several documents. In answer to the first charge, the counsel for the claimants argues, that according to the 1 4th article of the treaty be- tween France and America, concluded the 8th Vendemiaire, year 9, the Americain flag may neutralize property, excepting such articles m hich are considered contraband in time of war. This charge therefore needs no refutdtion, as existing treaties justify it ; but we will not avail ourselves of it, and ive can prove that the cargo is bonujida merican property. On examining the ship's manifest, that the shipments on board the Grace were made by William Gray, Butler, Fogesty, and Thomas Amony and Co. and consigned to different houses at Leghorn, and the ship was consigned to Grant, Webb, and company of tiiat city, but the captors say that Captain Linzee had at first declared, that the whole of the cargo was his own property : And in the same proces-verbal , they say that they cap- fured the Grace, " because there was not any per on on board " of their privateer who understood English, and who could "read letters which were on board, which were a// sw/ct^, and " which thecaptom of the priratcer thought fit to break open." Mow could the;, then understand what Captain Linzee said about the cargo being his own ? The captors have another reason for supposing the cargo to be English property ; namely, thai having been visited by the English, the 29th of December, they permitted the Grace to proseciite hn voyajje for Leghorn, without enforcmg the K 2 72 tluty required by the British orders in Council. These indulg. ciicies, the captors say, are a sufficient proof that the cargo is English property. Admirable reasoning, no doubt ! observes Mr. De la Grange, advocate for the claimants; however we will prove thatwt never were visited by the English. The captors pretend that eight men out of twelve of the ship's crew stated that the Grace was visited by the English off Malaga on the 29th of December 1807. The counsel for the claimants contend that three officers be- longing to the Grace have positively sworn to the contrary, and that some of the crew had retracted what they had said, and who were mostly renegadoes and deserters. It is never- theless true that she was visited by a ship of war under Eng- lish colours, but that vessel was Spanish. In the course of the memoir, the advocate exclaims, "What is become of French iiospitality, and French urbanity, when I must state that cap- tain Linzee was seized, dragi^ed from his ship, and confined, in spite of existing treaties between the two Nations ! And supposing that the Grace had been visited by tlie English, is it that be- cause the English ship of war respecteii our neutrality and suffered us to prosecute our voyage, that we are to be con- demned by those to whom we are allied by solemn treaties ? As to the charge made against captain Linzee for throwing papers overboard, the counsel for the claimants observes, that four months after the capture of the Grace, an English sailor, one of her crew, had made a declaration to that eflect, and also stated that captain Linzee had a brother in the Britisk navy. Snip and cargo condemned. Mr. De la Grange, Advocate. Mr. Niot, Juge Rapporteur. N. B. Captain Linzee was not allowed to come to Paris «ill the trial was over, nor was he permitted to write letter* to hip friends either at Leghorn or at Paris, which appeared in iiis protest. I 73 No. r. Case of the Mercury^ an American Ship, Captain Bradford* THE Mercury and her cargo were the property of Robert Roberts, a native citizen of the United States, merchant at Plymouth in the State of Massachusets. She set sail from Boston fur Alicante, on the 29th o( October, 1807, with a cargo consisting of dried cod, salmon, salt beef, cheese and sugar. It is material to attend to the date: the decree of Milan did not pass before the 17th of November. She had all the regular documents ; and indeed there wa» no doubt suggested before the Council of Prizes that her voy- age was not perfectly fair. It appeared, without an attempt at contradiction, on the part of the captors, that the cargo wasthe produce of [lolland, of the IIavannah,and of the United States. She had a long and dangerous voyage. On the 29th of De- cember, about two leagues from the Straits, she was saluted and conducted into Gibraltar by two armed boats, belonging to an Knglish ship, called the Illustrious, riding at anchor in that port. Though destined for a port, said to be blockaded by the English, yet the detention of the Mercury at Gibraltar was of short duration. The perfect regularity of the voyage, and still more the " impossibility that captain Bradford should have "known the order of Council of the 1 1th of November, con- vinced the English captor that he had no right over this vessel.'* These are the words of the French Advocate for this ship, contrasting the conduct of the English cxMheva with those of the French captors in the sequel. The ship had sailed from Boston on the 29th of October : the British orders in Council did not issue till the 11th of 74 November following. She could therefore not know them, and she was respected. The decree of Milan did not pasi till the I7lh of the same month ; and yet this latter was ap- plied to her. The Mcrcuri/ anchored at Gibraltar on the 3 1st of Decem- ber ; she remained on Quarantine till the 5th of January, and the next morning was completely liberated, " and this too/' says the French Advocate, " without having been subjected " to the shameful tribute, which the order in Council had " wished to establish." He calls it a " shameful tribute," not because he thought it so, but because, intending to contrast the conduct of the Eng- lid cruisers with that of the Freuch captors, he thought it necel sary for his own safety, to throw In some qualifying expressions. The vessel immediatel}^ set to sea : on the 17th of January, she was met across the Gut of Gibraltar by an English frigate, of which an officer went on board and examined the papers. She was met again on the 3 1st by a privateer under English colours. She was not molested ; at last the Mercury discovered the port oi Alicante, the very port of her destination, at the distance of about only two leagues, xvhen she was taken and conducted to Alicante, the very port to which she was origi- nally destined, by the French privateer La Josephine. On the very day when the vessel arrived at Alicante, while the capfain was detained in quarantine, and could communicate with nobody, it was thought fit to sell 3,280 hundred weight of salt fish, the most valuable part of the cargo. Mr. Roselt. the consignee, went immediately to the consul «rf interim of France, to m;ikc an opposition to the >ale, and at all events to request that he might be present, that it might be made in lots, and with the usual publicity. The French Consul promised m answer ; and the next day an answer was given in the negative on ail the points. Then came a protest from the consignee ; but this was of no avail. The 3,2SO hundred weight of dried fish were sold wholesale, in one lot, without any publie notice, the second day after the prize had entered Alicante ; and to aggravate I 75 the injustice, this sale was made to the nephew of the person who had fitted out the privateer. This case came before the Council of Prizes at Paris ; but it was in vain that the advocate for the claimants urged th« <;ircumstances of the captain being unacquainted with the de- crees, and the impossibility of his 4 olared good prize. — Given under my seal, &c." Taylor was necessarily obliged to veer about and steer ano- ther course. He eluded the English cruiser, and contrived to get into the road of Fort Louis, in the neighbourhood of L*Orient, After his quarantine, he was, on the 3d of January, 1808, boarded by the officers of the administration of the marine and of the custorrt, Tid made acquainted with the imperial decree of the 17th )f December, by virtue of the first article of which they seized his vessel and cargo, and set a guard on board. t 2 80 Th. next d.y, th. «p,.i„ „,.de the «,„.! report, ,„d . j„„ On the 6th, the captain, hUcrew, and h!s pa«enger,, under. cargo were «i.ed, and that a suit fl ° « " '""P ""' «i.u.ed b.f„re th^ Cound of P .tattr'"" T 'l^' '"■ the imperial decrees of the 23d - f K l ' •^°'''^™»% to December, ,8o7. """"•"' »" "« ""> •' Neither of these decrees could apply to him . ,1,. j ., ejt St at the tim,. «l..„ i. . ■■ . ^ "' '""y <■"' "M »as loaded -he cluido .' ""^ ""^ P"" ''"'■» «'>-'> <" "edge of th™ r.he cou ^7°'""' '° ""' "»" '""y ''»<-- 'hem. in fa^ til the " ""'''" ""''•"'« »«I"»S »f ' "ct, tjij the seizure was ? ladp . a«j u . » ' "nore important, hi» cargo was for ^ . ' ""^'^ '' ^^'" i^r«,cy4 propertv H» uT "^^ account-it wa. PO'-t. He was L ^ '"■"'P^'^y '^^^ '"t° a French ' anu that of the Council of Prizes. 81 No. 10. Case of the American Ship the Brothers^ Fish^ Master, THE Brothers sailed from Virginia the 30th of October, 1807, bound to London. Being off the Land's End on the 24th of December, she was boarded by an Enghsh ship of war. Three days after she was taken by La Revanche privateer, and carried into Calais. The ship and cargo, which consisted of tobacco, were con- demned. 1 ' , t No, II. Case of the American Ship the Speculator^ Henry Little^ Mmier, THE Speculator sailed from America in April, 1807, for Liverpool. From thence she went to Chrlstiausand, in Nor- way, and then t* Amsterdam; where, not beir- able to get a cargo, the cleared out in ballast for Savannah, on the 6th of January, 1808. Being, on the 1 1 th of the same month, off Calais, she was captured by the privateer L'Entreprenant, and carried into Ca- lais. This vessel was condemned on the Berlin decrte, for hav- ing been in England after its promulgation ! 88 No. 12. Case of the American Ship the Jersey, R. Williams, Master. THE Jersey .ailed from New York, ,he 2mh September, 1807 i her cargo co„.i.,ed of sugar, coffee, pepper, tobacco, &c. bound to Leghorn, with liberty to touch at Palermo, and of NeVvTT, ''°""^- '"" P^P-^ofH. and L. Ph „ip, 8.h of December, ,he was off Sicily, and being short of pro- v,s,on and water she entered the port of Palermo, eight davs ancr .he qu.t.ed the said port, u„d proceeded to Leghorn wtlhout even opentng her hatches : she «as scarcely at anchor .« Leghorn when the French Custom House officers took possess,on of her. Her cargo was unloaded and depositell in .he.r custom house. Captain Williams was kept prisoner on boa d of h,s own ship. The Milan Decree could no. be apphed to the Jersey, as she did not even see an English vessel dnnng her voyage, but w.s sequestrated on account ot her having touched at Palermo. The counsel for the claimants contended, that the Berlin IZT^irT! '° ■"""" "-'"l"»""ng from or going .otbeBrmsh Isles, or her colonies; but surely ftfcj „a! neither a Br tish isle or «iihi.„. . u ■.■ l . ""™'> was that case ,,"'"'""''■'""• "nttsh sovereignty ; even i„ that case the Decree only excluded her from a French p„r, Besides, the Jersey .ailed from Palermo, on the .6th of Decern ber , day previous to the Milan Decree. Therefor, neither t^e Berhn or Mdan Decree could be applied to her. However the Councl of Pr^e. thought „therwi.e. an4 .He Mp ani carZ were condemned. ° 89 R. No. 13. Case of the American Ship^ the Windham^ Paine^ Master, THE Windham lailed from New London for Dernerary, the Sth of November, 1807: she arrived there the 9th of De- cember ; she disposed of her cargo. At Demerary, Captain Paine took in a cargo back for New London, consisting of lOi pipes of rum, molasses, old copper, &c. and sailed from thence the 4th February, 1808. On the 21st of the same month, she was met by the French frigates, L'ltalienne and La Sirene, which were returning from Martinico to France. The French commodore sent on board the Windhmn to examine her papers, and finding that «he came from a port in the possession of the English, ordered the captain, crew, and passengers to be brought on board of his frigate, as alio the rum and the copper, and then ordered the Windham and the remainder of the cargo to he burnt. The owners brought the affair before the Council of Prizes-vaiu attempt! The conduct of the French commodore was declared to be just and legal. 84 No. 14. Case of the American Ship Cadas, Ohea Butler^ Master, THEC«e/.,sai/ed from New York, ti.e 2Sth of November 1807, bound to Marseilles. Her car^o ro„siste,l nf cofJee, Jogwood &c A-r v,i i <""«'^ted of sugar, gwooa &c. 6.C. valued at 63,000 Dollars Th. c r,o was at the disposal of a supercargo on Load, Mr Joseph Icar , and consi.oed to Jac.ues icard at Mar.Hles T .' third part belonged to Icard, the supercargo, a Frenchma another third to Kossier and Roule ; likewise pr established at New York ; and the oth r tt^ ;, ;7/""" ibrde, Me.nber of Congrcs.s. ' ^^''""^' On the 14th of Januarv lSft9 i\^^ r ^ i . was boarded by a„ vj^ , !1 „ " '""'°" '"' ■^"■''°"' a..d s„,r„,.ed L .,. ;oceedr ;»:.:::"'"; ;'"r''«" a p lo o„ board, sl,e ,va« boarded by .l,e Freud, bri^ „f Z La Jal„„.e, and conduced a, a prize into Marseilles. he captors p.ayed for condemnation on the Milan Deere. f t e „h Dece„,ber. The claimants, on the other hand "on .-d that the English frigate bad done nothing ,„„re M; -annned her papers (which right has never been centered) -Mthout prescribing any orders to the CudaB; hence it i. endent, that the English frigate respected onr nentraluy and our fl g and d,d not violate any of onr rights; beside, th. :f;:to?'"f°r ^'""•"''' """'^"'°" -'"^ j-nsd :„: or tt.ntory of 1-rance, and was not on the hiih seas - !.„ cantber r„,.e a nentra, nnarmed ship defend i.Sf:;;°: he be„,geren. has not .he mean, of keeping her o.„ "a^t Uea, of her enemy . Ship and cargo »er. condenmed. w 85 No. Ij. Cas of the American Brfg^ James Kewman CufjMtn* THIS is so e>' aordinary a case, fhat I cannot resist the impulse which leads nie to g.ve a complete tiaiislation of the 7nenioire presented to the Council of Prizes on behalf of the captured. " Of all the seizurf^s," says Monsieur De la Grange, " made in virtue of the Decree of thi !i of December : there is not one in which the excess of zeal*, and the mistakes which followed, are more striking than in this affair. The law which it is wished to apply to the Charleston, would be sufficient to acquit her ; and yet this vessel has been is sequestered in the port of Bourdeaux ever since the 15th of January, 1808. FACTS. The Cliarh'ston sailed from New York for St, Sebastian, on he 2()th of September, 1807, nearly three months before the Milan Decree : she arrived at the port of Passage, a sea port of Spain, in the Bay ©f Biscay, a few miles to the Eastward of St. Sebastian, her port of destination ; this was on the 23d of ■ November ; she there performed quarantine f for a few days, * This is the modest expression which this learned and prudent Advocate was, from his situation, ohligjed to use, instead of the most lyicfce*/ attack that could he nitade on the rij^hts of a neutral power. I give the lehole of his reasoning, beca\ise it justifies what I have said in the preceding sheets, and because I think it will satisfy every impartial reader, that an honest Frenchman feels the same abhorrence that I do, not only to the Milan Decree, but the manner in which it has been applied, or to write more correctly, misapplied. + The reader will have the goodness not to impute to me an ignorance of the word, which means forty days, but to understand that here it was ^, temporary detenti«n. M ^-vS- ^,^' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I M. I^|2|8 |2.5 |io "^" mWKM " K£ 12.2 a U4 us u lAO U ill 1.6 PhotOPrRnliir A. » -^^*_^ «<^^ «i^*. ^_A.|^_r.a. .3JJTLJ Sdgnces Corporation ^%*^ ^s% :1>^ ^\^ <^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET uIewmar» had just purchased the commodities. > More than eight months have since elapsed : the vessel i» losing h.r value to the owners, by the expenses inseparable from so long a detention. We must therefore enltghtcn the usticeof the Council*, and prove how strange is the abuse ivhich is made of the law. The neutrality of the Charleston neither hQS been nor can be disputed. She has the following documents : A Register, which proves that she is of American built, and that she belongs to two citizens of the United States. A Licence for the voyage from New York to St. Sebastian. A Turkish passport f. • Monsieur De la Grange might have 8a,.d himse^^ ^he trouble of tWj attempt. The Council had no Justice to be enhghteuJ, the ship aiianer outward bound cargo were at all .venta to »>f; » '"'*«"!f f' ,^„. . .. _ _ro + In all cMcs a Turkish passport is mentioned ; it is intended as a pro leciion ajainsfuie AlgerinesW other states of Barbary » but^»»W nqt tove any relation to a question arising before the Council of Prizes in Paris. S7 Two certificates proving that James Newman succeeded the former captain, who died at the Havannah. A journal regularly kept. A muster roll, which proves that of seven men employed on board, six were Americans, and the other a citizen of Bremen. Let us see then how, with documents so complete and so authentic, the Charleston could have been seized in virtue of a law made the very day she entered Bourdeaux. It appears, that as a measure of surety, and when the Decree of the 17th of December, was officially known at Bourdeaux ; the comptroller of the customs ordered the Journals of all the .neutral ships then in the port to be presented to him. The • motive of this measure was, no doubt, to ascertain what vessels had undergone the visit prohibited by the D cree. So far, this measure of authority may be admitted to have been regular, though certainly severe. But to have suppose" that neutral vessels, which had tntered a French port, before the DECREE, could be subject to it, is, we confess, what we can neither comprehend nor explain. However this may be, the Charleston was subjected to the common tate. Her journal was submitted to the examination (verification) of the officers of the customs. A I*roces verbal was drawn up the same day, the 15th January, and an investigation made of the articles of the journal ; of which the result was that, beside the facts above set forth, "the said vessel, during her passage, had neither touched, looked into or stopped at any port of the enemy, nor been occupied by enemy's troops; that she had paid ni imposision to the English Government, nor been visited by any ship of that nation." The latter part of this report is not correct. In examining the Journal moremmutely, the following note is found : " Sunday, 1st November 1807;" — observe, reader, «'* weeks before the date of the Milan Decree—" Wind. NNE. steering tovkards the ENE. then tc the SE. we hauled down, on r«^ M 2 88 cciving a shot under the wind from a sail, to which we were obliged to bear ; and met her. She saluted us under French colours; but being conducted on board, found that she was a privateer from Guernsey of 10 guns, lat. observed 41. 24. " The 2d November, 1807, at two o'clock P. M. the priva- teer's people sent the Captain back, and we made sail." It is on account of this incident, it is because the Charleston had been visited on the 1st of November, that the administration of the Customs have thought fit to put this vessel under seques- tration : and as no law anterior to the Decree * of the 17th of December, had declared the visit a ground of sequestration or of eonfiscation, we must (Conclude, and the proces-verbal of sei- zure says ill direct terms, that it, is in execution of this Decree, that it has been supposed regular to have recourse to a measure so severe. The only question to be decided therefore is, whether the Decree of the Mtli of December can be applied to a visit made the \st of November. It would be to insult the magiotrates to agitate seriously such a question before them. Some opinions may have been given in favour of the retro- action relative to the knowledge which the ships visited may have had of the lull : in otiier words, it may have been pretended, that a ship visited since the Decree, was submitted to its dispo- sitions, notwithstanding they could not be known to those to whom they were applied : but nobody has hitherto either said or thought that the law could have any operation on a visit which had taken place before its existence; that, as in the pre- sent case, the Decree could be applied to a fact which happened fori;y-seven days before its promulgation. But further, the visit not only preceded th? existence of the Jaw ; it was even anterior to the motive which the Sovereign has alleged for promulgingit, "Considering," says the pream. ble t-. the Decree, " the measures adopted by the British Go- » In Franco, an arbitrary Decree of Bonaparte is a law superseding all preceding \ixvs, and has a retroactire effect : what would our Democrats, as they are falsely called, say to the King's assuming a dispensing power i 89 Ternment, of the date of the 1 1th of November last : considei- ing that, by these acts, the British Government has denation* alised the ships of all the nations of Europe." Such are the motives expressed by the Legislator himself; they are exclusively fDunded on the tyrannical * dispositions of the 1 1th of November. But our visit took place 10 dai^s before. It is, therefore, true, not only that the fact to which it is wished to apply the De- cree, is anterior to its existence, but further, that it preceded that attack upon the law ot nations, ivithout tvhich the Decree would neve) have existed f . To apply this to the CAflr/es/on, it nould be more than to make the Decree have a retro-active effect; it would be to place the effect before the cause, and to say that these disposi^ tions could govern an epoch at which they could not even EXIST. Thus falls to the ground, so far as respects the present case, the forced argument of those who have said, that " the Decree of the 17th of Decembe" was so much a necessary consequence of the English Orders of the 11th of November, that the mere simple knowledg*) of the latter, ought to have put neutrals on their guard against the just reprisals which the Decree has established." Yes, this reasoning, if reasoning it can be called, must fall before the evidence in the present cause; and we shall answer to those who have hazarded it — " It was on the 1st of November that we were visited.'' What then could Captain Newman do, at this period ? We do not examine whether he could have prevented the visit. The law of force, and of necessity, has long ago given a solution to this question ; "that a neutral without arms, and without meana of defence, cannot resist the guns of an armed ship J." * These are the forced, not the voluntary words of Mr. De la Grange. + Here Mr. Do la Grange iigain acts the prudent part. The Decree would probably have existed, if the Order of the 11th of November had never beea issued. t The whole reasoning in this case consi«ts in a chain of truisms^ which it 90 ^ut we say further, that he ought not to have resisted, and that, at the time of the visit, he could not know or observe any other laws than those which were in force en the 1st of Novem- ber} that is, the common law of Europe, the dispositions of our ordonnance of 1681, and the arret? of the 2d Prairial, which pu- nished the refusal to submit to be visited, with the same penalty of confiscation, which the custom-house of Bourdeaux would wish to apply to us to-day, " for having been visited." We may then ay, with that statesman who presented to the Legislative Body the 2d Article of the Code Napoleon ; — "Far be from us the idea of those laws with two faces (having a double aspect) which, having incessantly one eye upon the past, and the other on the future, would dry up the sources of confi- dence, and become an eter-ial principle of injustice, of general destruction, and of disorder." To conclude, the Decree is so evidently inapplicable to the present case, that it is impossible to conceive how the Officers of the Customs could see in it any foundation for a measure so fatal to Caplain Newman. But this foreigner has not been the onli/ victim of a zeal car- ried beyoiid its natural limits. There is another case which we must cite, on account of its analogy to the present, and of the irresistible authority with which it furnishes ^s. It is that of the Ckarleslon.packei, of whkh the \oyagc pre- sented the same incidents as that of the Charleston. This vessel also sailed from the United Statt s for St. Sebas- tian, in September 1807 ; she was visited by an Engliish frigate on the 22d of October. Like the Charleston, she sailed in bal- last from St. Sebastian for Bourdeaux, was visited the 3d of De- cember, in the course of this second passage; and, like the Charleston, entered the Giroude before the promulgation of the Decree. f , iometimos ridiculed as superfluous ; but r.Tr. I)e la Grange knew to wliom he addresECd his Memoire; and yei he found his truisms were disregarded. I 91 The Customs had also seized this Charleston-.packet ; they had also deprived her of an advantageous voyage ; but what was the result of this measure ? By the decision of the 18th of May, 1808, the .ncil order the seizure of the Charleston- packet to be annulled. ' Surely, if there exist, between the two cases, any difference, it is altogether in favour of the Charleston, as she went from St. Sebastian to Bourdeaux, withmit having been visited, a circum- stance of good fortune which had not happened to the Charleston' packet. As to other circumstances, the two cases present the most striking conformity, since the two ships, on the same voyage, were both, before the 11th of November, visited ingoing frojn the United States to St. Sebastian. Eadem ratio, idem jus : the magistrates who acquitted the Churlestov.pucket, will regret that they have not sooneT rendered the same justice to the ship on the Lte of which they are going to pronounce *. All this reasoning was without effect; the vessel, and her outward-bound cargo were condemned. * No! they will not reprret it: from thi* natural impulse of justice, they had acqu' tied" the Chnrleston-packet ; but from the displeasure expressed by {lis Imperial Majesty and King on that decision, the Council felt no repu$t fiance at condemning the Charleston. 92 No. 16. Case of the American Brig Sally ^ consigned to Messrs. Ridgway^ Merlins^ and Co, Mer^ chants^ at Antuerp^ Captain Brown. THIS ship, loaded with sugar, coffee, cocoa, and staves, set sail from Philadelphia for Bourdcaux, the 9ih of ^■ovember, 1807. No question wai made as to the regularity of her voyage ; and it was admitted liiat her cargo was for die account of Ame- rican citizens. She had on board every document that could be required. She had a dangerous voyage. Several leaks were sprung a very short time after her departure; she was only in the 62° of longitude, when she was obliged to work the pumps every half hour. At last Captain Brown hoped that he should soon come to the end of this dangerous voyage ; on the 29th of December he was within twenty leagues of Cordova, when he was stopped by two English frigates, the Tribune and the Iniefaiigahle. These frigates accosted the Salhj, and the Captain of the first indorsed what follows on one of the ship's papers: — " You are warned, by these presents, not to enter into any pf the ports of France, or her dependencies, also into those of Portugal, of Spain, Italy, of the Mediterranean, or the colo- nies of France or of Spain ; but on the contrary, to go to some one of the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. — Given, &c. 29th of December, 1807." It is easy to perceive the extreme embarrassment of Captain Brown: stopped by an obstacle which it had not been in his 93 power to overcome; obliged to retire to some shelter, since lii« «liip coald no longer keep the sea; l)eing necessarily ignorant of the Decrees of November and December, he was compelled to take the only step which could save his brig and crew ; he made sail for the first English port. He was fortunate enough to reach Plymouth, where he anchored the 7th of January, 1808. Authentic papers found on board, prove that in fact there were no other means of safety for the Sally : beside the leaks of which we have spoken, her sails, rigging, tackle, furniture, all had considerably suffered in the course of this dangerous passage. A long and expensive repair was necessary. The vessel could not go to sea again before the IBthof Febiuary. On that day she cleared out for Rotterdam, the port which her owners had pointed out to her, in the case that had happened, of her destination forBourdeaux being frustrated. This first attempt was not successful; contrary winds and squally weather prevented the Saliy from continuing her coune; she put into Portsmouth the 20th of February. A struggle of two days against the elements had produced new damage; it had become again necessary to repair the bn'o', and ihe could not (juit Portsmouth till the first of April. The very next day she encountered a dreadful tempest, and Captain Brown thought himself fortunate in finding shelter in the port of Dover. He put to sea again the 7lh of April ; but new misfortunes still attended him. He experienced the most contrary wea- ther. He wished to anchor ; he lost his anchors. In short, there remained to him but one, and his vessel was in the most perilous situation ; when, on the 9th of April, he sought safety in the road of Flushing. He had been there four days, occupied in repairing his damages, when he was seized by the Commissioners of the Customs. The vessel was conducted to Antwerp, and unloaded. The N 04 j^oods had snfTered so much, that the Comptroller of tlic Ciis- toiuv, antitip iiinj; the iiitintions of the coiisiynees, dcmaiKled provisionally p; rmission to soil. 'I'his pjTiiiissiun \va» ^i' "'t<^'' ^^y the CouNt ii. on the ifh of IMay, I80.S, and it is on the produce of this sale that th»y liavo iiolv to determine. 'io understand properly the applicability of (he decrees in this case, it must be recolltcled, that the SuV'j/ sailed from I'hiladelpfiia the 0th of I\'o\ ember, 1807, and consecjuently Icforf the existoiee of either of the decrees. \\ hence it results^ (hat persons interested in ihis vovuiie cuuKJ ha'e no knowledire of these new dispositions; that they know not, and could not know any thing further than the decree of the 21st of Noveni- htv, 18()(» (I lie lierlin decrie) ; and even, that they only knew this with the interpr. tatioii given t..' it by /us Exctn/^ucj/ the Mi- nister of Marine, the 2Uh of December in the same year. The ciicumstance of having been inan English port, tren if it find ban vuluntarij, could not constitute, according to this de- cree, a ground of co«f/<7H«rt!ished, and independently of the supe. rior force and the care of iiis own safety, which constrained Captain Brown, it must be felt, that it was iiis duty to act, and his legal right to act as he did. To punish him for this conduct, would be to presuppose that he could contravene laws which it was impossible Ihr him to knokv. Moral laws are known, or must, in the nature of things, be s?ii>posed to be know n ti. a't men, and he who trans- gresses them cannot save himseh' from p'ln shmeni by pleading iguurance of them ; hut posdtve laws, which hu.e only a par- ticular interest in view, cannot be transgrissed, while it is im- possible they should be known. This w.,uld be to fall into the fatal error of wrofltv/o;/, since it is a principle consecrated by the laws themselves, that they can tiave no operation on those ivho cannot knoiv thum. This species of retroaition relative to the knou ledge that may have been had of the law, is expressly consecrated by the first article of the Napoleon Code, and by the arrele of the 23th of Thermidor, year 11, which, in execution of the law, has determined the periods of time, after the expiration of which the laws shall be considered as known and obligatory. ^V hat the civil code has judged necessary and just with re- spect to the mutual relations of citizens, must be equally just and necessary in the relations between nation and nation. The law which fixes these relations, is not indeed written: but it is not the less certain or immutable; it consists in the code of natural equity, which says, that in order to contravene, we must have the intention, and that to have the intention to contra- vene, we must knoiv the prohibition. The treaties which we might consider as detached chapters of this grand code of natural law, have also consecrated the theory of distances, relating to the retroaction of laws. — We might cite a number of examples; but as this is an American ship, it is more simple to draw our authority from the contract N 2 96 ^'luvh guarantees the right, and the obligations ol' the tw« powers. • •Ihe I5fh article of the convention of (he year 9 say« that in case of war between one of the two slates and another power, the property of the state remaining neuter cannot be confiscated, though found ««d.r «« energy's Jlag, if more than two vionih, have not elapsed between the declaration of war and the time of loading. What force ought not this disposition to have, when applied to the decrees of November and December, 1807 ?— Here all is III favour of a justice at least equal ; i'or, in short, a derlaration of ^var ,s never so nnexperk-d, as that a multitude of preced. ing symptoms n.ay not enable us to calculate upon it. and fore- see n : whereas, the decrees provoked by Englhh tyranny * were so much the more unforeseen, that their dispositions are .n direct opposition to that common right, and that hberal le- gislation which they were destined to re-establish among indc- pendent states. ^ But to assimilate the two cases, it must be concluded that t -e decrees, ,n terms of the treaty, cannot be applied but to .sinpssa.l.ngt..om America t.o n.on^Hs after their promulga- beJl!''''7r?'^"""^' ''''' '''' ^-"y^^^^^ fourteen days befo.e one of the decrees, and thirty-nine days before the other they cannot then be applied without producing a retroaction of se.enty.f.ur days for the dispositions of the decr'e of Novenl; and n.nety.nine for those of the decree of the ,7th of December' in th"lt,; '""*^«f«"«^-«nnot be reserved for those interested in the Salty; they have a sure guarantee from this in the jur.". The first results from all the decisions of the Counc.l, since they ave applied the decree of the 2ist of November, n06 Such has been, on this point, their respect for the protect! «g -^^<^^!^X'^io:r:::!r^^^^ of a Frenc. *«mie «xcuie for the decrees. ""' *** ''**« pretended to find 1'^ »7 i ^'i3: principle o{ non-retroaction, that ♦hey have acquitted e»en ths fhips, which, by forced entries into the nemy's ports, have remaintd there long enough to have known the penal disposi- tions of the decree. The Sovereign himself applied the law in the same manner, when, in the case of the capture of the Vermont, he said that the ship was subject to confiscation, because, between the 2Ut qf Suvember and her departure from the American port, a SUFFICIENT TIME had elapscdfor her to have known the decree. Then applying the rule to a contrary case, the law cannot have any operation when a sufficient time lias not existed. On these principles the Salty must be restored, even if there were nothing extraordinary in her favour; but there are cir- cumstances in her case which cannot but add force to her recla- mation. e have s< en that jjhe had a most painful passage ; she was sinking from ijer leaks, wlien she was mot and stopped by the Kn^j lish frigates ; thai then she had no option ; that she could neither return to the United States, nor attempt to get into any port of France; that when she arrived in England, it was ne- cessary to undergo repairs; that this happened to her twice, and each time to have to repair considerable damages ; that, in short, always persecuted by the elements, she went to seek an asylum in Flushing, when the public authority thought fit to seize her. From hence it must be concluded, that Captain Brou;« never followed the impulse of his own will; and that, under all the circumstances under which ht found himself, he only yielded to a superior force which he could not resist. The rhief conclusion from this is, that this captain had a right to the protection, or, if you please, to the compassion which the French laws and French magistrates have always granted to those whom misfortune has conducted to our hospi- table shores. In such cases French generosity has always made general end rigorous principles and laws bend to the particular case of hardship and distress. Thus, notwithstanding that a French or allied ship is considered to belong to the enemy, if the latter has had 98 her in his possession for more iJian t\venfy-fou«' hours, the law- has never taken advautage of this circumstance. It has been said, that the ship which, in such circumstances, shall have been thrown upon our coasts, ought to be restored to her for- mer owners. (Ordomi. da la Marine, tit. dcs Prises, Art. 9 ; Arrcte da 2 Pruiriat, Art. 55. J We find in this disposition the principle of the inviola- hil It 1/ of misfortune. Nothini: could better prove the spirit of French legislation, and nothing can be more justly applicabia to the present case, since in this, as well as in that which the law has foreseen, we have no other interest to combat than that of the State *. And since, in the case of shipwrcc/c, the state renounces the property legally acquired to her. it seems natural to conclude, that eve') on the supposition that there wore a davitionalisatioH in the present case, the State woiilj feel the sanie motives for Hot enriching itself with the spoils of n)isfortune. There is a perfect paiity here ; for the Sally, if the decrees Mere applicable to her, could not be more dtnationulised than the French ship which had been in possession of the e.-my for more than four-and-twenty hours. How strong soever may be the analogy here, let us prove that generosity has gone farther still; let us recall to the Coi;n- cii,, that tijey have respected the rigiits of viisfortuue, even when tht^y have had to judge of eneniies. The aJI'air of the Diana is within the recollection of evorv body. The Diana had been condemned by the two snhordi- nate tribunals; because, althouj;h slie was under (he Prussian * Hag, she was without a passport ; liec iiise her muster roll was irregular ; because thero was a false destination ; in short, he- cause she was loaded with nierciiandize proscribed by the law of tht; 2!nh Nivo:;fc. 'J'his sliip was, herefore, denationalised, or, what was s'ii worse, could loi justify har national ifv. The CuiJN'jiL had to de-.-ide diJinitivcly on her fate, the '25th Ventose, year 9. • Ohsfrve, that in thU ra«r the captor. « ere the Commissionck. of the 4;u»toms at rinshiDg, ana iiotti Frencli i>iivateer or .ship of war at sea. .-1** 99 After having discussnd the diflerent heads of oondemua- t.oM. the rnajr .trafe entrusted with the public ministry, the oniyau^eisarv of ti^e claimanls. developed, on the ri.fu of asylum, principles which we cann,.t abvidge, without x^cukenin<^ theni. * •' Butamorepoutrfnl motive nill." said this enlightened ofiic-r, " ought to determii.e this decision : it is the respect due " to misfortune." " The Diana was cast upon oiw shores by a tempest. // xoas to xvithdraiv herself from at. imminent danger, that she sou nity, hitherto recognized and acted upon by the tribunals of all civilized nations, had no effect. The boasted justice and gene- rosity of the French seem to have fallen prostrate at the feet of their great enslaver Napoleon. The same Council, though not probably composed of the same men which released the Diana, CONDEMNED the Salty. O -^ 102 No. ir. Case of (he Ociavie^ J, G. Collins Master, THE above ship sailed from Charlestown, in America, on the 30th of December, 1807, and bound for London; bqt having been spoken to, and nothing more, by two English ships of war, she was captured by the French privateer Le Grand Napo- leon, and carried into Calais. — The ship and demned. cargo con- No. 18. Case of the American Ship the United States, Captain Harding, Maritime Agent of the United States at Cadiz, Consignee of the Cargo, THIS is a case of some interest ; but I do not mean to give much of the arguments, because they are in truth nothing more, ojf not much more, than those urged in the case of the Sally, and some others which I have before given at full hnrrth. I shall 103 content myself with stating the facts, and a few observations more particularly applicable to this case. This vessel sailed from Norfolk, in Virginia, for Algesiras, a seaport in the Bay of Gibraltar, and about ten miles to the north of that fortress. This was on the 25th of December, 1807, only eight day« after the promulgation of the Milan Decree, at a period when it was impossible the existence of that Decree could heknovmin America, supposing America to have been bound by it, ifitAat^ been known. It is necessary to state the contents of her cargo, to shew that it was impossihle. I beg pardon for the expression " impos-^ siblel" because no transgression of the law of nations and of vioral justice is impossible to Bonaparte ! nothing but physical impossibilities can stop his career. I say impossible, according to every acknowledged principle of the law of nations, or of justice, to condemn this ship. Her cargo consisted of 2,000 barrels of flour, on freight, for the account of a house in Philadelphia, and 11,500 staves, for the account of the owners of the ship. The neutrality of the ship was justified by every document found on board; in fact it was not disputed by the captors: but they said she was denationalised by the terms of the Decree of the 17th of December, 1807. They further alleged, but without semblance of proof; but they alleged that she was for enemy's account, or at least, that she was insured in an enemy's country. And further they alleged, but still merely alleged, for all the proofs were against these allegations, that she had attempted fraudulently to get into Gibraltar ; and that she carried provi- sions to an enemy's fortress in a state of blockade. It is true she csitrieA provisions, not for an enemy's fortress in a state of blockade, but for the allies of Bonaparte. The vessel was just on the point of entering Algesiras, the place of her destination, when she was descried by twelve pri- vateers, one French, (the Diabtotin) and elev ; '--paniih. She ivas captured and conducted into Algesiras She wai in the O 2 104 first instance sequestered ; but a dispute arose between Hie cleven'Spanish privateers and the Diablotin, who was mtitled to her. The Diablotia grounded his pretensions on the c.rcum- stance that it was he who had put men on board to take care ol her. . The cause was removed to the Council of Prizes at Pans ; a long argument was held as to the right of jurisdiction, w.th which I shall not trouble the reader, because she was afterwards simply condemned on the principle that she had been visucd by English cruizers. The advocates for the vessel insisted on the principle they had, to use their own language, so often invoked in vain, that i( she had in fact been visited in the sense of the Decree, the latter could not be applicable to her, because she could not know of the existence of the Decree when she sailed-thenon- retroactive principle. But they insisted that she had not in fact been visited. Captain H«rdmg, they said, (and they were not contradicted) on his interrogatories on this pretended visit (search), answered, " that about the latitude of Cadiz, he had been hailed by a ship of the English squad-on, which ordered him to go and speak to the Admiral; that in the interval there came two or i\,Tethozisonho^rA,toatkhimwhether they might buyjfourfortheir use; that he refused to sell them any, telling them that he was consigned to Algesiras: that a long time after, as he was sa.hng at a small distance from the squadron, he was hailed by another bark, with an Officer, who asked him for three or four barrel* of flour, to which he answered as before ; that having asked the Officer what he wished with him, the latter answered that he should return to his Commander and make his report; that seeing nobody give himself any trouble about him, he veered about, and made his way to Algesiras," when he was taken by the Diablotin and the eleven Spanish privateers. Such are the facts, says the French advocate, which prove that there was novisit, in the sense of the Decree, and he goes onto argue upon the subject; but with the same effect as he might have reasoned to the wuius. m On the t>t1ier two points it would be a waste of pen and ink to say a single syllable further than that there was not the moiSt distant pretence on the part of the captors for making the alle- gations. The ship ami her cargo were, however, coiidemned. No. 19. Case vflhe American Brig the T/uftnas Jeffer- son^ Goodrich Master* THE above brig sailed from Boston to Baltimore on the lOfb of August, IS05, there she took a cargo of American prodeoe for Hamburgh,at which port she arrived on the 20th of Novem- ber, in the same year; sailed from thence for Bourdeaux, where she arrived the 2d of April, J 800. From thence she went-to Lisbon with a cargo of wine, and returned to Bourdeaux the 20th July, !806; took iu another cargo of wine for Toniiingen; from thence she went again to Bourdeaux, where she aiirived on the 23d of '^)ctober, 180(5. After which, and tiil she Ava« captured, this vessel made live voyages from Bourdeaux to Mor- laix, with wines. She arrived last at Morlaix on tlie 27th'Qf December, in the s;ime year; and after having discharged hor cargoof wine, belonging toa Freiwh house, she tof)k in ballast to go back again to Bourdeaux, when Captain Goourick wa^i ar- rested by the Commissuire de Police, and sent to Paris uuder.an escort. On his arrival there, he was interrogated by Mr. Z-r Corueilter (VEiut Real, and was liberated : but the .e cargo, the proofs shall be certificates, containing an account of the place from which tl»e vessel has sailed, and that to which she is bound, so that prohibited and contraband goods may be distinguished by certificates, which certificates shall have bet-n made by the officers of the place front which the vessel shall have sailed in the usual forKi of the country ; and if these passports or certificates, or either of them, have been destroyed by accident, or seized by violence, the want of them may be supplied by all the other proofs of property admissible according to the general usage of nations. Am. V. VI. and VII. Foreign to our subject. Art. VIIL In order mutually to promote the operatrons of coHimerco, it is agreed, that if (which the Lord forbid !) war fr&ould break out between the two countries, there shall be ali'lowed mutually to the merchants and other citizens, or respec- tive inhabitants, six months after the declaration of war, dur- ing Avhic h period they will have the permission to retire with such goods and efj'ects as they may be able to carry oflT, or to sell the whole, agrerabl V to their own option, without the interposition *)f any restraint. Not only their goods, much less their persons, can Atf seized on, during the prescribed period of six months. On the contrarj/, they shall be furnished n-ith passports to secure their safe return ho?nc f 'Jhose passports shall avail them as guarantees ayainst every insult and seizure on the part of privateers, who «aay attempt to capture their goods and their persons ; and if, during the above term, they sliall have received any injury or «ra,magcs Jrom any of the parties, abettors, &c. they shall re- ceive complete satistuction. Am. IX. X. XI. Foreign to the subject. AuT. XII. The citizens of the two nations may convey tht^r ships and merchandize, excepting always contraband goods, into any port belonging to the enemy of the other co>untry. They may navigate and trade, in full freedom and security,, with their merchandize and ships in the couatrv. :»&t. 115 ports, &c. of the enenates of either party, without encounteriiif any obstacle or controul, and not only pass directly from tht ports and fortresses of the enemy above-mentioned into neutral ports and fortresses ; but moreover, from any place beJongiag to an enemy into any other appertaining to another enemy, %vhether it be or be not subjected to the same jurisdiction, aa- iess these ports or fortresses be actually besieged, blockaded, or invested. (The remainder of this article enjoins vesse)« not to enter any port actually besieged or blockaded, but t-o veer off.) Art. XIII. Describes what is contraband, but stipulate* that the ship with which they were freiglited. as well as tlwr rest of the cargo, shail be rejrarded as free, and in no manu*-*- shall be vitiated by the contraband goods, whether they beJoii-g to many, or to one and the same proprietor. AnT. XIV. It is stipulated by the preyent treaty, tliat frem ships shall likewise ensure the freedom o[ goods, and th^, all things on board shall be reckoned free belonging to the citizens of one of the contracting parties, although the cargo, or part of it, should belong to the enemies of the t^o; it beioj understood nevertheless, that contraband goods will always be excepted. It is likewise agreed, that this freedoin shall extend ho the persons of those who shall be found on board the free ships. although they should be enemies to one of the two contractJuJ^ parties; and it shall not be lawful to take them from the said free ships, at least if they are not soldiers, and actually in th« service of the enemy. Art. XV. It is agreed on the other hand, that all good* found, put by the respective citizens on board ships be!ou"i,ng- to the enemy of the other, or to their subjects, shall be couCi^ caied without distinction of prohibited or non-prohibitcd ; and, Jikew.se, ,f they belong to the enemy, to the exception aJwavI of effects and merchandizes which shall have been put on banri the sa,d ships before the declaration of war, or even after the above declaration, if it could not be known at the mon.ent of Jadmg ; so that the merchandizes of the citizen, of tlia tw« parties, whether they are contraband or otherwise, which. » 11$ has been said, shall have been put on board a ve«sel belonging to an enemy before the war, or even after the declaration of war, when it was not known, shall in no ways be subject to confiscation, but shall faithfully and bona fide be restored, without delay, to their proprieturs, who shall claim them ; it being nevertheless understood, that it is unlawful to carry into the enemy's ports any goods that are contraband. The two contracting parties agree, that two months having elapsed after the declaration of war, their respective citizens, from whatever part of the world they come, shall not be allowed to allege the ignorance in question in the present article. Art. XVI. Foreign to the subject. Art. XVII. And to avoid captures upon frivolous suspi- cions, and to prevent the mischief which results from them, it is agreed, that when one of the two parties shall be at war, and the other neutral, the vessels of the neutral party shall be fur- nished with passports similar to those specified in Article IV, so that it may thus apj ear that the vessels belong truly to the neutral party. These passports shall be valid for any number of voyages ; but they shall be renewed every year if the vessel returns home during the course of a year. If these ships are laden, they shall be furnished not only with the passports above-mentioned, but likewise with the certificates described in the same article, so that it may be known whether any contraband merchandize is on board. There shall not be demanded any other document, notwithstanding all usages to the contrary ; and if it does not appear by these certificates that there is any contraband merchandize on board, the vessels shall be allowed to proceed on their voyages. If, on the con- trary, it appears by these certificates that the vessels have con- traband merchandizes on board, and the mastcis offer to deli- ver them up, the offer shall be accepted, and the ship shall be left at liberty to proceed on her voyage, at least, it* the quan- tity of the contraband merchandize is not too great to be con- veniently taken on board a ship of Avar or privateer; in that case, it shall be lawful to take the ship into a harbour, there to deliver the said merchandize. 117 If a ship is found without the passport, or the certificates thus demanded, the aflair shall be examined by the judges or the competent tribunals; and if it appears, by other documents or proofs admissible by the usage of nations, that the ship be- Jon;,s to tne citizens of the neutral party, she shall not be con- demned, but shall be set at liberty with her cargo, the con- traband goods excepted, and shall be at liberty to proceed on her voyage. If the captain, named in the passport of the ship, should die, or cease to command her from any cause, and another is appointed in his stead, the ship and her cargo shall not be les secure, and the passport shall remain in all its force. Art. XVIII. If the ships of the citizens of either party are met on the coast, or on the high seas, by any ship of war or privateer of the other, to prevent all disorder, the said ships of war or privateers shall keep out of cannon shot, and shall send their boats to the merchant vessel they shall meet; and it shall not be lawful for more than two or three to go on board, and ask the master to produce the passport concerning the property of the ship, drawn out according to the formula prescribed in Ar- ticle IV. as well as the certificates above-mentioned, with re- gard to the cargo. It is expressly agreed, that the neutral shall not be obliged to go on board the visiting vessel, there to pro- duce his papers, or give any information whatever. Art. XIX. Foreign to our subject. Art. XX. Where vessels shall be taken or stopped, under pretence of carrying some contraband article to the enemy, the captors shall give a receipt of the papers of the ship which he shall retain; which receipt shall be joined to acorrect in- Toice of the said papers. It shall no«^ be permitted to force nor to break open drawers, chests, trunks, boxes, bales, or vases, found on board of the said ship, nor to carry oft' the least article of the eiFects before the cargo has been disembark- ed in presence of the competent officers, who shall make an inventory of the said effects. They cannot in any manner be cold, exchanged, or alienated, st least til! after a legal prn- _ess, the competent judge or judges have passed sentence of 116 confiscation, (always excepting, however, the ship and other articles which she contains.) Art. XXI. That the ship and cargo may be watched over with care ; and, to prevent waste, it is determined that the master, captain, or supercargo, of the captured vessel shall not be removed from on board, either while the ship shall be at se^ after having been taken, or during the proceedings which take place against her, her cargo, or something relating to her. When the ships belonging to the citizens of either of the parties shall be taken, seized, or detained, to be tried^ her oiB- cers, passengers, and crew, shall be treated with humanity. They shall nut be imprisoned nor stripped of their cloaths, nor of mofneyfoT their private use, which must not exceed, for the cap- tain, supen argo, or mate, 500 dollars each, and for the sailors and passengers 100 dollars each. The remaining Articles of the Convention are foreign to our subject. CONCLUSION. i A PERUSAL of the cases before mentioned I have no doubt, will satisfy every impartial reader that I have not, in the previous statement, asserted any thing that is not supported by facts. The contrast between the conduct of Great Britain and of France towards America, will appear in a striking point of view. It will not only appear that the Orders in Council were extorted by the Decrees of the French ruler as a measure of self-defence against those decrees j that they were, under al the circumstances, not only moderate, but even pas ivei and that the mode in which they have been acted upon, contrasted with the conduct of the French cruizers, and the subsequent decisions of the Council of Prizes, deserves, in an exemplary degree, the praise of forbearance. In two cases, in particular, I have given the general substance of the discussion, which will shew the little regard felt by the Council of Prizes to the general law of nations, to solemn treaties between nation and nation, and even to the ecjuit. able interpretation of the tyrannical and absurd decrees of their own imperious master. Q 2 120 The other cases contain little more than a short statement of facts, on which the discussion Was always to the same purpose, and always with the same effect, co?idem»ation, I could have added double the number of similar cafes ; but I did not wish to tire the patience of the reader. If to the above cases any further proof be required of the existence of a depredatory system of the French government against the commerce of America, and of the servile submission of the government of the latter to the wanton oppression of the former, let the following statement be read and considered with attention. About 18 months ago a general embargo was put on all American vessels then in the ports of France and Italy. It is true that about six months ago, the embargo was proposed to be raised ; but it was on a condition the most extraordinary that ever entered into the contemplation of any go- vernment to suggest. It was proposed to General Armstrong, that he should sign a bond, by which he should gua- rantee the performance of the voyage of the em- bargoed vessels directly to America, and their not tcioching at any British port or going to any of the English colonies. Let those who pretend to ex- cuse the Decrees of Bonaparte, and to stigmatize the British Orders in Council in answer to these 121 decrees, state, if they can, any instance of such a proposition having ever before been made to the accredited ambassador of an independent state. I It was, perhaps, expected, that General Arm- strong would sign such a bond, in order to procure the liberation of his countrymen. Pie was, how- ever, too cautious to fall into the snare. He pro- bably saw, that even if all these ships should arrive in America, and proof could have been furnished, a negative proof, that not one of them had touched at a British port, or at any of the English colonies, yet still the ingenuity of the French government would have invented some pretence for calling upon him for the penalty of his bond. This gen- tleman declined the proposition, and not one of the American vessefs were released from the em- bargo, except the Fail- American, which was per- mitted to sail from Dunkirk last May, with a mes- senger and dispatches. ' I'fT '» approached very nearly to a by the French government This ' declaration . against Amer uat what remonstrance did the American government make against it ; nay, what notice have they taken of it at all*? • I am persuaded that most of the govpriiments who have their ministers in Paris, receive but iittlo iiif'oniiation i'voni them as to the real character of the tyrant. 'J he members of the ,Corps diploma'; que in tiiatcity biend the entertainments of eveiy kind with which it abounds/ and the agreeahle manners of its inhabitants, with the diplomacy of the 'i huiJJeries. The plea- But this is not a singular instance of the for- bearance of the American and other governments falsely called neutral, in respect to the enormities committed against them by the tyrant of the con- tinent and his agents. A French Admiral, WiU laumez, about three years ago, burned all the ships of neutral nations which he met with at sea, and their cargoes : he had indeed the humanity not to burn their crews ', but took them on board his own ships, to prevent their giving information to the English. But we have not heard that any remon- strance has been made against this, though the Con- tinents both of Europe and America resound with complaints against the predominancy of England, and she is called the tyrant of the seas. She is indeed the mistress of the seas, and may she long preserve that prerogative ; but, in proportion as she IS powerful, she is just: let those who are ac, quanited with the modes of proceeding, and the decisions given in the Court of Admiralty in Doctors Commons, compare them with those of the Council of Prizes at Paris, and then pronounce who is the tyrant of tlie seas. Hi i I have given in the preceding pages some of the articles verbatim of the treaty of the year 9, •ures which they derive from the former make th..m •„ great measure, tbrget \.\ie. horrors of the iL^p?.- f '''"'• '" * scarcely be credited that, in one^nhrmost de iXfu! rr ''" the un. verse, where there Is so much leaTntg a f d^ S^ to thTiark agL '^"^^^^^^"^'"S *« »>"ng Frepchmen bacJ > ^>»i*H 'i n.-.-^ ^^jtf:>!--..i^. «^ 123 ■!&:■ between France and America, on which the learned advocate reasoned so ably in the cases which I have detailed. That I have not suppressed any thing that might contribute to a contrary con- clusion to that which I have drawn, will be evident to any one who will take the trouble to read the treaty at full length as given in the Annual Register for the year 1800. ' Were Napoleon conscious that he is bound by the ordinary rules of justice between man and man, and between nation and nation, I might attempt to reason with him on the enormity of his conduct ; but from an insatiable ambition to rule, a desire of plunder, and a hardly interrupted progress in those objects, he has adopted the maxim p^ fas et nefas mere: it is not with h\m fiat jiistitia mat codum, but quocunque modo rem. Since the greater part of these sheets have been put to press, a diplomatic letter from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed to the Ameri- can Minister at Paris, has appeared in the London papers of the l6th Oct. last. This document commences with assurinij the Americans, " that France admits the principle that the Flag protects the Trade." After plunder- ing the Americans^ not in f-agranie helh, but v, bile 124 peace subsisied between the two countries, to the amount of 4 millions sterling; now that no further booty is likely to present itself under the Berlin and Milan decrees, the Americans are now told that " free bottoms make free goods: " This suits the present [impose oUhe Gra fid Usurpateur. But I am sure the Americans will find as little security from this, as they did from the letter of the Minister of Marine, by which it was declared that the decree of Berlin was not intended in contra- vention of the existing treaties with America*. The letter goes on thus:— Judge, you who have a knowledgeofthe history of the few last years: " In '* a// her conquests, France has considered sacred^ "private property, deposited in the warehou^es " of the vanquished States, and such have iiad the " complete disposal of matters of trade ; and at this " moment convoys by land of merchandize, and * The letter alluded to is signed by Monsieur Cham. PH^y, the present Minister for Foreign Aflairs ; but 1 am convinced, from internal evidence, that it is the'produc- tion of IMonsieur Le Conseiltcr d'Efat Hanterive.-.In the year 1800, 1 translated into English his book, intitled " L'Etat deia France a la fin de Van FIW which contains the very pimciples now held out to the world in the letter in question During the first twelve months of my residence in Pans, I was very intimate with Monsieur Uautcrive : and from that in- trnjacy 1 take upon myself to say, that, though he published such opinions to the world, he is* far from approving of them. He IS too enlightened a statesman, and too well acquainted with the writings of Grotius, Pufflndorfi: Vattel, &c. to say that " Une bottoms ought to make free goods." + 1 suppose the writer borrowed this word from the Latin tacrum, the original meaning of which is something devoted to the Gods, something with which nobody must inlerfeie, but the vicegerent of Europe. I . »( I . ^ i > ,i 125 " especially of cotton*, are passing through the " French army and Austria/to proceed to the desti- " nation which commerce directs." Never was there a more impudent assertion made in the face of the world, than that con- tained in the first part of this paragraph ; facts which have happened within these two or three years give it the complete lie ! When the French entered Leipzig, after the battle of Jma^ goods purchased from England, paid for by the mer- chants of Leipzig, and of course their property, were confiscated as English property, because they had come originally from England, as it was pre^ tended ; but more probably because they were a valuable object of plunder. At Hamburgh, at Bremen, at Rostock, and at Weimar, all neutral cites, the satellites of Napoleon not only seized as Britishy property bmia Jide be- longing to the merchants of those towns, and long before paid for, but even made them pay a penalty for having dealt in British goods ; when this mea- sure was submitted to, and when another Go- vernor was appointed, a new penalty was inflicted on the merchants of those unfortunate Hanseatic * Yes, especially of cotton, because that article is wanted for the manufacturers of Paris, but the moment it arrives on the frontiers it will be seized by the oflficers of the Custom Houses, as contraband, and confiscated to the State, as was thp case with the cottons of Messrs. Buf and Co. 126 towns, and a third time they were compelled to yield to the extortions of the French Satraps*! " Private property sacred ! " What is sacred to a man who has reduced MURDER TO RULE, AND '* I cannot avoid taking notice of a well written and spirited letter of a Mr. Charles Villarst, which was circulated in print among the Author's friends about the time of the transactions at Lubec, addressed to Madame Fanny Be.auharnnh, aunt of General Beauhainois.fixHi husband of the Empress Josephine. After the battle of Jena (saysMr.Villars), the Prussian General Bluciher retreated from that scene of carnage, and got to Lubec, whither he was pursued by three corps d'armees commanded by- Sow^/, Bernadoite, and Murat. Lubec, though a fortified town, was but ill prepared to resist the entrance of the Prussians; the latter got possession of it by a coup de maitre. They then put It in a stale of defence. The French got possession of it, and 111 violation of a capitulation, by which the lives of the Prus- sians were to be spared, all of that nation who could be found were massacred. Had the matter rested here, Mr. Villars would not have exposed his life by publishing the letter in question ; but horrible to relate, the harmless and inoffensive city of Lubec, for not having made an impossible defence against the Prussians, was given up for three days to be plun- «i'ied, and submitted to every kind of cruelty that could dis- grace the history of modern times. Not a female of the most tender age escaped violation. Even the hospitals and the very marl house were not respected ! Mr Villars observes that for thirty years to come, every family of that unfortunate city will have reason to recollect the 'hree days that the French army parsed there. He bestows great eulogiums on Btrnadotte ; but says that Sotilt and Murat gave every encouragement to their licentious followers 1 have entered into these details, because I know there are some persons in this country very little disposed to believe any thing against the Phil anthr op 7/ of their demi-god Napoleon. + Mr. Charles Villars was originally of Metz, but was at this time resident at Lubec, and an inmate of Mr. Matthias Roddc, a senator and respectable merchant of that city for twenty years! Mr. Villars is a corresponding member of theNational Institute* and about seven years ago, obtained from that learned body a prize for a work, which he published, " On the good Effects of the Reformation of Luther," and which has been t-ans!ated >nto English. ? i < iiHrt iJ .i i' ' >i» "/'^» - 127 ROBBERY TO SCIENCE ? Are treaties and alliances respected by him ? Are monarchs safe who have even been forced into an alliance with him ? Is there an honest heart which does not still burn with indignation at his conduct towards the deluded Royal Family of Spain ? He was not content with depriving them of their kingdom, but even plun- dered them of their private property. The following case, I think, deserves attention, to shew how Bonaparte respects private property. When he was at Burgos ^ he published in one of his bulletins *, that he found there many thou- sand bags of wool which he said had been pur- chased for English account. It is true, he did find wool at Burgos, but the whole of it be- longed to French merchants, among others, to Mr. Oberkampf, an eminent manufacturer of wool- len cloth in Paris, but it was no protection against confiscation, because it was alleged that it was found upon enemy's territory ! And what does Bonaparte think of territory ? Every place is enemy's territory where a person resides who disapproves of his conduct, or is ob- * To shew what degree of credit is attached in France to Bonaparte's Bulletins, the fish women of Paris (Les ftmmes de la Halle) when they call in question a person's veracity say to them, " Vous meniex eomme un Bulletin !!!" (You lie like a Bulletin) — Hear this, ye Quidnuncs of the Stock Exchange ! R2 128 V noxious to him ! Thus Baden wms viofated when the Due D'Enshkn was arrested and murdered! so was Ulniy when the patriotic bookseller Pa//?t was seized and execute(i because he, as a Ger- man, published a German Patriot's Opinions pn the tyrant's conduct in that unfprtunate coun- try. He held out a pardon to him, if he woul(i give up the author. The man refused. His firm; ness and patriotism would have saved him, if his persecutors had had an exalted mhid ; however, he who delights in blood and cruelty would add that murder to the long catalogue of his crimes ! I cannot conclude witlput expressing my hope, founded upon an intimate knowledge of the Bonapartean Sijstem, that no English Minis- ter will be found who will ever recommend his Majesty to make a peace with the man who is at the head of the French Populace /, Yes, and I repeat the word populace^ because no honest Frenchman regards Bonaparte as his Sovereign. In no respectable family in Paris is his name ever meiitioned but with horror and disgust. And were a foreigner in France, to speak well of him, the Police would lock him up and suspect him to be a foreign spy, as they are persuaded that no man who is saiie or hottest can speak well of such a fiend ! Let th^ peo- ple of England be prepared then to continue this glorious struggle pro arisetfocis until his exter- mination, which inay not be far off! The peo- 129 pie of Rome endiu^ed Ne?v*s and DomitiarCs cru- elties for a time ; at last however these tyrants fell! The people of England are taxed, it is true, but !et them consider that it is only an annuity we must pay to Providence on the life of Bonaparte, and our war taxes should be termed, Bonaparte's Life Aj^NUITY ! ! p. S. Accounts have just been received from America, that the British Envoy, Mr. Jackson, on his arrival in that country, was hooted by the populace, that he was burnt in effigy, and that the people called out, « No Copenhagen Jackson/' &c. Newspapers have related it, and I wz/^/ believe it, but really it is scarcely credible, that because the measures which the British Government adopted towards the Danes are disapproved of by the peo- ple of America, that an Envoy who executed the orders of his Government is to be mal-treated by the Populace of another country. As it is possible that this pamphlet may fall into the hands of the enlightened citizens of the United States, I will make them aci^uainted with 130 the character of Monseigneur Lt General Thurreau, Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, Ambassadeur de Sa Majeste I'Empereur des Frangais etRoi d' Italic pris les Etats Urn's d'Amerique ! Extracted from the Moniteur. No. 11. Year 3, accused in the Convrention by Merlin of Thionville, that he in the absence of the representative Carrier, caused the inhabi- tants of several districts to be assembled, and then had them all shot to the number of twelve thousand men, women and children 1 ! ? No. 13. Alquier, a Deputy, product J an order signed by General Thurreau, addressed to General Moulins, and sent to him by his Aide de Camp Dodum, which ran thus — " General Moulins is to proceed with his column to Montague, to disarm its inhabitants and annihilate {egorger) every soul without distinction of age or sex — In tliis sitting his accusation was decreed." No. 57, year 4. In the Council of Five Hun- dred, on a debate which took place whether Thur- reau should be tried by a Council of War or by the Civil Law, Chapelain a Deputy said, " Thu?'- rtau has committ«dAhe most unheard of crimes in 131 La Vendue ; by his orders, even old men, women and children were massacred ! " Official, a Deputy, obserfed, that entire parishes (municipalities) were shot by his orders i No. 92, year 3. In the trial of Carrier the Deputy, for committing cruelty in La Vendee, Thurreau is accused of having signed orders for murdering men, women, and children ! In the course of that trial several witnesses deposed that General Thurreau, after an excursion in La Vendee, returned in triumph to Remies, and wore as trophies the cars and hearts of Chouans pinned to his coat, and in the leap of his hat'* f J! Thu?Teau was tried in the time of the Directory : he ^vas suspended from his functions and never employed by that Government, but was brought again into notice by Napoleon Bonaparte, he is cne of \{\s Grand Officers of the Legion of Honor and a Monseigneur !!! Which of the two Ministers de'jerves most to be hooted by the enlightened Republicans of the United States ? I cannot let this opportunity pass without * See the Monitewr containing the proceedings against Carrier and the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes ! 13« taking notice of the Copenhagen expedition, wl.ch a French Minister in m.v hearing temped ^ Loup de Maitre en Politique r After the peace of Tilsit, Bonaparte wished to occupy the Danish Islands, Zealand among the rest. Two of his naval officers, viz. Rear- Admiral Mamdie, who was in Portugal when Junoi tulated, and formerly captain of Admiral V - neuve's ship, at the battle of Trafalgar, and Captam ^er^ere-^, many years a prisoner of war in this country in the time of the Directorv, and who was four years ago made prisoner by \he British m the East-Indies, and sent to France on his parole, but not exchanged to this day, were appointed Com- missaries to superintend the equipment of the Danish Fleet: To every i)^,;/,/, ship there Was a pencil captain appointed; a great number of Danish and Prussian seamen, the former taken on board of British ships, and the latter, which were prisoners of war, confined at different depots in France, were sent from thence to Copenhagen es- corted by French gens d'Armes ! ! ! The Danish fleet would have been in the hands of Bona- parte either by treaty, by ruse, or by robbery. The foresight of an active English ministry pre- vented it: Had no measures been taken to pre- vent It, and had the Danish fleet fallen into Bonaparte's power, the same persons who now ac- <^use the English Ministers for taking the Danish 133 t o j^ccuscd tViem wVtVi the vvant of fo'«'S^*. " against out goven«»«^^ England taise a clan^g ^e h^mseU 1^, tU,j«>ere "S'''-"^,^;^ ? to which Irepty. can Bonaparte have P-'^;-^„,,,,, .Uo „.ade » •m the words of the Uepu^J found in tithe Convention on t^\Pf ..54 (a leport to tne «- _.•,;.„ Robertspierre, 5^5 adurafewn //.' . I'HE ^^^' 'T.'^.^:^^-— ^"