ing Parties. As such, they would be observed by Great Britain, as a sacred and inviolable law.1 Denmark and Russia concluded at Copenhagen on the 9th July, 1780, the convention of armed neutrality for the maintenance of those principles by the equipment of a joint fleet, and for their mutual defense against any Power who should attack either of the contracting Parties on account of their reciprocal engagements. By this convention, to which Sweden acceded on the 9th September, 1780, the Baltic sea was declared to be mare clausum against the ships of war of the belligerent Powers; and the contracting Parties referred to their respective treaties with the belligerent Powers for the definition of contraband. In the meantime a diplomatic struggle was going on in the United Provinces between the agents of France and Great Britain, the former seeking to confirm the republic in her resolution of remaining neutral, and the latter insisting on her furnishing the succors stipulated by the existing treaties of alliance and guarantee. In order to determine the conduct of the Dutch, the French Government issued, on the 14th of January, 1779, an ordinance suspending the operation of the first article, that of the 26th July, 1778, in respect to their navigation, excepting that of Amsterdam. The operation of this ordinance was again suspended as respected the entire province of Holland on the 2d of July, 1779, which still continued to be privileged under the former ordinance of 1778. France thus sought to divide the councils of the republic, whilst the British Court notified the States-General that, if they did not, within the term of three weeks, furnish the stipulated succors, Great Britain would no longer consider their flag as privileged by treaty, but would conduct [itself], in respect to it, according to the strict principles of the preexisting law of nations. This menace was executed by the proclamation of the 17th April, 1780, which author1"Le 12 article du traité de 1661 réglant la forme du certificat dont les vaisseaux doivent être munis, en donne cette raison: Ne vero libera ejusmodi navigatio aut transitus foederati unius ejusque subditorum ac incolarum, durante bello alterius foederati, terra marive cum aliis gentibus fraudi sit alteri confoederato, mercesque et bona hostilia occultari possint. "Le même article contient une stipulation précise et formelle. La voici : Si hostis bona in confoederati navigio reperiantur, quod ad hostem pertinet, praedae solum modo cedat, quod vero ad confoederatum illico resti tuatur. "Le traité de 1666 prescrit le même certificat, et en donne les mêmes raisons." Martens, Recueil de Traités, vol. 3, p. 188. ized the seizure of Dutch vessels, bound from one enemy's port to another, or laden with enemies' property. Whilst thus agitated by alternate hopes and fears, the States-General were invited by Russia to accede to the convention of armed neutrality which had been formed by the Baltic Powers. After long delays and hesitation, the resolution for this purpose was, at length, passed on the 20th November, 1780; but it was even then not unanimous, the three provinces of Zealand, Guelders, and Utrecht, having refused their assent. This was followed on the 20th December, 1780, by a declaration of war against the United Provinces on the part of Great Britain, grounded upon the alleged fact of their having concluded a secret treaty acknowledging the independence of the United States of America. The United Provinces demanded from the northern Powers the succors stipulated by the convention of armed neutrality; but this demand was rejected, upon the ground that the rupture between Great Britain and Holland, had actually taken place before the accession of the latter to the armed neutrality, and that the causes of war, stated in the British declaration, were entirely foreign to the objects of the neutral alliance. The United States of America acceded to the principles of the armed neutrality by the ordinance of Congress of the 7th April, 1781. Prussia acceded to the armed neutrality on the 8th May, 1781. Austria acceded to the principles of the armed neutrality, but not to the conventions by which it was formed, on the 9th October, 1781. Portugal acceded to the conventions on the 13th July, 1782. The King of the Two Sicilies acceded to the conventions on the 10th February, 1783. The armed neutrality of the northern Powers continued to hang as a dark cloud constantly menacing the safety of the British Empire until the peace of 1783. Being engaged in war with France, Spain, Holland, and the United States of America, the addition of the hostility of those Powers might have turned the already doubtful balance against her naval superiority. It was with this view, and also to detach Holland from the confederacy, that Great Britain offered, in 1782, to make a separate peace with the republic, under the mediation. of Russia, on the basis of the treaty of 1674, by which, as Mr. Fox, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, stated in his communication to the Russian Minister in London, "the principles of the armed neutrality are established in their widest extent to all the contracting aries tele Le xt make any fifficulty to say, that he w. accept is the asts of a separate peace between him and the States-Ceneri i ne targatan, according the principles demanded by Her Imperai iajesty ner tearation of the 26th February, 1796.* This negotiation proved iscrive and Great Britain continued to act towards the Powers vich renamed neutral furing the American war, according to the preexisting law of nations, as understood and practiced by her. Site. hoverer, asserted her maritime pretensions with much forbearance and autor, and suffered the rule she had estab-hed in the war of 10 reating the enemy's colonial trade, to Sumber in chimioni Whilst this negociation was going on the Emperor of Russia, who had separated himself, first from the alliance of Austria, and subsequently from that of Great Britain proposed to the Courts of Denmark, Prussia, and Sweden, to concinde a convention for the revival of the principles of the armed neutrality of 1780. This proposition was grounded principally upon the necessity of concerting on the part of the northern Powers measures of defense against aggressions similar to that which it was alleged had been committed on the Danish frigate Freya; and the Emperor Paul no sooner heard of the arrival of a British fleet in the Sound, than he ordered a sequestration to be placed upon all British property in the Russian ports. The signature of the convention of the 29th August, between Denmark and Great Britain, induced him to retract this measure. But the refusal of the British Government to deliver to him the possession of the island of Malta, which he claimed under an alleged agreement with that Government, induced him to lay an embargo on all British vessels. Three treaties were signed at St. Petersburg on the 16th December, between Pussia and Sweden and between Russia and Prussia, and on the 18th between Russia and Prussia; and as each of these Powers acceded to the treaties of the others with Russia, they formed together a sort of quadruple alliance. Here follows a history of the period extending to the year 1800. "e, the negotiation between Great Britain and Denmark terminated by the Convention of Copenhagen of August 29, 1800, by which it was agreed that the Danish Government should suspend the granting of convoy until the question of right should be settled by a definitive convention. By the first article of these treaties, the contracting Parties agreed to prohibit to their subjects all trade in contraband of war with any of the belligerent Powers. The second article confined the list of contraband to military stores, as stipulated in the armed neutrality of 1780 by reference to the treaty of 1766 between Great Britain and Russia. But it was provided that this stipulation should be without prejudice to the particular stipulations in anterior treaties with the belligerent Parties, by which objects of a similar kind are reserved, prohibited, or permitted. The third article provided, that the list of contraband articles, being thus determined and excluded from neutral commerce, the contracting Parties had resolved that all other trade should remain perfectly free. It was further declared, by the same article, that in order to provide a sufficient security for the general principles of natural law, of which the freedom of commerce and navigation and the rights of neutral nations are a direct consequence, they had determined no longer to suffer them to depend upon arbitrary interpretation suggested by isolated and temporary interests. With this view they had agreed: 1. That every vessel may navigate freely, from port to port, and on the coasts of nations at war. 2. That the goods belonging to the subjects of the Powers at war shall be free in neutral vessels, except contraband articles. 3. That to determine what is meant by a blockaded port, this denomination is only to be given to that where there is, by the arrangement of the Power which attacks it with vessels, stationed sufficiently near so that there is an evident danger in attempting to enter it; and that any vessel, sailing towards a blockaded port, should not be considered as contravening the convention, unless, after having been notified by the commander of the blockading force of the existence of the blockade, she should still endeavor to enter the blockaded port by means of force or fraud. 4. That neutral vessels shall only be detained for just cause and evident facts, that they shall be adjudged without delay, that the procedure shall be always uniform, prompt, and legal; and that in every case, besides the damages awarded to the injured parties, complete satisfaction shall be given for the insult to the national flag. 5. That the declaration of the officers, commanding the public ships which shall accompany the convoy of one or more merchant vessels, that the ships of his convoy have no contraband articles on board, shall be deemed sufficient to prevent any search on board the convoying vessels or those under convoy. The remaining articles provided for a joint armament to protect the neutral commerce of the subjects of the contracting Parties, and for an eventual alliance, in case either of them should be attacked on account of these engagements. The Danish Government, at first, hesitated to ratify the treaty which had been signed by their Ministers at St. Petersburg. It was already bound by the convention of Copenhagen to Great Britain not to grant convoys to its merchant vessels until the question should be finally determined between the two Powers. An unconditional accession to the treaties of armed neutrality would seem to be a violation of its previous engagements with Great Britain. In the meantime, the British Minister at Copenhagen, by his note dated the 27th December, had demanded a clear, frank, and satisfactory answer upon the nature, objects, and extent of the obligations Denmark might have contracted, or the negotiations she was still pursuing with the other northern Powers. Count Bernstorff, in his reply to this note, of the 31st December, denied that the engagements his Government was upon the point of contracting were hostile to Great Britain, or inconsistent with the previous convention of the 29th August. He asserted, that a conditional and temporary suspension of the exercise of a right could not be considered as an abandonment of the right which was incontestable, and for the maintenance of which the northern Powers were about to provide by a mutual concert, which far from compromising their neutrality, was intended to confirm it. The British Government replied to this note by an order in council, dated the 14th of January, 1801, laying an embargo on all Russian, Swedish, and Danish vessels. Lord Grenville notified this order to the Ministers of Denmark and Sweden, declaring that the new maritime code of 1780, now sought to be revived, was an innovation highly. injurious to the dearest interests of Great Britain, and which Russia herself had renounced by the engagements contracted between her and Great Britain at the commencement of the then present war. These measures decided Denmark to adhere unconditionally to the armed neutrality by a declaration published on the 27th February, 1801. Great Britain continued to temporize, from motives of policy, with Prussia, the remaining party to the northern alliance. This did not |