which infringes on the sovereignty of every state; we have decreed and do decree as follows:-Art. I. Every ship, to whatever nation it may belong, that shall have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or to a voyage to England, or that shall have paid any tax whatsoever to the English government, is thereby, and for that alone, declared to be denationalized, to have forfeited the protection of its king, and to have become English property.-Art. II. Whether the ships thus denationalized by the arbitrary measures of the English government, enter into our ports, or those of our allies, or whether they fall into the hands of our ships of war, or of our privateers, they are declared to be good and lawful prizes.-Art. III. The British islands are declared to be in a state of blockade, both by land and sea. Every ship, of whatever nation, or whatsoever the nature of its cargo so may be, that sails from the ports of England, or those of the English colonies, and of the countries occupied by English troops, and proceeding to England, or to the English colonies, or to countries occupied by English troops, is good and lawful prize, as contrary to the present decree; and may be captured by our ships of war or our privateers, and adjudged to the captor.-Art IV. These measures, which are resorted to only in just retaliation of the barbarous system adopted by England, which assimilates its legislation to that of Algiers, shall cease to have any effect with respect to all nations who shall have the firmness to compel the English government to respect their flag. They shall continue to be rigorously in force as long as that government does not return to the principle of the law of nations,

VOL I. PART. I.

which regulates the relations of civilized states in a state of war. The provisions of the present decree shall be abrogated and null, in fact, as soon as the English abide again by the principles of the law of nations, which are also the principles of justice and of honour.All our ministers are charged with the execution of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the Bulletin of the Laws.

No. 6.-Proclamation of the President of the United States.

During the wars which, for some time, have unhappily prevailed among the powers of Europe, the United States of America, firm in their principles of peace, have endeavoured, by justice, by a regular discharge of all their national and social duties, and by every friendly office their situation has admitted, to maintain, with all the belligerents, their accustomed relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial intercourse. Taking no part in the questions which animate these powers against each other, not permitting themselves to entertain a wish but for the general restoration of peace, they have observed, with good faith, the neutrality they assumed, and they believe that no instance of a departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation. A free use of their harbours and waters, the means of refitting and refreshment, of succour to their sick and suffering, have, at all times, and on equal principles, been extended to all ; and this too amidst a constant recurrence of acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence to the persons, and of trespasses on the property of our citizens, committed by officers of one of the belligerent parties received among us. In truth, these abuses of

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the laws of hospitality have, with few exceptions, become habitual to the commanders of the British armed vessels hovering on our coasts, and frequenting our harbours. They have been the subject of repeated representations to their government. Assurances have been given that proper orders should restrain them within the limit of the rights, and of the respect due to a friendly nation; but those orders and assurances have been without effect, and no instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place. At length, a deed, transcending all we have hitherto seen, or suffered, brings the public sensibility to a serious crisis, and our forbearance to a necessary pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a state of peace, and leaving her harbour on a distant service, has been surprised and attacked by a British vessel of superior force, one of a squadron then lying in our waters, and covering the transaction, and has been disabled from service, with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded.

This enormity was not only-without provocation or justifiable cause, but was committed with the avowed purpose of taking, by force, from a ship of war of the United States, a part of her crew; and, that no circumstance might be wanting to mark its character, it had been previously ascertained that the seamen demanded were natives of the United States. Having effected his purpose, he returned to anchor with his squadron within our jurisdiction. Hospitality, under such circumstances, ceases to be a duty; and a continuance of it, with such uncontroulled abuses, would tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring on a rupture between the two nations,

This

extreme resort is equally opposed to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly dispositions on the part of the British government, in the midst of which this outrage has been committed, In this light, the subject cannot but present itself to that government, and strengthen the motives to an honourable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that effectual controul of its naval commanders, which alone can justify the government of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities it is now constrained to discontinue.

In consideration of these circumstances, and of the right of every nation to regulate its own police, to provide for its peace, and for the safety of its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed vessels into its harbours or waters, either in such numbers or of such

description, as are inconsistent with these, or with the maintenance of the authority of the laws, I have thought proper, in pursuance of the authorities specially given by law, to issue this my proclamation, hereby requiring all armed vessels, bearing commissions under the government of Great Britain, now within the harbours or waters of the United States, immediately, and without any delay, to depart from the same, and interdicting the entrance of all the said harbours and waters to the said armed vessels, and to all others bear-` ing commissions under the authority of the British government.

And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as aforesaid, or if they, or any others, so interdicted, shall hereafter enter the harbours or waters aforesaid, I do in that case forbid all intercourse with them, or any of them, their officers

or crews, and do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to them, or any of them.

And I do declare and make known, that if any person from, or within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, shall afford any aid to any such vessel, contrary to the prohibition contained in this proclamation, either in repairing any such vessel, or in furnishing her, her officers or crew, with supplies of any kind, or in any manner whatsoever, or if any pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels, unless it be for the purpose of carrying them, in the first instance, beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, or unless it be in the case of a vessel forced by distress, or charged with public dispatches, as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall, on conviction, suffer all the pains and penalties by the laws vided for in such offences.

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And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or military, within or under the authority of the United States, and all others, citizens or inhabitants thereof, with vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities, and to be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation, and every part thereof, into full effect.

Provided, nevertheless, that if such vessels shall be forced into the harbours or waters of the United States by distress, by the dangers of the sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them, charged with dispatches or business from their government, or shall be a public packet for the conveyance of letters and dispatches, the commanding of ficer, immediately reporting his vessel to the collector of the district, stating the object, or the causes of

entering the said harbours or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case prescribed under authority of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit of such regulations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and departure, as shall be permitted under the same authority. In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same.

Given at the city of Washington,

the second day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seven, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States the thirty-first.

(Sealed) THOMAS JEFFERSON. By the President, JAMES MADDISON, Secretary of State.

No. 7.-Report, made in the Congress, Nov. 17, 1807, touching the Affair of the Chesapeake Frigate.

Mr Blount, from a Committee of the House of Representatives on a part of the President's message, reported this day on the subject of the attack on the Chesapeake. The report commences with an expression of sensibility at this outrage; states the receipt of information relative thereto from the state and navy departments; presents a general view of the cir cumstances, observing, that it might be said to have been incontestibly proved, that William Ware, John Strachan, and Dan. Martin, (three of the four persons taken out of the Chesapeake,) are citizens of the United States; but the committee add, that they conceive it unnecessary for them or the house to go into any inquiry on that part of the subject, as, in their opinion, whether the men taken from the Chesapeake were or were not citizens of the

United States, and whether the Che sapeake was or was not within the acknowledged limits of the United States at the time they were taken, the character of the act of taking them remains the same.From the foregoing facts, it appears to your committee, that the outrage committed on the frigate Chesapeake has been stamped with circumstances of indignity and insult, of which there is scarcely to be found a parallel in the history of civilized nations, and requires only the sanction of the government, under colour of whose authority it was perpetrated, to make it just cause of, if not an irresistible call for, instant and severe retaliation. Whether it will receive that sanction, or be disavowed and declared an unauthorised act of a subordinate officer, remains to be determined by the answer which shall be given to the demand of explanation: that answer, now daily expected, will either sink the detestable act into piracy, or expand it to the magnitude of premeditated hostility against the sovereignty and independence of this nation; and, until its true character shall be fixed and known, your committee deem it expedient to decline expressing any opinion as to the measures proper to be adopted in retaliation to it. But the committee add, as other acts of aggression have been committed within our ports and waters, such as these mentioned in the President's message, the committee are of opinion, that it is expedient to provide more effectually for the protection of our ports and harbours; but, not being prepared to report specifically on that subject, they ask further indulgence of the house; and submit the following resolution :-Resolved, That the attack of the British ship of war Leopard on the United States frigate

Chesapeake, was a flagrant violation of the jurisdiction of the United States; and that the continuance of the British squadron (of which the Leopard was one) in their waters, after being notified by the proclamation of the President of the United States, ordering them to depart the same, was a further violation thereof.

No. 8.-Non-importation Act, passed

18th April, 1806.---Together with a Supplementary Act, passed about 10th Dec. 1807.

Be it enacted, by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America, in congress assembled, that from and after the 15th of November next it shall not be lawful to import into the United States, or the territories thereof, from any port or place situated in Great Britain or Ireland, or in any of the colonies or dependencies of Great Britain, any goods, wares, or merchandize, of the following descriptions, that is to say:

All articles of which leather is the material of chief value.-All articles of which silk is the material of chief value.---All articles of which hemp or flax is the material of chief value. ---All articles of which tin or brass is the material of chief value, tin in sheets excepted.---Woollen cloths whose invoice prices shall exceed 5s. sterling per square yard.---Window glass, and all other manufactures of glass.---Silver and plated wares.---Paper of every description.---Nails and pikes.--Hats.---Cloathing ready made.---Millinery of all kinds, and pictures and prints.-Nor shall it be lawful to im port into the United States, or the territories thereof, from any foreign port or place whatever, any of the above-mentioned goods, wares, or merchandize, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Bri tain or Ireland, or any of the colo

nies or dependencies of Great Britain: provided, however, that no articles which shall within 14 months after the passing of this act be imported from any place beyond the Cape of Good Hope, on board any vessel cleared out before the passing of this act from any port within the United States or the territories thereof, for the said Cape of Good Hope, or any place beyond the same, shall be subject to the prohibition aforesaid.---Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, that whenever any article or articles, the importation of which is prohibited by this act, shall, after the said 15th of Nov. next, be imported into the United States, or the territories thereof, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, or shall, after the said 15th Nov. next, be put on board any ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, with intention of importing the same into the United States, or the territories thereof, all such articles, as well as all other articles on board the same ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, belong ing to the owner of such prohibited articles, shall be forfeited, and the owner thereof shall moreover forfeit and pay treble the value of such articles.---Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, that if any article or articles, the importation of which is prohibited by this act, shall, after the said 15th of Nov. next, be put on board any ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, with intention to import the same into the United States, or the territories thereof, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, and with the knowledge of the owner or master of such ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, shall be forfeited, and the owner or master there of shall moreover each forfeit and pay treble the value of such articles. -Sec. 4. And be it further enacted

that if any article or articles, the importation of which is prohibited by this act, and which shall nevertheless be on board any ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, arriving after the said 15th of Nov. next, in the United States, or the territories thereof, shall be omitted in the manifest, report, or entry of the master or the person having the charge or command of such ship or vessel, boat, raft, or carriage, or shall be omitted in the entry of the goods owned by the owner, or consigned to the consignee of such articles, or shall be imported or landed, or attempted to be imported or landed, without a permit, the same penalties, fines, and forfeitures shall be incurred, and may be recovered, as in the case of simi lar omission or omissions, landing im portations, or attempting to land or import, in relation to articles liable to duties on their importation into the United States..--Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, that every collec. tor, naval officer, surveyor, or other officer of the customs, shall have the like power and authority to seize goods, wares, and merchandize im ported contrary to the intent and meaning of this act, to keep the same in custody until it shall have been ascertained whether the same have been forfeited or not, and to enter any ship or vessel, dwelling-house, store, building, or other place, for the purpose of searching for and siezing any such goods, wares, or mer chandize, which he or they now have by law in relation to goods, wares, and merchandize subject to duty; and if any person or persons shall conceal or buy any goods, wares, and merchandize, knowing them to be liable to seizure by this act, such person or persons shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay a sum double the amount of value of the goods