the object of effectually retaliating upon France the measure of her own injustice.

I will now terminate this letter by assuring you, sir, as I can with perfect truth, that the most cordial and sincere desire animates the councils of Great Britain to conciliate America, as far as may be consistent with the principles upon which the preservation of the power and independence of the British monarchy is held essentially to depend, and which cannot be abandoned without throwing her helpless and disarmed into the presence of her adversary.

I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed)

AUG. J. FOSTER.

JAMES MONROE, Esq. Secretary of State.

[TRANSLATION.]

Report of the Minister of Foreign Relations to his Majesty the Emperour and King, communicated to the Conserrative Senate, in the sitting of the 10th March, 1812.

SIRE,

THE maritime rights of neutrals have been solemnly regulated by the treaty of Utrecht, which has become the common law of nations.

This law, expressly renewed in all the subsequent treaties, has consecrated the principles I am about to expose. The flag covers the property. Enemy's property under a neutral flag is neutral, as neutral property under an enemy's flag is enemy's property. The only articles which the flag does not cover, are contraband articles; and the enly articles which are contraband, are arms and munitions of war.

A visit of a neutral vessel, by an armed vessel, can only be made by a small number of men, the armed vessel keeping beyond the reach of cannon shot.

Every neutral vessel may trade from an enemy's port to an enemy's port, and from an enemy's port to a neutral port. The only ports excepted, are those really blockaded; and the ports really blockaded, are those which are invested, besieged, and in danger of being taken, (en prevention * VOL. V.

23

d'étre pris) and into which a merchant ship could not enter without danger.

Such are the obligations of belligerent nations towards neutral nations; such are the reciprocal rights of both; such are the maxims consecrated by the treaties which form the publick law of nations. Often has England attempted to substitute for them arbitrary and tyrannical rules. Her unjust pretensions were repelled by all governments sensible to the voice of honour, and to the interests of their people. She saw herself constantly obliged to recognise in her treaties the principles which she wished to destroy; and when the peace of Amiens was violated, maritime legislation rested again on its ancient foundations.

By the course of events, the English navy became more numerous than all the forces of the other maritime powers.

England then supposed that she had nothing to fear; she might attempt every thing. She immediately resolved to subject the navigation of every sea to the same laws which governed that of the Thames.

It was in 1806, that she commenced the execution of this system, which tended to make the common law of nations yield to the orders in council, and to the regulations of the admiralty of London.

The declaration of the 16th of May annihilated, by a single word, the rights of all maritime states (and) put under interdiction vast coasts and whole empires. From this moment, England no longer recognised neutrals on

the seas.

The orders of 1807, imposed on all vessels an obligation to enter English ports, whatever might be their destination; to pay a tribute to England; and to subject their cargoes to the tariff of her custom houses.

By the declaration of 1806, all navigation was interdicted to neutrals. By the orders of 1807, the faculty of navigating was restored to them; but they could only use it for the advantage of English commerce, by the combinations of her interest, and to her profit.

The English government took off thereby the mask with which it had concealed its projects, proclaimed the uni

versal dominion of the seas, regarded every people as their tributaries, and imposed upon the continent the expenses of the war which it maintained against it.

These unheard of measures excited a general indignation among those powers who cherished the sentiment of their independence and of their rights. But at London, they carried to the highest degree of elevation the national pride; they displayed to the English people a futurity rich with the most brilliant hopes.

Their commerce, their industry, were to be henceforward without competition; the productions of the two worlds were to flow into their ports, do homage to the maritime and commercial sovereignty of England, in paying to her a toll-duty, and afterwards proceed to other nations, burdened with enormous costs, from which English merchandise alone would have been exonerated.

Your majesty perceived, at a single glance, the evils with which the continent was threatened. The remedy was immediately resorted to. You annihilated, by your decrees, this arrogant and unjust enterprise, so destructive to the independence of all states, and of the rights of every people.

The decree of Berlin replied to the declaration of 1806. The blockade of the British isles was opposed to the imaginary blockade established by England.

The decree of Milan replied to the orders of 1807; it declared denationalized every neutral vessel which submitted to English legislation, known to have touched at an English port, known to have paid a tribute to England, and which thereby renounced the independence and the rights of its flag. All the merchandise of the commerce and of the industry of England were blockaded in the British isles; the continental system excluded them from the continent.

The

Never did an act of reprisal attain its object in a manner more prompt, more certain, or more victorious. decrees of Berlin and Milan turned against England the weapons which she had directed against universal commerce. The source of commercial prosperity, which she

thought so abundant, became a source of calamity for English commerce; in the place of those exactions which were to have enriched her funds, a depreciation, continually increasing, impairs the wealth of the state, and that of individuals.

When the decrees of your majesty appeared, the whole continent foresaw that such would be the result, if they received their entire execution; but, as much as Europe was accustomed to see your undertakings crowned with success, they were at a loss to conceive by what new prodigies your majesty would realize the great designs which have been so rapidly accomplished. Armed with all your power, nothing could turn your majesty from your object. Holland, the Hanseatic cities, the coasts which lie between the Zuyderzee and the Baltic, were to be united to France, subject to the same administration and the same regulations; the immediate and inevitable consequence of the legislation of the English government. Considerations of no kind were able to balance, in the mind of your majesty, the first interest of your empire.

I will not stop to recapitulate the advantages of this important resolution. After fifteen months, that is to say, after the senatus consultum of reunion, the decrees of your majesty press with all their weight upon England. She flattered herself to invade the commerce of the world, and her own commeree became a mere stock-jobbing affair, (agiotage) which could not be carried on but by means of twenty thousand licenses issued every year. Forced to obey the law of necessity, she thereby renounced her navigation act, the original foundation of her power. She aspired to the universal dominion of the seas, and navigation is interdicted to her vessels, repulsed from all the ports of the continent. She wished to enrich her funds with the tributes that Europe was to pay, and Europe has withdrawn itself, not only from her injurious pretensions, but likewise from the tributes which it paid to her industry. Her manufacturing cities have become deserted; distress has succeeded to a prosperity until then increasing; the alarming disappearance of specie, the absolute priva

tion of business, daily interrupt the publick tranquillity. Such, for England, are the results of her imprudent attempts. She thence learns, and she will every day learn more fully, that there is no safety for her but in a return to justice and to the principles of the law of nations, and that she will not be able to participate in the benefits of the neutrality of ports, unless she will suffer neutrals to profit of the neutrality of their flag. But until then, and as long as the British orders in council are not revoked, and the principles of the treaty of Utrecht, in relation to neutrals, put in force, the decrees of Berlin and Milan ought to subsist for the powers who suffer their flag to be denationalized. The ports of the continent ought to be opened neither to denationalized flags, nor to English merchandize.

It cannot be concealed, that to maintain, beyond the reach of attack, this great system, it is necessary that your majesty should employ the powerful means which belong to your empire, and find in your subjects that assistance which you have never asked in vain. All the disposable forces of France must be directed whithersoever the English flag, and flags denationalized, or convoyed by English vessels of war, may wish to enter. A particular army, exclusively charged with guarding our vast coasts, or maritime arsenals, and the triple row of fortresses which cover our frontiers, ought to answer to your majesty for the security of the territory confided to its valour and its fidelity; it will restore to their high destiny those brave men accustomed to fight and to conquer under the eyes of your majesty, for the defence of political rights, and the exterior security of the empire. Even the depots of corps will no longer be diverted from the useful destination of keeping up the numbers and the strength of your active armies. The forces of your majesty will be thus constantly maintained on the most formidable footing; and the French territory, protected by a permanent establishment, which is recommended by the interest, the policy, and dignity of the empire, will find itself in a situation which will make it more deserving of the title of inviolable and sacred.