British and Foreign State Papers

liberty to give in evidence in the High Court of Admiralty, or any Court of Vice Admiralty, before which such Ship or Cargo shall be brought for adjudication, that such repeal by the French Government had been by such authentic Act promulgated prior to such capture; and upon proof thereof, the voyage shall be deemed and taken to have been as lawful, as if the said Orders in Council had never been made; Saving nevertheless to the Captors, such protection and indemnity as they may be equitably entitled to, in the judgment of the said Court, by reason of their ignorance or uncertainty as to the repeal of the French Decrees, or of the recognition of such repeal by His Majesty's Government, at the time of such capture.

His Royal Highness, however, deems it proper to declare, that, should the repeal of the French Decrees, thus anticipated and provided for, prove afterwards to have been illusory on the part of the Enemy; and should the restrictions thereof be still practically enforced, or revived by the Enemy, Great Britain will be compelled, however reluctantly, after reasonable notice, to have recourse to such measures of retaliation as may then appear to be just and necessary. Westminster, April 21, 1812.

(26.)—Order in Council, for the conditional Repeal of the Orders in Council of 1807 and 1809.

At the Court at Carlton-Hous, the 21st of April, 1812.

PRESENT,

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS the Government of France has, by an Official Report, communicated by its Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Conservative Senate, on the 10th of March last, removed all doubts as to the perseverance of that Government in the assertion of principles, and in the maintenance of a system, not more hostile to the Maritime Rights and Commercial Interests of the British Empire, than inconsistent with the Rights and Independence of Neutral Nations, and has thereby plainly developed the inordinate pretensions which that system, as promulgated in the Decrees of Berlin and Milan, was from the first designed to enforce :

And whereas His Majesty has invariably professed his readiness to revoke the Orders in Council adopted thereupon, as soon as the said Decrees of the Enemy should be formally and unconditionally repealed, and the Commerce of Neutral Nations restored to its accustomed

course:

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent (anxious to give the most decisive proof of His Royal Highness's disposition to perform the engagements of His Majesty's Government) is pleased, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, and by and with the advice of His Ma

jesty's Privy Council, to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that if, at any time hereafter, the Berlin and Milan Decrees shall, by some authentic Act of the French Government, publicly promulgated, be absolutely and unconditionally repealed, then, and from thenceforth, the Order in Council of the 7th day of January 1807, and the Order in Council of the 26th day of April, 1809, shall, without any further Order, be, and the same are hereby, declared from thenceforth to be wholly and absolutely revoked: And further, that the full benefit of this Order shall be extended to any Ship or Cargo captured subsequent to such authentic Act of Repeal of the French Decrees, although, antecedent to such Repeal, such Ship or Vessel shall have commenced and shall be in the prosecution of a voyage which, under the said Orders in Council, or one of them, would have subjected her to capture and condemnation; and the Claimant of any · Ship or Cargo which shall be captured or brought to adjudication, on account of any alleged breach of either of the said Orders in Council, at any time subsequent to such authentic Act of Repeal by the French Government, shall, without any further Order or Declaration on the part of His Majesty's Government on this subject, be at liberty to give in evidence in the High Court of Admiralty, or any Court of Vice-Admiralty before which such Ship or Cargo shall be brought for adjudication, that such Repeal by the French Government had been, by such authentic Act, promulgated prior to such capture; and upon proof thereof, the voyage shall be deemed and taken to have been as lawful as if the said Orders in Council had never been made; Saving nevertheless to the Captors such protection and indemnity as they may be equitably entitled to in the judgment of the said Court, by reason of their ignorance, or uncertainty, as to the Repeal of the French Decrees, or of the recognition of such Repeal by His Majesty's Government at the time of such capture.

His Royal Highness, however, deems it proper to declare, that, should the Repeal of the French Decrees, thus anticipated and provided for, prove afterwards to have been illusory on the part of the Enemy; and should the restrictions thereof be still practically enforced, or revived by the Enemy;-Great Britain will be compelled, however reluctantly, after reasonable notice, to have recourse to such measures of retaliation as may then appear to be just and necessary.

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, and the Judges of the Courts of Vice-Admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein as to them shall respectively appertain. CHETWYND.

(27.)—Order in Council, repealing the Orders in Council of 1807 and 1809, so far as relates to American Vessels and Property.-23d June 1812.

WHEREAS His Royal Highness the Prince Regent was pleased to declare, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, on the 21st day of April 1812, "that if at any time hereafter, the Berlin and Milan Decrees, shall, by some authentic Act of the French Government publicly promulgated, be absolutely and unconditionally repealed, then and from thenceforth the Order in Council of the 7th January 1807, and the Order in Council of the 26th of April 1809, shall without any further Order be, and the same are hereby, declared from thenceforth to be wholly and absolutely revoked."

And whereas the Chargé des Affaires of the United States of America resident at this Court, did, on the 20th day of May last, transmit to Lord Viscount Castlereagh, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, a Copy of a certain Instrument, then for the first time communicated to this Court, purporting to be a Decree passed by the Government of France on the 28th day of April 1811, by which the Decrees of Berlin and Milan are declared to be definitively no longer in force in regard to American Vessels.

And whereas His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, although he cannot consider the tenor of the said Instrument as satisfying the conditions set forth in the said Order of the 21st of April last, upon which the said Orders were to cease and determine, is nevertheless disposed, on his part, to take such measures as may tend to re-establish the intercourse between Neutral and Belligerent Nations upon its accustomed principles.

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, is therefore pleased, by and with the advice of His Majesty's Privy Council, to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that the Order in Council, bearing date the 7th day of January 1807, and the Order in Council, bearing date the 26th day of April 1809, be revoked, so far as may regard American Vessels and their Cargoes, being American Property, from the 1st day of August next.

But, whereas, by certain Acts of the Government of the United States of America, all British armed Vessels are excluded from the harbours and waters of the said United States, the armed Vessels of France being permitted to enter therein, and the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and the said United States is interdicted, the commercial intercourse between France and the said United States having been restored; His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is pleased hereby further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, that if the Government of the said United States, shall not, as soon as may be, after this Order shall have been duly notified by His

Majesty's Minister in America to the said Government, revoke or cause to be revoked the said Acts, this present Order shall, in that case, after due notice signified by His Majesty's Minister in America, to the said Government, be thenceforth null and of no effect.

It is further ordered and declared, that all American Vessels and their Cargoes, being American Property, that shall have been captured subsequently to the 20th day of May last, for a breach of the aforesaid Orders in Council alone, and which shall not have been actually condemned before the date of this Order, and that all Ships and Cargoes as aforesaid, that shall henceforth be captured, under the said Orders, prior to the 1st day of August next, shall not be proceeded against to condemnation till further orders, but shall in the event of this Order not becoming null and of no effect, in the case aforesaid, be forthwith liberated and restored, subject to such reasonable expences on the part of the Captors as shall have been justly incurred.

Provided, that nothing in this Order contained, respecting the revocation of the Orders herein mentioned, shall be taken to revive wholly or in part the Orders in Council of the 11th of November 1807, or any other Order not herein mentioned, or to deprive Parties of any legal remedy to which they may be entitled under the Order in Council of the 21st of April 1812.

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is hereby pleased further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, that nothing in this present Order contained, shall be understood to preclude His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, if circumstances shall so require, from restoring, after reasonable notice, the Orders of the 7th January 1807, and 26th of April, 1809, or any part thereof to their full effect, or from taking such other measures of retaliation against the Enemy as may appear to His Royal Highness to be just and necessary.

MESSAGE of the President, on the Opening of the Congress of The United States.-14th November, 1820.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: IN communicating to you a just view of public affairs, at the commencement of your present labours, I do it with great satisfac

tion; because, taking all circumstances into consideration which claim attention, I see much cause to rejoice in the felicity of our situation. In making this remark, I do not wish to be understood to imply that an unvaried prosperity is to be seen in every interest of this great Community. In the progress of a Nation, inhabiting a Territory of such vast extent and great variety of climate, every portion of which is engaged in Foreign commerce, and liable to be affected, in some degree, by the changes which occur in the condition and regulations of Foreign Countries, it would be strange, if the produce of our soil and the industry and enterprise of our Fellow Citizens, received at all times, and in every quarter, an uniform and equal encouragement. This would be more than we have a right to expect, under circumstances the most favourable. Pressures on certain interests, it is admitted, have been felt; but, allowing to these their greatest extent, they detract but little from the force of the remark already made. In forming a just estimate of our present situation, it is proper to look at the whole, in the outline, as well as in the detail. A free, virtuous, and enlightened People know well the great principles and causes on which their happiness depends; and even those who suffer most, occasionally, in their transitory concerns, find great relief under their sufferings, from the blessings which they otherwise enjoy, and in the consoling and animating hope which they administer. From whence do these pressures come? Not from a Government which is founded by, administered for, and supported by, the People. We trace them to the peculiar character of the epoch in which we live, and to the extraordinary occurrences which have signalized it. The convulsions with which several of the Powers of Europe have been shaken, and the long and destructive wars in which all were engaged, with a sudden transition to a state of peace, presenting, in the first instance, unusual encouragement to our commerce, and withdrawing it in the second, even within its wonted limit, could not fail to be sensibly felt here. The station too, which we had to support through this long conflict, compelled, as we were, finally, to become a Party to it with a principal Power, and to make great exertions, suffer heavy losses, and to contract considerable debts, disturbing the ordinary course of affairs, by augmenting, to a vast amount, the circulating medium, and thereby elevating, at one time, the price of every article above a just standard, and depressing it at another below it, had likewise its due effect.

It is manifest that the pressures of which we complain have proceeded, in a great measure, from these causes. When, then, we take into view the prosperous and happy condition of our Country, in all the great circumstances which constitute the felicity of a Nation; — every Individual in the full enjoyment of all his rights; the Union blessed with plenty, and rapidly rising to greatness, under a National Government, which operates with complete effect in every part, without

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