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dignity of an independent sovereign. But the answer so returned by his majesty was not a refusal. It was a conditional acceptance. The conditions required by his majesty were, a statement of the basis upon which the enemy was disposed to treat; and a communication of the articles of the peace of Tilsit. The first of these conditions was precisely the same which the emperor of Russia had himself annexed not four months before to his own acceptance of the proffered mediation of the emperor of Austria. The second was one which his majesty would have had a right to require, even as the ally of his imperial majesty; but which it would have been highly improvident to omit, when he was invited to confide to his imperial majesty the care of his honour and of his interests.

But even if these conditions (neither of which has been fulfilled, although the fulfilment of them has been repeatedly required by his majesty's ambassador at St Petersburgh,) had not been in themselves perfectly natural and necessary; there were not wanting considerations which might have warranted his majesty in endeavouring, with more than ordinary anxiety, to ascertain the views and intentions of the emperor of Russia, and the precise nature and effect of the new relations which his imperial majesty had contracted.

The complete abandonment of the interests of the king of Prussia (who had twice rejected proposals of separate peace, from a strict adherence to his engagements with his imperial ally) and the character of those provisions which the emperor of Russia was contented to make for his own interests in the negociations of Tilsit, presented no encouraging prospect of the result of any exertions which

his imperial majesty might be dispe sed to employ in favour of Great Britain.

It is not while a French army still occupies and lays waste the remaining dominions of the king of Prussia, in spite of the stipulations of the Prussian treaty of Tilsit; while contributions are arbitrarily exacted by France from that remnant of the Prussian monarchy, such as, in its entire and most flourishing state, the Prussian monarchy would have been unable to discharge; while the surrender is demanded, in time of peace, of Prussian fortresses, which had not been reduced during the war; and while the power of France is exerci. sed over Prussia with such shameles tyranny, as to designate, and demand for instant death, individuals, subjects of his Prussian majesty, and resident in his dominions, upon a charge of disrespect towards the French government; it is not while all these things are done and suffered, under the eyes of the emperor of Russia, and without his interference on behalf of his ally, that his majesty can feel himself called upon to account to Europe, for having hesitated to repose an unconditional confidence in the efficacy of his imperial majesty's mediation.

Nor, even if that mediation had taken full effect, if a peace had been concluded under it, and that peace guaranteed by his imperial majesty, could his majesty have placed impli cit reliance on the stability of any such arrangement, after having seen the emperor of Russia openly transfer to France the sovereignty of the lonian republic, the independence of which his imperial majesty had recently and solemnly guaranteed.

But while the alleged rejection of the emperor of Russia's mediation

between Great Britain and France, is stated as a just ground of his imperial majesty's resentment; his majesty's request of that mediation, for the re-establishment of peace between Great Britain and Denmark, is represented as an insult which it was beyond the bounds of his imperial majesty's moderation to endure.

His majesty feels himself under no obligation to offer any atonement or apology to the emperor of Russia for the expedition against Copenhagen. It is not for those who were parties to the secret arrangements of Tilsit, to demand satisfaction for a measure to which those arrangements gave rise, and by which one of the objects of them has been happily defeated.

His majesty's justification of the expedition against Copenhagen is before the world. The declaration of the emperor of Russia would supply whatever was wanting in it, if any thing could be wanting to convince the most incredulous of the urgency of that necessity under which his majesty acted.

But until the Russian declaration was published, his majesty had no reason to suspect that any opinions which the Emperor of Russia might entertain of the transactions at Copenhagen could be such as to preclude his imperial majesty from undertaking, at the request of Great Britain, that same office of mediator, which he had assumed with so much alacrity on the behalf of France.Nor can his majesty forget that the first symptoms of reviving confidence, since the peace of Tilsit, the only prospect of success in the endeavours of his majesty's ambassador to restore' the ancient good understanding between Great Britain and Russia, appeared when the intelligence of

VOL. I. PART I.

the siege of Copenhagen had been recently received at St Petersburgh.

The inviolability of the Baltic sea, and the reciprocal guarantees of the powers that border upon it, guarantees said to have been contracted with the knowledge of the British government, are stated as aggravations of his majesty's proceedings in the Baltic. It cannot be intended to represent his majesty as having at any time acquiesced in the principles upon which the inviolability of the Baltic is maintained; however, his majesty may, at particular periods, have forborne, for special reasons, influencing his conduct at the time to act in contradiction to them. Such forbearance never could have applied but to a state of peace and real neutrality in the north; and his majesty most assuredly could not be expected to recur to it, after France has been suffered to establish herself in indisputed sovereignty along the whole coast of the Baltic sea, from Dantzic to Lubeck.

But the higher the value which the emperor of Russia places on the engagements respecting the tranquillity of the Baltic, which he describes himself as inheriting from his immediate predecessors, the empress Catharine and the emperor Paul, the less justly can his imperial majesty resent the appeal made to him by his majesty as the guarantee of the peace to be concluded between Great Britain and Denmark. In making that appeal, with the utmost confidence and sincerity, his majesty neither intended, nor can he imagine, that he offered any insult to the emperor of Russia. Nor can his majesty conceive that, in proposing to the prince royal terms of peace, such as the most successful war on the part of Denmark

could hardly have been expected to extort from Great Britain, his majesty rendered himself liable to the imputation, either of exasperating the resentment, or of outraging the dignity, of Denmark.

His majesty has thus replied to all the different accusations by which the Russian government labours to justify the rupture of a connection which has subsisted for ages, with reciprocal advantage to Great Britain and Russia; and attempts to disguise the operation of that external influence by which Russia is driven into unjust hostilities for interests not her

own.

The Russian declaration proceeds to announce the several conditions on which alone these hostilities can be terminated, and the intercourse of the two countries renewed.

His majesty has already had occasion to assert, that justice has in no instance been denied to the claims of his imperial majesty's subjects.

The termination of the war with Denmark has been so anxiously sought by his majesty, that it cannot be necessary for his majesty to renew any professions upon that subject. But his majesty is at a loss to reconcile the emperor of Russia's present anxiety for the completion of such an arrangement, with his imperial majesty's recent refusal to contribute his good offices for effecting it.

The requisition of his imperial majesty for the immediate conclusion, by his majesty, of a peace with France, is as extraordinary in the substance, as it is offensive in the manner. His majesty has at no time declined to treat with France, when France has professed a willingness to treat on an admissible basis. And the emperor of Russia cannot fail to remember, that the last negociation between

Great Britain and France was broken off upon points immediately affecting, not his majesty's own interests, but those of his imperial ally. But his majesty neither understands, nor will he admit, the pretension of the emperor of Russia to dictate the time or the mode of his majesty's pacific negociations with other powers. It never will be endured by his majesty, that any government shall indemnify itself for the humiliation of subserviency to France, by the adoption of an insulting and peremptory tone towards Great Britain.

His majesty proclaims anew those principles of maritime law, against which the armed neutrality, under the auspices of the empress Catharine, was originally directed; and against which the present hostilities of Rus sia are denounced. Those principles have been recognized and acted upon in the best periods of the history of Europe; and acted upon by no power with more strictness and severity, than by Russia herself, in the reign of the empress Catherine.

Those principles it is the right and the duty of his majesty to maintain; and against every confederacy his majesty is determined, under the blessing of Divine Providence, to maintain them. They have at all times contributed essentially to the support of the maritime power of Great Britain; but they are become incalculably more valuable and important at a period when the maritime power of Great Britain constitutes the sole remaining bulwark against the overwhelming usurpations of France; the only refuge to which other nations may yet resort, in happier times, for assistance and protection.

When the opportunity for peace between Great Britain and Russia shall arrive, his majesty will embrace

it with eagerness. The arrangements of such a negociation will not be difficult or complicated. His majesty, as he has nothing to concede, so he has nothing to require; satisfied if Russia shall manifesta disposition to return to her ancient feelings of friendship towards Great Britain; to a just consideration of her own true interests, and to a sense of her own dignity as an independent nation.

Westminster, Dec. 18, 1807.

No. IV.

Orders in Council, presented to the House of Commons, by his Majesty's Command, Jan. 26, 1808. Order in Council; prohibiting Trade to be carried on between Port and Port of Countries under the dominion or usurped controul of France and her Allies.

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 7th of January 1807; Present, the King's most excellent Majesty in Council.-Whereas the French government has issued certain orders, which, in violation of the usages of war, purport to prohibit the commerce of all Neutral Nations with his majesty's dominions, and also to prevent such nations from trading with any other country, in any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of his majesty's dominions: and whereas the said government has also taken upon itself to declare all his majesty's dominions to be in a state of blockade, at a time when the fleets of France and her allies are themselves confined within their own ports by the superior valour and discipline of the British navy: and whereas such attempts on the part of the enemy would give to his majesty an unquestionable right of retaliation, and would warrant his majesty in enforcing the same prohibition of all commerce with France,

which that power vainly hopes to effect against the commerce of his majesty's subjects; a prohibition which the superiority of his majesty's naval forces might enable him to support, by actually investing the ports and coast of the enemy with numerous squadrons and cruisers, so as to make the entrance or approach thereto manifestly dangerous; and whereas his majesty, though unwilling to follow the example of his enemies, by proceeding to an extremity so distressing to all nations not their accustomed trade, yet feels engaged in the war, and carrying on himself bound by a due regard to the just defence of the rights and interests of his people, not to suffer such measures to be taken by the enemy, without taking some steps on his part to restrain this violence, and to retort upon them the evils of their own injustice; his majesty is thereupon pleased, by and with the advice of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that no vessel shall be permitted to trade from one port to another, both which ports shall belong to or be in the possession of France or her allies, or shall be so far under their controul, as that British vessels may not freely trade thereat: and the commanders of his majesty's ships of war and privateers shall be, and are hereby instructed to warn every neutral vessel coming from any such port, and destined to another such port, to discontinue her voyage, and not to proceed to any such port; and any vessel after being so warned, or any vessel coming from any such port, after a reasonable time shall have been afforded for receiving information of this his majesty's order, which shall be found proceeding to another such port, shall be captured and brought in, and, together with he

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At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 11th Nov. 1807: present, the King's most excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas articles of the growth and manufacture of foreign countries cannot by law be imported into this country, except in British ships, or in ships belonging to the countries of which such articles are the growth and manufacture, without an order in council specially authorising the same: His majesty, taking into consideration the order of this day's date, respecting the trade to be carried on to and from the ports of the enemy, and deeming it expedient that any vessel, belonging to any country in alliance or at amity with his majesty, may be permitted to import into this country articles of the produce or manufacture of countries at war with his majesty:-His majesty, by and with the advice of his privy council, is therefore pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all goods, wares, or merchandizes, specified and included in the schedule of an act, passed in the 43d year of his present majesty's reign, intituled, "an act to repeal the duties of customs payable in Great Britain, and to grant other duties in lieu thereof," may be imported from any port or place belonging to any state not at

amity with his majesty, in ships belonging to any state at amity with his majesty, subject to the payment of such duties, and liable to such drawbacks, as are now established by law upon the importation of the said goods, wares, or merchandise, in ships navigated according to law: and with respect to such of the said goods, wares, or warehoused under the provisions of merchandize, as are authorized to be an act, passed in the 43d year of his present majesty's reign, intituled,

an act for permitting certain goods imported into Great Britain, to be secured in warehouses without payment of duty," subject to all the regulations of the said last-mentioned act; and with respect to all articles which are prohibited by law from being imported into this country, it is ordered, that the same shall be reported for exportation to any country in amity or alliance with his majesty. And his majesty is further pleased, by and with the advice of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all vessels which shall arrive at any port of the united kingdom, or at the port of Gibraltar, or Malta, in consequence of having been warned pursuant to the aforesaid order, or in consequence of receiving information in any other manner of the said order, subsequent to their having taken on board any part of their cargoes, whether previous or subsequent to their sailing, shall be permitted to report their cargoes for exportation, and shall be allowed to proceed upon their voyages to their original ports of destination (if not unlawful before the issuing of the order) or to any port at amity with his majesty, upon receiving a certificate from the collector or comptroller of the customs at the port at which they shall so

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