Star. — London, England, 1808-02-16 00:00:00

STATE PAPERS. PRESENTED DY, HIS NIA.TESTY ' S COMMAND TO xviii HOUSES OE PARLIAMENT. DENMARK. from M. Rist to Lord Viscount limick, Mardi 9,1807. undersigned Charge d'Affaires of his Majesty are of Denmark, in transmitting in due time to art the note, by which his excellency Viscount :k acquainted him, on the 10th of January, with :der in Council issued by his Britannic Majesty, iting all commerce between the different ports enemy and those subject to the influence of the h Government, foresaw at that time the deep oainful impression which that Order could not produce upon the Court of Denmark. has this moment received its orders, to express Ministers of his Britannic Majesty the surprise grief which the Court of the undersigned has taking notice of a resolution, which, founded 'I a principle in itself inadmissible, attacks one of hid sources of the commercial prosperity of Den and seems to give a blow, as direct as it is un oked, to her most sacred rights and to the trea ohich connect her with Great Britain. He has atect the orders of his Court, to detail to his Bri ic Majesty's Government the fatal consequences is measure, and finally to require its suppression. he undersigned, in acquitting himself of these or- I to his excellency Viscount Howick, takes the li :ar of demanding from him all the serious atten.l l which the importance of the object requires, for exposition ; which will be dictated by that frank and moderation (worthy of an independent Go anent, and one friendly to Great Britain) by tch the Court of Denmark has been constantly ac ced in her proceedings and discussions with that I .e.• don. Of all Courts, whose duty and interest it is to de- Id the rights of neutrality, that of the undersigned • :ailed upon to do so on this occasion more pee_icu ly, as well by its situation, as by the nature of the , Order in Council in question. It is against her gists principally principally that it is directed ; her subjects chiefly will suffer by its consequences. Almost exclusively possession of the advantageous coasting trade be veil the different ports which will henceforward be rme inaccessible to them, they are menaced with the teprivation of a branch of their navigation, which has occupied until the present time hundreds .of vessels, housands of sailors and industrious workmen, and :onsiderable capitals. Henceforth, the Mediterranean rill, for the most part, be shut against their enter prizes : a voyage from Hollandto France, from Italy to Spain, from the Hanse Towns to the ports of the Mediterranean, will render their vessels and their car ,pes subject to confiscation. Excluded florn the greatest part of the ports of the Continent of Europe, it is wished that they should renounce, not only the :onsiderable advantages which the neutrality of their flag insures them in carrying on the coasting trade, but also the continuance of an essential part of their direct and legitimate commerce with the ports above mentioned. After having sold the produce of their country, planks, fish, or corn, in one of the northern ports of Holland, France, or Spain, they will be obli ged to return in ballast, because they will not be al lowed to seek, in the southern ports of those countries, and of Italy, such merchandize as the countries of the North have occasion for, and which can alone pro duce returns said:2:l4 advantageous to reimburse the expences of their voyages. In order to procure salt, wines, brandy, and oil, it will be necessary for them to sail from Danish ports for the most part in ballast, in order to fetch them from .the ports of the Mediterranean; if they do not prefer, which, accord- • ing to all appearance will be the case, to renoubecome, nce al together a traffic, which would henceforward a ruinous speculation. And how can the subjects of his Danish Majesty be deprived of their legitimate traffic, of one of the principal branches of their industry ? By what right can they be stopped in the pursuit of a peaceable oc cupation, the exercise of which is guaranteed to them by the public law of nations, and by the sacred faith of treaties ; which insure to Denmark, on the part of Great Britain, the unlimited liberty of the seas in all cases in which Denmark has not herself consented, by express stipulations, to renounce the exercise of a part of her rights ? • They will be so deprived;according to a principle of retaliation, not against Denmark, for she has never swerved from the strict execution of her treaties, -or from her duties towards England ; hut against athird power, whose example Great Britain seems but too ready to tisllotr, in order to render the stipulations of treaties, and the pacific relations between states subor dinate to a right of war, indefinite in its principle, unlimited in its extent, incalculablein its consequences, but completely foreign to and by no means binding on a neutral power, independent, and protected by so- lemn I ane 'recent treaties. The undersigned has received express orders from his Court to declare; in its name, that it regards the right of retaliation, upon which the Order in Council of his Britannic Majesty is founded, as absolutely in admissible, in its principle and in its consequences. — To establish this right, it would he necessary to begin by destroying Ow tifst notithls of general and public law. It must he intendedio lay down as a principle, that every power has a right, arbitrarily to renounce en;', gagern.nts, and tederognte from solemn stipulations with another power, for no other reason, than that its relations with a third power have changed their cha racter. It must be intended to insist that the privi leges, interests, and property of a neutral nation, are at the 'disposition of : every other power, although con nected with it by treaties, as soon as the course of event, or the inclination of trust power should engage her bi a war entirely foreign to the neutral nation. The palpable inconsistency and falsehood of such reasoning., cannot be equalled but by its fatal conse quences with !Tercet to society. It cannot escape the penetration of his Britannic Majesty's Ministers, that a principle, which would render the relations and mu tual obligatione between o countries dependant up on any acts whatsoever of a third power, or rather which would constitute a state of war, the supreme rt::.tulator of all the relations ofliuman society, would destroy the very basis of that society, in order openly t sanction the right of strength, and, in the end, to pave the way for that of universal anarchy. This (the undersigned regrets to avow it) is never theless the tendency of die t einciple upon which the resolutions 'adopted by the French Giviernment Against the commerce of Great Britain are cited, as motives to induce his Britannic Majesty to Set aside the treaties subsisting between England and Denmarlt, and especially that of the 17th of June, 1801, which parantees to tit atter Power, in the c ase ex p ressl y ' foreseen of any niaritime war whatever, the entire li berty of its commerce, with the exception only of those restrictions mentioned in the third article. This, is the spirit of a measure, which inflicts upon the corn • coerce of Danish subjects the most severe wound of \ which the history of neutrality offers an example. The undersigned does not apprehend that he has i said too much in advancing this assertion : he has done so purposely, entirely foreseeing that the French De cree of the 21st November, 1806, together with all its pernicious consequences to the commerce of neutrals, will be cited to invalidate it. The undersigned would have esteemed himself fortunate, if he could have avoided the necessity of making a coMparison between the two measures, or of drawing a parallel between their effects, more or less pernicious to the commerce of Denmark ; but the weighty and important nature of the task which he has to fulfil imposes this duty upon him. He will, however, in order to make the Ministers of his Britannic Majesty acquainted with the measure of the impression which these two De crees, in opposition to each other, must have produced in Denmark, content himself with stating_ that, ac cording to the official explanations which the under signed has just received from his Court, the French' Decree does not, as we were led to suppose from its expressions, bear upon all vessels carrying on com merce with England, but only upon those which, coming from an English port, are desirous of entering a port of France ; that it enacts tila confiscation of those vessels only which refuse to submit to the noti fication of the Decree at their entry into one of the said ports, or which arc desirous of concealing their having lately put into a port of G reat Britain ; that therefore the provisions of the French Decree, a great part of which cannot from their nature be carried , into effect, have not as yet caused any sensible in -1 terruption to the commerce of Denmark with Great Britain. - The undersigned must also observe, that the De cree of the 21st of November, limited as it is in its application, turns evidently against France herself and her Allies, or at least obliges them to participate in the greatest part of the evils and annoyance directed against the commerce of neutrals : that it therefore seems to carry with it the guarantee of its lenient ex ecution, and probably of its short duration. The undersigned feels it his duty to add, that his Court nevertheless has made urgent representations to the French Government against a measure, the prin ciple of which it cannot but consider as a direct and manifest violation of its rights : that, far from being willing or able to acquiesce in it, his Court thought that it employed the best -.weapons which its situation and the justice of its cause afforded, when it protested solemnly against the subversion of principle and the contempt of the law of nations, of which this Decree gives so fatal an example. But the greater the disgust _ of the Court of the un dersigned at the spirit of the decree of the 21st No vember, and particularly at the motive alleged fur its justification, namely, that of retaliation, the more pro found was its regret on seeing Great Britain, in her late • measure, follow the footseps of her enemy, and take advantage of his example to sanction a doctrine, the principle of which seems more to be feared in it self, than the more or less enlarged scale of the regu lations which determine its effect and extent. The Court of Denmark cannot dissemble her ap prehensions, that the French government will reckon among its triumphs, the having engaged England in' measures which, while they justify its own proceeding, l nec essarily weakened the ties of Irian: hip which at -1 tached the neutral nations to Great Britain ; and thatit will find in the Order in Council of his Britannic Ma jesty a new motive, or at least a pretext, not only for persisting in its . fatal measures, and for enforcing their eormant rigour, but also for augmenting, if pos sible, its original violence, and completing the ruin of nations, which until the present time had preserved the blessings and the prosperity of peace. The un dersigned abstains, but too willingly, fromsompleting the terrible picture which the perspective of such a contest appears to present. Authorised to declare in the most precise manner, that the Court of Denmark can never acquiesce in any degree in the Order in Council of his Britannic Majesty, which has been communicated to the under signed on 10th of January, nor consent that her ves sels should be treated in conformity to it, and to pro test formally against its principle and its consequen ces ; the undersigned, however, feels pleasure in trans mitting to his excellencey Viscount Howick, and in partaking the hopes of his Court, that his Britannic Majesty will not give effect to the resolution in ques tion ; but eiat, by suppressing it, he will continue and cement the relations of amity and good understanding which attach to his interests the Court of Denmark, whose constant efforts have been directed to the obser vance of her engagements and to the preservation of her relations with Great Britain. This hope receives additional vigour from a know ledge of the liberal way of thinkingacting and of the enlightened Minister to whom the und ersi g ned has the honour to address these representations in favour of neutral rights, which nave already more than once found in him their advocate. The undersigned has the honour to offer to his ex cellency Viscount Howick the assurances of his high and respectful consideration. (Signed) Lunatic, March 9, 1 , 107. Nan: from Lord Hotmcic to Mr.RTIT, March 17, 18tY7. Foreign !Nice, Match 17, 1807: The undersigned, his Majesty's principal Secre tary of State for Foreign Affairs, has•the honour to infirm M. Rist, that he has lost no time in submitting t 9 his Majesty's Government his Note of the 9th in stant ; and that it has received all the attention which the magnitude of the subject, and the various and important considerations which it involves, certainly J. ItIST. require. It is much to be wished that-the Danish Govern meat, before it, had suffered itself to indulge iu the representations contained in the above Official Paper, had considered with more calmness die nature and objects of the Decree of the French Government of the 21st of November last, and the Order in Council \Nhich, in consequence of that Decree, has been is saed by his Majesty. The Undersigned is under the necessity tf tlink calling: in the outset, • the attention of the Danish Minister to the original state of the question ; be cause M. Rist, in his .ettlence both to the Decree or the 21st Novemb er, 1806, and to his Majesty's Order in Council, seems to have misconceived thef t _ and effect of bo th ; uniformly exCusing and ing the one, and in no less a degree heightening aces nd aggravatin the supposed tendency a nd conseque of the Other. By the Decree of the 21st November, which upon , the falsest allegations is justified by the principle of retaliation, the enemy has presumed to declare th he e British Isles in a state of blockade, prohibiting at t same time all commerce with them, and all trading in English merchandize ; and by the same instru ment the Prize Courts of France are directed to en force these regulations. Neutrals are consequently interdicted from all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, and all trading in her commodities. The French Government, in adopting, a measure at one so violent in itself, and of such injustice with respect too the consequences which must necessarily have been expected to result from it, committed a tnanifest act of hostile aggression (though imme diately directed against Great Britain) against the rights of every State not engaged in the war, which, if not resisted on their part, must unavoidably deprive them of the privileges of a' fair neutrality, and must suspend the operation of treaties formed fur the pro tection of nen- tral rights, thus fundamentally violated in their first and most essential principles. The injury which would be . sustained by Great Britain, if she suffered her commerce with foreign nations to be thus interdicted, whilst that of the ene my with them should remain unmolested, is so ma nifest, that it can require no illustration. It never could haire been pret;urtied that his Majesty would submit to such an injury, waiting in patient acqui escence till France might think proper to attend to the slow and feeble remonstrances of States not en gaged in the war, or that he should forbear to take immediate steps to check the violence of the enemy, and to retort upon him the evils of his own in justice. Had his Majesty at once determined to exact the • full measure of retaliation to which he was justly entitled, (and which nothing but the most generous regard for the commercial interest of neutral powers could have induced him to forego) let Denmark re flect upon the effect which such a determination would have had upon her commerce, taking into her conside ration at the same time the means which Great Britain possesses of enforcing it, and then let her compare it with the measure of forbearance and lenity which has been adopted. His Majesty would unquestionably have been jus tified in resorting to the fullest measures of retalia tion, in consequence of this unparallelled aggression ; and other powers would have had no right to com plain, if the King had immediately proceeded to de clare all the countries occupiedby the enemy to be in a state of blockade, and to prohibit all trade in the pro duce of those countries ; for, as the French Dec: cc expresses it, the law of nature justifies the employing against the enemy the same arms which he makes use ot. If third parties suffer from these measures, their demand and reparation must be made to that country which first xiolates the established usages of war, and the rights of neutral states. The British Government, however, was neither hasty nor rigorous in its measures. His Majesty waited nearly two months before he had recourse even to the mitigated measure of retaliation, which a due regard for the dignity of his Crown and the in terests of his subjects has at length exacted from him. • Whether in the mean time any such steps were taken by Denmark as were required by the insult which had been offered by the enemy to her sove reignty and independence, and the injury done to her neutral riOts; this Government is altogether ignorant. All that is known here is, that a formal communica tion of the Decree of the 21st November was made by the French Minister at the Court of Kiel. The answer of the Danish Government has not transpired, .but no intention of resistance has appeared in any public document, or in any steps taken by the Danish Governmert : whilst, on the other hand, it has ob served a conduct not apparently calculated to enforce the respect due to the rights of a neutral nation, nor in consistency with the character of a power determi ned equally to resist any measures affecting these rights, from whatever quarter they might proceed. The troops which were stationed at Holstein, while those of the Allies were near that frontier, have been immediately withdrawn on the approach of the French army ; and the general intercourse between this country and Husum, never refused in any for-. mer war, has been the subject of continual complaint and remonstrance on the part of the Danishh Ministry. Having made these preliminary.observations, it will be necessary to enter into a candid and dispassionate investigation of the general nature and effect of the Order in Council of the 7th January, of the causes which produced it, and of some of the principal ob jects which it had in view. In doing this, the un dersigned is first left to consider the probable extent of its operation,* as it affects the carrying and direct trade of Denmark, and of caber neutral powers ; and this will be the more nesessary with regard to the latter and more important description of commerce, inasmuch as impediments are supposed to be thrown in the way of it by the Danish Minister, which have no real existence, and which the cases assumed by him in his official Note, are very far from establish ing. From the natural, obvious, and equitable con struction of the instrument in question, it will be seen that - these cases . are altogether exempted from its ope ration. For wherever it can be shewn that a Danish or other neutral vessel, after having delivered her outward cargo, or any part of it, at one of the ports in possession of France or her Allies, or occupied by that Power, shall Lona Pe propose to proceed to another, solely for the purpose of shipping a cargo, consisting of such articles as she may require for her homeward voyage, it is clear that such vessel would not be considered in our Court of Prize as liable to the penal consequences of the Order. In framing the. Order of Council 'of the 7th January, his Majesty's Government has indeed studiously endeavoured tcd avoid distiessing nations not engaged in the war. i i The Neutral is still at liberty to carry his own pro. ducts to a market in hostile countries, to : procure from thence articles for his own consumption, and to engage in mercantile speculations, from hostile coun- . tries to othet neutral countries, cir ti tL et 1 , 1,..!;:ai islands. 1 , The obsect of th?. Order cf Orancil was, t opm ., the enemy from carrying on his 'Coasting trade tl ;r „,411 the means of neutral bottoms, at a time wiwil .iFe cbwwblea,ralrtoassiannggcciion:em,gsz comparatively ca o fir l act r tri i aisavd(e) andlv t y n r t of fee iv.lre ientdt en subjects. t cohjec i k V. ii:zati t i : t d .i i .rt e <ot ,otit:. thell.. ei i 1 , 1 ,11.71:1 1 .2 rrn : :::). shuoPCstriile°6:4ortotfo G ho r s e ti t le B p r o it r a t i , " at Pit th l e ud sa e n d r:: i t n i i n:::: and hardly entitled to the characterof neutral ..:ctr.m z ; l t : The coasting trade of the enemy in time of i 5,,,, e . is carried on by 11:s own navigation. Eve;: flit 0 . 1,„ in t() liseipains, 11- a hitile r i l ) ,l )lln 16g Litelledi . , terranean, in time of peace, chietly ga.tion of thu.se countries respectively. Pa" tY :he aa at 4 tli It is principally f rom the success of the British rn i ; ritime force, v.iiirlr has almost annihilated the /1 ,6 gation of the enemy , that the shi p s of Derlrook at i , other neutral States are em p lo y ed as carriers fro m ' hostile port to hosti le p ort, in order to rzliot till en emy from his distress ; and it is notorious • trade thus carried on, is supported by the shae m q. misconduct of neutral merchants, who lend ti x i t names for a sniall per-centage, not only to ccver thi goods, but in nu mberless instances to nue:l:. ;h e fli, ps of the enemy. The Danish Minister, in his Note, seems i n d ee d, so intent upon asserting neutral rights, as app arev d y to forget that there also exist corresponding n eut 4 duties. Neutrality, properly considered, does not con s i st in taking advantage of every situation b e m el Belligerent States, by which emolument may am p, to the neutral, whatever may be the conseqenccs either Belligerent party—but in observiug a st-* honest impartiality, so as not to afford advantage, the war to either, and pattiularly in so far reset. ing its trade to the accustomed course, which is'r' in time of peace, as not to render assistance to Bellegerent in escaping the effect of the other's' lilies. The duty of a neutral is, ‘g ftril intePlonere torte imminetzte hottem err fare," and yet k is manifest lending a neutral navigation to carry on the trade of the enemy, is in direct contradiction ah fiaition of neutral obligation, as it is, in effect, . rescue the commerce of the cuerny from the dims •to which it is reduced, by the supericrity of the& tish navy, to assist his resources, acd Great Britain from bringing him to lease] of reace. To put a stop, therefore, to this species a measure which might easily have been without reference to the late conduct cf Fr;' eveit if the Danish navigation were. likel• some inconvenience from it, there would t just ground of complaint ; but when it step in the way of retaliation which has lit adopted on tin, part of the British Gov( Majesty's forbearance and magnanimity eminently cot. picuous. If, after all, the probable consequences sure are contemplated with any degree of will appear rather likely to provebenefici wise to the Danish nation. The product tile countries will of necessity find their tral countries, not only for consumption exportation—Denmark will then become trepot ; her navigation will not have the ment ; the real bona ide commerce of her be extended, and her revenue at the saint considerably benefited. The enemy, it is true, will suffer by price which he must pay For the articles ports, when obtained by this circuitous the reduced price at Which he will be obi pose of his . exports, as well as by the culty of covering iris commerce under But it is presumed that these considerations furnish any just cause of complaint Denmark, the real trade of which coon probability, be eventually rather benef posed to any injury from the measure Upon the whole, the undersigned declare to M. Rist, that his Maje.ay to revoke the Order in 'Conned of tit till France shall not only havede.siste , the Decree of the '2lst November, but licly and formally repealed it. Shoalt here to the resolution she has expressed unjust pretensions of the enemy, and • cere disposition . to maintain a real and trality, it is very farfrom his Majesty to deprive hi r of any of the ads an a) belong to that relation ; but if Ullfin appear that this neutrality consists ii and displays itself only in remonstrai against such measures as his Majest rised to adopt, in support of the dign and the interests of his subjects, ai hand in the -most complete and tit escence in every demand which the proper to advance, the King would , as wanting in the regard which he ow , nour and the welfare of his dominioi taking, on his part, such measures sary to secure both against the injin cessarily arise from the continuance on the part of the Danish Governmi (Signed' ive rr . PARLMMENTARr PRO, HOUSE OF COMMONS, PEI Mr. lENKINSON presented a list of .- managing the Royal Naval Asylums—Ordered Mr. Nt'ILBF.I2 FORCE presented a Petit;- confined in the gaols of Wakefield and praying relief.—Ordered to lie on the Table. The Secretary of the African Company of Receipts and Disbursements.—Orde red The SECRF.TARY at WArt brought Committee appointed to try the merits Election, which stated that John Jeffery , and that as to the other Member the etc moved, that a new writ be issued for P , eh ction of one of the Members being de. Mr. LI lcu, the Clerk at the Table, read Fuller, in which it was stated, that he his seat against the Petitions of either Mr. holders who had petitioned at,:ainst were then ordered to be taketilmo consider 24th of March. Mr. FOSTER brought up a Bill to enal nooth College, in Ireland, to enlarge the the benefit thereof, winds wss read rer.d a second time. PAPERS rw Ni 4 r from and the King 0 his Court t Howick ac the Order prtihibitin of the cner French G 4 and painfi fail to pro He has to the Mil and grief felt in tak upon a pr the chief mark, anc provoked tics whicl receive& tannic M of this nil The tr ders to 11 berty of Lion, wh this expo ness and vernmei which t 1 tuated of I .c . "( Of al fend th is calle • larly, a Order t• rests pi will su in pos • come i depriN occup thous; consi; will, prize to Sr Medi goes great it is cons . flag but direi • ; men coin port ged low and Noi du< the salt the bal Mc inF toi a I be pr ca CL b , of C c. e: 0 f • q tr. l i rrSt ial . W l°ll . Olt I/ Tat , in nil , c „ . KuS frin Pink ne at n io " 1 71 •,, v tlay sits /tc, VIP- T 3 "TCt - O l ouSi Yi_er 054 to tissisr" C"" 1 nati. ,N_ Vl ignt, h mt: sub)' nazi. n me tot : ing fart ^E thr s it w hich het this onversa Ter the ItuSga le :hips eve nt. gf. s Indeed, COain' ?and ! c r owns netral Isir• tontain emit Crown' be:we: l y aCCS4 MT • CIICLS v; h e che aria ma can T Intagt a enorrov ress26 eers w tto cot L e mac :r's hthil• be ver etello ,ra i dativ blest that which coasting lopped icn to tits conga effect, to Hous4 he dims The ar. , .1 to prevent bees,: reas.ntable taros hob said, LaN c been justified b al k tof Fance; and the d likel el Quist en it S i ; ttfh must tw e ther2 rto leidei a stsla p hk: 2 l 4.92:de1a. tint• l Government, hi i for uences of this 0 b e r °f o l e d efi u c c i t a s tietrin o he : •• 114 111 r their way into • Id nption but for mt )ecome a great ye the less em , of her subjects le same time will • r d Ter by the en .. ti cles which 1* uitous mode, vid , be obliged to , • • ' the increased ,` under a neutral ; onsideraticas ,_:% taint on the pact .1 it country fl, in , 1 ‘ r benefit2 , l than .• asure in question. I ;ned is instatoted :,ty cannot be indt • of the 7th Jan esisted from acting . •r, hut shallhave p Sh mad I)enntark pressed of resiztiag: , and manifect a • al and honourable • est y's w'sh or ion" pan ag which f • unfortuntt it ists in mere a mstrances oa her •• Majesty is justly 2. to dignity of hisC cts, and on the c net unqualified a ' h the enemy nray.th. rotild consider •.0 he owes to his ors ninions, werebcto I. • ;tires as may be ra. injury AVHch rna4 ,stance of such co a. • rernment. geed) flows. PROCEEDIII7GS. IS, FELRI.J.A.RT I'. list of the Cm; • .—Ordered to be prir.t I a Petition from the al i d and ciaila, in Y , Table. onmany presentee Ordered tu on theT b roug ht un t he Repast merits of the Poole Jeffery, Esc. leas del • he election wasvoid. fir 1 for Poole, or yogurt ing declared sble, read a Letter, sir' int he did not mean Liter Mr. Sargisoni or lb! nst lis return• iv o consideration on Th 11 to enable the TITO" large the Frrehsse iff 1 . 1 read ordem