The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

copied 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 measuros, 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 firm-
ness to compel the English Government to respect ►heir thtz.
They shall continue to be rigouronsly in force as long as that
Government does not return to the principle of the law of Na•
tions, which regulates the relations of civilized States in a state
of war. The provisions of the present Decree shall he atm).
gated 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
Law s. (Signed) N.dcor.Eols:
By order of the Emperor,
The Secretary of State, (Signed) H. B. Mißrr.

As a Supplement to this Decree there is in the Official Journal
the following Circular Letter, addressed by the Minister of
the Interior to the Chambers of Commerce.

" You are nut unacquainted, Gentlemen, with the late acts of
the British Government, that last stage of the oppression of the
commerce of the world ; you know that it has resolved to de-
stroy the feeble remains of the independence of the seas. It
now thinks proper, that henceforth no ship shall navigate the
seas without touching at its ports, without a tribute to its pre.
tended sovereignty; and without receiving from it an ignomi.
nious licence.

" Thus the Ocean is henceforward only the field of slavery :
the usurpation of the most sacred of the rights of nations is con-
summated, and this tyrannie yoke is to press upon them until
the day of vengeance, or until brought to a due sense of modera.
lion, the English Government will itself calm its rage, and
break that sceptre to which the nations of the Continent hill
never consent to submit,

" I am calling our common attention to the important cir-
cumstances which must powerfully induce Uo to awaken your
patriotism and y our wisdom. One would have imagined, that
every obstruction and restraint that clogged the course of the
commerce on the Continent, had been exhausted ; still, how-
ever, they are going to be aggravated by the measures lately
adopted by England ; but they Will find our minds made up to
struggle against, and to overcome, this new mode of oppression.
"We must not shut our eyes to the consequences, Importa•
Lion and exportation, already so much restricted, will soon be
much more so. Every thing connected with maritime corn.
meree; every thing that depends upon it, will now be liable to
more dillienities, to more uncertainty, There ure, however,
two channels that still remain open.
" The power of attacking every ship that renounces the in-
dependence of its national flag, by a shameful submission to the
British Soserekntv, and by navigating under a llritish licence,
will open the field to the hopes of our commanders. Such a
resource will not prove inetiectual, and French commerce will
not devote itself uselessly- to that sort of warfare which neser
lets courage, dexterity, and decision, go unrewarded.
" We have moreover to hope that neutral ships will elude the
vigilance of the English cruizers; the immense extent of the
coasts of the empire will favour and protect their enterprises.
" These resources ought not to be undervalued, nor counted
for nothing. France will submit to a temporary situation,
which can only change with time, and with new exertions : hut
her enemy shall not deprive her of the main basis of her pros.
perity, her internal cotnmunicntion, her relations with the Con-
tinent, where she no longer sees any but friends or allies ; her
soil w ill not be less fertile, her industry will not maintain itself
the less, though deprived of some materials which is not iwpoi.
sible to replace,
" To this last proposition I am rather anxious, Centlemen, to
direct your attention. Yon have ads ice to give, and examples
to hold out to commerce. You must already fuiesce the Alga
of the privation of certain materials, more especially of cotton,
and of ingredients for dying cotton, of which a quaetity has
been :lured up in France : that which ivc shall defile from tho