The National Register.
London, England, 1811-09-08 00:00:00

NATIONAL REGISTER.

were the fundamental laws of the Empire, and
none of the American vessels or cargoes seized by
BVONAPARTE) which ought in- virtue of the pro.
mised revocation of his Decrees to have been re-
stored, were restored, or indeed have been restored
to the present moment. It was natural, then, for
us to press this upon the American Government,,
and to desire evidence from them, that the Decrees
were repealed.. To this, the only reply the Ame-
rican Government could, or did, make, was, that-
BUONAPARTE. had declared his Decrees repealed,
and that they were bound to believe his declaration.
The rejoinder to this, on our part, was irrefragable
and unanswerable ; that if a declaration is not
acted upon, we are bound to consider it as null and
void, and to shape our conduct as if
,it had never
been issued : of course we declined 'revoking our
Orders in Council. The American Government
then adopted the measure of a Non-Importation or
Non•lntercourse Act. Still we acted with for-

bearance.; and though they recalled the American
Minister we sent Mr. FOSTER. It might have been
thought
.that this was shewing a spirit of concilia-
tion, and that the American Government, who
had received undoubted proof of the delusive con-
duct of BUONAPARTE, would tread back their steps
with respect to us. The blockade of 1806 no longer
stood in dui way of an adjustment. This the Ame-
rican Government have lately confessed. But we
still adhered to our Orders in Council, because we
found BUONAPARTE adhere to his Decrees.
The above explanation may not be deemed an
unnecessary preliminary to what we have to an-
nounce—That an Order of Council is understood to
have been signed on Friday, prohibiting American
vessels from entering British ports, except such as
are laden with Flour and Wheat, and providing
that they shall carry back cargoes consisting of the
produce of this Country or its Colonies.

PARIS PAPERS.

Yesterday morning Paris papers were received.
They contain an account of an enterprize performed
by two British frigates in the mouth of the Gironde,
in a stile. f steadiness, gallantry, and dexterity which
recal and rival the most admired feats of Sir S.
SMITH. The two British frigates in question, the
names of which are not yet known, entered the
mouth of the Gironde on the 24th August, came
to anchor, hoisted lights when it became dark, re-
mained for the night, were visited by boats, which
they detained, without exciting a suspicion, and
sailed a&ain on the morning of the 25th, making
use of the pilots who came on board' to convey them
to a position, in which they were able to attack two
small ships of war. one of which they took, and did

THE NATI

considerable damage to the other. The capture of
the French vessel, the Teazer, would be in itself a
matter of little moment ; but the manner in which
it was executed, with the circumstances of the Eng-
lish having come ,to anchor in the Roads the night
preceding, and remained for the whole night with
lights out, and every other mark of being quite at
their ease—their being visited by several boats with
pilots and port officers, all of whom were detained
without once exciting a suspicion that the cause of
their stay was their having fallen into an enemy's
hands—their sail;ng, at length, when they saw a fit
opportunity, and taking the .Teazer, and forcing
her consort to fli for safety into a creek, where they
cannonaded her ; all this made an impression, which
bears the evident stamp of a confession of British
naval superiority, conveyed in the convincing though
confused manner of fear, shame, and sorrow. It
would seem that this visit had created a dread of a
repetition of the blowing up business of Basque
Roads. We anxiously expect the arrival of the Bri-
tish accounts of this transaction. In the mean time
we shall not any longer detain our readers from the
pleasure of perusing those of The Moniteur, which
are as satisfactory as those of our Commanders can
possibly be. May we always receive such news
from tur enemies !