The Sun.
London, England, 1808-08-23 00:00:00

FRENCH. DECREES AND BRITISH ORDERS.

The deceptions which have been pra&ised by the
friends of the Administration, in regard to, these
Decrees and Orders, have rendered it important to
tall the-attention of the public, to the subjeCt„ and to
expose the misrepresentations Of those u hose syste-
matic objet is to palliate the outrages of one of the
Belligerent Powers, and to aggravate those of the
other. To ask the partisans of France and the Ad-
ministration. to correa these misrepresentations,
Would be useless and idle: but we do- hOpe that all

the tditors of Papers *Lio wish the pebple to he,
correaly informed of the nature of our foreign rela-
ticins, and the real causes Of ottr ertiliarrassrrietit and
degradation; will, lend us their .aid at evenrltil
Correoling the false inipreiSions which
haN4*-.lS'ee-p'extensively made by cunning Mi§repre-
..
SAtßtions.
ym.svrry.day asserted in the Government Papers,
andkbas;at lehtli come to be very geneially believ-
ed, eiedit), men who wish for correSt information,
that BuoFAPARTE's Berlin Decree remained a. dead

letter urdili it iwas brought into operation by the
Britisie;sl in Council---that previous to those
3;r;
tafple44, was never executed, and never intended to
•
bed:Matted 4giinst.the United' States.
'rrigkist fritsizington Manipur, an Official Paper
'll
of tbe.Vb'
Inßt, says: _

The Berlin Decree was never carried into effe&
,against Neutrals (as has been proved by British-titer-
chants strialy examined at the bar of the House of
Commons), before. the English Orders of Council
were issued in November last; and, indeed, NA-
POLeoti could not have executed that Decree against
the Americans, who. were -the principal Neutral;
without risking.a War ,with ,us, which it was. far from
being desire filen

Mr. BARING, respqt':.tabl and well informed as he
has imprudently ventured to assert, in his pain=
phlet, that it is << a notorious fact that'cOndeenriation
of Amerian vessel had never taken place" under
the Berlin decree, previous to the publication, at •the
British orders.
Several witnesses examined at the bar of -the .Bri-
tish House of Commons testified the same thing. ,

vfAv LSON C. NICHOLAS, the leading ministerial
mull* i the House of Representatives of the United
Stiteffr m the State of Virginia, in a ciecular let-
ter tccHIS onstituents, holds the same language, and
every .Dernoglatic Paper in the United State's has so
long and so niforMly repreSented the execution of-
BUONWAR TE'S Decree against us, as a retaliating
brie
meAtm, O'Ca4lOned by the British Orders, that
mttdjl'hone§t and well informed men, staggered by
stittßumerbus'ASsertions, have been induced to give
up the_ point, and to acknowledge, that though
France was the aggressor in words, our .commerce
was really undisturbed, and our rights unimpaired
until the British Orders induced the French Empe-
ror to enforce his Decree against us, contrary to his

original intention.
The whole of this is a gross delusion, which we
shall easily dissipate. from the mind of any one who
will lend us his attention for a few moments, while,
we examine the subjoined official-documents, which
prove that it was the:original intention of BUONA.
PARTE to enfoico his, blockading 'decree against the
commerce of the United States; and that he' ac-

ally did so 'enforce it, long before the publics-

tion' of the British Orders in Council, in open
yiolatton of the acknowledged Law of Nations, and
of his own solemn Tre'aty with this Country.

To probe this, and silence the adherents of the 1
-Achninistralion„ • we,have only to attend to the dates
of thuiftilio4.Virq transactions. ", •
lift l)4creeof Bu o NAPARTE, declaring the Briti.sh
151e,5,.0,0d their dependencies, in a state of block-
Ja-
sadeasni tpliiko,g,all neutral commerce with them,
was .15htecl ot4tQrlin, as is well known, on the 21st
of.,NOVZnib?s,--iiiOti.:
i• -,The-,43Atirbl,r (Wders in Council, declaring France
and' II D446iCenCies in a state of blockade, were
as 1
-" , -,y,;
firs,tiwdilitliebrin The London Gazette on the 16th
Berri .r .
'of blow bprot#cas and could not have been known
rl
in VA/ i `the/common course of communication,
before th .WOCcOf the same month, or, probably,
the Ist of December.
, .
- On the.3Oth of May, 1807, moi e than six months
before
.the issuing of the Orders in Council, the

American Ship Horizon was wrecked by a storm
upon the Coast of France, near Morlaix, and the
property, which was acknowledged to be bona fide
American, was immediately seized and sequestered
by the Officers of the French:Government, on the
ground that part of, it was known to have come
.from the English manufactories or territory, and
consequently liable
.to confiscation under' the sth
article of the Berlin Pecree.. -•-
After a
.variety of proceedings, before subordinate
tribunals, during which' the property was brotight
before the Imperial Council of Prizes, at Paris, on

the tpfho
lug (Ifekbe
cussititihti
Amerman

1807, at one month beforethe issu-
British Orders in Council ; and, after dig.-
clefen-qe set up by Captain M'CLuE, the
p*it'ef'of the property, in which he argues
•-
ifiel-q?9,n,Would be contrary to the provi-
ieLtrtaty of 1800, and to the explanation
linDecree, as given to Mr. ARMSTRONG
Illittell'Of Marine, in December, 1806, 'the
11CragrArmally decree, that

that a till

sions of -th
of the Berl
by the M
Cott sil of
mehtttlitic
ricahiV t
terms of

litplication of the sth article of the before-
DeetW' {the Berlin Decree) to the Arne.
other people, results from the general
be. -article, -and from the communication

recently made by his Excellency the Chef Justice
(le Grand Juge), relative to the ORIGIN,AL
TI6N Of the Sovereign."

bbseiit this. We have here an official and judil,
dal declaration, that the original intention of the
Sovereign was that the Decree should apply to the
Annericani as to other people; and the Council,ap-
peal to a recent communication from the Chief
Justice to prove this original intention. Now let us
See what that communication was, and whether the
Council of Prizes gave it a fair construelion: It is
here inserted in its official form; and let it be re-
marted; that it is dated more than two months be-
fore'the British Orders in Council could possibly be

known Paris. •
[Then foliow the Official Letters from the Grand fudge
REGNrER., and CHA MP ACN Y, respeding the French De-
crees, which we some time ago l4id before our Readers.]