The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-23 00:00:00

tore age, being awed so far back as Pseril, tat t, bat
in 2 manner purporting. to be titiSVCT to hi=
jesty's Deebration issued a tvaelveinontli.afterwarda.
'This was an occurrence which, tioAvithstapding all
the talents oft he French GoverauSent, it tas not very
easy to anticipate. Seine attvibuted. the St imgcness
of the date to a clericel error. Bat let the crtcrun-
stances a, teeding the birth of this document be what
they might, it did in faai contain a reyocationot the
Berlin ail & Milan Deetees, as far as .ihey related too
America. There were some &fficulties as to the
construetion witidh was to be put upon' this proceed •
in', and it was for the purpose of ebteloing a satis-
factory solntioh those difficulties he trespassed on
the L.:tention -Of the Hon=e, One difficulty arose
from the,eircurastanee tlfart'is INfejeity'a Declaration
lotimated, Ilia! the Oiders in :Cooneil would-be an-
nhiled on the revocation of the'Bealin and 'Milan
Decrees, at any period subsequent ,to the date.of the
Declsration.. This however appeared but .a ttifl'ng
obstacle. It might easily be removed brpubliahing
in the Gazette a fin tiller declaration, abet the spirit
and not flie letter of the former Declaration should
be attended to ; for he' took it for granted that his
Majesty's Ministers did not care a farthing for the
time at which the Decrees were:revoked, .provided
the deed of revocation was ;legitimate. Another
and indeed the only real difficulty arose from
:hat phrase in hisalVlajesty'a- Declaration, which im-
ported, that the revocation of- the Berlin Decrees,
on the part of Prance, must be unonalified and
unconditional. What was the econstruClion to b©
put upon this phrase ? Was it intended that
,it
should or should .not overate to erevent the imme-
diate repeal of the Orders in Council,- as a necessa-
ry eonseqnente-of the French' revocation. On this
subje& brie was most anxious to gain information,
and he most heartily trusted that the -Noble Lord
would be able to afford him such as might be sae
tisfaelory to the country. But even should this be
the case, it was necessary that some further step
should be taken on the part of Government offici-
ally -to notify the repeal of the Orders, in order to
prevent many embarrassments that might otherwise
.arise ; and here he could not help lamenting that
his Majesty's Declaration, to which he, had Blinded,
was couched in terms which to him appeared pun-,
posely obscure, and which it was diffiaiilt for any
trader.- to understand. The only conscouerice of .
ibis unintelligibility would be to give employment
to Courts Of Lassie and to involve a large portion of
the commercial interest of the country in tedious,
expensive, and harassing suits. He would conclude
his observations by mowing, that there be laid be-
fore the House an account of the Sum; issued fo'r
the clothing of the army and marines for the ten
years 'ending Feb. 5, 1-8;2.
Lord CASTI.tREAGH declared that he was always
desirous to afford such information as his public
-duty permitted on all 4uSje4s of public interest, and
ahhough the Honourable and Learned Gentleman
bad been'rather diffuse and argumentative in his
questions,:lie had no hesitation in replying to them.
Within the last two days a decree of the French Go-
vernment, which it ,was alleged had passed fifteen
months ago, had been communicated to his Majes-
ty's Government., Jr had been received with ex-
treme surprise by -them, for they knew that the Go-
vernment of the United States had been pressing the
Government of France for a more explicit declare-
..tion on the.subjed of the Berlin and Milan Decrees
down to the present' period. It undoubtedly was a
feature peculiar to Ihe diplomacy ef France, that the
Government of that country should remain silent
on a subject of such importance to a State to which
they owed- the most distinatexplanatian ; and hav-
ing refused any information for fifteen months,
Should suddenly, at a period coincident with his Ma-
, aesty's Declaration, promulgate a document purport-
ing to be &led fifteen months ago, by which the
Berliu and Milan Decrees were repealed, not gene-
rally, but exclusively and pointedly only. as they af-
fected the United States. If the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman wished to know what effete this
French- Decree brought under the.notice of his Ma-
jesty's Government amidst the extraordinary cir-
cemstances which he had described—circumstances
unparalleled in the history of the' world—had pro-
duced on their mind, he (Lord Castlereagh) had no
difficulty in- stating, that in their opinion it was in
no degree satisfaalore, as considered with reference
to his Majesty's Declaration. This must b'e evident
-on the very face of the document. His Majesty's
Declaration proclaimed that the Orders in Council
should be consideted as annulled as soon as the Ber-
lin and Milan Decrees were generally and uncondi-
tionally repealed ;—not as soon as they sh9uld be
repealed with respect to one nation alone for sinister
• and hostile purposes to Great Britain ; but -that as
soonsas they were generally and unconditionally
repealed, ipso far to the British Orders in Council
should las-se into disuse. With respect to this spar-
tial and limited repeal which had taken place, it had
certainly occurred under- the most suspicious and
disgraceful circumstances that ever attached to the
"conduCt•Of any civil-sed nation; He entertained the
strongest hones that the transaction would awaken
America from the trance in -Which' she had long
•slumbered. If any a& could more than any other
copal& the French Government of duplicity and
fraud, it was this spurious decree of revocation,
brought forward at the present moment, for the
purpose of ascertaining whether the British Govern-
ment, adopting the sentiments of the Honourable
and Learned Gentleman, were dispose.o to consider
it as :he kind of revocation to which his Majestra re-
cent Declaration was intended to refer. He trusted
'that he had distinCtly answered
.the questioos' Which
had been. put to him by the-Honourableand Learn-
ed Gentleman. As for the date of the French De-
ctee, that proved nothing but the fraud of the trans-
adion. If those'commercial persons to whous the
fltartourable and Learned Gentlismso alluded, were
of_opinion that hiS Majesty's Declaration bare a dif-
ferent cunstruSlion, it .was at their option to seek
redress in the proper Court; although he confessed,
that utaier ire circumstartes of the case it was
impoasible for him to suppose that they could obtain
any rensedyaw
Mr. iiItOUGHATrI, in explanation,• allowed that if
the date of the French Decree, was not a clerical er-
ror, it was.a trick most unworthy of a great nafion.
It was an attempt to get rid of a professed principle
of anion without undergoing the shame of retra&ing
ir. It seemed he was to understand that his Ma-
- -ies,yt's Gorcroment did not cdnsider the revocation,

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