Star.
London, England, 1813-01-11 00:00:00

PRICE SIXPBIIC7-HA I. FI'ENN Y.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE
OF SATURDAY LAST.
DECLARATION.

The earnest endeavours of the Prince Regent to
Preserve toe relations of peace and amity with the
United States of America having unfor. tow ely failed,
his Royal Hig! nvss, acting in the name and on the
behalf of his Majesty, deems it
.p.orer publicly,to de-
clare ....is causes and origin of th war, in which the
Government of the United States has compelled him
to engage.
No desire of conquest or other ordinary motive of
aggression has been, or can be, with any colour of I
reason, in this case, imputed to Gt ea. Britain : that ;
her commercial interests were on the side of peace, if
war could have been avoided, without the sacrifice I
of her maritime rights, or without an injurious sub-
missien to France, is a truth which the American ,
Government will not deny.
His Royal Highness does uA, however, mean to
Tacos% the favourable presumption to which he isfi
entitled. He is prepared, by an exposition of the
cumstanees which have led io;the present war, tor:
chew that Great Britain has throughout acted to.
wards the United States of America with a spirit of
amity, forbearance, and conciliation. ; and to demon.
strate the inadmissible nature of those pretensions,
which have at length. unhappily itivulved the- twol
countries in war.
It is well known to the world, that it has been Elia
invariable object of the Ruler of France to destroy
the power and independence of the British Empire,
as the chief obstacle to the Accomplishment of his,
ambitions designs.
He first contemplated the possibility of assembling
such a naval force in the Channel, as, combined witi
a numerous flotilla, should enable him to disembark
in England an army sufficient, in his conception,
'subjugate this country, and through the conquest o'
'Great Britain be hoped to realize his project of uni
versa' empire.
By the adoption of an enlarged and provident sys.
tern of internal defence, and by the valour of his Ma.
jesty's fleets and armies, this design was entirely
frustrated ; and the naval force of Fr.nce, after the
most signal defeats, was compelled to retire fro..
the ocean.
An attempt was then made tcreffectuate the same
purpose by other means ; a system tt 43 brought for-
ward, by which the Ruler Of France hoped to anni-
hilate the commerce of Great Britain, to shake her
public credit, and to destroy her revenue ; to render
useless her maritime superiority, and so taavail him-
self of his continental ascendancy 'as to consume
himself in a great measure the arbiter of the ocean,
notwithstanding the destruction of his fleets. _
With this view, by the Decree of Berlin, followed
by that of Milan, he declared the British territories
to be in a state of blockade ; and that all commerce
or even corr• esponiksitee with Greet Jritain -was pro.
hibiled. He decreed that every vessel and cargo which
had entered, or was found proceeding to a British
port, or which under any circumstances had been vi
sited by a British ship of war, should be lawful prize:
he declared all British goods or produce, wherever
found, and however acquired, whether coming from
she mother country or from her colonies, subject to
confiscation : he further declared to be denationa-
lized, the flag of all neutral ships that should be
.ound offending against these his Decrees: and lie
gave to this pr. ject of universal tyranny the name o
the Continental System.
For these attempts to ruin the commerce of Grea
Britain, by means subversive of the clearest lights o
neutral nations, France endeavoured in vain to les.
her justification upon the previous conduct of hi
Majesty's Government.
Under circumstances of unparalleled provocatto
his Majesty had abstained from any measure whit
•the ordinary rules of the Law at Na"tions. did no
fully warrant. Never was the maritime bup et orit
of a belligerent over his enemy more caniptete an
decided. Never vas the opposite belligerent so fo
midably dangerous in his power and in his policy t
the liberties of all other nations.
France had already trampled so openly and s.
systematically on the most sacred rights of Neutra
Powers, as might well have justified the placing 11-
out of the pale of civilized n aians.
Yet in this extreme case Great Britain had so use.
her naval ascendancy, that her enemy could find n
just cause of complaint : and in order to give to the
lawless dectees the appearance of retaliation, the R •
ler of France was obliged to advance principles
maritime law unsanctioned by any other authorit
than his own arbitrary will.
The pretexts for these Decrees were, first, th
Great Britain had exercised the rights of war again
. private persons, their ships and goods ; as if the on
I object of legitimate hostility on the ocean were
public property of a State, or as if the Edicts, an
the Courts of France itself had not at all times ei
forced this right with peculiar rigour ; secondly, this
the British orders of blockade, instead of being co
fined to fortified towns, had, as France asserted, bee.
unlawfully extended to commercial towns and port
and to the mouths of rivers; and, thirdly., that th
had been applied to places, and to coasts, which ne
ther were, nor could be actually blockaded. Th
last of these charges is not f winded on tart ; whil
the others, even by the admission of the America
Gpvernment, are utterly groundless in point of lass-.
Against these Decrees, his Majesty plo:es,ed an
appealed : he called upon the United States w acse:,
their own rights, and to vindicate their irriependenc;
thus menaced and attacked ; and as France sad
dared, that she would confiscate every s•.s..cl, what.
should touch in Great Britain, or be visited by B
fish ships of war, his Majesty, }teeing previous
issued the Order OfJanuary 1807, as an act of mi
gated retaliation, was at length compelled, by Chi
persevering violence of the enemy, and the courinuei
acquiescence o( Neutral Pow.:rs, to reviait, upoi