Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-11-08

France. nor will the blockade OF May 1870
continue after the repeal of the orders In coun-
Gil unless his maiesty's government Shall think
6t 70 sustain it by the special application OF
sufficient naval force. This fact viii not be
suffered to remain in doubt, and II the repeai
of the orders in council should take place. the
intention of his majesty's government respect
ing the blockade of May 1906 will be nohhed
at the same time.
/ need not recapitulate to you the sentiments
of his maiesty's government so often repeated
on the subject of the French minister's note
to Gen. Armstrong, dated the 9th OF last Au-
gust. The studied ambiguity OF that note has
since been amply explained by the conduct and
language of the government OF france, O.
which one of the most remarkable instances Is
to be found in the speech of the CHEF OF the
French government on the 18th OF last month,
to certain deputies from the free cities OF
Hamburg, Bremen and Lubbock, wherein he
declares that the Berlin and Milan DEGREES
shall be the public code of France as long as
England maintains her Orders in Council OF
1906 and 1907. Thus pronouncing as plainly
as language will admit that the system OF vlo-
lence and injustice OF which he is the founder,
will be maintained by him until the defensive
measures of retaliation to which they gave rise
on the part of Great Britain shall be abandon
ed.
If other proofs were necessary to shew the
continued existence of those obnoxious de-
crees, they may be discovered in the lmperi-
al Edict dated at Fontainbleau in October
l9, 1910, that monstrous production of vio-
il. -hi ch fhnxy n
system of general and unexampled tyranny
and oppression over all countries subject to,
allied with, or within reach of the power OF
France; in the report of the French minister
for foreign affairs dated last December, and In
the letter of the French Minister of Justice
to the President of the Council of Prizes -
10 this letter, sir, would wish particularly
to invite your attention: the date is the 25th
December, the authority it comes from most
unquestionable, and you will there find, sir,
the Duke of Massa in giving his instructions
to the Council of Prizes in consequence of the
President of the United States proclamation,
of Nov. 8, most cautiously avoiding to assert
that the French DEGREES were repealed, and
ascri5ing not to such repeal, but to the ambi-
guous passage which he quotes at length from
NJ. Champagny's letter of August S, the new
attitude taken by America, and you will also
find an evidence in the same letter of the con-
tinued capture of American ships after Nov.
and under the Berlin and Milan DEGREES, hav-
ing been contemplated by the French govern
mcnt, since there is special direction given
for Judgment on such ships being suspended
in consequence of the American proclama-
ton. and for their being kept as pledges for
its enforcement.
Can then, sir these DEGREES be said to have
been repealed at the period when the procla
nation of the President of the United States
appeared, or when America enforced her non
importation act against Greal-Britain Are
they so at this moment? To the first ques-
ton the state papers which have referred to
appear to give sufficient answer. For even
supposing that the repeal has since taken
place, it is clear that on November Sd there
was no question as to that not being then the
case the capture of the ship New Orleans
Packet, seized at Bordeaux, and of the Grace
and Green, seized at or carried into Mar
seilles, being cases arising under the French
DEGREES of Berlin and Milan as is very evil
dent. Great Britain might therefore complain
of being treated with injustice by America,
CfCil liIdl lliS SONouSt VI AMY Hdu
since been unequivocal.
America contends that the French DEGREES
are revoked as it respects her ships upon the
high seas, and you, sir, inform me that the
only two American ships taken under their
maritime operation as you are pleased to term
it, since November /, have been restored -
but may not they have been restored in conse-
quence of the satisfaction felt in France at the
passing of the non-importation act in the Ame-
rican Congress, an event SO little to be ex-
pected; for otherwise, having been captured
in direct contradiction to the supposed revo-
cation, why were they not restored imnedi-
ately
The fears of the French navy however pre-
vent many cases of the kind occurring on the
ocean under the DEGREES of Berlin and Milan,
but the most obnoxious and destructive parts
of those DEGREES are exercised with full vio-
lence not only in the ports of France, but in
those of all other countries to which France
thinks she can commit injustice with impuni-
ty.
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