Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-11-30

| them lead the way, instead OF following .et
stems. However honest our administration
NAV have been in the construction which they
gave to this note of Galore, all the subsequent
events have proved that they were neither We
nv wise nor very wary, and that the French
government have uniformly treated 1t as bind
ing them to nothing more than to exempt us
from the operation of the imperial decrees'
lust in proportion as we should previously
fall in with the views ofthe emperor, by an
efrectual resistance to the edlcts OF Great
Britain thus exactly reversing the order OF
concession required by the act OF congress
To prove this beyond doubt, nothing more
is necessary than brief examination OF some
of the NEST important documents ofhciaiiy
published by our government.
1t is we'll known that the LIST OF November,
1910, was the day on which our government
declared that the revocation OF the Berlin ana
Milan DEGREES became absolute !; after which
they were, to all mtents and purposes, extinct,
and of course could have no further possible
effect upon the commerce OF the y. States.
All this was announced in the proclamation
of the president on the End of November,
upon no other authority than Cadore's letter.
Widely different, however, were, at that time,
the views of France. Among the documents
communicated by the president OF the Unit
ed States to Congress, on the 18th OF Februa-
~, 1911, is copy of a letter from the duke of
Massa, styled the grand Judge and minister OF
Justice to the counsellor of state, president of
the council of prizes, dated December IS,
1910. In this letter the grand Judge recites
the purport of the presidents proclamation,
NJ, circulop m fhe
collectors of customs, instructing them, after
the I'd of February, to prohibit the entrance OF
British merchandise, &C. and then proceeds
to say " In consequence Of 9H1S ENGAGE
MENT entered into by the government Of the
United States, to cause their rights to be re-
spected. his ma lesty orders that all the causes
that may be pending, in the council OF prizes,
of CAPTURES of American vessels made after
the first of November, and those that may, in
future, be brought before it, shall not be judg-
ed according to the principles OF the DEGREES
of Berlin and Milan, but that they shall re-
main in statu gao; the vessels taken or selZ-
ed, to remain only in state Of sequestration,
and the rights of the proprietors being rcserv-
ed for them until the ID of February next,
the period at which the United States having
fulfilled the engagement to cause their rights
to be respected, the said captures shall be de-
clared null,'' sc.
Immediately following the above, is a letter
of the same date from the duke of Gazette, the
minister Of finance, to the count OF SuSSy,
counsellor of state, director general OF the Gus
toms, reciting, in the same manner, the Presl-
dents proclamation and the instructions issued
from our treasury department, and conclud-
ing with these words " His majesty having
seen in these tao Pieces, the annunclatlon OF
the measures which the Americans, purpose
taking on the I'd of February next, TO Cause
their rights to be respected, has ordered me
to inform you that the Berlin and Milan DEGREES
must not be athHed to any American vessels
that have entered our ports since the lst OF
November, or may enter in future; and that
those which have been sequestered, as being
| in contravention Of these DEGREES, must be the
object of special report. On the I'd OF Fe-
bruary I shall acquaint yon with the lnten-
| tons of the emperor with regard to the def
! nitive measures to be taken for distinguishing
and favoring the American navigation
| Thus it appears, that nearly two months at
ter the president had solemnly pronounced
! that those DEGREES were revoked and had &C
tually ceased to affect our commerce, in con-
sequence of the proposal offered in the law of
May, they were really in full operation,* no.
| thing whatever having been done on the lst OF
| November to exempt the American COM
merce from their effects. Even at that time,
/; On the 25th of December, not an intimation
was given that those DEGREES were revoked, or
intended to be revoked. On the contrary their
existence was expressly recognized in the or
der given that they "must not be ahthed' to
any American vessels that had entered the
ports of France after the LIST of November,
and in the instruction to the council of prizes
that the particular cases coming under that
/ description /" shall not be Judged according to
| the principles of the DEGREES of Berlin and Mi
lan.'' Nothing can be conceived more pre-
posterous or absurd than to issue instructions
that DEGREES which had long before been re-
yoked, DEGREES which had no existence, were
net to be applied in certain specified cases,
forming merely an exception to the general
rule and order Of proceeding. All that was
4 done or intended IN be done bv these orders