by Great Britain, has exposed America, with other neutral states, to losses which the British government has never ceased most sincerely to deplore. America must judge for herself, how much, the original injustice of France towards her has been aggravated by the fraudulent professions of relinquishing her decrees by the steps adopted to mislead America, in order to embark her in measures which we trust she never would have taken, if she could have foreseen what has now happened; and ultimately, by threatening America with her vengeance, as a denationalized state, if she does not submit to be the instrument of her designs against Great Britain.

These are considerations for America to weigh; but what we are entitled to claim at her hands, as an act not less of policy than justice, is, that she should cease to treat Great Britain as an enemy. The prince regent does not desire retrospect when the interests of two countries so naturally connected by innumerable ties are concerned. It is more consonant to his royal highness's sentiments to contribute to the restoration of harmony and friendly intercourse, than to inquire why it has been interrupted. Feeling that nothing has been omitted on his part to relieve America from the inconveniences to which a novel system of warfare on the part of France unfortunately continues to expose her, and that the present unfriendly relations which, to their mutual prejudice, subsist between the two countries, have grown out of a misconception on the part of America both of the conduct and purpose of France; his royal highness considers himself entitled to call upon America to resume her relations of amity with Great Britain. In doing so, she will best provide for the interests of her own people; and I am authorized to assure the American government, that although his royal highness, acting in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, can never suffer the fundamental maxims of the British monarchy, in matters of maritime right, as consonant to the recognised law of nations, to be prejudiced in his hands, his royal highness will be ready at all times to concert with America, as to their exercise; and so to regulate their application as to combine, as far as may be, the interests of America with the object of effectually retaliating upon France the measure, of her own injustice.

I will now terminate this letter by assuring you, sir, as I can with perfect truth, that the most cordial and sincere desire animates the councils of Great Britain to conciliate America, as far as may be consistent with the principles upon which the preservation of the power and independence of the British monarchy is held essentially to depend, and which cannot be abandoned without throwing her helpless and disarmed into the presence of her ad

versary.

I have the honour to be, &c.

AUG. J. FOSTER.

James Monroe, Esq. Secretary of State.

TRANSLATION.

Report of the Minister of Foreign Relations to His Majesty the Emperor and King, communicated to the Conservative Senate, in the Sitting of the 10th March,

1812.

SIRE, The maritime rights of neutrals have been solemnly regulated by the treaty of Utrecht, which has become the common law of nations.

This law, expressly renewed in all the subsequent treaties, has consecrated the principles I am about to

expose.

The flag covers the property. Enemy's property under a neutral flag is neutral, as neutral property under an enemy's flag is enemy's property. The only articles which the flag does not cover, are contraband articles; and the only articles which are contraband, are arms and munitions of war.

A visit of a neutral vessel, by an armed vessel, can only be made by a small number of men, the armed vessel keeping beyond the reach of cannon shot.

Every neutral vessel may trade from an enemy's port to an enemy's port, and from an enemy's port to a neutral port. The only ports excepted, are those really blockaded; and the ports really blockaded, are those which are invested, besieged, and in danger of being taken, (en prevention d'être pris) and into which a merchant ship could not enter without danger.

Such are the obligations of belligerent nations towards neutral nations; such are the reciprocal rights of both; such are the maxims consecrated by the treaties which form the publick law of nations. Often has England attempted to substitute for them arbitrary and tyrannical rules. Her unjust pretensions were repelled by all governments sensible to the voice of honour, and to the interests of their people. She saw herself constantly obliged to recognise in her treaties the principles which she wished to destroy; and when the peace of Amiens was violated, maritime legislation rested again on its ancient foundations.

By the course of events, the English navy became more numerous than all the forces of the other maritime powers.

England then supposed that she had nothing to fear; she might attempt every thing. She immediately resolved to subject the navigation of every sea, to the same laws which governed that of the Thames.

It was in 1806, that she commenced the execution of this system, which tended to make the common law of nations yield to the orders in council, and to the regulations of the admiralty of London.

The declaration of the 16th of May annihilated, by a single word, the rights of all maritime states (and) put under interdiction vast coasts and whole empires. From this moment, England no longer recognised neutrals on

the seas.

The orders of 1807, imposed on all vessels an obligation to enter English ports, whatever might be their destination; to pay a tribute to England; and to subject their cargoes to the tariff of her customhouses.

By the declaration of 1806, all navigation was interdicted to neutrals. By the orders of 1807, the faculty of navigating was restored to them; but they could only use it for the advantage of English commerce, by the combinations of her interest, and to her profit.

The English government took off thereby the mask with which it had concealed its projects, proclaimed the universal dominion of the seas, regarded every people as their tributaries, and imposed upon the continent the expenses of the war which it maintained against it.

These unheard of measures excited a general indignation among those powers who cherished the sentiment of their independence and of their rights. But at London, they carried to the highest degree of elevation the national pride; they displayed to the English people a futurity rich with the most brilliant hopes.

Their commerce, their industry, were to be henceforward without competition; the productions of the two worlds were to flow into their ports, do homage to the maritime and commercial sovereignty of England, in paying to her a toll-duty, and afterwards proceed to other nations, burdened with enormous costs, from which English merchandise alone would have been exonerated.

Your majesty perceived, at a single glance, the evils with which the continent was threatened. The remedy was immediately resorted to. You annihilated, by your decrees, this arrogant and unjust enterprise, so destructive to the independence of all states, and of the rights of every people.

The decree of Berlin replied to the declaration of 1806. The blockade of the British isles was opposed to the imaginary blockade established by England.

The decree of Milan replied to the orders of 1807; it declared denationalized every neutral vessel which submitted to English legislation, known to have touched at an English port, known to have paid a tribute to England, and which thereby renounced the independence and the rights of its flag. All the merchandise of the commerce and of the industry of England were blockaded in the British isles; the continental system excluded them from the continent.

Never did an act of reprisal attain its object in a manner more prompt, more certain, or more victorious. The decrees of Berlin and Milan turned against England the weapons which she had directed against universal commercc. The source of commercial prosperity, which she thought so abundant, became a source of calamity for English commerce; in the place of those exactions which were to have enriched her funds, a depreciation, continually increasing, impairs the wealth of the state, and that of individuals.

When the decrees of your majesty appeared, the whole continent foresaw that such would be the result, if they

received their entire execution; but, as much as Europe was accustomed to see your undertakings crowned with success, they were at a loss to conceive by what new prodigies your majesty would realize the great designs which have been so rapidly accomplished. Armed with all your power, nothing could turn your majesty from your object. Holland, the Hanseatick cities, the coasts which lie between the Zuyderzee and the Baltick, were to be united to France, subject to the same administration and the same regulations; the immediate and inevitable consequence of the legislation of the English government. Considerations of no kind were able to balance, in the mind of your majesty, the first interest of your empire.

I will not stop to recapitulate the advantages of this important resolution. After fifteen months, that is to say, after the senatus consultum of reunion, the decrees of your majesty press with all their weight upon England. She flattered herself to invade the commerce of the world, and her own commerce became a mere stock-jobbing affair, (agiotage) which could not be carried on but by means of twenty thousand licenses issued every year. Forced to obey the law of necessity, she thereby renounced her navigation act, the original foundation of her power. She aspired to the universal dominion of the seas, and navigation is interdicted to her vessels, repulsed from all the ports of the continent. She wished to enrich her funds with the tributes that Europe was to pay, and Europe has withdrawn itself, not only from her injurious pretensions, but likewise from the tributes which it paid to her industry. Her manufacturing cities have become deserted; distress has succeeded to a prosperity until then increasing; the alarming disappearance of specie, the absolute privation of business, daily interrupt the publick tranquillity. Such, for England, are the results of her imprudent attempts. She thence learns, and she will every day learn more fully, that there is no safety for her but in a return to justice and to the principles of the law of nations, and that she will not be able to participate in the benefits of the neutrality of ports, unless she will suffer neutrals to profit of the neutrality of their flag. But until then, and as long as the British orders in council are not revoked, and the principles of the treaty of Utrecht, in relation to neutrals, put in force, the decrees of Berlin and Milan ought to subsist for the powers