France: Decrees on Trade 1793-1810
Berlin Decree. 21 November 1806
�
From our Imperial Camp at Berlin, November 21, 1806.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, considering:
1.� That England does not admit the right of nations as universally
acknowledged by all civilized people;
2.� That she declares as an enemy every individual belonging to an
enemy State, and, in consequence, makes prisoners of war, not only
of the crews of armed vessels, but also of merchant vessels,
and even of the supercargoes of the same;
3.� That she extends or applies to merchant vessels, to articles
of commerce, and to the property of individuals, the right of conquest,
which can only be applied or extended to what belongs to an enemy
State;
4.� That she extends to ports not fortified. to harbors and mouths
of rivers, the right of blockade, which according to reason
and the usage of civilized nations, is applicable only to strong or
fortified ports;
5. That she declares blockaded, places before which she has not a
single vessel of war, although a place ought not be considered blockaded
but when it is so invested as that no approach to it can be made without
imminent hazard; that she declares even places blockaded which her
united forces would be incapable of doing, such as entire coasts,
and a whole empire;
6.� That this unequalled abuse of the right of blockade has no other
object than to interrupt the communications of different nations,
and to extend the commerce and industry of England upon the ruin of
those of the continent;
7.� That this being the evident design of England, whoever deals
on the continent in English merchandise favors that design and becomes
an accomplice;
8.� That this conduct in England (worthy of the first ages of barbarism,)
has benefited her,� to the detriment of other nations;
9.� That it being right to oppose to an enemy the same arms she makes
use of, to combat as she does, when all ideas of justice and every
liberal sentiment (the result of civilization among men) are discarded;
We have resolved to enforce against England the usages which she has
consecrated in her maritime code.
The present decree shall be considered as the fundamental law of the
empire, until England has acknowledged that the rights of war
are the same on land as at sea; that it cannot be extended to any private
property whatever, nor to persons who are not military, and until the
right of blockade be restrained to fortified places, actually invested
by competent forces.
Imperial decree of the 21st November, 1806
Art. 1. The British islands are declared in a state of blockade.
Art. 2.� All commerce and correspondence with the British Isles are
forbidden.� In consequence, letters or packages addressed either to
England, or to an Englishman, or in the English language, shall not
pass through the post office, and shall be seized.
Art. 3.� Every subject of England, of what rank or condition soever,
who shall be found in the countries occupied by our troops, or by
those of our allies, shall be made a prisoner of war.
Art. 4.� All magazines, merchandise, or property whatsoever belonging
to a subject of England, shall be declared lawful prize.
Art. 5.� The trade in English merchandise is forbidden. All merchandise
belonging to England, or coming from its manufactories and colonies,
is declared lawful prize.
Art. 6.� One-half of the proceeds of the confiscation of the merchandise
and property declared good prize by the preceding articles, shall
be applied to indemnify the merchants for the losses which they have
suffered by the capture of merchant vessels by English cruisers.
Art. 7. No vessel coming directly from England, or from the English
colonies, or having been there since the publication of the present
decree, shall be received in any port.
Art. 8.� Every vessel contravening the above clause, by means of
a false declaration, shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo confiscated
as if they were English property.
Art. 9.� Our tribunal of prizes at Paris is charged with the definitive
adjudication of all controversies, which may arise within our empire,
or in the countries occupied by the French army, relative to the execution
of the present decree. Our tribunal of prizes at Milan shall be charged
with the definitive adjudication of the said controversies, which
may arise within the extent of our kingdom of Italy.
Art. 10. The present decree shall be communicated by our Minister
of Exterior Relations to the Kings of Spain, of Naples, of Holland,
of Etruria, and to our allies, whose subjects, like ours, are the
victims of the injustice and the barbarism of the English maritime
laws.
Our Ministers of Exterior Relations, of War, of Marine, of Finances,
of Police and our Postmasters General, are charged each in what concerns
him with the execution of the present decree.
Placed on the Napoleon
Series March 2003
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