by the courts of Denmark and Sweden, refpectively; his Majefty, with the advice of his Privy Council, is thereupon pleafed to order, as it is hereby ordered, that no fhips or veffels belonging to any of his Majefty's fubjects be permitted to enter and clear out for any of the ports of Ruffia, Denmark, or Sweden, until further order; and his Majefty is further pleafed to order, that a general embargo or stop be made of all Ruffian, Danish, and Swedish fhips and veffels whatsoever now within, or which, hereafter fhall come into any of the ports, harbours, or roads within the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, together with all perfons and effects on board the faid fhips and veffels; but that the utmost care be taken for the prefervation of all and every part of the cargoes on board any of the faid fhips or veffels, fo that no damage or embezzlement whatever be fuftained: And the Right Hon. the Lords Commiffioners of his Majesty's Treafury, and the Lords Commiffioners of the Admiralty, and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may refpectively appertain. W. FAWKENER. Note, prefented on the 15th January 1801, by Lord Grenville to the Danish and Swedish Ambaffadors, respecting the Embargo laid on Danish and Swedish Veffels. THE HE underfigned, principal Secretary of State for foreign Affairs, has been commanded by his Majefty to make the following communication to Count Von Wedel Jarlsberg, and Baron Von Ehrenfard, Danish and Swedish envoys at this court. His Majefty has heard with the fincereft concern, that at the moment when the court of Peterfburgh had adopted the most hoftile measures against the perfons and property of his Majefty's fubjects, the two courts of Copenhagen and Stockholm had con. cluded a convention with that power for the maintenance of a naval armed confederacy in the north of Europe. If the circumftances under which the convention alluded to was negotiated and concluded, could have left any doubt in his Majesty's mind refpecting the objects to which it is directed, that doubt would, by the declarations of the court of Petersburgh, and ftil! farther by the recent and official declarations of the court of Copenhagen, have been completely removed. It is fufficiently known with what hoftile intentions an attempt was made, in the year 1780, to introduce a new code of public law against Great Britain, and to fupport by force a fyllem of innovation prejudicial to the dearest rights of the British empire. But his Majefty has hitherto had the fatisfaction to fee that thofe arbitrary and injurious meafures have been completely given up. At the beginning of the prefent war, the court of Petersburgh, which had taken a most active part in the cftablishment of the former alliance, entered into articles with his Majefty, which are not merely incompatible with the convention of 1780, but which are directly in the face of it; engagements which are still in force, and the reciprocal execution of which his Majefty is entitled to demand upon every principle of good faith, during the continuance of the war. The conduct of his Majesty towards the other powers of the Baltic, and all the decifions of his courts of juftice in regard to prizes, have been uniformly, and notoriously, founded upon those principles which previously to the year 1780 had guided all other European courts of admiralty.. Nor had the intention to renew the former confederacy been communicated to his Majefty on the part of any of the contracting powers, till he received information of the actual figning of the convention, and had been apprized by the declaration of one of the parties, that the object of it was to confirm the ftipulations entered into in the year 180 and 1781, in their original shape. No farther doubts therefore can remain, that the object of their confederacy, and the naval preparations, which the contracting parties purfue with vigour, is nothing lefs than to place themfelves in a fituation to maintain by force, pretenfions which are fo obviously inconfiftent with the principles of juftice, that those powers, which, when neutral, brought them forward, were the first to oppofe them when they became belligerent, and the establishment of which, if it thould be effected, would be one of the principal means of overthrowing the ftrength and fecurity of the British empire. On the knowledge of thefe circumstances, his Majefty the King would act contrary to the intereft of his people, the dignity of his crown, and the honour of his flag (which by the difcipline, courage, and fkill of his navy, has rifen to fo extraordinary a pitch of greatnefs), were he to delay the adoption of the moft effectual measures to repel the attack he has already experienced, and to oppofe the hoftile effects of the confederacy armed against him. His Majefty has therefore authorized the underfigned officially to communicate to Count Wedel Jarlsberg and Baron Von Ehrenfward, that an embargo has been laid upon all the Danish and Swedish fhips in the ports belonging to his Majesty. But in the execution of this meafure his Majefty will take care that no violent or fevere proceedings fhall be exercised on the part of his Majesty towards innocent individuals. His Majesty is still animated by the moft anxious defire that the circumftances which have rendered thefe fteps necellary may ceafe, and that he may be enabled to return to those relations with the courts of Stockholm and Copenhagen, which exifted between them, till that mutual good understanding was interrupted by the prefent attempts to renew former pretenfions. (Signed) Ff 2 GRENVILLE Answer Anfwer of the Danish Ambassador. THE undersigned, envoy extraordinary from his Danish Majefty, will tranfmit this day with regret to his court the official communication he had the honour to receive yesterday from Lord Grenville, upon the fubject of the embargo laid upon the Danish veffels in the British ports. While he waits until the orders of the King his master, relative to this offenfive measure, arrive, he cannot avoid protesting against the validity of the motives alleged in the faid note, and against the justice of the confequences, which the British government has conceived it could accredit against the court of Copenhagen. A difference which arose between the courts of Petersburgh and London during the negotiation, deftined folely to the protec tion of a perfect neutrality in the North, has no relation whatever with that; and as his Imperial Majesty of all the Ruffias has caused to be published a formal declaration on the fubject of the motives of the meafures adopted on his part, Denmark finds in it a complete refutation of the argument advanced by the British minifter. With refpect to the principles of the northern powers refpecting the facred rights of neutrality, they have not been abandoned. Ruffia, in her belligerent quality, has only fufpended the application, and Denmark and Sweden have, by their convention of the 27th March 1794 (officially communicated to all the belligerent powers), declared, in the face of all Europe, that their system of protection in favour of innocent commerce was invariable. Hence it follows that his Danish Majefty only now renews ties which have not ceafed to exift. The underfigned thinks himself, in consequence, authorized to proteft, formally, against proceedings of fo hoftile a nature, which the King his master could not but have confidered as an open and premeditated provocation, had not the communication been accompanied with the affurance that his Britannic Majefty ftill defires to maintain good harmony with Demnark; a defire which his Danish Majefty has conftantly pro-. felfed, and of which he has given the most unequivocal proofs. The underfigned, who for a number of years has felicitated himself upon being the interpreter of the unalterable fentiments of the King his after, is deeply hurt that faife impreffions have juft menaced the good understanding between the two crowns. He wifhes that he could ftill be the inftrument of an explanation calculated to do away injurious doubts, and to prevent incalculable confequences to the interests of the reciprocal powers. It is with these sentiments, and with thofe of perfect confideration, that he has the honour to renew to his Excellency Lord Grenville the homage of his refpect. Jan. 16, 1801. (Signed) WEDEL JARLSBERG. The th. Anfwer of Baron Ehrenfward to the Notification of Lord Grenville, of the 5th of January, ftating, that an Embargo had been laid on the Danish and Swedish Ships in England. THE undersigned, minifter prenipotentiary of his Imperial Swedish Majefty, received the official notification, by which his Excellency Lord Grenville, firft minister of state, fignified to the undersigned, that his Britannic Majesty had ordered an embargo to be laid on all the Swedifh fhips that thould be found in the harbours within his dominions. So unexpected an event between powers who were in relations of friendship towards each other, was received with aftonishment by his Imperial Majefty, who was not only unconfcious of having given his Britannic Majefty the least cause of complaint, but on the contrary was entitled to have demanded indemnification for repeated aggreffions. Actuated by this reflection, he rather expected that the notification was tranfmitted with the view to bury his grievances in oblivion, than to give occasion for fresh ones, which thould renew the remembrance of the past. As the English court has ftated, as the ground of this notification, that a maritime convention was in contemplation, it would doubtless have acted with more justice, had it waited for an official communication from the Swedish court, which it most affuredly would in proper time have received, of a convention, which is confidered in fo odious a point of view, as to urge it to an act of violence against a court, whofe connexion with England nothing elfe could have disturbed. As the difpute between the Ruffian and English courts related to the island of Malta, and the declaration of the Danish court referred to the convention of 1780, the undersigned can fee no juft reafon why the Swedish court, which had given no cause of complaint to the English, and from which no other declaration was required than what related to the note of the 31st of December, which has just been received, fhould be attacked in fo hoftile a manner before any anfwer had been given to the infinuations contained in that note. The undersigned, who imparted the contents of the note of his Excellency Lord Grenville to his court, is obliged, in conformity to the orders of his master, to proteft, as far as by the prefent act he can formally protest, against the embargo laid on the Swedish fhips, and all lofs or damage that may be thereby occafioned. He demands, in the most forcible and expreffive terms, that, in pursuance of the ftipulations of the treaty of 1661, the embargo may be taken off, the continuance of which can no otherwife be confidered than as a defigned and premeditated declaration of war on the part of England, as well by the detention of the convoy, as in refpect to the affair at Barcelona. The underfigned, whom the expreflion of the defire of the British court could could not escape, obferves, in the hoftile determination by which The undersigned has the honour, &c. London, Jan. 17, 1801. Orders of Council refpecting the Embargo on Ruffian, Danish, and At the Court at St. James's, the 28th of January 1801; prefent, WHEREAS his Majefty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, has been pleafed to caufe an embargo to be laid upon veffels belonging to the fubjects of Ruffia, Denmark, and Sweden, now within, or which hereafter thould come into any of the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, together with all perfous and effects on board the faid ve fels: and whereas it has been reprefented to his Majelty, that the goods on board feveral of the vellels fo detained by the embargo are the property of his Majesty's fubjects, or the property of perfons not being fubjects of Ruifia, Denmark, or Sweden, his Majesty is thereupon pleafed, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, to order, as it is hereby ordered,' that all goods laden on board Ruffian, Danish, or Swedith veifels, now detained under the said embargo, and intended to be exported, fhall be delivered to the difpofal of the owners or their agents, upon affidavit made and produced to the officer in whofe cuftody the faid vetfels may be, that the faid goods were not at the time of fhipment, nor are now, the property of the fubjects of Ruifia, Denmark, or Sweden; and alfo, that all goods which, by virtue of licenfes under his Majefty's fign manual, have been imported in veffels belonging to the fubjects of Ruffia, Denmark, of Sweden, fhall in like manner be forthwith delivered to the difpofal of the owners or their agents, on their making and producing a like affidavit, and on fufficient proof that his Majefty's licenfe to import the faid goods had been obtained. In confequence of the above official intelligence being received at Stockholm, all Swedifh fhips were imminediately flopped from going to England, and an embargo was laid upon all English fhips in the Swedith harbours. And 1 |