geous proceedings of the British government authorized him to have had recourse, have been suspended, his majesty deeming it an act of glory to give, by this means, a decisive proof of the falsehood of the suspicions advanced against him, and of the doubts thrown on his intentions. But if, contrary to all expectation, the British government persists in its violent resolutions, he will see himself, with regret, reduced to the urgent necessity of exerting those means which his dignity and the interests of his subjects will imperiously prescribe. (Signed)

Wedel Jarlsberg.

Answer.

Downing Street, Feb. 25, 1801. Lord Hawkesbury presents his compliments to count Wedel Jarlsberg, and has the honour to inform him, that he shall lose no time in communicating to the Danish government his majesty's sentiments on the contents of count Wedel Jarlsberg's note of the 23d instant. Lord Hawkesbury requests that count Wedel Jarlsberg will accept the assurances of his high consider

ation.

Note from the Danish to the British Minister.

London, March 4, 1801. The undersigned has constantly reposed an unlimited confidence in the sentiments and moderation of his Britannic majesty. He has consequently only endeavoured, in the preliminary note of lord Hawkesbury, dated the 25th of last month, in answer to his official note of the 23d, to discover the expression of an assurance of these sentiments

which should be transmitted to Copenhagen; and he is persuaded that the effect of them on the part of his Britannic majesty will be manifested, by calling, in the most efficacious and satisfactory manner, the attention of the government to the representations of his Danish majesty, transmitted through the organs and offices of the undersigned. But as the adoption of conciliatory measures is constantly found suspended. and as, on the contrary, those of violence and injustice are daily accumulating, the undersigned cannot acquiesce, in silence, in the continuation of this state of things, which only tends to bar the way to amicable explanations, and to compromise the dearest interests of each nation. He hastens, in consequence, to renew with earnestness the demand made in the name of his court, that the embargo placed on the Danish vessels should be immediately taken off. And, in expectation of a satisfactory answer, he has the honour to assure his excellency lord Hawkesbury of his respectful consideration.

(Signed) Wedel Jarlsberg.

Answer of the British Minister.

Downing Street, March 6, 1831. The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note of count Wedel Jarlsberg, his Danish majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, of the 4th instant, and to inform him that he has transmitted to his majesty's chargé d'affaires at Copenhagen, an answer to his former note of the 23d of February, which will be delivered to the Danish government, and R 2

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which will fully explain his majesty's sentiments on the differences subsisting between the two countries. The undersigned requests count Wedel Jarlsberg to accept the assurance of his high considertion

(Signed) Hawkesbury,

Count Wedel Jarlesberg, &c.

Note transmitted, on the 4th March, by Baron Von Ehrensward, the Imperial Swedish Minister Plenipotentiary at London, to Lord Hawkesbury, the English Secretary of State.

HE undersigned, minister ple

strengthen their rights of neutrality. and to promote the repose of their respective states, by the naval convention they have entered into: and nothing is farther from their intention than by such a step to provoke hostilities. The respect which is due to the rights of nations and to treaties, the consciousness that their own interests are inseparably united with the interests and the love of justice and peace, are the only motives by which their majesties have been actuated: they have, therefore, learnt, with the greatest astonishment, that the first

news of the conclusion of this convention in England, has been the occasion of so violent a measure as

majesty, has the honour to transmit to his excellency lord Hawkesbury, first secretary of state of his Britannic majesty, a printed copy of the naval convention concluded on the 10th December, 1800, between his Swedish majesty and his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, as well as a printed copy of the naval regulations which the king has recently ordered to be drawn up.

The undersigned, who, at the command of his court, has the honour to make this communication to the minister of his Britannic majesty, has it likewise in commission expressly to declare, that their majesties, by the said naval convention, have reciprocally determined and settled those rights which, as neu tral powers, they believe themselves entitled to, and by the naval regulations have ascertained those duties for the performance and observance of which, on the part of their subjects, they, as neutral powers, make themselves answerable. The object of their majesties is to confirm and

Swedish ships.

So far from desiring to introduce any innovations with respect to the maritime state of Europe, by the assertion of their rights of neutrality, their majesties are sensible that it gives no power whatever where those rights were not acknowledged by former treaties. England has seen those treaties; England has seen those treaties executed: they were officially communicated to her, and she did not protest against them. In like manner it was, with regard to the convention of 1780 and 1781; and the ministry, who now proceed with so much violence, know that the partial renewal of that convention between Sweden and Denmark in 1794, and the armament that followed, operated during a period of three years, without ever being considered as grounds for hostilities; yet a similar convention is now deemed an hostile confederacy against England. A line of conduct so contradictory, proceeds not from the circumstance of the principles

principles and claims of neutral rights having been now enforced; but it seems to have its foundation in that maritime system which Eng land has established in the course of the present war. It appears also, that that government, which Europe, from its pacific sentiments, has so often endeavoured to convince of the injustice of its pretensions, has now determined to commence a war for the subjection of the sea, after it has rendered itself so renowned in the war undertaken for the freedom of Europe.

If the British minister will refer to the conduct of England against Sweden, and the neutral powers in general, during this war, he will find the real cause why his Swedish majesty has been induced to believe that the formal alliance of several powers, acting upon the same principles, would more effectually tend to convince the court of London of the validity of those principles than by any one power renewing those reclamations which have hitherto been made in vain; at the same time his majesty never supposed that such an alliance would be considered as an act of hostility. The British minister complains that the court of London was not before instructed of the intention of the respective courts to renew the convention of 1780; but in the same note he states, that England had. entered into engagements this war with its allies respecting neutrals; thus the avowal of the British minister is an answer to his own charge.

If his majesty was not fully convinced of the innocence of his intentions, and if he was desirous of deviating from that line of moderation he has ever observed, he might make an invidious and censurable

enumeration of the conduct of England; of the unpunished offences of the commanders of English ships of war, even in Swedish harbours.; of the inquisitorial examinations to which the captains and crews of the ships detained, as well in the West Indies as in England, have been subject; of the detention of the convoy in 1798; of the deceitful chicanery with which the proceedings of the courts of admiralty were accompanied; of the absolute denial of justice in many instances; and lastly, by the insult offered to the Swedish flag at Barcelona. His Swedish majesty must, doubtless, state among the offences of which he has cause to complain, that after one of his ministers had been sent to the British court, its aggressions, instead of being admitted and remedied, were justified. But he has sought no revenge; his majesty wishes only to procure that security to his flag to which it is entitled. In consequence of this sentiment, the undersigned is empowered to declare, that the British court shall acknowledge the rights of Sweden; that it shall do justice with regard to the convoys detained in 1798, as well as respecting the violence offered to the Swedish flag at Barcelona; and above all, that it shall take off the embargo which has been so unjustly laid on the Swedish ships. His majesty will, with the greatest pleasure, see his ports again opened to the trade of England, and the ancient good understanding between the two courts renewed. His majesty, impressed with that dignity due to his empire, has, in consequence of the embargo laid upon the Swedish ships, placed a similar embargo on all English vessels in the harbours of Sweden.

As the pacific tendency of the present convention has been proved to a demonstration, his majesty therefore hopes that no consideration, respecting any accidental occurrence which may have taken place between the ally of his majesty, the emperor of Russia, and the court of London, will be introduced. The act of the convention itself proves, that its bases are the rights of neutrality, and that it is in its nature unconnected with every other subject of dispute.

While the undersigned minister plenipotentiary of his Swedish majesty recommends the contents of this present note to the earnest consideration of the minister of his Britannic majesty, he has the honour to entreat that his excellency lord Hawkesbury will transmit him an answer, which he hopes will speak the sentiments of the king his mas

reign affairs, has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note of baron Ehrensward, his Swedish majesty's minister plenipotentiary, of the date of the 4th instant; his majesty has already repeatedly communicated his fixed unalterable determination, to maintain those established principles of maritime law, which have been found, by the experience of ages, best calculated to afford equal security to the just rights and interests as well of neutral as of belligerent powers.

The explanations attempted to be given to the present convention, have in no degree weakened the impression which the first perusal of it produced, that the views and motives of the contracting powers were hostile to his majesty's dominions; and this impression is most fully confirmed by the consideration, that the northern courts have recurred to the principles of the convention of 1780, at a moment when the circumstances of the war, and the relative state of the navies of the belligerent powers, convert that which was pretended to be a measure of common equity to all countries, into an instrument of exclusive injury to Great Britain.

Under these circumstances, the embargo on Swedish vessels can be considered in no other view than as an act of just and necessary precaution, which will not be revoked, so long as the court of Stockholm continues to form a part of a confederacy, which has for its object to

to the Note of the Swedish Ambassador.

The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for fo

a new system of maritime law, inconsistent with the dignity and independence of his crown, and the rights and interests of his people.

The

The undersigned requests baron Ehrensward will accept the assurances of his high consideration.

(Signed) Hawkesbury. Downing Street, March 7, 1801.

der, they are to seize the articles, and to send advice thereof forthwith."

In consequence, this order, after having been transmitted by his ex cellency the civil governor in council,in order to its being correctly executed, is, by these presents, com

H

February, 1801.

IS excellency the civil governor and counsellor of state,chevalier Von Richter, has received the following communication from the commercial college of the empire: That his imperial majesty, being convinced, by experience, that the productions and merchandize

the merchants in this city.

Dated Riga, Feb. 12, 1801.

Proclamation of the Emperor Alexander, on his Accession to the Throne of Russia.

Prussia into England, his said majesty has thought proper to order, that the transportation of these productions and merchandizes through Prussia, whether by land or sea, shall be severely prohibited; and that, in order to accomplish this sovereign order, the most severe inspection shall take place, in conformity with the ukase of the 15th of December, 1800. The commercial college has, in consequence, required all civil governors, 1st, To communicate, through the medium of the magistrates, this order to the body of the merchants. 2dly, To order the magistrates to instruct their brokers to insert, as a stipulation in their contract, whether made with foreign or Russian merchants, that the articles bought or sold shall not, under any pretence, be sent into Prussia by any channel. The two parties shall bind themselves to this. The magistrates are also bound to suffer none of the merchandizes to pass thither on any pretence; and if any one shall refuse to obey this or

ander the First, emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, &c. declare to all our faithful subjects,

It has pleased the decrees of the Almighty to shorten the life of our beloved parent sovereign emperor Paul Petrovitz, who died suddenly by an apoplectic stroke, at night between the 11th and 12th days of this month. We, on receiving the imperial hereditary throne of all the Russias, do receive also at the same time the obligation to govern the people committed unto us by the Almighty, according to the laws, and the heart of her who rests in God, our most august grandmother, sovereign empress Catharine the Great, whose memory will be dear for ever to us, and the whole country. Following the steps of her wise intentions, we hope to arrive at the object of carrying Russia to the summit of glory, and to procure an uninterrupted happiness to all our faithful subjects, whom we do hereby invite to seal their fidelity to us by oath, before the face of all seeing God, whose assistance we implore to

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