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21st day of April, 1812, "That if at any time hereafter the Berlin and Milan decrees shall, by some authentic act of the French government, publicly promulgated, be absolutely and unconditionally repealed, then and from thenceforth the order in council of the 7th of January, 1807, and the order in council of the 26th of April, 1809, shall, without any further order, be, and the same are hereby declared from thenceforth to be wholly and absolutely revoked:"

And whereas the charge des affaires of the United States of America, resident at this court, did, on the 20th day of May last, transmit to lord viscount Castlereagh, one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, a copy of a certain instrument, then for the first time communicated to this court, purporting to be a decree passed by the government of France, on the 28th day of April, 1811, by which the decrees of Berlin and Milan are declared to be definitively no longer in force in regard to American vessels.

And whereas his royal highness the prince regent, although he cannot consider the tenor of the said instrument as satisfying the conditions set forth in the said order of the 21st of April last, upon which the said orders were to cease and determine, is nevertheless disposed on his part to take such measures as may tend to re-establish the intercourse between neutral and belligerent nations, upon its accustomed principles-his royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, is therefore pleased, by and with the advice of his majesty's privy council, to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that the order in council bearing date the 7th day of January, 1807, and the order in council bearing date the 26th day of April, 1809, be revoked, so far as may regard American vessels and their cargoes, being American property, from the 1st day of August next.

But whereas, by certain acts of the government of the United States of America, all British armed vessels are excluded from the harbours and waters of the said United States, the armed vessels of France being permitted to enter therein; and the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and the said United States is interdicted, the commercial intercourse between France and the said United States having been restored; his royal highness the prince regent is pleased hereby further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that if the government of the said United States shall not, as soon as may be, after this order shall have been duly notified by his majesty's minister in America to the said government, revoke, or cause to be revoked, the said acts, this present order shall in that case,

after due notice signified by his majesty's minister in America to the said government, be thenceforth null and of no effect.

It is further ordered and declared, that all American vessels and their cargoes being American property, that shall have been captured subsequently to the 20th day of May last, for a breach of the aforesaid orders in council alone, and which shall not have actually been condemned before the date of this order; and that all ships and cargoes as aforesaid, that shall henceforth be captured under the said orders, prior to the first day of August next, shall not be proceeded against to condemnation till further orders, but shall, in the event of this order not becoming null and of no effect, in the case aforesaid, be forthwith liberated and restored, subject to such reasonable expenses on the part of the captors as shall been justly incurred.

Provided, that nothing in this order contained, respecting the revocation of the orders herein mentioned, shall be taken to revive wholly or in part the orders in council of the 11th of November, 1807, or any other order not herein mentioned, or to deprive parties of any legal remedy to which they may entitled under the order in council of the 21st of April, 1812.

His royal highness the prince regent is hereby pleased further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that nothing in this present order contained, shall be understood to preclude his royal highness the prince regent, if circumstances shall so require, from restoring, after reasonable notice, the orders of the 7th of January, 1807, and 6th of April, 1809, or any part thereof, to their full effect, or from taking such other measures of retaliation against the enemy, as may appear to his royal highness to be just and necessary.

And the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesty's treasury, his majesty's principal secretaries of state, the lords commissioners of the admiralty, and the judge of the high court of admiralty, and the judges of the courts of viceadmiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein as to them may respectively appertain.

(Copy.) My Lord,

18 Bentinck Street, June 26, 1812. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the two notes addressed to me by your lordship on the 23d of this month, enclosing an order in council issued that day by his royal highness the prince regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Britannic majesty, for the revocation (on the conditions therein specified) of the orders in council of the 7th of January, 1807,

and of the 26th of April, 1809, so far as may regard American vessels and their cargoes, being American property, from the 1st of August next.

In communicating this document to my government, I shall, with much satisfaction, accompany it with the hopes which you state to be entertained by his royal highness the prince regent, that it may accelerate a good understanding on all points of difference between the two states.

I am the more encouraged to believe that these hopes will not be disappointed, from the assurance which your lordship was pleased to give me, in the conversation of this morning, that, in the opinion of your lordship, the blockade of the 16th of May, 1806, had been merged in the orders in council, now revoked and extinguished with them; and that no condition contained in the order of the 23d instant, is to be interpreted to restrain the government of the United States from the exercise of its right to exclude British armed vessels from the harbours and waters of the United States, whenever there shall be special and sufficient cause for so doing, or whenever such exclusion shall, from a general policy, be extended to the armed vessels of the enemies of Great Britain; this assurance I am happy to consider as evidence of a conciliatory spirit, which will afford on every other point of difference an explanation equally frank and satisfactory.

I am, my lord, with great consideration, your lordship's most obedient servant, (Signed)

Sir,

JONA. RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State.

London, 2d July, 1812.

I avail myself of the opportunity afforded by the British packet, to transmit to you a copy of a note from lord Castlereagh, of the 29th ultimo, which I trust will put at rest the blockade of 1806.

I acknowledged the receipt of this note, as you will observe by the enclosed copy of my reply, without a comment.

I did not think it useful to enter into a discussion at this moment, concerning the legality of that blockade, which, as no new doctrine appears to be assumed, is made to depend upon the fact, the application of an adequate force.

In like manner I have forborne to notice his lordship's observations concerning the exclusion from our ports of British vessels of war. As such exclusion is required to accord with the

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obligations of strict neutrality only, the conduct and character of the government of the United States furnish security against any question arising on that subject.

I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed)

JONA. RUSSELL.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell.

Foreign Office, June 29, 1812. Lord Castlereagh has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Russell's communication of the 26th instant.

That no mistake may prevail upon the explanation given in conversation by lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell, on the two points referred to in Mr. Russell's letter, lord Castlereagh begs leave to re-state to Mr. Russell, with respect to the blockade of May, 1806, that, in point of fact, this particular blockade has been discontinued for a length of time; the general retaliatory blockade of the enemy's ports, established under the orders in council of November, 1807, having rendered the enforcement of it by his majesty's ships of war no longer necessary, and that his majesty's government have no intention of recurring to this, or to any other blockade of the enemy's ports, founded upon the ordinary and accustomed principles of maritime law, which were in force previous to the order in council, without a new notice to neutral powers in the usual forms.

With respect to the provision of the order of the 23d instant, which refers to the admission of British ships of war into the harbours and waters of the United States, lord Castlereagh informs Mr. Russell, that this claim is made in consequence of his majesty's ships being now excluded, whilst those of the enemy are admitted. It is the partial admission of one of the belligerents of which Great Britain feels herself entitled to complain, as a preference in favour of the enemy incompatible with the obligations of strict neutrality. Were the exclusion general, the British government would consider such a measure, on the part of America, as matter of discussion between the two states, but not as an act of partiality of which they had in the first instance a right to complain.

Lord Castlereagh avails himself of this opportunity to renew to Mr. Russell the assurances of his high consideration.

Mr. Russell to Lord Castlereagh.

18 Bentinck Street, 1st July, 1812. Mr. Russell has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note of lord Castlereagh, dated the 29th ultimo, containing

explanations relative to the two points referred to in Mr. Russell's note of the 26th of that month, and will take the earliest opportunity of communicating it to his government.

Mr. Russell begs leave to avail himself of this occasion to repeat to lord Castlereagh the assurances of his high conside

ration.

Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting his annual Report on the state of the Finances; prepared in obedience to the act to establish the Treasury Department.

Sir,

Treasury Department, June 2d, 1813. I have the honour to transmit a report prepared in obedience to the "Act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to establish the treasury department."

I have the honour to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient

servant,

W. JONES,

Acting Secretary of the Treasury.

The Honourable the Speaker

of the House of Representatives.

In obedience to the act "Supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to establish the treasury department," the acting secretary of the treasury respectfully submits the following

REPORT:

The receipts into the treasury from the first
of October, 1812, to the 31st of March,
1813, have amounted to

The balance in the treasury on the 30th of
September, 1812, was

$ 15,412,416 25

2,362,652 69

Making together $ 17,775,068 94

The expenditures from the first of October,
1812, to the 31st of March, 1813, have
amounted to

Leaving a balance in the treasury on 1st of
April, 1813, of

$ 15,919,334 41

1,855,734 53

$17,775,068 94

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