situation where the ships of war of that nation are not stationed, and where they cannot have the protection of their own convoys, in such case the commandant of the ship of war of the other power, if it shall be required, shall duly and faithfully afford such assistance as inay be necessary. The ships of war and frigates of other nations shall afford protection and assist ance to the merchant vessels of the other, provided, in the mean time, that the vessel requiring such assistance shall not have violated the principles of the neutrality, by hav ing carried on any illicit commerce. VII. This convention shall have no retrospective operation, and consequently it shall have no reference to any differences that existed previous to its conclusion. Its application shall only be to future acts of violence aud aggression, and it shall form the basis of a sy stem for the protection of all the neutral nations of Europe, whose rights may hereafter be denied or violated.

VIII. Should it, notwithstanding all the possible care of the two powers; and notwithstanding the observance of the most perfect neutrality on their sides, so happen that the merchant ships of his majesty the king of Sweden, or of his imperial majesty of all the Russias, should be insulted, plundered, or taken by the ships of war or privateers of one or other of the belli gerent powers, the minister of the injured party shall forthwith represent the same to the government whose ship of war or privateer shall have committed such act of violence; he shall reclaim the captured vessel, demand due satisfaction, and by no means lose sight of the insult offered to the flag. The ministers of the other contracting 1804

power shall also enforce the complaint in the most energetic and determined manner possible, and they shall generally and uniformly act in concert together. Should their just complaint meet with no redress, or should it be postponed from time to time, then shall their majesties have recourse to reprisals against such power as shall have refused to do justice; and they shall endeavour, by every possible means, to give effect to such reprisals.

IX. Should it happen that one or the other of the two powers, or both, on account of, or from dislike to, the present convention, or any circumstance connected with it, should be disquieted, molested, or attacked; in such case it is agreed, that the two powers shall make it a common cause, mutually to defend each other; and they shall reciprocally employ every exertion to obtain full and complete satisfaction, as well for the in ult done to their flag as for the injury sustained by their subjects.

X. The principles and regulations stipulated and settled by this present act shall apply to every maritime war, by which Europe may unhappily be disquieted. These stipulations shall also be considered as perpetual, and upon all occasions shall be appealed to by the contracting powers for the regula tion of their commerce and navigation, and for the maintenance of the rights of neutral nations.

XI. As the object and main consideration of this convention is to assure the general freedom of commerce and navigation, his majesty the king of Sweden, and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, hereby agree, and bind themselves to each other, to give their consent that other neutral powers may be

(I)

come

come parties to it, adopt its princi-, ples, conform to its obligations, and partake of its advantages.

XII. In order that the bellige rent powers may not have to plead ignorance of the arrangements concluded between their said majesties, information shall be given to such belligerent powers of the regulations they have determined upon, which are so little of an hostile nature, that they can be detrimental to no other country whatever; but, on the contrary, are only calculated to secure the commerce and navigation of their respective subjects.

XIII. The present convention shall be ratified by the two contracting parties, and the ratification shall be exchanged, in due and good form, within six weeks, or sooner, if possible, from the day of signing it.

In testimony of the same, we, the undersigned, furnished with full powers, have hereunto signed our names, and affixed our seals.

Given at St. Petersburg the 4th (16th) of December, 1800. (Signed) CURT VON STEDINCK,

VON KOSTOPSIN.

[Here follows the ratification of their Swedish and imperial majesties, countersigned by Joh Christ de Toll, and count Kostopsin. There is also the regulation referred to in the convention; it consists of fifteen articles. It is dated St. Petersburg, the 23d of December, 1900.]

Answer of Baron Ehrensward to the Notification of Lord Grenville, of the 15th of January, stating, that an Embargo had been laid on the Danish and Swedish Ships in England.

The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of his imperial Swedish

majesty, received the official notikcation, by which his excellency lord Grenville, first minister of state, signified to the undersigned, that his Britannic majesty had ordered an embargo to be laid on all the Swedish ships that should 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 a tonishment by his imperial majesty, who was not only unconscious of having given his Britannic majesty the least. cause of complaint, but, on the contrary, was entitled to have demanded indemnification for repeated aggressions. Actuated by this reflexion, he rather expected that the notification was transmitted with the view to bury his grievances in oblivion than to give occasion for fresh ones, which should renew the remembrance of the past.

As the English court has stated, 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 assuredly would, in proper time, have received, of a convention, which is considered in so odious a point of view, as to urge it to an act of violence against a court, whose connexion with England nothing else could have disturbed. As the dispute between the Russian 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 see no just rea son 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

of December, which has but just been received, should be attacked in so hostile a manner, before any answer had been given to the insinuations 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 protest, as far as by the present act he can formally protest, against the embargo laid on the Swedish ships, and all loss or damage that may be thereby occasioned. He demands, in the most forcible and expressive terms, that, in pursuance of the stipulations of the treaty of 1661, the embargo may be taken off, the continuance of which can no otherwise be considered than as a designed and premeditated declaration of war on the part of England.

The undersigned, whom the expression of the desire of the British court could not escape, observes, in the hostile determinations by which it is accompanied, only a desire to give his imperial Swedish majesty cause of complaint, as well by the detention of the convoy, as in respect to the affair at Barcelona. He wishes the British court had confirmed the truth of its assurances by its actions, in which case this court would have been actuated by corresponding sentiments. The under signed has the honour, &c.

(Signed)

BARON VON EHRENSWARD, London, Jan. 17, 1801.

Regulation alluded to in the Northern Convention, as published by the King of Sweden.

The preamble states the necessity of rendering the rights of commerce clear and explicit. For this effect, in order to secure the protection of the government, the commerce of

Sweden must observe the following requisites:-

1. In order that a ship be entitled to be considered as a Swede, she must be built in Sweden, or the provinces under her dominion; or shipwrecked on the Swedish coast, and there sold or bought in a foreign country by a legal and authentic contract. If such purchase is made in a country threatened with war, it shall be considered as lawful as soon as three months have elapsed before its actually breaking out. Every ship purchased must be naturalised. As, however, the naturalisation of ships bought in a foreign country, and afterwards taken by a cruiser belonging to any of the belligerent powers, may frequently produce disagreeable explanations in the sequel, it is hereby declared, that in time of war ships shall not be allowed to be naturalised, which have formerly been the property of the bellige rents, or their subjects; nevertheless, with the exception of all ships that were naturalised before the present regulation was adopted, which shall enjoy all the rights which are connected with the cha racter of neutrals and Swedes.

2. The captain of the ship must be provided with all papers requisite and proper for the security of his voyage. Of this kind are (in case the ship goes through the Sound), a certificate of the place where the vessel was built, an invoice, letters showing the cargo not contraband, Turkish and Latin passports, a certificate by the magistrate of the place, a pass for the crew, a copy of the oath for the owner, a charterparty with the subscription of the freighter, the captain, and the person freighting the vessel, a manifest with the like subscriptions, containing a list of the different (1 2)

articles

articles of the lading, and the conditions of the intended voyage, and a bill of health, where the same is necessary. If the voyage be merely to the ports of the Baltic, or the Sound, the Turkish and Latin passes are not necessary; but the captain must have all the other papers enumerated, without exception.

3. All these documents must be made out and delivered in a Swedish port, unless when a ship has lost her papers by accident, or where they have been forcibly taken away; in which case these documents may be renewed in a foreign port, if the captain, immediately on his arrival, takes the precaution to exhibit an authentic and properly certified declaration by which the accident is proved, or the grounds stated on which he desires the renewal.

4. The captain is prohibited to have false acts or certificates, or duplicates thereof. He is likewise prohibited to make use of a foreign flag. 5. It is required that the captain and half of the crew shall be Swedish subjects.

6. Captains going to the main ocean shall be bound to follow the course pointed out in their instructions, and agreeable to the contents of their certification.

7. Ships destined for the ports of a belligerent power must, with the utmost care, and under the severest penalties, avoid carrying any contraband commodities. To prevent all doubt or misunderstanding respecting what is contraband, it is agreed that the following goods shall be considered contraband*.

S. All Swedish subjects are prohibited to fit out privateers against the belligerents, their subjects and property.

9. A Swedish ship cannot be employed by a belligerent power to transport troops, arms, or any warlike implements. Should any captain be compelled to do so by superior force, he is bound at least to exhibit a formal protest against such violence.

10. When a merchant ship is not under convoy, and happens to be brought-to by a ship of war or privateer belonging to any of the belligerents, the captain shall not, in that case, oppose the searching of his vessel, but be bound faithfully to show all acts and documents which relate to her cargo. The captain and his people are strictly prohibited to keep back or destroy any of their papers.

11. If, however, such ship makes part of a convoy, the foregoing article shall not serve as the rule, but the captain's duty consists in punctually obeying the signals of the commodore of the convoy; for which purpose, therefore, he shall separate as little as possible from the convoy.

12. All captains are expressly forbidden to attempt going into a blockaded port as soon as they are formally apprised by the officer commanding the blockade. In order to ascertain what a blockaded harbour is, this appellation is confined to those to which, by the exertions of the blockading power, with ships destined and adequate to the object, it is evidently dangerous to attempt running in.

13. In case a Swedish merchant ship is captured by a ship of war or privateer of any of the belligerents, the captain shall immediately transmit a circumstantial account, and duly explained, to the Swedish

See p. (127).

consul or vice-consul of the place to which the ship is taken; and should there be no consul or viceconsul there, he shall transmit a memorial to the Swedish consul of the district to which the place into which his ship is taken belongs.

14. Every captain of a Swedish merchantman, who strictly observes the above regulations and orders, shall enjoy a free voyage, protected by the laws of nations and the provisions of treaties; and to this end, all public agents and Swedish consuls are required, in case of attack or insult, to give their support to the just and well founded complaints on the subject. But those who in any point whatever neglect or violate their orders, must answer for the consequences of their conduct, without relying upon the protection of his majesty.

15. By the contents of a recent order, his majesty has prohibited the privateers of a foreign nation to enter, or bring their prizes into the ports of his kingdom, except in case of their being driven in by stress of weather. In this case it is expressly prohibited to all whatsoever to buy the prizes, or any of the effects which the privateers have taken.

To which end, publication, &c. Given at St. Petersburg, 23d December, 1800.

(Signed)

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

First Note of Lord Carysfort to Count Haugwitz. Berlin, Nov. 16, 1800. The instant lord Carysfort, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic majesty, learned that his Prussian majesty was preparing to order a detachment of his troops to enter Cux

haven, and that the reason which the public thought proper to assign for that measure was the refusal given by the government of Hamburg to cause a vessel to be released, which, taken by one of the ships of war of his Britannic majesty, had been compelled, in order to avoid the dangers of the sea, to enter that port, he thought it his duty to demand an audience of his excellency count Haugwitz, minister of state and of the cabinet, for the purpose of obtaining information with respect to that affair.

He received from his excellency the assurance that the intentions of his Prussian majesty were in no view hostile or contrary to the interests of Great Britain; but that the occupation of Cuxhaven had for its principal object the maintenance of the authority of his Prussian majesty, in his character of chief and protector of the neutrality of the north of Germany, and that it was conducted with the consent of the city of Hamburg itself.

Lord Carysfort, not being exactly acquainted with the circumstances under which the vessel in question found itself, deferred, to another occasion, the observations which he might have wished to submit to his excellency. He has now grounds to believe, that, laden with contraband goods, it was captured by one of his Britannic majesty's ships as it was entering into the Texel; that is to say, into a port belonging to the enemies of his majesty; and that it was restored as

soon as the officer who had the charge of it could be informed of the orders of his superiors.

With respect to the occupation of the town of Cuxhaven by the Prussian troops, which must have (I 3)

been