Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the interests of the British empire, thinks that it cannot better fulfil the duties which such a circumstance prescribes, than by addressing itself directly to the minister of his Danish majesty, to demand from him a frank and satisfactory explanation.

In all the courts of Europe they speak openly of a confederacy between Denmark and some other powers, to oppose by force the exercise of those principles of maritime law on which the naval power of the British empire in a great measure rests, and which in all wars have been followed by the maritime states, and acknowledged by their tribunals.

His Britannic majesty, relying with confidence upon the loyalty of his Danish majesty, and upon the faith of the engagements recently contracted between the two courts, has not demanded from him any explanation on this head. It was his wish to wait for the moment when the court of Denmark should think it its duty to contradict those reports, so injurious to its good faith, and so little compatible with the maintenance of the good understanding which had been re-established between the two countries, At present the conduct and the public declaration of one of the powers, which it is pretended have entered into this confederacy, do not permit his majesty to preserve any longer towards the rest the same silence which he has hitherto observed.

The undersigned therefore finds himself bound to demand from his excellency count de Bernstorff, a plain, open, and satisfactory an swer on the nature, object, and extent of the obligations which his Danish majesty may have contracted, or the negotiations which

he is carrying on with respect to ą matter which so nearly concerns the dignity of his Britannic majesty, and the interests of his people.

His Britannic majesty, always ready to return all the marks of friendship which he may receive on the part of his Danish majesty, hopes to find, in the answer of the court of Copenhagen to this request, only a new occasion of ma nifesting these dispositions.

In transmitting this note, to M. the secretary of state, the undersigned avails himself, with pleasure, of this opportunity, to assure him of the high consideration with which he has the honour to be

His very humble and

very obedient servant, W. DRUMMOND, To his excellency the count de Bernstorff, secretary of state of his Danish ma jesty, &c. &c.

Note in Answer.

The undersigned secretary of state for foreign affairs, having given an account to the king his master of the contents of the note which Mr. Drummond has done him the honour to transmit to him on the 27th instant, is authorised to return the answer which follows:

The court of London must have received very incorrect information, to have been able for a moment to presume that Denmark had conceived projects hostile against it, or incompatible with the mainte nance of the good understanding which subsists between the two crowns; and the king is very much obliged to his Britannic majesty for having furnished him with the opportunity of contradicting, in the most positive manner, reports as ill founded, as contrary to his most decided sentiments.

The

The negotiation which is carrying on at St. Petersburg between Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark, has no other object than the renewal of the engagements which in the years 1780 and 1781 were contracted by the same powers for the safety of their navigation, and of which a communication was at that time made to all the courts of Europe.

His majesty the emperor of Russia having proposed to the powers of the North to re-establish these engagements in their original form, Denmark has so much the less hesitated to consent to it, as, far from having ever abandoned the principles professed in 1780, she has thought it her duty to maintain them, and claim them upon all occasions, and not allow herself to admit in respect of them any other modifications than those which result from her treaties with the belligerent powers.

Very far from wishing to interrupt those powers in the exercise of rights which the war gives them, Denmark introduces into the negotiation with her allies none but views absolutely defensive, pacific, and incapable of giving offence or provocation to any one. The engagements she will make will be founded upon the strictest fulfil ment of the duties of neutrality, and of the obligations which her treaties impose upon her; and if she wishes to shelter her innocent navigation from the manifest abuses and violence which the maritime war produces but too easily, she thinks she pays respect to the belligerent powers by supposing, that, far from wishing to authorise or tolerate those abuses, they would, on their side, adopt measures best calculated to prevent or repress them.

Denmark has not made a mys

tery to any one of the object of her negotiation, upon the nature of which some suspicion has been infused into the court of London; but she has not thought that she departed from the usual forms, in wishing to wait the definitive result of it, in order to communicate an official account of it to the powers at war.

The undersigned, not knowing that any of the powers engaged in this negotiation has made a declaration, or adopted measures relative to its object, at which Great Britain might take offence or um brage, cannot without ulterior explanation reply to this point of Mr. Drummond's note.

Much less does he conceive in what respect the engagement taken by the previous convention of the 29th of August last can be con sidered as contrary to those which Denmark is about to enter into with the neutral and united powers of the North; and in all cases in which he shall find himself cailed upon to combat or remove the doubts that shall have been con ceived with respect to the good faith of the king, he shall consider his task to be very easy, as long as this good faith shall be introduced into the reproaches or the suspicions advanced against his majesty. He flatters himself that the English government, after having received the required explanations, will have the frankness to allow that the provi sional and momentary abandonment, not of a principle the question with respect to which remained undecided, but of a measure whose right has never been nor ever can be contested, cannot be found at all in opposition to the general and permanent principles, relative to which the powers of the North are upon the point of establishing a cooperation,

operation, which, so far from being calculated to compromise their neutrality, is destined only to strengthen it.

The undersigned would fain believe that these explanations will appear satisfactory to the court of London; and that the latter will do justice to the intentions and sentiments of the king, and particucularly to his majesty's invariable desire to maintain and cement, by all the means in his power, the friendship and good understanding which subsist between Denmark

and Great Britain.

He has the honour to offer to Mr. Drummond the assurance of his most distinguished consideration. (Signed) BERNSTORFF. Copenhagen, Dec. 31, 1800.

CONVENTION OF THE NORTHERN POWERS. Convention for the Re-establishment of an Armed Neutrality between His Majesty the King of Sweden, of the one Part, and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, of the other Part, concluded and signed at St. Petersburg, the 4th (16th) of December, 1800, accepted and ratified by IIis Swedish Majesty on the 20th December, and by His Imperial Majesty of all the Russias on the 8th (20th) December, in the same Year.

In the Name of the Most Holy

and Undivided Trinity. In order that the freedom of the navigation and the security of the merchandise of the neutral powers may be established, and the principles of the laws of nations be fully ascertained, during the continuance of the present maritime war, his majesty the king of Sweden, and his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, actuated by their

love of justice, and by a reciprocal desire to promote whatever may be for the public advantage of their respective states, have to that effect determined to give a new sanction to those principles of their neu trality, which are in their nature indissoluble, and to require that they may be respected by all powers interested in their preservation. With this view their majesties. have, by their declaration of the 15th August to the northern courts, who are equally concerned in the maintenance of those general regulations anciently recognised, given them to understand how sincerely it is the object of their hearts to restore, in its full independence, the general right of all nations to convey their ships and merchandise freely, and without being subject to the control of the powers at war. His Swedish majesty imparted his wishes and his sentiments to his great allies, and an happy conformity of their mutual interests has induced them to adopt the resolution of re-establishing that system of an armed neutrality which was attended with such advantages during the American war, and to renew its bencficial principles in a convention adapted to the present circum-, stances. To this end his majesty the king of Sweden, and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, have nominated as their plenipotentiaries, namely, his Swedish majesty, baron Curt von Stedingk, ambassador extraordinary to his imperial majesty of all the Russias, lieutenant-general, chamber. lain of the queen dowager, colonel of a regiment of infantry, knight, and commander of the order of the sword, and knight of the French order pour les mérites militaires; and his imperial majesty of all the

Russias,

Russias, baron count Theodore von Kostopsin, his right trusty privy councillor, member of the council principale, minister of the college of foreign affairs, director-general of the posts of the empire, grand chancellor and grand cross of the sovereign order of St. John of Je-, rusalem, knight of the first class of the orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, and St. Anne, knight of the order of St. Lazarus, de l'Annonciade, of St. Morrice and St. Lazarus, of St. Ferdinand and St. Hubert; who, after exchan-, ging their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following

articles:

[blocks in formation]

II. In order to prevent all doubts and misunderstandings as to what shall be considered contraband, his majesty the king of Sweden, and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, declare, that they will acknowledge the following articles as contraband, namely, cannons, mortars, fire-arms, balls, flints, flintstones, matches, gunpowder, saltpetre, sulphur, helmets, pikes, swords, hangers, cartridge-boxes, saddles and bridles, with the exception of such a quantity of the above.articles as may be necessary for the defence of the ships and their crew: all other articles not berein enumerated shall not be considered as war or naval stores, they shall not be subject to confiscation, but shall pass free and without restraint. It is also hereby

agreed, that the present article shall be without prejudice to the particular stipulations of former treaties with the powers at war, by virtue of which, the things above mentioned are allowed or prohibited..

I11. And whereas it is resolved, That whatever, by virtue of the foregoing article, can be deemed contraband, shall he excluded from the commerce of neutral nations; in like manner his majesty the king of Sweden, and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, will and determine that all other merchandise shall be and remain free; and in order that the general principles of the laws of nature, of which the freedom of trade and navigation, as well as the rights of neutral nations, are the immediate consequence, may be, placed under a competent and sure safeguard, they have resolved no longer to delay that voluntary explanation from which they have hitherto been restrained by motives of their separate and temporary. interests. With this view they have hereby determined,

1. That every ship may freely navigate from one harbour to another, and on the coasts of the belligerent nations.

2. That the effects which belong to the subjects of the belligerent powers in neutral ships, with the exception of contraband goods, shall be free.

3. That in order to determine what shall be considered as a blockaded harbour, such denomination shall be admitted to apply only where the disposition and number of the ships of the power by which it is invested, shall be such as to render it apparently hazardous to enter, and that every ship which shall go into a blockaded

harbour,

harbour, that is evidently so blockaded, violates the present convention, as much as if the commander of the blockade had previously advised it of the state of the harbour, and it had nevertheless endeavoured by force or artifice to obtain admis

sion.

4. That with regard to neutral ships, except those which, for just reasons, and upon evident grounds, shall be detained, sentence shall be pronounced without delay; the proceedings against them shall be uniform, prompt, and lawful. Over and above the indemnity to which they shall be intitled for the damage they shall have sustained, complete satisfaction shall be given for the insult committed against the flag of their majesties.

5. That the declaration of the officers who shall command the ship of war, or ships of war, of the king or emperor, which shall be convoying one or more merchant ships, that the convoy has no contraband goods on board, shall be sufficient; and that no search of his ship, or the other ships of the convoy, shall be permitted. And the better to ensure respect to those principles, and the stipulations founded upon them, which their disinterested wishes to preserve the imprescriptible rights of neutral nations have suggested, the high contracting parties, to prove their sincerity and justice, will give the strictest orders to their captains, as well of their ships of war as of their merchant ships, to load no part of their ships with, or secretly to have on board, any articles which, by virtue of this present convention, may be considered as contraband: and for the more completely carrving into execution this command, they will respectively take care to give directions to their courts of

admiralty to publish it whenever they shall think it necessary; and to this end the regulation which shall contain this prohibition, under the several penalties, shall he printed at the end of the present act, that no one may plead igno

rance.

Art. IV. In order to place the commerce of their subjects upon the most legal and permanent basis, his majesty the king of Sweden, and his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, have deemed it expedient to equip a number of ships of war and frigates, which shall be charged to see that object obtained; and the squadrons of each power shall take those stations, and protect those convoys, which their com merce and their navigation may require, and which shall be conformable to the course of trade of each nation.

V. To provide against all inconveniences which may proceed from any nation abusing the privi lege of their flag, it is established as a regulation not to be departed from, that every transport, be it whose it may, belonging to the country whose flag it bears, shall have on board a captain and the half of the crew composed of the subjects of that country, and the passport shall be drawn up in due and regular form. Every transport which shall not observe these regu lations, or shall violate the command printed at the end of this present convention, shall forfeit all right to the protection of the contracting parties, and the government to which it may belong shall alone be responsible for all the loss, damage, or inconvenience it may sustain.

VI. Should it nevertheless happen that the merchant ship of one of the powers should find itself in a

situation

« AnteriorContinuar »