and the stringency of its articles.
1. That the British Islands are in a state of
blockade.
2. That all commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited, consequently no letters or packets, written in England, or to an Englishman, if written in the English language, shall be despatched from the post-offices, but shall be seized.
3. That every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condition, who is found in countries occupied by French troops, or those of her allies, shall be made prisoner of war.
4. That every warehouse, and all merchandise or property whatever, belonging to an Englishman, are declared good prize.
5. That one half of the proceeds of merchandise declared to be good prize, and forfeited as in the preceding articles, shall go to indemnify merchants who have suffered losses by the English cruisers.
6. That no vessel coming directly from England, or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of this decree, shall be admitted into any port.
7. That every vessel which, by a false declaration, contravenes the foregoing dispositions, shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property; and that the councils of prizes at Paris and at Milan are authorized to take cognisance of whatever cases might arise in the empire and in Italy, under this article; the whole instrument winding up with orders to communicate its provisions to the kings of Spain, Naples, Holland, Etruria, and to all others the allies of the French, whose subjects, as well as the subjects of France, "were victims of the injuries and barbarity of the English maritime code."
