In this order the falsification of certificates of origin was specially dealt with, and vessels carrying such simulated papers were declared lawful prizes. On the 18th of November another Order in Council was issued approving the draft of instructions to the commanders of H.M. ships of war and privateers to carry out the previous order. On the 25th of November additional orders and instructions were issued, containing supplemental provisions, and specifying the periods at which the Orders in Council of the 11th of November should come into operation at distant ports of the world; and, on the 18th of December, 1807, further supplemental orders were promulgated, all directed to carry out the views of government in the West Indian colonies and in the Mediterranean.[1]
The Order in Council[2] of the 11th of November is referred to even in the present day as a justification of the Berlin Decree. It ought, however, to be remembered, by those who desire to question the character of England for uprightness, that the Prussian government had previously in a forcible and hostile manner taken possession of the electorate of Hanover, and had notified "that all British ships should be excluded from the ports of the Prussian dominions, and
- ↑ Such was the effect in England of these proclamations, that in the months of September and October 1807, when these or similar orders were anticipated, no fewer than sixty-five applications were made to the Commissioners of Customs at the port of London for permission to re-land cargoes, already shipped in the Thames for exportation to the continent of Europe, the impression being that goods arriving there in English vessels would be confiscated ('Parl. Papers,' vol. x., 1808, p. 11).
- ↑ The Orders in Council were fully examined by Mr. Alex. Baring in his pamphlet. Mr. Baring's sympathies were strongly American, but, on the whole, fair to this country (see 'Enquiry into Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council,' Lond. 8, 1808).
