from certain other ports in the north of Europe, and not suffered to enter or trade therein;" and had further declared (5th of April, 1806) "that no ship or vessel belonging to any of his Majesty's subjects be permitted to enter or clear from any ports of Prussia, and that a general embargo or stop be made of all ships and vessels, at that time, or which should hereafter come into any of the ports, harbours, or roads of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, together with all persons and effects on board the said ships and vessels." Surely, considering the circumstances of the King of Prussia's perfidy,[1] this Order in Council must be deemed justifiable.
The Order in Council of the 16th May, 1806, whereby all the ports from the Elbe to Brest were declared to be strictly blockaded, contained a proviso "that this blockade shall not extend to neutral vessels having on board merchandise not belonging to the enemies of his Majesty, and not contraband of war; except, however, the coast from Ostend to the mouth of the river Seine, which is hereby declared subject to a blockade of the strictest kind." This Order in Council, which the French pronounced "barbarous," and "a paper blockade," etc., was actually signed by Charles James Fox himself, nor can there be any doubt that the coasts thus declared in a state of blockade were in the strictest sense subject to such declaration, since the perils of leaving the harbours embraced in it were such that hardly any one of even the enemy's armed vessels ventured to incur them. Considering the circumstances of the times, and that Napoleon
- ↑ Alison, ch. xlii. (1806).
