which shall have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or made a voyage to England, or shall have paid any tax whatsoever to the English government, is thereby, and for that alone, declared to be denationalised, to have forfeited the protection of its own king, and to have become English property.
"2. Whether the ships thus denationalised by the arbitrary measures of the English government enter into our ports or those of our allies, or whether they fall into the hands of our ships of war or of our privateers, they are declared to be good and lawful prizes.
"3. The British Islands are declared to be in a state of blockade, both by land and sea. Every ship, of whatever nation, or whatsoever the nature of its cargo may be, that sails from the ports of England, or those of the English colonies, and of the countries occupied by English troops, is good and lawful prize as contrary to this decree, and may be captured by our ships of war, or our privateers, and adjudged to the captor.
"4. These measures, which are resorted to only in just retaliation of the barbarous system adopted by England, which assimilates its legislation to that of Algiers, shall cease to have any effect with respect to all nations who shall have the firmness to compel the English government to respect their flag. They shall continue to be vigorously in force as long as that government does not return to the principle of the law of nations, which regulates the relations of civilised states in a state of war. The provisions of the present decree shall be abrogated and null in fact as soon as the English abide again by the
