STATE PAPERS. 



699 



cious command and ordinance of his 

 majesty the king, that all people 

 may conform themselves thereto. 



Order issued by the Court of Ma- 

 drid, dated '2.7 th November, 1804. 



The conduct which the English 

 have observed since the event of the 

 5th of Odtober is almost iusuflera- 

 ble. They attack our ships of war 

 in whatsoever situation they may 

 appear, and detain our commercial 

 vessels, obliging them afterwards to 

 return to the ports from whence 

 they came, so that the objedt of 

 their voyage is wholly frustrated. 

 These hostile proceedings have con- 

 strained his majesty to abandon the 

 j)acific sentiments which he has con- 

 sidered heretofore most conducive to 

 the happiness of his beloved sub- 

 jects ; and he is therefore driven to 

 the necessity of procuring satisfac- 

 tion for these insults, by making re- 

 prisals on English property (as is 

 done with respedt to Spanish pro- 

 perty in England). His majesty, 

 however, requires that the seizures 

 consequent on this arrangement 

 should be proceeded in with such 

 method and regularity, that the ef- 

 Jects may be preserved entire, and 

 uninjured, until the further pleasure 

 of his majesty be made known re- 

 f'pccting them. The command for 

 this purpose, which this p3i)er con- 

 veys, is to be immediately obeyed, 

 under your direction, and you will 

 consider the steps proper to be 

 taken respecting such commercial 

 transactions as are yet in progress, 

 in which such English elfefts may be 

 concerned. 



Deduralion of War made by Spain 



a_s;ainst England, dated Madrid^ 

 Dec. 12, 1804. 



The peace which Europe beheld 

 with so much delight, re-estnb!ished 

 at Amiens, has, unfortunately for 

 the welfare of nations, provid but 

 of short duration. The rejoicings 

 with which this happy event was ce- 

 lebrated upon all sides, were scarce- 

 ly concluded, when the public satis- 

 faction began to be troubled, and 

 the advantage of the peace to dis- 

 appear. The cabinets of London 

 and Paris held Europe suspended, 

 and agitated between its terrors 

 and its hopes, seeing the event of 

 the negociations every day become 

 more uncertain, until the moment 

 that discord arrived at such an 

 height, as to kindle between them 

 the fiie of a war. which must natu- 

 rally extend itself to other po^ ers; 

 since it was very difficult for Spain 

 and Holland, who had treated 

 jointly with France at Amiens, and 

 whose interests and political rela- 

 tions arc so reciprocally connected, 

 to avoid finally taking part in the 

 grievances and otiences offered to 

 their ally. In these circumstances, 

 his majesty, supported by the most 

 solid principles of a wise policy, 

 preferred pecuniary subsidies to the 

 contingent of troops and ships with, 

 which he was bound to assist 

 France, in virtue of the treaty of 

 alliances in 1796: and as well by- 

 means of his minister in London, as 

 of the English agents at Madrid, he 

 gave the British government to un- 

 derstand, in the most positive man- 

 ner, his decided and firm resolution 

 to remain neutral during the war; 

 making do doubt that he should 

 quickly have the satisfaction ol see- 

 ing that these ingenuous assurances 

 were Well received by the court of 



London. 



