STATE PAPERS. 



493 



ivliether at peace or at war with 

 France, is, to have the relations of 

 the two countries restored to the 

 liberal principles usually acted upon 

 in former times. 



" I take this opportunity of as- 

 suring your Excellency of my 

 respect. 



(Signed) " Castlereagh." 



" By order of the Emperor, the 

 minister and secreta)y for foreign 

 affairs. 



(Signed) " The Count Daru, 

 " The minister for foreign affairs. 



(True Copy). 

 (Signed) The Duke De Bassano." 



FRENCH DECREE. 



" Palace of St. Cloud, 

 April 2%, 1810. 

 " Napoleon, Emperor of the 

 French, King of Italy, Protec- 

 tor of the Confederation of the 

 Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss 

 Confederation. 



" On the report of our minister 

 for foreign affairs, 



"In consequence of the act of 

 the 2nd of March 1811, by which 

 the Congress of the United States 

 have enacted exemptions from the 

 provisions of the Non-Intercourse 

 Act, which prohibit the entrance 

 into the American ports to the ships 

 and goods of Great Britain, or its 

 colonies and dependencies ; 



" Considering that the said law 

 is an act of resistance to the arbi- 

 trary' pretensions consecrated by 

 the British orders in council, and 

 a formal refusal to adhere to a 

 system derogatory to the inde- 

 pendence of neutral powers, and 

 of their flag, 



'• We have decreed, and decree 

 as follows :— 



" The decrees of Berlin and 

 Milan are definitively, and from 

 the date of the 1st of November 

 last, considered as never having 

 taken place (non avenues) with re- 

 gard to American vessels. 



(Signed) " Napoleon. 



Spain. — TheBegency oftheKing- 

 dom have caused to be published 

 the following Decree : — 



" Don Ferdinand VII. by the 

 grace of God, and the Constitu- 

 tion of the Spanish monarchy. 

 King of the Spains, and in his ab- 

 sence and captivity, the Regency 

 of the kingdom, appointed by the 

 general and extraordinary Cortes, 

 to all to whom these presents come 

 make known, that the Cortes have 

 decreed as follows : — 



♦' The general and extraordinary 

 Cortes, adverting to its being pro- 

 vided in the Constitution of the 

 monarchy that the ordinary Cortes 

 shall be assembled every year ; and 

 considering that the public good, 

 which dictated this constitutional 

 regulation, never more strongly 

 recommended its observance than 

 now, when the pressing affairs of 

 the state, and the necessity of put- 

 ting in motion the said Constitu- 

 tion so imperiously require it, have 

 resolved to decree, and do decree : 



1. That the ordinary Cortes be 

 convoked for the ensuing year, 

 1813. 



2. That it being absolutely im- 

 possible, considering the shortness 

 of the time, and the distance of 

 places, for the ordinary Cortes to 

 meet at the precise time pointed 



Out 



