MT. .30.] THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 3 



express order of her Majesty to Lord Palmerston upon 

 the occasion of the peerage granted to me in I860.* 



I now proceed to the subject of the Orders in Coun- 

 cil, and the circumstances of their repeal. 



When Napoleon was satisfied that any attempt to 

 subdue Great Britain by force of arms must prove 

 ineffectual, and when he had, in consequence of this 

 conviction, given up the project of invasion which at 

 one time he had unquestionably entertained, he di- 

 rected all his energies to the discovery of some scheme 

 that might, by injuring our trade, cripple our resources, 

 and lessen our wealth, and thereby weaken our autho- 

 rity on the Continent. 



There can be no doubt that he borrowed his idea 

 from the measures formerly adopted by the Directory,t 

 in accordance with which he issued from Berlin, in 

 1806, an interdict which declared the islands of 

 Great Britain in a state of blockade, all British sub- 

 jects, wherever found, prisoners of war, and all British 

 goods, wherever taken, lawful prize. J It further ex- 

 cluded from all the ports in France every vessel which 

 had touched at any British port, no matter to what 

 nation such vessel might belong. 



The parts of this decree which most affected English 

 interests were, the seizure of all British produce, no 

 matter where found, and the exclusion from French 



* The words I refer to are as follows : " In consideration of the 

 eminent public services of our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor, 

 Henry Baron Brougham and Vaux, more especially in the diffusion of 

 knowledge, the spread of education, and the abolition of the slave-trade 

 and slavery, of our especial grant, certain knowledge, and mere motion, 

 have advanced, preferred, and created him," &c. 



f In the decrees of July 1796 and January 1798. 



t This was the famous " Berlin Decree," dated the 20th November 

 1806. 



