“168 
following cabinet order, addressed to his 
Minister of Finance, and renders him 
responsible for the strict execution of it:— 
sé All vessels, without distinction, which 
shall have been visited by an English ship, 
or brought into an English harbour, &c. or 
paid to the English government any impost 
in any way whatever, sha!l be considered as 
English property, and declared good prizes, 
in case they should have been taken by our 
ships of war er privateers.’ 
The King has also issued the following 
decree, respecting the relation in which 
Holland stands to Sweden:— 
Lours NapoLron, &c. &c. 
‘Infermation having been given us, that 
the orders concerning the blockade of the 
British islands nave not been executed in the 
sam2 manner in respect to some Swedish ves- 
sels, and taking into consideration that the 
kingdom is as much at war with Sweden as 
with England, we have decreed and do de- 
cree— 
4. Every Swedish ship which enters into 
this kingdom, shall be instantly seized, and as 
well as Swedish goods, sequestered. 
2. All Swedish subjects who shall have 
hitherto exercised within this kingdom any 
diplomatic function, or served as consul or 
commercial agent, and who shall fill the 
same functions, shall leave the kingdom in- 
stantly on the publication of the present de- 
cree. 
3. All Swedish subjects who may be ‘in 
our harbours, or.in any other part of our 
kingdom, shall be jnstantly arrested and 
treated as prisoners of war. 
4, All measures which are now taken 
respecting the blockade of the British islands, 
shall in like manner, without distinction, be 
applied to’Sweden. 
5. Our ministers of finance, and of tustice 
and police, are charged with the execution of 
the present decree, &c. 
GREAT BRITAIN. 
On Sunday, Februa any 7, 1808, Cap- 
tain Berkeley, first aide- -de-camp to Ge- 
neral Bowyer, arrived at the office of 
Viscount Casilereagh, onc of his Majes- 
ty’s piincipal secretaries of state, with a 
dispatch from the General, of which the 
a Qwig is a COpy :— 
¥ Loap, Saata Crus, Dee. 27, 1807. 
Beng in a state of preparation and rea- 
diness to move a sufficient force against the 
Danish islands in those SEAS, in consequence 
of your lordship’s dispatch of the 5th of Sep- 
tember, no time was lost (after the arrival of 
his, Majesty’s final commands, signified to me 
by Lord Haw kesbury’s letter of November 
the 3d, in your lordship’s absence, by the 
Fawn sloop of war, which arrived early on 
Tuesday morning, the 15th instant, at Bar- 
badoes) in embarking the troops at Barbadoes 
#n board the men of war appointed to receive 
#hem by Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Coch- 
State. of Public Affairs in February. 
%s 
[March 1, 
rane, who immeaditely dispatched others to 
the islands to leeward. to take on board. such 
as were under orders in each of them, with 
directions to proceed to the general rendez- 
vous, the whole of which, except one hun- 
dred rank and file of the 90th regiment fron¥ 
St. Vincent’s, joined the admiral before or 
soon after our arrival off the island of St. Tho- 
mas, on the Zist instant. It was then thought 
proper to send a summons to Governor Van 
Scholten, in charge of Brigadier-General Ship- 
ley, and Captain Fahie, commanding his Ma- 
jesty’s ship Ethalion, to surrender the islands 
of St. Thomas, St; John, and their depen- 
dencies, to his Britannic Majesty, which he 
did the next day, on terms agreed upon be- 
tween him and Major-General Maitland, and 
Captain Pickmore, of his Majesty’s ship Ra-_ 
millies, which were afterwards approved of 
and ratified by Rear-Admiral the Honourable 
Sir Alexander Cochrane and myself, 2 copy 
of which I have the. honour to enclose, and 
hope they will meet with his Majesty’s ap- 
probation. 
On the 23d, in the evening, after leaving 
a garrison of three hundred men of the 70th 
regiment, with an officer and detachment of 
the royal artillery, at St. Thomas’s, under the 
command -of Brigadier-General Maclean, 
whom Ef havevalso directed to assume the ci- 
vil goverament of the same, until his Majes- 
ty’s pleasure 3 is signitied thereon, we proceed- 
edto Santa Cruz, the admiral having previ- 
ously sent his Majesty’s ship Ethalion, with 
Brigadier-Geneial Shipley and Captain Fahie, 
to-summon that island; who returned the 
next morning, the % Bach, with a letter from 
the governor, offering to surrender it to his 
Majesty, provided we would allow three Dan- 
- ish officers to view on board the ships the 
number of troops brought against it, which 
we permitted, that his excellency’s military 
honour might thereby not be reflected on. 
These officers, having made their report to 
the governor, returned early the ext morn- 
ing, the 25th, ta the flag ship, with a mes- 
sage that the governor was willing to treat for 
the surrender of the island, when Major-Ge- 
neral Maitland and Captain Pickmore were 
again sent on shore to.settle the terms of ca- 
pitulation, a copy of which I also transmit 5. 
which being approved of by the admiral he 
myself, troops were landed, and the forts and 
batteries taken possession of in the name of 
his Majesty the King of the United King- 
doms of Great Britain and Ireland, a royal sa- 
lute being fired on the British colours being. 
hoisted. 
I should be ungrateful in the extreme did I 
»not state to your lordship the greatand many 
obligations 1 conceive myself, the officers, and 
‘soldiers, to be under to Rear-Admiral the 
Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane,, the cap- 
tains and officers of the royal navy, who have 
universally afforded us every comfortable ac- 
commodation in ther power, and i am sure 
much to their own inconvenience. 
I ain convinced that, had it been necessary 
