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From Our Imperial Camp at Berlin,
November 21, 1806
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, in consideration of
the fact:
1. That England does not recognize the system of international law
universally observed by all civilized nations.
2. That she regards as an enemy every individual belonging to the enemy’s
state, and consequently makes prisoners of war not only of the crews of
armed ships of war but of the crews of ships of commerce and merchantmen,
and even of commercial agents and of merchants traveling on business.
3. That she extends to the vessels and commercial wares and to the property
of individuals the right of conquest, which is applicable only to the
possessions of the belligerent power.
4. That she extends to unfortified towns and commercial ports, to harbors
and the mouths of rivers, the right of blockade, which, in accordance with
reason and the customs of all civilized nations, is applicable only to
strong places. That she declares places in a state of blockade before which
she has not even a single ship of war, although a place may not be
blockaded except it be so completely guarded that no attempt to approach it
can be made without imminent danger. That she has declared districts in a
state of blockade which all her united forces would be unable to blockade,
such as entire coasts and the whole of an empire.
5. That this monstrous abuse of the right of blockade has no other aim than
to prevent communication among the nations and to raise the commerce and
the industry of England upon the ruins of that of the continent.
6. That, since this is the obvious aim of England, whoever deals on the
continent in English goods, thereby favors and renders himself an
accomplice of her designs.
7. That this policy of England, worthy of the earliest stages of barbarism,
has profited that power to the detriment of every other nation.
8. That it is a natural right to oppose such arms against an enemy as he
makes use of, and to fight in the same way that he fights. Since England
has disregarded all ideas of justice and every high sentiment, due to the
civilization among mankind, we have resolved to apply to her the usages
which she has ratified in her maritime legislation.
The provisions of the present decree shall continue to be looked upon as
embodying the fundamental principles of the Empire until England shall
recognize that the law of war is one and the same on law and sea, and that
the rights of war cannot be extended so as to include private property of
any kind or the persons of individuals unconnected with the profession of
arms, and that the right of blockade should be restricted to fortified
places actually invested by sufficient forces.
We have consequently decreed and do decree that which follows:
Art. I.--The British Isles are declared to be in a state of
blockade.
Art. II.--All commerce and all correspondence with the British
Isles are forbidden. Consequently letters or packages directed to England
or to an Englishman or written in the English language shall not pass
through the mails and shall be seized.
Art. III.--Every individual who is an English subject, of
what-ever state or condition he may be, who shall be discovered in any
country occupied by our troops or by those of our allies, shall be made a
prisoner of war.
Art. IV.--All warehouses, merchandise or property of whatever
kind belonging to a subject of England shall be regarded as a lawful prize.
Art. V.--Trade in English goods is prohibited, and all goods
belonging to England or coming from her factories or her colonies are
declared a lawful prize.
Art. VI.--Half of the product resulting from the confiscation of
the goods and possessions declared a lawful prize by the preceding articles
shall be applied to indemnify the merchants for the losses they have
experienced by the capture of merchant vessels taken by English cruisers.
Art. VII.--No vessel coming directly from England or from the
English colonies or which shall have visited these since the publication of
the present decree shall be received in any port.
Art. VIII.--Any vessel contravening the above provision by a
false declaration shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo shall be
confiscated as if it were English property.
Art. IX.--Our Court of Prizes at Paris shall pronounce final
judgment in all cases arising in our Empire or in the countries occupied by
the French Army relating to the execution of the present decree. Our Court
of Prizes at Milan shall pronounce final judgment in the said cases which
may arise within our Kingdom of Italy.
Art. X.--The present decree shall be communicated by our minister
of foreign affairs to the King of Spain, of Naples, of Holland and of
Etruria, and our other allies whose subjects like ours are the victims of
the unjust and barbarous maritime legislation of England.
Art. XI.--Our ministers of foreign affairs, of war, and of the
navy, of finance and of the police and our Directors General of the port
are charged with the execution of the present decree so far as it affects
them.
(Signed),
NAPOLEON.
Done by the Emperor,
Hugue Maret,
Ministerial Secretary of State
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