In page [47], we have the statement of Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pinkney:
"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the fifteenth ultimo, wherein you request to be informed whether any, and if any, what blockades of France, instituted by Great Britain during the present war, before the first day of January, 1807, are understood by his Majesty's government to be in force? I have now the honor to acquaint you, that the coast, rivers, and ports, from the river Elbe to Brest, both inclusive, were notified to be under the restrictions of blockade, with certain modifications, on the 16th of May, 1806; and that these restrictions were afterwards comprehended in the Order of Council of the 7th of January, 1807, which order is still in force."
In page [71] of the correspondence, Lord Wellesley declares, in a letter to Mr. Pinkney:
"The blockade, notified by Great Britain in May, 1806, has never been formally withdrawn. It cannot, therefore, be accurately stated, that the restrictions which it established rest altogether on the Order of Council of the 7th of January, 1807; they are comprehended under the more extensive restrictions of that order. No other blockade of the ports of France was instituted by Great Britain, between the 16th of May, 1806, and the 7th of January, 1807, excepting the blockade of Venice, instituted on the 27th of July, 1806, which is still in force."
From this, sir, it appears that if we are to credit the President, the Secretary of State, General Armstrong, the Duc de Cadore, and the British Minister, Lord Wellesley, the demand was confined to the blockade of 1806. Was this blockade such a violation of the neutral rights of the United States as to come decidedly within the act of the last session? Let us examine its features. This blockade is a compound one, presenting three distinct characters:
1. It obstructs a trade from one port to another of the same enemy—France for example. This trade has been denied latterly though not formerly, by Great Britain, to be free to neutrals. The United States assert the neutral right to it.
2. It obstructs a trade from the port of one enemy to the port of another—from a French to a Dutch port, for example. This is a principle not before asserted by Great Britain. The present Cabinet of Great Britain contended against its conformity to the law of nations, in opposition to their predecessors, who attempted to justify the orders of January, 1807, on that principle.
3. It obstructs the direct trade of neutrals from their own country to any part of the coast from the Elbe to Brest—a coast not less than a thousand miles. For this part of the blockade there can be no defence which is not applicable to the Orders in Council. This blockade has been continued for four or five years. No force, either adequate or inadequate, has been stationed for carrying it into effect. No new notification has been given. It is, in fact, like the Orders in Council, a permanent regulation of commerce, and has nothing of the character of a blockade, except the mere name. This blockade consists in great part of the same prohibition with the orders of January, 1807, in which it is said to be comprehended; that is, against a trade along the belligerent coast. If the orders be unlawful, therefore, the blockade must be so; and if the orders be repealed as a violation of neutral trade, in compliance with the act of Congress, the obligation to repeal the blockade, as a like violation, cannot be contested. This blockade of May, 1806, is in violation of the principles laid down by all authors on the subject of blockade. It is in violation of the principles laid down in all the treaties which attempted to define a blockade. It is in violation of the principles contended for by every Administration under the American Government, from the period of Washington to the present time. The correspondence under General Washington's Administration, between the Secretary of State and Mr. Hammond, may be referred to for the principles asserted under that Administration. In the correspondence before us we have the principles as laid down by General Marshall and Mr. King. To these I will refer.
Mr. E. then read the following extracts of letters from Mr. King and Mr. Marshall: