"The King has accepted this friendly declaration of her Majesty, the Empress, with gratitude, and by a counter declaration, which is conformable to it, he has caused his Ministers to be instructed at foreign Courts. His Majesty has before, on occasion of another negotiation with the Court of Denmark, required his Danish Majesty to grant to Prussian merchant vessels the protection of his military marine, and has received the friendly assurances of it, that the Danish vessels of war should take under convoy and protection the Prussian merchant vessels, which should conform themselves to the treaties, which subsist between the Court of Denmark and the belligerent powers, with relation to merchandises of contraband. The King has addressed the same demand to the Court of Sweden, and promised himself from the friendship of his Swedish Majesty an answer as favorable as that of their Majesties, the Empress of Russia and the King of Denmark.
"We give notice of those arrangements to all the subjects of the King, who exercise navigation and maritime commerce, to the end that they and their captains of vessels and skippers may conform themselves to them, and in case they shall be attacked, molested, or taken by the vessels of war and privateers of the belligerent nations, address themselves to the Russian, Swedish, or Danish vessels of war, which may be found within their reach, demand their protection and assistance, and join themselves as much as possible to the fleets and convoys of these maritime powers of the north.
"But as the intention of his Majesty is simply to assure, by the beforementioned arrangements, the lawful maritime commerce of his subjects, and not to do any prejudice to the rights of the belligerent powers with whom he is in perfect harmony, or to favor an illicit commerce, which might be dangerous to them, all the subjects of his Majesty who exercise navigation and maritime commerce, ought to conduct themselves in such a manner as to observe an exact neutrality, such as is founded on the law of nature, and in the general laws of nations almost universally acknowledged. But the different treaties which several powers have concluded with each other relative to maritime commerce, occasioning a difference of law in this regard, it is principally to the known declaration which her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, caused to be presented the last year to the belligerent powers, and to the ordinance which she caused to be addressed in consequence to her College of Commerce on the 8th of March, 1780, that the subjects of the King will have to conform themselves with regard to their maritime commerce, the principles which are there announced being those which his Majesty finds the most conformable to the law of nations, and to his in particular. It is in consequence ordained by the present edict to all the subjects of the King, who exercise navigation or maritime commerce,
"Article i. Not to take any part, under any pretence whatever, in the present war, and not to carry to any of the belligerent powers, under the Prussian flag, merchandises, generally acknowledged to be prohibited and contraband, and which properly constitute warlike stores, as cannons, mortars, bombs, grenades, fusils, pistols, bullets, flints, matches, powder, saltpetre, sulphur, pikes, swords, and saddles. The subjects of the King ought to have on board their merchant vessels only so much of these articles as is necessary for their own use.
"Art. ii. The subjects of the King may, on the contrary, carry in Prussian vessels as well to belligerent as to neutral nations, all the merchandises which are not comprehended in the preceding article, and which not properly belonging to warlike stores, are not prohibited, and particularly the productions of all the Provinces of the States of the King; his Majesty promising himself from the equity and the friendship of the belligerent powers, that they will not permit their armed vessels to molest or take the Prussian vessels loaded with masts, timber, pitch, corn, and other materials, which, without being warlike stores, may, nevertheless, in the sequel be converted into such stores, and which make the principal and almost the only object of Prussian commerce. These powers are too just to require that the commerce of a neutral nation should cease, or be entirely suspended on account of the war. After these principles, it is hoped that the belligerent powers will suffer freely to pass without seizure or confiscation, the lawful merchandises and cargoes of the Prussian subjects, which may be found on board the vessels of belligerent nations, as also the lawful cargoes and merchandises of belligerent nations loaded in Prussian vessels, and in all these cases, his Majesty will interest himself effectually in favor of his subjects trading by sea. It is, however, the part of prudence for these last to load as much as possible their merchandises and effects in Prussian vessels, and to transport them under the Prussian flag; not to employ themselves much in the coasting trade, but to apply themselves principally to a Prussian commerce without mixture, the better to avoid all accidents, misunderstandings, and difficulties.
Art. iii. All the Prussian vessels which shall put to sea, ought to furnish themselves with passports and attestations of the Admiralties, Chambers of War, and the domains of each Province, or of the magistrates of each city, as also with charter-parties, recognizances, and other certificates of common usage, which ought to express the quality and the quantity of the cargo, the name of the proprietor, and of him to whom the merchandises are consigned, as well as the place of the destination. These sea-papers ought to be clear, and to contain no equivocation. They ought to be found on board every vessel, and they ought not, under any pretence whatsoever, to throw them into the sea. The captains of vessels and skippers will take care above all, not to have in their vessels any sea-papers, double, equivocal, or false, by which they would render themselves unworthy of all protection.
"Art. iv. Every Prussian vessel loaded in a foreign port, ought to furnish herself in the said port with sea-papers necessary, and in the form used in the place where she loads, to the end to be able to prove everywhere of what nation she is, what is her cargo, from whence she comes, and whither she goes.
"Art. v. There ought not to be found on board of Prussian vessels, neither officers of marine, nor persons employed in it of the belligerent nations, nor more than one third of the crew of those nations.
"Art. vi. It is forbidden to Prussian navigators to transport cargoes or merchandises of any sort whatever to places or ports besieged, blocked, or shut up closely by any one of the belligerent powers.
Art. vii. It is forbidden to Prussian navigators, or merchants, to lend their names to foreign nations, and they ought to exercise commerce in general in a manner conformable to the rights and customs of nations, so that they commit no infringement of the rights of any of the belligerent powers, and that they may have no just subject of complaint.