Lord Whitworth requests the Count de Bernstorff to observe, that if he does not animadvert upon the arguments he has made use of upon this occasion, it is because he thinks he shall render a much more essential service to his Court, as well as to that of Copenhagen, by abstaining from all that might remove them from the object which both ought to have equally at heart. With respect to the mediation which the Count de Bernstorff proposes as the most proper means of doing away the difficulties of this discussion, the undersigned thinks he can reply with certainty, that, in spite of the apparent misunderstanding which may have existed between the two Courts, there is no sovereign in Europe to whom the King would refer himself, with respect to his dearest interests, with more confidence, than the Emperor of Russia; no one is more ready than the undersigned to do justice to the loyalty and zeal of that sovereign for the good cause. But he believes that, in a similar case, it would be useless to recur even to that intervention, however respectable it may be; and that the Court of Denmark, introducing into the discussion the same frankness as the Court of London, and the same desire of preventing speedily all objects of fatal misunderstanding, will find out the means of effecting this object without difficulty.

WHITWORTH

Declaration by which His Majesty the Emperor of Russia invited Sweden, Prussia and Denmark to conclude a Convention for the Reestablishment of the Rights of Neutrality, August 27, 18002

Europe gave its approval to the measures that were taken by the majority of maritime Powers for the establishment, as a sacred pact, of the principles of a wise and impartial neutrality, when a naval war,

1Collection of State Papers, vol. 10, p. 97.

Translation. French text at British and Foreign State Papers, vol. 1, pt. 1,

p. 334.

which had broken out in 1780 between two great Powers, laid upon the other nations the obligation of providing for the security of their subjects' commerce and navigation. Every act that is founded on justice should obtain general assent; and in this case all that was done was to put again into effect the principles of the law of nations. Russia had at that time the inestimable advantage of carrying the reestablishment of these principles to their ultimate goal, and she was, so to speak, the regulator of the different measures which should cause these principles to be respected. Each of the Powers acceded thereto, enjoyed innumerable advantages therefrom, and this arrangement served as a basis for all the treaties of commerce that Russia concluded thereafter. General approval had made of the principles on which it rested a kind of code of the nations; it was at the same time the code of humanity. The common interest of mankind guaranteed its maintenance and execution.

But perhaps there was too little effort to give these principles a new sanction at the time when, a great Power having reached the point of dissolution, nearly all the other nations felt the fatal influence thereof; when the majority of political bonds were broken or took another direction as a result of the war which was not long in breaking out a war so different from those that had preceded it, and whose events, which were so multifarious and extraordinary, destroyed all former combinations. Attention being absorbed by events of such vital interest, it was impossible to give the necessary care to the maintenance of these salutary stipulations. On the one hand, justice should have led the belligerent Powers to present a method of guarantee; and the neutral Powers, which were confident that this would be done, believed that they had sufficiently ensured freedom of navigation and commerce to cause it to be respected at least by legitiinate Governments, when a new incident proved to what extent independence of Crowns can be exposed to danger, unless the principles and maxims were reestablished, which alone can serve, during this war, as the basis for tranquillity and security of neutral Powers.

On July 13/25 last, an English frigate met at the entrance to the Channel a Danish frigate which was convoying to different ports several vessels of its nation. The Danish captain, after his declaration that he had no article of contraband on board, having resisted the visitation of his vessel, was attacked and forced to yield to superior strength. It, as well as its convoy, was taken to English ports.

The first care of His Danish Majesty, the friend and ally of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, was to inform this latter sovereign of this event and to consult him as to how they should regard this self-evident violation of the law of nations and the principles of neutrality which formed the basis of the treaty of commerce between Denmark and Russia.

Although His Imperial Majesty up to the present moment can not but believe that such a violation will be highly disapproved of by His Britannic Majesty, and although His Majesty is pleased to believe that the equity of His Britannic Majesty will induce him not only to refuse to approve this act, but also to give the Court of Denmark satisfaction proportional to the insult, nevertheless His Imperial Majesty, in order to prevent the recurrence of such acts of violence in future, recognizes the necessity of reestablishing the bases of neutrality, under whose protection his subjects, as well as those of neutra! Powers, may enjoy the fruits of their industry and all the advantages of neutral nations, without being exposed hereafter to arbitrary measures which none of the belligerent Powers can permit with impunity against them.

As it is clearly to the interest of His Imperial Majesty, both with respect to the navigation of his own subjects and that of the nations nearest to his ports, to protect from such acts of aggression or violence the seas which bathe the shores of Russia, he invites the Powers that have ports in these regions, and particularly Their Majesties the Kings of Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden, to accede, together with His Imperial Majesty, to the measures that he shall propose to them successively to reestablish in all their force the principles of armed neutrality, and thus to ensure the freedom of the seas. His Majesty announces at the same time to these sovereigns, by the present declaration, that he will use all the force that his dignity requires to uphold the honor of his flag and the flags of his allies, to guarantee their subjects from any violation of the rights sanctioned by all peoples, and to secure for them, under the protection of their respective Governments, all the advantages that result from freedom of commerce and navigation.

His Imperial Majesty, likewise animated by sentiments of justice and impartiality, declares that, while he shall establish a rule for the strict observance of the rights of neutrality, he will not impair the force of any one of them, and that the measures which he shall in his

Preliminary Convention between Denmark and Great Britain regarding the "Freya" Dispute, August 29, 18001

Their Danish and Britannic Majesties, equally animated by a desire to prevent by means of a preliminary friendly agreement the consequences that might result from the difference which has arisen between them as a result of the encounter which took place between the Danish frigate Freya and certain English warships, and to restore in full measure the relations of friendship and confidence which have so long united them, have to this end appointed and constituted as their plenipotentiaries: His Danish Majesty, Count Bernstorff, his Chamberlain and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and His Britannic Majesty, Lord Whitworth, Knight of the Bath, who having communicated to each other their respective full powers have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE 1

The question of right, with relation to the visiting of neutral vessels under convoy, shall be deferred to a subsequent discussion.

ARTICLE 2

The Danish frigate Freya and the vessels under its convoy shall be immediately released and the said frigate shall receive in the ports of

1Translation. French text at Martens, Recueil de Traités, vol. 7, p. 149.