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The Milan Decree was issued on 17 December 1807 by Napoleon I of France to enforce the 1806 Berlin Decree, which had initiated the Continental System, the basis for his plan to defeat the British by waging economic warfare.
The Milan Decree stated that no country in Europe was to trade with the United Kingdom. [1]
The decree authorised French warships and privateers to capture neutral ships sailing from any port in Britain or any country that was occupied by British forces. It also declared that any ships that submitted to search by the Royal Navy on the high seas were to be considered lawful prizes if they were captured by the French. [2]
(Translation)
At Our Royal Palace at Milan, December 17, 1807.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine;
In view of the measures adopted by the British government on the 11th of November last by which vessels belonging to powers which are neutral or are friendly and even allied with England are rendered liable to be searched by British cruisers, detained at certain stations in England, and subject to an arbitrary tax of a certain per cent upon their cargo to be regulated by English legislation;
Considering that by these acts the English government has denationalized the vessels of all the nations of Europe and that no government may compromise in any degree its independence or its rights—all the rulers of Europe being jointly responsible for the sovereignty and independence of their flags—and that, if through unpardonable weakness which would be regarded by posterity as an indelible stain, such tyranny should be admitted and become consecrated by custom, the English would take steps to give it the force of law, as they have already taken advantage of the toleration of the governments to establish the infamous principle that the flag does not cover the goods and to give the right of blockade an arbitrary extension which threatens the sovereignty of every state;
We have decreed and do decree as follows:
Article 1. Every vessel of whatever nationality, which shall submit to be searched by an English vessel or shall consent to a voyage to England or shall pay any tax whatever to the English government, is ipso facto declared denationalized, loses the protection afforded by its flag, and becomes English property.
Article 2. Should such vessels which are thus denationalized through the arbitrary measures of the English government enter our ports or those of our allies or fall into the hands of our ships of war or of our privateers, they shall be regarded as good and lawful prizes.
Article 3. The British Isles are proclaimed to be in a state of blockade both by land and by sea. Every vessel of whatever nation or whatever may be its cargo that sails from the ports of England or from those of the English colonies or of countries occupied by English troops or is bound for England or for any of the English colonies or any country occupied by English troops becomes, by violating the present decree, a lawful prize and may be captured by our ships of war and adjudged to the captor.
Article 4. These measures, which are only a just retaliation against the barbarous system adopted by the English government, which models its legislation upon that of Algiers, shall cease to have any effect in the case of those nations which shall force the English to respect their flags. They shall continue in force so long as that government shall refuse to accept the principles of international law which regulate the relations of civilized states in a state of war. The provisions of the present decree shall be ipso facto abrogated and void so soon as the English government shall abide again by the principles of the law of nations, which are at the same time those of justice and honor.
Article 5. All our ministers are charged with the execution of the present decree, which shall be printed in the Bulletin des lois.
(Signed) Napoleon [3]
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A privateer is a private person who or a vessel that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as letters of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes and taking crews prisoner for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission.
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Surveillante entered service as a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy. She was surrendered to the British in 1803, after which she served in the Royal Navy, classed under the British system as a 38-gun vessel, until 1814 when she was decommissioned. HMS Surveillante had a long and active career under two successful and distinguished commanders, from the Baltic to the northwestern coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and throughout the Peninsula War. Her record as a taker of prizes is notable for its success, particularly towards the end of her career.
HMS Curieux was a French corvette launched in September 1800 at Saint-Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock; all her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.
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HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
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The petitioners represent that they were interested in the American ship Aurora, or cargo, captured in 1808 by a French privateer, and condemned in virtue of the imperial decree of the 17th of December, commonly called the Milan decree.