To James Madison from James Bowdoin, 2 December 1806
From James Bowdoin
Paris Dec 2nd. 1806.
Sir,
I have the honor to enclose you a very important decree of the Emperor of France made at Berlin on the 21st. ulto. and this day published by authority at Paris.1 I have not time to offer any observations upon the subject of it: But shall content myself with forwarding a number of copies to the different sea ports in hopes that by some vessel which may be found ready to sail you will receive the earliest intelligence of it. I have the honor to be very respectfully Sir Your faithful and obedient Servant
James Bowdoin
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, DD, Spain, vol. 9); letterbook copy (MeB: James Bowdoin Letterbooks). RC docketed by Wagner. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. Bowdoin enclosed Napoleon’s 21 November 1806 Décret impérial qui déclare les iles britanniques en état de blocus (the Berlin Decree), published in the Bulletin des lois, No. 123 (4 pp.; in French; translation printed in ASP, Foreign Relations, 3:289–90). By this decree, Napoleon attempted to restrict imports of British goods onto the Continent and declare them lawful prize as retaliation against the 16 May 1806 British orders-in-council blockading the Continent. British officials exempted most U.S. commerce from their blockade, but it was initially unknown whether France would do the same. The French decree amounted to a paper blockade because Napoleon lacked the naval power to enforce it (Archibald H. Stockder, “The Legality of the Blockades Instituted by Napoleon’s Decrees, and the British Orders in Council, 1806–1813,” American Journal of International Law 10 [1916]: 496–500).