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APPENDIX.

RESOLUTIONS.

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1st, That the power of making laws to bind the people of this Realm, is exclusively vested in his Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons of the Realm, in Parliament assembled: and that every attempt to make, alter, suspend, or repeal such laws, by order of his Majesty in his Privy Council, or in any other manner than by his Majesty in Parliament, is unconstitutional and illegal.

2d, That the advising his Majesty to issue any Order in Council, for dispensing with, or suspending any of the laws of this realm, is a high violation of the fundamental laws and constitution thereof.

That the same cannot in any case be justified, but by some unforeseen and urgent necessity endangering the public safety.

And that in every such case it is the duty of his Majesty's Ministers to advise his Majesty, after

issuing such order, forthwith to assemble his Parliament, in order both that the necessity of such proceeding may be inquired of and determined; and that due provision may be made for the public safety, by the authority of his Majesty in Parliament.

3d, That the Law of Nations is a part of the law of the land, and that neutral nations, not interposing in the war between his Majesty and his enemies, have a legal right to such freedom of commerce and navigation, as is secured to them by the Law of Nations.

4th, That the late Orders of his Majesty in Council, are contrary to the Law of Nations, inasmuch as they purport to interrupt the commerce of friendly and unof fending nations, carrying on their accustomed trade in innocent articles, between their own country and the ports of his Majesty's enemies, not actually blockaded; and even between their own country and those of his Majesty's allies. And also, inasmuch as they purport to compel such trade in future, to come, in the first instance, under pain of confiscation, to the ports of his Majesty's dominions, or of his allies, and there to submit to such regulations, restrictions and duties as shall be imposed upon them.

5th, That by the Law of Nations, all independent governments have an undoubted right, both in war and peace, to regulate in their own territories, and according to their own convenience, except where specially restrained by treaty, the admission or exclusion of the ships or merchandize of other states. That by the municipal law of this and other European countries,

it hath been usual to require, that vessels trading to or from the ports thereof, shall carry such certificates or other documents,shewing in what country the vessel hath been built, fitted or owned, by what sailors she is navigated, and in what country the articles composing the cargo have been grown, produced or manufactured, as may be judged necessary to entitle them to entry.

And, that the ships of friendly nations carrying such papers in time of war, do not thereby violate any rule of amity with other countries, or legally incur any penalty whatever, unless such should be found to be fraudulent.

6th, That so much of his Majesty's Order in Council, of the 11th of November last, as directs, that "any vessels carrying any certificates or documents, declaring, that the articles of the cargo are not of the produce or manufacture of his Majesty's dominions, or to that effect, or carrying any other document referring to such certificate or document, shall, together with the goods laden therein, belonging to the persons by whom, or on whose behalf, any such document was put on board, be adjudged lawful prize to the captor;" is a gross and flagrant violation of the Law of Nations, of the statutes made for the freedom of navigation and commerce, and of the rights and liberties of the people of this Realm; inasmuch as it purports to expose the property both of foreign merchants, and even of his Majesty's Subjects, in the ports of this Realm, as well as on the high seas, to unjust detention

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and forfeiture in cases where no offence whatever hath been committed against any known principle, or rule of the Law of Nations, or against any Law, Statute, or Usage of the Realm..

7th, That the free access to the ports of this Realm, and the liberty of trading to and from the samé, hás been secured to merchant strangers, not being of a hostile nation, by Magna Charta and divers other ancient statutes, in which it is expressly provided, "that no manner of ship, which is fraught towards England or elsewhere, be compelled to come to any port of England, nor there to abide, against the will of the masters and mariners of the same, or of the merchants whose the goods be."

And that the said statutes were intended, not only to protect the innocent commerce of friendly nations, but also to secure to the people of this Realm, the benefits of a free and open market for the sale of the produce and manufactures thereof; and for the carrying on of such trade as might conduce to the profit and advantage of the Realm.

8th, That the above-mentioned Orders of his Majesty in Council are in open breach and violation of the said statutes, inasmuch as they direct that ships fraught to other places than this kingdom, and even to ports belonging to his Majesty's allies, may be compelled to come to the ports of this Realm, or of its dependencies, and there to abide under such restrictions or regulations as his Majesty may be advised to im

pose upon them; and also inasmuch as they direct that the goods laden in such vessels shall not be cleared out again from such ports, without having been, in some cases, previously entered and landed; nor, in other cases, without having obtained from his Majesty's Officers licences to depart, which licences such Officers are not, by any known law of this Realm, authorised to grant.

PRINTED BY J. LAMBERT, STRAND.

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