The Berlin Decree was
subsequently strengthened and extended by decrees at Warsaw (January,
1807), Milan (December, 1807), and Fontainebleau (October, 1810). The
Milan Decree provided that even neutral vessels sailing from any
British port or from countries occupied by British troops might be
seized by French warships or privateers. The Fontainebleau Decree went
so far as to order the confiscation and public burning of all British
manufactured goods found in the Napoleonic States.
[Sidenote: The Orders in Council]
To these imperial decrees the British government, now largely dominated
by such statesmen as Lord Castlereagh and George Canning, replied with
celebrated Orders in Council (January-November, 1807), which declared
all vessels trading with France or her allies liable to capture and
provided further that in certain instances neutral vessels must touch
at a British port. Thus the issue was squarely joined. Napoleon would
suffer no importation of British goods whether by combatants or by
neutrals.
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