previous or subsequent to their sailing, shall be permitted to report their cargoes for exportation, and shall be allowed to proceed upon their voyages to their original ports of destination, (if not unlawful before the issuing of the said order,) or to any port at amity with his majesty, upon receiving a certificate from the collector or comptroller of the customs at the port at which they shall so enter, (which certificate the said collectors and comptrollers of the customs are hereby authorized and required to give,) setting forth that such vessels came into such port in consequence of being so warned, or of receiving such information as aforesaid; and that they were permitted to sail from such port, under the regulations which his majesty has been pleased to establish in respect to such vessels. But in case any vessel so arriving shall prefer to import her cargo, then such vessel shall be allowed to enter and import the same, upon such terms and conditions as the said cargo might have been imported upon, according to law, in case the said vessel had sailed after having received notice of the said order, and in conformity thereto.

And it is further ordered, that all vessels which shall arrive at any port of the united kingdom, or at Gibraltar or Malta, in conformity and obedience to the said order, shall be allowed, in respect to all articles which may be on board the same, except sugar, coffee, wine, brandy, snuff, and tobacco, to clear out to any port whatever, to be specified in such clearance; and with respect to the last mentioned articles, to export the same to such ports, and under such conditions and regulations only, as his majesty, by any license to be granted for that purpose, may direct.

And the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesty's treasury, his majesty's principal secretaries of state, the lords commissioners of the admiralty, and the judges of the high court of admiralty and courts of viceadmiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein, as to them shall respectively appertain.

W. FAWKENER.

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 11th of November, 1807-present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

WHEREAS the sale of ships by a belligerent to a neutral is considered by France to be illegal:

And whereas a great part of the shipping of France and her allies has been protected from capture during the present hostilities by transfers, or pretended transfers, to neutrals.

And whereas it is fully justifiable to adopt the same rules, in this respect, towards the enemy, which is applied by the enemy to this country.

His majesty is pleased, by and with the advice of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that in future the sale to a neutral of any vessel belonging to his majesty's enemies, shall not be deemed to be legal, nor in any manner to transfer the property, nor to alter the character of such vessel: and all vessels now belonging, or which shall hereafter belong to any enemy of his majesty, notwithstanding any sale, or pretended sale to a neutral, after a reasonable time shall have elapsed for receiving information of this his majesty's order at the place where such sale, or pretended sale, was effected, shall be captured and brought in, and shall be adjudged as lawful prize to the captors.

And the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesty's treasury, his majesty's principal secretaries of state, the lords commissioners of the admiralty, and the judges of the high court of admiralty and courts of vice-admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein, as to them shall respectively appertain. W. FAWKENER.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. FEB. 9, 1808.

I COMMUNICATE to Congress, for their information, a letter from the person acting in the absence of our consul at Naples, giving reason to believe, on the affidavit of a captain Sheffield, of the American schooner Mary Ann, that the dey of Algiers has commenced war against the United States. For this no just cause has been given on our part, within my knowledge. We may daily expect more authentick and particular information on the subject from Mr. Lear, who was residing as our consul at Algiers.

TH: JEFFERSON.

Marseilles, November 21, 1807.

SIR,-I had the honour of addressing you on the 5th last August and 14th ultimo. This, under cover of Wil-. liam Lee, Esq. our consul at Bordeaux, is to remit you here enclosed a copy of a letter, I just received from our consul at Naples, dated the 9th instant, begging your reference to its unexpected contents.

I have already advised the American masters and citizens of the United States, in my district, and am sending copies of the same to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, and several consuls, in order they may take proper steps for the safety of our merchant vessels and seamen.

In haste, I have the honour to be, &c.

STEPHEN CATHALAN, JUN. James Madison, Esq. Secretary of State United States, Washington.

Naples, November 9, 1807.

SIR, I have the honour to inform you that from the report of captain Ichabod Sheffield, of the schooner Mary Ann of New York, arrived on the 4th instant in this port

from America, it appears that an unexpected war has taken place between the regency of Algiers and the United States: he has declared in this consulate, upon oath, that on the 26th ultimo, he fell in, within the Straits, with an Algerine frigate, of forty-four guns, by which he was made a prize of, and which, without hardly any examination, took three men out of his said schooner, and ordered. her into Algiers, under the charge of nine Turks, including a boy; he was in their possession till the 29th, when being near the Barbary shore, he determined himself to endeavour to retake his vessel, in which he had the good fortune to succeed, having thrown four of the Turks overboard, secured four of the others by surprise, whom he embarked in a boat, and kept the boy, who is now on board. He after that shaped his course for Italy, and arrived safe in our mole, on the 4th aforesaid. Captain S. has further declared, that the brig Violet, of Boston, loaded with colonial produce for Leghorn, was also taken within sight of him by the said frigate, and that he had also heard they had captured an American ship and schooner a few days before. I mention in haste these circumstances to you, in order that you may make them known to what Americans are, or may arrive in your port, and take such steps as you may deem most prudent for their safety.

I am, very respectfully, yours, &c. in the absence and by the authorization of Frederick Degen, Esq. consul U. S. A.

J. B. DUCOSTER. Stephen Cathalan, Esq. Commissioner and Navy Agent for the U. S. A. at Marseilles.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. FEBRUARY 15, 1808.

I COMMUNICATE, for the information of Congress, a letter from the consul of the United States at Malaga to the Secretary of State, covering one from Mr. Lear, our

consul at Algiers, which gives information, that the rup ture threatened on the part of the dey of Algiers has been amicably settled, and the vessels seized by him are liberated.

TH: JEFFERSON.

Extract of a Letter from William Kirkpatrick, Consul of the United States at Malaga, to the Secretary of State. January 5, 1808.

"By my last letter of the 15th December, I enclosed copies of the information I had received from Barcelona and Marseilles, regarding the hostilities commenced on our commerce by the cruisers of the dey of Algiers, and am now happy in having it in my power to transmit a copy of a letter I have just received from colonel Lear, under date 16th and 17th December, with the pleasing information that he has succeeded in adjusting matters with the dey, and that the vessels captured had been set at liberty, which I hasten to communicate to you by a vessel on her departure for Salem."

CIRCULAR.

Algiers, December 16, 1807.

SIR,-You have undoubtedly, before this, heard that three American vessels had been detained by a frigate of this place, in consequence of the annuities for two years past not having been paid from the United States in naval and military stores, as stipulated by treaty, notwithstanding the amount thereof has been repeatedly offered in cash.

These vessels are, the ship Eagle, of New York, Thater, master, from Bristol to Palermo; cargo, glass bottles; brig Violet, of Boston, James Merrett, master, from Oporto to Leghorn; cargo, sugar, hides, indigo, &c. and schooner Mary Ann, of New York, Ichabod Sheffield, master, from the straits of Belle Isle to Leghorn; cargo, fish.

The two former have been in this port upwards of forty days. The schooner has not arrived, and is supposed to have made some other port.