f May 16,
declaring the blockade of a long coast-line. It being evident, so ran
the Emperor's reasoning, that the object of this abuse of blockade was
to interrupt neutral commerce in favor of British, it followed that
"whoever deals on the Continent in English merchandise favors that
design, and becomes an accomplice." He therefore decreed, as a measure
of just retaliation, "that the British Islands were thenceforward in
a state of blockade; that all correspondence and commerce with them
was prohibited; that trade in English merchandise was forbidden; and
that all merchandise belonging to England, or" (even if neutral
property) "proceeding from its manufactories and colonies, is lawful
prize." No vessel coming directly from British dominions should be
received in any port to which the Decree was applicable. The scope of
its intended application was shown in the concluding command, that it
should be communicated "to the Kings of Spain, of Naples, of Holland,
of Etruria, and to our allies, whose subjects, like ours, are the
victims of the injustice and barbarism of the English maritime
laws."[174]

The phrasing of the edict was ambiguous, as Madison indicated.
Notably, while neutral vessels having on board merchandise neutral in
property, but British in origin, were to be seized when voluntarily
entering a French port, it was not clear whether they were for the
same reason to be arrested when found on the high seas; and there was
equal failure to specify whether the proclaimed blockade authorized
the capture of neutrals merely because bound to the British Isles, as
was lawful if destined to a seaport effectively blockaded. Again, some
of the proposed measures, such as refusal of admission to vessels or
merchandise coming to French ports from British, were matters of
purely local concern and municipal regulation; whereas the seizure of
neutral property, because of English manufacture, was at least of
doubtful right, if exercised within municipal limits, and certainly
unlawful, if effected on the high seas. Whether such application was
intended could not certainly be inferred from the text. The genius of
the measure, as a whole, its inspiring motive and purpose, was
revealed in the closing words of the preamble: "This decree shall be
considered as the fundamental law of the Empire, until England has
acknowledged that the rights of war are the same an land and on sea;
that it [war] cannot be extended to any private propert