t year, closing her ports, which would
now include those of Hanover, against British trade. The British
government replied by first laying an embargo on Prussian vessels in the
harbours of Great Britain and Ireland, and by proclaiming a blockade of
the coast of Europe from Brest to the Elbe. This was followed on May 14
by an order in council for seizing all vessels found navigating under
Prussian colours. As yet the policy of commercial exclusion had not been
carried to any great length, but the Berlin decree issued by Napoleon on
November 21 after the battle of Jena proclaimed the whole of the British
Isles to be in a state of blockade, prohibited all commerce with them
from the ports of France and her dependent states, confiscated all
British merchandise in such ports, and declared all British subjects in
countries occupied by French troops to be prisoners of war. Howick
replied by further orders in council in January, 1807, forbidding
neutrals to trade between the ports of France and her allies, or between
the ports of nations which should observe the Berlin decree, on pain of
the confiscation of the ship and cargo. On the 27th another decree,
issued at Warsaw, ordered the seizure in the Hanse Towns of all British
goods and colonial produce. The reply of Great Britain was a stricter
blockade of the North German coast.

The accession of Russia to Napoleon's commercial policy at Tilsit seemed
to have brought the combination against British trade to its furthest
development, and it was answered by new orders in council, treating any
port from which the British flag was excluded as if actually blockaded,
and further limiting the carriage by neutral vessels of produce from
hostile colonies. The Milan decree issued on December 17, and further
orders in council published during the same winter, carried to greater
extremes, if possible, this intolerable form of commercial warfare,
under which neutral commerce was gradually crushed out of existence.
Great Britain, owing to her command of the sea, was more independent of
this kind of commerce than her rival, and both the decrees and the
orders in council inflicted far more damage on France and her allies
than on Great Britain. But neither party was able to enforce completely
its policy of commercial exclusion. Europe could not dispense with
British goods or colonial produce carried in British vessels. The law
was deliberately set aside by a regular licensing system, and evaded