This Government, therefore, infers that the commanders of his Majesty's
ships of war, engaged in maintaining the so-called blockade, will be
instructed to avoid an enforcement of the proposed measures of
non-intercourse in such a way as to impose restrictions upon neutral
trade more burdensome than those which have been regarded as inevitable,
when the ports of a belligerent are actually blockaded by the ships of
its enemy.
The possibilities of serious interruption of American trade under the
Order in Council are so many, and the methods proposed are so unusual,
and seem liable to constitute so great an impediment and embarrassment
to neutral commerce, that the Government of the United States, if the
Order in Council is strictly enforced, apprehends many interferences
with its legitimate trade which will impose upon his Majesty's
Government heavy responsibilities for acts of the British authorities
clearly subversive of the rights of neutral nations on the high seas. It
is, therefore, expected that the Majesty's Government, having considered
these possibilities, will take the steps necessary to avoid them, and,
in the event that they should unhappily occur, will be prepared to make
full reparation for every act which, under the rules of international
law, constitutes a violation of neutral rights.
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