Abstract
In this chapter the inquiry into the history of the Declaration of Paris proceeds to the actual document, from the first drafts to the final treaty and its subsequent signature by the seven most important European powers. The US attempt to utilise maritime law to split the Anglo-French alliance, combined with the prospect of imminent war between Britain and the USA in 1856, persuaded the British government to consider signing a treaty granting neutral rights permanently if it also included US acceptance that privateering was banned. Getting rid of privateering seemed more important than ever because letters of marque would have been a pillar of the US war effort. Crucially, Britain informed the French government of these deliberations, leading to France’s proposal for a multilateral treaty at the European congress that ended the Crimean War. The second part of the chapter will describe the negotiations from the French draft presented as a consequence of the British idea of a ‘package deal’, to the final document signed on 16 April 1856 and its subsequent justification in Parliament.
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Notes
Palmerston to Clarendon, 24 September 1855, quoted in Kenneth Bourne, ‘Lord Palmerston’s “Ginger-beer” Triumph, 1 July 1856’, in Kenneth Bourne and D.C. Watt (eds.), Studies in International History, London 1967, pp. 145–171, p. 154.
William E. Echard, Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe, London 1983, pp. 63–72.
House of Lords, 22 May 1856, Vol. 142, Col. 501. Although navies were rapidly switching to steamers, most merchant vessels were still sailing craft. See Charles K. Harley, ‘The Shift from Sailing Ships to Steamships, 1850–1890: A Study in Technical Change and its Diffusion’, in Donald N. McCloskey (ed.), Essays on a Mature Economy: Britain after 1840, Princeton 1971, pp. 215–234, 216.
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© 2014 Jan Martin Lemnitzer
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Lemnitzer, J.M. (2014). ‘Catching Brother Jonathan in the Trap which He Laid for Us’ — The Genesis of the Declaration of Paris. In: Power, Law and the End of Privateering. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318633_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318633_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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