Bayonne decree

Bayonne Decree was a Napoleonic decree passed on April 17, 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars. It ordered the seizure of all American ships arriving in France.{{Cite web |title=France: Decrees on Trade 1793-1810 |url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/france/decrees/c_decrees1.html |access-date=July 7, 2023 |website=Napoleon Series}} American vessels in French ports were ruled to be in violation of the Embargo Act of 1807 passed months earlier, or if not, either British or American ships in Britain's service.{{Cite book |last=Hildreth |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wygpAAAAYAAJ&dq=Bayonne+Decree&pg=PA85 |title=The History of the United States of America, Volume 2 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1880 |publication-place=United States |pages=85 |language=en |access-date=July 7, 2023}}{{Cite book |last=Smelser |first=Marshall |title=The Democratic Republic: 1801–1815 |publisher=Waveland Press |year=1968 |pages=172}} An estimated {{Usd|10 million}} in American property was confiscated, especially due to the confiscation of vessels that were subject to unavoidable examination by British cruisers.{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Peter P. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDTSSmWm0q0C&dq=Bayonne+Decree&pg=PT63 |title=Napoleon's Troublesome Americans: Franco-American Relations, 1804–1815 |publisher=Potomac Books |year=2005 |chapter=Chapter 5: Captured Ships and Stranded Seamen; Napoleon Reacts to the Embargo|isbn=9781612343013 }}{{Cite book |last1=Heckscher |first1=Eli Filip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QegGAAAAMAAJ&dq=Bayonne+Decree&pg=PA135 |title=The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation |last2=Fearenside |first2=Charles Scott |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1922 |editor-last=Westergaard |editor-first=Harald |location=United Kingdom |pages=135–136 |access-date=July 7, 2023}}