English Translation

- 55 - On 16 August l800, Paul I issued a declaration to the kings of Denmark, Prussia and Sweden, in which he pronounced the decree, "rétablin dans toute leur vigeur les prin- cipes de la neutralité armée et assurer ainsi la liberté des is signed on 4 December with Sweden, on 16 December with Denmark and on 18 December with Prussia. At the end of August, the embargo was declared on the English ships located in the port of St. Petersburg, while even the English sailors were interned in Kronstadt. However, after a few days the embargo is lifted and the trade released. Paul had hit a point where the English were actually vulnerable. In the year l780 the Count Vergennes had written to Corberon after Peters-burg: "Elle (i.e. Catherine II.) ne doit pas craindre d'eviter: il ne lui faut pas de canons pour en im- poser à l'Angleterre; un simple embargo mis sur les batiments de commerce au moment de leur départ aurait bientôt mis cetto If the withdrawal of the embargo order seemed to imply a settlement of the conflict, the English act of September 5, 1980 finally destroyed any prospect of a peaceful settlement. On that day, the English occupied La Valetta in Malta, contrary to the agreement of 30 December. Paul I, who on 4 January 1997 had placed the Order of Malta under his protection and, on 29 November 1898, had assumed the dignity of a Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Maltese, whom he greatly appreciated on account of his romantic preference for knighthood and a certain mystic-religious inclination, was personally influenced by this ruthless action by the island with its selection of the European knights- 1) Aleksandrenko 1, p.80. 2) Aleksandrenko 1, p.80, note 2. 3) Ši1' of S.340; Šumigorskij S.l48; Sumigorskij calls 2nd, Ši 1' of P.396 the 29th!