Debating the Treaty of Stockholm, 3D March 1813
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Debating the Treaty of Stockholm, 3d March 1813 A study of Parliament, Policy and International Law Kandidatnummer: 213 Leveringsfrist: 03.06.13 Antall ord:40 000 I I Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Theme and objective .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Sources and structure ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 “International law” ...................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Interpretation of treaties ............................................................................................... 5 1.5 Studying the Treaty of Stockholm and its context ...................................................... 7 1.6 The situation in the North ............................................................................................ 7 1.7 An introduction to British politics ............................................................................... 9 1.8 Continental events and course of the war .................................................................. 11 1.9 Outline for the rest of the presentation ...................................................................... 16 2 SWEDISH BACKGROUND .................................................................................. 17 2.1 British-Swedish relations during the Napoleonic wars ............................................. 17 2.2 Internal developments in Sweden .............................................................................. 22 2.2.1 Swedish policies concerning Norway - historically ..................................... 23 2.2.2 Policies under Carl Johan ............................................................................. 26 2.2.3 Swedish relations with the Great European powers ..................................... 29 3 OUTLINE OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS ........................................................ 32 3.1 From the bombardment of Copenhagen to the peace at Tilsit ................................... 33 3.2 Turbulence in the North ............................................................................................. 37 3.3 Financial warfare ....................................................................................................... 38 3.4 Swedish relations ....................................................................................................... 40 3.5 The Great Russian Campaign of 1812 and the rise of a new Coalition ..................... 41 4 BRITISH POLITICS DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS ........................... 43 4.1 Party constructions .................................................................................................... 43 4.2 The role of the British Parliament in assessing the Treaty of Stockholm ................. 44 II 4.3 British administrations during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars ................... 47 4.4 Liverpool and Castlereagh ......................................................................................... 51 5 THE ROLE OF TREATIES ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW .... 54 5.1 Plenipotentiaries ........................................................................................................ 55 5.2 The Treaty of Stockholm in context .......................................................................... 56 6 LINK TO TREATIES BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA ............................ 58 6.1 Introduction to the Treaty of St. Petersburg .............................................................. 58 6.2 Why Norway, and not Finland? ................................................................................. 63 6.3 Changing the priorities .............................................................................................. 64 6.4 The role of Carl Johan ............................................................................................... 66 6.5 The performance of the troops during the spring of 1813 ......................................... 67 6.6 Different uses of the term “accession” ...................................................................... 67 6.7 The justification of the accession .............................................................................. 71 6.7.1 Denmark at war? .......................................................................................... 72 6.7.2 The need for necessity and the principle of self-preservation ...................... 79 7 BRITISH CONSIDERATION FOR DENMARK-NORWAY ............................ 82 7.1 The correspondence between Denmark and Britain .................................................. 82 7.2 Actual options for Denmark ...................................................................................... 86 7.3 The reparations for Norway ....................................................................................... 89 7.4 Views on Norway ...................................................................................................... 92 7.5 Comparisons to Napoleon ......................................................................................... 97 8 FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ISSUES ...................................................... 99 8.1 Subsidies .................................................................................................................... 99 8.1.1 Changing the priorities ............................................................................... 100 8.1.2 The British financial policies ..................................................................... 103 8.1.3 Economic relations to Sweden ................................................................... 107 8.2 Guadaloupe .............................................................................................................. 109 III 8.2.1 Ceding only what they had ......................................................................... 109 8.2.2 Advantages of ceding Guadaloupe ............................................................. 111 8.2.3 Specifics of the cession .............................................................................. 111 8.2.4 Legal position of Sweden ........................................................................... 112 8.2.5 Slave trade .................................................................................................. 113 8.2.6 Privateering ................................................................................................ 114 8.2.7 Future relationship with Britain ................................................................. 114 8.3 The right of entrepôt ................................................................................................ 114 9 A UNION OF INTERESTS AND THE FORMALITIES OF THE TREATY 117 9.1 Union of interests ..................................................................................................... 117 9.2 Formalities ............................................................................................................... 118 10 FINAL OBSERVATIONS .................................................................................... 118 10.1 Content of the Stockholm Treaty ............................................................................. 118 10.2 Thoughts on the Treaty’s reception in the British Parliament ................................. 121 10.3 The interplay of international law and politics ........................................................ 123 11 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 124 APPENDIX: A: Stockholm Treaty 3d March 1813 B: St. Petersburg Treaty 5th April 1813 C: Gallery of Persons IV 1 Introduction 1.1 Theme and objective The practice of international law during the decades from the French Revolution in 1789 was to a large extent connected with the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. The wars influenced alliances, questions of sovereignty, right of neutrality, the law of the sea and many aspects of an economical character. All of these were political issues of the highest relevance as well, and it is this point of intersection between international politics and in- ternational law I have chosen to study through the Treaty of Stockholm of 3 March 1813, and its reception in the British parliament. The Treaty of Stockholm was formed between Britain and Sweden as part of a project to create an alliance in Europe strong enough to defeat Napoleonic France. Britain wished to secure the co-operation of Sweden against Napoleon, and Sweden needed funds to support an army, as well as seeking support for their long time goal of a union with Norway. During the Napoleonic wars, Britain contributed in many ways to oppose the French ex- pansion around the world, especially in Europe but perhaps most importantly, she contrib- uted extraordinary amounts of money to her allies, commonly referred to as subsidies. The Stockholm Treaty is such a treaty of subsidy between Britain and Sweden. As the British parliament had to sanction any treaty promising British funds to another state, this practice serves as a perfect example to investigate the connections between politics and internation- al legal issues around 1800. In addition to subsidies, the Stockholm Treaty concern several issues, including the union of Norway and Sweden, the