The St. Petersburg Convention of 1801 is a maritime convention between Russia and Great Britain , signed on June 5 (17), 1801 in St. Petersburg from the Russian side by Count N.P. Panin and from the British side by Lord Elens. The convention settled the Russo-British conflict of 1800, caused by the severance by Paul I of the union and diplomatic relations with Great Britain, as well as the subsequent Russian initiation of the creation of the Second Armed Neutrality with the participation of Denmark, Sweden and Prussia, and restored diplomatic relations between the two countries.
History
By 1800, Russia, led by Paul I, withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to conflicts with its allies. The failure of the joint invasion of the Netherlands with Britain laid the foundation for a break, and the British occupation of Malta angered Paul I, who at that time held the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He hastily broke the alliance with Britain and entered into an alliance with Napoleon. His next step was the confiscation of British ships and property in Russian ports. In addition, he created a league of armed neutrality based on the principle of freedom of maritime trade and directed mainly against Great Britain, which actually controlled the maritime trade of neutral countries, subjecting them to search and confiscation of their ships.
After the assassination of Paul I, Alexander I entered the throne, who began to restore relations between Russia and Great Britain. During the negotiations that began, the Russian government continued to insist on maintaining the principles of armed sea neutrality. Great Britain, in order to put pressure on Russia, sent a squadron to the Baltic Sea , which bombarded Copenhagen . After the conclusion of the convention, the British squadron with a special secret article was withdrawn from the Baltic Sea.
Convention Terms
According to the convention, Great Britain recognized the free trade rights of neutral powers, but subject to the unhindered search of their merchant ships. The convention was also supposed to limit arbitrariness in the matter of declaring a sea blockade, but during the negotiations the English ambassador distorted the text of the corresponding article: the basis for the blockade was the presence of ships of a belligerent power in or near the port, which gave wide scope for violating the principle of limiting the blockade. At the suggestion of Russia, Denmark and Sweden also joined the convention, after which the league of armed neutrality finally collapsed.
On October 8, 1801, additional articles of the St. Petersburg Convention were signed in Moscow, according to which merchants who suffered losses from improper confiscation received the right to remuneration.