Note 188 — Chapter II · THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

With regard to the 10,000 Englishmen who were arrested in France by Napoleon at the outbreak of war with England in 1803 and kept as prisoners of war for many years, it must be borne in mind that Napoleon did not claim a right to make such civilians prisoners of war as were at the outbreak of war on French soil. He justified his act as one of reprisals, considering it a violation of the Law of Nations on the part of England to begin hostilities by capturing two French merchantmen in the Bay of Audierne without a formal declaration of war. See Alison, History of Europe, V. p. 277, and Bonfils, No. 1052.