alterations they proposed in the rejected treaty. The attack on the Chesapeake frigate caused a suspension of correspondence, so that Mr. Canning did not reply to the American ministers until the 22d of October, when, after justifying the reservation made of the right to retaliate the French decrees, and insisting that the subject of the "impressment of British seamen from merchant vessels" formed no part in the treaty, and was entitled only to a separate and subsequent discussion, he protests, in behalf of his government, "against a practice, altogether unusual in the political transactions of states, by which the American government assumes to itself the privilege of revising and altering agreements concluded and signed in its behalf by its agents duly authorized for that purpose; of retaining so much of those agreements as may be favorable to its own views; and of rejecting such stipulations, or parts of stipulations, as are conceived to be not sufficiently beneficial to America." He therefore informs the American ministers that the proposal "for proceeding to negotiate anew, upon the basis of a treaty already solemnly concluded and signed, is wholly inadmissible."*

In a letter to Mr. Monroe, Mr. Jefferson remarked, if the treaty could not be made more acceptable, the next best thing was to let the negotiation die away insensibly, and in the meantime, to agree informally that both parties should act on the principles of the treaty, so as to preserve a friendly understanding. He adds, that as soon as Mr. Monroe sees the amendment of the treaty is desperate, he can follow his desire of returning home. Mr. Monroe therefore returned to the United States at the close of the year 1807.

At this time the British maintained a squadron which cruised along the coast of the United States, under pretence of enforcing belligerent rights. Vessels-of-war belonging to France and to England might come into the ports of the United States. Those of France came, and those of England came to seek them. Five seamen had deserted from the British sloop-ofwar Halifax, in March, 1807, and enlisted on board the United States frigate Chesapeake, then lying in Hampton Roads, and commanded by Captain Barron. Four separate demands were made for these men, but without success; one on Lieut. Sinclair, of the Chesapeake; one by the British consul, on the mayor of Norfolk; one on Captain Decatur; and one by the British minister, on the secretary of state. The Chesapeake sailed with these five men on board, but while going down the bay, all but one deserted and got on shore.

On the 23d of June, when at sea, not far from the capes of Virginia, the Chesapeake was met by the British ship Leopard, of fifty guns, commanded by Captain Humphreys. The Chesapeake carried forty-four guns. Humphreys sent his boat with a note to Barron, informing him that his commanding officer, Admiral Berkeley, had directed him to take any Brit

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ish deserters on board the Chesapeake, by force if necessary, and to allow on his part of a search for American deserters. Captain Barron refused permission to search, and stated that he had instructed his recruiting officer not to enlist British subjects, and that he had no knowledge that any were on board. On this answer being received, the Leopard fired into the Chesapeake, and the latter being taken by surprise, and unprepared for action, did not return the fire, and immediately struck her flag. A boat from the Leopard having been then sent to the Chesapeake, the American officers tendered their swords to the British officer commanding, but he declined receiving them, denianded the muster-roll of the ship, and having taken off four men, whom he claimed as British subjects, left the Chesapeake, which then returned to Hampton Roads. Three of these men had previously entered the British service, but were Americans by birth, and had been formally demanded at Washington.*

This was a gross outrage on the part of the British commander, whatever the provocation may have been, because the universally-acknowledged principle is, that a national ship at sea and the territory of its na tion are alike inviolable. The British government so understood this matter, and disavowed the act of its officer, and offered a proper and honorable reparation, which was finally accepted before the war, and therefore this did not make one of the causes which led to that calamity.

This affair of the Chesapeake excited the indignation of the whole country; both parties cordially united in a desire that the honor of the country should be avenged. Many were anxious for a declaration of war with England, but the president preferred a pacific course, and determined to give Great Britain an opportunity of disavowal and reparation. This course proved a wise one, as the affair was finally amicably settled, after a somewhat tedious negotiation.

The French emperor, Napoleon, was at this period in the full tide of success and conquest, having subdued and brought under his control a large part of continental Europe. But the English navy had nearly destroyed the French power at sea. The battle of Trafalgar annihilated the united fleets of France and Spain; and all the principal ports of the French empire, with a long extent of seacoast, were held in vigorous blockade by the British squadrons.

To retaliate on the British, the Emperor Napoleon devised a new plan of attack, which he called the Continental System. The object of this scheme was to cut off all intercourse between the continent of Europe and Great Britain, and thus weaken England by destroying this portion of her commerce.

On the 21st of November, 1806, Napoleon, having defeated the Prussians, and entered Berlin, the capital of that kingdom, issued from the royal palace of that city his celebrated Berlin decree; by which he de† Sullivan.

• Tucker.

clared the British isles in a state of blockade; and, consequently, that every American or other neutral vessel going to, or coming from, these isles, was subject to capture. The same decree provided that all merchandise belonging to England, or coming from its manufactories, or colonies, although belonging to neutrals, should be lawful prize on land. This provision was carried into effect.

General Armstrong, American minister at Paris, regarded the Berlin decree at first as inapplicable to American commerce, on account of the treaty then existing between the United States and France, but in October, 1807, in answer to his inquiry as to the effect of the decree, the French minister of foreign relations informed him of his mistake. The condemnation of American vessels commenced in November following.

The British government, in retaliation of Napoleon's Berlin decree, issued their famous orders in council, dated November 11, 1807. By these orders, all direct trade from America to any part of Europe at war with Great Britain, or which excluded the British flag, was totally prohibited. Goods, however, were allowed to be landed in England, and, after paying duties, might be re-exported to Europe. On the 17th of December succeeding, the orders in council were followed by the Milan decree of Napoleon, which declared that every vessel that should submit to be searched by a British man-of-war, or which should touch at a British port, or should pay any impost whatever to the British government, should be denationalized, and subject to seizure and condemnation.

These edicts of the two belligerent powers were, of course, destructive to the principal part of the foreign commerce of the United States. American vessels trading directly with French ports were liable to capture by British cruisers; and if they touched at a British port, they were confiscated on arriving in France. The British orders in council operated with the most severity on American commerce, as through their powerful navy the English possessed the means of enforcing them.

The critical situation of our foreign relations induced the president to call the tenth Congress together on the 25th of October, 1807. The democratic majority continued large in both branches. Joseph B. Varnum, a friend of the administration from Massachusetts, was chosen speaker of the house of representatives.

In consequence of the hostile edicts of France and England, the president, in a confidential special message, on the 18th of December, recommended to Congress the passage of an act laying an embargo on all vessels of the United States. The message did not allude to the British order in council, although Mr. Tucker informs us in his life of Jefferson, on the authority of Mr. Madison, then secretary of state, that the government had received information, through an authentic private channel, that the British ministry had issued an order against neutral commerce, in re

taliation of the Berlin decree; which information was confirmed by a ministerial English newspaper received at the same time.

The subject was immediately discussed in both houses of Congress, in secret session; and a bill laying an embargo was passed on the 22d of December, 1807, at eleven o'clock at night, by a vote of 82 to 44. A similar bill had passed the senate on the very day the subject was introduced, by a vote of 22 to 6. According to this bill, all American vessels were prohibited from sailing for foreign ports; all foreign vessels from taking out cargoes; and all coasting vessels were required to give bond to land their cargoes in the United States.

The embargo was violently opposed by the federal party and their few democratic associates in Congress. It was also extremely unpopular among a large portion of the people, particularly in the states most interested in commerce and navigation.

The federalists throughout the United states, denounced the restrictive measures of the administration, but the democratic party generally approved of and sustained them. There were, however, some exceptions even among that party; and in the city of New York a public meeting was held, soon after the passage of the embargo act by Congress, at which De Witt Clinton, then a leading democrat in the state of New York, presided; and at this meeting resolutions were adopted disapproving of the embargo. The American Citizen, a democratic paper published in that city by James Cheetham, came out decidedly against the measure. Mr. Clinton shortly afterward renounced his opposition, and sustained this and other measures of Mr. Jefferson's administration.

Those who opposed the embargo policy believed it would prove unavailing in its influence to induce the British ministry to adjust existing disputes with the United States; another objection to the embargo was, that the act contained no provision for limiting it to a definite period. An embargo had been laid by the continental Congress early in the war of the revolution, and again in 1794, during the administration of Washington; but these were limited to thirty or sixty days. The act of 1807 was unlimited as to the term of its operation, and it could not be repealed by a majority vote of Congress, as the act of repeal would be subject to the president's veto, after which a two-third vote would be necessary in Congress. If it were intended as a measure of annoyance and injury to a foreign nation, it was putting it in the power of the president to make war; and if it were designed chiefly as a means of safety, it was said, the merchants were the

And there was reason to be

best judges as to the risks and the dangers. lieve that the measure had been recommended and adopted at the secret instance of the French emperor, who sought to destroy the commerce of Great Britain; and who insisted on the co-operation of the United States, directly or indirectly, in his plans to subjugate his enemy. The letters of the American envoys in Paris, afterward published, stated varicus con

versations and facts which showed that the emperor expected an embargo would be laid by the American government, and that it would meet his approbation. Napoleon had said that there should be no neutrals; that the United States should be decided friends, or he must treat them as enemies. And he predicted in October that an embargo would be laid in America, which was done in December following. Mr. Jefferson used the following language in a confidential letter to the American minister in Paris, in October, 1808: "Bonaparte does not wish us to go to war with England; knowing we have not ships sufficient to carry on such a war. And to submit to pay England the tribute on our commerce, which she demands by her orders in council, would be to aid her in the war against France, and would give the emperor just ground to declare war on us." Notwithstanding the difficulties in which American commerce was involved by the conduct of both England and France, it was the opinion of men entitled to respect and confidence for their good judgment, that negotiations conducted in a proper spirit would have prevented the difficulties and evils which occurred to the United States; and that more decision and firmness would have prevented war and preserved commercial prosperity. In France, the American envoys expressed surprise that some resentment was not manifested against the French government by that of the United States. And the American ministers in England expressly declared, that a treaty might have been made with that government which, if not in all respects such as was desired, might have been accepted withwithout injury or dishonor to the United States.*

The embargo question, and subjects connected with it, occupied much of the time of this session of Congress, which closed on the 25th of April, 1808. The president, on the 2d of February, communicated to Congress the British orders in council of the 11th of November, and on the 17th of March he sent to that body the Milan decree of Napoleon. Spain issued similar decrees soon after the latter.

The committee of Congress to whom these and other documents were referred, made a report on the 16th of April, recommending for the present a continuance of the embargo, but that the president have power to suspend it until the next session of Congress. A law was therefore passed authorizing the executive to suspend the embargo act in the event of a peace in Europe, or of favorable changes in the measures of the belligerents affecting neutral commerce.

Some measures of defence were adopted by Congress; such as the erection and repair of fortifications on the seacoast, and for building and manning a large number of gunboats; for raising eight additional regiments of troops; for detaching one hundred thousand of the militia for service, if required, and for arming the whole body of the militia in the United States.