1807. AN EMBARGO PROPOSED. 277 hours of the following morning in writing a remonstrance, which reached Jefferson almost as soon as he had breakfasted. Gallatin reminded him that Government prohibitions always did far more mischief than could ever be foreseen; that a wise statesman would think well before he undertook to regulate the affairs of individuals; that the proposed embargo was of doubtful policy; that it had been approved hastily, on the first view of our foreign relations, based on very imperfect information, and that on the negotiations with Rose or the future conduct of England it would not have the smallest influence. But, if there must be an embargo, let it be for a short time. War, with all the privations, with all the sufferings, with all the loss of revenue it would bring, was better than a lasting embargo.* By ten o'clock the Secretaries were again assembled,† and the letter of Gallatin read. But they would not oppose the wishes of Jefferson, and when Congress met at noon the message, as Madison wrote it, and a packet of documents, were sent down by messenger. In the bundle of papers were a copy of the new interpretation of the Berlin decree; the correspondence between Armstrong and Champagny on the subject of the interpretation; the protest of Armstrong against the condemnation of the cargo of the Horizon; and the newspaper clipping giving the proclamation of the King recalling English seamen from the service of foreign states. In the Senate business was instantly stopped; the doors were closed; the message and the papers heard with attention, and at once sent to a committee of five. No sooner was the committee formed than the chairman asked for leave to bring in a bill. Leave was granted, and a few minutes later the bill was presented. The rule requiring the three readings to take place on three different days was then suspended, and, four hours later, a bill laying an embargo on all the shipping in the * Gallatin to Jefferson, December 18, 1807. Gallatin's Writings, vol. i, p. 368. Jefferson to Gallatin, December 18, 1807. Gallatin's Writings, vol. i, p. 369. What took place in committee is told by John Q. Adams in his Diary, vol. i, p. 491, December 18, 1807. ports of the United States was on its way to the House of Representatives. There the zeal of the Republicans was quite as strong, but their haste was less. When the message of the President came down to the House, the members were debating an amendment to a bill to fortify the ports and harbors. But business was postponed, the gallery cleared, and the documents read by the clerk. When he finished, Randolph moved to lay an embargo on all ships belonging to citizens of the United States. A warm debate followed, and in the midst. of it the Secretary of the Senate, with the bill in his hand, knocked at the door of the House. Randolph's resolution was at once tabled, the Senate bill read, and debate upon it begun. The House was in secret session. No report of what was said has, therefore, been preserved for us. But the meagre entries in the journal show that the discussion went on all day Friday and all day Saturday and part of Monday. Then the voting began, and, when amendment after amendment to exempt fishing vessels, to declare that the act contravened no treaty rights, to limit the embargo to sixty days, had been offered and rejected, the House long after midnight passed the bill. The yeas were eighty-two and the nays forty-four. Later in the day some verbal changes were accepted by the Senate, the act promptly signed by the President, and on Tuesday, December twenty-second, 1807, an embargo, unlimited as to time, was in force. 1807. TIDINGS OF THE EMBARGO. 279 CHAPTER XIX. THE LONG EMBARGO. THE embargo had not been many minutes in force when express-riders were galloping out of Washington and riding post-haste toward Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, with orders from Gallatin to the collectors. Speed was most necessary, and so well did the messengers perform their task that at five o'clock on Friday morning one of them crossed the ferry from Paulus Hook and roused the Collector of the port of New York from his slumbers. The nearest Republican printer was sought, and by seven o'clock copies of the law in the form of handbills were distributed about the streets. Then followed a scene which to men not engaged in commerce was comical. On a sudden the streets were full of merchants, ship-owners, ship-captains, supercargoes, and sailors hurrying toward the water-front. Astonished at this unusual commotion, men of all sorts followed, and by eight o'clock the wharves were crowded with spectators, cheering the little fleet of half-laden ships which, with all sail spread, was beating down the harbor. None of them had clearances. Many were halfmanned. Few had more than part of a cargo. One which had just come in, rather than be embargoed, went off without breaking bulk. At the sight of the headings of the handbills, the captains made crews of the first seamen they met, and, with a few hurried instructions from the owners, pushed into the stream. That the Collector was slack is not unlikely, for it was ten o'clock before his boats were in pursuit. The act did not apply to American vessels sailing from port to port along the coast of the United States; nor to foreign merchantmen in ballast; nor to foreign armed vessels in commission; but it absolutely forbade registered or sea-letter vessels to leave the ports of the United States for those of any foreign power. Such vessels might, however, engage in the coasting trade. If they did, bonds equal to twice the value of ship and cargo must be given as security that the cargo would really be landed in the United States. On licensed ships engaged in the coasting trade the embargo law laid no restraint. They were still at liberty to load and sail. No Custom-House officers watched them day and night. No inspection was made of their cargoes. No bond was required as surety that the cargo should even be landed in the United States. The advantages to which this might be turned were quickly seen. Indeed, the law was scarcely known when captains and owners of ships employed in the foreign trade were hurrying to the Custom-House to give up their ship registers and take out licenses to trade along the coast. A cargo of provisions would then be hurried on board, all sail spread for Eastport or New Orleans, and, under pretence of being blown off the coast, the captain would make for Halifax, St. Kitts, or Basse-Terre. And for this offence no punishment whatever was provided. In Philadelphia on the Sunday following the laying of the embargo the streets and wharves along the Delaware front were as crowded as on a busy week-day. From every direction came drays, wagons, barges, and floats laden with flour and food to be carried to the West Indies by the pretended coasters. Such was the demand that the cost of flour rose a dollar and a half on a barrel, and the cost of bacon seven cents on the pound. Gallatin, in alarm, bade the Collector at Philadelphia exchange no more registers for coasting licenses, and, when the cargo seemed fitted for a foreign port, hold the ship. Yet the trade went merrily on till Congress passed a supplementary act to amend the faults of the first. One section of this forbade a coaster to obtain a clearance till the owner, or the freighter, or the consignee, or the agent had given bonds to twice the value of ship and cargo that the goods should be relanded in the United States. By another section river craft and boats accustomed to ply the harbors, bays, and sounds were required to give a general bond of three 1808. FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY ACT. 281 hundred dollars a ton not to engage in foreign trade. Another fixed the penalty for breaking the embargo at forfeiture of ship and goods, or, if they could not be seized, mulct the owner of twice the value, and fined the master and all engaged at any sum from one to twenty thousand dollars. Another related to fishers and whalers. While the bill was still before the House an attempt was made to have them exempted from the law. The purpose of the embargo, it was said, was to protect American merchant ships and sailors from capture by foreign powers, and to force a repeal of commercial restrictions by cutting off all trade. But the fishermen of New England were not in danger of being captured and were not engaged in trade. They were producers, and to force them to travel fifty or sixty miles each week to get a permit to chase a whale or drag a net was as unjust as it would be to force a farmer to take out a license to sow flaxseed or reap wheat. The Republicans admitted the hardship, but insisted that it must be borne. When, said they, the embargo was laid no hindrance was put on coasters, and immediately the merchants began to turn registered ships into coasters and evade the law. If no restriction is now put on the fishermen, every coaster will soon be a whaler or a fishing schooner, and, loaded with very little tackle and a most astonishing amount of food, will be on its way to Halifax or St. John's. The most that could be obtained was permission that bonds equal to four times the value of the ship and fishing tackle should be given not to touch at any foreign port during the voyage and to bring back all the catch to the United States. In this shape the President signed the bill on the eighth of January, 1808. One week later the new envoy from England presented himself at Washington. As his mission was from the first designed to insult and not to appease the United States, he began his career before he landed. In October, Canning had asked Monroe if the proclamation excluding British ships-of-war would apply to a frigate with Rose on board. Armed ships bearing despatches or coming on public business had been expressly exempted, and to this fact Monroe in his answer called attention. But Canning chose to disbelieve him, and commanded the envoy, if any attempt were made to send the Statira out of American |