Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-09-07

IT, try which filled
the English papers
~ in 1912. War
clouds had gathered again, and Amer
lea was to be invaded second time
by British foes. Here, briefly, are the
causes leading to the conflict:
France and England were at war.
Each tried to cripple the other finan-
cially by running its commerce. Eng
land forbade American ships to trade
with France. France forbade Amer
lean ships to trade with England. Be
tween the two our foreign trade was
mt standstill and our rising prosper
ity checked. English warships seized
our merchant vessels. We had no
navy strong enough to prevent this or
to reta!iate. Then Great Britain went
a step further and began to hold up
and search American ships for sup
posed British deserters and forcibly
to kidnap American sailors and force
them TO enter the British navy. 1t Is
needless to say England had no more
right to do this than prizefghter
would have the right to enter the
house of q weaker man and carry
away the latter's children as slaves.
But England was irresistibly strong
at sea, and we had almost no naval
power. Thus, inside Of nine months,
271 Americans were seized and, on
the false charge Of being British de-
serters, were made to serve on Eng
lands warships. A British squadron
sailed to Old Point Comfort, Va, In
June, 1907, and demanded that four
sailors aboard the United States ship
Chesapeake be given up as deserters.
Commodore Barron Of the Chesapeake
refused. whereupon the British frigate
Leopard opened fire on the Chesa-
peake, wrecking her, killing or wound
Ing twenty-one Of her crew. then
boarding the shattered hulk and carry
Ing off several men to serve in Eng
lands navy.
In 1898, when an American battle
ship was blown up by unknown agency
In Spanish waters. our whole nation
rushed to arms against Spain. Yet
In 1907 the infinitely worse attack on
an American ship In American waters
could not be resented. AS 1t was, the
people of the United States were wild
with Indignation. But President JEFF
ferson by stern measures managed for
the time to repress the popular tumult
and to stave off war. AS he afterward
wrote. Il had only to open my hand to
oc" was a mild word for the case. Not
only England, but France and Spain
as well, seemed on the point Of dcclar-
ing war on us. Still weak from the
Revolution and needing all our scanty
strength to keep life in our newborn
nation. we were without means to OPP
pose such an avalanche Of enemies;
hence Jefferson was wise in seeking
to restore quiet. Jefferson hit on a
seemingly sure way Of furnishing the
hostile powers.
He decreed an embargo. This meas
ure's chief end was to forbid the Unit
ed States to trade with any foreign
power. In other words, Europe was
cut off from using our tobacco, cotton,
etc, and was deprived Of the huge an
nual revenue arising from our pur-
chaseS Of its various wares. Jeffer-
son. whose own fortune was largely
derived from tobacco imports, was
financially ruined by his own decree
and died poor man because OF 1t.
Had the nation at large followed his
example and obeyed the embargo Eu-
rope would probably have been brought
to its senses and the war Of 1912 never
have been fought. But 1t is easier to
shout for glory or sometimes even to
fight than to submit to the cutting
down Of ones bank roll.
The American people sacrificed true
patriotism to love Of money. They
cvaded the embargo In numberless in
stances. managed to smuggle cargoes
through to Europe and to buy foreign
goods. Many government officials
were false to their duty.
So, thanks to his own peoples greed,
Jeffersons splendid masterpiece Of
craftsmanship. which should have
brought England quickly to terms.
failed in its main object and served