New Britain herald., 1917-03-12

looked uponait as veritable fraud.
 Realizing that Napoleon could never be defeated unless this. endless stream were somehow cut off. Eng
 land, then as now. mistress of the sea, decided to choke off his supplies. He had been throttled on the waters. On
 land he was invincible. Great Bri- tain instituted paper blockade of French ports and enforced it by cap-
 lures at sea. By series of Orders in Council England virtually declared
 every port of Europe closed against
 neutral shipping. In retaliation
 Napoleon answered with series of decrees which closed every English port so far as his cruisers could close them. By these Unprecedented acts of war Americass trade stood a chance of being totally cut off. To all in- tents and purposes war might as well have been declared againat this coun- try. English cruisers overloaded American nlerchantinent wherever they ventured. Tacre were no scruplea rhencvet Ehslish shippers met Amerlcan ships they looked into their naanifests and bills of lading, forbade them to continue their voy- ages, and even went so far as to take -American Acsamen to. serve in English. crews There wcra all sorts of ex- cuscs at l1ngland's disposal The governinent did not fail to instruct British scamcn in the laws of ncces- sity. As there were many deserters from the English navy on board American ships, English captains were simply reclai,ning runaway Eng .lishmen. according to the British Ad- m.ralty. Then again, was not Eng land fighting single handed against Napoleon who had all Europe with him? American ships were held up and lnanhandled by British seamen because England so desired 1t. Brit ish officers made no pretense to. exer- else good Judgment in holding up American ships. Whether there were deserters aboard or not made no diff ference. All American ships were sub- jected to the same treatment. Every method employed was an insult to the American flag. The climax came in 1907 when the British, cruiser Leopold after following the American frigate Chesapeake out of Hampton Roads fired upon her and took four men as deserters. Not having the necessary naval forces, and being un- alterably opposed to war, President Jefferson sought metkod of retalia- tion that many propose today. He recommended an embargo which Afterwards Abecame law and absolutely prohibited all foreign commerce. closed the ports against all nations and even against the exit of American ships Jefferson's closing days of ad- ministration proved the embargo a
 futile effort. The United States suf-
 fered more from this act than the
 nations abroad. Americas trade was
 ruined ships rotted at their wharves.
 Vessels which not long before that
 had carried the commerce of the.
 world were. under the embargo,
 rendered worthless. Prices were
 dropped. Men were thrown out of
 employment. The country almost went into bankruptcy. Smuggling
 tfHSN 1an S11A nF
 The system eventually sounded it's
 own death knell. The Enforcing Act
 of 1909, which authorized the Presi- dent, through. the collectors of cus-
 toms. to seize any goods of American growth or manufacture that might
 be found going towards the sea and
 to hold them till heavy bonds were gfven that they would not go out of
 the United States, proved the last
 straw. The governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbull. refused to help enforce: the act by sending out the
 militia Others followed his load.
 Secession in the air. Accordingly. President Jefferson, before turning over the rsins of ofRce to his succes-
 sor. James Madison destroyed the
 absolute embarso and set up the Non-
 Intercourse Act which prohibited trade merely with England and France. leaving the rest of the world ports .opsn to American ships
 England and France were both try ing to use the United States for . catspaw Both were violating the laws of nations. Both deceived the statesmen of America. MT. Madison did not want war my more than Mir. Jefferson. He too wished to fight only with the weapons of nominal embargoes and other retali-