CHAPTER XII

THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE

England and France Trample upon Our Rights on the Sea.War was resumed between France and England in 1803. The

next year Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor of English sea the French. The new emperor had always dreamed of con- power quest and he was

already planning to invade England. "Masters of the channel for six hours," he said, "and we are masters of the world." But Napoleon's plans for the invasion of England had to be given up after Lord Nelson, the most famous of English sailors, destroyed the naval power of France at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson fell at the moment of victory, but his words at

Trafalgar, "Eng

land expects every man to do his duty," will live as long as the British Empire endures.

While the English and the French were fighting at sea

Austria, Russia, and later Prussia declared war on the French

emperor. Napoleon promptly struck these countries a series The victories of smashing blows. In December, 1805, he defeated the com- of Napoleon

warfare
between

France and
England

bined armies of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz and forced Austria to sign a humiliating treaty of peace. The next year with equal swiftness he overwhelmed the Prussians and overran their country. In 1807 Napoleon defeated the Russians and compelled Prussia and Russia to make peace with him upon his own terms. Nearly all Europe was now in his power or under his influence.

England and France were still at war, but for a time it was a war in which there was little chance of actual fighting. Commercial England's control of the sea insured her against invasion, but on the other hand her army could not attack Napoleon anywhere with hope of true success. Under these circumstances each nation sought to conquer the other by ruining its trade and starving its people into submission. Ever since the war began, England had been trying to prevent American ships from carrying the sugar of the French colonies in the West Indies to the markets of Europe. She now declared a blockade of all the coast of Europe in the hands of the French. This meant that the ships of the British navy would try to capture Our trade any neutral vessels going to ports under French control. In

suffers

Our prosperity in danger

reply Napoleon forbade all commerce with England and said that any ship that obeyed the English orders could be taken by the French. Practically, all this meant that no American ship could safely engage in European trade. If she escaped the English on the sea she was in danger of seizure by the French in the ports of the continent. It is little wonder that President Jefferson declared that England was "a den of pirates, and France a den of thieves," or that a member of Congress compared these two countries "to a tiger and a shark, each destroying everything that came in their way."

These restrictions upon neutral trade were a very serious matter to our people. Since the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars began in Europe in 1792, we had developed an immense foreign commerce. There was a great demand for our wheat. rice, beef, and pork in the countries at war, and our shipments of cotton were growing with amazing rapidity. Our swift sailing vessels not only carried our own exports but engaged in the rich traffic with the West Indies, South America, and the Far East. Our farmers were selling their products for high prices, our shipyards were busy, our sailors were employed at

high wages, and our shipowners were making huge profits. The country was never more prosperous than from 1795 to 1805. But in Jefferson's second term the efforts of England and France to ruin each other threatened to destroy the prosperity of the United States. Our people were justly angry with both France and England, but they were especially wrathful toward England because of her greater power to harm us on the sea.

In addition to her outrages upon our trade, England claimed the right to search our ships for British-born sailors, and, if

she found them, to force them to serve in her navy. This was Our sailors called impressment. It was lawful in British ports and on impressed British merchant vessels, and the British attempted to justify the impressment of sailors on American ships on the ground that they were British subjects who had deserted from British ships. There was a measure of truth in this claim, for many British sailors did seek employment in the American merchant marine at this time on account of the better treatment and higher wages they received in it. If such sailors claimed to be naturalized American citizens it availed them nothing, for the British government denied their right to become naturalized in another country and declared that if they were once Englishmen they were always Englishmen. As a matter of fact, many native-born Americans were also impressed and forced to serve in the British navy. This impressment of American sailors was an outrage which would not have been borne if our country had then had a government strong enough to protect its own citizens.

The impressment of sailors from our merchant ships was bad enough, but worse followed. In 1807 the British warship Leopard stopped the Chesapeake of our navy off the Virginia The Leopard coast and demanded the right to search her for British deserters. and the Chesapeake When the captain of the Chesapeake refused to permit the search the Leopard fired upon the American ship killing three and wounding eighteen of her crew. As the Chesapeake was not ready for battle she was compelled to surrender. The British then searched her and carried off four of her crew. They were all deserters from the British service, but three of them were native Americans who had been impressed. The news of this affair greatly angered the people. "Never," said Jeffer

Jefferson's embargo policy

Failure of

son, "since the battle of Lexington, have I seen the country in such a state of exasperation as at present." The attack upon the Chesapeake was an act of war, and unless followed by a prompt apology from England it ought to have been answered by a declaration of war against that country.

Our Government Fails to Maintain Our Rights by Peaceful Means. The conduct of England in seizing ships and impressing our sailors soon led many Americans to clamor for war in defense of our rights. But President Jefferson and his secretary of state, James Madison, who became president in 1809, both thought war an unwise policy for the United States, and tried to maintain our rights on the sea by peaceful means. At Jefferson's suggestion Congress promptly passed the Embargo Act in December, 1807. This law said that our vessels must not sail to any foreign port and that foreign ships must not take cargoes away from our ports. Of course the embargo saved our ships, for they could not be captured if they remained at our own wharves. But Jefferson believed that it would also force England and France to respect our commerce. He thought that those countries must have our food products and our cotton and that they would soon agree to treat us fairly in order to get them.

The effect of the embargo was not what Jefferson expected. Our minister at Paris wrote that "it is not felt here and in England it is forgotten." In fact, English shipowners actually the embargo gained by it for it threw more of the world's trade into their hands. On the other hand, the embargo worked great injury. to our own people. It angered our merchants and shipowners, who had been making enormous profits in spite of their loss of ships. You can imagine their feelings when they looked at their idle vessels and at the great stores of flour, bacon, and salt fish which they could not sell. Many of them evaded the hated law at every opportunity. The loss and suffering was even greater among the other classes of our people. The shipyards were deserted, great numbers of sailors were out of work, and in less than a year the farmers, who had long enjoyed a ready market and good prices, found that they could not sell their grain at any price.

By February, 1809, the discontent of the people became so great that Congress repealed the Embargo Act and passed in

its place the Non-Intercourse Act. This law forbade trade The Nonwith England and France but permitted it with all other Intercourse law proves nations. A few days after the Non-Intercourse Act was passed no better Madison became president. In his inaugural address he said that he should follow the same peaceful policy which Jefferson had pursued. Madison tried in vain to get England to agree to a treaty recognizing our rights upon the sea. The nonintercourse policy proved as useless as the embargo in bringing England and France to respect our commerce. It was aban

doned in 1810.

rights

Congress next tried another plan. It permitted trade with both England and France but declared that if either one of these nations would stop seizing American ships we would All peaceful cease trading with the other. This was really an attempt to means fail to protect our get England and France to bid against each other for our products. Napoleon took advantage of this law to secure American provisions which he needed. He told our minister that he would recall the decrees which interfered with our trade. President Madison took him at his word and once more we stopped trading with England. A little later Napoleon seized every American ship in the French ports and by this bit of trickery stole $10,000,000 worth of American goods. In the meantime England continued, wherever possible, to capture our ships going to France. It was evident that the efforts to protect our rights on the sea by peaceful means were utter failures.

The "War Hawks" Have Their Way.-The United States had good reasons for war with both England and France at

any time between 1807 and 1812. Over nine hundred Ameri- Good

war

can ships had been taken by the British, and more than five reasons for hundred and fifty had fallen into the hands of the French. Six thousand American citizens had been forced to serve in the British navy. Both nations had treated our remonstrances with haughty disdain. But a nation with a democratic government does not declare war until public opinion approves such a course, and in 1807 the majority of our people agreed with Jefferson in sincerely desiring peace. By 1812 this feeling had greatly changed.

The chief reason for the rising war spirit during the years just before 1812 was the news of the repeated outrages upon The rising our ships and our sailors. Then, too, the hard times which war spirit