The loyalists of America and their times

by Egerton Ryerson

"No nation was allowed to trade with any other country in any articles the growth, produce, or manufactures of any of the British dominions, all of which, as well as the island of Great Britain itself, were declared to be in a state of blockade. He appointed residents in every trading country, and no ship was to be admitted into any of his ports without a certification of origin; that is, of the nature of the goods they carried, and that no part of these was English. In consequence of these Decrees, the English commerce, during the months of August, September, and October, 1807—that part of the year in which the Berlin Decree of November, 1806, was carried into full effect—was not only greatly cramped, but lay prostrated on the ground, and motionless, before a protecting and self-defensive system was adopted by our Orders in Council."[178]

The British Orders in Council were dated January 7th, 1807, and were a measure of retaliation for the protection of British commerce in response to Napoleon's Berlin Decree of the 21st of November, 1806. By these Orders in Council, "all trade to France or her dependencies was strictly prohibited; all vessels, of whatever nation, which ventured to engage in this trade were declared liable to seizure, and France and her dependencies were thus reduced to that state of blockade with which she had vainly threatened the British islands. The Orders in Council admitted but of one exception to this general blockade of the French empire. The French had declared all vessels liable to seizure which had touched at a British port; the Orders in Council, to counteract this provision, declared, on the other hand, that only such ships as were in that situation should be permitted to sail for France. Thus did the utter extinction of the foreign trade of France result as a natural consequence of the very measures of her own Government; measures which no despotism, how ignorant soever, would have ventured to adopt, had it not trusted to a power which effectually silenced all popular opinion."[179]

As France was the aggressor upon the rights of neutrals by the Berlin Decree, and as the Orders in Council were a defensive retaliation upon France for her attempt to destroy English commerce, the American Government should have first remonstrated with France and demanded reparation; but this was not the case; the outcry of the Madison partizans was against England alone. It is true some grumbling words were uttered by some parties against the policy and acts of the French Government; but mere words to save appearances, not followed up by any acts; for by a collusion between Napoleon and Madison, it was understood that the Articles of the Berlin Decree were not intended to apply to ships of the United States—would not be executed against them—and were intended to destroy the commerce of Great Britain. An American writer (Lossing) remarks, "With a partiality towards the Americans that was practical friendship, the French cruisers did not, for a whole year, interfere with American vessels trading with Great Britain;" and Mr. Alex. Baring, M.P. (afterwards Lord Ashburton), in his Inquiry into the Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council, said that "no condemnation of an American vessel had ever taken place under it".

By this collusion between the Tyrant of Europe and the President of the United States, the necessities of France were supplied, and the shipping interests of the United States largely promoted, at the expense of the commerce and shipping interests of England.

But the collusion, or conspiracy, between Napoleon and Madison were carried on to weaken the English navy by the desertion of its sailors, as well as to injure English commerce by connivance in behalf of American trading vessels. The seduction of deserters from the British navy, and even army, was carried on successfully on a large scale. The safety of England consisted chiefly in her navy, which she was increasing and strengthening by every possible means. Therefore every skilled sailor was of importance to England, while every practicable scheme was resorted to by her enemies to induce and facilitate the desertion of her seamen and soldiers—especially of her seamen, several thousands of whom were detected and seized on board of American vessels—constituting as they did the best sailors on board American merchant vessels, and the vital strength of the French privateers. To stop this depleting of her naval resources, England put in exercise her right of boarding vessels of neutral powers in search of deserters from her navy. The only neutral power in Europe was Sardinia; so that the United States was the only neutral power that had vessels upon the ocean; and the President of the United States was conniving against England with the usurper and oppressor of Europe.

The right of a belligerent power to search the vessels of neutral powers in search of deserters had never been denied, though the modification of its exercise had frequently been sought; but under the teachings of Napoleon, his American pupils now began to exclaim against it as an infringement of national dignity and rights. The English Government had directed the exercise of this right with the greatest caution and courtesy, and only in regard to vessels on board of which, from specific information, there was reason to believe there were English deserters. These deserters, on getting smuggled on board of American vessels, would forthwith take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and be recognized and claimed as American citizens.[180]

An event now occurred which enabled President Madison to excite his partizans throughout the United States to a flame of indignation against England. Information had been received that there were English deserters on board the American ship Chesapeake; the British warship Leopard sought their restoration, and on being refused fired into the Chesapeake, and recovered the four deserters claimed. The attendant circumstances being omitted, the simple fact announced by the President to Congress, that the English warship Leopard had fired into the American ship Chesapeake, and in American waters, killing several persons, and had seized and carried off four American citizens, produced the excitement he was anxious to create against England, preparatory to the war on which he was then determined—in the zenith of Napoleon's success and power, and in the extremity of England's struggle for her own existence and the liberties of mankind. The statement of the American President as to the affair of the ships Leopard and Chesapeake has been repeated to this day by American historians, and is used in American school books to illustrate England's arrogance and cruelty; whereas all the facts of the case prove directly the reverse. We give the account of the affair from one American writer, who, though partial, was too honest to omit essential facts, much less to pervert them; we refer to Dr. Holmes, author of American Annals, and quote at length his account of the affair. He says:

"The frigate Chesapeake, being ordered to cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, under the command of Commodore Barron, sailing from Hampton Roads, was come up with by the British ship-of-war Leopard, one of a squadron then at anchor within the limits of the United States. An officer was sent from the Leopard to the Chesapeake with a note from the captain respecting some deserters from his Britannic Majesty's ships, supposed to be serving as part of the crew of the Chesapeake and enclosing a copy of an order from Vice-Admiral Berkeley requiring and directing the commanders of ships and vessels under his command, in case of meeting with the American frigate at sea, and without the limits of the United States, to show the order to her captain, and to require to search his ship for the deserters from certain ships therein named, and to proceed and search for them; and if a similar demand should be made by the American, he was permitted to search for deserters from their service, according to the custom and usage of civilized nations on terms of amity with each other. Commodore Barron gave an answer that he knew of no such men as were described; that the recruiting officers for the Chesapeake had been particularly instructed by the Government, through him, not to enter any deserters from his Britannic Majesty's ships; that he knew of none such being in her; that he was instructed never to permit the crew of any ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but her own; that he was disposed to preserve harmony, and hoped his answer would prove satisfactory. The Leopard, shortly after this answer was received by her commander, ranged alongside of the Chesapeake, and commenced a heavy fire upon her. The Chesapeake, unprepared for action, made no resistance, but remained under the fire of the Leopard from twenty to thirty minutes; when, having suffered much damage, and lost three men killed and eighteen wounded, Commodore Barron ordered his colours to be struck, and sent a lieutenant on board the Leopard to inform her commander that he considered the Chesapeake her prize. The commander of the Leopard sent an officer on board, who took possession of the Chesapeake, mustered her crew, and, carrying off four of her men, abandoned the ship. Commodore Barron, after a communication, by writing, with the commander of the Leopard, finding that the Chesapeake was very much injured, returned, with the advice of his officers, to Hampton Roads." (American State Papers, 1806-08.)

"On receiving information of this outrage, the President, by proclamation, interdicted the harbours and waters of the United States to all armed British vessels, forbade all intercourse with them, and ordered a sufficient force for the protection of Norfolk, and such other preparations as the occasion appeared to require. An armed vessel of the United States was dispatched with instructions to the American Minister at London to call on the British Government for the satisfaction and security which the outrage required." (American State Papers, 1806-08, pp. 183, 184, 248-252.)[181]

Such is the American State Paper account of this affair, published some years afterwards; and from this it will be seen that what was asked by the captain of the Leopard was what had been granted by all neutral nations to belligerents—to seek for and take their own deserters on board of neutral vessels, in order to prevent neutrals from being, or suspected of being, in collusion with either belligerent party. The American Government being in sympathy with the French Government during the whole of its twenty years' war with England, sought to change and evade this hitherto undisputed usage of mutually friendly nations in regard to belligerents. The Chesapeake seems to have been selected to make up a cause of war with Great Britain, by the warlike proceedings of the President before communicating with the British Government on the subject. The American people had nothing but a complete perversion of the facts of the case until years afterwards.