%255. Jefferson's Policy; Non-importation Act.%—The policy by which Jefferson proposed to meet this emergency consisted of three parts:
1. Lay up the frigates and defend our coast and harbors by a number of small, swift-sailing craft, each carrying one gun in the stern. In time of peace they were to be hauled up under sheds. In time of war they were to be shoved into the water and manned by volunteers. Between 1806 and 1812, 176 of these gunboats were built.
2. Make a new treaty with Great Britain, because that made by Jay in 1794 was to expire in 1806. Under the instructions of Jefferson, therefore, Monroe and Pinckney signed a new treaty in December, 1806. But it said nothing about the impressment of our sailors, or about the right of our ships to go where they pleased, and was so bad in general that Jefferson would not even send it to the Senate.[3]
[Footnote 3: No treaty can become a law unless approved by the President and two thirds of the Senate.]
3. The third part of his policy consisted in doing what we should call "boycotting." He wanted a law which would forbid the importation into the United States of any article made, grown, or produced in Great Britain or any of her colonies. Congress accordingly, in April, 1806, passed what was called a "Non-importation Act," which prohibited not the importation of every sort of British goods, wares, and merchandise, but only a few which the people could make in this country; as paper, cards, leather goods, etc. This was to go into force at the President's pleasure.
%256. The Chesapeake and the Leopard.%—Such an attempt to punish Great Britain by cutting off a part of her trade was useless, and only made her more insolent than before. Indeed, just a week after the President signed the non-importation bill, as one of our coasting vessels was entering the harbor of New York, a British vessel, wishing to stop and search her, fired a shot which struck the helmsman and killed him at the wheel.
About a year later, June, 1807, an attack more outrageous still was made on our frigate Chesapeake. She was on her way from Washington to the Mediterranean, and was still in sight of land when a British vessel, the Leopard, hailed and stopped her and sent an officer on board with a demand for the delivery of deserters from the English navy. The captain of the Chesapeake refused, the officer returned, and the Leopard opened fire. To return the fire was impossible, for only a few of the guns of the Chesapeake were mounted. At last one was discharged, and as by that time three men had been killed and eighteen wounded, Commander Barron of the Chesapeake surrendered. Four men then were taken from her deck. Three were Americans. One was an Englishman, and he was hanged for desertion.[1]
[Footnote 1: Maclay's History of the Navy, Vol. I., pp. 305-308;
McMaster's History, Vol. III., pp. 255-259.]
%257. The Long Embargo.%—The attack on the Chesapeake ought to have been followed by war. But Jefferson merely demanded reparation from Great Britain, and when Congress met in December, 1807, asked for an embargo. The request was granted, and merchant vessels in all the ports of the United States were forbidden to sail for a foreign country till the President saw fit to suspend the law. The restriction was so sweeping and the damage done to American farmers, merchants, and shipowners so great, that the people began to evade it at once. They would send their vessels to New Orleans and stop at the West Indies on the way. They would send their flour, pork, rice, and lumber to St. Marys in Georgia and smuggle it over the river to Florida, or take it to the islands near Eastport in Maine and then smuggle it into New Brunswick. Because of this, more stringent embargo laws were passed, and finally, in 1809, a "Force Act," to compel obedience. But smuggling went on so openly that there was nothing to do but use troops or lift the embargo. In February, 1809, accordingly, the embargo laws, after fourteen months' duration, were repealed. Instead of them the Republicans enacted a Non-intercourse law which allowed the people to trade with all nations except England and France.[1]
[Footnote 1: McMaster's History, Vol. III., pp. 279-338; Adams's History, Vol. IV., Chaps. 7, 11, 13, 15.]