A proclamation, issued by President Lincoln in January 1, 1863, declaring that all persons held in slavery in the States in arms against the Union were henceforth free. This proclamation did not apply to those States which had not seceded from the Union, whose slaves were liberated by an amendment to the Constitution.
Embargo Act, First.
An Act of Congress, passed in 1807, as a reply to the English Orders in Council, prohibiting English vessels from making use of American ports. The Act was repealed in 1809.
Embargo Act, Second.
An Act passed by the United States Congress in 1810, by which vessels flying the United States flag were forbidden to trade between France and England, while French and English vessels were, at the same time, forbidden to touch at American ports. The American shipowners very soon found means to evade this law.
Embassy, The.
A deputation from the Victorian Government, under Graham Berry, to the Colonial Office, in 1878, arising out of the Victorian Deadlock. The Colonial Secretary declined to interfere, and the “Embassy” became the laughing-stock of the Colony.
Emigrés.
The nobles and other Royalists, to the number of 123,000, who left France during the Revolution. Their estates were forfeited, and owing to the terms of the “Charte” of Louis XVIII were not, as a rule, recovered at the Restoration. It was said of them that they returned from exile “having learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.”