to be more nominal than real; and from 1794 until the peace of Amiens in
1802, the commerce of the United States continued to be the prey of
British cruisers and privateers. After the renewal of the war, the fury
of the belligerents increased, and with it the stringent measures
adopted by Napoleon and Great Britain. The French Emperor, boldly
avowing his intention to crush England, forbade by a series of decrees,
issued from Berlin, Milan and Rambouillet, the importation of her
commodities into any part of Europe under his control; and England,
equally sweeping in her acts, declared all such ports in a state of
blockade, thus rendering any neutral vessel liable to capture, which
should attempt to enter them. The legality of a blockade, where there is
not a naval power off the coast competent to maintain such blockade, has
always been denied by the lesser maritime powers. Its effect, in the
present instance, was virtually to exclude the United States from
foreign commerce. In these extreme measures, Napoleon and England were
equally censured; but the policy of the latter affected the Americans
far more than the former. The exasperation against Great Britain became
extreme and pervaded the whole community; that against France was
slighter and confined to the more intelligent. Napoleon was first to
begin these outrages on the rights of neutrals; but his injustice was
practically felt only on land; while England was first to introduce the
paper blockade, a measure ruinous to American merchants. This was
finally done on May 16, 1806, when Great Britain announced a "blockade
of the coast rivers and ports, from the river Elbe to the port of Brest
inclusive." On the 21st of November, of the same year, Napoleon in
retaliation, issued a decree from Berlin, placing the British Islands in
a state of blockade. This decree was followed by a still more stringent
order in council on the part of England.

It now became necessary for the United States either to engage in a