place American trade once more under the rule of the Navigation Acts.
As in the days before 1776, American vessels must make England their
"staple" or "entrepot," and could go only where permitted to by British
orders under penalty of forfeiture. This measure was sharply attacked in
Parliament by the Whigs, especially by Grenville and Howick, of the late
Ministry, but was triumphantly sustained by the Tories.

At this time the chronic grievance of the impressment of seamen from
American vessels grew suddenly acute. In the years of the great war, the
American merchant marine, {199} with its safe voyages and good pay,
offered a highly attractive prospect for English sailors, who dreaded the
danger, the monotony, and the severe discipline of British men-of-war.
They swarmed by thousands into American service, securing as rapidly as
possible, not infrequently by fraudulent means, the naturalization papers
by which they hoped to escape the press-gang. Ever since 1793 British
naval officers, recognizing no right of expatriation, had systematically
impressed British seamen found on American ships and, owing to the
difficulty in distinguishing the two peoples, numerous natives of New
England and the middle States found themselves imprisoned on the
"floating hell" of a British ship-of-the-line in an epoch when brutality
characterized naval discipline. In August, 1807, the United States was
stirred to fury over the forcible seizure by the British _Leopard_ of
three Englishmen from the U.S.S. _Chesapeake_, which, unprepared for
defence, had to suffer unresisting. So hot was the general anger that
Jefferson could easily have led Congress into hostile measures, if not an
actual declaration of war, over the multiplied seizures and this last
insult.

But Jefferson clung to peace, and satisfied himself by ordering British
men-of-war out of American ports and sending a {200} demand for
reparation, with which he linked a renunciation of the right of
impressment. When Congress met in December, he induced it to pass a
general embargo, positively prohibiting the departure of American vessels
to foreign ports. Since at the same time the Non-importation Act came
into effect, all imports and exports were practically suspended. His
idea was that the total cessation of American commerce would inflict such
discomfort upon British and French consumers that each country would be
forced to abandon its oppressive measures.

Rarely has a co