ed by orders in council, issued on the eighteenth and
twenty-sixth of the same month, which declared that every continental
port closed to her flag was thereafter in a state of blockade. The
neutral states were each and all notified that she would exercise the
right of search to the fullest extent; that all neutral ships must put
into English harbors before proceeding to their destination, and pay a
duty in case of reexportation of their cargoes. An exception to this
latter regulation was made in the case of the United States, they
being graciously permitted to have direct commercial intercourse with
Sweden, but with Sweden only. This, of course, meant that neutral
states must either carry on England's trade under their own flags or
abandon their commerce altogether.

This measure was in utter contempt of international law, even as then
understood, and was a high-handed outrage against neutral powers, in
particular against the United States. It was treating the ocean
exactly as Napoleon had treated the lands of Europe. But it was a
powerful weapon, for if successfully enforced it would destroy
Napoleon's Continental System entirely. Accordingly, in pursuance of
his policy that fire must be fought with fire, the Emperor retorted
with equal ruthlessness, fulminating the terrible Milan Decree of
December seventeenth, 1807. In it he declared that any vessel which
obeyed the orders of the English admiralty or suffered itself to be
searched was and would be regarded as an English ship. It was
essential, therefore, that any nation desiring exemption from the
enactments of the Berlin and Milan decrees on the one hand and of the
English orders in council on the other must make itself respected by
force of arms. The Americans must either accept the humiliating terms
of England or enter the French system and seek in a maritime war to
capture the continental markets for themselves.

Napoleon, as has already been narrated, intended to force them into
the latter course immediately, but he was not well informed concerning
American affairs. Jefferson was at that time in his second term as
President of the United States. The Democratic party, of which he was
the leader, was vastly more concerned with agricultural than with
commercial interests. They were afraid to increase the public debt,
cared little for the prosperity of New England commerce, and, seeking
to avoid the dilemma arranged for them by England and France, passed
the noto