eopard" attacked the
"Chesapeake," an armistice was signed between the contending parties.
Upon this followed the Conventions of Tilsit, July 8, 1807, by which
the Czar undertook to support the Continental system, and to close his
ports to Great Britain. The deadly purpose of the commercial warfare
thus reinforced was apparent; and upon the Emperor's return to Paris,
soon afterwards, the Berlin Decree received an execution more
consonant to its wording than was the construction hitherto given it
by French officials. In May, an American ship, the "Horizon," bound
from England to Peru, had been wrecked upon the coast of France. Her
cargo consisted in part of goods of British origin. Up to that time,
no decisions contrary to American neutral rights had been based upon
the Decree by French courts; but final action in the case of the
"Horizon" was not taken till some time after the Emperor's return.
Meanwhile, on August 9, General Armstrong, the American minister, had
asked that Spain, which had formally adopted the Berlin Decree as
governing its own course, should be informed of the rulings of the
French authorities; "for a letter from the _charge des affaires_ of
the United States at Madrid shows that the fate of sundry American
vessels, captured by Spanish cruisers, will depend, not on the
construction which might be given to the Spanish decree by Spanish
tribunals, but on the practice which shall have been established in
France."[203] This letter was referred in due course--August 21--to
the Minister of Marine, and a reply promised when his answer should be
received. Under Napoleon's eye, doubts not entertained in his absence
seem to have occurred to the ministers concerned, and on September 24
Armstrong learned that the Emperor had been consulted, and had said
that, as he had expressed no exceptions to the operation of his
Decree, French armed vessels were authorized to seize goods of English
origin on board neutral vessels. This decision, having the force of
law, was communicated to the tribunals, and under it so much of the
"Horizon's" cargo as answered to this description was condemned. The
rest was liberated.[204]

When this decision became known, it was evident that within the range
of Napoleon's power there would henceforth be no refuge for British
manufactures, or the produce of British colonies; that neutral
ownership or jurisdiction would be no protection against force. Even
the pity commonly extended to the s