in Council adopted
by Great Britain, in response to the attempted "union of all the
commercial states" against her. As defined by Canning to Pinkney,[210]
"the principle upon which the whole of this measure has been framed is
that of refusing to the enemy those advantages of commerce which he
has forbidden to this country. The simplest method of enforcing this
system of retaliation would have been to follow the example of the
enemy, by prohibiting altogether all commercial intercourse between
him and other states." America then would not be allowed to trade with
the countries under his Decrees. It was considered, however, more
indulgent to neutrals--to the second parties in commercial intercourse
with the enemy--to allow this intercourse subject to duties in transit
to be paid in Great Britain. This would raise the cost to the
continental consumer and pay revenue to Great Britain.

The Orders in Council of November 11, 1807, therefore forbade all
entrance to ports of the countries which had embraced the Continental
system. It was not pretended that they would be blockaded effectively.
"All ports from which the British flag is excluded shall from
henceforth be subject to the same restrictions, in point of trade and
navigation, with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned, _as if the same
were actually blockaded_ in the most strict and rigorous manner by his
Majesty's naval forces." The exception was merely that a vessel
calling first at a British port would be allowed to proceed to one of
those prohibited, after paying certain duties upon her cargo and
obtaining a fresh clearance. This measure was instituted by the
Executive, in pursuance of the custom of regulating trade with
America by Orders in Council, prevalent since 1783; but it received
legislative sanction by an Act of Parliament, March 28, 1808, which
fixed the duties to be paid on the foreign goods thus passing through
British custom-houses. Cotton, for instance, was to pay nine pence a
pound, an amount intended to be prohibitory; tobacco, three halfpence.
These were the two leading exports of United States domestic produce.
In the United States this Act of Parliament was resented more
violently, if possible, than the Order in Council itself. In the
colonial period there had been less jealousy of the royal authority
than of that of Parliament, and the feeling reappears in the
discussion of the present measures. "This," said a Virginia
senator,[211] "is the Act r