egulating our commerce, of which I
complain. An export duty, which could not be laid in Charleston
because forbidden by our Constitution, is laid in London, or in
British ports." It was literally, and in no metaphorical sense, the
reimposition of colonial regulation, to increase the revenues of Great
Britain by reconstituting her the _entrepot_ of commerce between
America and Europe. "The Orders in Council," wrote John Quincy Adams
in a public letter, "if submitted to, would have degraded us to the
condition of colonists."[212]

This just appreciation preponderated over other feelings throughout
the middle and southern states. Adams, a senator from Massachusetts,
had separated himself in action and opinion from the mass of the
people in New England, where, although the Orders were condemned,
hatred of Napoleon and his methods overbore the sense of injury
received from Great Britain. The indignation of the supporters of the
Administration was intensified by the apparent purpose of the British
Government to keep back information of the measure. Rose had sailed
the day after its adoption, Monroe two days later, but neither
brought any official intimation of its issuance, although that was
announced in the papers of the day. "The Orders in Council," wrote
Adams, "were not merely without official authenticity. Rumors had been
for several weeks in circulation, derived from English prints and from
private correspondence, that such Orders were to issue,[213] and no
inconsiderable pains were taken to discredit the facts. Suspicions
were lulled by declarations equivalent as nearly as possible to
positive denial, and these opiates were continued for weeks after the
embargo was laid, until Mr. Erskine received orders to make official
communication of the Orders themselves, in proper form, to our
Government."[214] This remissness, culpable as it certainly was in a
matter of such importance, was freely attributed to the most sinister
motives. "These Orders in Council were designedly concealed from Mr.
Rose, although they had long been deliberated upon, and almost
matured, before he left London. They were the besom which was intended
to sweep, and would have swept, our commerce from the ocean. Great
Britain in the most insidious manner had issued orders for the entire
destruction of our commerce."[215]

The wrath was becoming, but in this particular the inference was
exaggerated. The Orders, modelled on the general plan of blockades