r the publication of Champagny's letter in the "Moniteur," would
certainly seem to imply some defect in customary form;[339] and the
ensuing measures of the Government would indicate also something
misleading in the terms. Russell told Champagny that, since November
1, the alleged day of repeal, this was the first case to which the
Berlin and Milan Decrees could apply; and lo! to it they were applied.
Yet, "to execute the Act of Congress against the English requires the
previous revocation of the decrees." It was, indeed, ingeniously
argued in Congress, by an able advocate of the Administration, that
all the law required was the revocation in terms of the Decrees; their
subsequent enforcement in act was immaterial.[340] Such a solution,
however, would scarcely content the American people. The French
Government now took a step which clearly showed that the Decrees were
still in force, technically, however honest its purpose to hold to the
revocation, if the United States complied with the conditions.
Instructions to the Council of Prizes,[341] from the proper minister,
directed that the vessel, and any others falling under the same
category of entry after November 1, should "remain suspended" until
after February 2, the period at which the United States should have
fulfilled its obligation. Then they should be restored.

The general trend of argument, pro and con, with the subsequent
events, probably shook the confidence of the Administration, and of
its supporters in Congress, in the certainty of the revocation, which
the President had authenticated by his proclamation. Were the fact
unimpeachable, the law was clear; non-intercourse with Great Britain
would go into effect February 2, without further action. But the
doubts started were so plausible that it was certain any condemnation
or enforcement under the law would be carried up to the highest court,
to test whether the fact of revocation, upon which the operativeness
of the statute turned, was legally established. Even should the court
decline to review the act of the Executive, and accept the
proclamation as sufficient evidence for its own decision, such feeble
indorsement would be mortifying. A supplementary Act was therefore
framed, doing away with the original, and then reviving it, as a new
measure, against Great Britain alone. In presenting this, the member
charged with its introduction said: "The Committee thought proper that
in this case the legislature shou