Boston that, when the
bill failed in the Senate, he had had no doubt of her being allowed
to proceed, "but the Secretary and Mr. Madison have made a sort of
embargo, or directed the stoppage of vessels."[174] He added that
another brig was lying in the river ready loaded, but held by the same
order. Morris's indorsement on the ship's papers shows the
barefacedness of the transaction. "Whereas the within-mentioned ship
'Monsoon' is laden with flour, and _must_ pass within the control of
the enemy's squadron now within, and blockading Chesapeake Bay, if she
be allowed to proceed on her intended voyage, and as the enemy might
derive from her such intelligence and succor as would be serviceable
to themselves and injurious to the United States, I forbid her
proceeding while the enemy shall be so disposed as to prevent a
reasonable possibility of her getting to sea without falling into
their possession."[175] At this writing the British had left the
Potomac itself, and the most of them were above. A week later, at
Charleston, a ship called the "Caroline" was visited by a United
States naval officer, and found with a license from Cockburn to carry
a cargo, free from molestation by British cruisers.[176] "With flour
at Lisbon $13 per barrel, _no sale_, and at Halifax $20, _in demand_,"
queries a Baltimore paper of the day, "where would all the vessels
that would in a few days have been off from Alexandria have gone, if
the 'Monsoon' had not been stopped? They would have been _captured_
and sent to Halifax."[177]

Morris's action was in accordance with the Secretary's order, and went
no further than to stop a voyage which, in view of the existing
proclaimed blockade, and of the great British force at hand, bore
collusion on its face. The President's request for legislation, which
Congress had denied, went much further. It was a recurrence, and the
last, to the policy of commercial retaliation, fostered by himself and
Jefferson in preference to armed resistance. By such measures in peace,
and as far as commercial prosperity was concerned, they had opened the
nation's veins without vindicating its self-respect. The military value
of food supplies to the enemy in Canada and on the coast, however,
could not be contested; and during the recess of Congress it received
emphasis by a Canadian embargo upon the export of grain. Hence, at the
next session the President's recommendation of July was given
attention, and there was passed alm