"boycotting." He wanted a law which would forbid the importation into
the United States of any article made, grown, or produced in Great
Britain or any of her colonies. Congress accordingly, in April, 1806,
passed what was called a "Non-importation Act," which prohibited not the
importation of every sort of British goods, wares, and merchandise, but
only a few which the people could make in this country; as paper, cards,
leather goods, etc. This was to go into force at the President's
pleasure.

%256. The Chesapeake and the Leopard.%--Such an attempt to punish
Great Britain by cutting off a part of her trade was useless, and only
made her more insolent than before. Indeed, just a week after the
President signed the non-importation bill, as one of our coasting
vessels was entering the harbor of New York, a British vessel, wishing
to stop and search her, fired a shot which struck the helmsman and
killed him at the wheel.

About a year later, June, 1807, an attack more outrageous still was made
on our frigate _Chesapeake_. She was on her way from Washington to the
Mediterranean, and was still in sight of land when a British vessel, the
_Leopard_, hailed and stopped her and sent an officer on board with a
demand for the delivery of deserters from the English navy. The captain
of the _Chesapeake_ refused, the officer returned, and the _Leopard_
opened fire. To return the fire was impossible, for only a few of the
guns of the _Chesapeake_ were mounted. At last one was discharged, and
as by that time three men had been killed and eighteen wounded,
Commander Barron of the _Chesapeake_ surrendered. Four men then were
taken from her deck. Three were Americans. One was an Englishman, and he
was hanged for desertion.[1]

[Footnote 1: Maclay's _History of the Navy_, Vol. I., pp. 305-308;
McMaster's _History_, Vol. III., pp. 255-259.]

%257. The Long Embargo.%--The attack on the _Chesapeake_ ought to
have been followed by war. But Jefferson merely demanded reparation from
Great Britain, and when Congress met in December, 1807, asked for an
embargo. The request was granted, and merchant vessels in all the ports
of the United States were forbidden to sail for a foreign country till
the President saw fit to suspend the law. The restriction was so
sweeping and the damage done to American farmers, merchants, and
shipowners so great, that the people began to evade it at once. They
would send their vessels to New Orleans and stop at th