of the embargo upon English economy are even
now a matter of conjecture. In the opinion of Mr. Henry Adams, the
embargo only fattened the shipowners and squires who devised the orders
in council, and lowered the wages and moral standard of the laboring
classes by cutting off temporarily the importation of foodstuffs and the
raw material for British manufacturers. When Pinkney approached Canning
with the proposal that England should revoke her orders upon the
withdrawal of the embargo, he was told, with biting sarcasm, that "if it
were possible to make any sacrifice for the repeal of the embargo
without appearing to deprecate it as a measure of hostility, he [His
Majesty] would gladly have facilitated its removal as a measure of
inconvenient restriction upon the American people." The blow aimed at
Great Britain had missed its mark.

From the first Napoleon had welcomed the embargo as a measure likely to
contribute to the success of his continental system. On April 17, 1808,
he issued a decree from Bayonne ordering the seizure of all American
vessels in French ports. It was argued ingeniously that since they were
abroad in violation of the embargo, they were not _bona fide_ American
vessels, but presumptively British, and therefore subject to capture. To
accept the aid of the French Emperor in enforcing a policy which was
intended to coerce his action, was humiliating to the last degree.
Armstrong wrote to Madison that in his opinion the coercive force of the
embargo had been overrated. "Here it is not felt, and in England ... it
is forgotten."

The importance of the embargo, Jefferson never tired of repeating, was
not to be measured in money. If the brutalities of war and the
corruption incident to war could be avoided by this alternative, the
experiment was well worth trying. Yet Jefferson himself was startled by
the deliberate and systematic evasions of the law. "I did not expect,"
he confessed, "a crop of so sudden and rank growth of fraud and open
opposition by force could have grown up in the United States." Moreover,
the cost of the embargo was very great. The value of exports fell from
$108,000,000 in 1807 to $22,000,000 in the following year. The national
revenue from import duties was cut down by one half.

The embargo bore down with crushing weight upon New England, where
nearly one third of the ships engaged in the carrying trade were owned.
The shipbuilding industry languished, as well as all the industries