chagrin, the
British Ministry refused to accept the mere notification of Napoleon as
evidence of the repeal of the various decrees. Even the supporters of
the Administration became uneasy as months passed without any formal
edict of revocation. Might not the courts adjudge that the decrees had
not been repealed _pro forma_? The Administration was greatly perturbed
in December, too, by the news that two American vessels had been
sequestered at Bordeaux. After much hesitation, Congress came to the
support of the President and revived the Non-Intercourse Act against
Great Britain, at the same time admitting the weakness of its position
by the additional provision that the courts should not entertain the
question whether the French decrees were or were not revoked. On the
same day, February 28, 1811, Pinkney took formal leave of the Prince
Regent under circumstances which presaged, if they did not imply, a
rupture of diplomatic relations. Yet the British Ministry had so little
comprehension of the temper of the American people that at this very
moment Wellesley was drafting instructions for the new Minister, Mr.
Augustus John Foster, which bade him yield not a jot or a tittle to the
alleged rights of neutrals. He was, however, to make proper reparation
for the Chesapeake affair.

In these months of struggle for the rights of neutral commerce, the
question of impressments had been relegated to second place in the minds
of Americans. The blockade of New York by British frigates in the spring
of 1811 suddenly revived the old controversy. For a year past an
American squadron under the command of Commodore John Rodgers had
patrolled the coast, under instructions to protect all merchantmen from
molestation by armed foreign cruisers within the three-mile limit.

The British frigate Guerriere had made itself particularly offensive by
its search crews and arbitrary seizures of alleged deserters. On May 16,
1811, Commodore Rodgers's flagship, the frigate President carrying
forty-four guns, sighted a British sloop-of-war some fifty miles east of
Cape Henry, which he believed to be the Guerriere, and wishing to make
inquiries about a certain seaman who was reported to have been
impressed, Rodgers sailed toward the stranger. The vessel acted in a
manner which was thought suspicious, so the President gave chase. On
coming within range about dusk, the American frigate was fired upon, so
it was alleged in a subsequent court of inquiry. T