maritime war therefore went on unabated; but it may be mentioned here
that the President's undertaking to exclude British-born seamen from
American ships took effect in an Act of Congress, approved by him
March 3, 1813. He had thenceforth in hand a pledge which he considered
a full guarantee against whatever Great Britain feared to lose by
ceasing to take seamen from under the American flag. It was not so
regarded in England, and no formal agreement on this interesting
subject was ever reached.

The conditions existing upon his arrival, and the occurrences of the
past three months, as then first fully known to Warren, deeply
impressed him with the largeness of his task in protecting the
commerce of Great Britain. He found himself at once in the midst of
its most evident perils, which in the beginning were concentrated
about Halifax, owing to special circumstances. Although long seemingly
imminent, hostilities when they actually came had found the mercantile
community of the United States, for the most part, unbelieving and
unprepared. The cry of "Wolf!" had been raised so often that they did
not credit its coming, even when at the doors. This was especially the
case in New England, where the popular feeling against war increased
the indisposition to think it near. On May 14, Captain Bainbridge,
commanding the Boston navy yard, wrote: "I am sorry to say that the
people here do not believe we are going to war, and are too much
disposed to treat our national councils with contempt, and to consider
their preparations as electioneering."[499] The presidential election
was due in the following November. A Baltimore newspaper of the day,
criticising the universal rush to evade the embargo of April 4,
instituted in order to keep both seamen and property at home in
avoidance of capture, added that in justice it must be said that most
people believed that the embargo, as on former occasions, did not mean
war.[500]

Under the general sense of unpreparedness, it seemed to many
inconceivable that the Administration would venture to expose the
coasts to British reprisals. John Randolph, repeating in the House of
Representatives in secret session a conversation between the Committee
on Foreign Relations and the Secretary of State, said: "He was asked
whether any essential changes would be made in the sixty days (of the
proposed embargo) in the defence of our maritime frontier and
seaports. He replied, pretty considerable preparation