Note 129 — BOOK THE SECOND 1810 TO JUNE, 1812

[These Orders in Council were issued in 1807, in order to counteract Napoleon’s Berlin and Milan decrees against British commerce. Any ship bound for a port in the French dominions was proclaimed a lawful prize, unless she had already touched at some British harbour.

The effect of this was to entirely put an end to the carrying trade of the world; for one side confiscated ships which had come from English ports, and the other those which had not. The Americans withdrew their ships entirely from European waters, and passed a Non-Intercourse Act forbidding commercial transactions with either of the combatants.]