seizing the French merchantmen before war had been formally declared, England adhered to her invariable practice when war, though unproclaimed, existed de facto. But the ruler of France was unprepared for this blow, and, in the first impulse of his resentment, he issued a decree arresting as prisoners of war all Englishmen then travelling in France. Nor was he induced till after long solicitation to limit the action of this decree to persons holding the king's commission.[1]
Effect of the war on shipping. The first effect of hostilities on England's maritime commerce and shipping seems to have been to reduce the nominal value of the cargoes exported from 41,411,966l. in 1802 to 31,438,985l. in 1803. The next effect was to introduce into the carrying trade of Great Britain an extra supply of one hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred and nineteen tons of foreign vessels, whilst the third was to lessen, by one hundred and seventy-three thousand nine hundred tons, her own mercantile shipping; so that the success which had attended the business of the shipowner during the previous war no longer accompanied him, especially during the earlier period of the renewal of hostilities, the majority of this class suffering heavy losses. The owners of neutral vessels, while enjoying many other privileges, had likewise the advantage of obtaining from the Baltic and elsewhere the materials necessary for the construction of their vessels, at less cost than the British shipowners. The English government also levied a heavy tax on timber, hemp, can-*
- ↑ Others who had not held the King's commission were occasionally thus detained. Thus the Rev. Mr. Lee, then a Fellow of New College Oxford, was kept a prisoner at Verdun till 1814. The number altogether arrested is said to have been ten thousand (Alison, v. 114).
