more intimate connections between the United States and France.
American Non-intervention Act, March 1, 1809.
Intrigues in Paris against England.
As the American shipowners had set at defiance
the embargo imposed on the ports of the United
States, their government on the 1st of March, 1809,
replaced it by the Act of Non-intervention, whereby
all intercourse between America, France, and
England was interdicted under severe penalties, and
the ports of America closed against the armed vessels
of both belligerents. In communicating this act to
the French government, General Armstrong took
care to call special attention to its conditional character,
and to disavow all hostile views and intentions, declaring
it to be a measure of precaution in order to
preserve the vessels of the United States from the
numerous dangers to which they were exposed by the
continuance of their intercourse with France. He
subsequently added that "the Non-intercourse Act
was a fresh appeal to the wisdom and justice of the
Emperor, as a simple modification of the imperial
decrees relating to the right of neutrals would
instantly restore the commerce between the United
States and France. The United States," he continued,
"did not in fact require a repeal of these decrees,
having the greatest deference for the dignity of the
chief of a great empire; and declared they would be
satisfied if an interpretation were given to them
which would thenceforward free American vessels
from harassments and capture; finally, entering into
the views which the Emperor had so often manifested"—that
is to say, a league to humble the power
and destroy the commercial navy of Great Britain.
Indeed General Armstrong declared "that he was
