To evade this last restriction, by combining the voyages allowed in numbers 1 and 2, was easy.  A merchant had but to load his ship at New York or Philadelphia, go to some port in the French West Indies, take on a new cargo and bring it to Savannah, enter it at the customhouse and pay the import duties.  This voyage was covered by number 1.  He could then, without disturbing his cargo in the least, clear his vessel for France, and get back from the collector of customs all the duty he had paid except three per cent.  He was now exporting goods from the United States and was protected by number 2.  This was called “the broken voyage,” and by using it thousands of shipowners were enabled to carry goods back and forth between France and her colonies, by merely stopping a few hours at an American port to clear for Europe.  So universal was this practice that in 1804 the customs revenue rose from $16,000,000 to $20,000,000.

In May, 1805, however, the British High Court of Admiralty decided that goods which started from the French colonies in American ships and were on their way to France could be captured even if they had been landed and reshipped in the United States.  The moment that decision was made, the old trouble began again.  British frigates were stationed off the ports of New York and Hampton Roads, and vessels coming in and going out were stopped, searched, and their sailors impressed.  Before 1805 ended, 116 of our ships had been seized and 1000 of our sailors impressed.

%251.  Orders in Council, 1806.%—­In 1806 matters grew worse.  Napoleon was master of Europe, and in order to injure Great Britain he cut off her trade with the continent.  For this she retaliated by issuing, in May, 1806, an Order in Council, which declared the whole coast of Europe, from Brest to the mouth of the river Elbe, to be blockaded.  This was a mere “paper blockade”; that is, no fleets were off the coast to keep neutrals from running into the blockaded ports.  Yet American vessels were captured at sea because they were going to those ports.

%252.  The Berlin Decree.%—­Napoleon waited to retaliate till November, 1806, when he issued the Berlin Decree,[1] declaring the British Islands to be blockaded.

[Footnote 1:  So called because he was at Berlin when he issued it.]

%253.  Orders in Council, 1807.%—­Great Britain felt that every time Napoleon struck at her she must strike back at him, and in January, 1807, a new Order in Council forbade neutrals to trade from one European port to another, if both were in the possession of France or her allies.  Finding it had no effect, she followed it up with another Order in Council in November, 1807, which declared that every port on the face of the earth from which for any reason British ships were excluded was shut to neutrals, unless they first stopped at some British port and obtained a license to trade.

%254.  The Milan Decree, 1807.%—­It was now Napoleon’s turn to strike, which he did in December, 1807, by issuing the Milan Decree.[1] Thenceforth any ship that submitted to be searched by British cruisers or took out a British license, or entered any port from which French ships were excluded, was to be captured wherever found.