pressment, and by an encounter between the American frigate President and the British sloop Little Belt, which fired into one another, the British vessel suffering most.
But was American commerce safe in French ports? By no means. The French Council of Prize had continued to condemn American vessels, as if the Berlin and Milan Decrees were in undiminished force; outrages on American ships by French men-of-war and privateers went on as before, and Napoleon refused reparation for the confiscations under the Rambouillet Decree. The pretended French concession was, therefore, a mere farce.
Truly, there were American grievances enough. Over nine hundred American ships had been seized by the British, and more than five hundred and fifty by the French. The number of American citizens impressed as British seamen, or kept in prison if they refused to serve, was reported to exceed six thousand, and it was estimated that there were as many more of whom no information had been obtained. The remonstrances of the American government had been treated with haughty disdain. By both belligerents the United States had been kicked and cuffed like a mere interloper among the nations of the earth, who had no rights entitled to respectful consideration. Their insolence seemed to have been increased by the irresolution of the American government, the distraction of counsel in Congress, and the division
