United States, or the territories thereof, as he shall deem necessary, to compel such ship or vessel to depart.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That from and after the twentieth day of May next, the entrance of the harbors and waters of the United States and the territories thereof be, and the same is hereby interdicted to all ships or vessels sailing under the flag of Great Britain or France, or owned in whole or in part by any citizen or subject of either; vessels hired, chartered or employed by the government of either country, for the sole purpose of carrying letters or despatches, and also vessels forced in by distress or by the dangers of the sea, only excepted. And if any ship or vessel sailing under the flag of Great Britain or France, or owned in whole or in part by any citizen or subject of either, and not excepted as aforesaid, shall after the said twentieth day of May next, arrive either with or without a cargo, within the limits of the United States or of the territories thereof, such ship or vessel, together with the cargo, if any, which may be found on board, shall be forfeited...

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after the twentieth day of May next, it shall not be lawful to import into the United States or the territories thereof, any goods, wares or merchandise whatever, from any port or place situated in Great Britain or Ireland, or in any of the colonies or dependencies of Great Britain, nor from any port or place situated in France, or in any of her colonies or dependencies, nor from any port or place in the actual possession of either Great Britain or France. Nor shall it be lawful to import into the United States, or the territories thereof, from any foreign port or place whatever, any goods, wares or merchandise whatever, being of the growth, produce or manufacture of France, or of any of her colonies or dependencies, or being of the growth, produce or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, or of any of the colonies or dependencies of Great Britain, or being of the growth, produce or manufacture of any place or country in the actual possession of either France or Great Britain...

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is authorized, in case either France or Great Britain shall so revoke or modify her edicts, as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, to declare the same by proclamation; after which the trade of the United States, suspended by this act, and by the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States, and the

several acts supplementary thereto, may be renewed with the nation so doing...

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States, and of the several acts supplementary thereto, as forbids the departure of vessels owned by citizens of the United States, and the exportation of domestic and foreign merchandise to any foreign port or place, be, and the same is hereby repealed, after the fifteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nine, except so far as they relate to Great Britain or France, or their colonies or dependencies, or places in the actual possession of either:..

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue and be in force until the end of the next session of Congress, and no longer; and that the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States, and the several acts supplementary thereto, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed from and after the end of the next session of Congress.

APPROVED, March 1, 1809.

93. THE COPPERMINE PRISON

A description of a Connecticut prison typical of conditions prison reformers in the nineteenth century sought to ameliorate.

E. A. Kendall, Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, Vol. 1, pp. 206-213. New York, 1809.

THE state-prison, my design of visiting which has been mentioned, is situate on West Mountain. It is in the town of Granby, but its own name is Newgate. Granby adjoins Windsor on the west, and was once a part of Simsbury.

Ascending, by a rocky road, the western side of the mountain, I discovered at length the walls of the prison, rising gray upon the brow. On the east, the road was skirted, at a small distance, by lofty and precipitous craggs, and on the west lay extensive valleys, with mountains in the distance.

The prisoners in the gaol are kept to hard labour at smiths' work, within the walls; and their task, which ends at four o'clock in the afternoon, commences at four o'clock in the morning...

It is the plan of this establishment to make it an object of terror. Several of the higher crimes are punished by confinement in this place for life; while, for lesser, the duration is limited to certain terms of years. While confined, however, every prisoner partakes of the common fate.

On being admitted into the gaol-yard, I found a sentry under arms within the gate, and eight soldiers drawn up in a line, in front of the gaoler's house. A bell, summoning the prisoners to work, had already rung; and in a few moments they began to make their appearance.

...

whenever one or more were about to cross the yard to the smithy, the soldiers were ordered to present, in readiness to fire. The prisoners were heavily ironed, and secured both by hand-cuffs and fetters; and, being therefore unable to walk, could only make their way by a sort of jump or a hop. On entering the smithy, some went to the sides of the forges, where collars, dependent by iron chains from the roof, were fastened round their necks, and others were chained in pairs to wheelbarrows... and when they were all disposed of, in the manner described, sentries were placed within the building which contained them...

... the place chosen for the prison is no other than the mouth of a forsaken copper-mine, of which the excavations are employed for cells. They are descended by a shaft, which is secured by a trap-door, within the prison-house, or gaoler's house, which stands upon the mine.

The trap-door being lifted up, I went down an iron ladder, perpendicularly fixed, to the depth of about fifty feet. From the foot of the ladder, a rough, narrow and low passage descends still deeper, till it terminates at a well of clear water, over which is an air-shaft, seventy feet in height, and guarded at its mouth, which is within the gaol-yard, by a hatch of iron. The cells are near the well, but at different depths, beneath the surface, none perhaps exceeding sixty feet. They are small, rugged, and accommodated only with wooden births, and some straw.

The straw was wet, and there was much humidity in every part of this obscure region; but I was assured I ought to attribute this only to the remarkable wetness of the season; that the cells were in general dry, and that they were not found unfavourable to the health of the prisoners.

Into these cells the prisoners are dismissed at four o'clock in the afternoon, every day without exception, and at all seasons of the year. They descend in their fetters and hand-cuffs; and at four o'clock in.

the morning they ascend the iron ladder, climbing it as well they can, by the aid of their fettered limbs. It is to be observed that no women are confined here; ..

Going again into the workshop or smithy, I found the attendants of the prison delivering pickled pork for the dinner of the prisoners. Pieces were given separately to the parties at each forge. They were thrown upon the floor, and left to be washed and boiled in the water used for cooling the iron wrought at the forges. Meat had been distributed in like manner for breakfast. The food of the prison is regulated for each day in the week; and consists in an alternation of pork, beef, and peas, with which last no flesh meat is allowed.

Besides the caverns or excavations below, and the gaoler's house above, there are other apartments prepared for the prisoners, and particularly a hospital, of which the neatness and airiness afford a strong contrast to the other parts of the prison. It was also satisfactory to find that in this hospital there were no sick.

Such is the seat and the scene of punishment, provided by Connecticut, for criminals, not guilty of murder, treason, or either of a few other capital offences...

94. THE RAMBOUILLET DECREE, MARCH 23, 1810

Napoleon's retaliation to the Non-Intercourse Act, which he held to be especially aimed at France.

Annals of the Congress of the United States, 11 Congress, 3 session, 1810-1811, p. 1230. Washington, 1853.

[Translation of a decree issued by the Emperor of the French, at Rambouillet, March 23, 1810.]

NAPOLEON, &c.

Considering that the Government of the United States, by an act dated 1st March, 1809, which forbids the entrance of the ports, harbors, and rivers of the said States to all French vessels, orders, 1st. That after the 20th of May following, vessels under the French flag, which shall arrive in the United States, shall be seized and confiscated, as well as their cargoes; 2d. That after the same epoch, no merchandise or produce, the growth or manufacture of France or her colonies, can be imported into the said United States from any port or place whatsoever, under the penalty of seizure, confiscation, and a fine of three times the value of the merchandise; 3d. That American vessels cannot go to any port of France, of her colonies, or dependencies: We have decreed, and do decree, what follows:

ART. 1st. All vessels navigating under the flag of the United States, or possessed in whole or in part, by any citizen or subject of that Power, which, counting from the 20th of May, 1809, have entered or shall enter into the ports of our Empire, of our colonies, or of the countries occupied by our arms, shall be seized, and the product of the sales shall be deposited in the surplus fund (caisse d'amortissement.)

There shall be excepted from this regulation the vessels which shall be charged with despatches, or with commissions of the Government of the said States, and who shall not have either cargoes or merchandise on board.

Our Grand Judge, Minister of Justice, and our Minister of Finance, are charged with the execution of our present decree.

NAPOLEON.

95. MACON'S BILL, NO. 2, MAY 1, 1810

Macon's Bill, No. 2, represented a second retreat in the policy of commercial restriction. Strictly speaking, the name is a misnomer as Nathaniel Macon had nothing to do with the framing of the act. It was skillfully used by Napoleon to embroil the United States in war with Great Britain.

Public Statutes at Large of the United States, Vol. 2, pp. 605-606.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, no British or French armed vessel shall be permitted to enter the harbors or waters under the jurisdiction of the United States; .. except when they shall be forced in by distress,.. or when charged with despatches or business from their government, or coming as a public packet for the conveyance of letters;

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all pacific intercourse with any interdicted foreign armed vessels, the officers or crew thereof, is hereby forbidden,..

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That in case either Great Britain or France shall, before the third day of March next, so revoke or modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, which fact the President of the United States shall declare by proclamation, and if the other nation shall not within three months thereafter so revoke or modify her edicts in like manner, then the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and eighteenth sections of the act, entituled "An act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain