Existing comment:
The American public was outraged with the incident. James Monroe, then a foreign minister under Secretary of State James Madison, demanded British disavowal of the deed. He further called for the restoration of the four seamen, the recall of British Vice Admiral Berkeley, the exclusion of British warships from US territorial waters, and the abolition of impressments from vessels under the United States flag. This was an insult to the country, and had President Thomas Jefferson chosen to go to war with England, he would have had considerable support. Instead he decided to clamp an embargo on American trade. In New England, scores of prosperous shipowners were ruined, and a number of thriving seaports suffered an economic depression from which few recovered. While the rest of the country stored up resentment against the British, maritime New Englanders directed their anger at Jefferson and his party for the hardships they had created.
One month after the outbreak of the War, the schooner HMS Bream returned the last two of the alleged British deserters to Boston. |