The inhabitants of the United States appear to differ totally from the government, with respect to the efficacy of the embargo. They begin to discover that a measure, which they were taught to believe would, in the course of a few months, compel England to retract her orders in council, and France to rescind her prohibitory decrees, has not had the smallest effect upon either; that they respectively adhere to the principles they at first adopted, and there is little chance the ’self-denying ordinance’ of the American government will be attended with the effect expected. The people are sick of the embargo. It has ruined the shipping and commercial interests, and the agriculturist has the produce of his labors rotting upon his hands. The notable expedient of converting the American sailors into husbandmen it found not to answer. The farmer will not be as the expense of growing an article for which he is not sure of a market; and the people are consequently thrown out of employment.

Source: Readex, America’s Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922.