58 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



it was to these evasions of the law that 

 Mr. Jefferson laid the failure of the em- 

 bargo. Had it not been for the evasions, 

 however, the law would not have lasted six 

 months. The illicit traffic across the fron- 

 tier, north and south, the numerous vessels 

 driven by stress of weather into Halifax 

 and the West Indies, the sixty vessels a 

 month allowed to sail by executive permis- 

 sion, served as a safety valve, and helped 

 postpone the inevitable ebullition of popu- 

 lar wrath. 



The passage of the Enforcement Bill of 

 Jan. 9, 1809, was the doom of the embargo. 

 On Feb. 29, to the secret disappointment 

 of a few Federalists, and the great joy of 

 the American people, the embargo was re- 

 pealed. 



Mr. Jefferson is said to have believed to 

 his death that the embargo was a wise 

 measure. 1 He was, to his credit be it 



1 Jefferson writes from Monticello in 1810 to Mr. 

 Pinkney in reference to the embargo. "Thus we were 

 driven from the wise and high ground we had taken, and 



