IF the Non-intercourse Act of March 1, 1809, irritated Napoleon, Macon’s Act of May 1, 1810, might be expected to work in a manner still more active. The story has shown that Napoleon, toward the end of the year 1809, felt many difficulties in giving new shape to his American policy after it had been ruined by the Non-intercourse Act. His fixed idea required the seizure of every American ship in Europe beyond the borders of France, as he had for years seized American ships in his own ports. In part this wish sprang from the Continental system, and was excused to some extent by the plea that American commerce could be carried on only under British protection; in part the seizure of American ships was a punishment for defying the Emperor’s orders; and in part it was due to his necessities of finance. December 19, 1809, Napoleon wrote a brief order to Berthier, ordering the seizure of all American vessels in the Spanish ports within his control;[161] vessels and cargoes, he said, were to be considered good prize. Having taken this measure, he called a council of ministers for the next day, and ordered Maret to bring there “everything relating to the judgments of the prize-court; to the merchandise sequestered in the ports, which is spoiling. If you have not all the information, ask the Minister of Finance.”[162] The meaning of this preparation was to be sought in the Cabinet itself, and in the Emperor’s surroundings. Peace with Austria left many vexations in Napoleon’s path. Perhaps the unhappy situation of his brother Joseph at Madrid troubled him less than the difficulty of reconciling the Empress Josephine to a divorce, or the mortifications of negotiating for a wife among Russian, German, and Austrian princesses; but annoyances like these, though serious for ordinary men, could not be compared with the constant trouble created by the Continental system of commercial restrictions and the want of money it caused. Threatened with financial difficulties, and obliged to study economies as well as to press contributions of war, the Emperor found himself met by something resembling opposition among his own ministers. As was his habit, he yielded at first to the advice he disliked, and promised to do something for French industry. In November he appointed a new Minister of the Interior, Montalivet, and lectured him on the slowness of his bureaus in acting for the good of commerce.[163] From such a mouth such a lesson startled the hearer, and Montalivet threw himself with zeal into the prescribed work. To Fouché the Emperor read another lecture compared with which the discourse to Montalivet was commonplace. Fouché, a pronounced opponent of Napoleon’s commercial restrictions, during the Emperor’s absence in Austria distributed too freely his licenses for foreign trade: “I recognize always the same course in your acts,” Napoleon wrote him. “You have not enough legality in your head.”[164]