After such long discussions and so many experiments, Napoleon had become reckless of appearances when he allowed his foreign secretary to send this note of Feb. 14, 1810, in which every line was a misstatement, and every misstatement, as far as concerned America, was evident in its purpose; while apart from these faults, the note erred in trying to cover too much ground of complaint against the United States. Napoleon had, in the projected Decree of Vienna, ordered retaliation everywhere for the confiscation threatened by the Non-intercourse Act. Made to feel the impossibility of this course, he changed his ground, continuing to confiscate American ships in France under the old Bayonne Decree, and ordering the sequestration of American ships throughout the rest of Europe on the plea that other countries must not enjoy a commerce interdicted to France. Cadore’s note abandoned this ground again, in order to return to the doctrine of the projected Vienna Decree; and in the effort to give it a color of reason, he asserted that the Americans had seized French vessels. Such a letter was a declaration of war six months after beginning hostilities; and it made no offer of peace except on condition that the United States should pledge themselves to resist every British blockade which was not real in the sense defined by Napoleon. Armstrong wrote to his Government, in language as strong as he could use, that nothing was to be expected from a policy that had no other foundation than force or fraud. His angry remonstrances had embroiled him with the Emperor, and he was on the point of quitting France. Under such circumstances he did not insist on breaking off further conversations with Petry, but February 25 he positively assured Petry that neither would the President and Senate ratify, nor would he himself as negotiator accept, a treaty in any form which did not provide reparation for the past as well as security for the future;[177] and March 10 he replied to the Duc de Cadore in what the Emperor would have called a morose tone, denying every assertion made in Cadore’s note,--reminding Cadore that the Emperor had received knowledge of the Non-intercourse Act at the time of its passage without a sign of protest or complaint; and, finally, renewing his old, longstanding grievances against “the daily and practical outrages on the part of France.”[178] When the Emperor received Armstrong’s letter, which was excessively strong, and ended in a suggestion that Napoleon was trying to cover theft by falsehood, he showed no sign of anger, but became almost apologetic, and wrote to Cadore,[179]--