We entertain respect for Great Britain; it is the land that gave birth to our ancestors, and we feel an attachment to the soil that covers their bones; we venerate her institutions; we look with anxiety upon the struggle in which she is now engaged for self-preservation; we hope she will maintain her independence uninjured, and that it will yet be long, very long, before the sun of her glory will begin his descent to the west with diminished luster; but we can never behold with a criminal indifference the ill-judged, the unwarrantable attempts of an unwise ministry to trench upon the perfect rights of other nations; especially of one which both interest and inclination strongly unite to render friendly to her.... We shall always stand ready to raise our feeble voice and call upon the patriotism of our countrymen to rouse and resist them. Four years later occurred the encounter between the _President_ and _Little Belt_. The former vessel had been sent out from Annapolis to demand from the _Guerriere_ the surrender of a seaman whom the British were said to have impressed. It encountered instead a ship which showed no colors, and which it overtook just at nightfall. The unknown craft refused to answer the American hail; shots were exchanged--both captains later claimed to have been fired upon first; and at daybreak the _President_ found that it had cut to pieces a little British corvette of half its strength. Again the general excitement was intense. The _Evening Post_ admitted that people were too inflamed to listen to a cool discussion of laws and propriety. But in this instance it inclined to the British view. Not only did Coleman maintain that the _President_ had been sent out with indefensible orders, being instructed to reclaim the impressed sailor by force if necessary; he held that the _Little Belt_ had been justified in requiring the American ship to reveal its identity first, inasmuch as the _Little Belt_ was exposed to a surprise attack by a French cruiser. As the leading spokesman for the commercial community in New York, the _Evening Post_ of course bitterly opposed the embargo. This stoppage of all foreign trade stunned the city. The day after the news came, Coleman referred to the universal “uncertainty, apprehension, dismay, and distress,” in which “every one is running eagerly to his neighbor to inquire after information.” He declared that it would bankrupt the merchants, and reduce thousands of laboring men to starvation. What! no more ships to leave any Manhattan slips, no more barges of grain to drop down the Hudson for foreign marts, no more droves of hogs and herds of cattle to be driven through Westchester for slaughtering and consignment abroad? The editor hastened to write a stinging article, and then, after consulting leading Federalists, put it aside in favor of an unsigned series by Rufus King.