These negotiations, occurring with the arrival of English troops in Nova Scotia, gave rise to alarming rumors that Vermont was taking measures to become a British dependency; but this freedom of commerce through Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, and exclusively confined thereto, was accorded by the Canadian government to the States already in the Union as well as to the independent republic of Vermont, though the latter derived the greater benefit from it. To further promote this commerce, Ira Allen proposed the cutting of a ship canal to navigably connect the waters of Lake Champlain with those of the St. Lawrence, and made a voyage to England with the object of engaging the British government in this work. He offered, under certain conditions, to cut the canal at his own expense, and continued, though unsuccessfully, to urge the government of his own State to aid him in the enterprise so late as 1809. The great pines, that fifty years before had been reserved for the "masting of His Majesty's navy," were felled now by hardy yeomen who owed allegiance to no earthly king, and, gathered into enormous rafts, voyaged slowly down the lake, impelled by sail and sweep. They bore as their burden barrels of potash that had been condensed from the ashes of their slain brethren, whose giant trunks had burned away in grand conflagrations that made midnight hills and vales and skies bright with lurid flame. The crew of the raft lived on board, and the voyage, though always slow, was pleasant and easy when the south wind filled the bellying sail, wafting the ponderous craft past the shifting scene of level shore, rocky headland, and green islands. In calms or adverse winds, it was hard work to keep headway with the heavy sweeps, and the voyage grew dangerous when storms arose, and the leviathan heaved and surged on angry waves that threatened to sever its huge vertebrae and cast it piecemeal to the savage rocks. Sloops, schooners, and square-sailed Canada boats plied to and fro, bearing that way cargoes of wheat and potash; this way, salt and merchandise from over-seas. After midwinter, the turbulent lake became a plain of ice, affording a highway for traffic in sleighs, long trains of which fared to Montreal with loads of produce to exchange for goods or coin. The declaration of what was commonly called the land embargo in 1808, cutting off this busy commerce, and barring western Vermont from its most accessible market, caused great distress and dissatisfaction, and gave rise to an extensive contraband trade. The Collector of the District of Vermont wrote to Mr. Gallatin, United States Secretary of the Treasury, that the law could not be enforced without military aid. Upon this, President Jefferson issued a proclamation, calling on the insurgents to disperse, and on all civil and military officers to aid in quelling all disturbances.