True, France was also an offender, but as the weaker naval power her offence was lost sight of in view of the, literally, thousands of _bona fide_ Americans seized by Great Britain.

Here, then, was a third cause of irritation connected with impressment, though not a point of governmental dispute as to right, for Great Britain professed her earnest desire to restore promptly any American-born sailors whom her naval officers had seized through error.

In fact many such sailors were soon liberated, but a large number either continued to serve on British ships or to languish in British prisons until the end of the Napoleonic Wars[6].
There were other, possibly greater, causes of the War of 1812, most of them arising out of the conflicting interests of the chief maritime neutral and the chief naval belligerent.

The pacific presidential administration of Jefferson sought by trade restrictions, using embargo and non-intercourse acts, to bring pressure on both England and France, hoping to force a better treatment of neutrals.

The United States, divided in sympathy between the belligerents, came near to disorder and disruption at home, over the question of foreign policy.