in Parliament that the Order in Council would be suspended. On the very day that the Minister took his formal leave from the United States, 23 June 1812, a new British government headed by Lord Liverpool provisionally repealed the Order in Council. Forty-one days after the United States Congress declared war, the news reached London on 29 July 1812. Two days later, the Ministry ordered its first counter-measures. It forbade British ships to sail except in convoys, and restrained American ships in British ports. The Orders in Council had been repealed on 23 June 1812, but the ministers did not intend to take additional measures until they could learn the American reaction. Word of the repeal of the Orders did not reach President James Madison until 12 August 1812, some fifty days later. Even then he refused to halt hostilities because he did not know how Britain had reacted to the declaration of war. References Napoleonic Wars Francophobia in Europe Law of the United Kingdom 1807 in British law Orders in Council