by obstructing their internal commerce, to deprive them, in a great degree, even of these blessings, the sources of which lay within themselves; yet a law was made in the beginning of the last year (1764), which, whilst it rendered legal, in some respects, their intercourse with the other European colonies in the new world, loaded the best part of it with duties so far above its strength to bear, as to render it contraband to all intents and purposes.

"Warm and spirited remonstrances were sent to England on the occasion, by the people of North America. Among other arguments, they alleged that such restraints upon their trade were absolutely ruinous, as they tended to put an end to the clearing of their lands, and damped the prosecution of their fisheries. They also asserted, that unless those foreign ports where they deposited the surplus of their corn, and of the provisions of all kinds with which their country abounded, were freely opened to them, they knew not whither to carry them. The British islands in the West Indies were not equal to their consumption, and Great Britain did not want them: it was absolutely necessary, therefore, that some places for the disposal of them should be permitted, where they might fetch a reasonable price."

While the people were in the state of mind produced by the restrictions imposed on their trade by the acts of 1764, the stamp act was passed, and the first of November 1765 fixed on as the day in which it should go into operation. The measures which were thereupon taken by the inhabitants and the governments of the different colonies belong to the political history of the country.

In the following year the stamp act was repealed: but the British parliament did not relinquish its pretensions to a right to tax the colonies, and passed an act "to amend an act for regulating certain duties in the British colonies and plantations, and also duties upon East India goods exported from Great Britain, and for granting other duties instead thereof, and for further encouraging, regulating, and securing several branches of the trade of this kingdom and the British dominions in America, as relates to the exportation of nonenumerated goods from the British colonies in America."

This act was not of a character to allay the irritation of the Americans, as it prevented them from exporting to any of the countries of Europe north of Cape Finisterre, except England, any of the articles before known as non-enumerated commodities.

In 1767, an act was passed which imposed duties on teas, paper, painters' colours, and glass imported into the British plantations in America.

In 1770, the duties on paper, painters' colours and glass were repealed: "but in order to preserve the dignity of the legislature, and merely to save the national honour, the duty on tea was continued."

In 1775, a bill was passed to prohibit all trade and intercourse with the colonies in actual rebellion: and in the same year a resolution was passed by VOL. XVIII.—PART II.

Congress shutting every port in the country against British ships.

We have thus brought up our commercial history to the commencement of the revolutionary war. Many of the incidents which followed the passage of the acts of 1764, we have thought it unnecessary to introduce, as they are related in the popular histories of that period. The facts we have stated are sufficient to show that it was interference with their trade that roused the Americans to assert the principle, that no body of men had a right to tax them without their own consent. This ground once taken by them, the evil or the good that the commercial regulations of the mother country might do them, was lost sight of in attention to the principle. Various attempts were made by the British parliament to conciliate them by granting bounties on raw silk, on oak staves, and on building timber, by taking off some of the restrictions on the exportation of rice, and by reducing the duties on many imported articles to a nominal amount: but the Americans having once asserted the principle, that the British parliament had no right to impose any tax or duty upon them, maintained their cause with a spirit which deserved and which obtained success.

According to the statement of Lord Sheffield, the customs from the 5th of January 1768, when the board was established, to 1775, when the war began, amounted to about 290,000l. or about one million three hundred thousand dollars, in a little more than seven years, out of which the expense of collection was to be deducted.

It is difficult, as Mr. Pitkin justly observes, to ascertain the value of the trade of the colonies previous to the year 1776. As a very extensive commerce was carried on without regard to British regulations, the custom house books de not furnish a full account. They must, however, be referred to, as the best source of information. Table No. 54 gives the official value in sterling money of the exports and imports from each of the colonies, now states, for the year 1769. From this it appears that the exports amounted to £2,852,441, or about thirteen millions of dollars, and the imports to £2,623,412, or about twelve millions of dollars. Of the exports, more than one half were to Great Britain, a little less than one fifth to the south of Europe, something more than a fourth to the West Indies, and a small amount to Africa. Of the imports, nearly two thirds were from Great Britain, and more than one fourth from the West Indies. The imports from Africa amounted to upwards of $670,000. Those from the north of Europe to little more than $340,000. This was after the restrictive acts were passed by the British parliament. In previous years, the proportion of trade with different countries must have been different.

The tables of Lord Sheffield, in his "Observations on American Commerce," taken undoubtedly from the custom-house books, show the value of the trade between Great Britain and that part of America now the United States, from 1700 to 1780, to have been as follows: 3 N

This is the British official valuation, which, for most articles, is much below the market valuation. Table No. 55 contains an account of the principal articles exported from the North American colonies, including the islands of Newfoundland, Bahama, and Bermuda, with their official value and places of destination for the year 1770. "As little," says Mr. Pitkin," was exported from the other provinces and the islands, except fish from Newfound land, the value of the exports from the colonies, now the United States, in that year, must have been at least three millions sterling, or about thirteen and a half millions of dollars."

It is not easy to ascertain the amount of tonnage employed in the trade of the colonies, and particularly the amount owned by the colonists themselves. The author of a work published in London, in 1731, entitled "The Importance of the British Plantations in America," estimates the amount of tonnage employed in bringing tobacco from Virginia and Maryland to England at 24,000 tons. "The trade of these two provinces to all other parts than Great Britain is," he adds, "inconsiderable, not employing above one thousand tons of shipping to the sugar islands and in all other trades, on their own proper account. Yet there is a great number of vessels that trade to both provinces, of and from our other continental colonies."

"The Pennsylvanians build about two thousand tons of shipping yearly for sale, over and above. what they employ in their own trade, which may be about six thousand tons more."

"New England employs about 40,000 tons of shipping in its foreign and coasting trade, and above six hundred sail of ships, sloops, &c., about one half of which shipping trades to Europe. Their fisheries have been reckoned annually to produce 230,000 quintals of dried fish. By this fishery, and their other commerce, they are said to employ at least six thousand seamen. There is, moreover, their whale fishery, employing about one thousand three hundred tons of shipping."

This account is very imperfect. When the author speaks of New England, he has special reference to Massachusetts; and we have no account of the shipping employed in the trades of New York, New Jersey, and the Carolinas.

The amount of tonnage entered from January 5, 1770, to January 5, 1771, was 331,644, and the amount cleared 351,686 tons. This includes the entry of the same vessel two or three times, or as of ten as the voyages were repeated in the course of the year. "Although," says Mr. Pitkin, "the tonnage, as registered, is generally less than the real amount, yet the tonnage, as entered and cleared, is probably much above its real amount.'

In 1769, the vessels built in the colonies, which afterwards formed the United States, amounted to 20,000 tons; in 1770, to 20,610 tons; and in 1771, to 24,068 tons. In 1772, the number of vessels built was 182, the aggregate tonnage of which amounted to 26,544 tons.

During the war of the revolution, the foreign commerce of the United States was very limited in amount, and conducted at great risk. In 1779, the insurance on specie imported from Europe was more than 50 per cent. In 1782, the rate of insurance, at London, on ships to New York, with convoy, was 15 guineas per cent. With so much vigour was the war on the ocean prosecuted, that a statement was made to parliament, in the year 1778, that 733 British ships had been taken by the American cruisers, and that though 47 of them had been released, and 127 retaken, the loss of the remaining 559 vessels, which were carried into port, appeared, from the best mercantile information, to amount to at least £2,600,000 sterling. The number of American ships captured at that time was said to be 904, which, at the moderate valuation of £2000 for each ship and cargo, would amount to £1,808,000.

The American fisheries were completely destroyed. A clandestine commerce was, from the commencement of the war, carried on with Holland, and, toward the end of it, a lucrative trade with the Havana: but so much of the labour and the capital of the people were diverted from their old channels, that there was little surplus produce for foreign markets. What the husbandmen did not consume themselves, was insufficient to supply the wants of the contending armies. The prosecution of many arts and trades was suspended, from the impossibility of obtaining raw materials; and much meat was spoiled, owing to the want of salt to preserve it. The last mentioned article was, at times, as high as eight dollars a bushel, and was, on an average, perhaps, as high as three or four dollars.

The return of peace found the Americans without shipping, and with a reduced commercial capital. Many of the labouring people had been cut off by the events of the war, and others had, while in the army, acquired habits which unfitted them for the pursuits of peace. In many parts of the country, the improvements on the farms had been destroyed. Through the operation of the continental money, and other causes, a new distribution of wealth had taken place; a distribution alike unfavourable to private happiness and public prosperity. Unprincipled speculators revelled in luxury; while the honest and the noble minded, who were the principal victims of the financial systems of the different governments, found it difficult to obtain the bare means of subsistence. Land speculations and speculations in the soldiers' certificates engaged the attention of many who had money. Time was required by those of the industrious classes who had not been entirely stripped of their property, to bring their farms into the condition in which they were before the war, or to re-establish themselves in their old avocations. Tender-laws and other measures, the plea for which was state necessity, had destroyed the confidence of men in one another. The effects of the war con

tinued to be felt for many years after the return of peace.

It was impossible that the country could, under such circumstances, furnish a great amount of commodities for exportation: but a brisk trade of import from England immediately commenced. We find Lord Sheffield, who wrote in an early part of 1783, before the articles of peace were signed, stating that the American market was absolutely glutted with European products: and Mr. Pitkin estimates the value of the goods imported into the United States from England, at eighteen millions in 1784, and at twelve millions in 1785.

The following is an account of the imports into England from the United States, and exports to the United States from that country, in sterling money, from 1784 to 1790, taken from the English customhouse books, viz.

1,603,465 2,009,111 1,886,142 2,525,298 3,431,778

1,191,171

1790, The British official value, it must be kept in mind, is, for most articles, much below the market value.

These importations were paid for, in part, out of a fund of gold and silver, which the expenditures of the British and French armies in the country had enabled certain individuals to accumulate during the war.

Of the extent of our commerce with other countries, in the period that elapsed between the close of the war and the adoption of the federal constitution, it is difficult to form an estimate. It must have been small, as we had little to sell, and the other European merchants were not willing to give as long credits as the British.

During this period, our foreign commerce was subject to various and uncertain regulations. The privileges of a trade to their West India colonies, which France and Spain had conceded during the war, were, soon after the return of peace, diminished, and, after that, in a manner abolished. The policy of Great Britain, though founded on equally selfish principles, was more enlightened. She admitted "any unmanufactured goods and merchandise, the importation of which was not prohibited by law (oil excepted), and any pitch, tar, turpentine, indigo, masts, and bowsprits, being the growth or production of the United States, to be imported in British or American ships, upon paying the same duties as if imported from the British plantations," and allowed the same drawback on goods exported to the United States as on goods exported to her own colonies. By this act, pot and pearl ashes, bar iron, woods of every kind, and tar and pitch, being the produce of the United States, were more favoured than the same articles of the growth of other foreign countries: but, by the same act, it was provided that the intercourse between the United States and the British West Indies, should be car

ried on in British ships only, and restricted to an exchange of lumber, naval stores, hemp, and flax, and grain, on the one hand, for rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, cocoa nuts, ginger, and pimento, on the other. This allowed the Americans to purchase from the British West Indies, all the staple products of those islands, but did not allow them to sell to them any salt fish, salt beef, salt pork, and various other articles.

The general restrictions on commerce, by which every maritime power sought to promote its own navigation, and that part of the European system, in particular, by which each aimed at a monopoly of the trade of its colonies, was, says Judge Marshall, felt with peculiar keenness when practised by England. To the British regulations, on this subject, the people of America were, perhaps, the more sensible, because, having composed a part of that empire, they had grown up in the habit of a free admission into all its ports. In 1784, several of the states endeavoured to countervail the British regulations, by imposing duties on British West India. products, and on British ships trading there; and in the following year, the legislature of Massachusetts prohibited the exportation of American products in British bottoms, under the penalty of a forfeiture of ship and cargo.

In some of the states, a discriminating duty of one shilling sterling a ton was levied on foreign shipping, in others a duty of three shillings. While Pennsylvania imposed a duty on imported goods, they were admitted free of duty in New Jersey. Congress made several efforts to obtain from the states power to levy a duty of five per cent on foreign commodities, and make it general throughout the country; but from devotion to state rights, jealousy of trade, and a fear that unequal burdens would be imposed on the different members of the confederacy, every proposition of this kind was rejected.

In 1785, an attempt was made to enter into a commercial treaty with Great Britain; but that government declined even to enter into negotiation on the subject, giving as a reason, that congress had not power, under the articles of confederation, to cause such a treaty to be observed. Attempts which were made to negotiate commercial treaties with France, Spain, and Portugal were equally unsuccessful. From the navigation of the lower part of the Mississippi, the Americans were excluded by the Spaniards; and from the Mediterranean, they were shut out by the Barbary powers, whose hostility they had no force to subdue, and whose friendship they had no money to buy. Under these circumstances, to use the language of Dr. Seybert, “it was manifest that general regulations were essential to the safety and welfare of the union: it was absolutely necessary that the power to regulate and control our intercourse with foreign nations, should be confided to congress alone; and it was that conviction which principally induced the people of the United States to call the convention to revise the articles of confederation."

Though affairs, both at home and abroad, were very discouraging, the spirit of American enterprise was not damped. Immediately after the

peace, a trade was opened with the British East Indies: and on the 22d of February 1784, the first ship sailed from New York for China. In 1789, there were fifteen American vessels at Canton, which was a greater number than any European nation had there, except the English. It was stated in congress, on the 4th of May 1789, that there were fortyseven American vessels on voyages beyond the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1788, the trade to the Northwest Coast of America commenced. The first ship that was employed in it sailed from Boston. This opened a trade for furs with the Indians, on a coast several hundred miles in extent: and afterwards every island in the South Seas, and the whole coast of South America, were explored, in search of seal skins for the Chinese market. These sealing voyages were at first very profitable: but the business was soon overdone, and the seals, in a few years, became so scarce as not to be worth the pursuit.

The old branches of industry revived gradually. The cod fishery was one of the first completely reestablished. In 1789, we exported 371,319 quintals of fish, which was more than had been exported yearly, on an average of ten years preceding the revolutionary war. This was, however, overdoing the business, for the British had in the interim greatly extended their fisheries, and our market for fish was limited. The citizens engaged in this business met with heavy losses, which, in 1789, induced the people of Marblehead alone to take thirty-three of their vessels from the fisheries.

The first congress that met under the new constitution passed an act imposing duties of five per cent on most manufactures of wool and flax, seven and a half per cent on manufactures of silk, cotton, and iron, ten per cent on articles composed wholly or chiefly of gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, and equally moderate duties on most other imported commodities. They also imposed a discriminating duty in favour of American tonnage, and made certain allowances on the exportation of salt fish, as a compensation for the duty paid by the fishermen on foreign salt. This tariff, taking the place of the diversified regulations of the states, imparted uniformity to the commerce of the Union with foreign nations. The principal advantages, however, which trade and industry derived from the adoption of the new constitution, were from those provisions in that instrument which prohibited any state "from emitting bills of credit, making any thing but gold and silver a legal tender in the payment of debts, or passing any law violating the obligations of contracts." These provisions re-established commercial confidence.

By this time, a new class of labourers had risen up: those who were boys at the close of the revolutionary war, had become men. The devastations of the contending armies had been in a degree repaired: and though neither our agricultural nor commercial capital was equal to what it was in 1770, the country afforded a considerable amount of surplus products for exportation, which surplus increased yearly.

The same year in which our new constitution

went into operation, the French revolution com. menced. The events that grew out of it, while they raised the price of our staples in foreign markets, compelled the different European powers to relax their colonial policy.

The combined effect of these different causes became very apparent by the year 1794, in which and the succeeding year our exports amounted to eighty millions of dollars, being twice as much as we had exported in 1791 and 1792. Part of this increase was owing to a rise in the value of our staples, prices being, according to a statement by Mr. Gallatin, forty per cent beyond their usual rates. Part of it was owing to the re-exportation of foreign commodities, the value of which, in these two years, 1794 and 1795, was, we learn from the same authority, twenty-five millions of dollars.

It was believed by many, that the external causes which had proved so powerful a stimulus to our commerce, would be temporary in their nature: but they continued in operation for more than twenty years; and the causes of internal prosperity becoming at the same time more efficacious, our commerce advanced with a rapidity, of which the history of no nation affords a parallel. Mr. Gallatin, writing in 1796, seemed to suppose that our commerce had, in 1795, nearly reached its maximum; but in 1796 the exports amounted to 67 millions, giving an increase, in a single year, of 43 per cent. In the year 1801, they amounted to 94 millions.

We were the carriers of much of the produce of the East and West Indies. The treasures of South America passed through our country, on their way to Europe. Our merchants carried on a lucrative business in supplying the West Indians and South Americans with European commodities.

Our tonnage increased at a rapid rate. In 1793, the total was 491,780. In 1801, it was 1,053,218. In 1793, it exceeded that of any other nation, except the British. In 1801, it appears to have been nearly equal to that which the Dutch possessed in the period of their greatest commercial prosperity.

The profits on the American tonnage employed in the foreign trade, from 1795 to 1805, if calculated at the rate of $50 a ton, must, according to the estimate of Dr. Seybert, have produced, for the freight alone, $32,459,350 per annum.

Our prosperity was much increased by the addition of a new article to our staples. In 1789, a member of congress, from South Carolina, stated, that the people of the southern states intended to cultivate cotton, and added, "if good seed could be procured, he hoped they might succeed." In 1790, the first parcel of cotton, of American growth, was exported from the United States, and amounted to only 19, 200 lbs. Prior to 1802, the cotton wool of foreign and domestic growth was blended in the custom-house returns. On the average of the five years from 1802 to 1806, the cotton of American growth, annually exported, amounted to 42,147,653 lbs. In 1809-10, the export amounted to 93,361,462 lbs.: and 16,000,000 lbs. were consumed in our own manufactories.

After the peace of Amiens, which took place in the fall of 1801, our commerce declined; but that

peace continued for only eighteen months, and commerce revived again. Our carrying trade increased, so that in the years 1805, 6 and 7, our exports of foreign produce exceeded those of domestic. The former were annually, on an average of the three years, $57,701,937: the latter $44,863,507.

The prosperity of our trade excited the envy of the different powers of Europe. To reduce its amount, to make it tributary to their own wants, and to promote their belligerent purposes, they issued various orders, edicts, and decrees, the bare enumeration of which would exceed our limits. This system began at an early date, for it was stated, in the British house of peers, that 600 American vessels were seized or detained in British ports, between November 6, 1793 and March 28, 1794. The captures of American vessels, made by the British, from 1803 till November 1807, amounted to 528. Those made by the French, from 1802 till the time of passing the Berlin and Milan decrees, were 206;--during the continuance of said decrees, 307. To these were added seizures by the Neapolitans, the Danes, and the Spaniards.

Many of these violations of neutral rights would, according to the laws of nations, have justified severe retaliatory measures on our part, but the goverrament of the United States, averse to war, resorted to a measure which, perhaps, inflicted more evil on its own citizens than on the offending belligerents. On the 22d of December 1807, an embargo was laid on all the vessels in the United States. That act continued in force till the 1st of March, 1809. At the moment when our foreign commerce had arrived at the maximum, it was completely suspended. This transition was the more severe, because of its having been so suddenly adopted.

On the removal of the embargo, the trade in foreign commodities was recommenced; but the amount re-exported in 1809, 10 and 11, was only little more than one-third of what was re-exported in 1805, 6 and 7. The value of the domestic commodities exported in 1810 and 11, was nearly as great as the value of the like commodities exported in the two years previous to the embargo. In 1810 and 11, we found a very profitable market for our flour in Spain and Portugal. The wheat and flour we exported to these countries, in 1811, were valued at not less than eight millions of dollars, at the place of exportation, and at twelve millions, at the places of sale.

The belligerents persisted in their system of spoliation. After the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees, the French captured 45 of our vessels. From 1807 till 1812, the British took 389 of our vessels, making a total of 917 captured by them in ten years.

In the opinion of the majority of the nation, war was necessary to redress these wrongs. War was, accordingly, declared against Great Britain, on the 18th of June 1812. One of its necessary effects was to subject our foreign commerce to great risks: yet we exported to Spain and Portugal 938,944 barrels of flour in 1812, and 973,500 barrels in 1813. The value of the wheat and flour exported to those countries, in 1813, was $11,213,447, at the places of

exportation. In a foreign market, says Pitkin, their value could not be less than fifteen millions. In 1814, in consequence of the blockade of our coast, the whole export of the United States amounted only to $6,927,441, of which $6,782,272 was of domestic produce, which found its way through certain ports, which, for a time, were not subject to the blockade.

The ratifications of peace were exchanged in February 1815. The stock of foreign commodities having been nearly exhausted, great importations immediately ensued. The exportation of domestic commodities, though considerable, was much less in value. But in the following year there was a short harvest in England, and our exports of domestic produce in 1816, 1817 and 1818, exceeded those of any three previous years.

It was the opinion of many, that on the pacification of Europe, our commerce must become inconsiderable. Dr. Seybert, whose work was published in 1818, said, "we should refer to our experience, from 1783 to 1791, for the rules that seem best adapted to our future situation." These gloomy forebodings have not been verified. The following account of the exports of domestic produce, for periods of five years, from 1795 to 1829, shows a considerable increase since the close of the war.

From 1795 to 1799, both inclusive, $32,822,965 66 1800 to 1804,

42,048,366

66

1805 to 1809,

The period in which the exports were, apparently, of the most value, was from 1815 to 1819: but during part of this time specie payments were suspended in the United States, and during the whole of the time in England.

If due allowance be made for the fall of prices which has taken place since the resumption of specie payments in Europe and America, it will be found that there has been a considerable increase of our exports in the aggregate, though not an increase in proportion to the increase of population. In 1790, the value of our exports was in the proportion of $4.84 for each inhabitant. In 1801, the domestic produce exported was in the proportion of $8.92 for each inhabitant; in 1810, the proportion was $6.25; in 1829, it was $4.65.

Table 56 gives the value cf the exports from 1790 to 1829, and of the imports from 1821 to 1829. The exports are valued according to the average price at the places of exportation. The imports are valued at the prices they bear at the places of purchase abroad, with the addition of twenty per cent to those imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and of ten per cent to those imported from other places.

Table 57 shows the tonnage of the United States from 1789 to 1829, and also the proportion of foreign tonnage employed in the trade of the country in different years. From 1789 to 1792, the only account of tonnage kept at the treasury, was that on