Chapter VI (2)

In this matter the American people, moved, as it would seem, entirely by an instinctive sense of self-interest, became the champions of a free-trade policy in shipping, while their shipowners, relying on the provisions of the Navigation Act, assumed the character of exclusionists. Thus the antagonistic interests of the shipowners of the two countries disturbed the friendly feelings which might otherwise have prevailed. Three temporary Orders in Council were issued, relating to the importation of tobacco, and payment of duties: a matter of no little difficulty before the organisation of the English warehousing system. The third of these “Orders” renewed that of the 2nd of July, regulating the intercourse between the United States and the West Indies, but relaxed the previous regulations for the British trade so far as to permit the importation of any unmanufactured goods not prohibited by law, except oil, pitch, tar, turpentine, indigo, masts, yards, and bowsprits, being the produce of the United States, either by British or American subjects, and either in British or American vessels. This arrangement, having received parliamentary sanction, was continued annually with little alteration throughout the next five years; but the Americans during this period persisted in urging their claims to have both trades placed on a more liberal system.

In 1784 Congress recommended to the legislature of the different States the adoption of a resolution prohibiting, for fifteen years, the importation and exportation of every species of merchandise, in vessels belonging to any foreign powers not provided with a commercial treaty with the United States. The people of Boston had been highly exasperated by the exclusion of their vessels from the ports of the West Indies, and by the high duties on rice, oil, and tobacco, while their shipping had also suffered by the British regulations of her fisheries along the American coasts.

[Sidenote: Changes produced by the Navigation Laws consequent on the separation.]

They overlooked the great fact that the independence of the North American colonies necessarily placed them in the same relative position to Great Britain as other countries affected by the English navigation laws, and thereby excluded them from the ports of the British Colonies, a result deeply prejudicial to the shipping interests of Boston, as their cheap ships could no longer trade with the West India Islands.[237] The high differential duties on rice, oil, and tobacco which had been enforced against them, regulations combined with the fishery, led to retaliatory measures being resorted to by the people of Massachussetts; hence, after the 1st of August, 1785, the exportation of American produce and manufactures was altogether prohibited, and vessels owned by British subjects prohibited from entering the ports of that State. A proviso was indeed added to meet the case when the governor of any British settlement might be willing to rescind the proclamations against American vessels. In fact a new warfare of prohibitions and restrictions, with retaliatory and conciliatory measures to counteract or aid the contending parties as the case might be, was commenced by various States, the end of which was not foreseen upon either side the water. Unfortunately the States of the North of the Union had commercial interests antagonistic to those of the South, and hence arose a complex system which on all sides greatly increased the difficulties of the navigation laws, and became the parent of endless strife and animosity, which in after years assisted in some measure to bring about the terrible civil war that raged from 1860 to 1865 between the Northern and Southern States.

Concessions were however soon made, and afterwards, in 1788, an Act was passed, permanently permitting the importation into the West Indies, in British vessels, of tobacco, pitch, tar, turpentine, horses, cattle, &c., the produce of the United States, and the exportation from the West Indies to the States of all goods or produce lawfully exportable to European countries. The commercial jealousies and animosities between the two countries now gradually subsided, though British shipowners still adhered to the principle of their Navigation Laws, and excluded American vessels from the colonial and inter-colonial trade, all such goods imported and exported being required to be carried in British bottoms.

[Sidenote: New disputes.]

[Sidenote: English Orders in Council.]

[Sidenote: Negotiations opened between Mr. Jay and Lord Grenville.]

Thus matters went on until the war broke out with France in 1792, when new disputes arose with the United States. In order to obtain the produce of their West India Islands, the French despatched their sugars and other produce to the continent of America, whence it was conveyed in American neutral vessels to France. Here is a striking illustration of a friendly power professing neutrality, yet enriching itself by a carrying trade for the benefit of one of the belligerents. Accordingly an English Order in Council was issued for seizing all vessels conveying to France the produce of the French colonies, or supplies from France for the use of those colonies. No wonder that under such circumstances the Americans set up the demand that “free ships should make free goods,” which was echoed through the whole world at a later period. No fewer than six hundred American vessels were seized, or detained in English ports, under this order between the 6th of November, 1793, and the 28th of March, 1794, a proceeding which naturally excited much alarm among merchants connected with the United States, lest there should be an immediate rupture between the two countries. The American government took up the matter, and after having, on the 26th of March, 1794, laid an embargo for thirty days on all British merchant vessels in their ports, sent Mr. Jay as Envoy Extraordinary to London, in order to obtain redress. Upon this the English Order in Council was revoked, and friendly negotiations were entered into with the view of placing the maritime relations of the two countries upon a more satisfactory footing; the result being the conclusion, in 1794, of a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, to which we shall hereafter more fully refer.

[Sidenote: Tonnage duties levied by them.]

Although Mr. Jay, after the conclusion of this treaty, held out the flag of free trade, the Americans never acknowledged, for any lengthened period, his enlightened principles, but preferred following, in this respect, the example of the mother-country whose allegiance they had renounced; and, although admitting the vessels of all foreign nations to their ports, levied a tonnage duty on them higher than was paid by their own ships, with an additional ten per cent. on the duties payable on their cargoes.

FOOTNOTES:

[205] Vol. I. chaps. xvi., xvii., and vol. II. chaps. i., ii.

[206] This very condensed account of the voyages of Dampier, Anson, and Cook has been mainly taken from the collection of voyages published by J. Hawkesworth, London, 4to., 1773; and from Captain Cook’s own narrative, London, 4to., 1779-1784; that of Dampier has been taken from his own account, and from ‘Inland and Maritime Discovery,’ vol. ii.

[207] Discovered by Davis, in 1686.

[208] Edmund Burke’s brilliant sketch, entitled ‘An Account of the European Settlements in America,’ gives a clear and succinct history of their progress up to 1760.

[209] For the various details on this subject see Macpherson, vol. iii., and the annual register for each year of that period.

[210] It is estimated that since the Peace of 1783, and down to the end of 1873, there have been 8,779,174 aliens landed in the United States; emigrants arrived from various parts of the world. Various estimates have been made of the amount of money brought into the country by immigrants. The late John A. Kennedy, for many years Superintendent at Castle Garden, found it about $68 per head for a given period. Placing it at only $50, we have $444,000,000 as the result up to this time. But the far greater value consists in the labour brought into the country, a very large proportion of which goes to build up new Territories and States in the West.—London ‘Times’ newspaper, January 20th, 1874.

[211] Statute of George II. chap. xiii.

[212] This “Case,” with all the statements on both sides, will be found in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, 1749-1777, vol. i. Miscellaneous, comprising No. 1 to No. 9.

[213] _Vide_ Edwards’ ‘History of the West Indies,’ vol. i. p. 239.

[214] 6 Geo. III. chap. ii.

[215] One especial cause of this was that Spain has at no modern period had a large internal commerce. Hence Spanish gold was largely spent in Europe in the purchase of many goods which she did not, or would not, produce herself.

[216] Cotton was first planted in Georgia in 1786, but made little progress for several years.

[217] In 1769 the colonies built and launched 389 vessels, 113 square rigged, and 276 sloops and schooners, of an aggregate burthen of 20,001 tons. Of these, Massachusetts (including Boston and Salem) provided nearly one-half, New Hampshire and Rhode supplied the next largest numbers, while New York had only 5 square-rigged vessels and 14 sloops and schooners, measuring in all 955 tons. Pennsylvania owned 1344 tons; Virginia, 1249; North and South Carolina, 1396; and Connecticut, 1542; while Georgia had 1 sloop and 1 schooner, whose combined measure was only 50 tons! In 1769 the entrances to all the ports of the present United States amounted to 332,146 tons, and the clearances to 339,362 tons; of which 99,121 tons cleared for Great Britain; 42,601 for Southern Europe and Africa; 96,382 for British and Foreign West Indies; and 101,198 for the continent of America and the Bahama Islands. The aggregate value of the whole imports amounted to 2,623,412_l._, and of the exports to 2,852,441_l._; of which Great Britain sent 1,604,975_l._, receiving in return produce to the value of 1,531,516_l_. (‘Journals of the House of Commons,’ 1792, p. 357).

[218] The famous defence of Gibraltar, July 17, 1779, to Nov. 27, 1781, by General Elliott (Lord Heathfield), and Rodney’s two actions, in which he defeated the Spanish and French fleets respectively, did more than anything to restore the prestige of England. In the first of these battles, fought off Cape St. Vincent, Jan. 1780, Rodney took the Spanish Admiral, Don Langara, and six of his ships; in the second, fought in the West Indies, on April 12, 1782, he took five ships and the French Admiral, the Count de Grasse, prisoners of war.

[219] Macpherson, vol. iv., _passim_.

[220] Sir Guy Carleton went to America to treat for peace May 5, 1782.

[221] This Treaty was signed in Tippoo’s camp by Sir George Staunton as the English Ambassador, on the 11th of March, 1784.

[222] Trade of Great Britain with foreign countries, 1760-1797.

------+---------------+------------------
| |Exports of British
| Imports. | and Foreign and
Years.| | Colonial Produce.
+---------------+------------------
|Official Value.| Official Value.
------+---------------+------------------
| £ | £
1760 | 10,683,596 | 15,781,176
1761 | 10,292,541 | 16,038,913
1762 | 9,579,160 | 14,543,336
1763 | 12,568,927 | 15,578,943
1764 | 11,250,660 | 17,446,306
1765 | 11,812,144 | 15,763,868
1766 | 12,456,765 | 15,188,669
1767 | 13,097,153 | 15,090,001
1768 | 13,116,281 | 16,620,132
1769 | 13,134,091 | 15,001,282
1770 | 13,430,298 | 15,994,572
1771 | 14,208,325 | 19,018,481
1772 | 14,508,716 | 17,720,169
1773 | 12,522,643 | 16,375,431
1774 | 14,477,876 | 17,288,486
1775 | 14,815,856 | 16,326,364
1776 | 12,443,435 | 14,755,704
1777 | 12,643,831 | 13,491,006
1778 | 11,033,898 | 12,253,890
1779 | 11,435,265 | 13,530,703
1780 | 11,714,966 | 13,698,178
1781 | 12,722,862 | 11,332,296
1782 | 10,341,629 | 13,009,459
1783 | 13,122,235 | 14,681,495
------+---------------+------------------

+------+---------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------|
| | Imports. | Exports.—Official Value. |
|Years.+---------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------|
| |Official Value.| British Produce | Foreign and |Total Exports.|
| | |and Manufactures.|Colonial Produce.| |
+------+---------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------|
| | £ | £ | £ | £ |
| 1784 | 15,272,877 | 11,255,057 | 3,846,434 | 15,101,491 |
| 1785 | 16,279,419 | 11,081,811 | 5,035,358 | 16,117,169 |
| 1786 | 15,786,072 | 11,830,195 | 4,470,536 | 16,300,731 |
| 1787 | 17,804,025 | 12,053,900 | 4,815,889 | 16,869,789 |
| 1788 | 18,027,170 | 12,724,720 | 4,747,519 | 17,472,239 |
| 1789 | 17,821,103 | 13,779,506 | 5,561,043 | 19,340,549 |
| 1790 | 19,130,886 | 14,921,084 | 5,199,037 | 20,120,121 |
| 1791 | 19,669,783 | 16,810,019 | 5,921,977 | 22,731,996 |
| 1792 | 19,659,358 | 18,336,851 | 6,568,349 | 24,905,200 |
| 1793 | 19,255,117 | 13,892,269 | 6,496,560 | 20,388,829 |
| 1794 | 22,276,916 | 16,725,403 | 10,021,681 | 26,748,084 |
| 1795 | 22,736,889 | 16,338,213 | 10,785,126 | 27,123,339 |
| 1796 | 23,187,320 | 19,102,220 | 11,416,694 | 30,518,914 |
| 1797 | 21,013,957 | 16,903,103 | 12,013,907 | 28,917,010 |
+------+---------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------+

[223] For interesting details of this period of Irish history, see ‘Life of Grattan,’ by his son, and Phillipps’s ‘Memoirs of J. Philpot Curran.’

[224] The ships which entered the ports of Scotland, during the following years are thus reported by Chalmers:—

Foreign trade. Coast trade. Fisheries, &c.
Tons. Tons. Tons.
In 1769 48,271 21,615 10,275
In 1774 52,225 26,214 14,903
In 1784 50,386 31,542 10,421
In 1785 60,356 36,371 11,252

The Custom House accounts, from which the above is derived, state the ships to belong to Scotland, reckoning each vessel only one voyage in each year.

[225] _Vide_ Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations,’ by McCulloch, pp. 47, 48.

[226] Fleetwood gives the wages of a ship’s carpenter, in 1514, at 3_d._ per day from Candlemas to Michaelmas, and 6_d._ from Michaelmas to Candlemas; a master caulker had 6_d._ and 5_d._, and inferior caulkers 5_d._ and 4½_d._ per day respectively, 2_d._ per day being deducted for diet. A great service has been done, especially in the navy, by the diminishing the quantity of grog, and by the substitution for it of cocoa, &c.

[227] 26 George III. chap. 60.

[228] McCulloch’s ‘Commercial Dictionary,’ article Registry; see also Macpherson, iv. pp. 107-111, who gives the rules for measuring the capacity of ships.

[229] Act of Congress, December 31, 1792, chap. i.

[230] For full details of the law with reference to neutral ships, see Wheaton’s ‘International Law,’ vol. ii. c. iii.

[231] Macpherson, iv. pp. 112-116. It may create a smile when we state that one clause in this treaty stipulated “that the merchants are at liberty to keep their books as they please, and to write their letters in any language they think proper.” Another clause provided that British subjects were “not compelled to keep their accounts on stamped paper with the exception of the Journal.”

[232] Of one hundred and thirty-seven vessels thus engaged in the year 1787, eighty were owned in Liverpool, and thirty in Bristol.

[233] Macpherson (iv. 145) gives the following dimensions of a “slaver,” from a return presented to Parliament in 1786. Taking the first on the list, a ship belonging to J. Brooks and Co., it appears that the length of the lower deck, with the thickness of the grating and the bulkhead, was 100 feet; her breadth of beam, from inside to inside, 25 ft. 4 in.; the depth of the hold, from ceiling to lower deck, 10 ft.; height between decks, 5 ft. 8 in.; length of the men’s room on lower deck, 96 ft. 4 in.; breadth of the men’s room on lower deck, 25 ft. 4 in.; length of the platform in men’s room on the lower deck, 46 ft.; breadth of the same platform, 6 ft.; length of the boys’ room, 13 ft. 9 in.; breadth of the boys’ room, 25 ft.; length of platform in boys’ room, 6 ft.; length of the women’s room, 28 ft. 6 in.; breadth of women’s room, 23 ft. 6 in.; length of platform in women’s room, 28 ft. 6 in.; breadth of platform in women’s room on each side, 6 ft. The number of air-ports going-through the side of the deck was 14; the length of the quarter-deck, 33 ft. 6 in., by a breadth of 19 ft. 6 in.; the length of the cabin was 14 ft., by 19 ft. in diameter, and 6 ft. 2 in. in height. The vessel, named after the owners, the _Brooks_, is described as frigate-built without forecastle, and pierced for 20 guns. When leaving the coast of Africa she carried, besides her crew, 351 men, 121 women, 90 boys, and 41 girls, a total of 609! She lost by death, on her passage, 10 men, 5 women, 3 boys, and 1 girl. Her provisions for the negroes were:—20 tons of split beans, peas, rice, shelled barley, and Indian corn; 2 tons of bread; 12 cwt. of flour; 2070 yams, averaging 7 lbs. each; 34,002 gallons of water; 330 gallons of brandy, rum, &c.; 70 gallons of wine; 60 gallons of vinegar; 60 gallons of molasses; 200 gallons of palm oil; 10 barrels of beef; 20 cwt. of stock fish; with 100 lbs. of pepper. She was 49 days on the passage from the Gold Coast to the West Indies, the shortest passage of nine vessels reported being 42 days, and the longest 50 days.

[234] Sierra Leone was discovered in 1460. The number of slaves sent out is said to have been four hundred males and sixty women. As a settlement, Sierra Leone has met with indifferent success, and it has been attacked more than once by the French and the neighbouring Ashantees. The climate is peculiarly deadly to European constitutions (Macpherson, iv. pp. 128 and 223).

[235] ‘Observations on the Commerce of the American States,’ by Lord Sheffield.

[236] ‘Opinions on interesting subjects of Public Law and Commercial Policy, arising from American Independence,’ by George Chalmers.

[237] The story of the early life of Lord Nelson well illustrates the difficulties between the colonists, the Americans, and the English government. In 1784 Captain Nelson found himself, as commanding the _Boreas_ frigate, the senior captain on the West India Station, under a general who hesitated about his duties, and was more than half inclined to support the enemies of England, and an admiral who candidly admitted he had not read the instructions from home under which he was bound to act. How Nelson solved the difficulty by simply enforcing the Acts of Parliament, and how Collingwood, in the _Mediator_, stood firmly by him, is well told by Southey in his ‘Life of Lord Nelson,’ pp. 54-60 (Bohn’s ed.).