Lsbip taki bo much trouble to revive the drooping spirits of his



CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 461

countrymen if he could say with truth, as he does elsewhere, "Almost
every article of the produce of the American States which is brought into
Europe we may have at least as good and as cheap, if not better, else-
where. Both as a friend and an enemy, America has been burdensome to
Great Britain. It may be some satisfaction to think that by breaking off
rather prematurely Great Britain may find herself in a better situation
with respect to America than if she had fallen off when more ripe." How
kind of his lordship, then, to offer still another plan! "The fixing on
certain ports in Great Britain where the produce and merchandise of the
American States may be stored until a sale can be made of them in Great
Britain or in some other ports of Europe. By this the British merchant
will have the first offer in the sales, and the American, without running
the risk or incurring the expense of going from one port to another, will
be at all times sure of the best market to be had in Europe." This project
gives great satisfaction to the philanthropic Sheffield, who promises, in case
of its adoption, that "the American commerce, especially for the most
necessary and the most bulky articles, would in a great measure centre in
this kingdom, and the merchants in America, not being able to make remit-
tances in advance, but, on the contrary, obliged to go in great part on
credit, being able thus to deposit their effects at the disposal of their corre-
spondents, at the highest market which can be had in Europe, it will be a
very essential advautage to the American merchant and a security and
inducement to the British merchant to answer the American orders for
goods." The interests of the British merchant are certainly hot neglected
in the above scheme !

Such were the Observations on Commerce of Thomas Lord Sheffield, in
which an attempt is made by their noble author to convince both himself
and his countrymen that commerce with America was of no great value,
and yet that Great Britain would secure the best part of it ; that the popu-
lation of this country was rapidly decreasing; that the bond of union by
which the United States were held together was so weak that no treaty
could ever be made except with the separate States. We are forced to
make another extract which signally shows his lordship's weakness when
he attempts to prophesy : " It is not probable that the American States
will have a very free trade in the Mediterranean. It ivill not be the in-
terest of any of the great maritime powers to protect them there from the
Barbary States. If they knew their interests, they will not encourage the
Americans to be carriers. That the Barbary States are advantageous to
the maritime powers is obvious. The Americans cannot protect them-
selves from the latter ; they cannot pretend to a navy. It is remarkable
how few good harbors there are for large ships in the American States — at
least we have found none except at Rhode Island; and if a navy could be
afforded, there would be much difficulty in agreeing that so essential an



162 BUEL1 F'S UNITED STATES

establishment should be at Rhode [aland." The remark with reference to
the Barbarj - - is especially rich, "The American States" gave the
\ th African coast their firsl lesson in international law,
about twentj years after Sheffield wrote these words, by means of those
skilful I ' mmodore Preble, Captain Bainbridge, Lieutenant De-

catur and Captain William Eaton, at a time when the "great maritime

paid ii"! â–  cent for defence, but thousands for tribute. The

i] American harbors require ao comment; but we feel sure

that ill-' British Boldiera and sailors who had visited the harbors of New
"i . Philadelphia and other ports on the Atlantic coast took these state-
ments with a la salt.

\\. from a recent writer a somewhat different account of the value

mm. n-, during the period to which Sheffield refers, and of

the reputation of American merchants for probity and fair dealing. In

describing the temporary effects of th< Revolutionary war, he says: "The

flourishing commerce of the colonies was totally ruined. This Mr. Burke

characterized as out of all proportion beyond the numbers of the people,

that with the mother-land being within less than £500,000 of equalling

what England had carried on at the beginning of the century with the

whole world. He cites the case of Pennsylvania, which in 1704 called for

only £11,459 worth of British commodities, but in 1772 took nearly fifty

times as much, or £507,909 worth, marly equal to the exports to all the

c..l<.: either at the first period. The colony trade of Great Britain

had increased from one-sixteenth to nearly one-third of the whole. The

importations were particularly heavy in 1 77i > and the three following

s, and amounted, as Mr. Glover stated to the 1 louse of Common- in

L775, !•> t' ii and a half millions Sterling in the three years, or three and

a half millions at the annual medium. He estimated the linen sent from

Britain and Inland to amount to L'700,000 per annum. The im-

:i the foregoing years exceeded the wants of the colonies, and

through the embarrassments thereby created the debts of the American

who bought largely on credit, were not so promptly paid when

• hie a- they had been in previous years. The indebtedness of New Eng-
tated at mar on.- million .-telling. The colonies were in c<

■ |ii« ncc charged in some quarters with a desire to evade payment — a charge
:. Int. d by the testil y of merchants in the colonial trade i at

â–  H id by the subsequent g 1 faith of American mer-

dut in December, L77 4, four millions were paid in

. i i when a separatum seemed inevitable, although

â– - upon their trade ami fisheries were certainly not calculated

payment." These facte were doubtless well known to Lord

i; hut a- he was writing a special plea, he preferred to disregard

.. km. win- well that prejudice and passion would obtain a hearing for



CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 463

anything which, if believed, would serve to console his country for the loss
of the fairest portion of "The British Empire in America."

What induced Lord Sheffield to take so much pains to misrepresent the
condition of the youthful nation ? It is true that the Revolutionary war
had annihilated, for the time being, the commerce of the former colonies.
Their shipping was nearly destroyed, public credit was impaired, a vast
debt had accumulated ; but our author is not satisfied with a statement of
these facts. He goes out of his way to make many specific assertions,
which were not only incorrect, but so utterly wide of the mark that no one
who was at all acquainted with the resources of this country could give
them credence for a single moment. The answer to this question is near
at hand. "The Right Honorable William Pitt, late Chancellor of the
Exchequer," had introduced into Parliament a bill "for the provisional
establishment and regulation of trade and intercourse between the subjects
of Great Britain and those of the United States of America." This bill,
if it had become a law, would have given this country the legal assurance
of ordinarily fair treatment, which was more than Lord Sheffield, nee
Thomas Holroyd, could endure. He says : " This country has not found
itself in a more interesting situation. It is now to be decided whether we
are to be ruined by the independence of America or not. The Navigation
Act gave us the trade of the world. If we alter that act by permitting
any state to trade with our islands, or by suffering any state to" carry into
this country any produce but its own, we desert the Navigation Act and
sacrifice the marine of England. But if the principle of the Navigation
Act is properly understood and well followed, this country may still be
safe and great."

Replies to Sheffield. — The first reply to this pamphlet appeared
in 1783, the same year in which the Observations, etc., were published. Wil-
liam Bingham, of Philadelphia, who, during the war, had been the agent
of Congress at Martinico, and who was therefore thoroughly conversant
with the West India trade, took up his pen in defence of the newly-eman-
cipated colonies. Not satisfied with a masterly refutation of special points,
he attacks the foundation upon which Sheffield's whole superstructure
rests — viz., the jarring interests of the various States, which would make
a lasting union impossible. Let the reader remember what Bingham wrote
at a time when the warmest friends of America were anything but hopeful
concerning her future, and he will appreciate the bravery and the far-
sighted sagacity of the following prophetic words, written nearly six years
before the adoption of the Federal Constitution : " The States, from a sense
of common danger and common interest, will more closely unite together
and form one general system of exclusive navigation in regard to Great
Britain, established on clear, equal and determinate principles of commer-
cial retaliation, which will rapidly pervade the whole Union. Already



164 BUBLET'S UNITED STATES

has a generous competition begun to take place betwixt them which shall
fully adopl and carry into effect those wise and salutary mea-
sures recommended by the grand council of their country in order to make
their federal union respectable and the United States as prosperous in

e a- they have been glorious in war. . . . He reasons as if the trade

America must irresistibly be confined to its former channel, whereas I
can assure him that, freed from the control of your Navigation Act, it will
expand itself as far as seas can carry or wind- can watt it. He forgets
the enei this young country thai be is devoting to such humiliating

: he forgets that it exhibited whilst in its cradle such marks of
firmness and vigor of constitution as like ybung Hercules, to crush the
serpent that wantonly attacked it." Another answer was published in

'. written by Tench < loxe, also of Philadelphia, who was then assistant-

tary of the treasury. The adoption of the Federal Constitution had
intervened, ami an opportunity had been recently given, for the firsl time
since the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, to

i tain the amount and nature of the exports and imports of this coun-
try. The returns were Decessarily imperfect, and of course, as the collec-
tion of customs, etc., was a new thing for the federal government, and the
machinery by means of which a full and correct return could he secured
was not yet in operation, the totals in this return were rather below than
above the real figures. Still, the result was gratifying to all friends of the
young republic. We have several times referred above to these returns,
and can only say at present that the number of the instances in which the
Burmises or misrepresentations of Lord Sheffield are directly contradicted
by the facts is very large indeed. While it is true, as Webster said, that
the Federal Union "had it- origin in disordered finance, prostrate com-
merce and ruined [national] credit" — while it is true, as he continues,
that "umhr \\- benign influence these great interests immediately awoke
a- from the dead and sprang forth with newness of life" — the very first

rn, made at a time when the benefits derived from the Union could
1 ly be expected to appear, exhibits the recuperative power shown by

American people during the seven years of peace which were occupied
fusing together the somewhat heterogeneous elements which had previ-
ously been held together only by their ardent love of liberty and by the
common danger to which they were exposed during seven years of war.
'I'h' value of the exports of the I nitcd States during the year ending

hi!" i- 30, 1791, was, according to Coxe, $18,399,202, and according

' I'' 1,119,012,041. This amounl exceeds by nearly two millions of

dollar- the value of the exports of all the British continental colonies in

», including the islands of Newfoundland, the Bahamas and Bermuda.

ition of Mi I ivehim special facilities for obtaining correct

rotation, of which advantage he evidently made ample use. Between



CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 465

the years 1776 and 1789 the difficulty of obtaining correct statistics was
increased by the fact that the foreign articles which one State admitted
free of duty were in many instances dutiable in another State, and smug-
gling from one State into another was, of course, an easy matter. Still,
the early history of American commerce is full of interest. We have
now reached a point where firmer footing can be found, while tracing the
marvellous development of the commerce of the infant republic. The very
fullness, however, of the information at hand renders the task of condens-
ing it more difficult for each successive year. A tabular statement of the
cotton production and trade for 49 years, and of the exports and imports
of the United States for each fiscal year from 1790 to the year ending June
30, 1875, will be found elsewhere [see Appendix, Tables VI., VII.].
The exports and imports of leading agricultural products have been noted
in the special article upon American Agriculture. Sir Morton Peto,
taking the returns of exports and imports from 1844 to 1860, seems espe-
cially struck with the facts that the trade of the United States has been
steadily and regularly progressive, and that the nation has uniformly paid
its way, the exports in almost every year having exceeded the imports and
the general balance being in favor of America. Going back of this year
and bringing into the account the tonnage of the mercantile marine [see
Tables I., II., III.], a remarkable advance is seen in the registered ton-
nage between 1789 and 1800. During the period mentioned it rose from
123,893 to 669,921. The total tonnage, which in 1789 was 201,562, was
972,492 in 1800. The imports, which in 1790 were $23,000,000, were
$91,252,768 in 1800, and $111,363,511 in 1801. The exports rose during
the same period from $20,205,156 to $70,970,780 in 1800, and $94,115,925
in 1801. This remarkable advance was due partly to the industry and en-
ergy of our citizens and partly to favorable circumstances. The troubled
state of affairs in Europe exerted a very favorable influence upon American
commerce. The mercantile marine of the United States was built up by
the great wars which followed the French Revolution, at the close of the last
and beginning of the present century. Those wars created a demand for
our exports; and as the "great powers" of Europe were preying upon each
other's shipping, there was a large carrying trade ready for the vessels of a
neutral power. The United States, by establishing their independence, had
become a neutral nation, sufficiently remote to have no direct interest in the
quarrels of the combatants, sufficiently near to furnish the requisite trans-
portation. American shipping soon became of necessity the preferable
medium for carrying on the commerce of the world, for the Americans
alone could carry with safety the valuable commodities of the nations
which were at war. Having every advantage for ship-building and navi-
gation, this country began a career which soon became extraordinarily
extended and unusually successful. Not only did American ships carry

30



BURL1 F'S UNITED STATES

â– : nial productions to th( il parenl Btates; our merchants, em-

i by the opportunities thrown in their way, became purchasers of
productions in the French, Spanish and Dutch colonies. A new era
I in the commercial history of America. Many embarked
in mercantile enterprises who had no Bpecial training, who were even unac-
quainted with the general princij trade, yet bo favorable were the
r i r ,., : h we have mentioned that the mosl adventurous became
ealthy. Few confined themselves to a single branch of the
on frequently being concerned in voyagestothe four
( >ur tonnage, as will be seen by the table, increased
a rapidity adequate to the demand; in proportion to our population
immercial nation in the world; in the value of our com-
1 1 1 • x t to Greal Britain. The declaration of the Peace of
Amiens, in 1802, had an unfavorable < ffect, causing the registered torn

181, but the recommencement of the war speedily brought
it up to and beyond its former proportions (672,530 tons in 1804, 749,341
in 1- '< in 1806 and 848,307 in 1807). The carrying trade, or

the commercial world, nearly all of which now again came to
rica until the war of 1812, was valued at ten per cent, of the capital;
; by Warden that " the United State- also gained five per
by exchange, so that the annual profits of commerce and foreign nav-
tion have been estimated at fifteen per cent, upon the capital." The
author gives a glowing description of the commercial activity of" this
: . " Y"outh9 of sixteen are Bent abroad as factors or supercargoes to
mmercial country, entrusted with the management of great cou-
Btimulated by the prospect of ind< p< ndence, they study the manu-
factures and markets of foreign states, the quality, value and profits of
i ial article, while the youth of other countries of the same
1 rank have not formed a thought of a provision for future life,
and commercial business is executed [in the United States] with
lerity and less expense than in any other country. Vessels in the
mntry are laden and unladen in the course of a few days,
other countries as many month- are required for the
e ]'U' ;; ii- regulations and less enterprise." The sue

I i itcd State- excited the jealousy of foreign countries, and
ud L 807, inclusive, no less than 1000 American vessels were
I by nations professedly at pence with this country, for all

• '1< "!• of commercial decr< es. The "orders in council "

Berlin and Milan deer ee [see Historical Sketch, pages 11-'! and

cr with the embargo declared by our government (both for the

dia ting and to pr< iur mercantile navy, according to

uthoritii [ually destructive in their effects upon American

I of the I Hit. «1 State-, which had increased



CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 467

to 8101,530,963 in 1800 and $108,343,151 in 1807, was thus reduced by
this succession of blows to $22,430,960 in 1808, but little more than the
amount ($19,012,041) in 1791, the second year after the adoption of the
Constitution. Upon the raising of the embargo in 1809 commerce at once
revived, though, as is seen by the table, it did not reach the previous
figures. The war of 1812 had, of course, a depressing effect upon our
commerce. In 1814 our exports were only 86,937,441 and our imports
812,965,000. There was a slight falling off in the registered tonnage, but
it is difficult for us to form any idea as to the source whence Sir Morton
Peto obtained materials for the following statement: "In the following year
[1812] the Americans themselves put an end to their own navigation and
commerce by entering upon war with Great Britain. Our navy swept
their vessels from the seas, and two years after the outbreak of this war
the Americans had only 59,700 tons of shipping engaged in the foreign
trade, instead of the 1,100,000 tons employed seven years previously."
The Reports on Commerce and Navigation give the following figures for
the registered tonnage of 1812, 1813 and 1814 respectively: 760,624 tons,
674,853 tons and 674.633 tons. As a counterpoise to this assertion of
Sir Morton, we give a statement written by Wharton and published in
Edinburgh in 1819 : " The great injury done to the commerce of Great
Britain during that war, notwithstanding her powerful navy, bears strong
testimou)- to the activity and enterprise of American seamen. More than
seventeen hundred of her vessels were captured during the course of the war;
and it has been stated that only one out of three American vessels employed
in commerce were taken by the English during the same period." It is also
to be doubted whether, " if America had not gone to war with Great Bri-
tain in 1812, it is probable that she would have retained to this day her
ascendency in general commerce." Open war was not much worse than
the state of affairs which permitted our vessels to be crippled by the im-
pressment of their best seamen, and a thousand ships to be captured in a
time of nominal peace. The truth is that the downfall of Napoleon and
the consecment peace between England and France removed the favor-
able circumstances which had given so large a share of the carrying trade
to the United States. Our seamen did not lack daring or enterprise or
skill. Nantucket sloops of eighty tons, with ten men, doubled Cape Horn
to pursue the whale fishery in the Pacific. After visiting the south-western
coast of New Holland, the Malouin or Falkland and other islands, they
touched for refreshments at the Cape of Good Hope, at the Sandwich
Islands or at the ports of Chili. A lucrative commerce with the Feejee
Islands was carried on by small vessels, carrying trifling articles of hard-
ware, which were exchanged for sandal-wood. With the latter commodity
they proceeded to Canton, where they sold it at the rate of $400 per ton, it
being in great demand for use as incense in the Chinese temples. With-



BURLETS UNITED STATES

out any previous knowledge of routes, winds, tides or harbors, the Amer-
whalemen and pilot-boat seamen visited every coast, and, to the aston-
ishment of Europe, made shorter voyages than old and experienced navi-
[[ i- scarcely necessary to enter into details as to the progress
made in the value of exports and imports. The tables tell their own Btory.
osiderable fluctuation tin- imports went above one hundred mil-
- during the year 1831, since which time they have not fallen below
amount, the exports going past this point in 1834. The panic of
I a falling off; but the lost ground was very soon recovered.
In 1851 both exports and imports went above two hundred millions; in
both exceeded three hundred millions, the imports having passed this
point in one of the previous years I 1*54, when they were 8304,562,381),
and in I860 the exports were $400,122,296. The influence of the civil
war i- Been in the small figures for the years 1861-1865 inclusive, and
the beneficent effect of peace i- shown by the sum of 8550,684,228,
as the exports for 1866, overbalancing by more than one hundred mil-
lions of dollars the imports ($445,512,158). There was some fluctua-
tion during the following four years. In the fifth (1871) both exports
and imports passed the bounds of five hundred millions. In 1872
1501,164,971; imports. $640,337,540) and 1873 (exports,
-". : imports, $663,617,147 the balance of trade was against
this country, but for 1*73-4 the specific figures are as follows:
1 of total export- over total imports (being the balance in

r of the United States . $57,052.97 : specie and bullion exported,
105 domestic, $59,699,886; foreign, 86,930,719); imports,
icess of speeie and bullion exported, 838,175,499; total
rU of merchandise, $569,433,421 (domestic, $552,583,802 ; foreign—

â–  $16,849,619); imports of merchandise, 8567,407,342; real
moe against the United State-, being the excess of imports of merchan-

of domestic merchandise, which had to be made up by

shipments of the precious metals, 814,823,540. For the year ending June

" 1875, the figures (furnished by the chief of the Bureau of Statistics

i advance of the publication of the Animal Report on Commerce and

- follows: Domestic exports, $643,094,767 ; foreign (re-

624; exports of merchandise, $573,396,249 (domestic,

• foreign re-exports, $14,158,611); imports of merchandise,

[»"rt- of >pecie and bullion, 892,132,142 (dome-tic,

013 : imports of Bpecie, $20,900,717; specie

â–  -r of the Tinted Stat.-. $71,251,425. Balance in favor of

1 - arising from the excess of exports ot' domestic merchanr

f merchand â–  . $26,232,202. If the exports of foreign

be thrown into the scale, the balance in favor of

- i, and the balance to the credit of this country



CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 469

arising from the excess of total exports ($665,528,391) over total imports
(8553,906,153) was §111,622,238. We have taken it for granted, while
making our comments upon these figures, that the real balance of trade in
favor of this country arises from the excess of the exports of domestic
merchandise over the imports of foreign merchandise ; that the drain of
the precious metals required to make up the deficiency when the exports
of domestic merchandise fall below the imports of foreign merchandise is