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 California 
 Regional 
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 J AN 
 
 INQUIRY ^"^^ 
 
 INTO THE X 
 
 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 H. OF THE 
 
 ORDERS IN COUNCIL: 
 
 AND 
 
 AN EXAMWATIOK 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CONDUCT OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 TOWARDS THE 
 
 NEJTRAL COMMERCE 
 AMER[C\ 
 
 By ALEXANDER BARING, Esq. M. P. 
 
 '^^fcU (f^iiim. 
 
 JLOiNDON: 
 
 PUINTED FOR J. M. RICHARDSON, NO. 23, CORNHILI., 
 
 OPPOSXitS THE KOVAl. EXCHANGE J AND 
 
 J. BIDGWAVj PICCADILLY. 
 
 isoa
 
 ■■ I 
 
 Printed by Mercier and Co. 
 
 King^ Head Court, St. Paul's Church Yard. 
 
 #'^
 
 ^ \^r^^ iro 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE serious dangers which now surround 
 us have at least the advantage of drawing 
 forth from every quarter efforts to enhghten 
 the public mind, as to the best means of 
 meeting them, and of imprinting on those 
 efforts a stamp of sincerity which can hardly 
 fail to satisfy the most suspicious. It has 
 been usual to exaggerate the consequences 
 of every existing war, and the importance of 
 the object in contest : the loss of America, 
 the occupation of the Netherlands by France, 
 were, in their turns, the subjects of gloomy 
 political predictions ; but unfortunately the 
 vital importance of the question now at issue 
 bids defiance to exaggeration. The dream 
 of universal empire, which sometimes crossed 
 the brain of the vain or imbecile monarchs 
 of France, is now realizing. An union, 
 which the world never before saw, of irre- 
 sistible force with the most consummate art, 
 is employed to rear this gigantic fabric, while 
 the total destitution of energy and geniu<=:,
 
 JV 
 
 on the otlicr side, appears to exhibit, by such 
 an unusual concurrence of circumstances, the 
 hand of Providence in this extraordinary 
 revolution. 
 
 Tn such a crisis, to suppose in a writer the 
 bias of interest, in its confined meaning, in 
 any opinions he may publish, would be to 
 suppose in him tlie absence of common sense. 
 A few years mist determine the fate of this 
 country ; and it can hardly be imagined that 
 merchants naturally more interested in pre- 
 serving than in acquiring, should be occupied 
 with collecting a few paltry profits from their 
 trade, at the expense of their dearest inte- 
 rest. It would be the folly of a man expecting 
 to get rich by the plunder of his own wreck. 
 
 To those who are not satisfied with this 
 general declaration, any more minute de- 
 fence must be equally unsatisfactory, and I 
 shall therefore detain the reader no longer 
 with myself or my motives. I must, however, 
 add that a severe indisposition has delayed 
 the publication of these observations, and 
 obliges me to claim indulgence for any inac- 
 curacies of expression which I might other- 
 wise have corrected. 
 
 P or tman Square :, 4rth Februa?y, 1808.
 
 AX 
 
 INQUIRY, 
 
 IT might naturally have been expected that, 
 in proportion as our vigilant enemy, pursuing his 
 system of war on our commerce, succeeded in 
 gradually banishing it first from his ow^n domi* 
 nionSj and subsequently from the whole of the 
 Continent of Europe, with the single exception 
 of the poor and barren country of Sweden, con- 
 siderable loss and embarrassment to several 
 branches of that commerce must ensue. 
 
 The West India Planters, who, from causes 
 which we shall hereafter notice, had extended 
 their cultivation much beyond the consumption 
 of the mother country, were the first to complain. 
 — The ship-owners, excluded from one portafter 
 the other on the Continent, as they fell under the 
 dominion of France, and suffering in some de- 
 gree from the distresses of the West India Plant- 
 ers, soon followed them , The exporter of goods 
 
 n
 
 ta the Continent had lost his trade, and in many 
 instances part of his outstanding capital. The 
 East India Company's warehouses were loaded 
 with goods belonging to the Company and indi- 
 viduals, for which there was a very inadequate 
 demand. 
 
 These several important and powerful bodies 
 united the principal commercial interests of the 
 country: their distress was well known to be 
 real, and could not fail to attract the attention 
 of the public and of Government. But the 
 remedy was not so apparent : for want of any 
 satisfactory solution of the difficulty, perhaps 
 also, from an inconsiderate disposition to in- 
 volve in their common misfortunes the only re- 
 maining branch of trade left uninjured, a state 
 of things, the real cause of which was sufficient- 
 ly obvious, was ascribed by all to the intercourse 
 of neutrals with the continent of Europe ; and 
 the want of sale for their commodities was as- 
 serted to be the effect, not of the restrictions of 
 the enemy, but of the competition of Americans. 
 This delusive opinion was unfortunately, as I 
 must think, illustrated with too much ability by 
 the author of " War in Disj?*uise ;" and while 
 the sufferers caughteagerlyatthe supposed cause 
 of their misfortunes, the eloquence of this per- 
 formance, employed on materials partially sound, 
 and generally plausible, combined w i<hthe manly
 
 and patriotic spiritwhich it breathes, established 
 the author's opinions in the mind of the pub- 
 lic at Iaro;e, and with many statesmen of all poli- 
 tical parties. 
 
 The advocates o^ the West India interest, in 
 a variety of publications, became particularly 
 pressing for the inforcement of the suggested 
 remedies : their former partiality for America 
 vanished: the old grievance of want of inter- 
 course with her was forgotten; the so often re- 
 peated complaints of high duties was now a 
 minor object; and their great weight in the gene- 
 ral scale of national wealth was pompously 
 displayed to compel the Government to adopt 
 their now favourite plan of forcing their com 
 modities on the continent of Europe, at the 
 risk of war with the remaining Neutrals. 
 This was to be the effectual remedy for all their 
 misfortunes ; and one of the most intelligent 
 and moderate of that body *, concludes his sug- 
 gestion of various remedies, with which the pub- 
 lic are already familiar, by regretting that, not- 
 withstanding the strong case made out by the 
 author of " War in Disguise," the British Go- 
 vernment had not chosen to avail itself of theyb;- 
 tiuiate opportunity of going to war with America. 
 
 * Mr. Bosanqnet's Letter on the Causes of the Depreciation of 
 West India Property, page 42. 
 
 B 2
 
 This writer, it is true^, confines his information 
 as to the fori imate consequences of such an event 
 to the sale of his sugar ; but lest the unfortunate 
 effects, as also the injustice as well as impolicy of 
 ruining one trade to support another, should 
 occur to the reader, he takes care, as all writers 
 on the same side have done, to interest the inde- 
 pendent feelings of the country, by adding that 
 we should " convince America that Great Bri-^ 
 *' tain, though she has conceded much, will not 
 " concede every thing." I shall hereafter con- 
 sider separately in how far the character or inte- 
 rest of the country is concerned in such an event ; 
 my present object being only to explain in what 
 motives its recommendation originated. 
 
 It may appear singular, that while Govern- 
 ment and the public were so closely beset by the 
 advocates for an American war, or for the adop- 
 tion of such measures as it was feared might lead 
 to it, the opposite interest, which is represented as 
 being of such importance, should have remained 
 silent : at least I have met with nothing written 
 in this country in its defence. But though per- 
 haps their extreme supineness, and their confi- 
 dence in the good sense of Government, were sin- 
 gular and blameable, yet it should be recollected 
 that the great interest in American intercourse 
 is with the manufacturers scattered over the 
 whole country, who are never able to act in a,
 
 5 
 
 body with a weight corresponding to their im- 
 portance. The commerce with America, pro- 
 perly so called, is comparatively trifling, and 
 the great mass of that is in Liverpool. The 
 London merchants, few in number, act almost 
 solely as bankers for the trade generally, receiv- 
 ing the proceeds of consignments from America 
 to all parts of the world, and paying the drafts 
 of the merchants there to the order of our manu- 
 facturers. There are very few London houses 
 of any note engaged solely, or even principally, 
 in trade with America, and these, so far from 
 having an interest opposed to the new establish- 
 ed system, would, as will soon be seen, be most 
 essentially benefited by it, if the whole trade be 
 not destroyed by war. Liverpool is the princi- 
 pal scene of American commerce : its vicinity to 
 the cotton manufactures of Lancashire gives it 
 the advantage of their export, and still more of 
 the import of the raw material^ The bulky ar- 
 ticles of earthen v/are and salt afford also return 
 cargoes to America, which give it a preference 
 over every port of Europe. It is well knoM n 
 that the merchants of the outports are seldom so 
 active or so much listened to in their interference 
 with Government as those of the capital. In 
 the early part of the present discussion, the Li- 
 verpool merchants were quiet spectators of the 
 attempts to repair the ruined fortunes of others
 
 at their expense, and probably deceived by obv 
 jects immediately sui rounding them, conceived 
 it impossible that war with a country, whose in- 
 tercourse they knew imparted life and ir'ilustry 
 to all around them, should be undertaken in the 
 name of commerce and national w^ealth. They 
 were, however, alarmed by an event of a dif- 
 ferent description, and to which they probably 
 attached unnecessary importance. The ren- 
 contre between the Leopard and Chesapeake 
 drew from the Liverpool chamber of commerce 
 some hasty proposals of interference with Go- 
 vernment, of which, I believe, they afterwards 
 themselves saw the impropriety ; and the failure 
 of this ill-judged attempt, with the reception it 
 met with on account of its exceptionable form, 
 may have deterred them from those efforts of 
 self-defence which, exerted with more discre- 
 tion, might have proved beneficial. 
 
 Such has been the conduct of the great com- 
 mercial bodies interested in this important ques- 
 tion; all activity on one side, and supineness on the 
 other — while the colonial and shipping interests 
 wereimportuningeveryAdministratimi, andevery 
 Parliament, with their reports, resolutions, and 
 claims, the American interest, from the want 
 of that union which the nature of their con- 
 cerns forbid, contented themselves at every
 
 repetition of measures, from which their know- 
 ledge of the state of America induced them to 
 entertain apprehensions, with requesting explana- 
 tions of the views and intentions of Government, 
 which were in general obscurely developed. 
 
 In the system of conduct towards America, so 
 perseveringly recommended, the West India ad- 
 vocates, it must be admitted, had no desire for 
 war, if their object could otherwise be accom- 
 plished ; but they were willing it should be 
 risked; and by their eagerness to explain the 
 little mischief that, according to their ideas, was 
 to be the result, they evidently betrayed their 
 opinions of the consequence of their claims. 
 
 The comprehensive mind of Mr. Pitt, how- 
 ever, was not to be deceived : he heard the 
 complaints of the West India Merchants ; he 
 read their great champion, '' War in Disguise;" 
 but supplying himself the case of those who 
 were not heard, and considering the general 
 interests of the country at large, his conduct 
 remained unaltered, with the exception of some 
 encreased vexations to the American trade, 
 which will be noticed in their proper place. 
 The public have indeed been favoured on this, 
 as on other subjects, with some opposite posthu 
 nious opinions of this great authoritv/but which' 
 can be entitled to little weight, when opposed 
 to his conduct during the whole of his Admi-
 
 Iilstration; every period of which, it will be 
 hereafter shewn, was more favourable for the 
 introduction of this new system than the pre- 
 sent> when we are prevented, by subsequent oc- 
 currences, iVom deriving the most essential be- 
 nefits it then promised. — The last Administra- 
 tion followed, in point of fact, towards Ameri- 
 ca, nearly the footsteps of Mr. Pitt^, and I do 
 not believe they were more strongly impressed 
 than he was with the sound policy of cultivat- 
 ing a good understanding with that country. 
 If there was any alteration, it consisted more in 
 form than in substance : the one did ungra- 
 ciously what the other did liberally. Mr. Pitt 
 seemed to regret a policy which he could not 
 deny ; while Mr. Fox appeared pleased to find 
 the interests of his own country unite with the 
 conciliation of another, in which he felt an in- 
 terest. For when these favourable circum 
 stances produced a mutual desire to secure the 
 union of the two countries by a treaty, the at- 
 tempt failed, and the terms insisted on by the 
 last Administration were even, upon the whole, 
 less favourable to America than those granted 
 during that of Mr. Pitt. 
 
 It is not intended here to enter into any exa- 
 mination of these treaties, excepting where it 
 may be necessary for the elucidation of the 
 subjects, already too numerous, which I pro-
 
 pose to discuss. It is useless to consider minute 
 details of regulations for the intercourse between 
 the two countries^, when the general policy re- 
 mains unsettled. The diiSferences which mani 
 fested themselves might have given trouble to 
 future negociators, but could never have pro- 
 duced war : at all events they are lost in the 
 magnitude of subsequent measures. It is no 
 Jong'er a question how the trade shall be carried 
 on, but whether it shall exist in any shape. 
 
 The late Ministers were always accused by 
 their opponents, now in power, of undue parti- 
 ality towards America : two subjects of discus- 
 sion, the American Intercourse Act, and the Pro- 
 clamation of the 7th Januarv, 1807, in retalia- 
 tion of the Berlin Decree, made this a party 
 question ; when, unfortunately for our country, 
 what is done by one side must be disapproved by 
 the other ; and on the accession to power of the 
 present Administration, the hopes of those, who 
 had employed in vain their assiduity with all 
 former Ministers, again revived of at last seeing 
 the first opportunity availed of for going to war 
 with America. Nor were they disappointed ; 
 for the predetermination of the present Go- 
 vernment to have recourse to an entirely new 
 system of conduct was evinced by the Berlin 
 Decree of the 21st November, 1806, of the 
 inadequate retaliation of which they had for- 
 
 e
 
 10 
 
 merlv compliiitied, being brought forward to 
 justify the important Orders of Council of the 
 
 lith November. 
 
 But the fashionable vigour of the day did not 
 permit the authors of this measure to confine 
 themselves to the recommendations of the com- 
 mercial interests which had produced it : all 
 the West India planter wanted was a prohibition, 
 of any foreign supply of colonial produce to 
 tlie Continent, which was to be produced by a 
 strict enforcement of the principle of the war 
 of 17 5G. Sensible that after finding a foreign 
 market for his produce, the next object of his 
 solicitude was not to lose that of America for 
 his rum, nor the supplies from that country 
 indispcnsible for his existence, he did not wish 
 to carry the measure further than was necessary 
 for his own purposes, or than, according to 
 his calculation, and that lipon plausible ground, 
 America would probably bear. But this limita- 
 tion was not in his power, and the new orders 
 were of a description to produce a revolution in 
 the whole commerce of the world, and a total 
 derangement of those mutual rights and rela-. 
 tions, by which civilized nations have hitherto 
 been connected. 
 
 This measure, before its tendency has been 
 duly considered, has been received through the 
 country with that ephemeral popularity which
 
 11 
 
 but too generally attends measures of novelty 
 and violence. Ministers have not mistaken the 
 road to public opinion, in establishing a reputa- 
 tion for vigour, the merit of which in most po- 
 litical operations cannot be denied, though it 
 could not be more unfortunately applied than to 
 commerce; No brilliancy of achievement is 
 here able to hide the mischief of bad policy; 
 the balance at last must be struck, and the 
 proofs of the calculation evident to the most 
 ignorant. If questions of political economy of- 
 fer great difficulty to the prospective researches 
 of the most skilful, they have at least the advan- 
 tage of affording through experiment a certain 
 result. Aware that in this science experience 
 only is a safe guide, the wisest statesmen have 
 felt their way with caution and diffidence. The 
 interference of the hand of power in any shape 
 is scarcely ever beneficial to the merchant.- A 
 languid Government generally suits him best, 
 and the little benefit that may sometimes arise 
 from vigour is enormously overbalanced by a 
 single mistake, when it is so much better to be 
 feebly than vigorously wrong. To this may per- 
 haps be attributed, among other causes, why 
 commerce has always prospered better under the 
 old, indecisive and temporizing Government of' 
 Holland, than under that of the most intelligent 
 of despotic princes. 
 
 c2
 
 12 
 
 My object in entering: into this detail of the 
 proceedings of the mer(*hants^ and of the con^- 
 duct of different Administrations, which have at 
 last ended in these important changes, is to 
 shew that, under whatever pretences they are 
 recommended to popuhirity, they are purely the 
 result of commercial calculation. The West 
 India planter and merchant;^ the ship owner, the 
 manufacturer for, and trader with America, all 
 contribute largely to the general mass from 
 which our resources are derived ; while each 
 promotes with that honest zeal, which is the best 
 means of general prosperity — his separate inter- 
 ests. But the public is in the situation of a ge- 
 neral merchant, who has the whole of these vari-r 
 ous branches of commerce united in him. He cn-r 
 deavcurs by his skill to improve them equally, 
 but when the interests of any of them clash, he 
 determines, by a comparative estimate, which 
 must be sacrificed. Such has most erroneously 
 been considered to be the case in the present in- 
 stance, and after long hesitation, that of America 
 has been devoted. It is the correctness of this 
 calculation to which I wish to call the attention 
 of the public; and I think I shall be able to shew^ 
 not only that no sacrifice was called for, but that 
 the victim has been most injudiciously selected, 
 
 But though this new system is evidently the 
 result of commercial policy, yet, as its adop-
 
 13 
 
 tion, by dividing the interest, might be expected 
 to divide the opinions of the public, unusual care 
 has been taken to enlist the impartial in its de- 
 fence, and even to conciliate or alarm many 
 well-meaninff sufferers into neutralitv. The 
 extra-commercial arguments principally urged 
 for this purpose are, the advantages derived by 
 the enemy from the American trade, the im- 
 portant injury we can inflict on him by its de- 
 struction, and the necessity of maintaining in 
 its proudest purity the spirit of the country, 
 and of resisting what are termed the insolent en 
 croachmeuts of America, vs^hich the power 'and 
 number of our enemies have tempted her to 
 impose upon us. 
 
 The great and extensive importance of these 
 considerations must be sufficiently evident ; and 
 as the public have been misled by the misrepre- 
 sentations of those who have not carried their 
 inquiries much beyond their own supposed in- 
 terests, I shall endeavour to promote opinions 
 which appear to me more correct, by taking a 
 more comprehensive view of the subject. Should 
 I not be wholly successful in this attempt, I am 
 persuaded that I shall at least be so in correcting 
 some very important mistakes as to facts, which 
 at present prevail. With these intentions I pro- 
 pose to examine :
 
 14 
 
 Firsts The state of our political and commer- 
 cial relations with America — the nature of her 
 commerce svitli the colonies of our enemies, and 
 our conduct towards it— the consequences to 
 America of the new system introduced by our 
 Orders in Council^ and the conduct which on 
 her part they are likely to produce. 
 
 Secondly, The effects to be expected from this 
 system on ourselves, on the means and resources 
 of our enemy, and on the general conduct of 
 the war. 
 
 Though the important consequences of the 
 Orders in Council of the 11th November must 
 have procured them an attentive examination 
 from those who occupy themselves with subjects 
 of this description, yet, as they are so much en- 
 veloped in official jargon as to be hardly intel- 
 ligible out of Doctors' Commons, and not per- 
 fectly so there, it may be proper to give the 
 reader a very short analysis of them, in which I 
 shall confine myself to the points applicable to 
 my subject, and follow entirely the explanations 
 given by the Board of Trade to the American mer- 
 chants, both of the Orders themselves, and of 
 the corresponding regulations intended to be pro- 
 posed to Parliament. Various corrections and 
 new explanatory orders are daily appearing, 
 which may make some change, but the great.
 
 15 
 
 features of the system are sujficiently appa- 
 rent*. 
 
 All trade directlj from America to every port 
 and country of Europe at war with Great Bri- 
 taiuj or from which the British flag is excluded, 
 is totally prohibited. In this general prohibi- 
 tion, every part of Europe, with the exception at 
 present of Sweden, is included, and no distinction 
 whatever is made between the domestic produce 
 of America, and that of the colonies re-exported 
 from thence. 
 
 The trade from America to the colonies of all 
 nations remains unaltered by the present Orders. 
 — America may export the produce of her own 
 country, but that of no other, directly to 
 Sweden. 
 
 With the above exception, all articles, whe- 
 ther of domestic or colonial produce, exported 
 by America to Europe, must be landed in this 
 country, from whence it is intended to permit 
 
 • I beg to disclaim any intention to expound the literal text ; it 
 seems purposely intended that no person should profane it with his 
 comprehension without paying two guineas for an opinion, with the 
 additional benefit of being able to obtain one directlj opposed to it 
 for two more. What the motive can be for such studied obscurity 
 on this occasion, as well as on that of the proclamation respecting 
 seamen, ir is difli«ult to saj, unless it be to surprize the Americans 
 into a belief that they no longer speak English.
 
 16 
 
 their re-exportation under such regulations as 
 may hereafter be determined. 
 
 By these regulations, it is understood that du- 
 ties are to be imposed on all articles so re-export- 
 ed ; but it is intimated that an exception will be 
 made in favour of such as are the produce of the 
 United States^, that of cotton excepted. 
 
 Any vessel, the cargo whereof shall be accom- 
 panied with certificates of French Consuls abroad 
 of its origin, shall, together with the cargo> be 
 liable to seizure and condemnation. 
 
 Proper care is taken that the operation of the 
 Orders shall not commence Until time is afforded 
 for their being known to the parties interested. 
 They speak, of course, of neutrals generally ; but 
 as they are applicable only to America, I have 
 named that country, which I shall continue to 
 do throughout these observations, that obscurity 
 tnay be avoided. 
 
 Nothing shews more the fallacy of theory, 
 in all speculations on political economy, than 
 that this country, remarkable beyond all others 
 for sagacious authors on that subject, should ht 
 the founder of a colony exceeding in present, and 
 still more in promised greatness, that formed by 
 any country ancient or modern, and should have
 
 17 
 
 remained so long in ignorance of the conse- 
 quences to be expected, and of the means of de- 
 riving from it the greatest advantages. States- 
 men appear to have been the dupes of names 
 and systems. A colony was called by the same 
 name^ whether established in a West India island 
 or in North Amei'ica, and therefore the same sys- 
 tem was applied to establishments widely differing 
 from each other. Thfe consequence of this igno- 
 rance was the separation of America by war. Like 
 the French revolution, different authors, accord- 
 ing to their fimcy, impute these events to one or 
 other trifling circumstance; but a short distance 
 of time affords us a more comprehensive and con- 
 sequently a more correct view ; and both these 
 great changes are now generally ascribed to an 
 irresistible progress of human events, which pro- 
 duces, and is not produced by, the ostensible 
 trifles that first arrest our attention. 
 
 The apprehensions of ruin from this separation 
 soon subsided in thediscoveryof ourerror. It ^yas 
 seen that natural causes had operated by force 
 what we hatl neglected to do from foresight : 
 that infgiving up, though involuntarily, the 
 narrow-nunded monopoly of the colonial system, 
 we still retained that which resulted from our 
 being in every thing but Government the same 
 people. The invisible and more pleasing tie* 
 of similar habits, laws, and, above all, language^
 
 18 
 
 j)roduced a monopoly not only without any 
 compulsion, but in spite of the irritation and 
 enmity which a recent and severe contest could 
 not fail to leave behind. The only subject of 
 regret with men of sense and liberality on both 
 sides was^ that this experience had been so dearly 
 bought, and their only wish was to heal and 
 forget the wounds it had occasioned. 
 
 The same effects may always be expected 
 from the same causes. The sympathy of con- 
 genial character is with great difficulty oblite- 
 rated. Lower Canada, though now nearly half 
 a ceiitury in our hands, under a Government 
 peculiarly mild, to which no objection but that 
 of negligence can be made, if in such a country 
 it can be called an objection, is as perfectly 
 French as the day it was conquered. The 
 French of Louisiana are in the same state. The 
 successive Governments of England, Spain, and 
 America, still leave them Frenchmen, and the 
 people of both those countries w ould afford the 
 same proof of the inveteracy of early habits, if 
 they were allowed a choice in the most import- 
 ant or most trivial concerns of life, in the go- 
 vernment they would live under, or in the coat 
 they would wear*. 
 
 * It is a lingular circumstance, and may serve to suppress the 
 eagerness with which nations endeavour to impose their own laws, 
 and the contempt thej are apt to shew for those of other countries
 
 19 
 
 The advantages of this insensible monopoly 
 were perfectly understood by France^ and M. 
 Talleyrand, in his " Memoire sur les Relations 
 '' commerciales des Etats Unis avec I'Angle- 
 " ieixe," has examined the subject with parti- 
 cular felicity and penetration^ and suggests the 
 policy of some similar establishment on the part 
 of France, by which the benejfits he justly sup- 
 poses it to confer may be counterbalanced. In 
 this country, however, it does not appear ever to 
 have been properly appreciated: the events of a 
 civil war left naturally deeper impressions on 
 the unsuccessful than the successful party, and 
 while every little state of Europe was courted, 
 that afforded limited markets for our manufac- 
 tures, we seemed to regret that we owed any- 
 thing to our former subjects; and an encreasing 
 commercial intercourse has been carried on un- 
 der feelings of unsubdued enmity, of which the 
 Government has set the fashion, instead of check- 
 ing sentiments as void of common sense as of mag- 
 nanimity. To this error, in my opinion, the 
 present state of the public mind towards Ame- 
 rica is in a great measure owing. Her suc-^ 
 cess and prosperity, though we dare not fairly 
 
 viiich fall to them by conquest, thaton eslablishingthe A merican form 
 of Government in Louisiana, the principal object of dislike was (lie 
 trial b> jury. Habit had made the Louisiauian pri-fcr the arbitrary 
 and frerjucndy corrupt decision of a single judge to (hose pure forms 
 of trial which an English Colonist would have justly coiisiderud as 
 invaluable. 
 
 D 2
 
 20 
 
 avow it, have displeased us, and sentiments have 
 been imperceptibly encouraged towards her as 
 ungenerous as thej are impolitic. If this im- 
 portant subject had been considered dispassion- 
 ately, we should have discovered not only that 
 we had lost nothing except the barren honour of 
 sovereignty, by America being under an inde- 
 pendent Government, but that, upon the whole, 
 her increased utility to us in that situation had, 
 to a greater degree than could have been ex- 
 pected from any other, been the means of en- 
 creasing our resources, in the arduous contest 
 in which we are engaged. She ceases to contri- 
 bute directly to our naval force: this is the 
 only article in the opposite scale; but then she 
 relieves a considerable portion of it from the 
 necessity of protecting her. In every other re 
 spect she contributes, in the highest degree pos- 
 sible, all the benefits which one nation can de- 
 rive from the existence of another, or that one 
 mother country can receive from that of the best 
 regulated colony. 
 
 .. If the choice could have been offered us of 
 having the United States as a dependent or an 
 independent colony during the present war, we 
 could not, on any principles of sound policy, 
 have hesitated to prefer the latter. If neutrals 
 of some sort have hitherto always been consi- 
 dered as necessary to countries at war, and par-
 
 21 
 
 ticularly to those whose resources are derived 
 from commerce, how much must it be our inte- 
 rest to have in that character a people politically 
 independent, but commercially as dependent on 
 us as habits and interest can make them ? Instead 
 of fostering- the naval power of the nations of the 
 Baltic, which at every period of our distress is 
 turned against us, this increase of trade, which 
 we cannot dispense with, is transferred to a coun- 
 try whose policy is necessarily that of peace, and 
 whose form of government, and political institu- 
 tions, render a steady adherence to that policy 
 inseparable from their existence. Our distance 
 and reserve in our public connection w ith Ame- 
 rica, have perhaps so far been of service, that 
 they may have partly concealed from our enemies 
 the intimate connection of the industrious indi- 
 viduals of the two countries, which, if properly 
 understood, might have induced efforts to en- 
 courage a return to the more beneficial channel 
 of neutral trade, w hich the northern powers evi- 
 dently afforded to the Continent. But it is un- 
 pardonable that we should ourselves remain ig- 
 norant of the advantages we have derived from 
 the change, or that we should' entertain any 
 jealousy of the prosperity and wealth it has 
 produced, which have not only served to cir- 
 culate the produce of our industry where we 
 could not carry it ourselves, but, by encreasing
 
 09 
 
 the means of America^ have augmented in the 
 same proportion her consumption of that pro- 
 duce at a time when the loss of our former 
 customers^ by the persecution of our enemy, 
 renders it most valuable. 
 
 The nature and extent of American commerce, 
 with ourselves and with our enemies, will be ex- 
 plained when the operation of the Orders in 
 Council are considered with reference to our im- 
 mediate commercial interests. I shall first exa- 
 mine their consequences to America. 
 
 A most ingenious and fanciful plan has 
 been formed, which indeed, to be completely 
 successful, wants only the concurrence of one 
 man, but that man is the Emperor of France, 
 whose dissent has been totally lost sight of. 
 The Americans are to bring to this country 
 all the produce of their own, and all that of 
 our enemies' colonies which they export to 
 Europe. We are here to form a grand em- 
 porium of the costly produce of Asia and 
 America, which is to be dispensed to the differ- 
 ent countries of Europe under such regulations 
 as we may think proper, and according, I sup- 
 pose, to their good behaviour. Taxes are to 
 be raised from the consumers on the Continent, 
 and they arc to be contrived with that judicious 
 skill, which is to secure to our own West India 
 Planters a preference over those of Cuba and
 
 23 
 
 Martinique ; a distinction wliicli their zeal in 
 promoting this grand discovery certainly de- 
 served. 
 
 What light has all at once broken in upon us^ 
 and by what ignorant statesmen we have been 
 governed for the last fifteen years ! The secret 
 is at last discovered of making France herself 
 tributary to the fortunes of individuals^ and to 
 the revenues of the state. After complaining so 
 long that she would not employ us as her factors 
 and manufacturers^ we are now^ by contrasting 
 the rich emporium of luxuries on one side of thfi 
 channel with the want and poverty of the other, 
 to offer an exhibition too tempting to be re- 
 sisted : we are to be supplicated in terms of 
 distress to permit the people of the Continent 
 to buy of us the rich produce of the East and 
 of the West ; and, as nothing short of extreme 
 distress can produce such a miracle, have we 
 not also at last found the means of forcino- 
 
 o 
 
 Bonaparte to a peace ? It is difficult to con- 
 ceive in what brain, endued with the smallest 
 portion of common sense, so visionary a dream 
 couid have been engendered. Is there a man so 
 perfectly out of his senses, so totally ignorant of 
 the state of Europe, as to suppose its execution 
 possible ? 
 
 The whole merit of this wonderful discovery 
 must evidently depend on the voluntary or
 
 24- 
 
 forced concurrence of the enemy ; and if the 
 means from which this might be expected were 
 satisfactorily explained, it would indeed be a 
 prodig-y of political wisdom. It is to be hoped 
 that some information as to the practicability of 
 our plan has been communicated to the Ame- 
 ricans. If they really could be made to believe 
 that the people of the Continent would buy 
 their produce in our ports, it might go far in 
 preventing that general hostility against us, 
 which the more sober conclusions of that peo- 
 ple, as to the consequences of our measure^ 
 must produce. Those consequences cannot in- 
 deed be mistaken. The farmer as well as the 
 merchant of America must know that they 
 might as well throw the produce of their own 
 country, and that of the West Indies^ for which 
 their own has been exchanged, into the sea, as 
 trust to any beneficial disposal of it in this 
 country, beyond the amovmt of its immediate 
 consumption, and a very limited vent by con- 
 traband to the Continent. If the people of 
 America should be deluded with the expec- 
 tation, that we can really distribute on the 
 Continent their immense mass of European and 
 Colonial exports, and should send it to us for 
 that purpose, it must infallibly rot in the ware- 
 houses of the great emporium. If the indus- 
 try of our smugglers can get rid of one-tenth
 
 S5 
 
 part of ft they will be fortunate, as all the ar- 
 ticles, and particularly those of their own pro- 
 duce, are very bulky. Taking as an instance 
 the principal article produced in the middle 
 states, we should receive about 80,000 liogs- 
 heads of tobacco, of wl;ich our own consump- 
 tion would take 12,000 — what is to become of 
 the remainder ? Nor would America lose only 
 her export to foreign Europe; for such would be 
 the glut of every thing in the emporium, and such 
 the consequent depression of prices, that even the 
 consumption of this country would in part be lost 
 toherbythe inadequate return, which would hard- 
 ly defray the charges of bringing it to market. 
 
 The consequences of such a state Of things 
 must produce ruin to every class and description 
 of persons in America, and they are indeed so 
 obvious and so inevitable, that one cannot avoid 
 thinking that they must have occurred to 
 the framers of this new system, and that the 
 great advantages they expect to derive from 
 other parts of it had recopxiled them to the loss 
 of those resources, which the extent and variety 
 of our commerce with America afford. — We shall 
 hereafter see how America pays us for the British 
 manufactures she consumes ; how thri consuuip- 
 tion cncreases gradually with her population and 
 her wealth ; that one of her principal means of 
 payment is derived from that intercourse with , 
 
 E
 
 26 
 
 the Continent^ which we are so desirous to sup- 
 press ; whence it will be evident that the ruia 
 which must ensue from the proposed system will 
 fall upon ourselves by a cessation of demand 
 for the future^ and inability to pay for the past, 
 even though America should consent to our 
 measures^ and add her best efforts towards their 
 execution. 
 
 The fatal effects of this system are so evident;^ 
 that we are naturally induced to search every 
 quarter for the motives or opinions by which it 
 is justified and defended. Every publication and 
 every newspaper I have seen^ with one single 
 exception*;, have been impressing the public 
 mind not so much with calculations of interest^, 
 as insinuations that the honour of the country was 
 at stake. — America^ it is said^ taking advantage, 
 of our perilous situation^ put forward the most 
 haughty claims, which were only increased and 
 encouraged by our concessions ; that she se- 
 duced our seamen, and shewed by every act short 
 of actual hostility towards us, the most decided 
 preference for our enemy, submitting to every 
 indignity from France, while towards us every 
 trifle was disputed with the most captious' 
 insolence. 
 
 Though these vague insinuations, with which 
 
 * The Moriirag Chronicle, in which some very ahle papers on thi» 
 subject haTe appeared, under the signature of A. B.
 
 27 
 
 the public papers have abounded, seem chiefly 
 calculated to interest the feelings in favour of 
 measures which have been previously the result 
 of calculation, yet their effects are extremely 
 important. In the present crisis, though the 
 means and strength of the country should be 
 preserved and encouraged with the utmost care, 
 yet the resource on which we must principally 
 rely, and of which we can for no consideration 
 admit a sacrifice, is the independent spirit of the 
 people ; without it, our wealth would rather 
 hasten than avert our destruction. If our dan- 
 gers were greater than they are ; if we were 
 contending:: with an army already on our shores, 
 the tone of Government towards foreign coun- 
 tries should never change; for, however ex- 
 treme our peril may be, it is by firmness and 
 courage only that we can have a chance of safe- 
 ty. If, therefore, the conduct of America has 
 really been Mhat it is represented, it would be 
 the extreme of meanness and pusillanimity, as 
 well as of folly, to be calculating the profit and 
 loss of the duty towards ourselves which it 
 would impose. 
 
 On this point the public appear to be so gross- 
 ly deceived, that I shall endeavour, by a general 
 review of our conduct towards America, to cor- 
 rect errors which uncontradicted misrepresenta- 
 
 e2
 
 28 
 
 tions have every where disseminated. This mode 
 of examination will also introduce an account of 
 the gradual growth of the commerce of that 
 country, and enable us, by determining our own 
 opinion of the justice of the Orders in Council, 
 to form a pretty correct one of the reception they 
 are likely to meet w ith in America. 
 
 I am well aware of the general unpopularity 
 of the side I am taking, and more particularly in 
 this part of the discussion ; but I am also per- 
 suaded that it is principally owing to the pre- 
 judices which it is my desire to remove. The 
 dangers which surround us are of too serious a 
 nature for any man to be deterred from giving 
 a sincere opinion where he thinks it can be ser- 
 viceable ; and I shall therefore feel perfectly in- 
 sensible to the insinuations of those whose nar-. 
 row minded illiberality leads them to see sinis- 
 ter motives in all opinions opposed to their own, 
 and which it is the characteristic of the most bi- 
 gotted ignorance to set up as the only standard of 
 truth. 
 
 National vanity is a prominent feature in (he 
 character of every country ; the good opinion 
 the great nation entertain of themselves is pro- 
 verbial ; the Americans gravely debated once in 
 congress, whether they should style themselves 
 / the most enlightened people of the world — and <^
 
 S9 
 
 distinguished member of the House of Com- 
 mons * seriously declared in it, and was no doubt 
 as seriously believed, that we were too honest to 
 have any political connections with the Conti- 
 nent. — There is something so amiable in the 
 sentiment, that like the mutual partialities of 
 parents and children, it is an unpleasant task to 
 quarrel with it : but in the present instance, 
 when great national objects are to be decided, it 
 becomes our duty to divest ourselves of a par- 
 tiality which may mislead our judgment. If 
 we are really desirous of avoiding the danger of 
 involving ourselves in an unjust and impolitic 
 war, we should not believe the vapouring asser- 
 tions of our newspapers, and leave the Americans 
 to be guided by theirs, which would confirm both 
 countries in the opinion that they have been 
 equally models of justice and forbearance; but, 
 by a rigid examination, we should endeavour 
 impartially to ascertain what have been the con- 
 cessions which we have made, and what the 
 insolent pretensions of America, which are to 
 weigh so heavily against considerations of policy 
 and interest. 
 
 Such an examination will be attempted in the 
 following historical account of the neutral com- 
 merce of America, and of our conduct towards it; 
 
 • Mr. Wilberforce.
 
 30 
 
 which will enable me to explain many circum- 
 siances not well understood at present^ and to 
 correct many no doubt iKiintentional errors, into 
 which the author of " War in Disguise" has led 
 the public from the circumstance, probably 
 of his relying too much on the records of the 
 Court of Admiralty and on public newspapers 
 for his commercial opinions. Though we shall 
 not frequently differ as to facts, it will be seen 
 how difi'erently the same story may be toldj 
 and the public may be able to form a more cor- 
 rect opinion, when the merchant as well as the 
 civilian shall be heard. Lest any of my remarks 
 should induce a contrary inference, I beg leave to 
 preface them with the declaration of my respect 
 for the intentions and talents of the ingenious 
 author, who is not otherwise known to me than 
 by his works, and my sincere regret that what 
 appear to me more sound commercial views have 
 not the advantage of being illustrated with equal 
 ability. 
 
 Every maritime war in Europe^ since civiliza- 
 tion gradually made the benefits of commerce 
 appreciated, has produced discussioii^ about the 
 rights of those nations which remained at peace. 
 In some instances their commerce certainly suf- 
 fered; but where their rights were supported, the 
 balance of advantages was greatly in their favour. 
 The Belligerents themselves found a mutual be-
 
 31 
 
 nefitin the exchange of their own produce, which 
 could be only effected by neutral carriers. The 
 intercourse with their colonies was enlarged by 
 all, but principally by the weaker party ; and 
 though the varying opinions of the Belligerents 
 of the comparative advantages they derived from 
 this intercourse produced occasional interrup- 
 tions, neutrals still maintained their rights, part- 
 ly from the power they were able to throw into 
 one scale or the other, but principally by the ge- 
 neral advantages which were recognized by all. 
 — Though, however, power and advantage were 
 the real foundation of this practice, the variety 
 of interests, and the constant changes in them, 
 produced the necessity of some unvarying tribu- 
 nal : for this purpose, the opinions of a few wise 
 meU;, for want of better means, were erected into 
 a code of international law ; and though the con* 
 tradictions and fanciful extravagance of some of 
 their opinions still leave great room for arbi- 
 trary interpretation, something was gained to* 
 wards permanency and justice, by the admission 
 of these authorities. i' 
 
 America had scarcely recovered from her revo- 
 lution, and begun to prosper under her new con- 
 stitution, when the war, which broke out in Eu- 
 rope, placed her, through the prudence of her 
 Government, in the enjoyment of the benefits of 
 neutrality, and from being herself a colony, she
 
 32 
 
 was now to trade as an independent neutral 
 country to the colonies of others. 
 
 In what state did she find the rights of neu- 
 trals when she assumed that character herself? 
 
 The armed neutrality, which had taken place 
 at the close of the former war, had brought the 
 subject under very general discusssion, and had 
 at least the advantage of fixing the opinions of 
 moderate men upon it, by rejecting the extrava- 
 gant pretensions to which preponderating power 
 or disinterested vanity had occasionally given 
 rise. The leading points of discussion were, 
 whether the property of an enemy on board a 
 neutral vessel should be condemned ; under 
 what circumstances and regulations a port might 
 be blockaded; and what articles were contra- 
 band of war. But Great Britain had once 
 maintained a doctrine of an importance to neu- 
 trals far exceeding any other, and by which she 
 could extinguish at her pleasure all the increased 
 trade which a state of war gave them, without 
 making any compensation for the inconveniences 
 of such a. state ; this was what is called the rule 
 of the war of 1756 — which declared that a neu- 
 tral had no right to carry on in time of war a 
 trade prohibited to him in time of peace. 
 
 It cannot be denied that on principles of gene- 
 
 ,ral reason, much may be said in favour of this 
 
 limitation of neutral trade, especially when ope-
 
 S3 
 
 rating- materially on the result of the war; but 
 to make this a part of the law of nations, it is not 
 sufficient that it should be asserted by one power; 
 it must likewise be admitted bv others; which is 
 so far from having- been the case, that in all our 
 discussions about neutral rights, we have not 
 only never obtained from any nation a recogni- 
 tion of this rule, but it does not even appear to 
 have been at any time seriously insisted upon. 
 The war during which this right was first 
 brought forward, and during which alone it was 
 enforced, was the most successful this country 
 ever engaged in ; but without derogating from 
 the exalted character of the late Lord Chatham, 
 much of that success was owing to the particu- 
 larly weak state of the French court. At no 
 period since the union of the feudal provinces 
 to the crown of France, was that country in 
 such a state of imbecility, and no moment could 
 consequently be more favourable for establishing 
 a precedent which we could hardly expect ail 
 opportunity of repeating. Russia and Sweden 
 w ere leagued with France, and the former power 
 had then interfered little in maril ime afl'airs. Den- 
 mark and Holland were neutral, but their wishes 
 and their interest were strongly on the side of the 
 king of Prussia, then struggling for his existence ; 
 and, with the rest of the neutral world, they were 
 under apprehensions from the union of Austria 
 
 r
 
 :j4 
 
 and France, which made thcni view with indificr- 
 ence the strong- measures of defence adopted 
 ag'ainst a league so formidable to tlie indepen- 
 dence of Europe. Under such circumstances, this 
 important rule, which we are told is always in 
 force, though it has never since been acted upon, 
 was established. 
 
 The practice and usage betMcen independent 
 nations, where no particular circumstances occur 
 to produce an undue bias, is perhaps the best 
 criterion of the law of nations; and in this re- 
 spect no treaty can be taken as a safer guide 
 than that of the 17th June 1801, with the pre- 
 sent Emperor of Russia, at his accession to the 
 throne. The state of our relations with that 
 monarch at the time, afforded an expectation 
 which was not disappointed, that the conflicting 
 interests of the belligerent and neutral would be 
 settled with mutual moderation and good sense. 
 In that treaty, not only the rule of the war of 
 1756 is not recognized, but the right of the neu- 
 tral to trade with the colonies of our enemies, 
 and from his own country in the produce of 
 those colonies to the mother country, is expressly 
 stipulated. 
 
 What then can be tiie object of holding up this 
 rule as the palladium of our maritime rights, 
 or why has it so long lain dormant ? Instead of 
 America being accused of a disposition of en-
 
 ,^^5 
 
 croaclimeiit hostile to oiii" dignity, in refusing 
 to admit into tlie law of Nations a principle 
 which has neither been admitted by or enforced 
 towards others ; are we not rather ourselves 
 wanting to our own dignity in proclaiming a 
 law which we have never ventured to defend ; 
 in settino' u]) a riij-ht which bv our treaties with 
 foreign nations, wc have ourselves encouraged 
 them to contest ? 
 
 But it is said that, though in our treaties, 
 and particularly in the one above mentioned with 
 Russia, made, as the preamble expresses it, " to 
 " settle an invariable determination of the prin- 
 '^ ciples of the two Governments, upon the rights 
 "^ of neutrality," . . . . neutrals have been per- 
 mitted to trade in direct violation of the rule; 
 vet that rule has never been formally renounced: 
 this is certainly true ; and we shall soon see why 
 it is retained by us as part of the law of nations, 
 and that it is by maintaining a nominal right of 
 extreme rigour, while foreign nations were kept 
 quiet by a practice under it, which we termed 
 relaxations and concessions, that occasion has 
 been given to those just complaints which we 
 are called upon indignantly to resent. 
 
 It is admitted that this rule, forwhat reason it 
 is not material to consider, was lost sight of in 
 the war which ended in 1783, and which brings 
 us to the period of American independence. — 
 
 f2
 
 36 
 
 When the war with France in 1793 first broke 
 out, the recent assistance which America had re^- 
 ccivcd from that country, and the early popula- 
 rity of revolutionary opinions, made it verydoubt^ 
 ful whether the feelings of the people would admit 
 of their neutrality being* preserved ; but the con- 
 fidence universally placed in General Washing- 
 ton enabled him to follow^ at this critical period 
 the manifest interests of his countrj^ 
 
 On our part, our conduct towards neutrals 
 opened most inauspiciously, and the Orders of 
 the 6th November directed our cruizers "^to stop 
 "and detain for lawful adjudication all vessels 
 " laden with goods the produce of any French 
 " colony, or carrying provisions or other supplies 
 " for the use of any such colony." This, in some 
 respects, exceededthe rigour of the rule of 1756. 
 There was no attempt to determine to what ex- 
 tent the neutral had a trade w ith the enemy's co- 
 lonies before the war, but the whole was devoted 
 te condemnation. This Order produced, of course, 
 a ferment in America, where the Government, 
 having determined on neutrality, was equally 
 resolved to support the rights of that character. 
 Before, however, the manner in which the Order 
 was received there could be well understood here, 
 we reversed at once, by a second proclamation in 
 January, 1794, the rigorous decree of two months 
 before, by ordering our cruizers to seize only
 
 37 
 
 -' such vessels as were laden witli goods the pro- 
 " duce of the French West India Islands, and 
 '' coming directly from any ports of the said 
 *' islands to Europe :" and this indulgence, as it 
 is called, was further extended in January, 
 1798, by an Order permitting neutrals to carry 
 the produce of enemies' colonies, not only to their 
 respective countries, but to Great Britain, which 
 remained in force until the peace of Amiens. 
 
 It is not easy to account for the precipitate 
 conduct towards neutrals in the first Order, and 
 its subsequent revocation. America could not 
 have been heard on the subject, though her senti- 
 ments might well have been, and probably were, 
 anticipated. The increased relaxation in 1798 
 was certainly voluntary, and though the ground 
 of the whole of these proceedings is unintelligible, 
 it is evident that they could not have originated 
 in the pretensions or encroachments of America. 
 In November, 1794, an attempt was made by 
 Ireatv to introduce a modification of the rule in 
 question, by stipulating, in the 12th article, that 
 America should not export to Europe articles the 
 produce of the West Indies, by which her trade 
 with all the European colonies would have been 
 confined to the extent of her own consumption 
 This article was rejected on the other side, end 
 that rejection assented to by the ratification of 
 Great Britain.
 
 38 
 
 By the same treaty, Comnilssioners Avere ap- 
 pointed to determine the claims of Americans, 
 "^ for illegal captures or condemnations of their 
 '' vessels and other property, under colour of au- 
 '" thority, or commissions from his Majesty." 
 They sat in London, and awarded very large 
 sums to the claimants for losses sustained, prin- 
 cipally, if not wholly, from the execution of the 
 instruction of the 6th Novemher, 1798 : nor can 
 it be pretended that the decision of these commis- 
 sioners is to be attributed to the majority of Ame- 
 ricans composing it, for it w^as well understood 
 what were the illegal captures; as the treaty called 
 them, upon which they were to decide. 
 
 During the remainder of the war which 
 ended in the peace of Amiens, America, ab- 
 staining from taking any part in the extravagant 
 pretensions of the Northern powers, which 
 she well knew originated in considerations to- 
 tally foreign from any desire of arranging 
 equitably the relative rights of belligerents and 
 neutrals, continued to carry on her commerce, 
 without any further discussion with us about 
 principles ; but, in consequence of some com- 
 plaints of the conduct of our Vice-Admiralty 
 Court, these principles received a memorable 
 confirmation by the correspondence between Lord 
 Hawkesbury and Mr. King in 1801, which ex- 
 plains them with a precision and clearness that
 
 89 
 
 has created no little embarrassment to those 
 who have attempted to justify oui subsequent 
 conduct*. 
 
 « Great Cumberland Place, March 13, l&Ol. 
 MY LORD, 
 The decree of the vice admiralty court of Nassau, a copj of which 
 is annexed ; condeninin^ the cargo of an American vessel, going from 
 the United States to a port in the Spanish colonies, upon the ground 
 that the articles of innocent merchandize composing the same, though 
 bona fide neutral property, -were of the growth of Spain, having heen 
 sanctioned, and the principles extended, hy the prize courts of the 
 British islands, and particularly by the court of Jamaica, has been 
 deemed sufficient authority to the commanders of the sliips of war 
 and privateers cruising in those seas, to fall upon and capture all Ame- 
 rican vessels bound to an enemy's colony, and having on board any 
 article of the growth or manufacture of a nation at war with (Ircat 
 Britain. 
 
 These captures, which are vindicated by what is termed the belli- 
 gerent's right to distress his enemy by interrupting the supplies which 
 his habits or convenience may require, have produced the strongest and 
 uiost serious complaints among the American merchants, whoJhave 
 seen, with indignation, a reason assigned for the capture and confis- 
 cation of their property, which is totally disregarded in the open 
 trade carried on between the British and Spanish colonies, by British 
 and Spanish subjects, in the very articles, the supply of which, by 
 neutral merchants, is unjustly interrupted. 
 
 The law of nations, acknowledged in the treaty of amity, commerce, 
 and navigation, between the United States and Great Britain, allows 
 the goods of an enemy to be lawful prize, and pronounces those of a 
 friend to be free. 
 
 While the United States take no measures to abridge the rights of 
 Great Britain, as a belligerent, they are bound to resist, with firmness., 
 every attempt to extend them, at the expense of the equally incontest- 
 able rights of nations, which find their interest and duty in living in 
 peace with the rest of the world. 
 
 So long as the ancient law of nations is observed, which protects the 
 innocent merchandize of neutrals, while it abandons to the belligerent 
 the goods of his enemy, a plain rule exists, and may be appealed to, ia 
 decide the rights of peace and war: the belligerent has no better au- 
 thority to curtail the rights of the neutral, than the neutral has io do 
 the like in regard to the rights of the l)elligcrent; and it is only by 
 an adherence to the ancient code, anJ the rejection of modern glosses,
 
 40 
 
 We here see that tliis memorahlc rule of 
 1756^ the foundation of those maritime rights 
 
 (bat fixed and precise rules can 1)c found, defining the rights, and re- 
 gulating the duties of independent states. 
 
 This subject is of such importance, and the essential interests of 
 the United States, whose policy' is that of peace, are so deeply affected 
 by the doctrines which, during the present war, have been set up, in 
 order to enlarge the rights of lielligerents, at the expense of those of 
 neutrals, that I shall, without loss of time, submit to your lordsliip's 
 consideration such further reflections respecting the same, as its great 
 importance appears to demand. 
 
 In the mean time, as the decisions referred to cannot, from the un- 
 avoidable delay which attends the prosecution of appeals, be speedily 
 reversed, and as the effect of those decrees will continue to be the un- 
 just and ruinous interruption of the American commerce in the West 
 Judia seas, it is my duty to require that precise instructions shall,- with- 
 out delay, be dispatched to the proper officers in the West Indies and 
 Nova Scotia, to correct tlie abuses which have arisen out of these ille- 
 gal decrees, and put an end to the depredations which are wasting the 
 lawful commerce of a peaceable and friendly nation. 
 
 With great consideration and respect, 1 have the honour to he, 
 your lordship's most obedient and most Immble servant, 
 
 KUFUS KING. 
 Lord Ilawkesbury, &.c. &c. 
 
 SIR , JJoKHhfg Street, Jpril ]\th, 1 SO I . 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 1 3th 
 of last mouth, and to inform you that, in consequence of the represen- 
 tation contained in it, a letter has been written, by his Majesty's com- 
 mand, by his grace the duke of Portlauri, to the lords commissioners 
 of the admiralty ; a copy of which letter I herewith enclose to you, 
 for the information of the Government of the United States. 
 
 I have the honour to be, with great truth, Sir, your most 
 obedient humble servant, 
 (Signed) HAWKESBURY. 
 
 Rufus King, Esq. &c. &c. 
 
 MY LORDS, ffhilchall, 50th March, ISO]. 
 
 I transmit to your lordships herewith a copy of the decree of the 
 
 vice -admiralty court of Nassau, condemning the cargo of an American
 
 41 
 
 without which we are told our power cannot 
 exist, though it was exercised only for a very 
 
 Tcssel, going: from the United Stat-es t« a port in tlic Spanish colonies ; 
 and the said decree having been referred to the consideratien «t' ths 
 king's advocate-general, j'our lordships will perceive from his report, 
 an extract from which I enclose, that it is his opioion that the sen- 
 tence of the vice -admiralty court is erroneous, and feunded in a mis- 
 apprehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the de- 
 cision of the high court of admiralty referred to, without attending to 
 the limitations therein contained. 
 
 In order, therefore, to put a stop to the inconveniences arising from 
 these erroneous sentences of the vice-admiralty courts, I hav^ tiie ho- 
 nour to signify to your lordships the king's pleasure, that a communi- 
 cation of the doctrine laid down in the said report should be immedi- 
 ately made by your lordships to tlie several judges presiding in them, 
 setting forth what is held to be the law upon the subject by the supe- 
 rior tribunals, for their future guidance and direction. I am, Sec. 
 
 PORTLAND. 
 The Lords Commissioners of Admiralty.. 
 
 Extract of the Jdvocale-GeneraVs lii^ort,4aied March IG, ISO I. 
 
 I have the honour to report, that the sentence of the vice-ad- 
 miralty court appears to mc erroncms, and to be founded in a misap- 
 prehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the decision 
 of the court of admiralty referred to, without attending to the limi- 
 tations therein contained. 
 
 The general principle respccflng the colonial trade has, in the 
 course of the present war, been to a certain degree relaxed in consi- 
 deration of the present stale of commerce. It is now distinctly un- 
 derstood, and it has been repeat£dly so decided by the high court of 
 appeal, that the produce of the colonies of the enemy may ))e im- 
 ported by a neutral icto his own country, and may be re-exported 
 from thence even to the mother-country of such colony : and, in like 
 iHanner, the produce and manufactures of the mother country may, 
 in this circuitous mode, legally tind their way to the colonies. The 
 direct trade, however, between the mother counir> and its colonies, 
 has not, I apprehend, lieen recogr.ised as legal, cither by his majes- 
 ty's government, or by his tribunals. 
 
 What is a direct trade, or what amounts to an intermediate impor- 
 tation into the neutral country, may sometimes be a question of some 
 difficulty. A general delinition of either, applicable to all cases, 
 cannot well be laid down. The question must depend upon the parti- 
 
 G
 
 42 
 
 short period, was, during the last war,— First, 
 voluntarily abandoned ; — Secondly, compensa- 
 tion was afterwards made for the consequences 
 of its temporary execution by an act which 
 stigmatizes that execution as illegal ;— Thirdly, 
 a formal treaty with a friendly power esta- 
 blished principles directly opposed to it ; 
 and. Finally, that those principles were most 
 explicitly applied to America. But still no 
 disiinct disavowal had been made of this rule 
 forming part of the law of nations ; a circum- 
 stance on which much stress is laid here, and 
 very little in other countries. Foreign nations 
 look naturally to the practice and to our public 
 acts. In neither could any trace be found of 
 these dangerous pretensions ; and it became im- 
 material for them to ascertain how we reconciled 
 our conduct to our construction of the law of 
 nations : while we, on the contrary, appear 
 to have cared little about our practice or our 
 admissions, as long as we retained what must 
 appear the childish advantage, of not disa- 
 
 cular circumstances of each case. Perhaps the mere touching in the 
 neutral country to take fresh clearances may properly be considered 
 as a fraudulent evasion, and is, in effect, the direct trade ; but the 
 high court of admiralty has expressly decided (and I see no reason to 
 expect that (he court of appeal will vary the rules) that landing the 
 goods and paying the duties in the neutral country breaks the conti- 
 nuity of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalizes the trade, 
 although the goods be reshipped in the same vessel, and on account 
 of the same neutral proprietors, and be forwarded for sale to the mother 
 country or the colony.
 
 43 
 
 vowing a principle which we had not ventured 
 to execute. 
 
 In this manner the last war ended without any 
 serious cause for disagTeement with America. 
 Before we proceed to the renewal of hostilities^ 
 it will facilitate our inquiry to explain what 
 course the commerce of that country had taken 
 under our former conduct. 
 
 This part of the subject has more than any 
 other been a source of misrepresentations which 
 it is necessary to explain. The author of " War 
 in Disguise" takes particular pains through 
 his whole work to circulate and establish an 
 opinion, that the great »hass of neutral trade 
 is not bonajide for neutral account, but that it 
 in reality covers the property of Frenchj Spanish, 
 and Dutch merchants, neutralised by the fraud 
 and perjury of the Americans. In confirmation 
 of this serious assertion, he has, contrary to his 
 general practice, been particularly sparing of 
 his authorities, thouiiii he could have had no 
 difficulty in finding them. There is no doubt 
 to be found in the records of our Prize Courts, 
 every possible case of neutral fraud, as in those 
 of the Old Bailey instances of every species of 
 crime; but it would be as unjust to determine 
 the general character of the commerce of 
 a country by a few particular instances of 
 the former, as to decide on the national 
 
 ft2
 
 44 
 
 f Iiaracter of a people bj those of the lattei*. A 
 correct opinion on this point can only be ob- 
 tained from practical knowledge, and upon 
 presiunptive grounds, arising from a considera- 
 tion of the means, views, and interests of the 
 parties. Now I maintain, without fear of con- 
 tradiction from any person acquainted with the 
 commerce of America^ that this character as it 
 respects that country is totally unfounded, and 
 that though the trade with our enemies colo- 
 nies is carried on in a greater proportion by 
 neutrals than at any former period, there is every 
 reasontobelieve that there never was in the course 
 of any war so little property covered under the 
 fraudulent mask of neutrality as at present: 
 That the interests of the parties in these transac- 
 tions do not;, as the author already mentioned 
 supposes, " strongly incline them to the fraudu- 
 lent course ;" That strange as it may appear ta 
 him, America has found, and that very suddenly, 
 *' a commercial capital, and genuine commercial 
 *' credit, adequate to the vast magnitude of their 
 '' present investments • That France, Spain, 
 *' Holland, Genoa, and the late Austrian Ne- 
 '' therlands, and all the Colonies and trans- 
 *' marine dominions of those powers, do not at 
 *' this hour possess merchant ships or merchants 
 '* engaged on their own account in exterior 
 " commerce, and that no subject of those un>
 
 45 
 
 "^ fortunate realms has an interest in such 
 " a commerce bejond his commission." In 
 quoting the forcible passages with which this 
 erroneous opinion has been inforced, I do not 
 of course mean to maintain the positive confor- 
 mity of every particular case to my position ; 
 all we have to do with is the general character 
 of the trade in question. 
 
 The character of that trade was certainly such 
 as it is represented by this author at the be- 
 ginning of the war in 1793^ and it has been 
 that of the neutral trade of the northern powers 
 in the present as well as all former wars ; but the 
 trade of America, though beginning partially 
 on the same plan, has, from natural causes, 
 taken a different course ; and though this asser- 
 tion were not as it is susceptible of the clearest 
 demonstration, yet I would confidently appeal 
 for the truth of it to the information which Go- 
 vernment must receive from our commercial 
 agents in America ; and I would even venture 
 an Appeal to our Prize Courts, whether, in the 
 numerous cases which have been brought before 
 them, the general complexion of American 
 commerce does not confirm this representation; 
 whether the instances of the detection of any 
 foreign interest in the cargoes detained are not 
 very rare, but, on the contrary, whether general 
 circumstances, «ince the commencement of the
 
 46 
 
 present war, do not afford strong presumption 
 of the bona fides of this trade. 
 
 Nor can this appearance be attributed to 
 the increased skill of neutralizers ; it is well 
 known that the Americans have never equalled 
 the European neutrals in this respect. Their 
 distance from those who must be supposed to 
 be their principals is too great, and they labour 
 under the additional disadvantage of their whole 
 correspondence, by passing the ocean, being 
 necessarily subject to our inspection ; which, 
 though some cases might pass undetected, makes 
 it impossible to carry on with successful fraud 
 the great mass of the commerce of a country. 
 The near neighbourhood of the Dutch, Danes, 
 Hamburghers, &c. and their easy communication, 
 similar habits and language of their seamen, for 
 they may be said to take them from a common 
 stock, enabled them in war to pass their ship- 
 ping to one or the other according as their in- 
 terest served — a single house at Brussels,* 
 neutralized in the American war upwards of 
 seven hundred Dutch vessels; and this appears to 
 have been imitated in our time by a shoemaker 
 of East Friesland, whose name has been equally 
 immortalized by the notice universally taken of 
 him by the zealous enemies of neutral frauds. 
 But our Government must have been very i§^- 
 
 * Baron Romberg^.
 
 47 
 
 t. 
 
 norant indeed, if these frauds tvere really un- 
 known to them^ or if they were first informed of 
 them by the authors^ who appear to have asto- 
 nished the public with their denunciation ; and 
 they must have been very weak if they were con- 
 nived at otherwise than from a conviction that 
 we had an interest in their existence. A little 
 reflection would have pointed out the nature of 
 this interest, and one excursion down the river, 
 where until lately hundreds of Dutch vessels 
 under these ensigns of ne^itrality might have been 
 seen, would have given these sagacious discover- 
 ers some idea of its extent. 
 
 They would have found out, that our trade 
 with the hostile ports of the continent of Europe 
 could not be otherwise carried on ; that the ex- 
 portation of our surplus of West India produce, 
 of which M'c hear so much, that our own manu 
 factures, a subject though less talked of, at least 
 as interesting, and that in fact our whole com- 
 merce with the country of the enemy, of which 
 we feel so sensibly the deprivation, had no other 
 means of conveyance. 
 
 That we cannot precisely take the advan- 
 tage of such connivance without some corre- 
 sponding disadvantage, there is no doubt : the 
 fraudulent neutral, suffered for our benefit, will 
 frequently carry the property of our enemy; 
 but it has always hitherto been considered that
 
 48 
 
 as our strength and resources depended so much 
 more than those of our enemies on a free circula- 
 tion of commerce, our advantages must greatly 
 preponderate. To hear the good policy of this 
 connivance questioned would certainly have 
 surprised me, but still more must it surprise a 
 practical merchant to find it pointed out to the 
 public as a novel discovery. < 
 
 Though this part of the subject has little 
 connection with the neutral trade of America, 
 I am induced to take notice of it on account of 
 the singular ignorance which prevails respect- 
 ing it; and it may perhaps incline those, who 
 persist in considering this instance of self-deceit 
 as a grievance, to give a preference to American 
 neutrality, by suggesting that geographical dif- 
 ficulties, and still more, those arising from dis- 
 similar habits, must ever prevent that exchange 
 of shipping which they deplore. A Dutchman 
 will make a tolerable Dane, but he can never b« 
 mistaken for an American. 
 
 The only instance of America being accused 
 of this practice is in the evidence reported 
 to the House of Commons by the West India 
 Committee*, which, properly examined into, 
 
 * Extract from the Evidence of Mr. TVihon before the TFest IndU 
 
 Commiltee. 
 
 Q. " To what causes principally do you attribute the present 
 " distressed state of the West India colonies ? — A. I conceive the 
 « causes of that to be, first, the too high duty which it laid upon the
 
 49 
 
 would certainly not have justified the inferences 
 drawn from it. There can be no doubt, from the 
 respectability of the evidence^ that the fact he 
 states came within his knowledg-e; but from the 
 general complexion of the report there is every 
 reason to suppose this very important subject 
 would have been more minutely examined, if 
 any result favourable to the evident tendency of 
 its arguments could have been expected. It 
 would have been highly interesting to know 
 how many instances had been discovered^, as by 
 pointing them out to our Government, redress 
 might have been obtained by application to that 
 of America, whose strict attention to the cha- 
 racter of her flag has always been remarkable. 
 The vessel so obtained by an American citizen 
 could never have an American register, would 
 always pay the duties of a foreign ship ; and, 
 
 •• article ; next, the relaxation of the system towards neutrals, 
 
 '• enabling them to carry away indiscriminately produce from ihe 
 
 " enemies colonies ; thirdly, the policy of the French in allowing 
 
 " French ships, bought by neutrals, to enter their ports as if still 
 
 " carrying: t!ie original flag, making a difference in the duties paid 
 
 •' in France upon foreign ships, 27 francs fifty cents, or 23 shillings; 
 
 " by French ships 22 francs fifty cents, or jy shillinjcs per 102 
 
 " French pounds of sugar, equal to about one hundred weight, 
 
 " that measure producing the addiiional advantage of keeping their 
 
 " own ships in employ during war time, as by bond the purchasers 
 
 " of those ships are engaged to reinstate them in French ports withia 
 
 *' a twelvemonth after peace." 
 
 Though neutrals only are mentioned, this charge was wcU under- 
 stood to apply principally to Americans. 
 
 H
 
 5d 
 
 oven to have the rig]it of navigating under the 
 flag, the owner must have been guilty of direct 
 perjury, by s's^earing that no person but himself 
 had directlj or indirectly an interest in her ; and 
 ihe evil could have been cured by our seizing 
 and condemning such vessels wherever they 
 might be found, which could never have been 
 complained of by America. The inference 
 drawn by the witness in this case, that the 
 distressed state of our West India colonies was^ 
 among other causes, principally to be attributed 
 to vessels so circumstanced, being permitted to 
 import sugar into France, at a duty of 4s. per 
 Cxwt. less than w as paid by others, should, instead 
 of inducing the committee to repeat it, have led 
 them rather to receive with CEtution his deduc- 
 tions from facts: 
 
 There are, no doubt, instances in trade of ope- 
 rations evidently ruinous to those who undertake 
 theni;, but such casual errors soon correct them- 
 selves, and the truth is more easily discovered 
 by examining what the interest of the parties 
 must be, than by taking up an insulated fact by 
 which to establish it. In this instance, from 
 the slight evidence I have mentioned, a conclu- 
 sion is drawn that nearly the whole French mer- 
 cantile marine is transferred to neutrals, to be 
 ^eld by them during war, and to be returned at
 
 51 
 
 a peace. Is such an operation on the part of 
 an American to be reconciled to any calculations 
 
 ft/ 
 
 of interest ? 
 
 The French proprietor must trust a very pe- 
 rishable property at a distance^ when he could to 
 greater advantage have sold it outright ; and the 
 French Government^ which is supposed to have 
 authorized the sale^ would better answer its pur- 
 pose of having a mercantile marine on the return of 
 peace, by permitting then the purchase of neutral 
 vessels. The American purchaser has, as his only 
 advantage, the right of importing sugars at a re- 
 duction of four shillings the hundred on the duty, 
 but he must, in the first place, I supp.osc, be paid 
 for his perjury; hemustthen, duringthewar, trust 
 very valuable property in a vessel navigated un- 
 der a sea-letter, and \yithout a register ; and it 
 is known that a considerable difference is always 
 made in the price of insurance. I believe these 
 disadvantages would be a full balance for the 
 low duty, but he certainly would be left a con- 
 siderable loser, when it is considered that in 
 America he would be liable both for his cargo 
 and his tonnage to foreign duties ; that the prin- 
 cipal article exported from France to America is 
 brandy, the duty on which is about 50 per cent, 
 on the first cost, to which 10 per cent, would in 
 this case be added. These circumstances must 
 satisfy any person acquainted with the com- 
 
 H 2
 
 o. 
 
 ^2 
 
 merce of America^ iliat the transactions com- 
 plained of can have no extent, if it were not far- 
 ther confirmed by the fact that France had, at 
 the breaking out of the present war, very little 
 shipping to transfer. I have been induced to 
 take more notice of this business than its im- 
 portance may appear to deserve, from the exag- 
 gerated consequences attributed to it by others; 
 from the attempt to make a plausible impression 
 on those who were not able properly to appre- 
 ciate it, and from its appearing to have been the 
 cause of the Order in Council, directing the 
 capture of all vessels transferred by the enemy to 
 neutrals— a measure to which there is no other 
 objection than that it is certainly a violation of 
 neutral rights, founded on a most erroneous 
 opinion. 
 
 It is certainly a circumstance much in favour 
 of the neutrality of America, when compared 
 with that of the Danes and Germans, that it 
 does not screen from our hostility the vessels and 
 seamen of our enemies. If our trade to Hol- 
 land and Hamburgh had been carried on by 
 Americans, instead of pretended Danes, Papen- 
 burghers, &c. we should not now have opposed 
 to us so great a number of able seamen, and the 
 Dutch and Danes would not be able to add to 
 the power of the enemy those sea habits and na- 
 yal skill which it would be of much more im-
 
 53 
 
 portance to us to^ have destroyed than ships and 
 naval stores, wliich a short time will replace *. 
 
 While the Northern nations continued neu- 
 tral, the consequence of their competition with 
 the Americans was found by experience to be^, 
 that the former engrossed much the largest por- 
 tion of the European carrying trade, as also of 
 what has been called the neutralizing trade, 
 where the only benefit of the neutral was his 
 freight, and that additional compensation for a 
 false oath, which we are told, and no doubt if 
 to be had at all, is a cheap article on the Conti- 
 nent. They could navigate their ships much 
 cheaper than the Americans, and by their situa- 
 tion and means of communication by post, they 
 could establish and vary their train of frauds in 
 a manner that the distance of Ihc others, and the 
 examination of their correspondence by our 
 cruizers, rendered impossible. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the situation of Ame- 
 rica, the value of the produce of her own soil, 
 the want of that produce in the West Indies, 
 
 * In estimatin.^ the advantages of the Danish expedition, the 
 imporlauce of ships and stores as an ingredient of naval power 
 appears to me over-rated. It is in seamen only we find the 
 enemy cannot equal us. If our ships were all destroyed in a 
 day, our naval power mii^ht soon be restored, if we had, as Den- 
 mark certainly has, the means of procuring others, and of maintain- 
 ing in the mean time our independence. But it is now discovered that 
 we have lost by capture, and the Danes have consequently gained as 
 large a quantity of stores as we brought away.
 
 54 
 
 and the early assistance of the capitals of this 
 country, not only gave her a decided advantage 
 out of the European seas, but have enabled her 
 to convert what was before a trade of bellige- 
 rents under a neutral mask into bona fide adven- 
 tures of neutrals for their own account. 
 
 Several circumstances concurred to promote 
 this change. The Dane and the Swede, in 
 sending their vessels to the West Indies, could 
 contribute towards the adventure nothing but 
 the ship ; their countries furnished little or no- 
 thing of what was wanted there, and the superior 
 capital and commercial advantages of their neigh- 
 bours the Dutch, kept the northern shipping em- 
 ployed for them, and for France and Spain, whose 
 neutral trade during war was generally managed 
 through Holland : on their return, as well as on 
 their outward voyage, they must necessarily pass 
 along the coasts of their employers, which gave 
 every facility to this mode of proceeding, from 
 which little more than a good freight remained 
 with the neutral. — But America, in entering into 
 this commerce, was differently situated. Her 
 distance from Europe prevented her merchants 
 from being set at work to any extent for Eu- 
 ropean account; while the great value of her 
 own produce, which was of first necessity in the 
 islands, brought her forward very early as a prin- 
 cipal. The assistance of British capital was
 
 55 
 
 kiso of great service at that period, though her 
 own has since so much increased, that like the 
 effect of European emigrations on her popula- 
 tion, what was once a principal agent is now 
 scarcely felt. The influence I have mentioned 
 of similar language, habits, and origin, were here 
 strongly shewn : The Dutch, with a commercial 
 interest of three per cent, trusted none of their 
 money in the advantageous speculations of these 
 new merchants ; no manufactures, even of that 
 or any country on the Continent, were or are now 
 sold to them on credit; while our merchants and 
 manufacturers entered with avidity into this new 
 and profitable field. 
 
 The value of the domestic produce of Ame- 
 rica, and that of the manufactures of this coun- 
 try, obtained on a long credit, soon formed there- 
 fore a capital for carrying on this trade for ac- 
 count of the neutral, while his own increased 
 with its importance. In the early period of the 
 war, the old mode of proceeding, to which the 
 French and Spaniards were accustomed with 
 the Northern neutrals, was followed : former 
 habits and opinions prevailed, and the means of 
 America were then unequal to large operations ; 
 but experience, and that tendency which com- 
 merce, when left alone, always has to find its 
 proper channel, gradually turned the whole over 
 to American account. The Spaniards were, as
 
 56 
 
 they always are, the last to adopt this change. 
 Agents were sent out to carry on operations un- 
 der the old system, which the competition of 
 Americans on their own account always ren- 
 dered ruinous ; and even at present the little co- 
 vered trade still existing is probably mostly 
 Spanish. 
 
 I must again repeat, that it is not intended to 
 maintain that instances may not be produced in 
 opposition to this general character of the trade 
 of America with the enemy's colonies : property 
 of all nations is no doubt floating at this moment 
 under the neutral flag; but I am well convinced, 
 strange as it may seem, that if the fact could be 
 ascertained, more British than enemy's property 
 would be found in that situation. The interest of 
 the parties is the only thing to be considered for 
 the purpose of forming a correct opinion, and facts 
 opposed to it should be considered as casualties, 
 and received for that purpose with great caution. 
 
 It would be absurd to talk of the superior mo- 
 rality of one description of people over another. 
 If the fraudulent trade were more profitable in 
 America it would prevail, though I must say, 
 and I speak from considerable experience, that 
 the character of the great body of merchants of 
 that country little deserves the unjust insinua- 
 tions, in which writers on this subject have so il- 
 liberally indulged.
 
 57 
 
 Now let us consider how the interest of the 
 jparties concerned favours my statement. A 
 planter at Martinique, or at Cuba, wants to sell 
 his produce at the highest, and to furnish him- 
 self with European manufactures, and Ame- 
 rican provisions, lumber, &c. at the lowest 
 prices possible; supposing-, which is admitted, 
 that he is under no restrictions, how will he 
 proceed ? If this is to be done for his own ac- 
 count under a neutral mask, which, if he had the 
 poor Dane to deal with, woiild be his only re- 
 medy, he must ship his sugar on board the vessel 
 to the consignment of a person in America, to 
 whom by false papers it must appear to belong. 
 The consignee there must re-ship it to some port 
 on the Continent; and the sugar being there 
 sold, the manufactures of France and Spain 
 would be returned in the same manner ; the 
 provisions from America Would be purchased 
 for him in that country, and sent under the same 
 cover for his own account. The planter must 
 here trust his property in the first instance to 
 strangers whom he knows little about, for the 
 intercourse between America and the West In- 
 dies is principally in the hands of the small trad- 
 ers from every creek and inlet of the country, 
 and carried on in small sloops and schooners : he 
 must secondly, in making his insurance, pay a 
 iiigher premium for not beiii^ able to warrant 
 
 I
 
 58 
 
 the property to be neutral; tliiruly, he hiust j)ay 
 commissions in America and France, and a higli 
 neutralizing freight; and lastly, he must give 
 positive Orders many months before-hand for his 
 supplies, of the receipt of which he must alvv^a;^^ 
 be uncertain. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a more unsatisfactoi^j 
 mode of proceeding, or that ttie planter should 
 not soon find out that the American trader cati 
 afford to give him more for his produce at his 
 own door, taking it away under his real neutral 
 character, and selling it where he pleases, and 
 that in the same manner he can buy his Euro- 
 pean and American supplies in the quantity and 
 of a quality he may Select, in a market always^ 
 kept moderate by the most active competition. 
 No precise proportion between the relative ad- 
 vantages of these two proceedings could with any 
 certainty be fixed, but that of the latter would 
 probably not be overvalued at 25 per cent. 
 
 It should al^o be observed, that a very small 
 proportion of the French and Spanish colonists 
 reside in Europe: allowing therefore for expenses 
 of cultivation, the money to be remitted home is 
 of trifling amount. At no time was the num- 
 ber of European residents equal to those of our 
 Colonies ; and the French revolution produced a 
 separation between them and the mother country, 
 which the short interval of peace did not remove.
 
 59 
 
 The revenue derived from the Colonies by persons 
 resident in France must be very trifling; and that 
 formerly was chiefly from St. Domingo. The cul- 
 tivators of Cuba are almost all residents in that 
 island. The colonist is consequently left more 
 at liberty to follow his own interest, though it 
 would almost to the same degree be the interest 
 of the European resident possessing colonial pro- 
 perty to sell in the island and receive his revenue 
 by bills of exchange. The very unfrequent 
 appearance of bills of this description in circula- 
 tion is an additional proof how few West India 
 proprietors reside in France or Spain. 
 
 That the general interest of all parties naturally 
 tends to produce the state of the trade above-men- 
 tioned cannot be disputed ; but it must be still 
 more evident to our West India merchants, when 
 they consider the nature of their own connection 
 with America. They have every advantage over 
 the foreigner in combining operations with that 
 country; and British property covered or un- 
 covered crosses the sea at less risk than that of 
 our enemies. But is it not well known that it is 
 much more for the benefit of our planters to buy 
 of Americans in the islands as their wants occur, 
 than to send large orders for perishable commodi- 
 ties on their own account? That this is occasion- 
 ally done is not denied ; but of the 1,400,000/. 
 which those supplies amount to yearly, it is cer- 
 
 I 2
 
 60 
 
 tainly not taking too mucli to say that at least 
 ninetpen-twentietlis are sent for American ac- 
 count. Surely then if the British planter finds 
 his interest in this mode of proceeding, its ad- 
 vantages must be infinitely greater to all foreign 
 colonists. 
 
 But it is asked in JFa?;- in Disguise* '' by v/hat 
 means could the new merchants of the United 
 States be able to purchase all the costly exports 
 of the Havanuah, and the other Spanish ports in 
 the West Indies, which now cross the Atlantic in 
 their names ?" The origin of American capital 
 for this trade from their own produce and from 
 British credit has been already explained : if the 
 ingenious author had condescended to make in- 
 quiry into the actual state of capital and com- 
 merce in America, he would not have been led 
 into his very erroneous opinions of their extent. 
 
 The West India trade requires in America less 
 capital than any other, and an adventure to 
 the islands can be undertaken almost w ithout any 
 actual disbursement beyond the value of the ship; 
 the provisions, lumber, &c. can be purchased 
 on a short credit; the British manufactures (and 
 it is for that reason that they principally are 
 British ) on a very long one, and the adventurer 
 may frequently sec his cargo of sugar or cofl'ee 
 
 * P. 92.
 
 61 
 
 return before lie is called upon to pay for his 
 outward investment. It is for this reason that 
 this branch of trade is srenerallv carried on 
 by the more needy class of merchants^ and that 
 the opulent houses confine themselves more to 
 that with India and China^ and with Russia, 
 which can only be managed with extensive ca- 
 pitals. But so far from there being any insuffici- 
 ency of capital for the West India trade^ a dozen 
 commercial establishments might perhaps be 
 named^ equal in that respect to its exclusive ma- 
 nagement. 
 
 The second voyage of West India produce 
 requires little more capital than the first. The 
 importer either sells for home consumption, for 
 exportation, or exports himself, according to his 
 opinion of the relative state of the markets ; 
 those whose means or credit are low generally 
 sell, the richer make their option ; if they ship, 
 they of course select the most favourable market; 
 but whether it is in England, Holland, France, 
 or Italy, the amount, after paying sometimes 
 for a small return cargo, is placed at the dis- 
 posal of their correspondent in London, who, act- 
 ing as banker, withdraws, by means of the foreign 
 exchanges, the property from abroad, and ac- 
 cepts the drafts of his American correspondent, 
 which are remitted to pay the original debt to 
 the British manufacturer. In this part of the
 
 6? 
 
 transaction, credit is again more wanted than 
 capital; the London merchant, if hp has a good 
 opinion of the solidity of his correspondent, 
 permits him to draw two-thirds or three-fourths 
 of the value in anticipation; but that no disap- 
 pointment may ensue to him froni the loss of the 
 vessel at sea^ he generally insists on making the 
 insurance in Loiidpn, that he may in every ev€ai|^ 
 be secured. 
 
 This mode of proceeding varies according to 
 occasional circumstances. Since our Court of 
 Admiralty has set its face against re-shipments of 
 West India produce by the original importer^ 
 as being a continuance of the same voyage^ the 
 business of the trader to the islands, and to Eu- 
 rope, has been in a greater degree separated, 
 and the re-exportation by the original importer 
 seldom takes place. The Americans have also, 
 for reasons which I shall presently notice, a 
 dislike to making their insurances in London, 
 and they relieve themselves from this necessity, 
 which is intended only for the security of their 
 correspondent there, according as their means 
 enable them to dispense with anticipated ad- 
 vances. 
 
 Thus we see the whole round of the Ame- 
 rican West India trade, and that the extent of 
 capital employed in it is subject to contraction 
 or expansion, according to the means of the
 
 6s 
 
 country; that it may be conducted with yerjr 
 little, and that of course it is more profitably 
 fconducted with more; we also see in what man- 
 ner part of the very large amount of British ma- 
 nufactures is disposed of by re-exportation from 
 America, and how^ we are paid for such part as 
 exceeds our own consumption of American pro- 
 duce, by the exports of that and of West India 
 i)roduce to the Continent of Europe. 
 
 The proportion of capital to the demand for 
 it has, as might be expected, been gradually im- 
 proving in America, during the last war. Though 
 the legal interest is only 6 per cent., the market 
 rate was from 12 to 20; at present it is at little 
 more than the legal rate; Great assistance w as 
 derived from the establishment of public banks 
 and insurance companies. It may give the 
 reader some idea of the commercial means of 
 that country to know, that in the year 1805 there 
 were estimated to be 72 public banks with capi- 
 tals of about 40 millions of dollars, and 43 insur- 
 ance companies with about 12 millions capital; 
 and, what may appear singular in a country of 
 so much hazardous speculation, there is no in- 
 stance of any establishment of either description 
 stopping payment, although the banks are bountt 
 to pay in specie, and on demand. 
 
 But if any doubt should still remain of the 
 assertion which I am endeavouring to prove.
 
 6% 
 
 ihat the tradd of America with the colonies of 
 our enemies is bona fide for their own account ; 
 if the interest of the parties, with the general no- 
 toriety of the fact, should not satisfy those who 
 suppose that a neutral must always find his inte- 
 rest in fraud, it is fortunately susceptible of 
 strong corroboration, if not of positive proof, 
 from official documents. FrOm a report of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury of America to Con- 
 gress, in February 1806, it appears, thitt the 
 annual amount of exports to the West Indies 
 generally, calculated on an average of the three 
 years, 1803, 1803, 1804, was-* 
 
 t)0llars. 
 
 In domestic produce of America, 
 
 viz. provisions, lumber, &c. - 15,700,000 
 In produce or manufactures of 
 
 other countries ----- 6,550,000 
 
 Together 22,250,000 
 
 kiid that the imports into America from the 
 same quarter amounted to about 20,000,000 
 Dollars, 
 
 It may here be seen what proportion of the West 
 India produce is paid for in American produce, 
 and what in European manufactures. The ex- 
 cess of the exports beyond the imports is paid
 
 65 
 
 for principally in specie, ^yhich is again used 
 for the current circulation of America, and for 
 her trade beyond the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 These facts will certainly j ustify me in as- 
 suming that the general character of the trade of 
 America with the colonies of our enemy is that 
 of a bond fide neutral on his own account. The au- 
 thor of ^' War in Disguise" tells us, itistrue, that 
 this would not alter the weight of his argument; 
 but such Diiins are taken throughout to stigmatize 
 these pretended frauds, as '' unprecedented in 
 '' extent and grossness*, and to make us believe, 
 with him, that the freight in every American bill 
 of lading includes a neutralizing commission f, 
 the want of which his imagination supplies, that 
 he roust probably think our right of interfering 
 if not the policy of so doing, more or less at 
 stake in that question. To what degree we 
 are interested in this trade, carried on as I have 
 rppresented it to be, will hereafter be considered; 
 but if the expediency of putting an end to it 
 were made clear, I should feel equal reluctance to 
 permit a mere formality to shield the property of 
 our enemies. If I believed it to be protected by 
 the mass of perjury, fraud and collusion, which 
 has been so eloquently, but so unjustly ascribed 
 to this intercourse; common sense and common 
 
 * rage 95. + Page "0.
 
 66 
 
 honesty would certainly revolt at its finding pro- 
 tection^ under the letter of the* law of nations 
 in direct opposition to its spirit. 
 
 In this point of view, a proper explanation of 
 the general character of American commerce be- 
 comes important^ and the more so as all writers 
 have argued on the supposition that the opposite 
 character imputed to it in" War in Disguise" had 
 been proved; and prejudices have thence origin- 
 ated both against our suffering a continuance of 
 these pretended delusions^ and against the Ame- 
 ricans for defending them, at a period when it be- 
 comes more than ever necessary to both countries, 
 that their relative situations should be clearly 
 understood;, and all illusions arising from false 
 statements of facts be removed. 
 
 It would be easy to point out other errors of 
 the same author, which his want of practical com 
 mercial knowledge, and a disposition to study 
 it in Doctors' Commons have given rise to: 
 every document of a neutral vessel has been an 
 ' object of suspicion ; and many circumstances, 
 which to the merchant must appear perfectly re- 
 gular and fair, are enlisted as proofs of fraud and 
 disguise. But having, as I trust, made out my 
 case undeniably, I shall pursue this part of the 
 subject no further than to make some remarks on 
 a digression of this author about insurances, which 
 has tended to mislead the public, and perhaps tp
 
 67 
 
 alarm some timid men into a most iinfoimded 
 opinion of self-condemnation *, which will also 
 vanish on a plain statement of facts. 
 
 The Americans make their insurances in their 
 own country whenever the nature of the operation 
 will admit of it : this is indeed the case with mer- 
 chants every where^ and for an obvious reason^ 
 that they understand the laws of their own better 
 than those of foreign countries, and consequently 
 know when the risk is safely covered. A mer- 
 chant in Philadelphia or Amsterdam cannot be 
 supposed to study Mr. Park's excellent compila- 
 tion on our insurance laws, but those of his own 
 country he knows from practice. The means of 
 insurance in America are abundant, as has been 
 explained; the security quite as good as that of 
 Lloyd's Coffee-house, and so far from following 
 us in fixing their premium a little higher than 
 ours, they are generally more moderate f. But 
 
 • Page 89. 
 
 t Page 87. Merchanis very seldom insure out of their own countrj, 
 if they can avoiil it. Amsterdam v/as indeed formerly a great market 
 for insurances for the Continent, in consequence of the solidity of 
 the underwriters, and the unvaryin.i^ certainty of the laws. Insur- 
 ance cases were never the suliject of lawsuits, nv.d foreigners have a 
 dislike to the uncertainty which attends a trial by jury. Our stamp 
 duty of one quarter percent, on the sura insured vill. in time of peace, 
 also I;eep off forcis" orders. In every respect it /.ould be desirable 
 to convert this duty i;ito a percentage on the premium, as by the pre- 
 sent mode it filis very une([ually. On a premium often per ceut. the 
 addition of a ((uarter per cent, makes only two ami a h.ilf per cent- 
 kut ou a preniium of two, it amounts to twelve and a hah per cent. 
 
 K 9.
 
 68 
 
 it has been exphiinccl, that when the Amciican 
 makes his shipment to Europe, and draws in an- 
 ticipation on his London correspondent, the lat- 
 ter, to have his security made perfect, must effect 
 tlie insurance, and it is accordingly on these voy- 
 ages, almost exclusively, that it is made in Lon- 
 don; and even to this the American has natu- 
 rally so great a reluctance, that he generally co- 
 vers only the amount of his drafts here, and the 
 remainder in his own country. There must be 
 in this, as in all cases, exceptions; but, with- 
 out much inquiry on the subject^ I am con- 
 vinced that there are few instances of American 
 insurances effected in this country, ©n voyages 
 cither to the East or West Indies, because such 
 adventures cannot be made the foundation of 
 any security to a London house. 
 
 The American, in ordering his insurance, and 
 the London merchant in advancing his raoney^ 
 for a very small commission, must be secured 
 against all risks; but how is this to be done? In 
 his own country the American would of course 
 be protected against the consequences of British 
 capture and detention, and he further stipulates 
 there that if his property be condemned in any 
 foreign Court of Admiralty, as not being neutral, 
 
 and on the insurance on bullion, wliich belweea Holland and this coun- 
 rrv used to be done at one quarter percent, ^le duty amounts almost to 
 a prohibition.
 
 69 
 
 hall be allowed to make proof of that fact in 
 his own country. But in insuring in London, 
 he is differently situated ; according to our laws, 
 if any Admiralty Courts in the West Indies, on 
 the American coast, or at home, determine that 
 the property is not neutral, that the voyage is 
 illegal, or if actual war should intervene, he can- 
 not recover his insurance. It has also here been 
 determined thatthe decision of our enemy's prize- 
 courts, and even of some of the most ignorant 
 judges in the islands, in the most revolutionary 
 times, as to points of fact, are conclusive. The 
 American merchant also, with the best intentions 
 of trading legally, cannot always know what 
 this country permits ; for we admit that, uphold- 
 ing a general principle which we never enforce, 
 we may and do vary our permission under it to 
 neutrals as we please. Supposing him even in 
 this respect not liable to error, he is exposed to 
 unjust decisions of our Vice- Admiralty Courts, a 
 danger of no common magnitude, if we are to 
 believe the assertion of Lord Hawkesbury in the 
 house of Commons, the 29th April, 1801, that 
 of three hundred and eighteen appeals from those 
 courts, only thirty-five of the condemnations were 
 confirmed at home. 
 
 It would therefore follow that a common in- 
 surance in this country would cover little more 
 than the sea risk, and the securitv of the London
 
 70 
 
 merchant would be still more imperfect than that 
 of the American, because to all the uncertainties 
 mentioned, as attending" the situation of the latter^ 
 must be added the possible case that he is really 
 deceiving his English correspondent, and that the 
 property belongs to our enemies. Either, there- 
 fore, the whole business must be given up, or the 
 alternative be adopted which has in fact been re- 
 sorted to ; that the underwriter, after signing 
 the common policy, should enter into a separate 
 engagement to pay the loss sixty days after proof 
 of capture or detes^tion by any power British or 
 foreign ; and this clause, not being susceptible of 
 enforcement by law, must depend for its execu- 
 tion on the honour of the parties. 
 
 Now the merit of the very moral admonition of 
 the author of ''War in Disguise" on this subject, 
 must depend much upon the character of the trade 
 which has been so insured ; and it may be some 
 satisfaction to the underwriter to discover, that 
 it is that of an honest neutral, and that he has 
 not been abetting those perjuries and forgeries*, 
 with which it has been endeavoured to alarm 
 his conscience: he will also be satisfied that to- 
 gether with the merchant, he has materially faci- 
 litated that circulation, by which our manufac- 
 tures are paid for in consequence of our enemies 
 
 • Page 90.
 
 71 
 
 consumption of the produce of the soil or of 
 the commerce of America ; and that it is to our 
 power of facilitating such a circulation by means 
 of capital and credit, that the superiority of 
 those manufactures may in a great degree be im- 
 puted. 
 
 That enemy's property is in this manner some- 
 times insured there can be no doubt, and there 
 are cases where it has been done knowing it to be 
 so, but certainly to a very limited extent. First, 
 because there is little property of that description 
 at sea (and particularly since our judicious in- 
 terruption of the enemy's coasting trade); and 
 Secondly, because most merchants and most un- 
 derwriters would in this case really entertain 
 those scruples which would be so ill placed in 
 the other. Upon the whole, therefore, without 
 discussing the policy of not permitting insur- 
 ances on enemy's property to be made, which is 
 however very doubtful, and without determining 
 whether according to rigid principles of morality 
 the strict letter of any law may be evaded, it can- 
 not be denied that it is in the present case, if in 
 any, that the malmn prohibitum may be distiu-. 
 guished from the malum in se. 
 
 Having explained our conduct towards the 
 trade of neutrals, and particularly towards that
 
 of America, during the last war, and in what 
 manner this new neutral had totally chang'cd 
 the character of it, I shall proceed to consider 
 what our conduct during the present war has 
 been since the commencement of which only, the 
 clamour has originated which has at last pro- 
 duced our present system. 
 
 On the recommencement of hostilities in 1803, 
 the measures of the last war were renewed by the 
 instructions to our cruizers, dated the 24th of 
 June in that year, with the single exception, that 
 in permitting the neutral to trade freely between 
 his own country and the hostile colonies, and 
 between his own country and that of the enemy 
 in Europe, we no longer permitted him to bring 
 the produce of those colonies to Great Britain, 
 as was allowed by the instructions of the year 
 1798, but we returned in this respect to the for- 
 mer provisions of those of 1794*. 
 
 During a long war, we had had ample time 
 to consider and understand the nature of neutral 
 commerce, and the result was a continuation 
 of our former practice : but we found, very 
 early in the present contest, that the efforts of 
 our enemy were to be principally directed to- 
 wards our commerce, which, however, it was 
 a long time before they could seriously annoy. 
 
 f Some other unimportaat alterations were made not worth noticing.
 
 73 
 
 As long as we were freely admitted into the 
 ports of the continent, and the shutting up 
 of one port was compensated by the opening of 
 another, no complaints were heard ; but as 
 the increasing power of the enemy enabled him 
 by degrees to draw the net closer, our West India 
 merchants, as soon as the effects of exclusion 
 were felt, although they had before combated the 
 competition of neutrals without complaint, now 
 imputed their distress solely to that competition, 
 and lost sight entirely of its real cause. 
 
 Early in 1805, these complaints accordingly 
 began, and exaggerated statements were circu- 
 lated of the comparative advantages of the hos- 
 tile colpnies over our own.— They Were cauti- 
 ously listened to by Mr. Pitt, who, it appears, 
 determined to give an indirect relief by throw- 
 ing difficulties in the wav of the neutral, 
 which should satisfy the West India planter, by 
 increasing the neutral freight and insurance, the 
 moderate rate of which was a principal subject 
 of complaint * and though little can be said for 
 the justice of the expedient resorted to, its effi- 
 cacy was complete. 
 
 These vexations were to be produced by start- 
 ing some new principle of conduct towards neu^ 
 tral commerce ; and, as remonstrances were na- 
 turally expected, the public mind was prepared 
 for the discussion of them by inflammatory pub- 
 lications. At this time, October 1805, the pam* 
 
 L
 
 r- 
 
 4 
 
 plilefj of Nvhich so much notice has been taken, 
 " W-ar in Disguise/' made its appearance, and we 
 arc told by the author, in his preface, '' that it 
 " ^Yas written in considerable haste, on account 
 " of some temporary considerations, which add 
 " to the immediate importance of the subject." 
 
 We shall now see the advantage which we 
 were to derive from a nominal maintenance of the 
 rule of 1756. By assuming that rule to be law, 
 and that our not enforcing it was the effect of 
 our indulgence, all the privileges which the neu- 
 tral held, as he thought by right, were consider- 
 ed by us as held by sufferance; a doctrine which 
 enables us to establish the most inconsistent 
 practice under the mask of the most consistent 
 theory. Accordingly, though we have seen that 
 principles directly opposed to this doctrine have 
 been established by treaty, and that we have ac- 
 tually paid America for the damages she sus- 
 tained by its temporary, and, as we called it, il- 
 legal execution, yet the law is immutable, and 
 we should be told by Civilians that it is not even 
 in our power to remove this rule out of the code 
 of the law of nations. 
 
 People are generally most tender when suspi- 
 cions attach to the virtues they are most vv anting 
 in, and accordingly consistency is most warmly 
 contended for by our Admiralty Court. " It is 
 •' no(," says the learned and most respectable 
 Judge of <hat Court, '' to deliver occasional
 
 75 
 
 " and shifting opinions to serve present piir- 
 " poses of particular national interest, that I am 
 " here stationed." And again: ''It is the duty of 
 " the person sitting here to determine a ques- 
 " tion in London in the same manner as he 
 '' would determine it in Stockholm*." Nor 
 can it be contended, that in theory there is any 
 inconsistency, if this rule is admitted to be a 
 part of the law of nations; for although our 
 conduct may change every month, yet, as the 
 whole exists through our indulgence, we may 
 vary and modify it at our pleasure. In the 
 same manner, if it were a principle of common 
 law, that the lives and property of all subjects 
 belong to the King, the one and the other might 
 be disposed of in the most arbitrar^^ and in- 
 consistent manner in practice, while the most 
 perfect consistency in theory would be pre- 
 served. 
 
 It has appeared to me in every point of view 
 interesting to examine our conduct in the appli- 
 
 » Robinson's Admiralty Reports, '2 vol. p. 205. 
 
 la making reflections on flic conduct of our Court of Admi- 
 ralty, 1 beg leave to explaiif that it is of tlie general system of our 
 prize laws that 1 complain. For the character of Sir William Scott 
 I entertain that j)rofound and unfeigned respect which writers on all 
 sides have been eager to express. The judge does not create the 
 law he administers ; and every person who has attended to the pro- 
 ceedings of our Admiralty Court must be conscious of the endeavours 
 of Sir W. Scott to distribute that real justice which uaforlunately is 
 ■ot always within his reach. 
 
 L 3
 
 76 
 
 cation of this system towards America^ ^s one 
 of our principal complaints against her is, her 
 encroachment on what are called our maritime 
 rights. We have seen how seldom those rights 
 have been executed towards any country, and 
 it is rather singuUr that the French, even in 
 their enumeration of the pretended wrongs of 
 this country towards neutrals, in which they 
 constantly talk of our refusal to E^dmit the rule 
 of free ships making free goods, never mention 
 this more important doctrine, probably because 
 they consider it to be one of those antiquated pre- 
 tensions, which they could not persuade Europe 
 we ever seriously maintained. 
 
 In the present times, I could hardly expect 
 any reader to follow me into an examination of 
 this rule by the authorities on the law of nations, 
 even if I were, as I do not profess to be, quali- 
 fied for the task. These voluminous authorities, 
 which, according to the interests of natiqns, are 
 declared either musty vplumes or sublime pro- 
 jductions, are now only used by Secretaries of 
 State, or their foreign Envoys, as masks under 
 which they may fence for their respective inte- 
 rests ; and are consulted, not to determine how 
 one country may or ought to act towards an- 
 other, but in what manner actions, which expe- 
 diency has dictated, may be either impeached or 
 defended
 
 77 
 
 Althoug'h the interests of humanity strongly fa-? 
 your a diminution of the rigours of the war by a 
 liberal interpretation of the rights of neutrals, 
 yet it is not to the justice of the principles of the 
 rule of 1756 that I object. If it were practically 
 possible to preserve uninjured, during war, 
 the accustomed trade of the neutral, during 
 peace, that increase, which arises from the pres- 
 sure on the weaker belligerent, might with much 
 reason be refused by the stronger. If we had 
 maintained and defended this doctrine boldly and 
 fairly against all nations, good arguments in fa- 
 vour of it could not at least be wanting ; but 
 when we have uniformly relaxed it, and indeed 
 forborne to claim it, can it be consistent, either 
 with magnanimity or good policy, to bring it 
 forward now, merely because the only remaining 
 neutral has a defenceless commerce ? If such 
 cowardly injustice is to be one of our resources 
 in these trying times, when elevation of sentiment 
 and of national character are more than ever 
 wanted, the means and strength of this powerful 
 empire are indeed strangely misunderstood. 
 
 But although the publications of many au- 
 thors, chiefly anonymous, called loudly for the 
 adoption of the rule of 1756, Mr. Pitt proceeded 
 more cautiously, probably from a conviction of 
 the difficulty of establishing it without universal 
 war, and from an opinion, that we were ma-
 
 IS 
 
 terially benefitted by the trade which he was 
 called upon to suppress : a circumstance which 
 could not escape his penetration. — Since the 
 commencement of the last war in 1793^ until the 
 year 1805, the trade of America had therefore, 
 under the circumstances which I have described, 
 continued with slight and unimportant interrup- 
 tions to be respected ; and notwithstanding this 
 formidable principle, like the sword of Damocles, 
 was always hanging over her head, she thought 
 as little as European neutrals, of looking to any 
 thing but the practice, which, although not ex- 
 actly what she thought she had a right to, was 
 sufficient, considering that the occasional irre- 
 gularities of war can never be wholly avoided, 
 to keep her satisfied. 
 
 Although it has been shewn that this trade was 
 bona ^fide for American account, it is not denied 
 that the colonies traded with were improved 
 and benefitted by it. The cultivation of Cuba, 
 in particular, had been extended : all wars 
 operate differently on Spanish colonies from 
 what they do on any other,, for the pressure of 
 no war can be equal to the pressure of Spanish 
 jealousy and monopoly. The general supply 
 of West India produce on the continent was 
 increased, and as that of our own islands was 
 also rapidly advancing, and exceeded very- 
 much our own consumption, our merchant?
 
 79 
 
 complained that the cheap freight and insurances 
 of Americans made it impossible to meet them 
 in the markets of the continent. To this evil 
 our subsequent conduct was an effectual re- 
 medy for the time, but the increasing rigour of 
 France soon proved that our inability to trade 
 in competition with the neutral arose more from 
 the restrictions of the enemy than from any 
 other cause. 
 
 The rates of freight and insurance on Ameri- 
 can vessels;, as reported by the West India Com- 
 mittee *, continued no longer than to the altera- 
 tion of our conduct towards America in 1805 ; 
 which alteration, although great pains were 
 taken to shew that no new principles were 
 acted upon f, had the important consequences 
 of doubling, and in many instances more than 
 trebling, the rate of American freights and 
 insurances. 
 
 I proceed to consider the nature of these al- 
 terations ^ 
 
 It has been seen, that under the general dis- 
 
 * Evidence of Mr. Marrjot, pajre 19. 
 
 These comparative estimates must be very uncertain, as it must bft 
 diiBcult to ascertain with any precision the rate of freight in America, 
 where the business of the merchant and the ship owner is seldom 
 separate, and the average of premiums of insurance are also not easily 
 ascertained. It is not important to my argument to examine minutely 
 these calculations, which are evidently put in the most favourable' 
 point of view for the opinions they arc intended to support. 
 
 + War in Disi^uise, p. 67.
 
 80 
 
 jpensing power, wliicli the nominal maintenance 
 of the rule of 1756 gave us, we still held the di- 
 rect trade between the colonies and the mother 
 country of the enemy prohibited. This prohibi- 
 tion is indeed so consonant with common sense, 
 that it has seldom been disputed. Such a trade, 
 were it once established for neutral account, 
 would have a natural tendency to degenerate into 
 fraud ; and we accordingly find that it remains 
 prohibited by the kussian treaty, and serves as 
 an additional proof of the good sense and mutual 
 moderation with which that treaty was framed. 
 
 This principle, \vhich was generally acquiesced 
 in, had brought forward in the course of the Avar 
 some cases of difficult decision. If the neutral 
 could not carry directly between the colony and 
 mother country of the enemy, it was argued, and 
 with reason, that he should not evade the law by 
 merely stopping in his own country to change 
 the ship's papers in such a manner as to give a 
 false colour to his new voyage, which in reality 
 Was no more than a continuation of the first. 
 There were, no doubt, instances of the enemy's pro- 
 perty being fraudulently conveyed in this manner; 
 and even the honest neutral, as apart of the arti- 
 cles he imported for his own account were destined 
 for re-exportation, wished to make his requisite 
 J)atise in America as little expensive as he could. 
 But as is generally the case, where there is a real
 
 81 
 
 disposition to remove difficulties^ and none to 
 make them serve the purposes of vexation, they 
 are seldom formidable. It was not always easy 
 to determine whether a cargo was imported into 
 America with a bona fide intention of making 
 the most of it there, or with a pre-determination 
 to re-export it ; numerous instances of both kinds 
 must have occurred ; and we accordingly find, 
 that when brought before our Courts, some were 
 condemned, and some acquitted, accordingly as 
 the penetration of our judges enabled them to 
 discern the truth * ; nor were these decisions sub- 
 jects of complaint or alarm. 
 
 The important change '\\\ our conduct alluded 
 to was introduced by the decision of the Lords of 
 Appeal on the case of the cargo of the American 
 ship Essex, at the Cockpit, in May 1805, The 
 Admiralty Court had before decided what was 
 or was not a continuation of the first vovag-e by 
 the general complexion of the evidence, and that 
 when goods had been made part of the common 
 stock of America by a fair importation, and 
 the payrnent of duties, they might be re-exported 
 from thence to any part of the world. ' 
 
 The Court of Appeal, though no reason was as- 
 
 * Case of the Mercury, KoberU ; and Polly, Lasky. 
 
 Tlie decision on the latier case in liobinsoii's Reports, 2 voJ. 361, 
 was afterwards confirmed on appeal. It is a standard case, and will 
 serve to shew how the question was argued previously to the netf rule 
 oi couduct 180.5. 
 
 M
 
 83 
 
 signed for the condemnation in this case, was 
 understood to have established the illegality of 
 the trade, founded on a discovery, now made for ' 
 tlie lirst time, that the duties on the cargo im- 
 ported had not been actually paid in money, but 
 by a bond of the importer *, 
 
 This decision, although the distinction made 
 was not calculated to catch the common eye, 
 was well known to embrace the w^hole foreign 
 trade of America, excepting that in her own 
 produce. It circulated rapidly among our 
 cruizers and privateers, and in the course of a 
 fortnight the seas were cleared of every American 
 ship they could find, v/hich now crowded our 
 ports for trial ; and our West India merchants 
 were gratified by neutral insurances, and 
 freights, being at least doubled by this ingeni- 
 ous discovery. 
 
 As this decision laid the foundation of all the 
 complaints of America, of our vexatious measures 
 against her trade, as it introduced a totally new 
 line of conduct towards it, and as that change 
 produced the Non-importation Act on her side, 
 at which we affect so much indignation, a more 
 
 * In the case of t!ie Essex, Orme, (here were also some suspicious 
 circumstances, ^vhich miglit of themselves have justified the condemna- 
 tion. But it was well understood, and it is admitted hy the author of 
 " War in Disguise," page 02 — That this more rigid mode of determin- 
 ing the true criteria of the continuity- of a voyage was established hj 
 this decision.
 
 ,83 
 
 minute examination of it is necessary for my pur- 
 pose ; and the more so, as it will enable me again 
 to refute tlie unfounded representations and dis- 
 tortions of facts on a subject, about which the 
 necessary ignorance of the public particularly 
 disposes them to be misled. 
 
 It has been confidently asserted, and our con- 
 
 tj' -^ 
 
 duct may in a great measure be attributed to the 
 belief which those assertions have obtained, that 
 the importation of colonial produce into America, 
 and re-exportation to the Continent of Europe, 
 was altogether colourable, and that it w as enemy's 
 property conveying home from their colonies by 
 the most direct route, w hich our relaxations and 
 indulgence would permit. What this trade really 
 is, and the manner in which it is carried on, has 
 been already explained, and there remains to ex- 
 amine, how the pretended proofs of fraud and col- 
 lusion, which were on this occasion brought for- 
 ward and acted upon by our courts, can be recon- 
 ciled to the character which I have given of it. 
 
 J[n determining whether the second voyage v, as 
 a continuation of the tiist, an opinion could only 
 be formed from the general complexion of the 
 case ; but the chief circumstance which was 
 relied upon was, the landing of the cargo in 
 America, and the payment of the duties there. 
 This was the principal presumptive ground, 
 that the importer had no predetermination 
 
 m2
 
 84 
 
 to export ; but other minor circumstances had 
 also considerable weight. — The goods being 
 shipped bj a purchaser in America, and not by 
 the original importer — their having remained 
 some time in America, or having been advertised 
 for sale — the exportation not being by the same 
 vessel in which they were imported— nor to the 
 mother country of the colony of which they were 
 the produce. 
 
 These several considerations very properly con- 
 tributed towards forming a correct opinion of the 
 various cases ; and although no one in particular 
 was absolutely conclusive, yet that, first menr 
 tioned, of the landing and payment of the duties 
 in America was generally considered so, if not 
 invalidated by any collateral circumstance of 
 suspicion. But the opinion of the court on this 
 point cannot be better given than in the words 
 of Sir William Scott, on pronouncing judgment 
 in a case prior to the decision of the Lords of 
 Appeal in that of the Essex*. 
 
 " Then there remains only the question of 
 " law, which has been raised, whether this is 
 *' not such a trade as will fall under the prin- 
 *' ciple that has been applied to the interposi- 
 " tion of neutrals in the colonial trade of the 
 " enemy ? On which it is said, that if an Ame- 
 
 * RobiDson's Reports, 2 toU p. 368 j Case of the Pollj'j Lasky:
 
 85 
 
 " canis not allowed to carry on this trade directly, 
 " neither can he be allowed to do it circuitously. 
 '' An American has undoubtedly a right to 
 '' import the produce of the Spanish colonies 
 " for his own use; and after it is imported, bond 
 "fide, into his own country, he would be at 
 " liberty to carry them on to the general com- 
 " merce of Europe. Very different would such 
 *' a case be from the Dutch cases, in which 
 " there was an original contract from the begin- 
 " ning, and under a special Dutch licence to 
 •' go from Holland to Surinam, and to return 
 '^ again to Holland with a cargo of colonial pro- 
 ■' duce. It is not my business to say what is 
 " universally the test of a bond fide importa- 
 " tion : it is argued, that it would not be suf- 
 '" ficient that the duties should be paid, and that 
 " the cargo should be landed. If these criteria 
 " are not to be resorted to, I should be at a losi 
 '' to know what should be the test ; and I am 
 
 strongly disposed to hold, that it would be 
 
 sufficient that the goods should be landed, 
 
 and the duties paid. 
 
 " If it appears to have been landed and ware- 
 "^ housed for a considerable time, it does, I 
 ''" think, raise a forcible presumption on that 
 *^ side ; and it throws it on the other party io 
 " shew, how this could be merely insidious and 
 ^"^ colourable. There is, I think, reason to be- 
 
 <i 
 
 <c
 
 €C 
 
 ge 
 
 tc 
 
 86 
 
 lieve^ that the sugar was a part and parcel 
 of a cargo, said to have been brought from 
 a Spanish colony in this vessel ; and if so, 
 the very distribution of the remainder is some 
 proof that they w^ere not bought with an in- 
 tention only of sending them on. But I have, 
 besides, positive proof in the affidavit of Mr. 
 Asa Hooper*, who swears, that the duties 
 had been paid for them/' Then the only diffi- 
 culty remains as to the cocoa ; and it is said by 
 one of the witnesses, and by one only, that it 
 was transhipped from another vessel, and that 
 it had been brought into America only ten days 
 before. But although there is something of 
 a difficulty arising on this small part of the 
 cargo, yet, upon the whole, I cannot think 
 it weighty enough to induce me to send the 
 case across the Atlantic for still farther proof 
 as to the facts of this recent iraportation and 
 transhipment, or of its having been transferred 
 to the present proprietor.% or of its having been 
 exported without a previous payment of im- 
 
 * " The Affidavit of Asa Hooper, of Marblehcad, master of the 
 " ship Hope, belonging to Boston, and now lying at Cowes, states, 
 *' that he had been acquainted with Mr. R. Hooper ever since he was 
 " a child; that he knows the brig Polly, and was at Marblehead 
 " when she sailed for Bilboa ; and that he was informed hy Captain 
 ♦' Lasky, and various other persons, that the sugar, being part of the 
 *' cargo, was a part of a much larger quantity, the whole of which 
 " had been imported, landed, and the duties paid at Marblehead, by 
 •' the said R. Hooper, in the geueral course of trade," &c. 
 

 
 87 
 
 " port duties. If it had composed a larger part 
 " of the cargo, I might have deemed it reason- 
 " able to have had somewhat more of satisfac- 
 '" tioii on some of these points, which do not 
 "^ appear with sufficient certainty to found any 
 '' legal conclusion against it. It appears^ by the 
 " collector's certificate, that it had been ea- 
 " tered* and imported, and I think that these 
 " words are sufficient to answer the fair de- 
 " mands of the Court." 
 
 Such was our doctrine and our conduct until 
 the year 1805, when the new principles were 
 introduced by higher authority, to which the 
 inferior court conformed ;, and the unofficial de- 
 fenders of this change ( for a change, and a most 
 material one it was, in its practical conse- 
 quences, though no doubt Civilians are here 
 again ready to prove the unchanging consist- 
 ency of their theory, ) supported it by the dis- 
 covery, that the duties had not been paid in 
 readij money, and that the Government of Ame- 
 
 * " The certificate of the collector stated, that in June, the Pollj 
 
 " entered at his office, with a cargo of 590 boxes of sugars, the pro- 
 
 " perty of American citizens; — that, 17th August, the schooner 
 
 " William entered with G7 hogsheads, &c. of cocoa, and certified the 
 
 " clearing out of the Pollv, &c. for Bilboa, with a cargo of 2P) 
 
 " boxes of brown sugars, imported in the said brig from the Havati- 
 
 " nah, on the 25th Juue ; and of 30 hogsheads, &c. of cocoa, int. 
 
 " ported in the schooner William, from Laguira, with ] 300 quintals 
 
 " of fish. Be it known, &c. that this cargo of sugars, cocoa, .ind 
 
 *' fish, cleared out from ibis port for Bilboa, 27th .^u^Uit, 17!-':.'; i» 
 
 ♦• the property of citizens of America, ate"
 
 88 
 
 rica had connived at and assisted the fraud br 
 laws passed for the purpose. 
 
 It is rather singular that, with a Board of 
 Trade to watch over the various eommercial sys- 
 tems of different nations, with commercial 
 agents in America, whose duty it must be to in- 
 struct that board in every thing relating to the 
 institutions of a country, with which we have 
 such important intercourse ; we should in the 
 year 1805, have first discovered in what manner 
 duties are raised, or a drawback granted, by the 
 revenue laws of America, and it is perfectly con- 
 sistent with that ignorance, that we should im- 
 pute to a system, steadily pursued ever since a 
 revenue was first raised in that country, a de- 
 sign to impose upon us a tissue of frauds and im- 
 postures during a war, which was not even 
 dreamed of at the time that system was framed. 
 
 We have seen how the early trade of America 
 was assisted by British capital in the shape of 
 manufactures, w hich, with the value of her own 
 produce, first enabled her to carry it on for her 
 own account. To this facility was added a sys- 
 tem, on the part of Government, of not exact- 
 ing the duties on importation in ready money, 
 but of giving a credit of three, six, nine, and 
 twelve months, and, in the single instance of 
 teas, of two years. This accommodation, 
 when the federal Government was first esta-
 
 89 
 
 blished and the country poor, was absolutely ne- 
 cessary ; for as the whole revenue is^ and with 
 immaterial exceptions always has been, collected 
 from duties on imported articles, they are in 
 many instances heavy, and could not be ad- 
 vanced by the dealer before he obtained some 
 return from the consumer. In the case of 
 goods imported for re-exportation, the aid de- 
 rived from this system was still more manifest. 
 In this country we long* sulicred under the ab- 
 surd plan of making the importers advance 
 heavy duties, to receive them again in draw- 
 backs, greatly to the injury of the merchants, and 
 without benefit to the revenue. The establish- 
 ment of our docks and public warehouses has 
 enabled us to make this necessary alteration ; 
 but, as these did not exist in America, a plan 
 was adopted perhaps for that country even better 
 suited than ours. — The importer, instead of pay- 
 ing the duties, gave bonds for their amount, pay- 
 able at the dift'ercnt periods of credit assigned by 
 law to different articles. Whether those goods 
 were re-exported or consumed, thesebonds must be 
 paid. — But as Government could not, in case of 
 re-exportation, pay the drawback before the 
 duty had been discharged, the exporter obtained 
 a debenture or promise of Government to pay 
 the amount of the drawback, provided no de- 
 fault of payment of the bond for the duty had 
 
 N
 
 90 
 
 iaken place, and which was additionally guarded 
 against by a right of priority on the part of Go- 
 vernment in case of bankr uptcy . The difterence 
 in the result of this system and of that adopted 
 by us is, that there is not only, ( as now with 
 us,) no waste of capital in the transit trade, but 
 a credit is alTorded to the dealer for home con- 
 sumption ; a circumstance which has most ma- 
 terially increased that of our manufactures, and 
 which was necessary in America, though it 
 would not be so here. No system could possibly 
 be more simple, uniform, and intelligible. Oc- 
 casional alterations were found expedient, as 
 must be the case with all important revenue laws ; 
 but the great features of the system have remain- 
 ed unvaried from the commencement of an Ame- 
 rican revenue until the present day ■. 
 
 * The anthor of " War in Dissniisc" lias totally misunderstood, 
 for he certainly has inisrepreseuleil, this business in a manner to make 
 out a most plausible statement <o answer his pur])ose (see page 60 and 
 the Appendix (B) in the fifth edition). In whieh he appears ignorant of 
 every thing; relating to American trade to a degree incredible in a per- 
 son, who undertakes to inform the public upon if. 'i'liC system of 
 paying duties hy bond, and receiving a debenture for tlie dra\vi)acl<, is 
 as old in America, as duties and drawbacks, and was not first in- 
 stituted by the act of 17;,!!). It ap|)lies to all the trade of America, 
 and not to any particular brancli. it is not true that colonial produce 
 and East India goods^are the only " articles imported for re-expor- 
 tation, generallv speaking'" — he will find that there is scarcely an ar- 
 ticle imported into America, of which some portion is not re-exported. 
 Ou examining the act of 17 9!), he will find that he has omitted the 
 material circumstance that " ColTcc, cocoa, unrefined sugars, and liquors 
 " in casks, may have their packages renewed on exportation in c<ue
 
 91 
 
 Of aii this we appear to have been ignorani;, 
 and in 1S05 we are first told, that the whole was 
 a plan to cover the property of our enemies, by 
 frauds, . to which the government is made a 
 party. Captains of vessels, and custom-house 
 officers, are ac<:used of perjury, for attesting' on 
 oath, that the duties had been secured to the United 
 States, or paid according to laic ; when the words 
 rather shew a most scrupulous desire of veracity. 
 All duties on all goods are, and always have 
 
 " tlieoriginal packages shall be so injured as to be rendered iivfufor e.r- 
 " portation, and not o'lherivise.'" And a little recollection would have 
 abated his surprise at fiiis enumeration of articles : for they are pre- 
 cisely such as cannot without positive destruction be exported in damaged 
 packages. This author has consulted most hastily the Act of Congress 
 which he quotes ; more attention indeed would not perhaps have enabled 
 him to discover the many proofs of fraud and imposture which he ap- 
 pears to have been looking for. The bond for the duties is absolute 
 and unconditional for the payment of the amount, Jind does not " con- 
 " dition for the payment of duties or re-exportati()n within twelvu 
 " months." In like manner the debenture for the drawback engages 
 for a positive paymentj with the single condition, that the bond for the 
 duties on the same goods shall be previously discharged. But a^ the 
 payment of the duties may sometimes precede considerably that of the 
 drawback, the debenture for the latter was made ncgociable, to give fa- 
 cility to rhe merchant; and the interest of six per cen^., mentiored in 
 the law, is only to be recovered by the indorsee agairst the ori^insl 
 holder incase his nonpayment of the duties prevented ti-.e discharge of 
 the debenture. It would bo difficult to devise a better system for the 
 purpose intended, of giving credit on the import duties, where no 
 publicdocks and warehouses exist, or one, fr 'm the clearness ofits pro- 
 visions, less likely, on a careful examination, to give countenance to 
 imputations of fraud or disguise. I understand that a very satisfac- 
 tory and clear report has been niai!c on this subject i)y the Secretary of 
 the Treasury iu America, but not having been able to meet with it, I 
 am obliged to confine this explanation to the suggestions of my own 
 experience. 
 
 N 3
 
 92 
 
 beeii, paid in the same manner, and where they 
 amounted to the value of more than fifty dollars, 
 there is probably no instance of their being 
 otherwise discharged than by a bond. It is 
 utterly impossible to shew the slightest proof 
 of any attempt at Collusion or fraud ; and if 
 we were not satisfied that America should raise 
 her own revenue in the manner she might think 
 best, we have been guilty of gross neglect by 
 continuing in Jt state df ignorance, which evefy 
 clerk in a countin2:-housc of an American mer- 
 chant could have corrected. 
 
 It must at first sight be evident to the reader^, 
 that though I have endeavoured to remove the 
 laboured misrepresentations on this subject for 
 the purpose I have professed, of coming at a cor- 
 rect opinion of our conduct and of that of Ame- 
 rica, this pretended discovery cannot by any 
 man of sense be considered otherwise than as 
 a pretext, and certainly a most clumsy one. 
 No consequences could have been seriously at- 
 tached to facts, which were always before our 
 eyes, though we affected never to have seen 
 them. But the important practical conse- 
 quences of this affectation in the capture of 
 American vessels, in every quarter, ( for the du- 
 ties on their cargoes were all paid in the same 
 manner, ) were not to be mistaken, nor the ad- 
 vance necessarily produced in the price of neu-
 
 93 
 
 tial'freight and insurance, the great desideratuni 
 of the West India interest. 
 
 In considering our conduct in this instance, it 
 becomes again highly important to make up our 
 minds as to the general character of the trade 
 with which we are interfering: if it were, as 
 has been asserted, that of an enemy under a 
 fraudulent mask ; although the device, which 
 was employed, has more of the Italian than of 
 the British character in it ; yet, many might be 
 reconciled to tear away that mask by the same 
 crooked artifice with which it was assumed. But 
 if my former observations produce, as I think 
 they must, a conviction, that the trade and pro- 
 perty so sported with belong to an honest neu- 
 tral, there can be no doubt that our conduct to- 
 wards it deserves the name of the most unquali- 
 fied injustice. 
 
 The other criteria of lawful trade, and of the 
 separation of the voyage from America to 
 Europe from the preceding one from the Colo- 
 nies, though useful and important, where a 
 sincere disposition existed to come at the truth, 
 and to act upon it, aff'orded great variety of 
 ground for vexation, more plausible than that 
 produced by the discovery respecting the duties. 
 The object of the importer of colonial produce 
 was, to dispose of it to the best advantage : if
 
 94 
 
 the hoinc market did not suit liim, he re-export*- 
 ed; and, in selecting his foreign market, the 
 fixed habits of different countries made each 
 European state the best market for the produce 
 of its own colonies, as in each colony the best 
 price will be found for that of the mother coun- 
 try. Hence arises the circumstance which has 
 improperly been considered a proof of fraud*, 
 that llavannah sugars and Caraccas cocoa are 
 chiefly met with going to Spain, and French 
 wmes to French colonies. 
 
 Nor was the injury to the Americans confined 
 to the application of these new and vexatious 
 principles; for our privateers and cruizers, ap- 
 plrehending little danger of being made answer- 
 able for their error, were not disposed to make 
 nice distinctions, but detained and sent in everv 
 vessel they met with under the most frivolous pre 
 tences, in which they were also encouraged by 
 the expectation of actual war. Of the extent 
 -to which this was carried, some idea may be 
 formed, when it is stated, that cargoes, wholly 
 of American produce, and of the produce of 
 neutral countries trading with America, were 
 captured, and even brought to trial f. In these 
 
 * War ill Disguise. 
 
 + The Governor Ciilman, loaded with tobacco from New Yorlc to 
 Amsterdam, and the Orion, from St. Potrr'=!])iirgh to America, tried in 
 the Coart of Admiraltv in October ] 807-
 
 95 
 
 instances, the judge decreed restitution of ship 
 and cargo, and costs against the captors, with 
 expressions of indignation, which so lawless an 
 outrage necessarily excited ; the latter had, in the 
 face of this censure, the audacit} to enter appeals, 
 and the American was obliged either to compro- 
 mise or leave to the captors the option of bringing 
 forward his appeal within a twelvemonth, with 
 the possible advantage of an intervening war se- 
 curing to him his prize*. The owners of priva- 
 teers are in the daily practice of bringing in valu- 
 able cargoes, and otTering immediately to release 
 them for one or two hundred guineas; they some- 
 times require a much larger sum ; and the Lon- 
 don merchant is either obliged to acquiesce in this 
 iniquitous robbery, or let his correspondent suf- 
 fer the more expensive vexations, which it is un- 
 fortunately in the power of these people to inflict. 
 If these are the maritime rights, for which, 
 
 • The right of appeal, instituted as a security against injustice, has 
 been made a most formidable instrument of what it was intended to 
 guard against. The captor almost invariably appeals when the infe- 
 rior court decrees an acquittal ! he lias, in consequence, one year cer- 
 tain, during which he can keep tlic owner in suspense, with the addi- 
 tion of any furtJier time which the injjenuity of his lawyer may gain 
 for him ; and if, iu the mean time, war is declared with the country to 
 •which the ship belongs, condemnation follows without reference to the 
 merits of the iirst capture. When war was declared against Denmark, ves- 
 sels of that country were then condemned in the court of Appeal, 
 which were detained four and five years before. An immediate and 
 sumu)ary decision is an undoubted and a principal ri^ht of neutrals ; 
 and if this practice is to be coun'enaiiced, they would be materially 
 benefited by abandoning the right of appeal altogether.
 
 96 
 
 we are told with a pompous ambiguity that 
 always avoids coming to the point, '' our an^ 
 '" cestors fought and bled," and for which " we 
 "• crushed the northern confederacy */' I am 
 strangely mistaken. It is worthy of remark, 
 that the principle contended for by that confe- 
 deracy has never received any support from 
 America, nor been the subject of discussion with 
 her. Even the broad ground of the rule of 
 1756 has never been disputed with her, be- 
 cause we never maintained that ground. — But 
 the complaints of America are, that we began 
 by suffering, and formally recognizing, a trade 
 which we have, since the year 1805, been mo- 
 lesting and harassing by the successive inven- 
 tion of the most absurd and frivolous pretexts. 
 If, at the beginning of the last war, we had 
 steadily persisted in refusing to neutrals any 
 extension of their accustomed trade, that ques- 
 tion would have been fairly at issue between us. 
 America, if she still preferred neutrality, would 
 not have entered into those extensive operations 
 which have been insidiously attacked by indirect 
 hostility. 
 
 A candid consideration of the history of this 
 trade can leave no doubt on which side the en- 
 croachments, so much talked of, began ; and 
 
 * Concessions to America, p. 23.
 
 97 
 
 instead of imputing the complaints of the Ame- 
 ricans, to their desire of availing themselves of* 
 our dangers^ for the ungenerous purpose of ad- 
 vancing extravagant pretensions, we should 
 rather accuse ourselves of taking advantage of 
 the unprotected state of her commerce, to harass 
 it by a systematic course of the most arbitrary 
 inconsistency. 
 
 The measures resorted to by America, under 
 these circumstances of provocation, were cer- 
 tainly of the mildest species of hostility, and such 
 as evidently shewed a desire of peace. A law 
 was passed prohibiting the importation of certain 
 articles of British manufacture ; by which a de- 
 monstration of commercial warfare was certainly 
 intended ; but it is such as every independent na- 
 tion, even in time of peace, has a right to resort 
 to without giving offence ; and, if the commerce 
 of America were to be materially interrupted, a 
 reduction of their importation of European ar- 
 ticles became indispensible. This law, after dif- 
 ferent suspensions, is not yet repealed. — Of its 
 wisdom as a commercial measure there may be 
 doubts, but as an annoyance of our trade, for the 
 purpose of enforcing Inspect for theirs, we have 
 no right to complain of ir 
 
 Shortly after the passing of this law, a treaty 
 was negociatcd between the two countries, which, 
 as far as it went, was a fair and equitable adjust- 
 
 o
 
 98 
 
 ment of our difleiences ; this indeed a cessation 
 of the unfriendly disposition of this Government 
 by the change of administration would of itself 
 have produced. But as in our foreign negoti- 
 ations the conduct of one administration must be 
 maintained even by their opponents, the only- 
 commercial point requiring adjustment was to 
 break in such a manner the continuity of the 
 neutral voyage from ilm colonies to the country 
 of our enemies in Europe, as to leave no room for 
 future misunderstanding. This was effectuall^r 
 done by the condition, that a small duty should be 
 imposed in America, which should not be drawn 
 back, and which had the additional sdvantafi-e 
 of increasing the charge of conveyance of colo 
 nial produce to the Continent of Europe*. 
 
 It is natural that this stipulation should dis- 
 please those who looked upon every preventive 
 of war as a misfortune. But any further ob~ 
 servations on this or other parts of the treaty 
 would be at present uninteresting, particularly 
 as it has not been ratified. The refusal, on 
 the part of America, is supposed to have been 
 principally owuig to the want of seme pro- 
 
 • Thfi trentv has not jet been published, but Ihis fact is stated bj 
 the author of Coiicessiorin lo .America the Bane of IJa!ciin,nu(i is since 
 confirmed by several publications ia America. Though (his aiithor de- 
 precates the interference of interested advisers with (he Jatc ministers^ 
 he appears to have been <kep in the secrets of the present. I think it 
 proper to state, that it is from him that 1 have the firs-t information of 
 anv part of t!iat treatjf.
 
 99 
 
 vision against taking our seamen from on board 
 her ships ; and as the importance of this subject 
 has been increased by the affair between the two 
 frigates, I shall make a few remarks on it, al- 
 though foreign to the immediate object of this 
 inquiry. 
 
 It was impossible to establish, with the poli- 
 tical separation of America from Great Britain, 
 any intelligible distinction between the inhabitj 
 ants of the two countries. The distance, how- 
 ever, prevented much inconvenience from this 
 circumstance, excepting in the case of sailors, 
 whose habitation being* no where, and every 
 where, and whose fickle disposition led them, 
 according to accident, into the service of one 
 or the other country. — As long as peaci3 con 
 tinued, no injury ensued to either party from 
 taking their seamen fi'om a joint stock; for al 
 though the most populous country was naturally 
 the principal breeder, yet this mode of du-posmg 
 of a surplus population w^as no injury, airi the 
 number of seamen, gener:illy of English charac 
 ter and habit, was incrcciscd. But a state of war 
 produced the most perplexing confusion. Our 
 seamen were desertinp; our service for that of Ame 
 rica, inconsequenceof our systMnoriinpressment; 
 and, on the other hand, the native seamen of 
 America, for want of any distinguishmg mark, 
 
 o2
 
 100 
 
 found no protection from impressment by our 
 ships of war. 
 
 With a mutual disposition and a mutual inter- 
 est to come to some fair solution of this difficult}, 
 it has hitherto been found impossible. If at 
 any future period it should be found practicable 
 to man our navy without compulsion, by adopt- 
 ing the plan of limited service, which has been 
 introduced into the army, or otherwise, sailors 
 would, after a short time, feel as little reluctance 
 to the Government as to the merchant service ; 
 for it is the unlimited confinement only which 
 makes the distinction. But this is not the time 
 for experiments with a service on which our ex- 
 istence depends. The present war at least must 
 be fought out on the present plan, and as long as 
 we are obliged to resort to impressment, it will 
 be found impossible to resign a right of taking 
 our own subjects from on board neutral mer- 
 chant vessels ; for such a resignation must tend 
 immediately to increase the evil much beyond 
 its present magnitude, by encouraging th^ de- 
 sertion which would follow, ifthe sailors thought 
 a neutral vessel an asylum from which they could 
 not be taken. The question of right on this 
 point must be overruled by the necessity of self- 
 preservation, which has been thought by the best 
 informed to be involved in it, 
 
 B ut at the same time it cannot be denied, that
 
 101 
 
 this necessary exercise of our power is an injury 
 to America of the greatest consequence, and 
 that it becomes our duty to listen to the remedies 
 which she may suggest, and adopt such as may 
 appear consistent with our own safety. It 
 ought not to surprise us, that an independent Go- 
 vernment should use every endeavour to protect 
 her own citizens from impressment, to which^ 
 with the best intentions on our part, they are fre- 
 quently exposed, or that the necessity of the 
 system we pursue should be less apparent to 
 them than to ourselves. The present practice 
 of protections, which requires that American 
 sailors should have about them certificates of 
 citizenship, though liable to great hardship and 
 abuse, is still the best remedy yet suggested, and 
 the two follow ing regulations might perhaps be 
 established without injury to this, and much to 
 the advantage of that country. First, that no 
 men should be taken out of ships on the Ameri- 
 can coast; and Secondly, that it should be the 
 ^luty of every commander, the first time he enters 
 any British port in which there shall be an Ame- 
 rican Consul, to bring before him any men he 
 may have taken out of an American ship, that 
 they may have the means afforded them of esta- 
 blishing, if they can, their American character* 
 
 * 
 
 * This subject is verj ably discussed in tiic Edinburgh Review for 
 April. I agree with the author in ever^ thing, but theefficacv of his 
 remedies.
 
 102 
 
 The pretensions to a right to search a national 
 ship for any thing, appear so generally exploded 
 and renounced by all parties^ that it is unneces- 
 sary to enter upon the subject of the rencontre 
 between the Leopard and the Chesapeak. The 
 only question that can remain must be, as to the 
 nature of the reparation to be made. 
 
 The whole question respecting seamen, which 
 this unfortunate business rendered still more per- 
 plexed, could, however, in no event have led to 
 war, if conducted with that temper and modera- 
 tion which a subject of so much delicacy and in- 
 terest to both countries required. It must be na- 
 turally offensive to the proper pride of every in- 
 dependent nation, that a particular class of its 
 people should be liable to impressment into a fo- 
 reign service, if found at sea without a certifi- 
 cate of their origin in their pockets. Far from 
 being surprised that the government of America 
 should, on a subject so important, exhibit the 
 most earnest appearances, we should, instead of 
 ascribing them to any intentions generally un- 
 friendly, rather regret the imperious necessity 
 we are under of adhering to a practice which 
 nothing but that necessity can justify.
 
 103 
 
 We have now reviewed the neutral commerce 
 of America^ and our conduct towards it, from 
 thebeginning'of the last war until the commence- 
 ment of the present administration; and it will 
 be difficult to discover those concessions on our 
 part, and those insolent incroachments on that of 
 America, with the repetition of which the news- 
 papers and publications of this country have en- 
 deavoured to inflame the public mind. We have 
 seen, on the contrary, that America never took 
 any part in the extravagant pretensions of the 
 northern powers, at whose courts she had even no 
 accredited ministers, and that her complaints of 
 the system of vexation and oppression practised 
 towards her commerce since the year 1805, were 
 but too well founded. 
 
 These details are, indeed, rendered less inte- 
 resting by the magnitude of the event which 
 we have now to consider ; but it appeared to mc 
 particularly important to place the whole sub- 
 ject in a proper light, by refuting the misrepre- 
 sentation* by which it has been studiously ob- 
 scured, and by explaining the real nature of 
 American commerce. 
 
 It was generally understood, when the present 
 administration came into power, that a decided 
 change was to take place in our conduct towards 
 ^.merica; and accordingly, after some delibera-
 
 104 
 
 tion, the Orders in Council of the I Ithof Novem- 
 ber made their appearance ; and to that country, 
 now the only remaining neutral, all the others, 
 having been successively overrun by our enemy, 
 they may be considered as solely applying. 
 
 Although the admission between independent 
 countries of the plea of necessity and self-pre- 
 servation, as an excuse for violating the rights of 
 others, is, from the certainty of its abuse, sub- 
 versive of those laws by which they are bound 
 together ; yet, when that necessity really and 
 manifestly occurs, the propriety of such a resort 
 cannot be disputed. In our present situation, 
 fighting for our existence against the most for- 
 midable power the world ever witnesssed, mea- 
 sures of a direct tendency to weaken materially 
 the military and naval force of our enemy, or 
 increase our own, might certainly, if ever, claim 
 this justification. But would it not be a more 
 frank and manly proceeding, to state, in plain 
 language, the case of necessity to the countries 
 that are to suffer ? Should we not be more likely 
 to silence thereby their objections, and secure 
 at least their tacit acquiescence, than by in- 
 sulting them, in affecting to justify, as an ordi- 
 nary and legitimate right, and to cover, by 
 flimsy pretences, what, without the most urgent 
 necessity of self-preservation, must be deemed 
 an aggression of the most gross and unprovoked
 
 105 
 
 description ? When the principle of 1756 was 
 established, the language of Lord Chatham was 
 as bold as the measure itself; and Sir Joseph 
 York, instead of searching for a justification 
 in the writers on the laws of nations, declared 
 frankly to the Dutch, '"' that his Majesty could not 
 ** otherwise get out of the war zvith safety.'' If 
 We had treated the commerce of America with 
 the same sincerity, instead of molesting it, as 
 we have seen, by a repetition of the most dis- 
 graceful chicane, that commerce would have suf- 
 fered less, and our own ends would have been 
 answered. Such an appeal to the good sense of 
 the people of that country would certainly have 
 been less likely to produce war than the sophis- 
 try with which they have been treated, and of 
 which every man in it must detect the fallacy. 
 
 These remarks, applicable to the whole of 
 our conduct, are particularly so to the manner 
 of issuing these important orders : they arc not 
 defended as measures necessary for our self-pre- 
 servation ; no appeal is made on that ground 
 to America ; she is not called upon to reflect 
 how immediately her own independence is con- 
 nected with ours ; but they are defended as a 
 just right of retaliation, arising from the com- 
 mon principles of the law of nations^ and ac- 
 
 * * 
 
 cording to their merits by this test they will 
 therefore be judged
 
 \ 
 
 106 
 
 It IS hardly possible that this important mea~ 
 sure can really, in the mind of any thinking 
 man, be justified on this ground, assumed a& 
 it is in the preamble to the Orders^ which the 
 simple statement of a few dates and a few facts 
 must entirely destroy. As the public, however, 
 appear ignorant of them, I shall endeavour to 
 explain them very shortly, and consider here- 
 after the expediency and policy of these Orders, 
 which, (although, for argument's sake, I have 
 supposed established even to a degree of neces- 
 sity for self-preservation,) I shall shew to be as 
 pernicious to this country,^ as to the neutral in- 
 volved in their destructive consequences. 
 
 Under the form of a blockade of all the ports 
 of the continent of Europe, (a form by whict? 
 we affect an adherence to the law of nations, 
 at the same time that we countenance the vio-* 
 lation of all its provisions respecting blockade, ) 
 all trade with it is interdicted, except through 
 this country, and under such fiscal and political 
 restrictions as we may think fit to impose. The 
 American merchant can no longer carry the 
 produce, even of his own soil, to any part of 
 the continent of Europe : for so extensive an 
 injury to a country, whose right of independent 
 sovereignty was violated, and whose commerce 
 was destroyed by this proceeding, it would havfe 
 been in vain to search for authorities or prece^
 
 t4 
 
 107 
 
 dents any where ; and accordingly the preamble 
 states, that 
 
 " Whereas certain orders, establishing an un- 
 " precedented system of warfare against this 
 kingdom, and aimed especially at the destruc- 
 tion of its commerce and resources, were 
 '' some time since issued by the Government of 
 ^' FrariC:. jv v 'lich '' the British islands were 
 *' declared to be in a state of blockade," thereby 
 '' subjecting to capture and condemnation all 
 '^ vessels, with their cargoes, which should con- 
 *' tinue to trade with his Majesty's dominions : 
 '' And whereas, by the same order, all trading 
 *' in English merchandize is prohibited, and 
 " every article of merchandize belonging to 
 '' England, or coming from her colonies, or of 
 ''^ her manufacture, is declared lawful prize : 
 *' And whereas nations iw alliance with France, 
 ^' and under her controul, were required to give, 
 ^' and have given, and do giv^, effect to such 
 '' orders: And whereas his Majesty's Order of 
 " the 7th of January last has not answered the 
 *' desired purpose, either of compelling the 
 *' enemy to recal those orders, or of inducing 
 ** neutral nations to interpose with effect to ob- 
 " tain their revocation, but on the contrary the 
 " same have been recently enforced with in- 
 *■' creased vigour.'* 
 
 These are the motives assigned for the order 
 
 p3
 
 108 
 
 of a general blockade, and the destruction of all 
 commerce .of neutrals with the continent of Eu- 
 rope. The other essential part of the Order, to 
 bring- in for condemnation of ship and cargo, all 
 vessels, ^thc cargoes of which shall be accompa- 
 nied bj a certificate of origin, has the following 
 preamble : 
 
 " And whereas countries, not engaged in the 
 ' war, have acquiesced in these orders of France, 
 ' prohibiting all trade in any articles, the pro- 
 ' duce or manufacture of his Majesty's domi- 
 ' nions ; and the merchants of those countries 
 ' have given countenance and effect to these 
 ' prohibitions, by accepting from persons, styl- 
 ' ing themselves commercial agents of the 
 ' enemy resident at neutral ports, certain docu- 
 ' ments styled '' certificates of origin," being 
 ' certificates obtained at the ports of shipment, 
 ' declaring that the articles of the cargo are not 
 ' of the produce and manufacture of his Maje&- 
 ' ty's dominions, or to that effect : 
 
 '' And whereas this expedient has been resort- 
 ' ed to by France, and submitted to by such 
 ' merchants as part of the new system of war- 
 '- fare directed against the trade of this king- 
 ' dom, and as the most effectual instrument of 
 ' accomplishing the same, it is therefore essen- 
 ' tially necessary to resist it:"— 
 . The question of our right to sacrifice the trade
 
 109 
 
 of a neutral here evidently depends, not on the 
 extent of injury which one belligerent has done 
 to another, but in how far that injury is inflicted 
 through the acquiescence or concurrence of 
 the neutral, in measures which it w ould have 
 been competent to that neutral to resist or in- 
 terfere with. All nations have an undoubted 
 .right to regulate their own trade in the manner 
 most for their interest, and none use that right 
 more peremptorily than ourselves, France, Spain, 
 Holland, &c. may order even in time of peace, 
 and of course in time of war, that no articles of 
 British produce or manufactures shall be re- 
 ceived into their respectivedominions, in the same 
 manner as we, at our pleasure, permit the im- 
 portation of some, and prohibit that of other ar- 
 ticles. The only remedy of any country that 
 may think itself injured, is by retaliating with 
 counter-regulations of its own trade. But no- 
 thing certainly would be more impertinent than 
 the interference of a third party. With what 
 propriety could America insist with France that 
 British manufactures should be received by her .? 
 If, therefore, France has an undoubted right to 
 enact this prohibition without giving offence to 
 the neutral, she has also a right to secure its 
 execution by such regulations as may be neces- 
 sary, and, of course, to direct that all goods 
 . imported into France shall be accompanied by a
 
 no 
 
 certificate of a French Consul atthcport oftlieir 
 shipjTient, that they are not of the produce or 
 manufacture of Great Britain or her domi- 
 nions. Even if this regulation were, which it is 
 not, an injury to the commerce of America, it 
 could not be resented by her, because France 
 has a right to prohibit totally all trade with 
 that or any other country, without giving them 
 offence. We, in many cases, require foreign 
 articles, imported into this country, to be ac- 
 companied by certificates from our Consuls 
 abroad. Nothing can, therefore, be more frivo- 
 lous than the assertion of our right to complain 
 of the acquiescence of American merchants in 
 the regulations of France, relating to certificates 
 of origin; nor is this regulation, as the preamble 
 to our Orders in Council pretends, part of a new 
 system of warfare directed against us : on the con- 
 trary, it was established on the breaking out of 
 the war by an arrete of the then First Consul, 
 dated Paris, the 30th of June, 1803, although 
 it is now for the first time brought forward as 
 aground of complaint against neutrals. 
 
 But although America cannot be expected or 
 required to interfere between the two belligerent 
 powers, by pretending to a right of determining 
 whether any, or what commercial intercourse 
 shall exist between them, yet she is undoubtedly 
 answerable for any injury the one or the other
 
 Ill 
 
 may receive from an unresented attack on her 
 fair neutral rights by either party. If France, 
 for instance, pretended to interfere with the 
 trade of America to this country, the acqui- 
 escence of the latter would be to us a fair 
 ground of complaint, and even of retaliation ; 
 as much so as America prohibiting, at our in- 
 stigation, her merchants from sending certifi- 
 cates of origin with goods destined to the Con- 
 tinent, would be an act of aggression towards our 
 enemies. 
 
 The right asserted in the preamble to our Or- 
 ders can therefore only be considered as they 
 apply to this position. France must be shewn to 
 have interfered in the trade between America and 
 our dominions, and America . knowing this in- 
 terference must have left it unresented. If this 
 really be the case, although I should then much 
 doubt the expediency of our violent retaliation, 
 our right to follow implicitly the dictates of our 
 own interest could not be disputed. But how 
 is this case made out by facts ? 
 
 The official act of the French Government^ 
 which, though not named in our Orders in Coun- 
 cil, is referred to, and quoted from, as contain 
 ing the objectionable passages, is the decree of 
 the 21^st November, 1806, issued at Berlin, after 
 the conquest and subjection of the North of
 
 113 
 
 (jcfmany. This bid, on reading it attentively, 
 appears to have been issued in a moment of ex- 
 ultation, vs^ithout any precise or definite object, 
 but all its provisions point to the intercourse 
 between Great Britain and the Continent of 
 Europe, to which the subjection of the North of 
 Germany at last gave France the hope of effec- 
 tually putting a stop. The expressions are 
 ho\Vever g(^neral; the British Islands were 
 declared to be in a state of blockade, and all 
 commerce and correspondence with them was 
 interdicted. If this was to be confined to 
 France, and such dependent Governments as 
 she could induce to act upon them, it was an 
 act of hostility in which we could not expect 
 America to interfere. But as America was also 
 embraced in the general expressions, and not ex- 
 cepted by any special clause of this act, it be- 
 came particularly interesting to ascertain whe- 
 ther she was also intended to be included, and 
 whether she would acquiesce in this violation of* 
 her neutrality, in a point of essential importance 
 to us. 
 
 This subject accordingly attracted, as it was 
 calculated to do, the immediate attention of 
 our Government. All trade from one country 
 of Europe under the influence of France to 
 another was prohibited by the judicious Order of
 
 113 » 
 
 the 7th January^ 1807. By a fair but spirited 
 representation to the American minister by the 
 Secretary of State, and again by a memorial, 
 dated 31st December, 1806, presented by Lord 
 Holland and Lord Auckland, Plenipotentiaries 
 engaged in forming a treaty with America, it 
 was formally declared, that '' if the enemy 
 " should carry his threats into execution, and 
 *' if neutral nations should;, contrary to all ex- 
 "" pectation, acquiesce in such usurpations. His 
 "^ Majesty might probably be compelled, how- 
 " ever reluctantly, to retaliate in his own just 
 ^' defence, and to issue orders to his cruizers io 
 " adopt towards the neutrals any hostile system, 
 " to which those neutrals shall have submitted 
 '' from his enemies." 
 
 Our rights could not possibly be stated in a 
 more explicit, or a more correct manner ; no 
 retaliation of the French decree took place on 
 our side, and we appear to have remained satis- 
 fied, during a whole twelvemonth, that the prac- 
 tice under it amounted to a proof, that it was 
 either tacitly abandoned, or never intended to 
 be enforced against America ; until, a total 
 change of conduct towards that country being 
 resolved on, we are informed, on the 11th of 
 November, '' that countries not engaged in the 
 war have acquiesced in the orders of France," as 
 an excuse for a most rigorous system of retalia*
 
 114 
 
 tion, Avhich, if the assertion were correct^ would 
 certainly have been justifiable. 
 
 As America is the only neutral, we may con 
 fine our inquiry to her conduct, which is ex* 
 plained by a message of the President to Con^ 
 gress, on the 19th February, 1807, in which he 
 says, " I inclose also a letter from our Minister 
 " Plenipotentiary at Paris, Covering one to him 
 " from the Minister of Marine of that Govern- 
 " ment, assuring him that the Imperial Decree 
 " lately passed was not to affect our commerce^ 
 " which would still be governed by the rules of 
 '' the treaty established between the two coun- 
 " tries." The letter inclosed perfectly justified 
 this representation of the President. It appears 
 that the American Minister at Paris, properly 
 alive to the interests and character of his country, 
 did not wait for any instructions from his govern- 
 ment, but, before even he could have known our 
 intentions and the conditions affixed to our retalia- 
 tion, demanded, asearly as the 10th of December, 
 at Paris, an explanation of the Decree, which 
 had appeared at Berlin only nineteen days before. 
 The answer must have entirely satisfied him ; it 
 expresses distinctly " That an American vessel 
 " cannot be taken at sea for the mere reason that 
 '' she is going to or coming from a port of Eng- 
 '^ land ;" and the general tenor of it confirms the 
 opinion before suggested, that the Berlin Decree
 
 115 
 
 Nvas never intended to operate beyond the imme- 
 diate intercourse between this country and the 
 continent*. 
 
 * Copjof a letterfiom Mons. Decres, Minister of Marine and of the 
 Colonies, to General Armstrong, American Minister at Paris, (iated 
 24th December, 180(5. 
 
 I hasten to answer the note jou did me the honour to address to me 
 on the 20th of this month. 
 
 I consider the Imperial Decree of the 2 1st of November last as thus 
 far convejing no modificatio!i of the reg:ulations at present observed 
 in France with regard to neutral navigators, nor consequentlj of the 
 Convention of the 30th of September, 1800, (8 Vendemiaire, Uth 
 >ear) with the U. S. of America. 
 
 But although bj this answer the four questions, upon which your 
 Excellency has desired to know my opinion, have been implicitly re- 
 solved, I think 1 can add, that the declaration expressed by the 1st 
 article of the Decree of the 21st of November, not at all changing 
 the present French laws concerning maritime captures : there is no 
 reason for inquiring what interpretation, restriction, or extension may 
 be given to this article. 
 
 2dly, That seizures contrary to the existing regulations concerning 
 cruizers, will not be allowed to the captors, 
 
 3dly, That an American vessel cannot be taken at sea for the mere 
 reasoa that she is going to a port of England, or is returijing froni 
 one, because, conformably with the 7th article of th» said Decree, 
 •we are limited in France not to admit vessels coming from England or 
 the English colonies. 
 
 4thly, That the provisions of the 2d and 5 th articles of the said 
 Decree naturally apply to foreign citizens domiciliated in France, or in 
 the countries occupied by the troops of his majesty the Emperor and 
 King, in as much as they have the character of a jrcneral law ; but 
 that it will be proper that your Excellency should communicate with 
 the Minister of Exterior Relations as to what concerns the correspond- 
 ence of the citizens of the U. S. of America with England. 1 pray 
 your Excellency, &c. DECRES. 
 
 P. S. It will not escape General Armstrong, that my answers cannot 
 have the developement which they would receive from the Minister of 
 Exterior Relations; that it is naturally to him that he ought to ad- 
 dress himself for these explanations, which I am very happy to give 
 him, because he wishes them, but upon which I have much less posi- 
 tive information than the Prince of Benevento. 
 
 Q 2
 
 116 
 
 It is to be presumedj that some communication 
 must have taken place between our Government 
 and that of America, if any doubt remained re- 
 specting her acquiescence in this Decree ; and if 
 we were not satisfied with the notorious fact, 
 that no condemnation of an American vessel 
 had ever taken place under it, and that so little 
 did the French privateers interfere with the trade 
 of America with this country, that the insurance 
 on it has been very little higher than in times of 
 profound peace, while that on the American 
 trade with the continent of Europe has at the 
 same time been doubled, and even trebled, by 
 the conduct of our cruizers. 
 
 Unless, therefore, his Majesty's Ministers 
 have some information of which the public is 
 not possessed, and which contradicts the very 
 clear evidence the public do possess, we must 
 conclude, that the assertions in the Orders of 
 Council, that America had been guilty of that 
 acquiescence in the decrees of France which 
 was to draw down, and has drawn down upon 
 her, our menaced retaliation, is totally void of 
 foundation. 
 
 Jt can hardly be necessary to point out, that 
 the French Decree of the 26th of last December, 
 issued in consequence of our Orders in Council, 
 can afford no justification of them, nor would it 
 be necessary here to allude to it, but from the
 
 117 
 
 general disposition of the public papers to con 
 found all the transactions together, for the obvi- 
 ous purpose of deception. If what has been 
 stated be correct;, that our orders in Council are 
 not justified by any previous provocation, they 
 must be evidently acts of original aggression, 
 and France has retaliated much in the same 
 manner, and with the same right, as we should 
 ourselves have done, had the Berlin Decree beei^ 
 rigidly executed. 
 
 This general view of our conduct towards 
 America, w^hich we have now closed, and espe- 
 cially the last and most important scene of it, ex- 
 hibits, 1 fear, the very reverse of those encroach- 
 ments on her part, and of concessions on ours, 
 which have been so industriously repeated to lead 
 the public blindfold to the approbation of a pro- 
 ceeding, as void of honour and good faith, as of 
 any rational calculation of policy. 
 
 The prize should indeed be great that we are 
 to obtain by such a sacrifice of national charac- 
 ter. But before 1 proceed to consider its value, 
 and to explain the pernicious effects of these 
 new measures to ourselves, I shall close this 
 part of my subject with some remarks on the
 
 ' 118 
 
 probable conduct which they are likely to pro- 
 duce in America. 
 
 The citizens of the United States are cer- 
 tainly, as the author of " War in Disguise" tells 
 us, " a sagacious people," and, perhaps, of all 
 others the most likely to discover their own inte- 
 rests, and not to be diverted by enthusiasm of 
 any sort from steadily pursuing it. But they 
 cannot fail to see through the flimsy veil which 
 we have thrown over our conduct, and to be sen- 
 sible of the insult it adds to the serious injuries 
 inflicted on them, 
 
 If the present were an ordinary war, which, 
 like former ones, might be ended by the transfer 
 of a sugar island to one side or the other, the 
 wishes at least of a sound American politician 
 would certainly bp against us. The balance of 
 power by land interest^ him no farther than as it 
 may ultimately affect the balance by sea : in 
 the latter he is deeply interested, and niuch of 
 the merit of our just complaints against the 
 usurpations of France on the Continent, must 
 be lost on him, when the sufferings of his own 
 country convince him that the abuse of abso- 
 lute power is inseparable from its existence. 
 During a considerable period of the last and 
 present war, we have indeed respected the rights 
 of those not concerned in it; but the con-
 
 119 
 
 duct even of France, can furnish few stronger 
 proofs of a disregard of them, and of more fri^ 
 volous pretences by which they have been in- 
 vaded, than may be found in our conduct in 
 1805, and still more in the recent measures 
 which we have been considering. 
 
 Still> however, an American, who can take 
 a just view of the state of Europe and the 
 true interests of his country, must feel ex- 
 tremely reluctant to be forced into a war with 
 us : He must be aware, that the contest is 
 really for our existence ; that the conquest of 
 this country, if not followed by that of his 
 own, must irretrievably destroy that balance, 
 on which his right to treat with the nations of 
 Europe as with equals, must depend. The 
 decrees of the lords of the ocean may be unjust 
 and oppressive, but they are still mild, when 
 contrasted with the mere sic volo which would 
 issue from the court of the universal sovereign of 
 both elements. It must also occur to him that 
 the very great naval preponderance of this 
 country cannot be lasting ; that it would not 
 even be required if our existence did not depend 
 upon it ; and that our situation and disposition 
 forbid the possibility of European aggrandize- 
 ment ; but that, on the contrary, the system of 
 universal dominion, now contended for by our 
 enemy, if once firmly established, has every
 
 120 
 
 prospect of permanency. In siich a war, there- 
 fore, America would be fighting; against her 
 most decided interest, and any success she might 
 obtain would, in proportion to its importance, 
 by destroying with her own hands the rampart 
 that protects her, accelerate her own ruin. 
 
 I believe these opinions prevail very generally 
 with all thinking men in America ; and al- 
 though the popular prejudices of those who do 
 not think, which in all countries are in favour of 
 novelty and violence, may, through our errors, 
 carry their country with spirit into the war, it 
 will be a subject of deep and sincere regret to 
 those wh6 are capable of sober reflection. I be- 
 lieve that America, by fair and proper treat- 
 ment, and by care on our part to avoid all cause 
 of popular irritation, might have been induced 
 to consent to such sacrifices as our safety 
 really required. The crooked policy of plead- 
 ing a right which we had not, instead of 
 tiecessity, has induced them to j udge our con- 
 duct by the former test, where it has been 
 found wanting, and to neglect the latter consi- 
 deration, to which we have never called their 
 attention. It might not indeed be easy to make 
 them understand what urgent means of defence 
 or of annoyance could arise to us, by stopping 
 their trade in sugar and coffee, and still less that 
 in the produce of their own soil, or from gratify-
 
 121 
 
 iiig at their expense- the senseless, and to them 
 insultins: clamour of our West India merchants, 
 to exclude them from markets to which we could 
 not go ourselves. In estimating- the value to 
 us of such sacrifices^ the American, acquainted 
 with the commerce of his country, not only 
 would not discover the necessity which justified 
 the demand, but must see the injury, even to our- 
 selves, that must i^esult from consenting to it *. 
 
 Many speculative opinions have lately been 
 published on the character and dispositions of 
 the people of America, upon which correspond- 
 ing predictions of their conduct have been 
 founded ; by some they are considered as hostile 
 to us, while others tell us of the conflicting 
 efforts of an English and a French party. A 
 residence of some years in that country 
 will perhaps justify me in hazarding an opi- 
 nion on a subject not unimportant in our present 
 situation. 
 
 * While Ihe tenacious disposition of the American Government, 
 respecting maritime riglits, is unjusfly complained of, they, >vho (liiiik. 
 she should make allowance for our particular situation, use the 
 strongest arguments in favour of that tenacity which '.hey condenm. 
 Theauthor of " War in Disguise" concludes, that neutrals admit as lawful 
 every violation of their rights, which thev do not resent hv war. " The 
 " neutral powers ha\e all assented to the rule of ihe war of 175() in 
 " point of principle, h_y suhmitlin,:; to its partial applicition ;" and the 
 preamhle to the Orders ia Council, denouncing the heavy penalty in- 
 curred by " acquiescence of neutrals in a violation of their rights," 
 shews sufTiciiently the necessity of a punctilious atfciition to trillin 
 iuvasioas< 
 
 R
 
 122 
 
 There arc undoubtedly in America many 
 people svho entertain a decided partiality for this 
 countrj, and for a close political connection 
 with it. There are others, on the contrary, with 
 equally decided antipathies against us. Both 
 these classes are principally composed of natu- 
 ralized Europeans, who are very numerous, and 
 are the grevd political agitators of the country. 
 The emigrations from England are principally 
 owing to necessity or discontent, inseparable 
 from an overflowing population ; and those much 
 more numerous from Treland, where we have 
 unfortunately not yd discovered the secret of 
 making the great mass of the people love the 
 Government under which they live, carry with 
 them their hatred, which bursts out into increas- 
 ed violence from the absence of restraints. 
 
 But although the opposite opinions ofthcse two 
 classes fill the public newspapers w ith ever}' spe- 
 cies of extravagance*, the real Americans, who 
 
 * Complaints of tlie licentiousness of the American press conn; 
 •with a very ill grace from this country, and it would not be easy to 
 reconcile the indignation expressed in" War in Disguise" at those " false 
 , and incendiary paragraplis, hy which England, iu spite of her extreme 
 indulgence, is insulted" in America, p. 189 ; with the increased indig- 
 nation with which, FpcaKing of Bonaparte, p. 222, it is asked, 
 " Had he not even the audacity to remonstrate to his Majest_y's Go- 
 *' vcrnment, against the freedom of our newspapers, and to demand 
 " that our press should l)e restrained ?'^ This contradiction sufDciently 
 shews, with what a different temper, a country, like an individual, it 
 the author or the object of abuse, and 1 must confess that I can see no 
 jnjury, but, on the contrary, much good that might have resulted from 
 a proper and constitutional attention to this audacious remonstrance.
 
 12^ 
 
 yc^ 
 
 have never been out of their own countrv, take 
 little part in them, and their viev/s of policy are 
 g-enerallj governed by their opinions of its true 
 interest, without caring otherwise much about 
 what is passing in Europe. If there be any bias, 
 it is probably in our favour ; the sympathy na- 
 turally arising from language, manners, and a 
 common (extraction, is shewn in a decided pre- 
 ference to us as individuals : " Daus toute la 
 '' partie de TAmerique quej'ai parcourue," says 
 Mons. Talleyrand, ''je n'ai pas trouve un seul 
 " Anglais qui nc se trouvat Americain, pas un 
 . '' seul Francais qui ne se trouvat etranger. " The 
 study of the same authors, the existence of the 
 same laws, insures a general respect and regard 
 for this country, inseparable from similar feelings 
 towards themselves ; and perhaps these circum- 
 stances might have been improved for political 
 purposes, if we had not, since the existence of 
 the independent Government of America, treat- 
 ed it with a studied and repulsive hauleiLr. 
 
 We have, upon the whole, e\Qvy reason to ex- 
 pect that the political conduct of America on 
 this occasion will be purely American ; and it 
 is to be feared, perhaps, that in resenting the in- 
 juries which she has sustained, her respect for 
 the power of this country will rather lead her 
 to undervalue our dangers in the contest in 
 which we arc engaged. It is not surprising that 
 
 r2
 
 124 
 
 no high opinion of the power of France should 
 be entertained in a country where her flag is sel- 
 dom seen, but in the humiliating state of flying 
 for shelter from an inferior enemy. 
 
 To the numbers which may go against us 
 from policy, many may certainly be added from 
 resentment for personal suff'erings, especially 
 in the sea-ports. It w ould probably be no exag- 
 geration to say, that upwards of three-fourths of 
 all the merchants, seamen, &c. engaged in com- 
 merce or navigation in America, have, at some 
 time or other, suffered from acts of our cruizers, 
 which to them have appeared unjust, and which 
 frequently must have been so. The unfriendly 
 disposition of American captains, seamen, &c. 
 therefore, though by no means universal, is 
 easily accounted for. People of that descrip- 
 tion are not likely to understand the danger 
 to be apprehended from distant consequences, 
 which, in all republican governments, are doomed 
 to give way to more immediate impressions 
 and sensations ; they read, it is true, of the 
 power of France, but they feel every day that 
 of Britain. 
 
 Among those American^ who are really dis- 
 posed to study the interest of their country, dif- 
 ferent opinions have prevailed of the value of 
 foreign commerce. The people of New Eng- 
 land, and of the North, are generally desirous of
 
 125 
 
 giving the greatest possible extent to it ; while 
 those of the South and West are in favour of an 
 opinion^ that it is only valuable in as far as it 
 assists agriculture, by exchanging the superflu- 
 ous produce of the farmer for those of foreign 
 countries ; and that the large fortunes accumu- 
 lated in the commercial towns by merchants 
 engaged in indirect foreign trade, are rather an 
 injury than a benefit to the country. The state of 
 Virginia, in particular, has acted systematically 
 upon this opinion, and the Legislature, by refus- 
 ing to charter banks and other commercial esta- 
 blishments, has, without any avowal of a positive 
 system,^ given every discouragement to com- 
 merce ; and the consequence has been, that the 
 trade of that state, and North Carolina, is princi 
 pally confined to theexport of their own produce*. 
 One of the principal supporters of this sys- 
 tem is Mr. Randolph, whose speech in Congress 
 has been eagerly circulated in this country with 
 very mistaken ideas of his views and opinions, 
 which are in general unfriendly to us, or rather 
 to that predilection for commerce which he con- 
 siders to be in a great degree owing to the con- 
 
 * The foHo>?ing statement of the value of the exports of forei,"?n and 
 domestic produce from the States of Massacliusctts, Virginia, and North 
 Caroh'na, for the ^ear 1 i'05, -will shew this consequence more ctearl.y : 
 
 Ofdvmestic produce. Of foreign produce. 
 
 jVIassachuscttJ exported <£ 1,280,000 - - - o£'3,0S0,G00 
 
 Virginia - - - - 1 , 1 ] 2,000 ... - J 48,000 
 
 North Carolina - - - 172,000 ., - - - 2,800
 
 ,126 
 
 neclion and intercourse with us. The principles 
 of this gentleman and his followers, who are 
 numerous and respectable, are, that encourage- 
 ment should alone be given to the trade in the 
 productions of their own soil, and that no other 
 commerce should be maintained against any 
 foreign power at the risk of war. This, like all 
 other systems, is by many carried to an absurd 
 extreme. We should probably judge it un- 
 fairly by any European standard ; but it could 
 not be found wanting in plausibility at least, by 
 those who are acquainted with the simple cha- 
 racter of the political institutions of America, 
 and who must be aware how much the preserva- 
 tion of that character of perfect equality must 
 depend on an equality of fortunes, which com- 
 merce has a direct tendency to destroy. 
 
 We are told, that this difference of opinion 
 between what is called the Agricultural and 
 Commercial interests in America, will always 
 prevent her from engaging in any war with the 
 unanimity necessary to render it successful. 
 This must, of course, be a very speculative 
 question. I am, on the contrary, disposed to 
 entertain a high opinion of the public spirit of 
 America, and to expect the vigorous co-opera- 
 tion of every part of the union in any foreign 
 war, when once undertaken ; the quarrels of po- 
 litical parties in Congress can with as little jus-
 
 127 
 
 tice be relied upon, as indications of the con- 
 trary, as our own party disputes would justify 
 any inference unfavourable to our universal re- 
 sistance against external enemies. 
 
 I see no benefit that Great Britain could derive 
 from the dissolution of the present Federal Go- 
 vernment in America, but, on the contrary, every 
 reason to think that no other state of that coun- 
 try would be equally favourable to us. The con- 
 stitution of the United States insures to the 
 world a general adherence to a system of peace; 
 for although it might be found sufficient for de- 
 fensive war, it is evidently not calculated for the 
 support of large naval and military establish- 
 ments, which views of ambition would require. 
 Any division of the countries would also produce 
 a partial compression of the population in parti- 
 cular districts, which, being now spread over an 
 immense extent, must long make it their interest 
 to import their manufactures from Europe. 
 
 Expectations, therefore, of a dissolution of 
 the union by war, are founded as little in proba- 
 bility as in sound policy. But if any reliance is 
 placed by our Government on the dissensions in 
 that country, the most effectual step has certainly 
 been taken to prevent tliem; and the American 
 patriot will probably see with pleasure, that if 
 he must have war, the provocation is of a nature
 
 128 ■ 
 
 to unite every prejudice, and every real interest of 
 his country. By attempting to confine the Euro- 
 pean trade of America to Great Britain, and by 
 the avowal of an intention to tax that trade on its 
 passage to the continent, we are returning to those 
 principles to which, even as a colony, she would 
 not submit. It is immaterial whether it be a tax 
 on stamps or on cotton: this question has already 
 been the subject of a long and bloody war, and 
 it can hardly be supposed that America will now 
 submit to a direct attack on her sovereign and in 
 dependent rights. 
 
 For the question of our right to search mer 
 chant ships for our seamen, provided a proper 
 apology were made for the attack on their ship 
 of war, I believe few Americans would be dis- 
 posed to go to war. 
 
 Even the assertion of the rule of 1756, if it 
 had been brought forward early in the w ar, be- 
 fore America had fitted out an immense commer- 
 mercial marine; if it had been equally enforced 
 against other neutral powers ; and if effectual 
 means had been devised to secure from molesta- 
 tion their accustomed peace trade; would have 
 left a very large portion of the American people 
 averse to war. 
 
 But the vigorous framers of our Orders in 
 Council, disdaining the benefits which might
 
 129 
 
 be derived from disuniting their enemy, have^ by 
 devoting* to the same indiscriminate destruction 
 the interest of the farmer, of the merchant, and 
 of every description of persons, taken effectual 
 care to prevent that disunion, which their advo- 
 cates affect to expect. 
 
 The Americans, interested in the commerce 
 in foreign productions, will see it destroyed by 
 measures, which equally deprive the agriculturer 
 of a market for his produce. That the permis- 
 sion given by us to re-export it from our great 
 emporium to the Continent of Europe, must be 
 nugatory, and that acquiescence on the part of 
 America, in the usurpations of this country, must 
 produce war with France, are circumstances of 
 which little doubt could ])e entertained, before 
 we were told so by the Paris newspapers. Great, 
 therefore, as is our naval power, the produce of 
 America will, perhaps, find a foreign market, as 
 easily in opposition to our warfare, as through 
 the means that might be expected froni peace 
 upon the terms we offer. 
 
 War, then, there is every reason tQ apprehend, 
 must be the infallible consequence of these mea- 
 sures ; and perhaps of all the foolish and impoli- 
 tic wars recorded in history, not one could be 
 found to equ^l this, nor any two nations whose 
 manifest policy more decidedly pointed to a sys- 
 tem of peace and good understanding. It would 
 
 8
 
 130 
 
 be a didlciil't task to decide r.pon the various, 
 estimates wbich have been formed of the com- 
 parative disadvantages to Great Britain and 
 America; but so far is certain;, that it must be a 
 great and unqualified injury to both^, and a most 
 decided and permanent benefit to our great ene- 
 my ; whoj forming an opinion widely differing' 
 from ourS;, of the consequences of the increasing 
 wealth and commerce of America, feels almost 
 as great an interest in their destructioUj as in 
 that of the commerce of any county of England ; 
 nor can he fail to feel a malicious satisfaction 
 in seeing this work of self-destruction performed 
 with our own hands*. 
 
 The comprehensive nature of the injury which 
 America must suffer from our system, by leaving 
 no class of its population unaffected by it, affords 
 little hope of the interference of any for the pre- 
 servation of peace. The great interest which ^ 
 
 * The opinions of France on tliis subject maj be coFrectly ascer- 
 tained by a perusal of the Me moire sur Ics Relations Commerciales des 
 EtalS'Unis avec VAnglelerre, hy Mons. Talleyrand, read at the Na- 
 tional Institute in 1796. The whole of this memoir is highly in- 
 teresting at the present moment, not only from the important situation 
 of the author, whose intentions at the time of publication could be 
 liable to no suspicion, but from its generai merit. Those who are 
 acquainted with America will not fail to recognize in this small publi- 
 cation, a more correct and profound knowledge of that country, and 
 its commercial relations, than in all the volumes of the numerouj 
 Iravellers, who have described it. It should make us more thaa 
 eommonly cautious in our treatment of America, when we reflect hoit 
 much our adversary is at home with this subject.
 
 131 
 
 country, still possessing the means of indepen- 
 dence, should feel in the preservation of ours, 
 will be lost in the more immediate and percepti- 
 ble consequences of our own folly and injustice. 
 It is, however, to be hoped, that an interest 
 and a policy so obvious to America, will not be 
 lost sight of by true friends to their country, and 
 that, on our part, by an early discovery of our 
 errors, which it can take but a short time to 
 make, both countries may again return to that 
 union and good understanding which, although 
 I fear beyond immediate recover}-, may by temper 
 and moderation be hereafter restored. 
 
 The circumstances, v.hich have been ex- 
 amined in detail, will, I hope, satisfy the reader, 
 that the system of hostility, recommended and 
 practised towards the commerce of America, and 
 which has, at last, been carried by the Orders of 
 Council to such an extreme, as to bring us to the 
 eve of war, cannot be justified by any pretended 
 disposition on the part of tliat country to in- 
 croach on our just rights, or to undermine our 
 power at this very critical period. Had a doubt 
 remained on this point, it would indeed hav« 
 been idle to have entered into ajiy estimate of 
 commercial consequences; not oidy because the 
 
 s2
 
 132 
 
 high and undaunted character of our country is 
 the most precious treasure which we have to 
 preserve, and the best guardian of our safety; 
 but because, submission from such mfttivcs 
 would have tempted a repetition of pretensions, 
 that must have ended at last in the war which we 
 wanted to avoid. 
 
 It must, on the contrary, be evident from the 
 whole tenor of our proceedings, that commercial 
 interest has been our moving principle through- 
 out; that every demonstration of the slightest 
 hostility on the other side has originated in our 
 attempts to advance that interest, by violating 
 the rights and interests of others ; and that if we 
 are at last called upon to take up arms, it is on 
 our part a quarrel about sugar and coffee, and 
 not in support of national honour. 
 
 I shall now, therefore, examine the correct- 
 ness of our calculation on this occasion as mer- 
 chants, which will be best done by supposing, in 
 the first instance, that our measures do not pro- 
 duce war with America, but that they have, on 
 the contrary, the consent and co-operation of that 
 country. I shall afterwards shortly allude to the 
 more obvious consequences of a state of actual 
 war; but it is important first to shew, that even 
 under the most favourable circumstances, our 
 jiew system must be eminently mischievous. 
 It has been justly observed by many authors
 
 133 
 
 as a singular circumstance, that the conduct of 
 most statesmen, who, unfortunately for our com 
 merce, have made it their peculiar care, has been 
 directly opposed to the generally received ax- 
 ioms of political economy ; and that although 
 every writer would in our days deprecate the 
 interfering regulations of bounties and monopo- 
 lies, and the busy meddling of those, who think 
 they can settle artificially the many complicat- 
 ed relations between the industrious classes of 
 a state ; yet such has been the temptation to 
 try some favourite experiment, and such is the 
 opinion of their own abilities, which people are 
 naturally disposed to entertain, that a justi- 
 fication is easily found in their own minds for 
 that deviation from sound and established max- 
 ims, which in others they would be the first to 
 disapprove. The only beneficial care a Govern- 
 ment can take of commerce, is to afford it gene- 
 ral protection in time of war, tt) remove by trea- 
 ties the restrictions of foreign Governments in 
 time of peace, and cautiously to abstain from any, 
 however plausible, of their own creating. If 
 every law of regulation, either of our internal or 
 external trade, were repealed, with the exception 
 of those necessary for the collection of revenue, 
 it would be an undoubted benefit to commerce, 
 as well as to the community at large. An avowed
 
 131 
 
 system of leaving things to take their own course^ 
 and of not listening to the interested solicitations 
 of one class or another for relief, whenever the 
 imprudence of speculation has occasioned losses, 
 would, sooner than any artificial remedy, re-pro- 
 duce that equilibrium of demand and supply, 
 which the ardor of gain will frequently derange, 
 but which the same cause, when left alone, will 
 as infallibly restore. 
 
 The interference of the political regulator in 
 these cases, is not only a certain injury to other 
 classes of the community, but generally so to that, 
 in whose favour it is exercised. If too much 
 sugar be manufactured in Jamaica, or too much 
 cotton in Manchester, the loss of those concern- 
 ed will soon correct the mischief; but if forced 
 means are devised to provide for the former a 
 temporary increase of demand, which cannot be 
 permanently secured, a recurrence to that natu- 
 ral state of fair profit, which is most to be desir- 
 ed by the planter, is artificially prevented by the 
 very means intended for his relief. And if the 
 cotton manufacturer, on the other hand, is to 
 liave his imprudences relieved, at the expense of 
 those employed on linen, silk, wool, or other ma- 
 terials, the injustice as well as impolicy of such 
 a remedy need no illustration. 
 
 There is nothing new^ in these opinions. They
 
 135 
 
 ^fe those of every writer on political economy : 
 They have the assent of all who talk on the 
 subject ; and it would have been useless to 
 repeat them, but that they are in direct oppo- 
 sition to the general conduct of our Government, 
 and are, more immediately and extensively than 
 ever, violated by the new system we are consi- 
 dering*. Whenever the assistance of Government 
 is called for bv any class of traders or manufac- 
 turers_, it is usual to make the most splendid dis- 
 play of the importance of that particular branch 
 to the nation at large. The West and East 
 India interests, the ship owners, the manufac- 
 turers, the American merchants, have all the 
 means of making these brilliant representations ; 
 but it should be recollected, that the interest of 
 the state consists in the prosperity of the whole, 
 that it is contrary to sound policy to advance one 
 beyond its natural means, and still moretodo soat 
 the expense of the others ; and the only mode of 
 ascertaining the natural limits of each is, to leave 
 them all alone. Our West India planters supply 
 us with their produce to the fuUextent of our wants, 
 but, say they, — " if you will go to war with the 
 '* Americans, who are the principal consumers of 
 '' vour domestic manufactures, and furnishers of 
 '' the raw "materials for them, we shall raise sugar 
 '' and coffee for the whole Continent of Europe, 
 '' and we will prove to you from the custom house
 
 136 
 
 *' returns, that the benefit to be derived from the 
 *' increase of our plantations will more than com- 
 " pensate any loss the interruption of your inter- 
 " course with America can produce." Supposuig 
 the planters could prove their position, in which, 
 however, they are totally mistaken, would it 
 thence follow, that it would be for the interest 
 of the state, to increase to an enormous extent the 
 manufacture of sugar by slaves in the West In- 
 dies, at the expense of those carried on by our own 
 people, on the produce principally of our own 
 soil ? The necessity which the planters would in 
 this instance be under to have recourse to the 
 interference of power, would, without further 
 examination, sufficiently prove, that they are 
 themselves as much deceived, as we should be in 
 listening to them. 
 
 . The effect of power must necessarily be tem- 
 porary ; we cannot continue eternally at war 
 with America, nor keep the produce of the fo- 
 reign colonies for ever locked up : The re-action, 
 therefore, from this forced state of things, when 
 the pressure of power is removed, must inevitably 
 produce that general distress which they, who 
 derange by poisonous nostrums the healthful 
 state of the general economy of a nation, must 
 both expect and deserve. 
 
 If it were not an undoubted fact, that our pre- 
 sent measures have originated principally, if not
 
 137 
 
 wholly, in the persevering representations of the 
 West India interest, I should confine myself to 
 these general observations on this part of my 
 subject ; but as there are still advocates (in prac- 
 tice at least), for measuring out in a privy coun- 
 cil how many people shall be employed in mak- 
 ing sugar, how many in making cloth, or in agri- 
 culture, I shall examine shortly the narrower 
 ground of apparent interest, which is even as 
 singularly adverse to the present measures as the 
 more comprehensive and liberal considerations 
 of policy. 
 
 This inquiry will be rendered more intelligible, 
 by introducing here an explanation of the nature 
 and extent of the commercial intercourse of 
 America with Great Britain, and with other 
 parts of the world. The origin of the inde- 
 pendent commerce of that country, and the 
 course which it had taken during this and the 
 last war, have been already stated; the whole 
 subject will now be better explained by 
 figures. 
 
 The last report to Congress, on the 6th of No- 
 vember, 1807, of the state of the finances for the 
 preceding year, although it gives simply a state- 
 ment of articles consumed in the country, and 
 not of those re-exported, justifies, when we com- 
 pare it with former returns, the estimate of the 
 
 T
 
 138 
 
 importations of the produce and manufactures of 
 Great Britain, at about ten millions sterling, 
 wliicli agrees also with the calculations] on this 
 side, although, from the mode of entry in both 
 countries, they are liable to error. 
 
 It bacomes interesting to consider what pro 
 portion our trade with America bears to that of 
 other countries, that we may form some idea of the 
 benefits to be derived from the estabiishment of 
 independent colonies, and from the neutral state 
 of those colonies, if they may still be called so^ 
 in times of war. As there is a disposition to 
 value highly the commercial benefits of our ene- 
 mies, and to consider them as losses to our- 
 selves, I shall also endeavour to shew what they 
 are when compared with our own. Such an esti- 
 mate will give a general insight into the whole 
 subject, and I am able to give it correctly from 
 a very clear report made to Congress in 1806, 
 previously to the passing of the Non-Importation 
 Act. This return is of the average of the three 
 years, 1803, 1803, and 1804. The whole scale 
 of imports and exports have since increased, 
 but there is no reason to suppose the proportions 
 have varied. The figures I shall state in round 
 sums, and in English money, taking the dollars 
 at 4:s. 6d.
 
 139 
 
 ^he amount of annual importation 
 into the United States from all 
 parts of the world, was - £ 16,950,000 
 
 c 
 _o 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 u 
 
 <y 
 
 « /^Of which, from the dominions 
 
 of Great Britain - - - 8,093,000 
 Holland, France, Spain, and 
 
 Italy ----.- 5,731,000 
 ~ . Northern Powers, Prussia, and 
 M Germany ----- 1,596,000 
 Portugal - .. - - - 249,000 
 
 China, and other Native 
 
 Powers of Asia - - - 1,093,000 
 I \^A11 other Countries - - 188,000 
 
 £ 16.950,000 
 
 bo 
 
 u 
 
 The value of the importations from the domi- 
 nions of Great Britain was therefore equal to 
 that from all the countries of Europe and their 
 colonies together, including the sugar and cof- 
 fee for their own consumption, and for exporta- 
 tion, which are almost exclusively furnished by 
 by those colonies. 
 
 Of this value imported, manufactures of cot- 
 ton, wool, silk, leather, glass, iron, paper, &c. 
 constituted about £ 9,000,000, and came from 
 *he following countries : 
 
 t2
 
 140 
 
 The dominions of Great Britain £ 6,845,000 
 
 Russia - - 280,000 
 
 Germany, Sweden, and Denmark - 550,000 
 
 Holland - - - - - - 255,000 
 
 France ^ - - - . - - 275,000 
 
 Spain, Portugal, and Italy - - - 270,000 
 
 China - 525,000 
 
 £ 9,000,000 
 
 Thus we see, that notwithstanding European 
 manufactured articles are admitted from all coun- 
 tries at the same rate of duties, and although the 
 balance of trade is in favour of America with the 
 Continent, and against her with this country, 
 yet that France does not furnish one twenty- 
 fourth part, and all Europe collectively not one 
 fourth part of the amount imported from this 
 country. 
 
 The exports from America, on an 
 average of the same years, 
 amounted to .-.,,£ 15,400,000 
 
 Of which, in domestic produce - 9,000,000 
 In foreign produce re-exported - 6,400,000
 
 141 
 
 They were distributed in the following man- 
 ner : 
 
 To the dominions of Great Britain £ 5,200,000 
 
 Viz. In Europe - £ 3,525,000 
 
 Asia - - 29,000 
 
 The West Indies 1,458,000 
 
 North America - 188,000 
 
 To the dominions of all the other 
 
 European Powers - - - 10,200,000 
 
 £ 15,400,000 
 
 The balance, which this statement would leave 
 against America, must arise from the mode of 
 stating the accounts. Probably it is in her fa- 
 vour, but not much, as her demand for European 
 articles will naturally be regulated by her means 
 of paying for them. 
 
 The foreign produce re-exported, amounting 
 to a^6,400,000, consisted of the following arti- 
 cles, viz. 
 
 Manufactured Goods £ 2,200,000 
 Coffee ----- 1,695,000 
 Sugar ----- 1,300,000 
 All other articles - - 1,205,000 
 
 ^6,400,000
 
 The chief article, therefore^ of re-exportaiiorii 
 and of indirect trade, is the manufactures of Eu- 
 rope, three-fourths of which, it has been shewn, 
 are from this country, and thus find their way to 
 different parts ofthe world to which we have no 
 access. 
 
 From Great Britain and her depen- 
 dencies, wc have seen that Ame- 
 rica imports the value of - ^ 8,093,000 
 
 That she exports to them - - 5,200,000 
 
 Leavinfi* a balance in our favour of £ 2,893,000 
 
 which must be paid to us by the Continent of 
 Europe from the proceeds of consignments from 
 America to Holland, France, Spain, Italy, &c. 
 and which we know to be the case by the large 
 remittances received from those countries for 
 American account. If America were excluded 
 from all communication with the Continent of 
 Europe, she would not have the means of paying 
 this surplus, but would be forced to confine her 
 demand for our articles to what our consumption 
 of her own would enable her to pay for, , 
 
 This balance of debt to us, which America 
 pays from her intercourse with the Continent, and 
 which is calculated on the average of three:
 
 143 
 
 jears ending in 1804, must now be estimated 
 much higher. In the first place^ our exports are 
 considerably increased^ and for the sale of a great 
 portion of the articles imported from thence we 
 rely on foreign markets, which we are no longer 
 able to procure : — Upwards of one half of the 
 tobacco we import is re-exported, as must ne- 
 cessarily be nearly all the articles not the growth 
 of America, which cannot be imported for home 
 consumption. It should also be observed, that 
 the three years above-mentioned included one of 
 extraordinary scarcity in this country, during 
 which our importation of provisions was unusu- 
 ally large; so that, upon the whole, it would pro- 
 bably be no exaggeration to say, that we should 
 draw from the continent of Europe between four 
 and five millions sterling annually, in return for 
 the manufactures sent to America, and for which 
 that country has no other means of payment. 
 
 In comparing the relative advantages of our 
 American with our West Indian commerce, 
 although I am by no means inclined to under- 
 value the latter, it may be well to point out to 
 those who may be disposed to make nice, though 
 not always correct, distinctions, that in the ma- 
 niifactures exported to America there is a much 
 greater value in labour, and less of materials, than 
 in the same amount sent to the West Indies. In 
 one country, we principally provide for the luxn-
 
 144 
 
 ries of the wealthy, in the other the coarse 
 clothing and implements of slaves. If, on 
 the other hand, we compare the returns we re-^ 
 ceive, we shall find that the West Indies fur- 
 nish us with luxuries, which, when wasted, leave 
 no permanent wealth hehind ; but that America 
 sends us first money, which gives us the power of 
 commanding with it what we please ; and se- 
 condly, articles essential to those manufactures, 
 for which she is so good a customer. The fol- 
 lowing is a statement of the quantity pf cotton 
 imported into the ports of London, Liverpool, 
 and Glasgow, from difterent parts of the world 
 for the last year, ending the 31st of December, 
 
 1807 : 
 
 Bags. 
 
 From the United States of America 171267 
 
 The British West Indies . . . 28,969 
 The Colonies comquered from the 
 
 Dutch 43,651 
 
 Portugal . 18,981 
 
 East Indies 11,409 
 
 All other parts 8,390 
 
 Bags 282,667 
 
 Of the whole annual importation, therefore, 
 America has furnished about five-eighths. The 
 average importation into Great Britain of the
 
 last ten years, has been only 219,000 bags; and 
 as that of the present year certainly exceeds our 
 consumption, she may be said to supply us with 
 three-fourths of the latter. The 18,981 bags, 
 furnished by the Brazils, are only equal to 6,958 
 from America ; the bags of tlie former weighing, 
 (ML-^n average, only llOlbs. , and the latter 
 300lbs. It is said, that about 140,000 bags were 
 annually imported from the Brazils into Portu- 
 gal ; but if they were now all sent here, they 
 would, by the same proportion, only amount to 
 51,330 bags of SOOlbs., and consequently not to 
 one-third of the quantity received from Ame- 
 rica. There certainly can in no event be any 
 apprehension of want of cotton, no article is 
 more generally or more easily produced in all 
 warm climates ; the increased cultivation in the 
 United States proves that it can be afforded there 
 at the cheapest rate, and we cannot procure it 
 with more advantage than from a country which 
 takes the same article back in a manufactured 
 state, probably to the full value of the raw rna- 
 terial which she furnishes. 
 
 The other principal articles which we receive 
 from the United States are, tobacco, wheat and 
 flour, rice, pot and pearl-ashes, boards, timber, 
 &c. pitch and tar, flax-seed, hides, &c. ; all, 
 with the exception of tobacco, necessary for our 
 food, or for our manufactures^ and some of tliem 
 
 V.
 
 146 
 
 particularly so during ourmisunderstanding with 
 Russia^ and of which the supply from America 
 might be extensively increased. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive;; upon the whole, a 
 coniuiercial intercourse more interesting and im- 
 portant in every point of vieW;, or less deserving 
 of being sacrificed to any other ; at the same 
 time that it has the advantage not only of not 
 injuring any other branch, when properly under- 
 stood, but of contributing materially to the pro- 
 sperity of ail. The extent of the demand of 
 America for otir manufactures has no other limits 
 than her means of paying for them ; and as 
 those means are increasing, ?snd must continue 
 to increase yearly, that state of gradual and 
 steady progression, so desirable for every part 
 ©f the industry of a country, is naturally pro- 
 duced. If the accumulation of wealth from the 
 advantages of a state of neutrality, during the 
 present war, have produced a sudden increased 
 demand beyond M'hat may permanently be ex- 
 pected, it is precisely at a period when it is ren- 
 dered more necessary to us by the loss of our 
 trade with other countries. 
 
 But it may be. said, that although the valup 
 of the direct trade with America be admitted, 
 yffi derive no benefit from that carried on by her 
 with other parts of the world. In the first place, 
 we have steen that our manufactures form a prin-
 
 147 
 
 ^ipal article of her trade with other countries, 
 wliich an undisturbed intercourse with them en- 
 ables her to introduce. We have also seen that, 
 as our consumption of her produce does not much 
 exceed one half of her demand for ours, she has 
 no possible means of continuing* that demand but 
 by earning the money to pay us from the domi- 
 nions of our enemies. No county can carry on 
 with another a trade, of whicli the balance is very 
 unfavourable, without compensating itself by a 
 favourable balance from other branches of its fo- 
 reign intercourse. In this manner America is en- 
 abled by her trade with foreign Europe to carry 
 on that with lis on terms so disadvantageous, and 
 we, on the other hand, by our favourable balance 
 with America, are enabled to meet the very un- 
 favourable one of our intercourse with Russia, 
 Portugal, and other parts of Europe. A minute 
 examination of this subject, which my limits 
 will not permit, would make it more clear, and 
 we should see what an important figure the fa- 
 vourable balance with America makes, in the ge- 
 neral scale of our forei2:n commerce. 
 
 In speaking of the balance of trade, a subject 
 of so much abuse and false theory, I need hardly 
 disclaim any wish to interfere for its support or 
 regulation. I am not explaining the advantages 
 of American commerce, for the purpose of re- 
 commending its forced extension, which I 
 
 u2
 
 148 
 
 should be the first to deprecate ; and, if I have 
 followed the example of others in making a dis- 
 play of the advantages w^hich we derive from it, 
 it is solelj for defensive and not for offensive pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The general interest, which we have in the in- 
 creased wealth of the people of America, may be 
 enumerated among the benefits derived by ug 
 from her indirect commerce. Most articles 
 supplied by us are luxuries, the consumption of 
 which depends very much on the wealth of the 
 country. The poorer classes of farmers there 
 make their own clothing from the coarse woollen 
 stuffs of domestic manufacture; but the dress of 
 the more opulent, and the furniture of their 
 houses, which vary of course according to their 
 means, are almost exclusively from this country: 
 we derive, therefore, a direct advantage from 
 that general prosperity, which every considera- 
 tion of policy, as well as every liberal feeling, 
 should induce us to see with satisfaction. 
 
 Estimates of the relative benefits to countries, 
 from their mutual intercourse, are generally more 
 specious than just. Ours with America is cer- 
 tainly highly valuable to her. It is for her in- 
 terest not to encourage manufactures, but to 
 buy them from those who can sell them cheapest, 
 and in return give the best price for the produce 
 of |ier soil. If any distinction can be made, it
 
 149 
 
 mu«t arise from an artificial, and not from a na- 
 tural state of things; and we are certainly, in 
 this respect, more interested than any other 
 country in the existence of commerce; because 
 our strength and means of defence are intimately 
 connected with its support. -r- It must be admit- 
 ted, that the Government of America has always 
 had the good sense to see this subject in its pro- 
 per light, and to refrain from a petty commercial 
 warfare of duties, the common resort of those po- 
 liticians who have more cunning than sense. The 
 duty on our manufactures, which is the same as 
 upon those of all other countries, is lower than 
 in almost any part of Europe, where they were 
 formerly admitted. The principal articles pay 
 only 124^ per cent., while upwards of 30 per 
 cent, is charged in Russia, and 40 in Portu- 
 gal, With both these countries, however, we 
 have for some time carried on a comm.erce, of 
 which the balance has been against us, and no 
 just cause could therefore be assigned for check- 
 ing by high duties the consumption of our manu- 
 factures. 
 
 It appears from the public papers, that by the 
 temporary regulations of our intercourse with the 
 Brazils, these high duties are to be continued there 
 at least for the present. Without knowing more 
 of ^that country than we at present do, it is 
 impossible to determine whether the impo-
 
 150 
 
 sifion of 40 per cent, will materially affect the 
 consumption ; but if our commercial treaties 
 with Portugal are to be held up, as they have 
 teen, to the admiration of statesmen, \ve cannot 
 fail to admit the liberal policy of America to- 
 wards the produce of our industry, when We con- 
 sider the large balance which she has annually to 
 pay lis, and our iKiberal jealousy of her inter- 
 course with other countries, from which alone 
 that balance can be derived. 
 
 Although the probable emancipation of the 
 Brazils from its colonial state, which the removal 
 of the Court of Portugal promises, has little con- 
 nection with my subject, I cannot avoid observ- 
 ing the singular disposition of the public to en- 
 tertain extravagant expectations from this eveiit, 
 in which they must inevitably be disappointed, 
 and to grasp eagerly at a shadow, while the sub- 
 stantial benefits, which we actually enjoy from 
 the maturity of an empire planted by ourselves, 
 are studiously undervalued. I by no means in- 
 tend to deny, that we may not reasonably expect 
 some immediate, and more future benefits from 
 this event; nor is France, in my opinion, mis- 
 taken in forming the same expectations. An in- 
 crease of civilization, of industry, and of a free 
 circulation of intercourse, whether promoted in 
 Siberia or South America, is a general advantage 
 to all the world. Of all monopolies, that of the
 
 151 
 
 great works of our Creator is the most odious ; 
 and it must interest every feeling mind to see so 
 large and so fine a portion of the globe at last 
 opened to the free inspection and examination of 
 mankind. The industrious individuals of all 
 countries will also derive advantages from the 
 rapid progress, which this new nation^ if libe- 
 rally and properly administered, must make; but 
 the immediate benefit to oUr manufacturers and 
 shopkeepers is certainly over-valued ; and if the 
 exaggerated opinions, which may have been 
 imprudently circulated from political motives, 
 be acted upon, losses, similar to those produced 
 by the bubble of Buenos Ayres, must be the 
 consequence. 
 
 Without entering deeply into this subject, I 
 shall confine my efibrts to destroy this illusion, 
 to the few observations which follow; 
 
 As we have hitherto principally supplied the 
 Brazils with manufactured articles, the shops of* 
 Rio Janeiro will be found as full of them as thosd 
 of Lisbon. For the present our only gain will 
 be, that we have not lost the whole of the amount 
 of our exports to Portugal. No new channel is 
 therefore opened, but we have prevented an old 
 one from being totally stopped. An increased 
 general consumption must be the work of time, 
 and cannot be produced by the act of any go- 
 vernment. Although the resources of so rich ^
 
 15^ 
 
 country may hereafter improve^ the articles which 
 it can now export are principally the same as are 
 produced in our West India colonies, and of the 
 home consumption of which, under our present 
 system, those colonies must have the monopoly. 
 Neither the Brazils, nor any country cultivated 
 by slaves, can ever, as some people seem to ex- 
 pect, furnish corn, provisions, or even common 
 lumber, for the West Indies, or any other part 
 of the world ; and I fear I may hazard another 
 opinion, that this same cause of a mixed popula- 
 tion will for ever prevent that civilized state, 
 which habits of industry and morality can alone 
 produce. 
 
 This digression has been carried far enough to 
 shew, that this popular novelty could, in no 
 event, afford a compensation for a sacrifice of 
 the advantages which we derive from our com- 
 mercial intercours-e with the United States. 
 
 The present state of the New World is a com- 
 plete proof of the error which the first discover- 
 ers made in preferring, as we should have done in 
 a similar situation, and as, with the experience 
 before us, we should certainly again do, the re- 
 gions of gold and silver to the iron coast and 
 rocky soil of New England. We now find that 
 the industry of man is a treasure which must 
 prevail over every other; and that colonies plant- 
 ed in a soil, comparatively poor, have, by the
 
 153 
 
 ihag-ic of that industry, become more useful to 
 the parent state, and ultimately poured into the 
 lap of its industrious population a larger portion 
 of the precious metals, than all the mines of the 
 Spanish and Portuguese colonists, which have 
 only enabled them to corrupt and enervate their 
 deluded countries. 
 
 From the examination which we have con- 
 fcluded of the nature and extent of the commerce 
 bf America, the following consequences are ob 
 vious : — First, that it is for our interest to pro- 
 mote the consumption of the produce of the soil 
 of America in all parts of the world, and that 
 three-fourths of the money proceeding from that 
 consumption of the Continent of Europe are 
 paid to us : secondly, that we are also interested 
 in the indirect trade of America, and that ar- 
 ticles of our own manufacture are the principal 
 objects of it : and lastly, that every dictate of 
 sound policy should lead us to see with plea- 
 sure the prosperity of a country, whose accumu- 
 lating wealth contributes in various ways most 
 essentially to our own. 
 
 Now supposing the most friendly conduct on 
 the part of America ; that she admits the justice! 
 of our Orders in Council, and that she goes to 
 war, as she then must do, with the remainder of 
 the world by yielding to them ; the consequences 
 
 X
 
 154 
 
 to herself have been considered, but how should 
 we be aflected ? We should first lose that disper- 
 sion of our manufactures through the channel of 
 America, which now exists ; and secondly, her 
 own consumption of them must be reduced to 
 one half of its present extent by her inability to 
 pay for more ; besides that the distress produced 
 throughout the country by the want of demand 
 for her domestic produce, would incapacitate 
 her from paying her present debts. 
 
 In this, now only remaining branch of our fo- 
 reign commerce, our losses and sacrifices must 
 be therefore undeniably great, from the execu- 
 tion of our system, under the most favourable cir- 
 cumstances ; but before I proceed to inquire for 
 the countervailing advantages in other quartersy 
 I shall point out another danger, which appears 
 to me very serious, arising from the conse- 
 quences to our foreign exchanges, and to our 
 circulation of paper money. 
 
 A principal danger from sudden and forced 
 changes, produced by the interference of Govern- 
 ment in commercial a flairs, arises from the diffi- 
 culty and almost impossibility of tracing its ex- 
 tensive consequences and ramifications through 
 the whole economv of a nation : for, althofi2:h 
 in the present instance, tlie decay of our manu- 
 factures is the most conspicuous consequence^
 
 1^- ^ 
 
 another evil^ of a most serious nature^, presents 
 itself. 
 
 I have shewn, that, even supposing the cordial 
 <:o-operation of America in the execution of the 
 Orders in Council, there would be a diminution 
 of our receipts from the Continent of four or five 
 millions sterling. The moderate state of our 
 foreign exchanges for some time past, shews how 
 much we want this large aid, which our Ameri- 
 can connection indirectly afforded ; and every 
 merchant connected with America knows that 
 this demand alone for bills on London, which 
 has prevailed in every part of the Continent, has 
 for a long time supported the exchange, the cir- 
 culation of which, even between Paris and Lon- 
 don, all the vigilance of the enemy has not been 
 able to prevent. In this mann€r we have paid to 
 a considerable extent, for the support of our 
 fleets and armies in the Mediterranean and the 
 Baltic *, by sending our manufactures to Ame- 
 rica ; a circumstance which must be easily under- 
 stood by those who knov/ the eiFect of the gene- 
 ral circulation of exchanges, and that bills are 
 frequently drawn in Paris, or Madrid, whilst the 
 real transaction in merchandize, which gave rise 
 
 ♦ Bills drawn hy our Commissaries in the Mediterranean on the 
 Treasury, to a large amount, are frequently' received from Leghorn, 
 and other ports, for American account.
 
 156 
 
 to thcm^ may have taken place in Russia or ia 
 India. Is it probable that this great defalca- 
 tion will be made up in any other quarter ? The 
 only part of the continent with which (to judge 
 from present appearances ) we have a chance of 
 direct or indirect trade, is Russia; but with that 
 country, the balance in the best times is against 
 us, and this intercourse would rather increase 
 than correct the evil. 
 
 We shall be much misled in this dilemma, if 
 we look for any comfort to the speculations of 
 those who encourage us to despise the advantages 
 of foreign commerce. Mr. Spence himself would 
 tell us, that it would be necessary to put a stop 
 to our imports before we are indifferent about 
 providing a corresponding value of exports. But 
 is it possible for us to get rid of our wants in dif- 
 ferent parts of Europe ? Wine, brandy, and 
 many other luxuries, we could certainly do with- 
 out, but naval stores must be had, and the want 
 of wool, flax, iron, silk, and other articles, for 
 ou^r manufactures, would produce a general 
 distress of incalculable extent. But supposing 
 even that we could perfectly dispense with all 
 these articles, or that we were able to circulate 
 on the continent a sufficient quantity of our own 
 to pay for them, we should still have a large 
 sum to provide : for foreign subsidies or expedi-
 
 a/ 
 
 i-ions ; for silver for India and China; a demand 
 which will be much increased^ and be rendered 
 very pressing by an American war ; for our 
 fleets in the Mediterranean, and garrisons of 
 Malta, Gibraltar, &c. ; for it has the same 
 effect on the Exchange, whether the commissary 
 draws his bill on the coast of Barbary, or the 
 coast of France ; also for interest on public 
 Mock held by foreigners, amounting annually 
 to ^700,000.*; and for the produce of the 
 Dutch colonies sold here, but belonging to re- 
 sidents in Holland. 
 
 Trade, when left alone, will always accommo- 
 date itself to the varying balances of different 
 countries with each other, provided they have all 
 the same circulating medium of the precious 
 metals. If, on the continent, the exchange in 
 London is very high, the demand for British 
 manufactures and colonial produce is checked ; 
 similar articles can be furnished cheaper else- 
 where ; if, on the contrary, it falls, the demand 
 is again promoted: and in this manner, although 
 the country, possessing the most commercial 
 advantages, \^ill draw the greatest portion of 
 gold and silver, the poorer will avoid being 
 totally drained by the natural tendency of trade 
 
 * According to a return made to the House of Commons, the interest 
 «f public stock amounted to o£03,000, the remaining o£'70,01lO arc 
 added for Eaiik and India stock not included in the return.
 
 158 
 
 to proportion the consumption of foreign ar- 
 ticles to the means of paying for them. 
 
 But when the arm of power interferes^ and de- 
 prives us at a blow of four or five millions sterling-, 
 which the industry of our manufacturers, if left to 
 themselves^ would have procured for us ; at the 
 same time that political causes prevent that cor- 
 responding contraction of our wants abroad, 
 which it would otherwise be hardly possible to 
 produce so suddenly as to meet the exigency; 
 the consequences of such a shock demand the 
 most serious consideration ; and more especially 
 when applied to a country standing in the sin- 
 gular predicament of abandoning the general 
 medium of circulation, gold and silver, for paper^ 
 which is of no value beyond its own limits. 
 
 As long as our system of finance and com- 
 merce is in such an artificial state, and we have 
 to provide for an annual expenditure of seventy 
 millions sterling, it is impossible that the pre- 
 cious metals, which have not increased in quan- 
 tity in proportion to the depreciation of our 
 nominal money, should furnish us the means of 
 circulation. 
 
 Now, though in countries in a natural state, 
 the balance of trade needs no regulator, yet 
 our particular situation certainly requires that 
 all commercial questions should be considered 
 with reference to the necessity we are under
 
 I5g 
 
 to resort to the circulation of paper ; and in 
 this respect, the consequences of a measure, 
 like the present, which must, under the most 
 favourable circumstances, deprive us of four 
 or five millions towards our annual balance with 
 the rest of the world, deserves mature consider- 
 ation. 
 
 It would be useless to point out the universal 
 ruin, and the total revolution in all the fortunes 
 of individuals, if our paper should suffer any de- 
 preciation, that is, if we become unable to pro- 
 cure for it the real amount of the circulating me- 
 dium of the world, which our paper nominally 
 represents. Now it appears to me that this 
 danger is more to be apprehended from an un- 
 favourable state of our foreign exchanges, pro- 
 duced by an unfavourable balance of trade, than 
 people seem generally aware of. To examine 
 this question as minutely as its importance de- 
 serves, would take me too far from my subject ; 
 but at the same time it is perfectly consistent 
 with it shortly to notice one of the m^ost import- 
 ant evils, to which the measures we are discussing 
 may lead. ' 
 
 The value of a bank-note certainly depends 
 on the ability to command with it the quantity 
 of gold and silver, which it represents ; if the 
 laws enable you to command it from the person 
 issuing^ the note, there can be no fear of depre-
 
 160 
 
 ciation ; if they do not, the only remaining re- 
 liance is, that foreign commerce will draw into 
 our country the circulating* medium of the rest 
 of the world, or at least call for none of ours to 
 satisfy debts abroad, and for which our paper 
 would be of no value. It is in short immaterial 
 whether the value of the note can be got at by 
 compulsion, or by the high value which our 
 paper acquires by a favourable balance of trade. 
 The latter has fortunately been the case in 
 this country since the former ceased ; our paper 
 pound would always command a proper propor- 
 tion of the livres and florins of the Continent ; 
 but if this should cease to be the case, all the 
 caution and all the confidence possible could 
 not save our paper from depreciation. A pound 
 sterling, and a pound Tournois, would soon be of 
 equal value, if no more gold or silver could be 
 commanded with the one than with the other.
 
 161 
 
 In inquiring for the supposed benefits to be 
 expected from the extinction of the only remain- 
 ing neutral commerce^ we are naturally, first, 
 directed to our West India colonies ; not by any 
 rational analogy, but by the unremitting zeal 
 of those concerned in them to mislead the pub- 
 lic, both as to their own immediate interest and 
 that of the country at large. 
 
 I feel myself relieved from the necessity of any 
 e'xtensive examination of the causes of the distress 
 experienced by our West India colonists, by the 
 very able publications which have lately appear- 
 ed on this subject. After the numerous writers 
 at home, the colonial legislatures, and, I am sorry 
 to add, a committee of the House of Commons, 
 had for a long time concurred in ascribing this 
 distress to high duties in England, and to the 
 monopoly of the markets of the Continent by 
 neutrals, some genuine light appears at last to 
 have burst forth, and the increased cultivation of 
 the staple articles of West India produce beyond 
 the general consumption of the world, appears 
 now universally admitted to be the real cause of 
 the misfortunes of the planter*. 
 
 • The last Edinburgh Review, and Mr. Spencc, in his " Radical 
 Causes of the present Distresses of the West India Planters," hare 
 examined this subject in the most satisfactory manner, and must
 
 Every merchant understands the natural ten- 
 dency of extraordmary scarcity or abundance 
 to reproduce each other. The destruction of 
 St. Domingo occasioised high prices of sugar and 
 coffee throughout the world : high prices en- 
 couraged an increased cultivation in the islands, 
 ^vhich now again produces a general glut of these 
 articles. The present low prices, which are a na- 
 tural consequence,, it is stated, and I believe truly, 
 do not always pay ihe planter the expense of cul- 
 tivation. The chasm produced by the sudden 
 loss of St. Domingo, has been now more than 
 filled up by the increased produce of foreign 
 colonies, and especially of Cuba, while the con- 
 sumption on the Continent of Europe has cer^ . 
 tainly been very much reduced. The British 
 planters, however, were most unfortunately tempt- 
 ed into the competition of raising sugar for those 
 European countries who have no colonies of 
 their own; forgetting that the comparative want 
 of fertility of our islands for ever disables 
 them from supplying any market of which they ' 
 
 I think, fix the opinion of the public. I do not, however, concur 
 ■witb Mr. Spence in undervaluing the West India trade. The argu- 
 ments on tliis subject belong rather to opinions very ingeniously 
 urged by the same Gentleman in another work against foreign trade 
 generally, and in which I by no means concur. It is, I think, a 
 fortiinale circumstance that we can supply ourselves with sugar 
 from our own colonies, and I should be much pleased to see that we 
 could also supply part of the Contioent, if it were permanently 
 practicable.
 
 163 
 
 have not the monopoly*; at least, for any 
 longer period than until other colonies are ahle 
 to overtake them. 
 
 It was in 1792, that the numerous advisers of 
 the West India planters should have stood for- 
 ward to warn them of the dangers they were en- 
 countering-, instead of now catching in hopeless 
 despair at palliatives, which would rather in- 
 crease the evil arising from one of the strongest 
 instances ever witnessed, of extensive and im- 
 prudent speculation. 
 
 This subject will be fully explained by the 
 following short statement of the article of sugai: 
 for the years 1773, 1787, and 1804, taken from 
 Sir William Young's common place Book. 
 
 Year. Imported. Exported. Consumed. 
 
 1773 126,000 13,600 112,400 )jj„^3,,,,, 
 1787 136,000 10,600 126,000 V of 
 1804 274,000 124,1.')0 150,430 V^ ^"''' 
 
 By which it appears that our former exports were 
 insignificant, but that we have now to find a fo- 
 reign demand for nearly one half of the whole quan- 
 
 * The small islands of St. Christopher alone can, I beiiCTC, be com- 
 pared for fertility with Cuba or St. Domingo. The average ferti- 
 lity of St. Domingo is said to be more than three times greater thaa 
 that of Jamaica. This was iu 1789 justly considered by the Com- 
 
 uiittee of the House of Commoni as an insuperable disadvantage • 
 
 See Brougham's Colonial Policy, page 52). 
 
 Y 2
 
 164 
 
 tity imported. Instead of looking for that demand, 
 which can never be found either during peace or 
 war, the phuiters will do wisely to attend to the 
 only other remedy of reducing the supply ; for 
 in encouraging any other hope they must infal 
 libly be deluded. No man can consider the dis- 
 tress which has been repeatedly described, and 
 cannot easily be exaggerated, without feelings of 
 deep regret; but a radical remedy can only come 
 from what Mr. Spence, in his excellent pam- 
 phlet on this subject, calls the vis medicatTix na- 
 turce. For let us suppose even that we could suc- 
 ceed in shutting up all the produce in the ene- 
 mies colonies, and that the continent were re- 
 duced to the necessity of consuming that of our 
 islands, which might then even be increased, the 
 evil would be thereby delayed, but it would be 
 aggravated. If i^o means can be pointed out, 
 by which a permanent demand can be produced, 
 the best advice the planter can receive, is to 
 meet distress which is inevitable, but which 
 must also be temporary, with economy and forti- 
 tude. 
 
 But if it were desirable to procure a moment- 
 ary relief by exportation to the continent, the 
 Orders in Council appear rather to check than 
 promote it. Their menacing tone has excited 
 irritation, ard produced increased rigour on the 
 other side. — By extinguishing the only remain-
 
 165 
 
 ing neutral, the means of introduction of 
 our merchandize are diminished*; and as the 
 Americans are permitted to bring the produce 
 of the West Indies to this country for re-export- 
 ation, every pound of sugar so imported must 
 be sent abroad, before that of our own colonies 
 can be afforded, as must also all articles im- 
 ported from the Brazils, or captured at sea, 
 which are not to be admitted for home con- 
 sumptionf . 
 
 The time which has been chosen for the intro- 
 duction of this new system, has been also, as it 
 regards our colonists, particularly unfortunate. 
 We appear to have waited until the increased 
 power of our great enemy had at last enabled 
 him to close every port against us. Had a single 
 opening remained, we might have some chance 
 of promoting the sale of our own colonial pro- 
 
 * It must be known to the Board of Trade, that considerable 
 facilities were derived from the American flag, which it would be 
 useless and perhaps mischievous to notice in detail. 
 
 + It appears, from Mr. Rose's declaration in the House of Com.- 
 jnons, that Rrazil sugars are onl^ to be admitted for re-expoi tatioc. 
 Such an admission is almost an equal injury to the planter as if rhey 
 were received for home consumption, as long as wc want a vent for 
 140,000 hogsheads from our own colonies, I know nothing of the in- 
 tended regulations of the commerce of the Brazils, but if we wish to 
 strengthen the power of the prince over his new subjects, we should 
 refrain from attempts at monopoly; but oo the contrary encoutage 
 every means of finding a good market for their produce. The people 
 will judge of the value of the new revolution by its immediate conse- 
 quences, and the character of these first impression? must depend very 
 much upon our advice and concurrence.
 
 166 
 
 duce by slopping the intercourse of neutrals^ but 
 at present our only reliance must be on that irre- 
 sistible necessity for sugar and coft'ee^ which is to 
 compel the enemy to yield in this warfare of 
 commerce^ This opinion is too extravagant for 
 the most dependent individual in this country of 
 comforts and luxuries^ and must at once vanish, 
 when the military hardships of the French sol- 
 dier, and the more substantial sufferings of the 
 peasantry they are quartered upon, are considered. 
 
 A general and, I think, an exaggerated opi- 
 nion, prevails, of the means of commerce to 
 force its own circulation. The author of " War 
 in Disguise" comforts us with the assurance that 
 even our own hostilities would not overcome the 
 expansive force of our own commerce*. 
 
 In this, as in many other instances, allowance 
 is not made for the total change of the world. 
 The opinion is perfectly correct when applied 
 to Europe divided into different independent go- 
 vernments; but I fear we shall find, from experi- 
 ence, the means of exclusion more perfect than 
 we appear to expect. At present, the prices of 
 American and colonial produce on the continent 
 are more than double those in this country ; and 
 the temptation to adventurers is sufficiently great, 
 if the hazard were attended with any chance of 
 
 * Page 210*
 
 167 . 
 
 fuccess. If the commerce of America were left 
 alone, we could indeed at present send our sugar 
 and coffee with advantage through that country, 
 and the certificates of origin would not be found 
 the formidable obstacle which has been appre- 
 hended. 
 
 Before I leave the subject of the West In- 
 dieSj I must observe that the only remedy 
 which appears to me to promise some perma- 
 nent and much temporary relief is to open the 
 ports to neutrals generally. If it be true that, 
 under the present plan of bringing all their 
 produce to this country, that produce must 
 soon be confined to our own consumption, who 
 could possibly be injured by giving the planter 
 the chance of disposing of the surplus? If the 
 ship-owner can only ultimately earn a freight 
 on the sugar consumed at home, what injury 
 could it be to him, if afterwards all the world 
 were supplied by our colonies ? The policy 
 of favouring our own shipping cannot be 
 doubted; but if restrictions, injurious to other 
 classes of the community, are for that purpose 
 sometimes necessary, we should at least care- 
 fully ascertain that they really produce the 
 benefits they profess. By permitting our co- 
 lonists to sell to neutrals, I do not think they 
 could in that, or any other manner, supply 
 the consumption of foreign Europe ; but they
 
 168 
 
 might partially furnish that of America, of 
 which the French and Spanish colonies have 
 the monopoly. At present, by the most absurd 
 policy, our planters are prevented from paying 
 for the large amount of provisions and supplies 
 from America by a return of their own produce, 
 which would willingly be received, because the 
 whole of it must go to the mother country, where 
 it can only sell at a loss. 
 
 If the complaints of the West India planters 
 of the neutral trade of America are founded in 
 error, those of the other great commercial bo- 
 dies are supported by still less plausible ground. 
 The continent of Europe, it seems, will not take 
 the manufactures of India from Leadenhall street, 
 and the Americans are accused of introducing 
 them into different parts of the world from their 
 own country. Considering the Company in the 
 mixed character of sovereigns and merchants, 
 their first object must be, that the consumption 
 should not be checked ; and I should rather have 
 expected that the efforts of America to circulate 
 the manufactures of India in countries to which 
 we have no access, would have been promoted 
 and encouraged. If we have always thought it 
 good policy to permit the intercourse of neutrals 
 with our Indian possessions, the Americans are, 
 in every respect, to be preferred to those of the 
 North of Europe. Their political institutions pre-
 
 169 
 
 vent their forming any settlements in India, and 
 habits and language will always lead them to 
 ours. They have no manufactures of their own 
 to interfere with us, but always go to market 
 with money. Their intercourse, therefore, inevery 
 point of view, must be politically inoflensive, 
 and commercially beneficial. If a war with 
 America should destroy the whole of her trade 
 to India and China, we should probably feel 
 severely the want of silver. To Bengal the 
 Americans may be computed to send about half 
 a million sterling annually in Spanish dollars^ 
 and about the same sum to China, which is 
 (tertainly much more than is sent from Great 
 Britain. It is immaterial who brings the silver 
 into the market, of which it facilitates the gene- 
 ral circulation. At Canton, I understand it is 
 indispensably necessary, as the merchants are 
 obliged to pay the duties in silver ; Irut if brought 
 there by the Americans, the Company is thereby 
 equally enabled to circulate the manufactures of 
 this country. It appears, from a return made to 
 the House of Commons, that the value of British 
 manufactures exported to China has been gradu- 
 ally but rapidly increasing. In 1782, it amount- 
 ed to 5^105,041, in 1792, to .^'559,651, and in 
 1805, to 5^1,102,620. I am not able to ascertain 
 what quantity of silver has been sent during 
 the same period, but I have no doubt that it has 
 
 z
 
 iro 
 
 diinliiislied since the regular supply of the market 
 b) the Americans ; and that our factory has not 
 Gulv been able, by this circumstance, to increase 
 the sale of our manufactures, but also to pro- 
 vide, in a greater degree than formerly, for their 
 purchases, by drafts on the Company at home, 
 and on the different presidencies in India, 
 
 The interest of the ship-owner remains only 
 to be considered, whose prosperity must depend 
 upon that of the different branches of commerce, 
 and whose case might therefore be said to be de-^ 
 termined by theirs. The shipping interest never 
 fail to avail themselves of their connection with 
 our naval power in inforcing their complaints 
 and opinions, which, it is to be regretted, is fre- 
 quently done with a disposition to indiscriminate 
 monopoly, which all commercial bodies acting 
 together never fail to shew. A few common- 
 place phrases about our Old Navigation Laics Siwdi 
 our Maritime Rights, answer the place of argu- 
 ment, and little trouble is taken to ascertain in 
 how far they may or may not be really injured by 
 any remedies suggested for the relief of others. 
 This domineering spirit falls principally upon 
 the West India Planters, and of the loudness and 
 extent of the outcry before they are even hurt, 
 some opinion may be formed by recollecting 
 the clamour against the American Inter- 
 eourse Act, It is to be hoped, however, that
 
 171 
 
 BO Ministers will be withheld by political cow- 
 ardice from administering equitably and impar- 
 tially between the different commercial interests 
 of the country ; and that, where the encourage- 
 ment of our shipping requires restrictions and 
 monopolies, which I by no means deny, their 
 efficacy and utility will be thoroughly inves 
 tigated. 
 
 In the general paths of trade, the American 
 does not appear to interfere much with the Bri- 
 tish ship-owner. In the ports of our enemies, 
 the latter is of course excluded, and deprived 
 of nothing by the former. The supply of our 
 West India islands with provisions and lumber 
 appears the only essential point of collision. 
 My limits w ill not permit me here to examine 
 this question minutely, and I shall barely state 
 my opinion, that during war, proper and ade- 
 quate supplies can only be furnished by the 
 United States, and in their own vessels. It may 
 be proper in this place to correct an error which 
 appears general, namely, that America claims 
 a right of intercourse with our colonies, — a claim 
 which has been enumerated among her other 
 encroachments, and a most extraordinary one 
 it certainly would be. We have an undoubted 
 right of regulating every thing relating to our 
 colonies. America may also regulate for her- 
 self; she may prohibit any communication with 
 
 z 2
 
 172 
 
 our colonies., unless in the manner most agree- 
 able to lier ; or she maj more or less encourage, 
 by distinguishing duties, the manufactures of 
 differejit European countries, according as they 
 permit an intercourse with their colonies on li- 
 beral terras. These reciprocal rights may pro- 
 duce an agreement by treaty, but no preten- 
 sions to interfere in a legitimate exercise of sor 
 vereignty could be urged on either sidp. 
 
 The prosperity of our shipping interests re- 
 quires as much as that of every other branch 
 of trade, that the occasional fluctuation of de- 
 mand and supply should not be interfered with 
 At the close of the last war, we restored colonies 
 which had employed near 100,000 tons of 
 shipping ; and we had discharged a great num- 
 ber of transports. Although the causes as well 
 tis the consequences of such events could not 
 easily be mistaken, yet an alarm must be im- 
 mediately given, and a noble author thought 
 proper to increase it, by giving the public a list 
 of all the ships for sale in ih^ river, with the 
 interesting addition of the names of the brokers *. 
 The whole amount of tonnage for sale in the 
 summer of 1802 amounted by this account to 
 36,299 tons, and considering all circumstances, 
 it must appear surprising that it was not greater. 
 Another author -f, inthe same strain of alarm, tells 
 
 * 
 
 Lord Sheffield on the Navigation and Colonial system^ 
 f Concessions to America, &c.
 
 173 
 
 us that ill 1806;, 18,000 tons of shipping were for 
 sale in the river — a quantity which hardly ap- 
 pears to exceed that stock on hand which the 
 circulation of trade must require. A return 
 made to the House of Commons shews that 
 between the 24th March and 8th August 1807, 
 transports were taken up for home service to the 
 amount of 31,278 tons. How could they have 
 been procured if there had not been a large por- 
 tion of shipping unemployed ? The public ser- 
 vice, and the occasional operations of merchants, 
 necessarily require a stock of unemployed ship- 
 ping, which will regulate itself better by the in- 
 terests of the parties than by the officious inter- 
 ference of Government. If our commercial 
 shipping should decline, at a time when we can 
 sail scarcely to a port of the Continent of Eu- 
 rope, it cannot be matter of surprise ; but do 
 not let us look for remedies which are not to 
 be found; nor destroy, through a blind igno- 
 rance, the only valuable intercourse we have re- 
 mainmg. 
 
 The prejudices which are encouraged against 
 America, make us even mistake the most im- 
 portant benefits for injuries. It has been men- 
 tioned as a subject of complaint, that the Ame- 
 ricans have even monopolised the carrying of 
 our fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland. Of 
 the truth of this fact there can be no doubt. Our
 
 174 
 
 fishermen either sell to the merchants of Boston, 
 or ship through them for their own account to 
 the different parts of Europe ; and it appeared 
 from some representations to the Board of Trade, 
 that when the Orders of Council issued, one 
 house in Poole had 5000 quintals of fish at sea 
 under the American flag. Nothing can un- 
 doubtedly be more repugnant to the old system 
 of laws tinder ivhich ive have flourished, but at 
 the same time nothing can more clearly shew 
 how inapplicable old laws frequently are to 
 new tirnes. If we did not suffer the neutral 
 to carry the fish when caught, we must cease 
 to catch it ; and in blockading the ports of the 
 Continent, I fear we shall in this instance destroy 
 one oi the few valuable branches of industry 
 yet open to British shipping. 
 
 If we look in vain to our various commercial 
 interests for any advantages to be derived from 
 our new system, under the most favourable cir- 
 cumstances of a continuation of peace with 
 America, and if we find on the contrary serious 
 injuries in every quarter, how much must they 
 not be augmented by a state of actual war, the 
 extensive consequences of which I can only 
 yery shortly enumerate. r-The necessity of carry 
 ing on very active military operations, if our 
 N )rth American colonies are to be defended; 
 the difficulty of furnishing supplies for the West
 
 <5 
 
 Indies, while the numerous American privateers 
 and large frigates would oblige us to send convoys 
 of great strength ; and finally, the destruction 
 of our immediate intercourse with the United 
 States^ must make a melancholy addition to the 
 numerous difficulties which already surround us. 
 But if we must, under every circufmstance, 
 suffer by the new state of things produced by 
 our Orders in Council, do we not also inflict 
 a serious injury on our enemy? The inconve- 
 niences which the Continent of Europe must 
 suffer from a cessation of all foreign commerce, 
 must certainly be considerable, but they will 
 consist chiefly in the loss of luxuries, and affect 
 more the comforts of individuals than the power 
 of Governments. Holland is the only country 
 where the people really depend on trade for 
 their existence, and we accordingly find that the 
 French Decrees are there suffered to be executed 
 with the least rigour. 
 
 The new established manufactures of cotton 
 may, in some degree, suffer from a want of that 
 article, but it may be produced in the southern 
 parts of Spain and Italy, and perhaps procured 
 in part from Turkey. The finances of France 
 derive little aid from the custom-house*, nor wilt 
 
 ♦ In the French budget of 1 803, the last which I have seen, if ap- 
 pears that of the whole income of 812 millions of francs, only +0 
 •were contributed by the custom-houses, while the Ueccllcs exterimivs 
 et exiraordimires amounted to 141 miliions. The resources of
 
 176 
 
 this be altogether destroyed, as importations will 
 take place, in spite of our utmost vigilance. 
 With the supplies for the colonies of our ene- 
 mies we do not pretend to interfere ; and al- 
 though they must lose their present extensive 
 means of sale for their produce, sufficient will 
 remain to prevent any extreme distress. 
 
 But we have a strong proof of the opinion of 
 the enemy on this subject, in the singular coin- 
 cidence that, while we were determining that the 
 neutral state of America was injurious to us, he 
 had come to precisely the opposite conclusion ; 
 and a very short time before the appearance of 
 our Orders in Council, it seems that the inten- 
 tion of France to permit no longer the neutrality 
 of America was intimated to the Minister of 
 that country at Paris — a circumstance which> 
 reaching America very fortunately before our 
 Orders in Council, may serve to mitigate the re* 
 sentment with which the latter must otherwise 
 be received. We therefore evidently differ in 
 opinion with France as to the value of this neu- 
 trality, which both countries at the same instant 
 had resolved to extinguish. I am decidedly dis- 
 posed to think the opinion of our enemies the 
 
 France are not easily reached by commercial restrictions of any sort. 
 It is a singular fact that with almost the whole of the French effective 
 army ahrcwd, the exchange on Paris is high in every part of Europe. 
 Nothing is contributed from France for the suppprt of this immense 
 force.
 
 177 
 
 best judged. At all events^ it must serve to re- 
 duce our idea of the extreme annoyance to them 
 which we expect from our measures. 
 
 The sources of power and strength vary widely 
 in different countries. The general destruction 
 of commerce, manufactures, and of every cir- 
 cumstance of artificial power and prosperity, 
 may suit the interest of France, but we should 
 be greatly mistaken in imitating her. The 
 disorganization of commerce and of industry 
 has not improperly been considered as the best 
 means of subduing a power whose basis rests 
 upon them. But while our enemy is playing 
 this wild but politic game, w€ must not forget that 
 our safety requires the very opposite system of 
 prudence and cautious preservation. 
 
 France, in attacking our commerce, has pro- 
 ceeded upon the self-evident supposition, that a 
 trading country must have others to trade with. 
 From Europe she has therefore excluded us; but 
 with prudence and skill we might move our 
 island, commercially speaking, out of Europe. 
 The great empire in the North of America, and 
 in a h^ss degree the newly-founded one in the 
 South, would have been sufficient objects of ex- 
 ternal commerce until better times returned ; and 
 it must have been no small gratification to reflect 
 that these were holds of which the enemy could 
 not dispossess us. We might be cxpeHod from 
 
 A A
 
 178 
 
 the wlioie of Europe ; the peninsula of India^ 
 even ihougli at a great distance, was not per- 
 fectly beyond the reach of the conqueror ; but 
 the opposite shores of the Atlantic bid defi- 
 ance to his power, and could only be reached 
 by that naval superiority which would equally 
 enable him to attack us in our own islands. 
 
 France having nearly attained the utmost ex- 
 tent of her means of commercial annoyance, 
 could only hope from ourselves the destruction 
 of the valuable part of it beyond her reach. The 
 Berlin Decrees have very much the appearance 
 of a provocation to try our temper. We for- 
 merly pursued steadily our interest with a dig- 
 nified disregard of menacing language ; but now 
 — we havebeen insulted, and something vigorous 
 must be done in retaliation. France has used 
 big words, but we will reply with big actions, 
 and in the violence of our passion we have per- 
 haps done the very thing which those words were 
 intended to provoke. The mistaken opinions in 
 this country of the nature and consequences of 
 the French Revolution, have probably contri- 
 buted more than any other cause to the present 
 gigantic power of France. The exaggerated 
 consequences expected from the successive na- 
 tional bankruptcies ; the attempt to crush the re- 
 volution by external force, are errors of which 
 we are surprised io have ever been the dupe ;
 
 179 
 
 but thej are certaiuly not exceeded by that of ex- 
 pecting any benefit from running a race with 
 France^, in the destruction of commerce, and in 
 violence towards our friends and allies. The 
 line of conduct we have now adopted is for this 
 country perfectly new ; but we should recollect 
 that we are closely hemmed in on every side ; 
 that we have little room for experiments of any 
 sort ; and that if past errors have brought us to 
 the brink of a precipice, the next must throw 
 us over it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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