ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS-UNUM
SI-QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
A
V
I E W
OF THE
UNITED STATES
}
WRITT
O F
AMERICA,
IN A SERIES OF PAPERS,
4
EN AT VARIOUS TIMES, BETWEEN THE YEARS
J
1787 AND 1794,
By TENCH COXE, OF PHILADELPPA
INTERSPERSED WITH
AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS:
THE WHOLE TENDING TO EXHIBIT THE PROGRESS AND PRE-
SENT STATE OF CIVIL AND RELICIOUS LIBERTY, POPU-
LATION, AGRICULTURE, EXPORTS, IMPORTS, FISHE-
RIES, NAVIGATION, SHIP-BUILDING, MANUFAC-
TURES, AND GENERAL IMPROVEMENT.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED FOR WILLIAM HALL, N
N°.
WRIGLEY BERRIMAN, N° 149, Chefnut Street.
51, Market Street, and
***
1794.
1
DISTRICT of PENNSYLVANIA, to wit:
SEAL.
B
1
the twenty
nineteenth
GLEY and
and
E IT REMEMBERED, That, on
fourth day of October, in the
year of the Independence of the United States of
America, WILLIAM HALL, and WRI
BERRIMAN, of the faid diftrict, have depofited in
ht where-
this office, the Title of a Book, the rig wit:
of they claim, as proprietors, in the words following, to
"A View of the United States of America, in a ſeries of pa-
pers, written at various times, between the years 1787, with
1794; by TENCH COXE, of Philadelphia; interfperfed
"authentic documents: the whole tending to exhibit the progrefs,
"and preſent ſtate of civil and religious liberty, population, agri-
"culture, exports, imports, filieries, navigation, fhip-building,
"manufactures, and general improvements:" in conformity o
the act of the Congrefs of the United States, intituled, "An aft
for the encouragement of Learning, by fecuring the copies
Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of fen
copies, during the times therein mentioned.”
SAMUEL CALDWELL, Clerk of the
Diſtrict of Pennſylvania.
}
{
A TABLE of the CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
Page.
INTRODUCTORY Remarks,
I
CHAPTER II.
Facts and confiderations relative to the agriculture, manufactures,
fifberies, navigation, and the import, export and coafting trade,
intended to elucidate the commercial interests of the United States,
CHAPTER
III.
Sketches of the fubject of American manufactures, in 1787, prepa-
ratory to exertions for their advancement and increaſe,
CHAPTER
IV.
3
34
A fummary view of the ftate of Pennsylvania, intended to exhibit to
the inhabitants of the populated diftricts of the other ftates, and to
foreigners, the real and great advantages to be obtained by trade,
manufactures, and purchases of eftates therein, and by migration 57
thither,
CHAPTER V.
Containing fome information relative to maple fugar, and its poffible
value in certain parts of the United States,
CHAPTER VI.
A concife general view of the United States, for the information of
migrators from foreign countries,
CHAPTER VII.
Concerning the diſtilleries of the United States,
77
83
106
iv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
VIII.
Statements, relative to the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, po-
pulation, refources and public happineſs of the United States, in
reply to the affertions and predictions of lord Sheffield,
CHAPTER IX.
Reflections on the fate of the American union in the year 1792,
CHAPTER
X.
Some ideas concerning the creation of manufacturing towns and vil-
lages in the United States, applied, by way of example, to a pofi-
tion on the river Sufquehanna,
CHAPTER
XI.
Abstract of goods, wares and merchandize, exported from the Uni-
ted Siates, from the 1st of October, 1790, to 30th September,
1791,
CHAPTER XII.
Abstract of goods, wares and merchandize, exported from each of
the United States of America, (with the aggregate of the whale)
from the 1st October, 1791, to 30th September, 1792, being one
year,
CHAPTER XIII.
A return of the imports into the United States, for one year, ending
on the 30th day of September, 1790,
CHAPTER
XIV.
An account of the tonnage of veffels, on which the duty was paid,
in the United States, from the fl of October, 1789, to the 30th
September, 1790, inclufively,
CHAPTER
XV.
General abflract of duties arifing on the tonnage of veffels, entered in-
to the United States, from the 1st of October, 1790, to the 30th
September, 1791,
CHAPTER XVI.
Containing a fummary flatement of the principal facts, which cha-
racterize the American people, and their country or territory, in
III
286
380
405
413
421
423
425
1793,
427
CONTENT S.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
:
Introductory remarks,
CHAPTER
II.
Reflections upon the best mode of bringing the foreft lands of the Uni-
ted States into cultivation and ufe,
CHAPTER
III.
Containing the tariff of the United States, for the information of
merchants and manufacturers,
CHAPTER IV,
A Statement of the tonnage of vessels, which have paid duty in the
ports of the United States of America, between the 1st day of Oc-
tober, 1791, and the 30th day of September, 1792, including
the coafting and fiſhing trades,
CHAPTER V.
449
450
458
470
An abftract of goods, wares and merchandize, exported from the
United States, from the 1ft O&ober, 1792, to 30th Sept. 1793, 471
CHAPTER VI.
Miſcellaneous facts and obfervations concerning the fate of Pennfyl-
vania, Supplementary to the fourth chapter of the first book,
CHAPTER
VII.
Containing a view of the subject of foreign diftilled spirits, extract-
ed from a publication in the year 1789,
CHAPTER VIII.
Concerning the public debts and revenues of the United States,
CHAPTER
IX.
Mifcellaneons reflections upon certain important facts and confidera-
tions, which occur, at this time, in the affairs of the United
States; intended as a conclufion to this collection,
477
492
496
498
1
T
BOOK I.
A
}
PREFATORY NOTE
ADDRESSED TO THE
CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
AFTER the following pages were delivered from the prefs
Some obfervations upon thofe parts of their contents, which
relate to our particular ftate, occurred with very confiderable
force. Thefe were accompanied by interefting reflections upon
the existing circumftances of the country. It appeared uſeful to
introduce them in a prefatory note, that they might encourage
our perfeverance in the ancient line of policy and conduct,
which have produced effects fo tranfcendently favourable to
our local interefts, without injuftice to our fifter fates, or to
the foreign world.
It appears by the return on the 476th page, that the ftate of
Pennfylvania (or the city of Philadelphia) exported in the
year, ending in September, 1793, of foreign and domeftic goods,
nearly feven eighths of the fum exported by New-York, Con-
b
8
PREFATORY NOTE.
necticut, Rhode-Ifland, Maffachuſetts, and New-Hampshire;
and that thofe exports of Philadelphia were 1,717,572 dol-
lars, more than all the exports of New-England. At the fame
time, it is well known, that Baltimore received a confiderable
part of the produce of this ſtate, and that fome of it is ufually
fent out by land to the Patowmac, and by water through the
river Ohio. The migrators from New-England, New-York,
New-Jerfey, Delaware and Maryland, from Europe and in
that year, from the Weft-Indies, were confuming largely of
articles, which would otherwife have greatly increaſed the va-
lue of our exportations.
Having reference to the number of tons and to the quality, it
will be found, that we built new veſſels in the fame year to an
amount double that of any other port in the United States.
The increase of the exports of the United States in flour,
Since the year 1786, has been about 800,000 barrels. This
article is received by New-England, the Carolinas and Georgia,
in a much greater degree from the middle ftates, than it is ex-
ported from the former feven. This very great increase is
therefore confined to Pennſylvania, New-Jersey, New-York,
Delaware, Maryland and Virginia; and it is not the principal
Staple of the two laft ftates, which export more in value of tobacco
than of flour. The difference in the value of the flour ſhipped
from thofe fix ftates, in 1786, and that in 1793, is about fix
millions of dollars, calculating as well upon the increaſe of price
as of quantity. The whole increase of the exports of the union,
fince March 1789, is about eight millions of dollars, of which
more than two millions were in foreign goods.
PREFATORY NOTE.
9
Pennſylvania, and Maryland (which exports confiderably for
Pennſylvania) ſhipped, of domestic and foreign goods, in 1792,
Dollars, 6,370,904
The fame two flates Shipped in 1793,
10,645,855
The difference in favour of the latter year was 4,274,951
dollars. This was about feventeen twentieth parts of the in-
creaſe of the exports of the United States in the fame time.
The whole exports of New-York, in 1793, were 2,934,370
The mere increaſe of the exports of Pennsylvania,
between
1792 and 1793, was
year
3,138,099
The exports of Pennſylvania, for the half
only, ending on the 30th March, 1794, were, Dols. 3,533,597
The increaſe of the exports of the United States, in 1793,
beyond thofe of 1792, was about 5,000,000 dollars, of which
the above increase of Pennſylvania alone, in that time, was
thirty-one fiftieth parts: or more than three fifths.
The population of Pennfylvania appears to have increafed,
in 23 years, nearly in the proportion of 39 to 91, though the
whole term of a revolutionary and invasive war of feven years
was included.* This confiderably exceeds Dr. Franklin's ef
timate of doubling in twenty years. Now, that all New-Eng-
land is full, except Main and Vermont, the contiguous flates of
New-Jersey and Delaware are overstocked, and Maryland
* See page 481.
10
PREFATORY NOTE.
nearly fo; and above all, now that Europe is full and much
difturbed, a curious rapidity of population is to be expelled in
a ftate with fo much unimproved land, difpofition and capacity
for manufactures, wealth, foreign intercourfe, energy and en-
terpriſe a. Pennſylvania. The furplus population of New-
England, New-Forfey, Delaware, and Maryland, at five per
cent. is above 60,000 perfons per annum; and the furplus of
the old fettlements of this fiate is above twenty-two thouſand
per annum.
The plenty of pit-coal in Pennfylvania will very foon give it
an immenſe advantage over all the interior country north and
east of it, in which, though colder than Pennſylvania, it is not
known, that there is one coal mine oper, or that there is any
confiderable appearance of that invaluable foffil. Wood and
timber are very much decreaſed in the principal part of New-
England and in New-Jersey, but is abundant in Maine and
Vermont, and in many parts of NewYork.
It cannot be too much enforced and reiterated, that the inte-
rior and western counties of Pennfylvania, and the western
country in general, ought to procure, at any expence, the moſt
valuable breeding animals, which can be obtained-Horfes,
mares, horned cattle and Sheep: becauſe their distance from
the fta-ports dictates the most intelligent and particular at-
tention to the grazing husbandry. Horned cattle have been
driven to Philadelphia, from Maſſachuſetts and North-Caro-
lina, and mules from Connecticut to Baltimore. The journey
from the Ohio to Philad Iphia, is not more difficult.
The practice of the eaſtern ſtates, in regard to Schools de-
ferves the moft ferious attention of the wife and good. It
PREFATORY NOTE.
11
appears to have refulted in New-England from their fettling
in townſhips of four, five and fix miles fquare. Perhaps it
would be most easily accomplished in Pennfylvania by dividing
the flate into fuch townships. The utmost diftance from a
School, in the centre of a divifion of four miles fquare, would
be very little more than a mile.
It is obviously of the greatest importance to this country and
to Pennſylvania, that its citizens fhould continue to be firmly
attached to the union of the American ftates. An oppofite dif-
pofition would be an error the most fatal and the most extreme.
There was never applied, to the improvement and advance-
ment of Pennſylvania, ſo great an aggregate of money as is
employed directly or indirectly at the prefent time. The im-
provements at the falls of Delaware, at Alexandria on the
Same river, oppofite to Bucks, at Wilfonville on the Walen-
paupack, at Asylum on the Sufquehannah, at Connewaga by that
company, at the Brandywine, Schuylkill and Tulpehocken ca-
nals, at the Lancaſter turnpike road, at the Black Friar falls
of Sufquehanna, in the private buildings at Pittsburg, the
mills, work-fhops and dwelling houfes in every town and every
quarter of the state, together with the expenditures upon roads,
bridges and rivers, amount to a prodigious fum, have attract-
ed artists, mechanics and labourers from other states, and
even from Europe, and have catched the stream of emigration
ere it paffed from east to west, and from north to fouth. It
be truly faid, that the profits, not only of agriculture,
but of trade, manufactures, funds and banks are turned, to a
great amount, to the promotion of the landed intereft, by Penn-
fylvanians, by many other Americans and foreigners of feve-
may
ral nations.
12
PREFATORY NOTE.
The manufactured imports of the State of Pennſylvania,
are fomewhat less than thofe of New-York; though the ex-
ports of this flate are so much greater. This is a clear proof
of the magnitude of the manufactures of Pennfylvania. Gun-
powder, linfeed oil, glue, paper, books, engravings, carriages,
braziery, copper ware, tin and pewter wares, iron caftings,
faddlery, hats, carriages for pleafure and work, paper hang-
ings, pafteboards, boots, fhoes, tanned and tawed leather,
parchments, earthen and ftone ware, cedar ware, corn-fans,
Windfor and rush bottom chairs, houſehold manufactures of
woolen, cotton and linen, fet work, gold work, filver plate,
rolled and flit iron and feel, and manufactures thereof and
of lead, leather breeches, whips, gloves, horfemens' caps, car-
touch boxes, canteens, fword blades, bayonets, mufquets, rifles,
drums, boats, Ships and veffels, beer, diftilled fpirits, and ma-
ny other articles to a great amount indeed, are manufactured
in the city of Philadelphia, in the boroughs, and in the coun-
ties of Pennſylvania; are transported, in many inftances, by
land and water, to feveral other ftates; and, in many in-
ftances, are exported to foreign countries. This is the real
caufe of a difference, which has attracted fome obfervation;
and this important circumftance is conceived to be one of the
Strongest points in favour of the refources, powers and effici-
ency of Pennfylvania. From this folid truth it is obvious,
that upon an accurate and comprehenfive statement of her
commerce, foreign and domeftic, by fea and land, a great ba
lance would appear in favour of this ftate.
The people of Pennsylvania owe very little money indeed, to
their American brethren, but on the contrary, have always
much due to them on all fides. They partake more largely
in the ready money branches of foreign commerce, because of
PREFATORY NOTE.
13
their own valuable Staples and of the extent of their capital
and their habits of exporting to foreign countries, from the
Southern ports, the productions of thofe ftates. In the credit
trades, they take a very large fhare and are fecond to none
in punctuality of payment.
The citizens of Philadelphia confume in their arts, trades
and families, and export to foreign countries fo much of the
produce of the fisheries, that they appear to have a ſtrong in-
tereft to participate in them. While the British and French
partake in the American fisheries, and in the whale fiſhery of
every fea, it will continue to be a matter of certainty, that
the enterprizing Ship owners and mariners of Philadelphia
may at any time make the experiment.
The facts aud ideas in this note, relative to the State of
Pennfylvania, together with thofe in the 4th chapter of the
first book and in the 6th chapter of the fecond book will tend
to prove to us, who are of that profperous ftate, its very deep
intereſt in maintaining just government and public order.
VIE W
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.
TH
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
HE progreffive courfe of things, in young
countries, renders the taſk of thoſe, who under-
take to treat of their affairs, particularly difficult.
The inceffant changes, produced by public opera-
tions and private induſtry, occafion the repreſenta-
tions of one year to be imperfect and diffimilar pic-
tures, in thoſe which follow foon after. In no coun
try have theſe obſervations been more ſtrikingly ex-
emplified, than in the United States of America.
The actual fituation of many parts of their affairs is
nearly the reverſe of what it was at times within the
memory of children.
of children. This circumftance has fug-
gefted the idea, that collections of papers, which
have been publiſhed at the different ftages of Ame-
rican affairs during the exifting peace, (like thoſe,
which occupy this volume) introduced in each in-
ftance by concife explanatory remarks, and cloſed
by fuch brief obfervations on its particular fubject,
A
}
2
as arife in the prefent time, would be of confidera-
ble utility to thefe, who may defire to know, and
thoroughly to underſtand the fituation of the
United States. The publications, now difpofed
in that form, were all produced in America by
the ſtate of things at the moment, and were giv-
en to the world without any refervation as to the
writer's name.
It is an interefting prefumption,
therefore, to perfons abroad, that confiderable de-
pendance may be reaſonably placed by them up-
on facts, which have been, in moft inftances, brought
forward with a view to the uſe of the inhabitants of
the United States, and which have been ftated and
afferted, in the moſt public manner, before the beſt
informed people of the country. Grofs deceptions,
or many erroneous repreſentations are not very
likely to be found in fuch a collection. It is, how-
ever, prudent and neceffary to obferve, that the
field of information and enquiry in the United States.
is fo extenfive, diverſified and variable, that many
very intereſting facts remain unknown to their moſt
attentive inhabitants. There is no doubt, there-
fore, that thofe, who are well acquainted with any
portion of the United States, will perceive many
inftances of advantages, which are not contemplat-
ed in this collection. All that is intended to be af-
firmed, in regard to the matter they comprize, is,
that the various allegations they contain were really
warranted by truth or by fincere belief at the time
when they were written.
Co
CHAPTER II.
FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS RELATIVE TO THE AGRICUL
TURE, MANUFACTURES, FISHERIES, NAVIGATION, AND
THE IMPORT, EXPORT AND COASTING TRADE; INTENDED
то ELUCIDATE THE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS OF THE
UNITED STATES.
OTWITHSTANDING the actual profperi-
NOT
ty of the United States of America at this
time, it is a fact which ought not to be concealed,
that their affairs had fallen into a very diſagreeable
condition in the year 1786. The derangements
and injuries of a civil and invafive war, of more
than feven years duration, the defects of the late
national confederation and government, the confu-
fed maſs of debts, both public and private, which
had arifen from various caufes, with other unfa-
vorable circumſtances, had reduced the country to
a painful fituation. Commerce, among other things,
was of courſe deeply affected. From the difpofi-
tions of free governments to fofter trade, and from
the facility with which the mercantile citizens
communicate with each other, meaſures were taken
in a majority of the ftates for the appointment of a
convention of commiffioners to devife fome mode
of relief. The defective reprefentation, which that
body contained, when affembled at Annapolis,*
and the alarming complexion of public affairs in
general at that juncture, produced an unanimous
conviction in the commiffioners, that the falvation
* In the autumn of 1786.
14
4
of the country required the appointment of ano-
ther convention, with more general powers. Such
a body was foon after conftituted, and commenced
its fittings at Philadelphia in the fpring of 1787.
The following confiderations relative to the Ame-
rican trade, were publifhed in that city, and in-
ſcribed to the members of the convention at an
early period of their bufinefs. It is proper to re-
mark (and by the kindneſs of heaven it can be faid
with truth) that the unfavorable part of the circum-
ſtances, which are detailed in this effay, have given
place to that profperous ftate of commerce, which
a country of diverfified and productive agriculture
muft ever poffefs, either in the foreign or domeftic
line, while it maintains with fincerity and vigilance
the freedom of its citizens, and with energy and firm-
nefs, the rights of property.
An enquiry into the principles, on which a commer-
cial fyftem for the United States of America fhould
be founded; to which are added fome political ob-
fervations connected with the fubject.-Read before
the fociety for political enquiries, convened at the
houſe of Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, May
11, 1787.
There are in every country certain important
crifes when exertion or neglect muft produce con-
fequences of the utmoſt moment. The period at
which the inhabitants of thefe ftates have now ar-
rived, will be admitted, by every attentive and fe-
rious perfon, to be clearly of this deſcription.
5
Our money abforbed by a wanton confumption
of imported luxuries, a fluctuating paper medium
fubftituting in its ftead, foreign commerce* extreme-
ly circumfcribed and a federal government not only
ineffective but disjointed, tell us indeed too plainly,
that further negligence may ruin us forever. Im-
preffed with this view of our affairs, the writer of the
following pages has ventured to intrude upon the
public. But as neither his time nor opportunities
will permit him to treat of all the great objects,
which excite his apprehenfions or engage his wifhes,
he means principally to confine himſelf to that part
of them, which have been moft fubjected to his
obfervations and enquiries.
Juft opinions on our general affairs, muft necef-
farily precede fuch a well devifed fyftem of com-
mercial regulations, as will extend our trade as far
as it can be carried, without affecting unfavorably
our other intereſts. It may therefore be uſeful in
the firſt place, to take a comparative view of the
two most important objects in the United States-
our agriculture and commerce.
In a country bleft with a fertile foil, and a cli-
mate admitting fteady labour, where the cheapneſs
of land tempts the European from his home, and
the manufacturer from his trade, we are led by a
*In regard to its old channels under the British monopoly-
and the new channels not having then diſcovered themſelves, or
their importance.
It may be truly affirmed in the middle ftates that agriculture
draws more of the emigrating European artizans from manufac-
tures than manufactures draw of the farmers from agriculture.
6
few moments reflexion to fix on agriculture as the
great leading intereft. From this we fhall find moft
of our other advantages refult, fo far as they ariſe
from the nature of our affairs, and where they are
not produced by the operation of laws-the fifhe-
ries are the principal exception. In order to make
a true eſtimate of the magnitude of agriculture,
we must remember that it is encouraged by few or
no duties on the importation of rival produce*-
that it furniſhes outward cargoes not only for all
our own fhips, but thoſe alfo which foreign nations
fend to our ports, or in other words, that it pays for
all our importationst-that it fupplies a part of the
clothing of our people and the food of them and
their cattle that what is confumed at home, inclu-
ding the materials for manufacturing, is many times
the value of what is exported-that the number of
people employed in agriculture, is at leaft nine
parts in ten of the inhabitants of America-that
therefore the planters and farmers compofe the bo-
dy of the militia, the bulwark of the nation-that
the value in property, occupied by agriculture, is
manifold greater than that employed in every other
way-that the fettlement of our wafte lands, and
fubdividing our improved farms is every year in-
creafing the pre-eminence of the agricultural inte-
reft-that the refources we derive from it are
* A. D. 1787, and under the laws of the ſeveral ſtates.
+ The fisheries were then the only exception, but manufactures
are beginning to form another, tho' much lefs important, yet:
A. D. 1789.
•‡ A. D. 1787.
f
7
at all times certain and indifpenfibly neceffary-
and laſtly, that the rural life promotes health and
morality by its active nature, and by keeping our
people from the luxuries and vices of the towns.
In ſhort, agriculture appears to be the ſpring of,
our commerce, and the parent of our manufac-
tures.
The commerce of America, including our exports,
imports, fhipping, manufactures and fiſheries, may be
properly confidered as formirg one intereft. So
uninformed and miſtaken have many of us been,
that it has been ftated as our greatest object, and it
is feared that it is yet believed by fome to be the
moſt important intereft of New-England. But cal-
culations carefully made do not raiſe the proporti-
on of property, or the number of men employed in
manufactures, fiſheries, navigation and trade,* to
one-eighth of the property and people occupied by
agriculture, even in that commercial quarter of the
Union. In making this eſtimate fomething has
been deducted from the value and population of
the large towns for the idle and diffipated, for thoſe
who live upon their incomes, and for fupernumera-
ry domeſtic ſervants. But the difproportion is
much greater, taking the union at large, for feveral
of the ftates have little commerce, and no manufac-
tures-others have no commerce and ſcarcely ma-
nufacture any thing. The timber, iron, cordage
and many other articles neceffary for building fhips
to fish or trade-nine parts in ten of their cargoes
* As regular occupations, &c. A. D. 1787. The manufactu
rers are but little more than half of the people of England.
t,
8
-the fubfiftence of the manufacturers, and much
of their raw materials are the produce of our lands.
In almoſt all the countries of Europe, judicious
writers have confidered commerce as the handmaid
of agriculture: if true there, with us it must be un-
queftionable. The United States have yet few fac-
tories to throw into the fcale againſt the landed inte-
reft. We have in our lands full employment for our
prefent inhabitants, and inſtead of fending colonies
to newly diſcovered iflands, we have adjoining
townships and counties, whofe vacant fields await
the future increafe of our people.
If a comparative view of the importance of our
various interefts fhould terminate in a conviction
of the great fuperiority of agriculture over all the
reft combined-if emigration and natural increaſe
are daily adding to the number of our planters and
farmers-if the ftates are poffeffed of millions of
vacant acres, that court the cultivator's hand-if
the fettlement of theſe immenfe tracts will greatly
and ſteadily increaſe the means of ſubſiſtence, the
refources and powers of the country-if they will
prove an inherent treafure of which neither folly
nor chance can deprive us, let us be careful to do
nothing, which may interrupt this happy progreſs
of our affairs. Should we, from a mifconception
of our true interefts, or from any other cauſe, form
a fyftem of commercial regulations, prejudicial to
this great maſs of property, and to this great body
of the people, we muft injure our country during
the continuance of the error, and we muft finally
return, under the diſadvantages of further changes,
9
to that plan, which it must be our fincere defire,
as it is our ferious duty, at this time to devife*.
While we feel an abfolute conviction, that our
true intereſts ſhould reftrain us from burdening or
impeding agriculture in any way whatever, we muſt
be ready to admit, that found policy requires our
giving every encouragement to commerce and its
connexionst, which may be found confiftent with
a due regard to agriculture.
The communication between the different ports.
of every nation is a buſineſs entirely in their pow-
er-The policy of moft countries has been to ſe-
cure this domeftic navigation to their own people.
The extenfive coafts, the immenſe bays and nume-
rous rivers of the United States have already made
this an important object, and it muſt increaſe with
our population. As the places at which the car-
goes of coafting veffels are delivered muſt be fup-
plied with American produce from ſome part of
the Union, and as the merchant can always have
B
* The ſtate of information, connected with commercial legifla-
tion was very unfatisfactory in 1787. We had very few flate do-
cuments, and lefs of national. To legiflate then on the ſubject was
a more difficult and uncertain bufinefs than it now is.-A. D.
1793.
+ The fisheries and manufactures.
The coafting veffels, entered at the custom-houfe of Philadel
phia in the year 1785, were 567 fail; all the other entries of fea
veffels in the fame year were 501.
10
American bottoms to tranfport the goods of the
producing ftate to the ftate confuming them, no
interruption to the market of the planters and far-
mers can be apprehended from prohibiting tranf-
portation in foreign bottoms from port to port
within the United States-A fingle exception may
perhaps be proper, permitting foreign veffels to
carry from port to port, for the purpose of finishing
their fales, any goods that ſhall be part of the car-
goes they brought into the Union, from the last foreign
place at which they loaded. The fleets of colliers
on the Britiſh coaft evince the poffible benefits of
fuch a regulation*.
The confumption of fifh, oil, whalebone and
other articles obtained through the fifheries, in the
towns and counties that are convenient to naviga
tion, has become much greater than is generally
fuppofed. It is faid that no lefs than five thoufand
barrels of mackarel, falmon and pickled cod-fifh,
are vended in the city of Philadelphia annually.
Add to them the dried fifh, oil, fpermaceti candles,
whalebone, &c. and it will be found that a little
fleet of floops and fchooners muſt be employed in
the bufinefs.
The demand for the ufe of the inhabitants of
thofe parts of the Union to which thefe fupplies,
*The freight made by a foreign veffel from Bofton to Phila
delphia, or from New-York to Virginia, or from Philadelphia to
Charleſton, is a total lofs to the United States.
11
can be carried, is already confiderable, and the
increaſe of our towns and manufactures will render
it more fo every year. In the preſent ſtate of our
navigation we can be in no doubt of procuring
theſe ſupplies by means of our own veffels. The
country that interferes moft with us in our own
market is Nova Scotia, which alfo, it is faid, has
had fome emigrants from our fifhing towns fince
the decline of their bufinefs. Such encourage-
ment to this valuable branch of commerce, as would
fecure the benefits of it to our own people, with-
out injuring our other effential intereſts, is certain-
ly worth attention. The Convention will, proba-
bly, find on confideration of this point, that a duty
or prohibition of foreign articles, fuch as our own
fisheries fupply, will be fafe and expedient*.
The article in the Britiſh trade laws, which con-
fines the importation of foreign goods to the bot-
toms of the country producing them, and of their
own citizens, appears applicable to our fituation.
By means of thofe two flags we ſhould be certain
of the neceffary importations, and we ſhould throw
out of each department of the carrying trade every
competitor, except the fhips of the nation by which
the goods were produced or manufactured. All trade
whit feveral countries, fuch as China and India,
The plan of the Convention was not at that time known.
Inftead of a power to lay particular duties being granted to Con-
greſs, the etter grant of a power to regulate our national cɔm-
merce was made.
12
whofe veffels feldom or never make foreign voya-
ges, would be fecured in our own hands. It will
be found, that a modified application of this regu-
lation in practice, will be attended with no diffi-
culties or inconveniencies, and befides the imme-
diate benefits already mentioned, our merchants
will be led directly to the original market for the
fupplies of which we ftand in need. Inftead of
purchafing the goods of Ruffia or the Eaft-Indies
in England, France or Holland, our own fhips
will fail directly to the fountain from whence they
have hitherto flowed to us through foreign chan-
nels. The credits given to us in Europe after the
peace, kept us in the practice of going to a very
few places, for all our importations. But they
have truſted us in many inftances at a dear rate
indeed, and however ufeful credit may be as a fup-
plement to our means of trade in this young coun-
try, it is very certain that we ſhould firft lay out,
to the beft advantage, our funds in hand.
Theſe are the principal encouragements to fo-
reign commerce, which occur at preſent as proper
to form a part of a permanent fyftem for the Unit-
ed States. Regulations for temporary purpoſes,
fuch as reftrictions and prohibitions affecting par-
ticular nations, it is not meant to ſpeak of here.
It muſt be obſerved, however, that they fhould be
adopted with great prudence and deliberation, as
they may affect us very unfavourably, if they
hould be tried in vain.
!
13
In taking meaſures to promote manufactures, we
muſt be careful, that the injuries to agriculture and
the general interefts of commerce do not exceed
the advantages refulting from them. The circum-
Stances of the country, as they relate to this bufinefs,
Should be difpaffionately and thorougly examined*.
Tho' it is confeffed that the United States have full
employment for all their citizens in the extenfive
field of agriculture, yet as we have a valuable bo-
dy of manufacturers already here, as many more
will emigrate from Europe, moſt of whom may
chufe to continue at their trades, and as we have
fome citizens fo poor as not to be able to effect a
little fettlement on our wafte lands, there is a real
neceffity for fome wholeſome general regulations
on this head. By taking care not to force manu-
factures in thofe ftates, where the people are fewer,
tillage much more profitable, and provifions dearer
than in feveral others, we fhall give agriculture its
full ſcope in the former, and leave all the benefits
of manufacturing (fo far as they are within our reach)
to the latter. South-Carolina, for example, muft,
in many inftances, manufacture to an evident lofst,
while the advancement of that buſineſs in Mafla-
chuſetts will give the means of fubfiftence to many,
whofe occupations have been rendered unprofitable
by the conſequences of the revolution. A liberal
policy on this fubje&t fhould be adopted, and the
* This has been frequently donc fince 1786, and the fubject is
now reduced to fome plain and fafe principles.
+ Domeſtic manufacturing must be always excepted.
14
produce of the fouthern ſtates ſhould be exchanged
for ſuch manufactures as can be made by the nor-
thern, free from impoft*.
Another inducement to fome falutary regulations
on this fubject, will be fuggefted by confidering
fome of our means of conducting manufactures.
Unleſs buſineſs of this kind is carried on, certain
great natural powers of the country will remain in-
active and uſeleſs. Our numerous mill feats, for
example, by which flour, oil, paper, fnuff, gunpow-
der, iron work, woolen cloaths, boards and fcant-
ling, and fome other articles are prepared or per-
fected, would be given by Providence in vain. If
properly improved, they will fave us an immenfe
expence for the wages, provifions, cloathing and
lodging of workmen, without diverting the people
from their farms-Fire, as well as water, affords,
if we may ſo ſpeak, a fund of affiſtance, that can-
not lie unuſed without an evident neglect of our
beft interefts. Breweries, which we cannot efti-
mate too highly, diftilleries, fugar houſes, potte-
ries, cafting and fteel furnaces, and feveral other
works are carried on by this powerful element, and
attended with the fame favings, as were particula-
rized in ſpeaking of water machines-'Tis proba-
ble alfo that a frequent uſe of ſteam engines will
add greatly to this clafs of factories. In fome cafes,
{
* From the claufe in the Federal Conftitution, which fecures
this advantage, a great fpring is given to the coafting trade, and
to American manufactures.
15
where fire and water are not employed, horfes are
made to ferve the purpofe as well, and on much
lower terms than men. The cheapnefs and the ea-
fy encreaſe of theſe ferviceable animals infure us
this aid to any extent that occafion may require,
which however is not likely to be very great.
The encouragement to agriculture, afforded by
ſome manufactories, is a reafon of folid weight in
favour of carrying them on with induftry and fpi-
rit. Malt liquors, if generally uſed, linfeed oil,
ftarch (and were they not a poifon to our morals
and conftitutions we might add grain fpirits) would
require more grain to make them, than has been
exported in any year fince the revolution*.-We
cannot omit to obferve here, that beer ftrengthens
the arm of the labourer without debauching him,
while the noxious drink now ufed enervates and
corrupts him-The workers in leather too of eve-
ry kind, in flax and hemp, in iron, wood, ftone
and clay, in furs, horn, and many other articles.
employ either the fpontaneous productions of the
earth, or the fruits of cultivation.
If we are convinced, by thefe confiderations, that
regular factories of many kinds fhould be promoted
in the moſt fuitable part of the Union, let us next
confider, whether the encouragements now held
out to them are at prefent fufficient and proper.
A fenfible and well-informed English writer ftates the quan-
tity of grain made into drink in Britain at twenty-four millions of
bufhels, valued at £.3,000,000 fterling.
16
The nearest rivals of our manufacturers are
thoſe of Europe, who are ſubjected to the follow-
ing charges in bringing their goods into our mar-
ket: The merchant's commiffion for fhipping from
the foreign port, and the fame charge for felling
here, the coft of packages, cuftom-houſe papers in
Europe, and the fame charge with a duty of five
per cent. here, porterages, freight, infurance, da-
mage, intereſt of money, wafte, and lofs on ex-
change-Thefe may be rated at twenty-five per
cent. on the leaft bulky of our manufacturest. Here
J
* The duties have been raiſed, with a view to revenue, to at
leaft 7 per cent. on all manufactured goods: and with a view to
the protection of manufactures, they have been advanced upon ſe-
veral claffes of articles to 10, 12, 15, and 15 per cent. The
ſpecific duties are much higher. See table of duties. A. D. 1793.
+ We have no manufacture more compact than a piece of yard
wide linen, equal to what coft 15d. fterling in Europe. The fol-
lowing minute calculation will fhew the charges, under which a
package of 100l. fterling value of that article can be imported.
64 pieces of linen of 25 yards each, will be 1600 yards,
which, at 15d. amount to 100l. fterling,
Outward entry, debenture certificate, and fearchers
fees, porterage, wharfage, bill of lading in Europe
are 15s. fterling, or in currency
Infurance to cover charges, commiffion for effecting
and part policy, L3 3s. fterling, or currency,
Coft of cafe, ropes, and packing, 15s. fterling,
One year's intereft on firft coft, and European charges
on the goods, 5 5s. fterling,
[N. B. This is too low, for the manufacturing houſes put twice
that advance upon what the goods are worth in caſb.]
Carried over,
Currency.
166 13 4
1 5 0
5 5.0
I 5 0
8 15 0
£.183 3 4
17
is a folid premium, operating like a bounty, while
it happily cofts the confumer nothing but what he
would otherwife be obliged to pay; for the charges
of importation are unavoidable, and the duty being
merely for the purpose of revenue, is applied to pay
the public debts and expences of which he owes
his proportion. This encouragement can be fome-
what encreaſed by exempting raw materials from duty,
which may be very fafe and proper, and by addi-
C
Brought forward,
Duty on the value of goods in America eſtimated at
Currency.
£.183 3 4
80
4 11 7
0 I 6
16ol. currency for 100l. fterling coſt, at 5 per cent.
Commiffion on ſhipping,
플
​2 per cent.
.183 4 4 in Europe, at
Part cuſtom-houſe bond and permit, and primage,
Commiffion on the fales and remitting, fuppofing the
goods to fell for 210l. currency, per 100l. fterling
coft, at 7 per cent.
ફ્
Freight of 13 1-3 feet, at 1/3 fterling per foot,
Porterage,
Deduct the firſt coſt as above,
II 5 0
I
7 9
O IO
2
208 10
166 13 4
£.25 2 1 fterling, being the charges, is equal to £. 41 16 10
In this calculation, wafte, which of fome articles is great, da-
mages below 5 per cent. which the underwriters do not pay, in-
juries not within the rifk infured, difference of exchange now 6
per cent. above par,and other loffes on remitting, poſtages of
letters, and bad debts on fales at a long credit, as well as the pro-
fit of the importer and the higher rate of duties, which feveral
claffes of goods pay are not taken notice of, though feveral of
them really occur in every importation.
18
tional duties and prohibitions, which might in.
duce the lofs of the revenue and an injury to mo-
rals from fmuggling, and would throw upon the
other members of the commercial intereft and the
cultivators and improvers of our lands an unne-
ceffary burden. The manufacturers are a judici-
ous body of men, and love their country. There
is every
reaſon to confide therefore, that when
they ſee a ſubſtantial advantage of twenty-five per
cent. at leaft in favour of their goods, which cannot
be taken from them, they will defire that govern-
ment fhould refrain from further duties and pro-
hibitions. This eftimate being made upon the fin-
eft of our manufactures, it is evident that the more
bulky and weighty would exhibit the advantages
of our own workmen in a yet. ftronger light.
The clear air and powerful fun of America are
other advantages which our manufacturers enjoy.
When the linen and cotton branches fhall become
confiderable, a great faving of time and money will
be made by the climate, and where bleaching is ef-
fected principally by the fun and water, the quality
of the cloth is known to be more excellent. The Eu-
ropean proceſs by drugs and machines impairs the
firength. Ireland, it is confeffed, with a climate very
different from ours, is remarkable for the quality of
its linens, but they do not equal the American home-
fpun in ftrength. In confirmation of the above
opinion, it may be mentioned, that there was a
plan formed before the revolution, by a number
of English merchants, of eftabliſhing a company
19
with a large capital, to import the brown linens of
Europe to be bleached here for the fupply of our
markets.
In this country the confumer's money follows
the delivery of the manufacture, therefore lefs ca-
pital is required. In every part of Europe exten-
five credits are given upon their goods. For tho'
fome nations have not got into the habit of truft-
ing us, their own merchants are known to buy on
eaſy terms of payment. France is, perhaps, as lit-
tle accuſtomed to give theſe indulgencies as any
other great country in Europe, yet nothing is paid
for there, in lefs than two months, and the credits
are extended from that time to twelve months ac-
cording to the article. At the expiration of the
term an accepted bill at fixty days is confidered as
prompt payment, fo that the actual term of credit
is from four months to fourteen.
To theſe might be added feveral other little ad-
vantages, the joint benefits of which are fenfibly
felt, but it is prefumed that enough has been faid
to fatisfy the juſt and patriotic mind, though con-
cerned in the bufinefs, that a further addition of
duties would not promote the general interefts of
the country. We muſt here beg leave however
ftrenuouſly to recommend, that every duty on A-
merican produce or manufactures, impoliticly and
unkindly impoſed by the laws of feveral of the
ftates, fhould be taken off, and that the juftice and
found policy of the alteration fhould be declared
20
aş
and admitted in fome public inftrument: and as
ſhips may be very properly confidered as the great-
eſt article we make, the tonnage on our own bot-
toms ſhould be equalized throughout the Union,
and the extra duties on goods imported in vef-
fels not belonging to the ftate in which they are
landed, fhould be done away-Complaints againſt
the trade laws of foreign nations come not confiſt-
ently from thoſe who lay fimilar burdens on their
fifter ftates.
A further encouragement to manufactures will
refult from improvements and diſcoveries in agri-
culture-There are many raw materials, that could
be produced in this country in abundance, which
have hitherto been very limited. Cotton for many
years before the revolution was not worth more
than nine pence fterling in the Weft-India Iflands.
The perfection of the factories in Europe has raiſed
it to fuch a pitch, that befides the prohibition
againſt ſhipping it from the colonies to any foreign
port, the price has rifen fifty per cent. The con-
fumers in Pennſylvania have paid near two fhillings
fterling for the importation of this year. This article
muſt be worth the attention of the fouthern planters.
If the facts and obfervations in the preceding
part of this paper be admitted to be true and juft;
and if we take into confideration with them the fu-
periority of foreign commerce, and the fisheries
over our manufactories*, we may come to the fol
* A. D. 1787.
21
L
lowing conclufions-That the United States of
America cannot make a proper ufe of the natural
advantages of the country, nor promote her agri-
culture and other interefts without manufactures,
that they cannot enjoy the attainable bencfits of
commerce and the fifheries, without fome general
reſtrictions and prohibitions affecting foreign na-
tions, that in forming theſe reſtrictions and prohi-
tions, as well as in eſtabliſhing manufactories, there
is occafion for the greatest deliberation and wif-
dom, that nothing may be introduced, which can
interfere with the fale of our produce, or with the
Settlement and improvement of our new lands.
Among the political confiderations, which muft
neceffarily be admitted in treating of this fubject,
the force that may be required for our protection
is not to be forgotten. It is certainly the greateſt
that attends it. America, we may affume, can
have no inducement to engage in European wars.
From our local fituation we may keep ourfelves
long difengaged from them. The principal Euro-
pean nations would find us an unprofitable and
troubleſome enemy. The trade of France, Great-
Britain, Spain, Holland and Portugal, which paffes
by our coafts, are a fecurity against their hoftilities.
A war among them, in which we fhould take no
part, would be more beneficial to our farmers,
merchants and manufacturers than all the advanta-
ges we could obtain, if engaged in it ourſelves.
Our fhips would carry for them, or inftead of theirs,
and our lands and manufactories would furnish the
22
fupplies of their fleets and iſlands in the Weft-In-
dies. To counterbalance thefe advantages, and to
pay the expences of a war would require captures
rich and numerous indeed; but what would com-
penfate us for the drain of peafantry and the loft
opportunity of cultivating commerce and the arts
of peace. A war merely offenfive cannot be ap-
prehended. The fortune of the Britiſh arms againſt
America undifciplined and divided, will inftru&t
our enemies to beware of invafions after the mili-
tary leffons taken from that long and ſerious con-
teft. Having no foreign colonies whofe fitua-
tion and weaknefs would fubject them to their at
tacks, and having all our refources at hand to de-
fend our own coafts, and cut up their trade in its
pallage by our doors, no European power will be
inclined to infult or moleft us. Should any of them
be fo infenfible to their own interefts, as to depart
from the policy, which evidently ought to govern
them, America, by acting in concert with the moſt
powerful enemy of fuch hoftile country, muft com-
mence a war, which however inconvenient and
difagreeable to us, would be ruinous to their Weft-
India trade, and fatal to their colonies. We are
not deſtitute of reſources and powers to injure
them or defend ourfelves. Our inland navigation,
coafting trade and fisheries, and the portion of fo-
reign commerce we must inevitably enjoy, are no
inconfiderable nurferies for feamen. Good naval
officers we ſhould not want: they have never been
ſcarce, and one happy effect of the revolution has
certainly been to raife the reputation of the marine
#3
life, and to increaſe the talents and refpe&tability
of its followers. Foreign feamen too, would find
great temptations to enter on board our privateers
and fhips of war, and might be hired in any num-
bers we could pay. The increaſe of the ftrength
and riches of the country, by filling up our vacant
lands, is the infallible method by which the necef-
fary means may be acquired.
*
It will not be amifs to draw a picture of our
country, as it would really exift under the ope-
ration of a fyftem of national laws formed upon
theſe principles. While we indulge ourſelves in
the contemplation of a ſubject at once fo intereft-
ing and dear, let us confine ourſelves to fubftantial
facts, and avoid thofe pleafing delufions into which
the fpirits and feelings of our countrymen have too
often mifled them,
In the foreground we ſhould find the maſs of our
citizens the cultivators (and what is happily for
us in moſt inftances the fame thing) the indepen-
dent proprietors of the foil. Every wheel would
appear in motion that could carry forward the in-
terefts of this great body of our people, and bring
into action the inherent powers of the country.
A portion of the produce of our lands would be
confumed in the families or employed in the buf-
nefs of our manufacturers-a further portion would
be applied in the fuftenance of our merchants and
fishermen and their numerous affiftants, and the re-
mainder would be tranſported by thofe that could
24
carry it at the loweft freight (that is with the fmall-
eſt deduction from the aggregate profits of the bu
finefs of the country) to the beft foreign markets.
On one fide we ſhould fee our manufacturers en-
couraging the tillers of the earth by the confump-
tion and employment of the fruits of their labours,
and fupplying them and the rest of their fellow ci-
tizens with the inftruments of their occupations,
and the neceffaries and conveniencies of life, in
every inftance wherein it could be done without
unneceffarily diftreffing commerce and increafing
the labours of the hufbandmen, and the difficulties.
of changing our remaining wilds into fcenes of cul-
tivation and plenty. Commerce, on the other hand,
attentive to the general intereſts, would come for-
ward with offers to range through foreign climates
in ſearch of thoſe ſupplies, which the manufactur-
ers could not furnifh but at too high a price, or
which nature has not given us at home, in return
for the furplus of thoſe ſtores, that had been drawn
from the ocean or produced by the earth.
десь
On a review of the preceding facts and obferva-
tions there appears good reaſon to believe, that
the neceffary meaſures might be taken to render
our farms profitable and to improve our new lands,
and that our manufactures, fisheries, navigation
and trade, would ftill be confiderable. The long
voyage by which all interfering foreign articles.
muſt be brought to thefe markets, and the inevita-
ble neceffity for a revenue, give us, as hath been
demonftrated, a virtual bounty of twenty-five per
25
cent. in favor of our own commodities, and this in
the leaſt favorable inftances. When returning œ-
conomy, and the fall of rents and provifions fhall
have reduced the expences of living, when our in-
creafing farms fhall have poured in their addition
of raw materials, and we fhall have felt the fhort-
nefs of importation produced by the fuffering of
our credit abroad, and by the check which has been
given to foreign adventurers in our trade, this differ-
ence of twenty-five per cent. will have a fenfible ef-
fect*. Being rated on the whole value of the arti-
cle, that is, as well on the labour as the raw mate-
rials, it is in fact fifty per cent. on the labour in all
cafes wherein the workmanſhip is half the value
of the manufactured goods, and fo in proportion
where it is more. Beer, diftilled liquors, pot-afh,
gun-powder, cordage, loaf fugar, hanging and writ-
ing paper, fnuff, tobacco, ftarch, anchors, nail
rods, and many other articles of iron, bricks,
tiles, potters ware, mill-ftones, and other ftone
work, cabinet work, corn fans, Windſor chairs,
carriages, fadlery, fhoes and boots, and other wear-
ing apparel, coarfe linens, hats, a few coarfe wool-
en articles, linfeed oil, wares of gold and filver,
tin and copper, fome braziery, wool cards, worms
and ftills, and feveral other articles may be confi-
dered as eſtabliſhed. Theſe are tending to greater
perfection, and will foon be fold fo cheap as to
throw foreign goods of the fame kind entirely out
of the market.
D
*This has now become very evident. A. D. 1793.
26
Many of the fame circumftances, that favour the
manufacturer, will render the fisheries more profita-
ble, and from the cheapness of veſſels, they will be
carried on at lefs expence than in the few laſt years.
The American market, where the confumption
(with population) is increaſing faſt, may be entirely
fecured to them. Our manufactories and towns
will annually make larger demands for candles, oil,
whalebone and pickled fifh, and it would be good
policy to extend the confumption of the dried
cod. The Daniſh and French iſlands, and the free
ports in the Weft-Indies, receive fome of the pro-
duce of the fiſheries-France is likely to take off a
confiderable quantity, as alfo are the Spaniards,
Portugueſe and Italians, and the Engliſh will al-
ways want certain articles for their manufactories,
though not to any great ampunt-New-England,
the feat of the fiſheries, has the great advantage of
being the cheapeſt and moſt populous part of Ame-
rica. Its inhabitants are healthy, active and intel-
ligent, and can be frugal; wherefore there appears
good reafon to be believe, that many factories will
in the courſe of a very few years revive their de-
clining towns.
The commercial citizens of America have for
fome time felt the deepeft diftrefs. Among the
principal caufes of their unhappy fituation were the
inconfiderate fpirit of adventure to this country,
which pervaded almoft every kingdom in Europe,
and the prodigious credits from thence given to our
เ
27
merchants on the return of peace. To thefe may be
added the high fpirits and the golden dreams, which
naturally followed fuch a war, clofed with fo much
honor and fuccefs.-Triumphant over a great ene-
my, courted by the moft powerful nations in the
world, it was not in human nature that America
fhould immediately comprehend her new fituation.
Really poffeffed of the means of future greatnefs, fhe
anticipated the moſt diſtant benefits of the revolu-
tion, and confidered them as already in her hands.
She formed the higheſt expectations, many of which
however, ferious experience has taught her to relin-
quifh, and now that the thoughtlefs adventures and
imprudent credits from foreign countries take place
no more*, and time has been given for cool reflec-
tion, ſhe can fee her real fituation and need not be
difcouraged.
Our future trade may comprehend the fifheries,
with the exclufive benefit of fupplying our own
markets, as hath been already obferved. The
coafting tradet will be entirely fecured to us.
The right of bringing the commodities of foreign
countries may be divided with the ſhips of the
nation from whom they come, or in thofe cafes
where they have no native fhips, the carrying
* An application of the foregoing obfervations to the commerci
al ſubject, can only be admiffible into this effay.
This, though not in form, is yet, in effect, fecured to us.
The coafting trade will receive a great ſpring from the Cheſapeak
collieries in a few years, fhould no others be difcovered on naviga-
ble water.
28
}
trade may be our own. The revolution has open-
ed to us fome new branches of valuable commerce.
The intercourfe with France was next to none be-
fore the war, and with Ruffiat, India and China
not thought of. With activity and ſtrict economy
we may pay Europe with ſome of the produce of
India, for a part of the goods with which they fup-
ply us, and if we do not over-regulate trade, we
fhall be an entrepot of certain commodities for their
Weft-Indian and South-American colonies. Be-
fides theſe objects all the manufacturing countries
and many free ports will be open to us, and we
may adventure in foreign fhips to a confiderable
extent, though it would be more defirable to em-
ploy our own. As the propoſed regulations would
compel the Britiſh or Dutch merchants, to import
into the United States a part of the produce of
France and Spain in American bottoms, fo may
ours ferve the general interefts of their country by
fending tobacco to Sweden, or flour, rice and live
flock to the British colonies in the veffels of the
reſpective nations.
}
The foundations of national wealth and confe-
quence are fo firmly laid in the United States, that
no foreign power can undermine or deſtroy them.
But the enjoyment of theſe ſubſtantial bleffings is
* This idea remains for confideration as before obſerved.
With Ruffia it is not at prefent likely to be very great. Our
products and manufactures are fimilar and bulky: Our pofitions
remote.
:
2
29
rendered precarious by domeftic circumftances.
Scarcely held together by a weak and half formed
federal conſtitution, the powers of our national
government, are unequal to the complete execution
of any falutary purpoſe, foreign or domeftic. The
evils refulting from this unhappy ftate of things
have again fhocked our reviving credit, produc-
ed among our people alarming inftances of dif-
obedience to the laws, and if not remedied,
muſt deſtroy our property, liberties and peace.
Foreign powers, however difpofed to favor us, can
expect neither fatisfaction nor benefit from treaties
with Congrefs, while they are unable to enforce
them. We can therefore hope to fecure no privi-
leges from them, if matters are thus conducted.
We muft immediately remedy this defect or fuffer
exceedingly. Defultory commercial acts of the le-
giflatures, formed on the impreffion of the moment,
proceeding from no uniform or permanent princi-
ples, clafhing with the laws of other ftates and op-
pofing thoſe made in the preceding year by the
enacting ftate, can no longer be fupported, if we
are to continue one people. A fyftem which will
promote the general interefts with the fmalleft injury
to particular ones has become indifpenfibly neceffary.
Commerce is more affected by the diſtractions and
evils arifing from the uncertainty, oppofition and
errors of our trade laws, than by the reftrictions of
any one power in Europe. A negative upon all
commercial acts of the legiflatures, if granted to
Congreſs wold be perfectly fafe, and muſt have an
30
excellent effect*. If thought expedient it fhould
be given as well with regard to thofe that exift, as
to thoſe that may be deviſed in future. Congrefs
would thus be enabled to prevent every regulation,
that might oppofe the general interefts, and by re-
ftraining the ftates from impolitic laws, would gra-
dually bring our national commerce to order and
perfection.
We have ventured to hint at prohibitory powers,
but ſhall leave that point and the general power of
regulating trade to thoſe who may undertake to
confider the political objects of the Convention,
ſuggeſting only the evident propriety of enabling
Congreſs to prevent the importation of foreign com
modities, ſuch as can be made from our own raw ma-
terials†. When any article of that kind can be fup-
plied at home, upon as low terms as thofe on which
it can be imported, a manufacture of our own pro-
duce, fo well eſtabliſhed, ought not by any means
to be facrificed to the interefts of foreign trade, or
fubjected to injury by the wild ſpeculations of igno-
rant adventurers. In all cafes careful provifion
fhould be made for refunding the duties on expor-
tation, which renders the impoft a virtual exciſe
without being liable to any of the objections which
have been made againſt an actual one, and is a
great encouragement to trade.
* The power over commerce granted by the federal confti-
tution is far preferable to this.
Though this should be moft cautiously done, it merits careful
attention.
31
The reſtoration of public credit at home and
abroad ſhould be the first wifh of our hearts, and re-
quires every economy, every exertion we can make.
The wife and virtuous axioms of our political con-
ftitutions, refulting from a lively and perfect fenfe of
what is due from man to man, fhould prompt us to
the diſcharge of debts of fuch peculiar obligation.
We ftand bound to no common creditors. The
friendly foreigner, the widow and the orphan, the
truſtees of charity and religion, the patriotic citi-
zen, the war-worn foldier and a magnanimous al-
ly-thefe are the principal claimants upon the feel-
ings and juſtice of America. Let her apply all her
reſources to this great duty, and wipe away the
darkeſt ftain, that has ever fallen upon her. The
general impoft-the fale of the lands and every
other unneffary article of public property-reftrain-
ing with a firm hand every needlefs expence of go-
vernment and private life-ſteady and patient induf-
ftry, with proper difpofitionsin the people, would re-
lieve us of part of the burden, and enable Congrefs
to commence their payments, and with the aid of
taxation, would put thefinking and funding of our
debts within the power of the United States.
The violence committed on the rights of proper-
ty under the authority of tender laws in fome of
the ftates, the familiarity with which that pernicious
meaſure has been recurred to, and the fhameleſs
perfeverance with which it has been perfifted in
after the value of the paper was confeffedly gone,
call aloud for fome remedy. This is not merely a
32
matter of justice between man and man. It difho
nors our national character abroad, and the engine
has been employed to give the coup de grace to pub-
lic credit. It would not be difficult perhaps to
form a new article of confederation to prevent it
in future, and a queſtion may arife whether fellow-
ſhip with any ſtate, that would refuſe to admit it,
can be fatisfactory or fafe. To remove difficulties
it need not be retrofpective. The prefent ftate of
things inſtead of inviting emigrants, deters all who
have the means. of information, and are capable of
thinking. The fettlement of our lands, and the
introduction of manufactories and branches of trade
yet unknown among us or requiring a force of ca-
pital, which are to make our country rich and
powerful, are interrupted and fufpended by our
want of public credit and the numerous diforders
of our government."
The meaſures of the convention of 1787, iffued,
as it is univerfally known, in impofing a conflitution-
al prohibition upon paper emiffions, paper tenders
and other pernicious violations of the rights of
property, in the confirmation of the foreign trea-
ties by an act of the people, in the eſtabliſhment of
a national legiſlature with complete powers over
* This idea is moſt happily carried to the utmoſt length we
could defire in the federal conſtitution and the claufe is no leſs fa-
vorable to commerce than to private virtue and national honour.
33
commerce and navigation, defence, war and peace,
money, and all the other great objects of national
economy. The confequences of this wife and fin-
gular effort of the American people are beginning
to be known to the world, and fome of them will
appear in the latter chapters of this volume.
E
}
1
34
CHAPTER III.
SKETCHES OF THE SUBJECT OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES
IN 1787, PREPARATORY ΤΟ EXERTIONS FOR THEIR AD-
VANCEMENT AND INCREASE.
THE various political diforders of 1787, and
the want of national fyftem, affected very fe-
verely a number of perfons in the large towns,
who were engaged in the different branches of ma-
nufactures. Theſe were more numerous and much
more important, than was at that time perceived
by perfons of the clofeft obfervation. The laws
of fome of the ftates impofed confiderable duties
upon the fabrics of all the reft; in ſome inſtances
as high as the impoft on fimilar articles manufac-
tured in foreign countries. The remains of the
exceffive importations of the four preceding years
were conftantly offered for fale at prices lower than
their coft in Europe, and lefs than they could be
made for in America. From a deep fenſe of theſe
inconveniencies exertions were commenced, in va-
rious parts of the United States, by perfons of all
defcriptions, to relieve the manufacturing citizens;
which appeared the more defirable to many, be-
cauſe the neceffary meaſures tended, at the fame
time, to promote the great caufe of union among the
States, and to reprefs habits of expenfe, which the
war, and the peace likewife, though from very dif-
ferent cauſes, had introduced into moft of the
towns, and into too many parts of the country.
i
35
The citizens of Philadelphia took a very active part
in theſe falutary meaſures, and inftituted a fociety,
which afterwards proved of confiderable utility, to
carry their views into execution. The addrefs,
which is comprized in this chapter, was prepared
in confequence of a requeft from one of the meet-
ings, which were held by the promoters of the in-
ftitution, and other patrons of the internal trade
and manufactures of the United States.
An Addrefs to an affembly of the friends of Ameri-
can manufactures, convened for the purpoſe of eſta-
blishing a Society for the encouragement of Manu-
factures and the ufeful arts, in the University of
Pennſylvania, on Thurſday, the 9th of August,
1787, and published at their request.
GENTLEMEN,
WHILE I obey with fincere pleaſure the com-
mands of the reſpectable aſſembly whom I have
now the honor to addrefs, I feel the moſt trying
emotions of anxiety and apprehenfion in attempting
to perform fo difficult and ſerious a duty, as that pre-
ſcribed to me at our laft meeting. The importance
and novelty of the ſubject, the injurious confe-
quences of miſtaken opinions on it and your pre-
fence neceffarily excite feelings fuch as thefe.
They are leffened however, by the hope of fome
benefit to that part of my fellow citizens, who de-
pend for comfort on our native manufactures, and
by an ardent wiſh to promote every meaſure, that
will give to our new-born ſtates the ſtrength of man-
36
hood. Supported by thefe confiderations and rely-
ing on the kind indulgence, which is ever fhewn
to well-meant endeavours, however unſucceſsful, I
fhall venture to proceed.
Providence has beſtowed upon the United States
of America means of happineſs, as great and nu-
merous, as are enjoyed by any country in the world.
A foil fruitful and diverſified-a healthful climate-
mighty rivers and adjacent feas abounding with fiſh
are the great advantages for which we are indebted
to a beneficent creator. Agriculture, manufa&tures
and commerce, naturally arifing from thefe fources,
afford to our induſtrious citizens certain fubfiftence
and innumerable opportunities of acquiring wealth.
To arrange our affairs in falutary and well digefted
fyftems, by which the fruits of induftry, in every
line, may be moſt eaſily attained, and the poffeffion
of property and the bleffings of liberty may be com-
pletely fecured-thefe are the important objects,
that fhould engrofs our prefent attention. The in-
terefts of commerce and the eſtabliſhment of a juſt
and effective government are already committed to
the care of THE AUGUST BODY* now fitting
in our capital. The importance of agriculture has
long fince recommended it to the patronage of nu-
merous affociations, and the attention of all the le-
giflatures-but manufactures, at leaft in Pennfyl-
vania, have had but few unconnected friends, till
found policy and public fpirit gave a late, but au-
ſpicious birth, to this Society.
*The Federal Convention,
J
37
The fituation of America before the revolution
was very unfavourable to the objects of this infti-
tution. The prohibition of moft foreign raw ma-
terials confiderable bounties in England for car-
rying away the unwrought productions of this
country to that, as well as on exporting British
goods from their markets-the preference for thoſe
goods, which habit carried much beyond what their
excellence would juftify, and many other circum-
ftances, created artificial impediments which ap-
peared almoſt infuperable. Several branches how-
ever were carried on with great advantage. But
as long as we remained in our colonial fituation,
our progrefs was very flow; and indeed the necef-
fity of attention to manufactures was not fo urgent,
as it has become fince our affuming an independent
ſtation. The employment of thofe, whom the de-
cline of navigationt has deprived of their ufual oc-
cupations-the confumption of the encreaſing pro-
duce of our lands and fisheries, and the certainty of
Supplies in the time of war are very weighty reafons
for eſtabliſhing new manufactories now, which ex-
ifted but in a ſmall degree, or not at all, before
the revolution.
While we readily admit, that in taking meaſures
to promote the objects of this fociety, nothing
Should be attempted, which may injure our agricultu-
ral interefts, they being undoubtedly the moft im-
portant, we muft obferve in juftice to ourfelves,
that very many of our citizens, who are expert at
+ A. D. 1787.
38
manufactures and the ufeful arts, are entirely un-
acquainted with rural affairs, or unequal to the
expences of a new ſettlement; and* many we may
believe, will come among us invited to our fhores
from foreign countries, by the bleffings of liberty,
civil and religious. We may venture to affert too,
that more profit to the individual and riches to
the nation will be derived from fome manufactures,
which promote agriculture, than from any ſpecies
of cultivationt whatever. The truth of this re-
mark however, will be better determined, when
the fubject ſhall be further confidered.
Let us firft endeavour to difencumber manufac-
tures of the objections, that appear againſt them,
the principal of which are, the high rate of labour,
which involves the price of provifions-the want of
a fufficient number of hands on any terms, the
Scarcity and dearness of raw materials-want of ſkill
in the bufinefs itſelf and its unfavorable effects on
the health of the people.
Factories which can be carried on by water-mills,
wind-mills, fire, horfes and machines ingeniouſly
contrived, are not burdened with any heavy ex-
penfe of boarding, lodging, clothing and paying
* This has been the great dependance and the great means in
the bufinefs of handicraft manufactures in Pennſylvania.
The manufacture of malt liquors and fruit and corn ſpirits
might be the means of preventing the importation of rum, bran-
dy, gin, &c. which muft amount to two millions of dollars
num taking in all our ports.
per an-
39
workmen, and they fupply the force of hands to a
great extent without taking our people from agri-
culture. By wind and water machines we can
make pig and bar iron, nail rods, tire, fheet-iron,
fheet-copper, ſheet-braſs, anchors, meal of all kinds,
gun-powder, writing, printing and ha nging paper,
ſnuff, linfeed oil, boards, plank and fcantling*; and
they affift us in finiſhing fcythes, fickles and woolen
cloths. Strange as it may appear they alfo card,
ſpin and even weave, it is faid, by water in the Eu-
ropean factories. Bleaching and tanningf muſt
not be omitted, while we are ſpeaking of the ufe-
fulneſs of water.
By fire we conduct our breweries, diftilleries,
falt and potaſh works, ſugar houſes, potteries, caſt-
ing and ſteel furnaces, works for animal and veget-
able oils and refining drugs. Steam mills have
not yet been adopted in America, but we fhall pro-
bably fee them after a fhort time in places, where
there are few mill feats and in this and other great
towns of the United States. The city of Philadel-
* One mill of Ramfey's (the improvement on Barker's) near
Philadelphia, grinds by water, chocolate, flour, fnuff, hair-powder,
and muſtard, and ſhells chocolate nuts; alſo preffes and cuts tobac-
co for chewing and ſmokeing, and boults meal.
+ The leather branch in Great-Britain is eſtimated at eleven
millions of pounds ſterling, or more than a fifth of all their ſtaple
manufactures, and we eat more meat than they, and have the
command of much more deer-fkins.
The American improvements in fteam have been brought for-
ward fince this publication.
40
phia, by adopting the ufe of them, might make a
great faving on all the grain brought hither by
water, which is afterwards manufactured into meal,
and they might be uſefully applied to many other
valuable purpoſes.
Horſes give us, in fome inftances, a relief from
the difficulties we are endeavouring to obviate.
They grind the tanners bark and potters clay; they
work the brewers and diftillers pumps, and might
be applied, by an inventive mind, as the moving
principle of many kinds of mills*.
Machines ingenioufly conftru&ted, will give us
immenfe affiftance.-The cotton and filk manufac-
turers in Europe are poffeffed of fome, that are in-
valuable to them. Several inftances have been af-
certained, in which a few hundreds of women and
children perform the work of thoufands of card-
ers, ſpinners and winders. In fhort, combinations
of machines with fire and water have already ac-
compliſhed much more than was formerly expected
from them by the moft vifionary enthufiaft on the
fubje&t. Perhaps I may be too fanguine, but they
appear to me fraught with immenfe advantages to
us, and not a little dangerous to the manufacturing
nations of Europe; for fhould they continue to uſe
and improve them, as they have heretofore done,
their people may be driven to us for want of em-
ployment, and if, on the other hand, they fhould
* We might cut ſtone and marble by horſe and water mills. In
Italy the latter is the mode.
41
return to manual labour, we may underwork them,
by theſe invaluable engines. We may certainly
borrow fome of their inventions*, and others of the
fame nature we may ſtrike out ourſelves; for on the
fubject of mechaniſm America may juſtly pride her-
felf. Every combination of machinery may be ex-
pected from a country, A NATIVE SON of which,
reaching this ineftimable object at its highest point,
has epitomized the motions of the fpheres, that
roll throughout the univerfet.
The lovers of mankind, fupported by experienc-
ed phyficians, and the opinions of enlightened poli-
ticians, have objected to manufactures as unfavour-
able to the health of the people. Giving to this
humane and important confideration its full weight,
it furniſhes an equal argument againſt feveral other
occupations, by which we obtain our comforts and
promote our agriculture. The painting buſineſs
for inftance-reclaiming marfhes-clearing fwamps
-the culture of rice and indigo and fome other
employments, are even more fatal to thofe, who are
engaged in them. But this objection is urged
principally againft carding, fpinning and weaving,
which formerly were entirely manual and fedentary
occupations. Our plan, as we have already fhewn,
is not to purſue thofe modes unleſs in cafes parti-
F
1790. We have fince obtained the mill for fpinning flax,
hemp and wool.
+ David Rittenhouſe, of Pennfylvania.
42
cularly circumftanced, for we are fenfible that our
people must not be diverted from their farms.
Horfes, and the potent elements of fire and water, aid-
ed by the faculties of the human mind, are to be in
many inftances, our daily labourers*. After giving
immediate relief to the induftrious poor, thefe un-
hurtful means will be purfued and will procure us
private wealth and national profperity.
Emigration from Europe will alfo aff.ft us. The
bleffings of civil and religious liberty in America,
and the oppreffions of most foreign governments,
the want of employment at home and the expecta-
tions of profit here, curiofity, domeftic unhappi-
nefs, civil wars and various other circumftances
will bring many manufacturers to this afylum for
mankind. Ours will be their induftry, and, what is
of ftill more confequence, ours will be their fkill.
Intereft and neceffity, with fuch inftru&tors, will
teach us quickly. In the laft century the manu-
factures of France were next to none; they are
now worth millions to her yearly. Thofe of Eng-
land have been more improved within the laft
twelve years, than in the preceding fifty. At
the peace of 1762, the uſeful arts and manufactures
were fcarcely known in America. How great has
been their progrefs fince, unaided, undirected and
difcouraged. Countenanced by your patronage
and promoted by your affiftance, what may they
not be 'ere fuch another ſpace of time ſhall elapſe?
* So far as we depend on our own reſources.
43
Wonderful as it muft appear, the manufacturers
of beer, that beft of all our commodities, have late-
ly been obliged to import malt from England.
Here muſt be inexcufable negle&t, or a strange blind-
nefs to our most obvious interefts. The cultiva-
tion of barley fhould certainly be more attended to,
and if I miſtake not exceedingly, the prefent abun-
dant crop of wheat* will ſo fill our markets, that
the farmer, who fhall reap barley the enfuing year,
will find it the most profitable of all the grains.
We cannot, however, have any permanent diffi-
culty on this articlet.
Of flax and hemp little need be faid, but that we
can encreaſe them as we pleafe, which we ſhall do
according to the demand.
Wool muſt become much more abundant, as our
country populates. Mutton is the beft meat for
cities, manufactories, feminaries of learning, and
poor houſes, and fhould be given by rule as in
England. The fettlement of our new lands, re-
mote from water carriage, muft introduce much
more pafturage and graizing, than has been here-
tofore neceflary, as fheep, horfes and horned
cattle will carry themfelves to market through
roads impaffable by waggons. The foreign re-
* The price of flour had fallen in December, 1788, to 30. per
barrel. The French demand then took place and raiſed it on a
medium fince to 38. and 40%. and often morc.
The importation of malt has ceafed, and the breweries are
greatly encreaſed. A. D. 1793.
44
ftrictions on our trade will alfo tend to encreafe
the number of fheep. Horfes and horned cattle
ufed to form a great part of the New-England car-
goes for the English Weft-India iflands. Theſe
animals are exported to thofe places now in fmaller
numbers, as our veffels are excluded from their
ports. The farms, capital and men, which were
formerly employed in raifing them, will want a mar-
ket for their ufual quantity, and the nature of that
country being unfit for grain, fheep muft occupy
a great proportion of their lands.
Cotton thrives as well in the fouthern ftates, as in
any part of the world. The Weft-India iſlands and
thofe ftates raiſed it formerly, when the price was
not half what it has been for years paſt in Europe*.
It is also worth double the money in America,
which it fold for before the revolution, all the Eu-
ropean nations having prohibited the exportation
of it from their refpective colonies to any foreign
country. It is much to be defired, that the fouth-
ern planters would adopt the cultivation of an arti
cle from which the best informed manufacturers
calculate the greatest profits, and on which fome
eſtabliſhed factories depend.
* A. D. 1787.
There was a long and great mercantile fpeculation that had
a great artificial effect. But this bubble being broken by the in-
créafe of cotton from their iflands, and the importations from Su
rat, Bombay, &c. the price is now much reduced. It is fup-
poſed to be now in America about 25 per cent. higher than in the
five years preceding the revolution war. We have imported cotton
into America fince this publicationfrom Bombay and Mauritius.
45
1
Silk has long been a profitable production of
Georgia and other parts of the United States, and
may be encreaſed, it is prefumed, as faft as the de-
mand will rife. This is the ftrongest of all raw ma-
terials and the great empire of China, though a-
bounding with cotton, finds it the cheapeſt cloath-
ing for her people*.
Iron we have in great abundance, and a ſuffici-
ency of lead and copper, were labour low enough
to extract them from the bowels of the earth.
Madder has ſcarcely been attempted, but this
and many other dye fluffs may be cultivated to ad-
vantage, or found in America.
Under all the diſadvantages which have attend-
ed manufactures and the ufeful arts, it muſt afford
the moſt comfortable reflection to every patriotic
mind, to obferve their progrefs in the United States.
and particularly in Pennfylvania. For a long time
after our forefathers fought an eſtabliſhment in this
place, then a dreary wilderneſs, every thing necef-
* A. D. 1789. Forty-three chefts of this article were imported
from China in the laft fhips and re-fhipped to Europe advantage-
oufly. We have a large nurſery of the white Italian mulberry eſta-
bliſhed here this fummer. Within ourſelves little can be expected,
but the idea of the nurfcry has been encouraged upon this princi-
ple that it prepares things for an emigration from a filk country.
This perhaps is refining, but the expence is fmall-the trees are
wanted to replace thofe deſtroyed by the British army-and the
meaſure falls in with our plan to fofler and encourage, but not to force
manufactures.
46
fary for their fimple wants was the work of Euro-
pean hands. How great-how happy is the change.
The lift of articles we now make ourfelves, if par-
ticularly enumerated would fatigue the ear, and
waſte your valuable time.
valuable time. Permit me however to
mention them under their general heads: meal of
all kinds, fhips and boats, malt liquors, diftilled
fpirits, pot-afh, gun-powder, cordage, loaf fugar,
pafteboard, cards and paper of every kind, books
in various languages, fnuff, tobacco, ftarch, can-
non, mufquets, anchors, nails and very many other
articles of iron, bricks, tiles, potters ware, mill-
ftones and other ſtone work, cabinet work, trunks
and Windfor chairs, carriages and harneſs of all
kinds, corn-fans, ploughs and many other imple-
ments of huſbandry, fadlery and whips, fhoes and
boots, leather of various kinds, hofiery, hats and
gloves, wearing apparel, coarfe linens and woolens,
and fome cotton goods, linfeed and fish oil, wares
of gold, filver, tin, pewter, lead, brafs and copper,
clocks and watches, wool and cotton cards, print-
ing types, glaſs and ftone ware, candles, foap, and
feveral other valuable articles with which the me
mory cannot furniſh us at once.
If the nations of Europe poffefs fome great ad-
vantages over us in manufacturing for the rest of
the world, it is however clear, that there are ſome
capital circumftances in our favour, when they
meet us in our own markets. The expences of im-
porting raw materials, which in fome inftances they
labour under, while we do not-the fame charges
47
in bringing their commodities hither-the duties
we muft lay on their goods for the purpoſes of re-
venue-the additional duties, which we may ven-
ture to impofe without rifquing the corruption of
morals or the lofs of the revenue by fmuggling-the
prompt payment our workmen receive the long
credits they give on their goods the fale of our
articles by the piece to the confumer, while they
fell theirs by great invoices to intermediate. pur-
chafers the durable nature of fome American
manufactures, eſpecially of linens-the injuries
theirs often fuftain from their mode of bleach-
ing-theſe things taken together will give us an
advantage of twenty-five to fifty per cent. on ma-
ny articles, and muft work the total exclufion of
feveral others.
Befides the difference in the qualities of Ameri-
can and European linens, arifing from the mode of
bleaching, there is a very confiderable faving of
expence from the fame caufe. So much and fo
powerful a funfhine faves a great loſs of time and
expence of bleaching ftuffs and preparations, and
this will be fenfibly felt in our manufactures of
linen and cotton.
We must carefully examine the conduct of other
countries in order to poffefs ourſelves of their
methods of encouraging manufactories and purfue
fuch of them, as apply to our fituation, fo far as it
may be in our power-exempting raw materials, dye
ftuffs, and certain implements for manufacturing
48
from duty on importation is a very proper mea
fure. Premiums for ufeful inventions and improve-
ments, whether foreign or American, for the beſt
experiments in any unknown matter, and for the
largeſt quantity of any valuable raw material muſt
have an excellent effect. They would affift the
efforts of industry, and hold out the noble incen-
tive of honourable diftinction to merit and genius.
The ftate might with great convenience enable an
enlightened fociety, eſtabliſhed for the purpoſe, to
offer liberal rewards in land for a number of ob.
jects of this nature. Our funds of that kind are
confiderable and almoft dormant. An unfettled
tract of a thouſand acres, as it may be paid for at
this time, yields little money to the ftate. By of-
fering theſe premiums for ufeful inventions to any
citizen of the union, or to any foreigner, who would
become a citizen, we might often acquire in the
man a compenfation for the land, independently of
the merit which gave it to him. If he fhould be
induced to fettle among us with a family and pro-
perty, it would be of more confequence to the ſtate
than all the purchaſe money.
It might answer an ufeful purpoſe, if a committee
of this fociety fhould have it in charge to vifit eve-
ry fhip arriving with paffengers from any foreign
country, in order to enquire what perfons they may
have on board capable of conftructing uſeful ma-
chines, qualified to carry on manufactures, or com-
ing among us with a view to that kind of employ-
ment. It would be a great relief and encourage-
49
ment to thoſe friendlefs people in a land of ftrang-
ers, and would fix many among us whom little dif
ficulties might incline to return*.
Extreme poverty and idleness in the citizens of
a free government will ever produce vicious habits
and difobedience to the laws, and muft render the
people fit inftruments for the dangerous purpoſes
of ambitious men. In this light the employment,
in manufactures, of fuch of our poor, as cannot
find other honeft means of fubfiftence, is of the
utmost confequence. A man oppreffed by extreme
want is prepared for all evil, and the idler is ever
prone to wickednefs; while the habits of induſtry,
filling the mind with honeft thoughts, and requiring
the time for better purpoſes, do not leave leifure
for meditating or executing miſchief.
An extravagant and wafteful ufe of foreign
manufactures, has been too juſt a charge againſt
the people of America, fince the clofe of the war.
They have been fo cheap, fo plenty and fo eafily
obtained on credit, that the confumption of them
has been abfolutely wanton. To fuch an exceſs has
it been carried, that the importation of the finer
kinds of coat, veft and fleeve buttons, buckles,
G
* There are many focieties in Philadelphia, New-York, &c. for
the patronage of emigrators from foreign countries.
In this particular there has been a meritorious reform, amply
compenfating every good citizen for the exertions he may have
made to promote manufactures.
50
broaches, breaft-pins, and other trinkets into this
port only, is ſuppoſed to have amounted in a ſingle
year to ten thousand pounds fterling, which coft
wearers above 60,000 dollars. This lamentable
evil has fuggefted to many enlightened minds a
wifh for fumptuary regulations, and even for an un-
changing national drefs fuitable to the climate, and
the other circumftances of the country. A more
general uſe of fuch manufactures as we can make
ourſelves, would wean us from the folly we have
juſt now ſpoken of, and would produce, in a lefs
exceptionable way, fome of the beft effects of fump-
tuary laws. Our dreffes, furniture and carriages
would be faſhionable, becauſe they were American
and proper in our fituation, not becauſe they were
foreign, fhewy or expenfive. Our farmers, to
their great honour and advantage, have been long
in the excellent economical practice of domeſtic
manufactures for their own ufe, at leaft in many
parts of the union. It is chiefly in the towns that
this madnefs for foreign finery rages and de-
ftroys-There unfortunately the diforder is epide-
mical. It behoves us to confider our untimely
paffion for European luxuries as a malignant and
alarming fympton, threatening convulfions and dif
folution to the political body. Let us haften then
to apply the moft effectual remedies, ere the dif
eaſe becomes inveterate, left unhappily we ſhould
find it incurable.
I cannot conclude this addrefs, gentlemen, with-
out taking notice of the very favourable and prodi
51
gious effects upon the landed intereft, which may re-
fult from manufactures. The breweries of Phila-
delphia, in their prefent infant ftate, require forty
thouſand bushels of barley annually, and when the
ftock on hand of English beer fhall be confumed,
will call for a much larger quantity*. Could the
ufe of malt liquors be more generally introduced,
it would be, for many reaſons, a moſt fortunate
circumſtance. Without infifting on the pernicious
effects of diftilled fpirits, it is fufficient for our pre-
fent purpoſe to obſerve, that a thouſand hogfheads
of rum and brandyt, mixt with water for common
ufe, will make as much ſtrong drink as will require
one hundred and twenty thouſand bushels of grain
to make an equivalent quantity of beer, befides the
horfes, fuel, hops, and other articles of the coun-
try, which a brewery employs. The fruits of the
earth and the productions of nature in America are
alfo required by various other manufacturers, whom
you will remember without enumeration. But it
is not in their occupations only, that theſe valuable
citizens demand our native commodities. They
and their brethren, who work in foreign articles,
with their wives, children and fervants, neceffarily
confume in food and raiment a prodigious quantity
of our produce, and the buildings for the accom-
modation of their families and bufinefs are princi-
This prefumption has been fully realized. We have befides,
a very lively export trade in malt liquors and if we had a fuffici-
ency of black beer bottles, it muſt become very great.
+ Worth about £.20,000, and our imports of ardent fpirits arc
eftimated at ten times that fum in the port of Philadelphia only.
52
pally drawn from our lands. Their effects upon
agriculture are of more confequence than has ever
been fuppofed by thofe, who have not made the ne-
ceffary eſtimates. So great are the benefits to the
landed intereft, which are derived from them, that
I venture to affert without apprehenfion of mistake,
that the value of American productions annually
applied to their various ufes as above ftated, with-
out including the manufacturers of flour, lumber
and bar-iron, is double the aggregate amount of all
our exports in the moft plentiful year with which
Providence has ever bleffed this fruitful country.
How valuable is this market for our encreafing pro-
duce How clearly does it evince the importance
of our prefent plan. But we may venture to pro-
ceed a step further-Without manufactures the pro-
grefs of agriculture would be arreſted on the fron-
tiers of Pennſylvania*. Though we have a coun-
try practicable for roads, fome of our weftern
counties are yet unable to fupport them, and too
remote perhaps to ufe land carriage of the moſt
eafy kind. Providence has given them, in certain
profpect, a paffage by water; but the natural im-
pediments, though very inconfiderable, and the
more cruel obftructions arising from political cir-
cumſtances, are yet to be removed. The inhabi-
tants of the fertile tracts adjacent to the waters of
* Manufacturing eſtabliſhments on the banks of Suſquehaunah
are of the utmost confequence to our weſtern and mid-land counties.
It is fuppofed that the manufacture of diftilled ſpirits in the coun-
try on the waters of the Ohio around Pittſburg, has occafioned, a
furplus to be ſent down that river of 100,000 gallons.
53
the Ohio, Patowmac and Sufquehannah, befides the
cultivation of grain, muſt extend their views im-
mediately to pafturage and grazing and even to
manufactures. Foreign trade will not foon take
off the fruits of their labour in their native ftate.
They muft manufacture firft for their own confump-
tion, and when the advantages of their mighty wa-
ters ſhall be no longer fufpended, they must become
the greateſt factory of American raw materials for
the United States. Their refources in wood and
water are very great, as are their mines of coal.
As they do not fell much grain, but for home con-
fumption and muftpropagate fheep and cattle for
the reaſons above ftated, their country will in a
ſhort time be the cheapeſt upon earth.
?
$
How numerous and important then, do the be-
nefits appear, which may be expected from this fa-
lutary defign! It will confume our native produc-
tions now encreafing to fuperabundance-it will
improve our agriculture, and teach us to explore
the foffil and vegetable kingdoms, into which few
reſearches have heretofore been made-it will ac-
celerate the improvement of our internal naviga-
tion and bring into action the dormant powers of
nature and the elements-it will lead us once more
into the paths of public virtue by reſtoring frugali-
ty and induſtry, thofe potent antidotes to the vices
of mankind; and will gave us real independence
by reſcuing us from the tyranny of foreign faſhions,
and the deftructive torrent of luxury*.
* There is one peculiar means of advancement in the United
States of the moſt ſtriking and ſerious importance, as it regards ma-
1
54
Should theſe bleffed confequences enfue thofe
ſevere reſtrictions of the European nations, which
have already impelled us to vifit the moſt diftant
regions of the eaſtern hemifphere, defeating the
fchemes of fhort-fighted politicians, will prove,
through the wiſdom and goodnefs of Providence,
the means of our POLITICAL SALVATION.
Opinions had prevailed in America, that manu-
facturing employments were injurious to the beſt
interefts of the country, that the purfuit of agricul-
ture fhould occupy all our citizens, and that labour
was fo dear as to preclude all chances of fuccefs.
Yet it was obſerved that many emigrators, and
others in the manufacturing branches, had actually
fucceeded, and it was manifeft that the civil and
:
nufactures. Being an unimproved country, we have the ineftima-
ble advantage of importing ſkillful cultivators of raw materials and
manufactures from nations, which are more advanced than we are,
together with their capital and their ſkill. We can have no doubt of
the fulfilling of this expectation, for every town and county of the
middle and ſouthern ſtates, and many of thoſe in the eaſtern ſtates
abound with proofs, that the hope has been already realized in nu-
merous inftances. But were theſe proofs wanting there could be
no doubt that ſtrangers of every deſcription will refort to a country
fo fit for their reception-fo pregnant with the means of human
happiness.
55
relgious freedom of the country, and the low price
of food, of fuel and of raw materials would conti-
nue to attract perfons of that defcription. Further
inveſtigation and reflection threw new and pleafing
lights upon the fubject. It was perceived, that
children, too young for labour, could be kept from
idlenefs and rambling, and of courſe from early
temptations, to vice, by placing them for a time
in manufactories, and that the means of their pa-
rents to clothe, feed and educate them could be
thereby increaſed; that women, valetudinarians
and old men could be employed; that the portions
of time of houſewives and young women, which
were not occupied in family affairs, could be pro-
fitably filled up, that machinery, horfes, fire, water
and various proceffes requiring only fome incipi-
ent labour, were the principal means of manufac-
turing in Britain, that manufactures, inftead of im-
peding agriculture in that country, are actually its
greatest and moft certan fupport, and that, in truth,
they are indifpenfibly neceffary to the profperity of
its landed intereft. It has been afcertained on fur-
ther examination, that wages in feveral parts of
the United States are not higher than in parts of
Britain, as had been erroneoufly fuppofed, efpeci-
ally taking into confideration the prices of provi-
fions and the fame degree of comfortable living.
It was therefore confidently expected by many, who
carefully examined the ſubject, that great advan.
tages would reſult from a rational, and ſteady courſe
of attention, private and public, to the advance-
ment of manufactures. It will appear in the fequel,
5.6
that the prudent exertions, which have been incef
fantly made have been crowned accordingly with
abundant fuccefs, confidering the fhortness of the
time and how many other matters of great impor-
tance have called for attention, industry and capi.
tal in the United States.
{
57
{
+
CHAPTER IV.
A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, INTEND-
ED TO EXHIBIT TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE POPULATED
DISTRICTS OF THE OTHER STATES, AND TO FOREIGNERS
THE REAL, AND GREAT ADVANTAGES TO BE OBTAINED BY
TRADE, MANUFACTURES AND PURCHASES OF ESTATES THERE-
IN, AND BY MIGRATION THITHER.
THE
HE judicious and temperate proceedings of
the American people in the reform of their
national conſtitution in 1787, 1788, and 1789, the
magnanimous refolution to impofe upon themfelves
the wholesome restraints of a just government, which
they exhibited to each other and to mankind, the
moderation and impartiality of their deportment to
foreign nations under their new government, and
their early attention to the restoration of public
credit at home and abroad were followed by the
moſt beneficial confequences in the beginning of
1790. The little effay, which enters into the com-
pofition of this chapter, was publifhed about the
middle of that year in order to remind the people
of the ftate of Pennſylvania, in which it was writ-
ten, of their profpects of future comfort, and to
facilitate the anſwers to numerous enquiries, which
were beginning to be made concerning that ftate
by perfons of various defcriptions in other coun-
tries. It was fincerely intended to be an unexag-
gerated ſtatement of the principal facts on which
+
H
58
depend the comforts and profperity of the inhabi-
tants of that part of the American union.
Notes on the state of Pennsylvania.
THE ftate of Pennfylvania is an oblong, of
about one hundred and fifty-fix miles wide from
north to fouth, by about two hundred and ninety
miles in length from eaft to weft. On the eaſt of
it lies the Delaware river, dividing it from Weft-
Jerſey and New-York; on the north New-York,
and a territory of about two hundred thouſand
acres on lake Erie, which Pennfylvania purchafed
of Congrefs. On the north weft lies lake Erie,
on which it has aconfiderable front and a good port,
lying within the purchaſe from Congrefs, on the
weft are the new lands called the weſtern territory,
and a part of Virginia: On the fouth lie another
part of Virginia, Maryland, and the ftate of Dela-
ware. The contents of Pennfylvania are about
twenty-nine millions of acres, including the lake
Erie territory. It lies between 39° 43″ and 42°
of north latitude. The bay and river of Delaware
are navigable from the fea up to the great falls at
Trenton, and have a light-houfe, buoys, and piers,
for the direction and fafety of fhips. On this
river are the fmall towns of Cheſter and Briſtol,
and the city of Philadelphia, which is the capital
of the ftate, and by much the largeſt and moſt
populous fea-port and manufacturing town in the
United States. The diftance of this city from
the fea is about fixty miles across the land to the
New-Jersey coaft, and one hundred and twenty
59
miles by the fhip-channel of the Delaware. A fe-
venty gun fhip may lie before the town, and at ma-
ny of the wharves, which occupy the whole eaſt
front of the city for near two miles, affording every
veffel an opportunity of unlading and lading without
the expenſe of lighterage. Rafts of mafts, timber,
boards, hoops and ftaves, with other articles upon
them, can be brought down the Delaware from the
counties of Montgomery and Otfego, in New-
York, two hundred miles above the city, by the
courſe of the river. Some money was expended
by the government and landholders in improving
the navigation up towards the fource, before the
revolution; and there has been a furvey lately
begun, for the purpofe of proceeding in the im-
provement of this and other principal rivers of
Pennſylvania, and for making communications by
canals in the improved part, and by roads in the
unimproved part of the ftate. The Pennſylvani-
ans are much inclined to fuch enterpriſes, having
found great benefit from them. On the comple-
tion of the prefent plan, the ftate will be more con-
veniently interſected by roads than any other of its
fize in the union, which will greatly facilitate the
fettlement of its new lands. A flight view of the
map of Pennſylvania, by Howell, that in Mr. Jef-
ferfon's notes on Virginia, or that in Morfe's geo.
graphy, will fhew how advantageoufly this ftate is
watered by the Delaware and its branches, the
Schuylkill, the Juniata, the Sufquehanna and its
branches, the Ohio, Allegeny, Youghiogeny, and
Monongahela. The Patowmac and lake Erie allo
60
t
afford profpects of confiderable benefit from their
navigation. Nature has done much for Pennfylva-
nia in regard to inland water carriage, which is
ftrikingly exemplified by this fact, that although
Philadelphia and lake Erie are diftant from each
other above three hundred miles, there is no doubt
that the rivers of the flate inay be fo improved, as to
reduce the land carriage between them nine-tenths.
In the fame way the navigation to Pittſburg, after
due improvement, may be ufed inftead of land car-
riage for the whole diſtance, except twenty or thir-
ty miles By theſe routes it is clear, that a large
proportion of the foreign articles, uled on the weft-
ern waters, will be tranfported; and that their furs,
fkins, ginfeng, hemp, flax, pot-afh, and other valu-
able commodities, may be brought to Philadelphia.
The hemp and oak timber for the Ruffian navy is
tranſported by inland navigation one thouſand two
hundred miles: and yet hemp is fhipped from that
kingdom on lower terms than from any other part
of the world. Ruffia, for fome time after the fettle-
ment of Pennſylvania by civilized and enlightened
people, was in a ftate of abfolute barbarifm, and
deftitute of thefe improvements. Much therefore
is to be expected from the continued exertions of
the prudent, induftrious and intelligent inhabitants
of Pennfylvania, in the courfe of the prefent cen-
tury*.
2
تو ہو
* In the last three years more public funds and private capital
have been applied to the improvement of roads and rivers and the
cutting of canals than in all the time between the year 1790 and the
firſt ſettlement of the ftate. A. D. 1793.
61
Confiderable bodies of new lands in this ftate re-
main for fale by individuals. Purchaſes can be al-
ways made, partly or wholly on credit, from thoſe
perfons, who take mortgages on the lands they fell
to emigrants, and indulge them fometimes with a
very eafy credit. The Pennſylvanians having no
difputes with the Indians about boundaries. All
the lands within the ftate having been purchafed at
a fair and open treaty, and there being fome fettle-
ments weftward of Pennfylvania on the new lands of
Congrefs, we have little apprehenfions from the In-
dians any where; and in moft of our new country
there is no danger at all.
Improved lands, in the old counties of this flate,
fell generally at a certain fum for a farm, including
the buildings. This, before the war, was, in moft
of the thick fettled counties within a day's ride of
Philadelphia, from four pounds ten fhillings fter-
ling, to thirty fhillings per acre, and lefs, according
to the quality, unleſs in fituations very near the
city or fome town, or in cafes of very valuable build-
ings, mills, taverns, or fituations for country trade.
In one or two counties, remarkable for therichneſs
of the lands, they fold higher, fometimes confide-
rably. Farms can be purchaſed upon terms as fa-
vourable as then, owing to the quantity of new lands
for fale in this and feveral other ftates; and owing
to the many new and profitable uſes for money,
which did not exist before the revolution.
The produce, manufactures, and exports of Penn-
fylvania are very many and various, viz. wheat,
62
flour, midlings, fhip-ftuff, bran, fhorts, fhip-bread,
white water biſcuit, rye, rye flour, Indian corn,
or maize, Indian meal, buckwheat, buckwheat
meal, bar and pig iron, ſteel, nail rods, nails, iron
hoops, rolled iron tire, gun-powder*, cannon ball,
iron cannon, mufquets, fhips, boats, oars, hand-
ſpikes, maſts, ſpars, ſhip-timber, fhip-blocks, cord-
age, fquare timber, fcantling, plank, boards, ftaves,
heading, fhingles, wooden hoops, tanners' bark,
corn fans, coopers' ware, bricks, coarſe earth-
en or potter' ware, a very little ftone-ware, glue,
parchment, fhoes, boots, foal-leather, upper lea-
ther, dreffed deer and fheep ſkins, and gloves
and garments thereof, fine hats, many common,
and a few coarſe; thread, cotton, worſted, and yarn
hofiery; writing, wrapping, blotting, fheathing and
hanging paper; ftationary, playing cards, pafte-
boards, books; wares of brafs, pewter, lead, tin-
plate, copper, filver and gold; clocks and watches,
mufical inftruments, fnuff, manufactured tobacco,
chocolate, muſtard-feed and muſtard, flaxfeed, flax-
feed oil, flax, hemp, wool, wool and cotton cards,
pickled beef, pork, fhad, herrings, tongues and
fturgeon, hams and other bacon, tallow, hogs' lard,
butter, cheeſe, candles, foap, bees-wax, loaf-fugar,
pot and pearl afhes, rum and other ftrong waters,
beer, porter, hops, winter and fummer barley, oats,
fpelts, onions, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, carrots,
*It is faid there are at this time near 50,000 quarter caſks of
gun-powder in the Philadelphia magazine, manufactured in the
tate of Pennſylvania-A. D. 1793.
63
parfnips, red and white clover, timothy, and moft
European vegetables and graffes, apples, peaches,
plumbs, pears, and apricots, grapes, both native and
imported, and other European fruits, working and
pleaſurable carriages, horfes, horned cattle, fheep,
hogs, wood for cabinet makers, lime-ftone, coal,
free-ftone and marble.
Some of theſe productions are fine, fome indif-
ferent. Some of the manufactures are confidera-
ble, for a young country, circumftanced as this has
been; fome inconfiderable: but they are enume-
rated, to fhew the general nature of the ſtate, and
the various purfuits of the inhabitants. In addi-
tion to them we may mention, that a lead-mine and
two or three falt-fprings have been difcovered in
our new country, which will, no doubt, be worked,
as ſoon as the demand for lead and falt to the weft-
ward increaſes. We ought alfo to notice our great
forefts for making pot afhes, and glaſs.
The manufactures of Pennfylvania have increa-
fed exceedingly within a few years, as well by maf-
ter-workmen and journeymen from abroad, as by
the increaſed ſkill and induftry of our own citizens.
Houſehold or family manufactures have greatly
advanced; and valuable acquifitions have been
made of implements and machinery to fave labour,
either imported or invented in the United States.
The hand-machines, for carding and (pinning cot-
ton, have been introduced by foreigners, and im-
proved, but we have obtained the water mill for
64
A
fpinning cotton, and a water mill for flax, which
is applicable alfo to fpinning hemp and wool.
Thefe machines promife us an early increaſe
of the cotton, linen, and hempen branches, and
must be of very great fervice in the woolen
branch. Additional employment for weavers, dy-
ers, bleachers, and other manufacturers must be the
confequence. Paper-mills, gun-powder-mills, fteel
works, rolling and flitting mills, printing figured
goods of paper, linen, and even of cotton, coach
making, book printing, and feveral other branches,
are wonderfully advanced: and every month feems
to extend our old manufactures, or to introduce
1
new ones.
farming, ma-
In the year
The advancement of the agriculture of Pennſyl-
venia is the best proof that can be given of the
comfort and happineſs it affords to its
nufacturing, and trading citizens.
1786, our exports of flour were one hundred and
and fifty thouſand barrels: in 1787, they were
two hundred and two thouſand barrels: in 1788,
they were two hundred and twenty thouſand bar-
rels and in 1789 they were three hundred and
fixty-nine thoufand barrels: which exceed any ex-
ports ever made in the times of the province, or
in the times of the commonwealth*. The produce
of flax is increafed in a much greater degree and
that of wool is confiderably more than it was before
* The exports of flour in the year 1792 from Philadelphia,
amounted to above 420,000 barrels, and in the ſpring quarter of
1793 it exceeded 200,000 barrels.
6:5
the revolution. A new article is added to the lift
of our productions, which is a well-tafted and
wholefome fugar, made of the maple tree: It has
been proved, by many fair and careful experiments,
that it is in the power of a fubftantial farmer who
has a family about him, eafily to make twelve hun-
dred weight of this fugar every feafon, without
hiring any additional' hands, or utenfils, but
thofe that are neceffary for his family and farm
ufe. The time, in which it can be made, is from
the middle of February to the end of March, when
farmers in this country have very little to do, as it
is too early to plough or dig. The price of fugar
being lower here than in Europe, this article may
be reckoned at one hundred and fifty dollars per
annum, to every careful and fkilful farmer, who
owns land bearing the fugar maple. Of thefe there
are fome millions of acres in Pennſylvania and
the adjacent ftates. It feems alfo highly probable,
that this valuable tree may be tranſplanted, and
thus be obtained by almoft any farmer in the ftate;
and that men of property, who will purchaſe
kettles, and hire hands. for the above fhort peri-
od, may make larger quantities.
The fituation of religion and religious rights and
liberty in Pennfylvania is a matter, that deferves
the utmoſt attention of all fober and well-difpofed
people, who may have thoughts of this country.
This flate always afforded an afylum to the perfe-
cuted fects of Europe, and of the other ftates in
former times. No church or fociety ever was eſta-
I
66
*
bliſhed here; no tythes or tenths can be demand-
ed: and though fome regulations of the crown of
Britain excluded two churches* from a fhare in
our government, in the times of the province, that
is now done away with regard to every religi-
ous ſociety whatever, except the Hebrew church.
But at this time a convention of fpecial reprefen-
tatives of the citizens of Pennfylvania have under
confideration all the errors which have inadvert-
ently crept into our conftitution and frame of
.go-
vernment; and in the act which they have publiſh-
ed for the examination of the people, they have re-
jected the half-way doctrine of toleration, and have
eftabliſhed upon firm and perfectly equal ground,
all denominations of religious men. By the pro-
vifions of the new code, a Proteftant, a Roman
catholic, and a Hebrew, may elect or be elected to
any office in the ftate, and purſue any lawful call-
ing, occupation, or profeffiont. The conftitution
of general government of the United States alfo
guarantees this ineftimable and facred right-and
it is furely a facred right; for it belongs to the
Deity to be worshipped according to the free-will
and confciences of his creatures.
•
We lay no difficulty in the way of any perfon,
who defires to become a free and equal citizen. On
the day of his landing, he may buy a farm, a houſe,
merchandiſe, or raw materials; he may open a
The Roman and Hebrew.
+ This code has been confirmed in Pennfylvania.
67
work-fhop, a counting-houſe, an office, or any
other place of buſineſs, and purfue his calling,
without any hindrance from corporation rules
or monopolifing companies, or the payment of any
fum of money to the public. The right of elect-
ing and being elected (which does not affect his
buſineſs or his fafety) is not granted till the expi-
ration of two years; which prudence requires.
A privilege, almoft peculiar to this ftate, has
been granted to foreigners by the legislature of
Pennfylvania, that of buying and holding lands
and houſes within this commonwealth, without re-
linquiſhing their allegiance to the country in which
they were born. They can leafe, hire, fell or be-
queath the lands, receive the rents, and, in fhort,
have every territorial and pecuniary right, that
a natural-born Pennfylvanian has; but no civil
rights. As they profess to owe allegiance to a fo-
reign prince or government, and refide in a foreign
country, where they, of courſe, have civil rights,
they cannot claim them, nor ought they to defire
them here: for if they choofe, at any time after
the purchaſe to come out to this country, and make
themſelve citizens-or if they chooſe to give their
eftates to their children or other perfons, who will
do ſo, any of them may become citizens to all in-
tents and purpoſes. This indulgence to purchaſe
is granted for three years from January 1789:
and all lands bought by foreigners before January.
1792, may be held forever on thoſe terms: Whe-
ther a right to make purchaſes upon thofe terms
68
will be allowed to foreigners, after that time, is
uncertain, and will entirely depend upon the opi-
nion of our then legiflature, as to the fafety or
utility of it*.
Ufeful knowledge and fcience have been favour-
ite objects of attention here. We have an univer-
fity, three colleges, and four or five public acade-
mies, befides many private academies and free
ſchools, in the city and feveral of the county-towns
of this ftate. Confiderable grants of monies, rent
charges and particularly of new lands, have been
made for this purpoſe by our legiſlature, and very
liberal private fubfcriptions have been added at
various times. Though our government and citi-
zens have been always attentive to the important
object of uſeful and liberal knowledge, yet an
increaſed regard for learning has been manifefted
fince the revolution. Rifing from a provincial to
an independent fituation, appears, and very natu-
rally, to have expanded our ideas, and to have
given an enhanced value to improvements of the
human mind†.
+
Among the natural advantages of Pennſylvania,
her almoſt innumerable mill-feats ought not to be
omitted. They are conveniently diftributed by
This law has been continued till the year 1795, when it
may be renewed.
† Much has been done fince 1790 in regard to fchools.
A. D. 1793.
69
4.
}
Providence throughout the ftate, and afford the
means of eſtabliſhing every ſpecies of mill-work
and labour-faving machines, to meet the produce
and raw materials almoft at the farmers' doors. In
the prefent fituation of this country, wanting hands
for farming, and in the prefent ftate of manufac-
tures, when ingenious mechanifm is every day and
every where invented, to leffen the neceffity for
manual labour, this natural advantage muft appear
of ineſtimable importance. Hemp and flax are
among the moſt profitable productions of our rich
midland and new counties, the cream of which is
yet to be fkimmed. It is therefore a moft pleafing
fact, that we have in the ftate the full-fized and
complete movements or works of a water mill and
machinery, to fliver, rove, and fpin flax and hemp
into threads or yarns, fit for linen of thirty cuts to
the pound, or any other coarfer kind, fheetings,
towelling, fail-cloth, ozanbrigs, twine, and the
ftrands or yarn for cordage. The fame machinery
is calculated for the roving or preparing, and fpin-
ning combed wool into worfted yarn. We have
alſo the movements and complete machinery of
Sir Richard Arkwright's water-mill for fpinning
yarns of cotton. And though the climate of this
ftate is not fit for cultivating that raw material,
yet cotton can be raiſed with profit in every ſtate
in our union fouthward of Pennſylvania, and im-
ported from the Eaft and Weft-Indies.
It is certain, that this extraordinary capacity of
our country for mechanical works has either called
70
forth, in an unufual degree, the mechanical powers
of the human mind, or that Providence has beſtow-
ed upon the people of, this and our fifter ſtates an
uncommon portion of that talent, which its nature
and fituation require. Our Rittenhouſe and Frank-
lin ſtand unrivalled in mechanical philoſophy: and
thoſe, who know our country, are well informed,
that to theſe two great names we could add a con-
fiderable lift of philofophical and practical mecha-
nicians, in a variety of branches.
So many of the neceffary and convenient arts and
trades depend upon the plenty and cheapnefs of fuel,
that it appears proper to take notice of this article.
Till the revolution, our dependence was almoſt
entirely upon wood fuel, of which, in the moſt
populous places, we have ftill a great abundance,
and in all interior fituations immenfe quantities:
but the increaſe of manufactures has occafioned us
to turn our attention to coal. Of this ufeful foffil,
Providence has given us very great quantities, in
our middle and weftern country. The vicinity of
Wyoming, on the Sufquehanna, is one bed of coal,
of the open-burning kind, and of the most intenfe
heat. On the head waters of Schuylkill and Lehi
are ſome confiderable bodies. At the head of the
weſtern branch of Sufquehanna is a moft extenſive.
body, which ftretches over the country fouth-west-
erly, fo as to be found in the greateft plenty at
Pittſburgh, where the Allegeny and Youghiogeny
unite, and form the head of the Ohio. It has
been lately diſcovered on the waters of Nefcopeck,
71
All our coal has hitherto been accidently found
on the furface of the earth, or difcovered in the
digging of common cellars or wells: fo that when
our wood-fuel fhall become ſcarce, and the Euro-
pean methods of boring fhall be fkilfully purfued,
there can be no doubt of our finding it in many
other places. At prefent, the ballafting of fhips
from coal countries abroad, and the coal mines in
Virginia, which lie convenient to fhip-navigation,
occafion a good deal of coal to be brought
to the Philadelphia market. From this great
abundance and variety of fuel, it refults, that
Pennſylvania, and the United States in general,
are well fuited to all manufactories which are ef-
fected by fire, fuch as furnaces, founderies, forges,
glafs-houſes, breweries, diftilleries, fteelworks,
fmiths' ſhops, and all other manufactories in metal,
foap-boiling, chandlers' fhops, pot afh works, fu-
gar and other refineries, &c. &c.
Ship-building is a buſineſs in which the port of
Philadelphia exceeds moft parts of the world.
Mafts, fpars, timber, and plank, not only from our
own ftate and the other ftates on the Delaware,
are conftantly for fale in our market: but the
mulberry of the Chefapeak, and the ever-
green or live oak, and red cedar of the Carolinas
and Georgia, are fo abundantly imported, that
nine-tenths of our veffels are built of them.
veffels are better than thefe: and in proof of it,
Engliſh writers of rank might be quoted, who have
publifhed for and againſt us. A live oak and ce-
1
No
dar fhip of two hundred tons, carpenter's meaſure-
ment, can be fitted to take in a cargo for fourteen
pounds currency per ton*: and there is not a port
in Europe, in which an oak fhip can be equally
well built and fitted for twenty pounds per ton in
our money, or twelve pounds fterling. This fact
may appear doubtful or extraordinary; but it is
certainly true; and it is greatly in favour of our
fhip carpenters and other tradefmen employed in
fitting and building fhips, as well as our merchants
and farmers, whofe interefts are fo much connect
ed with navigation.
The diftance of Philadelphia from the fea, has
been made an objection by fome, and the clofing
of our river by the ice, which happens almoſt eve-
ry winter. Amfterdam, the greateft port in Eu-
rope, is inacceſſible in the winter. But it is a fact,
that, notwithſtanding thefe objections, our veffels
make as many Weft-India voyages as thofe of the
two other principal fea ports of the middle ftates:
and though the river is frozen from three to nine
weeks almoſt every winter, yet there are occafional
openings, which give opportunities for fleets of
merchantmen to go out and come in. The fine
corn and provifion country, which lies near Phila-
delphia, enables the merchants to load their veffels
in the winter and the market is regularly fupplied
with flour, pork, beef, lumber, ftaves, iron and
many other of our principal articles of exportation.
* A. D. 1790.
}
1
73
C
Little time is therefore loft: and we find that our
trade increaſes. The crop of 1789, and other ex-
ports from the harveſt of that year to that of 1790,
it is fuppofed, will load one hundred and twenty
thouſand tons of fhipping. We have a very exten-
five back country; and many large bodies of new
land, which muft fend their produce to the Phila-
delphia market, are fettling faft. The population
of Pennſylvania, by the laft accounts taken, was
three hundred and fixty thouſand men, women and
children: but, as fome years have fince elapfed,
it is fuppofed it will not fall much fhort of four hun-
dred thouſand when the prefent enumeration fhall
be completed.*
No country in Europe has paid off ſo much of
her public debt, fince the late general war, as this
ftate, notwithſtanding the paſt diſorders and diffi-
culties of the United States, arifing from the weak-
neſs of our late general government, and the fhocks
of an invaſive war. She has paid off and funk a fum
equal to her full fhare of the intereft and a confi-
derable part of the principal of her ſtate and federal
debts. Yet fhe has laid no excife or internal duty,
but eight pence currency upon fpirituous liquors,
which has fince been repealed.
The inhabitants of Pennſylvania are principally
defcendents of Engliſh, Irish, and Germans, with
K
* It proved to be 434,000 by the cenfus of 1791,
74
fome Scotch, Welfh, Swedes, and a few Dutch.
There are alfo many of the Irish and Germans, who
emigrated when young or in the middle time of life:
and there is a number of each of thofe two nations
now in legiflative, executive, and judicial ftations
among us. It has ever been the policy of our go-
vernment, before and fince the revolution, and the
difpofition of our people, to receive all fober emi-
grants with open arms, and to give them immedi
ately the free exercife of their trades and occupa-
tions, and of their religion.*
Such is the prefent fituation of things in Penn-
fylvania, which is more or leſs the fame in feveral
other of the American ftates, viz. New-York,
Main, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Vermont,
and Kentucky: but though not fo in the reft, the prin
cipal difference is, that they are. fo fully peopled,
that there are no new lands of any value unfold;
and farming lands, which are improved, are of
courfe dearer than with us. In thoſe ſtates, how-
ever, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, the
fifheries, and navigation, afford comfortable fub-
fiftence and ample rewards of profit to the induftri-
ous and well difpofed, amidſt the bleffings of ci-
vil and religious liberty.
Before this paper fhall be concluded, it may be
ufeful to recapitulate the various productions and
exports of the United States, which are the fure
* Latterly there are many Frenchi
75
tures.
〃
foundations of a grand fcene of agriculture-the
refources for an extenfive trade-and the materials.
for a great variety of ufeful and elegant manufac-
From our new country we have ginfeng,
and feveral kinds of fkins and furs; in the fettled
parts of the ſtates, rice, indigo, cotton, filk, tobac-
co, flaxfeed, wheat, rye, barley, oats, fpelts, Indian
corn, hemp, flax, wool, iron, lead, copper, coal,
freeftone, limestone, marble, fulphur, faltpetre, a
great variety of ſhip timber, fhip plank, mafts, fpars,
tar, pitch and turpentine, pork, beef, cider, fifh oil,
fpermaceti, whalebone, dried fiſh, pickled fiſh, hides,
leather, black cattle, fheep, cheefe, butter, tallow,
hops, muftard feed, ftaves, heading, fhingles,
boards, plank, fcantling, fquare timber, black wal-
nut, wild cherry and curled maple for cabinet
wares, potafh, pearl afhes, potters clay, brick clay,
&c. &c. with apples, and all the other principal
fruits, and potatoes, and all the other principal
vegetables. During the late war, confiderable
quantities of fea-falt were manufactured on cur
coaft, as far north as New Jerfey and this article
will no doubt one day become an object of atten-
tion. It may be fafely affirmed, that no European
nation whatſoever unites in its dominions, even in-
cluding diftant colonies, fuch a variety of import-
ant and capital productions; nor can there be any
doubt, in the mind of a candid and ferious obfer-
ver, that fuch a country muft rife with common
prudence, in agriculture, manufactures and com-
merce, affording to every induftrious and virtuous
·76
citizen, and emigrant, the certain means of com.
fortable ſubſiſtence, and the fairest proſpect of
eſtabliſhing a family in life.
*
THE progreſs of the ſtate of Pennſylvania in
the great bufinefs of agriculture, fince the return
of peace, is ſtrikingly evinced by the increaſed ex-
portation of flour between 1786 and 1792, which
being extracted from the public records may be
relied on as accurately true. The extenfion of
the grain diftilleries and breweries, in the fame
term, has been at leaft equally great: the demand
of bread for the increafing manufacturers has been
enlarged in full proportion: fhip-building has
made a correſponding progrefs: and the opening of
roads through the new country, the improvements
of the old roads, the building of bridges, the clear-
ing of rivers, and the cutting of canals in the three
laft years have exceeded the fimilar operations of
any other equal term, either before, during, or
fince the revolution, beyond all compariſon*.
>
1
* It has aſtoniſhed thoſe beft acquainted with the affairs of
Pennſylvania to find, that the exports from Philadelphia (the only
port in that ſtate) proved to be near feven millions of dollars dur-
ing the year ending on the 30th September, 1793. For the parti-
culars fee the return of exports of the United States for that year,
in this volume.
3
77
CHAPTER V.
CONTAINING SOME INFORMATION RELATIVE TO MAPLE SUGAR,
AND ITS POSSIBLE VALUE IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE UNI-
TED STATES.
•
THE difpofition of the people of America to
examine and difcufs the topics of the day, the
increaſed intercourſe among the ftates fince the late
war, and the diffufion of knowledge thro' the chan-
nels of their numerous gazettes naturally occafion
information, which uſed to be local, to be much
more generally extended. The eafy and profita-
ble practice of making fugar from the fap or juice
of the maple tree, had prevailed for many years in
the nothern and eaſtern ftates. The facility and
advantages of this pleafing branch of hufbandry,
had attracted little attention in Pennſylvania, tho'
a few of its inhabitants were in the habit of manu-
facturing fmall quantities of this kind of fugar. In
the year 1790, it became more generally known to
the Pennſylvanians, that their brethren in the eaft-
ern and nothern parts of the union, had long made
confiderable quantities, with their family utenfils,
and without the expenfe of hiring affiftance, that
the fame tree might be carefully tapped without
injury for many fucceffive years, that the proceſs
was fimple and very eafy, and only required to be
carried on between the middle of February and
the end of March, when the farmer has little to
}
78
do, and that a very large proportion of the unfett-
led lands of the ftate abound with this valuable tree.
The great and increafing diflike to negro flavery,
and to the African trade among the people of that
ftate, occafioned this new profpect of obtaining a
fugar, not made by the unhappy blacks, to be par-
ticularly interefting to them. The following efti-
mate, which was founded on the beft materials at-
tainable at that time, was published among other
things to elucidate the ſubject,
An estimate of the capacity of fugar maple lands
of Pennsylvania and New York, to supply the
demand of the United States for fugar and mo-
laffes.
THE DEMAND.
t
By authentic documents obtained from the cuf
tom-houſe of Philadelphia, it appears
That the medium importation of brown
fugar, for each year, from 1785 to 1789
was
lbs. 5,692,848
Of loaf fugar, on a medium
And of molaffes-543,900 gallons,
which at 10lb. per gallon, is 5,439,000
lbs. half of which weight in fugar may
be confidered as equal to 543,900
gallons of molaffes
4,489
2,719,500
Total quantity of fugar required-lbs. 8,416,828
79
t
THE CAPACITY OF SUPPLY.
The information of William Cooper, Efquire, of
Coopers town,* is that there are ufually made from
a tree five pounds weight of fugar, and that there
are fifty trees on an acre at a medium, but fuppoſe
only four pounds to be produced by a tree and forty
trees on an acre, then 52,605 acres will yield
8,416,828 lbs. and fuppofing the whole demand of
the union 42,084,140 lbs. or five times the importa-
tion into Philadelphia, then 263,000 acres will
yield a ſupply for the United States. It need not
be obferved, that there are very many more than
263,000 acres of fugar maple lands in each of the
eight following counties.
Albany,
Montgomery,
Otfego,
Tyoga,
Ontario,
in New-York.
Northampton,
Luzerne,
Northumberland,
}
in Pennſylvania.
Alfo that the fugar maple tree is found in many
other parts of thofe two ftates, and of the United
States.
It will be frankly admitted, that the refult of the
above eftimate has a wild and viſionary appear-
ance; but as it is made upon facts, very carefully
* One of the judges of the court of common pleas in the coun-
ty of Otfego, and ſtate of New-York.
80
afcertained, and as the whole calculation is expo-
ſed to examination, it will not be unreaſonable to
give fome faith to it, until exaggeration of fact or
error fhall be pointed out..
Philadelpha, 1790*.
* In the ſpring of the year 1793, the following letter was receiv
ed from judge Cooper, and feveral other perfons, who had emigrat-
ed from Pennfylvania, New-Jerfey and France, into the prefent
county of Otſego (at the heads of the rivers Delaware and Sufque
hanna) which is diftant from Philadelphia about 137 miles, and
from the city of New-York about 100 miles, in direct lines.
GENTLEMEN,
,
Coopers Town, April 9th, 1793.
Being convinced that you feel an intereft in the
manufactory of maple fugar, and that your wishes and exertions to
prevent the deftruction of the trees from whence it is produced,
have been of public utility-We are encouraged to tranſmit to you
the ſtatement we have been able to make from actual obfervation
of the quantity of fugar, which has been made this feafon, in the
former township of Otfego, and which was an entire wilderneſs in
1786-We find upon a moderate calculation, that there has been
made at leaſt one hundred and fixty thouſand pounds weight, which
at nine pence per pound is equal in value to 15000 dollars. This
plain demonſtration of the importance of this article, will we hope,
induce you to continue your endeavours to promote and encourage
it, and we would fubmit to your confideration whether it is not an
object of fufficient confequence to claim the encouragement of the
legiſlature of your ſtate.
WILLIAM COOPER,
RICH. R. SMITH,
RENSSEL. WILLIAMS, jun.
CHARLES FRANCIS,
LEWIS DE VILLERS,
TO HENRY DRINKER,
BENJAMIN RUSH,
TENCH COXE, Philadelphia.
EBBAL...
81
Since the publication of the foregoing calculati-
on, it has been afcertained, that the balance of the
medium imports and exports of foreign fugar, (that
is the confumption of that article in the United
States) is about 20,000,000 of pounds weight per
annum. The quantity of molaffes, uſed in ſub-
ftance (and exclufively of diftillation) probably
does not exceed 1,500,000 gallons, which may be
deemed equal to about half their weight in fugar,
or fix millions of pounds. The total fum of theſe,
being the whole confumption of fugar and molaffes
in ſubſtance, is 26,000,000 of pounds. It is certain
that every farmer having one hundred acres of fu-
gar maple land, in a ftate of ordinary American
improvement, (that is, one third covered with ju-
dicious referves of wood and timber, and two thirds
cleared for the culture of grafs and grain) can
make one thouſand pounds weight of fugar with
only his neceffary farming and kitchen utenfils, if
his family confifts of a man, a woman and a child of
ten years, including himſelf. It would therefore re-
quire the attention of 26,000 of fuch fmall families
occupying (at one hundred acres each) 2,600,000
acres of thoſe lands to make (at 1,000lbs. each)
26,000,000 of pounds, or a quantity of fugar equal
to all the molaſſes and ſugar, annually confumed int
fubftance in the United States. The operation in
a family is as eaſy, as to make houfhold foap or
cheeſe, or to brew ale or beer, and as there is in
this country much more than twice the above quan-
L
82
tity of fugar maple lands, in fituations not too
fouthern, the only object that requires attention is
to give, as fast as poffible, generality to this fimple
profitable, and comfortable manufacture.
7
83
CHAPTER VI.
A CONCISE GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR THE
INFORMATION OF MIGRATORS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
IRCUMSTANCES of the fame nature, as
CIRC
thofe, which led to the notes on the ftate of
Pennſylvania, fuggefted the utility of a fimilar de-
tail concerning the United States; which will be
found in this chapter. A difpofition to promote
general proſperity and the wifdom of a reliance up-
on collective national advantages, in preference to
detached local interefts gave additional force to
thefe confiderations. However true the account
of Pennſylvania might be, it was well known that
fcenes, promifing great comfort and a rapid profpe-
rity, were to be found in other parts of this coun-
try. The diſtrict of Maine, parts of New Hamp-
ſhire, Vermont, the Genefee country and other
parts of the ftate of New-York, the westernmoft
parts of Maryland, of Virginia, of the two Caroli-
pas and Georgia, with the ſtate of Kentucky, con-
taining large quantities of fparfely fettled and, of
courſe, cheap lands, it appeared really inequitable
to pass them over in filence. The beft informati-
on concerning them, which could be promptly col-
lected, was therefore confolidated into the little
publication, which forms the body of this chapter.
84
Notes concerning the United States of America, &c.
THE United States of America are fituated in
the northern divifion of that extenfive portion of
the globe, between the thirty-firft and forty-fixth
degrees of northern latitude. The extrenie length
of their territories is about 1250 miles, the breadth
about 1040. Their fuperficies is computed to be
640,000,000 acres of land and water and, after
deducting the ſpace occupied by the capacious lakes
and mighty rivers, which fertilize and accommo-
date this country, and occupy above a feventh part
of its furface, there remain about 590,000,000 of
acres of faft land.
:
3
In fo very extended a ſcene, it will be naturally
expected, that the fruits of the earth are many and
various and accordingly we find, in the preſent
half-tried ſtate of the capacities of our foil and cli-
mate, a liſt of invaluable productions prefent them-
felves, fome found by the firſt diſcoverers of the
country-others introduced by mere accident-
and others tranſported from Europe, during the
fimple ftate of agriculture in the laft century. In
our fouthern latitudes, including the ftates of Geor-
gia, South Carolina and North Carolina, rice, much
fuperior to that of Italy or the Levant, is raiſed in
very great quantities. The comparative value of
this grain was twenty five per cent. in the Engliſh
markets, for the American more than the Italian or
Levant rice, as long as the latter was fold there :
but, from the ample quantity and goodneſs of our
85
rice, it ſeems probable, that no Mediterranean rice
is now imported into England, as it has been omit.
ted for fome time in their general accounts of prices.
The South Carolina crop alone, of 1789, appears
to have been above 100,000 tierces,* weighing fix-
ty millions of pounds. It is expected that Virgi-
nia will add this article to her lift of exports; as it
is fuppofed, a large body of rich ſwamp in her moſt
eaftern counties, is capable of producing it; and
mountain rice has been raiſed by way of experi-
ment, in her new country near the head of the
Ohio.
Tobacco is a ſtaple article of all the ftates, from
Georgia as far north as Maryland, including both.
Virginia, alone, generally exported before the re-
volution, 55,000 hogfheads, weighing fifty-five mil-
lions of pounds-Maryland 30,000 hogfheads.
The Carolinas and Georgia, which raifed but little
of this article before the revolution, have, of late
years, produced very large quantities: and as Vir-
ginia and Maryland are turning more of their at-
tention to the cultivation of wheat, Indian corn,
flax, and hemp, the Carolinas and Georgia will
probably extend the cultivation of this plant, to
which their foil and climate are well fuitedt.
**
141,762 Tierces were exported from the United States in the
year ending on the 30th September 1792, though the confumption
in the middle and nothern ftates has increaſed confiderably.
† 112,428 Hogfheads were exported in the year ending on
30th September 1793, befides fnuff and manufactured tobacco.
86
Indigo is produced by North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia: but this, and the other two
articles before mentioned, are raiſed in much leſs
proportions in North Carolina, than in South Ca-
rolina and Georgia. The uniform of our national
troops has been heretofore of blue cloth, as alfo of
the militia in general. Our clergy are alfo permit-
ted by our customs to wear this colour: and it is
generally liked among the moſt frugal and moft ex-
penfive people. Theſe circumftances will no doubt
be duly attended to in our future laws and regula-
tions, and will operate very favourably for the indi-
go planters, without any expenſe to the country.
Cotton has been lately adopted as an article of
culture in the fouthern ftates: and if the prices of
rice, tobacco, and indigo decline, it must be very
beneficial to the owners and purchaſers of lands.
in that part of our union. This article is raiſed
with cafe in Spain, every part of which kingdom
lies further north than the Carolinas, and in the
fame latitudes as Virginia, Maryland and the Dela-
ware ftate. It is alfo raifed in all that part of
Afiatic Turkey, which lies between Scanderoon
and Smyrna, which are in the latitudes of the three
laft ftates. As our people will increaſe very ṛą-
pidly by emigration, and the courfe of nature, it
is certain we cannot procure wool from our own
internal refources in fufficient quantities. The
owners of cotton plantations may therefore expect
a conftant and great demand for this article, as a
87
f
ſubſtitute for wool, befides its ordinary ufes for
light goods.
Tar, pitch, and turpentine are produced in im-
menfe quantities in North Carolina, which ſtate
ſhips more of thefe articles, particularly the laft,
than all the reft of our union. Tar and pitch are
alfo produced in the fouthern parts of Jerfey, and
more or lefs in all the ftates fouthward of that.
:
Befides thefe, myrtle wax, and thoſe two invalua-
ble timbers, the live oak and red cedar, are abund-
ant in the Carolinas and Georgia and they have
Indian corn, hemp, flax, boards, ftaves, fhingles,
leather, beef, pork, butter, minerals, foffils, and ma-
ny other articles in common with the middle, or
eaſtern ſtates; alſo ſkins, furs and ginfeng from
their Indian country.
The wheat country of the United States lies in
Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennfylvania, New-
Jerfey and New-York, and the westernmost parts
of Connecticut, as alfo the western parts of the two
Carolinas, and probably of Georgia, for their own
ufe. The character of the American flour is fo
well known, that it is unneceffary to fay any thing
in commendation of it here. Virginia exported
before the war 800,000 bushels of wheat-Mary-
land above half that quantity. The export of
flour from Pennſylvania (with the wheat) was equi-
valent to 1,200,000 bufhels in 1788, and about
88
2,000,000 of bushels in 1789, which, however, was
a very favourable year. New-York exports in
flour and wheat equivalent to 1,000,000 of bufhels.
In the wheat ftates are alfo produced great quan-
tities of Indian corn, or maize. Virginia former-
ly exported half a million of bufhels*. Maryland
fhips a great deal of this article, and confiderable
quantities, raiſed in Virginia, Delaware, Pennfylva-
nia, New-Jerſey, New-York, and Connecticut, are
exported-as are the wheat and flour of the laft
five ftates, from Philadelphia and New-York, there
being little foreign trade from Delaware or Jer-
fey and the western parts of Connecticut ſhipping
with lefs expenſe from the ports on Hudfon's river
than thoſe of their own ftate.
Hemp and flax are raiſed in very large quan-
tities throughout the United States: and though
South Carolina and Georgia produce lefs than any
other ftates, of thefe two articles, they are capable
of raiſing immenfe quantities. From the advantage
they have in the Savannah and other rivers, they
could produce hemp with great profit. Large por-
tions of the new lands of all the ſtates are well fuit-
ed to hemp and flax.
Though theep are bred in all parts of America,
yet the most populous fcenes in the middle ſtates,
and the eaſtern ftates which have been long fettled,
* Virginia exported in the above year 684,627 bushels of Indi-
an corn, befides her increaſed ſhipments coaſtwiſe.
89
and particularly the latter, are the places where
they thrive beft. In the eaftern or New-England
ftates, they form one of the greateft objects of the
farmer's attention, and one of his fureft fources of
profit. The demand for wool, which has of late
increaſed exceedingly with the rapid growth of our
manufactures, will add confiderably to the former
great profits of fheep: and the confumption of
their meat by the manufacturers, will render them
ftill more beneficial.
Horned or neat cattle are alfo bred in every
part of the United States. In the western counties of
Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Kentucky,
where they have extenfive ranges, and mild win-
ters, without fnows of any duration, they run at
large, and multiply very faft. In the middle ftates,
cattle require more of the care and attention they
ufually receive in Europe, and they are generally
good; often very large. But in the eaſtern ftates,
whofe principal objects on the land, have until late-
ly been pafturage and grazing, cattle are very nume-
rous indeed, and generally large. Cheeſe is, of
courſe, moſt abundant in thoſe ftates. No European
country can exceed the United States in the valua-
ble article of falt provifions. Our exports of this
kind are every day increafing; as the raifing of
cattle is peculiarly profitable to farmers, the greater
part of whom have no more land, than they can
cultivate even with the plough. Barley and oats are
the productions of every state, though leaft culti
M
90
vated to the fouthward. Virginia however is turn-
ing her attention to barley, as alfo Maryland, and
can raiſe great quantities.
:
Mafts, fpars, ftaves, heading, boards, plank, fcant-
ling, and ſquare timber, are fhipped from almoſt all
the ſtates New-Hampshire, and the adjoining pro-
vince of Maine, which is connected with Maſſachu-
fetts, are among the moft plentiful fcenes. In New-
York they abound: and in North Carolina and
Georgia, the pitch-pine plank, and ſcantling, and
white oak ftaves, are excellent, and abundant, eſpe-
cially in the former. The ſtock of theſe articles.
on the Cheſapeak and Delaware bays is more ex-
hauſted: but yet there is a great deal on the rivers
of both for exportation, befides abundance for
home confumption. Confiderable quantities are
alfo brought to the Charleſton market, but a large
part of them is from the adjacent ſtates of Georgia
and North Carolina. When their internal naviga-
tion fhall be improved, South-Carolina will open
new fources of theſe articles.
Pot-afhes and pearl-afhes have become very valú-
able articles to both the land-holders and merchants
of the United States: but their importance was com-
paratively unknown twenty years ago. A fingle
fact will illuftrate the wealth that may be accquired
by this manufacture. The ftate of Maffachuſetts,
which has been fettled twice as long the other
ftates on a medium-which contains about a fifti-
eth part of the territory of the United States-which
91
is among the moft populous of them-and confe-
quently muſt have far lefs wood to fpare than ma-
ny other parts of the union-has nevertheleſs fhip-
ped two hundred thoufand dollars worth of theſe two
articles in a year. New-England and New-York
have derived great advantage from their attention
to pot and pearl-afhes: but it has hitherto been
made in very inconfiderable quantities, in the ſtates
to the fouthward of them. In most of them it has
been entirely overlooked. New-Jerfey and Dela-
ware have more forefts than Maffachuſetts: and
as there is no part of either of thoſe ſtates, that lies
twenty-five miles from navigable water, they may
venture to expend their wood, and to depend upon
coal. In the other fix ftates, which lie fouth of
Hudſon's river, the materials for pot-afh are im-
menfe as alſo in the ſtate of New-York. '
1
A grand dependence of the eaftern ftates is on
their valuable fiſheries. A detail of theſe is unne-
ceffary. It is fufficient to ſay, that, with a ſmall ex-
ception in favour of New-York, the whole great fea
fishery of the United States, is carried on by New-
England: and it is in a variety of ways highly be
neficial to our landed and manufacturing interefts.
Maffachuſetts very far exceeds all the other ftates,
in the fiſhing bufinefs.
Iron is abundant throughout the union, except
in the Delaware ftate; which can draw it as con-
veniently from the other ftates on the Delaware
92
Į
river, as if it were in her own bowels. Virginia iş
fuppoſed to be the ftate moft pregnant with mine.
rals and foffils of any in our union.
$
Deer-fkins, and a variety of furs, are obtained
by all the ftates from the Indian country; either di-
rectly, or through the medium of their neigh-
bours. Hitherto they have been exported in
large quantities. but from the rapid progress of
our manufactures, that exportation must diminish.
The article of pork, fo important in war, naviga
tion and trade, merits particular notice. The plenty
of maft or nuts of the oak and beech, in fome places,
and Indian corn every where, occafion ours to be
very fine, and abundant. Two names among us
are pre-eminent-Burlington and Connecticut :
the firſt of which is generally given to the pork of
Pennſylvania, and the middle and northern parts
of Jerfey the fecond is the quality of all the pork
north of Jerſey. It may be fafely affirmed, that
they are fully equal to the pork of Ireland, and
Britanny, and much cheaper.
:
Cider can be produced with eafe in confiderable
quantities, from Virginia inclufive to the moſt
northern ſtates, as alfo in the western country of the
Carolinas and Georgia: but New-Jerfey and New-
England have hitherto paid moft attention to
this drink. An exquifite brandy is diftilled from
the extenfive peach-orchards, which grow upon the
1
LA
1
98
the numerous rivers of the Chefapeak, in North
Carolina, in Georgia, and in Penafylvania, and
may be made in the greater part of our country.
1
**
Silk has been attempted with fuccefs in the fouth-
ernmoft ftates, fo far as due attention was paid to
it but is not well fuited to the nature of their la-
bourers, who, being blacks, are not fufficiently
careful or ſkilful: and there are many other obje&s
of more importance and profit in the agriculture
of thofe fertile ftates. In Connecticut, where
there is a fenfible and careful white population,
and where land is comparatively fcarce and dear,
it is found to be practicable and beneficial. A pro-
ject to extend the white Italian mulberry-tree over
all the ſtates, has been formed by fome perfevering
Individuals, acquainted with the propagation of
them. A great part of Connecticut is already fup-
plied. An extenfive nurſery has been eſtabliſhed
near Philadelphia; another at Princeton, in New-
Jerfey; and two more are at this time commen-
ced on New-York and Long Islands.
Rye is produced generally through all the ftates
north of the Carolinas, and in the western parts of
the three fouthern ftates. But the detail of Ameri-
can productions, and the parts in which they moſt
abound, would be very lengthy. It will therefore
be fufficient to fay, that, in addition to the above
capital articles, the United States produce or con-
tain flaxfeed, fpelts, lime-ftone, allum, faltpetre,
1
94
-
lead, copper, coal, free-ftone, marble, ftone for
wares, potters' clay, brick clay, a variety of
fhip-timber, fhingles, holly, beech, poplar, curled:
maple, black walnut, wild cherry, and other
woods fuitable for cabinet makers, fhingles 'of
cedar and cyprefs, myrtle-wax, bees-wax, butter,
tallow, hides, leather, tanners' bark, maple fugar,
hops, mustard-feed, potatoes, and all the other prin-
cipal vegetables; apples, and all the other princi-
pal fruits; clover, and all the other principal graf-
fes. On the fubje&t of our productions, it is only
neceffary to add, that they must be numerous, di-
verfified, and extremely valuable, as the various
parts of our country, lie in the fame latitudes as
Spain, Portugal, the middle and fouthern provinces
of France, the fertile ifland of Sicily, and the great-
er part of Italy, European and Afiatic Turkey,
and the kingdom of China, which maintains by its
own agriculture more people than any country in
the world,
The lands of the United States, though capable
of producing fo great a variety of neceffary and
ufeful articles, are much cheaper than in Europe.
Farms which lie in fuch of our ſtates as have been
longeft fettled and improved, can be purchaſed for
leſs money than the medium value of farming lands
in any civilized part of the world: and our new
lands, as well within the particular bounds of the
feveral ſtates, as thofe in the western territory of
our confederated republic, are to be procured at
95
very low prices, either for cafh at the time of pur
chaſe, a reaſonable credit for a part, or a long cre-
dit on mortgage for the whole. This difference in
the price of new or unfettled lands is occafioned by
the difference of fituation and quality, their near-
neſs to good roads and water carriage, the quantity
wanted by the purchaſer, his capacity to pay caſh,
the length of the credit given, the wants or necef-
fities of the fellers, and other circumftances, which
reafon will naturally fuggeft. The moft advanta-
geous mode is, for a number of perfons to emigrate
together, with a minifter and ſchoolmafter. If fuch
fmall bodies of people can only command money
enough to erect their little buildings, where timber
and ſtone coft nothing and are abundant, and to
buy provifions to live on for a year, they may pro-
cure lands upon very convenient and eafy terms
for ſeveral years, with little advance, and in many
inftances without the leaft advance of purchaſe
money.
Labouring people in the farming, manufacturing,
and mechanical trades, can have conftant em-
ployment, and better wages, than in the deareſt
countries of Europe; becaufe we have fo much
land, fo many new dwelling-houfes, work-fhops,
barns, and other buildings to erect, and fo many
new trades and manufactories to eſtabliſh. And
though the wages of the induftrious poor are very
good, yet the neceffaries of life are cheaper than
in Europe, and the articles ufed are more comfor-
table and pleafing. The medium price of meat and
96
fifh in many parts of America, is lower than the
price of flour in Europe, efpecially if bought by
the carcafe. The French fleet were fupplied with
their beef laft year, at ten fhillings fterling, for one
hundred pounds weight, in the city of Bofton.-
Pickled beef was fold in the fame year, in the city
of New-York, for twenty to twenty-two fhillings
fterling per barrel, of two hundred pounds weight,
including the coft of falt and cafk. Beef was fold
by the fide and carcafe at Trenton, in New-Jerfey,
at lefs than ten fhillings fterling per hundred
pounds; and in Philadelphia, at ten fhillings fter-
ling, in 1789. Thefe parcels were of the inferior
kind. The first cuts of the fineſt cattle are higher
as muſt be fuppofed, efpecially in thoſe three cities,
which are the largeft in the United States; but it
may be fafely affirmed that an American cent (be-
ing equal to the hundredth part of a Mexican dol-
lar) will buy as good butchers' meat in the capitals
of the ſeveral ſtates, as a penny fterling will buy in
Amfterdam, Paris, or London. Fifh, in all our ci-
ties and towns near the fea, are excellent, abundant,
and cheaper far than butchers' meat: and poultry is
fo low, that a turkey, of fourteen or fifteen pounds
weight, may be bought for three fhillings and nine-
pence to four fhillings and fix-pence fterling. Add
to this, many principal neceffaries and convenien-
cies of life are entirely free from excife or duty, at
this time; and will be lightly charged for a long
while to come-fuch as home-made malt liquors and
cider, coal and fire-wood, candles, oil, foap, to-
bacco, and leather, none of which pay excife, and
97
even foreign falt pays only about fix-pence fterling
duty on importation, and no excife whatever. Nor
have we any window-tax or hearth-money, nor fe-
veral other taxes, by which large fums are raifed
in Europe.
Many things are daily prefenting themſelves, by
which the profits of land will be greatly enhanced
in this country. We have hitherto imported a
great part of our drink from abroad, viz. rum,
brandy, gin, &c. but we find, if we extend our
breweries fo far as to render thefe fpirituous li-
quors unneceffary, that we fhall want above two
millions of bufhels of barley for the purpoſe, and
large quantities of hops, befides having ufe for a
further part of the immenfe quantities of fire-wood
and coal with which our country abounds. We
have alfo obtained the European cotton mill, by
means of which, and a few of our innumerable mill
ſeats, the owners of lands, in the fix fouthern ſtates,
will be called upon to fupply great quantities of cot-
ton. The movements of a mill for fpinning flax,
hemp, and combed wool, have alſo been conſtruct-
ed here, by which our farmers, throughout the uni-
on, will be called upon to fupply further quantities
of flax and hemp, and to increaſe their fheep. The
rolling mill for iron and other metals-and the tilt-
hammer for all large iron work-have been brought
into extenſive ufe, and will no doubt be erected in all
the ſtates. But the detail of water-works, and me-
chaniſm which may be introduced into a country,
N
98
that has, moderately fpeaking, ten thousand (and
probably nearer twenty thoufand) mill-feats, would
be endless.
$
A
There is a ftriking invaluable difference between
the navigable waters of the United States and thoſe
of any country in the old world. The Elbe is the
only river in Europe, which will permit a fea veſſel
to fail up it for fo great a length as feventy miles.
The Hudson's, or North-River, between the ftates.
of New-York and New-Jerfey, is navigated by fea
veffels one hundred and eighty miles from the ocean;
the Delaware, between Pennſylvania, New-Jerfey
and the Delaware ftate, one hundred and fixty miles;
the Patowmac, between Virginia and Maryland,
three hundred miles: and there are feveral other
rivers, bays, and founds, of extenfive navigation,
far exceeding the great river Elbe. The inland
boatable waters and lakes are equally numerous
and great.
In a country thus circumftanced, producing the
great raw materials for manufactures, and poffeffing
unlimited powers by water and refources of fuel,
fubject alfo to confiderable charges upon the impor-
tation of foreign fabrics, to neglect manufactures
would have been highly criminal. Theſe impor-
tant ideas have taken full poffeffion of the Ameri-
can mind. The theory is now every where approv.
ed: and in New England, Pennſylvania, and feve-
ral other ſtates, the practice has been taken up with
confiderable ſpirit and very extenfively. Mafter
A
99
workmen in every manufacturing and mechanical
art (except thofe of fuperfluous or luxurious kinds)
with their journeymen and labourers, muft fucceed
here. The freight, infurance, and other charges
of a long voyage, of more than three thousand miles
and the duties laid here, operate greatly in favour
of American fabrics. Manufactures by fire, water,
and emigrating workmen, muft fucceed even in
the most agricultural of our ftates, and will meet
every encouragement in the New England ftates,
and others whofe lands are nearly full. A regard
for the republican manners of our country, renders
it a duty to warn the manufacturers of very fine,
fuperflous, and luxurious articles, not to emigrate
to theſe ftates. Gold and filver and other laces,
embroidery, jewellery, rich filks and filk velvets,
fine cambrics, fine lawns, fine muflins, and articles.
of that expenſive nature, have yet few wearers
here.
Ship-building is an art for which the United
States are peculiarly qualified by their fkill in the
conftruction, and by the materials, with which
this country abounds: and they are ftrongly tempt-
ed to pursue it by their commercial fpirit, by the
capital fiſheries in their bays and on their coaſts,
and by the productions of a great and rapidly increal-
ing agriculture. They build their oak veffels on
lower terms than the cheapest European veffels of
fir, pine, and larch. The coft of an oak fhip in
New England, is about twenty-four Mexican dol-
lars per ton fitted for fea: a fir veffel cofts in the
100
ports of the Baltic, thirty-five Mexican dollars: and
the American fhip will be much the moft durable.
The coft of a veffel of the American live-oak and
cedar, which will laſt (if ſalted in her timbers) thir-
ty years, is only thirty-fix to thirty-eight dollars in
our different ports; and an oak fhip, in the cheap-
eft part of England, Holland, or France, fitted in
the fame manner, will coft fifty-five to fixty dollars.
In fuch a country, the fiſheries and commerce, with
due care and attention on the part of government,
muſt be profitable.
1
The public debt of the United States, occafioned
by the revolution war, is eftimated at about eigh-
teen millions of pounds fterling ;* but as they have
an extenſive ſettled territory-above two hundred
and forty millions of acres of vacant land-as their
duties upon foreign articles are not more than one
fourth of thoſe of Great Britain-as they have no
exciſes or duties upon articles of their own growth
or manufacture—and laſtly, as they are every year
faving large fums by the introduction of new manu-
factures and the extenfion of old ones, this debt.
cannot be confidered as heavy. The intereft of the
public debts of France and Great Britain" (which
are nearly equal to each other) is, in each inftance,
above nine millions fterling: And as our debt, like
the debt of all nations, is fold below its nominal
value, lefs than two years intereft of the debts of
either of thoſe two nations would entirely fink it.
* It proves to be lefs.
101
The capital of the British debt is above fourteen
times as great as ours-and the annual expenfes of
their government exceed ours beyond all compa-
rifon. The annual expences of France are ftill
greater, being about one hundred and five mil-
lions of dollars. If nations thus circumſtanced can
have comfort and eaſe, under fuch debts and ex-
penfes, America can have no hardships or difficul-
ty to apprehend.
}
The people of the principal European nations
will find themfelves more at home in America than
In any foreign country, to which they can emigrate.
The Engliſh, German, and Dutch languages are
fluently spoken by large bodies of our citizens,
who have emigrated from thofe countries, or who
are the defcendants of emigrants. The French
language is alfo fpoken by many in our towns.
There are many emigrants from other nations, and
the defcendants of fuch emigrants. Our popula-
tion has been derived from England, Scotland
Wales, Ireland, Germany, the United Netherlands,
Sweden, and France, and a few from feveral other
countries. It is computed to be above three mil-
lions at this time:† and the population of no coun-
try can increaſe fo rapidly: becauſe living is no
where fo cheap, and we are conftantly gaining peo-
ple from the nations of the old world.
The ftate of literature in the Uuited States is
+ It was a matter of agreeable furpriſe, that our population in
1791, proved to be about 4,000,000.
102
reſpectable, and is rapidly advancing and extending.
Seminaries of learning are fpread from north to
fouth. There are five univerfities, no one of which,
however is on a very extenfive fcale-fourteen col-
leges, and forty-eight public academies, befides
very many eſtabliſhments of ſchools, in the town-
fhips or hundreds, and under the care of religious
corporations and focieties. There is fcarcely an
inftance of a state conftitution, which does not re-
cognize the utility of public fchools, and the necef-
fity of ſupporting and increafing them. Liberal
grants of land and other real eſtates, and of monies,
for theſe falutary purpoſes, have been and are con-
tinually made.
The fituation of civil liberty in America is fo
univerfally known that it is fcarcely neceſſary to add
any thing upon that head. Yet it may not be amifs
briefly to mention, that no man can be convicted
of any crime in the United States, without the una-
nimous verdict of twelve jurymen-that he cannot
be deprived of any money, lands, or other proper-
ty, nor puniſhed in his perfon, but by fome known
law, made and publiſhed before the circumſtance
or act in queftion took place-that all foreigners
may freely exerciſe their trades and employments,
on landing in our country, upon equal terms with
our own natural born citizens-that they may re-
turn at any time, to their native country, without
hindrance or moleſtation, and may take with them
the property they brought hither, or what they may
have afterwards acquired here--that if they chooſe
103
to remain among us, they will become completely
naturalized free citizens by only two years refi-
dence; but may purchaſe and hold lands on the day
of their arrival, and that a free citizen of the Uni-
ted States has a right, directly or indirectly, to elect
every officer of the ftate in which he lives, and
every officer of the United States.
The fituation of religious rights in the American
ftates, though alſo well known, is too important,
too precious a circumftance, to be omitted. Al-
most every fect and form of chriftianity is known
here-as alfo the Hebrew church. None are mere-
ly tolerated. All are admitted, aided by mutual
charity and concord, and equally fupported and
cheriſhed by the laws. In this land of promiſe for
the good men of all denominations, are actually to
be found, the independent or congregational
church from England, the Proteftant Epifcopal
church (feparated by our revolution from the
church of England) the Quaker church, the Engliſh,
Scotch, Irifh and Dutch Prefbyterian or Calvinift
churches, the Roman Catholic church, the German
Lutheran church, the German reformed church,
the Baptift and Anabaptift churches, the Hugonot
or French Proteftant church, the Moravian church,
the Swediſh Epifcopal church, the Seceders from
the Scotch church, the Menonift church, with other
Chriftian fects, and the Hebrew church. Mere to-
leration is a doctrine exploded by our general con-
ftitution; inftead of which have been fubftituted
an unqualified admiffion, and affertion, that their
104
own modes of worship and of faith equally belong
to all the worshippers of God, of what ever church,
fect, or denomination*.
AT the time of the foregoing publication, the
the exports of the United States amounted to
above 18,000,000 of dollars. The progreſs of in-
duſtry had advanced them in 1792, to the fum of
21,000,000 of dollarst. A very large proportion
of this increaſe, confifts in articles for the fufte-
nance of man-the food of our increafing ma-
nufacturers, or the prime neceffaries of other
countries. The uſeful art of fhip-building has
kept more than equal pace with our agriculture,
becauſe it has felt the impulſe of the revival of the
fiſheries, and of foreign demand. The price of
iron, which is a good general index of induſtry and
*The writer of the foregoing publication has found himſelf
reſtrained in the ſtatement of facts concerning the United States, by
the want of that accurate and various information, which a full ac-
count of fo extenfive and grand a ſcene neceffarily requires: and
his narrow limits obliged him to omit feveral important facts,
very intereſting to emigrants of every deſcription. He hopes that
fome of the excellent pens, which abound in every part of our uni.
on, will be employed in fhewing the true fituation of things in
each ſtate, that, from the ſeveral details, the extraordinary capacity
of the United States of America, to promote the comfort and happiness of
the human race, may be duly manifefted.
+ In the year ending on the 30th September 1793, the exports
of the United States were 26,000,000 of dollars.
105
arts, has been greatly advanced by the progreſs of
public and private improvements, and uſeful ma-
nufactures: and eleven great and important canals
have been actually commenced in a country, which
before the late revolution did not exhibit a fingle
inftance of thofe invaluable improvements.
[
106*
CHAPTER VII..
CONCERNING THE DISTILLERIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
'HE importance of molaffes to the United
States has been fo frequently a topic of
obfervation, that it is prefumed to be generally
underſtood. No leſs than 7,194,606 gallons were
regularly entered in the cuſtom-houſes, from vari-
ous places, during the year ending in September
1791. When the diforders in the French part of
the iſland of St. Domingo commenced in the au-
tumn of that year, apprehenfions arofe, that thoſe
citizens of the United States, who were intereſted in
the diftilleries from foreign materials, might fuftain a
grievous ſhock, unleſs they would adopt the ſubſti-
tutes, which our own agriculture afforded. It was
manifeft, that theſe individual inconveniencies, by
due anticipation, might be confiderably diminiſhed;
and it was no lefs evident, that the agriculture of
the United States might be exceedingly benefited
by the diftillation of fruit and grain, inſtead of
molaffes. From a defire to bring thefe circum-
ftances into that notice, which their importance
required, the following paper was introduced into
public view in the ftate of Maffachuſetts, in which
the molaffes diftillery greatly exceeds thofe of all
the other ſtates together.
107
Reflections on the prefent fituation of the diftilleries
of the United States heretofore employed on foreign
materials.
IT has been a ſubject of frequent apprehenfion,
to attentive obſervers on the internal induftry of
our country, that the diftilleries in the fea-port
towns would one day be deprived of their neceffa-
ry ſupply of foreign materials: the obvious poffibi-
lity of various events fuggefted thefe fears. A con-
tingency as deplorable as it was unexpected, has
at length happened, which menaces a long inter-
ruption, perhaps a total privation, of that large
part of thofe fupplies, which has been drawn from
Hifpaniola; and the late diforders in Martinico,
have conſpired to heighten the evil.
In confequence of thefe events, the ordinary
operations of above one hundred diflilleries will be
affected, and the fubfiftence of thofe numerous fami-
lies, that are dependant on them, will be for a time
or in a degree cut off. The ravages already com-
mitted in the Weft-Indies, muft occafion a defal-
cation of produce, which it will require feveral
years of induſtry to reftore, after tranquility fhall
be eſtabliſhed. To fupply our demand for the raw
materials from any other fource, is impracticable;
and if it were poffible to procure from the iſlands
of other nations, diftilled fpirits, equal to our con-
fumption, yet the importation would be exceffively
expenſive, as well as impolitic. Little more than
108
eight millions of gallons are annually made in thofe
iflands; and the demand for the expected Spaniſh
war advanced the price of rum in Jamaica, fifty
per cent.
What then would be the effect of a
new and conftant demand for feveral millions of
gallons?
But were it practicable to procure the diftilled
fpirits from abroad, upon moderate terms, what
would be the fate of the American diftillers, their
workmen and affiftants? Would not their capi
tals become unproductive, and their diftilleries,
fink into ruin? It is to be feared, too, that the fhip!
ping connected with this branch of induſtry, will
feel a fhare of thefe unfortunate events.
To avoid evils fo great and extenfive, muſt be
the wifh and fhould be the endeavour of every
good citizen. If, however, they cannot be alto-
gether prevented, prudence may perhaps mitigate
them. It is
It is thought that a diminution of them
may be found in the application of our diftilleries
to the manufacture of grain and fruit fpirits.
{
The harveſts of Europe are faid to have been
abundant; thofe of the United States are known
to be fo; and a reduction of the prices of grain
ſeems to be a probable confequence: the preſent
time, therefore, is the proper one to commence
this bufinefs. The tranfportation of grain and ci-
der coaftwife, to the diftilleries; and of the diftil-
109
C
A
led ſpirits to the confumers, on all the navigable
waters of the United States, will give employment
to thofe veffels which may neceffarily relinquiſh
the French Weft-India trade.
It will not escape the obfervation of thofe who
meditate the eſtabliſhment or extenfion of brew-
eries, that the preſent is a favourable moment for
proceeding in that moſt beneficial branch. It is
well known that brewing, and the diftillation of
Spirits from grain, are two very profitable manufac-
tures in Great-Britain; although the brewer and
diftiller there pay fifty per cent. higher for grain
than the ordinary. price of the fame article in this
country. Holland alfo brews extenfively, and in
diftillation from grain exceeds Great-Britain; yet
the imports more grain than fhe manufactures, and
more fuel than her breweries and diftilleries con-
fume.
The difference of eleven cents per gallon (about
forty per cent. on the value of the article) in fa-
vour of fpirits diftilled from native materials, when
compared with imported fpirits, gives an advan-
tage to the home manufacture, which will be duly
eftimated by every judicious calculator: there
can be no doubt, that this advantage will be al-
ways preferved, and probably increaſed by the laws
of the United States*.
!
* Among the inducements which the national government have
to adhere to this policy, is this very important one,
that the encou-
ragement to the culture of grain, which would be derived from
the uſe of it in brewing and diftillation, would prove the most ef
fectual fecurity againſt a ſcarcity of bread.
110
The ftrongest inducement to reaſonable men,
for the employment of their capital and induſtry
in any undertaking, is the hope of permanent profit,
founded on fair calculation: this calculation the
diftillers are beft able to make: to them, there-
fore, the ideas herein fuggefted are all fubmitted.
THE great ftock of molaffes, which was left
on hand from the unuſual importation of 1791,
and the exertions of the merchants and diftillers
to procure fupplies of that article from new fourc-
es, have occafioned the mutation of the molaffes
diftilleries into fruit and grain diftilleries, to be
yet inconfiderable. It is certain however, that
the new diſtilleries have been principally confined
to fruit and grain, and that the manufacture of
fpirits, from domeftic materials, has greatly increa-
fed. The high price of grain, arifing from the
European demand, has occafioned the gradual
manner, in which the change of our diftilleries is
taking place, to be perfectly convenient. The in-
habitants of the United States are thoroughly pre-
pared, by their own reflections on this branch of
their buſineſs, to make fuch further alterations, as
circumſtances may require, whenever they ſhall
become neceffary*.
* Breweries, which are more eftimable kind of liquor manufac
tory, have greatly increafed. 1793.
111
CHAPTER VIII.
STATEMENTS, RELATIVE TO THE AGRICULTURE,
RESOURCES
MANU-
AND
FACTURES, COMMERCE, POPULATION,
PUBLIC HAPPINESS OF THE UNITED STATES, IN REPLY
TO THE ASSERTIONS AND PREDICTIONS OF LORD SHEF-
FIELD.
THE
HE mifconceptions in regard to American
affairs which prevailed in many parts of Eu-
rope in the year 1791, and particularly in the Bri-
tifh dominions, were deemed to be very great.
They appeared to be founded, in no fmall degree,
on the difquifitions of an English writer* whofe er-
rors, it was therefore, neceffary to demonftrate.
An examination of his work was commenced in
the American Muſeum and continued monthly, as
circumſtances permitted. Further reflection and
opportunity produced additional facts and fome re.
lative confiderations, which, on a re-publication,
were intermixed with the original materials, or
were compriſed in a feventh number, and in two
additional notes on American manufactures.
It is poffible, that a queftion may have arifen,
why an examination of a work, firſt publiſhed in
1783, fhould have been inftituted in 1791? The
obſervations of lord Sheffield had gone through fix
* Lord Sheffield.
112
enlarged editions, and the fame writer having dif
feminated ideas, very unfavourable to the United
States, in his book upon the commerce of Ireland,
it was conceived that a developement of his errors
was due no lefs to thofe who are mifinformed in
Europe, than to thoſe intereſts, which are not un-
derſtood in this country. It had been frequently
obferved, that when American affairs were difcuf-
fed in Britain, lord Sheffield's work was quoted
with fymptoms of conviction and belief. Under
circumſtances like theſe, an examination of his al-
legations, predictions and remarks, even at that day,
would not, it was hoped, appear unfeaſonable.
A Brief examination of Lord Sheffield's Obferva-
tions on the Commerce of the United States, with
two fupplementary notes on American manufac-
tures.
SECTION I.
1
THE facts and obfervations of this writer have,
in the opinion of many of his countrymen, ſo firm-
ly endured the touchftone of experience, that an
attempt to demonftrate errors in both, may appear
to deferve little attention. The brevity, however,
which is intended to be obſerved, may induce the
parties concerned, to give thefe papers an atten-
tive perufal.
It is remarked, in the laſt edition of the publi
cation referred to, " that a knowledge and con-
113
}
fideration of the American trade fhould dictate to
Great-Britain the meaſures ſhe ought to purſue."
The good fenfe of that obfervation, in relation to
the time when it was written, is admitted, without
heſitation, and it is confidered as equally proper,
in regard to the prefent. It is believed, indeed, to
comport moſt perfectly with the dignity and true
interefts of nations, not to induce into injurious
grants thoſe foreign powers, with whom they may
find occafion to treat. No obfervations need be
offered, to ſhow the reſpectability, which is acquired
by negociations conducted with a liberal and mag-
nanimous policy. It will be fufficient to remark,
that arrangements, folidly founded in the mutual
interefts of the contracting parties, will always be
fatisfactory to the intelligent part of their refpective
citizens, and confequently moft permanent; but
that injudicious grants of unreaſonable advantages,
eſpecially if obtained by deceptive means, difho-
nour the character of the over-reaching party-lead
to murmers among the people of the miftaken na-
tion, often to expenfive and bloody wars-and give
immenſe hazard to the commercial enterprizes,
which are uſually inftituted in confequence of new
treaties. It may be confidered, therefore, as wif-
dom in negociating nations, diligently to fearch for
their common interefts, as the fitted ground of treaty.
order to difcover thefe with eafe, and to view
them with juft impreffions, it is a meaſure not only
of primary importance, but of indifpenfible neccf-
fity, to remove eftablifhed errors in the public
P
114
creed of either country. It is not by way of apo
logy, that theſe prefatory remarks are offered to all
concerned, but to fhow, that a rational purſuit of
the interefts of their reſpective countries, fhould
lead both Americans and Engliſhmen, to develope
the errors, in regard to facts and opinions, difcove-
rable in a publication,* which appears to have been
the cauſe of a change of meaſures in the Britiſh
nation, or to have been intended to vindicate one,
which it was pre-determined to make.
It is not propoſed to go into a full and regular
reply to the writer of the obſervations, but rather
to point out fo many real and important errors in
his facts and predictions, as may ſhake the unlimit-
ed confidence, which has been repofed in him by
his countrymen, in order to lead to a different le-
giflative deportment towards us. Little regard
will be paid to order, in this curfory examination;
but any important object, which prefents itfelf, will
be concifely noticed.
THE CARRYING TRADE,
peo-
in the opinion of lord Sheffield, is loft to the
ple, inhabiting thefe ftates, by their choice of inde-
pendence. Let us examine the proofs. His fe-
venth table ſtates the inward tonnage of all the
Britiſh provinces in North-America, in 1770, to
have been 365,100 tons. From this amount are
* Lord Sheffield's Obfervations, &c.
115
to be deducted the entries in Newfoundland, Ca-
nada, Nova-Scotia, the two Floridas, the Bahamas,
and Bermuda, being 33,458 tons, which leaves the
entries in thofe provinces, which are now the
United States, at 331,642 tons. We are allo to
deduct the ſhips owned by Britiſh ſubjects, not
refident in thoſe thirteen provinces. Champion
confiders theſe to have been nearly the whole in
the European trade, it is believed erroneouffy;
but they muſt have been very confiderable: yet
the return of entries of American veffels for the
laſt year, rendered by our treaſury to the Houſe of
Reprefentatives, though known to have been in-
complete, from inevitable caufes, amounts to above
363,000 tons, exclufive of fishing veffels*.
It is manifeft, then, that the carrying trade, which
refults almoſt unaided from an agriculture, that ful-
ly lades 650,000 tons of veſſels to foreign ports, is
confiderably greater than what we enjoyed as Bri-
tiſh provinces. A very beneficial coafting trade
(employing above 100,000 tons*) has moreover
grown up, partly from the variety of our productions
and mutual wants, and partly from the introduction
of manufactures, which it was believed we could
never attain, and with which Great Britain alone.
ufed to fupply us. The building of fhips has alfo
increaſed, as we undertake hereafter to fhow, and
* Our numerous coaſters alſo not being entered, but only rencw-
ing their licences in that trade, once a year, form no part of
the 363,000 tons.
3
116
the tonnage owned by the merchants of the United
States or late American provinces, was never fo
great as at the prefent moment. It is believed,
moreover, that the American carriers derive great-
er profit from the buſineſs, than the Britiſh nation,
who builds fhips two-thirds dearer, and who main-
tain themſelves in what they poffefs of the carrying
trade, at the expenfe of great bounties out of their
public treaſury, by burdenfome reſtrictions on all
their dominions, but the island of Great-Britain,
and by regulations to favour their fhipping, which
increaſe the price of raw materials for their manu-
factures, and of bread and other food for their work-
men and for their poor.
い
​BEEF AND PORK,
in the opinion of our author, are not likely to be-
come confiderable articles of export, fo as to inter-
fere with Ireland for fome time. The medium an-
nual quantity exported from the United States, be-
fore the revolution, he ſtates at 23,635 barrels. Our
treaſury return, for the laſt year, exhibits 66,000
barrels, befides 2,500 barrels of bacon, 5,200 head
of horned cattle, and an equal number of hogs.
The medium price of the pork was thirty-feven fhil-
lings fterling, or about 84 dollars per barrel, and
that of beef twenty-eight fhillings fterling, or about
64 dollars
per barrel. Befides this exportation,
263,000 tons of foreign veffels, in a great degree,
and all our own, were victualled from our markets.
117
But a moments reflection will convince any man,
who knows this country, that it will, in the courſe
of a few years, offer to all foreign nations fuch
quantities of falt provifions, eſpecially of beef, as
muft ſeriouſly affect Ireland, where that article is
fold at eight dollars per barrel. It is a fact no lefs
curious, than important to our provifion trade,
that the French fleet has been fupplied with beef
in the port of Bofton, at prices lower than the then
current value of wheat-flour in any of our feaports,
although our expors of the latter article are four-
teen times as great as thofe of Ireland.
The ow-
ners of the interior lands of the United States, on
which fettlements have but lately become confide-
rable, find a particular advantage in raifing cat-
tle, becauſe thoſe animals tranſport themſelves
to the feaports at a very fmall expenfe.*
TEAS.
It is known to perfons acquainted with Ameri-
can commerce, that teas of various kinds form a
very confiderable proportion of our importations.
The rich and the poor confume them freely. Their
value, as they were entered in our cuftom-houſes,
for the year preceding the firſt of October, 1790,
was 2,784,000 dollars, which was about a feventh
of our imports. On this very capital article of
commerce and confumption, lord Sheffield hazards.
the following opinions-
* The exportation of beef and pork, in the year ending on the
30th September, 1792, was 112,4356 barrels.
J
118
"That as the Engliſh Eaft-India company can
afford to fell this tea, on full as good, if not better,
terms, than the Dutch, or any other nation in Eu-
rope, there is no danger of lofing the American mar-
ket." And
1
That the allowing the drawback upon teas ex-
ported from Great-Britain, will generally enable
the English to command the tea trade to America."
His lordship had forgotten that Canton is an
open market, equally acceffible to all nations. The
American fhips have accordingly gone thither, not
only in the ordinary feaſons, but in thoſe, which
ufually reftrain European expeditions. The United
States produce the great article of ginfeng in large
quantities, which renders this trade convenient to
them. The teas, imported by our merchants di-
rectly from China, in the last year, were two mil-
lions fix hundred and one thousand eight hundred and
fifty two pounds, which is fully equal to our con-
fumption, could we obtain coffee, and the requifite
quantity of Mufcovado fugars, of which our peo-
ple are univerfally and paffionately fond.
were imported alfo from Europe, 416,652 pounds
of teas, fhipped from foreign ports, other than Bri,
tish, to the extreme difadvantage of the fhippers,
and to the great injury of our merchants. But the
values of commodities in any two markets are the
beft illuftration of the relation of thofe markets to
each other. The article of tea will therefore be
}
There
ร
5
.
119
paffed over, after the following ſtatement of the
current prices on a given day in America and Great-
Britain.
In Philadelphia, on the 5th day | In London, on the 5th day of
of November, 1790, after
paying the duty inward.
Bohea,
Sterling.
I
1/3 or 30 cents,
Souchong, 3/4 or 75 cents,
*Hyfon,
4/6 or 100 cents.
November, 1790, after de-
ducting the drawback of 121.-
IOS. per cent.
Sterling.
Bohea, 15 or 32 cents,
Souchong, 4/6 or 100 cents,
Hyfon,
6 or 133 cents.
The fame circumftances, which facilitate and in-
fure the attainment of the requifite quantity of teas,
not only by means other than British, but indeed
by American means, certify to us the acquifition of
the neceffary ſupplies of porcelain, nankeens, filks,
and all other China commodities: and upon the
whole, we dare venture to appeal to the books of
the inspector general of the Britifh commerce, when
we affirm that Great Britain does not ſupply us with
with a fortieth fhilling of the various kinds of China
merchandize, confumed in America, though they
probably fall little ſhort of a fixth of our importa-
tions.
SALT FROM EUROPE.
This article, the writer of the obſervations fays,
will be taken indifcriminately from Europe: there-
by miſleading the government and people of En-
* No teas have been imported from Britain into the United
States fince the firft publication of this work. A. D. 1793.
120
gland into a belief, that they will have a chance of
fupplying a confiderable proportion. The quanti-
ty imported into the United States, from various
countries, in the laſt year, was 2,337,920 bushels;
befides which it was manufactured in interior fitua-
tions. The price of falt in Kentucky, where it is
home made, is about one third of the market rate
at Pittſburgh, where foreign falt is uſed,
The British falt is what is called fine in Ameri-
ca, from the fmall fize of the cryftals. Of this
kind the price is greater than that of the coarfe,
and not a twentieth bufhel was imported before
the preſent year, it being little uſed but at the ta-
ble, and inconvenient to tranfport to the interior
country; but the new duty, near the eighth of a
Mexican dollar, will render its importation very
unprofitable in future. A bufhel of rock or allum
falt, as it is termed, from the ſize of the cryſtals,
will go as far in ufe, as a bufhel and an half or two
bufhels of the finer kind; and the duty is equal.
The price, as before obſerved, is lefs. Befides, our
grain and lumber fhips to Portugal, our tobacco
ſhips to France, our corn, flour and lumber fhips
to Spain, our veffels to the Cape-de-Verd and Weft-
India iſlands, are accommodated by ballafts of falt,
which is cheap and abundant in thoſe places. It
never fails to yield fome profit to the owner of the
fhip, (though it will very feldom pay a freight) and
it is exceedingly beneficial to the timbers of a vef-
fel. The liberation of this article in France will
}
121
occafion it to be better made there in future, and
the French will confequently fupply us with larger
parcels than heretofore. The approximation of
our fettlements to the falt ſprings, and the increaſe
of white population on the fouthern fea coafts, will
occafion additions to the quantity made at home.
Should any impediment be thrown in the way of the
reception of our lumber and other bulky articles,
and of our veffels in Great Britain, the importation
of falt, and indeed of moft other coarſe Britiſh ar-
ticles, will be exceedingly diminiſhed, as they are
brought now to ballaft our return veffels.
It ap-
pears, however on examining better documents than
were procurable at the firſt publication of this pa-
per, that our Britiſh lumber trade had induced a
greater return in falt, than was at that time fuppo-
fed; and as truth is the fole object of this examina-
tion, the error is made known without heſitation.
SHOES,
Our writer fays, were, and muſt continue to be
imported in confiderable quantities, and principal-
ly from Britain! 'Tis probable that not less than
eight millions of pair of fhoes, boots, half boots,
guetres, flippers, clogs, and golofhoes, are annually
confumed in or exported from the United States.
Our population proves to be about 4,000,000; and
if each perfon wears a quantity of the above fhoe-
makers' wares, equivalent to two pair of fhoes per
annum, the number will be made up.
If the me-
dium value be taken at 75 cents or 3/4 fterling per
Q
122
pair, this valuable article will amount to fix millions
of dollars. Of this prodigious quantity, only
70,450 pair of fhoes, boots, &c. were imported
into the United States in the last year.t Tanned
leather, weighing 22,698 pounds, was exported
within the fame time, and 5,700 pairs of boots and
fhoes. Of unmanufactured hides, only 230 were
fhipped abroad.
fome degree from the western country. The lea-
ther branch is the fecond in England, and it is equal
to one-fifth of their ſtaple manufactures. Our fhoe-
makers' wares alone appear to be more in value
than one fourth of our exports: and as New Eng-
land is our greateſt cattle country, and the moſt
advanced in handicraft-manufactures, it is plain
that its inhabitants must be in a confiderable de-
gree indemnified for the effects of thoſe regulations
which injured their fifheries. The coarfer oils, it
may be alſo obſerved, are demanded in large quan-
tities by the leather dreffers, whofe requifitions of
them will increaſe with our population, and exports
of leathern manufactures.
Leather and fhoes were fent in
PAPER.
This article, it is alledged by our author, will
continue to be fent in confiderable quantities from
It must be highly fatisfactory to the people of the United
States, that they actually make of one neceffary article by hand ſo
very great an aggregate value, as fix millions of dollars. All argu-
ment againſt the poffibility of manufacturing by hand with profit is
ended by this fact.
123
England; and that "although fome coarfe paper for
newſpapers is made in America, it is not equal to
the demand." From a return made to the manu-
facturing fociety of Philadelphia, it appears, that
there are forty-eight paper mills in Pennfylvania
alone. Five more are building in one county of
that ſtate. Others are known to exift in North
Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, New Jerfey, New
York and New England. The United States, till
very lately, were infenfible of the facility with which
this branch can be carried on, of the profit which
reſults from it, and of the great degree in which it
is eftabliſhed. The treafury of the United States,
and the ſeveral banks, have paper of the moft per-
fect kind, fpecially made for them; the printing of
books has increaſed in an aftoniſhing degree; and
factories of paper hangings are carried on with great
ſpirit in Boſton, New-Jerfey, and Philadelphia.
In fhort, there are abundant proofs of eftablifh-
ment and progrefs towards perfection, in this valu-
able branch, in which every thing is made, as it
were, out of nothing.
RUM.
It is the opinion of lord Sheffield, that the whole
of the Weft-India rum uſed in America, except a
fmall quantity from Demarara, and fome from
St. Croix, may be fupplied by the Britiſh iſlands*.
The following fcale may be relied on, as the pre-
The British Weft-India islands do not make as much diſtilled
fpirits, as are confumed in the United States.
124
fent ftate of this bufinefs in the United States. If
the whole quantity of molaffes, of diftilled fpirits
imported, and of diſtilled ſpirits made at home of
fruit and grain, fhould be divided into 132 parts,
it would ſtand thus,
Molaffes imported would be
Britiſh, Danish, and other rum, taffia,
brandy, geneva, arrack, cordials, and
other diftilled fpirits imported, would
be*.
Spirits diftilled from the native fruits
and grain of the United States would
be at leaſt
Total
parts.
60
37
35
132
It is afcertained, that the Britiſh fpirits are not
more than twenty-one parts of the fecond item of
thirty-feven; and it appears that the West-India
rum, fupplied by all nations, is reduced to about
one fourth of our confumption and fale to foreign
nations of diftilled fpirits. How long we fhall conti-
nue to take even that proportion is very uncertain.
Breweries are multiplying: as their value is be-
coming manifeft. Grain and fruit diftilléries are
rifing up every where. From interior fituations
two gallons of fpirit, extracted from a bufhel of rye,
*There is reafon to affirm, that the two firft articles have de-
creaſed, and that an increaſe in the quantity of the article which
follows them, has taken place. A. D. 1793.
125
can be brought to markets where it will realize to
the farmer two thirds of a dollar for his grain, at
leſs expenſe than if made into flour, and carted to
the fame ſpot. The country is abundantly fuppli-
ed with ftills; and were the British iflands to be
refuſed our flour and grain by their own govern-
ment, as lord Sheffield adviſes, this country would
be compelled to indemnify itſelf by making grain
ſpirits and malt liquors in lieu of their rum, which
it is reaſonable to ſuppoſe we ſhould no longer im-
port. Indeed the exportation of liquors of all kinds,
made from grain, will probably become very con-
fiderable. Some countries refufe our flour; and-
the freight to Europe is a heavy charge upon grain.
This will induce brewing and diftillation, even
when markets abroad are not bad; but when
prices in Europe are very low, we fhall be more
ftrongly impelled to them. Fruit fpirits muft be
made continually, and will add much to the aggre-
gate of diftilled liquors. The grain confumed in
Great-Britain, in their breweries and diftilleries, is
computed to be twenty-four millions of bufhels,
though they are obliged to import confiderable
quantities of flour, meal and grain and though
they have rum colonies to fupport, and to fupply
with fpirits. Holland alfo carries on the liquor
manufactories to a great extent, though far from
able to feed itſelf. The ability in the United States
to do the fame, cannot be doubted, and will cer-
tainly increaſe. The facilities, which are or may
be granted to our fhips and trade by foreign na-
tions, who make fpirits from the vine, the canc, or
126
the feveral kinds of grain, will induce returns in
brandy, rum, or gin, which will diminish the Ame-
rican demand for British rum,
The idea that the United States are a country, fui generis.
This pofition the writer of the obfervations treats
"as perfectly whimfical" As a figure of rhetoric
"conveying no diftinct idea, or an effort of cunning
to unite, at the fame time, two inconfiftent cha-
"racters." Yet it will not be difficult to demonftrate
to an unprejudiced mind, that the circumftances, in
which the people of thefe ftates were placed at the
peace of 1783, were different from thofe of any
other nation; and that there were fome peculiari-
ties in them, confidered with refpect to Britiſh af-
fairs, which rendered it a ferious queftion, whether
they did not require a particular arrangement. It
is true, that the citizens of the United States had
"renounced the duties of Britiſh fubjects," or, in
other words, that they had affumed an independent
ftation but this meafure was fully juftified, if we
may fo fpeak, by Britain's abandoning the ground,
which produced the war-the affertion of the right
to bind the people of America in all cafes whatsoever.
It will be acknowledged, too, that we manufactu-
red lefs at that time than any other nation in the
world; confequently we were a more profitable
commercial connexion.
We fhipped, in propor-
tion to our population, more raw materials, and
proviſions, which they want, than any other na-
tion; for it appears we load 650,000 tons of fhip-
เ
We fhipped,
127
ping, and our cargoes were then almost entirely
unmanufactured. We were, by much, the firſt cuf-
tomer for Britiſh manufactures; for it appears by
their exports for 1784, that the greateſt value was
ſhipped to the United States, being £.3,648,0007,
fterling, including no raw articles; and that the
next greateſt foreign fhipment was to Holland, be-
ing only £. 1,277,480, part of which was for Ger-
man confumption, and fome part probably was in
raw articles—and that in the year 1785, alfo, the
greateſt value was fhipped to the United States, be-
ing £.2,308,023, fterling, and that the next greateſt
foreign ſhipment was likewife to Holland, amount-
ing to £. 1,605,303, part of which was not manu-
factures. The exports to Ruffia in each of thofe
two years were leſs than half the exports to New-
York or Pennſylvania. It is to be remembered,
too, how very great a proportion of the Britiſh ex-
port trade theſe ſhipments to America conftituted.
In 1784, their whole exportations were £.15,733,847
and in 1785, £. 16,770,228*.
In addition to merchandize from Britain, we took
very large quantities of linen and other dry goods
from Ireland, and an enormous value in rum and
*Recent and authentic information warrants the affertion,
that the United States, for fix years fubfequent to the treaty of
Paris in 1783, imported more goods from Great-Britain than were
imported from thence by any other foreign country, by the diffe-
rence of at leaſt half a million of sterling money, and probably
more, though their exports to foreign nations were compofed in
part of our tobacco, rice, indigo, &c.
128
other produce of their Weft India iflands: and fur-
ther we were a nation of planters and farmers,
whofe quantities of unimproved and uncultivated
lands were manifold greater than thofe which were
or are yet brought into uſe, and confequently a
great and conftant demand might have been rea-
fonably expected to exift for thofe fupplies, which
Britain, upon reafonable terms of intercourfe, would
be able to furniſh. Our diftant fituation, and the
tranſportation of goods, which will lade 650,000
tons of fhipping, were circumftances favourable to
the carrying trade of our liberal connexions and al-
lies, which no other country prefented to Great-
Britain. We have hitherto fuffered her to partici-
pate freely in this, for it appears, that in the laft
year, 230,000 tons of Britiſh veffels, a fourth of all
their private ſhips, were loaded in our ports.
If then the United States a&tually furnish the
moſt folid items of Britifh foreign commerce-if the
raw materials they afford be the precious elements
of a large proportion of the Britiſh manufactures-
if our demands from that nation be not only much
the largeſt, but alfo of kinds the most profitable
to them—if our peculiar fituation would have
drawn us, in a greater degree, than any other
country to agriculture, and from manufactures-if
our language, our religion, our theories of liber-
ty and law, were in many refpects the fame
as theirs—the idea of our being a people peculiarly
circumſtanced, fuch a people as exiſt not elſewhere
cannot, in candour, be treated as fanciful: and,.
129
indeed, did not the ferioufnefs of a fubject, which
involves the interefts of two nations, fupprefs every
feeling, which might tend to obfcure them, the in-
decorum and acrimony, with which this and other
pages of "the obfervations" are marked, ought not
to pass without due animadverfion.
The profecution of this examination will be
continued in a fubfequent paper. In the mean
time, what has been already thrown out, may be
duly and temperately confidered. The prefent
feafon is intereſting andcritical. The policy, which
the United States ought to obferve, in the legifla-
tion of commerce, is likely to be formally difcuffed.
At fuch a moment, facts, accurately afcertained
and candidly ſtated, are of the utmoſt importance;
for how fhall we fo well reaſon, as from what we
know? It is to be defired, that the light of indif
putable truth may enable our own legiflators and
thofe of foreign nations, to difcover the ground of
common intereft, and that no erroneous maxims,
however fanctioned, may clofe one avenue of mu-
tually beneficial communication.
SECTION II.
IT was premifed, in the firft fection, that no
particular attention would be paid to order in this
examination. We fhall therefore proceed to re-
mark upon timber, fcantling, boards, fhingles, ftaves,
heading, and hoops, under the general denomina-
tion of
R
મ
130
LUMBER.
Theſe articles are of the greateſt importance to
the Iriſh provifion trade, to every branch of the
fiſhery, to Britiſh navigation, commerce and manu-
factures in general, and particularly to the profita-
ble management of Weft-India eftates. Lord Shef-
field is of opinion, that "moft of them may be im-
ported from Canada and Nova-Scotia, on às good,
if not better terms, than from theſe ſtates;" and
that Nova-Scotia will, at leaft for fome time, have
little elfe to depend on, but her fisheries, provifions
and cutting of lumber." But the experience of
1790, ſeven years after thoſe provinces began to
regain order, inftructs us, that there were fhipped
in that year, from the United States to Nova-Sco-
tia alone, 540,000 of flaves and heading, 924,980
feet of boards, 285,000 fhingles, and 16,000 hoops.
The legiſlature of Jamaica (the imports of which
ifland directly from the United States, might be ef-
timated, in 1784, at half our fhipments to the Bri-
tiſh Weſt Indies) accompanied their address to the
parliament of Britain, with proofs that only 20
bundles of hoops, 301,324 fhingles and ſtaves, and
510,088 feet of lumber, were imported into that
ifland from Canada, Nova Scotia, and St. John's,
between the 3d of April 1783, and the 26th of Oc-
tober 1784, a term of nearly nineteen months! It
appears probable, then, that they did not fupply their
Weft India brethren with more than one half of
what they import, at this mature ftage of their fet-
131
tlements, from us. It is to be remembered, that
Jamaica drew no fupplies of our lumber through
the Dutch and Danish iflands; though the more
windward iflands at that time did. From 1768,
to 1772, only 36,100 fhingles and ftaves, and
27,235 feet of lumber, were fhipped annually from
the northern British colonies to the iſland of Ja-
maica.
In another page of the obfervations, we are told,
that hoops, ftaves, and boards may be fent out to
the Weft-Indies from England, "becauſe the
freight is lower than from the United States."
Here again, the writer of the obſervations is unfor-
tunate in his propofed means of fupply: for it ap-
pears, that there were fhipped, in the year above
mentioned, to the European dominions of Great-
Britain, 13,306,000 ftaves and heading, 3,000,000
feet of boards, 4,000,000 feet of timber, 253,000
ſhingles, and 6000 of hoops. We learn, too, from
Mr. Anderſon's hiftory of commerce, that there
were imported from England to the Weft-Indies,
in 1787, the value of £80: 12 : 5 fterling and no
more, in boards, ftaves and other lumber, towards
the fupply of the demand of thoſe iſlands, which
lord Sheffield admits to have been, in 1770, about
thirty-five millions of boards, fcantling, ftaves and
hoops, and fifteen millions and a half of fhingles,
It will appear to him an extraordinary fact, (and
muſt excite a fmile in the graveft countenance,)
that the balance of the lumber account between
Great Britain and her Weft-India colonies, is actu-
132
ally againſt the former: for we learn, from another
of Mr. Anderſon's documents, that there were fhip-
ped thither from thofe colonies, between Michael-
mas 1786, and the fame day in 1787, £.3070:13:11
fterling, in boards, ftaves, and timber.† But if the
project of ſhipping from Europe were as rational,
as it is wild, what would become of the low freights,
upon which it is chiefly founded? The lumber ac-
tually taken by the British West Indies from the
United States, exhaufted," as this writer mifre-
prefents them to be, would load all the veffels that
depart from Great Britain to the Weft Indies; for
it would fill above 100,000 tons of fhipping; and a
large quantity of tonnage would still be required for
the coal, malt-liquors, wines, loaf fugar, candles,
foap, provifions, cordage, bale goods, earthen ware,
nails, tallow, lime, carriages, &c. which are con-
ftantly ſhipped thither from Europe.
<<
The prices of lumber, in London and the United
States have been gravely compared; and Decem-
ber 1783, was taken as the common feaſon. It is
unneceffary to lofe time in difproving an allegation
about a period fo long paffed, which, however,
could be fatisfactorily done, or to animadvert up-
on the fuppreffion of the price of boards in which
we had fo much more the advantage. Our public
returns from the feveral ports, which cannot be
fuppofed to undervalue the article, nor indeed do
they vary materially from the fhipping prices give
* Theſe were probably for dunnage, or the ftowage of cargoes
of fugar, coffee, pimento, &c.
133
the medium rate of twelve and two-thirds dollars
or £.2: 17 ſterling for red oak and white oak ſtaves,
and heading, fit for barrels, hogfheads, and pipes.
The prices of ftaves vary exceedingly in the differ-
ent markets of the United States; and that, which was
felected by the writer of the obſervations, is known
not to be among the cheapeſt. Even there the ar-
ticle is at this time thirty per cent. below the quo-
tation in the obfervations. But we have already
noticed the very large exportation of lumber from
the United States to the Britiſh European domini-
ons, which alone is a fufficient contradiction of the
fact, and is a fatisfactory correction of the obfer-
vations.
1
134
The following ſtatement of the prices in St. Domingo and Jamaica
will not be deemed uninterefting, as tending to fhew the rates
at which French and American veffels fupply the former, and
Britiſh veffels fupply the latter, although the home dominions of
France were incapacitated from furniſhing their uſual quantity
of provifions.
At Kingſton in Jamaica, 1790.
June.
Oct.
Nov.
dolls.
dolls.
dolls.
dolls.
dolls.
Super. flour, per lb.
10. 20 to 10. 50 7.50
7.50 to 8.25
Common do. do.
9.37
6.75
7.12 to 7.50
Ship bread, do.
5.25
4.50
4.87
Indian meal, do.
5.25
4.50
5.25
Rice, per 100 lbs.
3-37/1/2
4. 24.50 to 5.25
Pork, do.
14.
12.
Hams, per lb.
.12/
.16
4
15.
Butter, do
.15
15.
Pine boards,
24.
27.
30.
R. O. hhd. ſtaves,
24.
31.
27.
Wooden hoops,
30.
36.
30.
At Cape Francois*, 1790.
July.
Oct.
Nov.
dolls.
dolls. dolls. dolls.
Superfine flour, per bbl.
IO.
6.50 6 to 6.50
Common do.
do.
9.
5.
5 to 5.45
Ship bread,
3.52
Indian meal,
do.
3.64 2.50
Rice, per 108 lb.
3.50
2.91
Beef, do.
6.6
7.
7. to
.8
Hams, per
lb.
•9
9.
.9
Butter, do.
9.
.12
Pine boards,
15.76 12.12
10.91
R. O. hhd. ftavest.
14.
16.
12.
N. B. Wooden hoops vary in Cape-Francois from 14 to 28 dol-
lars.
*The duties, from one to twelve and a half per cent. are in-
cluded.
The French Weft-Indians uſe very few white oak hhd. ftaves,
making little rum, or taffia, and having a fufficiency of old cafks,
in which brandy has been imported.
135
:
It is not eaſy to afcertain the precife degree in
which the Britiſh Weft-India islands are fupplied
with lumber from their own dominions. But much
light is thrown upon the enquiry, by the information
of the Jamaica legislature and it appears, that the
Britiſh European ports furniſh none. Their north-
ern colonies are proved to import from us now,
more than they exported in 1784: and as our re-
turn of exports of lumber to the Weft-India iſlands,
for the last year, exceeds the quantity fhipped thi-
ther before the revolution, the fupplies from Cana-
da and Nova-Scotia, even now, muft neceffarily be
very inconfiderable*.
*After the first publication of this examination a proclamation.
of the governor of Nova Scotia was received in the United States,
permitting the importation of every fpeices of lumber, from hence
into that province, for fix months of 1791, during all which the
St. Lawrence is free from ice. As they would have preferred to
draw their ſupplies during the term of the licence, from Canada,
if that country could have furniſhed them-and as lumber does not
depend on feaſons, and is not, like crops of grain, liable to fudden
failures, an irrefragable proof is afforded, that Canada cannot fup-
ply the demand of Nova Scotia, much lefs of the Weft-Indies, and
that Nova Scotia wants population, or timber, or both, to enable
her to furniſh lumber enough for her own demand. It ſeems highly
probable, that without our lumber, the Weft-India trade of the northern
British colonies would fuffer deeply, they having neither grain, flour,
biſcuit, nor lumber, to fill up the veſſels, which take out their par
cels of fiſh; and, it is alſo probable, that a prohibition on our part,
were we inclined to it, would affect their fisheries, by enhancing
the price of cafks for its package. The coſt of cafks in Nova Scotia,
at this time, is a heavier charge on their fish, than our impoſt, as
it now ftands.
The opening of the nothern Britiſh colonies has been repeated
twice fince, and a fimilar meaſure has been recently adopted in the
Britiſh Weſt-India iſlands. A. D. 1793.
136-
The flate of Georgia, which is penetrated by large
rivers, would probably furnifh more lumber and
timber than the British dominions will require in
the next twenty years. It can be cut at all feafons
from the nature of the climate, and her ports,
which are more conveniently fituated, to fupply
the Weft-Indies (though lord Sheffield fays, thofe
of Canada are more fo!) are open in the middle of
winter. The improvement of the inland naviga-
tion of South-Carolina will bring into the abun-
dant lumber-market of Charleſton, a new and large
fupply. North-Carolina has very great magazines
of timber, and the openings of the Pafquotank ca-
nal will give it to all the ports of the Cheſapeak.
The middle and eaftern ftates are more exhaufted;
but large quantities will long be exported from the
Delaware, much larger from the Hudſon, and ſtill
greater from the province of Maine.
NOVA-SCOTIA AND CANADA,
Great reliance is placed by this and other Eng-
glish writers on the fupplies, which may be deri-
ved by the Weft-India iſlands from the northern
Britiſh colonies. It has been already ſhown, that
they hitherto afford little or no lumber. Of rice
and naval ftores they cannot furnifh any, producing
Of flour, Canada can yet have fupplied
but a ſmall proportion, having very few mill, hav-
ing to fupport cattle through long winters, and the
climate preventing fhipments during half the
none.
137
year*. The voyage is a very heavy one, being
long and on a fingle freight. Nova Scotia can
never fupply much of this article, and has taken
from the United States above 40,000 barrels of
meal and bread, within the laſt year, befides 80,000
bufhels of grain.† Canada-is too remote to ſend
fupplies of cattle, hogs, fheep, and horfes; and our
exports of theſe animals to Nova Scotia, prove
they have not yet any to fpare. Of horned cattle
899, of horfes 12, of fheep 2,244, of hogs 267,
and of poultry 2376, were ſhipped from the United
States to the northern Britiſh colonies, in a little
more than one year, from the autumn of 1789 to
that of 1790. Very little beef, pork, hams, tongues,
tallow, lard, butter, cheeſe, candles, or ſoap, can be
ſpared to the Weft-Indies, by countries which im-
port neat cattle, hogs, fheep, and poultry.
The documents adduced by the Jamaica legifla-
ture went further to fhow, that between the 3d of
April, 1783, and the 26th of October, 1784, they
had received in that populous and extenfive ifland,
from Canada, St. John's and Nova Scotia, no
flour-no Indian corn, beans, or oats-no fhip
bread or other bifcuit-no Indian or other meal-
no horſes, cattle, fheep, hogs or poultry-10 bar-
+
S
* Canadian flour will always be fubject to fpoiling, as it muſt
be made in fummer.
There are fewer mills there than in Canada.
Meaning New-Brunfwick,
138
rels of rice-180 bushels of potatoes-751 hogf-
heads, 37 tierces, 39 half tierces, and 457 barrels of
fifh, 45 barrels of oil, 100 oars, 710 fhaken caſks
(or puncheon packs) 21 mafts and fpars, with the
finall parcels of lumber mentioned under that head,
and no other goods. They alſo ſhow, that all the
imports of Jamaica from Canada, Nova Scotia, and
St. John's,* were, on an average of the five years,
from 1768 to 1772 but 33 barrels of flour, 7 hogf-
heads of fiſh, 8 barrels of oil, 3 barrels of tar, pitch
and turpentine, 36 thouſand of ſhingles and ſtaves,
and 27,235 feet of lumber.
How far it has been in the power of the northern
Britiſh colonies, or of the Britiſh European domi-
nions to furniſh their Weſt-India iſlands with flour,
bread and Indian corn will further appear from the
following facts. It is ftated by lord Sheffield, that
there were imported from hence into thofe iflands,
in a year of great plenty and trade, before the re-
volution, 132,426 barrels of flour and biſcuit; but
our returns for 13 months, already mentioned,
fhow that their late demand from us in that term,
was 139,286 barrels of flour alone, and 77,982 bar-
rels of Indian meal, middlings, fhip-ftuff, rye meal,
and biſcuit. Their former annual fupply of Indi-
an corn, received from hence, was 401,471 bufhels;
and their recent importations prove to have been
516,794 buſhels, in the ſpace of time ftated in our
late return.
*Meaning New-Brunfwick.
139
It is unneceffary to dwell longer upon the fup-
plies which the remaining Britiſh American colo-
nies were expected to afford to their Weft-India
plantations. An experiment of years has been fair-
ly made-The returns from their custom houfes,
and from thofe of the islands, will inform the go.
vernment of Great-Britain what they really furniſh
at this time, and the proportion it bears to the whole.
demand. This head will therefore be paffed over
with the reiteration of a few remarks-that the
Britiſh Weft-India iſlands are proved to have been
indebted to the United States in 1790, for more
lumber, more grain, and more bread and flour,
than they imported from thefe ftates before the re-
volution-that their remaining colonies can there-
fore have furniſhed them, in their prefent mature
ftate, but in very fmall quantities-that thofe colo-
nies have required of us near half the amount in cat-
tle, hogs and fheep, which the Weft-India iflands
formerly took off*-and that the high prices of falt
and ſmoked provifions in the Britiſh Weft-Indies,
which are greater than thofe in the French iſlands,
where thofe articles are prohibited or heavily duti-
ed, fully prove, that they depend for them on Ire-
land alone, and receive no fenfible relief from the
Britiſh American colonies. Their inability to fur-
nifh fupplies of provifions to the Weft-India iflands
is fairly to be prefumed from the proclamation of
the governor of Nova Scotia, already mentioned,
which, befides the article of lumber, permits the
*Befides what go to upper and lower Canada by land,
140
importation from the United States, of grain, flour,
bifcuit, cattle, fheep, poultry, &c. through the whole
ſeaſon of 1791, when the St. Lawrence and bay of
Fundy are certainly navigable, and the province
of Canada is exporting whatever it has of furplus
produce.
LINSEED OIL.
This article is faid, in the obfervations, to be
made in fome parts of America, from the refuſe of
the flaxfeed, and that the quantity is trifling com-
pared with the confumption. It is added, that con-
fiderable quantities went from Britain to America,
before the war; and the English nation are left to
believe, that this will continue to be the cafe,
though they actually import feed from hence to
make oil.
The cultivation of flax is exceedingly increaſed
in this country, particularly in interior fituations,
and is very general. Oil mills having become more
numerous, the feed in inland places is manufactured
into oil. This will bear an expence of tranſportation,
which fo bulky an article as the feed, cannot ſuſtain.
Hence the prefent price of linfeed oil, after it is
brought down to the Philadelphia market, is about
2/1 fterling, while the price in London is from 2/3
to 2/4. The Irish demand for our feed is about
42,000 hogfheads: after deducting that, the remain-
der must be made into oil here, or fhipped to Eu-
rope for that purpofe. This manufactory being
141
effected by water mills, there can be no doubt that
the former difpofition of the furplus feed will be
made.
PAINTERS' COLOURS.
Several of the ochres are found in abundance
in Virginia, Connecticut, and other parts of the
United States. The interior fituation of the Vir-
ginia lead mine, which now yields very copioufly,
will foon occafion the manufacture of white lead,
and of all the preparations of lead, from the fame
cauſe that has been mentioned in the cafe of lin-
feed oil, and rye fpirits-economizing in the tranf-
portation. The patent colours have been imi-
tated with great fuccefs. The trade with Holland
and the Hanfe towns, as alſo with the Medi-
terranean and the Eaft-Indies, gives us many co-
lours, which were formerly imported from Britain,
like apothecaries articles, at immenfe advances.
COACHES AND OTHER CARRIAGES.
The importation of thefe was formerly very
great. Virginia, in 1788, had 360 coaches and
chariots, 365 phaetons and other pleafurable four-
wheeled carriages, and 1,967 one-horſe chairs and
folas. New-Jerfey, in 1789, had 38 coaches, cha-
riots, and phaetons, 1,549 one-horfe chairs and fo-
las, and a very great number of plain decent light-
waggons, on ſteel or wooden fprings. From theſe
facts, and fimilar truths in the other parts of the
142
union, it is certain that the pleaſurable carriages of
the United States amount to a very large fum.
Though to be obtained on credit from Britain, no
more than £.5,000 fterling in carriages, or parts
of carriages, were imported in the year following
Auguſt 1789, including thofe of numerous travel-
lers and emigrators: and 220 carriages were ex-
ported to foreign countries, within the fame year.
All the wood and iron work, the harneſs and other
leathern materials, frequently the brafs work,
fringe, lace, and lately the plated work, are made
in America. Lord Sheffield feems to have expect-
ed a confiderable importation of thefe articles: but
he did not advert to the poffibility, that the manu-
facturers themfelves would emigrate to us; which
is every month taking place.
<C MEDICINES AND DRUGS
"will be imported from Great-Britain," fays the
writer of the obfervations, "on account of the
knowledge, which the phyficians, furgeons and
apothecaries, in the American ftates, have of the
method of preparing and procuring them there."
Many drugs and medicines are imported without
preparation. There is, in many important inſtan-
ces, no difference in the modes of different na-
tions. The Materia Medica, Chymiftry, &c. are
taught in America from the books of Europe.
Men of the requifite ſkill from other countries are
to be found in moft of our principal feaports. To
theſe many of the chymical and Galenic operations
143
of Holland, France, and Germany are not un-
known. Saltpetre, mufk, camphor, rhubarb, and
other Eaft-India articles in this line, have been
ſhipped occafionally from the United States, in
confiderable parcels. Bark, fulphur, balfam ca-
pivi, and many other medicinal productions, have
been obtained from Spain, the Mediterranean, the
Weft-Indies, and other places. Holland partici-
pates largely in our importations of chymical pre-
parations; but many, which uſed to be imported,
are begun to be manufactured here: and exporta-
tions of them to advantage, have, in fome inftances
taken place. The knowledge which our medical
gentlemen have acquired abroad, and in their pro-
feffional reading at home, of the methods of procu-
ring drugs, has been communicated to our mer-
chants and their information of the methods of
preparing chymical articles, has been often put in
practice here. There is, no doubt, a confiderable
trade in theſe commodities from Great-Britain.
But it is, even now affected by the above circum-
ftances, and is not by any means a monopoly.
From our free and enterprifing commerce, the
natural productions of the country, and chymical
fkill, it muſt decreaſe every year. Great-Britain
poffeffes, from nature, lefs of thefe commodities
than the United States. Foreign trade, and ſkill
employed at home, will give us a great fhare of
thofe, which are not fpontaneous productions of our
various foil and climate.
144
NAILS, SPIKES, AND OTHER MANUFACTURES OF IRON AND
THOSE OF STEEL,
:
are placed fecond on the lift of articles, in which
it is alledged Great-Britain will fuftain little com-
petition and lord Sheffield remarks, that "what-
ever we make of them, is at the expenſe of at leaſt
three times the amount of what the fame articles
could be imported for from Europe." The iron
branch is highly important and growing in the
United States. In Maffachuſetts, there were fe-
venty-fix iron works, many of them ſmall, in 1784.
The Virginia works make above 5,300 tons of iron.
The flitting and rolling mills of Pennfilvania, are
afcertained to cut and roll 1500 tons or 3,360,000lbs.
per annum and fo completely do they obviate the
objection of manual labour, which is conſtantly
urged againſt American manufactures, that they
employ but twenty five hands. In that ftate, there are
alfo fixteen furnaces and thirty-feven large forges.
In New Jerſey alone, in the year 1789, the number
of forges were ſeventy-nine and of furnaces eight.
And though the details are not fo well known, they
are very numerous in Maryland and moft of the
ftates. Thele works are annually increafing, and
particularly in interior fituations. The nails and
fpikes confumed yearly in the United States, (cal-
culating on 4,000,000 people, at ten to a houſe,
including negroes, which gives 400,000 houfes)
allowing ten pounds for the average ufe of all the
perfons living in each houſe, in building, repair-
ing, fencing, and in their bufinefs, and manufactur-
145
ing, would be 4,000,000lbs. Of this quantity there
were imported in the returned year, 1,800,000lbs:
and about 2,200,000lbs. muft, therefore, have
been made at home. The remainder of the flit and
rolled iron is either exported or made into tire,
hoops, fprings for carriages, or fome other fubfti-
tutes for foreign imported articles. Ship-building
alfo demands very large quantities of iron work.
Ploughfhears, carriages, axes, faws, hoes, fpades, fho-
vels, kitchen utenfils, and many other articles employ
the American workers in this raw material. About
one half of the fteel, confumed in the United States,
is home made, and new furnaces are building at this
moment. The works being few, and the importa-
tion afcertained, this fact is known to be accurate.
Bar iron before the revolution, was ufually fold
for fixty four dollars. It fell, after the war, to the
fame price; and large quantities of iron in bars
and pigs were exported. The progrefs of manu-
factures has raiſed theſe articles to the higheſt pri-
ces ever known in peace; and only 200 tons in bars,
and 3,555 tons in pigs were exported in thirteen
months and a half of 1789, and 1790. The ex-
portation of this quantity was principally to throw
the requifite weight into the bottoms of the fhips la-
den with cargoes of tobacco or lumber. Lord Shef-
field ftates, that we fhipped 2,592 tons of bar iron,
and 4,624 tons of pig metal per annum, in feveral
years before the revolution, when it is known our
commerce and population were not at the higheft.
It is alfo to be obferved, that we now import
confiderable quantities of bar iron froin the Baltic
T
146
and its vicinity, particularly into the eaſtern ſtates.
One thousand two hundred and eighty-eight tons of
bar iron, were imported from St. Peterſburg alone,
in the year 1790, and above forty tons of iron hoops
and nail rods. From theſe facts may be collected
convincing proofs of the ftate of the iron manufac-
tures of this country, ftrongly oppoſed to the pre-
fumptions of lord Sheffield, as well with refpect to
the dearnefs of thofe manufactures, as the mono-
poly of our fupplies.
FLOUR AND WHEAT,
Theſe ineftimable commodities are not, in the
opinion of lord Sheffield, the beft ftaples for the
United States to depend on; becauſe as he obferves,
in general the demand in Europe is uncertain. He
again repeats his unfounded notion of a competi-
tion between us and Nova Scotia for the ſupply of
Europe, in theſe articles; and adds, that it is a for-
tunate confequence of American independence,
that the British European iflands may regain the
fupply of their Weft-Indies, with bread and flour,
and that they can furniſh them cheaper than we. In
regard to the profpects from Nova Scotia, enough
has been already ſaid, and particularly till they dif-
cover ſymptoms of internal reſources for their own
ufe, by ceafing to import grain and flour from the
United States. As to the European corn trade,
authentic and important information, indeed, is to
be derived from a report of the Britiſh privy coun-
cil, of March 1790, which is faid to have been
147
drawn by lord Hawkfbury. It is wifely obſerved,
in that report, that the culture of grain is the moſt
important object, that can receive the public atten-
tion and it is ftated that the demand of Great Bri-
tain, for flour and grain, has produced an ave-
rage balance againſt the nation, of £.291,000 fter-
ling, for the laſt nineteen years, although from the
year 1746, to the year 1765, they had annually
gained, by their corn trade, £.651,000 fterling on
a medium. Ireland, it is true, has greatly increa-
ſed its exports of grain, flour, and biſcuit, but by
no means in proportion to this falling off by Great
Britain, and its whole exports of flour and grain
are much less than our fhipments to the Britiſh Weft
Indies. Their lordships proceed to ftate, that in
confequence of information received by them from
the principal corn countries of Europe, they are of
opinion, that the quantity of grain raiſed in Eu-
rope, in common years, is not more than equal to
the ordinary confumption of its inhabitants; and
that, in the event of a failure of their crops, a fup-
ply can only be expected from America. In verifica-
tion of this formal official communication, on a
fubject of fuch high importance, we find, that the
influence of the late fcarcity in France, not only
pervaded all Europe, but was extended to the moſt
interior counties of thefe ftates. Wheat was fold
on that occafion three hundred miles from the ocean,
for prices which have been ufually acceptable in
our fea-port towns and at the places of fhipment,
it was advanced to rates beyond what had ever oc-
curred fince the fettlement of the country.
148
When we remember, that by grain liquors we
may a avoid the purchaſe of eleven millions and a
half of gallons of the fpirits, or ingredients for fpi-
rits of foreign nations; that by grain theſe ftates
are rendered the alternate ground of dependance of
every European nation, in time of need; that we
are protected from the poffibility of dreadful famine
by this bleffed production; that grain is the raw
material in which fome confiderable manufacturers
work, and which all muft neceffarily confume; we
muſt ſmile at the ideas which lord Sheffield has ha-
zarded, in regard to thofe precious ftaples, wheat
and flour.
GUNPOWDER,
It is afferted, will be imported cheaper than it
can be manufactured in America. The price of
this important article has been reduced in the Phi-
ladelphia market to fixteen dollars, or £.3: 12 fter-
ling per 100 wt. by the free importation of brim-
ſtone and faltpetre from India and other countries.
Our merchants uſually pay for it in England at the
rate of 75 to 76 fhillings fterling, after deducting
the drawback on exportation. Twenty-one pow-
der mills have been erected in Penfylvania alone,
fince the year 1768 or 1770-much the greater
part of them fince the commencement of the revo-
lution war four new ones are now building in that
ſtate, one at Baltimore, and others in different parts
of the United States; and it is certain they will be
multiplied in proportion to the demand, whether
149
Of
it be for home confumption or exportation.
the quantity commonly on hand in the Philadelphia
magazine, not more than feven per cent. is of fo-
reign manufacture*. Saltpetre and fulphur are
found in confiderable quantities, particularly in
the interior parts of Virginia: but at prefent the
commercial fupplies are fo plentiful and cheap,
that our internal refources are little uſed. Salt-
petre is cheaper in Philadelphia than in London.
THE ABILITY OF GREAT-BRITAIN TO MAKE HER SHIPS
THE CARRIERS FOR THE UNITED STATES.
It is explicitly declared, in the 39th page of
lord Sheffield's introduction, that the adoption of
the ground propofed by him, will infure to Britiſh
ſhips the carrying trade of the United States; "for
(he adds) it is certain, if our navigation laws be
maintained, it will not anfwer the Americans to
keep many ſhips." This it will be admitted, is to
us, if true, a very interefting pofition, and demands
our moſt ſerious attention. It will, however, be
very eaſy to ſhow, that the private ſhipping of the
United States does not depend upon Britiſh laws.
The tables, which accompany the report on the
American fisheries, from the department of ftate,
clearly prove, that we are not dependent on Great-
Britain for that branch of commerce. In the re-
gulation of our coafting trade, which employs
above 100,000 tons of fhipping, and which will
*
1793.
None, but American powder is now received there. A. D.
150
It
conftantly increaſe with our population, manufac-
tures, and uſe of coal, Britiſh laws can have no
operation. In our commerce with the Baltic, and
the North, with all the Netherlands, the Hanfe
towns, France, Spain, Portugal, through the
ftreights, with moft parts of Africa and India, and
the colonies of the European nations, except the
Britiſh, their navigation act cannot affect us.
appears moreover, that our fhips are fo "many,"
as to have amounted to 360,000 tons of veſſels
laden in our ports, by a return which is incom-
plete, while thofe of Great-Britain and her
dominions were 225,000 tons. But it is poffi-
ble, that confiderable deductions from the Bri-
tifh tonnage may happen. There is little doubt,
that the diminutions of our importations from
their dominions, which have taken place, in regard
to China merchandize, and other India goods, Ita-
lian, Ruffian, Dutch, and German goods, paper,
nails, fheet iron, fteel, fhoes, and boots, gunpow-
der, lead, coal, falt, malt liquors, loaf and brown
fugars, coffee, cocoa and fpirituous liquors, by
reaſon of our intercourſe with other nations, and
the great improvement of our own refources and
manufactures, will be followed by further commer-
cial acquifitions from liberal nations, by the con-
ftant introduction of new foreign manufactures,
and the difcovery and attainment of new internal
refources. If, for example, cotton be raiſed and
imported, and ſpinning mills be erected, Mancheſter
importations will decreaſe: if flax and hemp be
raiſed and imported, in greater quantities, and flax
151
and hemp ſpinning mills be erected, fail-cloth fheet-
ing, and fhirting linens, checks, oznabrigs, table
and towel linen, &c. will be imported more fpar-
ingly. If by thefe and other means, our imports
from Great-Britain fhould be finally reduced to
ſuch a fum, as will purchaſe only fo much rice, to-
bacco, and other articles as its people conſume,
thofe articles will not be fhipped indirectly to fo-
reign countries, through Britiſh ports, as is now
the cafe. Theſe indirect ſhipments afford Britiſh
veffels more than an equal chance in the competi-
tion with ours from America to England; becauſe
the property is generally on English account,
and it gives them fo far the command of the car-
riage from England to other parts of Europe.
From theſe circumftances, it will be perceived,
that it is intereſting to our private fhipping, and
confequently to our fuccefs in the eſtabliſhment
of a navy, that we continue by prudent and
falutary means, to decreaſe our importations from
each foreign country, fo as in a greater degree to
equalize them with the confumption, which that
country actually makes of our productions: this,
however, it is conceived, ought not to be attempt-
ed, by any precipitate or coercive means; but by
the eſtabliſhment of our mercantile credit in other
countries, by commercial enterpriſe, capital and
and manufacturing induſtry.
A fecond caufe, which renders the intercourſe
in the fhape of exportation to Great-Britain inordi-
nately great, is to be found in the old private debts
152
due to that country from this. Thefe, fo far as
they will be paid by money or goods, are confide-
rably diminiſhed. The rife of our ſtocks, and the
fales of them to foreigners, have enabled many to
leffen thofe debts and Britiſh fubjects will conti-
nue to find it their intereft to buy into them. Theſe
are payments, which occafion only a remittance of
the intereft; and the commutation of private for
public debts is therefore to be defired. Part of the
old debts which remain due to the Engliſh mer-
chants, muſt be received in the foil and buildings
of this country. When thefe fhall be accepted by
the creditor, they will ſtill remain immoveable: and
he will find himſelf, or his child, transformed into
an American freeholder, to his profit and that of
the United States, though to the injury, and fome-
times the ruin of the unfortunate debtor. This
change of the creditor's fituation, will not be un-
pleafing to a liberal mind of any country, and, if
properly underſtood, may greatly meliorate the
profpects of the family and connexions of many in
Britain, who are concerned in American debts. A
country, of great native ftrength, becoming ener-
getic, intelligent, free, not difpofed to provoke ei-
ther infults or injuries, and in a fituation not to
ſubmit to a wanton impofition of either, holds out
as great promiſes of human happineſs, as any, of
which the foreign creditor can have been a citizen.
He is fure of a kind reception, and of the protec-
tion of the laws and conftitution in his perfon, pro-
perty, and religion.
153
A third caufe, which has produced an extraor
dinary intercourſe in the fhape of importations from
Great-Britain, has been the want of credit from
other nations. We now annually import from
that kingdom about 900,000 dollars, in articles not
of its growth, produce, or manufacture; and
though we have reduced this from about 2,200,000
dollars fince the feparation of the two countries,
there is yet that great value expenſively, becauſe
circuitously, imported. The purfuit of this accuf-
tomed track, eſtabliſhed in the time of the old Bri-
tiſh monopoly, has been one caule of theſe unna-
tural importations--but the chief caufe was the cre-
dit we found from England. The Britiſh merchants
will probably continue to afford the greateſt acco-
modations of this kind; but it is evident, that the
citizens of other countries will furnifh us with cre-
dits, and fometimes in more eligible fhapes. They
will give us their cafh articles and their coin, to be
employed in ready-money trades at home and
abroad, in manufactures and foreign commerce. In
proof of this may be adduced the refpondentia cre-
dits in India and China, the purchafes into our fe-
veral bank ftocks, the inveſtment of monies in our
lands,* and in our navigation, trade, and manufac-
tures. The medium imports from Great-Britain for
feveral years before the revolution, appcar, from
European accounts, to be to the medium imports for
U
* Theſe continue in numerous and great inftances—6,500,000
acres of our new lands have been purchafed by foreigners within
the laſt two years. A. D. 1793.
154
an equal term of years antecedent to 1790, as 27 to
23, though our population has probably almoſt
doubled; and though much larger importations
than heretofore, by perſons intending to remain
here, have alſo contributed to fwell the quantity in
the latter term. What is to follow in this way,
time, it is believed, will very quickly ſhow.
In addition to the foregoing caufes, which feem
likely to occafion a diminution of the proportion of
ſhipping employed directly and indirectly by Great-
Britain in the American trade (including the ex-
portation of our productions from the Britifh ports
to other markets in Europe) one other, which does
not ſeem to have fufficiently engaged their atten-
tion, may produce, it is believed, very confider-
able effects. The regulations of the Britiſh naviga-
tion act do not appear to have been duly examined
by other European powers, with a view to the
adoption of fuch of them as will apply beneficially
to their own affairs. If they have had effects fo
favourable to the fhipping and naval power of Bri-
tain, it is poffible, and highly probable they might
be, in a greater or lefs degree, beneficial to other
countries. The preſent appears a fit ſeaſon for ſuch
an examination in America: and we cannot fuffer,
if we enter on it with temper and difcretion. That
it would diminifh the number of Britiſh veffels, for
example, if the United States and all other maritime
countries, fhould deem it expedient to enact into a
law of their refpective nations, the claufe of the
British ftatute, by which the importation of all
155
foreign goods is confined to native bottoms and
to thoſe of the nation producing the articles, can-
not be doubted. Whether this regulation will
be convenient to the United States-to France
-to Spain-to Portugal-to Ruffia-to Pruffia,
who, exporting twenty or thirty times the bulk
of goods, that Great-Britain fhips, do not, altoge-
ther enjoy a part of the carriage for foreign nations,
equal to what fhe poffeffes, is a queſtion thofe na-
tions are ſeverally to confider and determine,
Facts, in the mean time, are highly interefting. In
the year 1772, as Mr. Anderſon informs, the im-
ports and exports of the Baltic were made in 6680
veſſels, of which the Britiſh were 1894, the French,
Spaniſh, Portugueſe, and Ruffian only 45. The
commodities carried thither (in addition to their own.
manufactures) were the produce and fabrics of all
the countries of Europe and of the Eaft and Weft-
Indies, which, by their navigation act, could not
have been imported into Great-Britain in like man-
The fame may be faid of the cargoes they
brought away, fo far as they were carried directly
to the ports of other nations, or were re-fhipped
from their own ports in their original form. The
fame writer ftates the Britiſh entries in Liſbon, in
the year 1788, to have been 351, and thofe of
Portugal, in her own metropolis and emporium,
to have been only 283. The Spaniards had but 31,
the Ruffians one, the Pruffians one, and Dantzick-
ers one. By the fame authority we are inftructed,
that the Britiſh entries in Malaga in 1787, were
189, the Dutch 24, the Portugueſe five, the Ruffi-
ner.
156
ans, Pruffians, and Dantzickers, none. In the
year 1778, the British entries in Cronftadt, the
port of the city of St. Peterſburgh, were 252;
thofe of Ruffia, though in her own capital, were
only twelve, of Spain fix, of Portugal two, of
Hamburg and Bremen five. In the year 1790, the
Britiſh entries, in the fame port, were 517 out of
932: and we have recently feen, that the Britiſh
have fupplied themfelves and the other nations of
Europe, with cargoes of our commodities amount.
ing to 230,000 tons, while thofe Europeans carri-
ed for themſelves no more than one fixth of the
quantity! It is not intended to difcufs, in this
place, the policy of adopting fo momentous a re-
gulation as that alluded to, obſervations on which
are rendered peculiarly delicate by the fituation in
which it is placed by the national legiflature. The
inſtance, it is conceived, however, will forcibly
inculcate the utility of the examination fuggeſted
in the beginning of this paragraph, and will lead
to uſeful reflections on the confequences, which
fuch an examination may induce. The facts, by
which it is illuftrated, appeared too ferious and
important to Americans and to foreigners, not to
be adduced. It will be perceived, that it is equal-
ly the intereft of thoſe who are Engliſhmen, to con-
fider the certain effects of fuch an examination of
the Britiſh trade laws, and of thoſe who are not.
Some of the convictions, which fuch an enquiry,
made with judgment, would create in the minds of
candid men, would probably be, that Great-Bri
157
tain cannot not make her fhips the carriers for the
United States: and that rather than make the at-
tempt, it would be better far to commence the for-
mation of liberal arrangements, folidly founded in
the mutual interefts of the two nations.
SECTION III.
IN the proſecution of this examination, our at-
tention is drawn to the article of
FINE AND COARSE HATS.
The writer of the obfervations remarks, that the
high price of wool and labour muſt induce the
Americans to import the felt and common hats.
The increaſe of our population, as in other new
countries, has been accompanied by an increaſe
of the quantity of wool. Sheep have been found,
on frequent and fair experiments, to be very pro-
fitable to the farmert. Importation, though hi-
therto cafual, has fupplied us with fome wool.
Hatters are found in every part of the United
States. The following table, which was contained
in a report made by a committee to the manufac-
turing fociety of Philadelphia, will ſhow the ſtate
of the hatting buſineſs in Pennſylvania, and difco-
vers a fact little known even to her own citizens,
that 12,340 hats are annually made in the four
counties beyond the Allegany mountains*.
+ The American farmers are become very generally fenfible of
the great profits of breeding fheep.
158
In the city and county
of Philadelphia,
Hatters. Fur hats. Wool hats.
68
31,637
7,600
Montgomery,
10
800
1,000
Delaware,
14
1,500
4,000
Weft-Cheſter,
14
1,300
4,000
Lancaſter,
16
3,000
15,000
Dauphin,
10
1,200
4,000
Bucks,
12
1,000
1,000
Berks,
38
2,200
54,000
York,
26.
2,600
30,000
Cumberland,
16
1,300
9,000
Northumberland,
10
700
5,000
Northampton,
.12
1,000
7,000
Bedford,
8
800
2,000
Franklin,
10
800
2,000
Luzerne,
6
400
1,400
Huntington,
6
1,400
2,000
Mifflin,
6
400
2,000
Weftmoreland*,
10
600
3,000
Fayette*,
7
400
1,540
Allegany*,
6
400
1,600
Waſhington*,
10
800
4,000
315
54,237 161,140
From this return, it a
appears that every county
in the ftate participates in the hatting buſineſs,
there being none but what are in the above liftt.
The county of New-London, in Connecticut, contains feven-
teen hatters, who make yearly 10,000 wool and fur hats. The
159
The United States are found to contain near
4,000,000 inhabitants, and of that number the
whites are conjectured to be about 3,300,000. If
a hat per annum, be allowed for every third perfon
of this laft number, 1,100,000 hats per annum, would
be a fupply for the United States, and the above
215,000 made in a ſingle ſtate, may be confidered
as more than equal in value to one fifth of the de-
mand, a quarter of the number being of fur. It is to
be remembered, that leathern hats and fur caps are
not rarely feen in the interior country. This
branch has not grown up fuddenly in America; but
was commenced among our first manufactures, and
has made a regular progrefs with the population.
The furs of the country have at once held out a
ſtrong temptation, and afforded the eafy means. Lat-
terly, the increaſe of wool has given a great extenfi-
on to the manufacture. The practical difficulties,
fuggefted by lord Sheffield, can gain little credit
under fo fuccefsful a courſe of the buſineſs; but the
truth is, that few handicrafts are more quickly ac-
quired by apprentices, who can open fhops for them-
felves long before they are permitted in many parts
of Europe. Foreign fhops have alſo been eſtabliſh-
ed here, by emigrants from Germany, France and
Britain.*
army of the United States has been furniſhed with American
hats, made by contractors, who did and could obtain the contract
only by underbidding, in fealed propoſals received from impor-
ters and hat-makers. A. D. 1791.
This is likewife a branch effected by manual induſtry.
160
BOOKS.
"All ſchool and common books," in the opini-
on of lord Sheffield, may be ſent cheaper from Bri-
tain, than they can be printed in America." The
great and conftant increaſe of paper mills in the
United States, the extention of thofe longeſt
erected, the eſtabliſhment of type founderies and
the introduction of engravers and book-bind-
ers, have made a greater change in regard to
the business of book printing, than has happened
with reſpect to any other equally valuable branch
of manual art.* The Latin and Greek ſchool books
are imported in greater numbers than heretofore;
becauſe our population is confiderably increaſed,
fince the feparation from Great-Britain, and the
uſe of them is too limited to render an edition pro-
fitable but a very great proportion of the En-
gliſh ſchool books (which are in general ufe) are
printed here. Of ſome kinds there are none impor-
ted; and ſeveral of them, with alterations and im-
A number of
provements, have been publiſhed.
the law books, which are moſt demanded, have
been reprinted with advantage: and an edition of
the Encyclopædia, in fifteen large quartos, con-
taining about 5 per cent. more matter than that
printed in Great-Britain, is now publiſhing at fe-
* The advertiſement of a fingle book-ftore in Philadelphia, pub-
liſhed in the gazettes of the preſent year, contains feventy editions
of different books printed in the United States. This, it is to be
obferved, is alſo a branch effected by hand.
161
yenty dollars, or fifteen guineas-preciſely the
price charged to fubfcribers for the Britifh edition,
The cuts in the American copy are equally nume-
rous, and are really the beft.
}
A
}
A
There are two circumftances, which will efta-
bliſh the book-printing bufinefs in this country—-
the opportunity of publiſhing immediately, for the
American demand, all books in every European
language, within the term of the copy right; and
the printing of moderate fized and plain editions,
inftead of the large, ornamented, and expenſive
copies which are now the faſhion in Europe.
fuperb quarto, on the beft vellum paper, with an
elegant but unneceffary copperplate frontispiece,
richly gilt and lettered, (the drefs in which mo-
dern writers often introduce their works) cofts
more than is agreeable to the people of this country,
who defire valuable matter for their money. The
freight, duties, and other charges of importation,
depending either on the bulk or value, are very
much enhanced; and our printers find it eafy to
embrace the opportunity which thefe circumftan-
ces afford them to furnish their counrty with a
1
X
* The firſt premium for excellency in printing was adjudged by
the Penſylvania manufacturing fociety to the publiſhers of a book
in the German language, in the inland town of Lancaſter, in that
ſtate ſeveral attempts at French gazettes have been made; and
French advertiſements are frequent in our newſpapers. German
gazettes are conſtantly printed. The laws of Pennſylvania, and of
the United States are published in the German language.
162
cheap octavo, and fometimes even a duodecimo,
in its ftead.
German ſchool books are much demanded in
this country, as may be fuppofed, when it is re-
membered how numerous, in the United States,
the perfons are, who read and fpeak that language
-probably 150,000 to 180,000 of our people.
Theſe books are either imported from Holland, or
the Hanfe towns, or printed in America. England
fupplies none of them.
The extenfion of the French language, together
with the intercourfe between the United States and
that nation, which took place in the year 1776, and
the alliance in 1778, with which it was followed,
will naturally be ſuppoſed to have increaſed the
demand for French books. Theſe are principally
imported from France, the Hanfe towns, Holland,
and Flanders; and fome few are printed in Ame-
rica.
Books in theſe two languages could not be im-
ported, before the revolution, from any country,
except Great-Britain: but are now drawn, as
above mentioned, from other foreign fources, or
the American printing preffes.
;
163
THAT THE AMERICANS WILL IN FUTURE GIVE A PREFE-
RENCE TO BRITISH MANUFACTURES BEFORE ALL OTHERS
-THAT IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE THE AMERI-
CANS WILL MANUFACTURE FOR THEMSELVES AND THAT
OUR DEMAND FOR BRITISH GOODS WILL INCREASE IN
PROPORTION TO OUR POPULATION.
The manufactures of Great-Britain and Ireland*
are very generally good, often excellent, and almoſt
always as handfome as the nature of the article
will admit. Yet, there are not wanting proofs,
that we ſhall take confiderable quantities of goods
from other countries. Twenty-two fhips, for ex-
ample, arrived in the United States from St. Pe-
terſburg, in the year 1790, with cordage, ticking,
drillings, diaper, broad linens, narrow linens, print-
ed linens, craſh, fheetings, ravens duck, Ruffia
duck, nail rods, and rolled iron for hoops. The
remainder of their cargoes were bar iron, hemp,
and flax, which were intended to be manufactur-
ed here. Nankeens, filks, long-cloths, porcelain
and fome ſmall articles, are imported regularly
from China: and muflins, plain, ftriped, figured,
and printed, with filks, and a variety of other ar-
ticles, are imported from India. It being manifeft-
ly very injurious to the manufacturing intereſt of
every nation in Europe, even to import, and much
more fo to confume thefe goods, there can be no
* The linens, and flaxen hofiery of Britain and Ireland are how-
ever much fallen off in goodneſs, fince they have applied the
tow and worſt flax to the manufacture of coarfe goods, wherein
ftrength is indifpenfible.
1
164
doubt, that they will be fupplied to us in the Eaft-
Indies, with more readiness every year; and if a
few more callico printers were to eſtabliſh them-
felves among us, the importation of printed linens,
callicoes and cottons might be exceedingly dimi-
nifhed. The importation alfo of dowlafs, ozna-
burghs, ticklenburgs, and other German linens, and
of Haerlem ftripes, and tapes, from Bremen, Ham-
burgh, and Amfterdam, together with the manufac-
tory of every ton of hemp, and almoft every ton of
flax, which we raife or import, together with fome
cotton, has very much affected the Britiſh and Irifh
linen trade*. It appears from various documents,
that the average exports of their manufactures to
the United States for feveral years prior to the
year 1789, were near half a million of dollars lefs
than the average exports of feveral years immedi-
ately antecedent to the war, though our population
has probably doubled in the laft twenty-five years.
It is not improbable, however, that the great quan-
tities of goods fhipped fince 1789, in confequence
of the jealouſy of American manufactures, the ap-
prehenfion of a rupture with Spain, and the efforts
of the Britiſh cotton manufacturers to baniſh Eaſt-
India goods from our markets, would fhow a con-
fiderable increaſe in the laſt and preſent years.
In fhort, the United States are an open
an open market :
the American merchants are men of judgment and
enterprife; and confequently the goods of every
*The uſe of cotton fhirts is extending in America, being
thought very favourble to health. A. D. 1793.
165
country in the world, which are adapted to our con-
fumption, are found in our ware-houſes. It is cer-
tainly true, that among them are very large quanti-
ties of Britiſh manufactures, being much and juftly
approved, and being imported on convenient credits
by our merchants, and copioufly fhipped by Britiſh
merchants and-manufacturers on their own account,
to their correſpondents here. If properly conduct-
ed on both fides, it may yet be a very beneficial
trade to the two countries; but it has not excluded
the valuable goods of other nations, nor has it pre-
vented a very great progrefs of our own manufac-
tures, particularly in the family way. Cordage,
gunpowder, fteel, nails, paper, paper-hangings,
books, ftationary, linfeed oil, carriages, hats, wool
and cotton cards, ſtockings, fhoes, boots, ſhot, and
many other articles are made in confiderable quan-
tities, fome of them as far as fifty per centum on the
demand, and other in quantities nearly equal to the
confumption. Subftantial freedom, liberal wages,
and cheap and excellent living, free from any ex.
cife, except a very fmall one, (compared with any
in Europe) upon fpirituous liquors, operate daily to
bring us manufacturers and artizans in the manual
branches; and we are beginning to fee the great, and
to us, the peculiar value of labour-faving machines.
The rate of manual labour is no objection againſt them,
but a bfolutely in their favour; for it is clear, that
they muft yield the greateft profit in countries where
the price of labour is the higheſt. The firft judicious
European capitalifts, who fhall take good fituations
in the United States, and eftablifh manufactorics,
166
by labour-faving machines, muft rapidly and cer-
tainly make fortunes. They cannot, it is prefum-
ed, be long infenfible of this; but if they fhould
continue ſo, the appreciation of our public ſtocks
will probably bring fome of our own capitaliſts into
the buſineſs. The public creditors, the owners of
perhaps fifteen millions fterling of now inactive.
wealth, might at this moment do much towards the
introduction of the cotton mills, wool-mills, flax
and hemp-mills, and other valuable branches of
machine manufacturing. It is paſt a doubt, that
were a company of perfons of character and judg-
ment to ſubſcribe a ſtock for this purpoſe of 500,000
dollars in the public paper, they might obtain up-
on a depofit of it, a loan of as much coin from
fome foreign nation, at an intereft leſs than fix per
cent. Was fuch a company to be incorporated, to
have its ſtock transferable as in a bank, to receive
fubfcriptions from 400 dollars upwards, to pur-
chafe 500 or 1000 acres of land well fituated for
receiving imported materials and exporting their
fabrics were they to erect works in the centre of
fuch a body of land, to lay out their grounds in a
convenient town-plat, and to proceed with judgment
and fyftem in their plan, they would be fure of fuc-
ceſs in their manufactories; they would raiſe a va-
luable town upon their land, and would help to
fupport the value of the public debt.* Were a
* This meaſure, which was in contemplation at the time when
theſe papers were written, has been fince digefted and commenced.
The capital already engaged amounts to above 600,000 dollars.
A. D. 1791. The proprietors of all the inland towns in the Uni-
167
few eſtabliſhments, like that defcribed, to take place
(and there are room and funds for many of them)
even the manufactories of piece goods, of every kind
in which machinery could be applied, would foon be
introduced with profit into the United States. It
cannot, on cool reflexion, be expected, that a
country remote from all the manufacturing nations,
able to produce the requifite raw materials and pro-
vifions, and fubject to many interruptions in their
exportation to foreign markets, will continue to
depend on diftant tranfmarine fources, for the mafs
of her neceffary fupplies. The wonderful progreſs
of other nations, which have commenced manu-
factures under difadvantages much greater than
any we have to contend with, will powerfully in-
cite us to exertion. Until the year 1667, a piece
of woolen cloth was never dyed and dreffed
in England. This great manufacture was quickly
after improved by the ſkill of foreign emigrants,
(a mean at our command;) and fo rapidly has the
woolen branch advanced, that it was eftimated, in
1783, at the immenfe fum of £. 16,800,000 fter-
ling (above ſeventy-four millions of dollars) per an-
num, and was equal in value to all the exports, and
fuperior to all the revenues of Great-Britain. It
may, perhaps, be afked, why manufactures were
not eſtabliſhed in the late war? Any man, who
makes a comparifon of a variety of branches, as
they were in 1774, and as they ftood in 1782, will
ted States appear to have become fenfible of the advantages, which
will arife from attracting manufacturers to them. A. D. 1793.
168
perceive a great advance to have actually taken
place, though manufactures were little encouraged
through the intermediate eight years, by reaſon of
the total occupation of government in the profecu-
tion of the war: their importance moreover was
not duly eſtimated. The Britiſh manufacturers,
who can now emigrate with the greateft conveni-
ence, then viewed the people of this country as
enemies. Neither they, nor the people of other
nations (who indeed knew little of us) cared to riſk
themſelves in an invaded country, nor would they
hazard a capture in their paffages hither. Not-
withſtanding theſe impediments, the manufacturers
of the United States have been found to be the moſt
fucceſsful competitors with thofe of Great-Britain
in the American market. They have not made
fine linens, fine cloths, filks, ftuffs, and other arti-
cles requiring a great degree of ſkill, labour, or
capital; but they have made common cloths of li
nen, woollen, and cotton, fteel, nails, fheet iron,
paper, gunpowder, cannon and mufquets, cabinet
work, carriages, fhoes, and fabrics of the fimple but
moſt important and neceffary kinds. See the
fupplementary note, concerning the progrefs and pre-
fent ftate of American domeftic or houſehold manufac-
tures, which follows, No. VII.
169
THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOLITIC IN GREAT-BRITAIN, TO AD-
MIT AMERICAN VESSELS INTO HER WEST-INDIA ISLANDS.
This is a very momentous queftion to Great-Bri-
tain; and therefore whatever may be the real me-
rits of it, the people of that country might have
been expected to confider it with firft impreffions
unfavourable to the admiffion of foreigners. It is
alſo probable, that the Americans may have taken
a partial view of the ſubject, from the great inte-
reft, they ſuppoſe they have, to obtain a participa-
tion in the Britiſh Weft-India trade. There are
two pofitions of lord Sheffield, relative to this fub-
ject, which appear conformable with truth and rea-
fon, and in which it is of great confequence, that
we ſhould, on mature reflection, agree. The firſt
is,
"That the cultivation of the British Weft- India
iflands might be carried much farther than it is,"
which he ſupports by obferving "that the produce of
the island of Jamaica might be trebled at least." The
fecond is, "That the nation which may hereafter be
in poffeffion of the most extenfive and beft cultivated
fugar iſlands,* will take the lead at fea."
If the firft of thefe pofitions be true, both in re-
gard to the Britiſh Weft-Indies in general, and the
iſland of Jamaica in particular, then it becomes a
matter of the utmost importance to Great-Britain,
Y
*Or tranfmarine colonies.
170
by reafon of the fecond pofition, to adopt the best
poffible fyftem for promoting the cultivation of the va-
cant lands and improved eftates in the feveral iflands.
Perfons, who have contended with the difficulties
and expences of fettling new plantations, and who
are acquainted with the management of Weft-India
eftates, will be fenfible, that cheap fupplies of
building materials, and other neceffary incipi-
ent articles, give the greateſt facility and cer-
tainty to thoſe who are ſtruggling to effect a new
fettlement and keeping down the contingent ex-
pences of planting and raifing produce, and of
packing and preparing the crop for market, is
manifeftly a fure mean of increafing the profits
of an eſtate. In this point of light, it muſt be
immenſely againſt the Britiſh Weft-India produ-
cers of 7,500,000 gallons of rum, and 2,000,000 cwt.
of fugars, with cotton, coffee, pimento and other
articles, that they receive their ftaves, boards,
provifions, and other fupplies, on terms fo much
higher than the French, the Dutch, and the Danes.
While the islands of France were furniſhed in the
laft year, by French and American bottoms, with
red oak hogfhead ftaves, at 12, 14, and 16 dol-
lars with hoops, at 14 to 28 dollars-with pine
boards, at 11 to 16 dollars-with Indian meal, at
2 to 3 and two third dollars per barrel-with ſhip-
bread, at dollars per 108 pounds; the Britiſh
planters in Jamaica were obliged to pay for red
oak hogshead ftaves, 24, 27, and 31 dollars; for
wooden hoops, 27, 30, and 36 dollars; for pine
boards 24, 27, and 30 dollars; for Indian meal 4,
44
171
to 5 dollars; for fhip-bread the fame; and for
rice per 100 pounds 3 to 5 dollars. Let confi-
derate men determine, whether the British colonial
agriculture muft not be depreffed, and that of the
French be exceedingly elevated, under fuch cir-
cumſtances. It is plain that the latter will find it
eafy to extend their plantations into grounds now
uncultivated, if the Britiſh planters fhould be able
to endure their difadvantages.
In conformity
with this reaſoning, we find that the produce of
French St. Domingo, fhipped to Europe, which,
before the late war, is ftated by lord Sheffield to
have employed no more than 450 fhips, was fuffi-
cient, in the year 1788, to load for France 580
ſhips, of 370 tons on a medium, and 110 of 740
tons, (exclufive of the numerous French and fo-
reign veffels employed in the trade with North and
South America,) amounting in the whole to 296,435
tons, nearly equal to one third of the private fhips.
of Britain. The whole of the veffels loaded in 1787,
from all the Britiſh Weft-India iflands to England
and Scotland, amounted to but 132,222 tons. In
1788 the quantity was the fame, and as the writer
of the obfervations admits that the produce of
Jamaica was before the war two thirds in va-
lue (though leſs in bulk) of that of St. Do-
mingo, the Britiſh colonial agriculture muft have ad-
vanced, if at all, in a much lefs degree than that
of the French. This great increaſe of the French
navigation, reſulting from a profperous Weft-Indian
agriculture, abundantly and cheaply fupplied, is a
verification of the prediction of lord Sheffield, which
172
was mentioned above, and induces the most rea-
fonable doubts, whether it would be really impoli-
tic in Great-Britain to admit American veffels into
her Weft-India iflands. As it is of great impor-
tance to this argument, to eſtabliſh the actual in-
creaſe of the French produce upon ftronger ground
than even the higheſt probability, it may be uſeful
to ftate, that the fugars exported from St. Domin-
go, in 1786, were near 133 millions of pounds; in
1788, near 163 millions and an half; that the cof-
fee in 1786 was about 51 millions of pounds; and,
on the average of 1787 and 1788, near 70 millions;
and that the cotton, in 1786 was 5,200,000 pounds
—and, on the average of 1787 and 1788, above
6,500,000 pounds-alſo that the molaffes, which in
1786 was 21,855 hhds. was increaſed in 1788, to
29,503.
The augmentation of the French veffels, em-
ployed from St. Domingo alone, appears to be equal
to 108,000 tons. If the whole of their fugar colo-
nies have profpered in the fame degree, it is proba-
ble their acquifition of fhipping may be fafely efti-
mated at 162,000 tons, which is 47,000 tons more
than lord Sheffield fuppofes to have been em-
ployed, before the American revolution, between
the Britiſh fugar iflands and all the American pro-
vinces, and is very far beyond the tonnage em-
ployed at this time in the trade of thofe iflands
with the United States. The Britiſh publications
reprefent it to be less than 21,000 tons, making
173
ļ
three voyages per annum, the aggregate entries of
which, they confider, as about 62,000 tons.
It is alledged, American veffels cannot be ad-
mitted without offence to other countries: but that
has not been found an objection to the admiffion
by the French. Nor, if the regulation were pro-
perly made, would the allies of England have any
caufe of complaint; for they might participate in
the trade, if they could find advantage in ſo doing,
which, however, would not be the cafe. The fhips
of Ruffia, of Holland, of Great-Britain, of Spain,
of Portugal, of the United States, and of all other
'foreign countries, may enter the French iflands
with the fame kind of goods, even American arti-
cles. The Engliſh, indeed, would be much more.
protected in the island trade than the French; be-
caufe by other claufes in their laws, the goods
brought by each flag muſt be its own national pro-
ductions.
It may be argued that the Americans would take
a large proportion of the carriage to the Britiſh
iflands: but this, if true, is the ftrongeft proof, that
can be adduced, of the expediency of the meafure,
as calculated to promote the colonial agriculture,
and thus aid and fupport the navy of Great-Britain.
France, it is feen, by the mode propofed, has ad-
ded nearly as much to her fhipping, in the trade of
a fingle ifland, as England enjoys in the monopoly
of the intercourfe with all her iflands, by the mode
fhe purſues. The Britiſh fhipping, too, if ours were
174
admitted, would certainly maintain themſelves in
a confiderable portion of the trade: and in proof
of this, it may be obferved, that the French em-
ploy of their own veffels in their Weft-India trade
from this country, nearly two-thirds of the tonnage
that is engaged in their commerce between theſe
ftates and France. It is material to obferve, that
in the intercourſe between the French iflands and
the United States, the tonnage of the Britiſh,
Dutch, Spaniſh, Danes, Swedes, and Portugueſe,
does not amount to two per cent. upon the whole
of the veſſels employed.
THAT IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR BRITAIN TO GIVE UP THE
ISLANDS THAN THEIR CARRYING TRADE.
As the arguments on this point, adduced by lord
Sheffield, relate only to the carrrying trade between
the United States and the Britiſh Weft-India ifl-
ands, the obfervations will proceed on the fame
ground. The whole freight betweeen the two
countries prior to the war, he eſtimates at £.245,000,
rather than lofe which, he thinks it better
to give up thofe valuable iflands, the produce
whereof, according to various eftimations, is worth
three or four millions fterling, and whofe inhabit-
ants are very free confumers of British and Irish
manufactures. A prudent adminiftration fhould
beware of a writer, who palpably deceives himſelf
by too ardently maintaining a favourite hypothefis.
But a relinquishment of the trade, on the part of
Great-Britain, is not defired; nor can a lofs of it be
fuppoſed to follow the admiffion of our veffels to a
175
participation in it. The fhips always employed in
the circutious voyage would ftill continue to pur-
fue it; thoſe belonging to the Weft Indians them-
felves, the Bahamans, the Bermudians, and the
northern British colonies, would ftill enjoy a large
portion the remainder would be done by the
Americans, who now fuffer the Britiſh nation to
employ a very large quantity of tonnage in inports
from, and exports to foreign countries, other than
Britiſh, without any reciprocation.
THAT THE SHIPPING GREAT-BRITAIN GAINS, BY EXCLUD-
ING THE AMERICANS,
WILL BE AT HAND.
Lord Sheffield undertakes to ſay, that the navi-
gation of thofe provinces, which are now the
United States, operated as a drain of Britiſh fea-
men; and conveys an idea, that the failors em-
ployed here, were of no uſe to Britain. The
prompt manning of their fhips on this ftation, the
cheap and certain fupply of their Weft-Indies, in
the war of 1755 to 1762, the diftrefs to the French
and Spaniſh trade by American privateers, the af-
fair of cape Breton, the great exportation of prize
goods from this country, and other weighty facts,
might be adduced to prove this not the fmalleft of
his errors. Affuming that we were too remote to
be of any uſe in time of war, he proceeds to a con-
clufion, that the navigation employed in the fup-
ply of the islands, will be hereafter nearer home,
inferring that it will belong to the merchants of
their European dominions. This may be in a
176
great degree the cafe, as to the fugar fhips, which
make the circuitous voyage from Europe to the
United States, the Weft-Indies and Europe; and
it was equally fo, as to that defcription of traders,
before the revolution: but the direct intercourfe
between theſe ſtates and the Britiſh Weft-India
iflands, from which we are excluded, muft, from
the nature of the trade, be carried on principally
in veffels owned in thoſe iſlands, whofe fituation
is more remote than ours, and by Britiſh fubjects
refiding in our ports, Bermudians, and the people
of the northern British colonies, all of whom are
as diftant as we.
THAT AMERICA COULD NEVER BE UNITED AGAIN,
Was a fettled opinion of the writer of the obſer-
vations. He did not perceive that accident, prin-
cipally, had caft us into the form of thirteen ftates.
It is true, that the extreme injuries of difunion
were not generally forefeen by many of our own
citizens. The utility-the neceffity of ftrengthen-
ing the national government, had not come home,
as it has fince done, to the minds of the American
people. Many of their friends, however, faw with
regret, and fome of thoſe who were not their
friends, perceived with a fatisfaction not the moſt
honourable, that the profpects of individual happi-
neſs, and of national profperity had ceaſed to be
fair. The moft miferable ill that can afflict the po-
litical body, the want of a fit organization, had
brought on alarming convulfions; and there were
177
no evils which were not to be apprehended, unlefs
a change of ſyſtem could be effected. In this mo-
ment, the friends of order came forth. The jar-
ring interefts, on the effects of which the writer re-
lies, were made to harmonize. The difference of
manners, of climates, and of ftaples," did not in-
tervene, according to his expectations, as infur-
mountable obftacles to amity and union. That
hearty co-operation, the hope of which is treated
as prepofterous, has actually taken place: and the
American people now univerfally perceive, "that
whatever meaſures have a tendency to diffolve their
union, or contribute to violate or leffen the fove-
reign authority, ought to be confidered as hoftile to
their liberty and independency."
It remains, then, for thoſe, who have believed
in theſe predictions of ruinous contentions among
the people, and an enfeebling difcord in the coun-
cils of the United States, to confider, in fo diffe-
rent a courſe of things, the conduct which ought
to be obſerved: and for us it remains fteadily to
proceed in the good work of restoring and firmly
fecuring public order, as the certain and only
means of private and public happineſs.
Z
4
ܽܪ
1
178
SECTION IV.
The article, which next prefents itſelf, is that of
NAVAL STORES.
It appears to lord Sheffield, that Ruffia will in-
terfere much with the American flates, in the fup-
ply of thefe commodities. The quantities export-
ed, agreeably to his table for 1771, and our re-
turn in 1791, appear to have been,
Barrels. In the res
In 1771.
of pitch,
Barrels.
9, $44
8,875
turn for
tar,
82,075
85,067
13 mo.
turpentine, 17,014
worth then
28,326
worth now
rofin,
223
156,000
316
217,945
dollars.
Spirits of tur-
dollars.
pentine,
4I
193
Total,
108,497
122,777
From this increaſe of value, it appears, that the
United States have not fuffered from the competi
tion of Ruffia, or any other country; but that in
this article, like most others, we experience the ad-
vantage of being an open market, free from the
Britiſh monopoly, which exifted before the revc-
lution. In addition to this large exportation, con-
fiderable quantities have been confumed, in ma-
nufactures which have been introduced or extend-
ed fince the year 1771: and a very large quantity
has been purchaſed for the repairs and ftores of
179
770,000 tons of veffels, of various nations, em-
ployed in the foreign trade, the coafting trade, and
the fiſheries, and in the building of new fhips, which
greatly exceed the number built on a medium of
1769 to 1771.
POT AND PEARL ASHES.
Theſe articles, lord Sheffield ventures to affirm,
can be made to greater advantage in Canada and
Nova Scotia, than elſewhere in America, on ac-
count of the plenty of wood, and owing to the great
quantity of fuel confumed in a long and fevere winter.
It is well known, that the people of this continent
do not attempt to make theſe falts out of any of the
terebinthine woods,* (though it is faid to be prac-
tifed in the north of Europe,) and that the growth
of trees in the remaining Britiſh colonies, is prin-
cipally of thoſe kinds. Abundant proof that they
have little oak, is derived from the fmall quantity
of ftaves, heading, oak timber, and oak planks,
which they export, and from the quantities of them,
which they import from the United States. But
had they the proper kinds of fuel, that would not
be fufficient; for a certain degree of population is
neceffary to this manufacture. The number of
people in the whole of the northern British colonies,
is perhaps 160,000 or 180,000, while the United
States have more than twenty times their number,
The barks of hemlock, pine, fir, and larch, are ſaid to be
very productive of pot-afh.
180
of whom two-thirds inhabit fcenes much more abun-
dant in wood and timber than Canada and Nova-
Scotia. Their custom houfe books will fhow what
pot-afh thoſe colonies export. Although our writer
ſuppoſes, that the United States will yield lefs than
they have heretofore done, we find, that the return of
the treaſury exhibited the great quantity of 8,568
tons, though the export,, on the medium of 1768,
1769, and 1770, was only 2008 tons, and
5 cwt.
In treating of pot-afh, lord Sheffield takes occa-
fion to digress to the article of coal, and obferves,
that to encourage the Britifh collieries, and carry-
ing trade, they fhould prevent the getting of coal
on the ifland of Cape Breton. It was among the
diſadvantages, which, it was alledged, the United
States would fuftain by the feparation from Great-
Britain, that the collieries of Cape Breton were to
be particularly barred against them. This, like
many other evils, which were apprehended, has va-
niſhed on a recurrence to the refources of the
country. The collieries on James river will not
only abundantly fupply the extenfive territory wa-
tered by the rivers of the Cheſapeak and by that
bay itſelf; but they promiſe to afford a very valu-
able nurſery for feamen in the tranſportation of
their contents to all the fea-ports of the United
States. They already furniſh coal on terms much
lower than the minimum of the firſt coſt and charges
of importation and as labour is declining in price
and a fhort water communication, between the
mines and the fhipping place, is nearly completed,
181
there is no doubt that foreign coal will be rende-
red a very loſing commodity, and that it muſt final-
ly be excluded from our markets. The interior
country is plentifully fupplied by nature with this
valuable foffil.
1
HORSES.
W
Lord Sheffield treats of this article with great
ingenuity. He raiſes expectations in the govern-
ment and people of Great Britain, that the Weft-
Indies may draw fupplies of theſe uſeful animals
from Canada, and confiders Nova-Scotia as hav-
ing greatly the advantage of Canada and the Uni-
ted States in her capacity for the exportation of
them. It is ftated as certain, that a trade in hor-
fes will be carried on by that province. The dif-
tance of Great-Britain and Ireland do not appear
to reſtrain his fanguine hopes, that horſes may be
ſhipped to the Weft-Indies from thoſe two coun-
tries. He proceeds further, and fuggefts the fup-
ply of the probable deficiency of horſes, with mules,
from Barbary, from whence they are to be obtain-
ed in abundance, (though at a high price) and from
Porto Rico and the Miffifippi. In fhort, know-
ing the importance of horfes to the Weft-India
planters, he takes great pains to fhew, that they
may relinquish, without inconvenience, the cheap
and certain fupplies which they formerly enjoyed,
and which the French, Danes, and Dutch now
enjoy by means of deep-waifted American veffels,
manned by perfons accuftomed to the bufinefs.
182
There is perhaps, no article, in proportion to
the value, in which the Britiſh iſlands fuffer more
deeply by the prefent footing of their intercourſe
with theſe ftates, than in that of which we are now
treating. This country is particularly fitted for
the raifing of horfes, and affords them in very in-
creaſed numbers. The exportation of them in the
year 1770, which was entirely to the Weft-India
iflands, was, by lord Sheffield's tables, 6,692 :
and the exportation of them by the treaſury return,
already referred to, was 8,628, befides 237 mules.
The laft article has been added to the lift of ex-
ports, fince the year 1770, and promiſes to be-
come very confiderable, though mules have not a
place in lord Sheffield's book among the fupplies
which may be derived from the United States. The
British Weft-India islands are ſtated to have taken
off, before the revolution, two fifths of the above
number, or 2,676 horfes; but it appears by the
late return that there were fhipped thither, in
thirteen months and a half, no more than 916 hor-
fes and mules; from which it is manifeft, that the
preſent mode of carrying on the trade deprives
them of above two-thirds of their former fupply of
theſe animals, which are admitted in the obferva-
tions, to be "eſſentially neceſſary.”
effentially neceffary." The price of
thofe they do obtain, muft of courfe be much
enhanced by an unfatisfied demand three-fold
greater than the importation, and by the expenſe
of conveying them in Britifh fhips, which be-
ing very generally in the double decked form,
are dangerous for the tranfportation of horfes on
183
deck, and carry them at an immenſe freight in the
hold. Here is another very injurious inftance of
depreffing the Weft-India agriculture. The cafe
with the Dutch is very different. Their fugar colo-
nies, though much less populous than thofe of Great-
Britain, received, in the above term, about feven
hundred and fixty horfes and mules. The French,
as in regard to the other articles of neceflary fup-
plies, not produced by their own dominions, re-
ceive theſe animals, without impediment, in our
veffels, and their own, indifcriminately. The pre-
cife number, which was fhipped to their iflands,
before the revolution, is not aſcertained: but, as
lord Sheffield alledges, that the whole number ex-
ported to the foreign fugar colonies was, in 1770,
about 4,015, fome part of which the Dutch and
Danes received-and as it appears by the late re-
turn, that about 7,000 horfes and mules were fhip-
ped to the French fugar plantations, during its
term, it is manifeft, that they have increaſed their
importations 80, 90, or 100 per cent. It is unnecef-
fary to reiterate here, tha they will receive pro-
portionate advantages in their colonial agriculture,
(and to the fhips employed in tranſporting its pro-
duce) from fo capital an addition to one of their
moſt uſeful ſupplies.
184
THAT "FRANCE WILL NOT SUFFER AMERICA TO SUPPLY
HER WITH SHIPS,"
is contradicted by the fact.* That kingdom by
rejecting American veffels, would have fo far
facrificed her carrying trade to the manufacture
of ſhips. She wifely purchaſes, upon the cheapeſt
terms, the cradles for her marine nurſery. The
firſt and great object of the maritime powers ought
to be, the increase of the number of their failors,
which is beſt done by multiplying their chances of
employment. Among the means of doing this,
one of the moft obvious and rational is, the multi-
plication of vefels. The French-built fhips coft
from 55 to 60 dollars per ton, when fitted to re-
ceive a cargo. and exclufively of fea ftores, infu-
rance, the charges of lading, outward pilotage, and
other expenſes incidental to the employment, and
not to the building and outfit of a veffel. The
American live oak and cedar fhips, to which
none are fuperior, coft in the fame fituation, from
33 to 35 dollars, finifhed very completely. If the
French require 10,000 tons of new veffels, on any
occafion, or in any term of time, they may
be pro-
cured in the United States, on a computation of
the medium price of 34 dollars per ton, for the
*
Immediately after the first publication of this paper, the
French regulation, confining their flag to native fhips, was re-
ceived in America. What will be found under this head, which
was written before the regulation was known, may ſerve as a fin-
cere comment on this new reſtriction. A. D. 1791.
185
fum of 340,000 dollars: but if bought at 55 dol-
lars, the lowest price in France, they would coft
the much greater fum of 550,000 dollars. No ar-
gument is neceffary to fhow, that fuch a nation,
cæteris paribus, muft produce feamen more rapidly,
than thoſe, who refuſe theſe cheap veſſels.
It would appear much lefs unreafonable, that
the government of the United States fhould prohi-
bit the fale of fhips, (the means of obtaining naval
frength, to foreign nations, than that any of them
ſhould reject the great advantage of fo cheap and
excellent a fupply. And fhould the French, Bri-
tish, and other foreign nations continue to decline
the purchaſe of American-built fhips, there can be
no doubt, that we fhall take a greater portion of
the carrying trade for ourfelves and other coun-
tries, from that cauſe.
THAT THE NAVIGATION ACT GAVE, AND THAT AN ADHERENCE
TO IT, WILL SECURE TO GREAT-BRITAIN THE COMMERCE
OF THE WORLD.
There is no doubt, that Great-Britain has here-
tofore obtained, in proportion to the number of
its people, a very great fhare of trade both foreign
and internal. But the value of her imports in
1774, was not ten per cent. more than that of the
imports of France. Holland* had, at the fame
A a
* Mr. Eden ſtated, fince the American war, that the ex-
ports of Holland, in foreign goods only, were 18,000,0ccl.
fterling.
186.
time, a very great trade; as had feveral other
countries in Europe. It would have been beyond
the truth, if lord Sheffield had faid that Britain
had a fifth
of the commerce of the world." It
may appear, at firft view, of little ufe, and even in-
vidious, to notice this remark; but it is really of
importance to a reaſonable and accurate estimation of
things, to correct fuch extravagancies. Thefe hyper-
bolical expreffions tend to miflead. They occa-
fion a people erroneously to fuppofe, they have
the world at their command, and render the moſt
falutary and reaſonable arrangements more diffi-
cult than they ought to be. They alfo help to
fwell the popular torrent against a clear-fighted,
honeft, and candid minifter, who may attempt mea-
fures, fit in themfelves, and even neceffary to the
national interefts.
But whatever may have been the degree of truth
in the affertion, that Great-Britain heretofore en-
groffed the commerce of the world, a different
courſe of things has taken place, and is to be ex-
pected hereafter, with regard to her and every
other country. It is manifeft, that a prodigious,
and almoft univerfal revolution in the views of
nations, with regard to the carrying trade, has ta-
ken place. The extenfion of the ſpirit of com-
merce and the confequent inclination and capaci-
ty for naval power, have occafioned this change.
The jealouſy of trade, which gave birth to the
Britiſh navigation act, is now felt as well by the
fovereigns, as by the citizens, of every country in
L
187
Europe. They have become fenfible, that commerce
and navigation are at once great fources of private
wealth and of national power. The general pre-
valence of theſe views is daily producing commer-
cial regulations, (injurious in many particulars to
the country making them) intended to fecure to
the citizens of each nation thoſe benefits, which were
formerly enjoyed by the carrying and manufacturing
ſtates. Thofe, who have heretofore enjoyed the
trade of other countries, and in a very extenfive
degree, muſt neceffarily be the firft to feel the
inconveniencies of this change of meaſures: and
they muſt eventually experience them in proportion
to their former advantages. The private fhipping
of the Hanfe towns and of the United Netherlands,
have already felt feverely the confequences of
theſe views. Thofe traders, indeed, might once
have almoſt claimed the commerce of the world.
There is confiderable danger, however, that this
anxious defire of trade may occafion fome of the
maritime nations to give too free and ftrong ope-
ration to principles, which are not exceptionable
in the preſent ftate of things, if properly directed
and reſtrained; for it is manifeft, that countries.
with a great agricultural intereft, will err exceed-
ingly in purfuing, as far as poffible, meaſures,
which may not be found inconvenient to nations
oppofitely circumftanced.
With respect to Great-Britain, the particular
object of her navigation act was to expel the Dutch
from her carrying trade, and thus to decreaſe the
188
ability of her rivals to maintain and fuddenly to
increaſe their navy. Situated as things then were,
the Britiſh were probably right, as to the objec in
view: and from the wonderful infenfibility of all
Europe to the nature and operation of the English ma-
rine code, they gained incidentally, and for a long
time, immenfe advantages in the commerce of
other ftates, for which they originally did not look,
This fituation of things however is now thoroughly
underflood.
The fhipping of Britain in confe-
quence, will hereafter find rivals in the private vef-
fels of feveral foreign countries, and there appears
the utmoſt improbability, that the can continue to
retain any extraordinary fhare of the carrying
trade for other nations. The tenure of it is mani-
feftly in the greateft degree precarious; becauſe it
abfolutely depends on the laws of other countries;
and on the improbable continuance of inattention
in their commercial citizens.
The value of the carrying trade, it may alfo be
obferved, is very materially altered. Inftead of
being, as formerly, a profitable monopoly (if we
may ſo ſpeak) in the hands of two nations, it is
now diffuſed among ten or twelve. The great ad-
vantages, too, which accrued to Britain from cheap
provifions-fuperior and cheap fhips-and low wa-
ges to feamen, are now loft.
Bread and meat,
from the increaſe of manufacturers, are imported
into that iſland-wages have confiderably advan-
ced, if we take into the calculation the great fifh-
ing bounties-the expenfes of fhip-building have
189
increafed the French* are admitted to have ob-
tained the pre-eminence in naval archite&ure, and
it appears from a minute return, exhibited in An-
derfon's commerce, that the oak timber of Great-
Britain, in forty years proceeding 1771, had de-
creaſed nine-tenths; and that it had advanced in
price above 40 per cent. in the courſe of the nine-
teen antecedent years. It will not be forgotten,
that the expenditure of twenty years, including a
naval war, in which an unparalleled number of
fhips was built, has fince occured further to ex-
hauft their ſtock of fhip timber. Nor fhould it be
overlooked, that vaft demands were made for this
article to replace the private fhipping, which were
loft to the British nation by the American revolu
tion. The confumption of fhip timber from 1774
to 1785, appears from the papers of the Britiſh fo-
ciety for naval architecture, to have been three
times as great as in any equal term before.
The fudden command of feamen by means of
imprement is too ftrong an operation of the exe-
cutive power, too great an outrage against the rights
of men, and the facred peace of families, long to be
endured in the prefent courfe of European affairs.
Thofe prompt exertions of naval ftrength, by
which Great-Britain has heretofore gained advan-
tages, will be affected by an alteration in this par-
ticular, at leaſt fo far as regards unprofitable, unjuft,
and ambitious wars, into which all nations are occa-
fionally led.
*See papers of the Britſh fociety for naval architecture.
190
Theſe remarks, it is prefumed, will not be mif-
conftrued, as of an invidious nature. It is a feafon
requiring a true ftate of things. They are intended
as diſpaſionate and reaſonable anſwers to the extra-
vagant affertions and the contemptuous menaces of
the writer of the obfervations, whofe doctrines are
as pernicions to Great-Britain, as they are injuri-
ous to the United States. "Should a quarrel take
place between the American ftates and Great-Britain,
fome ftout frigates," he affirms, would completely
command the commerce of this mighty continent."
}
It would not be improper to afk, what argument
is this very intelligent writer poffeffed of, to prove
that fo great a permanent difparity will exift in fa-
vour of a nation, whofe exports are now to their
expenſes, as 18 to 16, over a nation whole exports
to their expeníes are as 18 to 3? Why, can he in-
form us, fhould the Britiſh exports or imports, nei-
ther of which will load 650,000 tons of veffels, af-
ford a certain and permanent basis for a powerful
navy, if thoſe of the United States, which will lade
650,000 tons of veffels, and are ſteadily increaſing,
do not juftify, under proper management, expec-
tations equal to a few ftout frigates? Such miſċal-
culations, on the part of any foreign nation, muft
lead to correfponding improprieties in their deport-
ment towards us, or they must be candidly rejected.
1
191
THAT IT MUST ALWAYS BE THE SITUATION OF THE UNITED
STATES TO COURT GREAT-BRITAIN.
To evince the fallacy of this pofition, nothing
more is neceffary than to recolle&t fome leading
circumftances in the trade of the two countries.
Great Britain exports about £.18,000,000 fterling,
per ann. of which 13,000,000 fterling are her own
manufactures. It will not be pretended, that we,
as the principle cuftomers, are to court the venders
of theſe goods.* A portion of the remaining
£.5,000,000 is made up of our tobaccoes, rice,
indigoes ginfeng, and other productions, exported
from their dominions in an unmanufactured ſtate.
Of theſe, it will not be fuppofed we can be anxi
ous to make importations. The greater part of the
remainder is made up of India, Ruffian, German,
and other articles, of foreign growth or manufac-
ture, which Britain cannot furniſh but at fecond
hand; for which, confequently, we are not under
the neceffity to court her, and which neither we
nor any other nation fhould receive from her Eu-
ropean dominions, were we to purſue her naviga-
tion principles. The re-fhipped commodities of
Ireland, too, form no inconfiderable item in the
liſt of Britiſh exports. For thefe we could be un
der no obligation to. Great-Britain, being manu-
factured goods, on the fhipment of moft of which
to theſe ſtates and all the world, the Irish have
* We muſt court the arts by which they are manufactured, as
we have wifely done for the laft five or fix years.
192
long granted a very encouraging bounty. In re-
gard to our exports to Great-Britain, they confift
principally of the precious elements of her manufac-
tures, Shipping, and navy. Theſe are not only (in
the language of lord Sheffield, when ſpeaking of
the Ruffian exports) "more precious to her than
gold," but are abfolute neceffaries. Lumber of
all kinds, bark, cotton, flax, iron, flaxfeed, wax,
indigo, pot-afh, tar, pitch, turpentine, fkins, and
furs, are among the articles here contemplated. To
theſe may be added wheat, flour, and Indian corn,
taken in fmall quantities except when neceffity com-
pels large importations; alfo tobacco and rice,
which are confumed in a ſmali proportion in Britain,
but contribute to fwell her exports, and increaſe
her carrying trade to other countries. 'Tis manifeft,
that all theſe exports are much to be defired on her
part, and that it would be moft profitable to the Uni-
ted States, to manufacture the raw materials, and to
expend the provifions on their own manufacturers;
and to furniſh the rice and tobacco, by the direct
voyage, to thoſe nations which are ſupplied circuit-
oufly through Britiſh ports. In another point of
view, the intercourfe with Great-Britain is not par-
ticularly to be courted by the United States.
has been already obferved, that we imported of
their manufactures, in 1784, £.3,648,007 ſterling,
and in 1785 £2,308,013, which appear, on a me-
dium of thoſe two years, to have been equal to
above one third of the manufactures they exported,
to all other foreign nations! How immenfely benefi-
cial, how indifpenfibly neceſſary to the Britiſh ma-
It
193
nufacturers, are fuch confumers? Let it be aſked,
and candidly anſwered, if they or we are to court
fuch buſineſs? If any inviting meaſures are to be
adopted by this country, it would be more wife to
court the capitalifts, manufacturers, and artizans,
of the feveral countries of Europe, which are over-
charged with private wealth and population. It
may be urged, that we are ftrongly induced to court
Great-Britain for credit. The anfwer is, that fhe
cannot venture to withhold her fabrics, whatever
may be our time of payment; for in the preſent
ſtate of things, a years abfence of Britiſh goods
from our markets, would give an immenfe fpring
to our own manufactures. But there is a ftrong
fymptom of the ability of the United States to do
without a very extenfive credit, from any particu-
lar nation, in the abundant fupplies of China and
Eaft-India goods, which are imported from every
part of thoſe countries with which we trade,
amounting probably, to more than a fifth of our con-
fumption of foreign commodities. This independ-
ency on any particular nation, which is in the high-
eft degree to be defired, will be fenfibly promoted
by the eſtabliſhment of our good name in other fo-
reign countries, by ftrengthening our new and
wholeſome guards around the rights of property,
and by the recent multiplication and extenfion of
banks. Though no fuch pecuniary inftitution ex-
ifted ten years ago, fix banks are eſtabliſhed now in
five different cities; and their capitals exceed at
this time a moiety of our importations. The ac-
commodations and facilities which will reſult from
Bb
194
them, muft exceedingly promote the independency
of the American merchant and confumer, on fo-
reign credits.
THAT "IT WILL NOT BE THE INTEREST OF ANY
GREAT MARITIME POWERS
INTEREST OF ANY OF THE
TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN
VESSELS FROM THE BARBARY STATES.
The luft of power has feldom given rife to
a lefs reputable fentiment in the bofom of an
individual than that which we are now to no-
tice. Like the inftruction of the flagitious fa-
ther to his fon, to get money, it is advifed, that
naval Strength fhould be fecured, per fas et
nefas. But it is not afferted, that any nation
maintains this doctrine. It has been urged in an-
fwer againſt us, that we import flaves, which
has in a very great degree ceafed; for the veffels
from Africa, in the whole returned year, were lefs
than four hundred tons. But let the circumftan-
ces of the caſe be examined and candidly confider-
ed. When high duties on the importation of
flaves were impofed before the revolution, by fome
of the colonial affemblies, they were rendered of
no effect by the negative of the crown, upon the
fame principles, that now determine the conduct of
many of the European fhipholders and manufactu-
rers becauſe the abolition of the flave trade would
curtail their reſpective advantages. During and fince
the war, moſt of the ftates have prohibited thoſe
importations: feveral have abolished flavery: and
we find as above hinted, that no more than 385
195
tons of ſhipping arrived from Africa in twelve
months fubfequent to Auguft 1789, in all the fates,
belonging to us, and all other nations. Whether
theſe had on board any flaves, is not known. Great-
Britain cannot prefs a country, thus conducting
itſelf, on the ſubject of the flave trade, feeing that
her colonies continue to import tens of thoufands.
per annum.
rr
But it is conceived, that the reverfe of lord Shef
field's pofition is true, and that it is the intereft of
moft of the great maritime powers, to purſue mea-
fures, which might tend to free the Americans from
the piracies of the Barbary ftates. It may be
among the means of transferring to thofe nations,
from Great Britain, "a part of the fovereignty of
the ocean" and "a part of the commerce of the world,
which, it is alledged, her naval power has fecured to
her." The balance of power, if it be accurately
defined, muſt be ſtated to comprehend now the ba-
lance of naval power. To attain and preferve that,
the firft ftep is manifeftly to diveſt any nation, which
may poffefs it, of "the fovereignty of the ocean."
That fovereignty can comport with the true inte-
reſts and dignity of no other kingdom. It will be
more advantageous to the feveral nations, who are
not actually the firft in the ſcale of naval power,
that the United States fhould acquire a portion of
the marine force of a nation, toc potent by fea,
than that ſuch a nation, if it really has been the
cafe, fhould continue to give law upon the ocean :
and it is manifeft, that no one of thoſe nations can
}
196
be fatisfied, that any other fhould prefcribe the law
there. The deftruction of no particular kingdom
is alledged to be requifite to the well being of this,
or any other country: but it certainly is not necef-
fary, that the other nations of the world fhould
promote, or acquiefce in meaſures, calculated to
fupport any one kingdom in a naval dictatorship.
This degree of marine ftrength is not requifite for
the felf-defence of any nation; and it may evident-
ly be perverted to interrupt the commerce and to
difturb the tranquility of Europe. Whether this
has been the cafe, (concerning which no affertion
is here made) it remains for the nations concerned
ſeverally to determine. If it has been, if it may
be, and if it probably will be, then it alfo remains.
for them to decide, whether it be their true intereſt
to join in the honourable league with the Barbarians
against the honeft commerce, and the perfonal li-
berties of the citizens of the United States.
THAT "THE BRITISH ISLANDS WOULD BE CROUDED WITH
DUTCH, FRENCH, AND OTHER FOREIGN VESSELS, IF THEY
WERE TO BE LAID OPEN."
A direct contradiction cannot be given to this
affertion but probabilities are ftrongly against it.
The free ports of the French iflands are thus laid
open; yet the whole tonnage, which ufally paffes
between them and the United States, in the courſe
of a year, exclufively of their own fhips, thofe
of the United States, and thofe of Great-Britain,
do not exceed two per cent. of the whole tonnage
employed in the trade; and though the Britiſh veffels
嘡
​197
have an equal opportunity with the fhips of France
and of theſe ſtates, yet they carried but eight fmall
cargoes to all the French iflands, during the return-
ed year. From the nature of the Weft-India trade,
and of the commodities tranfported, it cannot be
fupported, unleſs the veſſels be owned by the inha-
bitants of the iſlands, or thoſe of this country. Si-
milar facts occur, in examining the trade with the
Dutch ports in the Weft-Indies, and on the main;
and the fame obfervations, it is conceived, would
juſtly apply to them. But what could thoſe foreign
veffels carry to the English iflands? By the other
Britiſh regulations, they could tranfport no Ameri-
can articles, and they cannot fhip from their own
dominions, with a chance of profit, a cargo of the co-
modities, which are permitted to be imported from
foreign countries, into the Britiſh Weft-Indies.
SECTION V.
THE next errors in the obfervations of lord
Sheffield, on which it is neceffary to animadvert,
are fome which are not inconfiderable, with re-
ſpect to the actual and probable
POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
*
He is of opinion that our population is not like-
ly to increaſe as it has done on our coafts; that we
had fallen off in numbers in 1784; and that the
emigration from the United States would be very
confiderable. The ſtate of Rhode-Iſland, all of
198
which lies near the fea, was proved by actual enu-
meration, in 1783, to contain 51,896 perfons.
The unhappy condition of that government, and
the confequent interruption of its trade, fifheries,
and manufactures, from 1786 to the beginning of
1790, occafioned great emigrations from thence
into the other ftates. Yet the cenfus, which was
completed before the first day of May, in the pre-
fent year, amounts to 68,825. Delaware, which,
like Rhode-Ifland, has no back country, and lies.
upon the coaft, was eftimated at 35,000 perfons,
in a return, which lord Sheffield affirmed in 1783,
to be too high. Its population is proved, by the ac-
tual enumeration juft completed, to be 59,094.
Connecticut, another ftate upon the coaft, was com
puted in the fame return, which he mentions in
1784, to contain 206,000 perfons. It is well known,
that its population, in proportion to its territory,
was then, and is now, the greateſt in the union, and
that it has been inceffantly fending emigrants to
Maine, New-Hampſhire, Vermont, New-York,
Pennſylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the weft-
ern territory: yet the cenfus fhows it to contain,
at this time, 237,942 inhabitants. New-Jerfey,
another ſtate without new or unfettled lands, is rat-
ed in the return, which lord Sheffield queftions, at
150,000, and was proved by an enumeration,
which was taken at the moment he hazarded this
doubt, to contain 149,435 perfons. The cenfus
fhows its prefent population to be 184,139. It
has no unimproved counties or new lands. New.
York was stated at 200,000, and now appears to be
199
}
340,120. Pennſylvania, which was faid to be efti-
mated too high, in 1784, at 320,000, amounts to
434,373. Maffachuſetts, including the diftrict of
Maine, is fet down in the difputed eftimation, at
350,000, in 1784: the cenfus in 1790, proves to
be 475,327. New-Hampſhire, which is found to
contain 141,885, was confidered as having no-
more than 82,200. Maryland, which was eftimat_
ed 220,000, and which has not one county that
does not lie on a navigable river, flowing into the
Atlantic ocean, appears by the cenfus to have
318,729. Virginia, including Kentucky, was ftat-
ed in the old return to have 400,000, and is
found to contain 747,610, after the ſeparation of
Kentucky, whofe population is 73,677 more: and
here it is to be remarked, that the ftate of Maffa-
chuſetts, though thickly fettled, has manifeftly
gained people in the laſt nine years, more rapid-
ly than Kentucky, fuppofing the latter to have
had 10,000 inhabitants or upwards, in 1782; and
the part of Virginia, not including Kentucky, has
gained inhabitants inuch more rapidly than that wef-
tern diſtrict. Theſe two facts are mentioned to
prove the error of lord Sheffield's prediction that
our population was not likely to increafe, as it
has done, "on the fea coaft." North-Carolina,
which was ftated at only 200,000, is proved to con-
tain 393,751, exclufively of the western country
ceded to congreſs by that ſtate in the laſt year, the
population of which is found to be about 35,691
more. The population of Vermont is above
85,000. That of South Carolina which was ftat-
200
፡
ed at 170,000 proves to be 249,073. The population
of the weſtern territory is not yet afcertained.
į
The whole return above referred to, is alledged,
by our author, to be too high. Its total is 2,389,300,
and it was made the bafis of congreffional affeff-
ments. The beſt accounts, as lord Sheffield affirms,
made the number of whites 1,700,000. There
feems, however, from the returns already received,
to be no doubt, that our numbers will prove more
than 3,900,000, by the cenfus taken from Auguft,
1790, to April, 1791, inclufive. The population
of the United States has therefore advanced 65 per
centum on a return in 1782, which lord Sheffield
affirmed, in 1784, to be exaggerated.*
The fimplicity of living amongst the great body
of the American people-the extraordinary facili-
ty of obtaining the means of fubfiftence-migra-
tion to our country-and the non-exiſtence of emi-
grations from it, though Nova-Scotia is fo near,
and as lord Sheffield fays, fo tempting-thefe cir-
cumſtances have occafioned the United States thus
rapidly to increaſe in population, in the laft nine
years, though feven of them were extremely difor-
dered and difcouraging. But now, when agricul-
ture is greatly improved, when laws, religion, mo-
rals, liberal and uſeful ſcience, arts, manufactures,
and commerce, are maintained, promoted and ex-
tended-lord Sheffield himſelf will believe, that our
population will encreafe even on the fea coaft.
* See the cenfus of 1791 in this volume.
201
Let foreigners, who fincerely defire information,
take up the Philadelphia directory, publiſhed by the
marſhal of the United States for the diftrict of
Pennſylvania, and learn by this fimple but authen-
tic document, the ingredients of which our towns
are compoſed, even in a ſtate whofe territory is
not one fourth fettled. It will there be feen, that
while our planters' and farmers' fons are fubdivid
ing their lands, or moving forward into lefs popu-
lated ſcenes, many of the fons of our artificers and
manufacturers, and very many perſons of thoſe oc-
cupations, from foreign countries, are taking their
ſtations on the vacant lots in our old ſtreets, or com-
mencing new ones. The fober and induſtrious jour-
neymen of Europe, who can fcarcely fupport the diffi.
culties and expenſes of living there, often become fuc-
cessful mafter workmen here. It may be fafely af
firmed, that the Scotch combine the advantages of
ſobriety, induſtry, frugality, and ſkill, in as great a
degree as any manufacturers in Europe; yet they
inceffantly emigrate to us, and are remarkably fuc-
ceſsful in their various branches.
EMIGRATION.
Great pains are taken by the writer of the
obſervations, to place the emigrants to America in
the moſt diſcouraging circumftances of diſtreſs and
contempt. "Emigration," fays he, "is the natural
refource of the culprit." Thofe, who are acquainted
with the hiftory of Europe, fince the beginning of
the feventeenth century, and of the colonies fettled
C c
202
from thence, know, that the emigrants hither have
been, generally fpeaking, the enterprising, and
their followers, or the oppreffed fubjects of unjust
civil or religious rulers-the latter in the greateſt
degree. There is not a ftate in the union which
does not contain one or more fects or churches,
which have fled from religious perfecution. No-
thing can be more rational, than that perfons of
fincere piety and tender confciences, fhould feek a
country, in which the affertion of mere toleration
is deemed as abfurd, as the denial of religious liber-
ty is thought to be criminal. Hence Prefbyterians,
Congregationalifts, Quakers, Baptifts, and others,
have fled hither from England; Seceders and Epif-
copalians from Scotland; Catholics and Preſbyte-
rians from Ireland; Hugunots from France; Pro-
teftants from the dominions of the Catholic princes.
of Germany; and Catholics from thofe of the Pro-
teftant princes. Two centuries have not elapſed,
fince all the dominions of the United States were
an howling wilderneſs. They now contain near
four millions of people. From whence have they
been derived? In great numbers from various
parts of Europe, by inceffant ftreams of emigra-
tion. But it may be afked, are theſe people hap-
py and profperous? Does the foil they cultivate,
yield them any return for their labour? They pro-
cure for themſelves comfortable habitations, food,
raiment, and other conveniencies, and have ex-
ported in a fingle year, above twenty millions of
203
dollars in value !* How then can thefe people
have been "miferably diſappointed in their expec-
tations of profperity here?"
But lord Sheffield affures all emigrants, that they
will be diftreffed, nay, ruined, by taxes; and that
our public burdens are heavier than thofe of any
country in Europe. It appears, however, that we
are now in the middle of the third year of our ge-
neral government, and notwithſtanding all our late
arrearages, and the funding of our debts, neither
a tax on lands, nor any fpecies of direct tax, is
contemplated. No excife upon any article of con-
fumption or uſe is laid or propofed, except a very
fmall one on fpirituous liquors, compared with
thoſe in Europe. Befides this, the impoft, or du-
ty on foreign goods imported is the fole revenue,
that is raiſed upon the people, and it is, on a me-
dium, lefs in currency, than the fame articles pay
in Sterling, in all the principal countries of Eu-
rope. Where, then, are thefe infupportable bur-
dens with which this writer attempts to alarm Eu-
ropean emigrants ?
Under the head of emigration, lord Sheffield
has laid himſelf open to a more ſevere meaſure of
juſt remark, than it is agreeable to deal out to
him. It ought not, however, to be unnoticed,
* The exportations of the year ending on the 30th September,
1792, exceeded 21 millions of dollars. Thofe of the year follow-
ing were 26,000,000.
204
CC
that he gravely brings forward a ftory, on the au-
thority of a nameless letter from Philadelphia, of
"two fine Iriſh youths being purchaſed by a negro
fruit feller, in that city, and employed in hawking
fruit about the ſtreets, and in the meanest employ-
ments." How dangerous muſt be the fituation of
a government, which has acted upon the informa-
tion and reaſonings brought forward by a mind
capable of ufing fuch means to carry his points,
admitting the letter were genuine! How unlike a
dignified ftatefman does lord Sheffield appear, in
exclaiming, after this very little ftory, Iriſh-
men just emancipated in Europe, go to America to
become faves to a negro!" and what will be
thought when it is known, that in the legislature
of the very ſtate (Pennſylvania) in whoſe capital
he alleges the fact took place, there were, about
the time of his publication, no less than twenty-
eight Irishmen and fons of Irifhmen, though the
whole body confifted of but fixty-nine members?
We are willing that the fortunes of the Iriſh in
this country fhould determine the expediency of
their continuing to emigrate hither. As fome pains
have been taken by him to excite the apprehenfions
of the Germans alfo, it may not be improper to
obferve that there have generally been from fifteen
to eighteen members of the fame legiſlative body,
who were natives of Germany or their fons.
205
KENTUCKY AND THE WESTERN TERRITORY.
It was boldly afferted by lord Sheffield, in 1784,
that the people of the interior country of America,
were "mere nominal fubjects," and would ſpeedi-
ly imitate and multiply the examples of indepen-
dence. The regular organization of the govern-
ment of the territory north-weft of the Ohio fince
that time, the arrangements made fhortly after, for
the erection of Kentucky into a ſeparate ftate, with
the confent of Congrefs and Virginia, the ceffion
of the extenfive country fouth of the Ohio to Con-
grefs in 1790, and its eſtabliſhment as a kind of
temporary fief of the general government (with ci-
vil officers appointed by the Prefident) to be ad-
mitted into the union as an entire new member,
when its population fhould be fufficiently nume-
rous, the adoption of the federal conftitution by a
deliberate act of a ſpecial convention of Vermont,
and the formal admiffions of that ftate and Ken-
tucky into the American union, at their own defire,
and by an act of the legislature of the United
States, have, as far as poffible, contradicted the
prophecy,
Another opinion, in regard to thoſe diſtant
fcenes, is, that they can derive no benefit from
the American ftates. At this moment, the arm of
government is extended, and its funds are appro-
priated, to protect them againft the hoftilities of
the Indians: and the whole regular military force,
206
which it has been thought neceffary to fupport, was
raiſed, and is now employed in their defence. The
Atlantic rivers, from the Miffifippi to the Mohawk,
which nature has formed as the channels of their
trade, can be cleared of natural and political ob-
ftructions only by the meaſures of the Atlantic
ftates; and no lefs than eight feveral plans to that
end are now in preparation or execution in as ma-
ny different places, under the aufpices of the five
ftates, within whoſe territories the most favourable
rivers and grounds have been placed by naturé.**
Congress alone can effect the relinquishment of
the pofts, the keys of the western country. The im-
provement and opening of the many neceflary
roads, leading weftward, muft be done by the acts
of the Atlantic ftates, and by their funds. Not a
year elapfes without feveral appropriations of mo-
ney to this object. By a fincere, juſt, and cloſe uni-
on between the inhabitants of the western country and
thoſe upon the fea coafts, both parties will avoid thofe
expenfive, bloody, and frequent ftruggles, which eve-
ry where difgrace and injure adjacent ftates.
1
THAT NO AMERICAN ARTICLES ARE SO NECESSARY TO GREAT-
BRTIAIN, AS THE BRITISH MANUFACTURES, &C. ARE TO
THE AMERICANS.
Lord Sheffield has already admitted, that raw ma-
terials are more precious to Britain than gold: but
* A great and expenfive turnpike road has been commenced
by Pennſylvania, leading directly weftward towards Pittſburg on
the Ohio and Allegany. A. D. 1793.
207
this was not conceded to America. Thofe things,
which are inestimable, when they are to be drawn
from countries, other than the United States, lofe
all their value in his eftimation, when to be deriv-
ed from us. The British manufacturers however
well know, that American raw materials (like thofe
of Ruffia, the Indies and Ireland) are precious,
indeed, to them, becaufe, in addition to their na-
tural value, and their indifpenfible need of them,
when once landed in Britain, they cannot be ma-
nufactured in America. Timber, plank, boards,
mafts, tar, pitch, turpentine, and pig iron for the
fupport of their navy and fhipping-indigo, potaſh,
furs, fkins, flaxfeed, iron, tobacoo, ftaves, fine oil,
&c. for the employment of their manufacturers-
rice, wheat, and flour for their fubfiftence—and a
large catalogue of the moft neceffary fupplies for
the Weft-India iſlands, which really cannot be ob-
tained elſewhere, without an infupportable addi-
tion to their coft, will not be deemed at this time,
by a rational and well informed man, of lefs impor-
tance to Great-Britain, than the manufactures of
that country, which they are affiduoufly endeavour-
ing to difperfe through every quarter of the world,
are to us*.
But it is not intended to wafte arguments on
this allegation. Every man of information, in the
affairs of the two countries, is able to decide on it
Witneſs the ſpecial embaffy to the Chineſe antipodes of
Great-Britain.
208
{
at first view. Little more appears neceffary than
to remind the parties concerned, that fuch an affer-
tion is among the pofitions, which lord Sheffield
has hazarded, in order that the miſleading tenden-
cy of his book may be duly borne in mind by the
fincere friends of mutually beneficial arrangements.
It may not, however, be amifs to obferve, that al-
though the favourable ideas which have been fug-
gefted here by way of anfwer, were juftified by
facts and reaſon, when. that work was publiſhed,
yet the American ground is not a little meliorated
by the fubfequent progrefs and prefent ftate of our
manufactures-by the experienced inability of Ca-
nada, New-Brunſwick, and Nova-Scotia, to furniſh
the expected ſupplies-by the confequent importa-
tions from the United States of timber and lumber
into Great-Britain, and of more than the former
fupplies into the Weft-Indies-and by the neceffa-
ry dependence of Europe on the United States for
the precious articles of grain and flour, which has
been recently aſcertained and admitted by unquef-
tionable Engliſh authorities.
THE QUALITY OF AMERICAN DISTILLED SPIRIts.
It is not ſurpriſing, that remarks on the bad qua-
lity of American fpirituous liquors fhould run
through "the obfervations." But the buſineſs of
diftilling is fo fimple, that great improvements
might have been expected fince 1783. Geneva,
in imitation of that of Holland, is now made in
ſome of our fea ports: the rectifying of the or-
209
dinary rums is practifed by a few with great
fuccefs. Peach brandy is made in confiderable
quantities, and, when matured, is the moſt exqui-
Should our rice decline in
that the manufacture of
The ingredients, from
have till lately been un-
fite ſpirit in the world.
price, it is not doubted,
arrack will be attempted.
which this fpirit is made,
afcertained in the United States: but it is now be-
lieved, that rice, and coarfe fugar, or melaffes,
are really the articles. When the fuccefs of the
Americans in the manufacture of malt liquors is
remembered, it will not be doubted, that they will
have equal fuccefs in that of diftilled fpirits. A
principal impediment has hitherto been the free and
copious influx of rival foreign liquors, and the ge-
neral reception of flour, &c. in foreign ports.
Every obftruction to our veffels and fales abroad,
impoſed by the European nations, impels to brew-
eries, diftilleries, and manufactures in general,
amongst other modes of creating a demand for our
productions, and employment for our capitals.
f
SOMETIME
"IF THE AMERICAN STATES SHOULD ATTEMPT TO PAY THEIR
DEBTS, THE LANDS OF THE FARMERS MUST FOR
LIE UNDER VERY HEAVY IMPOSITIONS.'
This is among the many proofs, which our wri-
ter has given, that he did not poffefs the gift of
prophecy. The American debt has been confider-
D d
* This branch is very much improved within the laſt two years,
particularly by the Providence and Rhode-Ifland diftilliries-
A. D. 1793.
<
210
A
ably reduced by the fale of ftate and federal lands,
and a provifion is made for funding it. A fink-
ing fund has also been provided. Yet no tax
upon lands has been introduced among the ways
and means. The whole American debt would not
require a tax upon each individual, of four pounds
fterling, to extinguish it forever. That of Great-
Britain would require a tax of more than twenty-
four pounds ten fhillings fterling. Our population
is rapidly increafing, while theirs is comparatively
ftationary. There is a fimilar diſproportion in our
favour in the ordinary and extraordinary expenſes
of government and defence. The French debt is
250 per cent. heavier than ours, in proportion to
numbers. This brief, but very important article
will not fail to receive due attention from thofe who
fincerely defire to make a just estimate of the affairs
of the United States; nor will it efcape the obſer-
vations of thofe foreigners, who may be engaged
in reſearches into our affairs, or in plans of emi-
gration, fettlement, and landed purchaſes in this
country. It will alſo be a fource of the moſt com-
fortable reflections to our own citizens. The people
of Europe, who have read lord Sheffield's book,
will be furpriſed to hear that there are no perpetu-
al revenues, no ftamp duties, no window or hearth
taxes, no tythes, no excifes upon leather, beer,
hops, malt, foap, candles, coal or other fuel, or
indeed on any other article in the United States,
excepting only about five pence fterling on diftil-
led fpirits.
211
*THAT THE AMERICANS COULD NOT HAVE TRADED WITH
THE FRENCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION TO HALF THE
EXTENT THEY DID, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE SPECIE
THEY TOOK FROM THE BRITISH ISLANDS."
This remark is applied by the writer to our
French Weft-India trade. To judge of the truth
of it, a compariſon of the prefent with the former
ftate of that branch of our commerce will be fuffi-
cient. It will not be doubted, that during their
troubles, and (to take a recent term) for a year
preceding the firft day of May laft, our imports
and exports from and to the French Weft-Indies,
were greater than in any year before the war. Yet
our veffels could not procure fpecie in the Britiſh
iflands, being prohibited from entering them.
Pickled and dried fiſh, beef, rice, Indian corn, oats,
beans, peas, onions, Indian meal, boards, plank,
fcantling, fhingles, handfpikes, oars, fquare timber,
ftaves, heading, hoops, horfes, live ftock, poul.
try, boats, and veffels, &c. to an amount great-
er than the ſhipments to all the Weft India iflands,
other than British, before the war, have been ex-
ported to the French iflands within the term of one
year. The courfe of things, in feveral refpects, will
probably leffen our importation of meiaffes and the
taffia, (or rum) which we have been accustomed to
draw from thence. Befides beer and cider, diftilled
fpirits are now made from fruic and grain, in fuch
quantities as to conftitute more than one-third of
our confumption and export of ftrong liquors, other
212
than wines. Plentiful harveſts of fruit neceflarily
increaſe the manufacture from that ingredient;
becauſe it is too perishable to export. Abundant
harveſts of grain, or low markets abroad, have a
fimilar effect on diftillation from that material.
The meaſures of the national affembly of France,
in regard to tobacco, will add to the many objec-
tions which before exifted against the ufual culti-
vation of it. Barley, rye, and oats, from which
the grain-liquors are principally made, as alfo wheat
and Indian corn, will be produced in much larger
quantities, fhould we decline the cultivation of to-
bacco in any confiderable degree. If we continue,
after a fhort time, to import choice rums, brandies,
and arrack, to the amount of five per cent. on our
whole confumption, and manufacture the remain-
der, which will require four millions of bushels of
barley, rye and oats, and more fo far as we make
beer, we ſhall want lefs funds abroad for the pur-
chafe of molaffes, and we fhall confirm the ability
we have ſhown, to carry on a trade with the French
iſlands, greater than formerly, without fpecie taken
from the British Weft-Indies.
"THAT THE UNITED STATES LOST MUCH BY THE SEPARA-
TION FROM GREAT-BRITAIN."
This is an opinion, which it was very natural
for an Engliſh writer in 1783 to adopt. It was dif
ficult at that time to compare, with the requifite
certainty and precifion, the benefits in point of
pecuniary advantage, which the United States
213
might have reaſonably expected in a colonial, and
in an independent fituation. It would be more
eafily and better done at the preſent, but cannot
be attempted at large in this place. Some ideas on
the fubject, however, may ferve to evince the er-
ror of the affertion.
It is true, that by the feparation of the two
countries, the United States incurred a debt of a-
bout £. 15,000,000 fterling, which, however, was
entirely ſpent in the country, as was a great part
of the French and British expenditures. Great-
Britain increaſed her public debt, in the ſame time,
£.115,000,000. The whole burden on both fides
appears then to be about £. 130,000,000 fterling.
There is the ſtrongeſt probability, from the rapidi-
ty of the increaſe of the Britiſh debt, which, in
lefs than a century, grew up from nothing to
£.270,000,000, and which is in the preſent year
fwelling to a larger fize, that, without the Ameri-
can war, the Britiſh nation would have been bur-
dened on this day, with at leaft two hundred mil-
lions. Confidering the rate in which the objects
of taxation or means of revenue have increaſed in
this country, there is reafon to believe, that by
this time we ſhould have been thought able to en-
dure a proportion of the ways and means requifite
to fupport that debt, equal to our numbers; this
would have been above one-fourth of the whole,
fifty millions fterling, and is three and one-third
times our prefent debt. It may be faid, we paid
no fuch contribution; and the affertion, by refer-
214
し
​ence to the former public accounts, would appear
on paper to be true: but we were injuriouſly ref-
trained, in regard to the fources of our fupplies,
and the vents of our produce and manufactures; we
were prohibited from the labour-faving modes of
manufacturing; and it is too plain that the prohibi-
tions would have been continued. The impoft
went into the Britiſh treaſury; our lands were fub-
ject to quit-rents, which, belonging to the crown,
have either fallen to the prefent government, or
have been entirely abolifhed. The effects of the
commercial monopoly were prodigious. It may
be ſtrikingly exemplified in the fingle article of tea.
We have already feen that we imported above three
millions of pounds in the year following Auguſt
1789. The medium price of fine and coarfe teas
was above one third of a dollar more favourable to
us in 1790, than in 1774; by which a difference of
a million of dollars, and the whole impoft on the ar-
ticle, are faved to the country.
The facility of naturalization under our prefent
laws, is very much in favour of the introduction of
people, and of arts, manufactures, and capital from
foreign countries. Lands may be held in almoſt
every ſtate, and his occupation or trade may be pur-
fued, immediately on the arrival of an emigrant.
A term much fhorter than that prefcribed by the
Britiſh ftatute before the revolution, entitles him to
all the benefits of citizenfhip. It is impoffible to
eftimate the value of this circumftance to a coun-
try fo well calculated to induce emigration, to fup-
215
port an increaſed population, and to employ capital
and artificers, as the United States.
Lord Sheffield obferves, that the Britiſh eſtabliſh-
ment in this country gave it an advantage of
£370,000 fterling per annum. He fhould not
have omitted to mention, that great part of this
fum was expended on the Floridas, Canada, and
Nova Scotia and it is to be obſerved, that many
of the articles were imported, and not of our pro-
duction or manufacture. The mere confumption
of Britiſh and Iriſh goods by the British and Iriſh
officers, foldiers, and failors, ftationed or em-
ployed here, could not benefit the people of Ame-
rica. It is paft a doubt, that the fales of the
lands alone, which have fallen to the ſtates and
to the general government, have yielded annu-
ally a larger fum by the purchaſes. of citizens
and foreigners. The cuftoms and quit-rents muft
alſo have been a full reimburfment. But it is un-
neceflary to dwell longer on this article; for what
ever may have been the former opinions of many in
the two countries concerning it, the fubject is at this
time fo illumined, and prejudice and mifconcep-
tion are fo completely done away, that no perfons
of judgment and information now believe," the
United States have loft by the feparation from Great-
Britain." It is, however, truc that the American
ftates were in a train of profperity before the revo-
lution, which promifed greater wealth and happi-
neſs than appeared to await the people of any other
country. Lord Sheffield might reaſonably eſtimate
216
their prospects very highly. To infure the expect
ed profperity, however, it was deemed theoretically
right, that the provincial " parliaments" (the execu-
tive head of the empire by himſelf or a repreſentative
and the legiſlative houfes of each) fhould enact all
laws. Though fome conceffions to what was con-
fidered as "the neceffity of the cafe," were frankly
made, limiting the practical extenfion of this found
theory, yet it is plain, that unleſs it could have been
fubftantially adhered to, in the adminiſtration of
the American governments, no reliance could have
been placed on the continuance of that degree of
profperity, which exifted, nor on the attainment of
that height, which circumftances otherwife promif-
ed. The wonderful advancement of Great-Britain
in almoſt every particular, except her finances, dur-
ing the preſent century, and the comparatively
fmall progrefs of Ireland in the fame term, afford
a ftriking example of what might have happened
to this country, and furniſh the beſt reaſons to be
lieve, that the United States (as to mere emolu.
ment) have gained prodigiouſly by commuting for
the great influence and undefined power of two
legiſlative bodies, actually rival and then effentially
foreign, the advantages of governing themſelves in
all respects, according to the prudent dictates of
their own interefts. As to the more important ar-
ticle, of a genuine free conftitution, unexaggerated by
political enthufiafm, and unvitiated by any alloying
ingredients, America may with modeſty affirm, that
fhe is nearer to that primary object of human defire,
than fhe would have been in the poffeffion of the
217
E
moft favourable ground, which her best friends in
Britain ever propofed for her before the feparation
SECTION VI.
I T was intimated, in a preceding part of theſe
papers, that the United States have not fuftained
any lofs in the important article of fhip-building,
which it is propofed now to fhow, in treating of
SHIPS BUILT FOR ORDINARY COMMERCE AND FOR SALE."
This branch was of confiderable value to the
United States before the revolution. Its import-
ance appears greater now, whether it be viewed
with regard to the increafed quantity (for there ap-
pears good reaſon to think it confiderably increaf-
ed) or with refpect to the enhanced value of mer-
chant fhips to an independent and maritime coun-
try. The quantity built in thefe ftates, on the ave
rage of 1769, 1770, and 1771, which are the lateſt
years in lord Sheffield's tables, was 21,726 tons.
An account equally minute, for any recent term,
has not been obtained; but it is known, that in fif-
ty-three cuftom-houfe diftricts (and there are fif
teen more,)29,606 tons of fhipping were built be-
tween the fourth day of March 1790, and the fourth
day of March 1791. This is believed to be, in many
inftances, the tonnage paid for to the carpenters;
and, in thoſe cafes, is lefs than the veffels really
meaſure; as they are a body of workmen, who
generally deal liberally. The remaining fifteen
E e
218
diſtricts will not be found to have built in propor-
tion to the fifty three, whofe actual prefent building
is ftated; but the quantity already known, is con-
fiderably beyond the medium of lord Sheffield's
tables, for 1769 to 1771, above mentioned. In
the cafe of New-York, the whole is known, and is
two hundred and thirty-eight tons more than
the former tables. In New-Jerfey, the building
in fome diftricts is unknown, and the difference is
two hundred and eighty-eight tons in favour of
the late return. In Connecticut, the whole of the
building is ſtated, and it is five hundred and thir-
ty-four tons in favour of the latter term. In Penn-
fylvania and Delaware, the whole is alſo known :
and the late return exceeds the former by 3,900
tons. In North-Carolina, a return of three diftricts
(out of five) only is obtained; and it exceeds the
former average by 925 tons. In the ftate of Rhode-
Iſland, the whole is afcertained, and it exceeds the
former average by about 100 tons. The port of
Baltimore alone, in Maryland, exceeds all the fhip-
building of that ftate, in the greateſt of the three
years, by near 100 per cent. The veffels built in
Connecticut, in the returned year, are 40 per cent.
more than the medium of lord Sheffield's tables ;
and Maſſachuſetts exceeds the former medium by
3,713 tons*.
}
It is true, however, that this bufinefs in one of
the principal building ftates, has fallen off; but
* The general increaſe fince is very conſiderable. A. D. 1793.
$
219
there many of the veffels intended for fale, were ufu-
ally built; and it is admitted by lord Sheffield;
that thoſe were our worft veffels. It is very mate-
rial to the United States, and entitles us to a larg-
er credit in an accurate eftimation of things, that
much more of our naval military ftores, cordage,
twine, nails and fpikes, fail cloth, plumbers' work,
rofin, fpirits of turpentine, linfeed oil, paints, braſs
and copper work, and other lefs important articles
expendǝd in building and arming fhips, are of the
produce and manufacture of the country, than was
the cafe in 1771. It is alfo an important truth,
that much greater numbers of foreign veffels are
repaired, altered, fupplied with cordage and fail
cloth, painted and otherwife wrought upon by our
various workmen, the money for which, may be
fairly carried to the account of this branch.
At the time when lord Sheffield wrote, it was not
known how much the oak of Great-Britain had de-
creaſed. We have already noticed this point;
and it may be further remarked, that it cannot but
decreaſe yet more, as the fupplies of oak from the
Baltic, are often intercepted by the competition of
Pruffia, Sweden, Denmark, Ruffia, Portugal, Hol-
land, Spain and France, all but the firft of which
vigorouſly maintain their naval power; and Pruf-
fia has become very confiderable in private fhips.
Lord Sheffield thinks that the cheapnefs of Ameri-
can fhipping arofe from their being ill-found and
deficient in iron. There is little doubt that the
extreme cheapnefs of thofe built for fale, was oc-
220
cafioned partly by the cauſe he mentions: but the
beſt double-deck or galley-built fhips, with live-cak
lower timbers, and red-cedar top-timbers, with
white-oak plank on their bottoms, and either that
timber or yellow pine for their top-fides, can be
built and fitted for taking in a cargo, at thirty-four
dollars, or £.7 13s. fterling per ton; and as good a
veffel cannot be procured in Great Britain, France
or Holland, under fifty-five to fixty dollars.*
As the building of coafting and fishing veffels,
boats in new forms for our improving inland naviga-
tion,veffels on various conftructions for public fer-
vice, and for a very diverfified foreign trade, will not
only keep the art of fhip-building at its prefent height,
but will advance it in all refpects, it appears to be
very doubtful, whether we fhould anxioufly defire
to ſupply foreigners with fuch cheap means of ri-
valling us in the carrying trade and fisheries. Our
* The
The papers of the Britiſh fociety for naval architecture ſhew,
that fhips fit for the East-India fervice are advanced in their coſt,
fince 1771, forty fhillings fterling, nearly equal to nine dollars,
per ton.-that timber is confiderably diminiſhed in quantity, and
enhanced in value, in the last twenty years-that the body of work-
ing fhipwrights, in 1789, were much inferior to thoſe of twenty
years back-and that the late acts of parliament reſpecting regif-
ters of ſhips and other regulations intended to increaſe Britiſh ſhip-
building, had not operated in their favour. Profitable employment
for very cxpensive and numerous fhips cannot be created and extended
by a mere legiſlative fiat. Beyond a certain degree it cannot be
obtained unleſs the reft of the world neglect thofe means which
Great-Britain purfues to increaſe and maintain her navigation, fo-
reign trade, and manufactures.
221
拳
​ſhip and boat yards are not confined to a ſpot, but
indeed are more diffuſed than formerly. There is
no ftate whoſe citizens do not purfue the buſineſs,
and it is commenced upon the western waters. Be-
fore the revolution, above half our veffels were
paid for by a barter of credit goods for the labour
and ſkill of the artificer; inftead of which he now
generally receives weekly payments in folid coin.
66 THAT THE IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED
STATES WILL CONTINUE FOR A LONG TIME THE SAME.
دو
This will be found on examination very erro-
neous. Pot and pearl afhes are fhipped in an in-
creaſed ratio of nineteen to four. The American
merchants were once great exporters of iron,
hemp, raw hides, and other articles, which they
now import in large quantities. The importations
of coarſe linens, paper, hats, fhoes, ſteel, nails, car-
riages, malt liquors, and many other articles are con-
fiderably reduced. Should impediments be thrown
in the way
of our fisheries, fhipping and foreign com-
merce, there can be no doubt that policy, intereft
and feeling will prompt us to purſue with decifion
and ardour the object of manufactures, which will
give employment to our own capital, and that, which
we may derive from foreigners. It must be mani-
feft, for example, that if we are to receive rum in
foreign bottoms, and to be refufed the tranfpor-
tation of flour and grain, which are wanted
from us in return, we fhall not long continue to
ufe foreign fpirits. Our brewers already fupply us
P
-222
with more beer than we confume. No more than
70,000 gallons and 17,500 dozen bottles have been
imported in an entire year, ending in Auguft 1790,
three times which quantity is made with eaſe, by a
fingle brewery, on a very modeate fcale. This branch
has increaſed and flouriſhed in the laft two years, and
an exportation greater than the importation above
ftated, has certainly taken place. The home-made
diftilled fpirits are already more than twice-as great.
in quantity, as the fpirits imported. If our tobacco
fhips are excluded from France, they will not bring
us brandies; and the grain, that will be raiſed on
our tobacco lands, will yield fpirituous and malt li-
quors to enable us to relinquifh foreign brandy.
Should a confiderable part of our capital be forced
out of navigation and foreign trade, the govern-
ment, without impofing generally heavy protecting
duties, burdenfome to the nation, may give em-
ployment for the money, by holding out effectual
encouragement to one branch of manufactures at a
time. If it be felected with judgment--if the uſe
of manual labour be confined within as narrow.
limits as poffible-if labour-faving machines be
ufed-if the raw articles it works on, be made free
of impoft duty-if the growth of them be encou-
raged at home-if a convenient progreffive duty
be impofed, there can be little doubt of fuccefs.
The example of a well-arranged, and fortunate at-
tempt once fet, others will naturally follow; and
nations, foine of whofe politicians now grudgingly
perceive them to take from us the food they are
unable to raiſe, and who treat as a favour the recep-
A
223
tion of our precious raw materials, may difcover,
when it will be too late, the evils induced by an
over-driven fpirit of monopoly *.
k
J
THE CAPACITY OF THE UNITED STATES TO SUPPLY EU-
ROPE WITH GRAIN AND FLOUR."
A recent publication of lord Sheffield's, upon the
fubject of the Britiſh corn trade, has lately appear-
ed in this country.
As in "the obfervations on
our commerce," fo in this pamphlet, he endea-
vours to fhow fallacy in all fuch ideas as favour the
importance of the United States to Great-Britain.
As this examination has been neceffarily made with
* After a very careful eftimate of a number of the principal
branches of American manufacture, the writer of this paper does
not heſitate to affirm, that the fhoes and boots, fadlery and other
articles of leather, gunpowder, fnuff, paper and paper hangings,
playing cards, pafteboards, books, linen, cotton, and woolen cloths,
hoſiery, thread, hats, wool and cotton cards, fet work and watches,
manufactures of gold, filver, iron, fteel, brafs, lead, pewter, and
copper, cordage, twine, fail-cloth, carriages of all kinds, malt li-
quors, new fhips and boats, leathern gloves and breeches, parch-
ment, glue, cabinet wares, linfeed oil, foap, candles, potah, difil-
led fpirits, drugs and chemical preparations, and earthen ware,
made in the year laft paft, exceed in value the manufactured goods,
which Great Britain ſhipped in the fame term, to all foreign nations,
but the United States. It will be proper to obferve in this place,
that chocolate, cheefe, wafers, ftarch, hair powder, ivory and horn
wares, whips, millenary, ftays, wind for chairs, corn fans, wheel-
barrows, fpirits of turpentine, paints, brufhes, glafs wares, bricks,
ſtone and marble wares, repairs of veffels, muftard, loaf fugar,
falt, the great article of making up apparel, coopers' wares, and
other things of the nature of manufactures, were not included in
the eſtimate above mentioned.
224
L
little adherence to form or order, and as the pro-
duction and commerce of grain, conftitute, without
any exception, the most valuable and moft com-
manding of our advantages, it will not be impro-
per, to take fome notice of this new attempt of his
lordship's, to diffeminate erroneous information
and opinions on American affairs.
According to the lateſt of his tables, the Ameri-
can provinces, in 1770, exported but 46,000 tons
of bread, flour, and meal, 578,349 bufhels of In-
dian corn, 24,859 bushels of oats, and 851,240
bufhels of wheat: and he defires it to be believed,
that the United States will not be able, in this par-
ticular, to exceed their exportations before the re-
volution. The return of exports*, fo often men-
tioned, contains the following articles.—
724,623 barrels of flour,
of bread, weighing 77,000 tons.
of meal,
1,124,458 bufhels of wheat,
75,667 do.
99,975 do.
21,765 do.
2,102,137 do.
98,842 do.
7,562 do.
38,752 do.
of rye,---(of which article none
was exported in 1770.)
of Indian corn.
of oats,
of buckwheat, (of which alſo
none was exported in 1770.)
of peas and beans, (of which alfo
none was exported in 1770.)
* See the return of exports ending 30th September, 1792. Alfo
that ending 30th September, 1793.
225
It appears, then, that on comparing the acknow-
ledged exports of bread and flour, in 1770, with
thoſe of the prefent time, a difference of 50 per
cent. is ſhown in favour of our agriculture, and
that we ſhip near four times the quantity of Indian
corn, and one-third more of wheat, befides the
new articles of beans, peas, buck-wheat and rye.
The tobacco, exported in the above term, was at
the rate of 36 per cent. per annum more than be-
fore the revolution, befides the difference in the
quantity now manufactured. Many circumftances
are combining to turn the attention of the planters
of this article in the grain ftates, towards wheat,
barley, oats, and Indian corn. This is not a new
idea in American farming; for although wheat was
much lower before the revolution than it now is,
the cultivation of tobacco in Virginia and Mary-
land, was actually declining. The more fouthern
ſtates had not then attempted the production of this
article to any confiderable extent. The lands,
which produced the above extra quantity of to-
bacco, would have yielded 800,000 bushels of
wheat; the labour would have produced more;
and fuppofing that half the foil and induſtry, which
were applied to tobacco in 1789, fhould be appro-
priated to grain, an addition of 1,400,000 bufhels
might be made to our productions of that article.
To fupply the tobacco, fome of the rich lands of
the more fouthern ftates might be employed in its
cultivation. But lord Sheffield tells the people of
Britain with great gravity, that only the weſtern
parts of Connecticut, and the ftates of New-York,
Ff
226
New-Jerſey, Delaware, Pennſylvania, Maryland and
Virginia, are capable of yielding wheat. He fhould
have added, that thofe ftates contain twice as much
land as the kingdoms of Great-Britain and Ireland,
thoſe iſlands being computed at less than 100,000
fquare miles by their own geographers. The ftates
of New-Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, together
with three-fifths of Pennſylvania, three-fifths of
New-York, and about one half of Virginia, all
which lie fufficiently near to naturally navigable
water, to raiſe grain for exportation, contain above
130,000 fquare miles. Kentucky, North-Carolina,
and the weſtern parts of South-Carolina and Geor-
gia, and Vermont, will alfo add confiderably to
our exports of grain, when mills, canals, &c. fhall
encourage the growth and facilitate the tranſporta-
tion. But the ſtate of population is the point to
which candour and judgment ought to have led a.
political economiſt to advert. He fhould have re-
flected, that the United States, whofe territory is
about 1,000,000 of fquare miles, are not yet culti-
vated and inhabited, by more than 4,000,000 peo-
ple*; that Great-Britain and Ireland, with about a
tenth of the land (or 100,000 fquare miles) have
twice the agricultural population; and that the pro-
ductive powers of this country, (which appears to
have doubled its people in 25 years, though injur-
ed by eight years of a deſtructive war,) are a mean
of human fuftenance, to which the more prudent
* The actual number of the inhabitants of the United States
appears to be from 3,900,000 to 4,000,000. See appendix, pa-
per A. ´A. D. 1791.
227
nations of Europe will, and to which all, in the time
of need, muft have recourfe. If their govern-
ments prevent it, many of their manufacturers and
mechanics at leaſt muſt flee from them. The fu-
preme law of neceffity will have its due operation,
and people, whofe means are rendered, by injudi-
cious regulations, unequal to their wants will cer-
tainly refort to thofe fcenes where cheaper food
and better wages infure them relief.
It is manifeſt that the great increaſe of our po-
pulation has been attended with a very confiderable
addition to our exports of eatables. The ftate-
ment made in the beginning of the obfervations,
on this article, is a proof of it. Befides this, our
ſhipments of beef and pork,* are above two and
a half times greater than in 1770, of butter four
times, of cheeſe two and a half times, of potatoes
four times, and of rice nearly as great. Add to
this, that we have almoft put an end to the impor-
tation of malt liquors, (a manufacture from grain,)
and that we fhip as much of them as we import—
that we have diminiſhed our importation of diftil-
led fpirits, by 1,000,000 of gallons, fince we loft
the importation of Britiſh rum in our own veffels
(though our population is more numerous by
1,500,000 of perfons) which has occafioned the
diftillation of grain liquors to the amount probably
of 4,000,000 of gallons, requiring near 2,000,000
bufhels of grain, as the raw materials.
* They were five times as great in 1792
*
228
Our continuing to export fo large quantities of
grain and flour, notwithſtanding this great confump-
tion of rye, barley, oats, and even wheat in diftill-
ing and brewing, is a ftrong proof of our raifing
much more than in former times. But it is not to be
forgotten, that confiderable quantities are confum-
ed by our manufacturers, who are rapidly increaf-
ing. It is extremely difficult to afcertain the pro-
portion in which theſe valuable citizens contribute
to the population of our towns. Their numbers in
the city of Philadelphia may affift to furnifh fome
ground for a reaſonable eftimate. The filver.
fmiths, brewers, diftillers, fhip-carpenters, cabinet-
makers, cordwainers, tallow-chandlers, foap-boil-
ers, white and blackſmiths, fteel-makers, turners,
braziers, coachmakers, copperfmiths, hatters, tai-
lors, weavers, dyers, leather breeches makers, glo-
vers, and fuch other perfons as may be properly
claffed under the head of manufacturers (exclufive-
ly of houſe-carpenters, maſons, painters, victual-
lers, bakers, barbers, and others, who cannot be
correctly denominated fo) appear to be about
2,200 perfons. The city and fuburbs being found
to contain near 43,000 men, women, and children,
and it being generally fuppofed, that the adult
males are about one-fifth of the whole number, it
would appear, that of the 8,600 adult males, con-
tained in Philadelphia, above one-fourth are ma-
nufacturers, and conſequently, that of the eatables,
and home-made drinkables, confumed in that
town, above one-fourth are required for their uſe
and that of their wives, children, journeymen, ap-
229
prentices, and fervants: and an addition for the grain
confumed by their horfes and cows may
be fairly
made. This ftate of things, it is believed, is ex-
ceeded by many of the towns in the eaſtern ſtates,
and in ſome interior fituations, where it is mani-
feft that fewer are employed in the learned profef-
fions, and foreign commerce, and not fo many live
upon their incomes.
*
It will not be afferted, that the United States
are able to feed all the nations of Europe at the
fame time, nor that they afford any promife
of fo extenſive a capacity in future. Neither are
fuch ideas conveyed by the repreſentation of the
committee of the British privy council, on which
lord Sheffield fo feelingly animadverts. They
reprefent, as the refult of a careful and deliberate
enquiry, their thorough conviction, that the coun-
tries of Europe, taken collectively, do not pro-
duce, in ordinary years, an aggregate quantity of
grain, larger than what appears requifite for the
confumption of their inhabitants: and they pro-
ceed to obferve, that in the event of a failure of
crops, a "fupply can only be had from America." The
reaſonable meaning of their reprefentation is, that
as Europe is an extenfive and populous region,
making great, conftant, and inevitable demands for
food, producing in ordinary ſeaſons, that is, uſual-
ly, a mere competent fupply, but no excefs, and as it is
* Several inland towns in Pennſylvania, and Wincheſter, in
Virginia, have been aſcertained to exceed the city of Philadelqhia,
in the proportion of manufacturers.
230
liable to partial and even general failures of crops,
it muſt, in the event of one of thoſe partial or ge-
neral misfortunes, look to fome other quarter of
the world for relief. With the exception of Bar-
bary, whoſe capacity to fupply appears to be much
more limited than ours, no other country than
America could prefent itſelf to the committee.
Great allowances fhould have been made for thoſe
gentlemen, by lord Sheffield, admitting, for a mo-
ment, that they were wrong, as it appears proba-
ble they may have been mifled by feveral parts
of his treatife on our commerce, which really
tend to confirm their doctrine. In that publi-
cation, under the head of wheat and flour, he
obferves, "that Canada, Nova-Scotia, and
the American States are likely to have moſt of the
corn trade which England had." Our fupplies to
Nova Scotia have been ſtated; and as they are ad-
mitted from us only when neceffity requires them, the
exifting licenſe of the governor of that province to
introduce American flour, grain, and live ſtock
through the whole of the fummer (and indeed from
May to November) when the navigation of Canada
is open, will anfwer our enquiries about the capaci-
ty of thoſe provinces to take away the corn trade
from England. Under the ſame head, and on the
following page, he further fays, "the American
ftates were more than competitors with us for the
wheat trade; they had for fome years engroffed
nearly the whole of what we had; and it is compu-
ted, upon an average of five years, they had recei-
ved from Spain and Portugal upwards of £.320,000
231
ferling, per annum, for that grain." It will fure-
ly be deemed very reaſonable in the committee to
ſuppoſe that the United Sates, which were faid
to have fuppliéd the two kingdoms of Spain and
Portugal, for five fucceffive years, with wheat alone
to the amount of £.320,000 fterling, could have
furniſhed to Great Britain the lefs fum of £.291,000
fterling, in all kinds of grain and flour, which
they have paid to foreign nations for twenty years
paſt. Under the head of " ſhips built for ſale,"
lord Sheffield again confirms the ideas of the com-
mittee, by faying, in very handfome and forcible
language," America had robbed us, at leaft for a
time, of a corn trade, that fome time ago brought
in to us as much as almoft any article of export,"
As his lordſhip confiders an honeſt competition of
fellow citizens in the light of robbery, the reafona-
bleness of his other conceptions, will, no doubt, be
duly examined.
Lord Sheffield leads to a material error, affect-
ing the juſt eſtimation of our corn trade, when he
ſtates tobacco to be the principal article of Ameri-
can commerce. It appears, by the return of the
treaſury, that flour is the most valuable and (ex-
cluſively of the connected articles of bread, wheat
and other grain) it exceeded tobacco by a quarter
of a million of dollars. Wheat (including the
commodities made of it) is one-third more valua-
ble than tobacco; and as this laft production ap-
pears to have been advanced in quantity, 36 per
232
cent. on a compariſon with the exportation of the
year 1770, when lord Sheffield ftates it to have
been our first, the increaſed importance of wheat
is manifefted.*
If we turn our eyes from Great-Britain to other
countries, the American grain trade does not ap-
pear to be lefs interefting to Europe and her colo-
nies. Spain, Portugal, the wine iflands, the Ba-
hamas, Bermuda, the fugar colonies, the northern
Britiſh colonies, and the foreign fifheries, regular-
ly demand from us fome of the various articles,
which it comprehends. The cultivation of the vine,
the advancement of their colonies, the extenfion
of commerce, and the increaſe of the manufactures
of France, which two laft are to be expected in
confequence of the revolution in that kingdom,
render it highly probable that they will not be able
to do without fupplies from other countries. It is the
opinion of one of their beſt writers,† that they do
not ordinarily export more than one-fifteenth of
their crop. Should any accident-(the introduction
of Britiſh and Dutch manufacturers, who are accuf-
tomed to beer, for example)-lead them into brew-
eries, than which nothing is more poffible, that
fmall proportion of furplus would be quickly en-
groffed. There is an highly interefting idea, on
this point, which has been recently ſtarted, and
which may attract the attention of their practical
*
See exports of 1792 and 1793.
+ Necker.
233
politicians: the opinion referred to is, that every
country which manufactures largely, is in a fitua-
tion of confiderably lefs danger of want, if its peo-
ple ordinarily uſe drinks made from grain; be-
caufe the dreadful confequences of famine may be
avoided with certainty and eafe, by converting to
the uſe of food, the grain which will be regularly
procured from agriculture or importation, to fup-
ply the demands of the brewers and diftillers. The
Dutch have been always unable to raiſe more than
a fmall proportion of their bread-ftuff and the mo-
dern eſtimates of their population countenance the
prefumption of a large increaſe. They are, more-
over, great brewers and diftillers from grain: and
their fugar colonies, on the fouthern main, have
wonderfully advanced. Thefe fymptoms of new
demand, on the part of the European nations,
together with the certain requifitions of grain
arifing from the univerfal increaſe of manufac-
tures and attention to foreign trade, are ac-
companied by fome important circumſtances,
which prevent a proportionate production of that
indifpenfible neceffary. The growth of private
wealth in many parts of Europe, particularly
in Britain, the confequent increaſe of horfes for
equipages and other purpoſes of pleaſure, the lay-
ing out of park grounds, and the diverfion of lands
from the lefs profitable production of grain to that
of grafs, the declenfion of agriculture in Poland,
by reafon of the extreme badnefs of their internal
arrangements, the probable increaſe of Polish manu-
factures, fhould they become free, the continual
G g/
234
efforts of the European manufacturers to draw away
the labourers of the farmers, the greater prevalence
of emigration to their colonies and other countries.
among the cultivators, than among the manufactu-
rers, owing to the wretched fituation of the agri-
cultural poor in countries, where the high value of
land renders it in effect a monopoly, and the pre-
fent univerfal attention to political reformation,
which for a time interrupts agriculture, are among
the caufes here contemplated.
But it is not unfair to aſk, from what fource are
the maritime countries of Europe to be fupplied,
in the event of a failure of the crops of one or more
of them, in fo great a degree as from the United
States? The value of grain, flour, meal, and
bread, from the United States greatly exceeds that
of the fame articles from the kingdom of Naples
and its connected ifland of Sicily, which have been
confidered as the granary of the Mediterranean.
Poland, once termed the granary of Europe, is lefs
extenſive including (Lithuania) than the country of
the United States, which furniſhes grain for Europe.
Its exports are not aſcertained: but there appear
ftrong prefumptions, that it does not fhip through
Dantzick and Elbing, half as great a value of grain,
and the articles made of grain, as the United States.
Britain, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and lately Flan-
ders, are obliged to import. Ruffia is faid to have
fhipped in 1787, wheat and rye to the amount of near
1,000,000 of bufhels, but imports grain liquors ;
and manufactures are growing, and wars are fre-
235
quent in that kingdom. Sweden imports very
large quantities of rye, and fhips no grain. That
article is much the first among the imports of Den-
mark and Norway. Pruffia produces much corn,
and exports fome: but manufactures are greatly
advanced in that kingdom; and the home confump-
tion of grain will probably equal the production, in
a few years. In ſhort, a careful and impartial ſur-
vey of Europe. will confirm the opinion of the
committee of the privy council, that the productions
of grain in that quarter of the world, are not gene-
rally ſpeaking, more than equal to the confumption
of its inhabitants. A moment's recollection will re-
mind us that even thofe countries which do not com-
monly import grain, are, upon the occurrence of
ſmall diſappointments, obliged to feek it from Ame-
rica, and other foreign ſtates; that fome parts of
Europe conftantly import from us in large quanti-
ties; that all of them fteadily, or occafionally, di-
rectly, or indirectly, fupply their colonies from
hence; that fince the manufactures of Great-Bri-
tain have been fo far extended, as to employ fix
elevenths of her people, and fince the extenfion of
her manufacture of grain liquors in particular, her
dependence for a portion of her bread upon fo-
reign nations, is proved to be unavoidable, by the
moft fettled maxims of her own political economifts;
that her real deficiency is the irremovable want of
the requifite proportion of agriculturalifts; and fi-
nally, that even in the prefent ftate of our popula-
tion, the United States actually contribute much
more to the ſupply of the nations of Europe and
236
their colonies, with grain, bread, and flour, than
any two, perhaps any three countries in the world;
and that their capacity to enlarge that fupply, is
fteadily and rapidly increafing.
This fubject has been dwelt upon the longer
from its high importance to the United States, and
to the general happineſs of mankind; and from the
new proofs which lord Sheffield has given of a parti-
cular indifpofition, that Britain fhould appear to rely
on the United States, even in the ſmalleſt de-
gree, though we give a greater fupport to her
manufacturers and ſhipping than any two other fo-
reign nations. It is feared, that nothing benefici-
al can be expected between the two countries, if
the errors and prejudices of fo profeffed a champi-
on againſt us, have not a very cautious hearing.
It will not be deemed unreafonable or improper,
to confider in that light a writer, who, in his firſt
book, labours to fhow, that the production and com-
merce of grain are bad objects of attention to the
American ftates, becaufe (as he alleges) Europe
feldom wants it; and who, in his fecond book,
takes equal pains to prove, that America eannot
raiſe grain for the wants even of Great-Britain it-
felf, when he finds it eſtabliſhed on the higheſt Bri-
tifh authority, that their own kingdom and thoſe of
other nations in Europe, can only look to America
for the deficiency of fupply, which the increaſe of
manufactures, of people, of grafs and pafturage, of
grain liquors, and the uncertainty of ſeaſons, in one
or another of them, is conftantly producing. He
237
will prove a bad politician, and a very bad Britiſh
patriot, who fhall animate against the manufactures
of Great-Britain, the body of the American planters
and farmers, by promoting a fevere fyftem, which
ſhall debar them of a chance of making returns for
an immenfe demand of Britiſh fabrics, in the un-
manufactured productions of their foil and labour.
But independent of the danger to Britain, from lift-
ening at this time, to fo profeffed an anti-American,
a wife nation will not give too much attention to a
writer, whofe ardent fpirit of monopoly leads him
to attempt to circumvent the fame foreign nation,
in her purſuits of commerce-of manufactures-
and even of her great, beft bufinefs, the tillage of
a various and productive foil. If the policy of
England ought to be a dereliction of fome parts of
her fyftem of internal or external commerce in fa-
vour of agriculture, let her politicians firmly main-
tain the doctrine. America will approve their
patriotifm. But in doing this, it furely is not ne-
ceffary to depreciate the largeſt purchaſers of thoſe
manufactures, on which the exiftence of more than
half their people depends. It may be well to re-
flect too that the induſtry and foil, which foreign
corn laws may tend to deprive of their accuftomed
object, can be applied to the production of hemp,
flax, wool, cotton, leather, and iron, or their pre-
paration in the form of fabrics to fubftitute for
theirs. It is happy for the United States, that when-
ever they are injured in the lofs of a vent for any
portion of a particular production, they can create
a market for it by checking the introduction of
238
fome connected foreign commodity, and making a
fuccedaneum for it at home. See paper S.
Though it would not be difficult, in purſuing,
the examination of lord Sheffield's obfervations, to
adduce many more proofs, that his facts are often
erroneous, and his obfervations frequently unjuſt;
and that his predictions have not been verified,
but often contradicted by experience, the fubject
will not be further purfued. It is confided, that
enough has been ſaid, to induce an attentive reviſion
of his book. This, it is believed, will be fufficient to
lead the British nation to look in future to other
ſources of information. It may be obſerved, in ex-
tenuation of his lordfhip's errors, that the circum-
ftances of the United States are confiderably alter-
ed fince he wrote: but this will not juftfy the con-
fidence of his predictions, nor apologize for the
wild errors of them; and it may not improperly be
again remarked to thofe, who are convinced
of this great and happy change in our fitua-
tion, fince the year 1784, that a conduct
the part of foreigners, which might have been
deemed prudent when our political horizon was
darkly clouded, would be unwife now, and might
be dangerous to fome of their interefts hereafter.
Of this lord Sheffield's late book proves him to be
not duly fenfible.
on
The United States have many features of natu-
ral ſtrength, and many advantages from their local
239
pofition. The friends of other forms of govern-
ment will admit, that they have exhibited a high-
ly improved example of a republic, and that they
have practifed upon the plan, fince it was form-
ed, though not a very long time, with extraor-
dinary fuccefs. They have no occafion to make
war for territory; and they are confiderably re-
moved from the danger of foreign enterpriſes aginſt
them. Their productions are remarkably diverfi-
fied, and confequently adapted to various purpo-
fes and uſes, and are, with a few exceptions, either
neceffaries of life, or articles of fuch general de-
mand and confumption, as to be nearly as much
fought. Having been recently a part of an intelli-
gent and enterprifing commercial nation, and hav-
ing a very extenſive fea-coaft, the citizens of Ame-
rica have been infenfibly led to furvey all the re-
gions of foreign commerce, and in paffing through
moſt of them, have manifefted, fince the refor-
mation of their political fyftem, every talent re-
quifite for the honourable and lucrative purſuit of
trade. The redundant ſtate of private wealth in
feveral foreign nations, promifes every addition
to our active capital, that occafion can require, if
we preferve the honeft fpirit with which the reforms
of the general and ftate governments have been
lately made, and the wifdom with which they have
been adminiſtered. The fulnefs of the European
population, and the degree in which every walk,
commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural, is
crouded there, afford reafon to expect the fteady
240
increaſe of our people.* Civil and religious liber-
ty, now fettled on rational and tried principles,
certify an exemption from all real oppreffion.
Being difpofed to promote the freedom of
commerce, the United States would probably have
made no regulations, but with a view to revenue,
had they not met in almoſt every country, duties
and reftrictions in their home trade, and charges,
prohibitions and excluſions, in their colonial trade.
But although fome nations will not permit us to
ſhip them certain of our articles, others withhold
from us certain of theirs, and others impede, abfo-
lutely or in effect, the introduction of our own
goods in our own bottoms, yet we have hitherto
contented ourſelves with a fmall addition to the
rates of our tariff, and to the tonnage on fhips,
both together not exceeding £. 87,000, fterling, on
all foreign nations taken together. It will not be
alleged, that this fum will bear a ferious compari-
fon with the injuries our agriculture, manufactures
and commerce fuftain from ſeveral of the principal
European powers.
To obtain relief by arrangements as beneficial
to foreign ftates as to ourfelves, will probably be
the liberal aim of our government. It is confident-
ly expected, that mutual benefits will create and
cement a ſtrong and lafting friendſhip in the cafe
* Almoſt every comfortable country in Europe, as to the ftate
of its population, is arrived at an abfolute plethora.
241
of thole nations with which fuch arrangements
fhall be formed; and with regard to others, the
wifdom of the legislature, no doubt, will be fedu-
louſly exerciſed either temperately to meet them
with the requifite policy and firmnefs, or to trans-
fer from their hands, to thofe of more equitable
nations, the unrequited benefits they receive from
us-or to derive from our own fkill, capital, cre-
dit, and induſtry, the accomodations and ſupplies
which they have heretofore furniſhed upon terms
of great advantage to themfelves, but which have
been inadequately reciprocated to the United
States.
SECTION VII.
CONTAINING A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL RESTRICTIONS,
IMPOSITIONS AND PROHIBITIONS SUSTAINED BY
THE
UNITED STATES, IN THEIR TRADE WITH THE BRITISH
DOMINIONS, AND OF THOSE SUSTAINED BY GREAT-BRI-
TAIN IN HER TRADE WITH THE DOMINIONS OF THE
UNITED STATES: ALSO SOME REMARKS ON CERTAIN
PREVALENT TOPICS, RELATIVE TO THE GENERAL
NESS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES.
BUSI
THE intention of the foregoing examination
being folely the correction of error in the ftatement
of facts, and in the opinions or conclufions deduced
from them, it has appeared on confideration, not
to be improper to purſue the fubject with the fame
views, a little further. An idea, that the balance
of favour or indulgence is received by the United
States, frequently appears in the publications, and
Hh
242
is faid to prevail in the minds of perfons of weight
and influence in Great-Britain. It may not there-
fore be uſeleſs to bring up to view the principal
facts, relative to the queftion of reciprocity of com-
mercial regulation. An attempt will be made to
throw this ſtatement into the form of a table, as it
will be the more clear and impreffive.
GREAT-BRITAIN
Prohibits
American veffels
from entering into the ports of
ſeveral parts of her dominions,
viz. the Weſt-Indies, Canada,
Nova-Scotia, New-Brunfwick,
Newfoundland, Cape Breton,
Hudson's Bay, Honduras Bay,
and her Eaft-India fpice market.
She impoſes double light mo-
ney on American veffels in moſt
of her ports.
She prohibits the navigat-
ing, ad libitum, of American
veffels, by native or other fea-
men.
She prohibits the employment
of American-built fhips by her
own citizens, in many branches
of trade, upon any terms.
She charges a duty on Ame-
rican fail cloth, made up in the
United States for British fhips.
THE UNITED STATES
Admit Britiſh veffels into all
their ports, fubject to a tonnage
duty of 44 cents, or 24 ſterling
pence, more than American
veffels, and an addition of one
tenth to the amount of the im-
poft accruing on their cargoes.
They do not impofe extra light
money on Britiſh veffels in any
of their ports.
They admit the navigating of
Britiſh veffels by native or other
feamen, ad libitum.
They admit the employment
of British-built fhips by their
own citizens, in every branch of
trade upon the terms of 44 cents
extra per ton, and one tenth ex-
tra on the impoft arifing from
their cargoes.
They do not charge a duty
on Britiſh fail-cloth, made up
in Great-Britain for American
ſhips.
243
GREAT-BRITAIN.
She prohibits the importation
of goods from feveral parts of
her dominions into others, in
American veffels, upon any
terms.
She prohibits the importation
of goods into Great-Britain, by
American veffels from any other
country than the U. S.
She prohibits the importation
into Great-Britain from the
United States, by American vef-
fels, of all goods not produced by
the United States.
She prohibits the importation
of any goods previously brought
into the United States, from the
faid ftates into Great-Britain,
even in Britiſh veffels.
She prohibits the exportation
of feveral articles from Great-
Britain to the United States.
She lays duties of various
rates upon the exportation of
articles to the United
many
States.
She prohibits the importation
of all manufactures from the
United States, into her European
dominions, and her colonies, un-
lefs it be fome very fimple pre-
parations, and decoctions, requi-
fite to her navy, ſhipping and
manufactures.
She impofes very confiderable.
duties upon fome of the agricul-
THE UNITED STATES.
They admit the importation
of goods from any part of their
dominions into another, in Bri-
tiſh veffels, on the terms of 44
cents per ton extra on the veffel.
They admit the importation
of goods into the United States,
in Britiſh veffels, from every
country, whatever.
They do not prohibit the im-
portation into the United States
from Great-Britain, by Britiſh
veffels, of any goods not produc-
ed by Great-Britain.
They do not prohibit the im-
portation of any goods previ
ously brought into Great-Britain,
from that kingdom into the
United States, in either Britiſh
or American bottoms.
They do not prohibit the ex-
portation of any article from the
United States to Great-Britain.
They do not lay a duty on
the exportation of any article.
whatever to Great-Britain.
They do not prohibit the im-
portation of any manufacture
whatever from Great-Britain.
They impofe moderate duties.
(lower than any other foreign
244
GREAT-BRITAIN.
tural productions of the United
States, and excludes others by
duties equal to their value.
She prohibits for confiderable
terms of time, ſome of the prin-
cipal agricultural productions of
the United States, and others at
all times.
It is underſtood that by treaty
fhe grants fome favours, which
are not extended to the United
States.
She prohibits the importation
of fome American articles, in
American hips, or any but
Britiſh fhips, into her European
dominions.
She does not permit an Ame-
rican citizen to import goods in-
to fome of her dominions, and
to fell them there even in Britiſh
veffels. In other parts of her
dominions, he lays an extra tax
on him, or his fales.
She impofes heavy duties on
certain articles of the produce
of the American fisheries, and
infupportable duties on others,
in fome parts of her dominions :
and in other parts, fhe prohibits
their importation.
She prohibits the confumption
THE UNITED STATES.
nation by 2 3, and 4 for one)
on the produce and manufactures
of Great-Britain, except in a v
in a very
few inftances, and exclude ſcarce-
ly any articles by duties equal to
their value.
They prohibit none of the
agricultural productions of Great.
Britain or her dominions.
They treat Great-Britain as
favourably as any nation what-
ever, as to fhips, imports, and
exports, and in all other re-
ſpects.
They do not prohibit the im-
portation of any Britiſh article
in Britiſh veffels or any but A-
merican veffels.
They permit a Britiſh citizen
to import goods into all their
ports, in any veffels, and to fell
them there without any extra
tax on him, or his fales.
They impofe only five per
cent. on the produce of the Bri-
tifh fifherics (which duty is
drawn back on exportation) and
admit every article derived from
them.
They do not prohibit the con-
of fome American articles, of fumption of any British article
245
GREAT-BRITAIN.
THE UNITED STATES.
which the permits the importa- whatever.
tion.
She prohibits the importation.
of American articles from fo-
reign countries into the Britiſh
dominions, even in her own fhips.
They do not prohibit the im-
portation of Britiſh articles from
foreign countries in any fhips.
In detailing the regulations of foreign nations,
fo various and complex as thofe of Great-Britain,
it is not eafy to be correct. The above ſtatement,
however, is fincerely believed to contain the fub-
ftance of the exifting Britiſh reſtrictions, prohibi-
tions and impofitons, upon commerce, fo far as
they have any relation to the poffible or actual in-
tercourfe with the United States. Thofe which
are to be found in the acts of Congreſs, or which
refult from them, are few, and are alſo intended to
be correctly given in the table. On a review of
the whole of theſe regulations, it will be perceiv-
ed, that thofe of the United States are confiderably
more favourable to the ſubjects of the Britiſh crown,
and their manufactures, produce and navigation,than
thofe of Great Britain are to the correfponding in-
terefts of the citizens of the United States. It has
appeared neceffary to make a ftatement in detail and
by a comparative contraft, in order that we might
render manifeft the abfolute and important truth,
that the commercial impediments to Great-Britain
in the laws of the United States, are much lefs
confiderable than thofe in the acts of the Britiſh
parliament are to the United States. Had this
246
ftatement been confined to the island of Great-Bri-
tain alone, on the one part, and our dominions at
large, on the other, it would have been found,
that our obſtructions to British commerce are far
lels than thoſe which Britain throws in the way of
the commerce of the United States. But it is juft
and natural for us, in confidering a national fub-
ject, to take into our eſtimation the whole of the
territories of the British crown, and the whole po-
pulation, trade, manufactures, and productions
thereof, more eſpecially as it is plain, that all con-
fiderations, relative to the American fide, are ex-
tended to our whole territory and all its apperte-
nances and relative circumftances. Should Great-
Britain prove, that exceptions refpecting colonies
are as reaſonable on her part, as they are fafhion-
able, ftill it remains to be counterbalanced, that
no fuch exceptions are made by us; for we treat
the veffels, produce and citizens of the colonies, as
we treat thoſe of Britain. If it is politic and right,
that the parliament of Great-Britain fhould exclude
us from their colonial trade, then Great-Britain
ought not to complain of any countervailing regu-
lations, which may exclude her from fome equiva-
lent advantage in our trade: and fo in regard to
any other country. Should it be proved, that all
nations have interdicted their colonial trade to fo-
reigners, it will be no lefs eafy to fhow, that the
withholding of any kind of advantage from a fo-
reign nation, by reafon of the particular circum-
ſtances of the reſtricting party, has always been
deemed a juftification for fome correſponding ref-
247
triction on the part of the country fuffering. But
it cannot be proved, that all nations prohibit the
participation in their colonial trade to foreigners.
The French, the Swedes, the Danes, and the
Dutch govern themſelves differently from Britain,
and from one another. The interdicting rule is
not univerfal. It cannot be rendered permanent,
uniform, or precife. It muft, therefore, be liable, like
other commercial objects, to legislative difcretion
and treaty, and must be involved in the general
queſtion of reciprocity. Were this not the cafe, the
greateſt political abfurdities would be induced.
Let it be fuppofed for a moment, that two Euro-
pean nations poffefs tranfmarine colonies of equal
value, and that one of them grants a perfect free-
dom of the trade of her colonies to the United
States, while the other abfolutely refuſes that ad-
vantage to us. It will not be alleged, that the laſt
of theſe nations has claims to a participation in the
commerce of the United States, equal to thofe of
the former. Further-the diftinction taken, with
regard to colonies, does not apply to all the tranf-
marine dominions of the British crown. Canada,
Nova-Scotia, New-Brunfwic, Jamaica, and a part
of the iſland of St. Chriftophers, for example, are
conquered countries, to whofe commerce, confide-
rations other than colonial, apply. And were the
idea of colonies ftrictly adhered to, (viz. the efta-
bliſhment of bodies of natives, who have emigrated
from a ſtate, and fettled in a new country, politi-
cally connected with the old one,) it would be
found, that feveral of the new flates of America
248
are more truly colonies of the older ftates, than
feveral of the islands and provinces, which bear
the appellation, are colonies of Great-Britain.
1
As it has been an uniform opinion of lord Shef-
field and other perfons in England, that ſhip-build-
ing would be annihilated in the United States, the
prefent ftate of that bufinefs, it is hoped, will
deftroy fome material mifcalculations, and will
prove, that we do not labour under an inability to
carry our own productions without the aid of
any one foreign nation. If we have not yet encoun-
tered the expenfe of a navy, let it be remembered,
that Pruffia, which has many more private veffels
than Ruffia, has acted the fame part; although the
emprefs, of the latter country with fewer merchant-
fhips, than any maritime power in Europe, and
much fewer than the United States, has neverthe-
lefs a very formidable navy.
Nations, which at prefent enjoy any confi-
derable portion of the American trade, muſt fuf-
tain very unfavourable confequences from the con-
tinuance of impediments or burdens on our future
intercourſe with their dominions. Our exports,
being tranſported in our own fhips and thofe of
any lefs unkind country, will advance the manu-
factures and trade of a nation adjacent and rival to
them-or, fent to the colonies of more favourable
nations, will greatly increaſe the growth of inter-
fering colonial productions. It is with the utmoſt
difficulty that any nation now accomplishes circuit-
249
ous fupplies of other European countries with our
produce; and it has become our duty to make foreign
nations fenfible of the difadvantages of double freights
and charges, under which they receive our produc-
tions, the lofs arifing from which, falls in part, up-
on our farmers, and, in part, upon their citizens,
who are the confumers. Aggravating impediments
to our trade, are now deeply and conftantly wound-
ing the manufacturers in Europe, who work up
American raw materials, or who fupply us with
their fabrics. Duties on our iron, for example,
reduced the price, and thus occafioned it to be
bought at home to manufacture: and fo of other
native raw materials. The refufal of cotton, and
other raw articles, not of our growth, in any bot-
toms, from America, makes them cheaper to our
manufacturers, or to the exporters of them for the
ule of thoſe European manufacturers, whofe laws
will permit them to be received from hence. Im-
pediments in the way of our fhipping, or heavy du-
ties on merchandife from hence, occafion the mer-
chants, as before obſerved, in regard to our pro-
duce, to fend foreign raw materials to countries,
that will admit the veffels and goods upon more
eafy terms. Nations, in this enlightened age, will
more and more avail themſelves of the mistakes that
obtain in the commercial regulations of their
neighbours and rivals: and the errors of reſtric-
tions and duties, fo far as they fhall be really im-
politic, will thus induce a certain and confequent
fuffering by thoſe who impofe them on us.
as one country drives our veffels and produce from
So,
I i
250
!
her ports, others may be thereby induced to open
their markets to them. The currents of commerce,
like thofe of the rivers, will certainly be turned
from that fide where obftructions are created.
The United States have been led to ferious and
beneficial reflection on their affairs, by the prevail-
ing difpofition to reftrict their intercourfe with
Europe, and the feverer regulations of feveral na-
tions in regard to the commerce of their tranfma-
rine dominions. They are prompted to decide, that
the immenfe favings and the extenfive advantages
they can derive from manufactures, protected by
their own laws, render them no lefs worthy of a
fhare of their capital and induftry, than commerce.
The importance of this object has been forced up-
on the minds of many, by European reftrictions:
and a continuance of thoſe reſtrictions, will, though
gradually, yet infallibly, make converts of the
whole nation.
So weighty are the confiderations
relative to manufactures, in the opinions of many,
that it begins to be ferioufly queftioned, whether
the employinent of a fhare of 20 or 25,000 tons of
veffels in the Britiſh Weft-India trade, and of leſs
than half that quantity in the trade to their remain-
ing colonies, ought to induce our confent materi-
ally to keep down or diminiſh any falutary duties
on foreign manufactures. The American impoft.
is now very moderate, compared with that of other
nations; unqueſtionably the moft fo of any which
Britiſh goods encounter in foreign countries. It
does not exceed, on a medium, 8 or 9 per cent.
•
251
Were it to be increafed to 14, 20, 25, 28, and
even 33 per cent. as in France, Spain and Portu-
gal-were prohibitions to be added on fome arti-
cles, as in thofe countries, and on all articles, as in
one or two others, (with a judicious poftponement
of the time, for the ftrongeft regulations to take
place) what would be the confequences, what the
effects upon the tranſplanting of foreign capital and
manufactures to the United States? It may be urg-
ed, that we ſhould be injured by fuch prohibition,
or even by the higher rates of duty above mention-
ed. So far as we did not get manufactures eftab-
lifhed, in the mean time, that might be the cafe ;
but the fame might be obſerved, in regard to the
commercial regulations of Great-Britain, fome of
which really injure her; and many of which deep-
ly injure Ireland, the Weft-Indies, and the remain-
ing colonies.
If it is in the power of Great-Britain to draw
from other countries, the articles fhe obtains from
us of better quality, and upon lower terms, which
is often afferted to be poffible, it is not to be for-
gotten, that by ceafing to receive any goods from
the United States, the benefit of employing her ſhips
will be fo far loft. The articles rejected may be
fomewhat more difficult for us to fell, and therefore
will be neceffarily converted, in a greater degree
than at preſent, into manufactures, or they may go
to ſupply other nations, who now purchaſe thoſe
foreign articles, which it is alledged Britain can pro-
cure with more advantage. Among the objections
•
252
Great-Britain ought to have to this, the fo-
reign connections we fhall be thereby led to form,
and the cement it will give to old ones, will not be
found the lealt. But the affertion really is not
true. The furs and fkins, the oak timber, oak
boards, oak planks, ftaves, potafh, pearlafh, ginfeng
the fame qualities of rice, fome qualities of tobacco,
the grain, in cafe of fhort European crops, and
fome of the naval ftores cannot be obtained in
quantity and quality from other countries.
We are not infrequently reminded, when the lofs
of the American market and our confumption of Bri-
tiſh manufactures are fpoken of, that, notwithſtanding
our former non-importation agreements, and the
interruptions of the war, the Britiſh manufactories
were more flouriſhing, than during the previous
peace, when our demand was the greateſt. There
appear to be ſome reaſons, however, for doubting
the truth of this affertion. The tables in Ander-
fon's commerce, already mentioned, ftate the ex-
ports of the year 1774 at £.17,607,447, and thoſe
of 1781, at £.11,470,388. This declenfion was
regular, almoſt every year's exports being leſs than
thofe of the preceding. Thefe facts are the more
remarkable, as the imports of Great-Britain in
1781, were greater than thoſe in 1776, or in any
intermediate year, and the prices of raw articles.
and provifions exported, were higher. It is to be
obſerved, alſo, that large exports for the Britiſh
merchants and dealers, who fold extra fupplies to
their armies and navies in America, the Weft and
253
Eaft-Indies, Gibraltar, &c. were made, for the uſe
of the great number of officers, foldiers, and fea-
men, employed in thofe places. The extra public
purchaſes of clothing, tents, arms, cordage, fail
cloth, porter, and other manufactured articles, for
their fea and land forces, muft have been immenſe,
when we reflect, that about £.14,000,000 per an-
num, on an average of the term of the war, was
added to their debt, befides the great fums of mo-
ney collected and paid within the year; and that
the ſupplies granted for 1781, exceed thoſe of 1774
by £.19,300,000, a larger fum by 100 per cent.
than Great-Britain ufually exported in manufac-
tures prior to the late treaty of peace. The ex-
penditures of fuch a war, muft, indeed, occafion
the woolen, linen, leathern and metal branches,
and ſeveral others, to flouriſh exceedingly but
the confequences in regard to the increafe of
burdens on the people, and to the national prof-
perity, muſt be viewed in the moſt ferious light.
In the time of the war, too, foreign manufactures
could be leſs eafily introduced into their own
markets, which left the demand for conſump-
tion and importation to be fupplied by their own
people. It is to be obferved further, that the eight
years which followed 1774, were thofe in which
machinery was first rendered confiderably profita-
ble in Great-Britain. Before the American war,
the cotton branch was very inconfiderable in that
country; but though it has increaſed wonderfully
fince the peace, it muſt have felt a very large ad-
vancement during the term in which our regular
254
importations from thence were cut off. Other
branches were aided during thofe years, by the in-
troduction of machinery, manual flight and new
proceffes, fo as to diminish the effects of the inter-
ruption of the American demand. It is in the
highest degree probable, that the lofs of our con-
fumption would be fenfibly felt at this time. In a
feafon of peace, the enormous extra demand for
the uſe of their armies and navy does not exiſt.
Ireland now menaces Great-Britain with the diminu-
tion of her importations. Such extraordinary new
inventions of mechanical and chemical aid are not
to be expected again-and the United States might
derive a very confiderable degree of independen.
cy on Britiſh manufactures, by the adoption of la-
bour-faving machines, (the peculiar value of which,
to them, they are beginning to perceive) in the
cotton, flaxen, hempen, metal, and part of the
woolen and filken branches, to all of which raw
materials they apply. The capacities of the United
States for eſtabliſhing theſe mills, and manufactures
în general will be exemplified in the cafe of New-
Jerſey, which by a return in 1784, is afcertained to
have had then 41 fulling-mills, 8 furnaces, 79 forges,
366 faw-mills, 508 grift-mills, and 192 tan-yards,
though her population appears to be about one
part in twenty-one of that of the United States.
Were the United Netherlands to feize a moment
of uneaſineſs between us and Great-Britain, and
were they to devote their fhipping and immenfe
private capital to the fupply and promotion of
machine manufactures, they would prove danger-
255
ous rivals to England in all foreign markets: and
the fame may be faid in regard to the efforts of
other countries, if they were ſeriouſly to undertake
manufactures by labour-faving machinery.
It may be fairly afked, what country fupports
the navy of Great-Britain, in fo great a degree as
the United States, by the employment they give
to her fhips? The Ruffian trade furniſhes cargoes
for much less than 230,000 tons, which is the exact
quantity of Britiſh veffels that cleared from theſe
ftates, in the year following Auguft 1789. The whole
Baltic trade of Great-Britain, with all the countries.
of the various powers that lie within the found, im-
portant as it is to her, does not fill more. Their
trade with Holland, France, Spain, and Portugal,
does not all together employ as many veſſels.
Their whole fisheries, American colonial trade,
and Weſt-India trade, do not employ and load
more.* And how, it may be further afked, are the
United States requited for thus ftrengthening the
acknowledged bulwark of Great-Britain, by annu-
ally giving a complete lading to the unequalled
quantity of 230,000 tons of her private veffels?
The whole of the American veffels, which have
arrived in our ports, in the fame year, from all
* It appears from a Britiſh ſtatement of their trade with all the
world, and authentic documents publiſhed by Congreſs, that their
veſſels, cleared out from the United States in 1791 and 1792, were
about equal in tonnage to all the Britiſh veffels cleared out of Great-
Britain for Ruffia, Denmark and Norway, Sweden, Pruffia, Pc-
land, Hamburg, Bremen, and Germany in general. A. D. 1793.
256
the countries and places fubject to the Britiſh
crown, amount to no more than 43,580 tons.
Yet there are not wanting perfons, who will affirm,
that the balance of favour is given to the United
States: and, that Great-Britain is fo far injured by
our deportment, as to juftify a retaliation upon us!
There are fome confiderations drawn from the
ftate of things in Europe, which ought to render
the Britiſh commerce with the United States and
the conſumption of Britiſh manufactures by the ci-
tizens of this country, matters of greater than for-
mer importance. The infufion of republican qua-
lities into the governments of that quarter of the
world, will be followed by the extenfion of trade,
internal and external. The character of the mer-
chant and manufacturer will be duly efteemed, and
large portions of dormant capital, and numerous
claffes of inactive men, will be turned by circum-
ftances to employments, which will have loft their
ancient imaginary difrepute. The tendency of
fuch events, in regard to the ſupply of raw materi-
als, and in regard to manufactures which America
now draws from Great-Britain, will not be difficult
to diſcover.
A reliance is fometimes placed upon the difpofi-
tion of the ſouthern parts of the United States of
America, in favour of fuch regulations of com-
merce, as would be agreeable to Great-Britain-
that is, the eaſy and unincumbered admiffion of
her fhips and manufactures into our ports. What-
257
ever truth there may be in regard to fome of thofe
ftates, it is known they are far from unanimous,
on that fubject. It may be queftioned, too, whe-
ther meaſures, which would create difputes, and
interrupt the Britiſh trade with America, would
not be diſagreeable and inconvenient to the mer-
chants and manufacturers of Great-Britain, as was
manifeftly the cafe on the occafion of the late dif-
ference with Ruffia. Ports circumftanced as Li-
verpool and Lancaſter, which have large concerns
in fhips and comparatively little other trade but as
carriers and fhipholders, may be difpofed to pro-
mote any meaſures, that will advance navigation,
at the expenſe of general commerce, manufactures,
and agriculture; but the great capitalifts and mer-
chants of London, Briſtol, and Glaſgow, &c. and
the manufacturers of Manchefter, Sheffield, Bir-
mingham, Norwich, Yorkſhire, &c. will view
with due ferioufnefs, the probability of diverting
our trade into other channels, and the deliberate
and decided meafures to promote American manu-
factures, which the reftraints upon our navigation
and commerce may hereafter produce. The ob-
jections of thoſe parts of the fouthern ftates, which
may be averfe to further impofitions on foreign
merchandiſe, will be moderated by their convic-
tions, that American manufacturers may be brought
to confume and work up their productions at home,
and to furniſh them in return by not very flow de-
grees, with the fupplies they now derive from
abroad.
K k
258
At the time when this examination was com-
menced, it was believed, from many fymptoms,
that the true ftate of things in this country was lit-
tle known or underſtood in Great-Britain. The
prejudices naturally arifing from ſo warm a conteſt
as that of 1775, the diforders which grew out of a lax
and ill digeſted government, and the errors inci-
dental to an inexperienced country, fuddenly ele-
vated from a colony to an empire-all contributed
to deceive and mislead Great Britain, in her efti-
mation of the United States. The volume of lord
Sheffield was fuppofed to increaſe the public mif-
conceptions. His work upon the Irish commerce
in 1785, reprefented the American ftates in the
fame unfavourable manner in feveral paffages.
Symptoms of error in the opinions of other perfons
of refpectable ftanding in the Britiſh community,
were, unfortunately, obfervable. It appeared,
therefore, to be a matter of great importance to
both nations, that an attempt fhould be made to
point out paft and to correct exifting mistakes.
While it has been defired in doing this, to excite
no painful fenfations in the minds of thoſe who are
connected with the intérefts of Great-Britain, it
has not been deemed-neceffary or fit to fupprefs
any truths, becauſe they might prove unacceptable
to perfons, if any fuch there be, who may want
magnanimity enough to receive them with modera-
tion, and to examine them with candour. The
facts adduced on this occafion, are certainly not
the more true, becauſe they have been afferted in
259
this publication, nor will it be denied, that com-
ing from an American prefs they fhould be ex-
amined, on the other fide carefully and tho-
roughly. Such an examination fhould be defired
by the United States, for it was fincerely treated in
the beginning as genuine policy in nations, to
avoid ſhort lived deceptions, and rather to ſearch
diligently for the ground of common intereſt,
which can never be afcertained by mifreprefenta-
tion, or by erroneous or difingenuous inveftigation.
If arrangements beneficial to the two countries
can be effected it muſt be through means very
different from thofe. The minds of well intenti-
oned and able men on both fides fhould be difpa-
tionately applied to the neceflary enquiries and
difcuffions; the ſubject ſhould be thoroughly exa-
mined and underftood; and frank admiffions of
the advantages derived by either nation from the
other, ought to be made. With the lights, which
might be thus obtained, it would not be difficult
to determine whether the nature of things in the
United States and Great-Britain, requires or ad-
mits of a treaty of friendſhip or commerce.
SECTION VIII.
A SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE,
CONCERNING THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN.
DOMESTIC, OR HOUSEHOLD MANUFACTURES.
IN the paffage of the obfervations, which forms.
the head of SECTION III. to which this note be-
260
longs, the writer-predicts, that we fhall give a pre-
ference to British manufactures; that we fhall not
manufacture for ourſelves; and that our demand
for Britiſh goods will increafe, in proportion to
our population. The facts, in oppofition to thefe
ideas, which relate to the fupplies drawn from fo-
reign nations, have already been ſtated; as have
moſt of thoſe which regard American manufactures,
fabricated by thoſe who purſue them as a Separate
occupation or calling. But lord Sheffield does not
appear to have foreſeen the prefent ftate of our fa-
mily or houſehold manufactures.
The progreſs and preſent ftate of this invaluable
branch of the national induftry, exceeds every
idea, it is believed, that has been formed of it,
either in this country or in Europe. In all the
ftates inhabited almost entirely by white people,
domeftic manufactures are known to be very confi-
derable, yielding a confiderable furplus for the ufe
of the other parts of the union. But it is general-
ly fuppofed, that in the ftates where the black. peo-
ple are numerous, (and efpecially near their fea-
coafts, where imported goods can be conftantly
and eaſily obtained) little or no manufactures are
made. The following abſtract from a minute
ftatement of the houſehold manufactures, in one
neighbourhood, of twenty families (rich and poor)
indifcriminately taken, and in a part of Virgi-
nia, on a navigable river emptying into the Atlan-
tic ocean, where the whites are, to the blacks, as
261
one two, will ſhow, that much more is probably
made, than is generally believed to be the cafe.
Male and female houfe-keepers,
(1)
Total number of white and black perſons,
Fine table linnen, fheeting, fhirting, &c. yards,
Negro clothing, blanketing &c. yards,
Value of fine cloth &c. per. yard,
Value of coarſe do.
per do.
Pairs of fine ftockings,
Pairs of coarſe do.
Highest value made in one family,
Loweſt do.
Total value of the manufactures of the 20 families
Families which did not manufacture
Term
20
301
1,907
1,007
cents 60
42
152
108
dolls. 267
21/1/
1,670
I
the year 1790.
The following table obtained in the like indif-
criminate and impartial way, has alſo been exhibi-
ted from another county of the fame ftate, the fi-
tuation of which is interior.
(2)
Families, rich and poor,
Yards of linen
20
Yards of woolen,
'Yards of cotton
Pairs of ſtockings
Pairs of fhoes made on the eſtates
Total value
Term
1,095
344
1,681
174
237
dolls. 1,791
the year 1790
A perſon of reputation, who furniſhed the latter
ftatement, accompanied it with an affurance, that
262
Nă
it might be confidered as a fair average of the fa-
mily manufactures throughout the adjacent coun-
ties.
1
Theſe papers have been obtained under circum-
ftances that juftify a reliance on their truth, and
are believed to be very little variant from the me-
dium of the ftate of Viginia. Though they cannot
be made the baſis of a fatisfactory eſtimate, the fol-
lowing brief one is hazarded merely to fhow the
refult. In Virginia (exclufive of Kentucky) 70,825
families appear on the late cenfus. The loweft of
the above returns (1,670 dollars) is at the rate of
83 dollars to each family for home-made hofery
and cloths of wool, flax, hemp and cotton only.
Two-thirds of this rate upon the whole number of
families (cutting off a third, to make a moderate
calculation, and omitting odd numbers) gives the
prodigious fum of 3,900,000 dollars for thofe arti-
cles of mere domestic manufacture (exclufively of
the work of regular tanners, fhoemakers, black-
ſmiths, weavers and other tradeſmen) in Virginia,
and taking the United States at 3,900,000 perfons,
would appear to juſtify a computation of above
20,000,000 dollars for the whole.
Through fimilar means, but on the examination
of other perſons, in the counties of Accomack and
Northampton lying on the bay of Chefapeak and
the Atlantic ocean, it appears, that 315,000 yards
of flaxen cloth are made in a diftrict containing
2,729 families: alfo 45,000 yards of woolen, 30,000
263
yards of cotton, and 45,000 yards of linen and
woolen cloth, and a quantity of coarſe ſtockings
nearly equal to the demand. It is added, that all
the ſhoes, and three-fourths of the clothing of that
country, are made by the tradefmen, or within the
families, who refide in it. The raw materials, in-
cluding the cotton, are the growth of their farms.
Another communication through the fame chan-
nel ſtates the manufactures of iron to exceed all
others in Virginia (which must be erroneous, if
houſehold manufactures, as well as trades be taken
into the calculation) and that the greater part of the
farmers and planters tan the hides of the cattle they
confume.
Two other communications from the fame ftate
inform, that the families in certain vicinities men-
tioned in them, make on a medium near 200 yards
each of cotton, woolen, and linen goods-and that
five-fixths of the fhoes, cloth, and ftockings, which
are uſed in that country, are made in the houſe-
hold way. Thefe two laft ftatements contemplate
four counties.
Similar information from the interior parts of
South-Carolina (though lefs ftrong and extenfive)
has alſo been obtained, accompanied with a variety
of ſpecimens of fubftantial midling and coarfe cot-
ton, woolen, and linen goods, of which it is ftated,
that the inhabitants of that country manufacture,
entirely in the family way, as much as they have
1
264
are
occafion for, "cotton, flax, and hemp, being plen-
tiful, and there being a confiderable ftock of good
fheep ;" "that there is a great deal done in the
houſehold way," and "that the greateſt exertions a
made;"" that they have been long in the habit of
doing fomething in family manufactures, but have
improved much in the laſt two years; and that the
weaving is done by the females," which leaves the
induſtry of the males to be applied to agriculture.
It is well eſtabliſhed, that fimilar habits prevail
in the interior country of Georgia; and in the mid-
land and weſtern counties of North-Carolina, they
are as attentive to domeftic manufactures as the
people of Virginia.
Such is the ſtate of domeftic or houſehold manu-
factures in the fouthern ftates, where abundance of
very fertile and cheap lands, and a large portion
of black population, are fuppofed, in Europe, and
even in our own country, to have prevented any
confiderable attention to that frugal and induftri-
ous purfuit.
Let us now turn to the northern fcenes, where a
more replete population, and a lefs productive foil
have led to the profecution of many branches of
manufactures as regular trades.
The reſult of a careful enquiry, in every county
of the ſtate of Connecticut, has been uniform in-
formation from twenty-four vicinities, that domeftic
manufactures are carried to a very great extent.
265
The articles, made in the family way, and by per-
fons engaged ordinarily in the cultivation of the
earth, are woolen and linen cloths including
ing fail-cloth; bed-ticks, fome cotton goods, ho-
fiery, nails, and fpikes, fome filk buttons, hand-
kerchiefs, ribands and ſtuffs, fewing filk, threads,
fringe, and pot and pearl afhes. It is obferved,
that there is farcely a family in the ftate of Con-
necticut, ſo rich or fo poor, as not affiduouſly to
attend to domeftic manufactures; that they are ex-
tending and improving very faft in quantity, variety,
and quality and that confiderable parcels of
houſehold linens, &c. are tranfported out by land
and exported by water to the middle and fouthern
ftates. Here then is a furplus of houſehold manu-
factures fold out of the state. It as an acknow-
ledged fact, that New-England linens have affect-
ed the price and importation of that article from
New-York to Georgia. The foregoing ftatement
is not intended to comprehend the manufactories
of woolen cloths, hats, cotton goods, fail-cloth,
checked and plain linens, fhoes and boots, bell
metal, buttons, wool and cotton cards, flaxfeed
oil, foap, candles, nails, anchors, axes, fpades, fho-
vels, cabinet work, carriages, faddles, books, &c.
&c. conducted as regular and feparate trades by
individuals, companies, and affociations, which are
very confiderable.
An enquiry has alſo been made, by a perfon of
judgment, in the ftate of Maffachuſetts, who al-
leges, that the importations of foreign manufactures
LI
266
into that ftate, are lefs by one half, at this time,
than they were twenty years ago, though there has
been a prodigious increafe of population, and
though confiderable quantities of home made arti-
cles, are tranſported by land and water, to other
parts. This is afcribed, in a very great degree, to
the domeftic manufactures, which are obferva-
ble in the dreffes and furniture of the people, and
in the outward cargoes of the coafting and other
trading veffels. The informant here contemplated,
produced documents to fhow the magnitude of
fome of the regular trades, among which were
10,000 dozen pair of cotton and wool cards, much
the greater part of which are applied to domeftic
manufactures throughout the United States, 2,400
pieces of fail-cloth per annum, at a fingle factory,
100 tons of nails per annum, at the Taunton facto-
ry alone, and 150,000 pair of ſtuff and filk fhoes
in the fingle town of Lynn, of which 10,355 pair
had been ſhipped by one family to the Philadel-
phia market in a fingle year, although the manu-
facturers of that city, in the fame line, are very
expert and numerous.
Another informant has furniſhed a return, from
which it appears, that in the laſt year thread and
filk laces, and edgings, black and white, amount-
ing to 41,979 yards, were manufactured in the fa-
mily way, and not in regular factories, in the town
of Ipfwich in Maffachuſetts, which contains, by
the late cenfus, 4,562 men, women, and children.
Pattern cards, containing thirty-fix fpecimens of
267
theſe hitherto unnoticed manufactures, have been
exhibited. This townſhip comprehending a ſmall
lea-port, and conſequently being open to foreign
goods, and the freight of fo compact an article as
lace, being very fmall, it will be confidered as a
curious fact, that this manufacture fhould have
grown up there to fo great a height. It is added in
the information, that laces are made in various
parts of Maffachuſetts, though no where in fo great
a degree. It is alſo underſtood to be a domeſtic
manufacture in feveral parts of Connecticut.
The exiſtence and continual increaſe of domef-
tic manufactures in Rhode-Ifland and New-Hamp-
fhire, are eſtabliſhed on fimilar authority :-and
the growth of regular trades is very great in the
former, in proportion to its population. It is fup-
pofed to have fucceeded as well as any fcene, in
its attempts in the cotton branch, by labour-faving
machines. The following parcels of goods were
manufactured, in the family way, in the first nine
months of 1791, in the town of Providence, though
it is a fea-port, and has a number of regular fhops
and factories, for making ſeveral of the fame fpe-
cies of goods.
Linen cloth,
Cotton do.
Woolen do.
Carpeting,
Stockings,
Gloves and mitts,
Fringe,
ย
25,265 yards
5,858 do.
3,165 do.
512 do.
4,093 pairs.
859 do.
260 yards
268
Three millions of nails (by tale) and 30,000 yards
of woolen cloth were made, in 1790, in the town
and vicinity of Providence. The induftry of far-
mers and houſe-wives contributed materially to the
manufacture of thefe articles.
The extent of the woolen branch of domeſtic .
manufactures, in New-Hampfhire, is evinced by
the great number of its fulling mills; for they have
no confiderable factory employed on that raw ma-
terial. The fame may be obferved in regard to
the general knowledge of the art of weaving,
among the wives and daughters of the farmers in
that ftate. This fact is very frequently obfervable
throughout New-England, and fome other parts of
the United States. The number of fulling mills in
New-Jerfey, which has already been ftated to be
forty-one,is a proof of their domeflic manufactures;
as they have not any woolen factories. In the vici-
nity of the town of Reading, in Pennſylvania, are
ten fulling mills, which induces the fame conclufi-
on there; and they are very numerous throughout
the ftate. The export of flaxfeed is equal to that
of former times; the manufacture of oil conſumes
a far greater quantity than heretofore: wherefore
a large growth of flax is to be inferred; and as
we have very few linen factories, and the exporta-
tion of flax has ceaſed, a great domeftic manufac-
ture of linens muft exift. The fale of fpinning-
wheel irons, in one shop in the city of Philadelphia,
in the courſe of the laſt year, has amounted to
1,500 fets, which, though a fmall fact, is ftrongly
269
any
indicative of the extent of domeftic manufactures,
as fpinning wheels are rarely, if ever, exported,
or uſed in regular factories. The quantity fold is
former year. Nail-
29 per cent. greater than in
making is frequently a houſehold buſineſs in New_
England, a fmall anvil being found no inconveni
ence in the corner of a farmer's chimney. Bad
weather, hours of difengagement from the occupa-
tions of the farm, and evenings, are thus rendered
feaſons of fteady and profitable induftry. Public
eſtimates of the grain and fruit diftilleries of the
United States, have been made at 3,508,000 gal-
lons; much the greater part of which is made by
farmers and planters. The importation of cheeſe
from all countries into the United States, was only
forty tons, in the year ending in Auguft 1790: and
we exported a much larger quantity in the ſame
term, from which a great manufacture of that ar-
ticle (in the domeftic way, of courſe) is to be in-
ferred. In fhort, domeftic manufactures are great,
various, and almoft univerfal in this country.
The implements hitherto ufed in houſehold ma-
nufactures, have been of the most ancient kinds.
The art of dying has been advanced in families
little further than what was communicated by a
receipt as brief as thofe in a book of culinary in-
ſtructions; the colouring ingredients have generally
been fuch as nature handed to the thrifty houſe-
wife. The operations, from the raw to the manu-
factured ftate, have often been the fimpleft that can
be conceived. Under circumftances like thefe, it
270
will not be too fanguine to expect that the diffemi-
nation of uſeful inftruction in the practice of dy-
ing, in the nature of colours, and concerning
other parts of the bufinefs, the introduction of the
new improvements in the preparing and ſpinning
machinery, on a ſcale as convenient as the common
weaving apparatus, and the general ufe of the fly-
ing fhuttle, and the double loom, may give a two-
fold value to this moft precious branch of the
national induſtry. It will not be deemed one of
the leaſt favourable circumftances in the affairs of
a country fo eminently capacitated for agriculture
as the United States, that the profperous courſe of
that great employment of their citizens, is accom-
panied with an affiduous profecution of this econo-
mical domeftic occupation, by perfons of all ages
and fexes, in hours and ſeaſons, which cannot be
employed in agricultural labour or in their ordina-
ry family duties.
SECTION IX.
AN ADDITIONAL NOTE.
CONCERNING AMERICAN MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL.
THE following reprefentations of the manufac-
tures at prefent exifting in the United States, will
tend to exhibit the ground of reliance which they
afford at this time; and preſents the moft encourag-
ing affurances of their ſteady progrefs to permanent
eftabliſhment.
271
I.
Tanned and tawed leather, dreffed fkins, with and
without the hair or fur, and manufactures thereof,
form one of the beſt eſtabliſhed and moft import-
ant branches. The confumption and exportation
of the following articles made wholly, or in part
of leather or fkins are great, and, in feveral inſtan-
ces, general, and the importation of them, except-
ing the articles of gloves and fur trimmings, is very
inconfiderable. Rigging hides, parchment, fhoes,
boots, and flippers, common harnefs of all kinds,
harneſs and leathern materials for pleaſurable car-
riages, faddles and bridles, houfings, holfters, fad-
dlebags, portmantuas, boot ftraps, leathern and hair
trunks, fire-buckets, military articles, fuch as flings,
belts, cartouch boxes and fcabbards; leathern
breeches and ſome vefts and drawers; mens', youths',
and fome womens' gloves, fur muffs and tippets, li-
nings and trimmings of fur for womens' and mens'
apparel, fome chair bottoms, the coatings of wool
and cotton cards, and the leathern materials of other
manufacturing implements and utenfils; to which
may be added glue, being an economical manufac-
ture from the otherwiſe uſeleſs parts of raw and
dreffed fkins and from old leathern articles.
!
II.
Manufactures from hemp and flax form another
very important and well eſtabliſhed branch. Thefe
272
are made as well, in regular factories and workſhops,
as in the houſehold way. Cables, cordage, tarred
and untarred; feins and nets of various kinds,
twine and pack-thread, fail cloth, tow cloth, white
and checked ſhirtings, fheetings, toweling, table li-
nen, bed ticks, hofiery, fewing thread, and fome
thread lace, are the articles manufactured of theſe
raw materials. Nearly the whole of the hemp and
flax are now of native growth; and as they are
productions of every ftate, the fabrics made of
them are peculiarly interefting. This circumftance
gives breadth and folidity to the foundation of the
linen branch, and to all others to which it is
common.
III.
Manufactures of iron form a very increafing and
uſeful branch. Under this head, the article of
nails deferves particular notice, being brought to
the footing of a domeftic manufacture in ſeveral of
the ſtates. The other fabrics, made of this raw ma-
terial, are fteel, fheet iron, nail rods, wheel tire,
hoops, weights, ſtoves, pots and other caftings, fcale
beams, plough irons, hoes, and other farming uten-
fils, the iron and fteel work for pleafurable and
working carriages, and for fhip-building, anchors,
houſehold utenfils of various kinds, fcrew preffes,
fome faws and planes, axes and other utenfils for
artizans and manufacturers, and arms of vari-
ous kinds. It is reafonable to conclude that
the manufacture of military articles has become
273
inconfiderable during the exifting peace. The
abundance of mill feats, ore and fuel in the
United States, a most extenfive demand, and
the heavy charges of importation, are among the
circumftances which have given a refpectable eftab-
liſhment to the iron manufactories.*
IV.
Manufactures of wool and mixtures thereof with
cotton and flax, form another branch of peculiar
importance, from their being principally the pro-
ductions of domeſtic induſtry, at times and feaſons
which can be ſpared from other occupations. Theſe
are broad and narrow cloths, chiefly common or
coarſe; coatings, cafimers, ferges, flannels, hofiery,
fome blankets, linfey woolfey, and negro cloth in
very large quantities, coverlets and counterpanes,
mens' and boys' hats, a few carpets, fringe, cord and
taffels. This raw material will eventually prove
univerſal in the United States, and is already found
in every ſtate.
The four preceding branches may be thrown in-
to the firſt claſs, in regard to prefent importance,
and are eſtabliſhed in a confiderable degree. They
are increaſing rapidly, and particularly the three
M m
* The Indian war and the renewal of our militia ſyſtem has
greatly revived the manufacture of arms. A, D, 1793.
274
firſt, from the facility of procuring very large
quantities of the requifite raw materials, the in-
troduction of various new implements and ma-
chinery, the abundance of fuel, lime, bark, and
other articles employed in their manufacture.
The latter is fteadily progreffive in quantity, and
has improved rapidly within the laft two years.
V.
Manufactures of cotton, and mixtures thereof with
flax and hemp, as as alfo with wool, conftitute a grow-
ing and very promifing branch. In ſeveral of the
ftates, factories of this raw material have been com-
menced. Very confiderable quantities of goods
are made of it, in the houſehold way, and particu.
larly in the fouthern ftates of all of which it is a
production. The articles ufually made are cordu-
roys, velverets, jeans, fuftians and plain and ftrip-
ed cloths, for womens' uſe, hofiery, thread, fringe,
cord and taffels, counterpanes and coverlets, can-
dlewick, and, when mixed with wool, very large
quantities of negro cloth. Connected with this
branch is the buſineſs of callico printing, in which
fome promifing attempts have been made.
VI.
Ships and boats, with their numerous and requifite
appertenances, conftitute a branch much leſs valu-
able in money than the preceding; but confider-
ing how neceffary they are to agriculture and ma-
275
nufactures, as well as to commerce and the fifhe-
ries, they appear to be of primary importance.
Theſe are conftructed upon the moft favourable
terms, and with great perfection.
VII.
Papers of all kinds, form a very beneficial branch,
of confiderable and increafing extent. The fpe-
cies made are paper hangings, playing cards, pafte-
boards, fullers or prefs papers, ſheathing and wrap-
ping paper, writing and printing paper of various
kinds and qualities, except the largest and moft coſt-
ly. Appertenant to this branch is the very increaf-
ing and highly uſeful buſineſs of book printing. From
the abundance of mill-feats, and the refpectable
eſtabliſhment of the paper manufactory in fome of
the ſtates, it is manifeft, that a much more confider-
able faving or gain might be derived to the coun-
try, with the requifite attention to the prefervation
of the old and otherwife ufelefs materials.
VIII.
Sugars refined in various degrees, form a branch
fo perfectly eſtabliſhed as to require little atten-
tion, but to the acquifition of the raw material.
IX.
Cabinet wares and turnery, both of the fimpleft
and moſt elegant kinds, are made in quantities com-
276
menſurate with the demand, as well of native as
foreign materials. Connected with theſe in ſome
degree, is the manufacture of many kinds of mu-
fical inftruments, which has gained a footing within
a few years, that promiſes an eſtabliſhment ade-
quate to the occafions of the United States. Other
manufactures of wood are made in great quantities,
fuch as coopers' wares, corn fans, and other imple-
ments of huſbandry, almoſt every ſpecies of mill
work, and lately the most valuable and curious
manufacturing machinery in various branches.
X.
Wares of the precious metals, (gold and filver)
including fet work, and jewellery, are made in
great variety and extent. The lateſt addition to
this branch is the manufacturing of plated ware,
which, however, is not yet confiderable or efta-
bliſhed.
XI.
Manufactures of the mixed metals and of lead and
copper, have obtained various degrees of eſtabliſh-
ment. Thoſe of braſs are the moſt extenſive, and,
combined with iron and wood, there is a confider-
able variety. Houſehold utenfils, technical and
philoſophical inftruments and apparatus, furniture
and materials for houſes and carriages, and for the
building and furniſhing of fhips, a few barrels and
277
fome furniture of fire arms, are manufactured of
braſs. Pewter and hard metal are very much confin-
ed to family utenfils, diftillers worms, printing types,
and buttons. The laft article is made with great
neatneſs and variety in a few fhops. Lead is
worked into ball, fheets, and every form requifite
for the building and finiſhing of houſes and veſſels,
and for the linings and coverings of wood, which
is expofed to water. Successful attempts to manu-
facture leaden fhot of various fizes, have been
made.
Copper wares of various kinds, are made in the
United States. Theſe are utenfils for diftillers,
fugar refiners, brewers, and other manufacturers,
and for domeftic and fhip uſe, articles to be ap-
plied in the building of veffels, and in fhort, all
thoſe things which are requifite to uſeful and ordi-
nary purpoſes.
Tin wares, for military and all other uſeful pur-
poſes, are well manufactured.
XII.
Manufactures from fruits, grain and feeds, are
very confiderable. Of the firft, diftilled fpirits
are the whole. Of fuch liquors from apples, the
quantity is large; of thoſe from peaches, it is
much lefs, but the quality, when the liquor is
matured, is exquifite: both are increafing. Of
the manufactures from grain and feeds (exclufive
278
of meal of all kinds and biſcuit) there is a greater
value. Theſe are diftilled fpirits, malt liquors,
ftarch, hair powder, wafers and oil. Theſe articles
could be made in quantities commenfurate with
the demand; and the feveral branches are well
understood.
XIII.
The manufacture of gunpowder, has advanced
with the greateſt rapidity to the point of defire in
regard both to quantity and quality. The hazards
and expenfes of importation, the cheapnefs of
charcoal, of the requifite packages, and of mill
feats and mill works, in the United States, are
among the principal caufes, which have produced
fo accelerated a progrefs.
XIV..
Manufactures of glass, of earthen ware, and of
ftone, mixed with clay, are all in an infant ftate.
From the quantity and variety of the materials which
muſt have been depofited by nature in fo extenfive
a region as the United States, from the abundance
of fuel which they contain, from the expenſe of
importation, and lofs by fracture, which falls on
on glafs and earthen wares, from the fimpli-
city of many of thefe manufactures, and from the
great confumption of them, impreffions of furpriſe
at this ſtate of them, and a firm perſuaſion that they
will receive the early attention of foreign or Ame-
rican capitalifts, are at once produced. Coarfe
279
tiles, and bricks of an excellent quality, potters'
wares, all in quantities beyond the home confump-
tion, a few ordinary veffels and utenfils of ftone mix-
ed with clay, fome muſtard and ſnuff bottles, a few
flaſks or flaggons, a fmall quantity of fheet glaſs
and of veſſels for family ufe, generally of the infe-
rior kinds, are all that are yet made.
XV.
Manufactures from the fat and bones of fea and
land animals, form a clafs of confiderable impor-
tance. Theſe are the feveral kinds of oil, foap,
ſpermaceti and tallow candles, articles made of
whalebone, fal ammoniac, and volatile falt.
In addition to the above branches or claffes,
there are manufactured, (befides the quantities re-
quifite for the home demand) a confiderable value
for exportation, of the following mifcellaneous ar-
ticles-pot afhes and pearl afhes, chewing and fmok-
ing tobacco and fnuff, cheeſe, working and plea-
fureable carriages, Windfor and varniſhed chairs,
oil of turpentine and rofin, wool and cotton cards,
and other implements and utenfils for manufac-
turing; and a large value for home confumption
of fur hats, brufhes for domeftic and technical pur-
pofes, whips and canes, manufactures of horn,
mill ſtones and hewn ftone, lampblack, ochres and
other painters' colours, fome galenical and chemi-
cal preparations, clocks and watches, wearing ap-
parel, and a few manufactures of filk.
280
[PAPER A.]
Schedule of the whole number of persons within the feveral diftricts of the
United States, according to an act "providing for the enumeration of
the inbabitants of the United States," paffed March the 1ft, 1790.
DISTRICTS.
* Vermont,
New-Hampshire,
S Maine,
Maffachuſetts,
Rhode-Iſland,
Connecticut,
New-York,
New-Jersey,
Pennſylvania,
Delaware,
Maryland,
Virginia,
Kentucky,
North-Carolina,
South-Carolina,
Georgia,
Free white males of fixtcen
years and upwards, including
heads of families.
Free white males under fix-
teen years.
Free white females, includ-
ing heads of families.
All other free perfons.
Slaves. Total.
22,435 22,328 40,505
36,086 34,851 70,160
24,384 24,748 46,870
95,453 87,289 190,582
16,019 15,799| 32,652|
60,523 54,403 117,448
83,700 78,122 152,320
45,251 41,416 83,287
110,788 106,948 206,363!
11,783 12,143 22,384
55,915 51,339 101,395
110,936 116,135 215,046
15,154 17,057) 28,922
69,988 77,506 140,710
13,103 14,044 25,739
252
16 85,539
630 158 141,185
538 none. 96,540
none. 378,787
948 68,825
5,463
3,407
2,808
2,764 237,946
4,654 21,324 340,120
2,762 11,453 184,139
6,537 3,737 434,373
3,899 8,887 59,094
8,043 103,036 319,728
12,866 292,627 747,610
114 12,430 73,677
4,975 100,572 393,751
249,073
398 29,264 82,548
Free white males of twenty
years and upwards, including
heads of families.
Free males under twenty-
one years
age.
of
Free white females, includ-
ing heads of families.
All other free perfons.
Slaves.
Total.
S. W. Territory,
N. W. Territory +.
6,271 10,277 15,365 361 3,417 35,691
Truly ſtated from the original returns depofited in the office of the Secretary of
State.
October 24, 1791.
TH: JEFFERSON.
* This return was not figned by the marshal, but was incloſed and referred to in
a letter written and figned by him.
The population of the north western government is ſuppoſed to be a few thou-
fands, excluſively of the military. (Note by Editor.)
281
[PAPER B.]
off
Abſtract of the exports of the United States, from the commencement
the cultom-houſes in the feveral states, which was at different times in
August, 1789, to the 30th day of September, 1790.
EXPORTED,
ASHES, pot,
Aſhes, perl,
Apples,
Quantity.
Τα
7,050 tons,
새​이이
​5 5
1,548 do.
니​이이
​Value.
dolls. 661,634
5,898
barrels,
177,459. 50
6,318
Boats,
8
372
Bombfhells,
IO
tons,
100
Bricks,
870,550
2,617. 50
Beer and porter,
472
caſks,
4,612
Brandy
97
do.
3,016
Cordials,
236
boxes,
637
Cordage
5.739
Carriages,
220
28,017
Candles, tallow,
149,680
lbs.
14,876
Candles wax
5,274
do.
2,461
Candles, myrtle,
249
do.
52
Cider,
442
barrels,
849
Cotton,
2,027
bales,
58,408
Coffee,
254,752
lbs.
45,753
Chocolate,
29,882
do.
3,537
Cocoa,
10,632
do.
950
Caffia and cinnamon,
9,392
do.
9,715
Deer Skins,
33,009
Duck, American,
77
bolts,
777
Duck, Ruffia,
220
do.
2,200
Earthen and glaſs ware,
1,990
Effence fpruce,
115
boxes,
600
Flaxfeed,
40,019
caſks,
236,072
Flax
21,970
lbs.
1,468
Furs,
Furniture,
60,515
8,315
N n
282
dolls.
Fishery.
Fiſh, dried,
378,721
quintals,
828,531
Fiſh, pickled,
36,840
barrels,
113,165
Oil, whale,
15,765
do.
124,908
Oil, fpermaceti,
5,431
do.
79,542
Candles, do.
70,397
lbs.
27,724
Whalebone,
121,281
do.
20,417
Grain.
Buckwheat,
7,562
bufhels,
2,572
Corn,
2,102,137
do.
1,083,581
Oats,
98,842
do.
20,900
Rye,
21,765
do.
13,181
Wheat,
1,124,458
do.
1,398,998
Ginseng,
813
caſks,
47,024
Gunpowder,
5,800
lbs.
861
Gin,
18,025
galls.
16,989
Grindstones,
203
450
Hairpowder,
12,534
lbs.
1,687
Hats,
668
I,392
Hay
2,126
tons,
12,851
Horns,
1,052
Ironmongery,
Iron, pig,
7,878
3,555
tons,
91,379
Iron, bar,
200
do.
16,723
Indigo,
612,119
lbs.
537,379
Live Stock.
Horned cattle,
5,406
99,960
Horfes,
8,628
339,516
Mules,
237
8,846
Sheep,
10,058
17,039
Hogs,
5,304
14,481
Poultry,
3,704
doz.
6,263
Lumber.
Staves & heading, 36,402,301
463,229
Shingles,
67,331,115
120,151
Shook hogfheads,
52,558
32,002
Hoops,
1,908,310
19,598
Boards,
46,747,730
260,213
Handfpikes,
2,361
doz.
1,505
Caſks,
2,423
3,697
Scantling,
8,719,638
feet,
95,308
Lumber difft. kinds.
feet,
128,503
Timber do.
do.
139,328
Leather,
22,698
lbs.
5,302
Logwood,
264
tons,
3,911
Lignum vitæ,
176
do.
1,760
283
dolls.
Lead and ſhot,
6 do.
810
Mahogany,
18,531
Medicines and drugs,
1,735
Merchandize,
28,156
Molaffes,
15,537
gallons,
3,904
Muſkets,
100
500,
Nankeens,
I I
bales,
2,315
Oil, linfeed,
119
barrels,
1,962
Provifions.
Flour,
724,623
barrels,
4,591,293
Bread,
75,667
do.
209,674
Meal,
99,973
do.
302,694
Peas and beans,
38,752
bufh.
25,746
Beef,
44,662
barrels,
279,551
Pork,
24,462
do.
208,099
Hams and bacon,
253,555
lbs.
19,728
Butter,
8,379
firkins,
48,587
Cheeſe,
144,734
lbs.
8,830
Potatoes,
5,318
barrels,
6,009
Tongues,
641
do.
1,598
Onions, vegetables,
22,936
Hogs lard,
6,355
firkins,
31,475
Honey,
165
do.
990
Oysters, pickled,
272
kegs,
272
Pimento,
715
bags,
4,928
Pepper,
6,100
lbs.
1,440
Paper,
169
reams,
381
Paint,
4,650
lbs.
963
Pitch,
8,175
barrels,
17,488
Raw hides,
230
485
Raw filk,
177
lbs.
489
Rofin,
361
barrels,
778
Rice,
100,845
tierces,
1,753,796
Rum, American,
370,331
galls.
135,403
Rum, Weft-India,
12,623
do.
5,795
Raifins,
213
caſks,
1,205
Salt,
31,935
bufhels,
8,236
Sago,
2,319
lbs.
455
Soap,
597
boxes,
3,967
Snuff,
15,350
lbs.
5,609
Seeds and roots,
2,135
Shoes and boots,
5,862
pairs,
5,741
Sadlery,
5,541
Starch,
1,125
Sugar, loaf,
16,429
Ibs.
3,432
284
dolls.
Sugar, brown,
33,358
do.
2,237
Saffafras,
49,504
do.
555
Steel,
163
bundles,
978
Stones, fawed,
170
550
Tallow,
200,020
lbs.
20,722
Tobacco,
118,460
hhds.
4,349,567
Tea,
1,672
chefts,
121,582
Tar,
85,067
barrels,
126,116
Turpentine,
28,326
do.
72,541
Do. fpirits,
193
do.
1,032
Tow cloth,
67
pieces,
1,274
Vinegar,
24
cafks,
106
Wines,
1,074
pipes,
83,249
Wax,
231,158
lbs.
57,597
To the North-Weft coaft of America,
Amount of ſeveral returns received
fince the 15th February 1791. f
20,194,794
10,362
210,810 84
Total,
*
*20,415,966.84
* Quarterly returns, from ſeveral ſmall diſtricts, are deficient,
285
A fummary of the value and deflination of the exports of the United States,
agreeably to the foregoing abſtract.
To the dominions of France,
To the dominions of Great-Britain,
To the dominions of Spain,
To the dominions of Portugal,
To the dominions of the United Netherlands,
To the dominions of Denmark,
To the dominions of Sweden,
To Flanders,
To Germany,
To the Mediterranean,
Dollars.
4,698,735.48
9,363,416.47
2,005,907.16
1,283,462
1,963,880. 9
224,415.50
47,240
14,298
To the African iſlands and coaſt of Africa,
To the East-Indies,
To the North-Weſt coaſt of America,
487,787.14
41,298
139,984
135,181
10,392
Dollars, 20,415,966.84
In addition to the foregoing, a confiderable number of packages
have been exported from the United States, the value of which be̱_
ing omitted in the returns from the cuſtom-houfes, could not be
introduced into this abftra&t.
Treafury department,
Feb. 18th, 1791.
TENCH COX E, Affiflant Secretary.
•}
286
CHAPTER IX.
REFLEXIONS ON THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN UNION IN
THE YEAR M,DCC,XCII.
HE apparent profperity of the United States,
THE
in the beginning of the year 1792, was attend-
ed with ferious doubts in the minds of many refpec-
table citizens, about particular matters, fome of
which are always of importance to the happineſs
of a people, and others of which are confidered as
peculiarly interefting to this country. A concife
examination into the general ſtate of the union appear-
ed to promife fatisfactory explanations of many
of thefe doubts. The reflections, which enter
into the compofition of this chapter, were fin-
cerely intended to anſwer that defirable end. They
may contain ſome errors of fact, and more of opi-
nion and judgment. Yet as there are comprized in
them many truths, drawn from fources, which can-
not be materially erroneous, and as the opinions
have been teſted in fome degree by fubfequent ex-
perience and reflection, it is prefumed that a re-
publication of them may tend to inform, at leaft the
foreign world. It is certain, that we do not exhibit
any obvious fymptoms of a wrong balance of trade,
tha the expediency of manufactures is rifing in the
eftimation of the cultivators, that our exports and
fhip-building are increafing, that the property of
emigrators contributes to fwell and fully to coun-
ter-balance any apparent excefs of our imports, that
our aggregate revenue continues to exceed the efti-
287
mates, that every good plan requiring capital, which
is fet on foot derives it quickly from the confidence
of our monied citizens or from foreigners, and in
fhort, that the United States are in reality the com-
fortable original, which is depicted in the following
fection.
Reflections on the State of the Union
"Si quid novifti rectius iftis,
"Candidus imperti; fi non his utere mecum."
SECTION I.
N
DISPASSIONATE enquiries concerning the
public intereſts, are attended with falutary effects,
in every time and in every nation.
In a country
like that, which we inhabit, fuch examinations are
unufally intereſting, and may be rendered, it is be-
lieved, peculiarly beneficial.
To create the difpofition requifite to the proper
acceptation of fuch difquifitions, it is neceffary to
call to the public mind the variant characters of
the ſeveral ſtates, when they where provinces of a
more extended empire-the caufes which produ-
ced that difference of character-the means which
were deviſed to increafe and perpetuate that vari-
ation and the ends to which thofe characteristic
differences were intended to be inftrumental. Re-
flections, duly ferious, upon theſe circumstances
will remind the people of the feveral ſtates, that
they are naturally friends, whofe amity and
1
288
union have been too often viewed with jea.
loufy by rival eyes. They will perceive the wif
dom and the high duty of cultivating a fpi
rit of mutual allowance and conceffion; and a
careful examination of their actual fituation will
convince them, that greater bleffings will reful
from a perfect underſtanding, and fedulous culti
vation of their interefts at home, than from almoſt
any arrangements, which the conceptions of fo
reign nations will probably lead them to propoſe
or adopt.
The confideration of our preſent fituation and
of fome intereſting circumftances which have growr
out of it, are the object of this inveftigation, in
which the benefits to be derived from a liberal in.
tercourſe with foreign nations will not be under-
valued. As no apology is neceſſary for fuch an
endeavour, a mifcellaneous enquiry into feveral
matters, which are always deeply intereſting to na-
tions, and into others which have refulted from
our public operations, will be profecuted without
further introduction.
CONCERNING THE EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
It has been apprehended by perfons of obferva-
tion, at home, and the idea has prevailed in the
councils of a foreign nation,* that the exports of
* See the report of a committee of the lords of the Britiſh privy
council, publiſhed in the gazettes (of March) in Charleſton, South-
Carolina.-American grain has progreffively advanced by equable
289
the United States for the year preceding October,
1790, were greater in value than could be expect-
ed again, by reafon of the prices for grain which
were confequent on the ſcarcity in France. The
exports of the fubfequent year will aid us in tefting
this opinion, which attracts the more attention,
becauſe it is fometimes fuggefted that agriculture
and trade have been injured by the meaſures of the
general government in regard to the public debt.
The first return of exports, on which this conjec-
ture was founded, includes a term of thirteen
months and a half, and amounts to 20,415,966 dol-
lars. From this aggregate value a ninth part is to be
deducted, to equalize it with one years exportation,
which reduces the fum to 18,147,526 dollars.
is
It
very well known, that the prices of our produce
through the year lately returned, and which ended
with September 1791, had fallen to their antece.
dent rates, and it will be perceived on a compari-
fon, that our exports exceeded in their aggregate
Oo
and confiderable fteps, in the laft fifty years. The caufes of this rife
are the increaſe of fhipping, particularly American; the introduction
of foreign fhipping, the increafe of manufacturers in Europe and
America, the increafe of mills, particularly in America, the in-
creaſe of diftillation and brewing in America, the accumulation
of mercantile capital in America, the increaſe of commerce
among all nations, the fullness of population in the European ftates,
which formerly exported grain, and the increaſe of the circulating
medium of the world by mines, banks and bills of exchange. In 1737
wheat was fold for one-third of a dollar in the principal grain ports
of the United States: in 1771, 1772, 1773, and 1774, it fold on a
medium for near three quarters of a dollar; and in the years 1792,
1793, and 1794, it has fold on a medium for more than a dollar.
290
A
value thoſe of the former year. The laft return,
exclufively of two quarters of Charleſton was
dollars 17,571,551
Thoſe two quarters, at the rate
of the correfponding term in the
preceding year, would be about
700,000
dollars 18,271,551*
There remains not, therefore, the leaft caufe to
doubt, that our total exportations were eighteen
millions and a quarter, and confequently more than
in the antecedent year. It is to be obſerved too
that the high prices which were current through the
time of the firft return, muft have produced an ex-
portation of all the grain that could be carried to
market, and none of the old crop could have been
left as uſual, to fell with the new. The obvious
effect of this muſt have been an unuſual deduction
from the exports in the following year. The valua-
tion of the exports of theſe ſtates immediately be-
fore the revolution is not precifely afcertained:
but the whole exportations from North-America,
including the remaining colonies, and Newfound-
land, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, were computed
to have been in 1771, 15,280,000 dollars. In thefe
were compriſed the fhipments between thofe iflands
*The exports of the year ending on the 30th September, 1792,
are 21,000,000 of dollars. See return thereof in chapter 12.
Thoſe of the following year exceeded 26,000,000.
291
and the main, and from province to province
as every veffel, which departed from one Ame-
rican port, to another, was obliged to clear out
her cargo, as if deſtined for a foreign country.
It will appear to be fafe to fubtract for the differ.
ence produced by theſe two circumſtances, one half
of the former exports, when it is remembered that
nearly two-thirds of the quantity of tonnage is pro-
bably employed in the intercourfe between the va-
rious parts of the prefent union, which is engaged
in that with foreign nations; and that the British
Newfoundland fifhery alone, was eftimated at more
than 2,200,000 dollars in 1775. The increaſe of
the tonnage employed in the foreign trade affords.
another proof of the increment of our exports.
About 330,000 tons were laden in the prefent
United States in the year 1770, part of which
were deftined for ports now within the union.
About 600,000 tons have been loaded in each of
the two laſt years for foreign ports, though our ex-
ports being in a much greater degree manufactured,
are now contained in a fmaller proportionate com-
pafs and boards, fcantling and ftaves, which are
our moſt bulky commodities, have not increafed in
half the ratio of the tonnage employed.
An addition may be alfo made to the amount of
the return for the increaſed ſupplies in provifions,
cordage, and other materials, for the ufe and outfit
of foreign fhips, both of war and trade. Since the
prices of falt provifions have been reduced below
thofe of Ireland, and many articles applicable to
1
292
fhips' ufe, have been manufactured here, this item
has become very confiderable; and fo far as the
articles are fold to foreigners, they are effentially
exports.
Under this head, the increaſed number of ſhips
fold to foreign nations, may be fairly mentioned,
and though much has been faid of the number for-
merly diſpoſed of abroad, it is not doubted that a
greater value was fold in that way in the time of the
laft return. Of this fact fome further illuftration
will probably be given in the fequel. It will be fuf-
ficient to obferve here, that the whole quantity of
tonnage built and native veffels repaired during the
laft year, exceeds in value one million of dollars.
The enlarged confumption made within our
country by foreign perfons of every defcription,
who are certainly much more numerous than they
formerly were, is as profitable to the country, as
the fame value in exports would have been. This
item will appear to be very confiderable, when the
expenditures of foreign minifters, conſuls, tranſient
and refident foreigners, fleets and feamen, are cal-
led to mind.
The export trade of the United States and the
great increaſe of home confumption have placed
the American producers in general on a very ad-
vantageous footing. The competition which ex-
ifts in our markets, between the purchafers for the
account of foreigners of various nations, for our
own merchants, for the great cónfumption in the
293
fea-ports and the parts adjacent to the coafts, and
for the use of the manufacturers, together with the
occafional fhipments made on their own accounts
by the fouthern planters, by the millers of the mid-
dle ftates, and by the owners of the eaftern fishing
veffels, afford the cultivators and fishermen fo ma-
ny alternatives, that they can always obtain the
beft prices, which circumſtances will juftify. In
fhort, theſe ſeveral demands, at once fteady, exten-
five and various, efficiently fupport our agriculture:
and though peculiar enterprize and faculties in
commerce and manufactures, the power of capital,
and an intimate knowledge of our trade and interi-
or fyftem, enable a particular nation to partici-
pate largely in the exports of the United States,
the remainder of the world receives from us
a very confiderable value, and the variety of de-
mand, which the deftination of our exports proves
to exift, affords us certain relief from the con-
fequences of the commercial errors of any of
thofe countries, whofe citizens are our confumers.
Whenever fuch errors fhall occur-or fo far as
they may have already taken place, to diffuſe a
knowledge of our refources among all nations, to
inſpire them with confidence in our laws and modes
of dealing, and to convert our commodities by
manufactures, into every ſhape, which there occa-
fions and our own may require, will prove a com-
petent and efficacious corrective.
It is fatisfactory to obferve the regular increaſe
of manufactured goods in our returns of exported
294
}
commodities. The number in each of the two laft
years is upwards of one third, in a lift which
amounts to near three hundred articles. Hence
we may infer, that the time is really arrived, when
foreign trade is incrcafed and enlivened by home ma-
nufactures. This idea, together with the domeftic
commerce produced by them, will be more parti-
cularly noticed in another place.
<
CONCERNING THE MANUFACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES.
In confidering this fubje&t it will be unneceffary to
adduce many arguments to influence the judgment
of the eaftern parts of the union. Many of our
citizens near the ſea-coaft of the middle flates are
equally convinced of the beneficial effects of ma-
nufactures. The cultivators in the fouthern and
weſtern country, and a refpectable proportion of
our mercantile citizens are apprehenfive of injury
to themſelves and to their country from the purfuit
of this object. Thefe are two defcriptions of per-
fons, whom it is in every view our duty to fatisfy, if
the truth and reafon will permit; and it is princi-
pally from a due attention to them, that the fubject
is propofed to be examined here.
An opinion has prevailed that the fouthern ftates
will be facrificed to the eaftern, and in fome de-
gree to the middle ftates, by the plan of manufac-
tures. It is plain, however, that as the foil of the
eaſtern ſtates is not equal to the production of a
fufficiency of provifions and raw materials for
their own ufe, they muft refort to the middle and
295
fouthern ftates for feveral raw materials and for
new fupplies of provifions. It is known, too, that
fome valuable articles for manufactures cannot be
produced but in the fouthern ftates, fuch as cotton,
indigo, and rice*, and that tobacco is almoſt con-
fined to them. The fouthern ftates and weftern
country will have confiderable advantages in the
fupport, which the home market of the manufac-
turers will give at all times, and eſpecially in time
of war, (when freights will be high, and fhipping
fcarce) to their agricultural and landed produc-
tions. Even now, in profound peace, it is the cafe.
Hemp was delivered in the ports of the middle
ftates, from the lands of the fouthern ftates, at
lefs than five cents per lb. in 1791. Nothing would
have kept it up to that rate, but the rope and twine.
manufactories of the middle and eaſtern ſtates, and
thoſe which are growing up among themſelves.
The brewers of Philadelphia draw nearly as much
of their barley from the Cheſapeak as they derive
from the lands of Fennfylvania. Thefe and other
facts ſhow the beneficial beginning of things. The
manufactures of fhips and cordage throughout the
Union, procure from the fouthern nearly ſtates all
their tar, pitch, turpentine, oil of turpentine, and
rofin. The ports of Philadelphia and New-York, take
three-fourths of their fhip timber from them, juſtly
preferring veffels of live oak and red cedar to all
* Rice is the raw material for the Eaft-Indian ſpirit arrack, and
it is neceſſary for a particular quality of ſtarch uſed by the Euro.
pean manufacturers.
{
296
3
others. The owners of the coal mines of Virginia,
enjoy the monoply of all the fupplies for the manu-
facturers of the more northern ftates, who live in
the fea ports: a demand which is increafing rapid-
ly. No lead mine of any confequence is yet work-
ed, except one near the ſuperior waters of James
river. The fouthern ftates abound with iron, and
have much more fuel of all kinds than the northern
ſtates, and they have ftreams for the moft power-
ful water works. Few or no very abundant depo-
fits of coal have been yet difcovered further north
or eaft than the waters of the Ohio and the Chefa-
peak, even in internal fituations. The iron manu-
factures of the United States are already important
in value, and immenfely fo in point of utility, or
rather of neceffity. Buildings, farms, manufactories,
fhipping, fisheries, fleets, and armies, all demand
them. In fhort the all-important landed inte-
reft would languish, and its progrefs in profperi-
ty would be retarded in the counties of the
fouthern ſtates, even near the ſea, if our prefent ma-
nufactures were to be abolished, and all future eſta-
blifhments of that kind were to be given up. But
their inland and western counties cannot flourish un-
lefs manufactures fhall be promoted and introduced
among them. In the counties of Pennſylvania be-
yond the Allegany mountain, are 63,000 inhabi-
tants, and probably 10,000 of thefe are farmers.
The wool of that country is yet very inconfidera-
ble-their furs are more abundant. From thefe
two raw materials, no lefs than 10,140 wool hats,
297
N
and 2,200 fur hats are manufactured yearly in thir-
ty three hatters' fhops. Sail cloth (which, when
manufactured, would be worth 30 cents per
Ib.)
could be made at Pittſburg, Wincheſter in Virgi-
nia, Hillſborough, and Saliſbury, in North-Caroli-
na, Camden, in South-Carolina, and Lewiſville, in
Georgia, out of hemp, the value of which, there,
does not exceed 4 or 5 cents. To bring a ton of
hemp to the fea-ports from thofe towns, except
Lewisville, cofts from 35 to 40 per cent. of its value.
To bring a ton weight of fail cloth from the ſame
places to the fame ports would not coft above 6 or
8 per cent. and the manufacturers' provifions and
fuel are attended with fimilar favings. Dedu& for
a moment the demand of foreign commerce from
Alexandria and Wincheſter, and the latter would
appear to be moft vigorous and flouriſhing; be-
cauſe it manufactures more, having not fo high a
market for its provifions and raw materials. Theſe
obſervations apply with equal force to the whole
ftate of Vermont and to all our interior counties.
The nation that fupplies us with hempen, flaxen,
and iron manufactures, takes immenfe quantities of
hemp, flax, and iron from Ruffia. Thefe Ruffian
raw materials are purchaſed at the eaftern extremi-
ty of the Baltic, are tranfported to another foreign
country and manufactured there, are brought hi-
ther, and hawled through bad roads, 50, 100, 200,
and 300 miles into our moft productive counties,
which yeild the requifite raw materials. Theſe facts
powerfully incite us to fofter manufactures of the
Pp
298
fame kinds, there and elfewhere. Till that fhall
be the cafe, we fhall continue to drag thofe raw
materials through the fame bad roads, and fhip them
under charges of carting and freight equal to a
third, an half, and two thirds of their value, accord-
ing to the diftance. Neglecting and repelling
the eſtabliſhment of manufactures, would occafion
immenfe deductions from the profits of our lands;
and due confideration, it is believed, would con-
vince us, that the beft interefts, nay the neceffities
of our landholders require the introduction of fome
kind of manufactory in almoft every vicinity.
The countries fouth of Pennfylvania are remark-
ably rich in foffils. Coal, copper, iron, lead, and
other minerals are found in either Maryland, Vir-
ginia, North or South-Carolina, or Georgia, or all
of them. Mineral appearances occur every where.
The promotion of manufactures is neceflary to draw
thefe forth; and as they have immenfe forefts of
wood, and the moft powerful mill-ftreams, there
can be no doubt, that they will be brought into uſe,
as foon as thofe means fhall be adopted.
The family manufactures of the middle and inte-
rior counties of Virginia, North-Carolina, and the
interior counties of Georgia, South-Carolina, and
Maryland, are ſaid to be greater in value, than the
articles of foreign manufactures, which they uſe ;
and were they univerfally awake to the facility,
profits, and national importance of this mode of
manufacturing, they might extend it much further,
299
without impeding their farming operations, while,
at the fame time, they would provide a new ufe
for their agricultural productions.
A fingle ſtate, Pennſylvania, has upwards of fif-
ty paper mills, which work up materials of no va-
lue. The manufactures from thofe mills are com-
puted at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars-
the perfons employed in them do not exceed one
hundred and fifty, or two hundred. That ftate
contains about one ninth of the people of the Unit-
ed States, and their contributions to the expenfes
of the government and the intereft of the public
debt, are confequently about 400,000 dollars.
Their paper mills, therefore, indemnify them for
five-eights of their quota! It appears to be the du-
ty
of government to encourage the people in all the
ftates to do the fame, eſpecially as it can be done
by water-means, and not by men diverted from
their farms. The fouthern ftates do not want a
capacity for this manufacture, which has acquired
an eſtabliſhment in Maryland, and has appeared as
far to the fouthward as North-Carolina.
*
It may be fafely affirmed, that the manufactures
of leather in the United States exceed in value all
our annual burdens. We import few or no fhoes.
* They wear cotton and linen more than the northern ftates,
whofe climate requires more woolens. Out of the rags of the
former paper is made. Out of woolen rags it has not yet been
found practicable.
300
In each of the two laft years we have procured
from abroad no more than 70,000 pair of fhoes and
boots, for 4,000,000 of people. If we uſe only one
pair and a half per annum per perſon, at leventy-
five cents, they will amount to 4,500,000 dollars,
which exceeds every demand of the general and
ftate governments.† The hides, fkins, bark, lime,
thread, briftles, and wax, nay, the very heel-pegs,
are all drawn from our lands and farms. Recol-
lecting this, and fimilar facts, we cannot queftion
the utility of even handicraft manufactures to the
farmers, planters, and landed intereft. If the ma-
nufacture of ſhoes in this country, were aboliſhed,
our annual debt to foreign countries would be in-
creaſed to an amount equal to all our public con-
tributions. Similar obfervations might be made on
feveral other articles, and to a much greater ex-
tent on linen, cotton, and woolen fabrics. Cattle
thrive with little attention in the mild winters of
the fouth. That regin being more woody, they have
a greater quantity of bark than moſt of the other
ftates.
The manufactures of wool in Great-Britain have
been ſtated by their minifters at £.16,800,000 fter-
ling-and the fimple manufactures of liquors in
that country are faid to confume twenty-five milli-
ons of bushels of grain. Were there no other proofs,
we could not doubt the importance of manufactures
to the agriculture of that country. They nourifh and
† A, D. 1791-2.
301
fupport it. We make up all our wool-our lands
produce cotton with great facility, and we manu-
facture liquors as eaſily as Britain. There is no
doubt, that the latter branch already affords to our
farmers an annual market for 1,500,000 bushels of
grain. This manufacture is well underſtood and
carried on in all the fouthern ftates.
The objection, that manufactures take the peo-
ple from agriculture, is not folid as elſewhere ob-
ferved; fince women, children, horfes, water, and
fire, all work at manufactures, and perform four-
fifths of the labour; and as many manufacturers
migrate to the United States, it may be fairly af
ferted that the quantity of agricultural induftry is
increaſed by the impulfe and demand arifing from
manufactures. It may be reaſonably aſked, whe-
ther a farmer does not raiſe the more cotton, flax,
hemp, and wool, becauſe his wife and daughters
Spin and weave them, or becaufe a water-work fpins
for them?
{
The employment of the new medium, the pub-
lic certificates (which may be taken at £.15,000,000
fterling) in a country that formerly had not
£3,000,000 fterling of medium, renders manufac-
tures neceffary at this time. It may be faid, lands
will employ it. But farms fold well at the time
when £.3,000,000 fterling was probably the utmoſt
extent of our medium, and cannot therefore give
employment to the additional twelve millions,
though they might to a part of it. The firft appli-
با ما
*
-
302
cation of this capital is intended to be made to
the manufacturing of cotton, which is peculiar to
the fouthern ftates. This is one method by
which thoſe ſtates will be benefited by even that
part of the public debt, which they do not own.
On this important point more will be faid hereaf
ter. It merits the moft clofe attention and the
moft temperate confideration.
More moncy is employed in manufactures, than
in foreign commerce, becauſe the grofs value of
exported articles is much leſs than the grofs value
of manufactured articles. This will not be doubt-
ed, when it is remembered, that fhoes alone
amount to ſeveral millions of dollars. Thefe ma-
nufactures cannot therefore be deemed lefs impor-
tant to the fouthern landholders than foreign com-
merce; and thofe proprietors will not be difpofed
to neglect foreign commerce, nor will they confider
it as irrelative to their particular or local interefts.
7
SECTION II.
CONCERNING THE MANUFACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES.
IN purſuing the confideration of American ma-
nufactures as beneficial and neceffary to the ſouth-
ern flates, it will be uſeful to take a curfory view
of the indications of attachment and difpofition to
them, which are difcoverable in that quarter.
303
Virginia appears to be making a greater progrefs
in merchant mills than any ftate in the union,
though fome are yet far before her in thofe benefi-
cial works. Maryland and Delaware which are in
the fouthern moiety, are fecond only to Pennfylva-
nia in this branch.* There is little doubt that
more pig and bar iron is made to the fouthward of
Pennſylvania, than to the northward of it. A lead
mine has been opened in Virginia, which is extend-
ing its fupplies through the union, and promiſes fair
to be commenfurate with the prefent demand: and
there is one which is now worked, in the territory
fouth of the Ohio. But no lead mines are in confi-
derable operation in the ftates north or eaſt of
Virginia, though a ſmall beginning upon one in the
weſtern parts of Pennſylvania is made. An affoci-
ation in Virginia, another in the territory fouth of
the Ohio, and a company in the weſtern diſtrict of
South-Carolina, have provided themfelves with
carding and fpinning machinery on the Britiſh plans
to manufacture their native cotton. The planters,
in the fouthern ftates raife quantities of this raw
material, unthought of before the war, and until the
difcuffions of the fubject of manufactures, which
took place fome time after the treaty of peace.
The family manufactures in cotton are much
greater in the four fouthernmoft ftates, than in
the four eaftern ftates. There are not wanting
confiderable numbers of Sheep in the five fouth-
}
*New-York it is conceived, ought to pay more attention to
the milling bufinefs.
304
ern fltates, yet by the two returns of exports,
it appears that no wool has been fent from thence
to foreign markets. It has been common to
receive wool in Pennfylvania from the eaftern
ftates, though they manufacture fo much, but it
is not known that any is ever received there
for fale from the ſouthern ftates. Wool has been
tranſported to Salem, in North-Carolina, and to
Wincheſter, in Virginia, from the city of Phila-
delphia, for the hat manufactory.
:
There has been full as great a current of emigra-
tion of flour millers, blackſmiths, tanners, hatters,
cabinet-makers, diftillers, coopers, &c. to the fouth-
ern ſtates from thoſe north of them, in proportion
to numbers, as of farmers; fo that the work fhops
of the middle and northern ftates yield a double
benefit to their fellow-citizens in the fouth, in fup-
plying them with manufactures, and artizans.
There is greater variety in diftillation in the four
fouthern ftates than in the four eaftern-that is,
the manufactory is established on a broader bafis. It
is alſo more certain in the fouth than in the north.
In the latter, molaffes is the principal ingredient
and being from an external fource, may be loft to
the eaſtern diftillers. Their manufactory is even
now at hazard, unleſs they refort to the grain of
the country to the ſouthward of them. But in the
fouthern ftates they manufacture fpirits from mo-
laffes, peaches, apples, feveral kinds of grain, and
probably will, as their country is cleared, extend
305
it to the grape. This has been tried with fuccefs in
the experimental way, at Galliopolis, near the
Scioto. The diftillation of arack from rice will
probably be commenced if that grain fhould ever
fall in price.
The legiflature of North-Carolina made a loan
of money fince the late war to affift the introduc-
tion of the paper manufactory.
An affociation containing forty of the moft re-
ſpectable planters and farmers, in the western dif-
trict of South-Carolina, has been eſtabliſhed within
a few years for the promoting of manufactures, and
agriculture. A fubfcription to the amount of about
25,000 dollars, has been made in the territory ſouth
of the Ohio for the purpofe of carrying on the cot-
ton manufactory. An indication of zeal not equal-
led in any middle or northern ftate, confidering
that the whole population of the government is
30,000 whites, and 5,000 blacks.
The preparation of tar, pitch, turpentine, fpirits
of turpentine, and rofin, in North-Carolina and its
vicinity, may be deemed a manufacture as juftly as
the making of linfeed oil, pot afh, or ordinary
tanning. A very fmall quantity indeed, of thefe
articles, will, be made in the ftates north of Virginia
becauſe nature forbids; but they will, from obvious
reaſons, increaſe in the fouth.
1
During the exiftence of the ftate impoft laws,
two of the fouthern ftates (Maryland and Virginia)
Q q
306
impofed an extra tonnage, not only upon foreign fhips
but upon thoſe of the other ftates, by which they
evinced a ſtrong difpofition to encourage the ma-
nufacture of ſhips. The fame two flates laid duties
on the importation of fpirits manufactured in the
other parts of the union.
The ftate of Maryland impofed confiderable
protecting duties to encourage their own manufac-
tures. The legislature of Maryland have encou-
raged the glaſs manufactory in that ftate by a con-
fiderable loan. That of Virginia paffed a ſpecial
act fince the peace, to encourage the manufactory
of fnuff and tobacco.
There are more factories of cordage and cables
in two of the ſouthern ftates, (Maryland and Vir-
ginia) than in any two of the ſtates of New-Jerſey,
New-York, Connecticut, and New-Hampfhire.
Virginia laid a duty of two-thirds of a dollar on
cordage by her ſtate impoft law.
The important manufactory of fhips has become
greater in each of the three ftates of Maryland,
Virginia, and North-Carolina, than it now is in
New-Hampſhire. The fouthern ſtate of Maryland
manufactured in 1790, as many veffels as any two
of the northern ftates of New-York, Connecticut,
and Rhode-Ifland.
The paper-mill in the United States, which is
moft remote from the fea, is to be found in the
307
town of Salem, in North-Carolina, three hundred
miles from the ocean. No fuch manufactures as
thofe of that village (a Moravian fettlement) in the
fouthern ſtate of North-Carolina, exiſt in any
part of the union north of Maryland, equally re-
mote from the fea.
There are but two fcenes in the Atlantic counties,
in which coal, iron and waterfalls are yet found to-
gether in abundance. Thefe fcenes are therefore,
peculiarly qualified for the iron branch of manufac-
tures. The city of Richmond on the bank of
James' river, in Virginia, which is one of the places
contemplated, may be conſidered in a permanent
view as having an inconteſtable natural advantage
over any more northern fea-port, in this interefting
branch. How profitable would it be to Virginia,
were all her pig and bar iron paffed under the tilt
hammers, or through the rolling and flitting mills,
which might be erected at that place.*
挚
​Some of the produce of the fifheries, as before
obſerved, are to be deemed manufactures. The
herring and fhad (or river and bay) fifheries, fouth
of Pennſylvania are very confiderable. A barrel
of herrings is worth, on a medium at the fishing
places, 250 cents. The manufacture of the cafk,
the packing, curing, making pickle, and trimming,
* The exiſtence of coal on the eaſtern boundary of Luzerne
county, in Pennſylvania, and in the near parts of Northum-
berland, and in the westernmoft parts of Northampton was not af
certained in 1791.
308
}
amount to more than one fourth of the fum or
twenty five per cent. The cafk and manufacturing
of fpirits diftilled from molaffes, does not amount
to more than one fixth of the value of the com-
modity, or 16 2-3 per cent. A barrel of pickled
fifh of the fouthern ftates may be therefore as
justly deemed a manufacture, as a caſk of coun-
try rum. A fimilar comparifon might be made
between this article and feveral other fimple
manufactures of the middle and eaſtern parts of
the union. It is not intended to difcufs, at this
time, the propriety of granting bounties, but if
they were deemed proper grants, there are points
of view in which the fouthern ftates would appear
to have a much greater intereſt in them, than the
eaſtern ſtates.
1ft. As the fouthern ftates cultivate a greater va-
riety of raw articles-and are capable of producing
a much larger quantity of them, all that extenfive
clafs of bounties, which are refolvable into an en-
couragement to the growth of the raw material,
will be much more beneficial to them, than to the
eaſtern ſtates, which are more limited both in the
kinds and quantities they can bring forward for
the bounty.
2dly. The fouthern ftates having extenfive and
very rich interior and weftern counties, far from
navigable rivers, (which the eaſtern have not) and
the productions of thofe fcenes being liable to a
long and expenfive land carriage, the bounty would
309
foon be found to enable them to bring the fimple ma-
nufactures and raw materials to the markets on the
fea coafts, which they would not, without the
bounty, attempt to tranfport thither. This will
not be deemed a mere fuggeftion of ingenuity,
when it is remembered that the British and Iriſh give
bounties on their fabrics, and even on the bulky
articles of flour, grain, and bifcuit, to enable the
exporter to deliver them with advantage in foreign
markets.
It is an obvious truth, that every thing is more
valuable in proportion to the number and extent
of its ufes, or the purpoſes to which it can be ad-
vantageouſly applied. Flax, hemp, wool, filk, cot-
ton, indigo, tobacco, hides, iron, wood, grain, and
cattle, are valuable, where they are wanted mere-
ly as exports; but they manifeftly acquire a new
or fecond value, when wanted to employ, accomo-
date, or nouriſh manufacturers. In places from
whence thoſe articles cannot be exported, without
a great expenfe of tranſportation, it is very defira-
ble to give them this fecond uſe; but in fituations
too interior to be affected by the demand for
exportation, and where of courſe they are not re-
quired for the purpoſes of external commerce, this
new uſe muſt be created for them, or they will not
be produced, and agriculture will confequently lan-
guiſh. This view of the fubject evinces the indif
penfable neceffity of manufactures to the profperity of
the interior and western country as before intimated.
Nor will theſe ideas appear, on examination, to be
310
merely plaufible conjectures. They are no lefs
ſupported by the actual ſtate of things, than by pro-
bability and reafon. The towns of Waſhington,
Pittſburg, Bedford, and Huntingdon, in Pennfyl-
vania, (the neareſt of which is 150 miles from a
fea-port, exhibit the ftrongeſt proofs, that manufac-
tures are the natural and beft fupport of the inte-
rior landed intereft, and are neceffary at once to
the accommodation, the comfort, and the proſperi-
ty of the cultivators of the middle and weſtern
country. The following table contains an account
of the population of thofe villages, which is not ex-
aggerated.
311
Clock and watchmakers,
Silverfmiths,
Coopers,
Skin-dreffers and breeches makers,
Tanners and curriers,
Tailors,
Cabinet makers,
Blacksmiths,
Shoemakers,
Hatters,
Dyers,
Weavers,
Reedmakers,
Saddlers,
Saddletree-makers,
Spinning wheel-makers,
Nailors,
Malfters and Brewers,
Potters,
Tinners,
Diſtillers,
Wheelrights,
Stocking-weavers,
Gunſmiths,
Ropemakers,
I
1
1
Waſhington.
Pittſburg.
Bedford.
Huntingdon.
I
I
I
I
2.
I
I
2
I
2
2
2
2
5.
2
5
2
2
thing
32 +
4
2
4
1
2
I
2
2
2
I
I
3
2
2
I
I
I
I
I I
I
I 2
3
I
I
I
2
I
Whitefmiths,
Total of manufacturers,
Total families,
2
32 40 15 23
* 130 40 85
It appears from this table, that in thofe county-
towns (or feats of juftice) in the interior and weft-
ern parts of Pennſylvania, the neceffity for manu-
factures has occafioned a little congregation of ar-
* The population of Waſhington is unknown but it is leſs than
that of Pittſburg.
312
tizans, in the proportion of twenty-feven parts in
one hundred, of the whole village in the fmalleft
inftance, and in the proportion of thirty feven parts
in one hundred, in the largeft. The town of Waſh-
ington, which is the most remote, and is near to
the Ohio, has been created fince the late war. Its
diftance is about 300 miles weft of Philadelphia.
The variety of its manufactures is ftriking, and it
may be ſafely affirmed, that at the feats of justice,
in the counties of Delaware, Bucks, Cheſter, and
Montgomery, which are neareft to Philadelphia,
as great a number of manufactures, in propotion
to their refpective population, does not exift, though
the family manufactures are much more confiderable
in theſe counties, and though they have very nume-
rous tanneries, iron works, powder-mills, paper-mills,
blackſmiths, hatters, fhoemakers, weavers, and
other valuable workmen, in their villages and ſcat-
tered throughout their populous townships. This,
however, is the cafe, in fome degree, likewife in the
townſhips of the weftern fcene above defcribed.
In the midland counties of Pennfylvania, ma-
ny precious manufactures have refulted from a
flourishing agriculture, and, immediately on their
birth, have contributed to the profperity of the
cultivators. The borough of Lancaſter, which is
the largeſt inland town in the United States, is
fixty-fix miles from a feaport, and ten from any
practiſed boat navigation. The number of fami-
lies was in 1786, about 700, of whom 234 were
manufacturers. The following is the lift of them.
313
*
Fourteen hatters, thirty-fix fhoemakers, four tan-
ners, feventeen faddlers, twenty-five tailors, twen-
ty-five weavers of woolen, linen, and cotton cloth,
three ſtocking weavers, twenty-five white and black
fmiths, fix wheel wrights, eleven coopers, fix clock
and watchmakers, fix tobacco and fnuff manufactur-
ers, four dyers, feven gun fmiths, five rope makers
four tinners, two braſs founders, three ſkin dreffers,
one bruſh maker, feven turners, feven nail makers,
five filver ſmiths, three potters, three brewers,
three copper fmiths, and two printers in Englifh
and German. There were in 1786 alfo, within
thirty-nine miles of the town, feventeen furnaces,
forges, rolling mills and flitting mills, and within
ten miles of it eighteen grain mills, fixteen ſaw
mills, one fulling mill, four oil mills, five hemp
mills, two boreing and grinding mills for gun bar-
rels, and eight tanneries. The increafe fince 1786,
muſt have been very confiderable; for the attention
of the United States has been very much turned
to manufactures fince the year 1787. It may be
fafely affirmed, that the counties of Lancafter (in
which the borough is) York and Berks are among
the moft vigorous in Pennfylvania, perhaps in the
union, and that there are none in the ftate in which
there are more manufactures, is beyond all queftion.
They are all fifty miles or more, from the neareſt
fea-port.
Information through feveral channels, affords
the greateſt reafon to believe, that the interior of
Rr
314
Frederick and Elizabeth towns, in Maryland, Stan-
ton, in Virginia, Lexington, in Kentucky, and
other towns in the ſouthern ſtates, would prove on
examination, fimilar to thofe of Pennſylvania, and
that the improvements in neceffary manufactures
are as vifible and as rapid, as thofe in agriculture*.
* The following account of the fize and of the manufactures of
Wincheſter, in Virginia, is furniſhed by a perfon lately a refident
in that place It appears to exceed even the towns of Pennſylvania
in the proportion of manufacturers.
There are about two hundred houfes in Winchefter. Provifions
and wood are low.
There are four or five tan yards. The demand for leather is fo
great, that it is generally fold unfit for uſe.
One rope yard carried on extenfively.
One or two coachmakers. Few carriages are ufed, the roads
being yet rough.
The bakers and diſtillers brew occafionally.
There are three or four diftilleries in the town.
bourhood there are many.
In the neigh-
There are alſo ſeveral oil mills in the neighbourhood. The price
of flaxfeed is 2. and 2/6 per bufhel, Virginia money.
Grift mills are numerous in the neighbourhood; and teams are
conftantly employed in the tranſportation of flour to Alexandria:
diftance eighty miles: carriage 1 dollar per barrel.
One copperfmith, who carries on his buſineſs very extenfively.
Three tin plate workers.
Eight or ten hatters. Wool hats, of Wincheſter make are in
much repute, and are vended in large quantities. Price eleven
dollars per dozen. Single hat, one dollar.
Note. Wool is one third of a dollar per lb. and is often or-
dered up from Philadelphia by the Winchefter hatters.
Twelve or fifteen faddlers.
Note. This manufacture, as well as the hatting, is in a
flourishing condition, and carried on very extenfively.
Five or fix blackſmiths-one employed in plating faddle trees.
315
A
The reflections arifing from thefe facts are highly
fatisfactory, and as they open new and extended
views of the reſources and capacities of the United
States, they muſt increaſe the prevalent difpofition
of the people to improve the interior economy of
our country. It is devoutly hoped, that they may
alfo contribute to remove the apprehenfions of our
fouthern and weftern fellow citizens, in regard to
unjuft facrifices of their interefts to thofe of their
brethren in other quarters, and that they may lead
to fuch further examinations as will finally evince
thoſe immenfe direct and indirect benefits from
American manufactures, which are fincerely be-
lieved to pervade the whole union.
CONCERNING THE MANUFACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES,
AS THEY AFFECT THE MERCANTILE INTEREST.
Many of the fhipholders and merchants trading
with foreign countries, fuppofe, but it is believed
erroneouſly, that they have no intereft in the pro-
motion of manufactures. It is known that Great-
Britain with ſeventy millions of acres of populated
land, fhips fourteen millions (her whole exports
being near twenty millions) in her own manufac-
tures. The foreign trade of that kingdom, with-
out manufactures would manifeftly be neither fo
Three or four wheelrights.
Eight or ten tailors.
Eight or nine ſhoemakers.
Four or five weavers. Two ſpinning wheel makers,
Three or four faddle tree makers.
316
great nor fo various-for the value of the produce
manufactured is increaſed froin one hundred to ten
hundred per cent. and more; as is alſo that of the
imported raw materials, which conftitute a great
portion of their trade. The foreign commerce of
the United States, is already enlivened by manu-
factures. Ships, boats, oars, and handſpikes, bar
iron, ſteel, nail rods, carriages of all kinds, hats,
fhoes, cordage, candles, foap, oils of feveral kinds,
ftarch, hair powder, diftilled ſpirits, malt liquors,
cabinet wares, plate, puncheon packs, gunpowder,
pot-aihes, bricks, chocolate, muftard, tow linens,
fail-cloth, potter's ware, fadlery and harneſs, wool
and cotton cards, paper and paper hangings, tan-
ned leather, books, fnuff, manufactured tobacco,
and iron manufactures are now frequently export-
ed to foreign countries. Coaftwife there is alſo a
great trade in thefe and many other manufactured
articles, and in raw materials and provifions for the
manufacturers within the United States.
An argument of great importance to the fhip-
holders, exporters, and underwriters, and indeed
to the cultivators of the earth, in fupport of manu-
factures is to be drawn from their tendency to pro-
mote in an eaſy, certain, ſafe and cheap way, the
naval capacities and ftrength of the United States.
The tranſportation of provifions, coal, raw materi-
als, and other articles from the fouthern and mid-
dle ſtates to the northern, and the diffufion of the
manufactures, of the towns on the coaft, throughout
the union, already employs many veffels. The
317
rice, indigo, cotton, hemp, flax, iron, hides, furs,
tar, pitch, turpentine, rofin, wax, tobacco, wood
and timber, flour and grain, fhipped from the ftates
on, and to the fouthward of the Chefapeak, for the
manufacturers in the middle and northern ftates,
give employment at this time to a very confidera-
ble portion of our tonnage. This cannot be doubted,
when it is remembred, that our coafters are 110,000
tons, though our veffels in all the foreign trades pro-
bably do not much exceed 150,000 ;* and the former
are entirely out of the reach of foreign reſtriction,
confequently (with the fishing veffels) are our moft
certain dependence. The weight of this circum-
ſtance, will be not a little increaſed by the recollec-
tion, that the coaſting trade it uncommonly intereſt-
ing to a nation without tranfmarine colonies or do-
minions.
When we confider the fisheries as one of the
moft efficacious modes of creating the powers of of-
fence and defence at fea, and that our agriculture
and commerce, muft therefore be fupported and
defended by our fishermen, and fishing veffels,
among other means, it will be fatisfactory to the
cultivators, and merchants, that they will be
promoted by the fuccefs of our manufactures.
Skins and furs of fea animals, whalebone, and the
head matter of the whale, are uſed by various ma-
nufacturers for leather, hats, whips, candles, &c.
•
* A. D. 1791, and of courfe exclufive of fishing veffels.
318
The oils are ufed by leather dreffers, fhipbuilders,
&c. and inſtead of candles.
It will be unneceffary to adduce to our mercan-
tile citizens any arguments to prove, that the Unit-
ed States generally pay a premium on the bills
purchaſed for their remittances for European ma-
nufactures. The exports, fales of veffels, their
outward freights and fales of lands, to foreigners,
are the ordinary means applied to the payments for
our imports, after deducting that part of them,
which belonging to emigrators, is not to be re-
mitted or paid for. It is interefting to afcertain.
the reaſons for our continuing to lofe by the courſe
of exchange. The principal caufe probably is,
that we draw fo very large a proportion of our
manufactures from one nation, that there is con-
ſtantly a trebled demand for bills on that coun-
try. It is of importance to diſcover how this
is to be remedied. The other European nati-
ons have had the eight years of the war almoſt
exclufively, and the nine years of the peace, in a
fair competition and do not fupply us with manufac
tures equivalent to half of the stated value of the
Shoes made by ourselves! It appears then, that our
own exertions only, can relieve our merchants from
this annual lofs on their remittances for feveral
million of dollars.
It may not be improper to take a view of the
article of diftilled fpirits as a commodity, which we
319
are capable of manufacturing to any extent, and
which while it will be an aid to agriculture, will alſo
be an object of coafting and foreign trade. We have
imported, in a ſingle year, above eleven millions
of gallons of foreign fpirits and molaffes. If one
million of gallons of the latter were uſed in fubftance
then our imports of fpirits and ingredients made
into fpirits, would ftand at ten millions of gallons.
The value of thefe, as they coft the country may
be fairly taken at one third of a dollar on a medi-
um, and will give 3,333,333 dollars, which is above
one-fixth part of the annual value of our exports*.
As five millions of bufhels of grain would be confum-
ed in the manufactory of a quantity of fpirits equal
to what was imported, in the form of ſpirits or in-
gredients employed to make them, there is no oc-
cafion for argument to prove, that the landed intereſt
would be greatly benefited by the manufacture of
grain liquors (or fruit liquors) in lieu of the ten
millions of gallons drawn from foreign fources.
And in regard to the mercantile intereft, it may
obferved, that the ſupply of a foreign commodity
is always precarious, and accordingly the difturb-
ances in the feveral parts of the French empire, and
the lofs of their vintage, have deprived us of the
ufual importation of their brandies fince the laft
autumn, and of the accustomed fupply of molaffes
from the crop of 1792 of their principal colony.
Theſe two defalcations will probably amount to
fome millions of gallons, and muſt produce a void
* A.D. 1791.
be
320
in a confiderable branch of our foreign trade, for
we ſhall not have it in our power to import the
brandies and molaffes, nor to export the returns
for them, which have employed many thouſand
tons of ſhipping, and a confiderable part of our
mercantile capital and induftry; nor fhall we be
able to export diftilled fpirits, manufactured from
molaffes, which has alfo employed our veffels,
private funds and induftry. How are the mer-
chant and fhipholder to be relieved under thefe
injuries to their bufinefs? Manufacturing diftilled
fpirits and malt liquors from native materials.
will afford confiderable relief. Their capital and
veffels may be employed in purchafing and tranf-
porting, from the rivers and bays of the United
States to the diftilleries and breweries, a part at
leaſt of the requifite quantities of grain, hops, fuel,
and lumber, and of the manufactured liquors, to
domeftic or foreign markets. Nor is this a mere
probability. It is already an exifting fact. The
manufacture of grain liquors in the town of Provi-
dence (in Rhode-Ifland) alone, in the first three
months of the prefent year, was equivalent to 12056
cafes of geneva per ann. If the Dutch import grain.
enough from the north of Europe, to make and
diſtribute gin throughout the world, from Archan-
gel to Canton, which is really the cafe, it cannot
be doubted that the United States, which have the
greateſt furplus of grain of any country upon
earth, which are rapidly increafing it, which are
* See paper T. in the ſecond book.
321
further from their confumers than any nation ex-
porting grain, which have the wood to make the
cafks for it, and the fhipping to tranfport it, and
are themſelves great confumers of malt liquors and
diftilled fpirits, it cannot be doubted that a nation
thus circumſtanced, muſt be able to manufacture
thoſe articles with facility and advantage to any ex-
tent of the demand. The benefits to foreign trade
from the manufacture of fhips, cordage, fail-cloth,
and anchors, as neceflary inftruments of com-
merce, and from thofe articles and pot-afh, foap,
candles, fteel, carriages and other articles, for fale
to foreigners here, or as payments or remittances
to them abroad are already too obvious to need
more than to be enumerated: but too much atten-
tion cannot be given to our fituation, qualifica-
tions, and proſpects in regard to the home manu-
facture of liquors, confidering the difturbed ſtate
of the fugar iſlands, the increaſed confumption and
prices of all the productions of the cane, the im-
pediments to the ordinary importation of flaves, the
objections to the flave trade which are appearing in
different quarters, the immenfe population of the
manufacturing countries of Europe, and their con-
ſequent neceffity to employ in the culture of grain
the lands they recently appropriated to the vine, as
well as the impoffibility of their fparing for the
making of liquors all the barley, rye, and oats,
which were formerly confumed in that manufacture.
There is alfo a confiderable portion of foreign
trade, created by the importation of raw materials
S s
322
and other neceffaries for the employment and con-
fumption of the manufacturers: the articles con-
templated are cotton, hemp, bar iron, ſheet iron,
copper and brafs in pigs and fheets, lapis calamina-
ris, lead, pewter, wire of every metal, woolen,
cotton, and linen yarns, hempen yarn, hides, fkins,
and furs, wool, paper for books and hangings, dy-
ers colours, and fome others, varniſh, printing
types, bullion for gold and filverfmiths, gold and
filver leaf, glue, mahogany, and other cabinet
woods, molaffes, and crude fugars for diftillers and
refiners, manufacturers tools and implements, fuch
as vizes, fcrewplates, anvils, hammers, axes, hatch-
ets, knives, awls, pincers, grindſtones, hatters bow-
ftrings, &c. glafs plates for looking glafs makers
and coach makers, callicoe and linens for printing,
morocco fkins, and many other commodities, which
are expended in the workſhops or families of our
manufacturers, including foreign articles of ap-
parel, furniture, food and drink.
SECTION III.
A CONTINUATION OF THE REFLEXIONS ON THE MANUFACTURES
OF THE UNITED STATES AS THEY AFFECT THE MERCANTILE
INTEREST.
SOME of the benefits to the coafting trade
and other parts of the domeftic commerce refult-
ing from manufactures, have already been intimat-
ed in treating of the manufacture of liquors. Be-
fides thefe, bark and hides for the tanneries, iron,
lead, fteel, copper, hemp, flax, wool, cotton, filk,
323
wood, timber, furs, tobacco, flaxfeed, and grain,
for the manufacturers of thofe articles, and provi-
fions, fuel, indigo, and other objects of their con-
fumption and ufe, together with the goods made by
them, are, and conftantly will be purchaſed, tranſ-
ported from place to place, and fold; creating a
great part of the employment for 110,000 tons of
coafting veffels, exercifing a large portion of com-
mercial induſtry and fkill, and affording a return
of profits, on a very confiderable fum of mercan-
tile capital, employed in the buſineſs. This branch
of our trade is of peculiar importance; becauſe we
have no tranfmarine colonies, and while the re-
dundancy of ſhipping owned by moſt nations, will
leave us but little chance of materially increafing
our veffels in the foreign trades, the extenfion we
may give by it, in the courſe of ten years, to our home
trade and navigation, will probably be very great.
We have brought cotton, fugar, and faltpetre to
be manufactured, from India, fulphur from the Ad-
riatic, hemp, flax, and iron, from Ruffia, copper from
Sweden, furs, indigo, and mahogany, from the gulph
of Mexico, and coal for our workmen from Eng-
land and we cannot doubt, therefore, that we fhall
tranſport thoſe commodities and others, from fuch
of the ftates as produce them, to thofe which fhall
create, or have already eſtabliſhed, a manufacturing
demand.
:
Foreign commerce being limited by the combi-
ned value of our imports, and exports,* any mer-
* The negociations and infurances for foreigners are confiderable,
but theſe operations require little uſe of capital.
324
cantile capital, which might accumulate beyond the
fum requifite for thofe purpoſes, would want em-
ployment of a commercial nature, if the merchant
were not able to have recourſe to manufactures.
This is not a mere fpeculation in poffible events;
for confiderable trading houfes, and others of re-
ſpectable ſtanding, have actually entered into fuch
purfuits. Glafs-houfes, rope-walks, powder-mills,
iron-works, fteel-works, flitting and rolling mills,
grift-mills, naileries, fugar refineries, breweries and
diftilleries, the manufactory of fail-cloth, and of
woolen, cotton and linen goods, exhibit at this mo-
ment numerous proofs of the fact. The commer-
cial ftates, which do not produce much, will yearly
confirm this truth.
It is too well know to need more than a bare al-
legation of the truth, that our outward bound vef-
fels are always completely laden, and that they do
not on a medium return half full. It will there-
half_full.
fore, increaſe the profits of the owners of fhips, if
the outward cargo can be rendered more valuable
by manufacturing the goods to be exported. This
may be exemplified in regard to wheat and the fim-
ple manufacture of fuperfine flour. A veffel, which
will carry ten thoufand bufhels of the former, at
the price of a dollar per bufhel, will be laden for
10,000 dollars; but the quantity of fuperfine flour
(3,000 barrels) which the fame veffel would receive,
will amount at a proportionate price, to the fum of
15,000 dollars. The fame quantity of tonnage,
filled with our bottled porter, diftilled fpirits, fteel,
325
cordage, ftarch, pearl afhes, carriages, cabinet
wares, plate, candles, ſoap, linfeed oil, paper, hats,
fhoes, &c. would rife to a much greater value; and
of confequence, the owners of the veffel would be
able to purchaſe more goods for the return cargo,
by which the ſhip being fuller would make a great-
er fum in freight back. This circumftance is ren-
dered of the more confequence, by reafon of our
diſtance from the greater part of the confumers of
our furplus produce: and it is obvious, that fhips
will be moft profitable in thoſe trades, wherein the
meaſurement of all our imports, fhall be equal to
the meaſurement of all our exports. Veffels, which
depart and return fully laden, cannot fail to enrich
their owners.
No arguments will be neceffary to convince the
judicious and reflecting mind, that the employ-
ment of large capitals and of many merchants and
traders is moft certain and eafy, where there are
the greateſt number and variety of objects to be
bought and fold. As our commercial towns,
therefore, have offered manufactured commodi-
ties to thofe, who come thither to trade, they
have increafed in bufinefs. Pot afh, pearl afh,
country rum, and other domeftic liquors, loaf
fugar, &c. have already contributed to fwell their
exports, by attracting foreign demand, or increaf-
ing the number of profitable objects of ſhipment.
Theſe will naturally multiply under the hands of
our manufacturers, and inſtead of markets, in which
nothing but lumber, tobacco, live-ſtock, provifions,
326
and raw materials were formerly to be obtained,
our fea-ports will be converted into magazines, in
which not only all thofe articles will ftill be pro-
curable but the various commodities manufactured
from them. For theſe goods in whatever ſhape,
purchaſers will never be wanting: cheap merchan-
dize as certainly attracts buyers, as water finds its
level. Nor is this mere fanguine hope, or ingeni-
ous fuggeftion; for it is an obvious truth, that the
greatest manufacturing nations in the old world, are
the greatest traders to foreign parts. Holland,
when moſt remarkable for manufactures, traded to
the amount of eighty millions of dolars per annum
in the commodities of other countries.
A FEW GENERAL REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN MANUFAC-
TURES.
The political concord and attachments, which
grow out of mutual benefits, are the moſt rati-
onal and permanent.
To encourage theſe is
the piety of American patriotifm. In this view,
the cement, which will be given to the nation-
al union, by the interchanges of raw materials,
provifions, fuel, and manufactures among the
ſeveral ſtates, is of ineftimable value. If Euro-
pean nations have fhown difpofitions of amity
and mutual forbearance, on thefe confiderations, it
cannot be doubted that fifter ftates will evince
equal wiſdom and virtue. If many parts of our
union, from policy or a temporary neceffity for ma-
nufactured fupplies, have been willing to exhibit
327
the greateſt liberality toward thofe foreigners, with
whom they have been recently at the wideft vari-
ence, and whom they ftill confider as little leſs than
hoftile, it muſt appear very defireable, that the ca-
pacity at once to accommodate thofe ftates and en-
gage their regard, fhould be transferred from dif
tant ſtrangers, to our own continent, and our own
kindred. If the merchants and manufacturers of
the opulent nation with whom the United States fo
long waged war, influenced by the hope of our con-
fumption, cried aloud for peace, and, on the mo-
ment of its return, preffed with all the courtefies of
commerce to our fhores, the exifting friendſhip of
the ſeveral parts of the union for each other muſt be
ftrengthened by fimilar influences, as they fhall be
progreffively created.
The animated profecution and liberal encourage-
ment of manufactures, is at this moment a great po-
litical duty. The national legiflature has increaf-
ed the impoft on foreign merchandize, to defray
the expences of the Indian war. The continuance
of a great part of the duties is to be no longer than
that of the hoſtilities, which occafioned them to be
laid. If the interval fhould be diligently employed
in the promotion of manufactures, which thefe du-
ties are calculated to create and to protect, the
temporary injuries of the Indian war will be ac-
companied and followed by great, folid, and per-
manent benefits. The military expence is rendered
lefs burdenfome by the employment given to our
own workmen. The fhoes, boots, horfemen's caps,
328
hats, buckles, buttons, fadlery, fpears, rifles, gun-
powder, and other articles for the ufe of the army,
are made by American manufacturers. It is per-
ceived, that war, which often interrupts foreign
commerce and generally dimnifhes the prices of
agricultural productions for exportation, has in this
inftance no effects of that nature; but by judici-
ous arrangements, may be rendered inftrumental
to the greateſt ſupport of the landed intereft-the
manufactures of the United States. The lamentable
havoc of the field muft inevitably diminifh the
number of our citizens; but there is every reaſon.
to believe, that thofe, who, in the courfe of the
preſent Indian war, may fall under the banners of
their country, will prove inferior in number to
thoſe who will be drawn, by the influence of the
new duties, from foreign countries, to the ſtandard
of American manufactures: and although the moſt
uſeful arts are no compenfation for the lives of our
compatriots, the acquifition of a greater number of
new citizens will counterbalance the political evil
reſultiug from ſuch a loſs, ſo far as it may unhap-
pily occur*.
It is detrimental to the United States, that the
manufactures they confume are drawn from nations,
whoſe citizens pay much greater contributions to
their governments than our manufacturers, and
confequently, that we, fo far forth, are fubject to
*It is conceived that the obfervations in the preceding paragraph
apply to the duties laid on account of the Algerine depredations.
329
their taxes, impofts, and excifes. In Great-Britain for
example, their national taxes are feven times as large
as ours, in proportion to the numbers of people in
the two countries; and their poor rates and church
rates are each more than double our whole national
contributions. The monopolies of thofe countries
fall heavily upon the confumers, among their citi-
zens; and thofe, who purchaſe their fabrics, bear
a part of this burden, which lies on their manufac-
turers. The commercial charges paid by the Eng-
liſh Eaft-India company abroad, amount to one milli-
on of dollars per annum: the freight and the charges
in England are about two millions and two-thirds.
more, exclufively of duties. The company's civil
and military charges would, in two years like the
prefent, pay all the expenfes of our government,
and diſcharge our national debt*. The reftrictions.
on navigation and trade in the European nations
alſo enhance the price of raw materials and articles
of confumption required by their manufacturers,
all which fall ultimately upon the people of the
United States, fo far as their fabrics are confumed
here. Theſe confiderations fhould induce our
moft ftrenuous exertions, to diminiſh thofe indirect
burdens, and at the fame time they hold out an
abfolute certainty of a fuccefsful iffue to our ef-
forts.
In taking a view of the affairs of the United
States, and comparing them with the fituation of
* A. D. 1791.
1
Tt
330
most of the great commercial nations of Europe,
the mind is immediately impreffed with the peculi-
arity of their being without tranfmarine colonies.
Though ſpeculative politicians have entertained
doubts in regard to favourable effects from fuch
poffeffions, taking into view the expences of their
improvement, defence and government, no queftion
has been made but that the monopoly of their
trade greatly increaſes the commerce of the nations
to which they are appertenant. Of fuch an advan-
tage the United States do not enjoy the benefit; and
confidering this circumftance, and the prevailing
difpofition to reftrict commerce, our fisheries, coaft-
ing trade, and manufactures appear to merit extra-
ordinary attention.
The confideration of manufactures, upon gene-
ral principles, has been, for ſeveral years, before
the legiſlatures as well of the ftates, as of the union.
The estimation of their importance to the landed
and national interefts appears to have been greatly
heightened by difcuffion and enquiries into facts.
Houſehold manufactures, have acquired univerfal
and decided approbation. To thoſe which are
conducted by labour-faving machinery and procef-
fes, by horfes and oxen, and which confequently
do not require manual operations, no objection
has been made. Such of them as can be carried
on by the manufacturers now among us, by thoſe
who may migrate hither, by the wives and children
of our citizens, and by black women, old men and
children, have not been confidered as diminiſhing
331
the mafs of agricultural induftry, but as manifeftly
promoting it by new and extenfive demands.
The prefent difcuffion of the fubject will be ter-
minated by remarking, that although this great fub-
divifion of our political economy has been copiouf-
ly and freely treated in every mode, it has not on-
ly preferved its original importance in the public
judgment, but has rifen in the eftimation of the peo-
ple in every part of the union-a fate that rarely
attends unimportant truths or dangerous errors in an
enlightened country. (See table of duties on foreign
manufactures, &c. paper Z.)
CONCERNING THE IMPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
This part of the national buſineſs has given rife
to doubts, whether the United States are really in a
profperous fituation. The apprehenfion is believ-
ed, however, to have proceeded from feveral errors.
The eftimation of the imports has probably been
made from the prices current in America, which are
more than the United States pay for them, by the to-
tal value of the following particulars. 1ft. Such part
of the fhipping charges abroad, as accrue to the be-
nefit of the citizens of the United States, who may
be on the ſpot to make the fhipment: 2dly, that
part of the freight upon them, which is earned by
our own veffels: 3dly, that part of the premium of
infurance upon them, which is paid to American
underwriters or infurers: 4thly, the whole amount
of the duties, and cuſtom houſe fees, on the goods,
which amount to ſeveral millions of dollars: 5thly,
332
the amount of the tonnage and fees on foreign vef-
fels, which are deductions in favour of the country
from the value of the goods imported in them:
6thly, the porterage, ftoreage, cooperage, weighing,
guaging, meafuring, commiffions on fales here and
other incidental expences on that part of the imports
which belongs to foreigners: 7thly, the profits of
our merchants on that part of the imports which
belongs to them: 8thly, the wafteage of goods.
belonging to foreigners between their arrival or time
of valuation and the time of fale: 9thly, the bene-
fit of credit which is not lefs than two and an half
per cent. on the whole value of our imports: and
10thly, the value of thofe imported goods which re-
main in the country, being the property of perſons
intending to become, or who will ultimately be-
come citizens of the United States. But the appa-
rent or conjectural difproportion between the ex-
ports and imports of the United States, will be con-
fiderably diminiſhed by the ſales of veffels to fo-
reigners at home and abroad-the fales of lands to
them-the expences of foreigners here-the expen-
ces of foreign veffels here, and the cost of their fea-
ftores the commiffions on the fhipments of their
cargoes, and on the difburfements of their veffels,
as already obferved in treating of our exports.
Befides thefe, the freight of goods fhipped to foreign
countries in our own veffels, (not lefs probably
than three millions of dollars) and the profits upon
all the goods exported on the account of our own
citizens, contribute very much to increaſe the fund,
wherewith our imports are purchafed or paid for.
An eflimate, which fhall comprehend all the fe
333
items at their true value, is neceffary to form a ſatis-
factory opinion of the balance on our trade. From
fuch an eſtimation (which has been made) there
would refult no reafon to doubt our profperity:
nor will this appear queſtionable, when it is remem-
bered, that the outward freights in our veffels, and
the duties on goods imported, amount together to
6,400,000 dollars, which is more than one third of
our exports. The balance of trade has been aptly
denominated the metaphyfics of commerce. To de-
termine it with indifputable certainty requires as ac-
curate and elaborate an inveſtigation as a great me-
taphyfical queſtion: and though this affertion proves
nothing, it will infpire us with due caution againſt
haftily adopting unfavourable conclufions.
An opinion fomewhat fingular and of confider-
able importance will be hazarded upon this ſubje&.
The United States, to make the utmost advantage of
things in their prefent improvable fituation, fhould
have little or no balance in their favour on their ge-.
neral commerce. If their exports, outward freights,
fales of veffels and lands, &c. amount to twenty-
four millions of dollars per annum, they will find
their true intereft in importing the whole value in
well felected commodities. It is better for exam-
ple, that they import molaffes, hemp, cotton, wool,
bar iron, hides, fkins, furs, falt-petre, fulphur, cop-
per, tin, brafs, paper, mahogany, &c. to manufac-
ture; tools for artizans, and materials and utenfils
for conftructing works, improving wafte lands, and
cultivating farms, and breeding-cattle, horfes, and
334
fheep; than that they fhould bring back the equi-
valent in gold or filver. The fum we annually
import in articles of that nature, more precious to
us than the most precious metals, would conftitute
an immenfe balance in our favour: fuch, indeed,
as would, in a few years, opprefs our country with
too copious a circulating medium, or compel us to
export it.
That the exports and other means of paying for
our imports are much more adequate to the occafi-
on, than they were during ſeveral years fubfequent
to the peace, is manifeſt from the ſtate of our pri-
vate credit in Europe.
A diſtinction, and it is conceived, a very import-
ant one, has been already intimated in favour of
fuch of our imports as are of a nature adapted to
enhance the value of our lands, or to employ or
affift our citizens: and in regard to thofe which are
for immediate confumption, the quantity cannot be
in proportion to our former imports, confidering
the increaſe of population. We have actually
almoſt ceaſed to import fhoes, boots, fadlery,
coarfe hats, plate, fnuff, manufactured tobacco,
cabinet wares, carriages, wool and cotton cards,
hanging paper, gunpowder, and other articles;
and we have exceedingly diminished our importa-
tion of coarſe linen and woolen goods, cordage,
copper utenfils, tin utenfils, malt liquors, loaf fu-
gar, ſteel, paper, playing cards, glue, wafers, fine
hats, braziery, watches and clocks, cheefe, &c:
335
and we either make thefe articles from native pro-
ductions, by which the whole value is ftruck off
from our imports, or we manufacture them of fo-
reign raw materials, which coft lefs than the goods.
ufed to do, eſpecially as they often yield a great
freight to our own veffels. Thus the freight of the
molaffes to make rum, imported in one year, at
two dollars per hhd. was not lefs than 140,000 dol-
lars. The fame obfervation occurs as to hemp,
cotton, iron, copper, braſs, tin, faltpetre, fulphur,
mahogany, hides, dye woods, and other raw mate-
rials.
From theſe circumſtantial evidences, there would
appear to be little danger of miftake, in conclud-
ing, that our imports, on a medium of two or
three years, have not been difproportinate to
our exports, and other ſafe and regular means
of balancing the amount of our fupplies. But
though the documents for a comparifon between
the preſent imports, and thofe antecedent to the
revolution, are lefs perfect than is to be defired,
fome which offer are worthy of attention. Our
imports from Great-Britain in 1770, making fome
addition for thofe from Ireland and adding 20 per
cent. to bring them to their market value, were
worth here above £.2,400,000 fterling. In this
item, the information obtained from a report of
the lords of the Britiſh privy council, is principal-
ly relied on, though a part of it is fupplementary
eftimation. To this fum is to be added, a propor-
tion of the imports into all the American colonies
336
in 1770, from all the reft of the world, but Great-
Britain, which, after deducting therefrom £.73,000
fterling for the value imported into Bermuda, the
Bahamas, the northern Britiſh colonies, and New-
foundland, leaves £1,050,000 fter. for the value here
of this part of our former imports. The total value
of our imports in 1770, would then appear to have
been more than £.3,450,000 or about 15,000,000
dollars, as they would have fold in the American
market, exclufive of the contraband trade, which
was confiderable. This will be ſeen by a reference
to the firft number of thefe reflexions, to be full
feven millions of dollars more than our exports at
the fame time. If then our imports were to bear
the fame proportion to 18,250,000 dollars (our pre-
fent exports) the former might be above 34,000,000
dollars, without creating more alarm than we had
then reafon to feel. This view of the fubject may
convince us, that our imports were too copious, at
leaft in fome quarters, for feveral years before the
war; and hence we find a heavy load of private
debt was created and remains upon the citizens of
fome of the ſtates at this day. Happily for the
United States, the reduction of the prices of fup-
plies, by the prefent freedom of their commerce,
by the agency of merchants of credit inſtead of
planters inexperienced in trade, by the intro-
duction of machinery in Europe, and by their own.
manufacturing induftry, has kept down their im-
ports many millions of dollars below that fum, al-
though the impoft and tonnage have directly or indi-
rectly contributed to enhance the nominal amount
337
without increafing the fum to be paid for them
abroad*.
A SKETCH OF THE GENERAL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.
In taking a furvey of the American commerce,
the attention is pleaſingly attracted to the increaſe
of fhip-building, to the new manufactories of arti-
cles neceffary to the equipment of veffels, and to
the improvement in the art of fhip-building, as
well as the fuperior quality of the materials now
U u
* There is a fact, which affects our imports in a manner pe-
culiarly favourable to the United States. Many of the imported
articles are not requifite for daily or annual perſonal conſumption,
but for permanent landed improvement, and are added in the
courſe of our internal operations to the fixed real propriety of the
country. Landed eſtates in the towns and in the country being
no where improved to the utmoſt point, and being in many places
yet in a ſtate of nature, a large proportion of the articles of im-
portation not only become at the inſtant of uſe, a permanent pro-
perty, but indeed give life and productiveneſs to other property,
which the moment before, was an inactive and fruitlefs poffeffion.
For inftance-In 1786 ſeveral millions of acres, ceded by New-
York to Maffachuſetts, yielded not one hundred dollars, nor were
there one hundred citizens of thefe ftates refident on them. Since
that time a very large value in nails, fpikes, hinges, locks, glafs,
paints and other imported articles have been converted (with the
aid of our own timber, ftone, and lime,) into houſes, barns, mills,
workſhops, places of public bufinefs, and of worship, &c. and
now conftitute real, fixed, permanent and productive property, while
the teas and fugars, the linens, woolens, and cottons, &c. import-
ed with them have been confumed or worn out.
This is yet
more ftrongly exemplified in other parts of New-York and Penn-
fylvania.
ነ
338
uſed in their conftruction. The largest number of
veffels built in any one year before the late war,
as far as it can be aſcertained, was equal to 24,358
tons; and at least 32,000 tons of fuperior quality
were built in 1791. The timber and plank are
more chofen, and iron is more copiouſly uſed at
this time, becaufe the veffels are not intended for
fale, and the practice of falting them, is becoming
very frequent. It is important, too, that the art
of fhip-building is diffufed more generally than any
other equally important one, which is carried on
within the United States.†
The feveral capacities of the Baltic powers, as to the building
of fhips form an interefting object to Europe and America, and
are conceived to be as follow. The Swedes have plenty of fir,
which quickly decays, and is weak. Yet it is commonly uſed in
their trading veffels. Ships of war cannot be relied on, if built
of any thing but oak. Of the latter timber the Swedes have ſome
in Skone and Blekinge, but not enough for their navy. They
are faid to have purchaſed of the King of Pruffia twice within a
dozen years, a great quantity of German oak: at one time 400,000
cubic feet, and at another 200,000 feet at the immenfe price of
5/10fterling per cubic foot delivered at Carlefcroon. American
live-oak is fold in Philadelphia,* after paying a freight from the
Carolinas and Georgia as 15d to 18d ſterling per foot, and ſouth-
ern red cedar at the fame prices: our common white-oak is 9d fter-
ling per foot. The Swedes raiſe flax but very little hemp, their
ſupply of which they import from Riga, to make their cordage and
fail-cloth. This bulky article in time of war muft coft them high.
They have plenty of iron within themſelves.
The Danes import the mafts for their navy, flax and hemp from
Ruffia. They make only a part of their fail-cloth, and import
* A. D. 1789.
13
339
The export trade in our produce is more benefi-
cial than heretofore to the landed intereft, becauſe
the cultivators do not, as formerly, anticipate up-
that article both from Ruffia and Holland. They have little oak
except in Holſtein, which is reſerved for emergencies. The great-
eft part of the oak timber for their navy, is purchafed by contract
from the king of Pruffia. Their merchant fhips, it is prefumed,
muſt therefore be of fir, which with their iron they have from Nor-
way.
The Ruffians have abundance of naval ftores, flax, hemp, fail-
cloth, iron, mafts, fir timber and plank for home confumption and
exportation. Oak timber is not plenty in the vicinity of their Baltic
ports. At Archangel they have none. The oak timber for their
navy is faid to be brought by their canals and rivers 1200 miles
from their Tartarian kingdom of Cafan. A few fhips of war have
been built of fir and larch. The Ruffians have very few merchant
fhips. Out of every hundred entries in the feveral ports of St. Pe-
terſburg, Archangel, Wibourg, Revel, Narva, and Riga not more
than two are of their national flag. The Britiſh and Dutch are
their carriers as far as two-thirds or three-fourths of the tonnage
employed.*
The dominions of the king of Pruffia are the beft magazine of
oak timber on the Baltic. Having, flax, hemp, timber and iron and
confiderable manufactures of them, grain, cattle, coal, a fea-coaft
more extenfive than the United Netherlands or Ruffia (except-
ing the frozen coafts of Archangel) and being much nearer to the
European fisheries than the French and Britiſh are to thoſe on
our coaſts, it will not be difficult for the Pruffian king to advance
his navigation and trade. Indeed his port and territory of Em-
den would enable him to profecute the fisheries to advantage, as
alſo the Eaſt-India trade. It is difficult however to judge of things
at fuch a diſtance. The monopoly of European oak is thrown in a
greater degree into the hands of the king of Pruffia, by the laft
partition of the devoted territory of Poland.
* A. D. 1789,
340
on their crops abroad, by ordering out fupplies at
the difcretion of the European merchant, to be
paid for in fhipments of their crops upon their own
account and rifque. The planters in Maryland and
Virginia, particularly the tobacco planters, fuffer-
ed extremely from an inconfiderate purfuit of that
practice before the revolution. The American
merchant is now more frequently their importer;
and as he underſtands the mode of procuring goods
cheap, the real profits of the import and export
trade of the country, are in a greater degree divi-
ded between the planter and the trader.
The reduction of the prices of Eaft-India and
China goods, of every fpecies of manufactures in
which labour faving machinery and flight apply;
and of wines, occafion our imports to be obtained
on more favourable terms. This beneficial effect
is increaſed by the freedom of our import trade,
which lets in the productions and manufactures of
all countries by a direct intercourſe with them,
which was formerly either circuitous or forbidden.
From the fame caufe, fuperior prices for our pro-
duce and manufactured articles have been obtain-
ed. If tobacco is becoming an exception, it is to
be remembered, that great prices were obtained
for it till lately, and that the extraordinary quanti-
ty raiſed is fufficient to account for its fall.
The coafting trade has become very great, and
the derangement of the Weft-India trade muft
extend it exceedingly, during the current year,
341
from the failure of molaffes. The increase of
manufactures, and foreign reftrictions on other
branches of trade have contributed to elevate
this valuable part of our commerce; and the
former (manufactures) will continue fleadily to
increaſe the importance of the coafting bulaefs.
The veffels, which take fupplies of flour, and many
other articles from the middle and northern flates
to South-Carolina and Georgia, make very fre-
quent voyages, and they return lefs than half la-
den but if the planters fhould purfue the cultiva-
tion of hemp, flax, hops, and cotton, they may
come back with full cargoes. A fimilar remark
be juſtly made in regard to the other ſtates.
may
The
The fiſheries would appear not to have recover-
ed their former value; but it is plain, they have
increaſed yearly fince 1789: and they are even
now more valuable than they appear to be.
confumption of oil, whale-boue, fkins of fea ani-
mals, fpermaceti, and pickled and dried fifh, is much
greater in the United States at this time, than it
was twenty years ago. The outfits of the fishing
veffels, too, are more from the induſtry and refour-
ces of the country, than was formerly the cafe.
Wherefore the general benefits refulting from the
fifheries, are probably not lefs than before the re-
volution.
Remote as the United States are from all foreign
nations, totally unconnected with their politics,
and having no temptation to wage war for territo-
#342
ry, they cannot but advance in commercial and
agricultural profperity, if they preferve order and
juftice at home. Foreign reftrictions will be necef-
farily lefs rigid, as occafions for fupplies and paci-
fic fervices from the United States fhall arife: and
thefe occafions muft inevitably exift in every mari-
time nation, which fhall engage in war, even with
a country, which is not itſelf maritime.
>
The proſecution of manufactures has created
fome increaſe of our foreign trade, and will ex-
tend it. If we did not purſue that branch of in-
duſtry, we ſhould not import copper, iron, and
hemp, from the Baltic; cotton, faltpetre, raw filk,
and white callicoes from India; and cocoa, dye-
woods, mahogany, cotton, and hides from the
Weft-Indies, and the fouthern parts of the Ameri-
can continent. Some of theſe importations are
regularly and extenfively made; others are increaf-
ing. Without them we fhould have no intercourſe
with fome of theſe countries, and much leſs than
we now have with others. In like manner, our
intercourfe with feveral countries is increaſed by
manufactured exports. The demand for our pot-
afh, diftilled fpirits, fhips and boats, malt liquors,
cheeſe, bar iron, flit iron, fteel, gunpowder, carria-
ges, and other articles, occafions a greater and
more beneficial trade with many foreign ports.
is impoffible to fay how rapid and how confidera-
ble the progress of this part of our commerce will
be. The exported manufactures of Great-Britain,
It
343
in 1791, were greater than thofe of fifty years ago,
by twice the value of our prefent exports.
It is extremely favourable to American com-
merce, internal and foreign, that a variety of chan-
ges have taken place in the affairs of the world,
which have opened branches of trade formerly with-
held from us by monopoly, or other circumftances.
The act of feparation from Great-Britain enabled
us to trade to China, and other countries beyond
the cape of Good Hope, and the enterprife of our citi-
zens foon difcovered the way. The curious per-
fection of manufacturing machinery in Europe has
made it the intereft of the foreign India companies
to fell us their piece goods in the markets of the eaſt,
without taking them at fecond hand.* The mif-
fortunes of St. Domingo have greatly increaſed our
commerce in indigo, and will have the fame effect
upon cotton, and they are impelling us rapidly into
an internal trade in native fpirits, which will of
courſe lead to external commerce of the fame kind.
This will appear to be a matter of great importance,
when it is remembered, that fince the late peace, the
foreign ſpirits imported have in fome years been
equal in value to one-fifth of our exports! The
failure of fhip-timber, which begins to
begins to appear
every where in Europe, is enabling the United
States to carry on fhip-building upon very ad-
* It is underſtood that the Britiſh Eaft-India company are likely
to be reſtrained from importing into Britain feveral kinds of piece
goods.
344
vantageous terms. The profitable eſtabliſhment of
feveral banks of perfect credit with the moft wary
and judicious citizens and foreigners, is at once a
proof, and a great mean of commercial profperity.
The growth of cities, towns, and manufactures, has
given to the fisheries a more fubftantial bafis in a
confiderable home demand, than they formerly
had in a foreign one. The banishment of paper
tenders, and ex poft facto laws, and the interdic-
tion of laws impairing the obligations of contracts,
have placed our commerce upon a more honour-
able and folid footing, than it ever was before.
The mint, the laws regulating feamen and the
fisheries, the appreciation of the public debt, the
fpirit of improvement* on roads, rivers, and ca-
nals, the difcovery of coal near navigable water,
the continual extenfions of the poft-office, the
conftant increafe of light houfes on the coafts, the
introduction of auxiliary arts, and above all, the
progress of agriculture, have given facilities, ftabi-
lity, and extenfion to our trade, which, were un-
known before the revolution, and which in the
diſtreſsful derangements of 1786 and 1787, ap-
peared beyond the bounds of reaſonable expec-
tation.
* One million and one hundred thouſand dollars were ſubſcrib-
ed in a ſingle ſeaſon to objects of this nature in Pennſylvania
alone.
345
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES CONSIDER-
ED AS A PART OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF NATIONAL DE.
FENCE.
The accurate eftimation of every fubdivifion of
the induſtry and wealth of nations fhould occupy
the unremitted attention of the political obferver.
A diligent enquiry after the facts, which appear-
tain to a ſubject, never fails to adminifter the moſt
uſeful aid to the candid inveſtigator: and it fome-
times happens, that the fimple adduction of theſe,
affords unquestionable proofs of great benefits or
injury, in cafes, wherein the general affertions and
reafonings offered, are fuppofed to be mere fug-
geftions of felf-intereft or local prejudice. The
fisheries, it is believed, would prove, on a tho-
rough examination, to be an inſtance of this na-
ture. The following ftatement of fome recorded
facts, will be found to warrant ftrong prefumptions,
that their intrinfic value has been hitherto un-
known.
,
It is generally underſtood, that the fiſheries of
the late American provinces were principally car-
ried on by the people of Maffachuſetts and that
fuch is the cafe now, is well afcertained by the re-
turns and reports which have been promulgated by
the federal government. It is alfo generally
known, that the fisheries conftituted by much the
greateſt part of the external commerce of that ftate,
and it will be readily admitted, that whatever was
done by its veffels and feamen fhould be principal-
X X
346
ly afcribed to its fifhing veffels and fifhing men.
By an examination of the records of the three
counties of Suffolk, Effex, and Middlefex, (which
compriſe the ports of Bofton, Salem, Beverly,
Newbury-port, Marble-head, Gloucefter, Haver-
hill and Ipfwich) it appears that there were taken,
brought in, and libelled in the maritime court of
thoſe three counties, during the laft war, 1095 vef-
fels with their cargoes, and thirteen cargoes, (which
had been taken from veffels probably unloaded at
fea, and abandoned after capture) making in the
whole 1108. It has been ſtated by a Britiſh pre-
mier in his place in their parliament, that the num-
ber of veffels belonging to Great-Britain in 1774,
was 6219 fail, of which 3908 were Britiſh built,
and 2311 American built.
American built. What havoc then does
it appear, that thefe fiſhermen made among the
Britiſh merchantmen? above a fixth of all their
veffels were brought by thefe people, as prizes in-
to the markets of the United States, with cagoes.
to an immenfe amount, compofed of every fpeices
of military and domeftic fupply in a ſeaſon of the
utmoſt emergency. It appears too, that theſe pri-
zes were no lefs than two fevenths of all the Britiſh
built ſhips of that nation. But the enquiry goes
further. The opinions of the moft candid and beſt
informed eftimators, founded on careful enquiry,
countenance the prefumption, that fifty-five per
cent. of all the veffels captured by the people of
Maſſachuſetts, during the war, were retaken before
arrival; fo that there is the utmoſt probability, that
the whole number of veffels, which were captured
347
by the ſhipping of theſe three counties, was 2450
fail. How great a derangement was this to the Bri-
tiſh commerce and how heavy muſt have been the
expence of the falvage paid to the re-captors? How
great the number of marine prifoners? How feri-
ous the interruption to the manning of their navy?
The operations, here ſpoken of, were confined
to what is termed in Maffachuſetts the middle dif-
trict. The captures in the eaftern and fouthern
diſtricts were much lefs confiderable, but they are
not aſcertained at this time. It is computed that
they amounted to at leaft five hundred and fifty
fail, fo that it ſhould appear, that the armed veffels
of our principal fiſhing ſtate, captured in the
courfe of the late war, near one half of the
merchant ships, ordinarily belonging to Great-
Britain, and above three-fourths of the number
of her native built veffels. The fubject admits
of one more fuggeftion. It is highly probable,
that many captured veffels, and cargoes of vef-
fels taken and abandoned at fea, were carried into
the ports of powers, who were in alliance with the
United States, which did not appear on the records
of the Maffachuſetts courts. The veffels of the
other fishing ftates were remarkably fuccefsful in
their operations against the British merchant fhips;
and in ſhort, the American fifhermen, wherever
bred, operated in their own element, againſt the
commerce of Great-Britain, with a deftructive
activity, vigilance, and efficiency.
th
348
There exifts a proof of the extraordinary impref-
fion made by the veffels of the United States on
the British navigation at that time, which cannot
be miſtaken. This is to be drawn from the rates
of inſurance on unarmed veffels, which were more
exceffive, than in any war of Great-Britain for fifty
years paft, although no other maritime nation, with
whom they have contended during that time, has
been fo deficient in public fhips.
The fiſhing trade of the United States, is render-
ed peculiarly important, as a means of defence or
of annoying the commerce of hoftile nations, from
the circumftance of our not having yet adopted a
naval eſtabliſhment. The fiſhermen, while that
continues to be the cafe, muſt be tranſmuted by
war, as quickly as by a charm, into a corps of pri-
vateers-men and their fhips into private veffels of
war; becauſe, the navy of any hoftile foreign na-
tion will fufpend the fisheries as long as we remain
without a naval force. They are therefore, not
only a means of offence and defence, prepared to
our hands, like the fifhermen of other nations, but
in our peculiar fituation, they will be driven, by
imperious neceffity, to live on the fpoils of the com-
merce of our enemies.
349
1
SECTION IV.
CONCERNING THE BANKS ESTABLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
THESE valuable inftitutions were unknown to
us before the revolution, being added to the politi-
The pa-
cal economy in the latter part of the war.
per emiffions in the times of the provinces, had
yielded fome of the advantages of bank notes,
though with lefs fafety to thofe who received them.
But the degree in which they were unavoidably re-
curred to, in the courfe of the war, had completely
deſtroyed the utility of paper money in 1781. The
ftate of public credit, and indeed of the public af-
fairs in general, as well as the exigencies of the
cultivators, merchants and manufacturers, required
an efficient fubftitute for an inftrument of negocia-
tion and dealing, of fo great compafs. The fcheme
of a bank was prefented in the manner, which is
univerfally known, as the moſt probable mean of
accommodating the general neceffities, political,
agricultural, and commercial. The promifes which
the plan made were abundantly fulfilled; and at
the fame time a ſtandard of public conduct and ac-
tion in regard to the rights of property, was unob-
fervedly erected, at a moment when the recent
courſe of events had rendered it very defireable, as
well from political as moral confiderations. It has
been found, accordingly, that the laws which con-
cern property, in the places where banks have been
eſtabliſhed, have quickly acquired a ſtability, if they
&
350
were good, and have meliorated, if they were be-
fore exceptionable, notwithſtanding any fuppofed
or real errors in the plans or adminiſtration of the
inftitutions.
In reflecting upon theſe eſtabliſhments, one can-
not but call to mind a ſuggeſtion, which frequently
occurs, that too large a portion of the capital of
the United States, has been applied to them. Few
pecuniary operations are of as much importance.
In eftimating the extent to which we might have
gone with prudence, an examination of the ſtate of
that buſineſs in a fuccefsful and at the fame time
the best known ſcene of trade in Europe, may be
of fome ufe. In the city of London, the bank of
England (exclufively of that of Scotland) has ope-
rated with a capital of more than fifty millions of
dollars about forty-fix years. The population of
England, on a medium, during that term, has been
lefs than double that of the United States at pre-
fent, yet the capital of its bank has been above
five times the capital of our national bank, and near
five times the amount of all the fubfcriptions which
are yet paid into all the banks in the United
States. There, are, moreover a great number of
private banks in the fame city, probably not lefs
than fixty in number, fome of which have more
capital ftock, than any bank in this country, ex-
cept that of the United States. The aggregate
amount of their capitals is probably equal to that
*
A. D. 1791.
351
of the bank of England. Befides thefe, there are
very many confiderable private banks fcattered
through the kingdom. In addition to thoſe,
there are the public and the private banks of
Scotland. If the banks of England and Scot-
land, public and private, out of London, be equal
to the private banks of London alone, then the
capital of thoſe inſtitutions in Great-Britain will
be 150,000,000 dollars, or above fourteen times
as many dollars as there are perſons in that king-
dom, though the whole of the ftocks of the bank of
the United States, which is paid in, is not equal to
three times the number of their inhabitants. Again:
if the banks of Great-Britain be meaſured by the
exports of that ifland, it will be found, that the lat-
ter, at their highest value (90,000,000 of dollars)
are only three-fifths of their aggregate bank capital,
and that our exports, at 18,250,000 dollars, are
above two-thirds more than all our bank capital,
which is actually paid in. Taking the Britiſh im-
ports at 80,000,000 of dollars, and thofe of the
United States at 24,000,000, the compariſon will
be ſtill more in favour of the difcretion, which has
been obferved in the United States. But a very
important meaſure of theſe inſtitutions yet remains
to be applied, by which prudent men will be moſt
difpofed to teft the fubje&t-the ordinary quantity of
Specie. The bank capital of Great-Britain being,
as above ſtated, about 150,000,000 of dollars, and
the quantum of ſpecie being never eftimated at
more than 22,000,000l. fterling, or 97,700,000 dol-
lars, the aggregate bank capitals of the United
352
3
States, as now paid in (ten and one half millions
of dollars) would be as prudently, and folidly
founded on a quantity of fpecie a little lefs than
7,000,000 of dollars. Although it would be impof-
fible to aſcertain the precife amount of the fpecie
of the United States, eftimates carefully made, ap-
pear to warrant a belief, that it is equal to that
fum. But while examinations like thefe feem to
abate and even entirely to deftroy, the apprehen-
fion, that we may have purfued the bufinefs of
banking to the injury of agriculture, manufactures,
and commerce, fome circumftances of a prudential
nature are not to be overlooked. When forming
theſe eſtabliſhments, we may commit errors, per-
haps, in carrying into one fcene too great a pro-
portion of the capital appropriated to their crea-
tion. Hence the found policy of ſubtracting from
the mafs of the bank of the United States, to efta-
blifh branches at New-York, Bofton, Baltimore,
Charleſton and (as is faid to be intended) in Virgi-
nia, miniſtering to the convenience, the neceffities,
and the interefts of government, the planter, the
farmer, the merchant, the navigator, the fiſherman,
the ſhip-builder, the manufacturer, and the mecha-
nic, in fix feveral and variant fcenes, inftead of ac-
cumulating in one great mafs a fuperabundant ca-
pital*.
*It ought to diminish the political jealoufies in regard to the
national bank, that ſeveral ſtate banks were eſtabliſhed before it,
and feveral fince, which are aggregately of greater force of capital
than the bank of the United States.
353
It is poffible to err, too, in the diſpoſition of
banking eſtabliſhments, by fuperadding to thofe
which already accommodate any particular ſcene,
rather than introducing the new inftiutions into pla-
ces hitherto without them. The United States
contain five or fix great local fubdivifions of trade,
refulting principally from the imperious dictates of
the nature of things. In moft of thofe great fpheres,
there is more than one confiderable and flouriſh-
ing trading town, though there is in each, one
which has an acknowledged pre-eminence. When a
reaſonable portion of bank capital has been intro-
duced into one of thefe commercial metropolies, the
eſtabliſhment of a new bank would feem to be moſt
expedient in the trading town of the next degree
of confideration. It is true, that fo far as the ope-
ration is an employment, or application of the pro-
perty of individuals, it muſt be left, (within the
laws) to their own will; but as the act of incorpo-
ration place the fubject within the power of the
legiflatures, and within the bounds of their cares
and duties, ſo it is highly important that theſe in-
ftitutions fhould be modified in their original forma
tion, upon principles of diftributive juſtice in regard
to the reaſonable accommodation of the marts of
commerce, within their ſpheres of legiflation, and
of all the landed citizens, who refort to them for
the fales of their furplus producę, or the purchaſe
of their fupplies.
fo
A pleafing confequence has refulted from the
diftribution of banks through different parts of the
Y Y
354
United States. Like all great objects, theſe infti.
tutions, while operating very beneficially in regard
to the buſineſs of a coutry, are liable to be render-
ed inftrumental to local party views. Being com-
mitted, as in the United States, to many feparate
boards of directors, felected for the fervice on ac-
count of their property, integrity, talents, and at-
tention to bufinefs, and whofe primary duties are
the legal, difcreet, and beneficial execution of
their truft, it is not very probable, that they will
deviate, in a dangerous degree, from their proper
walk, into the ground of political combination and
intrigue.
A circumftance obfervable in the bank of the
United States,* will not fail to attract the attention
of cautious men. The portion of public debt, which
enters into the compofition of their ftock, is the
particular contemplated. In this refpect, the bank
of England, and the bank of Ireland (which are
among the beſt accredited of thoſe inſtitutions in
Europe) exceed that of the United States in the
proportion of one third. It is very favourable to
our inſtitution, that the national debt, and ordinary
and extraordinary expences of the United States
are much leſs in proportion to wealth and numbers
than thoſe of Great-Britain and Ireland, and that
our government is not lefs free from error, nor
more like to be difturbed than theirs. It cannot,
therefore, be more unfafe to confide in our inftitu-
tion, which contains three-fourths, than in theirs
* Alfo in the Bank of Pennſylvania. A. D. 1793.
355
which is wholly compofed of public debt. It is,
moreover, true, and worthy of obfervation, that
moſt of the other banks in the United States (and
particularly the three largeſt) have, voluntarily and
by their own operations, placed confiderable por-
tions of their ſtock upon the credit of the United
States, by purchafing largely of the public debt,
and by giving at this time extenfive credits found-
ed upon its fecurity. The market value of the
public debt, which if Europe were at peace would
be generally greater in fpecie than its nominal
amount, renders that part of the bank ftock, which
is compofed of it, intrinfically more valuable than
that, which is in coin.
CONCERNING THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY.
An enquiry into the knowledge or fkill, affiduity,
economy, or frugality, and good management, with
which the ſeveral defcriptions of citizens in the
United States purfue their employments, has never
yet been made. The fubject is copious, and would
require much previous enquiry and detail. It is
not intended, therefore, in this place to attempt a
developement of it; yet it may be ferviceable to
beſtow upon it a few brief reflections. The learned
profeffions will not be brought into view, as they
are not ſtrictly of the nature of the object contem-
plated. The planters, the farmers, the merchants,
the navigators, the fiſhermen, the fhipbuilders, the
manufacturers and the mechanics, with the perfons
immediately employed by them, are all which are
conceived to be comprehended in the fubject. The
356
body of the planters, that is, thofe who cultivate
tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton, are, as a defcrip-
tion of cultivators, the beft informed perhaps in re-
gard to the objects of their particular purfuit, though
it is manifeft, that they have abundant matter for in-
creafed attention in perfecting their cultivation, in
afcertaining thofe fpecies of their valuable plants,
which are moft excellent, moft certain, and moſt
productive, in the improvement of their implements
of huſbandry, in the acquifition of auxiliary imple-
ments and machinery, in perfecting the modes of
curing their produce, and preparing it for market,
and particularly in the attainment of adequate fub-
ftitutes for the ordinary fpecies of labourers, a fup-
ply of which has become improbable. It appears
to be worth their confidering, too, as well with an
eye to profit, as humanity, whether an advantage-
ous variation in the employment of fome of the
blacks night not be made, by introducing upon
every eftate fome of the fimpler manufactures to
employ children, old and invalid perfons of both
fexes, and particularly the females during thoſe
frequent terms, when two lives depend upon their
health.
The merchants, navigators, fiſhermen, and fhip-
builders of the United States may be ſafely affirm-
ed to be four defcriptions of our citizens, whofe in-
duſtry is as uniformly energetic and well directed,
as thoſe of any country in the world, though it is
certain, that a much stricter economy prevails among
perfons of fome foreign nations engaged in thoſe
purfuits-an example deferving the moſt ſerious
attention.
The manufacturers, in fome branches, purfue their
occupations under the difadvantages of very few
errors; yet thole citizens would be fenfibly bene-
fited, were they able to relieve themſelves of cer-
tain parts of their labour by the attainment of the
auxiliary machinery, which is the purchaſe of
larger capitals, than are yet engaged in their line.
Circumftances, however, of various kinds are dai-
ly contributing to remove this inconvenience. The
bulk of the manufacturers do not want induſtry, nor
fkill enough to fucceed in thofe fimple manufac-
tures, to which it is moft their intereft to apply
themſelves. It
It may be rather faid, that they ma-
nufacture ordinary kinds of fabrics, from the na-
ture of the demand, than that they manufacture
badly. Their bufinefs is, moreover, progreffively
advancing, and has felt, on ſeveral occafions, fome
of them recent, the foftering hand of government.
The mechanic branches have been, till this time,
on nearly as good a footing; but thofe employed in
the erection of buildings ought now to feek the
aid of fuch parts of fcience as have relation to their
calling. Rural and city architecture has been too
little ftudied. It ought not to be forgotten, that a
competent knowledge of it is no lefs conducive to
economy and convenience, than to elegance and ſplen-
dor.
358
The most important of all the employments of
our citizens, that of the farmer, remains to be no-
ticed. It is very much to be feared, that in point of
execution, a candid examination would prove that
this beft of purſuits is molt imperfectly conducted.
The proofs are, innumerable inftances of impóve-
rifhed lands, precious bodies of meadow lands, in
the old fettlements of fome of the ftates, which re-
main in a ſtate of nature, a frequent inattention to
the making or preferving of manure, as frequent in-
attention to the condition of the feed grain, evidenc-
ed by the growth of inferior grain in fields of wheat,
and by the complexion of the flour in ſome quarters,
the bad condition of barns, ftables and fences, and
in fome places the total want of the former, the defi-
ciency of fpring-houfes or other cool dairies in ex-
tenfive tracts of country, the want of a trifling
flock of bees, the frequent want of orchards, and
the neglect of thofe which have been planted by
preceding occupants, the neglect of the fugar 'tree,
the neglect of fallen timber and fuel, accompanied
with the extravagant felling of timber trees for fu-
el, the neglect of houſehold manufactures in many
families, the neglect of making pot-afh, the non-uſe
of oxen, and above all, the growth in fubftance, of
large bodies of farmers on lands of an ordinary qua-
ty, while the inhabitants of extenſive ſcenes, hard-
ly extract from much fuperior lands, fuftenance
and clothing.
359
It is a fact very painful to obferve, and unpleafant
to reprefent, but it is indubitably true, that farming
in the grain ſtates, their great beſt buſineſs, the em-
ployment moſt precious in free governments, is,
too generally ſpeaking, the leaft understood, or
the leaft economically and attentively pursued, of
any of the occupations which engage the citizens
of the United States. It is acknowledged, how-
ever with fatisfaction, that great changes have been
lately made, and that the energy, fpirit of improve-
ment, and economy, which have been recently
diſplayed, promife the regular and rapid melioration
of the agricultural fyftem. All other things have
taken a courſe of great improvement-and it can-
not be apprehended that the yeomanry of the
United States will permit themſelves to be exceeded
by any of their brethren, in the most valuable
characteriſtic of good citizens-ufefulness in their
proper Sphere.
CONCERNING THE LAWS WHICH INTRENCH UPON THE RIGHTS
OF PROPERTY.
It is not remembered, that the acts of the national
legiflature have been deemed by any of the poffef-
fors of any defcription of property, unfavourable
to their rights, except the proceedings in regard to
the public debt. It is not lefs curious than true,
that a part of the community affirm, that the govern-
ment have injured the country by too much libera-
lity, while another part charge the legiflature with
impairing the contract.
360
year
In taking a view of this fubje&t, it ſhould be
remembered, that the ftate of things, when it was
taken up, was in every reſpect critical and uncer-
tain. It was difficult to fay what the country could
perform, and more fo to tell what they would com-
ply with. It was perceived, on the one hand, that
as fuch a ftate of public credit as preceded the
1789, would ruin a government more energetic
than that of the United States, fo its immediate
melioration was a matter of the moſt imperious ne-
ceffity. On the other hand, the non-exiſtence of
one fingle efficient fyftem, yielding an equitable
Specie intereft, in any one ftate, and a number of pain-
ful facts in the financial operations of fome of the le-
giflatures, created a conviction, that there was either
an inability or difinclination in all to render a fpecie
payment in the full extent of the explicit contracts.
Some of the contracts were found not to be expli-
cit, containing promiſes of large fums under the
name fpecie, which it could not have been the ex-
pectation of the government, at their date, to dif-
charge, or of the creditor to recieve, in coin; be-
cauſe they promiſed to pay as ſpecie, what was no-
toriouſly much lefs valuable, than contracts previ-
oufly liquidated at forty nominal dollars for one in
real money. The interefting claims of the origi-
nal creditors alfo, were ftrongly reprefented, while
the conduct of every ftate in the union, in its par-
ticular finances, had diſcountenanced a difcrimina-
tion in their favour; and the exifting laws of pro-
perty were urged against a reduction of the laſt
owner's principal: queftions were alfo raifed about
361
the original intrinfic value of the money and pro-
perty received in many cafes by the United States,
leading to the ordaining of a new fcale of deprecia-
tion. By infufing into the propofition for a fettle-
ment of the debt, two qualities-a reduction of the
interest and a temporary irredeemability of the prin-
cipal, which have coft the debtor nothing, and the
creditor very little; by vigorous and well devifed
efforts to recover credit at home and abroad, an
arrangement was formed, and executed, which has
given better payment to the creditor than could
reaſonably have been hoped. It is plain to every
obferver, that, but for the indifcretions of fome of
the public creditors, who fuperadded to the trials
and fluctuations of a convalefcent ftate of credit
the late unparalleled difficulties of the holders of
the flock, the three fpecies of the public paper, ta-
ken at a medium, would have been worth the no-
minal value in the market. Hitherto that has never
been the cafe.
There yet remain, however, in the United
States fome laws which affect the rights of proper-
ty. The operation of inftalment* and valuation
laws is not terminated in one or two of the ftates.
In one or two others, paper money is a tender for
old debts. In one quarter, real eſtate is protected
as in Great. Britain from execution for debt; and
in others, the judgments of the courts are fufpend-
ed, if the income of the eftate bears a certain pro-
Z z
* A. D. 1792.
362
*
portion to the creditors' demand.* In fome of the
flates, preferences are given to the claims of citi-
zens, before thofe of citizens of the other ſtates,
or of foreigners; and ills exift in the form of in-
folvent laws. The federal conftitution, and thofe
of feveral of the ftates, have barred the introduc-
tion of thefe evils in regard to new tranfactions;
and the ſtates which are not chargeable with them,
in regard to paft affairs, have reaped, in the laſt
three years an ample reward for their wiſdom and
virtue. Property may almoft be called the palladi-
um of communities. Their moral fafety at leaft is
always at hazard, when that is unwarrantably in-
vaded. In every cafe wherein difficulties to ob-
tain his own are interpofed in the way of the hon-
eft and induſtrious citizen, his lofs is not all the pub-
lic injury. A fellow citizen-perhaps a member
of a legiſlature (and through him a legiſlature it-
felf) is fatally corrupted.
CONCERNING THE PUBLIC DEBTS.
When it is remembered, that the terms upon
which the debts of the ftates were affumed by con-
grefs, are not more favourable than thofe on which
the federal debt was funded, and when it is called to
mind, that the unaffumed debts of all the ftates are
* The mortgage law of Pennſylvania, and fome other ſtates,
which exclude "the equity of redemption" create, on the whole,
a more favourable ground for the rights of property in thoſe pla-
ces, than in Great-Britain. Thoſe States are the moſt flouriſhing
in the union.
363
lefs valuable in the market than thofe, which were
aſſumed, it will appear, that the public creditors of
the union have little reafon to complain. When the
advantages of the temporary iredeemability, and of
the opportunity of inveftment in the bank are recol-
lected, that little reafon, if any exifted, appears to be
diffipated. On the other hand, when it is remember-
ed, that long after, the promulgation of the fund-
ing ſyſtem and of the bank, the poffeffors of ſpecie
might have procured certificates upon very advan-
tageous terms, and that many, who fold after thoſe
promulgations wanted confidence enough to hold,
that United States draw a fhare of the profits of the
the bank without furniſhing any of the capital, that
the grant of irredeemability is temporary, and ſo per-
fectly nominal, that we have now a right to pay off
more than we have money to difcharge; when it is
alſo borne in mind, that the terms given by con-
grefs to the public creditors, were exceeded (by
law at leaſt) in feveral of the ftates, and that two
of them have added to the benefits of their citizens
from the funding fyftem, without difcriminating in
favour of the original creditor, or against the pre-
Jent holder, the arrangements of the general govern-
ment appear to be confiftent with the public interefts
and with the wifdom of the ftate legislatures them-
felves. If the funding fyftem of congrefs has been
thus equally just and beneficial with thoſe of the
ftates, it has been accompanied with many advan-
tages which cannot be queftioned. Public credit
is reſtored-in confequence of that, the contracts
for all public fupplies are made for cafh on the de-
364
liveries or performance-the money, thus early
promifed, is paid by anticipation on the proffer of
indubitable fecurity by the various contractors;
and intereſt in favour of the United States has
been allowed for the promtitude of her treaſury-
500,000 dollars of fpecie claims have been difcharg-
ed; and purchaſes of the public debt, which bring the
extinguiſhed fum to about 2,400,000 dollars,* have
been made, or provided for-a feries of payments.
fince the month of September (required by the moſt
diſtinguiſhed ally of the United States, in the late
war) has been made to ferve the occafions of
their unhappy coloniſts. Loans upon five per cent.
upon four and a half per cent. and upon four per
cent. intereft, have been effected in two opulent
cities of Europe, folely by means of our reſtored
credit, to repay in the hour of need, to that ally,
the monies lent to the United States in a like fea.
fon. All that is due has been paid, part of that
which is not yet due has been anticipated. Monies
anxioufly defired by France, have been diſcharged
by mean of loans at a lower intereft. Both nations
are benefited and pleaſed; but our country is ho-
noured by the tranfaction. To have neglected our
public credit, would have been to loſe theſe ad-
vantages.
It will not be queftioned, that there is in every
walk of life or bufinefs a greater proportion of money
than was obfervable two years ago. Public works
* A. D. 1791.
365
and buildings of every kind, and of fpecies and va-
lues unknown among us till the prefent time, are
undertaking every where. Private buildings, of
equal variety, and comparative value, are fpring-
ing up. The price of lands is greatly advanced.
The raw materials, though raifed in much greater
abundance, fell for larger prices. To what pecu-
niary cauſe ſo powerful, fo adequate, can thefe
things be afcribed, as to the fales of part and re-
animation of the whole, of a public debt, ten times
larger than the amount of all the fpecie ordinarily
circulating in the country? It ought to be admit.
ted however that the found ftamina of this country,
and our voluntarily impofing upon ourfelves the
wholeſome reſtraints of jult government have moft
powerfully co-operated.
beneficial confequence
It is but a
It is but a few years
vigorous, and produc
The relief of fome of the ftates from all their
burdens, has been another
of the funding of the debt.
fince one of the moſt frugal,
tive counties in Pennſylvania rofe againft the col-
lectors of the taxes. The appreciation and fale of
the immenſe maſs of federal fecurities, owned by
that ftate, with the proceeds of her funds have en-
abled her to diſcharge all her obligations, though
fhe has aboliſhed her general land tax, and difcon-
tinued her excife, both of which fhe has colle&ed
for forty years.
Some anxiety has been created by the fhare of
our debt, which foreigners have obtained. But
this was a powerful means of bringing the whole
366
into its preſent beneficial action, by elevating its
actual to its nominal value. It is not at all proba-
ble, that it will be drawn from the country. It has
been obferved, in the moft tranquil and profper-
ons condition of Europe, that a great proportion
of the families of thofe foreigners, who have made
large investments in the United States, either in
the times of the provinces, or fince the revolution,
have become inhabitants of this country, even
when in its unproductive infant ftate. At this fe-
rious moment, when almoſt every tranſatlantic
country feels or apprehends diſorders, our chances
are infinitely increafed. The United States, ad-
vanced in the means of fubfiftence, of comfort, and
of elegance, now prefent to them an object of
greater defire in a tranquil liberty, which they are
truggling to obtain, a teeming agriculture, and a
profperous commerce, both foreign and internal.
Conformable with thefe reflections, we may affirm,
that no great object in our affairs has failed to at-
tra& the notice of the foreigners, who have engag-
ed in our funds. The internal navigation of South-
Carolina, North-Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
Pennſylvania, New-Jerſey, and New-York, are
among the witneffes of this truth. The banks both
național and ſtate, the turnpike roads, and toll
bridges, the fales of city eftates, of cultivated farms,
and particularly of unimproved lands, commerce,
fhip-building, manufactures, confirm the fact. Let
us continue to exhibit a ftrictly honeft fpirit in our
laws and conftitutions, an efficient execution of them
and an abftinence from unneceffary wars, and there
367
cannot exiſt a doubt, that we fhall drawmuch more
copioufly from the population, the arts, and the
funds of Europe, than they will draw from thoſe
of the United States.
There exiſts in the United States one deſcription
of private difficulties and incumbrances, that
muſt engage the folicitude of every feeling mind,
which, by an examination into the detail and inte-
rior of our affairs, has been led to obferve them.
The cafes alluded to are thofe of the citizens of
two or three of the ftates, who are burdened with
heavy foreign debts or claims, which originated be-
fore the revolution. Whatever they may be final-
ly adjudged to pay, the ſum muſt be ſo great, and
due from ſo many perfons, as to give it the reſem-
blance of a public debt; and as in one of thoſe
ſtates it has already occafioned fome facrifices of
their principal landed eſtates, very far below their
value, ſo it will probably operate in the others,
unleſs ſome extenfive means, abundantly adequate
the occafion, can be brought to operate, before
or at leaſt at the time of executing the judgments
of the courts, which may be obtained. No re-
fource, competent to the purpofe, appears at all
likely to prefent itſelf, unless it be the fund-
ed debt or ftock of the United States and of the fe-
veral ſtates. The method by which this deſcription
of property can be rendered moft immediately and
effectually fubfervient to the intereſting purpoſe of
preventing the deftruction of many families, would
feem to be the fixture of it at a stable, unfluctuating
368
rate, adequae to its proper value, under the exift-
ing circumftances of the United States.
It is ma-
nifeft, that in fuch a ſtate of the market, the deal-
ers in the debt and others would fell out, and
would not buy in again, and that they would feek
objects for their money in the trade, the manufac-
tures, the buildings, and the lands of the country,
which might promiſe them more advantage. A
tenth part of the value of the public debts, applied
to the lands of the United States, would raiſe them
every where to their real value, fo that the debtor,
who might be under a neceffity to fell an eftate,
could difpofe of his property, not only without a
ruinous facrifice, but probably to uncommon ad-
vantage. The proprietors of lands and buildings,
which might be under this probability of fale,
would ſuſtain no rifque or injury in ſelling their ef-
tates for the public ftock.
It may be alledged, that the holders of the debt
will not go into places fo remote to make inveft-
ments: but there are facts, which appear to war-
rant a very different opinion. The funds of New-
England have been brought into Pennfylvania, for
inveſtment in lands of feveral kinds-the money
of Pennſylvania and Delaware has been invefted
in mills and lands in Virginia-the greater part of
the iron works of Maryland (the moſt coftly eftates
in our country,) were bought and worked by the
capitals of reſidents in Great-Britain before the re-
volution. The fame fact exifted in one great in-
ftance in New-Jerſey. The greateſt cedar ſwamp,
A
369
on the waters of the Delaware, that ſupplies the
Philadelphia market, is owned in New-England;
and people and veffels from that quarter, are an-
nually fent to perform the buſineſs of it. The
American public creditors, citizens of the United
Netherlands, have recently purchaſed eight hun-
dered tracts of land in a part of Pennfylvania, fur-
ther from Philadelphia than the banks of James
river, York, or Rappahannock. In fhort, if the
hiſtory of this country were examined, as it re-
gards this fubject, it would demonftrate, that the
landed property of it has been conftantly animated
by the application of the monies of diftant capital-
ifts.*
SECTION V.
CONCERNING THE FOREIGN DEBTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
AT the commencement of the prefent govern-
ment in 1789, the United States were indebted to
France, Holland, and Spain, and to the foreign of-
ficers of the late army, in a fum amounting to near
twelve millions of dollars. Near a million and
*A. D. 1794. Great purchaſes by late holders of the public debt
and bank ſtock in Pennſylvania and New-York, citizens and foreign-
ers, have been made in the diſtrict of Maine, in the ſtate of Georgia,
in the weſtern and northern parts of New-York, in South-Carolina,
in the moſt remote parts of Pennſylvania, in the ſtate of Kentuc
key, in the federal district, in the Norfolk canal, in the Virginia
lead mine.
3 A
370
two-thirds of this fum, was due for arrears of inte-
reft, inattention to which, would have been too
difgraceful to have admitted of a hope of foreign
credit, until meaſures were taken for its dicharge.
Above a million and one third of the principal fum
had become due, and the time of other inftalments
was coming round. The refources of the country
had been examined and confidered, but not tried.
The claims of theſe foreign creditors, were origin-
ally, the moft delicate in themſelves; and in the
cafe of France, the ftate of her revolntion in the
ſummer of 1790, placed her demand in a fitua
tion peculiarly interefting. It was perceived, that
the adoption of the federal conftitution and the
meaſures taken to reftore public credit, had made
ftrong and favourable impreffions on the Europe-
an money lenders: and it was not doubted, that
the arrears of intereft and the principal due,
might be diſcharged by loans, upon terms which
would produce very little lofs. The requifite
authorities were given by the legislature, which
refulted in the borrowing of a fum equal to the
diſcharge of all the exigible debt. But as the
occafions of France were likely to be emergent,
and there was reaſon to confide, that a firm and
fteady purſuit of the financial fyftem, which had by
that time been adopted, and an adherence to the
upright ſpirit of the conſtitution, would rapidly
meliorate the credit of the United States, it was
deemed expedient to extend the authorities to bor-
row, to a fum equal to the whole of the foreign
debt, provided the inftalments, not due, could be
371
diſcharged by means of loans advantageous to the
United States. The intereft of above feven mil-
lions of the foreign debt, being at the rate of five
per cent. per annum, it was not doubted, that the
money might be obtained ſo as to render the dif-
charge of the part, not exigible, really advantage-
ous. It has accordingly happened, that a fum ade-
quate to the principal and intereft due, has been
borrowed within the terms of the law, fo as to fup-
port the credit and good faith of the United States,
and critically to accommodate France. The further
expectations of Congrefs have alfo been fulfilled;
a confiderable loan at four and one half, and two
loans at four per cent. having been effected, fo as to
realize an advantage in the difcharge of a large
part of the principal, which was at an intereft of
five per cent. The United States having thus com-
muted their foreign debt, further than is due, with
honour, and, on a medium of the whole, with ad-
vantage, are relieved by theſe operations from any
probability of preffure to perform the remainder
of their European engagements. The friends of
our public credit, of our national ſafety and re-
fpectability, and of the freedom of France, among
the citizens of the United States, will reflect up.
on this actual courfe of events with cordial fatisfac-
tion:
THE CONCLUSION: BEING MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS ON
THE GOVERNMENT.
The people of the United States enjoy a peculi-
ar felicity in the poffeffion of principles of govern-
372
ment and of civil and religious liberty, more found,
more accurately defined, and more extenfively re-
duced to practice, than any preceding republicans.
There is not one iota of delegating or delegated pow-
er, which is not poffeffed, or may not be acquired by
every citizen. It is true, that there are in prac-
tice, ſeveral deviations in the diftribution of pow-
er to the various fubdivifions of the country, and
to the proprietors of certain defcriptions of proper-
ty; but theſe are acknowledged departures from
principle, and are known to have ariſen out of the
antecedent ftate of things. They could not be im-
mediately corrected without violent ftruggles and
diſorders, and without injury to the property of
defcriptions of citizens, too great for the country,
at any former period, to compenfate. Mild reme-
dies are, however, daily applied to theſe partial
diſeaſes; and it is manifeft, that the courſe of time
is diminiſhing, and will finally remove them. The
right of legiſlative interpofition, on the part of
the chief magiftrate, which, in the practice of ano-
ther country, has been commuted for a dangerous
and injurious influence, is here wrought into the
effence of the conſtitution, and is not only exerciſed
in the independent and uncontrouled confideration
of every reſolution and bill, but by the practical
application of the qualified negative.
The execution of the office of the chief magi-
ftrate has been attended, through a term of almoſt
four years, with a circumftance, which to this nation
and to the furrounding world requires no commen-
373
tary-a native citizen of the United States, transfer-
red from private life to that flation, has not, during
So long a term, appointed a fingle relation to any
office of honour or emolument.
The fenatorial branch of the government has
been created and continued in a mode preferable
to that which is purfued in any other nation.
The reprefentative branch is equally well confti-
tuted.
The military code, for the government of fuch
troops as are occafionally raiſed and employed, is
well calculated to produce difcipline and efficien-
cy, when time is allowed for the purpofe, and con-
fequently to render the United States refpectable
in the eyes of foreign nations.
All chriftian churches are fo truly upon an equal
footing, as well in practice as in theory, that there
are and have been in the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of the general government, per-
fons of the following denominations-Epifcopalian,
Prefbyterian, Independent or Congregational, Qua-
ker, Lutheran, Reformed, Roman, and probably
others, which do not occur. There have been,
and indeed yet are, a few ecclefiaftical diftinations
in the ſtate governments, which reafon and time
are rapidly deftroying. It is eafy to perceive, that
religious liberty, fupported by the national confti-
tution, and a great majority of the ftate conftitu-
374
tions, cannot but attain, in a very fhort time, the
fame theoretical and practical perfection in the re-
mainder, which it has acquired in them.
The independency of the judiciary, as well in
the tenure of their ſtations as in the permanency of
their compenfations under the federal conftitution,
and in moſt of thofe of the ſtates, is an advantage
over the ancient republics and the generality of
modern governments, of ineftimable value in re-
gard to liberty, property and ftability.
legiſlation, has hitherto
The United States, being without tranfmarine
or feparated dominions, are exempted from two
inconveniencies, which have refulted from them.
An immenſe naval force has been found neceſſary
to defend fuch territories, and to protect the trade
with them in time of war, and the difficulty of de-
vifing for them a free
proved infurmountable. The Britiſh nation de-
clared, that they had a right to legiſlate for their
colonies and dominions in America, Afia, and
Africa in all cafes whatſoever, and the revolution of
the United States turned upon that cardinal point.
When we obſerve, that the French nation, ardent
as they are in the purfuit of liberty, have not yet
been able to deviſe any ſyſtem of government for
their colonies without a dernier refort to the legif-
lature of France, it will be a fource of comforta-
ble reflection to the friends of free and efficient go-
vernment in theſe ftates, that we are not perplexed
375
by the neceffity of fo delicate, important, and diffi.
cult a political operation.
It has been unfortunate for moſt nations, as well
ancient as modern, that they have had no fettled pre-
exiſting mode of altering, amending, or renovating
their political fyftem, to which they could refort
without a deviation from the legal courſe of things,
hazarding the public tranquility, and often free-
dom itſelf. It is equally happy for the people of
the United States, that in their federal govern-
ment, and in moſt of thoſe of the ftates, there ex-
ifts a provifion, by which thofe neceffary and de-
firable ends may be obtained, with whatever
zeal, without recurring to irregularity or violence.*
Fundamental principles being already fettled by
common confent, and being accurately and clear-
ly recorded in the conftitutions, the people cannot
long miſtake the nature of a meaſure, a law, ora
political maxim, which is really oppofed to thofe
principles; and when the public judgment is decided
upon any one or more derelictions of thofe princi-
ples of magnitude fufficient to induce an effort for
reform, the will of the people cannot be ſucceſsful-
ly refifted or even fufpended. The confequence
of this ftate of things will be, that the mafs of er-
ror will not eafily accumulate, fo as to become
inſupportable, being kept down by theſe orderly
natural exertions of the community, to relieve
themſelves at an earlier ftage of inconvenience.
* The ineftimable alterative powers in the conftitution of the
United States &c. are here contemplated.
376
Too great a facility to change would, however, be
likely to produce fluctuations, injurious to order,
peace, property, and induſtry, and indeed to liberty
itfelf: but as the mode of performing the amenda-
tory or alterative operations is flow, and confe-
quently deliberate, trivial or dangerous changes
would be very difficult to accomplish. In this view
there appears to be very little probability, that
changes from free or reprefentative government,
will take place; or that any modification of here-
ditary power will be introduced into the govern-
ments either of the ftates or of the union. The peo-
ple will never deliberately confent to the abroga-
tion of thofe claufes in the feveral conftitutions,
which explicitly provide both in general terms,
and in particular detail, for free or republican go-
vernment. Nor does it feem eaſy, confidering the
degree of perfection we have obtained and the cer-
tain, conftant, and moderate operations of the
amendatory claufes, to accumulate fufficient pub-
lic evil or grievance, to produce one of thofe con-
vulfions, which the ambitious are wont to feize as
the moment to introduce, by force, a defpotic go-
vernment. Even local circumftances confpire to
favour the permanency of liberty in theſe ftates.
Being too remote from any foreign nation, to ren-
der a war, requiring a great army,
neceffary, that inftrument, fo often ufed by
ambitious leaders, is not likely to be placed with-
in the reach of the enemies of freedom, while the
union remains entire. It is worthy of the moſt par-
ticular obfervation and remembrance, that a diffo-
lution of our government would immediately open
{
at all
377
a door to this danger, as the feveral ftates or little
confederacies, would each deem it prudent to
maintain a larger army, than is now requifite for
the whole. The hiftory of Greece will inftruct us
that by this more than any other poffible meaſure,
we fhould be prepared for the military domination
of fome modern Philip, or fome new Alexander.
A Strong union and a tranquil liberty would be mi-
ferably exchanged for fuch a ſtate of things.
It is an evident truth, that the penal laws of thefe
ftates have been gradually mitigated ſince the epo-
cha of their independence, and it is no lefs true,
that the number of crimes does not bear fo great a
proportion to the population, as was formerly the
cafe, though an univerfal relaxation of the police
took place in the late war. It is, an ill fymptom
of the actual ftate of things, in a fociety, when
mild laws, ftrictly executed, are incompetent to the
preſervation of order and public happineſs. Our
penal codes are, upon the whole, among the leaft
fanguinary, and it is believed, they are not cruel,
even in thoſe unhappy cafes, which impel the com-
munity to extremities. The conftitution of the Unit-
ed States has extracted all the gall from the puniſh-
ment of offences against the national fafety, by cor-
recting the power of legiflating concerning them
with a mildneſs unknown to the fyftems of moſt
countries. It is honourable to the humanity and
magnanimity of the American people, that this pro-
ceeding flowed from them almoſt unanimoufly, four
years after the revolution war. Future ages will do
3 B
378
juftice to a nation capable of fuch an effort, at a
moment fo particular.
Taking the United States at large, there are few
or no countries in which, at this time, the juſt de-
mands of private creditors can be obtained by a
more certain, a more expeditious, or a lefs expen-
five courſe of legal procefs. There are fome local
and a very few general defects yet exifting; but
they are vaniſhing before the fpirit of the general
and moſt of the ſtate conftitutions. There is no
part of the public conduct of this country more
ftriking, than the firmneſs with which they have ap-
plied the cauftic to fome inveterate cancers, which
had been derived to their pecuniary fyftem, prin-
cipally froin adventitious caufes. It proves the ex-
iſtence of that virtue and fortitude, which qualify
a nation for republican government. There are
fome exceptionable circumftances, yet to be done
away; but the fuccefsfull efforts, which have been
made, juftify a confident expectation, that they will
yield ere long to the powers and influences which
have eradicated much greater evils of the fame
kind.
+
THE recent date of theſe reflections on the ftate
of the American union, will naturally render them
an interefting portion of this publication. It may
be matter of entertainment to the curious, and of
inftructive information to thofe, who engage them-
379
felves in the ſtudy of mankind, to know what the
United States have been, have thought, and have
done, in the antecedent ftages of their political ex-
iftence, but to the world in general the real nature
and actual fituation of their affairs at this time, and
the proſpects, which appear to ariſe out of them, are
fubjects of much greater importance.
2
5
380
CHAPTER X.
k
SOME IDEAS CONCERNING THE CREATION OF MANUFACTUR-
ING TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN THE UNITED STATES, AP-
PLIED, BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, TO A POSITION ON THE
RIVER SUSQUEHANNAH.
TH
HE diftance of the United States from the
foreign confumers of many of their exported
productions, and from all of the manufacturers of
their imported fupplies, have been placed among
the moſt important confiderations in favour of their
purſuing, in conjunction with other things, the
bufinefs of manufactures. To thefe inducements,
of great and manifeſt ſtrength in times of general
peace, the preſent univerſal war among the Euro-
pean powers has added new force. It has become
ftill more the intereft of the United States to infufe
into their towns and cities further portions of ma-
nufacturing capital, induftry and fkill. The fol-
lowing delineation of an eſtabliſhment, which might
be created by foreign or domeftic capital, was in-
tended to exhibit the various and extenfive confe-
quences in favour of the landholders and cultiva-
tors, which have invariably refulted from manu-
facturing towns. Every item in the enumeration,
implies a demand for timber, fuel, grain, cattle,
beer and other drinks, hemp, flax, wool, iron, flax-
feed, or fome other production of our lands and
farms. Similar exertions on the fea coaft might
be equally or even more fucceſsful, as the manu-
factures of the productions, as well of the agricul-
}
381
tural ſtates as of foreign countries, might be com-
bined with thoſe of the immediate vicinity.
REFLECTIONS ON THE AFFAIRS OF THE UNITED STATES, OCCA-
SIONED BY THE PRESENT WAR IN EUROPE, RECOMMENDED
TO AMERICAN AND FOREIGN CAPITALISTS.
It is highly prudent in every nation, ſeriouſly
to confider the effects which great events in other
countries may have produced on their affairs, and
to anticipate, in time, the confequences, in regard
to their interefts, to which fuch events may poffibly
give rife. The enhancement of the cost of our
manufactured ſupplies by the demand for the im-
menfe armaments by land and fea now making in
Europe, and the impediments to the cheap tranf-
portation of our produce by the recent deduction of
a large proportion of the veflels, which lately carri-
ed them at peace freights, with the impoffibility of
building in time a fufficient number of fhips to
perform the ſervice, and to fupply the purchaſes by
foreign nations, render it a matter of the moſt
comfortable reflection, that we have made fuch
frequent and full examinations, of our capacities
in the buſineſs of manufactures; and that we have
made fo great progrefs in the eſtabliſhment of many
of the moſt uſeful and neceffary branches. There
Occurs nothing to warrant a belief, that we ſhall
ceaſe to maintain our courfe in peace. But it is
manifeft, that even in that deſirable fituation, the
inducements to purfue manufactures are not a
little increaſed by the advanced coft of our fup-
382
plies, and the diminution of our carriers at peace
freights already mentioned. It will be wife then
to devife new methods of increafing our manufac-
tures, in order to cheapen and multiply fupplies, and
to extend the home market for our agricultural pro-
ductions. It is moreover well worthy of remark,
that in confequence of the war in Europe many
articles of great importance in the building of
houſes, improving new plantations, and fupplying
the fettled country, and the induftrious poor, are
faid to be prohibited to be exported from Great-
Britain, becauſe they can be applied to military
purpoſes, or may be wanted for themfelves. How-
ever reaſonable or cuſtomary in fimilar circum-
ftances this may be, our citizens muft actually be
fubjected thereby to additional expence, and the
charges of improving and cultivating real eftates
muſt be increaſed. Manufactures of theſe pro-
hibited kinds of goods are therefore rendered in-
difpenfible by the fituation of that country, which
is the principal foreign fource of our fupplies.
However improbable or impoffible, war may ap-
pear* in the judgment of many or most of us, it
can do no injury to remark, that the coſt of our
fupplies would be fo much increaſed by that worſt
of all poffible events, and the veffels to carry our
produce at peace freights would be fo extremely
diminiſhed, if our own fhould be involved, that
nothing but fome fuch great and vigorous efforts
as that ſuggeſted for confideration, could fave our
* In the fpring of 1793.
383
cultivators from a very inconvenient expence in
procuring fupplies, and a reduction of the market
prices of many articles of their produce.
It will be perceived, that the plan is laid upon a
ſcale, which is not likely, at this time, to be carried
into execution in any one place. It is neceſſary,
therefore, to remark that it is not intended in any
view, but to exemplify what might be done with a
given capital. The owners, however, of certain
great water fituations, might fafely and advantage-
oufly lay out their adjacent grounds in a town plat
with fuch views, and they might fell, or let on
ground rents, fuch ordinary building lots, or fuch
fituations for water works, as purchafers or tenants
might apply for, leaving the plan to mature by
time and the natural attractions and advantages of
the ſeveral ſcenes; or improvements might be com-
menced upon a fcale of 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 or
20,000 dollars, as capital might be obtainable, and
prudence might appear to juftify. In all events,
it is conceived, that a profitable attention to our
fituation may be promoted, and poffibly fome re-
flections favourable to the United States, and to
the proprietors of particular eftates, and many vi-
cinities, may be fuggefted by the publication of the
plan at the prefent very interefting crifis.
4
384
A PLAN FOR ENCOURAGING AGRICULTURE, AND INCREAS
ING THE VALUE OF FARMS IN THE MIDLAND AND MORE
WESTERN COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA, APPLICABLE TO
SEVERAL OTHER PARTS OF THAT STATE, AND TO MANY
PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
In a country, the people, the foil, and the cli-
mate of which are well fuited to agriculture, and
which has immenſe natural treaſures in the bowels
and on the furface of the earth, the creation of a
ready, near, and ftable market for its fpontaneous and
agricultural productions, by the introduction and in-
creafe of internal trade and manufactures, is the most
effectual method to promote husbandry, and to advance
the interests of the proprietors and cultivators of the
earth. This pofition has been affumed, with the
firmeſt confidence, by one,* and maintained and
relied upon afterwards by others, of the moſt in-
formed and found minds in Great-Britain, in rela-
tion to the internal trade, manufactures, and land-
ed intereft of that kingdom, although it is an ifland
poffeffing uncommon advantages in its artificial
roads, canals, rivers, and bays, which, altogether,
afford the inhabitants a peculiar facility in tranf
porting their furplus produce with very little ex-
penfe to foreign markets.
To a nation inhabiting a great continent, not
yet traverſed by artificial roads and canals, the ri-
vers of which, above their natural navigation, have
*Hume.
385
been hitherto very little improved, many of whofe
people are at this moment clofely fettled upon
lands, which actually fink from one fifth to one half
the value of their crops, in the mere charges of
tranſporting them to the fea-port towns, and others,
of whofe inhabitants cannot at prefent fend their
produce to a fea-port for its whole value, a thorough
Senfe of the truth of the pofition is a matter of une-
qualled magnitude and importance.
The ftate of things in moft of the counties of
Pennfylvania, which are contiguous to, or in the
vicinity of the river Sufquehannah and its exten-
five branches, is confidered to be really and pre-
cifely that, which has been defcribed; and the ob-
ject of this paper is to fuggeft hints for a plan of
relief from the great expence and inconveniencies
they at prefent fuftain, by creating a market town
for their produce on the main body of that river, at
fome proper place between the confluence of its
eaftern and western branches, and the lower end
of its prefent navigation.
It is propofed that the fum of five hundred
thouſand dollars, to be applied as is herein after
mentioned, be raiſed in either of the three following
methods that is to fay, either by five thoufand
fubfcriptions, of one hundred dollars each, to
the capital flock of a company to be temporari-
ly affociated for the purpoſe, without any exclu-
five privileges-Or, by the fale of one hundred
3 C
386
thouſand lottery tickets, at five dollars each; or
fifty thousand tickets, at ten dollars each, the
whole enhanced amount of which is to be redrawn
in prizes agreeably to a fcheme, which will be
herein after exhibited-Or, by the application of
five hundred thouſand dollars, of the monies in
the treaſury (or otherwife in the command) of the
ſtate of Pennſylvania.-The inducements to the
operation, either to the ſtate, to the adventurers
in the lottery, or to the fubfcribers of the ſtock of
the affociated company, will appear in the fequel
to be an augmentation of about one hundred per
cent. in the value of the property to be embraced
—that is, in a profit of about one hundred per cent.
on the monies to be raiſed or advanced for the
purchaſe of the lands, and the erection of the
buildings.
The application of the above ſum of five hun-
dred thousand dollars, might be as follows:
1ft. In the purchaſe of two thouſand acres of
land on the western bank of Sufquehannah, as a
town feat to be regularly laid off in a town or city
for inland trade and manufactures, with ftreets fixty
feet wide, in oblongs of five hundred feet, fronting
the ſouth weſtern or prevalent fummer winds, by
two hundred and twenty feet; each oblong to be
interfected by a twenty foot alley, running length-
wife, or from north-weſt to ſouth-eaſt, ſo as to give
all the lots fouth-west front expofures, or fouth-west
back.expofures, and outlets in the rear.
387
The purchaſe of the land, including the
farm buildings which may be on it, and
water rights, &c. would probably be at
fifteen dollars per acre, for two thouſand
acres,
The contents will be a little more than
three fquare miles. The fhape might be
two miles on the river, by a little more
than one mile and one half running from
the river. The number of lots of twenty
feet front, and one hundred feet deep,
would be about twenty-fix thouſand.
2dly. In the erection of five hundred
and ten ftone and brick houfes, of the
value of three hundred dollars each (in-
clufive of the value of the lots,)
Two hundred and twenty ftone and
brick houſes, of the value of five hundred
dollars each,
Fifty ſtone and brick houſes, of the va-
lue of eight hundred dollars each,
Ten ftone and brick houſes, of the va-
Dollars.
30,000
153,000
110,000
40,000
lue of two thouſand dollars each,
Four ftone and brick houſes, of the va-
lue of fix hundred and fifty dollars each,
20,000
2,600
388
Two mills for preparing hemp, which Dolls.
would often come down in boats, and on
rafts from the rich new lands on the upper
waters of Sufquehannah and its branches,
one thouſand two hundred and fifty dol-
lars each,
One mill for preparing flax,
One mill of about five hundred fpindles,
for fpinning flax, hemp, and combed wool,
to be divided into fifty fhares, of one hun-
dred dollars each, to increaſe the number
of prizes,
2,500
800
5,000
One rope walk,
2,000
Two fmaller ditto one thoufand dollars
each,
2,000
Two tan yards, one thoufand five hun-
dred dollars each,
3,000
Two fmaller ditto,
1,500
One paper mill,
1,500
One flaxfeed, hempfeed, and rapefeed
oil mill,
1,500
One grift mill,
2,000
Two bake houſes, five hundred dollars
each,
1,000
389
Two flitting and rolling mills, five thou- Dolls.
fand dollars each,
One fteel furnace,
One foap boiler's and tallow chandler's
fhop,
One malt houfe,
One brewery,
Ten grain and fruit diftilleries, of va-
rious fizes, averaging in value one thou-
fand two hundred and fifty dollars, each,
One printer's office for the English lan-
guage,
One printer's office for the German lan-
guage,
Six blackſmith's fhops, and naileries of
various fizes, averaging five hundred dol-
lars each,
Two cooper's fhops, one three hundred,
the other two hundred dollars,
One cedar cooper's fhop,
Four hatter's fhops, two at five hundred,
and two at three hundred dollars,
One bleach yard and houfe,
10,000
3,000
500
2,000
4,000
12,500
500
300
3,000
500
200
1,600
1,000
390
Two fulling mills, one a thouſand, the
other one thouſand five hundred dollars,
Two potteries, five hundred dollars each,
Four wheelwright's and chairmaker's
ſhops, two at five hundred, and two at
four hundred dollars,
Two copperfmith's fhops, one five hun-
dred, the other four hundred dollars,
Dolls.
2,500
1,000
1,800
900
Two pot-afh works, one three hundred,
the other two hundred dollars,
500
One braſs founders's fhop,
600
Two painter's fhops; one five hundred,
the other three hundred dollars,
800
Two turner's fhops, one five hundred,
the other three hundred dollars,
800
Two water forges, one thouſand five
hundred dollars each,
3,000
Four tilt hammer forges, one thoufand
dollars each,
One tobacco and fnuff manufactory,
Two boring and grinding mills for guns,
fcythes, fickles, &c. at one thouſand dol-
lars each,
4,000
800
2,000
391
Two ſkin-dreffer's fhops, five hundred Dolls.
dollars each,
Four lumber yards on the river, fenced,
twenty-five dollars each,
Two gun fmith's fhops, one five hundred,
the other three hundred dollars,
Two boat builders yards and ſheds, one
four hundred, the other three hundred dol-
lars,
Four ſchool houſes, two for each fex,
(part to be German) at three hundred dol-
lars (twelve hundred) and four houſes for
the tutors, five hundred (two thouſand)
dollars,
One church for all denominations, to be
uſed in rotation by every fociety, until
any one fhall have a place of worſhip of
its own, when that fociety fhall lofe its
right,
1,000
100
800
700
3,200
4,000
Two taverns, one four thoufand, the
other three thouſand dollars,
7,000
Two ftables, one in the vicinity of each
tavern, for thirty horfes and ten carriages,
one thousand dollars each,
One hundred buildings, of the value of
two hundred and fifty dollars each, half
2,000
392
with, and half without cellars, for tradef- Dolls.
men's and manufacturer's fhops, ftables,
&c. as occafion may require,
One large ſcale houſe to weigh loaded
waggons, to be erected on the market
fquare,
One fcale' houfe to weigh hogfheads and
other things, of lefs than one ton weight,
One fail-cloth manufactory,
25,000
500
100
5,000
One plumber's ſhop,
300
Two brick kilns, yards and houſes, eight
hundred dollars each,
1,600
Two twine and cord factories, five hun-
dred dollars each,
1,000
1,600
800
Four flaughter houfes and yards,
One ftarch work and dwelling houfe,
One library of three hundred fhares, of
ten dollars each, to increafe the number of
prizes, to be compofed of books relative
to the uſeful arts and manufactures,
One parchment manufactory,
One glue manufactory,
One pump maker's fhed and yard,
3,000
500
500
100
393
F.
Charges of the fuperintendence of the Dolls.
execution, at one per cent.
5,000
500,000
The buildings above mentioned will form a town
of one thouſand houſes, uſeful work fhops and fac-
ories by water, fire or hand, all of ſtone or brick,
which is larger by near one half than the borough
of Lancafter. Being on the river Sufquehannah,
a very great and extenfive natural canal, which, with
its branches, flows through a country of fifteen mil-
lions of acres, and will be connected with the lakes,
the pofition for a town muft be confidered as war-
ranting a prefumption, that the lots would be more
valuable. In order to extend this advantage, the
buildings ſhould be erected upon every fecond, or
perhaps every third lot; whereby a number of in-
terval lots would be left, which would be of near-
ly the fame value.-A further advantage would
refult from fuch a difpofition of the houfes, as the
vacant lots could be uſefully applied to garden
purpoſes, until they fhould be built upon. As the
propofed houſes and work fhops would be of ftone
and brick, the poffibility of the progrefs of fire,
would be leſs, if the owners of the interval lots
fhould build wooden houfes hereafter, than if they
were to erect fuch houfes in a compact feparate
quarter.
The lots, without the fcene, which fhould be
firft built on, would coft, after throwing out the
1
3 D
394
freets and alleys, about five dollars, and might be
moderately eſtimated, were fuch a town erected,
at the medium value of ten dollars.
This town being contemplated as fuch an auxili-
ary to Philadelphia, as Mancheſter, Leeds, Bir-
mingham, and Sheffield, &c. are to the fea-ports of
Great Britain, it would be neceffary to connect it
with that city immediately and effectually, by open-
ing a good road to the Lancafter turnpike, by what-
ever might be neceffary to give it the benefit of the
communication with Philadelphia through the Swe-
tara and Tulpohocken canal, through the Brandy-
wine canal, and through the Newport and Wilming-
ton roads, and by all other means which could be
devifed.It would alfo be proper to connect it
with the boroughs of Reading, Lancaſter, York,
Carlifle, &c. and with the weſtern, north-weſtern,
northern, and other great roads. Thus circum-
flanced, and with the fupplies of wood-fuel, coal,
bark, grain, cattle, hemp, flax, wool, timber, iron,
ftone, lime, forage, &c. which thoſe roads, and the
Suſquehannah and its branches, would certainly
and permanently afford, this place could not fail
to become of very great profit to the ſubſcribers
or prize holders, or the ſtate, and to the landed in-
tereft, both tenants and owners. The expenſe of
tranſportation from the neareſt navigable part of
the Suſquehannah by way of Newport, is nine
dollars per ton; from Middletown it is twelve dol-◄
lars per ton, to fixteen dollars per ton; and as
four-fifths of the ftate are on or weftward of that
395
river, the immenfe faving, which would be made by
a great and ſtable market like that contemplated, is
equally manifeft and defirable.
It may be aſked, whether the owners of the houf-
es, fhops, and works would receive applications
from tenants? The answer is, that they would
themſelves be induced to occupy fome of them,
that the boroughs in the vicinity have been great-
ly extended by the fettlement of tradefmen, manu-
facturers and others, who depend upon them and
upon the farmer, and that unleſs their inhabitants
open canals to the Sufquehannah, or difcover coal
in their vicinity, thoſe boroughs which are not on
that river cannot grow much larger, though the
demand for manufacturers is fteadily increafing
with our population. It is regretted, that the lat-
ter increaſe of Lancafter has been inconfiderable.
But the water works, and the works by fire, pro-
pofed in the plan to be erected, would attract and
fupport tradesmen and the workmen requifite to
proceed with the goods they would have begun, as
is conftantly the cafe in Europe.
It may be fafely affirmed, that no part of the
United States, at prefent half as fully populated as
the five principal counties on the Sufquehannah,
offers fo encouraging or fo certain a profpect for
an inland town. It is, as it were, the bottom of a
great bag or fack, into the upper parts of which na-
tural and agricultural produce is poured from the
north-east, from the north, and from the weft.
"
"
396
public and private ad-
It will be obferved, that many water works, and
objects requiring the moving power of water, are
particularized in the plan. For which reafon, and
in order to procure all the
vantages, which are attainable, it is propofed to
take fome pofition, where the river can be fo drawn
out of its natural bed, as to create thoſe mill-feats
and falls. It is confidently affirmed, and is not at
all doubted, that there are not wanting plaçes of
that great and valuable natural capacity.
Doubts may ariſe about the expediency of erect-
ing ſome of the works. It is therefore obſerved,
that thofe which are mentioned, are merely offer-
ed for confideration; none of them are intended
to be urged: but it is believed, that moſt of them
would prove, on examination, eligible.
The greater part of the private emolument would
be realized, it is fuppofed, by the erection of nine
hundred dwelling houfes of various fizes (in any of
which many kinds of manufactories could be pur-
fued) and one hundred fhops for ſuch branches, as
by reafon of their producing loud noifes, or un-
pleaſant fmells, or of their requiring greater room,
could not be carried on among women and chil-
dren, infirm, aged, or fick perfons, or within the
compafs of an appartment in a common dwelling
houſe. In that cafe, however, it would be mani-
fefly prudent, to bring the unimproved mill-feats
into view, that they might be in the way of early
ufe and employment.
397
The reaſon of extending a view to the immedi-
ate erection of thofe water mills and other works
is, that by their very great confumption of the raw
materials and produce, which may be drawn by pur-
chafe from the farmers, they will as early and ma-
terially increaſe the benefits of the propofed town
to the landholder and cultivator, without taking
any hands from agriculture, or preventing any
from going to it.
It will be proper to afcertain, with precifion and
certainty, what would be a reaſonable value of two
thouſand acres of land, thus purchafed, and thus
built upon, that the inducements to the operation
may be duly exhibited. The borough of Lancaf-
ter will appear to afford a mean of compariſon, not
too favourable, when it is remembered, that a po-
fition on the weft fide of Suſquehannah, would give
the propoſed town a moſt extenfive and fertile back
country for its fupplies by land, free from the ex-
pence and rifque of any ferry; and that it would
acquire building materials, provifions raw materi-
als, and the infinitely important article, pit coal,
the very important articles, timber and bark, in the
greateſt abundance, and on the cheapest terms, by
means of the navigable waters of the Sufquehannah,
and that its traders and artizans could tranfport
produce and manufactures, and recieve fupplies
from Philadelphia through the canal of Swetara,
without any the leaft expence of carting.
398
An eſtimate of a town, confifting of the kinds.
and number of buildings particularifed above,
may be reaſonably made as follows:
Dollars.
The actual firft coft of all the various
buildings above mentioned, is ftated to
be
From theſe deduct the value of the
four ſchools, and the church, feven thou-
fand two hundred dollars, which would
be public, and would be of no value
to the owners of the town, as ſuch, but
as they might reflect value upon the
houſes, manufactories and lots: alfo
deduct the ſum of five thousand dollars,
allowed for the charges of fuperintend-
ance,
Remain as the actual coft and real
value of all the private buildings,
The value of one hundred lots, to be
given for twenty churches, and thirty-
two for the market, court houſe, and
jail, nothing, but as they reflect value
on the other property in the town,
The value of one thouſand and ninety-
nine lots, of the fize of twenty by one
hundred feet, on which the above pri-
500,000
12,200
487,800
000,000
399
vate buildings and works are to be
erected, when they fhall be completed,
at one hundred dollars each, on a me-
dium,
The value of two thouſand one hun-
dred, and ninety-eight interval lots (ly-
ing between and among the private and
public buildings, and exclufively of thoſe
without that part of the town plot, pro-
poſed to be built upon with the fund of
five hundred thouſand dollars) at eighty
dollars on an average,
The value of one hundred twenty feet
lots, making twenty large lots equal to
one hundred feet fquare, fuitable for
erecting twenty other mills, with the
requifite ſhare of the water right, at five
hundred dollars for each mill feat,
N. B. Theſe will make, with the im-
proved mill-feats, about forty, and will
not require the height of water or com-
mand of a fall to be kept for more than
a quarter of a mile. It is believed much
more might be placed againſt this item.
The value of the exclufive privilege
of keeping ferries, arifing out of the
ownerſhip of the grounds, to conftitute
prizes,
Dolls.
109,900
175,480
10,000
5,000
400
The value of twenty-two thouſand
lots, accommodated with ftreets and al-
leys, not within the part built upon as
above, with the woods on them, and on
the ſtreets and alleys, for fuel and tim-
ber, the ftone, lime, clay, &c. for build-
ing, at ten dollars per lot, to conftitute
prizes,
Dolls.
220,000
1,008,54C
The feveral objects in the foregoing eftimate of
one million eight thouſand five hundred and forty
dolllars to conftitute prizes, to be drawn by the pur-
chafers of five hundred thousand dollars worth of
tickets: a fcheme of a lottery more protfiable than
moft, which have been exhibited, and which will
moreover yield great advantages to every proprietor
and tenant of lands within the fphere of trade be-
longing to the town.
Although fuch calculations and eftimates as
thefe ought always to be received with the utmoſt
caution, and to be examined with ftrictnefs, yet
there are circumftances, which, it is concieved,
infure fuccefs to a well deviſed and well executed
plan in the fcene already mentioned.
A very great and increafing fupply of all thofe
things which can create, maintain, and extend a
town; which can attract, cheaply fupport, and
401
certainly and thoroughly employ an induftrious
community, forced by the nature of the river and
country into this fingular Scene, juftify an affirma-
tion, that no fuch fituations for towns of inland trade
and manufactures of native productions exift in
the populated parts of the United States.-To efti-
mate the value of the river, and the water works,
and their permanent influence upon the profperity
and growth of fuch a town, let us for a moment
fuppofe, that twenty fimilar mills, twenty unimprov-
ed mill feats, and a copious canal leading to the
Suſquehannah, were fuperadded to the prefent ad-
vantages of the borough of Lancaſter.
It cannot but be perceived, that moft of the
American inland towns have been commenced
without due attention to the powers of water, the
advantages of interior navigation, and a copious
and certain fupply of other fuel, when wood fhall
become ſcarce and dear.-The whole number of
the houſes in the towns of fome of the ftates is very
inconfiderable, which is principally owing to their
produce having paffed on without any natural ftop-
page or heavy expence of tranfportation from their
farms to their export market; or to a fcarcity of
fuel which has been created, and will be increaſed
by their growth.
There will be a peculiar certainty and ſtability
in the value of property in fuch a place as that
contemplated, becauſe its trade and manufactures
depending upon our own laws, and upon our pro-
3 E
402
ductions, will not be fubjected to the injuries and
viciffitudes, which often arife from foreign reftric-
tions and prohibitions, and from the defalcations
of the imports of foreign and precarious tropical
productions. On the other hand, every new dif-
covery of a mineral or foffil, every addition to the
articles of cultivation in the great landed ſcene,
on which it will depend, whether for food or ma-
nufactures, will yield freſh nouriſhment and em-
ployment to its inhabitants.
In addition to the reaſons already fuggefted
for placing the town upon the western fide of the
Suſquehannah, it ought to be added, with a view
to the preſent and all other plans of eſtabliſhing
towns in this climate, that the eaſtern and northern
fides of all waters in the United States, (the ele-
vation, dryness of the foil, and other things being
equal) are lefs healthy than the fouthern and wef-
tern fides. As it further regards, that great con-
cern, the health and comfort of the citizens, it al-
fo merits repetition, that by the plan propofed, no
inadvertent or uninformed man will be able to
build his houfe, or place of buſineſs in fuch a man-
ner as to deprive himſelf of the bleſſing of the fum-
mer winds.
Altho' great ftrefs has been laid upon a particular
fcene in the courfe of this paper, from a thorough
conviction of its fitnefs and value, it is manifeft, that
many of the ideas will apply to fuch of the exifting
towns in the ftate of Pennſylvania and elfewhere,
403
as have a capacity to command, by due exertion,
and at a moderate expence, water falls, coal, or in-
land navigation--A diligent examination of their
reſpective capacities, in thofe particulars, ought,
upon the general principles fuggefted, to be made.
It is alſo clear, that a very large part of thoſe ad-
vantages may be gained at Harriſburgh, Middle-
town, the falls of Delaware, at the lower end of
the Schuylkill canal, and moſt of the other canals
in the United States, by fuch a power of water as
has been mentioned above. In the ftates of Ver-
mont and Kentuckey, in the weſtern parts of Penn-
fylvania and New-York, in the north western and
fouthern governments, and in general at thoſe places
on the easternmost, or nearest parts of all the wef
tern waters, and the fouthern or nearest parts of the
northern waters, where the internal navigation ter-
minates, the whole of the above plan, in a maturer
State of their population, will apply, with the most fo-
lid and extenfive benefits to the cultivators and pro-
prietors of the foil.*
WERE two or three manufacturing houfes (or
firms) foreign or American, to make a purchaſe of
fome fit fituation to erect a variety of water works,
* The grounds around the lower falls of many of the rivcrs
emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, are alfo very fuitable for fuch
a plan, becauſe provifions, wood, coal, and raw materials may
be tranſported to them coaftwife and from foreign countries.
404
and were they to commence two or three ſeveral
manufactories upon a confiderable ſcale, and to
reſerve ſuitable fituations and a command of wa-
ter for a number of others which would follow,
they could not fail to fucceed in their reſpective
branches, and they would greatly enhance the va-
lue of the purchaſed lands. It is unneceſſary to
repeat, in this place, the numerous circumftances
in the fituation and affairs of the United States,
which enfure fuccefs to well felected eſtabliſhments
of manufactures, conducted with judgment and
prudence.
405
*
CHAPTER XI.
ABSTRACT of Goods, Wares, and Merchandize, exported from
the United States, from the 1ft of October, 1790, to 30th Sep-
tember 1791.
Species of Merchandize.
ASHES, pot,
tons of
Quantity.
3,083,74
1
pearl,
do.
3,270,20
Apples,
barrels
12,352
Bricks,
number
737,764
Boats,
do.
99
Bellows, fmiths,
pair,
4
Beer, Ale and Porter,
gallons
44,526
dozens
719
Boots,
pair,
482
Boot legs,
do.
17
Brimftone,
pounds
3,280
Blacking or Lampblack,
do.
8,518
Bayberries,
bufhels
18
Cider,
barrels
1,694
dozens
310
Chalk,
pounds
20,000
Cotton,
do.
189,316
Coffee,
do.
962,977
Cocoa,
do.
8,322
Chocolate,
boxes
479
Candles, myrtle,
do.
348
wax,
do.
185
tallow,
do.
2,745
Cordage,
cwt.
3,533
Copper ore,
do.
20
pig,
do.
216
manufactured,
do.
1,480
fheet,
do.
296
Coal,
bufhels
3,788
Cranberries,
do.
720
Corks,
grofs
300
Corn fan,
number
I
Canes and Walking-flicks,
do.
598
Cotton and Wool Cards,
dozens
25
Carriages, Coaches, Chairs, &c.
number
Waggons and Carts,
do.
85
25
Duck, American,
pieces
653
Ruffia,
do.
30
406
Species of Merchandize.
Grain & Pulfe.
Indian Corn,
bufhels
Oats,
do.
Quantity.
1,713,241
116,634
Buckwheat,
do.
14,499
Peaſe & Beans,
do.
165,273
Horns and Tips,
number
119,776
Hides,
do.
704
Hats,
do.
435
Honey,
gallons
1,740
Hops,
pounds
650
Hemp,
do.
1,544
Hay,
tons
2,006
Iron, wrought.
Axes,
number
979
Hoes,
do.
200
Drawing Knives,
do.
24
Scythes,
do.
48
Locks & Bolts,
do.
2,000
Shovels
do.
261
Skimmers & Ladles, do.
15
Anchors,
do.
175
Grapnels,
do.
18
Mufquets,
do.
160
Cutlaffes,
do,
72
Knives and Forks, do.
240
Chefts of Carpenters do.
Tools,
4
Iron, caftings. Waggon-boxes,
do.
100
Pots & Kettles,
do.
808
Cannon,
do.
37
Swivels,
do.
8
Cannon Shot,
do.
1000
Iron Patterns,
do.
I2
Iron, the Ton. Pig,
tons
4,1782
Bar,
do.
3492
Bundles,
do.
8
Hoops,
do.
16/1/
Indigo,
pounds
497,720
Leather, tanned and dreffed,
do.
5,424
Lime,
bufhels
1,320
Lead. Sheets,
number
45
Pig,
tons
16
Shot,
pounds
6,473
Live Stock.
Horned Cattle,
number
4,627
Horſes,
do.
Mules,
do
}
Sheep,
do,
6,975
444.
10,377
$
407
Species of Merchandize.
Drugs & Medicine. Glauber's Salts, pounds
Sarfaparilla, Pink, do.
Quantity.
1,580
14,900
Saffafras, Bark,
tons'
34
Saffafrafs-root,
do.
344
Earthen Ware. Stone,
dozens
55
Yellow, Queens,
crates
157
Flaxfeed,
caſks
58,492
Flax,
pounds
18,600
Feathers,
do.
904
Flints,
number
Frames of Veffels,
do.
40,000
I
Scows,
do.
6
Boats,
do.
10
Houſes,
do.
195
Windows and Doors,
do.
31
Furniture, Houfe. Tables,
do.
75
Bedsteads,
do.
18
Deſks,
do.
78
Bureaus,
do.
21
Sophas, &c.
do.
59
Clocks,
do.
200
Clock-cafes,
do.
3
Chefts,
do.
705
Chairs, Windfor,
do.
5,134
Chairs, Rufh,
do.
738
Fishery. Fish, dried,
Fish, pickled,
quintals
383,237
barrels
57,424
Whale oil,
gallons
447,323
Spermaceti oil,
do.
134,595
Spermaceti candles,
boxes
4,560
Whalebone,
pounds
124,829
Glafs Ware,
crates
21
Window,
boxes
92
Ginfeng,
pounds
29,208
Groceries. Caffia & Cinnamon,
do.
1,778
Cloves & Mace,
do.
900
Pepper,
do.
492
Pimento,
do.
141,701
·
Brown Sugar,
do.
73,304
Loaf Sugar,
do.
1,157
Other Sugar,
do.
1,200
Raiſins,
do.
400
Grain & Pulfe. Wheat,
bufhels
1,018,339
Rye,
do.
36,737
Barley,
do.
35
408
Species of Merchandize.
Quantity.
Live Stock.
Deer,
number
4
Hogs,
do.
16,803
Poultry,
dozens
10,247
Merchandize, or Foreign Dry Goods, packages
1,439
Molaffes
gallons
12,721
Mill-ftones,
number
2
Muftard,
pounds
780
Madder,
do.
1,034
Nails,
do.
130,293
Negro Slaves,
number
24
Nankeens,
pieces
7,072,
Nuts,
bufhels
1,240
Naval Stores.
Pitch,
barrels
3,978
Tar,
do.
51,044
Rofin,
do.
228
Turpentine,
do.
58,107
Turpentine, Spirits of, do.
1,172
Oil, Linfeed,
gallons
90
£
Porcelain, or China Ware,
boxes
2
Powder. Gun,
pounds
25,854
Hair,
do.
1,276
Pomatum,
do.
45
Paints,
do.
1,520
Pipes,
boxes
I
Printing Prefles,
number
4-
Plaiſter of Paris,
tons
4
Provifions. Rice,
tierces
96,980
Flour,
Ship Stuff,
barrels
619,687
do.
6,484
Rye Meal,
do.
کئے گئے
Indian Meal,
do.
Buckwheat Meal,
do.
24,062
70,339
422
Oatmeal,
do.
6
Bread,
do.
100,279
Beef,
do.
62,372
Pork,
do.
26,635
Crackers,
kegs
15,346
}
Hams and Bacon,
pounds
295,647
Venifon Hams,
do.
600
Cheeſe,
do.
129,901
Lard,
do.
522,715
Butter,
firkins
16,670
Sauſages,
pounds
250
Fresh Beef,
do.
92,269
Ditto Pork,
do.
29,334
409
এই
Species of Merchandize.
Quantity.
Provifions.
Carcafes of Mutton,
number,
551
Neats' Tongues,
barrels,
150
Oyſters, pickled,
kegs,
1,228
Potatoes,
Onions,
bufhels,
22,263
do.
42,420
Reeds,
number,
15,450
Spirits. American,
gallons,
513,234
Weft-India,
do.
4,743
French Brandy,
do.
158
Peach do.
do.
753
Gin,
do.
10,252
Ditto,
cafes,
3,717
Ditto,
jugs,
2,039
Cordials,
cafes,
69
Sadlery. Saddles, men's,
number,
414
Bridles,
do.
402
Coach Harness,
fetts,
74
Waggon Geers,
do.
8
Shoes,
pair,
7,046
Soap,
boxes,
691
Sago,
pounds,
2,382
Starch,
do.
160
Snuff,
do.
15,689
Steel,
bundles,
1,375
Raw Silk,
pounds,
153
Silver,
ounces,
103
Salt,
bufhels,
4,208
Spruce, Effence of
cafes,
94
Seed. Garden,
pounds,
1,060
Multard,
do.
660
Hay,
do.
60.
Cotton,
bufhels,
109
Skins and Furs.
Morocco,
number,
132
Calf, in hair,
do.
402
Deer,
do.
1,063
Seal,
do.
2,672
Bear,
do.
37
Beaver and Otter,
do.
100
Deer Skins, dreffed,
pounds,
48,031
Ditto and other do. and Furs,
do.
980
Ditto and do.
packages,
889
Tobacco, in hogfheads,
number,
101,272
Manufactured,
pounds,
81,122
Types,
boxes,
3.
3 F
410
Species of Merchandize.
Tallow,
Twine,
pounds,
per 112,
Quantity.
317,195
19/2/20
Tow Cloth,
yards,
6,850
Toys, for children,
dozens,
112/
Tin,
boxes,
9
Manufactured,
dozens,
15
Teas. Bohea,
chefts,
17 2
Souchong,
do.
492
Green,
do.
178
Hyfon,
do.
2,235
Vinegar,
gallons,
2,248
Varnish,
do.
60
Wines. Madeira,
do.
76,466
Other,
do.
32,336
Bottled,
dozens,
6
Wax. Bees,
pounds,
224,538
Myrtle,
do.
2,272
Whips,
numbers,
146
Wood. Staves and Heading,
do.
29,061,590
Shingles,
do.
74,205,C;6
Shook Cafks,
do.
42,032
Cafks,
do.
297
Laths,
do.
25,500
Hoops,
do.
1,422,155
Hoop-Poles,
do.
3,450
Mafts,
do.
405
Bow-Sprits,
do.
42
Bombs,
do.
74.
Spars,
do.
4,983
Hand Spikes,
do.
36,714
Pumps,
do.
80
Boxes and Brakes,
do.
56
Blocks,
do.
7,040
Oars,
do.
28,456
Oar Rafters,
do.
13,080
Treenails,
do.
45,905
Cedar and Oak Knecs,
do.
1,067
Breaft Hooks,
do.
50
Carlings,
do.
13
Anchor Stocks,
do.
809
Cedar Polls,
do.
10,453
Oak Boards and Plank,
do. feet,
963,822
Pine Boards and Plank,
do.
37,288;928
Other ditto and do.
do.
3,463,673
Scantling,
do.
6,237,496
45
411
*
&
F
Species of Merchandize.
Quantity.
Wood.
Oak, Pine, &c. Scantling, feet,
2,180,137
Oak and Pine Timber,
**
tons,
13,775
Lignumvitæ,
cwt.
1,180
Logwood,
do.
105플
​!
Timber,
number logs,
38,680
Mahogany and Lignumvitæ,
number pieces,
3,251
Oak and Pine Bark,
cords,
499
Oak Bark,
do.
57
Ditto Ground,
hogfheads,
1,040
Maft Hoops,
dozens,
148
Axe Helves,
do.
14.9
Trufs Hoops,
fetts,
15
Yokes and Bows for Oxen,
do.
197
Lock Stocks,
H
numbers,
4,000
Worm Tubs,
do.
6
Wheel Barrows,
do.
6
Wheels for Carts, &c.
do.
50
Spokes and Fellies,
do.
12,972
Spinning Wheels,
do.
17
Tubs, Pails, Bowls, &c.
do.
204
Value,
Dollars 17,571,551 45 Cts.
Add for two returns from Charleſton,
juft received,
}
827,651
*
*
Dollars 18,399,202 45 Cts.
See page 412.
+
:
412
>
A SUMMARY OF THE VALUE AND DESTINATION OF THE
FOREGOING EXPORTS.
To the dominions of Ruffia,
of Sweden,
嘴
​of Denmark,
2
Dollars. Cis
3,570
21,866
N
277,273 53
of United Netherlands,
of Great-Britain,
1,634,825 66
7,953,418 21
To the Imperial ports of the Auſtrian Nether-
lands and Germany,
362,010 21
To Hamburg, Bremen and other Hanſe towns,
To the dominions of France,
of Spain,
of Portugal,
To the Italian Ports,
To Morocco,
To the Eaft-Indies, generally,
To Africa,
To the Weft-Indies,
do.
do.
To the north-weſt coaſt of America,
Uncertain,
To the above add the amount of two
quarterly returns, fince received from
Charlefton, South-Carolina,
4,298,762 26
64,259 25
1,301,286 95
1,039,696 95
31,726 90
3,660 50
318,628 46
168,477 92
59,434 36
3,380
29,274 75
Dollars 17,571,551 45
827,651
18,399,202 45
Treafury Department,
October ift, 1791.
}
TENCH COXE,
Affant Secretary.
Copper
Carriages
Candles
Afbes
New-Hampſhir
Maſſachuſetts
Rhode-IЛland
Connecticut
413
CHAPTER XII.
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, WARES AND MERCHANDIZE EXPORTED FROM EACH OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, (WITH THE AGGREGATE OF THE
WHOLE) FROM THE 1ft OCTOBER, 1791, TO 30th SEPTEMBER, 1792, BEING ONE YEAR.
人
​STAT E S.
New-York
[ Pot,
Pearl,
Apples,
Bran,
Bricks,
tons
90.6.0
691.13.2
52.7.0
dc.
19.9.0 2,029.8. o
barrels
571
46.0.2
295
23.8.0 3,550.0.c
14.4.0 1,215.1.C
50.14.0
17.11.0
bush.
209
82
4,598
743
26
number
114,500
Boats,
do.
17
384,000
59
40,500
4
85,800
34,600
6,000
35,cpo
I
7
Boots,
pairs
Beer, cider and porter,
gals.
214
9,900
128
20
7,150
Ditto,
dozens
50
300
49,780
208
1
18,50
76
219
Brimftone,
lbs.
9,025
Blacking and lampblack,
do.
92
1
Bellows, fmiths,
Cotton,
Chalk,
number
lbs.
8,880
4,000
20,000
per cwt.
5.0.0
300.0.0
40.0.0
1
Wax,
Myrtle,
Tallow,
boxes
176
22
do.
175
do.
Cordage,
per 112 lb.
14
10.0.0
1,911
564
1,714.2.0 2,131,0.3
814
24.0.0
61
N
Coal,
bufhels
Cranberries,
do.
Corks
groce
3,730
131
I 2
126
590
407.0.0
3,332
2C
#5
170.1.0
#5
54
Cards, wool and cotton,
pairs
Cards, playing,
packs
Coffee,
lbs.
72
1,000
168,705
10,629
t
Cocoa,
do.
Carts and drays,
Coaches, chaifes, chairs, &c. number
Waggons
Canes and flicks,
Ore,
Manufactured,
Sheet,
Duck,
2
3
2
8
3549169
2
#
1,001, 87
do.
2
do.
10
2
I I
21
do.
lbs.
do
do.
3,500
3,000
I
bolts
667
715
210
t
1
1
228
28
N
1
1
1
New-Jersey
Pennſylvania
1
I
·
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Carolina
Georgia
15.0.0
S.0.0
39
ΙΣΙ
38,500
3,000
2,000
†› 473.13.2
3:349.19.2
6,582
108
743,900
88
148
3
420
1,590
130
750
4,773
50
50%
513
93,386
1,063
9,025
3,750
7,600
1
1
168
1 8
Co
51.0.0
5,220
1
3,842
1
400
68,520
28,928
138,328
345.0.0
199
I
183
19
158
3,997
4517.2.3
13:023
185
1
408,017
9,824 184,211
6,000
1
1
1,000
2,136,722
6,000
25
3
++
228
23
3,500
3,000
59592
Total of
each article.
T
3 G
414
New-Hampshire
Maſſachuſetts
Rhode-Iſland
Conne&icut
New-York.
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATES.
New-Jersey
160
1
Drugs & Medicines
Earthen Ware,
Flaxfeed,
Glauber falts,
Sarfapariila,
Snake-root,
Pink-root,
Saffafras,
Drugs, unknown
lbs.
do.
do
do.
tons
packages
crates
1
94
20
149
II.2.0
5,300
2,912
1,000
6.10.0
caſks
691
Flax,
lbs.
76
69
I
14
4,047
400
4,595
1,249
24,687
10,000
5
10,150
5.8.0
2,4134
721
480
3,426
300
2.0.0
500
1,000
5,000
4.0.0
160
1,094
13,087
6,000
29.0.0
2,739
22
2 3
28
38
1
150
76
112
52,381
10,400
.150
Feathers,
do.
Engines,
number
Buckets,
do.
1
I
Bedsteads,
do.
1
233
13
I
I
233
13
Furniture Haufe.
Tables,
Desks,
do.
1
do.
1
Bureaus,
Clocks,
do.
46
32
2
12
2
28
2
·
10
do.
Sophas,
do.
1
1
+
1
1
I
87
56
2
5
1
Settees,
do.
20
2
10
4
Mahogany Chair,
do.
24
Windfor Chairs,
do.
86
36
1,652
151
336
780
20
T
1
•
3
30
24
1
Ruth Chairs,
do.
60
Chefts Seamens'
do.
269
Fish, dried
quintals
17,260
326,862
16,647
4,089
1,121
70
369
6
43C
44
3,061
60
269
364,898
Fiſheries.
Fish, pickled
barrels
647
18,147
9,578 $,210
5,913
74
19613
3,234
1,435
1,983
422
21
63,383
Oil, Whale
gallons
6,272
292,482
43,347
157
41,380
245
50,970
189
472
910
48,277
Oil, Spermaceti
do.
62,342
756
285
436,423
1
61
Spermaceti Candles,
boxes
1,061
2,168
102
478
107
15
31938
Whale-bone,
pounds
103,172
Pulje.
Wheat,
bufhels
7
154
5,880
438
13,450
26,997
$172
185,769
130,723
140,121
3,776
395,376
460
154,407
1,202
853,790
12,727
Rye,
do.
1,646
956
10,083
42
Indian Corn,
do.
880
77,841
5,082
5)
Buckwheat,
do.
47
4541
Grain
Oats,
do.
1,070
91
30,182
337
97,851
227,256
772
2,444
12,787
140
1,000
414,262
59537
232,242
684,627 156,72;
99,985
11,667 1,964.973
1,461
211
Peafe and Deans,
do.
138
7,355
1,068
1,985
30,4951
7,018
13,128
7,797
2,293
19
150
119,733
1791
14,373
63,372
54,4951
4,64c
343
192,078
Pennſylvania
Delarvare
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Carolina
Georgia
Total of
eacharticle.
New-Hampſhire
Maſſachuſetts
Rhode-Iſland
Connecticut
415
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATES.
New-York
New-Jersey
Pennſylvania
Delaware
Brown Sugar,
pounds
178,049
386,014
123,340
302,720
Loaf Sugar,
do.
1,896
191
1,000
Groceries.
Other Sugar,
Chocolate,
Pepper,
Pimento,
do.
12,550
54,000
5,214
323
1
1
do.
4170
432
1,150
do.
940
2,44C
1
do.
400
982
230,803
48,75c
2,600
11,100
Ginger,
do.
18,420
Raifins,
do.
4,970
100
3,700
Ginfeng,
do.
22,638
4,751
200
14,378
1
1
Glassware,
crates
7
I
Glafs for Windows,
boxe:
Grind-Stones,
number
175
·
Grave-Stones,
do.
60
19
1
1
Hides, Raw,
do.
702
1
24
900
1
1
Horns and Tips,
do.
8,778
117,979
10,000
14,300
17,000
6,200
Hats,
do.
564
80
30
2,606
Honey,
gallons
1,005
200
120
1,100
12
5
150
Hemp,
pounds
Hops,
Hay,
do.
tons
2,250
1
I go.9.c
40.0.0 1,946.10.0
1 30.0.0
17.0.0
208.0.0
Nails,
cafks
164
I
I
Axes,
number
550
55
3
53
40
1
T
40.0.0
Iron.
wrought.
Saws,
do.
Muſkets,
Shovels,
Scythes,
do.
42
,་
do.
372
4
1
I 2
do.
139
Anchors,
do.
36
7
4
IQ
1
I
4
Grapnels,
do.
30
Camboules,
do.
2
the ton. caftings.
Anvils,
do.
I 2
Cannon,
do.
1
Shot,
do.
Pots, kettles, & other caftings, do.
Pig,
tons
53
500
2,100
06.0.0 108.10.0.0
1
1
1
1
471
Bar,
do.
Hooops,
do.
124.18.3.0 97.2.1.0.
3.11.0.0
185
| 448.0.0.0
0.16.0.0 107.10.0.0
16
740
70
14
#
797.0.0.0
1.445.0.0.0 468.16.0.cj
21.0.0.0
4.4.0,0
7.11.0,0
1
I
Maryland
1
Virginia
343
North-Carolina
18,600
1
I
1
South-Caroline
Georgia
126,819
5,200
600
Total of
each article.
1,122,156
21,760
54,000
6,092
5,040
310,635
18,420
8,770
42,310
8
4 -
259
19
1,602
182,064
3,440
6,257
300
148
60
1,390
2,000
2,000
2,250
13.0.0
7.0.0 2,591.19.0
49
258-
-
658
36
I
1
f
I 2
83
1,240
2,402
3,267.12.0.0
351.7.0.0
15,6.0.0
36
42
34
3 x
384
139
71
30
2
3 H
416
News-Hampſhire
Maſſachuſetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New-York
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATES.
New-Jersey
T
Live Stock.
Lead.
Indigo,
Ivory,
Sheet,
Shot,
pounds
cafks
950
840
1,000
I
pounds
4,480
20,160
do.
2,000
Leather,
do.
7,523
90
2,690
39358
Lime,
bufhels
230
400
252
90
810
Horned Cattle,
number
145
516
1 35
3,204
315
Horfes,
do.
62
400
213
4,349
445
Mules,
do.
200
393
498
10
"
Deer,
Sheep,
do.
2
do.
253
4,025
2,957
3,706
622
Hogs,
do.
30
885
1,129
3,522
1,057
Poultry,
dozens
27
1,094
813
3,179
941
Merchandize or f Packages,
number
324
20
Naval Stores.
dry goods foreign.
Mustard,
Millstones,
Pitch,
Nankeens,
pieces
2,840
Molaffes,
gallons
8,994
42
pounds
102
9,500
1,220
18
110
27
746
1,000
I2C
1,000
number
8
2
barrels
623
20
2
1,953
Tar,
Rofin,
do.
780
do.
3,998
88
600!
85
9,377
∞
539
Turpentine,
do.
119
4,34
122
11,531
Spirits of Turpentine,
gallons
Negroes,
number
Nuts,
bufhels
43
18
106
Oil, Linfeed
gallons
79
601
60
Powder, Gun
qr. cafks
31
in
176
56
189
Powder, Hair
pounds
600
650
Pomatum,
do.
510
Porcelain, or China,
chefts
2
1
Paper,
reams
106
Pipes,
boxes
2
Paints,
keg
87
Plaiſter of Paris
tons
118
3.0.0
༠༠
15
230
30
442
2,658
4,32
6,250 839,666
3,300 85,995
1
6161
25,255
1,500
1,650
3,500
1,491
2,500
234
112,536
96
70
1878
6
CO
49551
12
I
It
31
10
51456
1,101
་
2
10
·
1
56
401
23
12,153
ION
1,098
133
11,948
968
668
819
21,291
3
до
79316
464
S
1
37
1,701
12,340
130
1
11,333
1
1,120
462
5,889
29
196
2,900
202
19,017
4,49C
21,395
795
402
10
9,45
2,509
2,697
106
334
7,140
17
1,481
41
17,620
214
15
69,279
19337
13,589
II, 102
79
67,148
96c
68
1,028
16
23
96
990
300
41
207
199
467
2,540
510
3
128
I
33
S64
1
3.0.0
Pennſylvania
Delarvare
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Carolina
Georgia
Total of
cacharticle.
Sadlery. Spirits.
3 I
Provifions.
New-Hampſhir
Moffachuſetts
Rhode-Iſland
Conne&icut
New-York
417
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EX PORTED.
STATE S..
New-Jersey
Pennſylvania
Rice,
Flour,
Bread.
tierces
9
19423
1,225
I 12
6,314
48
6,720
1,352
441
5,544
106,419
12,152
141,762
barrels
406
26,736
6,225
4,411
104,826
59-
347,742
24,18
do.
87
4,491
625
3,080
15,359
137
31,911
551
191,799
8,043
108,824
3,077
5,441
192
824,464
144723
414
1,255
310
80,986
Crackers,
kegs
2,049
1,416
I 2
11,663
50
12,970
497
3,722
59125
76
65
37.645
Rye Meal,
barrels
229
3
Indian Meal,
do.
}
575
330
595
2,685
91725
597
2,648
329
14, 126
7,155
553
34,335
1,110
3,093
2,737
63
33
7
Ship Stuff,
do.
505
60
3,700
532
1,383
52,68 1
6,180
Buckwheat Meal,
do.
12
253
Beef,
do.
1,784
28,453
7,067
22,108
8,290
215
3,205
5c
1,010
717
298
992
149
265
74,338
Pork,
do.
I 12
4,726
3,916
7,113
6,224
121
4,461
১০
1,829
2,876
5,822
796
22
38,098
Mutton,
do.
17
Tongues,
kegs
1
2,354
16
48
17
2,418
Hams' and Bacon,
pounds
33,281
16,476
19,768
107,100
13,750
Butter,
firkins
296
4,101
Cheefe,
Lard,
pounds
28,927
992
14,731
870
29,602
-2,497
26,300
95
1,000
305,230
1,541
15,240
3,951
68
9,271
8,028
91
216
877
do.
362
101,022
42,936 72,644
94,720
3,260
88,640
3,360
4,190
1,050
38,9+0
50,126
54
3,598
16,382
931
1,990
585,353
9
11,761
4,100
1,400
125,925
53.371 11,640
160
515,245
Fresh Beef,
do.
75,992
Fresh Pork,
do.
3,008
1
1
Carcafes of Mutton,
number
425
Saufages,
pounds
1,480
Tongues and Sounds,
kegs
329
35
Tripes,
pounds
6,000
1
1
1
1
I
1
Oysters Pickled,
kegs
I 39
995
206
576
1
1
Potatoes,
bufhels
419
3,947
6,055
1,766
3,282
Onions,
do.
10,381
58,304
25,703
6,540
Reeds,
number
Country made,
gallons
1,712
Foreign diftilled,
do.
470357
26,794
280,179
2,214
94,912
27,092
286
13,221
57
3,0071
198
8,805
14
9
739
25
82
530
284
53,702
12,755
400
19,530
2,396
6,957
285
222
145,375
17,930
94+
I 1,000')
277
∞ N W
752
91
835
825
75,092
3,008
425
1,480
370
6,000
1,973
19,634
112,207
157,375
948,115
84050
Cordials,
do.
223
#
223
Saddles,
number
7
93
125
674
5
#
Bridles,
do.
7
··43)
125
676
18
Coach Harneſs,
Waggon Geers,
fetts
6
1
1
1
973
86)
6
do.
2
159
Shoes,
Soap,
Starch,
pairs
boxes
pounds
936
3790
221
223
2,268
681
150
1,047
20
37
130
29?
179
152
8,735
124
137
106!
1 2
1,000
339281
1,000
4,920
;
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Caroliza
Georgia
Total of
each article.
418
New-Hampshire
Maſſachuſetts
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATE S.
Rhode-Jard
Connecticut
New-York
1
New-Jersey
Pennſylvania
Snuff,
do.
212
2,260
Salt,
bufhels
Spruce, Elence of
galion:
1,092
226
307
60
4,650
350
Steel,
pound.
4,368
4,958
Silk, raw,
Silver,
Seeds
Garden,
chefs
Ounces
boxc
14
Cotton,
buthe
1
1
20
1
I
Calf in Hair,
numbc.
Elk,
do
3
79
Bear,
do.
Skins
Furs
Seal,
Sheep,
Deer Skins,
Beaver,
do.
1
24
270
4,800
do.
do.
14,536
165
444
pounds
318
}
packages
156
7
pounds
4,000
I
Otter,
Sable,
number
500
4,88
162
do.
22
Skins and Furs unknown,
Tobacco {Hogfheads,
Tallow,
Tyger, Fox, Mink, &c.
do.
12
packages
84
number
3
1,221
1,429
105
104
1,952
Manufactured,
pounds
110,525
1,600
1
5
337
3,203
2,140
do.
7,400
130,856
2,994
6,822
Tow Cloth,
yards
540
1,660
60
1,222
351
Twine
pounds
612
1
Tin Manufactured,
dozens
46
Bohea,
chefts
[eas•
Wines.
Souchong,
do.
1 2
55
220
Hyfon,
do.
296
274
2
8
560
2
21
601
Other green,
do.
J
Vinegar,
gallons
5,331
Varniſh,
barrels
I
Madeira,
gallons
Sog
4,793
89
60
694
39
I
I
Other Wines,
do.
11,128
1
9,313
3,154
420
3,810
12,044
Bottled,
dozensl
50%
D
Delaware
- 1,050
1
1
·
Maryland
1
1
T
1
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Carolina
Georgia
1,000
702
168
42
42
62
30
276
8
22
28,292
1780
1
3
3
748
1,380
1
3591
1
1
I
1
در
1
1
100
16
E2
Total of
eacharticle.
10,042
1,955
256
9:336
14
276
20
100
27
79
351
19,336
165
12,858
25
54,867 34,675
50,765
444
158,367
479
700
25
& 5
390
378
61,203
2,025
3,546
5,290
5,471
624
180
4,6cc
829
4,700
610
22
408
929
112,428
117,874
152,622
3,833
612
46
1
I
1
1
ताल
1
2
1
12
1,078
450
5,556
91
420
44
275
1,198
92
5,811
13
22,145
33,262
500
Wood.
Wax.
New-Hampfire
Maſſachuſetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New-York
419
ABSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATES.
New-Jersey
Pennſylvania
Bees,
pound-
500
8,222
Myrtle,
Whips,
do.
602
240
91,542
94,135
20,882
30,685
2,846
49,784
160
299,358
249
nomber
oo
500
Pine Boards & Plank,
feet 7,457,500 28,114,175
Oak Boards & Plank,
'do.
330,550 350,985
281,676 577,083 3,374,900
18,852
102,260
89,000 1,583,221
3,385 500,679 829,126 4,303,468
Other Boards & Plank,
do.
10, 400 264,874
Scantling,
do.
525,350
21,440
do.
253.573
14,400
4,000
65,000
286,020
18,000
17,122
4,00)
51,814
359,737
40,000
307,750 1,632,949
1,632,949
55,178
31,000
717,210 3,484,488 51,316,112
4,221 824,088
36,433 315,707
499,814 2,100,630 5,867,504
1,864,299 2,323,450
Timber
tons
539
18,249
70
9/1
ΙΟ
40
87
387
19,391/
pieces
6,745
70
3,137
4,47
178
541
2
654
2,570
18,374
Mahogany,
Lignumvita,
tons
2.0.0
2.0.0
do.
16.4.0
56.10.0
Dye Woods,
{
do.
113.0
12.5.2
28.10.0
10.0.0
160.10.0
58.0.0
17.0.0
39.7.0
32.15.0
180.1.0
pieces
·
965
252.3.2
965
Staves and Heading,
Shingles,
number 1,250,100 5,257,475
do. 1,209,000 14,386,700
277,950 1,124,842 5,565,590
Hoops and Poles,
do.
36,150 1,232,481
48,412 2,814,63 +
110,000 325,800 2,200,700 1,210,000 -2,789,13
314,813
573,605 144,550
84,46
37,250 1,731,067 7.419,823 2,291,089
512,550
866,527 29,197, 309
228,000 2,629,550 11,873,935 27,456,801 2,573,500 4,644,704 71,637,563
16,125
Shakes,
do.
1,459
32,634
1,916
Cafks,
do.
492
5,133 1,508
458
120
2,00;
88,525
1,608
27,340 42,844
2,500
2,563,293
220
Sz
870
47,615
Mafts,
do.
79
210
11
295
II
4
نی
1,245
323
Bowfprits,
do.
2
21
Spars,
do.
11
2,565
790
I 2
222
Cars and Oar-rafters,
do.
2,325
32,070
89+
252
Hand-Spikes,
do.
7118
135
700
9,622
5°
7,840
1
3,552
Pumps,
do.
6
4
31
1
17
90
871
2,44+
41452
20
14
125
23
3.757
20
39,543
I
336
33,775
55
Boxes and Brakes,
do.
40
40
Blocks,
do.
5,089
666
120
Treenails,
do.
2,000
9,500
21,000
550
2,000
6,425
Cedar and Oak Knees,
do.
365
Anchor-Stocks,
number
113
20
Cedar Potts,
do.
Spokes and Fellies,
dozens
578
350
7,065
888
427
92
288
134
83
1
1
34,500
1,080
225
134
Maft-Hoops,
do.
50
59
Yokes and Bows for Oxen,
fetts
182
| Lock-Stocks,
number
3,100
Cords of Wood,
do.
1,0731
12
41
1
8,96+
109
20+
3,100
1,171
3 K
f
છે.
Delarvare
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
Sath-Car:'ina
Georgia
Total of
Jeach article
!
Wood.
[Cords of Oak-Bark,
Oak Bark ground,
Frames of Houfes,
Wheel-Barrrows,
Corn-Fans
Cart-Wheels,
number
bogfheads
number
do.
do.
pairs
Spinning-Wheels,
number
Worm-Tubs,
do.
Tubs, Pails, Dishes, &c.
dozens
NEW-HAMPSHIRE
MASSACHUSETTS
RHODE ISLAND
CONNECTICUT
NEW-YORK
NEW-JERSEY
PENNSYLVANIA
1
New-Hampshire
Maſſachuſetts
74
5
I 2
176
24
2
92
21
1
J
420
ÁBSTRACT OF GOODS, &c. EXPORTED.
STATE S.
Rhode-Ifland
2
Connecticut
I
1
200
2,876
4
37
I
Maryland
45
1
Virginia
North-Carolina
3
10
·
South-Carolina
VALUE OF GOODS, WARE AND MERCHANDIZE EXPORTED FROM EACH STATE.
Dollars.
181,407 DELAWARE
2,889,922 MARYLAND
698,084 VIRGINIA
749,925 NORTH-CAROLINA
2,528,085 SOUTH-CAROLINA
23,524 GEORGIA
3,820,646
Dollars.
133,972
2,550,258
3,549,499
503,294
2,917,979
458,973
Dollars
21,005,568
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, FEBRUARY 27th, 1793.
TENCH COX E, Commiffioner of the Revenue.
|
1
་
Georgia
Total of
each article.
292
2,921.
191
42
I
41
2
92
7
421
CHAPTER XIII.
A RETURN OF THE IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES, FOR
ONE YEAR, ENDING ON THE 30th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1790.
GOODS, fubject to 5 per cent. ad valorem, 13,044.824 90
71 per cent.
862,977 76
624,674 59
Ditto,
Ditto,
10 per cent.
Ditto,
12 per cent.
Ditto,
15 per cent.
O a
3,619 4
Spirits, of Jamaica proof,
gallons,
610,703
Other diſtilled fpirits,
do.
3,067,496
Madeira wine,
do.
256,691
Other wines,
do.
607,561
Beer, ale or porter, in caſks,
do.
70.564
Molaffes,
do.
5,900,128
Brown fugar,
pounds, 17,380,746
Loaf fegar,
do.
132,837
Other fugars,
do.
177,279
Coffee,
do.
4,0i3.355
་
Cocoa,
do.
896,946
Tallow candles,
do.
15.157
Wax and fpermaceti candles,
do.
4,224
Cheeſe,
do.
88,771
Soap,
do.
24,120
Nails and ſpikes,
do.
1,579,947
Snuff,
do.
2,198
Indigo,
do.
32,283
Cotton,
his article being free,
there is no accourt of it kept
by the collectors. ]
Tobacco manufa&tured,
do.
3,182
3 L
422
Bohea tea,
do.
1,502,995
Souchong and other black teas,
do.
3/8,032
Hyfon,
do.
631,310
Other green teas,
do.
89,515
Bohea tea,
do.
296,768
Souchong, &c.
do.
71,354
Hyfon,
do.
15,736
Other green teas,
do.
9,212
Bohea Tea,
do.
9,612
Souchong, &c.
do.
4,498
Hyfon,
do.
4,644
Other green teas,
do.
2,528
Cables,
cwt.
635 I 10
Tarred cordage,
do.
5257 2 5
Untarred do. and yarn,
do.
900 3 14
Twine or packthread,
do.
609 2 8
Steel unwrought,
do.
5,427 I
2
Beer, ale, porter or cider, in bottles, dozens,
17,746
Wool and cotton cards,
do.
780
Salt,
bufhels, 2,337,920
Coal,
do.
181,885
Playing cards,
packs,
19,066
Pickled fish,
barrels,
3468
Dried fish,
quintals 3,884 3 12
Shoes, flippers, &c. of leather,
pairs,
49,003
Ditto, of filk or ftuff,
do.
20,701
Boots,
do.
746
In American v-fels In American veſſels
from India.
from Europe.
In Foreign
vesele
.423
STATES.
United States.
Mixed, or United
AN
ACCOUNT OF
THE TONNAGE
CHA P
OF
PTE E R XIV.
VESSELS, ON WHICH THE DUTY WAS PAID, IN THE UNITED STATES,
FROM THE IR OF OCTOBER 1789, TO THE 30th SEPTEMBER 1790, INCLUSIVELY.
TO WHAT NATION BELONGING.
79. 3: 267
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tous. Tons.
T.
Maffachufetts,
New-Hampshire, 13,519
174,728.10
34 29556
C
453. 6' 19,382. 7
150
437.9
249
Rhode-Inland,
9,525 5
174. 4
95. 9
46. 3
Connecticut,
30,016.10
| 3,458. 11
New-York,
+8,9-2. 6
1,129
! 36,843
1,807. 3
1,753.6 1,763.6292.9
226. 3
New-jersey,
5,624. 71
1
Pennſylvania,
4,342. 7
736.10 1,086 3
284.
IT
Delaware,
1
Maryland,
,7,608. 2j
408
3,284
1
509
Virginia,
North-Carolina,
South-Carolina,
43,566. 2
19,833. I
19,777. 2
11,250. 6
83. 4 1,104. 4
668.
49. 8
182. 9
128. 2
952. 7
298. I
1.948 1,350
III. 9
Georgia,
52,987. 4'963.8 3,234. 7 40,202. 10 1,800
4,141. 3
1,782. 9
5,176 23,631
2,121. 9 56,333. 8
65 5,997. 8
623. 2 20,634, 7
710. 9 15,767. 4
213.10
900
306. 3
Tons.
16,109.
195,401. 8
9,841.9
34,075. 9
92,737. 9
5,970.10
105,638. 5
5,924
90,639. 2
104,060. 5.
26,287. 5
46,483. 7
-304 28,540. 7
1394761,710.
Grand total, 492,100.10l963.8|13,801. 4226,953. 13,147. 2 8,772. 91 7,228. 312,849.9'801.9|1.948] 2,415.10'310.11-1394 761,710. 4
TOTAL.
STATE S.
425
CHAPTER XV.
*
GENERAL ABSTRACT OF DUTIES, ARISING ON THE TONNAGE OF VESSELS ENTERED INTO THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE 1ft OF OCTOBER 1790, TO 30th SEPTEMBER 1791.
UNITED STATES
UNITED STATIS
UNITED STATES
VESSELS.
COASTERS.
FISHERIES.
FRANCE.
GREAT-BRITAIN.
SPAIN.
PORTUGAL.
UNITED
NETHERLANDS.
GERMANY.
HANSE TOWNS.
DENMARK.
SWEDEN AND
RUSSIA.
TOTAL AMERICAN
TONNAGE.
TOTAL FOREIGN
TONNAGE.
TOTAL FOREIGN AND
DOMESTIC.
Tons.95ths- Dols. Cts. Tons.95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons.95ths Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons 95ths Dols. Cts. Tons 95ths Dols. Cis. Tons 95ths Dols. Cts. Tons 95ths Dols.Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cis. Tons. 95ths. Dols. Cts. Tons. 95ths. Delt. Cis.
Tens.95ths. Tons.95ths.
NEW-YORK
NEW-JERSEY
PENNSYLVANIA
DELAWARE
MARYLAND
VIRGINIA
GEORGIA
NEW-HAMPSHIRE 10,893
650.34
1,560.
629
$3.50
264
37.74
MASSACHUSETTS 96,564.25 5,822.98 46,063.94 2,767.56 29,560.27 1,774.70 404.57
RHODE-ISLAND 19,196.70 1,151.84 9,103.18 5:625 810.87 48.65 88.18
CONNECTICUT 19,728.63 1,183.72 8,098.48 4770 913.32 54.80
34338
40,334-47 2,720.85 5,725
34. 3
1,213.24 72.79 4,567.92 27434
50,327.64 3,234.34 3,923.40 21542
4,610.23 276.61½
276.61 1,187
33,375.11 2,029.34 7,836.16 412
32,041. 6 1,922.36 10,636.60 6877
NORTH-CAROLINA 23,962.75 1.437.80 6,796.31 456
SOUTH-CAROLINA 22,497-55 1,349-75 4,675.38 2077
7,063.40 423,80 733.20 196
567.24
1,503.24
1,386
693
132
202.28 22,495.93 11,251.21
26.46 280,71 140.371 47
3,966.71 1,983.23 59-59 29.80
751.60 25,154.47 17,576.56 243.24 121.62 1,563.71
162
81
13,028
248.69
124.37
131 65.50
531.16 265.68|
319.92
160
23.50
100.51 50.26
100.21 50.11
781.85 1,079.71 539.85
1,670. 8
888.40 14,840
1,812
781.68
172,084.51 10,359.13 24,131.42|| 12,046.60;|| 196,215.95 22,405.735
29,627.30 1,970.50
240.60
29,110.80 1,729.90 516.45
28,740.48 1,726.22 4,126.56 2,063.14 32,867.9 3,789.37
122
I 11
967
537.47
72.71
32.25
25
1.50
169.52 20,827.80 10,413.47 | 1,670.37 835.14. 56.21 28.11
391.60 195.82 16,165.75 8,082.88 102.53 51.26
483.50 27,327.48 13,664.12 2,062.79 1,025.90 2,533,14 1,266.61 .251.88 125.98
1,913.24 956.62
714.48 357.25 18,215.55 9,107.783 503
65
4.362,414.34 1,207.18 44,812. 9 22,406.70
436.79 218.42 13,662.59 6,831.31
339. 5
219
109.50
225.32
251.50
32.50
589
163 81.50
294.50 1,372.47 686.25
180
I
2
463
231.50
90
497 248.50
194.43 97.25
73
194.68 97.36
36.50
2,603.9 1,301.50
136.59
76.54
243.88 121.96
TOTAL
情
​361,754.28 22,276.54 110,906.77 6,667 33,116. 3 1,988. 47,523.40 3,744. 3206,208.62 103,107.27 4,753.57 2,371.22 5,152.80 2,576.44 3,890.541,945.27€
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Regiu-Office, March 9th, 1792.
JOSEPH NOURSE, Regiſter.
218.54 109.28
463
231.50 2,821.63 1,410.78 1,441,59 720.93
46,626.71 3,098.26 39,544.47 19,448. 8
5,234.69 302.94
112.67 53,186.24 3,405.87 33,586.71 16,686.86
347,83 2,076.24 1,038.12
5,797.23
41,478.74 2,531.23 22,354-55 10,699.22
42,750.42 2,565.50 47,665.86 22,947.59
68.31 30,759.11 1,876.37 14,309 7 7,019.54
38.28 27,197.93 1,632. 2 25.767.79 12,883.38
7,796.60 467.76 17,122.45 8,561.20
758.47 379.26504,061.7630,824-721233,013.82 114,522.75 | 737,075.63145,347.47\
86,171.23 22,546.34
5,234,69
302.94
86,770
20,092.73
7,873,471,385.95
64,103.34 13,730.46
90,416.38 25,513. 9
45,068.18 8,895.913
52,965.77 14,515.40
24,919.10 9,028.96
3 M
!
1
睾
​427
CHAPTER XVI.
CONTAINING A SUMMARY STATEMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL
FACTS, WHICH CHARACTERIZE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE,
AND THEIR COUNTRY OR TERRITORY.
枭
​HE people of the United States have explod-
TH
ed thoſe principles, by the operation of
which religious oppreffions and reftrictions of
whatever defcription, have been impofed upon
mankind, and, rejecting mere toleration, they have
placed upon one common and equal footing every
church, fect or fociety of religious men.
They have exploded, in like manner, thofe prin-
ciples, by the operation of which, civil oppreffions
have been inflicted upon mankind; and they have
made an unexcecded progrefs in their practice upon
the principles of free government.
While the fermentations of a civil and revolu.
tionary conteft were yet operating upon their
minds, amidst the warmth of feeling incidental to
that fate of things, they have recently examined
with fober attention the imperfections of their na-
onal and fubordinate civil eſtabliſhments: they
eflected, with due ferioufnefs, on the numerous
inconveniencies, which thofe imperfections had
produced, and upon the awful fcenes in which they
*
3 N
428
would probably be called upon to fuffer or to act,
if their civil conftitutions fhould continue un-
amended: and they have fince exhibited to the
world the new and intereſting ſpectacle of a whole
people, meeting, as it were, in their political plain
and voluntarily impofing upon themſelves the whole-
Jome and neceffary restraints of just government.
On two occafions, at the diſtance of four years,
perfonal character and the public interefts have
produced an orderly and unanimous election of the
chief magiftrate of the United States, without one,
even the ſmalleft, effort or meaſure of pro-
curement.
During four years, the fecond ſtation of execu-
tive public employment and all of the third grade
have remained in the fame hands, nor have any
changes taken place in the more fubordinate, but
a few from voluntary refignations and death.
The public debt is fmaller in proportion to the
prefent wealth and population of the United
States than the public debt of any other civilized
nation.
The United States (including the operations of
the individual ftates) have funk a much greater
proportion of their public debt in the laſt ten years,
than any other nation in the world.
* A. D. 1793.
429
The expences of the government are very much
lefs, in proportion to wealth and numbers, than
thofe of any nation in Europe.
There is no land tax among the national reve-
nues, nor is there any interior tax, or excife upon
food, drink, fuel, lights, or any native or foreign
manufacture, or native or foreign production, ex-
cept a duty of about four pence fterling upon do-
meftic diftilled ſpirits*. The greateſt part of the
public burdens are paid by an import duty on fo-
reign goods, which being drawn back on exporta-
tion, it remains only on what is actually confumed.
It is in that view the lowest in the world, and ope-
rates greatly in favour of American manufactures..
Trade has been encouraged by a drawback of
all the import duty on foreign goods, when they
are exported, excepting only a very few com-
modities of a particular nature, which are not de.
fired to be much imported into, or confumed in
the United States.
A national mint is eſtabliſhed under the direc-
tion of the ableft practical man in the arts and ſci-
ences which this country contains-David Ritten-
houfe. It is provided by law that the purity and
intrinfic value of the filver coin fhall be equal to
that of Spain, and of the gold coins to thoſe of the
ftrictest European nations. The government of
* A. D. 1793.
430
the United States foregoes all profit from the coin-
age: a political and wholeſome forbearance.
The banks eſtabliſhed in the feveral cities of Phi-
ladelphia, New-York, Bofton, Baltimore, Charlef-
ton, Alexandria, &c. divide a profit of feven and
an half to eight and an half per cent. per annum*
at preſent, which is paid half yearly.
The intereft of the public debt of the United
States is paid quarter yearly with a punctuality ab-
folute and perfect. There is no tax on property
in the funds and banks.
The fhipbuilding of the Uuited States was great-
ér in the year 1792, than in any former year fince
the fettlement of the country, and it is much great-
er in the current year, than it was in the laſt.
Generally speaking, the art of fhipbuilding was
never fo well underſtood, never fo well executed,
nor was there ever a time when fo many of the
manufactures requifite for the furniture, tackle, ap-
parel and arming of veffels were made in the
United States.
The value of the manufactures of the United
States is certainly greater than double the value of
their exports in native commodities.
The value of the manufactures of the United
States, is much greater than the grofs value of all
* More might be faid with truth.
43.1
their imports, including the value of goods export-
ed again.
The manufactures of the United States confift
generally of articles of comfort, utility, and necef-
fity. Articles of luxury, elegance, and fhew are
not manufactured in America, excepting a few
kinds.
The manufactures of the United States have in-
creaſed very rapidly fince the commencement of
the revolutionary war, and particularly in the laft
five years.
Houſehold manufactures are carried on within
the families of almoſt all the farmers and planters,
and of a great proportion of the inhabitants of the
villages and towns. This practice is increafing un-
der the animating influences of private intereft and
public fpirit.
The exparts of the United States have increaf-
ed in the laſt two years about fourteen per cent.*
Thoſe exports confift in a great degree of the moſt
neceffary food of man and working animals, and of
raw materials, applicable to manufactures of the
moft general utility and confumption.
* In the last three years they have increaſed from eighteen mil-
lions and one quarter: to twenty-fix millions of dollars. Septem-
ber 30th, 1793.
432
1
There is not any duty upon the exportation of
the produce of the earth, nor can fuch duty be im-
poſed on any exported commodities: the exporta-
tion of produce may be fufpended or prohibited.
Produce and all other merchandize may be free-
ly exported in the fhips and veffels of all nations
(not being alien enemies) without difcrimination.
The exports of the United States are five times
the amount of the national taxes and duties*.
The amount of the outward freight of the fhips
and veffels of the United States, at this time, is
probably equal to all their national taxes and du-
ties. The inward freight is confiderable. The
earning of the fiſhing veffels, in lieu of freight, are
alfo confiderable. The coafting freights are great-
er in value than both the laft.
All fhips and veffels depart from the United
States, fully laden, excepting a part of the Eaſt
India traders.
A large quantity of tonnage is employed in the
coafting trade.
A confiderable quantity of tonnage is employed
in the cod and whale fifheries.
The imports of the United States are leſs in va-
lue than the exports, deducting the outward freights
*
They prove to be nearly fix times. Sept. 30th, 1793.
433
of their own fhips (which are returned in goods)
the nett fales of their fhips to foreigners, the pro-
perty imported by migrators from foreign coun-
tries, and the public impoft.
The very great proportion of the imports, which
conſiſts of manufactures, (and from raw materials,
which America can produce) affords conftant and
inviting opportunities to leffen the balance againſt
the United States, in their trade with one foreign
country, holds out a certain home market to ſkilful
and induftrious manufacturers in America, and
gives promiſes to the landholder and farmer, of a
very increafing demand for their produce, in which
they cannot be deceived.*
The imports of the United States, for confump-
tion, have not been fwelled in proportion to the in-
creaſe of their population and wealth.
The reafon
is, the conftant introduction of new branches of
manufacture, and the great extenfion of the old
branches.
The imports, for confumption, into the United
States are compofed of manufactures in a much leſs
proportion than heretofore, owing to the fame two
cauſes.
The imports of the United States have almoſt
ceafed to exhibit certain articles of naval and mili-
* Witneſs the ſteady price of our produce, during the embar
go. A. D. 1794.
434
tary ſupply, and others of the greateft utility and.
confumption, owing alfo to the fame two caufes.
The imports of the United States, confift in a
ſmall degree of neceffaries, in a great degree of
articles of comfortable accommodation, and in fome
degree of luxuries: but the exports confiſt chiefly
of prime neceffaries, with fome articles of mere
comfort and utility, and fome of luxury. The fol-
lowing will be found to be the quantities of fome of
the principle articles of exportation from the Unit-
ed States, during the year, ending in September,
1792.
3,145,255 bushels of grain and pulfe (princi-
pally wheat, Indian corn, rye,
beans and peas.
44,752 horſes, horned cattle, mules, hogs
and fheep.
1,469,723 barrels of flour, meal, biſcuit, and
rice, reducing cafks of various
fizes, to the proportion of flour
barrels.
1
146,909 barrels of tar, pitch, turpentine and
rofin.
116,803 barrels of beef, pork, mutton, fau-
fages, oyfters, tripe, &c. reduc-
ing cafks of various fizes, to the
proportion of beef and pork bar-
rels.
435
231,776 barrels of dried and pickled fish,
reducing them to barrels of the
fame fize.
948,115 gallons of fpirits, diftilled in the
United States.
7,823 tons, 12 cwts. and 14 lbs. of pot-
afhes and pearl-afhes.
112,428 hogfheads of tobacco.
60,646,861 feet of boards plank, and fcantling.
19,391 tons of timber.
18,374 pieces of timber.
1,080 cedar and oak fhip knees.
71,693,863 ſhingles.
31,760,702 ftaves and hoops.
191 frames of houſes.
73,318 oars, rafters for oars, and handſpikes.
48,860 fhook or knock-down cafks.
52,382 hogfheads of flax feed.*
The imports of the United States are now gene-
rally brought directly (and not circuitioufly) from
the countries which produced or manufactured
them-China, India proper, the ifles of Bourbon and
Mauritius, Good Hope, the fouthern fettlements
of America and the Weft-Indies, the Wine iflands,
* The exports of the year of which the above are a part,
amounted to 21,000,000 of Dollars-but the exports of the next
following year (ending on the 30th September, 1793) amounted
to 5,000,000 more, being 26,000,000 of Dollars. Provifions and
raw materials have greatly increaſed. Of flour alone there were
fhipped 1,013,000 cafks. See paper Y. Book 2d.
3 O
436
解
​the countries on the Mediteranean and Baltic Seas;
Great-Britain and Ireland, France, the Nether-
lands and Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Lefs than half the fhips and veffels belonging to
the United States, are fufficient to tranfport all the
commodities they confume or import.
Their citizens may be lawfully concerned in any
branch of foreign trade, whether carried on from
the United States or from any other country.*
Their commerce is diverfified and profperous,
and confifts in importing for their own confump-
tion, and for exportation; in the exporting, the
coafting and inland trades; the Indian trade; ma-
nufactures, ſhipping, the fiſheries, banking, and in-
furances on fhips, cargoes, and houſes. There is
no branch of commerce foreign or domeftic, in
which every diſtrict, city, port, and individual, is
not equally entitled to be intereſted.
The lawful intereft of money is fix per cent. per
annum in moft of the ftates: in a few it is feven
per cent. in one it is five per cent.
The commanders and other officers of the Ame-
rican fhips are deemed fkilful and judicious; from
which caufe, combined with the goodnefs of their
Except the flave trade, March 1794
437
fhips and of their equipment, infurances upon their
veffels are generally made in Europe, upon the
moſt favourable terms, compared with the correl-
ponding rifques on board of the veffels of other
nations.
The feparate American ftates (with one fmall
exception) have aboliſhed the flave trade, and they
have in ſome inſtances aboliſhed negro flavery; in
others they have adopted efficacious meaſures for
its certain but gradual abolition. The importation.
of flaves is difcontinued, and can never be ren. w-
ed fo as to interrupt the repofe of Africa, or en-
danger the tranquility of the United States. The
fteady uſe of efficacious alteratives is deemed pre-
ferable to the immediate application of more ſtrong
remedies in a cafe of fo much momentary and in-
trinfic importance.
The clothes, books, houſehold furniture, and
the tools or implements of their trade or profeſſion,
brought by emigrators to America, are exempted
from the import duty, and they may begin their
commerce, manufactures, trades or agriculture on
the day of their arrival upon the fame footing as a
native citizen.
There is no greater nor other tax upon foreign-
ers or their property in the United States, than
upon native citizens.
All foreign jurifdiction in ecclefiaftical matters
is inconfiftent with the laws and conftitutions of
438
the United States; and with the fettled judgment
of the people.
Almoſt every known chriftian church exifts in
the United States; as alfo the Hebrew church.
There has not been a difpute between any two fects
or churches fince the revolution. There are no
tythes. Marriage and burial fees, fmall glebes,
land-rents, pew-rents, monies at intereft and volun-
tary contributions are the principal means of fup-
porting the clergy. Many of them are alfo prɔ-
feffors and teachers in the univerſities, colleges,
academies and fchools, for which interefting ſta-
tions, pious and learned minifters of religion are
deemed particularly fuitable. There is no provi-
fion in the epifcopal, prefbyterian or independent
church for any clerical perfon, or character above
a rector, or minifter of the gofpel-and this is ge-
nerally, if not univerfally the cafe. There are
fome affiftant minifters, but no curates, or vicars:
alſo ſeveral biſhops without falaries.
The poor taxes in the United States are very
ſmall, owing to the facility, with which every man
and woman, and every child, who is old enough
to do the lighteſt work, can procure a comfortable
fubfiftence. The induftrious poor, if frugal and
fober, often place themſelves, in a few years, above
want.
Horfes and cattle, and other uſeful beaſts, im-
ported for breeding, are exempted by law from the
import duty.
439
All the lands in the United States are free from
tythes.
The medium annual land rents of Europe are
greater per acre than the medium purchase is in the
United States; including in the eſtimate the value
of the old improved farms in America, and the
great maſs of unimproved lands.*
The military regulations and articles of war in
the United States, are well calculated to maintain
that ftrict diſcipline and thorough fubordination,
which are indifpenfible to the efficiency of an army.
All the officers of the land and fea-forces are, by
the conftitution appointed by the prefident, with
the advice and confent of the ſenate.
The production and manufactures of military
fupplies and articles, enable the United States to
derive from their own refources, fhips of war,
gun-powder, cannon and mufket-balls, fhells and
bombs, cannon and carriages, mufkets, rifles and
cutlaffes, grapnals, anchors, fail cloth, cordage,
iron, lead, cartouch-boxes, fword-belts, cartridge-
paper, ſaddles, bridles and holſters, foldiers' and
failors hats, buckles, fhoes and boots, leathern
breeches, naval ftores, fheathing paper, malt and
fpirituous liquors, manufactured tobacco, foap,
candles, lard, butter, beef, pork, bacon, hams,
* A. D. 1793.
440
?
peas, bifcut, and flour, and other articles for the
land or marine fervice.
The education of youth has engaged a great
fhare of the attention of the legiflatures of the
ftates.
Night ſchools for young men and boys, who are
employed at labour or bufinefs in the day time,
have been long and beneficially fupported, and the
idea of Sunday fchools has been zealously adopted
in fome places. Free fchools for both fexes have
been increaſed, Greater attention, than hereto-
fore, is paid to female education.
The people of the United States are ingenious
in the invention, and prompt, and accurate in the
execution of mechanifm and workmanship for pur.
pofes in fcience, arts, manufactures, navigation, and
agriculture. Rittenhouſe's planetarium, Frank-
lin's electrical conductor, Godfrey's quadrant im-
proved by Hadley, Rumfey's and Fitch's ſteam-en-
gines, Leflie's rod pendulum and other horological
inventions, the conftruction of ſhips, the New-Eng-
land whale-boat, the conftruction of flour-mills,
the wire-cutter and bender for card makers, Fol-
fom's and Brigg's machinery for cutting nails out
of rolled iron, the Philadelphia dray with an inclin-
ed plane, Mafon's engine for extinguiſhing fire,
the Connecticut fteeple clock, which is wound up
by the wind, the Franklin fire-place, the Ritten-
houſe ſtove, Anderfon's threſhing machine, Ritten-
441
houſe's inftrument for taking levels, Donnaldfon's
hippopotamos and balance lock, and Wynkoop's
underlators, are a few of the numerous examples.
It is probable, that all the jewels and diamonds.
worn by the citizens of the United States, their
wives and daughters are lefs in value than thofe
which fometimes form a part of the drefs of an in-
dividual in feveral countries of Europe. All capi-
tal flock is kept in action. There are no defcriptions
of men in America and very few individuals, at the
active times of life, who live without fome purſuit
of buſineſs, profeffion, occupation, or trade. All
the citizens are in active habits.
No country of the fame wealth, intelligence and
civilization, has fo few menial fervants (ftri&tly
fpeaking) in the families of perfons of the greateſt
property.
Family fervants and farming fervants, who emi-
grate from Europe, and who continue foberly and
induſtriouſly in family or farm fervice, for one, two
or three years, very often find opportunities to bet-
ter their ſituations, by getting into fome little com-
fortable line of dealing, or trade, or manufacturing,
or farming, according to their education, know-
ledge and qualifications.
America has not many charms for the diffipated
and voluptuous part of mankind, but very many in-
deed for the rational, fober minded and difcreet.
442
It is a country which affords great opportunities of
comfort and profperity to people of good property,
and thoſe of moderate property, and to the induf-
trious and honest poor; a fingular and pleafing proof
of which laſt affertion is, that there are very few, if
any, day labourers, in the city and liberties of Phila-
delphia, of the Quaker church. That religious fo-
ciety is very numerous, but the fobriety, induſtry,
and frugality which they practice, enables their
poor quickly to improve their condition, in a coun-
try fo favourable to the pooreft members of the
community.
That part of the tradefmen and manufacturers,
who live in the country, generally refide on ſmall
lots and farms, of one acre to twenty, and not a
few upon farms of twenty to one hundred and fifty
acres, which they cultivate at leifure times, with
their own hands, their wives, children, fervants
and apprentices, and fometimes by hired labourers,
or by letting out fields, for a part of the produce,
to fome neighbour, who has time or farm hands not
fully employed. This union of manufactures and
farming is found to be very convenient on the
grain farms, but it is ftill more convenient on the
grazing and grafs farms, where parts of almoft eve-
ry day, and a great part of every year, can be ſpar-
ed from the buſineſs of the farm, and employed in
fome mechanical, handycraft, or manufacturing bu-
finefs. Theſe perfons often make domeftic and
farming carriages, implements and utenfils, build
houſes and barns, tan leather, manufacture hats,
443
fhoes, hofiery, cabinet-work, and other articles of
clothing and furniture, to the great convenience
and advantage of the neighbourhood. In like man-
ner fome of the farmers, at leifure times and pro-
per ſeaſons, manufacture nails, pot-afh, pearl-aſh,
ftaves and heading, hoops and handfpikes, axe-han-
dles, maple-fugar, &c. The moft judicious plan-
ters in the fouthern ftates are induftriouſly inftru&t-
ing their negroes, particularly the young, the old,
the infirm, and the females in manufactures-a
wife and humane meaſure.
A large proportion of the moft fuccefsful manu-
facturers in the United States are perfons, who
were journeymen, and in a few inftances were fore-
men in the work-fhops and manufactories of Eu-
rope, who having been ſkilfull, fober and frugal, and
having thus faved a little money, have fet up for
themſelves with great advantage in America. Few
have failed to fucceed. There appears to be leaft
opening for thofe, who have been uſed to make very
fine and coftly articles of luxury and fhew. There
is not fo much chance of fuccefs for thofe luxurious
branches, unless they are capable of being carried on in
a confiderable degree by machinery or water works; in
which caſe they alſo will thrive if the neceſſary ca-
pital be employed.-There is already fome con-
fumption of theſe fine goods in America, and as free
an exportation of them (without duty, or excife) as
from any country in the world.
The views of the government of the United
States appear by its declarations, and by the ftrong-
3 P
444
eft prefumptive proofs to be the maintenance of
peace, order, liberty and fafety. Intrigues at foreign
courts and fecret or open interpofitions or inter-
meddling in the affairs of foreign countries, have
not been imputed to the government of this nation.
They have not manifeſted any inordinate ambition,
by feeking conqueft, alone or in unity with any
other nation, for they have not attempted to efta-
bliſh or raiſe a great or unneceffary navy
* or army.
The United States have been prudently and un-
remitingly attentive to thoſe objects, which enable
a country to purfue, to an happy and profitable if
fue, unambitious, defenfive and neceffary wars.
Amidft an induftrious cultivation of the arts of
peace, they have maintained and improved the mi-
litary organization of the whole mafs of the able bodi-
ed citizens. They have reſtored their public credit,
as an indiſpenſible mean of war, and they have fuc-
cessfully encouraged all thofe arts, by which the in-
ftruments of naval and land armaments may be ex-
peditiouſly procured and created. Their meaſure
of retribution to their public creditors, foreign and
domeftic, has been confidered, by fome intelligent
citizens as even more than juſtice required. From
an equal love of juſtice, and from prudential con-
fiderations, they have, by a formal act of the peo-
* The intended naval armament was manifeftly propofed to re-
ftrain the pirates of Barbary; and the meaſures relative to the ad-
ditional regular troops, the draught of militia, and fortifications
are obviouſly grounded on juſtifiable caution and neceſſary defence.
April 1794.
445
ple, fanctioned a treaty recognizing the claims of
the fubjects of a foreign country against whom an
infraction and non execution of the fame treaty
was alledged. Refraining moft fcrupuloufly from
intrigues and influence in the affairs of foreign na-
tions it cannot be doubted, that they will be aware
of correfponding intrigues and influence in their
domeſtic affairs, and that they will check the ap-
pearances of fuch attempts with diſpleaſure and ef-
fect.
BOOK II.
น
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
THE preceding part of this work was prepared
for publication in the fummer of the laft
year; but the epidemic malady, which occurred in
Philadelphia, towards the end of that feafon, pre-
vented the execution of the defign at that time.
Some obfervations and documents have fince pre-
fented themſelves, and are intended to be com-
priſed in the ſecond book. Moſt of the latter are
calculated to render theſe views of our intereſts
and capacities more particular and more clear.
The obſervations principally relate to the preſent
ftage of our affairs, and will therefore be the more
intereſting, if they fhall prove to be founded in
truth and reafon.
I
7
1
1
450.
CHAPTER II.
REFLECTIONS UPON
THE BEST MODES OF BRINGING THE
FOREST LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES INTO CULTIVA-
TION AND USE.
TH
HERE remain at this time, in moſt of the
American ſtates, extenfive tracts of land,
covered with forefts, applicable to every purpoſe
of human life, for which wood and timber are re-
quired. No country, fo well accommodated with
navigation and adapted to commerce and inanu-
factures, poffeffes as great a treaſure of the fame
kind. The manufactures, which can be made
immediately of wood, are no lefs numerous than
important. Ships, boats, mafts and ſpars, oars,
hand-fpikes, anchor-ſtocks, cafks and other coopers.
ware of every fize and kind, cabinet wares, and
other houſehold furniture, farming and mechani-
cal implements and tools, ftaves, heading, hoops,
boards, plank, fcantling, joifts, fquare timber,
fhingles, frames of houſes, turners wares, carriages
for pleaſure and for draught, corn-fans, wheel bar-
rows, meaſures, fcale plates, timber for machine-
ry and mills, cannon carriages, gun-ftocks and
other military implements for the ſea and land fer-
vice are among the objects contemplated.
The manufactures, to which wood is neceffary in
the form of fuel, are alſo nuinerous and important.
'
451
Glaſs-houſes, potteries, diftilleries, brick-kilns, fur-
naces, forges, mills for rolling and flitting iron and
other metals, refineries of fugar, black-fmiths and
all other fmiths fhops are among the principal in-
ftances.
The manufactures to produce which, wood is re-
quifite for the making of aſhes, are the great arti-
cles of foft and hard foap, which are of univerfal
confumption and the very important articles of pot-
afh and pearl-afh.
To all theſe may be added the manufactory of
tanned leather, which demands the bark of various
- and innumerable trees.
Of the wooden raw materials and fuel for theſe
invaluable and numerous manufactures, the United
States poffefs, if we may ſo ſpeak, an immenfe and
unequalled magazine. They appear therefore to be
invited to eſtabliſh manufactures in wood by the moſt
weighty and obvious confiderations.
But when it is remembered, that this immenfe ma-
gazine of wooden materials and fuel will obſtruct,
for a time, the cultivation of millions of acres of
the beſt lands, we muſt feel another and a more
powerful impulfe to the active promotion of manu-
factures in wood. To enforce thefe general ideas
the following application of them in the manufac-
tory of pot-aſhes is here offered:
3 Q
452
A METHOD OF CLEARING A FARM LOT OF NEW WOODLAND,
EASILY PRACTICABLE BY PERSONS HAVING NO MORE MO.
NEY OR PROVISIONS THAN ARE SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE
THE FOOD AND CLOTHING OF THEIR FAMILIES, DURING
THE FIRST YEAR OF THEIR SETTLEMENT.
1ft. The fettler in making this clearing muſt take
care to burn the brush and wood, in fuch manner
as to preſerve the afhes. Out of the wood afhes,
thus faved, he ſhould make as much pot afh, or
pearl afh, as he can, and he fhould difpofe of this
for ready money, ftrong clothing, axes, fpades,
ploughs, or fuch other things for his farm, or fa-
mily, as it would otherwife be neceffary for him to
procure, by felling or bartering, grain or cattle,
if he had them to fpare. It is believed, that the
pot afh or pearl afh will procure him as much va-
lue as all the expence and labor of the clearing,
during the feafon would be worth in cafh. He
will therefore obtain as much money or goods as
will enable him to hire affiftance, in the next fea-
fon, either to farm, or to clear land, or to make
his improvements, fo as to fave his own time, or
labor intirely, for clearing more land, or to help
him in doing it. He muft again make pot afh or
pearl afh, and he muft again apply the money or
goods, it fells for, to the clearing of the next ſea-
fon. In this way it is plain, that he will derive
money enough from the clearing and pot afhes, of
every year, to do much of the ſame in the year fol-
lowing. A man who has 40, 50 or 100 dollars to
fpare, at the out-fet, will get his land cleared, in
this manner very faft indeed. If he has fugar ma-
453
ple trees on his land, he may alſo obtain money,
by making fugar in February and March, and
fetling or bartering it for cafh, or goods to be
laid out in like manner, in hiring hands the next
ſeaſon. If money is ſcarce in a new fettlement, and
he barters pot afh or maple fugar, for ftrong trow-
fers, fhirts, hats or jackets, he will find it eafy to
procure laborers for fuch neceffaries. It is proper
to obferve, that if a man burns his wood and brufh
on every part of his newly cleared field, it is
doubtful whether he does not injure the foil, by
burning the half rotten leaves and light mould, or
earth, which have been made from the rotten leaves
of many years.-There is an opinion, that the
afhes left from burning the trees greatly enrich the
land, and that would be certain, if the light moul-
dy earth and half rotten leaves were not alfo con-
fumed by the fire. The foil of all new countries
appears to have for its upper part, a layer or ftra-
tum of half rotten vegetable materials, which are
capable of being burned, but which it would be a
great benefit to plough into the earth. Potatoes,
the beſt food for new fettlements, grow abundant-
ly in that rotten vegetable foil. This is very well
known.
It appears doubtful, whether the farmers in the
long cleared counties of New-England, New-
York, and New-Jerſey, do not injure themſelves
very much by making pot afh and pearl afh, con-
fidering how neceffary the wood aſhes are to manure
their farms, many of which are impoverished, and
454
many naturally light.
litter from a farm to
To carry the fodder and
other places does not ap-
pear more improper. But that is allowed to be
very bad farming.
2dly. The above method of clearing lands, is
obviouſly important to people of large property,
who are defirous of improving their eftates and
their country, by clearing their lands expeditiously.
They may effect it in two ways; either-1ft. by
ſetting up pot afh works, at their mills or country
ftores, or other central places, and buying wood-
aſhes of the fettlers of new fertile lands, and
making them into pearl afhes, or pot aſhes, and.
then felling them for exportation; or 2dly. by em-
ploying wood-cutters and other laborers, to fell
the trees, and oxen or horfes, with chains to bring
the wood together for burning, then collecting
the heaps of afhes and making pearl afhes, which
is a fimple and eafy operation. It is faid to be a
fact, and it is highly worthy of notice that the
expence of clearing an acre of land is fully and
completely reimburfed, by the nett fales of the pot.
afhes or pearl afhes, which can be made from the
wood afhes, collected after thus burning the trees-
Hence it would follow, that if a perfon of fub-
ſtance ſhould purchaſe one thouſand acres of good
new wood land, at any fixed or given price, (for
example fifteen fhillings, fterling per acre*) and
* This price is mentioned, becauſe it is a low medium of
the land-rents of Europe, and becauſe great quantities of fine
lands, covered with woods, are yet to be purchaſed, in America,
at and far under that price.
455
if he fhould be able, by force of money, in one
year to clear all the meadow land and half the
plough land, by making pot afhes or pearl afhes, in
the fecond mode above mentioned, he would im-
mediately raiſe his property in productiveness to
the level of the good cleared lands of Pennſylva-
nia, New-York, &c. that is to feven, eight, ten,
twenty, thirty and forty dollars per acre: for fuch
are the prices, according to the quality, advantages
of land and water carriages, and proximity to
towns and villages. The capital or money em-
ployed to make the pot or pearl afhes would be
replaced by the fales of them as above mentioned.
This operation, when confidered upon a Scale of
100,000 acres, appears like a new creation of pro-
perty.
THE United States have been brought, by flow
degrees, to their prefent knowledge of the value of
their wood and timber. It is faid to be not more
than twenty-five years, fince the ſouthern live oak
or ever-green oak has been uſed in fhip-building.
The importance of pot-afh is by no means duly un-
derſtood at this time, in feveral of the beſt wooded
of theſe ftates. The value of the maple fugar tree
is not yet univerfally known. It is faid, that the
Hemlock is capable of being made into ſhingles fit
for home confumption or exportation, in a degree
which is not understood; and the white pine is
1
456
more valuable, than is fuppofed, for the fame pur-
pofe. The fouthern pitch pine, and even the yel-
low pine have been fuppofed, of late years to be
more fuitable than white oak for beams, carlines,
fills, and other ftraight timbers for fhips and hou-
fes, in places liable to rapid decay. It is little
known, that it is as eafy in America to procure a
beam, for a ſhip of war, of white oak or pitch pine,
in one entire piece, as it is difficult, in Great-Bri-
tain. The actual and progreffive fcarcity of all
the moſt valuable kinds of timber in Europe has
been hitherto noticed in as fmall a degree, as the
diverfified and unequal refources of the United
States in that particular. The demand for wood
and timber throughout the world has been greatly
extended in the prefent century, by the increafe of
the aggregate tonnage of the fleets of public and
private ſhips, by manufactures in wood, and by
means of fire, and by the wonderful increaſe in the
number and extent of the commercial and manu-
facturing towns of Europe and America. The ton-
nage of the Britiſh navy for example in 1694, bears
no compariſon to that of 1794, and their private
ſhips have undergone a fimilar augmentation. The
whole mafs of the tonnage of the world is now im-
menſe. A defalcation of timber is percieved in
moft countries, and, in the manner of what has
been ſaid concerning grain, it may be ſafely affirm-
ed, that the unavoidable deficiencies of European
wood and timber can only be fupplied from America.
We ſhall therefore rapidly arrive at the uſe of our
new lands, through the confumption of our forefts
457
by the countries and colonies of the old world; and
the proceeds of our wood and timber in the mean
time will be in lieu of the fales of grain and cattle.
The political importance of thefe great natural
productions (wood and timber) is manifeft and
ftriking, in this age of manufacturing, and mercantile
competition, and of naval rival-fhip and ambition.
The value of our forefts to the feekers of the car-
rying trade and of naval power is greatly increaſed
by their yielding their poffeffors prodigious quan-
tities of tar, turpentine and pitch. It would be
unwife however, in the United States to neglect the
due prefervation of their timber: and confidering
how obviouſly important it is, that we maintain an
abundant ſtock, it is a comfortable reflection, that
the prefent redundance and cheapnefs of American
lands enables us to effect the prefervation and repro-
duction of our forefts with lefs inconvenience and
expence, than any other civilized nation.
!
458
}
CHAPTER III.
CONTAINING THE TARIFF OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR
THE INFORMATION OF MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTUR-
ERS.
IT
T has been frequently obferved in the courfe of
the preceding pages, that the duties laid for the
purpoſe of revenue, on foreign manufactures im-
ported into the United States, are a great encou-
ragement to ſimilar articles, which are or ſhall be
manufactured in this country. It is indifpenfibly
neceffary to a view of our affairs, that the advan-
tages arifing from the American impoft to the ma-
nufacturer of any domeftic fabric fhould be dif
tinctly exhibited. This will be moſt eaſily effected
by the following complete table of the duties pay-
able by law on all goods, wares and merchandize,
imported into the United States of America, af-
ter the laſt day of June 1794, and of the articles
which are free from impoft. It may be proper to
obſerve, that theſe duties are in the cafe of impor-
tations in veffels of the United States, and that the
rates are ten per cent. higher in foreign fhips.
(For the Tariff See the next page.)
459
15 per cent. ad val.
free
8
8
cents per gallon.
ditto.
15
15
per cent. ad val.
ditto.
free
ΙΟ
A
[PAPER Z.]
ARMS, fire and fide, not otherwife enu-
merated,
Apparatus, philofophical, eſpecially im-
ported for any feminary of learning,
Ale, beer and porter, in caſks,
in bottles,
Artificial flowers, feathers and other or-
naments for womens head dreffes,
Annifeed,
Articles of all kinds of the growth, pro-
duct or manufactures of the United
States, fpirits excepted,
Anchors,
B
Braſs cannon, teutenague, and wire, ſee
cannon,
Iron or fteel locks, hinges, hoes, an-
vils and vizes,
All other manufactures of brafs,
Balls and balfams (ſee powders, paftes, &c.)
Beer, ale and porter in caſks,
in bottles
Bricks and tiles,
Bonnets and caps (fee hats)
Boots,
Books, blank,
Books of perfons who come to refide in
the United States,
Buttons of every kiud,
}
Buckles, fhoe and knee,
Brushes,
Bullion,
C
Cannon of braſs, from May 22, 1794, to
free
ΙΟ
15
15
8
cents per gallon.
8
15
75
15 per cent. ad val.
per pair.
10
per cent. ad val.
free
15
15
10
free
free
May 22, 1795,
after the 22d May, 1795,
15
Carriages (fee coaches)
20
Cards, playing,
wool andcotton,
Cables and tarred cordage,
Cabinet wares,
Caps and bonnets (fee hats)
25 cents per pack.
50 cents per dozen.
180
cents per cwt.
15 per cent. ad val.
15
3 R
460
Carpets and carpeting,
Cartridge paper,
Candles of tallow,
Capers,
of wax or ſpermaceti,
Canes, walking ſticks and whips,
Cambricks,
Cheeſe,
China ware,
Cinnamon, cloves, currants and comfits,
Chintzes and coloured calicoes or muſlins,
and all printed, ftained or coloured
goods or manufactures of cotton or of
linen, or of both, or of which cotton
or linen is the material of chief value,
Cocoa,
Chocolate,
Clogs and golofhoes (fee fhoes)
Cordage, tarred,
and yarn untarred,
Cofmetics,
Coal,
15 per cent. ad val.
15
2
cents per
lb.
6
15 per cent. ad val.
10
JO
7
cents per lb.
15
per cent. ad val,
15
12
الرحيم
4
cents per pound.
3
15
cents per pair.
180
cents per cwt.
225
free
сый выйтый
15
per cent. ad val
5 cents per buſhel.
15
per cent. ad val.
Colours, (fee painters)
Copper manufactures,
in plates, pigs and bars,
Compofitions for the teeth or gums (fee
dentrifice)
Coffee,
Cotton,
Cotton or linen manufactures, or of
both, or of which cotton or linen is
the material of chief value, being
printed, ftained or coloured,
not printed, ſtained or coloured,
Clocks and watches, or parts of either,
Coaches, chariots, phaetons, chairs, chai-
fes, folos or other carriages, or parts
of carriages,
Clothing ready made,
Clothes, books, houfhold furniture, and
the tools or implements of the trade or
profeffion of perſons who come to re-
fide in the United States,
Cutlaffes, from May 22, 1794, to May
22, 1795,
after the 22d May, 1795,
cents per pound.
121 per cent. ad val.
10
15
20
TO
free
free
15
· 461
Dates and figs,
D
Dentrifice powders, tinctures, prepara-
tions and compofitions for the teeth or
gums,
Dolls dreffed and undreſſed,
15 per cent. ad val.
15
15
Drugs medicinal, except thoſe commonly
ufed for dying,
15
Drugs and wood for dying,
free
E
Earthen and ftone wares,
15
Effences, (fee powders, paftes, &c.)
15
F
Fans,
Fayal wine,
15
20
cents per gallon.
Feathers and other ornaments for wo-
mens head dreffes,
Fringes commonly uſed by upholsterers,
coachmakers and fadlers,
Figs,
Flowers, artificial,
15 per cent. ad val.
15
15
15
Floor cloths and mats,
Fruits of all kinds,
Furs of every kind undreſſed,
G
15
15
free
Glafs, black quart bottles,
window glafs,
--all other glafs, and manufactures
10
15
thereof,
20
Glauber falts,
200
cents per cwt.
Gauzes,
JO
per cent. ad val.
Geneva (fee fpirits)
Ginger,
15
per cent. ad val.
Golofhoes (fee fhoes)
15
cents per pair.
Gloves of leather,
15
per cent. ad val.
all other gloves and mittens,
15
Gold, filver, and plated ware,
15
Gold and filver lace
15
Goods, wares and merchandize imported.
directly from China or India in ſhips or
veffels not of the United except teas,
China ware, and all other articles lia-
ble to higher rates of duties,
Goods, wares and merchandize intend-
ed to be re-exported to a foreign port
or place, in the fame fhip or veffel in
462
which they fhall be imported-and all
articles of the growth, product or ma-
nufacture of the United States, ſpirits
excepted,
Goods, wares and merchandize not here-
in otherwife paticularly enumerated
and deſcribed,
Glue,
Gun powder, from May 22, 1794, to
May 22, 1795;:
after the 22d May, 1795,
free
H
ΙΟ
per cent. ad val.
15
free
JO
Hangers,
Hair powder,
15
15
Hats of beaver, felt, wool, or a mixture
of any of them,
15
all other hats, caps and bonnets,
15
Hemp,
100
cents per cwt.
free
free
free
25
cents per pound.
free
15
Hides, raw
Houfhold furniture of perfons who come
to refide in the United States,
I
Implements of the trade or profeffion of
perfons who come to refide in the
United States,
Indigo,
Iron wire,
caft, flit and rolled;
fteel or brafs locks, hinges, hoes,
anvils, and vizes,
all other manufactures of Iron, ſteel
or braſs, or of which either of theſe
metals is the article of chief value, not
being otherwife particularly enume-
rated,
J.
Jewellery and pafte work,
ΙΟ
L.
Lace of gold and filver,
Laces and lawns,
Laces, lines, fringes taffels and trimmings,
commonly uſed by upholsterers, coach-
makers and fadlers,
Lampblack,
Lapis calaminaris,
Leather, tanned and tawed, and all ma-
nufactures of leather or of which leather
15 per cent. ad val.
15
15
10
15
10
free
•
463
is the article of chief value, not other-
wife particularly enumerated,
Lead and mufket ball, from May 22,
1794, to May 22, 1795,
after May 22, 1795,
All other manufactures of lead, or
in which lead is the chief article,
Lemons and limes,
Linen or cotton manufactures, or of both
or of which cotton or linen is the ma-
terial of chief value, printed, ſtained or
coloured,
not printed, ftained or coloured,
Liſbon and Oporto wines,
Looking glaffes,
15 per cent. ad val.
free
I cent per pound.
I
15 per cent. ad val.
12
ΙΟ
25
cents per gallon.
20
per cent. ad val.
M.
Manufactures of tin, pewter and copper,
of iron, fteel or brafs, not
otherwiſe particularly enumerated,
of leather, not otherwife
particularly enumerated,
of lead not otherwife par-
ticularly enumerated,
of cotton or linen, or of
both, printed, ſtained or coloured,
of ditto, not printed, ſtain-
ed or coloured,
tobacco)
of glafs (fee glafs)
of tobacco (fee ſnuff and
of wood (fee cabinet wares
15
15
15
I
cent per pound.
12 per cent. ad. val.
IO
and wood)
of the United States, fpirits
excepted,
free
15
ΙΟ
cents per
bufhel.
Mats and floor cloths,
Malt,
Marble, flate and other ſtone bricks, tiles,
tables, mortars and other utenfils of
marble or flate, and generally all ftone
and earthen ware,
Madeira wines (fee wines)
Mace,
Medicinal drugs, except thofe common-
ly uſed in dying,
Merchandize, goods and wares, import-
ed directly from China or India, in fhips
or veffels not of the United States ex-
15 per cent. ad val.
15
15
464
3
cept teas, china ware, and all other ar-
ticles liable to higher rates of duties,
Merchandize, goods and wares, intended
to be re-exported to a foreign port or
place in the fame fhip or veffel in which
they ſhall be imported-and all articles.
of the growth, product or manufacture
of the United States-fpirits excepted, free
Merchandize, goods and wares not here-
in otherwife particularly enumerated
and defcribed,
Mittens (fee gloves)
Millenary, ready made,
Molaffes,
Muſkets and firelocks, with bayonets fuit-
ed to the fame, and muſket ball, from
May 22, 1794, to May 22, 1795,
after the 22d May, 1795,
Muſkets and fire locks, without bayonets,
Muſtard in flour,
Muffins and muflinets, printed, ftained or
coloured,
not printed, ſtained or coloured,
N.
IO
per cent. ad. val.
15
15
3 cents per gallon.
free
15 per cent. ad val.
15
15
12/1/20
ΙΟ
HIN
Nails,
Nankeens,
Nutmegs,
Oranges,
0.
Ornaments for womens head dreffes,
Ointments, oils and odors (fee powders,
paftes, &c.)
Olives,
Oil,
Oporto and Lifbon wine,
P.
Paper hangings,
writing and wrapping,
fheathing and cartridge,
Painters colours, whether dry or ground
in oil, except thofe commonly uſed in
dying,
Packthread and twine,
Pafte boards, parchment and vellum,
Paſte work and jewellery,
Phaetons, fee coaches,
Plaister of Paris,
2 cents per pound.
12
per cent. ad val.
15
15
15
15
15
15
25
cents per gallon.
15 per cent. ad val.
10
15
15
400
cents per cwt.
10
per cent. ad val
15
20
free
465
?
Pewter manufactures,
15 per cent. ad. val.
free
old,
Pepper,
6
cents per pound.
Perfumes,
15
per cent. ad val.
Piſtols, from May 22, 1794, to May 22,
free
1795,
after the 22d May, 1795,
15
Pictures and prints,
ΙΟ
Pimento,
4
cents per pound.
Pickles of all forts,
15
per cent. ad val.
12/1/
free
8 cents per gallon.
8
Printed, ftained or coloured goods, or
manufactures of cotton, or of linen, or
of both,
Philofophical apparatus, fpecially import-
ed for any feminary of learning,
Porter, beer and ale, in cafks,
Powder for the hair,
in bottles,
gun powder, from May 22, 1794,
to May 22, 1795,
after the 22d May, 1795,
Powders, paſtes, balls, balfams, ointments,
oils, waters, waſhes, tinctures, effences
or other preparations or compofitions
commonly called fweet fcents, odors,
perfumes, or cofmetics-and all pow-
ders or preparations for the teeth or
gums,
Plumbs and prunes,
R.
Raifins,
Raw hides and ſkins,
Rum, fee fpirits,
S.
Salt, fee note*
15 per cent. ad val.
free
10
LA LA
15
15
15
free
Salts, glauber,
Stained, printed or coloured goods or ma-
nufactures of cotton, or of linen, or of
both,
Salt petre,
Saint Lucar wines,
Starch,
Sail cloth,
Slate, ftone and ſtone ware,
I2
cents per bufhel.
200
cents per cwt.
12 per cent. ad val.
free
30 cents per gallon.
15
per cent. ad val.
ΙΟ
15
Saddles,
ΙΟ
Sattins and other wrought filks,
ΙΟ
Steel,
100
cents per cwt,
466
iron, or braſs locks, hinges, hoes,
anvils and vizes,
all other manufactures of fteel,
ΙΟ
per cent. ad val.
15
Sheathing and cartridge paper,
Sherry wine,
Sea ſtores of ſhips or veffels,
15
33
cents per gallon.
free
Spermaceti candles,
Sweet fcents, (fee powders, paftes, &c.)
Spirits diftilled in foreign countries, viz.
From grain, Firft proof,
6
cents per pound.
15
per cent. ad val.
28 cents per gallon.
Second do.
29
Third do.
31
Fourth do.
34
Fifth do.
40
Sixth
do.
50
From other materials.
Firſt proof,
Second do.
'Third do.
Fourth do.
Fifth do.
Sixth
do.
25
25
~ ~ ~ ~
In 1900 N
28
32
38
Spirits diftilled in the United States, im-
ported after the fifth day of June, 1794,
in the fame fhip or veffel in which they
had been previouſly exported from the
the United States, viz.
From molaffes.
First proof,
Second do.
Third do.
Fourth do.
46
13 cents per gallon.
14
15
17
Fifth do.
21
Sixth do.
From materials of the growth or produce
of the United States.
Firft proof,
28
78
Second do.
8
Third do.
9
Fourth do.
II
Fifth do.
13
Sixth
do.
18
300
Spikes,
Silver and plated ware,
I
cent per pound.
15
per cent. ad. val.
-lace,
Skins, raw
15
free
467
Shoes and flippers of filk,
other fhoes and flippers for men
and women, clogs and golofhoes,
-other fhoes and flippers for chil-
dren,
Swords and cutlaffes, from May 22, 1794,
to May 22, 1795;
after May 22, 1795,
Stockings,
Stone and earthen ware,
Soap,
Solos and other carriages,
Sulphur,
25 cents per pair.
15
IO
free
15 per cent. ad. val.
15
15
2
cents per pound.
20
per cent. ad. val.
free
•
Sugars. From July 1ft, to Sept. 30,
1794, inclufively.
I cent per pound,
Brown,
Clayed,
Lump,
Loaf,
Other refined,
From and after Sept. 30, 1794•
Brown,
Clayed,
Lump,
Loaf,
Other refined,
BINHNHIN
5
NH
133 LAN
2
HINHINHIN
I
HIN
6/2/2
9
6
1 36 ab
Sugar candy,
Snuff. From July 1ft, to Sept. 30. 1794,
inclufively,
1794,
From and after the 30th of Sept.
T.
Taffels and trimmings commonly uſed by
upholsterers, coachmakers, and fad
lers,
Tables of marble, ſlate, other or ſtone,
From China and India,
Tallow candles,
Teas.
Bohea,
Souchong and other black teas,
Hyfon,
Other green teas,
From Europe.
Bohea,
Souchong and other black teas,
Hyfon,
10 per cent. ad. val.
10
22-
I I
15 per cent. ad. val.
2
cents per pound.
ΙΟ
18
32
20
12
21
40
↑
3 S
468
Other green tea,
24 per cent. ad val.
From any other place.
Bohea,
15
Souchong and other black teas,
27
Hyfon,
50
Other green teas,
30
Teneriffe wine,
20
cents per gallon.
Twine and pack thread,
400
cents per cwt.
Tin manufactures,
15
per cent. ad, val.
free
15
15
-in pigs and plates,
Tinctures, (fee powders, paftes, &c.)
Tiles and bricks,
Toys, not otherwife enumerated,
Tobacco, manufactured,
From July 1ft, to Sept. 30th,
1794, inclufively,
-From and after the 30th of
Sept. 1794,
Tools of the trade or profeffion of perfons,
to refide in the United
who come
States,
IO
6 cents per pound.
ΙΟ
free
V.
Velvets and velverets,
ΙΟ
per cent. ad. val.
W.
Wares of tin, pewter and copper,
earthen or ftone,
15
15
china,
15
gold, filver, and plated,
goods and merchandize imported
directly from China or India in fhips or
veffels not of the United States, except
teas, china ware, and all other articles
liable to higher rates of duties,
goods and merchandize of the
growth, produce or manufacture of the
United States, (fpirits excepted,)
Wafers,
Waters and waſhes, (fee powders, paftes,
&c.)
Walking fticks, whips and canes,
15
free
15
15
IO
Wax candles,
6
Watches and clocks, or parts of either,
15
cents per pound.
Wines, London particular Madeira,
56 per cent. ad val.
London market,
Other,
Sherry,
St. Lucar,
do.
49
cents per gallon.
do.
40
33
30
469
Liſbon and Oporto,
Teneriffe and Fayal,
All other wines (not to exceed
thirty cents per gallon in American vef-
fels. or thirty-two cents per gallon in
foreign veffels)
Window glaſs,
25 cents per gallon.
20
40 per cent. ad val.
15
Wire of brafs and iron,
free
Wool and cotton cards,
50
cents per dozen.
Wool unmanufactured,
free
Wood (unmanufactured)
free
Wood manufactured (exclufive of cabinet
wares)
12/1/
Y
Yarn untarred,
225 cents per cwt.
10
All other goods, not before particularly
enumerated and deſcribed,
per cent. ad val.
To the encouragement to the manufactures
of the United States refulting from the fore-
going table, very confiderable additions are to
be made for freight, infurance, commiffions, por-
terages, cofts of packages, premiums on bills, or
other loffes on remittances to Europe. The ag-
gregate of theſe is unuſually high at this juncture,
for a ſeaſon of peace.
There is no duty on exports, nor is there any
prohibition of exportation, excepting the tempora-
ry inſtances of certain military articles.
NOTE. The duties on Salt are at the rate of 12 cents per bushel of
56lb. or less.
470
CHAPTER IV.
HAVE
A STATEMENT OF THE TONNAGE OF VESSELS, WHICH
PAID DUTY IN THE PORTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AME-
RICA, BETWEEN THE Ift DAY OF OCTOBER, 1791, AND THE
30th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1792, INCLUDING THE COASTING
AND FISHING VESSELS.
To what nation belonging.
THE United States,
The United States and foreign nations,
Tons.
549,279
jointly,
407
France,
24,443
Great-Britain,
209,646
Spain,
3,148
United Netherlands,
3,123
Portugal,
2,843
Hamburg and Bremen,
5,677
Denmark,
752
Sweden,
943
Total,
800,261
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, REVENUE-OFFICE,
JANUARY 21, 1794.
TENCH COXE, Commiffioner of the Revenue.
471
CHAPTER V.
AN ABSTRACT OF GOODS, WARES, AND MERCHANDIZE, EX-
PORTED FROM THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE Ift OCTO-
BER, 1792, TO 30th SEPTEMBER, 1793.
Species of Merchandize.
Aſhes, pot
1
pearl
Quantity.
tons of
4,359 9
do.
1,807
6
Apples,
Bark of oak,
barrels
8,994
hogfheads
3,108
cords
444
effence of,
gallons
208
Bricks,
number
683,070
Boats,
do.
73
Boots,
pairs
1,167
Shoes,
do.
15,102
Beer, porter and cider,
gallons
137,631
bottled,
dozens
776
Blacking or lampblack,
pounds
70
hogfheads
100
Bellows 'Smith,
pairs
I
Cotton,
bags
2,438
Chalk,
tons
16
Candles, Wax
boxes
48
Myrtle,
do.
18
Spermaceti,
do.
5,874
Tallow,
do.
9,857
Cordage,
tons
469 19
Coal,
bufhels
14,719
Cranberries,
do.
166
Cards, Wool and Cotton
dozens
34
hogfheads
3,895
tierces
1,914
Coffee,
barrels
10,175
bags
Lpounds
1,789
10,764,549
hogsheads
12
tierces
Cocoa,
barrels
55
180
bags
336
pounds
133,675
472
Species of Merchandize.
Carriages. Coaches, chaiſes & chairs, number
Waggons, carts & drays,
do.
Quantity.
54
48
Wheel-barrows, &c.
do.
44
Copper,
packages
146
Duck,
pieces
2,630
Drugs and medicine,
pounds of
52,720
packages
281
Saffafras,
tons
67 16
Earthen-ware,
crates
175
Flaxfeed,
cafks
51,708
Flax,
pounds
1,474
Furniture, Houſe
packages,
44
Tables, bureaus, &c. number
175
Windfor chairs,
do.
3,884
Chefts,
do.
201
Fishery. Fish dried,
-, pickled,
Oil, fpermaceti
Whale-bone,
Grain and Pulfe. Wheat,
quintals
372,825
barrels
45,440
Oil of whale,
gallons
512,780
do.
140,056
pounds
202,620
bufhels
1,450,575
Rye,
do.
1,305
Barley,
do.
30
Indian Corn,
do.
1,233,761
Buckwheat,
do.
330
Oats,
do.
78,524
Peas and Beans,
dc.
40,620
Groceries. Loaf Sugar,
hogfheads
9.
tierces
6
barrels
59
pounds
27,554
Brown Sugar,
do.
4,539,809
Chocolate,
do.
7,432
Raifins,
do.
84,800
Almonds,
do.
13,900
Pimento,
do.
114,255
Cloves,
do.
500
Pepper,
do.
14,361
Ginger,
bags
478
Caffia and Cinnamon,
packages
351
Glafs,
boxes
47
packages
13
Ginfeng,
pounds
71,550
packages
188
Grindstones,
number
38
Hides,
do.
9,78
473
Species of Merchandize.
Horns and Tips.
Quantity,
number
91,142
do.
Hats,
2,777
Honey,
gallons
732
Hops,
packages
73
Hay,
tons
1,871
Iron. Nails,
cafks
144
Axes, Spades, and Hoes,
number
951
Anchors,
do.
I I
Grapnels,
do.
215
Pots, kettles, & other caftings, do.
6,117
caíks
3
Cannon,
number
43
Shot,
tons
13
Pig,
do.
2,089
Bar,
do.
763 2
Hoops,
do.
27 II
Indigo,
caſks
462
pounds
690,989
Ivory,
packages
ΙΟ
Lead. Pig,
number
241
Shot,
pounds
952
Sheet,
tons
I
Leather,
pounds
17,301
packages
52
Lime,
bufhels
748
Live Stock. Horned Cattle,
number
3,728
Horſes,
do.
4,613
Mules,
do.
1,105
Sheep,
do.
12,064
Hogs,
do.
9,934
Poultry,
dozens
6,428
Merchandize, or Dry Goods,
packages of
4,136
Nankeens,
pieces
10,972
Tow Cloth,
yards
14,947
Molaffes,
gallons
28,733
Mill-ftones,
number
2
Naval Stores. Pitch,
barrels
8,338
Tar,
do.
67,961
Rofin,
do.
1,715
Turpentine,
do.
36,957
Spirits of Turpentine, caſks
93
Negro Slaves,
number
21
Nuts,
bufhels
502
Oil. Linfeed,
gallons
1,183
Sweet,
Powder. Gun,
boxes & baſkets
1,168
qr. cafks
1,286
474
Species of Merchandize.
Powder. Hair,
Paper,
Pipes,
Paints,
Pearl,
Provifions. Rice,
Flour,
pounds
reams
groce
kegs
boxes
Quantity.
12,810
75
48
102
67
tierces
barrels
134,61 I
1,074,639
Bread,
do.
76,653
Crackers,
kegs
43,306
Rye Meal,
barrels
12,695
Indian Meal,
do.
37,943
Ship Stuff,
do.
3,871
Buckwheat,
do.
146
Beef,
do.
75,106
Pork,
do.
38,563
Neat's Tongues,
kegs
867
Tongues and Sounds,
do.
209
Hams and Bacon,
pounds
521,483
Butter,
firkins
9,190
Cheeſe,
pounds
146,269
Lard,
do.
597,297
Saufages
do.
2,863
Pickled Oysters
kegs & pots
1,561
Potatoes,
bufhels
20,367
Onions,
buſhels & bunches
269,380
Reeds,
number
123,276
Spirits, American
gallons
665,522
Foreign,
Gin,
do.
224,614
cafes
10,761
Sadlery. Saddles,
number.
Bridles
do.
1,114
997
Harneſs
fetts
20
Soap,
boxes
6,620
Starch,
pounds
5,440
Snuff,
do.
35,559
Salt,
bufhels
1,107
Spruce, effence of
Silk, raw
boxes
pounds
81
104
ני
Silver Sweepings,
Skins and Furrs,
packages,
caſks
7
pounds
number
do.
426,318
1,123
27,446
Tobacco,
Tallow,
Twine,
2
hogfheads
59,947
Manufactured
pounds
137,784
1
do.
309,366
do.
3,760
475
Species of Merchandize.
Tin,
Quantity.
boxes
121
Teas. Bolea,
pounds
21,521
Souchong,
do.
3,020
Hyfon,
do.
17,672
Other Green,
do.
7,725
Vinegar,
gallons
3,473
Varniſh,
caſks
24
Wines. Madeira,
gallons
49,180
Other Wines,
do.
180,929
Bottled,
dozens
1,330
Wax. Bees,
pounds
272,800
Myrtle,
Wood. Lumber,
Timber,
do.
1,273
feet
65,846,024
tons
21,838
pieces
12,272
Dye wood,
tons
319 10
Staves and heading,
number
29,734,854
Shingles,
do.
80,813,357
Hoops and poles,
do.
2,304,853
Shooks,
do.
37,863
Empty casks,
do.
6,944
Mafts and fpars,
do.
5,052
Oars,
do.
20,251
Handfpikes,
do.
19,169
Pumps,
do.
43
Blocks,
do.
4,814
Treenails,
do.
91,632
Spokes and Fellies,
do.
22,076
Lock frocks,
do.
600
Cords of wood,
do.
1,119
Frames of houfes,
do.
311
of veffels,
do.
2
Cart wheels,
do.
78
Yokes and bows,
pairs
696
Malt hoops,
dozens
27
Tubs, pails, &c.
do.
95
3 T
476.
Value of Goods, Wares, and Merchandize, Exported from the
New-Hampihire,
Maſſachuſetts,
Rhode-Ifland
Connecticut
New-York
New-Jerfey
Pennfylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North-Carolina
South-Carolina
Georgia
-
1
}
United States.
1
1
J
1
1
Dollars.
198,197
3,676,412
616,416
770,239
2,934,370
549176
6,958,736
71,242
3.687,119
2,984,317
303,307
3,195,874
501,383
Total,
[NOTE.] Sundry returns from ſmall ports, not yet received.
26,011,788
A Summary of the Value and Destination of the Exports of the United
States, agreeably to the foregoing Abftra&t.
To the dominions of Ruffia
the dominions of Sweden
the dominions of Denmark
Dollars.
5,769
301,427
870,508
the dominions of the United Netherlands
3,169,536
the dominions of Great-Britain
8,431,239
the Imperial ports of the Auſtrian Netherlands
and Germany
1,013,347
Hamburg, Bremen, and other Hanfe Towns
792,537
the dominions of France
7,050,498
the dominions of Spain
2,237,950
the dominions of Portugal
the Italian Ports,
997,590
220,688
Morocco
the Eaft-Indies, generally
2,094
253,131
Africa, generally
the Weft-Indies, generally
251,343
399,559
the North-Weſt Coaſt of America
1,586
Uncertain
3,986
Total,
26,011,788
Treasury Department, Revenue-Office, March 20th, 1794.
TENCH COXE, Commiffioner of the Revenue.
477
CHAPTER VI.
}
MISCELLANEOUS
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE FOURTH
CHAPTER OF THE FIRST BOOK.
IT
T has been already affirmed, that the bufinefs of
ſhip building is in a courfe of extraordinary
proſperity in the United States. From the books
of the Inſpector General of American commerce,
under the Britiſh government, it appears, that there
were built in Pennſylvania in the year 1769, no
more than 1649 tons of new veffels; in the year
1770, 2354 tons; and in the year 1771, only 1307
tons. The return of new veffels, built in the ftate
of Pennſylvania, during the year 1793, though a
grievous epidemic malady was introduced, in that
term, into its only fea-port, exhibits the number
of 8145 tons. Thefe veffels were generally built
of the ſouthern live oak and cedar, and were con-
fequently, of the first clafs in value and excellen-
cy.
This great increaſe of fo capital a vehicle of
commerce, is an evidence as well of the growth of
trade, as of fhip building. It is, however, proper
to obſerve, that the meaſurement of 1771, was
much less accurate, than that of 1793. The me-
dium of the actual tonnage of the three former
years, mentioned above, was perhaps 2,300 tons.
1
478
But there is a ſtronger proof of the growth of
trade in the port of Philadelphia, and in the ftate
of Pennſylvania. This refults from the aftoniſh-
ing increaſe of exports. The aggregate value of
all the commodities fhipped from Philadelphia, to
foreign countries, during one year, ending on the
30th September, 1792, was 3,820,646 Dols.
The aggregate value of the like
exports, from Philadelphia, during
one year, ending on the 30th Sep-
tember, 1793, was
The aggregate value of the like
exports, from Philadelphia, during
one half of a year, ending on the
31ft of March, 1794, was
6,958,736 Dols.
3,533,397 Dols.
It is to be remembered alfo, that the epidemic
malady, already mentioned, and the embargo in
the laft fpring, interrupted the commerce of Phi-
ladelphia, during a term of nearly five months, in
the clofe of 1793 and the beginning of 1794.
The exports of the ftate of Pennſylvania, during
the year, ending on the 30th September 1793,
were more than one fourth (i. e. nearly ſeven
twenty fixth parts) of the exports of the whole of
479
the United States. The tranſportation of merchan-
dize and domeftic manufactures, coaft-wife, and
by land were alſo very great.
The catalogue of books at this time for fale,
and which have been publiſhed by leſs than a dozen
of the bookfellers of Philadelphia, contains three
hundred and twenty fetts of different books, of
one volume in duodecimo to eighteen volumes in
quarto; alfo many charts, maps, and pamphlets,
fmall hiftories and chapman's books. This precious
branch, which diffufes indifpenfible knowledge in
every line, yields large profits to the manufacturers,
the artizans, and the United States, upon a ſmall
capital, in fheep-fkins, lead, lamp-black and uſeleſs
rags.
There are eſtabliſhed in the city of Philadelphia,
three incorporated banks, which may be fafely af-
firmed to be in full and perfect credit, and to yield
a better dividend, or half yearly profit, to their
ftockholders, than any fimilar inftitutions in Eu-
rope: they are,
1. The Bank of North-America, eſtabliſhed in
the year 1781.
2. The Bank of the United States, eſtabliſhed
in 1791.
3. The Bank of Pennfylvania, eftabliſhed in
1792.
480
The United States of America are interefted to
an amount much lefs than a major part of the ftock
in the fecond; and the ftate of Pennfylvania in a
fimilar degree in the third. They are all banks of
diſcount and depofit, and iffue notes payable in
fpecie, on demand to the bearer. Their organi-
zation is upon a plan and on principles nearly uni-
form, and very much like to thoſe of the Bank of
England. Foreigners are confiderably interefted
in all of them. The Bank of the United States
has many proprietors in other parts of this country.
It has branches, or fubordinate offices, in Boſton,
New-York, Baltimore and Charleſton.
The following table is extracted from authentic
documents. The third column fhews, in detail,
the number of taxable inhabitants of each of the
exifting counties of Pennſylvania, and of the city
of Philadelphia. The two preceding columns ex-
hibit the number of the like inhabitants in two fe-
veral years prior to the revolution.
481
A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE NUMBER OF THE TAXABLE INHABI
TANTS OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THREE SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE
AND SINCE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTion.
A. D.
1760.
A. D.
A. D.
1770.
1793.
The city of Philadelphia,
7088
The county of Philadelphia,
8321
76885
The county of Montgomery,
10455
$4360
The county of Delaware,
The county of Chefter,
4761
√2216
5483
25270
The county of Lancaſter,
The county of Dauphin,
5631
6608
6409
3481
The county of Bucks,
3148
3177
4644
The county of Northampton,
The county of Luzerne,
1987
4697
2793
1409
The county of Allegheney,
| 2510
The county of Huntingdon,
1717
The county of Waſhington,
5045
The county of Fayette,
2844
The county of Mifflin,
1501 3521
2468
The county of Cumberland,
3869
The county of Bedford,
2881
The county of Weftmoreland,
3451
The county of York,
The county of Franklin,
3302
4426
6974
3570
The county of Berks,
The county of Northumberland,
3016
5511
3302
3878
31667
39765
91177
A. D.
A. D.
A. D.
1760.
1770.
1793.
482
F
On this intereſting document, a fingle remark is
fufficient irrefragably to evince, that the proſperity
of Pennſylvania is much greater at this time, than
it was in the year 1770. The ratio of the increaſe
of taxable perfons in 1793 would have been equal
to the proportion between the years 1760 and 1770,
if the taxables in 1793, had been 68,000; but they
over run that number by more than 23,000.
may be truly obferved, that the redundant popula-
tion of New-England, the old counties of New-
York, New-Jerfey, the Delaware ftate, and Ma-
ryland, muſt have migrated into Pennſylvania in
great numbers during the late war.
It
The following valuable table, relative to Penn-
fylvania, has been received from the editor of "le
"Niveau de l'Europe & de l'Amerique," and is
inferted in this volume with his permiffion.
A comparative view of Europe and America," by M.
Egron, of Philadelphia. It may ferve any confiderable public or
private intereſts in this country, if documents elucidating fuch
interefts, ſhould be tranfmitted to M. Egron, by the perfons
concerned.
Popula-
tion in
1790.
Square Acres
miles.
of
Land.
Population
in miles
Square.
Chief Towns.
2 3
33
23
38
5 54-391 140
15 25,401 6421
89,600 388
7 1
17
411,900 19. Newtown.
Philadelphia.
| 2 ม
422
27,937
861
551,400
32 32 5
385 Weft Cheſter.
8
May 10, 1729.
Auguſt 10, 1749.
January 27, 1750.
March 11, 1752.
Lancaſter.
41
40
York.
64
Cumberland.
37
Northampton.
JI
II
I
March 11, 1752.
September 20, 1771.
Berks.
67
Bedford.
77
March 21, 1772.
April 8, 1773.
May 8, 1781.
Northumberland. 180
Weftmoreland.
Waſhington.
September 26, 1783. Fayette.
September 9, 1784. Franklin.
September 10, 1784. Montgomery.
March 4, 1785. Dauphin.
September 25, 1786. Luzerne.
September 20, 1787. Huntingdon.
September 19, 1789. Allegheney.
September 19, 1789. Delaware.
September 26, 1789. Mifflin.
80
+∞
42 2 ✅N LA DO
36,147
884
566,240
24
37,747 1,630
1,043,200
23.77.
28
18,243
978
626,240
5 3
AT
252 York.
༩༣
18.653 Carliſle.
43 Lancafter.
483
THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
" North_latitude_between 39° 41′ 30″ and 42°. Its longitude from the meridian of Philadelphia, between 0° 25' caft, 5° 23′ weft. Length from east to west 280 miles. Its width
from north to fouth 156 miles, at 69 miles to a degree. Its limits: on the north and north-east, the flate of New-York; on the east, New-Jersey; on the fouth-east, the ſtate of Delaware;
on the fouth, the fate of Maryland and part of Virginia; on the west, the fate of Virginia and the Western territory of the United States; and on the north-west, Lake Erie. Rivers: the
Delaware, which feparates Pennsylvania from New-Jersey and New-York: the Sufquehanna, formed by two branches, one from the west and the other from the north-eaft: the Monongahela
and the Allegheney, which by their junction and courfes form the Ohio: The Youghiogeny, the Lehigh, the Juniata and the Schuylkill.
Date of the foundation. Names of Counties.
1683.
1683.
1683.
Philadelphia.
Bucks.
Cheſter.
Length
Breadth
Meridian longitude
of each town from
Philadelphia.
SITUATION.
North latitude
of chief town.
39d 57m
S
о
om
on the weft bank of the Delaware river.
to lif
14
O
I 2
39 58
Ο
28
40 2
301
9
39 17
I
30
40 II 30/2
+
35
24,25 3,841
2,458,240
29 30,17% 1,6.0
1,030,400
6.310 Eafton.
18.743 Reading.
21
O
4 30
50 13,124 3,310
2,118,400
40
17,169,202
6,145,280
301
05703
no3on on 40 7
50
40
16,018 1,991
1,274,240
242
65
32
23,860 1,911
I,223,C4O
I
37
33
13,325
739
473,280
18
39 54
30
24 15,655 8c0
512,000
19.568|Chamberſburg.
39 56
2
28 30
33
16 22,920 539
344,960
42.539 Norris town.
40 7
30
I I
30
45
25
18,177 916
1/
586,400
19.842 Harrisburg.
40 15
20 I
42
80
61
4,904 3,530
2,259,200
1.384 Wilkefbarre.
41 13
30
46
76 35
7,562,239
1,432,960
3:37 Huntingdon.
40 27
012 52
131
40
10,300 7,019
4,289.920
1.53 Pittsburg.
40 26
304 51
20
I I
9,48 180
115,200
52.68
hefter.
39 51
13
3.964 Bedford.
1.82 Sunbury.
8 Greenfburg.
12.44 Washington.
Union.
40
40 42
40 51
40 18
40 11
o Eaft. 5 miles from the Delaware.
o Welt. 16 miles from the Delaware.
10 miles from the Sufquehanna.
O
46 30
3 2[
42
3 23
305 7
4 35
8 miles from the Sufquehanna.
14 miles from the Suſquehanna.
at the junction of the rivers Lehigh and Delaware.
on the river Schuylkill.
284 miles from the Potowmack river.
at the junction of the W. and N. E. branches of the Susquehanna.
16 miles from the Monongahela.
17 miles from the Monongahela.
1 miles from the Monongahela.
25 miles from the Potowmack river.
on the Schuylkill.
on the eaft branch of Sufquehanna.
on the north-east branch of the Sufquehanna.
on the Juniata.
at the junction of the Monongohela and Youghiogeny, the union
on the Delaware.
[of which forms the Ohio.
72
27
7,562 1,851
1,184,960
4 Lewisburg.
40 35
2
26
on the north bank of the Juniata.
The city and 21 counties.
434-37345,016 28,810,160
9.650
3 U
485
It is a curious fact, that the price of produce at
Pittſburg, three hundred miles from Philadelphia,
is higher by fifty per cent. at this time, than it was
fifty years ago in the city of Philadelphia. In the
year 1739, wheat was fold in that port for two fhil-
lings and nine pence per bufhel, flour for feven
fhillings and three pence per cwt. and Indian corn
for one fhilling and fix pence per bufhel. Theſe
truths are interefting to the interior land-holder
and to the political econimift. The invention and
information of the American cultivators and ſtatef
men at the prefent time with the capital and numbers
of the former, are powerful auxiliaries, which did
not exift in the year 1739. The diftillation of ſpi.
rits of the higheſt proof, the production of filk, the
fupplies of the army, the cultivation of tobacco,
hemp, and flax, the manufactory of falt, cheeſe,
butter, pot-afh, flaxfeed oil, leather, fteel, rolled,
and flit iron, and the fineſt flour, with furnaces,
forges, canals, and turnpikes, greatly reduce the
charges of tranſportation, and increaſe the value
of natural and agricultural productions in the mid-
land and weſtern counties. Theſe advantages may
perhaps be easily extended, if the city of Philadel-
phia and the interior towns and villages will purfue
fuch of the ideas, fuggefted in the tenth chapter
of the first book, as may be convenient to their
fituation, and to the pecuniary circumſtances of
their inhabitants.
The interior of Pennfylvania is peculiarly adapt-
ed and impelled to the manufactory of glaſs, earth-
3 X
486
en ware, ftone ware, and iron ware. The forefts
on the Delaware, Lehigh, Lehiwaxen, Schuylkill,
Sufquehanna, and its two branches, and on Junia-
ta, and Penn's creek, are now fo near to a great
population, that immenfe quantities of thofe feve-
ral manufactures might be delivered by water car-
riage. On the completion of the canals they might
be tranfported, in like manner, to Philadelphia and
from thence to foreign countries.
The healthineſs of the climate of Philadelphia is
evinced by the fact, that although it was eſtabliſhed
very long after the two next largeſt towns in the
United States, New-York and Boſton, yet it is little
fhort of the fize of both. The city and county of
New-York, and the towns of Bofton and Charleſ-
town, contained in 1791 no more than 52,752 per-
fons: the city and county of Philadelphia contain-
ed in the fame year 54,391 perfons. The counties
of New-York and Philadelphia are both very ſmall
and much less than any other in their reſpective
ftates. The latter is moft populous. It muſt be
admitted, that this increafe is to be afcribed in
fome degree to the general profperity of Pennſyl-
vania, New-Jerſey and the peninſula between the
Delaware and Cheſapeak bays.
A more direct proof of the healthineſs of Phila-
delphia is to be deduced from the books of the
Difpenfary, a public charity from which medicine,
advice and affiftance are extended to the poor,
under every diſorder and diſeaſe, without expenfe.
487
In the year 1790 the patients, which were under
the care of the inftitution, amounted to 1892 poor
citizens and foreigners. Of thefe only fixty-three
died. The want of proper food, raiment, bedding,
nurſes, cleanlineſs, and ſafe and comfortable apart-
ments, muſt have contributed to the mortality of a
part of thefe, as the patients were generally work-
ing people and all paupers, and the funds of the
Diſpenſary are applied in a very fmall degree to
thoſe articles. Medicine, advice and affiftance
are the chief objects of their plan.
A malignant fever fimilar to that of 1793 ob-
tained an entrance into a few families in the clofe
of the fummer of 1794, but as the difeafe did not
ſpread or extend in Philadelphia, though it did
fpread in the fmall airy town of New-Haven in
Connecticut, and in the fuburbs of Baltimore upon
Fell's point, it is manifeft that the climate of Phila-
delphia is not more difpofed to that kind of mala-
dy than other large towns. Indeed the three in-
ftances of 1794 would prove it to be leſs diſpoſed
to promote fuch difeafes, than fmaller towns.
It
may be confidered as a fact ftrongly in favour
of the induſtry, fobriety and tranquility of the city
of Philadelphia, that its breweries exceed, in the
quantity of their manufactured liquor, thofe of all
the fea-ports in the United States. The corpora-
tion of the city wifely favour houfes for the retail
fale of beer and other malt liquors. Good regu-
lations on the fubject of intoxicating liquors are
488
infinitely important to health, morals, induftry,
property and good government: or in other words
to the lives, profperity, honor and happineſs of the
people.
The number of flaves of all ages and fexes in the
city of Philadelphia has been gradually worn down
to 273; and there are not more than 3000 in the
ſtate of Pennſylvania. The laws and conftitution
prevent their increaſe, and are filently and fteadily
working the abolition of flavery. The migration
hither of a free yeomanry has been increaſed by
the very limited number of flaves.
The variety and extent of the foreign commer-
cial correfpondence of the city of Philadelphia is
very great. This is evinced by a well known fact,
that in all the great branches of foreign trade the
Philadelphians have taken a very confiderable
ſhare. They commenced the American trade with
India and China; they have purfued the commerce
of Ruffia, though hemp and iron are two of the
ſtaple articles of Pennſylvania; they have entered
more largely into the Dutch trade than New-York,
though it is well known that Philadelphia did little
and New-York much in that branch of commerce
before the revolution; Philadelphia carries on
much more trade, both external and internal in
commodities not of her production, than any other
port; which will appear to be clear, when it is re-
membered how much of its fupplies and of thoſe of
the adjacent country are drawn from native manu-
489
factures, that its imports are very great and its ex-
ports are near ſeven twenty fixth parts of the whole
ſhipments of the United States, and that it has a
very large fhare of the coafting trade.
It is very extraordinary, that Philadelphia has
never yet engaged in the cod and whale fifheries,
though Britain and France have carried on the
former on the American coafts, and they and the
Dutch have purfued the whale fishery in very dif-
tant feas. Thefe, it appears, may fhortly become
very good objects for the accumulated capital of
Philadelphia.
There are in that city two incorporated compa-
nies for the infuranee of houfes and other buildings
against fire, and two for the infurance of fhips and
merchandize againſt the dangers of the ſeas, ene-
mies, &c. Of thefe corporations (one againſt fire)
exifted before and three have been eſtabliſhed fince
the revolution: further proofs of the acceffion of
capital and expanſion of the powers, capacities,
and operations of that profperous city.
Philadelphia is remarkably well accommodated
by natural depofits of excellent materials for build-
and improvements in its vicinity, and indeed with-
in its boundaries: brick-clay, gravel, fand, lime-
ftone, and quarries of common ftone and marble,
with great foreſts of white and yellow pine, oak,
cedar and other wood and timber on the waters of
490
the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, which bound
its eaſtern and western extremities.
*
The penal code of Pennfylvania, though never
fevere or cruel, has been greatly mitigated within
a few years.
In moſt inftances ignominious, pain-
ful and fanguinary puniſhments have been com-
muted for a ſerious and edifying folitude, a fober
and ſtrictly temperate regimen, and a conftant, re-
gular, uſeful and very induftrious employment.
Experience appears to be in favour of the experi-
ment.
It does not appear, that any of the American ſtates.
make fo large quantities of pig iron and bar iron as
Pennſylvania, nor is there any ftate which appears to
have in its bowels fo much pit coal in fituations fa-
vourable to manufactures of American productions
and internal trade.
It is eſtimated, that taking into the calculation
the extent and number of the exifting forges and
furnances of Pennſylvania, the new iron works of
the laſt ſeven years are equal to one half of all
thofe, which had been erected in the ftate during
and before the year 1787.
OTHER and fimilar remarks might be added to
this chapter, concerning the ſtate of Pennſylvania,
but enough has been faid in this and the former
491
chapter* to give a general idea of that important
member of the American union. This addition
has been neceffarily very mifcellaneous and with-
out any regular plan.
* See Chapter 4. Book I.
>
492
CHAPTER VII.
CONTAINING A VIEW OF THE SUBJECT OF FOREIGN DISTILLED
SPIRITS, EXTRACED FROM A PUBLICATION IN THE YEAR 1789.
[PAPER T.]
THE quantity of foreign liquors, imported into
the United States, is very great. The feve-
ral ſpecies, commonly introduced, wines excepted,
are unhappily the moft injurious to health both of
body and mind. Ardent intoxicating ſpirits, grofs
and unripened, form the prefent importations;
viz. the rum of Great-Britain, Denmark, and Hol-
land—the brandies of France and Spain-and the
geneva of Holland. We may compute them at
two millions of dollars, to which they certainly
amount, befides rum made in the United States of
foreign molaffes: a diftreffing fum, indeed, if it
were paid even for neceffaries, which Providence
had been pleaſed to withhold from us: a grievous
fum, as it is paid (in proviſions and other articles
of prime neceffity or univerfal value,) for a poifon-
ous luxury: an alarming fum, comparing it with
any reaſonable eftimate of our national revenues.
When we reflect on this prodigious expenfe, no
argument is neceffary to convince us how defira-
ble it is to vary, fo far as we can, the kinds of li-
quors confumed, and to obtain fubftitutes on leſs
493
difadvantageous terms. Some ideas to thefe ends
are here propofed for confideration.
If we ſuppoſe the rum, brandy, and geneva, im-
ported, as above, into the United States, to be
worth, on a medium, three fhillings and four pence
Pennſylvania money, or forty ninetieths of a dol-
lar per gallon-then the quantity, fo cftimated at
two millions of dollars, will be four millions five
hundred thouſand gallons.* By a mixture of three
parts of water with one of rum, gin or brandy, we
fhall have eighteen millions of gallons of drink, as
ſtrong as porter or the ftouteft beer. This quan-
tity is equal to five hundred and fixty-two thouſand
five hundred barrels of thofe malt liquors, worth,
at thirty-three fhillings and four-pence (or four
dollars and forty ninetieths) the fum of nine hun-
dred and thirty-feven thoufand five hundred pounds,
or two millions five hundred thousand dollars,
which immenfe value would arife from the barley
and hops of our farms, and the ftaves and hoops
cut out of our woods. The quantity of barley, ne-
ceffary to make thefe five hundred and fixty-two
thousand five hundred barrels of ftout beer or por-
ter, at four bufhels to a barrel, is two millions two
hundred and fifty thouſand bufhels, exclufive of
the hops, ftaves, hoops, and firewood, neceffary in
3 Y
* It appears by the public returns of 1792, that 4,869,992
gallons of diftilled fpirits were imported into the United States.
during that year.
494
the manufactory. How comfortable to the coun-
try would fuch a manufacture be, in which few
labourers are wanted, and wherein fire and horſes
perform fo great a part of the work !-Impofts up-
on foreign liquors appear, in this view of the fub-
ject, to be a wholefome and efficient encourage-
ment to agriculture, impelling us to what we ought
to do, and very eafily can perform. The fuperior
virtues, both moral and political, of a country,
which confumes malt liquors, inſtead of diftilled
ſpirits, need only to be mentioned.
In addition to thefe fubftitutes for foreign liquors,
drawn from native productions, we may add cider
and metheglin; of which large quantities can be
made, and which will come into more general uſe,
as agriculture advances, and economy prevails.
We might mention alfo the fpirits of fruit and
grain; but it must be acknowledged that the do-
meftic manufacture of ardent fpirits from fruits and
grain, threatens this country, no leſs than foreign
liquors, with much public and private evil. Beer
and cider would yield the farmer as great benefits,
and are ſubject to fewer diſadvantages. The friends
of internal peace and order, and of practical reli-
gion—the advocates and promoters of American
manufactures—the great body of farmers and plan-
ters-in fhort, all claffes of our citizens have ma-
nifeftly an intereft in promoting the manufacture
and confumption of thofe valuable articles, beer,
porter, cider, and metheglin.
495
This review of our refources for the expenfive
article of liquors, is taken with a defign to place
the fubject properly before us. Its magnitude will
inſpire us with a difpofition to proportionate exer-
tions. Sufficient means prefent themſelves, by
which we may be relieved of this immenfe tribute
to foreign nations, fome of whom require us not
only to give them in exchange articles of the firſt
intrinſic value, but even to pay them for bringing
it to our own ports.
496
CHAPTER VIII.
CONCERNING THE PUBLIC DEBTS, AND REVENUES OF THE
UNITED STATES.
THE
HE foreign and domeftic debts of the United
States of America, as they appeared upon
their public books on the first day of the current
year, 1794, amounted to a little more than feventy-
four millions of dollars. From this fum feven or
eight millions are to be deducted, being different
kinds of ſtock purchaſed in by means of the fink-
ing fund or due upon the books or upon certificates
from the United States to ſeveral of the members of
the union: that is to themſelves. Of the entire ba-
lance, about fourteen millions will not bear intereſt
until the year 1800. Much of the debt bears an
intereft at one half of the eſtabliſhed rate of this
country. Some of it bears an intereft of two-thirds,
fome of three-fourths, and fome of four-fifths of
the medium of the legal intereft of the ſtates. It
therefore refults that forty-eight millions of dollars
in fpecie, about £.11,000,000 fterling, would pur-
chafe or diſcharge all the debts of the United
States, which they owe to individuals, or to bodies
politic other than themſelves.
The revenues of the United States were eſtimat-
ed in 1791 at 3,329,750 dollars; and in 1792 at
497
3,700,000 dollars. They have always exceeded
the eſtimates.
The revenues of 1793, and 1794, are very much
advanced and are in full proportion to the com-
merce, agriculture, and proſperity of the country.
The furplus revenue of 1793 was eftimated at
2,300,000 dollars. It was appropriated by law to
the means of public ftrength and defence.
498
CHAPTER IX.
MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS UPON CERTAIN IMPORTANT
FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS, WHICH OCCUR, AT THE PRE-
SENT TIME, IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE UNITED STATES;
INTENDED AS A CONCLUSION TO THIS COLLECTION.
THE
HE critical ftate of things during the laft
twelve months between the United States and
the kingdom of Great-Britain renders it highly in-
terefting to reflect, for a moment, on the preſent
condition of our mutual commerce.
It is eſtabliſhed by a recent
recent inveſtigation in
Great-Britain, that in the year 1791 the United
States of America took from that kingdom (exclu-
five of Ireland and the Britiſh Eaft-Indies, from
which they import many manufactures) the im-
menfe value, in Britiſh manufactures, of
Sterling, £.3,929,771 12 8
In the fame year France, now at
war with England, took, as the
equivalent for the advantages of
Mr. Eden's treaty, only
And Ruffia took 281,243l. 18.
Denmark and Norway 219,8031.
11s. Sweden 36,259l. 4s. 6d. Po-
land 39,8331. 16s. gd. Pruffia
43,402l. 16s. 2d. Germany 778-
2131. 3s. 2d. Holland 692,7251.
576,632 6 10
499
8s. 3d. Auftrian Flanders 387,3991
7d.* Portugal & Madeira 657,3881
7s. 3d. Spain and the Canaries
582,9141. 4s. 3d. Gibraltar and
the Streights (partly Britiſh de-
mand) 224,6731. 16s. 9d. Italy
932,1481. 9s. 1d. Turkey 99,2061.
1s. 8d. the foreign Weft-Indies
462l. 12s. 3d. and Florida 15,300l.
15s. 1d. in all
£.4,990,974 7 11
From the latter fum of £.4,990,974 7 11, it is
neceffary to deduct confiderably for the confump-
tion of Gibraltar, where, it is prefumed, the con-
fumption of Britiſh goods extends to every manu-
factured convenience and neceffary-not only fine
cloths and linens, but malt liquors, cheefe, foap
and candles, loaf fugar, fhoes, hats, caft iron
utenfils, &c. &c.
It is well known, that feveral of the foreign na-
tions which take off the above Britiſh manufac-
tures, fend in return to Britain great quantities of
their own fabrics; for example, Ruffia fends hemp-
en and flaxen manufactures, and milled iron arti-
cles, probably to a greater amount than her above
demand of £.281,000 fterling; and though Ger-
many and Holland can fhip very little value in raw
materials, provifions, or lumber, yet their exports
*The French have checked, for a feafon, the Flemish, Ger-
man, and Dutch demand of Britiſh goods.
500
to Great-Britain in 1791 were £.1,569,000 fter-
ling. This large amount muft have included a
greater value of Dutch and German manufactures,
than the difference between our import from Britain,
and that of all thofe foreigners. The fame remark
applies to the Britiſh trade with France, Ruffia,
Flanders, &c. and indeed the United States of
America promote the demand of all thofe coun-
tries for Britiſh manufactures, by permitting Bri-
tain to fend us foreign goods to the value of nearly
a million and a half of dollars per annum. Hence
it appears almoft certain, that the United States of
America take from Great-Britain a greater balance
of manufactured goods, than is taken from Great-
Britain by all thoſe foreign nations. The import-
ant queſtion occurs: how ought a wife and juft
nation to conduct themfelves towards fuch great
cuſtomers and confumers? If an error ſhould be
made in the decifion, it will be prejudicial to the
United States, and pernicious in the extreme to the
commerce of Great-Britain.
The weight of the inducements to an equitable
and generous deportment on the part of Great- Bri-
tain is not a little increaſed by fimilar facts in rela-
tion to the employment of her fhips. It appears
from a Britiſh ſtatement of her trade with all the
world and from the promulgated documents of
Congrefs, that the veffels of that country, loaded
in the United States in 1791 and 1792, were about
equal in tonnage to all the Britifh veffels cleared
501
out of Great-Britain for Ruffia, Denmark and Nor-
way, Sweden, Pruffia, Poland, Hamburg, Bremen,
and Germany in general.
A folution of the extraordinary increaſe of im-
ports from Great-Britain, into the United States,
will be uſeful to ourſelves.
in
The aſtoniſhing profperity of this country,
confequence of the restoration of union and order
in 1789, is a very principal caufe. Since that time
our exports (including a freight upon them) have
increaſed by more than two millions fterling. Our
confumption is therefore more free (perhaps too
much fo) as to the quantity, and particularly as to
the quality of the commodities; and the new build-
ings and repairs of old ones, requiring glafs, hard-
ware, &c. have exceeded thofe of all former times.
The population of thoſe ſtates is known to advance,
under common circumftances, at the rate of five
per cent. per annum. The profperity of our coun-
try, and the diſorders of France, of her neighbours
in Europe, and of her colonies, have occafioned a
great and moſt rapid increaſe of people, part of
which may be temporary. Thefe confume fine
goods.* The exportations of Britiſh goods from
this country to foreign markets fhould be taken in-
3 Z
1
* The fum paid by one foreign nation, to tranfient refugees from
the diſordered parts of its territories, fojourning in the United States
in the fummer of 1794, is faid to have been no leſs than 60,000
dollars per month, equal to 720,000 dollars per annum.
502
to the eſtimate, particularly the French colonies.
The fails and furniture of the extraordinary quan-
tity of new veffels, built in our ports, is alfo to be
noted: nor is the quantity of furniture and goods
brought in by European emigrators to be forgot-
ten. The flock on hand in the wholefale and re-
tail flores throughout the country (the furplus of
importations) is very great, though the coarfe and
fubftantial articles for building, apparel and furni-
ture, are generally fold between the arrivals of the
fpring and fall veffels: and laftly the tools, imple-
ments and materials for works and manufactories, to
be built and eſtabliſhed among us, are not inconfi-
derable, but are a new demand on our part, which
has been created fince 1775, and which has been
greatly extended in the last ten years.
It is particularly worthy of calm remark on both
fides of the Atlantic, that the exports of manufac-
tures from Great-Britain to Canada in the year be-
fore mentioned (1791) was no more than 243,000l.
fterling, being lefs than one fixteenth part of our
demand. In that ſmall fum was included, of courſe,
the fupply of Britiſh manufactures for the Canadian
Indian trade. Let confiderate inen determine then,
whether that branch of commerce (the fur-trade)
is of fufficient importance to juſtify the hazard of
a difference with the United States. The whole
importation (furs included) from Canada and Hud-
fon's bay, into Great-Britain, amounted in 1791,
to no more than 135,000l. fterling. Had a war ap-
peared to ariſe about ſuch a trifle, it might have
503
been fufpected on reflexion, that political confider-
ations were the true and fecret caufe. To acquire
a portion of our territory would probably have been
deemed the real object of our neighbour. To fruſ-
trate or prevent a difmemberment of our country
would have been the honeft and avowed object of the
people of the United States. But it feemed good
to Providence to fave the two nations from the
deſtroying scourge of war.
It has been confidently expected by many in this
country, that the re-animation, acceffion and accu-
mulation of its capital would gradually relieve us
from the alledged neceffity of trading with thoſe
who could beft afford us the accommodation of
credit. The expectation was reaſonable, and it
therefore will not be difappointed. The merchants
of the United States are now prepared to purchaſe
very large portions of their fupplies with ready mo-
ney in the beſt and original markets. When the
diforders and immenfe military demand on the con-
tinent of Europe fhall ceafe, it is not at all doubted,
that this ability will plainly appear, wherever the
nature of the market fhall afford an adequate temp-
tation. It is not alledged here, that this ability will
materially vary the foreign fources of our fupplies,
whatever may be the cafe: but it obviates much of
the arguments drawn from the confideration of cre-
dit.
It is believed, that mifcalculations of the refour-
ces and faculties of the United States have affected
504
the mutual interefts of this country and of ſeveral
nations, with which we have intercourfe. Many
of theſe errors have been touched in the preceding
pages. One more is intended to be noticed here.
It is an opinion, which has been maintained,
that the United States would be deftitute of reve-
nue were any circumftances to interrupt their British
trade. The importations into the United States
were very confiderable in the moft difficult years.
of the late war. The prize goods (and thefe pay
duty) were of great value. It is certain, that the
revenue from foreign and domeftic fpirits amounts,
at this time, to one million, fix hundred and fif-
ty thousand dollars, of which a very large part is
drawn from fources other than Britiſh. The reve-
nue from wines, China goods, and molaffes, are en-
tirely from other fources, as thofe from coffee, ſu-
gar and cocoa are in a large degree. Ruffia and
the Hanſe towns now, and Rotterdam, Amfterdam,
Oftend, France and Italy, in tranquil times,
would furnifh great fupplies for money and produce,
and fome of them for credit. Thefe would yield
us revenue of courfe.-If unhappily a war were to
take place, neutral bottoms, with cargoes belong-
ing to themfelves, would afford large fupplies, which
the political claims of Great-Britain prevented in
the revolutionary war. Every European country
would maintain its right to trade with America,*
*The armed neutrality, and the prefent armament of Denmark
and Sweden, afford ferious leffons on this fubject-as alfo the con-
duct of Portugal and Holland towards the United States.
505
acknowledged independent by that country, which
then upheld a claim to check all intercourfe be-
tween her and the foreign world. That trade would
alſo yield us revenue. So far as the manufac-
tures of the United States might diminiſh the im-
portations from foreign countries, it is obvious that'
our citizens could well afford to pay a proportion-
ate tax. If we fhould fave the whole value of a
bale of linens for example, by making it at home,
we could have no difficulty in raiſing or paying one
tenth of its value in the form a land-tax, or fome
other equitable and reaſonable contribution. The
modes of revenue of all nations are unfolded to us,
and we have no reafon to doubt that our law-ma-
kers are lefs able to devife original plans of taxa-
tion, than thoſe of other countries. An uſeful
leſſon upon this ſubject may be obtained by confi-
dering how much more eafy and effectual have
been the financial meaſures of the United States,
fince 1786, 1787 and 1788, than was expected by
unwife and unkind obfervers in thofe three years.
The fhort queftion is this.-Has America the fub-
ftance, wherewithal to defray the expences of her
political exiſtence? Let thofe, who are capable,
compare her prefent operations in every line with
thofe of 1775: and let them alfo compare the pub-
lic contributions of this happy people with thofe of
the nations of the old world-taking duly into
view the productions and exportations of each.
Let them alfo remember that the depredations on
the Britiſh commerce, in the late war, were great
indeed, and that the exertions of that day could be
far exceeded at this time.
I
506
It is highly favourable to the character, the en-
ergy, and fafety of the United States, that the im-
portation of flaves has ceafed, that the increaſe of
white population and gradual emancipation have re-
duced the proportion of thofe unhappy, and once
dangerous people to a very fafe point indeed in
the nine middle and northern ftates, and that a ve-
ry extraordinary increafe of white population has
taken place in the fouthern ftates. The fubdivi-
fion of lands and of all other property, by the re-
cent laws of defcent, facilitates and occafions the
fales of farms to the people of the more northern
ftates, and to European emigrants; and promotes
the rapid courfe by which the whites are over-
numbering the blacks. Kentucky, the Southern
Territory of Congrefs, the western parts of Mary-
land, Virginia, and the Carolinas, are not in the
moſt remote danger of inconvenience from the ne-
groes. The low and level counties of Maryland,
Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina,
where the blacks are moft numerous, are fo near
to the fea, that the tranſportation of a force by
water, were it unexpectedly to become neceffary,
and the collection of the neighbouring and interior
militia, would enfure the immediate fuppreffion of
any diforderly movement. The midland and in-
terior counties being inhabited almoft entirely by
whites, no refuge could be had there. The num-
ber of flaves in the United States is ſomewhat
more than thofe of French St. Domingo, but the
white people of this country are one hundred times
as many as the white people of that colony were
507
at the commencement of the exifting diforders in
that iſland: and are far more energetic, and better
armed.
It will be pleafing to the friends of religious li-
berty to perceive, that no evils whatever have re-
fulted in America from the non-existence of an
eſtabliſhed church, nor from an entire feparation
of ecclefiaftical influence from the civil power.
It has been fometimes feared, that the luxuries
and diffipations of Europe would be quickly intro-
duced, with their capital, into the United States.
Moft of thofe, who have come among us have been
led hither by ſerious views of advantage or driven
by misfortune. Hence it is true, that we really
have no ftriking examples of diffipation or expenſe
among the families, who have chofen America for
their home. They have been duly fobered by
their plans of emolument, or by reflection on the
loffes and difficulties, which have constrained them
to leave their native country. It is really true that
they have rather accommodated themfelves to the
American modes of life, than purfued or introduc-
ed thoſe of Europe. A fact equally beneficial to
them and to us. It is, however, highly prudent to
remember, that the United States having become
by their independence in fome fenfe,
"the colony
of all Europe" further wholefome provifions in our
laws, calculated effectually to prevent inconveni-
encies, which might arife from the fudden introduc-
tion to power of perfons of every variety of cha-
508
racer, difpofition and property, are truly worthy
of legiflative confideration. But while we obey
this obvious and folemn dictate of prudence, let us
not ceaſe to be perfectly equitable, kind, and
generous to thofe foreigners who may defire to
fet down among us: and particularly let them
fully enjoy the rights of religion, protection,
occupation, profeffion and property. When the
courfe in which thefe flates have wifely march-
ed to the goal of freedom, civil and religious,
is duly remembered, it will be fafe to affirm,
that no general defcription of foreigners are likely
to be indifpenfible auxiliaries to the American
people in thoſe important objects, immediately on
their arrival. When the wifdom, which any perfon
may have brought with him fhall be ſufficiently di-
rected by his experience and knowledge of thoſe
things, which belong to our peace and which con-
cern our general interefts, and when he fhall have
manifefted a fufficient common intereft in this com-
munity, thoſe temporary precautions, which pru-
dence may at first require, will become unneceffa-
ry. This principle of caution is not a new one. It
will be fatisfactory to prudent men at home and
abroad, that the conftitution of the United States
and thoſe of the feveral ftates have been framed
with confiderable attention to its obvious expedi-
ency.
It is not unfavourable to the form of government
adopted by this country, that no monarchy in the
civilized world, exercifed over an equally nume-
509
rous people, has been fo well able to maintain in-
ternal tranquility and foreign peace in this day of
general convulfion and diforder. The recent in-
ftance of oppofition to a law of the union has
evinced the difpofition of the people of America to
maintain their government, the efficiency of the con-
ftituted authorities, and the alacrity of the body of
militia of four feveral ftates.
This prompt exer-
tion will be deemed, on ferious reflection, no incon-
fiderable proof of an unalterable determination to
maintain order and the civil power, when it is re-
membered that the rejection of a fimilar law was
attempted in England, within the preſent century,
and actually effected by tumultuous influences on
their legiflature itſelf, equal therefore to the late
diſorders in the fouth weſtern counties of Pennſyl-
vania. In the United States it may be at leaſt af-
firmed, that the ſecondary confideration of a parti-
cular mode of revenue has been put out of queſtion
in order to maintain the primary object of an effi-
cient republican government.
It appears from a very incomplete but authentic
note of the veffels built in the United States dur-
ing the eighteen months following the 31ft day of
December 1792, that they amounted to nearly
80,000 tons. The ports of Nantucket, Boſton,
Alexandria, the two Wilmingtons, Edenton, and
(for one year of the time) Baltimore, and feve-
ral others of inferior confequence were, not in-
cluded in the return. The quantity built at Phi-
ladelphia was 10,204 tons, although the epide-
1
4 A
510
mic malady of 1793, fufpended the buſineſs for one
entire quarter. The diftrict of Maine appears to
have built 15476 tons, though fome of the returns
from thence are deficient. During the firft year of
the exifting general government (from March, 1789,
to March, 1790) the whole fhip-building of the
United States was 17 to 18,000 tons, and in the
fecond year, ending in March, 1791, it was about
62,000 tons.
Such has been the pregrefs and fuch
is the prefent state of the firft of our mechanic arts.
It is of fome importance to the harmony between
the United States and foreign countries, that cir-
cumftances of unfavourable difcrimination againſt
us are gradually wearing out of the fyftems of thoſe
countries. An inftance of this, but little noticed in
America or Great-Britain, has occurred in the re-
gulations of the latter country with refpect to fo-
reign manufactures. Before April, 1792, no ma-
nufactured articles of the United States could be
imported into that kingdom. This exceptionable
difcrimination operated againft us only. On the
firft of that month the annual order of the king of
Great-Britain in council legalized the introduction
of American manufactures upon the footing of the
moſt favoured foreign nations. The two countries
have thus placed each other on an equal ground
in that particular, excepting that Britain has done
that by a temporary executive order which the go-
vernment of the United States have done, upon
the principles of impartiality, by reiterated legif-
lative acts. The exiftence of the late rigid prohi-
511
bition of our manufactures in Great-Britain, though
formerly of little importance, would have been of
confiderable inconvenience to us in the event of a
war between that country and the maritime powers
in the north of Europe. Tanned leather, rolled
and flit iron, fteel, cannon ball, cordage and flax-
en and hempen yarns for example (fome or all of
them) are imported into Great-Britan to a large
amount from thofe nothern nations. Thefe arti-
cles on the occurrence of fuch war, we could fup-
ply to confiderable advantage. Grain ſpirits,
ftarch, malt, foap, candles, and tawed ſkins, and
other articles muſt become redundant and cheap in
the United States and a foreign market for them
may
be found defireable. The powers now at war
have doubtlefs confumed no fmall value of thefe ar-
ticles from America during the laft three years. Hol-
land, the Auftrian Netherlands, the Hanfe towns,
the European ports of France, and the colonies of
feveral nations have received by ordinary importa-
tion from the United States confiderable manufac-
tures of grain, of the fat of animals, of wood,
of iron, of leather and fkins, of flax and hemp, and
of fur.
Terrifying reports of danger from the American
Indians have been widely circulated in fome foreign
countries. It is a fact, however, that there is not the
moft remote poffibility of injury from thofe fava-
ges to more than a twentieth or thirtieth part of
the inhabitants of this country. Nineteen in twen-
ty or twenty-nine in thirty of our people are as free
512
from that danger, as the people of Germany, or
Great-Britain. All the counties on and near the
atlantic ocean, all the midland counties and all the
first ranges of the western counties are perfectly
ſafe and even undisturbed. In the unconnected
range of frontier counties, the inhabitants are often
partially alarmed in the time of an actual Indian
war, and it is true that they fometimes fuffer. But
this has little effect upon them as is proved by facts,
which ſpeak more ftrongly than any thing, that
can be faid upon the fubject. The old frontier
county of Cumberland in Pennſylvania, for exam-
ple, contained, in the year 1760, no more than 1501
taxable inhabitanst, and in the year 1770 no more
than 3521 taxable inhabitants. It had a narrow
front on the western bank of the river Sufquehan-
na, and extended from thence over the Alleghe-
ney mountain beyond the head of the Ohio to the
weſtern limits of the ftate. By a public return of
1793,* it appears that the counties, erected fince
out of the original county of Cumberland are inha-
bited by the increaſed number of 24,785 taxable
inhabitants. Four of them, which are beyond the
Allegheney mountain, and neareft to the Indians,
contain nearly one third more than thoſe four
which lie between that mountain and the river
Sufquehanna. Much the most populous of the
whole eight, is the county of Waſhington, which
lies the neareſt to the Indians, and has in it near
24,000 inhabitants of all ages and fexes.
* See Chapter VI. Book II. for a comparative view of the
taxable inhabitants of Pennſylvania at three periods.
513
The great prices of American exports, both the
fpontaneous productions of the earth and the fruits
of cultivation, which have been obtained in our
home market, during the laft fix years, together
with the prodigious increaſe of fome of them, have
given an immenfe fpring to the landed property
and the agricultural interefts of the United States.
For example our whole export of flour in 1786,
fuppofing it to be 300,000 barrels, at five dollars,
has been advanced to nearly 1,100,000 barrels in
1793 at feven dollars. It is to be remembered al-
ſo that as very great improvements in agricultural
ſkill and economy are obviouſly practicable in this
country, much conſequent increaſe may be reaſon-
ably expected. The commerce, which has refult-
ed from this great natural cauſe, the profperity of
agriculture, is of the moſt fatisfactory and unfluctu-
ating kind. Thoſe, who have nearly 800,000 bar-
rels of flour to fell and fhip in 1793 more than
they had in 1786, will have fo much the more to
do in their banks, their inſurance offices, their
counting houſes, their tradefmens fhops and on
their wharves; fo much more for their millers to
grind, and for their coafters to tranfport, fo much
more to employ their outward fhips, and fo much
more to fill their inward veſſels, and in fhort, fo
much more of all the pleaſing and profitable details
of an honeft, intelligent and flouriſhing commerce,
folidly founded upon, and infeparably blended with
the proſperity of the farmer, the planter, the gra-
zier, the iron mafter, and the land holder of every
deſcription.
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