FOOTNOTES:
[205] Vol. I. chaps. [xvi.], [xvii.], and vol. II. chaps. [i.], [ii.]
[206] This very condensed account of the voyages of Dampier, Anson, and Cook has been mainly taken from the collection of voyages published by J. Hawkesworth, London, 4to., 1773; and from Captain Cook’s own narrative, London, 4to., 1779-1784; that of Dampier has been taken from his own account, and from ‘Inland and Maritime Discovery,’ vol. ii.
[207] Discovered by Davis, in 1686.
[208] Edmund Burke’s brilliant sketch, entitled ‘An Account of the European Settlements in America,’ gives a clear and succinct history of their progress up to 1760.
[209] For the various details on this subject see Macpherson, vol. iii., and the annual register for each year of that period.
[210] It is estimated that since the Peace of 1783, and down to the end of 1873, there have been 8,779,174 aliens landed in the United States; emigrants arrived from various parts of the world. Various estimates have been made of the amount of money brought into the country by immigrants. The late John A. Kennedy, for many years Superintendent at Castle Garden, found it about $68 per head for a given period. Placing it at only $50, we have $444,000,000 as the result up to this time. But the far greater value consists in the labour brought into the country, a very large proportion of which goes to build up new Territories and States in the West.—London ‘Times’ newspaper, January 20th, 1874.
[211] Statute of George II. chap. xiii.
[212] This “Case,” with all the statements on both sides, will be found in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, 1749-1777, vol. i. Miscellaneous, comprising No. 1 to No. 9.
[213] Vide Edwards’ ‘History of the West Indies,’ vol. i. p. 239.
[214] 6 Geo. III. chap. ii.
[215] One especial cause of this was that Spain has at no modern period had a large internal commerce. Hence Spanish gold was largely spent in Europe in the purchase of many goods which she did not, or would not, produce herself.
[216] Cotton was first planted in Georgia in 1786, but made little progress for several years.
[217] In 1769 the colonies built and launched 389 vessels, 113 square rigged, and 276 sloops and schooners, of an aggregate burthen of 20,001 tons. Of these, Massachusetts (including Boston and Salem) provided nearly one-half, New Hampshire and Rhode supplied the next largest numbers, while New York had only 5 square-rigged vessels and 14 sloops and schooners, measuring in all 955 tons. Pennsylvania owned 1344 tons; Virginia, 1249; North and South Carolina, 1396; and Connecticut, 1542; while Georgia had 1 sloop and 1 schooner, whose combined measure was only 50 tons! In 1769 the entrances to all the ports of the present United States amounted to 332,146 tons, and the clearances to 339,362 tons; of which 99,121 tons cleared for Great Britain; 42,601 for Southern Europe and Africa; 96,382 for British and Foreign West Indies; and 101,198 for the continent of America and the Bahama Islands. The aggregate value of the whole imports amounted to 2,623,412l., and of the exports to 2,852,441l.; of which Great Britain sent 1,604,975l., receiving in return produce to the value of 1,531,516l. (‘Journals of the House of Commons,’ 1792, p. 357).
[218] The famous defence of Gibraltar, July 17, 1779, to Nov. 27, 1781, by General Elliott (Lord Heathfield), and Rodney’s two actions, in which he defeated the Spanish and French fleets respectively, did more than anything to restore the prestige of England. In the first of these battles, fought off Cape St. Vincent, Jan. 1780, Rodney took the Spanish Admiral, Don Langara, and six of his ships; in the second, fought in the West Indies, on April 12, 1782, he took five ships and the French Admiral, the Count de Grasse, prisoners of war.
[219] Macpherson, vol. iv., passim.
[220] Sir Guy Carleton went to America to treat for peace May 5, 1782.
[221] This Treaty was signed in Tippoo’s camp by Sir George Staunton as the English Ambassador, on the 11th of March, 1784.
Trade of Great Britain with foreign countries, 1760-1797.
| Years. | Imports. | Exports of British and Foreign and Colonial Produce. |
|---|---|---|
| Official Value. | Official Value. | |
| £ | £ | |
| 1760 | 10,683,596 | 15,781,176 |
| 1761 | 10,292,541 | 16,038,913 |
| 1762 | 9,579,160 | 14,543,336 |
| 1763 | 12,568,927 | 15,578,943 |
| 1764 | 11,250,660 | 17,446,306 |
| 1765 | 11,812,144 | 15,763,868 |
| 1766 | 12,456,765 | 15,188,669 |
| 1767 | 13,097,153 | 15,090,001 |
| 1768 | 13,116,281 | 16,620,132 |
| 1769 | 13,134,091 | 15,001,282 |
| 1770 | 13,430,298 | 15,994,572 |
| 1771 | 14,208,325 | 19,018,481 |
| 1772 | 14,508,716 | 17,720,169 |
| 1773 | 12,522,643 | 16,375,431 |
| 1774 | 14,477,876 | 17,288,486 |
| 1775 | 14,815,856 | 16,326,364 |
| 1776 | 12,443,435 | 14,755,704 |
| 1777 | 12,643,831 | 13,491,006 |
| 1778 | 11,033,898 | 12,253,890 |
| 1779 | 11,435,265 | 13,530,703 |
| 1780 | 11,714,966 | 13,698,178 |
| 1781 | 12,722,862 | 11,332,296 |
| 1782 | 10,341,629 | 13,009,459 |
| 1783 | 13,122,235 | 14,681,495 |
| Years. | Imports. | Exports.—Official Value. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official Value. | British Produce and Manufactures. | Foreign and Colonial Produce. | Total Exports. | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| 1784 | 15,272,877 | 11,255,057 | 3,846,434 | 15,101,491 |
| 1785 | 16,279,419 | 11,081,811 | 5,035,358 | 16,117,169 |
| 1786 | 15,786,072 | 11,830,195 | 4,470,536 | 16,300,731 |
| 1787 | 17,804,025 | 12,053,900 | 4,815,889 | 16,869,789 |
| 1788 | 18,027,170 | 12,724,720 | 4,747,519 | 17,472,239 |
| 1789 | 17,821,103 | 13,779,506 | 5,561,043 | 19,340,549 |
| 1790 | 19,130,886 | 14,921,084 | 5,199,037 | 20,120,121 |
| 1791 | 19,669,783 | 16,810,019 | 5,921,977 | 22,731,996 |
| 1792 | 19,659,358 | 18,336,851 | 6,568,349 | 24,905,200 |
| 1793 | 19,255,117 | 13,892,269 | 6,496,560 | 20,388,829 |
| 1794 | 22,276,916 | 16,725,403 | 10,021,681 | 26,748,084 |
| 1795 | 22,736,889 | 16,338,213 | 10,785,126 | 27,123,339 |
| 1796 | 23,187,320 | 19,102,220 | 11,416,694 | 30,518,914 |
| 1797 | 21,013,957 | 16,903,103 | 12,013,907 | 28,917,010 |
[223] For interesting details of this period of Irish history, see ‘Life of Grattan,’ by his son, and Phillipps’s ‘Memoirs of J. Philpot Curran.’
[224] The ships which entered the ports of Scotland, during the following years are thus reported by Chalmers:—
| Foreign trade. | Coast trade. | Fisheries, &c. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | |
| In 1769 | 48,271 | 21,615 | 10,275 |
| In 1774 | 52,225 | 26,214 | 14,903 |
| In 1784 | 50,386 | 31,542 | 10,421 |
| In 1785 | 60,356 | 36,371 | 11,252 |
The Custom House accounts, from which the above is derived, state the ships to belong to Scotland, reckoning each vessel only one voyage in each year.
[225] Vide Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations,’ by McCulloch, pp. 47, 48.
[226] Fleetwood gives the wages of a ship’s carpenter, in 1514, at 3d. per day from Candlemas to Michaelmas, and 6d. from Michaelmas to Candlemas; a master caulker had 6d. and 5d., and inferior caulkers 5d. and 4½d. per day respectively, 2d. per day being deducted for diet. A great service has been done, especially in the navy, by the diminishing the quantity of grog, and by the substitution for it of cocoa, &c.
[227] 26 George III. chap. 60.
[228] McCulloch’s ‘Commercial Dictionary,’ article Registry; see also Macpherson, iv. pp. 107-111, who gives the rules for measuring the capacity of ships.
[229] Act of Congress, December 31, 1792, chap. i.
[230] For full details of the law with reference to neutral ships, see Wheaton’s ‘International Law,’ vol. ii. c. iii.
[231] Macpherson, iv. pp. 112-116. It may create a smile when we state that one clause in this treaty stipulated “that the merchants are at liberty to keep their books as they please, and to write their letters in any language they think proper.” Another clause provided that British subjects were “not compelled to keep their accounts on stamped paper with the exception of the Journal.”
[232] Of one hundred and thirty-seven vessels thus engaged in the year 1787, eighty were owned in Liverpool, and thirty in Bristol.
[233] Macpherson (iv. 145) gives the following dimensions of a “slaver,” from a return presented to Parliament in 1786. Taking the first on the list, a ship belonging to J. Brooks and Co., it appears that the length of the lower deck, with the thickness of the grating and the bulkhead, was 100 feet; her breadth of beam, from inside to inside, 25 ft. 4 in.; the depth of the hold, from ceiling to lower deck, 10 ft.; height between decks, 5 ft. 8 in.; length of the men’s room on lower deck, 96 ft. 4 in.; breadth of the men’s room on lower deck, 25 ft. 4 in.; length of the platform in men’s room on the lower deck, 46 ft.; breadth of the same platform, 6 ft.; length of the boys’ room, 13 ft. 9 in.; breadth of the boys’ room, 25 ft.; length of platform in boys’ room, 6 ft.; length of the women’s room, 28 ft. 6 in.; breadth of women’s room, 23 ft. 6 in.; length of platform in women’s room, 28 ft. 6 in.; breadth of platform in women’s room on each side, 6 ft. The number of air-ports going-through the side of the deck was 14; the length of the quarter-deck, 33 ft. 6 in., by a breadth of 19 ft. 6 in.; the length of the cabin was 14 ft., by 19 ft. in diameter, and 6 ft. 2 in. in height. The vessel, named after the owners, the Brooks, is described as frigate-built without forecastle, and pierced for 20 guns. When leaving the coast of Africa she carried, besides her crew, 351 men, 121 women, 90 boys, and 41 girls, a total of 609! She lost by death, on her passage, 10 men, 5 women, 3 boys, and 1 girl. Her provisions for the negroes were:—20 tons of split beans, peas, rice, shelled barley, and Indian corn; 2 tons of bread; 12 cwt. of flour; 2070 yams, averaging 7 lbs. each; 34,002 gallons of water; 330 gallons of brandy, rum, &c.; 70 gallons of wine; 60 gallons of vinegar; 60 gallons of molasses; 200 gallons of palm oil; 10 barrels of beef; 20 cwt. of stock fish; with 100 lbs. of pepper. She was 49 days on the passage from the Gold Coast to the West Indies, the shortest passage of nine vessels reported being 42 days, and the longest 50 days.
[234] Sierra Leone was discovered in 1460. The number of slaves sent out is said to have been four hundred males and sixty women. As a settlement, Sierra Leone has met with indifferent success, and it has been attacked more than once by the French and the neighbouring Ashantees. The climate is peculiarly deadly to European constitutions (Macpherson, iv. pp. 128 and 223).
[235] ‘Observations on the Commerce of the American States,’ by Lord Sheffield.
[236] ‘Opinions on interesting subjects of Public Law and Commercial Policy, arising from American Independence,’ by George Chalmers.
[237] The story of the early life of Lord Nelson well illustrates the difficulties between the colonists, the Americans, and the English government. In 1784 Captain Nelson found himself, as commanding the Boreas frigate, the senior captain on the West India Station, under a general who hesitated about his duties, and was more than half inclined to support the enemies of England, and an admiral who candidly admitted he had not read the instructions from home under which he was bound to act. How Nelson solved the difficulty by simply enforcing the Acts of Parliament, and how Collingwood, in the Mediator, stood firmly by him, is well told by Southey in his ‘Life of Lord Nelson,’ pp. 54-60 (Bohn’s ed.).