History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 2 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

This important resolution, opening the door to reciprocal measures, was declared to be more consistent with the true interest, as well as with the peaceful disposition, of the United States than any retrograde movement. Although no legislative action followed this enunciation of the principles of reciprocity, it formed at a future period the basis of both negotiation and legislation with foreign powers. The time, however, had not then arrived for the avowal and practice of a much wiser and more enlightened policy than that by which nations were guided before, and for some years after, the close of the eighteenth century.

Early statesmen of the United States.

Their efforts to develop maritime commerce.

Perhaps no nation of modern times has produced more enlightened statesmen than those who regulated the affairs of the United States for full half a century after the declaration of its independence. They had, as we have seen, numerous difficulties to contend with, both at home and abroad, but these were overcome with a tact and genius which commands our admiration. Though materially assisted in their efforts to extend and develop their shipping by the seafaring habits of the people, by the natural maritime resources of their own country, and by the advantages they derived as neutrals during the war which so long raged in Europe, they were ever ready to encourage increased intercourse with distant nations, in spite of the opposition of the maritime States to those liberal measures which they had so frequently propounded, and in which they had been too often thwarted.

First trade with the East.

But though the American shipowners, as a body, and as would seem to be the case with the majority of shipowners of all countries, clung to protection, they were individually quite as daring, and even more energetic, than those of Great Britain. So early in their independence as 1785 a vessel from Baltimore in Maryland displayed, for the first time, the American flag in the Canton river, where she discharged a cargo of American produce, and loaded in return a cargo of teas, China ware, silk, and other produce for her own country. In September 1788, Captain Read, the commander of an American merchantman, arrived in Philadelphia from a voyage to China, wherein he had performed the outward passage by stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the south of New Holland (Australia), and running northwards along the east side of that vast island, until he reached his port of destination. As we have seen, other American merchant vessels had reached the British possessions in India at a time while as yet prolonged voyages to the most distant regions of the globe were deemed such arduous efforts of nautical skill, as only to be performed in safety by a few experienced commanders in the service of Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, who had been accustomed to the navigation of those distant seas, and were familiar with the routes, and the prevailing periodical winds. So rapid indeed was their progress, that out of the million tons of sea-going vessels owned in the United States at the commencement of this century, no less than seven hundred and twenty thousand were employed in their trade with foreign nations. Although some historians[320] attribute this prosperity in great measure to their protective laws, it will be found mainly due to the facilities which the United States afford for maritime pursuits, the abundance and cheapness of timber suitable for shipbuilding purposes, and especially, as we have just mentioned, to the energy of the people and the advantages they derived as a neutral nation.

War of 1803.

Its effect on maritime pursuits.

When in May 1803, the war again broke out between France and England, the shipowners of the United States, with their characteristic energy, were prepared to avail themselves, to an even greater extent than they had hitherto done, of the numerous advantages which a European war conferred on them as neutrals. Hostilities between two great nations must ever be a most grievous calamity, but it was greatly aggravated in the present instance by the depredations of American privateers hoisting, as might suit their purpose, French or English colours, under men, too, who were almost as reckless and daring in their acts as the English and Dutch buccaneers of the early part of the eighteenth century, some of them frequently making capture of vessels belonging to their own countrymen.

But though an examination of the State papers collected by the Americans themselves furnishes abundant proof of too many unblushing acts of piracy committed by vessels built and equipped in American ports, and frequently manned almost exclusively by citizens of the United States, there is no reason to suppose that their lawless acts were committed by the consent or knowledge of the American government. When the arm of the law is not sufficiently strong, there are always abundance of adventurers of all nations ready to take advantage of its weakness and, in the name of neutrals or under the flag of belligerents, as may best suit their purpose, to fit out from neutral ports cruisers with no other object than plunder; and there were too many of such vessels cruising about the ocean during the last twelve years of the mighty struggle between France and England. The government of the Federation was as yet incapable of controlling the ardour, love of gain, and enterprise which render similar adventures as fascinating as they are profitable; but it exclaimed incessantly against both England and France for alleged breaches of the laws of nations, and did not, or would not, see the violations committed by their own or by professing citizens sailing under the flag of the United States in vessels built and equipped in their own harbours, and especially in the port of Baltimore, at that time, and for some years afterwards celebrated for the construction of vessels of great beauty and symmetry, and of extraordinary speed.