Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-04-30

I
d en- from the ocean, that the Georgia, OF
T her second cruise, did not meet a sin
e gle American vessel in six weeks
though she saw no less than sevenf1
1 i vessels IN a few days This is mos
suggestive. So entirely was Ol1r rom.
g merce driven from the ocean that fol
{ six weeks not one American vessel was
? tseen Another EnglishnIafl IN an
> elaborate pamphlet, bears similar tes.
! timony. I refer to the pamphlet ofATr
Z Edge, published in London by Ridg.
way in 1864, and entitled 'fThe Des.
truotion of the American aCarrvinu
Trade - After setting forth at length
/, the destruction of our comuerce bv
British pirates, this writer thus fore
SHADOWS the damages 'fWere we, ,s'
says hef sthe sufferers, we should cer-
talniy demand compensation for the
loss OF the property captured or des-
trOy6dAfor the interest of the canital
invested in the vessels and their ear
4 goes, and, may be, a fair compensation
in addition for all and anvs ifiurv ac-
cruing to our business interests from
the depred datiOas upon our shipping.
i The remuneration may reach high
II figure IN the present case but it would
be simple act of Justice, and might
/ prevent an ineomparably greater loss
IN the future, - Here we have 'tlle dam
1 ages as assessed by an Englishman,
who, while contemplating remunera-
/ ton at a high figure, recognizes it as a
Ef5dlEl pie at5L fNAS6AECa SUCH
/ did and explicit testimony Of an Eng
/ lishmau, pointing the 4zay to the prop
er rule of damages. How to authenti-l
cate the extent of national loss with
reasonable certainty lis not without
difficulty; but it cannot be &oubtedg
that such loss occurred. It is folly
to question it. The loss may be seen
in various circumstances as in the rise
of insurance on all American vessels
the fate of the carrying trade. which
was one of the great resources of our
country the dimUnition of our tun-
mage, with the corresponding increase
OF British tunnage the falling off in
our exports ana imports, with due al
lAOWamce for our abnormal currency
and the diversion of war. These are /
some of the elements and here again. |
we have British testimony, Mr.. W. III |
Forster, in the speech already quoted |
announces that Sthe carrying trade of /
the United States was transferred to /
British merchants :" and Mr., Cobden
with his characteristic mastery of de- /
tails, shows that, according to an oflie- |
ial document laid on the table of Par
lament, American shipping had been |
transferred to English capitalists as
follows In 1858, thirty-three vessels,
13,63S tuns 1859, forty-nine vessels
q 1913 tuns 1860, forty-one vessels,
13, ,638 tuns 1861, one hundred and 1
twenty-six vessels. n, ,673 tTIns 1862 4
81, 573 tuns and 1858, three hundred
and forty-eights vessels, 255, ,579 tIlrs IL
and he adds Il am told that this ol1-
GRAFTON is now going on as fast as
ever :" and this circumstance he de-
clares to be 'sthe grdUest part of the
questions of our relation with Ameri-
ca" But this "grayest part" is left
untouched by the pending treaty.
Our own official documents are in har-
mony with these English authorities.
TO- ..
report of the Secretary of the Treasn-
~ for 1868, with an appendix by Mr..
on ship building in onr coun-
try. From this report, it appears that,
in New England States, during the
year 1855, the most prosperous year of
American ship-buildings three hum
dyed and five ships and barks, and one
hundred and seventy three sehOoners
were built, with an aggregate tunnage1
of 9S, ,697 tuns.. I add q further state
ment from the same report: 81
6 During the ten years from 1852 to !
1862 the aggregate tunnage of Amefi-
can vessels entered at seaports of the
United States from foreign countries
was 39, ,225, AIS itumS, and the aggregate
of foreign vessels entered
was Il, 1895, ,19z tuns, while during the
i've years from 1868 to 1868 the agQre-
gate tunnage of American vessels en-
tered was 8, ,299, ,S77 tUns, and the aggfe
gate tunnage of foreign vessels enter
ed was II, lie, ,427 tHns-showing that
American tannage in our foreign trades
by to sixty-six per cent. of foreign tTifl=P
mage in the same trade. Stated in 9TH
er terms, during the decade from 1852
TO 1862, siXty-seVen per cent. of the to-
5al tunnage entered from foreign coun-
tries was in American vessels, and
during the five years from 1868 to 1868
only thirty-mine per cent. of the aggre-
gate tunnage entered from foreign I
countries was in American vessels-a
relative falling off of nearly -one-haIf. -
Finance Report for 1868, page 496.
1t is not easy to say how much of this
charge which has become chronic, may
be referred to British pirates but it
can not be'doUbted that they contribu-
the influences under whichtllis change /!
has continued There is another docU-
ment which bears directly upon the
present question. / refer to the in
report of Mr.. Morse, our Con-
sui at London, made during the last
year, and published by the Secretary |
Of State. After a minute inquiry, the
report shows that, on the breaking out
Of the rebellion in 1861, the entire tun-
mage of the United States, coasting
and registered, was 5,539, ,Sl3 tuns, of
which 2,642, ,625 tuns We're registered ;
shat, at the close of the rebellion in
1865, notwithstanding an increase in
eoaSbing tunnage, our registered tun-
mage had fallen to ], ,602, ,628 tuns, being
a loss during the four years of more I
than a million tuDS, amounting to
about forty per cent. of our foreign
During the same four
years the total tunnage of the British
Empire rose from !, ,S95, 1863 tuns to l.
322, ,604 tuns, the increase being especi-
ally in the foreign trade. The report
proceeds to say that, as to the cause OF
the decrease in America, and the cor
increase in the British En-
pire, "there can be no room for ques-
ton or doubt" Here is the precise
testimony from one who at his official
post in London watched this unprece-
dented drama, with the outstretehed
ocean as theatre, and British PIRATES
as the performers
nConceding to the rebels the belli-
gerent rights of the sea when they had
not solitary war ship ahoat, in dock,
or in the process OF construction, and
when they had no power to protect or
dispose of prizes, made their sea-rov;
ers, when they appeared, the instru-
ments of terror and destruction to our
commerce. From the appearance of
the first crusier in pursuit of their
ships, American merchants had to pay
not only the marine, but the war risk
also on ther ships. After the burning
of one or two ships with their neutral
cargOes, the ship-oWner had to pay the
war risk on the cargo his ship had on
freight as well as on the ship. Even
then, for safety, the preference was, as
a matter of course, always given to
neutral vessels, and American ships
could rarely find employment on theseL
hard TERMS as long as there were good
neutral ships in the freight market.
Under such circumstances there was
no course left for our merchant ship
owners but to take such profitless bust
ness as was occasionally offered them,
let their ships be idle at their moOrings
or in the dock with large expense and
deterioration constantly going on, to /
sell them outright when they could do
so without runious sacrifice, or put
them under foreign flags for protec-
ton. III Report of F. ii. Morse, Uni /
ted States Consul at London, dated /
January l, 1868.
Beyond the actual loss to the nation
al tunnage there was further loss in |
the arrest of our natural increase in |
this branch of industry, which an in /
telligent statistician puts at five per |