Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-04-28

I OF OUT cOIQIutIC6 DY DIltAou plAdJCSi
this writer thus foreshadOws the dam
| ages:
'FWere we the sufferers, we should GER
| tainly demand compensation Tor the loss OF
/ the property captured or destroyetl-fOr the
/ interest OF the capital invested in the vessels
| and their cargoes, and may be q fair
/ compensation In ADDITION Tor All and
any injury accruing to our business interests
/ from the depredations upon our shipping.
| The reDEiinerdti0It may reach nigh p0t1e IN
te present case 0utu scolftd not Be a simple act
/ Of Justice, and might prevent an incompara-
] bly, greater loss in the future"
Such Is the candid and explicit tes-
/ timony of Englishmen, pointing the
way to the proper rule of damages.
How to authenticate the extent Of ma
/ tional loss with reasonable certainty
is not without difficulty: but it can
not be doubted that such a loss occur
red. 1t is folly to question it. The
loss may be seen in various circum-
stances, as in the rise Of insurance on
American vessels the fate of the car
rying trade, which was one of the
great resources of our country: the
/ elimination of our tonnage with the
corresponding increase OF British
tonnage the falling off in our exports
and imports, with due allowance for
our abnormal currency, and the diver
sion of war. These are some of the
elements; and here again we have
British testimony. Mr.. w. f. For
ster, in the speech already quoted,
/ announces that "the carrying trade OF
1 the United States was transferred to
I British merchants ;" and Mr.. Cob
den, with his characteristic mastery
of details shows that, according TO an
/ official document laid on the table OF
parliament, American shipping had
been transferred to English capitalists
| as follows: In 1883, 80 vessels, Is, ,63S
tons; 1859, 49 vessels, q, ,673 tons; 1860,
Al, vessels, Is, ,63S tons 1861, 126 ves-
sells, Il ,673 tons; 1862, 135 vessels 81,
573 tons and 1888, 34S vessels, 81, ,579
4 tons and he adds, al am told that
this operation is now going on as fast
as ever :" and this circumstance he
declares to be ''the grdUest part Of the
/ question of our relations with Ameri-
ca" But this 'gravest part" is left
untouched by the pending treaty.
Our own official documents are in
harmony with these English authOri-
ties. For instance, ] have before me
now the report of the secretary Of the
\ treasury for 1865, with an appendix
I by Mr.. Nimmo on ship building in
our country. From this report it APP
pears that in the. New England states
/ during the year 1855, the most pros
porous year of American shipbuild-
| ing, 305 ships and barks, and 175
| schOoners were built, with an aggre-
gate tonnage Of 326, ,420 tons, while
during the last year only So ships and
I barks, and 213 sehOoners were built,
with an aggregate tonnage OF 9S, ,697
tons. 1 add further statement from
! the same report:
I During the the ten years from 1852 to 1852
I the aggregate tonnage OF American vessels
/ entered at seaports OF the United States from
1 foreign countries was 80 225, 475 tons, and the
aggregate tonnage Of foreign entered was
/ 1855, 1872 tons, while duriag the nve years,
/ from 1853 to 1853, the aggregate tonnage OF
I American vessels entered was s, ,2e9e.S 81 tons,
l and the aggregate tonnage OF foreign vessels
entered was LII, ,<G tons, showing that
American tonnage In our foreign trade had
/ fallen from 206 70 s. per cent. Of foreign ton
I mage in the trade. Stated in other terms,
/ during the decade nom 1852 to lS62- 81 per
/ cent. Of the total tonnage entered from for
/ eign countries was in American vessels, and
/ during the five years from 1853 TO 1858, only
/ 80 per cent. of the aggregate tonnage entered
from foreign countries was In American YES
! sels-a relative falling on OF nearly one
half"-LFinanceR Report for 1855, page 4s6.
1t is not easy to say how much Of
/ this change, which has become ehron-
/ ie, may be referred to British pirates;
but it cannot be doubted that they
contributed largely to produce it.
They began the Influences under
/ which this charge has continued.
There is another document which
bears directly upon the present ques-
. - ~ sNrsr-r inn or-f
! of Mr.. Morse, ear consul at London,
made during the last year and pub
lished by the secretary Of state. Af-
ter a minute inquiry the report shows
/ that on the breaking out Of the rebel
lion in 1861, the entire tonnage of the
/ United Stales, eoasting and registered,
was ), ,5S9, ,Sl3 tons, of which 2.642, ,625
tons were registered and employed in
foreign trade, and that at the close of
the rebellion in 1866, Notwithstanding
an increase in eOasting tonnage, our
registered tonnage had fallen TO ,6O2-
52S tons, being loss during the four
years of more than a million tons,
amounting to about forty per cent. of
our foreign commerce. During the
same four years the total tonnage OF
the British empire rose from >, 1886, :
1859 tons to 1895, ,604 tons. the increase
being especially in the foreign trade.
The report proceeds TO say that as to
the cause of the decrease in America
and the corresponding increase in the
British empire, "there can be no
room for question or doubt" Here is
the precise testimony from one who
at his official post in London watched
this unprecedent drama, with the out
stretched ocean as theater aud Brit
ish pirates as the performers:
'-COnceding to the rebels the oeligerent
rights of the sea when they had not SOFIA
~ war ship afioat, in dock, or in process or
construction. and when they had no power
to protect or dispose Of prizes, made their
sea rovers, when they appeared, the tnstru-
ments Of terror and destruction 70 our com
nrst cOrsair in pursuit OF their ships, Ameri-
can merchants had to pay not only the ma
rine but the war risk also on their shlpS.
AFTER the burning OF one or two ships win
their neutral cargoes, the ship owner had 70
pay the war risk on the cargo his snip had
on freight as well as well as on the snip
Even then, for safety, the preference was, as
a matter Of course, always given 10 neutral
vessels and American ships rarely md EN-
ployment on these hard terms as long as
there were good neutral ships in the freight
markets. Under such circumstances there
was no course left for our merchant ship
owners but to take such prontless business
as was occasionally offered them, let their
ships be idle at their moorings or in dock
with large expense and deterioration con
stantly going on, 70 sell them. outright when
they could do so without ruinous sacrifice,
or put them under foreign nags for Protec-
ticn. ."-RepoTf II 7, ". Morse, CRaed Stdtes
C6BsliI az London, dated JdHudry !, lSdA
Beyond the actual loss in the ma
tiouai tonnage, there was further
loss in the arrest of our national in
crease in this branch of industry,
which an intelligent statistiean puts
at five per cent. annually, making in
1866 a total loss on this account of
], 1884, ,95S tons, which must be added
to !, ,229, ,035 tons actually lost. The
same statistiean, after estimating the
value Of ton at so gold, and max
ing allowance for old and new ships,
puts the sum total of national loss on
this account at S1I0, 900, 900. To these
authorities add that of the National
board of trade, which in = recent re-
port on American shipping, after set
ting forth the diminuItiOn of our sail
ing tonnage, says that it is all to be
traced to the war on the ocean, and
the result is summed up in the words,
that, "while the tonnage of the nation
was rapidly disappearing by the ror0-
qes of the rebel cruisers and by sales
abroad, there was no construetionNofI
new vessels going forward to counter
act the decline even in part" such
is the various testimony, all tending
to one conclusion. This is what
have to say for the present on nation
al losses through the destruction Of
commerce. These are large enough