Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/353

 During this unfortunate war many difficulties arose with respect of the importation of American cotton, as that necessary article of commerce, in spite of the English navigation laws, still in some mode found its way to her ports in neutral bottoms. Consequently there arose a complication, in which the cotton-spinners stood in direct antagonism with the interests of the shipowners. By the laws of war trade could not be carried on with America except by royal licence; the Act of the 43 George III., c. 153, only giving power to legalise importations. The general navigation laws of England prohibited importation except in their own ships, or in the ships of the places where the commodities imported grew. The Act of George III., therefore, conflicted with that of Charles II., and the shipowners viewed any relaxation of the provisions of the old navigation laws with the deepest alarm.

Thus, whenever a war with a maritime power supervened, the navigation laws were relaxed in favour of some paramount interests, such as, in the present case, that of the cotton-spinners, whose

deeply before its close from the effects it produced in their commercial relations. Their foreign trade, which anterior to the rupture with Great Britain amounted to 22,000,000l. of imports and 28,000,000l. of exports, carried on in 1,300,000 tons of shipping, was almost annihilated. So disastrous were the effects of the war, that in the two short years of its existence two-thirds of the mercantile and trading classes in all the States of the Union became insolvent, and such were the suffering and public discontent in the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut that the feeling of nationality was nearly extinguished. Indeed a large portion of the people, when peace was restored, were preparing to take steps to break off from the Union, to assert their national independence, and to make terms with Great Britain (see 'De Tocqueville' and 'Annual Register' for 1814, p. 193).]
 * [Footnote: *ment of the war captured by privateers, the Americans suffered the most