Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/406

 the footing on which the trade had been placed at the conclusion of the previous war, embarked in it without apprehension, as a commerce perfectly lawful. An immense amount of tonnage was employed in this trade, which was carried on without interruption till the summer of 1805, when a decision on new grounds was adopted by the English Admiralty Courts, which suddenly, and without the smallest warning, exposed the whole of the American merchant vessels to seizure and condemnation.

It was now decided that the proof of payment of duties in America was no evidence of a bonâ fide importation into that country, because payment of duties did not mean that the duties had been actually paid in money, but that they had been secured by bonds; and from the peculiar system of revenue laws established in the United States, the merchant who re-exported goods previously imported, gained a profit by his transactions with the custom-house, instead of suffering any loss or deduction from his gains. The importer, when the duties were ascertained, gave bonds for the amount; but if the next day he should enter the goods for exportation again, he became entitled to debentures from the customhouse, payable on the same day with the bonds, and made out for the same sums, with a deduction of only three and a half per cent., which was retained for the government. The bonds given originally by the merchant remained unissued in the custody of the revenue officers; while the debentures became an as-*