FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  
the savages, and the consequent difficulty of settling the fertile and vacant lands of the west.[28] On the north-eastern frontier too, the British were charged with making encroachments on the territory of the United States. On that side, the river St. Croix, from its source to its mouth in the bay of Passamaquoddy, is the boundary between the two nations. Three rivers of that name empty into the bay. The Americans claimed the most eastern, as the real St. Croix, while settlements were actually made under the authority of the government of Nova Scotia to the middle river, and the town of St. Andrews was established on its banks. [Footnote 28: See note, No. III. at the end of the volume.] [Sidenote: Mr. Adams appointed to negotiate with the British cabinet.] But the cause of most extensive disquiet was the rigorous commercial system pursued by Great Britain. While colonists, the Americans had carried on a free and gainful trade with the British West Indies. Those ports were closed against them as citizens of an independent state; and their accustomed intercourse with other parts of the empire also was interrupted by the navigation act. To explore new channels for the commerce of the nation was, in the actual state of things, opposed by obstacles which almost discouraged the attempt. On every side they met with rigorous and unlooked for restrictions. Their trade with the colonies of other powers, as well as with those of England, was prohibited; and in all the ports of Europe they encountered regulations which were extremely embarrassing. From the Mediterranean, they were excluded by the Barbary powers, whose hostility they had no force to subdue, and whose friendship they had no money to purchase. Thus, the characteristic enterprise of their merchants, which, in better times, has displayed their flag in every ocean, was then in a great measure restrained from exerting itself by the scantiness of their means. These commercial difficulties suggested the idea of compelling Great Britain to relax the rigour of her system, by opposing it with regulations equally restrictive; but to render success in such a conflict possible, it was necessary that the whole power of regulating commerce should reside in a single legislature. Few were so sanguine as to hope that thirteen independent governments, jealous of each other, could be induced to concur for a length of time, in measures capable of producing the desired effect
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
British
 

Americans

 

independent

 

system

 

commercial

 
rigorous
 
Britain
 

regulations

 
powers
 

commerce


eastern

 

England

 
purchase
 

friendship

 
savages
 

characteristic

 
attempt
 
merchants
 

enterprise

 

discouraged


subdue

 

embarrassing

 

Europe

 

encountered

 

extremely

 

restrictions

 

Mediterranean

 

excluded

 

unlooked

 

prohibited


hostility

 
colonies
 

Barbary

 

displayed

 

scantiness

 
sanguine
 

thirteen

 
legislature
 

single

 
regulating

reside
 

governments

 
jealous
 
capable
 

measures

 

producing

 
desired
 

effect

 
length
 

induced