fifteen vessels in the southern, and two in the northern fishery,
carrying forty-five hundred tons in the whole, or two hundred and
sixty-five each, on an average. The English ships, led by Nantuckois as
well as the French, have never averaged in the southern fishery, more
than one fifth of their burthen, in the best year. The fifteen ships
of France, according to this ground of calculation, and supposing the
present to have been one of the best years, should have brought,
one with another, one fifth of two hundred and sixty-five tons, or
fifty-three tons each. But we are told, they have brought near the
double of that, to wit, one hundred tons each, and fifteen hundred tons
in the whole. Supposing the two northern vessels to have brought home
the cargo which is common from the northern fishery, to wit, twenty-five
tons each, the whole produce this year will then be fifteen hundred and
fifty tons. This is five and a half months’provision, or two fifths of
the annual consumption. To furnish for the whole year, would require
forty ships of the same size, in years as fortunate as the present, and
eighty-five, _communibus annis_; forty-four tons, or one sixth of the
burthen, being as high an average as should be counted on, one year
with another: and the number must be increased, with the increasing
consumption. France, then, is evidently not yet in a condition to
supply her own wants. It is said, indeed, she has a large stock on hand,
unsold, occasioned by the English competition. Thirty-three thousand
quintals, including this year’s produce, are spoken of: this is between
six and seven months’provision; and supposing by the time this is
exhausted that the next year’s supply comes in, that will enable her to
go on five or six months longer; say a twelvemonth in the whole. But,
at the end of the twelvemonth, what is to be done? The manufacturers
depending on this article, cannot maintain their competition against
those of other countries, if deprived of their equal means. When the
alternative, then, shall be presented, of letting them drop, or opening
the ports to foreign whale-oil, it is presumable the latter will be
adopted, as the lesser evil. But it will be too late for America. Her
fishery, annihilated during the late war, only began to raise its head,
on the prospect of a market held out by this country. Crushed by the
_Arrêt_ of September the 28th, in its first feeble effort to revive, it
will rise no more. Expeditions, which require the expense of the outfit
of vessels, and from nine to twelve months’ navigation, as the southern
fishery does, most frequented by the Americans, cannot be undertaken
in sole reliance on a market, which is opened and shut from one day to
another, with little or no warning. The English alone, then, will remain
to furnish these supplies, and they must be received, even from them.
We must accept bread from our enemies, if our friends cannot furnish
it. This comes exactly to the point, to which that government has
been looking. She fears no rival in the whale-fishery, but America: or
rather, it is the whale-fishery of America, of which she is endeavoring
to possess herself. It is for this object, she is making the present
extraordinary efforts, by bounties and other encouragements: and her
success, so far, is very flattering. Before the war, she had not one
hundred vessels in the whale-trade, while America employed three hundred
and nine. In 1786, Great Britain employed one hundred and fifty-one
vessels; in 1787, two hundred and eighty-six; in 1788, three hundred
and fourteen, nearly the ancient American number: while the latter has
fallen to about eighty. They have just changed places then; England
having gained, exactly what America has lost. France, by her ports and
markets, holds the balance between the two contending parties, and gives
the victory, by opening and shutting them, to which she pleases. We have
still precious remains of seamen, educated in this fishery, and capable
by their poverty, their boldness, and address, of recovering it from
the English, in spite of their bounties. But this Arret endangers the
transferring to Great Britain every man of them, who is not invincibly
attached to his native soil. There is no other nation in present
condition to maintain a competition with Great Britain in the
whale-fishery. The expense, at which it is supported on her part, seems
enormous. Two hundred and fifty-five vessels, of seventy-five thousand
four hundred and thirty-six tons, employed by her, this year, in the
northern fishery, at forty-two men each; and fifty-nine in the southern,
at eighteen men each, make eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-two
men. These are known to have cost the government fifteen pounds each, or
one hundred and seventy-six thousand five hundred and eighty pounds, in
the whole, and that, to employ the principal part of them from three to
four months only. The northern ships have brought home twenty, and the
southern sixty tons of oil, on an average; making eighty-six hundred
and forty tons. Every ton of oil, then, has cost the government twenty
pounds in bounty. Still, if they can beat, us out of the field, and
have it to themselves, they will think their money well employed. If
France undertakes, solely, the competition against them, she must do
it at equal expense. The trade is too poor to support itself. The
eighty-five ships, necessary to supply even her present consumption,
bountied, as the English are, will require a sacrifice of twelve hundred
and eighty-five thousand two hundred livres a year, to maintain three
thousand five hundred and seventy seamen, and that, a part of the year
only; and if she will put it to twelve thousand men, in competition with
England, she must sacrifice, as they do, four or five millions a year.
The same number of men might, with the same bounty, be kept in as
constant employ, carrying stone from Bayonne to Cherburg, or coal from
Newcastle to Havre, in which navigations they would be always at
hand, and become as good seamen. The English consider among their best
sailors, those employed to carry coal from Newcastle to London. France
cannot expect to raise her fishery, even to the supply of her own
consumption, in one year, or in several years. Is it not better, then,
by keeping her ports open to the United States, to enable them to aid in
maintaining the field against the common adversary, till she shall be in
condition to take it herself, and to supply her own wants? Otherwise her
supplies must aliment that very force, which is keeping her under. On
our part, we can never be dangerous competitors to France. The extent
to which we can exercise this fishery, is limited to that of the barren
island of Nantucket, and a few similar barren spots; its duration, to
the pleasure of this government, as we have no other market. A material
observation must be added here: sudden vicissitudes of opening and
shutting ports, do little injury to merchants settled on the opposite
coast, watching for the opening, like the return of a tide, and ready to
enter with it. But they ruin the adventurer, whose distance requires six
months’ notice. Those who are now arriving from America, in consequence
of the Arret of December the 29th, will consider it as the false light
which has led them to their ruin. They will be apt to say, that they
come to the ports of France by invitation of that _Arrêt_, that the
subsequent one of September the 28th, which drives them from those
ports, founds itself on a single principle, viz. ‘that the prohibition
of foreign oils is the most useful encouragement which can be given
to that branch of industry.’ They will say, that, if this be a true
principle, it was as true on the 29th of December 1787, as on the 20th
of September, 1788: it was then weighed against other motives, judged
weaker and overruled, and it is hard it should be now revived, to ruin
them.
The refinery for whale-oil, lately established at Rouen, seems to be
an object worthy of national attention. In order to judge of its
importance, the different qualities of whale-oil must be noted. Three
qualities are known in the American and English markets. 1st. That of
the spermaceti whale. 2nd. Of the Greenland whale. 3rd. Of the Brazil
whale. 1. The spermaceti whale found by the _Nantuckois_, in the
neighborhood of the Western Islands, to which they had gone in pursuit
of other whales, retired thence to the coast of Guinea, afterwards to
that of Brazil, and begins now to be best found in the latitude of
the Cape of Good Hope, and even of Cape Horn. He is an active, fierce
animal, and requires vast address and boldness in the fisherman. The
inhabitants of Brazil make little expeditions from their coast, and take
some of these fish. But the Americans are the only distant people, who
have been in the habit of seeking and attacking him, in numbers. The
British, however, led by the _Nantuckois_, whom they have decoyed into
their service, have begun this fishery. In 1785, they had eighteen ships
in it; in 1787, thirty-eight; in 1788, fifty-four, or, as some say,
sixty-four. I have calculated on the middle number, fifty-nine. Still
they take but a very small proportion of their own demand; we furnish
the rest. Theirs is the only market to which we carry that oil, because
it is the only one where its properties are known. It is luminous,
resists coagulation by cold, to the forty-first degree of Fahrenheit’s
thermometer, and fourth of Reaumur’s, and yields no smell at all: it is
used, therefore, within doors, to lighten shops, and even in the richest
houses, for antichambers, stairs, galleries, &c. It sells at the London
market for treble the price of common whale-oil. This enables the
adventurer to pay the duty of eighteen pounds five shillings sterling
the ton, and still to have a living profit. Besides the mass of oil
produced from the whole body of the whale, his head yields three or
four barrels of what is called head-matter, from which is made the solid
spermaceti, used for medicine and candles. This sells by the pound at
double the price of the oil. The disadvantage of this fishery is, that
the sailors are from nine to twelve months absent on the voyage; of
course, they are not at hand on any sudden emergency, and are even
liable to be taken, before they know that war is begun. It must be
added, on the subject of this whale, that he is rare and shy, soon
abandoning the grounds where he is hunted. This fishery, less losing
than the other, and often profitable, will occasion it to be so
thronged, soon, as to bring it on a level with the other. It will then
require the same expensive support, or to be abandoned.
2. The Greenland whale-oil is next in quality. It resists coagulation
by cold, to thirty-six degrees of Fahrenheit, and two of Reaumur, but it
has a smell insupportable within doors, and is not luminous. It sells,
therefore, in London, at about sixteen pounds the ton. This whale is
clumsy and timid; he dives when struck, and comes up to breathe by the
first cake of ice, where the fishermen need little address or courage
to find and take him. This is the fishery mostly frequented by European
nations; it is this fish which yields the fin in quantity, and the
voyages last about three or four months.
The third quality is that of the small Brazil whale. He was originally
found on the coast of Nantucket, and first led that people to this
pursuit: he retired, first to the Banks of Newfoundland, then to the
Western Islands, and is now found within soundings on the coast of
Brazil, during the months of December, January, February, and March. His
oil chills at fifty-two degrees of Fahrenheit, and eight of Reaumur, is
black and offensive; worth, therefore, but thirteen pounds the ton,
in London. In warm summer nights, however, it burns better than the
Greenland oil.
To the qualities of the oils thus described, it is to be added, that an
individual has discovered methods, 1. of converting a great part of
the oils of the spermaceti-whale, into the solid substance called
spermaceti, heretofore produced from his head alone; 2. of refining
the Greenland whale-oil, so as to take from it all smell, and render it
limpid and luminous as that of the spermaceti-whale; 3. of curdling
the oil of the Brazil whale into tallow, resembling that of beef, and
answering all its purposes. This person is engaged by the company, which
has established the refinery at Rouen: their works will cost them half a
million of livres; will be able to refine all the oil which can be used
in the kingdom, and even to supply foreign markets. The effects of the
refinery, then, would be, 1. to supplant the solid spermaceti of all
other nations, by theirs, of equal quality and lower price; 2. to
substitute, instead of spermaceti-oil, their black whale-oil refined,
of equal quality and lower price; 3. to render the worthless oil of the
Brazil, equal in value to tallow; and 4. by accommodating these oils to
uses, to which they could never otherwise have been applied, they will
extend the demand beyond its present narrow limits, to any supply which
can be furnished, and thus give the most effectual encouragement and
extension to the whale-fishery. But these works were calculated on the
_Arrêt_ of December the 29th, which admitted here, freely and fully,
the produce of the American fishery. If confined to that of the French
fishery alone, the enterprise may fail, for want of matter to work on.
After this review of the whale-fishery as a political institution, a few
considerations shall be added on its produce, as a basis of commercial
exchange between France and the United States. The discussions it has
undergone, on former occasions, in this point of view, leaves little new
to be now urged.
The United States, not possessing mines of the precious metals, can
purchase necessaries from other nations, so far only as their produce is
received in exchange. Without enumerating our smaller articles, we have
three of principal importance, proper for the French market; to wit,
tobacco, whale-oil, and rice. The first and most important, is tobacco.
This might furnish an exchange for eight millions of the productions of
this country; but it is under a monopoly, and that not of a mercantile,
but of a financiering company, whose interest is, to pay in money
and not in merchandise, and who are so much governed by the spirit of
simplifying their purchases and proceedings, that they find means to
elude every endeavor on the part of government, to make them diffuse
their purchases among the merchants in general. Little profit is
derived from this, then, as an article of exchange for the produce and
manufactures of France. Whale-oil might be next in importance; but
that is now prohibited. American rice is not yet of great, but it is of
growing consumption in France, and being the only article of the three
which is free, it may become a principal basis of exchange. Time and
trial may add a fourth, that is, timber. But some essays, rendered
unsuccessful by unfortunate circumstances, place that, at present, under
a discredit, which it will be found hereafter not to have merited. The
English know its value, and were supplied with it, before the war. A
spirit of hostility, since that event, led them to seek Russian rather
than American supplies; a new spirit of hostility has driven them back
from Russia, and they are now making contracts for American timber.
But of the three articles before mentioned, proved by experience to be
suitable for the French market, one is prohibited, one under monopoly,
and one alone free, and that the smallest and of very limited
consumption. The way to encourage purchasers, is, to multiply their
means of payment. Whale-oil might be an important one. In one scale, are
the interests of the millions who are lighted, shod, or clothed with the
help of it, and the thousands of laborers and manufacturers, who would
be employed in producing the articles which might be given in exchange
for it, if received from America: in the other scale, are the
interests of the adventurers in the whale-fishery each of whom, indeed,
politically considered, may be of more importance to the State, than
a simple laborer or manufacturer; but to make the estimate with the
accuracy it merits, we should multiply the numbers in each scale into
their individual importance, and see which preponderates.
Both governments have seen with concern, that their commercial
intercourse does not grow as rapidly as they would wish. The system
of the United States is, to use neither prohibitions nor premiums.
Commerce, there, regulates itself freely, and asks nothing better.
Where a government finds itself under the necessity of undertaking that
regulation, it would seem, that it should conduct it as an intelligent
merchant would; that is to say, invite customers to purchase, by
facilitating their means of payment, and by adapting goods to their
taste. If this idea be just, government here has two operations to
attend to, with respect to the commerce of the United States; 1. to
do away, or to moderate, as much as possible, the prohibitions
and monopolies of their materials for payment; 2. to encourage the
institution of the principal manufactures, which the necessities, or the
habits of their new customers call for. Under this latter head, a hint
shall be suggested, which must find its apology in the motive from which
it flows; that is, a desire of promoting mutual interests and close
friendship. Six hundred thousand of the laboring poor of America,
comprehending slaves under that denomination, are clothed in three
of the simplest manufactures possible; to wit, oznaburgs, plains,
and duffel blankets. The first is a linen; the two last, woollens. It
happens, too, that they are used exactly by those who cultivate
the tobacco and rice, and in a good degree by those employed in the
whale-fishery. To these manufactures they are so habituated, that no
substitute will be received. If the vessels which bring tobacco, rice,
and whale-oil, do not find them in the ports of delivery, they must be
sought where they can be found; that is, in England, at present. If they
were made in France, they would be gladly taken in exchange there. The
quantities annually used by this description of people, and their value,
are as follows:
Oznaburgs 2,700,000 aunes, at sixteen sous the aune, worth
2,160,000
Plains 1,350,000 aunes, at two livres the aune,
2,700,000
Duffel Blankets 300,000 aunes, at seven and 4/5ths livres each
2,160,000
----------
7,020,000
It would be difficult to say, how much should be added, for the
consumption of inhabitants of other descriptions; a great deal surely.
But the present view shall be confined to the one description named.
Seven millions of livres, are nine millions of days’ work, of those who
raise, spin, and weave the wool and flax; and, at three hundred working
days to the year, would maintain thirty thousand people. To introduce
these simple manufactures, suppose government to give five per cent, on
the value of what should be exported of them, for ten years to come: if
none should be exported, nothing would be to be paid: but on the other
hand, if the manufactures, with this encouragement, should rise to
the full demand, it will be a sacrifice of three hundred and fifty-one
thousand livres a year, for ten years only, to produce a perpetual
subsistence for more than thirty thousand people (for the demand will
grow with our population); while she must expend perpetually one million
two hundred and eighty-five thousand livres a year, to maintain the
three thousand five hundred and seventy seamen, who would supply her
with whale-oil. That is to say, for each seaman, as much as for thirty
laborers and manufacturers.
But to return to our subject, and to conclude.
Whether, then, we consider the _Arrêt_ of September the 28th, in a
political or a commercial light, it would seem, that the United States
should be excepted from its operation. Still more so, when they invoke
against it the amity subsisting between the two nations, the desire of
binding them together by every possible interest and connection, the
several acts in favor of this exception, the dignity of legislation,
which admits not of changes backwards and forwards, the interests of
commerce, which requires steady regulations, the assurances of the
friendly motives which have led the King to pass these acts, and the
hope, that no cause will arise, to change either his motives or his
measures towards us.
LETTER CLXXI.--TO JOHN JAY, November 29, 1788
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, November 29, 1788.
Sir,
In the hurry of making up my letter of the 19th instant, I omitted the
enclosed printed paper, on the subject of whale-oil. That omission
is now supplied by another conveyance, by the way of London. The
explanatory _Arrêt_ is not yet come out. I still take for granted, it
will pass, though there be an opposition to it in the Council. In the
mean time, orders are given to receive our oils which may arrive. The
apprehension of a want of corn has induced them to turn their eyes to
foreign supplies; and to show their preference of receiving them from
us, they have passed the enclosed _Arrêt_, giving a premium on wheat
and flour from the United States, for a limited time. This, you will
doubtless think proper to have translated and published. The _Notables_
are still in session: the votes of the separate bureaux have not yet
been reduced to a joint act, in an assembly of the whole. I see no
reason to suppose they will change the separate votes relative to the
representation of the _Tiers Etat_ in the States General. In the mean
time, the stream of public indignation, heretofore directed against the
court, sets strongly against the _Notables_. It is not yet decided when
the States will meet: but certainly they cannot, till February or March.
The Turks have retired across the Danube. This movement indicates their
going into winter-quarters, and the severity of the weather must hasten
it. The thermometer was yesterday at eight degrees of Fahrenheit, that
is, twenty-four degrees below freezing; a degree of cold equal to that
of the year 1740, which they count here among their coldest winters.
This having continued many days, and being still likely to continue, and
the wind from northeast, render it probable, that all enterprise must be
suspended between the three great belligerent powers. Poland is
likely to be thrown into great convulsions. The Empress of Russia has
peremptorily demanded such aids from Poland, as might engage it in the
war. The King of Prussia, on the other hand, threatens to march an army
on their borders. The vote of the Polish confederacy for one hundred
thousand men, was a coalition of the two parties, in that single act
only. The party opposed to the King, have obtained a majority, and have
voted that this army shall be independent of him. They are supported by
Prussia, while the King depends on Russia. Authentic information from
England leaves not a doubt, that the King is lunatic; and that, instead
of the effect, is the cause of the illness, under which he has been so
near dying. I mention this, because the English newspapers, speaking by
guess on that as they do on all other subjects, might mislead you as to
his true situation; or rather, might mislead others, who know less
than you do, that a thing is not rendered the more probable, by being
mentioned in those papers.
I enclose those of Leyden to the present date, with the gazettes of
France, and have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect
esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson
LETTER, CLXXII.--TO GENERAL WASHINGTON, December 4, 1788
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
Paris, December 4, 1788.
Sir,
Your favor of August the 31st came to hand yesterday; and a confidential
conveyance offering, by the way of London, I avail myself of it, to
acknowledge the receipt.
I have seen, with infinite pleasure, our new constitution accepted by
eleven States, not rejected by the twelfth; and that the thirteenth
happens to be a state of the least importance. It is true, that the
minorities in most of the accepting States have been very respectable;
so much so, as to render it prudent, were it not otherwise reasonable,
to make some sacrifice to them. I am in hopes, that the annexation of
a bill of rights to the constitution will alone draw over so great
a proportion of the minorities, as to leave little danger in the
opposition of the residue; and that this annexation may be made by
Congress and the Assemblies, without calling a convention, which
might endanger the most valuable parts of the system. Calculation has
convinced me, that circumstances may arise, and probably will arise,
wherein all the resources of taxation will be necessary for the safety
of the State. For though I am decidedly of opinion, we should take no
part in European quarrels, but cultivate peace and commerce with all,
yet who can avoid seeing the source of war in the tyranny of those
nations, who deprive us of the natural right of trading with our
neighbors? The produce of the United States will soon exceed the
European demand: what is to be done with the surplus, when there shall
be one? It will be employed, without question, to open, by force, a
market for itself, with those placed on the same continent with us,
and who wish nothing better. Other causes, too, are obvious, which
may involve us in war; and war requires every resource of taxation and
credit. The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case,
would give efficacy to our desire of peace. If the new government wears
the front which I hope it will, I see no impossibility in the availing
ourselves of the wars of others, to open the other parts of America to
our commerce, as the price of our neutrality.