Comercio

1794 · ref. 354283 — Philadelphia: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine 1794. 8pp. Dbd. Contemporary ownership signature on titlepage and manuscript notes on final leaf. Very good. 8pp. Dbd. This copy bears the ownership signature of noted New York jurist and legal scholar James Kent who ran for Congress from New York in 1793 but was defeated by his brother-in-law Theodorus Bailey. He would go on to a distinguished career as a judge on the Chancery court and as an author of legal commentaries. At the conclusion of the text is a manuscript note: "Mr. Wadsworth stated in the House of Representatives the 19th May 1794 that within the last six months American vessels & property had been captured by the British Privateer in the W. Indies to the extent of one million of dollars - & that other nations had seized American property to ½ mil. dol. & that the total loss to our commerce was 1½ mil. dol." In this report to President Washington the new Secretary of State Edmund Randolph details the depredations against American shipping caused by the powers involved in the French Revolutionary Wars. He quotes from a study by the "committee of Philadelphia" on the interference with American trade by the British French Spanish and Dutch and summarizes the methods used by those countries. The British impress American sailors into service the French are embargoing American goods etc. He makes no recommendations as to an appropriate response. OCLC locates four copies. Scarce. EVANS 27917. OCLC 8090321 Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine unknown books