burg. This was necessary, as heavy purchases of hemp there by the British government had lowered the rate of exchange on London. The project for buying dollars at Lisbon did not result in much business.

Captain Page secured a return cargo at St. Petersburg on August 29:

3052 bars common new sable iron, 101 bundles clean hemp, 400 pieces sail cloth, 250 pieces Flemish 250 do Raven duck, 1 bale diaper, 1 do huckabock, 4 cables cordage, 467 poods anchors, 12 pieces sail cloth, and 10 pieces Russian duck for ship's use.

Captain Page's own venture under the privilege was:

3 bdles hemp, 100 pieces sail duck, 100 pieces Raven duck, 20 pieces sheeting, 2 beds, 2 looking glasses, 1 bale of 11 dozen table cloths.

The entry of the cargo on December 3, 1804, at the customhouse in Providence was $24,851.40. The duties were fifteen per cent, excepting one item at seventeen and one-half and another at twenty-two and one-half.

A voyage of the schooner Nancy on May 26, 1802, to the West Indies reveals some curious incidents in the commerce of the time. Chartered by Brown and Ives of James Rhodes and Company, of fifty-four tons' burden, she was despatched to Guadalupe under Nathaniel Pearce, master. The particular object was to find and recover for them the ship Charlotte and the cargo. The Charlotte, Samuel Morgan master, under direction of George J. Tyler, sailed from Providence in October for Bilboa, carrying chiefly hides and bar-copper belonging to Mr. Clark. These were landed, and the freight was paid; a part, fifty thousand livres, was in bills drawn on Paris, and was intended for remittance to London. Besides there were $12,000 in nankins and teas, which if not sold at Bilboa were to be consigned to Stobel and Martini, Bordeaux. Having spent two weeks at Bilboa, Tyler went to Bordeaux and consigned the nankins and teas. Instead of returning thence, with articles ordered there for Providence, Stobel and Martini advised on April 3, that he was sailing for the West Indies with a cargo of $8000 or $10,000 on account of Brown and Ives, furnished by Stobel and Martini on the strength of goods in their hands. "What articles or where he is bound we know not, for he has not condescended to write. Probably he will

call at Guadaloupe and finally go to Cape Francis." They had despatched and given "P/A" to Captain Samuel Young to recover. They did not wish to supersede Young, but directed Captain Pearce to assist. Pearce could keep the Charlotte or Nancy, sending one home without lading, though the schooner would be cheaper for service among the islands. "Whichever you think best, keep under your own controul." The schooner carried a valuable cargo, on which Captain Pearce was to receive five per cent for sales and two and one-half for return purchases. On bills of exchange or specie, he was not to receive commission. In return for cargo, specie was to be preferred and exchange next. Certificates were to be obtained, if he procured articles entitled to drawback. "Be moderate and persuade Tyler 't is not only duty but immediate interest to give immediate possession." Urge his return in one of the vessels, for it will be some satisfaction to see him once more and hear in what manner he got rid of our property in Europe." For recovering from Tyler, Pearce was to be compensated on his return. He was to receive $12 a month in fixed wages. The schooner was to be put in good order and kept so by the owners, Brown and Ives paying $100 a month for the charter. She was chartered again in September at $90 a month. If lost, the owners were to receive $1400.

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Her portage bill in addition to the captain, as noted, carried the mate at $20, one sailor at $12 with privilege of four barrels, one seaman at $15, privilege,of two barrels, a boy and a raw hand at $6 each. Her cargo took $882.50 in flour, $100 in menhaden, $114 in codfish, $362.01 in tallow candles, $850 in Russia sheeting, $14.50 in silk handkerchiefs, $997.50 in thirty pieces of colored Sinchaws, $831.25 in hair ribbons, $3066 in nankins, $1265.78 in china, $540.10 in hyson and hyson skin tea, $41 in staves and shooks (the old seventeenth century export), making a total of $10,500.84.

Captain Pearce sent her home, on July 12, under Sylvester Rhodes, master, carrying only seven hogsheads of St. Croix rum, two bales of cotton, eight barrels of sugar, six boxes of claret, four boxes of fruit and preserves, eighty-six barrels and three bags of salt, and, best of all, $6200 in specie, of which $1410 were received from George J. Tyler in the Charlotte. Pearce reported his sales from the Nancy, and remained to clear the affairs of the ship Charlotte, which was in good

order, though her cargo was tumbled and many articles missing "in so much overhauling." This is the only case of mismanagement I have found among supercargoes and captains.

The Nancy was sent out again, in September 26, 1802, under Charles Remington, master, with a cargo of $14,738.75 in character like her first. The voyage made a loss of $1927.83. At St. Christopher, on October 27, having been shut out from Martinique and Guadalupe, he reported "the Islands is full of Europe and East India goods." Next at St. Thomas, on the 31st, he had heard from Curaçoa also, "dry goods is a drug, I wish I was at home and the goods in your stores again."

We may get a glimpse of another branch of auxiliary commerce in instructions to Daniel Olney for the new Ann and Hope, built after the wreck at Block Island on January 10, 1806. Though the ship was intended for China, a voyage was projected to Savannah, Georgia, on December 24, 1807. Captain Olney was directed there to get a freight of cotton for Liverpool at the best rate. The small amount of merchandise shipped was to be sold for the "best clean upland cotton." If the United States "must be engaged in Hostilities you are not to go to Liverpool, but invest proceeds property in cotton and return at once. Our calculation and reliance are upon a continuance of Peace." If practicable, he was to get permission to touch at Rhode Island; if not, he was to take freight for Liverpool without conditions. The owners' cotton might be carried on deck, well secured, if prudent. If he sailed to Liverpool, he was to copper the ship there, after sheathing her bottom with half-inch chestnut, then on board.

Distribution of the merchandise brought from Europe and the East was an important function in this commerce. Large sales were made at home, and sometimes auctions were held by the Providence importers, which were attended by eager buyers from abroad. Fluctuations in American prices of teas were very great. Bohea varied in these years from thirty-two cents to eighty-seven. The merchants of Boston and New York usually furnished those markets by their own importation or by direct purchase in Providence. Occasionally Brown and Ives consigned there. They made frequent consignments to Nantucket, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, North Carolina, and in specially large quantities to Charles

ton. Even Hartford received small regular shipments by schooner. All the imports were represented; but teas, nankins, and china were shipped most frequently.

As the inventive eighteenth century turned into the great expanding time of the nineteenth, the old eastern worldnew in culture-opened up great opportunities for New England. Directly, she gained thereby the capital which enabled her to grasp Slater's spinning-machines, and to develop the factory system just being organized in Europe. By a rich fate the hand labor of the East, changed into capital by the commerce of Providence and Salem, enabled the Blackstone and later the Merrimac valley to set the labor-saving spindles at work.

During the meeting remarks were made by the PRESIDENT, GAMALIEL BRADFORD, ANDREW MCFARLAND DAVIS, WILLIAM ENDICOTT, EDWARD STANWOOD, and ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, and by GEORGE PARKER WINSHIP, a Corresponding Member.