2 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



merce which followed the Revolutionary 

 war the American flag had been carried to 

 all parts of the world. With splendid au- 

 dacity the merchants of the United States 

 had dared to compete with England for 

 the East India trade, had taken by storm 

 the China trade, had freighted their vessels 

 from the Spice Islands and Africa and 

 pierced the guarded ports of the Mikado. 

 They had passed the Sound to the north 

 and the Straits to the south, showing our 

 flag at St. Petersburg and Constantinople; 

 and most important of all had almost mo- 

 nopolized the large and lucrative traffic of 

 the French and English West India Islands. 

 But it was not alone from the adventur- 

 ous skill of her sailors or the restless genius 

 of her merchants that the United States 

 made such remarkable progress, much 

 was due to the peculiar conditions of the 

 times. The wars of the French Revolution 

 had been succeeded by the continental 

 wars of Napoleon, and the only neutral 

 country in the world which possessed a 



