POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 69 



serious one. But the fact is, the whole 

 tonnage of the United States in 1807 was 

 1,197,333, and in 1810, 1,389,715; that is, 

 nearly two hundred thousand more tons in 

 1810 than in 1807. The tonnage built in 1806 

 was 126,393, and in 1810, 127,575.* Now it is 

 fair to say, that the merchants of the United 

 States would not have increased their ton- 

 nage unless there was work for it to do, and 

 whether that work was carrying coffee and 

 sugar on a broken voyage to Europe, or 

 trading in some foreign country, so long as 

 the vessels were busy, made little difference. 

 The year 1811 makes as good showing as 

 1810, and these facts are interesting as 

 showing that there still remained to the 

 United States a large and lucrative com- 

 merce when the War of 1812 was declared. 

 The Non-intercourse Act, like the em- 

 bargo, was a failure, and May 1, 1810, the 

 act was repealed and another substituted, 

 which gave the President the power, in case 

 either France or England should rescind 



1 Pitkin, Commerce of America, p. 430. 



