GULF STREAM, CLIMATES, AND COMMERCE. 



69 



by the captains supposing themselves near the coast when they are 

 very far off (having been diifted by the currents). On the other 

 hand, ships are often cast on the coast by saihng in the eddy of the 

 Stream, which causes them to outrun their common reckoning. 

 Eveiy year produces new proofs of these facts, and of the calamities 

 incident thereto." 



188. Though Dr. Franklin's discoveiy was made in 1775, yet. 

 The disa.veryjjnhe for political reasous, it was not generally made 

 the Gulf stream fui- ImowTL till 1790. Its immediate effect in navigation 

 soutilerrc.Smerce!' was to make tho ports of the Northern States as 

 accessible in mnter as in summer. What agency this circumstance 

 had in the dechne of the direct trade of the south, which followed 

 this discoveiy, would be, at least to the political economist, a sub- 

 ject for much curious and interesting speculation. I have referred 

 to the commercial tables of the time, and have compared the trade 

 of Charleston with that of the northern cities for several years, both 

 before and after the discovery of Dr. Franklin became generally 

 known to navigators. The comparison shows an immediate decline 

 in the southern trade and a wonderful increase in that of the north. 

 But whether this discovery in navigation and this revolution in 

 trade stand in the relation of cause and effect, or be merely a coin- 

 cidence, let others judge. 



189. In 1769 the commerce of the two Carolinas equalled that 

 Statistics. of all the New England States together ; it was 



more than double that of New York, and exceeded that of Pennsyl- 

 vania by one thiixl.* In 1792, the exports from New York 



* From M'Phersons Annals of Commerce. — Exports and Imports in 1769, valued 

 in Sterling Money. 



I EXPORl'S. 



