EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 127 



be a poor, indigent, and dependent one; that no nation could be inde- 

 pendent unless it could clothe as well as feed its people. 



Meanwhile the mills already established manufactured woolen goods 

 in a rude and modest way ; entreaties were made to the farmers to in- 

 crease the number and improve the breed of their sheep, and Seth Adams 

 in 1801. Col. David Humphreys and Chancellor E. E. Livingston in 1802, 

 imported Merino sheep, and a few scattering notes of new fulling-mills 

 appear. In July, 1805, James Tatterson, of Bridgehampton, Long 

 Island, proposed to put up a cotton and woolen factory of twelve looms 

 to make broadcloth, carpets, coverlids, vest patterns, etc., and called for 

 support in the undertaking to establish domestic manufactures. In the 

 same year wool-carding machines on the European plan were in opera- 

 tion in Mifflin County, Pa., one on Lost Creek, and another at John Flern- 

 ming's mill, in Kishacoquilles Valley, and it was advertised that "1 

 pound of grease must be sent to 8 of wool. It will be picked, broke, 

 and carded into rolls for 10 cents a pound, with 2 cents for mixing and 

 5 cents for breaking only. The rolls will be so packed as to be carried 

 on horseback 40 miles." Some notices of manufacturing domestic 

 flannel from American wool appear, and a statement that several 

 Southern gentlemen had entered into arrangements for coarse clothing 

 for servants. In 1806 a machine for carding wool was set up near 

 Trenton, N. J., and a person who recommended it said he hoped that 

 now people would make their own cloth, as " many raise sheep who 

 never before raised any, and those who before raised a few now raised 

 a large number," and the editor of the Trenton True American in pub- 

 lishing this fact took occasion to advise the farmers to have good wool 

 by preserving their best lambs and feeding them well. The same paper, 

 in the following year (1807), notices that Mr. Ealston, at Mendham, had 

 begun the manufacture of woolen goods, and a gain calls on the farmers 

 to encourage the manufacture by improving their sheep. tl Something 

 has lately been done ; let them get the best breeds, sell the smallest, 

 house and feed them during the winter, and keep them always in good 

 condition." 



From this time a great change came over the industries of the coun- 

 try, and the cause was in the relation of European powers one to 

 another, and their bitter and sanguinary struggle for commercial and 

 political supremacy. The seizure of American vessels by Great Britain ; 

 the American non-importation act of April 18, 1806; the British orders 

 in council of May, 1806, blockading the German ports; Napoleon's 

 Berlin decree of November 21, 1806; the British order of January 7 

 and November 11, 1807, followed by the Milan decree of December 17, 

 1807, almost completely swept the prosperous American commerce from 

 the ocean; and to crown all, the American Congress passed the em- 

 bargo act forbidding American ships to sail from home ports, which 

 delighted Great Britain, who was quite willing that the enterprising 

 Yankee skipper should remain at hop^SfeDgMqdted States the in- 



