COM 



COM 



which a remarkable instance has occur- 

 red since the year 1792. The destruc- 

 tion of St. Domingo, the most productive 

 sugar colony in the world, gave a new as- 

 pect to British West Indian affairs. A 

 yearly quantity of above 110,000 hogs- 

 heads being thus suddenly taken out of 

 the market, the prices rose to an unusual 

 height. The confusion which took place 

 in Guadaloupe soon after, and the ope- 

 rations of the war in the West Indies, 

 diminished the supply, and raised the 

 price of produce still further. This of 

 course became a great inducement to in- 

 crease the cultivation of the British is- 

 lands, and of those recently conquered, 

 while, about the same time, the introduc- 

 tion of the Bourbon cane enabled even 

 the bad lands of the old islands to pro- 

 duce plentiful crops of sugar. From 

 these causes the quantity of sugar has 

 been constantly and rapidly increasing 

 since 1792 ; the blank occasioned in that 

 year has been filled up, and a great sur- 

 plus has been added to the ordinary pro- 

 duce of former periods. The produce of 

 the Spanish islands during the same pe- 

 riod has increased rapidly. These cir- 

 cumstances caused a sudden decline in 

 the price of sugar, which became unu- 

 sually low in 1807, and, combined with 

 the interruption of the export trade to 

 the continent of Europe, reduced the 

 West India merchants and planters to 

 great difficulties. 



The American war was regarded by 

 many persons as involving, in a great 

 measure, the ruin of the foreign com- 

 merce of Great Britain. Since the esta- 



blishment of the independence of the 

 American States, however, experience 

 has proved that we derive a much great- 

 er benefit from that country than hereto- 

 fore, as we now take from them no more 

 than it is cur interest to take, while, from 

 having but little capital, and much em- 

 ployment at home, it must be many years 

 before they can attempt to rival us in any 

 considerable branch of foreign trade. The 

 exports to America consist almost wholly 

 of British manufactures, the official value 

 of which in the year 1800 was 6,885,507/.; 

 the imports are, tobacco, rice, corn, and 

 other unmanufactured produce. A very 

 considerable trade is also carried on be- 

 tween the United States and the British 

 West India islands, which is considered 

 as almost essential to the support of the 

 latter. The trade with the remaining 

 British possessions in *Jorth America is 

 not of great extent ; the principal branch- 

 es of it are, the fur trade of Canada,lHud- 

 sou's Bay, and the Newfoundland fish- 

 ery. 



The total amount of the exports and 

 imports sufficiently proves, that the mer- 

 cantile shipping of Great Britain must be 

 greatly increased beyond what was em- 

 ployed in former periods. The total num. 

 her of vessels that entered inwards, and 

 cleared out, with their tonnage, and the 

 number of men and boys usually employ- 

 ed in navigating the same, as shewn in 

 the following statement for three years, 

 ending the 5th January, 1807, will fur- 

 nish a correct idea of the extent of ship- 

 ping employed in the commerce of Great 

 Britain. 



INWARDS. 



OUTWARDS. 



Men. I Ships. 



113,723 fl 15,224 

 121,899 15,540 



120,342 I) 15,710 



Tons. Men. 



2,051,135 I 124,255 

 2,101,030 125,332 

 2,054,472 124,189 



By the act imposing a duty on all sea 

 assurances, as well as by the act for es- 

 tablishing the convoy duty, the extent 

 and value of the foreign trade of this 

 country has been more clearly ascertain- 

 ed than heretofore, and it appears that the 

 capital employed in commerce cannot be 

 less than 80,000,OGO/. The annual profit 

 derived from it has been variously esti- 

 mated, but, according to the best autho- 

 rity, it appeared, in the year 1797, to be 

 about 10,500,000/. per annum. 



COMMERSONIA, in botany, so called 

 in memory of M. Commerson, the French 

 traveller, a genus of the Pentandria Pen- 

 tagynia. Essential character : cah x one- 



VOL. in, 



leafed, bearing the corolla; petals five; 

 nectary five-parted ; capsule five-celled, 

 echinate. One species, a native of Ota- 

 heite and the other Society Isles. 



COMMISSARY, in the ecclesiastical 

 law, an officer of the Bishop, who exer- 

 cises spiritual jurisdiction in places of a 

 diocese so far from the episcopal see, that 

 the chancellor cannot call the people to 

 the bishop's principal consistory court, 

 without giving them too much inconveni- 

 ency. 



COMMISSARY general of the musters, an 

 officer appointed to muster the army, as 

 often as the general thinks proper, in or- 

 der to know the strength of each regi- 



Mm 



