EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



129 



lowed on May 1, 1810, by an act opening trade. Immediately the ports 

 of tlie United States sent out hundreds of vessels freighted with the 

 accumulated produce of two years, and the ocean was covered with 

 sails speeding for Archangel, Gottingen, Lisbon, Cadiz^and elsewhere, 

 everywhere to find a market for flour, corn, rice, tobacco, and other 

 stores. Lisbon and Cadiz were favorite markets, and their provisions 

 ruled high, the British army being one of the best customers. Fortu- 

 nately for the United States, these vessels had arrived and were arriv- 

 ing when the advance of the French armies on the two cities and the 

 misfortunes and necessities of the Spanish cause forced the sale of 

 choice Spanish flocks, and over 26,000 Merino sheep were purchased 

 and shipped to the United States in 1810 and 1811, 20,000 of them 

 being safely landed, and distributed over the country from Maine to 

 Georgia and far into the interior. The introduction of these sheep 

 marked the beginning of a new era in the American woolen manufac- 

 ture, the departure from the household woolen industry to that of the 

 flne-wooled manufacture, founded on the improved and fine wool of the 

 Spanish Merino. 



In 1777 the English House of Commons ordered an account made of 

 the value of all woolen goods, viz, baize, cloths, coatings, flannels, 

 serges, says, stuffs, mixed, carpets, and worsted stockings, exported 

 from England to all coimtries during the years 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 

 and 1776. The accompanying table shows the custom-house valuations : 



Valuations from iSTS to :^76, inclusive. 



KewEnglajid 



Jfew York ■ 



Pennsylvania and New Jersey 



JIaryland and Yirglnia 



Carolina 



Georgia 



All otlier colonies in British America 

 All other countries of the world 



Per cent to the American colonies — 



£ 



284, 564 

 128, 879 

 216, 055 

 185, 437 

 84, 227 

 26, 492 



925, 644 



108, 224 



1, 402, 915 



4, 436, 783^ 

 20.86 



1773. 



147, 718 

 76, 498 



135, 119 

 99, 308 

 73, 403 

 16, 982 



549, 028 

 137, 935 

 , 188, 966 



3, 875, 929 

 14.17 



1774. 



£ 

 168, 815 

 129, 547 

 217, 205 

 133, 912 

 91, 361 

 14, 627 



755, 467 



145, 437 



1, 432, 679 



4, 333, 583 

 17.43 



1775. 



£ 



8,383 



345 



210 



6 



1,106 



39, 719 



49, 769 



210, 832 



3, 959, 572 



4, 220, 173 

 1.17 



£ 

 15, 667 



15, 657 



309, 481 



3, 542, 915 



3, 868, 063 



Statement showing the proportion of the English manufacture of woolens exported to the 

 United States from 1790 to 1799. 



22990 9 



