28 



ON HEMP. 



sumption is for naval purposes, the growth of it, upon an extended 

 scale, is more immediately confined within the limits of Europe. 

 It is raised in various parts of France, Spain, Holland, Denmark, 

 Sweden, and in several of the Italian States ; but, with the excep- 

 tion of a trifling export from Italy, none of these countries produce 

 it in quantities sufficient for their internal consumption. The grand, 

 mart for it, as an article of commerce, is Russia, where it is grown 

 in large quantities, and of the best quality, in the southern and 

 western provinces, bordering upon Poland, and in the provin- 

 ces of Poland, which, in the late partition of that kingdom, 

 have fallen to the share of Russia. The rivers of Poland, which 

 ilow to the northward, and fall into the Baltie in the Prussian 

 dominions, pass through some of the countries where Hemp is cul- 

 tivated ; but as such countries belong to Russia, and she commands 

 the course of the rivers, the whole of the Hemp near the Baltic 

 may, with propriety, be said to be in the power of that govern- 

 ment, (a) 



. . . ~* — . — • — - 



(a) These remarks, written in 1803, acquire additional importance from 

 the consideration of recent occurrences, which have placed at the disposal of our 

 inveterate enemy the resources of the countries here described. 



