Benns: British West India Carrying-Trade 45 
lations reported a non-intercourse bill embodying practically 
all that they desired/'^ 
There were, therefore, at this time two different bills be- 
fore Congress, each aiming to counteract the effects of the 
British colonial system. The question was merely to what 
extent Congress was willing to go. In support of the more 
vigorous action of the non-intercourse bill, it was argued that 
if other nations would not grant a free and fair commerce, 
the United States must retaliate or sacrifice the best interests 
of the country ; that it was principally the colonial trade which 
enabled Great Britain almost to engross the direct trade be- 
tween the United States and that country; that the shipping 
interests favored non-intercourse; that if the bill passed, the 
United States in its next negotiation some two years later 
would have in it a stronger argument so far as respected colo- 
nial trade than it had had in negotiating the convention of 
1815; but that if the bill were rejected. Great Britain would 
say that the United States acknowledged itself unequal to the 
contest, and would think it might dictate to the United States 
what trade it should pursue.^® 
On the other hand, it was maintained that absolute prohibi- 
tion would strike off at a blow $6,000,000 of American exports 
and cause extraordinary pressure on the agriculture and com- 
merce of some parts of the country, while doing the very thing 
which some in Great Britain argued should be done for the 
good of the colonies. Doubts were expressed as to the im- 
possibility of the British colonies being supplied from else- 
where with articles similar to the American, and also as to 
the possibility of coercing Great Britain any more in 1817 
than it had been possible to do in 1808-1809.'^^ 
In spite of meetings, memorials, and petitions of the ship- 
ping interests, public opinion, tho more aroused than in the 
previous year, appears not yet to have been ready for the more 
extreme measure of non-intercourse. That the trade between 
the United States and the British West Indies should be all 
on one side was, indeed, considered a serious situation; and 
as a matter of simple and honest reciprocity, not many ob- 
jected to the passage of a non-intercourse act. But, as the 
Carolina Observer explained: 
'^Annals of Cong., 14 Cong., 2 Sess., 695, 696. 
773, 776, 778, 787, 807. 
Ibid., 785, 789, 793, 794, 810. 
