Studies in American History 
15 
permitted the crews of American ships to be foreign.®^ Now 
many of the large firms in Holland had branch houses in 
American cities. The Austrian ambassador gives the names 
of seven firms in Philadelphia that handled German goods. 
! The names of the members of these firms all appear to be 
I Dutch or German. Under the laws of the American states 
I these agents had the rights of citizens. When a ship left Rot- 
terdam it perhaps belonged to C. Dutilh, a citizen of that 
city. When it reached Philadelphia it belonged to E. Dutilh, 
a citizen of that city.®"^ On its way back across 
I the sea it changed back to its original ownership. 
In the case of the Willinks, a company of bankers in 
Amsterdam, the procedure was even more generous. They 
had no American branch, but Adams decided that since they 
had lent the American government money they would be 
treated as citizens, altho they were barely citizens of the 
United States.-^* ‘‘American” vessels in the coasting trade 
did not have to enter formally or clear. Neither did Dutch 
vessels from Dutch ports always bother much about “enter- 
ing” at American ports. There was considerable smuggling 
of goods into the American states during this period thru 
even the large ports. That is, a considerable quantity of 
goods came into the country thru the large ports without pay- 
ing the duty that would have been paid if the state laws had 
been enforced. There was not a revenue-cutter or searcher 
at any port. “Sylvius”, a contemporary, writes in 1787 that 
on conservative estimate one-tenth of the total imports into 
Philadelphia were smuggled in.®° Even the customs officers 
were lax and partial. “Sylvius” speaks of the contempt of 
customs house officers for their oaths “which, like the tenor 
of their wills, were not to be examined into till after their 
deaths”. Smuggling was so prevalent that an association of 
merchants was formed to bring pressure to bear on customs 
officers to make them check smuggling. And Philadelphia 
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, 1, 469 ; Maryland Journal 
and Baltimore Advertiser, January 6, 1787. 
Baron De Beelen von Bertholff, Die Berichte des Ersten Agenten Osterreichs in 
den Vereinigten Staaten von Ame^'ika, edited by Dr. Hans Schlitter (Wein, 1891), XLV, 
part 2, in Fontes Rerum Austn'iaoarum, Second Series, 656, 
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, III, 526, 527, 530. 
"^^Ibid., Ill, 531. 
Carey, American Museoim w Repository, V, 250. 
^^Ihid., II, 112. 
