Studies in American History 
31 
In explanation it should be stated that the words “Enf' and 
“Clear’' refer to entrance and clearance for Rotterdam. Thus 
in 1783 there was one vessel entering Rotterdam from Mary- 
land and one vessel clearing Rotterdam for Maryland. Of 
course, it must be remembered that the above are not the 
actual number of arrivals and departures, but only those that 
the Pennsylvania Packet recorded. One would, however, be 
safe in assuming that the newspapers would report about the 
same percentage of the total actual arrivals from Rotterdam 
as from Amsterdam. In comparing the entrances and clear- 
ances for Rotterdam as listed in the Pennsylvania Packet with 
those for Amsterdam, one can get an accurate estimate of the 
ratio of the commerce with America that existed between 
these two Dutch cities. For this purpose a tabulation of ar- 
rivals and departures of vessels at Amsterdam has been pre- 
pared in the same way in which the one for Rotterdam was 
made up and this table follows : 
