42 
Indiana University 
of the British and American shipping that passed directly 
between ports of the United States and Great Britain. This 
does, however, not indicate precisely the ratio of trade be- 
tween the United States and the Netherlands on the one hand 
and between the United States and Great Britain on the other. 
This is so because of the fact that not all the ships sailed 
straight back and forth between British and American ports 
or between Dutch and American ports, but made circuits, 
touching at several ports in different countries. Only these 
British and American ships could legally under the King’s 
proclamation or order in council carry American goods to 
Great Britain or British goods to America without paying 
alien duties.^®® But it does not follow that all of these Amer- 
ican ships that entered British ports directly from the United 
States unloaded their entire American cargo in the British 
port. Some of these ships went on to the Netherlands or to 
France and disposed of the remainder of their cargo there, 
took on a part of a return cargo for America, touched at an 
English port, completed their return cargo and sailed for an 
American port, were recorded there as entering from a Brit- 
ish port, just as they had originally cleared from an American 
port for a British port. These American ships that did this 
were counted in the British statistics of Macpherson and in 
the Papers on Navigation and Trade. They were also listed 
in the Pennsylvania Packet returns as ships sailing between 
the United States and Great Britain. They are not included 
in the statistics of Dutch-American shipping at all. These 
ships are all credited in the statistics entirely to British- 
American commerce altho engaged quite as much in Dutch- 
American commerce. On the other hand, because of the 
location of England, American ships would not clear for the 
Netherlands, get part of their cargo, finish in an English port, 
and return to the Netherlands to clear for America from a 
Dutch port. Of course, some American ships clearing from 
the United States for a British port went on to a Dutch port 
and returned straight home, being recorded in the statistics 
as a clearance for a British port and an entrance from a 
Dutch port. Others still cleared directly for a Dutch port, 
went on to a British port and returned straight home to 
King’s Proclamation of May 14, 1783, in accordance with act of 23 George III, 
chap, xxxix. George Chalmers, Opinions on Interesting Subjects of Public Lmv and 
Commercial Policy (London, 1784), 28; Wharton, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Corre- 
spondence of the United States, VI, 428 ; London Gazette, May 14, 1783. 
