(102 .J | [Feb. 1, 
MONTHLY COMMERCIAL REPORT... me 
EWS the moft unpleafing to the merchants and underwriters have been at laft received 
‘in regard to the fate of ‘Buenos Ayres. It was revaken by the. Spaniards, on the 32th 
of Auguit lait; confequently, even thé Art of-the merchant-ihips freighted from this couns 
‘ry for that port could not arrive before it had:returned into the enemy’s pofleflion. Point 
Malidonade, however, on tke oppofite fide of the river, and confiderably to . the fouth-eatt. 
‘c: Monte vides, has been occupied by the troops from the Cape-of Good Hope. Not ones 
‘therefore, of the Britith merchantmen can ‘have failed, unwittingly, into. the harbour of 
Buenos Ayres, while it was again .an enemy’s pert. They would.all go. into Partuguele 
ports, or ftop at’ Point Maldonado; but the fales of their cargoes are, in a.great meafpre, 
prevented: Alpart may be difpofed of to the Portuguefe; part, alfo, may be fmuggledin 
among'the Spaniards along the coat. Some of the fhips may return with their cargoes to 
Jamaica, orsothers of the free - -ports in the Weft Indies ; others’ may fend goods: inte the 
Spanish market, bythe intervention of American traders ; others may await the re-conqueft 
ef Buenos Ayres by a new Britth force. Buty after all, the lefs. upon fo many hundred 
“thoufand pounds’ worth 6f-geods muft be very large. It will be fuffered rather by the-mere 
eehants than by the ender-writers. “Much of it falls upon the -manufaCturers, and petty 
dealers 3 Shefield and Birmingham, ‘in particular, fufer very coniiderably. ¥We: har abat 
Meaachefter has alio its-part, and that not a fmall one, in the icfs. sige 
The homeward Weft ‘India Acet has arrived, without misiortune by fterm or capture 5 
bet there is no bri ie fale for Weit India produce. Raw cottons fearcely fetch a ptice.equi- 
~walent to the freight. Sugars continue too low to afferd any thing like an adequate return 
-to_the proprietors of Mufcovado fugar of middling or imferiar quality. . The cafe is ‘thedame 
swith rum and coffee. The attempt to exclude “Batih commodities from the .Contiment, 
cannot but be ultimately fruftrated ; in the’ mean time, it fails sot of inciting fome /part 
~ef that-mifchief upen Britith commerce which its author intended. «The pot of aed 
computed from the returns forthe week ending- ee 24, is only 41. 17s Od: per cwts ? 
The manuiacturers of linens in Scotland and Ireland, derive advantage; from rhe-prtieat 
fate of Germany. The German linen manufaétures are ruined. The demand: <onanbés 
neatly the fame in those ftaples, in which was the principal competition between German 
and “Britith linens. -Our manuraéturers have the advantage of fupplying, that-whole demand 5 
but there is a icarcity of flax and hemp. Ales : yoverg 
~ "ERe conditions of the new commercial treaty with-the United States of Ainesiceaelt 
-mot be made public till they -thall have been’ finally r atified by the Anglo-American govermt- 
ment. But doubts Have been expreffed, that, to ‘the exceeding sicetrasiele of. our own Wet 
Endia ttade, the Anglo-Americans muy be permitted, under that treaty, to introduce into 
the ports of France the produce of St.’ Domingo, . St. Theasas’s,. of their-own South 
Carolina; and, under firuggling deceits, that alfo of Murtinigue and Guadaloupe: by whieh 
France will retain an advantage teward procuring the fupplies fhe wants from the /Weft 
Indies, of which the:lite editt of blockade again the Britith; ifies fywuid a ee 
her. - ie 
The fhip-owners continue to complain, that the fpirit of the navigation-laws’ is:not sigor- 
oufly adhered toin their favour; that ee iilding declines in-the pert of London ;* and that, 
“withont the {peedy adoption of a very different. policy from that upon - which. government 
has for fome time acted in relation to the ihipping intevett, both the fhip-building manu- 
fx@ture, and the carrying trade by ica, are im danger of being, within no long time, utterly 
lof to this country 
Fhe juf and equitable meaiure of the immediate ahelitiom of the flave- trade is again 
under the confideration of Parliament. It is certain that the merchants and tplanters have 
been providing againit that meafure, and have this vear fent out niore thips to the coaft of 
Africa than have, for feveral years previous, been employ ed in the fame traffic, for the ufe 
of the Britith pluntations folely. It is ftated, that 4 or 5000 landmen have, tor fome 
time, entered every year on beard the fhips fitted out on the Airican trade; that in the 
voyage from Britain to Africa, from Africa to the Weft Indies, thof landmen have-acquired 
the skill and experinefs of failors ; that, on their arrival in the: Weft Indies, a «cat part 
ef them have been always impreiled into the fhips of war upon that ftatien; and: thet, with. 
out fuch an annual fupply of frei feamen, thus feafuned in hot climates for the: fervice, 
it is impotiible for us to maintain an adequate naval force inthe Wett Indies, ; 
The Britith trade to Po: tugal furvives the confequences of the French edié&t of blockade 3 
but that to the coafts of Italy, anc to the Medite cranes in general, fufters already great 
injury from the edict. Mercantile correfpondence 4s intesrupted by it 3 and even the trade 
fiony Malta. as an-emporium or depot, to Le -ghorn, by neutrals, cane be ‘continued as 
before. ‘Whe trade of export and import with Sicily and Sardinia, however, proceeds as 
~ bevore.. . , + 
The prefenc 
our trade to th 
ef Admiral Louis at the Dardanelles happily prevents any intersuption of 
a 
the French anc 
Levant or the Black-Sea, and cuts off all poliibie communication petween 
fy 
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ladia. 1M 10°98 
