navigation laws, and became the parent of endless strife and animosity, which in after years assisted in some measure to bring about the terrible civil war that raged from 1860 to 1865 between the Northern and Southern States.
Concessions were however soon made, and afterwards, in 1788, an Act was passed, permanently permitting the importation into the West Indies, in British vessels, of tobacco, pitch, tar, turpentine, horses, cattle, &c., the produce of the United States, and the exportation from the West Indies to the States of all goods or produce lawfully exportable to European countries. The commercial jealousies and animosities between the two countries now gradually subsided, though British shipowners still adhered to the principle of their Navigation Laws, and excluded American vessels from the colonial and inter-colonial trade, all such goods imported and exported being required to be carried in British bottoms.
New disputes.
English Orders in Council.
Thus matters went on until the war broke out with
France in 1792, when new disputes arose with the
United States. In order to obtain the produce of their
West India Islands, the French despatched their
sugars and other produce to the continent of America,
whence it was conveyed in American neutral vessels
to France. Here is a striking illustration of a
friendly power professing neutrality, yet enriching
itself by a carrying trade for the benefit of one of
the belligerents. Accordingly an English Order in
Council was issued for seizing all vessels conveying
to France the produce of the French colonies, or
supplies from France for the use of those colonies.
