The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 34 - new book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: BRITISH INDUSTRY AND THE AMERICAN EMBARGO SUMMARY The Embargo a weapon of offense, 88. ? Times favored the trial, 89. ? Hardships inflicted on British labor, 91. ? An incentive to smuggling, 94. ? Stagnation gives way to revival in other trade routes, 95. ? Cotton a test of the Embargo, 97. ? Linen, 101. ? Effect of Embargo on British food supply, 102; and consequent ban upon distilleries, 103. ? Tables of imports and exports, with comments, 106. ? Foreign exchange, 110.?Estimates of loss, 111.? Conclusion and general observations, 112. When in December, 1807, Congress voted the embargo, recalled our ships and forbade them to leave port, it forged a two-edged weapon. Its ostensible purpose was protective. The Berlin Decree and the Orders in Council made neutral sailing precarious. The Milan Decree, soon to be published, made it well-nigh impossible. Prudence demanded the recall of our shipping before it fell into French or British hands. And as a prudential measure, the embargo met with little opposition; even in New England, where it was soon to drive men to the brink of secession. As a measure of caution, however, its limitations were obvious. The losses from ships at anchor, docks abandoned, and sailors dispersed, might soon equal the risks of enemy capture. In face of economic disaster, the embargo could be justified only as a weapon of offense, and this latter object came, as time wore on, to be more fully recognized. Strangely enough, the efficiency of the embargo as a weapon of offense has received little attention. Its political and economic reactions on America have beenstudied, but these concern its defensive aspect. The real clue to the success of the embargo as a substitute for war lies overseas. How did it affect the nations against which it was aimed ? ...