S HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY DANIEL & FEARING I Marchant, Printer, Greville street, Holborn. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUNCIL, APPOINTED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF ALL MATTERS RELATING TO TRADE AND FOREIGN PLANTATIONS. MY LORDS, I have the honor to solicit your Lordships' acceptance of a Work, which has, for its object, an increase of the wealth and prosperity of this country. The means I have pointed out, for the attainment of these ends, are such as require all of them protection, some of them encouragement, and fostering attention and care. It is for these reasons that I have taken the liberty of dedicating my labours to your Lordships. The world will admit, at least, the pro priety of the Dedication. I shall be highly gratified, if the Work now submitted to the consideration of your Lordships, shall be found, in any degree, conducive to the general Interests of the British Empire. I have the honour to be, My Lords, Your Lordships Most obedient, And very humble servant, J. JEPSON ODDY. London, 1st August, 1805. PREFACE. THE uncommon circumstances of the present times, when commerce is forced from its usual channels, may sufficiently apologize for my offering some information relative to those new and circuitous routes of carrying on business with the Continent of Europe, which it is become necessary to adopt. The commerce of Britain must either decline, or new channels and modes of carrying it on be sought after, encouraged, and adopted: for, where shall we find a sufficient market for our East and West India produce, and our home manufactures, when shut out from the Continent of Europe? Every material circumstance here developed would certainly be known, in process of time: but men engaged in commerce have no time to lose. I therefore hope, that what I now offer will be found useful. I shall preface the subject with a few general remarks. There is no information yet published, relative to our commercial intercourse with the Continent, through the medium of the Northern Channels, sufficiently detailed and comprehensive, for the use of the British Merchant: and, as accuracy of detail may be claimed, without apprehending an imputation of vanity, I hope I may be permitted to that I have had, and cultivated opportunities of becoming, in some say, measure, qualified for the task I have undertaken. Personal observations, with experience, both at home and abroad, in a life of active occupation, having given me peculiar advantages, I have been enabled to point out many things hitherto little known; and which will be highly useful to the Landed Proprietors, Merchants, Manufacturers, Ship-Owners, and Underwriters of Great Britain. While Great Britain is engaged in a contest with an implacable foe, who aims at the annihilation of her political existence, by the ruin of her commerce, it must afford the highest satisfaction to every friend to his country to know, that, even if the Continent remain in its present situation, there are new, wide, and secure channels, by which her trade may be carried on, through the North of Europe and Germany, to Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and even to Turkey; to which last country a new, expeditious, and cheap route is pointed out, and some interesting details given. Under the present circumstances it becomes of importance to shew, that the trade with the Northern Powers is more beneficial to them than to Great Britain. In doing this, it will be demonstrated, that their jealousies respecting the commercial prosperity of this Country originate in mistaken notions, both of our interests and their own, and that, though the disadvantages arising from a suspension of that trade would doubtless be great, both to the Northern Nations and to the British Empire, they would be far greater to the former than to the latter; for, neither the French trade nor any other could compensate to them for the loss of the British commerce; while the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland would find in its own unimproved, unexplored, various, and vast resources, means of uniting individual gain and prosperity with public security and greatness. |