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5001. MANUFACTURES, The Embargo and.—[further continued].

Amidst the pressure of
evils with which the belligerent edicts [Berlin
decrees, Orders of Council, &c.], have afflicted
us, some permanent good will arise;
the spring given to manufactures will have
durable effects. Knowing most of my own
State, I can affirm with confidence that were
free intercourse opened again to-morrow, she
would never again import one-half of the
coarse goods which she has done down to
the date of the edicts. These will be made in
our families. For finer goods we must resort
to the larger manufactories established in the
towns.—
To David Humphreys. Washington ed. v, 415. Ford ed., ix, 226.
(W. 1809)