8570. TREATIES OF COMMERCE, Efforts to negotiate.—[continued].
The European powers seemed in fact to know little about us but as
rebels, who had been successful in throwing off
the yoke of the mother country. They were
ignorant of our commerce, which had been always
monopolized by England, and of the exchange
of articles it might offer advantageously
to both parties. They were inclined, therefore,
to stand aloof until they could see better what
relations might be usefully instituted with us.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 62.
Ford ed., i, 88.
(1821)
