| 1797 | 21,013,957 | 16,903,103 | 12,013,907 | 28,917,010 | +------+---------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------+ [223] For interesting details of this period of Irish history, see ‘Life of Grattan,’ by his son, and Phillipps’s ‘Memoirs of J. Philpot Curran.’ [224] The ships which entered the ports of Scotland, during the following years are thus reported by Chalmers:— Foreign trade. Coast trade. Fisheries, &c. Tons. Tons. Tons. In 1769 48,271 21,615 10,275 In 1774 52,225 26,214 14,903 In 1784 50,386 31,542 10,421 In 1785 60,356 36,371 11,252 The Custom House accounts, from which the above is derived, state the ships to belong to Scotland, reckoning each vessel only one voyage in each year. [225] _Vide_ Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations,’ by McCulloch, pp. 47, 48. [226] Fleetwood gives the wages of a ship’s carpenter, in 1514, at 3_d._ per day from Candlemas to Michaelmas, and 6_d._ from Michaelmas to Candlemas; a master caulker had 6_d._ and 5_d._, and inferior caulkers 5_d._ and 4½_d._ per day respectively, 2_d._ per day being deducted for diet. A great service has been done, especially in the navy, by the diminishing the quantity of grog, and by the substitution for it of cocoa, &c. [227] 26 George III. chap. 60. [228] McCulloch’s ‘Commercial Dictionary,’ article Registry; see also Macpherson, iv. pp. 107-111, who gives the rules for measuring the capacity of ships. [229] Act of Congress, December 31, 1792, chap. i. [230] For full details of the law with reference to neutral ships, see Wheaton’s ‘International Law,’ vol. ii. c. iii. [231] Macpherson, iv. pp. 112-116. It may create a smile when we state that one clause in this treaty stipulated “that the merchants are at liberty to keep their books as they please, and to write their letters in any language they think proper.” Another clause provided that British subjects were “not compelled to keep their accounts on stamped paper with the exception of the Journal.” [232] Of one hundred and thirty-seven vessels thus engaged in the year 1787, eighty were owned in Liverpool, and thirty in Bristol.