ABSTRACT
The ten years of peace which succeeded the war with America, were years of extraordinary activity and prosperity, during which the trade of Liverpool increased more rapidly than it had done during any former decade in its history. The population in 1793 was estimated at about 60,000. The marvellous progress of the port is seen from the fact that, in 1716, the whole tonnage which entered and cleared from English ports, was 456,309 tons, of which 18,371 tons cleared from Liverpool; in 1792, the whole tonnage cleared from English ports was 1,565,154, of which 260,380 cleared from Liverpool. Thus, in a period of 77 years, Liverpool’s share had increased from the twenty-fourth to the sixth part of the whole. But the peace and plenty which England enjoyed from 1783 to the end of 1793, were doomed to be followed by years of war and scarcity. On the 21st of January, 1793, Louis XVI., deposed King of France, was guillotined at Paris. In common with other European Courts more concerned about the safety of Kings than the rights of the people, England, under the administration of Pitt—then Liverpool’s favourite statesman—alarmed by the progress of the French Revolution, declared war with France. This war continued until 1815, when it culminated in the Battle of Waterloo. It was the cause of untold misery, the destruction of an appalling number of human lives, and of an incalculable amount of property on sea and land, and cost upwards of £831,000,000. The two main results of this war were to deliver France to despotism again, and to hinder our own march of progress at least half a century. During its continuance the commerce of Liverpool was exposed to all the dangers and chances of war, with only one short interval of rest during the peace of Amiens.
