gmertca, , ?|emp, an& JUapoleon - Vote Hemp

America, Russia, Hemp, and Napoleonket was also bad, and Fairfield sacrificed the cargo of the"Golden Age" at a very low price in order to take on wine,which was reported to be in demand in Spain and England. Afew weeks later, he reported from Lisbon that there was littledemand for wine there. (And, incidentally, that "the marketsin this quarter are over-stocked with colonial produce and alsothe productions of our country.") In July the "Golden Age"was at an English port, and Fairfield was writing home that herwine had been rejected there for being of poor quality. Afterlong wrangling, however, he managed to get a pittance for it,and with that he purchased a load offish and headed back forthe Mediterranean. The price offish was tremendously high inFrench-dominated Italy, he had heard, and by this time he hadconvinced himself that Napoleon spoke the truth whe n he saidthe Berlin and Milan decrees no longer applied to Americanvessels and cargoes. O n 19 February 1812, the "Golden Age"arrived at Naples, where she was immediately seized and hercargo confiscated. 3Rare was the American who had come home from Europewith a full purse in 1811, and the trade with Russia had beenno better than with any other port of Europe. Losses in tradewith Russia had nudged more than one American merchantinto ruin in 1811. Now , of course, there was the trade fromRussia to Vienna, but ho w long would it last? Russia wouldsoon either have to truly enforce the Continental System orface war with France. Either eventuality would be disastrousfor American traders. Thefirst would mean exclusion or confiscation.The second would mean peace between Russia andEngland, and the arrival of hundreds of English vessels at the232