As yet, however, no commercial communication
had taken place between the
English and Icelanders, and it unfortunately
happened that the first visit they were
destined to receive from our countrymen was
of a nature but ill calculated to impress them
with favorable sentiments towards us; for,
benevolent as were the intentions of our
government, no public notification had been
made of them, and they were consequently
of no avail in preventing the depredations of
our privateers; one of which, in 1808, under
the command of Captain Gilpin, came to, the
island, and landed an armed force, which
took away from the public chest upwards of
thirty thousand rix-dollars that were appropriated
to the maintenance of the schools
and the poor.
Far different from this was the object of
Mr. Phelps, an eminent and honorable merchant
in London, who, having accidentally
learned from Mr. Jorgensen that a large
quantity of Icelandic produce, and particularly
of tallow, was lying ready for exportation
in the ports of that island, conceived
the project of opening a direct communication,
likely to prove equally beneficial
to both parties; and, without delay, freighted
a vessel called the Clarence, at Liverpool,
for the purpose, in doing which, to avoid all
possible cause for umbrage, he, according to
Mr. Jorgensen, applied to government for
permission to export no other articles but
such as were absolutely necessary for the
subsistence of the inhabitants, as barley-
meal, potatoes, and salt, with a very small
proportion of rum, tobacco, sugar, and coffee,
not exceeding ten tons; taking especial care
not to send out any British manufactured
goods, and thereby give room for a charge
that he merely wished to make the island
a depository for prohibited articles, which
might thence be afterwards smuggled into
the continent. This ship was furnished with
a letter of marque, but still, in order to
prove the honorable intentions of the merchant,
it was expressly stipulated with the
owner, that the captain, Mr. Jackson, should
not seize or capture any vessel, either in the
ports of Iceland or in sight of its coasts; and
in case that he should in any way violate
the agreement, the owner should be liable
to the forfeiture of ¿£8,000. In this ship