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Les diagrammes sulvants iliustrent la mAthode. t errata d to It le pelure, pon A 1 2 3 32X . . f : i i ;,.:^,^4 8 6 "i^'"^ ■ %.^.' THE ADMINISTRATION O F T H E COLONIES. (THE FOURTH EDITION.) WHEREIN THEIR RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTION Are difculTed and ftated. By THOMAS POWNALL, Late Governor and Commander in Chief of his his Majefty's Provinces, Maflachufetts-Bay and South-Carolina, and Lieutenant-Governor of New-Jerfey. Pulchrum eft benefacere Reipublica, etiam hene- dicere baud abfurdum eft. Sallustius. ,^ LONDON: .^ Printed for J. Walter, at HomerVHead, Charing-Crofs. mdcclxviii. ^^ J / .y^" %. -''^"'^■:h}fhP:^i'-'fV'^' ( V ) TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE GRENVILLE, Efq; SIR, WHEN I firft publiflied my opinions upon the adminiftration of the Colonies, I addrefled the book to you. You was then minlder in this country, and had taken an adtlve and leading part in the adminiilration of thofe affairs. I did not by that addrefs dedicate, as is the ufual phrafe, my opinions to the minifter, for our opinions differed on feveral points : But as difputes upon a queflion^ pregnant with the mofl dangerous confequences, began to be agitated between the minifter of this country and the Colonifts, which I favs^ mufl foon extend thertifelves in contentions A 3 with ( vl ) with parliament itfelf : As I faw a fpirit of fufpicion and alarm arifing, a temper of ill blood infufing itfelF into the minds of men; I endeavoural to obviate thcle mifchiefs, by marking in that adJrefs, that, as there were neither arbitiary intentions on one hand againll: the liberties of the Colonics, nor rebellious deligns on the other againfl the juft imperium of governmciit; fo there was a certain good temper and right ipirit, which, if obferved on all fides, might bring thefe matters of difpute to fuch a fettlement as political truth and liberty are befl eftabliihed upon. You had conceived, that government hath a right to avail itfelf in its finances, of the revenues of all its dominions, and that the impofing taxes, by parliament, for the faid purpofe, was the conftitutional mode of doing this. The Colonifts who were not reprefented in parliament by knights and burgeffes of their own elecftion, " did appre- •* hend, they had reafon to fear fome dan- " ger of arbitrary rule over them, when ** the fupreme power of the nation had ** thought ( vii ) *' thought proper to impofe taxes on his " Majefty's American fuhjedts, with the ** fole and cxprefs purpofe of raifing a re- *• venue, and without their confent." Parliament had, by a folemn ad:, declared that it hath a right to make laws, which (hall be binding upon the people of the Colonies, fubjeds of Great Britain, in all cafes ivhatjoever, ^^whWe the Colonifts fay, in all cafes which can confijl with the fiindd' mental rules of the confiitution ; by which limitation, they except the cafe of taxation, where there is not reprefentation. Hence the Colonifts have, by many, been deemed fadious, undutiful and difloyal, and even chargeable with treafon itlelf. i had been fufHciently converfant in thefe affairs, although neither employed nor con- fulted in them, fince I left America, to know that thefe alternate charge^ were falfe ' and groundlefb j that there were neither arbitrary intentions on one hand, nor fedi- tious views on the other. As therefore, by my addreff, I meant to do juftice to your principles, v/hich I knew to be thofe of A 4 • peace ( viii ) peace and government eftablidied on poli- tical liberty, — fo I took that occafion, as I will ever cdeem it a duly to do, to bear my teftimony to the afFcdion which the Colo- nifts ever bore to the mother country, to their zeal for its welfare, to their fenle of government and their loyalty to their fove- reign, as alfo how much they have merited from this country, and how much they de- ferve to be confidered by it, in order to put thefe matters of difpute on a footing of re- conciliation, fair difcufHon and equitable fvttlement. It is great pity that queftions of this na- ture were ever raifed, * *' for, it is a very *' unfafe thing in fettled governments, to ** ari^ue the reafon of the fundamental con- " flitutions." — But when contrary propofi- tions are alternately brought forward by the reprefeniatives of two people, as the avowed principles of their relpedive conftituents; when an inferior government, which inva- riably acknowledges its dependence on afupe- * Comm. Journal 1672. nor ( ix ) rior and fupream government, thinks It hath a right to call into queAion fome particular exertions of power in that government, by rules which limit the extent of that power, it is abfolutely neceflary to decide fuch qucf- tion, or to give fuch explanations of the matter, that ic may ceafe to be a queflion ;^ for fo long as it continues in doubt, the parties will alternately charge each other with arbitrary principles, and a fpirit of fcdi- tion, with tyranny and rebellion ;— and frequent injurious adts of violence, which numberlefs events will ever give occafion to, mud neceilarily be animated wiih a fpirit too nearly allied to the one and to the other. -—The matter is in that flate that it ought to come before parliament, it muft, it will,— it is neceflary to the fupport of government that it fhould j — it is neceflliry to the fecurity of the nation and its in^ereft ; — it is neceflary to the peace, liberties, and conflitution of the Colonies -, it is neceflary to the fafety of minifters. *^1 ft 'J rior Many matters therefore, the publication of which I had fufpended, while I thought that ( ^ ) that this queflion might be waved, or fotnd way compromifed, I now publifh in this edition. I continue my addrefs, Sir, to you^ now you are no longer mihifter, nor perhaps ever likely to be. I addrefs myfelf to the private country gentleman, who will alway have a great {hare in the bufinefs of his country j — to Mr. George Grenville, as to one who hath, and alway will have great intereft, lead and authority in parliamentj from an opinion really and deeply grounded in the minds of the moft ferious of his coun- trymen, that, while for the fake of the peace and liberties of the whole, he means to fupport the conftitutional powers of go- vernment in the crown ; fo is he equally, by principle, determined, as by abilities able, to guard the civil rights of the fubjeds with a peculiar regard to, and management of, their interefts in their property. ! This American queftion, in which liberty and the rights of property are fo deeply en- gaged, muft now come forward. From the pait which you have already taken, you n.uft dill bear a confiderable part in the de^ bates ( ^^ ) bates and confultations which will be held upon it. I therefore addrefs, to your mod ferious confideration, that ftate of this bufi- nefs which the following book contains; nor will I d: fpair of your aflent to what fo firmly eftablidies the rights of property, on the foundations of liberty, by an equal exten- fion and communication of government, to whercfoevcr the people and dominions, hav- ing thefe I ights, do extend. In the matters which I piopofe, I fpeak my own fenti- ments, not yours. I addrefs them to your ferious confideration, as I do to every man of bufinefs in the nation, with an hope that from convidion of the juftice, policy and necefiity of the meafure, they may become the general fentiments of the government, and of the people of Great Britain. From the fame fentiments, and with the fame view of general peace and liberty, I could wifli to recommend the fame propofitions to the Americans. Nor would I defpair of their afifent to things, were there no jealoufies of, no prejudices againft men. I am convinced that thefe maxims are true in theory, and do fincerely believe, that they are the only prin- til Hi I ( xii ) principles, by which the peace, the civil liberty, and commercial profperity of the Britifh dominions can be maintained and fupported. I am no Partlzan. I do not , palliate the errors of Great Britain. I do not flatter the paffions of America. My zeal and many fervices towards the one, have appeared in the efFedt of thofe fervices j and my afFcdion to the other, if it be not al- ready known, will be feen, as, under the accident of a certain event, I mean to end my days there in a private charadier. I have, in this prefent edition, gone into the difcuflion of this matter, as it lies infaS}^ and as it hath, at the flrft fettlement of the Colonies, and in the different periods cf their progrefs, exijied in rights eftablilhed on fuch fad;. I have flated the fad, and the right, in hopes to point out what is the true and conditutional relation between Great Britain and the American Colonies, what is the precife ground on which this dangerous queftion ought to be fettled : How far they are to be governed by the vigour of exter- nal principles, by the fupreme fuperintend- ing power of the mother country : How &r, by ( xiii ) by the vigour of the internal princr>les of their own peculiar body politic : And what ought to be the mode of adminiftration, by which they are to be governed in their legiflative, exe- cutive, judicial and commercial departments, in the conduct of their money and revenues in their power of making peace or war.— Analyfing by the experience of fad!:, this inquiry, 1 mark the falfe policy which derives by neceffary confequence from ftating the Colonies, as fubjedt only to the King in his feignoral capacity.- 1 fhow alfo that no precedents can be drawn from that period, when the two houfes of parlia-^ mentaiTumed the exercife of the fovereigniy, and confidered the Colonics as their fubjeSis, —I {how how the Colonies ought to be confidered as parts of the realm, and by {bowing the perplexities in reafoning, and the dangerous confequences in pradice, which attend the dating of the Colonies as without, and no part of the realm, at the fame time that they are ftated as fubje(fls of the King, Lords and Commons coilcdlively taken as fovereign. I mark the falfe groun4 ^nd fupsrftrudture of that pofition. I \A ij^'' ( xiv ) In the courfe of this reafoning, while I ftate the rights of the Colonifls, as thofc of Engli(hmen, to all intents and purpofes ; while I ftate kow the Colonies have been adminiftered, as diftindt, free communities, and low they ought ftill to be adminiftered, if they are not united to the realm. I fliow that the Colonies, although without the limits of the realm, are yet in fadt, of the realm i are annexed^ if not yet united parts of the realm; are precifely in the predicament of the counties Palatine of Dur- ham and Chefter; and therefore ought, in the fame manner, to be united to the realm, in a full and abfolute communication and communion of all rights, franchifes and liberties, which any other part of the realm hath, or doth enjoy, or ought to have and to enjoy : in communication of the fame burthens, offices, and emoluments, in com- munion of the fame foedoral and commer- cial rights, in the fame exercife of judicial and executive powers, — in the fame parti- cipation of council. — And that therefore, in the courfe and procedure of our govern- ment with the Colonies, there mufl: arife a duty 1i LlHi^Olll ( XV ) duty in government to give, a right in the Colonies to claim, a (hare in the legiflature of Great-Britain, by having Knights and BurgefTes of their own eledion, reprefenting them in parliament. uty It makes no difference in the matter of the truth, whether the government of En- gland (hould be averfe to the extending of this privilege to the Colonies, or whether the Colonies (hould be averfe to the receiv- ing of it : — Whether we, from pride and jealoufy, or they, from fears and doubts, {hould be repugnant to this union. For, whether we reafon from experience and the authority of example : Or whether we con- iider the policy, juftice, and neceffity of the meafure, the conclufion is unavoidably the fame; the propofition invariably true. That the Britijh ijlest with our pojj'ejjiom in the Atlantic and in America^ are in fact, UNITED INTO A ONE GRANp MARINE DOMINION : And ought therefore^ by policy^ to be united into a one Imperium^ in a one fenter^ where the feat of government is. And ought to be governed from thence, by an i m '■ '.1 II! h i f XVJ ) an adminiflration founded on the bafis of the whole, and adequate and efficient to the whole. - ^ :-/ ' * 1 have not ftated the neceflity of this meafure, for reafons which cannot but be obvious to any prudent man ; but I have ventured to affirm, that fueh k tl?e aflual ftate of the fyftem of |he Britiffi dominions, that neither the power of gov-ernn*ent, over thefe various parts, can Jong continue upder the prefeat mode of admipift ration' j nor the great intereft of comnwce, extended throughout the whole, long fubfift w?4er the prcfent fyftem of th? laws of trade. , •;: As I do, from my heft judgment, fm-. ccrely believe, that a general and imire union of the Britifli dominions, is the only meafure by which Great -Britain can be continued in its political liberty, and 4:om« mercial profperity, perfwps in its exigence ; So I make no fcruple to averr, that if this meafure be not adopted in policy, as itreailjf exifts mfaSf, it will foon become the duty of the feveral difunised parts, to look nar^. rowly iV ( xvii ) rowly to, and ftand firm in, the mainte«» nance of their undoubted rights in that ftate and relation, in which the adminiftration of government (hall hold them. As I have pointed out the mode, how government may purfue its duty, confident with the fundamentals of the conftitution ; fo have I fuggefted, through every ftep, how the American may fortify himfelf in thefe rights, confident with his alliance. When I had firft an opportunity of con- verfing with, and knowing the fentiments of, the * commiffioners of the feveral pro- vinces in North America, convened at Albany ; of learning from their experience and judgment, the adual ftate of the Ame- rican bufinefs and intereft ; of hearing amongft them, the grounds and reafons of that American union which they then had under deliberation, and tranfmitted the plan of to England : I then firft conceived the idea, and faw the necefiity of a general * Appointed by their refpedlive provinces, to attend a congrefs at Albany, in 1 754, to which they were called by the crown. a Briiijh ii ( xviii ) Britijh union, I then firft mentioned my fentiments on this fubjedt to feveral of thofe commifiioners, — and at that time, firft propofed my confiderations on a general plan of union, 1 had the fatisfadtion to find many of the meafures, which I did then propofe, adopted j and the much greater faLibfadion of feeing the good efFedt of them : But this particular meafure was at that time, I dare fay, confidered as theory and vifion, and perhaps may, at this time, be thought fo ftill : but every event that hath fincc arifen, every meafure which hath fince been taken, through every period of bufinefs in which I have been concerned, or of which I have been cogni- fant, hath confirmed me in my idea of the ftate of things, and of the truth of the mea- fure: At this period, every man of bufinefs in Britain, as well as in America, fees the cffed of this ftate of things, and may, in future, fee the necefllty of this meafure. The whole train of events, the whole courfe of bufinefs, muft perpetually bring forward into pradice, and necefifarily in the end, into eftablifhment — either an American or a Britijh union. — There is no other alternative, the ( xix ) the only confideration which remains to every good man, who loves the peace and liber- ties of mankind, is whethe** the one or the other (hall be forced into exiftence, by the violence of parties, and at the hazard of events j or whether by the deliberate legifla- tive advice of the feprefentative of all who are concerned. May both the Briton and the American take this confideration to heart : and, what- ever be the fate of parties and factions, of patriots or minifters, may the true govern- ment of laws prt vail, and the rights of men be eflablifhed in political liberty* With the higheft efteem and regardj I have the honour to be. Sir, Your moft obedient humble fervant* T. pownall; a z l! I ( x*i ) ADVERTISEMENT. 'T^HAT I may obviate thofe prejudices by which many people might be led to think, that the dodtrines and reafonings contained in the following book are novel, and theories of imagination : That I may at lead crave a fufpenHon of thofe opinions, from whence many people pronounce, that the application made by the Colonies, to de- precate the levying of taxes, when impofed by parliament, is unconftitutional and un- precedented : I have here inferted, as pub- liflied by Daniel King in 1656, the record of a like application from the county palatine of Chefter in the like cafe. With the King's anfwer, and ordinance made out in form. Wherein not only fimilar reafonings are exhibited, but a precedent alfo is holden forth. By which, government, on one a 3 hand. is i ( xxii ) band, may fee, that this county Palatine was exempted from taxes laien by parliament, while the faid county had not Knights and BurgclTes of their own elc(5lion, to reprefent them in parliament : and wherein the Colo- nies may fee on the other hand, by purfuing the precedents relative to this county, that when it was thought proper and advifeable to fubjedt it to taxes impofcd by parliament, the privilege of fending Knights and Bur- geffes to parliament was the proper and conditutional remedy fought and obtained. I i [■1 1 n Copy ■»**«" — iw^iiariiiiJtii ( xxiii ) Copy of a Supplication, exhibited to King Henry VI. by the inhabitants of the County Palatine of Chefter. M To the KING, our Sovereign Lord. Anno D. 1450. MOST Chriftian Benigne, and Ga- cious King J We your humble fub- jeds, and true obalfant liege people, the Abbots, Priors, and all the clergy j your Barons, Knights, and Efquires 5 and all the Commonalty of your County Palatine of Chefter, meekly prayen and befeechen your Highnefs : Where the faid county is, and hath been a county palatine, as well before the conqueft of England, as continually fince, diftindl and feparate from the crown of England: within which county, you/ and a 4 all . ■ I 11 I t I 1 ( xxlv ) all your noble progenitors fithen it came in- to your hands, and all rulers of the fame, before that time, have had your high courts of parliment to hold at your wills, your chan- cery, your exchequer, your juftice to hold pleas, as well of the crown, as of common pleas. And by authority of which parlia- ment, to make or to admit laws within the fame, fuch as be thought expedient and behovefuU for the weal of you, of the inheritors, and inheritance of the faid county. And no inheritors or pofleflioners within the faid county, be not chargeable, lyable, nor have not been bounden, charged nor hurt* of their bodies, liberties, franchifes, land, goods, nor pofTeflions, within the fime county, [^^miti>y/ucb laws as //;(^']have agreed unto. And for the more proof and plain evidence of the faid frunchifes, immunities. * '! * The above is a literal tranfcript of the Record as publiflied by Daniel King. I have not the means of confulting the original, there is certainly fome cmilTion or default in the copy. I have inferted the words, but by fuch laws as thcy^ printed between hooks, I fee no other way of making fenfe of it. I have alfo in the fiime manner between hooks inferted the v/urds be ivrovg, and ( XXV ) and freedoms i The mod vidtorlous King William the conqueror your moil noble progenitor, gave the fame county to Hugh Loup his nephew, to hold as freely to him and to his heirs by the fword\ as the fame King fliould hold all England by the crown. Experience of which grant, to be fo in all appeals and records, out of the fame j where, at your common-law it is written, contra coronam et dignitatem veilram : It is written in your time, and your noble progenitors, finth the faid Earldome came into your hands, and in all Earls times afore. Contra digni- tatem gladii ceflriae. And alfo they have no Knights, Citizens, ne Burgeflcs ne ever had, of the faid county, to any parliament holden out of the faid county ; whereby they might, in any way of reafon be bounden. And alfo ye and your noble progenitors, and all Earles, whofe eftate ye have in the faid Earledome j as Earles of Chefter, fith the conqueft of England have had within the fame ; regalem, poteftatum, jura regalia, prae- rogativa regia. Which franchifes notwith- {landing, there be your commiflions direifled out to feveral commiffioners of the fame county, for the levy of fubfidy, granted by t the !'i i i '■ ■;! [ ; Ik !!.,'< I ; I r! ( xxvi ) the commons of your land, in your parlia- ment, late begun at Wcflminfler, and ended at Leicefler, to make levy thereof within the fald county, after the form of their grant thereof, contrary to the liberties, free- doms, and franchifes, of the faid county, and inheritance of the fame, at all times, before this time ufed^ that pleafe your noble grace, of your bleffed favour, the premifes gracioufly to confider : and alfo, how that we your befeechers, have been as ready of our true hearts, with our goods, at times of need, as other parts of your lands -, and alfo ready to obey your laws and ordinances, made, ordained, and admitted within the faid county, and if any thing amongd us [5e wrongf] ready to be reformed by your Highnefs, by the advice of your councel, within the faid county ; and hereupon to difcharge all fuch commiflioners of levy of the faid fubfidy within the faid county, and of your fpecial meer grace, ever, to fee that there be never ad: in this parliment, nor in any parliment hereafter, holden out of the faid county, made to the hurt of any of the inheritors, or inheritance of the faid county, 3 of ( xxvii ) of their bodies, liberties, franchifcs, goods, lands, tenements, or poll'eflions, being within the faid county. For if any fuch adl fiiould be made, it were clean contrary to the liberties, freedoms, immunities, and franchifes of the faid county. And as to the refigning of fuch pofT. (lions, as it bath liked your Highnefs, to g ant unto any of your fubjt(3:s: dl fuch as have ought of grant within the faid county, will be reariy to fur- render their letters patients, which they have of your grant, for the more honourable keeping of your eftate ; as any other perion or perlbns within any other part of your land ; or elfe they (ball be avoided by us, under your authority committed unto us, within your faid county. And furthermore, confidering that your befeechers are, and ever have been true, dreading, obaifant, and loving unto you, and of you, as unto you; and of our mod dowted Sovereign Lord, our Earle and natural Lord : We the faid Barons, Knights, Efquires, and Commons, are ready to live and die with you, againft all earthly creatures ; and by your licence to fliew unto your Highnefs, for the gra- cious expedition of this our moft behoveful petl^ Si t w 1i ^ ]'■ m > 31 w ( xxviii ) petition. And we the faid Abbots, Priors, and clergy, continually to pray to God for your moft hounerable cftate, profperity, and felicity, which we all befeek God to con- tinue, with as long life to reign, as ever did prince upon people j with iflue coming of your moft gracious body, perpetually to raign upon us for all our moft (ingular joy and comfort. The Kings will is, to the fubfidy in this bill contained : Forafmuch as he is learned, that the befeechers in the fame, their pre- deceflbrs, nor anceftors, have not been charged afore this time, by authority of any parliament holden out of the faide county, of any quindifme, or fubfidy, granted unto him or any of his progenitors, in any fuch parliament j That the befeechers, and each of them be difcharged of the paying and levy of the faid fubiidy. And furthermore, the King willeth, that the faid befeechers, their fucceflors and heirs, have and enjoy all their liberties, freedoms, and franchifes, as freely and entirely as ever they, their pre- deeelfors or anceftors^ in his time, or in time of his progenitors, had and enjoyed it. — Pro- 1^ ( xxlx ) Profecuta fuit ifta Billa ad Dominum Regem per Johannem Manwaring Militem, Radulphum Egerton, Robertum Foulfhurft, Robertum Leigh de Adlington, et Johannem Needham Anno. R. R* H. 6. poft conqueftum Anglie viceffimo nono. By the King. m m np RUSTY and wellbeloved in God, -■- and trufty and well beloved we greet you well. And forasmuch as we have underftanding, by a fupplication prefented unto us, on the behalf of all our liege people within our county palatine of Chefter : How their him ( XXX ) their prcdcceflbrs nor anceftors, have not been charged before this time, with any fifteenth or lublidy granted unto us> or any of our progenitors, by authority of any parliament, holden out of our faid county, for which caufe, we have charged our chamberlain of our faid county, to make our writs, directed to all our commiflioners, ordained for the afleiling and levy of the fubfidy laft granted unto us : Charging them to furceafe of any execution of our letters of commiflion, made unto them, in that par- ties. Wherefore, according to our com- mandment late given by us, unto our faid Chamberlain : We will that ye in our be- half, open and declare unto all our faid liege-people : How it is our full will and intent, that they be not charged with any fuch grant, other wife than they, their pre* deceflbrs and anceftors have been charged afore time. And that they have and hold, poffide, and enjoy, all their liberties, free- doms, and franchifes, in as ample and large form, as ever they had in our, or any of our faid progenitors days. And that ye fail !1 : tSI^ ( xxxi ) fail not thereof, as we truft you, and a9 you deem to pleafe us. Given under our fignet of the Eagle, at our pallace of Weftminfter the eighth day of March, Anno. R. R. H. 6. Viceflimo Nono. To our trufty and wellbeloved in God, the Abbot of our monaftry of Chefter ; and to our trufty and wellbeloved Knights Sir Thomas Stanley, our Juftices of Chefter, Sir John Manwaring, and to every of them. S-i t' II THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES. m THE feveral changes of territories, which at tlie 1 aft Peace took place in the Colonies of the European world, have given rife to a new fyftem of interefts, have opened a new channel of bu- finefs, and brought into operation a new con- catenation of powers, both commercial and political. — This fyftem of things ought, at this crifis, to be adtuated by a fyftem of poli- tics, adequate and proportionate to its pow- ers and operations : But while we find not any one comprehenfive or precife idea of the crifis now arifing, we fee that all which is propofed as meafures, is by parts, without connection to any whole, by temporary cx- B pedients. i, ( , * _( 2 ) pedients, and fhiftings off of prefent dangers, without any reference to that eventual ftate of things, which nuift: be the confequence of fuch meafures, and fuch expedients ; much lefs by reference to that eventual ftate of things, by which the true fyftem ought to be framed, and aduated. This ftate of the bufinefs has tempted me ft to hazard my fentiments on the fubjed:. My particular fituation in time part gave me early opportunity of feeing and obferving the ftate of things, which have been long lead- ing to this crifis. 1 have feen and mark'd, where it was my duty, this nafcent crifis at the beginning of the late war, and may affirm, have forefcen and foretold the events that now form it. My prefent fituation by which I ftand unconneiSed with the politics of mi- niftry, or of the colonies, opens the faireft occafion lo me of giving to the public, whom it concerns, fuch an impartial unin- fluenced opinion of what I think to be the right of things, as I am convinced the fol- lowing ftieets contain. I know what eftedt this condudl will have, what it has had, on this work and on myfelf. I may be thought neither by the miniftry nor the Colonifts to underftand this fubjedt, the one may call this work the vifion of a theorift, the other will reprefent the dodlrine which it contains, as the ( 3 ) .. tlie prejudices of power and ambition. The ope may think me an advocate for the po- liticks of the colonies, the other will itnagine me to be an evil counfellor againft the co- lonies to the miniftry : But as I know that my aim is, without any prudential view of pleafing others, or of my own interell, to point out and to endeavour to eftablini an Idea of the true intercft of the colonies, and cf the mother country as related to the colonies, I (hall equally difregard wliat varies from this on the one hand, and equally reject whut deviates from it on the other. In the firft uncultur'd ages of Europe, when men fought nothing but to poffefs, and to fecure poflellion, the power of the Jword was the predominant fpirit of the world J it was that, which fonnCii the Ro- man empire 3 and it was the fame, which, in the declenfion of that empire, divided again the nations into the feveral govern- ments formed upon the ruins of it. When men afterward, from leifure, be- gan to exercife the powers of their minds in (what is called) learning j religion, the only learning at that time, led them to a concern for their fpiritual interefts, and confequently led them under their fpiritual guides. The power of rf%/W would hence as naturally B 2 pre- % SwFi 'i? r 1 ' ' |i ' i 1 t ^^\ii II m ( 4 ) predominate and rule, and did actually be- come the ruling fpirit of the policy of Eu* rope. It was this fpirit, which, for many ages formed, and gave away kingdoms ; this which created the anointed Lords over them, or again excommunicated and execrated thefe fovereigns ; this that united and allied the various nations, or plung'd them into war and bloodOied ; this, that formed the ballance of the power of the whole, and aduated the fecond grand fcene of Europe's hiftory. But fince the people of Europe have formed their communication with the com- merce of Alia ', have been, for fome ages part, fettling on all fides of the Atlantic Ocean, and in America, have been poflefljiig every feat and channel of commerce, and have- planted and raifed that to an interelt which has taken root ; — fince they now feel the powers which derive from this, and are ex- tending it to, and combining it with others.; the fpirit of commerce w\]\ become that pre- dominant power, which will form the ge- neral policy, and rule the powers of Europe : and hence a grand commercial interefi, the bafis of a great commercial dominion, under the prefent fcite and circumftances of the world, will be formed and arife. The rife and forming of this commercial intereft is what precifely conftitutes the prefent crifis. The J ( 5 ) The European poffeflions an i intercf^ s in the Atlantic and in America lye under va- rious forms, in plantations of fugar, tobacco, rice, and indigo, in farms of tillage and pafture, in fifheries, Indian hunt?, forefts, naval ftores, and mines i each different fcite produces fome fpecial matter of fupply ne- ceflary to one part of that food and raiment become rcquifite to the prefent ftate of thie world J but is, as to it*s own local power of produce, totally deftitute of fome other equally necelfary branch of fupply. The various nature of the lands and feas lying in every degree and afpedt of climate, and the fpecial produce and vegetation that is pecu- liar to each, forms this local limited capacity of produce. At the fame time that nature has thus confined and limited the produce of each individual fcite to one, or at moft to few branches of fupply, at the fame time hath (he extended the neceflities of each [o many branches beyond what its own produce can fupply. The Weft India ifl^inds produce fugar, melofles, cotton, &c. they want the materials for building and mechanics, and many the neceflaries of food and raiment : The lumber, hides, the fifli, flour, provi- fions, live-ftock, and horfes, produced in the northern colonies on the continent, muft fup- ply the iflands with thefc requilites. On tha ether hand, the fugar and mclolTej of the B 3 fugar fi^ m '■■■ 'J fe:'' mn ;i! •' ¥'■ E ': ; :» U :. 1 ( 6 ) fugar iflands is become a neccflary interme- diate branch of the North American trade and fifherics. The produce of the British fugar iflands cannot fupply bo:h Great Britain and North America with the neceflary quan- tity } this makes the mellofles of the foreign fugar iflands alfo neccfTary to the prcfent ftatc of the North American trade. Without Spa- nirti filver, become neccflary to the circula- tion of the Briiifli American trade, and even to their internal courfe of falc and purchafe, not only great part of that circulation muft ccafe to flow, but the means of purchafing the manufactures of Great Britain would be equally circumfcribed : Without the Britifh fupplies, the SpaniQi fcttlements would be fcarce able to carry on their culture, and would be in great diftrefs. The ordinary courfe of the labour and generation of the negroes in the Weft India iflands makes a conftant ex- ternal fupply of thefe fubjedts neceffary, and this conneds the trade of Africa with the Weft Indies ; the furr and Indian trade, and the European goods neceffary to the Indian, are what form the Indian connection. — I do not enter into a particular detail of all the reci- procations of thofe wants and fupplies, nor into a proof of the neceffary interconnections arifing from thence ; I only mark out the ge- neral traites of thefe, in order to explain what I mean when I fay, that by the limitation of . ( 7 ) of the capacities and extent of the necefTitics of each, all are interwoven into a neccflary intercourfe of fupplies, and all indiflblubly bound in an union and communion of one general compofite intcreft of the whole of the Spanifh, French, Dutch, Danifl), and Bri- tiih fettlements. This is the natural pate of the Europein pofTeflions in the Atlantic and in America j this general communion is that natural intereft under which, and by which, they muft fubfid. On the contrary, the fpirit of policy, by which the mother coun- tries fend out and on which they elhblifh colonics, being to confine the trade of their reipedtive colonies folcly to their own fpecial intercourfe, and to hold them incommuni- cable of all other intercourfe or commerce, the artificial or political fiate of thefe colo- nies becomes diftincSt from that which is above defcribed as their natural flate. — The poli- tical ftate is that which policy labours to cftablifh by a principle of repulfion ; the na- tural one is that ftate under which they ac- tually exift and move by a general, common, and mutual principle of attraction . This one general interefl thus diftindl mull have ibme one general tendency or diredcicn di(iin(5t alfo, and peculiar to its own fyftem. There muft be fome center of thefe compofite movements, fome lead that will predomi- nate and govern in this general intereft— - B 4 That .'», tu »'ii' '^l' it'*' ) ' •ii ( 8 ) That particular branch of bufinefs and its con* nei To enable the Britiffi nation to profit of thefe prefent circumilances, or of the future events, as they fliall fucceliively arii'e in the natural proceflion of effedts, it is neceffary, that the adminiftration form itfelf into fuch tilabliflimeiits s>^ nrr n,:. . '*; Y' ( 12 ) cftablifhments for the diredion of thefe in- terefts and powers, as may keep them in their natural channel, as may maintain their due connexions with the government, and lead them to the utmoft effedt they are ca- pable of producing towards this grand point. The firft fpring of this direction, the ba- fis of this government, is the adminiftration at home. If that department of admini- ftration, which ihould have the diredtion of thefe matters, be not wifely and firmly bot- tomed, be not fo built, as to be ^pra5tical~^ be not fo really fupported by the powers of government, as to be an efficient adminifira- tion, all meafures for the adminiftration of thefe interefts, all plans for the government of thefe powers are vain and felf-delufive ; even thofe meafures that would regulate the movements and unite the interefts under a pradtical and efficient adminiftration, become mifchievous meddling impertinencies where that is not, and muft either ruin the inter- efts of thefe powers, or render a breach of duty neceftary to the colonies that they may avoid that ruin. -r'B^A That part of government, which fhould adniinifter this great and important branch of bufinefs, ought, in the firft place, to be the center of all information and application from »« heie in- :hem in lin their nt, and are ca- d point. the ba- ^ration idmini- tion of \y bot- vers of 'nifira- ion of nment ufive; te the ider a tcome vhere inter- :hof may ould anch be ition rem ( '3 ) from all the interefts and powers which form it ', and ought from this center, to be able, fully, uniformly, and efficiently, to diftri- bute its directions and orders. Wherever the wifdom of ftate fhall determine that this center of information (hall be fixed ; from whatever department all appointments, or- ders, and executive adminiftration fhall ilTue, it ought fomewhere to be fixed, known, of record, and undivided; that it may not be partial, it ought to extend to all times, and all cafes. All application, all communi- cation, all information fhould center imme- diately and folely in this department : this fhould be the fpring of all nominations, in- flrudtions, and orders. It is of little con- fequence where this power of adminiftration is placed, fo that the department be fuch, as hath the means of the knowledge of its bufi- nefs — is fpeciaiiy appropriated to the attention necelTary to it — and officially fo formed as to be in a capacity of executing it. Whether this be a Secretary of State, or the Board of Trade and Plantations, is of no confequence ; but it ought to be entirely in either the one or the other. Where the power for the di- redlionis lodged, there ought all the know- ledge of the department to center; therefore ail officers, civil or military, all fervanis of the government, and all other bodies or pri- vate perfons ought to correfpond immediate- Iv t:',. . H ■ -I w M^ \M ■H i > I h"l li h I : .11 II I ^111 ( H ) iy with this department, whether it be the Secretary of State or the Board of Trade. While the military correfpond with the Se- cretary of State, the civil in one part of their office with the Secretary of State, in another with the Board of Trade; while the navy correfpond in matters not merely naval with the Admiralty, while the engineers cor- refpond with tiie Beard of Ordnance, offi- cers of the revenue with the leveral boards of that branch, and have no communication with the department which has, or ought to have, the general diredion and admini- ftration of this great Atlantic and American, thi^ great commercial interefl:, who is to col- led ? who does, or ever did collcdl, into a one view, all thcfe matters of information and knowledge ? What department ever had, or could have, fuch general diredion of it, as to difcufs, compare, redify and regulate it to an official real ufe ? In the firft place, there never was yet any one de- partment form'd for this purpofe; and in the next, if there was, let any one ac- quainted with bufinefs dare to fay, how any attempt of fuch department would operate on the jealoufies of the others. When- ever, therefore, it is thought proper (as moft certainly it will, fome time or other, tho' perhaps too late) to form fuch depart- ment, it mull (if I may fo exprefs mylelf) be imm .10 be ( 'S ) be foVereign and fupreme, as to every thing relating to it 5 or to fpeak plainly out, muji be a fecretary of Jiatei office in itfelf. When fuch is form'd, although the military, na- val, ordnance, and revenue officers, fhould correfpond, in the matters of their refpedtive duties, with the departments of government to which they are more immediately fubor- dinate and refponfible, yet, in general mat- ters of information, or points which pre matters of government, and the department of this ftate office, they Ihould be inftruded to correfpond and communicate with this minifter. Suppofe that fome fuch minifter or office nowexifted, is it notofconfequencc that he {hould be acquainted with the Geo- graphy of our new acquifitions ? If, there- fore, there have been any adtual furveys made of them, (hould not fuch, or copies of fuch, be fent to this minifter or office ? If a due and official information of any par- ticular conduct in our colonies, as to their trade, might lead to proper regulations there- in, or might point out the neceffity of a re- vilion of the old laws, or the making fur- ther provifion by new ones, would it not be proper that the cuftom-houfe officers fet- tled there fhould be directed to correfpond and communicate with this minifter, or of- fice, on thefe points ? Would it interfere with their due fubordination, as oflictrs of the ill 1^ r' ■ (if ft \ 'i m -I' s ^ i ( i6 ) the revenue, to the commiftioners of thei cuftoms ? — If there were any events arifing^ or any circumftances exifting, that might afFed the ftate of war or peace^ wherein the immediate application of military operations were not necefTary or proper, ftiould not the military and naval officers be directed to communicate on thefe matters with this mi-^ nifter, or office ? Should not, I fay, all thefe matters of information come officially before this minifier, if any fuch (late mini- fter, or office, was eftabliffied ? As of information and knowledge centering in a one office, fo alfo of power of execut-* ing, it fhould fpring from one undivided department. Where the power of nomi- nating and difmiffing, together with other powers, is feparated from the power of di- reding, the firft muft be a mere privilege or perquifite of office, ufelefs as to the king's bufinefs or the intereft of his colonies, and the latter muft be inefficient. That office, which neither has the means of information, nor can have leifure to attend to the official knowledge produced thereby, nor will be at the trouble to give any official diredtions, as to the ordinary courfe of the adminiftra- tion of the American matters, muft certainly be always, as it is, embarrafled with the power of nomination, and fetter'd with the 8 chain ■M . ( '7 ) chain of applications, which that power drags after it. On the other hand, what cffed will any inftrudtions, orders or direc- tions, have from that board, which has not intereft to make or difmifsonc of the mean- eft of its own officers : this, which is at pre- fent the only official channel, will be de- fpifed J the governors, nay, every the meanefl: of the officers in the plantations, looking up fokly to the giving power, will fcarce cor- refpond with the dirediing — nay, may per- haps contrive to make their court to the one, by paffing by the other. And in any cafe of improper conduct of thefe officers, of any negledt of duty, or even of mifdemean- our ; what can this dire''.v -n m. I •««- wf the crown officers and others, in the plan- tations; and can examine witnefTes on oath — is lurely an officer of (late. That office, or officer, who is to correfpond with all the lervants of the crown on thefe points, and to be the iffiier of his Majcfty*8 orders and indrudions to his fervants, on thefe many, great, and important points of ftate — is cer- tainly his Majefty's Secretary, and certainly a fccretary of (late. But if it be confidered further, who the perfons are, that are of this very great and extenfive commiffion of the Board of Trade and Plantations ; namely, all the great officers of ftate for the time being, with the bifhop of London, the fecretaries of ftate fdr the time being, and thofe more cfpecially called the commiffioners of trade, it will be feen, that it is no longer a doubt or a que- ition, as to its being an office of ftate : it is adtu.illy fo ; and has, as an office, as a board, immediate accefs to bis Majcfty in council, even to the reporting and recommending of officers. This was the plan whereon it was originally founded, at its firft inftitution> by Lord Sommers. That great ftatelman and patriot faw that all the powers of governtnent, and feveral departments ii' ( 21 ) departments of adminiflration difunited, were interfering with, and obftru(fting eacli other on this fubjedt, and not they only here in England, but that the refpedlivc officers of thefc fevcral departments carried all this diflradtion into the detail of their buHnefs in the colonies, which I am afraiii is too much the cafe even at this day : he faw that this adminiflration could not be conducted but by an intire unjon of all the powers of go- vernment, and on that idea formed the board of trade and plantations, where, and where alone, thefe powers were united in a one office. In which office, and in which a|one, al} the bufinefs of the colonies ought therefore to be adminiftred j for if fuch union be neceflary, here alone is that official uwcn. Unhappily for the true intereit of govern- nient, partly from an intire negle(5t of this adminiftration in time paft, and partly from the defedlive partial exercife of it, fince feme idea of thefe matters began again to revive, this great and wife plan hath been long difufed ; but it is fortunate for the public in this important crifis, that fuch is the tem- per of particulars, fuch the zeal of all for his Majefty's fervice, fuch the union of his fervants, that the fpirit of fervice predomi- nates over thefe natural defeds : fo that all who wifh well to the intercft of this country, in its trade and colonies, may hope to fee C 3 that li >' ti . \ i W I : ': ! 1 \ hi h, ■ ? ''v IM ( *2 ) that union, at prcfent Only tninifterial, be- come official in this bufincfs, and revive again that great, wife and conftitutional plan of office> adtuated under the real fpirii of it. The only queftion at prefent is, who (hall be the executive officer of this depart- ment of ftatej whether the fecretary of flate, properly fo called j or the firft lord, and other commiffioners, properly called the board of trade ; or whether it (hall remain divided, as it is, betvveen the feveral great departments pf adminiftration ; or whether fome more official and practical divijion of this adminijiration may not be made, Suppofe now, it fhould be thought pro- per, that this adminidration be placed in the fecretary of ftate*s office, all the adminiftra- tion of the plantations may be given to the fouthern department: yet the great object of the general trade of Great Britain muft be divided between the fouthern and the northern, as the matters of confideratioi^ happen to lie in the one or in the other de- partment J and how will the fouthern de- partment ad:, when any matter of com- merce arifes in the plantations, that has fpe- cial conne<5tions or interferings with the Putch, HamboroughjDanifti or Ruffian trade ? { 23 ) It cannot lie in the board of trade, pro- perly fo called, until it be found proper, and becomes a meafure of government to ercdt that board into a fecretary of ftate's office for this department, which, firft or laft, it moft certainly will do. That, therefore, the great 'bufinefs of trade and plantations may not run into confufion, or be at a (land ; — that it may be carried to the efFe«5t propofed, held forth, and defired by governmciit, and neceflary to it; all that can be done at pre- fent is, to put the whole executive admini- ftration, the nomination, correfpondence, ifluing of inftrudtions, orders, Gff . under the fecretary of ftate, if he has leifure to attend to it, and can undertake it ; and to make the board of trade a mere committee of reference and report; inftead of reporting to the king in council, to report to the fecretary of ftate, who fhall lay the matters before his Majefty, and receive and iflue his orders j — "who fhall refer all matters to this committee, for their confideration, and (hall condudl through the legiflature all meafures neceflary to be deter- mined thereby. If this be not practicable, there is no other alternative, than to do di- redtly what ought to be done, and what, fome time or other, muft be done ^ the making the officer who condu(-ts this de-: partment a minifter for that department, with all the powers neceflary thereto. For C 4 until w k m^ m ■ \ •■<• I.;f . ( 24 ) until a pradlical and efficient adniinirtrttion be formed, whatever the people of this country may think, the people of the C0I9- nies, who know their bul^nefs ipuch better than we do, will never believe government IS in earnefl about them, or their interefl, or even about governing them ; and will, not merely from that reafoning, but from neceffity of their circumftances, ad ac- cordingly. Until an effective adminiftration for Co-» lony affairs be eftablifhed by government, all plans for the governing of thofe coun- tries under any regular fyftem of policy, will be only matter of fpeculation, and be- come mere ufelefs opprobrious theory. All official inforpiation given and tranfmitted by thofe wbofe duty it is to give it, will, as accident (hall decide, or as the connexions of parties (hall ryn, be received or notj nay, it may fo happen, that thofe officers who (hould duly report to government the ftate of thefe matters, will, as they l^nd them- felves confcientioufly or politically difpofed, diredt that information to thofe who are in, or to thofe who are out of adminiftration. Every leader of every little flying fquadron will have his runner, his own proptr chan- nel of information ; and will hold forth his own importance in public, by bringing bis flan % h ( 25 ) pian for American affairs before it. Alt true and regular knowledge of thefe affairs being difperfed, will be evaporated; every adminiftration, even Parliament ilfelf, will be didradted in its councils by a thoufand odds and ends of propofals, by a thoufand pieces and parcels of plans, while thofe furely, who are fo deeply concerned as the Americans themfelves are, will not be ex- cluded from having their plan alfo; they will have their plan alfo, for however peace- ably they may fubmit to the direction of the powers of government, derived through a regular edablifhed permanent mode of adminiftration, they will by any means that they can juftify, refufe to have their intc- refts diredted and difpofed of by every ^him that every temporary empiric can , force into execution. If therefore we mean to govern the Colonies, we muft prcvioufly form at home fome pradlical and efficient adminiftration for Colony affairs. • Before the eredlion of the Board of Trade as a particular office, the bufinefs of the Colonies was adminiftered with efficiency ; the king himfelf in council adminiftered the government of his Colonies j the ftate officer, each in his proper department was no otherwife Minifter than as minifterially executing the orders which he received, or officially k H m J, m ^^'^ f: i -I II' i li J I'll , ' ! ! . • • k i' mt if: 'i 3 ■ - Si "■ l-:t i^ I ( 26 ) ojfficially reporting from his refpedlive de- partment, the information whicJh he had to lay before the king in council. Since the eftabliihment of that office called the Board of Trade, the adminiftration of the Colo- nies has either laid dormant, or been over- laid ; or, if taken up, become an occalion of jealoufy and ftruggle for power between that Board and every ftate officer who hath been deemed the Minifter for the time be- ing. From this jealoufy and this ftruggle, this Board hath been fuppofed to interfere at different times with every other office, while at one time it hath had the powers and held the port of a minifter*s office, and at another hath become a mere committee, in- efficient as to execution, unattended to as reporting. The Colonies, and the officers of the Colonies, have one while been taught to look up to this Board as the Minifter for their affairs, and at another, have learned to hold it in that contempt which ineffici- ency gives ; which contempt, however, hath not always flopped there. To prevent, on this critical occalion, all fuch appearances on one hand, from mif- Icading thofe who are to be governed, and to put an end on the other, to all interfering amcngft thofe who are to govern in this line of bufinefs — The Board of Trade fliould either i 2> ) Mthcr he made what it never was intended to be, a Secretary of State's office for the Plantations, or be confined to what it really is, a committee of reference for examination and report, for dating and preparing bufinefs, whife the affairs of the Colonies are admi- niftred folely by the King in council, really adting as an efficient board for that purpofe. Soriiewhere there otight to be an efficiency, and in this fupreme board is the proper reli- dence of it. To place it here would be really and in fadt the eftabli(hing of an ad- miniftration for colony affairs. The firft flep that fuch adminiflratloii would take to fix the bafis of an eflablifhed, permanent and effective fyflem of govern- ment for the mother country and the Co- lonies, muft be made by fome leadpig mea- fure, which (hall, on real fadk, and by adtual 'reprefentation of the parties concerned, ex- amine into the various interefts which. have arifen, the various claims which are derived from thofe interefts, and the various rights that may, or may not, be admitted, as found- ed on thefe, and as confident with the ge- neral government and intcreft of the v^^hole. To obtain this with truth and certainty, and to engage the colonifts to co-operate in this view with that confidence which a free people Ijl I'l % ^hi^Hi ", ! ;l III ?! 'if I' i: I ( 28 ) people muil have, if they co-operate at all-— government would Tend out to America, Jome very confiderable perfon, under commif- iion and indrudtions, to hear and examine on the fpot, the ftate of things thert, and by fuch proper reprefentations and afliftance as can no where be had but upon the fpot, and from the people themfelves, to form fuch authentic matter of information for the king in council, as may become the folid bafis of real government, eftabliftied by the principles of real liberty. To fuch confiderable perfon, and to fuch commiffion, only, would the colonifts give their confidence; they would know that there there was no fpirit of party or faction, that there could be no jobb — They would be convinced that government was in earneft, aiid meant to adt fairly and honourably with them. They would meet fuch perfon in ^he abundance of their loyalty, with dif- poiitions of real bufinefs in their temper, and with the fpirit of real union in their bearts. ^hat commiffion could be more honour- able and glorious, even to the higheft cha- rader, than that of ading for the rights and liberties of a whole people, fo as to be the means of eflablifhing thoife rights ar^d liberties ( *9 ) liberties^ by an adequate fyftem of freedom and government, extended to the whole? What can be more fuited to the mod ele* vated character, than to be tke great recon- ciler between the mother country and her colonies, mif-reprefented to, and mif-inform- ed of each other ? I am almofl certain that this meafure will not be adopted, that it will be, as it has been already, rejefted— that there never will be any fydematical union of govern- ment between the mother country and the colonies — that the opportunity when fuch might be eftablifhed on true principles will be negledted— and that the courfe of bufi- nefs will, on this occafion, be, as the hiftory of mankind informs us it always has been, that thofe errors which might be re(n:ified by the fpirit of policy, will be permitted to go on piling up one mifchief over another, until nothing but power can interpofe, which will then interpofe when the fpirit of policy is no more. The mother country and her colonies will continue to live on in perpetual jcaloufies, jarrings and difputes. The colonies will for fomc time behng tofomefadlion here^ and be the tool of it, until they become powerful enough to hold a party for themfclves, and make pf <-,«i ii ,. HI %m 3 '* ( 3«^ ) make fome faJShon th^ir tool The lattrf ilage of this miferable connection will be one continued Aruggle, whether Qxeat Bri- tain {hall adminifler the rights and interefls of the colonies, or whether the intereil an^ power of the colonies (hall take a lead in th^c adminidration which ihall govern Great Bri- tain. This convulfion may agitate for a while, until fome event (hall happen that will totally break all uniop between us, and will end in the ruin of the one or the other^ jull as the accident of the die (hall turn. Although I am convinced that this will be the Aate of things, yet, as I know that what I have here recommended, is founded on precedents of better and wifer times than the prefent, is not founded barely on my own experience, but in that of men who have long had the lead of bufmefs in thofe countries, is what every true friend of the colonics, who lives and has his property there, would recommend— what every man of bufinefs here, who wifhes well to the government of Great Britain, muft approve. I now 'propofe it to the public as a meafure, of which if admiriiftration fliould negledt or refufe to take the lead, the colonies may profit by thofe means of communicatior; with one another, and by thofe powers v/hich their conftitutions and eftablilhments give them ■1 ■ ( 31 ) them for the prefervation of their civil and commercial interefls; yet, taking it up, as a meafure, which, for the fake of Great Bri- tain, 1 wi(h adminiftration to adopt, I fay, government (hould fend out fome confider • able perfon, with a council to aflift him, under acommiflion and inftrudlions, to call a congrefs of commiflioners from the feve- ral colonies.— He fhould have power and be inftruded to call to his aid and alTiftance, the governors, or any other his Majefty's fervants, as occafion fliould require. By the reprefentations and afliftancc of this congrefs and thefe perfons, he fhould in- quire into the aBiial ftate of the crown's authority, as capable of being executed by the King, and by his governor, and other the immediate executors of the power of the crown. ■ He (hould inquire into the extent of the exercife and claim of the legiflative powers, and examine difpaflionately and without prejudice, on what grounds of necellity or expediency any precedents which ftretch be- yond perhaps the llrid line of the commif- lions or charters, are founded. i, If '^ss RjJ •* >. t He fhould inquire into the flate of their laws, as to their conformity to the laws of Great Britain, and examine the real ftate of 3 the ¥ ];■ ^ i !•: i ( 32 ) the fadls or bufincfs which may have made any deviation neceffary or not. He fliould examine into the powers and practice of their courts of judicature, whe- ther, on one hand, they have not extended their authority beyond their due powers; or whether, on the other hand, they have not been retrained by in(lru(5lions, or by the adls of the colony legiflatures, within bounds too narrowly circumfcribed to anfwcr the ends for which fuch courts are erected. He ihould, which can only be known upon the fpot, inquire into and examine the adual (late of their commerce, that where it deviates unneceiTarily from the laws of trade, it may be reflraiqed by proper regu- lations — or where the laws of trade arc found to be inconfiftent with the interefl; of a commercial country having colonies which have arifen from, and depend upon trade, a revifion may be made of thofe laws, fo as that the fyftem of our laws may be made conform to the fyftem of our commerce, and not deftrudive of it. UL i i| '« ■ Under all thefe various heads, he may hear all the grievances which the officers of the crown, or the people, complain of, in order ( 33 ) order to form a juft and adlual rcprefcn- tation for the King in council. He (hould inquire into the ftate of the King's revenues, his lands, his naval II ores j and he (hould review the ftate of the military fervice, the forts, garrifons and forces. — With the affiftance of proper commiffioncrs from the provinces and colonies concerned, he (hould fettle the feveral difputes of the colonies amongft themfelves, particularly as to their boundary lines. He ftiould alfo in- quire into all fraudulent grants. All thefe matters duly examined and in- quired into, a report of the whole bufinefs, fhould be drawn up, and being authen- ticated by the Oi'iginal documents, fhould be laid before the King in council : Thofe points which were of the fptcial depart- ment of any of the boards or offices under government, would be refers d from thence to thofe refpedlive offices, for them to report their opinion upon the matter. —And when the whole, both of matter and of opinion, was by the rnoft authentic reprefentations, and by the belt advice, thus drawn together, the King in council would be enabled to form, and by and with tlie advice and authority of Parliament to eita- bliffi, the only fyftem of government and D commercial m 1:: %u ■4 mi .; \ I r>!, ( 34 ) commercial laws, which would form Great Britain and her colonies into a one united commercial dominion. If this meafure be adopted, a general bill of rights, and an ad for the cftabli(hment of government and commerce on a great plan of union, will be brought forward ; the colonies will be confidered as fo many corporations, not without, but united to, the realm ; they will be left in all the free and full pofleflion of their feveral rights and liberties, as by grant, charter, or commif- fions given ; yet, for every power which they exercife or pofTefs, they will depend upon the government of the whole, and upon Great Britain as the center. Great Britain, as the center of this fyftem, of which the colonies by adtual union Hiall become organized, not annexed parts, mud be the center of attraction to which thefc colonies, in the adminiftnition of every power of their government, in the exercife of their judicial powers, in the execution of their laws, and in every operation of their trade, mufl: tend. They will remain under the conflant influence of the attradion of this center J and cannot move, but that every dire<5lion of fuch movement v/ill converge to the fame. And as it is not more necef- fary to preferve the feveral governments fubordinate . ( 35 ) fabordinatc in their rcfpciflive orbs, than it is cflcntial to the prefervation of the whole empire to Iceep them difconnedled and inde- pendent of each other, they mujl be guarded by this union againft having or forming any principle of coherence with each other ^ above that whereby they cohere to this center^ this Jirft mover. They (hould alway remain in- capable of any coherence, or of fo con- fpiring amongft themfcives, as to create any other equal force which might recoil back on this firft mover. Policy afling upon a fyftem of civil union, mny eafily and con- ftitutionally provide agairft all this. The colonies and provinces, as they ftanJ at pre- fent, are under the beft foni: as to liiis point, which they can be under. They are up Jcr the befl frame and difpofition for the gov : u- ment of the general and fupreine power (duly applied) to take place, h ving at prefent no other principle of civil union between each other, than that by which they naturally are, and in policy (hould be, in communion with Great Britain, as the com- mon center of all. The different manner in which they are fettled; the different modes under which they live ; the different forms of charters, grants, and frames of go- vernment they pofft^'^^ : die various prin- ciples of repulHon that thefe create; the different interefts which thty aduare ; the D 2 different i*- I' ft »■.■■«? u ii y •1 r.\ '■■hi It 1 Ml i i'f Is !;. ■Ir'i'- i! ?: IIM ( ; ' .. ( 36 ) different religious interefts by which they are a(5luated ; the rivalfhip and jealouiies which arife from hence; and the imprac- ticability of reconcihng and accommodating thefe incompatable ideas and claims, will keep them for ever fo, fo long as the fpirit of civil policy remains, and is exerted to the form- ing and maintaining of this fyflem of union. However vifionary this may feem to thofe who judge by parts, and adl by temporary expedients, thofe truly great minifters who fliall ever take up the adminiftration of the colonies as a fyflem, and (hall have a general praiflical and adequate knowledge of that fyftem, as interwoven in that of the mother country, will, on the contrary, find this meafure prudential if not a necefTary one, as leading to that great and abfolutely necefTary meafure of uniting the Colonies to Great Britain as parts of the realm, in every degree and mode of communication of its rights and powers. And until fome fleps are taken which may lead and approach to this fyflem of union, as the interefl and power of the Colonies approach to the bearing of a proportion with that of Great Britain, the real interefl of Great Britain and her Colonies will continue to be very inadequately and very unhappily adminiflred, while the bufinefs of the Colonics Ihall in ( 37 ) in the mean time become a fadion inftead of a conftitutional part of the adminiftration. The center of power, inftead of remain- ing fixed as it now is in Great Britain, will, as the magnitude of the power and intereft ot the Colonies increaCes, be drawn out from the ifland, by the fame laws of nature ana- logous in all cafes, by which the center of gravity in the folar iyftem, now near the furfacc of the fun, would, by an encreafe of the quantity of matter in the planets, be drawn out beyond that furface. Knowing therefore the laws of nature, (hall we like true philofophers follow, where that fyftem leads, to form one general fyftem of domi- nion by an union of Great Britain and her Colonies, fixing, while it may be fo fixed, the common center in Great Britain, or fhall we without ever feeing that fuch center mud be formed by an intcrr-communion of the powers of all the territories as parts of the dominions of Great Britain, like true mo- dern politicians, and from our own narrow temporary ideas of a local center, labour to keep that center in Great Britain by force againft encreafing powers, which will, final- ly, by an overbalance heave that center itfelf out of its place ? Such meafures would be almoft as wife as his who (landing in a fcale fliould thruft his ftick up againft the beam D 3 to l> I /'/: I: li ( 38 ) to prevent it from defcending, while his own weight brought it the fafter down. That policy which ihall ever attempt to connedt the Colonies to Great Britain by power, will in that very inftant connedt them to one another in policy. Before we enter into thefe matters, I do not think it would be impertinent juft to mark the idea of colonies, and their fpe- cjal circumflances, which makes it a mea- fure in commercial governments, to cftablifti, cultivate, and maintain them. The view of trade in general, as well as of manufactures in particular, terminates in fecurii g an extenfive and permanent vent ; or to Tpeak more precifely, (in the fame manner as fhop-kteping does) in having many and good cuftomers : the wifdom, therefore, of a trading nation, is to gain, and to create, as many as pollible. Thofe whom we gain in foreign trade, we poffefs under reftridtions and difficulties, and may lofe in the rivalihip of commerce : thole that a trading nation can create within it- felf, it deals with under its own regulations, and makes its own, and cannot lofe. In the eftablifhing colonies, a nation creates people whofe labour, being applied to new obje(5ls of produce and manufacture, opens new ( 39 ) new channels of commerce, by which they not only live in eafe and affluence within themfclves, but, while they arc labouring under and for the mother country, (for there all their external profits center) be- come an increafing nation, of appropriated and good cuftomers to the mother country. Thefe not only increafe our manufadlures, increafe our exports, but extend our com- merce; and if duly adminiftered, extend the nation, its powers, and its dominions, to wherever thefe people extend their feitle- ments. This is, therefore, an intcreft which is, and ought to.be dear to the mother country : this is an objed that deferves the beft care and attention of government : and the people, who through various hardfhips, difafters and difappointments ; through va- rious difficulties and almoft ruinous ex- pences, have wrought up this intereft to fuch an important objeft, merit every pro- tection, grace, encouragement, and privi- lege, that are in the power of the mother country to grant. — It is on this i)aluc}ble con- Jideration, (as Mr. Dummcr, in his fpirited defence of the colonies, fays) that they have a right to the grants, charters, privileges and prote(ftion which they receive j and alfo on the other hand, it is from thefe grants, char- ters, privileges and protection given to them, that the mother country has an exclufive D 4 right m ( 40 ) right to the external profits of their labour, and to their cullom. As it is the right, (o it becomes the duty of the mother country to cultivate, to protect and govern the co- lonies: which nurture and government (hould precifely dire<5t its care to two efTential points, ift, That all the profits of the produce and manufactures of thefe colonies center finally in the mother country : and 2dly, That the colonies continue to be the fole and proper cuftomers of the mother country. — To thefe two points, collateral with the interefls, rights and welfare of the colonies, every meafure of adminiftration, every law of trade (hould tend : 1 fay collateral, becaufe, rightly underftood, thefe two points are mu- tually coincident with the intereds, rights and welfare of the colonies. It has been often fuggefled, that care (hould be taken in the adminidration of the plantations; left, in fome future time, thefe colonies (hould become independent of the mother country. But perhaps it may be proper on this occafion, nay, it is juftice to fay it, that if, by becoming indepen- dent, is meant a revolt, nothing is further from their nature, their intereft, their thoughts. If a defection from the alliance of the mother country be fuggefted, it ought to be, and ca.i be truly faici that their fpi- rit ( 41 ) fit abhors the fen fe of fuch ; their attach- ment to the proteftant fucceflion in the ho ;fe of Hanover will ever ftand unfliaken ; and nothing can eradicate from their hearts their natural, almoft mechanical, afFedtion to Great Brirain, which they conceive under no other feiifc, nor call by any other name, than that of heme, Bt fides, the merchants are, and muft ever be, in great meafure allied with thofe of Great Britain : their very fupport confifts in this alliance, and nothing but falfe po icy here can break it. If the -trade of the colonies be proted:ed and di- rected from hence, with the true fpirit of the adt of navigation, that fpirit under which it has rifen, no circumftances of trade could tempt the Colonifts to certain ruin under any other connedions. The liberty and religion of the Biitifli colonies arc incompatible with either French or Spanish government; and they know full well, that they could hope for neither liberty nor protedion under a Dutch one. Any fuch fuggcftion, therefore, is a falfe and unjuft afpcrfion on their principles and ^ffedtions , and can arife from nothing but an intire ignorance of their circum- ftances. Yet again, on the other hand, while they remain under the fupport and protedtion of the government of the mother country ; while they profit of the beneficial J art ot its trade; while their attachment to the B m r .1 * ** r i1' m f^M ill ( 42 ) tbe prcfent royal family (lands firm, and their alliance with the mother country is inviolate, it may be worth while to inquire, whether they may not become and aft in fome cafes independent of the government and laws of the mother country : — and if any fuch fymptoms fliould be found, either in their government, courts, or trade, per- haps it may be thought high time, even now, to inquire how far thefe colonies are or arc not arrived, at this time, in thefe cafes, at an independency of the government of the mother country : — and if any meafure of fuch independency, formed upon prece* dents unknown to the government of the mother country at the time they were form- ed, fhould be infifted on, when the govern- ment of the mother country was found to be fo weak or diftradted at home, or fo deeply engaged abroad in Europe, as not to be able to attend to, and aflcrt its right in America, with its own people, — perhaps it may be thought, that no time fliould be loft to re- medy or redrefs thefe deviations— if any fuch be found ; or to remove all jealoufies arifing from the idea of them, if none fuch really exift. But the true and effedlual way to remove all jealoufies and interfering between the fe- veral powers of the government of the mo- ther ( 43 ) ther country, and the feveral powers of the governments of the colonies, in the due and conftkutional order of their fubordina- tion, is to inquire and examine what the colonies and provinces really are; what their conftitution of government is ; what the re- lation between them and the mother country; and in confequence of the truth and prin- ciples eftabliihed on fuch examination — to maintain firmly, both in claim and exercife, the rights and power of the fupreme govern- ment of the mother country, with all ac- knowledgement of the rights, liberties, pri- vileges, immunities and franchifes of the Colon ifts, both perfonal and political, treat- ing them really as what they are. — Until this be done, there can be no government properly fo called; the variojs opinions, connections and interefts of Britains, both in this ifland, and in America, will divide them into parties — the fpirlt of mutual animofity and oppofition, will take advantage of the total want of eflabliflied and fixed principles on this fubjeCt, to work thefe parties into fadion; and then the predominancy of tl^* one fadion, or the other, ading under the mafk of the forms of government, will al- ternately be called government. ml If* .... R In the former editions of this book, I had marked out what points of colony govern- ment '.f:u WSi m: ^i:f ' ! ( 44 ) mcnt had fallen, in the courfe of admini- ftration, into difputej what the different apprehenfions were, which had given rife to the different meafures purfued on thofe points — J had dated the nature of each queflion — what was the true iffue to which the difpute ought to be brought; and at the fame time that I ftated the effedt of thefc difputes in matters of adminiAration, I fliewed how neceffary it was that they fhoutd be fome way or other decided. I did not proceed to give any opinion or decifion — I thought the firfl fufHcient, and thought it was all that was neceffary. But yet as that was neceffary, and as I faw an attention to American a^airs arifing in the minds of mofl men of bufinefs, I was in hopes that thefe points might have been difpafiionately con- fidered, and prudently fettled ; that they might be fixed on fuch legal and conflitu- tional grounds : that that true fyflem of effici- ent government founded in political liberty (which all feemed to profefs here) might be eflablifhed in the colonies: I was fure, from the fpirit and genius of the people, it would be nourifhed and maintained there, fo as to become in fome future, and per- haps not very diflant age, an afylum to that liberty of mankind, which, as it hath been driven by the corruption and the confequent tyranny of government, batb been conftantly retiring ( 45 ) retiring wejlicard — but from the moment that American affairs becamfe an objcdt of politics, they became the tools and inftru- ments of fadion. Such hath been their fate, that as on one hand they have given real occafion to thofe who mean well to the peace and liberty of mankind j fo on the other have they fupplied fpecious pretences to thofe who mean only to profit of the force of parties — to difpute the ftate and application of every cafe in politics relative to the colo- nies, by recurring back to the principles on which they appear to have been fettled, eftabliflied, and afterwards governed; and thefe principles, from the variablenefs and fluduation of the opinion and fpirit of go- vernment, have been fo often changed, that propofitions the very reverfc of each other, may ftridly be deduced from the condudt of the crown and ftate towards the colonies. Hence it is, that at this day the conditution and rights of the colonies, in the adual ex- ercife of them, are unfettled ; the relation in which they ftand connected with the realm and with the King, are difputed j and Parliament, as well as minifters, are balancing in opinion what is the true, legal, and con- llitutional mode of adminillration by which thofe colonies are to be governed. Whether the colonies be demefnes of the crown, with- out the realm, or parts and parcels of the realm ; w-^ » k'\ N \ : it II I I ; fi . ( 46 ) realm ; whether thefe foreign dominions of the King he as yet annexed to the realm of England ; whether the colonifts be fubjcifts of the King in his foreign dominions, or whether they be fubjedts of, and owe alle- giance to the realm ; has been at various times, and is at this day called into difpute. This queftion is now no lon;^er of curiofity and theory ; it is brought adtually into ifluc. It is now by deeds and overt a6ts ilifcufTed, and muft be decitied. To do this truly and juftly, it muft be thoroughly confi Icred, what were the circumfances of their mi- gration ; under what political conftitutions they were eftablifhed and chartered ; and by what mode of adminiflration their affairs have been condudled and governed by the King, and by the government of England. When the lands of America were firft difcovered, the fovereign of that fubjedt, in each particular cafe, who difcovered them, cither from a power given by the Pope, or from feme fe!f-derived claim, afTumed the right of p jfTefiion in them. If thefe lands were really dcrelidt, preoccupancy might have created a ri^ht of pofTelTion : yet even in this cafe, fome further circumftances of interconnexion with that land, fuch as the mixing labour with it, muft attend that oc- cupancy, or the right would have been very defective. ( 47 ) defcdivc. Where the lands were already occupied by the human fpecies, and in the adual pofleflion of inhabitants, it will be very difficult to fhow on what true principle or grounds of juftice, the Pope, or any other chriilian prince, afTumed the right to fcize on, difpofe, and grant away, the lands of the Indians in America, Surely, the divine au- thor of onr holy religion, who declared that his kingdom was mi of this worlds hath not bequeathed to chriftians an exclufive charter^ giving right of pofTeflion in the lands of this world, even where the fuprenr.e Providence hath already planted inhabitants in the pof- feflion of it : and yet, abfurd, unjuft, and groundlefs as this claim is, it is the only claim we Europeans can make, the only right we can plead. However, the Englirti title is as good as any other European title, and indifputablc againft any other European flaim. Let us fee the firft aflumption and exer- cife of this right in our government, ron- tained in the grant which Henry the Seventh made to Cabot. Copy of the grant, as it is a curious adt, is printed in the appendix, — it contains a grant to Cabot, and his Tons, of power, Co let up the King's ftandard in any lands, iflands, towns, villages, camps, &c. which he fliall difcover not in the cccu- 8 pancy . « ( 48 ) pancy of any chriflian power : and that this Cabot, his fons, and their heirs, may feizc, conquer, and occupy any CvJ. Ij^nds, idands, towns, camps, or village : n^. rs his liege vaflals, governors, locumteiiCiics, or deputies, may hold dominion over and have cxcIuHve property in the fame. As the fovereigns of Europe did thus on one hand aflume, without right, a predomi- nant claim of pofTeflion, ag^infl the Indians in thefe lands ; fo our fovereigns alfo thus at firil afTumed againd law an cxclufive pro- perty in thefe lands, to the preclufion of the jurifdidlion of the ftate. They called them their foreign dominions; their demefne lands in partibus exteris, and held them as their own, the King's pofTefTions, not parts or parcels of the realm, •!• " as not yet annexed ** to the crown." So that when the Houfe of Commons, in thofe reiterated attempts which they made by pafling a bill to get a law enaded for eftablifliing a free right of iifliery on the coafts of Virginia, New-Eng- land, and Newfoundland, put in the claim of the ftate to this property, and of the par- liament to jurifdiiflion over it ; they were told in the Houfe by the fervants of the crown, -f- '* That it was not fit to make t Journal of the Houfe of Commons, April 25, 1621. laws \' ( 49 ) . _ «' laws here for thofc countries which arc ** not yet annexed to the crown." 4. ** That ** this hill was not proper for this houfe, as ** it concerneth America." Nay, it was doubted by others, " whether the houfe had ** jurifdidion to meddle with thefe matters.** And when the houfe, in 1624, was about to proceed upon a petition from the fettlers of Virginia, to take cognizance of the affairs of the plantations, ** upon § the Speaker's pro- ** ducing and reading to the houfe a letter from ** the king concerning the Virginia petition, ** the petition, by general refolution, was " withdrawn." And although the bill for a fVeefifhery, tothedifannulling fome claufes in the King's charters, paffcd the houfe 5 as alfo the houfe came to fome very flrong rfc- folutions upon the nullity of the claufes in the charters; yet the houfe from this time took no further cognizance of the plan- tations till the commencement of the civil Wars. Upon this ground it was the King confidercd the lands as his demefnes, and the colonifts as his fubjeds in thefe his foreign dominions, not his fubjeds of the realm or ftate. The plantations were fettled on thefe lands by his Hcence and grant j the conllitutions X Ditto, Apiil 29, 1621. § Ditto, Ai'iil 29. H and .» in 1 ^if "* •■■ !. •fl:' w v ■"'ill m ml ,•-( i»t», : t, If t ^ 4lM ( 50 ) and powers of government were framed by the King*s charters and commifllons ; and the colonifts underftanding themfelves as re- moved out of the realm, confidered them- felves in their executive and legiflative ca- pacity of government, in immediate con- nection and fubordinaiion to the King, their only fovereign lord. In the fame manner as this ftate and cir- cumftances of a people migrating from, and fettling in vacate countries, without, or out of the territories of the realm, operated to the eftablifhment of the King's fovereignty there, he having aflumed an exclufive right to the property. In the fame manner it muft and did neceflarily operate to the cftablifh- ment of the people's liberty, both perfonal and political — they had either tacit or ex- prefs permiffion to migrate from the realm, and to fettle in places out of the realm : thofe who fettled under charters, had, in thofe charters, licence, by an exprefs claufe, to guii the realm, nnd io fettle on lands out of the realm-, as alfo acknowledgement that they and their pofterity were entitled to en- joy all the liberties, franchifes, and immu- nities, of free denizons and natural fubjedts, to all intents and purpofes, as if they had been abiding and born within the realm. $o ex- Itn, m: in lufe, out that en- mu- edts, had So ( 5' ) So long as they were confidered as natural born Eng'iOi fubjcdls of the realms they muft retpin and poflefs in the full enjoyment and exercife thereof, all the fame rights and liberties in their perfons, all the fame fran- chifes and privileges in their property, that any other Engliffi fubjedt did poflefs. — If their freehold was part of any manor in any county of the realm, and that freehold was worth forty Shillings by the year, fuch free- hold undoubtedly gave the poffcflbr a vote for the reprefentativc of fuch county ; and thefe rights muft give this fubjedt, this free- holder, claim to the fame participation of council in the legiflative part of govern- ment, to the fame communicaition of power in the executive part, the fame right to a(5t and trade, as every other Engliih freeholder had. If by migrating from out the realm the; colonifts ceafed to have participation, fuch legiflative participation in the councils as the Englifh freeholder hath ; if they ceafed to have communication in the offices, burthens, and exercife of government j if being with-* out the realm they ceafed to be bound by laws made only for the internal regula- tion and government of the realm ; if they ceafed in future to be bound by laws wherein they were not exprefsly named; if they E 2 ceafed I. •• '.'fj * r I'i' \ .. 'y-xi ^i % « i« ( 52 ) ceafed to be under the protedlon of thqfe laws which were made, and thofe powers and magiftracies whicu were created for tli© prcfervation of the peace within the realm ; if they were (no matter how) feparated from participation of the benefits of our holy re- ligion, according to the eftablifhed church ; and if the colonies at the fame time were not parts or parcels of the realm, they un- doubtedly ceafed to be fubjedls of the realm. But being by law, both eflabliflied and na- tural, poffeffed of all the rights, privileges, franchifes and immunities of a free-born people — no government lefs free than that which they had left, could, by any juftifiable power, be eftabliflied over or amongft them ; and therefore the colonifls were eftabliflied in a government conformable to the govern- ment of England. They had power of making laws and ordinances, and of laying impofitions, by a general affcmbly, or repre- ftntative legiflature — the power of ereding courts and creating magiftrates, of the fame power and operations, by the fame modes and proceedings, mutatis mutandis, as were ufed in the government of England ; nay, in fome cafes, by a mode adapted to a de- mocratic, and even eledive, government. Theadminiftrativeand executive part had all the f ime checks, and the legiflative all the fame powers and privileges, only retrained from . ( 53 ) from not adting contrary to the laws of England. And upon the fiime ground thofe colonies, of whofe firft fettlement the crown took no care or cognizance, the colony of Plymouth, || thatof Maflachufetts, Providence Plantation, and the colony of Connedlicut, eftablifhed among themfelves the like powers of free government. And here we may venture to affirm, that if the colonies were to be deemed without the realm, not parts or parcels of it, not an- nexed to the crown of England, though the 4emefnes of the King j if the colonifts by thefe means ceaied to be fubjedis of the realm, an4 the Parliament had no right or jurifdidion to make laws about them ; if the government of them refided in the King, only as iheir fovereign, dum Rex ei prafit, ut caput ijiius populit non ut caput altertus populiy they were certainly a people fui Juris — ?2am imperiujH quod m rege ejl ut in capite, inpopulo manet ut in totOy cujus pars eft ca- put, * and having an undoabied claim, by the nature of their liberties, to a participation in k'giflature, had an undoubted right, when II Vide Mr. Prince's New-England Chronology ; and Lt. Gov. Hutchinfon's Hift. of Mafl'jchuiwUs. * Gretius de B, ^ P. lib. 2. c. 9. § 8. E 3 formed m^-: 1 .^M t:t i i .Ui ■ "i If m III It ?T ^ ( 54 ) formed into a ftate of government, to have a reprefentative legiflature cftablifhed, as part of their government j and therefore when fo formed, being a body politic in fad: ami name, they had within themfelves, the King, or his deputy, being part, full power and authority, to all intents and pur- pofes, both legiflative and executive, for the governm»nt of all the people, whether strangers or inhabitants, within their jurif- didtion, independent of all external diredion cr government, except what m'"ht confti- tutionally be cxercifed by their fovereign lord the King, or his deputy, and except their fubordination, not alleri;:nce, to the govern- ment of the rea!n> ot England (ut alterius populi). They acknowledged themklves to be a government fubordinate to the govern- ment of ErMand, fo that they might juflly be reHrained from doing or becoming any thing repugnant to the power, rights and in- fere(t of England-— but held their allegiance as due only to their fovereign ; therefore, thefe premiies admitted, as they did on one hand truly meafure the duties of this al- legiance, by the fame rights and claims as the King's Englifli fubjeds of the realm did ; foon the other did they juHIy maintain that in every exercife of their own rights, privi- leges arid power?,— they were free and in- dependent of all contrgul, except what was inter wo vej> ;•;? i % ( .55 ) interwoven into their conftitution, fo is to operate in the internal movements of thefc powers, or to be externally exercifed by the legal powers and negative refiding in the King their fovereign, or in his deputy. They certainly were not provinces in the fimple idea of Roman provinces governed by laws and power, not deriving from their own rights, and arifing within their own government, but impofed on them by the imperium akerius populiy and adminiftered under provincial officers commiflioned from this imperium, abfolute as to them. Our colonies and provinces being each a body politic, and having a right to, and enjoying in fadl, a certain legiflature, indented rather with the cafe of the Grecian colonies, as ftated by Grotius, — Hue referenda & dijcejfto qua ex confenfu fit in coloniasy namfic quoque novus populusfui juris nafdtur, » yot^ Itt] tw AvXotf aXX* *7r* r^ ofAom &ivock i}C7Tef/>7rovloci, Non cnim ut Jervi jint fed ui pari jurejint dimituntur. * — Many inftances may be coU le<5ted from Thucydides, which would (hew that the dependence of the colonies of Greece on their rnoiher cities, was only the ♦ It (hould be remarked here, though Grotius has omitted to do it. That this is a Pofition of the Locre- ans, a Colony of Corinth, obviating the Charge of Revolt. Thucyd, Lib. i. c. 37, E 4 connedion .'•jif » &n Uf! >St •[ vn h'f Sir s:r Pi 41 { 56 ) connedlion of Faderata acknowledging pre- cedence, not the fubordination of fubjedls acknowledging allegiance. But having, a? above, ftatcd the circum fiances of the mi- gration and iirft fettlement of the Englifh colonics, I rtinll confine myfelf to the in- flances and fa(^s of the Englifli colonies. They were bodies corporate, but certainly not corporations in the fenfe of fuch com- munities ivithin the realm. They were credted into provinces, had the jura regalia, the patentee as the King's deputy, or the King's governor, as part of their conftitution, whether by commiffion or by charter, was vcfted with all the fame royal powers which the King hath in his palace, both executive and legiflative, Thefe provinces were all, in the true fpirit, intent, ?.nd meaning of the thing, coun- ties PALATINE ; and fome of them were actually and exprebly created fuch. . The Caribbee Iflar is, granted by Charles the firft, in the third year of his reign, to the Earl of Carliile, were ere6lcd into a pro- vince or county, by the name of Ttie Pro- vince of Carliile, '^ with all and every fuch *' like and (b large privileges, jurifdidtions, *f prerngatives, royalties, liberties, freedoms, regal K 'II i(> HI M I;'.'] V. It c< €( <( In the charter of Maryland is granted as follows, *' We have thought fit to ere«ft the '* fame into a province, with all and finc>u- ** lar the like, and as ample rights jurif- " did ions, I' «'■• J! r ! 'f "M ( 60 ) of property, and of ^(cvernmcnt. Yet the people being intitled to the rights, privileges, &c. of freemen, the King cftabliftied by his commiOion of government, or charters, thefe colonies as free dates, fubordinate ac- cording to fuch precedents or examples as his miniftry thought fuitable to the prefent cafe J and the county pal^rine of Durham became this precedent, and the model of this confutation as to the regalia. This was the adlual ftate of the circumftances of our colonifts at their firft migration, and of the colonies at their firft fettlement ; and had nothing further intervened, would have been their conftitution at this day. Let ns exa- mine what has intervened, and mark as pre- cifely as we can, where power has attempt- ed, and where right has efFedted any change in thefe circumftances. I Notwithftandingthis mode of conftitution, acknowleged dejure, as well as eftabliflied de faSfo^ we find, that from tiie moment that thefe our Kings, and their council, took up the idea of comparing thefe plantations to the duchies of Gafcoigne or Normandy, as we find in the journals of the Houfe of Commons, before referred to. From that moment the conftitution of the colonies were treated as being the fame with that of Jerfe)v part of the duchy of Normandy ; 6 and i ( 6i ) and the fame mode of adminiftration was adopted for the colonies as had been ufed and accuflomed for the gorernment of thatiQand. Appeals from the provincial law courts ' were eftabli(hcd J not to the courts of equity here in England, not to the Houfc of Lords, according to the conftitution and cuftom of England, but as appeals from the courts in Normandy were brought before the King, as Duke in council ; fo here in the planta- tions, appeals were made to the King in council, according to the ancient cuftom of Normandy. And the fame rules for thefe appeals were ador' \ — '* Appeals (fays Mr. Falle in his accuc.it of Jerfey) ** may be *' brought before the council board, in mat- ** ters of civil property, * above the value of ** 300 livres Tournois, but no appeal is ad- '* mitted in matters of lefs value j nor in " interlocutories, nor in criminal caufes, " which are judged here to be without «♦ appeal/' As the laws of Jerfey may be reduced un- der thefc three heads : i . The ancient cuftom ©f Normandy, as it ftood before the aliena- tion of that duchy, called in the rolls of the itinerant judges La Somme de Mancel. This makes what the ftatute law is in England. * In the fame manner appeals may be brought from the colonies, in matters where the value is j^ 300. 2. Muni- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 ■50 ■^™ 11^^ ■^ Uii |22 Sf 144 ■" 140 12.0 lU mil I HE — II— 1-*=^ ^ 6" ► Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716)872-4503 ^^^!^ f^ "f^t^ ( 62 ) 2. Municipal or local ufages^ which are the unwritten and traditionary law, like the com^ mon law in England. 3. Conftitutions and ordinances made by the King, or his commifli oners royal ; with fuch regulations and orders, as are from time to time tranf- mitted to Jerfey, from the council board.— So Charles the Firft took up the idea, that the colonies in like manner, his demefnes^ in his foreign dominions, might be govern- ed by laws, ordinances, and conflitutions, made and publifhed with his confent, * by his royal commiflioners, eftablifhed for go- verning the plantations, together with fuch further inflrudtions as fhould be tranfmitted from the council board ; and that thefe com- miilioners, being his council for plantation affairs, might be the dernier court of appeal from the colonies. He left indeed the colo- nies in fome degree in poffeflion of the (la- tute law of England, as it flood before their migration, and allowed them, as far as was confident with thelegiflation of this his coun- cil, the making and ufing their municipal and local laws. Under thefe Norman ideas of the confti- tution of our colonies, it was a moil fortu- nate circumflance for them, That the iiland ■ * Vide Appendix, for the Commii&on at length. ( 63 ) of Jcrfcy had, by its conftitution, a right to hold a ** convention or meeting of the three orders or eftates of the iflands, in imitation of thofe auguft aflemblies, known by that or fome other name, in great king- doms and monarchies, a (hadow, and refemblance of an Englifli parliament.*' In which, ** the King's governor, or lieute- ** nant, had a negative voice. The great bufinefs of which meetings, was the raiiing money to fupply public occafions. For, (Mr. Falle fays) as in England, money cannot be raifed upon the fubjed, but by authority of parliament, fo here it is a re- ceived maxim, that no levies can be made upon the inhabitants, but by their own confent, declared by their reprefentaiives affembled in common-council." It was fortunate, I fay, for our colonies, that this was the cafe of Jerfey ; for there can be no other reafonable account given, how our co- lonies preferved this efTential right of Englifh- men, but that it happened to be alfo a con- ftitutional right of his Majefty's foreign French-Norman fubjedls. This commiflion indeed was annulled, and a board of planta^ tions (at the head of which, as a marine department, the Earl of Warwick was placed,^ being admiral) was appointed by an ordi- nance of parliament j and after the reftora- tion, a council of trade and plantations was cftablilhed^ (C ■ 1. / , 4 I \ U ..;^il..-.,. » ( 69 ) fuch, and conform their own aSliom thereto ; that they hold this right of legiflature, not derived from the grace and will of the crown, and depending on the commiflion which continues at the will of the crown j that this right is inherent and cflential to the com- munity, as a community of Engliftimen : and that therefore they muft have all the rights, privileges, and full and free exercife of their own will and liberty in making la\v« which are neceflary to that a6t of le- giflation, — uncontrouled by any power of the crown, or of the governor, preventing or fufpending that adt j and, that the claufe in the commiflion, diredling the governor to call together a legiflature by his writs, is de- clarative and not creative ; and therefore he is direded to a(5t conformably to a right ac- tually already exifting in the people, &c. and therefore that fuch claufe ought not to be in the commiflion, or to be underflood as being of no efFedt, fo far as concerns the colonids. . When I fpeak of full uncontrouled in- dependent poweri; uf debate andrefult, fo far as relates to the framing bills andpafling them into laws, uncontrouled by any power of the crown or of the governor, as an effential property of a free legiflature ; 1 find fome perfons in the colonies imagine, that I re- F 3 prefent % '] % ( 7° )_ prefent the colonies as claiming a power of legifldture independent of the King's or go- vernor's negative.-— Thefe gentlemen know- ing that it is not my intention to do injuftice to the colonies, wifh me fo to explain this matter, that it may not bear even the inter- pretation of fuch a charge— I do therefore here defire, that the reader will give his at- tention to diftinguifli a full, free, uncon- troulcd, independent power, in the adt of legillation, — from a full, free, uncontrouled, independent power, of carrying the refults of that let^iflation into eflfed:, independent either of the Governor's or King's negative. The fir a right is that which I reprefent the colonills claiming, as a right effentlal to the very exiftenceof the legiflature: The fecond is what is alfo eflential to the nature of a fubordinate legiflature, and what the colo- iiifts never call in queftion. That therefore the point here meant to be ftated as in debate, is, Whether a fubordinate legiflature can be jnflruded, re 'ridted, and controuled, in the very adk of legiflation ? whether the King's inftrudions or letters from ftcretaries of ftate, and fuch like fignifications of his Majefty's will and pleafure, is a due and conflitutional application of the governors, or of the royal negative ?— The coloniftsconftantly deny it, - — and miniftry, other wife fuch inftrudions would not be given, conflantly maintain it. After :: V . ( 71 ) After experience of the confufion and ob- ftrudion which this dubitable point hath oc- cafioned to bufinefs, it is tinne furely that it were fome way or other determined. Or whether in fadl or deed, the people of the colonies, having every right to the full pow- ers of government, and to a whole Icgijlathe power^ are not under this claim entitled in the powers of legiflature and the adminiftra- tion of government, to ufe and exercife in conformity to the laws of Great Britain, the fame, full, free, independent, unreftraincd power and legillative will in their feveral cor- porations, and under the King's commifiion and their rerpe(5tivc charters, as the govern- ment and legiflature of Great Britain holds by its conftitution, and under the great char- ter. Every fubjecSt, born within the realm, un- der the freedom of the Government of Great Britain, or by adoption admitted to the fame> has an eflential indefeafible right to be go- verned, under fuch a mode of government as has the unreftrained exercife of all thofe powers which form the freedom and rights of the conftitution -, and therefore " the crown cannot eftablifh any colony upon— or contrail it within a narrower fcale than the fubjedt is entitled to, by the great F 4 «« charter -ic ^1 1 = ijij i\ I If ( 72 ) ** charter of Englar.d*." The government of each colony muft have the fame powers, and the fame extent of powers that the govern- ment of Great B;itain has,-— and muO: have, while it docs not atft contrary to the laws of Great Britain, the fame freedom and in- dependence of legiflature, as the parliament of Great Britain has. This right (fay they) is foutjcled, not only in the general prin- ciples of the rights of a Britifli fubjecft, but u adlually declared, confirmed, or granted to them in the commilTions and charters which give the particular frame of their re- fpedlive conftitutions. If therefore, in ths lirrt original eftablifliment, like the origi- nal contracft, they could not be eftabli(hed, upon nny fcale (hort of the full and com- pleat fcale of the powers of the Britifh go.- vernment,-— nor the legiflature beeflablifli- ed on any thing lefs than the whole legifla- tive power j much lefs can this power of government and legiflature, thus efliablifhed, be governed, direded, reflrained or reflfidl- ed, by any pcflcrior inflrudions or commands by the letters of Secretaries of State. But upon the fuppc^fition, that a kind of gene- ral indctcrmincd power in the crqwn, to fuperadd inflrudlions to the commiflions and charter be admitted, where the colonifts do * Hiftorical Review of the Conftitution and Go- vernment of Penfylvania, p. II, not \ ^ >i ( 73 ) not make a queftion of the cafe wherein it is exerted, yet there are particular cafes wherein both dircdlive and reftricitive in- ftnidions are given, and avowedly not ad- mitted by the colonills. It is a (landing in- ftrudtion, as a fecurity of the dependence of the government of the colonies, on the mo- ther country, that no adts wherein the King's r ghts, or the rif;hts of the mother country or oF private perfons can be afFc(fted, (hall be cnadtcd into a law without a claufe fufpend- ing the efftd: thereof, till his Majefty's plea* fure ihall be known. This fufpending claufe is univerfally * reje(fted on the principles above, becaufe fuch fufpenfion disfranchifes the inherent full power of legiflature, which they claim by their rights to the Britifh li- berties, and by the fpecial declarations of fuch in their charters. It does not remove this difficulty by faying, that the crown has already in its hands the power of fixing this point, by the tffe^ of its negative given to its governor. It is faid, that if the crown fliouid withdraw that inftrudion, which al- lows certain bills to be paffed into laws with a luipending claufe, which inftru(5i:ion is not meant as a reftridion upon, but an indul- gerice to the legillatures j that if the crown * In fomc cafes of emergency, and in the cafes o^ the concerns of individuals, the inftrudlion has been fubiui.tcd to, but the principle never, (hould 'Ml 1 ll'^''/' . I I . ( 74 ) flioiild withdraw this inftrucflion, and pe- remptorily reftrain its governor from enact- ing laws, under fuch circumftances as the wifdom of government cannot admit of, that then thefe points are adually fixed by the true conftitutional power ; but where- cver it is fo faid, I muft repeat my idea, that this does not remove the difficulty. For waving the doubt which the colonifts might raife, efpecially in the charter colonies, how far the governor ought, or ought not, to be reftridcd from giving his alfent in cafes contrary only to indrudlions, and not to the Jaws of Great Britain j waving this point, let adminiftration confider the effeds of this meafure. In cafes where the bills, offered by the two branche?, are for providing law?, abfolutely neceflliry to the continuance, fup- port, and exercife of government, and where yet the orders of the crown, and the fenfe of the people, are fo wid^'y different as ta the mode, that no agreement can ever be come to in thefe points — Is the government and adminiftration of the government of the colonies to be fufpended ? The intereft, per- haps the being of the plantations, to be ha- zarded by this obftinate variance, and can the exercife of the crown's negative, in fuch emergencies, and with fuch effcift, ever be taken up as a meafure of adminiftration ? And when every thing is thrown into con- fuiion. ( 75 ) fufion, and abandoned even to ruin by fuch ineafure, vvil' adminiftration juftify iti'clf bv faying, that it is the fault of the Coloniris ? On the contrary, this very flate of the cafe. fl:ows the neceflity of fome other remedy. In the courfe of examining thefe matters, will arife to confideration the following very material point. As a principal tie of the fubordinauon of the legiflatures of the colo- nies on the government of the mother coun- try, they are. bound by their conrtitutions and charters, to fend all thetr aSfs of Icgi- flature to England> to be confirmed or abro- gated by the crown ; but if any of the le- giflatures fhould be found to do almoft: every adof legiflature, by votes or orders, even to the repealing the effedls of ads, fufpending cftablilhmentsof pay, paying fervices, doing chancery and other judicatory bufinefs : if matters of this fort, done by thefe votes and orders, never reduced into the form of an ad:, have their effect without ever being fent home as ads of legiflature, or fubmitted to the allowance or dilallovvance of the crown : If it fliould be found that many, or any of the legiflatures of the colonics carry the powers of legiflature into execution, independent of the crown by this device, — it will be a point to be determined how far, in fuch' cafes, the fubordination of the legiflatures of the colonies to the government of* the mother / country i n . ( 76 ) country Is maintained or fufpended j — or if, from emergencies arifing in thefe goverh- ments, this device is to be admitted, the point, how far fuch is to be admitted, ought to be determined j and the validity of thefe votes and orders, thefe Senatus-Confulta fo far declared. For a point of fuch great importance in the fubordination of the co- lony legiflatures, and of fo queftionable a caft in the valid exercife of this legiflative power, ought no longer to remain in queftion. The next general point yet undetermined, the determination of which very effentially imports the fubordination and dependance of the colony governments on the govern- ment of the mother country, is, the manner of providing for the fuppurt of govern- ment, and for all the executive officers of the crown. The freedom and right efficiency of the conftitution require, that the execu- tive and judicial officers of government fliould be independent of the legiflative; and more efpecially in popular governments, where the legiflature itfrlf is fo much influ- enced by the humours and paflions of the people J for if they do not, there will be neither juflice nor equity in any of the courts of law, nor any efficient execution of the laws and orders of government in the ma- giftracy : according, therefore, to the confti- tution ( 17 ) tutlon of Great Britain, the crown has thft appointment and payment of the feveral exe- cutive and judicial officers, and the legifla- ture fettles a permanent and fixed appoint- ment for the fupport of government and the civil lift in general : The crown therefore has, afortioriy a right to require of the co- lonies, to whom, by its commiffion or char- ter, it gives the power of government, fuch permanent fupport, appropriated to the of- fices, not the officers of government, that they may not depend upon the temporary and arbitrary will of the legiflature. The crown does, by its inflrudlions to its governors, order them to require of the legi- flature a permanent fupport. This order of the crown is generally, if not univerfally re- jedted, by the legiflatures of the colonies. The afTemblies quote the precedents of the Britifh conftitution, and found all the rights and pri- vileges which they claim on the principles thereof. They allow the truth and fitnefs of this principle in the Britifh conftitution, where the executive power of the crown is immediately adminiftered by the King's Ma- jefty ; yet fay, under the circumftances in which they find themfelves, that there is no other mcafure left to them to prevent the mifapplications of public money, than by an annual voting and appropriation of the fala- ries ■< « ^i ! ( 78 ) rics of the governor and other civil officer?, ifluing from monies lodged in the hands of a provincial treafurer appointed by the affem- blies: For in thefe fubordinate governments, remote from his Majefty's immediate influ- ence, adminiftered often times by neceffitous and rapacious governors who have no natu- ral, altho* they have a political connection with the country, experience has (hewn that fuch governors have mifapplied the monies raifed for the fupport of government, fo that the civil officers have been left unpaid, even after having been provided for by the aflem- bly. The point then of this very important queftion comes to this iflue, Whether the inconveniencies ariiing, and experienced by fome inftances of mifapplications of appro- priations (for which however there are in the King's courts of law, due and fufficient remedies againft the offender) are a fufficient reafon and ground for eflablifhing a meafure fo diredriy contrary to the BritiQi conftitu- tion : and whether the inconveniencies to be traced in the hirtory of the colonics, through the votes and journals of their legiflaturej, in which the fupport of governors, judges, and officers of the crown will be found to have been withheld or reduced on occafions, where the aifemblies have fuppofed that they have had reafon to difapprove the no- mination, — or the perfon, or his condudi— whether. it <( ( 79 ) whether, I fay, thefe inconveniencies have n t been more detrimental, and injurious to government ; and whether, inftead of thefc colonies being dependent on, and governed undei, the officers of the crown, the fcepter is not reverfed, and the officers of the crown dependant on and governed by the aflem- blies, as the Colonids themfelves allow, that this meafure * " renders the governor, and all the other fervants of the crown, dependant on the aflembly."— But the operation of this meafure does not end here ; it extends to the affuming by the aflemblies the actual executive part of the government in the cafe of the revenue, than which no- thing is more clearly and unqueftionably fettled in the crown* In the colonies the treafurer is folely and entirely a fervant of the aflembly or general court ; and although the monies granted and appropriated be, or ought to be, granted to the crown on fuch appropriations, the treafurer is neither named by the crown, nor its governor, nor gives fecurity to the crown or to the Lord High Treafurer, (which feems the mod proper) nor in many of the colonies, is to obey the governor's warrant in the iflue, nor accounts in the auditor's office, nor in any one colony is it admitted, that he is liable to fuch ac- count. In confequence of this fuppofed ne- ♦ Smith's Hiftory of New York, p. 118. ceffity. 2'a P. m i} :. ( 80 ) ceftity, for the aflcmbly's taking upon theitt the adminiftration of the treafury and re- venue, the governor and fervants of the crown, in the ordinary revenue of govern- ment, are not only held dependant on the affembly, but all Services where fpecial ap- propriations are made for the extraordinaries which fuch fervices require, are actually exe- cuted and done by commiilioners appointed by the aflembly, to whofe difpofition fuch appropriations are made liable. It would be perhaps inviduous, and might tend to pre- judging on points which ought very ferioufly and difpafHonately to be examined, if I were here to point out in the feveral inftances of the adtual execution of this afTumed power, how almoft every executive power of the crown lodged in its governor, is, where mo- ney is neceflary, thus cxercifed by the af- fembly and its commiflioners. I therefore reft the matter here. !:* In the firft edition of this book I pointed out the meafure of the government's fettling fixed falaries on the officers of the crown in America, independant of the people. I afterwards withdrew this propofition, from an apprehenfion of the evils which might arife to the fervice by thefe fixed and per- manent falaries, having a tendency to ren- der the chief offices finecures, procured by the ( 8i ) iht corrupters for the corrupted, in revcr- iions, from generation to generation. This meafure, hath been fince eft'abliftied by par- liament. But why, thofe who had the con- dudt of it would not admit a claufe, providing that fuch falaries, hereafter to bfc efta- blifli'd, fliould be given to no perfon but to fuch as adlually executed the office, is not very eafy to conceive, unlefs from fuggeftions that one would not willingly take upagainft the integrity of their intentions.— If that adt (hould ever be explained, or amended by any fubfequent law, it is to be hoped^ that this claufe would not again be omit- ted. ': The iam^ hibtivdi and reafdn which Weigh'd with government, to adopt this meafure of fixing falaries for the civil of- ficers of the crown in America during the time of their ferving, fhould operate^ to in- duce government to take one ftep further^ in order to render the meafure quite effec- tual, that is, to fettling fome half-pay or other penfion, on fuch officers as are from age or ill health removed ; or after long fer vices in that country, are permitted to return home. The appointments of the governors &c. are fuch, wherein no for- tunes caa either be made, or faved with honor.-— If they have no fortunes of their O own, .'is i 4 R+/ ( 82 ) own, they muft, after their ferviccs, return home to ftarve. «* There is no man" (ikys an American, the intelligent author of the Hiitorical Review of Penfylvania) ** long, or much converfant in this over- ** grown city [London] who hath not often " found himfeif in company with the' (hades ** of departed governors, doomed to wan- ** der out the refidue of their lives, full of «' the agonizing remembrance of their paft " eminence, and the feverc fenfation of «* prefcnt neglect. Sir fVilliam Keiths upon <* his return, was added to this unfortunate " lift, concerning whom, the leaft that can *< be faid is, that either none but men of «' fortune (hould be appointed to ferve in •' fuch diftinguifli'd offices j or otherwife " for the honor of government itfelf, fuch <* as are recalled without any notorious im- " putation on their conduct fliould be pre- ** ferved from that wretchednefs and con- " tempt which they have been but too fre- ** quently permitted to fall into, for want ** even of a proper fubfiftance." The means of avoiding this wretched ifliie of their fervice, by making up a fortune to live on when they ihall be recalled, is a tempta- tion which ought to be removed from this fituation, by thofe who regard the King's fervice, even if they have no feelings of companion for his fervants.— A fmall pit- tance (83 ) tance would pay this, and that very Awn might engage the fervices of thefe half pay officers in a way not unufeful to govern- ment. — They might, in confideratlon of this pay, be directed to attend the Board of trade or whatever board or officer was for the time being, the adling minifter for the biifinefs of America, in order to give expla- nations, or opinions, as they (hould be re- quired ; or even to report, if ever they (hould be thought worthy to have any mat- ter, requiring a report, refer'd to them ; they might be formed into a kind of fubordinate board for this purpofe. — The benefit of fuch a meafure needs not to be expatiated upon, and to explain the operation of it would be too minute a detail for the curfory mention which Ihere make of it. It is a duty of perfedt obligation from go- vernment towards the colonies, to preferve the liberty of the fubjed, the liberty of the conftitution : It is a duty alfo of prudence in government towards itfelf, as fuch condu(5t is the only permanent and fure ground, whereon to maintain the dependance of thofc countries, without deftroying their utilify as colonies. i.:;l *il )iM i!*i}f- The conftitution* of thefe communities, founded in wife policy, and in the laws of G 2 th9 II i I I n i I ( 84 ) the Britifh conditution, are edablifhed by their fcveral charters, or by the King's com- miflion to his governors, being in the na- ture of a charter of government. In thefe, all the juft powers of government arc de- fcribed and defined, the rights of the fubjedl andoftheconflitution declared, and the modes of government agreeable thereto eftabliflied. As thefe pafs under the great feal, no jurifdic- tions or offices will be inferted in the powers granted, but what are agreeable and con- formable to law, and the conftitution of the realm.AlthoughtheKing'scommiflion is bare- ly a commiflion during pleafure, to the per- fon therein named as governor, yet it pro- vides for a fucceffion without vacancy, or interregnum, and is not revoked but by a like commiffion, with like powers : It be- comes the known, eftablifhed conftitution of that province which hath been eftabliflied on it, and whofe laws, courts, and whole frame of legiflature and judicature, are founded on it : It is the charter of that pro- vince : It is the indefeafible and unalterable right of thofe people : It is the indefeafible right by which thjfe colonies thus eftablifh- ed, ar-e the colonies of Great Britain, and therefore not to be altered j but by fuch means as any reform or new eftiblifhment may take place in Great Britain : It cannot, in its eflential parts, be altered or deftroyed : , by I ( 85 ) by any royal inftrudlions or proclamation ; or by letters from fecretaries of ftate : It can- not be fupcrceded, or in part annulled, by the ifluing out of any other comaiiillons not known to this conflitution. In thefe charters, and in thcfc commiiTions, the crown delegates to the governor for the time being, all its conftitutional power and authority civil and military — the power of legiflation fo far as the crown has fuch-— its judicial and executive powers, its powers of chancery, admiralty jurifdidtion, and that of fupreme ordinary. — All thofe powers, as they exift and refide in the crown, are known by the laws and courts of the realm, and as they are derived to the governors are defined, declared, and patent^ by the charters and commiffions patent. It is therefore the duty and true interefts of the Colonifts to maintain thefe rights, thefe privileges, this confti- tution : It is moreover the duty and true in- tercft of King, Lords, and Commons, to be watchful over, to fupport and defend thefe rights of the colonies : It is the duty of ad- minHftration to have conftant regard to the exercife of them, otherwife it will be found a dangerous thing to have given fo much of civil power out of the King's hands, and to have done fo little to maintain thofe into whofe hands it is entrufted. How far the G 3 efta- '■^■(»a m I • i! '.I I ( 86 ) edablidiment of the office and power of a military commander in chief, not fubordinate but fuperior to thefe conftitutional com- manders in chief, how far the fuperceding of the Confular power of the Governors, by eftabli(hing, not for the time of war only, but as a fettled fyftem, this DiSiatorial power, witha jurifdidlion extendingover the whole of the Britidi empire in America, is conformable to law, to prudence, or found policy, is matter of very ferious conHderation to thofe who re- gard the liberties of the conHitution. All military power whatfoever, as far as law and the conftitution will juftify the cfta- blifliment of fuch, is refidcnt in the efta- blifhed office of governor, as Captain gene- ral and commander in chief. There is no power here granted, but what is fpecified and defined by the nature of the conAicution. The fubje(ft and ftate is duly guarded againft any extcnfions of it, by the feveral laws which the legiflatures of the feveral colonies have provided to limit that power j and it can be exercifcd by none but fuch perfons as arc within the jurifdidtion of the province, who deriving their powers from the fupream powers arc amenable to the laws of the pro- vince ; and to the governor, who is himfelf fpecially refponfible for the truft. This power thus limited becomes part of the conftitution of the province, and unlefs thus limited. J. ( ^7 ) limiteJ, and thus conHdered as part of the conQitution of the government, it may be matter of great doubt, whether the crown would be advifed to credl any military power.-; whatever. But under fuch limitations, and as d ^nown cftablilhed part of the cor.fti- tirtion, the crown m:iy lafely grant thefe powers, and the people fafely live under I hem, becaufe the governor is '* required *' and commanded to do and execute all '* things in due manner, that (hall belong ** unto the trujl repoled in him, according ** to the feveral powers and authorities men- ** tioned in the charter." That is to fiy, according to thofe powers which in charter governments are exprejfsly part of the confti- tution J and which fi ora the vtvy nature of the commijjion patent in fuch c.onftitutlons as are called King's governments, are like- wife to be confidcred in the fame light.-r— When this military branch of the governor's office is eftablilhed and received as part of the conftitution, the King may fafely grant, and the people fafely ad under " a power to levy, arm, mufler, command, and employ all perfons whatfocver refiding within fuch province j to relilt and repell both at land and Tea, all enemies, pirate?, and rebels, and fuch to purfue in or out of the limits of the province : to ered and ** build forts, to fortify and furnifh, and to G 4 " cjmmit <( '' '■■ ■« i* . 1 !^'Ji}'« m It i : I I ( 102 ) maxims and rules of their law, and the ftate of their courts. It is a rule univcrfally adopted through all the colonies, that they carried with themi to America the commoi^ law of England, with the power of fuch part of the ftatutcs (thofe concerning eccle- liaftical jurifditStion excepted) as were in force at the time of their eftablifliment j but, as there is no fundamental rule whereby to fay, what ftatutes are admiflible, and what not, if thty admit all, they admit the full efta- blifhment of the ecclefiadical jurifdidtion^ from which they fled to this wildernefs for refuge J — if they once make a diftindtion of admitting fome, and reje(fting others, whp fhali draw the line, and where (haUitpafs I Befides, ao the common law itfelf is nothing but the pradice and determination of courts on points of law, drawn into precedents; where the circumftances of a country and people, and their relation to the ftatutes and common Jaw differ fo greatly, the common law of thefe covintries, muft, in its natural courfe, become different, and fometimes even contrary, or at leafl incompatible, with the common law of England, fo as that, in fome cafes, the determinations arifmg both froni the (tatute and common law mu/i be rejeSied, This renders the judicatories of thefe coun- tries vague and precarious, dangerous, if not arbitrary : This leads neceffariiy (let wha^ care fji ( 103 ) care will be taken, in forming and enabling their provincial laws) this leads to the ren- dering the common law of the country dif- ferent, incompatible with, if not contrary to, and independent of, the law of the mo- ther country, than which nothing can be more difadvantageous to the fubjedl, and no- thing more derogatory from the power of the government of the mother country, and from that fundamental maxim, that the co- lonifts (hall have no laws contrary to thofe of the mother country. I cannot avoid quoting here at length, a very precife and juH: obfervation of the au- thor of the hiftory of New York. ** The ** ftate of our laws opens a door to much " controverfy. The uncertainty with re- ** fped: to them, renders property prccari- ** ous, and greatly expofes us to the arbi- ** trary deciBon of bad judges. The com- ** mon law of England is generally received, .*• together with fuch ftatutes as were enad- ** ed before we had a legiflature of our own ; but our courts exercife a fovereign autho- rity in determining, what parts of the ** common and ftatute law ought to be cx- " tended ; for it muft be admitted, that the difference of circumflances neceflarily re- quires us, in fome cafes, to reje6i the de- f5 termination of both. In many inflances, H 4 *' ti^ey ■...fvJ m o M 'I, ^1 ^! ^ ( 108 ) colonies (hall have no laws contrary to the laws of Great Britain, yet, from the fluc- tuation of refoiutions, and confufion in the conftrudlion and pradlice of the law in the divers and feveral colonies, it is certain, that the practice of their courts, and their com- mon law, muft be not only different from each other, but in the confequence different alfo from that of Great Britain. In all the colonies the common law is received as the foundation and main body of their law ; but each colony being veiled with a legiflative power, the common law is thereby conti- nually altered j fo that (as a great lawyer of the colonies has faid) ** by reafon of the di- verfity of the refoiutions, in their refpec- tive fuperior courts, and of the feveral new ads or laws made in them feverally ; the feveral fyftems of the laws of thofe colonies grow more and more variant, not only from one another, but alfo from the laws of England." !;<'■; nSam) n pi m ^'im •vll '4M m / . s '! I if ill! ( 1,0 ) through negled, collufion, oppreffion, oi' any other breach of his trufl: became fuch. — Here I own, was it not for the precedent already eftablifhed by fome of the laws of trade, I fliould doubt the confiftency of this meafure with the general principle of liberty, as eftablifhed in the trials by a jury in the common law courts. If thefe precedents can reconcile thefe proceedings to the gene- ral principles of liberty, there can be nO more effedual meafure taken ; yet fuch pre- cedents fhould be extended with caution: The defedl in moft, and adtual deficiency in many of the colonies, of a court of equity^ does ftill more forcibly lead to the neceffity of the meafure of fome remedial court of appeal and equity. In all the King's go- vernments fo called, — the governor, or go- vernor and council are the chancellor, or judges of the court of chancery. ^But fo long as I underftand that the governor is, by his general inftru(5tion, upon found prin- ciples of policy and juftice, reftraincd froni exercifing the office of judge or juftice in his own perfon, I own I always confidered the governor, taking up the office of chancellor j as a cafe labouring with inexplicable difficul- ties. How unfit are governors in general for this high office of law ; and how im- proper is it that governors fliould be judges,' where perhaps the confequence of the judg- ment ( III ) sient may involve government, and tlie ad- miniftration thereof, in the contentions of parties. Indeed the fadt is, that the general diffidence of the wifdom of this court thus conftituted, the apprehenfion that reafons of government may mix in with the grounds of the judgment, has had an cffed: that the coming to this court is avoided as much as poflible, fo that it is almofl in difufe, even where the eftabliihment of it is allowed. But in the charter governments they have no chancery at all. I mufl again quote the opinion of a great lawyer in the colonies,— ** there is no court of chancerv in the char- " ter governments of New England," [and I believe I may add alfo in Penfylvania] '* nor ** any court vefted with power to determine caufes in equity, fave only that the juf- tices of the inferior court, and the juftices of the fuperior court refpedlively, h^vc power to give relief on mortgages, bonds, ** and other penalties contained in deeds j in ** all other chancery and equitable matters, *' both the crown and the lubjc(ft are with- ** out redref?. This introduced a pradice of petitioning the legiflative courts for re- lief, and prompted thofe courts to inter- pofe their authority, Thefe petitions be- ** coming: numerous, in order to give the greater dif.^atch to fuch bufinefs, the le- gildativc courts tranfa^ed fuch bufinefs by " order* <>' (( : ftl I C( <( C( C( f? ■ ; f. * m ( 126 ) contrary to the laws of England, as the palladium of their liberties, the King from time to time, by his miniders, called in the aid of parliament to enable him to regulate and govern the colonies. — The Britifh mer- chants at times applied to parliament, on the affairs of the colonies, and even the Weft India Planters applied to the fame power, to carry a meafure againft the con- tinent of North America. Hence we find enaded, I. The navigation ad, the fugar and other adts for regulating and reftraining the trade of the colonies. II. Alfo A(Sls, I. altering the nature of their eftates, by treating real eftates as chattels. 2. Reftraining them from manu* fadures. 3. Regulating their money. 4» Altering the nature of evidence in the courts of common law, by making an affidavit of a debt before the Lord mayor in London, &c. certifyed in writing, an evi- dence in their courts in America. 5. Dif- folving indentures, by difcharging fuch of their fervants as ftiould enlift in the King's fervice. '% in. Alfo Adls, fixing a tax upon Ame- rican failors, payable to the Greenwich Hof- pital. I 4* the an ( 127 ) pital. 2. Like wife impofing taxes, by the fevcral duties payable on fundry goods, if intended as materials of trade, to be paid within the province^ or colony, before they can be put on board, for exportation. 3. Alfo, the revenue arifing from the duties payable on the portage of letters. 4. AUb. the tax of quartering foldicrs, and fupplying them in their quarters. Laftly, eftablifh- ing the claim which Great Britain makes, of taxing the colonies in all cafes whatfoever, by enading the claim into a declared right, by adt of parliament. From the uncontroverted, and univerfal idea of the fubordination of the colonies to the government of the mother country, this power, by which the parliament mak- eth laws that (hall be binding on the co- lonies, hath been conftantly exerted by the government of England, (afterwards Great- Britain) and fubmitted to by the colonies. The fundamental maxim of the laws of thofd countries, is, that ift, the common law of England, together with fuch ftatutes (the ecclefiadical laws and canons excepted) as were enadted before the colonies had a legiflature of their own. 2dly, The laws made by their own legiflature -, together with 3dly, fuch adts of parliament, a= by a fpecial claufe are extended to America, fince that B hi ft i. .4 '■! ( 128 ) that time, are the laws of each province or Colony. The jurifdiolirick,di{lipct from and with- out the realm : * " 1 hey are neverthclefs, and ** of right ought tc be lubordinatcunto, and ** dependant upon t' e imperial crown of " Great Britain ; [i. e. the r . !m,] and that *' the King's Majefly, by aud wirh t!ie ad- ** vice and confent of the Lorcr fpiritual ** and temporal, aiid Commons of G eat Britain aflembled in parliament, had, ha»}i, and of right ought to have full power and authority to make laws and Aatutcs of fufficient force and validity, to bind the colonies and people of America, fub- " jedts of the crown of Great Britain, in all *' cafes whatfoevcr."— In this idea we have a very diff*. er^t ftate of the relation, namely, |he impenai crown of Great Britain, the • 6 Geo. III. c. 12. K A'%, cc <( ft cc m i '' ( 138 > On the other hand, let ufr review the (late of this matter as it (eems ad:oaIiy to have Aood. If the ftate of it vHn>ich we fhall re- prefent, cannot and muO; not be fuppofed right in law $ may we be permitted to ihce it, at le^, as an hypotbelu. The Colonies, from their remote diilance, and local circumdances, could not have been incorporated into any county, city or bo- rough ; at l^eail fo it is faid : and yet, at the fame time, they are fuppofed to be, and confidered as, within the diocefs of Lon- don. The Colonifts were confidered as having gone forth from, and having pitied the realm ; as having fettled on lands without the realm. \ h » '. • (M « i;i The Colonies thus remote and feparatc from the realm, were formed, and incorpo- rated into diflin^ communities j were ere(ft- ed into provinces; had the jura regalia granted to them; were, in confequence thereof, to all intents and purpofes, counties palatine, in like and as ample manner as the county palatine of Durham was, fome matters of form excepted. They were do- minions of the King of England ; although, according to the language of thofe times, " not yet annexed to the crown.** They were under the jarirdi(n:ion of the King, upon ( n9 ) upon the principles of fcedal fovereignty: although confidered ** * as out offhejurt/l ** diSHon of the kingdom'* The parliament itfelf doubting, at that time, whether it had jurifdi^ion to meddle with thofe mat- ters, did not think proper to pafs bills con- cerning America. The Colonies had therefore legiflatures peculiar to their own feparate communities ; fubordinate to Eng- land, in that they could make no laws contrary to the laws of the mother country ; but in all other matters and things, free un- controuled and compleat legiflatures, in conjundtion with the King or his deputy as part thereof. t When the King, at the reftoration, par- ticipated this fovereignty over thefe /jts foreign dominions, with the lords and com- mons, the Colonies became in fa6i, the do- minions of the realm became fubjedts of the kingdom. They came, in fadt, and by an adlual conflitutional exercife of power, under the authority and jurifdidtion of par- liament. They became connedtcd and an- nexed to the (late : By coming as parts of the Britifh realm, not as a feparate kingdom, (which is the cafe of Ireland) under fub- jedtion to the parliament, they became par- WmA ■'i' ■ H ;;.-i',i ♦ Blackftone, B. i. c. 5. ticipants l8i<>L- ■.,t- m f ly. III ik > ( HP ) ticipants of the rights and liberties on which the power of parliament is founded. By the very a(5t of extending the power of f>ar- liament over the Colonies, the rights and liberties of the realm muft be alfo extended to them, for, frorh the nature of the Britilh conftitution, from the conftitution of par- lian<>ent itftlf, they, as parts, can be fubjedV by no other mode, than by that in which parliament can exercife its rovereignty ; for, ihc nature of the power, and the nature of the fubjedtion muft be reciprocal. They became therefore annexed^ although perhaps KQt yet united parts: of the realm. But to cxprefs all that I mean, in a propofition that can neither be mifunderftood nor mifii ter- preted; they from that moment (whatever was their prior lituation) flood related to the crown and to the realm literally and pre- cifcly in the fame predicament, in which the county Palatine of Durham flood ; that is, fubjjd to be bound by a■ ■ ■J .it . * -■ m :.|l: n ( H» ) Co on the other, it may become a duty in government, to give diem power to fend fuch reprefentativt^s to parliament; nay, could one tvt-v, fuppofe the Colonies to be negligent in i^^r ^ ;^, or averfe to fend fuch rcprefentatives, it would, in fuch cafe, ai above fettled, become the duty of govcka- ment to require it of them. Although from the fpirit and eflence of our conditution, as well as the adtual laws of it, ** the whole body of the realm, and « every particular member thereof, either ** in pcrfon, or by reprefentation, (upon " their own free election) are, by the laws <' of the realm, deemed to be prefent in the " high court of parliament 'f" Yet as the circumflances of the feveral members of this body politic muft be often changing; as many acquifitions and improvements, by trade, manufadtures and Colonies, mu(l make great changes in the natural form of this body ; and as it is impo^Hble, both from the gradual nature of theie changes, and from the mode of the reprefentative body, that this reprefentative body can, in every inftance and moment, follow the changes of the natural pafTibus squis ; it mud necefTarily at times, from the nature f I Jacobi I. of ( H} ) of things, not be an a£lual reprefentative,—' Although, from the nature of the conditu- tion of government, it iiiufl, in the Interim, continue to be a ju(l znd confiiiutional repre^ fentative. And heocc, from the laws of nature, as mtcII as from the nature of our own laws and conflitution, arifes the judice and right, which parliament always hath had to render feveral members of the realm liable to rates, payments and fubfidies, granted by parliament; although fuch members have not, as yet, had the liberty and privilege to fend knights and burgefTes to parliament, of their own elcdlion. Yet on the other hand, as the principle, that no free people ought to be taxed, but by their own confent, freely originating from, and given by themfeives or their reprefentatives, is invariable, abfolute and fixed in truth and right, fo the mode of the reprefentation in parliament, hath from time to time, altered, lb as to extend to, and to fuit the mode, under which the reprefented were, from time to time, found to exift. Hence it was, that many towns, boroughs, counties, and even dominions, which from any thing that did exid, or was to be found in their antiquas libertates, and liberas confuetudines, were not previoufly reprefented by members of parliament of their own ele(ftion 3 have, as they acceded to the realm, or encreafed within ''I I - . *M m. >i ly ;/ : *! m li ^ BBBwEi >'k ii m^ Bit ) I ;( HP''- M " . . ' m|P,' 'r i HSmt ' V ^K^'f ^ K£.f Si- i r ( H4 ) within the realm, fo as to be equally con- cerned, to have knights, and burgeflcs in par- liament of their own election, to reprcfent them equally as other inhabitants of the realm have, according to fuch modes as were at the time admitted to be legal and conflituticnal, been called to a (hare in the common- council of the realm. Hence it was that the county Palatine of Durham, af- ter many tryals, and a long ftruggle, was admitted to the privilege of fending knights and burgeflcs to parliament ; — but of this cafe enough has already been faid. In the time of King Henry VIII, we find parliament renfoningand a6iing upon this very principle in the cafe of the county of Chefter. —The reafoning of parliament fets forth -f-, that the King's county Palatine of Chef- ter, had hitherto been excluded out of his high court of parliament, to have any knights within the friid court. — Bv rea- fon whereof, the inhabitants had fuf- taincd manifold difherifons, lodes and da- mages, as well in their lands, goods and bodies, as in the good, civil and politic government of their faid county. That forafmuch as they hat^e alway hi- therto been bound by the a£fs andjlatules^ it (C (( cc It <« (C {( t 34 and 35 of Henry 8. (( made 1 'I C( cc cc «c c< (( « (f << ct cc C( c( tt •■ . t Ml crown .''in 1 :» , I1 W'H Is. / I- I :' ( '46 ) crown of the realm, and to the King, ;Vj 'Very K:ad^ Lord and Ruier, ^—^Th^t the principality and dominions had rights, laws and cuftoms, different from the laws, &c. oi this realm. That the people of that dominion had a fpeech different from the tongue ufed in this realm. -Thence fome ignorajit people made a dijlindion between the King's fubjcSls of the realm i and hisJubjeBs of' the principality. — His Highnefs, therefore, out of love to his fubjedls of the principality, and to bring his Jiihjedls of the realm and his fubjeSls of the principality to concord and unity, by advice of Lords and Commons, and by authority of the fame hath enadtcd, that henceforth and for ever, his faid country and dominion of IVales^ fliall be incCiporatcd, united and annexed to this realm (if England', and that all, fingular perfon and perfons, born, and to be born in the fiid principality of Wales, fhall have, and enjoy all the fame freedoms, liberties, rights, privileges and laws within this his realm, and other the King's domi- nions, as other the King's fubjedts, naturally born within the fame, have, enjoy and in- herit; and that knights and burgcffes fhall be eleded, and fcnt to rcprefent them in par- M'i ( t47 ) parliament, with all the like dignity, p-e- eminence and privilege as other knights and burgefTes of the parliament have and be allowed. We alfo find, upon the acquifition of Calais to the King's dominions, that King Edward turned all the French inhabitants out of it J planted an Englijh Colony there, with all the rights, freedom, privi- leges, &c. of natural born fubjedts within the realm, and that this Colony Jent burgeffh to parliament. Seeing then how exadlly, and to the mi- nuted circumftance, fimilar the cafe of the Colonies ereBed into provinces^ is to thefe counties Palatine, to thofe acquired and an- nexed dominions; can the ftaiefman, whe- ther in adminiftration or in parliament, rea- fon or adl towards the Colonies in any other mode, or by any other adls, than what the foregoing give the wifefl and happieit ex- amples of? It is a firft and felf-evident truth, without which all reafoning on political liberty is certd ratione infanire. That a free people cannot have their property, or any part of it, given and granted away in aids and fubfidies, but by their own confcnt -, fignified by them- L 2 felves m > l\ I ' 1 .t! I f ., , ■ I- ..i ; ii'f 1 i : , 1 Bni'i 1 mHIH'I h\ ■ni \ 1 ■i 'if M >=' i III ( 148 ) feivcs or their legal reprefentatlves. Ic is al- (o (as hath been marked before) an un- doubted principle and law of our conftitu- tion, that the whole body of the realm, and every particular member thereof, cither in perfon, or by reprefentation, (upon their own free ele<5Hons) are deemed to be per- fonally prefent in the high court of parlia- ment : And, that the King, Lords and Commons aHTembled in parliament, are the commune concilium, the common- council of the realm j the legal and conflitu- tional reprefentativc of the whole body of the realm, and of every particular member thereof: having pcrfedl right, and full power and authority to make laws and ilatutes of fufficient force and validity to bind the Co- lonies and people of America, fubje rf ) ■" If ■> ■ i^ ■ K?; '.' ( 15° ) into any county, city or borough within the realm ; that the {late and condition of their country could fcarcely be faid to be within the adlual cognizance of parliament: Where tne local internal circumflances of their property could fcarcefall within the ways and means adopted by parliament for taxes ;— where the peculiar nature of their eflablifh- ment required the conftant and immediate prefence of fome power to make orders, or- dinances and laws for the prefervation and well government of thofe countries : There government hath conflantly and uniformly cftabliflied and admitted the governor, council and reprefentativcs of the freeholders of the country aiTembled, to be a full and perfeft legiflature. for the making laws and impoling taxes in all cafes whatfoever, ari- fing within, and refpeding the body of that community J— full and perfedt within itfelf, to all the purpofes of free debate, free will, and freedom of enading; although fub- ordinate to the government of the mother, as being bound by its laws, and not capable to adt, or to become any thing contrary or repugnant to it. Although parliament hath, in fome cafes, as before recited, impofed taxes, arifing from cuftoms and duties, paid by the trade and intercourfe of the inhabi- tants of the Colonies : Yet, from the iirft moment that they have been conlidered as capable ?*.* ( iSi ) capable of paying a certain quota to the ex- traordinary fervices of government, and as being in circumftances proper to be required fo to do J government fixed the mode, and hath hitherto invariably continued in the fame, of doing this by requifition from the crown, to be laid before the affembly by his Majefty's commiflioner the governor.— If it be the fpirit and fenfe of govern- ment, to confider thefe Colonies fliil as thus feparate unannexed parts ; as incapable, from their local circumftances, of having repre- fentatives of their own eledtion, in the Bri- tifla parliament; — the fame fenfe and fpirit will, I fuppofe, continue to the Colonies this liberty * ; ** which, through a tender- ** nefs in the legiflature of Great Britain, to f* the rights and privileges of the fubjedts " in the Colonies, they have hitherto al- " way enjoyed ; the liberty of judging, by " their reprefentatives, both of the way and *' manner in which internal taxes (hould be ** raifed within the refpedive governments, " and of the ability of the inhabitants to pay " them :" will think it wife, if not juft alfo, from its having become, 1 had almoft fiiid, a conftitutional mode of adminiil ration, * Petition of the general aflcmbly of thp Maffa- chufett's-bay. L + through ■■■■I ^m h- ivi> til. <■ ', • f ■ 'i h '■ A. hi '- .' ( 1 ! ..( 'I !i \\V: ..'pi ( 152 ) through the cftablifhment and invaricd cort- tinuance of the precedent, to raife the Pro- vincial quota of taxes, by making, in each cafe, a requifition to the aiTemblteSy to grant fubfidies, adequate to the fervice of govern- ment, and in proportion to the circumftances of the Colony or province which they reprc- fcnt. This is the alternative, either to follow the fober temper and prudence of this efta- blifhed mode, or to adopt the wifdom, juf- tice and policy of the renfoning and adts of parliament, in the cafes of Chcfter, Wales and Durham. There is no other pradi- cable or rational meaiure. I 111 ) I !i k if; il i '- If thefe external circumftances of our American dominions, and the internal cir- cumftances of our police and parties, lead adminiflration to this meafure, of continu- ing to derive aids and fubfidies from the Co- lonies by the e(labli{hment of general afTem- blies of the flatcs in each Colony, upon the precife model of the parliament in the mother country : It may be very well juftified by example, and from precedent, in (he govern- ment of the Roman Colonies. Although the Romans governed their provinces by an abfolute imperhim, which fuperceded all civil government, properly fo 4 called i ( '53 ) called ; yet the inhabitants of their Cohnies were, in their civil conftitution *, divided into Senate and People, exactly according to the Conftitution of the city itfelf : And conform exactly to the model of the fovereign fenate. As the order of the patres confcripti were the conftitucnts of that body,^ — fo the order of the decuriones, the tenth part from amongft the people were, for the purpofe of forming ?» like council, enrolled by the tri- umvirs whom the Roman Aate had created, to lead out Colonies either of Citizens or Latins. — By this eftabliHiment, a fenitc, for this council is H'erally fo called in th(* Pompcian law de Eithynis, was formed in every Colony — and latterly, in every muni- cipal corporation alfo. — As the ordinary fupply of the fenate in tbe city, was from the annual eledtion of magi- * Conftl'tucndum eft ad urbis inftar, in Coloniis Plebem a Patribus difcriminatum ; & ad exemplum Senatusampliflimi ordinis, dccurionum ordincin (<]ueni ct Senatum didlum in Pompeia lege de Bithyniis Pli- nius fcribit) in civitatibus orbis Romuni ex dccima parte ColonoTum, concilii publici gratia, confcriM fulitum fuill'e a triumviris quO) S P Q^R creabat ad Colonias aut latinorum aut civium ducendas ; cuTnque in Coloniis veluti in fpeculo effigies Repub. Rom. cerneretur fimulachrum quoddam Scnatiis fn illib, h demum in municipiis ex decurionum ordinc fuir. Marcus Veiranius Maurus de jure libeforiim. Cap. 8. ftrates, •'l,ii« ' it? i:# ■i ■ ■ ■ :j i . ' '■ t <• : «' i \ ■•:■.« I '!.'■ ' ;',i ■ 1' . ■ •• .• ' . 'i ■. • 1 1 ... ■ ' , ' . ' , ' % '::■! > 1 i ' i ;h •''•if I; >U' '!! y VI. ■ i- ,, I ii w ' t ( 1^4 ) flrates, who, in confcquencc of their having been inverted with fuch magiftracy, acquired a feat there -, as the extraordinary lupply of fenators, was by Kings, Confuls, Cen- fors, or Dictators (according to the diffe- rent times and periods of the Roman go- vernment) propoHng good and true citizens to the people,- of whom thofe, who were approved, were enrolled Confcripti, Sena- tores, jufl'u populi : So the ordinary fupply of the members of this Colony fenate or curia was from the decuriones, the magiftracy of that community, — while the extraordinary fupply was by the triumvirs enrolling, in like manner, the fenator at the firft efta- blifliment, or the J governors, upon ex- traordinary cafes, which might afterwards arife, propofing honeft and honourable men, from whom the people chofe thofe who were enrolled. — Both council and rc- fult were left to the community. The council in the fenate, the refult in the people; — who made, and were governed by their own laws, iubordinate to the laws of the empire ; who created, and were go- verned by their own magiftrates.— When this ifland was itfclf, in a provin- cial ftate, under the empire of Rome, feve- X Vi'c Plinii Epift. et Trajani Refp. lib. x. £pis. 80 and 8 1 . ral ( '55 ) ral Colonies and municipal dlftrids within the Tame, were happy under this very con- ftitulion of being governed by a reprefenta- tivc, magiftracy, and legiflature, — which the Briti(h Colonies now contend for. The manufcript of Richard of Cirencefter, lately difcovered, tells us which they were. The Colonies were, London, Colchefter, Sandwich with Richborough, Bath, Caifr- leon in Wales, Weft Chefter, Gloucefter, Lincoln and Chefterford. The municipal diftrids, York and St. Albans. To which perhaps we may add, from the fame lift, as Civitates, Latiojure donatae, Old Sarum, Cirer er, Carlifle, Burton north of Lan- cafter, Carter by Peterborough, Alkman- bury and Catteric in Yorkfhire, Perth, Dun- britton and Invernefs. If this mode of adminiftration for the Co- lonies be adopted by government, efpeciAJly in the article of taxation — It will behove ad- miniftration, to be thoroughly informed of, and acquainted with the circumftances of the Colonies, as to the quota or fhare of the taxes which they are capable to bear, and o'-!^ht to raifc, not only in proportion to thofc raifed bv the mother countrv, buc amongft thcmfelves : It will become the duty of miniftry, to endeavour to perfuade the Co- lonies to cftablifh, aifar as their circumjlauces .1 i' ■ ^^ 1 1 •:-ll !M .tK4 b. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 Uil2» |2.5 ■50 *^~ BlH Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) •72-4503 r^O ^ 1^ \\ Ml t ( '56 ) will admit of if, the fame mode of taxation, by (lamp duties, excifes and land tax, as is ufed in this country: — That the property and manufadiures of the Colonies may not, by an exemption from thefe, have a pre- ference and advantage over the property and manufaftures of the mother country. It win require all the wifdom and intereft, all the firmnefs and addrefs, of a thoroughly eflabliflied miniflry, to carry thefe points :•— As the Colonies, no doubt, will keep off fuch incumbrances as long as they can ; and as the ailemblies of the Colonies, will, un- der this conditution, reafonably argue, that as to the matter, extent, mode and time of taxes, they, the reprefentative of the people for whom they grant, are the only proper and conditutional judges. Government ought at all times to know the numbers of the inhabitants, diftinguifh- ing the number of the rateable polls. 2. The number of acres in each province or Colony, both cultivated and lyeing in wafte. The number of houics — and farms, &;c. 3. The numbers and quantity of every other article of rateable property, according to the method ufed by the provinces them- felves, in rateing eftates, real and perfonal. 4- Go- I ■:'■<) ( 'S7 ) 4. Government ought alway to know what the annual amount of the feveral pro- vince taxes are, and by what rates they are raifed, and by what eftimate thefe rates are laid. From whence, by comparing the eftima- tion with the real value, for the time being, of each article, they may alway coUedi: nearly the real value of the property of fuch province or Colony. All which, compared with the prices of labour, provifions and European goods imported, with the value of their manufactures, the interefl of money, and their exports, will fully and precifely mark their abilities to bear, and the propor- tion which they (hould bear, of taxes, amongft one another, and with the mother country. The following eftimates of the provinces, MalTachufett's-Bay to the northward, of South- Carolina to the fouthward, and of New Jerfey in the center, are founded in the tax-lifts of each province; which tax- Ms, being of* ten years (landing, muft, in encreafing countries as the Colonies are, fall ihort of the numbers and quantity which ^ That is ten vears back from the time of the pub- lication of the firft edition of this book. would m4m '.'h^ j'lw^i '•£% ■ Mi i i 1 ' ( i58 ) would be found on any tax-lift faithfully made out at this time. The eftimates which I have made thereon are in general at fuch an under-valuation> that I (hould think no man of candour in the provinces will objedt to them ; although they be, in fome articles, higher than the valuation which the legifla- tures dire'\i\ ('.'•''j'''*'S*>4*l il:'M J«1 m m M m ( i6o ) In juftice to ^h^ reft pf the provinces, pai"- ticularized above, I ought to observe tl?at| by the equalleft judgment which I can form^ I think that the province of South-Carolina is the moft under-r^ted. I ihould alfo point out to the Amencaq reader, that, as the calculations and lifts above referred to, are taken from the private cglledtions of the writer of thefe papers, without any ofticiai communication of fuch papers as miniftry may b^ pofl^fted of, I define him to give no other credit to them, than fuch as, by referring to hi? Q^^ know- ledge of the ftate of thip|rs in the Colonies, he £nds to be Juft and near the truth. I (houjd, on the other hand, inform the Eng- lifli reader, that thefe were colleded on the fpot, and communicated by perfons leading, and thoroughly converfant iii the bufiqefs of their refpedive provinces. Another reijnark is neceflary, That, ejc> cept what relates to Penfylvania, ^hefe col- ledtions were cr^ade nine ye.ars ^go j fo that, wherever any difference may affife, from the different proportion in which thefe provinces have encreafed, that ought tQ be carried t^ account ; at the fjime tinie, th^t a certain aJA dition may be made to the whole fro^n the certain encreafe of all of them. If iJii •. ( i6i ) If this moderate tax, raifed by the above moderate valuation, be compared with the internal annual charge of government in the refpedive provinces, that charge will be found much below the fupplies of this fund. The whole charge of the ordinary expence of government in the province of iMaiTachufett's- Bay, which does, by much, more to the fupport of government, and other public fer- vices than any other province, is, in time of peace, fterling 12937 ^* ^° ^* whereas that of New- York is not more than about, fter- ling, 4000 /. annually. When thefe points (hall be fettled, there cannot be a doubt but that the fame zealous attention, which all parties fee and confefs to be applied in the adminiftration of the Britfli department to the public revenue, will be applied to the eflabliQiing and reforming that of America. A proper knowledge of, and real atten- tion to, the Crown's quit-rents in America, by reviling the original defe5ls, by remedy- ing the almoft infurmountable difficulties that the due colledtion of them is attended with, may render that branch a real and ef- fedive revenue, which at the fame time will be found to be no inconfiderable one. M By .' I. •'■fr"*! ■ iir ;•••"■, H m I* iff mm" ■:.-ir: 'Mi M.I1 ( i62 ) By proper regulations for fecuring the Crown's rights in waifs and wrecks, in fines and forfeitures, and by proper appropriations of the fame, that branch of revenue may be made efFedlive : But, whenever it is ta- ken up in earneft, whenever it (hall be re- folved upon to give a real official regard to the revenue in America, the office of Audi- tor General of the Plantations muft ceafe to be a mere finecure benefice, and be really and eflfedively eftablifhed with fuch powers as will carry the duty of it into execution, yet under fuch cautions and reftric^ions as (hall fecure the benefit of its fervice to the ufe of the crown. If it fhould be thought difficult and ha- zardous, to extend the legiflative rights, pri- vileges and preeminences, the true Imperium of government, to wherefoever the domi- nions of the ftate extend, — the adminiflra- tion muft be content to go on in this ptolomaic fyftem of policy, — as long as the various centers and fyllems (hall preferve their due order and fubordination : Or to fpeak in a more appofite idea ; — if we would keep the bafis of this realm confined to this jUand, while we extend the fuperftrudture, by extending our dominions : We (hall invert the pyramid (as Sir WilliamTemple cxprefles it) and muft in time fubvert the 1: '! it- ( «63 ) Ihe government itfelf. If we chufe to follow the example of the Romans, we muft expert to follow their fate. Would flatefmen, on the other hand, doubt for a while, the predetermined modes which artificial fyftems prefcribe; would they dare to look for truth in the nature of things ; they would foon adopt what is right, as founded upon fadt. ^They would be naturally led into the true fyftem of govern- ment, by following uiih the powers of ihe jiate, where the ailual and real powers of the fyftem of things lead to. They would fee, that by the various and mutual intercon- nedtions of the different parts of the Britifli dominions, throughout the Atlantic, and in America ; by the intercommunion and re^ ciprocation of their alternate wants and fup- plies ; by the combination and fubordination of their feveral interefts and powers j by the circulation of their commerce, revolving in an orbit which hath Great Britain for its center: That there does exifl, in fa (51, in nature, a real union and incorporation of all thefe parts of the Britifh dominions, an ac- tual fyftem of dominion ; which wants only to be avowed and actuated by the real fpirit in which it moves and has its being : By that fpirit, which is the genuine fpirit of the Brilifh conftitution : By that fpirit from M 2 which =.'-■;> if\ ■ ' "'ff . ! (•i-li,.-- , • ■ ' ' ft':' t'' .tj , m It 11 h li ( 164 ) which the Britifh government hath ariren to what it is : By the fpirit of extending the bafis of its reprefentative legiflature, through all the parts to whcrefoever the rights, in- tereft or power of its dominions extend ) fo as to form (I cannot too often inculcate the idea) a grand marine dominion, con- sisting OF OUR possessions IN THE Atlantic, and in America, united INTO A one EMPII^E, IN A ONE CENTER, Where the seat of government is. This meafure has been, and I dare fay will be generally treated as impradticable and vifionary *. 1 wiQi thofe declarations of power, with which we mock ourfelves, may not be found the more dangerous de~ lulion. Such is the a(5tual (late of the really exifting fyflem of our dominions ; that neither the power of government, over thefe various parts, can long continue under the prefcnt mode of adminiftration ; nor the great intereft of commerce extended thro'- out the whole, long fubiift under the pre- fent fyflem of the laws of trade : Power, * On repealing the ftampad^, an aft pafs'd, de- claring the power of parliament to bind thele Colonics in all cafes whatfoever : This, however, was only planting a barren tree, that caft a /hade indeed over the Colonies, but yielded no/ruit, Penfylvania Farmer's Letters, Letter 10th. 3 ^ when ( '65 ) when ufcd towards them, becoming felf-de- ftru(ftive, will only haflen the general ruin. To this meafure, not only the Briton but the American alfo now objeds, that it is unnecefTary, inexpedient and dangerous: But lei: us coniider their feveral objedtions. The Briton fays that fuch meafure is un- ncceflary, becaufc the power of parliament extends to all cafes and purpofes required.— Be it allowed, that this power does, in right and theory, thus extend : Yet furely the reafoning, the precedents, the Examples, and the practice of adminiflrations do (how, that fomething more is neceflary in this cafe. The American fays it is unnccefTary, bc- caufe they have legiflatures of their own, which anfwer all their purpofes. But each Colony having rights, duties, adlions, relations, which extend beyond the bounds and jurifdidion of their refpedive commu- nities J beyond the power of their refpedtive governments: The colonial legiflature docs certainly not anfwer all purpofes j is incom- petent and inadequate to many purpofes : Something therefore more is neceifary, ei^ tloer a common union amongst tJoeniJelves ; or a one common union of fubordmation, under the one general legiflature of the ftate. M 3 The ^:.i. »l ' ' ■ mi ■■I i't >fi>j ■i^r m m I* 'If ? •« W-W > ^£4 K W^K ||lj I^M li'g ijjjtj^l \^\ wmk ^t'3 i»*'^"'*tt» (■(ji K&'Ik i^l Sp^ m H I \li ( ; 'I I'll ill ( i66 ) The Briton fays that it would be incxpe* dirnt 10 participate with, and communicate to tl e Colonifts, the rights and privileges of a fubjcft living and holding his property within the realm; to give thefc rights to people living out of the realm, and remote from it, wliofe inrerefls are rival and con- trary, both in trade and dominion, to thofc of this realm. But the fcheme of giving reprefentativcs to the Colonies, annexes them to, and incorporates them with the realm. Their inter eft is contrary to that of Great Britain, only fo long as they are continued in the unnatural artificial ftate of being con- fkiered as external provinces *, and they can become rivals only by continuing to increafe in this feparate ftate : But their being united to the realm, is the very remedy propofed. The American fays, that this meafure is inexpedient} becaufe, if the Colonies be united to the realm ; and have participation in the legifla ure, and communication of the rights and privileges of a fubjedt within the realm : 1 hey muft be aflbciated in the bur- den of thi taxes, and fo pay a (hare of the intereft and pr ncipal of the national debts, which ihey have no concern in. This is literally the objection which was made by the Scots, at the propofal of the union of \\\Q two kingdoms ; and came indeed with rcafoi^ ! i: ( '67 ) rcafon and propriety, from an independent fovcrcign kingdom, which had no concern in the debts of England. But the like ob- ie(flion can never be made with propriety, reafon or juftice, by Colonies and j. rovinccs which are conftituent parts of a trai'ing na- tion, protected by the Britilh marine. Much lefs can it be faid, that they have no concern in thefe debts, when they are debts con- tracted, by wars entered into, the liift for the prefervation of the proteftant intereO: and independency of the fovereignty of the mother country ; the two latter, iblely in defence, and for the protedion of the trade and adlual exiftence of the Colonies. How- ever, if the Colonies could, on any reafon- ahle grounds of equity or policy, fhow any inequality, or even inexpediency in their paying any part of the taxes, which have a retrofpedt to times, before they were ad- mitted to a Ihare in the legiflature. — There is no doubt but that the fame moderation andjuftice which the kingdom of England ihowtd towards Scotland, in giving that an equivalent^ would be extended to the Colo- nies, by the kingdom of Great Britain. And I cannot but think, that it would not be more than fuch equivalent, that the government (hould grant them a fum of money fufficient to pay off all titir dt;brs, which were contraded, in conkqucnce of M 4. the tl. m i i;" : I! B' I .. 3 1 ' J < i68 ) the laft war, and were ftill out-ftandingi un lei's Great Britain engaged from hence- forth to confider thefe as the debts of the flate in general. I cannot but think that it would not be more than fuch equivalent, that the crown fliould give up all its right ta quit rents j and that every adl, whereby any fpecial revenue was raifcd upon the Colonies^ fhould be repealed. The Briton fays, that this meafure would be dangerous ; as it might prove a leading ftep, to the finally removing of the feat of Empire to America. To which the true anfwer is, that the removing of the Seat of the Empire to America or not, depends on the progreilive encreafe of the territories, trade and power of the American Colonies ; if continued in the fame unnatural feparate rival and dangerous ftate, in which they are at prefent. — That this is an event not to be avoided.-— But this meafure of uniting the Colonies to the realm, and of fixing the legiflature here in Britain, is the only policy that can obviate and prevent this removal. For, by concentring the intereft and power of the fcveral paits in this illand, the Em- pire mud be fixed here alfo. — But if this removal cannot finally be prevented, — is it better that a new Empire fhould arife in America, on the ruins of Great Britain; or thai ii ( 169 ) that the regalia of the Britifh Empire ex- tending to America, fhould be removed only to fome other part of the dominions, continuing however in the fame realm ? The American fays, that this meafure might be dangerous to their liberties j as this calling the American reprefentativcs to a parliament, fitting in Great Britain, would remove their reprefentatives at too great a diftance from their conftituents, for too long a time j and confequently from that com- munication and influence, which their con- ftituents (hould have with them j and there- fore transfer the will of the Colonies out of their own power, involving it, at the fame time, in a majority, againft which their proportion of reprefentatives would hold no ballance. This objedion, if it hath any ground for its fears, is a diredt anfwer to the Britlfh objedion laft mentioned : — But it proves too much; as, according to this argu- ment, no remote parts of a ftate ought to fend reprefentatives, as the feat of Empire is alfo remote ; the truth and fad is, that the mu- tual fituation of Great Britain and America, very well allows every communication, which a member of parliament ought to have with his conftituents ; and any influ- ence beyond that, is unparliamentary and Vinconftitutional, As ■' iM WM ■; '., • si--: • 'J ( lyo ) As to all objedlions which arlfe from ap* prehenfions of what efFed: fuch an additional number of members, acceding all at once to the Houfe of Commons, might have on the politics, conduct and internal manage- ment of that body. — They arife from an unv/arranted and (one (hould hope) ground-^ lefs fufpicion of fome undue influence operating there — But (hould this be a fup- pofition, that could ever be admitted to be true, even amongfl: the foeces Romuli ; the contrary apprehenfions, from the different quarters, are fuch as mutually deftroy each other. — The Americans fear, that the num- ber of reprefentatives which will be allowed to them, will have no power proportionable to their (hare of intereft in the community. That this union to the Britifli legillature, will only involve them in the concluflons of a majority, which will thence claim a right to tax them, and to reftrain their trade, nianufactures and fettlements as they pleafe. The Briton fears, that thefe reprelentaiives may be an united phalanx, firmly oppofing every tax propofed to be laid upon the Colo- nies ; and every regulation meant to keep their adtions and intereft in due fubordina- tion to the whole.-^ ^That they will be a party, a fadion, a flying fquadron, alway ready, and in moft cafes capable, by uniting with oppofition to adminiftration, or with corn- ( 17' ) commercical fa^ions, to diftrefs govern-t ment and the landed intereft of the kingdom. The Americans again on the other hand, fear that feme future Britilh miniftry, in feme future days of corruption, will fucceed in bribing their reprefentatives, againft which the Colonies will have no remedy, but mud fubmic to the betraying conlequences.-^^ Thefe are objedtions which, on the very fuppofition, mutually counteract anddeftroy one another.-— They are objedtions which have had fair trial upon experience, in the cafe of the Scots members, — and are diredtly contradicted by truth and lad. As to all objedions raifed on the fuppofed impracticability of the meafure ; they are too contemptible to deferve an anfwer. — There is but one which hath any fenfe in it, — it is faid, that the Colonies are too remote, upon a diirolution, to receive the writs and return their reprefentatives within the time limited by law J and that, if the parliament fhould be aflembled immediately on its eleCtion, the Colonies could not have their reprefen- tatives in the houfe for fome time. 1 he portion of time limited by law, is fixed in proportion to the diftance of the remoteft parts concerned at prcfent, to fend mem- bers to parliament. A fpecial time might be ; .11 : '(i 1 <• if H : ,> 't' \M iii If' ( 17* ) be fixed by law, in proportion to the fpecial cafe of the didance of the Colonies. And as to their having their reprefentatives in a new parliament, upon its being affembled immediately ; in the fame manner, as upon the demife of the King, the parliament, then iitting, is by law, to continue fix months, unlcfs dilTolved by the fucceflbr: fo the old reprefentatives of the Colonies, might bylaw, be permitted to fit in the new parliament, if* affembled within fix months; until they were reelected or others fent in their room ; the doing of which, might be limited to fix months. Notwithflanding, I know that this pro- pofal will be confidered as Utopian, vifionary, idle, impertinent and what not: — I will proceed to confider the juflice and policy of this meafure, of this invariable truth, this unavoiviable confequence ; that in the courfe and procedure of oar government, there nwft arife a duty in government to give, a right in the Colonies to claim, a fharc in the legiflature of Great Britain. .While we confider the realm, the govern- ment of Great Britain, as the Sovereign^ and the Colonies as the fubjcd:, without full participation in the confHtution ; without participation in the legiflature j bound impli- citly ( m ) citly to obey the orders of government ; andf implicitly to ena^ or regijler as an ad of their own, thofe grants which we have by our adls required them to make- as a tax impofed on them : They fay that their obe- dience in this cafe, without the interpofition of their own free will, is reduced to the loweft predicament of fubjedtion, wherein they are not only required to aSty but to W//, as they are ordered. Yet, however too ftrongly they may be fuppofed to ftate their cafe, furely there is a fpecies of injuf- tice in it. Supplies granted in parliament, are of good will, not of duty, the free and volun- tary adt of the giver, not obligations and fervices which the giver cannot, by right, refufe. Whatever therefore is given out of the lands and property of the Colonies, ihould fome way or other, be made their own adV. The true grounds of }uftice whereby the parliament grants fupplies, and raifes them by taxes on the lands and property of them- felves and their conftituents, is, that they give what is their own ; that they lay no tax, which does not affed themfelves and their conftituents ; and are therefore not only the proper givers, but alfo, the beft and fafeft judges. Kk* *;«*? ■''■■'■ m li t >74 ) judges, what burdens they are befi able id bear : They do not give and grant from the property of others, to eafe thcmfelves. Let the ftatefman apply this reafoning to the cafe of the Colonies, and he may be lead up to the true fources of the difcontents, mur- murings, protefts and counteradlings againft government, which divert its cffedt, which undermine its eftablifhment, and tend to its utter diiTolution. Whereas on the other hand, we {hall find, as hath ever been found, that univerfal participation of council, creates reciprocation of univerfal obedience. The feat of govern- ment will be well informed of the ftate and condition of the remote and extreme parts : And the extreme and remote parts, by par- ticipation in the legiflature, willj from felf- confcioufnefs, be informed of, and fatisfied in, the reafons and neceffity of the meafures of government : Thefe parts will confider themfelves as adling, in every grant which is made, and in every tax which is impofed : This confideration alone, will give efficiency to government ; and will create that confenfus obedientium, on which only, the power and fyllem of the Imperium of a ftate can be founded : This will give extention and fta- bility of Empire, as far as we can extend our dominions. 1 could ( 175 ) I could here proceed to juftify this pro^ pofition, as founded in fa(St, by fhowing, that this principle of efiablijhing the Imperium of government i on the bqfis of a reprefentative legijlattire, hath been, from the earlieft and ^' firft inftance of the eftablifhment of a British Senate, under the government of Caraufius, founded on its native and na- tural bafis, a marine dominion, invariably through all times, the fpirit of this country : The fpirit of that conftitution, by which government hath been alway the moft furely and happily eftabliflied in the British domi- nions. It is a native plant of this foil, which, although at various times, it hath been trodden and cut down, almoft to the very roots, hath alway again broken forth with a vigour fuperior to all falfe culture and all force. Although it was fupprefTed for a while, under the laft defpairing efforts of the Roman corrupted ftate ; yet having taken root, it revived : Although it was, in part, opprefTed by the feudal fyftem, in the latter times of the Saxons, as well as under the Normans j yet I could here fhow, not only how, by its native vigour, it rofe again from ruin, but alfo mark the progrefs of its reftoration, to the time of Henry the third. ♦ Anno Dom. 291. Bat ■ •■:■ if ■"■''- ml I £;•*;. '-ii' ill w ?#" ( 176 ) but thefe are arguments only to thofd >vho feel their hearts united to this fpirit, who revere the inftitutions of their anceftors, as the true fources of the original liberty> and political happinefs of this country. In thefe days, when it is the wifdom of ftatcf- men to raife objections to this fpirit of po- licy } when the learned fortify their under- Handing againft convi78 ) cuUtion of their home bufincfs, and always finally came to England in payments fo^ what the Colonifts exported from thence. If the adt of navigation (hould be carried into fuch rigorous execution as to cut off this fup- ply of a (liver currency to the Colonies, the thoughts of adminiftration fhould be turned to the deviling fome means of fupplying the Colonies with money of fome fort or other : and in this view, it may not be improper to take up here the confideration of fome gene- ral principles, on which the bufinefs of mo* iiey and a currency depends. t , SitvER, by the general confent cf mankind^ has become a deposite, which isy the com- mon Measure of commerce* This is a ge- neral eftedt of fome general caufe. The ex- perience of its degree of fcarcenefs compared with its common introdudtion amidft men, together with the facility of its being known by its vifible and palpable properties, hath given this effed : Its degree of fcarcenefs hath given it a value proportioned to the making it a deposite, and ihe certain quan- tiiy in which this is mixed with the polfef- fions and tranfadions of man, together with the facility of its being knovvn, makes it a common measure amongft thofc things. There are perhaps other things which might be better applied to commerce as a common ... mea- I rf- ( m ) toicafure, and there are perhaps other things ivhich might better anfwer as a depofite} but there is nothing except filver known and acknowledged by the general experience of mankind, which b a depo(!te and common meafure of commerce. Paper, feather, oc parchment, may, by thefanition ofgoveirni ment, becon>e a common meafure td an ex- tent beyond what filver could reach $ yet all the fandtion and power of government never will make it an adequate depofite. Dia- monds, pearls, or other jewels, may in many cafes be confidered as a more apt and fuitable depofite, and may be applied as fuch^ to an extent to which (ilver will not reach } yet their fcarcity tends to throw them into a monopoly; they cannot be fubdivided, nor amafTed into one concrete, and the know- ledge of them is more calculated for a my- ftery or trade, than for the forenfic ufes of man in common, and they will never there- fore become a common meafure. This truth eftahliflied and rightly under- ftood, it will be fcen that that ftate of trade in the Colonies is the beft, and that admini- ftraticn of the Colonies the wifeft, which tends to introduce this Only true and real cur- rency amongft them. And in this view I muft wifli to fee the Spanish filver flowing into our Colonies, with an ample and unin- N 2 ter* i te: i ii • ( 180 ) terrupted ftream, as I know that that flream^ after it hath watered and fupplyed the re- gions which it paiTeth through, mud, like every other flream, pay its tribute to its mq- ther ocean : As this filver, to fpeak without a metaphor, after it hath pafTed through the various ufes of it in the Colonies, doth always come to, and center finally in Great Bri- tain. The proportion of this meafure, by the general application of it to feveral different commodities, in different places and circum- fiances, forms its ownfcale. This fcale arifes from the effeA of natural operations, and not itom artificial impofition : If therefore filver was never ufed but by the merchant, as the general meafure of his commerce and ex- change, coin would be (as it is in fuch cafe) of no ufe ; it would be conHdered as bullion only. Although bullion is thus fufficient for the meafure of general commerce, yet for the daily ufes of the market fomething more is wanted in the detail ; fomething is wanted to mark to common judgment its proportion, and to give the fcale : Government there- fore, here interpofes, and by forming it into COIN gives the fcale, and makes it become to forenfic ufe an instrument in detail, as well as it is in bullion a Mi asure in ge- neral. This ( i8i ) l[)m artificial marking of this fcale on a natural meqfure, is neither more nor lefs than marking on any other rule or meafure, the graduate proportions of it : And this artificial marking of the fcale, or graduating the mea- fure is of no ufe but in detail, and extends not beyond the marker i for exchange reftores it again in commerce. No artificial ftandard therefore can be impofed. Having this idea of money and coin, I could never comprehend to what general ufes, or to what purpofes of government, the proclamation which Queen Ann iiTued, and which was confirmed by flatute in the fixth year of her reign, could be fuppofed to ex- tend, while it endeavoured to rate the foreign coins current in the Colonies by an artificial flandard. It would feem to me juft as wife, and anfwering to juft as good purpofe, if government fhould now iftue a proclamation, directing, that for the future, all black horfes in the Colonies (hould be called white, and all brindled cows called red. The mak- ing even a law to alter the names of things, will never alter the nature of thofe things; and will never have any other effed, than that of introducing confufion, and of giving an opportunity to bad men of profiting by that confufion. m iv .1." Ifi;. ■'*-M 1 : /: .^ .i.t N The ,»■> '-■* ,i'e ( j8j ) The faifeft and wifeft meafare which go- vernment can take, is not to difcourage o^ obdrudt that channel through which iilver flows into the Colonics,— -nor to interfere with that value waich it acquires there }^- but only fo to regulate the Colony trade, that that iilver (hall finally come to, and center in Great Britain, whither it will mod cer- tainly come in its true value; but if through any fatality in things or meafures, a medium of trade, a currency of money, fliould grow defedtive in the Colonies, the wifdoai of government will then interpofe, either to remedy the caufe which occaflons fuch defeat, or to contrive the means of fup- plying the deficiency. The remedy lies in a ce^iain addrefs in carrying into execution thq a£t of navigation ; but if that remedy is negleded, the next recourfe muft lie in fome means of maintaining a currency fpecialiy appropriated to the Colonies, and thuil be partly fuch as will keep a certain quantity of filver coin in circulation there, — and partly fuch as (hall eO:abli(h a paper currency, holding 9 value nearly equal to filver. On the firft view of thefe refources, it Avillbe matter of ferious confideration, whe- ther government (hould eftabli(h a mint and coinage fpecialiy appropriated for the ufe of the mamm i '83 ) the Colonies ; and on what bails this fhoul^ be eftablKhed. If it be neceflary that filver, which in bullion is a common meafure of general commerce, (hould, that it may be inftrumental alfo to the common ufcs of the market, be formed into coin, it (liould be fo formed, that while it was the duty of the public to form this coin, it may not be the intered of the individual to melt it down again into bullion. If a certain quantity of coin is neceflary for the forenlic ufes of the Colonies, it {hould be fo formed as in no ordinary coiirfe of bufinefs to become the intereft of the merchant to export it from thence. This coin (hould be graduated by alloy, fomewhat below the real fcale, fo as to bear a value in tale, fomewhat better than the fil- ver it contains would fetch after the expence of melting down the coin into bullion,— fomewhat better ai an ivjlrument, in com- mon forenfic ufe, than the merchant in or~ dir.ary cafes could make of it, in applying it as a meajure by exporting it. I have here inferted the caution againft cr- diaary cafes only, as I am not unaware that the lowering the intrinflc worth of the coin for America^ will have in the end no other N 4 effeft. ' ■'-■'' I'll ■■'ill m\ ., i' >.-.!-'n!.S 1^ if ( 184 ) cfFedt, than to raifc the price of the Euro- pean goods carried thither, while the coin will be exported to Great Britain the fame as if it were pure iilver. If fuch a neceflity of an artificial currency (hould ever exid in the Colonies, and if fuch a coinage was eflabli/hed, the Colonics would, for the purpofes of their forenfic bufinefs, purchafe this injlrument either in gold or filver, in the fame manner as they do now purchafe copper coin for the fame purpofes. There are two ideas of a paper currency* The one adopts a meafure for eftablifliing a bank in the Colonies, which is quite a new and untried meafure; the other turns the view to the regulating the prefent paper money currency, which the Colonies have had experience of in all its deviations, and to the eflabliihing the fame on a fure and fufficient bafis. I have feen this plan for a provincial bank ^ and think it juftice to the very knowing pcr- fon who formed it, to fay, that it muft be becaufe I do not underhand it, that many objedions arife in my mind to it. When- ever he (hall think fit to produce it, it will come forth clear of all objedions, with that force M force of convidtion with which truth always flows from a mind in full and perfe^ pof- feflion of it. In the mean while, I will recommend to the confideration of thofe who take a lead in bufinefs, a meafure devifed and adminiftered by an American aflembly. — And I will ven- ture to fay, that there never was a wifer or a better.meafure, never one better calculated to ferve the ufes of an encreafing country, that there never was a meafure more fteadily purfued, or more faithfully executed, for forty years together, than the loan- office in Penfylvania, formed and adminiftered by the aflembly of that province. An encreafing country of fettlers and traders muft alway have the balance of trade againft them, for this very reafon, becaufe they are encreafing and improving, becaufe they muft be continually wanting further fupplies which their prefent circumftances will neither furnifti nor pay for : — And for this very reafon alfo, they muft alway labour under a decreafing filver currency, though their circumiUnces require an encreafing one. In the common curfory view of things, our politicians, both theorifts and practitioners, are apt to think, that a country which has the balance of trade againft it, and is conti- nually '■■■;. :'"iv ' ■■'/■■'^iWi IJ:- ^^ pa. •*■ ( i86 ) Dually drained of its filver currency, muft be in a declining ftate ; but here we may fee that the progreffive improvements of a com- mercial country of fettlers, muft neceflarily have the balance of trade againil them, and a decrcafing filvcr currency ; that their con- tinual want of money and other materials to carry on their trade and bufinefs muft en- gage them in debt But that thofe very things applied to their improvements, will in return not only ^pay thofe debts, but create alfo a furplus to be ftill carried for- ward to further and further improvements. In a country under fuch circumftances, mo- ney lent upon intereft to fettlers, creates money. Paper money thus lent upon in- tereft will create gold and filver in principal, VJbile the intereft becomes a revenue t tut pays the charges of government , This currency is the true Padtolian ftream which converts all into gold that is waihed by it. It is on this principle that the wifdom and virtue of the aflembly of Penfylvania eftablifhed, under the fanclion of government, an office for the emiftion of paper money by loan. A plan of a general paper currency for America, which was intended to have been infeited in the firft edition of this work, hath been witheld from publication row four years, for rcafons, which, I was in hopes, might HMHIiii ■•'•(:!?» ( i87 ) might have led to more publick benefit, than the making it public in this work could do. I have inferted it in this edition, but firft — I proceed to the confideration of the ordinary mode of making paper-money, by the legiilatures of the Colonies iiTuing govern- ment-notes, payable at a certain period by a tax. I^ may be ufeful to give fome defcrip- tion of this, and to point out fuch regulations as v^ill become necefTary in this cafe, (hould the other not be adopted. This paper-money confifts of promiflbry notes, iiTued by the authority of the legifla- ture of each province, deriving its value from being payable at a certain period, by monies arifing from a tax proportioned to that pay- ment at the time fixed. Thefe notes pafs as lawful money, and have been hitherto a le- gal tender in each refpedtive province where ^hey are iffued. As any limitation of the uses of thefe notes as a currency, muft proportionably de- creafe its value; as any infecurity, infuf- ficiency, or uncertainty in the fund, which is to pay off thefe notes, muft decreafe their value J as any qjjantity emitted more than the neccflitics of fuch province calls for as a medium, muft alfo decreafe its value I it is a direct and palpable injuftice, that '^4.■; <>''[■," t'iJ ;'W 4' ( i88 ) that that medium or currency which has de- preciated by any of thefe means from its real value, fhould continue a legal tender at its nominal value, I'he outrageous abufes pradlifed by fome of thofe legiflatures who have dealt in the manufadture of this depreciating currency, and the great injury which the merchant and fair dealer have fufFered by this frau- dulent medium, occafioned the interpofi- tion of parliament to become neceffary : — Parliament very properly interpofed, by ap- plying the only adequate and efficient re- medy, namely, by prohibiting thefe Colony legiflatures from being able to make the pa- per currency a legal tender. And govern- ment has lately for the fame prudent reafons made this prohibition general to the whole of the Colonies. For, when this paper-money cannot be forced in payment as a legal tender, this very circumftance will oblige that Icgi- flature which creates it, to form it of fuch internal right conAitution, as (hall force its own way by its own intrinfic worth on a level nearly equal to filver. The legiflature mufl: fo frame and regulate it as to give it a real value. ^1 Thefe regulations all turn upon the fuf- Jiciency and certainty of the fund, the extent of ( '89 ) tf the USES, and the proportioning the QjjANTiTY to the aftual and real neceflities which require fuch a medium. f' . . lihe FUND (hould at leaft be equal to the payment of the principal in a limited time \ and that time (hould be certainly fo fixed, as that the legiflature itfelf could not alter it. Where the paper currency is treafurer's notes given for fpecie adlually lent to government, the fund whereon it is borrowed (hould be alfo capable of paying, ad interim^ a certain intereft, as is the cafe of treafurer's notes in the province Maflachufetts-Bay. ■ - . • ■• ■, . ■ . ■ ., This medium ought to be applicable to all the equitable as well as legal uses of filver money within the Colony or province, ex- cept that of being a legal tender. r ^he Q^JANTiTY ought always to be pro- portioned to the neceflity of the medium wanted ; which (the fund and ufes being fairly and abfolutely fixed) may always be judged of by the rife or fall of the value in its general currency or exchange : for where the quantity iflued is more than necefiity re- quires, the value will depreciate: and where the fund is good, and all proper ufes of the medium fecured, fo long as no more paper is iflued than neceflity does require, it will always Wm iii It /14/'vJ 1 f • *■ . l\r .■.: .J mm !fi ■•■•r-*'li'. ■'iff ( i90 ) always hold a value near to, though fome** what lefs than iilver. On this fubjedt I here refer the reader to the following very judi* cious tradti written and given to me, feve- ral years ago, by Tencb Francis, Efqj late attorney-general of the province of Penfyl- vania, converfant in thefe matters, both as a lawyer and a merchant. I print and pub- li(h it by leave of a near relation, and fubjoin it as containing the moil exadt and decifive fentiments on this fubjedt that I have any where met with. I entitle it. Consider A-» TioNsoN A Paper-Currency. cr w el a ALL value is given to things for their fitnefs or power to anfwer or procure the neceffary conveniences or pleafures of hu^ maiv life. This value may be confidered as abfolute or relative. Abfolute value terminates in our eftcem of any thing, without referring to any other ; relative is that which it has compared with another. The latter only I fhall have occafion to treat o£ Men have power to difcover qualities in a thing, which (hall give it value. They can by laws, euftoms, or fafhions, greatly in- 4 creafe ( 19' ) creafc that value $ yet, to know or fix ita worth or price, compared with other things d priori, has always been found beyond their reach and capacity. This is owing to an inability to forefce, cftimate, and govern exadtly all the points and circumflances, on which the value of things turns, which are fuch as are in, or follow the nature and order of things in ge- neral, and then may be forefeen and judged of with fome certainty ; or which confift of the pafHons, prejudices, and mifapprehen- (ions of mankind, whofe number and in- fluences we cannot rate or calculate. From the natural d^itt and order of things, 1 think it may be affirmed, that the worth or price of any thing will always be, as the quantity and ufes amongd mankind; as the ufes dirciftly, and as the quantity reciprocally or inverfely. Ufe is the fole caufe of value, and value the neccffary efFed of ufe. Abat-' ing thefe diftindtions of caufe and cfFcd:, ufelefs and worthlefs, are fynonymous terms. Every man muft agree, that if you add to a caufe, you muft increafe the efFedl j fobftra■ V % '.".I- '! •■-■tfiiii '•Hi 4 I m i f] ;i I I i: t ( 19+ ) doubles the value } adding a third, fubilraifls one half from it ; and that by further in- creafing or diminifhing the quantity, thefe difproportions between the quantity and prices vaftly increafe. It is extremely difficult, if not impoffible, to inveftigate thefe proportions mathema- tically ; but events Springing from ufe and experience have equal certainty in them, and to all pradlical purpofes are as much to be relied and depended upon. It is further worth obfcrvation, that what- ever fludtuates much in quantity, and confe* quently in worth, will iink beneath its mean value. Suppofe the quantity of any thing pro- duced in every 50 years be exa(5tly the fame : let the annual produdt be as one anfwerable to the neceilities of mankind, then the value in each year (hall be as one, and the whole equal to 50. But if the quantity of the an- nual produdl fludtuates, there will be an- nual fludtuations in the value ; but as the proportions of the decreafe of value, from experience above Aated, will be greater than the proportions of the increafe of value, this fluduation will caufe a deficiency in the mean value, which deficiency will always be in proportion to the greatnefs and quicknefs of • ( 195 ) of the changes. This, I prefume, is occa- iioned by the defire of mankind in general to reft on certainty, rather than rely on what is fludtuating and inconftant, though they {hould cxped gain equal to the rifque, and by the low circumftances of the majority of men, whofe fortunes, in all prudence, diredl to the firft, ra.her than the latter. The cafe of infurances is an evident proof of this re- mark. If the infurers gain, which I think muft be admitted, then they receive a pre- mium beyond the value of the rifque, and this again the infured pay for certainty againft contingent lojfes, Thefe few rules of eftimating the value of things, well applied, will, I prefume, fhew when it is convenient to introduce pa- per-money into a country, and when it will prove hurtful ; what are its advantages and inconveniencies, general and particular, when introduced ; of what great importance it is to prevent an excefs in quantity, and to ex- tend the ufes; and nearly what its value will be in any given ftate. If a nation has a quantity of money equal to its commerce, the lands, commodities, and labour of the people (hall bear a middle price. This ftate is the beft, and tends moft to enrich the people, and make their O 2 hap- : I' ^% •f^f I, : ,IH I ■ 1 1% ; 'l i\ i-^ I "I ( 196 ) happinefs lading. If they fliould mint pa- per to pafs for money, the increafe of quan- tity in the former will leffen the value of the latter, will raife the price of lands and rents, and make the labour of fuch a people, and the commodities, be rated higher than in other places. Men's fortunes will rife in nominal^ not real 'value j from whence idle- nefs, expence and poverty (hall follow. Un- der thefe circumftances, their real moneys in- ftead of their commodities, (hall be exported from them. Here the paper will be their bane and deftrudtion. But if their com- merce, or ufes of money, exceed the quan- -tity of it, their lands, labour, and commo- dities fhall fink beneath their worth in other countries. Few purchafers of lands will be found in regard to the fuperior profit that muft attend the ufe of money in trade : the ^wealthy merchant jhall be at the head of affairs : with few competitions j he (liall be able to grind down the farmer in the fale of his com- modities, and, when thofe fail to fupport him, in the purchafe of his lands. The artifan's labour (hall be depreciated by the merchant who exports it, or the needy far- mer that ufes it. The wealthy only (hall accumulate riches, the commonwealth (liall decline, and in time farmers and artifans muft defert the place for another, where their labour (hall be better rewarded. Here the ( 197 ) the ufe of paper-money will fliake off the fetters and clogs of the poor. Merchants will multiply j they will raife the price of labour, and of the fruits of the earth, and thereby the value of lands. An equal dif- tribution of gain and profit fliall fucceed, and dedroy the partial accumulations of wealth. I think ihefe marks, taken from the value of lands, labour, and commodities, compared with their worth in other coun- tries, will be found the only infallible rules to judge of an equality, excefs, or defcdt of money in any place wherefoever ; and con- fequently will, at all times, unerringly (hew the neceflity of increaiing coins, or the con- trary. Had a neighbouring province well underftood and weighed thefe points, they had not created a paper credit far exceeding all their ufes for money, when they were able to fupply themfelves with gold equal to their trade, nor at the fame time have dammed up fo many ufes for it, which now cover them with clouds and confufion, that no man can fee his way through. The bcft method they can ufe is to link it as fad as pcffible, and not let their fund lie in Britain at an intereft lefs than /[.per cent, when it is worth 6 in their own country, and their paper paflcs 50 fer cent, lefs than the nomi- O 3 nal ■■••1 ,.v: '.fM\ , , • ■ \^Wi] -1^ 'M ^Ki 1^ ^V,;rr| '•■ ■' ^^* m :S '.■■'. y^'^\ 1 ■/■■ r.:\ ( 198 ) nal valuft. But to return : when it is found neceflary to add paper-money to the coin of any country, to fupport its value ought to be the main and principal view. This will turn upon the fund, the uses, and the QUANTITY. All value arifing from the ufe, I beg leave to call extrinfick. r Having (hewn that paper-money acquires its extriniic value from the ufes, which ufes apparently may be encreafed or diminiflied ; I think it would be needlefs and mifpending the reader's time, to demonftrate, that this value muft be in diredt proportion to the ufes J for it would really amount to no more than the proof of an axiom univerfally ac- knowledged, that the efFed (hall always be adequate to the caufe. Therefore, in all future arguments, I fhall take it for grani"^\ The fund ought to be as fatisfacStory to mankind as human wifdom can devife and furni(h. The community (hould become fecurity to anfwer all deficiencies in the fundj this is not only the higheft juftice, but the beft policy, it is Jud, becaufe it is a creature of their ( 199 ) their own, calculated for their private utility and advantage, and is in the management of the country by their reprefentatives and officers. But when they receive an intereft ' from the money, the equity of it is unan- fwerable : for it feems wholly inconfillent with juftice, that one fhould receive the in- tereft, and another run the rifque of the principal. Policy requires it, becaufe the community will certainly receive more pro- fit from its credit under their fupport, than, with due caution, they can probably lofe by accidents in the fund. Our next confideration, with refped to the value, turns on what the fund is to pay, and when. Thefe are arbitrary, being with- in the power of thofe by whofc authority the money is emitted. But for the prefent pur- pofe : Let us fuppofe it is to pay filver money» according to the late Qneen's proclamation, to the value of i coo /. for fo much of the paper, as, accordinp; to the nominal value, amounts to that fum at the end of 1 5 years. In this ftate the 1 000 /. paper, with regard to the fund alone, at the time of its emiffion, is worth no more proclamation money than what will produce jooo /. of that money at the end of the term, at compound intereft, under as good fecurity. 04 For 'A^-m ^Ij^li'i ' 'yz^ Mn ■•> m i '"' ft ;■ m ■f lil m 1 ( 200 ) For example, take a looo /. paper, and let it reprefent that the poflefTor (hail receive 1000 /. proclamation money for it at the end of 15 years, and let the ufe of money be worth 6 per cent, per annum \ rebate 6 per cent, per annum with compound intereft for 15 years, and you have the value of the 1000 /. proclamation money in hand, which appears to be but 417/. 5 s. 7,1. -, more it cannot be worth, becaufe4i7/. 51. 3-^, with 6 per cent, per annum compound intereft for 15 years added, will amount to 1000/. On this ftate it appears, that the longer the term, the lefs the value, with regard to the fund alone. From whence it follows, that by increafing the term, this value may be reduced to a degree beneath eftimsition. But whatever the value thus proved be, I call it intrinfick^ The FUND eftablifhed, I proceed to the USES as they next require our attention in regard to the value of the paper- money. If value, in refpedt to the ufes of things, fliLill always be in diredt proportion to thofe ufes, (which I prefume I have heretofore proved in general, and fhall hereafter (hew is true in relation to paper- money) and we ^Q^i^n to raife the power, it follows clearly, that ( 201 ) that to bring this to pafs, we ought to give it all the ufes of money, or coined gold and iilver in other countries. From thefe ufes alone it muft derive all the worth it (hall bear beyond what I called the intrinpck value. For the purpofe take the cafe ftated on the Fund only, that the pofleffor of looo/. pa- per {hall receive looo /. proclamation money in exchange for it, at the end of 1 5 years. On this account the paper appeared to be worth but 417 /, 15 J. 34-. But fuppofe this 1000/. paper may be immediately exchanged for 800/. proclamation money, which is 382/. 14J. 84. more than the intrinfickworth, how has it acquired this exceeding price or value ? I think plainly from the ufes. To prove the truth of this, fuppofe all the ufes as money taken away ; unqueftionably then the worth of 1 000 /. paper in proclamation money will be reduced to what I call the intriniick value J becaufe, depending upon the fund alone, it will be exadly in the Aate of a fund to be paid at a future day j for in neither cafe can the creditor ufe it in the mean time. But if the creditor can by any contrivance ufe the fum in that time, as he may the paper when it paflls for money, that ufe muft be fomething worth. And when experience (hews, that under this ufe the va- lue advances from 417 /. I5>f- 34- to 8co/. I apprehend it is evident to a dcmonflration, that t it - !f '1 1 ., ' ,.<••■ 4- *»i ' m tin I I'm if*; ; I ( 202 ) that the difference is derived from the ufe. To deny it mud be as irrational and abfurd, as if, upon adding and extrading an ingre- dient to and from a compofition, we per- ceived properties in the compoiition appear and difappear, and yet were to deny that fuch ingredient was the caufe of thofe pro- perties. This leads me to attempt the folu- tion of a queftion I have known frequently made. If we in Penfylvania, upon a fufH- cient fund anfwerable in filver, at a future day, mint a quantity of paper equal to the ufes of the people for money, and they wil- lingly and univerfally accept of the paper in all payments, why fhould it not,*at all times, have va/ue equal to the nominal value, or to the fum chargeable on the fund at the day to come. This reafon, urged by many, to fupport the paper to this degree, is drawn from the nature of money in general. Mo- ney, fay they, is but a ticket or counter, •which reprefents to the mind of the pofleflbr a quantity or degree of power. No man, on the receipt of it, ever examines how, or from whence it acquired that power, but in order to difcover its reality and duration. For inftance, when an Englifli crown is re- ceived, does the acceptor regard any proper- ties in the metal, or the figures of it, but thofe which are to convince him that it is what it appears io be ? a crown. It muft be tljj ( 203 ) be confeiTed, he does not. Iffo, then why may not a piece of paper, under diflinguiHi- ing characters and impreflions, affixed by law and common confent, have the power of an Englifli crown annexed to it ? It is to pafs in the fame manner as a crown does, and in the end will as certainly be a crown as the real one. « Therefore they conclude, that the paper may, and ought at all times, to be efleemed equal to the quantity of filver the fund is to yield for it at the end of the term. I confefs I think this reafoning fair, and the conclufion jufl and fatisfadtory, if we do not ufe filver in our commerce^ foreign off do" mejiick : otherwife not. The fa(ft is, we do ufe filver in our foreign commerce. I pre- fume it will be eafily admitted, as the paper reprefents the filver in the fund, and from thence obtains its credit, that it (hall always be at lead of equal ufe with, or be as readily received as paper. Then if filver in hand has one power, one uje more than the paper, to wit, that of procuring foreign commodi- ties, it is impoflible we can efteem them equally. For that would be to controul the different virtues and influences of things over the mind of man, which neceflfarily depend- ing upon the things thcmfelves, no laws or con- ■I* 'J •i; : ^ - if U "4f5 \fi. i>- ■?, -5 H»; 'r '■.m'\ :iir ■I, ■ I ■ 'ir :«i ^\(^- ;:,ia!^'!ff ■A: i!:- mm t; 'n .1^ mi it j ( ao4 ) confent can, by any means, vary or dirc(ft. Wherefore, in the cafe ftated, it feems to me certain and undeniable, that the paper muft have lefs worth than the filver. Having faid, that the ufes of the paper fhould be as many as poflible, it may be proper for me to fpeak of fome of thofe ufes, the equity and advantage of which have been very much controverted. But here let it be underftood, that I proceed upon the cafe laft dated, that the quantity of paper is to be equal to all the ufes of money within the country. Fcr that ftate, and a partial fup- ply of paper credit, differing in principles, require different reafoning, and infer quite oppofite confequences. Firfl, then, it feems juft and reafonable to compel all perfons contrading for filver mo- iiey, after the law, that raifes the paper mo- ney to be paid in the country is enaded, to re- ceive the paper in lieu of it, and at the value flruck from the fund, although that be inferior to the real value. This perhaps may not be flridl equity between the contraSling parties^ but it is jult from the comtminit\\ who have power from the confent of every member, by laws, to prohibit the exercife of a parti- cular natural right inconfiftcnt with the welfare of the whole, and to infli(St a pe- nalty ( 205 ) nalty upon difobcdiencc to the law. To ufe filver or gold with the paper, muft depre- ciate the latter. Therefore the law forbids it. This can't be unfair, becaufe every man has notice of what coin he is to be paid in, and is not obliged to exchange more for the paper, than he thinks agreeable to the real worth. And if any (hould endeavour fuch ufe, the lofs of the difference between gold or iilvcr and paper, is a kind of penalty for violating the law, which mud be as juil as any other penalty impofed on an adt, not evil in itjelf^ but prohibited only. Again, upon breach of contrads for pay- ment of money in foreign countries, I think it both convenient and right, that fatisfadtion fhould be made in the paper. The conve- nience of it will appear, if we fuppofe the debtor a member of the fociety amongfl: whom the paper paffes j for as fuch, being reftrained by law from trafficking for gold or filver, and thereby difabled from pro- curing them, he muft either pay paper in compenfation, or lie in a goal, if the feve- rity of his creditors requires it. In thefe cir- cumftances, no man in his fenfes would dare to contract a foreign debt, or transfer foreign money in the ufual manner, by ex- change; the bad confequences of which are too numerous and obvious to -admit of, or need V ,i. •**l M' .'J '..■-•I.-' « ' i u p?, m Pi f U-u f- i ( 206 ) need particular mention, and evidently prove the convenience of allowing fatisfadion to be made in paper. The equity of this fatisfailion will be in- difputable, if the debtor pays a fum of paper really of equal value with the foreign mo- ney. It is the common cafe on breach of fpeciHck contract. If it cannot be perform- ed, the mofl exadt judice requires no more than an equivalent compenfation. Some perfons imagining the real worth of the paper equal to the nominal, have af- firmed, that it ought to difcharge thefe debts at the nominal value ; others confefling a difference between thefe values, under fome political views, have afferted the fame. As I (hall have occafion to fpeak on thefe opi- nions hereafter, upon a point iimilur to this I (hall only add here, that if this mode of payment (hould take place, it would as ef- fedtually deftroy foreign credit and negoci- ations by exchange, as if gold or filver were to be infiftcd on here, to difcharge a foreign debt. In one cafe, it would be the highefl imprudence to be the debtor, in the other, it muf^ be equally indifcreet to become a creditor. Pur- ( 207 ) Purfuing the ufes, I come to that of dlf- charging by paper, the (ilver debts contrac- ted antecedent to the law that raifes the paper. To ihew the ncceflity of admitting this, I fuppofc it will be granted me, that there muft at all times be a very great number of debtors who depend on their future la- bour and induftry to pay their debts. This dependence is reafonable and juft, founded on the natural right of all fairly to purchafc filver, the then current money of the coun- try. The debtor has the continuation of this right in view and expectation at the time of his contradt j without it he cannot be fup- pofed either prudent or honeft to borrow. If then, for the convenience and advantage of the whole fociety, this right muft be taken away by a fubfequent law which he could not ibrefee, it cannot be agreeable ei- ther to reafon or good confcience, to exad: a payment in fpecie ; for that would be re- quiring a performance when we had exprefs- ly taken away the means. Therefore I think it clear in refpedt to the debtor, that the paper fhould have this ufe. But how will this ftand with the right of the creditor, who upon the contract as certainly expeded to be paid filver, as the debtor did the op- portunity of acquiring it to pay. 'I pre- . 'I 'fl* i •t ■M I. ?'ii''fl ■ I*' ,.' ■ ■ 'M\ ■ m )•» .,:% ( a«58 ) 1 prefume, if he receives as much pjlpcf as (hall be equal in power or value to the filver, it will be juft in itfelf, and perfectly fatisfadtory to him. But can any man offer fo high a degree of violence to his own reafon, and the underflanding of others^ as to affirm, if he is forced to accept lefs, that flill he has juflice difpenfed him. If I bor- row 1 CO /. in filvcr before the law, under agreement to repay it at the end of the enfu- ingyear, and before the day of payment comes, the law takes place, commanding the lender to receive loo /. paper for it, which fhall be worth, or have power to procure 82 /. filver money only ; with truth can this be called a rational cr upright law ? Certainly no. Nor (hall it be any jullification to me in conicience to detain 18/. of my creditor's money. The rules of natural jnftice flowing from our fixed and unchangeable relations to each other, and the invariable nature and order of things, inforced by the exprefs com- mands of God, are of eternal and indifpen* fible obligation. No laws, no combina- tions of human power, cuftoms, ufages, or practice, can controul or change them. We may, by the confent of a majority, tie up the compulfory hand on the civil magiftrate, and thereby diflblve the power of coercive laws. ( 209 ) laws, but can no more abfolvc from the mo- ral duty, than we can revcrfe decrees in- rolled in heaven. If my d btor fliould be fo extremely weak, as to fuppofe this not criminal becaufe it is legal, (which I think next to impofTible to imagine of a rational creature, and I make bold to affirm, never was the cafe of a creditor of underftanding, fufficient to know the meafure of his de- mand) his opinion perhaps may fcrve for an excufe, or extenuation of his crime, but never can prove the redlitude of the adl, and ftill the guilt muft reft fomewhere. The law-makers, the authors of this miftake, arc culpable, unlefs they are under the fame de- lufion, which is yet more difficult to appre- hend. Some, who gave up the juftice of the law, defend their pradlice under it, by fay- ing, they are creditors as well as debtors ; and as they are obliged to receive, fo they fhould have liberty to pay. Alas ! what feeble arguments fatisfy, when they are caft into the icale of intereft, and gain is the con- fequence of convidtion. If the a^ftions of men towards us are to be the meafures of our dealing with others, then he that is cheated byanyperfon, may juftly plunder the next he meets. And truly I can't fee why it (hould ftop here; for as we may be many times defrauded, and not know it, to be fecure, and keep the ballance on the right P fide, '1 . b. ;.: ' ' < Again, paying an equivalent cannot be injurious to the debtor. For fuppofe he pays 120/. paper. If 100 pounds worth of coin'd lilver, reduced to bullion, will then yield him fo much, what does he more than per- form his contrad: to pay 100/. of coin'd lilver ? feeing a compleat recompence is per- fedtly confident with the right of each con- trading party. Any remaining objedions muft arife from its being hurtful or injurious to the fociety in general. This has been afTerted, and endeavours have been ufed to fupport the truth of it, by this kind of rea- foning. Firfl, if the law fhould oblige the debtor (for the purpofe) to pay 120 /. paper in lieu of 100/. filver, the legiflature would there- by confefs the inferior worth of the paper, which will be attended with this ill confe- quence, that the general current value of the paper fhall be lefs than if the law had de- clared it equal to filver. SecciiJfy, I ( 211 ) Secondly, That leffening the current value will be a lofs to the fociety in general. To the firft, That obliging to pay a larger fum of paper fcr a lefs of lilver, acknowledges an inequality of value under the like deno- minations, is felf-evident. But from thence to infer, that the paper ihall pafs in general, at lefs value than if they had been declared equal, with fubmiffion, I think miftaken, and inconclufive reafoning. To be clearly underftood^ permit me to examine this upon the fadt. Suppofe the law, in the ftrongeft terms, enadts that the paper {hall be in value equal to (ilver money, according to their feveral denominations. Carry the paper from thence to ufe, by of-* fering it in exchange or payment for fome commodity, and then I afk a ftiort queftion. Who it is that really fets a value on the pa- per, the legiflature, or the perfon that has the commodity to fell ? If it be anfwered, the firft, then I fay, this cannot be, unlefs they alfo limit the price of the commodity. For if the feller can raife and porportion the price of it to what he thinks the real worth of the paper, the law- maker's declaration notwith- ftanding, it is he that ftrikes the value, and not they. For inftance, put the cafe ; a farmer, juft upon emitting the paper, has a bufliel of wheat to fell, which he rates at, P 2 and ;^f:P.t ■) : ;v-ji it 1 ;■.■•< !.■ , f\ '■'''^i u 'J' i I if ! / ( 212 ) and will not gart with under, three filver (hillings. The future current worth of the paper being unknown to him, let him by guefs imagine thefe three (hillings equal to four (hillings paper. A purchafer then pre(res him, under the influence of the law, to accept of three paper (hillings for this wheat; but he, without regard to the law, according to his own opinion, demands and receives four (hillings for it. Will any man fay, the legiflature determined the value of the paper here ? Apparently the feller did. For the legiflature commanded, that the three paper (hillings (hould be valued at three of (liver, but the farmer has made his eftimate at three fourths of that value only. Un- queftionably the vender muft always have this power, unlefs, as I faid before, the law- makers can limit the price of all com- modities, which is not practicable, confift- ent with the order of things, or the pre- fcrvation of men's properties. But it may be alledged, although the receiver of the mo- ney is not bound to obferve the legiflative command, yet ftill it may have fome weight. He may confider it to be the impartial opi- nion of the wifeft part of the fociety, what the future current value of the paper (hall be, and thereby add, in fomc degree, to its worth. In In ( 213 ) In anfwer I muft obferve, firft, this gives up the point of power, and changes it to a matter of meer advice. Then, fuppofing that of any import, furely delivering it in a man- datory way, will be very little able to pro- duce the defired efFeft. Imperative advice (pardon the exprefiion) favours too much of felling the rabbit, to prevail or perfuade. In ihort, the words command and advife, convey two ideas fo widely different, and fo oppoiite and repugnant to each other, that it is abfolutely impoflible we (hould take the firft for the laft. But granting it to be in- terpreted as a piece of cordial advice. Shall it be received implicitly, and pafs without any examination ? I prefume not. When it corr/"? to be examined, if the people ftiould be 'r M Tied, that, upon a nice examination, the •i'^vr.ature had found a fourth, fifth, or iixth difference between filver and paper, as fuch calculations are generally out of the .ach and comprehenlion of moft people, it feems not improbable that the paper might pafs at firft, agreeable to the given difference. / Jay atjirji ; for I contend, if the calcula- tion fhould be erroneous, (which the ufe of the money in time will difcover) this effedl (hall not be lading. Bur if, on the contrary, they learn that the paper, without any cal- culation, by guefs, was pronounced equal to filver, which every man's juiigment, who P 3 knows "'■'if 11 .. ■ •■.''.a ■ 1 !( '■ ■. ,•' k;!j : I if] ■''''■■ ffffr ■If If 1 .1 li I \ 4 I t ( 214 ) knows the fuperior power of the lafl, mud difapprove of, what influence can the le- giflativc advice then have ? Undoubtedly it yvill be univerfally reje r-i > •■; ' C c ■M ■ ■'* *■ 'i . M , ( 224 ) if a man can once believe, he mayjuftly, by human authority, tranfgrefs thofe laws, he lofcs much of the due and neceflary refpedt that ought to be paid them, and (hall after- wards be able to refift their checks and ad- monitions with greater eafe and facility : and he that owes to 20 people, and pays them with five fixths of their due, and fees his neighbour do the like, under colour of law to-day, will, I am afraid, with lefs regret and compunction, defraud his creditors with- out a law to-morrow. But now, granting entire recompence ought to be made, it may be afked how the quantum of paper to be paid for antecedent filver debts (hall be afcertained. e( Ti The legiflature cannot fettle it with exacfl juftice, becaufe no fkill can difcover what the future current value fhall be; and if the people are left to do it themfelves, it will in- troduce many law-fuits and oppreflions, and ft ill they may be as far from right as if the legiflature had done it. The greater incon- veniences in the latter, rationally determine the power to the former. When they come to exercife it, if it is the firft experiment of the kind, I imagine they can do little more than guefs at the value, fiut as it is within dcmonftration, that the paper cannot be «q ual ( 225 ) equal to filver, furely it ought not to be rated fo. Impartiality requires the guefs to be as near as may be, and then, although it may be miftaken upon the laws of change, it may be perfedtly equal, becaufe cither party may lofe or gain. It is a common cafe in life, and mufl be always fo in untried things, and no man can juftly complain of the event, becaufe all errors are owing to our wcaknefs, not our faults. If any of our neighbours have iflued pa- per-money, the value of theirs will afford us flrong lights to difcover the worth of our own, and allowing for different circumftances, we ought to rale ours as they have found theirs upon trial. But when experience has taught us the true worth of the money, all difficulty end?, and whatever debts or pre- contracts remain (as many from their grow- ing nature mult) (hould be fatisfied according to that value. I have now run through all the ufes that occur to me worthy of obfervation ; and therefore (hall proceed to the quantity. When it is defigned, that paper (hall be the only money of a country, the quantity, according to the nominal value, ought to be, as near as poffible, adequate to the ufcs, CL or .41'- ^i% fii* 1 "ilidi 5, 'Li i^ ! ■■% M.i ,ij ■■■■t ' .1 (I *i tit ( 226 ) or In otV.er words, to all commerce, foreign and domeflick. It is eafier to fee the truth of this rule in fpeculation, than to reduce it to prat^tice ; becaufe the number and ex- tent of the ufirs of money, in a populous and induftrious country, are far beyond our knowledge and comprebenlion. From the circumftances of other places, the quantity of money current before iflliing the paper,, and the value of their exports, rational con- jed:ures may be formed, but experience alone c;in teich us wliat fum will fuffice. To ihikc the nccefiary quantity at once, would be moft advantageous to the fociety, and equal with refped: to individuals j but as that cannot be known, let it be approached as near as may be. And lince we may expecft to err, I prefume it will be better to err on the lide of deficiency than RXcefs, feeing ad- ditions are enfy, but fubflrad:ions oftentimes very difficult after the emiffion. !! i ^yi?m^^iPSii'^t%Ws^M.^&^^^ FROM what I have faid above, which the foregoing treatife doth fully confirm nnd eludicatc, the following pro[iofuio'is, which I apprehended to be truths, d > arile. That in Colonies, the elfcnce of whofe na- ture requires a progrellive increaie of fettle- mcuts and trade, and yet who, from the ba- luntv; ( 227 ) lance of trade with the mother country be- ing againft them, mufl: fuffcr a conftantly decreafing quantity of filver money, a ca- tain quantity of paper- money is necefTary. It is necflTary to keep up the increafing opera- tions of this trade, and thefe fettlements j it is alfo necciTiry, in fuch circumftances, to the equal diftribution and general appli- cation of thefe benefits to the whole Colony, which benefits would otherwife become a monopoly to the monied merchant o'dy : it is prudent, and of good policy in the mother country to permit ir, as it is the fureft means of drawing the balap.cc of the Colony trade and culture to its own profit. Thefj reafonings further (hew, how, by fecuring the fundy extending the ufs, aid regulatins; the qfantity^ this meafure of a pa- per-currency may be carried to the utnioll extent of which it is capable. Nor do they flop here j for as they give the rule whereby to judge of the excefs or defed of money in any place whatfoever, fo do they, at all times, (]iew tlie neceirityof encrcaling it, or the contrary. Altliough the reafonings, which from my own fentiments of the matter, I have applied to this fubjedt, and thofe, with which I am able to oblige the world, by publilhing the 0^2 above I- f.' V • ,■,.. '.": VI m i'!'! 1 : Ly, fchemes of the like nature, as that of the followii g propofa), have been thought of. 1 have had opportunities, not with governors and crown-otiicers, but with the leading men of bufinefs in the Colonies, of examining and confidering fjveral of thefe fchemes. 1 he following propofal may be confidered as the refult of thefe difcuflions, containing and comprehending, according to my bell: judgment, all which was thought confiftent with the liberties of the people, i'afe in refped: of their intereH:, and effec- tual to the point required. So far am I from aflurnin'^ nnv merit in the invention or fram- ing of it, that I defire it may be confidered, as founded on what hath been actually prac- tifed in Penfylvania, by the good fcnfj and good policy of the aflembly of that province, with fuccefs and with benefit to the public. That the paiticular propohl, as it is now Q^^ fjrmed, * :■ ■ tl '. M -. , >w , ii ( 232 ) formed, and applied to the prcfent exigences 'of America and Great Britain, was drawn up fome years ago, in conjunftion with a friend of mine, and of the Colonies. It was, by us, jointly propofed to government, under fucceffive adminiftrations, in the years 1764, 1765, 1766, during which time, the publication was fufpended. It is now given to the publick, not by way of appeal againd adminiflrations, but as a fchcme which, although not attended to by a Bri- tish miniftry at prefent, may yet fugged fomething that may be of ufe to better poli- ticians than we pretend to be. We are fully apprifed how much we have rifqued, both in the propofing, and in the now publifliing this fcheme. — If the Britifh Oatefmen (hould dill think that they can turn it to no good ; and if the American patriots fhould think that a dangerous ufe might have been made of it by government : We (hall be thought by the one to have been impertinent, and by the others to be mifchievous meddlers. Jf our ftatefmen diould have the happinefs to find out the right ufe of it, and, ii!:e the humbler, but not lefs wife politicians in the Colonies, to apply it to the mutual benefit of government, and of the people; then we (hall not be allowed to have the lead (hare, much lefs any 11: ( 233 ) any merit in the forming of it, or in the application . f it: twenty difftrent people will prove, that it has been their fcheme. About this we are not anxious, any more than diflippointed that our Britifli ftatef- men could not find their way. to the ufe of it. We now propofe it to the fober fenfe and experience of the Colonies. Who will know how to profit by it, how to con- vert this fpccies of t redit, into a real efficient currency j how to benefit and to take the lead of that power and political intereji, which their taking the management of this will necefiarily throw into their hands. /Fi >■' ' K '"I m- •:.(1 The new borrowers, from year to year, were to to have the money only for the remaining part of the term of 16 years, repaying, by fewer, andofcourfe, propor- lionably laiger i iftallments, and during the lafl fix years of the 16, the fums paid in, were not to be remitted, but the notes burnt and d^ftioyed ; fo that at the end of the 16 years, the whole might be called in and burnt, and the accounts completely fettled. The If mm t ?;' i b i ■ 'I 11 f- s ( 236 ) The truftccs were taken from all the different coanties of tlie province, their rcfidence in different parts, giving 'J s ax better opportunities of being acquaintct' vvvM' the value and circumflances of cilates ofrc^eil in mortgage. They were to continue but four years in office J were to account annually to com- mittees of affembly ; and, at the expiration of that term, they were to deliver up all monies and fecurities in their hands, to their fucceffjrs, before their bonds and fecurities could he difcharged. Left a few wealthy perfuns fliould engrofj the money, which was intended for more general benefit, no one pcrfon, whatever fecurit-y he might offer, could borrow more than 100/. 1 1 !i il I :• Thus, numbers of poor new fettlers wert accommodated and affifled with money to carry on their fettlements, to be repaid in eafy portions yearly, as the yearly produce of their lands (hould enable them. 1 1 „ Great inconveniencies had arifen in other Colonies, from a depreciation of their paper money, occafioned by emitting it in too great quantities. }, "^ ( 237 ) It was difficult to know beforehand, what quantity would be fufficient for a medium of exchange, proportioned to the trade of the country, ar.d not to exceed the occaiions. To prevent the mifchicfs attending an over quantity ; the government of Pcnfyl- vania began with a fmall fum of i 5,000 /. in 1723, proceeded to increafc it gradually, in following years, and thus prudently felt for a proportion they could not previa ully calculate -, and, as they never exceeded a moderate fum, the dcpreciuion was never fo great as to be actciidcd with m.ich incon- venience. The advantages that arife from this a(5V, were from a view thereof, in 1752, thus cXr>rcflcd, by a committee of affembly, in th.ir report of Auguft, 1 9th. i>i* * '"^'IB ' 1 n ^t^ ^ ^i It <4 (( t< U cc c< «c (( ** Furnilhing the country with a medium of trade, and of a kind that could not, to any purpofe, be exported ; as it facilitated mutual commerce, leJJ'encd cur taxes by the intereji it produced \ and made it more eafy for every one to obtain ready pay for his labour, produce or goods, (a medium fo evidently wanted at the time paper- money was firfl ifTued) has doubtlcfs, been <( « it 4i ( 238 ) '* been one great means of the fubfequent ** increafe of our trade and people, by in- ' ducing ftrangers to come and fettle among us. But your committee conceive that «* the manner of iffuing this medium, con- «* tributed no kfs to thofe happy effeds, ** than the medium itfelf. It was by the " law diredled to be emitted on loans, in " Aims of 12/. 10 s. and upwards, not ex- ** ceeding 100/. to one perfon for along <* term, on eafy intereft, and payable in yearly quotas, which put it in the power of many, to purchafe lands and make planta- *' tions; (the loan-office enabling them to pay the purchafe fo eafily) and thereby to acquire cftates to themfelve?, and to fup- port, and bring up famihes, but who without that afliftance, would probably have continued longer in a fingle ftate, and as labourers for others, or have quit- ted the Colony in fearch of better fortune. This eafy means of acquiring landed eftatcs to themfelves, has, we fuppofe, •* Heen one principal encouragement to the great removal hither of people from Ger- man)\ where they were only (and could fcarce ever exped: to be other than) ten* ants. That it (hould be ealy for the in- duftrious poor to obtain lands, and acquire property in a country, may, indeed, be ** charge- oeo la- bourers have been imported into this pro- vince, within thefe twenty years, labour continues as dear as ever) yet this inconve- nience is perhaps more than ballanced by the rife and value of his lands, occafioned by incrcafe of people : and to the public in general numbers ot lubilantial inhabi- tants, have been always rcLkoned an ad- vanrage. In fine, by rendering the means of purchafing land eafy to the poor, the dominions of the crown are firengthened, and extended ; the propietaries difpofe of their wildernefs territory, the HritilTi na- tion fecurcs the benefit of its manufac- tures, and increafcs the demand for them ; for fo long as land can be eafily procured for fettlements, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Jo long 'will u hour continue to he dear in America ; and while labour continues dear, we can never rival the artificers, or interfere with the trade of our mother country." J / % \ • J Vv ...II ^}!i% i- 'VI r ■■'■ '■■;/ ti ( ■ •t!; ^■fife '■'I; But ■■' .ft i Si' f: H' 5> ( 240 ) But the adt being expired, and the pro- prietors and the people differing about the terms of renewing it, the former, though they and their deputies had received annual prefents out of the intereft, amounting to near 40,000 /. yet, infifting on greater fu- ture advantages, which the aflcmbly did not chufe to allow, this excellent machine for Jet- tling a new country ^' now no longer fubfijls. And as by the late adt of parliament, no more paper-money can be ilfued in the Co- lonie?, that (hall be a legal tender, it may perhaps be neceffary for government here to make feme provifion of a currency for the Colonies. \i this {hould be neceffary, the Penfylvania fchemc, which has by long ex- perience, been found fo pradicable, and fo ufeful, may, with a few changes, to accom- modate it more to general purpofes, be fafely and advantageoufly extended to all the Colonies, by an adt of parliament as follows. Let millions, in bills of credit (or paper-money) be printed heie, for the ufe of the Colonies. Let a loan -office be ereded in each Co- lony, to iffue the bills, take the fecurities, and to receive the quota's yearly paid in. Let ( Hi ) Let the bills be iflued for ten years, jiay- iable a tenth part of the fum yearly with intereft, at 5 per cent. Let the Bills be made by the a6i, a legal tender in all the Colonies, and the counter- feiting made death. I defire to mark the Very material difference of a paper currency created by adt of parliament, and otie ifTued to the Colonies, as the neccfUties only of the Colonifls have occafion for it, from a faper currency poured like a deluge over a country, by adl of aflembly only : In the one cafe, the mifchief of its being a legal tender, has been feverely felt, and therefore forbidden : In the other cafe, the making it & legal tender, is net only beneficial but neceflary. Let there be no limitation of the fums to' be borrowed by one perfon, but that every One may borrow aS much as he can give double fecurity for, by a mortgage of rea! clear edate. tU.iJ '4 And to prevefit an over quantity being extant at one time, let an intereft oi ^ per cent, be allowed, for all fums lodged in the office, during the time the owner fuffers it to remain there. By this vieausy it is fiip- pofed, the due pro/ortiofi of mone^ that fiall R h ;J ill: '■, 4 ( 242 ) be current i will find itplf; and adapt itfelf from time to time, to the occafions of com- merce. The effcds of this fcheme would be, that ahhough the filver and gold acquirtd by the Colnies, would be all lent to England : Yet they would have among them, in confequence of this meafurc, a legal ten- der. They would alfo have a fufTiciency of cafh current for all purpofes. They would not have too much current at one time, as the allowance for intercfl: for Turns lodged in the oflice, would always bring in the furplus. The fcttlement and improvement of new trads of land would be greatly encouraged and promoted, population encrcafed, trade extended, &c. The means of remittance to England would be always at hand, and the commerce tliereby facilitated. A great annual Aim, continually increaf- ing, will arile to tliC crown for intertll:, which. Mil ( 243 ) which, after deducting charge?, mny be applied to American purpofes, in cafe ot this kingdom ; and become /? permanent iv d ef- fe^livi' revcjinc. A confidtrable profit will alfo arife to government, from tiic wearing out, and total lofs of a great deal of Imall money. It will operate as a general tax on the Colonies, and yet not a6lualh he one ; as he who a^ualiy pays the i mere ft, has an equivahit, or more, in the ufe of the prin- cipal. But the tax, if it can be fo called, will, in effed:, fpread itfclf more equally 0:1 all property, perhaps more fo than any other tax that can be invented ; fince every oi^c who has the money in his hand-^, does from the time he receives it, to the time he pays it away, virtually pay the intercH: of it, the firft borrower having received the value of it (to ufe for his own profit) when he parted firll with the original fum. Thus the licli who handle moll money, would in reality pay mod of the tax. Thefe bills having thus y}/// credit, the government can ifiue, on occafion, any quantity ior fervice, iii cafe ■ f an American war, without needing to lend red cajh tbi' ther^ by hurtful contraLh, m ■J ,) • '.' '.va •■fi; ' i I'M 11 R Plenty i l;i !-S i ^ i .1: I ■ I 1 '■ Ft ,1,, • .. ^^' If I ( 244 ) Plenty of money thus continued in the Colonics, will keep labour high, and there- by prevent the apprehended danger of in- terfering manufactures. For the more eafy afcertaining of titles, there (hould be a claufe in the adt, requiring that all transfers, conveyances and incumb- rance? whatfoever (hould be recorded, — this of itf:.f would be a great advantage to the Colonies. The manner of carrying this propofal into execution may be as follows. An office to be eftablifhed in London, to be managed by two Commiflioncrs, appointed by the treafury ; their falaries per annum, with per atinum, for clerks and incidents of o:^ice, to be paid out of the revenue only, arifing from the in- tereft. The bufincfs of this office to be- 1. The printing of the paper-money. 2. The figning of it by the Commiffi- oners. 3. The diflribution of it to the offices in America. 4. The ( 245 ) 4* The entering of what is fent, accord- ing to its number and denomination. 5. The communication and correfpond- ence with the ftveral loan- offices in the Colonies. 6. The drawing up the inftrudtions for the fame. 7. The receiving from thcfe offices, ac- counts of the iffiiing the paper bills, thefe accounts to contain, i. Account of the numbers and dates of bills ifTucd. 2. State of the mortgages and fecurities. 3. Account of intereft received. 4. Account of interefl: paid for depofited money. 5. Account of government drafts paid by the loan-office, and falaries paid to its feverat officers. 6 Ac- count of bills exchanged, for thofe that arc over-worn. 7. Account of receipts of prin- cipal money by inftalments, &c, And in general, the Commiffioners from the monthly reports of the fevcral offices in America, of every branch of their duty, are to form monthly abftradls and reports for the treafury, of the ftate of the money cur- rent, of the amount of the intereft money in the loan-offices, at the government's dif- pofal, of the Itate of each office, and ihc R 3 far- ■ ■ 't ■•,; ill a . ■ ■ ■■ !; ^■^! ,' « I u t ( 246 ) farther regulations from time to time necef- fary to be nude, f ither by orders from the ticil'ury, innrudions from ihe Commifli- oners, or further legal jDowers, or diredtions by ad of parliament, or by iiiftrudbions nc* ccflary to be fciit to the governors in Ameri- ca, rccommendii.g adls of aflcmbly proper to be made in that country. The Commiflloners are alfo to draw up directions and inftrudions to the L//pe^crs, whofe office will be hereafter defcribed. And they are to fuperintend all the other parts of the adminiftration and execution of this fcheme, as will be more particularly- pointed out hereafter, in the descriptions of the feveral offices and ofiicers in America, with their relpedive duties, Loan-Office in each province. To confirt: of I'ruj^eeSj Solicitor, and Clt'/'L The province to be divided into din lids. A large p-ovince into eight dif-* trlds, a fmall province into fewer. Eacii dlQrid to have a Tiuflee appointed aU cj its oivn rc/ident inhabit ant s, one who V a fieeholder that can give fufficient fecu- riiy to the crown within the province. So that ( 247 ) that the loan- office of fhe largefl province will confift of eight TruHtcs, and the fmaller in proporfion to their dinii(5ls, into which they are divided, fome not having more than two. The Truftees to be appointed by adl of affembly. and upon tiieir appointment to qualify themfclves, by giving the fccurity required to the crown, and taking the ufaal oaths (or affirmation j and oath (or affirma- tion) of office. Each Truftee to have loo/. per a?i?2um. out of the intereil arifing by the loans of the bills. The principal adling Trudee to rcfide in the capital of the province where the office is to be keptj and to have zoo/ or le(b in fome provinces, for his conftant attendance, and the incidents of office, bcfides his fal- lary in common wich the reft. The Truftees to be appcintfd, only for the term of five years, at ti^e ev; iration whereof, they arc to account tully to the governor in council, afliiled by one of the infpedors hereafter defcribed, and deliver up all books, deeds, depoiiied cafh, &o. R 4 to r »; ■■■*:l ■f! \k ).: . ,1 J ( 248 ) to^ their fucceflbrs, upon wl^ich they arc to receive their quietus. All the Truflees are to meet once a month at the office, to (Ign the bills to b^ i/l'ued, to confider the applications for mo- neys examine the goodnefs of the fecurity offc ed, and fix the fum to be lent on cacii fecurity, not lefs than a majority of the Trudeeb to order the loans, and not lefs than two to fign and date the bills to be iflUed. They are alfo to take charge of, and keep in feme fafe place, the fecurity deeds mortgaged, and ikey arc to chufe a perfon, (killed in the law of titles, to be their Sollicitcry who is to be paid by the fees arifing in the office, viz. 20 j. on every mortgage, for which he is to examine, and make ex trails of the titles or fecurities of- fered, for the infpedion of the Chief Juf" tice of the province, if referred to him, and of the Truftees; to prepare the mortgage and counterpart, with the bond and war- rarit of attorney, and to record the mortgage. He is alfo to keep a book of applications, r.oting them down in the order of time in which they are made, the fum desired, and the fecurity offi;red in mortgage. He is to get blank mortgages printed, of a prefcribed iorm. There are to be triplicates of each mort- I ( 249 ) ixiortgagCi the firft is to be executed by the mortgager, and lodged in the office, the fecond, an exadt copy delivered to the mort- gager for his dire^ion, as it contains the times and proportbns of payments, both of ii bailments and intereft, the third to be kept in a bound book and there made the record. The clerk is alfo to be appointed by the Truftees. He keeps a book of alIowancct>, lb called, becaufe therein is put: down what fums the Truftecs think proper io allow or lend to each applyer, accord! to their opinion, of the fecurity offereu. He alfo computes the quotas or inflallments and intereil, making together, the fum to be paid each year, by the mortgager, and gives a copy thereof to the Solicitor, to be by him, after the approbation of the Truflees given to it, inferted in the mortgage. He Iceeps alfo a day book, in which is noted. The emiiHons and receipts of each day, viz. The fums lent in mortgage, and to whom. The fums received from each mortgager, ^iflinguilhing principal and interefl, The ■'I • n ». , . « ..v| I 1^ it if II rii I . •i% ^, ^^.^> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.25 Li»2A §23 no ■^" m 1,2.2 t*S. 12.0 Ui lis u I: I U il.6 HiolDgraphic Sdences Corpordtion 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WiBSTiR.N.Y. MStO (71«) 872-4S03 ( 250 ) The Aims depofited in the office, for which 4 per cent, is to be allowed by the office. ■ -'V '^''■' ' The returning of fuch fums, with in- tereft paid. The fums of new bills exchanged for old. The drafts of government for intereft mo- ney, as paid by the Truftees. The Truftees Saliries, when paid, and the allowance for incidents. N. B. The perfon bringing any money bills to be depofited in the office, for the purpofe of receiving the A^fer cent, is to prepare two fchedules of faid bills, one to be figncd by the adring Truftee, and deli- vered to him, the other to be figned by him and delivered into the office, to be kept by the Truftees. And no fum undtr loo/. is to be depofited on the terms of receiving intereft, and the intcrcji miijl not commence till one month after the depo/Jte made. The clerk is to keep a ledger, in which the day hook accounts are to be pofted up, under their refpedive heads. The ( 'SI ) The Truftecs, from thefe books, &g. arc to form monthly abftradls of the whole ftate of the currency, and the bufinefs of the ofHce, and to fend the fame figned by a majority of the whole number, to the com- midioner's office in England, in order that the commidioncrs may form dates from time to time, as the treafury (hall require, of the whole of the currency throughout ths continent, as well as of the ftate of each office in the refpedive Colonies, Provifion for check and control of the exe-^ cution of the office in America. I. The diredtion and inftrudions of the commiffioners refiding in England. a. Two Infpe^iors to be commiffioned by the treafury, to acft under their inftrudtions, and the inrtru(ftions of the commiflioners, and to report to them, They are to vifit all the offices in America at leaft once a year, and to infpedt the accounts caffi, &;c. as often as they (hall fee occalion, or (hall be direded by their fuperiors, and to join with the governor and council of each province in the auditing of the accounts of the office. And, if upon any of thefe infpedions, an infpedtor (hall dilcover any miuiianagement which re(juirc§ immediate remedy, he is not >\ i: ;i> •• ' si' t -1 ■ ■ k • Ki it .' J s';i '■ .1 : ■ i.l 'U \m i^i ' If I • % \ ( 252 ) not only to report to the commifiioners in England, but to the governor of the pro- vince, and if it appears to the governor and council necefTary, the governor to call toge- ther the affcmbly immediately, in order to the appointing new Truftees, and to order, by advice of council, the profecution of the delinquent Truftees, to the forfeiture of their fecurities, and fuch other penalties as they may have incurred. 3. The governor and council (the infpec- tor afUfting) to audit the accounts of the loan-ofBce within each province annually. The governor and council to be allowed for their trouble, * N. B. In thofe provinces where the go- vernor is not appointed by the crown, per- haps fome addition may be thought proper to be made to this board for auditing. 4. A committee of the aflembly to in- fpedt the ftate of the office, for their own fatisfadlion and information, that in cafe they difcover any mifmanagement or delin- quency, they may apply to the governor, that proper fteps may be taken to remedy the fame. When the accounts are to be infpeded and fettled, the Truftees will be charged with ( 253 ) with the loan money put into their hands* and difcharge themfelves by producing mortgages for the whole,* or for part, and the remainder in bills. They will be charged with the new bills put into their hands, to exchange fuch as by wearing are become unfit for farther cur- rency, and difcharge themfelves by pro- ducing fuch worn bills for part, and the remainder in new bills unexchanged. They will be charged by the account, of intereft received, and difcharge themfelves by their falaries, by government draughts .which they have paid, by intereft they have ♦paid on fums depofited, and by producing the remainder in bills in their hands. They will be charged with the parts of the principal fums received yearly, as in- ftalments, and difcharge themfelves by mortgages on which the fame was remitted, and the remainder in bills. They will be charged with the fums de* pofited in their hands, to bear intereft, and difcharge themfelves by producing receipts for what they have returned, .and for inte- reft paid, and bills in their hands for the fums they have not returned. Having (-^a life's V*. ■ ("A >>-^\'vli \''iu: >:< ; ( 254 ) Having now gone through the confidera* tion of every point of internal adminiftration, let us next review thofe external relations by which the intereft of the American fettle- ments ftand conneded with the Indian country and its inhabitants. Our Colonies muft neceflarily have connections both of trade and politicks with thefe people, of a nature different from any other, as they arc are planted in countries inhabited by a race of people, who differ in their circumftances and in their politicks from any other nation with whom there remains, either in hiftory or on record, any example of alliance* Perhaps it may not be unentertaining, I am fure it is neceffary to the true knowledge of Indian affairs, to take up this fubjedt fomewhat higher than has been ufual in the ordinary way of confidering it. The different manner in which this globe of earth is poflefTed, and occupied by the dif- ferent fpecies of the human race which in- habit ir, mufl form the fpecific difference in their interefls and politicks. The human race, which is at prefent found on this earth, may be precifely divided into three fiimiiies, generically, and in their cITential properties, diftindt and different each from ■' ' nt! ( ^55 ) from the other. And, for aught I know, it is to this natural trurh, that the he ven- diredled pen of the author of the books of Moles may refer, when he gives precifly and only three fons to Noah. Thefe three different fpecies, or race, are — The white race — the red — the black. It is not barely the colour of thefe tvo firft, which diftin- guilhes them ; the form of their fkull, and their hair, where there has been no mixture, is fpecifically different from each other ; and a true Indian will not judge by any other diQindion : the black race has wool in- flead of hair, as alfo a form of fkull dif- ferent from each. Thefe books, after having given a philo- fophical account, cloathed in drama, of the origin of things, feem to confine their real narrative to the hillory of the white family, to that race of people who have been land- workers from the beginning, who, wherever they have fpread themfelves over the fice of this globe, have carried with them the art of cultivating vines, and fruit trees — and the cultivation of bread corn; who, wherever they have extended themfelves, have become fettlers, and have conilantly carried with them the flieep, goat, oxen and horfe, do- miciliated and fpecially applied to the ufes and labour of a fettlement. 7 ^^ '•^^■^ I' . :j. lU m ' ■ . ! • >' k 1 . ■■■■ I 1 '. i p ' 'i\ fe .: ---'ii ' ■' '.\'i%'W '■m 1 ' Vi). * t'- '' ^ 1 1" m i-h-M A 1 \Du 'is ;. 1 »s' ; •■ li ■''>■ 1 ' ' 'n yJutH A ' 111 ^■^' ( 256 ) Of the black family I fay nothing in this place, as not concerned in the prefent confi- defationi The fed fannily, tvherever found, ar'e wanderers. The Tartars are in one part wandering herdfmen, and in other parts hunters and fifliermen. The American iii- habitants, Indians, as we call them, froih the word Anj6, or Ynguo, fignifying a man in their language, are the fame race of peo- ple from one end of the continent to the other ; and are the fame race or family afs the Tartars, precifely of the fame colouf, of the fame form of fkull, of the fame fpecies of hair, — not to mention the lan- guage and their names. America, in its natural ilate, is one greaf foreft of woods and lakes, flocked not with fheep, oxen, or horfes 5 not with animals of labour, and fuch as may be domiciliated^ but with wild hearts, game and fi(h ; vege- tating not with bread-corn, but with a fpe- cies of pulfe, which we call maize, of which there is great doubt whether it be indigenous or not. — All therefore that this country af- forded for food or raiment muft be hunted for. The inhabitants confequently would naturally be, as in fadt they were, not land- workers, but hunters y notfeitlers, hit *wan-^ dcrers. ( ^57 ) derers. They would therefore, conft quentlyi never have, as in fadt they never had, any idea of property in land, of that property which arifes from a man's mixing his labour with it. They would confequently never have, as in fa<5t they never had, any one communion of rights and adtions as extended to fociety j any one civil union j and confe- quently they would not ever have any go- vernment. They know no fuch thing as adminiftrative or executive power, properly fo called : they allow the authority of advice, a kind of legiflative authority j but there is no civil coercion amongft them : they never had any one colledtive actuating power among the whole, nor any magiQraie or ma- giftrates to execute fuch power. The race of white people migrating from Europe, ftill continue land-workers, and have made fettlements in parts of America which they occupy, and have tranfported thither bread-corn, (heep, oxen, horfes, and other ufually domeftic animals, that are do- miciliate with thefe fettlers. They are a community — they are a fo- ciety— —-they live under government, and have a fixed property in their lands, have a fixed permanent intereft, which muft fubfiil: under a continued feries offecurity* The lo- S cality I n :: H ^ \ 9 ;^r ( 258 ) cality of the labour of tbefe fettlers, necef- farily produces a reciprocation of wants and an intercommunion of fupply, by exchange of mutual necefTaries. This alfo leads to an intercourfe of commerce with others, who are not immediately within their commu- nity — And hence arifes a commercial intereft to thcfe fettlers. From the European defire of having 'the furs and peltry of the Indian hunters, and from the Indian defire of having the more ufeful and necelfary tools and inftruments of improved life, an artificial reciprocation of wants has arifen between the European fet- tlers, and the original inhal/itanis of Ame- rica, which hath gradually extended itfelf to many articles not at firft called for And from this intercourfe of commerce has arifen a necefTary relation of politicks be- tween them. The only true fpirit which ought to adlu- afe thefe politicks, muft arife from a due knowledge of the circumftances and interefts of each, and from a conftant invariable at- tention to that compofite intereft which is formed by their alliance. The intereft of a community of fettlers muft lye in a permawmt Jiries of fccurity to their ■ \'. ( 259 ) their cultured lands, as the making fettle- ments is by the fucceflive yearly application of repeated labour, and of its eventual fu- ture efFc(5l. Settlers and landworkers want but fmall trads of land ; but muft have a fixed and permanent local property therein. A nation of hunters require a much greater extent of country, in the proportion that the wide extended produce of a hunt, bears to the local bounded produce of a farm or fet- tlcment j fo that the Indian property of country con fills of two forts, their dwelling lands and their h'lnt. •1 i -m V:M The intereft of a tribe of wanderers lyes in the procedlion and fupport of the aged, of the women and children — under the tem- porary locations of dwell ng, which the fe- verity of the winter fe ifon, the occafion of the procuring pulfe in the feafon of vegeta- tion, and the times of parturition, render i^eceiTary eyen to wanderers. As fixed regulations and protection of trade, muft be the eflential fpirit of the po- liticks arid the law of nations to a commer- cial nation ^, fo an exaift and ftrift obferv- S 2 ance ■M ''1 '?Ui' * Hunting being but the amufement, the diverfion of a nation of ieitlers, the rights and laws of it may not appear as national points — but to a nation of hun- ' ter» k> ( 26o ) ance of the laws of fporting, the protec- tion of the game, and the moft rigid faniftion of the hunty (better perhaps underftood by our fportfmen than our politicians) become the lawi of nations to an bunting nation. From thefe principles let us carry our con- fiderations into fadls. The European landworkers, when they came to fettle in America, began trading with the Indians j * obtained leave of the In- t I! tcrs thefe become the national intercfls and the laws of nations.— A violation of thefe Ia\^s of nations ; as fub- fiding between nations of hunters, was the caufe of the war between the Five-nation confederacy, and the Oilinois. The Ohio hunt, to the fouth-eaft of lake Eric, was common to thefe nations ; the laws of the hunt required, that at each beaver- pond, the Indians fhould leave a certain number of males and females ; the Oilinois, on fume occafion of pique, deftroyed all. The Five-nations declared war againft the Oilinies. The Indian war ends not but in the total redu.^ion of the one or the other. The Oilinois were totally con- quered. The conquered country, as well as the bunt, became the right of the Five- nations, and were, amongfl the reH of their lands, put, by them, into the hands of the Englifh in truft. * Perhaps New-England may be an exception: The Indians began an unjuft war againft them j they conquered thefe Indians, and their claim is beft, as Well as juftly, founded in conqueft, which the Indians acknowledge. :i dians ^ M by ( 26« ) dians to cultivate fmall trat^s as fettlements or dwellings. The Indians having no other idea of property, than what was conformable to their tranfient temporary dwelling-places, eafily granted this. When they came to per- ceive the very different effect of fettlements of landworkers creating a permanent pro- perty always extending itfelf, they became very uneafy ; but yet, in the true fpirit of judice and honour, abided by the effeds of conceflions which they had made, but which they would not have made, had they undcr- ftood beforehand the force of them. From this moment the politics of the In- dians were fixed on, and confined to, two points. The guarding their dwelling lands and their hunts from the encroachments of the European fettlers ; and the perpetually labouring, to our utter (hame, in vain, to eftablifh fome equitable and fixed regulations in the trade carried on between them and the Europeans. The European encroachments, not only by the extent of their fettlements, but by their prefuming to build forts in the Indian dwelling lands, and in the territories of their hunts, without leave, or by collufion ; and the impofitions and frauds committed againfl the Indians in trading with them, has bttn S 3' the 'ti ■m I 11 ( 262 ) the occafion of conftant complaint from the Indians, and the invariable lource of Indian hoftilities : and yet even thefe might have been furmounted, were it not that we have con- ftantly added an aggravation to this injuftice, by claiming a dominion in confequence of a landed poU'eJJiQn. Againft this the free fpi- rit of an Indian will revolt, to the lail: drop of his blood : This will be perpetual, unremitted caufe of war to theni againft us. Againft: it, they have at all times, and upon all occalions protefted, and they will never give it lip. As long as we keep up this ufe- Icfs, faithlefs claim of dominion over ^hem, fo Xqv.z ftiall we be embroiled in war with them. The European power may perhaps finally extirpate them, but can never con- quer them. The perpetually increafing gene- rations of Europeans in America, may fup- ply numbers that muft, in the end, wear out thefe poor Indian inhabitants from their own country; but we {hall pay dear, both in blood and treafure, in the mean while, for our horrid injuftice. Our frontiers, from the nature of advancing* fettlements, dif- perfed along the branchings of the upper parts of our rivers, and fcattered in the dif- united vallies, amidft the mountains, muft be always unguarded, and defencelefs againft the incurfions of Indians. And were we able, under an Indian war, to advance our fettle- : us. ( 263 ) fettlements yet farther, they would be ad- vanced up to the very dens of thofe favagey. A fettler wholly intent upon labouring on the foil, cannot ftand to his arms, nor def nd him- felf againft, nor feek his enemy : Environed with woods and fwamps, he knows nothing of the country beyond his farm : The In- dian knows every Ipot for ambufh or de- fence. The farmer, driven from his little cultured lot into the woods, is loft : the In- dian in the woods, is every where at home ; every bufh, every thicket, is a camp to the Indian, from whence, at the very moment when he is fure of his blow, he can rufh upon his prey. The farmer's cow, or his horfe, cannot go into the woods, where alone they muft fubiift : his wife and cl ildren, if they (hut themfelves up in their poor wretched loghoufe, will be burnt in it : and the hufbandman in the field will be (hot down while his hand holds the pl;;ugh. An European fettler can make but momentary efforts of war, in hopes to gain fome point, that he may by it obtp.in a feries of feturity, under which 10 work his lands in peace : 1 he Indian's whole life is a warfare, and his operations never difcontinued. In (liort, our frontier fettlements mull ever lie at the mercy of the favages : and a fettler is the natural prey to an Indian, whofe fole occupation is war and hunting. To countries circum- S 4 ftanced m ■:j .■■'5 |:|r;] W ^\.-i< ' h i ■■•la ■ V.,: If 'ft* '•- m \ M ( 264 ) ftanced as our Colonies are, an Indian is the nioft dreadful of enemies. For, in a war with Indians, no force whatever can defend our frontiers from being a conftant wretched fcene of conflagrations, and of the moft fhocking murders. "Whereas on the con- trary, our temporary expeditions againfl: thefe Indians, even if fuccefsful, can do thefc wanderers little harm. Every article of their property is portable, which they always carry with them — And it is no great matter of diftrefs to an Indian to be driven from his dwelling ground, who finds a home in the fiill: place that he fits down upon. And of this formidable enemy, the numbers, by * the lateil accounts, are 23105 fighting men. If we entertain an idea of conqueft, in fupport of this ambitious folly of dominion, we muft form fuch a feries of magazines and entrepots for ftores, ammunition and provilions; we muH; maintain in conftant emplcy fuch a numerous train of waggons for the roads, fuch multitudes of boats and veflcls for the waters ; we muft eftabli(h fuch a train of fortified polls; we muft fup- port fuch a numerous arir.y ; we muft form and execute fuch an enlarged and compre- henfive f)'ftem of command, as (hall give us military poflefiion of the whole Indian coun- * This refers to the year 1763. try. ( *65 ) try. Let now any foldier or politician con- iider the enormous endlefs expence of all this conduct, and then anfwer to what profitable purpofe fuch meafure leads, which may in a much better and jufler way be obtained. If our government conliders this well, and will liften to thofe who are beft verfed in In- dian affairs, it will be convinced that ho- iiedy is the befl: policy ; and that our domi- nion in America, will be beft and fureft founded in faith and juftice, toward the rem- nant of thefe much injured natives of the country. In this hope, and with this view, I will endeavour to ftate the Indian rights and our duty toward them ; and to point out that line of condi)^, which leads to it — And firft of the Kenunftioni, or the Five-nation confe- deracy. The Indian lands are of two kinds- Their dwelling land, where their caftles are, and their hunting ground. The dwelling lands of the KenunEtioni, or the Five-na- tion confederacy, is called Kenundioniga, and is at the top or higheft part of the con- tinent, from whence the waters run every way — By the waters of Canada into the gulph *»". A- "^ •• ;■ i , if ■,"«■ it ^4"£| I u :v%- •ts" it] ■ if * '. f ■' i ( 266 ) gulph of Sf. Laurence, by all the rivers of the Englifh Colonies into the Atlantic ocean, by the waters of the Miflifiippi into the gulph of Mexico. They may, in a general manner, be thus defcribed, by a line run from near Albany, north- weft ward, along the Mohawk river on the north fide of it, north round Oneida lake, to the north eaft corner of lake: Ontario , thence along the lakes to Cana- h6ga on lake Ofwego or Erie ; thence fixty miles diredtly baik into the country ; thence to Shamokin, on the Sufquehanna river ; thence along the Cufhietung mountains 5 thence again to the lower Mohawk caftles. The Indians themfelves defcribing, under confidence, to a friend of mine at Ononda- ga, this their fituation, faid, '* That it has many advantages fuperior to any other part of America. The endlefs moun- tains feparate them from the Englilh, all the way from Albany to Georgia. If ** they Should have any defign againft the Englifli, they can fuddenly come down the Mohawk's river, the Delaware, the Sufquehanna, and Potomac, and that •* with the ftream. They have the fame *• advantage of invading the French, by ** the waters of the river St. Lawrence, «* Sorel, &c. If the French fhould pre- ** vail againft this country, they can, with ** their old men, wives and children, come ** down « <( <( (C (( «( (C ( ^6? ) " down the ftreams to the Englifli. If the ** Englifli (hould prevail in attacking their ** country, they have tiie fame conveyance ** down to the French ; and if both {hould *' join againft them, they can retire acrofs ** the lakes.'* their hunting lands are — Firftt Couxfa- chraga, a triangle, lying on the fouth-eaft fide of Canada, or bt. Lawrence river, bounded call ward by Saragtoga, and the drowned lands j northward, by a line from Regiochne point (on lake Champlain, or, as the Indians call it, Caniaderiguarunte, the lake that is the gate of the country) through the Cloven rock, on the fame lake, to Of- wegatchie, or la Galette j fouth-weftward by the dwelling lands of the Mohawks, Oneida% and Tufcaroraos. Secondly, Ohio, all that fine country (and therefore called Ohio) lying on the fouth and ead (ides of lake &rie> fouth-eall of their dwelling lands. thirdly, Tieuckfouckrondtie ; all that trad of country lying between the lakes Erie and Oilinois. Fourthly, 'Scaniaderiada, or the country beyond the lake j all that tradt of country ^^m ''.'j i j-y 1 i! { 268 ) lying on the north of lake Erie, and north- wefl of lake Ontario, and between the lakes Ontario and Hurons. The right of the Five-nation confederacy to their dwelling lands and the hunting ground of Couxfachraga, and even down to the bottom of lake Chaniplain, was never difputed. The lands to the northward of Rcgi6chne, and la Galette, have long fince been ceded to the Canada Indians as an hunting ground. In the year 1684, the Five nations finding themfclves hard prefled by the French and their Indians, did, by a treaty at Albany, put the lands and caflies of the Mohawks and Oneidas under the proteSiion of the En- glifh government : and the Englifli accord- ingly undertook the truji to guarantee them to thefe Indians. And as the external mark, by which this a(fl and deed (hould be anoun- ced, the Indians defired that the duke of York's arms might be affixed to their caflles. The right of the Five-nation confederacy to the hunting lands of Ohio, Tieuck- fouchrondite and 'Scaniaderiada, by the con- quefl they had made in fubduing the Shao- anaes, Delawares, (as we call them) Twic- twes ( 269 ) twcs and Oilinois, may be fairly proved as they (lood pofTeiTed thereof, at the pace of Refwick, in 1697. In the year 170 1, they put all their hunt- ing lands under the protection of the EngUdi, as appears by the records, and by the recital and confirmation thereof in the following deed. In the year 1726, the Seneccas, Cayou- gaes and Ononda-agaes acceded to the fame terms of alliance, in which the Mohaws and Oneidas were already— So that the whole of the dwelling and hunting lands of the Five-nation confederacy were put under the protection of the Englifli, and held by them IN TRUST, for and to the use of thefe Indians and their pofterity. Copy of Agreement with the Sachems of the Five Nations. TO all people to whom this prefent in- ftrument of writing lliall come, Whereas the Sachems of the Five Nations did, on the nineteenth day of July, One thoufand feven hundred and one, in a conference held at Albany, between John Nanfan, Efq; late lieutenant-governor of new- York, give and render up all their land where the beaver- hunting ' '^m ■ i^M ';I)|UM ' I'infl ■ "1 m " T. ,(iMH "' ""111 . ' ■ Tifct ,1 ■ 1 Jf t'"' ' ''Wi ■ ■ < ^ ii' . ■• r*T ' ■ '■ ff''i \--f4 ^! ■ - im '. i! ." ' -'Si'^- ■' , .".-n ■ it' >-^:i ■ ir ."»l ,■: <*' 1 .■*'' ■ t^■^^^ ' : '-k'^i i "V'i ■' ^^i':i .1. V-ii * " '.( ■ ■ ' ' '-.:^; ^ -fm : ui ^.'! ■ '■■■' :V'i: 1-4 ■ 'i m • ■ i •: J " 1*1''^ •i. 1 ', ' > 1 ..-v! ^ . i' ' 4 , 1 f ■1; . ^ '■■ 'i v 1 t mi (»:yf!i V: • lilU :■ M i 'j:! i I ■•■^ lit ,: li 1 I i m ( 270 ) hunting is, which they >yon with ihp fword, then 80 years ago, to Coorakhqo *, our great King, praying that he might he their protedlor and defender there, for which they defired that their fecretary might then draw an inflrument for them, to fign and feal, that it might be carried to the King, as by the minutes thereof, now in the cuftody of the fecretary for Indian affairs at Albany, may fully, and at large appear. WE, Kanakarighton and Shanintfaronwe, Sinneke Sachems; Ottfpghkprpe Dekanifo- ree and Aenjeueratt, Cayouge Sachems ; Ilaclyakadorodon and Sadageepaghtie, O- nondaga Sachems, of our own accord, free and voluntary will, do hereby ratify, con- firm, fubmit and grant; and by thefe pre- fents do (for ourfelves, our heirs .and fucccf- fors, and in behalf of the whole Nations of Sinnekes, Cayouges and Onondages) ratify, confirm, fubrnit and grant upto our moft Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, ,France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, J^c. :his heirs and fucceflbrs for evjer, ajl the faid land and beaver-hunting, to be prote^ed and defended by bis faid ntajejiy, his h.ei« s and fuc- * It is by thfs name that they mean the King of Englaad. ' ' cefTors, ( 271 ) cefTors, to and for the use of iis^ our yir% and fuc"effor$^ andthefaid three Nations \ an J we do alfo of our own accord, free and vo- luntary will, give, render, fubmit and grant, and by thefe prefents do, for ourfclves, our heirs and fucceffors, give, render, fubmit, and grant unto our faid Sovereign Lord King George, his heirs and fucceffors for ever, all that land lying and being fixty miles diftance taken diredtly from the water, into the coun- try, beginning from a Creek called Cana- hoge, on the lake Ofwego, all along the faid lake, and all along the narrow paffagc from the faid lake to the falls of Oniagara, called Canaquaraghe, and all along the river of Oniagara, and all along the lake Catara- qui to the creek called Sodons, belonging to the Sinnekes, and from Sodons to the hill called Tegechunckferpde, belonging to the Cayouges, and fropi Tcgechpnckferode to the creek called Cayhungbage, belonging to the Ononiages; all the faid lands being of the breadth of fixty Enghfh miles as afore- faid, all the way from the aforcfaid lakes or rivers, dire(5lly into the country, and thereby including all the caftles of the afore- faid three Nations, with all the rivers, creeks and lakes, within the faid limits, to be *G' teSled and defended by his faid nuyfiy^ his heirs and fuccejjbrs for evcr^ to and for our ;'i s h -^ I 1 II*' m w -.111 -m (1.. 'a'J . .f; I'-. \' ..f-- 1,(^ USE, %% H- ( 272 ) USE, our heirs and JucceUorSy and the /aid three nations. In tcftimony whereof, we have hereunto fet our marks and affixed our feals, in the city of Albany, this fourteenth day of Sep- tember, in the thirteenth year of his majefly's reign, ^nnoque Domini ly 26, The mark Raclyakado rodon. The mark of Kana- karighton The mark of Otfoghkoree, a Sachem of the ononda- ges. (L.S.) a Sachem of the Sin- nekes. (L. S.) a Sachem of the Cayouges. (L. S.) The aid ( 273 ) The mark of Sa- degeenaghtie. a Sachem of the Onondages. (L.S.) The mark of Dekaniforee, aSachemofthe Cayouges. (L.S.) The mark of Shanintfa- ronwce, ■ U : a Sachem of the Sinnekes, (L.S.) The m ( 274 ) I'-t: The mark of Aenjew- cratt, a Sachem of the Cayou- ges. (L. S.) Signed, fealcd, and delivered, in the Prefence of us Philip Livingfton, Peter Vanbrugh, Mynderfl: Schuyler, Lawrence Claufen. Secretary's Office, New- York. The pre- ceding is a true copy of the Record in Lib. Patents, Numb. 9. p. 253, 254. Examined and compared therewith by Geo. Banyer, Deputy Secretary, Inflead of executing //Vj tniji faithfully and with honour, by extending to the Indians our civil protection againft the frauds of the Englifli, and our military protedion againll the attempts of the French, we have ufed tiiis trufl: only as a pretence to afjume a dotni- nion over them — We have fuffered the En- glidi fettlers to profit of every bad occafion. to defraud them of their lands — We have never I ' ' of S.) ( ^-71 ) never made any cffedtual regulations to pre- vent their being defrauded in their trade; and until our own intereft appeared to be afFedcd, we abandoned them to their own chance and force, oppofed to the ftrength of a powerful enemy. Nay, when at laft we thought neceflary for the fake, not of na- tional faith and honour, fcr the fukc, not of thefe our faithful allies, but for the fake of our own fifety and iiiterell to interfere, in oppofing the French encroachments, wc took it up as difputing the empire of America with the French j not as proteding and guarding the Indian lands and intereH: to their ufe, agreeable to the facred trull by which we were bound. — And thus thefe ra- vages (as we to our own lliame call them) repeatedly told us, ** That both wc and the ** French fought to amale them \s\x\i fine taiei of our fcveral uprigTit intentions ; that both parties told them, that they made war for the protection of tlie India:i rights, but that our alliens plainly d fco^ vcrcd that the war was cn!y a conteft who fliould become mailers ot the coun- try, which was the property neith.cr of " the one nor the other." Since we have driven the French jjovernment from Ame- rica, we have confirmed this charge of the Indians atrciInO: us, bv afluinin;]: that dorni- tihi\ which in faith and julVice we cannot T ^ f;iy t under fome temporary interrupi;ions, in a krics of faithful alliance. If in If ( 277 ) If thcfe confiderations, taken up In the courfc of that general review of the Colonics, and of the adminiftration of their affairs, which I now pubhfli, were intended as an exprefs treatife on Indian affairs, I {hould think it right to examine all the complaints and fcvcral claims of jufticc which the Five- nations have made, and have repea ed for many years, which I would found firft on extracts from the records of Indian affairs, and fecondly, on the hiftory of the landed pa- tents, and thirdly, on the occafions taken to ered:, without their leave, forts on the Indian lands, which meafure tl e Indians always con- fider as an adl of dominion. In this general view I (hall only pint out that fliameful pa- tent of Ka-y-adarofferos above Albany : that pretence of claim by the corporation of Albany for the Mohawk-flats, the very refi- dence of the Mohawks, and f me others on the carrying place, at the head of the Mo- hawk river all which ought to be taken into immediate confideration, that juftice may be done both to the Indian and European claimants : and that the matter mav not re- main perpetual caufe of umbrage, and per- haps the fource of war. Government ought alfo very ferioufly to revife the principles on which they are now endeavouring to take puffeflion of the Indian country by forts and T 3 garifons; i*| ■ut f., •■>''.! I f ..J HI i ( 278 ) garifons; built many within the Indian dwell- ing lands, and many within their hunting lands, and on the paffes and communica- tions of thefe. It is undoubtedly right to maintain the command of that country j but there is a way to do it with fafety andjuftice. The meafures we are taking by force will be found to have neither the one nor the other in them ; nor do I fee how common prudence can adopt the enormous charge to which fuch meafures muft lead. We have feen that Sir William Johnfon, although he took Niagara from the French by force of arms, never confidered this as a conquefl: of thefe lands from Indians j but has, agreeably to his ufual prudence and his perfevould venture to fay, that every thing which . can or ought to be done in Indian affairs will be effected. If with the fame fpirit, guided by the fame principles *, a revifion was made of the laws of trade, fo far as they refpe(S the Colonies, it would anfwer more wife ends of government, and more the intereftof the governed, both here as well as in the Colo- nies, than any endeavour, even though fuc- cefsful, to carry the preient laws into exe- cution. The principles on which the adl of navi- gation is founded are juft, and of found po- * This hath been in part ^one by the late Ameri- can revenue a<5l. licy ; Ilk !• I': ■ 1; • '-if !; 1,- i' 8:1' • rf: III ( 282 ) Hey ; but the application of them, by the modes prefcribed, as the laws now ftand, to the prefent fiate of the Colony trade, is nei- ther founded m juftice or prudence. Any fpirit that would force this application, would injure the principles themfelves, and prove injurious to that commercial intereft, which thofe very a6ts of trade mean to fecure to Great Britain : whereas, upon a due revifion of thofe laws, it would appear that there are means cf producin?, this lame end con- fident with the particular intereft of the Co- lonies, and what would carry the general commercial intereft of the mother country to the utmoft extent that it is capable of. The laws of trade refpcfting America were framed and enaded for the regulating mere plantations, trads of foreign country, employed in raifing certain fpecified and enu- merated commodities, folely for the ufe of the trade and manufadurts of the mother- country — tiie purchafe of which, the mc- thei-coun'ry appropriated to itfclf. Thcfe laws confidered thefe plantations as a kind of farms, whicli the mother country had caufed to be worked and cultured for its own ufe. But the fpirit of commerce, operating on tlie nature and fituation of thefe exter- nal dominions, beyond what the mother country or the Colonics themfelves ever thought ( 283 ) thought of, planned, or even hoped for, has wrought up thcje plantation to become cb- jeSis of trade '^ has enlarged and combined the intercourfe of the bai ter and exchange of their various produce, into a very complex and extenfive commercial intereft : The ope- ration of this fpirit, hus, in every fource of intereft and power, raifed and eftablifhed the Britifi government on a grand commer- c'lal bafis, has by the fame power to the true purpofes of the fame intereft, extended the Britifh dominions through every part of the Atlantic Ocean, to the actually forming a GRAND MARINE EMPIRE, if tlne admiui- ftration of our government, w^ill do their part, by extending the Britifh government to vi^hertfoever the Britifti dominions do extend. If, on the contrary, we are predetermined to carry into ftridl and literal execution, the navi- gation a(ft, and other laws refpedting the plan- tation trade — without reviewing and confider- ing what the very different circumftances of the Colonies now are, from what they were when they were firft fettled, merely as plantations, and when thefe laws were firft made, — we muft determine to reduce our Colonies again to fuch mere plantations : We muft either narrow the bottom of our commercial intereft, to the model of our plantation laws, or we muft enlarge the fprit ^^iii. ^^. ( 284 ) fpirit of our commercial laws, to that lati- tude to which our commercial intereft does adtually extend. Thus ftands the fadt. This is the truth. There is no other alternative. But if we would profit of them in thofe great commercial benefits, to thofe great political purpofes, which they are capable to produce; which they lead toj which the whole ftrain of our politics 'have, for many years, taught us to value ourfelves upon ; and which have really been the fburce of all our wealth and power ; we mufl examine thoroughly the (late of this commercial in- tereft, we muft make a fincere, unpreju- diced and candid review of thefe laws of trade, — and by true and more enlarged prin- ciples, model them on the ideas of regu- lating the condudl and the intereft, of va- rious and widely extended parts of a on^ great commercial dominion. n I will firft defcribe the circuit of the North American commerce, and then fugr geft fome fuch meafures as may tend to produce a happy eftablifhment of our trad- ing intereft, on true commercial principles. As the matters contained in the following reprefentation, are fairly ftated, according to the truth and fad:, and the confequences thence deduced, are fuch as adtual experi- ence , 1 *il' ( 285 ) ence (hows to be in exigence, lam Aire I can- not give a more clear, diftindt, or better (late of the American commerce than it contains. •f* This reprefentation dates, that it is the fingular difadvantage of the Northern Bri- tifh Colonies, that, while they (land in need of valt quantities of the manufactures of Great Britain, the country is produdlive of very little which affords a diredt remittance thither in payment ; and that from neceffity therefore, the inhabitants have been driven to feek a market for their produce, where it could be vended, and, by a courfe of traffick, to acquire cither money or fuch merchan- dize as would anfwer the purpofe of a re- mittance, and enable them to fuftain their credit with the mother country; that the prodigious balance arifing in her favour is a fa<5l too well known to the merchants of Great Britain trading to thofe parts to need any elucidation ; but, as the nature of the petitioners commerce when free from re- ilraints,^ wbicb they think cf fatal effeSiy and dejiru6ii've to ity ought to be underflood, they beg leave to oblerve that their produce then fcnt to our own and the foreign iflands, was chiefly bartered for fugar, rum, me- lalTes, cotton, and indigo j that the fiigar, cotton, and indigo, ferved as remittance to t New-York petition. 2 Great -\ ill ■'( If ( 286 ) Great Britain; but the * rum and mclafTes conftittJted cflential branched of the petiti- oners commerce, and enabled them to bar- ter with our own Colonies for fi(h and rice, and by that means to purfue a valuable trade with Spairii Portugal^ and ItaJyt where they chiefly obtained money or bills of exchange in return i and likewife qualified them for adventures to Africa, where they had the advantage of putting off great quantities of Britifli manuta(5tures, and of receiving in exchange gold, ivory, and Haves, which lad, difpofcd of in the Weft India iflands, * This rum and mclafles became, to the Carolinas and other fouthern Colonies, not only a matter of aid in their own confumption, but alfo an article in their Indian commerce; became to the inhabitants of New England and New Scotland, an aid in their internal confumption, but alfo a confidcrable aid to the con- fumption in their fifhery. The avowed and chief articles of commerce between North America and the parts of Europe to the louthward of Cape Fi- nidre are, fi(h and rice. Rice is the proOi.ce of Carolina, and the fifhery is the more peculiar bufi- lufs of New En^iland and Nova Scotia. Each of thefe countries produces and manufactures, the one more rice, the other more fifh than (hey confume in their own fubliftance and in their own foreign trade, and fo each exchanges that furplufage (or the rum, or rather the racIalTes which the New Yorkers fetch from the Well Indies. By which the New Yorkers, like the Dutch in Father-land, chiefly carriers, are enabled to make out adventures to the Streights and to Africa. com- { 287 ) commanded money or bills: Rum was In- difpenfable in their Indian trade ; and, with Britifli manufadures, procured furs andfkins, which ferved for confiderable returns to Great Britain, and encreafed the revenue thereof; that the trade to the bay of Hon- duras was alfo very material to their com- merce, being managed with fmall cargoes of provifions, rum, and Britifh manufactures, which, while they were at liberty to fend foreign logwood to the different ports in Eu- rope, furnifhed them with another valuable branch of remittance ; that, from this view, it is evident that fugar, rum, melalTes, and logwood, with cotton and indigo, are the effentials of their return-cargoes, and the chief fources from which, in a courfe of trade, that they have extenc^sd their ufeful- nefs to, and maintained their credit with Great Britain. 7;' > f*a ■ » l^n i^l ^fl * il ^■'. rl ■* '"1 It i That confidering the prodigious confump- tion of Weft India produce in Great Britain, Ireland, and the continental Colonies, the rapid increafe of thofe Colonies, their inha- bitants already exceeding -j- two millions, the vaft acceffion of fubjeds by the late con- quefts, befides the innumerable tribes of In- t Including the Blacks. tiians a i i.\ PBI i; »;, ',1 '1! ■ ( 288 ) dians in the extenfive countries annexed to the BritiHi crown, the utter incapacity of our own iflands to fupply (o great a demand, muft be out of all qucftion: on the other hand, the lumber produced from clearing this immenfe territory, * and provifions ex- tra(ftcd from the fertile foil, which mod of the inhabitants are employed in cultivating, muft raifc a fupply for exportation, with which the confumption of our own iilands can bear no fort of proportion j J that it feems therefore confiftent with found policy to in- dulge thofe Colonies in a free and unre- drained exportation of all the lumber and produce they raife and can fpare, and an If ; m • This includes bread, corn, bifcuit, flour, beef, pork, horfes, and the fmaller articles of live ftock. X If we, by artificial reflraints, endeavour to cue ofF from between the foreign Weft India iflands, and our North American Colonies, that intercourfc and ex- change of fupplies which is now ncceflary to them, or to clogg it in a manner that renders it detrimental or impra^icable to thofe iflands, may we not force them into what (hould fecm their natural courfe of commerce, an intercourfe with their own Colonies, in the fouthern latitudes ; whence they may be fup- plicd with al! thofe articles of lumber and live ftock and bread, corn, &c. which at prefent, by a lucky, rather than a natural or necefliary courfe of trade, create almoft a monopoly to the Northern American Colonies of the Weft India fupply,— 2 ample ( 289 ) ample importation of fugar, rum, and mc lafTes, to fupply the various branches of their trade, to which they appear fo neceflary ) that, without the one, the clearing of new lands, which is extremely laborious and ex- penfive, will be dilcouraged j and provifions, for want of vent, become of little profit to the farmer ; v ithout the other, the pe- titioners mud be plunged into a total incapa- city of making good their payments for Bri- ti(h debts j their credit muft fink, and their imports from Great Britain gradually dimi- nish, till they are contrasted to the narrow compafs of remittances, barely in articles of their own produce ^ and that, how little foe- ver their intereft of commerce could be pro- moted, the Colonies, thus checked, mufi', from inevitable neceflity, betake themfelves to manufadlures of their own, which will be attended with confequences very detrimental to thofe of Great Britain. The petitioners^ having thus reprefented the nature of their commerce, proceed to point out the feveral grievances, which it labours under, from the regulations prefcribed by the laws of trade; and which, if not remedied, they conceive muft have a diredt tendency to pre- vent the cultivation, and ruin the trade, of the Colonies, and prove highly pernicious U to 1^1 ». < (i'j ■ 1 ;"i-Mf ■r-i m t 1: i t § ...t 111 ( 290 ) to both the landed and trading interefl of Great Britain *. That the heavy embaraffments, which attend the article of fugar, is a capital fub- jedt of complaint ; and, befides the abfolute neccflity of a great importation to fuftain their trade, it is a well known truth, that it often happens, at the foreign iflands with which they have intercourfe, that a fufHcient return-cargo, independent of fugar, cannot be procured, which alone muft render trade precarious and difcouraging 5 but the high duty of five (hillings fterling a hundred is proved, by experience, to be exceffive, and has induced the fair trader to decline that branch of bufinefs, while it prefents an irre-*- fiftable incentive to fmuggling, to people lefs fcrupulous 5 that it anfwers not the pur- pofes of the government, or of the nation, lince it cannot be duly colledted, and, if it could, would have a neceflary tendency to contract remittances for Britifli debts, while> * Whether the Britifh merchant will attend to{h^^ or nor — it is neverthelefs true. The views of mer- chants fcldom, in courfe of trade, co b-yond them- ft'Ives and the prefent profit, but the ftatefman, whether we look to him in adminiftration or in parlia- ment, ought thoroughly to weigh the truth and con- fequcnce of this aflerted fait, as it may afte^ the Bri- 'tilh commerce in general, at II ; } at ( 291 ) tt the fktht time, it is mod mifchievous to the Colonies, by cutting off one of the grand fprings of their traffic ; and, that the pref- fure of this duty is not aggravated, the peti- tioners appeal to the officers of the cufloms of their port, that the petitioners therefore moft humbly intreat, that a moderate duty be laid on foreign fugars, which, they are alTured, would not only greatly conduce to the profperity of thofe Colonies, and their utility to the mother country, but encreafe the royal revenue far beyond what can be expedled under the prefent reftraints. •f* That the compelling merchants to land and ftore foreign fugars in Great Britain, be- fore they can be exported to other parts of Europe, is another mod cxpenlive and dila- tory rertriftioD, without being of any ma- terial advantage to the revenue of Great Bri- tain ; for it effedlually puts it out of the petitioners power, to meet foreigners at market upon an- equal footing, is a great and heavy burden in times of neace and fecuritv* but in vi^ar will cxpofs the trader to fuch t Thtit the New Yorkers, only carriers, (hould regard this regulation with uneafinels, is natural, but ru:cly it is a wifi; and prudent regulation, for the be- nefit of the Britifii Ifles, to create and give a prefer- iencc to the Britifh produce and maiiufadure of the futyedts of thufc lllands. U 2 peril I' ''' ^i ■ 1 •if- -r^ .' i"^^! : " :'"i f •■':1* .^,M e ■ . *■; t 1 Ifi M ii 11? *f ii 1 SI I ja ( 292 ) peril and hazard, as muft wholly extlnguidi this ufeful branch of remittance j that BritiQi plantation fugar exported from North Ame- rica, (hould be declared French on being landed in England, the petitioners conceive may juftly be claffed among the number of hardships, inflifted by thofe regulations, as in efFed it deprives them of making a re- mittance in that article, by expofing them to the payment of the foreign duty in Great Britain, which appears the more fevere, as their fellow fubjeds of the iflands are left at liberty to export thofe fugars for what they really are, and a diftindion is thus created in their favour, which the petitioners can- not but regard with uneafinefs. That foreign rum, French excepted, is the next article which the petitioners moft humbly propofe for confideration, as the im- po ation thereof, on a moderate duty, wcv.d add confiderably to the revenue, prer vent fmuggling, promote the petitioners na- vigation, encreafe the vent of their own pro- duce with Britifh manufa«5lures, and enable them to bring back the full value of their cargoes, more efpecially from the Danifti iflands of St. Thomas and St. Croix, from whence they can now only receive half the value in fugar and cotton, confequently rum alone can be expected for the other half, thofe mm ( 293 ) thofe iflands affording nothing elfe for re- turns, and having no fpecie but of a bafe kind. That the exportation of foreign logwood to foreign markets, has already been didin- guifhed as one of the principal means, by which thofe Colonies have been enabled to fuftain the weight of their debts for Britifh manufactures, and it is with the greateft concern, the petitioners obferve it to be ranked by the late adt among the enume- rated articles; and confequently made fubje(5t to the delay, the hazard, and expence, of being landed in Great Britain ; the low price of logwood, its bulk, and the duty with which it is now burthened, muft totally de- flroy that valuable branch of the petitioners commerce, and throw it into the hands of foreigners, unfettered with thofe heavy em- barraffments. That their lumber and pot-afh even when fliipped for Ireland, where they are fo necef- fary, the latter particularly for the progrefs of their linen manufacture, and provifions themfelves, though intended to relieve that kingdom from a famine, are fubjeCt to the fame diftrefling impediments ; nor is flax- feed, on the timely importation of which the very exiftence of the linen manufacture U 3 of m. l':^ I :• :■ '.■ .'Alt, . m ! .'ftij » ,;'il if ' [fi ( 294 ) of Ireland immediately depends, exempted,, although it is a fa(S capable of the moft fatisfa^ory proof, that, without the delay now created, it has been with difficulty tran- fported from that Colony, to be there in proper feafon for fowing ; that what renders lb injurious an obftrudtion the more affedl- ing is the reflecftion, that, while it deprives the petitioners cf the benefits ariiing from flax-feed, lumber, and pot-a(h, thefe articles may all be imported into Ireland diredtly from the Baltic, where they arc purchafed from foreigners, under the national difad- vantage of being paid for with money inftead of manufadures j and the petitioners there- fore humbly beg leave to exprefs their hopes, that an evil in fo high a degree pernicious to them, to the ftaple of Ireland, and to the trade and manufadlurcu of Great Britain, and which in times of war muft fall on all with a redoubled weight, will not fail of obtain- ing the attention of the houfe, and an imme- diate and effcdual redrefs. That they beg leave further to reprefent, that the wines from the iflands, in exchange for wheat, flour, fifli, and lumber, would con(i/!erably augment the important article of remitiance, was the American duty with- drawn, on exportation to Great' Britain :. and that it is therefore humbly fubmitted^ whether ives f 295 ) whether fuch an expedient, calculated ai once to attach them to hujfbandry by ex- panding the confumption of American pro- duce, to encourage Britifli manufactures by enabling the petitioners to make good their payments, and to encreafe the royal revenue by an additional import of wines into Great Britain, will not be confident with the united interefts both of the mother country and her Colonies. That the petitioners conceive the North American fifhery to be an object of the highefl national importance; that nothing is To elfential for the fupport of navigation, iince by employing annually fo great a number of {hipping, it conftitutes a refpedt- ahle nurfery for feamen, and is fo clearly advantageous for remittances, in payment for Britifli manufadures ; that the petitioners therefore humbly prefume, that it will be cheriihed by the houfe with every poffiblc mark of indulgence, and every impediment be removed, which tends to check its pro- grefs. That the enlarging the jurifdidion of the admiralty, is another pare of the lUtute of the fourth of his prefent majefty, very grie- vous to the trade and navigation of the Colo- nics, and oppreflive to the fubjeit, the pro^ U 4 perty ■ ifiT m t. ■■■ti "-■ ^''ii :.t'' ;1 . i l\v i \. Si 1^ lit .;i t m 1 I V 1 '' t i w ^ i; P* ( 296 ) perty of the trader being open to the invaiion of every informer, and the means of jufticc fo remote as to be fcarcely attainable. That the petitioners beg leave to exprefs the warmed fentiments of gratitude, tor the advantages intended by parliament, to Ame- rica in general, in the opening free ports at the iflands of Jamaica and Dominica ; yet, at the fame time, they cannot but lament, that it is their unhappinefs to be in no con- dition to reap the benefits which, as it was imagined, would flow from fo wife a policy; that the colledling great quantities of the produce of Martinico, Guadaloupe, &c. at the ifland of Dominica, will be the natural confequence of opening that port, and would prove of real importance to thofe Colonies, were they at liberty to bring them back, in return for their lumber and provifions ; but, as they are now prohibited from taking any thing, except melafles, and, it is juftly ap- prehended, there cannot be a fufficient quan- tity of that commodity to fupport any con- fiderable trade, the petitioners think it evi- dent, that no fubftantial advantage can be derived to them under fuch a reftraint ; that they are, at the fame time, at a lofs to dif- cern the principle on which the prohibition is founded ; for, fince fugar may be im- ported dire(5t from the foreign iflands, it feenxs ■.<.- ( 297 ) feems much more reafonable, to fufFer it from a free port belonging to Great Britain j that the petitioners therefore humbly hope, that it will be thought equitable to adapt this trade to their circumftances, by grant- ing them liberty to import into the Colonies all Weft India productions, in exchange for their commodities. That upon the whole, although, at the laft feffion, the neceffity of relieving the trade of thofe Colonies feems to have been univerfally admitted, and the tender regard of parliament for their happi- nefs highly diftinguifhed, neverthelefs, ex- perience has evinced, that the commercial regulations, then enadted, inftead of reme- dying, have encreafed the heavy burthen under which it already laboured. ' -is >• if I r. ;-«■ * " In this furvey one thing muft be' ** taken notice of as peculiar to this country, ** which is, that as in the nature of its ** government, fo in the very improvement ** of its trade and riches, it ought to be " confidered not only in its own proper ** intereft, but likewife in its relation to * Letter of Sir William Temple to Lord Eflex, in July 22, 1673, concerning the ftate of Ireland, wherein the reader will fee the furvey taken of the trade of that country, at that time fo appofite to the ftate of the trade of the Colonies at this feafon, it will be impolfihle not to apply it. " Eng- i..>J m ^ . 1 ' .1 , ^^^E' ■, 1 , Hi ■;: . H ii. . " K il 1' Jw • «« i ..; • • ' «* l^Hi =|[ ' *« i 1' II ' (C i; :• rm uWBi 1' Mb H yp. 1 €C "' li M 1: I ( 298 ) England, to which it is Aibordinate, and upon whofe weal in the main, that of this kingdom depends, and therefore a regard muit be had to thofe points wherein the trade of Ireland comes to interfere with any main branches of the trade of Eng- land, in which cafe the encouragement of fuch trade ought to be either declined or moderated, and fo give way to the intereft of trade in England. Upon the health and vigour whereof the ftrength, riches and glory of his majcfty's crown feem chiefly to depend. But on the other fide, fome fuch branches of tri(de ought not wholly to be fupprejj'ed^ but ra- ther fo far admitted as may ferve the general confumption of the kingdom, leji by too great an importation of commodities^ though out of England itfelf the money of this kingdom happen to be drawn away in fuch a degree^ as not to leave ajiockjuffi' cientfor turning the trade at home'* If many of thefe regulations above pro- pofed and fubmitted to confideration, cannot be admitted, while the Colonies are, by the laws of trade, confidered as mere plantations : And if the improved commerce of the Colo- nies cannot any longer fubfift as a branch of the commercial intereft of Great Britain, if they are not admitted, Great Britain is re- duced k I { 299 ) 4u€ed to the dangerous alternative of citber giving up the fubordination of the trade of its plantations, orofgivingupitscomniercey as it hath been extended and improved by its Colonies becoming commercial flates ; from which, otherwife inevitable danger, nothing but the general plan of union, as repeatedly above recommended, can preferve it. The general principle of the laws of trade regulating the Colony trade, is, that the Colonies ihall not, on one hand, be fupplied with any thing but from a Britifh mafket, nor export their produce any where but to a Britiih market. In the application of this principle, the prcfent laws diredt, except in fome fpecial particulars, that the Colonies (hall import all their (upipWes from Britain^ and carry all their produce to Britain, If now, inftead of conifining this market for the Colonies to Britain only, which is a partial and defective application of the ge- neral principle whereon the adl of naviga- tion is founded j this Colony trade was made, amidft other courfes of trade, an occafion of eftablifliing Briiijh markets even in other countries, the true ufe would be derived to the general intereft from thefe advantageous circumftances, while in particular the Colo- ipies and the mother country would be mu- tually Vi 1*3 - ; 'I, % "■ ■>,■ m I i a ' k i ( 300 ) tually accommodated. In the firft cafe, the general intereft, perverted to partial purpofes, becomes fo far forth obftru<5ted j in the fc- cond, it would be carried by the genuine fpirit of it to its utmoft extent. — If, under certain reftridtions, fecuring alfo thofe duties which the produce of the Colonies, carried to market, ought to pay to the mother coun- try, the Colonies were permitted to export their produce (fuch as are the balls or ma- terials of any Britifh manufacture excepted) diredtly to foreign countries, if fo be they fold it to any Britijh houfe eftabliflied in fuch place, and were alfo permitted, if they bought their fupplies from a Briti/h houfe cftablifhed in thofe parts, to fupply them- felves with the natural fruits and produce of that country (all manufactures that any way interfere with the Britifli manufadtures ex- cepted) paying there to fome Britifli officer, or upon their arrival in the Colonies, the fime duties as they would have paid by pur- chafing the fame commodities in England, every end propofed by the principal of the acft of navigation would be anfwered ; the exports of the Colonies would be encou- raged ; and the Britifo market greatly ex- tended. The Colonies would not only trade to, and be fupplied by, a Britijio market, but would ( 301 ) would become an occadon of eftablifhlng the Britilh m;irket in foreign couniries. The fame reafous of commerce, which, in a nar- rower view, became the grounds for efta- bli(hing fadtoiies at Peterfburgh, Riga, Ham- borough, Lilbon, Cadiz, &c, would on a more general and extenfive bafis become the foundation for eilablifhing and building up thefe Brttijh markets in every region to which our trade extended itfelf j for while it necef- farily enlarged the fpecial intereft of the Co- lonies, it would enlarge it only at Britifh markets, and to the final profit of the Bri- tifli general commerce. The profits of fuch market finally centering in Great Britain. If this maxim be not true, that the profits of the factories fettled in foreign ports finally center in Great Britain, the meafure of cfta- blifhing fuch is falfe in policy j if the maxim be trucv the permitting our Colony exports to go dire6:ly to the ports where fuch fadto- ries are eftablifhed, is not contrary to the principle on which the adt of navigation arofe, but becomes coincident with, and aiding to it, in extending the Briti(h naviga- tion and Britifh markets, and fecuring the final profits thereof to Britain only. If this method of reafoning be found not contrary to the principle of the aft of navi- gation ; if this meature at the fame time that >'''M\ \ ' -'I ) . '1 •i m M m I'M ki I ^S'- ( 30^ ) that it encourages the trade of out Colonies^ is found to do it in a way fubfervient to the gener«; commerce of Great Britain, extend- ing the BritiHi markets, and fecuring the £nal balance of profit to Britain only; if this fpirit of adminiilration, fo far as govern- ment has a right to direct the courfe of trade, be adopted in this part of it, the great points which it has to fecure, are firft, that the Colony exports to, and the fupplies pur- chafed by them from thofe foreign ports^ be fold and bought at a Britijh market only,-~-» The government has a right to extend its laws to thefe Colony traders, and to the fac- tories eftablifhed in foreign ports. It can therefore, part'y by fuch laws as it finds proper to enadt, for the regulation of this faftory trade, and partly by obliging thefe Colony traders to give bond before their departure from the Colonies, fecure and con- fine all thefe tranfaftions of that commerce, which is permitted at any fuch port, to a Bri- tifh market only, the laws that eilabliflied thefe being a favour extended to the Colo- nies, and promoting the intereft of thefe factories, would, as all laws of trade fhould do, execute themfelves; and by giving the requilite powers to a conful or naval officer refident there, would be eafily adminiftered by fuch officer. The H- ( 303 ) The next point to be guarded, would be the fecuring thofe duties which this trade ought to pay to the government of Great- Britain : Ii the fame duties were paid, or fe- curity for them taken in thefe foreign ports, as would be or (hould be paid by the Colony trade, if the traders were ftill obliged to come to Britain, every end would be an- fwered to the government revenue, and thefe charges might be fufficiently fecured, by obliging all thefe traders to fail under bond. The arrangements to be taken in fuch cafe ought to be that of adding to the office of conful, fuch powers as in the Colonics, before the cftabli(hment of fpecial revenue officers there, were given to the naval officer, or to eftabliih a naval officer. The conful or naval officer, in this branch of his admi- niftration, ffiould be fubordinate to the com- miffioners of the cuftoms and the lords of the treafury. If the duties were colleded by him, in the ports of his diftridt, he (hould account and give fccurity for the fame j if bonds only, as fecurity for the payment at fuch Britiffi or plantation ports, were given, he /hould keep the regifter of the fame, and correfpond with the commiffioners of the cuftoms, and fuch officers as they direft, as to the fulfilling, cancelling, or profecuting toefied faid bonds. Thefe general arrange- mentSj taken, together with fuch further 7 , fpecial u^\ i :^'i I,'! '^fc 5- '■ • 1 iPPI: !!f •I 4 .fi { 304 ) ■ fpecial regulations, as the experience of the commiflioners of the cuftoms (hould fuggeft> the revenue of the Colony and fadlory trade, under this mode of adminiflration, would be well fecured, chearfully paid, and eafily collected. m Under the adminiftration of fuch meafures, there docs not appear any reafon why all the produce of the Britifh Colonies, which are not the bafis of, or do not interfere with the Britifh manufactures, might not be carried directly to a Britifh market at a foreign port, — and why the carrying of rice to foreign ports might not be extended, under thefe laws, to all fuch foreign ports whereat a Bri- tifli fadlory is eftabliflied. — Nor under thi« mode of commerce can any fufficient reai. upon earth fubfift, why the Colony traders ihould not be permitted to load at thefe ports, the fruits, wine, oil, pickles, the produce of that country, and alfo fuch raw unmanu- fadl:ured produce, as would not interfere with the manufacture of Great Britain, in- dead of being obliged to come to Britain to buy or reload here, after the expence of an unnecefTary voyage, thofe very commodities which they might have bought in a Britifi market^ at the port which they left. Why not any of thefe as well as fait, as well as wines from the Madeiras and wedern ifles ? In of the Jggeft* trade, would I ealily lafures, all the ich are ith the carried n port, foreign r thefe c a Bri- ler this reaio.. traders c porta, produce imanu- nterfere lit), in- ritain to e of an nodities Britijh Why well as n ifles ? In ( 305 ) In the fame manner, by the fame law, why iriay not our Colony traders be permitted to carry fugar, ginger, tobacco, rice, &c. to fuch port: in the rivers Wefer and Elbe, in the Sound and in Ruflia, whereat a Bri- tifli fadtory is, or may be eftabliftied ? It can never be right policy to fufFer labour in vain in a community : it is juft fo much loft to the community : and yet this coming round by England is labour in vain : If the fubordi- nacy of the Colony-trade, and the duties arifing thereon, can be by any other means fecured, it is fo much labour loft. The two points of a Britijh market, and the re- venue of the duties being (ecurcd, why may not thefe traders be permitted to load at thefe ports dire(Slly for tlie Colonies, hemp, yarn, and fiich coarfe linens, as do no way inter- fere with the Britifli manufactories ? Thefe meafures taken, which would prove to be the true means of encouraging the Colony- trade, the heft method to put a ftop to the contraband trade carried on in this branch of bufinefs, and the true grounds whereon to eftablifti the general commercial intcrefts of Great Britain, government could nbt be too ftridl in enforcing the execution of the laws of trade, nor too feverc in punifliing; the breach of them. — Wherever they fcuiul thefe traders endeavouring to carry from thcfc ports to the Colonies raw (ilk, filks^ velvets, ■' tl ■ l. .1 <..!( •:i X fofciga Pi i/i i '; ■ 11 ■I ■ 1 n ( 306 ) foreign cloths, laces, iron, fteel, arms, ammunition, fails or rigging, or any manu- fadures whatever, that interfere with the manufacture of Great Britain : whenever they found thefe traders endeavouring to carry from the Colonies to thofe ports, any dying- wood whatever, indigo, cotton, filk, bees or myrtle- wax, flax-feed, naval (lores, furs, fkins or peltry, hides, provifion, grain, flour, bread or bifcuit ; whale-oil, blubber, bone, or any other fiflioil, or tallow, or candles, with an exception perhaps to myrtle and fpermaceti candles, government could not be too ftri(ft and watchful to reflirain them. Under proper regulations, the rum of the northern Colonies fhould be carried to Africa, and the fale of it to the French on the banks of Newfoundland encouraged, if fuch vent could be procured, as we (hould thereby reap at leaft fome fliare even of the profit of the French fifliery. In the above revifion of, and the propofed regulations for the Colony trade, as conneded with that of Europe, it will be feen that all mention of Eafl India goods is piirpofely omitted. I think a fpecial meafure might be contrived of fupplying the Colonies with Eaft-India goods, in a way that wouki efl^ec- tually put to a fl:op to that contraband tradcf, by which it is complained they are at pre- fent tu Jims, lanu- [1 the rthey carry iying- , bees furs, flour, bone, indies, le and Id not them, of the A.frica, I banks h vent hereby rofit of opofed ineded that all rpofely might es with d effec- d trad<^, at pre- lent ( 307 ) fent fupplied, in a way by which one of the greateft marts in the world, with every at- tendant advantage to the Britifli general com- merce, and the fpecial intereft of the Eaft- India trade, might be eftablidied. If meafures were at this jundlure taken, between the government and the Eafl:-India company, fo that an Eaft-India (hip might annually flop at fome ifland in the Weft-In- dies, the traders, not only of the Weft-In- dies, but of North America, would fupply themfelves with every advantage at luch mart, not only for their own proper con- fumption, but alfo for a trade of the greateft extent; and this mart, in return, would be to the Eaft-lndia company, the colletlor of all '^ frrplus filver of America, and per- haps t e. f fome of the gold and ivory of Africa alfo.. The extenfive advantages of this meafure cannot but be fcen; nor would this any way interfere with that fupply with which the Eaft-India trade, by way of the Manilla's, furnifties the Spanifli Weft-Indies, fo far as our Eaft-India company may be fuppofed to be concerned, but would, in other refped:?, open a better channel of trade between the Eaft and Weft-Indies, which our company muft commiind. The liifii- cuhies in the execution lie in fecuring to government the revenue that ftiould :irli'e X 2 fi^-m ! 'J . "\ »■ < 'I m 1^1 ^ ; I ( 308 ) ^rom tlie duties duly paid by this trade, and in fecuring the company againft the perver- fion of this trade to the profit of their officers and fcrvants. In the fame foi ifion of the ■ n .! manner, flate of the trade of the Colonies of the fe- veral maritime powers amongft each other will be neceflary. The laws and ordon- nances of thefe do in general prohibit all trade cf foreign Colonies with their own j — and yet, without fome fuch trade as fupplies the Spanifh provinces with Briti(h goods and provilions, as fupplies the BritiQi Colonies with Spanifli filver, as fupplies the French iflands with Britifh lumber, fifti, provifions, horfes, and live (lock, as fupplies the Bri- tifh Colonies with French mellaffes, the trade and culture of ihefe Colonies wou-ld be greatly obftruded and impaired ; and yet notwithftanding this fadt, our laws of trade, by an impracticable duty, extend to the pro- hibiting the importation of French mellafles into our Colonics. — If the government, un- der this law, could prevent effedtually this importation, not only into the northern Co- lonies, I'Ut into the Britifi i/Ies alfo, the re- ward of that pains would be the deftrudtion of a bcncfici;;! branch of trade, perhaps of driving the iiriiilh American diftillery into . the 14^ I!' ( 3°9 ) the French, Dutch, or DaniQi ides, or of forcing the French, contrary to their own falfe poh'cy, into a profitable manufadlure of that produce which they now fell as refufe materials. I need not point out here the very eflential change that this would make in the Colony trade.- — ^On the contrary, it is the duty of government to permit, nay even to encourage, under proper regulations, thefe branches of trade 5 in the firft place, in order to extrad out of the foreign Colo- nies, to th. Denefit of the Britifli commerce, as much as poflible the profits of thefe Colo- nies, and which is more material, in order to create a necefTary dependence in the trade and culture of thofe Colonies for their fup- plies on the BritiQi commerce. — When it is remembered that the law, which lays a duty equal to a prohibition, on the importation of French mellafles in the Britifh Colonies, was obtained at the folicitation of the Bri- ti(h ifles, it will be feen, that the obtaining this law is not fo much meant to prohibit totally the introdudion of French mcilifies into the Britifh trade, as to determine a ftruggle between the Weft. India and North American traders, who (hould have the pro- fits of it. And thus, from the predominant intereft of thefe partial view?, has govern- ment been led to embarrafs the general courfcs of its trade. But as the Well X 3 India ■;■'!. T":| II 1] t' •{ ■ ■]! I f ' f. ii'- ij: Nlj fl f ' ir ( 3^0 ) India traders fee that this law has not, never had, and never will have the effcO: propofed, they will be better reconciled to its ceafing ; and as government muft now, after the ex- periment, fee the falfe policy of it, * there is no doubt but that it will ceafe, lo far as to reduce the duty to a moderate and pradti- cable charge, fuch as will be paid, and fuch as will raife to the crown a very confi- derable revenue thus paid. I fpeak not this by guefs j but, from a comparifon of the quantity of fugars and mel- lalfes brought to account in the cuftom- houfe books of the Kiitg's revenue^ with the quantity of the fame article, in the fame ports, brought to account in the impoft- books of the Colony revenue, for fix years to- gether,v could, with fome precifion, mark the extent of it. I own I did always ap- prehend that two-pence per gallon on fo- reign mellafles imported into any Britifh plantation, and fo in proportion of fugars, was the btft rate at which to fix this duty ; that being thus moderate, it might be eafier and with lefs alarm and oppofition colleded, and might therefore the fooner introduce the pradice of fair trade, and the fooner become * This meafure hath, fince the writing of tho above, taken place by 6 Geo. 3. c. 52, 5 an ( 3" ) an effeSlhe revenue: But when I fee a groundlefs clamour raifed, which rcprcfents the rate fixed by the late revenue-aft as de- ftrudive of the American diftillery, as ruin- ous to the American fifliery, as a prohibition of the returns made from the foreign iflands for the North American fifli ; I muft own that I have never feen any fadt ftated, or calculation fairly made on which fuch afler- tions found themfelves. C.j,' The French ifles, fince the furrender of Canada and Louifiana, mufl depend entirely for their fupplies of lumber, ftaves, heads, provifions, live (lock, horfes, &c. on the Britifli Colonies, immediately exported from thence to thofe ifles, unlefs by fome means fupplied from markets created at New Or- leans and the ifland of St. Peter, as from another Ifle of Man j it will therefore be ths duty of government to keep a watchful eye to the formation and extent of thefe mar- kets ; — fo at lead, if they be permitted, as to have the command of them, and fo as to prevent their being, to the French traders, the means of fupplying the Spaniih markets alfo, as well as their own. Since the writing of what the paragraph above contains, very proper regulations have been by the late American revenue-adt pro- X 4 videdj 1. m ^^ m i ■ u (, 1 Ivi , I, 1 ■( I i i ■ l^i H' '*'! ( 312 ) yidcc^ ; and if proportionate care be taken ia the execution of it, this danger is for the prefent guarded againfl;. Some revifion alfo will be neceffary in thq ijaws about naval flores, efpecially that re- fpe(5ting the mafts. The prefent law, undeir an idea of preferving the White Pine or maft trees, diredts, That no White Pines (hall be cut or felled within the limits of any townfliip, if not a6 ) climate are long and fcverc ; during which feafon no labour can be done without doors. That application therefore of their fcrvants labour, to manufadures for home confump- tion, which under any other circumftances would be too dear for the product created by it, becomes, under thefe circumftances, all clear gains. And if the Colonics can- not on one hand purchafe foreign manufac- tures at any reafonabie price, or have not money to purchafe with, and there are, on the other, many hands idle which ufed to be employed in navigation, and all thefe, as well as the hufbandmen, want employ- ment ; thefe circumftances will foon over- balance the difference of the rate of labour in Europe and in America. And if the Co- lonies, under any future ftate of adminiftra- tion, which they fee unequal to the manage- ment of their affairs, once come to feel their own Jirength in this way, their inde- pendence on government, at leaft on the ad- miniftration of government, will not be an event fo remote as our leaders may think, which yet nothing but fuch falfe policy can bring on. For, on the contrary, put their governments and laws on a true and confti- tutional bafis, regulate their money, their revenue, and their trade, and do not check their fetdements, they muft ever depend on the ( 37 ) the trade of the mother country for their fup- plics, they will never eftablifti manufadlurcs, their hands being elfewhere employed, and the merchants being always able to import fuch on * terms that muft ruin the manufac- turer. Unable to fubfift without, or to unite againft the mother country, they muft al- ways remain fubordinate to it, in all the tranfadtions of their commerce, in all the operation of their laws, in every adt of their government: The feveral Colonies, no longer confidered as demefnes of the ccown, mere appendages to the realm, will th js be- come united therein, members and paits of * This is a fadt too well known and undcrftood ta need any particular proof — but if need were, the writer of thefe papers could demonftrate this from the prices of wool, hemp, and flax, and the labour of carding, drelT ing, fpinning, weaving, &c. in North America, com- pared with the prices of the fame articles of produce and labour in Britain. It is therefore an idle vaunt in the Americans, when they talk of fetting up manufac- tures /cr/r^./f ; but it would be equally injudicious in government here to force any meafure that may render the manufacturing for home confumption an objeft of prudence, or even of pique in the Americans. And yet after all, (hould any thing of this fort extend itfelf to a degree that interfered with the exports of Great Britain to the Colonies the fame dutier ?f an cxcife which lie upon the manufadlures of Grea-. - tain, le- vied upon thofe of America, would foon reftore the balance. This confideration, one might imagine, would imlUce thofe who are prudcr f in America, to advifc the reft to moderation in !h;ii oppofition. the ,'*:•' * ." f •it I '.i ■ '* \ ,, /. * -4, !>'? K ( 3<8 ) the realm, as eflcntial parts of a one organ- ized whole, the commercial domijiion of Great Britain, The taking leading mea- sures TO THE FORMING OF WHICH, OUGHT, AT THIS JUNCTURE, TO BE THE GREAT OBJECT OF GOVERNMENT. The END. SECTION I. ' "J 1 . i APPENDIX. i.l ALTHOUGH the following papers, at the time in which they were written, had reference to the ftate of the fervice as oppofed to the French meafures and power in America : Although they are parts of another work intend- ed to be publiflied at fome future time, yet they are here annexed to ihe Jdmhnjiration of the Colo- nies, as they treat of matters very worthy pre- fent confideration ; and as in general they contain ideas of police, which refpeft the poffcffion, pre- fervation, and improvement of thofc acquifitions which our conquefts have put into our hands, — and the forming them into fome fyftem of Em- pire that fhali be the Empire of Great Britain. The firft paper, which had for its objedl the forming of the Britifh polTeflions, together with thofe of our allies the Indians, into a fyftem of barrier againft the French, was written at a time v/hen the fubjeft was entirely new, fcarcc ever brought forward to confideration here in England, and when authentic accounts of the true ftate of the country as poflliTed by the Englifn and French, were with great ditiicukv, it at u!l, to be ia K ■: f n 'A 1i- It I !j(„ I ( * ) b« f ■ L' obtained j and I may venture to fay, utterly unknown co our military. The latter of thefe papers, was written after it became neceflary to change the objeft of the war ; and the only thing which I wi(h to fay of the ideas that it contained, is, that they were literally juftified by the events. A MEMORIAL! r 1 "£ '::il Stating the NATtjRE of the Service in NORTH AMERICA, and propofing a General Plan of Operations, as founded thereon. Drawn up by Order ofi and prefented tOy his Royal Highnefs the Duke of Cumberland, 1756. By T. POWNALL. HI S Majefty has now united the fervice in North America into one power of adtion, and under one dircdlion, by appointing a com- mander in chief over all North America, with powers to cli;e6t, and with force to carry on this fervice as a one whole. The next and neceflary pnint iherclore i-, that there fiiould be fome one general plan of cperatic?:s fixed, which may be carried on, not only by the general forces em- ployed in the gcMieral and military part of this plan, but by ( -'ery particular province and co- Jony, wi.hin iis own private councils, and own private ( 3 ) private operations, coincident with the whole. When fuch plan is fixed, every fum of money that is railed for this fervice, will be applied to what fhali be of ral frrvice and permanent ufe ; and every the molt minute operation that is un- dertaken, will become as part of fuch plan, "E^j/ov jiV a»£»j— and every (the moft other- wife infignificant) meafure would become of more importance, and more fervice, than twenty the moft expenfive and bullling operation?, that arifc from momentary and partial ftarts of whim, va- nity, or intereft : There could not even a logg houfe be builr, nor fcarce a piquet ftuck down in any part of the country, but what would be a necefiary meafure, and whofe ufe (however trifling the thing in itfelf )would extend to the grand fer- vice of the whole : There would not be a pound, fcarce a penny raifed, but would have its fhare in this grand fervict-. On the contrary, while pri- vate perfons, or particular independent bodies of people, have confulted only the momentary par- tial ftarts of whim, vanity, party, or intereft, under the influence of fuch motives, without any general fcheme to the defence of the country, the taking fojj'ejfwn of it, or the command cf ir, without any reference to any general idea, fots have been built up and down the country, that could never have been of ufe, have never been ufed, have never been fupported, have been left to go to ruin, have been abandontd to the ene- my i or, if they have been kept up at all, have been a private llarjcing job to all concerned in them : While thus large fums of money have beei fquandertd away to no ufe, or bad ones; while thus fruitkfs detached meafurcs, that have y been ;'x; ■■! \\\ !■• { 4 ) been of no ufe, but a perverfion of, and incum- brance to the general fervice, and interfering amongft each other, have been purfued by vague, random fits and ftarts, the public fervice has not only been ruined, but the people have loft all opinion and confidence in military operations, have been difcouraged and alienated fro i engag- ing in any adlive meafures, and always fufpicious, that whatever foms they give to fuch, are either thrown away, or put into the private pocket of fome job. On the contrary, were there fome one general plan of operations formed, upon the pradlicabil ty and really intended execution of which they might confide, the ailenablies might be perfuadcd, the people would be willing, and I verily beli.ve, would be perfuaded to give amply and cljearfully : So thit it is not only neceffary to the gaining the end propofed, but alfo abfo- lutely neceffary to the gaining the means, that fome fuch general plan (hould be fixed. in order to which, the following paper pro- pofes to confider, i/. The fitc of the country : idly^ The interefts of the poffeffions and fcttlc- mcnt-i : As the bafis of ^dlji The fta:e of the fervice In America. It becomes neceffary to l right underftanding of thefe propofed objects, to recur and ' ' ip to the fii ft principles on which they wc:e founded^ 7 no6 i ;tt!c- jding ip to no6 ( 5 ) hot only b?caull* the fubjed is vew, but becaufe it has been mifconccived, and mifreprefented. ifi, Piicr to any obfervaiions on the fv.ttlcrs and ft'ttle.r.ent^, it will be neceflary to take fome notice of the pjculinr (late and fite of the conn- tries, in which they are letiled : For it is the fite and circLim (lances (I mean thofe that are iin- ch.ingfaLIc) of a country, which give the cha- raderiftic form to the llatc and nature of the people who inhabit it. The corifideration of the continent of Americi may be properly divided into two parts, froni the two Very dilTircnt and diftinft ideas t!uc the face of the country prefent?, but more efpcci-.l!/ from the two diftindl: effcdls which muft necciTi- rily, and have aiflually arif^^n, from ti.e two very different f >rts of circunr.ftanccs to be foui;d in each trad: of country. All the continent of North America, as far as known to the Europeans, is to the weftward of the enJlcfs moirrains, a high level plane: All to the fouth-call of thefe mountains, flopes away fouth-eaftcrly dcvn to the Atlanric Ocean. By a level pl.ine, I muft not be unJcrftood, as if t thought tlu-u wcrr; r.o hills, or vallics, or moun- tains in it i but that the plane of a icvlVion, pa- rallel to the main, face of the country, would be nenrly an liorizon:al pla;:e, a-^ the plane of a 1 ke fedion of this oth«.T part would bcf inclined to the hoi jzon, with a lirge fiope to the Atlantic Ocean. The line that divides ihcfj two trads, that is the iouih call edgj of thefe planes, or the higheft y 2 part • '4 .•»"II i ■ »9.;? (i/'i f'i t' 6; Kfl 1! i'H T^/A., Ui lit \: II I it-' I if I I ri ( 6 ) part of ih's (lope, may in general be fiid to run from Onondaga, along the wcfternmoft Allege- hani ri Ige of the endltfs mountains, to Apa- latche in the gulph of Mexico. 2^/v, In confidering fit ft the main continent, this high plain, it may be obferved, with very few excep ions in comparifon to the whole, that the multitude of waters found in it is properly fpeakiiig but of two mafils : The one compofed of the waters of the lakes and their fuite, which difembogue by the river St. Lawrence; theoth^ir that nni!ti[uJe cf waters whi h all lead into the MitTiiippi, and from ihence to the ocean; the former into the gulph cf Sr. Lawrence, the latter into the gulph cf Mexico. There are in all the waters of MifTifippi, at Icaft as far as wc kiow, but two falls ; the one at a place called by the French St. Antoine, high up on the w.ft or main bra:.ch of Mifiifippi ; the oheron t'le ealt brancii callcil Ohio. Except tht.r', arid the temporary rapidity arifing from the frefli^s cf fpring, and the rainy feafons ; all the waters cf :he Mifiifippi run to the o.ean, wicli a Hill, e:Uy and genile current. As to al! the wafers of the five great lakes, and the miiny large livers that empty themfelves into them, the waters of the great Otawawa ri- ver, the \Na:eiscf the Lke Chumplain, of Trois Rivieres, and the ir.ariy others that run into the rivff St. Lawrence al.ovc Qiiebec, thty may ail be conlidefLd in one mafs, as 3. jia-^nation or lake oi a wi'd'jrnefi 01 waters, Iprcading over thi couiury « y ( 7 ) country by an infinite number and variety of branchings, bays, flraics. Sec. for although at particular places of their communications, and at the mouths of their dreams, they feem to pour out fuch an immenfe ocean of waters, yet when they are all colledted and aflemblcd together, as at a general rendezvous where they all difembogiie themfelves into the river St. Lawrence, the whole emboucjiure of this multitude of waters is not larger than the * Seine at Paris ; the waters of each refpedive mafs not only the leflcr ftreams, but the main general body of each going through this pontinentin every courfeand diiedion, have, by their approach to each other, by their inter- locking with each other, by their communication to every quarter and in every dire<5lion, an al- liance and upity, and form one mafs, a one wiiole. hi Let any one raife in his mind the idea of fome low country incapable of being travelled, except on the roads, caufeways, dykes, &c. that have been made through it, and that thcfe roads have throughout the whole coiintry a communica!ion which conne of a command throughout tl.e whole country ; and whoever becomes polTefled of them has the command of that country. Now let any one behold and confider the con- tinent of America, as it really is a wildcinils of woods and mr untains. inc.ip.ibL' of land carri.igc in its prefcnt narural unw; ought form, a : not even to be travelled on f^ot, unlefs bv h^ good will of the inhibitants, as fuch tr?' ', g in thofe woods and mountains is pjrp tiiai'v and unavoid- ably liabh to amb ilea !es, and r<> the having the communication from ihe one part to the otliercut cfF. Let fuch p( rfon alfo know, ti.at the waters for thcfe reafons hove ever been the only roads that the inh-ibitants ufe, and until art and for^e make ethers, arc theonH' roads t^at any body f-f people can m rr. Tal take. Compjrc this ftate of coun- try wl:h what is above ('efcribeci, and the fame conclufion, mutaiis mutanu,', will b<; fouiid to be derived from it. Seing this, as faft; and experience fliewr, it to be, let liirh pcrfon i\xn recoll,(^ whit is faid above of the commu: icition and alliance amor.gll the feveral warers of this continent — of the unity, one ma's, and one \vho!e, whicli they form ; — ; he ( 9 ) he will f^c in a ftrong light how the wntry ele- ment cla js and holds dominion over this extent of land } that the great lakes which lie upon it? bofom on one hand, and the great river MifTi- fippi and the multitude of waters which run into ir, form there a communication, — an alliance or dominion of the watry clement, that commands throughout the whole; that thefe gnat lakes ap- pear to be ibe throne^ the centre cf a {Icminion, whofe influence, by an infinite number of rivers, creeks and ftreams, extends itfelf throup.h all and every part of the continent, fupportcd by the communication of, and alliance with, the waters of Miffifippi. If we give attention to the nature of this coun- try, and the one united command and dominion which the v/aters hold throughout ir, we (hall not l^e furp:iz('d to find the French (though lb few in number) ii poflcfnon of a povvcir which commands rhs country; nor on the other Iiand, when we coiik,' to coniider tie rat re (>f ihii taflern part of Americi, on which t'le E if];lilli are feitled, if we cive anv de!2:ree of .;t.ctr.tion to the fads, fniil we be iurp'ifed to li'ul them, though fo nuincrous, to hww^. h little and ianji-'i I a power of commird t'vcn withia tr.e i-'.untry where rh^'y are actually fettled. I lay a ver) (Irong realbn for this fad arife. out of ilie d'tvVrent na- ture of i\v: country, prior z^t ony cor.fi c.ction of the dilf. rence ariling Iron^i d.e natt.;re()l '!i.-ir oo- vernme't, and their xncJiod cf ti'/m;;^ of this cou:.trv. I Y A. i. 1 1 ', J I J '^ 1/ I I', I i * ( 10 ) This country, by a communication of waters which are extended throughout, and by an alliance of all thtfe into a one whole, is capable of being and is naturally a foundation of a one fyflem of command : Accordingly, fuch a fyftcm would, and has actually taken root in it under the French. Their various pojfeffions throughout ihis country have an order, a connexion and communication, an unity, a lyftem, forming fafl into a one go- vernment, as will be fecn by and by : Whereas the Englifli fettlements have naturally, neither order, connexion, communication, unity, nor fyftt-m. The waters of the tra(5l on which the Knglifli are fettled, are a number of rivers and bays, unconn-fted with, and independent of each other, eichcr in intereft or natural communication within land. The vague difTipated random fettle- ments therefore, fcattered up and down thefe, will have no more communication or conne(5lion amongft themfelves, than there isamongft the va- rious independent dreams they are fettled upon.— This country, inftead of being united and ftrength- rned by the alliance of the waiers which run in it, is divjc'ed by ihcfe feveral various ftreams, de- tached from, and independent of each o:hcr, into many feparate deiaclied trads, that do naturally and have adualiy become the foundation of as many feparate and independent in'.enfts. As far as the communion of the waters of any river, cr (he communion there mi'.y be bet\«.een any two rivers extends, fo far extended will anfe a communication of fylleip, of intereft and com- mand ; the ffcrlements therefore on this rrai^ of ccuuti y, would be naturally, as tht-y are actually, tlividej ' 'I ? ( I' ) divided Into numbers of little weak, nnconrefled, independent governments — Were I to point out the natural divifion of thcfe trafts and interefts, it would point out a new divifion of the govern- ments of the colonies, which is not the purport of this paper. The confideration of this country, fo far as it is connefted with, or has any efFeft upon the in- terefts and politicks of the Englifli fettlements, prefents itfeif to view divided in two ideas, jfl^ The country between the Tea and the mountains : 2dly^ The mountains thcmfelves. The firft part is almoft throughout the whole capable of cul- ture, and is entirely fettled : The fecond, a wil- dernefs, in which is found here and there in fmall portions, in comparifon of the whole, folitary derached fpots of ground fie for fettlements : the reft is nothing but cover for vermine and rapine, a den for wild beafts, and the more wild favages who wander in it. Thus far of the fite of the country, as it be- comes the foundation of a natural dilTerence be- tween theEnglilhand French poflclTions in Ame- rica. The next point that prefents itfeif to con- fideration is, the manner in which the Englifh and French have taken polftflion of, and fettled in this country : And, j/, Of the French. The French in their firfl: attempts to fettle themfelves in thefe pans, endeavoured to fene- ^rate by force of arms, to fix their pofTeirions by military 'i^. I! < I • 4 ■ ( '^1 1 .■ '-^ r.l ■'ill M ( 12 ) tnllttary expeditions, till throug'i the perp'titrJf and conftant abortion of thi 'e mtafures, and ::''.; certain difappointment and fure lofs that attended them, they through a kind of dcl'pair gave over all thoughts of fuch attempts. Whether the dear-bought experience that they learnt from hcnce» or whether defpair leaving their colony to make its own way, or whether rather, the right good fenfe of Mr. Frontenac and Mr. Ca'liers led them to it, is neither eafy nor material to dercrmine ; but fo it was, they fell afterwards into that only path, in which the real fpirit and nature of the fervice led. The native inhabitants (the Indians) of this country are all hunters •, all the laws of nations they know or acknowledge, are the laws of fporting, and the chief idea which they have of landed poflelPiOns, is that of a bu^it. The French fettlers of Canada univerfaliy commenced hunttrs, and fj infinuatcd themfcivts in-.o a connecTcioa wi.h thtfe natives. While the French kept ihemfelvcs thus allied y/ith the Indians as lujniers, and communicaed with them in, and ftridlly maintained ail the laws and rights of fportinsj, ihc In dans did ealily and readily admit them to a local landed pofT^fTion ; a grant which rightly a.iquind and applied, they are always ready to ii'akc, as none o! th.e ri;:hts or intercfts of their nation are hurt by i: : While on the contrary, they experience and receive grcit ulc, berelic, and profit, fron tl^.e commerce which the liuropea.,b therein eftabhlli with them. Wbcrt.us ( '3 ) Whereas on the contrary, the Englifli with an infatiable third after landed poiTcflions, have gotten deeds and other fraudulent pretences grouiided on the abufe of treaties, and by thefe deeds claim poircfTion even to the exclufion of the Indians, not only from many parts of their hunt- ing grounds, (which with them is aright of great confequence) but even from their houfe and home, as by particular inftances from one end of the con- tinent to the other might be made appear. Up- on thefc pretences they have driven the Indians off their lands. — The Indians unable to bear it any longer, told Sir William Johnfon, that they believed foon they Jkould not he able to hunt a hear into a hole in a iree, but fame Englijhman would claim a right to the property of it as being his tree: — And whatever the great proprie- tors, patentees, an j land jobbers, may affirm or affedl to prove, or however angry they may be with thofe who declare this truth ; this is ihtfole ground of the lofs and alienation of the Indians from the Englifh inrereft, and this is the ground the French work upon. — On the contrary, the French pofleflions interfere not with the Indians rights, but aid and affift their intereft, and become a means of their fupport. — This will more clearly and better appear, by a more minute and parti- cular attention to the French meafures in thefe matters. i/. No Canadian is fuffered to trade with the Indians, but by licence from the government, and under fuch regulations as that licence ordains. The main police of which is this. The govern- ment divides the Indian countries into fo many hunts, 1 I ■ 4 ■■:f| •r 1 t H S H I C '4 ) hunts, according as they are divided by the In- dians themfelves. To thefe Icveral hunts there are licences rcfpeftively adapted, with regulations rcfpefling the fpirit of the nation whofe hunt ic is i refpeding the commerce and intercft of that nation -, refpeding the nature cf that hunt. The Canadian having fuch licence, ought not to trade and hunt within the limits of fuch hunt, but according to the above re^^ulations ; and he is hereby abfolutely excluded under fevere penal- tics to trade or hunt beyond th^lb limits, on any account whatever. It were needlcfs to point out the many good and boneficial effefls arifing from this police, which gave thus a right attention to the intereli of the Indians, which obfcrved the true fpirit of the alhance in putting the trade upon a fair foun- dation, and which mainiained all ti:e rights and Jaws ot the hunt, that the Indians mull mdifptno fibly cxadt. But the confquence of the mod important frrvicc which arills out of this poHce, is a regu- lar, definite, prccile, allured knovvlcuge cf ihc country. A man vvhof- intercfl: and commerce are cir- cumfcribed within a certain dcpirtrntinr, will pry into, and fcrutinize every hole and corner of that didrid : Wh-n fuch a liunc is by tlide means as full of thefe coiireurs dcs boix, as the cominerce of ic vt^iil bear, whocvir applies for a i'.cence mult betake himlclf to fume new traCc or i:U..C, I ( >5 ) hunt, by which ag lin begins an opening to new difcover.es and frefli acquifitions. When the French have by thefe means efta- blifhed a hunt, a commerce, alliance and influ- eiice amoi-gft the Ind.ans of that tra(5t, and have by th' fe means acquired a knowledge of all the '.viuers, paiTes, portiges, and polls, that may h Id the command cf that country, in fliorr, a militciry knowledge of ihe grounc], then, and not b fore, they ojk and obtain leave of the Indians to Ihcngchcn rhcir trading houfe, to make it a fort, to put a garrifon in ir. In this manner, by becoming hunters and cre- ating alliances with the Indians as brothtr-fportf- men, by founding that alliance upon, and main- taining it (according to the true fpirii of the Indi- an l.iw of nations) in a right communic;Uion and exercife of the true inrereftof the hunt, they have infinuated themlielves into an influence over the Indians, have been admit'ed into a Imded pof- fefiion, and by locating and fixing tliole poflelTi- ons in alliance with, r.nd by the friendly guidance of the waters, whole iufl'.Kncc 'X^ends throughout the whole, they arc i ecome poHiflld of a real ii terefi in, and real command over the country. Tluy have thus throu^^lout t'^^e country fixty or fcvemy forts, and almolt as many fctdement?, whit,h take the lead in tlic commar.d of the coun- try, net even one of zvh cb fortSy ivithcut the above true /pint of policy^ could ibay fupp^rl^ with all the e^prr.ce anclfrce of CaiiaJa : Nor all t!:e power of France could ; 'tis the bdiin inhered alone, that dues maintain thcfc poUs. Having i" ml t" Jt ■ -.1 ■' , 1. .1 ri m •> t '4i i ( i6 ) Having thus got poflcflion in any certain traft, and having one principal fort, they get Jeave to build other trading houfes and entrepors, at length to ftrengthen fuch, and in fine to take pofleifion of more and more advanced pofts, and to fortify and garrifon them, as little fubordinace forts under the command of the principal one. Though thefe principal forts have fubordinatc forts dependent on them, they are yet independent of each other, and only under the command of the governor general ; there is a routine of duty fettled for thefe, and the officers and commanders are removed to better and better commands : What the pa-ticulais of this are, and of the diftri- bution of the troops, I have not yet learned as to Canada j but in general the prefent cftablifliment for this (ervice is three thouTand men, of which there are generally two thouf\nd three or four hundred effjdtive. I have not been able to get an exa6l lift of the forts in Canada, bui ci'.e following is fufficient to fkttch out the manner in which they conduct this fervice. It will be necefTary firfl: to defcrlbe the line which now divides Cana*ia and Louifiana in the Illinois country. It begins from the Oubafch at the mouth of Vermilioii river, thence to the pod called Le Rochcr on the river Prsorias, and from thence to the ^eninfula formed at the conttutnce of Rocky river and the MilTifippi. Forts lA ( '7 ) Forts in Canada* c r- i St. John. St. Frederick, \ ^.J^^^^ ^^ TiconderSga. { L* Prefentation. Frontenac, s Les Coudres. iQuintez. XT ? Torento. N. AGAR A. I o„^ ^j^^^_ MissiLiMAKiNAc, and its Dependencies, rPrefq' Ifle. Du QuESNE, < Riviere au Bceuf. (.O.ie other. Le Detroit, Two The Post Mi amis and Sioux. Two or three. One on the River Michi- NiPiGON, ^ pocoton. One other on the Long River. St. Joseph, and one other Le Petit Paris. Alibi. Saguenay. St. Johns, in Nova- Scotia. In all about fixty. Mod of thcfe forts have fine fettlements round them, and they do entirely fupport themfelvesj ic .■ 5 )> ■ ■ ■■! \- i' ( i II r- i)'. Wi^^ ( iS ) it being ufu.il for both officers and men to defer receiving their pay till the garrifon is relieved, which is generally in fix years j and fcarce any thing is fent to thefc garrifons, but dry goods and ammunition. There is a fine fettlement at Detroit, of near two hundred families ; a better ftill at St. Jofeph, of above two hundred ; a fine one at St. An- toinc, many fine ones about Petit Paris. But the French government does not encourage thefe, and has, by a pofitive ordonance, abfolutely for- bid any one to make a fcttlenKnt without fpecial licence 1 which mfafure they found necefiary to cike, in order to rellrain the Canadians from totally abandoning Canada. The cftablifbments, pofis, and fettlements of Loulfiana, are ab follow : Tl^irty (avcn companies of fifty men each, and two SwifiTe companies of Icventy five men each. 1. The garrifon cf New Orleans: f;t French - goo S.viire - - 75 Out of which are ^larrifoned the outpofis of Ealiiff, and other fm di polls. Drtour Anglo;s : The ,:,irrifon of this co^fi^;^ of four companies, \ nicli have their tour of duty wiih the MoUac, Illinois, &c. Mobile, 975 ( 19 ) Brought over gy$ Mobile, eight French companies, and one Swifle ----- 47^ " it i» necefTary to fix this number here, ''* on account of the proximity of Panfa- *• cola, on one part, and of the Englifli "' on the other j as alfo to influence the In- *• dians, as there are at our meetings and '* treaties, held here annually with'the In- *' dians, fometimes 2, fometimes 3,000 " Indians prefent *.'* Tombechbe,]^"^ ^°'"P^"y "^^J^ ^ ^^' Alibamous '•'} tachment from the garri- fon of Mobile. 30Q Four companies of this garrifon relieved every year. The Illinois, fix companies • • 'Caflcafias. Fort ds Chartres. the polls were, I Village de Si Philip. m f T " , 'S Praire de Rocher. ' Cohokias. Village de Sc. Jeiine Veuve* the Akanfas, a lefs principal puil, one company - - - « ^o The Natches, one company - * - 50 Vi. ■I r :1 • Mr. Vaudreuil to the court. z 185Q The im 111'.. ii;- ." ( 20 ) Brought over 1830 The Nachltoches, one company - - 50 for the prcfcnt on account of their not be ng able to prevent dclcrtions to the Adages, a Sp.niifh pc^ft within 7 leagues of it. Ti ey propo'e, wlicn they (hall be able to fettle a cartel wich the Spanifh governor, and his Majefty approves of it, to fix two companies there, it bwing a frontier poft. The PoiiK Coupe, one company - - 50 The German Settlement, one company - 50 Total 2,000 |: m m m K If The fctrl-^ments of Loiifiana in general, pro- duce Indigo cq'.Kil to the Guatinialo, which ad- mit ttircc cjttiiigs or crops annually i rice in great aoun .iance, and cotton, br.r they tind great difficulty in clcinfing it from the keds that accompany its growth here •, tobacco, pirch, tar ; they have a iradc* to ihf ir own iflinds with flour, pi^as beans, i:Mcd (.r c^irne 1 wild hecf, nnd pork, hams of bo;^s and bears, tallow, gri'.ifc^, oil, hiJes, lum- ber, planks i tiv-y have alfo myrtle 'vax, which tiioy txport ro Jr.ince; they do alfo, in fmail quanri;it?, mmuficturc the buffalo v^ool. Fioni the- abiiFidance add natural giowih of mulberry trees, they !uive their thoughts rurricd r.o filk ; they have iro/, 1: a.J, copi^er, and co;'ls in abundar.ce ; bcfides i:'.e fki.-,s ar.d coarfe furs, ari!in:; tra;n the liulian trade and luinti tliey had, To long ago as in the year 1744, fvtral vcilels at their porr, which cinie Iroin Floiida and Havanna, and the bay of Ca:iipeachy, to trade fur boards, lumber, pitch, 7 ^'Y tl4 ( 21 ) dry good*;, and live (lock, to the value oF 1 50,000 pieces of tight. They hacl a fettled treaty of commerce with the Royal Company of Ilavanna, by the terms of which, the French wre to deli- ver them at Louifiana, pitch at two piaftrcs a bar- rel, tar at three piaftres a barrel, boards at two reals each. Their fettlements towards the mouth of M?7ifippi, are almofl; dcferted and ruined, the fettlers not being able to fupport the cxpence of banking againft the inundations of the lea and land floods. Mr. Vaudreuil fays, in a letter to the court, September 28, 17^2, he thinks it would be much better, to defer for fome years attempting fettlements here, till the gromd be more raifcd and elevated by the accretion of foil, as it has been three feet in fifteen years lalt paft. I mention nothing here of the pofls of New Orleans, Detour Anglois, and Balife, nor of Mobile i becaufe, being marine pofts, the con- fideration of them does not come within the fcope of this paper. I will obferve, that they re- quire oi.r particular attention : They are become the ports to which all the men and ftores, wi'.h which the country of the Ohio is furnifhed, are fcnt annually and conftantly •, as from New Or- leans to this country, the way is much fhorter than through Canada, the dillance being at the mod, where they arc obliged at low water to follow all the winding? of the river, not more than 340 French leagues; but at the ufual times that they f.nd their convoys, not more than 300, and to which they can go up with decked floops, nine or ten months in the year. The tr.ide comes down fro:n the Illinois about the laitcr end of Z 2 De- »' ..: '4 tt'; ( . • 'ii "i- .1 ■I ri r,i ( « ) December, and goes up towards the latter end of Jaiiu.try, or tlic beginning ot K-'oruary. I fliall dcfcribe the pofl of Tombechbc, from Mr. VaudKuil's letters. ' h \ « i April lo, J7ji. J:mu»ry 6, Tills pod: leftrains the Alibam6us,TaIapouches, Abekas, an>l Cov^etas, prcfwrves ihc communica- tion between the waters of Mobile, Ahb.imous ri- ver and the Miflirifipi i 'tis nea fHiry for us in order to ktcp lip amrngfl the Chadlaws, the fpirit of warring ugainft the Chitkafaws; tis alfo neccf- firy as an entrepot in our ex| editions againft the ofl..i<.r28,^'i'ckafiWs and Englifli. From h. ncc we can ';h6. go within fcven or eight Kagucs of the villages of the Chickafaws with periaugoes, by the river Tomb( chbe, over whu h, fcven or eigiit leagues of land carriage, we can eafily go by land, and carry c»)horns and light fieltl pieces : from hence alf) it is, that we mull: fend out our parties ^T.u^h 6, a;:;ain(b the Carolinians*, yet th's fort beieg a '-'!?• hravy exp.nce, and with great difli.ulty fupplied, and being lo fuiPtid as to be t>f no ufe to iunder t!ic i'.nglilli from gi/mg to the Chadtaws, when ihit nation is iiuhneil to receive tfiem, as they may c niitdl their convoys a little above, or a little below ti.e fort, without our being able to September oppofc them, lliis being tl.c cafe, '\cre the *u »7S«' Chac'-taws emircly laured in our intereO, were thf Chickal.ivvs d.lboyed, and hu.l th-- Knglfh loll and given up all hopvs (f ftrcngthcuing themftlvts i.i that quarccr, as we hope to efieift, I then think iC would be no lo-ger neceffary to j3niin:7 12, keep up this polt i yct till I lis be effctSlf d, it mull be kept up, and more cipecially as by fup- prefliiJg '.j*« H ( 23 ) prefTing it now, the Chad:aws wou'd think the m- felvcs abandoneJ. I'his poft, as wtll us Aliba- ^^«v io» moiis, (liould always be vi(5buallcd for a year, *''**' led by any revolution in Indian ailairs, the lo. d to it IhouiJ be obftruilcd. As to the J ofts in the Illinois country, I a^ not able to dclcribe them particularly i but what appears to be of more confcqucnce, 1 coIle6t from Mr. Vaudreuil's letters, (from i743> to 1752) the general idea upon which the lortifying and fccuring that cuuntry is founded. The firft fort of their plan, in fonifying the Hv •». Illinois ''uuntry, was on the pei.infula, inlat. 4 1 • au'/uu 30, 30. This was a che- k upon, and barrier agaiiill '"44- the fcveral nations of Sif)ux (not tlien in confe- deracy with thtm.) 1 he next poll in this plan was on the river Dorias, (fo called ufier the jundlion of the Illinois river and Theakiki) whicli would be of more elpccial ufe, if fituated on the north of the Lke on that river, whence the roads divide, that lead to Mallilimakitiac and St. Jo- feph : This hi- defLribes as the key to the 11. .li is C'.juntfy from Canada, The next is the garrifoning and ft rtifying the country, from the mouth ot Milfouris to K.fka- flas, w! ere rhcre are five polls. Mr. Vaudr.uil m,v t^, thinks that Kafkafias is the principal, as it is the ';5«- ) afs and inlf-t of the convoys of Lijuillaiia, as alio of thofc of Canada, and of die traders anii hunters (f the poll Detroit, and that of the greats ft part I hi fi 'IM tf the lava«^e nations. ^ I The;c 'ill ■' 11 : •'i ■. C 24 ) There is alfo at this port, a river \^herc the floops whic ii come iVom New Orleans, may be i'allly laid up in winter. Mr. MTar- Buc Ml*. M'Carty, who was on the fpot, thinks r-y t" Mr. jj^g enviions of Chartres a far better fituation ro V iiinriiilp, jjnuary lo.plice this pofl IP, provicli'd thcic were more m- *'5"* habitants. He vifiud fort Chartres, found it very good, only warning a few rt-pairs, and thini cro.ichmenrs, and would obftrud their dtfigns in '7j'' alienating the Indians of the Ohio ; it would re- ftrain the incurfions of the Cherokees, on the ri- ver Ouaballi, and river Mifiifippii it would alio check the Chicha'aws, and would by thefe means itcure t!ie navij^ation of the Mifiifippi, and the November communicatiun with our pofts. He htre ex- '*' '''*^" prcflcs tlie g eatefl: uneafinefs, (as the IVench court did n )c care ro engage in the me^-.Tjie at thit time) iefl the Enghlh Ihould build a fort here, in which cafe, fays he, we nnid give up all communicatif n with the Illinois ; ior the Kng- lilh woi.Id l)ecome maders of ail tlie navigation ct that country. ^jl'^J' Mr. J<;nqni-re propofs another fore at the moudi oi" Rocky riVvT, (this is in the govern- ment the be ( 25 ) ment of Canada) which, he fays, would fcciirc the tranquillity of the fouth of Canada. 1 hi^, lays Mr. Vaudreuil, together witli the p' II o( the Illinois, would rcftrain and beconv^ a ban if r agaiiifl: the Englilh, and cover all our I/uiian nl- Jies to the well, from our enemies, the En<^lifli, the Cherokecs, Cacawbas, and others. By thefe pnfts above, and the pt (Is of the Miamis, this whole country is fccurcd and for- tified. This C(;untry, fiys Charlevoix, (in 1721) will become tlie granary of Louifiana, an! in 1 746 we find H ac5tual!y becoming fo • tor in that year it fent down to New Orlea . .y ton of flour; in 1747, we find it well lurnilhed with provifions, and having fine crops ; and in a let- ter of Mr. VaudreuiTs 1748, we have an ac- count of its produce and exports — flour, corn, baci^n, bans, both of bears a; d hogs, cornfd pok and wild btcf, myrtle wax, cotton, tallow, I'-ath.r, tobacco, lead, csppt-r, io-v.e fiia!! ruar.- tiiy (f bulTalo wool, venifon, p')ulirv, I e,r;- jjri-aiV, oil, f!>;ins, and f me coaric furs •, ;i: d wc fiid a regular commiinicatio-'. lettlcd with New Orleans, hy ronvovs «, hich coive down annual!'/ the latter er.d if December, and rcLura ac latell by the miJdL if February. Thus the French do not rnlyy2'///.frcd o! the ccmviand cf this coumry, Z 4 By I? ' ' 1 n m ;■ i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) U 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^ 1^ 1^ 12.2 HI ^ «« I us 1^ ■10 I 2.0 U 11.6 HiotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4503 ^v '^ <> ( 26 ) By thefe means, I repeat ir, have they created an alliance, an incereft with all the Indians on the continent i by thefe means h.wc they acquired an influence, a command throughout the coi ntry : They know too well the f^.irit of L dian poli- ticks, to aflp*.<5l a fuperiority, ag "er^ment, over the Indians i yet they have in rcaity and truth of more folid efffH:, an irP, -i ce, an afcendeny *, in all the coun'ii- of all uie indi^.ns on the con- tinent, and IcaJ and direc'^ their ir-ciafurcs, not even our own allien, the Five miions, rX' rpced; unlefs in that remans of our intL-idt, which, partly the good efFcds of our trading houfe at Ofwego, and partly General Jol.nlon, has pre- ferved to the Englifh, by the ti^'ear cftcem and, high opinion the Indians have of his fpirir, truth, and honour. ♦ I mention nothing here of the influence of the Jefuit, miflionaries, becaufe nothing is meant lefs than religion hy them. :f East{ ( 27 ) East. In the French Intercft, Elquimaux, St. John's. Micmacs. Penobfcots. Noridgwalksi Abenakais. St. Francis IpdiuVt Cachnewage. Scaatecoke. Ofwegatchie* Senekes. Onondaga). Cayuges. Oneidei. Tu/karoras. } Suppofed to be in the Britifli Inte- rcft, but greatly debauched by the French. Mohawk*. 7 Wholly in the Bri- Mehikanders. S tifli Intereft. C Loftto thcEnglifli, ■ ^ except a few on * ^ Sufqoehanab. Delawares. Shawenefe Catawbas Cherokues Chickafaws ' Suppofed in the En* lereft, but debauched French, r Suppofed in ' \ glifl)Ini( '• 1 much de **• C by the F West. French Sioux. NadonelTerles, Illinois* Tawigtwaei. Miamis. Piankefshanaei, IVawyaAaei. Picquet. itaikuQ^ies. Cawetas. Abekas. Talaponches. Aiibamous. \ The four Na- tions of the Creeks, as above. North. Wholly French, Afljnipoeles. Adirondacks. Algonkins. Outawawaes. Cbononderdes or Hurons. Meflifagues. , Outagamies. Mifcontiris. Sakis. Chriftanaux. Almipogins. Niptfenes. } Skaniadere- roenues. South. Ofagaes, Akanfaes^ ChaAaws Panimaes. Adages les. I ws. > Wholly French. The Englilli American provinces are as fine fittlements as any in the world ; buc can fcarce be called pojfejftons, becaufe they are fo fettled, as to have no poflfeflion of the country : They are fettled as farmers, miller?, fifliermen, upon bays and rivers, that have no communication or con- nection of intertrft, confcquently, the fetders be- longing to thefe rivers, bays, &c. have no na- tural connidtion. But v' ► .1 h I'- t A. ^ .-.^- ..■.,.* ;-. - Ji^h^i ,1 il !.H, i! I *! : i (; 28 ) But further, the fettkrs upon any one river or fet of waters, which waters having a conneflion, might become the natural feat of a one inrereft, are yet fo fettled, that they have no connexion nor union amongfl: each oiher, fcarce of comu- nion, much lefa of defence. Their fcttlements are vague without defign, icattered, independent ; they are fo fettled, that from their firuaticn, *tis noteafy fgr them to unite in a fyflem of mutual defence, nor does their in-, tercft lead them to fjch fyUem, and even if both did, yet through the want of a police to form th^m into a community of alliance, unity, and adivity amongft themfelves, they are helplefs and defencelefs ; and thus may the Englilh be confidered as having, for many hundred- miles, a long inddfen/ible line of frontiers, prior to the con- fidcration of the nature of the enemy they may be engaged with, .,...„ 3i/)'> The (late of the f.rvice as arifing from the above flidls. It appears from the fiiO: cad of the eye, that the Engiifli, without fome preparative ineofurest will not be able to carry ifito txecuiion any mili- tary expeditions againft the French in the upper p^irt of America; becaufe fom any pcli where ihey can form an army, and lay in ali its florr.% ammunition a .d proviilon, thty mud undi'itake for many hu::drfd miles, along, d;ingerous, an.l tirefiime march, by ro:id3 the moil harraffing, and oFalmoft iniuperable difficulty, through a wii- cerncfs of woods and mountains', without mar^a- ziucs «■ { 29 ) zines of forage, &c. or any other afTiftance ; through a counry liable to ambufcades, and all the ftrokes of war ; through a country whereof the French are pofllffed of the command, or if through any part where their perfonal command does not adlually exift, yet where Indians, (the mod dangerous enemies in fuch a wilderncfs) where the Indians, I fay, are mailers, and pjf- fcfied of every hold and pafs. To put this matter in a dill flronger light, let any one confider, whence arifes the danger of marching tiirough a fortified country; whence the danger of a general's leaving behind him any enemy's fort or garrifon, not taken. — It is that I he enemy, who has pofleffion of thefe, has the command of the whole country, except the fole confined fpor, where theftronger army is pre- fent, can forbid and reftrnin the inhabitants from furniflung you with fuch afliftance as the country is otherwife capable of affording; can, by failles from thefe polls, cut off and intercept all your parties and convoys, all your intelligence ; can cut off all communication with your magazines, and your own pofts ; can perpetually harnifs and obftru(5t your march, and return within cover, before any fuperior party, fent out from the main body, can reach them ; you arc alfo always liable. to furprize, even within your c.imp. A march from any poll where the Englilh can at prrftnt form any army, and collrc:! its ftores, ammunition, provifions, ciniages, &c. through the country, as at this day above circumdanced, is, "'A ■'^'1 it 1 i^ Mi ,i) ( 30 ) is, literally and precifely in its eflfedt, the fame thing as the march here defcribed. While the Indians, whofe chief art of war is that of forming ambufcadrs, who have acquired, from praftice and art, a peculiar method of fe- cretly traverfing the woods and lying concealed in them ; — while the Indians, whofe military fkill of fighting either fingle or in parties amidft thefe woods, renders the fituation to them equivalent to fighting under cover -, — while the Indians thus trained, and incredibly expert in the arr, can at any time fally out from the holds, fartnefies, lurking places, and ambuflies, in which the country abounds, (and all which they know) nay, even from the cover of the woods, and drive in all your fmall out parties, prevent fuch fo- raging as the country will aflfbrd, intercept and obftruft your convoys, cut off your communi- cation of intelligence, provifions and fuccours, and retire again within cover, out of danger of any purfuit, and continue thus contlantly to har- ra!s, and, perhaps, furprize your army : whiie ihcy can do thi% and (believe it) all this they can do and wii! do, your army is to all intei;its and purpofes, Tas to the war with the Indians) marching through a country of forts and for- trefres. Ler any one here, compare this (late of th? Cafe with the c.iufe and reafons of the failure of the feveral military expeditions on this conti- nent, and its truth will be ftiil more evinced. As then no general woulJ think of making a campaign in any country, co reach which, he mull march t'.^rough an enemy's fortified counrry, without \ §' a ( 31 ) Without feme previous meafures to maintain hii march and fecure his retreat through fuch : fo here CI repeat it) there are fome previous mea- fures nccejfary, TYitfirJi of thefe meafures is, the fettling the police of our alliance with the [Kenunftioni] or Five-nation confederacy, upon a permanent, folid, and cffeflual bafis, fo as to reftore and re-eftablilh our intereft with them. The fecond is, taking poflelTion of, and forti- fying a fyftem of advanced pofts, entrepo.s, viz. magazines whereat to colled (lores and provi- fions, camps from whence (within a reafonable diftance and by a pradlicable way) to make our fortis. Thirdly^ The fecuring the dominion of lake Ontario for the prtfcnt, and layipg a foundation for the like dominion on lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. Let now any one confider the above ftating of the form of the country that the Enelifh inha- bit, and in which the operaions or our arms mud lie : Let him raife in his mind fcriouQy, the precife idea of the native inhabitants who poflefs this country, and of the kind of operations by which we are, and (hall be attacked, and by which we may be able to defend ourfelves : Let any one, I fay, by a ferioiis attention to the above fads, form to himfelf that idea, which an adual and pradical knowledge of the country Would give him : Let him then be told a me- lancholy ^-' ' '* U-il m \m w I •n I 4 i ft I I I ( 32 ) lancholy truth, that almoft all thofe Indians, whole friendfliip and alliance were once our befl: and fecurcft barrier, are now by the French dc- bauclied and alienate^l from us, nay even turned againft us, and become the fcrvile inftruments of the French robberies, maflacres, and treacherous incroachments : Let then his eye be turned upon the date of our back inhabitants, fettled in a vague, iinconneded, defencelcfj manner, up to the mountains, to the very mouth of the dens of thele lavages. Any one attentively confider- ing the above fafts, will fee the Englilh colonies in not only a weak defcncelefs ftate, but expofcd to, and aimoft at the mercy of a very powerful f nemy : Confidering this, ar.d the above fadts, he would fee how fupeificial, wild, and falfe an i 'ea of the fcrvice that is, which would create a barrier by a line of forts ; a barrier that might as well pretend to cut off the bears, wolves, and f )xes from coming within it, as the Indians ; a barrier that would have no more efteft than fo m:iny fcarcrows, unlcfs you could adtually build anoil'.er Chinefc wall, and fo another, ftill ad vaiiciig your wall-fence, as you advanced your fectleniLnts i a barrier that would take moc troops to man it, than the country inclofed within ic woLild take people to cultivate it; a line of 13 or 14. hundred miles, that is at: laft no line at ;.!!; he: would, I lay, fee this meafure not only i.npic'u^icabl'^, but inefft dual : Nay, were it prac- tic:ib!c, and could it take efiedt, yet the infup- Vortal-.ie cxpence of it, would render it impolTible t'> be engaged in. Any one reafoning on the iJeas as above ftated, and knowi.ig them to be arc, fcic^s, would turn his what t!iev really thoughts ( 33 ) thoughts on thofe objcdt; which experience, fadV, and reafon point out to be one part of our bar- rier: Namely, a real and (lahle alliance witlj the Indians, iormed on fuch articles as fhouki give us the fainc kind of poHTenion and command in the Indian country, the fame influence in Indian affairs, as the French have. And, Fir/ly As to that part of our barrier, and the fervice which is connefled with, and depends on our alliance and intereft with the Kenundtioni, the confederacy of the Five nations, I can only- repeat what I have faid formerly on this fub- jed:. * " The original natural form under which the Indian country lay being that of a forert, (locked not with fheep, or oxen, or horfes, not with beads of labour and domeftic animals, but only with wild beafts and game, all that the country afforded for food or raiment muft be hunted for : The Indians, therefore, would conftantly be, as they were in fa6t, not land-workers, but hunters ; not fettlers, but wanderers ; they would there- fore, confequently never have, as in fad they never had, any idea of property in land ; they would confequently never have, as in fa£t thf:?y never had, any one common fixed intereft, r.i^v one communion of rights and adlions, one civil union, and confequently not any government ; • This propofal, amongft others, was contained in a paper, delivered by the aiithor of this memoir, to t!,e com- miflioners of all the Colonies, afTembled at Albany in 1754. and tranfraitted to government with their minutes. they 'I 'Si ^m ^>'i pi hi ( 34 ) they know no fuch thing as an admlniftrative or executive power, properly {o called, They allow the authority of advice, a kind of legiflative au- thority, but there is no civil coercion j tliey ne- ver had any one collective, afluating power of the whole, nor any magiilrate or nugiitrates to execute fuch power. But the country now appearing under a very different form, and they, the Indians, being un- der very different circumftances, arifing from trade, treaties and war, begin to feel raiher than fee, to find by experience rather than reafon, the necelTity of a civil union of power and adtion ; and that thefe circumflances have in fad;, for many years been formed, and have at length formed to them fuch a colleftive power : Thefe people are precifely in that point of circumflances, where a community, that was before only a com- munity of fociety, is becoming that of govern- ment. In all their a(5lions, therefore, of late years, whether of treaty or war, they have recurred to /ome agent to a(ftuatc this power : They are not only become capable of fuch a general leading, but their circumfl"ances require it. The circum- ftances with which they are conne(fled, had formed them into a ftate, but from the circumflances of the fociety under which they live,.ihey can never have amongfl: themfelves 2Ljlateholder\ their cir- cumflances require and look out for fome fuch i fome fuch they muft have, and if we do not find fuch for them, the French will, and are, adtually attempting it. Further, as they know not, nor acknow'' ( 35 ) Acknowledge any leading power, but that oF au- thority, there can be no nominal, vifible ap- pointment of fuch leader; they will never appoint fuch within themfelves, ncr will they ever fub- mit to any one appointed froni without. This Was the mirtake of the governor of Canada, which had like to have loft him all the Cachnu- agas two years ago. * Therefore fuch perfon or perfons only, as can acquire, or adualiy are, in pofTeQlon'of this leading power, this authority with them, can be this agents this leader^ //t/'j state holder." For this manager, this ftateholder, the gd- vernment hath appointed Sir William Johnfon j a perfon- not only the proper one, but precifcly the very and only perfon that the above circum- ftances and nature of things pointed out ; the perfon whofe knowledge of Indians, whofe influ- ence, by the opinion the Indians have of him, whofe very uncommon zeal for the intefeft of his country, whofe integrity and bravery, will, by fuch meafures as the Indians can really and in- deed truft in, if properly fupporteJ, reftore this branch of our affairs to its falutary effc■ *i ^4 I: ( 36 ) flrengthen and finally confirm fuJi our intereflf aniongd the Indians, the making little fctttements at Olwego, Niarondaquat, and isJiigara *, and at our other forts, by leave of the Indians. Secondly We fhouid then, according to good faith and truth, leave the Indians in full and free p jfllfiion of their dwelling country and hunting grounds, which the Englifh have, in the mod fo- kmn manner, confirmed to them by treaty, and of which, by the fime treaty, we have under- taken the proteftion : We lliould guaranty and protedl fuch to them, to their ufe, and alfo all their hunting-grounds. — This part of the general fcheme alio, is in fome degree carried into exe- cution, by the inftrudti )ns given by general Braddock to general Johnfon, for his direction in his late treaty with the Indiins ; which inftrU(5lions were, at the defire of general Braddock and go- vernor Shirley, drawn up by your memorialifi', having been fi.ft propofed by him. This mea- fure will beabfoUuely neccflary to preferve thefe Indians to our alliance, as may be ilen in almoft every tre.ity held with them ftnce the firft furren- der of thofe lands y it is alfo ncceffiry to fijpport ourfelves againft the weftern French Indians: This propolcd meafure will be fo far from being an impediment or hurt to our intereft, that the greatert advantages m;iy be made of it, both in the me.ins towards executing the general plan, and in the final execution of it. The ufes that Vi \ * If we had done this, or would now do k, we need ne- ver fuffer ourfelves to ttiink of abandoninfr our feveral diftant pofts, on account ot the very enormous expence of maintain- ipg them. may i I may ( 37 ) may be made of this mcafure towards the execut- ing of this plan, are. That while we arc uiulcrr- taking the protedion of the Indian country and hunting grounds, we are ailually becoming pof- fcflcd of the command of the country. Of wljich, in the wfiole, when we are poflrfiid of the com- mand and protcdlion (by means of a vtry few forts neceflary to be eredled, which I do not here mention) upon which, in part, according to the propofed colonies and fettlements, when we are fettled, the Indians will be preferved and pro- tc6ttd to their fatisfadion, and yet cannot move to war, nor even to hunt, nor fubfift, but as they maintain thtir alliance with the Englifh; and yet in conjunction with us, their whole force- by thefe means being become infinitely great«^r, may be direcled at any time into the heart of the enemy's country. Thirdly, As to the adminiftration of * Indian affairs to the louihward, the tirit flep neccifary to * Thefe Indians are the Gatawbaes, Cherokees, Chicka- favvs, and Creeks. The Creeks are in part debauched and alienated from us by the French, and attend the French trea- ties conftancly at the Mobile, el'pecially the Alibamous, Govvetaes, Talapouches, and Abekaes, and are in great mea- furc held under fubjedtion by the French forts at Alibariious, and tombeckba. The Ghickafaws are greatly weakened, and almoft ruined by the intrigues of the French within them, and by the wars with tlie Gha£laws, and other French Indians, heiiig unlup- ported by us. The Cherokees and Catawbae?, but ill fiipported by ur, ftreconftanily harrafled and warred upon by the Five Nations, at the inllance of the French influence among that people. A a 2 be / •■ •■ . 1,1 J ! 'Ml mm m .>4 M ti.: . T \ . M: •: *■!• \ hi ii'" * '■"> a ■' i ( 38 ) be taken is, that there be an abfolute (lop put to all provincial adminiftration i that therf, be no more agents, commiffaries, or interpreters, ap- pointed by, and acting under the private orders of a particular province or proprietories, from whence arifes in^crferings and confufion, and op- pofition in our Indian affairs, always to the ob- ilruding, often to the utter ruin, of the Britifh general interefl. Inftead of thefe, there fhould be one only principal commiflTary (who underftands the lan- guage and intereH, and is acquainted with the people of that nation) appointed fcverally to each nation : This perfon (hould have under him fe- veral ftorc-ktepei s and fmiths. All thefe principal commiffaries (hould be fubordinate to a one general ag^-nt or fupcrin- tendent *, who fliouid be under ihe orders of the commander in chief only, — afting by his orders and inftrudions, form'd on a one general idea of the Engli(h and Indian intereft, of our alliance, and of the meafures to he conftantly and uni- formly purfued. As the being fupplied with European goods, is to the Indians the (irft tffemial intered of their politi ks, is the fole and adlual objedl of their alliance with us, an^l the only real and per- miinent motive of their attachment to us ; and as, according to the cultom of thefe people, all pub- * JV B'. There has been one fince appointed, Mr. Stewart, a very a^ive, intelligent, and able man. lie '.# " 31 ( 39 ) lie tranfafbions are executed by exchange of pre- fents, all public frienddiip preferved and animated by public hofpitality and liberality, t!ie firfl: and fundamental objeft of the Englifli mealurcs Ihoukl be to provide for theft*, in a regular and fufficient manner. The being able to do this, is our peculiar advantage and fuperiority over the French in thefe affairs ; their nieafures are per- petually impeded and diftrefled, through their being unable to do this ; it is the only difficulty that they have not furmounted, and cannot fur- mount ; it is this that makes our alliance, if we did conduft it as we ought, the true and natural intered, the true and natural politicks of the Indians. » ■$! 1 ••ft- There ought therefore to bg concluded with thefe fouthern nations, a general alliance of friendfliip and mutual defence and afllftance, founded on the Britilh general intereft, not any provincial private one, upon a one general, uni- form plan : The iji article of which fliould be. To do juftice to all their claims, to redrpfs all their wrongs. 2dly^ To maintain with them all pyblic hofpi- tality and friendfliip, by public, annual, and oc- cafional prefents, by entertaining them, and by all other ufual affillance, to eftablifh a fair and juft trade with them, and, fettle ftores within their countrirs, or wherever is mod convenicnC for them, with a conftant fupply of gotids at a fettled and cheaper rate than the French do fup- ply them. 'I 'J ■M\ - *\ Aa3 Z^^h §. w <■ m ( 40 ) 3^/y, Mutually to alTift each other againft all attempts of the French or tl;eir Indian?, or any lioilile attenipt whatfo^yer upon either *, conftantly and faithfully to give all intelligence to each other, to mend their guns when they have oc- cafion to -.o to war, to fupply them at fuch times with ammunirion, and always to fend fome of our people along with them if they require it, except agiinft Indians in alliance wiih the Eng- lifh } and whenever the Engli(h call upon them, to go out with them to war, that the Englifli fupply fuch as want them, with arms, and all With provifions and ammunition, and defend ;ind maintain their wives and children in the mean time. This being done, a funJ capable of anfwering the above engagfmcnrs, and of conftantly and faithfully executing them, and alfo capable of fupporting an admlniftration of Indian affairs, that may work efFc dually to the preferving and inaintaining the Britlfh interell in fuch meafures, fhould be fettled on a general and permanent foundation j which may be as follows : That the feveral colonies who have hitherto condantly raifed monies for Indian affair?, as a pirivate provincial fcrvice, fhould for the future appropriate fuch monies to this general fund. Thit fuch colonies as have never raifed any monies for thefe fervices, fhould, for the future, raife and appropriate to this fund, fuch fums un- der a quota, in proportion to the benefit received, or the harm avoided, by the barrier arifing from this a*^ •* ( 41 ) tills general alliance and adminidration 6f Indian affairs; and it becomes worthy of confideration, whether the iflands in the Weft Indies, their in- tereft being infcparably connefled with that of the continent, (hould not bear a certain proportion of taxes towards the charge of the war. Matters within ourfelves being thus prepared and provided for : The firft ftep of our meafure in this branch Ihould be, eftabiilliing, by the advice of people of the bell authorities, and moft knowledge of the affairs of each nation rtfpciflively, at proper places, general magazines for this fervice, at the moft convenient entrepots between marine and in- land navigation of carriage, whence lefler ftores, refpedively fubordinate to thefe, might be beft fupplied within the Indian countries, or where is moft convenient for the Indians : As for inftance, one at Schentftady, or rather at Mount John- fon ; one either at William's ferry on the Potomac, or at Fort Cumberland on Will's creek ; — one other fomewhere on the Roanoak, or James river j — one other at fort Augufta, on the Savanah. From thefe general magazines, the feveral na- tional or tribe-ftores (hould be conftantly fup- plied : Thefe ftores ftiould be alfo public truck - houfes, and the ftore keeper be alfo a public truck mafter : Thefe to be fixed in each particu- lar nation, in fuch places, and in fuch number as hath been ufual, or will be beft for the good of the fervice, at each of which there fliould alfo be A a 4 a fmith* I?' ^!^ li ( 42 ) 9 fmith. THe commifTary appoint( d to the affair$ of each nation, to command and fuperintend all the (tore keepers, truck mailers, fmiths, and all the (lores, and to be conftantly circuiting through thefe, living always at fome one of them, and attending rcfptdively at any pf them, wherefo^ ever he is commanded by the general agent, or |}ie good of the fervipe requires: Alfo at all times (unkfs in matters of a more public general import, when the general agent is to attend) to regptiate ^nd tranfad: alj matters of bufinefs which fpch nation may have to do with any other, pr with any colpny, and tp interpret between the Indians ot the natipn he is appointed commiffary p ; and in general, within the powers of his in- ftru(5tions, to do all thofe matters and things as t)ave pfually been done by provincial agents pr }nteip:etcrs ; that the (lore keepers and fmiths do keep conftant journals, and make report to the cqmmifTary ; that the commifTaries keep a re- gular journal of thefe reports, and of their own tranfaclions, and report to the general agent, and Jie likewife to keep a journal and repord, and re- rprt to the commander in chief. The order then of the public prefents, tl^e public hufpitality and liberality being fettled, according to the nature of thole Indians and pur alliance w|th them : The method and laws cf t|ie tr^de with thetn being alfo fettled ; The next ftep to be obrerved, I take entirely from the French; and it ii a meafure, according to ( 43 ) Co my idea, abfolutely neceflary. Cbfcrving the wane of fubordination among the Indians, the French make a number of fachens, to whom they give medals and appoint them to prefide aschiefs, icaders, counfellors, fpeakers, &c. fome over jeight, fome over ten villages, and fo on as their influence extends ; being eafily, by prcfents and money, poflefled of thefe medal-chiefs, they thus eafily acquire a more uniform and ftable ma- nagement of their Indians, than the Indians even know of amongft themfelves. Let it be a (landing indruflion, faithfully in all and every matter, to execute and fulfil, ac- cording to the true fpirit and intent, the above treaty and alliance, both as to the true intereft of the Jndians, and as to the forming their alliance into a firm barrier againll the French, and ene- my Indians. The feveral people employed in Indian affairs to have conftantly in view, the fcheme of uniting the feveral nations into a confederacy like that of the Five Nations. In order to this, that there be found out and fixed upon fome one place in the back countiy, whereat the general agent fhould hold all his general treaties and parlies with thefe Indians, as the French do at the Mobil • -, which place, upon the fucccfs of this fcheme, to be the council place, — as Onondaga is to the Five Na- tions. Let any one confider how a little re- publick, formed by the Welinis on the river Ouabafch, by fome free and independent Indians, did greatly embarafs, and had well nigh ruined the Fiench affairs there. This I' ' .• 1 m ■m ; M ' - 'f - • i^'j l ib ■«« s 3i.) ; ht 11^ ■ &^ 1^ *ii ii ( 44 ) This third branch (according to my idea of our barrier) being thus or in fame fuch way provided for and adminidered ; The fourth, is, that of a fyftem of maga- zines and fortified camps as entrepots, whereat either to coliedt for defence, or from whence, within a reafonable diftance and by a ptadicable way, to make our fortis. This branch is in part provided for ; for by removing and advancing thefe ftcrcs, and at length, when a proper place is found to fix them on, thi^c would defend and command the country, getting leave to fortify them, and fo ere6l them into forts, the Indians are defended, are at the fame time held within proper terms, and we have within a friend's country, advanced pods or entrepots, that would anfwer all the purpofes of defenfive or of- fenfive operations againll the enemy ; and all that could be in- this place faid on that head, I have very minutely entered into in that part, where I explain the nature and ftate of the country and its inhabitants. I will only add their opinion of one pod, which we once had, and of another that they feared we were about to inake. Mr. Vaudreuil, governor cf Canada, in his letter to the court. May lo, 1744, mentioning the leave which the Englifh had got to build a fortified trading houfe at Ockfufques, amongfl: the Creeks, fays, " If the meafure of which this might be a foundation, Ihould be properly car- ried into execution, it would oblige the French ( 45 ) to retire from their fort of Albam6us down to the Mobile." And again in another letter, September 17, J 744, he mentions this ftore-houfe having opened a traffick with the Chaftaws, — yet this the Englifh abandoned ; and the French have now a fore on each main branch of the river Mobile ; one at Tombechbe, and fort Touloufe at Alibamous. In another letter of November, 1748, he fays, it would be very eafy for the Englifh, by means of the river Ohio, to form an entrepor at Prudehomme to fcrve them as a reireat, having the nations of the Shawoiinacs, Cherokees, end Chickafiws, on their back to fupport them. From this entrepot, it would not be difficult for them to penetrate to the Ackanfas, Panis, Gfa- ges, Padoiices, and Mifouris, and all the other nations of that country, if the pods and fctde- ments of the Illinois were broke up, as they would certainly be, did the Englifh fettle and fortify at Prudehomme ; not only the inhabitints of the Illinois would be loft to us, butalfothe inhabitants near New Orleans, would be fo greatly diftrefled for the want of the fuccours and provifions of this country, the granary to ir, by lofs of the benefit of the trade with t'lat poft, ii 'Aould be difficult for them to fulTift, ic would be impoflible to maintain the expence they muft live at without it, and they muft be obliged to abandon the colony : But fhould not patters be fo bad as this, yet, were the poll of the 1; 1 1 1 in a chief corner-ftone in the foundjtion ( f the Britifh dominion in Ame- rica : — Befider, if we remain, during the cam- paign, fupt-rior in the lake, the enemies com- xnunication with iheir fouthern pods is cut off, their connedlion with the Im^ians o\ the Five Na- tions interrupted; and we may, in the courfe of chances, pofiibly take Niagara. This amphibi- ous kind of fervice fetms adapted to the pro- vincials, efpecially thofeof New York and Rhode Illand, accuftomed to privateering and battcau- Jng : but thefe fliculd be fupporte.l by good gar- riions of regulars, in fuch polls as may be found necefTary to be taken at the entrepot on the Oneida carrying place, and at the port it fliall be found necefiary to poffefs on the lake. As to the number of regular troops neceflary for the attack on Quebec, I have not prefumed to fpeak, fcr I am no judge ; but a number of provincials will certainly be neceflary, and thefe fuch as are ufed to the water, and marine navi- gation, for fuch will be of the moft eflential fer- vice in the paflTage of the army from the lower end pf the Ifle of Orleans to Quebec, where moft of the idifficMlty and danger will lie. Now for this fervice, rone can be fo well adapted as the people of the province of Maflachufetts Bay, as they are all, in the fouthern parts, whalers and fifhermen. After fhe troops are landi^d near Quebecj numbers will ' ^5 1W b^ ( 57 ) t)e wanted, fuch as are ufed to carrying heavy lumber and timber, &c. through the woods. Now for this fervice, none can be lb well adapted as the inhabitants of New Hamplhlre, and ihe county of York, in the province of Maffachufttts Bay, who are fo perfcdtly accuftomed to the mafting fervice, that is, fetching the great mafts down from the woods •, befidcs, the people of Mafiachufetts in the counties of Hampfhire, Worcefter and York, are the heft wood hunters in America j and would therefore, difpofed in proper out-polls, be the bed adapted to the keep- ing the camp before Qi-iebec quiet from the enc? mits partizans and Indians, or perhaps in break- ing up the enemies fetdements in the country, while the regulars were taking thtir towns. For this purpofe alfo, J Ihould think, if about a hun- dred thorough wood hunters, p:operly officered, could be obtained in the county of York, a fcouc of fuch might make an attempt upon the fcttle- ments by way of Chaudier rivtr. Such a fcour, to the purpofes of alarming and keeping the enemy in abeyance there, or perhaps breaking up the fettlements, is prafticable i and, I think, witli early notice, fgch a fcout may be obtained, Thefe are the fervices our people are fitted for ; and therefore, as far as relate to the people of the province his Majefty has corpmitied to my care, I nes de- , ac in iiiarum lem, in- tionem, jerit per las pro- idhibito Dniarum .le vobis confti- giminis lis vel a bonis icatione iter fe- icefque civile?. quin- re, ac judiccs, IS ii ( 7' ) judices, magiAratus & dignitates ad caufai bcclefiafticas, & Tub potellate & forma que vdbis quinque vel pluribus vcftrum epifcopis fuffra- ganeais (archiepifcopo Cantuarienfi protempore exiftenti confulco,) videbitur cxpedire, confti- tuere & ordinare; curiafque, pretoria, & tri- bunaiia tarn ecclefiaftica quamcivilia, judiciorum formas & procedendi modos in eifdem, & ab eij appellandi in caufis & ncgotiis tarn criminalibus quam civilibus, perfonalibus, realibus & mixtis pretoriis, feu de tquo & bono, conftituendi, & que crimina, delidla vel exceflTus, contraftus vel injurias ad forum ecclefiafticum, et que ad Fo- rum civile & pretorium fpcflare debeant, deter* minare i Provifo tamen, quod leges, ordinationes, & conftitutiones hujufmodi executioni non manden- tur, quo ufque aflenfus nofter eifdem adhibcatur regius in fcriptis fub fignetto noftro fignatis, ad minus & hujufmodi aflenfu adhibito, eifque pub- lice promulgatis in provinciis in quibus fint cxequende, leges, ordinationes, & conftitutiones illas plenarie juris firmitatem adipifci, & ab omnibus quorum intereflc poterit inviolabiliter obfervari, volumus & mandamus ; liceac tamen vobis quinque vel pluribus veftrum, ut predidlum eft, leges, conftitutiones & ordinationes fic cden- das, licet promulgate tuerinr, aflenfu noftro regio, mutare, revocare Sc abrogare, aliafque novas in forma preJida dc tempore in tempus facere Sz edeie, ut predidtuni eft, novifque fmergeniibus mails vel periculis nova apponere remedia, prout decet, toties quoties expediens vobis videbitur ec ncceflarium ; 8 Sciatis • . . . ^ 7' K . Sciatis ulterius, quod conftituimus vos ^ quoflibet quinque & plures veftrum, prefatos Williirlmmn archiepifcopum Cantuarienfcm, Thomam dominum Coventrie , magni figilli noftri Anglie cuftodem. Ricardum Ebo- racenfem archirpifcopum, dOminum thefaura- rium, Henricum comitem Manchefter, Thomam comitem Arundelle & Surrie, Edward comitem Dorcheftrie, Francifcum dominum Cottington, Thnmam Edmonds militem, Henricum Vane militem, Johannem Cooke militem, et Francif- cum Windebanke militem^ commiffionarios nof- tros, ad audicndum & terminandum, juxta fanas difcretiones veftras, omnimodas querelas five contra colonias ipfas feu eorum prefedtos vel gubernatores ad inftantiam partis giavate, vel ad delationem de injuriis hinc vel inde inter ipfas vel iplbrum membra aliquod illatis moven- das, partifquc coram vobis evocare, ac partibus vel ecrum procuratoribus hinc et inde aoditi^^ plenum juftitie complcmentum cxhibcndum ; dantes vobis & quibuflibet quinque vel pluribus Veftrum, quod fi quas coioniarum predidtarum Vel aliquem prefedorum eorum ditiones alienas injure poflldendo, vel ufurpando vel inviceni fcipfos gravando, feu nobis rebelies a fide noftra fiibtrahendo, aut mandatis noftris non obrempc- rar.tes inveneritis, nobis prius in hac parte con- fultis, colonias hujufmodi & prefi:(5los eorum ob caufis predi(5las, vel aliis juflis de caufis, vci in Aiigliam redire, aut ad alia loca defignanda fiivcTiere nv.ndare, prout fccundum fanas i]t\~ cretiones veftras equum, juftum vel necefifariuin tidebitiirj Damus vos fe )refatos ienfcm, magnl 1 Ebo- lefaura- homam omitem :ington, (\ Vane Francif- ios nof- :ta fanas lias five ftos vel ite, vel Je inter tnoven- partibus aoditis ndum ; piuribus idarum alienas inviceni e no lira 3:em pe- rt!.' con- irum ob , vcl in ignanda nas dif- effariuin ( 73 ) Bamqs infuper vobis & qiiibuflibet quinquc vel piuribus veftrum, poteftatem & mandatuni ipeciale, ad omnia, chartas litcras pattntes & refcripta regia, de regionibus, provinciis, infulis vel terris in partibus cxterii colonias deduccntibus concefla, vobis duci facienda, iifque infpedis, fi que eorum furreptive vel indebite obtenta, vel per cadem, privilegia, libertates vel preroga- tiva nobis & corone noftre vel principibus extcris nociva& prejudicialia, indulta vel concefia fuifle, vobis quinque vel piuribus veftrum innotefcar, ea fecundum legem & confuetudinem regni noftri Anglie, revocari, jubere ; ceteraque agendi, qiia^ ad regimen falutare & tutamen coloniaruni predi6larum & I'ubditorum noftrorum in cifdem refidentium fuerint neceflliria •, ec ideo vobis mandamus, quod circa premifla, ad dits & loca que ad hoc provideritis, diligentes fitis inten- dentes prout decet, precipiendo ctiam & (irivtitcr injungendo, damus in mandaris omnibus & fingulis prefe6lis provinciarum, in qtias colonic predidte dedu(5te fint vel fuerint, & fingulis de coloniis ipfis & aliis quorum in hac parte intereft, quod vobis in premiilis fint intendentcs, manda- tifque veftris in eildem obtemperantes & obedi- entes, quotics ct piout ex parte vtftra fuering rcquifiti, fub pcriculo incumbent!. In cuj'js rei &c, Tefte rege apud Weftmonafterium decimo die Aprilis. Per ipfum Rcgem. Damus FINIS.