^ ■>%. ^%, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A ^ 5?^% 1.0 I.I 11.25 £ m Hi Si 2.2 1^ 12.0 1.8 1.4 6" O ^j> HiotDgraphic Sdences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STRFST (716) 873-i^03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collectioh de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques \ Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D n D n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag6e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^ et/ou pelliculAe I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es lor^ d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmies. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentaires: L'institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a iti possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquds c>-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur r~T1 Pages damaged/ IV I Pages endommagdes I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ D Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxet Pages ddcolor6es, tachet^es ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es Showthrough/ Transparence r~7] Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ I I Pages detached/ r~71 Showthrough/ Quality of print varies/ Quality indgale de I'impression I I Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best possible image/ Les p^ges totalement ou partieilement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont iti filmies i nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film6 au taux de rMuction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X T 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library of the Public ^ Archives of Canada L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grAce h la gAn^rosM de: La bibliothique des Archives pubiiques du Canada Thtf images appearing here are the best quality pc isibie considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec ie plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet* de rexempiaire film*, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de - fiimage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimie sont filmAs en commen^ant par Ie premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernlAre page qui comporte une emprelnte d'impresslon ou d'iiiustration, soit par ie second plat, salon ie cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une emprelnte d'impresslon ou d'iiiustration et en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle emprelnte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^-(meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaltre sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", ie symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, pj9te»i charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be ^tireiy included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, ii est film6 d partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images ntcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. slure, 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 'wwmiF' — w ■^' ■"■^i ^ J' /* \%- ,f / ESSAY S COMMERCIAL and POLITICAL, ON THE -■r—^:r^ Real and Relative Interest^ OF Imperial and Dependent States Particularlj thofe of GREAT BRITAIN ; - Her DEPENDENCIES: '- "' Difplaying the Probable Causes of, and a Mode of , compromifing the prefent **' DISPUTES "r Between this Country and her ■%: ^AMERICAN COLONIES. ,2j, • : To which is added, :a.:4*. An A P P E N D I X, OntheMeansof EMANCIPATING SLAVES, without LOSS to their PROPRIETORS. ,*;r-^ff> = ■ , -i-.x . ■.A»i;.. .. .4 ! -,i*»A- I i' j« .'Ij i NEWCASTLE: Printed by T. SAINT for the Author; and fold by J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul's Chnrch-yard, London. MnCLl-XXVll. - > Ho iri fci ''>^ ■■t-f ^*''>»,. ' f; r ! f •M PREFACE. AS many publications on the fubje^ tf the American conteft have already appeared to the world, fome apology is neceflary for the intrufion of any thing fur- ther : However, if that fuhjeiJ be placed in a new light, I hope it will be deemed a fuflicienc reafon for offering this treatife to the public. After illuftrating the advantage Great Britain derived from the commerce of each Colony refpedlively, with the probable cauf^s of the infurredlion, and to whofe charge it ought to be laid, I have endeavoured to point out the fpecific difference, and confequences of ex- ercifing the right of laying on duties in general or port duties only, and to fhew that the intereft of the empire requires, that our fellow-fubjeAs in America fliould bo exempt from all taxation but external, and that, in con- fequence of this exemption, the American Colonics be further reflrained in their navigation and fijheries than they lately nuere. The regulation of the commerce of its Colonies, and right of impojing external duties, it ig proved this country has, confident with the very nature of colonization, enjoyed from the beginning : How far the exercife of thofe powers may render all (even th» northern Colonies, who rival us in export) advanca- geous, is largely treated on. The confequences to us of the independence of all, or part of our American Colonies are explained ; at likewife how deeply the other European ftates are inte- refted in the event. The necefllty of, and happy confequences attending an union with Ire' and ; the improvement of the revenue in Scotland, and means of increafing the fiflieries of the Britifli ifles, arc particularly treated of: And laftly, I have endeavoured to fliew, that the Britifh poffef- fions in Afia, might, by proper maniigoment, be ren- dered far fuperior to all wc ever held in America. b 2 As ■I I 11 \ h t s^ t\ ¥ li PREFACE. As I have, with fome feventy, animadverted on the Americans retaining^ Botwithftanding their own cry for liberty, their fellow-creatures in perpetual Jlavery, I thought it highly neceiTary, n6t only to decry this evil, but to point out a remedy, and one of fuch a na* ture, as fliould not claih with the intereds of thofe whom the laws allow «:o opprefs a part of their fpecies ; for this reafou, I have added an Appendix on the Mauu- miflion of Slaves, which, without this obfervation* might appear foreign to the fubje^ of this treatife— Should this mode of emancipation take place, even only in a few plantations, I fhall efteem myfelf happy in being the fortunate means of promoting the liberty ot fuch a part of my fellow-creatures. I am not confcious of being prejudiced in favour of tlie one party or the other in the prefent unhappy con- tell with our Americ.in Colonies ; at lead I have endea- voured to be impartial, and believe I am actuated by a fmcere love of my country, and earned regard for the well-being of the whole empire. I will not venture to fay this treatife is free of errors, but hope that a variety of other avocations which de- nianded my attention will be a fufiicient plea in my fa« vour for any midakes that naay be found. Since this book went to the prefs I have perufed •' Governor Pownal's Letter to Adam Smith, L. L. D. •• F U.S. on the fubjeft of his Enquiry tatt the natural •' Caufes of the Wealth of Nations," ^ow as I have made the free import and expert of provijions the bafis of many advantages to be derived to the empire, I am forry, that although in mofl other points I agree with the Governor, we Ihould in this fo widely differ. In page 29 of the Governor's Letter we read, •« You •' think the reftraints on live cattle and com an unrea- " fonable and ungenerous monopoly, in that the grazing «« and farming bufinefs of Great Britain could be but •• little affefted by a free importation of thcfe, and not ♦' in the leaft hurt. As, on the contrary, I think, any «« change !> R E F A C E. Hi «* chiingc in this part of our fyftem might be attended '• with the moft important confequences, efpccially to a " clafs of people, who bear the chief burthen of all the *' taxes, and are the fupport of the ftate of the commu- " nity. I own I tremble for the change, and ftiould " hope this matter may be a little more thoroughly cx- «• plored in all the eSc&s of its operation, before any «* fuch idea becomes a leading doftrine." As in the body of this work, the 4th and 9th feflions efpecially, I have pointed out the necedlties of, and ad- vantages to be derived from art ahftlute free import and export of corn t cattle ^ and proviftons, and have at the fame time (hewn that the fears of the landholders are groundlefs, and that, on the contrary, they in the end would be great gainers by the continuance of fuch free import and export, it will be here unneceflary to reca- pitulate all thofe arguments. I fliall only ebferve, that Governor Pownal has, in my opinion, fallen into that error long fmce endea- voured to be exploded, " that the landed and commer- ♦« cial interefts of the kingdom are different." — On this erroneous principle he evidently prefers the landed in- tereft to every other in the ftate befides, and, in this, follows a direft contrary fyftem to that of the French, who on the other extreme of the fame falfe principle, facrifice the landed intereft to what they think to be the commercial. They almoft uniformly * prohibit the ex- portp.tion of grain, that their manufadturers may never be in want of it, and always have it low. But herein (a corroboration of the landed and commercial intereft; being the fame) they defeat the very purpofes they defign to promote. — The farmer in a good crop having no vend for his furplus, and fearful that the next may be as good, is anxious to difpofe of what he has ; — thus more being offered at market than is wanted, occafions the whole to fall fo low, that the cultivators of the earth are fcarce • In T7(54 an editS was iflutd, permitting .1 free commerce in grain; hut ia the l^ttct [>ari of 1767 the export was again tutally prohibited. paid Sf;.„tl \, if PREFACE. paid for their labour ; this occafions, pernaps the next year, anegled of a culture fo difadvantageous— the crop proves fhort— prices rife, and they have recourfe to im- portation : thus the landholders fuFer, and the nation is drained of richei, to fupply what their own foil would have afforded them; at the fame time that they pre- rent the influx of fpecie that would, in confequence of a free market, have been drawn from the export of their furphis. Although there are in every country large trafts not in culture, which would foon be under cultivation were mankind to exert their natural right of ufing thefe gifu of nature that are unoccupied or neglecfled by other men, we fliall not contend about it, becaufe the regulation of tivii compafl has entirely fet it afide. In this ftate, all that can be expected is, that thofe who have alTumed or acquired to themfelvcs the pro- perty of the foil, Ihould exatfl no more from thofe who oiler to labour it, or to purchafe its produce, than the real value ; that is, what in fimilar circumftances is pra(ftifed by the landholders of the neighbouring na- tions: and as there would always be a competition of landholders offering to fale the ufe of the foii or the produce of it, they never could demand or acquire more than the natural value TLvKitigJrom fitnation, and diffe- rent numbers of inhabitants tt con/ume it, were the mar- ket left free and open ; but when we fee the landholders of any country combining to compel the people of that ftate to take the produce, or rent their lands at their own price — the world muft allow it to be unreafonable to be unjult — let them palliate it by what pretences they will. The reader need not be told this is the cafe in Britain — if he know it not, let him read the late aft * boafted by the landholders, as an ad of generofity and dilmtercftednefs : 1 rauft again repeat, in reftraining the free coinmerce of the necelHirics of life, they fee not their own intercfts. • ij Geo. III. Chap. 43. Now 1 I -1' .1; PREFACE. ^ Now as to the other part of the fcntcnce quoted from the governor '« that thia fyftem would be produ^ive of " the moft important conlequences to a clafs of people << who bear the chief burthen of the taxes, and are the •• fupport of the ftate of the community." If about two millions the produce of the land tax at the highed, at 4$. in the pound, be the chief part of twelve millions, the fum raifed in ihe kingdom, the governor's afTertion is true ; or if he can prove that the taxes on confump* tion, that are paid by the landed intereft, in common with the reft of the people, exceed four millions for their quota — a very pfobable circumftance! then we may believe that the landed intereft pay the chief or principal part of the taxes. Who ought to bear a principal portion of the taxes ? They who are moft interefted in the population of the kingdom; and who are they but the landed intereft, cfpecially thofe in the interior parts of the country ? For what would their lands be worth without a fale at hand for their produdls, too heavy to bear a charge of long tranfportation, and is not the principal^confumption af- forded by the matiufa{iurers in the inland towns ? There- fore an increa/e, not a decreaje of theie confuviers is evi- dently their intereft. The certain way to bring about 'he latter ^ is to overcharge thofe people with taxes, and by -a monopoly to compel them to take the produce of the land at the land-worker's price. If this event is to be avoided, it follows that the landholders Jljould bear a covjiderahle portion of the taxes of the Jlatc, and allonu a free commerce of the neceffaries of life. I am no advocate for the landed intereft paying more than they do, but only mean to fhew, that they ihould not, in confequcnce of what they do pay, ima- gine they have a right to make every intereft in the kingdom fubfervient to whatfomc of them falllly eftcem their own ; and for that purpofe we will compare the burthens of the neighbouring nations. In France, the landed intereft, be fides being dinrefied by the non-allowance to export their produce (wine ez« "Hi ■J ■■ «i P R E F A C K. excepted) pay in the taille and capitation taxes a capi- tal part of the revenue, and I'ufFcr ftill more by the op- preiiive manner in which thefe taxes are collc-ited. There the amount paid in taxes, compared to what is paid in general to the landholders, ii in the pro- portion of 5 to 3, that is ^ths of the whole, or 13s. 6d. in the pound, whereas what is paid in Britain, on an average, does not exceed 3s. when the land-tax is at the highed, 4s. in the pound; — a (Iriking difference! In Spain, although the taxes are not edeemed high, yet in mod lands • what is paid to the government exceeds what is paid to the landlord, confequently the tax, their very fertile lands excepted, is above >.,' "-. 1 'Mw3*r' --'«•■ SECTION I. Introductory Discourse On the Impropriety of rcfifling an ejlablijhed Go- vernment without due Caufe. THE vindicators of the Americans, in their prefent refiflance againft their Parent-State, have laid great ftrefs on the right of the People to alter and remodel their Government whenever they pleafe. As I allow there is no power held by divine right, I agree with them in their afl'ertion ; if by the people be meant the majority of an em- pire, not that of a province only ; for then, in the latter cafe, the county of York would have a right to alter its conftitution ; fo would Dr- vonfliire, &c. By and by the people of one riding or divifion of Yorkfliire, might take it into their heads to make a farther alteration, till in the end wc ihould have as many conlli- tutions as parifiies, and then have them all once more remodelled, and again reunited un- der fomc new form, by their becoming a pro- vince of fome Power, that knew and praclifed the art of governing better. A province of an empire may neverthelefs, if labouring under particular opprcflion, he jul- tificd in taking up arms in defence of their liberties, although they have no right to do it B ' ia I ^ I. 2 S E C T I O N I. in trivial caufes, nor for the avowed purpofe of changing their form of government. What I fhall now endeavoui to prove is, That no Governing Power, whether an Arifto- cracy, a Democracy, a limited, or even an abfolute Monarchy ought, without great occa- lion, to be refifted ; and further, That the Americans have had no fuch caufe to juftify their rifipg in Arms. The end of all good government is to prevent the ftrong from opprefling the weak, the lawlefs from committing depredations on the peaceful and induftrious ; and by fecuring perfonal free- dom and private property, to promote induftry the great fource of riches and collective ftrength, that the community, fo combined, may not only keep peace and good order among them- fclvcs, but be able to repel the hoftile invafions of any other community, or body of people, that may endeavour to difturb their tranquil- lity and repofe. As it is obvious the whole body of the peo- ple cannot be engaged in legiflation and the executive part of government, it follows, that tlicfc powers muft be entrufted in the hands of a certain number of the community, which will be more or lefs according to the form of their government. Now let the form of the conftitution be ever fo good, thofe who aftu- ally pofl'efs the ruling power will have paflions like other men, and confequently be liable to err; but it does not follow, that for every error of government, which they might pro- bably i SECTION I. B IS, bably correft of themfelves, the people, who think they are, or are in reality in iome mea- fure, aggrieved, fliould rife in arms and op- pofe them ; for this would eternally be pro- ductive of bloodflied, anarchy and diforder, and fo far weaken the community, that they would become an eafy prey to the ambitious views of any neighbouring power. — They would then lofe the fubttance of liberty, by grafpin^q^ at its fhadow : Even fuppofing ihem fuccefsful, all they can do is to tiuil the power in the hands of other men, who, as men, either through depravity of mind or want of judgment, will be as liable to err as the former,, They will then, if they have been contending without fufficient caufe, after having exhaufted much blood and treafure, and brought ruin upon many who would other- wife have been in happier circumftances, have the fame to contend for over again, or quietly fit down with thefe additional aggravations of mifery, which they have brought upon themfelves. As all governing powers are liable to err and encroach on the liberty of the fubject, fo are they likewife capable of reforming when they have feen mto the falfe policy of what they have done. This event ought to be expe(n:ed with fome degree of patience, or refiftance is ciiniinal becaufj ^ .oJudive of greater evils than tbofe it endeavours to redrcfs. I by no means intend to infer that the governing pov/ers IhoulJ never be rclifted, B 2 for. 4 SECTION I. for, as a Briton, 1 glory in the noble and fuc- cefsful refiftance our anceftors made to the arbitrar)' power of Charles 1. I only wifli to point out a medium between abfolute obedi- ence or non-refiftance, and rifing in arms without duly confidering whether the caufe, in its ill effeds to them and their pojlerity, be equal to the immediate carnage and ruin in- fallibly attendant on civil war. ; ' Civil wars, even in a juft caufe, too fre- quently end where they began ; for by the continuance of them the people become tired of their confcquent anarchy and dillrefs, and contrafting their then unfettled Ibitc with peace at home, and their former, though per- haps very indifferent government, are glad to have any government at all ; thus it returns into its old channel ; while the advantage and opportunity of remodelling the ftate and ob- viating the defects of the old conftitution, are entirely, or in a great meafure lolt in the general defire of quiet and rcpofc, after fuch fcenes of turbulence and bloodlhed. — Witnefs moft ot the revolutions in this Kingdom and in almoft every other Hate. Before I enter into the merits of the prefcnt unhappy conteft, it will be neceil'ary to con- fider the connection there is between a Parcnt- ftate and its Colonies, with the natural claims of the former, which when difcuifed the other will follow of courfe. SECT- IS - - .f^ i ^ 1 •i SEC T I O N 11. 5 (C they produced fome mine- rals the mother-country does not, wliich in fome of them is not the cafe. From their cli« * The province of New York, called by the Dutch New Holland, or New Netherlands, was conqu ' from that power in the latter end of the year 1664. Tne Dutch re- covered it in 1672, but redored it a few months after by the treaty of peace- At the time of this conquelt, New Jerfey was entirely under the dominion of the Dutch, they having long fettled the north eaftern parts, as a part of New Holland, and a little before the period abovc-nientionedi bought the rcmaiader of Rizingt tiie Swcdifli General. mate Its ts le es le IS S V .-is*,i^ri TABLE of the Population, Imports, Exports, &c. oi Provinces. ^anada — — — Labrador — — — Nova Scotia and Northern Iflands r MafTachufets Bay New J New Hamplhire England ^Connecticut C Rhode Ifland New York — _ — No. of Inhabitants, white and black. Eaft and Weft Jerfey — Penfylvania with lower Coun- ties ou Delawar Virgiaia and Maryland — North Carolina — — > South Carolina — — Georgia § — __ __ Eaft Florida § — — Weft Florida $ — — } > 120,000 j — — 40,000 280,000^ So.ooof . .Q««««?- 600,000 loOfOOOf 60,000 J 100,000 80,000 > 580,000 < 400,000 — — 720,000 120,000") ( "pmlir No. of 1 80,000 _ 30,000 ■ 4,000* 6,000 300,000 40,000 2,400,000 Ships In ^ / ,,'beamen eraploy'dj "408 34 6 49 30 35 330 34 140 24 2 10 72 588 330 390 31960 408 1,680 240 24 120 694 I 8,220 Value of Innports frono Great Britain. — — 105,000 __ # — — 26,500 — — 407,000 531,000"' 611,000 18,000" 365,000^ - 1,142,000 • 865,000 383,000 49,000^ 7,000 V 153,000 97, 030 J 3,081,500 Value of Exports. 105,500 49.050 38,000 705,500 ^ 1,040,000 < 68,350 J 395,666 I 74,200 63,000 3,550,266 Pel Fiiy Fit Fiflil Floi 0- P. Flou P'! Tobi he Tar, livi Rice, Rice, t Deer N. B. The articles of export follow each other in the fame fucceflloa as the value of their refpe£live amounts, I range with the others according to their colleftive value. * No tegaUt ciportit to Labradoi-, at we have no fixed fettlementi except in the fouthera parts, the exports to which are included in every feafon, viz. principally from New England. One hundred and twenty fail of American veflels are employed. f From New London and other places in Connedticut they have lately fliipt off large quantities of wheat, but principally by the way oF I f Akthe time thefe eftimates were made, the export from Eafl Floridi, in indigo and peltry, might be about j or 6000 1, annually. Since they had hlcewife begun to cut large quantities of lumber, viz. flaves, fhingles, pine fcantlings, &c. § The number of the inhabitants in Georgia, and each of the Floridas refpei^ively, is eftimated by the author, as the aggregate was only g f^ Fur and peUrf»^Dtct ikiai and pdtry— may by foihe be deemed ai^ inpropiiety, as both fuci and deer ikiai come uadex the general i xpoRTs, &c. of the Britifli-American Continental Colonies. from >o >o •o '0< Value of Exports. 1051500 49.050 38,000 485.000 ^ 526,000 ^ 705,500 ^ 1,040,000 j 68,350 ^ 395,666 I 74»20o 63,000 Different Articles exported to Great Britain, Europe, the Weft Indies, &c. Peltry, wheat, lumber, uhalebone, iilh oil, dec. Filh oil, whalebone, and feal fltins Fifh, filh oil, lumber, and whalebone — — N.B. V^lue of peltry jf. 76,000 — N. B. Produce of fiOieriss /. 34,000 Filh oil, filh, lumber, fliips, pot-aft, live flock, fait provifions, &c. &c.f N. B. Produce of fiflierles/. 250,000 Flour and bifcait, wheat and other grain, deer flcins gnd peltry, fait provifions, lumber, copper ore and iron in pigs and bars, live ftock, flax feed, pot-afli, fhips, &c. N. B. Amount of flour and provifions £. 386,000 t^ Both the imports and exports of N«w Jcrfey arc included in thofe of New York and Penfylvania. Flour, wheat and other grain, fait provifions, deer fltins and peltry, lumber, copper ore and iron in pigs and bars, flax feed, live flock, fliips, &c. — N B. Amount ot flour and provifions /. 5 17,000 Tobacco, wheat and other grain, lumber, iron in pigs and bars, fliips, deer fliins and peltry, hemp, fait provifions, flax leed, &c. — — N. B. Value of tobacco /. 768,000 Tar, pitch and turpentine, lumber, tobacco, Indian corn and other grain, deer fltins and peltry, live ftock and rice. — — — N. B. Tar, pitch, and turpentine £. 17,850 Rice, indigo, deer fltins and peltry, fait provifions, live ftock, Indian corn and other grain, fhips, &c. N.B. Rice /. 220,000 Rice, deer fltins and peltry, live ftock, drugs, filk, indigo, &c. — N.B. Value of rice /. 36,000 Deer fkins and peltry, logwood and other dying woods, and fllver in dollars. 3,550,266 if refpe^ive amounts, beginning with the greateft flrft: And where two or more articles are joined together, they to which are included in thofe to Canada. The conAimption of the fidiermen and traderi it fupplied from the place they come from d. principally by the \vay oF New York, by which channel a conGderable part of their other produce i» exported, or 6000 1. annually. Since that period foinc conGderable rice plantations have been fet forward on St. John's and St. Mary's rivers; and as the aggregate was only given, in the account the above is copied from. It come uadei the geacial name of peltry : They arc however mentioned fcparately, at cfleatially diflfeilng in value. American Continental Colonies. •tides exported to Great Britain, Europe, the Weft Indies, &c. J, whalebune, filli oil, »5cc. — i^tnd feal fkins and whalebone — — — N. H. Viiluc of peltry /■. 76,000 — N. B. Prodvce of Hflicries /". 34,000 Cliips, pot-aHi, live flock, fait provifions, &c. Sccf N, B. Produce of fiflierics /". 250,000 I jjsat and other grain, deer Mns and peltry, fait provifions, lumber, copper and bars, live ftock, flax feed, pot-aln, fliips, &c. N. B. Amount of flour and provifions £. 386,000 Ei and exports of New Jcrfey are included in thofe of New York and I. V grain, fait provifions, deer fltins and peltry, lumber, copper ore and iron in .■ed, live flock, fliips, &c. — N. B. Amount oi flour and provifions jf .517,000 Viother grain, lumber, iron in pigs and bars, fliips, deer fliins and peltry, s, flat leed, &c. — — N. B. Value of tobacco £. 768,000 N i^ lo^, it follows, that tn-enfy New England tolonifls, paying i:^r>. 6d. each for Biitifli labour, only employ one individual; and fuppofing this pcrfon without that employ muft otherwife have emigrated, they then only fay the taxes of one BritiJIj reftdenl^ and this^ one of the lower dafs of the people. As it is therefore plain they only pay each indi- vidual, rich and poor on an average, one- twentieth part of what a labouring pcrlbn does in Britain, tovi'ards the government, fleet, and armies, which protect them equally with our" felves^ it becomes matter of enquiry what bc" nefit this kingdom reaps from thefe Colonics that entitles them to be fo much more favour- ed than their fellow-fubjects in the Mother- country. It naturally occurs — Arc they not rc- ftrained in their commerce ? No ! they enjoy every advantage with thofe who pay more than twenty times their taxes. Thus cafed of burthen, they rival them in every refpetl. They carry their corn and other produce to foreign markets, where they meet the proclurtions of Britain, and occalion them to lay on hand by underfelling them. Tiiey likcwife run away with the principal fiiare of that great fource of Britifli wealth and nas-.il power, the Fijhery of Newfoundland. All the reafon that can be c;lven for this partiality is, tliat none wo>'ld emigrate from * ^.Me men in mon: manurnfliivc;!, earn at leafl los. per week, /'. 'J> voarly, and children Iruia 5 s. to 7, y'lL. [. 7 • 16. fo^.18.4. c their Iti'^' 10 s E c T I o N rr. their native country without fome view of advantage, and that they maintain their own civil eftabh.^.unent — A burthen not fo great as that of many corporate towns in Britain, who maintain, or give falaries to their Mayors, Recorders, &c. Can it be the intereft of Britain to fupport Colonics that reap cveiy eflential advantage of commerce witli herfelf, and at the fame time exempt them from all authority or alle- giance but what they plcale to admit ? li; cer- t?Jnly cannot, for then they would, to all intents and purpofcs, be more detrimental than if they were independent ftates. Holland, Hamburgh, Bremen, &:c. to which places our exports are more conliderable, even in proportion to their population, might with the fame reafon expect to fliare all the advan- tages of Britifh fubjccts in the Britifli domi- nions, and that we Ihould pay the expence of maintaining tlie fleets and armies tlut might be found neceflary to protect them. Let us now advert to our other <%merican Colonies, and we fhall 6nd as they advance towards the fun, tlicy arc the more beneficial to Britain, as, from their difference in cli- mate, they produce Itaple commodities that this ifland cannot, and enable us, not only to fupply our own neceflities, by an exchange of our manufactures, but likcwife, for the fame exchange, afford us a fupcrfluity of thofe flaples (rice and tobacco in particular) which we 1 ^' SECTION II. II we exchange with other nations, in a great meafure for bullion, or at leaft for fuch necef- faries as we flioiild otherwife have to fend fo much bullion out of the kingdom for. A further advantage attending thefe Sou- thern Colonies is, that while they are em- ployed in railing thofe great ftaples of ag^ ^'cul- ture, fo advantageous both to us and them, they do not manufadture for themfelves, nei- ther do they interfere with the Mother- coun- try, in the carrying trade nor the liflieiies. The reafon is obvious, they rind agriculture more advantageous than either. The imports to New York and Philadel- phia, from Britain, are almoft equal to ^os.^ for each individual in the provinces of New York, Jerfey and Philadelphia ; a greater pro- portion than even any of the fouthern Colony imports. Weft Florida excepted. Excepting peltry, copper-ore, iron, flax- feed, and pot-aih, thele provinces do not raife any ftaple of moment valuable to Britain: and as two- thirds of the value of their exports arc in flour, grain, and pro\afions, it muft be admitted, they in fome meafure rival Great Biitain and Ireland, but when we confidcr the greater part of thefe return to Britain, to employ our manufacturers, and purchafe .irticles we have imported, we have the lefs reafon tu complain, although it would be * This and tlic following fums in this fcvTlion, arc calula- tcd from the data, in the table of exports and are ail iterling. C 2 more T 12 SECTION II. more advantageous, were their induftry turn- ed into another channel, or their export of proviiions properly regulated. However, as exports of grain from Britain, are not now to be expected annually, and were this kingdom and Irel:;nd fully peopled, all the grain and proviiions raifed, would in general be con- fumed at home; the export of grain from our Colonies, unrelbained as it now is, is not of fo evil a confequence to this kingdom, as the interference of thefe (and tlie New England) Colonies with us in the filheries, which will be particularly treated of in a future fedion. Virginia and Maryland, lor each inhabitant^ take from Britain, about 24s. the Carolinas 25s. 6d. Georgia 32s. 8d. Eaft Florida 35s. and Weft Florida £. 16.3.4. I'he Britifli articles fent to the coaft of Guinea, to pur- chafe the Haves imported into thefe Colonies, will confiderabiy increafe thofe fums. And bcfides (as wc have obferved before) the great advantage we make by their ftaples, and non-interference in the carrying trade and fifheries, unite to make thofc Colonies of the greateft confequence to Britain. The vaft amount o^ the Weft Florid an im- port (;/^. 16 . 3.4) for every individual of its population, is ovvdng to the convcniency of its fituation for trade with the Indiaijs for furs ; and with the Spaniaids, from whom, in ex- change for Britilh commodities, they receive The Invliuns ;'.rc not included. ivmq: SECTION 11. 13 j^ dying woods, indigo and dolhirs, all which prove the great importance of this province and of that trade, which the adminiftration of Grenville was fo impolitic, as to endeavour to put a Hop to. — The great excefs of the Weft Floridan imports above their exports is what muft happen in all new fettlcments, and was occafioned by the ftocks of goods required to carry on the Spanifli and Indian trades, and the capitals necefl'ary to improve their lands, which they have begun to cultivate in the weft parts of the province. The imports and exports both of Canada and the adjoining part of Labrador (the only part that is inliabited, except by Indians) arc included under thofe of Canada. They do not, according to our data, take from Britain more than the value of i 7s, 6d. for each in- habitant, confequently this Colony has the appearance of being little profitable ; but when we coniider the principal part of their export coniifts in an advantageous ftaple, peltry, it is not, though far north, without its ufe to this country^. Nova-Scotia, aiid the iflcs of Cape Breton, St. John's, &c. take but at the rate of 13s. 3d. for each individual of their inhabi- tants; notwithftanding this they would be va- * Canada, fincc that time, bas cncreafed greatly in the exportation of grain, fo that in t!ic year 1773 they were able to exp)rt 50,000 (luarters ol wlicat, and in 1774 or 1775, near double that qiKintity. luable 14 SECTION II. luablc Colonies, as near nine-tenths of their exports are the produce of the fiflieries on their civn coafl.f, were the carriage of this produce to market to be folely in Britifli fliips. More than half the export of the New Eng- land Colonies is the produce of their fifheries, but the reafon why diladvantageous to us is, this produce is that of fifheries diftant from them, which the Parent-ftate might carry on to advantage. As to the fiflieries en their otun coajl they aie the beft fituated to carry thenj on, and it would be unrcafonable, as well as impolitic, to prevent them. It would be equally fo, not to fuffer them to carry on the whale or other fiflieries wherein every other power has a right to fifli as well as ourfclves. All is, they fliould be confined to thefe, and then, if wc have the carriage of their produce to market, neither party can have juft reafon to complain. S K C- V SECTION. III. r r 9 n n 'n n IS n n li d c u SEC I O N III. On the principles of policy y that ought to fuhfijl between a parent Jlate and her Colonies^ con- Jijlent with the reciprocal interejls of both, IT cannot be fuppofcd, that any country would colonize or fend, protect and ^.up- port people in diftant countries, for a great length of time, and at a vaft cxpence, if it was expected thefe colonies would, as foon as opportunity offered, and they could do without the parent-country's proteclion, repay all her kindnefs by looking on themfelves as an original and independent people — Nor fhould it be imagined, that the Icglflature of the Mo- ther-country, fhould have an uncontroulable, unlimited power, over the property of the colonifts. The line certainly fhould, and may be drawn fo, as i.<:i be advantageous to, and anfvvcr what ought to be the real intercfls of both. *' The Mother-country, in recompence of " founding, fupporting, and giving protedlion to the Colonies, fliould be intitled to cany- on folely in her own fliips^, all their trade "to ^eil Indies, but to have no rellraint whatever as to their place of delivery on their return. * The fi cifiht in the trrinfpo t lervlce at the v/orft times is 9b. per ton per niontli, and is now up 10 iis. 6J. SEC- *^ M ^ SECTION IV. 23 SECTION IV. The fuhje^l of the foregoing Se6lion continued, Newfoundland and Nortbern FiJJjerles — Regula- tions of the Corn-trade of the Colonies^ ^c. THE filhery of Newfoundland, we have premifed the Colonies fliould have no fhaie in. It is a fource of wealth tliat ought to be as llridly guarded as tho Dutch do their fpice trade, as it is of many times the confe- quence : it is therefore to be lamented, that any European power fliould fliare w^th us any part of it, much more fo conliderably as our natural rivals do. What adds greatly to the importance of Newfoundland is, that its fifl.iery not only gives employment to our artificcis at home^ and a great number of our (hipping to convey its pr-- 'ace to market, but likewile occupation to vail numbers of the poor, both in Britain and Ireland, who go out every year to carry on the fiihery, and return when it is over to fpcnd the produce of their labour with their families in their own country: thus adding to the imperial-rtate's population and ftrength, and atlording in time of war, a refource of men able to ferve her at fea. The confumption of fifli and all other ar- ticles are undoubtedly limited, and when the number i n ■I ^i ■1 • . .,:i,„_ *4 SECTION IV.' I K ^ number in any profeflion arc too numerous, the profits are fo far reduced, that thofe only who are moft advantage ouily lituated can carry it on ; therefore, the other competitors are neccffitated to defift and feck employment clfcwhere. The New Englanders are certainly as well, if not better fituatcd than England or Ireland, to carry on this lifliery with their own people, confequently, their competition muft more and more reduce the number of iiihermen fent out from this country, till in the end, from the impoflibility of mnkin^ wages and paying exj)ences, we fliould i^nd out none at all. Before the reflraining aci took place, tlie middle provinces^ had, to the decreale of the numbers employed by us, by degrees come to enjoy of themfelves almoft the principal ihare of the filhery — Thus it follows, that if the greateft degree of popula- tion pofiible Ihc Id be maintained in the im- perial-frate, the v_oIf)nies fliould by no means be allowed to interfere on the banks of New- foundland, nor indeed from the north of Cape Sable, to the entrance of Davis's Straits. The produce of the lifherics of Labrador, we have already fliewn to be upwards of £. 49,oco, and that it is carried on lolely by the Americans, who employ there 120 fail of vcilels. Now fuppoling thefe vefTels at 10 men each, there is employed on the coaft of * New EnfilanJ alone employed niort (hips in the fifliery, than both Great Briiiin andlrehind. Labrador S E C T I O N IV. 25 Labrador 1200 men from the middle Colo- nies, which ought only to be from the Bri- tifh Ifles. The Americans may fay if we were excluded, you yourfelves would not fifli there. This afTertion would remain to be proved. If V" did not fifti there immediately, it would be becaufe our (hipping were other wife advan- tageoufly employed ; but the knowledge of this refource would foon incrcafe the num- ber of veffels and adventurers, and occalion it quickly to be entered into. The number of refidents in Newfoundland, that remain there throughout the year, I can- not determine ; but fuppofe it muft be very cnfi* ^ble from the amount of our exports ti uj,, greatly exceeding all that can be wanted for the people fent out from Biitaiu and Ireland. The fliips employed by thcfe countries in the trade and fifhcry arc 38c, carrying, one with another, 1 2 men ; in all ^560. The iifliery likcwife employs 2000 boats with 8 men each, manned by the people fent out, and by the refidents j together 16000 boatmen. The amount of exports thither from Britain and Ireland, in coarfc cloathing, fifhing-tackle, beef, pork, i>;vl:ih-fpirits, gun-powder, iliot, &c. is j^< 2 .s^ '. And the exports from NewfoundiAii i o ' le different parts of Europe, in cotl-fifh and wf!. value on the fpot, aie £, 345,000.^" — Thus they were as ftated by tlic Fifl> /", .:oo,ooo, oil i". IJ.OC?. 1^ American 2(5 SECTION IV. American Tnivcllcr. Since then they have added to their exports a confiucrublc quantity oFfc^al (kins and fonie ialmon. It ruift be oblcrvcd very little of the fifli, and a part only of tlie oil come to England, but go moftly to foreign markets, fo that the greatcfl part of our export is a net balance ill our favour. The great importance of this, and ftill greater of cieating and giving employ to fuch vail; numbers of iailors and liihcrnien, are advantages not to be equalled by any other fettlenient or branch of commerce, and cannot be too much kept r '''reives.. Philadelphia, New York. d fome ports of New England, fupply the land and filhery Avith flour, bifcuits and grain, viz. peafc, barley, ^c. The fame Author we quoted in the be- ginning of the ad fcclion obferves, that " Bri- *' tain in good policy, ought to have kept *• the fupply of the Wefl. Indies with grain " entirely to lierfclf ^, inficad of the uncertain '• corn- trade flie has with Europe, hccaufe the *' demand would be perfectly rct^ular, and no *• where elfe is to be found fuch confiderable " bodies of people, that depend for their daily *' bread folely on importation." If this obfervation be juit for the Weft In- dies, it will be ecpally lb for our fupplying * Tlie ffLight to cither Newfoundland or the Wed Indies would not be high, bfcaufe moft vefltls go to thefe places in ballalK and would conlcqucn'Jy be content with a InuJl ( ,' frciglit out. Newfound- S E C T 1 O N IV. 27 Newfoundland with grain from Britain and Ireland only. If Great Britain and Ireland afforded a con- flant furplus of grain above their own con- fui iption, this argument would have been fcarcely controvertible; but when we coniider that Britain and Ireland frequently import large (luantilies for their own confumption, both from the Baltic and America, would it not in thofe years be rccafioning both the Weft Indies and Newfoundland, to come much dearer by their provifions, by their corn having undergone two long voyages, viz. from Ame- rica to England and back again to thofe A- nierican iflands, than if they had been allowed to have the fame grain immediately from the place of its growth in their own neighbour- Jiood? Being limited to this cliannel, they would, in thefe inftanccs, receive their grain with the additional charges of double, inftead of fmgle freiglit, infurance, intereft of money, danger of heating,^ commillion, &c. fo that the confequenccs nuifl be unavoidably felt. It is the intereft of every country that has rival nations in any manufac'iure, although it can raifc tlie raw materials within itfelf, to procure them from where they can be had chcapcft, tliat they may not, by endeavouring lo vc'-iin the pioiit on a part, lofe the fale of the whole. * Againfl which tlicrc ir. no infurance, as grain of all kinds is v.Mrrantcd fVwS hovA avcragf, unlcl's geneial, or the ftiip bu llianacd. E 2 TJiis \ ^\ If > i I i •} i I r i I ; 28 SECTION IV. This reafon wiH have the fame weight in the importation of grain, becaiil'c provifions of •all kinds, are, in ftricl juftice, a raw material in every manufadure, more efpecially in thofe that derive their principal value from labour. The price of labour, or hire of men, depends not only on the number that offer themfclvcs for hire, but likewife on the price of provifions. Were labourers plentiful, it would depend en- tirely upon the latter, as, from this caufe, we find in the interior parts of Ruflia, men are to be hired at 4 or 5 copecks, or about 2d. to 2 i d. per day. However, in all places, the price ot labour is more or lefs afl'efted by that of provifions. In countries where there is full employment for all that will labour, a fall in price of provifions, will not for fome time afTect or lower the wages, but on the contrary, ihould provilionii rife and keep high, we may foon expect a rile in the hire of men ; what clfe is the principal caufe "^ of wages being fo much higher now, than they were a century or two fince ? Where employment is more plentiful than men, this confequent rife will be the fooner efl'ected, but even in the other cafe, it mull in the end inevitably follow, as men cannot work for lefs than will afford them a bare fubfiflance. I * Tlie grer.t incrcaf;; thro-iiphout Europe of fpccic, and its rep'.cfent.itive priptr-currer.cy, and tlie dci); ham, ami Yoik were exporting corn to fo- reigners with a bounty, when at the fame time fome of the ports on the other fide of the iiland were Importing fioni abroad. Thus •what came in on one hr.nd v.cnt (ut on the F other. i- i .'. ^x. )k..v^dK^r*Mft>a :)4 SECTION IV. If other, and tlie bounty was thrown away to no purpufe. — As the crops of grain arc never equally a;otxl throughout all partb of the king- dom, this muft tVc'-iucntiy happen ; but were there no bounty, the exporters would find it tlicir intcrell to fupply the dearer markets in their own kingdom as well as thole of other o countries. We have before fiid it is true policy, to allow at all times the free import and export (except in calls of famine) of* all proviiions ; let us now fee the confequence- We fliould, from our fiiperior fituation to Holland, whofe ports in winter are frccpiently blocked up with ice, and arc at all times, from want of water, more difllcult of acccfs than ours, become the granary of luirope*. From us every fouthern nation that v/anted would be fupplicd with grain, either our own produce or that of other countries, which would increafc the number of our feamen and of labourers in our ports, for the loading and unloading of lliips. The ?^ flj f ? * I have-heard fome men of fenfe afTcrt, that from the a(ft of ij Geo. III. commonly called Pownal's ad, the king- dom has the fame opportunity of becoming the granary of Europe, as if the imports and exports were unlimited. To point out the error of this opinion, we need only obf:.rve, " that trade will never feek thofe channels whete tliere are '■• many rcftruints, but ever flow wiiere it is the leall in- " ternipted." What principally occafions Holland to be the European ftorc-huulc, is njt only the freedom of import and cxporr, but SECTION IV. 35 TIic price of provifions would fall, labour and our manufactures would become cheaper, and the demand for them would encreafc, which would encreafc the number of manu- facturers. Thus the necefTaries of life being low, and employment fuflicicnt for all that would labour, this would become the country for people to emigrate to ; and the nation would encreafc in population, riches, revenue, naval power and internal Itrength.— What events are more to be defircd ? Our fiirmers would flill have encourage- ment to cultivate their lands ; for labour being cheaper, they could afford their produds for lefs, and befides, would always get much more for them than the farmers of the countries we imported from, btcaufe upon the r iuce of thofe foreigners all the fol- lowii harges mufl fall before it could be fold here, viz. commiflion abroad, charges on Ihipping, freight, infurance, rilk of heating but the chance of felling the articles for th:!r own confump- tion. Now, although by the above av5t we can freely export the grain we have imported, we cannot, if the port was not open at the time of its entry, make uL' of it at home until the price rifes fo high, as to admit the import : and what is Hill worfe, it cannot, while the port where it is landed remains Ihut, be exported to the other parts in the kingdom, that are in ivant of, and open for grain from abroad. Thus the mer- chant thtit has imported is loling the interefl of his iioney, and rent of ware-houfcs, and has every rcafon to wifli his corn was Ihll laying in the country it came from, be- caule, though not from his own granaries where it lays at hand, it would then be admiflabie in places where it might be fold — very frequently to the next port. F 2 and i S6 SECTION IV. / and other damage, charges of landing, intc- rcft of money and commifllon at home, be- fides ware-honfe rent at one end or the other, and fometimes at both. The cheapncfs of labour, and thefe cir- cumftances confulered, what have our fniucrs or even landholders to fear. From the greater population there would be a home confump- tion for every article tiiey could raife. A fur- ther effejii. s E C T I O N VI. f 'f " connection with Britain, and that it would *' have been happy for them, if they had " never had any thing to do wit^ her." Was ever a more palpa.ble falfehood afferted, and thii for the purpofe of raiileading a people? If England had not made good her claim to the provinces of New York and Jerfey, would not the Dutch and Swedes have been in poffef- fion of th '•m ? Arc they greater friends to li- berty than the Englifh? And would not the French and Spaniards from Canada, and .^a^ l^loridas, if England had not interfered, have foon reduced both the now-all-powerful pro- vinces of the north, and thole of the fouth to dcfpotic obedience, and before this, have learn- ed them to implicitly obey — not the mi/d re- Jlriclions of 2 Parent- ilatc, but the will of ab- folute moiiarchs ?' Their [incellors fettled under cover of the claim of England to thcfc territories, and their defendants to this time have been pro- tected ihere by her power. They therefore cannot look upon themfelves but as holding their country or lands under certain tenures, fomewhat iimilar to copyholders, and have, like them, if they dillik»; the tenure they hold under, a right to quit the prcmifes, but not to hold them without compliance v/ith the terms. But this they regard not, nor even the ftipu- lations of their predecLifors ; for the writers in favour of Amciican f;.dition £iy, " Children •« or k SECTION VI. ^5 «* or fucceffor are not bound by any ads of *' their parents or predeceflbrs ;" which they illuftrate thus : " If a parent fliould bind him- ** fclf and defcendants for ever, for flaves, are *' they bound by that engagement?" Certainly not. The conclufion is fo far juil, but has no- thing to do with the point in queftion j which is, if an individual, or body of men, fhould accept of lands, or other permanent poflellions, to be held by them and their heirs or fuc- ceflbrs, under certain llipulated conditions j are the i'ucceffors entituled to the lands with- out performing the Ilipulations of their an- ceftors ? Or fliould they not in this cafe, re- vert to the fucceffors of the granters ? Perhaps the friends of Am.?rican oppofitlon will fay, it is fnnilar to the cafe quoted by them, and that the fuccciTors are no ways bound to perform the covenants of their fa- thers, becaufe they think them unreafonablc. We will now put the cafe a little nearer to them, and fee whether their fentiments v/ould not chani^e. Suppofe thefe fiiends of America have left to them certain quit rents of lands, granted by their anceftors, to the predercflors of the prcfent occupiers, and thefe occupiers tell them, when demanded to perform the ftipu- lations of their faid predeceffors, that they have no idea of performing thefe covenants, becaufe made before they were born, confe- quently without their confentj befides, that K no » <56 SECTION VI. no man had a right to covenant for them, and tliey will theretore hold their lands with- out rendering t^ny acknowledgment. In this jnllance, woiilu not the friends of America fay, the occupiers of, or relidents on, th« l.ind, ought to perform the co tenants of their predecellbi s, or entirely give up the premifes ? They moil certainly would, for here their intercfi: would not let them pervert their leafon. Many of the Americans, and fome of their friends in England, were willing to allow a power to the king as an individual, which they will not admit him when he confiders himfclf as a part of the legillative power of the imperial liate. Bcfidcs the incongruity of this doctrine, it would be enabhng the king, by rendering the difi'erent ftates of the empire independent of each other, any farther than being connected under the fame fovereign, to raife fupplies in, and wage war with one of his dependent territoiies or kingdoms againft another, or perhaps againft the imperial ilate, and in the end, bring them all to an entire dependence on his will. Now fetting afide the right of England, ac- cording to the laws and cuftoms of civilized iiitions, to the property of the lands, w^ich right, as well as that of the aborigines, the native Indians, (which government is intituled to from purchafe of them) is a claim fuperior to that of the Americans } the Colonie, ought to rl / SECTION Vr. ^7 to have * ?n attached to her, from the principle of their owix mtereft; for akhough England con- fines them, if they do piirchafc manufactures, &c. to purchafe of her, flie in return gives, befidca her protecftion, the greateft encourage- ment to all their produce: — Inftance — indigo, hemp, flay, raw filk, pot-aflies, flaves, tar, turpentine, pitch, mails, yards, and bow- fprits, fir timber, and deals, (few of which flie M'ill receive from other ftatcs without con- fiderable duties) ft'C encouraged from America by great bounties. Now all or moft of thefe are raw materials, which, if fhe could even produce herielf, it would be her intereft to import them from Ruflia or cl/ewhe! e, provided flie came by them much cheaper, becaufe they are the bafis of many manufactures, whofe price mufl conle- quently be lefTened, and confumption and ex- po.'tatiou increafcd : therefore employment to a greater number of hands, refulting from her purchafmg thole raw materials, it becomes her intereft to do fo. IIenc£ it plainly appears England, in fome inftances, prefers the inte- reft of her Colonies to her own. Moft branches of commerce in their infancy re(jnire fome encouragement, if they have to contend with rival articles long eftablilhed : — It therefore was good policy in this country to give a bounty on hemp, tar, pot-aili, &c. from America, both to render us lels dependent on Ruflia Sweden, and Germany, and to reduce, K 2 by t < 68 S E C T I O N VI. by the greater plenty and competition, the price of'thofe articles; but when the end is aiifwered it ihould ceafe, or there fliould then at the moll be only as much difference ^ in fa- vour of American produce, as is equal to the advantage reaped by the manufaftures with which we buy it, even fuppofmg the fame ar- ticles from other countries to be parchafed entirely with fpecie or bullion. ^ * Thar, is, the amount of the bounty on the article from America, and duly, if any, on the import from elfewhere. SEC- f ^ I i... SECTION VII. 69 SECTION VII. Better to render the New England Colonies inde- pendent^ than keep them on their former footing : The advantages and inconveniencies of it con- fidered. SHOULD the New England Colonies, from their great concerns in fliipping and filheries, be unwilling to yield the Mother- country, befides the power of external taxa- tion, the fole navigation of the whole empire (except as before provided) it would be infi- nitely better to part with, and allow them independency, than admit their allegiance on other terms. The confequence of parting with thefe Co- lonies, from which we draw no ftaple com- modities, can nevci be of efl'ential detriment to this country ; for it is not to be fuppofed their commercial connexions with us would immediately ccafe, it ever they do fo ; be- caufe in many articles they would find it their advantage to dcAi >Mth us, being cheaper fupplied than tVH>Ung the worll, that out of dif- afFeclion ^ad inveteracy to the Parent-ftate, they (hould refolve to purchafe nothing of her ; the lofs attending this will admit of no comparifon with hat we fuffer from their livdl.Qiip in the Newfoundland and northern fifliery, ' i\ 70 SECTION V. fifhery, and interference in the carrying trade of the fouthern Colonies. Now let us view the conlcquence to them- felves of their becoming independent : In the firft place, they will lofe all their fifhery on the banks of Newfoundland, Nova- Scotia, and Labrador, with the carriage of thefe fifh to market, and their fhare of fup- plying the refidents on the 'land, and the flfhermen and fliipping from Ireland and Eng- land with flour and provifions. All of which are great fources of riches to themfelves, and of employment to a vail number of their failors. 2dly, They will certainly lofe the fupplying of the Britifli Weft Indies with lumber and provifions, becaufe that will be done front our other Colonies, and the Mother-country. gdly, Their carrying trade for the fouthern Colonies muft ccafc of courfc. And Laftlv, As a further aggravation to all this lofs of commerce, their taxes, which have hitherto not been felt, will become very per- ceptible ; ard the more fo, as tlieir commerce, which would hiivc r:iifcd a conildcrable part of them, will be diminKhed. To maintain their independency, and give them weight in the political fcaJe, a naval and military power will be required ; and to main- tain thcfe, confidcrable funis muil be railed. Belides, k is Highly probable their civil and executive eitablifliments will become more ex- pcnlive, N.,. SECTION VII. 71 penfive, as they will aflume a greater degree of fplendour tlum when dependent on another (late. As their independency will occafion a confi- derable lofs of trade, and vaft increafe of taxes, we may venture to Hiy ten-fold, it will follow, that both individuals and the community at large will feel thefe ill cfl'eds, and the natural confequence will be a confiderable emigration to thofe Colonies flill in allegiance to the Pa- rent-ftate, where they may live unburthened with the weight of internal taxes, and confe- quently be enabled to fell the produce of their induftry to more ach^antage. It nray perhaps be urged, that however un- favourable this picture is of Northern-colony independency, the ftate of thofe Colonies would be little better, fhould they, by accepting the propofcd mode of allegiance, give up the major part of their navigation, or active commerce by fea. To me it appears the latter alternative would be the more eligible of the two ; for although they would lofe the advantage of carrying their own articles to Europe, &c. they would not the profit of raifing and felling them, and the cafe of being free from any heavy internal tax. Befides, as the lofs of the greateft part of their navigatioi would turn their minds to manufactures for their own confumption, it would become necciliry for this kingdom to give them due advan- tages to divert their attention from them. The ^ »] N 72 SECTION VII. I.( I The great ftaples of the fouthern Colonies, from the profit attending them, being luperior to either manufadures or navigation, folely oc- cupy the induftry of the inhabitants, and will continue to do lb until people become more plentiful than land ; the refult of which will be a gradual dccreafe in the price of labour, till wages become nearly the fame as in the manufaduring countries in Europe. Then, and not till then, whilil the Colonies remain dependent, can manufactures flourifh, (unlefs in bulky articles) becaufc they can be had cheaper from the parent ftate, and even at this period, by proper policy, the Colony ma- nufactures may be greatly retarded. The foundation of all manutaclures are raw materials, which either are produced at home or abroad ; if the former, Britain may enhance the price by bounties on exportation to herfelf, equal or fuperior to the freight both ways, fo as to enable her manufacturers to fupply the Colonies as cheap as they could make them : Or if the manufadiires be from foreign raw materials, Ihe may prevent them, by heavy- duties on the entry, or an abfolute prohibition. The northern Colonies are now arrived a^ that degree of population which renders manu- factures * and the culture of land near equally * Some houles in Philadelphia and New-York had, before the breaking out of the prefent troubles, agents over here to endeavour to procure workmen, who undcrltood the crown glafs manufactory, to fet forward and carry on this fabric in America. ad van- H SECTION. VII. 73 advantageous, and their entering into the for- mer "would render them of little fervice as Colonies j therefore, as obferved before, it would demand oar immediate attention to turn their minds from this, or fuch part of it, as would interfere with England, l3y pro- curing them fome equally or more beneficial employment. The only produce of their cul;- tivated lands that wc do not raife is flax-feed, which is confumed in Ireland and Scotland in great quantities for fowing, and might, with due encouragement, be imported in large quan- tities to England, for crushing or making oil, in the place of the many cargoes we import from Ruffia, Germany, France and Italy for that purpofc. There is therefore room to give them additional employment in the raifing of this article. Pot-afti is another article or ftaple, not in- terfering with us, that we might encourage to a fuperior degree, fo as to leflen the importa- tion of it from Germany, by the means of greater bounties ^ on the one, or heavier du- ties f on the other. Fir timber is an article we are in want of, but that cannot, from its being a commodity of great bulk in proportion to its value, be * On the propriety and extent of bounties, fee the con- dufion of the laft fc(f^ion. t It is feldom expedient to encreafe the duties on foreign articles, for fear the ftate they come from ihould, in return, raife the charges on their import of our owo produce or manufactures. L ever • ■•?.. t 74 SECTION VII. u ever made to aufwer to any great extent. It will do be ft to Ireland and the weft part of this kingdom, becauib, the freight from A- merica is lower, and proportionably higher from the Baltic, than to the ports on the call Tide. ; .[ A:> timber for fliip-building is fo fcarce with us, ic might be neccflary to permit them to build fhips for exportation or for fale, (manned with Biitifh fcamcn) as it would be a means of enabling us by being fupplied with fliipping cheaper than we otherwife fhould be, to rival more fuccefsfully the other European States, but how far it would be proper to fuffer them to be fold to foreigners, is a point not fo eafily determined. In favour of it it may be urged, that dif- pofing of fliipping as a Colony produce, is the fame as felling to other powers, pot afhes or indigo, from the fame places, and confequent- ly a means of bringing the ballance of trade fo much more in our favour, and encreafing our relative riches. On the other hand it may be afTerted, that by felling Ihips to our rivals cheaper than they otherwife could come by them, which is the only inducement and reafon they can have for buying them, wc enable them more effec- tually to lival and undermine us in our fea- commcrce, by furnifhing them the means of carrying it on with Icfs capital, or the hire of lefs money (in interefl and infurancc) which is H SECTION VII. 7> is the fame as if we enabled them to do it with proportionate lefs wages or hire of fea- nien. Befidcs, by raifing a greater competition of buyers, we fhould probably enhance to oiir- felves, the price of this foundation of all fea- commerce; and therefore, in a dupli( ite de- gree, deprive ourfelvcs, by the felling of fln'ps to foreigners, of the fuperior advantages we fliould otherwife have over them in the cheap- nefs of navigation, which, if enjoyed, would enable us to fupply foreigneis with the grof» produds of our own or other countries, cheap- er than any other ftate could. If we had it in our power, and were to fup- ply foreigners \v.r.i iaips much lower than they could eitl. i /U A them - r buy them elfe- where, then, inu -ed, die comequence would be more detrimenta', than the advantage we could reap from ielling :' product of our Colo- nies — But if the diff'Tence be, what we have reafon to believe it is, no way confideraMe, then the advantage will lay on our fide, .ad parti ularly fo, if the rc^jes and fail-clotf -e manufactured in Britain, ^'^r then wc fhou I not only difpofe of our C lony produce, but a confiderable quantity of our own manu- factures. Before the prefent troubles, the Col Miy- built veflels, were equipped with f.iils made of Britifh canvas, and principally with Britiih cor- dage ; ajid if thcfc dillcrences arc cloied on the L 2 pro- ..! ;« ii cCjt ■>9y. J^. -^J O IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :/. 1.0 I.I 11.25 lU m 12.2 US 140 L8 U IIIIII.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, f«.Y. ^ ?I0 (716) 872-450 J %' \ o ■^ \\ •,6 S E C T I O N VU. propofed bafis, it will be in our power to have it fo again. Here it may not be improper to notice, that for fome time paft, our exportation of cordage, to the northern Colonies in particular, had greatly decreafed, occafioncd by the ceating to allow the drawback of the duty of the hemp, on. the export of it in cordage — From the fame caufe, we are deprived in a great meafure, of fupplying the Cape de Verd», Madeira, the Canaries, &c. with coniiderable quantities of that manufachire. Hemp from Ruflia, &c. pays a duty of js. 2/?d. per cwt. and cordage manufaftured of this hemp, on its export * was entituled to a draw back of 2s. 4^d. per cwt. which was, and ftill continues to be highly neccffar)'-, to give due encouragement to the export ot that manufac^ ture. Spain annually receives from Ruflia, cou- iiJerable quantities of cordage, which Britain might afford to fend her, was the duty on the raw material, as good policy requires, drawn back. I have now endeavoured to point out the mutually advantageous connections there might be between us and the Colonies, and that it would be the intcrcft of even the New Eng- land provinces to accede to the propofed fyftem, rather than become independent : Likewife * By an auld be advife- able to accept of their allegiance at all, becaufc from their turbulent and feditious fpirit, they would fooner or later occafion, as they have done now, an infurredion c'" the continent, either with or without the leaft provocation on our part — Were they but independent, an antipathy would foon fublift between them and the other Colonies; as they would then look on each other as feparate people, pofleffed of different interefts. . However it will no doubt be contended, that the independency of thefe provinces will greatly affed our Weft India pofleflions, by the lofs of their confumption of molaffes and rum. This lofs will not be fo conliderable as may be imagined, becaufe thefe Colonies have all along, by illicit prad:ices, confumed much greater quantities of French ^ Ifiand molaffes and rum, under cover of its being from our own iflands, than can well be imagined. Their inducement was its cheapnefs in the French Iflands, owing to France laying great reftric- tions on their rum, becaufe it would interfere with brandy, her own produce. * In 1763 was imported into Mt-Jachufets Bay i j.ooo hogf- heads of molaffes, all of which, except lefs ihan joo, came from ports that are foreign. The value of thefe, v.t is. 4d. a gallon, a medium price, is £. 100,000. Goveinor Barnard's Letter. In I i ■\ '■ !■) i I J \ •/I 78 SECTION VII. In peace they efFed the free introduclion of thofe articles, partly by the negligence or indulgence of their own revenue officers, par- ticularly in the article of molafles, for if the duty of 3d.^a gallon had been fully coUedcd, it would have amounted almoft to a prohibi- tion, from its being at leaft 25 per cent, on the original coft, when the fame article, the pro- duce of our own iflands, was imported duty- free. If it had been two-thirds or one-half the amount, it might have bore putting ftri to that pe- riod, it was, by 6 Geo. 11. chap. 13. 6d. ii gallon- fn SECTION. VII. 79 In time of war with France they contrive to carry on the trade in French rum and mo- laffes, under cover of pretended captures, car- tel fhips, &c. But even fuppofing that Britilh ifland rum and molaffes are confumcd in fuch conliderable quantities in the New England Provinces, that the lofs of it would be fenfibly felt ; our fou- thern Colonies, from having a greater fale for their lumber by as much as went before from New England, would take a greater quantity of rum and molafles in return ; and if this be not fufficient, due encounicfement might be given, by leffening in the Mother- country the duty on rum, or encreafmg that on brandy and geneva : the latter of which might be more advifeable, as it would not enable the lower clafs of people to indulge themfelves to their own detriment, more than they do in the pernicious practice of drinking fpirits. From what has been already advanced, it will appear, there will be little chance the New England Colonies (New Hampfliire, Maflachu- fets Bay, Rhode Ifland, and Connecticut) be- coming fo powerful in confequence of their independence, fliould that take place, as to endanger the fafety of the reft of our poffef- fions. Their utmoft limits fhould be confined to their prefent bounds; then they will be fo perfeftly furrounded by us, and ib good a communication afforded by Iludfon's River, the ii 1 i^ ■ a - P <* »$ SECTION vir. the Lakes Sacrament and Champlain, the Ri- vers Sorcl, St. Lawrence, St. Croix, Kennebec, and the fea, that they might, in cafe of war, be atticked from all quarters. Befides, thefe Colonies having no comr^n- nication themfelves with the lakes, can never interfere with us in the fur and peltry trade, which, next to the fifheries, is the moft cf- fential benefit we can reap from northern fet- tlements. }i.n ■'J SEC- SECTION Vm. 8i Jrv;v, / .',1 ■ tr- SECTION VIII. Independency of the Britijh American Colonies^ contrary to the intereft of the European mari- time powers. Confequence of this independency to Britain, and the reji of Europe. Intereft of Britain rather than lofe the whole, to divide fart of her American provinces with fome of the maritime Jlates of Europe. WE have already viewed the conleqnences of the independency of the New Enp-- land Provinces, both to themfelves and the Mother-country, the effed of which, to the latter, is of little moment. — But now we will fuppofe the general independency of the whole Britiih Colonies, and a perfed union amongft them. Should thefe take place, it would not be an event fo delirable in Europe, even by our rivals, as politicians may in general imagine. > To view it in its worlt light to us, let us fuppofe it followed by an immediate French and Spanifh war. .■ i;^ii. • "i It will be faid, that we cannot, after hav- ing exhaufted the power of the nation, and loft fo confiderable a branch of our trade, which bore a proportionate part of our taxes, be abie to raife the extra fupplies for the war. Poffibly we might not ; but what would be the confequence ? A gen jral bankruptcy of the ftate. This would ruin many individuals of . M thefe >. J I 82 SECTION VIII. :£) vi thefe kingdoms, and at the fame time, as great part of the debt is due to foreigners, would have as deplorable confequences in other coun- tries. This calamity ought, in juftice and equity, to be avoided ; but neceffity has no law, and therefore the inconvenience muft be difpcnfed with, the fame as it has been of- tener than once in France. Let us fee ,its national confequences on the other fide. We fave an annual payment to the national cre- ditors of ^£".4,464,0 71, and apply this great fum to the purpofe of the war, which w^ be quite, or aimoft equal to the extra expences, above the peace eftabliflmient, and thereby re- lieve the people from any further burthens : But ihould this faving be not fufiicient, it is only having rccourfe to that excellent method laid down by Poftlethwaite in his Great Britain* t True Syjhm on the mifing the fupplies \dthitt the year, which he fhews might always have been done without effecting the labouring claftj and without further funding, by laying certain Poll Taxes on thofe fuperior ranks * of the people that are able to bear them. " The * Mr Pofllethwaite fuppofed the number cffubjefls abl« to bear Poll Taxes to be in the following ckfies and proportion** viz. I Temporal Lords — — — — — a50 a Spiritual Loids — — — a^ 3 Baronets, Knights, and Efquires — — 4^500 4 Gentlemen — — > — — 14^00 5 Perfons in great offices — ~ — d,ooo 6 Ditto in leffer ditto — — 9,000 7 Eminent SECTION VIII. 8j The whole export trade to all our American Continental Colonies ^, is only eftimated at j^.3,097,500 per annum; therefore fuppofing it would flow there by no other channels, and that it was all profit, it would not be equal tn the advantage derived from the non-payment of ^^.4,464,0 7 1, the annual interefl of the national debt. 7 Eminent Merchants and Traders, Monied Men and Bankers 8 Lefler ditto — 9 Law, and its fuperior Dependents —— |o Eminent Clergymen — — II Lefler ditto — — I* Freeholders of better fort — fi Ditto lefler 14 Farmers ij Perfons in liberal arts, and Phyficians, ") Chymilis, &c. 5 16 Shopkeepers and Tradefmen — — 17 Artificers and Handicrafts — — 18 Officers of the Navy, Captains of India-) men, and other principal Ships 3 19 Military Officers } 3,oco l«,000 ij.ooo a.oco u.ooo 30,000 jaj.ooo 180,000 30,000 joo,ooo 80,000 10,000 7.000 639,776 Brokers, Agents, &c. &c. he fuppofeswill make, with the above, one million ; each divifion to be taved according to what be deemed equal to the abilities of that rank, but upon 4he whole, to average £-3 or 4 as exigencies may require; and this, for the greater eafe of payment, to be coUedled monthly. If this be not fufiicient, he advifes a tax on faddle horfes, &c. to this we may add, as equal articles of luxury, a tax on livery fervants, dogs, public places of diverfion, &c. the whole of which might be coUedled without creating any new officers, after the fame manner, and for the fame al- lowances, (;(lored in 1763 to the Subahdiip, which he held till his death, Jan. 7, 1765. fuiii f „ n^m'-sm ht T no SECTION X. fum for his annual expences, which they fixed at 42 lacks. Thus the Company came to the acquifition of the immenfe revenue of 132 lacks of rupees, or £. 1,650,000 fterling ; in confideration of which territorial revenue, the Company agreed to pay into the ex- chequer £. 400,000 annually, unlefs their di- vidends were not below 12 j per cent, and then to pay a proportionate fum until they ihould be reduced to 6 per cent^. The ill ufe the Company's fervants made of this power, very foon appeared, by the mono- poly of fait, beetle-nut, and tobacco ; articles the natives, through long cuftom, eftecmed neceflaries of life. The ule they made of this monopoly was to obtain, by fixing an extra- vagant price, all the riches of the inhabitants ; and of thefe they fo effectually drained thcrn, by foul means or fair, that they had not left where-withal to pay their taxes, which were exadled under the name of the Subah, with a rigorous hand. But the moft execrable deed of all, was the colle(^ing the country rice into ftores, and not importing from elfewhere in due time, thro* which means, aided by the fliort crop in 1769, they, the next year, by holding up the price above the abilities of the Gentoos to pur- * Tlic laft payment of this was in 1772. In 1773 the Com- pany, from the excefs of their former dividends, and great- ncfs of their debts, were neceffituted to reduce tlieir diridcnd to 6 per cent- and accept a loan from govcrnmtnti of £, I,<00,000. chafe. SECTION X. Ill chafe, brought on a famine that defolated Bengal, and filled the Ganges with dead — Calcutta prefented to their eyes a fcene of horror and diftrefs that was fcarcely to be pa- rallel'd. To thefe we may add the many fcenes of blood occafioned by the bribes re- ceived for dcpofing and creating Subalis, Na- bobs, and Rajas. The twelve judges lately lent out with ample falaries to fet them above corruption, we may hope (from what they have already done*) will, in a great meafure, remedy thefe abufes — Still it will not be compleat. The national good requires more — That all the ter- ritorial power and revenue be vejied in the grand legiflature of the empire^ — And by this the Com- pany, as they now manage affairs, would be no great fufferers, feeing they would then be exempted from all future claim of the annual payment oi £. 400,000, as well as from the expences of their military and great part of their civil eftablifhmcnt, and have, as equity requires it, to be rcimburfed the expences of their fortifications, a fum upwards of three millions, befides other contingencies that may appear reafonable. The revenue of Bengal, 5;c. from its com- ing into the Company's hands gradually de- creafcd, and on the contrary, their expences, * In the trials of Nuncomar, Sec. t On the expiration ot the Eaft India Company's charter in 1780. . civil i vtm i ^ M tf ff t **n Fi-4 ■ .'*»'"-',««»Ba' .-««mi(»«««Pw T 112 SECTION X. civil and military, increafed in the reverfe pro- portion, fo that in the courfc of the year 1770, the furplus of the revenue was dwindled away to 20 lacks ^^. 250,000) — At this time too they had ftopt 30 lacks out of the tribute to the Emperor, and allowance to the Subah, and ihortly after, as an inftance of the good faith to be repofed in the Company, they kept back the whole of the tribute from Shaw Al- lum, notwithftanding the payment of this was the condition under which they became per- petual dewans, or receivers of the revenue of thofe provinces. On the fuppofition of government's taking into their hands the territorial jurifdidion and revenue of the Britifh conquells in the eaft, fome of the out-lines of Major Morrifon's plan feem to be almoft unexceptionable, viz. " (2.) * That the Eaft India Company be " confined to commerce alone." " (3 ) That the revenue, the civil, politi- " cal, and military departments be entirely *' under the controul of a Vice-Roy, and a ** Council of fixteen, to be appointed by the " Crown, and accountable to parliament for " tbeir ccnJud.'* " (7.) That the Vice-Roy fliould have the " whole executive power, but the revenue and <•« every new deliberative meafure to fall under * Thefe are the number of Major Morrifun's articles, of which in all there were 23— See his alliance with the Great Mogul, wherein it appears thii; worthy officer v.'.ns ill-treated by the Companv'r. lervants. « the ^ ks SECTION X. 113 " the confideration of the Vice-Roy and *' Council." " (16.) That every kind of fecurity for per- *' fon and property Ihould be proclaimed a- *' broad, and rcligioufly obferved (particular- " ly with merchants from Perfia, Tartary, and " other dilbmt countries).'* " ( 1 9) That government pay the Company " according to appraifement for all their forts, ** flores, and mihtary apparatus, to be made " good b^ yearly inftallments out of the re- *' venucp,/'^ To Ihofe out-hnes we may add as an ex- planation of the laft felected article but one —That trials by jury Ihould be introduced into the Britifli territories in Hindoftan, and a code of laws as limilar to the Englifh as may be, but lefs complicated, that the peo- ple may be as little opprefled as poflible by the gentlt.Tien of the long-robe. The confequences of thefe happy laws con- trafted to anarchy, infecurity of property, and perfonal oppreflion throughout all the Eaft be- fide, would occafion fuch a conflux of people, riches and power into the Britifli provinces, that the trade and revenues would, in all pro- bability, increafe three- fold. * We fuppofe he means (as he JIjouU) that the Eaft India Company fhould be allowed not only the principal, but inte- reft, from the time of their quitting poffeflion, on fuch parts as remain unpaid, until the whole by yearly inltallments, ihoald be cleared off. q_ The V-- ' « ^V.>I BPl |' jW i l I u^n^ptMlM I '" «-«»wifc«fv- ■•-•■■> MUKtaKs-:, 114 SECTION X. The provinces bordering on the mouth of the Indus, and the Gulphs of Sindi and Cam- bay, with the greater part of the Concan and Dccan, wc might, on the eafy condition of aflilHng to reinltate him on his throne*, be Invellcd with by the Great Mogul ; and thofe ceded provinces might eafily be wrefted from under the arl)itrary yoke of their ufurpers, to blels the inhabitants with the mild and happy government we have premifed to be eftablifli- cd in Bengal, Behar and Oriffa. Thus would the caufe of Great Britain be- come the caufe of mankind, and we fhould differ from other conquerors, in that we con- quered not for ourfelves only, but for the good of the human race. Then would the native tyrants of the Eaft be obliged to change their condud, or foon have only defolated re- gions to reign over, for their fubjefts would lly from the hand of oppreflion to that afylum, where perfonal freedom and private property extended their arms to receive them. And thus would our dominions contain the moll fertile provinces of Hindoftan, extend from the Ganges to the Indus, and command the extenfive trade of thofe great rivers, by means of which we mif^ht, in the corthern ♦ He has long been wandering f, am one Subah or Chiefto another, who alternately tieece the people in his name. It would be the intereft of this country to reinfbte him, as he would, by uniting the now-divided northern parts of tha em- pire, become a barrier againft the incurfions of the northern powers. pro- SECTION X. »i5 provinces of the Mogul's empire, in Peifia, and the fouthern paris of Tartary, foon vend more Britifh manufactures than all America takes from us ; and perhaps this Indian terri- tory may give as great employment to our fhipping, as our American continental Colo- nies, weie the trade left open to all fubjecls refident in Britain, and not confined to parti- cular aflbciations of men by excluiive charters — How far the Eaft India Company's exclu- iive trade to Cluna, and other places lubject to other prwers, may, or may not be beneficial to this kingdom, \vc fhall not at prefent con - tend ; but furely it never can be the intcrejh of any flate^ to grant to a particular fociety the fole trade between any two parts of its own dominions. From the pacific difpofition of the Gcntoos, and mod of the other tribes, and the contrail between the Britifli government and that of the neighbouring powers, the people, thougli imraenfely numerous, would without rrftrnint remain in allegiance to the imperial flate. But even ihould they, from :iny unforefcen events, wifli to become independent, they will not eafily eifed it, becaufe from the mildnefs of the climate, theii' general efl'eminacy, and other prevailing caufes, the fouthern Afiatics, tliough ever fo well verfed in arms, can never iland l)efore Europeans, as the experience of all ages has told us ; even the defcendants of Europeans lofe the military virtue and prowefs of their anccilors. We need only inftance the defcendants of thofe Portuguefc who conquer- ed 2 ed V — vf^wr^^ li6 SECTION X. ed the Eaft — They proved as unable to refift the Dutch, though equally fkilful in arms, as the Afiatics were to withftand 4;he prowefs of the anceftors of thofe now conquered in their turn. t Thus fliould there ever be a general defec- tion in the Eaft, which we have no reafon ever to expect, we may with fome propriety fuppofe, that a !efs array than we now have in America, to bring our Colonics there to their due allegiance, would in the Eaft bring about that effecl. The principal danger of lofing our eaftern dominions v.'ouldarife from fome popular Vice- Roy wifliing to render himfelf independent. To prevent this as much as poflible, wc iliould, though even irritated by the neigh- bouring powers, and neceilitated to humble then!; avoid the rage of conqueft, and too great extenfion of dominion, for by reducing to our government the rivals of our eaftern empire, who through jealoufy would be the imperial ftate's allies in time of need, we Ihould, in cafe of revolt, have their whole accumulated force againft us. A farther prevention would be to divide our Indian territr>ry into two or moi e governments, and to delegate the pov/er of the Vice-Roys for Ihort periods only, not exceeding three or four years, and to perfons of the firft rank and property in the imperial ftate, who could have no inducement to wi.3i to remain always abfent from their native-country. One half of SECTION X. 117 of the Council might likewlfe be changed or. each new appointment of a Vice-Roy, that power might not remain too long in the hands of any. Tiius too, there would always remain people verfed in the government, and excepting the firft remove, each appointment of Counfellors would hold their office for fix or eight years, or during the reigns of two Vice-Roys. From Bengal, Behar, Orifla, and the pio. vinces that would be ceded, we n.av at firft draw a revenue of three millions ilerlinof, which in a few yearh,, from the acceflion of inhabitants by the propofed lenient govern- ment, would greatly increafe. The revenues of the Eaft arife partly from cuftoms or duties on the import, export, and tranfit of articles of trade, but chiefly from the rents of lands, which laft, \1 the rents are within due bouF^ds or not raifed by mono- poly, is the leaft oppreffive to the fubjccl of any, becaufe it is no advantage to the farmer to pay his -ent to an individual rather than to government ; but, on the contrary, if the latter mode exempt him and his fellow- fub- jeft from taxes, the people at large are fo far benefited. All that can be faid againfl this mode prevailing in Europe is, that want- ing the intermediate power of the landed in- tereft, the fovereign would be without due controul, and the people would have no law l?ut his will. In i > ] Ii8 S E C T I O N X. I ! I In India immutable juftice requires, that the imperial ftate fliould exercife no more power than {he ought to do in other quarters of the globe ; that is, that flie only enjoy their foreign navigation, the regulation of their commerce, and confequent power of external duties, but not the right of internal taxes. From whence then the reader may fay Ihall our revenues arife ? From the rents of lands. But were the regulation of the rents entirely at the difpofal of govern Ten'; to raife them as they chofe, there would be no encourage- ment to induflry j the people might be op- preffed, and the empire ruined. What we would propofe, is a fyllem that would even admit of a powerful landed in- tereft, and raife a revenue fafEcient. The way the lands in Hindoftan are com- m aly let by the fub-farmers of the Nabobs anu Rajas, is to receive half its produce. A high r^nt, even in England, if much labour is fpent in the culture. J»en*al, Sec. with the provinces fuppofed to be ceded, contain more than a fquare of ten degrees in latitude, and as miiny in longitude ; then computing a degree fquare, in the pa- rallel ^of 30°, to contain 4000 f fquare Englifli * The middle latitude of our Indian pofitlTioas is about 30' north, and in this latitude a degree of lonpitude is 51 gcoRraphic or 59-94 Englifh miles— A degree of lat. 60', is 69 miks a88 yards =:69'i6; therefore (59*94 X 69-16) 4145 fquare Engliih miles are a fquare degree in the aforefaid pa- rallel. t A fquare mile contains 640 acres. miles, SECTION X. 119 miles, or 2,560,000 acres, the whole will be two hundred and fifty-fix millions of acres. Now a quit rent of i s. per acre on the whole would produce upwards of twelve million pounds ; but as mountains, deferts, rivers, and highways, muft occupy a confiderable portion of the fpace, and even great quantities of land capable of culture muft have hitherto remained uncultivated, we will not calculate more than a hundred millions of acres likely for fome time to be taken up on quit-rent, which, if in the courfe of a few years it could be made to average 2 s.* per acre, would yield, without any burthen to the people, ten mil- lions fterling. As to the mode of letting, I conceive the following plan would be as little oppreffive, or liable to objedion, as almoft any other, viz. that tracts of land, not lefs than about 50 acres. if' 1 * It may be faid, why were not the quit-rents in America as. inftead of from |d. to i^d. per acre?— The plain reafon is, land is only valuable in proportion to the number of its in- habitants, and thojl- in its vicinity; therefore, as the number .'10 , in America bear a fmall proportion to the ground that \n!i tdmlt of culture, it continues neceffary to offer new '•\ i.^i aimoft for the taking up, that the encouragement may iL -Aj! cient to invite lettlers from diltant countries. In Ben- gal, •cc. the cafe is different; the country is already popu- lous; there h no private property in lands, and great part of thefc, from being cultivated, ^re valuable; and being fur- rounded by populous nationr, there is no doubt but by hold- ing forth a mild government, new fettlcrs will come in to take the lands on the terms prefcrlbed- nor 120 SECTION X. nor exceeding 200 by computation,^ fhould be put up by auction, and let to the higheft bidder, on leafes for feven years, but condi- tionally to be leafes for ever, if on furvey the rents be found to equal or exceed the fum of two rupees per acre. Thus, after the lirft feven years, there Mrould be every year a general leafc of lands that had been taken up feven years preceding, excepting thofe that were thzn at or above two rupees; and all the lands would reg. r ' ^ rife, till in the end, as the country inert in population, the whole of them that wouia admit of improvement would be at two rupees per acre quit-rent to the im- perial Hate, and would even then admit of a confiderable intereft to the proprietor, as two rupees per acre muft fall far fliort of half the produce, the general rent of land in Hindoftan and many other parts of the worldf . The inhabitants of Bengal, before the fa- mine, were eftimated at twelve millions, and by that fad cataftrophe were fuppofed to be reduced near one-fourth ; however, with the increafe fince then, they, with the inhabi- tants of the other provinces, cannot be lefs * Small fpaces for building {hould be given gratis, or for a trivial acknowledgement, to be held in perpetuity — Houfes, though not lands (with fome few exceptions) were perma- nent polTelfions, even in the time of the native princes. t In Madeira and many other places, where a mode fome- what fimilar is followed, the proprietor, as foon as the grapes are gathered and the wine is made, receives for his rent one-haif of the latter. than wmti ■\ ; SECTION X, 121 than fifteen millions^, or twice the inhabitants of Great Britainf, fo as the inhabitants of Britain, befides other heavy taxes, are fiip- pofed to pay in rents of lands, twenty-four millions — twice the number in the Eaft Indies, a country more abounding in riches, and as much in induftiy, might certainly pay with eafe ten millions, the fum fuppofed to be raif- ed, were ti.^ preferable lands to average 2s. per acre — And as, from the new form of the con- ititution, and the opportunity afforded to rich men of vetting their fortunes in permanent poffeflions, inftead of now keeping great part of their riches buried in the earth, or in jewels, the population of the Britilh Indian empire might be doubled in a few periods of feven years, it does not feem improbable that the the whole of the hundred millions might, in- cluding the rents of the inferior lands, produce two rupees per acre, which, valuing the rupee as ufual at 2 s. 6d. will produce twenty-five millions fterling, a great fum ; but not much for thirty millions of people, efpecially as it falls on the land, and can be no impediment to trade and induftry — One-fifth of this revenue we will fuppofe muft be fpent in the country, to maintain the civil and military eftabUfh- ments : thus four-fifths will remain to be drawn ', ) * From the moft probable accounts the number of inhabl- Unts muft be feveral millions more- t England fix millions, and Scotland one million and a half. R out. f ^ I ^if I 122 SECTION IX. * i out, and this we fliall be enabled to do by the vaft induftry of the inhabitants manufafturing and raifing more than they can confiime, over and above paying the amount of their im- ports, the balance of which they receive in lilver, not only from the European, but many Indian powers. We therefore might receive our revenue in our Indian imports, and the filver that Holland, France, &c. would other- wife have to export, the trouble and rifque of which would be faved to them, by exchang- ing it for government's bills on the treafury of Bengal, &c. There is one vulgar error militates with the idea of drawing a foreign revenue, and which we muft endeavour to obviate, beca"^s fome men of fenfe have adopted it. It is, tl . although a country may bear to pay heavy :axe3, when thefe taxes are fpent among themfelves, it can- not bear even a much fmaller taxation when the produce of it is to be withdrawn and fpent in another ftate. This argument has its weight in a country fo circumftanced as not to have foreign demand for its furplus ; but when on the contrary, as is the cafe with the Eaft Indies and with America, the produce of its lands and of the induftry of its inhabitants, are eagerly fought after by other countries, the argument can have no force. For were the taxes of any country, fay four or five millions, entirely fpent at home, it muft be ultimately in the produce of . ' ",■ ■' SECTION X. 123 of the land and manufa(^lures *, therefore fo much the lefs muft be exported ; and would it not be the fame if thefe articles fo confumed at home, to the amount of four or five mil- lions, were fold to foreigners, and the produce fent to the governing power to expend where it might? By what other means do the diftant coun- t'es remit their taxes and rents to the capital where they are principally confumed, but by felUng the excefs above what they ufe tliem- felves of their own produce and manufactures ? It muft, however, be owned, that a revenue fpent where it is raifed is fo far of advantage, as that a home confumption, when compleat, affords a better price, particularly in fuch articles of the produce of the land as require, when not immediately confumed, any pre- paration to keep them from decay. The ufe to be made of this vaft Indian revenue, as well as all thofe which may be drawn from any other dependent Jlates, fhould be in the determination of the whole legifla- tive body, and granted by the Commons as the other fupplies (except thofe mortgaged for the intereft of the national debt) now are. ) * Part of both may, in many inftanccs, be foreign, (parti- cularly in Holland, and other fmall populous ftates) and in this cafe, it is evidently the fame whether the expenders of the taxes confume thefe articles at home or abroad, as an equivalent in either inltance mull be fent out of the country to purchafe theni. II 2 for J '■ I' I i f ; ) ' f i ) ^1 124 S E C T I O N X. f'u c^ AP- APPENDIX. O N The MEANS of EMANCIPATING SLAVES, WITHOUT LOSS TO THEIR PROPRIETORS. INSCRIBED To the HOLDERS of PLANTATIONS I N T H 1 WEST INDIES AND Continent of America. I 'X M-K^fc^SW., .sg*<>it&^6h*^iit)-iB fe b(M [ r^4i ' v ^ ■•*iffmuinm.ta - >-. A P P E N D I X\ 1'V\ I On the ManumiJ/ion of Slaves, AS we have, in one of the preceding Sec- tions, inveighed againft the Americans for keeping their fellow-creatures in perpetual Jlaveryy it becomes incumbent on us to point out fome probable means whereby the fervi- tude of the negroes may, like that of other men, be only for a fliort time, and they in the end be free. ' I V The chief and evident caufe that militates againft their liberation is, the unwillingnefs of men in general to give up any property or power they have attained : and to this we may add another, which prevents many perfons, even of humanity, from emancipa- ting flaves, who perhaps have rendered them particular fervices ; it is, that the laws of the different Colonies require, that whoever frees his flave fliall give fecurity in a confiderable fum (which in Penfylvania is _£. 30 currency) that the perfon freed fliall never become chargeable to the public. This law might be neceffary to prevent men of fordid difpofitions from liberating their flaves at a time when they became no longer S fcr- ; ) I I ■.!. , 13° APPENDIX. .4 fervic cable, when worn out by fatigue, and debilitated by age, their maintenance would become a charge to their proprietor. But then why fhould they, whofe genfous fpirit induce them to give their flaves frecdoiii in the prime of life, be Hable to any fupport they may require in their old age, when the public has reaped the benefit of their labours, and their proportion of taxes, as much as of any other fubje(5ls, though different in colour { It might with equal reafon be expefted that every mailer iliould be hable to the maintenance of his apprentice, fliould he ever become chaxge» able to the public. To obviate tliis bar to manumiflion, the a^a- thor ^ we have once before mentioned has bad down a plan, wherein he makes it appear that the fum of 102. ^^Penfylvania currency) paid (to a chamber appointed, or to the overfeers of the parifli) for each year the age of the flave liberated exceeds 2 r, will fufficientiy indem- nify the public. This fum, accounting the: exchange 150, wili be 6s. 8d. fterling. In this eftimate he fuppofes the negroes not in general to become chargeable till they at- tain the age of 60 years. Now 'hat a payment ::o a ceitain chamber of 6 s. 8 d. fteriing for every year the liberated negroe's age exceeds 2 1 , will, with the accu- mulation of intcreft, be Sufficient in a general * An Efliiy on the Expediency of the Abolition of Slavery, pubiilhedin IJurlington, Newjerfey, 1773. practice APPENDIX. 131 praftice to maintain the whole that may become chargeable, we can have no doubt of : but as the propriety of this payment being thus re- gulated, carries no mathematical conviclion with it, but on the contrary would be too great a payment at the middle ages, and too little at the extremes, we Ihall lay before our readers a method not liable to thefe objections, and at the fame time fliall go ipon fome data of this author's. He obferves that in Penfylvai ia, if any li- berated negrij become chargeable, his late proprietor or fccurity is called upon for £. ^o currency, and if the charge exceed that fum, it is born by the province, or in fad arifes out of the furplus Of thefe fums, beyond the maintenance required for a great part of the negroes that have become chargeable : fo that on experience it is found this fum of ^. go currency, or ^.20 fterling (accounting the exchange at 150) paid on each negro becom- ing chargeable, is equal to the average charge of the whole. This being allowed it plainly follows, that the fum which fhould be paid on tliiC liberation of a negro of any given age on a fuppofition, there was a certainty of his iittaining the period of becoming charge- able, (before eftimated to be at the age of 60 years) ij fuch an amount as v/ould be equal to the receipt or payment of £. 20, at fuch diftance of time as his age falls ihort of 60 years. But as the event of his attaining this S 2 pejiod. 1:; n I i { .'I Ml 132 APPENDIX. period, ^.Ti which cafe only the money k to be paid, is uncertain : it is evident the fum that ought to be paid muft be compounded of thefc two events, that is, it muft be fo much lefs in proportion to the uncertainty of the party's attaining the age of 60. Upon thele principles the following table is calculated : The probabilities of life in the Weft Indies, and the fouthern of our American Colonies, the former particularly, cannot be greater than they are in London ; therefore we have taken them from one of the tables in the Appendix to Doftor Price's Obfervations on reverfionary payments. The fourth column, or probability of being living at the age of 60 years, arifes out of the preceding one, that is, as 147 out of the different numbers alive at the preceding ages, are living at the age of 60 years, 147 becomes the general numerator to each of thefe different numbers, which, ufed as deno- minators, give the probability a perfon of fuch given age has of attaining or living beyond his lixtieth year : the other columns need no further explanation than we have already given ; but, as the fums to be paid on libera- tion, in the lower and middle periods of life, appear very low, although the rate of intereft we have fuppofed thefe to accumulate at is fufllciently low to obviate any objedion to iv. eing compound, which the nature of cal- culations i I '■\ APPENDIX. •33 culations for diftant periods abfolutely require, this lownefs will perhaps appear to be owing to our eftimating the probability of life no higher than in London, which, however, we cannot help again obferving, is certainly equal or fuperior to that of the negroes in our plan- tations abroad. To ihew thofe who may differ from us in this? opinion, that the fums at thefe periods would not have been greatly more had we even calculated according to the probabilities of life at Breflaw, or followed Mr. de Moi- vre's hypothefis, we have given by way of note what fums, according to thefe, would be required for the ages of 2 1, 35, and 50. ( According to the probabilities of life at Breflau *. SI 39 J9» •4088 •4I«6 •0885 Z5 a5 490 •4939 '3751 •1851 JO 10 346 •6965 •6755 •4704 60 — a4» — — — 15 4 14 — 8 z According to De Moivre's hypothefis. 11 39 65 •4000 '1166 •0866 ^.1 25 51 •5098 •?75I •1911 50 10 36 •7411 •6755 •4878 60 — a6 — ' — — I 14 7 3 16 6 9 15 I * For the titles of the above coIumnSi fee thofe corref- ponding in the next page. ', 1 134 APPENDIX. I! f-^- 1 2 o o Complement of his age, or No. of years fliort of (o. Perfons living at dif- ferent ages, according to probabilities of life in London. Probability of being living at the age of tfo years. Prefcnt value of ^.i to be paid on the expi- ration of the complement of any given life from 60, difcoatinuing at the rate of £.4. per cent, com- pound iatcreft. Value of £.T to be paid conditionally on the artainiug the full age of 60 years. Value of £.xo to be paid on the £une con- ditions. »I 3? 487 •3018 ■xi55 'e6si I « I XX 3' 479 •30^8 •1XJ3 '0^91 I 7 7 »3 37 471 •JJll •*343 •0731 I 9 3 »4 36- 463 •317s •X43<5 '0773 I !• 10 »5 35 455 •3*3' •iJ34 •08 1 8 I IX 8 26 34 447 ■33«» •X635 •0871 I 14 10 *7 33 439 •3348 •1741 •op 17 I Iff 8 aS 3» 431 •3410 •i8io •op 71 I 18 10 »9 31 4X2 •3SIl65 X 6 7 3* x9 395 •3711 •3335 •H41 X p 7 33 17 38tf •3808 •34«x •1318 X 12 8 34 i5 377 •3899 •3607 •140* X iff 3 3i aj 33S I 7 3 lO 8 8 4 S I 4 3 7 I 8 II 3 3 6 7 6 3 6 4 «> What we would now wilh to propofe is, that the government of each iiland or pro- vince fliould take upon them the future main- tenance that may be neceffary for every flave, free of bodily infirmiiics, hereafter to be libe- rated, on condition of there being paid into their treafury, fuch fums as ought to be ac- cording to their refpeclive ages. As to the age of the party, where it can, it ought to be proved indubitably; but where it cannot, to be then determined by ikilful perfons appoint- ed by a magiftrate, who, from what evidence they could gather, and fi'om appearances, might fix it to the beft of their judgment. However, until fuch time as the emancipa- ted negroes fall further under the confidera- tion of the refpedive governments, it is eafy for individuals who make them free, or afford them the means of doing it, to take fuch e- quivalent into their own hands, and in confe- quence engage to maintain them when they can no longer do it by their own labour ; that is, to take them again into their own planta- tions as foon as they require it, and there maintain them, reaping the benefit of fuch little employment as they are capable of — All this being premifed, it will be eafy to form a plan of emancipation that fhall be fraught with no detriment to the proprietors of flaves. If I am informed right, it is a cuftom in fome of the Spanifh fettlements, that when- ever a cargo of flaves arrives, the price eacii in- A 1 V t i If. •^ i J 136 APPENDIX. fri M li M i I it I ! individual fells at is regiftered in one of their courts, and his purchafer is obliged to allow him (or her) one day for himfelf out of the fix allotted for labour, by which they fecure to him the means of becoming free ; for when, by making proper ufe of this day, he acquires what is equal to one-fifth of his purchafe, his mafter is obliged to fell him one day out of the remaining five ; then the flave being mafter of two days, with the fame liberty of purchafing the others one by one, has it in his power to make a rapid progrefs in becoming free. Shall the Englifh, ever famed for courage and humanity v/hich always go hand in hand, be out done in the latter by a nation in many inftances notorious for cruelty ? Let not the) who boaft of their own free- dom, and fliould entertain elevated notions of liberty, be greater tyrants and oppreflbrs of their fellow- creatures than the fubjefts of a defpotic monarch are. This mode of emancipation, I am fenfible, will meet with oppofition from all thofe, who, infenfible of the rights of human nature any further than relates to themfelves, are wont to look upon their negroes as indifputably their property as their horfes or dogs, becaufe, they will fay, although in the end the negro pays us the whole of his purchafe money, from whence is his ability of doing it derived^ but from our previoufly giving up our right to one day in the fix j therefore, we in faft libe- m APPENDIX. 137 liberate him without any real confideration, becaufe, had we retained the labour of that day to our own ufe, we fhould not only have been in poffeffion of the money paid us for his freedom, or of his labour which was equi- valent, as it acquired it, but likewife have been entituled to all his future fervice. This mode of argument is plaufible enough, did we not confider that a man working for himfelf, confcious the produce of his labour is his own, and to be apphed to efFecluate what the hu- man mind, if not broken with flavery and defpair, muft ardently defire — his liberty and a profped of future competence, will be in- clined to exert himfelf to a much greater de- gree, than if an intolerauc talk-mailer M'as to reap the whole fruits of his labour ; not only fo, but thefe hopes of better days, would, in all probability, fo invigorate and add life and fpirit to him, that when labouring for his mafter, he would do more, or if talk-work execute it better than he otherwife would have done. However, the plan of liberation we have to prppofe, is without thofe objedions j it is, that every proprietor fliould encourage his negro to fave money, which may be done by various means — by paying him proportionately for working above his talk- work — by allowing him, where land is plentiful, to cultivate at his leifure hours, a fpot of ground for him- felf, and by purchafmg the produce of him at T its ^■■f!^ y.| J m ^ "A J-'Wi H y I ',» i I 138 APPENDIX. its full value, if no other market be near— likewife by other means that particular fitua- tions and circumftances may point out : — And when the negro has acquired what is equal to one-iixth part of his value or coft, to fell him one-lixth of his time, that is, one day in the week — Then by the fame encourage- ment and paying him for the free day the ufual hire, or allowing him to work elfewhere, he will, in due time, be enabled to purchafe another — He will now, befides his leifure hours, be mailer of two days, and may, there- fore, in little more than half the time, pur- chafe a third. • ' We will flop here, and take time to obferve, that as the poflibility of a Have's acquiring wherewith to purchafe the firfl day is only derived from his leifare hours, it would be nothing more than humanity didates to fell him a lefTer portion, that is, on the payment of a twenty-fourth of his value, to allow him one day in the month, or four weeks, which he may make ufe of, as we have before provi- ded, to enable him by three other fuch pay- ments and purchafes to acquire the more fpee- dily the property of one day in the week, with wliich, to proceed as we have mentioned, to the acquiring of other two days. Now his propiietor being only mafter of I.alf his time, it will not be amifs, as he is obliged by the laws to give fecurity for the maintenance of his flave liberated, ihould he ever become charge- APPENDIX. 13? chargeable, tliat he fecure himfelf from that burthen, by retaining ^ one day as fecurity for that purpofe, by making the remaining half-purchafe of the flave chargeable, in equal payments for the liberty of the two next days j thefe payments made, nothing in jufticc or reafonfliould retard the negro being wholly free, but the payment to his late proprietor (who now becomes his bondfman to the public) of an equivalent to the probability of his becom- ing a charge in his old age. This equivalent ought to be paid in hand, but fliould the freed man take a very confiderable time, it can be no lofs to the bondfman, as the retention of one day's labour in the week will (except in very advanced ages) be equal or fuperior to the intereft and rifk of not being paid, and we may fuppofe a fufficient fpur to the negro, to procure and pay the fum wanted. After flaves, male or female, by their own induftry have thus emancipated themfelves, their children or near connections may poffibly * This day might be equally retained by allowing the ne- gro to purchafe the remaining three days as he did the other, viz. by paying owly one-lixth of his value for each; but then as the abfolute freedom of the lafl: day could not be had without the payment likewife of the equivalent, to the profpefl of his future maintenance, which in Haves of ad- vanced ages would be fo confiderable, that joined to one-fixth of their value to be previoufly paid, fuch negro might think it much more than one day of the week was worth, and con- I'equently content himfelf with paying his matter fivc-hxths of his value, to purchafe five days in the fix, and fo leave him liable, and without due recompencc, to maintain him in his old age. T 2 yet i V i-t ^. I 1! ! 1 ■, Ji I ' ■'1 140 APPENDIX. U \i < f ■• ft-: «. ,1 yet remain in flavery— The liberty of thcfe they fliould be allowed to purchafe in the fame manner as they have done their own : juftice requires it, and humanity will permit no man to refufe felling the children to their father. As to the value to be fixed upon indi- viduals of different ages and degrees of utility \ there is no prefcribing any general rule : this will lay in the breaft of the proprietor ; and as no pciibn will adopt this fcheme without fome degree of humanity, or of juftice, "we may hope the fame feeUngs will direct him to cfli- mate with equity. . • r-u... It may be faid that no plantation can be carried on with regularity, without an equal number of hands to labour on every working day in the week, which cannot be, when the flaves have purchafcd the freedom of certain days; however, this we prefume can produce no fuch inconvenience, as without labour, the flaves can have procured no liberty at all, nor can procure any further ; and where can they labour to more advantage than in the planta- tion they rcfide on : fo that all the difference is, they muft be paid or allowed on thofe days, the ufual wages of the country, which is no hardfhip to the mafter, as he has received an equivalent in value to this day, and may be cafily determined, as there are in every ifland and province fome free negroes who work for hire; and in tlie iflands particularly, many flaves belonging to proprietors who have no planta- i APPENDIX. 141 ' plantations, but let their negroes out to labour for others. It may be as well not to make the firft weekly day of liberation for every one the fame; but if wi*^h one part the Monday fliould be begun with, to proceed regularly forward ; the other part might begin at and proceed from Thurfday: thus when twenty Haves in two parties had each procured the freedom of three days, the want of their labour would be precifely the fame as that of ten flaves made perfectly free: and the fum they will have paid, will be equal to the whole value or coft often fuch negroes; therefore, cheir proprietor has it in his power to purchafe ten more, and with this advantage, that without any increafe of capital he is enabled to have ten more ne- groes uprn his plantation, and confequently an increafe of produce in that proportion : for this acceflion of produce he will have undoubt- edly labourers' wages to pay; but then thefc wages will not be near equal to the advantage gained, for in the other inftances no one would hire men, but with the defign of gaining, by their labour. It now becomes matter of enquiry, whether it would not be better, where both are equal- ly to be had, to hire freemen or to labour with flaves. To the man of fmall capital the former choice is obvious, becaufe, with only as much as will pay wages till the getting in of his firft crop, he may cultivate his lands to '^■■■. { ! ■ •¥•*>■ '4* APPENDIX. • I I ■J-\ to as great an extent as thofe who have many times his capital, and though his gains will not be fo great as thofe that have no la- bour to pay, they will be much greater on the capital employed ; and this is certainly the criterion to go by. Now, as to the man of large capital, we may venture to fay, he will not value an an- nuity on the life of any new Have at eight years purchafe, equal to legal intcrcil for his money: therefore, as good ilaves, on an ave- rage, are worth ;£• 50 * fterling per head, and good mechanics are, many of them, bought and fold as high as £. 100, it would be equally his intereft to hire the former at j^. 6 . 5, year- ly wages, with all neceffary cloathing and proviiions, and the latter at £*• 12 . 10, with the fame allowances, as to purchafe them. It v'ould even be better, becaufe the planter would be uuucr no engagement to maintain the hired men in their old ^^e. Thcfe wages and other attendants, are, in reality, as much, or more, than are ufually paid in many parts of England for farmers' fervants and country mechanics. And is there no difference be- tween the labour of a freeman and a flave ? Yes, rculbn tells us there mull be : The one * slaves from fome part of the coaft (where they are of lefs value) may be bought on importation at fo low as about £. j6 per head, proTided men and women, with a confider- able proportion of boys and girls of iz years of age and up- wards, be taken together as they run, with a right only of refufal of one in fifteen or twenty. is APPENDIX. «43 is ftimulatcd by the confcioufnefs of greater gain — the other has no frch motive; for let his labour be more or left it matt.rs not to him, he id not intereftcd in his mailer's welfare. To fpur the flave on to aftivity, ruftom has appointed, in all labours that will admit of it, a certain tafk for a day's work : This work, bccaufe it muft, will in fome manner be done; but then with a degree of languor and liftlelTnefs v/h ether it be ill or well exe- cuted, and not with that fpirit and cafe, or to liich extent, that a freeman, certain of reaping an encreafed pay proportionate to his induftry, would do. Men, confcious of being free, will, even for moderate wages, engage themfelves in la- bours that appear the moft intolerable to flaves ; for what is worfe than working in lead, coal, or tin-mines ? And we may boldly affert, that it is more the intereft of the employers of thefc men to pay them in proportion to their induftry*^, than to purchafe them (if it was in their power) at ;^. 50 or £.60 per head, the price of fcafoned flaves, and to find them with provifions and cloaths. From thcfe premifes it will follow, that JIate policy, which requires labour to be low, is not repugnant to the emancipation of flaves; but, on the contrary, is interefted in it, and particularly fo, if by their own induftry they have reimburfed their value; for then i/.ry tnujl * Bv the meafurc or quantity of their work. n ■¥ i I, i rtb >er w T '44 APPENDIX; ff either he looked on as an accejfton of fo many fub- jeds, or as the means of fuch a national acqui- fttion of property as they have paid for their emancipation : which increafe of capital in pro- per hands, in a commercial nation, will al- ways be turned to its advantage. Had the labour of the negroes in our iflands been voluntary, we never fliould have heard of their frequent infurrcdions and murder of their matters — nor of thefe bloody wars at different times, for near a century paft, with the runaway negroes in Jamaica, whom at laft we have been obliged to acknowledge in- dependent. We do not mean to infer that proprietors of Haves fliould free them without recom- pence, becaufe this aft of generofity, to the diminution of their own fortunes, can with no more reafon be expedted of them than that other individuals fliould ^ply their private property to the fame purpofe — to the reim- burfement of the fums they cofl: their pro- prietors. What wc wifli to have adopted is, to look 0:1 the coft or value of a negro as a debt due from him, for which we retain his labour as fecurity for principal and intereft, and to put the payment of it as much as poilible in his power by permitting him to pay it off as he is able, and gradually redeem his own j which is no more iiidulgencc than we would readily allow any other debtor. Should we not think i .. '-lypi" ' e ,s It is e h y )t k APPENDIX. 145 think that creditor a cruel one, who having received from a poor man, his debtor, an af- fignment of fix horfcs, being all the effects he was worth, as fecurity and intereft for the debt from their vakie and laboiu\, fiiould refufe the redemption of the horfcs one by one ; but, becaufe he knew he had an advantageous bar- gain, fhouki infill upon the poor man's re- deeming them akogether, if at all : an event never likely to be in his power j although, had he been fuffered to redeem them one by one, he would foon, by the profit gradually accru- irg and accumulating from their additional labour, have effectuated the redemption of the whole. This creditor we fliould think cruel, and yet that man, if fuch there be, would be more fo, who fliould refufe his flave the pur- chafing the fix v/eekly days of labour one by one. Men thus made free, would have in them the fpirit of induftry, and, as we have before concluded, would voluntarily labour for as much more than meat and neceffaries, as the life annuity of their value and profpecT: of fu- ture maintenance would be worth, exclufive of the additional labour, which, as free men interefted in it, they would give. Thefe wages, though equally advantageous to the employer to give, as to purchafe the labourer, would enable the latter to live in a degree of enjoyment of wants, real or imagi- U nary i ^1 i I m i >*• Ml '^r- t II ii \ « 146 APPENDIX. nary, fo much fuperior to a flave, as would ftimulate this clafs, to attain the condition of freemen. Were great part of our negro labourers free, and a probability, or the means afforded to all of becoming fo, we fliould have nothing to fear from infurreftions : But ihould we ftill continue the fyftem of keeping our fellow- creatures in perpetual Jlavery, what have we not to expect from that juftly enraged part of our fpecies ? In Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Dutch Guiana thefe oppreffed men have vindicated the rights of nature — in defpite of their tyrants have be- come free, and formed republics fo formida- ble, that their former mailers were glad to acknowledge their independency, on condi- tion to be freed from their inroads and de- predations, and that they receive into their community no others of their fable race, but deliver them to their mailers. Without a new mode of condud, we fliall certainly fome day fee as powerful an infurrec- tion, and as formidable a colony of negroes, in the faftneffes of the Apalachian Mountains, as now is in Guiana, St. Domingo, or the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. A^ the negroes in Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia exceed the whites fo far in num- bers, nothing hitherto has prevented this event but the great antipathy the Indians bear this unfortunate race, and the better treat- '" f" " , . I ^' >'^ . ' -^T"^^-- I r' I T APPENDIX. 147 treatmenc of the negroes as to food, from the greater plenty of it, which leflens their in- citement to rife. However, this antipathy of the Indians, which is the chief barrier to iniurredions, may ceafe ; but whether it do or no, it will fhortly be of little moment, as thefe aboriginal Ameri- cans, fince the introduftion of Emopean vices, have been, and ftill are, greatly on the decreafe ; while, on the contrary, the negroes, even by their natural increafe ^, are becoming more and more numerous, and probably after thefe troubles are fubfided, will be increafed ftill fur- ther by importations. Therefore fliould we continue to keep nearly the whole race as flaves, and not encourage and affift them to liberate themfelves, the epocha of their uni- verfal freedom, and ruin of their prefent ma- tters, may be at no very diftant period * This increafe would be ftill greater, did not the inhu- manity of fome of their mailers allow no remifTion of labour «o the females, during the latter part of their pregnancy. \ .1 k -WW" i^ nyn ■t;." ^ 14 loward, rrarf forward. Page 39, line 19 until, narf until], 43 13 cavil about the tight, read difpute the right. And in the folio-wing line, immediately after do fo, read They ; . then came into non-importatiun agreements, as they had done before for the repeal of the (lamp-adt, and fuch now was the leniency or want of firmnefs in ^ the government, that the fame caufes produced the fame cfledt, and the adl, except in the article of tea, on which was laid a duty of 3d. per lb. wa&iC" pealed. The laft litie of the fame fa^e, preamble to the fore- ment. lined art fets forth, read preambles to the fore* mentioned art, and the 4 G. 111. chap ij. (laying ?, duty oil foreign lugars, indigo, coffee, wines, &c.&c.) fet torth. Ci 18 thing, read think. 7x 19 if the former, read if the produce of the coIODic&. 79 14 little chiince, rt-ai little diancc of .84 b even, rwi/ tvcr. loi ai not much to be, read not to he. ijo <) were not below, read were below. Ill iH d k the. 134 Title oj the sth column, difcontinuing, read difcounting. 0- The Reader is defired particularly to attend to the Ertata in p. 43*