A. D. 1764. 403 



prefsly difa vowed the condud: of the governor, and gave aflurances, 

 that frefh orders fhould be fent to him to give no interruption to the 

 Britifh logwood-cutters, to re-eftablifh thofe he had expelled from their 

 fettlen-ienrs, and to adhere ftridly to the ftipulations in the 17th article 

 of the treaty of peace ; all which was foon after performed with the 

 greateft punduality. And thus a little ftorm, which fome clamorous 

 politicians had attempted to magnify into a very ferious affair, was hap- 

 pily blown over. 



Accounts received from Jamaica contained the following ftatement 

 of the condition of that important ifland. 



From Chriftmas 1752 to Chriftmas 1762 there were imported 71,115 

 neeroes, fold on an average at jQ\o ilerling. 



During ten years part there were imported from Madeira about 6^9 

 pipes of wine annually. The annual value ofprovifions imported from 

 Ireland was about ^^loo.oco flerling. During the war the annual 

 amount of provifions, lumber, live dock, See. imported from North 

 America was about _^200,ooo currency *, of which about one quarter 

 was paid in produce, and the other three quarters f in money or bills 

 of exchange, which the Americans ufually carried to the French part 

 of Hilpaniola J, the produce of which was at a very low price during 

 the war. 



The population of Jamaica was now fo much increafed as to be efli- 



• Tlic exchange being 40 per cent upon fterling 

 money, this fuin amounts to /, 142,857 : 2 : 10 

 flerling. 



+ According to Lord Sheffield, the following is 

 the ca'cul:uii)n of the p oportion of produce taken 

 by the North-American traders in tlicir dealings at 

 Kingllon in Jamaica. Thofc of the Carolinas and 

 fouthirn provinces took rather more than half; 

 Pennfylvania and the other middle provinces about 

 one fourth, and the balance in cadi and bills of ex- 

 change ; the New-England provinces not above 

 one tenth, and the balance in dollars, which they 

 immediately carried to Hifpaniola, Sic. He adds, 

 that American vefTcls uled to cleir out empty 

 hoglheids at the cuflom-houfe, which they filled 

 wiili fui^ar, &c. at rhe foreign iflands, and there- 

 by evaded the foreign duty in America : and that 

 tiic New-Englandcrs ufed to purchafe Jamaica pro- 

 duce with doubloons manufactured at Bollon, but 

 as foon ns tlu legiflature of tlie ifland put a Hop 

 to the circulation of tliem, they gave up buying 

 produce. [fJhfirvalions on the cjmmercc of ihi 

 ^•ImericanJIntet, f>. \-j%, eti. 1784.] 



X \ principal article of the piirchafes of the 

 Amiricans tiierc was mclafTes, which tlicy could 

 not buy in Jamaica, whore it is fo valuable for the 

 purpofe of converting it into rum, and which they 

 could buy on very low terms from the French 

 planters, who, before this market opened to them, 



fometimes threw it away, as I have been told, the 

 plenty of wine and brandy from France, and the 

 difcouragement of the dilliilery by their govern- 

 ment, rendering it of no value to them. The me- 

 laflcs bore a great profit in America, vail quantitieJ 

 being expended in families, and, probably, iliU 

 more in the dillilleries. 



Of the fpirits dillilled from it, a great quantity 

 went to Africa for the purchafe of negroes, who 

 were generally fold in the Well India iflands, and 

 the proceeds remitted to Bi itain ui bills of exchange : 

 fo that the French mclafles thus became the lawr 

 material of a trade, very favourable, in point of ba- 

 lance at Icall, to Great Britain. 



As, according to the founded maxims of trade, 

 raw matcri;ds lor manufa^'^urcs may be bought 

 with advantage from foreigners, the acquifiti<in of 

 melanVs from the French (lailicr than from our 

 own planters, who know better what to do with 

 it) was evidently as advantageous (it the dnIiKery 

 is allowed to be a beiicf.ci'l, and not a peruiciinis, 

 manufafture) as the acquilkion of raw fi'.k, fl.ix, 

 hemp, iron, faltpetre, &c. There is no doubt, 

 that fome articles of French manufai^hire w.rc 

 carried to America along with the mvlaffes : hut, 

 if we allow our rivals in trade to underfell us in any 

 article, a preference in the fale of fucli ailicle it 

 the unavoidable confrquence. 



