135 



igation and commerce of New EtiyhiiKi, 1)\U tlirectl}- oppresscnl and re- 

 strained them. Omittino; notice ot" the acts of Parliament which do not 

 relate specialty to the subject before us, the first law to claiiii our at- 

 tention was passed in 1733, after a discussion of two ycais, 'i'liis ;i( i, 

 by imposing duties on rum, molasses, and sugar, imported into tlie col- 

 onies trom any West India islajids other than British, was designed to 

 break up an extensive and valuable tratle \\ iih the French, Dutch, and 

 Spanish islands, where these products of the plantations were exchanged 

 for fish. It is said that, previous to the commencement of the trade to 

 these islands, molasses was thrown away by the planters, and that ihis 

 article, wliich is now so extensively used in l<)()d, was first saved and 

 put into casks to be lirouglit to New England, lo be distilled into rum. 

 Certain it is, that on the passage of the act of J 733, the people of the 

 northern colonies insisted that, unless the}'' could continue to sell fish to 

 the planters of the foreign islands, and to import molasses from thence 

 to be manuficture<i into spirit, for domestic consumption and for trade 

 with the Indians, they could not prosecute the fisheries without ruinous 

 losses. The penalty for violating the act was the Ibrtiitiu'e of vessel 

 and cargo. Yet New England never submitted, though a. fleet was 

 sent to enforce obedience; and the interdicted trade with the French, 

 Dutch, and Spanish islands did not cease until a late period of the con- 

 trovers}^ which terminated in the Revolution. In fact, therefore, a 

 measure which threatened to ruin the cod-fishery of New Engfuid, 

 produced, as I incline to beheve, no serious ij^jury to it, for quite thirty 

 years. 



But in 1764 the act was renewed, and the collection of the duties 

 it imposed on rum, molasses, and sugar was attempted b^^ the ofiicers 

 of the crown, in a manner to create the most anxious concern; fi)r, the 

 imisdiction of the admiralty courts was enlarged, and the people were 

 deprived of the trial by jur}' in all cases arising between them and 

 the government under this law, and the trade and navigation laws 

 generally. 



The most alarming discontents followed the collisions and quarrels 

 which constantly occurred between ship-masters and merch-ints, on 

 the one hand, and the officers of the customs on the other, in various 

 parts of New England, and especially in Boston, Salem, (douecster, 

 Falmouth,* and elsewhere in Massachusetts ; and the impr(\ssion be- 

 came ireneral among connnercial nuni, that their business and property 

 were both to be sacrificed to apjx'asc the clamors of the planters ol die 

 British islands, and to test the abihty of the mother coiiniry to "raise 

 a revenue in America" under the "sugar and molasses acts," ns this 

 odious law was calh^d in the politics ot" the day. 



Mfantime, the Sf)ulhttn lolouics iKfuiilid ihc madness oi- foliy of 

 their nfirlhern brethren, in resisting taxation upon so homely a com- 

 modity as mithisses, and iriade themselves merry over the neeounts of 

 the quarrels of tin* Yankees {'ov eht .i|) ^^sintlrtii/ig.^^ 



In truth, the S<Mith, from first to last, never S(>em(Mi to under-tand or 

 appreciate the iS^ath upon this (|uestion, and i<)rl)ore lo eonie (o the 

 rescue for years alter the l<Mding men ol .Massachusetts had wasted 



Nov ForthnU, T^iaiae. 



