24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



profit to the mother-country. It was a rigorous rule that all 

 manufactured articles were to be procured of England. The 

 colonies were not allowed to produce such articles for them- 

 selves, or to do anything which should come in conflict with 

 the industry of the old country. But if there were any arti- 

 cles that England was in need of, the industry of the settlers 

 was confined to them, and they could sell them only to Eng- 

 land and buy what they required only of her. They encoun- 

 tered new restrictions at every turn. The grants or charters 

 were issued, in some cases to individuals, in others to compa- 

 nies, and this involved, as it was clearly understood to in- 

 volve, self-government; but the home-government very soon 

 began to claim the right and the power of confirming the sev- 

 eral governors. Some of the colonies were forbidden even 

 to cut down pine trees suitable for ship timber, on any pre- 

 tence. They were denied the right to export wool to any 

 place out of the king's dominions, to sell land to anybody 

 except subjects of the British Crown, to ship any produce 

 except in English vessels, to coin money, to do anything, in 

 fact, which could lessen their dependence upon the mother- 

 country. Every new step taken, even in settling and work- 

 ing new lands, was met by some new and burdensome restraint, 

 intended to keep the colonists in leading-strings. A formal 

 act of Parliament, passed soon after the beginning of the last 

 century, denied the right of the colonists- to make hats. The 

 home-government was very indignant at the custom which 

 the people had of working up their wool and flax into home- 

 spun cloth. They were forbidden to manufacture ore beyond 

 the state of pig-iron. Thus the most oppressive restrictions 

 bore upon colonial agriculture, as well as upon colonial com- 

 merce and manufactures, from the very outset of the settle- 

 ments. They finally became so burdensome as no longer to 

 be endured with patience, and led to an open rupture with 

 the home-government, commonly known as the Revolution, 

 at a time when the population of the whole country was con- 

 siderably less than three millions, the general and popular 

 estimate of three millions being supposed to be too high' 



