PEEFACE. 



It is my purpose in this monograph to describe the attempts 

 of the British g-overnment to force upon their colonies in North 

 America a new industry, which, it was beUeved, would ma- 

 terially benefit England by supplying the navy with materials 

 usually purchased at high rates from Norway, Sweden and 

 Russia, and at the same time provide the Americans with com- 

 modities to exchange for British manufactures. The success 

 of these experimenits varied according as the given enterprise 

 helped or hindered the industries already developed in the 

 colonies. 



Briefly stated, the theory in accordance with which the com- 

 mercial affairs of the plantations were regulated is this: Col- 

 onies should be made as subservient and as useful as possible 

 to the mother country. In view of this end it is advisable to 

 encourage the colonists to develop their natural resources, and 

 the merchants to import from the plantations those raw ma- 

 terials that are not produced in the mother-country. For such 

 commodities, when purchased from foreign countries, are paid 

 for in coin; while colonial products can be paid for in manu- 

 factures. Such a system of exchange between a government 

 and its dependencies cannot fail to be mutually advantageous. 

 It is above all important, however, that the balance of trade 

 incline toward the mother-country; and that the colonists be 

 forbidden to engage in manufactures or to export their raw 

 materials to foreign ports. 



If this policy had been followed consistently and without in- 

 termission, the results might have answered more nearly the 

 expectations of its advocates; but neglect of the plantations, 



