The Bounty System. 81 



It is not easy to estimate exactly to what extent influences 

 issuing from government circles affected the decision of the 

 Board of Trade respecting the bounty question, but it seems 

 probable that the deplorable state of the navy finances may have 

 been an important factor in the question of the renewal of the 

 Naval Stores Act. The enormous expenses of the late war had 

 necessarily fallen heavily upon the Navy, and there had been 

 serious charges of maladministration brought against the Navy 

 Board throughout the war. Their debt was made the subject 

 of debate in Parliament in the winter of 1721, and the king, in a 

 speech from the throne, said that this was the "most heavy and 

 burdensome part of the national debt."^ The fact that navy 

 bills were at high discount may, very likely, have had some- 

 thing to do with the discontent of the merchants who com- 

 plained that they got little benefit from the premiums. It is 

 even more probable that the state of their accounts strongly 

 influenced the Navy Board themselves in their attitude towards 

 the encouragement of plantation stores. - 



A certain Mr. Godin, who, at a hearing of the West India 

 merchants before the Board of Trade, proposed that as a means 

 of increasing the navy revenue all ships from the plantations 

 bound for Africa, Europe, etc., be obliged to touch at Great 

 Britain and pay "lights" before returning to America, stated 

 his opinion that the colonists could not object to this regula- 

 tion, "especially if the bill for the bounty on pitch and tar now 

 ready to expire be renewed."^ This gentleman seems to have 

 been criticised for favoring the colonies at the expense of Eng- 

 land by advocating the continuation of the act; for he was at the 

 pains of writing to the Board an explanation of his position.* 



i"Collection of Parliamentary Debates," 1668-1761. 



2It will be remembered that the accumulation of the national debt 

 was regarded as a very serious matter just at this time, and that the 

 discussion of the bounty on naval stores was coincident with the at- 

 tempt to provide for the debt through the agency of the South Sea 

 Company. 



3Mf-morial from Mr. Godin, B. T. Plants. Gen., L: 59. 



■^Second memorial from Mr. Godin, Jan, 5, 1725, B. T. Plants. Gen., 

 L: 60. 



