The Lumber Tr-ade in New England. 105 



in some extraordinary emergency, of fitting out the royal navy.^ 

 Mr. West, the "King's Council," delivered as his legal opinion 

 on the above memorial, that as the law then stood, complaint 

 against American shipping would be no more justifiable than 

 complaint against the building of ships at Bristol.- The inci- 

 dent shows how clearly the great importance of this industry 

 was recognized on the other side of the water, and how little 

 (except, perhaps, during the period of depreciated currency) 

 New England felt the need of the forced development of a new 

 industry, like the manufacture of pitch and tar or the cultivation 

 of hemp. 



Recalling the history of the Naval Stores Act of 1705,* it be- 

 comes apparent why the enthusiasm of the New England mer- 

 chants cooled so suddenly, when the advantages of the promised 

 bounty appeared doubtful. The tar which they exported was 

 chiefly the product of Carolina, bought by way of exchange, 

 and they felt no great interest in the encouragement of that in- 

 dustry in New England. Owing to the inadvertent neglect of 

 these colonies and the lax administration of the navigation laws, 

 the New Englanders were making great strides in trade with 

 other continental plantations, with the West Indies, and with 

 foreign countries. Their energies were concentrated upon the 

 industries which were rapidly advancing their material pros- 

 perity. It was, therefore, to be expected that whatever inter- 

 fered with their independent trade would meet with vigorous 

 and unremitting opposition. So far as timber was concerned, 

 it would seem to have been a comparatively simple matter to 

 force New England masts, yards and bowsprits into the Eng- 

 lish market by restrictive legislation, or to coax them in by 

 bounty acts. But two causes interfered with the engrossment 

 of these commodities by the mother-country. One was the 

 success of the New Englanders in evading the navigation laws; 

 the second was the attempt of the government to insist upon the 



^Petition of master ship-builders of the Thames, B. T. New Eng., 

 Y: 27. 



^Opinion of Mr. West, the King's counsel, B. T. New Eng., Y: 28. 

 ^Cf. Part II, Ch. I. 



