13 



were emphatically called *' British Plantations," 

 and the ships of thes(S British dependencies were 

 entitled to the privilege of a British register, as the 

 shipping of the American provinces continuing 

 under the British Government, still are. 



The West Indies and Great Britain, and the 

 Continent of Europe, through Great Britain, 

 presented markets for their produce ; the staples 

 of which were provisions, lumber, ashes, tobacco, 

 and rice.' And to the supply of these markets, the 

 planters and merchants assiduously directed their 

 attention, in all the particulars which are calculated 

 to promote a current and advantageous sale. 



Thus possessed of the markets of the West In- 

 dies and of Europe, the change in these States from 

 *' British Plantations," giving employment to Bri- 

 tish capital and British shipping, to independent 

 and rival inariliyne States, does not appear to 

 have been met by sufficient regard to the remain- 

 ing resources of the British Empire. When the 

 plantations or farms of Virginia, Georgia and 

 South Carolina ceased to be British, in respect both 

 of [)roducc and shipping, extensive supplies of 

 cotton wool, rice, and probably tobacco, might 

 have been obtained from the British Asiatic pro- 

 vinces, not only for the supply of Great Britain, 

 and the dependencies of the British Empire wherein 



' Very little Cotton-wool was grown in North America un- 

 til after the dcelaiatiuu of American hidopcndcncc. 



