912 DEANE PHILLIPS 
made effective —.especially since it would have been fatal to a trade 
which had now become a vital necessity to the continental colonies. It 
was not until a considerably later time, when the restrictions were 
revived under Grenville’s ministry, that the act really was enforced 
(114). The trade during the period in question therefore continued 
practically unchecked, and New England still succeeded in furnish- 
ing all the West Indies with horses as well as other supplies. 
There is little doubt that during this time horses were a very impor- 
tant source of income to the New England colonies. They are invariably 
mentioned first among the products of Rhode Island in the reports 
made by the various governors to the Lords of Trade in London (115). 
The extent of the shipments is noted also by most of the contemporary 
writers of the period —‘‘ vast quantities of lumber and horses sent 
out by the New Englanders ’’ (116), as one writer has described it. 
Some idea of the importance of the trade may be gained also from 
the complaints of the British planters, already mentioned, because of 
the supply furnished to their competitors, the French (117). The 
reports of the governors of New York during this period indicate that 
this colony also was exporting some horses at this time (118), but not 
in sufficient quantities to threaten the leadership of New England in 
the trade. 
CONTRABAND TRADE DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 
During the years from 1755 to 1763, the period of the struggle between 
France and Great Britain for supremacy in America, the trade of all 
the islands of the West Indies suffered more or less. The French 
sugar planters especially, because of British dominance on ‘the sea, were 
often in serious difficulties. Nevertheless, plantation supplies con- 
tinued to be sent out from the continental colonies to both British and 
French islands. The trade with the French islands was of course con- 
traband, but through various devices it continued to be conducted on 
a very considerable scale, and by this means French sugar and molasses 
still found an outlet and the needed supplies were obtained. 
Some of this trade with the enemy on the part of the continental 
colonies was carried on directly under the protection of flags of truce 
granted by the colonial governors for the ostensible purpose of exchang- 
