Chap. III. of the E N G L I S 
of Commerce, concluded in November ijif Th.t Ame- 
rican Treaty of 1670 is confirmed and ratified ; and it 
was thereby declared that this fliould be imderflood to 
be without Prejudice to any Liberty or Power, which 
the Subjefts of Great Britain enjoyed before, either 
through Right, Sufferance, or Indulgence ; and the En- 
glijh having long enjoyed the Liberty of cutting Log- 
wood, whither through Right, Sufihrance, or Indul- 
gence, they are by this Treaty entitled to the fame, in 
as plain and exprefs Words as can be imagined. Then 
the Lords Commiflioners proceeded to fhew the Import- 
ance of the Logwood Trade to Great Britain,, by the 
following Account of what Logwood had been import- 
ed fince the late War. 
Tons. 
C. 
Q. 
lb. 
In 1713 
2189 
15 
3 
22 
In 1714 
4848 
14 
3 
24 
In 1715 
5 ^d 3 
12 
I 
In 1716 
2032 
17 
2 
0 
14935 
0 
3 
4 
This is, communibus annis, 3741 Tons, which cannot be 
computed at lefs than 60,000 /. per Annum, though the 
Price is already reduced from 40 /. to 16/. per Ton. 
And before your Majefty’s Subjebls were fettled there, 
it was worth 100/. a Ton. Nor is this Trade lefs ne- 
cefTary than beneficial to your Majefly’s Dominions, by 
Reafon of the great Encouragement it gives to our Sea- 
men and Shipping, which at all times require a particular 
Attention, but now efpecially \ when it is daily obferv- 
ed that very many Britijh Mariners, either through de- 
fed; of the I..aws, or for want of Employment at home, 
or in hopes of greater Advantage abroad, enter them- 
felves into foreign Service. 
Upon the whole, they gave it as their Opinion, that fome 
Time before, and long after, the Year 1670, theSubjebts 
of England were pofleffed of, and quietly enjoyed. Part 
of the Country of Jucatan, uninhabited by- the Spani- 
ards, and confequently the Right of Britijh Subjefts, to 
cut Logwood, and even to fettle in that Country, was 
not only certain and apparent, but was alfo fettled and 
confirmed by Treaty. 
This Reprefentation is certainly more than fufficient to 
convince us, here at home, of our being well intitled to 
this Trade j and therefore it is a Point that deferves 
to be maturely reflefted upon, before any new Negotia- 
tion for Peace, with the Crown of Spain, is commenced ; 
for, without doubt. Care ought to be taken that our 
Right, in this Refped;, be acknowledged and admitted, 
in fuch exprefs Terms, that hereafter no Difputes may 
arife about it, or afford Pretences for fitting out Guarda 
Coffas to impede and difturb our Navigation. We 
know, and have heard, what high and loud Complaints 
were made againft the Miniffry in the Reign of Queen 
Anne, for not obliging the French to reftore Cape Breton, 
and for not compelling the Spaniards to make fuch Con- 
ceffions in favour of our Trade, as were neceffary for 
the carrying it on with Safety and Advantage. But at 
prefent Cape Breton is ours, and the Superiority of our 
naval Force in the JV f -Indies is fo great, that it would 
be, certainly, an unpardonable Omiflion, fhould there be 
any thing left to objeft on any of thefe Heads for the fu- 
ture. The capital Trade of this Nation, at prefent, that 
which employs moft Ships, moil Seamen, and moft 
Manufaftures, is our Commerce to our Plantations *, and 
therefore the fecuring, encouraging, and improving this 
Commerce, ought to be the principal Objedt of our 
Statefmen ^ who, as they often lay heavy Burdens upon 
the Subjedts, to carry their Projedls into Execution, fo 
they are in Intereft, and in Confcience, bound to pay 
the utmoft Attention to thofe Points, which regard the 
filling again the Purfes of thofe to whom they have 
conftant Recourfe for the public Service, 
23. We have now gone through this Sedlion, and 
have fhewn when, how, and with what Views our Set- 
tlements, within this Period of Time, were made. It is 
eafy to perceive from thence, what prodigious Advan- 
tages have been derived from them to the People of this 
VoL, II. Numb. LXXXVIIL 
AMERICA. 269 
Kingdom. If we confider that at the Death of Queer! 
Elizabeth, we had not a fingle Cottage eredted in Ame- 
rica ; and that at the Time of the Reftoration of King. 
Charles II. we had fettled from Nova Scotia to the utmoft 
Bounds of Virginia, befides peopling many of the Elands, 
it muft appear an amazing thing. The vaft Change in 
our Circumftances, in the Space of fixty Years ; the; 
mighty Augmentation of our Shipping ; the vaft Increafo 
of our Coin, and all the other certain and indubitable Signs 
of an extended and profitable Commerce, fufficiently 
prove the Value and Importance of our Plantations 5 
for I make no fcruple of affirming that we owed them all 
to thefe. To fay the Truth, the civil War, which was fo 
ruinous and fatal to thefe Kingdoms, was, by the kind 
Difpofition of Providence, highly ferviceable to the Plan- 
tations. In the firft Ferment of the Nation, we have feeii 
that New England was planted and peopled as it were at 
once ; and in fucceeding times, when the Conftitution 
was overturned, and the loyal Nobility and Gentry, 
who were deprived of their EftateS, by thofe the Fortune 
of War had made their Mafters, and had not even the 
I liberty of ftarving here in Peace, Virginia and Barba- 
does were their Refuge : There the Wicked ceafed from 
troubling, and there the Weary were at reft. The Spirit 
and Vigour with which they fet about improving the 
Places of their Exile, foon changed them into Habita- 
tions of Delight, and where they looked only for a quiet 
and a bare Subfiftance, the Bleffing of God upon theit 
Induftry produced them vaft Eftates. 
We may fafely venture to affirm, that a little after the 
Reftoration the Sugar Colonies rofe to their greateft 
Height, Jamaica only excepted. Since then the Tobacco 
Colonies have encreafed greatly, and fo have the Bread 
Colonies likewife; for the Reader is to obferve, that 
Jamaica, Barbadoes, .and moft of the Leeward Elands, 
are furnifhed with Provifions from the northern Colo- 
nies, and with Garden Stuff from the Hands of Bermudas. 
But it has fo fallen out, that though thefe Colonies have 
fuch a natural Dependance upon each other, yet Com- 
plaints have arifen, and we have feen both Sides appeal- 
ing to the Britijh Parliament, the one for Relief, and the 
other for Protedion. The Occafion of thefe Difputes 
was this : 
A Bill was brought into the Houfe of Commons on 
the Petition of the Merchants and Planters concerned in 
the Sugar Colonies in the Year 1731, for fecuring and 
encouraging the Trade of the faid Colonies. The In- 
tent whereof was to enable them to fupply foreign Mar- 
kets, with Sugar, as cheap as the French, which they 
fuggefted might be done by prohibiting the Exportation 
of Horfes, Provifions, and Lumber, from our Northern 
Colonies on the Continent of America^ to the French and 
Dutch Plantations, and by prohibiting the Importation 
of all foreign Sugar, Rum, and Mololfes, to our North- 
ern Colonies j for the permiting of this, they fuggefted, 
was giving the French and Dutch, at leaft, twenty-five 
per Cent, upon the whole Produce of their Sugar Colo- 
nies ; and thereby enabled them to afford their Sugar, at 
foreign Markets, cheaper than our Sugar Colonies can. 
It was finding them Plantation Neceffaries, as well as 
Money to pay for them ; that is, the foreign Colonies 
paid our northern Colonies for their Horfes^ Provifions, 
and Lumber, with Moloffes and Rum, which other- 
wife the French muft throw away as they did formerly. 
To induce the Parliament to pafs this Bill, the Sugar Co- 
lonies endeavoured to ftiew the vaft Importance thofe 
Colonies are of to Great Britain, obferving that they 
produced, at an Average,, eighty-five thoufand Hogf- 
heads of Sugar annually at leaft, which, at ten Pound a 
Hogfhead, amounted to eight hundred and fifty thou- 
fand Pounds. This Sum, or much the greateft Part of it, 
as they affirm, is fpent here by the feveral Proprietors of 
Eftates in the IVeJi-Indies, who live in England, or is fent 
out annually in the Manufaftures of Great Britain, either 
diredtly to the Sugar Colonies, or to the Coaft of Guinea^ 
to purchafe Negroes for the Ufe of thofe Colonies. 
Befides this neat Produce of Sugar, another vaft Ad- 
vantage arifing from the Sugar Colony Trade, is the large 
Number of Ships and Seamen employed and maintained 
in the Courfe of our Commerce with them ; and they 
Z z z calculate 
