) 
2, 7 o Discoveries and Settlements Book I. 
CalculMe that there are three hundred fail of Ships fent fo fmall an Mand as Barbadoes produced fo vaft a Neat 
rrom Great Britain (not to mention thofe from other Profit. 
Places) every Year, to our Sugar Colonies, which are As there is nothing can contribute more to make this 
hundred Seamen ^ Subjeft thoroughly underftood, and to point out effedually 
and that the Freight from the Sugars, brought hither, what the Inhabitants of the Colonies take to be their refpec- 
^lounts to an hundred and feventy thoufand Pounds a tive Interefts, I think it will be necelfary to add the Replies 
Year ; and the Duties, Commiflions, to little lefs or Solutions, given by the Friends of the Sugar Colonies 
than two hundred thoufand Pounds more, which upon to thefe Objedions. As to the firft. That French, if not 
t e w o e ^ a good one Million two hundred thoufand fupplied from the Northern Colonies, would furnifh their 
Pounds a Year Profit and Advantage to Great Britain, own Settlements with Lumber, they faid. That the 
ut 1 es this confiderable Article of Sugar, they ob- French could not be fupplied with Lumber from their own 
lerve that tnefe Iflands produce great Quantities of Cot-^ Settlements; or, if they could, it muft be at great Charge 
ton. Ginger, Indico, Aloes, iFc. which are all brought and Expence, fince the only Places they can pretend to be 
to Great where the whole Profit of all our Plan- fupplied from, are Cape Breton and Quebec. Some indeed 
. tation Produd, does and muft centre. They have been have gone fo far, and been fo extravagant, as to im.agine 
equal, they infift, to the Mines of the Spanijh Wefi-Indies, that the French Ifiands may be fupplied with Lumber 
have contributed, in a particular Manner, to the from the Bay of or the Settlement of 
1 rade. Navigation, and Wealth of this Kingdom. But we muft confider that great Snows are necelfary for 
But at preftnt they were m a very bad and languifiiing drawing down Trees to the Sides of Rivers ; and likewife 
Condition : Their Duties high, their Planters poor, their (upon the Snow’s melting) for floating them down to 
Soil worn out, and their Fortifications deftroyed. They the Mills; and, if they had Snows, thefe Countries do 
oblerve farther, that the French Sugar Iflands are much not produce any Quantity of fuch kind of Wood as is 
beautiful, better inhabited, pay lefs Duties, proper to work into Lumber ; nor have they any fuch 
and have greater Encouragement from France than ours Mills, which areexpenfive to build, and the Labour and 
^ave from Great Britain. ^ And that if our Sugar Iflands, Time required to manufaflure fuch Trees into Lumber, 
ror want of being put in a pofture of Defence, fliould would make it extremely dear to the French ; befides the 
either be taken, as fome have been, or moulder, and Navigation to and from fuch Places, to Martinico, and 
TOme to rum, it would be one of the greateft Blows this the French Iflands fo much to Windward, would be lb 
ing om ever received. It would tnen lofe the Benefit difficult and long for fuch Veffels as are proper to carry 
o a their Produdb impoited hither ; it would lofe the Lumber, by reafon of the Calms, contrary Winds, and 
Exports of our Woollen and other Manufadures thither, ftrong Currents againft them, that fuch a Projed 
to the amount of feveial hundred thoufand Pounds a would probably end in the Ruin of the People concerned 
Year ; it would lofe, in a great Meafure, the Trade to in it ; which would put an End to fuch Endeavours of 
Guinea ; it would lofe the employing and maintaining the French. 
of many hundred Britijh Ships, and many thoufand Bri- As to Cape Breton, though it has the Advantage of 
ti^ Seamen every Year; and laftly, it would lofe one Snows, yet it has no other Con veniency ; it produces little 
of the moft confiderable and main Branches of our Funds, \S^ood ; they have few Rivers, and thofe longer frozen, 
the Deficiency of which muft be made good, and the and fooner dried, than in New England: It is thinly in- 
W^eight and Burthen fall on our Lands here at home. habited, and is a fmall, and, in that Light, but an incon- 
To this Bill, however, many Objections were made by fiderable Ifland, commodious only for fifhing. And as 
fuch as were employed here in behalf of the Northern Co- for ^ebec, allowing all the Advantages the other Places 
lonies, and amongft them the moft material were thefe : want, and all that our Northern Colonies have, with Re- 
ift. That fuch a Prohibition as was defired by the Bill, fpeCl to Wood, and Mills ; yet the Navigation of the 
would put the French upon fupplying themfelves with River St. Laurence (which is practicable only a few Months 
Lumber from their own Settlements, and the Britijh Co- in the Year) is fo very long and dangerous, that all the 
lonies on the Continent would thereby lofe the Trade in Lumber from thence muft be exceeding dear ; and though 
which many Ships and Seamen were employed, zdly, fome may think that thefe Difficulties in time may be re- 
That the Britijh Colonies could not take off their Lum- moved, and the Navigation of the River become both 
ber, or fupply them with Rum for their Fifheries, their fafe and eafy, it may be wiflied the French had no Supply 
Trade with the Indians, and what they wanted in the of Lumber till thefe Difficulties were removed ; for thofe 
Harveft-time. 3dly, That the reftraining the Northern Difficulties muft always continue from the Nature of the 
Colonies from difpofmg of their Horfes, Provifions, and Coaft, the Rocks, Sholes, and Sands, in that River, 
Lumber to the French and Hollanders, might draw them and from the Inclemency of the Air, and other natural 
into Employments prejudicial to Great Britain, qthly, Caufes ; which will make that Navigation for ever unfafe. 
The French vfould diftil their Molofles themfelves, and If then the French cannot be fupplied with Lumber, or at 
fupply the Fifheries with Rum, if the Northern Colonies leaft not upon any reafonable Terms, How much will 
did not. Northern Colonies did not take this give our Sugar Colonies an Advantage over the 
off the French Sugars, they would carry them to Market French ? But let us fuppofe the utmoft and worft that 
themfelves. 6thly, If the Importation of French and can be : That they can be fupplied with Lumber from their 
Hutch Rum and Moloffes into New England was pro- own Settlements, yet, What muft the Lumber be bought 
hibited, and they could go to no other Market for Rum, with ? Not with Rum and Moloffes, but with Money : 
or fell their Lumber and Provifions any where elfe, the So that if this Prohibition of foreign Rum and Moloffes 
Englijh Sugar Colonies, like other Monopolies, would takes place, fo much will be loft to the French Plantations, 
, exadl an unreafonable Price for their Rum, and beat down becaufe they can have no Vent for their Rum, as inter- 
the Price of Lumber, and other Goods, as low as they fering with Brandy, the Producft of France. 
faw fit. That the French and Hutch Colonies fur- But what ftronger Argument can we have, that the 
nifo the Northern Colonies with Money, which they Trade carried on by fome of the Northern Colonies is a 
bring to Great Britain and lay out in our Manufaftures. prejudicial Trade, than the Permiflion of it by the 
Sthly,^ That the Luxury and Extravagance of the Sugar French themfelves ? They underftand the whole Compafe 
Colonies was the Occafion of this Decline. And 9thly, of Trade perfedlly well, and fteadily purfue their Interefts : 
That the Trade of the Sugar Colonies, was ftill vaftly in- They know that their Colonies either cannot be fupplied 
peafing; inftancing in which, in the Year 1730, at all with Horfes, Lumber, and other Neceffaries, or 
imported twenty two thoufand feven hundred and fixty- elfe they muft purchafe them at a great Expence ; They 
nine Hogflieads of Sugar into England, valued at 340,396 find they have them for Rum and Moloffes, which is all 
Pounds ; and that this was the Neat Profit, they infifted, clear Gain to them; that they fave at leaft twenty-five 
becaufe it was admitted that the Rum and Moloffes of per Cent, in having Lumber and Horfes fo conveniently 
Sugar Plantations bear the Charges of them: The Sugar from the Northern Colonies; and get twenty- five 
Planters therefore have no Reafon to complain, when by their Rum and Moloffes, which elfe would be all 
I . Lofs 
