Chap. III. of the ENGLISH ift A M ERIC 
nla^ and on the oppofite Side of the River : The Houfes 
are handfomly built of Brick, and laid out into fpacious 
Streets, with commodious Quays and Wharfs, to which 
Ships of two or three hundred Tons may come up : It 
has alfo a handfome Market-place, aTown-houfe or Guild- 
hall, where the Courts of Juftice were heretofore held, 
and two good Bridges over the River ; the one called 
London-hridge^ and the other Tork-bridge, and having an 
eafy Communication with Philadelphia^ and the Ocean by 
the River Salem^ which falls into de la War Bay, it is faid 
to be one of the bell Towns in Wefi Jerfey^ whether we 
confider its Situation, Building, or Trade. 
The Trade of the two Jerfeys, as alfo the Soil and 
Conveniences of Rivers and Creeks, are much the fame, 
except that Wejl JerJey, by its Situation on delaWar 
River, abounds more in the latter. The Country yields 
Plenty of all forts of Grain, and the Inhabitants are faid to 
have been fo fcrupulous, that they would not enter upon 
a new Plantation before they had purchafed it of the Bi- 
dians, which they did at no very dear Rate. It is computed 
that they are about fixteen thoufand Souls, and about 
three thoufand Men fit to bear Arms : There are not two 
hundred Indians in this Province, indeed neither here or 
elfewhere in the Britijh Empire are the Indians of any 
Force unlefs in Conjunftion with the French at Canada, or 
the Spaniards in Florida. The Indians are now rather an 
Help than an Hurt to the Englijh, and here efpecially they 
wifh there were more of them than there are, fo ufeful 
have they found them. Befides Provifions for the Sugar 
Hands, the Inhabitants drive a Trade in Furs and Skins, 
and a little in Tobacco *, but it would be well if the Colo- 
nies cultivated that lefs, and Provifion more, or any other 
Commodities that are fit for foreign Markets, which are 
much clogged by the Produft of our Tobacco Planta- 
tions : They fhip off Train-Oil, Fifh, Corn, and fome 
other Provifions for Portugal, Spain, and the Canaries : 
Ships may be built at Perth, but New England engrofies 
that Trade* and has the beft and the moft Materials for 
it ; and it mufb be owned that New York is the beft 
Market New Jerfey has, for the buying and felling any 
confiderable Quantity of Goods of any kind. 
This may poffibly keep the Jerfeys a little under, but 
notwithftanding the Difficulties they have had to ftruggle 
with, it is very certain, that within thefe twenty or thir- 
ty Years paft they have increafed prodigioufly, and no- 
thing can give a Check to it, except fome fudden Sufpi- 
cion of their dealing in Commodities and fetting up 
Manufablures which may interfere with thofe of their 
Mother-Country. I do not deny that if there were any 
juft Grounds for fuch a Sufpicion, Care ought to be ta- 
ken and fome Remedy applied, but then this requires 
great Caution. In former Times, when we were lefs 
ufed to Trade, we encouraged all ; and provided our 
People were but employed, and Traders bufy, we took 
it for granted that Profit muft enfue, and fo very proba- 
bly it did. But the prefent Age is fo unacquainted with 
the Caufe ol the Increafe of our Riches, that they rather 
interrupt than encourage it, and inftead of inlarging lay 
hold of fome fmall trifling Things, which they think may 
touch their private Intereft rather than promote the ge- 
neral Good ; and if they think any Commodity from 
the Plantations interferes with fomething we have at 
Home, fome hafty Step is taken to prevent it ; fo that 
for the Sake of faving one Penny we often debar our- 
felyes of Things of a thoufand Times the Value. This 
Misfortune will happen to any trading Nation, if the 
Perfons who have the Regulation of the Commerce do 
not underftand it well enough to diftinguifli nicely be- 
tween thofe Channels by which the Riches flow in upon 
them and thofe that carry them away *, and therefore, 
when Things are carried into a wrong Channel by fome 
of the Planters, Merchants are afraid to mention thofe 
Diforders for fear the Remedy fliould prove worfe than 
the Difeafe. The Gentlemen that would judge of thefe 
Things ought to inform themfelves what this Nation 
was one hundred and fifty Years ago, how we have in- 
creafed in Riches fince that Time, what Price Corn, 
Cattle and Land bore then, and what now •, and what 
concurring Circumftances have put us in fo flourifhing 
a Condition i who were then fo inconfiderable in Trade, 
that even London, the Metropolis of this Kingdom* 
made but a fmall Figure, to what Bruges, Antwerp^ and 
other Hanfe Towns did, as well as the great Cities in the 
Mediterranean. 
If we examine into the CircumftanCes of the Ihhabitant5 
of our Plantations, and our own, it will appear that 
not one fourth Part of their Product redounds to their 
own Profit ; for, out of all that comes here* they only 
carry back Cloathingand other Accommodations for their 
Families, all which is of the Manufadlure and Merchan- 
dize of this Kingdom. If there is any thing to fpare it is 
laid up here, and their Children are lent home to be edu- 
cated ; if there is enough to fupport the Family, they 
come here, and only an Overfeer is left upon the Plan- 
tation to dired:, and the whole Produce is remitted home, 
and if enough to purchafe an Eftate, then it is laid out 
in Old England. All thefe Advantages .we receive by the 
Plantations, befides the Mortgages on the Planters Eftates* 
and the high Intereft they pay us, which is very confi- 
derable •, and therefore very great Care ought to be taken 
in regulating all Affairs of the Colonies, that the Plant- 
ers be not put under too many Difficulties, but encou- 
raged to go on chearfully. They are born with us, of 
the Defeendants of fuch, and we know nothing but the 
Want of the Means to live at home keeps them abroad. 
There are very few trading or manufadluring Towns in 
the Kingdom, but have fome Dependence on the Plan- 
tation Trade. It is true, thefe, and in general all the 
Northern Colonies, have not Commodities and Produbls 
enough to fend us, in return for purchafing their 
neceffary Cloathings, fffr. but are under very great 
Difficulties, and therefore any ordinary Sort fells with 
them ; and when they are grown out of Fafliion with us* 
they are new-faffiioned enough there j and befides thole 
Places are the great Markets we have to difpofe of fuch 
Goods, which are generally fent at the Rifque of the 
Shop-keepers and Traders of England, who are the great 
Exporters, and not the Inhabitants of the Colonies, as 
feme have imagined. As the Colonies are Markets for 
thofe Sorts of Goods, fo they are Receptacles for young 
Merchants who have not Stocks of their own, and there- 
fore all our Plantations are filled with fuch who receive 
the Confignments of their Friends from hence j and 
when they have got a fufficient Stock to trade with, 
they return home, and other young Men take their 
Places, fo that the continual Motion and Intercourfe our 
People have into the Colonies, may be compared to Bees 
in a Hive, which go out empty, but come home load- 
ed ; by which Means the Foundations of many Families 
are laid. The Numbers of Sailors, and other Tradefmen, 
who have all their Dependance upon this Traffic, are 
prodigioufly great. 
OurFadtors, who freqlient the Northern Colonies, be- 
ing under Difficulties to make Returns for fuch Goods 
as they difpofe of, what Gold, Silver, Logwood, and 
other Commodities they trade for upon the Spanijh 
Coaft, is fent home to England^ as alfo Oil, Whale-Fins, 
and many other Goods \ likewife another great Part of 
Returns is made by Ships built there, and difpofed of 
in the Streights, and other Parts of Europe, and the 
Money remitted to us. Now all thofe Ships are called 
New England Ships, and our Fadlors, after they under- 
take any Bufinefs, are no longer called Englijhmen, but 
New Englanders, and the Ships they build, we are in- 
formed, are regiftered as New England Ships. I fhall 
therefore humbly recommend it to fuch Gentlemen as 
are Guardians of the Trade of the Nation, that our 
own Intereft is not miftaken for thofe of the Planters ^ 
for every Reftraint and Difficulty put upon our Trade- 
with them, makes them have recourfe to their own 
Produdts, which they manufadlure, a thing of great Con- 
fequence to us, and ought to be guarded againft j for, 
if they are fupplied with their own Manufablures, a 
great Part of the Advantages we ftiould otherwife re- 
ceive is cut off; and therefore, as it is elfewhere obferv- 
ed, if Care is taken to find them Employment, and turn 
their Induftry another Way, now they are in their In- 
fancy this may with a very little Trouble be avoided. 
There is another Advantage we receive by our Planta- 
tionsy 
V 
