D 
46 'The Discoveries 
finefs j it v/ould encourage everybody there to turn their 
Hands to this Work, and it is a Work to which all 
Hands may be turned, Women and Children as well as 
Men ; and no fuch hard Labour as to render Slaves ne- 
ceffary. What this might produce we may in fome mea- 
fure guefs, from what the Culture of Silk produces in 
Italy ; where four and five Pounds an Acre are common 
Prices for Lands that bear Mulberry Trees, where the 
Leaves are fold at a high Rate, and where the poor Peo- 
ple willingly give their Time and Labour, in feeding and 
attending the Worms, for half the Price of the Silk 5 
which is but divided between the Labourer and the Land- 
holder; amounting commonly to between three and four 
Pounds a Tree. If once this Bufinefs was efFetlually 
fet a-going, there is no Queftion but the Progrefs would 
be very fpeedy, and the Bounty paid for a few Years, 
v/ould mofi; efFetlually eftablifh both Commodity and 
Colony. 
On the other hand it ought to be confidered, that the 
Price of Georgia Silk, and the Bounty upon it, would be 
both paid in our own Commodities, whereas we pay now for 
Piedmont Silk wholly in ready Money ; fo that the Differ- 
ence to the Nation will be but a very Trifle ; perhaps I 
Aoiild not carry the Thing too far, if I faid nothing. It 
is very pofiible, that when this Trade came to flourifh in 
Georgia, it might alfo be fet up in Carolina, and even in 
Virginia, there being no fort of Doubt, that v/ith due 
Attention and Application, Silk might be produced in 
both thefe Colonies ; neither is this any new Difeovery, 
but what has been obferved by all the Writers upon the 
Affairs of the Plantations for many Years pafl ; but if it 
fhould be the Cafe, it would not be at all detrimental to 
this Nation ; but on the contrary, this very Thing will 
lay us under a new Obligation to Georgia, for then we 
jfliould have the Silk Manufafture as much in our Hands, 
if not more, than we have the Woollen ; and how vaft an 
Alteration this would make in the Balance of our Trade, 
may be eafily fhewn. 
It is to be obferved, that in all Silk Manufadlures there 
are two Kinds of Silk employed, one for the Warp or 
Cane, which is the very Silk that our Colonies would 
produce ; but before this Silk can be ufed, it muft be 
thrown by an Engine into what is called Organzine, for 
which there is at prefent but one Engine in this Kingdom, 
which is the famous Silk-mill at Derl?y ; ' fince the ereft- 
iog of which his Sardinian Majefiy has prohibited the Ex- 
portation of raw Silk from his Dominions fo that what 
we have from his Country is Organzine. He has done 
ftill more for the Benefit of his Subjefls ; for he has laid 
fuch high Duties upon our Manufadures, as amount 
almoft to a Prohibition ; fo that as I have more than once 
faid, we are obliged to pay for this Silk in ready Mo- 
ney, for it is fo neceifary to us, that our Silk Manu- 
faflures cannot be carried on without it ; and by this 
Means his Subjeds take annually from this Nation about 
two hundred thoufand Pounds in Money. Befides what 
we receive from Piedmojit, we have likewife confider- 
able Quantities of raw Silk of the fame Kind with that 
from Genoa, and other Parts of Italy ; which is thrown 
into Organzine by the Engine at Derby. 
As to the other Kind of Silk, which makes the Woof 
or Shute, it comes to us from many Places, but parti- 
cularly by the Way of Turky fo that if we had the 
former Kind of Silk from our Plantations, it would enable 
us to confume a much greater Quantity of this other Silk 
that cometh to us by the Way of Hurky, for which we 
pay in our Woollen Manufadures: So that here is plainly 
a double Advantage ; firft, of faving the ready Money 
which is paid for one Kind of Silk ; and next, increafing 
the Exportation of our own Goods, for which we bring 
Home in exchange that other Kind of Silk ; and if once 
we were in polTeffion of thefe Advantages, there would 
follow a third, equal, if not fuperior, to both ; for we 
fhould be then inconteftibly able to fabricate all Kinds of 
wrought Silks at fo cheap a Rate as to under-fell moft 
Parts of Europe', which would draw a Demand from 
Germany, Flanders, Spain, and Portugal, to the incon- 
ceivable Benefit of the Merchants and Manufadurers of 
this Kingdom^ who are beyond all Queftion, in Con- 
S'/?./ Settlements Book I. 
jundion with the Seamen, who muft thrive when they 
do, the moft valuable People in it, and by whofe Induftry 
the reft are maintained. Thus we fee that the Defign of 
eftablifliing the Bufinefs of raifing Silk in Georgia, is in 
itfelf a Matter of vaft Moment, not to the Truftees or 
the Inhabitants of that nev/ Colony only, but to the whole 
Nation ; a Thing that would give a new Turn to our 
Trade employ a Multitude of Hands at Home, by 
promoting both the Silk and Woollen Manufadures ; en- 
large our Commerce Abroad ; increafe our Shipping ; 
augment the Number of our Seamen, and enable us the 
better to bear thofe vaft Expences into which, it is faid, 
the Circumftances of Affairs Abroad have neceffariiy 
plunged us. 
Before I part with this Subjed, I think it becomes me 
to add fomewhat with refped to the Conduct of the King 
of Sardinia^, which, from what I have laid above, may 
be thought in fome meafure unkind towards this Nation ; 
whereas, properly underftood, nothing of that fort will 
appear. The firft and great Concern of every Prince, or 
at leaft of every wife and good Prince, is the Welfare of 
his own Subjeds ; and with refped to the Monarch of 
whom we are fpeaking, he has purfued it with great Stea- 
dinefs and Prudence. His Duties upon French Commo- 
dities are very low ; fo that his Subjeds are furnifhed from 
thence with Woollen Manufadures at very reafonable 
Rates, and by putting our Goods under a very high 
Cuftom his Subjeds fell their Silk dear, and for ready 
Money ; And thus, by the Interpofition of the Govern- 
ment, they make the moft of their Goods, and are as rich 
as the Nature and Extent of their Country will permit* 
them to be. It muft indeed be allowed, that as Things 
ftand at prefent his Sardinian Majefty’s political and com-' 
mercial Concerns are in a manner oppofite to each other ; 
but this does not hinder him from purfuing both. The 
Balance of Power in Italy is a Thing of vaft Importance 
to him, fince, if it fhould be loft, he would fcarce be 
able to keep his Dominions ; but the Trade of his Sub- 
jeds is likewife of very great Importance, for without 
that his Dominions would be hardly worth keeping. His 
Condud therefore, in both Refpeds, is wife and juft, 
though it falls out to be in fome meafure prejudicial to us, 
and that too in our tendereft Concerns, our Manufadures 
and our Trade. 
But what then, ought we to differ with or blame him ? 
Nothing like it : We ought, on the contrary, to admire 
and imitate him ; we ought to make the fame Diftindion 
that he does, between our political and commercial In- 
terefts ; we ought to fliew ourfelves firm in fupporting the 
former, and in order to it we muft be vigorous in pro- 
moting the latter. We fee very plainly and clearly, or at 
leaft we may fee it if we will, that there is nothing more 
pradicable in the World, than the raifing the Silk Trade 
in Georgia the Country is fit for it, the Climate is fit 
for it ; we have raifed, and may raife, what Quantities 
of Mulberry-trees we will : The Silkworm thrives there 
wonderfully well, which however is the Cafe of very few* 
Countries; and the Silk brought from thence has been 
found excellent. If all this does not pafs for Demonftra- 
tion in a Matter of this Nature, it is in vain to look foV 
Demonftration. On the other hand, that the raifing of 
Silk in Georgia would fill that Country with White Peo- 
ple ; would fecure to us the Affedion, and the Affiftance 
of the neighbouring Indian Nations, and fo render it an 
effedual Frontier, is beyond all Difpute ; and that the 
Advantages accruing to this Kingdom, by enabling that 
Plantation to furnilh us with Silk equal in Quality to 
the Italian, are fo plain and certain that I make no Scruple 
of affirming, that if due Care was taken in this Relped, 
all the Expence neceffary to eftablifh the Silk Trade there, 
would not amount to above one Year’s Purchafe of the 
Profits, five and twenty Years hence : By which I mean, 
that the Advantages accruing from this Colony to Great 
Britain, in 1771; fuppofing the Silk Trade immediately 
fettled there, and by immediately, I mean no more than 
as foon as poffible, will equal all that the Public has, or 
may lay out upon that Settlement before it becomes able 
to maintain itfelf. We manure our Lands before we 
exped Crops from them ; we manufadure our Goods 
before 
