H4 HISTORY OF THE [book v. 
concession of Government in 1783, was rendered 
more open to them. Before that period, the du¬ 
ties and excise on the importation and consump¬ 
tion of British Plantation coffee in Great Britain 
were no less than 480 per cent, on its then 
marketable value. Under such exactions, its cul¬ 
tivation in our Sugar Islands must (but for the 
American market) have shared the same fate as 
that of Indigo. The great and important reduc¬ 
tion of one shilling a pound from the excise duties, 
created an immediate and wonderful change; and 
while it promoted the interest of the planter, it 
even augmented the revenue of the state ; more 
than double the quantity of coffee having been 
brought to entry in 1784 than was entered in the 
year preceding; increasing the sum total of the 
duties (though reduced two thirds) from £. 2,869 
10s. 10-id; to £.1,200 15s. 9d; an important 
proof among others, how frequently heavy taxa¬ 
tion defeats its own purpose 1 
As the British demand has thus increased, so, 
on the other hand, the American has declined, 
having as I conceive been transferred in a great 
measure to the foreign islands. It is now therefore 
become the interest of the planter to change his 
system, by suiting the nature of his commodity to 
the taste of his new customers. 
This it is true, is not within the power of every 
man, whose plantation is already settled, to accom¬ 
plish; but assuredly it is a very important object to 
