a 36 HISTORY OF THE [book vj. 
Respecting America, the supplies that were an¬ 
nually furnished by those provinces which now 
constitute the United States, were valued, at the 
places of delivery, at no less than <^.720,000 ster¬ 
ling; and they consisted of articles so essentially 
necessary, that the restrictions to which this trade 
is now subject (how grievously soever they are felt 
by the planters) have not, I think, diminished the 
demand, or lessened the import* Official ac¬ 
counts of the present state of this intercourse are 
no where given to the public; a retrospective sur¬ 
vey of its nature and extent, as it subsisted previ¬ 
ous to the war, will be given in the subsequent 
chapter- 
There are yet to be reckoned the imports from 
the American provinces which still remain to Great 
Britain, including Newfoundland; of which, in 
like manner, no account, that I have seen, has 
been published. Supposing they were equal in 
value to the West Indian commodities shipped thi¬ 
ther in return (a conjecture probably not very wide 
of the truth) the sum to be charged on this account 
for 1787, is £, 100,506 17s. lOd.f 
* Jamaica, for a while, found some resource within itself for staves 
and lumber; but the country is, I believe, by this time nearly ex¬ 
hausted of those articles. The profit to Great Britain arising from 
the freight alone of the whole supply, is stated by the lords of the pri¬ 
vy council at £.245,000 per annum. 
•f- Much the greater part of this sum is for fish from Newfound¬ 
land; the import of that article from thence info the British West In- 
