270 HISTORY OF THE [book vi. 
contended, was the main point in dispute. I hey 
therefore requested, that before any permanent re¬ 
gulations should be adopted by government, inqui¬ 
ry might be made, 1st. How much of the annual 
consumption of the American staples those pro¬ 
vinces had supplied hitherto? and, 2dly, how far, 
from their present, or probably future situation, 
they might be supposed capable of exceeding their 
former produce and exports ? 
Such an inquiry was accordingly entered upon, 
and abundance of evidence collected on the subject; 
when it appeared, from the custom house returns, 
that of 1208 cargoes of lumber and provisons im¬ 
ported from North America into the British sugar 
colonies in 1772, only seven of those cargoes 
were from Canada and Nova Scotia; and that of 701 
topsail vessels, and 1681 sloops, which had cleared 
outwards from North America to the British and ' 
foreign West Indies, only two of the topsail ves¬ 
sels, and eleven of the sloops, were from those 
provinces. It stood therefore incontrovertibly 
proved, that, previous to the war, the supplies 
which they afforded, did not amount to a propor¬ 
tion of the whole consumption of the sugar islands, 
in any degree worthy national attention; and, on 
the second ground of inquiry, it was shewn re¬ 
specting Canada, not only, that the navigation of the 
river Saint Lawrence was so greatly obstructed by 
the ice in the winter, and by westerly winds in the 
summer, as to render more than one voyage in the 
year impracticable, but that in the province itself. 
