8HAP. V.] WEST INDIES. 297 
First. That the sugar islands have been settled 
ljy British capitals which might have been employed 
to greater advantage at home, m carrying on and 
extending the manufactures, the commerce, and 
agriculture of Great Britain. ■ 
Secondly. That the money expended upon West 
Indian estates, is in general far from yielding a pro¬ 
fitable return to the nation, inasmuch as even a 
good crop does not leave the owner so much as six 
per cent, on his capital, after payment of expenses. 
Thirdly. That the duties on West Indian com¬ 
modities fall altogether on the consumer. 
Fourthly. That the several prohibitory laws 
which have been made, tending to force the con¬ 
sumption of British West Indian produce upon the 
inhabitants of Great Britain, have vested in the 
planters a complete monopoly of the British mar¬ 
ket, at the cost, and to the manifest injury, of the 
British consumer, who might otherwise purchase 
sugars, &c. from the foreign islands, 20 or 30 per 
cent, cheaper than in those of Great Britain. 
Fifthly. That from this great disparity of price 
between British and foreign sugars, the former can¬ 
not be made an object of export from Great Britain, 
by any other means than by granting drawbacks and 
bounties out of the exchequer; the British exporter 
being otherwise unable to stand the competition of 
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Vol. III. 
