chap, v.] WEST INDIES. 343 
to be controled by British laws, those advantages 
which have been purchased by, and stand exclu¬ 
sively pledged to, the British West Indies, whose 
trade is still to be left bound by our regulations.— 
At this juncture indeed, now that the largeness of 
the exportation has demonstrated, that no foreign 
colonies in the West Indies can supply us with su¬ 
gar, cheaper than our own, another project, of 
more fatal and extensive mischief, is resorted to; 
and the national attention is awakened by the hopes 
of a vast and profitable sugar culture, under the 
fostering protection of government, in the bound¬ 
less regions of the East Indies. Those plantations 
which have hitherto proved more than adequate to 
our wants ; which, from proximity and insular si¬ 
tuation, are easily defended ; which enrich our ma¬ 
nufactures, encourage our fisheries, and return all 
their acquirements into the bosom of their alienated 
parent, are it seems to be neglected, and the nation¬ 
al encouragement diverted to distant independent 
countries, whose inhabitants purchase but few of 
our commodities, and consume none of our fish, but: 
take bullion instead of them ; who rather send ma¬ 
nufactures to our markets, than receive them from 
us ; and whose exports may be checked and con¬ 
troled by a thousand accidents which at this dis¬ 
tance can neither be obviated nor foreseen. In 
short, by recommending the settlement of sugar 
plantations beyond the Cape of Good Hope, this 
project maintains that it is wise to remove encou¬ 
ragement from proximate and dependent colonies, 
to countries which, being placed beyond the reach 
