A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE British Sugar Colonies AND NEW ENGLAND, &c.

Since it appears evident from the Custom-house Books, from undoubted Evidence offered at the Bar of the House of Commons, and from several Tracts publish’d last Session of Parliament, that the Exports of the woollen, and all other Manufactures of England to the British Sugar Colonies, are vastly greater than the Exports of the like Manufacture to New England: And since it has also appeared plain, from the same Evidences, that the Imports from the British Sugar Colonies into England are still vastly greater than from New England, it will be needless to trouble the Reader with a Repetition of those Proofs, to which he may so easily recur at Pleasure.

My Task shall be of another Kind, and it is a very easy one, to prove, that the Advantage of the British Sugar Colonies to Great Britain must be perpetual, if they are encouraged and protected: But that the present Advantage (if there be any such) of New England to Great Britain must, in the Nature of things, decline; and, in all Probability, will, in a few Years, be quite lost, by the Independency of that Colony on Great Britain.

Whoever will cast an Eye on the Map of New England may, at first Glance, perceive, that Great Britain, compared to it, is but a Mole-hill.

That Colony is a vast [1]⁠Continent, already very populous, and capable of maintaining an infinite Number of Inhabitants more than Great Britain. It is situated partly in the same Climate as England, and a great part of it in a much more genial one. Its Soil is, by all Accounts, much more fruitful, productive of all the same sorts of Commodities as England, besides some peculiar to its self, such as Peltry, &c. plentifully stored with all kinds of Timber, and therefore in all respects adapted by Nature to be the Rival and Supplantress of its Mother Country.

That New England has already made some Progress in this Work, and must continue to do so, will appear by the following Considerations.

All Traders that are acquainted with the British Sugar Colonies remember, that a few Years ago, almost all the Sugar made there was brought to England in British built Ships; now it is as notorious that one Ship in three, which bring that Commodity, are New England built, and navigated by New England Sailors. From whence it follows, that New England has supplanted Britain in its Navigation to those Colonies one part in three.

That New England has supplanted Great Britain in its Fishery, by supplying the [1]⁠Colonies, as well as the Mediterranean, appears by their own State of the Case of the British Northern Colonies, as well as by the remarkable Decay of that Trade at Pool, and many other Ports of Great Britain, which, by that Loss, are sunk into the lowest State of Poverty.

But, not content with the Fishery upon its own Coast, (which is a very great one) New England has rival’d, and almost supplanted, Great Britain in her Fishery at Newfoundland. Hence arises another Cause of our Decrease in Navigation, and Diminution in the Ballance of Trade.

In the woollen Manufacture it is confess’d, that New England has not made the like surprising Progress; nor is it in the Nature of things possible, that such an infant Colony can enlarge it self all at once in every respect. It has indeed made some Efforts that way (enough to prove its Ability) by the Manufacture of Hats, in which the People of New England are capable, and actually have already arrived to a greater Perfection than the British Manufacturers, because they have a great Quantity of [1]⁠Beaver of their own, and can therefore sell their Hats at foreign Markets cheaper than the English.

If they make no great Figure as yet in the woollen Manufacture, it is not for want of Materials; for as the Traders from New England can, and do export, Sheep in full Fleece, to the Sugar Colonies, for the value of ten Shillings Sterl. each; it is manifest they have great Plenty of Wool, at a very cheap Price, with which they will supply foreign Markets, either manufactured, or unwrought, and must therefore in time supplant England in its grand Staple the woollen Manufacture. The same may be truly said of Iron, Lead, Copper, and the like Commodities (which are the Produce of Great Britain) of which abundant Stores have been already discovered in New England. If this be the Case, who can doubt that the Inhabitants of that Colony will extend their Trade to Europe, America, and to all other Parts of the known World? The Effect of this must be the Acquisition of immense Wealth: Power then will follow Property, and that Power must be ever employ’d to secure and enlarge that Property against all Restraints.

The Independency therefore of New England on Great Britain, or any other restraining Power, must be the Consequence: A fatal Consequence to this Kingdom! out of whose Hands every Branch of Trade will be wrested by that Colony, which received its Existence from it. Thus (if I may be allow’d to use a New England Simile) the Cuckow sucks the Eggs, and destroys the Offspring of that very Bird which hatch’d it first into Life.

From these, and a Multitude of other Considerations that may be offered, the future Independency of New England seems highly probable: And if the Genius of that People (uneasy even now under Subjection) was to be taken into the Account, the Probability would appear more eminently.

But since a Display of that Point may lead to national Reflections, I shall forbear every thing of that kind, however just it might be, to treat them as they do other People. This nevertheless may be observed without great Offence, that a People who have forsaken the establish’d Religion of their Country only upon a Dislike of some Ceremonies, will, when Self-interest urges, abandon the civil Establishment also, and set up an absolute Independency, perhaps too, under the pompous Name of Oceana.

On the other Hand, the Sugar Colonies consist of Islands too [1]⁠small to contain such a Number of Inhabitants as is necessary to form an independent Community; but if all the Inhabitants could be supposed a sufficient Number for that Purpose, yet as the Islands lie at a vast Distance from each other, a Combination, and consequently an Independency, is absolutely impracticable. Whatever Advantage therefore is derived to Great Britain, from the Sugar Colonies, must be perpetual, if they are supported and protected.

Nor can the Sugar Colonies ever supplant Great Britain in any Branch of its Trade, since the Produce and Manufactures of the former are of a quite different kind from the Product of the latter, and England it self the sole Mart of their Sugar, and Centre of all their Riches.

Since then it appears from undoubted Evidences mention’d in the Beginning of this Tract, as well as from the foregoing Arguments drawn from the Nature of things, that the British Sugar Colonies are a plentiful, and must continue to be (if encouraged) a perpetual Fountain of Wealth to Great Britain, and that New England is so far from being a present Advantage to Britain, in any Degree like that deriv’d from the Sugar Colonies, that, on the contrary, she is already the Rival and Supplantress of her Mother Country in [1]⁠Navigation and the Fishery, and in time will be so, in all Probability, both in the woollen Manufactures and in every other valuable Branch of Trade. Since, I say, this plainly appears to be the Case, can it be good Policy, nay, is it Justice, to favour New England, by indulging her in a Trade with the French, which must be the Ruin of the Sugar Colonies? or would it not be more suitable to the Wisdom of a British Parliament to cherish and encourage the Sugar Colonies, even tho’ such Encouragement should prove some Disadvantage to New England? For as the Constitution of human Affairs is such, that the wisest Legislators could never frame a Law for the publick Good, without interfering, or thwarting, in some degree, the private Interest of some Individuals, so it is to be hoped the British Legislature will never think the private Advantage of a few Distillers in New England is to be put in Competition with the Good of the Sugar Colonies, upon which depends the best Branch of Trade belonging to Great Britain.

That this is in truth the Case between the British Sugar Colonies and New England, and that the Opposition given by the latter to a Bill depending in Parliament for the Encouragement of the former, has no better Foundation, will appear farther in the following Pages, where all the material Objections, made against the said Bill, are fully answered.

The grand and most material Objection, urged by the New England Casuists against the above mentioned Bill, is that if the said Bill prohibits New England Traders from taking Rum and Melasses from the French Islands, their Trade of Lumber will be ruined, because the British Sugar Colonies are not capable of taking off above one [2]⁠tenth part of the Lumber which New England does, and can export.

If this Argument was founded in Truth, it must follow, that the French Sugar Colonies, to which New England carries on the Lumber Trade, are nine parts in ten bigger than the British Sugar Colonies; for if the British Sugar Colonies cannot take off above one tenth part of the Lumber exported from New England, the French Colonies must take off the other nine parts, and therefore must be in the like Proportion bigger; from thence it will also follow, that if the British Colonies make one hundred thousand Hogsheads of Sugar per Ann. (as they certainly do) the French Sugar Colonies must, by that Proportion, make nine hundred thousand Hogsheads of Sugar: But this is such a monstrous Absurdity, and so far from Fact, that no one will have the face to own it, however justly it follows from the Premises laid down by New England Casuists.

But, for Argument sake, we will suppose the French Sugar Colonies and Surinam (belonging to the Dutch) do take off one half of the New England Lumber (which, by the way, is more than can be proved) the Deficiency then of the Demand of Lumber, will be one Moiety. Now if it can be proved, that the British Sugar Colonies, upon a proper Encouragement, might be improved sufficiently to make as much more Rum and Sugar as they now do, it will follow, that the British Sugar Colonies may take off all the New England Lumber.

Barbadoes, one of the British Sugar Colonies, is allow’d to be at its Perfection, and perhaps incapable of being farther improv’d so as to increase its annual Product.

Antigua (all People that know it, will acknowledge) is capable of farther Improvement, and may enlarge its Product of Sugar, according to the best Computations, at least one fifth part per Annum. As to the Product of Rum there, it may certainly be enlarged near one half upon proper Encouragement; for the Rum it now makes is not quite one half of its Product of Sugar, that is to say, if Antigua makes twenty thousand Hogsheads of Sugar per Annum, its Product of Rum is not quite ten thousand: But it is evident, from the Experience of Barbadoes, that, out of twenty thousand Hogsheads of Sugar, there ought to be made near fourteen thousand Hogsheads of Rum; and this Increase, both of Sugar and Rum in Antigua, would certainly be made, if there was proper Encouragement.

Montserrat, Nevis and St. Christophers, for want of Encouragement, do not make (as may appear by the Custom-house Books of each Island) one Hogshead of Rum for three Hogsheads of Sugar: Whereas it is evident, by the Experience of Barbadoes, that three Hogsheads of Sugar ought to produce two Hogsheads of Rum, consequently the Product of Rum in these three Islands might be, upon proper Encouragement, increased to as much more as it now is.

Add to this, the Improvement to be made in those Islands, by which the Quantity of Sugar would be increas’d, it will follow still farther, that the Quantity of Rum, which those Islands are capable of making, would be above as much more as they now make, and consequently the Demand for Lumber would be proportionate.

Jamaica, the largest of all the British Sugar Colonies, (nay bigger than all the rest put together) is yet but in its Infancy, having now as much Land uncultivated as would produce above three times its present Product, were it cultivated as it certainly would be, upon proper Encouragement.

If all these Particulars relating to the British Sugar Colonies be true (and that they are so, every unprejudic’d Person that knows them will attest) then it must follow, by the Improvements which may be made in the Leeward Islands and Jamaica, that the Quantity of Sugar may be increased to above one third more, and the Rum above one half more than the present Product: Thence it will also follow, that the Quantity of Lumber, supposed to be taken off by the French and Dutch, would be taken off by the British Sugar Colonies, if encouraged to be cultivated to their full Perfection, especially if it be farther observ’d (and the Remark is no less true than common among the Inhabitants of the Sugar Colonies) that New England Lumber is much scarcer and dearer than formerly, and much worse in kind. The Reason given by the Lumber Traders is, that all the Timber along the Coasts and Rivers of New England being cut down, they are now forced to go farther up the Country for Timber, and have by that means the Charge of Land-carriage added to the prime Cost of Lumber, and therefore the Purchasers must expect to pay dearer for it. But to make up for the Scarcity of Timber, the New England Traders have found another Expedient, which is by diminishing their Lumber in Goodness, in order to increase it in Tale. Thus the Quantity of Wood that was taken up in one thousand of Staves, by dextrous Management, makes near two thousand of Staves. No wonder then that their Lumber should be worse in Quality than formerly; and indeed so bad it is, that a great part of it is fit for nothing but Fewel, which used to be apply’d to the making of Casks for Rum and Sugar.

Whatever Inferences may be drawn from these Considerations, I shall insist only upon this one; that since Timber is so scarce on the Coasts and Rivers of New England, it is probable that the Sugar Colonies will have more reason to fear the Want of Lumber from thence, than the People of New England can have to fear the Want of Rum for their Fishery and Indian Trade.

The Objection therefore, that New England will not have Vend for its Lumber, if the Bill for the Encouragement of the Sugar Colonies should pass into a Law, is groundless.

The next material Objection offered against the said Bill, is, that as it prohibits the New England Traders from taking French and Dutch Rum, and [1]⁠Melasses to be still’d into Rum for the uses of their Fishery and Indian Trade, they must suffer great Loss, because the British Sugar Colonies cannot supply them with sufficient Quantities for that Purpose.

This Objection too wants Truth for its foundation; for as it appears from the undeniable Evidence of the Custom-house Books, that all the British Sugar Colonies do produce about one hundred thousand Hogsheads of Sugar per Ann. so they ought in Proportion to make about seventy thousand Hogsheads of Rum: A Quantity more than sufficient to supply the New England Fishery and Indian Trade, even according to their own hyperbolical Computation. But the present Product of the Sugar Colonies, under all the incumbent Disadvantages, is more than the New England Casuists can prove to be necessary for both those Trades, nay, on the contrary, they will have a Proof sooner than desired, that their Fishery and Indian Trade do not take off one half of the Rum, now actually made in the Sugar Colonies.

What seems therefore the true Grounds of this vigorous Opposition to the Bill depending in Parliament, for the Encouragement of the British Sugar Colonies, is the Apprehension, that the New England [1]⁠Distillers will lose the Profit of manufacturing the French and Dutch Melasses into Rum: A Spirit, after all their Contrivance, the most pernicious to their own Inhabitants, and resembles genuine Rum in nothing but Colour; for it wants all the balmy, salutary Qualities of the Rum made in the Sugar Colonies, and for that reason is rightly call’d by the Name of Kill-Devil.

These Distillers of New England have, like the Craftsmen of Ephesus, stir’d up all their Fellow Subjects to this Opposition, on a Pretence, that they cannot be supply’d with this favourite Liquor by any other means than by their Occupation: But the contrary of this has been fully proved, and therefore need not again be repeated.

The People of New England are aiming at the Ruin of the Sugar Colonies, only for the Lucre of manufacturing their kind of Product, brought from the French and Dutch. For the same reason they will aim at the Destruction of England, that they may have the Advantage of manufacturing Wool, and monopolizing every Branch of her Trade. But surely the Profit of one Set of Subjects, arising from an Encroachment upon another, can never be a good Reason for establishing such an Encroachment. No, ’tis not doubted but the Wisdom of a British Parliament will abolish a Trade so destructive to our own Colonies, and at the same time conducive to the Advancement of the Power and Wealth of France.

The last material Objection made by the People of New England against the Bill for the Encouragement of the Sugar Colonies, is, that as it prohibits the Importation of French and Dutch Rum, and Melasses into New England⁠[1]⁠; they must be forced to go to the British Sugar Colonies, and no other Market, for those Commodities, and therefore the said Colonies, like all other Monopolies, will exact an unreasonable Price for their Produce.

If the Case was just as the Objection intimates, the British Sugar Colonies would be only upon a Level with New England; for as that Place is the only Market, from whence Lumber is imported to the Sugar Colonies, New England, by a Parity of Reason, is a Monopoly of the Lumber Trade, and therefore does exact an unreasonable Price for its Lumber.

But this is not, nor ever can be the Truth of the Case, either with regard to New England or the Sugar Colonies; for as in a Place of such Extent as New England is, where the Lumber Trade is carry’d on by a Multitude of People, with a View to each Trader’s separate Interest, a Monopoly of Lumber cannot probably be made: So in the Sugar Colonies, that lie at a vast Distance from each other, and are Rivals to each other by the Production of the same Commodities, a Monopoly is impracticable.

The New England Traders have no less than six different British Islands to go to for Rum and Melasses. Each of those Islands is as independent upon the other in its Polity as distant in Situation. There is little or no Intercourse, and less Commerce, between those of them which are situated the nearest to the others, and no Intercourse at all between the remotest of those Islands, because the Produce of them all being the same; there can be no Exchange of Commodities, and consequently no Commerce or Intercourse. It follows therefore, where there is no Intercourse, there can be no Combination, no Monopoly. On the contrary (as has been observed) each Island is a Rival to its Neighbour, producing the same Commodity, and will, in common Prudence, use all proper means to have its full Share of Trade, to which end nothing can be more conducive than to sell its Produce at the cheapest rate imaginable.

From the foregoing Considerations it is very plain, that the Objections made by the New England People against the Bill for the Encouragement of the Sugar Colonies are of no Weight at all.

There being no more Arguments offered by the New England People worthy a Reply, it is time now to give them a short Hearing of their Rhetorick in Praise of their Trade and of themselves, and in Disparagement of their Fellow Subjects of the Sugar Colonies.

They assert very roundly, that their Trade with the French and Dutch brings them in return Money and Silver, which they bring to Great Britain, and lay out for Manufactures.

That there is no Money among the French and Dutch Sugar Colonies, is as evident a truth, as that there are no Gold or Diamond Mines in New England; how therefore they can bring Money from Places where there is not enough for the common Uses of Life among the Inhabitants, is a Paradox which they must explain, before the World will take it upon their Word.

If then that Assertion be not founded in Truth, it follows that they do not lay out Money brought from those Places in the Manufactures of Great Britain. Their Traffick for Fish in the Streights (a Trade in which they have supplanted Great Britain) may furnish them with Money, but I deny that such Money is laid out by them in the Manufactures of Great Britain. On the contrary it is to be presumed, that their Money is laid out with the French and Dutch in Europe for East-India Goods, French Silks, and other foreign Commodities; for as it appeared by their own Evidence at the Bar of the House of Commons, that they import such Wares into New England, we must suppose they pay for them in Money or Fish, till they can prove that Lumber is a valuable Commodity in France and Holland.

But supposing the New England People do lay out their Product of Fish in British Manufactures; is that a sufficient Compensation to Great Britain for robbing her of the Fish Trade to the Streights? Does not the New England People, by their Confession, acknowledge by Implication, that they reap the Profit, both in the Navigation and Trade, up the Streights, which us’d to be enjoy’d by Great Britain it self? What Advantage is it to Britain to have this Money laid out in her Manufactures? Would it not be a far greater, to be the Carrier of these Manufactures to the Streights, and to bring home this Money in her own Ships, navigated by her own Sailors? No doubt all this is true, and therefore the New England People deprive Britain of these great Advantages, and boast the Favour they do to their Mother Country by making her the Channel, thro’ which they derive Wealth to themselves. Britain in this receives just the same Advantage, as that Country would do, thro’ which a rapid River passes, only to wash away its Soil, and Fertility.

Let us now observe their Encomium on their own great Qualities and Industry, and how far preferable they are, to their Fellow-subjects of the Sugar Colonies.

It is confess’d by the best Authors that Panegyrick is the most difficult Task in the World.

If the Praise of another be a matter of such Difficulty, how insuperable must the Labour be to praise one’s self with a good Grace?

Whether the New England People have succeeded well in this Enterprize, may appear by the Method they have taken to exalt their own great Industry, and Parsimony, by asserting that their Fellow-subjects of the Sugar Colonies are a most luxurious, profuse People. Thus it often happens among some Orders of People on the Banks of the River Thames; that to exalt their own Virtue, they tell the World their Neighbours are——no better than they should be.

The Inhabitants of the Sugar Colonies, ’tis said, are very rich and very luxurious. That the Product of the Colonies is of the richest Sort, and is a Mine to Great Britain, is allowed, and has been fully proved; but that the Proprietors of the Soil and Manufactures are far from being rich, is evident from the Proofs already made to the Parliament, that they do not clear five Shillings for every hundred Pounds weight of Sugar they make.

This the New England Traders would think but a moderate Profit upon one of their short Voyages: But it is too much for an Inhabitant of the Sugar Colonies, who runs infinite more risque in the heat of the torrid Zone; does the Duty and is liable to all the Hazards of a Camp, in time of War; and in time of Peace, lives the most careful Life of any of the Inhabitants under the Sun. That this is truly the Case of the Planter in the Sugar Colonies, all Mankind that are well acquainted with them will attest: but it may be evinced, from the Nature of a West-India Estate itself, which is subject to Ruin by the French; to Fire from the combustible Nature of the Sugar Canes, which are its Product; from the vast Buildings and Materials for making Sugar and Rum; from the like Expence in Negroes, Cattle, and Mules; from the risque of Mortality in this part of the Property, which is always half the Value of a well-settled Plantation; and lastly the Expence of feeding; the Care, Anxiety, and prudent Conduct of governing two or three hundred Negroes with strict Justice and Humanity, and with Advantage to himself, is the Station of a Planter: And is not this a Station that requires as much Fortitude, Industry, and Oeconomy, as catching Fish, or buying Skins from the Indians of New-England? In short, without a good Share of all the Qualifications necessary to Conduct an Affair the most complicated in its Nature, surrounded with Difficulties and Hazards; and in which the nicest Oeconomy and Order must be observed, it is impossible a Planter can reap any Profit from his Estate. Therefore if Planters are rich, they must be the best Oeconomists and the most industrious Men in the World.

But let us hear what all Gentlemen that have travelled to the Sugar Colonies, and to New England, will say of the Inhabitants of both. To them let the Appeal be made, as being impartial Observers of a Country, to which they are attached by no prejudice of Education. It will appear by their Testimony, that the Inhabitants of the Sugar Colonies are a polite People, being generally educated in England, in the best manner. And if Virtue and Morality be the Result of a good Education, they are as well entitled to both, as the Subjects of England; and more than the People of New England, who are educated in their own mean Seminaries.

To all impartial Strangers I appeal, whether the Inhabitants of the British Sugar Colonies are not the most benevolent, hospitable People in the World; and whether every Stranger, and especially Englishmen, be not received there with singular regard? On the contrary let them say whether the Inhabitants of New-England, and especially of Boston, do not always express a Jewish Antipathy to Strangers; even to their Fellow-subjects of England, and the Sugar Colonies, whom they call by the invidious Name of Foreigners, and indeed treat them accordingly.

But perhaps Hospitality is not in the New-England Catalogue of Virtues; but stands for a Vice, and goes by the Name of Luxury or Profuseness.—This Mistake of Hospitality for that Vice, was perhaps the Reason why the New England People thought it applicable to the Inhabitants of the Sugar Colonies.

But let their Sentiments be as they may, all wise Men will infer from the Observation of social Virtues in a Colony, that private Virtues of all Kinds, must abound there too: and every Legislature will cherish and encourage such a People, as being the best of Subjects.

Thus far the most plausible Reasons offered by the New England People in their Case, have been considered; and ’tis presumed fully confuted: but as there are some Reasons of the like Kind, publish’d in the Case of Rhoad Island &c. it will not be improper to give them also a short Answer.

In the case of Rhoad Island there is a Calculate made of the Import of Sugar from Barbadoes to Great Britain amounting in the Year 1730 to 22,769 Hogsheads, valued at 340,396 l. An immense net Profit (says the Author) for such a small Island, and therefore the Barbadians have no Reason to complain &c. The Reason this Author gives for thinking all that Sum to be net Profit is because it was averr’d by a Witness at the Committee of the House of Commons, That the Rum and Melasses of a Sugar-Plantation bears the Charges of it; and therefore all the Sugar is net Profit.

Those that aver this would do well to give us a Calculation of the annual Charge of a Plantation, which it is certain they are entirely ignorant of. Till they can make out their Assertion from such a Calculation fairly stated, ’twill be sufficient to deny what they alledge, and tell them, that if New England Traders take Rum from Foreigners, and Melasses to be distill’d into Rum by themselves; then the Rum and Melasses will be so far from bearing such a Charge, that on the contrary they will bear no Charge at all; but the Melasses must be given to Hogs as the French used to do, till New England taught them how to make a better Profit of it.

By the Assistance of the New England Traders the French now have that great Advantage, and the French Plantations are encreased above one third in the annual Value, purely by that pernicious Trade. This Encrease to Foreigners is a proportionable Diminution of our own Sugar Colonies, and consequently a Disadvantage to Great Britain.

But is the Product of that little Island Barbadoes no less than 340,396 l. brought into the Ports of Great Britain in one Year? What then must be the net Product of all the Sugar Colonies?——an immense Sum no doubt. And is this all brought into the Ports of Great Britain? What a Fountain of Treasure must this be to the Kingdom, even by the Confession of the Enemies to our British Sugar Colonies! Do therefore the New England Traders imagine that the Parliament of Great Britain will sacrifice this immense Treasure to the Advantage of a few New England Distillers? Or if it was a Disadvantage to all New England (from whence Great Britain derives no Advantage in comparison of that) would it not be just Policy to support the Sugar Colonies? But when the present Opposition is consider’d as founded on a Trade with the French, the natural and implacable Enemies of this Kingdom; what honest Englishman can look upon it without Disdain? especially after it has appeared evident from Reason, from undoubted Testimony, and even by the implicit Confession of the New England People concerned in this Opposition, that the French have encreased one third per Annum in their Wealth, by this very Trade. That our Sugar Colonies have declined in Proportion has been proved already; and to compleat the Misfortune, the New England Traders have drain’d even the British Sugar Colonies of all their current Cash, for no other Purpose but to purchase Melasses and Rum of the French. This is a Fact known by all the Inhabitants of the Sugar Colonies, some of which are now in London ready to prove it in the most solemn Manner.

But after all, say these Opposers of the Bill for the Encouragement of the Sugar Colonies: If New England does not supply the French with Lumber and Horses, they will supply themselves from their own Northern Colonies.

Let them do so if they can, it will cost them dear, and in some measure prevent or at least postpone the Ruin of our Sugar Colonies: for every Body that knows those Parts of the World, can determine what a long expensive Voyage it will be from the French Northern and Western Colonies to their Sugar Islands; and therefore their Lumber must come so dear, that they will chuse rather to make their own Lumber out of hard Wood of their own Growth, as they did formerly, till New England supply’d them in a better Manner. This very Expedient would put a considerable Stop to the Growth of the French Sugar Colonies, because it would employ one quarter Part of their Labourers, now employ’d in the Sugar Manufacture.

It has been before proved that New England may still carry on its Lumber Trade to as good Effect to our British Sugar Colonies: but as that Country is open’d the Lumber Trade must in time decrease to the great Disadvantage of the British Sugar Colonies. But supposing this Prohibition of the French Trade for Lumber should occasion some Decline of it at present, cannot the industrious New England People turn their Hands to nothing else? Cannot that People pursue Agriculture in order to supply the Sugar Islands with all kinds of Corn, so as to make it unnecessary to raise it of their own Growth? By such a Pursuit the British Manufacture of Wool would be in less Danger of being transferr’d to them. Can’t they plant Hemp and Flax to make Cordage and Sail Cloth, both for their own Navigation and that of Great Britain; and by that means take off the Necessity of our trading with Foreigners for those Commodities?

This I apprehend would be an honest Method of acquiring Wealth to themselves, and of being a useful Colony to Great Britain and to its Sister Colonies. But nothing less will satisfie this unnatural Daughter, than the supplanting her Mother-Country in Navigation and Trade; and subverting her Sister Colonies, by a Trade with our natural Enemies the French.

That all these Consequences will follow from the present Bent of the People of New England, unless a Parliamentary Interposition prevents it, has been made plain in the foregoing Pages: And it may be as easily proved, that in case the British Sugar Colonies should fail, and a War with France happen, that New England itself would lose all their Indian Trade and Fishery for want of a sufficient Supply of Rum and Melasses; and that therefore the present Opposition to the Bill for the Encouragement of the British Sugar Colonies, is absolutely inconsistent with the Interest of New England for the future, and at present to the irreparable Damage of Great Britain.

FOOTNOTES: