A LETTER TO A Member of the House of Commons.

SIR,

As the Bill for encouraging our Sugar Colonies, which is now before You, is certainly of very great Consequence, and the Sentiments of several Gentlemen are widely different in regard to it; and as a great many Gentlemen of the House of Commons have never had the Necessity or Opportunity of acquainting themselves with Trade and Navigation, and some others that are acquainted with Trade in general, yet may not be so well acquainted with the particular Branches of Trade that must be affected by this Bill, as I am who have resided in the West Indies and the Northern Colonies, and have, by a long Experience, acquainted my self with the Nature and Importance of the Trade of those parts, therefore have now to beg (as I still trade to these Places, so that it could not be proper for me to appear for either Party at the Bar of your House) that you will allow me to give you my Sentiments thereon. I know a Notion has already prevail’d too far, that this Bill is only calculated to inhance the Price of Sugar, and consequently Gentlemens Estates in the West Indies: Indeed it may, in some measure, do this, and this is very necessary; but this is far from being the only Advantage this Bill proposes; and, with leave, I will lay before you some of a more publick Nature that must be the Consequence of this Bill, and then I will leave you to judge of the Reasonableness or Unreasonabless of it. This Bill proposes to enable the Subjects of Great Britain to recover what they have lately lost, viz. the supplying foreign Markets with Sugar, which is now wholly engross’d by the French, our Rivals, to the vast Prejudice of the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom, and almost to the Destruction of our Sugar Colonies, that have been so prodigiously advantagious to the Trade, Navigation and Revenue of this Kingdom, and thereby to retrieve our Sugar Colonies from that languishing Condition they are at present reduc’d to, an prevent that Destruction that seems to threaten them. Now the Method proposed in this Bill to effect this good End, is to prevent the Subjects of Great Britain (residing in our Northern Colonies) from taking from the French their Rum and Melasses, which they can no where have any other vent for, notwithstanding all the superficial Pretences that have been made to the contrary, which I shall take notice of presently, after I have premis’d, that this is giving the French at least twenty five per Cent. upon the whole Produce of their Sugar Colonies, and thereby enabling them to afford their Sugar (by the other Advantages they have over us) at foreign Markets, cheaper than our own Sugar Colonies can. It is finding them with Plantation Necessaries, and finding them Money to pay for them, viz. their Melasses and Rum, which otherwise they must throw away as formerly; and could they be supply’d with Lumber from any of their own Settlements, (which, I say, they cannot at three times the Price they now have it) yet it would answer the End; for they must pay for such Supplies in Cash or Sugar, to the very great Inhancement of the Price of their Sugar which they send to Europe. Pray let me give you a fit Comparison, which is, let the Brewers throw away their Small-beer, their Grains and their Barm, pray how would that affect the Price of strong Beer and Ale? And this is the very case with the French Sugar Colonies; they have not, nor can have any Demand for it but from our Northern Colonies.

But let us see where the Adversaries of this Bill finds them a Vent for it; they say they will distil it into Rum, and send it to Cape Breton, Quebeck and other French Settlements; but I do tell you, Sir, that the making and importing of Rum is prohibited in all the French Northern Colonies in the strictest manner, in favour of French Brandy, which they are abundantly supply’d with, and so cheap, that they have no Necessity for Rum, nor can it be supposed that the French will ever allow it to be imported into these Colonies. We may as well suppose that this Kingdom will leave the sole Supply of foreign Markets, with woollen Manufactures, to Ireland.

Again, they say that the English West India islands is not able to supply Rum for the Use of all our Northern Colonies, that is, for their own Consumption, their Fishery and their Indian Trade: Their own Consumption, they say, is great, particularly in Harvest. Alas! what can it be for a Fortnight, or say a Month, and then it’s no more necessary in Harvest there than here; for all over the Continent where I have been, and where there is any Harvest they have good Beer, as cheap, both small and strong, nay cheaper than we of this Kingdom, they paying none of the great Duties on Malt and Beer as we do; nay they have it so plenty, that they send large Quantities of strong Beer to the West Indies, which they can do cheaper than we can from hence, by being exempted from the Duty of Malt and Beer, as I said. Besides they abound with Cyder, Then pray judge of the great Consumption there must be of Rum, or the Necessity there must be for such Quantities in such a Country.

Next is, the great Quantities they insist on, necessary to carry on their Indian Trade: Now, during the time I resided among them, I never found more Rum necessary, than a small Quantity to treat them with when they come to trade, or perhaps to sell them while they stay and trade, but I never could learn that they ever bought and carry’d away any; and I believe Brandy and Rum, or Malt Spirits are equally acceptable to them; however a small matter serves their turn. The Goods they chiefly trade for, are Blankets, Strouds, Duffils, &c. as it is plain from what a Gentleman told you that had resided a great while at South Carolina, that they traded with eight thousand Indians, and yet nine hundred Hogsheads of Rum was the most they ever imported in one Year, both to supply their Home Consumption, all their Trade with these eight thousand Indians, and to trade to other Ports with; and yet this is a Colony that is the hottest, has the largest Harvest of Rice, &c. and not supplied so well with Beer, &c. as the other Northern Colonies are.

So let us allow this Colony of South Carolina these nine hundred Hogsheads, North Carolina one thousand Hogsheads, Virginia and Maryland three thousand Hogsheads, New York and Philadelphia four thousand Hogsheads, Rhode Island and New England ten thousand Hogsheads, which Calculation, both by their respective Custom-house Accounts, and by the largest Estimates that ever has been made, are too large, and yet the whole amounts but to eighteen thousand nine hundred Hogsheads. I know you have been told, that all our Sugar Colonies could not supply them with Rum; nay, one of their People that never saw the West Indies (or knew any thing of the Sugar Colonies) told you that our Colonies could not supply them with one fifth; now it is plain, that both the French and the Dutch don’t make near so much as we do; but admit they did, and those Northern Colonies had all that was made by them and ourselves, all would but supply two fifths. God knows what they must do for the other three fifths. I think you was told by the same Person, that fifteen thousand Fishermen were employed in the New England Fishery, and another Gentleman who last Year told you, that the Fishery consisted of ten thousand, this Year told you that it consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand; I do allure you all these, and other things you have heard, are equally true.

Since which you have had a particular Calculation of the Number of Vessels and Men employ’d in that said Fishery, and I assure you, even that Calculation is too large, in the whole not less than five hundred Men; for he allows six Men to every Shallop, and five is generally their Compliment; and yet that Calculation makes but six hundred and sixty Shallops, besides small Boats, and four thousand, four hundred and sixty Men.

The same Person told you, that the English Sugar Colonies, under their present Improvement, did make forty thousand Hogsheads of Rum per Annum, and could make (had they Demand for it) about fifty five thousand Hogsheads per Annum, besides what those large Tracts of uncultivated Land would produce, should they have Encouragement to settle, that are in the Leeward Islands and Jamaica.

You were also told, that the New England People, thus taking from the French their Melasses, Rum and Sugar, and supplying all the other Northern Colonies, as well as Newfoundland, Great Britain, Ireland and Africa with large Quantities thereof, was a very great Hurt to the Revenue; for if these Places were not thus supply’d, they must be supplied from our own Sugar Colonies, then every thousand Pound Value of Rum or Melasses, of our own Growth, must pay His Majesty a Duty of forty five Pounds, and every thousand Pound Value of Sugar, a Duty of one hundred and twenty Pounds. He might have added, at the same time, that it was likewise a great Hurt to the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom, as well as to the Sugar Colonies; that we cannot supply those Places with Rum, Sugar and Melasses of our own Growth, and in Ships and Vessels of this Kingdom, without the Disadvantage of paying for our Rum and Melasses a Duty of four and a half per Cent. and for our Sugar a Duty of twelve per Cent. when New England can supply all the Markets with Rum, Sugar and Melasses of foreign Growth, without paying any of these Duties. Pray what Advantage must this be in Trade? Undoubtedly was it not for this Advantage they have over us, a great many of our Vessels that miss a Freight of Sugar in the West Indies for London, would take some Rum, Melasses and Sugar, and go to Newfoundland, and barter it for Fish or Oil, and then proceed to some other Market with it, and might probably employ themselves to Advantage, or might with a little Rum, Sugar and Melasses, go to North Carolina, &c. and barter for a Cargoe of Pitch, Tar and Skins and bring to Great Britain; but here likewise we are rival’d by the New England People, and must be; for we have no Place allow’d us to carry foreign Melasses to, without paying Duty, and then of distilling them into Rum, without paying Excise, and it is a Paradox to me that they should, to the infinite Damage of so many of his Majesty’s good Subjects, and to she vast Prejudice of the Publick.

They tell you likewise that they cannot get Rum &c. for their Lumber in our Sugar Colonies, at any reasonable rate; neither can they get a Price for their Lumber: ever since I knew the English Sugar Colonies, the Price of both Rum and Lumber hath been govern’d by the Crops; when the Crops are large the Lumber must be dear, and Rum cheap; on the other Hand when the Crops are small, Lumber must be cheap, and Rum dear; (this is the Case every where.) You was told that in Barbadoes in the Year 1718, Rum was sold for nineteen Pence per Gallon, and the Year 1724, Rum was sold at ten Pence half Penny per Gallon; tho’ at the same time the Person told you, that he would not be understood to think that Rum was fallen so much since that Time; but the Price was greater or less as the Crops were so.

As for their telling you, that they cannot get Rum &c. at our islands; and therefore are forced to go down to the French. Not one Vessel in ten that goes to the French ever touches at our Sugar Colonies first; (as they pretend) and if one of them by chance touches at Barbadoes, it is either to learn if there is a Possibility of Liberty to trade to the French islands, or for some other end; and not to sell her Cargoe. But as I said before, not one in ten that designs for the French islands, but goes directly thither.

And as for their saying that our Sugar Colonies won’t let them have Rum for their Lumber; more than half, nay two thirds of the Lumber that is carried there, is carried in Ships that go from New England, in order to load Sugar there for London; and not any of these Ships will sell their Lumber for Rum or Melasses, if they can get either Sugar, Money, or Cotton for it: For the Planters always strive to buy their Lumber with their Rum and Melasses: I have known several Disputes, the Planters insisting on their taking Rum for their Lumber; and the New England Men insisting on Sugar. A great Quantity of New England Ships go to the West-Indies after this manner every Year (to the vast prejudice of the Ships of this Kingdom) and load Sugars for London; receive their Freight for the said Sugars to help them to pay the Ballance of Trade, they talk so much of; and then return home, where they are paid off, and refitted; and this Kingdom hath no other Advantage from them, than the Port Charges they pay while here. They tell us likewise that their Fishery and Navigation is a Nursery for Seamen, and a very great Advantage to this Kingdom: For my part, I am of a quite different Opinion; as to their Fishery, that they have ravished from us; it was formerly carried on by the Inhabitants of this Kingdom, and by Vessels built, paid off, and refitted, and victualled in this Kingdom; but now all these Advantages are engross’d by the People of New England, and by Ships and Vessels built, paid off, refitted, and victualled there: Besides, most of the Men employed in this Fishery are Seamen of Great Britain, that have deserted his Majesty’s and Merchant Ships of this Kingdom; and are entirely lost to this Kingdom, in case of any Emergency. And their other Navigation, that they seem to be at a loss to provide Business for. If this Bill should pass into a Law, pray might they not be as well employ’d in fetching Supplies of Sugar, Rum, and Melasses from our own Sugar Colonies, as they are now from the French? But were they left destitute of an Employ; the more they are obliged to reduce their Navigation, the more they would be capable of serving their Mother Country, and answer the End for which they were first settled, encouraged, and protected: For the End and Design for which they were settled, was, that they should supply this Kingdom with such Commodities, as we were obliged to other Nations for, as Naval Stores, Hemp, Pot-ash, &c. in exchange for our own Manufactures; and not to become Rivals in our Trade and Navigation: Not to ravish from us our Fishery, as well as our Seamen to carry it on; and attempt by their Shipping, and by the Advantage they have over us in building, refitting and victualling them, (as they have a long time had all their principal Materials, duty free; as Hemp, Canvas, and Iron) to worm us out of the Freight every where; and probably, in a little time, may become the sole Carriers both of Europe and America. For as there is inch a proportion of Commerce to be carried on in the World, by the Subjects of Great Britain; then nothing, can be more certain than this, That the more their Navigation encreases, ours must in proportion decline; then certainly our Artificers, and Seamen must follow the Navigation (as they and several Owners of Vessels have too much done already:) Then of what Use must our Navy be to us? What! must we send to New England for Men upon every Emergency? No:

They have also told you that should this Bill pass into a Law, it would encourage the West-Indians to monopolize their Rum, &c. Is not the Case the same with respect to Sugar with England? can we be supply’d any where else? and how do they monopolize that Commodity? or how is it possible that any Commodities in the Hands of so many People, Inhabitants of several islands that lye at so great a Distance, that some of them have not any Correspondence, can monopolize? besides the greatest Number of those People are necessitous, and must sell for what they can get, for Subsistence and common Necessaries: And pray is not the Lumber in North America in fewer Hands than the Rum and Melasses are, or can be in; then have they not all the Opportunities the Sugar Islands can have, of making their own Price &c.?

And as for their telling you that the West India Islands cannot take off their Lumber, we have rather Reason to apprehend that they will not be able to supply the Sugar Colonies long, at any tolerable Price; for the Price of Lumber rises every Year. And a little Time since I was up in the Country where their Lumber is saw’d, and enquired of some of the principal Men concern’d in it, of the Reason of their Lumber being dearer and scarcer every Year, seeing they had such Quantities of Timber in the Country; they told me that it would still continue to be dearer and scarcer, and they should not long make it worth their while to supply the West-Indies at any tolerable Price: For the Woods contiguous to the Rivers, on which their Mills stand are very much exhausted; besides they were confin’d now to the Timber that grew on their own Properties, being more restrain’d than ever from cutting the King’s Woods; that if they were to be without great Snows, (upon which they draw the Timber down to the Sides of the Rivers on which their Mills stand, and which when it melts floats down the Timber to their Saw-mills) they could by no Means supply a tenth of the Lumber they usually do.——I could insist on a great many other Particulars, but I have already exceeded the Bounds I prescribed myself at setting out, neither will the Time allow me more than to tell you that I have Hopes you will think of this Affair, and determine upon it with that Impartiality which is so peculiar to you: And that I am,

SIR, Your Most Obedient,

Humble Servant.