Note 263 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
In the work mentioned in last note, "Prior Documents," etc., extracts of letters are given, showing the effects of the acts and regulations of commerce, even in the West Indies. I give one of these extracts as a specimen:
Extract of a letter from Kingston, in Jamaica, to a merchant in London, dated January 27th, 1765.
"Kingston, which used to be a place of great trade and hurry, is become as still as a desert since we were so wise as to banish our best friends, the Spaniards; and now the current of that valuable commerce is turned in favour of the French and the Dutch, who have made their ports free, and, taking the advantage of our misconduct, have promised them safety, and so deal with them for all the European goods, upon the same terms as the English did. Were I to depend upon the sale of goods I had from you, I should not be able to remit the money these two or three years."
Extract of a letter from Jamaica, to a friend in London, dated May 12th, 1763:
"We are in the most deplorable state ever known in the island; the channel through which all the money we had came among us, is entirely stopped up."—Ib., p. 4.