A comparison between the British sugar colonies and New England, as they relate to the interest of Great Britain
Date: 2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

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Title: A comparison between the British sugar colonies and New England, as they relate to the interest of Great Britain
with some observations on the state of the case of New England

Author: Anonymous

Release date: April 20, 2026 [eBook #78511]

Language: English

Original publication: London: James Roberts, 1732

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78511

Credits: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Yale University Library)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE BRITISH SUGAR COLONIES AND NEW ENGLAND, AS THEY RELATE TO THE INTEREST OF GREAT BRITAIN ***

A
COMPARISON
BETWEEN THE
British Sugar Colonies
AND
NEW ENGLAND,
As they relate to the Interest of
GREAT BRITAIN.
WITH
Some Observations on the State of the CASE
of NEW ENGLAND.

To which is added
A LETTER
TO A
Member of Parliament.

LONDON:
Printed for James Roberts at the Oxford
Arms in Warwick Lane. M.DCC.XXXII.
(Price 6 d.)

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:

[1] Vid. the Case of the Brit. Nor. Col.

[2] As by a Witness at the Bar of the House of Commons.

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:

“For oh! it much imports you, ’tis your all
To keep your Trade intire, intire the Force
And Honour of your Fleets; o’er that to watch
Even with a Hand severe and jealous Eye.”

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.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE BRITISH SUGAR COLONIES AND NEW ENGLAND, AS THEY RELATE TO THE INTEREST OF GREAT BRITAIN ***

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Table of Contents

- A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE British Sugar Colonies AND NEW ENGLAND, As they relate to the Interest of GREAT BRITAIN. WITH Some Observations on the State of the CASE of NEW ENGLAND.

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

- FOOTNOTES:

- A LETTER TO A Member of the House of Commons.

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE