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Jan. 22.
Whitehall. |
16. Council of Trade and Plantations to the King. Propose John Gollop as Councillor for Bermuda in the room of Joseph Pilgrim deed. [C.O. 29, 15. p. 427.] |
Jan. 22.
Whitehall. |
17. Mr. Popple to Governor Johnson. My Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations having received a letter, by which they are informed that the Ordnance lately sent to yor. government instead of being employ'd in the service for which they were sent thither "now lye upon the beach in Charles Town, without carriages, expos'd to the weather and sand," and that if some care is not taken they will certainly be honeycomb'd and spoil'd: I am commanded to send you a copy of it, that you may as soon as possible inform their Lordships, how far the said advice is true, and if any care has since been taken of them. My Lords have now under their consideration, two petitions, one from the Merchts. of London, and the other from ye Merchts. of Bristol trading to So. Carolina, complaining of two Acts passed there in 1696, entitled An Act for the encouragement of the better settlement of So. Carolina; and another passed in 1731, entitled An Act for appropriating the sum of £104,775 1s. 3¼d. towards the paymt. of ye publick debts; and so soon as their Lordps. have made their report to H.M. thereupon, they intend to make you a full answer to all yor. lettrs. Mr. Hall, who lately came from your Province, in order to buy hemp and flax seed, in order the better to promote the product of those commodities, at his return to Carolina, has made his application here, for an addition to those sums, wch. ye Assembly of yor. Province allow'd him for this purpose; but as my Lords are of opinion that the Assembly are ye best judges, wt. sum is proper to be allow'd for an experiment of that sort, in their own country, their Lordships do not think proper to make any Representation to H.M. thereupon, but they recommend it to you, to give all reasonable encouragement to an undertaking which seems to tend so much to the advantage of the Province. [C.O. 5, 401. pp. 79, 80.] |
Jan. 23.
Whitehall. |
18. Mr. Popple to Mr. Paxton. The Board will take into their consideration the Act of S. Carolina for the prevention of suits etc., on Friday next, and will then hear anything you may have to offer against it etc. [C.O. 5, 401. p. 81.] |
| [Jan. 23.] |
19. Lords Proprietors of Carolina to the Committee of Privy Council. In reply to queries as to grants of lands made by them to each other, enumerate grants made by them 1714–1727. Continue: If we have not given your Lordships a more exact account of the conditions upon which they were granted and the places where they are to be sett out, it is for want of a proper register etc., nor could we obtain a true rent role of our lands, which occasioned our presenting a petition to his late Majesty etc. to direct his provisional! Governor to cause a register to be made of all the lands granted, and upon what terms, in order to know how to settle the remaining uncultivated lands etc. Admit that they did shut up their office for the sale of lands in Carolina in 1729, which was not only prudent but justifiable, their predecessors having at their first entering upon the execution of their Charter made grants of large tracts of lands at a small quit rent or only a pepper corn yearly, in expectations that the grantees would settle them etc. But as not a sixth part of the lands so granted are yet settled etc., we conceive such lands may be re-entered upon etc. The Proprietors were always ready at their office in London to grant their unsettled lands at a moderate quit rent, not exceeding one penny per acre to any person who with an intention to settle there would have apply'd to them, and were ready to comply with any reasonable proposall of that kind from the countrey's Agent, Mr. Young, notwithstanding his known ingratitude to the Proprietors etc. Explain the clause in their petition to the King touching proposed surrender. "By this clause we mean and intend to surrender to H.M. our right and title to all our lands not entered upon and improved as well the baronies and lands granted to each of us as Proprietors as all other our lands in Carolina" etc. Endorsed, Recd. Read 23rd Jan., 1733/4. 4¼ pp. Enclosed, |
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19. i. Copy of Order of Council, 12th March, 1727/8, upon petition of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, proposing to surrender their rights to the sovereignty and soil upon payment to each of £2,500, that they answer annexed queries, and particularly what grants of lands they have that are now unsettled etc. Same endorsement. ½ p. |
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19. ii. Copy of Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Coll. Samuel Horsey, for 48,000 acres etc., and making him a Landgrave. 21st Dec, 1726. Same endorsement. 11/3 pp. [C.O. 5, 363. ff. 19–20, 21–23, 24 v., 25 v., 26 v.] |
| Jan. 23. |
20. Council of Trade and Plantations to the House of Lords. Representation in pursuance of Address, June 13th, 1733, relating to the laws made, manufactures set up, and trade carried on in H.M. Plantations in America. Continue:—Laws of the Plantations. Many of the British Colonies in America are immediately under the Government of the Crown; namely, Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, the Jerseys, New York, Virginia, and the two Carolinas, Bermuda or the Summer Islands, Bahama Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, and the Leeward Islands. Others are vested in Proprietors, as Pennsylvania and Maryland, and, not long since, the Bahamas, and the two Carolina's. There are likewise three Charter Governments; the chief of which is the Province of the Massachusets Bay, commonly called New England; the constitution whereof is of a mixed nature, the power being divided between the King and the people, in which the latter have much the greater share; for here the people do not only chuse the Assembly, as in other Colonies, but the Assembly chuse the Council also; and the Governor depends upon the Assembly for his annual support; which has too frequently laid the Governors of this Province under temptations of giving up the prerogative of the Crown, and the interest of Great Britain. Connecticut and Rhode Island are the other Charter Governments, or rather Corporations, where almost the whole power of the Crown is delegated to the people, who make an annual election of their Assembly, their Council, and their Governor likewise; to the majority of which Assemblies, Councils and Governors, respectively, being Collective Bodies, the power of making Laws is granted: And, as their Charters are worded, they can and do make Laws even without their Governors' assent, and directly contrary to their opinions; no negative voice being reserved to them, as Governors in the said Charter; And as the said Governors are annually chosen, their office generally expires before H.M. Approbation can be obtained, or any security can be taken for the due observation of the Laws of Trade and Navigation, and hold little or no correspondence with our Office. It is not surprising, that Governors, constituted like those last-mentioned, should be guilty of many irregularities, in point of trade, as well as in other respects. All these Colonies, however, by their several Constitutions, have the power of making Laws for their better government and support, provided they be not repugnant to the Laws of Great Britain, nor detrimental to their Mother Country: And these Laws, when they have regularly passed the Council and Assembly of any Province, and received the Governor's absent, become valid in that Province, but remain repealable, nevertheless, by H.M. in Council upon just complaint; and do not acquire a perpetual force, unless they are confirmed by H.M. in Council. But there are some exceptions to this rule in the Proprietoary and Charter Governments; for, in the Province of Pensylvania, they are only obliged to deliver a transcript of their Laws to the Privy Council within five years after they are passed; and if H.M. does not think fit to repeal them in six months, from the time such transcript.is so delivered, it is not in the power of the Crown to repeal them afterwards. In the Massachusets Bay also, if their Laws are not repealed within three years after they have been presented to H.M., for his Approbation or disallowance, they are not repealable by the Crown, after that time. The Provinces of Maryland, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, not being under any obligation, by their respective constitutions, to return authentick copies of their Laws to the Crown for Approbation or Disallowance, or to give any account of their proceedings, we are very little informed of what is done in any of these governments. There is also this singularity in the governments of Connecticut and Rhode Island, that their Laws are not repealable by the Crown; but the validity of them depends upon their not being contrary but, as near as may be, agreeable to the Laws of England. All the Governors of Colonies, who act under the King's Appointment, ought, within a reasonable time, to transmit home authentick copies of the several Acts by them passed, that they may go through a proper examination; but they are sometimes negligent of their duty in this particular, and likewise pass temporary Laws for so short continuance, that they have their full effect even before this Board can acquire due notice of them. Some attempts have been made to prevent this pernicious practice; but the annual support of Government, in the respective Colonies, making it necessary, that Laws, for that purpose, should pass from year to year, the Assemblies have frequently endeavoured in those Laws, as well as in others of longer duration, to enact proper propositions repugnant to the Laws or interest of Great Britain, of which this Board have never failed to express their dislike to the Crown, when such Laws have fallen under their consideration; and many Laws have, from time to time, been repealed on that account. But, as to such Laws as do not directly fall within the above rule, against which no complaint is made, and where the Board are doubtful of the effect they may have; it has always been usual to let them lie by probationary, being still under the power of the Crown to be repealed, in case any inconvenience may arise from them. It has been usual, when a Law has contained many just and necessary provisions for the benefit of the Colony where it was passed, intermixed with some others liable to objection, to let it lie by, and give notice thereupon to the Governor of the Province, that it should be repealed, if he did not, within a reasonable time, procure a new Law, not liable to the same objections, to be substituted in the place thereof: And from the constant discharge of our duty herein it has so happened, that, upon the most diligent inquiry into all the Acts passed in the several British Colonies since the Accession of His Late Majesty to the Throne, there are none that have yet come to our knowledge, still remaining unrepealed, or unexpired, which are liable to objection, excepting those in the following list; and even against them no complaint has been made to this Board, till very lately; viz. |
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In the Massachusets Bay an Act passed, in the year 1728, intituled, An Act for the encouragement of making Paper. This manufacture, as will appear by the following returns that have been made to us upon the subject of Trade and Manufactures, has hitherto made but a small progress, and can hardly be said, in a strict sense, to interfere with our own paper; because almost all the paper sent to New England is foreign manufacture: But it certainly interferes with the profit made by our British merchants upon the foreign paper sent to this Province, However, no complaint has ever been made to us against this Law. By the return to our circular letter to the Governor of New Hampshire, we are informed that an Act passed many years since in that Province for encouraging of Iron Ore is prohibited: but, upon the most diligent inquiry, no such Act is to be found in our Office, and we believe none such was ever transmitted to this Board: however, not knowing whether this Act might not have passed since the Late King's accession, we have inserted it in this list. In New York a Law passed in the year 1728 intituled, An Act to repeal some parts, and to continue and enforce other parts, of the Act therein mentioned; and for granting several duties to His Majesty, for supporting his government in the Colony of New York, from the first of September 1728, to the first of September which will be in the year 1733 wherein, amongst other duties, one was laid of five ounces of plate, or forty shillings in bills of credit, on every negro imported from any other place. The Plantations, in all times past, have laid duties upon the importation of negroes; and, as the merchants have naturally increased their price in proportion to those duties, so it is but lately that complaints have been made upon this subject, unless when those impositions went to excess. But we are of opinion, that it would be more for the interest of the English Merchants, that duties upon negroes should for the future be paid by the purchaser, rather than by the importer; and H.M. has, upon our representation, been pleased to send an Instruction to that effect, to all his Governors in America. North Carolina hath but lately been purchased by the Crown; and no laws have been passed there, since that purchase, by H.M. Governor: But we have lately received a Collection of the Laws of that Province, enacted during the time of the late Proprietors; amongst which we find two Acts, passed in the year 1715, which seem to come within the meaning of your Lordships' Order; viz. An Act concerning Attorneys from foreign parts, and for giving priority to Country Debts; and An Act for raising a Publick Magazine of A mmunition upon the tonage of all Vessels to this Government. Both these laws are very partial to the inhabitants of this Province: The first, by giving the preference to themselves, in the recovery of their debts, before the subjects of this Kingdom; and the second, by excusing such vessels as are owned, or in part owned, by the inhabitants of that country, from paying the Powder Duty thereby imposed; otherwise we should have no objection to these Laws, because a Powder Duty has always been collected and paid in all the Colonies abroad, by ships trading thither, without complaint to this Office. In South Carolina a Law, passed in the year 1727, intituled, An Act for carrying on several expeditions against the Indians, and other enemies &c. by which a duty was revived of ten pounds, current money of that country, amounting to about £1 8s. 6d. sterling, on every negro of above ten years old, if imported directly from Africa; and of five pounds per head, if under ten years of age, and not sucklings; and if imported from any other Plantations, above ten years old, fifty pounds; and under ten years old, five pounds; except proof were made that they were all new negroes, and had not been above six months in America. Complaint was made against this act by the merchants in the year 1729, not for the value of the duty, but for the manner of the collection: Whereupon this Board proposed to H.M., at the request of the said merchants, that the same should be made payable for the future by the purchaser, and not by the importer: and it was from hence, that the Instruction already mentioned under the head of New York took its rise. By the Charter of Pensylvania it has already been observed, that the Proprietor is obliged to offer the Laws of this Province to the Crown, for approbation, or disallowance, within five years after they are passed; and if H.M. does not think fit to repeal them in six months from the time they are so offered, it is not in the power of the Crown to repeal them afterwards. But since the year 1715, this article of the Charter has been evaded, and the Laws of this Province have not been transmitted to this Board, except occasionally an act or two; so that we are not enabled to lay the state of the Laws of this Province before your Lordships. Maryland is a Province of which the Lord Baltimore is absolute Proprietor; and as he is not obliged by his Patent to lay the Laws passed there before the Crown for approbation, we know little of them, except of such Acts as the merchants have reason to complain of; two of which are to be found in a list of Laws lately delivered to this Board by the merchants, imposing duties on the importation of negroes and Irish servants; which we shall insert in another part of this Report. In Bermuda a Law passed in 1731, intituled, An Act to supply the deficiency of the several funds in these Islands, for finishing the fortifications, and for defraying the other charges of this Government. This Law lays a duty of three per cent, on all goods and merchandize not belonging to the inhabitants; on which account we laid the same before H.M. for his disallowance. At the Bahamas an Act was passed in 1729 intituled An Act for levying divers sums of money for defraying the publich charges of these Islands; which imposes a duty of eighteen-pence per barrel on beer or cyder, and three shillings per gross, if in bottles. There are other duties also laid by this Act, from which the inhabitants are exempted; and therefore we should have immediately laid the same before H.M. for his disallowance; but, considering the extreme poverty of this new Colony, and the great difficulty they are under to find out funds to support their Government, and as these duties are but small, we have chosen to let this Act lie by, till the Governor can get another passed for the like purposes, not liable to the same objections. These are the Laws passed since His Late Majesty's accession, that can reasonably be said to fall within your Lordships' order; nor has any complaint been made to us, till very lately, of any other of more antient date: But, upon a late Petition to H.M. from the Merchants of London, in behalf of themselves and others, complaining, "that, as the Laws then stood in some of the Colonies, H.M. subjects residing in Great Britain were left without any remedy for the recovery of their just debts, or had such only as was very partial and precarious; as also, that, in several of the said Colonies and Plantations, greater and higher duties and impositions are laid on the ships and goods belonging to H.M. subjects residing in Great Britain, than on the goods and ships of persons inhabiting the said Colonies and Plantations;" we desired the said Merchants to acquaint us, whether they knew of any particular Laws, against which they had reason to object: Whereupon they did deliver to us a list of Laws, wherein the said Colonies appear to have been very partial in their own favour; in some of them exempting their persons from arrests, in others giving a preference to the inhabitants before the British Merchants in the recovery of debts, and in the enacting of duties; whereby a less burden is laid upon their own effects than upon those of the British Merchants. But as some of the Laws in that list are already taken notice of in this Representation, and others expired, or long since repealed, we shall only enumerate to your Lordships such of them as we apprehend to be still in force; viz.—An Act passed in Virginia in 1663 intituled, An Act concerning foreign Debts; by virtue of which, debts owing to persons non-residents are not pleadable, unless for goods imported. An Act passed in Virginia in 1664 intituled, An Act for the priority of payment to the country creditors; by which the priority in the payment of debts is given to the creditors who are inhabitants of that Province. An Act passed in Virginia in 1668, intituled, Privilege of Virginia Owners: by which Virginia owners are exempted from paying the duties of two shillings per hogshead, which the merchants of Great Britain, and other owners of ships, are obliged to pay. An Act passed in Virginia in 1669, intituled, An Act for freeing Virginia Owners from Castle Duties; by which the Virginia owners are also exempted from paying the Castle Duty of one shilling and threepence per ton, which the merchants and others residing in this kingdom are obliged to pay. An Act passed in Virginia in 1680, intituled, An Act for raising a publick Revenue for the better Support of this H.M. Colony of Virginia; by which the foregoing privileges were confirmed to the Virginia owners. An Act passed in Maryland in 1704, intituled, An Act confirming to the Governor of this Province the Duty of threepence per ton upon the burden of ships and vessels; by which a duty of three-pence per ton was imposed on English ships, from which the ships of that Province are exempted. An Act passed in the same Province in 1704, intituled, .An Act for laying an Imposition on several commodities exported out of this Province; by which non-residents were obliged to pay a double duty on furs exported. Traders from Great Britain were then deemed residents; but by the collection of Laws printed in Maryland it appears, that an Act was passed there in 1723, the Province being then under the Government of its Proprietor, intituled, An Act repealing such part of an Act of Assembly intituled, An Act for laying an imposition on everal commodities exported out of this Province, as relates to the laying of an impost or duty on furs and shins only; and for laying an imposition on Pork, Pitch and Tar, in lieu thereof; by which a duty of one shilling is laid on every barrel of pork, and six-pence on every hundred weight thereof: one shilling on every barrel of pitch, and six-pence on every barrel of tar, that should be imported by any but inhabitants, in lieu of the abovementioned duty upon furs: and by this Act, the privileges before enjoyed by the British traders are not preserved. By another Act passed in Maryland in 1704, intituled, An Act for the relief of creditors in England against bankrupts who have imported any goods into this Province not accounted for, the British creditors of bankrupts are put under such difficulties in the recovery of their debts, as are almost unsurmountable. Another Act passed in the same Province in the year 1715, intituled, An Act laying an imposition on Negroes, and on several sorts of liquors imported: and also on Irish servants, to prevent the importing too great a number of Irish Papists into this Province; by which a duty is laid on all liquors imported; and also a duty of twenty shillings per head on negroes, and Irish servants; which duties are not to be paid by vessels belonging to the inhabitants of the said Province. It appears, from the dates in the Laws in the foregoing list, that most of them were passed long ago, and might very probably be thought reasonable at the time when they were enacted, as encouragements to such as should be disposed to transport themselves, and lay out their small fortunes in America; which we conceive to be the reason why no complaint was ever made against them, that we know of, till the above-mentioned Petition from the Merchants of London in 1731, which having been referred, by H.M. Order in Council, to the consideration of this Board, we did, by our representation to the King dated January the 21st, 1731/2, set forth, in a very ample manner, the sense we had of the several matters complained of by the Merchants; and there being many things in that representation, which are pertinent to the present inquiry, we beg leave to transcribe it in this place, etc. Quoted, v. C.S.P. 1732, Jan. 21. |
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Continue: Manufactures and Trade . . . . The state of our Colonies being naturally subject to frequent variations in their trade, manufactures, and other particulars; we thought it proper for H.M. service, and the discharge of our trust, from time to time, to send certain general queries to the several Governors in America, of which there were several relating to trade and manufactures: These circular queries, which were first sent in the year 1719, have been repeated as often as necessity required; and it is from the answers received, in return to those queries, that we are enabled to lay the following accounts before your Lordships. Nova Scotia. With regard to Nova Scotia, the most northern English settlement on the Continent of America, Colonel Vetch, who was formerly Governor of this Province, in his answer to the above-mentioned queries, dated in August 1719, informed us, that there were no manufactures then established in this country; and that the trade of the inhabitants consisted chiefly in furs, peltry and cod fishing; in raising small quantities of naval stores; and in lumber: which still continues to be the state of this Province, with regard to trade and manufactures; as appears by the returns we have received to our queries from Colonel Philipps, the present Governor of Nova Scotia, dated the 24th January, 1731/2, in which he acquaints us, that there are no manufactures in this Province; and that the inhabitants trade with no foreign Plantation, except Cape Breton, to which place they send a little corn, and a few live cattle, which are paid for by the French in money: and that their trade to Europe consists in dry cod cured at Canco. But, upon this occasion, we think it our duty to take notice, that we have received complaints of the very bad manner in which the Canco fish is cured by the people of New England, which brings British fish into discredit in foreign markets. New Hampshire. Colonel Shute, Governor of New Hampshire, in his return to our General Queries in 1719, informed us, that they had no settled manufactures in that Province; and that their trade principally consisted in lumber and fish. But Mr. Belcher, the present Governor of New Hampshire, in his letter dated the 4th day of December 1731 acquainted us, that the woolen manufacture of that Province was much less than formerly; the common lands, on which the sheep used to feed, being now divided into particular properties, and the people almost wholly cloathed with woolen manufactures from Great Britain; but that the manufacturing of flax into different kinds of linen was daily increased by a great resort of people from Ireland, well skilled in the linen manufacture. Mr. Belcher has since informed us, that, about ten years ago, an Act was passed, in this Province, for the encouragement of iron works; by which a grant was made of about eight thousand acres of the King's lands, as a farther encouragement to the proprietors and undertakers of those works. With regard to the trade of this Province, he acquaints us, that it now consists, as it had done for many years past, in the exportation of naval stores, lumber, and fish. Massachusets Bay, in New England. In 1719 Colonel Shute, who was at that time Governor of Massachusets Bay, as well as of New Hampshire, informed us, that in some parts of this Province the inhabitants worked up their wool and flax, and made an ordinary coarse cloth, for their own use, but did not export any: that the greatest part, both of the woolen and linen cloathing, which was then worn in this Province, was imported from Great Britain, and sometimes linen from Ireland; and that, considering the excessive price of labour in New England, the merchants could afford what was imported cheaper than what was made in that Province. That there were, also, a few hatters set up in the maritime towns; and that the greatest part of their leather was manufactured by the inhabitants. That, for many years past, there had been iron-works, which afforded the people iron for some of their occasions; but that the iron imported from Great Britain was esteemed much better than their own, and was wholly used for the service of their shipping; and that the iron works, established in the Province could not produce a sufficient quantity to answer a twentieth part of their consumption. Mr. Belcher, the present Governor of this Province, in answer to the same Queries which we sent him in June 1731 acquainted us, that there is a resolve, of the Assembly of that Province, subsisting, for allowing a bounty of twenty shillings to all persons, and ten shillings more to John Powell, the first undertaker, for every piece of duck or canvas by them made; but he does not give us any account of the quantity that has been produced. He further says, that there were some other manufactures carried on in New England; such as the making brown holland for women's wear; which lessens the importation of callicoes, and some other sort of India goods, into that Province. That there are likewise some small quantities of cloth, made of linen and cotton, for ordinary sheeting and shirting. That about three years ago a paper-mill was set up, which makes to the value of about two hundred pounds sterling per annum; and he hath since informed us, that there hath lately been a new paper-mill set up at Falmouth, in Casco Bay, which at that time had not begun to work for want of materials. That there are several forges for making bar iron, and some furnaces for cast iron, or hollow ware, and one slitting-mill, the undertaker whereof carried on the manufacture of nails. As to the woolen manufactures of this Province, Mr. Belcher says, that the country-people, who used formerly to make most of their cloathing of their own wool, do not at present manufacture a third part of what is necessary for their own use, but are generally cloathed with English manufactures. We have likewise been informed, by letters of older date from Mr. Belcher, in answer to our annual Queries, that there are some few copper mines in this Province; but so far distant from water-carriage, and the ore so poor, that it is not worth the digging. Colonel Dunbar, Surveyor-General of H.M. Woods in North America, in his letter to us, dated the 15th day of September 1730, takes notice, that the people of New England have an advantage over those of Great Britain in the drawback allowed for all India and other goods exported thither, which pay a duty in Great Britain, but are subject to no duty of importation either in this Province, or any other of the Plantations. He has likewise transmitted to this Board several samples of edge-tools made in New England; and, in his letter to our Secretary, dated the 4th day of June 1731 he says they have six furnaces, and nineteen forges, for making iron, in New England. He also acquainted us in a former letter, dated the 19th day of August 1730 that in this Province many ships are built for the French and Spaniards, which are trucked with those people by connivance, for rum, molosses, wine, and silk. And these informations have been, in great measure, confirmed by Mr. Jeremiah Dunbar, Deputy-Surveyor of the Woods; and also by Mr. Thomas Coram, a person of reputation, who resided many years in New England: to which they have added, that great quantities of hats are made in that Province, of which the Company of Hatters of London have likewise lately complained to us; which gave birth to an Act of Parliament that was passed in the last Sessions upon this subject. We are further informed by the said Mr. Jeremiah Dunbar, that the people of New England export great quantities of hats, of their own manufacture, to Spain, Portugal and our West India Islands; that they make all sorts of iron works for shipping; and that there are several still-houses, and sugar-bakers, established in New England. But we cannot conceal from your Lordships, that it is with the greatest difficulty we are able to procure true informations of the trade and manufactures of New England; which will not appear extraordinary, when we acquaint your Lordships that the Assembly of the Massachusets Bay had the boldness to summon the above-mentioned Mr. Jeremiah Dunbar before them, and pass a severe censure upon him, for having given evidence at the Bar of the House of Commons of Great Britain, with respect to the trade and manufactures of this Province, agreeable to the tenour of what is above-mentioned under his name. New York. Governor Hunter, formerly Governor of New York, in his answer to our Queries in the year 1720 informed us, that there were no manufactures in that Province, which deserved to be taken notice of; and that their trade consisted principally in furs, whalebone and oil, pitch, tar, and provisions. Mr. Rip Van Dam, President of the Council in New York, acquainted us, by his letter dated the 29th of October 1731 that there are no manufactures established there, that can affect the manufactures of Great Britain: and as to the trade and Navigation of the Province, he says, there is yearly imported into New York a very large quantity of the woolen manufactures of this kingdom, for the use of the inhabitants, which they should be rendered uncapable to pay for, and reduced to the necessity of making for themselves, if they were prohibited from receiving the money, rum, sugar, molosses, cocoa, indico, cotton, wool, &c. which, at that time, they imported from the foreign Sugar-Colonies, in return for provisions, horses, and lumber, productions of New York and New Jersey; of which, he affirms, the British Colonies did not take off above one half: but, by an Act passed the last Sessions of Parliament, this trade with the foreign Sugar-Colonies is restrained. New Jersey. With regard to New Jersey, we have not yet received particular returns to the Queries which we have transmitted thither upon these subjects; but the Company of Hatters, in London, have informed us, that hats are manufactured, in this Province, in great quantities. Pensylvania. As to the Province of Pensylvania, Colonel Hart, who lived many years in the neighbourhood of this country, when Governor of Maryland, acquainted us, in answer to the like Queries relating to this Province, in 1720, that their chief trade lay in the exportation of provisions and lumber; and that they had no established manufactures, their cloathing, and utensils for their houses, being all imported from Great Britain. And, by a letter which we received in January 1731/2 from Major Gordon, Deputy Governor of this Province, he acquainted us, that he did not know of any trade carried on, in that Province, which could be injurious to this kingdom; and that they do not export any woolen or linen manufactures; all that they make, which are of the coarser sort, being intirely for their own consumption. We are farther informed, that, in this Province, are built many brigantines, and small sloops, which they sell in the several parts of the West Indies. Maryland. Colonel Hart, formerly Governor of Maryland, in answer to our Queries with regard to this Province, in 1720 acquainted us, that their principal trade was in tobacco; which, bearing a reasonable price, at that time, the inhabitants did not employ themselves in the establishment of new manufactures, or the promotion of such branches of commerce as might arise from any other productions of that country. And, agreeable to this, the Upper and Lower House of Assembly of this Province, in a late address to their Deputy-Governor, in answer to our general Queries, represent, that the produce of their tobacco, which is their chief commodity for trade, was, alone, sufficient to supply the people with cloathing, and other necessities, from Great Britain; but that necessity had driven some of the poorer sort of inhabitants to make small quantities of linen and woolen manufactures for their own use; but that no part of them was exported. Virginia. In the year 1720 we had no returns to our General Queries from the Province of Virginia; but Major Gooch, the present Lieutenant Governor of this Colony, in his letter dated the 22nd of December 1731 informed us, that they carried on no trade from thence, except that of tobacco; nor had they any manufacture established amongst them, which deserved to be taken notice of; but that some poor people provided themselves with cloathing of a kind of coarse mixed cloth, made of wool and cotton, and of linsey-woolsey, where they were enabled to purchase better by their labour in the cultivation of tobacco; and, by a subsequent letter from Major Gooch, dated October 5, 1732, he informs us, that there hath been one potters' work set up in Virginia for coarse earthen ware ; but this is of so little consequence, that he believs, it has occasioned little or no diminution in the quantity of earthen ware that had been commonly imported : that they have now four iron works, in that Colony, employed in running pig ore only, which is afterwards sent to Great Britain, to be forged and manufactured. But this gentleman informs us, that the people of New England being obliged to apply themselves to manufactures more than other of the Plantations, who have the benefit of a better soil, and warmer climate, such improvements have been lately made there in all sorts of mechanic arts, that not only escritoires, chairs, and other wooden manufactures, but hoes, axes, and other iron utensils, are now exported from thence to the other Plantations ; which, if not prevented, may be of ill consequence to the trade and manufactures of this kingdom ; which evil may be worthy the consideration of a British Parliament. Carolina. From the Province of North Carolina we have received no returns to our General Queries, either whilst that country was in the hands of the Lords Proprietors, or since it hath been purchased by the Crown. From South Carolina we are informed, by a letter we have received from Colonel Johnson, the present Governor of that Province, dated the 14th of November 1731, that the manufactures established there, which interfere with those of Great Britain, are scarce worth naming ; being confined to a few hats, shoes, and coarse mixed cloths, made of cotton and wool, for the use of their negroes. Rhode Island. The Governor of Rhode Island, in his answer to our Queries, dated the 9th of November, 1731, informs us, that they have iron mines in this island ; but that they do not afford a fourth part of the iron that is requisite for the use of the inhabitants ; and he takes no notice of any sort of manufacture set up there. Connecticut. We have had no return to our Queries from the Governor of Connecticut ; but we find, by some accounts in our Office, that the productions of this Colony are timber, boards, all sorts of English grain, hemp, flax, sheep, cattle, swine, horses, goats and tobacco ; of which they export horses and lumber to the West Indies, and receive in return sugar, salt, molosses and rum. We likewise find that their manufactures are very inconsiderable ; the people being generally employed in tillage or building, and in tanning, shoe-making and other necessary handicrafts, such as taylors', joiners', and smiths' work ; without which they could not subsist. Having thus gone through the several Governments on the Continent of America, with regard to their trade and manufactures, we come now to lay before your Lordships such accounts as we have received upon the same subjects, with respect to H.M. Island Governments. The Bermuda and Bahama Islands. By the returns made to us from the Governors of the Bermuda and Bahama Islands, in the year 1730 we find, that the only manufactures set up in these small Governments are, the building of sloops, the making hats of a production called plat, and a little joiners' work ; but their sloops, especially those of Bermuda, make the principal article of their commerce, and are sold or bartered for provisions and negroes in the other parts of America, and the West Indies. Jamaica, Leeward Islands, and Barbados. By the latest returns we have received to our General Queries from H.M. Sugar-Colonies, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, and Barbados, we do not find, that they have any manufactures (except those of sugar, molosses, rum and indico), upon which they have their greatest independence : and these Colonies do likewise produce cotton, aloes, pimento, coffee, and some other particulars of less consideration, which are commodities that do not interfere with the trade of Great Britain ; but, on the contrary, some of them are of great use in our manufactures. In the year 1724 Mr. Worsley, then Governor of Barbados, informed us, that of cotton they made hammocks, a few stockings, and nets for horses. Having thus laid before your Lordships the best accounts we have been able to procure of the Laws, manufactures and trade of the Plantations, which may have affected the trade, navigation, and manufactures of this kingdom, we come now to the latter part of your Lordships' order, whereby we are directed to distinguish what orders or instructions have been given to discourage the same ; and when any such trade was first carried on ; and what directions have been given, or methods taken, to put a stop thereto. We beg leave to observe to your Lord-ships, that it is impossible for us to ascertain the particular dates, when the several branches of general commerce, or the domestick trades and manufactures of the several Provinces enumerated in this Report, were first undertaken. Some of them are founded in necessity, and are undoubtedly as old as the first establishment of the respective Colonies ; others of a more recent date, having nothing in them inconsistent with the trade and welfare of this kingdom, may, for that reason, have been practised for a long time, without falling under publick notice : and, with regard to such as may have deserved the most early check, for being repugnant to the Laws, or detrimental to the trade, of the Mother-Country, it is not at all improbable, that some former Governors of our Colonies, who may in general be said to depend too much upon the Assemblies of their respective Provinces for the establishment of their salaries, and other appointments, may, in breach of their Instructions, have given their concurrence to Laws, or have connived for many years at the practice of trades, prejudicial to the interest of Great Britain, till the evils arising from them became too considerable to be any longer concealed. But we beg leave to acquaint your Lordships, in general, that there is extant, in the Books of our Office, a Body of Instructions relating to the Acts of Trade and Navigation, which were prepared by a Committee of the Lords of the Privy Council, with the assistance of the Commissioners of the Customs, so long ago as the year 1686, in which we find mention made of former Instructions, upon those subjects, to the Governors of the Plantations, which do not appear in our records. But from the first institution of this Board, to the present time, it hath been a constant practice, for the Crown to give a set of Instructions to every Governor in the Plantations, relating to the Acts of Trade and Navigation, which have always been formed at this Board with such additions to those of 1686 or such variations from them as the circumstances of each Province respectively, or the ordinary vicissitudes incident to subjects of this nature, may have rendered necessary. The purport of the principal Articles of these Instructions, which come within the meaning of your Lordships' order, is as follows ; that the several Governors of the Colonies, Provinces, and Islands in America, do take care, that all the Acts relating to Trade and Navigation be duly observed : that all naval officers, appointed by any Governor, do give security to the Commissioners of the Customs : that no ships, but such as are built in the British Dominions, and are owned and manned by subjects of Great Britain, shall trade in the Plantations : that such ships shall give security to bring the enumerated goods to Great Britain, or to some of the Plantations : that the Governors do transmit accounts of the trade of their respective Provinces to the Lords of H.M. Treasury, to this Board, and the Commissioners of the Customs : that no foreign European goods be imported into the Plantations ; except such as are shipped in Great Britain : that no bye-laws be allowed in the Plantations contrary to the Acts of Trade and Navigation : that the Governors correspond with the Commissioners of the Customs, and advise them of all frauds, and of neglects and breaches of duty in their subordinate officers : that they endeavour to prevent the exportation of wool, or woolen manufactures, from one Province of H.M. territories in America to another : that they endeavour to prevent frauds in the importation of tobacco : that they endeavour to prevent clandestine trade to the East Indies, Madagascar, &c. and to prevent the unlawful importation of East India goods : These principal Instructions are supported by several others, which are distinct rules, contrived to enforce the observation of the former : and the several Governors are strictly in joined to put them in execution, under the penalty of being deprived of their offices, of forfeiting the sum of one thousand pounds, and of incurring the displeasure of the Crown : and Proprietors of Provinces are laid under the same injunctions, upon the penalty of forfeiting their grants. We beg leave to acquaint your Lordships, that, besides these general Instructions, this Board have never failed to represent their sense of particular grievances, and point out the best methods for redress of them, as often as we have received complaints upon such occasions, either for incorporated bodies, or private traders ; which, from the variety of accidents, attending trade in the several Governments of America, have been very frequent, and have given rise to several other Instructions, particularly to these following ; some of which are general to all the Governors of the Plantations, and others peculiar to respective Provinces, as the reason of things, or the exigency of the case, may have required. It is a general Instruction to all the Governors of H.M. Colonies and Provinces in America, that they transmit to H.M., and to his Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, from time to time, an account of the wants and defects of their respective governments, what new improvements are made therein by the industry of the inhabitants or planters, and what further improvements may be made, or advantage gained in trade, by the assistance or interposition of the Crown. |
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The following Instructions are likewise general to all the Governors in America. That they examine what rates and duties are charged upon goods exported or imported : that they use their best endeavours to prevent the ingrossing of commodities ; and to improve the trade of their respective governments, by making such orders and regulations therein, with the advice of H.M. Council, as may be most acceptable to the generality of the inhabitants. That they give due encouragement to merchants, and such as bring trade to their respective governments ; particularly to the Royal African Company, and other subjects of Great Britain trading to Africa : That they take care, that contracts for negroes be duly complied with, within a competent time, according to agreement : That all obstructions in the course of Justice be effectually removed, and Courts frequently held, that traders may not receive any undue hindrance in the recovery of their just debts : That, in time of war, they use their best endeavours to hinder all trade and correspondence with the French, whose strength in the West Indies gives very just apprehensions of the mischiefs that may ensue from thence, if the utmost care be not taken to prevent them : That in times of peace they observe the Treaty of Neutrality, concluded betwixt Great Britain and France in November 1686: That they do not pass any law whereby the King's Prerogative, or the property of his subjects, may be prejudiced, or the trade or shipping of this kingdom be any ways affected, until they shall have first transmitted the draught of such Act to H.M., and have received His Royal Pleasure thereupon ; unless there be a clause in the Act suspending the execution, until H.M. Pleasure thereupon be known. The Governors of all the Plantations are likewise directed to desist from their antient claim of the produce of whales of several kinds, taken on the coasts of their respective governments, upon pretence that whales are royal fishes; and that, on the contrary, they give all possible encouragement to fisheries upon the coast of the Plantations. They are also instructed not to pass laws, whereby the inhabitants of the Plantations may be put upon a more advantageous footing than those of Great Britain. Not to pass any law, by which greater duties or impositions shall be laid on ships or goods belonging to the subjects of Great Britain, than on those belonging to the inhabitants of the Plantations ; nor any law, whereby duties shall be laid, in their respective governments, upon the product or manufactures of Great Britain. That they do not pass any Act, whereby duties upon negroes shall be made payable by the importer. It is an antient Instruction to the Governors of Virginia, that all tobaccoes shipped in that Province, shall pay Virginia duties. The Governor of this Province is also directed to adhere strictly to the terms of the Act of Navigation, with regard to the package and shipping of tobacco. The Governors of New York, the Massachusets Bay, and the other northern provinces on the Continent of America, are directed to be aiding and assisting to H.M. Surveyor-General of the Woods, and his deputies, for the security and preservation of such trees as shall be found proper for the service of H.M. Royal Navy. The Governors of those Provinces are also instructed to enforce the observation of the several Acts of Parliament of the third and fourth years of Queen Anne, of the eighth of His Late Majesty, and the second year of his present Majesty, for the preservation of white pine-trees, and for encouraging the produce and importation of naval stores into this kingdom from those Provinces. But, having been required by the Lords of H.M. Privy Council, in the year 1728, to lay before them the best informations we could procure, of any projects then carrying on, or that might have been undertaken, for promoting the silk, linen or woolen manufactures, in any of H.M. Plantations, etc. quote from report on that occasion, v. C.S.P., 1728. Endorsed, Presented by the Earl of Westmorland pursuant to an Address of the 13th of June last. 25th Jan., 1733/4 . Referred to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House. 42 pp. [C.O. 324, 12. pp. 7–71 ; and C.O. 5, 5. ff. 46–67 v., 68 v.]
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| [Jan. 23.] |
21. Printed copies of preceding, ordered to be printed by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal etc., 21st Feb., 1731. 20 pp. [C.O. 5, 5. ff. 73–82 v.]
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| [Jan. 23.] |
22. Printed copy of above Representation. London. Printed in the year mdcclxix. 27 pp. [C.O. 5, 5. ff. 31–45.] |
| Jan. 24. |
23. Mr. Popple to Mr. Fane. Encloses, for his opinion in point of law, 15 Acts of Bermuda passed 1731–1733. [C.O. 38, 8. pp. 170–173.] |
Jan. 28
St.
Christophers. |
24. Governor Mathew to the Council of Trade and Plantations. By a letter of the 17th inst. I laid before your Lordships our wants in case of a warr, and sent that letter by a ship bound for Bristol, which I thought would have sayld long before this I send this by, but has delayd so that both will probably be deliverd at the same time, and therefore I do not herewith repeat to your Lordships what I presum'd to offer in the other. With this I send to Mr. Popple an Act of the Island of Nevis, whereby three hundred pounds p. an. currency of these Islands and payable in sugar (which is at least seventy p. cent, worse than cash) is settled upon me in regard to H.M. Additional Instruction for my support. I am in hopes your Lordships will honour me with your protection and favour as to this law, as well as to that from Antigua, for which I formerly, when I transmitted it, prayed the like help, it can avail nothing to me unless you will please to recommend it for H.M. approbation. This provision is two hundred pounds a year less than what this Island gave Lord Londonderry. But his settlement was obtained with much sollicitation and ill will, this to me is their own voluntary gift, and I therefore am as well satisfyd with it. I wishd for but one hundred pounds p. an. more. But they stood to their first resolution and I accepted it. Signed, William Mathew. Endorsed, Recd. 28th Jan., 1733/4 Read 18th July, 1735. Holograph. 2 pp. [C.O. 152, 21. ff 70, 71, 71v.] |
| Jan. 28. |
25. Mr. Fane to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Report upon Act of S. Carolina for settling the estate of Richard Beresford deed. Quotes Act. Continues :—I beg leave to say upon consideration of this Act that the interposition of the Legislature in this matter of private property is the most extraordinary and unprecedented proceeding that I ever knew. It is taking upon themselves a power which was never attempted by any Legislature before, and which might prove highly detrimentall to the subjects of this Colony, should it not be discouraged in the first attempt. In the case before your Lordships the Legislature from the motives of compassion as they call it, have actually taken part of the father's estate from one son and given it to another, expressly contrary to the direction of his will, they have altered limitations and express bequests, and in short have framed such a will for the father as they thought was proper for him to make. The foundation of this extraordinary proceeding was that the younger son happened to be born after the making their father's will and had no provision made for him thereby. To be sure his case is very unhappy and must move the compassion of every good-natured man, but that can never be urged as a reason for the interposition of the Legislature in his favour so as to alter the express will of his father to the prejudice of other persons: for if this is to be suffered; and it is to be drawn into preceedent, there will be little occasion for the statutes of wills. For these reasons and for that there are not the proper saving clauses incerted in this Act as there ought to be in all private Acts, I am humbly of opinion that this Act ought to be repealed etc. Signed, Fran. Fane. Endorsed, Recd. 28th Jan., Read 7th March, 1733/4 8½ pp. [C.O. 5, 363. ff. 45–49, 54 v.] |
| [Jan. 28.] |
26. Copies of Minutes of Council of Barbados, Jan. 4, 1732/3 and April 12, 1733. Endorsed, Recd. 28th, Read 31st Jan., 1733/4 . 8 pp. [C.O. 28, 24. ff. 3, 4–7v.] |
| [Jan. 29.] |
27. Petition of Thomas Lowndes to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Repeats his claim to a barony in S. Carolina, and prays the Board that directions be given to the Surveyor General to run out said grant in any tracts of vacant land etc. Endorsed, Recd. 29th Jan., Read 5th March, 1733/4 . 2½ pp. [C.O. 5, 363. ff. 40–40v.] |
| [Jan. 29.] |
28. Col. Horsey to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Prays for a favourable report upon his claim to 48,000 acres in S. Carolina etc. Cf. Jan. 23 and Journal of Council. Signed, Samll. Horsey. Endorsed, Recd. 29th, Read 31st Jan., 1733/4 [C.O. 5, 363. ff. 32, 36v.] |
Jan. 31.
St. James's. |
29. Order of King in Council. Ordering the Master General of H.M. Ordnance to prepare an estimate of the charge of the5370 cannon shot petitioned for by Antigua etc. Signed, W. Sharpe. Endorsed, Reed. 1st., Read 20th June, 1734. 2 2/3 pp. [C.O. 152, 20. ff. 99–100v.]
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| [?1734.] |
30. Address of the Governor, Council and Assembly of Maryland to the King. We etc., embrace this the first opportunity we have had in Assembly since our receiving the joyful news of the marriage of the Princess Royal with his Serene Highness the Prince of Orange to congratulate your Majesty on so great and happy an event. Although our scituation in this remote part of your Majesty's Dominions prevented our earlier Address ; yet we beg leave with all sincerity and humility to assure your Majesty that as we are in our loyalty to your person and attachment to your family equal to the best of your subjects, so was our joy upon this important occasion. As the present happy establishment in your August House and the blessings which all your subjects enjoy under your Majesty's most mild and just government are derived under God from that illustrious hero King William the Third of glorious memory ; a match of the eldest daughter of Great Britain with the chief branch of the House of Orange cannot but fill the hearts of all your faithful subjects with the greatest joy and the most grateful sense of your Majesty's paternal care and goodness in taking every step, which the most perfect human wisdom can suggest to secure them and their latest posterity the enjoyment of the same felicity. May all your Majesty's endeavours for the glory of your Royal person and family, the good of your people in particular, and of mankind in general be crowned with success ; may your reign be long and prosperous and may the Imperial sceptre of Great Britain be ever swayed by one of your Royal line is the hearty prayer of, etc. Signed, Sam. Ogle, J. H. Hall, President, J. A. Harris, Speaker. Without date. 1 large p. [C.O. 5, 752. f. 127.] |
