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 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 STUDIES IN THE TRADE RELATIONS 
 
 OF THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 
 
 AND NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 1763-1773; 1783-1793 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT C. BELL 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN 
 
 PARTLA.L FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR, 
 
 THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 HHILAUIiLPHIA 
 
 1917 
 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 STUDIES IN THE TRADE RELATIONS 
 
 OF THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 
 
 AND NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 1763-1773; 1783-1793 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT C. BELL 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 PRESEXTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN 
 
 PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 
 
 THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 HHILADELPHIA 
 1917 
 

 • ■• * 
 
 ■ • « ■ 
 
[Beprinted from The English Uistohjc al- llEsnFW, J nhj 1916.] 
 
 British Commercial Policy in tJie West 
 
 Indies, ijSs-gj 
 
 IN March 1775 Burke, speaking on conciliation with America, 
 pointed out that the three branches of trade carried on by 
 Great Britain with the continental colonies, with the West Indies, 
 and with Africa respectively were ' so interwoven that the 
 attempt to separate them would tear to pieces the contexture 
 of the whole and, if not entirely destroy, would much depreciate 
 the value of all the parts '. Eight years later thirteen of the 
 continental colonies were placed, by the acknowledgement of 
 American independence, outside the compact commercial system 
 enclosed and guarded by the navigation acts. Now, it has of 
 late been fully understood that the principles of British com- 
 mercial pohcy were not altered by the events of the American 
 Revolution. How then did the British government contrive to 
 preserve its old monopohst system, and yet to avoid the injuries 
 to the West Indian trade which Burke had anticipated ? 
 
 In order to understand the points at issue, we must bear in 
 mind certain of the conditions under which intercolonial trade 
 in America was carried on previously to the revolutionary war. 
 In particular we must remember that the thirteen colonies and 
 the West Indies were not alone interested in the trade. Canada, 
 Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland gladly exchanged fish and their 
 scanty surplus stock of lumber and flour for the produce of the 
 islands, although their geographical position placed them at 
 a serious disadvantage as compared with their sister colonies to 
 the South .^ British shipowners engrossed what they could of 
 the carrying trade between the continent and the West Indies, 
 but found themselves heavily handicapped by the advantages 
 which the Americans enjoyed through their proximity to the 
 islands, the low cost of their ships, and the ability of these tiny 
 
 ' It is dilKcult to estimate the volume of tliis trade, since most of it was conducted 
 indirectly through the New England merchants. See the evidence of Inspector- 
 General Irving before the Committee of Trade, 30 March 1784 : Public Record Ofiicc, 
 Board of Trade, Minutes of the Committee of Trade, 3, fo. 124. In 1772 out of 1208 
 vessels arriving in the West Indies from North America only 13 were from these 
 colonies : ibid. fo. 11. O (» A () r ' (^ 
 
430 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 vessels t'o enter any and all ports. ^ British and Irish fishermen 
 coni])eted in the sugar islands against New England rivals ; ^ 
 while Irish farmers, although denied the privilege of direct trade 
 with the colonies until 1778, easily outdistanced the farmers of 
 Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania in supplying beef 
 and pork to West Indian markets.* In the British Islands, then, 
 were many persons who would gain from the interruption of the 
 chief branch of intercolonial trade. But the West Indians were 
 well supphed with friends in England who were prepared to 
 support their interests. Great Britain had sixty milhon pounds 
 invested in the islands ; ^ three-quarters of a milhon of its 
 revenue was derived from West Indian produce ; ^ British goods 
 representing a much larger sum and slaves to the value of another 
 half -million were disposed of by West Indian merchants ; ' and, 
 
 * Colonial-built vessels were generally inferior to British-buUt, but were much 
 cheaper : see the evidence of James Anderson, agent at Boston for a Glasgow firm, 
 before the Committee of Trade (Board of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 7, fo. 480). 
 They constituted three-quarters of all the vessels engaged in trade between the Nortli 
 American continent and the islands : Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 12404. The British 
 merchants who entered the trade sent out large ships which usually followed a ' three- 
 cornered ' route from Great Britain to North America, thence to the sugar islands, 
 and thence again to Great Britain. But these vessels could make only one voyage 
 a year, could trade only at large American ports where their cargoes were collected, 
 were relatively expensive to work, and were apt to be too late in reaching the islands : 
 Correspondence of John Reynell among the uncatalogued family papers of Joseph 
 H. Coatcs, Esq., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The American merchants carried on 
 the bulk of their trade in little coasting vessels of 40 to 50 tons, which skirted the 
 shores of the continent and cruised at will through the islands, loading and discharging 
 cargo wherever advantage offered, and making two or three trips a year: Pemberton 
 and Chfford papers in the library of the Pennsjdvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. 
 Statistics will be found in the Minutes of the Committee of Trade, March to May 1784, 
 Board of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 3. 
 
 ' Add. MS. 12404, fo. 54. 
 
 * Evidence presented by Irving before the Committee of Trade, 30 March 1784 : 
 Board of Trade, ]\Iin. of Comm. of Trade, 3, fo. 124. Irish moat, though somewhat 
 more expensive, was superior in quality and could be kept longer. Direct trade was 
 legalized by 18 Geo. Ill, c. 55, ahd 20 Geo. Ill, c. 10. A certain amount appears, 
 however, to have been carried on previously to the passage of these acts : Massachusetts 
 nit>torical Society Collections, Seventh Series, ix. 299, 304, 306, 307. 
 
 ' Add. MS. 12413, fo. 20. State of the West Indies laid before parliament, March 
 1775. In the petition of the West India planters of February 1775 the amount is 
 given as thirty millions (Parliamentary History, xviii. 219), but it may easily be 
 demonstrated that the larger sum is approximately accurate. See Journals of the 
 Assembly of Jamaica, viii. 525. 
 
 ' Speech of Glover in the house of commons, March 1775 : Pari. Hist, xviii. 461. 
 This estimate is apparently moderate. The duty on 16,000,000 cwt. of sugar (Public 
 Record Office, Treasury Revenue Accounts, Misc. Engl., 65) at 65. S-^^d. a hundredweight 
 would amount to more than £500,000. The duties and excise on 2,250,000 gallons 
 of rum (Treasury Revenue Accounts, Misc. Engl. 65) at 55. Oi{;fi. a gallon would 
 amount to £560,000. Again, customs duties alone on all West India goods imported 
 into Great Britain amounted to about £700,000. 
 
 ' Great Britain exported to the West Indies goods to the value of about £1,200,000. 
 Of these about one-quarter were ' foreign' goods: Trcas. Rev. Ace., Misc. Engl., 81; 
 Add. MS. 12413, fo. 26; and Publ. Rec. Off.. Treas.. 38. 69. 
 
IDKi THE WEST INDIES, 17S:U}:i 431 
 
 linall^^ West Indian proprietors were scattered through most of 
 the counties of England.® 
 
 But, before reviewing the deUberations on the subject, we must 
 inquire whether any changes in the situation were [)roduccd by the 
 war. As an immediate result of the outbreak of hostilities, trade 
 relations between the British West Indies and the colonies in 
 revolt became doubly prohibited — on the American side through 
 the agreements against importation and exportation, and on the 
 British by the prohibitory acts. The W^est Indians, dravdng 
 little comfort from the regrets expressed in their behalf by 
 Congress ^ and by Lord North, ^° protested that existence under 
 such conditions was impossible.^^ In view of later events it is 
 interesting to note how they actually fared. From the outset 
 extraordinary expedients were adopted for the securing of 
 supphes. Prizes were offered in the islands for the raising 
 of additional amounts of food-stuffs and for the taking of 
 turtle and fish,^- and the planters were thus persuaded to with- 
 draw a portion of their land and negroes from the ordinary pro- 
 cesses of cultivation. At the same time the shipments of food 
 from Ireland were largely increased,^^ the freer exportation of 
 grain from Great Britain to the W^est Indies w^as sanctioned by 
 statute, ^^ lumber was brought from the Baltic,^^ and both- lumber 
 and provisions were secured to the largest possible extent from 
 Canada, Florida, neighbouring islands belonging to neutral 
 powers, and such parts of the thirteen colonies as were under 
 British control. -^^ It must also be noted that the cargoes of the 
 
 * Lord Shelburne declared in November 1778 that 'there was scarcely ten miles 
 together tliroughout the country where the house and estate of a rich West Indian 
 were not to be seen ' : Pari. Hist. xix. 1315. Persons resident in England possessed 
 property to the value of £14,000,000 in the islands: Add. MS. 12413, fo. 20. 
 
 ^ Congress, highly pleased at the intervention of Jamaica in behalf of the northern 
 colonies, addressed to the assembly of that island on 25 July 1775 a letter of apology : 
 ' We knew that we must sacrifice our own [interest] and (which gave us equal uneasiness) 
 that of our friends who had never offended us, and who were connected with us by 
 a sympathy of feelings under oppressions similar to our own ' : Ford, Journals of Congress, 
 i. 79, 80, 194, 204. >« Pari Hist, xviii. 105(5. 
 
 " e.g. the address of the assembly of Barbadoes, Publ. Rec. Off., Colonial Office, 
 28. 56. See also the resolutions passed on 7 February 1775 by the society of West 
 Indian merchants and planters in London. The minutes of the meetings held by the 
 .•society and its committee, 1769-83, are preserved at the offices of the present West 
 India Committee in Seething Lane, London. 
 
 " A paper on the West India Trade, Publ. Rcc. Off., Colonial Offico, 325. 6 ; Laws 
 of Jamaica, 10 Geo. Ill, c. 12, and 16 Geo. Ill, c. 16 ; Journals of the Assembly of 
 Jamaica, vi. 570, 579, 589. 
 
 " Correspondence relating to the trade of the United States with the British 
 colonies, Colonial Office, 325. 6 ; Naval Office lists for Jamaica, 1781, Board of Trade, 
 0. 176. 
 
 '^ 13 Geo. Ill, c. 43, and 14 Geo. Ill, c. 5. 
 
 ^■' Paper on the West India trade. Colonial OfKcc, 325. 6 ; Minutes of the West 
 India Merchants for 11 May 1776. 
 
 " Naval Office hsts for Jamaica, 1781, Board of Trade, 6. 176 ; a<lv(rtiscracnt in 
 
432 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 many American vessels taken by British men-of-war or privateers 
 during the earlier years of the struggle were purchased for con- 
 sumption in the islands/^ and that some of the West Indians 
 unquestionably found means to defy the prohibitory acts and 
 carry on trade with their rebel friends. ^^ The exact measure of 
 success which attended these efforts is not easily estimated on 
 account of the various misfortunes which fell upon the 
 islands at this time. Several suffered capture, followed by the 
 temporary ruin or emigration of many of the substantial planting 
 class ; and all were more or less devastated by a series of violent 
 hurricanes which occurred, most unfortunately, during the later 
 years of the war. In order to form a proper estimate it will be 
 well to confine our attention to Jamaica, which escaped capture, 
 and was, from its relatively great size, best able to sustain the 
 effects of the storms. There, we find, supphes were irregular and 
 often insufficient,^^ and the productive power of the island was 
 substantially reduced."^'' Hence the planters were in 1783 jjar- 
 ticularly sensitive to the evils which might ensue should their 
 old trade with the continental colonies be restricted or cut off. 
 Yet the war had in other respects greatly strengthened the 
 arguments which might be advanced for restricting, if not pro- 
 hibiting, trade between the islands and the United States. The 
 loyalty of the remaining continental colonies was felt to have 
 merited some reward, and the migration to them of the American 
 loyahsts increased both their claims to consideration and their 
 abihty to engage in the West Indian trade. Again, the ship- 
 owners could argue that rebels and aliens should not be allowed 
 to engross an important branch of the British shipping industry, 
 especially at a time when hundi'eds of vessels and thousands of 
 seamen were rendered idle by the return of peace.^ 
 
 Jamaica Mercury for 6 October 1779 ; Correspondence of Governor Dalling of Jamaica 
 with governors and commanders in North America, Colonial Office, 5. 80. 
 
 " Publ. Rec. Off., Admiralty, 1. 240 ; Minutes of the West India Merchants for 
 5 December 1777, Board of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, fo. 330. 
 
 " Publ. Rec. Off., Admiralty, 1. 241. Lists and descriptions of the vessels seized 
 by Admiral Parker's squadron. The trade carried on through St. Eustatius is well 
 known. 
 
 *' Treas., 64. 72. Lists of imports in British bottoms at Kingston, Jamaica, during 
 the war. The years of greatest scarcity were 1776-8. But the ruinous prices of food 
 and lumber would indicate that the island was insufficiently supplied at other times. 
 See Journals of the Assembly oj Jamaica, vii. 313, 314, 467, 577, for prices in 1780, 1782, 
 and 1783 ; also the Annual Register for 1778, p. 304. 
 
 ="> Treas., 38. 269. Imports into England from the West Indies, 1774-83. The 
 importation of sugar dechned gradually from 1775 to 1781 by 50 per cent. Camden, 
 speaking on 30 May 1777 on Chatham's motion for putting an end to hostihties in 
 America, declared that two hundred families living in England on the revenues from 
 their West Indian estates had already been obhged by losses to return to the islands : 
 Pari. Hist. xix. 339. 
 
 *' The number of seamen without employment after 1783 was estimated at the 
 remarkable figure of 60,000 : Evidence of Irving, the former Inspector-General of 
 
1916 THE WEST INDIES, 1783-03 433 
 
 When therefore in 1782 the British government faced the 
 problem of setthng the future commercial relations of the various 
 parts of the Empire with the United States, it was confronted 
 with decided cUfierences of opinion in pohtical and commercial 
 circles as to the regulation of the West Indian trade. While these 
 differences originated chiefly from the conflict of interests just 
 noted, they were strongly accentuated for several months by the 
 intense personal feehng to which the war had given rise. Thus 
 the planters, in asking for absolute freedom of intercourse, 
 gained support from many of those who sympathized most 
 warmly with the American cause ; while the shipowners, in 
 demanding the exclusion of the Americans from the carrying 
 trade, and the advocates of the loj^al colonies, in urging that 
 American produce should be barred from entering the islands, 
 had on their side men who would not unwillingly have hindered 
 the commercial development of the United States. There was 
 even difference of opinion as to the method of procedure which 
 the government should pursue. The majority of those interested 
 advocated the conclusion of a commercial treaty in connexion 
 with the treaty of peace, but others advised that the government 
 should prescribe regulations by statute, and leave the Americans 
 free to follow a similar course. Both methods were, in fact, tried by 
 the three ministries which successively took the matter in charge. 
 
 The attempts of the first of these, the Shelburne administra- 
 tion, to arrive at a settlement need not detain us long. In the 
 matter of negotiation nothing was done beyond the rejection of 
 Frankhn's proposal, made in July 1782, that each nation should, 
 in matters of commerce, treat the subjects of the other exactly as 
 it did its own.^^ Nor was the ministry able to accomplish more 
 through parliament. It wiU be remembered that Lord Shelburne, 
 whose position had been far from strong at the opening of the 
 session on 5 Pecemljer 1782, was forced to resign on 24 February 
 following, and that the unwillingness of George III to accept 
 the coalition of Fox and Lord North occasioned a sort of inter- 
 regnum in the government which lasted until 2 April. The time 
 was evidently unsuitable for passing important legislation, but 
 
 Imports and Exports in America before the Committee of Trade, 1 April 1784, Board 
 of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 3, fo. 156. 
 
 " Publ. Rec. Off., Foreign Office, Misc. 563. Franklin's proposal as originally 
 stated bore no direct reference to the British colonies : Oswald to Shelburne, 10 July 
 1782. But in the provisional treaty of peace agreed to by Oswald two months later 
 Article IV stated that in all parts of the world the ships and merchants of the two 
 nations should, in the ports belonging to both, ' enjoy the same protection and com- 
 mercial privileges and be liable only to the same charges and duties '. A draft of these 
 articles was enclosed by Oswald to Townshend in a dispatch of 7 October 1782. They 
 were rejected by the cabinet, and Strachey was sent to Paris to obtain their revision. 
 Among other concessions he secured the elimination of any mention of commerce in 
 the treaty. See Smyth, Franklin, viii. 628. 
 
 VOL. XXXI. — NO. CXXIII. Ff 
 
434 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 the ministry was subjected to constant attack for its delay in 
 providing for the resumption of trade with the United States,-^ 
 and before the coalition ministry was formed, Pitt, as chancellor 
 of the exchequer, attempted to deal with the matter through 
 a bill introduced just after Shelburne's fall. This bill granted 
 practically all that Frankhn had asked in the preceding autumn 
 without stipulating for any return : ^^ its effect would have been 
 to give the Americans not only the privilege of unrestricted trade 
 in their produce and manufactures with the West Indies, but 
 also that of sharing the carrying trade between the mother 
 country and the islands. But for so hasty and complete a depar- 
 ture from the old commercial system the country was not prepared. 
 The bill was violently attacked by societies of merchants and 
 chambers of commerce from the larger trading centres ^°as well as 
 in parUament. In the commons Burke, Fox, Lord Sheffield, and 
 Sir Grey Cooper joined in opposing it ; but the leading part was 
 played by that urbane and astute politician, William Eden, who, as 
 a former lord of the committee for trade,^^ spoke with authority 
 on commercial matters, and who, moreover, was at this time 
 strengthening his long-standing connexion with North "^ by 
 working assiduously for the estabUshment of the coalition 
 government.-^ Brushing aside ahke the generous principles o| 
 Pitt's bill and Burke's pleas for ' measures of unsohcited liberality ', 
 he declared that the amount of the concessions to be allowed to 
 the Americans should be determined on the basis of strict bar- 
 gaining. In order that the ministers might have time and 
 authority to conclude the most favourable arrangement, he 
 suggested that they should be given power to regulate the 
 American trade for a limited period by orders in council .^^ This 
 
 " For attacks in the press see for instance the Morning Chronicle for 10 February 
 1783. Demands for action were also being heard in the house of commons, as in Burke's 
 speech of 28 January reported in the Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser for 
 29 January 1783. 
 
 ^* The text is given in Edwards, History of the West Indies (London, 1801), ii. 491. 
 The bill was introduced on 3 March. 
 
 ^' The West Indian merchants and planters in London took the lead in protesting 
 against the bill and secured the co-operation of the chamber of commerce at Glasgow : 
 Minutes of the West India Merchants for 6 and 21 March 1783. 
 
 ** Knox Papers, Hist. 3ISS. Comm., Reports on Various Collections, vi. 265. Knox 
 in 1779 wrote a highly interesting sketch of Eden's life and character. While malicious 
 and not entirely trustworthy, it throws much Kght on Eden's political career. L^nless 
 Knox was a consummate hypocrite, a reconcihation between the two men must have 
 taken place before 1781. 
 
 ^' Eden was one of the commissioners sent to America in 1778. His connexion with 
 North began several years before this (Hist. MSS. Comm., Stopford-Sackville MSS., ii. 
 10), and was considered extremely close at this time (Hist. MSS. Comm., 10th Sep., 
 Append., pt. vi, 54, Jenkinson to Robinson, 16 September 1782). 
 
 ^* Eden's two patrons, Loughborough (Wedderburn) and Carhsle, it may be noted, 
 became members of the coalition cabinet. 
 
 -■•' Eden made this proposal as early as 7 March : London Chronicle, 8 March 1783. 
 
101 G THE WEST INDIES, 1783-93 435 
 
 scheme, designed for the benefit of the incoming administration, 
 found considerable support, and Pitt, failing to get even the 
 principle of his measure approA^ed, finally proposed that considera- 
 tion of the whole matter should be deferred until the first week in 
 April. ^" Before the discussion was resumed the government was 
 in the hands of Fox and North. 
 
 Fox, as secretary for the foreign department, first took the 
 matter in charge. Convinced that it was too imj^oi-tant for hasty 
 settlement by means of legislation,^^ he adopted Eden's plan of 
 procedure by dropping Pitt's bill,'^- and passed an enabling act to 
 give authority to the Crown to regulate all trade with America 
 by order in council for six months .""^^ Meanwhile he reopened 
 negotiations with the American commissioners at Paris. But if 
 his method was the method of Eden, his views, as defined in his 
 instructions to Hartley, his envoy at Paris, were not far removed 
 from those of Pitt. He' was quite willing that the Americans 
 should trade freely in their own ships with the West Indies, 
 provided that they carried raw produce only.^^ That they should 
 trade between the islands and the mother comitry the govern- 
 ment, he said, could not permit until a full investigation had been 
 held, since English ' prejudices ' on the matter were so strong.^^ 
 Hartley received dispatches to this effect under the date of 
 10 June. He heard nothing further until he was informed, not 
 from home, but by the American commissioners, of the issue on 
 2 July of an order in council for the regulation of the West 
 Indian trade.^*^ Since this order embodied the poUcy actually 
 maintained during the ten years following, and since its provisions 
 seem to incUcate that the government's views had suddenly anrl 
 entirely changed on one of the two essential points at issue, it 
 deserves to be examined with some care. Its terms are well 
 known. The West Indians were allowed to import American 
 lumber, flour, bread, grain, vegetables, and live stock, and to 
 
 3" The debates continued from 5 March to 2 April. Pitt in his defence showed 
 none of his usual self-confidence, admitting at the outset that ho was ' by no means 
 tenacious of any part of the bill ', and laying himself open to charges by Sheffield of 
 weakness and vacillation. Reports of his principal speeches are found in the Morning 
 Chronicle for 6 and 8 March and 3 April 1783. 
 
 ^' Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox (London, 1853), ii. 122. On 8 April 
 Fox wrote to the king that, since any action on Pitt's bill would make necessary an 
 immediate decision on the matter, he had resolved to postpone such action until 
 further progress had been made in the negotiations with the American commissioners. 
 
 ^2 On 9 April Fox carried without division a motion fm-ther to postpone the 
 consideration of Pitt's bill. 
 
 " 23 Geo. Ill, c. 39. 
 
 " Fox to Hartley, 10 April 1783 : Publ. Pvcc. Off., Foreign Office, America, ser. I B. 
 
 35 Fox to Hartley, 10 June 1783: ibid. At this time the one question at issue was 
 the participation of American vessels in the carrying trade between the islands and 
 Great Britain. 
 
 3« Privy Council Register, Geo. Ill, xxi, fo. 316. 
 
436 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 export to the United States rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, nuts, 
 ginger, and pimento. But the importation of American meat, 
 dairy produce, and fish was forbidden, and the trade was confined 
 entirely to British ships. 
 
 That this apparent alteration in the views of the ministry 
 represents no change of opinion on the part of Fox is evident 
 from his dispatches to Hartley of a later date,^'' but it is certain that 
 the cabinet was divided and that the order represents a victory 
 for the more conservative section which attached itseK to North.^^ 
 Not only is this supposition on the face of it reasonable, but there 
 is evidence that the order was drafted, on the instructions of 
 North himself, by William KJnox, who had been for twelve years 
 under-secretary for the colonies in the North administration.^® 
 Knox, in fact, claims the credit of having suggested it and 
 secured its adoption by the privy council in face of the opposition 
 of Fox and Burke ; ^° and, while his statements are unsupported 
 save by general expressions of congratulation on the part of his 
 friends,"*^ there is no reason for considering them untrue. Finally, 
 we know that Eden was an active member of the committee of 
 the privy council, in the hands of which affairs of trade had 
 temporarily been placed,*^ that he warmly approved of the order, 
 and that he was in close touch with Knox.*^ Other influences 
 were also at work. The anxiety of the ministry as to the 
 attitude of the Americans had iust been reUeved bv the news 
 that their ports were open to British vessels ^^ and by the arrival 
 
 ^' ' I still adhere in every particular to the system upon which my first instructions 
 to you were planned': Fox to Hartley, 29 July 1783, Foreign Office, America, 
 ser. 1 B. 
 
 *' Adams received from England exaggerated reports to this effect. ' My advices 
 from England are that Lord Sheffield with his friends . . . are making a party imfriendly 
 to us ; that the ministry adopt their sentiments and measures ; that Fox has lost his 
 popularity and devoted himself to North, who has the King's ear and disposes of 
 places . . .' : Adams to Livingston, the Hague, 2 August 1783, Works, viii. 130. 
 
 '^ Letter of Colonel Augustus North to Knox, dated by Knox, May 1783 : Knox 
 Papers, Hist. 3ISS. Comm., Var. Coll. vi. 191. Colonel North, on Lord North's behalf, 
 requests Knox to prepare the draft of an act ' "for regulating the commerce between 
 our remaining British colonies, our West India Islands, and the United States, as well 
 as any other acts it may be necessary to pass this Session " with regard to the inter- 
 course between England and America '. Subjoined is a memorandum by Knox 
 stating that, on account of the enabUng act, legislation was unnecessary, and that 
 he had therefore drafted orders in council instead : ihid. Sheffield, writing to Knox, 
 3 July 1783, expressed pleasure that the order had been passed exactly as Knox 
 drew it. ■»» Knox to Lord Walsingham, 20 August 1787 : ibid. 198. 
 
 " Sheffield to Knox, 3 July 1783; Viscount Sackville to Knox, 4 July 1783 and 
 20 August 1783 : ihid. 191, 192. Sackville expressed satisfaction that North had 
 adopted Knox's plan, and declared that the cabinet would not have known how to 
 IJroceed without him. 
 
 *' Report of a meeting of the Committee on Plantations, 15 May 1783 : Privy 
 Council, Unbound Papers. 
 
 " Eden to Knox, 11 February 1782 : Knox Papers, uhi supra, p. 240. 
 
 ** Hartley to Fox, 2U June 1783 : Foreign Office, America, ser. 1 B. 
 
191G THE WEST INDIES, 1783-93 437 
 
 of American ships in the United Kingdom. Lord Sheffield had 
 just pubUshed his cleverly conceived and ably written Observations 
 on the Commerce of the American States, for the express purpose 
 of combating the principles underlying Pitt's bill. The popu- 
 larity of the book was so great, and its effect so marked,^^ that 
 it called forth from the American commissioners bitter com- 
 plaints,*^ and from Edward Gibbon a warm eulogy of its author 
 as ' the defender if not the saviour of the navigation acts '.*' 
 Whether or not John Adams was right in behoving that the 
 decision of the ministry was also swayed by the influence of 
 jealous European powers is not clear. *^ 
 
 The July order in council, as I have said, embodies the pohcy 
 pursued during the ten years following. Yet it was not regarded 
 at the time as more than a temporary expedient,*^ and the most 
 important part of its history consists in the fact that it was 
 maintained and in the end permanently adopted. Measures were 
 soon set on foot for inducing the government to grant more 
 hberal terms. From America came threats of retahation,^" 
 threats which were to some extent put into force by Maryland ^^ 
 and Virginia ^^ before the close of the year. From the West 
 Indies, where prices had risen from 50 to 100 per cent, on the 
 pubhcation of the order,^^ and where there was a serious appre- 
 
 *^ Sheffield was congratulated on every side and was given the freedom of the 
 city of Glasgow : Auckland Corr. i. 56 ; European Magazine for September, November, 
 and December 1783 ; Scot's Magazine for December 1783 ; Knox Papers, Hist. MSS. 
 Comm., Var. Coll. vi. 191 ; Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. in Royal Institution, iv. 207. 
 
 " Hartley to Fox, 17 and 24 July 1783 : Foreign Office, America, ser. 1 b. 
 
 *' ' The navigation act, the palladium of Great Britain, was defended and perhaps 
 saved by his pen ' : Memoirs (London, 1827), ii. 242. 
 
 " Adams, Works (Boston, 1853), viii. 74, 85, 90, 98. Adams feared that England, 
 France, and the other powers possessing colonies in the West Indies would agree to 
 exclude American vessels from any participation in the carrying trade of the islands. 
 ' The French . . . will say everything they can think of to persuade the Enghsh to 
 deprive us of the trade of their West India Islands. They have already, with their 
 emissaries, been the chief cause of the change of sentiments in London, on this head, 
 against us.' But evidence is wanting to justify this conclusion. Certainly none exists 
 in the Despatches from Paris, 1784-90, published by the Camden Society, 3rd series, 
 xvi, xvii. 
 
 " Fox to Hartley, 29 July 1783 : Foreign Office, America, ser. 1 b ; Morning 
 Chronicle, 19 March 1784, reporting a speech of Eden in the house of commons, 
 18 March. 
 
 " Cf. Pennsylvania Packet, 4 August and 12 December 1783. 
 
 " Lnu's of Maryland (Annapolis, 1787), session of 3 November to 26 December 1783, 
 c. 29. This act imposed a charge of 55. per ton on British vessels entering and clearing 
 and an additional duty of 2 per cent, ad valorem on British goods imported in British 
 ships. 
 
 " Henning, Statutes of Virginia, xi. 313, 8th of the Commonwealth, c. 5. This act 
 conferred upon Congress power to forbid the importation of British West Indian 
 produce in British bottoms. 
 
 " Answer to the Heads of Inquiry contained in the letter of the Secretary of 
 State, 11 November 1784 : Colonial Office, 137. 84. The answer is dated 1 February 
 1785. 
 
438 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 hension of famine, came a series of protests and appeals.^^ Even 
 in England a vigorous press campaign was set up. The coalition 
 stuck to its guns and through a new enabling act extended the 
 operation of the order in council until April 1784. But the 
 opposition was as keen as ever when in December 1783 Pitt, the 
 former advocate of the freest of intercourse, assumed charge of 
 the government. 
 
 From the outset Pitt showed that he was prepared to afford 
 the opponents of the existing restrictions every consideration. 
 Negotiations were entered upon with the merchants with a view 
 to a compromise, and it was suggested that West Indian ports 
 should be opened to American vessels of less than eighty tons,^^ 
 vessels, in other words, which could not easily cross the ocean 
 nor serve as a nursery for the American fleet. °^ When the mer- 
 chants, probably through over-confidence, refused to accept any 
 hmitation of tonnage, the matter was referred to the newly 
 constituted committee of trade for investigation and report." 
 The voluminous minutes of this investigation well reward detailed 
 examination,^^ but we maj' here confine ourselves to the methods 
 which the commissioners pursued, the principles upon which 
 they acted, and the results at which they arrived. Their method 
 deserves high praise. Working patiently for almost three months,^^ 
 they sought, obtained, and sifted evidence from every promising 
 source in a manner which leaves no doubt as to their thorough- 
 ness and their honest desire to discover the truth. 
 
 The conclusion at which they arrived ®° was that the loyal 
 colonies were already able to suppl}' a large pro^^iortion of the lumber 
 and provisions which the West Indies required and would in about 
 three years be ready to furnish the whole. If they failed to consume 
 all the rum for which the planters had to find an American market, 
 the people of the United States, to whom it was indispensable, 
 would be glad to purchase the rest. For the carrying trade 
 British shipping, operating on the old three-cornered principle, 
 
 " Resolutions of the Committee of West India Merchants, 26 November 1783 : 
 Colonial Office, 137. 82 ; Journals of the House of Comtnons, xxxix. 840. 
 
 *^ Library of Congress, Franklin MSS., 1287. Benjamin Vaughan, writing to 
 Henry Laurens, 27 February 1784, gives from memory an account of these negotiations. 
 See also the minutes of the meeting of West Indian planters and merchants at which 
 the proposals were discussed. Colonial Office, 137. 83. 
 
 ^* The explanation is furnished in correspondence relative to the intercourse of 
 the United States with the British colonies : Colonial Office, 325-6. 
 
 " Board of Trade, Rlin. of Comm. of Trade, 3, fo. 1. The committee was estab- 
 lished on 5 March 1784, and on the same day a petition of the West Indian merchants 
 and planters, which constituted the basis of the inquiry, was referred to it. 
 
 ^* The mass of evidence presented before the committee is invaluable for the light 
 it throws on the West Indian trade before and during the war of the American 
 Kevolution. 
 
 " 10 March to 31 May. 
 
 ''■' Board of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 3, fo. 276 £E. 
 
191() THE WEST INDIES, 1783-93 439 
 
 would undoubtedly suffice. Retaliatory measures on the ])art 
 of the Americans were not to be feared, and could in any event 
 be defeated by the ease with which goods might be smuggled 
 into their country and by the opening of free ports which their 
 merchants would be sure to frequent. Hence the islands could 
 be cultivated at a ' sufficient ' profit without the freedon^ of 
 intercourse for which the planters asked, although such profit 
 might be less than that obtained before the war. On the basis 
 of these conclusions, all of which were more or less contradicted 
 by the allegations of the West Indians, the committee proceeded 
 to recommend the adoption, for the time being, of a set of regula- 
 tions corresponding in all essentials with those already in force. 
 It is interesting, too, to note that the recommendations were 
 based not only on facts, but on certain clearly stated principles. 
 The privilege of supplying the islands as far as lay in their power 
 belonged to the United I^ngdom and the loyal colonies, because 
 they were ' by every right exclusively entitled to the advantages 
 to be derived from the trade ', while the carrying trade was to 
 be in British hands, because thus British naval strength might be 
 increased and the sailors left idle by the close of the war might be 
 prevented from entering the navy of the United States. A fuller 
 vindication of the pohcy of the coahtion or a clearer statement 
 of some of the old commercial principles could scarcely have been 
 offered. 
 
 Well grounded as the existing regulations were thus declared 
 to be, they secured no permanent adoption for the space of more 
 than four years. Enabling acts and orders in council, which 
 differed in no essential respect from those of 1783, were issued in 
 unbroken succession until 1788.*^^ The ministry, as it admitted, 
 was merely testing the system,^^ and to numerous protests and 
 appeals returned steadily the answer that no reason for altering 
 it had been shown. "^^^ Whether or not the ministers were justified 
 in adhering to their position we must now inquire. 
 
 The conclusions reached by the committee in 1784 with regard 
 to the possibihties of supply from British North America were 
 largely at fault ; ^^ but, since the government at no time attempted 
 
 " The last but one of the ericabUng acts, 27 Geo. Ill, c. 7, provided for more rigid 
 enforcement. The illegal introduction of American produce was made punishable 
 by the forfeiture of both vessel and cargo. No change, save in phrasing, is to bo 
 observed in the successive orders in council : Privy Council Register, George 111, 
 xxi. 614, xxii. 91, 180, 351, xxiii. 121, xxiv. 93, xxv. 126. 
 
 "- Grenville in the house of commons, 11 February 1788: Morning Chronicle, 
 12 February 1788. 
 
 ^ e.g. Privy Council Register, George III, xxiv. 56, and Publ. Rec. Off., Board of 
 Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 7, fo. 178. 
 
 " Evidence of Aiiislee before the Committee of Trade, March 17S9 : Board of 
 Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 11, fo. 220, 216; statistics on the trade of the 
 West Indies jirepared by Irving, lusiwctor-Gcneral of Imports and Exports for Great 
 
..r 
 
 440 BRITISH COMMERCIAL POLICY IN July 
 
 to forbid the importation of raw produce from the United States, 
 this fact is interesting rather than significant. In other respects 
 the committee made few mistakes. The carrying trade was 
 immediately and completely taken over by British shipping. ^^ 
 According to the most trustworthy statistics the supply of food 
 appears to have been quite sufficient ; '^^ and, while periods of 
 scarcity and distress occurred, they would seem to have been 
 attributable rather to the hurricanes of 1784, 1785, and 17S(i, 
 than to the restrictions laid upon the American trade. "^^ American 
 measures of retaliation, needless to say, broke down, although 
 attempted or recomimended to Congress by nearly all the states.''^ 
 It is true, indeed, that more lumber had to be obtained within 
 the islands, that prices both of food and lumber were high,*^^ and 
 that ilHcit trade with the United States reached large propor- 
 tions."" But such ' inconveniences ' were not to be considered 
 so long as the ' sufficient ' profit promised in 1784 was obtained, 
 and the shipping, exports, and revenue of the mother country 
 were fostered. When we note that by 1788 the trade of the 
 islands with the mother country had increased both in exports 
 and imports by some twenty-five per cent, over what it had been 
 
 Britain, Colonial Office, 390. 5. Knox, writing to Camden, 9 Juno 1804, admitted 
 that the islands could not yet be supphed from British North America : Hist. MSS. 
 Comm., Var. Coll., vi. 221. 
 
 *^ Correspondence relating to the intercourse of the United States with the British 
 colonies : Board of Trade, Min. of Comm. of Trade, 1 1, fo. 203, and Colonial Office, 325-6. 
 
 ** For instance, Treas., 64. 72, contains lists signed by Davison, the collector at 
 Jamaica, showing that in 1784 that island received 41,000 barrels of bread and flour 
 (as compared with an average of about 35,000 barrels before 1775) and 14,000 feet of 
 wood (as compared with 15,000 feet before 1775). 75 per cent, of the bread and flour 
 and 65 per cent, of the lumber were from the United States. As Jamaica was one of 
 the last islands visited by vessels from America, it was apt to be less fully supplied 
 than the others. More wood was cut on the island than before 1775. 
 
 " A committee of the assembly of Jamaica reported that 15,000 slaves had 
 perished in the island from starvation or insufficient nutrition during the years imme- 
 diately following 1783, and that the scarcity of food was the result both of the hurricanes 
 and the exclusion of American vessels : Journ. of the Assoc, of Jamaica, viii. 429-30. 
 Edwards {Hist, of Jamaica, 1801, ii. 511), enlarging upon this rei^ort, censured the 
 government for its pohcy. It must be noted that the committee, in framing its report, 
 was attempting to explain the attacks then being directed against the slave trade, 
 and that its assertions were not based on evidence. 
 
 ** Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New 
 Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, all conferred upon 
 Congress power to retahate in commercial matters against Great Britain. (See the 
 laws of these states in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at Phila- 
 delpliia. ) But when Congress, in accordance with a report prepared by Jefferson and 
 Chase, asked in April 1784 for power to regulate the trade of all the states for fifteen 
 years, only three states gave their unreserved consent : Journals of Congress, iv. 392, 
 601-2. 
 
 " Grenville, speaking in the house of commons, 14 March 1787, admitted that the 
 price of provisions and lumber purchased in America ' had risen far bej'ond all former 
 precedent' : Morning Chronicle, 15 March 1787. 
 
 '" Answer to Heads of Inquiry in the letter of the Secretary of State, February 
 1785 : Colonial Office, 137. 84. 
 
11)16 THE WEST INDIES, 1783-03 441 
 
 before the war,'^ and that nearly six liundred vessels were em- 
 ploj'^ed in its transport,''- we must conclude that the objects of the 
 ministry had been successfully accomplished, and that no reason 
 existed for deferring longer the enactment of a statute which 
 should make the existing regulations permanent. In February 
 1788 Grenville, the vice-president of the committee of trade, 
 introduced such a bill, which, after encountering but a flicker of 
 the old opposition, was easily passed,''^ 
 
 With the placing of this bill upon the statute book, the events 
 with which this paper deals came practically to an end. A system 
 from which the West Indians had anticipated and prophesied 
 sheer ruin had not terminated the growth of their prosperity. 
 Regulations which the three leading statesmen of the time had 
 condemned had been investigated, tested, and made permanent, 
 because in point of fact they gave the results which in those days 
 were most desired. The contexture of the whole, to use Burke's 
 phrase, was but little torn, and if there was depreciation in value 
 of any of the parts, it was mainly in the part now belonging to the 
 Thirteen States, powerless in their divisions to resist the imposi- 
 tion of this last navigation act. Hence, during the five years 
 which followed, there was no change in the policy of the govern- 
 ment or in its results, while the West Indians, engrossed in their 
 efforts to prevent the suppression of the slave trade, relinquished 
 their opposition. Yet the system established by North and his 
 friends was to have no extended existence, and when, in January 
 1793, England expelled Chauvelin, the envoy of the French 
 Republic, it Avas already near virtual abrogation. How the 
 government during the years of the great war attempted to 
 secure a formal observance of the act of 1788 by passing annual 
 acts of indemnity for the West Indian governors who were forced 
 to permit its violation, how attempts to arrive at more logical 
 conditions were made in the negotiations with Jay and \\ith 
 ]\Iunro and Pinckney, and how finally in 1806 American ships 
 were by statute admitted, under sUght restrictions, to West 
 Indian ports camiot here be told. But a review of these events, 
 by demonstrating the ease with which the Americans were able 
 to recapture the West Indian trade, would probably strengthen 
 the conclusion that, from the eighteenth-century point of view, 
 the British government was both wise and successful in its 
 commercial policy in the West Indies during the ten years of 
 peace. Herbert C. Bell. 
 
 '» Imports into Great Britain from the West Indies, 1788-9, averaged in value 
 £4,000,000 (Troas., 64. 275) as compared with £3,100,000 in 1772-3 (Treas., 64. 276). 
 Exports to the West Indies, 1788-9, were vahied at £1,600,000 (Colonial Office, 390. 5). 
 
 " Colonial Office, 390. 5, Miscellaneous Statistics on Trade. 
 
 " 28 Geo. Ill, c. 6 : Journals of the House of Commons, xliii. 227, 278. 
 
[Reprinied from The American Historical Review, Vol. XXII., No. 2, Jan., 1917.] 
 
 THE WEST INDIA TRADE BEFORE THE AMERICAN 
 
 REVOLUTION 
 
 The subject with which this paper deals has not lacked for 
 treatment within the last few years but the need for more minute 
 study is clearly apparent. The actual mechanism of the trade has 
 not as yet been sufficiently examined. Only vaguely do we know 
 the kind of vessels employed, the routes followed, and the methods 
 of sale, remittance, and insurance. It has been the writer's en- 
 deavor to throw some light on these minor points through the study 
 of documents not formerly brought under contribution.^ But the 
 difficulties in the way of successful presentation are great. One 
 deals with methods of operation so various as almost to defy classi- 
 fication, with statistics notoriously inaccurate,- and with weights, 
 measures, and money values of local and changing determination.^ 
 Some inciulgence may then be granted if the picture presented seems 
 unduly intricate and if finality is at times lacking in the con- 
 clusions presented. 
 
 In the matter of goods actually exchanged and the localities 
 whence they were derived little can be added to the store of informa- 
 tion long accessible, and a brief restatement of the main facts will 
 suffice. The needs of the British West Indies for provisions and 
 lumber were met alike by all of the continental colonies; but of the 
 
 1 In particular the Minutes of the Committee of Trade in the Public Record 
 OfSce, London (cited P. R. O., B. T. 5) ; the Clifford Papers and the Pemberton 
 Papers in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (cited Clifford 
 Papers and Pemberton Papers) ; the uncatalogued family papers of Joseph H. 
 Coates, Esq., of Philadelphia (cited Coates Papers) ; and the collection of com- 
 mercial correspondence recently published by the Massachusetts Historical Society 
 as Commerce of Rhode Island, vols. I. and II. (cited Com. of R. /.). 
 
 2 The figures furnished by the few surviving official records are nearly always 
 far below the true ones: report of the former inspector-general of exports and 
 imports in America, Irving, to the Committee of Trade, P. R. O., B. T. 5: i, p. 
 135; report of the governor of Jamaica on the trade of the island, P. R. O., C. O. 
 137: 33- McPherson (Annals of Commerce, III. 572, note) also calls attention 
 to this fact. 
 
 3 Thus a '■ thousand " feet of lumber might represent 1000 or 1200 ft., a barrel 
 of flour might be " lightly " or firmly packed, and a hogshead of sugar might con- 
 tain 12 cwt. or 14. Finally, the pound sterling was worth anywhere from 28 to 
 160 shillings in the currencies of the various colonies. Negociator's Magazine 
 (London, 1754), pp. 213, 214. 
 
 (272) 
 
2 73 Herbert C. Bell 
 
 latter, certain groups largely controlled the export of particular 
 articles. Pennsylvania and New York, with some assistance from 
 ]\Iaryland and Virginia, offered virtually the whole amount of 
 flour and bread ; New England, through the industry of its citizens 
 and their trade with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, stood re- 
 sponsible for most of the fish and oil, though large quantities of 
 both reached the islands • through the markets of Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, and New York. Pennsylvania again led in supplying 
 beef, pork, hams, and tongues, but her exports were heavily supple- 
 mented by those of Virginia and North Carolina. Corn and peas 
 came from the same colonies with the addition of Maryland, while 
 South CaroHna and Georgia made their principal contribution in 
 rice.* Lumber was to be had at most of the North American ports, 
 but here again distinctions must be made. The southern colonies 
 led in supplying staves of red oak for sugar hogsheads and of white 
 oak for rum casks. Their planks of oak and yellow pine stood in 
 great demand, and their cypress shingles were much preferred to 
 the white cedar shingles sold by the colonies of the middle group. 
 Only in the export of boards and scantling did the New England 
 colonies hold first place, and even there only in the quantity, not 
 the quality, of the goods supplied.^ Besides these staples many 
 other articles found place in the cargoes which passed constantly 
 to the tropics : horses and other live stock, minor food-stuff's such 
 as butter, cheese, potatoes, and fruit, or manufactures in the shape 
 of soap, lamp oil, pottery, chintzes, and shoes. A widely varied as- 
 sortment was usually to be found in a single ship. The return 
 ladings from the islands were more restricted in variety and in bulk. 
 Rum, molasses, and sugar naturally predominated in the order 
 named, but coffee and cotton, ginger and pimento, mahogany and 
 log^vood, with hides and indigo all found frequent mention in the 
 bills of lading. 
 
 The general dimensions of the trade may be estimated with fair 
 accuracy as regards the southbound cargoes, and in so far as we 
 may rely upon official returns. One year with another, the con- 
 tinental colonies exported to the islands goods to a value in American 
 ports of £500,000 sterHng. By the addition of the heavy freight 
 charges which commodities so great in bulk as compared with cost 
 of production necessarily bore, a value of £725,000 sterling in West 
 
 4 P. R. O., B. T. 5 : i, pp. 91, 93, 124; Br. Mus., Add. MSS. 12404. McPher- 
 son (Annals, III. 572) points out that Pa., Mass., Conn., Va., N. Y., R. I., S. C, 
 N. H., and Md. were the heaviest exporters to the West Indies in the order named. 
 
 5 See note 4, also P. R. O.. B. T. 5 : i, pp. 103, 124, 140, 152 ; Br. Mus., Add. 
 MSS. 22677, f- 69. 
 
IVes^ Lidian Trade before the Revohdioii 274 
 
 Indian ports was reached.^ The subjoined table^ will show the 
 quantities in which the principal articles involved were sent to the 
 islands. As regards the northbound cargoes no satisfactory esti- 
 mates either as to values or as to quantities can be made. The West 
 Indians paid for American provisions and lumber in shipments of 
 their produce to North America, in shipments to England, in cash,^ 
 and in bills of exchange.^ The North Americans often secured 
 part or all of their return ladings in the French and Dutch islands, 
 and succeeded in entering large quantities of this foreign produce 
 as goods of British origin. Hence it could not even then be ascer- 
 tained what returns in the direct shipment of their own produce the 
 British islands were able to make. The most trustworthy of the 
 various contemporary estimates places the value of these shipments 
 at £400,000 sterling in West Indian" or £420,000 sterling in North 
 
 6 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 12, 358, 159, 160; ibid., 4, p. 46S. Irving estimated that the 
 freight charges on lumber and corn amounted to 100 per cent, of the prime cost, 
 on all articles to 45 per cent. Rates ranged from 35 to 40 shillings per ton. 
 The committee of West India merchants, against whom Irving was testifying, 
 practically agreed to his figures. 
 
 ' This table shows the quantities of American provisions and lumber annually 
 consumed in the British West Indies during the years 1771-1773- It is compiled 
 from three tables furnished by Irving (B. T. 5: i, pp. 90-102). by Edward Long 
 (Br. Mus., Add. MSS. 12404), and by a copy of a report issued by the London 
 Custom House in March, 1775, and signed by Stanley, the secretary (Br. Mus.. 
 Add. MSS. 12431, f. 170). 
 
 Bread and flour. 
 Beef and pork. 
 Fish, 
 
 130,000 
 
 bbls. 
 
 15,000 
 
 <t 
 
 17,000 
 
 hogsheads 
 
 16,000 
 
 bbls. 
 
 12,000 
 
 quintals 
 
 400,000 
 
 bush. 
 
 20,000 
 
 bbls. 
 
 21,000 
 
 thousand 
 
 17,000 
 
 tt 
 
 1,900 
 
 It 
 
 16,000 
 
 it 
 
 Corn, 
 
 Rice, 
 
 Boards and planks, 
 
 Staves and heading, 
 
 Hoops, 
 
 Shingles, 
 
 8 See note 73- 
 
 9 See note 76.' 
 
 10 This is the estimate furnished by Irving to the Committee of Trade. The 
 conflicting nature of the evidence both as to the quantities of British West India 
 produce exported to the continental colonies and as to the value of the whole 
 illustrates the difficulty of reaching final conclusions in regard to many phases of 
 colonial trade at this time. Custom-house records even when discoverable are 
 practically worthless. Bryan Edwards (Thoughts on the Late Proceedings of 
 Government, London, 1784) points out that many of the bays, creeks, and ship- 
 ping places in the islands were remote from the ports of entry and that the 
 masters of American vessels, in order to save delay, made manifests and took out 
 
2 75 Herbert C. Bell 
 
 American ports. ^^ 
 
 In approaching the methods by which this trade was carried 
 on it is best to consider first that part — a part constituting indeed 
 all but a small fraction of the whole — which was completely or 
 principally in American hands. And here at once there becomes 
 necessary a certain mental readjustment. One must commence by 
 discarding all ideas of business corporations, of shipping lines and 
 liners, of fixed routes, of insurance companies — in short, all familiar 
 notions of the present mechanism of commerce. The American 
 merchants of the day traded individually or in loose partnerships. 
 Their largest ventures seldom involved sums of more than a few 
 hundred pounds^- and the most wealthy and prosperous, were not 
 above giving attention to the minutiae of small transactions. Many 
 of their letters to captains and commercial correspondents read like 
 communications between familiar friends. Price schedules and ac- 
 counts of sales jostle continually with inquiries concerning the health 
 of the recipient and his "dear" family, with announcements of the 
 sending of gifts and with the extending of invitations, all couched 
 in terms of the utmost cordiality. Moreover the business methods 
 
 clearances in advance. In his opinion they usually took out more produce than 
 they entered. But clearances were at times granted for empty casks and hogs- 
 heads, which were filled in the foreign islands. That officials in continental ports 
 were guilty of permitting the entry of foreign produce as goods of British origin 
 is well known. (See, e. g., G. L. Beer, British Colonial Policy 1754—17(^5, New 
 York, 1907, p. 239.) Nor are the estimates of the best-informed contemporaries 
 of greater value. At the great inquiry held by the Committee of Trade in 1784, 
 while Irving presented the figures given above, the West India merchants claimed 
 that the British islands exported to the continent produce almost equal in value 
 to the provisions and lumber received. But the committee decided that British 
 West India produce was accepted in payment for only one-half the articles sent 
 from the southern colonies, one-quarter of those from the middle group, and one- 
 tenth of those from New England. P. R. O., B. T. 5 : i, pp. 25, 159, 241. Reports 
 of the governors of Jamaica on the trade of that island in 1765 (P. R. O., C. O. 
 137: 33) and in 1774 (C. O. 137: 69) show the same startling discrepancies. Of 
 contemporary writers Chalmers (Opinions on Interesting Subjects, London, 1784) 
 follows Irving; Sheffield (-Observations, London, 1784) and McPherson (Annals, 
 III. 403) seem to accept the Jamaica report of 1765 ; and Bryan Edwards (Thoughts 
 on the Late Proceedings of Government) places the value of British produce 
 exported to the continent at £460,000. Still more futile must be any attempt to 
 state with exactness the quantity in which any one commodity entered into the 
 trade. For rum, e. g., the estimates vary from 2,800,000 to 4,070,000 gallons. 
 
 11 Whether or not this estimate of freight charges is accurate the amount 
 must have been relatively small. The freight from Barbados to Philadelphia on 
 a hogshead of rum, worth approximately £20 (currency), was only 5 per cent, 
 of that sum. Hist. Soc. of Pa., Wharton Papers, Journal of Charles Wharton, p. 
 
 534- 
 
 12 Taking the insurance placed upon eleven cargoes we reach an average of 
 ^/ £788 sterling. Com. of R. I., I. 120, 148, 149, 185, 239, 249, 474. 
 
IVes^ India )i Trade before the Revolution 276 
 
 of these men were as easy and unconventional as their epistolary 
 style. Not that they lacked keenness of business sense. Rather 
 was it the case that their very alertness, their intentness upon gain, 
 led them to seek profit whenever, wherever, and however it was to 
 be found. Their ships, like the tramp steamers of to-day, frequently 
 wandered, without prearranged plans, from port to port, the ship- ^ 
 captains buying, selling, bartering, or carrying freights as occasion 
 ofifcred.^^ Hence it resulted that the West Indian trade, instead of 
 being a mere exchange of commodities between two groups of 
 colonies, stood as part of a greater system: stood in intimate con- 
 nection alike with the coasting traffic and with lines of commerce 
 extending to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland," Great Britain, southern 
 Europe, and Africa. Some analysis is required for making this 
 clear. The connection of the West Indian with the coasting trade 
 was twofold. Southbound cargoes of the former were often as- 
 sembled by the use of coasters at the larger American ports ;^^ 
 northbound cargoes were distributed in like manner." But, in what 
 probably constituted a majority of the voyages, the connection was 
 closer still. The assembling and distribution were operated by the 
 same vessels which plied to and from the islands, and operated more- 
 over in conjunction with coastwise traffic of the ordinary sort. On 
 the way south to the Caribbees goods laden in New England might 
 be partially or wholly exchanged for those of the middle and 
 southern colonies ; on the way north rum and sugar might gradually 
 be displaced by rice or flour, bread or iron.^^ Again West Indian 
 and coasting trades alike were closely related to the New England 
 fisheries and to the commerce carried on by the "continental" 
 colonies with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.^^ In this last-men- 
 
 13 See note 21. 
 
 14 Sir Hugh Palliser, governor of Newfoundland 1764-1769, reported that 
 the trade of New England with that island occupied 104 vessels of an aggregate 
 tonnage of 6048. The amount realized from the sale of the northbound cargoes 
 and of the vessels sometimes sold with them averaged more than £100,000 ster- 
 ling per year. B. T. 5 : i, p. 147. 
 
 15 Coates Papers, William Redwood to Samuel Coates, Newport. July 6, 1773. 
 
 16 Com. of R. I., I. 134. 
 
 17 As the colonies of the southern group had little shipping of their own 
 New England vessels sometimes left West Indian produce at southern ports even 
 while sailing southwards on fresh visits to the islands. The same vessels some- 
 times plied between the islands and the southern colonies without returning north. 
 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 103, 104, 125; Coin, of R. I., I. 132, i33. 179- 
 
 18 Evidence of Irving and Sir Hugh Palliser before the Committee of Trade, 
 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 93, 94, 146-148; Com. of R. I., I. 406, 417, 460. In 1771 the New 
 Englanders purchased 67,000 quintals of dried fish (principally cod and mackerel) 
 at Newfoundland. TBie rum used was distilled in New England. 
 
2 77 Herbert C. Bell 
 
 tioned commerce, rum, molasses, and sugar on the one hand, and, 
 on the other, fish of the inferior grade consumed by West Indian 
 slaves, seem to have been the articles most frequently exchanged. 
 Vessels which engaged in the fisheries during the summer months 
 turned south on the approach of winter, bartered their wares along 
 the Atlantic coast as far down as Georgia, and at times concluded 
 their voyages in the Caribbean Sea. Less significant, although 
 perhaps more interesting, is the connection of the West Indian trade 
 with American commerce farther afield. Vessels of the larger sort, 
 having discharged their lumber and provisions in the islands, fre- 
 quently received there cargoes for the British island^ or southern 
 Europe.^^ Indeed the master of such a ship reaching Bridgetown 
 or Kingston might not be sure whether London or Philadelphia 
 would be his next port of call.-° The return voyage might reverse 
 the process. A North American vessel returning home from Great 
 Britain might be ordered to proceed first to the West Indies either 
 directly or via Madeira or Portugal. At the last-named places wine 
 or salt would be added to the British manufactures and Irish pro- 
 visions of which her original lading was composed. ^^ Last of all 
 there is to be noted the connection of the West Indian .commerce 
 with the American slave-trade. Slave vessels, loaded and despatched 
 in North American ports, carried slaves from Africa to the West 
 Indies for sale there.^^ From the West Indies they returned home 
 
 19 Com. of R. I., I. 2,^2, 390, 392, 396, 403, 442, 443. The produce taken 
 down would not purchase a cargo for Europe, but additions were botight with 
 bills of exchange. B. T. 5 : i, p. 54. 
 
 20 Clifford Papers, V. 178. Whether the vessel went to Europe probably 
 depended upon the freight rates, i. e., the possible profits involved. Coates Papers, 
 Edward Dawers to Israel Pemberton, jr. and Company, Antigua, August zt , 1746. 
 On the other hand some American vessels were regularly assigned to such trade. 
 Com. of R. I., I. 433. 
 
 21 The shipment of Irish produce directly to the colonies was not legal until 
 1778, 18 Geo. III., c. 55; 20 Geo. III., c. 10. It appears however to have taken 
 place. Coyn. of R. I., I. 299, 304, 306, 307. An interesting voyage was that of 
 the brig Charlotte belonging to Aaron Lopez in 1769-1770. She arrived October 
 29, 1769. at Bristol with pig-iron, mahogany, and logwood. Finding no freight 
 for the West Indies and being herself unsalable, she carried sugar, rice, iron, and 
 tin plates as freight to Dublin. There she took on 300 barrels of beef for Ja- 
 maica and received also the order to pick up 30 pipes of wine at Madeira. She 
 was insured to Jamaica, the Bay of Honduras, and Rhode Island. After having 
 been driven into Whitehaven by bad weather, she arrived at Jamaica in June 
 and at Honduras before September. She reached Charleston with mahogany 
 before December 7, 1770. Com. of R. I., I. 295, 298-301, 304, 307, 308, 309, 316, 
 335. 336, 354- 
 
 22 Just before the Revolution good adult slaves sold in the West Indies for 
 about £35 sterling per head. Com. of R. I., I. 425, 42S, 457. 
 
IVes^ Indian Trade before the Revolution 278 
 
 before coinniencing a fresh voyage," and there is every reason to 
 suppose that they obtained some share of the carrying trade from 
 the islands to the continent.-* 
 
 As to the shipping employed, the greatest variety is again to be 
 observed. Brigs were in the majority but sloops, schooners, and 
 snows-'^ were to be found in great numbers. Vessels which engaged 
 from time to time in transatlantic trade were naturally of different 
 type from those which kept to the western hemisphere. The latter 
 were small, averaging at about forty tons^'' and provided only with 
 single decks, on which much of the cargo was placed. The former 
 were double-decked craft-^ of 100 to 300 tons, the majority falling 
 between 100 and 150.-^ As the "out" cargoes south and east 
 bound were much more bulky than the return ladings either from 
 the West Indies or from Europe, and as shipbuilding was in general 
 cheaper in North America than in Europe,^^ these vessels were often 
 sold in British and West Indian ports.^** In the matter of owner- 
 
 23 E. g., the Adventure. Com. of R. I., I. 397, 428, 473 ; H. 8. 
 
 2i Ibid., I. 456, 461, 462, 467, 468. 
 
 -5 A snow was a vessel which carried, besides two principal masts, a small 
 third mast placed behind the main mast and equipped with a trysail. 
 
 "6 As to the number and tonnage of the American vessels trading in the 
 British islands the evidence is very conflicting. From the testimony offered by 
 the London committee of West India merchants, by Irving, by William Knox, and 
 others before the Committee of Trade, B. T. 5: i, pp. 12, 13, 38, 158; from the 
 report in 1774 of the governor of Jamaica, C. O. 137: 69; and from Naval Office 
 Lists, C. O. 142: 16, it has been calculated that some 400 vessels of 40 to 50 
 tons and something less than half that number with tonnage averaging about 
 three times as much were engaged in the traffic. These vessels, and particularly 
 the smaller ones, made two or three round trips per year. Long points out that 
 the smaller craft enjoyed great advantages in being able to sail over bars and 
 into small streams and ports. Br. Mus., Add. MSS. 12404. Many of them were 
 probably built and operated as co-operative enterprises by groups of persons who 
 were not primarily merchants or shipowners. Letter in the Morning Chronicle 
 and London Advertiser for January 23, 1784. 
 
 27 Vessels of 100 tons or upwards were nearly always double-decked. 
 Smaller vessels could cross the ocean but could not be insured. B. T. 5 : i, p. 14. 
 
 28 The dimensions of two of these vessels are given as follows. A brigan- 
 tine of 125 tons burthen — length by the keel -52 ft., beam 20 ft., hold gl^ ft. 
 and between decks 4 ft. Com. of R. I., I. 219. For a larger vessel, length by 
 keel 74 ft., beam 25 ft., hold 12 ft., between decks 4 ft. 8 in. Coates Papers, 
 Elias Bland to John Reynell, London, May 31, 1746. The more perishable part 
 of the cargo was apparently placed between decks. Com. of R. I., I. 441. 
 
 29 James Anderson, who before the American Revolution had been employed 
 by a Glasgow firm as agent for the building of ships at Boston, testified before 
 the Committee of Trade that the best American-built vessels were as costly as 
 British-built craft of the same tonnage but that an inferior type could be con- 
 structed more cheaply in America. B. T. 5 : 3, p. 486. 
 
 30 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 13, 54; Com. of R. I.. I. 6, 104, 118, 144, 147, 151. 152, 160, 
 191, 219, 357, 401. The prices realized ranged from £250 sterling to £900 
 sterling. Vessels in good condition brought £500 sterling or more. 
 
2/9 Herbert C. Bell 
 
 ship, fixed rules were again wanting. While in numerous cases 
 merchants or captains appeared as sole owners, joint proprietorship 
 seems to have been the rule.^^ In the smaller vessels North Ameri- 
 can merchants and captains frequently held joint " risks ", and West 
 Indian merchants sometimes acquired interests of one-quarter or 
 one-half. In similar fashion European traders stood as co-owners 
 of ships going to their ports. The system was probably useful, not 
 only in decreasing the risks of the individual owner but in producing 
 among captains and oversea merchants more personal and vital 
 interest in the success of the voyages undertaken. A similar pooling 
 of interests is observable in the manner of placing insurance. 
 Groups of merchants in the larger British or American ports^' 
 underwrote the insurance demanded on vessels and cargoes, taking 
 individual risks to an amount in most cases of £50 to £100.^^ In- 
 surance was made for each voyage or section of a voyage and rates 
 varied according to the distance covered, the dangers likely to be en- 
 countered, and the season of the year.^* For voyages between any 
 two of the three groups of ports represented by Great Britain, North 
 America, and the West Indies two per cent, to three per cent, was 
 usually paid.^^ Thus a vessel going from Rhode Island to Bristol 
 via Jamaica was insured for the whole trip at four per cent, to six 
 per cent.^^ A word may be added concerning the captains and 
 crews. Of the skippers some were men of education and social 
 
 31 Pemberton Papers, XXI. 79; XXV. no; Coates Papers, Elias Bland to 
 John Reynell, London, May 31, 1746; Stevens, Porter, and Company to John 
 Reynell, Madeira, April 10, 1748. William Redwood to Samuel Coates, Newport, 
 July 6, 1773, Com. of R. I., I. 233, 235, 511. 
 
 32 Of the merchants whose papers have been examined those of Philadel- 
 phia found underwriters in America while those of Rhode Island placed their 
 insurance in England. New England merchants however sometimes turned to 
 colonial underwriters. Coates Papers, Samuel Briard to John Reynell, Antigua, 
 August 22, 1759. Sometimes a vessel was insured in England and in the colonies 
 at the same time. Coates Papers, John Wendell to John Reynell, Portsmouth 
 (N. H.), July 5, 1/59. 
 
 33 Com. of R. I.. I. 120, 14S, 149, 185, et al. In England a policy cost 8 
 shillings and an agent who placed insurance often charged J/2 per cent, com- 
 mission for his trouble. 
 
 34/fo,'c/., pp. 119, 166, 221, 253, 254, 296, 397; Clifford Papers, IV. 157; 
 Coates Papers, John Moffat to John Reynell, Portsmouth, August 14, 1758. 
 
 35 Com. of R. I., I. 120, 148, 149, 185. 
 
 36 In time of war rates were of course much higher when the policies cov- 
 ered seizures by war vessels or privateers. Thus in 1757, 1758, and 1759 rates 
 for voyages between the continent and the West Indies were 1 1 per cent, to 22 
 per cent., between the continent and Great Britain 15 per cent, to 40 per cent., 
 and between the West Indies and Great Britain 22 per cent, to 40 per cent. 
 Coates Papers, general. 
 
ll^es^ Indian Trade before the Revolution 280 
 
 equipment, connected by ties of blood or friendship with the mer- 
 chants and often entering their ranks after apprenticeship at sea.^' 
 The majority were hardy seamen, more at home with the wheel than 
 with the pen, yet able to manage the business of the owners under 
 conditions wdiich often presented the greatest difficulties. The prac- 
 tice of allowing to them, in addition to wages and commissions,-'* the 
 privilege of carrying certain amounts of goods on their own ac- 
 count^° must have quickened their interest. Of their general honesty 
 and ability there seems no question. Of the sailors, whose numbers 
 may be estimated as one for eight tons in the smaller craft and one 
 for twelve in the larger,-*" one hears less. They too would seem to 
 have been well paid-*^ and well behaved. About one-third of their 
 number were colored. *- 
 
 So far we have dealt with shipping operated from North America 
 and from the West Indies'*^ alone. But it must be remembered that 
 British vessels also were employed in the carrying-trade between the 
 islands and the continent. Of these, two classes are to be dis- 
 tinguished, the " stationed " ships and the " seekers ".** The sta- 
 tioned ships were vessels assigned definitely to this branch of com- 
 merce. They visited successively American, West Indian, and 
 British ports and had the advantage of securing in the last two 
 
 3" A good example of this is found in the Clifford Papers, IV. 144, 145, 149, 
 157. In one instance we find a former midshipman of the royal navy seeking 
 employment as a merchant captain, Com. of R. I., I. 31. One frequently finds 
 that members of a merchant's family acted as captains of his ships. 
 
 3S In spite of the difficulties in dealing with colonial currencies one may gain 
 the impression that the captains were at least fairly well paid. How general was 
 the practice of allowing to them commissions on sales I have not been able to 
 discover. Com. of R. I., I. 61, 441 ; II. 45. 
 
 39 Ibid. 
 
 40 This calculation is made in the same manner and on virtually the same 
 evidence as that concerning tonnage, supra. 
 
 41 Forty-five shillings per month as compared with 27 shillings paid on 
 British ships. Pari. Hist., XIX. 708; B. T. 5 : i. p. 166. Irving declared that 
 many of them were Britons bvit this was denied by the West Indian merchants. 
 B. T. s: I, pp. 24, 166. At St. Eustatius the rate was $io per month. Com. of 
 
 R. I., I. 354. 
 
 42 Papers printed by the order of the assembly of Jamaica for submission to 
 Parliament, St. I?.go, 1784. 
 
 43 In a list of vessels arriving at Jamaica from North America between 
 Christmas, 1766, and Christmas, 1767, only 3 per cent, are listed as ^^'est Indian 
 vessels. P. R. O., C. O. 142: 19. Actual examples of the ownership of such 
 vessels by West Indians are found in Pemberton Papers, XXIV. 44; XXV. 110. 
 
 44 1 have adopted the terminology employed by persons testifying before 
 the Committee of Trade in 1784. 
 
28 I Herbert C. Bell 
 
 stages of their voyages at least freights of tempting bulk.*^ Yet 
 they were under a serious handicap in competing with American 
 vessels, and particularly with those of the smaller type. Owing to 
 their large size and the inability of their owners to deal at so great 
 a distance with producers, their operations in America were confined 
 to large ports.*'' The freights which they here took on for the 
 islands had been assembled at some expense and purchased by agents 
 on commission.*'^ By build they were unfitted for the carriage of 
 lumber, yet the expenses of operating them were relatively high.*® 
 Most fatal of all was the fact that a full voyage could not regularly 
 be completed within a year.*^ It is not surprising then to find that 
 few ships were thus stationed for any length of time.^'' The 
 "seekers" were vessels which ran between the islands and the 
 continent in order to fill up time during which they would otherwise 
 have been lying idle in West Indian harbors. Some had left British 
 goods in southern Europe and crossed in ballast to the islands; 
 others were British slavers. All were waiting to carry West Indian 
 produce home. What profit they picked up in the intercolonial 
 trade was merely added gain, for the three months' trip to the 
 continent involved but little extra expense.''^ It would seem, how- 
 
 45 Generally speaking, the bulk of freights carried from Great Britain to 
 North America or the West Indies was small as compared with that of the return 
 ladings. According to Irving the proportion was as i to lo. Again the bulk of 
 the southbound greatly exceeded the bulk of the northbound cargoes passing 
 between North America and the West Indies. B. T. 5: i, pp. 120-122, 132; 
 Coates Papers, Michael Atkins to John Reynell, Bristol, January 15, 1755. 
 
 46 They apparently averaged about 200 tons in burthen, B. T. 5 : i, pp. 14, 
 64 ; return of vessels entering Jamaica from North America between Christmas, 
 1766, and Christmas, 1767, P. R. O., C. O. 142: 19; Br. Mus., Add. MSS. 12404. 
 
 4" The rate for purchasing in North America was 5 per cent, to 6 per cent. 
 i» 1755. Coates Papers, Michael Atkins to John Reynell, Bristol, January 15, 1755. 
 ^s Ibid., B. T. s : i, pp. 53, 54. 
 
 49 The crop of sugar and rum came on the West India market from January 
 to June. Com. of R. I., I. 20, 225, 443, et al. But a vessel would not in many 
 cases receive a full lading before the late spring and for the trip to England 
 anywhere from 6 to 11 weeks were necessary. Ibid., pp. 383, 390, 392, 396, 403, 
 499. If she arrived in England in July she would not be ready to sail again 
 before late August or September. Ibid., pp. 403, 413; Coates Papers, Michael 
 Atkins to John Reynell, Bristol, January 15, 1755. Yet it was necessary that she 
 should reach North America, discharge her cargo, reload, and arrive at the 
 islands by Christmas time or the beginning of January. Com. of R. I., I. 433 ; 
 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 13, 14; Coates Papers, Michael Atkins to John Reynell, Bristol, 
 January 15, 1755. That she should succeed in doing this year after year was 
 practically impossible. Atkins to Reynell, supra; B. T. 5 : i, p. 13. 
 
 50 Irving's statement to this effect, B. T. 5 : i, p. 121, is borne out by a letter 
 of Elias Bland to John Reynell, August 17, 1756, in the Coates Papers. , 
 
 51 Some in fact went merely in return for the promise of a lading for Eng-i 
 land, others in order to escape hurricanes. B. T. 5 : i, pp. 39, 40, 64. I 
 
- IVes/ Indian Trade before the Revohitio7i 282 
 
 ever, that their share of the carr>'ing trade, like that of the stationed 
 ships, was comparatively small. ^- 
 
 So much for the general outlines of the trade. For the study of 
 details it will be convenient to confine our attention to the simple 
 and typical case of a small ship, owned and despatched by a North 
 American merchant, carrying no supercargo, and engaging for the 
 time in no other branch of commerce. The cargo of such a vessel, 
 taken on at one or at several ports," was usually the property of a 
 number of persons. Besides the large share of the merchant prin- 
 cipally concerned, various small lots of goods, representing the re- 
 mittances and " ventures "^^ of North Americans or goods purchased 
 on the orders of West Indians,^^ were taken as freight. On the deck 
 were placed piles of lumber,^'^ live stock," and casks of salt provi- 
 sions f^ below were stored more perishable goods. But deck and 
 hold were both well filled, for lumber, which on an average voyage 
 filled two-thirds of all the space,''* was used to fill all gaps.^° The 
 cargo safely stowed and bonds given for its delivery at destinations 
 legally permissible,^^ the sailing orders^- were opened. In the fram- 
 ing of these orders careful consideration had probably been given 
 to the nature and amounts of shipments which had recently left 
 
 52 B. T. 5 : I, pp. 48, 53, 54. According to the report of the governor of Ja- 
 maica in 1774 very few British ships carried American produce to that island. C. 
 O. 137: 69. The return of vessels arriving at Jamaica from North America be- 
 tween Christmas, 1766, and Christmas, 1767, shows that the tonnage of the British 
 vessels amounted to only 17 per cent, of the whole. C. O. 142: 19. It will be 
 remembered that the trade of Jamaica amounted to nearly half that of all the 
 British islands combined. 
 
 53 Excellent specimens of the old warehouses occupied by the West Indian 
 merchants are still to be found on the Delaware waterfront at Philadelphia. 
 
 ■ 54 A " venture " consisted of any consignment of goods sent as a matter of 
 speculation to be sold for whatever they would bring. It might comprise no 
 more than a single barrel of hams despatched by some thrifty housewife. Pem- 
 berton Papers, XXI. 79; Clifford Papers, IV. 114; Coates Papers, Joshua Howell 
 to John Reynell, Barbados, August 3, 1748- 
 
 55 Some West Indian merchants probably contracted for fixed annual sup- 
 plies of North American goods. Com. of R. I., I. 176. 
 
 56 Evidence of Brook Watson before the Committee of Trade, March 20, 
 1784. Com. of R. I., I. 257, 490. The practice was not however without its dis- 
 advantages. B. T. 5 : I, p. 54; Com. of R. I., I. 450, 45i- 
 
 5T Com. of R. I., I. 261. 
 
 58 Ibid., p. 257. 
 
 59 According at least to Irving's estimate, B. T. 5: i, p. 158. 
 
 60 Clifford Papers, V. 121 ; Com. of R. I., I. 257. 
 
 61 Specimens of the various kinds of bonds and certificates then in use are 
 preserved in the collection of the Hist. Soc. of Pa., Custom House Papers, Phila- 
 delphia, I. 
 
 62 E. g., Com. of R. I., I. 60, 64, 96, 162, 
 
2 83 Herbert C Bell 
 
 North America for particular West India islands and to the direc- 
 tion of the prevailing winds.*'^ On conclusions arrived at from these 
 facts, and because agreements had been made for the dehvery of 
 goods at certain ports, the routes to be followed on both the outward 
 and the home voyages were perhaps laid down. But more likely was 
 the captain to discover that the owners expected him to search out 
 the places where the highest prices were to be obtained in the dis- 
 posal of his out-cargo and the lowest in the purchase of the return 
 lading.*'* Supposing that he received orders so loosely framed, his 
 route was largely predetermined by the direction of the winds. By 
 searching first the Windward Islands, then the Leeward, and finally 
 Jamaica he found through most of the year winds which favored 
 him at every stage.*'^ The voyage from the last continental to the 
 first island port occupied, in ordinary weather, from three to four 
 weeks. ''^ 
 
 Having arrived in the islands the captain had at once to set about 
 disposing of his goods. Disposal of at least a part had probably 
 been prearranged. Some parcels had been sent as remittances to 
 creditors, others consigned to commission agents who undertook 
 sale and collection at a rate of ten or twelve per cent.^' Regarding 
 the disposition of the remainder a choice of methods offered. The 
 captain delivered them to commission agents,^^ personally sold them 
 to merchants and planters in considerable lots,*''* or, as a last resort, 
 retailed them from a shop rented for the purpose.'" In any case his 
 difficulties were great. West Indian merchants and planters alike 
 enjoyed but small repute in business affairs,'^ and. irrespective of 
 
 63/izJ., pp. 257, 258. 
 
 64 It is possible that the merchants of Philadelphia issued orders of this sort 
 more frequently than those of Rhode Island. Such a conclusion might be drawn 
 from such papers as have been examined. But in Rhode Island the practice was 
 not unknown. Com. of R. I., I. 15. 
 
 G5 The reason for this becomes apparent on the examination of any chart 
 showing the direction of the prevailing winds. Particularly good instances of 
 such voyages are found in the Clifford Papers, IV. 96, 114. 
 
 ee Com. of R. I., I. 35, 41, 82, 133, 134, 167, 192, 216, 255, 263, et al. 
 
 6" Clifford Papers, V. 175, 178; Coates Papers, David Togo to John Reynell, 
 Antigua, May 31, 1756. This was the rate in 1770. It appears to have been 15 
 per cent, some j'ears earlier. 
 
 68 This was the method followed in what probably constituted a great major- 
 ity of cases. 
 
 69 Pemberton Papers, XXIV. 21; Com. of R. I., I. 255. In some cases at 
 least the captain in making such sales was paid at about the usual commission 
 rate. Ibid., p, 61. 
 
 "0 This method was probably adopted only in rare cases after the middle of 
 the century and then with little success. Clifford Papers, IV. 144, 145. 
 
 '1 The North Americans constantly accused them of being generally negli- 
 gent, reckless in contracting debts and slow in offering payment. Sometimes we 
 
JVesl India7i Trade before the Revolution 284 
 
 the characters of the persons engaged, the keenest bargaining was 
 required in every deal. Thanks to the snialhiess of the islands and 
 their extreme dependence on oiitside supplies, any kind of American 
 produce was apt to command very different prices in any two of 
 them at the same time. For the same reasons prices fell and rose 
 sharply with the arrival of fresh consignments or the non-appear- 
 ance" of those expected/- Again, the price agreed upon in any par- 
 ticular bargain was arrived at with reference to the method of pay- 
 ment. On account of the scarcity of currency,'^ the difficulty in the 
 collection of debts,"* and the superior opportunities for purchase of 
 West Indian produce oft'ered by the foreign islands,'^ cash and bills 
 of exchange^"^ were in great demand. Hence North American goods 
 were disposed of at a much lower rate where money was oft'ered 
 than where credit had to be given" or local produce accepted in ex- 
 find charges of deliberate dishonesty. Pemberton Papers, XXIV. 21, 44; XXVI. 
 147; Com. of R. I., I. 174, 175, 269, 297, 373- A young merchant of Philadelphia, 
 Ezekiel Edwards, thus describes them : " A person cannot be too cautious how 
 he connects himself with a Barbados merchant, for many of them keep no books 
 and if they can procure money enough to furnish their tables every day with 
 barbacue, fish and sangree Uic^ they are entirely regardless how their accounts 
 run on . . . and most of them will bear running for years together without any 
 marks of shame and perhaps promise ten times a day, if you can meet them so 
 often, that they will pay in an hour." Pemberton Papers, XXIV. 44. 
 
 -2£. g., Com. of R. I., I. 211. 
 
 73 The British West Indies had no currency of their own and received very 
 little from the mother-country. They were forced to depend mainly upon the 
 small amounts obtained through commerce with the foreign islands, and much of 
 this foreign currency was drained off by the North American trade. Constant 
 but ineft'ectual appeals were made to the home government. See, e. g., the 
 address of the assembly of Jamaica, December 18, 1778, C. O. 137: 73. and An 
 Inquiry concerning the Trade Commerce and Policy of the Island of Jamaica 
 (St. lago, 1757). For denominations and values of the Spanish coins in use, 
 see Clifford Papers, IV. 119; Com. of R. I., I. 467. 
 
 ■4 See note 71. 
 
 75 Sugar and indigo as well as molasses and taffia could be obtained at a 
 considerably lower rate. This was especially true of the French islands. Thus 
 we find that one American captain was ordered to sell for cash at St. Eustatius 
 the British West India produce received in exchange for his lumber and pro- 
 visions, and to use the cash so obtained in the purchase of molasses, sugar, and 
 indigo at Hispaniola. Com. of R. I., I. 61. Sometimes remittance was made by 
 West India merchants in the form of produce shipped on order of the latter from 
 a foreign island. Pemberton Papers, XX. 128. 
 
 70 Bills of exchange, which were usually drawn on British merchants, were 
 as acceptable as cash but could seldom be obtained except for cash. Com. of 
 R. I., I. 262; Coates Papers, David Togo to John Reynell, Antigua, July 5. '756. 
 Numerous examples in the Coates Papers show that exchange on London was 
 usually at 55 per cent, to 67I/S per cent. This rate is in part accounted for by 
 the fact that the pound sterling was worth 28 shillings in Jamaica currency. 
 
 77 Clifford Papers, V. 175. 
 
2 85 Herbert C. Bell 
 
 change.^^ In the last-mentioned case, i. e., where barter took place,""^ 
 the matter was still further complicated by the fact that the prices 
 of the articles received in payment were scarcely less variable than 
 those of the commodities offered for sale.®° In any case the captain 
 was confronted with innumerable difficulties and delays. Weeks 
 or even months probably elapsed before the whole of the cargo was 
 sold and terms of payment arranged.®^ In the meantime something 
 had probably been accomplished in the matter of securing the home 
 freight. 
 
 In preparing for the return trip the captain probably received 
 the assistance of local agents.^- Of assistance he could make good 
 use, for now he met the difficulties of lading which he experienced 
 on the continent combined with the difficulties of bargaining which 
 he had. just encountered in the islands. Some parcels of goods came 
 as remittance to his owner on earlier debts,^^ some as payment for 
 produce just sold,^* some for sale by his owner on commission,®^ 
 and others still (probably in answer to advertisement) as casual 
 freights.®^ Finally, purchases were to be made with cash which he 
 now had in hand. Such purchases probably necessitated visits to 
 foreign islands,®^ but, no matter where the bargaining was done, in- 
 
 78 Report of the Committee of Trade, B. T. 5 : i, p. 215; Com. of R. I., I. 
 34, 224; Clifford Papers, IV. 33; V. 175. 
 "3 Com. of R. L, I. 178, 224, 320. 
 
 80 Sugar varied in value according to its fineness of grain and its color, 
 rum according to its strength or " proof ". A common test was that rum should 
 " sink oil ". Variations are to be found even in the case of molasses. Moreover 
 special prices were commanded by the rum and sugar of certain islands, e. g., 
 Jamaica rum and St. Kitts sugar. The price of course also varied according to 
 demand and supply. Thus American captains feared to push their purchases 
 lest by so doing they might advance the prices. In general prices were low in 
 the spring when the new produce came in and high in the autumn. Thus rum 
 sold from January to July at 23 pence to 33 pence per gallon, and from August 
 to December at 23 pence to 48 pence. Clifford Papers, IV. 114, 145, 230, 233; 
 Coates Papers; Com. of R. I., I. 45, 51, 81, 84, 168, 179, 198, 225, 229, 296, 312, 
 325, 371. 373; Hist. Soc. of Pa., Wharton Papers, Journal of Charles Wharton, 
 pp. 490, 495. 
 
 81 Com. of R. I., I. 36, 360, 366. 
 
 82 E. g., ibid., pp. 196, 225, 244. 
 
 83 Pemberton Papers, XX. 128; Com. of R. I., I. 6. 
 
 84 Thus a commission agent sometimes tindertook to remit by return voyage 
 West Indian goods in part payment for the North American produce sent down. 
 Pemberton Papers, XX. 128. 
 
 85 The commission rate in Philadelphia was 10 per cent. Clifford Papers, 
 V. 178. 
 
 86 Pemberton Papers, XIX. 29; XXIV. 21. Some of these casual freights 
 were also for sale on commission. 
 
 87 Of these the French portion of Santo Domingo was the favorite. Here 
 was produced more than one-half of all the molasses and tafifia made in the 
 
 AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XXII. — 19. 
 
PVes^ Indian Trade before the RrvpLuliofi ' •' :'}i6 :". • • ;*•, 
 
 numerable variations of price, arising again from conditions of supply 
 and demand, from differences in the qualities and values of the 
 goods, and from methods of payment had to be taken into account. 
 Since the first installments of the crops were often sold in advance**® 
 he had perhaps to consider himself fortunate that purchases could 
 be made at all. And even when all negotiations were completed, 
 serious difficulties were encountered in the actual assembling of the 
 goods. The produce of the sugar plantations came gradually to 
 market from February to June,^^** while bad weather sometimes pre- 
 vented for weeks the operation of the primitive horse-driven mills 
 in which the cane was ground."" So dilatory were the planters in 
 carrying their produce to the shipping ports that purchasers had 
 often to sail around the islands and invade the plantations in order 
 to secure their goods. ^^ Thus the captain had again to encounter 
 endless delays before he could announce to an impatient owner that 
 the ship was ready to clear for home.°- 
 
 Viewed thus in detail, the trade seems almost a trivial thing. In 
 reality it constituted a vital part of the greatest commercial system 
 
 French islands. Before 1767 trade with the British North Americans was carried 
 on mainly through the port of Monte Christi, a Spanish boundary port notorious 
 as existing almost solely for this purpose. During the Seven Years' War " flags 
 of truce " were employed and at its close the removal of Acadians to Santo 
 Domingo was used to screen much of this commerce. In 1767 the French govern- 
 ment in order to secure to itself the regulation and profits of this trade opened 
 St. Nicholas Mole to foreign vessels of 100 tons or more and allowed the impor- 
 tation there of wood, tar, live stock, and hides. The restriction as to tonnage 
 was seemingly not enforced and the importation of fish was permitted shortly 
 afterwards. According to an official report 465,000 gallons of molasses were 
 sold at St. Nicholas for 23 sous (currency) per gal. from July to September, 1774. 
 Archives du Ministere des Colonies, .St. Domingue, first ser., nos. 128, 129, 130, 
 135; second sen, no. 24; C. O. 137: 59; C. O. 5: 38; Gazette de France for 
 1767, p. 611. 
 
 8s Com. of R. I.. I. 231, 243. 
 
 so B. T. 5 : I, p. 19; Com. of R. I., I. 20, 225, 265, 433. The harvest on the 
 north side of Jamaica began in March, on the south side in February. In some 
 parts of the island sugar was made throughout most of the year. 
 
 90 Com. of R. I., I. 36, 432. 
 
 91 Clifford Papers, IV. 157, 159; Com. of R. I., I. 192, 196. 
 
 92 " Vessels from North America think nothing of lying four, five or six 
 months". Clifford Papers, IV. 159, Harper to Clifford, Grenada, March 10, 1765. 
 Perhaps American captains and merchants did not always find these delays espe- 
 cially onerous. We learn that Captain Zacha. Hutchins of Philadelphia gambled 
 away " several hundred pounds in specie — also his brig valued at £750 " at Bar- 
 bados in 1770. Pemberton Papers, XXI. 79. On the other hand, Benjamin 
 Birkett is able to announce that his friend and travelling companion Ezekiel 
 Edwards is " the same in every instance as when he left Philadelphia, not cor- 
 rupted by the vices of the island ". Coates Papers, Benjamin Birkett to Samuel 
 Coates, Barbados, October 10, 1772. 
 
Vv :;.•"! P'^J.'-' ''. : . }Vsst .Indian Trade before the Revolutioji 
 
 of the century. ^^ To the West Indian its continuance was an essen- 
 tial condition of his prosperity, almost of his existence. Lumber and 
 provisions produced in the islands or brought from Europe were 
 high in price and irregular in supply. Reliance upon them must 
 have made serious if not fatal inroads both on the planter's profits 
 and on the productive power of the islands. Nor would the loss 
 consequent on interruption of trade with North America have ended 
 there, for molasses and rum could not even in greatly reduced quan- 
 tities have maintained their prices if offered in the European market 
 alone. As for the continental colonies, trade as they might with 
 the foreign islands, the severance of relations with the British- 
 owned group would have hindered their development to a 
 marked degree. Farmers, fishermen, and lumbermen, from the 
 Kennebec to the Savannah, would have sought in vain sufficient 
 outlets for their goods. Merchants of New England and the middle 
 colonies would have been hard pressed to find the means of liqui- 
 dating their debts for British goods and the means of purchasing 
 furs, fish, and slaves. By inference it may be seen how vitally im- 
 portant was the success of this intercolonial commerce for the in- 
 terests of the mother-country herself. Since the economic decline 
 of either group of colonies must have afifected her industry, her 
 commerce, her shipping, and her revenues, hers was a double in- 
 terest in the trade. It is not fanciful to trace connection between the 
 sawmills of the Kennebec and the sugar refineries of the Thames 
 Valley or to state that the amounts of hardware and textiles which 
 went either to Philadelphia or to Kingston were in no small degree 
 determined by the quantities of flour and rum which passed between 
 those two ports. Nor was it only love of liberty which in 1774 
 united Whigs of England, of America, and of Jamaica^* in oppo- 
 sition to the Intolerable Acts. Herbert C. Bell. 
 
 f 3 I have discussed the importance of the trade from the West Indian and 
 from the British points of view in my paper on " British Commercial Policy in 
 the West Indies, 1783-1793 ", published in the English Historical Review for July, 
 igi6. Its importance from the American point of view is so well known that 
 detailed discussion is unnecessary. 
 
 94 The assembly of Jamaica. December 23, 1774, petitioned the king in behalf 
 of the continental colonies. The petition after expressing alarm at " the approach- 
 ing horrors of an imnatural contest between Great Britain and her colonies in 
 which the most dreadful calamities to this island and the inevitable destruction 
 of the small sugar colonies are involved ", boldly asserts the principle that " no 
 one part of Your Majesty's English subjects ever can or ever could legislate for 
 another part ". It protests against " a plan almost carried into execution for 
 enslaving the colonies founded ... on a claim of Parliament to bind the colo- 
 nists in all cases whatsoever ", against the illegal grant of colonial property to 
 the crown, and against the encouragement of the " murder " of colonists. It 
 implores the king to protect the colonists by mediating between them and his 
 "European subjects". P. R. O., C. O. 137: 69. 
 
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