British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763-1785, Part I, Volume 1

Harry T Dickinson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000558593
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

First published in 2007, this collection presents a selection of British pamphlets, which represent the multi-faceted debate on both sides of the political divide in Britain. The pamphlets in this work are organised chronologically in two parts, taking the start of American armed resistance in 1775 as the dividing point. Volume 1 covers the period of 1763 to1785.

[WHATELY], THE REGULATIONS LATELY MADE CONCERNING THE COLONIES

DOI: 10.4324/9781003113713-1

[Thomas Whately], The Regulations Lately Made Concerning the Colonies, and the Taxes Imposed upon Them, Considered (London: J. Wilkie, 1765). British Library, shelfmark 1093.e.72.

This pamphlet is the most detailed, methodical and cogent defence of the Grenville administration's colonial policy in the crucial years from 1763 to 1765, including its concern with the West Indies and what was formerly French Canada. It is less polemical than most of the pamphlets in this collection, largely because it was written before the Stamp Act had provoked a profound imperial crisis. The author does not anticipate the extent of hostility these policies would produce in the American colonies. He does, however, defend the unity of the British Empire and believes that the empire requires a single overarching authority and that could only be the Westminster Parliament. He is as preoccupied with the West Indies as with the mainland American colonies. He sees the economies of the different parts of the empire as, interdependent and complementary, and does not appreciate that the American colonies might so develop that British commercial regulations could have a damaging effect on their economic development. The author is not conscious either of the fact that the American colonies believed that they were being treated unfairly by these commercial policies and only near the end of the pamphlet does he raise the most pressing issue of 1765, which was the colonial opposition to the Stamp Act. Convinced of Parliament's constitutional right to levy the Stamp duty, and insisting that there was no legitimate distinction between internal and external taxes raised in the colonies by Parliament, he claims that the Americans were virtually represented at Westminster like many Britons who did not vote in parliamentary elections. There is no suggestion by him that the colonists might have a different notion of representation and might believe in a closer identification between the electors and their representatives than was the case in Britain. Nor is there any recognition by him that the colonists might believe that their assemblies were equal in authority to Parliament on some tax issues.

The third edition of this pamphlet, published in 1775, claimed that the author was George Grenville himself. Grenville had just died and so could not challenge this ascription, but there is now no doubt that the author was Thomas Whately (1728—72), the secretary to the Treasury during Grenville's administration. Grenville had placed great trust in Whately and this pamphlet is perhaps the greatest service that Whately performed for his political master. Its detailed treatment of the ministry's legislation and the general political stance that the pamphlet adopted reveal how closely the author of this pamphlet was involved in devising and defending the ministry's actions. Whately, in fact, had a major role in preparing the Stamp Act. See Ian R. Christie, 'A Vision of Empire: Thomas Whately and The Regulations Lately Made Concerning the Colonies, English Historical Review, 113 (1998), pp. 300-20.

THE

REGULATIONS

Lately Made concerning the

COLONIES,

AND THE

TAXES

Imposed upon Them, considered.

LONDON:

Printed for J. WILKIE, in St. Paul's Church-Yard and may be had at the Pamphlet-Shopes at the Royal Exchange, and Charing-Cross, 1765.

ΤΗΕ REGULATIONS Lately made with Respect to the COLONIES considered.

THE immediate Defence of our Colonics from imminent Danger, was the sole occasion of the last War: Their permanent Security has been effectually obtained by the Peace: And even their Aggrandizement and Improvement have been provided for by the Negotiators of that Treaty, beyond the idea of any former Administration: There have been Ministers ignorant of the Importance of the Colonies; others, have impotently neglected their Concerns; and others again have been diverted by meaner Pursuits from attending to them: But happily for this Country, the Real and Substantial, and those are the Commercial lnterests of Great Britain, are now preferred to every other Consideration: And the Trade from whence its greatest Wealth is derived, and upon which its Maritime Power is principally founded, depends upon a wise and proper use of the Colonies: From them we are to expect the Multiplication of Subjects; the Consumption of our Manufactures; the Supply of those Commodities which we want; and the encrease of our Navigation: To encourage their Population and their Culture; to regulate their Commerce; and to cement and perfect the necessary Connection between them and the Mother Country, should therefore be the principal Objects of a British Minister's care; and many Steps have been lately taken, which by their immediate Operation, or distant Consequences, may materially affect these important Concerns. Every Man who is sincerely interested in whatever is interesting to his Country, will anxiously consider the Propriety of these Measures; will enquire into the Information, and Canvass the Principles upon which they have been adopted; and will be ready to applaud what has been well done; to condemn what has been done amiss; and to suggest any Emendations, Improvements, or Additions, which may lie within his Knowledge, and occur to his Reflection. The following Sheets are written with a View to facilitate such an Examination: They pretend to no more than to collect the several Regulations that have been lately made with respect to the Colonies: To weigh the Reasons upon which each of them appears to have been founded; and to see how far these are supported by Facts, and by Maxims of Trade and of Policy. These Regulations are many; and have been made in the different Departments of our Legislative or Executive Government: They are therefore scattered thro; Proclamations, Statutes, and Orders: But they are all of equal Publick Notoriety; which every Man may know; which every Man ought to know; and which when brought into one View and considered together, will appear to be either crude, incoherent, weak and pernicious Acts of Power, or a well digested consistent, wise and salutary Plan of Colonization and Government.

The new Acquisitions will naturally first attract our Attention: They are vast in extent, and richly productive of the valuable Commodities which belong to their several Climates; but besides these, we derive further Advantages from them on Account of their Situations: The Possession of those in North America ensures the safety of the other Colonies there; insomuch, that our only dangerous Neighbours, the French, do not think the Pittance that was left them on the Continent, worth Retaining, but by the Cession they are said to have made of Louisiana to the Spaniards, have avowedly given up for ever those great Objects, for which alone they began the War. The ceded Islands are of almost equal Consequence, for Protecting our own, and for Annoying the Settlements of the French and Spaniards, if they should be again our Enemies. But the greater the Importance of these Accessions to the British Dominion, so much the more Care and Circumspection is requisite in the Dispositions to be made concerning them: And such is the Difference of their Situations and Circumstances, that the same Regulations may be necessary to the one, and fatal to the other.

The Benefit which accrues to the Mother-Country from a Colony on the Continent, principaìly depends on the Number of its Inhabitants; that of a Plantation in the lslands arises from the Richness of its Commodities: We rely on the former chiefly for the Consumption of our Manufactures: We expert more from the Produce of the latter, for our own Consumption and for Exportation: This Distinction is so strictly true, that tho' the Supply required by the Inhabitants of the West-Indies is in value much beyond that which is necessary to the Americans in Proportion to their Numbers, yet, that Wealth, that Luxury, and those Circumstances of Climate, which incline them to Extravagance, at the same Time induce them to prefer the finer Productions of other Countries, to the coarse. Commmodities of our own; for the Manufactures of Great Britain are good, rich, and solid, but not delicate; strong without Grace; and rather substantial than elegant: To the plain, the industrious and frugal Republican of America, who is content with the Necessaries of Life, these are welcome, because they are useful: but they are not equally acceptable to the West-Indians, who think themselves intitled to Superfluities, and whole aristrocratical Opulence enables them to demand the Products of the East Indies, and other Countries, more similar in Climate, in Taste, and in Manners, to their own. We are therefore for the most part only Merchants to the one, and fell to them what we ourselves purchase; but we are both Merchants and Manufacturers to the other. The Returns too from each of these Countries, are as different as their Demands: The Products of the Continent are the Earnings of Industry; those of the Islands are the Improvements of Wealth: To an American therefore a numerous Family is Substance; but a West Indian must depend entirely upon his Capital: He cannot labour himself; he can acquire nothing but by Purchase and Expence. From this Difference of Circumstances it is evident, that the Object of Government with respect to the Acquisitions in North America, should be to tempt Inhabitants thither, and to encourage Population; and with respect to the ceded Islands, to enforce the speedy Culture and Improvement of Spots productive of such valuable Commodities, but still requiring a considerable Expence to raise and manage those Commodities. Lands therefore should be granted on easy Terms of Settlement in the one; but sold under strict Conditions of Cultivation in the other.

Agreeably to these Principles, the Governors of Quebec, East Florida and West Florida, (we are told by his Majesty's Proclamation of the 7th of October,) are authorized, To grant Lands upon sucb Terms, and under such moderate Quit-Rents, Services, and Acknowledgements, as have been appointed and settled in the other Colonies, and under such other Conditions as shall appear necessary and expedient for the advantage of the Grantees, and the Improvement and Settlement of the said Colonies. The Experience of a Century has suggested this Mode of Settlement; under the same or similar Terms to these, the whole Continent of America has been peopled, and near two Million of Subjects now hold by the Tenure proposed in this Proclamation. No further Encouragment is necessary; for Grants in the New, will always be prefered to the like Grants in the old Colonies: Novelty and Uncertainty attracts Adventurers, who besides ideal Allurements, may depend upon real Advantages; they have their Choice to a great Degree of the Lands they will take up, and the first that are taken up will probably in a few Years become valuable Estates; with these and many other Çircumstances of Recommendation, there can be no doubt that the new Colonies, when put upon the same Footing with the other, will be peopled very soon. Many foreign Protestants will go thither. Í fear they will be too much resorted to from these Kingdoms, and from Ireland, unless Employment can be found at home for those who must else seek it at a distance; but the greatest Supply will be from America itself; for such has been the Population of that Country, that many Parts of it can afford to furnish Inhabitants to others. The enterprizing Spirit and Passion for Discovery, which led its first Settlers thither, is not extinct in their Posterity, who are still inclined to rove in quest of new Habitations: They are all bred to the Idea of clearing fresh Lands, and of acquiring to themselves such Estates as their Fathers acquired, by those Means which they have seen so successful in their own Families, in the Provinces which are not yet well settled, this Principle operates within the Provinces themselves; but there are some, in which the greater Part of the Lands near the Sea Coasts and Banks of Rivers, are already occupied; and there the same Principle impels the younger Inhabitants to Migration. If the Colony should at first regret their Departure, the Loss will quickly be repaired by those who are left, and who in a few Years will be able to fill up the Intervals still remaining between the several Settlements; and with respect to the Mother Country, it is certainly very desirable that her People should be spread along every Coast and every River within her Dominions; for the Means of Subsistance will be easier there, than in the interior Parts of the old Colonies: The Settlers will consequently multiply faster, and their Consumption of our Manufactures will in the End be greater; they must apply to Agriculture alone; their Plantations will be open to immediate Access, as well for receiving our Supply, as for returning to us their Produce; and neither the old nor the new Colony, so long as they have Lands given them to cultivate, will have Hands, nor be at leisure to turn to Manufactures: the Connexion of both with the Mother-Country is thereby strengthened, and thus our new Acquisitions instead of making the British Empire too great and uhwieldly; on the contrary, enhance the Value, and secure the Dépendance of our former Possessions.

That the granting of Lands in the new Acquisitions upon the same Terms as they are granted in the other Colonies, will, alone produce the Effect I have described, is not Matter of Speculation only, but is founded upon constant Experience, brought down to the present Time by very recent Instances. That Part of Nova Scotia, which was held by the neutral French, has since their Removal been resorted to with an Eagerness hardly conceivable: I am greatly within Compass when I say that it contains already above Ten Thousand inhabitants, all settled within the Compass of Six or Seven Years; by whole Industry that Province, which so lately was considered as no more than a proper Situation for a Fortress, whose Garrison it could not subsist, will instead of being a desolate Frontier, soon become a flourishing Colony, thronged with a hardy Race of People, who by clearing away the Wood will soften the Rigour of the Climate, and find themselves richly overpaid in the inexhaustible Fertility of the Soil.

It is not Rashness to foretell a similar Progress, in the settlement of our other Acquisitions: Even Cape Breton, that barren Appendage to the same Province of Nova Scotia, is known now to contain Treasures, which the Ministry have thought so worthy of Attention, as to insert in every Grant a particular Covenant with respect to them. All Coal-Mines are, I understand to be reserved to the Crown; if they were not, the Settlers would he diverted from the Cultivation of Lands, to be Mine Adventurers, led into Enterprizes they would not be able to support, by the tempting promises with which Uncertainty flatters and seduces: On the other hand, these Collieries when reserved to the Crown, may be managed by its Officers, or let to such as are able to make a proper Improvement of them. And there is hardly a doubt of Success in the Undertaking, if it be supported by the Expence it will require: For in many parts of America, especially in the Neighbourhood of the Great Towns, a Supply of Fuel is Wanting: Such has been the Force and Extent of Cultivation, that Wood is become scarce in Countries, which were an impenetrable Forest not a Century ago; and the General Assemblies have therefore found it necessary to make Provisions for the Preservation of Timber. Coal from Cape Breton may on this Account be delivered in many of the Great Towns of America, at a cheaper Rate than any other Firing can be bought; and be the Demand ever so great, the Supply from thence will always be equal to it: For the Mines are not Veins; they are Mountains of Coal: Vast Clifts of nothing else stand open and accessible: No Boring is necessary to find it; no Pit need be sunk to come at it; no Fire Engines will be requisite for carrying on the Works: Adequate Capitals only must be had for making the Leading Ways; for providing a sufficient Stock of Carriages, and of Draught Horses or Oxen; and for keeping a large Quantity of Coal always ready to answer the Demands that may be made. These Collieries therefore which do not seem the Objects of Grant, because in the hands of common Settlers they would either be neglected, or prove ruinous to many of the Adventurers, may under-proper Management, be at the same time very advantageous and convenient to the most settled Parts of North America, a considerable Nursery of Seamen, and a means of subsisting useful Inhabitants in a Climate too inhospitable for much Cultivation.

This Island however, and all the Neighbouring Shores in the Gulph of St. Laurence, have another Fund of Wealth in their Fisheries, which will attract Inhabitants without Number, and furnish the Means of Subsistance to all. A Resident Fishery will always overpower one that is carried on from a Distance: The People concerned in it can begin to Fish as soon as the Season permits, and will therefore be the first at Market; and the Merchants who send Ships thither from Great Britain, may freight their Vessels outwards, and be sure of a vent for their Cargoes, in the Colonies near to the Fisheries. By this Advantage they will be enabled to dispose of the Return at a cheaper Rate than the French, who have no such Colonies to take off their outward-bound Cargo: For the Profit of the British will be equal to that of the French Merchant upon the whole Voyage, tho' it should be less upon the Fish; the absolute Exclusion therefore of any French Settlement from that part of the World, (for I cannot call Miquelon and St. Pierre Settlements) will make such a difference between the Fisheries of the two Rival Nations, that Great Britain must, with respect to supplying other Countries, enjoy almost a Monopoly: And the necessary Consequence will be the Population of all those Coasts, where a Trade so beneficial and encreasing is established. Add to the Cod Fishery that of Whales, which under the Encouragement given to it during the last Sessions of Parliament, will immediately become a considerable Branch of Commerce (as I shall have occasion to shew more at large hereafter;) and there can be no doubt that in a few Years all these Coasts will be flourishing Colonies: The Prospect of their future Prosperity has, we have already seen, raised a Competition for Grants of Lands there: And the general Expectation which this Competition proves, will hasten the Event it prefages. Care however must be taken to remove all Obstructions which may arise from Regulations that were established at a time, when these Countries were not in Contemplation: One of these was the Duty upon Whale-fins, which is now taken off by Act of Parliament; another arises from the Act of 17 Car. 2. c. 7. s. 6. which wisely prohibits the Importation of any European Commodities into the Plantations, unless they have been laden and shipped in Britain: But in that Act itself is an Exception of Salt, for the Fisheries of New England and Newfoundland, upon which the Expence and Delay of bringing the Salt they consume t...