A Discourse on Trade, and Other Matters Relative to it

by John Cary

This was the first Design of settling Plantations abroad, that we might better maintain a Commerce and Trade among ourselves, the Profit whereof might redound to the Center: And therefore Laws were made to prevent the carrying their Product to other Places, and their being supply’d with Necessaries save from hence only, and both to be done in our own Ships, navigated by our own Sailors, except in some Cases permitted by the Act of Navigation; and so much as the Reins of those Laws are let loose, so much less profitable are the Plantations to us.

Among these Plantations, I look upon New-England to bring the least Advantage to this Kingdom; for the Inhabitants thereof employing themselves rather by trading to the others, than raising a Product proper to be transported hither, and supplying them (especially the Islands) with Fish (which they catch on their Coart) Deal-Boards, Pipe-Staves, Horses, and such like Things of their own Growth, which they cannot be so well furnished with hence, also with Bread, Flower, Pease, and other Grain; and from thence fetching the respective Products of those Islands, and sometimes Tobacco from Virginia and Mary-Land, have carried them to foreign Markets, to the great Prejudice of this Kingdom: But to prevent this, they have been by sundry Laws obliged to bring them all hither, except what is consumed among themselves: By which Means this Kingdom is become the Center of Trade, and standing like the Sun in the midst of its Plantations, doth not only refresh them, but also draws Profit from them: And indeed it is a Matter of exact Justice that it should be so, for from hence it is that Fleets of Ships, and Regiments of Soldiers are frequently sent for their Defence, at the Charge of the Inhabitants, towards which they contribute but little.

Besides the forementioned Commodities, we have from Carolina excellent Rice, and there has been Cocheneel taken, which as yet is but a Discovery, and perhaps may not meet with any considerable Improvement, till that Colony is better peopled; what I have seen thereof in the Hands of a Gentleman who brought it thence, seems by its Figure, to be much like what we call a Lady-Cow, or Lady-Bird, but is very small, and I take it to be the Fœtus of an Insect, which laying its Eggs on a Shrub called the Prickle-Pear, or something very like it, leaves them there, till Time brings them to Maturity, in the same Manner as the Caterpillar does with us in the Cabbage or Collard Leaves, wise Nature thus directing, that the Fœtus may find its Food, so soon as it wants its Sustenance. It gives a very curious Colour when bruised, but being extraordinary small, does require long Time to gather in any Quantity, and Labour being very dear there, ’twill not yet answer the Charge; but by cultivating and improving the Plant, which now grows wild, and by being better acquainted with the proper Seasons to collect them, when they are at a more mature Growth, greater Quantities may probably hereafter be procured, and at less Charge; and I think it would be a good Step towards it, if an Encouragement was given on its Importation hither, in such a Manner, as to the Wisdom of the Parliament shall seem fit and proper.

Africa.Now, that which makes these Plantations more profitable to this Kingdom, is the Trade to Africa, whereby the Planters are supplied with Negroes for their Use and Service; a Trade of the most Advantage of any we drive, and as it were all Profit, the first cost being some Things of our own Manufactures, and others generally purchased with them, for which we have in return, Gold, Teeth, Wax, and Negroes, the last whereof is indeed the best Traffic the Kingdom hath, as it occasionally gives so vast an Employment to our People both by Sea and Land. These are the Hands whereby our Plantations are improved, and it is by their Labours such great Quantities of Sugar, Tobacco, Cotton, Ginger, Fustick and Indigo, are raised, which employ great Numbers of Ships for transporting them hither; and the greater Number of Ships, employs the greater Number of Handicraft Trades at home, spends more of our Product and Manufactures, and makes more Sailors, who are maintained by a separate Employment; for if every one raised the Provisions he eat, or made the Manufactures he wore, Traffic would cease, which is a Variety of Employments Men have set themselves on, whereby one is serviceable to another, adapted to their particular Genius’s, without invading each other’s Provinces: Thus the Husbandman raises Corn, the Miller grinds it, the Baker makes it into Bread, and the Citizens eats it: Thus the Grasier fats Cattle, and the Butcher kills them for the Market: Thus the Shepherd sheers his Sheep, the Spinster turns the Wool into Yarn, the Weaver makes it into Cloth, and the Merchant exports it, and every one lives by each other: Thus the Country supplies the City with Provisions, and that the Country with Necessaries; now the advising a former Reign to monopolize this Trade, and confine it to an exclusive Company, was the same, as to advise the People of Ægypt, to raise high Banks to keep the River Nilus from overflowing, least it should fertilize their Lands; or the King of Spain to shut up his Mines, least he should fill his Kingdom too full of Silver: This Trade indeed is our Silver Mine, for by the Overplus of Negroes above what will serve our Plantations, we draw great Quantities thereof from the Spaniards, who are settled on the Continent of America, both for the Negroes we furnish from Jamaica, and also by the Assiento, lately settled by a Compact of both Nations: ’Twas these which first introduced our Commerce with that People, and gave us Opportunities of selling our Manufactures to them.

But tho’ this Trade be now laid open, yet it will not be amiss to enquire what Reasons should persuade that Government to monopolize it, and what has been the Consequences thereof, in order to obviate any future Attempts that may be made to get it done again.

As for the First; The Necessity of having Forts, Castles, and Soldiers to defend the Trade which could not be carried on without them, had then Force enough to prevail.

But let us consider what these Forts, Castles, and Soldiers were, their Use, and whither the Trade is not as well secured now it lies open.

The greatest Number of Soldiers, offered as I remember at a Committee formerly appointed by the honourable House of Commons to enquire into that Affair, did not exceed One Hundred and Twenty on the whole Coast, nor did their Forts and Castles appear to be any thing else than Settlements for their Factors, nor was it ever made out, or indeed pretended, that they were fitted to wage a National War, or to secure against a National Invasion, nor were there any Magazines laid up to expect a Siege from the Natives; nor could they hinder Interlopers from trading on the Coast of what Nation soever; but the Company having obtained Frigates from the Government, destroyed our own Merchant Ships (unless permitted on the Payment of great Mulcts at home) whilst they let others alone: This, together with the Powers given them in their Charter, to seize in the Plantations, such as had the good Fortune to escape them on the Coast, and also their Cargoes, discouraged private Traders, who else found no Difficulties, the Natives receiving them as Friends, and chusing rather to deal with them than the Company, whose Factories also being at remote Distances from each other, great Part of that Coast was untraded to.

Nor do I see what Need there was to fight our Way into a Trade, altogether as advantageous to the Natives as to us; for whilst we supplied them with Things they wanted, and were of Value amongst them, we took in exchange Slaves, which were else of little Worth to the Proprietors; and there was no Reason to think, that the People of this Kingdom, who had settled such large Colonies on the Continent of America, (besides it several Islands) where there was at first such small Hopes of Advantage, without the Help of a Company, should fall short in securing this Trade, which carried with it the Prospect of so great a Profit.

I will next consider the Inconveniencies that have attended this Monopoly, and the Advantage the Nation reaps by the Trades being laid open; we now send more Ships, and supply the Plantations with more Negroes, and vend more of our Commodities for their Purchase: Besides, every Negro in the Plantations gives a second Employ to the Manufacturers of this Kingdom; and had we many more to spare, the Spaniards would buy them, and pay us in Bullion, so there could be no Ground for putting this Trade into few Hands, unless ’twas designed those few should grow rich, whilst for their Sakes, the Nation suffered in its Trade and Navigation, the Company having made this detrimental Use of their Charter, that they bought up our Manufactures cheaper at home, and made the Planters pay dearer for Negroes abroad, than could have been done, if there had been more Buyers for the One, and Sellers of the Other.