A history of the American people . ufacture their iron ores, their bax and pig ironwas admitted into England free of duty, and Swedishiron, which might have undersold it, was held off bya heavy tariff, to the manifest advantage of Marylandand Virginia. Though the rice of the Carolinas fora time got admission to market only through the Eng-lish middlemen, their naval stores were exported undera heavy bounty; and in 1730, when the restriction laidon the rice trade pinched too shrewdly, it was removedwith regard to Portugal, the chief European marketopen to it. Parliament had generally an eye to
A history of the American people . ufacture their iron ores, their bax and pig ironwas admitted into England free of duty, and Swedishiron, which might have undersold it, was held off bya heavy tariff, to the manifest advantage of Marylandand Virginia. Though the rice of the Carolinas fora time got admission to market only through the Eng-lish middlemen, their naval stores were exported undera heavy bounty; and in 1730, when the restriction laidon the rice trade pinched too shrewdly, it was removedwith regard to Portugal, the chief European marketopen to it. Parliament had generally an eye to build-ing up the trade of the colonies as well as to control-ling it. The home government, moreover, though it dili-gently imposed restrictions, was by no means as diligentin enforcing them. An ill-advised statute of 1733 laidprohibitory duties on the importation of sugar, molasses,and rum out of the French West Indies, in the hopethat the sales of sugar and molasses in the islandsowned by England might be increased. To enforce102. A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE the act would have been to hazard the utter commercialruin of New England. Out of the cheap molasses of theFrench islands she made the rum which was a chiefsource of her wealth,—the rum with which she boughtslaves for Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, andpaid her balances to the English merchants. But noserious attempt was made to enforce it. Customs of-ficers and merchants agreed in ignoring it, and offi-cers of the crown shut their eyes to the trade which itforbade. Smuggling upon that long coast was a simplematter, and even at the chief ports only a little circum-spection was needed about cargoes out of the Indies. Moreover, the men who governed in England con-tented themselves with general restrictions and didnot go on to manage the very lives of the colonists inthe colonies themselves. That was what the Frenchdid. They built their colonies up by roj^al order; sentemigrants out as they sent troops, at the K
Size: 1333px × 1874px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1902
