IN laying Taxes upon Trade, 'tis true that the heaviest Part of the Duties ought to lie upon Goods Imported, because the Consumption being within Our selves, the Consumer is supposed to pay the Duty: but Sugars Imported from Our own Colonies have several just Exceptions from this Rule, which quite alter the Case.

1. The Plantations are a Part of Ourselves, tho' they are plac'd Remote; the Goods they transmit hither ought to be esteem'd Our own Manufacture and Growth, and to be used accord­ingly.

The Mistake in this particular Point has been a great Occa­sion of Our Burthening the Plantations in America; by which they have been discouraged, and their Neighbour-Colonies encreased.

To speak of Our Sugar-Colonies in particular.

The Product of them (except what is spent in Our own Colo­nies) is wholly transmitted to England. Here is their Market; here their Profits are made; and here they, who get Estates there, retire to live and spend them: Here they buy all their Necessaries; so much as the Cloths they wear, and great part of the Food they eat: There is no One Argument which can be used to denominate the Isle of Wight to be part of England, but what holds good for these Colonies, the Distance of Place excepted; and that's an Article which makes it still more Beneficial to us; for it is much more to our Advantage that those Islands stand as they do, than if they lay in the Channel as the Wight does. The Employment of Seamen and Shipping, and the great Price they give for Our Manufactures, is a Demonstration beyond the Power of Argument to prove it.

If Sugar, Cotton, and Ginger, were the Product of the Isle of Wight, 'tis presum'd we should count them Our own Growth, and be very tender of them; 'tis plain they are as much Our own now, and to much more Advantage, and ought therefore as much to be valued and protected.

The Planters are Englishmen of our own People, they neither Buy nor Sell with any but our selves, they Consume Ten times more ☜ of our own Product and Manufactures, than the like Number of any of [Page 2]our own People in England, any pay Three times the Price for it; they make the return of all their Industry and Labour to us; this is the Center of their Wealth, the Place where they lay it up, and where their Posterity spend it; therefore to Burthen them, is to Ruin the most Profitable and most Industrious part of our own Body.

But 'tis Objected, That though this be true, it does not appear that laying a Duty on their Goods here can be a Burthen or Ruin to their Trade, it being rais'd here not there, and paid by the Im­porter, and to him again by the Retailer, and at last by the Con­sumer, in the Prices of the Goods; all Taxes in general being sup­posed to be paid by the last Buyer.

This were a good Argument, if sad Experience had not made it appear to be a mistake; and to convince those who are of another Opinion, 'twill be necessary a little to examine the History of the Trade, and of the last Duty imposed upon it.

Our Sugar Trade, in general, is but a young Manufacture, and dates its Original within the Memory of some Persons now living, and is, perhaps, the greatest improv'd Trade, and the most Profi­table to [...]ngland, that is, or ever was in the World. The first cause of its rise was from the Indiscretion of the Portuguese, who presuming upon their being Masters of the Sugar-Trade in the Brasills, laid a heavy Tax on their own Sugar, which encourag'd our Island of Barbadoes, to whom first the way of making of Sugar was discover'd, to run into the Trade; and it has been in vain that the Portuguese saw their Error, and have since endeavour'd to re­trieve it. This is so direct an Example, 'tis needless to argue it. And whoever knows the Sugar-Trade, cannot be ignorant, that it is not impossible to be lost by the same Error by which it was gain'd.

In the Reign of the late King James an additional Duty was laid upon Sugar, notwithstanding all the Remonstrances of the Traders and Planters to the contrary; and yet even then nothing but the pretence that the Duty wou'd not affect the Planters but lye on the Consumer, with a Promise of His Majesty to remit it if it prov'd otherwise, could make it seem tolerable.

But when time demonstrated the sad effect it had on the Planter, and they applied for Relief, they were answer'd, 'Twas an Ʋnman­nerly thing to put His Majesty in mind of His Promise.

'Tis true, if Sugar was Planted and Cur'd in England, the Duty might lye on the Consumer, as in other Cases it does; but here the Case differs exceedingly.

The Planter is the Seller at our Market, the Merchant here is but the Factor; when the Planter Ships his Sugars for England he con­signs them to his Factor to be Sold for him, and generally draws Bills upon his Factor for as much as he supposes the Produce to be, and sometimes more.

Ʋpon laying the Duty abovementioned, the Experiment was made; the Factor had two ways to manage the Sugars and Bills, and no more.

• 1. To Accept the Bills absolutely. Or,
• 2. Conditionally.

If he accepted the Bills absolutely, he would then sell the Goods at the Market-price, let it be what it would, to enable him to comply with the Payment; and if the Produce did not make it good, the Planter remain'd Debtor to the Ballance, so the Loss return'd upon him.

If he accepted the Bills conditionally, that is, to pay when the Goods are sold: If the Goods did not sell in time, the Bills went back protested, or else were Noted, and lay here at Interest and Charges. By both which the Planter was a considerable Loser both in Money and Reputation.

The Buyers here knowing too well these Methods of their Trade, and that of Necessity the Factor must sell for the Reasons aforesaid, refused to advance in Price notwithstanding the Duty, and with­held buying by a General Consent, and the Consequence soon an­swer'd their Expectation, for the Factors were forced to sell at the old Price to support the Credit both of themselves and their Prin­cipals.

But some of the most Considerable Factors being willing to try all possible Ways for their Employers, shipp'd off great Quanti­ties for Holland, Hambourgh, and other Parts, but those Markets being not able to take off the Quantities, and the Bills still following the Goods, to enable the Exporter to pay the Planters Bills, as above, the very same thing follow'd Abroad, the Goods were forced to be sold to raise the Money, and the Loss fell still upon the poor Planter.

Thus, whoever pays the Money, the Planter bears the Loss, and is left in Debt, and consequently Undone; for 'tis quite another thing to be in Debt in the West-Indies than 'tis in England.

That the Planter is not able to bear the Duty, at least, at this time, is the next thing to be proved, and that is as plain as the other. The War which has lasted now nine Years, has been a General Prejudice to all Trade, but to the West-India Trade in particular: And in the West Indies, the Islands of Barbadoes and Jamaica have been as it were destin'd to be Ruin'd, having besides the War had a Complication of Disasters, as the dreadful Earth­quake, and the Insurrection of the Negroes at Jamaica, the Loss of Three or Four entire Fleets from Barbadoes, by Disaster of Weather and Hurricanes, together with a Distemper brought amongst them by the Men of War, little better than the Plague, which swept away great Numbers of their Inhabitants.

Also they have raised Forces, and fitted out Ships at their own Charge for several Expeditions; and in short, besides their Losses at Sea by the French, with the Ruin of great part of Jamaica, and St. Christophers, by their Descents, have raised larger Taxes on their Estates than has been paid by us at home; by which Means ☜ there is not half the Sugar planted in the West-Indies that was be­fore the War.

After all this, now Peace is obtain'd and Trade revives, to lay a Tax upon Sugar would be the same thing to them as a Continuance of the War, and the whole Islands must fall under a visible Decay ☞ by it. Which ought to be esteem'd as a Decay of our own Strength and Trade, because it will of consequence lessen the Consumption of our Ma­nufactures, and abate the Number of our Seamen and Shipping, which are the Wealth and Strength of the Nation.

There are many other Arguments to prove the nature of the Trade or Art of Planting cannot bear it; as, The Soil requiring more Charge to Manure and Plant it, than formerly it did; Su­gars bearing a less Price than at first; the multitude of Casualties and Miscarriages the Plantations and Management of Sugar are constantly subject to, more than any other Manufacture or Planta­tion in the world; with the more than usual difficulty and length of time requir'd to recover those Miscarriages; with the several high Duties and Taxes raised in the Country, besides what they pay already in England, which together is not less than 30 per Cent. on the real Value of their Sugars; with an Impossibility of raising the Price, the Markets being absolutely governed by the Quantities, not the Cost of the Sugars, which returns all Taxes on the Planter.

Nor are they reliev'd by the Exportation here, tho' the Duty be drawn back; for all Exportations from hence, excepting what are occasion'd by a Demand from abroad, always returns a Loss, Fo­reigners being too well acquainted with the reason of such forced Exportations; of which we had plain Examples in the time of the Duties before-mentioned.

We dare not say what effect this may have upon men who are put under desperate Circumstances, as these must be, the Conse­quence being the compleat Ruin of the Trade. For if the poorer Planters, who are by far more numerous than the Rich, are ruined, and the Rich come to live on their Estates, and abate planting Sugar, which they do for gain, and will do no longer than they gain by it, the ☞ Negroes will be sold off to other Nations, the Strength and Trade will decline, the Inhabitants will decrease, they will Plant for Provisi­ons, and must be defended by a Garison, or they will be taken by the first European Nation we quarrel with.

There being such a Chain of fatal Consequences attending Eng­land, as well as the Islands and Planters, it's hop'd, That the Sum proposed to be rais'd on Sugars, may be levied on Wines, Brandies, &c.; which will raise it more effectually, and with much less Prejudice to England in general, those Commodities being purchas'd chiefly with our Ready Money, and the less of them we consume, the Richer we are: Whereas Sugar is our own Produce, raised by the Expence of our own Manu­factures, and the Industry of our own People, and we are not the poorer for the Consumption.