<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
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<DATE>2014-09-30</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Simon Charles</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch Z140210.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="B20640">
<STC T="W">C5912bA</STC>
<STC T="G">L.R.305.a.7.[13]</STC>
<STC T="C">N68020</STC>
<STC T="C">R227748</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99887489</BIBNO>
<VID>190459</VID>
</IDG><!-- alt.stc GL.R.305.a.7.[13] --><!-- alt.stc CN68020 --><!-- alt.stc CR227748 -->
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="considerations">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>Con&s;iderations on the BILL for Settling the Trade to <HI>Africa,</HI> Humbly Offered to The LORDS Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament A&s;&s;embled, in behalf of the Plantations.</HEAD>
<P>THe Bill, as it now &s;tands, Enacts, that a Duty of Ten <HI>per Cent. ad Valorem,</HI> &s;hall be paid to the Company, for all Goods Exported, for the Main|tainance of Forts and Ca&s;tles.</P>
<P>Which Duty of 10 <HI>per Cent.</HI> is very unrea&s;onable, and a great deal too much, and that upon the&s;e two Accounts:</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> It will fall the heavie&s;t on the Plantations, which can lea&s;t bear that Tax, and are mo&s;t to be regarded, that Duty being &s;o great, will render the Negroes the dearer to them.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> It is very unrea&s;onable, to pay the Company &s;o great a Duty, where they are at no Charge to maintain Forts or Ca&s;tles, and at the Places where mo&s;t of the Negroes are pur|cha&s;ed; <HI>viz.</HI> from River <HI>Vultus</HI> to <HI>Angola,</HI> and to Cape <HI>Good|hope,</HI> which is about 4000 Miles Sea-coa&s;t, there is not one Fort nor Ca&s;tle, nor any thing like one, nor will the Negroes permit any to be built: Nor is there any Nece&s;&s;ity for them, for by long Experience we have always found the Negroes to u&s;e kindly, and treat hone&s;tly and civilly, all Per&s;ons that come to trade with them, nor ever prejudice any, unle&s;s they are cheated and abu&s;ed; and &s;ince the Company are at no Charge to maintain Forts nor Ca&s;tles, it will be a very heavy Tax on the Plantations, to pay a Duty, only to maintain the <HI>African</HI> Company in their Trade to other Places.</P>
<P>The Bill al&s;o Enacts &s;everal unu&s;ual Oaths to be taken be|fore any Ship can be permitted to &s;ail from <HI>England,</HI> one of which Oaths is, that the Ma&s;ter of the Ship &s;hall &s;wear, that the Manife&s;t or Particular by him given in, and &s;igned to, to the be&s;t of his Knowledge or Belief doth contain, &s;pecifie and ex|pre&s;s
<PB N="2" REF="2"> all the Goods, Wares and Merchandize, which are laden, <HI>or intended</HI> to be laden, or put on board the Ship.</P>
<P>This Oath is both unrea&s;onable and impo&s;&s;ible to be made, without great danger of Perjury; and that upon the&s;e two Accounts.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is unrea&s;onable, in regard the Ma&s;ters bu&s;ine&s;s is only to give a Manife&s;t or Content of the Marks and Numbers of every Parcel of Goods loaden on board his Ship; for it cannot be &s;up|po&s;ed the Ma&s;ter &s;hould know what &s;ort of Goods the Mer|chant packs up, much le&s;s to &s;wear to it.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is impo&s;&s;ible for a Ma&s;ter to &s;wear what any Merchant <HI>intends</HI> to load on board his Ship, his Duty being only to take them on board when &s;ent, and at his clearing at <HI>Cu&s;tom-hou&s;e,</HI> to give an Account of the Marks and Numbers of each Parcel, and by whom &s;hipt, yet all this is to be done under the penalty of For|feiture of Ship and Goods, and the danger of Perjury into the Bargain.</P>
<P>The Bill al&s;o Enacts, that the Ma&s;ter and one of the Owners &s;hall enter into Bonds, in the penalty of the Value of Ship and Goods, that the Ship &s;hall &s;ail directly from <HI>England</HI> to the Coa&s;t of <HI>Africa,</HI> and from thence directly to the Plantations, or to <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>This Bond is very unrea&s;onable, and de&s;tructive to the Trade it &s;elf, and that upon three Accounts:</P>
<P N="1">(1.) It will di&s;courage and le&s;&s;en the Trade, few Merchants that are worth any thing, will willingly enter into &s;uch Bonds, where the Penalties are &s;o great, and the Conditions &s;o hard to be performed, (always an&s;werable for anothers Actions) for &s;uppo&s;e the Ma&s;ter never &s;o hone&s;t, yet his Men may mu|tiny and run away with the Ship, as they did two years ago with one of the Companies Ships, called the <HI>Hanibal,</HI> which Ship in her roving took another Ship, called the <HI>Eagle,</HI> and car|ried her to <HI>Bra&s;eel;</HI> the <HI>Hanibal</HI> al&s;o met another Ship, called the <HI>William,</HI> who was never heard of &s;ince; the Ma&s;ter may dye, as often they do in tho&s;e Voyages, then the Care and Charge of the Ship falls on &s;ome other Per&s;ons; and to be bound to make Good all their Digre&s;&s;ions and Mi&s;carriages, will be very hard, this being to puni&s;h a Man for a Crime he did not commit, nor could any ways prevent.</P>
<P N="2">(2.) It is very unrea&s;onable and &s;evere, that after the Ad|venturer hath by the former Misfortunes lo&s;t both Ship and
<PB N="3" REF="2"> Goods, he &s;hould be forced to lo&s;e as much more, and pay &s;o &s;everely for his Indu&s;try.</P>
<P N="3">(3.) This being bound to &s;ail directly to the Coa&s;t of <HI>Africa,</HI> is very de&s;tructive to that Trade, and that upon two Accounts:</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Several Commodities not being to be had in <HI>England,</HI> without which the Trade to <HI>Africa</HI> for Negroes cannot be car|ried on, <HI>viz.</HI> Cowries, Black and White Bafts, Brawles, and &s;ome painted Callicoes, tho&s;e being the Goods mo&s;t proper to purcha&s;e Negroes, &s;o that the greate&s;t part of this Mi&s;chief will fall upon the Plantations.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> This re&s;training the Liberty to procure Goods pro|per for the Negro Trade, is contrary to any Law now in force, and will put the Trader under the greate&s;t Di&s;advan|tages and Difficulties, and at the &s;ame time make it ea&s;ie and advantagious to the <HI>Scotch, Dutch</HI> and <HI>French,</HI> who will here|by be enabled to beat us quite out, and give them the whole Advantage of that profitable Trade with the <HI>Spani&s;h We&s;t-In|dies,</HI> which they can by no other way attain to. Wherefore &s;uch a Liberty, whereon &s;o much depends, can never be the Intere&s;t of this Nation to re&s;train; no Law having as yet prohibited &s;uch Liberty of Trade, and is therefore humbly hoped no New Law may be made, which is attended with &s;uch ill Con&s;equences.</P>
<P>The Re&s;ult of the&s;e Con&s;iderations mu&s;t terminate in the&s;e two Points: <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> It will be too dangerous, trouble&s;ome and hazardous, to engage in this Trade: And then, <HI>Secondly,</HI> Shall conclude it will be better to lay it a&s;ide, and let our Ships lye by the Walls, than be perpetually in danger of being ruined.</P>
<P>By this means the Plantations will &s;uffer for want of Ne|groes to carry on their Work; there is not a Negroe but makes as much Commodity in a Year, either Sugar, Tobacco, Indigo, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as will load one Tun of Shipping, the Increa&s;e of which Product will largely increa&s;e the Con&s;umption of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Woollen Manufacture, Incourage Navigation, and Aug|ment the Revenue of the Crown.</P>
<P>A great Quantity of the Product of our Plantation Com|modities, will enable the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchant to make large Ex|portations to Forreign Markets, and put them into a Capaci|ty to under&s;ell all other Nations which vye with us in the &s;ame Commodities, which will not only di&s;courage their Plan|tations, but encourage our own.</P>
<P>The Planters humbly Hope, the Care of the Plantations Intere&s;t and Welfare, will be of greater Moment to your Lord&s;hips than any Company with a Joynt-Stock can pretend to.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="half title">
<PB REF="3">
<P><HI>Con&s;iderations</HI> on the BILL for Settling the Trade to <HI>Africa.</HI> Humbly Offered to the LORDS Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament A&s;&s;em|bled, in behalf of the Plantations.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
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