thence supplying the French with our Provisions. We have Cotton from thence & now from the French Islands we sometimes have Cocoa Sugar & Indigo, the far greatest part of which are exported again from England.

Several of our Neighbours upon the Continent cannot well subsist without our assistance as to Provisions for we yearly send Wheat and Flower to Boston and Road Island as well as to South Carolina tho not in any great quantity Pennsylvania only rivals us in our Trade to the West Indies, but they have not that Credit in their Manufactures that this Province has

Besides our Trade by Sea this Province has a very considerable inland Trade with the Indians for Beaver other Furs & Peltry & with the French of Canada for Beaver, all which are purchased with English Commodity except a small quantity of Rum. As this trade is very profitable to England, so this province has a more considerable share in it than any other in His Matys Dominions & is the only Province that can Rival & I beleive out do the French, being the most advantageously situated for this Trade of any part of America

This Government (since the arrival of the present Governor) considering that the French of Canada buy yearly of the people of this Province great quantitys of English Goods in English Cloaths fit for the Indians use, & being convinced that the French cannot without great difficulty and expence import these goods directly from Europe & that without them they cannot carry out their trade with the Indians exclusive of the English: did by a severe Law prohibit the selling of any Indian Goods to the French. At the same time considerable encouragement was given to a number of young men to go into the Indian Country as far as the Pass between the great Lakes at the Falls of Iagara, to learn the language of these Indians, and to renew the Trade with the far Indians which our Traders have disused ever since the beginning of the Wars with France. This they could not be persuaded to undertake of themselves having of late fallen into the more safe and less toilsome Trade with the French tho less profitable

The Government has pursued this with a good deal of diligence notwithstanding many difficultys put in the way by the merchants who trade with the French & these measures are likely to have a very happy effect, to strengthen the British Interest on this continent. For if the Indians shall be once convinced that the French cannot supply them with the Goods they want or that they are furnished much cheaper by the English it will take off the dependance of the remote Indians on the French, which has been increasing of late to the Great Danger of this province, in case of a War, as well as to the loss of its trade in time of Peace, What is already done has had so good effect that but a few days ago 80 Indian Men, besides Women & Children arrived at Albany from the furthest nation who live about the place called by the French Missilimakenak 1200 miles distant from Albany, they could not be stopped in their design by all the art of the French who in several places endeavored to divert them. When they came to Albany they entered into a League of Friendship with this Government & desired to be added to the Six Nations under this Government, and that they may be esteemed the seventh Nation under the English Protection-The Language of these Indians is not understood by any Christian among us, & is the first time we have had any League with them-It is the opinion of many here that by the arts of Peace, with the assistance of a less sum than a tenth of what the expedition to Canada cost the Nation the settlement of Canada would be rendered useless to the French, and that they would be obliged to abandon it

It is evident that the whole Industry, Frugality & Trade of this Province is employed to ballance the Trade with England & to pay for the goods they yearly import from thence, & therefore it is undoubtedly ye Interest of Britain to encourage the trade of this Province as much as possible: For if the people here could remit by any method more money or Goods to England they would proportionably consume more of the English Manufactures. We have no reason to doubt that it is truly the desire of our mother country to make her colonys flourish-The only thing in question, is

by what methods the produce and Trade of the Plantations can be best encouraged with the greatest advantage to England. It may be that many in England are not so well informed what their colonys are able to produce & by what means the people in the colonys will most effectually be put upon such Manufacture or Trade as shall be most beneficial to the Kingdom for the Colonys differ very much in the soil & inclination & humour of the Inhabitants.

It seems to be the desire of the Government of Great Britain that ye Kingdom be supplied with naval Stores from their Plantations, that they may not rely so much on the Pleasure of foreign Princes for what is so necessary to ye Strength & Wealth of ye Kingdom. Towards this end none of His Matys Provinces can be more useful than this & perhaps no country in the World is naturally better fitted for such produce or manufactures. There is not any where a richer Soil for producing Hemp than in many places in this Province-Such Land as has every year borne grain for above 50 years together without dunging in which I believe this excells all the other Provinces in North Amer-. ica. Our barren Sandy Lands bear great quantitys of Pitch pine for Tar, The Northern parts of the Province large white Pines* for Masts: & for iron we have great plenty of that Oar in many places close by the Bank of the River, where Ships of 3 or 400 Tuns may lay their sides the ground every where covered with wood for the Furnace and no want of Water Streams any where for the Forge The reasons which have hindered the Inhabitants from going upon any of these manufactures are the difficulty with which people can be persuaded to leave the common means by which they have supported their familys to adventure upon any new methods which are always expensive in the beginning & uncertain in the profits they yield This reasoning has the more force because few of the Planters have any stock of money by them but depend yearly on the Produce of their Farms for the support of their Families. North America containing a vast Tract of Land every one is able to procure a piece of land at an inconsiderable rate and therefore is fond to set up for himself rather than work for hire. This makes labor continue very dear a common laborer usually earning 3 shillings by the day & consequently any undertaking which requires many hands must be undertaken at a far greater expense than in Europe & too often this charge only overballances all the advantages which the country naturally affords & is the hardest to overcome to make any commodity or Manufacture profitable which can be raised in Europe

The Merchant will not readily adventure his Stock in raising Hemp or making Tar being unacquainted with husbandry and will more difficulty be induced, because he knows the Farmer does not gain yearly half the common Interest of the value of his land & stock after he has deducted the charge of labor.

One of the methods already thought of for making this Province more useful as to Naval Stores, is a severe prohibition of cutting any white Pines fit for Masts, No doubt the destroying of so necessary a commodity ought to be prevented & it would be difficult to frame a Law for that end with many exceptions or Limitations which could be of much use on the other hand when the literal Breach of the Law becomes generally unavoidable it must loose its force, The Lands of this Province are granted upon condition that the Grantee within three years after the Grant effectually cultivate three acres for every fifty granted & it will not be supposed that it is the intent of the Law to put a stop to cultivating the Land which however cannot be done without destroying the Timber that grows upon it. One at first is ready to fear that the poor Planter is under a sad Dilemma. If he does not cultivate he cannot maintain his family & he must loose his Land; if he doos cultivate, he cuts down Trees, for which he is in danger of being undone by prosecution & fines—The Inhabitants cannot build Houses without pine for boards & covering, nor send Vessels to sea with

* Neither the Pitch Pine nor White Pine are properly Pines according to the Botanists but are put by them under the class of ye Larix the White Pine being called by Tournefourt—Larix orientalis fructu rotundiori obtuso & by J Bonhim, Cedrus magna, Sive Libani, Conifera. I have not seen the true Pine to the Northward of Maryland.

out masts. It cannot surely be the intent of the Legislature to put the inhabitants under such extreem hardships by denying us necessary timber while we live in the midst of such Forests as cannot in many ages be destroyed-And the more that the King for whose use these Trees are reserved, does not or has not made use of one Tree for many years in this Province.

Nor need we mind the apprehensions of some who tell us of what ill consequences it may be if the People of the Plantations should apprehend that the people of England design to cut them off from the common body of English subjects by denying them the fundamental English Privilege of being tryed by their country. Our mother country the nursery of Liberty will never give up her children to the ravenous appetites of any one man nor will they loose the surest tye she has upon the affections of the people in the plantations especially in a Frontier Province in the neighbourhood of so potent & cunning a nation as the French are where the native English are less in number than Foreigners French & Dutch who at present think themselves happy under the English liberty, for the maxim that free subjects are more useful to their Prince than Slaves will be found as true in America as in Europe.

But suppose the People could be restrained from cutting any White Pines it will not answer the end for which it was designed, For if the King were to send People to cut down Masts in the place where they grow and to transport them to such places where they can be carried by water the charge will amount to treble the sum they might be bought for at New York, if the carrying of them were left to the Inhabitants themselves The King in this case must have a great many hands & overseers in constant pay He must buy horses, Oxen & Carriages & maintain them or hire them after the most chargeable manner-whereas the country people carry these Trees in the Winter upon the Snow & Ice when they cannot labor in the ground & are glad to make a little profit at any rate. To balance any hard ship which the Colonys may apprehend themselves to be under The British Parliament has given such rewards & encouragements to their Plantations as no other nation has done the like for the manufacture of Hemp & Tar. The benefit of this however does not so immediately reach the Planters as the before mentioned penalties affect him, There is a considerable difference between encourageing the exportation & sale of a commodity which is already the manufacture of the country & engageing people to go upon a new commodity or manufacture in the first it is sufficient to give the merchant encouragement to buy & export in the other the encouragement would be more effectual if it were immediately applied to the persons who were to begin the Manufacture & run the whole risque of its turning to advantage or not.

Now I shall mention the means which I think most probable to make this Province useful in producing Naval Stores & which may with the least difficulty be put in practice-In the first place, to prevent the decay of Timber, fit for masts every one that improves Lands on which white Pines grow ought to be obliged to plant white Pines at proper distances all round his fields & enclosures when any of these shall dye or be cut down to put another in its place and some officer be obliged to see this punctually observed and for the encouragement of such as shall raise Hemp that the Receiver General be directed to receive Hemp when offered in lieu of money for the Kings Quit Rents at an encouraging price which Price the Receiver General ought to publish, pursuant to the directions he shall receive from England-The Commissioners of the Navy to appoint a Factor at New York whose credit must be punctually kept up to purchase Masts & Tar, made according to the direction of the Act of Parliament, who shall yearly publish the prices he will give for any of these commoditys & the Government to save themselves the Benefit of the Bounty. For some years the price to be allowed be above the intrinsic value of the commoditys, the loss of which to be defrayed by some publick fund, which I believe without great difficulty may be found & if these proposals be thought practicable & useful shall be the subject of another paper.

The Parliament appears desirous to encourage the importation of materials for dyeing which hitherto have been only brought from Foreign Parts I have seen fine Reds and Yellows & good black (the Country people say they have seen all colors) died by the Indians with some roots & weeds, which grow plentifully in the country. As the Indians know very little of the art of dying from what I have seen of their Reds I am apt to believe the root they dye that color with, may be very valuable & we may find some commoditys which at present are not in the Least thought of When I go next to the Indians country I intend to procure some quantity of them sufficient to make a few experiments.

GOVR COSBY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE.

[ Lond. Doc. XXIV. ]

New York 18th Decr 1732.

My Lords-I acknowledge the receipt of your Lordpps to me of the 16th of June last, and in pursuance of His Matys directions to your Lordpps Board have made the strictest inquiry in respect to manufactures sett up, & Trade carryed on in this Province of New York & can discover none that may in any way affect or prejudice the Trade, Navigation & Manufactures of the Kingdom of Great Britain. As to the laws made here, I beg leave to refer your Lord pps to the acts which I shall transmit to your Lordpps so soon as they are engrossed which I fear I cannot have time to have done to send by this opportunity. The inhabitants here are more lazy & inactive than the world generally supposes, & their manufacture extends no farther than what is consumed in their own famillys, a few coarse Lindsey Woolseys for clothing, and linen for their own wear: the hatt makeing trade here seemed to promise to make the greatest advances to the prejudice of Great Britain, but that the Parliament having already taken into their consideration, needs no more mention, whatever new springs up that may in the least affect or prejudice the Trade or Navigation of Great Brittain, shall be narrowly inspected & annual returns of your Lordpps querries constantly sent In the meantime I have the honor to be with the greatest respect imaginable

My Lords

Your Lordpps most obedient

& most humble servant
(signed)

W. COSBY.

SAME TO THE SAME 6 DEC. 1734,

[Lond. Doc XXV. ]

Wheat is the staple of this Province, and tho' that comôdity seems literally to interfere with the product of Great Britain, it do's not so in fact, for it's generally manufactur'd into flower and bread, and sent to supply the sugar Collonys, and whenever a market in Spain Portugal or other parts of Europe has encouraged the sending it thither in Grain, the adventurers have often suffered by the undertaking, for at this remote distance, the intelligence of a demand reaches us so late, that the marketts are supplyed before our vessells come there, and even if it were otherwise our merchants

lye under vast and certain disadvantages besides for freight of wheat from hence in time of warr was at least two shillings and six pence, and in time of peace is eighteen pence sterling per bushell, and by the length of the passage it often grows musty, at least cannot come so fresh to markett as from Great Britain; whence freights (as it's said) are not above one quarter part of what they are here. The main bent of our farmers is to raise wheat, and they are like to remain in that way until the price of it becomes so low, that necessity puts upon some other way of Cultivation; which in process of time is like to happen, because the Sugar Islands cannot increase in the proportion which the Northern Collonys do, and whether some other encouragement may bring them over sooner I cannot affirm.

In this Collony are a great many lands extream fit for hemp, and there is not one farm in it but has land proper to raise flax; but little more of either is raised than w at is for private use, the former they apprehend to require more hands than they have to spare, and labour is still so dear that they cannot afford to hire people for that purpose. Nor do they (as I believe) well understand how to rost | rot?] and dress it.

Tarr Pitch and Turpentine may be got here, but more plentifully in some of the other Northern Collonys, in greater quantitys than can be made use of by the Navy or Nation of Great Britain, if the price at home will encourage it, which I am informed it has not done for several years past, notwithstanding the bounty allowed on the importation.

I am told your Lordships formerly sent hither the method used in Russia for making of Tar and that upon tryal thereof it was found not to answer here, which is attributed more to the difference of the nature of their pitch pine and that of this Country, than to the unskillfulness of our people. In the Jerseys is an extraordinary rich mine and some others are discovered there which afford a good prospect but in this Province none have as yet been discovered, tho' a good deal of money has been expended in search of them.

Some lead mines have been found in several parts of this Collony but they hitherto not by farr quitted the cost expended on them, and if they happen to prove good, I believe the proprietor will rather send it home in Oar than be at the charge to erect smelt houses here

We have a great many Iron mines both of the bogg, and of the Mountain Oar but as yet no Iron Work is set up in this province if any encouragement was given upon the importing of it in Piggs and Bars, at least that it might be free of dutys, It is very probable that in a few years the Nation might be amply supplyed from her own Plantations and it is evident that the whole amount thereof wo'd be paid in the manufactures of Great Britain, who now pays ready money (as I am informed) for greatest part of the Iron It has from Sweden.

I am informed that when the Dutch were in possession of this Collony they sett up a Pottash work at vast expence but found it wo'd not answer, about twenty five years agoe it was attempted here again at the expense of a Gentleman in London but dropt for the same reason, and a like essay is lately set on foot in Jersey; which it is feared will be attended with the same fate.