every denomination of men, either of America, or connected with it by office, by refidence, by commerce, by intereft, even by injury; men of civil and military capacity, officers of the revenue, merchants, manufacturers of every fpecies, and from every town in England, attended at the bar. Such evidence never was laid before parliament. If an emulation arose among the minifters and members of parliament, as the author rightly obferves*, for the repeal of this act, as well as for the other regulations, it was not on the confident affertions, the airy fpeculations, or the vain promifes, of minifters, that it arofe. It was the fenfe of parliament on the evidence before them. No one fo much as fufpects that minifterial allurements or terrours had any fhare in it.

Our author is very much difpleafed, that fo much credit was given to the teftimony of merchants. He has an habit of railing at them; and he may, if he pleafes, indulge himself in it. It will not do great mifchief to that refpectable fet of men. The fubftance of their teftimony was, that their debts in America were very great: that the Americans declined to pay them, or to renew their or ders, whilft this act continued: that, under these circumstances, they defpaired of the recovery of their debts, or the renewal of their trade in that

* P. 21.

country:

country that they apprehended a general failure of mercantile credit. The manufacturers depofed to the fame general purpose, with this addition, that many of them had difcharged feveral of their artificers; and, if the law and the refiftance to it fhould continue, muft difmifs them all.

This teftimony is treated with great contempt by our author. It must be, I fuppofe, because it was contradicted by the plain nature of things. Suppofe then that the merchants had, to gratify this author, given a contrary evidence; and had depofed, that while America remained in a state of resistance, whilst four million of debt remained unpaid, whilst the course of justice was fufpended for want of stamped paper, fo that no debt could be recovered, whilft there was a total stop to trade, becaufe every fhip was fubject to feizure for want of ftamped clearances, and while the colonies were to be declared in rebellion, and fubdued by armed force, that in thefe circumftances they would ftill continue to trade chearfully and fearlessly as before; would not fuch witneffes provoke univerfal indignation for their folly or their wickedness, and be defervedly hooted from the bar;* would any

human

* Here the author has a note altogether in his usual strain of reafoning; he finds out that fomebody, in the courfe of this multifarious evidence, had faid, "that a very confiderable part "of the orders of 1765 tranfmitted from America had been af

"terwards

human faith have given credit to fuch affertions? The teftimony of the merchants was neceflary for the detail, and to bring the matter home to the feeling

"terwards fufpended, but that in case the stamp act was repealed, those orders were to be executed in the present year 1766;" and that, on the repeal of the stamp act, “the exports to the colonies would be at least double the value of the "exports of the past year." He then triumphs exceedingly on their having fallen short of it on the state of the cuftom-house entries. I do not well know what conclufion he draws applicable to his purpose, from these facts. He does not deny that all the orders which came from America fubfequent to the dif turbances of the ftamp act were on the condition of that act being repealed; and, he does not affert that, notwithstanding that act hould be enforced by a strong hand, still the orders would be executed. Neither does he quite venture to fay that this decline of the trade in 1766 was owing to the repeal. What does he therefore infer from it, favourable to the enforcement of that law? It only comes to this, and no more; thofe merchants, who thought our trade would be doubled in the fubfequent year, were mistaken in their fpeculations. So that the stamp act was not to be repealed unless this speculation of theirs was a probable event. But it was not repealed in order to double our trade in that year, as every body knows (whatever fome merchants might have faid), but left in that year we should have no trade at all. The fact is, that, during the greatest part of the year 1765, that is, until about the month of October, when the accounts of the difturbances. came thick upon us, the American trade went on as ufual. Before this time, the ftamp act could not affect it. Afterwards, the merchants fell into a great confternation; a general stagnation in trade-enfued. But as foon as it was known that the miniftry favoured the repeal of the ftamp act, feveral of

the

feeling of the houfe; as to the general reafons, they spoke abundantly for themselves.

Upon these principles was the act repealed, and it

the bolder merchants ventured to execute their orders; others more timid hung back, in this manner the trade continued in a ftate of dreadful fluctuation between the fears of those who had ventured, for the event of their boldness, and the anxiety of those whose trade was fufpended, until the royal affent was finally given to the bill of repeal. That the trade of 1766 was not equal to that of 1765, could not be owing to the repeal; it arofe from quite different caufes, of which the author feems not to be aware: 1ft, Our conquests during the war had laid open the trade of the French and Spanish West Indies to our colonies much more largely than they had ever enjoyed it; this continued for fome time after the peace; but at length it was extremely contracted, and in fome places reduced to nothing. Such in particular was the ftate of Jamaica. On the taking the Havannah all the ftores of that island were emptied into that place, which produced unufual orders for goods, for fupplying their own confumption, as well as for further fpeculations of trade. These ceafing, the trade stood on its own bottom. This is one caufe of the diminished export to Jamaica; and not the childish idea of the author, of an impoffible contraband from the opening of the ports. 2d, The war had brought a great influx of cash into America, for the pay and provifion of the troops; and this an unnatural increase of trade; which, as its cause failed, must in some degree return to its ancient and natural bounds. 3d, When the merchants met from all parts, and compared their accounts, they were alarmed at the immensity of the debt due to them from America. They found that the Americans had over-traded their abilities. And, as they found too that feveral of them were capable of making the state of political

it produced all the good effect which was expected from it quiet was reftored; trade generally returned to its ancient channels; time and means were furnished for the better ftrengthening of government there, as well as for recovering, by judicious measures, the affections of the people, had that miniftry continued, or had a miniftry fucceeded with difpofitions to improve that opportunity.

Such an administration did not fucceed. Inftead of profiting of that feafon of tranquillity, in the very next year they chofe to return to measures of the very fame nature with thofe which had been fo folemnly condemned; though upon a smaller fcale. The effects have been correfpondent. America is again in diforder; not indeed in the fame degree as formerly, nor any thing like it. Such good effects have attended the repeal of the stamp act, that the colonies have actually paid the taxes; and they have fought their redrefs (upon however improper principles) not in their own violence, as

events an excuse for their failure in commercial punctuality, many of our merchants in fome degree contracted their trade` from that moment. However, it is idle, in fuch an immenfe mafs of trade, fo liable to fluctuation, to infer any thing from fuch a deficiency as one or even two hundred thousand pounds. In 1767, when the difturbances fubfided, this deficiency was made up again.

formerly