106 'The Adminiftration of the Colonies. is now of necessity defeated, & would greatly encourage the exports of the colonies, and greatly extend the Brifb market. The fame principles which became grounds for establishing factories at A Petersbourg, Riga, Hamborough, Lisbon, Cadiz, &c. would become grounds for eftablishing these British markets, in every region to which our trade extends. If it be not true, that the pro. fits of foreign factories finally center in Great Britain, the establishment of them is falle policy; if it be true, the B permitting our colonies to go directly to ports where fuch factories are eftablished, mult coincide with the principle upon which the Act of Navigation was formed, and coincide with it. The method of fecuring the duties propofed, and preventing our colonies from difpofing of their exports to any but Britifb houfes in foreign parts, may eafily be contrived; and as this exportation would be a favour to the colonies, and promote the interest of the factories, the laws that should be made with this view would execute D themselves, and be easily administered by any conful, or naval officer refident at fuch factories, to whom proper powers shall be given. F The colonies might also be supplied with Eaft India goods, in a way that would totally prevent the contraband E trade, and establish one of the greatest marts in the world, the advantage of which would wholly center in Britain. In confequence of measures to be taken between the government and Eaf India company, one of their fhips might annually top at fome island in The West Indies, where the traders of North America might supply themselves pot only for home confumption, but for trade of great extent; and the Eaft India company in return would become the collector of all the furplus filver in America, and perhaps alfo fome of the gold and ivory of Africa. Some ifland among thofe lately ceded to us, as the Granadas, or fome neutral island, might be made the place of this mart, and the duties that the trade should pay easily secured. Some revifion of the trade of the colonies belonging to the feveral maritime powers, among each other will be necellary. These powers have in general prohibited all trade of foreign colonies with their own, and yet, if the Spanish provinces were not fupplied with Britif goods and provi. G H fions; if the British colonies were not fupplied with Spanish filver; the French with British lumber, fifh, horses, and live stock; and the British colonies with French melaffas, the trade of the colonies would be greatly impeded and impaired. We have a law that expressly prohibits the importation of French melaffas into our colonies, by loading it with a duty that it can never pay. Happily for us, the execution of this law is impracticable; for if it was effectually executed, a very beneficial branch of trade would be destroyed, and the British American diftillery would probably be driven into the French, Dutch, or Danifb illands; or the French, contrary to their falle policy, forced into a profitable manufacture of that produce, which they now fell as refufe materials. It is the intereft, and consequently the duty of government, not only to permit but to encourage, under proper regulation, thefe branches of trade. When it is remembered, that the law prohibiting the importation of French melaffes into the British colonies was obtained at the folicitation of the British islands, it will appear to have been meant, not fo much to prevent the introduction of French melaffes into the British trade, as to determine a ftruggle between the Weft India and North America traders, who fhould have the profits of it. Thus, by the predominant intereft of the Wef Indians, the government has been led to coincide with their partial views, and embarrass the general courses of its trade. The West Indians, however, mult at length be convinced, that this law has not, never had, nor ever will have, the effect proposed; and the government must also know, that the enacting it was falfe policy. There is therefore no doubt but it will ceafe, and that thole by whofe influence it was made, will be content that it thould, fo far as to reduce the duty to a practicable charge, which will raife to the crown a very confiderable revenue. Some revition alfo of the laws relating to naval stores will be neceflary. We have at prefent a law which, with a view to prefer ve the white pine for mafts, operates to the total deAtruction of thofe trees, before they are fit for mafts. It is by this law enacted, that no pines (not being private property) of 24 inches diameter, 20 20 inches from the ground, fhall be fhould be embarraffed by having trees A C D colony trade, that every breach of them should be profecuted in the fame way, by an advocate appointed to each court from Great Britain, with a proper falary, who fhould be directed and impowered to profecute in that court, not only every trader that was an offender, but also every officer of the cuftoms, who thro' neglect, collufion, oppreffion, or any other breach of his truft, became fuch: But I own, was it not for the precedent established already by fome of the laws of trade, BI fhould doubt the confiftency of this measure with the general principle of liberty, as established in the trials by a jury in the common law courts.Under the prefent ftate of thofe laws, and that trade, whatever be the course of profecution, there is great danger that any feverity of execution, which Ahould prove effectual in the cafes of the importation into the colonies, of foreign European and Eaß India goods, might force the Americans to trade for their imports, upon terms on which the trade could not fupport itself, and might become, in the event, a means to bring on the neceffity of thefe Americans manufacturing for themselves. Nothing does at prefent, with that active and acute people, prevent their going into manufactures, but the dearnefs of labour, in comparifon with the terms on which they can import; but increase the price of their imports to a certain degree, let the extent of their fettlements, either by policy from home, or invafion of Indians abroad, be confined; and let their foreign trade and navigation be, in some meafure, fuppreffed;-their money-currency limitted within too narrow bounds, by a total prohibition of papaper-money-this dearnefs of inbour wil much fooner cease to prevent manufacturing there, than is commonly apprehended. And if the colonies, under any future ftate of adminiftration, which they fee unequal to the management of these affairs, once come to feel their own ftrength in this way, their independence on government, at least on the adminiAration of government, will not be an event fo remote as our leaders may think, which yet nothing but fuch falfe policy can bring on. For, on the contrary, put their governments and laws on a true and constitutional bals, regulate their money, their revenue, and their trade, and do not check their fettlements, they mult ever depend on the trade of the mo. The following general and impor'tant remarks conclude this performance, which is only the first part of a more extenfive work, and seems to be written with great knowlenge of the fubject, and upon the most enlarged E and comprehenfive principles. F Were fome fuch arrangements taken for a revifion and further eftablishment of the laws of trade, upon the principle of extending the British general commerce, by encouraging the trade of the colonies, in fubordination to, and in coincidence therewith, the trade of the colonies would be administered by that true spirit from whence it arole, and by which it acts; and the true application of the benefits which arife to a mother country from its colonies would be made. Under this fpirit of administration, the government, as I faid above, could G not be too watchful to carry its laws of trade into effectual exécution.Some of the laws of trade direct the profecution and punishment of the breach of them to take its course in the courts of vice-admiralty. And it has been thought, by a very great practitioner, that if the laws of trade H were regulated, on a practicable application of them to the state of the 108 The Adminiftration of the Colonies. ther country for their fupplies, they vernment. SIR. Have hitherto had as good an opinion of the Majority as Lought, and of the Minority as they deferve. They have each declared themselves zealous try, and I always beleived they were each equally in earnett. But, for Heaven's fake, in what does all this patriotick virtue confift? Not in taɛking! And yet, where fhall we find the inltances of its breaking out into action? There forely never was a better opportunity of difplaying public fpirit. than the prefent; and i: the world is not trangely miltaken in the characters of men, one would imagine, that abilities are not wanting for the invention of ways and mears to remedy an evil which every day increases, to the mifery of the inferior clafs of peofle. We live in a country fertile by nature, and improved to the higheit degree by the arts of manure and cultivation; nor is there a real fcarcity of any article among the neceflaries of life. But avarice and villainy have contrived to make an artificial famine in this land of plenty. Provifions of all forts are grown, by management, fo exceflively dear, that a family of a moderate income can hardly live, and the poor mult, literally, farve. Aro C the great Guardians of our Rights and Liberties fo inattentive, or fo ignorant of our misfortunes, that they fee not the dearth that is at hand? Had the miniftry ferioudly applied themfelves to redrefs the evils that fo manifeftly affect the people, the deluded public would foon have opened their eyes to fee who were real friends and guar dians of their country. Had the gentlemen on the other ide efpou'ed the interells of the people, and in their fenatorial capacity called upon Gơvernment to redrefs their grievances, and prevent growing evils, their cp. pofition would have appeared rational, conftitutional, and well grounded, and they might have rendered fignal fervice to their country. But both the cne and the other have fat equally unconcerned, while the evil complained of is every day increafing. Britons! here is a criterion whereby to try your Patriots: See who are the worthies that will ftand up to deliver the poor from their cruel oppreffors. Thefe, of whatever party, are your friends, and worthy of the higheft eftiD mation; you need not fear to pronounce them true Patriots, whether of the Majority or Minority. The beginning and ending of any lunar eclipfe, I think, may be determined with the greatest accuracy by G the help of an ordinary telefcepe, whofe magnifying power is but small, with a tollerable large area, or field of view. The end, for instance, of the above eclipfe, I could easily determine to a fecond or two through the finder fcrewed upon one of Mr Short's reflect; ing telescopes, 18 inches focal lengthwhereas I could not afcertain the be. ginning to half a minute through the reflector itfelf, with its fmallest magni fier of 55 times. H I am, Sir, &c. G. G. Copy of a Letter from M. de Romas, to the Abbé Nollet. Nerac, 26 Aug. 1757. were of that I believe, procured me the fingular experiment of the 16th inftant." I afcribe the greatness of the flashes which may be obtained by means of a Y my firft experiment of the elec. A kite, to three principal things; 14. to B D trical kite, wherein I had the pleasure of feeing flashes of fire 7 or 8 inches long, deferved to be published, as you did me the honour of inferting it in the fecond volume of Memoirs, furnished by your correfponding members *. However the electrical effects of the fame kite were quite another thing, during the ftorm, which was but a moderate one, the 16th of this month; for it hardly thundered at all, and the rain was very fmall. What will you fay, Sir, to flashes of fire 9 or 10 feet long, and an inch thick, which made as great or greater noife than fo many difcharges of a piftol? Within the fpace of an hour I faw diftinctly 30 fuch flashes, without reckoning a thoufand more of 7 feet or lefs. But what gave me most fatisfaction in this new phænomenon, was, that the greatest fathes were fpontaneous, and that, notwithstanding the abundance of fire which formed them, they fell conftantly on the nearest non-electric body. This circumftance gave me fo great fecurity, that I hefitated not to excite the fire with my exciter † ; even when the ftorm was at the higheft; and it happened that when the glafs of which this inftrument is constructed was no more than two feet long, I con- E ducted the flashes of 5 or 6 feet long to whatever place I tho't proper, with the fame ease as I had done thofe of 7 or 8 inches, without perceiving the least commotion in my hand. Upon which I have formed fome conjectures which may enable me hereafter to propofe feveral questions, a famous one, particularly, which you have ftrenuously controverted; namely, Whether there be no way of fecuring against thunder, by directing the fire which I have experienced to be fo docile, provided you furnish it with a fufficient conductor, and oppofe electrical bodies to it, as it appears to pay great obedience to them, if I may fo fay? I have been thinking of certain difpofi. tions widely differing from thofe propofed by Mr. Franklin, which I fhall not explain to you till I have tried an experiment I have lately imagined, the firft opportunity that offers. In the, mean while I will entertain you for a moment with the circumstances which, See Vol. xxvi. p. 378. See the fame page, col. 2. (Gent. Mag. MARCH 1764.) G H the length of the fring; zdly, to the continuity of the wire twifted round the ftring; 3dly, to the difpofition of the ftorms. In the first place the length of the ftring contributes greatly to the increafe of its effects; this is a thing well known, and conformable to fome of the first experiments of electricians, who foon find that the electricity increases more in proportion to the furface than to the mafs of electrified bodies, and more ftill by their length than by both mass and surface. Now the ftring I ufed in the above experiment was longer by one half than that employed on the 7th of June 1753, which, I fufpect, had fome other defects, which I fhall presently speak of. In the fecond place, let the firing be ever fo long, if the wire be not continual the length goes for nothing from the first interruption of the wire down to the filk ftring, provided the interruption be of too great a length for the explosions to be produced, for then the fire cannot pafs from the fuperior to the inferior wire. Again, if, during the form, there falls not rain enough to wet the fring thoroughly, it will infallibly be burnt the firit explosion; an accident whereby many of my experiments have been defeated. 'The wire may be eafily broken, even be fore the experiment is gone about; and this has happened to me again and again: To prevent which accident, I take five or fix fpindles, of good strong flax thread, and twist two threads and the wire together, fo as to form one ftring, and thus the wire will be able to refit the strongest dragging or friction. This done, I lay this new string along the ftring of the kite, and I bind them together at the diftance of every two feet, with common thread. In the third place, fome ftorms are more violent than others, and it is very probable that the moit violent are the most electric; but it depends not on the perfon who tries the expe riment to avail himself of fuch. The wind seldom rifes till the form is near at hand, or it begins actually to rain; and in both these cafes it would be very dangerous to launch the kite, becaufe in that operation it is neceffary to lay hold of the ftring. In attempting to do it on the 21st of June last year, at a P 110 Story of the Royal Shepherd. A not lefs enamoured of Amyntas, than Amyntas of Eliza. Agenor alfo was enamoured of Tamiris, the daughter of Strato the tyrant, and the of him; upon the conqueft of her father's kingdom by Alexander, and her father's death, who fell by his own hand, the fled in difguife, and affumed the drefs and character of a thepherdefs, fuppofing that the conqueror would put her to death, to fecure the crown, of which the was heiress, to himself. time when no rain fell, but thunder rumbled over my head, I received fo terrible a stroke, though I faw no fire, that it knock'd me backwards, and that accident, by making me more circumfpect, has deprived me of more opportunities than thofe recited above: To remedy this in fome meature, I ftu. died for a way of launching the kite without touching the ftring, and, after many devices, I thought of constructing a little machine, which I can command at a good distance, by means of three filk ftrings, which I can length- B en or thorten at pleasure, and thereby make the machine, which is a fort of fmall carriage, move for wards or backwards, and unwind the ftring fafter or flower, as circumftances requrie, till the whole is unravelled, and then the kite is infulated by a filk string of fuchefentiment, caufes Agenor to reveal to a length as I judge proper. I have, befides, contrived an exciter diferent from that of glafs I before defcribed, to be used in operations where it is dangerous to be too near : This latter, which may be lengthened or fhortened at will, is compofed of a filk ftring, faftened to the end of twen- D ty feet of ftring, like that of the kite. ROMAS. WHEN Alexander had delivered the kingdom of Sidon from the tyrant StraF to, he restored the crown to the next lawful heir, who, ignorant of his right to it, lived as a fhepherd in the adjacent -country. The dramatic ftory is this: Abdo Lanimus, the fon of the king who was depoled by the tyrant, was, when an infant, intrusted to the care of Agenor, a nobleman of the court, who placed him, under the name of Amyntas, with the shepherd Alceus, who brought him up as his fon, and, dying when he was about 20 years old, left him a fmall inheritance of land, a cottage, and some sheep. Amyntas became enamoured of Eliza, a noble young lady of the ancient fa mily of Cadmus in Phenicia, whofe pa. rents, ftruck with the uncommon merit of the young man, confented to the match upon finding that Eliza was G H Agenor, however, who appears to have known Alexander's character better, tells him that the fon of the rightful king was living, and difcovers his feigned name and fituation. Alexander defires to fee him, and being greatly pleafed with his noble fimplicity of manners, and unaffected elevation of him the fecret of his birth, and puts him in poffeffion of the throne. Agenor, when he conducts Alexander to Amyntas, difcovers Tamiris in her dif guife, and Alexander, expreffing his regret to Agenor, that, by her fight, fhe had eluded his bounty, Agenor replies, that he is at hand. The happiness of Agenor and Eliza is now at the height, by the near profpect of poflefling each other in a state fo fplendid and fo unlook'd for as that of reigning majefty; but Alexander, when he is told that Tamiris is difcovered, and can be produced fuddenly, conceives a design of marrying her to Amyntas, for "thus, fays he, Amyntas "will mount the throne, yet Tamiris "not defcend from it." This at once fubverts the happiness of all the parties, of Amyntas and Eliza, and of Agenor and Tamiris. Agenor gives up his miftrefs to Amyntas, from a principle of honour, for which, however, the reproaches him, upon a fuppofition that it could not proceed but from a want of affection. Amyntas, however, rejects Tamiris, and appears unexpectedly in his fhepherd's habit, and refigns the crown back to Alexander, chufing rather to be poor than perfidious. Alexander, truck with the heroic virtue of the lovers, joins their hands, and putting Amyntas again into poffeffion of the throne of Sidon, and of his beloved Eliza, promises another kingdom to 4genor and Tamiris. As an opera is fcarcely subject to the laws of dramatic poetry, and as little more is intended than to give a kind of vehicle to mufic, we fhall leave thole who have been prefent at the exhibition to determine its merit. |