Pioneers of the Old South: a chronicle of English colonial beginnings Part 5

THE NAVIGATION LAWS

Three acts of Parliament-the Navigation Act of 1660, the Staple Act of 1663, and the Act of 1673 imposing Plantation Duties-laid the foundation of the old colonial system of Great Britain. Contrary to the somewhat pa.s.sionate contentions of older historians, they were not designed in any tyrannical spirit, though they embodied a theory of colonization and trade which has long since been discarded. In the seventeenth century colonies were regarded as plantations existing solely for the benefit of the mother country. Therefore their trade and industry must be regulated so as to contribute most to the sea power, the commerce, and the industry of the home country which gave them protection. Sir Josiah Child was only expressing a commonplace observation of the mercantilists when he wrote "That all colonies or plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms, whereof the trades of such Plantations are not confined by severe Laws, and good execution of those Laws, to the Mother-Kingdom."

The Navigation Act of 1660, following the policy laid down in the statute of 1651 enacted under the Commonwealth, was a direct blow aimed at the Dutch, who were fast monopolizing the carrying trade. It forbade any goods to be imported into or exported from His Majesty's plantations except in English, Irish, or colonial vessels of which the master and three fourths of the crew must be English; and it forbade the importation into England of any goods produced in the plantations unless carried in English bottoms. Contemporary Englishmen hailed this act as the Magna Charta of the Sea. There was no attempt to disguise its purpose. "The Bent and Design," wrote Charles Davenant, "was to make those colonies as much dependant as possible upon their Mother-Country," by preventing them from trading independently and so diverting their wealth. The effect would be to give English, Irish, and colonial s.h.i.+pping a monopoly of the carrying trade within the Empire. The act also aided English merchants by the requirement that goods of foreign origin should be imported directly from the place of production; and that certain enumerated commodities of the plantations should be carried only to English ports. These enumerated commodities were products of the southern and semitropical plantations: "Sugars, Tobacco, Cotton-wool, Indicoes, Ginger, Fustick or other dyeing wood."

To benefit British merchants still more directly by making England the staple not only of plantation products but also of all commodities of all countries, the Act of 1663 was pa.s.sed by Parliament. "No Commoditie of the Growth Production or Manufacture of Europe shall be imported into any Land Island Plantation Colony Territory or Place to His Majestie belonging... but what shall be bona fide and without fraude laden and s.h.i.+pped in England Wales [and] the Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede and in English built s.h.i.+pping." The preamble to this famous act breathed no hostile intent. The design was to maintain "a greater correspondence and kindnesse" between the plantations and the mother country; to encourage s.h.i.+pping; to render navigation cheaper and safer; to make "this Kingdome a Staple not only of the Commodities of those Plantations but also of the Commodities of other Countries and places for the supplying of them-" it "being the usage of other nations to keepe their [Plantations] Trade to themselves."

The Act of 1673 was pa.s.sed to meet certain difficulties which arose in the administration of the Act of 1660. The earlier act permitted colonial vessels to carry enumerated commodities from the place of production to another plantation without paying duties. Under cover of this provision, it was a.s.sumed that enumerated commodities, after being taken to a plantation, could then be sent directly to continental ports free of duty. The new act provided that, before vessels left a colonial port, bonds should be given that the enumerated commodities would be carried only to England. If bonds were not given and the commodities were taken to another colonial port, plantation duties were collected according to a prescribed schedule.

These acts were not rigorously enforced until after the pa.s.sage of the administrative act of 1696 and the establishment of admiralty courts. Even then it does not appear that they bore heavily on the colonies, or occasioned serious protest. The trade acts of 1764 and 1765 are described in "The Eve of the Revolution".-EDITOR.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The literature of the Colonial South is like the leaves of Vallombrosa for mult.i.tude. Here may be indicated some volumes useful in any general survey.

VIRGINIA.

Hakluyt's "Princ.i.p.al Voyages." 12 vols. (Hakluyt Society. Extra Series, 1905-1907.) "The Prose Epic of the modern English nation."

"Purchas, His Pilgrims." 20 vols. (Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, 1905-1907.) Hening's "Statutes at Large," published in 1823, is an eminently valuable collection of the laws of colonial Virginia, beginning with the a.s.sembly of 1619. Hening's own quotation from Priestley, "The Laws of a country are necessarily connected with everything belonging to the people of it: so that a thorough knowledge of them and of their progress would inform us of everything that was most useful to be known," indicates the range and weight of his thirteen volumes.

William St.i.th's "The History of the Discovery and First Settlement of Virginia" (1747) gives some valuable doc.u.ments and a picture of the first years at Jamestown.

Alexander Brown's "Genesis of the United States", 2 vols. (1890), is a very valuable work, giving historical ma.n.u.scripts and tracts. Less valuable is his "First Republic in America" (1898), in which the author attempts to weave his material into a historical narrative.

Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey. The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" (1907) and "Inst.i.tutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1910).

John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E. Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary distinction.

On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske accepts the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited them (2 vols., 1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more reliable than the "True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters of Smith's credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles Deane, Henry Adams, and Alexander Brown.

Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in the light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of literary attractiveness.

MARYLAND.

"The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official doc.u.ments of the province. John L. Bozman's "History of Maryland", 2 vols. (1837), contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658.

J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece of work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable books by John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. Browne, "Maryland, The History of a Palatinate" ("American Commonwealth Series," 1884). Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert" (1890).

THE CAROLINAS.

"The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a mine of information about both North and South Carolina.

Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), remains the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729.

Samuel A. Ashe's "History of North Carolina" (1908) carries the political history down to 1783.

Edward McCrady's "History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government" (1897) and "South Carolina under the Royal Government" (1899) have superseded the older histories by Ramsay and Hewitt.

GEORGIA.

The best histories of Georgia are those by William B. Stevens, 2 vols. (1847, 1859), and Charles C. Jones, 2 vols. (1883). Robert Wright's "Memoir of General James Oglethorpe" (1867) is still the best life of the founder of Georgia.

In the "American Nation Series" and in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America", the reader will find accounts of the Southern colonies written by specialists and accompanied by much critical apparatus. Further lists will be found appended to the articles on the several States in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica", 11th edition.