CHAPTER VI

THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS


The War of American Independence forms a convenient point at which to
examine for a moment in passing the English colonial system, of which
Newfoundland was in some sense a victim. It may then at once be stated
that in the English view, as in the Spanish view, a "plantation" was
expected, directly or indirectly, to contribute to the wealth of the
Mother Country. If it contributed much, it was a good colony; if
little, its consequence was less. Hence the English legislation
throttling colonial manufacturers in the supposed interests of English
merchants, and confining colonial trade to English channels. Hence the
disregard, persistent and unashamed, of Adam Smith's immortal saying:
"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every
part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry
in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a
manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." Long before
Smith, the wisest of Englishmen had sounded a clear note of warning
far in advance of his age. Bacon wrote in his essay on plantations:
"Let there be freedom from custom, till the plantation be of strength:
and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their
commodities where they make their best of them, except there be some
special cause of caution."

Any stick has been thought good enough to beat those who lost America,
but we must not suppress the little that may be urged on their behalf.