the commerce of the British
Empire, and why it was, that the refusal any longer to purchase imported
slaves would be so ruinous to Great Britain, and her other colonies.
When this is done, and not till then, can the full meaning of the
resolutions be determined. Such were the links connecting these colonies
with England--with the West Indies--and with the African slave trade,
conducted by British merchants--that more than one-half of the commerce
of the mother country was directly or indirectly under their control.
The facts on this subject are extracted from the debates in the British
Parliament, and especially from the speech of Hon. EDMUND BURKE, on his
resolutions, of March 22d, 1775, for conciliation with America.[106] He
said:--

"I have in my hand two accounts; one, a comparative statement of the
export trade of England to its colonies, as it stood in the year 1704,
and as it stood in the year 1772. The other, a state of the export trade
of this country to its colonies alone, as it stood in 1772, compared
with the whole trade of England to all parts of the world, (the colonies
included,) in the year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter
period from the accounts on your own table, the earlier, from an
original manuscript of Davenant, who first established the Inspector
General's Office, which has been, ever since his time, so abundant a
source of Parliamentary information.

"The export trade to the colonies, consists of three great branches. The
African, which, terminating almost wholly in the colonies, must be put
to the account of their commerce; the West Indian, and the North
American. All these are so interwoven, that the attempt to separate them
would tear to pieces the contexture of the whole; and if not entirely
destroy, would very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I,
therefore, consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they
are, one trade.

"The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning
of this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:

"Exports to North America and the West Indies $2,416,325
To Africa 433,325
----------
$2,849,650

"In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year, between the highest
and lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as
follows:

"To North Ame