he contest in America, and the subsequent separation of the thirteen
Colonies, this traffic was of course destroyed. Other expedients, well
known to the public, have since been tried; some of which proved highly
objectionable;* and all have been found to want some of the principal
advantages experienced from the usual mode of transportation.--The
deliberations upon this subject, which more than once employed the
attention of Parliament, produced at length the plan of which this volume
displays the first result. On December 6, 1786, the proper orders were
issued by his Majesty in Council, and an Act establishing a Court of
Judicature in the place of settlement, and making such other regulations
as the occasion required, received the sanction of the whole legislature
early in the year 1787.

[*