REASONS Humbly Offered, why a Duty should not be laid on Sugars.  
IN laying Taxes upon Trade, 'tis true that the heaviest Part of the Duties ought to lie upon Goods Imported, because the Consumption being within Ourselves, the Consumer is supposed to pay the Duty: but Sugars Imported from Our own Colonies have several just Exceptions from this Rule, which quite alter the Case.  
1. The Plantations are a Part of Ourselves, tho' they are placed Remote; the Goods they transmit hither aught to be esteemed Our own Manufacture and Growth, and to be used accordingly.  
The Mistake in this particular Point has been a great Occasion of Our Burdened the Plantations in America; by which they have been discouraged, and their Neighbour-Colonies increased.  
To speak of Our Sugar-Colonies in particular.  
The Product of them (except what is spent in Our own Colonies) is wholly transmitted to England. Here is their Market; here their Profits are made; and here they, who get Estates there, retire to live and spend them: Here they buy all their Necessaries; so much as the  they wear, and great part of the Food they eat: There is no One Argument which can be used to denominate the Isle of Wight to be part of England, but what holds good for these Colonies, the Distance of Place excepted; and that's an Article which makes it still more Beneficial to us; for it is much more to our Advantage that those Islands stand as they do, than if they lay in the Channel as the Wight does. The Employment of Seamen and Shipping, and the great Price they give for Our Manufactures, is a Demonstration beyond the Power of Argument to prove it.  
If Sugar, Cotton, and Ginger, were the Product of the Isle of Wight, 'tis presumed we should count them Our own Growth, and be very tender of them; 'tis plain they are as much Our own now, and to much more Advantage, and aught therefore as much to be valued and protected.  
The Planters are Englishmen of our own People, they neither Buy nor Sell with any but ourselves, they Consume Ten times more ☜ of our own Product and Manufactures, than the like Number of any of our own People in England, any pay Three times the Price for it; they make the return of all their Industry and Labour to us; this is the Centre of their Wealth, the Place where they lay it up, and where their Posterity spend it; therefore to Burden them, is to Ruin the most Profitable and most Industrious part of our own Body.  
But 'tis Objected, That though this be true, it does not appear that laying a Duty on their Goods here can be a Burden or Ruin to their Trade, it being raised here not there, and paid by the Importer, and to him again by the Retailer, and at last by the Consumer, in the Prices of the Goods; all Taxes in general being supposed to be paid by the last Buyer.  
This were a good Argument, if sad Experience had not made it appear to be a mistake; and to convince those who are of another Opinion, 'twill be necessary a little to examine the History of the Trade, and of the last Duty imposed upon it.  
Our Sugar Trade, in general, is but a young Manufacture, and dates its Original within the Memory of some Persons now living, and is, perhaps, the greatest improved Trade, and the most Profitable to ●ngland, that is, or ever was in the World. The first cause of its rise was from the Indiscretion of the Portuguese, who presuming upon their being Masters of the Sugar-Trade in the Brasills, laid a heavy Tax on their own Sugar, which encouraged our Island of Barbadoes, to whom first the way of making of Sugar was discovered, to run into the Trade; and it has been in vain that the Portuguese saw their Error, and have since endeavoured to retrieve it. This is so direct an Example, 'tis needless to argue it. And whoever knows the Sugar-Trade, cannot be ignorant, that it is not impossible to be lost by the same Error by which it was gained.  
In the Reign of the late King James an additional Duty was laid upon Sugar, notwithstanding all the Remonstrances of the Traders and Planters to the contrary; and yet even than nothing but the pretence that the Duty would not affect the Planters but lie on the Consumer, with a Promise of His Majesty to remit it if it proved otherwise, could make it seem tolerable.  
But when time demonstrated the sad effect it had on the Planter, and they applied for Relief, they were answered, 'Twas an Unmannerly thing to put His Majesty in mind of His Promise.  
'Tis true, if Sugar was Planted and Cured in England, the Duty might lie on the Consumer, as in other Cases it does; but here the Case differs exceedingly.  
The Planter is the Seller at our Market, the Merchant here is but the Factor; when the Planter Ships his Sugars for England he consigns them to his Factor to be Sold for him, and generally draws Bills upon his Factor for as much as he supposes the Produce to be, and sometimes more.  
Upon laying the Duty abovementioned, the Experiment was made; the Factor had two ways to manage the Sugars and Bills, and no more.  

1. To Accept the Bills absolutely. Or,  
2. Conditionally.   
If he accepted the Bills absolutely, he would then sell the Goods at the Market-price, let it be what it would, to enable him to comply with the Payment; and if the Produce did not make it good, the Planter remained Debtor to the Balance, so the Loss returned upon him.  
If he accepted the Bills conditionally, that is, to pay when the Goods are sold: If the Goods did not sell in time, the Bills went back protested, or else were Noted, and lay here at Interest and Charges. By both which the Planter was a considerable Loser both in Money and Reputation.  
The Buyers here knowing too well these Methods of their Trade, and that of Necessity the Factor must sell for the Reason's aforesaid, refused to advance in Price notwithstanding the Duty, and withheld buying by a General Consent, and the Consequence soon answered their Expectation, for the Factors were forced to sell at the old Price to support the Credit both of themselves and their Principals.  
But some of the most Considerable Factors being willing to try all possible Ways for their Employers, shipped off great Quantities for Holland, Hambourgh, and other Parts, but those Markets being not able to take off the Quantities, and the Bills still following the Goods, to enable the Exporter to pay the Planters Bills, as above, the very same thing followed Abroad, the Goods were forced to be sold to raise the Money, and the Loss fell still upon the poor Planter.  
Thus, whoever pays the Money, the Planter bears the Loss, and is left in Debt, and consequently Undone; for 'tis quite another thing to be in Debt in the West-Indies than 'tis in England.  
That the Planter is not able to bear the Duty, at least, at this time, is the next thing to be proved, and that is as plain as the other. The War which has lasted now nine Years, has been a General Prejudice to all Trade, but to the West-India Trade in particular: And in the West Indies, the Islands of Barbadoes and Jamaica have been as it were destined to be Ruined, having besides the War had a Complication of Disasters, as the dreadful Earthquake, and the Insurrection of the Negroes at Jamaica, the Loss of Three or Four entire Fleets from Barbadoes, by Disaster of Wether and Hurricanes, together with a Distemper brought amongst them by the Men of War, little better than the Plague, which swept away great Numbers of their Inhabitants.  
Also they have raised Forces, and fitted out Ships at their own Charge for several Expeditions; and in short, besides their Losses at Sea by the French, with the Ruin of great part of Jamaica, and St. Christopher's, by their Descents, have raised larger Taxes on their Estates than has been paid by us at home; by which Means ☜ there is not half the Sugar planted in the West-Indies that was before the War.  
After all this, now Peace is obtained and Trade revives, to lay a Tax upon Sugar would be the same thing to them as a Continuance of the War, and the whole Islands must fall under a visible Decay ☞ by it. Which ought to be esteemed as a Decay of our own Strength and Trade, because it will of consequence lessen the Consumption of our Manufactures, and abate the Number of our Seamen and Shipping, which are the Wealth and Strength of the Nation.  
There are many other Arguments to prove the nature of the Trade or Art of Planting cannot bear it; as, The Soil requiring more Charge to Manure and Plant it, than formerly it did; Sugars bearing a less Price than at first; the multitude of Casualties and Miscarriages the Plantations and Management of Sugar are constantly subject to, more than any other Manufacture or Plantation in the world; with the more than usual difficulty and length of time required to recover those Miscarriages; with the several high Duties and Taxes raised in the Country, besides what they pay already in England, which together is not less than 30 per Cent. on the real Value of their Sugars; with an Impossibility of raising the Price, the Markets being absolutely governed by the Quantities, not the Cost of the Sugars, which returns all Taxes on the Planter.  
Nor are they relieved by the Exportation here, tho' the Duty be drawn back; for all Exportations from hence, excepting what are occasioned by a Demand from abroad, always returns a Loss, Foreigners being too well acquainted with the reason of such forced Exportations; of which we had plain Examples in the time of the Duties .  
We dare not say what effect this may have upon men who are put under desperate Circumstances, as these must be, the Consequence being the complete Ruin of the Trade. For if the poorer Planters, who are by far more numerous than the Rich, are ruined, and the Rich come to live on their Estates, and abate planting Sugar, which they do for gain, and will do no longer than they gain by it, the ☞ Negro's will be sold off to other Nations, the Strength and Trade will decline, the Inhabitants will decrease, they will Plant for Provisions, and must be defended by a Garrison, or they will be taken by the first European Nation we quarrel with.  
There being such a Chain of fatal Consequences attending England, as well as the Islands and Planters, it's hoped, That the Sum proposed to be raised on Sugars, may be levied on Wines, Brandies, &c.; which will raise it more effectually, and with much less Prejudice to England in general, those Commodities being purchased chief with our Ready Money, and the less of them we consume, the Richer we are: Whereas Sugar is our own Produce, raised by the Expense of our own Manufactures, and the Industry of our own People, and we are not the poorer for the Consumption.