ernor of such land, plantation, island, or territory, where such default shall be committed, in case the said ship or goods be there seized: or, otherwise, that third part also to his Majesty, his heirs, and successors; and the other third part to him or them who shall seize, inform, or sue, for the same in any court of reccord, by bill, information, plaint, or other action, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed. And all admirals, and other commanders at sea, of any of the ships of war, or other ships, having commission from his Majesty, or from his heirs or successors, are hereby authorized and strictly required to seize and bring in as prize all such ships or vessels as shall have offended contrary hereunto, and deliver them to the Courts of Admiralty, there to be proceeded against; and in case of condemnation, one moiety of such forfeitures shall be to the use of such admirals, or commanders, and their companies, to be divided and proportioned among them, according to the rules and orders of the sea, in case of ships taken prize; and the other moiety to the use of his majesty, his heirs and successors.'

Section second enacts, that all governors shall take a solemn oath to do their utmost, that every clause shall be punctually obeyed.

Section third. And it is further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no goods or commodities whatsoever of the growth, production, or manufacture of Africa, Asia, or America, or any part thereof, or which are described or laid down in the usual maps or cards of those places, be imported into England, Ireland, or Wales, islands of Guernsey or Jersey, or town of Berwick-uponTweed, in any other ship or ship's vessel or vessels whatsoever, but in such as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or of the lands, islands, plantations, or territories in Asia, Africa, or America, to his Majesty belonging, as the proprietors and right owners thereof, and whereof the master and three fourths at least of the mariners are English under penalty, etc.

Section fourth. And it is further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no goods or commodities that are of foreign growth, production, or manufacture, and which are to be brought into England, Ireland, Wales, the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in English-built shipping or other shipping belonging to some of the aforesaid places and navigated by English mariners, as aforesaid, shall be shipped or brought from any other place or places, country or countries, but only from those of their said growth, production, or manufacture, or from those ports where the said goods and commodities can only, or are, or usually have been first shipped for transportation and from none other places or countries, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all such of the aforesaid goods as shall be imported from any other place or country contrary to the true intent and meaning thereof, as also of the ship in which they were imported, etc.

Section eighteenth. And it is further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that from and after the first day of April, which shall be in the year of our Lord 1561, no sugars, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigoes, ginger, fustick, or other dyeing wood of the growth, production, or manufacture of an English plantation in America, Asia, or Africa, shall be shipped, carried, conveyed, or transporte

from any of the said English plantations to any land, island, territory, dominion, port, or place whatsoever other than to such English plantations as do belong to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, or to the kingdom of England or Ireland or principality of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, there to be laid on shore under the penalty of the forfeiture of the said goods or the full value thereof, as also of the ship, with all her guns, etc.

Section nineteenth. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. that for every ship or vessel which, from and after the 25th day of December, 1660, shall set sail out of or from England, Ireland, Wales, or town of Berwickupon-Tweed for any English plantations in America, Asia, or Africa, sufficient bond shall be given, with one surety, to the chief officer of the custom-house of such port or place from whence the said ship shall set sail, to the value of one thousand pounds, if the ship be of less burthen than one hundred tons, and of the sum of two thousand pounds if the ship shall be of greater burthen. That in case the said ship or vessel shall load any of the said commodities at any of the said English plantations, that the same commodities shall be by the said ship brought to some port of England, Ireland, Wales, or to the port or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and shall there unload and put on shore the same, the danger of the seas only excepted. And for all ships coming from any other port or place to any of the aforesaid plantations who by this act are permitted to trade there, that the governor of such English plantation shall, before the said ship or vessel be permitted to load on board any of the said commodities, take bond in manner and to the value aforesaid for each respective ship or vessel that such ship or vessel shall carry all the aforesaid goods that shall be laden on board in the said ship to some other of his Majesty's English plantations, or to England, Ireland, Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. And that every ship or vessel that shall load or take on board any of the aforesaid goods, until such bond given to the said governor, or certificate produced from the officers of any custom-house of England, Ireland, Wales, or of the town of Berwick, that such bond have been there duly given, shall be forfeited, with all her guns, etc. * * * And the said governors and every of them shall twice in every year, return fruc copies of all such bonds by him so taken to the chief officers of the customs in London.

Rot. Parl., 12 C. II., p. 2, nu. 6.

5 Statutes of the Realm, 246.

STATUTE 15, CAR. II., C. 7—A.D. 1663.

"An act for the encouragement of trade."

Section fifth. "And in regard his Majesty's plantations beyond the seas are inhabited and peopled by his subjects of this his kingdom of England, for the maintaining a greater correspondence and kindness between them, and keeping them in a firmer dependence upon it, and rendering them yet more beneficial and advantageous unto it, in the further employment and increase of English shipping and seamen, vent of English wool :n and other manufactures and commodities, rendering the navigation to and from the same more cheap and safe, and making this kingdom 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; and it being the usage of other nations to keep their plantations' trades to themselves."

Section sixth. "Be it enacted, etc., that no commodity of the growth, production, or manufacture of Europe, shall be imported into any land, island, plantation, colony, territory, or place, to his Majesty belonging, or which shall hereafter belong unto or be in possession of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, in Asia, Africa, or America (Tangiers only excepted), but which shall be bond fide, and without fraud, laden and shipped in England, Wales, or the town of Berwickupon-Tweed, and in English-built shipping, and which were bona fide bought before the 1st of October, 1662, and had such certificate thereof as is directed in one act, passed the last session of the present Parliament, entitled, 'An act for preventing frauds and regulating abuses in his Majesty's customs'; and whereof the master and three fourths of the mariners, at least, are English, and which shall be carried directly thence to the said lands, islands, plantations, colonies, territories, or places, and from no other place or places whatsoever; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding; under the penalty of the loss of all such commodities of the growth, production, or manufacture of Europe, as shall be imported into any of them, from any other place whatsoever, by land or water; and if by water, of the ship or vessel, also, in which they were imported, with all her guns, tackle, furniture, ammunition, and apparel; one third part to his Majesty, his heirs and successors; one third part to the governor of such land, island, plantation, colony, territory, or place into which such goods were imported, if the said ship, vessel, or goods, be there seized, or informed against and sued for; or, otherwise, that third part, also, to his Majesty, his heirs and successors; and the other third part to him or them who shall seize, inform, or sue for the same in any of his Majesty's courts in such of the said lands, islands, colonies, plantations, territories, or places where the offence was committed, or in any court of record in England, by bill, information, plaint, or other action, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed."

The other sections prescribe the oaths and penalties.

STAT. 25 CAR. II., C. 7.-A.D. 1672.

"An Act for the encouragement of the Greenland and Eastlard Trades, and for the better securing of the Plantation Trade."

The first four sections relate solely to the fisheries-to train oil, blubber, whale-fins, and the like.

Section fifth. And whereas, by one Act passed in this present Parliament, in the twelfth year of your Majesty's reign, entitled, An Act for Encouragement of Shipping and Navigation, and by several other laws passed since that time, it is permitted to ship, carry, convey, and transport sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, fustick, and all other dyeing wood, or the growth, producti and manufacture of your Majesty's plantations in America, Asia, or Africa the places of their growth, production, and manufacture, to any other

Majesty's plantations in those parts (Tangiers only excepted), and that without paying of customs for the same, either at the loading or unloading of the said commodities, by means whereof the trade and navigation in those commodities from one plantation to another is greatly increased, and the inhabitants of diverse of those colonies, not contenting themselves with being supplied with those commodities for their own use, free from all customs (while the subjects of this your kingdom of England have paid great customs and impositions for what of them have been sent here), but contrary to the express letter of the aforesaid laws have brought into diverse parts of Europe great quantities thereof, and also daily vend great quantities thereof to the shipping of other nations, who bring them into diverse parts of Europe, to the great hurt and diminution of your Majesty's customs and of the trade and navigation of this your kingdom: For the prevention thereof we your Majesty's Commons, in Parliament assembled, do pray that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, that from and after the first day of September, 1673, if any ship or vessel which by law may trade in any of your Majesty's plantations shall come to any of them to ship and take on board any of the aforesaid commodities, and that bond shall not be first given with one sufficient surety to bring the same to England or Wales, or the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and to no other place, and there to unload and put the same on shore (the danger of the sea only excepted), that there shall be answered and paid to your Majesty, your heirs and successors, for so much of the said commodities as shall be loaded and put on board such ship or vessel, these following rates and duties, that is to say, etc.

Section sixth.

land.

Duty to be levied by Commissioners of the Customs in Eng

Section seventh. If party have not ready money, Commissioners may take a proportion of the commodities.

Sections eighth and ninth. Relate to Eastland trade.
Rot. Parl. 25 Car. II., nu. 7

5 Statutes of the Realm, 793.

APPENDIX F.

STAT. 13 AND 14 CAR. II., CH. IITH.

"An Act to prevent frauds, and regulating abuses in his Majesty's customs."

Section fifth. "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in case, after the clearing of any ship or vessel, by the person or persons which are or shall be appointed by his Majesty for managing the customs, or any their deputies, and discharging the watchmen and tidesmen from attendance thereupon, there shall be found on board such ship or vessel, any goods, wares, or

merchandises, which have been concealed from the knowledge of the said person or persons, which are or shall be so appointed to manage the customs, and for which the custom, subsidy, and other duties upon the importation thereof have not been paid; then the master, purser, or other person taking charge of said ship or vessel, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds; and it shall be lawful to or for any person or persons authorized by writ of assistance under the seal of his Majesty's court of exchequer, to take a constable, headborough, or other public officer, inhabiting near unto the place, and in the daytime to enter and go into any house, shop, cellar, warehouse, or room, or other place; and in case of resistance, to break open doors, chests, trunks, and other packages, there to seize, and from thence to bring any kind of goods or merchandise whatsoever, prohibited and uncustomed, and to put and secure the same in his Majesty's storehouse in the port next to the place where such seizures shall be made."

'Here," says John Adams, "is all the color for writs of assistance, which the officers of the crown, aided by the researches of their learned counsel, Mr.

Gridley, could produce." "Life and Works," x, 323.

In the attempt to support the petition to the colonial court for writs of assistance, the crown officers presented, among others, acts, whose contents were, on examination, discovered to be as incongruous as their titles; a few of which are here given :-"An act for regulating the trade of Bay-making in the Dutch Bay-hall in Colchester." "An act for the regulating the making of Kidderminster stuffs." "An act for granting to his Majesty an imposition upon all wines and vinegar," etc. "An act for granting to his Majesty an imposition upon all tobacco and sugar imported," and finally, “An act for prohibiting the importation of foreign bone-lace, cutwork, embroidery, fringe, band-strings, buttons, and needlework." In times when titles were given to acts of Parliament to conceal, not reveal the contents, it certainly behoved a faithful attorney for the crown to be blind to the ridiculousness of what really were, no doubt, useful subjects, and offer all he could, be it ridiculous or not. But, when, as it turned out, these acts, at least for the most part, did not extend to America, were not made for the colonies there, and had no more application to Massachusetts than to Soudan, these offers and persistence of the crown become in the highest degree reprehensible.

STAT. 7 AND 8, W. III., C. 22.

"An Act for preventing frauds, and regulating abuses in the plantation trade."

"Whereas, notwithstanding divers acts made for the encouragement of the navigation of this kingdom, and for the better securing and regulating the plantation trade, more especially one act of Parliament made in the 12th year of the reign of the late King Charles II., instituted an act for the increasing of shipping and navigation; another act, made in the 15th year of the reign of his said late Majesty, instituted an act for the encouragement of trade; another act made in the 22d and 23d years of his said late Majesty's reign, instituted an act to prevent the planting of tobacco in England, and for regulation of the