I> Essays ) 
between a duty on the importation of goods, and an 
excise on their consumption? 
A. Yes, a very material one; an excise, for the 
reasons I have just mentioned, they think you can 
have no right to lay within their country. But the 
sea 1s yours; you maintain, by your fleets, the safety 
of navigation in it, and keep it clear of pirates; you 
may have, therefore, a natural and equitable right to 
some toll or duty on merchandises carried through 
that part of your dominions, towards defraying the 
expense you are at in ships to maintain the safety of 
that carriage. 
Q. Does this reasoning hold in the case of a duty 
laid on the produce of their lands exported? And 
would they not then object to such a duty? 
A. If it tended to make the produce so much 
dearer abroad, as to lessen the demand for it, to be 
sure they would object to such a duty; not to your 
right of laying it, but they would complain of it as a 
burden, and petition you to lighten it. 
Q. Is not the duty paid on the tobacco exported, 
a duty of that kind? 
A. That, I think, is only on tobacco carried coast- 
wise, from one colony to another, and appropriated 
as a fund for supporting the college at Williamsburg 
in Virginia. 
Q. Have not the assemblies in the West Indies 
the same natural rights with those in North America? 
A. Undoubtedly. 
Q. And is there not a tax laid there on theirsugars 
exported ? 
A. I am not much acquainted with the West 
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