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 coastwise,
 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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