PROTECTION TO THE SLAVE TRADE.

Our colonial ancestors entertained views of the slave trade which have been a good deal modified in their descendants. In 1732 they passed a protective tariff on the direct importation of negro slaves. The act was renewed several times. The following provision is from the act of November 3, 1740, granting duties to His Majesty for supporting the government of the colony:

"For every negro, mulatta or other slave of four years old and upwards, imported directly from Africa, Five ounces of Sivil, Mexico or Pillar Plate, or forty shillings in bills of credit made currant in this Colony.

"For every such slave as aforesaid of four years old and upwards, imported from all other places, by land or water, the sum of Four pounds in like money," a difference of two pounds in favor of direct trade with Africa.

The act of June 21, 1714, to abate the misfortunes of Captain Steel of the ship Benjamin, also indicates colonial opinion on the subject of slavery. His ship was cleared from Bristol for New York, but adverse winds "compelled him to bear away for Antegua, where he was obliged to dispose of some of his servants to help refit his ship." "And with some part of the Produce of his servants he procured some Rumm and Molosos." The deputy collector at Antegua "detained his cockets," and because he could not produce them here, the collector demanded seven and a half per cent. duties upon his cargo, as European goods. From this duty Captain Steel asked to be relieved, and his request was granted by the act indicated.

Care for the slave trade also appears in the act of June 17, 1726, which required all imported goods to be landed at a particular place under official supervision, but permitted slaves to be landed at any other place if the duties were paid or secured.

THE TARIFF IN CONNECTION WITH EXCISE.

The principle of protection and some of the other tariff questions which still divide public opinion made their first appearance in this country in excise legislation. A duty of "one per cent. on all goods imported, and so much more as before the arrival of the

ship may be imposed thereon," seems to have been imposed by an unrecorded ordinance. It is mentioned in the ordinance of Januuary 28, 1654, as not having been collected because "not possible to be calculated on account of the variety of the goods." That duty was repealed and specific duties imposed in its stead by the ordinance last mentioned. In 1694 a duty of two per cent. was imposed upon all Indian goods brought up the river to Albany. With this and a few other exceptions all the other duties imposed were specific.

Under the Dutch a constant difference of one-fourth or more was made in favor of French over Spanish wines and liquors. The history of the period leaves no doubt of the reason for this preference.

By the act of May 16, 1699, an additional duty over those imposed by former acts was laid upon all goods "of ye Growth, Production or Manufacture of Europe from any other part

or place than his Ma'tys Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales or town of Barwick upon Tweed; and ten per cent. upon all woolen manufactures made in our neighboring colonies." This same act imposed specific duties upon wines and liquors.

The principle of protection was recognized by the title and body of the Act of Nov. 2, 1700 "An Act for the Incouraging the brewing of beer and making of malt within this province." It imposed a duty of one shilling on each bushel of malt, and nine shillings a barrel on beer "imported into this Province from any of his Majesty's plantations in America."

One result of injudicious duties is stated in the Act of 1740, Nov. 3d, which repealed the duties on "Syder, pork and beef" because" by long experience it has been found that they have brought up but a trifle of what was expected, of the one hand, and of the other, that they have been a very great detriment to the trade, commerce and navigation of this colony."

THE FUR TRADE AT OSWEGO.

The fur trade at Oswego was of such importance that it received special attention in excise legislation. Nov. 3, 1740, "An act to support the garrison at Oswego" levied an excise of one shilling

per gallon on wine and other distilled liquors sold, carried, or transported to be disposed of, to the Indians or the French, for the support of the post at Oswego. Special provision was made to prevent "the selling of rum to the Indians which is unmerchantable, adulterated or mixt with water." The commanding officer was required "once every week or oftener, to examine, taste and prove" all the rum brought to Oswego, and if he found it bad, to seize it, call in two or more credible traders to taste and prove it, and upon their certificate that it was adulterated or unmerchantable, to "pour out the said rum on the ground or into the river or lake." Upon the complaint of any Indian that adulterated or watered rum had been sold to the Indians, it was to be subjected to the same tasting or trial, and if the complaint was sustained the trader was required to deliver good rum in its place, under a heavy penalty.

The act also provided that inasmuch as the Six Nations and the Scagkook Indians desired that no rum should be carried into their country "by reason it makes the young men unruly and prevents their going to hunt for beaver and may some time or other be attended with very pernitious consequences," any such sale in their countries was declared to be an offense punishable by a fine of twenty pounds.

It appears that the sale of adulterated rum continued and demanded more repressive measures. By the act of September 1, 1744, the commissary was required to taste and prove all the rum brought to Oswego for sale before it was sold, and to confiscate it if found to be impure.

By the acts of 1755 and 1756 the sale of strong liquors to the Indians was prohibited in the county of Albany, elsewhere than at the trading house in Oswego. The provisions of former acts were continued, and the taking in pawn of any arms, ammunition or clothing from the Indians for liquor was prohibited as a crime.

Those who live in security under the protection of wise laws well executed, may regard an act offering a reward of ten pounds for the scalp of every "male of the enemy above the age of sixteen years"

as the very climax of legislative inhumanity. But when the fact is recalled that some of the legislators of the session of 1746 had seen the bodies of their wives and daughters frozen among the ruins of their Schenectady homes, with heads naked and bloody where the tresses had been torn from them, they will not be hasty in condemning husbands and fathers, when "the cruel and barbarous practice of scalping our inhabitants has been begun and carried on by the French and Indians in their alliance" and this colony find themselves under an absolute necessity in retaliation to pursue the same methods and to encourage the Six Nations to prosecute the war."

END OF COLONIAL PERIOD.

Except as already mentioned, there was but little excise legislation in the last twenty years of the English Colonial period. There were some changes in the excise levied for the support of His Majesty's governments; acts for its collection were passed annually or biennially; but there was no substantial change in the system. The compulsory gauging of liquors by a sworn officer was required, and acts further regulating the licensing of taverns and increasing their accommodations were passed. Special acts on this subject, relating to the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, were enacted.

COUNTY LINES.

To understand the pre-revolutionary legislation of New York, it must also be understood that the area and boundaries of the counties were very different from those of recent times. Until 1772, Albany county comprised all the northern and western portions of the province. In that year Tryon county was carved out of it, with Johnstown for its capital, comprising the territory north and east of that town. Many counties have since been created out of the two counties named.

The territory of Vermont, claimed by New York until 1791, was divided into three counties-Cumberland and Gloucester, between the Green mountains and the Connecticut river (the latter being the more northerly of the two), and Charlotte county, comprising

all the territory between the Green mountains and Lake Champlain.

THE STATE SESSION LAWS.

It was at first intended to reprint these laws in their entirety, and with no inconsiderable labor, the copy was prepared for that purpose. It was deemed desirable that those who wished to examine it, might have the whole body of State and municipal legislation before them in a single volume. But when it was ascertained that there were two hundred of these acts, very few of which with the title would not occupy an octavo page, and some of them twenty pages; to reprint the whole of them would have made a volume of awkward dimensions and have involved an expense which the Commissioner did not feel authorized to incur. While the omission of their reprint is regretted, there are some compensations for it. The titles and dates of all the acts are given. They are all in print and may be found in most public and in many private law libraries. Under each law is given a short synopsis of its contents, which will prove of interest to the student of legislative history and correct many common errors. One of these is that the "Liquor Tax Law" of 1896 was an act of novel impression, introducing an entirely new and questionable system, and, as a whole, an untried experiment. A study of the subject proves that there is no novelty in it. It demands from the retailer increased payment for his privilege, but money has a decreased value, and if there is any privilege which in a well ordered government should be paid for at high rates it is the consensus of all intelligent opinions that it is the selling of intoxicating liquors by retail.

An examination of the long list of session laws relating to excise, suggests the inquiry why so many have been passed. The answer is obvious. Many of the statutes are the outgrowth of the vicious practice and increasing evil of local, special and exceptional legislation. Instead of giving to a general law that careful adjustment necessary to its adaptation to the whole State, its promoters have attempted to remove objections by excepting certain localities from its operation. Many acts have been passed, the operation of which is restricted to some town or other municipal division by name.