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THE period from 1689 to 1714 in Colonial history has received a far smaller proportion of consideration than those periods immediately preceding or following it; and yet it would appear likely that the years which saw the Revolution and the establishment in England of a new dynasty, with important foreign connections and important constitutional significance, should bear in colonial development a share at least equal to those periods considered at greater length. This essay is therefore designed to form the beginning of a link between the historical consideration of the Restoration colonial policy and that of the years prefacing the separation. One of the main difficulties in considering colonial policy before the War of Independence lies in the fact that there are few outstanding events which can be taken as starting points for investigation; and in this respect the possibilities of the Revolution of 1689 appear hitherto to have been overlooked. In the matter of point of view from which events have been treated I can therefore claim originality. Starting from the assumption-which the work of distinguished historians, especially the late Mr G. L. Beer, has clearly established that the Navigation Laws formed the basis of English colonial policy, at least to the end of the seventeenth century, I have attempted here to examine the part played in colonial development by the Revolution of 1689 and the establishment of the new monarchy in England; and also to ascertain the general trend of progress in colonial relations during the period, wherever the Revolution and other noteworthy events of the reign afford special opportunity. The study thus involved has resulted only in an increasing conviction of the importance of the period.

     The materials on which this essay is based are mainly provided by the Colonial State Papers, preserved in the Public Record Office and calendared under the editorship of the Hon. J. W. Fortescue and Mr Cecil Headlam. I have found by experience that for ordinary purposes of historical construction

the Calendars give the information required although there is at least one occasion in which an important document is entirely omitted (i.e. the Board of Trade Report of 1701); but the original documents have been consulted in the most important instances, as also other relevant manuscript authorities preserved in the Record Office and at the British Museum, whilst reference has frequently been made to treatises and pamphlets of the period, in the above collections and in the Cambridge University Library. Some of these, as also the secondary authorities of importance, have been classed together in the bibliography which forms an appendix to this essay.

     In dealing with a subject of such breadth, considerable use has necessarily been made of those secondary authorities which have touched on the events of William III’s reign, or dealt at length with neighbouring periods of colonial history. In this connection, I have been specially indebted to G. L. Beer’s Old Colonial System, for the economic situation prior to 1689, to O. M. Dickerson’s American Colonial Development, for the history of the Board of Trade from 1696 to 1765, and to Francis Parkman’s series dealing with the French in Canada, especially the volume entitled Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV.

     I have added copies of three maps constructed during or within a few years of the period in question; and also, as appendices, matter dealing with colonial administrative method and with the state of population in the colonies. For the original suggestion which led to an essay on this subject I must express my gratitude to Mr H. W. V. Temperley; whilst to Mr E. A. Benians I am especially indebted for much helpful criticism and suggestion.

CAMBRIDGE,
   August, 1922.

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