Anon., The Present Case of a Barbados Planter, and Reasons Against Laying a Further Duty on Sugar ([1695])

The Present Case of a Barbados Planter, once again presents the position of the sugar planter in the debate over trade regulation. The unnamed planter who authored this tract connects the duties with the decline of the Barbados sugar industry and of the island more generally. He then labours to persuade readers that a flourishing Barbados was essential to the economic health of the empire. Less detailed on the working of the trade and of the specific effects of the duty, this publication contrasts the situation in Barbados to that in rival sugar plantations under other European powers. He posits that the French plantations have recently developed to such an extent as to threaten England’s part in the trade. The overall impression suggests that the English sugar colonies were in a fragile economic state, unable to withstand foreign competitors without preferable governmental policies.