In 1714, the mercury thermometer was invented by Gabriel

Fahrenheit of Germany; this was much more accurate than the alcohol and

water thermometers. Sweden's Anders Celcius invented the Celsius scale.

The hydrometer, which measures air humidity, was also invented. These

made possible weather forecasting. In 1718, the French chemist Etienne

Geoffroy published a table of affinities among chemical substances, a

precursor to the periodic table of elements. Carolus Linneaus, a

Swedish naturalist and botanist, established the scientific method of

naming plants and animals by genus and species. When he showed that

there was a sexual system in plants, church authorities were so shocked

that they suppressed this knowledge as they did other scientific

knowledge. Rev. Stephen Hales made ventilators for ships, prisons, and

granaries, using the method of injecting air with bellows. This saved

many lives in the prisons. In 1727, he discovered that water that

plants lost by evaporation was restored by the roots up the stems. He

found that gas could be obtained from plants by dry distillation and

invented a way to collect gases by heating certain substances.

Hans Sloane, the son of a receiver-general of taxes, who became

a physician, had collected hundreds of species of plants in Jamacia

while physician to its governor. He became physician to George II and

was a benefactor to many hospitals and devised a botanic garden in

London for the Society of Apothecaries.

Italian Luigi Marsigli started the science of oceanography with

a treatise discussing topography, circulation, ocean plants and

animals, along with many measurements. Frenchman Jean-Etienne Guettard

prepared the first true geological maps, showing rocks and minerals. He

identified heat as the causative factor of change in the earth's

landforms. John Mitchell studied earthquakes.

In 1735, George Hadley, a London lawyer and philosopher,

determined that the cause of the prevailing westerly winds was the

rotation of the earth to the east. Benjamin Franklin in 1743 observed

that a particularly violent storm occurred in Boston a day after a

particularly violent occurred in Philadelphia, and realized that they

were the same storm, even though the storm's surface winds were from

the northeast. He determined that Atlantic coastal storms traveled from

the southwest to the northeast. In 1770, he prepared the first

scientific chart of the Gulf Stream.

Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss university lecturer in physics,

mechanics, medicine, and anatomy, proved his theorem that any degree of

statistical accuracy can be obtained by sufficiently increasing the

observations, thereby also representing the first application of

calculus to probability theory. In 1738, he showed that as the velocity

of horizontal fluid flow increases, its pressure decreases. This

followed from his theorem that the total mechanical energy of a flowing

liquid, comprising the energy associated with fluid pressure, the

gravitational potential energy of elevation, and kinetic energy of

fluid motion remains constant; that is, the mechanical energy is

conserved. This was the first mathematical study of fluid flow. He

demonstrated that the impact of molecules on a surface would explain

pressure, and that assuming the constant random motion of molecules,

pressure and motion will increase with temperature. He explained the

behavior of gases with changing pressure and temperature, establishing

the kinetic theory of gases. Jean Nollet from France discovered

osmosis, the passage of a solution through a semi-permeable membrane

separating two solutions with different concentrations.

In 1754, Scotsman physician Joseph Black identified carbon

dioxide, the first gas recognized as distinct from everyday breathing

air. He did this by using a balance to weigh alkalies before and after

exposure to heat. They lost weight by losing carbon dioxide. His

development of the concept of latent heat, the quantity of heat

absorbed or released when a substance changes its physical phase at

constant temperature, was the first application of quantitative

analysis to chemical reactions. He ascertained the effects of carbon

dioxide on animals and its production by respiration, fermentation, and

burning of charcoal. At this time, all flammable materials were thought

to contain "phlogiston", which was given off as they burned and was

associated with the transfer of heat. Plants were thought to remove

phlogiston from the air and therefore burned when they were dry.

In 1773, Joseph Priestley, a nonconformist minister,

schoolmaster, and tutor, identified oxygen by heating red oxide of

mercury. He had become interested in the study of gases by watching the

process of fermentation in a brewery next to his house. Using a candle,

mice, and plants in jars sealed over water, he showed that the

processes of combustion, respiration, and putrefaction caused one-fifth

of air exposed over water to disappear, and that plants restored air

vitiated by these processes. This discovery of where breathable air

comes from helped explain the system of life on the planet. When he

isolated oxygen, he noted that it was better than air in supporting

respiration and combustion.

Hydrogen (inflammable air) and nitrogen were discovered. The

differences between acids, bases, and salts and their relationship to

one another became understood. There was some theoretical as well as

empirical knowledge about metals, e.g. in boiling points, intermetallic

compounds, and changes in properties.

In 1742, Benjamin Frankin invented the Franklin stove, which

greatly improved heating efficiency. As a freestanding cast-iron

fireplace, it supplied heat in all directions instead of only from the

one direction of the usual wall fireplace. Also, the heat absorbed by

its cast-iron sides provided warmth even after the fire went out.

Static electricity was being discerned. It had been noticed

that shaking a mercury barometer produced a strange glow in its

"vacuum". Experiments showed that a glass rubbed in vacuo would shine

brightly and that an exhausted glass globe rapidly whirled on a spindle

and rubbing against the hand produced a brilliant glow. And further, as

Newton wrote: "if at the same time a piece of white paper or white

cloth, or the end of ones finger be held at the distance of about a

quarter of an inch or half an inch from that part of the glass where it

is most in motion, the electric vapor which is excited by the friction

of the glass against the hand, will by dashing against the white paper,

cloth, or finger, be put into such an agitation as to emit light, and

make the white paper, cloth, or finger, appear lucid like a glowworm".

In the study of electricity, conductors and insulators were recognized.

There were demonstrations of electrical phenomena such as seeing the

ignition of brandy by a spark shooting from a man's finger and the

feeling the transfer of an electrical impulse created from a rubbed

glass globe among a circle of people by their holding hands. In 1733,

Frenchman Charles DuFay discovered that there are two types of static

electric charges, and that like charges repel each other while unlike

charges attract, linking electricity to magnetism.

In 1750, Benjamin Franklin "caught" lightning with a sharp

pointed wire attached to the top of a kite which led down to a key at

the other end. When a thunder cloud electrified the kite, a charge was

seen coming from the key to an approaching finger. This charge was then

stored in an early type of capacitosr, a1745 Leyden jar, and then

reproduced to create the same feeling of transfer of electrical impulse

among a circle of hand-holders, thereby illustrating that it was the

same phenomenon as electricity. This countered the theological belief

that thunder and lightning were signs of divine displeasure or the work

of the devil. Franklin invented the lightening rod, which was then used

to protect buildings. About ten years later, the first lightening rod

on an English church was erected, which showed the church's acceptance

of his theory. Franklin theorized that there were electric charges

everywhere and designated them as positive or negative. He observed

that opposite charges attracted each other, but that like charges

repelled each other. In 1766, Joseph Priestly did an experiment

suggested by Franklin and showed that electrical force follows the same

law as gravitational force; that is, that the attraction or repulsion

between two electrical charges varies inversely in proportion to the

square of the distance between them.

Joseph-Louis LaGrange from France developed differential

equations. Natural history museums were established. A group split off

from the Royal Society to show collections of curiosities.

In 1754, a self-educated mechanic founded the Society for the

Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. It had sections on

agriculture, manufactures, mechanics, chemistry, liberal arts, and

trade and colonies. It sponsored contests at which prizes were given,

such as that in 1761 for the best invention of a machine that would

spin six threads of wool, flax, cotton, or silk at one time with only

one person attending it.

Machines still mostly relied on human, animal, and water power.

Abraham Darby was a Quaker and millwright who made large

cooking pots of iron, which cost less than bronze. Around 1709, he

experimented with various substances to take the place of wood charcoal

in iron smelting. Coal was a remote possibility. In forging or working

metals coal had more or less the same qualities as wood charcoal, but

this was not the case in smelting ores, especially iron ore. Coal

contained sulphur compounds which caused the iron ore to deteriorate.

So he controlled the burning of coal to burn out these impurities,

which produced coke. His son took over after his death and improved the

methods of coking, strengthened the bellows, and added ore limestone

and other reagents to the mixture. By 1756, his large blast furnace

using both pit coal and wood charcoal was very productive. He made iron

goods of such quality as those imported.

In 1767, Richard Reynolds replaced the wooden rails connecting

a blast furnace to mines with cast iron rails. He had apprenticed as a

grocer and then became a partner in a large ironworks of Darby with a

man whose daughter he married. After Darby died and before Darby's sons

became of age, Reynolds was in charge of the ironworks. He cast

cylinders of the early steam engines.

In 1749 John Roebuck, a physician and son of a prosperous

manufacturer of Sheffield goods, found a cheaper way to manufacture

sulphuric acid. He did this by using leaden chambers instead of glass

globes to collect the vapor from burning nitre and sulphur over water.

This reduced the cost of sulfuric acid to one-fourth of its previous

cost, so that sulfuric acid came to be used to bleach linen instead of

sour milk. He also made cast iron into malleable iron by smelting iron

using coke from pit-coal instead of charcoal. But flooding in his mines

and further ventures resulted in his ruin and bankruptcy.

Thomas Newcomen, a Baptist ironmonger, blacksmith, and

locksmith, supplied iron tools to mine workers. He was aware of the

problem of flooding of mines and the awkward system of pumps which were

used one above the other and were powered by teams of horses. He made a

very valuable contribution to power generation by inventing the

atmospheric pressure steam engine with piston around 1712. He did this

by connecting theory with experiment, through the use of scientific

knowledge, especially the Royal Society's investigation into

atmospheric pressure. First cold water was poured on a cylinder in

which a piston could move up and down. This caused steam inside the

cylinder to cool and condense into water. The vacuum created inside the

cylinder under the piston caused atmospheric pressure on top of the

piston to push the piston down. The piston was attached by a rod to the

end of a beam which end then swung down from a point on a vertical

stand to which it was attached. When the beam swung, its other end,

which was attached to a rod connected to a pump, rose, thus working the

pump. Then steam from water heated in a boiler under and communicating

with the cylinder was allowed into the cylinder under the piston. This

overcame the atmospheric pressure on the piston from above and allowed

the piston to rise by a counterweight on the rod over and connecting to

the pump. Boys opened and closed the steam valve, which let steam into

the cylinder from below, and the water valve, which let cold water pour

on the cylinder from above. Then the boys were replaced by the valves

being connected to the swinging beam which caused them to open and

close at perfectly regular intervals. A story gives the credit for this

improvement to an inventive valve boy who wanted to play with his

friends. In 1712, the mining industry used this steam engine to pump

water out of mine-shafts which had flooded. These engines were also

used to supply water to reservoirs' locks at canals, and drinking water

facilities in towns. One such engine developed power equivalent to

fifty horses working at one sixth the cost. It was the first automatic

machine since the clock.

Then James Watt invented the steam engine which used steam as a

force acting on the piston. Watt made his living making scientific

instruments for Glasgow University. Around 1764, he was fixing one of

Newcomen's engines belonging to the university, when he saw its

inefficiencies, such as the loss of heat when the cylinder was cooled.

He saved this heat energy by having the steam condensed in another

vessel distinct but connected to the cylinder. This condenser was kept

constantly cool by cold water. So the condensed steam was pumped back

into the boiler and it circulated continuously, thus obviating the need

for constant resupply of water. In order to avoid the necessity of

using water to keep the piston air-tight, and also to prevent the air

from cooling the cylinder during the descent of the piston, he used the

expansion of the steam to push the piston instead of atmospheric

pressure. Then, in order to expand the use of the steam engine beyond

that of a pump, he converted the oscillating motion of the beam into

rotary motion. He formed a partnership with John Roebuck, who had a

two-thirds interest. But when Roebuck needed money, he sold his

interest to Matthew Boulton. Boulton wanted better power that that of

his watermill for his workshops that made metal buttons, watch chains,

shoebuckles of engraved steel, ornamental bronzes, vases, chandeliers,

tripods, silver and plated wares, and imitation gold and tortoiseshell

work. In dry weather, about eight horses were needed to aid in driving

the machinery. A steam pump could pump water from the bottom of the

watermill to the top to be used again. He had built up this factory of

five buildings and six hundred workers, with 9,000 pounds derived from

his marriage to an heiress. By 1774, the partnership had built a model

steam engine with rotary power whose design could be sold. The price of

the engine was set as the amount of money saved on fuel costs in the

first three years of its operation. This machine was a relatively

economical user of energy, capable of performing almost any kind of

work.

About 1750, John Wilkinson, the son of a farmer who also

oversaw an iron furnace, substituted mineral coal for wood charcoal in

the smelting and puddling of iron ore. In 1766, he made it possible to

transport coal out of mines on rail wagons drawn by horses. As father

of the iron industry, he made iron chairs, vats for breweries and

distilleries, and iron pipes of all sizes. With his invention of the

first precision boring machine, he provided Watt with metal cylinders

of perfectly accurate shape, which were necessary for the smooth

working of Watt's steam engine. In 1775 he bought a pumping steam

engine from Boulton and Watt's company for his ironworks. It pumped

three times as fast as Newcomen's engine.

Watt's steam engine came to be used for power-loom weaving and

then for all sorts of manufactures. It would put England ahead of every

manufacturing country in the world. Millwrights built, installed, and

later designed not only steam engines but the machinery that they

drove. These men were essential in setting up the first factories. They

were the most imaginative and resourceful craftsmen. They knew how to

use a turner's, a carpenter's and a blacksmith's tools and had

supervised or done smith work, brick-laying or stone-mason's work in

erecting and maintaining windmills with their many gears and bearings.

There was a good deal of variety in mills, as well as in the structure

and workmanship of them, some being worked by horses, some by wind, and

others by water. They had some knowledge of arithmetic and practical

mechanics. They could draw out a plan and calculate the speed and power

of a wheel. Although technically in a branch of carpentry, the

millwrights learned to work with metal as well. Metal was superior to

wood not only because of its strength but because wood parts were

irregular in motion and wore out rapidly. So iron and brass parts came

to replace wood and leather parts.

In 1728, J. Paine got a patent for rolling iron instead of

hammering it. The iron bars, being heated in a long hot arch or cavern

passed between two large metal rollers, which had certain notches or

furrows on their surfaces.

Clockmaker and Quaker Benjamin Huntsman was struck with the

difficulty of finding finely tempered steel for the springs of his

watches and pendulums of his clocks. He experimented for years to find

a homogeneous and flawless metal, and finally, in 1740, invented cast

steel, which had high tensile strength and was much harder than

ordinary steel. He did this by remelting refined high quality wrought

iron bars at very high temperatures in sealed fireclay crucibles,

together with small quantities of charcoal and ground glass as

reagents. This distributed the carbon evenly in the metal, which

hammering could not do. He approached the Sheffield cutlers, who

finally agreed to try his cast steel for fear of losing their business

to some other manufacturers who were approaching Huntsman. Since

Huntsman had no patent, he worked at night and employed only men who

would keep his secret. His steel was made at night. His factory became

prosperous about 1770 and the excellence of his steel manufacture was

never equaled. Steel and wrought iron was scarce and expensive.

Around 1748, iron founder Samuel Walker, discovered Huntsman's

secret by appearing at Huntsman's factory disguised as a shivering

tramp who asked to warm himself by the furnace fire. He feigned sleep

while watching the whole process. When he began to make cast steel, his

annual output grew from 900 pounds in 1747 to 11,000 pounds in 1760 and

he made a fortune.

Silver was plated over copper from 1751. White metal from tin

and antimony was used from about 1770.

The brass industry was beginning to produce brass from copper

and zinc that was as good as foreign brass. The secret of plate-glass

manufacture came to England in the 1770s.

In 1773, a corporation was set up for the manufacture of plate

glass. It could raise joint-stock because of the great risk and large

expense of the undertaking.

In 1775, chemist William Cookworthy was given a fourteen year

patent for the discovery of certain clay and stone in England from

which he made England's first true porcelain, i.e. that which could

sustain the most extreme degree of fire without melting, and also had

grain as smooth and lustrous, and the transparency and beauty of color,

equal in degree to the best Chinese or Dresden porcelain.

The import duties on diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds and

other precious stones and jewels was dropped to increase the business

of cutting and polishing them.

The world's first chocolate factory was set up in England in

1728. Milk was added to chocolate.

The Fanmakers were incorporated in 1709.

A linen company to sell cambricks [a fine white linen] and

lawns [a thin and fine linen] was incorporated in 1763.

A free market for fish was established in Westminster to

supplement the free fish market in London to prevent forestalling and

monopolizing of the fish industry and to increase the number of

fishermen. Duties for its maintenance were paid by the fishermen.

Certain men were given the right to incorporate fisheries of white

herring for twenty one years to improve the fisheries and give

employment to the poor. They were authorized to sell subscriptions and

to build ships provided the fishery employ 100,000 in such fishery.

There were restrictions on taking fish from rivers during their

breeding season. Herring fishermen were allowed to land and dry their

nets and erect tents and pickle, cure, and reload fish on uncultivated

land up to 100 yards beyond the high water mark all any shore,

forelands, harbors, and ports, without paying the landholder. Later, a

bounty of 30s. per ton was authorized to be given for vessels that were

fitted out and used for white herring fishery.

Anyone wishing to be admitted to the Levant (Turkey) trading

company was to be made free of such on paying 20 pounds, so that this

trade might be increased.

In the 1760s the first cooking school was established by Mrs.

Elizabeth Raffald, a servant.

As for health, there were many occupational hazards. These

included paralysis by mercury of refiners of silver and gold, paralysis

by mercurial fumes of molten lead by plumbers, palsy of glaziers

working with melted lead and of watch gilders, lead poisoning of

painters, blinding by sawdust of sawyers, and the affects of fumes on

pewterers and letter founders. Particles of copper were breathed in by

copper workers, whose hair and beards then turned green. Braziers

became deaf. Hairdressers, bakers, masons, bricklayers' laborers, coal

heavers, chimney sweeps, flax and feather dressers, and workers in

leather warehouses suffered pulmonary diseases. Chimney sweeps also had

warty skin cancer from their bodies being habitually covered with soot

and the lethal cancer of the scrotum. Working with charcoal fires

affected confectioners, chocolate makers, and sail-cloth makers.

Tanners, catgut makers, and tallow-candle makers became nauseous. Heavy

work weakened many bodies and caused hernias. Bending over work for

long hours caused stooped posture and hump backs.

The association between dirt and disease was just beginning to

be made. The principles of infection and hygiene were not well

understood. Bathing every couple of months was not unusual. There was

some theological feeling that cleanliness betokened pride and

filthiness humility. Most houses had a bathtub that could be placed

beside the fire in a bedroom. About 80% of the population had been

getting smallpox, which blinded, maimed or disfigured many. Deaths from

smallpox were only occasional in the country, but constant in London,

where about 13% of every generation died from it. Making death

commonplace, especially in the winter months when thick, dirty clothes

were worn day and night, were typhus, which was carried by lice;

typhoid, which was spread by flies from horse dung; tuberculosis; and

influenza. Dysentery and diarrhea made death commonplace especially in

the summer when flies transmitted bacteria from filth to food and the

water was its most foul. There was great meaning in the prayer "Now I

lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die

before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Thyphus spread easily

in hospitals and gaols where vermin could live in the beds made of

wood. Colds and toothache were also common. Venereal disease was not

uncommon among the well-to-do in London. Condoms were used to deter

disease, but were still crude, coarse, uncomfortable, and unreliable.

London had almost double the mortality rate of the nation. The number

of baptisms in London were about 80% of its burials. About 40% of the

deaths in London were among children under two, due to infantile

diseases fostered by malnutrition, maternal ignorance such as giving

babies adult food, ill-health, bad water, dirty food, poor hygiene, and

overcrowding. Many children died from diptheria, measles, scarlet

fever, and smallpox. Ten or twelve children with three or four

surviving was a common family pattern. Many well-to-do in London kept

their children in the country for their better health. No matter what

the ailment, physicians regularly bled patients and often gave them

enemas with wooden funnels. Sometimes a blister or irritant was applied

to the skin to draw out the evil humors. Cupping was used to provide

suction to remove pressure from various parts of the body. Also used

were poultices, ointments, and herbal treatments, notably quinine.

Opium was given to deaden pain. There were about 70 drugs in use.

Charms, spells, astrology, and folk remedies still played a major role

in medicine. A physician attended surgeries to give advice. Physicians

could visit apothecary shops once a year and throw away any drugs

falling below an arbitrary standard of excellence. In 1703 the House of

Lords decided a jurisdictional contest between the College of

Physicians and the Society of Apothecaries. It permitted the

apothecaries to direct the remedies as well as to prepare them,

although they could only charge for the drugs they provided. The poor

sought advice from apothecaries.

There was progress in health. Scurvy virtually disappeared as a

cause of death due to the eating of more vegetables. People were

cleaner when wearing cotton, which had to be washed. In 1721, free

inoculations for smallpox began in England, pioneered by Lady Mary

Wortley Montague, also a poet and letter writer. She led the way by

having herself and her son inoculated. Theologicians denounced this

practice as a diabolical interference with disease sent by Providence

for the punishment of sin. Sarah Wallen Mapp was a famous bone-setter.

In 1727 surgeon William Cheselden, whose master was specially licensed

to perform the operation of removing stones in the hospital, reduced

the death rate for removing stones due to hemorrhage, shock, and

infection down to 17% by his invention of a lateral operation. He also

published an anatomy book and treated certain kinds of blindness by

forming an opening in the eye to serve as an artificial pupil. In 1736,

Claudius Aymand conducted the first successful appendectomy.

Nutritional deficiency diseases were beginning to be

understood. In 1753, James Lind, a surgeon in the navy who noted that

more men died of scurvy than in battle, published his work on his

dietary controlled experiment on seamen showing that oranges, lemons,

limes, green food, and onions cured scurvy. He published his methods of

prevention and cure of malarial fevers and his method of disinfecting

ships with the smoke of wood and gunpowder. In 1761, he discovered that

steam from salt water was fresh, and proposed a method of distillation

to supply ships with fresh water. In 1761 Giovanni Morgagni from Italy

opined that disease resulted from a breakdown of organs and tissues

that was viewable on autopsy. He wrote an extensive book showing the

anatomy of diseases, e.g. affections of pericardium and aorta, (e.g.

aneurysm), valve diseases, ulceration, rupture, dilation, and

hypertrophy. He associated clinical observation with anatomy of

disease. For example, pain on the left upper chest, numbness of the

left arm, and difficulty breathing occurring together with exertion

were associated with dilation of the aorta and hardening of arteries,

which caused delay of blood in the aorta, in the heart, and in the lung

vessels. Bernoulli showed that the living human body constantly changes

so that all its particles are renewed in a certain number of years.

Stephen Hale described the first quantitative estimate of blood

pressure and fundamental characteristics of blood circulation. In 1728,

Frenchman Dr. Pierre Fauchard, the father of dentistry, recommended

rubbing one's teeth and gums with a piece of sponge.

Since three out of four babies died shortly after birth, beds

in hospitals for pregnant women were established starting in 1739. The

next year physicians began to replace midwives. A hospital was

established for abandoned foundling children in 1739 so they wouldn't

die, as they usually did, in the care of parishes or workhouses or be

exposed in the streets or left on door steps of the wealthy. It was

besieged by women with babies in their arms. In 1762 a statute made the

principles of the foundling hospital obligatory for all London parish

children under six; they were to be sent to nurses outside London who

were to be paid at least 2s. a week by the parish. In 1766, this was

extended to all parishes, and nurses who cared for a child well for a

year was given a reward of at least 10s. Also, parish children were not

allowed to be apprenticed for more than seven years or until age 21 and

an apprentice fee of at least 4 pounds, 2s. was to be paid to the

master or mistress by the parish.

After 1740, there was a steady growth of population due to

improved midwifery. William Smellie taught scientific midwifery in

London from 1741 and wrote a "Treatise on Midwifery" in 1752, which had

a clear explanation of the mechanism of labor. At this time there were

several maternity hospitals. Forceps existed for difficult deliveries.

In 1750, Dr. Cadogan wrote his book: "An Essay on the Nursing and

Management of Children, which made a great improvement in the care of

young children. For instance, it recommended loose clothing, no tight

swaddling clothes, and a simple diet. Swaddling clothes were used to

retain a baby's evacuations but produced discomfort and serious skin

conditions. A hospital was founded for venereal diseases in 1746,

another as an asylum for the penitent and orphaned girls who might

otherwise be inclined to prostitution, and yet another for prostitutes

in 1758. Coitus interruptus was widely used for birth control. There

were also clandestine abortions and intentional neglect of newborns.

Melancholy was widespread. Suicides were frequent and drugs

were sold for this purpose. In 1725, the mentally ill were classified

as curable or incurable. There were many private asylums. A lunatic who

was furiously mad and dangerous was required to be safely locked up or

chained in his place of settlement. There were frequent and dangerous

abuses in madhouses, so in 1774, no one was to keep or confine more

than one lunatic without a license granted by the Royal College of

Physicians or else forfeit 500 pounds. A Justice of the Peace and a

physician inspected all madhouses to observe conditions and care of

patients there. If refused admittance, the license was forfeited.

In 1712 was the last time a monarch touched a person to cure

him of a malady such as scrofula.

In 1743 surgery students began to dissect corpses with their

own hands to better learn anatomy. In 1744 the Company of Surgeons was

separated out of the Company of Barber-Surgeons. The barbers were

proscribed from performing surgery and had to have a separate

corporation from the surgeons because of the ignorance and

unskillfulness of barbers healing wounds, blows, and hurts e.g. by

blood letting and drawing of teeth. There was a Surgeon's Hall,

officers chosen by the surgeons, and bylaws. The surgeons were required

to examine candidates for the position of surgeon in the king's army

and navy. They were exempted from parish, ward, and leet offices, and

juries. In 1752, a statute provided that the corpses of murderers were

to be sent to the Surgeon's Hall to be anatomized, for the purpose of

deterring murders. The penalty for rescuing the corpse of a murderer

was to suffer death.

The first dispensary for the poor was established in 1769 to

give free medicine and treatment to the infant poor, and then to the

infants of the industrious poor.

The progress of science was seen to threaten the authority of

the church. There was a general belief in God, but not much attention

to Jesus. Feared to come were free thought, rationalism, and atheism.

There was still a big gap between local parsons and bishops, who were

educated, well-off, and related to the aristocracy. On the whole,

preachers talked about morality and Christian belief. They stressed

good works and benevolence. But many Protestant clergy were more

concerned with their own livings than with their parishioners. They

were indolent and did not set a good example of moral living.

From 1715, Freemasonry spread and swiftly provided a spiritual

haven for those who believed in God and desired ritual and mysticism.

About 1744, John Wesley, the son of an Anglican clergyman,

became a religious leader for mining and industrial laborers, who were

crowded into the slums of industrializing cities, and largely ignored

by the Church of England. He had been led to this by a profound

religious experience. He led an evangelical revival with a promise of

individual salvation. He lead an aesthetic life, eating bread, and

sleeping on boards. The person to be saved from the horrors of eternal

damnation in hell was to discipline himself to regular prayer,

self-criticism, and hard work and to forsake worldly pleasures such as

drinking, overeating, and even frivolous talk. This methodical

regularity of living led to the movement being called Methodist. Wesley

believed in witchcraft and magic. He opined that bodily diseases and

insanity could be caused by devils and that some dreams are caused by

occult powers of evil. The Methodists engaged increasingly in

philanthropic activities. They gave to the poor, and visited the sick

and the imprisoned. Wesley preached in the open air where all who

wanted to attend could attend and also wear whatever clothes they had.

Large crowds of poor people gathered for these meetings. Crowds of poor

people were generally feared because of their mob potential. These

Methodist meetings were stormed as were Quaker meetings, with shouts of

"the church in danger". The Methodists' homes were invaded and their

belongings destroyed or taken or their persons beaten with tacit

permission of authorities. Some Justices of the Peace drafted preachers

into the army or navy as vagabonds. Eventually, however, the Methodist

revival imbued energy and piety into the lethargic clergy of the

established church. A new moral enthusiasm and philanthropic energy

grabbed the nation. Prisons were reformed, penal laws made more wise,

slave trade abolished, and popular education given momentum. In the

established church, charity gained precedence over theology and comfort

over self-examination and guilt. Evangelist George Whitfield preached

Calvinism and it split off from Methodism. Then Calvinism went into

full decline. Presbyterianism collapsed into Unitarianism and a general

tendency towards deism developed.

Church sanctuary was abolished for those accused of civil

offenses.

There was much travel by scheduled coaches, which usually

carried several passengers and were drawn by four horses. Regular

service of public vehicles to and from London went four miles an hour;

it took two days to go from London to Oxford. It was not unusual for a

coach to bog down or overturn. Sometimes it had to detour around an

impassable stretch of road or borrow a couple of oxen from a nearby

farm to get out of a quagmire. Men and horses drowned in some of the

potholes. Robbery was endemic and some of the roads were so unsafe from

highwaymen that bands of armed horsemen were hired to accompany the

coaches. It was not unusual to come across gibbets for hanging at

crossroads. In London inns at coach stops, there were casual workers

who were associated with gangs of thieves specializing in passengers'

goods. These workers would inform their associate thieves of specific

goods that had been loaded onto certain coaches, which were then robbed

selectively. Traveling merchants preferred packhorses to carts because

they could cross overland or through watercourses more easily. These

pack horses traveled in regular caravans in single file. The leader had

a bell around his neck to warn, from a distance, riders or carts coming

in the opposite direction. Carts traveled about two miles an hour. In

1711 the trustee system superseded administration by the Justices of

the Peace of the turnpike system, including tolls and toll booths. The

toll booths were frequently attacked by riotous mobs. So anyone pulling

down or destroying turnpike gates at which tolls were to be paid went

to prison or was put to hard labor in a House of Correction for three

months without bail. He was also whipped in the market place between

11:00 and 2:00. If he offended a second time, he was transported for

seven years. Later the penalty of prison up to three years was added as

an alternative. The hundred had to pay the damages up to 20 pounds. The

penalty for threatening the toll collector or forcibly passing through

was 5 pounds for the first offense, and 10 pounds for the second

offense with imprisonment for one year for those who couldn't pay.

By 1750, about 60 miles could be made in a day. The turnpike

trusts took over most of London's major highways during the 1700s.

There was no travel on Sundays until 1750.

In 1745, shocked by the difficulty caused by bad roads in

concentrating the royal army to stop the Scottish invasion, the king

began systematically to improve all the roads. There was much road and

highway widening and repair, and also river bank and pier repair, going

on all over the country. Marsh lands were drained. Harbors were

deepened. There were numerous statutes trying to adjust the needs of

travel with the condition of the roads. For instance, there had to be a

pole between wheel horses or double shafts. Carriages, wagons, or carts

drawn by more horses, oxen, or animals, or with very heavy loads, or

with wheels bound with iron tires were observed to cause more damage,

so they were restricted or had to pay higher tolls. Then broad and

smooth iron tires were observed to not cause the amount of damage as

did narrow or irregular iron tires and their use was encouraged. From

1741, weighing machines were kept at toll gates. By 1766, turnpike

roads had to be at least 30 feet wide, and hedges and fences thereon

had to be taken down by their owners. Cartways to markets had to be at

least 20 feet wide, and horseways 3 (later 8) feet wide. There were

ditches, drains, and gutters to carry off water. Names and abodes of

owners were to be put on carriages, wagons, and carts or forfeit 2-5

pounds, except for carriages or coaches of a nobleman or gentleman for

his private use or those drawn by only one horse or two oxen, or those

with wide wheels and a light load. There were town name signs,

direction posts, and milestones. In 1773, the Surveyors and the

Commissioners of Turnpikes were given authority to requisition local

men, carts and draught animals for compulsory labor, or money instead,

in maintaining the roads and making new ditches and drains. They could

take any local sand, gravel, chalk, or stone from waste or common land

or, if not needed by and satisfaction was made to the owner, from

enclosed land. The surveyor was to be chosen locally for a year and

could be given an allowance. New roads required the consent of the

landowners and a negotiated price.

A driver of a carriage, wagon, or cart on the public highway

who by negligence or misbehavior caused any hurt or damage to a person

or any other carriage or hindered free passage of any other carriage

was to forfeit up to 20s. Anyone leaving an empty cart or other

obstruction on a public highway was to forfeit up to 20s. Any cart,

wagon, or carriage driven without a person on foot or on horseback

leading it had a forfeiture up to 20s. Any driver of an empty cart,

wagon, or carriage who refused or neglected to make way for any coach

or loaded cart, wagon, or carriage was to forfeit up to 20. Any

offender could be apprehended without warrant by anyone who saw his

offense, and who was then to deliver him to a constable or other peace

officer.

By 1719, the mail service was well-regulated. Letter rates

within 80 miles of London were 3d. per piece of paper, then 12d. per

ounce. Within 60 miles of New York City in America there were 4d. per

piece of paper, then 1s.4d. per ounce. Letters were still carried by

post horses. From London to New York, they were 1s. per piece of paper

for the first three pieces, then 4s. per ounce. In 1765, this rate was

extended to all colonial ports.

In 1754, canals began to be constructed linking the main

rivers. The barges were hauled by horses or men from the land near the

river's edge. Now goods of many inland towns cheapened and reached a

national instead of just a local market. In 1761 an almost illiterate

man called James Brindley cut the first real canal at Worsley for the

Duke of Bridgewater, who owned the coal deposits there. He kept the

line of the canal at one level to avoid having to make locks. It

crossed one river as a forty foot high aqueduct. He refused to use the

beds of small rivers, whose sluggish flow gave no adequate security

against silting. Coal at the destination point of Manchester fell to

half its former price. After Wedgwood headed a campaign to persuade

Parliament to construct a certain canal, he bought adjacent land on

which he built his great factory.

In 1713, the maximum interest rate that could be charged was

reduced to 5% for the advancement of trade and improvement of lands

because that rate was the norm in foreign lands. Thus the maximum

interest rate fell from 10 to 8 to 6 and then to 5%. When Issac Newton

was Master of the Mint, he noted that too restricted a currency caused

a high interest rate to prevail, which was bad for commerce and the

plans to set the poor to work, but that too large a quantity of money

in circulation caused interest rates to fall, which encouraged luxury

imports and the export of bullion.

The Bank of England provided a safer deposit and lower interest

than goldsmiths or scriveners. It also issued notes for 10 and 15

(since 1759), and 20 pounds. Outside retail trade and wages payments,

business was conducted on a credit basis with a paper promise to pay at

some future date. Check use was still formal and rare. Tradesmen

typically authorized their apprentices to "write off or draw" from

their accounts, bringing their bank books. Depositors authorized other

people such as certain servants, relatives, cashiers, or company

secretaries to make use of their accounts. After 1721, the Bank

dividend was about 6% a year.

Promissory notes were assignable and endorsable and the holder

could recover against the signer or any endorser as was the case with

bills of exchange. In 1775, no more promissory or other notes, bills of

exchange, draughts, or undertakings in writing and being negotiable or

transferable could be made for under 20s., because it was hard for the

poorer sort of manufacturer, artificer, laborer and others to use them

without being subject to great extortion and abuse. Cash was to be used

instead.

By 1711, government finances had become so chaotic that the

Chancellor of the Exchequer sought to re-establish public credit by

means of a chartered commercial company, the shares of which were

offered in substitution for government stock. This South Sea Company

was established in 1711 with a monopoly to trade in South America. The

prospects of huge profits sent the share prices soaring. There was also

an increase in the money supply. These factors led to a speculation

bubble in 1720 in this stock. Also, many stock-jobbers promoted

companies of every description, such as one to extract gold from

seawater. There was an insurance boom with about seventy insurance

companies in existence, many virtually gambling in life contingencies.

There was speculation in insurance for all types of occurrences, such

as housebreaking, highway robbery, death by gin-drinking, and horses

becoming disabled. The total capital invested in all these enterprises

rose to over five times the cash resources of all Europe. When the

bubble burst, 100 pound South Sea stock had gone up to 1050 pounds and

back down again to 120. Since the government had in effect bought this

stock at a low price and paid off its debt with this stock at a high

price, this bubble relieved the government of much of its massive debt.

It also redistributed wealth. After the bubble burst, investors took

refuge in investing in 3-4% government fixed-interest securities. A

result of this bubble burst was the chartering of two corporations for

marine insurance and prohibition of such by any partnership or firm.

Private persons could continue to write policies, and they chose

Lloyd's Coffeehouse as their headquarters; it came to dominate the

world of marine insurance after the two chartered companies came to

concentrate on fire and life insurance. Lloyd's list became the

foundation for a new newspaper. There were specialty boxes at Lloyd's

such as on America or the Baltic. Many ships were reported captured by

enemies or pirates, but underwriting insurance was a lucrative business

for many.

In 1717 the gold guinea was assigned a value of 21s. In 1774,

the gold standard was introduced. In 1774, clipped and deficient gold

coin was called in to be exchanged for new coin.

Local taxes were collected for the church, the poor, county

courts of justice, borough administration, and highways. National taxes

included the income, customs, and excise taxes. When the government

tried to levy excise taxes on wine, tobacco, and then on cider, there

was a public protest with mobs demonstrating against the power given to

excise inspectors to search in people's homes. These excise taxes were

no longer levied.

Duties were placed on items for encouraging industries within

the country and to pay the expenses of government. There were more and

higher duties to pay for war. At various times there were duties on

hides, skins, seal skins, gilt and silver wire, malt, mum [strong beer

made from malted wheat], cider, perry, spices, tea, coffee, cocoa nuts,

chocolate, cocoa paste, snuff, chinaware, drugs, calicoes, herrings,

apples, oysters, raw Italian and Chinese silk, gum arabic, gum senega,

tallow, hogs-lard, grease, beaver skins and wool, imported brandy,

raisins, coals and coal dust, coaches for one's own use or for hire,

except licensed hackney coaches; silver plate owned by persons,

corporations, and bodies politic; leases, bonds, and other deeds;

licenses for retailing wine, beer, and ale; 5% of salaries, fees, and

perquisites from office and employments including royal pensions and

gratuities over 100 pounds. When the price of wheat was high, as in

1765, when it was 6s. per bushel, wheat products could not be exported.

At other times, they could not be imported. Duties on imported wheat,

barley, rye, oats, beans, rice, Indian corn were also dropped. The

prohibition of importing salted beef, pork, bacon, and butter was

dropped. In 1770, no live cattle, pigs, mutton, pork, beef, either

fresh or salted could be exported or forfeit 50 pounds for every such

animal or 5s. per pound of such meat. In 1773, peas, beans, bacon,

hams, and cheese could be imported duty free, and in 1775 Labrador

codfish. In 1775, raw goat skins could be imported duty-free to improve

the domestic manufacture of red, green, and blue leather.

In 1773, there were given costs above which various commodities

could not be exported: wheat at 44s. per quarter, rye, peas, or beans

at 28s., barley and beer at 22s., oats at 14s. or else forfeit the

goods, 20s. per bushel and the ship or boat in which laden. (There are

8 bushes in a quarter.)

A window tax replaced the hearth tax. These duties were 2s. on

dwelling houses, increased by 6d. per window for houses with 10-14

windows, and increased by 9d. per window for houses with 15-19 windows,

and increased by 1s. per window for houses with 20 or more windows, per

year to be paid by the occupant. These were increased three more times,

until the dwelling house duty was 3s. and the duty for 25 or more

windows was 2s. Another duty for war was that on imported starch,

certain imported clothes, cards, dice, soap, vellum, parchment, and

paper made in the realm (4d.-1s.6d. per ream depending on quality) or

imported (1-16s. per ream). For pamphlets and newspapers made in the

realm there was a duty of 2d. per sheet and 12d. for every

advertisement. When the duty was paid, the paper was stamped. The

penalty for nonpayment was 10 pounds for sellers and 5 pounds for those

writing or printing on the paper. Later, there was a penalty of

imprisonment in a House of Correction up to three months for sellers or

hawkers of pamphlets or newspapers, and the apprehender received a

reward of 20s. A parson marrying a couple without publishing banns or

license could forfeit 100 pounds.

Not paying duties was punishable by various forfeitures of

money. Officers for duties could search warehouses on suspicion of

concealment of coffee, tea, chocolate, or cocoa beans with an intent to

avoid duties after making an oath before a duty commissioner or Justice

of the Peace setting forth the grounds of such suspicion. A special

warrant could be issued authorizing the officer to seize such goods.

Wars were funded not only by some duties, but by lotteries and

short-term funding purchased at 5% yearly interest from the Bank of

England and by long-term funding by the sale of annuities.

County militias could be raised and called out to march

together in order to be better prepared to suppress insurrections or

invasions. Their horsemen were to be provided with broad sword, a case

of pistols with 12 inch barrels, a carabine with belt and bucket, a

saddle, and a bit and bridle. Each foot soldier was to be provided with

a bayonet, a cartouch-box, and a sword. In the militia act of 1757,

there were quotas for each parish, to be chosen by lot from lists of

men 18-50 years old. After militia service for three years, one could

not be called again until by rotation, and, if married, he was allowed

to practice any trade in which he was able in any town or place. While

he was in the militia, his parish had to pay an allowance to his

family, if distressed, the usual price of an agricultural laborer,

according to the number and ages of the children. Quakers could provide

a substitute or pay money to defray expenses of a substitute for three

years. Exempt were peers, commissioned officers in royal army or royal

castle, other military personnel, members of either university,

clergymen, teachers of any separate congregation, constables and peace

officers, and watermen of the Thames River.

This militia act was due to an invasion scare in 1756 because

Great Britain then had no allies on the continent. The old strategy of

maintaining a small army of 17,000 men and relying on volunteers had

really depended on England's allies to tie down France's land forces.

The militia act of 1757 was designed to reassure squires they would not

be used as adjuncts to the army. Only those with much property could be

officers. Enlistees could still carry on their trades and jobs. Costs

were to be from general taxation rather than by locality. But it was

almost impossible to get officers and there were many riots when parish

authorities tried to draw up lists of those liable to serve. In 1759

the navy prevented French invasion.

Able-bodied men without a calling, employment, or visible means

of maintenance or livelihood could be searched for and conscripted into

the army. Volunteers who enlisted were paid 40s. and were not taken out

of her majesty's service by any process other than for some criminal

matter. King George II was the last king to lead his troops into

battle. Later, parishes were given 20s. for every soldier they

summoned. Also, persons who had a vote for member of Parliament were

exempted.

Whipping was the usual punishment for offenses. A soldier who

deserted or joined in any mutiny or sedition in the royal army within

the realm was to suffer death or any other punishment determined by

court martial. In 1760, a soldier (later, or a marine) who slept at his

post, left his post before being relieved, communicated with any rebel

or enemy, struck or disobeyed any superior officer could suffer death,

including those soldiers in America.

During war, chief officers of towns quartered and billeted

royal army officers and soldiers in inns, livery stables, alehouses,

and victualing houses for 4d. a day, but not in any private house

without consent of the owner. From 1714 to 1739, the army regiments

were split up and scattered among the ale-houses of small towns for

maintenance; this was to disperse the soldiers. It was easier to count

them, thereby keeping a check on their number, which might be

exaggerated if they were in large groups in barracks. The towns

protested having to maintain soldiers and town magistrates imposed

severe penalties for small offenses by soldiers. Their drunkenness and

violence were not tolerated as they were for ordinary people. Their

officers not being with them, the soldiers retaliated with

troublesomeness. As of 1763 English troops could be quartered in

unoccupied houses or barns and supplied with necessities such as

bedding, firewood, candles, vinegar, salt, cooking utensils, and beer

or cider. The Royal Hospital gave pensions to maimed and worn out

soldiers treated there.

Sailors had more status than soldiers because they had regular

work as seamen in times of peace and they did not remind the people of

the idea of a standing army, which they had hated especially since

Cromwell.

Justices of the Peace, mayors, and other officers could bind

boys as apprentices to sea service if they were at least ten and their

parents were chargeable to the parish or begged for alms. This

indenture to the masters or owners of ships lasted until the boy

reached 21. The boy's parish paid 50s. for clothing and bedding for

such sea service. No such apprentice could be impressed into the navy

until at least 18 years of age. Master and owners of ships that carried

30-50 tuns had to take one such apprentice and one more boy for the

next 50 tuns, and one more boy for every 100 tuns over 100 tuns, or

else forfeit 10 pounds to the boy's parish. Boys voluntarily binding

themselves to such sea service were exempt from impressment for the

next three years. This was to increase the number of able and

experience mariners and seamen for the navy and for the trade and

commerce of the nation.

No masters or commanders of merchant ships were to proceed on a

voyage beyond the seas without first agreeing in writing on wages with

the seamen, except for apprentices. Such agreement had to be signed by

the seamen. Offenders were to forfeit 5 pounds per seaman, which sum

went to the use of Greenwich Hospital. Any seaman leaving the ship

before being discharged in writing was to forfeit one month's pay

because too many left the ship before it was unladen.

There were some ships of 2000 tons. The steering wheel had been

introduced because a sudden heavy sea could wrest a tiller from the

hands of a helmsman. Triangular head-sails with jib boom and stay-sails

on stays between masts were in use so that ships could sail closer into

the wind. The length of ships was still determined by the same length

of trees that could be grown. Sailing ships were still vulnerable to a

lee shore. Latitude was easy to determine using the reflecting octant

invented by John Hadley in 1731, and a sextant invented in 1757, with

mirrors and a small telescope to measure the angle between a celestial

body such as the sun or north star and the horizon. But longitude could

not be determined with any degree of accuracy. One method relied on

accurate predictions of the future position of the moon as observed

from a fixed reference point, such as Greenwich. By precisely observing

the local time of the moon's occultation of a known star at a

particular place, and looking up in a table the predicted time of the

event at Greenwich, one could approximate the time difference of the

place from Greenwich. There were so many shipwrecks on this account

that the government offered a reward to anyone who found a way to

measure longitude accurately. In 1763 carpenter and clockmaker John

Harrison made the chronometer to do this with an accuracy of 2 1/2

seconds per month, and received 5,000 pounds. He was promised 10,000

pounds to explain the principle of his timekeeper and build three more.

The chronometer kept time with extreme accuracy and was mounted to

remove the effect of the ship's motion. To find a ship's position, a

navigator noted the time and measured the positions of certain stars.

He compared these positions with tables that showed the stars'

positions at Greenwich mean time, and then calculated the ship's

position.

Officer positions were no longer bought, but were subject to

examination for a minimum of knowledge, especially in navigation. In

1729 the Naval Academy was established. Boys entered at age 13 to 16

and spent two or three years there.

Only about 15% of the crew of navy ships were volunteers. Many

were gaolbirds, having chosen the Navy over more gaol time for debt.

Press gangs seized men in the port towns and from ships coming into

harbor. From 10% to 20% of the crew were foreigners, many of these

pressed men. About 1756, the Marine Society was founded for training

and placing poor boys in work in naval and merchant ships. This not

only supplied men and boys for the Navy, but saved boys from a life of

vagrancy and crime. These boys usually became reliable and obedient

sailors.

The life of a sailor was a hard one, requiring much strength.

Sailors did not know how to swim, so falling overboard usually meant

death. Flogging was the usual punishment in the Navy, even for small

offenses. The amount of flogging due for each offense rose over time.

If flogging were fatal, there would be an inquiry and occasionally

punishment. A sailor's meals were usually hard bread invested with

weevils and maggots, dried or salted meat or fish, and small quantities

of oatmeal, butter, and cheese. Many sailors had scurvy or other

deficiency diseases. Experiments with lime and lemon juice as remedies

for scurvy were made around 1764, but were not used in the Navy until

about 1800. Many more sailors died from these diseases than from

battle. Rum and water was a daily ration introduced in 1745. The

ordinary sailor was paid about one pound a month, a rate established in

1650s which became outdated. This was not in cash, but in a ticket

which entitled him to payment in full if he presented it at the pay

office in London, but was subject to swinging deductions if he tried to

cash it in another port.

Prize money from conquered ships was substantial. To encourage

seamen to enter the navy, Parliament provided that the prizes be

divided among flag officers, commanders, other officers, seamen,

marines, and soldiers on board every ship of war, including private

ships commissioned by the Admiral, as directed by the king, or as

agreed with the owner of a private ship. It included an enemy's ships,

and goods and arms on the ships or in fortresses on the land. There was

also bounty money for enemy ships taken or destroyed. For retaking or

salvaging English goods taken by the enemy, 1/8th their value was paid.

Privateers colluding with others to fraudulently take their merchant

ships forfeited their ships, with 1/3rd going to the person who made

the discovery and prosecuted.

Later, any able seaman volunteering for the navy was to receive

5 pounds bounty. Any seaman volunteering for the navy was to receive a

bounty of 3 pounds. If a navy seaman was killed or drowned, his widow

was to receive a year's pay as bounty. No seaman in a merchant ship was

to receive more than 35s. per month because of war at that time.

Still later, anyone who ran goods or avoided customs was

excused and indemnified if he enlisted in the navy as a common sailor

for three years.

Those under 18 or over 55 were made exempt from impressment

into the king's service. The time of service was limited to five years

if the serviceman so demanded. Worn out and decrepit seamen no longer

being treated at the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich received a

pension as determined by the hospital.

In war, the Navy favored blockading tactics over attack by

fireships, which grew obsolete. In peace, when not used in convoys to

remote lands, many ships of war were used as cruisers to guard the

coast, to trade, and to accompany merchant ships going out and

returning home. About 1755, marine forces of the navy were raised and

quartered on shore.

No war ship could carry goods except gold, silver, and jewels

and except the goods of a ship in danger of shipwreck or already

shipwrecked.

The king was authorized to prohibit the export of gunpowder,

saltpeter, ammunition, and arms.

When a ship had been forced on shore or stranded on the coast,

it had been the practice for people to plunder it and to demand high

payment for salvaging its goods. So a statute required that salvage

only be done by sheriff, mayors, and other officials. A person who

defaced the marks on goods or hindered the saving of the ship had to

pay double satisfaction to the person aggrieved and spend 12 months at

hard labor in a House of Correction. If a person unduly carried off

goods, he forfeited treble damages. If he made a hole in the ship or

stole the pump from the ship, he was guilty of felony without benefit

of clergy.

The owner of the island of Skerries was allowed to erect a

lighthouse and charge passing ships other than Navy ships 1d. per tun.

Only pilots examined and admitted into the society of pilots

and, if no such pilot was readily available, a ship's own owner,

master, or mate could pilot ships up the Thames River, or else forfeit

10 pounds for the first offense, 20 pounds for the second, and 40

pounds thereafter. Any pilot losing a ship could no longer be a pilot.

There had to be at least 120 qualified pilots. The prices of piloting

were 3 pounds 10s. for ships drawing 7 feet of water, and 10s. more for

each additional foot drawn up to 8 pounds 10s. for ships drawing 17

feet of water.

To preserve navigation, ships were not to throw any ballast,

filth, rubbish, gravel, earth, stone, or filth into rivers or ports

where the tide or water flowed or ran or else forfeit 50s.- 5 pounds.

Ships on the Thames River could take as ballast to stabilize a ship

without cargo: dung, compost, earth, or soil from laystalls in London.

There was a toll on ships entering the port of London to pay for

repairs to its walls.

Many persons insuring ships for large premiums became bankrupt,

thus ruining or impoverishing many merchants and traders. So the king

was authorized to grant charters to two distinct corporations for the

insurance of ships, goods, and merchandise or going to sea or for

lending money upon bottomry [borrowing money and and pledging the ship

as security]. Each corporation had to pay 300,000 pounds to the

Exchequer and to have sufficient ready money to pay for losses insured

by them. They were to raise capital stock and could make calls of money

from their members in proportion to their stocks for any further money

required.

Any owner, master, or mariner who cast away, burned, or

otherwise destroyed a ship to the prejudice of underwriters of policies

of insurance or of any merchants whose goods have been loaded on the

ship was to suffer death.

The owners of ships were not liable for losses by reason of

theft without their knowledge by the master or mariners of goods beyond

the value of the ship. This was to prevent the discouragement of owning

ships.

The insurance of merchant ships must give salvage rights

[rights to take what may be left of the ships insured after paying the

insurance on them] to the insurer. A lender on bottomry had benefit of

salvage. No insurance could be for a greater amount than the value of

one's interest in the ship or in the goods on board.

No waterman carrying passengers or goods for hire e.g. by

wherryboat, tiltboat, or rowbarge, on the Thames River could take an

apprentice unless he was a housekeeper or had some known place of abode

where he could keep such apprentice or else forfeit ten pounds, and if

he couldn't pay, do hard labor at the House of Correction for 14-30

days. Also he could not keep the apprentice bound to him. No apprentice

could be entrusted with a vessel until he was 16 if a waterman's son

and 17 if was he the son of a landman, and he had at least two years'

experience. None but freemen, i.e. one having served an apprenticeship

of seven years, could row or work any vessel for hire or be subject to

the same punishment. This was to avoid the mischiefs which happen by

entrusting apprentices too weak, unable, and unskillful in the work,

with the care of goods and lives of passengers. Later amendment

required that apprentices be age 14 to 20 and that there be no more

than 40 passengers, with the penalty of transportation if there were

over 40 and one drowned.

No boat on the Thames River could be used for selling liquors,

tobacco, fruit, or gingerbread to seamen and laborers because such had

led to theft of ropes, cables, goods, and stores from the ships.

Excepted were boats registered at the guilds of Trinity and of St.

Clement, but they had to show their owner's name and could only operate

in daylight hours. The penalty was forfeiture of the boat.

All ships coming from places infected with the plague had to be

quarantined and any person leaving a quarantined ship had to return and

later forfeit 20 pounds, of which 1/3 could go to the informer, the

rest to the poor. This was later raised to 200 pounds and six months in

prison, and if the person escaped, he was to suffer death. Also later,

a master of a ship coming from infected places or having infected

people on board was guilty of felony and forfeited 200 pounds. If he

did not take his vessel to the quarantine area on notice, he forfeited

a further 200 pounds (later 500 pounds) and the ship, which could then

be burned. The king was authorized to prohibit commerce for one year

with any country infected by the plague and to forbid any persons of

the realm from going to an infected place.

By 1714, there was a clear distinction between a king's private

income and the Crown's public revenue. From 1714, the king's Treasurer

as a matter of routine submitted annual budgets to Parliament. He was

usually also the leader of the House of Commons and the Chancellor of

the Exchequer.

Proclamations by the Crown were more restricted to colonial and

foreign affairs, to executive orders, and to instructions to officials.

The high offices included the Chancellor, Treasurer, Keeper, President

of the Council, Privy Seal, and two Secretaries of State, who were in

charge of all foreign and domestic matters other than taxation, one for

the north and one for the south. With Thomas More, the Chancellor had

become more of a judge and less of a statesman. Other offices were:

Paymaster General, Secretary of War, and Treasurer of the Navy.

Starting with the monarch, government positions were given by patronage

to friends and relatives, or if none, to the highest bidder. These

offices were usually milked for fees and employed deputies, clerks, and

scribes who worked for long hours at very modest wages. Most people

believed that the offices of power and influence in the realm belonged

to the nobility and gentry as indubitably as the throne belonged to the

king. Assaulting, wounding, striking, or trying to kill a member of the

Privy Council engaged in his duties was punishable by death without

benefit of clergy. Civil and military commissions, patents, grants of

any office or employment, including Justice of Assize, Justice of the

Peace, court writs, court proceedings continued in force for six months

after a king's death, unless superceded in the meantime.

The king's ministers were those members of his Privy Council

who carried out the work of government. By distributing patronage, the

ministers acquired the influence to become leading members of the House

of Commons or the House of Lords. They made policy, secured the king's

consent, and then put through the necessary legislation. The king was

to act only through his ministers and all public business was to be

formally done in Privy Council with all its decisions signed by its

members. The king gradually lost power. The last royal veto of a

Parliamentary bill was in 1708. By 1714, the Privy Council ceased

making decisions of policy. Instead a cabinet not identified with any

particular party was chosen by the Queen, who presided over their

meetings, which were held every Sunday. It dealt with Parliament. In

1720, the number of peers in the House of Lords was fixed, so that the

Crown could create no more. About 1720, Robert Walpole, son of a

country squire, who came to be first minister of the Crown and the

leader of the Whigs, organized the cabinet so that it was of one view.

He led it for twenty years and thus became the first prime minister. A

prime minister was needed because the king spoke no English. Walpole

was brilliant at finance and lessened taxation. He restored trust in

the government after the South Sea bubble scandal. He was successful in

preserving the peace with other nations and providing stability in

England that led to prosperity. The Whigs opposed a standing army and

over-reaching influence of the Crown. They espoused the liberty of

individual subjects. Their slogan was "liberty and property". They

generally favored foreign wars.

Members of the Parliament felt responsible for the good of the

whole country instead of accounting to their electors, but self-

interest also played a part. Leading commercial magnates of the realm

sought to be members of Parliament or governors of the Bank of England

so they could take up government loans at advantageous rates, snap up

contracts to supply government departments at exorbitant prices, and

play an important part in deciding what duties should be charged on

what goods. About 5% of the population could vote. Voting was open,

rather than by secret ballot. Seats in Parliament could normally be

bought either by coming to an arrangement with some landowner who had

the right to nominate to a closed seat or by buying enough votes in

constituencies where the electorate was larger and the contest more

open. Factory owners and leading landowners sat together on committees

drawing up plans for public works such as canal building, obtained the

necessary permits from public authorities and organized the whole

enterprise. In 1714, Parliament was allowed to last for seven years

unless sooner dissolved by the king because of the expense and tumult

of elections, which frequently occasioned riots, and sometimes battles

in which men were killed and prisoners taken on both sides. Politics

had become a career. Members of Parliament could not be arrested while

Parliament was in session.

As of 1710, electees to the Commons had to have 600 pounds

annual income for knights or 300 pounds annually for burgesses. This

did not include the eldest son or heir apparent of any peer or lord of

Parliament or any person with the above qualifications. The

universities were exempted.

As of 1729, a person electing a member of the Commons had to

swear or affirm that he had not received any money, office, employment,

or reward or promise of such for his vote. If he swore falsely, it was

perjury and he was to forfeit 500 pounds and his right to vote. Later,

voters for member of Parliament had to have residence for a year. Still

later, voters were required to have been freemen of the city or town

for one year or else forfeit 100 pounds, except if entitled to freedom

by birth, marriage, or servitude according to the custom of such city

or town. Voters were still required to have a freehold of land of 40s.

a year income, but holders of estates by copy of court roll were

specifically precluded from voting or else forfeit 50 pounds.

In 1724, since unauthorized persons had intruded into

assemblies of citizens of London and presumed to vote therein, the

presiding officer -appointed clerks to take the poll and oath required

for elections for Parliament, mayor, sheriffs, chamberlains,

bridgemasters, and auditors of chamberlains. The oath was that one was

a freeman of London, a liveryman of a certain named company, had been

so for 12 months, and had named his place of abode. The oath for

alderman or common council elections was that the voter was a freeman

of London and a householder in a named ward who had paid scot of at

least a total of 30s. and bore lot. A list of the voters and of persons

disallowed was given to candidates by the presiding officer.

Soldiers could not be quartered within 20 miles of a place of

election so that the election was kept free.

Voters in public corporations must have held their stock for

six months before voting them to discourage splitting stock and making

temporary conveyances thereof to give certain people more of a vote,

e.g. in declaring dividends and choosing directors.

Ambassadors were made immune from arrest, prosecution and

imprisonment to preserve their rights and privileges and protection by

the Queen and the law of nations.

The Supporters of the Bill of Rights Society was founded and

paid agents to give speeches throughout the country and used the press

for its goals.

James Burgh demanded universal suffrage in his 1773 book:

"Political Disquisitions".

In 1707 there was union with Scotland, in which their

Parliaments were combined into one. The country was known as Great

Britain. The last Scottish rebellion resulted in attainder of its

leaders for levying war against the king. In 1746, they were given the

chance to surrender by a certain date, and receive a pardon on

condition of transportation. In 1747, anyone impeached by the Commons

of high treason whereby there could be corruption of the blood or for

misprison of such treason could make his defense by up to two counsel

learned in the law, who were assigned for that purpose on the

application of the person impeached. In 1748, counsel could interrogate

witnesses in such cases where testimony of witnesses were not reduced

to writing.

There was a steady flow of emigrants to the American colonies,

including transported convicts and indentured servants. Delaware became

a colony in 1703. In 1729, the king bought Carolina from its seven

proprietors for 2,500 pounds apiece. Person having estates, rights,

titles, or interest there, except officers, were allowed by Parliament

to sue the king with the court establishing the value to be paid, but

no more than at a rate of 2,500 pounds per 1/8 of the property. Georgia

was chartered in 1733 on request of James Oglethorpe, who became its

first governor, as a refuge for debtors and the poor and needy. It

established the Episcopal Church by law. In 1730 Carolina and 1735

Georgia were allowed to sell rice directly to certain lands instead of

to England only. Later, sugar was allowed to be carried directly from

America to European ports in English ships without first touching some

English port. Foreigners who had lived in the American colonies for

seven years, and later foreigners who served two years in the royal

army in America as soldiers or as engineers, were allowed to become

citizens of Great Britain on taking oaths of loyalty and Protestantism.

This included Quakers and Jews. The Jews could omit the phrase "upon

the true faith of a Christian."

In 1756, indentured servants in America were allowed to

volunteer as soldiers in the British army serving in America. If his

proprietor objected, the servant was to be restored to him or

reasonable compensation given in proportion to the original purchase

price of his service and the time of his service remaining.

There was much competition among countries for colonies. Quebec

and then Montreal in 1760 in Canada were captured from the French.

About 1768 James Cook discovered New Zealand and Australia; his maps

greatly helped future voyages. The English East India Company took over

India as its Mogul Empire broke up.

Manufacturing in the American colonies that would compete with

British industry was suppressed by Great Britain. There were increasing

duties on goods imported into the colonies and restrictions on exports.

In 1763, Parliament imposed duties on foreign imports going to America

via Britain: to wit, sugar, indigo, coffee, certain wines, wrought

silks, calicoes, and cambrick linen. Foreign vessels at anchor or

hovering on colonial coasts and not departing within 48 hours were made

liable to be forfeited with their goods. Uncustomed goods into or

prohibited goods into or out of the colonies seized by customs

officials on the ship or on land and any boats and cattle used to

transport them occasioned a forfeiture of treble value, of which 1/3

went to the king, 1/3 went to the colonial governor, and 1/3 went to

the suer. Any officer making a collusive seizure or other fraud was to

forfeit 500 pounds and his office. In 1765, there was imposed a duty on

papers in the colonies to defray expenses of their defense by the

British military. The duty on every skin, piece of vellum [calf skin]

or parchment, and sheet of paper used in any law court was 3d.- 2

pounds. There were also duties on counselor or solicitor appointments

of 10 pounds per sheet. Duties extended to licenses for retailing

spirituous liquors and wines, bonds for payment of money, warrants for

surveying or setting out of any lands, grants and deeds of land,

appointments to certain civil public offices, indentures, leases,

conveyances, bills of sale, grants and certificates under public seal,

insurance policies, mortgages, passports, pamphlets, newspapers (about

1s. per sheet), advertisements in papers (2s. each), cards, and dice.

The papers taxed were to carry a stamp showing that the duties on them

had been paid. Parliament thought the tax to be fair because it fell on

the colonies in proportion to their wealth. But the colonists saw this

tax as improper because it was a departure from the nature of past

duties in that it was an "internal tax". All of the original thirteen

American colonies had adopted Magna Carta principles directly or

indirectly into their law. The stamp duties seemed to the colonists to

violate these principles of liberty. Patrick Henry asserted that only

Virginia could impose taxes in Virginia. Schoolmaster and lawyer John

Adams in Massachusetts asserted that no freeman should be subject to

any tax to which he had not assented. In theory, colonists had the same

rights as Englishmen per their charters, but in fact, they were not

represented in Parliament and Englishmen in Parliament made the laws

which affected the colonists. They could not be members of the House of

Lords because they did not have property in England. There were

demonstrations and intimidation of stamp agents by the Sons of Liberty.

Merchants agreed to buy no more goods from England. The stamp duty was

repealed the same year it had been enacted because it had been

"attended with many inconveniences and may be productive of

consequences greatly detrimental to the commercial interests of these

kingdoms".

To counter the wide-scale running of goods to avoid the customs

tax, the customs office was reorganized in 1766 to have commissions

resident in the colonies and courts of admiralty established there to

expedite cases of smuggling. This angered the colonists, especially

Boston. Boston smuggling had become a common and respectable business.

It was the port of entry for molasses from the West Indies from which

New England rum was made and exported. The entire molasses trade that

was essential to the New England economy had been built upon massive

customs evasions; royal customs officials had participated in this by

taking only token customs for the sake of appearance in London and

thereby had become rich.

In 1766 Parliament imposed a duty of 3d. per pound weight on

tea and duties on reams of paper, glass, and lead into the colonies.

These import duties were presented as external rather than internal

taxes to counter the rationale the colonies gave against the stamp tax.

But these items were of common use and their duties raised the cost of

living. The king's customs officials were authorized to enter any

house, warehouse, shop, or cellar to search for and seize prohibited or

uncustomed goods by a general writ of assistance.

These writs of assistance had been authorized before and had

angered Bostonians because they had been issued without probable cause.

In Paxton's case of 1761, the Massachusetts Superior Court had declared

legal the issuance of general writs of assistance to customs officers

to search any house for specific goods for which customs had not been

paid. The authority for this was based on the Parliamentary statutes of

1660 and 1662 authorizing warrants to be given to any person to enter,

with the assistance of a public official any house where contraband

goods were suspected to be concealed, to search for and seize those

goods, using force if necessary. They were called "writs of assistance"

because the bearer could command the assistance of a local public

official in making entry and seizure. A "general" writ of assistance

differed from a "special" writ of assistance in that the latter was

issued on a one-time basis. The general writ of assistance in Boston

was good for six months after the death of the issuing sovereign.

Authority relied on for such writs was a 1696 statute giving customs

officers in the colonies the same powers as those in England, a 1699

act by the Massachusetts Provincial Legislature giving the Superior

Court of Massachusetts the same such power as that of the Exchequer,

and the Massachusetts' Governor's direction about 1757 to the

Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature to perform the function of

issuing such warrants. The Massachusetts court issued them in the

nature of the writs of assistance issued from the Exchequer court in

England, but had issued them routinely instead of requiring the showing

of probable cause based on sworn information that the Exchequer court

required. Few judges in the other American colonies granted the writ.

Seditious libel trials in England and the colonies were

followed closely and their defendants broadly supported. John Wilkes, a

member of the House of Commons, published a criticism of a new minister

in 1763. He called King George's speech on a treaty "the most abandoned

instance of ministerial effrontery ever attempted to be imposed on

mankind". After being found guilty of seditious libel, he again ran for

the House of Commons, and was repeatedly elected and expelled. He was

subsequently elected alderman, sheriff, and mayor of London. In 1770,

Alexander MacDougall was voted guilty of seditious libel by the New

York Colonial Assembly for authoring a handbill which denounced a

collusive agreement by which the assembly voted to furnish supplies for

the British troops in New York in exchange for the royal governor's

signature to a paper-money bill. When he was arrested, the Sons of

Liberty rallied to his support, demanding freedom of the press.

Benjamin Franklin's brother had been imprisoned for a month by the

Massachusetts assembly for printing in his newspaper criticisms of the

assembly. He was forbidden to print the paper. Benjamin supported him

by publishing extracts from other papers, such as "Without freedom of

thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as

public liberty without freedom of speech... Whoever would overthrow the

liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a

thing terrible to public traitors."

By statute of 1766, the New York house of representatives was

prohibited from meeting or voting until they provisioned the King's

troops as required by law.

In 1769, Harvard College seated its students in class in

alphabetical order instead of by social rank according to birth.

By 1769, the colonies' boycott of British goods in protest of

the new duties cause these imports to decline so much that British

merchants protested. So the duties were dropped, except for that on

tea, which was retained as a matter of principle to assert the power of

the crown to tax the colonies. Then in 1773 the East India Company was

allowed to sell tea directly to the colonies to help it avoid

bankruptcy. The effect of this was to lower the cost of tea in the

colonies by avoiding the English middleman, and the American middleman,

but also to give the East India Company a monopoly. The colonies felt

threatened by this power of Britain to give monopolies to traders. When

the tea ships arrived in Boston in late 1773, Bostonians held a town

meeting and decided not to let the tea be landed. They threw this cargo

of tea, worth about 18,000 pounds, overboard. This Boston Tea Party was

a direct challenge to British authority. In response, Parliament closed

the port of Boston until compensation was made to the East India

Company. By statute of 1774, no one was to enter or exit the port of

Boston or else forfeit goods, arms, stores, and boats that carried

goods to ships. Every involved wharf keeper was to forfeit treble the

value of the goods and any boats, horses, cattle, or carriages used.

Ships hovering nearby were to depart within six hours of an order by a

navy ship or customs officer or be forfeited with all goods aboard,

except for ships carrying fuel or victuals brought coastwise for

necessary use and sustenance of inhabitants after search by customs

officers, and with a customs official and armed men for his defense on

board. This statute was passed because of dangerous commotions and

insurrections in Boston to the subversion of the king's government and

destruction of the public peace in which valuable cargoes of tea were

destroyed. Later, the Governor was given the right to send colonists or

magistrates charged with murder or other capital offenses, such as

might be alleged to occur in the suppression of riots or enforcement of

the revenue laws, to England or another colony for trial when he opined

that an impartial trial could not be had in Massachusetts Bay. A later

statute that year altered the charter of Massachusetts Bay province so

that the choice of its council was transferred from the people to the

King to serve at his pleasure, and the appointment and removal of

judges and appointment of sheriffs was transferred to the Governor to

be made without the consent of the council. This was due to the open

resistance to the execution of the laws in Boston. Further, no meeting

of freeholders or inhabitants of townships was to be held without

consent of the Governor after expressing the special business of such

meeting because there had been too many meetings that had passed

dangerous and unwarranted resolutions. Also, jurors were to be selected

by sheriffs rather than elected by freeholders and inhabitants.

The commander of the British troops in North America was made

Governor of Massachuseetts. King George thought that the colonists must

be reduced to absolute obedience, even if ruthless force was necessary.

The people of Massachusetts were incensed. They were all familiar with

the rights of Magna Carta since mandatory education taught them all to

read and write. Mandatory education every township of fifty households

had to appoint one person to teach all children to read and write.

Every one hundred families had to set up a grammar school.) The example

in Massachusetts showed other colonies what England was prepared to do

to them. Also disliked was the policy of restricting settlement west of

the Allegheny mountains; the take over of Indian affairs by royal

appointees; the maintenance of a standing army of about 6,000 men which

was to be quartered, supplied, and transported by the colonists; and

expanded restrictions on colonial paper currencies.

The Virginia House of Burgesses set aside the effective date of

the port bill as a day of prayer and fasting, and for this was

dissolved by its governor. Whereupon its members called a convention of

delegates from the colonies to consider the "united interests of

America". This congress met and decided to actively resist British

policy. As opposition to British rule spread in the colonies, a statute

was passed stating that because of the combinations and disorders in

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, and Rhode Island to the

destruction of commerce and violation of laws, these inhabitants should

not enjoy the same privileges and benefits of trade as obedient

subjects and that therefore no goods or wares were to be brought from

there to any other colony, and exports to and imports from Great

Britain were restricted, on pain of forfeiting the goods and the ship

on which they were laden. There vessels were restricted from fishing

off Newfoundland. These conditions were to be in force until the

Governors were convinced that peace and obedience to laws was restored.

Later in 1775, these trade restrictions were extended to New Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. In 1776, since

all the thirteen colonies had assembled an armed force and attacked

British forces, these trade restrictions were extended to Delaware, New

York, Georgia, and North Carolina and expanded to prohibit all trade

during the present rebellion to prevent assistance to them. War had

started; the new rifle was used instead of the musket.

By statute of 1775, anyone harboring of army or marine

deserters in the colonies forfeited 5 pounds Anyone persuading a

soldier or marine to desert drew a forfeiture of 40 pounds or else up

to six months in prison without bail and one hour in the pillory on

market day.

Bounties were made available to vessels from and fitted out in

Great Britain for Newfoundland fishing.

Any shipmaster carrying as passengers any fisherman, sailor, or

artificer to America forfeited 200 pounds because such men had been

seduced from British fishing vessels in Newfoundland, to the detriment

of the fishing industry.

The many years of significant achievements of the colonists,

such as taming the wilderness and building cities, had given them

confidence in their ability to govern themselves. The average colonial

family had a better standard of living than the average family in

England. Many of its top citizenry had reached their positions by hard

work applied to opportunities for upward mobility. With the confidence

of success, the American colonies in 1776 declared their independence

from Britain, relying on the principles stated by John Locke and Jean

Jacques Rousseau that man was naturally free and all men equal, and

that society was only created with their consent. Issac's Newtons's

unified laws of the universe had contributed to this idea of a natural

law of rights of men. Thomas Jefferson wrote a Declaration of

Independence which listed the colonies' grievances against the Crown

which reiterated many of the provisions of the Petition of Right and

Bill of Rights, specifically dispensing with and suspending laws,

maintaining a standing army and quartering troops without legislative

consent, imposing arbitrary taxation, encouraging illegal prosecutions

in strange courts, and corrupting the jury process. It was adopted

about July 4, 1776. Thereafter, the American colonies did not follow

English law. Past English law became the legal heritage of the United

States of America.

The Law

Anyone who feloniously steals or aids in the stealing of goods,

wares, or merchandise over 5s. from a shop, warehouse, coach house, or

stable, by night or by day, whether the owner is present or not,

whether there is a break in or not, may not have benefit of clergy.

Anyone stealing goods of 40s. worth from a ship on any river or

in any port or creek or from any wharf may not have benefit of clergy.

Anyone receiving or buying goods they know to be stolen or who

harbors or conceals any burglars, felons, or thieves knowing them to be

such shall be taken as accessory to the felony and shall suffer death

as punishment if the principal felon is convicted.

A person taking money or reward for helping any other person to

stolen goods or chattels is guilty of felony unless he brings the thief

to trial.

As of 1717, any person convicted of grand or petty larceny or

any felonious stealing or taking of money, goods, or chattels, either

from the person or from the house of any person who is entitled to

benefit of clergy and who is liable only to whipping or burning in the

hand may instead be transported to the American colonies to the use of

any person who will pay for his transportation for seven years. Any

person convicted of an offense punishable by death and without benefit

of clergy and buyers and receivers of stolen goods may be given mercy

by the king on condition of transportation to any part of America to

the use of any person who will pay for his transportation, for fourteen

years or other term agreed upon. Returning before the expiration of the

term is punishable by death.

Anyone assaulting another with an offensive weapon with a

design to rob may be transported for seven years.