, to cap the climax, England was to control the trade
between the Colonies; that is, Massachusetts could not trade with New
Hampshire, or New York with Connecticut, except by paying tribute to
England. The people were no longer Englishmen, with the privileges of
Englishmen, but outsiders, foreigners, so far as trade was concerned.
If a Dutchman of Amsterdam wanted to find a market here in Boston he
could not send his ship across the Atlantic, but only to England, that
the goods might be taken across the ocean in an English ship. The
merchants here in Boston who had anything to sell in Holland, France,
Spain, or anywhere else, could not send it to those countries, but
must ship it to England. The fishermen of Gloucester and Marblehead
could not ship the codfish they had caught to Spain or Cuba. The
people in Catholic countries cannot eat meat on Friday, but may eat
fish. Spain and Cuba were good customers, but the fishermen must sell
their fish to merchants in London or Bristol, instead of trading
directly with the people of those countries. You see, Mr. Walden, that
it was a cunningly devised plan to enrich England at our expense."

"It was unrighteous and wicked," Robert exclaimed.

"I do not wonder that it seems so to you, as it must to every one who
believes in justice and fair dealing," Mr. Adams continued; "but
human nature is apt to be selfish. In 1696 Parliament passed an act
establishing the Lords of Trade, giving seven men, selected by the
king, authority to control and regulate commerce.[20] The governors of
the Colonies were to carry out the provisions of the act, which
forbade all traffic between Ireland and the Colonies, and which
repealed all the laws enacted by the colonial legislatures relating to
trade and manufactures."

[Footnote 20: "The causes which brought about the American Revolution
will be found in the acts of the Board of Trade."--JOHN ADAMS.]

"Did not the people protest against such a law?" Robert asked.

"Yes, the Great and General Court sent a protest to London, but they
might as well have whistled to the wind."

Mr. Adams turned partly round in his chair and took a paper from his
desk.

"This is a copy," he continued, "of the protest. It represents that
the people were already much cramped in their liberties and would be
fools to consent to have their freedom further abridged. They were not
bound to obey those laws, because they had no voice in making them.
They stood on their nat