It is, however, prudent to obstruct criminal attempts even when we cannot hope entirely to defeat them, and, therefore, I am of opinion, that no provisions ought to be exported without some method of security, by which the governours of every place may be assured that they will be conveyed to our own colonies.  Such securities will easily be contrived, and may be regulated in a manner that they shall not be defeated without such hazard, as the profit that can be expected from illegal commerce, will not be able to compensate.

It is, therefore, sir, proper to delay the bill so long, at least, as that we may produce by it the ends intended, and distress our enemies more than ourselves; that we may secure plenty at home, without the destruction of our distant colonies, and without obliging part of our fellow-subjects to desert to the Spaniards for want of bread.

Mr. Bowles spoke in this manner:—­Sir, the necessity of excepting rice from the general prohibition, is not only sufficiently evinced by the agent of South Carolina, but confirmed beyond controversy or doubt, by the petition of the merchants of Bristol, of which the justice and reasonableness appears at the first view, to every man acquainted with the nature of commerce.

How much the province of South Carolina will be distressed by this prohibition, how suddenly the whole trade of that country will be at a stand, and how immediately the want of many of the necessaries of life will be felt over a very considerable part of the British dominions, has already, sir, been very pathetically represented, and very clearly explained; nor does there need any other argument to persuade us to allow the exportation of rice.

But, from the petition of the merchants of Bristol, it appears that there are other reasons of equal force for this indulgence, and that our regard for the inhabitants of that particular province, however necessary and just, is not the only motive for complying with their request.

It is shown, sir, in this petition, that the prohibition of rice will very little incommode our enemies, or retard their preparations; for they are not accustomed to be supplied with it from our plantations.  We ought, therefore, not to load our fellow-subjects with embarrassments and inconveniencies, which will not in any degree extend to our enemies.

It appears, sir, not only that a very important part of our commerce will be obstructed, but that it will, probably, be lost beyond recovery; for, as only a small quantity of the rice of Carolina is consumed at home, and the rest is carried to other countries, it is easy to conceive that those who shall be disappointed by our merchants will procure so necessary a commodity from other places, as there are many from which it may be easily purchased; and it is well known that trade, if it be once diverted, is not to be recalled, and, therefore, that trade which may be without difficulty transferred, ought never to be interrupted without the most urgent necessity.