| Description | The contents of this file were, it appears, originally in six separate bundles, three of which are mentioned in the Catalogue of Papers compiled by William D. Brown about 1791 under the following titles:
American Disputes
Commercial Committee
Chamber of Manufacturers
These six files were later placed together in one portfolio, entitled as follows:
American Disputes. Act to prohibit Exportatn of Tools
Oppositn to Brass Exportn Prohibitn
Russian Prohibtg. Acts. Commercial Commite.
Birmm Chamber of Manufacturs
his is the title recorded in the Inventory compiled by the Assay Office in 1921, but unfortunately the portfolio was subsequently discarded. Under Matthew Robinson Boulton’s arrangement the file was placed in Box H. I, and it was still in the same place in 1921.
Within the portfolio the six groups of documents were each contained in yellow-paper wrappers. Only one of these survives, namely that for the "Tool Exportation Act Documents." The Assay Office Catalogue refers to a wrapper marked, "American Disputes, 1775," but this was evidently discarded.
The documents are now arranged in six chronological sequences, as follows:
American Disputes, 1775. (1-20)
Tool Exportation Act Documents. (21-36)
Opposition to Brass Exportation Prohibition Act. (27-51)
Russia Prohibitions. (52-72)
Commercial Committee. (73-84)
Chamber of Manufacturers. (85-106)
It will be noted that the all the documents relate to disputes about restrictions on international trade, and this is evidently why they were brought together.
Some of the items listed by the Assay Office under "Opposition to Brass Exportation Prohibition Act" appear not to relate to that subject, but merely to the general topic of brass, and these may have been transferred by the Assay Office from another file. The outline of the subject of the Russian business is given in Boulton’s letter to Lord Hawkesbury (see MS 3782/12/87/52). |