The home government was paying Denmark one hundred thousand pounds annually for these two articles. Both could, with a little perseverance and care, be produced on this side of the water, and be paid for, not in cash, but in the products of the English mills and shops, and in this manner saving the money and finding a new market for goods. To this end, pine trees were selected and stripped, but before the scheme had matured, and the first step taken, the wicked New Hampshire men set fire to the trees, and this, with the Indian troubles, which were endless, put an end to the tar and pitch arrangement. This was not all they did, however. The governor claimed that not only did these lawless men of “Old Strawberry Bank” cut down the king’s timber which had been reserved for the Royal Navy, but that they had sawn it up into deals, and actually sold it to the enemies of the government, in the French and Spanish West Indies; and that no less a person than the Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire was engaged in the business, and not only engaged in it, but had boasted of his profits, and thus incited others to go and do likewise. He next tried to introduce the cultivation of flax, but this was a failure, labor costing three times here what it would in Ireland. This paternal care of the government continued under William’s successors. In 1749 an act of parliament, while encouraging the production of pig and bar iron, absolutely forbade its manufacture, and to carry its terms into effect, proclamation was made by the provincial sheriffs, and an inquiry as to the number of mills and forges in the province was instituted by the governor, to the end that steps might be taken to have them discontinued. With such an experience as this extending over three-quarters of a century, the people of New Hampshire were not only in sympathy with their fellow-countrymen in the other colonies, but stood ready as well to coöperate in any movement having for its object the welfare of the people as against the government. [Illustration: THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH NEWARK, N. J. ] [Illustration: ROBERT ELLIS THOMPSON PHILADELPHIA, PA. ] [Illustration: FRANCIS C. TRAVERS NEW YORK CITY ] [Illustration: T. RUSSELL SULLIVAN BOSTON, MASS. ] EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE