The warfare of “armed boats” participated in by Connecticut deserves notice. During the Revolution much smuggling was carried on between men in Connecticut and the British and Tories on Long Island and at New York. The feeding of the British army at New York, the supplying of the Tories on Long Island, and the demand for manufactured articles in Connecticut, naturally made good markets. Political law was in rivalry with economic law, and proved, in large part, powerless. In 1778, 1779, and 1780, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a number of stringent acts forbidding illicit commerce with the enemy. Many patriot refugees had fled to Connecticut from Long Island. Some of these men would obtain a license to return to their former homes for their property, and under its cover would engage in smuggling. To prevent this abuse, the General Assembly in April, 1779, recalled the power to issue licenses, which it had previously vested in the selectmen of towns.[465] Since the trade had assumed alarming proportions, the General Assembly, in May, 1780, authorized the Governor and Council of Safety to commission not more than twelve armed boats to suppress the trade.[466] In October, Colonel William Ledyard, who was in command of the forts at New London and Groton, was ordered to provide three more whaleboats, besides the two which he already had obtained, to be used in the Sound against the smugglers; and the Commandant of the French navy at Newport was asked to send two vessels to aid in the work.[467] These efforts of the state were in large part unavailing. Some of the boats commissioned to stop the trade became participants in it. “On consideration of the Many Evils committed by the armed Boats in this State commissioned to cruise on their own acct. for the pretended purpose of making captures on the enemy and preventing illicit Trade and Traders,” the General Assembly on January 23, 1781, revoked all the commissions which it had given to the armed boats. A more successful attempt to stamp out the abuse was that made by Norwich, in January, 1782. Certain associators agreed to hold no social or commercial intercourse with those persons detected in evading the laws. They provided boats which kept watch at suspected places; smuggled goods, wherever found, were seized and sold, and the proceeds were devoted to charitable purposes.[468] FOOTNOTES: [432] One must distinguish between the Council and Council of Safety. A few members were common to both bodies. [433] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 99-100. The published Colonial and State Records of Connecticut to which I refer, consist of two parts, the Records of the General Assembly, and the Journals of the Council of Safety. The reader can easily tell from the context to which part each reference refers. [434] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 108, 109. [435] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 109, 110. [436] Ibid., 111-13. [437] Ibid., 117.