The first attempt at manufacturing any species of cloth in the North American provinces produced a resolution on the part of the House of Commons, [1710,] that "the erecting of manufactories in the colonies had a tendency to lessen their dependence on Great Britain." Soon afterward complaints were made to Parliament that the colonists were establishing manufactories for themselves, and the House of Commons ordered the Board of Trade to report on the subject, which was done at great length. In 1732, the exportation of hats from province to province was prohibited, and the number of apprentices to be taken by hatters was limited. In 1750 the erection of any mill or other engine for splitting or rolling iron was prohibited; but pig iron was allowed to be imported into England duty free, that it might there be manufactured and sent back again. At a later period, Lord Chatham declared that he would not permit the colonists to make even a hobnail for themselves--and his views were then and subsequently carried into effect by the absolute prohibition in 1765 of the export of artisans, in 1781 of woollen machinery, in 1782 of cotton machinery and artificers in cotton, in 1785 of iron and steel-making machinery and workmen in those departments of trade, and in 1799 by the prohibition of the export of colliers, lest other countries should acquire the art of mining coal. The tendency of the system has thus uniformly been-- I. To prevent the application of labour elsewhere than in England to any pursuit but that of agriculture, and thus to deprive the weaker portion of society--the women and children--of any employment but in the field. II. To compel whole populations to produce the same commodities, and thus to deprive them of the power to make exchanges among themselves. III. To compel them, therefore, to export to England all their produce in its rudest forms, at great cost of transportation. IV. To deprive them of all power of returning to the land the manure yielded by its products, and thus to compel them to exhaust their land. V. To deprive them of the power of associating together for the building of towns, the establishment of schools, the making of roads, or the defence of their rights. VI. To compel them, with every step in the process of exhausting the land, to increase their distances from each other and from market. VII. To compel the waste of all labour that could not be employed in the field. VIII. To compel the waste of all the vast variety of things almost valueless in themselves, but which acquire value as men are enabled to work in combination with each other.[44] IX. To prevent increase in the value of land and in the demand for the labour of man; and, X. To prevent advance toward civilization and freedom.