376 THE LONDON WEST INDIA INTEREST July of other persons interested in the island a simple and natural matter. Thus in 1707 the lords commissioners for trade and plantations applied to the agents of Jamaica and others interested for their opinion as to the time and strength of the convoy for the Jamaica trade, and the answer was signed by the two agents (Sir Gilbert Heathcote and Bartholomew Gracedieu) and twenty- four other merchants trading to Jamaica. 1 Two years later the agents and other merchants submitted to the lords commis- sioners for trade and plantations a proposal for forming certain settlements in the island of Jamaica. 2 In 1737 it appears that the agents of the sugar islands were directed by the lords com- missioners to consult the merchants interested on the subject of certain negotiations with the court of France. 3 Other similar occasions could be cited throughout the century. It does not appear probable that in the early years of the eighteenth century these agents and planters and merchants had any permanent organization. When necessity arose meetings were held so that joint action could be taken, but there was no continuity in their history. Before a permanent society could come into existence there were several interests which had to be reconciled one to another. There had to be harmony between the resident planters, whose representatives the agents were, and the absentees ; and between the absentee planters and the merchants. There had, moreover, to be unanimity between those concerned in the various islands : no evidence has been found that the last point was the occasion of any difficulty. 4 The only institution connected with the West India interest which is known to have been in existence at this time was the Jamaica Coffee House, in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, whose foundation dates probably from the last decade of the seven- teenth century. 5 Here the masters of ships engaged in the Jamaica and Guinea trade called to collect letters, and were to be seen by merchants or others at stated hours. To this coffee house letters were addressed to the agents and probably to other merchants and planters from their correspondents in Jamaica, 6 and no 1 Colonial Office Papers 138 (12, 13, 16 May 1707). 2 Ibid. 30 May 1709. 3 Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 22676, fos. 122-5. 4 A possible source of difference is indicated in a letter-book of Messrs. Lascelles and Maxwell, 1752-4, letter dated 1 May 1753 to Thomas Stevenson & Sons : ' a Bill is ordered ... for the better peopling and Cultivating the Lands of the Island of Jamaica, which the Ministry seems to have much at heart. If that can be compassed effectually, a plenty of sugar may hurt yours and the Leeward Islands in time. . . .' 5 General Advertiser, Tuesday, 18 December 1750. Notice headed ' To all Persons Concerned in the Jamaica Trade ', where reference is made to the existence of the coffee house for sixty years past. 6 Ibid., and Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 12431, fos. 116-17, 120-1.
