If, therefore, it shall appear that the relieving our sugar colonies will do more harm to the _other_ parts of our dominions, than it can do good to _them_, we must refuse it, and think of some other method of putting them upon an equal footing with their rivals in any part of trade.
"Our sugar colonies are of great consequence to us; but our other colonies in that part of the world ought also to be considered.

From them we have, likewise, yearly, large quantities of goods.

We ought not to raise one colony upon the destruction of another.

Much less ought we to grant a favor to any particular set of people which may prove to be against the public good of the nation in general." To these, and other matters of general moment, Oglethorpe devoted his time, his talents, and his influence while in Parliament.

He earnestly supported the cause of silk manufacture, which had then begun to spread in England by means of the improvement introduced by Sir Thomas Lombe, in the invention of his large engines, which are described as being of "a most curious and intricate structure,"[1] but which in our own day, when mechanical ingenuity has reached a high degree of excellence, and machinery seems itself almost an intelligent principle, would, probably, be regarded as merely "curious and intricate," without possessing any practical value.[2] [Footnote 1: The 6th of the excellent _Essays_ by the Rev.Jared Eliot, _on Field Husbandry, &_ c., 1761, is devoted principally to recommendations of the culture of mulberry trees for the raising of silk-worms.