John Pownall and British Colonial Policy

IN the past five decades, studies of eighteenth-century English history have given increasingly greater attention to the role of the civil servants, or subministers, in politics and administration. As early as I912 Mary P. Clarke pointed out the influence of the secretary to the Board of Trade. She suggested his importance to nearly all phases of the Board's activities. In I9I7 William T. Laprade published the Parliamentary papers of John Robinson, revealing his vital labors as Treasury secretary in the general election of 1784. Since Laprade's publication, several works have touched upon Robinson's performance as Lord North's Treasury secretary. Dora Mae Clark demonstrated the importance, in formulating Treasury policy, not only of Robinson but of the Treasury secretaries in general. Lewis Namier cited some of the occasions when Admiralty secretary John Cleveland influenced administrative and political decisions. Recently, Jack Sosin demonstrated the considerable role that Undersecretary of State William Knox played in the Quebec Act.' Historians have thus found the subministers a useful part in the machinery of eighteenth-century government. As experienced men of business or administrators, or both, they earned the confidence of their superiors. Called upon for advice in the formulation 'of policy, they were entrusted with the execution of policy as well. John Pownall was one such subminister. As secretary to the Board of Trade and later undersecretary of state for the American Department, he

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