 
the british customs officials, spurred into unusual activity in the face of 
pitt's demand for the strict enforcement of the trade and navigation acts in 
order to break up the pernicious practice of bringing aid and comfort to the 
enemy, were led to employ writs of assistance for the purpose of laying their 
hands upon goods landed in american ports and secured in exchange for american 
provisions sent for the most part... to the french west indies. 
although in the midst of hostilities, most of the merchants in boston 
showed bitter opposition to the writs... 
but the most fateful aftermath of the great war for the empire... grew out 
of the problem of the control and support not only of the vast 
trans-appalachian interior... but of the new acquisitions in north america 
secured from france and spain... 
(the proclamation of 1673) created there a temporary but vast indian 
reserve by laying down as a barrier the crest of the mountains beyond which 
there should be no white settlement except by specific permission of the 
crown. 
the proclamation has been represented not only as a blunder... but also as 
a cynical attempt by the british ministry to embody mercantilistic principles 
in an american land policy that... ran counter to the charter limits of many 
of the colonies and the interests in general of the colonials. 
nevertheless, this view of the proclamation fails to take into account the 
fact that it was the offspring of the war and that the trans-appalachian 
aspects of it were an almost inevitable result of promises made during the 
progress of hostilities... these indians were assured that they would be 
secure in their trans-appalachian lands as a reward for deserting their 
allies, the french... 
thus committed in honor in the course of the war, what could the cabinet 
council at its termination do other than it finally did in the proclamation of 
1763? 
