Name

The Spy Document

Description

Sometime in the 1750s, an anonymous author wrote a document addressed to the Prime Minister describing the smuggling trade in extraordinary detail. He named the routes, the methods, the prices. He proposed four solutions — all punitive, none involving consultation.

Buried in the document is a passage that changes everything: in 1743, the House of Keys secretly drafted a remonstrance against the tobacco trade. The Governor suppressed it. The Manx people opposed the smuggling — and were silenced.

Key passages provided (modernised spelling). Analysis questions: Who wrote it? How do we know they were telling the truth? The author knows the Manx people oppose the trade. His solutions are still punitive. Why?

Key Stage / Type

Home Educator

Ages 12+

Source Analysis

Period

1750s

Topic

Constitutional History