IV. THE IMPERIALISTIC POLICY OF THE BOARD OF TRADE
In the maze of administrative details of colonial government there were the larger questions of the relations of the colonies to the empire. Throughout its history the Board of Trade displayed remarkable consistency in dealing with these questions. Unaffected by changing ministries, and in spite of its varying personnel and its lack of responsibility for long periods of time, the Board held tenaciously to certain principles of imperial government. It sought to preserve the dependence of the colonies upon the home government by retaining control of the executive and the judiciary and by making the colonies conform to one administrative type of government. Closely connected with these schemes were its plans for protecting the colonies by the creation of a central military government in America, which could be used to maintain order and to protect the frontiers.
The question of a fixed civil list
Early in its history the Board realized that imperial interests required the establishment of a fixed civil list in each colony. The question was not prominent when the Board was organized, but soon became so by conditions which developed in New York, where unusual expenditures were required for defense. The main source of income for a colonial