imported from Virginia had been seriously obstructed by the volume of the English crop.[1] The object which this memorial had in view had the warm approval of the King. No customs were payable upon the tobacco produced in England; in discouraging the importation from Virginia and the Bermudas by weakening the market, the volume of the royal revenue was diminished. In January, 1631, Charles issued a second proclamation forbidding the cultivation of the plant in England, and prohibiting the introduction of the foreign commodity unless the person bringing it in could show a royal license.[2] New duties were now imposed upon all the tobacco imported. The charge for the Spanish product was two shillings a pound, for that of Barbadoes and the other English possessions in the West Indies, twelve pence, while for the product of Virginia and the Bermudas it was nine pence, three of the nine being levied as customs, and six as imposts.[3] The duty was reduced at a later date to two pence for subsidy, and two pence for impost.[4]
In spite of the earnest protests and the prohibitory measures of the English Government, the exportation of tobacco to Holland continued. As early as 1627, the masters of all vessels departing from the Colony with cargoes made up of this commodity were required to deliver to the authorities before weighing anchor invoices of their loading, and to give security that they would convey it to the port of London. The necessity of this was strongly enforced in a letter from the Privy Council to the
- ↑ British State Papers, Colonial, vol. V, No. 84; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1630, p. 214, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Proclamations of Charles I, No. 138.
- ↑ British State Papers, Sign Manuals, Charles I, vol. XII, No. 44; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1630-31, p. 235, Va. State Library.
- ↑ British State Papers, Sign Manuals Charles I, vol. XIII, No. 86; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1631, p. 29, Va. State Library.
