shipments to Holland deprived the English treasury annually of ten thousand pounds sterling.[1] As a large part of this loss in revenue arose from the unlawful advantage taken of the intercolonial trade, it was decided, in 1672, to impose a duty of one penny a pound upon all tobacco imported from colony to colony,[2] and it was subsequently held that after the payment of this duty, the owners of the commodity were not at liberty to transport it to a foreign country.[3] In reshipping it, a bond was given by the shipmaster that he would convey his cargo to England,[4] or if the point of destination, after reshipment, was another English colony, the duty of one penny was paid the second time.
The Act of Navigation was more strictly observed in Virginia, as time advanced, in spite of the fact that there was a deep sense in the public mind that it bore with great heaviness upon all the interests of the people. Berkeley, who was most subservient in his loyalty to the King, believed that the measure was very obstructive of any improvement in the condition of the Colony, and this opinion he expressed with great emphasis when answering the inquiries of the Royal Commissioners in 1671.[5] One of the causes of the uprising under Bacon was the oppressive character of the Act, and the expectation that the success of the insurrection would bring relief from its burden to the participants.[6] Hardly had this movement
- ↑ Sainsbury’s Calendar of State Papers, 1667-1668, p. 172. See also Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York, vol. III, pp. 47-49.
- ↑ 25 Charles II, c. 7, § II.
- ↑ Chalmers’ Political Annals, pp. 319, 323, 324.
- ↑ 7 & 8 William III, c. 22, § VIII. An example of the regular bond given by shipmasters in leaving Virginia, which required them to proceed directly to an English port, will be found in Palmer’s Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 48.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. II, pp. 515, 516.
- ↑ Beverley’s History of Virginia, p. 61.
