To such an extent did the Act curtail the revenue which the English Government annually derived from Virginia, and so much did it interfere with the profits of the English merchants who found a market in the Colony,[1] that it was at length suspended, but not until it had become thoroughly odious to the people, more especially in consequence of the prosecutions arising under the provisions of the law for the payment of forfeitures for violation of its terms.[2] The whole question as to establishing a number of towns was referred back to the General Assembly. This was the first practical admission on the part of the English Government that the policy of promoting town building in the Colony, which it had so long urged upon the attention of the people of Virginia, had ended in failure.[3] The conflict of opinion as to the causes of this failure was very marked. Secretary Spencer was inclined to ascribe it to the fact that the erection of too many towns was undertaken. It would have been far wiser, he thought, to have attempted to build only one on each river.[4] In the opinion of others, the whole scheme was impracticable, whether it was sought to erect only one town on each of the important streams or a town in each county, and this opinion seems to have been fully confirmed by the practical effect of the Cohabitation Act of 1662, and also by that of 1680, the latter providing for the erection of a town in each county, the former for the erection of a town in the valley of each of the principal rivers.
- ↑ Randolph MSS., vol. III, p. 400.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. III, p. 541.
- ↑ Order on the Act of Cohabitation, Privy Council, Dec. 21, 1681, British State Papers, Virginia, No. 82; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 7, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Letter of Nicholas Spencer, Aug. 20, 1680, British State Papers, Virginia, No. 80; McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. 373, Va. State Library.
