pay their quit-rents in coin instead of in tobacco, according to the rule which had prevailed for so great a length of time. They boldly declared that it was impossible to obey such an order. Not only was money sterling entirely lacking, but it could not be procured from England, the laws of that kingdom prohibiting its exportation.[1] The people of Virginia, although they had been enduring the evil condition springing from a dearth of coin for so long a period, seemed unable to accustom themselves to the inconveniences it caused in such a variety of ways. In 1686, the Governor and Council drew up a petition to the King, in which he was asked with great earnestness to grant the authorities of the Colony the right to advance pieces of eight, French crowns, and other foreign money beyond their intrinsic worth. It was anticipated that the merchants engaged in the tobacco trade would be tempted by this increase in rating to import large quantities of coin in order to secure the margin of profit which would thus be created between the arbitrary and the real value of the metal.
The proposition of the Council was submitted to the Commissioners of Customs in England for an opinion as to the expediency of accepting it. Their reply was in many respects a memorable one, and deserves perhaps to be pondered even in the present age. They took the ground that “no rate ought to be set upon money sterling other than according to its real intrinsic value and worth;” and they further declared, “that the proposition, if carried out, would be a great hindrance to trade, and instead of a general advantage, conduce only to the advantage of some particular persons, who, being in debt,
- ↑ Address of Burgesses to Howard, October, 1685, British State Papers, Colonial; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, p. 340, Va. State Library.
