On 11 Aug 1715, the Board of Trade heard Col. Blakiston, Mr. Byrd, and Mr. M. Perry present an Order of Council [the King and Council], dated 25 Jul 1715, referring to the Commissioners an Address from the Virginia Council and Burgesses, reporting that revenues from tobacco exports had fallen since England had imposed a duty on the tobacco. As a result, the expenses of the Virginia government could not be met and they requested permission to fill the gap with Quit Rent revenues. The next day Byrd (the Receiver General of Virginia) handed in accounts of the revenue arising in Virginia from the tobacco export duty of two shillings per hogshead, from 1705 to 1714, and the Commissioner ordered these reports to be compared with the similar accounts already in their office. Two weeks later, Byrd explained the differences between the two accounts.
The question of Carolina, Virginia, and the Indians consumed more time of the Commissioners.
17 Nov 1715. The Commissioners read an Order in Council repealing the Act of Virginia limiting office holding to three year residents of Virginia. This had been passed in Virginia several years prior.
12 Jan 1715/16. The Commissioners ordered the Inspector General of Customs to produce statements showing the quantities of mast timber, pitch, and tar imported into Britain from the Plantations, from Christmas 1706 to Christmas 1714. [Naval stores is an important topic.] On the next day, the Commissioners ordered seven merchants to attend a future meeting to discuss the question of the production of naval stores in the Plantations. Five days later, several merchants appeared and discussed the merits of mast timber, pitch, and tar produced in various of the Plantations. They stated that tar made in Virginia and Carolina was superior for ropes to that made in New England. The Commissioner asked for recommendations on improving the quality and increasing the output of naval stores. The next week, merchants trading with New England gave their opinions on steps to improve and to increase naval stores production. They suggested that the duty be lowered to offset the freight costs, which were higher for imports from the Plantations than from the Baltic nations. The same day, Mr. Bridger, the Surveyor of H.M.'s Woods in the continent of America, gave his views on the measures to improve the quality of naval stores produced in the Plantations.
Algerine rovers (pirates?) were harassing English shipping to Virginia. English ships were to be issued passes for identity purposes. [The Algerines were probably imitating English ships.] Col. Blakiston thought that forty passes would be needed for ships trading with Virginia.
(Note from SgtGeorge, Webmaster: "Algerine rovers" refers to ships from Algeria, with which America was "at war" in the early 1800's. Ships in the Mediterranean was constantly harassed by pirates from the Barbary States of Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli. I'm not sure how pirates in the Mediterranean could have been harassing English shipping to Virginia, since the English ships never came anywhere close to the area in which the pirates usually operated. In any case, you can read about this "war" at these web sites: Lycos Zone and Bartleby Great Books Online
There is a problem here with the dates. John has quoted from the Minute Book of the Board of Trade, and the problem with the "Algerine rovers" seems to have been of great concern in 1715; however, according to the above references, the active period of the "Algerine" pirates was at its height in 1815, one hundred years later. ?????)
1 May 1716. The Commissioners received two anonymous letters from Virginia, one dated 7 Feb and the other undated. Both letters complained about the activities of Col. Spotswood. One of them was based on resolutions of the Virginia Assembly. The Commissioners took these letters seriously, even though they were not signed, and sent copies to Col. Spotswood for his comments. Copies were also sent to Col. Blakiston.
[Some of the complaints were based on the land acquisitions of Spotswood. Little did the letter writers know that Spotswood was already planning much larger land acquisitions. Right then he was planning a western trip over the Blue Ridge Mountains to look at the land to the west of Germanna. This resulted in his acquiring, with some smaller partners, a tract that, in fact, included 65,000 acres.]
(24 Aug 00)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.