[Nothing in the Board of Trade Minutes gives any clue to the following, but Spotswood later wrote that he set his Germans to work about this time, looking for iron ore. In spite of the negative attitude in England toward iron in the colonies, some well placed people in England wanted him to look for iron ore. It was a very low key search but, in the end, was successful. Why did he proceed if English opinion could be, and was, negative? He felt that he had the support of powerful people in England (as partners) who could divert any objections; however he went about the search and development very slowly, and spent a minimum of money. This in no way changed his outlook toward land on the frontier as the kingpin of his economic future. That was a proven way, and iron was very problematic on several points. Naval stores were much more promising, as the King was behind the idea of providing them from the Plantations.]
On 25 Oct 1717, Mr. Cock, Secretary of Virginia, sent information about two Laws of Virginia concerning Quakers and Foreign Debts. The Commissioners prepared an initial draft to His Majesty, recommending the repeal of these laws.
On 12 Nov 1717, Col. Blakiston and M. Perry attended the Commissioners in connection with Spotswood's dispute with the Council on who controlled appointments to the court. For several days, the Commissioners listened to Byrd and Cock re the dispute. The discussion took several meetings, and they deferred a decision. They finally decided to consult the Attorney General. At one point, Byrd presented information on how the Council stood related to one another. [I believe the question was how the Council members were related by blood or marriage. They were a close group.]
This same month, information was received about the interception of a Virginia ship by a Spanish warship. The Virginia ship was on the way to the Bahamas under orders from Spotswood.
21 Nov 1717. All Governors of H.M.'s Plantations were ordered to submit statements showing the quantity of Madeira wine imported into their respective colonies each year for the past three years. In the future, they should submit similar accounts every six months. The following week, the Commissioners reexamined the history of naval stores in the Plantations.
Major policy questions arose when Mr. Beresford sent a memorial saying the French were establishing forts from the St. Lawrence River to the Mississippi. The Commissioners asked the Governors of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia what should be done to counteract this threat.
The Commissioner did send the Act "prohibiting the unlawful Assembling of Quakers" to the Attorney General for his opinion. A month later, in January, they had not reached a decision on what to recommend concerning this Act.
(01 September 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.