In London, the three Acts passed by the Virginia Assembly in November (December?) of 1720 received much attention. Many consultations went on between H.M.'s Counselors and the Auditors who watched H.M.'s revenues. The Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, was involved because of the westward extension of the settlements toward the French. Lord Carteret favored the measure to secure the western frontier of Virginia by extending the settlements and by fortification of the mountain passes.
On 23 May 1721, the Commissioners of the Board of Trade and Plantations warned Col. Spotswood that if the Acts were allowed, he must ensure that settlers did not leave their existing land for lands which were free of the public levies. He was also warned not to make grants of "too great a quantity of land to any one Person". [Spotswood must have gagged when he read this, for he was planning to grant himself, through intermediaries, 40,000 acres of land. This grant actually contained 65,000 acres, so it is no wonder that he trimmed the stated amount down to 40,000 acres.]
On 6 Jul 1721, the Commissioners were still drafting a reply to Lord Carteret on the two new counties on the western border of Virginia and the need to fortify the passes in the mountains. On 12 July, the late Governor of Maryland, who had been designated the Governor of the Leeward Islands, emphasized the need for Virginia to secure the passes. He advocated land grants of 100 to 1000 acres (or exceptionally 2000 acres). He also suggested that the Quit Rents should be collected and applied toward establishing the new counties. At the next day's meeting, Col. Blakiston attended by invitation and expressed the urgent need to settle the two new counties and to erect the forts to secure the passes. He favored exemption from the Quit Rents for tens years to encourage settlement. He would limit grants to 1200 acres.
18 Aug 1721. Mr. Walpole, Auditor of the Plantations, attended the Commissioners and protested an Act passed in November 1720 entitled "An Act for the better Discovery and Securing of His Majesty's Quit Rents".
22 Aug 1721. The Secretary of State requested (at His Majesty's invitation) the Commissioner's opinion for measures to encourage the importation of timber, mineral ores, and naval stores from the Plantations into Britain. Three days later, the Commissioners heard Mr. Gee on the possibilities of producing copper ore, iron, hemp, and flax in the American Plantations.
On 8 Sep 1721, the Commissioners signed a letter to the Secretary of State on the "State and Condition" of the American Continental Plantations. The same day they signed another letter to the Secretary of State relating to the encouragement to be given to promote the importation of naval stores and mineral ores from the Plantations.
On 9 Nov 1721, the Commissioners discussed, with Mr. Gee and with Mr. Gurney, the Bill passed by Parliament in 1718/19 entitled "An Act for giving further Encouragement for importing naval stores".
10 Nov 1721. Mr. Byrd, who had returned to London from Virginia, discussed the production of naval stores in the Plantations. He also reported that Virginia could cast pig iron but could not yet produce bar iron; some encouragement was needed.
(16 Sep 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.