The passage of the tobacco law in the Virginia assembly was uncertain. Some small changes were made at the request of the burgesses, but the assembly was very leery of the power that Gooch would have in appointing Inspectors for the tobacco. Gooch agreed to having the Inspectors appointed by the joint decision of the Council and the Lt. Gov. And, if an elected official were appointed an Inspector, he had to resign his elective office. After he had done this, he could run for reelection at the next election and let the voters decide whether they wanted an elected official to also serve as an executive administrator. This was a significant erosion of the gubernatorial power, but Gooch felt the tobacco legislation was more important than the loss of power.
Gooch was concerned about another matter, namely the lack of capable people in Virginia. He felt that some doubling up of functions was necessary, because there were not enough good men in Virginia to run the government. But Gooch's role throughout the legislation convinced people that he was interested in them, not in himself.
The law was passed in Virginia, but this was only the opening skirmish, as it had to be approved in Great Britain. Gooch had attempted to pre-sell the legislation there, and even to win support for the law, before it was enacted. It had been demonstrated, time and again, that people in England, especially the merchants, could intervene long after a law had apparently been passed, and could get it revoked.
Opposition did develop in England against the law, but, thanks to the skillful handling of the matter by Gooch, the law was sustained. This was not an easy thing to do, as the merchants were on the scene, and Gooch was four or five months away. Gooch kept hammering away, in a rational manner, on the benefits for both the planters and the empire. Not only did the merchants wage a secret campaign against the law, but Customs officials waged open warfare, on the basis that it was a threat to the King's revenues. They even argued that the three shilling fee per hogshead, to be levied on the planters to pay for the inspection, would force the smaller planters out of production. The Customs people also thought the inspection would be too strict and would cut out the middle grades of tobacco.
Finally, though, the Board of Trade was convinced that the act would be beneficial for all parties. They recommended the approval of the act, at least on a probationary basis.
Another feature of the act was that only high-grade tobacco could be used to pay public debts. Previously people had been paying their public debts with trashy tobacco. So the legislation was launched, but it was not clear that it would endure.
(24 May 01)
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.