Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/305

 rate of three shillings a pound for that of the best quality, and of two shillings for that of only moderate excellence. Settlement was to be made at the same intervals as in the first and second years. The dues of the King were placed at fifteen thousand pounds. It was further provided by the contractors that the entire crops of tobacco produced in Virginia and the Somers Isles, for it was proposed to include the Somers Isles in the arrangement, should be conveyed to the port of London alone. If, in the course of either of the first two years, the importation should exceed two hundred thousand pounds, or two hundred and fifty thousand pounds during the succeeding five years, the planters were to have the privilege of transferring to the Turkish market whatever surplus remained in either case after the contractors had exercised their choice. Special pains, however, were to be taken that no part of this surplus should be sold to any purchaser who was likely to return it upon the English market, to depress the price of the quantity selected from the whole amount first imported.

The reply made at a later date in the interest of the planters to this offer left no room for doubt as to how they regarded it. It was impossible for the population of the Colony, it was asserted, to subsist upon the proceeds of the sale of two hundred thousand pounds of tobacco. The disposal of four hundred thousand at a fair price would not furnish the whole number of people with the supplies which they needed for their support. The contract gave those who propounded it the fullest opportunity to show partiality to their particular friends, in which event, the great body of the colonists would suffer a loss on