Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/300

 the colonists. In the meanwhile, much complaint seems to have been made of an inclination on the part of the Cape Merchant to set a higher value on the articles in his charge than he was authorized to do, an indirect means of reducing the value of the planters&#8217; tobacco below the prices laid down by the Assembly, acting under orders from the Company. The complaint coming to the knowledge of the latter, the Governor and Council were commanded to examine his invoices to find out whether he had disposed of the goods sent him to be bartered, at higher figures than he could justify in his instructions. It would seem that the legal rates at which the tobacco was to be exchanged, namely, three shillings for that of the best quality and eighteen pence for that of the worst, were too much, and that the Cape Merchant in raising the prices of the articles in the Magazine was merely seeking to