Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/303

 exchanging the goods included in the Magazine, for tobacco at the rate of three shillings a pound for the best, or eighteen pence for the meanest grades, the Governor and Council were enjoined to leave Mr. Blaney, who was in charge of it, to his free discretion in disposing of the merchandise within the limits as to price laid down in private instructions for his guidance. The Company also urged that it was to the interest of the planters that there should be a profitable return upon this Magazine, as those who had invested large sums in its purchase would be encouraged to continue in the same course, assuring a certain and steady supply of necessary goods for the people of the Colony. The Company admitted that its own treasury was empty and that only reliance was to be placed upon the purses of its members coming forward in the character of private adventurers. The pinnace accompanying the magazine ship was captured by the Turks and never reached Virginia, thus causing the loss of the goods on board designed for the planters. In the reply returned by the Governor and Council to the instructions sent over, they informed the Company that the bulk of the crop of the previous season had been disposed of before the magazine ship arrived, and in consequence of this fact, they had recommended Mr. Blaney to distribute among the colonists the merchandise which he had imported, taking their bonds to secure his ownership in the tobacco to be planted in the following season. This letter reveals the fact that in practice free trade had now been fully established in Virginia.