Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/510

 anticipated by English statesmen and merchants at the time of the foundation of the Colony. It was approved by the public men of England throughout the century not only because it increased the volume of English manufactures, but also because it created no balance of trade against the English people, involving, as in the case of their dealings with the countries of Continental Europe, a withdrawal of large quantities of coin each year from the kingdom to cover this balance. It was approved by the merchants during the same period because it gave them an opportunity to secure a double profit, first, a profit on the goods which they imported into Virginia, and secondly, a profit on the tobacco which they exported from the Colony. Had they been compelled to pay in coin for every pound of that commodity purchased from the planters, they would not only have secured no gain on the outward voyage, since in that instance they would have carried over no cargo, but they would have lost irretrievably the large amount expended in meeting the cost of navigating their ships in passing from England to Virginia.

In one of the petitions drawn up by the first Assembly which convened in the Colony, it is stated that there was at this time &#8220;no money at all&#8221; in Virginia. The true explanation of this condition was recognized by the Burgesses when they declared that they had no mint, the only means in the circumstances of trade existing then by which coin could have been obtained. Under the provisions of the charter of 1606, the right to make money of metal was granted to the Company, but this privilege was not renewed in the second charter. It does not appear to have been exercised in the brief interval to which it was confined. The Assembly of 1619 was very earnest in urging that the Treasurer who was to be appointed to