Acts. 629

Masters of every such Ship or Vessel coming into this Prov-
ince shall at their first Arrival here before their Loading on
board any Goods or Commodities of the Growth Production
or Manufacture of this Province give good & sufficient
Security to His Excellency the. Governor or the Officer there-
unto especially appointed for the payment of the said Duty

or Imposition accordingly. And whereas the General As-
sembly of this Province on the 26th Day of April 1715 made
their humble Application to the late R^t Honble Benedict
Leonard Lord Baron of Baltimore that he would be favour-
ably pleased to accept of his Rents & Fines for Alienations
in Tob^o at 2s Stg p lb in such manner & on such Conditions
& terms as his Noble Ancestors have heretofore done for the
greater Ease to their Tenants in the Payment of their Rents
& the better to encourage the Cultivation & Settlement of
the remoter Parts of this their proprietorship And forasmuch
as the Gratuity formerly settled on His said Ldps Ancestors
before the Decease of the late R^t Honble Charles Lord Baron
of Baltimore was raised by an Impost of twelve pence on the
Exportation of every Hhd of 400 lbs of Tob^o which Impost
determined by the Death of the said R^t Honble Charles Ld
Baron of Baltimore so that thereby His Ldps Rent became
payable in Money, but forasmuch as to have continued the
payment thereof in Money would have been wholly imprac-
ticable from the great Scarcely of it amongst Us & that it
would not only have tended much to the Disappointment of
His Ldp in Receipt of his Rents but also to the Oppression of
such Tenants as held Lands under Conditions of such punc-
tual Payment as the Tenor of their Grants requires & to the
Disinheriting many who would have been obliged to surren-
der their Estates for want of Ability to comply therewith
which in all probability would have proved a Check to the
future Cultivation of the remote & forest Lands of this Prov-
ince being part of His Majesty's Dominions, all which Incon-
veniencies that General Assembly most earnestly desired
might be provided agt And forasmuch as the Quantity of
Tob^o then usually exported or which might be exported in
a Hhd of the Gage by this Act setled exceeded the Quantity
which was commonly reputed to be the Contents of a Hhd at
the time when the aforesd 12s p Hhd was settled on His Ldps
Ancestors for the making easy the payment of his Rents &
Fines for Alienations aforesd & also for that altho the Number
of Hhds annually exported hath much increased since that
time yet for that the Value of His said Ldps Rents hath much
more increased, a Law was then passed for the raising an
Impost of 181 Sts p Hhd & 3 Stg. p 100 on Tobo exported

M. H. S.
Collection.