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Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, for the Payment of the
said Duty or Imposition accordingly.
And whereas the General Assembly of this Province, on the
Twenty Sixth Day of April, Anno Domini 1715, made their humble
Application to the late Right Honourable Benedict Leonard Lord
Baron of Baltemore, That he would be favourably pleased to accept
of his Rents and Fines for Alienations, in Tobacco at Two Pence
Sterling per Pound, in such Manner and on such Conditions and
Terms as his noble Ancestors have heretofore done, for the greater
Ease to their Tenants in the Payment of their Rents, and the better
to encourage the Cultivation and Settlement of the remotest Parts
of this their Proprietorship.
And forasmuch as the Gratuity formerly settled on his Lordship's
Ancestors, before the Decease of the late Right Honourable Charles
Lord Baron of Baltemore, was raised by an Impost of Twelve Pence
on the Exportation of every Hogshead of Four Hundred Pounds of
Tobacco, which Impost determined by the Death of the said Right
Honourable Charles Lord Baron of Baltemore, so that thereby his
Lordship's Rents became payable in Money. But forasmuch, as to
have continued the Payment thereof in Money, would have been
wholly Impracticable from the great Scarcity of it amongst us, and
that it would not only have tended much to the Disappointment of
his Lordship in the Receipt of his Rents, but also to the Oppression
of such Tenants as hold Lands under Condition of such punctual
Payments, as the Tenor of their Grants requires, and to the Disin-
heriting many who would have been obliged to Surrender their Es-
tates, for want of Ability to comply therewith; which in all Prob-
ability would have proved a Check to the future Cultivation of the
remote and Forest Lands of this Province, being Part of His Maj-
esty's Dominions; all which Inconveniencies that General Assembly
most earnestly desired might be provided against. And forasmuch
as the Quantity of Tobacco then usually Exported, or which might
be Exported in a Hogshead of the Gauge by this Act settled, ex-
ceeded the Quantity which was commonly reputed to be the Con-
tents of fL Hogshead, at' the Time when the aforesaid Twelve Pence
per Hogshead was settled on his Lordship's Ancestors for their
making easy the Payment of his Rents and Fines for Alienations
aforesaid; and also, for that altho' the Number of Hogsheads com-
monly Exported, hath much increased since that Time, yet for that
the Value of his Lordship's Rents hath much more increased, a Law
then passed for raising an Impost of Eighteen Pence Sterling per
Hogshead, and Three Pence Sterling per Hundred on Tobacco ex-
ported out of this Province in Hogshead, Chest, Barrel or Case, for
the Use of the said Lord Proprietary, in Consideration of his taking
his Rents and Alienation Fines in Tobacco, at Two Pence Sterling
per Pound.
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