plant for that year.[1] On the other hand the price had not yet declined in the European markets. Herrman bought heavily and made a large profit. He was still able to transport the produce directly to Holland regardless of the fact that Cromwell had been at war with the Dutch since 1651 and was trying with unceasing vigor to stop the passage of tobacco to the port of Amsterdam. Though the Maryland and Virginia planters promised to obey the Navigation Act of the English Parliament, they did all they could to circumvent the law. The planters were jubilant when the news arrived that the Stuarts had been restored to the throne in England, believing that Charles II would immediately repeal the obnoxious Navigation Act of 1651. But their joy and enthusiasm was considerably dampened when news arrived that the king had not only refused to repeal the detested law of Cromwell but that he had passed by Parliament the Second Navigation Act which was even more rigorous and destructive to American commerce. By this act the ports of Jamestown and St. Marys were closed to all but English vessels. A storm of indignation arose in Virginia and Maryland; the price of tobacco was so low now that the planters could not afford to pay the exorbitant rates demanded by the English skippers. Thus the two great agricultural British colonies were at the mercy of tobacco, for it was their only source of income. Tobacco was indeed “King”, and at that time it turned out to be something of a tyrant.
Yet the ingenious Herrman was equal to the occasion. Already in possession of a fair sized fleet of ships, he was able to break the blockade at Jamestown and St. Mary’s and carry away all the tobacco he wanted to New Amsterdam or to
- ↑ Bruce, Philip A. Economic History of Virginia during the seventeenth century, 1896, Vol. II. p. 303. See Bruce also for account of fluctuation of prices of tobacco during these years.
