Pages 474-491 
|  Pages 507-526
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| Pages 474-491
| Pages 507-526
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| ANNO REGNI GEORGII III. Regis, Magnæ, Britanniæ, Franciæ, et Hiberniæ, undiceimo. 
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William Nelson, esq. President. | |||
| CHAP. I. | ||||
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| I. WHEREAS large quantities of tobacco have lately been, by excessive rains and the overflowing of several rivers, destroyed and damaged in the public warehouses established at Shockoe and Byrd's, in the county of Henrico, at the Rocky Ridge and Warwick, in the county of Chesterfield, at Falmouth and Dixon's in the county of King George, and at Quantico, in the | Recital of the destruction of large quantities of tobacco, by the overflowing of several rivers, &c. |
| county of Prince William, and by a late accidental fire other tobaccoes have been burnt in the public warehouses at Nasswaddox, in the county of Northampton; as appears by the books of the several inspectors, and other proper vouchers, for which the public is become chargeable; but inasmuch as the particular accounts of each proprietor cannot at present be liquidated and settled with proper exactness and precision: For remedy whereof, and that the accounts may be fairly and justly stated, Be it enacted, by the President, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That Richard Bland, Archibald Cary, Richard Adams, Patrick Henry, John Banister, William Macon, Roger Dixon, Walker Taliaferro, Henry Pendleton, William Fitzhugh, of Somerset, Joseph Jones, Fielding Lewis, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Thomas Blackburne, Matthew Whiting, Landon Carter, the younger, Bailey Washington, Severn Eyre, John Burton, Griffin Stith, John Bowdoin, and Nathaniel Littleton Savage, esquires, shall be, and they are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners for taking, examining, and stating the accounts, claims and demands, of the several proprietors of tobacco, damaged or burnt in the said respective warehouses, and which had not remained therein above one year, before the said tobacco was so destroyed, damaged, or burnt. | in the great freshet of 1771. Commissioners for stating accounts of damaged tobacco. |
| II. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or any three, or more of them, are hereby impowered and required to meet at such times or places as they shall think fit, of which public notice shall be advertised in the Virginia Gazette, and at the warehouse where the loss to be examined into shall have happened, at least one month before such meeting, and to examine any person or persons they shall think necessary for their information in all things relating to the said accounts, and to administer an oath or affirmation, as the case shall be, to any person or persons, for the better discovering the true quantity of the tobacco so lost. | To publish the times, &c. of meeting; |
| III. And be it further enacted, That each of the said commissioners, before he enters upon the execution of this act, shall take an oath before some justice of the peace, the tenor whereof shall be as followeth, that is to say, I A. B. do swear that I will, according to my skill and knowledge, faithfully, impartially, and truly, | Oath of office. |
| demean myself in taking, examining, and stating, the accounts, claims, and demands, of the proprietors of the tobacco damaged or burnt at warehouse, according to the directions of the act, intituled An act for the relief of the sufferers by the loss of tobacco damaged or burnt in several warehouses. | |
| IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That in stating the said accounts the commissioners shall distinguish what of the tobacco so damaged or burnt had been inspected and passed, what was damaged or burnt before the same was inspected, and what was refused by the inspectors, and damaged, or burnt, before the same was picked, with the names of the several proprietors or owners thereof, which said accounts the said commissioners, respectively taking the same, shall transmit to the treasurer of this colony, under their hands and seals, as soon as the same shall be stated and settled. | Duty. |
| V. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the said treasurer, out of the money to be raised by virtue of this act, shall, immediately after the said accounts shall be so settled and delivered to him, pay, upon warrant from the governor, or commander in chief, for the time being, to the several proprietors of the said tobacco so damaged or burnt, according to the amount of their respective claims, stated in the said accounts, after the following rates; that is to say, twenty shillings per hundred for the crop tobacco passed at Shockoe, Byrd's, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, and Naswaddox, and eighteen shillings per hundred for the crop tobacco passed at Falmouth, Dixon's, and Quantico; nine pounds for every hogshead of uninspected tobacco, at Shockoe, Byrd's, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, and Naswaddox, eight pounds six shillings and eight pence for every hogshead of uninspected tobacco at Falmouth and Dixon's, and Quantico, four pounds three shillings and four pence for every hogshead of tobacco refused and put by to be picked at the said warehouses, and two pence per pound for all transfer tobacco, which the inspectors may not be able to pay for, under the further provision made by this act. | Rates at which the tobacco shall be paid for by the treasurer. |
| VI. And whereas great quantities of the said damaged tobacco have been overhauled by the inspectors, and others employed by them, in order to save as much thereof as possible, part of which hath been since prized |
| and reviewed; but, from the uncommon dampness of the season, the whole could not be hitherto finished: | |
| VII. Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That out of the tobacco so saved, or to be saved (a particular account of which, and all expences of savage, shall be rendered by the inspectors, and examined and stated by the commissioners respectively) the several inspectors shall, in the first place, pay and discharge what shall be due and owing from them respectively upon outstanding transfer notes, and shall, under the direction of the commissioners, without delay, sell and dispose of the remainder of the tobacco so to be saved, at public sale, of which fifteen days previous notice shall be given; and out of the money to be raised by such sale, shall pay and discharge the several demands for salvage and expences, so to be stated and settled, and pay the overplus to the treasurer aforesaid, for the use of the public, to be by him accounted for to the general assembly. And if, upon settlement of the said accounts, there shall appear to be a deficiency of the tobacco, so saved at any warehouse, to discharge the transfer notes thereof, the said commissioners shall certify the same to the treasurer, who is hereby impowered and required to pay the proprietors of transfer tobacco for such deficiency, according to the rates aforesaid. | Transfer notes to be discharged out of tobacco saved, after deducting expences of salvage, &c. |
| VII. And whereas it appears that considerable quantities of tobacco were floated out of several of the warehouses down the rivers, and lodged on the plantations of different people; out of which, it is hoped, there may be considerable savings; | |
| IX. Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners shall be, and they are hereby authorized and impowered to call all and every person or persons, who may have possessed themselves of any tobacco floated from the said warehouses, except such as have become possessed thereof, under contracts with the inspectors, to a strict account for the same; and upon their refusing or unreasonably delaying to account for, and deliver up, to the said commissioners, all such of the said tobacco as they may have saved, upon their being allowed a reasonable salvage, which the said commissioners are impowered to settle and allow them, the said commissioners are hereby authorized and required, in the name of the treasurer of this colony, for the time being, for the use of the public, | Tobacco floated from the warehouses how to be discovered and accounted for. |
| to commence and prosecute one or more suits, either in law or equity, as the case may require, for the better discovering and recovery of the said tobacco, or the value thereof. | |||
| X. And be it further enacted, That so much of the tobacco last mentioned, as may be saved and recovered, and has not already been re-inspected, the said commissioners are hereby impowered and required to have conveyed, with all convenient expedition, to the next or most convenient public warehouse, there to be reviewed and inspected, and then sold by the said commissioners, who shall pay the money to the treasurer for the use of the public. | To be reviewed. | ||
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Byrds Shockoe's & Falmouth warehouses from the lowness of their situation, being subject to the overflowing of the waters, by tides and freshes, discontinued; and removed higher up. |
| with conditions for the faithful building of such houses. And the said inspections, when removed, and the proprietors of the warehouses, when built, shall be under the same regulations and penalties as are prescribed by the laws now in force, respecting the present warehouses of Byrd's, Shockoe's and Falmouth; and moreover the several inspectors shall be intitled to and receive the same salaries. | |
| XIII. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or any three, or more of them, shall enquire into the state and condition of the warehouses at Quantico, at the time the tobacco was damaged therein; and if they shall discover that the same were not in sufficient repair, that they examine into the cause thereof, and that they report the same to the next session of assembly. | Commissioners to examine and report the condition of certain warehouses. |
| XIV. And whereas the duties already imposed for paying the ordinary demands of the several public creditors are found insufficient to relieve the unhappy sufferers on the present occasion, and experience hat evinced, that the tax on legal process, ordinary licences, and wheel carriages, and a tax or duty on tobacco exported, are easy on to the people, and not so burthensome as a poll-tax. | |
| XV. Be it therefore further enacted, That from and after the twenty-fifty day of October next, there shall be levied, and paid by the proprietor thereof, to our sovereign lord the king, his heirs and successors, on or before the tenth day of April, yearly, a tax or duty of twenty shillings for every coach, chariot, or other four wheel carriage (except waggons) and ten shillings for every chair or two wheel chaise; and that every such owner or proprietor, at the time he delivers in a list of his tithables to the justice appointed to take the same yearly, shall deliver a list of each and every such carriage, under the like penalty, and to be recovered in the same manner, as is directed by the act of assembly in the case of concealing tithables; which said duty shall be collected by the sheriff from each respective person within his county, who hath inlisted, or ought, under the act now in force, to have inlisted, or shall hereafter inlist, such wheel carriages; and in case of non-payment, the said sheriff may levy the same by distress, in like manner as he is by law directed to distrain for levies and other public dues. And every such sheriff shall, on or before the twenty-fifth day of October, | Duties on carriages, &c. how to be collected and accounted for. |
| yearly, account with upon oath, and pay to the treasurer for the time being, appointed by, or pursuant to, an act of the general assembly, the several sums by him received, deducting five per centum for his trouble in collecting and paying the same. And the courts of each county shall, at the time of swearing a grand jury for such county, in the month of November, yearly, particularly give it in charge to such jury to enquire who have failed to deliver in lists of their carriages as aforesaid; and, upon presentment of any grand jury for such offence, it shall be lawful for the said court to order a summon to issue for the offender to appear at the next court, to answer such presentment, and shall not admit of any exception or pleading to the form or manner thereof, but shall proceed to trial without the formality of a jury, and give judgment therein according to the very right of the cause; and if the party summoned fails to appear, the court may give judgment for the penalty for such offence, according to law: Also a duty of twenty shillings for every ordinary licence, to be paid by the person obtaining the same, to the clerk of the court, before such licence shall be granted: also two shillings and six pence for every original writ or writs, in any action or suit at common law, and subpœna or subpœnas, in any suit in chancery, in the general court, and for every summons, on any petition for lapsed land, and for every caveat entered in the secretary's office, and one shilling and three pence for every such writ or subpœna in the county, or other inferior court, to be paid by the plaintiff in such suit to the clerk of the court, before such process shall be issued or caveat entered, and taxed in the bill of costs, and, together with the duties on ordinary licences, shall be accounted for on oath, and paid by such clerk to the treasurer, appointed as aforesaid, in the months of April and October, yearly, deducting after the rate of five per centum for his trouble in receiving, accounting for, and paying the same: Also a further tax or duty of three shillings for every hogshead of tobacco passed and delivered out of the several warehouses in this colony, to be shipped after the said twenty-fifth day of October next, to be paid by the owner or proprietor thereof, which said duty the several inspectors, at the said warehouses, are hereby required to receive from such owners or proprietors, before they deliver the tobacco out of their respective warehouses, and shall account | New taxes. |
| for, upon oath, and pay the same to the said treasurer, on or before the tenth day of November, yearly, deducting five per centum for their trouble in collecting and paying the same. | |
| XVI. And whereas several persons, from a misconstruction of the laws now in force, may have omitted to give in lists of their wheel carriages, with their tithables, in the month of June last, and may thereby be unwarily subjected to the penalties inflicted by the law for such neglect: Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the several persons who have failed to give in such lists, shall, on or before the first day of January next, deliver to the clerk of their respective counties, a true list of all such wheel carriages as are hereby taxed, of which they were possessed on the said tenth day of June last, and on delivery of such lists, such persons shall be and they are hereby exempted and discharged frm all penalties which they may have incurred for not delivering in such lists in due time, and the said clerk shall forthwith deliver such lists to the sheriff of his county, who is hereby empowered and required to collect and account for the taxes on the said carriages, in the same manner as if they had been listed at the proper time. | Persons who had failed to inlist their carriages, how they may avoid the penalty. |
| XVII. And be it further enacted, That the several inspectors shall, in their respective county courts, on or before the twenty-fifth day of October next, give bond, with sufficient securities, in reasonable penalties, payable to his majesty, his heirs, and successors, with condition for the due collection and payment of the said duties on tobacco, and that every inspector, hereafter to be appointed, shall, before he enters upon the execution of his office, give like bond and security. | Inspectors to give security for the tobacco duty. |
| XVIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any sheriff, clerk, or inspector, shall refuse or neglect to account for and pay the duties, according to the directions of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the general court, or the court of the county where such sheriff, clerk, or inspector resides, upon a motion, to give judgment against them and their securities, respectively, for all such duties so by them severally received, and thereon to award execution, provided that ten days previous notice be given of such motion. | Proceeding against sheriff, &c. failing to account for duties. |
| XIX. And be it further enacted, That the said treasurer shall account with the general assembly for all the monies that shall come to his hands by virtue of this act, | Treasurer to account; |
| after deducting two per centum, as his salary, for receiving the same. | His salary. |
| XX. And whereas, from the great length of time allowed for collecting the duties imposed by this act (which the circumstances of the country, and the scarcity of money, would not admit of being sooner done) the said duties will not be collected in time to make the sufferers that immediate satisfaction for their losses, which the public justice intitles them to: Be it therefore further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the said treasurer to issue and emit treasury notes to answer the demands that may be made upon him for the purposes aforesaid, so that the whole amount of the said notes shall not exceed the sum of thirty thousand pounds, which several notes shall be printed and engraved in such form, and after such method, as the said treasurer shall judge will render them most safe from counterfeits and forgeries, and shall be signed by Peyton Randolph, and John Blair, the younger, esquires, and in case of the death of either of them, before such treasury notes shall all be signed, it shall and may be lawful for the said treasurer to appoint some other person to sign the notes, in the room of him so dying, of which public notice shall be given in the Virginia Gazette, for three weeks after the same shall take place, and the signing the notes by such persons, so appointed, shall be as effectual, to all intents and purposes, as if it had been done by the persons herein named; and each of the said signers shall, for his trouble, receive the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the treasurer aforesaid. | Treasury notes for 30,000 l. to be emitted, Signers of notes. |
| XXI. And be it further enacted, That James Hubard, and Peter Pelham, shall be, and they are hereby appointed to overlook the press, during the printing the said notes, who shall use the best to their care and diligence that the number and amount of such notes be not exceeded, nor any fraudulent practice used by the printer, his servants, or any person concerned therein, and shall number and deliver such notes, when printed, to the persons appointed to sign the same, and each of them, for his trouble herein, shall receive the sum of twenty-five pounds, to be paid by the treasurer aforesaid, and the persons, so appointed to sign such notes, shall deliver them, when signed, to the treasurer, taking his receipt for the same; and the said treasurer shall be | Overlookers of the Press. Their duty and salary. |
| allowed one per centum upon the amount of the notes by him paid away, as his salary for paying the same. | |
| XXII. And be it further enacted, That such notes shall be payable, by the treasurer, in discharge of all demands that shall be brought against the public, pursuant to, and conformable to the directions of this act, and shall pass current in this colony, between such persons as shall be willing to receive the same, and shall be redeemable on the tenth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and shall then be taken in and discharged by the treasurer for the time being, and shall be burnt and destroyed by the committee appointed by a former act to examine and burn the old treasury notes. | Treasury notes in discharge of what debts to be paid, and when to be redeemed. |
| XXIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any person, or persons, shall forge or counterfeit, alter or erase, any such treasury notes, or tender any such notes in payment to any person whatsoever, or demand a redemption of any such note at the treasury, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited, altered or erased, every person so offending, if lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer as in cases of felony, without benefit of clergy. | Penalty for forging. |
| XXIV. And whereas pasting paper on the back of such treasury notes may be a means of preventing the detection of forgeries; Be it further enacted, That no person shall be intitled to a redemption of any note, on the back of which any other paper shall be so pasted; but if any treasury note shall be accidentally torn, wetted, or otherwise defaced, the proprietor thereof shall be intitled to receive the amount thereof from the treasurer, upon returning such note to him to be burnt as aforesaid. | Paper not to be pasted on notes. |
| XXV. And be it further enacted, That the money to be raised by the duties imposed by this act, shall stand, be, and remain, as a security for the redemption of the said treasury notes so to be issued, and the said treasurer, or the treasurer for the time being, appointed as aforesaid, is hereby required to apply all such money as shall come to his hands for the said duties, for and towards the redemption of such treasury notes, and to no other use or purpose whatsoever, | Duties imposed to redeem the notes.
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| XXVI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That Robert Carter Nicholas, esq. treasurer of this colony, shall give such further security as shall | Treasurer to give security. |
| be approved of by the president or commander in chief, in the sum of sixty thousand pounds, for the due answering and paying all such money as shall be received by him from time to time, and for the true and faithful performance of his office, and in case of his death, resignation, or disability, the treasurer to be appointed in his stead shall, in like manner, give such further security, before he enters into his said office. | ||
| XXVII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That so much of this act, as relates to the imposing the duties aforesaid, shall continue and be in force until the twenty-fifth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and no longer. | Continuance. | |
| CHAP. II. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS the act of assembly, made in the thirtieth year of the reign of his late majesty king George the second, intituled An act for the better regulating and disciplining the militia, which was continned [continued] by another act, made in the thirty-second year of his late majesty's reign, and was continued and amended by two other acts, made in the third and seventh years of his present majesty's reign, will expire at the end of this present session of assembly, and it is expedient that the same should be further continued: | Act for better regulating and disciplining the militia, further continued. | |
| II. Be it therefore enacted, by the President, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That this act, together with the said recited acts, shall continue and be in force, from and after the passing of this act, for and during the term of two years. |
| CHAP. III. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS by an act of assembly, made in the tenth year of his present majesty's reign, intituled An act for dissolving the several vestries therein mentioned, the vestry of the parish of Augusta, was dissolved, and a new vestry to be elected on the twentieth day of September, then next following. | Parishioners of Augusta, in county of Augusta, authorised to elect a vestry. | |
| II. And whereas, by reason of the remote situation of the said county, the sheriff thereof had not notice of the said act, so as to cause an election of vestrymen to be made before the time limited had expired, whereby the minister, and other parish creditors, remain unpaid, and must continue so much longer, if a remedy be not speedily provided for the election of a vestry in the said parish: Be it therefore enacted, by the President, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That the freeholders and housekeepers of the said parish of Augusta, shall meet at some convenient time and place, to be appointed and publicly advertised by the sheriff of the said county of Augusta at least one month, before the first day of October next, and then and there elect twelve of the most able and discreet persons, being freeholders and resident in the said parish, for vestrymen, which vestrymen, so elected, having, in the court of the said county of Augusta, taken and subscribed the oaths prescribed by law, and taken and subscribed the oath of abjuration, and repeated and subscribed the test, and also subscribed to be conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, shall, to all intents and purposes, be deemed and taken to be the vestry of the said parish of Augusta. |
| CHAP. IV. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS by one act of assembly, passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of his late majesty king George the second, intituled, An act for the better regulating the payment of the burgesses wages, it is, among other things, enacted, that when any session of assembly should be thereafter held, and upon examination of the treasurer's accounts, it should appear that there are monies sufficient in his hands to discharge all the money debts, together with the burgesses wages, and the salaries and allowances to the respective officers of the general assembly, saving and reserving in the hands of the treasurer, over and above the said allowances, a balance of fifteen hundred pounds at least, that then every burgess, elected and serving for any county or corporation within this dominion, should be paid out of the public money, the sum of ten shillings for each day he should serve in the house of burgesses, with such further allowances, and under such restrictions and regulations, as in the said act is at large declared. | Burgesses wages payable in money. | |
| II. And whereas it appears there is not money sufficient in the treasurer's hands to pay the burgesses wages for this present session of assembly, leaving a balance of fifteen hundred pounds, according to the directions of the said act: Nevertheless, as the payment of the said wages in money will be a great ease and relief to the inhabitants of this colony, by lessening the levy by poll, Be it therefore enacted, by the President, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing this act, the burgesses wages and allowances, for the present session of assembly, shall be paid by the treasurer, out of the public money in his hands, according to the directions and regulations of the said recited act. | ||
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| Pages 474-491
| Pages 507-526
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