32 The Soverane Herbe 



went on smoking, and had they waited for the unani- 

 mous answer to this question we should have been 

 waiting still. 



The 'Counterblaste' of James, and the effusions of his 

 followers merely blew the smouldering use of tobacco 

 into a flame. Their sneers and sarcasms, their 

 sermons, their diatribes and treatises, were as ineffec- 

 tual then, young though the practice was, as they are 

 to-day, when smoking has become venerable by age 

 and association. 



What moral suasion and reasoning could not ac- 

 complish the powers that were attempted to perform 

 by force. The popularity of tobacco led to its perse- 

 cution. The year after his succession to the British 

 throne James commenced his vain attempt to stamp 

 out tobacco. Under Elizabeth there had been an 

 import duty of 2d. a pound on tobacco, and on 

 October 26, 1604, James raised this to 6s. lod. a 

 pound on tobacco from Virginia, where the colonists 

 had from the first devoted themselves to the cultiva- 

 tion of the plant. It was for years their sole support 

 and export in trade ; the prosperity of the first 

 English colony depended on tobacco. 



From 2d. a pound James raised the duty to 

 6s. lod. (fully equal to 25s. present value), an advance 

 of exactly 4,000 per cent. This heavy duty nearly 

 ruined the colony. In 161 1 only 142,085 pounds of 

 tobacco were imported from Virginia, which was only 

 one-sixth of the amount previously exported to 

 England. The increased duty, moreover, applied to 

 Virginian tobacco only ; whether by an oversight or 

 James's desire to conciliate Spain (the negotiations 



