WEST INDIES. 
3i 
CHAP. I.] 
rendon, had nothing less in view than the removal 
of oppression, from subjects so remote as those of 
Barbadoes. 
In thus tracing the origin, progress, and termi¬ 
nation of the proprietary government in this island, 
I have purposely chosen not to break the thread of 
by the council, and gentlemen of the assembly, to the right honoura¬ 
ble Francis Lord Willoughby of Parham, lord lieutenant-general of 
the province of Carolina, and governor of Barbadoes ; as also, his 
lordship’s confirmation of the rights of the inhabitants of this island 
to their several estates, with the tenure and rent thereon created, be, 
and is from henceforth repealed, made void, frustrate, of none effect, 
to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever. 
In 1684, the assembly of this island proposed to farm the four and 
a half per cent, for eleven years, for the annual rent of £.6,000 ster¬ 
ling, to be paid into the exchequer; the governor and council concur¬ 
red, and it was agreed that £.7,000 currency per annum should be 
raised by a tax of twenty-one pence per acre, on all lands amounting 
to ten or more acres. The towns and traders to be taxed £.500 ster¬ 
ling. An act passed March 19th, 1684, for this purpose, and was 
sent home; but the lords of the committee for trade and Dlantations 
reported, that the commissioners of the customs with whom they had 
advised, were of opinion, that they could make no estimate of the duty, 
until they had experienced the produce thereof, under the then m >nage- 
ment, for one year at least; and that the commissioners appointed for 
managing the said duty in Barbadoes, had assured them the duty would 
be worth from £.8,000 to £.10,000 per annum. So the act was re¬ 
pealed. / 
This proposal to farm the four and an half per cent, duty, was 
made in consequence of governor Dutton’s signifying to the council 
and assembly, on his arrival in 1680, that his majesty was inclined to 
commute the tax, for a reasonable recompense. 
