.. and in particular to the royal African company
of England."[15] Duties laid on the importer, and all acts in any way
restricting the trade, were frowned upon and very often disallowed.
"Whereas," ran Governor Dobbs's instructions, "Acts have been passed in
some of our Plantations in America for laying duties on the importation
and exportation of Negroes to the great discouragement of the Merchants
trading thither from the coast of Africa.... It is our Will and Pleasure
that you do not give your assent to or pass any Law imposing duties upon
Negroes imported into our Province of North Carolina."[16]
The exact proportions of the slave-trade to America can be but
approximately determined. From 1680 to 1688 the African Company sent 249
ships to Africa, shipped there 60,783 Negro slaves, and after losing
14,387 on the middle passage, delivered 46,396 in America. The trade
increased early in the eighteenth century, 104 ships clearing for Africa
in 1701; it then dwindled until the signing of the Assiento, standing at
74 clearances in 1724. The final dissolution of the monopoly in 1750
led--excepting in the years 1754-57, when the closing of Spanish marts
sensibly affected the trade--to an extraordinary development, 192
clearances being made in 1771. The Revolutionary War nearly stopped the
traffic; but by 1786 the clearances had risen again to 146.
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