. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. gation Acts, as yet not an active factor in colonial government, and therefore colonial matters did not find much place in its debates. Its attention was directed towards the King and towards England's European neighbors. On November 22, 1675, Charles II prorogued his Long Parliament for 15 monthsâuntil February 15, 1677. During these 15 months the King relied heavily for funds on a secret agreement that had been made with Louis XIV of France to pay the English monarch £100,000 a year while Parliament was not sitting.^' The interests of the
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. gation Acts, as yet not an active factor in colonial government, and therefore colonial matters did not find much place in its debates. Its attention was directed towards the King and towards England's European neighbors. On November 22, 1675, Charles II prorogued his Long Parliament for 15 monthsâuntil February 15, 1677. During these 15 months the King relied heavily for funds on a secret agreement that had been made with Louis XIV of France to pay the English monarch £100,000 a year while Parliament was not sitting.^' The interests of the French king were served so long as the hostile English Parliament was unable to align England actively with the conti- nental allies resisting Louis XIV's campaigns of aggrandizement in the Low Countries and elsewhere. While Parliament was in recess, financial disaster struck the English government. A look at the reve- nue figures for 1675, 1676, and 1677 tells the story better than can words. In 1675 the yield from cus- toms was £727,769. In 1676 this yield dropped to £565,675; by 1677 it had climbed to £683,192. Excise fell from £499,177 in 1675 to £301,785 in 1676 before it climbed somewhat in 1677 to £373,367. Thus in 1676 the total income from customs and ex- cise dropped to a low point of £867,460 from the £1,228,946 that was received in 1675 and in contrast to the respectable £1,056,559 collected in ^ The situation was particularly critical in the fall of 1676. Secretary Coventry wrote to the Earl of Essex on October 2, 1676: Virginia is what taketh up our thoughts now where one inconsiderable man one Bacon of a mean or no fortune and of a Lesse Reputation as to any good qualitye hath made himself head of a Rebellion and with that Successe that in a few months he hath made himselfe Master of all that Colony, possesseth and disposcth every mans Estate as he pleaseth and how Long his Rule will Last I know not but I feare he will have ti
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