DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57079#0057
THE LEVANT COMPANY 41
intolerable impost on Englishmen and English
ships which the Venetians levied. But the
English merchants, says the petition, know
how to avoid the Venetian imposts. For
they bring goods into Venice from the islands
where they buy them, and then ship the goods
from Venice to England. Accordingly, since
one of the chief causes for a charter exists no
longer, the charter ought to be withdrawn,
and it is this that the petitioners ask for, more
especially as the continuance of the charter
means a great loss to the customs. For
strangers pay double customs, and if strangers
were allowed to import Levant goods, the
customs on currants alone would be £1,900.3
Nor was it overlooked that these goods tended
to become a monopoly in the hands of the
Company. “ The engrossing of this traffic
into these few men’s hands increases the
price of these kinds of wines, raisins and com-
modities, the benefit whereof goeth but to a
few.” 4
This feeling of dissatisfaction must have
3 It is interesting to note that this document men-
tions the amount of currants imported yearly—viz.
2,300 tons. See below, p. 123.
4 S. P. D. Eliz. vol. 242, No. 36.
intolerable impost on Englishmen and English
ships which the Venetians levied. But the
English merchants, says the petition, know
how to avoid the Venetian imposts. For
they bring goods into Venice from the islands
where they buy them, and then ship the goods
from Venice to England. Accordingly, since
one of the chief causes for a charter exists no
longer, the charter ought to be withdrawn,
and it is this that the petitioners ask for, more
especially as the continuance of the charter
means a great loss to the customs. For
strangers pay double customs, and if strangers
were allowed to import Levant goods, the
customs on currants alone would be £1,900.3
Nor was it overlooked that these goods tended
to become a monopoly in the hands of the
Company. “ The engrossing of this traffic
into these few men’s hands increases the
price of these kinds of wines, raisins and com-
modities, the benefit whereof goeth but to a
few.” 4
This feeling of dissatisfaction must have
3 It is interesting to note that this document men-
tions the amount of currants imported yearly—viz.
2,300 tons. See below, p. 123.
4 S. P. D. Eliz. vol. 242, No. 36.