HUGH DRYSDALE.
Hugh Drysdale succeeded Spotswood as Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia,
September 27, 1722. He was a man of but mediocre capacity,
and his administration was not marked with any event of importance.
It may be noted, however, that to relieve the people of Virginia from a
poll-tax, a duty was laid by the Assembly on the importation of liquors
and slaves, but owing to the opposition of the African Company and interested
traders in England, the act was annulled by the British Board
of Trade. Thus did Great Britain, and later the New England States,
foster the institution of slavery so long as the importation of slaves was
profitable to them, though the Southern Colonies repeatedly and ineffectually
enacted laws prohibiting further importation. Drysdale, dying
July 22, 1726, Colonel Robert Carter, President of the Council, succeeded
to the government of the Colony.
