Many fantastic tales have been written about the introduction of the
use of tobacco in England. Some of the most authentic historical
items follow: The Spaniards found the natives in the West Indies
using the plant both for chewing and smoking. They took seed to
Europe where its use soon spread to other countries around the
Mediterranean Sea.
The first Englishman to report on the addiction of the American
Indians to the use of tobacco appears to have been John Sparke who
wrote the account of the voyage of Sir John Hawkins who, in the
course of his travels, spent some months, in 1565, with an ill-fated
French colony in Florida. Sparke reported "The Floridians when they
travell, have a kinde of herbe dried, who with a cane and an earthen
cup in the end, with fire, and the dried herbs put together, doe
sucke thorow the cane the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their
hunger, and therewith they live foure or five dayes without meat or
drinke, and this the Frenchmen used for this purpose." It is quite
likely that the sailors under Hawkins command acquired the habit and
took some of the "dried herbs" back to England.
Sir Walter Raleigh is often credited with the introduction of the use
of tobacco in England. While he may not have been responsible for its
introduction, he apparently played an important role in the spread of
the tobacco habit among the English aristocracy. Raleigh's interest
in tobacco was no doubt aroused by the report of his protege, the
famous sixteenth century mathematician, Thomas Hariot. Hariot spent a
year, June, 1585-June, 1586, with the Raleigh Colony on Roanoke
Island. On his return to England he reported on the Indians' farming
operations in Eastern North Carolina. For tobacco he wrote in part
"We ourselves, during the time we were there, used to sucke it after
their manner, as also since our returne, and have found many rare and
wonderful experiments of the virtues thereof, of which the relation
would require a volume by itselfe: the use of it by so many, of late,
men and women of great calling, as els, and some physicians also, is
sufficient witnesse."
Raleigh later made a voyage to the Island of Trinidad and the Orinoco
River in South America from whence had come the most desirable sorts.
Spain and Portugal monopolized the European tobacco trade with these
mild varieties since the tobacco grown by the Virginia Indians had a
sharp, biting taste. Plantings of these better sorts were made in
England. A violent controversy was soon raging. King James I who
detested Raleigh and all his activities, issued a _Counter Blaste_
against tobacco. This was a most bitter tirade as the following
quotation shows:
A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to
the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking
fume thereof nearest resembling the stygian smoke of the pit
that is bottomless.
Since the days of King James, millions of words have been written
condemning the use of the "tawny weed."
The opposition of King James to tobacco led to the imposition of
taxes on its import into England: that from Spain and Portugal was 2d
a pound; that from Virginia 6s. 10d. In spite of all this array of
evidence as to the detrimental effects of tobacco on the human body
its consumption has steadily increased and spread over the entire
world. Colossal fortunes have been made in its processing and trade.
No product of the soil with the exception of grains used in the
manufacture of alcoholic beverages has ever returned such bounteous
revenues to the United States government. In the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1954 there was paid into the treasury of the United States,
the gigantic sum of $1,580,299,000 from taxes on various tobacco
products. Of this vast total, Virginia tobacco manufacturers that
year contributed 356,867,000 dollars. Municipal and other local taxes
are not included in these figures.
Tobacco culture in America was a highly profitable enterprise for
England. The colonists produced and sold the raw product. Very little
tobacco is used in the raw state. Before tobacco is ready for the
market it must be processed into the various forms demanded by the
trade. It was estimated that one man engaged in tobacco growing in
Virginia kept three Englishmen employed, that is, sailors engaged in
transportation, processors and tradesmen. The English government also
derived considerable revenue on the surplus tobacco products resold
on the European market.