ed to the planters as if they were completely at the
mercy of the merchants, who paid what they pleased for sugar, and
charged excessive prices for Negroes, cattle and supplies.[4] Among
those who were regarded as oppressors were the factors of the Royal
Company, which controlled the Negro supply upon which the prosperity
of the plantations depended.

Sir Thomas Modyford, speaker of the assembly, also became the agent
for the Royal Adventurers in Barbadoes. Modyford was very enthusiastic
about the company's prospects for a profitable trade in Negroes with
the Spanish colonies. The people of Barbadoes neither shared
Modyford's enthusiasm for this trade nor for the company's monopoly
because they believed that thereby the price of slaves was
considerably increased. On December 18, 1662, the council and assembly
of Barbadoes resolved to ask the king for a free trade to Africa or to
be assured that the factors of the Royal Company would sell their
slaves for the same price as other merchants.[5] Very shortly, the
duke of York, the company's governor, informed Governor Willoughby
that the company had made arrangements to provide Barbadoes and the
Caribbee Islands with 3,000 slaves per annum and that the needs of the
islands would be attended to as conditions changed. Moreover, the
company pledged itself to see that all Negroes imported into the
island should be sold by lots, as had been the custom, at the average
rate of seventeen pounds per head or for commodities of the island
rated at that price.[6] The duke of York also requested Governor
Willoughby to ascertain if possible how many Negroes were desired by
the planters at that rate, and to see that any planters who wished to
become members of the company should be given an opportunity to do
so.[7]

When the company's factors, Sir Thomas Modyford and Sir Peter
Colleton, began to sell Negroes to the planters they encountered
endless trouble and litigation in the collection of debts. In a vivid
description of their difficulties to the company they declared that
Governor Willoughby did nothing to assist them until he received
several admonitions from the king. To be sure the governor's power in
judicial matters was limited by the council, which in large part was
made up of landholders who naturally attempted to shield the planters
from their creditors. In case an execution on a debt was obtained from
a local court the property remained in the hands of the debtor for
eight