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 rulers in England, that in this letter it was openly charged that some of the commissioners appointed by James, information as to whose displacement had not yet reached them, were to be secret participants in the profits of the contract. So deep was the concern of the people of Virginia that they dispatched Sir George Yeardley to England to protect their interests. In his petition to the Privy Council after his arrival, he urged upon that body the necessity of adopting some course that would uphold the price of tobacco until staple commodities could be set on foot. In order to bring this about, he recommended that an exemption from the payment of customs should be granted, and that all the privileges of the freest trade should be allowed. The appeal of Yeardley must have been successful, for it is stated in a communication from the Governor and Council to the New Commissioners for Plantations, written in January, 1626, that the contract had been annulled.

Before twelve months had passed, the colonists had occasion to complain of a very serious modification of that part of the royal proclamation of April, 1625, which prohibited the importation of the Spanish leaf into England. A proclamation was issued in February, 1627, prescribing that fifty thousand pounds of this commodity should thereafter be admitted, but it was to be reserved for the