Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/390

 coming from the Spanish provinces. The Act of 1651 was carried out with so little vigor, that a number of persons who were interested in its enforcement urged Parliament to put it in the strictest operation, as the people of some of the Colonies were already suffering the consequences of an overstocked market for their tobacco, upon the sale of which they were dependent for clothing and other necessaries of life. In conformity with this appeal, commissioners were, in 1654, appointed to execute the Act, and as a result of their interference, many hundreds of acres, which had been prepared for the cultivation of the plant, were converted into pastures or wheatfields. They met, however, with a strong opposition in performing their duty. Cromwell was even solicited to deprive them of their power, which called forth a counter request from those interested in the welfare of the Colonies, permission to produce the leaf in England being protested against as especially ruinous to Virginia. The most persistent refusal to obey the order came from persons who cultivated land in the vicinity of Winchcomb and Cheltenham. In 1655, Samuel Mathews stated in a petition to Cromwell, that in spite of previous Acts of Parliament and the proclamation of the Protector, the area of soil in the Commonwealth, which had at that time been made ready for tobacco, was more extensive than at any period in the history of the country. When, in 1658, it was attempted to execute the law, the officers whose duty it was to carry it into effect in Gloucestershire were so firmly opposed, that an order of state was issued to the justices of that