Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/416

 but this action was subsequently recalled, probably because it was considered to be both illegal and intemperate.

The Privy Council seems to have so far yielded to the wishes of the people of Virginia as to issue an order on the 29th of June in the same year, authorizing the Assembly to appoint commissioners to hold a conference with representatives of Maryland. This body convened in May, 1663, at Mr. Allerton&#8217;s at Wicocomico, and recommended that all planting after the 20th day of June should be prohibited, but the proposition, although it received the approval of the Assembly of Virginia, was rejected by the Assembly of Maryland. It would appear that at the meeting of the commissioners, the representatives of the latter Colony had urged that there should be a total cessation for one year, but this had been opposed by the Virginians on the ground, first, that without tobacco, the planters would be unable to give those of their servants, whose terms had expired, the prescribed quantity of grain, clothes, and tools, because these articles could only be purchased with that commodity; and secondly, that shipowners having no freight to look forward to transporting to England would not visit those parts, and, therefore, all foreign supplies would be cut off. The refusal of the Maryland Assembly to accede to the proposition of the Virginians as to the prohibition of planting after the 20th day of June, was based partly on the disadvantage which the people of Maryland would suffer, their more northerly situation not permitting them to transplant at as early a date as persons living further to the south; partly, on their present inability to obtain a livelihood except by the production of tobacco; and partly, on the