Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/427

Rh treasury one hundred thousand pounds sterling, but notwithstanding this fact, which shows great agricultural productiveness, the condition of its people was one of desperation. In vain they petitioned for the revocation of the Navigation laws, in vain sought permission to export a part of their tobacco to Madeira and the Canaries, which enjoyed a special privilege in the enforcement of the Act of 1660 in not being required to import into England first their wines designed for shipment to America. Now began a period of several years in which the population of Virginia sank into a state of poverty unprecedented in their history, although the crop in the ground was unusually large. The number of plants in 1680 was the greatest in the annals of the Colony. There was already a vast quantity of tobacco in the country, the surplus product of the preceding season; it was estimated in 1680 that this quantity, with the amount to be gathered in the course of that year, would supply the markets of England for over two years even if not a single plant were set out in 1681. Unless there was a cessation in the latter year, the labor of the Virginians would not only be in vain, but they would be brought still more deeply in debt. Recognizing the deplorable condition of the people, which the future promised only to aggravate, the Council wrote to the English Government, and after dwelling upon the ruinous prices of tobacco, described the extreme poverty of the Colony, and implored that measures should be adopted at once which would raise the value of its only commodity. This urgent petition was