Assembly Proceedings, April — May 1666. 47

Neither doth it clearly appear to Us that the departure of
the Freemen will be a misfortune but may possibly be an Ad-
vantage to the Freeholder, & they are the Strength & only
Strength of the Province not the Freemen, It is their persons purses
& Stocks must bear the Burthen of the Government both in Peace
& War & not Freemen who can easily abandon Us & could they
depart the Province in General (which We know they cannot)
& would the Freemen do it, Yet if to gain them to stay We
should forbear to do that which is best for the Freeholder of
the Province that hath Stock Wife & Children fixed & irremov-
able as We may say here We were unworthy to be called the
two Houses of Assembly but We do know that they either can-
not leave the Province for Poverty or will stay in it till the
mean price of Tob^o drive them out of it or else which We more
fear force them to Committ Outrages in it for want of Neces-
sarys not to be provided by Tobacco because Worth nothing.
5 Your first Reason says your Quantity of Tobacco doth
not lessen the Price here but the Want of Ships to fetch it
away, What is this in plain English but to say that there is

U. H.
Journal
1659-98

more Tobacco than the Ships that are or were here this Year
can carry away? Have We not then Glutted the present
Markett here why then shall We not have a Cessation to make
tobacco bear a Price here, & that It will bear when every Ship
that by chance comes cannot have loading Witness that Year
when M^r Humphry Warren M^r Rozer & others gave two pence
p lb. Bills of Exchange than pay dead Freight when the Tob^o
in London yielded not above three half pence, Neither do
yourselves offer at any Hopes of more Shipping nor can in
prudence Expect the War should End these two Years during
which time It were vain to plant that which by your own Argu-
ments cannot be fetched So that upon the whole Matter We see
no Reason to recede from our desires of that Act for Encourage-
ment of Trade at least our Trade for what imports it Us to
hear that Tobacco bears a Price at London or in Russia if it
will not buy Us Shirts here It is here We must make it stand
& then it will be dear and purchase Clothing Arms & Ammu-
nition which now it will not & without them We must needs
all perish
Wherefore the Governour & Upper House do Conjure You
Gentlemen of the Lower House to consider the calamitous
Condition of the Province in want of Cloths at home, Assaulted
by Enemys abroad & no means provided as yet to make our only
Commodity Tobacco of sufficient Value to purchase either
Clothing for ourselves or Arms to defend Us
The last Assembly denyed us a power to maintain War with-
out the limitts of the Province the Consequence of that was
the unrevenged nay as yet unrevengeable Murther of thirty

p. 113