504 Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1661-1675.

P. R. O.

Colonial
Papers. Vol
XVIII, Nc
141.

In all dutiful Obedience to yo^r Lo^pps Order of the fifth of
October last Wee whose names are under written have attended
the Right Hon^ble the Lord Baltamore and treated with his Lo^pp
to see whether wee could joyntly fix upon any fitt Proposition
to p^rsent yo^r Lo^pp for the Lessening the Quantity and soe con-
sequently to improve that Comoditie to the Advantage of both
Collonies But not being so happy as to have his Lo^pps Appro-
bation to anie thing wee could propound, nor conceiving what
his Lo^pp offerd us would at all Conduce to the desired end,
Wee thought it our Duty to persue the Last part of yo^r Lo^pp'^s
Order by presenting our Proposalls apart, which wee have most
humbly done Leaving them to yo^r Lo^pps more grave Consider-
acons to determine or Reject.
First, Wee most humbly represent That the vast Quantities
of Tobaccos Yearly made in Virginia and Maryland hath soe
glutted all Markets both att home and abroad that it does
now very little more than pay his Ma^ties Customs, And should
it further increase as in all probability it must (the Makers yearly
doing soe) that then shortly it will not pay the accustomed
Duties of Transportation so farr will it be from giving Main-
tenance to Thousands of his Ma^ties Subjects that both here and
there wholly depend upon it.
If yo^r Lo^pp but please to make a Valluation of the English
Manufacturies that those places pent you will find it not less
than two hundred thousand pounds per Annu^m. If you take
the Computacons of the People they are forty thousand at the
Least the Number of the Hogsheads they yearly make fifty
thousand, the Produce at the most three pounds per hogshead,
Soe that by this Scale yo^r Lo^pp will plainly perceive the pittifull
and Inconsiderable Incombe the Planter hath for his Labour, when
ffive pounds a head is the most for all Necessaries, Clothings,
Howsing, Working Tooles and Supply of Servants And att
the yeares end when wee shall sitt down and Cast up our
Accompt, wee shall sadly find our annual Ballance ffifty thou-
sand pounds wanting to bee worth Nothing.
This my Lords Wee hope will plead to yo^r Lo^pps the Neces-
sitie of a Regulation in this Comoditie, Since the Exorbitancy
of Planting hath swelld the Quantitie so much above the Con-
sumption that it hath already brought it to soe Low and
Contemptable a Rate, that the Planter is noe way able to live
by his Labour Struggling daily with such inextricable Neces-
sities as will in tyme (as justly may be feared) make him des-
perate and prove a sadd Consequence of indangering the
Peace (if not the ruine of his Ma^ties Country).
It may perhapps bee objected to yo^r Lo^pps That the Comoditie
hath formerly beene as very a Drugg as now, The price as
Low, and yet the People subsisted peaceably and quietly.