KING CHARLES AS A TOBACCO MERCHANT. 63 



direction, appointing the Governor and Council himself, and 

 Before the death of King James, however, the cultivation 

 of tobacco had become so extensive that every other product 

 seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and the 

 price realized from its sale being so much greater than that 

 obtained for " Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture 

 almost entirely abandoned. 



Arthur and Carpenter, in their History of Virginia, give 

 a graphic and truthful picture of its cultivation during the 

 reign of King James : 



" The first articles of commerce to the production of which 

 the early settlers almost exclusively devoted themselves, were 

 potash, soap, glass and tar. Distance, however, and a want 

 of the proper facilities to enable them to manufacture cheaply, 

 rendered the cost of these commodities so great, that exports 

 of a similar character from Russia and Sweden were still 

 enabled to maintain their old ascendency in the markets of 

 Europe. After many fruitless and costly experiments in the 

 cultivation of the vine, the growing demand for tobacco 

 enabled the planters to turn their labor into a profitable 

 channel. As the demand increased the profits became corre- 

 spondingly great, and every other species of labor was aban- 

 doned for the cultivation of tobacco. 



" The houses were neglected, the palisades suffered to rot 

 down, the fields, gardens and public squares, even the very 

 streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco. The towns- 

 people, more greedy of gain than mindful of their own 

 security, scattered abroad into the wilderness, where they 

 broke up small pieces of rich ground and made their crop 

 regardless of their proximity to the Indians, in whose good 

 faith so little reliance could be placed." 



During the reign of Charles I. many families of respect- 

 able connection joined the colony, and from this time 

 forward the colony increased in wealth as well as numbers. 

 King Charles, to use- the language of another, had now com- 

 menced " as a tobacco merchant and monopolist," and in 1627 

 issued a proclamation renewing his already strong monopoly 

 more effectually, by appointing certain officers of London 

 "to seize all foreign tobacco, not of the growth of Virginia 

 or Bermudas, for his benefit, agreeable to a former commis- 

 sion : also to buy up for his use all the tobacco coming from 



