Meanwhile the King had grown increasingly disgusted that Virginia's
economy continued to be "built on smoke," and he ordered the Virginians
to concentrate on crops and products other than tobacco. Among the
products urged on the colonists were iron, salt, pitch and tar, potash,
and pipe staves. As his directives went unheeded, the King determined to
force a drastic reduction in the planting of the profitable tobacco
crop. In instructions sent out in 1627 he directed that no master of a
family be allowed to plant above 200 pounds of tobacco and no servant
more than 125 pounds. He also ordered that all tobacco was to be
consigned to him or his representatives.
Charles directed that a general assembly of the planters'
representatives be summoned to deal with his proposals, and Governor
West and the Council ordered an Assembly to meet on March 10, 1628. The
Assembly thanked the King for prohibiting the importation of Spanish
tobacco into the English market, but cried that they would be at the
mercy of covetous individuals in England if a monopoly on Virginia
tobacco was allowed. They proposed, however, that since the King
intended to take all their tobacco, he should agree to take at least
500,000 pounds of tobacco at 3 shillings 6 pence the pound delivered in
Virginia, or 4 shillings delivered in London. If the King was unwilling
to take so much, they desired the right to export again from England to
the Low Countries, Ireland, Turkey, and elsewhere. As to the King's
proposal to limit tobacco cultivation to 200 pounds for the master of a
family and 125 pounds for a servant, "every weake judgment," they
asserted, could see that this would not be sufficient for their
maintenance. As to the King's desire that the colonists should produce
pitch and tar, pipe staves, and iron, they complained that much capital
was needed to put such enterprises in operation. Few planters either
could or would undertake such schemes when tobacco culture required so
little capital and produced such quick and profitable results.
[Illustration: National Portrait Gallery, London