. And with the
Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, which put an end forever to Stuart
aggressions, they could feel that their efforts alone had preserved
liberty in Virginia, that they might now look forward to long years of
happiness and prosperity. The Virginia yeoman reckoned not with slavery,
however, and slavery was to prove, in part at least, his undoing.

_CHAPTER VII_

WORLD TRADE

In 1682 the depression which for nearly a quarter of a century had
gripped the tobacco trade, somewhat abruptly came to an end. "Our only
commodity, tobacco, having the last winter a pretty quick market, hath
encouraged ye planters," wrote Secretary Spencer to the Board of Trade
in May, 1683.[7-1] Apparently the tide had turned. From this time until
the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession more than two decades
later we hear little complaint from Virginia, while there are excellent
reasons to suppose that the colony was experiencing a period of growth
and prosperity.

In truth the tobacco trade, upon which the planters staked their all,
now expanded with startling rapidity, and each year the merchants were
forced to add more bottoms to the fleet which sailed for England from
the Chesapeake. During the early years of the Restoration period tobacco
exports from Virginia and Maryland had made but little advance. In 1663
they amounted to 7,367,140 pounds, six years later they were 9,026,046
pounds.[7-2] In 1698, however, the output of Virginia and Maryland was
estimated by the merchant John Linton to be from 70,000 to 80,000
hogsheads.[7-4] Since the hogshead usually contained from 500 to 600
pounds, these figures mean that the planters were then raising from
35,000,000 to 48,000,000 pounds of tobacco. And this conclusion is
supported by the fact that the crop of 1699 is valued at L198,115, which
at a penny a pound would indicate about 47,000,000 pounds.[7-5] In fact,
the production of tobacco in the ten years from 1689 to 1699 seems to
have tripled, in the years from 1669 to 1699 to have quadrupled. In 1669
the planters considered themselves fortunate if their industry yielded
them a return of L30,000; at the end of the century they could count
with a fair degree of certainty upon six times that amount.

For Virginia this startling development was all-important. During the
darkest days of the Restoration period her share of the total returns
from the tobacco crop could hardly have exceeded L10,000; in 1699 it was
esti