are loaded with the duty and Freight of that which is not only of no Value, but depreciates the pure tobacco at least 2d in every pound. The Tobacconists are under a temptation to manufacture the Stalk and mingle it with the leaf, whereby the Commodity is adulterated, and of course the consumption of it is lessend. And the Merchants are obliged to keep great quantities in their Warehouses, and at last to sell upon long Credit. In consequence of which the price of the Planters Labors, is fallen below what they are able to bear. And unless they can be relieved, they must be driven to a necessity of Employing themselves more usefully in Manufactures of Woollen and Linen, as they are not able under the present circumstances to buy what is Necessary for their Cloathing, in this Kingdom....[189]

Although the usual covering phrase, "other manufactures," was omitted here, it could well have been included. Under such adverse restraints, enterprising Virginians were almost forced to turn to surreptitious manufacturing; perhaps the restraints became excellent excuses for pursuing such manufactures, which, perhaps, were in any case inevitable.

Relief came by 1730 with the passage of a new tobacco act, liberalizing the restrictions on the planters. Meanwhile, in 1727, William Gooch was appointed Lieutenant Governor and, owing in part to his political astuteness and sympathetic awareness of the colonists' difficulties, the lot of the planter was greatly improved. Nevertheless, manufacturing persisted as the colonists increased in strength and numbers. Although official restrictions may have been a perverse encouragement to manufactures, the dynamics of a growing population in a new country predetermined even more an expansion of enterprise. Not only did economic depression force the industrious to turn to manufactures as an alternative to poverty, but economic prosperity, when it occurred in the 1730s, provided a financial stimulus to further that prosperity by means of local manufacturing.

Governor Gooch doubtlessly understood this. He was remarkable among Virginia's colonial governors for his ability to achieve what the colonists wanted while pleasing the home government. His administration created an era of good feeling during which the Virginians frequently expressed their gratitude and praise. In 1728, after serving as Governor for seven months, he was given £500 by the Assembly as well as an illegal grant by the Council of £300 from the royal quit-rents, which led George Chalmers, an English historian, to comment sourly in 1782 that for this gift "he in return resigned in a great measure, the government to them."[190]

This was not altogether a fair conclusion, for, though Gooch, as Campbell in his History of Virginia states, may have been possessed of "some flexibility of principle,"[191] he was an extraordinarily successful Governor. Percy S. Flippin concluded that Gooch "was a striking example of what an energetic, forceful royal governor, who was influenced by conditions in the colony and not altogether by his instructions, could accomplish, both for the colony and for the British government."[192] He repeatedly acted in the interests of the colonists, particularly regarding improved tobacco laws. He attended almost every meeting of the Council, whose members constituted the most influential persons in the colony, and thus established a close working relationship and understanding with those who expressed the colonial view-point. Quite evidently he understood that prosperity in the colony was a prerequisite to successful trade with England and to a substantial tax return. In respect to improving the tobacco laws, we know that he opposed existing British attitudes; in relation to colonial manufactures beneficial to colonial prosperity, we may assume that he was sympathetic, even though he could not advocate them openly. Certainly, as Campbell stated, "Owing partly to this coalition [between Gooch and the planters], partly to a well-established revenue and a rigid economy, Virginia enjoyed prosperous repose during his long administration."[193]

Gooch's reports on manufactures to the Board of Trade provide an exercise in reading between the lines. They suggest that he was doing his best to support the colonists while observing the letter of the Crown's instructions. They allude to manufactures here and there, but usually in terms that minimize their importance or that brush aside the possibilities of their growth. Yet in his depreciations one senses that while he was trying to state such facts as were necessary, he actually was trying on occasion to create an impression that was at variance with the whole truth. In tracing the Yorktown potter we shall see that this must have been the case.

In his report of 1732 he made a general statement calculated to allow the Lords of the Board of Trade to relax in calm reassurance, while at the same time encouraging their recognition of his wisdom in initiating a new tobacco law:

There hath been much Discourse amongst the common People of Sowing Flax and Cotton, and therewith supplying themselves with Cloathing: but since the late Tobacco Law hath begun to raise the Price of that Staple, all these projected Schemes are laid aside, and in all probability will Continue so, as long as Tobacco is of any Value, seeing the necessary Cloathing for the Planters and their Negroes, may be more easily Purchas'd with Tobacco than made by themselves. Nor indeed is there much ground to suspect that any kind of Manufactures will prevail in a Country where handycraft Labour is so dear as 'Tis Here; The Heat in Summer, and severe Colds in Winter, accompani'd with sundry Diseases proceeding from these Causes, such as Labouring People in Great Britain undergo, and where the Earth produces enough to purchase and supply all the necessitys of life without the drudgery of much Toil, men are tempted to be lazy.

He then added inconsistently that four ironworks making pots and "Backs for Fireplaces" had been set up in Virginia and admitted that one even included an air furnace. The Lords of the Board of Trade might well have asked how these were accomplished without "the drudgery of much Toil."

He also stated that: "there is one poor Potter's work of course earthen Ware, which is of so little Consequence, that I dare say there hath not been twenty Shillings worth less of that Commodity imported since it was sett up than there was before."[194] It is remarkable that Gooch felt the need to mention the potter at all, since pottery making was usually an anonymous, little-noted craft. Nevertheless, in 1733 he reported again on this seemingly insignificant enterprise: