XXXIX.
NICHOLAS SPENCER.
XXXIX. President of the Council.
XXXIX. September 17, 1683, to April 16, 1684.
Upon the departure of Lord Culpeper for England, he
appointed Nicholas Spencer, President of the Council. The
first patent signed by Nicholas Spencer, as President, is dated
the 17th of September, 1683. He continued in office until
the 16th of April, 1684, on which day a commission to
Francis, Lord Howard, dated 28th September, 35 Car. 11
(1683), was read.
Nicholas Spencer was said to have been a kinsman of
Lord Culpeper. In June, 1666, he was a member of the House
of Burgesses, and in October, 1686, he was Secretary of the
Colony, which in 1681 contained about 14,000 "tithables, or
working hands," and the House of Burgesses consisted of
forty-one members. At this time it was said in relation to
the Indians and Tobacco: "We are at peace with all; at
least, in war with none. But that which bids fair to be the
speedy and certain undoing of this Colony, is the low or
rather no price of the only product of our lands, and our only
commodity, tobacco; for the market is overstocked and every
crop overstocks it more. Our thriving is our undoing, and
our buying of blacks hath extremely contributed thereto, by
making more tobacco. We are too many for that, and too
few for anything else."
