30

ARRIVAL OF LORD DELAWARE.

Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain Newport, from Bermuda, (May 24, 1610). All determined to abandon the country, and they accordingly embarked on board the vessels and sailed for England. As they drew near the mouth of the river, they were met by the long boat of Lord Delaware, who had arrived on the coast with a reinforcement of emigrants, and abundant supplies of provisions. They immediately returned to Jamestown, and were prevailed on by Lord Delaware to remain.

This nobleman was well qualified for his station. His mildness, dignity, and diligent attention to business, soon restored order, and inspired confidence. The colonists were regular and industrious; and the Indians were taught once more to respect the English character.

His wise administration was of short continuance. Ill health compelled him to relinquish the government; and having resigned his authority to Mr. Percy, he sailed for the West Indies. Although he left the colony in a flourishing state, yet, on the 10th of May, 1611, when Sir Thomas Dale, the new governor, arrived with a fresh supply of men and provisions, he found it relapsing into its former state of idleness, disorder and want. He was obliged to resort to the declaration of martial law in order to save the settlement from utter anarchy and ruin.

In the month of August, 1611, Sir Thomas Gates, who had been appointed the successor of Sir Thomas Dale, arrived with six ships, three hundred emigrants, and a plentiful supply of provisions. On receiving this reinforcement, which increased the numbers of the colony to seven hundred, detachments were again sent up the James river, and several settlements made.

A more important change took place in the new arrangements with respect to property. Hitherto the land had been possessed by all the colonists in common. Every man was required to work a certain number of hours in the day, and all shared equally the produce. Now a few acres of ground were assigned to each man, as his private property, to plant as an orchard or garden for his own use, though some labour was still devoted to fill the public stores. This new regulation gave a powerful impulse to industry and enterprise; and the best effects were soon perceived to flow from assigning to each individual the fruits of his own labour. Industry, impelled by the certainty of recompense, advanced with rapid

NEW PATENT CREATED.

31

strides; and the inhabitants were no longer in fear of wanting bread, either for themselves or for the emigrants from England.

In consequence of the extravagant accounts, which had been sent to England, of the fertility of Bermudas, the company became anxious to include it within the colony; and accordingly a new patent was issued comprehending this island. This was a matter of trifling importance, as the connection soon ceased; but the new patent conferred new civil rights; it established four general courts, comprising all the members of the London corporation, to be assembled annually, at which all officers should be elected, and all laws passed relating to the government, commerce, and real estate of the colony. Weekly or more frequent meetings might be convened for the transaction of ordinary business. This change, of course, gave no political power to the colonists themselves.

Lotteries, the first ever drawn in England, were granted for the benefit of the colony. They brought twenty-nine thousand pounds into the treasury of the company; but were soon abolished as a public evil.

About this time (1614) an event took place which has always been regarded with great interest by the Virginians. This was the marriage of Pocahontas. The circumstances

which led to it were these: A party from Jamestown, headed by Argall, went with two vessels round to the Potomac for a cargo of corn. While obtaining the cargo, Argall managed to decoy Pocahontas on board his vessel, where she was detained respectfully, and brought to Jamestown. By keeping possession of his favourite child as a hostage, the English hoped to dictate what terms of alliance or submission they pleased to Powhatan. In this they were disappointed. Powhatan,' says Marshall, 'offered corn and friendship, if they would restore his daughter, but, with a loftiness of spirit which claims respect, rejected every proposition for conciliation which should not be preceded by that act of reparation.'

While she was detained at Jamestown, Mr. John Rolfe, a young Englishman, gained the favour of the princess, and desired her in marriage. Powhatan consented, and with his daughter the noble spirited prince gave his heart. He was ever after the firm and sincere friend of the colony. The powerful tribe of the Chickahominies also 'sought the friendship of the English, and demanded to be called Englishmen.'

Though the marriage of Pocahontas was hailed as an aus

32

TOBACCO FIRST CULTIVATED IN VIRGINIA.

picious event at the time, and has always been celebrated in the annals of the colony, it never operated as an example. The English and Indians would not intermarry, and the races have always remained distinct.

It was in 1613 that the famous expedition of Argall took place, which seems to have been prompted by a determination on the part of the English to assert their claim to the whole coast of America north of Virginia. In a time of profound peace, Argall sailed from Jamestown to Acadia (Nova Scotia) and surprised the small colony at Port Royal on the bay of Fundy. This was the oldest Christian settlement in North America, having been founded, as we have already observed, in 1605. He found the inhabitants engaged in their peaceful occupations, and in amity with the natives. They were of course totally unprepared for defence, and could not prevent Argall from seizing the ships and plundering the colony. This was the first act of aggression, which was followed by a series of disputes between France and England for the possession of the American soil. After Argall had sailed, the French returned to their settlement.

Argall, on his return, went into New York, then called New Amsterdam, where the Dutch had established a small colony, and by a show of superior force compelled the Dutch governor to submit himself and his colony to the king of England, and the governor of Virginia under him,' and to consent to the payment of a tribute. Argall then returned to Jamestown. The tribute and homage, however, were both refused, when a new governor had arrived from Holland, with better means of defence.

The culture of tobacco was now, for the first time, becoming an object of attention. Although the use of it was strongly opposed by the company, and by king James I., who went so far as to write a book against it; and although the effects of it were always unpleasant at first, to persons not accustomed to it, tobacco has surmounted all opposition, and become a regular article of commerce and consumption throughout the world.

In 1614, Sir Thomas Gates had been succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale, who sailed for England in 1616, and was succeeded by Mr. George Yeardley. His term of office lasted but one year, and he was then succeeded by Captain Argall, an able but avaricious and tyrannical governor. He continued martial law in time of peace; and having sentenced Mr.

TYRANNY OF ARGALL.

33

Brewster to death for contumely, gave occasion to the first appeal ever made from America to England. It came before the London company, by whom the sentence of Argall was reversed.

The following extract from Judge Marshall's history, shows the arbitrary and vexatious nature of the laws which this governor enforced at the point of the bayonet:

'While martial law was, according to Stith, the common law of the land, the governor seems to have been the sole legislator. His general edicts mark the severity of his rule. He ordered that merchandise should be sold at an advance of twenty-five per centum, and tobacco taken in payment at the rate of three shillings per pound, under the penalty of three years' servitude to the company; that no person should traffic privately with the Indians, or teach them the use of fire arms, under pain of death; that no person should hunt deer or hogs without the governor's permission; that no man should shoot, unless in his own necessary defence, until a new supply of ammunition should arrive, on pain of a year's personal service; that none should go on board the ships at Jamestown, without the governor's leave; that every person should go to church on Sundays and holidays, under the penalty of slavery during the following week for the first offence, during a month for the second, and during a year and a day for the third. The rigour of this administration necessarily exciting much discontent, the complaints of the Virginians at length made their way to the company. Lord Delaware being dead, Mr. Yeardley was appointed captain-general, with instructions to examine the wrongs of the colonists, and to redress them.'

CHAPTER VI.

VIRGINIA ACQUIRES CIVIL FREEDOM.

THE new governor arrived in April, 1619; and began his administration by granting privileges of great importance to the colonists. He abolished the practice of labouring for the common stock of the colony, a most inconvenient and onerous method of raising a revenue; he confirmed the early planters in the possession of their estates; he removed the

34

THE VIRGINIANS ACQUIRE HOMES.

burdens imposed by the tyrannical Argall; and he abolished martial law.

By order of the London company, the power of the governor was limited by a council, which acquired the right to redress any wrongs which he might commit. Last, and greatest of all, the people of the colony were admitted to a share in legislation by the institution of a COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. The first colonial assembly ever convened in America assembled at Jamestown, on the 19th of June, 1619. may, therefore, be considered the birth-day of civil freedom in our country.

This

The members were elected by the different boroughs, and the representative or popular branch of the legislature was therefore called the House of Burgesses, a name which it retained so long as Virginia remained a colony of England.

The entire legislature or assembly, composed of the governor, the council, and the burgesses, met together in one apartment, and there transacted the public business of the colony. The laws which they then enacted were sent to England for the approbation of the London company.

Hitherto but a small number of females had emigrated to Virginia. The colonists, therefore, could hardly be said to have their home in the country. Those domestic ties, which attach men most firmly to the soil they inhabit, did not exist ; and each man directed his thoughts towards the mother country, as the retreat of his old age. A new state of things now ensued, by the arrival of a large number of females, ninety of whom were sent out from England in 1620, and sixty more the next year. Being persons of irreproachable character they were married by the planters; and the colony thus acquired the best of all guarantees of permanence in its institutions and patriotism in its citizens.

The necessity of establishing seminaries of learning was now apparent, and preparations were made for founding the college afterwards established by William and Mary.

About the same time one hundred convicts were transported from England to Virginia, being the first persons of this class sent to America by order of the government. Removed from the temptations which had been too strong for their virtue at home, and placed in a new scene of action, many of them became honest men and useful citizens.

The colonial assembly convened by Sir George Yeardley had not yet received the express sanction of the London