than three hundred. Spring found only sixty gaunt survivors. These had embarked to abandon the colony, with slight chance of life whether they went or stayed, when they met Lord Dela 1 ware, the new governor, with a fleet bringing reinforcements and supplies. Had Delaware been later by three days, Jamestown would have been another failure, to count with Raleigh's at Roanoke. 32. Meantime, the year 1609 had seen a remarkable outburst of enthusiasm in England in behalf of the sinking colony. Sermons and pamphlets appealed to the patriotism of the nation not to let this new England perish. The list of the Company's stockholders was greatly multiplied, and came to include the most famous names in England, along with good men from all classes of society; and this enlarged London Company received enlarged powers through two new charters in 1609 and 1612. Three things were accomplished by these grants: The territory of the Company was extended. It was made to reach along the coast each way 200 miles from Point Comfort, and "up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." 1 See note in Source Book to No. 20. Each of the 650 subscribers bought from one to ten shares of stock, at £12 10 s. a share, or about $400 a share in our values. (Cf. § 18, note, on the value of money.) § 33] 66 THE TIME OF SLAVERY" 29 The map shows two possible interpretations of this clumsy "northwest " phrase. The Virginians themselves had no trouble in deciding which to insist upon. Probably the words "west and northwest " were used vaguely, with the meaning, "toward the western ocean," which was supposed to lie rather to the northwest. The authority before kept by the king was now turned over to the Company; and that body received a democratic organization. It was to elect its own "Treasurer" and Council (President and Directors, in modern phrase), and to rule the colony in all respects. A more efficient government was provided in the colony. There was no hint yet of self-government. The Company in England made all laws and appointed all officers for the colony. But the inefficient plural head in the colony, with its divisions and jealousies, was replaced by one "principal governor" with a Council to assist him. 33. Virginia had left anarchy behind, but she had not reached liberty. The Company continued the "plantation" plan; and from 1611 to 1616, its chief officer in Virginia was Sir Thomas Dale. This stern soldier put in force a military government, with a savage set of laws known as Dale's Code. Among other provisions, these laws compelled attendance at divine worship daily, under penalty of six months in the galleys, and on Sundays on pain of death for repeated absence. Death was the penalty also for repeated blasphemy, for "speaking evil of any known article of the Christian faith," for refusing to answer the catechism of a clergyman, and for neglecting work. The military courts, too, made use of ingeniously atrocious punishments, such as burning at the stake, breaking on the wheel, or leaving bound to a tree to starve, with a bodkin thrust through the tongue. These years of tyranny were long remembered as "the time of slavery." An old Virginian historian PROCLAMATION OF VIRGINIA LOTTERY, issued Feb. 22, 1615, to raise funds for the Company's use. From a facsimile of the original, belonging to the Society of Antiquaries of London. The two sides of the Seal of Virginia are shown in the squares. fitly called the government "very bloody and severe . . . in no wise agreeable to a free people or to the British constitution." Dale, however, was conscientious and efficient, and full of enthusiasm for Virginia. "Take the best four kingdoms of Europe," he wrote home, " and put them all together, and they may no way compare with this country for commodity and goodness of soil." Moreover, he kept order and protected the colony from the Indians, and in 1614 he made 81 three-acre allotments of land to private holders a small garden to each free settler. At his departure, in 1616, the colonists numbered 351. Of these, 65 were women or children, and some 200 were "servants." § 36] EDWIN SANDYS AND GEORGE YEARDLEY 31 34. A revolution now took place in the London Company. That body had split into factions. The part so far in control was conservative, and belonged to the "court party" in English politics; but toward the close of 1618, control passed to a liberal and Puritan faction, led by the Earl of Southampton and Sir Edwin Sandys. These patriots were struggling gallantly in parliament against King James' arbitrary rule; and they at once granted a large measure of self-government to the Englishmen across the Atlantic, over whom they themselves ruled. Sir George Yeardley SIR EDWIN SANDYS. was sent out as governor, and a new era began in Virginia. 35. With Yeardley's arrival, in April, 1619, the number of colonists was raised to about a thousand. They were still, mainly, indentured servants (§ 24), and were distributed among eleven petty "plantations," 2. mere patches on the wilderness, scattered along a narrow ribbon of territory, nowhere more than six miles wide, curving up the James for a hundred miles. Industry was still in common (except for the slight beginning of private tillage under Dale); and martial law was still the prevailing government. THE DOTS MARK THE RIBBON 36. According to his instructions from the Company, Yeardley at once introduced three great reforms. 1 Modern Progress, p. 189, or Modern World, § 426 note 2 The word "plantation," as used here to indicate a distinct settlement, must not be confused with the word as used in § 27. a. He established private ownership, giving liberal grants of land to all free immigrants. A large part of the settlers continued for some time to be "servants" of the Company, and these were employed as before on the Company's land. But each of the old free planters now received 100 acres ; each servant was given the same amount when his term of service expired; and each new planter thereafter was to receive 50 acres for himself and as much more for each servant he brought with him. Grants of many hundred acres were made, too, to men who rendered valuable service to the colony. For many years, all grants were in strips fronting on rivers up which ships could ascend. b. Martial law was set aside. Yeardley proclaimed, said a body of settlers later, "that those cruell lawes by which we had soe longe been governed were abrogated, and that we were now to be governed by those free lawes which his Majesties subjects live under in Englande." That is, Yeardley restored the private rights to which the settlers were entitled both by the Common Law and by the Company's charter. c. The settlers received a share in the government. A Representative Assembly was summoned, "freely to be elected by the inhabitants, . . to make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be thought good and profitable." This political privilege was a new thing. 37. The First Representative Assembly1 in America met at Jamestown, August 9,2 1619. It was not purely representative. Each of the eleven plantations sent two delegates; but in the same "House" with these elected " Burgesses " sat the governor and his Council (seven or eight in number), appointed from England. We have no account of the elections. No doubt they were extremely informal. Of the thousand people in the colony, seven hundred must have been "servants" without a vote; and, of the three hundred free persons, a fraction were women and children. Probably there were not more than two hundred voters. They were distributed among eleven 1 The Records are given in the Source Book, No. 25. 2 The Old Style date, July 30, is often given. A discussion of Old and New Style is given in the Source Book, No. 20, note. |