USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. I > Part 13
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(1616.) Sir Thomas Dale prepared to return to England. The colony owed much to this gentle- man ; and notwithstanding his use of the martial law suggested by Smith, he was respected and be- loved by worthy settlers. He had introduced seve- ral salutary changes, and among the rest one regu- lating the tenure of land. Originally, any man adventuring his person in the colony was entitled to one hundred acres of ground to his sole and separate use; but as the settlement increased, this quantity was found too great, and was reduced to fifty acres. To encourage industry, it was pro- vided, that when the first plot granted should be well cleared and occupied, the owner should have a right to as much more, to be selected at his plea- sure. For extraordinary merit, the Company would sometimes give land to a particular person ; but by the King's patent, they were forbidden in
a Grahame's Col. Hist., i. 67; Belknap, ii. 154; Robertson's Am., i. 411, 412; Holmes's Annals, i. 153. b Stith, 147; Belknap, ii. 155.
200
POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND.
[CHAP. IV.
these grants to bestow in all more than two thou- sand acres. Any one paying into the treasury the sum of twelve pounds, ten shillings, acquired a right to one hundred acres, to be located where he pleased. Under these regulations, the tenure of lands became gradually fixed and secure.ª
Leaving the government to Sir George Yeard- ley, Dale embarked for England, and arrived safely at Plymouth on the 12th of June. He car- ried with him John Rolfe and his young wife Po- cahontas, who was now to appear amid the scenes of European refinement, to which her beauty, her intelligence, and her artless manners were to im- part additional grace. Captain John Smith was, at this time, about to commence a voyage to New England ; but on learning of the arrival of the generous woman who had jeoparded her life to save his own, his noble nature prompted him to serve her by all means in his power. He wrote a letter to the Queen, and used all his influence with Prince Charles to obtain for it a favourable recep- tion. Did nothing remain to us of his writings except this letter, it would yet suffice to give us an insight into his character. Frank, modest, and manly, he speaks to her majesty in the true spirit of an English gentleman. He introduces to her the amiable Pocahontas; tells of his own danger, of her heroism in rescuing him, of her love to the colonists, her self-denial for their welfare, her mar-
a Stith, 139, 140; Bancroft's U. S., i. 166, 167; Holmes's Annals, i. 149. The allotment of land is here dated in 1615.
1616.]
POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 201
riage and conversion, and of the birth of her son. Then appealing to the best impulses of the human heart, he invokes the Queen's tenderness and pro- tection for this gentle being, thus separated from her friends, her home, her native ties, and coming unknown and almost friendless to a land where all, to her, were strangers.ª We have reason to be- lieve, that this letter produced a happy effect upon the Queen, and excited her sympathies in behalf of her interesting visiter.
But the learned idiot, who then wore the Eng- lish crown, did not look upon this matter with per- fect complacency. The very name of a king had a magic sound in his ears, and whether the sove- reign were king of Great Britain, Ireland, and France, or king of the Ashantees in Africa, he alike regarded him as the anointed of heaven. Under this view, Pocahontas was a princess, and Rolfe had married one of the blood royal. . Per- adventure he had thus acquired some claim to sovereignty in Virginia, either for himself or his offspring, and James was chafed by absurd fears, based on his own more absurd theory of govern- ment.b
Captain Smith had not left London when Poca- hontas arrived. The smoke and noise of the city were so offensive to her, that she immediately re- tired to the pleasant village of Brentford, and here
a This letter is given in full in ii. 372, 373. See Holmes's Annals, Smith's Hist. Va., ii. 29-31. It is i. 151. alluded to by Stith, 142, 143, and b Stith, 142; Burk, i. 184, in note; Burk, i. 180, and given by Hillard, Oldmixon's Brit. Empire, i. 367.
..
202
PRESENTATION AT COURT. [CHAP. IV.
her distinguished friend enjoyed an interview with her. She had been told that he was dead, and when he now presented himself, a crowd of con- flicting emotions so affected her that she turned from him and covered her face with her hands. But after a season she resumed her composure, ad- dressed him in the simple language of a heart un .. schooled in artifice, reminded him of their former friendship, and claimed its continuance. She ask- ed the privilege of calling him her father ; and no- thing but a knowledge of the jealousy of the court could have induced Smith to reject the touching petition. It would be difficult to imagine a scene more interesting than this interview between the brave soldier of England and the heroine of the American wilderness.ª
Lady Delaware undertook the pleasing office of presenting the princess at court; and the genuine modesty, the good sense, the dignity of manner, and personal grace, which Pocahontas possessed in a remarkable degree, soon rendered her a favourite, and caused her society to be sought by courtiers and nobles, who vied with each other in paying her attention. Masks, balls, and theatrical exhibi- tions were daily presented for her amusement; and her susceptible mind seems to have derived intense pleasure from these evidences of European refine- ment.b But she willingly prepared to return to Virginia with her husband. Early in 1617, they *
a Smith's own account may be b Stith, 145; Hillard's Smith, ii. seen, ii. 32, 33; Stith, 143; Burk, i. 378. 183, 184 ; Hillard's Smith, ii. 376.
203
HER DEATH.
1617.]
arrived at Gravesend, intending soon to embark, when Pocahontas was attacked by a dangerous ma- lady, and in a few days resigned her gentle spirit to Him who gave it. She had not yet reached her twenty-third year. In the very morning of life, and when the hearts of all around her were most tenderly linked to her fate, she was taken away. Yet, saddening as was the event, we cannot regret it. We can even see in it evidences of Divine foresight and mercy. She died with perfect com- posure, relying with simple faith upon promises from lips which have never deceived, and upon the support of an arm which has never grown feeble.ª Had she lived even a few years longer, it might have been to have her heart tortured by the sight of murdered colonists and of Indians extermi- mated, in a war which all her powers of conciliation would not have averted.
She left a son, Thomas Rolfe, who, after spend- ing his childhood and youth in England, came to Virginia, and by his fortune and his talents exer- cised a happy influence upon her destinies. He died, leaving an only daughter, who intermarried with Colonel Robert Bolling, and became the mother of a son, John Bolling, who was her only child. He was the father of Colonel John Bolling, and of five daughters, who were severally married to
a Stith, 146; Hillard's Smith, ii. 379. Mr. Burk's enthusiasm in be- half of Pocahontas entitles him to our respect; but in speaking of her life and her death, he perpetrates
even more than usual of the false heroic of composition. The English reader who desires to see a specimen of his language, in a state of hope- less mania, may look at vol. i. 188.
204
HER DESCENDANTS.
[CHAP. IV.
Richard Randolph, John Flemming, Doctor Wil- liam Gay, Thomas Eldridge, and James Murray.ª By these channels the blood of the Indian princess has been transmitted to numerous descendants, who have inhabited the soil once possessed by her im- perial father. A historian, not unknown to fame, has asserted that these children of a noble parent- age, have been distinguished rather for virtue and wealth, than for the more imposing gifts of talent and renown. "None of them has been conspicu- ous in arts or arms : no great statesman or con- summate general has issued from the loins of Pow- hatan."" But these statements must be received with caution. Were John Randolph, of Roanoke, the only name to which we could point in this family, he would be sufficient to shed upon it the light of a genius too rare to be neglected, too glow- ing to be concealed, yet too peculiar to be imitated ; and in the present age, it would be easy, among the descendants of Pocahontas, to find, in man, those gifts of nature which cause the few to govern the many, and in woman the most brilliant per- sonal beauty, united with the highest of mental endowments.
Among the attendants of Pocahontas, to the court of James, was an intelligent Indian, bearing the euphonious name of Uttamatomakkin, sent by King Powhatan to ascertain the resources of England, and particularly the number of her population.
a Stith, 146; Burk, i. 190; Hil-
c See Hillard's Smith, in Sparks's lard's Smith, ii. 384.
Am. Biog. ii. 384.
b Burk's History of Va., i. 190.
205
ARGAL'S TYRANNY.
1617.]
He bravely began his census by notching a long stick for each person that he met, but soon gave way in despair, and on returning told his monarch to number the stars in the sky, the leaves on the trees, and the sand on the sea-shore, if he desired to know the number of this great people.ª This acute savage formed but a low opinion of the Eng- lish sovereign, and in sadness complained to Cap- tain Smith, that though Powhatan had given to his white visiter a dog as a present, James had given nothing to him, and certainly he was better than a dog! Perchance the native critic was well fitted to pronounce an impartial opinion upon the author of the Basilicon Doron.
Meanwhile George Yeardley held the reins of government in Virginia. He was mild and ami- able in character, but feeble in administration, and it was thought the colony yet needed a stronger arm for its control. Already in the counsels of the London Company, we mark, with pain, the in- fluence of a court faction, who sympathized with the King in his hatred of democracy, and opposed by their intrigues the efforts of the friends of free- dom. Lord Rich and. Sir Thomas Smith united their efforts to obtain the appointment of deputy governor for Captain Samuel Argal, and they un- happily succeeded. Early in this year the new governor came over, and immediately opened his administration by acts of tyranny, and threats of its increase. (May.) The martial law of Smith
a Stith, 144; Smith, ii. 33; Grimshaw's U. S., 33; Parley's Europe.
·
206
ARGAL'S TYRANNY.
[CHAP. IV.
had been gradually relaxed, until it became almost lifeless, but Argal breathed into its frame his own relentless spirit, and it sprang up in pristine vigour. In the middle of a year of drought and of storm, attended by a fall of hailstones nine inches in cir- cumference,ª the provincial monarch thundered forth his decrees. He bound the private commerce · of the colony in chains ; forbidding goods to be sold for more or less than twenty-five per cent. advance, . or tobacco for more or less than three shillings per pound, on penalty of three years slavery to the of- fender. He forbade all private traffic with the Indians, and denounced death against any who should teach them the use of fire-arms. No man was permitted to hunt deer or hogs without his ex- cellency's fiat ; and a year of slavery was the pu- nishment for him who should use fire-arms at all, except in necessary self-defence, until more am- munition should arrive. No person was to go on board the ships at Jamestown, nor were the crews to come on shore, or talk with the inhabitants,
without the governor's license. Any person ne- glecting to go to church Sundays and holidays, was to "lye neck and heels that night,"b and be a slave for a week; for the second offence, he was to be enslaved a month, and for the third, for a year and a day!" From this last clause we infer that
a Stith, 147; Smith, ii. 34. idea of the rigour of the martial code, when in full force. See Stith, 147, 148; Burk, i. 194, 195; Belknap, ii, 155; Marshall's Am. Colon. 53.
b The words in Stith, 148 ; Hawks's Ecclesias. Hist. Va., 32.
c These decrees will furnish some
1
207
DEATH OF LORD DELAWARE.
1618.]
the alternative of the church or the stocks was not uncommon, and that some preferred the latter.
(1618.) While the colonists were groaning under this reign of terror, Lord Delaware was preparing to resume in person his duties as governor. The company sent him forth with a large ship and two hundred settlers. Storms soon assailed him; ad- verse winds delayed his progress; foul weather and exhaustion produced disease ; and many died on the passage. His lordship was still in delicate health ; and, unable to bear up under the pressure now affecting him, he rapidly declined, and died at sea, when his ship had reached a point probably not far from the mouth of the bay now bearing his name.ª We cannot contemplate the death of this excellent nobleman without sorrow and sympathy. Virginia should cherish his memory with warm affection, for he devoted his best days to her ser- vice, and may truly be said to have fallen a mar- tyr to his zeal for her welfare.
In the same year in which Delaware died, it is remarkable that two other persons descended to the grave, whose names will always be connected with the most interesting passages of American history. Walter Raleigh at last fell a sacrifice to the envy of inferiors, the cruel policy of James, and the hatred of the Spanish court, all united for his destruction. And the great emperor Powhatan,
a Stith, 148; Burk, i. 198; Keith, Hants, June 7, 1618."-Collins's 131 ; Belknap's Am. Biog., ii. 115. Peerage, cited in Hubbard's note to One authority states, that Delaware Belknap, ii. 116. died "near his seat at Whewell,
208
DEATH OF POWHATAN.
[CHAP. IV.
after a life of martial activity, was permitted to die in peace. He had keenly felt the death of his daughter, and, from the time it was announced to him, seems to have lost all interest in public affairs. He died full of years, and, we may add, laden with the honours which should gather around the me- mory of one who acted well in the sphere to which his Creator has assigned him. Acute in mind, inventive in counsel, prompt in execution, bold in danger, he ever retained his dignity and his command amid surrounding numbers ; and had not English skill overpowered his native inge- nuity, his dominion would never have been les- sened. His powers were far more exalted than those of the civilized monarch, who proposed to hold him in vassalage; and had British soil given him birth, and hereditary right raised him to the throne of England, his name would not be found among those of her kings who are remembered only to be despised and ridiculed.a
After the death of Lord Delaware, Argal con- tinued his course of arbitrary government, without scruple or hindrance. His rapacity was insatiate, and not content with plundering the public store, 'by every artifice that his knavery could suggest, he attacked the private property of the deceased earl himself, and Lady Delaware has left on re- cord many complaints of her losses by this fearless peculator.b. The unhappy colonists were now fet- a See Mr. Burk's sketch of Pow- exhibits. See also Belknap, ii. hatan, i. 199-202 : though somewhat 160.
florid, it has more of truth and ele- b Stith, 149-151; Belknap, ii. 156, gance than this writer generally 157.
1618.]
EDWARD BREWSTER.
209
tered and lying helpless at his feet; for if they acted or even spake against his oppression, martial law was forthwith called down upon their heads.
An individual example will illustrate. Argal had taken under his special care Lord Delaware's estate, and converted its profits to his own use. Edward Brewster, who had long been one of its lawful overseers, remonstrated against this, and sharply threatened one of the creatures of the go- vernor, who was fulfilling his master's unrighteous purposes. This man complained to Argal, who instantly determined to visit upon the intrepid Brewster all the terrors of the martial code.
He was arrested and tried under a provision de- nouncing death against any man who should "con- temptuously resist or disobey his commander, or do any act or speak any words which might tend to breed disorder or mutiny ;"ª and, after a brief examination, he was found guilty and condemned to die. Yet so revolting was the whole proceeding to the Council, that they threw off their accus- tomed apathy, and implored mercy for the con- demned at the hands of the governor.b Argal had at first determined that Brewster should die; but after much entreaty, he consented to pardon him, on condition that he should leave the colony never to return, and that neither in England nor else- where should he ever utter any disrespectful words concerning his persecutor. Conduct so refined in violence and oppression could not long be con- cealed. Brewster appealed to the company in
a Stith, 152. b Stith, 153; Burk, i. 196.
VOL. I.
14
210
ARGAL ABSCONDS.
[CHAP. IV.
London, who reversed his sentence, and prepared to call the inflated governor to account.
Even Sir Thomas Smith could no longer coun- tenance his kinsman. In union with Sir Lionel Cranfield and Alderman Johnson, (two members of the court party,) he wrote to Argal a letter, in which he charged him, in most cutting terms, with his manifold crimes and misdemeanors. He ac- cuses him of rapacity, peculation, embezzlement, in every shape and form, and threatens him with speedy punishment. This letter, and one from the Company to Lord Delaware, had been written be- fore the death of that nobleman ; and they both fell into the hands of Argal, who took measures for de- fence, or, if necessary, for securing, by flight, the fruits of his dishonesty. (1619.) When the Com- pany appointed Sir George Yeardley to supersede him, the Earl of Warwick, formerly Lord Rich, who was bound to the governor by ties of similarity in character and partnership in profit, despatched a small vessel to Virginia, which arrived in time to carry off Argal and his ill-gotten treasures before the advent of his successor.b (April.) Thus he
a Stith, 153; Burk, i. 197; Mar- him a hero, to whom the colony shall's Am. Colon., 53; Grahame's owes all of its prosperity at the Colon. Hist., i. 68; Marshall refers to Robertson as authority on this subject, but the Doctor is silent con- cerning it. The final proceeding in Brewster's case was in 1620 .- Stith, 181, 182.
b Belknap, ii. 158; Stith, 154- 157. Beverley, who is much in- fected with the love of royalty, says nothing of Argal's rapine-makes
time,-and, most stupidly, sends him upon an expedition against the French of Acadia, in 1618. Keith, who is equally prejudiced and super- ficial, follows him closely. Neither of these writers can be depended on, unless confirmed by other authority. See Stith, 154; Beverley, 32-36; Keith, 131-135.
.
211
FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
1619.]
escaped punishment, and enjoyed for a season the gains of iniquity.
The arrival of Sir George Yeardley, as Governor of Virginia, in the spring of 1619, may be hailed as the opening of a more brilliant era in her annals than any that had gone before. Much obloquy has been heaped upon the London Company, by those who have marked its faults without regarding its virtues; but the true lover of freedom will not forget that to this body America is indebted for the first of those free constitutions which have so long been the boast of her highly favoured soil. We have already spoken of the spirit which appeared and gained strength in the open debates of this large body. Men began to find that they could think for themselves, and that they were not absolutely dependent for wisdom upon a crowned head. A small number did indeed steadily adhere to the in- terest and policy of the king; but an overwhelming majority spake, debated, determined, and acted with all the resolution that intelligent freedom could in- spire. Unable to make this influence fully felt in England, where popular indignation had not yet ripened into resistance by arms to the king's pre- rogative, they determined to give to Virginia a constitution embodying their views of the rights of man. Accordingly, Sir George Yeardley was des- patched with plenary powers, and brought with him to the settlement several charters, by one of which he was authorized to call together the " First General Assembly" that ever sat upon the soil of
212
FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [CHAP. IV.
the new world.a Little did James and his obse- quious servants imagine that he had imparted being to a parent who was now to give birth to a child destined by his own innate vigour to shake the do- minion of Britain to its centre, and finally to change the aspect of the most powerful nations of earth !
Among the manuscript records of the London Company, which have fortunately been preserved,b we do not find the charter authorizing the creation of the first representative body in Virginia; but we may presume that it did not differ materially from the constitution afterwards fully established under Sir Francis Wyatt, to which we shall soon have occa-
a Stith, 160; Burk, i. 202, 203; land by the late John Randolph ; but Robertson's Amer., i.412; Marshall's this must be an error. They are Am. Colon., i. 54; Belknap, ii. 163, 164; Grahame's Colon. Hist., i. 69 ; Bancroft's U. S., i. 170, 171. Bever- ley, with his wonted ignorance, says the first Assembly met in May, 1620; and Keith, as usual, follows him. Beverley, 35; Keith, 134. Here Oldmixon agrees with them, i. 369- an erring trio !
now in the custody of Conway Ro- binson, Esq., who has had many pas- sages from them carefully copied, and has submitted them for a special purpose to the inspection of Gustavus A. Myers, Esq. To the kindness of the last-named gentleman I am indebted for a view of these manu- scripts. They contain much matter b The records of the Company, from 28th April, 1619, to 7th June, 1624, were copied before it was dis- solved. In 1667, these valuable ma- nuscripts were purchased of the ex- ecutors of the Earl of Southampton, by Col. Byrd, of Virginia. They were diligently used by Stith, in com- wholly uninteresting to the general reader, but they throw the clearest light upon the history of the Com- pany almost to the moment of its dissolution. Mr. Burk sometimes speaks of other MSS. consulted by him for the childhood of Virginia, but what they were I do not know. piling his history, and were after- See i. 275; Belknap, ii. 191, 192; wards in the possession of Mr. Burk. Bancroft, i. 203; Hening's Stat., Hubbard, note to Belknap, ii. 192, i. 76, in note. says they were carried back to Eng-
213
FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
1619.]
sion to refer. It is certain that about the close of the month of June, the first Assembly met at James- town. The division of counties was yet unknown ; but each borough or township sent a representa- tive, and from this the legislators acquired the name of " Burgesses," which they long retained. The representatives sat and voted in the same room with the council, and the governor retained a nega- tive upon all laws or other action. Not one of the acts of this Assembly has been preserved ; but we have reason to believe they legislated with wisdom, and that their conduct was approved by the Com- pany in England.a
Such was the origin of true liberty in America. We find in this constitution much that is obscure, and of that which is well ascertained we note much that might be amended; but we see in it the germ of a representative body, taken from, elected by, sympathizing with, the people, ready to watch over their interests and protect their rights, and yet sufficiently removed from them to be beyond the immediate influence of their prejudices and pas- sions. This is as nearly as man may, with safety, approach to entire self-government.
Besides the important change just alluded to, this year was fruitful in events deeply affecting the welfare of the colony. Sir Thomas Smith was not popular as treasurer. He was too much in- clined to the king's faction, and his increasing years made him willing to retire from public life. (April 28.) He was succeeded by Sir Edwin
a Stith, 160; Beverley, 35; Grahame, i. 69 ; Gordon's Amer., i. 47.
214
JAMES AND THE CONVICTS. [CHAP. IV.
Sandys, a gentleman of liberal views, of warm heart, and of steady devotion to the rights of the Company and of the settlers. Under his care, seve- ral salutary measures were adopted, and a vigor- ous spirit pervaded the affairs of the colony. Nearly one thousand reputable settlers were sent from the mother country to occupy the soil and increase the strength of her dependency. But in recording this great increase, the historian is com- pelled, with indignation, to narrate a most shame- ful exercise of regal tyranny. King James ex- pressly commanded the Company to transport to Virginia one hundred convicts, guilty of every species of felony, or else adjudged too dissolute to remain upon the soil of Britain. Entreaties, re- monstrances, appeals, were tried in vain. At a heavy expense these miscreants were transported to the colony, to add strength to indolence and energy to vice. The judicious Stith may well de- nounce, in unsparing terms, this conduct, which " hath laid one of the finest countries in British America under the unjust scandal of being a mere hell upon earth."ª These people and their de- scendants gradually improved in morals; but Vir- ginia has deeply felt the wound which their very presence inflicted on her.b
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