USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 6
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Owing to the vast increase of rats in the colo- ny, the corn, which had been stored away in casks, was found upon examination to have been so seriously depredated upon, that the supply was exhausted much earlier than was expected, and as the season for gathering their own corn had
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609.
not yet arrived, several detachments of the colo- nists were sent from Jamestown, and quartered in other places, for the better convenience of ob- taining food.
Under any other governor than Smith, this policy might have been considered injudicious, as it weakened his effective force, and exposed his parties to be beaten in detail by the savages. But so great was the terror with which he had inspired the Indians, so prompt was he to repress the least show of hostilities, and so sleeplessly indefatigable was he in all he undertook, that the savages well knowing a bloody retaliation would follow any overt act on their part, were con- strained to continue peaceful even when the colo- nists were most open to their attacks.
But while he thus held the savages in check by the mere terror of his name, Smith had a far more difficult task in preserving subordination among his own people. While food was plentiful he succeeded in repressing disorders; but no sooner did the supplies begin to fail, than idlers and malcontents became so abundant, that he was compelled to resort to severer measures than any he had yet ventured upon. A large number of the colonists, after importuning him unsuccess- fully to barter every article they possessed, even their weapons, for a few baskets of corn yet re- maining among the Indians, had determined among themselves to force him to comply with
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RIGOROUS REGULATIONS.
1609.]
their wishes, by refusing to do any thing toward providing for their own daily wants.
Smith was the last man in the world whom they could have hoped to drive into any act to which his judgment was opposed, and they soon found him such.
He called a meeting of the people, and address- ing himself particularly to the disaffected, he pointed out what he had already done for the good of the colony, and how it had more than once been preserved through his exertions. Re- ferring to their refusal to hunt, or fish, or even to gather wild fruits, he said : -
" I will take such measures as shall compel you to provide for yourselves of such food as is to be obtained. The sick shall be exempt from service, and shall share equally with us all; but he who, being well, does not bring in as much provision every day as I do, shall be banished from the fort on the morrow, and set beyond the river, until such time as he is willing to fulfil this regulation, or starve."
This order many considered as unnecessarily harsh, but the obedience it demanded was ren- dered nevertheless; and so, amid plottings and murmurings, the affairs of the colony moved jar- ringly on until the arrival of Captain Argall, with a ship well furnished with wine and provision.
The letters brought by Argall contained much censure of Smith, for the decided manner in
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609.
which he had dealt with the savages, and communicated at the same time the startling intelligence of the surrender of the Virginia patent into the hands of King James, and the issue of a new commission, under which Lord Delaware was appointed governor-general of Vir- ginia; Sir Thomas Gates, his lieutenant; Sir Thomas Dale, high-marshal; Sir Ferdinand Wainman, general of the horse; Captain New- port, vice-admiral, together with various other officers, sufficient in number to have governed an established kingdom, rather than the few mise- rable, half-starved colonists, who had only been kept together by the incessant care of Captain Smith.
One good effect, however, was promised by the surrender of the old charter. Under the new organization, the commissioners speedily raised such large sums of money as enabled them to despatch nine ships and five hundred immigrants to Jamestown. The command of this fleet was given to Newport. Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers accompanied the latter, armed with power to cancel the old commissions, and assume authority in the colony until the arrival of Lord Delaware.
These three officers sailed together from Eng- land, in May, 1609, in the flag-ship of the vice- admiral, the Sea-Venture; but being separated from the rest of the fleet in a severe storm, were
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1609.] SMITH'S SUPERIOR ABILITIES.
for some time supposed to be lost. The other ships arrived in due season, and the immigrants they contained were disembarked. Among those who returned to the colony at this time, to the great indignation of Smith, were his old enemies Ratcliffe, Martin, and Archer.
A landing had no sooner been effected than the sturdy governor found his authority disputed. As the fate of the commissioners was uncertain, Smith resolved to retain his office until its term expired, unless previously superseded by the arri- val of the commissioners, or by fresh orders from England. In carrying out this determination, he had occasion for the exercise of all that deci- sion of character for which he was so remarkable. Surrounded by an unruly multitude, ignorant of his superior qualities, and instigated by all those who hated the salutary laws he had so rigidly enforced, he was subjected to a constant succes- sion of conspiracies, by which his life was placed in continual danger.
Resolutely bent on maintaining his authority until it could be legally transferred into proper hands, Smith seized the chief conspirators, and imprisoned them in the fort. Those of less note he sent away from Jamestown to garrison some of the outposts, where their enmity could be tempered by a due regard for their personal safety. By this means, he succeeded in repress- ing that condition of unbridled license with which
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609.
the colony was threatened, and in preserving a fair share of decorum and regularity.
No sooner, however, was his year of office ex- pired, than he surrendered his authority to Cap- tain Martin ; but the latter was so conscious of his own inefficiency, that, after retaining the go- vernorship for three hours, he resigned it again into the hands of Smith.
The large influx of colonists enabling Smith to open plantations at a distance from the city, he sent Captain West with one hundred and twenty men to build a fort near the falls of James River, and cultivate the land adjacent. Finding, on a subsequent personal inspection, that the situation upon which the fort had been erected was a dis- advantageous one, in consequence of being subject to overflow from the river, the governor treated with the emperor for his ancient seat of Powhat- tan. This was a fine healthy location, the town being strongly fortified with pickets, the houses in good repair, with two hundred acres of cleared land adjoining.
When the conditions of sale were agreed upon, another and most unexpected difficulty arose. West's people, being mostly new-comers, and not inclined either to acknowledge the authority of Smith, or to submit to his advice, determined to remain at their new settlement. Though the governor had but five men with him, he-attempt- ed to force the refractory settlers to obey his
1609.]
TURBULENT COLONISTS. 97
wishes, but was beaten off. Capturing the boat containing all their provision, he attached it to his own barge, and stood off from the place, in- tending to starve them into submission. After nine days spent in a vain attempt to bring them to a sense of their duty, during which time the savages came daily with complaints of their dis- orderly conduct, Smith set sail.
He had scarcely departed, before the exaspe- rated Indians, after attacking and killing some of the stragglers, assaulted the fort. Smith, whose vessel had at this time grounded upon a bar about a mile and a half below, immediately put back; but the Indians had already fled with their booty. The garrison, now thoroughly alarmed, submitted themselves unconditionally to the mercy of the governor. Taking with him, as prisoners, six or seven of the ringleaders, he con- veyed the remainder to Powhattan, and after ap- peasing the Indians, and appointing new officers to command the garrison, was about to take his departure, when Captain West arrived. At the earnest intercession of the latter, Smith released his prisoners, and delivered up the ammunition and provision he had previously captured. No sooner was this done than the men grew as tur- bulent as before. Conscious of his inability to cope with such numbers, Smith left the place in disgust, and set out for Jamestown.
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609.
It was during this return voyage that the sad accident occurred which deprived Virginia of the future services of him who is most emphatically entitled to the honour of being styled the founder of the colony.
While sleeping in the boat, the powder-bag he constantly carried upon his person was accident- ally set on fire by one of the crew. The explo- sion tore away some nine or ten inches of flesh from his body, and the burning of his garments occasioned such exquisite torment, that he leaped in his agony into the river, where he came near drowning before he was rescued. In this painful condition he reached Jamestown.
There being no surgeon in the colony, Smith made arrangements for the proper defence of the settlement during his absence, and after deputing his authority to Captain George Percy, took pas- sage for England on board one of the ships then lying in the harbour.
When he was compelled, by reason of his pain- ful wound, to cross the ocean for medical advice, the prosperity of the colony was daily increasing. It contained nearly five hundred inhabitants, had ten weeks' provision in the public store, was pos- sessed of an abundance of arms and ammunition, implements of all kinds, and a supply of clothing amply sufficient for the wants of the settlers. The live stock of the colony at this period con- sisted of six brood mares and a horse, some six
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1609.] CHARACTER OF THE IMMIGRANTS.
hundred swine, an equal number of fowls, and a few goats and sheep.
Jamestown, which contained some fifty or sixty houses, Smith had taken especial pains to fortify in the strongest manner, and had also caused to be opened, 'at various distances from the town, above and below, some five or six plantations, on each of which a strong block-house had been erect- ed, for the protection of such as were engaged in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity.
When we consider the class of persons of which the colony of Virginia was mainly composed, it is still more astonishing that so much should have been effected. There were only one good and three indifferent carpenters among the whole of the immigrants ; and but two blacksmiths. Those who came under the denomination of labourers were merely serving-men brought over by various adventurers to attend upon them personally, or such idle roisterers as had never before performed a day's work in their life. All the rest were poor gentlemen, decayed tradesmen, libertines, and the like, whom neither the fear of God, nor the law, nor shame, nor the displeasure of their friends, could rule at home. It was a sorrowful day for Virginia, when the disabled condition of the only man fitted by nature and education to control this mixed and unruly body of settlers, constrained him to take his departure from the shores of the new world.
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
[1609.
CHAPTER VIII.
Captain George Percy-His reasons for remaining in the colony -His ill-health-Factious spirit of the people-Indian hos- tilities-Massacre of Ratcliffe and his men-West and thirty others turn pirates-Miserable condition of the colonists- Arrival of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers-The colony deserted-Arrival of Lord Delaware-His judicious measures-The colony begins to flourish-Delaware returns to England-Disappointment of the London company-Sir Thomas Dale sent to Virginia- His arrival-Proclaims martial law-Sir Thomas Gates arrives at Jamestown-As- sumes the government of the colony-A plantation opened at Henrico-Private property recognised in the colony- Beneficial results arising therefrom-New Bermudas settled -The third charter of the London company-Change in the constitution-Money allowed to be raised by lottery for the benefit of the colony.
WHEN Captain George Percy, in 1609, con- sented, at the instance of Smith, to accept the office which the latter was compelled to resign, it was from an earnest desire to serve the colony to the best of his ability. He had previously intended to seek the restoration of his own fail- ing health by a voyage to England; but well knowing that so soon as Smith had taken his departure, the comparatively small number of industrious and well-disposed settlers would fall a prey to those reckless and unprincipled adven- turers who were already feared by their own countrymen, and hated by the savages, he con- cluded to remain and endeavour to preserve
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FACTIOUSNESS.
1609.]
something like order, until the officers duly ap- pointed should arrive from England.
Increasing ill-health, however, prevented him from exercising his authority effectively, and the condition of the colony soon became deplorable. The community was broken up into numerous factions ; a dozen vile and worthless leaders claimed the supremacy, while their deluded fol- lowers were encouraged to live in the most shameless and abandoned manner.
The Indians who had shown themselves friend- ly were grossly maltreated. Profiting by the absence of Smith, they broke out into open war. They attacked and destroyed the plantations of Martin and West, and killed nearly one-half of their men; the remainder fled to Jamestown. Thirty men, sent out under Ratcliffe to trade with Powhattan, were all surprised and slain, with the exception of two, whose lives were pre- served by the Princess Pocahontas. West, who with a like number had been appointed to a similar duty, deserted with his crew, and com- menced a career of piracy. The supply of pro- visions was soon consumed. The hogs, goats, sheep, horses, were next devoured; and then every article that could be traded away to the Indians, even to the armour and weapons of de- fence, was exchanged for food. When these failed, they prolonged a miserable existence upon berries and roots. Day by day they died, either
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1610.
by the weapons of the savages or from sheer starvation. Within six months from the depart- ure of Smith, only sixty men survived. Those remaining could not have supported life for ten days longer, when they were miraculously pre- served from the fate of their companions.
On the 24th of May, 1610, Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers arrived from the Ber- mudas with one hundred and sixty men. Parted from the rest of the ships by a storm at sea, they had been driven, water-logged, upon those rocky islands, and from the wreck of their vessels had constructed two small barks to bear them to Virginia.
. They expected to meet a prosperous colony, and found nothing but famine and a mere hand- ful of gaunt and haggard men. Utterly dis- mayed at the prospect before them, they yielded to the general wish, and set sail for Newfound- land, hoping to obtain food for the company among the fishing vessels which frequented that coast.
On the 7th of June, they abandoned the scene of so much misery; and it was with difficulty the colonists could be persuaded from setting fire to the town. But it was not the will of Heaven that so fine a country should be suffered to re- turn to its original wildness.
The next morning, when near the mouth of the river, they fell in with the longboat of Lord
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1610.] COLONISTS RE-ESTABLISHED.
Delaware, who had arrived on the coast with three ships well furnished with all needful sup- plies. With great difficulty the fugitives were prevailed upon to return, and the same night they again landed at Jamestown.
The following day, the 10th of June, 1610, . while the impression of their unexpected deliver- ance rendered them yet profoundly grateful, the colonists, preceded by Lord Delaware and the officers who had accompanied him, entered the little church which Smith had newly thatched, and within the walls of that rude but sacred edifice, supplicated forgiveness for past errors, and in all humility compared their condition to that of the children of Israel, whom the arm of the Lord of hosts conducted through the Red Sea and the wilderness, before he suffered them to possess, in prosperous tranquillity, the fertile land of Canaan.
After the sermon was over, Lord Delaware in- stituted an inquiry into the causes of the late disasters. Finding them to have proceeded from the insubordination of the colonists themselves, he reproached them with firm seriousness for the evils they had wrought, and entreated them to amend past follies.
His commission having been read, he told them he was resolved to exercise his authority, mildly and paternally if possible ; but that if he was compelled to proceed rigidly against the re-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1610.
fractory, he should not hesitate to enforce sub mission with the sword.
Regulations were soon after proclaimed for the government of the colonists ; officers were ap- pointed, and each man allotted his particular duty. The effect of this was gratifying in the extreme. Six hours of each day were set apart for labour, the rest might be appropriated to pastime. Nor were the offices of religion forgot- ten. Before and after labour, all entered the little church, the approach to which was kept prettily adorned with native wild-flowers, and joined in brief devotional exercises, from which none were excused, unless unable to attend from sickness, or some other justifying cause.
Under the new administration no idlers were suffered. Even the gentlemen had duties assigned to them proportioned to their ability. The dwell- ings were repaired and improved ; covered above with strong boards, and matted round with In- dian mats. The forts were garrisoned, and savage hostilities successfully restrained. But while the colony under the judicious care of the new go- vernor was daily increasing in prosperity, the health of Lord Delaware became so seriously im- paired as to compel him to return to England. Sir Thomas Gates having previously left Virginia for the mother country, and Sir George Som- mers being absent on a voyage to the Bermudas, the government was again intrusted to Captain
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SIR THOMAS DALE.
1611.]
Percy. At the time Lord Delaware left the colony, it consisted of two hundred men, and was supplied with provisions for ten months. His unexpected arrival in England was a source of great mortification to the London Company, who had already debated for some time, and with great anxiety, the propriety of sustaining any longer a colony whose reverses had been so many, and the returns from which had been so meager.
The serious representation of Sir Thomas Gates, of the benefits which would ultimately ac- crue from a proper support of the colony, in- duced them to persevere in their endeavours to. sustain it; and before Lord Delaware reached England, Sir Thomas Dale had been despatched to Virginia with three ships, freighted with im- migrants and supplies.
He arrived safely at Jamestown on the 10th of May, 1611, and found the colonists fast re- lapsing into their old habits of improvidence. They had neglected even to plant corn, relying upon the public store for supplies. Though the season was already advanced, Dale, on assuming the government, at once directed that corn should be planted, and under his vigorous supervision a tolerable crop was secured.
As if conscious of the inefficiency with which the colony had been governed, the authority of Sir Thomas Dale had been enlarged by the Lon- don Company. Martial law was established ;
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1611.
crime was punished in a summary manner, and the duties of religion enforced by military rules.
Perhaps this severe and arbitrary system was, after all, the best calculated to maintain order in the colony. Indulgence and a weak yielding to the passions of the people had brought them more than once to the very brink of destruction ; while under established rules, rigidly enforced, they had always managed to prosper.
Sir Thomas Dale, a worthy and experienced soldier in the Low Countries, while he resolutely repressed disorder, by no means exceeded the limits of his authority. His brief adminis- tration was attended with the happiest results. His letters to England, while confessing the smallness of the colony, expressed hopes which cheered the patrons of the enterprise, and in- duced them to follow up their late liberality by increased exertions. Sir Thomas Gates was de- spatched from London with six ships and three hundred men, and arrived at Jamestown on the 2d of August, 1611. This new supply was so unexpected, that at first the colonists mistook the vessels for a hostile fleet.
Gates now assumed the government, to the great joy of the colonists, who now numbered seven hundred men. Fully appreciating the dif- ficulties overcome by his predecessor, he approved all his acts, and assented to a design which Dale had already formed.
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SIR THOMAS GATES.
1611.]
This was no other than to open a large plan- tation higher up the river. To further the ob- ject, Sir Thomas Gates furnished his friend with three hundred and fifty men, or one-half of the whole number of colonists. They were a select- ed company. Late in September, Dale, having already chosen a site for his new settlement, pro- tected it with palisades, and called the place Henrico, in honour of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I.
The next work he did was to build at each corner of the town a high commanding block- house ; then he erected a church and storehouses, and when these were finished, he constructed ex- cellent dwellings for himself and his men.
This town was situated upon a neck of land, surrounded on three sides by the river, and on the fourth well palisadoed. It had three streets of well-framed houses, a handsome church, and the foundation of another, to be constructed in a more substantial manner of brick, besides store- houses, block-houses, and similar structures. Along the verge of the river, at stated distances, were five other strongly-built houses, from which a continual watch was kept for the security of the town.
One of the immediate benefits arising from the administration of Gates was the recognition of private property. Hitherto all had laboured alike for the common good, and were clothed
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
[1611.
and fed from the public store. , Having no stimu- lus for exertion, and the idle or sluggish re- ceiving the same allotment of apparel and provi- sion as the laborious and the energetic, men grew disheartened at a distribution which neither recognised merit nor rewarded industry.
So discouraging was this state of things, that frequently, in the best times, the labour of thirty men did not accomplish more than was done, under a different system, by three. It was the great merit of Gates that he saw at once where the evil lay, and applied the appropriate remedy. A few acres of land were given to each man for his orchard and garden, to cultivate as he thought proper, and to apply the proceeds to his own use, after paying a small portion of his pro- duce to the general store, as a provision against contingencies. The consequences of this wise liberality were in the highest degree satisfac- tory ; and henceforth every encouragement was afforded to individual enterprise in the acquisi- tion of wealth. The rights of the Indians, how- ever, were less regarded. In December, 1611, Sir Thomas Dale captured the town of Appa- mattuck, and driving off the savages, took pos- session of their houses and corn. Finding the place commodiously situated, and within an easy distance of Henrico, he immediately appropriated his conquest to the uses of a new settlement, which he called New Bermudas.
1611.]
THE LONDON COMPANY. 109
Under the same imperious patent, he laid out and annexed many miles of champaign and wood- land, dividing the lands into several hundreds or districts, and building a number of houses along the frontier for the better security of the newly-acquired territory.
While Virginia was thus gradually extending her habitable limits, and enjoying a period of peace and prosperity, a new charter was granted by James to the London Company, by which all the former privileges and immunities were con- firmed, and the period of exemption from duties extended. 1
By the new charter a great change was made in the constitution of the company. The sole power of ordering the affairs of the company had hitherto resided in a council, named in the charter, but whose vacancies were supplied by the majority of the corporation. This power was now taken from the hands of the council, and given to the stockholders, by whom the inferior transactions of the company might be discussed at weekly meetings, reserving the more import- ant questions of government, commerce, and ter- ritory, for the four great and general courts, at which all officers were to be elected, and all laws established. This great change affected only the corporation, the political rights of the colonists remaining unimproved.
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