USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 8
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1621.
sent out as wives to such colonists as were ma- trimonially inclined. This importation of poor but virtuous girls was received with great favour. They were married either to the servants of the company, or to men well able to support them, and the cost of their transportation willingly de- frayed.
The success which the first consignment met with induced the company to venture on a second. In 1621, sixty more were sent over, maids of virtuous education, young, handsome, and well recommended. The blessings of domestic life had already begun to be appreciated. The origi- nal cost of a wife was one hundred pounds of tobacco; but as the value of home enjoyments became better understood, the price of the mem- bers of the second consignment rose to one hun- dred and fifty pounds. It was an excellent and a thoughtful act. Hitherto Virginia had been regarded merely in the light of a temporary resi- dence, where wealth was to be acquired more speedily than at home; but few thought of mak- ing the colony their permanent place of abode.
The formation of domestic attachments, the beauty of the climate, a personal interest in the soil, and the peaceful bearing of the surrounding Indians, gradually excited a desire in many to end their days in a land which offered a com- fortable subsistence to ordinary industry, and numerous facilities for the rearing of a family.
129
PURCHASE OF WIVES.
1621.]
Nothing tended so effectually to restrain the reckless spirit and unsettled habits of the colo- nists as the introduction of so many women among them. The debt for a wife was a debt of honour, and took precedence of any other. Mar- ried men were regarded by the company as the better and more reliable portion of the popula- tion, and favoured accordingly. The colony being now fixed upon a permanent basis, large numbers of immigrants flocked in. Within three years, fifty patents for land were granted, and three thousand five hundred persons left England for Virginia.
Great complaints having arisen in England against the governor and officers of the colony in regard to the use of covenanted and indented servants, instructions were issued by the council for the reformation of the existing abuses. One hundred men were allotted the governor to work on his plantation, free of charge, during the term of his administration. Fifty to the deputy- governor farming the college land; fifty to the deputy farming the company's land ; fifty to the treasurer, and twenty-five to the secretary, and more to the marshal and cape merchant. On the retirement or removal of these officials, they were to make over an equal number of servants to their successors. The object of this generous distribution was to enable the officers of the com pany to acquire such a competency, as would
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1621.
permit them to live well without oppressing any under their charge.
But the event which exercised the most im- portant influence upon the future condition of the colony was the introduction of African slaves.
In the month of August, 1620, the commander of a Dutch man-of-war entered James River, and disposed of twenty negroes. For a long time thereafter, this species of traffic progressed but slowly ; so that, at the end of thirty years, the white population of Virginia outnumbered the black in the proportion of fifty to one.
The previous purchase of indented white ser- vants, many of whom were kidnapped from their own country and sold among the planters for a term of years, made the transition from limited white to permanent negro slavery so simple and easy, as not only to create no compunctions of conscience, but to cause the change to be seriously regarded by many as taking the burden from the shoulders of their own countrymen, and plac- ing it upon a race furnishing hereditary bonds- men from the remotest ages, and always regarded as forming the lowest type of humanity.
After serving as treasurer for the London Company for one year, the able and energetic Sandys resigned his office. The election of his successor was not effected without a severe con- test. King James, jealous of the liberal and patriotic spirit in which the affairs of the com-
131
1621.] FIRST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION.
pany had lately been conducted, endeavoured to interfere. He nominated four candidates, from among whom the company were desired to choose their treasurer. Firm in upholding their rights, they successfully resisted the royal interference, rejected the nominees of the king, and made choice of the Earl of Southampton, the early patron of Shakspeare.
The subsequent proceedings of the company were equally just and humane. They emphati- cally repudiated the arbitrary conduct of Argall in a case of appeal from a sentence of death pro- nounced by him while acting in his capacity of governor. They discountenanced the opinion formerly prevailing that trial by martial law was the noblest kind of trial, and successfully asserted the rights of the colonists to trial by a jury of their peers.
The assembly of burgesses summoned by Yeardley was now formally sanctioned. In July, 1621, the company gave to the Virginians a written constitution, which guarantied to the colonists a much greater share of liberty than they had hitherto enjoyed.
Under the new form of government the gover- nor and council of state for the colony were to be chosen by the treasurer, council, and company in England; and were to constitute a portion of the general assembly. -The other members of the assembly were to consist of two burgesses
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1621.
from every town, hundred, or other particular plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants them- selves. This assembly, which was to be con- vened by the governor once a year, was to have full power to treat, consult, and conclude upon all subjects concerning the public welfare of the colony, and to enact such general laws and orders for the benefit of the colony, and the good government thereof, as from time to time might seem necessary. A negative voice was reserved to the governor; and the laws, to be rendered valid, were to receive the subsequent sanction of the London Company. As an equivalent con- cession to the colony, it was ordained, that after the new government shall have gone into opera- tion, no orders of the court in London shall bind the colony unless ratified in like manner by the general assembly.
133
SIR FRANCIS WYATT.
1621.]
CHAPTER XI.
Sir Francis Wyatt appointed governor-Arrives in Virginia- Scattered condition of the colonists-Their careless state of security-Death of Powhattan-Opechancanough suspected of treachery-His answer-Arranges a plan for the general massacre of the colonists-Nemattanow, or Jack of the Feather, murders one Morgan and robs him-Is shot down by two boys-His dying requests-Terrible massacre of the 22d of March-Most of the plantations abandoned-Sick- ness in the colony-War of extermination-Reception of the tidings in England-Assistance sent to the colonists-Smith tenders his services-Conduct of King James-Attempts to dictate to the company-Meets with a second rebuke-Re- solves to annul the charter-Appoints commissioners to in- quire into the affairs of the company-Resolves to reassume his conceded authority-His proposition rejected by the com- pany-Commissioners sent to Virginia.
As the term of office for which Sir George Yeardley was appointed drew near to a close, the council in London made choice of Sir Francis Wyatt to succeed him. The latter, with nine ships freighted with immigrants and supplies, reached Virginia in October, 1621. A part of his instructions was to raise less tobacco and
more corn. He found the colonists dispersed in small parties, widely separated ; their plantations extending along the James River, and toward the Potomac, wherever the richest land could be found. Increase of numbers had made them carelessly secure. Many of them lived familiarly among the savages; slept with them in their
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134
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
1 [1618.
houses, employed them as hunters, and took no pains to guard themselves from surprise.
The aged Emperor Powhattan died in 1618, gratefully reverenced by his own people, and honoured by his English neighbours. From the period of his daughter's marriage until that of his own decease, he remained the firm and steadfast friend of the colonists. He was suc- ceeded by his younger brother Itopatin, but the more daring spirit of Opechancanough soon led him to usurp the imperial authority. Although this change, from the known character of Ope- chancanough, rendered a continuance of amicable relations doubtful and uncertain, the colonists, confident in their numbers, neglected the most ordinary precautions. One reason for this may have been their consciousness that the number of Indians occupying each village was but small; that these villages were widely scattered along the banks of the various rivers between the James and the Potomac, and that the whole savage population, within sixty miles of Jamestown, did not number more than five thousand souls, of whom some fifteen hundred only were warriors. The eastern shore Indians never occasioned the English any trouble whatever, but even under occasional circumstances of great provocation, always remained peaceful and well-disposed. Some floating rumour that Opechancanough intended to prove treacherous, led Wyatt, about
135
INTENDED MASSACRE.
1622.]
the middle of March, 1622, to send an envoy to him, for the purpose of renewing the treaty which had been made with his predecessors.
Opechancanough received the messenger with the greatest respect, and confirmed the treaty not only with alacrity and cheerfulness, but accompa- nied the act with many expressions of good-will. He told the messenger that he held the peace so firm, that the sky should fall before he would violate it. At this very time he was perfecting his schemes for a general massacre, which only failed in entire success from the affection which one of his own people bore to a colonist who had befriended him.
So well arranged were all the preliminaries of the plot, and so faithfully had the secret been preserved, that only two days before the massa- cre, the Indians guided the English through the forest as usual, and even borrowed boats of the colonists to cross the river and consult with their friends upon the sanguinary measures they were about to undertake. On the evening of Thurs- day, and even on the morning of Friday, the 22d of March, the very day on which the massacre was appointed to take place, they came unarmed into the houses of the English, under pretence of bringing game and other provisions for sale, and in some instances sat down to breakfast with their destined victims.
One of the prominent pretexts by which Ope-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622.
chancanough had stimulated his people to com- bine together, and by a simultaneous attack upon all the English settlements, to exterminate the intruders at a single unexpected blow, was to avenge the death of a favourite warrior by the name of Nemattanow.
This Nemattanow was held in great esteem by the Indians generally. As he had been engaged in many conflicts and escaped unhurt, they be- lieved him to be invulnerable. Taking advan- tage of their credulity, he affected a marked sin- gularity of dress and demeanour ; making every- where an open boast of his person being proof against all kinds of warlike weapons. By his strange ways, and fantastic style of wearing feather ornaments, he obtained among the Eng- lish the nickname of Jack of the Feather.
Nemattanow, being desirous of possessing some toys and gewgaws, belonging to one Morgan, went to his house and persuaded the latter to ac- company him to Pamunkey, where he asserted they could be disposed of to great advantage. Morgan consented, and Nemattanow murdered and robbed him by the way. Two days after- ward, he boldly returned to Morgan's house, wearing on his head the cap of the dead man. Here he found two well-grown boys that had been hired to Morgan, who immediately asked where their master was. He told them he was dead, but refusing to give them any further par-
137
TREACHEROUS MASSACRE.
1622.]
ticulars, they demanded he should go with them before a magistrate, and relate all he knew con- cerning Morgan's mysterious disappearance. As Nemattanow not only declined going, but com- menced insolently abusing them, they shot him down, and then placed him in a boat, intending to carry him before the governor, at that time some seven or eight miles from The wound Nemattanow had received proving mor- tal, he earnestly entreated the boys in his last moments to promise him two things; the one was, that they would not make it known in what manner he had been killed ; and the other, that they would bury him among the English.
When the loss of Nemattanow was made known to Opechancanough, he broke out into such threats of revenge as induced Wyatt to send the messenger to him, whose conference with the great chieftain resulted in renewed and solemn assurances of his desire to remain at peace.
It has been already stated, that the prepara- tions for the massacre were made with the utmost secrecy. At mid-day on the 22d of March, the savages, having marched out from their numerous villages, posted themselves, as by previous con- cert, in or near the various settlements of the Eng- lish, and fell upon them suddenly at one and the same moment of time. The attack was so im- mediate and unsuspected, that in numerous in-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622.
stances not the least resistance was offered. Some had entered the houses under pretence of trading; others bearing presents of game and fish ; others again mingled with the labourers in the fields with the familiarity of friends; while the more cautious settlers were enticed abroad under various and apparently plausible pretexts. Whenever the Indians obtained the mastery, they spared none, but destroyed man, woman, and child. Those whom they knew to be friends shared the same fate as their bitterest enemies. Even the pure and single-hearted missionaries, who had always mixed with them freely, and sought to win their regard by unwearying acts of kindness, even they too were murdered, and their bodies mutilated in all those hideous and horrible ways which only savage barbarity could devise.
And yet these bloodthirsty men were as cow- ardly as they were treacherous and sanguinary. Whenever any resistance was offered they fled. The firing of a single musket, the mere lifting of an axe or a hatchet, was in many instances suf- ficient to divert them from their purpose, and hurry them away from a place that was even slightly defended, to attack another the inhabit- ants of which were more timid or less prepared. All they could massacre by surprise during that day fell victims to their fury. With the setting of the sun the slaughter ended, and satiated with
139
1622.]
THE PLOT REVEALED.
blood the Indians retired toward their several villages. On that fatal morning, three hundred and forty-seven persons were cut off, most of them falling by their own weapons, or implements of industry.
But Jamestown, and the settlements imme- diately surrounding it, were providentially saved. Only one of all the Indians who were privy to the conspiracy cherished a sufficiently grateful remembrance of the favours he had received, to enable him to overcome the repugnance he ex- perienced at betraying the cherished secret which had been confided to his people.
Two Indians, who were brothers, chanced to sleep together the night previous to the massacre at the house of a man named Pace, by whom one of the brothers was employed. The other Indian, who was in the employ of another planter named Perry, urged upon his brother to rise and kill Pace at once, and confided to him the whole plot, which was to be executed on the morrow. The Indian in the service of Pace consented to do as he was bid, and immediately went out, leaving his brother under the impression that he had quitted him for the purpose of committing the murder.
Entering his master's chamber, he revealed to him the whole story. Pace instantly arose, and, after securing his house, rowed under cover of the darkness to Jamestown, and informed the
140
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622.
governor what he had heard. By this means the capital of the colony, and such plantations as could receive the tidings in time to prepare for a defence, were preserved from the assault of the savages, who, on no single occasion, persevered in carrying out their bloody designs where they found the English in readiness to receive them, or where any thing approaching a sturdy resist- ance was offered.
The larger part of the colony was fortunately saved. A year after the massacre there still re- mained two thousand five hundred men; but the high-wrought sense of danger which led the colo- nists to abandon their plantations, for some time afterward seriously retarded their prosperity. Of eighty plantations which extended over a space of one hundred and forty miles on both sides of the James River, only eight were re- tained. Into these few the alarmed settlers con- gregated. The college lands were abandoned ; the manufactories closed, and the culture of the fields limited to so confined a space as barely to afford the means for subsistence. Thus crowded together, sickness ensued, and some of the colo- nists, taking a sudden disgust to the country, abandoned it and returned to England. For some time, in the midst of the general conster- nation, none thought of retaliating the injuries they had sustained; but when grief and fear subsided, a war of extermination commenced.
141
WAR OF EXTERMINATION.
1623.]
In July of the following year, three hundred men penetrated to the Indian villages, and burn- ed many of them ; but the inhabitants invariably fled as they approached, and secreted themselves in the woods. After a fruitless pursuit, pro- longed through several months, the English re- turned to their homes.
But the spirit of the people was thoroughly aroused. The gauntlet which had been thrown down by the Indians was now deliberately taken up, their property seized wherever it could be found, their plantations and villages sequestered, and, meeting guile with guile, even treachery was employed to bring their enemies into their hands.
In July, 1624, the general assembly ordered & foray similar to that which had taken place the year previous. This fierce but desultory war- fare was continued for the space of ten years. The Indians were everywhere routed from their old habitations, and compelled to retreat before the footsteps of their relentless pursuers, deeper and deeper into the recesses of the forest.
When the tidings of the massacre were received in England, it created a profound sensation. Many of the adventurers grew despondent at their great losses, and parted with their shares for whatever they would bring. Others, how- ever, were found ready to fill their places. A strong feeling of compassion for the struggling
142
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622.
and unfortunate colony took possession of the national mind. Several gentlemen went over with their own servants and food, designing to take up the bounty lands offered to actual settlers. Others purchased grants of the company in Lon- don, and obtained authorities and jurisdictions separate from the colonial government. The latter was an evil policy on the part of the com- pany, and one that subsequently led to disorders in the colony which threatened to involve it in the horrors of civil war.
The company despatched supplies and assist- ance. Even James affected a generosity he was incapable of feeling, and ordered from the Tower supplies of arms which he knew at the time to be utterly worthless. The city of London con- tributed to repair the losses of the Virginians. Smith, always ready to make a tender of his services wheresoever they might be useful, volun- teered to keep the savages in subjection with a force of one hundred soldiers and thirty seamen ; but from a want of funds on the part of the com- pany, his project was not entertained. The only ยท answer he could get was, that the charge would be too great, but that he could obtain permission to undertake it at his own cost, provided he would bestow upon the corporation one half of the pil- lage.
Taking advantage of the unfortunate condition in which the affairs of the company were now
143
INTRIGUES OF JAMES.
1622.]
1 placed, King James, who had long been desirous of exercising control over the colony, sought the present opportunity to annul the charter, by fo- menting dissensions among the adventurers.
The want of success which, had hitherto at- tended the exertions of the company had led to much dissatisfaction among many of those who had for a long time held shares of stock so ut- terly unproductive. The company at this time consisted of a thousand adventurers, of whom some two hundred usually attended the quarter courts, where the undaunted advocacy of the principles of liberty was peculiarly obnoxious to the king, and to those adventurers who, being opposed to the patriotic party, found themselves in the minority, and could only hope to acquire the power they coveted by assisting the king to recover that control over the colony which he had already conceded by charter.
Desirous of gaining his ends by secret rather than open means, James exerted all his influence with the malcontents. When the meeting for a new choice of officers took place in 1622, he again intimated his desire that the treasurer of the company should be selected from one of the candidates whose names he had sent in. The company indignantly rebuked all interference with their chartered rights. They re-elected the Earl of Southampton treasurer by a large ma- jority ; only eight votes out of seventy being
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1623.
cast in favour of the candidates nominated by the king.
Finding it impossible to control the company through the means of its members, James re- solved to annul the charter. He immediately sought a plausible pretext to do so without a too glaring violation of the laws of the realm. The malcontent members were easily prevailed upon to present two petitions to the king, setting forth the many evils which had befallen the colony, and attributing them to gross mismanagement on the part of the dominant members of the com- pany. These charges contained some truths, mixed up with many falsehoods. Although they had been prepared with great secrecy, the com- pany succeeded in obtaining copies, justified their course in the main by an able vindication, and supported their positions by testimony of a cha- racter too respectable to be controverted.
The king, being resolved to admit of no justifi cation, appointed a commissioner to investigate the concerns of the company from its earliest set- tlement. The records were seized. The deputy- treasurer was imprisoned, and even private letters from Virginia were intercepted and broken open.
The report of the commissioners, as might have been expected, was favourable to the views of the king. In October, 1623, by an order in council, he declared the misfortunes of Virginia to have arisen from the mismanagement of the company,
1623.]
UNJUST ACTS OF JAMES I. 145
and that he had resolved by a new charter to re- assume the appointment of a governor and as- sistants to reside in England; the power to negative similar appointments in Virginia, and the supreme control in colonial affairs. If the company resisted this change, its patent was to be annulled.
A proposition so entirely unexpected struck the company with amazement. Three several times the order in council was read, and no man uttered a word. At length the vote was taken, the result of which, by an overwhelming majority, was to stand by their charter.
They now craved a month's delay, in order that, by having a larger number of members pre- sent, they might be better able to come to a final decision. The privy council demanded a decisive answer should be sent in within three days. An extraordinary court was immediately summoned, and the resolution was carried, by a vote of sixty- three to seven, to defend the integrity of the patent.
This decision was probably expected. Four days afterward the king despatched five com- missioners to Virginia, to inquire into all mat- ters which concerned the interests of the colony, . and orders were at the same time sent to the governor and council to render the committee all possible assistance.
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146
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
[1624.
CHAPTER XII.
Arrival of commissioners in Virginia-Feeling of the colonists -Proceedings of the commissioners-Pory suborns the clerk of the council-Punishment of the latter-The presence of the commissioners disregarded-Acts passed by the assembly -Taxation asserted to be dependent on representation- Regulations adopted to guard against surprise by the Indians -Charter of the London Company cancelled-Death of James I .- Great influx of immigrants-No towns in Virginia -Yeardley appointed governor-Lord Baltimore arrives in Virginia-Religious intolerance of the colonists-Baltimore returns to England-Obtains a patent for the province of Maryland-Yeardley succeeded by Sir John Harvey-Va- riance of opinions concerning the latter-He is deposed and sent to England-Is returned-Second Virginia massacre- Opechancanough taken prisoner-His death.
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