USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 29
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VIRGINIA UNDER THE SECOND CHARTER.
It was on the 23d day of May, 1609, that King James revoked the first charter of the London Company, and at the same time granted a new one by which the government was completely changed. The new patent included all the country lying between the mouth of the Cape Fear river on the south and that of the Hudson on the north, the Atlantic on the east and an undefined boundary on the west. The company was permitted to choose its own councilors, and they in turn were to select the governor. Lord Delaware was chosen to this high position for life. The British government now began to dream of a flourishing empire in the west, which should be tributary to the parent one then rapidly rising to the first place among the nations of Europe, and accordingly surrounded Delaware with stately officers whose high- sounding titles would indicate that they were the dignitaries of an opu- lent kingdom, instead of a half-starved colony on the distant shores of Virginia. Sir Thomas Gates was commissioned lieutenant-general; Sir George Somers, admiral; Christopher Newport, vice-admiral; Sir Thomas Dale, high marshal; Sir Fernando Wainman, master of cav- alry, and a long list of others constituted the royal establishment. But the long array of titled nobility was not without its effect upon the fut- ure of Virginia. Five hundred emigrants were speedily collected, and in June a fleet of nine vessels sailed for Jamestown. The gentlemen composing the new government sailed in the Sea Vulture, the largest vessel in the fleet. When nearing the capes of Virginia a fearful storm was encountered. One small vessel was lost, and the Sea Vulture was
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driven far to sea, and finally stranded upon the rocks of the Bahamas. and did not reach Jamestown till April of the next year. The other vessels outrode the storm and reached their destination. When the news of the appearance of so large a fleet in the bay was received, it was thought to be a part of the Spanish navy, the object of which was the conquest of the colony. Everything was put in a state of defense against the supposed enemy. Smith had, in the meantime, by his kind- ness, won the good will of the Indians, and hundreds of them now responded to his call, and joined in defense against the supposed inva- sion. Fear was, however, soon changed to rejoicing; the supposed enemy proved to be friends. The emigrants having landed, elected Captain Francis West (the brother of Lord Delaware), temporary president, the council being all dead save Smith; but he obtaining the sympathy of the sailors, refused to surrender the goverment of the colony. For the sake of health, to avoid dissension between the old and newly arrived colonists, and for trading with the Indians, Smith decided to establish two new settlements, and accordingly selected a company of the best men, placed them under command of Francis West, and sent them to the falls of the James, there to erect cabins and establish a permanent settlement. He then placed another company under Martin and dis- patched them to a place called Nansemond, with the same object in view. Martin exhibited his imbecility by making an attack upon the natives in his immediate vicinity, and then by his cowardice and care- lessness permitted then to return, attack his position and kill and wound a number of his men. He then sent to Jamestown for reinforce- ments, and when they arrived, set a limit to his own management by leaving his men to their fate and going to Jamestown, where he remained cowering under Smith's denunciations of his perfidy and cowardice. The president not hearing of his colony at the falls, determined to pay it a visit ; and upon his arrival found that West had selected, as the site of the projected town, a location subject to inundation and many other disadvantages. He offered to purchase from Powhatan the site upon which the city of Richmond now stands, but the restless advent- urers, dreaming of rich gold fields further up the river, refused the offer, despising alike the president's kindness and authority. But Smith was born to rule. With five of his own men he rushed boldly into the midst of the mutineers, and arrested the ringleaders of the opposition, but a hun- dred infuriated men gathered around him and compelled him to release the prisoners. He escaped to the supply-ship which lay at the foot of the falls, and being supported by the sailors, he here spent nine days in making every effort to conciliate the turbulent spirits who were in a frenzy of excitement over the " guilded hopes of the South Sea mines," but all in vain. Discouraged and well-nigh exhausted, Smith set ont on his return to Jamestown, but no sooner had he departed than the Indians attacked those left behind. Those of the terrified wretches who
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escaped fled to Smith, whose boat had grounded on an island above Jamestown. Here the disturbers were again arrested. The president returned to the falls, satisfied the demands of the savages, and left all again under the care of West, who listened to the deceitful statements of the prisoners and released them. Thus Smith again saw his authority set at defiance, and for the last time left the falls of the James. His work was nearly completed. On the journey down the river his powder flask exploded while he was sleeping and tore the flesh from his body in a frightful manner. Crazed with pain, he threw himself into the river to cool the burning sensation, and was nearly drowned before his com- panions could rescue him. Nearly one hundred miles lay between him and the only surgeon, Dr. Russell, in Virginia, and to him he must go before his wounds could be dressed. In this pitiable condition he arrived at Jamestown, where Ratcliffe and Archer were then on trial on a charge of treason, and, fearing his evidence, they hired an assassin to murder him; but when the fiend saw the pitiable condition of his in- tended victim, his heart failed him and he was unable to fire the fatal shot. The term of Smith having expired, Captain George Percy, a younger brother of the Earl of Northumberland, was elected president, and Smith, in September, 1609, sailed for England, never to return again to the scenes of his toils and sufferings. An eventful life was rapidly drawing to its close. "The Father of Virginia," the benefactor of his country and his race, he who had faithfully discharged every duty imposed upon him, was yet to feel the sting of base ingratitude. Those whose interests he had best served were the first to condemn his actions. Like Columbus, Boone, Robert Harris, and a host of others whose lives were to be known, their labors appreciated, and names hon- ored by succeeding generations, his name has become the most celebrated that appears in the carly history of America. Truly has it been said that great men are never known by the generation in which they live.
THE STARVING TIME.
At the time Smith left Jamestown, there were four hundred and ninety-three persons in the colony, all well sheltered and supplied; but the master spirit was gone, and soon anarchy ruled supreme. Such was the inactivity, profligaey, recklessness and insubordination, that by the approach of early winter they were confronted with starvation. In addition, the Indians determined upon the utter extinction of the col- ony, and hung upon the outskirts of the settlements, burning houses and murdering all who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Then a pestilence broke out, and the fatality was so great that by the return of the spring of 1610, there remained but sixty persons alive in
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the colony, and they must have perished had not assistance reached them. But just as the last ray of hope was yielding to despair, Sir Thomas Gates and his crew, who had been wrecked in the West Indies, arrived at Jamestown ; but what must have been their feelings, when, instead of finding the colony in a happy and prosperous condition, they met only a few famished wretches begging for bread! Gates supplied their wants from his store-ship and assumed the government.
JAMESTOWN ABANDONED.
The few survivors had, however, resolved to abandon Jamestown at the first opportunity, and thus forever bid adieu to a place which prom- ised nothing but death. In vain did the governor remonstrate. Four pinnaces lay at anchor in the river. It was the intention to sail for Newfoundland, and there the remnant of the Virginia colony should remain among the fishermen until some vessel would carry them to England. Thus, the efforts of the London Company, as had those of Raleigh and Gosnold before, ended in failure. The colonists crowded on board the pinnaces, and on the 8th of June dropped down the river. But Lord Delaware was already within the bay, and ere the disheartened colonists had reached the mouth of the James, his ships hove in sight, bearing new emigrants, plentiful supplies, and a governor who gave a promise of better things. The hitherto discouraged but now rejoicing colonists were taken on board and all returned to the deserted village, where, before nightfall, all was happiness and contentment.
Lord Delaware's administration was characterized by justice and mild- ness; he endeared himself to the colonists and inspired them with hope, but he did not long remain; in the early autumn his health failed, and he delegated his authority to Percy-the same who had relieved Smith- and sailed for England.
Sir Thomas Dale was already under sail to Virginia bearing a gov- ernor's commission, and upon his arrival he assumed the government and made martial law the basis of his administration. He was a soldier by profession, and had served with distinction in the Danish wars. James- town needed a strong government, and there was, therefore, very little complaint against his military rule. During his administration the pop- ulation was augmented by the arrival of three hundred emigrants from England.
The last act of Governor Dale marks an era in the history of Vir- ginia. This was nothing less than a division of property. Ever since the founding of the colony, all property had been held in common, after the manner of the primitive eastern nations; the colonists had worked together and the products of the harvest had been deposited in one com- mon store-house, where all was under the control of the council. Gov-
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ernor Dale changed all this, and caused the lands to be laid out into lots of three acres each, one of which was to be given to each of the colo- nists-to hold forever-upon which he might plant orchards and culti- vate grain with the understanding that no one had the right to gather but himself. Thus the right of property in land was, for the first time, recognized in the New World. The colonists saw the advantage of indi- vidual labor, and the good results were soon apparent in the general improvement of the colony.
Dale now surrendered the government to Sir Thomas Gates, and by his (Gates') permission selected three hundred men and began a settle- ment on a narrow neck of land, nearly surrounded by water, which he called Henrico in honor of Prince Henry. Other settlements were made on both sides of the river at considerable distances from the parent town, and the foundation of the first American State was thus securely laid.
VIRGINIA UNDER THE THIRD CHARTER.
It was now the year 1612, and King James, who made " change" the rule of his reign, granted a third charter to the company, under which many important changes were made. By it the privileges and immu- nities were greatly increased; their jurisdiction was extended over all the territory within a radius of three hundred miles from Jamestown ; they were permitted to elect their own officers, to decide all ques- tions of law and right-in fact, to govern the colony on their own re- sponsibility. This was the germ from which sprang democratic govern- ment in America.
MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS.
In the year 1613, Captain Samuel Argall, then cruising in the Ches- apeake, made a voyage up the Potomac, when he learned of the presence of Pocahontas, whom he succeeded in enticing on his boat and then carried her to Jamestown. The authorities detained her with expec- tation that her father, Powhatan, would pay a ransom for her, but the old chief became highly enraged and at onee prepared for war; but be- fore hostilities began a Mr. John Rolfe, a highly respected young planter, struck by her beauty and fascinated by her manners, wooed and won her affections and the promise of her hand.
Powhatan gave his consent to the union, and sent her uncle and two brothers to witness the ceremony, which was celebrated with great pomp, according to the rites of the English Church. In 1616 she accompanied her husband to England, but was very unhappy. Captain Smith, who was then in London, called to see her, but appeared to be somewhat
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reserved in his manner. This added to her burden of grief, and she wept like a child. Smith inquired the cause of her grief. "Did I not save thy life in America?" said she. "Didst thou not promise that if I went into thy country thou wouldst be my father, and I shouldst be thy daughter? Thou hast deceived me; behold her now a stranger and an orphan." Pocahontas was warmly received. Lady Delaware introduced her to Queen Anne, and many families of distinction paid every attention to the modest daughter of this western wilderness; but nothing could be done to dispel the gloom which surrounded her, and in a short time she fell a victim to the dread disease, the small-pox, and died just as she was about to re-embark for America.
One son, the issue of this union, became a man of prominence in the affairs of the colony, and to him many of the first families of Virginia, among whom were the Randolphs and the Bollings, trace their an- cestry.
Early in the year 1616, Gates and Dale both sailed for England. and left the government in the hands of Sir Thomas Yeardley, whose administration was similar to those of his predecessors-Dale and Gates. The colony increased in numbers, the social condition improved; obedi- ence on the part of the colonists and respect on the part of the savages brought about a feeling of security and confidence hitherto unknown in the history of the colony.
In 1617, Yeardley was succeeded by Captain Argall, who proved himself to be the most tyrannical governor that had yet swayed the scepter over Virginia. He was a sailor by profession, and accustomed to the rigid discipline of the seas, where he had long held despotic sway over the decks of his own vessel. Naturally tyrannical, cruel and covetous, he was entirely unfit to administer the government as it then existed in Virginia, and, as might have been expected, his administration became a synonym for fraud, corruption and violence. When the news of his high-handed oppression reached England, the London Company requested Delaware to return to Virginia and again assume the govern- ment. He yielded to their importunities and sailed for Virginia, but died on the way. Argall continued his oppressive sway until 1619, when he was superseded by Sir George Yeardley, who, through the influence of Sir Edwyn Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, was appointed to fill his place.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.
With Sir George Yeardley governor, and important changes in the London Company, the colonists expected a period of prosperity, and their expectations were fully realized. Martial law was abolished; the
FRENCH-TOLEDO.
RUINS OF JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA,
The first town founded in America, and first capital of Virginia-destroyed by its own inhabitants in 1676, during "Bacon's Rebellion," to prevent Lord Berkeley's taking shelter there-never rebuilt.
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governor, in accordance with instructions from the company, divided the plantations along the James river into eleven districts, called boroughs. and issued a proclamation commanding the citizens to ELECT TWO REPRE- SENTATIVES from each borough to take part in the government: the election was held in the latter part of June, and the first House of Representatives in the New World convened at Jamestown on the 30th of July, 1619.
This body was called the House of Burgesses, and by it were "de- bated all matters thought expedient for the good of the colony." A number of acts were passed which were pronounced by the company to be "well and judiciously carried," but unfortunately we have no record of them.
In this eventful year, Sir Edwyn Sandys recognized the fact that the stability of the colony could only be secured by the establishment of family ties. Up to this time very few of the colonists had come to Vir- ginia with the intention of finding a permanent home; by far the greater number were adventurers who left England with the determination to sometime return-either after they had accumulated a fortune, or grati- fied a desire for adventure. The endearments of home and friends are the ties that bind men to a settled habitation, and now, if these could be found on this side of the Atlantic, then would these adventurers relinquish the fond hope of returning to seek them in the mother coun- try, and the permanency of the colony would be assured. To achieve this end was the determination of Sir Edwyn, and during this year he sent over twelve hundred and sixty emigrants, among whom were ninety "agreeable young women, poor but respectable and incorrupt," who were designed as wives for the colonists. Shortly after, another con- signment was made of "sixty young maids of virtuous education, young, handsome, and well recommended." Such is the compliment paid by the historian to the first mothers of Virginia. It has been said that they were sold to the planters at prices ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. Such was not the case. They were transported at the expense of the company, and when they were chosen as wives by the planters the fare for transportation was charged and paid by the husbands. Thus domestic relations were established ; then came habits of thrift, an increase of comforts, and consequent hap- piness. Within the next two years fifty patents for land were granted and 3,500 emigrants found homes in Virginia.
INTRODUCTION OF AFRICAN SLAVERY.
It was the policy of King James to increase the population of the colony as rapidly as possible, and with that end in view, despite the protests of the London Company, he sent over one hundred "idle and
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dissolute" persons who were in custody for various misdemeanors, and were only transported to escape a worse fate at home. They were sold out as servants to the planters, who endured their presence only because of the profits derived from their labor, and the increased assistance thus secured in carrying into effect the various industrial enterprises then projected by the colonists.
This beginning created a desire on the part of the planters to employ other labor than their own, and unfortunately the opportunity to gratify that desire came only too soon. It was in the month of August, 1619, that an event occurred which was destined to stamp its impress upon the pages of American history; an event so far-reaching in its effects that no prophetic eye could foretell what they were to be. No one thought that an institution was then taking root which in the distant future would involve the American States in civil war and almost wreck society itself. This event was none other than the introduction of African slavery. A Dutch vessel sailed up the James river and sold twenty Africans as slaves to the colonists. The world knows the result.
A LIBERAL CONSTITUTION.
Another change was now to take place. A new constitution was pre- pared for Virginia, and Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed to supersede Yeardley in the government. The new code was modeled after the English constitution, and was a long step toward representative govern- ment. It acknowledged the right of petition, and of trial by jury ; but the most remarkable provision was that which bestowed the power upon the House of Burgesses to veto any objectionable acts of the company.
THE INDIANS ATTEMPT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COLONY.
Three years of prosperity had spread the settlements far and wide; they extended for a hundred and forty miles along the banks of the James and far into the interior; several had also been made on the Potomac, so that by the year 1622, there were no less than eighty fami- lies dotting the country around the Chesapeake. The only cause for anxiety was the fear of Indian hostilities, and well indeed might this anxiety exist, for there was now a plot being laid which if it had been carried out in detail would not have left an Englishman alive in Vir- ginia. The friends of the colonists were gone. Pocahontas had died in a foreign land, and Powhatan had also passed away-beloved and honored by all who knew him. His brother, the enning, treacherous and re- vengeful Opechancanough, had succeeded him. He had long looked with a jealous eye upon the eneroachment of the English, and saw in
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their occupation of the country the fate of his own race; and, now that he was vested with the power which his honored brother had withheld from him, he determined to annihilate the colony at one fell blow. To meet the colonists in the open field only insured his own defeat, owing to the disparity in arms; and the fact that the number of fighting men were now nearly equal would have resulted in just what he wished to avoid-the destruction of his own people. His only hope of success lay in some great stroke which should destroy the power of the colony at once; his cruelty and revenge dictated a general massacre. In order to avoid suspicion he renewed the treaty of peace with Governor Wyatt, and only two days before the blow was to be struck he declared that the sky would fall before he should violate the terms of the treaty. The friendly relations were continued up to the fatal day, even to the very hour. They borrowed boats from the English, brought in venison and other provisions for sale, and even sat down to breakfast with their un- suspecting victims. The fatal hour arrived. It was twelve o'clock, noon, on the 22d day of March, 1622. when every hamlet in Virginia was attacked by a band of velling savages, who spared neither age, sex nor condition. The bloody work went on until three hundred and forty- seven men, women and children had fallen victims at the bloody and barbarous hands of that perfidious and inhuman people. Had not a converted Indian, who lived with a Mr. Pace, revealed the plot, and thus put the people of Jamestown and immediate settlements on their guard, and therefore in a state of defense, every settlement would have been laid in ruins and the inhabitants put to the tomahawk. But the plot failed. There were yet sixteen hundred fighting men in the colony, and the Indians were made to pay dearly for their perfidy. The English pushed into the wilderness, burning wigwams, killing every Indian that fell into their hands and destroying crops, until every tribe was driven far into the interior. Confidence was once more restored, and a feeling of security brought a return of prosperity; emigration again revived, and at the end of the year the population numbered 2,500.
DISSOLUTION OF THE LONDON COMPANY.
Differences between the king and Parliament had produced two power- ful political parties in England-the Royalists, supporting the king, and Patriots, defending Parliament. To the latter belonged the greater number of the London Company, and, as a political measure, the king determined to dissolve the company by declaring its charter null and void. It was true that the operations of the company, in a financial . point of view, had been a failure. In eighteen years they had expended a half million dollars, and had sent 9,000 emigrants to Virginia, only
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2,500 of whom were now in the colony. The annual exports did not exceed 20,000 pounds.
We have not space to follow in detail the proceedings, legal and otherwise, of the crafty James. He sent John Harvey, John Pory, Abraham Piersey, Sammel Mathews and John Jefferson, commissioners to "make more diligent inquiry touching divers matters, which con- cerned the State of Virginia." The commission arrived in Virginia early in the year 1624, and after remaining a short time returned and reported the company in a state of bankruptcy, and the government of the colony in a very bad state, with no prospect of an improvement un- der the present management. James caused a quo warranto to be issued against the company, and the cause was tried at the Trinity term of King's Bench, for the year 1624. The judges were dependent upon the king for their places, and it was not difficult to determine the result of a trial in the result of which James had such a deep interest. Chief Justice Ley rendered the decision against the corporation, and the Lon- don Company ceased to exist. But their mission was filled; the foun- dation of the Old Dominion was securely laid, and it only remained for others to rear the structure.
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