University of Virginia Library

Charter of 1606.

The royal aid as finally obtained for a colonial enterprise came in a somewhat
different form. The letters patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others for plantations
to be made in Virginia[11] show that the investment was made solely by individuals,
and that the joint stock was not public, although in the regulation of affairs in
the colony the body of undertakers was to have little influence, even as far as its
commercial interests in the plantation were concerned. The business management
was left to the joint stock companies, and the magazine was controlled by a treasurer
or cape merchant and by two clerks elected by the President and Council in the
Colony. In fact, the only activity of the adventurers, so far as it is revealed in
the extant documents, consisted in the choice in London of one or more groups of
agents, called "companies," to manage the goods sent out and received and to
look after the profits.[12] The undertakers were to have all lands with their resources

which lay within 50 miles of the plantation in any direction, together with the
islands within 100 miles of the coast, and were privileged to inhabit and fortify
the same according as the council for Virginia should direct. The right freely to
transport subjects was granted the investors, while they were permitted customs
free for seven years to export armor, provisions, and all necessities of life for the
colonists. They could impose upon any subjects of the Crown, who were not
adventurers, trafficking in those regions, a tax of 2½ per cent of the articles
concerned, and upon foreigners twice that amount, and thus maintain a control of
the trade for twenty-one years.

But the government of the colonies and of the territory of Virginia was
reserved to the Crown through the council of thirteen for Virginia, which was to be
appointed by the King and to reside in England. Instructions[13] were issued and
signed by the royal hand, which outlined the form of administering affairs in the
settlement and created a council of thirteen in the colony. They conferred upon it
the right to coin money and to pass ordinances which should be valid till altered by
the Crown, provided that they should be consonant with the laws of England. This
council in Virginia was to choose its own president for one year. It could remove
him or any member for just cause and fill the vacancies. All civil causes and all
lesser criminal cases were to be decided by the president and council, the former
having two votes in case of a tie. Cases of manslaughter and the more heinous
crimes were to be tried before a jury and were punishable with death. To the
president and council was reserved the right of pardon.

The council in England nominated to the Crown the persons to whom lands
were to be granted by the King. It had, in fact, the supervision of affairs,
appointed the first council in Virginia, issued orders for the conduct of the first
expedition under Captain Newport,[14] and provided a paper of advice[15] as to the
establishment of a fort and of a town.

It is in this latter document that the first indication of the real motive of
the undertaking is found. The orders laid down were to "make choice" of
the river "which bendeth most toward the North-West, for that way you shall
soonest find the other sea," while the choice of a healthy location, wise inter-
course with the natives, and the fortification and preparation of a single settle-
ment were emphasized. The chief objects, however, were to plant in a place

which should be fitted "to receive the trade of all the countries about," to dis-
cover minerals, and to find the passage to the western sea.

The loss of the records, both of the council and of the "companies" for trade,
covering this period, leaves, as the only source of information, both for affairs in
England and in Virginia, the narratives of the early settlers. Of these the most
important are the reports of Captain Newport, and the relations of John Smith, of
Edward Maria Wingfield, and of George Percy.[16] The council had dispatched three
expeditions, all under Captain Newport; one in December, 1606, in three ships
with 120 emigrants; another in October, 1607, with two vessels and about the same
number of passengers; and a third in August of 1608 with about 70 emigrants.

The reports of Newport, Percy, Wingfield, and Smith encouraged the managers
of the enterprise to continue their efforts, but proved that a change in object as well
as in policy would be necessary. From Newport came descriptions of the fruitful-
ness of the soil, of the quantities of fish and of timber, and of clay for making brick,
and enumerations of the possible exports, comprising sturgeon, clapboard, wainscot,
saxafrage, tobacco, dyes, furs, pitch, resin, turpentine, oils, wines, wood and soap
ashes, iron, copper, pearls; but the reports as to the mines were vague. He
declared that the country was rich in gold and copper, and took home with him earth
to be assayed, while Smith, in A True Relation, states that he had been left to dig a
rock which Captain Newport thought was a mine, but no mention of results is made.

The full description of the country by Newport and also by Captain John Smith
gave the council a clear idea of its geography, as is indicated by the instructions to
Sir Thomas Gates in 1609. But the expedition, which penetrated to a distance of 160
miles up the river, brought the explorers to hostile tribes and left the council still
uncertain, though hopeful of the discovery of a passage to the south sea. Further-
more, Captain Newport positively stated that there could be no commerce with the
Indians, and all evidence shows that the natives were to be a resource for the neces-
sities of life rather than for the exchange of lucrative objects of trade. Hence it is
that the broadside which was issued by the company in 1609,[17] as an incident of its

attempt to secure capital for the undertaking in its new form, emphasized the rich-
ness of the soil and the resources of the country—which in later years would yield
abundant return—the value of the settlement as a market for English cloths, and the
advantage to shipping and shipbuilding which would come from colonization.

But the effort to develop the resources of the country and to found a settlement
for such purposes rather than for exploration required larger investments and more
men. Then, too, the regulation of the affairs of the colony without any control
from the council in England meant continued jealousies and quarrels among such a
small number of colonists and under such unsettled conditions. According to
Wingfield the provisions for defense seem to have been insufficient, the magazine
was mismanaged, and the relations with the Indians were strained. To John Smith
must be attributed the wisdom of foreseeing the necessity of strong support from
England and of the establishment of permanent colonial settlements and the develop-
ment of the country for self-support.[18]