University of Virginia Library

II.—THE COURT BOOK

It is therefore in the court book of the company and in its instructions, corre-
spondence, and other records suggested under the preceding classifications II and III,
that its activity and methods must be found. That court books were kept under
the administration of Sir Thomas Smythe is known from the receipt in the Ferrar
papers, already referred to. The first book extended from January 28, 1606, to
February 14, 1615, and with it were "other perticuler writings belonging to the
company." The second included the period between January 31, 1615, and July 28,
1619. What these books contained can only be surmised from the scope of the two
later volumes, dated April 28, 1619, to May 22, 1622, and May 20, 1622, to April
2, 1623, the contemporary copies of which are now extant and in the Library of
Congress, at Washington.[31] The contents of the "other perticuler writings," none
of which are now known to be extant, are suggested by a memorandum of Sir
Nathaniel Rich in a document among the Manchester papers. In attempting to
prove the good done during Sir Thomas Smythe's administration Rich cites certain
records as authority. The first one mentioned was a "booke of perticulers" con-
taining the "Public workes: done in Sr T. Smithes tyme", and showing "the
plenty of Armes &c left in Sr Th. Smithes tyme"; the second was a "p̱ticular
already deliuered to the Comrs." in which appeared the "Staple Com̃odityes raysed
in Sr T. Smithes tyme"; while the third formed a "collec̃ of the publiq̢ workes
made by Sr Sa. Argall wch he [comenset]" and was entitled "The p̱ticulars of
the Boates". Rich mentions two documents contained in this volume. He states

that pages "11, 12, 13, 14, 15, &c.," contain the "League of the Natiues," and
that on pages 51 to 59 was "Sir T. Dales ɫre." In his notes for discussion Rich also
refers to "The Courte Bookes," and further declares that "Wrott remembers 4
warrants" by which lotteries were erected under the hands of the "Counsell of
Virginia". In connection with the lottery he cites "th' Accompts" of Gabnell and
declares that "He kept Tables".[32] Thus the discovery by the Editor of these two
documents in these two similar collections belonging to the hostile factions has proved
that the company possessed record books; but a knowledge of their contents must be
gained from other sources.

To supply the loss of these documents of the company, both during the control
of the council and after that control had passed into the hands of the company by
virtue of the charter of 1612, there is a considerable mass of material, which affords
a fair outline of the transactions of the company and the life of the colony. But
much of this information is lacking in the completeness and authenticity which
would have been supplied by the court book and the other records. The greatest
loss is perhaps that of definite knowledge concerning the financial status of the
company. The sums adventured by individuals and corporations is preserved in
two alphabetical lists; but, so far as is known, only one of these lists is official, and
that includes the names of the particular adventure about the year 1610.[33] The other
is an unpublished list apparently both incomplete and unofficial, and was probably
made somewhat later than 1618 at the order of the court,[34] although the date 1618
has been assigned to it in the Manchester papers, where it is to be found.[35] From
the records of the various London companies and from records of English towns,
as also from adventures sealed to individuals by the Virginia Company, comes the
most authentic information concerning the large sums invested during this decade.
In a similar way the knowledge, otherwise to be found in the court book and "The
p̱ticulers of the Boates," concerning the ships dispatched and the sums expended for
the equipment of planters, individuals, and companies, is scattering and indefinite.
The broadsides issued are calls for adventurers, planters, and colonists, with the
requirements or statements concerning the lottery schemes; but they do not furnish
the wide information which is found in those of the later period. So far as revenue
is concerned, there was probably little except that which came from new adventurers

and the lotteries, but we have no way of knowing even that resource, while our
knowledge of the income from tobacco and commodities brought from Virginia is
derived from three or four scattering receipts only, found mostly among the papers
of the Earl of De La Warr and of Lord Sackville.[36]

Even our knowledge as to the economic condition of the colony is most
indefinite and comes only from printed pamphlets issued by the company. Judging
from the sources of information in the later period, this uncertainty is due to the
disappearance of the letters themselves, since, after 1619, the published relations of
individual planters, the declarations by the company, and even the records of the
court books are all more general in character than the letters which were sent from
the colony to the company. Furthermore, in the later period the daily acts of the
colonists and their needs, as reported from time to time by returning ships, afforded
the adventurers a body of information concerning the social condition of the colony
which in form and accuracy left little to be desired. After the time of Captain John
Smith not much was accurately known of the colony until the year 1617, when
Captain John Rolfe and Ralph Hamor supplied statistics as to the numbers, condi-
tion, settlements, and resources of the colony as it then was.

The individual enterprises of this decade in the life of the company are
altogether unknown, except from a few contracts for shipping found here and
there. Such movements must at least have been noted in the court book. Of the
first "hundred," established in 1618, nothing is recorded except the single report,
heretofore unknown,[37] of a meeting of the committee for Smythes Hundred. But
the greatest loss which we suffer through the disappearance of the court book is
that of material which should throw light on the aims, motives, and unsuccessful
efforts of the company and on the struggles and difficulties through which it passed.
For example, there is a single reference to an attempt to found a college, but no infor-
mation whatever on the subject. The factions which developed and which resulted
finally in the dissolution of the company evidently existed in this period, for a letter
from Chamberlain to Carleton, dated May 8, 1619,[38] in which he speaks of the failure
to reelect Sir Thomas Smythe as treasurer of the Virginia Company as having
been "somewhat bettered at a later meeting of the Summers Island Company by his
choice as treasurer of that company," proves that the change was due to factional
differences, although the extant court books open with the refusal of Sir Thomas
Smythe to continue as treasurer. Similarly, the choice of officers for the company,
the votes received by each candidate, the appointments to positions in the colony,

the petitions to the company and its action thereupon, and numerous other acts,
revealing the relations and attitude of the individual members, are all unknown.[39]