Historical collections of Virginia containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c., relating to its history and antiquities, together with geographical and statistical descriptions : to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia : illustrated by over 100 engravings, giving views of the principal towns, seats of eminent men, public buildings, relics of antiquity, historic localities, natural scenery, etc., etc. |
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| III. | CHAPTER III. |
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 | CHAPTER III. Historical collections of Virginia |  |
CHAPTER III.
PROGRESS OF THE COLONY—MASSACRE OF 1622—DISSOLUTION OF THE
LONDON COMPANY.
State of the colony at Smith's departure—its conduct and consequent sufferings.—Arrival
of Gates—of Lord De La Ware—his departure.—Arrival of Dale.—Martial Law.
—Gates Governor.—Grants of land to individuals,—New charter.—Marriage of
Pocahontas.—Friendly relations with the Indians.—Cultivation of Tobacco.—Tenure
of lands.—Tyranny of Argall.—Propriety of Reform in the government.—Yeardley
Governor.—First colonial assembly in 1619.—Introduction of women.—Introduction
of negroes by the Dutch in 1620.—Constitution brought over by Sir Francis Wyatt.
—Relations with the Indians.—Massacre of the 22d of March, 1622—its consequences.—Struggles
between the king and the company.—Commissioners sent to Virginia.—Firmness
of the Virginians.—Dissolution of the company.
When Smith left the colony, it contained four hundred and
ninety odd persons. The harvest was newly gathered, and there
a good state of subjection, and readily yielded at a reasonable price
whatever they could spare. All things were in such a condition
that prudent management might have ensured the most brilliant
success, but the wildest confusion and anarchy prevailed. The
new president was so ill that he could not attend to business, and
twenty others endeavored to hold the reins of government. When
the savages found that Smith was gone, they speedily attacked and
broke up the establishments at Powhatan and Nansemond, driving
in the remnant of the men their butcheries left, to subsist upon the
rapidly wasting provisions of Jamestown. Ratcliffe with a vessel
and thirty men attempting to trade with Powhatan, was by his
carelessness cut off, and he himself with all his company perished
except two, who were saved by the humanity of Pocahontas.
West with a crew of thirty escaped in a ship to become pirates.[53]
The miserable company, now left without control or authority, and
composed with a few exceptions of "gentlemen, tradesmen, serving-men,
libertines, and such-like, ten times more fit to spoil a commonwealth,
than either begin one, or but help to maintain one,"
now gave free rein to all their evil dispositions. Each one sought
only to gratify his passions or preserve his own life, without regard
to the wants or sufferings of the rest. There was no union, no
concert, no harmony. Vice stalked abroad in her naked deformity,
and her handmaids, misery and famine, followed in her train. The
savages attacked and slew the whites upon every occasion, and
forming a systematic plan to starve the remainder, they would
supply no further provisions; after they had bought every disposable
article at the fort, even to most of their arms, at such a price
as they chose to exact. The corn was speedily consumed; next
followed the domestic animals, poultry, hogs, goats, sheep, and
finally the horses; all were consumed, even to their skins. The
only resource was in roots, acorns, berries, and such other unwholesome
stuff as could be found; nay, so pinching was the hunger,
that savages who had been slain and buried were disinterred to
be consumed, and even some of the whites who had perished were
used to preserve life by the rest. Of nearly five hundred that
Smith left, in six months only sixty emaciated beings remained
alive; and these were without the possibility of support for longer
than ten days.
When Gates and Sumner were shipwrecked on the Bermuda rocks, their good management
saved the life of every individual, and a large proportion of their provision and
stores. On this island, although uninhabited, nature was so bountiful, and presented
spontaneously such a rich variety of productions suitable to the sustenance of man, that
three hundred and fifty men lived in ease and abundance for nearly ten months. The
disagreeable idea of remaining thus upon an island, cut off from all intercourse with the
rest of the world, stimulated them to the exertion necessary to build two barks, with
such rude instruments as they possessed, from the wreck of their old ship and the cedars
of the island. In these they embarked for Virginia, expecting to find, in the comforts
then, was their astonishment, when they reached Jamestown, (after a more
prosperous voyage than they could have expected in their crazy vessels,) to
meet, instead of the warm and joyful welcome of their countrymen, in the full fruition
of health and plenty, only the greedy cravings of a few miserable wretches, begging for
a sufficiency of food to preserve their existence. Not anticipating this melancholy situation,
they had only provided themselves with enough provision for their voyage, and
were unable to relieve the necessities of their fellow-creatures, whose sufferings it was
so painful to witness. It was impossible, in this situation, to remain longer in the colony.
All were embarked on board the vessels, Jamestown was abandoned, and it was with
difficulty that its departing citizens could be prevented from setting fire to the habitations
in which they had suffered so much misery. All the provisions which could be raised
did not amount to more than would support them for 16 days, at the most limited allowance;
yet with this they set out with the hope to reach Newfoundland, where they
expected to be relieved by the British fishing-vessels.
But although it had been the will of Heaven to permit the colonists
to receive an awful chastisement for their misconduct, yet it
was not decreed by the Ruler of all human affairs that the colony
should be entirely abandoned, and so much labor and suffering be
useless to mankind, or so fine a country left in its original wild
and unimproved condition. Before Gates and his associates had
reached the mouth of James River, they were met by Lord De La
Ware, with three ships, having on board a number of new settlers,
an ample stock of provisions, and every thing requisite for defence
or cultivation. By persuasion and authority he prevailed upon
them to return to Jamestown, where they found
situation in which they had been left. A society with so bad a
constitution, and such a weak and disordered frame, required skilful
and tender nursing to restore it to vigor. Lord De La Ware was
fully competent to his station. He held a long consultation to
ascertain the cause of the previous difficulties, and concluded,
after listening to their mutual accusations, by a speech full of
wholesome advice, recommending the course they should pursue,
and assuring them that he should not hesitate to exercise his lawful
authority in punishing the insubordinate, dissolute, and idle.
By unwearied assiduity, by the respect due to an amiable and
beneficent character, by knowing how to mingle severity with
indulgence, and when to assume the dignity of his office, as well
as when to display the gentleness natural to his own temper, he
gradually reconciled men corrupted by anarchy to subordination
and discipline, he turned the attention of the idle and profligate to
industry, and taught the Indians again to reverence and dread the
English name. Under such an administration, the colony began
once more to assume a promising appearance,
when, unhappily for it, a complication of diseases
brought on by the climate obliged Lord De La Ware to quit the
country, the government of which he committed to Mr. Percy.
The colony at this time consisted of about two hundred men; but
the departure of the governor was a disastrous event, which produced
not only a despondency at Jamestown, but chilled the zealous
warmth of the London company, and caused a decided reaction
manner in which popular feeling delights to display itself—by
exhibiting the Virginia colony as a subject of derision upon the
stage.
Before the departure of Lord De La Ware, the company in
England had dispatched Sir Thomas Dale with supplies; and it
was well he arrived so soon, for the company were al-
improvidence, and had neglected to plant corn, which he caused
to be done immediately. The company having found all their
previous systems of government inefficient, granted to Sir Thomas
Dale more absolute authority than had been granted to any of his
predecessors,—impowering him to rule by martial law, a short
code of which, founded on the practice of the armies in the Low
Countries, (the most rigid school at that time in Europe,) they sent
out with him. This system of violent and arbitrary government
was recommended by Sir Francis Bacon, the most enlightened philosopher,
and one of the most eminent lawyers of his age. It
proves the depth of his sagacity; for it would have been absurd
to apply the refined speculative theories of civil government to a
set of mutinous, undisciplined, idle, ignorant creatures, shut up in
a fort, surrounded by hostile nations, and dependent upon their own
exertions for support. Surely, in such a case a strong government
was as necessary as in a ship at sea, and more so than in ordinary
military stations, where habitual discipline preserves order and
ensures respect to the officers.
The governor who was now intrusted with this great but necessary
power, exercised it with prudence and moderation. By the
vigor which the summary mode of military punishment gave to
his administration, he introduced into the colony more perfect order
than had ever been established there; and at the same time he
tempered its vigor with so much discretion, that no alarm seems
to have been given by this innovation.
In May, Sir Thomas Dale wrote to England full information of
the weakness of the colony, but recommending in strong terms
the importance of the place. His favorable representations were
fully confirmed by Lord De La Ware and Sir Thomas Gates. The
hopes of the company were resuscitated, and in August, Gates
arrived at Jamestown with six ships and three hundred emigrants.
The colony, which now consisted of seven hundred men, was surrendered
into the hands of Gates; and Dale, by his permission,
made a settlement with three hundred and fifty chosen men upon
a neck nearly surrounded by the river, which, in honor of Prince
Henry, he called Henrico.
One of the greatest checks to industry which had hitherto existed in the colony was
the community of property in the provisions and stores. The idle and dissipated, seeing
that they were to have a full share, had no stimulus to exertion, and the industrious
were disheartened by seeing the larger portion of the fruits of their industry consumed
by the idle members of the little society. So discouraging was this state of things to
exertion, that frequently, in the best times, the labor of thirty did not accomplish more
the remedy. He distributed a certain portion of land to each individual to be worked
for his own benefit, still paying, however, a small portion of his produce to the general
store to provide against contingencies. This policy was found so advantageous that
every encouragement was afforded to individual enterprise in the acquisition of wealth.
But little respect was paid to the rights of the Indians; for some depredation or injury
from the tribe of Apamatuck, they were dispossessed of their corn and their cabins,
which, "considering the position commodious," were unceremoniously appropriated by
the English to their own benefit.
The colony now having extended considerably, assumed a more regular form, by pursuing
a more consistent system of policy; and beginning to promise
and enlarged all the privileges and immunities which had been previously granted,
extended the time of exemption from duties, and enlarged their territory and jurisdiction
to all islands and seats within three hundred miles of the coast. This included the
newly discovered, fertile Bermudas, which were soon after sold by the company to one
hundred and twenty of its members.
This new charter made some changes in the constitution of the company, by giving
more power to the company itself and less to the council; it also conferred the power
of raising money by lottery for the benefit of the colony, which was the first introduction
of this pernicious system of taxation into England, and which was
had raised nearly thirty thousand pounds by the privilege.
As the new system of policy had increased the independence and preserved the numbers
of the colony, so had it increased its strength and the respect of the savages. One
powerful tribe now voluntarily sought British protection, and became British subjects;
another was brought to a close and friendly alliance by a tenderer tie than fear could
afford.
Captain Argall, in a voyage to the Potomac for the purpose of
purchasing corn, fell in with an old chief named Iapazaws, to
whom Powhatan had intrusted Pocahontas, which he disclosed to
Argall, and offered to sell her to him for a copper kettle. The
bargain was made, and Pocahontas being enticed on board by the
cunning of her guardian, was carried off without once suspecting
the treachery of the old hypocrite. The authorities at Jamestown
availed themselves of the possession of this lucky prize to endeavor
to extort from Powhatan a high ransom; but the old emperor,
though he really loved his daughter, seemed to be so highly affronted
at the indignity offered him, that he preferred fighting
those who had robbed him of his daughter to purchasing her freedom.
But while this matter was in agitation, a treaty of a different
character was going forward between the young princess herself
and Mr. Rolfe, a highly respectable young gentleman of
Jamestown, who, struck by her beauty, and fascinated by her manners,
so far superior to the rest of her race, wooed and won her
affections, and obtained a promise of her hand. The news of this
amicable adjustment of all difficulties soon reached the ears of
Powhatan, and met with his cordial approbation. He sent the
uncle and two brothers of Pocahontas to witness the nuptial ceremonies
at Jamestown, which were solemnized with great pomp,
according to the rites of the English church. From this marriage
several of the most highly respected families in Virginia trace
their descent. Happy would it have been for both races, if this
amalgamation had been promoted by other instances, but this is
the only case upon record. This marriage secured the permanent
Chickahominies, his next neighbors, when they heard of it, sent
deputies, and submitted by solemn treaty to become subjects to
King James, and to submit to his governor in the colony,—to pay
tribute,—and furnish men to fight against whatever enemies should
attack the colony; only stipulating that at home they should continue
to be governed by their own laws.
We have already mentioned a partial distribution of lands by
Sir Thomas Dale, for the purpose of encouraging individual industry;
it may be well to explain more in detail the tenure by which
lands were held by individuals. At the favored Bermudas plantation,
near the mouth of the Appomattox, either on account of
the greater merit, longer service, or some favorable circumstances
attending the expense of the emigration of the tenants, the lands
were held by a rent of two and a half barrels of corn annually to
the general stock, and one month's service, which was not to be
in time of sowing or of harvest. Those who had been brought
over at the expense of the company, had three acres of land allotted
them, and two bushels of corn from the public store, and with
this scanty allowance were required to support themselves by one
month's labor; the other eleven being required by the company.
This species of laborers had decreased in 1617 to fifty-four, including
all classes; and these were finally released entirely from their
vassalage by Sir George Yeardley, in 1617. The original bounty
to emigrants coming at their own expense, or that of others than
the company, had been one hundred acres of land; but after the
colony became better settled, it was reduced to fifty the actual
occupancy of which gave a right to as many more. The payment
of twelve pounds and ten shillings to the treasurer of the company,
entitled the adventurer to a grant of one hundred acres, the occupancy
of which also secured a right to as many more.[60]
The labor of the colony, which had been for a long time misdirected in the manufacture
of ashes, soap, glass, and tar, in which they could by no means compete with
Sweden and Russia, and also in planting vines which require infinite labor and attention,
and for which subsequent experiments have indicated the climate to be unfit, was
at length directed, by the extended use of tobacco in England,[61]
almost exclusively to
the cultivation of that article. This commodity always finding a ready price, and affairs
being now so regulated that each one could enjoy the fruits of his labor,
much from raising corn, so that it became scarce, and supplies had again to be looked
for from England, or purchased of the Indians. The fields, gardens, public squares, and
of universal desire, it became, to a great extent, the circulating medium of the colony.
Not only private debts, but salaries and officers' fees were paid in tobacco; and
the statute-book to this day rarely mentions the payment of money, that it does not add,
as an equivalent, "or tobacco."
Early in the year 1614, Sir Thomas Gates had returned to England,
leaving the colony, which then consisted of about four hundred
men, under the command of Sir Thomas Dale, who in his
turn desiring to visit England and his family, left the colony in
1616, under the protection and control of Sir Thomas Yeardley.
With Dale, Mr. Rolfe and his interesting bride, Pocahontas,
sailed. By a communication from Smith, her amiable and valuable
conduct was made known at court, and every attention was
shown her, both by the queen and many of the nobility. This excellent
princess, whose deportment was so far superior to that
which the condition of her race would authorize one to expect,
that it won for her universal admiration and esteem, was destined
never more to behold her father or her native land. She died at
Gravesend, where she was preparing to embark with her husband
and child for Virginia. Peace to her gentle spirit! Her memory
will not perish while the commonwealth of Virginia endures, or
noble and generous actions are valued by her sons.
Yeardley's administration was similar to that of his predecessors,
enforcing obedience from his own men, and the respect of the
savages. He was succeeded, in 1617, by Captain Argall, who was
a rough seaman, accustomed to the despotic sway of his own ship,
naturally tyrannical in his disposition, cruel and covetous, in short,
a person utterly unfit to be trusted with the administration of the
arbitrary government which then existed in Virginia. For although
we have considered such a government the only practicable
one which could have been then established, yet it required the
utmost firmness in the governor, tempered by mildness, prudence,
and discretion, to make it tolerable. Such had been the case under
the administration of Gates, Dale, and Yeardley, and under them
the colony had prospered more than it had ever done before; but
such was not the disposition of this new governor. Instead of
holding the severity of the laws in terrorem over them, and not
actually resorting to the extent of his power, except in cases of
extreme necessity, he sought to bring innocent actions within the
letter of the law, which indeed was not very difficult with the
bloody military code which then existed. These arbitrary exertions
of power were principally used in the gratification of his
inordinate rapacity, which, in its indiscriminate grasp, sought not
only to clutch the property of the colonists, but also trespassed
upon the profits of the company. Not satisfied with perverting
the labor of the free colonists to his own use or pleasures, he consumed
the time of the servants of the company upon his own
plantations. At length his conduct was so flagitious, in the case
of one Brewster, who was left by Lord Delaware to manage his
![illustration](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:427029/full/!1600,1600/0/default.jpg")
POCAHONTAS.
The above is copied from an engraving said to be an exact copy of an original drawing
of the "Lady Rebecca," or Pocahontas, as she is usually called. It shows her
in the fashionable English dress of the time in which she lived. The following is inscribed
around and underneath the original portrait.
"Matoaka als Rebecca Filia Potentiss Princ: Powhatani Imp: Virginiæ."
"Matoaks als Rebecka, daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan Emperour of Attanoughkomouck
als Virginia, converted and baptized in the Christian faith, and wife to the
worff Mr. Joh Rolff." "Ætatis suæ 21 A. D. 1616."
it, that neither the colony nor company could bear his tyranny
longer, but he was deposed and Sir George Yeardley sent in his
place. Yet he contrived to escape punishment, by the mismanagement
of some and the connivance of others, and preserved all
of his ill-gotten booty.
One of the first acts of Yeardley was to emancipate the remaining servants of the
colony. The labor now being free, each man enjoying the fruits of his own industry,
and anxious to increase his store, there was no fear of scarcity, and no time or
the increasing strength and independence[64] of the colony, all fear of the savages had
vanished. It is manifest that in these altered circumstances, a modification of the despotic
government ought to have been made, because its severity was no longer necessary,
and while the power existed it might be abused, as the colony seriously experienced
in the case of Argall. The only use of government is to ensure the safety of the
state from external foes, to secure justice and the free disposition of person and property
to each individual, and sometimes to aid in the prosecution of such objects of general
utility as individual enterprise cannot accomplish. The moment the colonists began to
take an interest in the country, by the enjoyment of their own labor, and the possession
of property, it was right that they should have some share in that government, in the
prudent conduct of which they were most interested. Yeardley was aware of this, for
without any authority from home which we can trace, he called together a General Assembly
consisting of two members from every town, borough, or hundred, besides the
governor and council, which met at Jamestown, near the end of June, 1619. In this
assembly seven corporations were represented, and four more were laid off in the course
of the same summer.
In this first North American legislature, wherein were "debated all matters thought
expedient for the good of the colony," several acts were passed which were pronounced
by the treasurer of the company to be "well and judiciously carried," but which are
unfortunately lost to posterity. This was an eventful year to the colony, for in addition
to their assembly, a college was established in Henrico, with a liberal endowment. King
James had exacted £15,000 from the several bishops of his kingdom for the purpose of
educating Indian children, and 10,000 acres of land were now added by the company;
and the original design was extended to make it a seminary of learning also for the
English. One hundred idle and dissolute persons, in custody for various misdemeanors,
were transported by the authority of the king and against the wishes of the company to
Virginia. They were distributed through the colony as servants to the planters; and
the degradation of the colonial character produced by such a process, was endured for
the assistance derived from them in executing the various plans of industry, that were
daily extending themselves. This beginning excited in the colonists a desire for using
more extensively other labor than their own, an opportunity for the gratification of which,
unfortunately, too soon occurred. In this eventful year, too, a new article was introduced
into the trade of the company with the colony, by the good policy of the treasurer,
Sir Edward Sandys, which produced a material change in the views and feelings of the
colonists with regard to the country. At the accession of Sir Edwin to office, after
twelve years labor, and an expenditure of eighty thousand pounds by the company,
there were in the colony no more than six hundred persons, men, women, and children.
In one year he provided a passage for twelve hundred and sixty-one new emigrants.
Among these were ninety agreeable young women, poor but respectable and incorrupt,
to furnish wives to the colonists. The wisdom of this policy is evident,—the men had
hitherto regarded Virginia only as a place of temporary sojourn for the acquisition of
wealth, and never dreamed of making a permanent residence in a place where it was
impossible to enjoy any of the comforts of domestic life. They had consequently none
of those endearing ties of home and kindred to bind them to the country, or attach
them to its interests, which are so necessary to make a good citizen. This new commodity
was transported at the expense of the colony, and sold to the young planters,
and the following year another consignment was made of sixty young maids of virtuous
for one hundred pounds of tobacco, but as the value of the new article became
known in the market, the price rose, and a wife would bring a hundred and fifty pounds
of tobacco. A debt for a wife was of higher dignity than other debts, and to be paid
first. As an additional inducement to marriage, married men were generally preferred
in the selection of officers for the colony. Domestic ties were formed, habits of thrift
ensued, comforts were increased, and happiness diffused; the tide of emigration swelled:
within three years fifty patents for land were granted, and three thousand five hundred
persons found their way to Virginia.
In the month of August of this year an event occurred which stamped its impress
upon the constitution of Virginia, and indeed of the whole southern portion of
society. This was the introduction of twenty African slaves by a Dutch vessel, which
availed itself of the freedom of commerce, which had been released from the shackles
of the company's monopoly in the early part of this year, to rivet forever the bonds of
slavery upon a portion of their fellow-creatures and their descendants. The indented
and covenanted servants which had been long known in Virginia, and whose condition
was little better than that of slavery, was a small evil and easily removed, because they
were of the same color and country with their masters; when they were emancipated
they leaped at once from their shackles to the full dignity of freedom. No one scorned
to associate with them, and no one spurned their alliance; if honorable and worthy in
other respects, they were equal to their masters, and might even rise to distinction. But
not so the poor African. Nature has fixed upon him a stamp which cannot be erased
or forgotten, the badge of his bondage is borne with him, when his fetters have crumbled
to the dust.
The overbearing disposition of King James created a powerful
popular party in England, which being unable to establish a liberal
government at home, was determined to secure for free principles a
safe asylum in the colonies. The accomplishment of this determination
was accelerated by the disposition of the king to intermeddle
with this very subject. He was exceedingly jealous of the company,
in which the patriot party prevailed, and suspicious of the liberal
principles discussed in its meetings with uncontrolled freedom: he
feared it as the school of debate, and nursery of parliamentary
leaders. Upon the resignation of Sir Edwin Sandys of his office
as treasurer, the king determined to try the extent
this first office in the company. He accordingly sent in a nomination
of four individuals, to one of whom he desired the office to be
given; but he proved unsuccessful in his attempt at dictation, and
none of his nominees were elected, but the choice fell upon the Earl
of Southampton.
The company having thus vindicated its own privileges, proceeded
next to guaranty freedom to the colonists, by a constitution
remarkably liberal for the time and circumstances. This charter
of freedom, the principles of which the Virginians never could be
brought subsequently to relinquish, has been preserved to posterity
in "Summary of the ordinance and constitution of the treasurer,
council and company in England, for a council of state, and
another council to be called the General Assembly in Virginia,
contained in a commission to Sir Francis Wyatt (the first governor
under that ordinance and constitution) and his council," dated July
24, 1621.
The council of state was to be chosen by the treasurer, council
their duty was to advise and assist the governor, and to constitute
a portion of the General Assembly. This General Assembly was
to be called by the governor once a year, and not oftener, unless
on very extraordinary and important occasions; it was to consist,
in addition to the council of state, of two burgesses, out of every
town, hundred, or other particular plantation, to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants; in which council all matters were to
be decided, determined, and ordered, by the greater part of the
voices then present, reserving to the governor always a negative
voice. "And this General Assembly was to have full power, to
treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all emergent occasions concerning
the public weal of the said colony, and every part thereof,
as also to make, ordain, and enact such general laws and orders,
for the behoof of said colony, and the good government thereof,
as from time to time might seem necessary."
The General Assembly and council of state were required to
imitate and follow the policy of the form of government, laws,
customs, and manner of trial, and of the administration of justice,
used in the realm of England, as near as might be, as the company
itself was required to do, by its charter. No law or ordinance
was to continue in force or validity unless it was solemnly
ratified in a general quarterly court of the company, and returned
under seal; and it was promised that as soon as the government
of the colony should once have been well framed and settled, that
no orders of court should afterwards bind the colony, unless they
were ratified in the same manner by the General Assembly.
When Sir Francis arrived, he found that negligence and security among the colonists,
which is the inevitable consequence of a long peace. Old Powhatan had died in
1618, honored by the esteem and respect of all who knew him—his own people holding
in grateful remembrance his prowess and policy in youth, and his mildness in age—and
his English friends and brethren admiring his firm support of his dignity, his paternal
affection, his mild simplicity, and his native intelligence. He was succeeded in his
power by Opechancanough, his younger brother, who was cunning, treacherous, revengeful,
and cruel. He renewed the former treaties, with every assurance of good faith, and
wore the mask of peace and friendship so successfully as completely to lull the whites
to security. But this crafty prince had always viewed with peculiar jealousy and hate
the progress of the colony. He had given much trouble, and engaged in frequent hostilities,
while he was king of Pamunkee, and it was not to be supposed that he would
patiently submit to the continued and rapid encroachments of the whites upon his lands,
to the entire extermination or banishment of his people, now that he possessed the empire
of his brother. But to meet them in the field was impossible, the disparity in arms
was too great, and the numbers in fighting men now equal; the attempt would be madness
and desperation, and lead to that extermination of his race which he wished to
avoid. His only resource was to strike some great and sudden blow which should annihilate
the power of the colony at once. He had applied to a king who resided on the
Eastern Shore, to purchase a subtle poison which grew only in his dominions, but this
king being on good terms with the whites, and wishing to enjoy their trade, refused to
gratify him. His next resource was in a general massacre, to take effect upon all of
the scattered plantations on the same day. The situation of the whites favored this
design; they not only placed confidence in the words of the savages, which had now
been so long faithfully kept, but in their weakness and cowardice. They had extended
their plantations over a space of one hundred and forty miles, on both sides of James
River, and made some settlements in the neighborhood of the Potomac; in short, wherever
a rich spot invited to the cultivation of tobacco, there were they established, and
an absence of neighbors was preferred. The planters were careless with their arms,
criminal to teach a savage the use of arms was forgotten, and they were fowlers and
hunters for many of the planters, by which means they became well acquainted with
the use of arms and the places in which they were kept. One great object with the
settlers, and with the company, in whose instructions we find it perpetually enjoined,
had been the conversion of the Indians to the Christian religion. To promote this pious
object, they had always been received in the most friendly manner; they became market
people to the planters, and they were fed at their tables, and lodged in their bedchambers
as friends and brothers.
Opechancanough had renewed the treaty with Governor Wyatt,
and took every other means in his power to avoid suspicion. He
told a messenger, about the middle of March, that the sky should
fall ere he would violate the treaty of peace; only two days before
the fatal 22d, the English were guided in safety and kindness
through the forest by the unsuspected Indians; and a Mr. Browne,
who had been sent to live among them to learn their language,
was sent safely to his friends;—nay, so well was the dread secret
kept, that the English boats were borrowed to transport the Indians
over the river to consult on the "devilish murder that ensued;"
and even on the day itself, as well as on the evening before, they
came as usual unarmed into the settlements with deer, turkeys,
fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell, and in some places sat down
to breakfast with the English. The concert and secrecy of this
great plot is the more astonishing, when we reflect that the savages
were not living together as one nation, and did not have for most
purposes unity of action, but were dispersed in little hamlets containing
from thirty to two hundred in a company; "yet they all
had warning given them one from another in all their habitations,
though far asunder, to meet at the day and hour
their several plantations; some directed to one place, some to
another, all to be done at the time appointed, which they did
accordingly: some entering their houses under color of trading, so
took their advantage; others drawing them abroad under fair pretences,
and the rest suddenly falling upon those that were at their
labors." They spared no age, sex, or condition, and were so sudden
in their indiscriminate slaughter that few could discern the
blow or weapon which brought them to destruction. Their familiarity
with the whites led them with fatal precision to the points
at which they were certain to be found, and that "fatal morning
fell under the bloody and barbarous hands of that perfidious and
inhuman people, three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and
children, principally by their own weapons." Not content with
this destruction, they brutally defaced and mangled the dead
bodies, as if they would perpetrate a new murder, and bore off
the several portions in fiendish triumph. Those who had treated
them with especial kindness, and conferred many benefits upon
them, who confided so much in them that to the last moment they
could not believe mischief was intended, fared no better than the
rest. The ties of love and gratitude, the sacred rights of hospitality
and reciprocal friendship, oaths, pledges, and promises, and
and omnipotent God, were broken asunder or forgotten in obedience
to the command of their chief, for the execution of a great
but diabolical stroke of state policy. With one, and only one, of
all who had been cherished by the whites, did gratitude for their
kindness and fidelity to his new religion prevail over his allegiance
to his king and affection for his people. A converted Indian
who resided with a Mr. Pace, and who was treated by him as a
son, revealed the plot to him in the night of the 21st. Pace immediately
secured his house and rowed himself up to Jamestown,
where he disclosed it to the governor, by which means that place
and all the neighboring plantations, to which intelligence could be
conveyed, was saved from destruction; for the cowardly Indians
when they saw the whites upon their guard immediately retreated.
Some other places were also preserved by the undaunted courage
of the occupants, who never failed to beat off their assailants, if
they were not slain before their suspicions were excited. By these
means was Virginia preserved from total annihilation in a single
hour, by this well-conceived, well-concealed, and well-executed
plot of her weak and simple adversaries. The larger portion of
the colony was saved: for a year after the massacre it contained
two thousand five hundred persons; but the consternation produced
by it, caused the adoption of a ruinous policy. Instead of
marching at once boldly to meet the adversary, and driving him
from the country, or reducing him to subjection by a bloody retaliation,
the colonists were huddled together from their eighty plantations
into eight, the college, manufactories, and other works of
public utility were abandoned, and cultivation confined to a space
almost too limited, merely for subsistence. These crowded quarters
produced sickness, and some were so disheartened that they
sailed for England.
In England this disastrous intelligence, so far from dispiriting the company, excited
their sympathies to such a degree, that it aroused them to renewed exertion, and a more
obstinate determination to secure, at all hazards, a country which had cost so much
blood and treasure. Supplies were promptly dispatched; and even the king was moved
to the generosity of giving some old rusty arms from the tower, which he never meant
to use, and promising further assistance, which he never meant to render.
Serious discussions now took place in the courts of the company as to the course proper
to be pursued with the Indians, and some advocated their entire subjection, in imitation
of the example of the Spaniards,—which policy would surely have been more merciful
than that war of extermination which was carried into effect, whether by deliberate design
or a system of temporary expedients does not appear. Smith offered the company
to protect all their planters from the James to the Potomac, with a permanent force of
one hundred soldiers and thirty sailors, with one small bark, and means to build several
shallops; and there is no doubt but that he would have accomplished it, by which means
the planters could have employed themselves much more successfully in attending to
their crops, than when they had to keep perpetual watch, and occasionally to take up
arms to defend themselves or make an attack upon the enemy. Smith received for
answer that the company was impoverished, but that he had leave to carry his proposal
into effect, if he could find means in the colony and would give the company half the
booty he should acquire: upon which answer he observes, that except some little corn,
he would not give twenty pounds for all the booty to be made from the savages for 20
years. The colonists, although they could not be soon again lulled to their former security,
speedily recovered from their recent panic, and on July of the same year sallied
Indians. But they suffered themselves to be deceived by false pretences until the corn
was removed from their reach, so that they got but little; they succeeded, however, in
burning many of their villages and destroying much of their property, by which they
said they were likely to suffer much during the ensuing winter. We find that a law
was passed on the following session, by the General Assembly, requiring that on the
beginning of July next, the inhabitants of every corporation should fall upon the adjoining
savages, as had been done the last year; and enacting that those who were hurt
should be cured at the public charge, and such as were maimed should be maintained
by the country, according to their quality. We find it also further enacted in 1630,
"that the war begun upon the Indians be effectually followed, and that no peace be
concluded with them; and that all expeditions undertaken against them should be prosecuted
with diligence." This state of fierce warfare continued to rage with uninterrupted
fury until a peace was concluded in 1632, under the administration of Gov. Harvey.
In the course of this warfare the Indians were not treated with the same tenderness with
which they had generally been before the massacre, but their habitations, cleared lands,
and pleasant sites, when once taken possession of, were generally retained by the victors,
and the vanquished forced to take refuge in the woods and marshes.
While these events were transpiring in the colony, an important
change in the character of their government was about to
the fact could no longer be denied. They had transported
more than nine thousand persons, at an expense exceeding a hundred
thousand pounds; and yet, in nearly 18 years, there were only
about two thousand persons in the colony, and its annual exports
did not exceed twenty thousand pounds in value. The king took
advantage of the present unfortunate state of affairs, to push his
plans for the dissolution of the company. He carefully fomented
the dissensions which arose, and encouraged the weaker party,
which readily sought the aid of his powerful arm. He had long
disliked the democratic freedom of their discussions, and had of late
become envious of their little profits on the trade of the colonists,
which he felt every disposition to divert into his own coffers; and he
determined to make good use of the present state of despondency
in most of the company, and unpopularity with the public, to effect
his designs. Wishing, however, to gain his end by stealth, and
secret influence with their officers, rather than by open vio-
lence, he again tried his strength in the nomination of four
individuals from whom the company were to choose their treasurer.
But he was again signally defeated, and the Earl of Southampton
re-elected by a large majority, the king's candidates receiving only
eight votes in seventy.
Failing in this, it was manifest that the company was not to be
browbeaten into submission to his dictation, and he only considered
how the charter of the company might be revoked, with the least
violation to the laws of England. To effect this with plausible
decency some allegation of improper conduct was to be made, and
some proof ferreted out. The first of these objects was effected
by two long petitions by members of the royal faction in the
company, setting forth at full length every evil which had accrued
to the colony, from its earliest establishment to that hour, and
charging all upon the mismanagement of the company. For
many of these charges there was too much truth, and the faults of
but whether they were not necessarily incidental to the situation
of things in Virginia, or they might have been avoided by the king
or a corporation differently constituted, are questions difficult to
answer; but these petitions contained, mingled with these truths,
a great proportion of glaring falsehood as to the physical and moral
condition of the colony. They had been prepared and presented
with great secrecy; but the company contrived to obtain copies of
them, and refuted their slanders by the most irrefragable testimony,
many facts being in the cognizance of the members themselves,
and others established by the evidence of respectable persons who
had long resided in Virginia. This mass of evidence was laid
before the king, in the vain hope that he might be induced to disregard
the petitions; but part of his object was now gained, the
charges were made, the next step was to procure a semblance of
proof: for this purpose, in a few days, in answer to the prayer in
one of the petitions, he issued a commission, under the great seal,
to seven persons, to inquire into all matters respecting Virginia,
from the beginning of its settlement.
The better to enable these commissioners to conduct their investigations,
by an order of the privy council, all the records of the
company, of whatsoever nature, were seized, the deputy treasurer
was imprisoned, and on the arrival of a ship from Virginia, all the
papers on board were inspected.
The report of these commissioners has never transpired, but it
was, without doubt, such as the king wished and
known, that having taken into his princely consideration the distressed
state of Virginia, occasioned by the ill-government of the
company, he had resolved, by a new charter, to appoint a governor
and twelve assistants to reside in England; and a governor and
twelve assistants to reside in Virginia; the former to be nominated
by his majesty in council, the latter to be nominated by the governor
and assistants in England, and be appointed by the king in council;
and that all proceedings should be subject to the royal direction.
This was a return at one step to the charter of 1606. The company
was called together to consider upon this arbitrary edict,
under an alternative similar to the one given to witches upon their
trial: if they could swim with a heavy weight about their necks,
they were burned as guilty; if they sunk and drowned, they were
acquitted: the king gave the company the privilege of accepting
his proposition and resigning its charter, or of refusing and having
the charter annulled.
The company, which had refused to gratify the king in the choice of its officers, was
less disposed to comply with this suicidal requisition. The astounding order was read
over three several times before they could convince themselves that their ears informed
them correctly of its purport. At length the vote was taken, and one hundred and
twelve votes were against the relinquishment, and twenty-six, the precise number of the
king's faction, in favor of it. The company asked further time for a more deliberate
decision, as there had not been sufficient notice, few members were present, and it was
charter, except at a regular quarterly meeting; but the council would not listen to the
proposition, ordering the company to meet again in three days, and give a clear, direct,
and final answer. In obedience to this order, an extraordinary court was summoned,
and the question of surrender submitted to their consideration, upon which only nine of
the seventy present voted in its favor; an answer was returned that they would defend
their charter. The knowledge of these proceedings transpiring produced a shock to the
credit of the company, which palsied for the time the spirit of commercial enterprise;
to remedy this evil the privy council declared that the private property of every one
should be protected, and secured by additional guarantees if necessary; that they should
proceed with their regular business; and all ships bound for Virginia should sail. To
endeavor to discover something more authentic against the company than his secret
conclave of commissioners had yet been able to obtain, the king now thought proper to
send John Harvey, John Pory, Abraham Piersey, Samuel Matthews, and
John Jefferson, as commissioners to Virginia, "To make more particular
and diligent inquiry touching divers matters, which concerned the state of Virginia;
and in order to facilitate this inquiry, the governor and council of Virginia were ordered
to assist the commissioners, in this scrutiny, by all their knowledge and influence."
The commissioners early in the ensuing year arrived in the
colony. In all of this controversy between the king and the
likely to be violated by either party, and feeling little interest in
the discussion of rights which belonged entirely to others, and which
they never supposed they were to possess; had acted with entire
neutrality, and cared little whether they were to be under the
general superintendence of the courts of the company, or a council
chosen by the king, so long as they could regulate their own affairs
by their own General Assembly.[73]
In such a mood would the commissioners have found the colony
and General Assembly, had they not procured copies of the two
slanderous petitions, in spite of all the precautions of the king, and
the secrecy of his council and commissioners. Although they felt
little interest in the controversy, they felt great interest in defending
themselves from defamation, and their country from false and
malicious representations, well calculated to disparage and depreciate
it in the estimation of those with whom they wished it to
stand fairest. In six days from their meeting they
petitions; declaring in their preamble, "that they, holding it a
sin against God and their own sufferings, to permit the world to
be abused with false reports, and to give to vice the reward of
virtue,—They, in the name of the whole colony of Virginia, in
their General Assembly met, many of them having been eye-witnesses
duty to their country and love of truth, the following answer
given to the praises of Sir T. Smith's government, in the said
declaration."
They next drafted a petition to the king, which, with a
letter to the privy council and the other papers, were committed
to the care of Mr. John Pountis, a member of the council,
who was selected to go to England to represent the general
interests of the colony before his majesty and the privy
council; and whose expenses were provided for by a tax of
four pounds of the best merchantable tobacco for every male
person sixteen years of age, who had been in the country for one
year. This gentleman unfortunately died on his passage. The
letter to the privy council marks very strongly the value which
they set even at that early day upon the right of legislating for
themselves; the principal prayer in it being, "that the governors
may not have absolute power, and that they might still retain the
liberty of popular assemblies, than which, nothing could more conduce
to the public satisfaction and public utility."
A contest of wits was commenced between the commissioners and the Assembly
The former, under various pretexts, withheld from the latter a sight of their commission,
and the other papers with which they had been charged; and the governor and the
Assembly thought proper to preserve an equal mystery as to their own proceedings. In
this dilemma Mr. Pory, who was one of the commissioners, and who had been secretary
to the company, and discharged from his post for betraying its councils to the earl of
Warwick, now suborned Edward Sharpless, a clerk of the council, to give him copies
of the proceedings of that body and of the Assembly. This treachery was discovered,
and the clerk was punished with the loss of his ears; while an account was sent home
to the company, expressive of the greatest abhorrence at the baseness and treachery of
Pory. The commissioners finding their secret manœuvring defeated, next endeavored,
by the most artful wheedling, to induce the Assembly to petition the crown for a revocation
of the charter. In reply to this the Assembly asked for their authority to make
such a proposition, which of course they could not give without betraying their secret
instructions, and were compelled to answer the requisition in general terms and professions.
The Assembly took no farther notice of the commissioners, but proceeded with
their ordinary legislation.
Thirty-five acts of this Assembly have been preserved to the present time, and exhibit,
with great strength, the propriety and good sense with which men can pass laws for the regulation
of their own interests and concerns. One of these acts establishes at once, in the
most simple and intelligible language, the great right of exemption from taxation without
representation; it runs in these words:—"The governor shall not lay any taxes or impositions
upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way than by the authority of
the General Assembly, to be levied and employed as the said Assembly shall appoint."
By a subsequent act it was declared that the governor should not withdraw the inhabitants
from their private labors to any service of his own, upon any color whatsoever and in case
the public service required the employment of many hands, before the holding of a General
Assembly, he was to order it, and the levy of men was to be made by the governor and
whole body of the council, in such manner as would be least burdensome to the people
and most free from partiality. To encourage good conduct, the old planters who had
been in the colony since the last arrival of Gates, were exempted from taxation or military
duty. Many acts of general utility were passed; the members of the Assembly
were privileged from arrest; lands were to be surveyed and their boundaries recorded,
which is no doubt the origin of our highly beneficial recording statutes; vessels arriving
were prohibited from breaking their cargoes until they had reported themselves; inspectors
of tobacco were established in every settlement; the use of sealed weights and
measures was enforced; provision was made for paying the public debt, "brought on by
the late troubles;" no person was, upon the rumor of supposed change and alteration, to
masters, or overseers, at their uttermost perils.
Wise regulations were likewise made to prevent surprises by the Indians; every house
was to be fortified with palisadoes; no man should go or send abroad without a party
sufficiently armed, or to work without their arms, with a sentinel over them; the inhabitants
were forbidden to go aboard ships or elsewhere in such numbers as to endanger the
safety of their plantations; every planter was to take care to have sufficient arms and
ammunition in good order; watch was to be kept by night; and no planter was to suffer
powder to be expended in amusement or entertainments. To promote corn-planting,
and ensure plenty of provision, no limit was fixed to its price; viewers were appointed
to see that every man planted a sufficiency for his family, and all trade with the savages
for corn was strictly prohibited.
Having thus given a specimen of colonial spirit, and colonial
legislation, we return to the little intrigues of James, who was
striving by every means in his power to become possessed of the
control of the colony; partly to gratify his love of arbitrary authority
and of money, and partly to gratify his royal self-complacency,
by framing a code of laws for a people with whose character and
condition he was utterly unacquainted, and who, from the specimens
recently given, appeared to be fully competent to the management
of their own affairs, without the dictation or advice of
this royal guardian; who, while he displayed the craft without
the talent of a Philip, aspired to the character of a Solon. The
recent acts of the king led to a solemn council of the company on
the state of their affairs, in which they confirmed by an overwhelming
majority the previous determination to defend their charter,
and asked for a restitution of their papers for the purpose of preparing
their defence. This request was pronounced reasonable
by the attorney-general, and complied with. While these papers
were in the hands of the company, they were transcribed, and the
copy has been fortunately preserved, and presents a faithful record
of many portions of Virginia history, which it would be otherwise
impossible to elucidate.[75]
The king had caused a quo warranto to be issued against the
company soon after the appointment of his com-
tried in the King's Bench, in Trinity Term of 1624. A cause
which their royal master had so much at heart could not long be
doubtful with judges entirely dependent upon his will for their
places; it is even credibly reported that this important case,
whereby the rights of a powerful corporation were divested, and
the possibility of a remuneration for all of their trouble and
expense forever cut off, was decided upon a mere technical question
of special pleading![77]
In the mean time the commissioners had returned, and reported
very favorably of the soil and climate of Virginia, but censuring
deeply the conduct of the company,—recommending the government
of the original charter of 1606, and declaring that a body so
large and so democratic in its forms as the company, could never
persevere in a consistent course of policy, but must veer about as the
different factions should prevail. In this it must be admitted that
there was much truth, and all hopes of profit having for some time
expired, and the company only being kept up by the distinguished
men of its members, from patriotic motives and as an instrument
of power for thwarting the king, in which capacity its present
unpopularity rendered it of little use—it was now suffered to
expire under the judicial edict, without a groan. The expiration
of the charter brought little immediate change to the actual government
of the colony:—a large committee was formed by the
king, consisting principally of his privy council, to discharge the
functions of the extinct company; Sir Francis Wyatt was reappointed
governor, and he and his council only empowered to
govern "as fully and amply as any governor and council resident
there, at any time within the space of five years last past"—
which was the exact period of their representative government.
The king, in appointing the council in Virginia, refused to appoint
embittered partisans of the court faction, but formed the government
of men of moderation.
So leaving Virginia free, while his royal highness is graciously
pleased to gratify his own vanity in preparing a new code of laws
to regulate her affairs, we pass on to a new chapter.
Smith in book 4, p. 2, says, "sailed for England."—Bancroft, 156, says, on the
authority of Stith, "became pirates."
Note by Robertson.—"It is a matter of some curiosity, to trace the progress of the
consumption of this unnecessary commodity. The use of tobacco seems to have been
first introduced into England about the year 1586. Possibly a few seafaring persons
may have acquired a relish for it, by their intercourse with the Spaniards, previous to
that period; but it could by no means be denominated a national habit anterior to that
date. Upon an average of the seven years immediately preceding the year 1622, the
whole import of tobacco into England amounted to a hundred and forty-two thousand
and eighty-five pounds weight. Stith, p. 246. From this it appears that the taste had
spread with a rapidity which is remarkable. But how inconsiderable is that quantity
to what is consumed now in Great Britain!" or now!!
The king and company quarrelled, and, by a mixture of law and force, the latter
were ousted of all their rights, without retribution, after having expended £100,000 in
establishing the colony, without the smallest aid from the government. King James
suspended their powers by proclamation of July 15, 1624, and Charles I. took the
government into his own hands. Both sides had their partisans in the colony; but in
truth the people of the colony in general thought themselves little concerned in the
dispute. There being three parties interested in these several charters, what passed
between the first and second it was thought could not affect the third. If the king
seized on the powers of the company, they only passed into other hands, without increase
or diminution, while the rights of the people remained as they were. Jefferson's
Notes on Va., p. 152-3.
Note to Bancroft, p. 207. Stith, p. 329, 330, doubts if judgment was passed.
The doubt may be removed. "Before the end of the same term, a judgment was declared
by the Lord Chief Justice Ley, against the company and their charter, only upon
failer or mistake in pleading." See a Short Collection of the most Remarkable Passages
from the Original to the Dissolution of the Virginia Company: London, 1651,
p. 15. See also Hazard, vol. I. p. 19; Chalmers, p. 62; Proud's Pennsylvania, vol.
I., p. 107.
| CHAPTER III. Historical collections of Virginia | |