University of Virginia Library

V.—PUBLICATIONS OF THE COMPANY[57]

The struggle for capital and for settlers before 1616 is most apparent from the
advertisements that were issued. The broadsides of the years 1609, 1610, and 1611
are printed as official declarations of an intention on the part of the company to send
voyages to Virginia, and contain the necessary information as to the classes of
emigrants wanted—artificers only—and the conditions and rewards for emigration.
The broadside of February, 1611, is of most value, in that the classes of emigrants
with the numbers of each desired are specified, while that of 1610 is a defense
against the slander of recently returned colonists, and emphasizes the former need
of artificers as colonists.[58] The broadsides of 1613 and 1615 concern the drawing of
the lotteries, the latter declaring in a general way the prosperous condition of the
country and announcing the prizes and rewards, thus affording some conception
of the sums received from such an enterprise.[59] The publications of the year 1616
disclose, as well as assert, the prosperity of the settlement and the assurance of its
success, though giving no statistical information. That of April arranges for the
first division of lands among old adventurers and promises the same to new adven-

turers, declaring the intention to send a new governor and surveyors to the colony
for the purpose, while that of the winter of the same year announces that any
settlers may return to England who will.[60]

In addition to the advertisements for investment and adventure, both of person
and of money, the company put forth a series of publications, consisting of four
sermons preached before the company at stated intervals, intended to arouse both
interest and confidence in their undertaking. These afford but little if any definite
information, but reveal the spirit of the times, as also the lines of criticism and
resistance which the company had continually to meet.[61]

But of far greater importance to a comprehension of the attitude of the com-
pany, and especially of the progress of the plantation, are the declarations concern-
ing the colony, which were published by the company.[62] They are nine in number,
and bear the following titles and dates:

(1)

• Nova Britannia. London, 1609.

(2)

• Virginia richly valued. London, April 15, 1609.

(3)

• A True and sincere declaration of the purpose and ends of the Plantation,
  "by the authority of the Governor and Councellors of the Plantation."
  London, 1610. [December 14, 1609.]

(4)

• Nevves from Virginia—a poem. 1610.

(5)

• A True declaration of the estate of the colony of Virginia, by the order of
  the "Councell of Virginia." London, 1610.

(6)

• De La Warr's Relation. London, July 6, 1611, with Crashaw's Epistle
  Dedicatorie as a preface.

(7)

• The New life of Virginea—second part of Noua Britannia, by "the Coun-
  sell of Virginea." London, May 1, 1612.

(8)

• Good Newes from Virginia, by Whittaker. London, 1613.

(9)

• A booke called an narracon of the present State of Virginia by Ralph
  Hammer. London, 1615.

The documents published in 1609 and also the poem of 1610 were efforts on the
part of the company to defend itself against charges of failure in earlier years and to
reveal the advantages which were promised under the new system of government.
This is distinctly the tone and motive of the Nova Britannia, in which appear argu-

ments in favor of the colony, and the statements of the plans, resources, and needs
of the colony, together with an outline of the government which was now to be
administered.

A True and sincere declaration further explains the unsatisfactory condition
of the colony by reference to the incompetence of previous governors, furnishing
perhaps the best historical narrative which was issued by the company during the
first period of the plantation. It also holds out the promise of improved conditions
under Gates and De La Warr, who are to be shortly sent to Virginia with a complete
outfit of men and provisions. The second document describes the southern part of
the country and cites the advantages of Florida as evidence of the opportunities
in Virginia. After the time of De La Warr the published accounts of the plans,
movements, and successes of the colonists became more complete. While the state-
ments of De La Warr in his Relation are a bare outline of the conditions as he
found them and the improvements in trade and discovery to which Captain Argall
had contributed, together with his lordship's plans for the future, it is of value
as forming, with Hamor's narrative four years later, a surprisingly accurate and
satisfactory treatment of the development in the colony during those years.

Hamor gives a clear statement of the methods and success of Captain Dale in his
relations with the Indians, of his organization and reform of the colony, and of his
establishment of order therein, and reveals clearly the state of affairs on the arrival
of Gates, the cause of the failure heretofore, and the details of the building of the
successive towns, with descriptions and statistics for each. He gives also an his-
torical narrative of the relations with the various Indian tribes and his knowledge
and statements concerning the resources of the country are equally satisfactory.
While Whittaker's Good Newes from Virginia and The New Life of Virginea are
of value as corroborative evidence, they add but little to the knowledge of condi-
tions or resources, and evidently were written more in the spirit of the poem of
1610, being intended to inspire confidence in the management of the colony, in the
new system, and in the officers installed, as well as to arouse enthusiasm in the
project.

It is evident that these publications are of more direct value in the study of
the progress of the colony and tell at first hand but little more than the methods
employed by the company to gain its end, but, together with the other reports
from the colony which are preserved in manuscript form, they to an extent supply
what has been lost by the disappearance of the court book. They prove that there
was a gradual change in the motive and means of the company, due entirely to
the exigencies of the case. The failure to discover precious metals forced the

company to concern itself with the development of the resources of the country and
with the production of staple articles which were needed in England. Then, too,
the first written laws promulgated by Gates, De La Warr, and Dale in 1610–1612,
martial in form and harsh in character, reveal the type of the plantation which the
company now proposed;[63] the freedom of the individual was to be reduced to a
minimum, all labor was to be regulated as if it were a military discipline and
the produce was to belong to the common store. Thus the evils of the early
settlement were to be avoided. But of necessity this plan was temporary. Argall,
like Smith, was a good colonizer. The explorations of Smith and his trade with the
Indians, together with the order and prosperity which were brought by Dale, resulted
in the founding of various settlements, such as Henrico and others farther south,
which became self-supporting and independent of the "supplies" from England.
This meant that the company was to be forced to assume a different attitude toward
the colony; that the common labor, common store, and common trade must be
abandoned. By 1614 private lands had been given to a few inhabitants, every family
had been assured of a house of four rooms, rent free, for one year, and women had
been sent to the colony to aid in keeping the settlers contented and permanent.

Whether the company made any resistance to this development within the set-
tlement, by which the adventurer in London must share the profit with the planter,
will only be known when the court book shall have been discovered, but it is certain
that by 1616 the point of view of the leaders of the company had changed. They
had then come to realize that they were to be the middlemen for the marketing of
the produce of the planters. This is proved by the movement in 1616 for the
monopoly of the importation of the only lucrative staple, tobacco. Again, in 1619,
when the time for free importation from the plantation had expired, they most
eagerly sought an adjustment with the Crown, although, in 1614, Sir Edwin Sandys,
by this time the leading spirit in the company, had been the chairman in the House
committee which reported against monopolies.

To such an extent had the colony now grown that the instructions given to Sir
George Yeardley in November, 1618, called "The Great Charter of privileges, orders,
and Lawes," recognized the necessity for local government. They provided for two
houses, the "Council of State," to be chosen by the company in its quarter court,
and the general assembly, to consist "of the Council of State and two Burgesses

chosen out of each Town Hundred or other particular Plantation."[64] The great dif-
ference between this act of the company and that of nine years before, when the
instructions to Gates were issued and the laws of Dale were approved, is apparent.
Whether it was due entirely to the necessities arising from the changed conditions
in the colony heretofore noted or to the abuse of power by Samuel Argall, from 1616
to 1619, is uncertain.[65] Whether it was but a reflection of the growing popular senti-
ment within the company by which the generality exercised the powers of adminis-
tration or whether it was due to the influence of the "opposition" in parliament can
not be settled without fuller records than are at present extant.