XVI.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL ARGALL.
XVI. Deputy, or Lieutenant-Governor.
XVI. May, 1617, to April, 1619.
Samuel Argall came to Virginia as early as 1609, to
trade and to fish for sturgeon. This traffic was in violation
of the laws, but as the wine and provisions which he brought
were much in demand, his conduct was connived at, and he
continued to make voyages for his own advantage and in the
service of the Colony. In 1613 he arrived at the island of
Mount Desert, off the coast of Maine, for the purpose of fishing,
and finding a settlement of French, which was made two
years before, he attacked it and took most of the settlers prisoners.
A Jesuit priest was killed in the engagement. This
was the commencement of hostilities between the French and
English colonists in America. Captain Argall soon afterwards
sailed from Virginia to Acadie, and destroyed the
French settlements of St. Croix and Port Royal.
In 1614 he went to England, and returned in 1617, clothed
with the authority of Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of
Virginia. Being now beyond the reach of immediate control,
he incurred the displeasure of the people and the proprietors
by his tyrannical course. He was arrogant and greedy of
gain, and by his arbitrary rule he "imported more hazard to
the plantation than ever did any other thing that befel that
action from the beginning." Before an account of Argall's
despotic sway had reached London, the authorities there had
despatched Lord De la Warr, the Governor-General, to Virginia
with two hundred men and supplies for the Colony.
Orders followed to send Argall to England, where he was
"to answer everything that should be laid to his charge."
But the good Lord De la Warr was doomed not to reach Virginia.
He died on this voyage, and Argall was left to oppress
the colonists and defraud the Company to his heart's content.
The condition of Virginia became insupportable, for life itself
was insecure against the passionate whims of this unscrupulous
tyrant. The Colony languished, and no emigrants could
be found for this unhappy settlement; but the news which
checked the spirit of adventure also roused the indignation of
some of the London Company. Argall was displaced, and
the mild and popular Yeardley elected Governor in his stead,
with higher rank. During Argall's term of office, martial
law, which had been proclaimed and executed during the
turbulence of former times, was, in a season of peace,
made the common law of the land. By this law a gentleman
was tried for contemptuous words that he had spoken of the
Governor, was found guilty, and condemned; but his sentence
was respited, and he appealed to the Treasurer and Council,
who reversed the judgment of the court-martial. This is the
first instance of an appeal carried from an American colony
to England.
Argall's first exploit in Virginia had been the abduction
of Pocahontas, in 1612, from the care of a chief who had been
intrusted by Powhatan with the charge of his daughter, but
who surrendered her for the bribe of a brass kettle. Taking
her to Jamestown, Argall gave her into the keeping of the
Governor and the church. When he left the Colony he continued
to lead an adventurous life. On September 6, 1625,
he sailed from Plymouth as Admiral of twenty-four English
and four Dutch ships, and during the cruise took seven vessels,
valued at ¢100,000; he is also said to have commanded
the flag-ship during the attack on Cadiz. Beyond this, little
is known of him, save that he was married and left children;
was knighted by James I. in 1623, and died in 1639. His
partnership in trade with the Earl of Warwick had protected
him in his colonial difficulties.
It was during Argall's reign in the Colony that the old
king, Powhatan, its former ruler, passed from the green woods
and river shores of Virginia, to the happy hunting grounds
of the Indian belief. "He was a prince of eminent sense and
abilities, and deeply versed in all the savage arts of government
and policy. Penetrating, crafty, insidious, it was as
difficult to deceive him as to elude his own strategems.
But he was cruel in his temper, and showed little regard to
truth or integrity."
Argall's character has been variously interpreted, but he
was without question a man of talents and of unrivaled
industry in any pursuit into which either his greed or his
ambition led him.
