University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIII

ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL ARGALL

Dale returned to England in June, en route to Holland
to resume his military duties, for his furlough had now
expired. He carried away from Virginia a cargo of tobacco,
sassafras, pitch, tar, and other commodities then in request
among the English merchants. His administration of the
Colony's affairs was stated by him to have been the hardest
task of his strenuous life, but it had been eminently successful.
He had not been thinking of Virginia alone in working
for its welfare. "That admirable country," he exclaimed,
"will put such a bit into our ancient enemy's (Spain) mouth
as will curb his haughtiness of monarchy." His reasoned
report, as well as the cargo of valuable products which he
brought back, encouraged the Company to provide a magazine
ship for the transportation to the Colony of a large cargo of
household articles of all sorts. These stores were furnished
by a special band of adventurers, who looked to the purchase
with them of a great quantity of tobacco; and this continued
from that time on to be the only method of supplying the
settlers, since the old joint stock of the company at large
was ended.

A more active interest in the affairs of Virginia was now
shown in the quarter courts. About one hundred and forty
of the four hundred and seventy-two members of Parliament
were also members of the London Company, and these quarter
courts had come to reflect the sentiments which had divided
England into two political camps—one of the liberal party;
the other of the court party.

When Dale embarked for England, George Yeardley, who

had previously served as deputy-governor and marshal, took
the vacant office. He had always been interested in the culture
of tobacco, and he now encouraged its spread by every influence
which he could bring to bear to that end. The arrival of
the magazine ship Susan in the autumn of 1616, with Abraham
Piercy, the cape-merchant, on board, acted as a further
stimulus. By this time it had come to be perceived with
clearness that the first object of the London Company should
be to make Virginia the permanent home of transplanted
Englishmen; and that the development of the tobacco trade
should be fostered, not simply to afford a pecuniary profit
for the adventurers of the magazine, but also to furnish the
quickest means of increasing the population and swelling the
number of the plantations. Colonization henceforward was
to be the first consideration, and trade the second, and of
great importance only in connection with its advancement of
colonization. All the early expectations that Virginia would
supply the precious metals, or open the way to the South Sea,
or even assure the articles imported from foreign nations, had
now vanished. By 1616, the Colony was looked upon as a
permanent community, with a substantial future; and this fact
was attributable to Dale's having used the absolute power at
his disposal to put in force the principles which Captain John
Smith had previously endeavored, in the face of so many
obstructions, to carry out.

The hour was now ripe for an administrative policy which
should be in harmony with the political convictions of Sir
Edwin Sandys and the other men of the same liberal opinions
who belonged to the London Company. Sandys was appointed
to the office of assistant manager in 1617, which made him
subordinate only to Sir Thomas Smythe, the treasurer. He
was now keenly interested in the framework of the Colony's
future form of government, which was under consideration,
but so great were the energy and intelligence which he exhibited
in the affairs of Virginia in every other direction that
the Spanish ambassador in London grew despondent and

wrote to his King that all hope of the English abandoning
Jamestown must be given up. The lottery was now under
way and bringing in a large sum of money. Settlers, whether
to become laborers or planters, were procured in numerous
ways. Boys and girls, whose ages ranged from eight to sixteen,
were collected from the streets of London and sent
over to Jamestown to serve in one way or another until they
had arrived at their majority. Many desirable emigrants, and
many undesirable, were obtained from other communities of
England.

In 1617, Samuel Argall, who had been often in Virginia in
different capacities, set sail for Virginia with the commission
of deputy-governor. He had not expected to introduce
any change in the form of government, but he had been
instructed to make the proposed alteration in the system of
land holdings. He went out to Jamestown with a company of
one hundred settlers, who had been gathered up by the Company
or private adventurers, and he was also accompanied
by John Rolfe as secretary of the Colony. He found the
people in a state of peace with the Indians, but all the buildings
of the town were in a condition of disrepair. The first
attention of every man was directed to the production of
tobacco. It was only on the Company's lands that crops of
maize, wheat, and barley were cultivated in abundance. Argall
fixed the rate of exchange of tobacco for the merchandise of
the magazine at three shillings the pound. It was sold in
England, after paying the charges of transportation and the
customs, at ten. In March, 1618, the Edwin sailed for England
with a cargo of thirty-one hundred pounds of tobacco assigned
to Captain Bargrave, who had received it in trade; and five
thousand pounds were assigned to the Company, to be
credited to the magazine. The same ship in a later voyage
carried over two thousand pounds, which caused the market
to fall from eight shillings to five shillings and three pence.

Argall, in accord with his instructions, made grants of a
large area of the public lands. The most important of these

were the patent to Smith's Hundred, the patent to the governor
himself and his associates, and the patent to Captain
Martin and his associates. There was now a population of
about four hundred men, women, and children established
in Virginia. For their protection against the Indians, whom

Communion Service of Smith's Hundred

Argall wisely distrusted, certain prudent provisions were
adopted and strictly enforced: for instance, they were forbidden
to trade privately with the savages, or to teach them
the use of pistols and muskets; they were also prohibited from
attending the services in the parish churches without arms in
their hands; and a guard was ordered to be set around each
of these buildings while the congregations were worshipping
within. An attack was made by the Indians in 1618, which
seems to have been brought on by the impression among them
that the guns of the colonists were too sick to go off. This
idea had arisen from the fact that, owing to the scarcity of
powder, the people had been chary in expending such supply
of it as they had in their possession. Several persons were
killed in this treacherous uprising; and it only ended when
Opechancanough sent a bushel of earth to Argall as a sign
of submission.

The members of every family were now required to be
present at religious services on holidays as well as on Sundays.
Some of the sacred edifices were now adorned with valuable
communion plate. The church belonging to Smith's Hundred
had received such plate from Mrs. Mary Robinson, its
founder; and the church in Martin's Hundred had been equally
fortunate in the same way.

It was during Argall's administration that the Pilgrim
Fathers entered into negotiations with the London Company
for a patent to lands in Virginia, and Sandys is supposed to
have persuaded the Archbishop of Canterbury to give his
consent to the settlement of the Separatists there. Jamestown
had now been in existence ten years, and the Colony had
long passed the stage of experiment. The Pilgrims, who were
then living in Holland, did not actually set out until two more
years had gone by. By this time, the Assembly had convened
at Jamestown, and Virginia had become a firmly established
state.

Sandys demonstrated his liberal character further by
opposing the introduction of African slaves into the Colony.
Sir Robert Rich and others were suspected of wishing to
acquire large tracts of land there with the view of testing the
superiority of laborers who were not only held for life, but
were supposed to be more suitable for the climate than an
English indentured servant. The split in the Company had
been steadily widening, with Rich growing in prominence as
the leader of the court party. Argall was known to be in
sympathy with Rich. It was correctly charged that the ship

named the Treasurer had been sent to Virginia by the latter,
with a commission as a privateer from the Duke of Savoy to
prey on Spanish commerce. Argall had manned this ship
with seamen whom he had picked up in the Colony, and
despatched her ostensibly to the Azores for sheep and goats,
but in reality to the West Indies to rifle Spanish vessels. This
was an audacious undertaking, as James, in his eagerness to
keep the good will of Spain, stood ready to punish such
marauding with the penalty of death.

But complicity with Rich in piracy was not the only complaint
lodged against Argall. He was charged with dispersing
the servants belonging to the Company's lands in Virginia—
which, at his arrival in May, 1617, had been paying three
hundred pounds sterling annually—and with selling the
Company's entire herd of cattle. Six goats alone remained
of the public estate beyond the bare soil.

Delaware, in April, 1618, set out for Virginia to take up
again his functions as Captain-General and to put in operation
all the plans for an assembly which had been framed in
England by Sandys and his associates; but he died on the
voyage. When news of this event reached London, Sir George
Yeardley, who had, as we have already seen, served as
deputy-governor, was despatched to the Colony to become
governor in Argall's stead. Aware that Yeardley was
instructed to investigate his predecessor's delinquencies, Rich
and his supporters, fearing the consequences of an exposure
of the Treasurer's acts on the high seas, protested against
his mission; and not trusting to this alone, they sent a pinnace
ahead of Yeardley's sailing to give Argall a means of escaping
from Jamestown before the suspicious new governor
should arrive. Argall, having appointed Captain Nathaniel
Powell deputy-governor, disappeared beyond the Capes in
the pinnace.