University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER IV.

When Lord Delaware landed on the shore at
Jamestown, he immediately knelt, and, for a season,
continued in silent devotion. Then rising,
he attended divine service in the church, and endeavoured,
by his example, to inspire his followers
with a sense of gratitude for their late deliverance,
and of dependence upon the Supreme Being for
future safety.[295] From these facts, we obtain some
insight into the character of this devout and upright
nobleman. He then read his commission

and delivered a calm address, admonishing the
vicious, encouraging the good, threatening to draw
the sword of justice against the intractable, but
declaring that it would give him as much pain to
shed their blood as his own. General applause
followed his speech, and, with cheerful zeal, all
prepared for their respective duties. Houses were
repaired, defences made good, fields reclaimed after
long neglect, and some French vintners, who came
over with Delaware, commenced planting vines, in
order to a harvest for the next year.[296]

It may not be amiss here to notice the unhappy,
but well-merited fate of the German traitors, who
had given the colony so much annoyance. Few
of them died by natural death. One, after returning
for a time to the English, during their distress,
fled again to the Indians, promising them great
gain from his influence with Lord Delaware when
he should arrive; but Powhatan coldly replied, that
as he had endeavoured to betray Captain Smith to
the savages, so he would perhaps endeavour to betray
him to this great lord; and, without farther
discussion, caused the traitor's brains to be dashed
out by one of his people. Volday, the Swiss, had
escaped to England, and there having excited expectations
by enormous lies concerning gold mines
in Virginia, he was permitted to return with Delaware;
but his imposture having been discovered,

he died, laden with the scorn and contempt of all
who encountered him.[297]

Lord Delaware, in every respect, proved himself
well fitted for his arduous task. But a scarcity of
provisions soon occurred; and to remedy it, Sir
George Somers offered to proceed with a ship to
the Bermuda Isles, and bring back a supply of
pork procured from the wild hogs there abundant.[298]
(June 19.) His offer was gratefully accepted. He
embarked in his own cedar vessel, and Captain
Argal accompanied him in a smaller bark. But
the latter was soon forced back by heavy weather;
and in order not to lose entirely his expedition, he
sailed to the Potomac River—traded with the savages—found
among them the boy Henry Spilman,
who had been saved by Pocahontas during the
starving time,—and by the influence of this mediator,
he obtained a full freight of corn, and returned
in good spirits to Jamestown. Meanwhile, Somers
had buffeted his stormy way to the Bermudas.
Hogs were found in profusion, killed, salted, and
packed away for the use of the colony. The brave
old knight was preparing to return, when a malady,
engendered by the fatigue and exposure he had
lately undergone, assailed him, and soon terminated
his valuable life.[299]

His dying admonition to his nephew required

that the ship, with her provisions, should proceed
to Virginia; but his orders were disregarded. The
bark sailed to England, conveying the body of this
venerable man to be deposited at White Church, in
Dorsetshire.

While Lord Delaware retained his health, he
was ever active and judicious in devising and executing
plans for the welfare of the colony. His
treatment of the Indians was more decided and
harsh than that of Smith had been; and the savages
loved him less, and hardly respected him more.[300]
But his lordship soon experienced the effects of the
Virginia climate. Agues, chills, dysentery, cramp,
and gout, successively assailed him, and forced him
to fly from a land requiring so severe a process of
climatization.[301] (1611, March 28.) He sailed to the
West Indies, enjoyed the mineral baths of the
Isle of Mevis, ate oranges and lemons on their native
soil between the tropics, and finally went to
England, being advised by his physicians not to
return to Virginia until his health should be perfectly
restored. Dale and Gates having both gone
before him to the mother country, George Percy

was again left at the head of affairs. He was of
good birth, of easy disposition, and of pleasing
manners; but his body was feeble, and his mind
partook of its imbecility.

The council in England, still disappointed and
surprised by the continued disasters of their undertaking,
questioned Sir Thomas Gates closely as to
the evils affecting the colony, and seem at one time
seriously to have contemplated its total abandonment.
But better counsels prevailed. It was clear
that the country itself was rich and beautiful; and
to suffer it to return to barbarism seemed a retrograde
movement to which the expanding spirit of
England could not submit. Again an expedition
was prepared. Three ships, filled with men, cattle,
and wholesome provisions, were placed under the
care of Sir Thomas Dale, who was appointed High
Marshal of Virginia. He arrived at the settlement
on the 10th of May, and found affairs relapsing into
their former confusion. No corn was planted—no
ground prepared—houses were neglected—fences
destroyed—and the inhabitants, rejoicing in the
sweet season which had already covered their land
with flowers and fruits, were entertaining themselves
daily with bowling games and other gentlemanly
diversions in the streets of the town.[302] The
Marshal immediately set the idle company to work
in felling trees, and preparing pales and posts for a
new settlement, which he had determined to commence.
He selected for its site a neck of land,

nearly surrounded by a bend of the river, about
ninety miles above Jamestown; and, in honour of
the cherished memory of Prince Henry, he called
his new seat Henrico.[303]

But finding the people still turbulent, idle, and
devoted to their own selfish enjoyments, Dale prepared
for more vigorous measures. To provide for
emergency, Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer of
the Council, had sent over by the last arrival, a
"code of laws," framed almost entirely upon the
model furnished by the martial code then in force
in the Low Countries. This was the most rigid
school of military discipline existing in Europe,
and so stringent were its demands, that even the
Spaniards did not enforce them in their colonies,
but permitted the civil government to reign paramount
over the martial. We have no reason to
believe that this system was regularly adopted by
the London Council under the power given them
by their charter. It appears to have been sent to
Dale upon the sole responsibility of Sir Thomas
Smith;[304] but before we heap indignant denunciation,
either upon these laws or their introducer, we
must consider with calmness the existing state of
affairs.

All legislators will admit, that human laws must
vary according to the character of the subjects of

their government. Mild and humane rules may
suffice to direct the industrious and the moderate;
but the vicious and the disorderly will openly despise
them. Motives which are all-powerful with
one mind, fall impotently upon another. The fear
of disgrace, which will act upon a sensitive soul
with resistless power, has no restraining force upon
a heart callous alike to contempt and to pity.
Wise nations have adapted their laws to the state
of their people, and have indulged in no visionary
hope that man, in his original depravity, can be
governed by a system of refined moral suasion. If
it be admitted that the Southern States of the American
Union have acted wisely in enacting for the
slaves, unhappily existing within their borders,
laws different from those applied to the whites,
then we presume, that none who approve this distinction,
can object to the principle upon which
the martial law of Sir Thomas Smith was introduced.
The inhabitants of Virginia, at this time,
were among the most ungovernable of mankind:
they had the wildness of savages without their
simplicity; to the hatred of control peculiar to the
Indian, they added the pride induced by ignorant
civilization. Too indolent to work, yet unwilling
to starve; seditious in temper, and unscrupulous
in their measures for obtaining power; they needed
a strong and unshrinking arm to govern them;
a hand which would unsheathe the sword, and, if
necessary, strike the offender to the earth. It was
at this crisis that the military code was introduced.
It was wholly at variance with the English common
law, dispensed with trial by jury, subjected
the accused to arbitrary punishment, and denounced
instant death against the disobedient.
Yet in the mother country, its introduction for her
colonial settlements was strongly advised by a
noble and liberal mind,[305] and when published and
carried into effect in Virginia, its happy results
were immediately manifest. Sir Thomas Dale
used care and discrimination. The worst only
were punished, but all were awed; industry revived,
tumults ceased, and plenty began again to
appear. This code, suited to emergency, was not
intended to be permanent. It became gradually
unnecessary and obsolete; and when it was afterwards
revived by Argal, for purposes of oppression,
the complaints of the settlers secured from the
Council its final abolishment.[306]

Encouraged by hopes of better conduct in the
settlers, the London Company sent out a new supply
of three hundred men, with many cattle, hogs,
and other comfortable munitions. Sir Thomas
Gates, with "six tall ships," arrived early in August,
and cheered the colonists by his seasonable

aid. He seconded Dale in his efforts for Henrico,
and a salutary check to the Indians gave them leisure
for their schemes.

When Captain Matthew Somers had arrived in
England with the body of his uncle, inflated accounts
of the beauty and richness of the Bermuda
Islands had been given, and the public mind had
been additionally excited by news of an enormous
fragment of ambergris, accidentally found by the
two men left on the island when Sir George Somers
first left it to sail to Virginia.[307] The London
Company, anxious at once to secure this prize, applied
to the King for an extension of their patent;
and his majesty granted them a third charter on
the 11th March, 1612.[308]

After giving, in a most ample manner, all the
islands in the Atlantic within three hundred leagues
east of Virginia, and thus securing to them the
Bermudas, the sovereign proceeds to grant privileges
to the company, of the extent of which he
does not seem to have been himself fully apprised,
and the exercise of which afterwards undoubtedly
drew down upon the head of the corporation a
deathblow from the royal hand. The council,
though elected by and dependent upon the company,
yet in the long intervals between the corporate
sessions, had possessed great power; but now
the king creates a huge democratic assembly for
governing the settlement. He gives the company

authority to sit once a week, or oftener if they
thought proper,[309] and appoints four solemn General
Courts to be held quarterly during the year, at
which all the members might attend, and might
debate and decide great questions relative to their
officers, their ordinances, and the colony.[310] From
this time until its dissolution, we note in the debates
of the London Company a freedom, a sagacity,
and a spirit of inquiry very little acceptable
to James. Their quarter courts were attended by
masses of members, all eager to claim their privileges,
and for a time the English Solomon seems
to have held the position appropriate to Satan,
who is said to have power to raise a tempest
which he is wholly impotent to allay.

The charter further provides for raising money
by lotteries, giving the company full power to use
this pernicious mode of gaming. This authority
they afterwards resorted to, and sufficient folly
existed in England to bring twenty-nine thousand
pounds into the treasury of the corporation from
this source alone.[311] James long upheld his lottery
system, and justly claimed it as the first ever
known in England; but when, in 1621, the House
of Commons presented it as among the grievances

of the English people, his timid heart at once gave
way, and it was suppressed by proclamation.[312]

Early in this year two ships arrived, bringing
more men, but a scanty store of food. Argal, who
commanded them, determined to supply the defect
by a bold stroke of policy, highly congenial to the
firmness and the craft of his character. Since the
departure of Captain Smith, the Indian maiden
Pocahontas had withdrawn from Werowocomoco,
and lived concealed among her friends on the Potomac.
Argal, having learned this fact from Japazaws,
the king of this region, gained him over to
his purposes, and sailed up the river in one of his
barks. The deed of perfidy was soon complete.
A copper kettle, given by Englishmen and received
by Indians, was the price paid for the betrayal of
one of the noblest of human beings—of her who
had offered her own life to save a stranger—who
had encountered the anger of her father to shield
his enemies, and who had finally fled from his
presence to avoid the sight of butchered colonists!
By false pretences she was enticed into the gun-room
of Argal's ship, and then, immediately weighing
anchor, he carried the innocent and helpless
girl a prisoner to Jamestown.[313]

Powhatan was informed of her capture, and told

that she should be returned when he restored all
his English captives, and all the arms stolen by
Indians from the settlement. A struggle now commenced
between paternal affection and savage avarice,
and the result, for many months, was doubtful.[314] But Providence, by a divine alchemy, can
transmute even the crimes of men into the sweet
joys of social happiness. The Indian maiden was
treated by her captors with all the respect and
tenderness she deserved. Her gentle nature fully
sympathized with the refined emotions of polished
life; her confidence was easily won by kindness;
and we cannot doubt that she found her present
position more congenial to her taste than the rude
scenes of an Indian wigwam.

Among the settlers now at Jamestown, was John
Rolfe, a young gentleman to whom his contemporaries
assign good abilities and a spotless character.
Attracted by the beauty of Pocahontas, and by
that native dignity which graced this daughter of
an Indian monarch, his own affections became
deeply enlisted, and by his constant proof of tenderness
he gained a heart which the best of men
might have prized. He now earnestly desired to
be united to her in marriage; and when Sir Thomas
Dale communicated this proposal to Powhatan,
his majesty gave a gracious answer, and
sent his brother Opachiseo, and two of his sons, to
attend the nuptial ceremony.

(1613.) Early in April their union was solemnized
—the Indian princess became the wife of an English

gentleman; and we may say with truth that few
marriages have ever produced more tranquil happiness
in the parties themselves, or more lasting benefit
to others connected with them. Powhatan no
longer regarded the English as his enemies, but
during the rest of his life, himself and his people
maintained with them the most amicable relations.
And the powerful tribe of Chickahominies, who
had always hated and feared his dominion, finding
that he would now have time to reduce them to
subjection, voluntarily came forward and sought
the friendship of the settlers. They concluded
with them a treaty of peace, agreeing to take the
name of "New Englishmen,"—to aid them in
war—never to molest them or their property—to
enter none of their towns without notice—to give
an annual offering of two bushels of corn for every
fighting man, receiving as many hatchets in exchange—and
finally, that eight chiefs of this tribe
should see that the articles were performed; and
that these chieftains should be considered King
James's noblemen, and should each receive his picture,
a red coat, and a copper chain.[315]

Thus the colony was at peace, and Dale had an
opportunity of reforming abuses and improving
existing customs. A great and most salutary
change took place in the mode of holding property.
We have seen that, under the original
charter of James, all things were to be held,

during five years, in common, and all were to be
supplied from one common store. Under this unwise
system, the most powerful motives to private
industry were taken from the colonists. The indolent
slept or gamed away their hours, with the
comfortable assurance that the magazine would
feed them; the enterprising had no stimulant to
labour, the fruits of which they were not to enjoy,
and, between these conflicting views, the united
result was scarcity and starvation. Bees may
work diligently for a common stock, (though it
has never been shown that each one of these exemplary
insects has not her own private cell,) but
it is certain that men will never labour with zeal,
unless the benefits of their industry are to be reflected
directly or indirectly upon themselves.[316]
The intervention of a common fund did not long
survive the apostolic age,[317] and has never been successfully
revived in subsequent times.

Five years in Virginia had tested this scheme
and proved its evils. Sir Thomas Dale determined
gradually to change it. He allotted to each
man three acres of cleared ground, and required
him to labour eleven months for the common store
and one month for himself. This was but a slight
improvement; but upon his own extensive plantation

on the river, known as the Bermuda Hundred,
more favourable terms were granted. Each man
laboured one month for the community and appropriated
the remaining eleven to his own purposes.
Even these imperfect reforms produced the best
results. Industry revived; property accumulated;
famine was no longer feared;[318] and when, a few
years afterwards, all restrictions upon the enjoyment
of private property were removed, Virginia
assumed every feature of a flourishing colony.

But while the worthy marshal was thus kind to
the interests of his own colony, he showed a stern
opposition to the just rights of another. As early
as 1605, the French had sent settlers to Acadia,
and planted a colony at Port Royal, which had
now obtained some permanence.[319] England and
France had long been at peace, and the preamble
to James's first patent had expressly excluded from
his proposed grant any land then actually possessed
by a Christian prince or people.[320] But Dale, conceiving
this French settlement to be an invasion
of the rights of Virginia, because it was between
thirty-four and forty-five degrees of latitude, determined
to attack it. Argal was an agent well suited

for his purposes. Bold and unscrupulous, greedy
of gain, and little careful as to the means of acquiring
it he regarded a piratical expedition, covered
by the forms of law, as falling within his
peculiar province. (1614.) Early in the year, he
sailed to the north, attacked Port Royal, shot many
of the garrison with musketry, killed a gallant
Jesuit who resisted him, drove the settlers into the
woods, seized upon all the provisions, furniture,
and apparel he could find, and turned his bow
again to the southward. But, by way of completing
the work of reform, he entered the sound
at the mouth of the Hudson, and summoned the
Dutch settlements on Manhattan Island to surrender,
on the absurd pretence that Captain Hudson,
who discovered this country in 1609, while
lawfully in the service of Holland, was an Englishman,
and could not deprive his native land of
the benefit of his adventure. Unable to resist, the
fort surrendered; but soon afterwards, a reinforcement
having arrived, the phlegmatic Dutchmen
hoisted their colours and pursued their intended
course as though it had not been interrupted.

These exploits of Argal had every distinctive
trait of piracy, and we have no reason to believe
that they were approved by the English government.
James, indeed, in 1621, granted Port Royal
to one of his subjects;[321] but Nova Scotia was still

retained by the French, and Manhattan by the
Netherlanders.

The natives were now at peace with the colonists,
and their friendly relations began to be productive
of good to both parties. But Dale feared
the consummate art of Powhatan; and, seeing the
powerful check upon his hostile views which the
presence of Pocahontas among the English secured,
he wished to obtain another valued hostage.
Ralph Harner was sent to the king, and,
after a due exchange of courtesies, he asked that
the youngest daughter of Powhatan, a handsome
girl, much beloved by her father, might be sent to
Jamestown, where a husband, well suited to her
taste, would speedily be provided. The old monarch
immediately perceived the distrust of the
colonists, and, after various excuses, he delivered
to Harner a speech, in which the tender feelings
of a father's heart are exhibited with touching
simplicity. He asked why his brother desired to
bereave him of his two children at once. He had
already a pledge of his friendship in his oldest
daughter; and even though no pledge at all existed,
they need fear no injury from him. He had
seen enough of blood; his people had been slain;
his country had been wasted; and now, in his old
age, when he was soon to go to the grave, he desired
nothing but "peace and quietness."[322] With
this answer, the messenger returned to the fort.

Meanwhile, Pocahontas became daily an object
of greater interest to her new friends, and of ever-growing
affection in her husband. Her gentle and
susceptible mind easily received the impress of that
lovely religion, taught in its purity by Christ and
his disciples; and she signified her desire to be
baptized, in testimony of her Christian faith. This
interesting ceremony was performed during the
month of June. She received the name of Rebecca;
and as she was the first native converted to
Christianity, so was she perhaps the most sincere
and most exemplary, in all the virtues of her profession.[323] It has not been amiss, that American genius
has selected the scene of her baptism for
adorning the national hall of the country, whose
infancy was preserved by her courage, and cherished
by her love.

(1615.) From views of domestic pleasure, we turn
to the general interests of a colony which may now
at last be considered as permanent. Virginia had
heretofore had no staple which promised to yield
regular returns to her productive industry. Plank
was liable to injury, and required much labour.
Tar, pitch, and turpentine, pot and pearl ashes,
were produced in Europe far cheaper than inexperienced
hands in the settlement could make them;
vines and silk-worms demanded a dense population
and technical skill; gold and silver had at length,

though most reluctantly, been abandoned as dreams.
In this juncture the colonists turned their eyes
upon a weed, of which the history deserves an exalted
place among the records of human vagaries.
Revolting to an unviolated taste, abhorred by the
brute creation, fatal even to the insects that men
profess most to dislike, this weed has yet gained its
way from the pouch of the beggar to the household
stores of the monarch upon his throne. It has
affected commerce through her every vein, caused
disputes between a king and his subjects, and excited
royal genius to unwonted literary effort; and,
with equal truth may we say, that it has often enveloped
the brave in smoke, and stimulated the
drooping and the despondent. We need scarcely
mention the name of Tobacco. Walter Raleigh
first made it fashionable in England, and smoked
so vigorously, that his servant, in alarm, poured
over his head and face the generous ale intended
to aid in its effect.[324] Elizabeth paid her favourite a
wager, which he fairly won, by weighing the
smoke produced from a certain quantity of this
weed; and her majesty has been suspected of having
regaled her own royal system with a pipe from
time to time.[325] James hated it with unquenchable
fury—drew upon it his pen, and shot forth a
"Counterblast against Tobacco," to convince the
world that it was the appropriate luxury of the
Evil One, and that its smoke was as the vapour of
the bottomless pit.[326]

This plant was known to the Indians throughout
almost the whole of the American continent. The
French navigator, Cartier, had found it in Canada,
in 1535;[327] but it then excited in his crews nothing
but disgust. Ralph Lane carried it from Carolina
to England in 1586; and it soon became a luxury,
used by the rich, and coveted by the poor. The
Spaniards in the south had long cultivated it, and
made it a source of profitable traffic. The Virginians,
finding men more willing to pay for the
exciting and the agreeable than the useful, now determined
to make this weed the staple of their land;
and from the year 1615 to the present time, it has
been always her product, sometimes her support,
often her bane. Her rich soil and warm suns were
well adapted to its wants. Instantly all were full
of diligence and commotion in raising the new staple;—fields
were opened and prepared, trees were
felled, and every spot of cleared land was appropriated
to the precious weed. Corn, and other grain,
were so much neglected, that they were again
threatened with scarcity, and driven to endanger
their peace with the Indians, by demanding from
them supplies. So violent was the tobacco mania,
that Dale thought it necessary to restrain it by

law; and yet when, two years afterwards, Argal
came from England as governor to Virginia, he
found the church in decay, and the yard, the market
square, the very streets of Jamestown full of the
plants of this much-esteemed commodity.[328] The
people were glowing with the belief that they had
discovered a superior mode of drying by suspending
it on lines, instead of piling it in heaps; and it
is related that by large importations for this purpose,
the demand for small cord became great in
the mother country.[329]

(1616.) Sir Thomas Dale prepared to return to
England. The colony owed much to this gentleman;
and notwithstanding his use of the martial
law suggested by Smith, he was respected and beloved
by worthy settlers. He had introduced several
salutary changes, and among the rest one regulating
the tenure of land. Originally, any man
adventuring his person in the colony was entitled
to one hundred acres of ground to his sole and
separate use; but as the settlement increased, this
quantity was found too great, and was reduced to
fifty acres. To encourage industry, it was provided,
that when the first plot granted should be
well cleared and occupied, the owner should have
a right to as much more, to be selected at his pleasure.
For extraordinary merit, the Company
would sometimes give land to a particular person;
but by the King's patent, they were forbidden in

these grants to bestow in all more than two thousand
acres. Any one paying into the treasury
the sum of twelve pounds, ten shillings, acquired a
right to one hundred acres, to be located where he
pleased. Under these regulations, the tenure of
lands became gradually fixed and secure.[330]

Leaving the government to Sir George Yeardley,
Dale embarked for England, and arrived
safely at Plymouth on the 12th of June. He carried
with him John Rolfe and his young wife Pocahontas,
who was now to appear amid the scenes
of European refinement, to which her beauty, her
intelligence, and her artless manners were to impart
additional grace. Captain John Smith was,
at this time, about to commence a voyage to New
England; but on learning of the arrival of the
generous woman who had jeoparded her life to
save his own, his noble nature prompted him to
serve her by all means in his power. He wrote a
letter to the Queen, and used all his influence with
Prince Charles to obtain for it a favourable reception.
Did nothing remain to us of his writings
except this letter, it would yet suffice to give us an
insight into his character. Frank, modest, and
manly, he speaks to her majesty in the true spirit
of an English gentleman. He introduces to her
the amiable Pocahontas; tells of his own danger,
of her heroism in rescuing him, of her love to the
colonists, her self-denial for their welfare, her marriage

and conversion, and of the birth of her son.
Then appealing to the best impulses of the human
heart, he invokes the Queen's tenderness and protection
for this gentle being, thus separated from
her friends, her home, her native ties, and coming
unknown and almost friendless to a land where all,
to her, were strangers.[331] We have reason to believe,
that this letter produced a happy effect upon
the Queen, and excited her sympathies in behalf
of her interesting visiter.

But the learned idiot, who then wore the English
crown, did not look upon this matter with perfect
complacency. The very name of a king had
a magic sound in his ears, and whether the sovereign
were king of Great Britain, Ireland, and
France, or king of the Ashantees in Africa, he
alike regarded him as the anointed of heaven.
Under this view, Pocahontas was a princess, and
Rolfe had married one of the blood royal. Peradventure
he had thus acquired some claim to
sovereignty in Virginia, either for himself or his
offspring, and James was chafed by absurd fears,
based on his own more absurd theory of government.[332]

Captain Smith had not left London when Pocahontas
arrived. The smoke and noise of the city
were so offensive to her, that she immediately retired
to the pleasant village of Brentford, and here

her distinguished friend enjoyed an interview with
her. She had been told that he was dead, and
when he now presented himself, a crowd of conflicting
emotions so affected her that she turned
from him and covered her face with her hands.
But after a season she resumed her composure, addressed
him in the simple language of a heart unschooled
in artifice, reminded him of their former
friendship, and claimed its continuance. She asked
the privilege of calling him her father; and nothing
but a knowledge of the jealousy of the court
could have induced Smith to reject the touching
petition. It would be difficult to imagine a scene
more interesting than this interview between the
brave soldier of England and the heroine of the
American wilderness.[333]

Lady Delaware undertook the pleasing office of
presenting the princess at court; and the genuine
modesty, the good sense, the dignity of manner,
and personal grace, which Pocahontas possessed in
a remarkable degree, soon rendered her a favourite,
and caused her society to be sought by courtiers
and nobles, who vied with each other in paying
her attention. Masks, balls, and theatrical exhibitions
were daily presented for her amusement; and
her susceptible mind seems to have derived intense
pleasure from these evidences of European refinement.[334] But she willingly prepared to return to
Virginia with her husband. Early in 1617, they

arrived at Gravesend, intending soon to embark,
when Pocahontas was attacked by a dangerous malady,
and in a few days resigned her gentle spirit
to Him who gave it. She had not yet reached her
twenty-third year. In the very morning of life,
and when the hearts of all around her were most
tenderly linked to her fate, she was taken away.
Yet, saddening as was the event, we cannot regret
it. We can even see in it evidences of Divine
foresight and mercy. She died with perfect composure,
relying with simple faith upon promises
from lips which have never deceived, and upon
the support of an arm which has never grown
feeble.[335] Had she lived even a few years longer, it
might have been to have her heart tortured by the
sight of murdered colonists and of Indians extermimated,
in a war which all her powers of conciliation
would not have averted.

She left a son, Thomas Rolfe, who, after spending
his childhood and youth in England, came to
Virginia, and by his fortune and his talents exercised
a happy influence upon her destinies. He
died, leaving an only daughter, who intermarried
with Colonel Robert Bolling, and became the mother
of a son, John Bolling, who was her only child.
He was the father of Colonel John Bolling, and of
five daughters, who were severally married to

Richard Randolph, John Flemming, Doctor William
Gay, Thomas Eldridge, and James Murray.[336]
By these channels the blood of the Indian princess
has been transmitted to numerous descendants, who
have inhabited the soil once possessed by her imperial
father. A historian, not unknown to fame,
has asserted that these children of a noble parentage,
have been distinguished rather for virtue and
wealth, than for the more imposing gifts of talent
and renown. "None of them has been conspicuous
in arts or arms: no great statesman or consummate
general has issued from the loins of Powhatan."[337] But these statements must be received
with caution. Were John Randolph, of Roanoke,
the only name to which we could point in this
family,[338] he would be sufficient to shed upon it the
light of a genius too rare to be neglected, too glowing
to be concealed, yet too peculiar to be imitated;
and in the present age, it would be easy, among
the descendants of Pocahontas, to find, in man,
those gifts of nature which cause the few to govern
the many, and in woman the most brilliant personal
beauty, united with the highest of mental
endowments.

Among the attendants of Pocahontas, to the court
of James, was an intelligent Indian, bearing the
euphonious name of Uttamatomakkin, sent by King
Powhatan to ascertain the resources of England,
and particularly the number of her population.

He bravely began his census by notching a long
stick for each person that he met, but soon gave
way in despair, and on returning told his monarch
to number the stars in the sky, the leaves on the
trees, and the sand on the sea-shore, if he desired
to know the number of this great people.[339] This
acute savage formed but a low opinion of the English
sovereign, and in sadness complained to Captain
Smith, that though Powhatan had given to
his white visiter a dog as a present, James had
given nothing to him, and certainly he was better
than a dog! Perchance the native critic was well
fitted to pronounce an impartial opinion upon the
author of the Basilicon Doron.

Meanwhile George Yeardley held the reins of
government in Virginia. He was mild and amiable
in character, but feeble in administration, and
it was thought the colony yet needed a stronger
arm for its control. Already in the counsels of
the London Company, we mark, with pain, the influence
of a court faction, who sympathized with
the King in his hatred of democracy, and opposed
by their intrigues the efforts of the friends of freedom.
Lord Rich and Sir Thomas Smith united
their efforts to obtain the appointment of deputy
governor for Captain Samuel Argal, and they unhappily
succeeded. Early in this year the new
governor came over, and immediately opened his
administration by acts of tyranny, and threats of
its increase. (May.) The martial law of Smith

had been gradually relaxed, until it became almost
lifeless, but Argal breathed into its frame his own
relentless spirit, and it sprang up in pristine vigour.
In the middle of a year of drought and of storm,
attended by a fall of hailstones nine inches in circumference,[340] the provincial monarch thundered
forth his decrees. He bound the private commerce
of the colony in chains; forbidding goods to be sold
for more or less than twenty-five per cent. advance,
or tobacco for more or less than three shillings per
pound, on penalty of three years slavery to the offender.
He forbade all private traffic with the
Indians, and denounced death against any who
should teach them the use of fire-arms. No man
was permitted to hunt deer or hogs without his excellency's
fiat; and a year of slavery was the punishment
for him who should use fire-arms at all,
except in necessary self-defence, until more ammunition
should arrive. No person was to go on
board the ships at Jamestown, nor were the crews
to come on shore, or talk with the inhabitants,
without the governor's license. Any person neglecting
to go to church Sundays and holidays,
was to "lye neck and heels that night,"[341] and be a
slave for a week; for the second offence, he was to
be enslaved a month, and for the third, for a year
and a day![342] From this last clause we infer that
the alternative of the church or the stocks was not
uncommon, and that some preferred the latter.

(1618.) While the colonists were groaning under
this reign of terror, Lord Delaware was preparing
to resume in person his duties as governor. The
company sent him forth with a large ship and two
hundred settlers. Storms soon assailed him; adverse
winds delayed his progress; foul weather
and exhaustion produced disease; and many died
on the passage. His lordship was still in delicate
health; and, unable to bear up under the pressure
now affecting him, he rapidly declined, and died
at sea, when his ship had reached a point probably
not far from the mouth of the bay now bearing his
name.[343] We cannot contemplate the death of this
excellent nobleman without sorrow and sympathy.
Virginia should cherish his memory with warm
affection, for he devoted his best days to her service,
and may truly be said to have fallen a martyr
to his zeal for her welfare.

In the same year in which Delaware died, it is
remarkable that two other persons descended to
the grave, whose names will always be connected
with the most interesting passages of American
history. Walter Raleigh at last fell a sacrifice to
the envy of inferiors, the cruel policy of James,
and the hatred of the Spanish court, all united for
his destruction. And the great emperor Powhatan,

after a life of martial activity, was permitted to die
in peace. He had keenly felt the death of his
daughter, and, from the time it was announced to
him, seems to have lost all interest in public affairs.
He died full of years, and, we may add, laden with
the honours which should gather around the memory
of one who acted well in the sphere to
which his Creator has assigned him. Acute in
mind, inventive in counsel, prompt in execution,
bold in danger, he ever retained his dignity and
his command amid surrounding numbers; and had
not English skill overpowered his native ingenuity,
his dominion would never have been lessened.
His powers were far more exalted than
those of the civilized monarch, who proposed to
hold him in vassalage; and had British soil given
him birth, and hereditary right raised him to the
throne of England, his name would not be found
among those of her kings who are remembered
only to be despised and ridiculed.[344]

After the death of Lord Delaware, Argal continued
his course of arbitrary government, without
scruple or hindrance. His rapacity was insatiate,
and not content with plundering the public store,
by every artifice that his knavery could suggest,
he attacked the private property of the deceased
earl himself, and Lady Delaware has left on record
many complaints of her losses by this fearless
peculator.[345] The unhappy colonists were now fettered

and lying helpless at his feet; for if they
acted or even spake against his oppression, martial
law was forthwith called down upon their heads.

An individual example will illustrate. Argal
had taken under his special care Lord Delaware's
estate, and converted its profits to his own use.
Edward Brewster, who had long been one of its
lawful overseers, remonstrated against this, and
sharply threatened one of the creatures of the governor,
who was fulfilling his master's unrighteous
purposes. This man complained to Argal, who
instantly determined to visit upon the intrepid
Brewster all the terrors of the martial code.

He was arrested and tried under a provision denouncing
death against any man who should "contemptuously
resist or disobey his commander, or
do any act or speak any words which might tend
to breed disorder or mutiny;"[346] and, after a brief
examination, he was found guilty and condemned
to die. Yet so revolting was the whole proceeding
to the Council, that they threw off their accustomed
apathy, and implored mercy for the condemned
at the hands of the governor.[347] Argal had
at first determined that Brewster should die; but
after much entreaty, he consented to pardon him,
on condition that he should leave the colony never
to return, and that neither in England nor elsewhere
should he ever utter any disrespectful words
concerning his persecutor. Conduct so refined in
violence and oppression could not long be concealed.
Brewster appealed to the company in

London, who reversed his sentence, and prepared
to call the inflated governor to account.[348]

Even Sir Thomas Smith could no longer countenance
his kinsman. In union with Sir Lionel
Cranfield and Alderman Johnson, (two members of
the court party,) he wrote to Argal a letter, in
which he charged him, in most cutting terms, with
his manifold crimes and misdemeanors. He accuses
him of rapacity, peculation, embezzlement, in
every shape and form, and threatens him with
speedy punishment. This letter, and one from the
Company to Lord Delaware, had been written before
the death of that nobleman; and they both fell
into the hands of Argal, who took measures for defence,
or, if necessary, for securing, by flight, the
fruits of his dishonesty. (1619.) When the Company
appointed Sir George Yeardley to supersede
him, the Earl of Warwick, formerly Lord Rich,
who was bound to the governor by ties of similarity
in character and partnership in profit, despatched a
small vessel to Virginia, which arrived in time to
carry off Argal and his ill-gotten treasures before
the advent of his successor.[349] (April.) Thus he

escaped punishment, and enjoyed for a season the
gains of iniquity.

The arrival of Sir George Yeardley, as Governor
of Virginia, in the spring of 1619, may be hailed as
the opening of a more brilliant era in her annals
than any that had gone before. Much obloquy has
been heaped upon the London Company, by those
who have marked its faults without regarding its
virtues; but the true lover of freedom will not forget
that to this body America is indebted for the first of
those free constitutions which have so long been
the boast of her highly favoured soil. We have
already spoken of the spirit which appeared and
gained strength in the open debates of this large
body. Men began to find that they could think
for themselves, and that they were not absolutely
dependent for wisdom upon a crowned head. A
small number did indeed steadily adhere to the interest
and policy of the king; but an overwhelming
majority spake, debated, determined, and acted with
all the resolution that intelligent freedom could inspire.
Unable to make this influence fully felt in
England, where popular indignation had not yet
ripened into resistance by arms to the king's prerogative,
they determined to give to Virginia a
constitution embodying their views of the rights of
man. Accordingly, Sir George Yeardley was despatched
with plenary powers, and brought with
him to the settlement several charters, by one of
which he was authorized to call together the "First
General Assembly" that ever sat upon the soil of

the new world.[350] Little did James and his obsequious
servants imagine that he had imparted being
to a parent who was now to give birth to a child
destined by his own innate vigour to shake the dominion
of Britain to its centre, and finally to change
the aspect of the most powerful nations of earth!

Among the manuscript records of the London
Company, which have fortunately been preserved,[351]
we do not find the charter authorizing the creation of
the first representative body in Virginia; but we may
presume that it did not differ materially from the
constitution afterwards fully established under Sir
Francis Wyatt, to which we shall soon have occasion

to refer. It is certain that about the close of
the month of June, the first Assembly met at Jamestown.
The division of counties was yet unknown;
but each borough or township sent a representative,
and from this the legislators acquired the
name of "Burgesses," which they long retained.
The representatives sat and voted in the same room
with the council, and the governor retained a negative
upon all laws or other action. Not one of the
acts of this Assembly has been preserved; but we
have reason to believe they legislated with wisdom,
and that their conduct was approved by the Company
in England.[352]

Such was the origin of true liberty in America.
We find in this constitution much that is obscure,
and of that which is well ascertained we note much
that might be amended; but we see in it the germ
of a representative body, taken from, elected by,
sympathizing with, the people, ready to watch over
their interests and protect their rights, and yet
sufficiently removed from them to be beyond the
immediate influence of their prejudices and passions.
This is as nearly as man may, with safety,
approach to entire self-government.

Besides the important change just alluded to,
this year was fruitful in events deeply affecting
the welfare of the colony. Sir Thomas Smith was
not popular as treasurer. He was too much inclined
to the king's faction, and his increasing
years made him willing to retire from public life.
(April 28.) He was succeeded by Sir Edwin

Sandys, a gentleman of liberal views, of warm
heart, and of steady devotion to the rights of the
Company and of the settlers. Under his care, several
salutary measures were adopted, and a vigorous
spirit pervaded the affairs of the colony.
Nearly one thousand reputable settlers were sent
from the mother country to occupy the soil and
increase the strength of her dependency. But in
recording this great increase, the historian is compelled,
with indignation, to narrate a most shameful
exercise of regal tyranny. King James expressly
commanded the Company to transport to
Virginia one hundred convicts, guilty of every
species of felony, or else adjudged too dissolute to
remain upon the soil of Britain. Entreaties, remonstrances,
appeals, were tried in vain. At a
heavy expense these miscreants were transported
to the colony, to add strength to indolence and
energy to vice. The judicious Stith may well denounce,
in unsparing terms, this conduct, which
"hath laid one of the finest countries in British
America under the unjust scandal of being a mere
hell upon earth."[353] These people and their descendants
gradually improved in morals; but Virginia
has deeply felt the wound which their very
presence inflicted on her.[354]

A great mortality prevailed this season among
the settlers, and three hundred were swept away
within the year.[355] They were, probably, those who
had not yet passed the ordeal of the climate, and
the rank vegetation of the summer and autumn
exercised the most fatal of influences. But if
death was thus busy, abundance seemed to pour
in upon the survivors. An enormous yield of corn
and wheat was gathered, and it is even related that
two harvests were obtained the same year. The
wheat first sown was shaken by the wind, and the
grains which fell produced the second crop. This
seems hardly credible; but the profusion in this
year is proved by the highest authority.[356]

Sir Edwin Sandys looked with great favour
upon the attempt already made to found a college
in the colony, and exerted himself to raise money
for its support. It was seated at Henrico, was
under good directors, and was intended not only
for the education of white children, but also for
training Indian boys to Christian lives and civilized
learning. Many benevolent persons, of both sexes,
in the mother country, contributed to its aid, and
it promised much, when its proceedings were interrupted
by a disaster soon to be mentioned.[357]

And now began the first dispute between England
and her dependency; caused, beyond doubt,
by a spirit of unrighteous demand in the mother,

and of resistance to oppression in the child. King
James, by the charter of 1609, had expressly exempted
the colonists from all customs for twenty-one
years, upon their products imported into England,
except five per cent. on imports, according to
the long-established custom of merchants.[358] But
this astute pedant, notwithstanding his hatred to
tobacco, hated it not with a hatred equal to his love
for money, and determined to draw from this diabolical
commodity a revenue wherewith to appease
his starving coffers. For this purpose a plan was
adopted, as ingenious as it was fraudulent. Spanish
tobacco, being of fine quality, generally sold
for about eighteen shillings per pound, while that
from Virginia never brought more than five, and
generally sold for three or four shillings per pound.
Notwithstanding this disparity, his majesty's custom-house
officers exacted an average duty of six
pence per pound on all tobacco imported, thus favouring
Spain and oppressing Virginia. For it
will be perceived, that this duty would be not
quite three per cent. on the Spanish product, and
from ten to sixteen per cent. on that of the colony.
In addition to this, Mr. Jacob, the farmer of the
tobacco impost, deliberately annexed six pence per
pound to this already heavy tax, thus imposing the
enormous duty of twenty per cent. upon the staple
of Virginia even when it brought its highest
price.[359]

Such oppression could not be endured; the Company
appealed to the courts of law, relying upon
the strength of their charter; but as might have
been foretold, they met with meagre justice and
much loss. The conflict thus commenced, continued,
with little intermission, during several
years. The King granted monopolies for the sale
of tobacco, limited the quantity to be imported,
appointed commissioners for inspecting or "garbling,"
and confiscating all that they might see fit
to declare to be of "base quality;" exacted heavy
duties, and yet, when the Company, wearied by his
systematic oppression, ceased to import the weed
into Britain, and sent it to the inviting ports of
Holland, his majesty flew into a royal rage, and
forbade them to send their own products to any
other country, unless they were first landed in
England. The Company appealed to the House
of Commons, and supported their right to ship
their staple directly to Holland, by referring to
their charters, which in no sense restricted this
well-known privilege of English subjects. The
controversy was waged with skill and violence on
both sides, until finally, in 1622, a compromise
was effected. The articles agreed upon provided,
that the Virginia and Somers' Island Companies
should have the sole right to import tobacco into
the British realm; that no person should be permitted
to plant this article on the soil of Great

Britain during the continuance of this agreement;
that besides the regular duties of sixpence a pound
on roll, and fourpence on leaf, the Company should
pay to his majesty a full third part of all the tobacco
imported; but they were not obliged to import
a greater quantity than they thought proper;
that the Company should import from forty to sixty
thousand pounds of Spanish tobacco in each of the
first two ensuing years; and that the contract
should commence at Michaelmas, 1622, and continue
for seven years.[360]

Thus did James drive the Spaniards from his
market, and grant to the English colonists a complete
monopoly for the sale of their staple. It is
singular that he should have done this, while his
love of popery was still strong, and while he was
indulging in ardent hopes of soon effecting a marriage
between his son Charles and the infanta of
Spain;[361] but it is still more singular, that the Company
should have supposed they would derive pecuniary
benefit from this change. Few articles
can bear a tax amounting to more than one-third
their value; and nothing but the insatiate longing
for a stimulant once indulged, could have attracted
an ounce of this weed to England after the granting
of the monopoly. But men have ever preferred
their vices or their vagaries to their own
substantial welfare. During the years in which

this dispute was in progress, we find in the pages
of Stith, little but the word "tobacco," repeated in
every possible combination, until we are almost led
to imagine that the odour of the weed clings permanently
to the words of the reverend historian.
We shall again encounter it as we pass through
the story of Virginia's fortunes.

(1620.) An incident now presents itself, upon
which none who have proper feelings, can look
without melancholy interest, and which few Englishmen
or Americans can regard without deep
humiliation. It is not a purpose here entertained
to enter upon a history of slavery; to go back to
the time when man first bought and sold his fellow-creatures,
or when, under the Divine constitution,
it first became lawful for one mortal to control
another as his property. Whatever may be the
ravings of fanaticism on this subject, it is certain
that the father of the faithful, the chosen servant
of the Almighty, owned and governed slaves in a
mode as absolute as any that had ever prevailed in
the Southern States of the American Union.[362] It
is also certain, that the inspired Apostle of Christ,
who enjoyed more abundant revelations than any
other writer of the New Testament, has laid down
laws to govern the relation of master and slave;
thus proving it to be lawful.[363]
For neither has the

Deity, nor have righteous men, at any time given
laws to regulate an unlawful relation, as that of
adulterer and adulteress, receiver and thief. But
upon a subject which has excited, and is still producing
so profound emotion in the world, we will
not enter the arena of debate. Inexorable necessity
alone[364] could induce the people of Virginia to
continue an institution which, however lawful, is
not desirable; which has been entailed upon them
by British ancestors; which they have perseveringly
struggled to mitigate; and from which they
hope finally to see their land wholly delivered. It
is rather the duty of the historian to trace evils to
their sources, and, without fear or malice, to attach
censure to those who have rendered themselves ingloriously
immortal, by giving birth to ills which
are destined to curse the world when their bodies
have, during ages, slumbered in the dust.

England has always held slaves under her control:
villeins in the feudal ages—kidnapped Africans
under Elizabeth—negroes in her American
islands—white children in the mines and factories
upon her own soil—conquered Hindoos in her vast
East Indian domain. Nevertheless, it is true that
the bondman who now touches her soil becomes
free, and may have a writ of "habeas corpus" to
secure his liberty! So skilful is she in retaining

the substance without the form, in giving to her
poets and orators a phantom upon which to waste
their eloquence, while she relaxes not her grasp
upon the enslaved spirit thus disembodied! Sir
John Hawkins was the first Englishman of note,
who openly engaged in the slave trade. In 1562,
he visited Africa, enticed the unsuspecting negroes
aboard his ship, attacked and captured a large
number of a hostile tribe, promised them all much
comfort under the pleasant skies of Hispaniola,
sold them to the Spaniards upon that island, and
returned to England "with a rich freight of pearls,
sugar, and ginger," to excite his countrymen to
emulation, and to allay the qualms of the Queen's
conscience by displays of wealth, and promises of
great moderation in his future kidnappings.[365] Thus,
while the Pope of Rome was steadily hurling anathemas
at this inhuman traffic,[366] a Protestant princess
received it under her especial care and countenance.

But though England sanctioned the slave trade,
sold her own people into servitude, after the unhappy
rebellion of Monmouth, in the reign of
James II.,[367] and afterwards contributed heavily to

swell the number of Africans on the soil of America,
yet she did not originally introduce them.
James I was content to prepare the minds of the
colonists for enslaving their innocent fellow-beings,
by sending guilty wretches from Britain to servitude
in the settlement.[368] In August, 1620, a Dutch
man-of-war sailed up the James, landed twenty
negroes from the African coast,[369] and soon obtained
a sale for them from the planters, who were willing
at any expense, either of money or of feeling, to
secure suitable labourers for their lucrative staple.
We will not further dwell upon this circumstance,
or upon its results. The number was small, but
the practice was commenced; the virus was introduced
into the blood of the patient, and centuries
perchance will yet elapse ere she will recover from
its influences.

From a cargo of unhappy negroes, torn from
their native land to be reduced to bondage on a
distant soil, we pass immediately to an importation
far more useful, more agreeable, more interesting
in all its aspects. The colonists had hitherto
wanted permanency of view. Many of them
came to Virginia with the mere hope of amassing
wealth, and then with a fixed design to return to
the comforts of their native land. They regarded
the colony as a commercial speculation, rather than

as the fœtus of a great and prosperous people.
But gradually this unsettled feeling had diminished;
men began to regard the beautiful country
around them with affection, and to look upon
it with all those tender thoughts which gather
around the spot we call our home. To encourage
this sentiment, the Company adopted a plan as
novel as it was judicious. The presence of woman
has always been necessary, to cause the wandering
desires of man to centre upon a particular spot.
The Deity judged not unwisely when he brought
our mother to Adam, who was already surrounded
by the charms of Eden; for without her, the garden
would not long have retained his restless spirit.

Hitherto, matrimonial connexions in the colony
had not been numerous. Many families, it is true,
had come undivided, but a large number of men
were still single, and composed a class most capable
of affecting the settlement either for good or
for evil. To provide these with companions, the
managers in England made proper proposals, and
immediately ninety young females declared that
they were ready to devote themselves to so praiseworthy
an object.[370] They were shipped to the colony,
and, as the adventurers had made a considerable
outlay in preparing them for the voyage,
on arrival, they were offered for sale—the price
demanded being one hundred and twenty pounds
of tobacco.[371] This, at three shillings per pound,

would be a sum equal to about eighty dollars, but
if proper allowance be made for the greater value
of money at that time than at the present, each of
these damsels was to be sold for nearly one hundred
and fifty dollars. Immediately on arriving,
these gentle ladies were placed before the young
colonists. Offers were rapid. They sold in a
brief space of time, and were duly united in holy
wedlock to their respective purchasers. Family
ties were formed; mutual content prevailed; life
began to grow brighter; cares lost their depressing
power. Certainly we may suppose, that women
who had not been deterred by any silly fastidiousness
from seeking advantageous matches by such
means, would not afterwards torment their husbands
by the caprices and follies to which their
sex is said to be liable; and the young planters had
every guarantee for finding in their wives the respect
and obedience, alike required by laws human
and divine.

This encouraging prospect induced the Company
to prepare for another shipment. They designed
to send one hundred, but their funds were
only sufficient for sixty, and, accordingly, that
number speedily arrived at Jamestown. We are
told by good authority, that they were young,
handsome, and chaste.[372] We may not presume
that the daughters of noblemen, or even of the

higher gentry of England, embarked on this truly
philanthropic excursion; but we have the best reason
to believe, that they were girls of respectable
parentage, of more than common personal beauty,
and of undoubted virtue.[373] Great care was taken
to permit none to go out whose morals were not
pure; and, in proof of the strictness observed on
this point, we find, at a later period, an order of
Council, regularly made, to send back to England
two women, whose chastity had been successfully
assailed, and who had become pregnant during the
passage.[374] They were instantly discarded, as unworthy
to propagate a race who have always been
proverbial for honour in man, and for purity in
woman.

The importation of this year sold as rapidly as
the first. The price rose to one hundred and fifty
pounds of tobacco; and as we do not hear of any
very heavy bidding for particular maidens, while
others were neglected, or only taken if accompanied
by a premium, we infer that a remarkable equality
prevailed in the attractions of these damsels, and
that this had been a point judiciously managed by
the consignors. The Company proved its wisdom
by annexing strong inducements to wedlock; declaring
that they would deal with, ship to, and in
all things favour married men, rather than those
who, after a certain age, remained single.[375]

Under these happy auspices we note a perceptible

improvement in the affairs of the colony;
industry revived, men became attached to their
homes and settled in their views, the servitude of
apprenticeship was relaxed, and all things wore a
cheering aspect, until the terrible disaster which it
will soon be our duty to record.

Sir George Yeardley was a man of mild and
sensitive spirit, and so deeply was he wounded by
the ungenerous attacks constantly made upon him
by the court party in the Company, with Warwick
and Argal at its head, that his health began to decline.
He fell into painful languor of body,[376] from
which he seems not to have recovered. Sir Francis
Wyatt was appointed to succeed him, and early
in August set out for the colony. He brought with
him a written constitution for the settlers, and full
instructions for his own guidance and control.
The constitution was but intended to confirm the
privileges granted under Sir George Yeardley, but
it will ever remain among our records as a monument
of the noble and expanded spirit pervading
the counsels of the London Company.[377]

After erecting two councils—one to consist of the
governor and his advisers, known as the Council
of State, and the other to consist of the first body,
together with two burgesses from each town, hundred,
or plantation, to be freely elected by the people,
and called together by the governor, once a
year, and not oftener unless for special reason,—

the charter provides that this last-mentioned body,
forming one "General Assembly," shall have power
to make laws, subject, however, to an absolute
negative in the governor, and subject also to the
approval of the Company at some one of their quarterly
courts. But, with admirable equity, it was
farther declared, that no action of the Company
should be binding on the colonists unless duly ratified
by the General Assembly.[378] Imperfect as was
this constitution, it should afford unmixed delight,
when we remember whence it came, and under the
reign of what sovereign it was granted.

The instructions accompanying the governor,
with much that is good, embrace some things savouring
of the errors of the age.[379] The Church of
England is commended to his fatherly care—
drunkenness is denounced—fine clothes are proscribed—a
census is commanded—dead men's estates
are to be properly guarded—mulberry trees,
vines, salt, tar, pitch, and soap-ashes are to be encouraged.
The people are not to plant more than
one hundred pounds of tobacco per head, and they
are absolutely required to son great quantities of
corn, to provide effectually against famine or even
scarcity.

Thus enjoying the blessings of liberty, of health,
of good laws, and of an amiable governor, the people

of Virginia began to put forth their energies,
and already abundance and peace were the rewards
of their exertions. But a dark cloud was gathering
above them, unseen indeed by their eyes, which
were sealed in placid confidence, yet pregnant
with a storm that was soon to descend in horror
and death upon their devoted heads.

Since the marriage of Pocahontas with John
Rolfe, the Indians had preserved the most peaceful
relations with the settlers, and hopes were entertained
that permanent friendship would be established
between them. The dominion of Powhatan
had descended to his brother Opitchapan, a feeble
and decrepit chieftain, who was neither dreaded by
the whites, nor respected by his own subjects.
But there was one mind among the natives, which
now exercised all the sway of superior genius and
courage. Opecancanough has heretofore been mentioned.
It is doubtful whether he was in any manner
related to Powhatan, though he is often spoken
of as his brother. Among the Indians, and some of
the whites, prevailed a belief that he came from a
tribe far in the southwest, perhaps from the interior
of Mexico.[380] But in talents and influence he was
now the ruling power among the savages. Profound
in dissimulation, cruel by nature and by
habit, patient of suffering, skilled in every species
of treachery, and possessed of a ready eloquence,
always at his command, he soon gained over the
minds of his inferiors an ascendency as resistless

as it was dangerous. When Sir Francis Wyatt
assumed the government, he sent messengers to
this powerful chief, asking a renewal of their
friendly pledges, and promising his countenance
and protection to the Indians. George Thorpe, a
minister of the Gospel, possessed of great piety and
zeal, accompanied this mission, and they returned
perfectly satisfied with their success. Opecancanough
received them with every mark of delight;
assured them that heaven and earth should
mingle ere he should dissolve the peace between
them; expressed much reverence for the Christian
system, which was expounded to him; and, with
consummate hypocrisy, renounced his own religion
as a scheme of falsehood, invented by priests and
conjurors.[381] The simple-hearted divine was deceived,
and began to cherish hopes that this perfidious
savage would soon become a convert to the faith of
the Redeemer. He even exerted himself to have
a house built for Opecancanough, with which the
chief was so much delighted, that he could spend
hours in locking and unlocking the doors of his
mansion.[382] Yet during all their interviews, this man
was nursing in his bosom a plan of diabolical vengeance,
which was soon to be carried into full
effect.

The English had become careless and unsuspecting.
Believing the natives to be their friends,
they admitted them freely to their houses—sometimes

supplied them with arms, employed them
in hunting and fishing for their families, and in
all respects treated them as faithful allies. As
habits of industry and steady labour gained ground,
the colonists relaxed their martial discipline. The
plough was a more useful implement than the
musket, and the sword had given place to the hoe
and the pickaxe. Seduced by the present tranquillity,
and by the fertile soil found in belts of
land upon all the rivers running into the bay, they
had extended their settlements until they were
now nearly eighty in number, and spread in scattered
plantations over a space of several hundred
miles.[383] They were lulled into complete security
by the demeanour of the natives; and those who
were most zealous for religion, were beginning to
hope that the seeds of the truth were taking root
in many untutored minds, and would, after a season,
produce fruits of joy and peace. Some were
not thus sanguine; and among those who looked
with most suspicion upon the Indians, we mark
the name of Jonas Stockam, a minister, who has
left on record an open acknowledgment of his distrust.[384] His strong common sense, his knowledge
of human nature, and his observations upon the
natives around him, all confirmed his belief that
they were yet highly dangerous, and that until
their priests and "ancients" were destroyed, no
hope of their conversion need be entertained. But
his warnings, and slight proofs of enmity in the
savages,[385] were alike disregarded. The colonists
remained immersed in unruffled security.

In the mean time Opecancanough was preparing
the actors in his infernal drama. Either in person,
or by his emissaries, he visited all the tribes
composing the confederacy over which Powhatan
had held dominion. He roused them to revenge;
represented their wrongs; wrought their passions
to intensity by mingled promises of blood and of
rapine; pointed to the defenceless state of the colonists,
and established a complete organization for
the work of death. No people whom the world has
ever seen can be compared with the aborigines of
America, in skill to concert schemes of ingenious
perfidy, and in the deep silence and caution with
which they are accomplished. In the night, or
the day, they move through the forest with a step
more stealthy than that of the leopard, about to
spring upon his victim. Large bodies pass from
one point to another, and leave not a trace of their
progress, or a sound by which their presence might
be detected.[386] The savages of Virginia were now
embodied for their fatal purpose, and awaited but
the signal from their leader to fall upon the unsuspecting
colonists.

Opecancanough soon obtained a pretext for commencing
hostilities. Among the Indians, was a
noted young warrior, who had often distinguished

himself in the wars of his tribe, and who united
to the other traits of the savage, a passion for dress
so extravagant, that he was known by the English
under the title of Jack of the Feather. His Indian
name was Nemattanow. He was greatly esteemed
by his countrymen for the grace of his person,
and the boldness of his spirit; and having escaped
without a wound from the many skirmishes in
which he had been engaged, he was regarded by
the simple savages as invulnerable and immortal.
This reputation he highly valued, and sedulously
cherished; but it was soon to be put to the test.
He often visited the settlements, and was so well
known that his appearance created no suspicion.
At length he came to the house of a colonist named
Morgan, urged him to accompany him to Pamunky
for purposes of traffic, and offered him immense
gain. The unhappy Englishman consented; but
on the way he was murdered by his treacherous
companion, and his body was rifled of its clothing.[387]
A few days afterwards, Nemattanow, wearing Morgan's
hat, appeared on his grounds. Two strong
young men, who had been employed by the colonist
as labourers, immediately accused the Indian
of having caused his death, and wished to carry
him, for examination, before a justice of the peace.
He resisted, and they instantly shot him down,
and conveyed him, mortally wounded, towards
the nearest magistrate. On the way, finding his
strength fast failing, the ruling passion appeared
strong in death. He implored them to bury his
body where it should never be discovered, and not
to reveal to his countrymen that he had really
died. So strong in the bosom of man is the
desire for immortal fame among his fellow-beings.[388]

There is reason to believe that Opecancanough
secretly rejoiced at the death of this young warrior,
whose influence had inspired him with jealousy;[389]
but he hesitated not to convert it to his own bloody
purposes. He represented the case among the Indians
in false colours, and urged them, by their
affection for the memory of their favourite, to avenge
his death upon the colonists. A time was now selected,
and the natives were secretly drawn together
to effect their design.

On Friday, the 22d day of March, the tragedy
began. So perfect was the confidence of the settlers,
that they loaned the savages their boats to
cross the rivers for their deadly purpose—many of
them even came in to take the morning meal with
the whites, and brought deer, turkeys, fish, and
fruits, which they offered for sale in the usual
manner. But at mid-day the scene of blood was
opened. Instantly, and as if by magic, the savages
appeared at every point, and fell upon their victims
with the weapons which first presented themselves.
Neither age nor sex was spared. The tender infant
was snatched from the mother to be butchered
before her eyes,—wives were left weltering in blood
in the presence of their husbands,—men, helpless
from age, or wholly without defence, were stricken
down ere they could see the foe who assailed them.

In one morning, three hundred and forty-nine settlers
were slain upon the several plantations.[390] The
murderers were lashed into frenzied excitement by
their own passions; and, not content with the work
of death, they mutilated the corpses in a manner so
revolting, that the original recorders of this massacre
shrink from the task of describing them!

No considerations of honour or of gratitude restrained
the hands of the savages. George Thorpe
had been their friend, their benefactor, their steady
advocate,—he had laboured alike for their temporal
good and their immortal interests. Yet they
repaid him by imbruing their hands in his blood,
and then cutting and disfiguring his lifeless corse
with all the fury of impotent malice.[391] Six members
of the Council were among the victims of this
fatal day; and it would seem that nothing but a
special intervention of the divine order of things
saved the colony from total ruin.

Amid a scene of brutal murder, displaying the
darkest passions that prevail in the human heart,
it is grateful to be able to point with triumph to a
victory achieved by Christianity alone; and if the
Indians generally had been callous to all appeals
from a higher authority than man, one of their
number, at least, was destined to prove that his

race was not utterly abandoned to the dominion of
evil. A young Indian convert, named Chanco,
lived with Richard Pace, and was treated by him
with all the tenderness of a son. The brother of
this native slept with him the night before the massacre,
and urged him to kill his master, telling him
that he intended that fate for his own. But the
young Christian recoiled with horror from the proposal,
and the next day informed Mr. Pace, who
instantly despatched an express to Jamestown.[392]
Thus the principal settlement was alarmed,—guns
and swords were made ready, and the natives ventured
not to make an assault.

It is remarkable that wherever resistance was
made to these fiends it was entirely successful.
Too cruel to be brave, they fled from the first vigorous
onset; and had the colonists received one
hour's warning, no life would have been lost that
was not dearly atoned for. An old soldier who
had served under John Smith, although surrounded
by Indians and severely wounded, clove the
skull of one assailant with a single stroke of an
axe, and the rest instantly took to flight. A Mr.
Baldwin, whose wife was lying before his eyes,
profusely bleeding from many wounds, by one
well-directed discharge, drove a crowd of murderers
from his house. Several small parties of settlers
obtained a few muskets from a ship that happened
to be lying in the stream near their plantations,

and with these they routed the savages in every
direction, and dispersed them in great alarm.[393]

In reading these accounts, we know not whether to
wonder more at the infernal skill of the natives in
choosing the time and circumstances of their attack,
or at the unparalleled confidence of the colonists
while within reach of such a foe.

At the iron-works, which had been in successful
operation at Falling Creek, the work of death was
so complete, that of twenty-four occupants none
escaped except a boy and girl, who concealed themselves
with much difficulty.[394] The superintendent
of these works had discovered a vein of lead ore,
which was of great utility until the massacre; but
afterwards it remained unknown until Col. Byrd
of Virginia bribed an Indian to reveal the spot, by
dropping his tomahawk upon the place.[395]

The immediate effects of this blow upon the
colony were most disastrous. Horror and consternation
pervaded every mind; nearly one-fourth of
their whole number had, in a single hour, been
stricken down. The rest were drawn hastily together
around Jamestown. Distant plantations
were abandoned, and in a short time eighty settlements
were reduced to six. Some few bold spirits
(and among them a woman) refused to obey the

order, and remained on their country-seats, among
their servants, mounting cannon at weak points,
and preparing to meet the treacherous foe with
becoming courage. But they were compelled by
law to abandon their strongholds, and to unite
their resources to the common fund. A terrible
reaction in the feelings of the colonists immediately
took place. They had trusted the natives and had
been betrayed; they had given them arms only to
be turned against their own lives; they had laboured
for their good, and had been rewarded by
seeing their wives and children butchered before
their eyes. Their purpose now seemed not one of
revenge, but of extermination. They could no
longer hold any terms with a people whose friendship
was hypocrisy, whose promises were falsehood,
whose very smiles were the precursors of
bloodshed and death. They regarded them as
they would have looked upon the hyena, or the
poisonous reptile, with which no safety can be enjoyed,
except in his destruction. A war ensued,
in which the fiercest impulses that man can feel
were called into being. No truce was ever declared.
The Indians were shot down at any time,
and in any place in which they showed themselves.
When seedtime approached, hostilities declined
from absolute necessity. The English resorted to
a stratagem which cannot be justified. Offering
peace to the savages, they seduced them from their
places of concealment; but in the midst of their
labour, they rushed upon them, cut down their
corn, and put to death a large number, among
whom were several of their greatest warriors and
most skilful chieftains.[396] So embittered and so
deep was the feeling of hatred thus engendered
between the races, that for many years it was transmitted
from father to son. The colonists looked
upon the Indians as their hereditary foes, and the
unhappy natives never spoke of the "long knives"
without fear and execration.

When intelligence of this massacre reached England,
it excited profound sympathy in many bosoms.
Instead of suffering themselves to be discouraged,
the London Company determined on
renewed efforts for restoring the colony. Captain
John Smith offered his services to subdue the
Indians, and openly proposed the policy of the
Spaniards in South America and the Atlantic
Isles as worthy of adoption. It is probable the
brave Captain knew not all the cruelties of the
people he presented as models; he had experienced
savage perfidy himself, and would naturally
regard no measures as too severe in order to
their conquest.[397] But his offer was finally declined.
Some of the Company offered to permit him to go,
provided he would bear his own expenses, and pay
one half the pillage into their coffers! It is needless
to say, that this proposal was indignantly rejected.

King James, on hearing of the disaster, was
wrought into wondrous rage against the Indians,
and affection for the settlers. Forthwith, he loaned
the adventurers twenty barrels of powder, and
sundry old swords and muskets from the Tower,
which would have been useless in any hands, however
skilful. He promised to raise four hundred
soldiers in England, for the special protection of
the colony; but this was never accomplished.
His coward spirit delighted not in deeds of arms,
or in preparation for the field of battle.[398]

The zeal of the London Company, their exertions
for the colony, and their heavy losses encountered
in its behalf, did not shield them from the
tyranny of the King. Among the writers who
have recorded the life of this body, we find few to
approve its conduct, and many to load it with indiscriminate
censure. We are told of all the evils
attendant on the deeds of a commercial corporation;
but these evils are not specified, or if specified,
not proved.[399] It would be well to remember the
difficulties that these adventurers had encountered
and overcome. It is true the settlement had suffered
from sickness, from famine, from savage warfare
and from internal dissension; but, whether its
condition would have been better under any other

form of government that James would have granted,
remains to be proved. It is certain that the Company
expended more than one hundred thousand
pounds, for which they received no adequate recompense.
It is certain, that, though clothed with
absolute power, they freely granted to the colonists
a representative government, which will for ever
stand on record to vouch their generous spirit. It
is certain they evinced steady interest in the affairs
of the settlers, displaced wicked agents, removed
grievances, and only ruled them with severity,
when nothing else would have preserved them
from destruction. Such were their good deeds;
and if they often erred, their faults were venial, and
merited not the fate to which they were finally
subjected.

But we need not look to the errors of the London
Company for the cause of its ruin. The motive
of the King is much more obvious and much
less defensible. With all the intensity proper to a
monarch who claimed absolute power, he hated
the semblance of liberty which appeared in the debates
of the quarterly courts. The spirit of free
inquiry was now rapidly gaining ground in England;
it had manifested itself in the House of Commons,
in many forms ungrateful to his majesty;
but it chiefly pervaded the discussions of a body
which he himself had called into being, and which
now numbered more than a thousand adventurers.
So open were the principles of freedom, declared
and defended by the Company, that the Spanish
ambassador, Gondomar, warned the King against

their influence, and declared, that "The Virginia
courts are but a seminary to a seditious Parliament."[400] A despicable faction, composed of members,
few in number but active in intrigue, sought
to paralyse the energies of the Company and to
render it a mere tool to the King. At the head of
this court party we find the dishonest Warwick,
the rapacious Argal, the sordid Cranfield, and the
reptile Butler; and others composed it, equally
adverse to freedom and to the true interests of the
colony. The vanity of James had already received
two mortal strokes, for which he never forgave the
predominant party in the corporation.

In 1620, Sir Edwin Sandys having resigned
the office of treasurer, the King determined to interfere
and procure the election of one of his own
creatures for his successor. He knew well that
under the charter he had no right to nominate, or
even suggest the officer upon whose fidelity to
their interests the Company were so dependent;
yet in a most indelicate manner he sent in the
names of four persons, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir
Thomas Roe, Alderman Johnson, and Maurice
Abbot, and declared his desire "out of his especial
care and affection for the colony," that one of these
should be made treasurer; but the Company showed
no disposition to submit to this outrage, and the
King, finding them firm, became alarmed, and with
very ill grace withdrew his nominees; the meeting
then immediately, by a unanimous vote, elected

the Earl of Southampton, a nobleman of great public
spirit, and well known to be deeply imbued
with the growing love of religious and civil freedom.[401] It might have been supposed that this rebuff
would have been sufficient, and that the nervous
monarch would not have renewed an attempt,
the failure of which had so deeply mortified him.
Yet, in 1622, we find him again sending the names
of five strenuous courtiers to the quarterly session,
and imploring them to elect one of them treasurer.
Again they refused; Southampton received a vote
nearly unanimous; and James with difficulty retained
his venom until a suitable opportunity
should present itself for discharging it upon the
hated corporation.[402]

He gradually threw off the mask and assumed
an attitude of direct hostility. Upon some frivolous
pretext, Sir Edwin Sandys was imprisoned;
but as he was an influential member of the House
of Commons, the King found it necessary to explain
his action to that jealous and formidable body.[403]
Charges against the Company were listened to with
greedy ears; accusations were invented, and suspicions
of malfeasance were nursed into realities.
(1623.) At this time, one Nathaniel Butler returned
from the colony, and being introduced by
the court faction to the King, he highly pleased and
edified his majesty by publishing a tissue of enormous
falsehoods under the title of "The Unmasked

Face of our Colony in Virginia, as it was in the winter
1622."[404] In this ennobling production, he
attacks with indiscriminate abuse the physical and
social state of the colony, declaring that the climate
was pestilential, the rivers were shallow, the soil
was barren, the products were meagre, the houses
were not fit for human beings, the people were
seditious, the manufactories were neglected, the
forts dismantled, and the whole settlement was in
a miserable condition, "odious to themselves and
contemptible to all the world."

The King, pretending fully to believe these slanders,
determined at once to wrest the government
from the hands of the Company. (Oct. 8.) He
coolly sent them a message, informing them that,
having taken into his princely consideration the
distressed state of the colony, he had resolved to
change the mode of their charter. He intended to
appoint a governor and twelve assistants, to reside
in England, who were to fill their own vacancies
with the concurrence of the king. This council
was (the king concurring in like manner) to appoint
a governor and twelve assistants, to live in
the colony, and act as a provincial council. He did
not design to deprive the colonists of the franchises
they now enjoyed, but wished them to be more immediately
under his paternal care. As to the Company,
he asked them to decide, with all expedition,
whether they would submit and surrender their
charters; for should they resist, he gave them the

consoling assurance that he should proceed to crush
them in the manner he might deem most expedient.[405]

When this order of council was announced, the
Company were stricken dumb with astonishment.
Unwilling, at first, to believe, they required that the
paper should be deliberately read three several
times, and when the last reading was over, for many
minutes no man uttered one word. Profound silence
reigned throughout the assembly. They could not
bring their minds to receive the truth that the King
contemplated an act of so gross injustice.[406] But
when the fact was finally realized, they resolved to
defend with courage their privileges and chartered
rights. A puny faction voted for the surrender,
but one hundred and twelve members signified their
resolve to defy the malice of the King.

His enmity did not long sleep. (Oct. 24.) To
preserve the semblance of justice, he appointed commissioners[407] to visit Virginia, and there to use their
utmost industry in gathering subjects of complaint
against the Company's management. They were to
inspect plantations, forts, arms, boats, bridges, people,
houses, savages; every thing in which they might
detect malfeasance or abuse. (Nov. 10.) Seventeen
days after their departure a writ of "quo warranto"
issued from the Court of King's Bench, and
was served upon the deputy treasurer and several
other members of the Company. This well known

process subjects a corporation to a rigid judicial
ordeal; and it has as often been used as the instrument
of rapine and violence, as of salutary correction.[408] Nicholas Farrar, the deputy treasurer, was
imprisoned, the records and papers of the Company
were seized, and the court party endeavoured by
every dishonourable means to perplex and disable
their companions. Notwithstanding all this, the
majority preserved their magnanimous bearing, and
prepared with coolness for the expected shock.

(1624.) Meanwhile the commissioners had arrived
in Virginia, and forthwith entered upon their
task. (Feb. 14.) About the same time a General
Assembly convened at Jamestown, and though
every effort had been made to keep secret the
object for which the commissioners were sent,
yet by some means it was discovered, and the assembly
appointed John Pountis,[409] one of the Council,
to go to England and plead the cause of the
colony before his majesty. Their advocate died
on the way, but the address of the Assembly was
presented to the King. They earnestly protest
against a return of the martial rule of Sir Thomas
Smith, with its accompanying horrors of starvation
and cannibalism. They completely refute the slanderous
charges of Nathaniel Butler, and implore
the King to support them in their present labours,
and, above all, to continue to them the blessing of

the free government they now enjoyed. We find
this paper signed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the governor,
and by several members both of the Council
and House of Burgesses.

The acts of this Assembly are memorable, both
from their antiquity and their intrinsic excellence.
They are the earliest upon the statute book of
Virginia.[410]
After providing for the due worship of
God, and the support of the ministry, according to
the false principles of their age, they set forth a
"petition of right," which may be considered one
of the clauses of our Magna Charta. The governor
is forbidden to lay any taxes or imposts upon the
colonists or their property without the consent of
the General Assembly; neither can he withdraw
the people from their private labours, except under
special circumstances, and with strict impartiality.[411]

The day of the massacre (March 22) is appointed
for a holy-day, to be duly solemnized as
other such days; trading with the Indians is forbidden;
arms and ammunition are to be carefully
guarded; and it seems that, at the beginning of
each July, the colonists were required to make an
attack upon the natives, in order to their total subjugation.[412]

The remaining acts are, in general, judicious.
We note, as a curious fact, that a short time afterwards,
the governor was compelled to issue his
proclamation under the authority of law, forbidding

any woman to engage herself to more than
one man at the same time, and denouncing corporeal
punishment against the fair one who should
thus offend.[413] We have melancholy reason to believe,
that such a law, in the present age, would
not be without good effect.

The commissioners, finding the Assembly on
their guard, and ready for defence, sought to intimidate
them, and endeavoured to inveigle them
into a surrender of their charter. But they steadily
repelled these assaults; and when Edward
Sharples, clerk of the Council, was convicted of
breach of trust, in revealing their acts to the commissioners,
he was condemned to the usual punishment.
(May 10.) He was set in the pillory, and
one of his ears was cut from his head;[414] a penalty
as degrading as it was richly deserved.

The Parliament of England had assembled, and
the Company, despairing of justice from the hands
of the King, appealed to the House of Commons.
It has been said, that the cold reception given by
this body to their address, furnishes conclusive
proof that the Company was unpopular;[415] but an
egregious error may be here committed. When
the humble memorial of the adventurers was presented,
the King immediately sent a stern message,
protesting against its reception, and peremptorily
ordering the Commons to give it no countenance.
This great branch of the legislature contained men

who hated oppression, and already looked with
jealous eyes upon the royal prerogative; but they
had not yet tested the full strength of their own
powers of resistance, and they had always regarded
the Virginia Company as peculiarly under the
control of the crown, and protected by their charter
from illegitimate interference. It is not singular,
therefore, that the Commons should have
obeyed the King, and refused to receive the memorial.[416] Yet in the same session we find the Parliament
declaring, that the Company ought to have
the exclusive privilege of importing tobacco into
the British realm.[417] A strange liberality, truly, to
be shown to an overgrown corporation, then tottering,
as is alleged, beneath the full weight of popular
odium!

To enable the Company to prepare for their defence,
the Attorney-General was so far just as to
cause their records and other papers to be returned
to them. One of the last acts of this noble body,
was the re-election of Sir Francis Wyatt, governor,
by an overwhelming majority over his opponent,
Samuel Argal, who was supported by all the
influence of the royalist party. To the very moment
of death, the Company manifested invincible
courage; but its fate came hastening on.

When the commissioners returned from Virginia,
they made a report,[418] studiously unfavourable

to the corporation. They represented the colony
as in a most unhappy state, suffering with disease,
famine, and Indian hostility; but they insisted
that it might be made a valuable part of his
majesty's domains. With cool effrontery, they declared,
that the settlement was much better governed
under the charter of 1606, and that the
popular course it had assumed, both at home and
abroad, since 1612, had been highly prejudicial to
its interests. On hearing this report, the King
delayed no longer the intended blow. By proclamation,
dated 15th July, he suppressed the
quarterly sessions of the Company, and ordered
that, for the present, a meeting, composed of the
Lord President, and some other members of his
majesty's Privy Council, with a few knights and
gentlemen, should be held each Thursday evening,
at the house of Sir Thomas Smith, to consider
the affairs of the colony.[419]

Such was the end of the wealthy, the talented,
the high-minded body, who had so long directed
the destinies of Virginia. The King, by an illegal
proclamation, inflicted the mortal stroke; the
judicial sentence was afterwards pronounced: a
proceeding as just as would be the conduct of a
government in requiring its executive officer to
put a prisoner to death upon a charge, afterwards
to be examined and passed upon by a court of law.

At Trinity Term following, the quo warranto
came on for trial in the King's Bench. The result

could not long be uncertain, before a tribunal composed
of materials dependent for existence upon the
will of the crown.[420] Yet we have reason to believe
that the Attorney-General was compelled to torture
his brain with more than ordinary vigour for arguments
against the Company; and that some of his
objections were so ludicrous as to excite derision
even in the most favourable hearers.[421] It is probable
that the judgment was finally rendered upon a
formal error in pleading committed by the agent of
the Company, and not upon the broad merits of the
case.[422] But whatever may have been the means
employed, the end was surely accomplished. The
London corporation was dissolved, and the King
appropriated to himself the power of directing the
colony as his sapience might deem most expedient.

He suffered the local government to remain undisturbed,
but employed his leisure hours in preparing
a new code of laws for the growing people
whom he resolved once more to enlighten by special
emanations from his own mind. (1625, March
27.) Happily for Virginia, his legislative labours
were arrested by death; and the King, who had
claimed for himself the immediate sanction of the
Almighty, was summoned to His bar to give account
of his stewardship. A writer who loved the
Stuart family more than he venerated truth, has
said, that "in all history it would be difficult to

find a reign less illustrious, yet more unspotted and
unblemished;"[423] but candour will accord little credit
even to the negative innocence of a sovereign whose
avarice had no restraint but his impotence, whose
bigotry was scarcely neutralized by his personal
vices, and whose love of dominion was only controlled
by his contemptible cowardice!