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THE BEGINNINGS OF VIRGINIA,
1584-1624.
Early English
Explorations.
WHEN Columbus sailed
westward from Spain in 1492, had any writer attempted to picture the
results which were to follow from his voyage, his views would have been
regarded as the utterances of an insane man. Nevertheless, it is true that
Columbus pointed the way for the development of great continents, the
possibilities of which it took Europe more than two hundred years to
grasp. The goal was India, whose wealth was being sought, and a new world
was far from the thoughts of Columbus. The lands that he reached he
regarded only as a barrier to India, which, doubtless, lay near by.
Having established the fact
that a westward voyage might be made to the oriental countries, explorers
by the score were soon traversing the high seas, each hoping to be the
first to reach, by sea, the long coveted goal. Among these explorers was
Americus Vespucius, who, having sailed far south, touched the mainland of
South America. In the year 1507 he promulgated his view that the western
lands which Columbus and the other explorers had reached were not portions
of Asia but a new continent. In the meantime, some ten years before, Vasco
da Gama had sailed southward along the coast of Africa passing the Cape of
Good Hope, and striking across the Indian Ocean had reached India. Thus an
all-water trade route had been discovered to the east while the explorers
were still searching for the westward passage. Da Gama's success, however,
did not deter others from looking for the western passage; in fact, it
only stimulated western voyages.
While Spain and Portugal were sending out
explorers, England was not unmindful of her own development, and desired
to participate in whatever good results might come from the discovery of
such a passage, and she, therefore, under the direction of her
business-like king, Henry VII., sent out expeditions commanded by John
Cabot and his son, Sebastian Cabot, in the years 1497 and 1498. These
voyages resulted in the discovery of the shores of North America,
extending from Labrador as far south as Florida. Though the northwest
passage was not found other English explorers continued the search, among
them Martin Frobisher, who touched the coast of Labrador some eighty years
later than the days of Cabot. But during the reign of Henry VIII., Edward
VI. and Mary practically nothing was done towards following up the
explorations which had been made in earlier years. It remained, therefore,
for the reign of Queen Elizabeth to see the expansion of England in all
directions. Along with the growth of English towns, English industries and
the development of a splendid literature came a commercial spirit which
looked to the encompassing of the globe-a spirit which has made England
the foremost nation of the Twentieth century. This spirit grew out of
opposition to Spain, a desire to prevent her from being the most powerful
nation of Europe as the result of the riches which she was securing from
South America. English merchant knights and sea-rovers were soon found in
all directions upon the high seas, among them being Hawkins, Grenville,
Drake and Gilbert. Hawkins and Drake plundered Spanish commerce on the
oceans and frequently touched new lands. Drake on one voyage went as far
north along the Pacific coast as the mouth of the Columbia River, and
circumnavigated the globe.
As opposition to Spain increased, a feeling
grew for the establishment of an English colony in North America. Among
the first to undertake it was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was undoubtedly
stimulated by his half-brother, Raleigh. In 1578 Gilbert started out with
his first colony, but on account of a storm was forced to return to
England. Five years later he planted a colony on the coast of
Newfoundland, but was forced to abandon it, and on his return to England
was lost at sea. The next year, 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh secured, in his
own name, the patent which Queen Elizabeth had granted to Gilbert for the
planting of a colony in the new world. Raleigh had been Gilbert's mentor
in his colonization scheme, and now he took upon himself the obligation,
as he saw it, of planting an English nation in America as a bulwark
against Spanish aggression. The letters patent granted to Raleigh gave all
the colonists the rights of English subjects, and allowed Raleigh, his
heirs or assigns, to provide such governments for the colony, or colonies,
as were in harmony with the English constitution.
The Roanoke Colony.
Having secured the letters patent Raleigh sent
out two experienced sea-captains, Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, who,
sailing from England in April, 1584, finally reached the coast of North
Carolina July 2 of the same year. A few days later they entered Albemarle
Sound and landed on Roanoke Island. A glowing report they made of the new
world on their return to England, telling of the excellent timber and
fruits, and of the game to be found in the new land. It is said that when
the report was made to Queen Elizabeth she decided to name the country in
honor of herself, the Virgin Queen, and called it "Virginia." Thereupon
Sir Walter proceeded to secure settlers to go to the new land. Some one
hundred men set sail from England in a fleet of seven small ships under
the command of the famous fighter and sea-rover, Sir Richard Grenville.
The last of July, 1585, the colony landed on Roanoke Island and proceeded
to build a small town under the direction of Ralph Lane, who had been sent
by Raleigh as governor of the colony. Lane was a man of wisdom and good
judgment, and he opposed the selection of Roanoke Island as the site of
the colony, and sent out two parties, one by land and one by sea, to meet
on the Chesapeake Bay for the selection of a better site. With Lane was
Thomas Cavendish, afterwards to become renowned as an explorer; John
White, the artist and afterwards governor of the second Roanoke colony;
Thomas Hariot, the historian and one of the best known mathematicians of
England. Under Lane's direction a fort was built and the lands in the
neighborhood of Roanoke Island explored as far south as eighty miles.
Exploring parties went 130 miles north and northwest.
The neighborhood of Roanoke was not suitable for a small colony in a
strange land. Indians combined against Lane under two Indian chiefs,
Wingina and Wanchese. Among the friendly Indian chiefs was Granganimeo and
Manteo. An attack was made by the Indians on the fort but it was repulsed,
and Wingina was shot and his warriors scattered. A few days later, June
11, 1586, Sir Francis Drake arrived at Roanoke Island with a fleet of
twenty-three sails, and after consultation between him and Lane it was
decided that the colony should be taken back to England. On June 19 they
sailed back to the mother country. Lane took back to England with him
three articles : tobacco, Indian corn and Irish potatoes. Raleigh
introduced the use of tobacco in England and also the cultivation of the
potato. Indian corn has since become the great product of America. Raleigh
constantly thought of the colony which he had planted on the American
shores, and before they sailed from America he had sent supplies from
England under the direction of Sir Richard Grenville, but they reached
Roanoke Island after the colony had departed with Drake. On returning to
England they found, much to their surprise, that the colony had not
perished from hunger or at the hands of the Indians.
Sir Walter Raleigh was a man of great
determination, and Lane's return to England did not, therefore, cause him
to abandon the hope of establishing an English colony in Virginia; so, in
the year 1587, he sent out 150 colonists under John White, the artist, who
was appointed governor, with twelve assistants, who received from him a
charter and were incorporated under the name of "Governour and Assistants
of the Citie of Raleigh in Virginia." Of the 150 settlers seventeen were
women and nine were children, and, judging from their names, ten of the
men brought their wives and children. Instructions were given that the
colony should be planted on the Chesapeake Bay, and since Grenville, who
the previous year had carried over some supplies, had left some men at the
fort, they were instructed to go by Roanoke Island and get these men
before proceeding to Chesapeake Bay. On reaching Roanoke the commander of
the fleet, Simon Ferdinando, refused to go farther, so that White was
forced to land and reestablish the colony of Roanoke. The men that
Grenville had left behind had been killed by the Croatan Indians according
to the stories told by the Indians themselves, but the houses which Lane's
colony had built remained intact.
These houses were soon repaired and the colony
began work, but the fleet under Ferdinando sailed away. In a little while
the colonists were at war with the Indians, though Manteo still remained
friendly and was baptized into the Christian faith. Soon after this
(August 18) Virginia Dare was born, the first American child of English
parents. In a few weeks White returned to England to get supplies. He was
loath to go and tried to persuade some of the assistants to undertake the
journey, but, on their refusal, he departed with two small ships which had
been left to the colony. On arriving in England he found everything in
bustle and confusion on account of the reported invasion of England by
Spain; in fact, the Invincible Armada was already sailing towards the
English channel. All English ships and all English sailors were needed to
defend England against the Spanish power, yet Raleigh prepared, at White's
suggestion, an expedition to go to the relief of the colony, but at the
last minute orders were given that it should not sail. A little later,
however, two ships were sent out, but being attacked by Spanish vessels
were compelled to return to England. Then came the terrible struggle with
Spain in which the Invincible Armada was defeated, after which White was
finally able to get together supplies, and in March, 1590, sailed for
Roanoke. In August, 1590, three years after he had left the colony, he
reached Roanoke Island. Everything was found in ruins; grass was growing
in the doorways and no sign of human life was to be seen. On leaving the
island in 1587 he had instructed the settlers in the event of leaving the
island to carve on a tree or some conspicuous place the name of the place
to which they had gone, and if in distress a cross in addition. After a
search the word "Croatan" was found carved on a tree without a cross.
Efforts were made to find Croatan, but a storm drove the vessels from the
sound, and food supplies being low, the ships sailed to the West Indies.
Unfortunately these ships were not under the direction of White.
Between 1592 and 1602 no less than five
different attempts were made to locate this lost colony, but as a matter
of fact no careful search was made at any distance from the shore, and no
one has ever been able to place the lost colony of Roanoke.
Sir Walter Raleigh was very persistent in his
efforts. He had spent no less than $1,000,000 in attempting to plant a
colony and to locate the lost colony. Still he never despaired of seeing
Virginia settled by the English. He once said, "I shall yet live to see it
an English nation," and he did, for Jamestown had been settled and was a
thriving colony before he was led to the block. The lost colony of Roanoke
has remained a mystery in history, some believing that all the colonists
were killed, others that they were absorbed by the Croatan Indians, who
to-day live in North Carolina and claim that in their veins flows the
blood of the Englishmen who were members of White's colony. To-day the
spot where Raleigh's colonies were planted is marked by a monument which
bears the following inscription:
"On this site in July-August, 1585 (0. S.),
colonists, sent out from England by Sir Walter Raleigh, built a fort,
called by them `The New Fort in Virginia.'
"These colonists were the
first settlers of the English race in America. They returned to England in
July, 1586, with Sir Francis Drake.
"Near this place was born, on the 18th of
August, 1587, Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents born in
America-daughter of Ananias Dare and Eleanor White, his wife, members of
another band of colonists, sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587.
"On Sunday, August 20, 1587, Virginia Dare was
baptized. Manteo, the friendly chief of the Hatteras Indians, had been
baptized on the Sunday preceding. These baptisms are the first known
celebrations of a Christian sacrament in the territory of the thirteen
original United States."
Steps to Permanent Settlement.
The work of Sir Walter Raleigh in trying to
establish a colony in Virginia was not entirely futile, though for
something over a decade efforts to plant a colony in Virginia were
abandoned. However, it was a time in England when progress was everywhere
present, in letters, arts, science, explorations and commerce. The spirit
of the day was well exemplified in Raleigh himself, and there were others
ready to lead in the same movement in which he had figured. His plans and
those of Gilbert were, however, too large for individual effort. The
natural outcome was the organization of a company, or companies, for the
promotion of colonial efforts, the basal reasons being commercial.
Already large trading companies existed in
Holland, France, Sweden, Denmark and even in Russia. In these countries
during the 150 years after 1554 there were no less than seventy companies
chartered for commercial and colonizing purposes, the two ideas being
closely related in the purposes of these companies. In the year 1600 Queen
Elizabeth chartered the East Indian Company, which was given a monopoly of
the trade in all countries lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the
Strait of Magellan going east. There were 125 stockholders, and the
government of the Company was in the hands of a governor, deputy-governor
and a directing board of twenty-four members. The organization of this
Company was taken as the basis of the organization of the London Company
of Virginia. Almost simultaneously with the establishment of the East
India Company plans were on foot for the establishment of a Virginia
company. The Rev. Mr. Hakluyt was urging the establishment of a colony in
the West, and among the motives assigned for such a colony were: (1) The
discovery of a western passage to India for commerce; (2) a colony to
which the unemployed class of England could be transported; (3) to check
the power of Spain, and (4) the Christianizing of the Indians.
These motives were freely discussed, each
promoter stressing that motive which appealed most to him. As a matter of
fact, the two arguments of greatest weight were the ones for the promotion
of commercial enterprise and the Christianizing of the "infidels." Mr.
Hakluyt had earnest supporters in Bartholomew Gosnold, a merchant
sea-captain, Edward Maria Win'-field, a London merchant, and Sir Thomas
Gates and Sir George Somers, two distinguished English gentlemen. Among
other earnest advocates were Raleigh Gilbert, a nephew of Sir Walter
Raleigh, William Parker, a rich merchant of Plymouth, and other gentlemen
and merchants of England.
The London Company Charter.
Their plans for a large company to be divided
into two division were presented to King James and met with his approval,
and a charter was granted by him on April 10, 1606, to two companies, one
commonly known as the London Company and the other was the Plymouth
Company. The London Company was to settle in southern Virginia and the
Plymouth Company in northern Virginia. To the London company was granted
the right to settle anywhere between latitude 34° and 41°, and to the
Plymouth Company between latitude 38° and 45°, it being stipulated that
the lands between 38° and 41° were open to both companies with the proviso
that the company last planting a colony should not come nearer than 100
miles of any settlement founded by the other company. The incorporators of
the London Company were Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard
Hakluyt and Edward Maria Wingfield. The incorporators of the Plymouth
Company were Raleigh Gilbert, William Parker, Thomas Hamhan and George
Popham. The Plymouth Company was the first to make an effort at
colonization. In May, 1606, it sent out a colony which settled on the
Kennebec River. The death of Popham and Gilbert, both of whom accompanied
the settlement, caused the colony to be abandoned, and no other serious
attempt was made by this Company. It remained to the London Company,
therefore, to make the first permanent English settlement in America. The
charter granted to the London Company in 1606 provided for a council of
thirteen residents in England appointed by the King as the ruling body.
This council was to establish, with the approval of the King, the form of
government which was to prevail in Virginia. To the settlers was granted
the right to hold lands and trial by jury, and only five offenses were
made punishable by death, small as compared with English punishments at
that time-murder, manslaughter, incest, rape and adultery. The plea of the
benefit of clergy was not to be allowed except in case of manslaughter. It
is interesting to note that this benefit of the clergy was allowed in most
of the American colonies for this particular crime down to the Revolution,
but the person pleading it was punished with being burned in the hand. All
excesses, drunkenness, etc., were subject to punishment. It was provided
that everything in the colony should be held in common for a period of at
least five years, there being a treasurer or cape-merchant to handle the
goods and properties of the adventurers. In matters of religion, the
Church of England was established.
Under this charter three small ships were
equipped and 104 colonists sent to Virginia by the Company. A council of
seven selected from these colonists were to rule in Virginia, one of that
number being designated as president. In order to gratify a whim of the
King, it was provided that it should not be known who the members of the
council would be until the colonists had arrived in Virginia, their names
being sealed in a box. The expedition, composed of the three ships, the
Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery under the command of Capt.
Christopher Newport, sailed from England on Dec. 19, 1606, and after a
rough voyage passed between two capes, which were named Charles and Henry
in honor of the two sons of James I.
Settlement at Jamestown.
On April 26, 1607, a landing was effected at
Cape Henry, a cross planted, and the country taken possession of in the
name of King James of England. After several days and several landings,
they passed up a broad river which was named "James" in honor of the King,
and on May 13 anchored off Jamestown Island, then a low-lying peninsula.
Here the first settlement was begun. Here the council, composed of Edward
Maria Wingfield, as president, and Kendall, Ratcliffe, Martin, Gosnold,
Newport and Smith, began their management of the first permanent
settlement of America. Smith, however, was for a time excluded from the
council until he could be tried on the charge of mutiny which had been
made against him on the voyage, he being brought to the colony under
arrest. He was acquitted and his accuser adjudged to pay him £200 damages.
Rude houses were constructed and religious services were regularly held by
the Rev. Mr. Hunt, who accompanied the settlers, under an old sail
fastened to some trees. As soon as work had begun on the building of the
log huts, Newport returned to England leaving the settlers to continue
their operations. Unfortunately, there were few carpenters, laborers and
servants among this early body of settlers, most of them being classified
as gentlemen. More unfortunate still, however, was the visitation of some
terrible disease, probably malarial fever, which fell upon the colonists,
and in a short time swept away more than fifty persons, among them
Bartholomew Gosnold. Wingfield, on attempting to flee, was deposed as
president and Ratcliffe put in his place. Ratcliffe was incompetent, and
the colony went from bad to worse. Wingfield and Kendall entered into a
plot to seize the small boat which had been left to the colony, but were
detected, and Kendall was tried for treason and shot-the first reported
execution in America. In the meantime the food supply was low and much of
it had been injured by climatic conditions. Still the settlers made some
efforts at exploration. Hardly had they landed at Jamestown before some
went up the river as far as the falls at Richmond, and late in the fall of
1607 Smith explored the Chickahominy, was captured, carried before
Opecancanough and afterwards before Powhatan. Upon the entreaties of
Pocahontas he was finally released and allowed to return to Jamestown. On
reaching the colony in January he found a large per cent. of the settlers
dead and the few remaining ones greatly in need of corn. Fortunately for
the colony, Newport arrived with a second supply and the colony was saved.
In 1608 Smith explored the region of the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries, and drew a map of this region which, considering the
information which he had at hand, was extremely accurate. During this
summer came Newport with other supplies and settlers, among whom were Mr.
and Mrs. Forrest and her maid, Anne Burras, who shortly afterwards was
married to John Laydon, the first marriage to be celebrated in the colony.
Ratcliffe having proved absolutely unworthy,
Smith was finally made president, and during the remaining portion of the
year 1608 better houses were built at Jamestown and a good fort
constructed. The food supply was very limited, but he made many
expeditions among the Indians during the winter and secured the necessary
food to keep the colony alive. During this winter his life was threatened
by the Indians, but Pocahontas remained his faithful friend and informed
him of their plots. With the spring of 1609 new settlers arrived, all told
about 500, and several new settlements were made in the colony, among them
a settlement of 120 men in that portion of Richmond now called "Rocketts."
Difficulties arose there with the Indians, and as Smith was returning from
a trip to settle the differences at this plantation, known as Captain
West's plantation, a bag of gunpowder exploded in his boat and he was
severely wounded. This forced him to give up his residence in Virginia and
he returned to London, the reins of government being placed in the hands
of George Percy. It
was a sad day for Virginia when Smith left the colony. Percy proved
incompetent. Neither he nor his assistants knew how to deal with the
Indians; Pocahontas absented herself from the English; the food supplies
were extremely short and the colony entered upon a period known as the
starvation time. Throughout the whole winter of 1609-10 suffering was
intense; every horse, cow and hog were slaughtered and eaten. The
colonists even ate rats, dogs and adders, and it was also reported that an
Indian, who had been killed, was eaten. Other horrible accounts of
cannibalism are also given us.
The London Company Reorganized.
While matters were going on thus in Virginia,
the London Company was considering the problem of the new colony. No
returns had been received from the settlement to indicate that the Company
would reap any commercial benefit. The colonists had been told to find
precious metals, but Newport had only carried to England a shipload of
yellow sand and clay that contained no gold. The colony had been a drain
upon the Company, and it was, therefore, determined that efforts should be
made to reorganize the Company on a broader basis so as to sustain the
colony and eventually develop it. Consequently a new charter, drawn by no
other than Sir Edwin Sandys, was granted in 1609. The Company was now made
into a great corporation composed of 659 distinguished nobles, knights,
gentlemen and merchants of England and some fifty-six city companies of
London. The prerogatives of the Company were enlarged. Sir Thomas Smythe
was made treasurer and the Earl of Southampton and fifty-one others were
appointed a council resident in England. In this council were fourteen
members of the House of Lords and thirty members of the House of Commons.
To this resident council -was granted the right to make all regulations
and to determine the form of government for the colony. Thus was
established the first great American trust with a monopoly of the trade
with colonies to be planted in Virginia. The boundaries of Virginia were
now to be 200 miles south and 200 miles north of Old Point Comfort, and to
run west and northwest from sea to sea. It was under this charter that
Virginia claimed all of the Northwest Territory in after years.
The governing council of this corporation at
once determined to change the government in Virginia. It appointed Thomas
West, Lord Delaware, governor and captain-general of Virginia, Sir Thomas
Gates as lieutenant-governor, and Sir George Somers as admiral under the
new charter. A large expedition of ten ships was prepared to go to
Virginia under the direction of Newport, Gates and Somers, Lord Delaware
to follow later. Eight ships reached Virginia in August with a large
number of settlers, but unfortunately two were lost, one being the Sea
Venture, which carried Newport, Gates and Somers. The result was that
Smith and the old regime refused to surrender the government into the
hands of any newcomers for lack of proper authorization. When the ships
sailed away, however, Smith went with them, leaving the old regime in
existence under Percy. The Sea Venture was not lost but wrecked on the
Bermudas, and finally, after having passed the winter there, two small
boats were constructed in which Somers, Gates and Newport arrived in
Virginia. They found the starved colonists who had numbered 500 in the
fall now reduced to sixty with no provisions of any kind, so it was agreed
that the best solution of the whole matter was the abandonment of the
colony. On June 9 all sailed away from Jamestown, fortunately not burning
any of the buildings. On nearing the mouth of the river they met a small
boat which announced that Lord Delaware had passed through the Capes. They
thereupon returned to the Island the next day, having been away for just
one night. Lord
Delaware's timely arrival saved the colony. On reaching Jamestown he fell
upon his knees and gave thanks for the salvation of the colony. The new
regime was now inaugurated. It was one of pomp and display. The governor
marched regularly to church at stated times attended by his guardsmen,
forced the people to attend services regularly and put them to work. On
account of the climate Delaware was forced to leave, and in his stead came
Sir Thomas Dale, who was a soldier of distinction. He at once inaugurated
military rule. Under him the colony prospered, though his government was
one of absolutism. In the meantime, Somers and Gates and others having
reported the discovery of the Bermudas, the charter of Virginia was
slightly modified in 1612, this being the third charter of the London
Company. The modification was made in order to include the Bermuda Islands
as a part of Virginia. It also designated that the council resident in
London should meet weekly, and that four times a year all members of the
Company should meet in a general court. It was further provided that all
laws for the government of Virginia were to be made by the Company or its
authorized agents.
Dale's administration is also marked by the marriage of John Rolfe to the
Indian princess, Pocahontas. John Rolfe had been wrecked along with his
family on the Bermuda Islands in the Somers and Gates expedition, and
there his first wife had died. While a resident of Jamestown he had seen
and become enamored of Pocahontas, who was held there as a prisoner, she
having been captured by Captain Argall on the Potomac River. The marriage
was celebrated in the church at Jamestown, and their honeymoon was spent
at Rolfe's estate on the James River known as Varina. In 1616 Dale
returned to England, and with him went Master John Rolfe and his wife, who
was graciously received at the court of King James and was lionized by
London society. Mistress Rolfe died in London, leaving one son from whom
so many Virginians claim descent.
The First American Legislative Assembly.
Dale's successor was Sir George Yeardley, who
for some ten years with intervening periods was governor of the colony. He
was a resident of Virginia, had a large plantation at Flower de Hundred,
and was deeply interested in the development of the colony. When he became
governor there were some 700 or 800 settlers. Within three years the
population was probably 2,000, distributed among some eleven settlements.
This growth in population was due to many causes: (1) More interest in the
colony on the part of the London Company secured by frequent meetings; (2)
the beginnings of the tobacco trade, the first tobacco being shipped to
England by John Rolfe in 1612, and (3) Yeardley's efforts to secure
married settlers and the building of permanent homes.
The constant reports made from Virginia to the
London Company and the interest which was secured caused a more liberal
attitude to be developed in the London Company towards the management of
the Virginia colony. Moreover, many members of the House of Lords and
especially of the House of Commons were opposed to the high-handed
measures of King James in England, and were anxious to establish a colony
where a liberal government might prevail. The outcome was a struggle in
the Company, beginning in 1618, between the King's party and the liberal
faction as it existed in Parliament. In other words, the meetings of the
council of the London Company and the general courts became the debating
ground of English conditions as well as Virginia conditions, and many a
parliamentary debate was, as it were, transferred to the meetings of the
London Company. In 1618 very liberal instructions were given by the
Company to Sir George Yeardley for the management of the colony of
Virginia, instructions which allowed him to call a General Assembly. Under
these instructions the governor issued a summons for the election of two
delegates from each of the eleven plantations of the colony, which
representatives met at Jamestown on July 30, 1619, and proceeded to
organize the first legislative assembly of America. In addition to these
representatives, the Assembly was also to be composed of the governor and
his council, making a unicameral body. The first Assembly was held in the
church at Jamestown. John Pory, secretary of the colony, was elected
speaker. Every member was required to take the oath of supremacy as
administered to the members of the English Parliament. The proceedings of
this Assembly in Pory's autograph were found in the British record office
by Mr. Bancroft, and show what was discussed by these early lawmakers.
Among the important acts was one stating that since the London Company
insisted on approving the laws of the Virginia Assembly, the Virginia
Assembly should likewise have the privilege of approving the acts of the
London Company-the early beginnings of resistance to legislation without
representation. The London Company was also requested to send over
laborers and workmen to build the college at Henrico.
The first movement for a college to be
established in Virginia was made about 1616, and the King authorized the
bishops of England to take up a collection for it, which resulted in
securing £1,500. The Company granted certain lands at Henricopolis, now
Dutch Gap, and in 1620 sent over George Thorpe as superintendent of the
college property with workmen and carpenters. It was doubtless due to the
request of the Virginia Assembly, or House of Burgesses, as it is so
commonly called, that Thorpe was sent. Later the Rev. Mr. Copeland was
elected rector, but never reached Virginia because the massacre of 1622
had destroyed the college property. Thus the first college in America had
its beginnings before any other settlement than Virginia had been made.
The early Virginians, therefore, took an interest in educational matters,
even in the London Company period.
Some of the other acts of the first Assembly
related to drinking, and it was unlawful for any man to get drunk. It was
also made unlawful for any man to wear fine apparel provided he did not
pay to the support of the church according to the quality of the clothes
he wore. Anyone who was guilty of swearing, after having been three times
admonished, should be fined five shillings for every offense, the fine to
go to the church. The Assembly was in session only five days, but judging
from the reports of its proceedings the men were conservative and
business-like, and had little difficulty in passing such regulations as
seemed to them best for the colony. The spirit of independence and freedom
shown by this Assembly was indicative of that spirit which was afterwards
to produce the American Revolution.
Charter of London Company Annulled.
For the next three years the colony grew
rapidly. Negro slavery was introduced in 1619, twenty slaves being
purchased from a Dutch man-of-war, eight of whom became the property of
the governor. Some ninety young ladies were brought over to become wives
of the settlers, and thus more permanent homes were formed. The tobacco
industry increased, and in 1620 20,000 pounds were shipped to England. By
1622 the number of settlements was some twenty-four or twenty-five.
The Indians saw with amazement the occupancy
of their lands by the whites. At the time that the first settlement was
made at Jamestown, Powhatan, as he was called, was ruler of a loose
confederacy of small Indian tribes in eastern Virginia. At first he was
hostile to the English, but though he was a wily diplomat he was no match
for John Smith, and finally yielded to all the requests of the English
without serious conflict. After the capture of his daughter and her
conversion to Christianity and marriage to John Rolfe, he and his tribe
lived in peace with the English. The tie between the races was, however,
somewhat broken by the death of Pocahontas, and later entirely severed by
the death of Powhatan. The same chieftain who had first captured Smith in
1607, Opecancanough, now became the ruler of Powhatan's people, and urged
them to prevent a further growth of the English settlements. The outcome
was a sudden and unexpected uprising in the spring of 1622 which resulted
in the destruction of the city of Henricopolis and several other smaller
plantations, and the death of some 300 settlers, among them Capt. William
Powell, who had been a member of the first legislative Assembly, and
probably John Rolfe, who had married Pocahontas. This was a severe blow to
the colony, and it was some six or eight months before it again began to
receive new settlers and to take on new life.
While these affairs were going on in Virginia,
the situation in the London Company in London was becoming more critical.
Sir Thomas Smythe, in 1619, having been appointed by the King a
commissioner of the navy, declined reelection as treasurer of the London
Company, and Sir Edwin Sandys was elected as his successor. The following
year when the question of election came up the King sent word that Sir
Edwin Sandys was persona non grata, whereupon the liberal faction placed
in nomination the Earl of Southampton, who was elected. Southampton was
equally as objectionable, but as long as the London Company remained in
existence he was reelected to his office. In other words, the London
Company was controlled by the more liberal element of Parliament which was
opposed to King James' notion of Divine Right and royal prerogative. It
was, therefore, the King's desire to annul the charter of the London
Company and to break up its meetings, which, to his mind, were the hot-bed
of sedition. Among the King's supporters were Sir Thomas Smythe, Robert
Rich (Earl of Warwick), and many other prominent English gentlemen and
merchants. In other words, the merchant class, who had the monopoly of the
trade, were afraid of the liberal policies of the Sandys-Southampton
people who were led by Sir Edwin and the Earl, with their able associates
George Sandys, the Ferrars, the Earl of Dorset, William Cavendish and
others. In 1623 the King, disgusted with the management of the London
Company, sent a commission to Virginia to report on the state of the
colony. Its report was adverse to the London Company, claiming that its
management of Virginia was unsatisfactory. The Virginians sent a
commissioner saying that they were thoroughly satisfied with the
government they enjoyed. The London Company itself prepared an answer to
the King. However, James pushed proceedings to a finish, and by quo
warranto Chief Justice Ley declared the charter of the London Company null
and void. Thus ended, in 1624, the rule of the London Company in Virginia.
Fortunately for the students of history, the
proceedings of this Company were preserved by Nicholas Ferrar and were
finally bought by William Byrd, of Virginia, and, passing through several
hands, reached Thomas Jefferson, and with his library were purchased by
the United States. To-day they are preserved in the Library of Congress.
Virginia now became a royal province, but the
work of the London Company could not be entirely undone. To this great
trust or corporation is due the establishment of the first permanent
settlement in America at the expense of several millions of dollars to the
incorporators. The establishment of a representative form of government in
the new world is a heritage which we have from the London Company. It was
the purpose of James to take from the colony much of the freedom in
governmental affairs which it had enjoyed under the London Company.
Fortunately for Virginia, James died before he could prepare a plan of
government for the colony, and Charles I. was persuaded by the Virginians,
who granted him certain duties on tobacco from the colony, to continue a
representative form of government. Thus one of the most abiding influences
of the London Company-popular government-was preserved in the American
colonies and eventually produced our republic.
Bibliography. -Brown: Genesis of the United
States; Campbell: History of Virginia; Chandler and Thames: Colonial
Virginia; Connor: Beginnings of English America; Fiske: Old Virginia and
Her Neighbors; Hariot: A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of
Virginia; Hening: Statutes at Large; Kingsbury: Records of the Virginia
Company of London; Neill: The Virginia Company; Smith, John: General
History of Virginia; Tyler: Cradle of the Republic, England in America,
Narratives of Early Virginia.
JULIAN ALVIN CARROLL CHANDLER,
Professor of History, Richmond College; author of Makers of Virginia
History, etc. |
