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CHAPTER III

VIRGINIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR THOMAS SMITH

We know from an authoritative source¹ that the decisive reason which led the patentees to apply for a new charter was the defects which experience revealed in the form of government created by the charter of 1606. Whether the appointment of the councils by the crown was found to be an important source of difficulty, we are not informed; but we are told that in this connection a chief object of desire on the part of the patentees was to send out a large supply of colonists under one able and absolute governor.” “The equality of governors” in the colony, it was further declared, and “some outrages and follies committed by them,” “had a little shaken so tender a body.” To the patentees, as to all others who were concerned, it was evident that the attempt to govern the colony through a resident council had proved a failure. The opposite system was now to be tried.

A second cause of evil was thought to be the length of the outward voyages by the way of the West Indies, and the consequent exposure of the passengers to disease and to attacks by the Spaniard. As a means of remedying this evil Captain Argall was sent out with a single vessel and with orders to choose the most direct route. By following a course midway between the southern and northern routes he reached Virginia in about nine weeks, and, by fishing in the waters there, not only relieved the needs of the colonists, but revealed anew the resources of the colony, especially in sturgeon. In this way one of the difficulties seemed to be solved. Already decisive steps had also been taken which

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it was believed would remove the evils of the government. Closely connected with the reform that was desired lay the need of increasing the scope of the enterprise. In order to accomplish that result the number of patentees must be enlarged, and with this the volume of contributions. A condition necessary to the securing of this end was the full incorporation of the patentees and the express bestowment upon them of the land of the colony and of rights of government.

The change was effected through the royal charters of 1609 and 1612. By the former the process of incorporating the London patentees as a joint stock company, after the manner of some of the older trading companies, was completed. The corporate name of “The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia,” was given to them, and they were thenceforth to have a seal. The authority to transport emigrants and carry on trade, which had been enjoyed by the former patentees, was conferred on these. But in addition they received a territory four hundred miles broad and extending through the North American continent, with power to grant the same to adventurers and settlers. The new company also received the organization necessary for the exercise of such powers. This consisted of a “general court” of all the members, various subordinate courts and committees; a treasurer and deputy treasurer, with power to create other offices; and a council. The council was the successor of the royal council of 1606, and retained the name of “Our Council for the said Company of Adventurers and Planters in Virginia.” Upon it governmental powers were bestowed, and from some of the words in the charter of 1609 one might infer that the king, through this body, intended still to retain the government of the colony in his own hands. But provision was also made in that charter that vacancies in the council should be filled by the company, and by the charter of 1612 power was expressly given to the company to elect the council. The effect of this was to make it a permanent administrative body within the company, wholly subject to its control like any other standing committee. By

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virtue of this change the patentees came to have the power of directly governing the colony, though of course, like all other corporations, they were subject to the sovereign control of crown and parliament.

The London patentees, in the form of an incorporated body, now became in the full sense of the term the proprietor of their colony. The company existed for fifteen years, and during that period it continued to perform the duties of proprietor; for that length of time the colony on the James river was a proprietary province with a commercial company as its overlord. For a brief time under the charter of 1612 the Bermuda Islands were united with Virginia as a part of the company’s province; but soon a distinct corporation was organized for their government, though its members were drawn very largely from the London company.

This body was empowered to increase its membership at will. This it did by selling shares, or bills of adventure, which were transferable and represented a contribution to the common stock of £12, 10s. each.¹ Adventurers were those who invested their money in shares of this value, instead of removing to the colony as planters. Planters invested their labor, and that of their families and servants, and were entitled to shares therefor. It was agreed by the company that for the period of seven years after the issue of the new patent, that is from 1609 to 1616, the system of corporate management maintained by the former patentees should be continued in the colony. There should be no landholding or trading by individuals, but the company should, as formerly, provide all necessities and receive all products. In the meantime, such dividends as the business would warrant should be declared for the benefit of the adventurers, and the planters would be guaranteed their support.² At the end of the seven years the division of the

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lands in the colony among the adventurers and planters in proportion to their several investments, as indicated on the register of the corporation, should begin. Thus, except the sending of women and children as well as men to the colony, no immediate departure from the plantation system established under the charter of 1606, was contemplated. The colony was to continue for a series of years unchanged, though it was hoped that much larger investments would be made in it. In other words, as a direct result of the charter of 1609, the planters gained no liberties, though the corporation gained many such.

Both before and after the issue of the charter of 1609 the enterprise was systematically advertised. Letters, broadsides, and pamphlets were issued explaining the plans of the managers, and setting forth the prospective wealth and attractions of the colony. The Plymouth¹ adventurers, with the understanding that their efforts for the time were at a standstill, were invited to cooperate. It was declared that the only type of colonist desired was the husbandman or artisan, reared in the Protestant faith, and honest in his past life. By the labor of these an abundance of commodities, like naval stores, would be produced, for the supply of which England was now dependent on foreign countries. Special appeals were made to the city of London and its trading companies, as well as to others.

The result of these efforts² was that, when the charter passed the great seal, the number of incorporators had been so increased as to include 56 city companies of London, and 659 individuals. Of the latter 21 were peers, 96 were knights, 11 were members of the learned professions, 53 were captains, 58 were gentlemen, 110 were merchants, 282 were citizens and others not classified. Of these about 230 subscribed for three shares or more each (£37, 10s.); 229 subscribed for less than that number. About 200 seem to have paid in nothing. But, as it was, the active adventurers represented the nobility, clergy, and merchants, while the planters were being drawn to a large extent from the lower classes. A company considerable both in social weight and

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numbers was thus brought together. Sir Thomas Smith, a prince among London merchants, an assignee of Raleigh and a charter member of several other large companies, was chosen treasurer and was reelected to that office for nearly ten years in succession. Sir Edwin Sandys, who drafted the charter of 1609, and was rising to leadership among the opposition in the House of Commons, gradually became more influential in the management of the company. When, however, reverses came, as they not infrequently did, members fell off and it became more than usually difficult to collect subscriptions. In 1611 some returned without license from the colony, who spread damaging reports about it, and stringent provision for their restraint was introduced into the charter of 1612. To such straits also was the company then reduced for funds, that the privilege of holding lotteries was granted to it by that charter. It is stated¹ that at times during the administration of Sir Thomas Smith it was difficult to secure an attendance of twenty at the quarter courts, though, subsequent to 1619, when the office of treasurer was held by Sandys and the Earl of Southampton, two hundred were often in attendance. The membership of the company during the last four years of its existence is also said to have reached one thousand, while we have a list,² approaching respectably near that number, of those who joined when Smith was treasurer. At all times within this body was a group of varying size—noblemen, merchants, officials—who were constant in attendance, spent their time and energies for the company and colony, and enjoyed the honors and responsibilities which came therefrom. Among them were some of the most distinguished men in England, and when assembled they formed a dignified body.

The records of the company prior to 1619—the period of the administration of Sir Thomas Smith—have been lost or destroyed, and a connected account of its proceedings during that time cannot be given. For the period from 1619 to 1624—that of the Sandys-Southampton régime—very

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full minutes¹ of the general court and of some of the subordinate courts have been preserved. The Orders and Constitutions,² compiled in 1619, are also accessible, and contain statements of the powers and duties of the officials and committees of the company, rules of procedure followed in its courts in the granting of land, in trade, and some other matters. From the Orders and Constitutions we learn that in the company’s chest, under the care of the secretary, were kept a variety of account books, record and minute books, and original papers, all of which, save the minutes just referred to, have now been lost. But the reference to these, together with the records which have been preserved, reveals the fact that this chartered company, at least during the later years of its existence, did far more business annually, and did it with greater care than any other proprietor, or proprietary body—save the crown—which ever had to do with an American colony. But before this can be reviewed in greater detail, the changes which took place in the colony while Smith was treasurer of the corporation must be noted.

The patentees under the charter of 1606 had sent to Virginia not far from three hundred colonists. Of these probably less than one hundred survived till midsummer, 1609.³ The new company despatched in the spring of that year nine vessels, carrying about five hundred planters. With them went Sir Thomas Gates, as “sole and absolute governor,” accompanied by Sir George Somers as admiral, and Captain Newport as vice-admiral.⁴ The instructions to Gates have recently been discovered, and their fulness and suggestiveness, added to the fact that they were the earliest set of instructions to a governor which we now possess, justify more than a passing reference. Moreover, notwithstanding the disaster which overtook Gates, these instructions were put into force,

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the most important among them being given to Lord Delaware for his guidance. They contained in outline the entire scheme of policy which was followed by Delaware, Gates, and Dale, that by which the fortunes of the colony were guided until the time came for the introduction of individual property. We can now clearly see that the policy of the years 1610 to 1617 was formulated in the councils of the company while the new charter was being procured and while the company was adding to its resources and energies. The instructions were issued by his Majesty’s council for Virginia. In them Gates was told to avoid the old course by way of Dominica, lest he might fall into the hands of the Spaniard; but he was not instructed to altogether avoid the southern route. Provision was made that, when upon his arrival in Virginia it became necessary to reorganize the government, Gates should select as his councillors Somers,—who was to be admiral of the province,—Smith, Ratcliffe, and the other leading officials who were already in the colony; they were named as councillors in the instructions. But their advice should not be binding upon the governor, nor should they have the right to negative his decisions. He, on the other hand, might suspend any of them from office and report the fact to the royal council. Over other officers for whom provision had not been made by the royal council, the governor was to possess the full power of appointment and removal. “Whomsoever you consult of any business of importance wee advise you to consider and deliberate all things patiently & willingly and to heare every man his oppinion and objection, but the resultants out of them or your own Determinacon, what you intend to Doe, not to imparte to any whatsoever, but to such onely as shall execute it, and to them also under the sealles of your comaundement and but at the instant of their partinge from you for the execucon of your will.” Thus completely did the authority of a provincial governor differ from that which had originally been held by the president under the previous charter. Another instance of the extent of his discretion is furnished by the instruction that, in order to prevent false and unfavorable reports concerning the plantation reaching England, the governor should

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inform himself, so far as possible, as to the substance of all letters and messages which were sent home, and transmit his knowledge to the royal council.

In the instruction relating to the administration of justice the rule was laid down which, as we shall see, was to guide the judges throughout the colonies in very much of their work. In cases of mutiny and rebellion the governor was authorized to proceed by martial law, but “in all matters of Civill Justice you shall finde it properest and usefullest for your government to proceede rather as a Chancellor than as a Judge, rather uppon the naturall right and equity than uppon the niceness and lettre of the lawe, which perplexeth in this tender body rather than dispatcheth all Causes; so that a summary and arbitrary way of Justice discreetly mingled with those gravities and fourmes of magistracy as shall in your discrecon seeme aptest for you and that place, will be of most use both for expedicon and for example.”

Detailed instructions were given to the effect that the chief seat of the colony should be removed from Jamestown to some point above the Falls, a point which an European enemy could not easily reach even by land, but one whence access could be had to a food supply through the main river or its branches. Further exploration and even settlement of the region toward Roanoke was urged. The colony should be allowed to expand. The cultivation of trade with the Indians, yet not so as to seem dependent on them, was enforced. Traffic with them must be carefully regulated. Great stress was also laid on the necessity of civilizing and christianizing them, the council even going so far as to recommend the seizure of their medicine men or priests, in order that by this means superstitious rites might be destroyed. Worship according to the forms of the established church was to be carefully maintained, and constant attendance at church was to be required of all the colonists.

Specific regulations were also made as to trade and manual labor within the colony, the substance of which will appear when we come to speak of the system that was enforced by Dale. The plantation system was to be continued with great rigor, the colonists working in gangs under

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officials as overseers, eating at common tables and living in common barracks. So detailed are these instructions and so many points in the later history of colonization are anticipated by them, that one is almost forced to the conclusion that Sandys was their author or that he at least had a hand in their preparation.

Unfortunately Gates and his expedition followed the route over which Newport had so often sailed by way of the Canaries and West Indies. Not only did a considerable amount of sickness among the passengers result from this, but the fleet itself was dispersed by a great storm which it encountered off the Bahama Islands. The vessel carrying Gates, Somers, and Newport was wrecked on the Bermudas, and some nine months passed before its officers and passengers reached Jamestown. Seven of the vessels of the fleet, however, weathered the storm, and with two hundred colonists or more arrived at their destination before the close of the summer of 1609.¹ The supplies which the new arrivals might have contributed to the comfort of the colonists had been greatly injured by the storm, and much that was fit to land was, as usual, wasted. By these events the plans of the company were thrown into confusion and the colony was plunged anew into distresses which came near terminating its existence.

By the charter provision was made that on the arrival in Virginia of the new governor, or other principal officer appointed by the council, and notice by him given, all authority under the president and council which was derived from the charter of 1606 should cease. But in this case the governor failed to appear, or any one who was commissioned to exercise authority. Those who did come were Smith’s rivals and enemies. For a time some confusion existed, but it was finally decided² that Captain Francis West should succeed Smith on the close of the latter’s term—which occurred about the 20th of September. In the meantime, however, Smith sent Martin and George Percy with sixty

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people to settle near the mouth of the Nansemond river, but owing to conflicts with the Indians this enterprise finally had to be abandoned. West, with one hundred men, was sent about the same time to settle near the Falls. That settlement was likewise attacked by the Indians. Smith himself went thither,¹ and a controversy at once arose between him and West and the latter’s company about the selection of a site for the settlement. In the midst of this Smith returned to Jamestown, and on the way was accidentally wounded. But notwithstanding this he was tempted to prolong his tenure of office beyond its legal term. He was thereupon deposed by Archer, Martin, and Ratcliffe, who considered themselves entitled to act under their original authority as councillors. West, who had been designated as Smith’s successor, being now at the Falls, Percy² was elected to act as president until legal authority under the existing charter should arrive. Smith was sent home under charges on one of the vessels of Gates’s fleet, all except two of which returned in the fall of 1609.

When these vessels reached England, the full extent of the misfortune which had visited the first effort of the new patentees became known. It was also seen that the colony was left in a precarious condition. Some who had returned with the vessels began also to spread evil reports concerning the colony and the management of its affairs. This caused discouragement among the adventurers, and many now ceased any longer to support the enterprise. But the group among the patentees, whose hearts were wholly in the work, devoted themselves all the more to its prosecution. The True and Sincere Declaration was issued to show what the situation was, how it had come about, and that there was no ground for discouragement. In a broadside the appeal was renewed for assistance, and for an additional supply of artisans and farmers as colonists. Sir Thomas West, Lord Delaware, a slow and formal man, selected because of his rank, was appointed governor, and preparations were at once made to send him out at the head of a relief expedition.

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Delaware’s commission¹ proceeded from the treasurer and company through the council for Virginia. By it he was made “governor, commander, and captain general both by land and sea over the said colony and all other colonies planted or to be planted in Virginia.” He was to be admiral of the fleet which should carry him to Virginia. Within the colony and on the passage thither he was authorized to execute martial law and to act as judge in civil and criminal cases as provided in the charter and instructions from the council, or, in defect of such instructions, under ordinances issued with the advice of the council in the colony. He was given full power to appoint and remove all officers in the colony (including councillors), save those who had commissions from the council of the company. These he might suspend. He was also empowered to reward meritorious services by increasing bills of adventure for land. Full authority over matters of defence was also given him, while additional powers and instructions were to be granted when necessary. In April, 1610, the new governor, with three vessels and about one hundred and fifty colonists, sailed from England, and under the guidance of Captain Argall reached the mouth of the James river at the middle of June. The appointment of Delaware had been made and his expedition sent out under the supposition that Gates and his associates at the Bermudas had all perished and that the establishment of government anew in the colony would now be necessary. But of their mistake in this particular, as well as of the disastrous condition of affairs at Jamestown, they were made aware on their arrival.

It appears that soon after Smith’s departure the previous fall, Percy, because of illness, surrendered all but nominal power into the hands of Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin. The strenuous methods of Smith were at once abandoned, and affairs were systematically mismanaged, a fact which goes far to justify Smith’s criticisms of these men. As winter approached, the natives became more hostile. This was an attitude which, with their knowledge of the straits to which the colonists were soon reduced, they would naturally assume,

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but to which they may possibly have been urged by Spanish influence from the south.¹ At any rate, they forced West to abandon his settlement at the Falls. Throughout the winter they refused to trade with the English, and so far as possible carried on active hostilities against them. In December Ratcliffe, while attempting to trade with them, was lured into an ambush and killed. Anarchy and sloth seem to have prevailed, existing resources were not husbanded, even the domestic animals were killed for food. A period of famine and disease began which was almost as destructive as that of the summer of 1607. During the winter one hundred and fifty, out o£ a total of little more than two hundred, died, among those who perished being Captain Archer. Only about sixty were left in the colony.² The church was allowed to decay, and many of the houses, with much of the fortifications, were destroyed for fuel.

At the beginning of June Gates, and the one hundred and fifty colonists who were with him, arrived in craft which they had built in the Bermudas. They found³ the palisades of the fort down, the ports open, the gates off their hinges, “the Indians as fast killing without as the famine and pestilence within.” The blockhouse⁴ alone afforded some protection to the survivors, yet this could probably not have shielded them much longer against the attacks of the Indians. Gates was not in a position to render much aid, for he brought only such supplies as might be necessary for his own colonists during a sea voyage. Indian trade could not be relied on, especially at that season and in the midst of an Indian war. To fishing they could not resort, because neither sufficient seine or nets could be found in the fort. Therefore, after repeatedly consulting with the former councillors, and finding that there was only food enough in store for sixteen days at the rate of two cakes daily for each colonist, it was

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to abandon thee settlement. Some even desired to burn what remained of the town, but this fatal step Gates prevented. He caused all the people to be embarked, and sent down the river with the purpose of carrying them to Newfoundland, whence they might obtain passage to England.

But fortunately Delaware was already at the mouth of the river, and when he learned of the situation was determined to save and reestablish the colony. Through Captain Edward Brewster, who was sent by Delaware to meet dates, the vessels were ordered to return to Jamestown. This they did, Delaware himself following a day or two later. Thus the most serious crisis in the history of Virginia,—far more serious in its nature than that which had resulted in Lane’s return from Roanoke,—was passed, and a repetition of the experiment in colonization on the James river was insured. It was at this juncture that the system of management which was planned by the patentees under the charter of 1609 went really into operation.

As soon as Lord Delaware landed and the work of cleansing and repairing the town had been begun, he announced the names of those whom he had selected to be his councillors and to fill the other offices of the colony, and administered to them the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, with one of fidelity to the colony. Now for the first time at Jamestown appears the elaborate official system of a military type which was instituted at Sagadahoc. Of the six members¹ of the council, one held the special title of lieutenant general, another of admiral, and still others that of captain of fifty, master of ordnance, vice-admiral. Only one of the six bore the title of a civilian; that one being William Strachey, who was secretary and recorder. The other officials of the settlement were almost wholly military in character, as one was master of the battery works for steel and iron, another was sergeant-major of the fort, and five were captains of the companies into which the inhabitants were

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organized for the purpose of defence. Two of the settlers were clerks of the council and two were clerks of the store. Since it was known that the Spanish government was carefully watching the company, and, as we know, was already planning to discover the location of its colony, the erection of two forts at Hampton, near the mouth of the river, was a natural act of precaution. A stockade or fort had been built the previous year¹ at Point Comfort.

The contemporary utterances of the company² show it to have been convinced that the failure of the experiment hitherto had been due, at least in part, to negligence and lack of discipline among the colonists. It was therefore resolved that there should be no lack of rigor in the future. Up to this time the settlement had had no written laws. A code³ was now prepared for it, the enforcement of which was intrusted to Gates, afterwards to Delaware, and later to Dale. It was a civil and martial code combined, the former part having been compiled by William Strachey, while the latter is said to have been borrowed from military regulations in force in the Netherlands, but greatly extended by Dale in 1611.⁴ Though the whole of this body of law was probably never enforced in the colony with rigor and in detail, yet it wits in being there for nine years,⁵ and the governors throughout that time can hardly have failed to use it for a variety of purposes. No other extant authority reveals so clearly the type of plantation which it was the purpose of the company and officials to encourage in Virginia. The stern and energetic spirit of Governor Dale can be seen in it

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quite as distinctly as elsewhere, and it contains some of his weightiest utterances.

According to this code, freedom of action within the colony was to be reduced to a minimum. The colony was to be regarded and treated as an absolute unit. The traditional forces of military discipline, severe penal enactments, and strict religious observance were brought to bear, to repress disorder and direct the productive energies of the settlement. In that age it was not strange that, under the civil enactments, more than twenty crimes were punishable with death, while many small offences were threatened with whipping. But it was also declared that the provisions of the martial code might also be applied to these offences, martial law in the last instance being supreme. Some of the provisions showed a correct understanding of evils which had previously existed, as those which prohibited unlicensed trading with the Indians, killing of cattle or poultry without license, destruction of growing crops, embezzlement by the cape-merchant or keeper of the store, the practice of extortion by captains or seamen in the sale of goods, stealing of the boats or vessels of the colony, escape from the colony without license from the governor. But these, like treason, were among the capital offences.

So also was persistent refusal to attend church. It was made the duty of the captain in each plantation, half an hour before service on Sundays, to shut the gates and place sentinels at them. After service began he should search all the houses and command all to repair to church, after which he should accompany his guards thither with their arms and lay the keys before the governor. Characteristic emphasis throughout the code was laid both on obedience to civil authority and on external religious observances. Under the first charter Anglican worship had been regularly celebrated in the settlement, the patentees having sent over a worthy clergyman with the first colonists. Others accompanied or soon followed Delaware. Mention is prominently made of the care shown by the governor in the repair of the chapel. The code required that prayers should be read there twice every day, that there should be preaching every Wednesday

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and twice on Sunday, with catechising, and that all these services should be attended by every settler on threat of heavy punishment for disobedience. Every Sunday the Lord Governor attended church in state, “accompanied with all the councillors, captains, other officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a guard of fifty halberdiers in his Lordship’s livery, fair red cloaks, on each side and behind him. The Lord Governor sat in the choir, in a green velvet chair, with a velvet cushion before him on which he knelt, and the council, captains, and officers sat on each side of him, each in their place; and when the Lord Governor returned home, he was waited on in the same manner to his house.” A mental comparison of the picture presented by these colonists on their way to church with the description given by De Rasieres a decade later of the procession he saw on a Sabbath morning at Plymouth will be found suggestive.

The instructions of Dale show it to have been the intention to order all activities of the colonists according to military routine. The governor at Jamestown, as well as at each outlying plantation, was to perform the double duty of military commander and overseer. The same was true of all the officers under him, and they all bore military titles. The ordinary colonist was plainly told that he was both soldier and husbandman, and the rigid discipline of the former calling was to dominate the latter. A strict watch and system of training was to be maintained, and at appointed times the soldier was to lay down his gun in order to take up the spade or other tool. The day¹ was so divided that the hours of labor in the morning continued from six to ten o’clock, and in the afternoon from two until four. These periods began and closed with the beat of drum, and at their close all the settlers were marched to the church to hear prayers. Under the supervision of officers all tools

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were taken day by day for use from the storehouse and returned thither again. To the mind of Dale, who in his energy and enthusiasm for colonization as state-building resembled John Smith, the duties of the colonist and of the soldier were but different aspects of the same function; “which compriseth and involveth here as well all the industrious knowledges and practices of the husbandman and of his spade, as of the soldier and of his sword.” To train husbandmen in Virginia who should have the regularity and persistence of soldiers was the aim of the managers of the system. Smith and Dale worked in much the same lines. But, for the reason stated by Ralph Hamor,¹ the ideal was unattainable: “When our people were fed out of the common store, and labored jointly together, glad was he who could slip from his labor, or slumber over his task he cared not how, nay, the most honest among them would hardly take so much true pains in a week, as now they themselves will do in a day: neither cared they for the increase, presuming that howsoever the harvest prospered, the general store must maintain them. . . .”

The imperative need of food in the colony on the arrival of Delaware was met by fishing and by special expeditions in search of supplies. Argall, who started for the Bermudas with Somers for the purpose, was driven northward, and off the coast of northern Virginia procured a cargo of fish with which he returned to Jamestown. To this source of supply resort was annually made thereafter. During the following years Argall engaged to a considerable extent in Indian trade, and in exploration connected therewith. While on one of these expeditions in the region of the Potomac in 1613 he captured Pocahontas, and by skilful use of this advantage was able to procure peace, with return of captives and booty, from the Powhatan. By two voyages, in addition to the capture of the Indian maiden, Argall is said to have procured several hundred bushels of corn.² Somewhat later Dale concluded peace with the Chickahominies, and thus the resources of the natives were again opened to the English. The analogy between the work of Argall at

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this juncture, and that of John Smith at an earlier date, is perfectly clear. Both, in the capacity of successful Indian traders, helped to make the colony self-supporting.

Throughout the years of which we are speaking sickness prevailed, much as it had done prior to 1610. During the first two years of its existence, the company sent a considerable number of emigrants to Virginia. Delaware brought 150;¹ Dale and Gates, in 1611, about 600. Not so many were sent thereafter. The usual proportion of these newcomers fell sick and died. During the summer and fall after Delaware’s arrival about 150 died. The governor himself suffered so much from the climate that he was forced to leave the colony the following spring. In the spring of 1612 Dale writes that, of the 300 whom he brought the previous year, not 60 were able to work; but the incapacity of many of these he attributes to their “crazed bodies.” Only planters who had survived in the colony for two or three summers could be relied on. So great was the mortality that, in April, 1616, out of a total of more than 1000 who were in the colony in July, 1610, or had landed there since that date, only 351 survived. The loss to the adventurers, as well as to the planters, indicated by these figures, was very great. After 1616 we hear at times of great mortality, but gradually the proportion of acclimated colonists increased women were brought over, and native births filled more and more the gaps made by disease. The Indian massacre of 1622 proved as destructive to the labor power of the colony as some of the earlier visitations of fever. But gradually, and by the process indicated, the colony became adjusted to its physical environment and reached a firm basis of health. This, as much as anything else, liberated it from its dependence on “supplies,” and enabled it to be a colony instead of a mere plantation.

An essential condition of the growth of Virginia, as of every other social body, was its own internal expansion. Partly because Governor Dale’s ideal was what it has been described to be, expansion in permanent and effective form began with him. More or less ineffective attempts had been

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made before his arrival to found a settlement at the Falls and military posts near the mouth of the river. As soon as Dale appeared in the capacity of deputy governor, and in consequence of his determination that the colony should be made self-supporting by the increase of the cultivation of corn and other forms of husbandry, the country¹ was explored for the purpose of discovering an available site for a new settlement. The spot selected was the modern Farrar’s island and the neighboring region, about forty miles above Jamestown. The site was chosen because of its fertility, the amount of open ground available, and the ease with which, because of the bends on the river, a considerable area could be surrounded with palings. There, on what was then a narrow peninsula on the north bank of the river, the town of Henrico was founded. This was done by enclosing seven acres of ground with a stockade protected by watchtowers, and building within this a storehouse, church, and three rows of houses for himself and men. The houses were built partly of brick made on the spot.² A building was also especially set apart as a hospital for the sick or wounded. Across the neck of the peninsula, and again two miles farther inland, palings were built by means of which a large area of cleared land was secured and laid off into fields for corn. Within this tract, it was claimed, enough grain could be produced to support the existing population of Virginia and all who were likely to arrive for three years to come. Certain Indian lands between the Appomattox and James rivers, and a short distance below Henrico, were seized and impaled, additional corn land thus being secured. On the south side of the river a range for hogs was also enclosed and made defensible. Still another tract between Farrar’s island and the Appomattox was made into an enclosure for the domestic cattle, larger numbers of which were now being brought into the colony in vessels specially adapted for the purpose. Provision was made for the defence of each of the enclosures, and colonists were established within them.

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Thus a group of settlements was founded, less exposed to foreign attack and more healthfully located than Jamestown. These Dale intended to make the centre of the colony. Governor Gates, however, when in the colony, continued to reside at Jamestown and cared for its improvement. This insured its continuance as at least the centre of government, though by 1616 the upper settlements contained more than half of the inhabitants of the colony.¹

While Dale was founding Henrico and its neighboring settlements, the period during which the common stock was to be maintained approached its close. But he did not wait for that time to come before taking the initial step toward the introduction of private holdings. Soon after Dale’s arrival, perhaps in response to a petition already presented to Gates, he consulted the council respecting the advisability of allotting to each man a “private garden.” Later, probably in 1614, a considerable number of allotments were made of three acres each, to be held under lease. Those who received them were called farmers, and paid an annual rent into the common store of two and one-half barrels of corn for each male worker. They were exempted from all labor for the community, save during one month in the year, and that not in seed-time or harvest.²

As a result of this change, when in 1616 John Rolfe wrote his Relation, the planters consisted of officers, laborers, and farmers. The officers had supervision over each of the other classes, in the sense that they cared for their protection from enemies, and saw that they performed the daily tasks to which they were bound. They also labored for their own support. The class of laborers included the agricultural servants and many, at least, of the artisans. The servants worked in the “common garden,” that is for the company, eleven months in the year, all the results of their labor for that time going into the general store. The remaining month was their own. The artisans also tilled the ground for a part of their support. In Bermuda Hundred lived a group of servants who, probably in response to a petition of

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their own, were allowed for their own use, in addition to one month annually, one day in each week from the first of May until harvest. The farmers were the tenants created by Dale, who lived under the comparatively easy terms described above.¹ In order further to encourage the development of tenant right, and the cultivation of commodities which were useful as food, Dale assured to every man with a family who came into the colony a house with four rooms, which he was permitted to occupy for at least a year without the payment of rent. Twelve acres fenced and adjacent to the house were assigned for cultivation. With this went tools, live stock, and provisions adequate to the support of the family during a twelvemonth. After that time the newcomer was expected to maintain himself.

When Dale finally returned to England in 1616, six settlements had been founded along the lower and middle course of the James river: Henrico, Bermuda Hundred, and West and Sherley Hundred, all in the vicinity of Farrar’s island; Jamestown, and Kicoughtan, the latter near the mouth of the river; Dale’s Gift, near Cape Charles, the extremity of Accomac peninsula. In the entire colony was a population of only 381, including women and children. Of these about 200 were in the upper settlements founded by Dale, while the rest were distributed between Jamestown and the two lower settlements. The officers and laborers together numbered 205, and the farmers 81. Though the number was small, it consisted of those who had become acclimated and hence fitted to be the nucleus of a permanent colony. Though no plough was yet in use, the colonists possessed a large supply of goats, hogs, and poultry, 6 horses, and 144 domestic cattle. At Dale’s Gift salt was made and fishing carried on. The production of tobacco had already begun, and thus Virginia was soon to possess a staple which she could export in large quantities. The price of tobacco at that time ranged very high, and under its influence the amount raised and sent to England rapidly increased. But special care was taken, now as always, to encourage the raising of articles of food ample in amount to support the inhabitants of the colony.

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When Governor Dale returned to England in 1616, the time for the expiration of the system of joint management as applied to land had nearly arrived. Early in that year the company had made preparations for the first division, which should include the land adjacent to the existing settlements in Virginia.¹ In 1617, while George Yeardley, who had coöperated with Dale in the founding of his settlements at and near Henrico, was deputy governor, the laborers who three years before had been granted special privileges at Bermuda Hundred were, it is supposed, made farmers or free rent-paying tenants.² Not far from the same time a few grants of land in fee simple were made to other colonists.

But Yeardley was soon superseded by Samuel Argall, who now returned to Virginia as deputy governor and as the protégé of Sir Robert Rich, afterwards Earl of Warwick.³ During the two years of his administration, 1617-1619, no private grants were made. By this it is not meant that the company’s land was cultivated with diligence, or the commercial system utilized for the benefit of adventurers and planters. Instead, both the lands and trade of the company were recklessly exploited for the benefit of the governor and his friends. The “ancient colony men,” who were entitled to their freedom, and the laborers from the common garden, were kept at work as the governor directed, and largely for his personal advantage. The stores of grain accumulated from the rents at Charles City, as well as the public cattle, were appropriated for his use. A stock of hides belonging to the company and estimated to be worth £400 he withheld from sale, and thus caused it considerable loss. At the same time he allowed ship captains and private traders to export the sassafras and tobacco produced in the colony, thus bringing the operations of the magazine almost to a standstill. The Indian trade he was also charged with appropriating to himself.

Sir Edwin Sandys described the effects of Argall’s administration

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of the company’s garden as follows: “The Deputy Governor, on his arrival at that place, which was in or about May 1617, hath left and delivered to him by his predecessor a portion of public land called the Company’s garden, which yielded unto them in one year about £300 profit. Fifty-four servants employed in that same garden and in salt-works set up for the service of the colony; tenants, eighty-one yielded a yearly rent-corn and services, which rent-corn, together with the tribute-corn from the barbarians, amounted to above twelve hundred of our bushels by the year; kine, eighty; goats, eighty-eight. About two years after—viz., Easter, 1619—at the coming away of the said Deputy Governor, his whole estate of the public was gone and consumed, there being not left at that time to the Company either the land aforesaid or any tenant, servant, rent or tribute corn, cow or salt-work, and but six goats only, without one penny yielded to the Company for their so great loss in way of account or restitution to this very day.”¹

When Captain Edward Brewster ventured² to withdraw some of Lord Delaware’s tenants and servants from the work to which the governor had set them, Argall, taking advantage of the martial code, had him tried and condemned to death. But on the application of the members of the court and of the clergymen who were present, Brewster was allowed to return to England on condition that he would never revisit the colony, or say anything to its disparagement or that of Governor Argall.

As soon as the company was informed of the extent to which Argall was violating its instructions and plundering the colony, Lord Delaware, who was on the way to assume the duties of his office in person, was ordered to send Argall home, and to seize what of his plunder he could.³ But the governor died on the outward voyage. Sir George Yeardley was then appointed governor and instructed to proceed against Argall. But the latter was brought away from Virginia in one of Sir Robert Rich’s vessels, and after some delay returned to England. There he found that Brewster

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had appealed to the company against him.¹ Based on this and other information, charges against him were formulated by the company, to some of which he attempted to reply. By a quarter court his proceedings against Brewster were pronounced unjust and illegal. But on the other points no definite result was ever reached. It is not improbable that this was due to the influence of Warwick. The case of Argall helped to arouse bitter feelings within the company, but itself was partially obscured by the larger controversies to the origin of which it contributed. The significance of his administration appears in the fact that it delayed the process of economic transition in the colony for two years.