LITMIR.BIZ

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means of asserting the title of his nation, the payment of the tribute was refused, and the place put in a state of defence.[29]

      Fifty acres of land laid off for each settler.

      The advantages resulting to the colony from allowing each individual to labour, in part for himself, having soon become apparent, the system of working in common to fill the public stores, seems to have been totally relinquished; and, not long afterwards, fifty acres of land, promised by the rules of the company to each emigrant, were surveyed and delivered to those having the title.

      1615

      Tobacco.

      About the same time, tobacco was first cultivated in Virginia.

This plant, although detested by the King, who even wrote a pamphlet against it, which he styled a counter blast; although discountenanced by the leading members of parliament, and even by the company, who issued edicts against its cultivation; although extremely unpleasant to persons not accustomed to it, and disagreeable in its effects, surmounted all opposition, and has, by an unaccountable caprice, been brought into general use, and become one of the most considerable staples of America.[30]

      1616

      Yeardly.

      In the spring of the following year, Sir Thomas Dale sailed for England, leaving the government in the hands of Mr. George Yeardly, who, after a lax administration of one year, was succeeded by captain Argal.

      1617

      Argal.

Argal was a man of talents and energy, but selfish, haughty, and tyrannical. He continued martial law during a season of peace; and a Mr. Brewster, who was tried under this arbitrary system, for contemptuous words spoken of the governor, was sentenced to suffer death. He obtained with difficulty an appeal to the treasurer and company in England, by whom the sentence was reversed.[31]

While martial law was, according to Stith, the common law of the land, the governor seems to have been the sole legislator. His general edicts mark the severity of his rule. He ordered that merchandise should be sold at an advance of twenty-five per centum, and tobacco taken in payment at the rate of three shillings per pound, under the penalty of three years' servitude to the company; that no person should traffic privately with the Indians, or teach them the use of fire arms, under pain of death; that no person should hunt deer or hogs without the governor's permission; that no man should shoot, unless in his own necessary defence, until a new supply of ammunition should arrive, on pain of a year's personal service; that none should go on board the ships at Jamestown, without the governor's leave; that every person should go to church on Sundays and holidays, under the penalty of slavery during the following week for the first offence, during a month for the second, and during a year and a day for the third. The rigour of this administration necessarily exciting much discontent, the complaints of the Virginians at length made their way to the company. Mr. Yeardly.Lord Delawar being dead, Mr. Yeardly was appointed captain-general, with instructions to examine the wrongs of the colonists, and to redress them.[32]

      1619

      The new governor arrived in April, and soon after, to the inexpressible joy of the inhabitants, declared his determination to convoke a colonial assembly.

      This is an important era in the history of Virginia. Heretofore, all legislative authority had been exercised, either by the corporation in England, or by their officers in the colony. The people had no voice, either personally, or by their representatives, in the government of themselves; and their most important concerns were managed by persons often unacquainted with their situation, and always possessing interests different from theirs. They now felicitated themselves on having really the privileges of Englishmen.

      First colonial assembly.

      This first assembly met at Jamestown on the 19th of June. The colony being not then divided into counties, the members were elected by the different boroughs, amounting at that time to seven. From this circumstance the popular branch of the legislature received the appellation of the house of burgesses, which it retained until all connexion with England was dissolved.

The assembly, composed of the governor, the council, and burgesses, met together in one apartment, and there discussed the various matters which came before them. The laws then enacted, which, it is believed, are no longer extant, were transmitted to England for the approbation of the treasurer and company.[33]

Although the emigrations from England continued to be considerable, few females had crossed the Atlantic. Men without wives could not consider their residence in the country as permanent, and must intend after amassing some wealth, to return to their native land. To remove this impediment to the population of the colony, First arrival of females,1620ninety girls, of humble fortune and spotless character, were transported by the company to Virginia; and in the subsequent year, they were followed by sixty of the same description. They were received by the young planters as a blessing which substituted domestic happiness for the cheerless gloom of solitude; and the face of the country was essentially changed.[34] The prospect of becoming parents was accompanied with the anxieties for the welfare of their children; and the education of youth soon became an object of attention. The necessity of seminaries of learning was felt, and several steps were taken towards founding the college, afterwards established by William and Mary.

      and of convicts.

      About the same time the company received orders from the King to convey to Virginia one hundred idle and dissolute persons, then in custody of the knight marshal. These were the first convicts transported to America. The policy which dictated this measure was soon perceived to be not less wise than it was humane. Men who, in Europe, were the pests of the body politic, made an acceptable addition to the stock of labour in the colony; and, in a new world, where the temptations to crime seldom presented themselves, many of them became useful members of society.

Heretofore the commerce of Virginia had been engrossed by the corporation. In the year 1620, this distressing and unprofitable monopoly was given up, and the trade was open to all. The free competition produced by this change of system was of essential advantage to the colony, 1621African slaves.but was the immediate cause of introducing a species of population which has had vast influence on the past, and may affect the future destinies of America, to an extent which human wisdom can neither foresee nor control. A Dutch vessel, availing itself of this commercial liberty, brought into James river twenty Africans, who were immediately purchased as slaves.[35]

      Two councils established.

      In July, the company passed an ordinance establishing a frame of government for the colony. This instrument provided that there should be two supreme councils in Virginia, the one to be called the Council of State, to be appointed and displaced by the treasurer and company, and to assist the governor with advice on executive subjects; the other to be denominated the General Assembly, and to consist of the governor, the council of state, and burgesses; to be chosen for the present, by the inhabitants of every town, hundred, or settlement, in the colony, two for each. The assembly was empowered to enact general laws for the government of the colony, reserving a negative to the governor. Its acts were not to be in force until confirmed by the general court in England, and the ratification returned under its seal. On the other hand, no order of the general court was to bind the colony until assented to by the assembly.

      1622

      A controversy concerning the importation of tobacco into the European dominions of the crown, which had for some time existed between the King and the company, was, at length, adjusted.

      The King had demanded high duties on that article,

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