Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/33

 It was asserted by the author that all the previous attempts to colonize Virginia had failed because the persons who had participated in them had been worn out by the long delays, or had been disconcerted by jealousies, or had been unwilling to sustain any project not crowned with immediate success. It was more to the honor of a State, the author of the &#8220;Reasons&#8221; went on to say, to have a great enterprise which had first taken shape among its people carried through by public concert than by private monopoly. An undertaking having the public support was more likely to attract to it men of the highest qualities than one relying upon a small body of adventurers, inasmuch as it offered more opportunities of winning personal reputation, and was less subject to the distractions of fraud and envy. The safety of the commonwealth demanded that a discovery once begun should be advanced to completeness in order that the impression might not be spread abroad that the persons who started it were idle or lacking in resources to make their project fully successful. To stop half-way in a discovery was to give up the title acquired by what had been accomplished, and thus to leave to the next explorer the right to establish colonies in the country abandoned. The fact that a settlement was made by means of a public fund rendered it improbable that foreign states, however hostile, would venture to attack it, the consequences of such aggression being far more serious than if the interests of a few private individuals were trampled upon. The commonwealth was not only more able to hold and defend a colony which it had erected, but it was also in a more favorable position to promote the interests of such a community. The room for employment in a settlement established and sustained by the State was far greater for persons of high rank than if it owed its existence and advancement to a