Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/514

 of the soil to its own imported subjects, without any compensation to the aboriginal occupants, would be looked upon as a grossly unjust exercise of power.

Those clauses in the charters of 1607 and 1609, which in their practical operation deprived the Indians of Virginia of all interest in the country which had descended to them from their ancestors, did not pass without criticism from Englishmen in that age, who held the same views as to the wrong of stripping the natives of their property without some return, which were afterwards entertained by William Penn. There was an inclination on the part of some members of the Company, in their desire to propitiate this humane sentiment, to spread abroad the report that only those lands of the aborigines would be appropriated which could be spared by them without diminishing their ability to secure a subsistence. The author of Nova Britannia, who was seeking to employ every available moral influence to promote the success of the Virginian enterprise, distinctly asserted that the object of the adventurers was not to make the condition of the Indians worse, but simply to instruct them in the arts of civilization, in consideration of which, the English expected to be permitted to enjoy all that the tribes were unable to use themselves. The author of Good Speed to Virginia also urged that it was not the intention of the Company to deprive the Indians of their rightful inheritance; there was no necessity for pursuing this course, as they had expressed their willingness to yield to the English settlers as much ground as the latter would require during a long period. It is obvious, however, that the opinion prevailed to a great extent that the