Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/540

 to the Colony, or who had carried or sent over another person, became entitled to the same area of land. The law allowing this was eminently wise in the beginning. No more powerful influence could have been set in motion for increasing the volume of population in Virginia. The extent of land to be obtained by compliance with other conditions and even by the purchase of shares was necessarily small in comparison with the area which would be acquired by this means. The conveyance of title upon the strength of the head right furnished the practical assurance that the appropriation of the soil would not outstrip too far the growth in the number of inhabitants. After the dissolution of the Company, the head right became still more common as the basis of securing a patent. Previous to 1625, it had been authorized by the orders and constitutions of the Company; when the letters of that corporation were recalled, there was a feeling of profound uneasiness in the Colony, that all titles to land would be questioned, with the result of disturbing vested interests in this form of property. Among the objects to be attained by the mission to England with which Governor Yeardley was entrusted in 1625, was the recognition of existing holdings in Virginia, and the continuation of the regulations established to govern the acquisition of land. In order that these regulations might be given more stability, he was instructed to urge the necessity of their confirmation by an Act of Parliament. The apprehensions of the colonists were entirely removed by a grant of letters patent by the King on the 14th of March, 1625, in which the ordinance of