Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/613

 at a later period would never have existed, or indeed, if such had been the case, only in a modified form. As long, however, as there was a surplus of population in all of the English parishes, with so many influences combining to induce them to emigrate, it was inevitable that the Agricultural System prevailing in Virginia would spring into life with all the far-reaching consequences which make up the actual history of the community from the beginning. England at this time was a storehouse from which as large a supply of servants could be drawn as the planters possessed the means to secure. The facilities for their transportation were ample, and the demand for their assistance was continuous from the hour when a stable government was formed. Hardly a year passed during the supremacy of the Company that English laborers were not brought into the Colony, and after its abolition, the stream of emigration grew larger and larger in its volume.

Until the establishment of Martin&#8217;s and Smith&#8217;s Hundreds in 1616 by the grant of subpatents, the agricultural servants who were dispatched to Virginia were the property of the Company. In the First Supply, there were twenty-one laborers, and in the Second, twelve. The number included in the Third Supply was doubtless very much larger, as five hundred people took part in the expedition; of these, one hundred and fifty did not arrive in the Colony until the Starving Time had reduced the remainder to sixty helpless men, women, and children. Additions were made to the number by the arrival of the successive expeditions under Delaware and Dale. Absolute freedom was extended to none of those who were in the service of the Company until the departure of Dale; the privilege was then granted by Yeardley to a few, the greater proportion of this class being retained on the