Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/617

 been inclined to admit to the Colony a population of emigrants accepted without discrimination, of which there is no proof, that disposition had passed away before December, 1609, when the True and Sincere Declaration was issued. In that remarkable document, written in the light of so many mistakes and disasters, they proclaimed that it would be a scandal and a peril to accept as settlers, all of whom at this time were to be in the service of the corporation, idle and wicked persons, persons who had been impelled to withdraw to Virginia by shame or fear, persons who represented the &#8220;weeds of their native country.&#8221; &#8220;Being the surfeit of an able, healthy, and composed body,&#8221; it was justly declared that it must follow that, &#8220;they would act as poison in the body of a tender, feeble, and yet unformed colony.&#8221; Casting off, under the pressure of the extraordinary circumstances in which they found themselves, the influence of the English authorities, who not unnaturally looked first to the relief of their own communities, the Company boldly proclaimed that thereafter they would not receive any man who could not show &#8220;a character for religion and considerate conduct in his relations with his neighbors.&#8221; Not content with this, they announced further, that they would accept only those who were trained in the useful callings which they carefully specified. Experience had taught them, it was stated in a broadside issued by the Council, that nothing but damage to the welfare of the Colony would result from granting permission to parents to send their licentious sons to Virginia, or to wives, their shameless husbands, or to masters, their ungovernable servants.