Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/624

 time to thrust its hardened criminals on the Colony. When, in 1618, it was sought by the friends of Henry Reade to secure his release from Newgate on condition that he would be removed to Virginia, discouragement was thrown by the officers of the law in the way of their request on the ground that the offence of which he was guilty, robbery on the highway, was so grave that the Privy Council, with whom the final decision rested, would not be disposed to lighten his punishment by granting the privilege of transportation, since this would amount only to condonation of his crime. In the cases in which that body showed a disposition to yield, often strong family influences had been brought to bear, influences singularly powerful in that age. A characteristic instance was that of John Throckmorton, who, in 1618, was imprisoned for stealing a hat valued at six shillings; a petition was entered by a kinswoman that if he was released by the authorities, she would undertake to bear all the expense of his conveyance to Virginia. It is hardly probable that there were many convicts in England whose relatives were sufficiently interested in them to assume the burden involved in the cost of their removal. When the prayer for transportation came from the prisoner alone, the Privy Council was inclined to act with still greater caution before granting it. This appears from the case of John Carter, whose petition, offered in 1622, was allowed for the specific reason that his guilt had not been clearly proven, but admitting that it had been, it was his first offence. He wished to be transferred to the plantations, because he was too poor or too friendless to secure his pardon outright.