Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/282

 embarked the whole number on board of their vessel and dropped down the river on their way to Newfoundland, but were met, before they had reached the Capes, by Lord Delaware in a fleet of three ships.

It had been intended, after the departure from England of Sir Thomas Gates in the spring of 1609, to dispatch Lord Delaware to Virginia in the following August with ten vessels, and for the purpose of raising the funds required to purchase this additional supply, various expedients were used. Among the other steps taken, Captain Thomas Holcroft was authorized to visit the United Provinces in order to interest the English subjects residing in that country in the enterprise, to the extent of adventuring in it their persons or their means. All who should contribute to the supply to be sent in charge of Delaware were to receive the liberties and privileges of the Company in the same degree as if they had belonged to that body from its beginning. Upon them also were to be conferred, in proportion to the amount of their subscriptions, shares in the lands of Virginia and in the accumulated capital of the corporation, when the first division of both took place in 1616, previous to a general distribution among the members. The right to enter into private commercial relations with the colonists after 1616 was granted to each person contributing to the funds of the Company, who should desire to trade in the expectation that it would be profitable.

The return to England in the autumn of 1609 of what remained of the fleet which had set out in the spring of the same year under such favorable auspices, had, on account of the discouraging reports brought over, the effect of diminishing interest in the enterprise, on the part of those who, if the issue had been more fortunate, would