Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/321

 be found in that county, Derrickson having carried off a maid-servant who was under articles of indenture to Mr. Richard Glover. A few years later, Captain Francis Yeardley made an assignment, to a prominent firm of Rotterdam, of three negroes as security for the payment of a large amount of tobacco which he had promised to deliver in return for goods already received. Powers of attorney from Dutch merchants to representatives in Virginia now become numerous. One instance among many was the appointment of John Merryman in 1647, to serve as the agent of Cornelius Starrman of Rotterdam in the collection of every form of indebtedness due the latter in the Colony. In 1647, also, Thomas Lee was selected as one of the attorneys of William Scrapes of the same town. The disordered condition of affairs in the mother country at this time, by withdrawing the attention of the English Government from Virginia, was doubtless highly promotive of the commerce between the planters and the Dutch, which only required absolute freedom for its expansion. In the winter of 1649, twelve ships from Holland arrived with cargoes of goods for exchange; the number of English ships coming in during this season was the same, indicating that the trade of the Colony was now equally divided between the Dutch and the English. In