Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/550

 by the authorities in England to the Governors of Virginia to see to the passage of laws having that object in view. For a long series of years, the anxiety of the English Government was confined to the extension of Jamestown, the effort towards which appears to have inflicted only a burden on the people, but in 1662, Berkeley, who had been restored to his old position at the head of the Colony, after the return of the Stuarts to power, was commanded to use his influence to induce the planters to erect a town upon every important river. It is a significant commentary on the effect of the numerous laws which had been missed with a view to enlarging Jamestown, that Berkeley was specially directed to begin at this place the new attempt at town-building in Virginia. Such was the recommendation which was necessary after all the carefully considered undertakings of fifty years. Jamestown was still to be seated; the Governor had, practically, still to lay its foundations and to promote its growth with the most vigilant solicitude. Berkeley himself was commanded by the English Government to build several houses in the town, presumably at his own expense, and he was told to inform the members of the Council that the authorities in England would be highly pleased if each one would erect a residence at Jamestown. To such expedients was the English Government driven to breathe life into that languishing corporation! It might have been supposed that the Committee for Foreign Plantations in England would, by this time, have plainly understood that if the local conditions in Virginia had failed to promote the growth of towns there, all the legislation which might be enacted in the