Page:Memories of Virginia.djvu/22

 . King James died 1625, King Charles took Virginia affairs into his own hands. The London Company was abolished, the Virginia Charter declared null and void. The new King gave more power to the Royal Councillors, and to Matthews he gave the same confidence his father had awarded "The King's Commissioner," and designated him "The Guardian of Virginia."

This Great Pioneer of Results, one of a family of many shields and quarterings, was true to the motto of his race.

"Every soil is native land to the hero." He was destined to organize and carry a colony through perilous trials; a man who organized fourteen counties on the James River, and through union of the counties he laid the Arch of the Dominion, the cornerstone of the United States. The Church made Jamestown, Jamestown made the counties, the counties made Virginia, Virginia made the Colonies, the Colonies made the United States Republic of America.

The early history of the Dominion and records of the British pioneers are better known in England than America, but this tercentennial year of our nation's birth has awakened interest in the founding days of our country, when all North America, possessed by the British Crown, was known as Virginia. The period of occupation from 1607 to 1624, the date when Royal Government was established, to a great degree was merged into the colonization period, dating from 1660—the date of Restoration—when under King Charles II, Berkeley, Culpepper, Spottswood, Dinwiddie and other Governors won extended recognition in