Page:The American Slave Trade (Spears).djvu/31

 rich and unscrupulous. Among the Earl's possessions was the ship Treasurer, and Argall owned a share of her.

During the year 1619 the Treasurer came to Virginia, armed as a privateer, and bearing a commission from the Duke of Savoy permitting her to cruise against the Spaniards. Presumably intending such a cruise, she cleared out for the West Indies, where, as her log-book shows, she fell in with a Dutch letter of marque and told him that slaves were wanted in Virginia.

It is fair to presume that the Dutchman at once headed away for the Chesapeake, because John Pory, secretary of the Virginia colony, in a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, dated September 13, 1619, mentions "the man-of-war of Flushing," and says: The occasion of this ship's coming hither was an accidental consortship in the West Indies with the Treasurer." He adds that the Dutchman wanted to buy provisions, "of which the master pleaded that his vessel was in dire need."

It is a matter of record that the Treasurer also brought negro slaves to Virginia, and a woman called Angela was sold to a Mr. Bennett. A record of her may be found in the census record of Virginia made in 1625, according to Hotten's ‘‘ Original List of Emigrants, etc."

It is possible that the Treasurer returned ahead of the Dutchman; but, because the Dutchman was in need of food, and because John Rolfe speaks of the Dutchman's slaves only, it is fair to infer that the Dutchman came first.

The records tell why the Treasurer landed but one slave. Says the “Declaration" of the Virginia