Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/212

VIRGINIA. companies. (See .) By this charter the London Company could colonize between 34° and 41° and the Plymouth between 38° and 45°, provided the colonies were 100 miles apart. The government was vested in a Royal Council of Virginia in London, superior to resident councils nominated by the Crown and governing by royal instructions. Sealed instructions provided for a local constitution and an annual president in the colony. The land was to be held in free and common socage, and the settlers and their children were “forever to enjoy all liberties, franchises, and immunities enjoyed by Englishmen in England.” The Virginia Company of London, holding the southern grant, was organized under Sir Thomas Smith, treasurer. With its colony, 120 emigrants in three ships, Christopher Newport cleared England, December-February, 1607, reaching Cape Henry April 26, 1607. Having explored Chesapeake Bay, they entered James River and founded on a peninsula forty miles up the river Jamestown (Jamesfort), May 14, 1607, the first permanent English settlement in America. Malaria, Indian hostility, unaccustomed labor, and insufficient provisions left on Newport's return to England, reduced the colony to half by September. Dissensions arose, and when Captain Newport returned, January 12, 1608, bringing ‘near 100’ more men, only 38 were left, Wingfield was a prisoner, Smith condemned, and Archer's ‘parliament’ summoned. In the latter part of 1608 the Indians refused to sell corn, and but for the energy and tact of Captain (q.v.) as president the colony must have perished. In 1609 a new charter strictly incorporated the London Company, enlarged its territory, and vested the colony's government in the company's Treasurer and Council in London, endowed with sovereign powers. On June 1, 1609, large reinforcements were sent consisting of nine ships carrying 500 persons, including women and children. One ship sank, and one was wrecked on the Bermudas, now discovered by Somers. Seven ships with 300 persons reached Jamestown, and Smith returned to England on one of these ships. The winter was known as the ‘starving time,’ and the colony was reduced from 500 to 60 within six months. Though 140 arrived in the “Sea-Venture,” Lieutenant-Governor Gates abandoned Jamestown, June 7, 1610, and was halted only by the opportune arrival of Lord Delaware, the Governor. Delaware left George Percy as Deputy Governor in 1611 with some 150 colonists. Percy was succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale and Sir Thomas Gates.

Dale and Gates brought 500 colonists with cattle, built new towns (Henrico, Bermuda, Charles City), and by Dale's harsh martial rule effectually quelled lawlessness. Communism remained, but favored classes (officers, tenants, farmers, artisans) in 1613 and 1616 received conditional freedom for self-maintenance. A new charter in 1612 had added the Bermudas, established elective and legislative courts in the company, exempted it from duties, and authorized lotteries. John Rolfe established tobacco culture and his marriage (1613) to Pocahontas, daughter of the powerful Indian Sachem Powhatan, won that chief and further brightened colonial prospects. Mismanagement by Sir Thomas Smith

and the court party produced dissensions in the company; Sir (q.v.) and the popular party gained control in 1618 and commissioned Sir George Yeardley governor to replace the rapacious Argall and establish personal freedom. On July 30, 1619, the first representative assembly in America (a council elected by the company and a House of Burgesses chosen by the free colonists) met. The same year twenty-one negro servants (see ) were introduced by Dutch and English privateers. Women were sent as wives to the Virginia settlers, the husband paying 120 pounds of tobacco for his wife. The laws of 1619 were approved by the company, and in 1621 a written constitution, the work of Sir Edwin Sandys, was granted. By 1620 the population of the colony had reached 4000, including apprentices, indented servants, and some petty convicts sent over by the King, who was becoming bitterly hostile to the company. In the midst of this prosperity the Indians rose and massacred ‘about 400’ of the settlers, March 22, 1622. The King's hostility to democracy in the company led to quo warranto proceedings in 1624. The charter was revoked June 26th, and Virginia became a royal colony.

Charles I. (1625) reëstablished the government under two councils, depriving the Virginians of control over public officials and expenditures; but their acquiescence in his ecclesiastical and civil policy, and royal revenues from tobacco, won his favor. His reign was marked also by the settlement of some Puritans in northeast Virginia, and by the grant of a part of the territory to Lord Baltimore in 1632. William Claiborne seized and claimed disputed territory, Kent Island, for Virginia, having settled it in 1631. Maryland by force and diplomacy from 1634 to 1654 vindicated her claims. A popular insurrection deposed Governor Harvey, who was arbitrary and supported Maryland. Though reinstated, he was soon (1639) succeeded by Sir Francis Wyatt. With the coming of Sir William Berkeley as Governor in 1642, a strong figure appears. The divine right of the King and the maintenance of the Established Church were his creed. He captured Opechancano, who in his second massacre (1644) had killed 300 colonists, and driven many Puritans into Maryland and New England. On the execution of Charles I. thousands of Cavaliers flocked to Virginia. Its Assembly alone resisted Parliament, and declared guilty of treason all persons refusing to acknowledge the ‘King that now is.’ In retaliation, Parliament in 1650 forbade all trade with Virginia, and appointed (1651) four commissioners (two in Virginia) to force the surrender of the colony. Virginia surrendered (1652) to Commissioners Bennett and Claiborne, stipulating that the act be regarded as ‘voluntary,’ not a ‘conquest;’ that full indenmity be granted; a year without oath be allowed for dissatisfied persons to remove; the use of the Prayer Book be permitted for a year; and that Virginia enjoy her ancient boundaries. In reality during the whole period of the Commonwealth the Assembly elected the Governors, and there was entire religions and political toleration. The circumstance of acknowledging Charles II. sooner than any other part of the kingdom gave to Virginia the name of the ‘Old Dominion.’ On the