Smith's Life saved by Pocahontas. Condition of Jamestown. Newport's Folly. Smith's Exploring Expedition. With his arms pinioned, Smith was laid upon the ground, with his head upon a stone, and the executioner had lifted the huge club to dash out his brains. With a bound like that of a frightened fawn, Pocahontas leaped from the side of her father to that of the prisoner, and interposed her delicate form between his head and the warrior's mace; "Then turns-with eye grown tearless now, But full of speech, as eye alone How could that stern old king deny Until, though humble as a slave, To more than queenly sway she grew? The gyves that from his limbs she tears A power to soothe, and still subdue, Smith's life was spared. The enmity of the natives was changed to friendship, and, with a guard of twelve men, he was sent to Jamestown, a wiser man; for, during his seven weeks of captivity, he had traversed a large extent of country, observed its resources, and the habits and condition of the Indians, and made himself quite familiar with their language. He established a friendly intercourse with Powhatan and his confederates, and often the dearest daughter of the king," with her companions, brought baskets of corn for the garrison. 66 Disorder prevailed at Jamestown on Smith's return. Only forty men remained, and these were on the point of abandoning the country where they had suffered so much, and escape with the pinnace. The courage and energy of Smith compelled them to remain. Newport soon afterward arrived with supplies, and one hundred and twenty emigrants, chiefly idle gentlemen, "packed hither," as Smith says, "by their friends, to escape ill destinies," and goldsmiths, the very men least needed in the colony. GOLD was the chief incentive of the Company and the adventurers to risk capital and life. Discovering something resembling grains of the metal near the site of Richmond, "there was no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold." Newport loaded his vessel with worthless earth, and returned to England with the idea that he was exceedingly rich, but to have science and skill pronounce him miserably poor in useful knowledge and well-earned reputation. Smith remonstrated against idleness, and pleaded for industry, but in vain. He implored the settlers to plow and sow, that they might reap and be happy. They refused to listen, and he turned from Jamestown with disgust, and, with a few sensible men, explored the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. He went up the Potomac to the Falls above Washington City. He also entered the Patapsco, and ate maize upon the site of Baltimore. These long voyages were made in an open boat, propelled by oars and paddles. It was one of the most wonderful of exploring expeditions, considered in all its aspects, recorded by the pen of history. Smith constructed a map of his discoveries, and every subsequent survey of the region attests its remarkable accuracy. 1608. Three days after Smith's return to Jamestown he was made president of the colony.a Newport soon afterward arrived from England with a supply of food. With a Sept. 10,, him came two females, the first English women seen upon the James River. Smith again exerted his energies to turn the little industry of the settlers to agriculture, and succeeded in a degree. The colony was beginning to thrive under his management, when the features of its political character were modified. A new charter was b May 23, given to the London Company,b with provisions for a more powerful government.' 1609. Eldridges, and Randolphs. The late John Randolph, of Roanoke, was a descendant of the Indian prinHer portrait here given is from a painting made in England, while she was there. Her costume shows the style of a fashionable dress of that day. cess. 1 The new charter extended the limits of the colony, and transferred to the Company the power which Lord De la Ware. Commissioners. Anarchy at Jamestown. Famine. Timely Relief The colonists had no voice in the matter; neither their rights nor wishes were consulted or respected. While extraordinary powers were given to the governor, not one new civil privilege was conceded to them. Under the new charter, Lord De la Ware, or Delaware, a virtuous and upright nobleman, was appointed governor and captain-general of Virginia for life. Before his departure for America, nine ships, under the command of Newport, with more than five hundred emigrants, were sent to the James River. Sir Thomas Gates (the governor's deputy), Newport, and Sir George Somers, were sent as commissioners to administer the government until the arrival of Lord Delaware. A hurricane drove the fleet toward the West Indies. The vessel in which were the three commissioners was stranded on the rocks of the Bermudas, and only seven vessels of the squadron reached Virginia. The commissioners were not lost; but their arrival in the colony with the emigrants was prevented, and great confusion followed. A large portion of the new comers were idle and dissolute scions of wealthy families, without energy or good principles. They regarded the colony as without a head until the arrival of the cornmissioners or the governor, and were disposed to set at naught the authority of President Smith. That energetic man was equal to the exigency of the case, and he boldly and successfully maintained his authority until an accident prostrated his body, and he was obliged to go to England for surgical aid.' He delegated his authority to George Percy, brother of the Duke of Northumberland, and sailed for England in the summer of 1608. The colonists, released from the control of Smith, now gave themselves up to every irregularity of life. The Indians lost their respect for, and dread of Englishmen; and when the ample stock of provisions of the latter was consumed, the former refused assistance. Famine ensued; thirty escaped in a vessel to become pirates; and within six months, hunger, sickness, and Indian hatchets had reduced the colony of more than five hundred left by Smith, to sixty persons, and these were perishing with hunger. It was not the will of God that the new state should be formed of these materials; that such men should be the fathers of a progeny, born on the American soil, who were one day to assert American liberty by their eloquence, and defend it by their valor." This period of distress was long remembered with a shudder as " the starving time." a 1609. At the moment when the destitution was greatest, the commissioners and their wrecked companions arrived. Upon the uninhabited island where they stranded they had constructed two rude vessels, loaded them with the stores of their ship, which laid among the rocks, and sailed for the James River. They arrived in June; a but, instead of finding a large and flourishing colony, they were greeted by a handful of emaciated men, on the point of dying. Death by famine awaited all, and Gates resolved to sail for Newfoundland, and disperse the company among the English fishing vessels there. Jamestown was utterly abandoned, and toward Hampton Roads the dejected settlers sailed in the four pinnaces which remained in the river. As they approached that broad harbor on the following morning, a vision of white sails cheered their hearts; and as the sun came up, the longboat of Lord Delaware was seen approaching. He came with emigrants and supplies; and that night, Jamestown, abandoned to the rude natives in the morning, was made vocal with hymns and thanksgivings from truly grateful lips. The next day solemn religious exercises were held; the commission of Lord Delaware was read, and the foundation stone of the Virginia Commonwealth was permanently laid. Delaware ad b June 9. had before been reserved to the king. The council in England, formerly appointed by the king, was now to have its vacancies filled by the votes of a majority of the corporation. This council was authorized to appoint a governor, and to delegate to him almost absolute power, even in cases capital and criminal, as well as civil. They could give him power to declare martial law at his discretion; and thus the lives, liberties, and fortunes of the colonists were placed at the will of a single man. 1 I have noticed the efforts of Smith to establish a permanent settlement at Powhatan, near Richmond. While returning from that place down the James River, his powder-bag accidentally exploded and almost killed him. He was dreadfully lacerated, and so acute was the pain, that he threw himself into the river for alleviation. He was recovered when nearly drowned. Bancroft, i. 138. Arrival of new Emigrants and Supplies. Prosperity of the Colony. Implantation of Republicanism. New Constitution. a 1611. b May 10. ministered the government with equity until the failure of his health required him to return to England. a Percy was left in charge of affairs until Delaware's successor should arrive. In the mean while, Sir Thomas Dale, an " experienced soldier of the Low Countries," arrived with supplies, b and assumed the government, which he administered upon the basis of martial law. In less than four months afterward, Sir Thomas Gates arrived with supplies, and three hundred emigrants, in six ships, and assumed the functions of governor. Under Dale and Gates, the colony, now numbering nearly a thousand souls, thrived wonderfully. There were but few drones; industry and sobriety prevailed, and a bright future dawned upon Jamestown. A new charter was granted to the London Company in 1612. The supreme council in England was abolished, and its powers were transferred to the whole Company, who were to meet as a democratic assembly, elect their own officers for the colony, and establish the laws therefor. This was the republican seed which found its way to Virginia, and took deep root there. Another important concession was made; the Berrnudas, and all islands within three hundred leagues of the Virginia shore, were included in the grant, and opened a commercial field. The colony continued to flourish; and the marriage of John Rolfe with Pocahontas, with the consent of her father, and the concurrence of Opechancanough, her uncle (who gave her away" at the marriage altar), cemented the friendship which had been gradually forming between the white men and natives. c 1617. In 1614, Gates went to England, and left affairs in the hands of Dale, who ruled with energy for five years, when he appointed George Yeardly deputy governor, and returned to England. Yeardly encouraged agriculture, and, during his administration, the tobacco plant began to be cultivated. It soon became not only the staple, but the currency of the colony. He was succeeded in officec by Samuel Argall, an unprincipled man, and sort of buccaneer,' who ruled with tyranny for two years, and was then displaced. Yeardly was made governor; the planters were released from further tribute-service to the colony; martial law was abolished; and on the 29th of June, 1619, the first colonial assembly ever held in America was convened at Jamestown. The domain of the English had been divided into eleven boroughs. Two representatives from each were present at the assembly, and were called burgesses. This was the kernel of the Virginia government which prevailed until the Revolution-a governor, his council, and a house of Burgesses. It was the beginning of the American constitutions. Twelve years had elapsed since planting Jamestown, and now the settlement first assumed the character of permanency. Ninety respectable young women were sent over in 1620, and the following year sixty more came to be wives for the planters. The settlers fell to building houses and planting corn," with a determination to make Virginia their home. The gold mania had passed away, and the wealth of the rich mold was delved for with success. A written constitution was granted to the colony by the Company in 1621,d which ratified the form of government introduced by Yeardly. It was d August, brought over by Sir Francis Wyatt, who succeeded Yeardly, and was received with joy by the colonists. General prosperity prevailed, and glad dreams of happiness filled 1621. 1 Argall, as we have noticed, obtained possession of Pocahontas, and made her his prisoner, in 1613. The same year he sailed with his fleet to the coast of Maine, to protect the English fisheries. He broke up a French colony near the Penobscot, and sent some of the people to France and some to Virginia. He also broke up a French settlement at Port Royal, and made the conquest of Acadia. On his return voyage to Virginia, he entered the Bay of New York, and compelled the little Dutch trading settlement there to acknowledge the supremacy of England. 2 On the 20th of August, in this year, a Dutch man-of-war entered the James River, and landed twenty negroes for sale. Almost simultaneously with the birth of civil liberty in Virginia, by the concession of the representative system, and the tacit acknowledgment of the universal right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the system of human bondage, which has ever weighed upon our national energies, and tarnished our national character, was introduced. Englishmen have attempted to cast off the stain from themselves by alleging that the traffickers from a foreign country first brought the negroes here. Had not Englishmen become the willing purchasers, the slave-trade and its system would never have been known in this country. Massacre by the Indians. Retaliation. The Patents canceled. Policy of Charles I. Governor Harvey. the minds of the settlers. They were now four thousand strong, and fast increasing; but a cloud was gathering. Powhatan, the firm friend of the English since the marriage of his daughter, was now dead. The restraints of his influence were lifted from his people, and they, apprehending their own annihilation by the white men, resolved to strike a blow of extermination. At b March 22, mid-day, a the hatchet fell upon the more remote settlements around Jamestown, 1622. and more than seventeen scores of men, women, and children perished in an hour. A friendly Indian, a Christian convert, warned his white friend (Paca) in Jamestown of the plot the night before. The people prepared for defense, and were, with the nearest settlements, to whom they sent notice, saved. General alarm prevailed. The remote planters fled to Jamestown, and the number of plantations was reduced from eighty to eight. A terrible reaction ensued. The English arose, and, moved with a spirit of hatred and revenge, they smote the Indians with great slaughter, and drove them far back into the wilderness. We have seen the government of Virginia gradually changed from a royal tenure, under the first charter, to a proprietary and representative government under the second and third charters. The king now began to look upon it with suspicion, as inimical to royalty, and a breeder of disloyal men. The holders of the stock of the London Company had become very numerous, and their election of officers assumed a political character, presenting two parties the advocates of liberty, and the upholders of the royal prerogative. The king, disliking the freedom of debate which prevailed at their meetings, attempted to control their elections; but failing in this, he determined to recover, by a dissolution of their Company, the influence in the affairs of the New World of which he had deprived himself by his own charter. He appointed a commission, composed of his own pliant instruments, to examine the affairs of the Company. They, of course, reported favorable to a dissolution of the association, and an equally pliant judiciary effected a consummation of the measure. A quo warranto was issued; it was feebly defended, and in June, 1624, a decision was given against the Company, and the patents were canceled. The enterprise had, thus far, been an unprofitable speculation for the Company, and there was not much opposition. The king took the political affairs of the colony into his own hands, and it became a royal gov ernment; yet no material changes were made in the domestic policy of the settlers, and they were allowed to retain their popular legislative assemblies as a branch of their government. James died in 1625,b and his son, the unfortunate Charles I., succeeded him. The policy of the new monarch toward the colonists was governed entirely by selfish motives, and he allowed them liberty under which to prosper, that gain to himself might He imposed some restrictions, and attempted, but in vain, to gain for himself a monopoly of the trade in tobacco, by becoming the sole factor of the planters. Governor Yeardly died in November, 1627, and the king appointed John Harvey, one of his warm. est supporters, and a member of the commission appointed by James, governor ;e but his unpopularity in the colony lost to the king all the advantages his selfishness. coveted. The Virginians deprived Harvey of his government in 1635; summoned an assembly to receive complaints against him, and appointed commissioners to proceed to England b April 6. accrue. c 1628. 1 Powhatan died in 1618, and his younger brother, Opechancanough, heired his power, but not his friendly influence favorable to the English. He always harbored a secret aversion to the white men. Only a few days before the massacre, he declared “that sooner the skies would fall than his friendship with the English be dissolved." Exaggerated reports went to England. Smith, in his Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, stated the number of killed at 5000. Berkeley rated it at 2000. Edward Waterhouse transmitted to the Company a statement containing the names of every victim. The number was 347.-Declaration of the State of the Colony, &c., pages 14-21. 3 In his efforts to obtain the control of the tobacco trade, by becoming himself the sole purchaser of the crop, the king unconsciously recognized the legality of the Virginia Assembly. In a letter to the governor and council, written in June, 1628, he offered to contract for the whole crop of tobacco, and expressed a desire that an assembly might be convened to consider his proposal. "This is the first recognition," says Bancroft (i., 196), on the part of a Stuart of a representative assembly in America." James permitted it, but did not expressly sanction it. 66 Wyatt and Berkeley. The Commonwealth. Intolerance in Virginia. Indian Wars. Berkely and Loyalty. a Nov. with an impeachment. Harvey accompanied the commissioners. The king would not even admit the accusers to a hearing, and the accused was sent back, clothed with full authority from Charles to administer the government. He remained in office until 1639, when he was succeeded by Sir Francis Wyatt. a Sir William Berkeley succeeded Wyatt in 1641.b During his first administration of ten years, the civil condition of the Virginians was much improved. The rights of property, and the rewards of industry, were secured, and the people were prosperous and happy.' b Aug. The democratic revolution in England, which brought Charles to the block and placed. Cromwell in power, now began, and religious sects in England and America assumed a political importance. Puritans had hitherto been tolerated in Virginia; and Puritan ministers were even invited by the council to come to that province from Massachusetts Bay. Now, as the monarch and the Church were united in interest, and the Virginians were loyal to Church and king, it was decided that no minister should preach or teach except in conformity to the constitution of the Church of England, and Non-conformists were banished from the colony. This was a cloud upon the otherwise clear skies of the settlement. But a darker cloud was gathering. The Indians prepared for another massacre of the white men. The war-whoop sounded along the frontier settlements, and a general border contest ensued.c The April, Indians were generally defeated, and old Opechancanough, the chief instigator, was made a prisoner, and died in captivity.d Peace was speedily effected by the Indians making large concessions to the white men.' 1646. d 1646. The Virginians remained loyal during the civil war in England; and when the king was beheaded, and the Republicans bore rule, they recognized Charles, the son of their murdered sovereign, though then a fugitive in a foreign country. The Parliament was incensed at the audacity of a colony resisting the will of the supreme government, and took measures to enforce submission. A powerful fleet, under Sir George Ayscue, entered the Chesapeake, and cast anchor at the mouth of the James River. Sir William Berkeley, with the cavaliers In 1648, the number of colonists was twenty thousand. "The cottages were filled with children, as the ports were with ships and emigrants." Ten ships from London, two from Bristol, twelve from Holland, and seven from New England, were trading in Virginia at Christmas of that year.-Mass. Hist. Coll., ix., 118. Necotowance, the successor of Opechancanough, was forced to acknowledge that he held his kingdom of the crown of England. It was agreed that the Indians should remove to the north side of the York and Pamunkey Rivers; and they ceded to the white men all the lands from the Falls of the James River, at Richmond, between the two rivers, to the Bay forever. Thus were the natives driven from their beautiful land-the most beautiful in all Virginia-leaving few traces of their existence behind. 3 An ordinance was passed on the 3d of October, 1650, empowering the Council of State to reduce the rebellious colonies to obedience, and, at the same time, establish it as a law, that foreign ships should not trade in any of the ports in Barbadoes, Antiguas, Bermudas, and Virginia. * Sir William Berkeley was of an ancient family near London. He was educated at Oxford, and admitted Master of Arts in 1629. The next year he traveled extensively in Europe, and became a model of an elegant courtier and cavalier. He succeeded Sir Francis Wyatt as governor of Virginia in 1641, and held that post most of the time during the civil wars in England, and until the restoration of monarchy in 1660. He exhibited shrewdness as well as courage when the fleet of Parliament, William Berkely sent to subdue the loyal colony of Virginia, appeared in the James River; and, by good management, both parties were satisfied. Cromwell appointed "worthy Samuel Mathews" governor, and, at his death, Berkeley was elected governor by the people. His obsequious deference to royalty offended the independent Virginians, and his popularity declined. His obstinacy in refusing compliance with the expressed wishes of the inhabitants that Nathaniel Bacon might lead an expedition against the Indians, further alienated the affections of his people. He became irritable and revengeful; and when juries refused to aid his projects of ven. geance against those who followed Bacon, he resorted to martial law, and fines, confiscations, and executions ensued. In view of this conduct Charles II. remarked, "The old fool has taken more lives in that naked country than I have taken for the murder of my father." Berkeley returned to England, after an administration of nearly forty years, and died soon after his arrival. He was buried at Twickenham, July 13, 1677. He was possessed of quite liberal views in respect to government, but these were often hidden or perverted by his cringing loyalty. In his reply to commissioners sent in 1671 to inquire into the state of the colony, he said, "Thank God, there are no free schools |