Part 3 (1/2)

She had in her retinue a Werowance, or great man of her own nation, whose name was Uttamaccomack. This man had orders from Powhatan, to count the people in England, and give him an account of their number.

Now the Indians having no letters among them, he at his going ash.o.r.e, provided a stick, in which he was to make a notch for every man he saw; but this accomptant soon grew weary of that tedious exercise, and threw his stick away: and at his return, being asked by his king, How many people there were? He desired him to count the stars in the sky, the leaves upon the trees, and the sand on the seash.o.r.e, for so many people (he said) were in England.

--. 31. Pocahontas had many honors done her by the queen upon account of Captain Smith's story; and being introduced by the Lady Delawarr, she was frequently admitted to wait on her majesty, and was publicly treated as a prince's daughter; she was carried to many plays, b.a.l.l.s, and other public entertainments, and very respectfully received by all the ladies about the court. Upon all which occasions, she behaved herself with so much decency, and showed so much grandeur in her deportment, that she made good the brightest part of the character Capt. Smith had given of her. In the meanwhile, she gained the good opinion of everybody so much, that the poor gentleman, her husband, had like to have been called to an account, for presuming to marry a princess royal without the king's consent; because it had been suggested that he had taken advantage of her, being a prisoner, and forced her to marry him. But upon a more perfect representation of the matter, his majesty was pleased at last to declare himself satisfied. But had their true condition here been known, that pother had been saved.

Everybody paid this young lady all imaginable respect; and it is supposed, she would have sufficiently acknowledged those favors, had she lived to return to her own country, by bringing the Indians to have a kinder disposition towards the English. But upon her return she was unfortunately taken ill at Gravesend, and died in a few days after, giving great testimony all the time she lay sick, of her being a very good Christian. She left issue one son, named Thomas Rolfe, whose posterity is at this day in good repute in Virginia, and now hold lands by descent from her.

--. 32. Captain Yardly made but a very ill governor, he let the buildings and forts go to ruin; not regarding the security of the people against the Indians, neglecting the corn, and applying all hands to plant tobacco, which promised the most immediate gain. In this condition they were when Capt. Samuel Argall was sent thither governor, Anno 1617, who found the number of people reduced to little more than four hundred, of which not above half were fit for labor. In the meanwhile the Indians mixing among them, got experience daily in fire arms, and some of them were instructed therein by the English themselves, and employed to hunt and kill wild fowl for them. So great was their security upon this marriage; but governor Argall not liking those methods, regulated them on his arrival, and Capt. Yardly returned to England.

--. 33. Governor Argall made the colony flourish and increase wonderfully, and kept them in great plenty and quiet. The next year, viz.: Anno 1618, the Lord Delawarr was sent over again with two hundred men more for the settlement, with other necessaries suitable: but sailing by the Western Islands, they met with contrary winds, and great sickness; so that about thirty of them died, among which the Lord Delawarr was one. By which means the government there still continued in the hands of Capt. Argall.

--. 34. Powhatan died in April the same year, leaving his second brother Itopatin in possession of his empire, a prince far short of the parts of Oppechancanough, who by some was said to be his elder brother, and then king of Chickah.o.m.ony; but he having debauched them from the allegiance of Powhatan, was disinherited by him. This Oppechancanough was a cunning and a brave prince, and soon grasped all the empire to himself. But at first they jointly renewed the peace with the English, upon the accession of Itopatin to the crown.

--. 35. Governor Argall flouris.h.i.+ng thus under the blessings of peace and plenty, and having no occasion of fear or disturbance from the Indians, sought new occasions of encouraging the plantation. To that end, he intended a coasting voyage to the northward, to view the places where the English s.h.i.+ps had so often laded; and if he missed them, to reach the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, and so settle a trade and correspondence either with the one or the other. In accomplis.h.i.+ng whereof, as he touched at Cape Cod, he was informed by the Indians, that some white people like him were come to inhabit to the northward of them, upon the coast of their neighboring nations. Capt. Argall not having heard of any English plantation that way, was jealous that it might be (as it proved,) the people of some other nation. And being very zealous for the honor and benefit of England, he resolved to make search according to the information he had received, and see who they were.

Accordingly he found the settlement, and a s.h.i.+p riding before it. This belonged to some Frenchmen, who had fortified themselves upon a small mount on the north of New England.

--. 36. His unexpected arrival so confounded the French, that they could make no preparation for resistance on board their s.h.i.+p; which Captain Argall drew so close to, that with his small arms he beat all the men from the deck, so that they could not use their guns, their s.h.i.+p having only a single deck. Among others, there were two Jesuits on board, one of which being more bold than wise, with all that disadvantage, endeavored to fire one of their cannon, and was shot dead for his pains.

Captain Argall having taken the s.h.i.+p, landed and went before the fort, summoning it to surrender. The garrison asked time to advise; but that being denied them, they stole privately away, and fled into the woods.

Upon this, Captain Argall entered the fort, and lodged there that night; and the next day the French came to him, and surrendered themselves. It seems the king of France had granted them a patent for this settlement, but they gave it up to Captain Argall to be cancelled. He used them very well, and suffered such as had a mind to return to France, to seek their pa.s.sage among the s.h.i.+ps of the fishery; but obliged them to desert this settlement. And those that were willing to go to Virginia, he took with him.

--. 37. These people were under the conduct of two Jesuits, who upon taking a pique against their governor in Acadia, named Biencourt, had lately separated from a French settlement at Port Royal, lying in the bay, upon the south-west part of Acadia.

--. 38. As Governor Argall was about to return to Virginia, father Biard, the surviving Jesuit (out of malice to Biencourt,) told him of this French settlement at Port Royal, and offered to pilot him to it; which Governor Argall readily accepted of. With the same ease, he took that settlement also; where the French had sowed and reaped, built barns, mills, and other conveniences, which Captain Argall did no damage to; but unsettled them, and obliged them to make a desertion from thence. He gave these the same leave he had done the others, to dispose of themselves; some whereof returned to France, and others went to settle up the river of Canada. After this Governor Argall returned satisfied with the provision and plunder he had got in those two settlements.

--. 39. The report of these exploits soon reached England; and whether they were approved or no, being acted without particular direction, I have not learned; but certain it is, that in April following there arrived a small vessel, which did not stay for anything, but took on board Governor Argall, and returned for England. He left Capt. Nathaniel Powel deputy; and soon after Capt. Yardly being knighted, was sent governor thither again.

--. 40. Very great supplies of cattle and other provisions were sent there that year, and likewise 1000 or 1200 men. They resettled all their old plantations that had been deserted, made additions to the number of the council, and called an a.s.sembly of Burgesses from all parts of the country, which were to be elected by the people in their several plantations.

These burgesses met the governor and council at Jamestown in May, 1620, and sat in consultation in the same house with them, as the method of the Scots Parliament is, debating matters for the improvement and good government of the country.

This was the first general a.s.sembly that was ever held there. I heartily wish though they did not unite their houses again, they would, however, unite their endeavors and affections for the good of the country.

--. 41. In August following, a Dutch man-of-war landed twenty negroes for sale; which were the first of that kind that were carried into the country.

--. 42. This year they bounded the corporations, (as they called them:) But there does not remain among the records any one grant of these corporations. There is entered a testimony of Governor Argall, concerning the bounds of the corporation of James City, declaring his knowledge thereof; and this is one of the new transcribed books of record. But there is not to be found one word of the charter or patent itself of this corporation.

Then also, they apportioned and laid our lands in several allotments, viz.: to the company in several places, to the governor, to a college, to glebes, and to several particular persons; many new settlements were made in James and York rivers. The people knew their own property, and having the encouragement of working for their own advantage, many became very industrious, and began to vie one with another, in planting, building, and other improvements. Two gentlemen went over as deputies to the company, for the management of their lands, and those of the college. All thoughts of danger from the Indians were laid aside.

Several great gifts were made to the church and college, and for the bringing up young Indians at school. Forms were made, and rules appointed for granting patents for land, upon the condition of importing goods and persons to supply and increase the colony. And all there then began think themselves the happiest people in the world.

--. 43. Thus Virginia continued to flourish and increase, great supplies continually arriving, and new settlements being made all over the country. A salt work was set up at Cape Charles, on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e; and an iron work at Falling Creek, in James river, where they made proof of good iron ore, and brought the whole work so near a perfection, that they writ word to the company in London, that they did not doubt but to finish the work, and have plentiful provision of iron for them by the next Easter. At that time the fame of the plenty and riches, in which the English lived there, was very great. And Sir George Yardly now had all the appearance of making amends for the errors of his former government. Nevertheless he let them run into the same sleepiness and security as before, neglecting all thoughts of a necessary defence, which laid the foundation of the following calamities.

--. 44. But the time of his government being near expired, Sir Francis Wyat, then a young man, had a commission to succeed him. The people began to grow numerous, thirteen hundred settling there that year; which was the occasion of making so much tobacco, as to overstock the market.

Wherefore his majesty, out of pity to the country, sent his commands, that they should not suffer their planters to make above one hundred pounds of tobacco per man; for the market was so low, that he could not afford to give them above three s.h.i.+llings the pound for it. He advised them rather to turn their spare time towards providing corn and stock, and towards the making of potash, or other manufactures.

It was October, 1621, that Sir Francis Wyat arrived governor, and in November, Captain Newport arrived with fifty men, imported at his own charge, besides pa.s.sengers; and made a plantation on Newport's News, naming it after himself. The governor made a review of all the settlements, and suffered new ones to be made, even as far as Potomac river. This ought to be observed of the Eastern Sh.o.r.e Indians, that they never gave the English any trouble, but courted and befriended them from first to last. Perhaps the English, by the time they came to settle those parts, had considered how to rectify their former mismanagement, and learned better methods of regulating their trade with the Indians, and of treating them more kindly than at first.

--. 45. Anno 1622, inferior courts were first appointed by the general a.s.sembly, under the name of county courts, for trial of minute causes; the governor and council still remaining judges of the supreme court of the colony. In the meantime, by the great increase of people, and the long quiet they had enjoyed among the Indians, since the marriage of Pocahontas, and the accession of Oppechancanough to the imperial crown, all men were lulled into a fatal security, and became everywhere familiar with the Indians, eating, drinking, and sleeping amongst them; by which means they became perfectly acquainted with all our English strength, and the use of our arms--knowing at all times, when and where to find our people; whether at home, or in the woods; in bodies, or disperst; in condition of defence, or indefensible. This exposing of their weakness gave them occasion to think more contemptibly of them, than otherwise, perhaps, they would have done; for which reason they became more peevish, and more hardy to attempt anything against them.