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forestalling the market: All servants to fare alike in the colony; and their punishment for any offences is to serve the colony in public works.

"To see that the Earl Pembroke's thirty thousand acres be very good-To make discoveries along the Fisheries. coast, and find a fishery between James River and Cape Cod. As to raising staple commodities the chief offiStaple cers ought to set examples, and to aim at the establishCommodi- ment of the colony: And lastly, not to let ships stay Ships and long, and to freight them with walnuts and any less freight. valuable commodity."

ties.

Oath of

nial Council.

"The Governor to administer an oath to the Council as follows:

"You shall swear to be a true and faithful servant The Colo- unto the King's majesty as one of his councel for Virginia-You shall in all things to be moved, treated, and debated in that councel concerning Virginia or any of the territories of America, between the degrees of thirty-four and forty-five from the equinoctial line northward, or the trades thereof, faithfully and truly declare your mind and opinion, according to your heart and conscience; and shall keep secret all matters committed and revealed to you concerning the same, and that shall be treated secretly in that councel, or this councel of Virginia, or the more part of them (until) publication shall be made thereof. And of all matters of great importance or difficulty, before you resolve thereupon, you shall make his majesty's Privy Councel acquainted therewith and follow their directions therein: You shall to your uttermost bear faith and allegiance to the king's majesty, his heirs, and lawful successors, and shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, preheminences, and authorities granted unto his majesty and annext unto the crown against all foreign princes, persons, prelates, or potentates whatsoever, be it by act of parliament or otherwise: And generally, in all things, you shall do as a faithful and true servant

UNDER THE THIRD CHARTER OF JAMES I.

and subject ought to do. So help you God and the Holy contents of this Book."

PART I,

I have thus given all the details in the formation of General the first colonial government fully organized by the remarks. London Company over their plantations in Virginia. They are important and interesting, not only as exhibiting its prominent and peculiar features, but also as illustrating the elaborate and systematic care with which the establishment and growth of this colony was watched and fostered by the Crown and Company in England. It enables us, too, again to bring into Organism prominent and effective contrast with it, as we shall of Virginia compared hereafter take further frequent occasion to do, the with New parentage and early organism of New England. I England. should be unsteady to my purpose, did I not, as they arise, point out these various exhibitions of characteristic origin, progress, organization, and government. Here, in Virginia, we have it, the result of full twenty years of exploration, experiment, expenditure, speculation, and adventure; while the ablest heads, and the most opulent and distinguished of men, with hosts of ready adventurers, had devoted their labours, their energies, and their resources, to its accomplishment. There, in New England, it was the work, as it were, of a single year, wrought out by a mere handful of needy and persecuted exiles, without the countenance of royalty, or the influence of rank, or the contributions of opulence, or the speculations of commerce, or the explorations of science. Here, it was in a genial latitude, upon an exuberant soil, with an abundance of labour and material for subduing the country, and bringing its resources into immediate and active contribution to their necessities and their protection. There, it was labour in a wintry climate, on a frozen and stubborn soil, by the coast of a cheerless ocean, in a country not easily prospected, and with a fearful lack of munitions and materials for defence, as well as the

PART I.

The organization under the

stitution of 1621.

VIRGINIA,

appliances necessary for self-preservation. Here it is that the two pictures have their several and peculiar points of interest and attraction. Here we trace the origin, respectively, of those lights and shades which mark the completeness of the more perfect forms of a free government, and free institutions, in which we now rejoice. There is something profoundly philosophical and attractive in the lessons to be learned from these records of their early and varied experiences; and there is also akin to these something sublime as well as beautiful, in the harmony which, in maturer years, accompanied the confluence of their discordant elements and the blending of their fraternal lineaments, uniting them in one great national brotherhood of Free States and of Free Men.

The organization of the Colonial Government established by virtue of the commission and instructions to the Governor and Council, was undoubtedly framed

"so as to imitate and follow the policy of government, Co.'s Con- and other administration of justice, used in England, as near as may be." The Governor was supposed to represent the King, the Council to answer to the Peerage, and the Burgesses to the House of Commons. Such at least is the analogy to the Constitution of Analogy gy to to England, which is fondly, and I confess not inaptly, the English traced by her historians. But, nevertheless, in atten

Constitution.

tively perusing the history of her Colonies in America, we discover far more interesting and important developments of free republican principles, and a more noble and generous regard for the rights of the individual man, in their departures from, than in their assimilations to the constitution and laws of the mother country. Under a policy of government so much more favorable to the interests, rights, and liberties of the colonists, though in many of its features and provisions still objectionable, the prosperity of the colony was henceforth greatly promoted. The opening of a more extensive commerce with the mother coun

UNDER THE THIRD CHARTER OF JAMES I.

PART I.

London

try enlarged the resources of the people, accessions Under the were made to their numbers by the arrival of new company, adventurers, additional towns were in consequence 1612-24. erected, while the number composing the popular branch of the General Assembly was also increased. This extension of their settlements, and the wider dispersion of the population which necessarily followed it, rendered the existing administration of justice inconvenient and almost impracticable, inasmuch as the judicial powers of the colony were vested exclusively in the Governor and Council, who were required Origin and to hold their courts at Jamestown. To obviate these creation of County

evils, inferior courts were established, whose jurisdic-Courts. tion embraced a certain district, composed of a convenient number of plantations, and whose sessions were made more frequent. These were called County or Monthly Courts, the first of which were held in the year 1622. They were established under a Commission from the Governor, as follows:

Commis

1621-2.

"To all to whome these presents shall come, I, Sir The GovFrancis Wyatt, Governor and Captain General of Vir-ernor's ginia, send Greeting, in our Lord God Everlasting: sion establishing WHEREAS, for the greater ease of the inhabitants of County diverse parts of this colony, and for the better con-Courts, servation of the peace, and due execution of such laws and orders as are, or shall be, established for the government of the people and inhabitants of the same, The Governor and Councell have thought fitt, and accordingly appointed, by an order of Court made on the day of -, that there shall be Monthly Courts held and kepte in some of the more remote plantations thereof, KNOW YE that according to the said order, these persons whose names are here inserted, are for the time being assigned and appoynted to be the present commissioners of and for the holding and keeping of Monthly Courts within the corporation -, and the parts near adjoining, viz., A. B., C. D., E. F., &c., which said commissioners, or any

of

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three of them, whereof A. B. and C. D. shall be always one, shall have power and authority to hear and determine all such suits and controversies between Jurisdic- party and party as exceed not the value of one hundtion pre- red pounds of tobacco, especially that they take into their care the conservation of the peace, the quiet government and safety of the people there residing, or being, and that all orders and proclamations bee kept and observed; and according to the same to inflicte a

scribed and defined.

of Juris

punishment upon all delinquents either by fine or Limitation otherwise, (such offences only excepted as concerne diction. the taking away of life or member.) PROVIDED always Right of appeal.

to keep a

that it shall be lawful for the plaintiff or defendant in any suit before the said commissioners depending, to appeal to the Court at James Citty, there holden by

Required the Governor and Councel: And they are hereby record of required, from tyme to tyme, to keep records of all their pro- judgments, orders, and other matters of moment as by ceedings.

Their relations with the Indians.

utes at

Large.

them shall be concluded and agreed on. GIVEN at James Citty, &c."

The relations of the colonists with the Indian tribes in Virginia had been established on a friendly basis by the marriage of Sir John Rolfe, a young Englishman, with Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhattan, in the See 1. Hen-year 1613. This alliance pleased the Chief, and was ning's Stathighly commended by the Company in England, where the young bride was received and treated with distinguishing kindness and attention by the King and Queen, and others of the royal household. She died soon after her marriage, in London, at the age of twenty-two years, leaving an only son. This son afterwards came to Virginia, where he left numerous descendants, who formed some of the most distinguished families in the colony.

On the death of Powhattan his power fell to a Chief who had already grown envious of the increasing setThe massa- tlements of the English. Consequently he contrived a ereof 1622. plan for their extermination, which broke out in a gen

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