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The three most important articles of the charter were these: I. The companies were to hold their lands free of any military or other service to the king, but were to give him a fifth part of any precious metals they might find.

II. Each colony was to be governed by a council appointed by the king, and responsible to him.1

III. The settlers were to enjoy all the rights and privileges of English citizens at home,

In addition to the charter, the king and the companies gave the emigrants a long list of instructions, and good advice enough for a population sufficient to settle the whole continent. These instructions ordered

1. That the Church of England - that is, the national Episcopal Church should be established in the colonies.

2. That for the first five years no land should be given to any one, but that every settler must deposit the products of his labor in the company's warehouse, out of which he would be provided with whatever he needed for his living.

3. That the colonists should carefully explore all rivers in their vicinity, to see if they could not find "a short and easy way to the South Sea "2 and the East Indies.

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47. The London Company's Colony sails, 1607; Captain John Smith.-The first colony was sent out by the London Company on New Year's Day, 1607. It consisted of 105 persons, all men. Nearly half of these were classed as "gentlemen";

The intervening country (38th to 41st degrees), embracing what is now the coasts of Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, was open to competition; but neither company was to settle within 100 miles of the other.

1 Each colony was to be under the control of a resident council appointed by the king; the council chose its own president. This in turn was to be governed by a general council in London: both were to be subject to the king's will. 2 The South Sea, that is, the Pacific Ocean. See Paragraph 19.

8 The Plymouth Company's colony is mentioned under Paragraph 93, note 7. 4 In England, a gentleman is usually understood to be a person of good family and of independent income. One or two of the "gentlemen" who went out to

that is, persons of good family, not brought up to manual labor. The remainder were mechanics, tradesmen, and laborers. Thus it will be seen that a very large proportion were unfit for such an undertaking they were going out tender-handed to struggle with the rough life of the wilderness.

Fortunately there was a young man of decided ability among the colonists. This was Captain John Smith. His energy and courage saved the settlers from starvation.

48. The Emigrants settle Jamestown, Virginia, 1607; Condition of the Colony. - The expedition went by way of the

Baltimore
1729

St.Mary

1634

Jamestown 1607

JA ROANOKE

CROATO

1585-87

OATOAN

West Indies, in order to trade with the natives there, and reached the American coast in the spring. About the middle. of May they sailed up a river of Virginia, which they named the James River, in honor of the king; for the same reason they called the settlement which they began on a peninsula on that river, Jamestown.1

They found a country abounding in every natural advantage, and well deserving that name of the "Good Land," which the Indians are said to have given it. But they found themselves destitute of those rights and privileges which English citizens enjoyed, and which the charter expressly stated that they should continue to possess. At home many of them had a right to vote, and to take part in making the laws by which they were governed; in the Virginia woods they could do neither, for they were ruled by a council that was in turn ruled by the king.

Virginia had property, but most of them were younger sons who had not inherited money. They went hoping to make fortunes in the New World, either in Virginia, or in the Indies, which they supposed could easily be reached from there.

1 The peninsula is now an island. It is about thirty miles up the river, on the northern bank.

SUFFERINGS OF THE COLONISTS.

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Next, they owned no land, and the work of their hands did not belong to them. In this last respect they were worse off than the poorest day-laborer they had left behind them. Furthermore, the idle man was certain that he would not suffer, for he could draw provisions out of the common storehouse; the industrious man, on the other hand, knew that by the sweat of his toil he must feed the idle. Considering this discouraging start, the wonder is that the colony not only lived, but lived to lay the foundation of a prosperous, powerful, and independent State.

49. Sufferings of the Colonists; Search for the Pacific; Pocahontas. - As the weather was warm, the new settlers built no houses at first, but lived under rude shelters made of branches or of old sails. The provisions they brought with them had partly spoiled, and the river water was unwholesome to drink. Many fell ill with fever. During the hot summer the mortality was terrible. By September, half of the settlers had died. The few who were able to be about had all they could do to tend the sick and dig graves.

In the autumn matters somewhat improved; log huts were built, and the settlers were made more comfortable. Later, they urged Smith to lead an exploring expedition to find the South Sea.1 They set out in high spirits, supposing that, at that point, the country was less than 200 miles across from the Atlantic to the Pacific! 2

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In the course of the exploration Smith was captured by the Indians, and taken to their chief, Powhatan.3 The chief was a tall, sour-looking old man"; he ordered his warriors to knock Smith's brains out. According to the valiant captain's account, he was saved by Pocahontas, the chief's youthful daughter, who

1 See Paragraph 46, No. 3, of the Instructions to the Colonists.

2 A map of 1651, sold in London at that date, represents Virginia as a narrow strip of land between the two oceans. See a copy of the map in Winsor's "America," Vol. III., page 465.

8 Powhatan (Pow-at-an').
4 Pocahontas (Pō-ca-hon'tas).

ran up, just as the club was raised, and put her arms round the prisoner's head.1

Some years afterward, John Rolfe, a colonist who had come over to Virginia at a later period, became interested in Pocahontas. He labored for the conversion of the tender-hearted heathen, and labored so effectually that she not only embraced Christianity, but took Rolfe for her husband besides. The marriage was a fortunate one, since it made Powhatan the firm friend of the colony at a time when it needed all the friends it could get. King James, however, shook his head over the matter, and questioned whether Rolfe, being a man without rank, had not committed treason in presuming to marry a native American princess!

50. Gold! the French settle in Canada, 1608; the Colony's Debt to Smith; the Colonists leave Jamestown. Not long after Smith's adventure with the Indians, one of the settlers found a yellowish substance which was said to be gold. In spite of the captain's vigorous protests, the colonists set to work to dig the 'gilded dust" and load a vessel with it. When the cargo reached England, it was indeed found to be one sort of gold; that is, it was that worthless kind of glittering iron ore popularly known as "fool's gold."

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In the summer of that year (1608) an event occurred destined to have important results. Champlain, a famous French explorer, sailed up the St. Lawrence to Quebec, and there established the first permanent French colony in America. It was the feeble beginning of a rival power which was one day to dispute the right of the English to possess any part of the country.

Shortly after this date Smith was chosen president of the

1 Certain inconsistencies in Smith's account of the affair have caused most recent historians to question the truth of his story; otherwise it is not at all improbable.

2 De Monts, a friend of Champlain's, attempted to establish a colony in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1604, but his enterprise failed. The first permanent settlement in that part of the country was not made until 1610.

8 See Paragraph 46, Article II., of the Charter. and note I on that paragraph.

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council, and thus became head of the government of Jamestown. His rule was an encouragement to the industrious, but a terror to the lazy. Those who tried to live without working soon found that they must also try that harder thing to live without eating. But the captain's term of office was short, for he met with a fearful accident that made it necessary for him to return to England. He never revisited the colony. After he had gone, the Indians began depredations. They had looked up to Smith as a superior being, and when they wanted rain used to beg him to pray for it for them. Now, they did not hesitate to rob and murder the settlers. Everything went to rack and ruin. Sickness and famine set in. In six months only sixty persons were left out of five hundred. A ship came, bringing more colonists and some supplies; but matters looked so discouraging that it was resolved to abandon the country, and go back to England. Some of the settlers, when they left, were for setting fire to Jamestown, but fortunately that was not done. None shed a tear on going; for, it was said, "none had enjoyed one happy day" there.

51. Lord Delaware; the New Charter; Governor Dale; the Great Reform. The settlers had actually embarked, when they met Lord Delaware coming up the river with a fleet from England. He came out as governor under a new charter1 which gave him the entire control of the colony. He had the power of ruling by military law, and could hang a man, without a jury to decide his guilt.

Lord Delaware soon resigned, and was succeeded by Governor Dale. He was a stern old soldier, determined to preserve order. If a colonist talked against his regulations, the governor had a hole bored through his tongue: that kept him quiet for a while.

1 This second charter (1609) gave the London Company the entire control of the colony. They appointed a governor to act for them. Virginia was declared by this charter to extend 200 miles north of Point Comfort, and the same distance south. Westward it reached to the Pacific, and included all islands within 100 miles of either coast.

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