登陆注册
15511400000022

第22章 CHAPTER VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA(1)

The choice of Sir Edwyn Sandys as Treasurer of the Virginia Company in 1619 marks a turningpoint in the history of both Company and colony. At a moment when James I was aiming at absolute monarchy and was menacing Parliament, Sandys and his party--the Liberals of the day--turned the sessions of the Company into a parliament where momentous questions of state and colonial policy were freely debated. The liberal spirit of Sandys cast a beam of light, too, across the Atlantic. When Governor Yeardley stepped ashore at Jamestown in mid-April, he brought with him, as the first fruits of the new regime, no less a boon than the grant of a representative assembly.

There were to be in Virginia, subject to the Company, subject in its turn to the Crown, two "Supreme Councils," one of which was to consist of the Governor and his councilors chosen by the Company in England. The other was to be elected by the colonists, two representatives or burgesses from each distinct settlement. Council and House of Burgesses were to constitute the upper and lower houses of the General Assembly. The whole had power to legislate upon Virginian affairs within the bounds of the colony, but the Governor in Virginia and the Company in England must approve its acts.

A mighty hope in small was here! Hedged about with provisions, curtailed and limited, here nevertheless was an acorn out of which, by natural growth and some mutation, was to come popular government wide and deep. The planting of this small seed of freedom here, in 1619, upon the banks of the James in Virginia, is an event of prime importance.

On the 30th of July, 1619, there was convened in the log church in Jamestown the first true Parliament or Legislative Assembly in America.

Twenty-two burgesses sat, hat on head, in the body of the church, with the Governor and the Council in the best seats. Master John Pory, the speaker, faced the Assembly; clerk and sergeant-at-arms were at hand; Master Buck, the James town minister, made the solemn opening prayer. The political divisions of this Virginia were Cities, Plantations, and Hundreds, the English population numbering now at least a thousand souls. Boroughs sending burgesses were James City, Charles City, the City of Henricus, Kecoughtan, Smith's Hundred, Flowerdieu Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Martin Brandon, Ward's Plantation, Lawne's Plantation, and Argall's Gift. This first Assembly attended to Indian questions, agriculture, and religion.

Most notable is this year 1619, a year wrought of gold and iron. John Rolfe, back in Virginia, though without his Indian princess, who now lies in English earth, jots down and makes no comment upon what he has written:

"About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty Negars."

No European state of that day, few individuals, disapproved of the African slave trade. That dark continent made a general hunting-ground. England, Spain, France, the Netherlands, captured, bought, and sold slaves.

Englishmen in Virginia bought without qualm, as Englishmen in England bought without qualm. The cargo of the Dutch ship was a commonplace. The only novelty was that it was the first shipload of Africans brought to English-America. Here, by the same waters, were the beginnings of popular government and the young upas-tree of slavery. A contradiction in terms was set to resolve itself, a riddle for unborn generations of Americans.

Presently there happened another importation. Virginia, under the new management, had strongly revived. Ships bringing colonists were coming in; hamlets were building; fields were being planted; up and down were to be found churches; a college at Henricus was projected so that Indian children might be taught and converted from "heathennesse." Yet was the population almost wholly a doublet-and-breeches-wearing population. The children for whom the school was building were Indian children. The men sailing to Virginia dreamed of a few years there and gathered wealth, and then return to England.

Apparently it was the new Treasurer, Sir Edwyn Sandys, who first grasped the essential principle of successful colonization: Virginia must be HOME to those we send! Wife and children made home. Sandys gathered ninety women, poor maidens and widows, "young, handsome, and chaste, " who were willing to emigrate and in Virginia become wives of settlers. They sailed; their passage oney was paid by the men of their choice; they married--and home life began in Virginia. In due course of time appeared fair-haired children, blue or gray of eye, with all England behind them, yet native-born, Virginians from the cradle.

Colonists in number sailed now from England. Most ranks of society and most professions were represented. Many brought education, means, independent position. Other honest men, chiefly young men with little in the purse, came over under indentures, bound for a specified term of years to settlers of larger means. These indentured men are numerous; and when they have worked out their indebtedness they will take up land of their own.

同类推荐
  • 太清中黄真经

    太清中黄真经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 咸淳毗陵志

    咸淳毗陵志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 无文道灿禅师语录

    无文道灿禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Kentons

    The Kentons

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 词谑

    词谑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 史上第一大掌教

    史上第一大掌教

    被强行掳掠到另一方宇宙的唐灏,为了活的能够舒服一点,他不断的在这个陌生的世界扩张着势力,他的目标是成为史上第一大掌教。
  • 九转帝尊

    九转帝尊

    一个少年,终身废物,天生丹田破碎,无法修炼。在这个强者为尊的世界,他如同蝼蚁般任人宰割。在一次意外的逃亡中,偶然得到了一部改变他命运的功诀。创功诀,炼丹药。四境之强无不有求于我!从此他神挡杀神,佛挡杀佛。傲世九天,唯我是尊!
  • RE隐沫

    RE隐沫

    RE学院发生的有趣故事,Alisa和知音是从地球穿越而来的天真少女即将和来自各个世界来到RE学院同学发生摩擦
  • 小仙女沦落凡尘:莫失莫忘

    小仙女沦落凡尘:莫失莫忘

    他和她,相遇相知在天上,那里有雪白淡雅的伽罗花,那里有平滑如镜的美丽天河。一朝分离,相逢陌路,你可还记得那发自心底的承诺?他和她,相识相知在人间,那里有芳草依依花开如海,那里有老树昏鸦,袅袅炊烟。风云突变,爱却永存,我愿意用生命换取你温暖的笑容!沧海桑田,地老天荒莫离莫弃,莫失莫忘
  • 青悠

    青悠

    大学校园的青春爱恋
  • 花笺记

    花笺记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 苏联模式与中国特色社会主义

    苏联模式与中国特色社会主义

    纵览现代世界大国之兴衰,一个大国要振兴,非有自己的兴邦之道不可。英、法、美走的是自由市场经济之路,德、日走的是民族利益至上的国家资本主义之路,苏联走的是社会主义的政府全面管理经济之路。这些国家都沿着自己的发展道路,实现了国家和民族的崛起,成为世界强国。中国的崛起,必然也要探索形成符合本国实际的发展道路。
  • 联珠

    联珠

    一个简单的故事,无非是情与剑、悬与解、花月与枯骨、清风与木棺;只是再加了一点皇城和江野的较量、从前和如今的勾连;一双小女孩儿的纠葛命运,上溯前辈的无奈、下启来者的挣扎,凑一个酸甜苦辣咸,而已。
  • 蓝色倾城恋之天命人归

    蓝色倾城恋之天命人归

    她是MC的顶尖设计师,却因为一场坠楼事件,意外的来到古代,遇见倾心的他,半个世纪恋爱后又再次回到属于自己的世纪,天命人归跪拜求支持,第一次写,,,,,,,,,,不成熟的地方希望大家指点指点,本人非常感谢
  • 花季雨季的伤

    花季雨季的伤

    七年前,她与他在茫茫人海中相遇,他们一起约定;一次车祸改变的以后的命运。三年后在回到这儿。三年后,当她回到相约的地点,他却消失在茫茫人海。我站在原地,而你。。。又在哪?十八岁的少女为寻真爱,来到SakuramorningCollege,在这里,运动少女会遇到什么?是真挚的友情,还是期待已久的---爱情。是温柔的学长,还是冷峻魅力四射的学生会长,或者是阳光帅气的篮球少年。四人之间会擦出怎样的爱情火花呢?-----一切尽在《花季雨季的伤》