Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1864-06-25
For the WAsHqINroN SrANDAnD]
Early Settlements in America-A Contrs

. ouuuinS season Oh the year, ana IN gena
, cline, at place where jamestown on James
river, Virginia, now stands, three vessels
freighted with one hundred and five men and
choice, well-selected and ample stores for thei,
comfort and convenience, furled their sails
and dropped their anchors. These vessels
were freighted and dispatched from the Eng
lish shores under the fostering care of char
tered London company company wealthy
and highly favored by Government. In 1908
the company sent out two more vessels, with
ample supplies and one hundred and twenty
additional men.
What was tile character Of these em;grants
and what is tile History Of this settlement /?
History says of the first one hundred and five
men, who arrived in 1907, that "Of this
small number, forty-eight were gentlemen,
persons brought up to esteem manual labor as
degrading" OF the men who arrived in
zoos it says, "This new company were much
the same sort people as those who composed
the first colony, vagabond gentlemen, unac-
customod to labor and disdainful Of it, with
three or four bankrupt London jewelers., gold
smiths and refners." Such men, proud,
naughty, aristocratic, :" disdairtM Of labor"
must have others to labor for them, or else
they must literally starve. The latter had
nearly been their fate, for in 1908, when New.
port arrived with new recruits and supplies,
out of the original hundred and five men only
thirty eight remained The London company,
though disappointed at this result, redoubled
their diligence, and worked more vigorously.
a new and more advantageous charter was
obtained, the company was incorporated, and
in 1909 feet of nine vessels, with five hun
dred colonists on board, was dispatched to the
new colony in Virginia. "Most of the new
comcrs," says history, severe Of the same sort
Of those formerly sent, poor gentlemen, in
dolent, dissolutc and insubordinate, or else
broken tradesmen, filter to breed riot than
found colony"
These colonists gave themselves up to
"riot and idleness," and in the traditions Of
Virginia this period is remembered as the
starring time." In six months there were
only si,ry persons remaining, and those SO
feeble, detected ard destitute, that without
aid, shcy could not have survived for ten
days longer.
At this critical moment, two small vessels,
with one hundred and fifty men, but a short
allowance Of provisions, arrived, when it was
resolved to abandon Virginia entirely. They
embark, but in descending the river they meet
tho new Governor, Lord Delaware, with three
ships, bringing new supply of provisions and
colonists. They return. The next year,
1911, three ships and three hundred settlers
arrive.
In 1912, the stockholders of the London
company become loud in their complaints and
a supplemental charter was granted authoriz-
ing the company to raise money by lotteries.
BY this and other means the colony was kept
up until 1919. when by the vigorous efforts Of
the company, twelve hundred new emigrants
were sent out.
Thus was the Virginia colony planted, fos-
| u
powerful moneyed corporation, and the home
Government of Great Britain. Nor did this
patronage stop here, but it was continued with
unabated zeal and vigor by the company until
1926. when, having expended more than
100000 over and above private subscrip-
tions, its charter was declared forfeited and
its existence at an end by the home Govern.
ment. But an event of more Importance than
this, the introduction Of African slavery took
place in 1920. The system of slavery, thus
planted in the congenial soil of aristocratic
Incidence. and fostered by the naughty pride
and love Of power of this degenerate nobility.
soon spread until it become the chief and
cherished institution of the South. At the
time Of the formation of the Federal Union,
and the adoption of the Constitution Of the
United States, this institution Of slavery being
in its very nature opposed to the principles Of
freedom upon which the new government was
based, and therefore in great danger, become
the subject Of special guarantees and protec-
ton. 1t was great local interest. 1t united
the South in one solid phalanx, and was
tremendous political power which almost
wholly controlled the Government until the
year 1860, when it became so perfectly appa-
rent that the North was so far outstripping
the South in wealth and population, that the
scepter Of political power must depart there
Ilkom. and that then, without new guarantees
md the fostering care Of the General Govern
ment, the institution Of slavery must decay