ernor Dale changed all this, and caused the lands to be laid out into lots of three acres each, one of which was to be given to each of the colonists-to hold forever-upon which he might plant orchards and cultivate grain with the understanding that no one had the right to gather but himself. Thus the right of property in land was, for the first time, recognized in the New World. The colonists saw the advantage of individual labor, and the good results were soon apparent in the general improvement of the colony.

Dale now surrendered the government to Sir Thomas Gates, and by his (Gates') permission selected three hundred men and began a settlement on a narrow neck of land, nearly surrounded by water, which he called Henrico in honor of Prince Henry. Other settlements were made on both sides of the river at considerable distances from the parent town, and the foundation of the first American State was thus securely laid.

VIRGINIA UNDER THE THIRD CHARTER.

It was now the year 1612, and King James, who made "change" the rule of his reign, granted a third charter to the company, under which many important changes were made. By it the privileges and immunities were greatly increased; their jurisdiction was extended over all the territory within a radius of three hundred miles from Jamestown; they were permitted to elect their own officers, to decide all questions of law and right-in fact, to govern the colony on their own responsibility. This was the germ from which sprang democratic government in America.

MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS.

In the year 1613, Captain Samuel Argall, then cruising in the Chesapeake, made a voyage up the Potomac, when he learned of the presence of Pocahontas, whom he succeeded in enticing on his boat and then carried her to Jamestown. The authorities detained her with expectation that her father, Powhatan, would pay a ransom for her, but the old chief became highly enraged and at once prepared for war; but before hostilities began a Mr. John Rolfe, a highly respected young planter, struck by her beauty and fascinated by her manners, wooed and won her affections and the promise of her hand.

Powhatan gave his consent to the union, and sent her uncle and two brothers to witness the ceremony, which was celebrated with great pomp, according to the rites of the English Church. In 1616 she accompanied her husband to England, but was very unhappy. Captain Smith, who was then in London, called to see her, but appeared to be somewhat

reserved in his manner. wept like a child.

This added to her burden of grief, and she Smith inquired the cause of her grief. "Did I not save thy life in America?" said she. "Didst thou not promise that if I went into thy country thou wouldst be my father, and I shouldst be thy daughter? Thou hast deceived me; behold her now a stranger and an orphan." Pocahontas was warmly received. Lady Delaware introduced her to Queen Anne, and many families of distinction paid every attention to the modest daughter of this western wilderness; but nothing could be done to dispel the gloom which surrounded her, and in a short time she fell a victim to the dread disease, the small-pox, and died just as she was about to re-embark for America.

One son, the issue of this union, became a man of prominence in the affairs of the colony, and to him many of the first families of Virginia, among whom were the Randolphs and the Bollings, trace their ancestry.

Early in the year 1616, Gates and Dale both sailed for England, and left the government in the hands of Sir Thomas Yeardley, whose administration was similar to those of his predecessors-Dale and Gates. The colony increased in numbers, the social condition improved; obedience on the part of the colonists and respect on the part of the savages brought about a feeling of security and confidence hitherto unknown in the history of the colony.

In 1617, Yeardley was succeeded by Captain Argall, who proved himself to be the most tyrannical governor that had yet swayed the scepter over Virginia. He was a sailor by profession, and accustomed to the rigid discipline of the seas, where he had long held despotic sway over the decks of his own vessel. Naturally tyrannical, cruel and covetous, he was entirely unfit to administer the government as it then existed in Virginia, and, as might have been expected, his administration became a synonym for fraud, corruption and violence. When the news of his high-handed oppression reached England, the London Company requested Delaware to return to Virginia and again assume the government. He yielded to their importunities and sailed for Virginia, but died on the way. Argall continued his oppressive sway until 1619, when he was superseded by Sir George Yeardley, who, through the influence of Sir Edwyn Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, was appointed to fill his place.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.

With Sir George Yeardley governor, and important changes in the London Company, the colonists expected a period of prosperity, and their expectations were fully realized. Martial law was abolished; the

The first town founded in America, and first capital of Virginia-destroyed by its own inhabitants in 1676, during "Bacon's Rebellion," to prevent Lord Berkeley's taking shelter there-never rebuilt.

governor, in accordance with instructions from the company, divided the plantations along the James river into eleven districts, called boroughs, and issued a proclamation commanding the citizens to ELECT TWO REPRESENTATIVES from each borough to take part in the government: the election was held in the latter part of June, and the first House of Representatives in the New World convened at Jamestown on the 30th of July, 1619.

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This body was called the House of Burgesses, and by it were bated all matters thought expedient for the good of the colony." number of acts were passed which were pronounced by the company to be "well and judiciously carried," but unfortunately we have no record

of them.

In this eventful year, Sir Edwyn Sandys recognized the fact that the stability of the colony could only be secured by the establishment of family ties. Up to this time very few of the colonists had come to Virginia with the intention of finding a permanent home; by far the greater number were adventurers who left England with the determination to sometime return-either after they had accumulated a fortune, or gratified a desire for adventure. The endearments of home and friends are the ties that bind men to a settled habitation, and now, if these could be found on this side of the Atlantic, then would these adventurers relinquish the fond hope of returning to seek them in the mother country, and the permanency of the colony would be assured. To achieve this end was the determination of Sir Edwyn, and during this year he sent over twelve hundred and sixty emigrants, among whom were ninety "agreeable young women, poor but respectable and incorrupt," who were designed as wives for the colonists. Shortly after, another consignment was made of "sixty young maids of virtuous education, young, handsome, and well recommended." Such is the compliment paid by the historian to the first mothers of Virginia. It has been said that they were sold to the planters at prices ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. Such was not the case. They were transported at the expense of the company, and when they were chosen as wives by the planters the fare for transportation was charged, and paid by the husbands. Thus domestic relations were established; then came habits of thrift, an increase of comforts, and consequent happiness. Within the next two years fifty patents for land were granted and 3,500 emigrants found homes in Virginia.

INTRODUCTION OF AFRICAN SLAVERY.

It was the policy of King James to increase the population of the colony as rapidly as possible, and with that end in view, despite the protests of the London Company, he sent over one hundred "idle and

dissolute" persons who were in custody for various misdemeanors, and were only transported to escape a worse fate at home. They were sold out as servants to the planters, who endured their presence only because of the profits derived from their labor, and the increased assistance thus secured in carrying into effect the various industrial enterprises then projected by the colonists.

This beginning created a desire on the part of the planters to employ other labor than their own, and unfortunately the opportunity to gratify that desire came only too soon. It was in the month of August, 1619, that an event occurred which was destined to stamp its impress upon the pages of American history; an event so far-reaching in its effects that no prophetic eye could foretell what they were to be. No one thought that an institution was then taking root which in the distant future would involve the American States in civil war and almost wreck society itself. This event was none other than the introduction of African slavery. A Dutch vessel sailed up the James river and sold twenty Africans as slaves to the colonists. The world knows the result.

A LIBERAL CONSTITUTION.

Another change was now to take place. A new constitution was prepared for Virginia, and Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed to supersede Yeardley in the government. The new code was modeled after the English constitution, and was a long step toward representative government. It acknowledged the right of petition, and of trial by jury; but the most remarkable provision was that which bestowed the power upon the House of Burgesses to veto any objectionable acts of the company.

THE INDIANS ATTEMPT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COLONY.

Three years of prosperity had spread the settlements far and wide; they extended for a hundred and forty miles along the banks of the James and far into the interior; several had also been made on the Potomac, so that by the year 1622, there were no less than eighty families dotting the country around the Chesapeake. The only cause for anxiety was the fear of Indian hostilities, and well indeed might this anxiety exist, for there was now a plot being laid which if it had been. carried out in detail would not have left an Englishman alive in Virginia. The friends of the colonists were gone. Pocahontas had died in a foreign land, and Powhatan had also passed away-beloved and honored. by all who knew him. His brother, the cunning, treacherous and revengeful Opechancanough, had succeeded him. He had long looked with a jealous eye upon the encroachment of the English, and saw in