iA^J MacalestekCollegfXontribitioss; Department of History, Literature, and Political Scienxe. 3f-^ Every man is a valuable member of society who, by his observations, researches, and experiences procures knowledge for men." — Smilhson. NUMBER FIVE. The Earliest Contest in America ox Charter-Rights, Begun A. D. 1619, in Virginia Legislature: With Documents Now First Printed. By Ed\vard D. Xeill, D. D. SAINT PAUL, MIXX.: The Pioneer Press Company. 1S90. TO JOHN S. M. NEILL, A. B., of Helena, Montana, Whose interest in early American History has caused the publication of this Monograph. THE EARLIEST CONTEST ON CHARTER-RIGHTS IN AMER- ICA, BEGUN A. D. 1619, IN VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE : WITH DOCUMENTS NOW FIRST PRINTED. By Edward D. ^N^eill, D.D. The first controversy in America as to charter-rights began in A. D. 1619, in the Virginia legislature, occasioned by the demand of Cap- tain John Martin, that the burgesses from Martin-Brandon should be admitted to seats. Martin's father, Sir Richard, was among the honored and enterpris- ing citizens of London. In 1577 he was warden of the Eoyal Mint, and subscribed fifty pounds sterling to send out another expedition to the northern seas of America, in which Martin Frobisher had sailed, in the hope of finding a passage to a rich Cathay. In 1583 he was high sheriff of London, and a chaplain of the East India Company; in his diary, under dateof Maix-h ll,O.S.,he wrote : "Dined at Sheriff Martin's, in Milk street, where was Dr. Julius Caesar, who married his daughter." Before the death of Queen Elizabeth he was lord mayor, and in 1606, when the expedition for Virginia under Newport was prepar- ing, he was director, or master, of the mint. His son John left his wife, and, with a son, joined the emigrants to Virginia, and when they reached the Chesapeake bay, upon open- ing certain orders, it was found that the London Company had desig- nated him as one of the first councillors. During the first year at Jamestown, he grumbled at the adminis- tration of President Wingfield, and said that " he had friends in England who would be revenged upon him if ever he came to Lon- 146 Macalester College Contributions. don." The scant supply of food, bad water, and low, malarial position, during the first summer, caused the death of many, and, among others, the son of Martin. Councillor Eatcliif, on the tenth of September, 1607, was chosen, president, in place of Wingfield, who was deposed. James Eead, the blacksmith, in consequence of an altercation with him, was sentenced to be hung, but saved his life by making known a projected mutiny under the leadership of Councillor Kendall, who was tried and found guilt}'. Katcliff, whose real name was Sickelmore, refused to execute the sentence, but Martin took his place and had him "shot to death." SEAL OF COUNCIL FOR VIRGINIA. Captain John Smith, of the council, in Octol»er, 1609, was sent to England to answer for some misdemeanors; Katcliff, not long after, was killed by the Indians, and then John Martin was the only one of the first council left in Virginia. The London Company received, in 1609, an enlarged charter, by which the mode of governing the Virginia colony was modified, and Lord Delaware was chosen governor general. He arrived in June, 1610, at Jamestown, and appointed Captain John Martin master of the iron works ; but he did not secure the respect of the governor. Local Legislation Allowed Colonists. 147 He was in London during; the winter of 1616-17, and, in a small ves- sel, returned the following; June to his plantation. A few months after his visit, in August, his aged and esteemed father died. A cor- respondent of Sir Dudley Carleton, under date of Oct. 18, 1617, wrote: '.'Sir Edward Villiers, they say, shall be master of the mint, an office lately void by the death of Sir Eiehard Martin, who was held near a hundred years old." Captain Martin, while in England, in an ii-regular manner obtained a patent for a plantation, under which his people would be exempt from the orders of the colonial authorities. It proved "the cave Adul- 1am, and every one that was in distress, and every one that was in ■debt, and every one that was discontented gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them." The plantation was known as Martin-Brandon, situated on the lower shore of James river, at Chapoak creek, and Captain John ^yard, in 1619, established a planta- tion in the immediate vicinity. The London Company, after Sir Edwin Sandys became the pre- siding officer, was disposed to grant the colonists every liberty possible. At a regular quarterly meeting at the house oF Sir Edwin, near Aldersgate, held on the second of February, 1619, O. S., a patent was granted to John Pierce and his associates to transport certain people to Virginia, who subsequently sailed in the ship May Flower, and on that day, by general consent, it was voted that the leaders of particular plantations in Virginia be allowed to associate with them- selves the gravest and discreetest of their companies for the purpose of making ordinances and constitutions, provided they were not repugnant to the laws of England: and before this they had also ■directed that there should be an annual legislative assembly in Vir- ginia, to be composed of the governor, council, and two burgesses from each plantation, to be freely elected b}^ the inhabitants thereof. The first legislatui-e in North America assembled on the thirtieth of July, 1619, at Jamestown, more than a year before Pierce's people landed at Plymouth Rock. The plantation of Martin-Brandon elected Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy as their representatives, but their names were not called on the day of organization, because the patent of John Martin exempted the people, who sent them as dele- gates, from obeying any order of the colonial authorities, except in times of war. On the second of August, Martin came before the house 148 Macalester College Contributions. and to the question of the speaker, whether he would relinquish the objectionable clause in his patent, he replied that he would not, and the assembly then declined to recognize the delegates of Martin- Brandon as members. The controversy was soon transferred from Jamestown to London, where Martin had a strong family influence. His brother-in-law, Sir Julius Cffisari, was master of the rolls and a member of the King's Privy Council. On the seventeenth of May, 1620, O.S., Mr. Martin is noted as being- present at the regular quarterly meeting of the London Company. On the thirteenth of March, 1621, 0. S., Isabel Eead, the widow of the black- smith who was pardoned at Jamestown for information which led to the execution of Councillor Kendall, by the sentence imposed by John Martin, as councillor, complained to the company that Martin had not satisfied her for goods which came into his hands, and which he sold. She was directed to visit Martin and request his answer. On the same day, a committee made the following REPORT AS TO MARTINS PATENT, to be presented to the Privy Council: " Eight Honorable, whereas at a great and general quarter court for Virginia, held the 30th of January last, there was presented to the said court a certificate on the behalf of Captain John Martin, in the name of the Council and Comjiany of his Majesty here resident, con- taining a declaration of his worth and services, and thei-eby reporting him to be worthy to enjoy the patents and privileges therein granted unto him, subscribed by some honorable persons and others, divers of whom the Company conceiving not to be fully informed of the truth of all passages in that business, have, thei-efore, thought it their duty to give unto them, and particularly unto your Lordships, a true account of the state and carriage thereof 1 Sir Julius Cfesar, born in 1558, was the son of an Italian physician, Cfesar Adelmare, who was a naturalized English citizen, and one of Queen Elizabeth's medical advisers. His sons took the name of Caesar. Julius was educated at Oxford, and, in 1584, received the degree of LL.D. In 1588 was master of chancery. In 1603 was made a knight. In 1606 member of the privy council and chan- cellor of exchequer. In 1614 master of the rolls. Bacon, Lord Verulam, made him a supervisor of his will. On Feb. 23, 1581, O S., he married the widow of Richard Lusher of the Middle Temple, a sister of Captain John Martin. Before 1595 she died. Report as to Validity of Martin's Patent. 149 " May it please your Lordships, therefore, to be advertised ; that whereas the said Company are limited aiul directed by his Majesty's letters patent, to four great and general quarter courts only, for pass- ing of all matters of greatest weight, particularly for disposing of the land in Virginia, and as being a fundamental law was notoriously known to all the Company, and for further caution hath been from time to time accordingly declared to the planters as an ordinance from his Majesty to be inviolably observed. "Contrarj^ hereunto there was presented at a private and inferior court two several patents ready engrossed, the committee not being afore acquainted with them, the one constituting the said Capt, Martin the Master of the Ordnance, the other containing a grant of land unto him, his heirs, executors and assigns, by which private court called extraordinarily, and as by the effect appeared for that only business, the said patent was unlawfully and unduly passed, notwithstanding the dislike of divers then present, but yet never had the confirmation of a Quarter' Court. " Secondly, the said patent for land doth contain a grant of divers exorbitant privileges, and transcendent liberties, to Capt. Martin, ap- parently repugnant to justice and the good government of the general plantation, which the Company b}' His Majesty's patents to them could not gi'ant, as mainly the exemption of all the people within his lands from the government of the Governor and Council in Virginia, and from all other services of the whole colony there, except in case of war, and also a grant of unlimited fishing, and also a fifth part of all rich mines, and to enjoy all other mines found by him, his heirs, or assigns, and of common marts to be erected at his pleasure, and many other general indefinite liberties, as appeareth in the said pat- ent : by color of which exorbitant patent many great inconveniences have followed to the Company and colony, as in particular Capt. Martin's refusal to submit himself to the laws and orders of the col- ony in Virginia. "And that this plantation is made a receptacle and harbor of dis- ordered persons who subterfuge thither from ordinary justice. All which, and many other mischiefs have been often complained of by the colony at their particular and general assemblies, and by the gov- ernors there, and most grievously by Captain Argall himself, their governor, by his letter to the Company; notwithstanding his own sub- 150 Macalester College Contributions. «cription to Captain Martin's said certificate in approbation of the said patent. Upon which letter an order was made in a great and general quarter court, in May, 1618, and a committee appointed to examine and reform the said patent; there being present at that court. Sir Thomas Smith and Mr. Alderman Johnson, then treasurer and deputy of this Company, so that it seemeth strange to the Com- pany to find their hands also to Captain Martin's certificate contra- dicting the act of the great court wherein themselves were the prin- cipal directors. '■ Moreover, the said inconveniences have been lately satisfied viva voce before the Company, in open court. "Lastly, the Company have and do always offer to grant the said Captain Martin, upon surrender of his former, a new patent of all his land, with as large and ample privileges as any other hath, which favors all but himself have most willingly and thankfiilh' accepted. - "The said certificate of Capt. John Martin was subscribed with these names, viz.: " Pembroke, ^ Tho. Smith, '^ "Eo. Warwick,^ Fra. West.s "Leicester,^ Wm. St. John,^ "Montgomery,'* Robt, Johnson,^'* "Sheffield,^ Samuel Argall.ii "Ro. Mansell,<5 Wm. Canning.i2" ^r 1 William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke, boru iu 1550, at Wilton, Wiltshire. Educated at Oxford. Installed Knight of the Garter in 1G04. Active member of the London Company until its dissolution. Chancellor University of Oxford, 162G. Pembroke College bears his name.— Neill's " Virginia Vetusta," p. 72. 2 His father, Lord Rich, the first earl of AVarwick, married Penelope Devereux, sister of the brilliant and miserable Earl of Essex, in IGIS, a few months before his death. Robert, the second earl, she claimed as her son by Rich, born out of wedlock. She made no secret of her infidelities. 3 Robert Sydney, Lord Lisle, in 1618 made Earl of Leicester, the father of Algernon Sydney, and Dorothy, the "Sacharissa"of the poet Waller. 4 Philip Herbert, the Earl of Montgomery, the younger brother of Pembroke. 5 Edmund, Lord ShelHeld, had been a commander in the reign of Elizabeth. Charles the First -made him Earl of Mulgrave. 6 Sir Robert Mansell was vice admiral and treasurer of the navy. By a patent, in 1624, he im- proved the manufacture of glass. For many years he was a director of the East India Company. 7 Sir Thomas Smith was president of the Virginia Company of London, from its incorporation in 1606, until 1619. On the thirtieth of January, 161S, O. S., his elegant residence at Deptford was burned. His Loudon house was in Philpot Lane. His eldest son, Sir John, married Isabel, daugh- ter of Robert, Earl of Warwick. 8 Francis West, brother of Thomas, Lord Delaware, came to Virginia in 1608, and was, for a .«hort period, its governor. The Alleged King's Forest. 151 The minutes of the company add: "Which declaration being read and some words altered that might fit it to the quality of those who were no lords, that had subscribed to the said certificate, and after put to the question, was well approved of; and order given to the secre- tary to make divers coj^ies thereof, the court entreating Sir John Danvers, and Mr. Tomlins to deliver unto such lords as had sub- scribed thereunto a particular copy of the company's answer to the said certificate, as also unto the Master of Requests, which they were pleased to undertake." Lord Cavendish, on the fifth of June, 1622, 0. S., told the London Company that he had presented to the King their answer to Captain Martin's complaints, and requested certain referees of the Privy Coun- cil. On the nineteenth of June, Deputy Ferrar mentioned that he had been before Sir Christopher Perkins, one of the masters of requests, to answer the charge that the privileges of Captain Martin's patent had been denied, and also that his Majesty had been kept from a tract of land set out by Sir Thomas Dale as the king's forest. The following answer of the council and company of Yirginia as to the king's forest was then adojDted : THE king's forest IN VIRGINIA. " The said Council and Company for answer thereunto, say : that they acknowledge no king of Virginia but King James, of, and under whom they hold, and not from King Poivhawfan, so named b}^ the petitioners. True it is, that for a permanent honor, as well to his Eoyal Majesty, the founder of that plantation, as also to his princely issue, they have named both their chief cities, as also other places must remarkable, with the names of his Majesty and of his children, ^ which they suppose doth no way alter the property of inheritance in whose places which his Majesty, by his letters-patent, under his great seal, hath granted to the said company for and throughout all Yir- sinia. 1 Jamestown, Charles City, Heurico, and Elizabeth. 9 Sir William St. John. 10 Robert Johnson, alderman, and grocer of London; deputy under Sir Thomas Smith, when Tiead of the company. 11 Samuel Argall, when governor of Virginia, associated with the Eirl of Warwick in the slave trade. 12 Canning was a friend of Argall and John Martin. 152 Macalester College Contkibutions. " Touching the King's forest, so named in the i)etition, it is a name happily known to Captain Martin and his associates, but not to the Comj^any, and in the circuit of that territory they are pleased to call the Forest, are placed James City in Virginia, and also the places of residence for the Governor and Council, and also divers others princi- pal plantations, and namely, that of the city of London. "Touching the deer; it is true that the whole country of Virginia is replenished with them, but as for the swine, they are no other than the breed of such as have been transported thither by the Company, and it is strange unto them that Captain Martin, who is said to have ruined as well his own estate (if ever he had any), as also the estate of others who put him in trust, namely Captain Bargrave, and Avho made his own territory a receptacle of vagabonds and bankrupts, and other disorderly jDcrsons, and whereof there hath been made public complaint, and who is famous for nothing but all sorts of base condi- tions, so published in print by the relations of the proceedings in Vir- ginia, above ten years since, and who, for the said conditions, was displaced by the Lord DeLewarr from being of the Council, as a most unworthy person, and who hath presented, of his own authority (no way derived from his Majesty), to give unjust sentence of death upon divers of his Majesty's subjects, and seen the same put into execution, should dare to offer himself to his sacred Majesty as an agent, either for matter of good husbandry, or good order." ^ Capt. AVilliam Pierce, of Jamestown, whose daughter was the widow of John Eolfe of Pocahontas notoriety, was present when this report was made, and he said that he had, as governor of Jamestown, deliv- ered warrants to the marshal, to be served upon men living loosely within Captain Martin's plantation, and that Martiu '-'resisted the officer, drew arms upon, and would not suffer him to execute the said warrants." Possingham, a nephew of Governor Yeardley, confirmed this statement, as did two other planters, John Jefferson and William Capps. Men of influence began to lose confidence in Martin after this ex- posure, and he appeared more willing to cease his opposition to the company. On the ninth of December, 1622, he wrote the following to his brother-in-laAv, the able jurist Sir Julius Csesar, and as it has- never before been printed, the spelling of the original, now in the= British Museum, is retained : 1 Neill's "Virginia Company," p. 312. Outline of Proposed Government. 153 letter to sir julius cesar. " Imprimis, That 3'our honour would be pleased to order that my ould Patent may be brought in and deliuered to your honour's hands. "The manner ofeuerie heareinge as I understand it Is either the ad- uersarie or my selfe that must begyn. "First, I desire my greiuanees to be spoken of, but desire yt they might first begyn to speake. If they begj'n they will deliver the wrongs donn by me to the publique. " If I begyn I shall deliuer my seruices donn at large, they wrono-s that I haue endured in particular as well in reputacion as in estate. "Howe I hauc fortified my selfe, by my longe seruice and miserable endurances and greate charge with a Pattent granted from the Com- panie accordinge to the Kinge's letters Pattents, which I hould for my seruice don, which noe newe or late comer can moritt or challeno-e. "Further I am purposed as I shall find occacion to fall to an offer (videlicet). "That if they thinke mj^enioyinge of the King's favorable grant be a rupture in their manner of graunts then lett them giue me a fitt recorapence somewa}' answerable to my tyme, labours and losse. Then I will be contented to dye in peace at home. "If otherwise, that I may be permitted as a seruant to the Kino-e and Companie to be frendl}' and loueingly settled as well with reputacion as with estate That I may there serue them with grace and benefitt and dyeing leaue that 3-ou haue grauntcd quietlie and in good secu- ritie, whereby I may satisfie those to whome I am engaged, soe shall I be free from further pressure or 3'mpeachinge the policie of gouer- ment and to subsist." ^ •With Sir Thomas Smith, Alderman Robert Johnson, a o-rocer of London, Capt. Samuel Argall and a few others, through the Privy Council, Martin strove to have the London Company's charter revoked. On the fifteenth of December, 1622, he prepared the followino-; OUTLINE OF A GOVERNMENT FOR VIRGINIA. "The manner howe Virginia if his Majestie and his Counsel! and company agree may be made a Royall plantation for god's glory, his Majesties and Eoyall progenyes euer happines and the Companies exceedinge good, and all this land shall receive dalye profitt thereb}-. 1 Add. M. S. British Museum, 12,496 Copy of original in M.icalester College Reference Librarr. 154 Macalester College Contributions. "That parte of Virginia within which we are seated and fitt to be settled on for many hundred yeares Is within the Territories of Opi- chanlvano, it lyeth on the west side of Chesepeoeks baye, whoe com- manndeth from the southei-most parte of the first Eiuer to the south- ermost parte of the fourth Eiuer called Patomeck which lyeth north, next hand to our Eiuer somme 50 leagues in Latitude. In Longitude it extendeth to ye Monakins Countrie, next hand west and west and b}' north of equall length with the Latytude : his owne prineipall seate is myne seacond Eiuer called Paumunkey in the harte of his owne Inhabited territories. This Eeuolted Indian Kinge in this square comanndeth 32 Kingdoms under him. Euerj^e King- dome contayneinge the quantitie of one of our shcires here in Eng- land. "Euerie such Kingdome hath one especiall towne seated uppon one of the three greate Eiuers with sufficiencie of cleared ground fitt for the plough and brauely accomodated for fishinge. These three Eiu- ers nauigable and fitt to Intertayne greate shippinge, soe is the fourth. " All accommodats for yt buysnes and for Tanner's skynns and bids to tann sufficient and all things fittinge their trade there, as barke, lyme, and fitting tymber in all places for fatts and other uses. "One furnas to be built at the generall charge of the Countrie and Companie here for the castinge of ordnance, potts and other necessa- ries withal lawe to be made 3^t none be carried out of the land uppon payne of death and confiscation of shippe and goods without expresse warrant from His Majestic or successors. '•Thus those seuerall townes yet notposessed beinge seised on at once, and this gouennent established before spoken of This parte of his Majesties domynions there will quickly furnish this land of England with good store of Iron, shippinge and Infinite other Comodities dis- couered and yet ondiscouered. '•Shipps to be built there and their bulkes fylled with seuerall com- modities and sent ouer here to be sould, thereb}^ there will redound an unspeakable commoditie, the passage from thence being so short- "His Majesties Customes being there taken and gathered in before they be dispersed into shipps that usually alreadie carrie our commo- dities for the Strayts, Spayne, Newfoundland and other places can not in verie few yeares be lesse worth then 40,000 li. sterlinge yearely, rekoning it after the proporcion may nowe be with willingness yield- ed and payd by the Inhabitants nowe dwelling alreadie there. Martin's Proposed Government. 155 "Nowe if it shall please his highnes the Counsell and companie at once so to order that so many sheirs in England may send ouer lOO men a peece to posesse their 32 Sheirs as seruants unto them furnished out by them and Hue under the command of sommQ Noble Generall fitt for so Royall a plantaeion Their Sheirs may in one yeare with o-od's blessinge have their principall stock agayne, and some advan- tage to supplie more unto them and euer after subsist of them selves, and yearely send ouer good store of commodities to increase their severall Sheirs with fresh supplies and much gayne, and they neuer at further charge. , ,n •, , . "Euerie Seruant soe goeinge ouer att their iearme ended to be as- tennants coppiehouldersor freehoulders as shall be made in their agree mente when they goe ouer. "Euerie Sheire in England to make choise of some worthie gentleman- that his Majestie may thinke fitt and the Companie allovve of to be a deputie Leikennant to gouerne these people in their severall Sheirs. '• Those deputie Leiftenannts to have other sufficient men under them fitt to be Justices of Peace there and other officers under them as her© in England "Euerie Sheire to take notise yt they send so many men as may furnish a Blommarie for the makeing of Iron, Tanners for the tan- nyng of leather, Shippwrights and weauers the rest husbandmen and all other trades they can fitt for in all the Countrie they shall haue Iron ore and all uoluntariesyt will goe ouer uppon their owne charges with Commission from the Company to be equallie divided into their seuerall Sheirs and their land there to be allotted them by order from the deputie or generall to the deputie leiftennants of euery Sheire. " Thus this parte of the Countrie beinge possessed, it will not onely quite frustrate and disable the Indians our enymies euer to subsist of themselves, but force them to haue their dependancie uppon us for foode and clothinge which their Industrie will well acquite to the whole Ivingdome in short space, And all ther borderlie Kingdoms, seinge their uillanyes and trecheries so rewarded wil be euer affrayde to enterprise the like against our nation when it shall so increase that they must stretch further ther posessions and territories. "Now it resteth how if it pleasethGod yt this manner of plantation be thus settled to demonstrate an honourable or noble person that shal be appointed Deputipor Generall may be uoblyo transported and 156 Macalester College Contributions. there brauely seated with out his owne charge or the charge of the Company. First to haue appointed him by his Majesties Counsell and Companie two seates, the first in Opichankanos Island in Pau- mannkey riuer, beinge in the harte of the most of the 32 Sheires. " The seacond at Okanahone Eiuer where would be fitter to be a plantacion for many reasons I can all edge, then on the Easterne shore, as they nowe are planted. "His ]\fajestie to be graciously pleased to authorize this honourable person chosen to be deputie or Generall to Knight as the deputie of Ireland doth. " Then their deputies Leiftennants to be Knighted and the bene- fitt to redound to the deputie or Generall, and all other yt shal be thought worthie. "An order to be sett downe which I Knowe yt all the Inhabitants allreadie wilbe willinge to condiscend unto, that euerye Sheire shall send unto the Deputie or Generall att such tymc as he shall sett his Corne, weede the same and gather it in tenn men for three dayes. "This will turne to Infinite benefitt unto him and noe damage to the •Sheires." 1 At a meeting of the company on the second of February, 1622-.3, O. S., Sir John Brooke, of the Privy Council, afterward Lord Cobham, moved, in behalf of Capt. John Martin, that he might receive a new patent with privileges as ample as those granted to iiny, and the re- quest received a general assent. On the second of next April, Martin '■ declared with much thanks his humble acceptance of the patent, " audit was arranged that the lands might be selected within the lim- its of the old Martin-Brandon plantation. The London Company were compelled to be gracious. The Earl of Warwick, and Sir Thomas Smith, its former head, were in sym- pathy with Martin, and his brotherin-law, Sir Julius Caesar, master of the rolls, was a member of the Privy Council. They had succeeded in prejudicing the King, on the ground that the company was popular in its form of government. To which objection the following answer was given, worthy of English freemen. "It is true, that according to your Majesty's instructions in their letters patent, the Government hath some shew of a democratic form 1 Add. M S. British Museum. Copy of origunl in Macalester Reference Library. London Company Democratic in Form. 157 which is, in this case, the most just and most profitable, and the most apt means to work the ends and effects desired by your Majesty for the benefit, wealth, and increase of those plantations, by which the profit of your Majesty, the adventurer, and planter will rise together. " Most just, because these plantations, though furthered much b^^ your Majesty's grace, yet not being made at your Majesty's charge and expense, but chiefly by the private purses of the adyenturers, they would never had adventured in such an action, wherein they in- terest their fortunes, if in the regulating and governing their own business their own votes had been excluded. " And most profitable for the advancing on of the j^lantation, because of the great supplies which the necessities of the people there often require, and cannot be sent, but, by the purses of many, which, if a few had the managing of the business would, and that not without reason, leave them unsupplied; and, whereas they cry out against democracy, and call for oligarchy, they make out the government there of better form, or more monarchical. " And to discern what is the judgment ot a Company, if there be not unanimity, there is no way but by pluralit}^ of voices, and if plurality of voices were not, there would scarcely at any time, in any point, be unanimity in an}- assembly, that unanimity that is proceeding for the most part from despair of prevailing in their private opinions, or from shame to discover opposition to public good." Their professions of loyalty, however, were of no avail, as will be seen by the following letter of Henry Montagu, Lord Mandeville, formerly Chief Justice of the King's Bench, now President of the Privy Council, on the seventeenth of October, 1623, addressed to the King's secretary ; LETTER OF LORD MANDEVILLE. "Acquaint his Majesty, that those of the Virginia Company were this day, before the lords, to give answer whether they would sur- render up their old patent or no. That nothing should be mistaken by them, I have punctually set down to them in writing, the altera- tions his Majesty intended, which was to change not only the frame of the government, and manner of the plantations for the good of the people, but to have every private man's interest preserved, and to be secured if it was defective. 158 Macalester College Contributions. "The Company this da}^ delivered in an answer, answerable to their former doing, and say they can give no answer touching the yielding, for the present, until they have had a quarter court. "This answer was so ill pleasing to my Lord, that, with rejDroach we have sent them back, and peremptorily prefixed unto them to bring us a direct answer on Monday next, when, if they should not offer the yielding up of that patent, then Mr. Attorney General is di- rected to take a course of resolving it." Early in November members of the company were served with process out of the King's Bench, by virtue of a quo warrmito, to know by what authority they claimed to be a company. The King also appointed commissioners to examine its affairs. At a regular quarterly meeting of the company, on the nineteenth of November, Dej)uty Nicholas Ferrar put the question, and, with only seven dissenting voices, i it was agreed not to surrender the old charter. On the second of February, 162.3-4, O. S., in view of the compro- mise effected with Capt. John Martin, the following letter, at the request of the King's commissioners, was prepared by the company for the Virginia colony: LETTER TO GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL OF VIRGINIA. "After our very hearty commendation, we cannot imagine but the report of some differences between us and Captain Martin have come to you, the ground whereof was his patent, to the reversing whereof, our care to the public good only persuaded us, and we conceive that nothing but the too much love thereof, esteeming it a great loss, transported him to some further opposition against the Company; but these things are now composed, and as we have granted him as ample a patent as we can, so we have forgotten with a silence, never to be remembered, all the passages thereof, and he now departs from us with the actual possession of our loves and a settled intention in us to offer him such further favors and benefits as we shall be able upon the settling of our affairs. " Wherefore we desire of you that he may be received with that re- spect and love as our earnest recommendations do require, and his 1 Sir Samiul Argall, Sir Thomas Wroth, Capt. .John Martin, Mr. Canning, Mr. Woodall and two others. Charter of London Company Eevoked. 159 ancient and continued endciivoi's, l)oth of pei'son and 2)ui'se, to the plantation do deserve, and in particular that the land and seat for merly possessed by him may be entirely restored unto him, as part of that divided by our new grant bestowed upon him, and that neither himself, nor any of his plantation, be drawn from their works except for the necessary defense, and such other important occasions as shall be for the public weal of the whole colony." The communication was signed Pembroke, Montgomery, Wm. Cav- endish, Rob. Killigrew, William Pagett, John Danvers, Humphrey May, John White and Nich. Ferrar, the company's deputy. On the sixteenth of June, 1624, the last day of the Trinity term of the King's Bench, Chief Justice Ley, called by Milton " the old man eloquent" in a sonnet addi-essed to the judge's daughter, "honoured Margaret," decided that the patent, or charter, of the company of English merchants trading to Virginia, and pretending to exercise a power and authority over his Majesty's good subjects there, should be thenceforth null and void. On the fifteenth of July the king appointed a large commission to administer the affairs of Virginia, of which Lord Mandeville was the head. In a letter to the king's secretary, Conway, he reports the preliminary proceedings as follows: " It will not be unpleasing to his Majesty to hear the proceedings upon the commission for Virginia. The commission being sealed but yesterday morning, in the afternoon we met at Sir Thomas Smyth's house. I find the gentlemen and merchants very hearty, and ready to afford all further aid to the work." This year, after a long absence, Captain Martin came to Virginia in the ship Susan, in 162-1:, but he could not secure the confidence of the colonists. In reply to the smooth, insincere letter sent from Lon- don, the governor and council, in a spirit of independence, wrote : " Cannot but praise the Company's charity in forgivfng the many foul injuries and slanders, some particulars of which they inclose, and of which Capt. Martin has boasted, and the government has been shaken and weakened" by the rumors which he spread. He had been designated by the king as one of the council, but on the fifteenth of June, 1625, he was suspended for the reason that " men of obnoxious characters should not be entrusted with any power, or command, within the Colony." 160 Macalester College Contributions. After this, he appears to have retired to Martin-Brandon greatly humiliated. The following letter to his brother-in-law, Sir Julius Ctesar, dated eighth of March, 1626-7, has been preserved in the British Museum :i LETTER OF CAPT. JOHN MARTIN. " KiGiiT Honorable : I receved your lovinge letters the 17 of feb- ruaiye by my deere and lovinge cossen Richard Martin, whoes arivall att my plantation together withe so greate a token of your exceed- inge love towardes me and him was noe smale comforte unto me, be- inge the daye after the greatest disaster y*^ ever happened unto me in all my dayes, and one of the miracolous deliverances of the Al- mighty God shewed and extended to me a poore sinfuU wretche that ever was sene or harde of, his blessed name be ever Glorified. The particular thereof I am loth to wright, but rather leve it to the rela- tion of this Right worthy Captayn Prinne^ whoes eyes hathe sene bothe the manner, and how, it was withe me. This worthye gentle- man if for my sake your Honaor grace and further as also for his owne worthy zeale to y« Noble Countrey, twise havinge att his greate charge both relived this countrey bothe withe good and houldsoum supplyments not excoriatinge the people as others most shamefully have done. Your Honnor shall doe God honnor, bo a greate Incorager of others to do the lyke, and as 1 am bounde, so shall ever rest obliged to praye for your ever hapines, which in my sinfull prayers doe never neglect: for my owne particular estate I have suffitient though not sujieraboundant to live withe and to I'elyve my poore wife and all the creditors I am Indetted unto, if most unjustly my goods weare not detayned from me here, wherefore I moste Humbl}' begge and crave att your Honnor's handesy^ you woulde be pleased by the meanes of his Maiesty and his Honorable Lordes of his Maiestj^e's privie Counsell y*^ I maye obtayn from his Maiesty and them so gra- tious a favor as y'' I maye have a mandatorye Letter or Comission to our Governor and Counsell heere y* accordinge to order and acte made by our Late soveraygne Kinge and his Majesty's most Honorable Counsell, y' look whoe did consent to the delyverey of the extorted 1 Copy in Macalester College Reference Library. 2 Captain John Preen, in the autumn of 1626, in the " Peter and John, " returned to Virginia with passengers, provisions, and ten barrels of powder for the use of the authorities. Martin's Complaint to Sir Julius C.tisar. 161 and unjust pattcnls by the late Company withe out suite should Injoy ail suche right and pi-ivilcg-os as in former time they had In- joyed I as your Honor and the rest of the Honorable Lords was most forward therein, doe moste Humbly Crave y' by this comission I maye hould my lands and privileges formerly granted and manye yeares Injoyed by me hertofore shamofullye debarred in S^ Francis Viatt time, and George Sandes the Tresurer's, whoe made noe more accounte of y" Lord's Letters than if it had come from the meanest men in England. Sandis darynge to speake openly in theyr Parle- ment y' att all times, for tenn peces given to a secretary he could have such a letter, and whatt oppression I have suffered, God, and the whole Countrey would testetie for me ; this gentleman if he be called to accounte will relate I thinke somewhat he he[a]rethe by the uoyse of the countrey ; secondly y^ fbere maye in that comission be inserted y* in regard that it was hertofor his Majesty's expresse or- der by his Royall Articles under his handes and Privie Signett y* his Maiesty's subjectes myght have tryalls in suites by verditt of twelve honnest suffityent men, that I may have fayre heering and the same tryall for all suche goods and dettes as are unjustly detayned from me by the verditt of twelve of the antients Planters, so yt the Bnvie of some, the Ignorance of others, may be disapoynted whoe by theyer gretenes here think to kepe me miserable poore, though they swime in wealth. And lastel}^ whereas I was elected and chosen and by his Royall Maiesty deseased was by your Honorable Letters here appoynted to looke and take order for the said office, I am not only debarred from the execution of the place, but allso bye grevinge to see in what miserable case the countrey liethe in, by reson the countrey is unfortefied, the ordinance unmounted, many in danger to be spoyled by the Indians; the great ones will doe noth- inge in or about them nor allowe me meanes to satisfie men that shuld labor about them. If his Maiesty and his Right Honorable Counsell thinke fittinge I shall hould the place to take such order by theyr newe comission that I maye, as I am reddy, and the Countrey most willinge to contribute towards the charge to doe somcwhatt for the greate distress this Countrey lieth in danger therbj- . Theyse Honnorable favors if your Honnor shall please to take to harte, and to farther with all convenient speed I and all myne shalbebounde for ever to you and this Countrey will I am sure acknowlege ther dutyes 162 Macalester College Contributions. to your Honnoryt they muye live somwhat more socurly from for- rayn enimies. Thus desieringe the the greate Jehovath to bless you and yours withe all worly, but espetially, with all hevenly blessinges, I most humbly take my leave and rest '■ Your Honnors ever faythefuU " brother in lawe att commande." APPENDIX. CONDITION OF AFFAIRS, IN 1623, IN VIRGINIA. The Duke of Manchester, in 1804, published a selection from the manuscripts, in the ancestral librar}- at Kimbolton Castle, and among these is a letter of George Sandys, also spelled Sandis, the poet, then colonial treasurer at Jamestown, addressed to Deputj' Ferrar of the London Company: LETTER OF GEORGE SANDIS. "Worthy Sir: I have sent 3'ou the copy of my letter by the ' Hopewell,' how copied I know not, for I have not the leisure to pe- ruse it. Of your debts, and the tobacco due for the sale of their [the servants] times, which belonged to Sir William Nuce,i of whom three 1 Sir William Newce had served as a captain against the Spaniards; in IC.IS, was mayor of l!aii- don, Ireland. Beeanse he " had ever been exercised in military affairs," he was appointed marshal for Virginia. He arrived in October, 1G22, and did not survive but a few days. 164 Macalester College Contributions. are alive, I can but receive a hundred weight which I am ashamed to send you single. Same fault which most hi}' to the tardy receipt of your accounts, which I have been importuned I have desired arrest, and distrained on the goods of others. "But the country is so empty of tobacco that no present satisfaction will be given. Let it be accounted my fault if you have it not the year following, with arrearages, for I will trust no more to prom- ises, but seek on their crops before any are distributed. The like council I gave Mr. Blaney^ the last year, but he trusted too much un- to those who had never, formerly, failed him. Lieutenant Karr hath taken order in England to pay you the fifty pounds which he owes. I have been in Kiccowtan to order your affairs in that place. Cap- tain Nuce'-^ died very poor; he had no crop of tobacco this year, nor have any of the tenants hardly a grain of corn to sustain them. It was alleged that most was sjjent in relieving of those that came thither for succor, but they lay all to the short provisions sent with them, by which means they depart with most of their corn as soon as it is reaped, to discharge their borrowings. And before the com- panies' tenants are planted upon your barrenest places in all the country, by reason of your affecting of clear places, ground which is generally worn out, and ungrateful to your planters. "Captain Whitaker^ lost yearly his labor in the place where he was seated ; of him I received eighteen hundred weight, which, with twenty more I paid to Mr. Cle^^borne^ for his wages according to your agree- ment. He is now at Kiccowtan, drawn thither by Captain Nuce a little before his death. I have disposed of things there in this man- ner; I have taken Capt. Whitaker bound to pay you for the tenants, together with those he formerly commanded, a hundred weight of 1 Edward Blaiiey, keeper of the colony magazine, a good business man, and a councillor under Yeardley, in 1626. 2 Capt. Thomas Nuce, or Newce, a brother of Sir William, was a member of the council in 1622, and was deputy in charge of the company's lands, and resided at Elizabeth City. His wife was a charitable person, and as a widow, " left desolate and comfortless in a strange country, far from all her friends" received the sympathy of the colonists. 3 Jabez Whitaker is supposed to be the Jabez who was a half brother of the Rev. Alexan- der Whitaker of Henrico. He was of no good example as to teiuperance, and was a member of the council of 1626, under Gov. Yeardley. 4 William Cleyborne, or Claiborne, surveyor, afterward prominent in the history of Virginia and Maryland. His father was Edward, and grandfather, Robert, of Cleborne Hall, not far from Ponreth, England. Letter of George Sandis. 165 the best tobacco a num, and tifteen bushels of corn, besides a light proportion for themselves, which is as gi-eat a rate as an}- do give, and more than most men can make. "Captain ^Yilcoxl pays twenty weight less a man being compounded with before. A Captain Smyth^ shall pay, if he have this, as much as the most. By these means you will have a constant rent equal the o-ettings of private planters. The tenants who belong to Capt. Nuce, his place, I have suffered his widow, provided it be allowed by you, to enjoy this year, not for charity only, although she hath noth- ing left to sustain her, and her poor child, her husband having sold his lands to furnish himself for this place, she being a woman of good birth and better condition; but partly out of right, in that he lived a good part of the year, and partly out of necessity, the}' having no corn, and none able to help them with any, the 'Sea Flower' not yet arrived-^ so they must have famished, or by shifting abroad returned vou no profit. You may hereafter have the charge of a deputy, who can no waj' advantage you. I have sent you here enclosed the names of all your tenants living. With the times past I will have nothing to do, but for the future I doubt not to give you contentment. "Your Pinnace lies like a wreck at Elizabeth city, who hath brought in this year no less than 1,800 bushels of corn, and yet, strange to say, not any of the colony so near starving as the}-. I sent Nun with his followers, of whom none deserve the name of shipwright, to renew her, who write me word that one hundred and fifty pounds would not repair her, which was as much, if not more, than the cost; but one having offered to buy her, I suspected some knavery, and iipon my coming down had her exactly searched and found that no great matter would renew her, so that I have set both them and others upon her; yet sails and tackling we shall want except you siipply us, and I doubt not to employ her to your satisfaction. "The Venerones [Vignerons] are placed together at Elizabeth City, altogether employed upon silk- worms, that we may presei-ve 1 John Wilcox, ia 1622, was a member of the assembly. 2 Capt. Koger Smith, second son of John Smith, of Nibley, Gloucestershire. Had served twelve years in the wars of the Netherlands. In 1626 he was a member of the council. 3 The Sea Flower, that spring, was accidentally blown up in the harbor of Bermudas. Several lives were lost. Subsequently a widow Jacob testified that by the disaster she lost a great chest and a black gown trimmed with fur. The Rev. Henry Jacob, of London, left for Virginia about this time. Mav he not have been lost in the Sea Flower? 166 Macalester College Contributions. you some food, and send you home some silk this next year.i For your planters are so busied in rebuildini^ and preparing their grounds that few at this time can or will attend them; yet for my own part, I have set four to do nothing else but prepare the chamber wherein I lie at Lieutenant Pierce's, ^ the fairest in Virginia for that purpose. "I here the Frenchmen's times come out the next year; you must use the means to procure their stay and send more of their quality, if you would have that work go really forward. Since my last letter I have sent my shallop with with my servants as far almost as the Falls, 3 for sand for the glassmen and since to Cape when they light of that which they like; however, send us three or four hogsheads from England. "All your servants we send, which you must supply, for the charge is intolerable to hire them, with which their provisions lie all upon me, that are not able to feed my own family. And to give a greater blow to our necessities, the Tygar* sent forth and trading with Mr. Piuntis' Pinnace,^ and Captain Spillman, a man wary enough hereto- fore, and acquainted with their treacheries, not only returned empty, but twenty-six men, armed sufficient to defend themselves from 500 Indians, and cut off or taken prisoners, either by ambush or too much credulity, for as yet we know not the certaint}". The ship attacked 1 The London Company wrote to the Virginia governor and council, in 1621, that about the mid- dle of October they expected to send, in the ship Duty, silk-worm seed, vine plants, and Frenchmen skilled in the silk-worm business. Thesuperintendent of the king's silk-worms, at Oatland, a French- man named .John Bonnoel, often spelled Bonnell, prepared a treatise on silk making, which was published by the company and distributed in Virginia. 2 William Pierce, of Jamestown, was the father-in-law of the noted John Rolfe. He was a man of experience, industry, and capacity, and, for a time, governor of Jamestown. His wife, in a gar- den of three or four acres, in one year, raised a hundred bushels of figs. John Rolfe's last wife was his daughter Jane ; his first wife, Rolfe married in England before coming to Virginia. Rolfe died in March, 1622, and left "two small children of tender age." 3 Near Riclimond. 4 The Tiger, a small vessel of forty five tons, had an eventful history. Near North Cape it had been captured by the Turks. Patrick Copland, in a sermon before the Virginia Company, of London, at Bow church, on April 18, 1622, said : " When this your Tiger had fallen into the hands of tliose merciless Turks, who had taken from them most of their victuals, an ' all of their serviceable sails, tackling and anchors, and had not left them so much as an hour-glass or compass to steer their course, thereby utterly disabling them; when I say God had ransomed her, by another sail which they espied, and brought her safely to Virginia, with all her people, two English boys only excepted, for which the Turks gave tliem two otliers. a French youth and an Irish; was not here the presence of God printed as it were in folio, on royal crown paper, and capital letters?" For a full notice of Copland's Sermon see Neill's English Colonization of America, Strahan & Co., London, 1871. 5 John Pountis, one of the council of Virginia, and vice admiral. He was a cousin of Sir Thomas Merry, and, soon after this letter was written, died on a voyage to England. Duppa's JUd Beer. 167 by tbroe score canoes, not above five of tbe seamen abroad, l)nt were dispersed by tbeir ordnance.^ "So that if tlie Sea Flower come not quickly in, there will hardly be found a preservation against famine, and by the way to our so lit- tle discontentment, we having with great expense sent out that ship to Somers Island for furnishing the country with their fruits; in fruit you have given your reputation to another. >S'/c oos, non vobis. "Since our