regulated the price of tobacco, attaching the penalty of three years' "slavery to the colony," or public labor, to violations of his edicts. For teaching the Indians the use of fire-arms, the punishment was death to teacher and pupil. Absence from church was visited with a night's imprisonment and a week's "slavery;" for the second offense, a month of slavery; and for the third, a year and a day. These regulations were severe, but the "unruly" element probably required severity, and Argall was not the man to shrink from it. Unfortunately for his good name, he was grasping and unscrupulous in whatever concerned his own private interests. The case of Brewster, manager of Lord Delaware's Virginia estates, is an example. Argall ordered the laborers on the estate to labor on his own, and when Brewster demurred Argall arrested him for mutiny, tried him by court-martial, and condemned him to death. He barely escaped from the hawk's clutches, and got back to England; but once there, he made such an outcry that the Company lost all patience with Argall. He was superseded, but acted with his usual decision. Before the arrival of the new Governor, he loaded a vessel with the proceeds of his "plunder," and sailed away from the colony. To the last, fortune befriended him. He was knighted by James I., as a reward for his public services otherwise his close adherence to the court party in the Company. The portrait drawn of him here is that which appears on the face of the record. There is no doubt at all that he was rapacious and despotic, but both Dale and Hamor had a high opinion of him. His ability and energy were unquestionable; and he was perhaps only another example of the singular contrasts presented in the characters of the strong men of that strong age.

George Yeardley came back (April 19, 1619) as Sir George Yeardley, Governor-General of Virginia. His friends must have welcomed his mild and honest face, after the hawk visage of Argall; but he brought with him certain documents which made him thrice welcome in Virginia. When their contents were proclaimed, a thrill ran through the colony, and shouts and cheers must have risen from the Varina settlement all along James River to Dale's Gift on the ocean.

Virginia, thenceforward, was to have representative government.

XIX.

THE FIRST AMERICAN ASSEMBLY AND CONSTITUTION.

THIS wonder was the unconscious work of that bitter enemy of free discussion and popular right, King James I.

When the ship bearing the body of the good Admiral Somers from Bermuda reached England, the crew brought with them a large lump of ambergris, which they had found on the islands, and gave glowing descriptions of their fertility and value. This account excited the Company, and they petitioned the King to include the Bermudas in the territory of Virginia. He did so by a new charter in March, 1612, and this was the remote cause of free government in Virginia. The charter, which was the old one of 1609 remodeled, had far more important provisions than the concession of the right to the Bermudas. Virginia had hitherto been governed by the London Council. The Company met only at long intervals, and thus the Council were the real administrators. Now all was changed. Authority

was given the Company to sit once a week, or as often as they chose, and to hold four "General Courts" in the year for the consideration of affairs. It was a dangerous force which the King had unloosed. A little reflection might have shown him that the times were dangerous; that the royal prerogative and popular right were at issue; and that the creation of a great democratic assembly for free discussion was a perilous step. By the charter the Company had "full powers and authority to make such laws and ordinances for the good and welfare of the said plantation as to them, from time to time, should be thought requisite and meet," always provided that the laws and ordinances were not contrary to "the laws and statutes of this our realm of England."

The occasion was tempting. A great question was then agitating the realm of England: whether the will of the King or the rights of the people were to be the "law." The new world was coming, and its shadow ran before. The great quarterly courts met, and the aspiring spirits of the Company, restive under the old order of things and sworn foes to the absolutist principle, proceeded to open and turbulent discussion of the great issue. The King had raised a storm which he could not control. Loudon rang with the proceedings of this great parliament of Virginia adventurers. The meetings were thronged, and the debates were tumultuous. It was a power within a power, and foretold the Long Parliament. "The Virginia Courts are but a seminary to a seditious parliament," the Spanish ambassador told James; and twenty years afterwards the words were seen to be true.

The result of the struggle was a triumph of the Vir

of popular right Virginia thencefor

ginia party over the court party over the prerogative of the King. ward was to have what was substantially free government. The new Governor, Sir George Yeardley, was to summon a "General Assembly," elected by the inhabitants, every free man voting, which was to make laws for the government of the country. Yeardley arrived in April, 1619, and issued his summons in June; and on July 30, 1619, the first legislative body that ever sat in America assembled at Jamestown.

The event was a portentous one. The old world had passed away, and the new was born. Popular right in America had entered on life and the long struggle to hold its own. It might be strangled in the cradle, or done to death before it reached full manhood, but the blessed fact remained that at least it had been born.

We have the list of the old plantations, towns, and hundreds which sent the Burgesses, or borough representatives. They were James City, Charles City, the City of Henricus, Kiccowtan (sic) or Hampton, MartinBrandon, Smythe's Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Argall's Gift, Lawne's and Ward's Plantations, and Flowerdieu Hundred. As two Burgesses were sent by each, the Assembly consisted of twenty-two members; and the body held their session in the old church at Jamestown until they could provide more suitable quarters. We have a few details relating to the appearance of this first Virginia Assembly. They sat with their hats on, as in the English Commons, the members occupying "the choir," with the Governor and Council in the front seats. The speaker, Master John Pory, with clerk and sergeant, faced them, and the session was opened with prayer by Mr. Bucke, after which the Burgesses took the oath of supremacy.

The proceedings were business-like, the era of talk having not yet arrived. The charter brought by Yeardley was read and referred to a committee, who were to report whether it contained anything "not perfectly squaring with the state of the colony, or any law pressing or binding too hard." This was the matter of prime importance, "because this great charter is to bind us and our heirs forever," the Burgesses said. Certain members, irregularly chosen, were excluded from their seats; then the Assembly passed to regular business. Laws were enacted regulating intercourse with the Indians, on matters of agriculture and on religious affairs. Divine services were to be according to the ritual of the English Church, and all persons were to attend church on Sunday, bringing their arms with them. Every male above sixteen was to pay one pound of the best tobacco to discharge the salaries of the Burgesses; and a number of private bills were promptly passed. One of these was that Captain Powell's "lewd and lecherous servant" should be whipped and nailed to the pillory; and this, with the rest, was to be submitted to the home authorities, who were prayed not to take it in bad part if, meanwhile, the laws "do pass current."

The spirit inspiring the Assembly may be seen from their petition to the Company to grant them authority "to allow or disallow of their orders of court, as his Majesty hath given them power to allow or disallow our laws." This was the great original American claim of right-the authority to govern themselves; and Henry's protest against the Stamp Act, a century and a half afterwards, was simply its repetition.

The Assembly adjourned in August (1619), and the