IV. CHAPTER to reconcile the inhabitants to the change, and in his instructions to Wyatt, whom he continued in office, the 1624. governor and council were restricted to such authority as they had exercised during five years past—the precise period since the ordinance of the company establishing an assembly. That body, accordingly, though no express mention was made of it in the royal instructions, continued to meet as before. When Charles I. 1625. shortly after succeeded to the throne, Wyatt's commission was renewed in the same terms. He soon obtained 1626. leave to return home, and Yeardley, the former popular governor, was appointed his successor. Upon Yeardley's 1627. death the next year, the council, under their power of filling vacancies till new appointments could be made from England, elected as temporary governor Francis West, a kinsman of Lord De la War. A letter to the king, signed by West and his council, gives but an unfavorable account of the industry of the colony. The freight of staves and clapboards was too high to allow them to be exported at a profit; the persons sent out to plant and tend vines either did not understand the business or "concealed their skill;" the Indian war had broken up the iron works and the manufacture of potashes; while dangers from the Indians and difficulties of carriage made the production of tar and pitch unadvisable. Thus came to an end the repeated efforts and costly experiments, made at the late company's expense, for the introduction of various staples. The Indian war, still carried on with great animosity on both sides, and the want of enterprise, capital, and perseverance, so essential to the introduction of any new branch of industry, confined Virginia to the single staple of tobacco, justly denounced by one of her native historians as "a nauseous, unpalatable weed, neither of ne cessity nor ornament to human life." But it was of CHAPTER easy cultivation, the production of it might be engaged IV. in with very little capital, and, though declining in price, 1627. it ensured a quick and certain return, and a supply of clothing and other imported articles essential to the col onists. The trade, however, in tobacco, apart from fluctuations in demand and supply, was very much at the mercy of the king. In hopes of an increase of revenue, he assumed to regulate it by frequent and sometimes contradictory proclamations. He even proposed to become the sole purchaser of tobacco at a stipulated price; but this proposal was rejected by the assembly. Dr. John Potts, elected by the council, succeeded 1629. West as temporary governor, which office he held till the arrival of John Harvey, late one of the investigating commissioners, and now appointed to the government of the colony. Shortly after Harvey's arrival, his predecessor was tried by a jury of thirteen, of whom three were counselors, upon a charge of cattle-stealing. After one day spent in pleading, and another in "recriminations" and "unnecessary disputation," so the record informs us, the ex-governor was found guilty; but, “in regard of his quality and practice"-he was probably the colonial physician-sentence was respited till the king's pleasure could be known, all the council becoming his sureties. The result, nor, indeed, the ground of the verdict, does not appear. Potts's name recurs no more as counselor, but he is subsequently mentioned as a creditor of the colony to whom payment is ordered; not, however, it is cautiously added, "till his account be produced." Harvey built a fort at Point Comfort, at the entrance 1630. of James River, and, to supply it with ammunition, a fee or payment in powder and ball was demanded of every IV. CHAPTER ship that passed. The commander was authorized to tender the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to all per1630. sons arriving in the colony, and to send all vessels to Jamestown before they landed any part of their cargoes. Salt-works were also established at Accomac, on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. 1632. The next matter of moment was a revisal of the laws, consolidating the whole into a single statute—a judicious process several times repeated in Virginia. In addition to the enactments of 1624, most of which were continued in force, the minister of each parish was required to keep a record, and the church-wardens to make an annual return of all marriages, christenings, and burials. The publication of bans, or a license, was required to authorize the celebration of a marriage; and in case of minors, the consent of parents and guardians. Ministers were to preach at least one sermon every Sunday, to administer the communion three times a year, to catechize the children, and visit the sick. They were not to give themselves" to excess in drinking or riot, spending their time idly by day or night, playing at cards, dice, or other unlawful games; but to read or hear the Holy Scriptures, or to employ themselves in other honorable studies or exercise, bearing in mind that they ought to be examples to the people to live well and Christianly." Besides ten pounds of tobacco and a bushel of corn for every tithable in their parishes-including under that head all males over sixteen-the ministers were also to have the twentieth calf, pig, and kid, with fees for marrying, christening, and burying; but, so far as related to live stock, this provision was soon repealed. Defective churches were to be rebuilt and repaired; and religious ceremonies to be performed only in the churches. The churchwardens were to take an oath to present all who led pro IV. fane and ungodly lives, common swearers and drunkards, CHAPTER blasphemers, adulterers, fornicators, slanderers, tale-bearers; all such as "do not behave themselves orderly and 1632. soberly during divine service," and all masters and mis-. tresses delinquent in catechizing children and "ignorant persons" under their charge. Drunkenness was to be fined five shillings, and each oath one shilling. These provisions evince the powerful hold taken upon the English mind by those ideas which, under their more exaggerated form, obtained the name of Puritanism; ideas not without a powerful influence upon every Anglo-American colony, and very far from being so exclusively confined to New England, as some have supposed. Certain provisions against forestalling and engrossing contained in this code underwent, during the twelve years following, various modifications, when they were finally repealed and abandoned. It was also attempted by legislative enactments to limit the production of tobacco, improve its quality, and raise the price, which had now fallen to sixpence per pound. The English consump tion of this article continued to increase; but the Virginians found a dangerous competition not only from the colony of Bermuda, but from the English planters lately established on the Island of Barbadoes, a settlement which had a very rapid growth, and soon surpassed Virginia in numbers. Other English settlers in the West Indies established themselves on St. Kitt's, Antigua, Montserrat, and Nevis, known as the Leeward Islands. French planters, about the same time, began to occupy part of St. Kitt's, Guadaloupe, and Martinique. The cultivation of tobacco was the main object in these first attempts to colonize the islands of the Caribbee group, which had remained till this time in possession of their native inhabitants. To secure a supply of provisions, every planter was IV. CHAPTER required, by a special provision of this code, to cultivate two acres of corn per poll; nor was the idea of other sta1632. ples neglected; twenty vine-plants were to be cultivated for every tithable. No artificer or laborer, having undertaken a piece of work, was to abandon it unfinished, under penalty of a month's imprisonment, fine, and costs. Hides and skins were not to be exported. Wild hogs were not to be killed without a license. A bounty was offered for killing wolves. No person was to speak or parley with the Indians, and the commanders were to fall upon any who might be found lurking about the plantations. These commanders were to exercise their men on holidays, and to make an annual return of the whole population within their respective jurisdictions. Highways were to be laid out by the governor and council, by the monthly courts, or in each parish by a vote of the inhabitants. No master of a vessel was to carry out of the colony any person who had not given ten days' notice of his intention to depart, under penalty of paying his debts; nor was any person to emigrate to New England, or any other plantation, except by leave of the governor. The fees of public officers were regulated. The estates of all deceased persons were to be appraised, and, when they died insolvent, to be sold at auction. This revised code was to be read at the beginning of every monthly court, the commissioners for which were to be furnished with a manuscript copy, open to public inspection. Such, for many years, was the only method of publishing the laws in Virginia. So These enactments relate only to local matters. far as regarded personal rights, the rights of property, and the punishment of crimes, the law of England was in force in the colony. The assembly claimed no authority to legislate upon any of those subjects. Yet that |