at the least, to reside in London, or at such other place as the council should appoint, during the first five years, to receive and take charge of all commodities to be shipped to or landed from the colony; and the adventurers of the second, were to make similar appointments at or in the neighborhood of Plymouth.

Every colonist was to take an oath of obedience, and that prescribed by the 4th of James.

The legislative power was vested in the colonial councils, but they were not restricted from denouncing any punishment affecting life or limb, and their acts were liable to be rescinded by the king, or his council for Vir-` ginia, in England.

It was recommended to the colonists to treat the Indians with kindness, and to endeavor to bring them to the knowledge of God, and obedience to the king.

Finally, the members of the king's council for Virginia, in England, were to take such oaths as the privy council should appoint, and the colonial council such as the king's council for Virginia should require.

The adventurers for the first colony, eager to realize the hopes, which the formation of so respectable an association had excited, soon fitted out two ships and a small bark, which they placed under the orders of Christopher Newport; his instructions bear date the 10th of December. A list of the persons who were to compose the first colonial council, was committed in a sealed cover to his care and that of Bartholomew Gosnold and John Radcliffe, with directions to open it within twentyfour hours after their landing in Virginia, and not before; and it was ordered, that immediately after its being opened, the councillors should be proclaimed, a president chosen, and government organised: Newport was

instructed to spend two months, in discovering and reconnoitering the rivers and harbors of the country, with such vessels and crews as the council should direct, and to return with such commodities as could in the meanwhile be procured, leaving the bark for the service of the colony.

The council in England being very intent on the discovery of a passage to the south sea, as the certain and infallible way to rich mines of gold, directed the colonists to enter and sail up every navigable stream, and if any of them happened to have two main branches, and the difference was not great, to follow that which led to the north-west, it being imagined that the Pacific ocean would probably be sooner reached in that direction. They particularly desired that notice should be taken, whether the rivers they examined'sprang from the mountains or a lake, as, in the latter case, a passage to the opposite sea would be more easily attained, and out of the same lake, streams might be found, flowing in a contrary direction.

The flotilla took its departure from Blackwell on the 19th of December, sailing by the way of the Canary and the West India islands. Some time was spent in trading with seaports, and the continent was not reached till the 26th of April. The names of cape Henry and cape Charles were given to the promontories through which they entered the bay of Chesapeake, in honor of Henry, prince of Wales, and Charles, duke of York, his brother, who afterwards succeeded to the British crown. A party of twenty persons landed on cape Henry, where they were met by five Indians, who wounded two of them dangerously, and fled to the woods.

In the evening the packet, which contained the list of the councillors and the orders of the company, was

opened and read. It appeared that Edward M. Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Christopher Newport, John Radcliffe, John Martin, and John Kendal, were appointed of the council: Wingfield was ap pointed president.

The colonial council, a few days after, fixed on a peninsula on the north side of a river, which the natives called Powhatan, and to which the name of James river was now given, in honor of the king, for the spot on which the habitations of the colonists were to be erected, and dignified it with the name of Jamestown, a name which it still retains; and although it never was, nor is likely ever to be remarkable for population, commerce or wealth, it will long boast of being the most ancient settlement of the whites in the United States.

The site was advantageous, and eminently so, when compared to the shoaly and dangerous coasts, on which chance had thrown the first French and English adven turers on the continent. A happy situation, as well as a valuable one; yet it was not sufficiently advantageous to insure the prosperity of the colony. Animosities had arisen among some of the principal colonists during their long voyage, and had not finished with it. The colonial. council had begun its operations by an act of injustice, in excluding John Smith from a seat at their board. The colony suffered much from the loss of the advantages, which it had reason to expect from his influence and activity. Appeased, however, some time after, by the exhortations of Mr. Hunt, their chaplain, the council admitted the excluded member, who receiving his com mission the next day, they all turned their undivided attention to the government of a colony "feeble in

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numbers and enterprise, which was thus planted in discord, and grew up in misery."

Newport and Smith were now sent with twenty men, to reconnoitre the stream, upon which the colonists had fixed their residence. On the sixth day, they reached an Indian town, called Powhatan, consisting of about twelve houses, pleasantly situated on a hill, a little below the spot on which the city of Richmond now stands; it was the principal and hereditary seat of Powhatan, emperor of the country, who had given his name to the town and river.

The council had judged it best to forbear any thing like military parade, even to admit any other kind of fortification, than a few logs placed together in the shape of a half moon. The natives soon came to visit the new comers, and at first manifested none but friendly dispositions; and the latter endeavored, by a kind and hospitable reception, to encourage an intercourse. But the Indians soon began to manifest a quite different temper; a party of the English, as has been said, had gone up the river; others were scattered in the woods, exploring the ground, or procuring clapboards, and other timber for loading the ships. The Indians came into town, and fell on the few whites who had been left there, and were quietly employed in building and gardening; and killed a boy, wounded seventeen men, and retired into the thickets, frightened by a cross-bar shot, which shattered to pieces a huge tree, near which several of them stood. This event excited the caution of the council; they caused the fortification to be surrounded by a pallisade, the ordnance to be mounted, and the men to be regularly. trained and exercised.

On the return of the party sent up the river, John Smith marched against the Indians, and compelled them to sue for peace.

On the 16th of June, Newport and Nelson sailed for England with the two ships, leaving one hundred colonists in Jamestown. They did not bear well the scorching heat of summer; they sickened in the fall, and were reduced low; in consequence of the ill supply of provisions, they were put on a very scanty allowance, and the little food they had, was of a very inferior quality. Penury, excessive heat, the moisture of the air, in a country covered with woods, generated disease; one half of the colonists fell its victims before the end of September; the survivors, dispirited and famished, sought their subsistence in crabs and sturgeons.

Wingfield was considered as the author of the distresses of the colony, by his embezzlement and waste of its stores. The indignation of the colonists was raised to the highest pitch, by the discovery of a project for deserting them, and returning to England in the bark, which he was on the eve of effecting. He was deposed, with one of the council, who had engaged to accompany him.

John Radcliffe was chosen president, in his room. The new administrator was not remarkable, either for wisdom or activity, but he was unassuming, and confiding in the advice of John Smith, a man who, with an undoubted courage and indefatigable activity, possessed a strong judgment, permitted him to direct the affairs of the colony under him.

Smith immediately adopted the only plan that could save the whites. He surrounded the town with fortifications, rude indeed, but sufficient to resist the enemy against which they were raised. He next marched with a small party, and alternately resorting to promises and threats, to caresses and violence, induced or compelled