Twenty-two burgesses sat, hat on head, in the body of the church, with the
Governor and the Council in the best seats. Master John Pory, the speaker,
faced the Assembly; clerk and sergeant-at-arms were at hand; Master Buck,
the Jamestown minister, made the solemn opening prayer. The political
divisions of this Virginia were Cities, Plantations, and Hundreds, the
English population numbering now at least a thousand souls. Boroughs
sending burgesses were James City, Charles City, the City of Henricus,
Kecoughtan, Smith's Hundred, Flowerdieu Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Martin
Brandon, Ward's Plantation, Lawne's Plantation, and Argall's Gift. This
first Assembly attended to Indian questions, agriculture, and religion.

Most notable is this year 1619, a year wrought of gold and iron. John
Rolfe, back in Virginia, though without his Indian princess, who now lies
in English earth, jots down and makes no comment upon what he has written:
"About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty
Negars."

No European state of that day, few individuals, disapproved of the African
slave trade. That dark continent made a general hunting-ground. England,
Spain, France, the Netherlands, captured, bought, and sold slaves.
Englishmen in Virginia bought without qualm, as Englishmen in England
bought without qualm. The cargo of the Dutch ship was a commonplace. The
only novelty was that it was the first shipload of Africans brought to
English-America. Here, by the same waters, were the beginnings of popular
government and the young upas-tree of slavery. A contradiction in terms
was set to resolve itself, a riddle for unborn generations of Americans.

Presently there happened another importation. Virginia, under the new
management, had strongly revived. Ships bringing colonists were coming in;
hamlets were building; fields were being planted; up and down were to be