1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



659 



"In May 1620, we are. told by historians, that 

 another apsenihly was hclii in ViroJiiia. Beverley, 

 iiuleed, tnal\cs it ihf first leifislatiiro under the co- 

 lonial <fovRrMnient. J{iit of the acts of this as- 

 senihly tliere is no mention in the proccedinsrs of 

 the London Coatpaiiy ; a circnmstance which 

 renders it extremely douhilul wliether such an ns- 

 sembly was, in liicl, ever held." — Vol. I. p. 119. 



But this first legislation of the colonists seems 

 never to have been formally considered and rati- 

 fied by the London Company, the then proprietary 

 government of the colony, and therefore the en- 

 actments of this earlie.st session, whatever they 

 may have been, were of no authority ; and it is 

 therefore, probably, that no record of them re- 

 mains. Hening says — 



"The acts passed *il the general assembly in 

 1619, were probably a crude, indigested mass, 

 which never received the sanction of the treasurer 

 and company for Virginia, in England ; without 

 whose approbation, in a great and general court, 

 they could not have the force of laws." — p. 122. 



The first actual legislation, then, occurred in 

 the next session, which was in 1621, and when 

 fifteen years had passed since the first arrival of 

 the English settlers. Of this, the only account 

 is in the following general statement, given in the 

 words of the compiler. This extract presents the 

 curious fact, that a large and prominent portion of 

 the first actual legislation of Virginia, (as well as 

 much of later date,) was devoted to the encourage- 

 inent of the growth of silk — a culture which, af- 

 ter lying dormant for nearly two centuries, has 

 now suddenly become one of the most engrossing 

 interest throughout this country, and which now 

 promises to be revived, and for the first time to be 

 extensively and successfully prosecuted. 



" In November and December 1621, another 

 assembly was held : an event not mentioned by 

 Stith, or any of our early historians. The acts of 

 this session are very briefly noticed in the minutes 

 of the London Company ; and relate entirely to 

 the introduction and culture of such staple com- 

 modities as the company in England recommen- 

 ded; particularly the article of silk, which seems 

 to have engrossed nearly the whole attention of 

 the legislature. Two acts, the one prescribing re- 

 gulations for planting mulberry trees, the other di- 

 recting, thatin clearing land, no mulberry trees shall 

 be destroyed, are first mentioned. The remaining 

 acts of this session contain little more than an enu- 

 meration of the wants of the colony." — p. 119. 



There was lately republished in one of the 

 newspapers, and which has been thence copied 

 into many others, ''an act, for mulberry trees,'''' 

 passed in 1661, which was presented as the oldest 

 legislation on the subject. And, subsequently, 

 there appeared in another print, a correction of 

 that opinion, in extracts from the earlier acts of 

 1-656 and of 1657. These extracts will be given 

 here, in their order of time. It is enough here to 

 4Show, that silk-culture was a subject of legisla- 



tive interest and action, thirty-five years before the 

 earliest of these enactments, and forty years in 

 advance of the other. 



The next extracts will be from the " Laws and 

 Orders concluded on by the General Assembly, 

 March 5lh, 1623-4." In every extract the spell- 

 ing and [)unctuatinn of the original, (as given in 

 the ' Statutes at Large,') will be preserved. 



" For the encouragement of men to plant store 

 of corne, the prise shall not be stinted, but it shall 

 be free for everj- man to sell it as deere as he can. 



"That there shall be in every parish a publick 

 garnary unto which there shall be contributed for 

 every planter exceeding the adgeof 18 years alive 

 at the crop after he hath been heereayeara bush- 

 el of corne, the which shall be disposed for the 

 publique uses of every parish by the major part of 

 the freemen, the remainder yearly to be taken out 

 by the owners at St. Tho's his day and the new 

 bushell to be putt in the roome. 



"That three sufficient men of every parish 

 shall be sworne to see that every man shall plant 

 and tende sufficient of corne for his family. Those 

 men that have neglected so to do are to be by the 

 said three men presented to be censured by the 

 governor and counsell. 



" That all trade for corne with the salvages as 

 well publick as private after June next shall be 

 prohibited." 



" That every freeman shall fence in a quarter 

 of an acre of ground before Whitsuntide next to 

 make a garden for planting of vines, herbs, roots, 

 &c. subpcpna ten pounds of" tobacco a man, but 

 that no man for his own family shall be tyed to 

 fence above an acre of land and that whosoever 

 hath fenced a garden and of the land 



shall be paid for it by the owner of the soyle ; 

 they shall also plant Mulberry trees." — p. 125. 



" That the proclamation for the rates of commo- 

 dities be still in force and that there be some men in 

 every plantation to censure the tobacco." — p. 126, 



Our ancestors were totally without light on the 

 free-trade doctrine of modern political economy, 

 and had little faith in self-interest serving as the 

 best guide to direct the pursuits of industry. The 

 statute book is full of regulations, like some of the 

 foregoing, which were designed to encourage and 

 compel the raising or keeping of certain products, 

 and restraining or forbidding others. 



The following orders of the same session, exhibit 

 the then state of insecurity and peril of every set- 

 tler. They were enacted in consequence of the 

 recent massacre of many of the colonists by the 

 Indians, in 1622, which was so near being as com- 

 plete as was its design. 



" That every dwelling house shall be pallizaded 

 in for defence against the Indians. 



" That no man go or send abroad without a 

 sufficient partie will armed. 



" That men go not to worke in the ground with- 

 out their arms (and a centinell upon them.) 



"That the inhabitants go nut aboard ships or 

 upon any other occasions in such numbers, as 

 thereby to weaken and endanger the plantations. 



" That the commander of every plantation take 



