VIRGINIA- 



301 



and weaving, in which white operatives have sought employment ; there arc now about 20 of 

 these cotton-factories, chiefly in Eastern Virginia. 



7. Commerce. The exports of Virginia consist chiefly of the agricultural products already 

 mentioned, lumber, salt, castor-oil, ginseng, coal, gold, some furs, &c. ; their actual amount 

 we have no means of ascertaining ; the value of the direct exports to foreign countres is about 

 5,000,000 dollars, but the trade with the Northern States, the overland trade with Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and the river-trade by the 

 Ohio and Tennessee, must exceed that sum. The annual imports from foreign ports are less 

 than 1,000,000 ; but Virginia receives her supplies of manufactured goods, foreign and do- 

 mestic, and other foreign productions, chiefly from northern ports. The fisheries of the Chesa- 

 peake and its tributaries are valuable. The shipping owned in the State amounts to 50,000 tons. 



8. Government. The legislature consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The 

 senators are 32 ; they are elected by districts, and hold their office 4 years, one quarter of 

 their number being renewed every year. The representatives are chosen yearly. These 

 elections are made viva voce^ and not as in other States, by ballot. The Governor is elected 

 for 3 years, by the two branches of the legislature, and is eligible but once in 6 years. There 

 is a council of 3, chosen like the Governor ; the senior councillor is Lieutenant-Governor. 

 The right of voting comes very near to universal suffrage. Clergymen are ineligible as legis- 

 lators. No legislative provision can be made for religious worship. The State sends 21 rep- 

 resentatives to Congress. 



9. Religion. The most numerous sect in Virginia are the Baptists, who have 437 chur- 

 ches ; the Presbyterians have 120; the Episcopalians 65 ministers; the Methodists 170. 

 There are- also Lutherans, Catholics, LInitarians, Friends, and Jews in small numbers. 



10. Education. William and JVIarij College was founded at WiUiamsburg in 1691. King 

 William endowed it with 2,000 pounds, 20,000 acres of land, and a revenue of a penny on 

 every pound of tobacco exported IVom Virginia. Other endowments were afterwards added, 

 and its income was formerly 3,000 pounds a year, but it is now much reduced. It has at pres- 

 ent 5 instructers and 110 students Hampden Sydney College, in Prince Edward's county, was 

 founded in 1783. It has 6 instructers, and 60 students. Washington College., at Lexington, 

 was founded in 1812, and it has 40 students. The University of Virginia., at Charlottesville, 

 was founded in 1819. It has 9 instructers, and 230 students. The library has 15,000 vol- 

 umes. Randolph-Macon College, at Boydton, founded in 1832, has 100 students. The 

 State has a literary fund of 1,550,000 dollars. 



11. History. Virginia was the earliest settled of all the British American colonies. An 

 expedition was despatched by the London Company, under Captain Newport, who was accom- 

 panied by Gosnold and the celebrated Captain Smith. They entered the Chesapeake, and dis- 

 covered James's River, in April, 1607. A settlement was immediately formed at Jamestown, but 

 the colonists soon began to suffer severely by famine and the hosi''ity of the natives. Smith was 

 taken prisoner, and, when on the point of being put to death by the savages, was rescued and 

 released by the romantic generosity of Pocahontas, the King's daughter. The affairs of tlic 

 colony after this, fell into so bad a state, that all the settlers embarked, and were under sail to 

 leave the country, when several ships arriving with supphes, they were induced to return. 

 From this period, the setdement began to thrive, though much harassed by Indian wars. 

 Charles the First conferred upon the inhabitants the right to elect representatives ; in return for 

 which favor, the Virginians adhered to the royal interests during the civil wars which preceded 

 his overthrow. The parliament, in 1652, sent a fleet which brought them to submission, and 

 for 9 years, Cromwell appointed the Governor of the colony. After the Restoration, Virginia 

 was much disturbed by a civil war in her own territory, but the Governor continued to be ap- 

 pointed by the King till the beginning of the American Revolution. In 1776 a new constitu- 

 tion was formed ; and in 1830, it was revised by a Convention for that purpose. The inhabi- 

 tants of Virginia were from the beginning strongly averse to the introduction of slaves, and their 

 legislatures passed many laws to prohibit it, but the refusal of the higher officers of government 

 to sanction the laws, rendered these efforts fruitless. 



