PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
SIOATIEIN JSIGAINID) JONSON Ine: 
OF 
ARTS, ANID SCIENCES 
Weis I Oct. 1918—-May 1921 PARTS I — 3 
The Meeting of the First Legislative Assembly in America? 
Hon. Howarp RanpotpH BAyNeE 
The colonization of Virginia was undertaken by a commercial 
company as a commercial enterprise. Under a charter granted in 
1606 the London Company sent forth on the 19th of December of 
that year their first convoys of men and provisions, and a settle- 
ment was effected on a bend of that noble river (then named the 
James, in honor of the reigning monarch of England) on the 13th 
day of May 1607. We need not pause to wonder at the ill- 
assorted company and the improvidence of the managers of the 
venture in sending out upon such a mission men so poorly qualified 
by nature, education, and inclination to lay the foundations of a 
new state. We are bound to believe the London Company did the 
best they could under the circumstances. It was not an easy mat- 
ter to be choice in the selection of men. An expedition across the 
Atlantic in those days doubtless offered more chances of a safe 
landing than not, but the great majority of worthy substantial 
people of the time did not think so. And thus those that were 
1 Read at the regular meeting of October 16, 1920, devoted to the Ter- 
centenary Celebration of the Mayflower Compact and the First American 
Legislature. 
