ish Court, and this malign influence
was skilfully maintained by the intrigues of her crafty ambassador,
Count Gondomar. It was believed by many that James was even willing to
sacrifice the interests of the English colonies for the benefit of those
of Spain. The Rev. Jonas Stockham, a minister in Virginia, in a letter
dated in May, 1621, and addressed to the Council of the Virginia
Company, said: "There be many Italianated and Spaniolized Englishmen
envies our prosperities, and by all their ignominious scandals they can
devise, seeks to dishearten what they can those that are willing to
further this glorious enterprise. To such I wish, according to the
decree of Darius, that whosoever is an enemy to our peace, and seeketh
either by getting monipolical patents, or by forging unjust tales to
hinder our welfare--that his house were pulled down, and a pair of
gallows made of the wood, and he hanged on them in the place."

The Earl of Southampton was grandson of Wriothesley, the famous
Chancellor of Edward the Sixth, father to the excellent and noble
Treasurer Southampton, grandfather to Rachel Lady Russel. In his later
years he commanded an English regiment in the Dutch service, and died in
the Netherlands, 1624. Shakespeare dedicated some of his minor poems to
him; the County of Southampton, in Virginia, probably also took its name
from him. Captain Smith, who had been unjustly displaced by the company,
approved of the dissolution of their charter. Yet, as no compensation
was rendered for the enormous expenditure incurred, it can be looked
upon as little better than confiscation effected by chicane and tyranny.
A parliamentary committee, of which Sir Edwin Sandys was a member, in
the same year, 1624, drew up articles of impeachment against Lord
Treasurer Cranfield for his agency in bringing about the dissolution of
the charter.[177:A] Nevertheless, the result was undoubtedly favorable
to the colony, as is candidly acknowledged by that honest chronicler,
Stith, although no one could be more strenuously opposed to the
arbitrary means employed.

An Assembly had been held in March, 1624, and its acts are preserved:
they are brief and simple, coming directly to the point, without the
redundancy of modern statutes; and refer mainly to agriculture, the
church establishment, and defence against the Indians.[177:B] The
following is a list of the members of this early Assembly:--

Sir Francis Wyat, Knt., Governor,