n
that which developed into the State legislature.

At the opening of 1609 the Virginia colony, which was not then
in a flourishing condition, asked and obtained from King James
I a new charter. The territory was now greatly enlarged, the
powers of local government increased, and Virginia soon entered
upon its permanent career.

In 1617 "a party of greedy and unprincipled adventurers" in
England succeeded in having an agent of their own appointed
deputy governor. This was Samuel Argall. Lord Delaware, the
Governor, dying in 1618, Argall became virtual dictator, and
under his arbitrary and self-seeking rule the people suffered.
Meanwhile others, in England, were at work in the interest of
the Virginia Company, under whose auspices, from the granting
of the new charter, the colony had existed. Sir Edwin Sandys,
in 1618, was made treasurer and actual governor of the Virginia
Company. Through the efforts of Sandys and others in England,
Sir George Yeardley, who had governed Virginia in 1616, was
sent in 1619 to supersede Argall.

This year "was remarkable in the annals of the colony. It is
hardly an exaggeration to say that it witnessed the creation of
Virginia as an independent community." From that year Sandys
and his followers maintained their ascendency, and a high
degree of energy and statesmanlike wisdom marked the
administration of the colonial government. The calling of the
first assembly was one of the principal acts of Yeardley's
administration.

Sir Thomas Smith, treasurer or governor of the Virginia Company, was
displaced in 1618, and succeeded by Sir Edwin Sandys. This enlightened
statesman and exemplary man was born in Worcestershire in 1561, being
the second son of the Archbishop of York. Educated at Oxford under the
care of "the judicious Hooker," he obtained a prebend in the church of
York. He afterward travelled in foreign countries, and published his
observations in a work entitled _Europae Speculum; or,_ _A View of the
State of Religion in the Western World_. He resigned his prebend in
1602, was subsequently knighted by James, in 1603, and employed in
diplomatic trusts. His appointment as treasurer gave great satisfaction
to the colony; for free principles were now, under his auspices, in the
ascendent. His name is spelled sometimes "Sandis," sometimes "Sands."

When