f men scarcely finds a parallel. It would be of curious interest
to watch the parade and pomp of governors and councils of royal
appointment in attempted representation of a pageantry familiar to
the Old World, but which was to have no permanent abiding place in
the New. Governors and their subordinates--though bearing the
royal commission, yet in rare instances to be classed only as bad or
indifferent--pass in long procession before us into the dim shadows.
But out of the mists of this long past, two figures emerge that
have for us an abiding interest, John Smith and Pocahontas--names
that have place not alone in romance and song, but upon the pages of
veritable history.

"Colonial governors strutted their brief hour upon the stage and
have long passed to oblivion; but Smith, the intrepid soldier, the
ever-present friend and counsellor of the early colonists, their
stalwart protector--alike against the bullet of the savage and the
mandate of official power--will not pass from remembrance so long as
heroic deeds are counted worthy of enduring record among men.

"With dark background of rude cabin and wigwam, of scantily appointed
plantation, and of far-stretching forest--with its mysterious voices
and manifold perils--there passes before us the lovely form of the
beautiful Indian maiden, the daughter and pride of the renowned
native chieftain. So long as courage and fidelity arouse sympathy
and admiration, so long will the thrilling legend of Pocahontas
touch responsive chords in human hearts. Its glamour is upon
the early pages of colonial history; her witchery lingers upon
stream and forest, and the firm earth upon which we tread seems to
have been hallowed by her footsteps.

"A name that sheds lustre upon the earliest pages of our Colonial history
is that of Sir Edwin Sandys. Under his courageous leadership, what
was known as the Virginia or Liberal party in the London Company
obtained a signal triumph over that of the court. The result
was the formal grant to the colony guaranteeing free government by
written charter. Its declared purpose was to secure 'the greatest
comfort and benefit to the people and the prevention of injustice,
grievances, and oppression.' It provided for full legislative
authority in the Assembly, and was with some modifications the
model of the systems subsequently introduced into the other English
colonies.

"By this charter, representative government and trial by jury became
re