"sent
to Newfoundland" for fish, and, having started in May, returned after
a voyage of "seven weeks." In the next sentence he says, "About the
last of August came in a dutch man of warre that sold us twenty
Negars."[123] Might not he have meant "about the end of last August"
came the Dutch man-of-war, etc.? All historians, except two, agree
that these slaves were landed in August, but disagree as to the year.
Capt. Argall, of whom so much complaint was made by the Virginia
Company to Lord Delaware,[124] fitted out the ship "Treasurer" at the
expense of the Earl of Warwick, who sent him "an olde commission of
hostility from the Duke of Savoy against the Spanyards," for a
"filibustering" cruise to the West Indies.[125] And, "after several
acts of hostility committed, and some purchase gotten, she returns to
Virginia at the end of ten months or thereabouts."[126] It was in the
early autumn of 1618,[127] that Capt. Edward (a son of William)
Brewster was sent into banishment by Capt. Argall; and this, we think,
was one of the last, if not _the_ last official act of that arbitrary
governor. It was certainly before this that the ship "Treasurer,"
manned "with the ablest men in the colony," sailed for "the Spanish
dominions in the Western hemisphere." Under date of June 15, 1618,
John Rolfe, speaking of the death of the Indian Powhatan, which took
place in April, says, "Some private differences happened betwixt Capt.
Bruster and Capt. Argall," etc.[128] Capt. John Smith's information,
as secured from Master Rolfe, would lead to the conclusion that the
difficulty which took place between Capt. Edward Brewster and Capt.
Argall occurred in the spring instead of the autumn, as Neill says. If
it be true that "The Treasurer" sailed in the early spring of 1618,
Rolfe's statement as to the time of the strife between Brewster and
Argall would harmonize with the facts in reference to the length of
time the vessel was absent as recorded in Burk's history. But if Neill
is correct as to the time of the quarrel,--for we maintain that it was
about this time that Argall left the colony,--then his statement would
tally with Burk's account of the time the vessel was on the cruise.
If, therefore, she sailed in October, 1618, being absent ten months,
she was due at Jamestown in August, 1619.

But, nevertheless, we are strangely moved to believe that 1618 was the
memorable year of the landing of the first slaves in Virginia. And we
have one stron