They brought into Virginia a class of men much superior to the
ordinary laborer, for most of them were guilty only of having resisted
the party in power, and many were patriots in the truest sense of the
word, suffering for principles that they believed essential to the
welfare of their country.

We have already seen that under the London Company of Virginia few
criminals were sent to the colony. After the dissolution of that body
there was quite as great strictness in regard to the matter. As the
Company had feared to fill the country with malefactors, knowing that
it would ruin the enterprise in which they had expended so much time
and money, so, in later years, the Virginia people were solicitous of
the character of those that were to be their neighbors. They were firm
in demanding that no "jailbirds" be sent them. On more than one
occasion, when persons of ill repute arrived, they at once shipped
them back to England. There existed, however, in the mother country a
feeling that it was but proper to use Virginia as a dumping ground for
criminals, and the magistrates from time to time insisted on shipping
objectionable persons. But it is certain that the percentage of felons
among the servants was not large. At one period only were they sent
over in numbers great enough to make themselves felt as a menace to
the peace of the colony. After the Restoration, when England was just
beginning to recover from the convulsions of the preceding twenty
years and when the kingdom was swarming with vicious and criminal
persons, a fresh attempt was made to seek an outlet for this class in
Virginia. A sudden increase in lawlessness in the colony aroused the
people to the danger, and in 1670 the General Court prohibited the
introduction of English malefactors into the colony.[175] Although in
the 18th century criminals were sent to Virginia at times, their
numbers were insignificant and their influence small.

Having examined the various types of men that entered Virginia as
indentured servants, it now remains to determine to what extent these
types survived and became welded into the social life of the colony.
The importation of starving laborers and even of criminals was of
vital importance only in proportion to the frequency with which they
survived their term of service, acquired property, married and left
descendants. The law of the survival of the fittest, which is so great
a factor in elevating the human race, operated with