in Virginia, in proportion to his shares. In making a venture in the private magazine carried over in the Truelove, his prospect of gain, owing to the depressed condition of the Colony, must have been very small. His action was reflected in that of many other members of the Company, whose experience in the past had not been such as to raise their expectation of profit.
The supplies forwarded to the people in Virginia were not obtained from England only. The William and John brought in a cargo from Flushing in the Low Countries, in which city, as has been seen, the Company had opened a factory for the sale of its tobacco.[1] A large quantity of necessary articles of all kinds was also received by individual planters from friends or relatives in England; in September, for instance, there arrived for George Harrison, from his brother, flour, oatmeal, peas, cheese, vinegar, and a chest containing spices, tools, and powder.[2] The goods imported at this time were introduced in hogs heads, one ship bringing over two hundred and forty. In the same year, several vessels were engaged in transporting fish to Virginia from Newfoundland.[3]
The revocation of the charter in 1624 left the plantations open without restriction to independent traders. In a brief interval immediately following the recall of the letters patent, before the new relations of the Colony with the mother country had been fully adjusted, the English Government, which had now absorbed into itself all the powers of the former Company, took the necessary precautions to prevent a dearth of supplies in Virginia. The
