It has been remarked by Mr. Jefferson,[168:A] that it is not so general a truth, as has been supposed, that the lands of Virginia were taken from the natives by conquest, far the greater portion having been purchased by treaty. It may be objected, that the consideration was often inadequate; but a small consideration may have been sufficient to compensate for a title which, for the most part, had but little validity; besides, a larger compensation would oftentimes have been thrown away upon men so ignorant and indolent. Groping in the dim twilight of nature, and slaves of a gross idolatry, their lives were circumscribed within a narrow uniform circle of animal instincts and the necessities of a precarious subsistence. Cunning, bloody, and revengeful, engaged in frequent wars, they were strangers to that Arcadian innocence and the Elysian scenes of a golden age of which youthful poets so fondly dream. If an occasional exception occurs, it is but a solitary ray of light shooting across the surrounding gloom. Yet we cannot be insensible to the many injuries they have suffered, and cannot but regret that their race could not be united with our own. The Indian has long since disappeared from Virginia; his cry no longer echoes in the woods, nor is the dip of his paddle heard on the water. The exterminating wave still urges them onward to the setting sun, and their tribes are fading one by one forever from the map of existence. Geology shows that in the scale of animal life, left impressed on the earth's strata, the inferior species has still given place to the superior: so likewise is it with the races of men. FOOTNOTES: [166:A] Purchas, iv. 1840. [168:A] Notes on Va., 102. CHAPTER XVIII. 1622-1625. James the First jealous of Virginia Company--Gondomar--The King takes Measures to annul the Charter--Commissioners appointed--Assembly Petitions the King--Disputes between Commissioners and Assembly--Butler's Account of the Colony-- Nicholas Ferrar--Treachery of Sharpless, and his Punishment-- The Charter of Virginia Company dissolved--Causes of this Proceeding--Character of the Company--Records of the Company-- Death of James the First--Charles the First succeeds him--The Virginia Company--Earl of Southampton--Sir Edwin Sandys and Nicholas Ferrar--The Rev. Jonas Stockham's Letter--Injustice of the Dissolution of the Charter--Beneficial Results-- Assembly of 1624.