The Present State of Virginia

by Hugh Jones

In this Class should likewise be included all petty Criminals and Bridewell Birds, all which should be transported at the Expence of the County to which they belong, as also should all Convicts and Felons; and in Virginia should there be appointed proper Persons to take Care of them, manage, and employ them, who should have Salaries for their Trouble, paid out of the Returns made by the Labour of the Servants under their Care; and the Overplus, which in a small Time might prove very considerable, should belong to the respective County that transported such Servants, by which Means Funds might easily be raised in every County or Shire to defray all their publick Expences and Charges, from the Labour of their Rogues and Beggars, without any Contribution or Tax of honest and industrious People. But to prevent Disorder and Mischief among such, they that should be sent over for little or no Faults but Idleness, should meet with all civil Treatment and Encouragement, when they did their Endeavours, but undergo the Severities of Bridewell for their Faults or great Neglect. But such notorious Villains as are sent over in Chains for Robbery or Murder, &c. should be kept a-part, and in Chains still, and be made Servants for Life, lest they corrupt the rest, or commit greater Robberies or Murders than ever they did before; which for want of more Care and greater Confinement of such Rogues too frequently happen, as they are now managed.

However, this Rigour might be occasionally abated, when any appear to be proper Objects of Mercy and Charity; but this should be done with the Leave of the Government there, and Care should be taken of them both as to their Labour and Provision, and Security should be contrived against any Danger that may proceed from thence.

I cannot here omit mentioning a late Design of seating all Convicts that should be imported into Virginia, in a County by themselves, under the Care of proper Overseers, who should confine them from doing any Hurt, and keep them to their Labour, by such Methods as are used in Bridewell.

The Land intended for this new County is very good, and fit to produce Hemp and Flax, which they were there solely to cultivate and manufacture; from whence the County was designed to be called Hempshire.

Tho' this Project was never put in Execution, yet I am of Opinion that something of this Nature would be very advantageous in securing and employing our Felons, and for our better Supply of Cordage in our Naval Stores, and making of Linen of all Sorts.

The last Sort of Servants that I should be for sending over to Virginia (besides such as are sent by the Methods already in Use) are the greatest Part of the Parish Poor all over England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; so that they should be burdened with none but such as are very old, very young, or else sickly or disabled, which would prove a very grateful Ease in most Places, where the general Complaint is the vast Charge of a numerous Poor; all which might easily be maintained and employed in Virginia, in proper Trades, Inventions, and Projects, and do great Good to themselves and the Publick.

Here might Work be cut out for Thousands that now pretend to want Business; and many that now thro' Laziness decline Endeavours to support themselves and Families, would then seek for Employment, and set to work in Earnest, being frighten'd into Industry and Labour, through the dreadful Apprehension of being sent to the Plantations; for such as could not or would not maintain themselves, and all Girls and Boys that are in no likelihood of doing this, should have their Names returned to the Justices by the Church-Wardens and Overseers, at the Quarter-Sessions, who upon Examination should give Orders for their Transportation; then would the Parish be eased, and might easily have honest and laborious People enough to do their Business and Work, without the Charge of Abundance of lazy or poor People.

These should be sent over at the Expence of the Parish, and their Labour would soon repay the Cost, and the Overplus might be applied for the Service of the Parish; so that these would soon maintain the rest of their Poor, and bring in good Gain to themselves and their Parishioners in Time, if they were under some such Restrictions, and had some such Privileges as the first Sort of unfortunate People here mentioned.

But if these Methods of Transportation be thought impracticable, at the Expence, and for the Benefit of the Government, the Counties, and the Parishes, yet might other Contrivances be found to transport the People above specified, besides the Methods now practiced by some to transport themselves, and by Mr. Forward and some Merchants for sending over continually all sorts of Servants; but the present Number is but a Trifle in respect of what might be sent over, were Laws made for the better Encouragement thereof, and due Regulations made for the Employment and Provision of such great Numbers as might yearly be sent over. For when they are there they need not be employed about Tobacco and Corn, as they generally are, for that might be compleatly managed by the Negroes; but they should carry on other Inventions, Trades, and Arts, and be confined to follow their own respective Callings and Occupations wherein they are most artful; and when their Time is served, better Care might be taken of them, and such Provision and Privileges allowed them, that they should be obliged to labour and get plentifully their own Living in an honest Way.

Now when I come to find Employment for all these People, what a vast Field is presented to View for their Labour? Nine and Twenty large and fertile Counties, for the most Part thinly inhabited, with Plenty of all Sorts of the best Provisions and Materials. Most if not all Sorts of English Husbandry, I know experimentally, may be carried on there with much less Labour, and far greater Encrease than in England: For Instance, it is common only by howing up the Ground, and throwing Seed upon it, and harrowing it in, to reap from sixty to eighty Bushels for one of English Wheat, of a large full Grain with a thin Rind; and I have had two Tuns off an Acre of Clover, which we may mow twice; and as for Barley's being burnt up with dry hot Weather, it often has the same fate in several Parts of England; besides more Experience and Observation of the Seasons, will make People more expert in the Management of that, and all other Sorts of Grain, or Seeds, and Grass, that they have not there brought yet to the greatest Perfection. Several English Farmers have indeed been baulked of their Expectation, in Attempts of carrying on their Art to great Advantage in Virginia; but this in a great Measure I attribute to their want of Judgment, and too strict Observance of the English Customs and Times, without making proper Allowance for the Difference of Soil, Seasons, and Climates; besides the vast Expence and Trouble, and the long Time required in clearing the Ground for their Purpose, in building of Barns, Farm-Houses, &c. so that frequently by that Time that they have brought their Purposes to Perfection, their Patience begins to be tired, and their Purses are pretty well emptied; so that at last they run into the rapid Current of planting Tobacco, which they know will bring them in certain Gain with but little Expence.