STATES    AND    TERRITORIES. — VIRGINIA. 155

tory  hordes  around  them,  gave  rise  to  numerous  memorable  deeds  of  heroism  and  magnanim
ity,  as  well  as  to  no  less  a  number  of  acts  of  cruel  oppression  and  sanguinary  atrocity. On
the  one  hand,  although  pillage,  assassination,  and  every  species  of  outrage  signalized  the
course  of  the  lawless  savage,  the  conduct  of  the  civilized  settlers  themselves  towards  their
untamed  neighbors  was  not  always  the  most  just,  humane,  or  politic. After  a  few  years  of
perseverance  and  endurance,  however,  the  latter  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  as  a
permanent  community,  through  the  aid  of  several  fortunate  circumstances  which  occurred  in
the  lifetime  of  Powhatan,  the  celebrated  and  powerful  Indian  chief. To  his  singularly
acquired  friendship,  the  colony  was  at  one  time  mainly  indebted  for  its  exemption  from  total
extermination. His  daughter,  Pocahontas,  after  her  generous  rescue  of  Captain  Smith  from
imminent  death,  married  a  Mr. Rolfe,  a  respectable  planter,  subsequently  went  to  England
with  her  husband,  where  she  was  honored  with  marks  of  the  highest  consideration ;  and  thus  a
foundation  was  laid  for  the  restoration  of  amity  between  the  contending  parties,  which  con
tinued,  with  a  few  sad  interruptions,  for  a  long  period.*

The  curse  of  slavery,  so  lamentably  entailed  upon  this  otherwise  favored  region,  and  which,
at  the  present  remote  date,  is  a  source  of  bitter  controversy,  if  not  of  incalculable  danger  to
the  whole  American  nation,  originated  with  the  landing  of  some  twenty  negroes  from  a  Dutch
vessel,  and  the  selling  of  them  into  perpetual  bondage,  at  about  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the
Plymouth  "  Pilgrims."  This  evil,  which  has  since  grown  in  magnitude  and  enormity  to  an
extent  scarcely  reducible  by  human  power,  is  a  source  of  regret  to  the  best  portion  of  the
people  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  one  of  angry  remonstrance  and  censure  on  the  part  of  many
other  members  of  the  Union.f

The  original  limits  of  Virginia  have,  at  various  periods,  and  under  divers  circumstances,
been  materially  circumscribed. In  the  early  period  of  its  colonial  existence,  its  boundaries
had  never  been  accurately  defined. It  was  an  immense  unexplored  wilderness,  to  all  appear
ance  illimitable,  especially  on  the  north  and  west,  and  confined  by  mo  natural  barrier  then
known  to  its  new  residents. 