CHAP. A revolution had equally occurred in the purposes for which voyages were undertaken. The hope of 1606 Columbus, as he sailed to the west, had been the discovery of a new passage to the East Indies. The passion for rapidly amassing gold soon became the prevailing motive. Next, the islands and countries. near the equator were made the tropical gardens of the Europeans for the culture of such luxuries as the warmest regions only can produce. At last, the higher design was matured, not to plunder, nor to destroy, nor to enslave; but to found states, to plant permanent Christian colonies, to establish for the oppressed and the enterprising places of refuge and abode, with all the elements of independent national existence. The condition of England favored adventure in America. A redundant population had existed even before the peace with Spain; and the timid character of King James, throwing out of employment the gallant men who had served under Elizabeth by sea and land, left them no option, but to engage as mercenaries in the quarrels of strangers, or incur the hazards of "seeking a New World."2 The minds of many persons of intelligence, rank, and enterprise, were directed to Virginia. The brave and ingenious Gosnold, who had himself witnessed the fertility of the western soil, long solicited the concurrence of his friends for the establishment of a colony,3 and at last prevailed with Edward Maria Wingfield, a groveling merchant of the west of England, Robert Hunt, a clergyman of persevering fortitude and modest worth, and John Smith, the adventurer of rare genius and undying fame, to consent to risk their own lives and 1 Bacon on Queen Elizabeth. of Stowe, 1018-a prime authority on Virginia. See Stith, 229. ENGLISHMEN RESOLVE TO COLONIZE VIRGINIA. 119 IV. their hope of fortune in an expedition. For more CHAP than a year, this little company revolved the project of a plantation. At the same time, Sir Ferdinand Gorges 1606 was gathering information of the native Americans, whom he had received from Weymouth, and whose descriptions of the country, joined to the favorable views which he had already imbibed, filled him with the strongest desire of becoming a proprietary of domains beyond the Atlantic. Gorges was a man of wealth, of rank, and of influence; he readily persuaded Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England, to share his intentions. Nor had the assigns of Raleigh become indifferent to "western planting;" the most distinguished of them all, Richard Hakluyt, the historian of maritime enterprise, still favored the establishment of a colony by his personal exertions and the firm enthusiasm of his character. Possessed of whatever information could be derived from foreign sources and a correspondence with the eminent navigators of his times, and anxiously watching the progress of the attempts of Englishmen in the west, his extensive knowledge made him a counsellor in the enterprises which were attempted, and sustained in him and his associates the confidence which repeated disappointments did not exhaust.3 Thus the cause of colonization obtained in England zealous and able defenders, who, independent of any party in religion or politics, believed that a prosperous state could be established by Englishmen in the temperate regions of North America. 1 Smith, i. 149, or Purchas, iv. 1705. Stith, 35. Compare Hillard's Life of Smith, in Sparks's American Biography, ii. 177-407; also Belknap, i. 239, 252. 2 Gorges, c. ii.—v. 3 Hakluyt, iii. passim; v. Dedication of Virginia Valued. The first Virginia charter contains his name CHAP. The king of England, too timid to be active, yet too vain to be indifferent, favored the design of enlarging 1606. his dominions. He had attempted in Scotland the introduction of the arts of life among the Highlanders and the Western Isles, by the establishment of colonies;1 and the English plantations which he formed in the northern counties of Ireland, are said to have contributed to the affluence and the security of that island. When, therefore, a company of men of business and men of rank, formed by the experience of Gosnold, the enthusiasm of Smith, the perseverance of Hakluyt, the hopes of profit and the extensive influence of Popham and Gorges, applied to James I. for leave "to deduce a colony into Virginia," the monarch promoted the April 10. noble work by readily issuing an ample patent. 4 The first colonial charter, under which the English were planted in America, deserves careful consideration. A belt of twelve degrees on the American coast, embracing the soil from Cape Fear to Halifax, excepting perhaps the little spot in Acadia then actually possessed by the French, was set apart to be colonized by two rival companies. Of these, the first was composed of noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, in and about London; the second, of knights, gentlemen, and merchants, in the west. The London adventurers, who alone succeeded, had an exclusive right to occupy the regions from thirty-four to thirty-eight degrees of north latitude, that is, from Cape Fear to the southern limit of Maryland; the western men had 1 Robertson's Scotland, b. viii. 51-58; Stith's Appendix, 1-8, THE FIRST CHARTER FOR VIRGINIA. 121 IV. equally an exclusive right to plant between forty-one CHAP. and forty-five degrees. The intermediate district, from thirty-eight to forty-one degrees, was open to the 1606 competition of both companies. Yet collision was not possible; for each was to possess the soil extending fifty miles north and south of its first settlement; so that neither could plant within one hundred miles of a colony of its rival. The conditions of tenure were homage and rent; the rent was no other than one fifth of the net produce of gold and silver, and one fifteenth of copper. The right of coining money was conceded, perhaps to facilitate commerce with the natives, who, it was hoped, would receive Christianity and the arts of civilized life. The superintendence of the whole colonial system was confided to a council in England; the local administration of each colony was intrusted to a council residing within its limits. The members of the superior council in England were appointed exclusively by the king; and the tenure of their office was his good pleasure. Over the colonial councils the king likewise preserved a control; for the members of them were from time to time to be ordained, made, and removed, according to royal instructions. Supreme legislative authority over the colonies, extending alike to their general condition and the most minute regulations, was likewise expressly reserved to the monarch. A hope was also cherished of an ultimate revenue to be derived from Virginia; a duty, to be levied on vessels trading to its harbors, was, for one-and-twenty years, to be wholly employed for the benefit of the plantation, at the end of that time, was to be taken for the king. To the emigrants it was promised, that they and their children should continue to be Englishmen—a concession which secured them rights on re16 VOL. I. CHAP. turning to England, but offered no barrier against IV. colonial injustice. Lands were to be held by the most 1606. favorable tenure. Thus the first written charter of a permanent American colony, which was to be the chosen abode of liberty, gave to the mercantile corporation nothing but a desert territory, with the right of peopling and defending it, and, reserved to the monarch absolute legislative authority, the control of all appointments, and a hope of an ultimate revenue. To the emigrants themselves it conceded not one elective franchise, not one of the rights of self-government. They were subjected to the ordinances of a commercial corporation, of which they could not be members; to the dominion of a domestic council, in appointing which they had no voice; to the control of a superior council in England, which had no sympathies with their rights; and finally, to the arbitrary legislation of the sovereign. Yet, bad as was this system, the reservation of power to the king, a result of his vanity, rather than of his ambition, had, at least, the advantage of mitigating the action of the commercial corporation. The check would have been complete, had the powers of appointment and legislation been given to the people of Virginia.1 The summer was spent by the patentees in preparations for planting a colony, for which the vain glory of the king found a grateful occupation in framing a Nov. code of laws; an exercise of royal legislation which 20. has been pronounced in itself illegal. The superior 2 council in England was permitted to name the colonial council, which was constituted a pure aristocracy, 1 Compare Chalmers, 13-15; Virginia, 37-41; Burk's Virginia. Story on the Constitution, i. 22-24. i. 86-92. 2 See the instrument, in Hening, i 67-75. Compare, also, Stith's 3 Chalmers, 15. |