UNDER THE SECOND CHARTER OF CHARLES II. PART I. element of protestantism. Blot out this from the Conclusion records of our political experience alone, and where of PART I. would be our free government and free institutions ? Eliminate all traces of its beneficent influences and protection even from our every-day life; from our homes, our schools, our academies, our colleges, our universities, and our churches-withdraw its healthful essences from the pulpit, the bar, the bench; from our halls of legislation, and our offices of state; and what would we be as a people or a republic? The truth is, the elements of individual, social and political freedom inherent in a Protestant Christianity are so inwoven into our very being as a nation, that to its subversion, if ever that period shall arrive, some future Gibbon may ascribe THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE FREE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. END OF PART I. PART II. GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE SECOND GRAND DIVISION OF THE In the first part of this work I have traced the governmental history of the settlements planted in America by the first colony of Virginia, or the London company, until they grew into a regularly organized community, passed out from the control and jurisdiction of the company, and became permanently established in the form of a political corporation, under a well ordered The Plymsystem of colonial government subject to the sovereign pany. power of the kingdom of Great Britain. I now come to the history of the second colony of Virginia, other- See Part I., wise called the Plymouth company. It was so denomi-ter. nated because the principal proprietors of the corporation were located at Plymouth in England. This company did not receive a patronage by any means equal to that of the other. It laboured under great disadvantages, not only from its own location, but the shores on which its settlements were to be made were cold, bleak, cheerless and inhospitable. Few men of rank, of opulence, or of enterprise, became interested in its transactions: And although it was established under similar charter provisions, and gifted with equal and like privileges with the first colony, it fell far behind the latter in the energy and efficiency of its efforts to accomplish the objects sought to be promoted by its incorporation. The first expedition under its auspices was fitted out in the year 1606, but the vessels employed were captured by the Spaniards, who then claimed the right to exclude all other nations from sailing in or navigating the American waters. outh Com first char PART II. First expedition of NEW ENGLAND, Two more vessels, with one hundred and twenty the Plym- planters on board, were dispatched under the direction outh Co., of admiral Sir Raleigh Gilbert, in the month of May, Its second 1607. They formed an inconsiderable settlement on expedition the river Sagadahok, a small stream emptying into the 1606. 1607 * Chief Justice Popham. Results of Kennebeck river near its mouth: But becoming alarmed at the severity of the climate, the majority of them returned to England in the month of December in the same year, leaving behind them about forty-five men with Captain George Popham as their president. The inclemency of the climate, the ravages of disease, and the death of the principal patron of the company* in England, soon desolated whatever hopes of a settlement this adventure may have inspired. The discouraging reports which were made of the thenexpe- country by those who returned prevented any new emi ditions. Trading expedition under Capt. Smith. gration, and no further plans were projected by the company other than to open a fishing and fur trade with the natives. One of these trading adventures was commanded by Capt. Smith, a name proudly conspicuous in the early history of the colony planted by the London company. His inquisitive mind was not contented with carrying on a trade to the country without any further knowledge of its capabilities and extent than such as might be gathered from the untutored natives. He landed and spent some considerable time in exploring His explo- its resources. He drew a chart of the coast from rations and Penobscot to Cape Cod, made practical observations on report. its bays, harbours and rivers, its soil and productions. His representations of the country on his return to The coun- England so fascinated the then prince of Wales, aftertry how named. wards Charles I., that he bestowed upon it the name of NEW ENGLAND. From this date that division of the continent which had been allotted to the London company was called Virginia, and that which had been assigned to the Plymouth company was called New England. CAUSES WHICH LED TO ITS SETTLEMENT. PART II. But the interest elicited by the accounts given of the Severity of the climate country by Capt. Smith, had no further effect than to discouragstimulate individual adventurers to prosecute the trade ing to com mercial ad which had been opened with the natives. None were venture. induced to emigrate, nor was the prospect of gain sufficiently encouraging to lure the company to attempt any settlement. Men could not be induced to abandon their homes, ease, comfort, or luxury, for the sake of an uncertain, or at least a distant advantage, either to themselves or to their country. The shores were too wild, the climate was too harsh, and the end too precarious, to inspire or to encourage a spirit of enterprise or adventure. Happily, however, for the interests of mankind, there was a spirit which could face all these difficulties, and endure all these sacrifices and privations; which could brave any danger and welcome any disaster with the prospect, however distant or contingent, of accom-Its settleplishing its purposes; a spirit which, under whatever ment prompted circumstances or in whatever clime, could still live and by the glow in the bosom of its possessor; a spirit, whose spirit of religious exalted purposes were in part accomplished the very freedom. moment it alighted on this "wild and rock-bound coast"-It was a spirit which sought "FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD." Freedom to worship God. It is essential to the per- Origin of fect idea of human responsibility that the homage Romanism. which man pays to his creator should be individual, his own, and a free-will worship. Personal accountability could not otherwise be a part of a just economy of rewards and punishments. It was during the perilous passage of christianity through the darkness, idolatry, and corruptions of paganism, that these, her cardinal revelations, were obscured, and she became encumbered with those mythic rites and superstitions which were afterwards the basis of Romanism. Here were gathered the materials which enabled an artful or ambitious priesthood, so to interweave their own canons |