20 CHAPTER II. ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN AMERICA — VIRGINIA, 1606— MARYLAND, 1632-NEW ENGLAND, 1620-MASSACHUSETTS CONNECTICUT-RHODE ISLAND—CAROLINA, 1663-PENNSYLVANIA, 1681-GEORGIA, 1732. THE first of these thirteen American colonies, Virginia, was begun in the year 1606; the last, Georgia, in the year 1732. From the beginning to the end of this period nothing like a system—a regular plan with predetermined rules of action, can be found in the conduct of the government. Some of the colonies were planted, in the hope of gain, by associations of rich and powerful proprietors in England; such was, for example, Virginia: some were established by men who fled from religious persecution to the wilds of America, intending there to found an empire in which true religion should be the ruler, and the Bible their code of laws. The pilgrims who laid the first foundations of New England were the most remarkable of this class of settlers; and New England still exists and flourishes, a monument to their many great qualities, and some mistaken views. The early settlements of Virginia were formed in consequence, and by means of powers granted in charters from the crown. The object was immediate gain to the projectors; the means by which this gain was sought to be botained were the mines of gold and silver, which in those days every adventurer fancied were to be found throughout all the regions of America. But there was in that age something of grandeur and magnificence pervading men's minds, and ennobling even their meaner thoughts, and feelings. Their conceptions were large, though their aims were sordid. They intended and expected to found empires even while seeking for gold. Their cupidity was thus hidden by the brave garb in which it was clothed. By the charter, under which the first successful settlement was established in Virginia, "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 equally an exclusive right to plant between forty-one and forty-five degrees. The intermediate district, from thirty-eight to forty-one degrees, was open to the 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 * Virginia was planted by the London Company; New England was, in part, the fruit of the powers granted to the Western, or Plymouth, Association. See below, page 49. 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 more 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 leaders 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 * Yet the western limits of these colonies were never accurately defined. The terms permitted the colonists to take the whole breadth of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between the degrees mentioned. So much for the precision of the grant. "Several of the old or original states claimed large tracts of wild lands in the west and northwest parts of the country, before the war of the Revolution, on the supposition that their respective territories extended to the farthest lakes, and the Mississippi, if not to the Pacific ocean, for their patents were limited only by the Western ocean."-History of the Federal Government, p. 42, by A. Bradford, LL.D. from Virginia. A duty to be levied on vessels trading to its harbours 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 returning to England, but offered no barrier against colonial injustice."* The historian, Mr. Bancroft, himself an Americanone who has carefully considered the whole of the early history of his country, and the effect upon its fortunes produced by the several enactments, legislative and administrative, made in England, thus remarks upon this charter, and the nature of its provisions: "Thus the first written charter of a permanent American colony, which was to be the chosen abode of liberty, gave to a 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 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 sympathy *Bancroft, History of America, vol. i. p. 121-3. + The worst sort of restrictive laws respecting navigation was also in the charter. 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 a commercial corporation. The check would have been complete, had the powers of appointment and legislation been given to the people of Virginia."* The King, besides this charter, in the plenitude of his royal benevolence and wisdom, added a code of laws framed (it is said) by himself. Some of the provisions which adorned this precious production, are thus described by Mr. Bancroft: "The superior council in England was permitted to name the colonial council, which was constituted a pure aristocracy, entirely independent of the emigrants whom they were to govern; having power to elect or remove its president, to remove any of its members, and to supply its own vacancies. Not an element of popular liberty was introduced into the form of government. Religion was especially enjoined to be established according to the doctrine and rites of the Church of England: and no emigrant might withdraw his allegiance from King James,† or avow dissent from the royal creed. Lands were to descend according to the common law. Not only murder, manslaughter, and adultery, but dangerous tumults and seditions were punishable by death; Bancroft, History of America, vol. i. p. 122. + This provision was unnecessary; the rule of our common law being the same. Nemo potest exuere patriam. |