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THE
HISTORY
O F
AMERICA.
CONTAINING
THE HISTORT OF VIRGINIA ,
TO THE YEAR l688i AND
THE HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND ,
TO THE YEAR 1652.
By WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D. D.
PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, HISTORIOGRAPHER TO HIS MAJESTY FOR SCOTLAND, AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF HISTORY AT MADRID.
A NEW EDITIO
Basil: printed and fold by James Decker. Strasburgh: fold by F. G. Levraume.
MDCC C.

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ADVERTISEMENT.
The original plan of my Father , the late Dr. Robertfon, with refpe6t to the Hiftory of America , comprehended not only an account of the difcovery of that country, and of the conquefts and colonies of the Spaniards , but embraced alfo the hiftory of the British and Por- tuguefe Eftablishments in the New World, and of the Settlements made by the fe- veral nations of Europe in the Weft India iflands. It was his intention not to have published any part of the Work until the whole was completed. In the Preface to his Hiftory of America, he has ftated the reafons which induced him to depart from that refolution, and to publish the Two Volumes which contain an account of the

iv Advertisement.
difcovery of the New World, and of the progrefs of the Spanish arms and colonies in that quarter of the globe. He fays , iC he had made fome progrefs in the Hiftory of British America; ” and he announces his intention to return to that part of his Work, as foon as the ferment which at that time prevailed in the British Colonies in America, should fub- fide, and regular government be re-eftab- lished. Various caufes concurred in preventing him from fulfilling his intention.
During the courfe of a tedious illnefs, which he early forefaw would have a fatal termination, Dr. Robertfon at different times deflroyed many of his papers. But after his death , I found that part of the Hiftory of British America which he had wrote many years before, and which is now offered to the Public. It is written with his own hand , as all his Works Were; it is as carefully corrected as any part of his Manufcripts which I have ever

Advertisement.
v
feen; and he had thought it worthy of being preferved , as it efcaped the flames to which fo many other papers had been committed. I read it with the utmoft attention; but, before I came to any re- folution about the publication, I put the MS. into the hands of fome of thofe friends whom my Father ufed to confult on fuch occaflons , as it would have been rashnefs and prefumption in me to have trailed to my own partial decifion. It was perufed by fome other perfons alfo, in whofe tafte and judgment I have the greatell confidence : by all of them I was encouraged to offer it to the Public, as a fragment curious and interefting in itfelf, and not inferior to any of my Father’s Works.
When I determined to follow that advice , it was a circumftance of great weight with me , that as I never could think myfelf at liberty to deftroy thofe papers which my Father had thought worthy of being preferved , and as I
a 3

VI
Advertisement.
could not know into whofe hands they might hereafter fall, I confidered it as certain that they would be published at fome future period , when they might meet with an Editor, who , not being actuated by the fame facred regard for v the reputation of the Author which I feel, might make alterations and additions, and obtrude the whole on the Public as a genuine and authentic work. The MS. is now published , fuch as it was left by the Author; nor have I prefumed to make any addition , alteration , or corredtion whatever.
W M ROBERTSON.
OUF.FN - STREET, Edinburgh, April 1796.

THE LIFE
O F
THE
AUTHOR.
W illiam Robertson was bom at the parfonage houfe of Borthwick, near Dalkeith, in 1721. His father, a refpe£lable clergyman, and learned in that fpecies of knowledge which occupied the chief attention of Scotch divines in the earlier part of this century , was called to be one of the minifters of the city of Edinburgh, in the Old Grey-friars church. At the High-School William received his claffical education , and thence removed to the Univerlity of the fame place. During his continuance at College, a circumflance happened which tended to ftimulate the exertion of his powers. Young men , fome originally belonging to the fame feminary, others from different Colleges, having formed a connection, inftituted a fmall fociety for literary improvement and philofophical difquifition. Among thefe were Mr. Adam Fergufon from St. Andrews
a 4

VIII
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
Univerfity, fince fo eminent in moral and political fcience; Mr. Hugh Blair, no lefs diftinguilhed in elegant literature than his friend in profound; Mr. John Home, who has fince introduced the Tragic Mufe to the Scottifli woods; Mr. Alexander Carlyle, the inadequacy only of whofe exertions to his powers has precluded the attainment of the fame literary eminence; and Mr. Alexander Wedderburne, diftinguilhed for genius and literary exertions among the ableft youths of the circle in which he then moved, as now by his genius, legal, and parliamentary efforts, in the exalted ' ftation which he fills.
In this juvenile fociety there was, befrdes the ability of its members, another caufe that tended to their improvement: they were not all deftined to the fame profeflion. Scotch ftudents of divinity, during the firft forty years of this century, confined their affociations too much to members of their own body, and thence, naturally, to exclufively, profeffional objefls, and even thofe by no means on the liberal and enlarged plan moft conducive to profeffional utility. Polemic divinity was almoft the foie fubje£t of their inquiries. That ftudy they followed too much, according to the plans handed down from their puritanical predeceffors. Their fermons were deeply tin&ured with the

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. IX
enthufiaftic cant and familiar coarfenefs of the Covenanters. The ability of Profeffor William Hamilton produced the commencement of a favorable change ; the talents and learning of Dr. Wifliart, an increafe of improvement. Still, however, literature and fcience had many obftacles to encounter in the ScottilhUniverfities; nor were they fuch as might have belt formed and directed fuch minds as a Fergufon’s, a Wedderburne’s, and a Robertfon’s. Thefe minds, indeed, were fuch as feldom retain the charafteriftic of any particular feminary; they form and chara&erize themfelves. In a fociety of young men of vigorous talents and different eftimations , there was neceffarily an enlarged circle of fubje£ls of difcuflion. The variety and multiplicity expanded the mind; the conteft of generous emulation lharpened and invigorated the faculties; while the knowledge previoufly neceffary for their exercifes, and the examination it was to undergo, increafed extent and accuracy of attainment, and produced clofe habits of invefligation. The members of the fociety , in whatever particulars they might feverally differ, agreed in being informed, juft, and able reafoners.
Tafte was beginning to advance in Scotland as well as liberal knowledge and fcience. Accuracy

/
X THE LIFE or THE AUTHOR.
and elegance of compofition became prevalent among our afTociated youths, as well as extent and depth of information and powers of difcuffion. Mr. Robertfon’s efforts of youth exhibited thofe charaCteriftics which afterwards hill more ftrongly marked the productions of his manhood. He was diftinguiflied chiefly for his power of combination , for his comprehenfive views, for making the reader or hearer perfectly acquainted with aCtions, their feries, their caufes, and effeCts; for tracing his fubjeCt to the fource, and following it throughout its various branches; for marking the diftinCtive features of each part, and the general alpeCt of the whole; for a clear and fa- tisfaCtory reprefentation of faCts, with their adjuncts ; for a moft acute and perfeCt inveftigation of principle and caufe , and deduCtion of con- fequences. His narrative, abounding in logical and philofophical excellence, was enriched,enlivened , diverfified, and beautified with the pleafmg imagery which vivacity and force of fancy beftow, aided and embellifhed by clearnefs, propriety, and elegance of diCtion.
In 1744, 1 Mr. Robertfon was ordainedminifter of Gladfmuir.
1 The late Dr. Robert Hamilton, the learned, able, and worthy Profeffor of Divinity in Edinburgh , informed the writer

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
XI
The firft public theatre that offered 1 for the difplay of his talents was the General Afiembly of the Church of Scotland. It is the annual meetings of this court that produce to view men who would otherwife remain in the deepefl ob- fcurity. There the humble paftor, whofelothas been call in the remoteft corner of the Highland wilds, feels himfelf, for a time, on a footing of equality with the firft citizen in the kingdom: he can there difpute with him the pr ize of eloquence, the molt flattering diftin£lion to a liberal mind, a diftimftion which is naturally fought after with the greater eagernefs in that afiembly, as the Ample eftablilhment of the church of Scotland has rendered it the only pre-eminence to which the greateft part of its members can ever hope to attain.
The clergy of Scotland have long been divided into two parties: the one has fought for popular favor, by cherifliing thofe fentiments of bigotry and fanaticifm, to which the people there were fo unhappily difpofed: the other has uniformly
of this article that Mr. Robertfon was born in April 1722, and ordained minifter in 1746. He, however, has adopted the common account of his birth and firft preferment, which makes both fomewhat earlier.
2 See Encyclopsdia Britannica, vol. xvi. p. 308.

XII
THE LITE OB THE AUTHOR.
endeavoured to check or to eradicate thofe fenti- ments, and to eftablifh the principles of rational and moderate religion in their place. At the head of the moderate party, when Mr. Robertfon entered the church, was Mr. Thomas Tulideph, Principal of the united College of St. Andrew’s, a gentleman of great talents, clear, manly, and forcible eloquence. A valetudinarian ftate of health not long after prevented Principal Tulideph from taking that a£live concern in the direction of the Affembly that he had beftowed on it while his health permitted the exertion of his vigorous powers.
The clergy began to look on young Robertfon as the man that was deftined to be at the head of the fociety to which he belonged. The penetration , indeed, of principal Tulideph anticipated, in the firft elfays of Robertfon, not only a leader of the church, but a leader of literature, defign- ed to throw a luftre on the body to which he belonged, and on the country which gave him birth. This was an opinion which Mr. Tulideph declared both in public and in private to a confidential friend, on hearing a fpeech from Mr. Robertfon in the alfembly of 1749. 3 Mr.
3 Or about that time. The confidential friend was Mr. Adam Fergufon, minifter of Moulin, in Perthshire; a very

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
XHI
Robertfon was equally able in reply as in opening a queftion; and as there were men of confiderable powers on the oppofite fide, his talents were improved and firengthened by the contention of public debate , as they had at an earlier Rage been invigorated by the juvenile contefis of private focieties.
The firfl publication of Mr. Robertfon was a fermon preached at Edinburgh , before the ‘ Society for propagating Chriftian Knowledge,’ and afterwards publifhed; the fubjeCl of which was, ‘ The Rate of the world at the appearance of Jefus Chrift. ’ In this production the talents of the hiRorian and philofopher were manifefi; the genius which combined fo many circumftances in themfelves detached, and of which the co-operation would have efcaped a writer of ordinary difcernment; and jhowed their tendency to one great objed. This work, publifhed in a collection of fermons by clergymen of the Church of Scotland, and from them entitled the ‘ Scotch Preacher,’ merits the peculiar attention of thofe who would wilh to trace the advancing mind of
O
able fupporter of the moderate party, both when conduced by Principal Tulideph, and afterwards by Dr. Robertfon himfelf. By Mr, Fergnfon it was communicated to the writer of this article.

XIV THE LITE OF THE AUTHOR.
Robertfon. The performance in queftion increaf- ed the reputation which liis eloquence in the AlTembly had procured, and accelerated his ad- miftion to an Edinburgh living.
The chief object which exerted the powers and occupied the attention of Robertfon was the hiftory and character of man, lefs indeed, as a fubjedl of pneumatology than as modified by different periods of civilization, different forms of policy, and other circumftances, either effentially connected or accidentally co-operating with thefe. That the powers of Robertfon were not adequate to the moll profound metaphyfical exertions, it W’ould be prefumptuous to affert ; that he could not have penetrated into the receffes of intellect and affeflion with as much force as Locke and Hutchinfon , or with the more experimental, clofe , and fuccefsful inveftigation of a Reid, it would be arrogance in common men to affirm. In fail, however, it was the aclive force of man, as determined by the Hate of fociety, more than the anatomy of his mind , that Dr. Robertfon confidered.
In 1759 he published , in two volumes quarto “ The Hiftory of Scotland during the Reigns of Queen Mary and King James VI. till his Ac- eeftion to the Crown of England, with a Review
of

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XV.
of the Scots Hiftory previous to that Period. This work, in its llrudure, is one of the moft complete of modern hiftories. It is not a dry jejune narrative of events deftitute of ornament, nor is it a mere frothy relation , all glow and coloring. The hiftorian difcovers a fufficient force of imagination to engage the reader’s attention , with a due proportion of judgment to check the exuberance of fancy. The arrangement of this work is admirable, and the defcriptions are animated. His ftyle is copious, nervous, and correct. Important and interefting as the period itfelf is, one of the chief fources of inhruflion is the exhibition of the inftitutions, manners, and cuitoms of the times , — the government and religion in themfelves, and as affeded by thefe in combination with the events. While chivalry engages our affedions in the caufe of a beautiful and lovely woman in diftrefs, and policy, perhaps men, more actuated by underftanding and lefs by feeling, may conned the fupremacy of Elizabeth , and the annihilation of Mary’s power, with the exiftence of the Proteftant religion and fuccefsful oppofition to the combination of defpotifm, goaded by bigotry; and though virtue cannot approve the motives of the Englifh Queen, nor the means which llie employed, yet patriotifm may rejoice
b

XVI THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOft.
that the machinations of the St. Bartholomew maflacre did not, in England, poffefs an auxiliary; who, though not ofafanguinary difpofition herfelf, was by ties of blood and of faith fo clofely connected with the leaders of the Catholic league.
The opinion ofRobertfon concerning the guilt of Mary has been earnellly difputed by Meffrs. Tytler, Stuart, and Whitaker. To enter into this difcuffion would ill fuit our confined limits. Without inquiring whether his conclufion, refpecl- ing that one fubjeCt, was perfectly juft; we cannot help thinking, that even on thatfubjedl, according to the evidence before him, his inference was probable, and his x'eafoning on the means of afcertaining acceflary guilt very able. Whether Mary, however, was innocent or guilty, is only a ftngle queftion, the folution of which either way does not affeft this work as an obje£t of criticifm, and an acceflion to philofophical hiftory. One of the chief excellencies in the Hiftory of Scotland, after importance of narrative, perfpicuity of arrangement, exhibition of human nature in general, is the portraits of particular charadlers. Even the character of Mary herfelf is drawn by the hand of a mafter, with the moft vigorous conception, moft acute, and nice difcrimination, and even,,,we will not hefftate to fay, with a

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
XVII
mo ft candid liberality, according to the faffs that he had contemplated
’ For his firft publication the profits of Dr. Ro-
bertfon were very inconfiderable for fo valuable a work. We have heard that the copy-right w r as [ fold for three hundred pounds. But the fuccefs
of the work gave Dr. Robertfon a very high * place in the temple of Fame. Hume only pre-
' vented him from the highefi place among modern
hiflorians.
In 1761 Dr. Robertfon was appointed Principal of the Univerfity; foon after Hifloriographer 3 to his Majefty for Scotland, and one of his Ma-
^ jefty’s Chaplains for that kingdom.
:r Dr. Robertfon became now acquainted with
y men of the higheft rank in the literary and
:I political world. In the habits of intimacy with
Johnfon , the vigorous and penetrating mind of
}’■ Robertfon comprehended the character of that
af
4 The reader will obferve that we limit our obfervation in entirely to the teftimony which Dr. Robertfon himfelf had con-
fidered, as he found it in the writings of the liiftorians of the time, and the inferences to which Mary’s conduit both before 2 nd after the death of her husband, led contemporary and )US fnbfequent writers to draw, and apparently without any grofs
violation of probability. We are far from affecting that both direct teftimony and probable inference may not have been , a overturned by ftronger teftimony and ftronger reafoning.
b 2

XVXir THE LIFE OF TIIE AUTHOR.
extraordinary man; admired his acute, forcible, and profound underflanding; rich, Rrong, and brilliant imagination, and moll retentive memory, flored with the moil accurate and extenfive knowledge; but did not, like fome of the intimates of the Litchfield fage, admit him to be equally able on every fubjeft. Mafterly as were the writings of Johnfon in philology , criticifm , biography, and ethics, Robertfon would by no means allow him equal merit in politics, and confi- dered his bright underRanding, when exercifed on Rich fubje£ls , as darkened by the narrow prejudices of high-church bigotry. Robertfon became alfo well acquainted with Edmund Burke; who, as the friend of liberty, without licentioufnefs; of order, without arbitrary power; of religion, without bigotry; was infentiments more congenial to Robertfon himfelf.
The fuccefs of his RrR great literary effort encouraged him to farther exertion. Delineation of man was his favorite employment. He had already traced him as modified by the eReels of the northern irruptions into the Roman Empire by feudal inflitutions which the conquefis of the northern invaders produced, by the manners refulting from thofe infiitutions, and from religion. But his difquifitions had been chiefly confined

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
XIX
to man in one country. In the natural progrefs of a great mind, expanding its views as it advanced in acquirement, he took a much wider furvey of the phenomena of human nature, and of the caufes by which thefe were affe£ied. He projefled a work which should connect ancient to modern man; fhould lhow how the human chara&er had degenerated in Europe from the time of the Romans ; and following it to the loweft abyfs of darknefs, ignorance, and barbarifm, mark its beginning efforts to rife; attend it in its progrefs; defcribe its exertions until it reached a period of light, knowledge, and civilization. He chdfe as his fubjed the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. ‘ It was/ as he obferves in his preface, ‘during his adminiftration that the powers of Europe were formed into one great political fyflem , in which each took a ftation, wherein it has fince remained, with lefs variation than could have been expelled after the fliocks occafioned by fc many internal revolutions, and fo many foreign wars. The great events which happened then have not hitherto fpent their force. The political principles and maxims then eftablilhed ftill continue to operate. The ideas concerning the balance of power, then introduced or rendered general, Rill influence the councils of nations. ’ The firit
b 3

XX THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
volume contains a view of the progrefs of fociety in Europe , from the fubverfion of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the fixteenth century.
A critical inveftigation of fo celebrated a work as the Hiftory of Charles V. would be fuperfluous. Amidft a great variety of fubordinate excellence, its leading charafteriftics are, the combination of every material either of fa£l or refleflion, which can exhibit the atlual Hate of fociety at the time defcribed, and extend our knowledge of man as a focial, civil, and political being; with that lucid arrangement which refults from a mind of the moil penetrating difcernment and enlarged comprehenfion; viewing every part and relation of its fubjefts, and the whole together; informing us concerning man’s aflual ftate at diiTerent periods, and inftrufting us in the means of meliorating his character and condition. The clearnefs and force of the language was an adequate, and its elegance and harmony a pleahng vehicle of vvifdom.
The Hiftory of Charles V. was fold for 4,5ool. and publifhed in 1769. The publication of this performance extended over Europe a literary reputation that had before been chiefly confined to Britain.
This hiftory made only part of the great plan according to which Robertfon had projected to

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
XXI
f delineate man. He had there traced European
i fociety as influenced by caufes belonging to Europe
I' itfelf; another object difcovered at the conclufion
't of the period of his retrofpefi was pregnant with
is. events and confequences mod important to the
Si European Hates; and thus a fubje£l of political
of inveftigation : while it prefented man under a
ch different afpe£t from any of thofe we had formerly
k beheld; and thus afforded matter for the mod
a i momentous, philofophical, and moral inquiries.
:at An hidorian of lefs fkill and genius might have
of probably confidered the difcovery of America in
red its mere relation to the power or opulence of
ion the Spanifh Empire during that period. The
jig genius of Robertfon was not for viewing a fubjedl
ds, in fo detached lights. ‘ Every (he fays, in his
his preface to Charles V.) intelligent reader will ob-
irce ferve one omiflion in my work , the reafon of
nee which it is neceffary to explain. I have given
no account of the conqueds of Mexico and Peru, ool, or of the edablifliment of the Spanifh colonies in
this the continent and iflands of America. The hidory
K . of thefe events I originally intended to have relat-
ined ed at conflderable length. But upon a nearer
and more attentive confideration of this part of ilaii my plan , I found that the difcovery of the New
j to World; the date of fociety among its ancient
b 4

XXII THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
inhabitants; their charafter, manners, and arts; the genius of the European fettlements in its various provinces, together with the influence of thefe upon the fyftems of policy or commerce in Europe, were fubje&s fo fplendid and important, that a fuperficial view of them could afford little fatisfaftion; and, on the other hand, to treat of them as extenfively as they merited, rnuft produce an epifode difproportionate to the principal. I have, therefore, referved thefe for a feparate hiftory; which, if the performance now offered to the public fliall receive its approbation, I pur- pofe to undertake. ’
Views s and fketches of the New World had been given by able writers: and fplendid portions of the American ftory had been adorned with all the beauties of eloquence. But prior to the appearance of Dr. Robertfon’s hiftory, no author Rad bellowed the mature and profound inveftiga- tion which fuch a fubjeft required, or had finiflied, upon a regular plan, that complete narration and perfe£f whole which it is the province of the hiftorian to tranfmit to pofterity. The hiftory of the New World 6 gives us the fpe&acle of favage
S See Encvclopxdia Britannica, vol. xvi. p. 309.
s Sec Monthly Review , vol. lvii. p. 47.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XXIII
life in a more perfect form than it is elfewhere to be found. In other records we fee men in a low degree of civilization, and mark the progrefs and improvement of our fpecies; here only we remount to the firft footfleps of the human race; we trace the nations from the nurfery and the cradle, and behold man in his original ftate, new from the hand of nature.
Dr. Robertfon gives therefore a ftriking proof of his judgment in bellowing fo much learned refearch, and devoting fo large a part of his book to illullrate the early Hate of the American nations. In the fourth book of his firft volume, he difplays fo much patient inveftigation and found philofophy; abounds in fuch beautiful and interefting defcrip- tion; and exhibits fuch variety and copioufnefs of elegant writing; that future times will probably refer to it as that part of his works which gives the bell idea of his genius, and is the moft finilhed of all his productions. In his inquiries into the bodily conftitution of the Americans, the qualities of their minds; their domeftic, civil, and political ftate and inftitutions; their arts, their religion, their manners, and their cuftoms; he, inftead of imputing their character and condition to phyfical nature, with vigorous and ftrong fenfe, and found philofophy, afcribes them to moral and political

XXIV THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
caufes. The hiftory is a very important addition to Britifli ftores of hiftorical information , philo- fophical inflruflion, and elegant literature. By his Hiftory of America he not only fupported, but increafed his fame.
Engaged as Robertfon was in laborious refearch and profound inveftigation , he ftill continued to be the leading clergyman in the General Affembly. The chiefpoint of debate,among the reprefentatives of the Scottifli church, was concerning the gift of livings. The moderate party approved of the difpofition eftabliflied by the law of patronage; their opponents were anxious for popular elections; and not without policy, as, if the populace were to be the electors, an ignorant, fuperficial, declamatory, puritanical demagogue might have procured the popular voice in preference to a Leechman, a Campbell, or a Robertfon.
In 1778, a motion having been made by one of the leaders of the popular party (in which there were not wanting men ofconfiderable ability) for petitioning the legiflature not to extend to Scotland a late a£t for relieving the Catholics in England, Dr. Campbell replied in a fpeech of great acutenefs, chiefly irony. Mr. Dundas, the chief Lay member of the affembly, perceiving that a conftderable part of the mover's arguments

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XXV
proceeded on very ignorant affumption concerning its origin, with his ufual clearnefs, and accuracy of hiftorical knowledge, hated to the houfe the precife and fpecial circumftances that had led the legiflature, at a particular junflure in the reign of King William , to enafl the law in queftion ; and with his accuftomed ftrength demonftrated the abfurdity and injuftice of fufFering a- law affecting a numerous body of people to remain nnrepealed , when the fpecial reafons for it had ceafed. Dr. Robertfon argued on the fame fide as his friend Mr. Dundas; and proved the Catholic character, in civilized countries, to have loft great part of its noxious nature, and confequently to be no longer defervedly fubjedled to reftri£lions formerly expedient, and even neceffary. The moderate leaders became extremely unpopular. Puritanical incendiaries reprefented Dr. Robertfon as favorable to the eftablifliment of the Catholic faith. Affociations were formed by mechanics and manufacturers, to oppofe popery, and ex- prefs their reprobation of thofe clergy who had, they faid, betrayed the caufe of the prelbytery, and were engaged in an unlawful commerce with the lady of Babylon; the weavers ofGlafgow, Renfrew and Paifley difplaying a peculiar zeal againftthe doctrines of Anti-chrift. The puritanical

XXVI THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
papaphobia was again becoming violent. The populace was inflamed , and rofe to tumult and riot in various places. At Edinburgh , a party of thofe enlightened theologians, the Leith failors, took the lead in ftirring up vengeance againft the enemies of that religion , for th« knowledge and practice of which they were themfelves fo eminently diftinguiflied. Affifted by many other divines, they fet fire to chapels and houfes of the papifts. They threatened to deftroy the houfe of Dr. Robertfon ; but a guard of foldiers fecured every avenue to the college; and before thefe precautions were taken, even his perfon might not have efcaped from fanatical fury, had he not taken refuge in the Caftle of Edinburgh.
In the following Aflembly, in May 1779, on a queftion relative to the Catholic laws , Dr. Robertfon made a fpeech, in which both fides of the houfe allowed that he had equalled if not furpafled the beft former efforts of his own eloquence ; and proved to the fatisfa£!ion even of his opponents, that his conduft had been fuch, in the whole of the bufinefs, as to merit their approbation. For fome years after this little bufinefs occurred before the Aflembly that could call forward the talents of a Robertfon,

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XXVII
he retired from that theatre on which he had fo long eminently diftinguifhed himfelf.
In 1787 appeared a tranflation of the Abbe Clavigero’s Hiftory of Mexico; in which work the author threw out various reflections, tending in feveral points to impeach the credit of Dr. Ro- bertfon’s Hiftory of America. This attack induced our learned hiftorian to revife his work, and to inquire into the truth of the charges brought agairift it by the hiftorian of New Spain; and this he appears to have done with a becoming attention to the importance of the facts that are controverted, and to the common interefts of truth. The refult he publiflied in 1788, under the title of c Additions and Corrections to the former Editions of Dr. Robertfon’s Hiftory of America.’ In many of the difputed paffages , he fully anfwered the Abbe Clavigero, and vindicated himfelf: in others, he candidly fubmitted to correction, and thus gave additional value to his own work 7 .
In 1791 he publiflied an ‘Hiftorical Difquifi- tion concerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India , and the Progrefs of Trade with that Country prior to the Difcovery of the Paffage to it by the Cape of Good Hope; with
7 See Encyclopsdia Britanniea, vol. xvi. p. 309.

XXVIII THE TI EE OF THE AUTHOR.
an Appendix , containing obfervations on the Civil Polity, the Laws, and Judicial Proceedings, the Arts, the Sciences, and Religious Inftitu- tions of the Indians. ’ The perufal of Major Rennell’s Memoir , for illuftrating his map of Indoftan, fuggefted to Dr. Robertfon the defign of examining more fully than he had done , in his Hiftory of America , into the knowledge which the ancients had of India , and of con- fidering what is certain, what is obfcure , and what is fabulous , in their accounts of that remote country. This was not the only fubject which employed his literary exertions after his retirement from public life. The laft year gave to the world the prefent, very valuable pofthu- mous work.
Dr. Robertfon had long enjoyed a very vigorous conftitution ; but about the year 1789 his health began to decline. He was feized with a lingering illnefs, which he bore with a fortitude worthy of his philofophical mind, and the re- ftgnation of a Chriftian Miniller. After frequent intermillions, his diftemper, in 1793, became more feverfe than ever. On the 11th of June he breathed his laft , at Grange - Houfe , his country - feat, near Edinburgh.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XXIX
The clofe and vigorous application which, through a long life, enabled Dr. Robertfon’s great intellectual powers to leave monuments of delight and inftruclion to the remote!! pofterity, did not prevent him from enjoying the pleafures of fecial intercourfe. He was very happy in his own family, had great pleafure in parties of friends and intimates , and not unfrequently joined in larger and more mixed companies. He was no enemy to the convivial meetings which Scottifh hofpitality fo often produces in the good town of Edinburgh. In company he was extremely entertaining; he had a great fund of agreeable anecdote , facetious humor, and an excellent colleclion of good Rories, which he told with much pleafantry and point. Although, as a difcriminating obferver and able painter, he could bring forward very Rrong and poignant fatire when he chofe j yet he was far from being habitually fatirical. In his common converfation you muR fee that he was a very acute, difcern- ing , and facetious man: you might difcover that he was a wife man : but he did not exhibit his wifdom for the mere oRentatious difplay of fu- periority. In his manners he was affable, pleaf- ing, and unaffuming: in the various relations of life, exemplary and eRimable.

XXX THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
Dr. Robertfon was rather under the middle fize, well proportioned, and llrongly limbed. His countenance, though not handfome , indicated amiablenefs of difpofxtion , and expreffed the force of his underftanding. His dark eyes were uncommonly penetrating.
The Do£lor left three fons and two daughters. The eldelt fon is Procurator for the Church of Scotland, and an Advocate. The other two are officers in the army; and one of them diftinguifh- ed himfelf under Lord Cornwallis , in fuch a manner as to command the waraneft praife from that illuftrious General.
THE

HISTORY
ot AMERICA.
are
h a ici
HE
BOOK IX.
* he dominions of Great Britain in America are next in extent to thofe of Spain. Its acquifi- tions there are a recompence due to thofe enter- prifing talents which prompted the Englilh to enter early on the career of difcovery, and to purfue it with perfevering ardor. England was the fecond nation that ventured to vifit the New World. The account of Columbus’s fuccefsful voyage filled all Europe with aftonilhment and admiration. But in England it did fomething more; it excited a vehement defire of emulating the glory of Spain, and of aiming to obtain fome fhare in thofe advantages which were expected in this new field opened to national aftivity. The attention of the Englifh court had been turned towards the difcovery of unknown countries, by its negociation with Bartholemew Columbus. Henry VII. having littered to his propolitions
B
BOOK IX. Spirit of adventure awakened iu England by Columbus’s difcwvsiiesi

BOOK
IX.
checked by unfkilfulnefs in navigation;
a HISTORY OF AMERICA.
with a more favorable ear than could have been expected from a cautious, diftruftful prince, averfe by habit as well as by temper to new and hazardous projedls, he was more eafily induced to approve of a voyage for difcovery, propofed by fome of his own fubjects, foon after the return of Chrillopher Columbus.
But though the Engliili had fpirit to form this fcheme, they had not, at that period, attained to fuch fkill in navigation as qualified them for carrying it into execution. From the inconliderate ambition of its monarchs, the nation had long wafted its genius and activity in pernicious and ineffeftual efforts to conquer France. When this ill-dire£led ardor began to abate, the fatal conteft between the houfes of York and Lancafter turned the arms of one half of the kingdom againft the other, and exhaufted the vigor of both. During the courfe of two centuries, while induftry and commerce were making gradual progrefs, both in the fouth and north of Europe, the Englilh continued fo blind to the advantages of their own fituation, that they hardly began to bend their thoughts towards thofe objects and purfuits, to which they are indebted for their prefent opulence and power. While the trading veffels of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as well as thofe of the Hans Towns, vifited the moft remote ports in Europe, and carried on an a£five interconrfe with its various nations, the Englifli did little more than creep along their own coafts, in fmall barks, #vhich conveyed the productions of one county to

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
3
another. Their commerce was almoft wholly paflive. Their wants were fupplied by Grangers; and whatever neceflary or luxury of life their own country did not yield, was imported in foreign bottoms. The crofs of St. George was feldom difplayed beyond the precinfts of the narrow feas. Hardly any Englifh lhip traded with Spain or Portugal, before the beginning of the fifteenth century; and half a century more elapfed before the Englilh mariners became fo adventurous as to enter the Mediterranean.
In this infancy of navigation, Henry could not commit the conduct of an armament, deftined to explore unknown regions, to his own fubje&s. He inverted Giovanni Gaboto, a Venetian adventurer, who had fettled in Briftol, with the chief command; and iffued a commiffion to him and his three fons, empowering them to fail, under the banner of England, towards the eaft, north or weft, in order to difcover countries unoccupied by any Chriftian flate; to take poffeffion of them in his name, and to carry on an exclufive trade with the inhabitants, under condition of paying a fifth part of the free profit on every voyage to the crown. This commirtion was granted on March 5 th, 1495, in lefs than two years after the return of Columbus from America *. But Cabot (for that is the name he affumed in England, and by which he is belt known) did not fet out on his voyage for two years. He, together with his
I Hakluyt, iii. 4,
B 2
BOOK
IX-
Expedition from Briftof* under the command of Cabot*

4
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
XX.
1497.
May.
Cabot difco- vers Newfoundland , and fails along the coaft of Virginia.
June 24*
fecond fon Sebaftian, embarked at Briftol, on board a fiiip furniOied by the king, and was accompanied by four fmall barks, fitted out by the merchants of that city.
As in that age the moft eminent navigators, formed by the inftrudions of Columbus, or animated by his example, were guided by ideas derived from his fuperior knowledge and experience, Cabot had adopted die fyftem of that great man , concerning the probability of opening a new and Jiiorter paifage to die Eaft Indies, by holding a rveftern courfe. The opinion which Columbus had formed, with refpeft to the iflands which he had difeovered, was univerfally received. They were fuppofed to lie contiguous to the great continent of India, and to conftitute a part of the vaft countries comprehended under that general name. Cabot, accordingly, deemed it probable, that by fleering to the north-weft, he might reach India by a lhorter courfe than that which Columbus had taken, and hoped to fall in with the coaft of Cathay, or China, of whofe fertility and opulence the deferiptions of Marco Polo had excited high ideas. After failing for fome weeks due weft, and nearly on the parallel of the port from which he took his departure, he difeovered a large ifland , which he called Prima Vijla , and his f.iilors Newfoundland; and in a few days he deferied a fmaller ifle, to which he gave the name of St. John. He landed on both thefe, made fome obfervations on their foil and productions, and brought off three of the

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
5
natives. Continuing his courfe weftward, he foon reached the continent of North America, and failed along it from the fifty-fixth to the thirty- eighth degree of latitude, from the coaft of Labrador to that of Virginia. As his chief objefl was to difcover fome inlet that might open a paffage to the weft, it does not appear that he landed any where during this extenlive run; and he returned to England, without attempting either fettlementor conqueftinanypartofthatcontinent 2 .
If it had been Henry’s purpofe to profecute the objecft of the commiflion given by him to Cabot, and to take poffefiion of the countries which he had difcovered, the fuccefs of this voyage muft have anfwered his moft fanguine expectations. His fubjeCls were, undoubtedly, the firft Europeans who had vilited that part of the American continent, and were entitled to whatever right of property prior difcovery is fuppofed to confer. Countries which ftretched in an uninterrupted courfe through fuch a large portion of the temperate zone, opened a profpeCl of fettling to advantage under mild climates, and in a fertile foil. But by the time that Cabot returned to England, he found both the ftate of affairs and the king’s inclination unfavorable to any fcheme the execution of which would have required tranquillity and leifure. Henry was involved in a war with Scotland, and his kingdom was not yet fully compofed after the commotion excited by a
- Monfon’s Naval Traits, in Churchill’s Collett. iii. an.
B 3
BOOK
IX.
Henry does not profit by Cabot's difcovery i

6
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book formidable infurrection of his own fubjects in the Ix ‘ weft. An ambaffador from Ferdinand of Arragort was then in London; and as Henry fet a high value upon the friendfliip of that monarch, for whofe character he profeffed much admiration, perhaps from its fimilarity to his own, and was endeavouring to ftrengthen their union by nego- ciating the marriage which afterwards took place between his eldeft fon and the princefs Catharine, he was cautious of giving any offence to a prince , jealous to excefs of all his rights. From the po- fition of the iflands and continent which Cabot had difcovered, it was evident that they lay within the limits of the ample donative which the bounty of Alexander VI. had conferred upon Ferdinand and Ifabella. No perfon , in that age, queftioned the validity of a papal grant; and Ferdinand was not of a temper to relinquiih any claim to which he had a lliadow of title. Submilfion to the authority of the Pope, and deference for an ally whom he courted, feem to have concurred with Henry’s own fituation, in determining him to abandon a fcheme, in which he had engaged with forne degree of ardor and expectation. No attempt towards difcovery was made in England during the remainder of his reign ; and Sebaftian Cabot, finding no encouragement for his active talents there, entered into the fervice of Spain 3.
3 Some fchemes of difcovery feem to have been formed in England towards the beginning of the fixteenth century. But as there is no other memorial of them, than what remains in a patent granted by the king to the adventurers, it is probable

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 7
This is the mod probable account of the fudden book ceffation of Henry’s activity, after fuch fuccefs in nor im his firft effay as might have encouraged him to mediate rue. perfevere. The advantages of commerce, as well ceffots - as its nature, were fo little underftood in England about this period, that by an adl of parliament in the year 1488, the taking of intereft for the ufe of money was prohibited under fevere penalties h And by another law, the profit arifing from dealing in bills of exchange was condemned as favouring of ufury h It is not furprifing, then, that no great effort ihould be made to extend trade, by a nation whofe commercial ideas were ftill fo crude and illiberal. But it is more difficult to difcover what prevented this fcheme of Henry VII. from being refumed during the reigns of his fon and grandfon; and to give any reafon why no attempt was made, either to explore the northern continent of America more fully, or to fettle in it.
Henry VIII. was frequently at open enmity with Spain: the value of the Spanifh acqnifitions in America had become fowell known, as might have excited his defire to obtain fome footing in thofe
that they were feeble or abortive proje&s. If any attempt had been made in confequence of this patent, it would not have efca- ped the knowledge of a compiler fo induftrious and inquifitive as Hakluyt. In his patent, Henry reftrifts the adventurers from encroaching on the countries difcovered by the kings of Portugal, or any other prince in confederacy with England. Ry. mer’s Fmdera, vol. xiii. p. 57.
B 4
4 3 Hen. VII. c. 5.
S Ibid. c. 6.

6
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book formidable infurre&ion of his own fubjeCls in the Ix ‘ weft. An ambaftador from Ferdinand of Arragort was then in London 5 and as Henry fet a high value upon the friendfliip of that monarch, for whofe charafler he profeffed much admiration, perhaps from its fimilarity to his own, and was endeavouring to ftrengthen their union by nego- ciating the marriage W'hich afterwards took place between his eldeft fon and the princefs Catharine, he was cautious of giving any offence to a prince , jealous to excefs of all his rights. From the po- fition of the iflands and continent which Cabot had difcovered, it was evident that they lay within the limits of the ample donative which the bounty of Alexander VI. had conferred upon Ferdinand and Ifabella. No perfon , in that age, queftioned the validity of a papal grant; and Ferdinand was not of a temper to relinquilh any claim to which he had a fliadow of title. Submidion to the authority of the Pope, and deference for an ally whom he courted, feem to have concurred with Henry’s own fituation, in determining him to abandon a fcheme, in which he had engaged with forne degree of ardor and expectation. No attempt towards difcovery was made in England during the remainder of his reign; and Sebaftian Cabot, finding no encouragement for his aClive talents there, entered into the fervice of Spain 3.
S Some fchemes of difcovery feem to have been formed in England towards the beginning of the lixteenth century. But as there is no other memorial of them, than what remains in a patent granted by the king to the adventurers, it is probable

HISTORY OF AMERICA. y
This is the moft probable account of the fudden book ceffation of Henry’s activity, after fuch fuccefs in nor im his firft effay as might have encouraged him to mediate Cue* perfevere. The advantages of commerce, as well ceffors ‘ as its nature, were fo little underftood in England about this period, that by an adl of parliament in the year 1488, the taking of intereft for the ufe of money was prohibited under fevere penalties \
And by another law, the profit arifing from dealing in bills of exchange was condemned as favouring of ufury h It is not furprifing, then, that no great effort fhould be made to extend trade, by a nation whofe commercial ideas were ftill fo crude and illiberal. But it is more difficult to difcover what prevented this fcheme of Henry VII. from being refumed during the reigns of his fon and grandfon; and to give any reafon why no attempt was made, either to explore the northern continent of America more fully, or to fettle in it.
Henry VIII, was frequently at open enmity with Spain: the value of the Spanifh acquifitions in America had become fowell known, as might have excited his defire to obtain fome footing in thofe
that they were feeble or abortive proje&s. If any attempt had been made in confequence of this patent, it would not have efcar- ped the knowledge of a compiler fo induftrious and inqnifitive as Hakluyt. In his patent, Henry reftri&s the adventurers front encroaching on the countries difcovered by the kings of Portugal, or any other prince in confederacy with England. Ry. mer’s Fcedera, vol. xiii. p. 57.
B i
4 j Hen. VII. e. 5.
S Ibid. c. &

8
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book opulent regions; and during a confiderable part 1X ' of his reign, the prohibitions in a papal bull would not have reftrained him from making encroachment upon the Spanifli dominions. But the reign of Henry was not favorable to the progrefs of difcovery. During one period of it, the adlive part which he took in the aifairs of the continent, and the vigor with which he engaged in the con- teft between the two mighty rivals, Charles Y. and Francis I., gave full occupation to the er.ter- prifing fpirit both of the king and of his nobility. During another period of his adminiftration, his famous controverfy with the court of Rome kept the nation in perpetual agitation and fufpenfe. Engroffed by thofe obje£ls, neither the king nor the nobles had inclination or leifure to turn their attention to newpurfuits; and without their patronage and aid, the commercial part of the nation was too inconfiderable to make any effort of con- fequence. Though England, by its total reparation from the church of Rome, foon after the acceffion of Edward VI., difclaimed that authority, which, by its prefumptuous partition of the globe between two favorite nations, circumfcribed the activity of every other Rate within very narrow limits, yet a. feeble minority, diftracfled with faction, was not a juncture for forming fchemes of doubtful fuccefs and remote utility. The bigotry of Mary, and her marriage with Philip, difpofed her to pay a facred regard to that grant of the Holy See, which vefted in a hufband, on whom Hie doted, an exclufive right to every part of the New World.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
9
Thus, through a Angular fucceffion of various caufes, fixty-one years elapfed from the time that the Englilli difcovered North America, during ■which their monarchs gave little attention to that country which was deflined to be annexed to their crown, and to be a chief fource of its opulence and power.
But though the public contributed little towards the progrefs of difcovery, naval fk.il 1, knowledge of commerce, and a fpirit of enterprife , began to fpread among the Englifh. During the reign of Henry VIII. feveral new channels of trade were opened, and private adventurers vifited remote countries with which England had formerly no intercourfe. Some merchants of Briftol having fitted out two fliips for the fouthern regions of America, committed the conduit of them to Sebaftian Cabot, who had quitted the fervice of Spain. He vifited the coafts of Brafil, and touched at the ifiands of Hifpaniola and Puerto Rico; and though this voyage feems not to have been beneficial to the adventurers, it extended the fphere of Englilli navigation, and added to the national ftock of nautical fcience 6 . Though difappointed in their •expectations of profit in this firft effay, the merchants were not difcouraged. They fent, fuccef- fively, feveral veflels from different ports towards the fame quarter, and feem to have carried on an interloping trade in the Portuguefe fettlements with fuccefs ?. Nor was it only towards the weft,
BOOK
IX.
Expedition to South America, under the command of Sebaftian Cabot.
I$IS.
f, Hakluyt, iii. 498. 7 Ibid. iii. 700.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book
ix.
TTnfuccefsful attempts to difcover a north-weft paflage to the Indies.
I<*27 and t?3S.
Sir Hugh Willoughby • fails in fearch of a north- eaft pa flag e.
IO
that the activity of the Englifh was direfled. Other merchants began to extend their commercial views to the eaft; and by eftahlifhing an intercourfe with feveral ifiands in the Arcliipelago, and with fome of the towns on the coaft of Syria, they found a- new market for woollen cloths, (the only manufacture which the nation had begun to cultivate,) and fupplied their countrymen with various productions of the eaft, formerly unknown, or received from the Venetians at an exorbitant price s .
But the difcovery of a Ihorter paflage to the Eaft Indies, by the north-weft, was ftiil the favorite project of the nation, which beheld, with envy, the vaft wealth that flowed into Portugal, from its commerce with thofe regions. The fcheme was accordingly twice refumed under the long admi- niftration of Henry VIII.; firft, with fome flender aid from the king, and then by private merchants. Both voyages were difaftrous and unfuccefsful. In the former, one of the fliips was loft. In the latter, the ftock of provifions was fo illproportioned to the number of the crew, that although they were but fix months at fea, many periflied with hunger, and the furvivors were conftrained to fup- port life by feeding on the bodies of their dead companions 9 .
The vigor of the commercial fpirit did not relax in the reign of Edward VI. The great fifliery on the banks of Newfoundland became an objeCi of attention; and from fome regulations for the
8 Hakluyt, ii. 96, &c.
9 Ibid. i. 113, iii. 119,13a.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
encouragement of that branch of trade, it feems book to have been profecuted with activity and fuc- IX ' cefs But the profpe£f of opening a communication with China and the Spice Iflands, by fome other route than round the Cape of Good Hope, ftill continued to allure the Englifli, more than any fcheme of adventure. Cabot, whofe opinion was defervedly of high authority in whatever related to naval enterprife, warmly urged the Eng- lilh to make another attempt to difcover this paf- fage. As it had been thrice fearched for in vain , by fleering towards the north-weft, he propofed that a trial fhould now be made by the north-eaftj and fupported this advice by fuch plaufible rea- fons and conjectures, as excited fanguine expectations of fuccefs. Several noblemen and perfons of rank, together with fome principal merchants, having affociated for this purpofe, were incorporated, by a charter from the king, under the title of The Company of Merchant Adventurers for the Difcovery of Regions, Dominions, Iflands, and Places unknown. Cabot, who was appointed governor of this company, foon fitted -out two m*. fhips and a bark, furniflied with inftrudlions in his own hand, which difcover the great extent both of his naval fkill and mercantile fagacity.
Sir Hugh Willoughby, who was intrufted with May ze; the command, flood directly northwards along the coaft ofNorway, and doubled the North Cape,
But in that tempeftuous ocean, his final! fquadron
io Hakluvt, iii. iji.

12
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book was feparated in a violent ftorm. Willoughby’s IX ‘ fliip and the bark took refuge in an obfcure harbour in a defert part of Ruffian Lapland, where he and all his companions were frozen to death, waioughby Richard Chancelour, the captain of the other vefiel, onasTiiips' 0 was more fortunate; he entered the White Sea, winters at and wintered in fafety at Archangel. Though no Archangel. ve ff e i D f an y foreign nation had ever vifited that quarter of the globe before, the inhabitants received their new vifitors -with an hofpitality which would have done honor to a more polilhed people. The Englilli learned there, that this was a province of a vaft empire, fubjedl to the Great Duke or Czar of Mufcovy, wdio refided in a great city twelve hundred miles from Archangel. Chancelour, with a fpirit becoming an officer employed The captain in an expedition for difcovcry, did not helitate a vlD t sMofcow .moment about the part which he ought to take, and fet out for that diftant capital. On his arrival in Mofcow, he was admitted to audience, and delivered a letter which the captain of each fliip had received from Edward VI. for the fovereign of whatever country they iliould difcover, to John Vafilowitz, who at that time filled the Ruffian throne. John, though he ruled over his fubjedls with the cruelty and caprice of a barbarous defpot, was not deftitute of political fagacity. He inftantly perceived the happy confequences that might flow from opening an intercourfe between his dominions and the weftern nations of Europe; and, delighted with the fortunate event to which he was indebted for this unexpected benefit, he treated

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i3
Chancelour with great refpefl; and, by a letter to the king of England, invited his fubjefts to trade in the Ruffian dominions, with ample pro- mifes of protection and favor Ir .
Chancelour, on his return, found Mary feated on the Engliffi throne. The fuccefs of this voyage, the difcovery of a new courfe of navigation, the eftabliffiment of commerce with a vaft empire, the name of which was then hardly known in the w'eft, and the hope of arriving, in this direChon, at thofe regions which had been fo long the objeCl of defire , excited a wonderful ardor to profecute the delign with greater vigor. Mary, implicitly guided by herhufband in every aft of adminiftration, was not unwilling to turn the commercial aftivity of her fubjefts towards a quarter, where it could not excite the jealoufy of Spain, by encroaching on its polfeffions in the New World. She wrote to John Vafilowitz in the moll refpeftful terms, courting his friendlhip. She confirmed the charter of Edward VI., empowered Chancelour, and two agents appointed by the Company, to nego- ciate with the Czar in her name; and according to the fpirit of that age, ffie granted an exclufive right of trade with Ruffia to the Corporation of Merchant Adventurers ls . In virtue of this, they not only eftablifhed an aftive and gainful commerce with Ruffia, but, in hopes- of reaching China, they pufiied their difcoveries eafhvards to the coaft ofNovaZembla, the Straits of Waigatz,
BOOK
IX.
Feb. 1554.
Trade opened with Ruffia.
11 Hakluyt, i . 216 . &c. *2 Ibid.. a$ 3 , &c.

H
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Communication with India by land.
Expedition to the coaft of Africa.
and towards the mouth of the great river Oby. But in tliofe frozen feas, which Nature feems not to have deftined for navigation, they were expo- fed to innumerable difafters, and met with fuccef- five difappointments.
Nor were their attempts to open a communication with India made only in this channel. They appointed fome of their factors to accompany the Ruffian caravans, which travelled into Periia by the way of Aftracan and the Cafpian Sea, inftruc- ting them to penetrate as far as poffible towards the eaft, and to endeavour, not only to dlablifh a trade with thofe countries, but to acquire every information that might afford any light towards the difcovery of a paffage to China by the north- eaft T 3. Notwithftanding a variety of dangers to which they were expofed in travelling through fo many provinces, inhabited by fierce and licentious nations, fome of thefe faflors reached Bokara, in the province of Chorafan; and though prevented from advancing farther by the civil wars which defolated the country, they returned to Europe with fome hopes of extending the commerce of the Company into Perfia, and with much intelligence concerning the ftate of thofe remote regions of the eaft I *.
The fuccefsful progrefs of the Merchant Adventurers in difcovery, roufed the emulation of their countrymen, and turned their a£iivity into new channels. A commercial intercourfe, hitherto
J 3 Hakluyt, i. 301, 14 Ibid. 310, &e.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
i5
unattempted by the Englilh, having been opened with the coaft of Barbary, the fpecimens which that afforded of the valuable productions of Africa , invited fome enterprihng navigators to vifit the more remote provinces of that quarter of the globe. They failed along its weftern Ihore, traded in different ports on both fides of the Line, and after acquiring confiderable knowledge of thofe countries, returned with a cargo of gold-duft, ivory, and other rich commodities, little known at that time in England, This commerce with Africa feems to have been purfued with vigor, and was at that time no lefs innocent than lucrative; for as the Englilh had then no demand for flaves, they carried it on for many years, without violating the rights of humanity. Thus far did the Englilh advance during a period which may be confidered as the infant ftate of their navigation and commerce ; and feeble as its Heps at that time may appear to us, we trace them with an interefting curiolity,and look back with fatisfaftion to the early effays of that fpirit which we now behold in the full maturity of its flrength. Even in thofe firft efforts of the Englilh, an intelligent obferver will difcern prefages of their future improvement. As foon as the adivity of the nation was put in motion, it took various direClions, and exerted itfelf in each with that Heady, perfevering induftry, which is the foul and guide of commerce. Neither discouraged by the hardlhips and dangers to which they were expofed in thofe northern feas which they firft attempted to explore, nor afraid of
BOOH
IX.

BOOK
IX.
Reign of Eli* zabeth aufpi- cioits to dif- covery.
16 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
venturing into the fultry climates of the torrid zone, the Englilh, during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary, opened fome of the moll confiderable fourcesof their commercial opulence, and gave a beginning to their trade with Turkey, with Africa, withRuffia, and with Newfoundland.
By the progrefs which England had already made in navigation and commerce, it was now prepared for advancing farther; and on the acceffion of Elizabeth to the throne, a period commenced, extremely aufpicious to this fpirit which was rifing in the nation. The domeftic tranquillity of the kingdom, maintained, almoft without interruption , during the courfe of a long and profperous reign; the peace with foreign nations, that fub- fifted more than twenty years after Elizabeth was feated on the throne; the Oueen’s attentive eco- nomy, which exempted her fubjeas from the burden of taxes oppreflive to trade; the popularity of her adminiftration; w'ere all favorable to commercial enterprife, and called it forth into vigorous exertion. The difeerning eye ofElizabeth having early perceived that the fecurity of a kingdom , environed by the fea, depended on its naval force, file began her government with adding to the number and ftrength of the royal navy; which, during a fa&ious minority, and a reign intent on no objeft but that of fupprefling herefy, had been neglefted, and fullered to decay. She filled her arfenals with naval ftores; flie built feveral flips of great force, according to the ideas of that age, and encouraged her fubjebls to imitate
her

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
17
her example, that they might no longer depend on foreigners from whom the Englilh had hitherto purchafed all veflels of any confiderable burden *3. By thofe efforts, the fk.il l of the Englilh artificers was improved, the number of failors increafed, and the attention of the public turned to the navy, as the moll important national objeCt. Inltead of abandoning any of the new channels of commerce which had been opened in the three preceding reigns, the Englilh frequented them with greater affiduity, and the patronage of their fover- eign added vigor to all their efforts. In order to fecure to them the continuance of their exclufive trade with Ruflia, Elizabeth cultivated the connexion with John Vafilowitz, which had been, formed by her predeceffor, and, by fucceffive embaffies, gained his confidence fo thoroughly, that the Englilh enjoyed that lucrative privilege during his long reign. She encouraged the Company of Merchant Adventurers, whofe monopoly of the Ruffian trade was confirmed by a£t of parliament I4 , to refume their defign of penetrating into Perfia by land. Their fecond attempt, conducted with greater prudence, or undertaken at a more favorable juncture than the firft, was more fuccefsful. Their agents arrived in the Per- fian court, and obtained fuch protection and immunities from the Shah , that for a courfe of years they carried on a gainful commerce in his
13 Canid. Annates, p. 70. edit. 1615; fol.
14 Hakluyt, i. 369.
c

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
18
BOOK
IX.
Fiobifher jnakes three attempts to difcover the north-weft X>aflftge.
IS76, IS77, ami 1578 s
Sir Francis Brake fails round the world.
kingdom ^; and by frequenting the various provinces of Perfia, became fo well acquainted with the vaft riches of the eaft, as ffrengthened their delign of opening a more direct intercourfe with thofe fertile regions by fea.
But as every effort to accomplifli this by the north-eaft had proved abortive, a fcheme wa£ formed, under the patronage of the Earl of Warwick, the head of the enterprifmg family of Dudley, to make a new attempt, by holding an op- pofite courfe by the north-weft. The conduct of this enterprife was committed to Martin Frobilher, an officer of experience and reputation. In three fucceffive voyages he explored the inhofpitable coaft of Labrador, and that of Greenland, (to which Elizabeth gave the name at Meta Incognita,) without difcovering any probable appearance of that paffage to India for which he fought. This new difappointment was fenlibly felt, and might have damped the fpirit of naval enterprife among theEnglilli, if it. had not refumed frelli vigor, amidft the general exultation of the nation, upon the fuccefsful expedition of Francis Drake. That bold navigator, emulous of the glory which Magellan had acquired by failing round the globe, formed a fcheme of attempting a voyage, which all Europe had admired for lixty years, without venturing to follow thePortuguefe difcoverer in his adventurous courfe. Drake undertook this with a feeble fquadron, in which the largeft velfel did
*? Hakluyt, i. 344, &c,
1

HISTORY OF AMERICA*
19
not exceed a hundred tons, and he accomplished it, with no lefs credit to himfelf, than honor to his country. Even in this voyage, conducted with other vievvs, Drake feems not to have been inattentive to the favorite obje£l of his countrymen, the difcovery of a new route to India. Before he quitted the Pacific Ocean, in order to ftretch towards the Philippine iflands, he ranged along the coaft of California, as high as the latitude of forty-two degrees north, in hopes of' discovering, on that tide, the communication between the two feas, which had fo often been Searched for in vain on the other. But this was the only unfuccefsful attempt of Drake. The exceffive cold of the climate, intolerable to men who had long been ac- cuftomed to tropical heat, obliged him to Hop Ihort in his progrefs towards the north; and whether or not there be anypalfage from the Paicific to the Atlantic Ocean in that quarter, is a point ftill unascertained 1& .
From this period, the Englilh feem to have confided in their own abilities and courage, as equal to any naval enterprife. They had now vifited every region to which navigation extended in that age, and had rivalled the nation of highelt repute for naval Skill in its moll fplendid exploit. But notwithftanding the knowledge which they had acquired of the different quarters of the globe, .they had not hitherto attempted any Settlement but of their own country. Their merchants had
is Hakluyt, iii. 440. Camd. Annal. 301, &c.
C 2
BOOK
IX.
Euthufidfm of dii'covery

20
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book not yet acquired fuch a degree, either of wealth IX " or of political influence, as were requiflte towards carrying a fcbeme of colonization into execution, Perfons of noble birth were d.eftitute of the ideas and information which might have dilpofed them to patronize fuch a deflgn. The growing power of Spain, however, and the afcendant over the other nations of Europe to which it had attained under Charles V. and his foil, naturally turned the attention of mankind towards the importance of thofe fettlements in the New World , to which they were fo much indebted for that pre-eminence. The intercourfe between Spain and England, during the reign of Philip and Mary; the refort of the Spanifh nobility to the Englifli court, while Philip reflded there; the ftudy of the Spanifli language; which became fafhionable; and the translation of feveral hiftories of America into Englifli, diffufed gradually through the nation a more dif- tin£f knowledge of the policy of Spain in planting its colonies, and of the advantages which it derived from them. When hoftilities commenced between Elizabeth and Philip, the profpefl of annoying Spain by fea opened a new career to the enter- prifing fpirit of the Englifli nobility. Almoft every eminent leader of the age aimed at diflinguifliing bimfelf by naval exploits. That fervice, and the ideas connected with it, the difcovery of unknown countries, the eftablifliment of diftant colonies, and the enriching of commerce by new commor dities, became familiar to perfons of rank.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
21
In confequence of all thofe concurring caufes, the Englifli began ferioufly to form plans of fettling colonies in thofe parts of America, which hitherto they had only vifited. The projectors and patrons of thefe plans were moftly perfons of rank and influence. Among them, Sir Humphry Gilbert, of Compton in Devonlhire, ought to be mentioned with the diftincftion due to the conductor of the firft Englilh colony to America. He had early rendered himfelf confpicuous by his military fervices both in France and Ireland; and having afterwards turned his attention to naval affairs, he publifhed a difcourfe concerning the probability of a north-weft paffage, which difco- vered no inconflderable portion both of learning and ingenuity, mingled with the enthuliafm, the credulity, and fanguine expectations wdiich incite men to new and hazardous undertakings I7 . With thofe talents, he was deemed a proper perfon to be employed in eftablifiiing a new colony, and eafily obtained from the Queen letters patent, veiling in him fufiicient powers for this purpofe.
As this is the firft charter to a colony, granted by the Crown of England, the articles in it merit particular attention, as they unfold the ideas of that age , with refpecl to the nature of fuch fet- tiements. Elizabeth authorizes him to difcover and take poffeffion of all remote and barbarous lands, unoccupied by any Chriftian prince or people. She veils in him, his heirs and afligns for ever,
BOOK
IX.
Firft projett of a colony in North America.
June ii#
1578 .
Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth.
c 3
17 Hakluyt, iii. II.

KOOK
IX.
as HISTORY OF AMERICA.
the full right of property in the foil of thofe courr- tries whereof he fliall take poffelfion. She permits fuch of her fubjefls, as were willing to accompany Gilbert in his voyage, to go and fettle in the Countries which he fliall plant. She empowers him , his heirs and afligns, to difpofe of whatever portion of thofe lands he fliall judge meet to per- fons fettled there, in fee-limple, according to the laws of England. She ordains, that all the lands granted to Gilbert fliall hold of the Crown of England by homage, on payment of the fifth part of the gold or filver ore found there. She confers upon him, his heirs and affigns, the complete jurifdiftions and royalties, as well marine as other, within the faid lands and feas thereunto adjoining; and as their common fafety and intereft would render good government neceliary in their new fettlements, flie gave Gilbert, his heirs and afligns, full power to convidl, punifli, pardon, govern, and rule, by their good difcretion and policy, as well in caufes capital or criminal as civil, both marine and other, all perfons who fliall from time to time fettle within the faid countries, according to fuch flatutes, law's, and ordinances as fliall be by him,, his heirs and afligns, devifed and ellab- liflied for their better government. She declared, that all who fettled there fliould have and enjoy all the privileges of free denizens and natives of England, any law, cultom , or ufage to the contrary notwithftanding. And finally, flie prohibited all perfons from attempting to fettle within two hundred leagues of any place which Sir

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
23
Humphry Gilbert, or his affociates, ffiall have occupied, during the fpace of fix years I8 .
With thofe extraordinary powers, fuited to the high notions of authority and prerogative prevalent in England during the fixteenth century, but very repugnant to more recent ideas with refpeft to the rights of free men , who voluntarily unite to form a colony, Gilbert began to colle£l affociates, and to prepare for embarkation. His own character, and the zealous efforts of his half- brother, Walter Ralegh, who, even in his early youth, difplayed thofe fplendid talents, and that undaunted fpirit, which create admiration and confidence, loon procured him a fufhcient number of followers. But his fuccefs was not fuited either to the fanguine hopes of his countrymen, or to the expenfe of his preparations. Two expeditions, both of which he conduced in perfon, ended difaftrouffy. In the laft, he himfelf perilh- ed, without having effefled his intended fettle- ment on the continent of America, or performing any thing more worthy of notice, than the empty formality of taking poffeffion of the ifland of Newfoundland, in the name of his fovereign. The-diffenfions among his officers; the licentious and ungovernable fpirit of fome of his crew; his total ignorance of the countries which he purpofed to occupy; his misfortune in approaching the continent too far. towards the north, where the inhof- pitable coaft of Cape Breton did not invite them
is Hakluyt, iii. 135.
C 4
BOOK
IX.
Firft expedi tion fails.
It So.

24
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
XX.
The plan re- fumed by Ralegh.
im.
March. 26.
April 27.
lifcoverv of Virginia.
to fettle; the fhipwreck of his largeft veffel; and above all, the fcanty provifion which the funds of a private man could make of what was requifite for eftablilliing a new colony, were the true caufes to which the failure of the enterprife mult be imputed , not to any deficiency of abilities or refo- lution in its leader 19 .
Rut the mifcarriage of a fcheme, in which Gilbert had wafted his fortune, did not difcourage Ralegh. He adopted all his brother’s ideas; and applying to the Queen, in whofe favor he flood high at that time, he procured a patent, with jurifdiClion and prerogatives as ample as had been granted unto Gilbert 20 . Ralegh, no lefs eager to execute than to undertake the fcheme, inftantly defpatched two fmall veffels, under the command of Arnadas and Barlow, two officers of truft, to vifit the countries which he intended to fettle, and to acquire fome previous knowledge of their coafts, their foil, and productions. In order to avoid Gilbert’s error, in holding too far north, they took their courfe by the Canaries and the Weft India iflands, and approached the North American continent by theGulph of Florida. Unfortunately their chief refearches were made in that part of the country now known by the name of North Carolina, the province in America moll deftitute of commodious harbours. They touched firft at an ifland, which they call Wokocon (probably Ocakoke), fituated on the inlet into
19 Hakluyt, iii. 143, &c.
so Ibid. 243.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
25
Pamplicoe Sound, and then at Raonoke, near the mouth of Albemarle Sound. In both , they had fome intercourl'e with the natives, whom they found to be favages, with all the charatleriftic qualities of uncivilized life, bravery, averfion to labor, hofpitality, a propenfity to admire, and a wiilingnefs to exchange their rude productions for Englifh commodities, efpecially for iron, or any of the ufefui metals of which they were defti- tute. After fpending a few weeks in this traffic, and in vifiting fome parts of the adjacent continent, Amadas. and Barlow returned to Engldnd with two of the natives, and gave fuch fplendid deferiptions of the beauty of the country, the fer« tility of the foil, and the mildnefs of the climate, that Elizabeth, delighted with the idea of occupying a territory, fuperior, fo far, to the barren regions towards the north hitherto vifited by her fubjefls, bellowed on it the name of Virginia; as a memorial that this happy difeovery had been made under a virgin Queen 2I .
Their report encouraged Ralegh to haften his preparations for taking poffeffion of fuch an inviting property. He fitted out a fquadron of feven fmail fhips, under the command of Sir Richard Greenville, a man of honorable birth, and of courage fo undaunted as to be confpicuous even in that gallant age. But the fpirit of that predatory war which the Englilh carried on againft Spain, mingled with this fchenae of fettlement;
BOOK
IX.
Sept. xt.
Colony eftab- lifted in Virginia by Sir Richard Greenville.
21 Hakluyt, iii. 246.

26
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
KOOK
1 A.
An~uS
In danger of periling by famine 5 returns to Kngland.
and on this account, as well as from unacqunint- ance with a more direft and fhorter courle to North-America, Greenville failed by the Weft India illands. He l'pend fome time in entiling among; thefe, and in taking prizes; fo that it was towards the clofe of June before he arrived on the coaft of North America. He touched at both the illands where Amadas and Barlow had landed , and made fome excurfions into different parts of the continent round Pamplicoe and Albemarle Sounds. But as, unfortunately, he did not advance far enough towards the north, to difeover the noble Bay of Chefapeak, he eftablilhed the colony which he left on the illand of Raonoke, an incommodious ftation, without any fafe harbour, and almoft uninhabited. .
This colony coniilted only of one hundred and eighty perfons, under the command of Captain Lane, alfifted by fome men of note, the molt diftinguilhed of whom was Hariot, an eminent mathematician. Their chief employment, during a refidence of nine months , was to obtain a more extenfive knowledge of the country; and their refearches were carried on with great er fpirir, and reached farther than could have been expetded from a colony fo feeble , and in a ftation fo difad- vantageous. But from the fame impatience of indigent adventurers to acquire fudden wealth, which gave a wrong direction to the induftry of the Spaniards in their fettlements, the greater part
as Hr.khnt, iii. iji.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
27
of the EngUfh feem to have confidered nothing as worthy of attention but mines of gold and filver. Thefe they fought for, wherever they came; thefe they inquired after with unwearied eagernefs. The favages foon difcovered the favorite objects which allured them, and artfully amufed them with fo many tales concerning pearl fiflieries; and rich mines of various metals, that Lane and his companions walled their time and activity in the chimerical purfuit of thefe, inltead of laboring to raife provihons for their own fubfillence. On difcovering the deceit of the Indians, they were fo much exafperated, that from expoftulations and reproaches, they proceeded to open hollility. The fupplies of provihons which they had been accuftomed to receive from the natives were of courfe withdrawn. Through their own negligence, no other precaution had been taken for their fup- port. Ralegh, having engaged in a fcheme too expenfive for his narrow funds, had not been able to fend them that recruit of ftores with which Greenville had promifed to furnilh them early in the fpring. The colony, reduced to the utmoft diftrefs, and on the point of perilhing with famine, was preparing to difperfe into different diftri£ts of the country in queft of food, when Sir Francis Drake appeared with his fleet, returning from a fuccefsful expedition againft the Spaniards in the Weft Indies. A fcheme which he formed, of fur- nifhing Lane and his affociates with fuch fupplies as might enable them to remain with comfort in their llation, was difappointed by a fudden florin,
BOOK
IX.
ISSG.
June r.

28
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book
IX.
June 19.
Knowledge of the country acquired in this expedition.
Ufe of tobacco introduced in England.
in which a fmall velTel that he deftined for their fervice was dallied to pieces; and as he could not fupply them with another, at their joinc requeft, as they were worn out with fatigue and famine, he carried them home to England =3.
Such w’as the inaufpicious beginning of the Englilli fettlements in the New World ; and after exciting high expectations, this fuff attempt produced no effect but that of affording a more complete knowledge of the country; as it enabled Hariot, a man of fcience and obfervation, to de- fcribe its foil, climate, productions,-and the manners of its inhabitants, with a degree of accuracy which merits no inconfiderable praife, when compared with the childifli and marvellous tales pub- lilhed by feveral of the early vihtants of the New World. There is another confequence of this abortive colony important enough to entitle it to a place in hiftory. Lane and his afl’ociates, by their conftant intercourfe with the Indians, had acquired a relifh for their favorite enjoyment of fmoking tobacco ; to the ufe of which , the credulity of that people not only afcrihed a thoufand imaginary virtues, but their fuperftition confidered the plant itfelf as a gracious gift of the gods, for the folace of human kind, and the moft acceptable offering which man can prefent to heaven They brought with them a fpecimen of this new commodity to England, and taught their countrymen the method of ufing it; which Ralegh,
-3 Halduyt, iii. 255. Camd. Annal. 387.
14 Hariot ap. Hakluyt, Iii. 271. De Bry. America, Pars i.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
29
and fome yonng men of fafliion , fondly adopted. From imitation of them , from love of novelty, and from the favorable opinion of its falutary qualities entertained by feveral phyficians, the practice fpread among the English. The Spaniards and Portuguefe had, previous to this, introduced it in other parts of Europe. This habit of taking tobacco gradually extended from the extremities of the north to tbofe of the fouth, and in one form or other feems to be equally grateful to the inhabitants of every climate; and by a Angular caprice of the human fpecies, no lefs inexplicable than unexampled, (fo bewitching is the acquired tafte for a weed of no manifeft utility, and at firft not only unpleafant, but naufeous,) that it has become almoft as univerfal as the demands of thofe appetites originally implanted in our nature. Smoking was the firft mode of taking tobacco in England; and we learn from the comic writers towards the clofe of the fixteenth century and the beginning of the feventeenfh, that this was deemed one of the accomplifliments of a man of fafliion and fpirit.
A few days after Drake departed from. Roanoke, a fmall bark, defpatched by Ralegh with a fupply of ftores for the colony, landed at the place where the Englifh had fettled; but on finding it deferted by their countrymen, they returned to England. The bark was hardly gone, when Sir Richard Greenville appeared with three lliips. After fearch- ing in vain for the colony which he had planted, without being able to learn what had befallen it,

3o
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Ralegh’s fe- cond attempt to fettle a colony in Vir- ■giuia.
15 sr*
he left fifteen of his crew to keep poffeflion of the ifland. This handful of men was foon overpowered and cut in pieces by the favages
Though all Ralegh’s efforts to eflablifli a colony in Virginia had hitherto proved abortive, and had been defeated by a fucceffion of difaflers and disappointments, neither his hopes nor refources were exhaufled. Early in the following year, he fitted out three fliips, under the command of Captain John White, who carried thither a colony more numerous than that which had been fettled under Lane. On their arrival in Virginia, after viewing the face of the country covered with one continued foreft, which to them appeared an uninhabited wild, as it was occupied only by a few fcattered tribes of favages, they difcovered that they were deftitute of many things which they deemed effentially neceffary towards their fub- fiflence in l’uch an uncomfortable fituation; and, with one voice, requefted White, their commander, to return to England, as the perfon among them moll likely to folicit, with efficacy, the fupply on which depended the exigence of the colony. White landed in his native country at a moft unfavorable feafon for the negociation which he had rrntertaken. He found the nation in uni- verfal alarm at the formidable preparations of Philip II. to invade England, and collecting all its force to oppofe the fleet to which he had arrogantly given the name of the Invincible Armada.
at Hakluyt, iii. jfiy. 383.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 3t
Ralegh , Greenville, and all the molt zealous patrons of the new fettlement, were called to a£l a diftingnilhed part in the operations of a yetir equally Interefting and glorious to England. Amidft danger fo imminent , and during a conteft for the honor of their fovereign and the independence of their country, it was impofhble to attend to a lei's important and remote objefl. The unfortunate colony in Roanoke received no fupply, and pt Hiked miferably by famine, or by the unrelenting cruelty of thofe barbarians by whom they were furrounded.
During the remainder of Elizabeth’s reign, the fcheme of eflabliihing a colony in Virginia was not refumed. Ralegh, with a moll afpiring mind and extraordinary talents, enlightened by knowledge no lefs uncommon, had the fpirit and the defefls of a projector. Allured by new objects, and always giving the preference to fuch as were moftfplendid and arduous, he was apt to engage in undertakings fo vaft and fo various, as to be far beyond his power of accompliihing. He was now intent on peopling and improving a large diflridl of country in Ireland, of which he had obtained a grant from the Queen. He was a deep adventurer in the fcheme of fitting out a powerful armament againft Spain , in order to eftablifli Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal. He had begun to form his favorite, but vifionary plan , of penetrating into the province of Guiana, where he fondly dreamed of taking poffeffion of inexhauf- tible wealth, flowing from the rieheft mines in
BOOK
ix.
ISSS.
Colony i>e- rifhcs ty is- mine.
Ralegh abandons the ql'- figji of fettling a colony in Virginia.

BOOK
IX.
March, 1596.
Oircuniftances in Elizabeth's reign unfavorable to Colonization.
3a HISTORY OF AMERICA.
the New World. Amidft this multiplicity of projects, offuch promifmg appearance, and recommended by novelty, he naturally became cold towards his ancient and hitherto unprofitable fcheme of fettling a colony in Virginia, and was eafily induced to affign his right of property in that country, which he had never vifited, together with all the privileges contained in his patent, to Sir Thomas Smith, and a company of merchants in London. This company , fatisfiecl with a paltry traffic carried on by a few fmall barks, made no attempt to take poffellion of the country. Thus, after a period of a hundred and fix years from the time that Cabot difc.overed North America, in the name of Henry VII. and of twenty years from the time that Ralegh planted the firft colony, there was not a fmgle Englilhman fettled there at the demife of Oueen Elizabeth, in the year one thoufand fix hundred and three.
I have already explained the caufes of this, during the period previous to the acceffion of Elizabeth. Other caufes produced the fame effeft under her adminiftration. Though for one half of her reign England was engaged in no foreign war, and commerce enjoyed that perfeCt fecurity which is friendly to its progrefs; though the glory of her latter years gave the higheft tone of elevation and vigor to the national fpirit; the Queen herfelf, from her extreme parfimony, and her averfion to demand extraordinary fupplies of her fubje&s, was more apt to reftrain than to fecond the ardent genius of her people. Several of the
molt

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
33
moft fplendid enterprifes in her reign were concerted and executed by private adventurers. All the fchemes for colonization were carried on by the funds of individuals, without any public aid. Even the felicity of her government was adverfe to the eftabliffiment of remote colonies. So powerful is the attraction of our native foil, and fuch our fortunate partiality to the laws and manners of our own country, that men feldom chufe to abandon it, unlefs they be driven away by oppref- fion, or allured by vaft profpects of fudden wealth. But the provinces of America in which the Eng- lilh attempted to fettle did not, like thofe occupied by Spain, invite them thither by any appearance of filver or golden mines. All their hopes of gain were dillant; and they faw that nothing could be earned but by perfevering exertions of induflry. The maxims of Elizabeth’s adminiftra- tion were, in their general tenor, fo popular, as did not force her fubjedfs to emigrate, in order to efcape from the heavy or vexatious hand of power. It feems to have been with difficulty that thefe flender bands of planters were collected, on which the writers of that age bellow the name of the firft and fecond Virginian colonies. The fulnefs of time for Engliffi colonization was not yet arrived.
But the fucceffion of the Scottiffi line to the crown of England hallened its approach. James was hardly feated on the throne before he dif- covered his pacific intentions, and he foon terminated the long war which had been carried on between Spain and England, by an amicable treaty.
B
BOOK
IX.
1503. Kefgn of James favorable to the eftablifh- ment of colonies.

3 4 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
B DC K ^ ?rom that period, uninterrupted tranquillity co tinued during his reign. Many perfons of high rank, and of ardent ambition , to whom the war with Spain had afforded conflant employment, and prefented alluring profpe£!s, not only of fame but of wealth, foon became fo impatient of lan- guifhing at home without occupation or objeft, that their invention was on the ft retch to find fame exercife for their activity and talents. To both thefe, North America feemed to open a new held, and fchemes of carrying colonies thither became more general and more popular.
Direa courfe A voyage, undertaken by Bartholemew Gof- toNorthAme- no ^ > n the laft year of the Queen, facilitated, as rica firii at- well as encouraged, the execution of thefe fchemes. Gofnoid. by hie failed from Falmouth in a fmallbark, with thirty-two men. Inftead of following former navigators in their unneceffary circuit by the Weft India ifles and the Gulf of Florida, Gofnold fleered due weft, as nearly as the winds would permit, and was the firft Englilh commander who reached America by this fliorter and more direct courfe. That part of the continent which he firft defcried was a promontory in the province now called Maf- fachufets Bay, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod. Holding along the coaft, as it ftretched towards the fouth-weft, he touched at two iflands, one of which he called Martha’s Vineyard, the other Elizabeth’s Ifland; andvifited the adjoining continent, and traded with its inhabitants. He and his companions were fo much delighted every where with the inviting afpeft of the country, that

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
35
notwithftanding the fmallnefs of their number, a part of them confented to remain there. But when they had leifure to reflect upon the fate of former fettlers in America, they retraced a refo- lution formed in the firft warmth of their admiration; and Gofnold returned to England in lefs than four months from the time of his departure - 6 .
This voyage, however inconfiderable it may appear, had important effects. The Engliili now difcovered the afpe£l of the American continent to be extremely inviting far to the north of the place where they had formerly attempted to fettle. The coaft of a vaft country, ftretching through the moll delirable climates, lay before them. The richnefs of its virgin foil promifed a certain recom- pence to their indullry. In its interior provinces unexpected fources of wealth might open, and unknown objects of commerce might be found. Its diftance from England was diminilhed almoft a third part, by the new courfe which Gofnold had pointed out. Plans for eftablilhing colonies began to be formed in different parts of the kingdom ; and before thefe were ripe for execution, one fmall veffel was fent out by the merchants of Briftol, another by the Earl of Southampton and Lord Arundel ofWardour, in order to learn whether Gofnold’s account of the country was to be conlidered as a juft reprefentation of its Rate* or as the exaggerated defcription of a fond difco- verer. Both returned with a full confirmation
D Q
BOOS
IX.
Confequences of Gofnold 1 * voyage.
36 Purchas, iv. p. 1647.

36
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
XX.
Hakluyt improves the commercial and naval fkill of that age*
of his veracity, and with the addition of fo many new circurnfiances in favor of the country, acquired by a more extenfive view of it, as greatly increafed the defire of planting it.
The moft aflive and efficacious promoter of this was Richard Hakluyt, prebendary ofWeft- minfter, to whom England is more indebted for its American poffeffions than to any man of that age. Formed under a kinfman of the fame name, eminent for naval and commercial knowledge, lie imbibed a fimilar tafle, and applied early to the Rudy of geography and navigation. Thefe favorite fciences engroffed his attention, and to diffufe a reliffi for them was the great objeft of his life. In order to excite his countrymen to naval enter- prife, by flattering their national vanity, he pub- liffied, in the year one thoufand five hundred and eighty-nine, his valuable collection of voyages and difcoveries made by Englilhmen. In order to fupply them with what information might be derived from the experience of the moft fuccefsful foreign navigators, he tranflated fome of the beft accounts of the progrefs of the Spaniards and Por- tuguefe in their voyages both to theEaft and Weft Indies, into theEnglifh tongue. He was confulted with refpedl to many of the attempts towards dif- covery or colonization during the latter part of Elizabeth’s reign. He correfponded with the officers who conduced them, directed their refearches to proper objects, and publiflied the hiftory of their exploits. By the zealous endeavours of a perfon, equally refpecSed by men of rank and men

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 37
of bufinefs, many of both orders formed an aiTociation to eflablilli colonies in America, and petitioned the king for thefanftion of his authority to warrant the execution of their plans.
James, who prided himfelfon his profound fkill in the fcience of government, and who had turned his attention to confider the advantages which might be derived from colonies, at a time when he patronized a fcheme for planting them in fome of the ruder provinces of his ancient kingdom, with a view of introducing indufiry and civilization there 26 , was now no lefs fond of direfling the aftive genius of his Englilh fubjefts towards occupations not repugnant to his own pacific maxims, and liflened with a favorable ear to their application. But as the extent as well as value of the American continent began now to be better known, a grant of the whole of fuch a vafl region to any one body of men, however refpeftable, appeared to him an aft of impolitic and profufe liberality. For this reafon, he divided that portion of North America, which llretches from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth degree of latitude, into two dif- trifls, nearly equal; the one called the firft or fouth colony of Virginia, the other, the fecond or north colony. He authorized Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, Richard Hakluyt, and their affociates, moflly refident in London, to fettle any part of the former which they fliould chufe, and veiled in them a right of property to the land
-6 Hift. of Scotland, ii. 239.
D 3
BOOK
XX.
James divides the coaft of North America into' two parts;
1606 , April 10.

38
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
and grants charters to two companies.
Tenor of thefe char* ters.
extending along the coafl fifty miles on each fide of the place of their ftrft habitation, and reaching into tlie interior country a hundred miles. The latter diftrift he allotted, as the place of fettle- ment, to fundry knights, gentlemen, and merchants of Briftol, Plymouth , and other parts in the weft of England, with a fimilar grant of territory. Neither the monarch who ifl’ued this charier, nor his fubjefts who received it, had any conception that they were proceeding to lay the foundation of mighty and opulent ftates. What James granted was nothing more than a fimple charter of corporation to a trading company, empowering the members of it to have a common feal, and to a61 as a body politic. But as the object for which they affociated was new, the plan eftabliflied for the adminiflration of their affairs was uncommon. Inftead of the power nfually granted to corporations, of elefting officers and framing by-laws for the conduft of their own operations, the fupreme government of the colonies to be fettled was vefted in a council refident in England, to be named by the king, according to fuch laws and ordinances as fliould be given under his ftgu manual; and the fnbordinate jurifdiftion was committed to a council refident in America, which was likewife to be nominated by the king, and to aft conformably to his inftruftions. To this important claufe, which regulated the form of their conftitution , was added, the concefhon of feveral immunities, to encourage perfons to fettle in the intended colonies. Some of thefe were

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 3g
the fame which had been granted to Gilbert and Ralegh; fuch as the fecuring to the emigrants and their defendants all the rights of denizens, in the fame manner as if they had remained or had been born in England; and granting them the privilege of holding their lands in America by the freeft and leaft burdenfome tenure. Others were more favorable than thofe granted by Elizabeth. He permitted whatever was neceffary for the fufie- nance or commerce of the new colonies to be exported from England, during the fpace of feven years, without paying any duty; and as a farther incitement to indullry, he granted them liberty of trade with other nations, and appropriated the duty to be levied on foreign commodities, for twenty-one years, as a fund for the benefit of the colony 27 .
In this fingular charter, the contents of which have been little attended to by the hiftorians of America, fome articles are as unfavorable to the rights of the colonifts, as others are to the intereft of the parent Rate. By placing the legiflative and executive powers in a council nominated by the crown, and guided by its inRrudlions, every perfon fettling in America feems to be bereaved of the nobleft privilege of a free man; by the unlimited permihion of trade with foreigners, the parent Rate is deprived of that exclufive commerce which has been deemed the chief advantage refult- ing from the eRablifhment of colonies. But in the
-7 Stith. Hilt, of Virginia, p. 35. Append, p. 1. Purchas, v. 1683.
D 4
BOOK
IX.
Defers of thefe chapters.

40
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Colonies of Virginia and New England,
Advantages of tracing the hiftory of £ijee coonies
infancy of colonhation, and without de guidance of ohfcrvation or experience, the ideas of men with refpeff to the mode of forming new fetrle- ments, were not fully unfolded, or properly arranged. At a period when they could not forefee the future grandeur and importance of the communities which they were about to call into exigence, they were ill qualified to concert the beft plan for governing them. Befides, the Engliih of that age, accuftomed to the high prerogative and arbitrary rule of their monarchs, were not animated with fuch liberal fentirnents, either concerning their own perfonal or political rights, as have become familiar in the more mature and improved Rate of their conftitution.
Without helitation or reluffance the proprietors of both colonies prepared to execute their refpefiive plans; and under the authority of a charter, which would now be rejedled with dif- dain, as a violent invafion of the facred and inalienable rights of liberty, the fir ft permanent fet- tlements of the Engliih in America were eftablifhed. From this period, the progrefs of the two provinces of Virginia and New England form a regular and connected ftory. The former in the fouth, and the latter in the north, may be confidered as the original and parent colonies ; in imitation of which , and under whofe fhelter, all the others have been fucceffively planted and reared.
The firft attempts to occupy Virginia and New England were made by very feeble bodies of emigrants. As thefe fettled, under great difadvantages,

HISTORY OF AMERICA. v
among tribes of favages, and in an uncultivated defert; as they attained gradually, after long ftrug- gles and many difafters, to that maturity of ftrength, and order of policy, which entitles them to be confidered as refpeilable Hates, the hiltory of their perfevering efforts merits particular attention. It will exhibit a fpectacle no lefs ftriking than inftru&ive, and prefents an opportunity, which rarely occurs, of contemplating a fociety in the firlt moment of its political exiftence, and of obferving how its fpirit forms in its infant ftate, how its principles begin to unfold as it advances, and how thofe charadteriftic qualities, which dif- tinguilh its maturerage, are fucceflively accquired. The account of the eftnblifhment of the other Englifh colonies, undertaken at periods when the importance of fuch poffeflions was better under- ftood, and effedled by more dire£l and vigorous exertions of the parent ftate, is lefs interefting. I lliail therefore relate the hiftory of the two original colonies in detail. With refpedl to the fubfe- quent fettiements, fome more general obfervations concerning the time, the motives, and circum- ftances of their eftablifliment, will be fufficient. I begin with the hiftory of Virginia, the moft ancient and moft valuable of the Britilh colonies in North America.
Though many perfons of diftin£lion became proprietors in the company which undertook to plant a colony in Virginia, its funds feem not to have been confiderable, and its firlt effort was certainly extremely feeble. A fmall veffel of a
book
xt.
in their infant ftate.
Newport fails for.Vic-' ginia.Dec.i$«

42
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
1607. April 16.
Difcovers the Chefapeak.
Sails up 3 a- Ktes-River.
hundred tons, and two barks, under the command oi Captain Newport, failed with a hundred and five men, deftined to remain in the country. Some of thefe were of refpeclable families, particularly a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, andfeveral officers who had ferved with reputation in the reign of Elizabeth. Newport, I know not for what reafon, followed the ancient courfe by the Weft Indies, and did not reach the coaft of North America for four months. But he approached it with better fortune than any former navigator; for having been driven, by the violence of a ftorm, to the northward of Roanoke , the place of his deftination, the firft land lie difcovered was a promontory which he called Cape Henry, the fouthern boundary of the Bay of Chefapeak. The Englilh flood diredlly into that fpacious inlet, which feemed to invite them to enter; and as they advanced, contemplated, with a mixture of delight and admiration , that grand refervoir, into which are poured the waters of all the vaft rivers, which not only dilfufe fertility through that diftridl of America, but open the interior parts of the country to navigation, and render a commercial intercourfe more extenfive and commodious than in any other region of the globe. Newport, keeping along the fouthern fhore, failed up a river, which the natives called Powhatan, and to which he gave the name of James-River. After viewing its banks, during a run of above forty miles from its mouth, they all concluded that a country, where fafe and convenient harbours feemed to be numerous. would

HISTORY OF AMERICA. *3
be a more fuitable flation for a trading colony, than the fhoaly and dangerous coaft to the fouth, on which their countrymen had formerly fettled. Here then they determined to abide; and having chofen a proper fpot for their refidence, they gave this infant fettlement the name of James-Town, which it ftill retains; and though it has never become either populous or opulent, it can boafl of being the moll ancient habitation of tiie Englifh in the New World. But however well-chofen the fituation might be, the members of the colony were far from availing themfelves of its advantages. Violent animofities had broke out among forne of their leaders, during their voyage to Virginia. Thefe did not fubfide on their arrival there. The firft deed of the council, which affumed the government in virtue of a commiffion brought from England under the feal of the company, and opened on the day after they landed, was an aft of injuftice. Captain Smith, who had been appointed a member of the council, was excluded from his feat at the board, by the mean jealoufy of his colleagues, and not only reduced to the condition of a private man, but of one fufpefted and watched by his fuperiors. This diminution of his influence, and reflraint on his activity, was an effential injury to the colony, which at that junfture flood in need of the aid of both. For foon after they began to fettle, the Englifh vyere involved in a war with the natives, partly by their own indifcretion, and partly by the fufpicion and ferocity of thofe barbarians. And although the
BOOK
IX.
Founds Ja- mes-Town,
Bad admi- niftration.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Colony annoyed by the Indians.
June 15.
Suffers from fcarcity, and the unhealthi- nefs of the climate.
Smith called to the command, refto- res the prosperity of the colony.
44
Indians, fcattered over the countries adjacent to James-River, were divided into independent tribes, fo extremely feeble that hardly one of them could mufter above two hundred warriors 2S , they teazed and annoyed an infant colony by their inceffant hoftilities. To this was added a calamity flill more dreadful; the flock ofprovihons left for their fubiiftence, on the departure of their lliips for England, was fo fcanty, and of fuch bad quality, that a fcarcity, approaching alrnoft to ah- folute famine, foon followed. Such poor un- wholefome fare brought on difeafes, the violence of which was fo much increafed by the fultry heat of the climate , and the moifture of a country covered with wood, that before the beginning of September, one half of their number died, and moll of the furvivors were fickly and dejedled. In fuch trying extremities, the comparative powers of every individual are difcovered and called forth, and each naturally takes that ftation, and aflumes that afcendant, to which he is entitled by his talents and force of mind. Every eye was now turned towards Smith , and all willingly devolved on him that authority, of which they had formerly deprived him. His undaunted temper, deeply tinflnred with the wild romantic fpirit charadler- iftic of military adventures in that age, was peculiarly fuited to fuch a fltuation. The vigor of his conftitution continued, fortunately, flill unimpaired by difeafe, and his mind was never
as Purchas, vol. iv. 1691. Smith’s Travels, p. 23.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
45
appalled by danger. He inflantly adopted the only plan that could fave them from deftruftion. He began by furrounding James-Town with fuch rude fortifications as were a fufficient defence again!! the affaults of favages. He then marched, at the head of a finall detachment, in quell of their enemies. Some tribes he gained by carelfes and prefents, and procured from them a fupply ofpro- vilions. Others he attacked with open force; and defeating them on every occafion, whatever their fuperiority in numbers might be, compelled them to impart to him fome portion of their winter flores. As the recompence of all his toils and dangers, he faw abundance and contentment re-eftab- lifhed in the colony, and hoped that he lltould be able to maintain them in that happy Hate, until the arrival of Uiips from England in the fpring: but in one of his excurfions he was furprifed by a numerous body of Indians, and in making his efcape from them, after a gallant defence, he funk to the neck in a fvvamp, and was obliged to lurrender. Though he knew well what a dreadful fate awaits the prifoners of favages, his prefence of mind did not forfake him. He fhowed thofe who had taken him captive a mariner’s com- pafs, and amufed them with fo many wonderful accounts of its virtues, as filled them with alton- illiment and veneration, which began to operate very powerfully in his favor. They led him, however, in triumph through various parts of the country, and conduced him at lalt to Powhatan , the moll confiderable Sachim in that part of
BOOK
IX.
He is taken prifoner by the Indians.

46 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
On his return, he finds the colony almoft ruined.
Seasonable Succours from England.
Virginia. There the doom of death beingpronoun- ced , he was led to the place of execution, and his head already bowed down to receive the fatal blow, when that fond attachment of the American women to their European invaders, the beneficial effefts of which the Spaniards often experienced, interpofed in his behalf. The favorite daughter of Powhatan rullied in between him and the executioner, and, by her entreaties and tears, prevailed on her father to fpare his life. The beneficence of his deliverer, whom the early Eng- lilh writers dignify with the title of the Princefs Pocahuntas, did not terminate here; lhe foon after procured his liberty, and fent him from time to time feafonable prefents of provifions
Smith, on his return to James-Town, found the colony reduced to thirty-eight perfons, who, in defpair, were preparing to abandon a country which did not feem deftined to be the habitation of Englilhmen. Fie employed carelfes, threats, and even violence, in order to prevent them from executing this fatal refolution. With dilficulty he prevailed on them to defer it fo long, that the fuccour anxioufly expected from England arrived. Plenty was inftantly reftored; a hundred new planters were added to their number, and an ample Rock of whatever was requifite for clearing and fowing the ground was delivered to them. But an unlucky incident turned their attention from that fpecies of induftry which alone could
is Smith’s Travels, p. 44, &c. Purchas, iv. 1704. Stith. p. 45 . &c.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
47
render their fituation comfortable. In a fmall ftream of water that iffued from a bank of fand near James-Town, a fediment of fome fhining mineral fubftance, which had fome rel'embiance of gold, was difcovered. At a time when the precious metals were conceived to be the peculiar and only valuable productions of the New World, when every mountain was fuppofed to contain a treafure, and every rivulet was fearched for its golden fands, this appearance was fondly confi- dered as an infallible indication of a mine. Every hand was eager to dig; large quantities of this glittering duft were amaffed. From fome affay of its nature, made by an artift as unfkilful as his companions were credulous, it was pronounced to be extremely rich. ’’There was now” (fays Smith) ”no talk, no hope, no work, but dig ” gold, wadi gold, refine gold 3°. ” With this imaginary wealth the firft veffel returning to England was loaded, while the culture of the land, and every ufeful occupation, were totally neglected.
The effects of this fatal delufion were foon felt. Notwithftanding all the provident aftivity of Smith, in procuring corn from the natives by traffic or by force, the colony began to fuffer as much as formerly from fcarcity of food, and was wafted by the fame diftempers. In hopes of obtaining fome relief, Smith propofed, as they had not hitherto extended their refearches beyond the countries contiguous to James-River, to open an
BOOK
IX.
Colonifts deceived by the appearances of gold.
Smith undertakes a fur- vey of the country.
30 Smith’s Travels, p. $3.

BOOK
IX.
48 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
jutercourfe with the more remote tribes, and to examine into the flate of culture and population among them. The execution of this arduous de- fign he undertook himfelf, in a fmall open boat, with a feeble crew, and a very fcanty flock of provifions. He began his Purvey at Cape Charles, and in two different excurfions, which continued above four months, he advanced as far as the river Sufquehannah, which flows into the bottom of the Bay. He vifited all the countries both on the eaft and weft fliores; he entered moft of the con- fiderable creeks; he failed up many of the great rivers as far as their falls. He traded with fome tribes; he fought with others; he obferved the nature of the territory which they occupied, their mode of fubfiftence, the peculiarities in their manners; and left among all a wonderful admiration either of the beneficence or valor of the Englifli. After failing above three thoufand miles in a paltry veflel, ill fitted for fuch an ex ten five navigation, during which the hardihips to which he was ex- pofed , as well as the patience with which he endured, and the fortitude with which he fur- mounted them, equal whatever is related of the celebrated Spanifli difcoverers in their moft daring enterprifes, he returned to Janies-Town; he brought with him an account of that large portion of the American continent now comprehended in the two provinces of Virginia and Maryland 31, fo full and exaft, that after the progrefs of
information
3i Smith’s Travels, p. 6;, &c.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 49
information and refearch for a century and a half, hi:; map exhibits no inaccurate view of both countries, and is the original upon which all fubfequent delineations and defcriptions have been formed 3* But whatever pleafmg prolpe£t of future benefit might open upon this complete difcovery of a country formed by nature to be the feat of an ex- clufive commerce, it afforded but little relief lor their prefent wants. The colony full depended for fubffftence chiefly on fupplies from the natives; as, after all the efforts of their own induflry, hardly thirty acres of ground were yet cleared fo as to be capable of culture 33. ' By Smith’s attention, however, the flores of the Englifli were fo regularly filled, that for fome time they felt no confiderable diftrefs; and at this junflure a change was made in the conftitution of the company, which feemed to promife an increafe of their fecurity and hap- pinefs. That fupreme direction of all the company’s operations, which the king by his charter had referved to himfelf, difcouraged perfons of rank or property from becoming members of a fociety fo dependant on the arbitrary will of the crown. Upon a reprefentation of this to James, he granted them a new charter, with more ample privileges. He enlarged the boundaries of the colony; he rendered the powers of the company, as a corporation, more explicit and complete; he abolifhed the jurifdiftion of the council refident in Virginia; he veiled the government entirely in
33 Stith, p. 83. 33 Ibid. p. 97.
E
BOOK
IX.
t«09.
May 23. A new charter granted.

BOOK
IX.
lord Delaware appointed governor.
5o HISTORY OF AMERICA.
a council refiding in London ; he granted to the proprietors of the company the right of electing the perfons who were to compofe this council, by a majority of voices; he authorized this council to eftablifh fueh laws, orders, and forms of government and magiftracy, for the colony and plantation, as they in their difcre- tion fhould think to be filteft for the good of the adventurers and inhabitants there; he empowered them to nominate a governor to have the ad- miniftration of affairs in the colony, and to carry their orders into execution In confequence of thefe conceffions, the company having acquired the power of regulating all its own tranfaftions , the number of proprietors increafed, and among them we find the moft refpeftable names in the nation.
The firft deed of the new council was to appoint Lord Delaware governor and captain-general of their colony in Virginia. To a perfon of his rank, thofe high-founding titles could be no allurement; and by his thorough acquaintance with the pro- grefs and ftate of the fettlement, he knew enough of the labor and difficulty with which an infant colony is reared, to expeft any thing but anxiety and care in difcharging the duties of that delicate office. But from zeal to promote an eftablilfiment which he expected to prove fo highly beneficial to his country, he was willing to relinquifli all the comforts of an honorable Ration, to undertake
34 Stith, Append. 8.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 51
a long voyage to fettle in an uncultivated region deftiiute of every accommodation to which he had been accuftomed, and where he forefaw that toil and trouble and danger awaited him. But as he could not immediately leave England, the council difpatchedSirThomasGates and SirGeorge Summers , the former of whom had been appointed lieutenant-general and the latter admiral, with nine fliips and five hundred planters. They carried with them cominifiions, by which they were empowered to fuperfede the jurifdiftion of the former council, to proclaim Lord Delaware governor, and, until he fhould arrive, to take the adminiftration of affairs into their own hands. A violent hurricane feparated the veffel in which Gates and Summers had embarked from the reft of the fleet, and ftranded it on the coaft of Bermudas. The other fliips arrived fafely at James- Town. But the fate of their commanders was unknown. Their commiffton for new-modelling the government, and all other public papers, were fuppofed to be loft, together with them. The prefen t form of government, however, was held to be aboliflied. No legal warrant could be produced for eftablifliing any other. Smith was not in a condition at this juncture to affert his own rights, or to a£t with his wonted vigor. By an accidental explofion of gunpowder, he had been fo miferably fcorched and mangled , that he was incapable of moving, and under the neceffity of committing himfelf to the guidance of his friends, who carried him aboard one of the fliips returning
E 2
BOOK
IX.
Oates and Summers appointed to command till the arrival of Lord Delaware.
Their fliip ftranded on the coaft of Bermudas.
Auguft II..

5a
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
.Anatchy in the colony.
The colony reduced by famine.
to England , in 1 opes that he might recover by more fkilful treatment than he could meet with in Virginia
After his departure, every thing tended fa ft to the wildeft anarchy. Faction and difcontent had often rifen fo high among the old fettlers, that they could hardly be kept within bounds. The fpirit of the new-comers was too ungovernable to bear any reftraint. Several among them of better rank were fuch diflipated hopelefs young men, as their friends were glad to fend out in queft of whatever fortune might betide them in a foreign land. Of the lower order, many were fo profligate or defperate, that their country was happy to throw them out as nuifances in fociety. Such perfons were little capable of the regular fubordi- nation, the ftri£l ceconomy, and perfevering in- duftry, which their lituation required. The Indians obferving their mifcondufl, and that every precaution for fuftenance or fafety was neglefled, not only withheld the fupplies of provifions which they were accuftomed to furnifh, butharafied them with continual hoftilities. All their fubfiftence was derived from the ftores which they had brought from England: thefe were foon confumed; then the domeftic animals fent out to breed in the country were devoured; and by this inconliderate wafte, they were reduced to fuch extremity of famine, as not only to eat the moft naufeous and unwholefome roots and berries, but to feed on
35 Purchas, iv. 1734, &c. Smith’s Travels, p. $9. Stith, p. 104, &c.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
53
the bodies of the Indians whom they flew, and even on thofe of their companions who funk under the oppreflion of fuch complicated diftrefs. In lefs than fix months, of five hundred perfons whom Smith left in Virginia, only fixty remained; and thefe fo feeble and dejefled, that they could not have furvived for ten days, if fuccour had not arrived from a quarter whence they did not expeft it 3 «.
When Gates and Summers were thrown afliore on Bermudas, fortunately not a fingle perfon on board their lhip periflied. A confiderable part of their provifions and flores too was faved, and in that delightful fpot, Nature, with fpontaneous bounty, prefented to them fuch a variety of her productions, that a hundred and fifty people fub- fifted in affluence for ten months on an uninhabited ifland. Impatient, however, to efcape from a place where they were cut off from all intercourfe with mankind, they fet about building two barks with fuch tools and materials as they had, and by amazing efforts of perfeverance and ingenuity they finifhed them. In thefe they embarked , and fleered direclly towards Virginia, in hopes of finding an ample confolation for all their toils and dangers in the embraces of their companions , and amidfl the comforts of a flourifhing colony. After a more profperous navigation than they could have expected in their ill-conftructed veffels, they landed at James-Town. But inflead
E 3
BOOK
IX.
Gates and Summers arrive from Bermudas.
May 13,.
36 Stith, p. 116. Purchas, iv. 174S.

BOOK
IX.
Find the co lony in the utmoft dif. tret's.
Are about to return to Eng. land, when Lord Delaware arrives.
54 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
of that joyful interview for which they fondly looked, a fpeflacle prefented itfelf which ftruck them with horror. They beheld the miferable remainder of their countrymen emaciated with famine and ficknefs, funk in defpair, and in their figure and looks rather refembling fpeftres than human beings. As Gates and Summers, in full confidence of finding plenty of provifions in Virginia, had brought with them no larger flock than was deemed neceffary for their own fupport during the voyage, their inability to afford relief to their countrymen, added to the anguifli with which they viewed this unexpected feene of diftrefs. Nothing now remained but inftantly to abandon a country, where it was impoflible to fubfift any longer; and though all that could be found in the ftores of the colony, when added to what remained of the flock brought from Bermudas, did not amount to more than was fuificient to fupport them for fixteen days, at the moft fcanty allowance , they fet fail, in hopes of being able to reach Newfoundland, where they expected to be relieved by their countrymen employed at that feafon in the fifliery there 37 ,
But it was not the will of Heaven that all the labor of the Englilh, in planting this colony, as well as all their hopes of benefit from its future profperity, fliould be for ever loft. Before Gates,
37 A minute and curious account of the shipwreck of Gates and Summers, and of their adventures in Bermudas, was com- pofed by Strachy, a gentleman who accompanied them, and was published by Purchas, iv. 17:54.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
55
and the melancholy companions of his voyage, had reached the mouth of James-River, they were met by Lord Delaware, with three fhips, that brought a large recruit of provifions, a confiderable number of new fettlers, and every thing requifite for defence or cultivation. By perfuafion and authority he prevailed on them to return to James-Town, where they found their fort, their magazines, and houfes entire, which Sir Thomas Gates, by fome happy chance, had preferved from being fet on fire at the time of their departure. A fociety fa feeble and difordered in its frame required a tender and fkilful hand to cherilh it, and reflore its vigor. This it found in Lord Delaware: he fearched into the caufes of their misfortunes, as far as he could difcover them, amidft the violence of their mutual accufations; but inflead of exerting his power in puniflirng crimes that were paft, he employed his prudence in healing their diffenfions, and in guarding againft a repetition of the fame fatal errors. By unwearied affiduity, by the refpeff due to an amiable and beneficent character, by knowing how to mingle feverity with indulgence, and when to affume the dignity of his office, as well as when to difplay the gentlenefs natural to his own temper, he gradually reconciled men corrupted by anarchy to fubordination and difcipline; he turned the attention of the idle and profligate to in- duftry, and taught the Indians again to reverence and dread the Englifli name. Under fuch an adminiftration, the colony began once more to affume a promifing appearance ) when unhappily
E 4
BOOK
IX.
Wife admi- niitration of Lord Delaware.
isir.
March IS. His health obliges hia:

56
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
to return to England.
May to. Sir Thomas Dale appointed governor.
Martial law eftabli/hed.
for it, a complication of difeafes brought on by the climate obliged Lord Delaware to quit the country 38 ■ the government of which he committed to Mr. Percy.
He was foon fuperfeded by the arrival of Sir Thomas Dale; in whom the company had veiled more abfolute authority than in any of his prede- ceffors, empowering him to rule by martial law; a liiort code of which, founded on the practice of the armies in the Low Countries, the mod rigid military fchool at that time in Europe, they fent out with him. This fyftem of government is fo violent and arbitrary, that even the Spaniards themfelves had not ventured to introduce it into their fettlements; for among them, as foon as a plantation began, and the arts of peace fucceeded to the operations of war, the jurifdiftion of the civil magillrate was uniformly ellablifiied. But however unconftitutional or oppreliive this may appear, it was adopted by the advice of Sir Francis Bacon, the mod enlightened philofopher, and one of the mod eminent lawyers of the age 39 . The company, well acquainted with the inefficacy of every method which they had hitherto employed for redraining the unruly mutinous fpirits which they had to govern, eagerly adopted a plan that had the fandlion of fuch high authority to recommend it. Happily for the colony, Sir Thomas Dale, who was intruded with this dangerous power, exercifed it with prudence and moderation.
3 S Stith, p. 117. Purchas, iv. 1764.
39 Bacon, Effay on Plantations, p. 3.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
•57
By the vigor which the fummary mode of military punifliment gave to his adminifiration, lie introduced into the colony more perfect order than had ever been eftabliihed there; and at the fame time he tempered its vigor with fo much difcre- tion, that no alarm feems to have been given by this formidable innovation 4 °.
The regular form which the colony now began to affume, induced the King to iffue a new charter for the encouragement of the adventurers, by which he not only confirmed all their former privileges , and prolonged the term of exemption from payment of duties on the commodities exported by them, but granted them more exten- five property, as well as more ample jurifdiddion. All the iflands lying within three hundred leagues of the coaft were annexed to the Province of Virginia. In confequence of this, the company took pofleffion of Bermudas, and the other fmall illes difcovered by Gates and Summers; and at the fame time prepared to fend out a confiderable reinforcement to the colony at James-Town. The expenfe of thofe extraordinary efforts was defrayed by the profits of a lottery, which amounted nearly to thirty thoufand pounds. This expedient, they were authorized to employ by their new charter 41 ; and it is remarkable, as the (irft inftance, in the Englifli hiftory, of any public countenance given to this pernicious feducing mode of levying money. But the Houfe of Commons, winch
40 Stith, p. 122.
41 Ibid. p. T91. Appendix, 23,
BOOK
IX.
1612 .
March 12. New charter ifliied to the colony: new privileges conferred.

58
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Cultivation of the lands promoted.
Treaty with the natives.
towards the clofe of this reign began to obferve every meafure of government with jealous attention, having remonflrated againft the inftitution as unconftitutional and impolitic, James recalled the licence under the fandlion of which it had been eltablifhed 4 -.
By the fevere difcipline of martial law, the acli- vity of the colonifts was forced into a proper direction, and exerted itfelf in ufeful induftry. This, aided by a fertile foil and favorable climate, foon enabled them to raife fuch a large flock of provi- lions; that they were no longer obliged to truft for fubfiftence to the precarious fupplies which they obtained or extorted from the Indians. In proportion as the Englifh became more independent, the natives courted their friendfliip upon more equal terms. The happy effects of this were quickly felt. Sir Thomas Dale concluded a treaty with one of their moft powerful and warlike tribes, fltuated on the River Chickahominy, in which they confented to acknowledge themfelves fubjefls of the King of Great Britain, to affume henceforth the name of Engliihmen, to fend a body of their warriors to the afliftance of the Englifli, as often as they took the field againft any enemy, and to depofit annually a ftipulated quantity of Indian corn in the ftore-houfes of the colony 43 . An event, which the early hiftorians of Virginia relate with peculiar fatisfaftion, prepared the way for
41 Chalmer’s Annals , 1.31.
43 Hamer Solida Narratio, ap. de Bry. Pars x. p. 33 - Stith, p. 130.

HISTORY OF AMERICA, 5g
this union. Pocahuntas, the favorite daughter of the great ChiefPowhatan, to whofe interceffion Captain Smith was indebted for his life, perfever- ed in her partial attachment to the Englifli; and as flie frequently vilited their fettlements, where flie was always received with refpeflful hofpitality, her admiration of their arts and manners continued to increafe. During this intercourfe, her beauty, which is reprefented as far fuperior to that of her countrywomen, made fuch impreffion on the heart of Mr. Rolfe, a youug man of rank in ithe colony, that he warmly folicited her to accept of him as a hufband. Where manners are fimple, courtlhip is not tedious. Neither artifice prevents, nor ceremony forbids the heart from declaring its fentiments. Pocahuntas readily gave herconfent; Dale encouraged the alliance, and Powhatan did not difapprove it. The marriage was celebrated with extraordinary pomp; and from that period a friendly correfpondence fub- fifted between the colony and all the tribes fub- je£t to Powhatan, or that Rood in awe of his power. Rolfe and his Princefs, (for by that name the writers of the laft age always diftinguilh her,) fet out for England, where flie was received by James and his Queen with the refpeft fuited to her birth. Being carefully infirufted in the principles of the Chriftian faith, flie was publicly baptized, but died a few years after, on her return to America, leaving one fon; from whom are fprung fome of the moil refpe£fable families in Virginia, who boaft of their defcent from the race of the ancient
BOOK
xx.
Rolfe marries the daughter of an Indian Chief.

BOOK
IX.
Land in Virginia firft becomes property.
60 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
rulers of their country 44 . But notwithflanding the vifible good effedls of that alliance, none of Rolfe’s countrymen feem to have imitated the example which he fet them, of intermarrying-with the natives. Of all the Europeans who have fettled in America, the Engliffi have availed themfelves leaf! of this obvious method of conciliating the affedfion of its original inhabitants; and, either from the fhinefs confpicuous in their national charafler, or from the want of that pliant facility of manners which accommodates itfelf to every fituation, they have been more averfe than the French and Portuguefe, or even the Spaniards, from incorporating with the native Americans. The Indians, courting fuch an union, offered their daughters in marriage to their new guefts: and when they did not accept of the proffered alliance, they naturally imputed it to pride and to their contempt of them as an inferior order of beings 4 h
During the interval of tranquillity procured by the alliance with Powhatan , an important change was made in the Rate of the colony. Hitherto no right of private property in land had been eftablifh- ed. The fields that were cleared had been cultivated by the joint labor of the colonifts; their produdl was carried to the common ftore-houfes, and diftributed weekly to every family, according to its number and exigencies. A fociety, deftitute
44 Hamer Solida Narratio , ap. de Bry, Pars x. p. 13. Stith, p. 129. 146. Smith’s Travels, p. 113. m.
45 Beverley’s Hift. of Virg. p. 25.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Cx
of the firft advantage refulting from focial union, was not formed to profper. Induftry, when not excited by the idea of property in what was acquired by its own efforts, made no vigorous exertion. The head had no inducement to contrive, nor the hand to labor. The idle and improvident trufted entirely to what was iffued from the common ftore; the affiduity even of the fober and attentive relaxed, when they perceived that others were to reap the fruit of their toil; and it was computed, that the united induftry of the colony did not accomplilh as much work in a week as might have been performed in a day, if each individual had labored on his own account. In order to remedy this, Sir Thomas Dale divided a con- liderable portion of the land into fmall lots, and granted one of thefe to each individual in full property. From the moment that induftry had the certain profpect of a recompence, it advanced with rapid progrefs. The articles of primary neceffity were cultivated with fo much attention as fecured the means of fubliftence; and fuch fchemes of improvement were formed as prepared the way for the introduction of opulence into the colony * 6 .
The induftrious fpirit, which began to rife among the planters, was foon directed towards a new object; and they applied to it for fome time with fuch inconfiderate ardor as was productive of fatal confequences. The culture of tobacco, which has iince become the ftaple of Virginia and
BOOK
IX.
Advantages.
Culture of tobacco introduced.
4 <> Smith’s Travels, p. 114. Stith, p. 131*

BOOK
IX.
1616 .
Bad confe- quences arif- ing from it.
6* HISTORY OF AMERICA.
the fource of its profperity, was introduced about this time into the colony. As the tafte for that weed continued to increafe in England, notwirh- flanding the zealous declamations of James againft it, the tobacco imported from Virginia came to a ready market; and though it was fo much inferior in quality or in eftimation to that raifed by the Spaniards in the Weft Indian illands, that a pound of the latter fold for eighteen fliillings, and of the former for no more than three fliillings, it yielded a confiderable profit. Allured by the profpeft of fuch a certain and quick return, every other fpecies of induftry was negleffed. The land which ought to have been referved for railing provilions, and even the ftreets of James-Town, were planted with tobacco. Various regulations were framed to ref- train this ill-direCied activity. But from eagernefs for prefent gain, the planters difregarded every admonition. The means of fubfiftence became fo fcanty as forced them to renew their demands upon the Indians, who, feeing no end of thofe exactions, their antipathy to the Englifh name revived with additional rancor, and they began to form fchemes of vengeance, with the fecrecy and filence peculiar to Americans 47.
Meanwhile the colony, notwithstanding this error in its operations, and the cloud that was gathering over its head, continued to wear an afpefl of profperity. Its numbers increafed by fucceffive migrations; the quantity of tobacco
47 Stith, p. 140. 147. 164. 36S. Smith, p. 140. Purchas, iv. 1787.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
63
exported became every year more confiderable, and feveral of the planters were not only in ail eafy htuation, but advancing fall to opulence 48 ; and by two events, which happened nearly at the fame time, both population and induflry were greatly promoted. As few women had hitherto ventured to encounter the hardlhips which were unavoidable in an unknown and uncultivated country, moft of the colonifts, conftrained to live fingle, confidered themfelves as no more than fojourners in a land to which they were not attached by the tender ties of a family and children. In order to induce them to fettle there, the company took advantage of the apparent tranquillity in the country, to fend out a confiderable number of young women, of humble birth , indeed, but of unexceptionable character, and encouraged the planters, by premiums and immunities, to marry them 49 . Thefe new companions were received with fuch fondnefs, and many of them fo comfortably eftabliflied, as invited others to follow their example, and by degrees thoughtlefs adventurers, affuming the fentiments of virtuous citizens and of provident fathers of families, became folicitous about the profperity of a country, which they now' confidered as their own. As the colonifts began to form more extenftve plans of induftry, they were unexpectedly furnilhed with means of executing them with greater facility. A Dutch fhip from the Coaft of Guinea, having failed
BOOK
IX.
Young women migrate from England to Virginia.
48 Smith, p. 139.
49 Stith, p. 166, 197.

BOOK
IX.
Negroes firft introduced.
1619. June. Firft general aflembly of reprefenta- tives.
64 . HISTORY OF AMERICA.
up James-River, fold a part of her cargo of negroes to the planters so. and as that hardy race tvas found more capable of enduring fatigue under a fultry climate than Europeans, their number has been increafed by continual importation; then- aid feems now to be efi’ential to the exiflence of the colony, and the greater part of field labor in Virginia is performed by fervile hands.
But as the condition of the colony improved, the fpirit of its members became more independent. To Engliihmen the fummary and fevere decifions of martial law, however; tempered by the mildnefs of their governors, appeared intolerably oppreflive; and they longed to recover the privileges to which they had been accuflomed under the liberal form of government in their native country. In compliance with this fpirit, Sir George Yeardley, in the year 1619, called the firft general affembly that was ever held in Virginia; and the numbers of the people were now fo increafed, and their fettlements fo difperfed, that eleven corporations appeared by their reprefenta- tives in this convention, where they were permitted to afiume legifiative power, and to exer- cife the nobleft funilion of free men. The laws enabled in it feem neither to have been many, nor of great importance; but the meeting was highly acceptable to the people, as they now beheld among themfelves an image of the Englilh confti- tution, which they reverenced as the moft per feel
model
So Beverley, p. 37.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
65
model of free government. In order to render book this refemblance more complete, and the rights IX- of the planters more certain, the company iffued Juiys*. New a charter or ordinance, which gave a legal and ™ n^i:ltutl0,, permanent rorm to the government or the colony, colony.
The fupreme legiflative authority in Virginia, in imitation of that in Great Britain , was divided and lodged partly in the governor, who held the place of the fovereign; partly in a council of Rate named by the company, which poffefled fome of the diltinflions, and exercifed fome of the funflions belonging to the peerage; partly in a general council or affembly compofed of the reprefen tatives of the people, in which were veiled powers and privileges fimilar to thofe of the Houfe of Commons. In both thefe councils all queftions were to be determined by the majority of voices, and a negative was referved to the governor; but no law or ordinance, though approved of by all the three members of the legiflature, was to be of force, until it was ratified in England by a general court of the company , and returned under its feal si. Thus the conftitution of the colony was fixed, and the members of it are henceforth to be confidered, not merely as fervants of a commercial company, dependant on the will and orders of their fuperior, but as free men and citizens.
The natural effect of that happy change in their induftry incondition was an increafe of their induftry. The creafeli: product of tobacco in Virginia was now equal,
?i Stith, Appendix, p. 31, &e.
F

66
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book not only to the confumption of it in Great Brit- IX ’ ain s 2 , but could furnilh fome quantity for a Direa trade foreign market. The company opened a trade of the colony f or w i t h Holland, and eftabliflied warehoufes Gives offence" in Middlebnrgh and Flufhing. James, and his to James. privy council, alarmed at feeing the commerce of a commodity, for which the demand was daily increafmg, turned into a channel that tended to the diminution of the revenue, by depriving it of a confiderable duty impofed on the importation of tobacco, interpofed with vigor to check this innovation. Some expedient was found, by which the matter was adjufted for the prefent; but it is remarkable as the firft inftance of a difference in fentiment between the parent Rate and the colony , concerning their refpedive rights. The former concluded , that the trade of the colony fhould be confined to England, and all its productions be landed there. The latter claimed, not only the general privilege of Englifhmen to
It is a matter of fome curiofity to trace the progrefs of the confumption of this unneceffary commodity. The life of tobacco feems to have been firft introduced into England about the year 1586. Poffibly a few fen-faring perfons may have acquired a relish for it by their intercourfe with the Spaniards previous to that period ; but the ufe of it cannot be denominated a national habit fooner than the time I have mentioned. Upon an average of the feven years immediately preceding the year 1622, the whole import of tobacco into England amounted to a hundred and forty-two thoufand and eighty-five pounds weight. Stith, p. 246. From this it appears, that the tafte had fpread with a rapidity which is remarkable. But how inconfiderable is that quantity to what is now coufumed in Great Britain!

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 6 ?
carry their commodities to the belt market, but pleaded the particular conceffions in their charter, by winch an unlimited freedom of commerce feemed to be granted to them S3. The time for a more full difcuffion of this important queflion was not yet arrived.
But while the colony continued to increafe fo fad, that fettlements were fcattered, not only along the banks of Janies and York Rivers, but began to extend to the Rapahannock , and even to the Potowmack, the Englifh, relying on their own numbers and deceived by this appearance ofprof- perity , lived in full fecurity. They neither attended to the movements of the Indians, nor fufpefted their machinations , and though fur- rounded by a people whom they might have known from experience to be both artful and vindictive , they neglected every precaution for their own fafety that was requifite in fuch afituation. Like the peaceful inhabitants of a fociety completely eftabliflied, they , were no longer foldiers but citizens, and were fo intent on what was fubfervient to the comfort or ernbellillnnent of civil life, that every martial exercife began to be laid aftde as uiuiecelfary. The Indians, whom they commonly employed as hunters, were fur<= nilhed with fire-arms, and taught to ufe them with dexterity. They were permitted to frequent the habitations of the Englifn at all hours, and received as innocent vifitants whom there was no reafon
53 Stith, i). soo, &c.
F 2
BOOK
XX.
The colony neglefts the precautions nece-lary fo$ its defence againft the Indians.

68
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book
ix.
General maf- facre of the English planned by the Indians
to dread. This inconftderate fecurity enabled the Indians to prepare for the execution of that plan of vengeance, which they meditated with all the deliberate forethought which is agreeable to their temper. Nor did they want a leader capable of conducting their fchemes with addrefs. On the death of Powhatan , in the year 1618, Opech- ancanough fucceeded him, not only as wirowanee or chief of his own tribe, but in that extenhve influence over all the Indian nations of Virginia, W'hich induced the Englilli writers to diftinguifli them by the name of Emperor. According to the Indian tradition , he was not a native of Virginia, but came from a diftant country to the fouth-weft, poflibly from fome province of the Mexican Empire ">*. But as he was confpicuous for all the qualities of highefl eflimation among favages, a fearlefs courage, great flrength and agility of body, and crafty policy, he quickly rofe to eminence and power. Soon after his elevation to the fupreme command, a general maffacre of the Englifh feems to have been refolved upon ; and during four years, the means of perpetrating it with the greateft facility and fuccefs were concerted with amazing fecrecy. All the tribes contiguous to the Englifh fettlements were fucceffively gained, except thofe on the Eaftern fhore , from whom , on account of their peculiar attachment to their new neighbours, every circumftance that’ might dilcover what they intended was carefully
S4 Beverley, p. 51.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 69
concealed. To each tribe its Ration was allotted, and the part it was to aft prefcribed. On the morning of the day confecrated to vengeance, each was at the place of rendezvous appointed, while the Englifh were fo little aware of the impending deftruftion, that they received with un- fufpicious hofpitality , feveral perfons fent by Opechancanough , under pretext of delivering prefents of venifon and fruits, but in reality to obferve their motions. Finding them perfeftly fe- cure, at mid-day, the moment that was previoufly lixedfor this deed of horror, the Indians rallied at once upon them in all their different fettlements, and murdered men, women, and children, with undiftinguilhing rage, and that rancorous cruelty with which favages treat their enemies. In one hour , nearly a fourth part of the whole colony was cut off, almoft without knowing by whofe hands they fell. The (laughter would have been univerfal, if companion, or a fenfe of duty, had not moved a converted Indian , to. whom the fecret was communicated the night before the maffacre , to reveal it to his mailer in fuch time as to fave Jame's-Town, and fame adjacent fettlements; and if the Englilh, in other diftrifts, had not run to their arms with refolution prompted by defpair, and defended themfelves fo bravely as to repulfe their affailants, who, in the execution of their plan, did not difcover courage equal to the fagacity and art with which they had concerted it
St Stith, p. QoS, &c. Furchas, iv. 17SS, &c.
F 3
BOOK IX. Mar. 22-.
Executed on moil of the fettlcmentsi

7o
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book But though the blow was thus prevented from defcending with its full effect , it proved very- grievous to an infant colony. In fome fettlements not a fmgle Englifliman efcaped. Many pe: ;ons of prime note in the colony, and among thefe feveral members of the council, were flain. The furvivors, overwhelmed with grief, afloniffiment, and terror, abandoned all their remote fettle- men rs, and, crowding together forfafetytoJam.es- Tovvn, did not occupy a territory of greater extent than had been planted foon after the arrival of their countrymen in Virginia. Confined within thofe narrow boundaries, they were lefs intent on fchemes of induftry than on thoughts of revenge. Bloody war Every man took arms. A bloody war againft the di'ans*' 16 ^ nc ^ ans commenced; and, bent on exterminating the whole race, neither old nor young were fpar- ed. The conduct of the Spaniards in the Southern regions of America was openly propofed as the moft proper model to imitate and, regardlefs like them of thofe principles of faith, honor, and humanity, which regulate hoftility among civilized nations and fet bounds to its rage, the Englilh deemed every thing allowable that tended to ac- complifh their defign. They hunted the Indians like wild beads, rather than enemies; and as the purfuit of them to their places of retreat in the woods, which covered their country, was both difficult and dangerous , they endeavoured to allure them from their inacceffible faflneffes, by
ss Stith, p. -33.
I

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
7i
offers of peace and promifes of oblivion , made book with fuch an artful appearance of fmcerity as deceived their crafty leader, and induced them to return to their former fettlements, and refume their ufual peaceful occupations. The behaviour of the two people feemed now to be perfectly reverfed. The Indians, like men acquainted with the principles of integrity and good faith, on which the intercourfe between nations is founded, confided in the reconciliation, and lived in abfo- lute fecurity without fufpicion of danger ; while the Englilh, with perfidious craft, were preparing to imitate favages in their revenge and cruelty.
On the approach of harveft, when they knew an hoftile attack would be moft formidable and fatal, they fell fuddenly upon all the Indian plantations, murdered every perfon on whom they could lay hold, and drove the reft to the woods, where fo many perilhed with hunger, that fome of the tribes neareft to the Englilh were totally extirpated. This atrocious deed, which the perpetrators labored to reprefent as a neceffary a cl of retaliation , was followed by fome happy effe£ls. It delivered the colony fo entirely from any dread of the Indians, that its fettlements began again to extend, and its induftry to revive.
But unfortunately at this juncture the ftate of Company at the company in England, in which the property of Virginia and the government of the colony fettled there were veiled, prevented it from fe- conding the efforts of the planters, by fuch a reinforcement of men , and fuch a fupply of
F i

>2 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book neceffaries, as were requifite to replace what they had loft. The company was originally compofed of many adventurers , and increafed fo faft by the junction of new members, allured by the profpecl of gain , or the defire of promoting a fcheme of public utility, that its general courts formed a numerous affembly w. The operauon of every political principle and pafiion, that fpread through the kingdom , was felt in thofe popular meetings, and influenced their decifions. As towards the clofe of James’s reign more juft and enlarged fentiments with refpedt to conftitu- tional liberty were diffufecl among the people, they came to underftand their rights better, and to affert them with greater boldnefs; a diftindfion formerly little known, but now familiar in Englifli policy, began to be eftablillied between the court and country parties, and the leaders of each endeavoured to derive power and confequence from every quarter. Both exerted themfelves with emulation, in order to obtain the diredlion of a bodyfo numerous and refpedlable as the company of Virginian adventurers. In confequence of this, bufinefs had been conduced in every general court for fome years , not with the temperate fpirit of merchants deliberating concerning their mutual intereft , but with the animofity and violence natural to numerous alfemblies, by which rival factions contend for fuperiority ss.
5 7 Stith, p. 272. 276.
5S Ibid. p. 229, &c. Chalmers 9 p.‘59.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 73
As the king did not often affemble the great book council of the nation in parliament, the general , IX ‘ .
1 7 Q James mlh-
courts of the company became a theatre , on tutes an in- which popular orators difplayed their talents; the C| , l " ry int ° „
, r *. r , 1 in C , their conduit.
proclamations or trie crown, and acts of tlie privy council, with refpedl to the commerce and police of the colony, were canvaffed there with freedom , and cenfnred with feverity, ill-fuited to the lofty ideas which James entertained of Iris own wifdom, and the extent of his prerogative.
In order to check this growing fpirit of difcuiTion, the miniflers employed all their addrefs and influence to gain as many members of the company as might give them the direction of their deliberations. But fo unfuccefsful were they in this attempt, that every meafure propofed by them was reprobated by a vaft majority, and fometimes without any reafon, but becaufe they were the propofers of it. James, little favorable to the power of any popular alfembly, and weary of contending with one over which he had labored in vain to obtain an afcendant, began to entertain thoughts of diffolving the company, and of new- modelling its conflitution. Pretexts, neither un- plaufible , nor deftitute of fome foundation , feemed to juftify this meafure. The flow progrefs of the colony, the large fums of money expended, and great number of men who had perifhed in attempting to plant it, the late maffacre by the Indians, and every difafter that had befallen the Englifli from their firft migration to America,
Were imputed folely to the inability of a numerous

74
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book company to condud an enterprife fo complex and IX - arduous. The nation felt fenfibly its di{'appointment in a fcheme in which it had engaged with fanguine expeditions of advantage, and wilhed impatiently for fuch an impartial ferufiny into former proceedings as might fuggeft more faintary meafures in the future adminiflration of the colony. The prefent Rate of its affairs, as well as the willies of the people , feemed to call for the interpolation of the crown; and James, eager to difplay the fuperiority of his royal wifdom, in correcting thole errors into which the company had been betrayed by inexperience in the arts of May^j government, boldly undertook the work of reformation. Without regarding the rights conveyed to the company by their charter, and without the formality of any judicial proceeding for annulling it, he, by virtue of his prerogative, iffued a commilhon , empowering fome of the judges, and other perfons of note, to examine into all the tranfadions of the company from its firft eflab- lifliment, and to lay the refult of their inquiries, together with their opinion concerning the moll effedual means of rendering the colony more profperous <;9 , before the privy council. At the fame time, by a ftrain of authority Hill higher, he ordered all the records and papers of the company to be feized, and two of its principal officers to be arrefled. Violent and arbitrary as thefe ads of authority may notv appear , the
59 Stith, p. s 88 .
«

HISTORY OF AMERICA. ?5
commiffioners carried on their inquiry without any obftnuffion but what arofe from fome feeble and ineffefhia! remonftrances of the company. The commiffioners, though they conducted their fcrutiny with much activity and vigor 60 , did not communicate any of their proceedings to the company; but their report, with refpeci to its operations, feems to have been very unfavorable, as the king, in confequence of it, hgnified to the company his intention of veiling the fupreme government of the company in a governor and twelve affiftants, to be refident in England, and the executive power in a council of twelve, which fhould refide in Virginia. The governor and affiftants were to be originally appointed by the king. Future vacancies were to be fupplied by the governor and his affiftants, but their nomination was not to take effeft until it fhould be ratified by the privy council. The twelve coun- fellors in Virginia were to be chofen by the governor and affiftants; and this choice was likewife fubjeffed to the review of the privy council. With an intention to quiet the minds of the colonifts, it was declared, that private property ffiould be deemed facred ; and for the more effectual fecurity of it, all grants of lands from the former company were to be confirmed by the new one. In order to facilitate the execution of this plan, the king required the company inftantly to fur-: render its charter into his hands SI .
BOOK
IX.
Oft. 8. Company required to furren- der its charter.
60 Smith’s Travels, p. 165, &c.
61 Stith, p. 293, &e.

76 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
Company ie-
■fures.
oa. 20.
Xoy. io.
Trial in the King's Bench, and diflblu-
But here James arid his minifters encountered a fpirit, of which they feem not to have been aware. They found the members of the company unwilling tamely to relinquilh rights of fran- chifes conveyed to them with fuch legal formality, that upon faith in their validity they had expended confiderable fums 62 ; and Hill more averfe to the abolition of a popular form of government, in which every proprietor had a voice, in order to fubjefl a colony, in which they were deeply interefled , to the dominion of a fmall junto ab- folutely dependent on the crown. Neither pro- miles nor threats could induce them to depart from thefe fentiments; and in a general court the king’s propofal was aim oft nnanimoufly rejected, and a refolution taken to defend to the utmoft their chartered rights, if thefe lliould be called in queAion in any court ofjuftice. James, highly offended at their prefumption in daring to oppofe his will, dire fled a writ of quo warranto to be iffued againft the company, that the validity of its charter might be tried in the Court of King’s Bench; and in order to aggravate the charge by eollefling additional proofs of mal-adminiftration, he appointed fome perfons, in whom he could confide, to repair to Virginia to infpefl the ftate of the colony, and inquire into the conduft of the company, and of its officers there.
The law-fuit in the King’s Bench did not hang long in fufpenfe. It terminated, as was ufual
6 - Chiltners. t>. 6i.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 77
in that reign , in a decifion perfectly confonant booi; to the willies of the monarch. The charter was tjo *^ f forfeited, the company was difiolved , and all company, the rights and privileges conferred upon it re- Jmie IS " 4, turned to the king, from whom they flowed s3 .
Some writers, particularly Stith, the moftin- Defects i» telligent and heft informed hiftorian of Virginia, mention the difl'olution of the company as a moft tiw colonics, difaftrous event to the colony. Animated with liberal fentiments, imbibed in an age when the principles of liberty were more fully unfolded than under the reign of James , they viewed his violent and arbitrary proceedings on this occafion with fuch indignation, that their abhorrence of the means which he employed to accomplifli his defign feems to have rendered them incapable of contemplating its effe£ls withdifcernment and candor. There is not perhaps any mode of governing an infant colony lels friendly to its liberty, than the dominion of an exclufive corporation, poffeffed of all the powers which James had conferred upon thecompanyofadventurersin Virginia.
During feveral years the colonifls can hardly be confidered in any other light than as fervants to the company, nourifhed out of its ftores , bound implicitly to obey its orders, and fubjedled to the moft rigorous of all forms of government, that of martial law. Even after the native fpirit of Englillimen began to roufe under oppreffion, and had extorted from their fuperiors the right of
to Rymer, v»V xvii. p. 618, &c. Chalmer*, j>. 6si.

7» HISTORY OF AMERICA.
is o o IX.
enabling laws for the rovernment of that commit*
O O
nity of which they were members, as no a£l, though approved of by all the branches of the provincial le* gifiAture, was held to be of legal Torce, until it was ratified by a general court in England, the company Rill retained the paramount authority in its .own hands. Nor was the power of the company more favorable to the profperity of the colony, than to its freedom. A numerous body of merchants, as long as its operations are purely commercial, may carry them on with difeernment and fuecefs. But the mercantile fpirit feems ill-adapted to con- duhf an enlarged and liberal plan of civil policy, and colonies have feldom grown up to maturity and vigor under its narrow and interefted re- gulations. To the unavoidable defects in admi- niftration which this occafioned , were added errors arifmg from inexperience. The Englifh merchants of that age had not thofe extenfive views which a general commerce opens to fuch as have the diredfion of it. When they firft began to venture out of the beaten track , they groped their way with timidity and hefitation. Unacquainted with the climate and foil of America, and ignorant of the productions beft fuited to them, they feem to have had no fettled plan of improvement, and their fchemes were continually varying. Their fyftem of government was equally fludlnating. In the courfe of eighteen years ten different perfons prefided over the province as chief governors. No wonder that under fuch ad- niiniflration all the efforts to give vigor and
4

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
79
Inability to the colony fhould prove abortive, or produce only flender effe&s. Thefe efforts, however, when eftimated according of the ideas of that age, either with refpeCl to commerce or to policy, were very confiderable, and conducted with aftoniflnng perfeverance.
Above a hundred and fifty thoufand pounds were expended in this firft attempt to plant an Englilh colony in America 64 ; and more than nine thoufand perfons were fent out from the mother country to people this new fettlement. At the diffolution of the company, the nation, in return for this wafte of treafure and of people, did not receive from Virginia an annual importation of commodities exceeding twenty thoufand pounds in value; and the colony was fo far from having added ftrength to the hate by an increafe of population , that, in the year one thoufand fix hundred and twenty-four, fcarcely two thoufand perfons furvived s< >, a wretched remnant of the numerous emigrants who had flocked thither, with fanguine expectations of a very different fate.
The company, like all unprofperous focieties, fell unpitied. The violent hand with which prerogative had invaded its rights was forgotten, and new profpeds of fuccefs opened, under a form of government exempt from all the defefls to which pafl difafters were imputed. The king and the nation concurred with equal ardor in refolving to encourage the colony. Soon after
BOOK
IX.
Weaknefs of the colony.
Temporary council appointed for the government of Virginia.
<>4 Smith’s Travels, p. 42. 167. Chalmers’ Annals, p. 69.

8o
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book the final judgment in the Court of King’s Bench IX ' again ft the company, James appointed a council of twelve perfons to take the temporary direction of Aug. ss. affairs in Virginia , that he might have leifure to frame with deliberate confideration proper regulations for the permanent government of the colony 66 . Pleafed with fuch an opportunity of exercifing his talents as a legiflator, he began to turn his attention towards the fubjeft; but death prevented him from completing his plan. i<5n, Charles I. on his accelfion to the throne, film o'/cha C j f " a ^ ° P t e d ah his father’s maxims with refpeil to His arbitrary the colony in Virginia. He declared it to be a government p art 0 f t j ie em pi re annexed to the crown, and
of tne colony. x 4 f
immediately fubordinate to its jurifdiciion : he conferred the title of Governor on Sir George Yardely, and appointed him, in conjun&ion with a council of twelve , and a fecretary, to exercife fupreme authority there, and enjoined them to conform in every point to fuch inftruclions as from time to time they might receive from him 67 . From the tenor of the king’s commiffion, as well as from the known fpirit of his policy, it is apparent , that he intended to veil; every power of government, both legillative and executive, in the governor and council, without recourfe to the representatives of the people, as poffefiing a right to ena£! laws for the community , or to impofe taxes upon it. Yardely and his council,
who
66 1 -ymer, xvii. 618, &C. 67 Ibid, xviii. 71. Jir.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
81
who feem to have been fit inftruments for carrying book this fyftern of arbitrary rule into execution , did IX ' not fail to put fuch a conftrudlion on the words of their coramiffion as was molt favorable to their own jurifiiicfion. During a great part of Charles’s reign, Virginia knew no other law than the will of the fovereign. Statutes were publiflied, and taxes impofed, without once calling the repre- fentatives of the people to authorize them by their fanflion. At the fame time that the co- lonifts were bereaved of political rights, which they deemed effential to freemen and citizens, their private property was violently invaded. A Grants and proclamation was iffued, by which, under pre- ^aoco°. !y ^ texts equally abfurd and frivolous, they were prohibited from felling tobacco to any perfon but certain commiffioners appointed by the king to purchafe it on his account 68 ; and they had the cruel mortification to behold the fovereign, who fhould have afforded them protection, engrofs all the profits of their induftry, by feizing the only valuable commodity which they had to vend, and retaining the monopoly of it in his own hands. While the ftaple of the colony in Virginia funk in value under the oppreffion and reftraints of a monopoly, property in land was rendered infecure by various grants of it, which Charles inconfiderately bellowed upon his favorites. Thefe were not only of fuch exorbitant extent as to be unfavorable to the progrefs of
G
«8 Rymer, xviii. 19.

8a HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book cultivation; but from inattention , or imperfeft acquaintance with the geography of the country, their boundaries were fo inaccurately defined, that large trails already occupied and planted were often included in them.
The murmurs and complaints which fuch a fyltem of adminiftration excited , were augmented by the rigor fyith which Sir John Harvey, who fucceeded Yardely in the government of the co- i«»7. lony 69 , enforced every a£l of power. Rapacious, unfeeling, and haughty, he added infolence to oppreflion , and neither regarded the fentiments, nor liflened to the remonftrances of the people under his command. The colonifts , far from the feat of government, and overawed by authority derived from a royal commiffion , fubmitted Colonifts feize long to his tyranny and exactions. Their patience theiTgover. was at ^ exhaufted, and in a tranfport of po- nor, ami fend pular rage and indignation , they feized their go- toEngiajidT vernor j an d fent him a prifoner to England, accompanied by two of their number, whom they deputed to prefer their accufations again!! him to the king. But this attempt to redrefs their own •wrongs, by a proceeding fo fummary and violent as is hardly confiftent with any idea of regular government, and can be juftified only in cafes of fuch urgent neceflity as rarely occur in civil fociety, was altogether repugnant to every notion which Charles entertained with refpefl to the obedience due by fubjedls to their fovereign. To
69 Rymer, xviii. 980.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
83
him die conduct of the coloniRs appeared to be B o o K not only an ufurpation of his right to judge and IXv to puniih one of his own officers,, but an open and audacious aft of rebellion againR his authority. Without deigning to admit their deputies into his prefence, or ter hear one article of their charge again!! Harvey, the king inftantly fent him He is releafed back to his former Ration, with an ample renewal of all the powers belonging to it. But though in his govem- Charles deemed this vigorous Rep neceffary in ment ‘ order to aflert his own authority, and to teRify his difpleafure with thofe who had prefumed to offer luch an infult to it, he feems to have been fo fenhble of the grievances under which the colon iRs groaned, and of the chief fource from which they Rowed, that foon after he not only i«39. removed a governor fo jufily odious to them, but named as a fucceffor Sir William Berkeley, a perfon far fuperior to Harvey in rank and abilities, and Rill more diflinguiihed by poffeffing all the popular virtues to which the other was a Rranger to.
Under his government the colony in Virginia sir w.Berke. remained, with fome lhort intervals of interrup- gJvernor'nL tion , almoR forty years, and to his mild and mild and wife prudent adininiRration its increafe and profperity is in a great mealure to be aferibed. It was indebted, however, to the king himfelf for fuch a reform of its conflitution and policy, as gave a different afpeft to the colony, and animated
70 Beverley’s Hill, of Virg. p. 50. Chalmers’ Aritials, i,
I18, &c.
G 5

84 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book all its operations with new fpirit. Though the ^ tenor ot Sir William Berkeley’s commiflion was the fame with that of his predecelfor, he received inliruchons under the great feal, by which he was empowered to declare, that in all its concerns, New priviie- civil as well as eccleliaflical, the colony was to b^Charies** he governed according to the laws of England:
he was directed to illue writs for ele£ling repre- fentatives of the people, who, in conjunction with the governor and council, were to form a general affembly, and to poflefs fupreme legillative authority in the community; he was ordered to eftablilh courts of juftice, in which all queltions, whether civil or criminal, were to be decided agreeably to the forms of judicial procedure in the mother country. It is not eafy to difcover what were the motives which induced a monarch tenacious in adhering to any opinion or lyftem which he had once adopted, jealous to excefs of his own rights, and adverfe on every occahon to any extenlion of the privileges claimed by his people , to relinquifli his original plan of admi- niftration in the colony, and to grant fuch immunities to his fubjefls fettled there. From the hiftorians of Virginia, no lefs fuperficial than ill- informed, no light can be derived with refpe£! Motives that to this point. It is moft probable, that dread influenct^the t ^ ie then rifing in Great Britain extorted
-king. from Charles conceffions fo favorable to Virginia.
After an intermiflion of almoft twelve years, the Bate of his affairs compelled him to have recourfe to the great council of the nation. There his

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
85
fubjefls would find a jurifdidlion independant of B o o K the crown , and able to control its authority. IX- There they hoped for legal redrefs of all their grievances. As the colonifts in Virginia had applied for relief to a former parliament , it might be expefted with certainty, that they would lay their cafe before the firft meeting of an affembly, in which they were fecure of a favorable audience.
Charles knew, that if the fpirit of his admimllra- tion in Virginia were to be tried by the maxims of the Englifh conftitution, it mull be feverely reprehended. He was aware that many meafures of greater moment in his government would be brought under a ftrift review in parliament; and unwilling to give malecontents the advantage of adding a charge of opprefiion in the remote parts of his dominions to a catalogue of dorneftic grievances, he artfully endeavoured to take the merit of having granted voluntarily to his people in Virginia fuch privileges as he forefaw would be extorted from him.
But though Charles eftablilhed the internal Virgimaflour- government of Virginia on a model fimilar that of the Englifh conftitution, and conferred veinment. on his fubjefls there all the rights of freemen and citizens, he was extremely felicitous to maintain '
its connexion with the parent Rate. With this view he inftrufted Sir William Berkeley ftridtly to prohibit any commerce of the cqlony with foreign nations; and in order more certainly to fecure exclufive poflellion of all the advantages arifing from the fale of its produdtions , he was
G 3

BOOK
IX.
Remains attached to the royal caufe.
15 SO.
86 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
required to take a bond from the mafter of each veifel that failed from Virginia, to land his cargo in fome part of the king's dominions in Europe 7I . Even under this rellraint, fuch is the kindly influence of free government on lociety, the colony advanced fo rapidly in induftry and population , that at the beginning of the civil war, the Englilh fettled in it exceeded twenty thoufand 71 .
Gratitude towards a monarch , from whofe *hands they had received immunities which they had long willied, but hardly expe&ed to enjoy, the influence and example of a popular governor, paflionately devoted to the interefts of his mailer, concurred in preferving inviolated loyalty among the colonifts. Even after monarchy was abolilhed, after one king had been beheaded, and another driven into exile, the authority of the crown continued to be acknowledged and revered in Virginia. Irritated at this open defiance of its power, the parliament iflued an ordinance, declaring, that as the fettlement in Virginia had been made at the coft and by the people of England, it ought to be fubordinate to and dependant upon the Englifh commonwealth, and fubjeft to fuch laws and regulations as are or fhall be made in parliament: that, inftead of this dutiful fubmiflion, the colonifts had difclaimed the authority of the ftate, and audacioufly rebelled againft it; that on this account they were denounced notorious traitors, and not only all veffels belonging to
7 i Chalmers’ Annals, p. 219. 233.
1 - Ibid. p. 125.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 87
natives of England, but thofe of foreign nations, book were prohibited to enter their ports, or to carry 1X " on any commerce with them.
It was not the mode of that age to wage a parliament
war of words alone. The efforts of an high-“ ak ! s . war0 “ - . . , _ . ° Virginia.
fpirited government in alierting its own dignity were prompt and vigorous. A powerful fquadron, with a confiderable body of land forces , was difpatched to reduce the Virginians to obedience.
After compelling the colonies in Barbadoes and the other iflands to fubmit to the commonwealth, the fquadron entered the Bay of Chefapeak. issx. Berkeley , with more courage than prudence , took arms to oppofe this formidable armament; but he could not long maintain fuch an unequal conteft. His gallant reiiftance, however, procured favorable terms to the people under his government. A general indemnity for all paft offences Virginia is was granted; they acknowledged the authority of the commonwealth , and were admitted to a the common* participation ofall the rights enjoyed by citizens 73. wealth * Berkeley, firm to his principles of loyalty, dif- dained to make any ftipulation for himfelf; and chufing to pafs his days far removed from the feat of a government which he detefled, continued to refide in Virginia as a private man , beloved and refpe£led by all over whom he had formerly preiided.
Not fatisfied with taking meafures to fubjefl the Reftraints on colonies, the commonwealth turned its attention ^ colony^
73 Thurlow’s State Papers, i. 197. Chalmers’ Annals, p. lit. Beverley’s Hilt. p. 53.
G 4

88
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book towards the moft eff'eftual mode of retaining them IX ‘ in dependance on the parent ftate, and of fecur- ing to it the benefit of their increafing commerce. i6<n. With this view the parliament framed two laws, one of which exprefsly prohibited all mercantile intercourfe between the colonies and foreign ftates, and the other ordained, that no produiffion of Alia, Africa, or America, fhould be imported into the dominions of rite commonwealth, but in veffels belonging to Englifli owners, or to the people of the colonies fettled there, and navigated by an Englifli commander 74 , and by crews of which the greater part muft be Englifhmen. But while the wifdom of the commonwealth prefcribed the channel in which the trade of the colonies was to be carried on, it was folicitous to encourage the cultivation of the ftaple commodity of Virginia by an a£i of parliament, which gave legal force to all the injun£lions of James and Charles againft planting tobacco in England 7 h
Under governors appointed by the commonwealth, or by Cromwell, when he ufurped the fupreme power, Virginia remained almofl nine years in perfe£l tranquillity. During that period, many adherents to the royal party, and among thefe fome gentlemen of good families, in order to avoid danger and oppreffion, to which they were expofed in England, or in hopes of repairing The coionifts their ruined fortunes, reforted thither. Warmly diffaasfied attached to the caufe for which they had fought
74 Scobel’s Afts, p. 132. 176.
7 % Ibid. p. 187.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 89
and fuffered, and animated with all the paflions book natural to men recently engaged in a fierce and with r t ^' ere ref long protraCted civil war, they , by their inter- traims. courfe with the colonifts , confirmed them in principles of loyalty, and added to their impatience and indignation under the reftraints impofed on their commerce by their new matters. On the death of Mathews, the laft governor named by Cromwell, the fentiments and inclination of the people, no longer under the control of authority , burft out with violence. They forced Sir William Berkeley to quit his retirement; they unanimoully eleCted him governor of the colony: and as he refufed to .aCt under an ufurped au- Are the firft thority, they boldly erected the royal ftandard, “ a “ c e kl ^‘ and, acknowledging Charles II. to be their lawful i cs n. fovereign, proclaimed him with all his titles; and the Virginians long boafted, that as they were the laft of the king’s fubjefts who renounced their allegiance, they were the firft who returned to their duty 7S .
Happily for the people of Virginia, a revo-Their loyalty lution in England, no lefs fudden and unexpected, iii-rewarded. feated Charles on the throne of his anceftors, and faved them from the fevere chaftifement, to which their premature declaration in his favor muft have expofed them. On receiving the firft account of this event, the joy and exultation of the colony were univerfal and unbounded. Thefe, however, were not of long continuance. Gracious,
76 Beverley, p. S5. Chalmers, p. 114.

/
go HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book but unproductive profeflions of efteem and good- lx will were the only return made by Charles to loyalty and fervices, which in their own eftimation were fo diftinguiflied that no recompence was beyond what they might claim. If the king’s negleft and ingratitude difappointed all the (anguine hopes which their vanity had founded on „ the merit of their part conduCf, the fpirit which influenced parliament in its commercial deliberations opened a profpeCl that alarmed them with refpeCl to their future fituation. In framing regulations for the encouragement of trade , which, during the convulfions of civil war, and amidft continual fluctuations in government, had met with fuch obftruCtion that it declined in every quarter ; the Houfe of Commons , inltead of granting the colonies that relief which they expeCt- ed from the reftraints in their commerce impofed by the commonwealth and Cromwell, not only adopted all their ideas concerning this branch of Navigationaa. 1 egifl a tion , but extended them farther. This produced the a£l of navigation , the moft important and memorable of any in the ftatute book with refpeCi to the hiftory of Engliih commerce. By it, beiides feveral momentous articles foreign to the fubjeCl of this work, it was enaCted, that no commodities fhould be imported into any fettlement in Aha, Africa, or America, or exported from them, but in velfels of Engliih or plantation built, where-of the matter and three fourths of the mariners (hall be Engliih fubjeCls, under pain of forfeiting (hip and goods; that none but

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
9i
netural-born fubjefts, or fnch as have been naturalized , fliall exercife the occupation of merchant or faflor in any Englifli fettlement, under pain of forfeiting their goods and chattels ; that no fugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, or woods ufed in dying, of the growth or manufacture of the colonies , (hall, be fliipped from them to any other country but England; and in order to fecure the performance of this, a fuf- ficient bond, with one furety, fliall be given, before failing, by the owners, for a fpecific fum proportional to the rate of the veffel employed by them 77. The productions fubjefted to this reftric- tion are diftinguiflied , in the language of commerce and finance, by the name of enumerated commodities ; and as induftry in its progrefs fur- niflied new articles of value, thefe have been fuc- ceflively added to the roll, and fubjefted to the fame reftraint. Soon after, the aft of navigation was extended, and additional reftraints were im- pofed , by a new law, which prohibited the importation of any European commodity into the colonies, but what was laden in England in veffels navigated and manned as the aft of navigation required. More effeftual provifion was made by this law for exafting the penalties to which the tranfgreffors of the aft of navigation were fubjefted; and the principles of policy, on which the various regulations contained in both ftatutes are founded, were openly avowed in a
0 0 K IX.
issj.
77 12 Car. II. c. 18.

92
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book declaration , that as the plantations beyond feas
Ix ' ate inhabited and peopled by fubjetfls of Eng- 1111 land, they may be kept in a firmer dependance ® upon it, and rendered yet more beneficial and 10 advantageous unto it, in the further employment ® and increafe of English flopping and feamen, as ^ well as in the vent of Englilh woollen and other lt manufafinres and commodities ; and in making England a ffaple, not pnly of the commodities ^ of thofe plantations, but aifo of the commodities of of other countries and places, for the fupplying w
of them; and it being the ufage of other nations F 1
to keep the trade of their plantations to them- felves ? 8 . In profecntion of thofe favorite maxims, pn the Englifh legiflature proceeded a ffep farther. ® As the aft of navigation had left the people of the colonies at liberty to export the enumerated Vi
commodities from one plantation to another tb
TS73. without paying any duty , it fubjeiled them to in
a tax equivalent to what was paid by the con- ffl
Turners of thefe commodities in England fo
Effefts of the By thefe fucceffive regulations, the plan of fe- of
“*■ curing to England a monopoly of the commerce t(
■with its colonies, and of fliutting up every other in
* channel into which it might be diverted, was "
perfected and reduced into a complete fyftem. tl
On one fide of the Atlantic, thefe regulations a;
have been extolled as an extraordinary effort of fe
political fagacity , and have been confidered as n
the great charter of national commerce, to which 1
t
78 ij Car. II. c. 7. 79 as Car. II. e. 7. 1

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 9 3
the prefent Bate is indebted for all its opulence book and power. On the other, they have been IX- execrated as a code of oppreffion, more fuited to the illiberality of mercantile ideas, than to extenfive views of legiflative wifdom. Which of thefe opinions is belt founded, I fhall examine at large in another part of this work. But in writing the hiflory of the Englilh fettlements in America, it was neceffary to trace the progrefs of thofe reftraining laws with accuracy , as in every fubfequent tranfadlion we may obferve a perpetual exertion, on the part of the mother- country, to enforce and extend them; and on the part of the colonies, endeavours no lefs unremitting, to elude or to obftrucl their operation.
Hardly was the adl of navigation known in coionitts re- Virginia, and its effedls begun to be felt, when monftrare
o ’ ’ agamft the
the colony remonltrated againlt it as a grievance* a a. and petitioned earneftly for relief. But the commercial ideas of Charles and his miniffers coincided fo perfedlly with thofe of parliament, that, inftead ofliftening with a favorable ear to their applications, they labored alliduoufly to carry the adl into ftridlexecution. For this purpofe, inflrudiions were ilfued to the governor, forts were built on the banks of the principal rivers , and fmall veflels appointed to cruife on the coaft. The Virginians, feeing no profpedt of obtaining exemption from the adl, fet themfelves to evade it, and found means, notwithftanding the vigilance with which they were watched , of carrying on a confiderable clandestine trade with foreigners, particularly with

94
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
boo K,. the Dutch fettled on Hudfon’s River. Embolden- lx ' ed by obferving difaffedhon fpread through the colony , feme veteran foldiers who had ferved under Cromwell, and had been banUlied to Vir- 1663 . ginia, formed a defign of rendering themfelves mailers of the country, and of aliening its inde- pendance on England. This ralh project was difcovered by one of their alfociates, and difcon- certed by the vigorous exertions of Sir William Berkeley. But the fpirit of difcontent, though reprelTed, was not extinguilhed. Every day fome- thing occurred to revive and to nourilli it. As it is with extreme difficulty that commerce can be turned into a new channel , tobacco , the flaple of the colony, funk prodigioully in value, when they were compelled to fend it all to one market. It was fome time before England could furnilh them regularly full alfortments of thofe necelfary articles, without which the induftry of the colony could not be carried on, or its prof- coiony attack- perity fecured. Encouraged by the fymptoms diaHs tke l! '" of general languor and defpondency, which this declining Hate of the colony occalioned , the Indians feated towards the heads of the rivers ventured firft to attack the remote fettlements, and then to make incurlions into the interior parts of the country. Unexpected as thefe holti* lities were, from a people who during a long period had lived in friendffiip with the Englilh, a meafure taken by the king feems to have excited ftill greater terror among the molt opulent people produced by / n t ^ le colony, Charles had imprudently imitated

HISTORY OF AMERICA. g 5
the example of his father, by granting fuch large book trails of land in Virginia to feveral of his courtiers, <he f as tended to unfettle the diftribution of property laud by the in the country, and to render the title of the crc " vn - moft ancient planters to their eftates precarious 1S7S. and queftionable. From thofe various caufes , which in a greater or leffer degree affeiled every individual in the colony, the indignation of the people became general, and was worked up to fuch a pitch, that nothing was wanting to precipitate them into the moft defperate ads , but fome leader , qualified to unite and to direct their operations So .
Such a leader they found in Nathaniel Bacon, Aninfurreftioa a colonel of militia, who, though he had been “ fettled in Virginia only three years, had acquired, Bacon, by popular manners, an infinuating addrefs, and the confideration derived from having been regularly trained in England to the profefhon of law , fuch general efteem, that he had been admitted into the council, and was regarded as one of the moft refpedable perfons in the colony.
Bacon was ambitious, eloquent, daring, and prompted either by honeft zeal to redrefs the public wrongs , or allured by hopes of raifing himfelf to diftin&ion and power , he mingled with the malecoritents, and by his bold harangues and confident promifes of removing all their grievances, he inflamed them almoft to madnefs. As the devaluations committed by the Indians was
8° Chalmers’ Annals, ch. 10. 13, 14. paffim. Beverley,
p. $8, &c.

BOO
IX.
96 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
the calamity moft fenfibly felt by the people, he accufed the governor of having neglected the proper meafares for repelling the invafions of the favages, and exhorted them to take arms in their own defence, and to exterminate that odious race. Great numbers affembled, and chofe Bacon to be their general. He applied to the governor for a commiffion , confirming this elediion of the people , and offered to march inftantly againft the common enemy. Berkeley, accuftomed by long poffefffon of fupreme command to high ideas of the refpe£i due to his Ration, conffdered this tumultuary armament as an open infult to his authority, and fufpedfed that, under fpecious appearances, Bacon concealed moft dangerous defigns. Unwilling, however , to give farther provocation to an incenfed multitude, by a direft refufal of what they demanded, he thought it prudent to negociate, in order to gain time; and it was not until he found all endeavours to footh them ineffectual, that he iffued a proclamation, requiring them, in the king’s name, under the pain of being denounced rebels, to difperfe.
But Bacon, feniible that he had now advanced fo far as rendered it impoffible to recede with honor or fafety, inftantly took the only refolution that remained in his fituation. At the head of a chofen body of his followers he marched rapidly to James-Town, and furrounding the houfe where the governor and council were affembled, demanded the commiffion for which he had formerly applied. Berkeley , with the proud
indignant

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
97
indignant fpirit of a cavalier, difdaining the re-« book quifitions of a rebel , peremptorily refufed to IX- comply , and calmly prefented his naked breaft to the weapons which were pointed again!! it.
The council, however, forefeeing the fatal confe- quences of driving an enraged multitude, in whofe power they were, to the laft extremities of violence, prepared a commiflion, conftituting Bacon general of all the forces in Virginia, and by their entreaties prevailed on the governor to fign it. Bacon with his troops retired in triumph. Hardly was the council delivered by his departure from the dread of prefent danger, when, by a tranfition not unufual in feeble minds, prefumptuous boldnefs fucceeded to exceffive fear. The commiflion granted to Bacon was declared to be null, having been extorted by force; he was proclaimed a rebel, his followers were required to abandon his ftandard, and the militia ordered to arm, and to join the governor - .
Enraged at conduct which he branded with Bacon forces the name of bafe and treacherous, Bacon, inftead SirW - Be rke. of continuing his march towards the Indian council to fly. country, inftantly wheeled about, and advanced with all his forces to James-Town. The governor, unable to refill fuch a numerous body, made his efcape, and fled acrofs the bay to Acomack on the Eaftern Ihore. Some of the counfellors accompanied him thither, others retired to their own plantations. Upon the flight of Sir William Berkeley, and difperflon of the council, the frame of civil government in the colony feemed
H
«

98 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
S o o k to be dilfolved, and Bacon became polfelfed of Ix ' Supreme and uncontrolled power. But as he was fenftble that his countrymen would not long fub- mit with patience to authority acquired and held merely by force of arms, he endeavoured to found it on a more conftitutional balls, by obtaining the fandion of the people’s approbation. With this view' he called together the moft confiderable gentlemen in the colony , and having prevailed on. them to bind themfelves by oath to maintain his authority, and to refill every enemy that Ihould oppofe it, he from that time conhdered his jurif- diCtion as legally eftablilhed.
sir w.Berke- Berkeley, meanwhile, having colleCted fome luccom-s^M 01 f° rCes j made inroads into different parts of the England. colony, where Bacon’s authority was recognized.
Several fliarp conlficls happened with various fuccefs. James-Town was reduced to allies, and the bell cultivated diftriCis in the province were laid wafte , fometimes by one party , and fome- * times by the other. But it was not by his own exertions that the governor hoped to terminate the conteft. He had early tranfmitted an account of the tranfa&ions in Virginia to the king, and demanded fuch a body of foldiers as would enable him to quell the infurgents , whom he reprefented as fo exafperated by the reftraints impofed on their trade, that they were impatient to lliake off all dependance on the parent Rate. Charles, alarmed at a commotion no lefs dangerous than unexpected , and folicitous to maintain his authority over a colony, the value of which was daily increafing, and more fully

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
99
underftood, fpeedily difpatched a fmall fquadron, book ■ with fuch a number of regular troops as Berkeley IX ' had required. Bacon and his followers received information of this armament, but were not intimidated at its approach. They boldly determined to oppofe it with open force , and declared it to be confiftent with their duty and allegiance, to treat all who fhould aid Sir William Berkeley as enemies, until they fhould have an opportunity of laying their grievances before their fovereign 8I .
But while both parties prepared, with equal 1677. animojity, to involve their country in the horrors Death of Ba - of civil war, an event happened, which quieted the rebellion, the commotion almoft as fuddenly as it had been ■ : ’ - excited. Bacon, when ready to take the field, fickened and died. None of his followers pof- felfed fuch talents, or were fo much objefls of the people’s confidence , as entitled them to afpire to the fnpreme command. Deflitute of a leader to conduct and animate them , their danguine hopes of fuccefs fubfided; mutual diftnuft accompanied this univerfal defpondency: -all; began to willi for an accommodation; an.d after a fliort negociation with Sir William Berkeley', they laid down their arms , and fubmitted to his government, on obtaining a promife of general pardon.
Thus terminated an infurrection, jwhich, an the annals of Virginia,; is djttinguifhed by athe name of Bacon’s rebellion/'. During (even months this daring- leader was matter of the colony,
H 2
Si Beverley’s Hift. p. 75, 76.

100
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
IX.
An nffemljly called; its moderation.
while the royal governor was flint up in a remote and ill-peopled corner of it. What were the real motives that prompted him to take arms, and to what length he intended to carry his plans of reformation, either in commerce or government, it is not eafy to difcover, in the fcanty materials from which we derive our information with ref})eft to this tranfaftion. It is probable, that his conduct, like that of other adventurers in faflion, would have been regulated chiefly by events ; and accordingly as thefe proved favorable or adverfe, his views and requifitions would have been extended or circumfcribed.
Sir William Berkeley, as foon as he was re- inflated in his office, called together the repre- fentatives of the people, that by their advice and authority public tranquillity and order might be perfectly eftabliflied. Though this affembly met a few weeks after the death of Bacon, while the memory of reciprocal injuries was ftill recent, and when the paffions excited by fuch a fierce conteft had but little time to l'ubfide, its proceedings were conducted with a moderation feldom exercifed by the fuccefsful party in a civil war. No man fufFered capitally; a fmall number -were fubjefted to fines ; others were declared incapable of holding any office of truft; and with thofe exceptions , the promife of general indemnity was confirmed by law. Soon after, Berkeley was recalled, and Colonel Jefferys was appointed his fuccelfor.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 101
From that period to the Revolution in 1688, book there is fcarcely any memorable occurrence in the IX -
1 -n r„. • ■ , State of the
hutory or Virginia. A peace was concluded with colony till the the Indians. Under feveral fuccefhve governors, Revolucion in
o * 1688
adminiftration was carried on in the colony with the fame arbitrary fpirit that diftinguifhed the latter years of Charles II. and the precipitate counfels of James II. The Virginians; with a conftitution which, in form, refembled that of England, enjoyed hardly any portion of the liberty which that admirable fyftem of policy is framed to fecure. They were deprived even of the laft confolation of the oppreffed, the power of complaining, by a law which, under fevere penalties, prohibited them from fpeaking difrefpeftfully of the governor, or defaming , either by words or writing, the adminiftration of the colony 81 ..
Still, however, the laws reftraining their commerce were felt as an intolerable grievance, and nourilhed in fecret a fpirit of difcontent, which, from the necefiity of concealing it , acquired a greater degree of acrimony. But notwithftanding thofe unfavorable circumftances, the colony continued to increafe. The ufe of tobacco was now become general in Europe; and though it had fallen confiderably in price, the extent of demand compenfated that diminution , and by giving conftant employment to the induftry of the planters diffufed wealth among them. At the Revolution the number of inhabitants in the colony
8s Beverley, p. 81. Chalmers, p. 341.
H 3

102 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOO
IX.
exceeded fixty thoufand 83 , and in the courfe of twenty-eight years its population had been more than doubled 84 .
83 Chalmers’ Annals, p. 356. 84 Ibid. p. n;.
t

THE
: of
HISTORY
O F
AMERICA.
B O O K X.
\X' hen James I. in the year one thonfand fix book hundred and fix, made that magnificent partition, Hift J^ ofthe which has been mentioned , of a vaft region in northern coio- North America, extending from the»thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth degree of latitude, between two company, trading companies of his fubjecls, he eftabli/hed the residence of the one in London , and of the other in Plymouth. The former was authorized to fettle in the fouthern, and the latter in the northern part of this territory, then diftinguilhed by the general name of Virginia. This arrangement feems to have been formed upon the idea of fome fpeculative refiner, who aimed at dilfufing the fpirit ofinduftry, by fixing the feat of one branch of die trade that was now to be opened, on the eaft coaft of the illand, and the other on the weft. But London poffefl'es fuch advantages of fituation , that the commercial wealth and
H 4

104 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK activity of England have always centered in the X- capital. At the beginning of the laft century, the fuperiority of the metropolis in both thefe refpecls was fo great, that though the powers and privileges conferred by the king on the two trading companies were precifely the fame, the adventurers fettled in Plymouth fell far lliort of thofe in London, in the vigor and fuccefs of their efforts towards accomplifhing the purpofe of their inftitution. Though the operations of the Plymouth company were animated by the public- fpirited zeal of Sir John Popham , chief juftice of England, Sir FerdinandoGorges, and fome other gentlemen of the weft, all its exertions were feeble and unfortunate.
isos. The firft veffel fitted out by the company was Firit attempts taken by the Spaniards. In the year one thoufand
to fettle on the r i i i i r £ . , , r ,
nortbemcoaft. hx hundred and leven, a feeble iettlement was made at Sagahadoc; but, on account of the rigor of the climate , was foon relinquished , and for fome time nothing farther was attempted than a few fifhing voyages to Cape Cod , or a pitiful smith feveys traffic with the natives for fkins and oil. One fainTN cT’ the veffels equipped for this purpofe was com-
Engiand. manded by Captain Smith * whofe name has been ISI4 ‘ fo often mentioned with diftinflion in the Hiftory of Virginia. The adventure was profperous and lucrative. But his ardent enterprifing mind could not confine its attention to obje£ls fo unequal to it as the petty details of a trading voyage. He employed a part of his time in exploring thecoaft, and in delineating its bays and harbours. On his

HISTORY OF AMERICA. io5
return, he laid a map of it before Prince Charles, book and, with the ufual exaggeration of difcoverers, x - painted the beauty and excellence of the country in fuch glowing colors, that the young Prince, in the warmth of admiration, declared, that it fhould be called New England 1 : a name which effaced that of Virginia , and by which it is ftill diftinguilhed.
The favorable accounts of the country by Fid* attempts Smith, as well as the fuccefs of his voyage, feem *°^ 1 ! eu “ fuc " to have encouraged private adventurers to pro- fecute the trade on the coaft of New England with greater brifknefs ; but did not infpire the lan- guilhing company of Plymouth with fuch vigor as to make any new attempt towards efiablilhing a permanent colony there. Something more than the profpeft of diftant gain to themfelves, or of future advantages to their country, was requifite, in order to induce men to abandon the place of their nativity, to migrate to another quarter of the globe, and endure innumerable hardships under an untried climate, and in an uncultivated land, covered with woods, or occupied by fierce and hoftile tribes of favages. But what mere attention to private emolument or to national utility could not effedl , was accomplifhed by the operation of an higher principle. Religion Religions dif- had gradually excited among a great body of the people , a fpirit that fitted them remarkably for England co- encountering the dangers, and furmounting the lony '
* Smith's Trav. Book vi. p. 203. &c. Purchas, iv. p. 1S37.

io6 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book obftacles, which had hitherto rendered abortive x ‘ the fchemes of colonization in that part of America allotted to the company of Plymouth. As the various fettlements in New England are indebted
O
for their origin to this fpirit, as in the courfe of our narrative wefhal! difcern its influence mingling in all their tranfa£tions , and giving a peculiar tin&ure to the character of the people, as well as to their inftitutions, both civil and ecclefiaftical, it becomes neceflary to trace its rife and progrefs with attention and accuracy.
Different ten- When the fuperflitions and corruptions of the rpcain» re " church prompted different nations of Eu-
church’go- rope to throw off its yoke, and to withdraw from -—‘its communion, the mode as well as degree of theReforma- their feparation was various. Wherever reforrna- tion. t j on was f uc ]d en 5 anc J carried on by the people
without authority from their rulers, or in oppo- fition to it, the rupture tvas violent and total. Every part of the ancient fabric was overturned, and a different fyftem, not only with refpeft to doctrine, but to church government, and the external rites of worfhip, was eftablifhed. Calvin, who, by his abilities, learning, and aufterity of manners, had acquired high reputation and authority in the Proteffant churches, was a zealous advocate for this plan of thorough reformation. He exhibited a model of that pure form of ecclefiaftical policy, which he approved in the confti- tution of the church of Geneva. The fimplicity of its inftitutions, and ftill more their repugnancy to thofe of the Popifh church, were fo much

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
107
admired by all the ft rider reformers, that it was book copied, with forrre fmall variations, in Scotland, X- in the Republic of the United Provinces, in the dominions of the Houfe of Brandenburgh , in thofe of the Eledor Palatine, and in the churches of the Hugonots in France.
But in thofe countries where the Reps of departure from the church of Rome were taken with greater deliberation, and regulated by the wifdom or policy of the fupreme magiftrate, the reparation was not fo wide. Of all the reformed churches, that of England has deviated lead from the ancient inRitutions. The violent but capricious fpirit of Henry VIII. who , though he difclaimed the fupremacy, revered the tenets of the Papal fee, checked innovations in doctrine or worfhip during his reign. When his fon afcended the throne, and the Proteflant religion was eflablifhed by law, the cautious prudence of Archbilhop Cranmer moderated the zeal of thofe who had efpoufed the new opinions. Though the articles to be recognized as the fyRem of national faith were framed conformably to the dodrines of Calvin , his notions with refped to church government and the mode of worlhip were not adopted. As the hierarchy in England was incorporated with the civil policy of the kingdom , and confiituted a member of the legiRature , archbifliops and bifliops, with all the fubordinate ranks of ecclefiaRics fubjed to them, were continued according to ancient form , and with the fame dignity and jurifdidion. The peculiar

BOOK
X.
Religious per- fecution by Mary.
108 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
veftments in which the clergy performed their facred fun&ions, bowing at the name of Jefus, kneeling at receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the fign of the Crofs in baptifm, the ufe of the Ring in marriage, with feveral other rites to which long ufage had accuftomed the people, and which time had rendered venerable, were Rill retained. But though Parliament enjoined the obfervance of thefe ceremonies under very fevere penalties 2 , feveral of the more zealous clergy entertained fcruples with refped to the law- fulnefs of complying with this injunftion ; and the vigilance and authority of Cranmer and Ridley with difficulty faved their infant church from the difgrace of a fchifm on this account.
On the acceffion of Mary, the furious zeal with which file perfecuted all who had adopted the tenets of the reformers forced many eminent Proteflants, laymen as well .as ecclehaAics ^ to feek an afylum on the continent. Francfort, Geneva, Bafil, and Strafburgh, received them with affectionate hofpitality as fufferers in thecaufe of truth, and the magiffirates permitted them to aflemble by themfelves for religious worfhip. The exiles who took up their refidence in the two former cities modelled their little congregations according to the ideas of Calvin, and , with a fpirit natural to men in their fituation , eagerly adopted inAitutions which appeared to be farther removed from the fuperRitions of Popery than
* * and 3 Eilw. VI. c. u
t

HISTORY OF AMERICA. log
tfiofe of their own church. They returned to book E ngland as foon as Elizabeth re-eftablilhed the x> Proteftant religion , not only with more violent antipathy to the opinions and practices of that church by which they had been opprefled, but with a flrong attachment to that mode of worfiftip to which they had been for fome years accuftom- ed. As they were received by their countrymen with the veneration due to confelfors, they exerted all the influence derived from that opinion, in order to obtain fuch a reformation in the Englilh ritual as might bring it nearer to the ftandard of purity in foreign churches. Some of the queen’s moft confidential miniffers were warmly difpofed to co-operate with them in this meafure, But queen Eliza Elizabeth paid little regard to the inclinations of beth ' the one, or the fentiments of the other. Fond of pomp and ceremony, accuflomed, according to the mode of that age , to ftndy religious con- troverfy, and poffeffing, like her father, fuch confidence in her own underftanding that flie never doubted her capacity to judge and decide with refpefl to every point in difpute between contending fe£is 3, the chofe to a£l according
3 Of the high idea which Elizabeth entertained with refpedt to her own fuperior skill in theology, as well as the haughty tone in which she diftated to her fubjedts what they ought to believe, we have a linking pidture in her fpeeeh at the clofe of the parliament A. D. 15S5. — “ One thing I may not overskip.
Religion, the ground on which all other matters ought to take root, and being corrupted, may mar all the tree. And that there be fame fault-finders with the order of the clergy, which

no HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOO
X.
Puritans.
to her own ideas, which led her rather to approach nearer to the church ot Rome, in the parade of external worliiip, than to widen the breach by abolifliing any rite already eftabliilied 4 . An ad of parliament, in the firll year of her reign, not only required an exadt conformity to the mode of worfliip prelcribed in the fervice book, under moll rigorous penalties, but empowered the Queen to enjoin the obfervance of fuch additional ceremonies as might tend, in her opinion, to render the public exercifes of devotion more decent and edifying
The advocates for a farther reformation, notwithflanding this cruel difappointment of the
fo may make a slander to myfelf, and to the church , whole over-ruler God hath made me, whofe negligence cannot be ex- cufe.d, if any fchifms or errors heretical were fuffered. Thus much, I muil fay, that fome faults and negligences mult grow and be, as in all other great charges it happcneth; and what vocation without? All which, if you my lords of the clergy do not amend, I mean to depofe you. Look ye, therefore, well to your charges. This may be amended without needlefs or open exclamations. I am fuppofed to have many ftudies, but moll philofophical. I mull yield this to be true , that I fuppofe few (that be not profeftors'} have read more. And I need not tell you, that I am not fo Ample that I nndcrftand not, nor fo forgetful that I remember not; and yet, ainuffi my many volumes, I hope God’s book hath .not been my fel- domefl lellures, in which we find that which by reafon all ought to believe. I fee many over-bold with God Almighty , making too many fnbtle fcannings of his blefled will. The prefumption is To great that I may not fufl'er it,” &c. D’Ewes’s Journal, 1>- 3a8.
4 Neal’s Hill, of the Puritans, i. 13S. 176.
5 I JEliz. c. i.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. m
fanguine hopes with which they returned to their B native country, did not relinquilh their dehgn. They diffeminated their opinions with great in- duftry among the people. They extolled the purity of foreign churches, and inveighed againft the fuperftitious praflices with which religion was defiled in their own church. In vain did the defenders of the eftabliflied fyftem reprefent that thefe forms and ceremonies were, in themfelves, things perfectly indifferent, which, from long ufage, were viewed with reverence ; and , by their impreffion upon the fenfes and imagination, tended not only to fix the attention, but to affe£t the heart, and to warm it with devout and worthy fentiments. The Puritans (for by that name fuch as fcrupled to comply with what was enjoined by the a£i of uniformity were diftinguifhed) maintained, that the rites in queftion were inventions of men, fuperadded to the Ample and reafonable fervice required in the word of God 5 that from the exceflive folicitude with which conformity to them was exacled , the multitude mull conceive fuch an high opinion of their value and importance , as might induce them to reft fatisfied with the mere form and fliadow of religion, and to imagine that external obfervances may compenfate for the want of inward fanftity; that ceremonies which had been long, employed by a fociely manifeftly corrupt, to veil its own defects, and to feduce and fafcinate mankind, ought now to be rejected as relics of fuperftition unworthy of a place in a church which gloried in the name of Reformed,
0 o K x.

ii2 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book The people, to whom in every religious con- intoicrant fpi. troverfy the final appeal is made, liftened to the rit of the arguments of the contending parties; and it is church. obvious to which of them , men who had lately beheld the fuperftitious fpirit of Popery , and felt its perfect! ting rage, would lend the rnofl fa vorable ear. The defire of a farther reparation from the church of Rome fpread wide through the nation. The preachers who contended for this, and who refilled to wear the furplice, and other veflments peculiar to their order, or to obferve the ceremonies enjoined by law, were followed and admired, while the miniflry of the zealous advocates for conformity was defected, and their perfons often expofed to infult. For feme time the non- conformifts were connived at; butas their number and boldnefs increafed, the interpolition both of Spiritual and civil authority was deemed neceflary in order to check their progrefs. To the difgrace of Chriftians, the facred rights of confcience and private judgment , as well as the charity and mutual forbearance fuitable to the mild fpirit of the religion which-they profeffed, were in that age little underftood. Not only the idea of toleration, but even the word itfelf in the fenfe now affixed to it, was then unknown. Every church claimed'a right to employ the hand of power for the protection of truth and the extirpation of error. The laws of her kingdom armed Elizabeth with ample authority for this purpofe , and ffie was abundantly difpofed to exercife it with full
vigor.
«

HISTORY OF AMERICA. n3
vigor. Many of the mod eminent among the Puritan clergy were deprived of their benefices, others were imprifoned , feveral were fined, and fome put to death. But perfecution, as ufually happens, inftead of extinguifliing, inflamed their zeal to fuch a height, that the jurifdidlion of the ordinary courts of law was deemed infuihcient to fupprefs it, and a new tribunal was eftablillied under the title of the high commiffion for ecclefiaf- lical affairs , whofe powers and mode of procedure were hardly lefs odious or lefs hoftile to the principles of juftice than thofe of the Spanifli in- quifition. Several attempts were made in the Idoufe of Commons to check thefe arbitrary proceedings , and to moderate the rage of perfecution ; but the Queen always impofed fllence upon thofe who prelumed to deliver any opinion with refpect to a matter appertaining folely to her prerogative, in a tone as imperious and arrogant as was ever ufed by Henry VIII. in addrefling his Parliaments; and fo tamely obfequious were the guardians of the people’s rights, that they not only obeyed thofe unconftitutional commands, but confented to an a£l, by which every perfon who fliould abfent himfelf from church during a month was fubjedled to punifliment by fine and imprifonment; and if after conviftion he did not, within three months , renounce his erroneous opinions and conform to the laws, he was then obliged to abjure the realm ,• but if he either refufed to comply with this condition, or returned
I
O 0 K X.

U4 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book from banilhment, he fhould be put to death x ‘ as a felon without benelit of clergy 6 .
Entire repara- By this iniquitous ftatute, equally repugnant to Puritans from ideas °f ch'd and of religious liberty, the Puritans the church, were cut off from any hope of obtaining either reformation in the church or indulgence to them- lelves. Exafperated by this rigorous treatment, their antipathy to the ellablifhed religion increafed, and, with the progrefs natural to violent paffions, carried them far beyond what was their original aim. The fnft Puritans did not entertain any fcruples with refpecl to the lawfulnefs of Epifcopal government, and feem to have been very unwilling to withdraw from communion with the church of which they were members. But when they were thrown out of her bofom, and conftrained to hold feparate affemblies for the worfhip of God, their followers no longer viewed a fociety by which they were oppreffed with reverence or affection. Her government, her difeipline, her ritual, were examined with minute attention. Every error was pointed out, and every defeft magnified. The more boldly any teacher inveighed againft the corruptions of the church, he was liftened to with greater approbation; and the farther he urged his difciples to depart from fuch an impure community , the more eagerly did they follow him. By degrees, ideas ofecclefiallical policy, altogether repugnant to thofe of the eftabliflied church, gained footing in the nation. The more fober and learned
. 6 35 Eliz. c. i.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. n5
Puritans inclined to that form which is known by the name of Prefbyterian. Such as were more thoroughly poffeffed with the fpirit of innovation, however much they might approve the equality of pallors which that fyftem eftabliilies, reprobated the authority which it vefts in various judicatories, defcending from one to another in regular fubor- dination , as inconfifient with Chriftian liberty.
Thefe wild notions floated for fome time in the minds of the people, and amufed them with many ideal Rhemes of ecclefiaftical policy. At length Robert Brown , a popular declaimer in high eflimation, reduced them to a fyftem, on which he modelled his own congregation. He taught, that the church of England was corrupt, and antichriftian, its minifters not lawfully ordained, its ordinances and facraments invalid; and therefore he prohibited his people to hold communion with it in any religious function. He maintained, that a fociety of Chriftians, uniting together to worfliip God, conftituted a church , polfeffed of complete jurifdicfion in the coriduft of its own affairs, independent of any other fociety, and unaccountable to any fuperior ; that the priefthood was neither a diftinc! order 1 in the church, nor conferred an indelible character; but that every man qualified to teach might, be fet apart for that office by the ele£iion of trie" brethren, and byimpofition of their handS; in Iike ; manner, by their authority, he might be- difcharged from that funflion, and reduced to the rank of a private Chriftian; that every perfon when admitted-a
I a
is o bit
x.
Brownifts.
J580.

i iG HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book member of a church ought to make a public con- x ' feflion of his faith, and give evidence of his being in a Rate of favor with God; and that all the affairs of a church were to be regulated by the decifion of the majority of its members.
Browniftstake This democratical form of government, which
refuge in Hoc ^kolifhed all diftinclion of ranks in the church, and conferred an equal portion of power on every •individual, accorded fo perfectly with the levelling genius of fanaticifm, that it was fondly adopted by many as a complete model of Chriffian policy. From their founder, they were denominated Brownifts; and as their tenets were more hoftile to the eftabliflied religion than thofe of other feparatifts, the fierceft ftorm of perfecution fell upon their heads. Many of them were fined or imprifoned , and fome put to death ; and though Brown, with a levity of which there are few examples among enthufiafts whofe vanity has Been foothed by being recognifed as heads of a party, abandoned his difciples, conformed to the -eftabliflied religion , and accepted of a benefice in the church, the fe£i not only fubfifted , but continued to fpread, efpecially among perfons in the middle and lower ranks of life. But as all their motions were carefully watched, both by the eccleftaftical and civil courts, which , as often as they were detected, puniflied them with the utmoft rigor, a body of them, weary of living in a ftate of continual danger and alarm, fled to Holland, and fettled in Leyden, under the care of Mr. John Robinfon, their paftor. There they

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
117
rcfided for feveral years unmolefted and obfcure. soot But many of their aged members dying, and x ' fome of the younger marrying into Dutch families, while their church received no increafe, either by recruits from England , or by profelytes gained in the country, they began to be afraid, that all their high attainments in fpiritual knowledge would be loft, and that per fed fabric of policy, which they had erected, would be diffolved'and configned to oblivion, if they remained longer in a ftrange land.
Deeply affecled with the profped of an event, Remove from which to them appeared fatal to the interefts of thellce to truth, they thought themfelves called, in order to prevent it, to remove to fome other place, where they might profefs and propagate their opinions with greater fuccefs. America, in which their countrymen were at that time intent on planting colonies, prefented itfelf to their thoughts.
They flattered themfelves with hopes of being permitted, in that remote region, to follow their own ideas in religion without difturbance. The dangers and hardffiips to which all former emigrants to America had been expofed, did not deter them. “ They were well weaned, (according to their own defcription) from the delicate milk of their mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a ftrange land. They were knit together in a ftridl and facred band , by virtue of which they held themfelves obliged to take care of the good of each other, and of the whole;
It was not with them, as with other men, whom
I 3

nS HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book fmall things could difcourage, orfmall difcontents I
I6 ^g caufe to wilh themfelves at home again 7 .” The j
hrft obje£f of their folicitude was to fecure the f,
free exercife of their religion. For this purpofe l
they applied to the king; and though James re- fufed to give them any explicit aiTurance of toleration, they feemto have obtained from him fome promife of his connivance, as long as they continued to demean themfelves quietly. So eager were they to accomplilh their favorite fcheme, that, relying on this precarious fecurity, they began to negociate with the Virginian company for a trad of land within the limits of their patent. This they eafily procured from a fociety delirous of encouraging migration to a vaft country, of which they had hitherto occupied only a few fpots. isio. After the utmofl efforts, their preparations fell
attempt to fef ^ ar ^ 10rt °f what was requifite for beginning the tie in Mafla. fettlement of a new colony. A hundred and chufcts Bay. twenty perfons failed from England in a fmgle fllip on this arduous undertaking. The place of their deftipation was Fludfon’s River, where they intended tp fettle; but their captain having been lp^ijpqd» a? is faid, by the Dutch, who had then Cowned a fcheme which they afterwards accom- plidied of planting a colony there, carried them fp fat tpvvards the north, that the hrft land in Nov. ii. Ajpapripa which they made was. Cape-Cod. They vyyrp novy, not only beyond the precincls of the territory \vhifih had been granted to them, but
7’ Hutchinfon’s Hill, of Maffiich p. 4 .

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
119
beyond tliofe of the company from which they 8 0 0 K
derived their right. The feafon, however, was
fo far advanced, and hcknefs raged fo violently
among men unacculfomed to the harclihips of a
long voyage, that it became neceffary to take up
their abode there. After exploring the coaft, they
chofe for their Ration, a place now belonging to
the province of Maffachufets Bay, to which they
gave the name of New Plymouth, probably out Settle at New
of refpccl to that company, within whofe jurif- ri ' ,n0lul1 -
dichon they now found themfelves fituated s .
No feafon could be more unfavorable to fettle- ment than that in which the colony landed. The winter, which, from the predominance of cold in America, is rigorous to a degree unknown in parallel latitudes of our hemifphere, was already let in ; and they were llenderly provided with what was requifite for comfortable fubfiftence, under a climate confiderably more fevere than that for which they had made preparation. Above one half of them was cut off before the return of fpring , by difeafes, or by famine: the fur- vivors, inftead of having leifure to attend to the fupply of their own wants, were compelled to take armsagainftthefavagesintheirneighbourhood. Plan of sold jppily for the Englilh, a peftilence, which raged vernmew - in America the year before they landed, had fwept off fo great a number of the natives, that they were quickly repulfed and humbled. The privilege of profefhng their own opinions, and
8 Hubard’s Pref. State, p. 3. Cotton’s Magnalia, p. 7.
Hntchinfon’s Hill. p. 3, &c.
I 4

120
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book of being governed by laws of their own framing, X ' afforded confolation to the colonifts amidfl all their dangers and hardfhips. The conflitution of their church was the fame with that which they had eflabliilied in Holland. Their fyftem of civil government was founded on thofe ideas of the natural equality among men, to which their eccle- fiaftical policy had accuflomed them. Every free man, who was a member of the church, was admitted into the fupreme legiflative body. The laws of England were adopted as the bafts of their jurifprudence, though with fome diverfity in the punifliments inflicted upon crimes, borrowed from the Mofaic inflitutions. The executive power was veiled in a governor and fome alhlbints, who were ele£led annually by the members of the legiflative alfembly 9 . So far their inflitutions appear to be founded on the ordinary maxims of human prudence. But it was a favorite opinion with all the enthulialls of that age , that the fcriptures contained a complete fyltem, not only of ipiritual inflru£tion, but of civil wifdom and polity; and without attending to the peculiar circumflances or fituation of the people whofe hiflory is there recorded , they often deduced general rules for their own conduft, from what happened among men in a very different Hate. Under the influence of this wild notion , the co- lonifls of New Plymouth, in imitation of the
communityofp r j m jt; ve Chriflians, threw all their property into
goods.. 1
9 Chalmers’ Annals, p. 8y.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
121
a common Rock, and, like members of one rook family, carried on every work of induftry by X- their joint labor for public behoof io . But, however this refolution might evidence the Sincerity of their faith, it retarded the progrefs of their colony. The fame fatal effects flowed from this community of goods, and of labor, which had formerly been experienced in Virginia; and This mitim-. it foon became neceffarv to relinquilh what was tl0 " hl,rtful
’ 1 to the colon;'.
too refined to be capable of being accommodated to the affairs of men. But though they built a fmall town , and furrounded it with fuch a fence as afforded Sufficient Security againft the affaults of Indians, the foil around it was fo poor, their religious principles were founfocial, and thefupply fent them by their friends fo fcanty, that at the end of ten years, the number of people belonging to the fettlement did not exceed three hundred JI . During fome years they appear not to have acquired right by any legal conveyance to the territory which they had occupied. At 1630. length they obtained a grant of property from the council of the New Plymouth company, but were never incorporated as a body politic by This colony royal charter I2 . Unlike all the other Settlements not 1 " C0 i t 0 - in America , this colony mull be conndered ter. merely as a voluntary affociation, held together by the tacit confent of its members to recognife the authority of laws, and fubmit to the jurifdi£lion of magiftrates framed and cliofen by themfelves,
10 Chalmers’ Annals, p. 89. Douglas’s Summary, i. p. 370,
11 Chalmers’ Annals, p. 97. 12 Ibid. p. 97. 107.

m HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
X.
Grand council of Plymouth appointed.
In this ftate it remained an independent, but feeble community, until it was united to its more powerful neighbour, the colony of Maffachufets Bay , the origin and progrefs of which I now proceed to relate.
The original company of Plymouth having done nothing elfeflual towards eftablilliing any permanent fettlement. in America, James I. in the year one thoufand fix hundred and twenty, ilfued a new charter to the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham , and feveral other perfons of dif- tin&ion in his court, by which he conveyed to them a right to a territory in America, ftill more extenfive than what had been granted to the former patentees, incorporating them as a body politic, in order to plant colonies there, with powers and jurifdifti on fimilar to thofe contained in his charters to the companies of South and North Virginia. This fociety was diftingui'hed by the name of the Grand Council of Plymouth for planting and governing New England. What conliderations of public utility could induce the king to commit fuch an undertaking to perfons apparently fo ill qualified for conducing it, or what profpect of private advantage prompted them to engage in it, the information we receive from contemporary writers does not enable us to determine. Certain it is, that the expectations of both were difappointed, and after many fell ernes and arrangements, all the attempts of the new alfociates towards colonization proved unfuccefsful.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. iq3
New England mull have remained unoccupied, if the fame caufes which occahoned the emigration of the Brownifts had not continued to operate. Notwithftanding the violent perfecution to which Puritans of every denomination were ftill expofed, their number and zeal daily increafed. As they now defpaired of obtaining in their own country any relaxation of the penal ftatutes enacled again ft their fe£t, many began to turn their eyes towards fome other place of retreat, where they might profefs their own opinions with impunity. From the tranquillity which their brethren had hitherto enjoyed in New Plymouth, they hoped to find this defired afylum in New England; and by the activity of Mr. White, a non-conformift minifter at Dorchefter, an afiociation was formed by feve- ral gentlemen who had imbibedPuritanical notions, in order to conduct a colony thither. They purch- afed from the council of Plymouth all the territory, extending in length from three miles north of the River Merrimack, to three miles fouth of Charles River, and in breadth, from the Atlantic to the Southern Ocean. Zealous as thefe proprietors were to accomplilh their favorite purpofe, they quickly perceived their own inability to attempt the population of fuch an immenfe region, and deemed it neceffary to call in the aid of more opulent co-partners l3 .
Of thefe they found, without difficulty, a fufficient number, chiefly in the capital , and
13 Neal’s Hift. of New Engl. i. p. iii.
BOOK
X.
Projeft of a new colony.
1627 . Marc. 19.

124 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book among perfons in the commercial and other in- x ‘ dnfb-ions walks of life, who had openly joined the fed of the Puritans, or fecretly favored their opinions. Thefe new adventurers, with the caution natural to men converfant in bufinefs, entertained doubts concerning the propriety of founding a colony on the bafis of a grant from a private company of patentees, who might convey a right of property in the foil, but could not * confer jurifdiclion , or the privilege of governing that fociety which they had in contemplation to eftablilli. As it was only from royal authority that fuch powers could be derived, they applied for thefe,- and Charles granted their requeft, with a facility which appears aftonilhing, when we conftder the principles and views of the men who were fuitors for the favor.
charter to the Time has been confidered as the parent of
new colony of political wifdom, but its inftruflions are com-
Madkchulcts r in, , . , • r
Bay. mumcated /lowly. Although the] experience or
above twenty years might have taught the Englilh the impropriety of committing the government of fettlements in America, to exclulive corporations refident in Europe, neither the king nor his fubjeCts had profited fo much by what palled before their eyes, as to have extended their ideas beyond thofe adopted by James , in his firft attempts towards colonization. The charter of Charles I. to the adventurers affociated for planting the province of Malfachufets Bay, was perfectly iimilar to thofe granted by his father to the two Virginian companies and to the council of
l

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
125
Plymouth. The new adventurers were incorporated as a body politic, and their right to the territory, which they had purchafed from the council of Plymouth, being confirmed by the King, they were empowered to dilpofe of the lands, and to govern the people who fhould fettle upon them. The ftrft governor of the company, and his affiftants, were named by the crown: the right of ele£ling their fucceffors was veiled in the members of the corporation. The executive power was committed to the governor and affiftants; that of legillation to the body of proprietors, who might make ftatutes and orders for the good of the community, not inconfiftent witli the laws of England, and enforce the obfervance of them, according to the courfe of other corporations within the realm. Their lands were to be held by the fame liberal tenure with thofe granted to the Virginian company. They obtained the fame temporary exemption from internal taxes, and from duties on goods exported or imported ; and notwithftanding their migration to America, they and their defcendants were declared to be entitled to all the rights of natural-born fnhjeiPis I4 .
The manifeft objefl of this charter was to confer on the adventurers who undertook to people the territory on MafTachufets Bay, all the corporate rights polfelfed by the council of Plymouth, from which they had purchafed it, and to form them into a public body, refembling other great trading
o o K
x.
ii Hutchinfon’s Colleft. of Orig. Papers, p. i, &c.

iq6 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book companies, which the fpirit of monarchy liad at that time multiplied in the kingdom. The king feems not to have forefeen, or to have fufpecl- ed, the fecret intentions of thofe who projected the meafure; for fo far was he from alluring emigrants , by any hopes of indulgence with rel’ped to their religious fcruples, or from promifing any relaxation from the rigor of the penal fiatutes againft non-conformifts, that he exprefsly provides, for having the oath of fupremacy adminiftered to every perlbn who lliall pafs to the colony , or inhabit there I? .
settlement in But whatever were the intentions of the king,
tiiis^diarter°^ ^ le ^venturers kept their own object Readily in view. Soon after their powers to eflablilh a colony were rendered complete by the royal charter, they fitted out five Riips for New England • on
it Hutchinfon’s Collett, of Orig. Papers, p. iS. — It is furprifing, that Mr. Neal, an induftrious, anil generally a well-informed writer, should affirm, that “free liberty of “ confcience was granted by this charter to all who should “ fettle in thofe parts, to worship God in their own way.” Hill, of N. Engl. i. 114. This he repeats in his Hiftory of the Puritans, ii. 210; and fubfequent hiltorians have copied him implicitly. No permiffion of that kind, however, is contain- in the charter; and fuch ail indulgence would have been inconfiftent with all the maxims of Charles and his minifters during the courfe of his reign. At the time when Charles ifiued the charter, the influence of Land over his councils was at its height, the Puritans were profeented with the greatefl feverity, and the kingdom was ruled entirely by prerogative. This is not an era in which one can expeft to meet with con- eelfions in favor of non-conformifts, from a prince of Charles’s character and principles.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
1Q7
boardofwhich embarkedupwardsof three hundred. book paffengers , with a view of fettling there. Thefe x ' were moftly zealous Puritans, whofe chief inducement to relinquish their native land was the hope of enjoying religious liberty , in a country far removed from the feat of government and the opprefiion of eccleliaflical courts. Some eminent non-conformift minifters accompanied them as their fpiritual inftruflors. On their arrival in New England, they found the wretched remainder of a fmall body of emigrants, who had left England June 29. the preceding year, under the condufl of Endi- cott, a deep enthufiaft, whom, prior to their incorporation by the royal charter, the alfociates had appointed deputy governor. They were fettled at a place called by the Indians Naunekeag, and to which Endicott, with the fond affectation of fanatics of that age to employ the language and appellations of fcripture in the affairs of common life, had given the name of Salem.
The emigrants under Endicott, and fuch as Begin with now joined them, coincided perfectly in religious *
principles. They were Puritans of the ftriCieft form,- and to men of this charafter the inftitution of a church was naturally of fuch interefting concern as to take place of every other objeCl.
In this firft tranfaClion, they difplayed, at once, the extent of the reformation at which they aimed. Without regard to the fentiments of that monarch under the fandion of whofe authority they fettled in America, and from whom they derived right to aft as a body politic, and in

128 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOO
X.
Aug. 6 .
Intolerance of the new church.
contempt of the laws of England , with which the charter required that none of their adis or ordinances fhould be inconfiftent, they adopted in their infant church that form of policy which has lince been diftinguiihed by the name of Independent. They united together in religious fociety, by a foiemn covenant with God, and with one another, and in firi£t conformity, as they imagined, to the rules of feripture. They elected a pallor, a teacher , and an elder, whom they fet apart for their refpeflive ollices , by impofition of the hands of the brethren. All who were that day admitted members of the church , hgnified their affent to a confeffion of faith drawn up by their teacher, and gave an account of the foundation of their own hopes as Chriftians; and it was declared, that no perfon flionld hereafter be received into communion until he gave fatisfaflion to the church with refpeft to his faith and fan&ity. The form of public worlhip which they inflituted was without a liturgy , difencumbered of every fuperfluous ceremony , and reduced to the lovveft flandard of Calviniftic fimplicity I5 .
It was with the utmoll complacence that men, pafiionately attached to their own notions, and who had long been refrained from avow'ing them, employed themfelves in framing this model of a pure church. But, in the firft moment that they
began
is Math. Magnal. p. iS. Neal’s Hill, of N. Engl. i. 1:6. Chalmers, p. 143.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
139
began to tafte of Chriftian liberfy themfelves, they forgot that other men had an equal title to enjoy it. Some of their number , retaining an high veneration for the ritual of the Englilh church, were fo much offended at the total abolition of it , that they withdrew from communion with the newly-inftituted church , and affembled fe- parately for the worfhip of God. With an incon- fiffency, of which there are fuch flagrant inftances among Chriftians of every denomination that it cannot be imputed as a reproach peculiar to any fe£l, the very men who had themfelves fled from perfecution became perfecutors and hadrecourfe, in order to enforce their own opinions, to the fame unhallowed weapons, again!! the employment of which they had lately remonftrated with fo much violence. Endicott called the two chief malecontents before him ; and though they were men of note, and among the number of original patentees, he expelled them from the fociety, and fent them home in the fhips which were returning to England I7 . The colonifls were now united in fentiments; but, on the approach of winter, they fuffered fo much from difeafes, which carried off almoft one half of their number, that they made little progrefs in occupying the country. '
Meanwhile the directors of the company in England exerted their utmoft endeavours in order to reinforce the colony with a numerous body of
BOOK
x.
Emigrations from England increafed by the intole- • ranee of Laud.
17 Mather, p. 19. Neal, p. 139.
K

i3o HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
X.
Charter of the company
new fettlers; and as the intolerant fpirit of land exadled conformity to all the injunctions of the church with greater rigor than ever, the condition of fuch as had any fcruples with refpeCl to this became fo intolerable , that many accepted of their invitation to a fecure retreat in New England. Several of thefe were perfons of greater opulence and of better condition than any who had hitherto migrated to that country. But as they intended to employ their fortunes, as well as to hazard their perfons , in eftablifliing a permanent colony there, and forefaw many inconveniences from their fubjeClion to laws made without their own confent, and framed by a fociety which mull always be imperfeClly acquainted with their fituation, they infilled that the corporate powers of the company flxould be transferred from England to America, and the government of the colony be veiled entirely in thofe who , by fettling in the latter country, became members of it l8 . The company had already expended conliderable fums in profecuting the "lefign of their inftitution, without having received alrnoft any return, and had no profpeft of gain, or even of reimburfement, but what was too remote and uncertain to be fuitahle to the ideas of merchants, the moft numerous clafs of its members. They hefitated, however, with refpeCl to the legality of granting the demand of the intended emigrants. But fuch was their eagernefs
is Hutchinfon’s Coll, of Papers, p. sy.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
i3i
to be difengaged from an unpromifing adventure, book that, “ by general confent, it was determined, t ^ rred to that the charter lhould be transferred, and the the coioniits. government be fettled in New England I9 . ” To the members of the corporation who chofe to remain at home was referved a fliare in the trad* ing flock and profits of the company during feven years.
In this Angular tranfaflion , to which there is nothing hmilar in the hiflory of Englifh colonization , two circumftances merit particular attention: one is the power of the company to make this transference ; the other is the filenc acquiefcence with which the king permitted it to take place. If the validity of this determination of the company be tried by the charter which conftituted it a body politic, and conveyed to it all the corporate powers with which it was inverted, it is evident that it could neither exercife thofe powers in any mode different from what the charter prefcribed, nor alienate them in fucti a manner as to convert the jurifdiftion of a trading corporation in England into a provincial government in America. But from the firft inftitu- tion of the company of Maffachufets Bay , its members feem to have been animated with a fpirit of innovation in civil policy, as well as in religion; and by the habit of reje6!ing eftablilhed ufages in the one, they were prepared for deviating from them in the other. They had applied
19 Mather, p. so. Hntchinfon’s Hift. p. is. Chalmers, p. i Jo.
K 2

i3a HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK for a royal charter, in order to give legal effedl x to their operations in England, as adls of a body politic; but the perfons whom they fent out to America, as foon as they landed there, conhdered themfelves as individuals , united together by voluntary affociation, poffefhng tire natural right of men who form a fociety, to adopt what mode of government , and to exadf what laws they deemed moft conducive to general felicity. Upon this principle of being entitled to judge and to decide for themfelves, they eftablifhed their church in Salem, without regard to the inftitutions of the church of England, of which the charter fup- pofed them to be members, and bound of con- fequence to conformity with its ritual. Suitably to the fame ideas, we lhall obferve them framing all their future plans of civil and ecclefiaftical policy. The king, though abundantly vigilant in obferving and checking (lighter encroachments on his prerogative, was either fo much occupied at that time with other cares occafioned by his fatal breach with his parliament, that he could not attend to the proceedings of the company; or he was fo much pleafed with the profpedl of removing a body of turbulent fubjedfs to a dif- tant country , where they might be ufeful, and could not prove dangerous, that he was difpofed to connive at the irregularity of a meafure which facilitated their departure..
Colony extend- Without interruption from the crown, the
ed ‘ adventurers proceeded to carry their fcheme into
execution. In a general court, John Winthrop
4

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i33
was appointed governor , and Thomas Dudley : deputy-governor, and eighteen afliftants were chofen ; in whom, together with the body of freemen who Ihould fettle in New England, were veiled all the corporate rights of the company. With fuch zeal and activity did they prepare for emigration, that in the courfe of the enfuing year feventeen fhips failed for New England, and aboard thefe above fifteen hundred perfons , among whom were feveral of refpectable families, and in eafy circumftances. On their arrival in New England, many were fo ill - fatisfied with the lituation of Salem, that they explored the country in quell of fome better Ration; and fettling in different places around the Bay, according to their various fancies, laid the foundations of Bofton, Charlellown, Dorcheller, Rox- borough, and other towns, which have fince become confiderable in the province. In each of thefe a church was elfablilhed on the fame model with that of Salem. This, together with the care of making provifion for their fubfiltence during winter , occupied them entirely during fome months. But in the firlt general court, their difpofition to confider themfelves as members of an independent fociety, unconfined by the regulations in their charter, began to appear. The election of the governor and deputy governor , the appointment of all other officers, and even the power of making laws, all which were granted by the charter to the freemen, were taken from them, and veiled in the council of aflillams,
K 3
*
0 0 K X.
1630 .
oa. 19.'

134 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
Book
x.
I«3I.
None bilt members of the church admitted as free*, men.
But the ariftocratical fpirit of this refolution did not accord with the ideas of equality prevalent among the people, who had been furprifed into an approbation of it. Next year the freemen, whofe numbers had been greatly augmented by the admilhon of new members, refumed their former rights.
But , at the fame time , they ventured to deviate from the charter in a matter of greater . moment, which deeply affected all the future operations of the colony, and contributed greatly to form that peculiar character by which the people of New England have been diftinguiflied. A law was paffed, declaring that none fhall hereafter be admitted freemen, or be entitled to any fhare in the government, or be capable of being chofen magiflrates, or even of ferving as jurymen, but fuch as have been received into the church as members By this refolution, every perfon who did not hold the favorite opinions concerning the dotftrines of religion, the difeipline of the church , or the rites of worfliip , was at once caft out of the fociety , and flripped of all the privileges of a citizen. An uncontrolled power of approving or rejecting the claims of thofe who applied for admilhon into communion with the church being veiled in the minifters and leading men of each congregation, the moft valuable of all civil rights was made to depend on their decifion with refpeft to qualifications purely
so Hutchinfon, p. ;6. Chalmers, p. 153.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i 3 5
ecclefiaftical. As in examining into thefe, they book proceeded not by any known or eftablilhed rules, Pet *' cious but exercifed a difcretionary judgment, the clergy conferences rofe gradually to a degree of influence and au- ° f ^" sres:ula ' thority, from which the levelling fpirit of the independent church policy was calculated to exclude them. As by their determination the political condition of every citizen was fixed, all paid court to men poffeffed of fuch an important power, by affirming thole auflere and fandlimonious manners which were known to be the molt certain recommendation to their favor. In confequence of this afcendant, which was acquired chiefly by the wildeft enthufiafts among the clergy, their notions became a ftandard to which all ftudied to conform , and the fmgularities characteriltic of the Puritans in that age increafed , of which many remarkable inftances will occur in the courfe of our narrative.
Though a confiderable number of planters was Indian ter- cut off by the difeafes prevalent in a country fo rltor ‘ es imperfectly cultivated by its original inhabitants thetmaii-pox. as to be Hill almoft one continued foreft , and feveral, difcouraged by the hardlhips to which they were expofed, returned to England, recruits 1634. fufficient to replace them arrived. At the fame time the fmall-pox, a diftemper fatal to the people of the New World, fwept away fuch multitudes of the natives that fome whole tribes difappeared;. and Heaven , by thus evacuating a country in which the Englilh might fettle without moleftation,
K 4

1 36 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book
x.
Settlements of the colonifts extended.
1634 .
Freemen meet by reprefenta- tives.
Extent of political liberty aflumed by the affembly.
was fnppofed to declare its intention that they fliould occupy it.
As feveral of the vacant Indian Rations were well chofen , fuch was the eagernefs of the Englifii to take polfeffion of them, that their fettlements became more numerous and more widely difperf- ed than fuited the condition of an infant colony. Th is led to an innovation which totally altered the nature and conflitution of the government. When a general court was to be held in the year one thoufand fix hundred and thirty-four, the freemen , inftead of attending it in perfon as the charter preferibed, eleCted reprefentatives in their different diftrifts, authorizing them to appear in their name, with full power to deliberate and decide concerning, every point that fell under the cognizance of'the general court. Whether this meafure was fuggefted by fome defigning leaders, or whether they found it prudent to looth the people by complying with their inclination, is uncertain. The reprefentatives were admitted; and confidered themfelves, in conjunction with the governor and afliftants, as the fupreme le- giflative affembly of the colony'. In affertion of their own rights they enaCled, that no law fliould be paffed, no tax fliould be impofed, and no public officer fliould be appointed, but in the general affembly. The pretexts for making this new arrangement were plaufible. The number of freemen was greatly increafed ; many refided at a diftance from the places where the fupreme courts were held; perfonal attendance became

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 137
inconvenient; the form of government in their book own country had rendered familiar the idea of X- delegating their rights, and committing the guar- dianihip of their liberties, to reprefentatives of their own choice , and the experience of ages had taught them that this important truft might with fafety be lodged in their hands. Thus did the company of Maffachufets Bay , in lefs than fix years from its incorporation by the king, mature and perfe£l a fcheme which, I have already ob- ferved, fome of its more artful and afpiring leaders feem to have had in view when the alfociation for peopling New England was firft formed. The colony muft henceforward be confidered, not as a corporation whofe powers were defined, and its mode of procedure regulated by its charter, but as a fociety , which, having acquired or affumed political liberty, had, by its own voluntary deed, adopted a conftitution or government framed on the model of that in England.
But however liberal their fyftem of civil policy spirit of fan- might be, as their religious opinions were no “J. 1 *' longer under any reftraint of authority , the fpirit of fanaticifm continued to fpread , and became every day wilder and more extravagant. Williams, a minifter of Salem, in high eftimation, having conceived an antipathy to the crofs of St. George in the ftandard of England, declaimed againft it with fo much vehemence as a relic of fuperfti- tion and idolatry which ought not to be retained among a people fo pure and fanftified, that Endi- cott, one of the members of the court of affihants,

i 38 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
B o o k in a tranfport of zeal, publicly cut out the crofs #
x ' from the enfign difplayed before the governor’s fo
gate. This frivolous matter interefted and divid- d 1
ed the colony. Some of the militia fcrupled to ®
follow colors in which there was a crofs , left w
they fliould do honor to an idol: others refufed ; &
to ferve under a mutilated banner , left they fil
fliould be fufpefted of having renounced their s
allegiance to the crown of England. After a long Be
controverfy, carried on by both parties with that #1
heat and zeal which in trivial difputes fupply the tij
want of argument, the conteft was terminated by id
a compromile. The crofs was retained in the ■ da
enfigns of forts and fliips, but erafed from the or
colors of the militia. Williams, on account of vi
this, as well as of fome other doctrines deemed gt
unfound, was baniflied out of the colony 2l . Bi
New fettiers. The profperous ftate of New England was now ot
fo highly extolled, and the Ample frame of its p
eccleliaftic policy was fo much admired by all fa
1635. whofe affections were eftranged from the church ii
of England, that crowds of new fettiers flocked n
thither. Among thefe were two perfons , whofe k
names have been rendered memorable by the d
appearance which they afterwards made on a a
more confpicuous theatre : one was Hugh Peters, the enthufiaftic and intriguing chaplain of Oliver a
Cromwell ; the other Mt'. Henry Vane, fon of [
Sir Henry Vane , a privy counsellor, high in \
office , and of great credit with the king; a young (
21 Neal’s Hilt, of N. Eng. p. 140, &c. Hutchinfon, p. 37- 1
Chalmers, p. ij6. ;

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i3g
man of a noble family, animated with fuch zeal book for pure religion and fuch love of liberty as in- x duced him to relinquilh all his hopes in England, and to fettle in a colony hitherto no farther advanced in improvement than barely to afford fubfift- ence to its members, was received with the fond- elt admiration. His mortified appearance, his demure look, and rigid manners , carried even beyond the ftandard of precifenefs in that fociety which he joined, feemed to indicate a man of high fpiritual attainments, while his abilities and addrefs in bufinefs pointed him out as worthy of the higheft Ration in the community. With IS3S - univerfal confent, and high expectations of advantage from his adminiftration, he was elected governor in the year fubfequent to his arrival.
But as the affairs of an infant colony afforded not objects adequate to the talents of Vane, his bufy pragmatical fpirit occupied itfelf with theological fubtilties and fpeculations unworthy of his attention. Thefe were excited by a woman, whofe reveries produced fuch effects both within the colony and beyond its precincts, that, frivolous as they may now appear, they muff be mentioned as an occurrence of importance in its hiflory.
It was thecuftom at that time in New England, Antmomian among the chief men in every congregation, to fea * meet once a week, in order to repeat the fermons which they had heard, and to hold religious conference with refpect to the doctrine contained in them. Mrs. Hutchinfon , whofe hufband was among the moft refpectable members of the colony,

Ho HISTORY OF AMERICA.
boo K regretting that perfons of her fex were excluded
x ‘ from the benefit of thofe meetings, affembled h
flatedly in her houfe a number of women, who fo
employed tliemfelves in pious exercifes fimilar fl 1
to thofe of the men. At firft flte fatisfied herfelf til
with repeating what Hie could recoiled! of the "1
difcourfes delivered by their teachers. She began an
afterwards to add illuflrations, and at length &
proceeded to cenfure fome of the clergy as unfound, en
and to vent opinions and fancies of her own. Thefe were all founded on the fyftem which is deno- dii
minated Antinomian by divines, and tinged -with co
the deepeft enthufiafm. She taught, that fanflity k
of life is no evidence of j unification, or of a ftate S:
of favor with God; and that fuch as inculcated tl
the neceffity of manifefling the reality of our faith ti
by obedience, preached only a covenant of works: n
Ihe contended that the fpirit of God dwelt per- In
fonally in good men , and by inward revelations t!
and imprefhons they' received the fulleft difcoveries a
of the divine will. The fluency and confidence g
with which fire delivered thefe notions gained her 1
many admirers and profelytes, not only among v
the vulgar, but among the principal inhabitants. {
The whole colony was interefted and agitated. Vane, whofe fagacity and acutenefs feemed to forfake him whenever they were turned towards religion, efpoufed and defended her wildeff tenets, rs 17 . Many conferences were held, days of faffing and Condemnedb e y^ um ^i at i° n were appointed, a general fynod was agencraifynod. called, and, after diffenfions fo violent as threatened the diflolution of the colony. Mrs. Hutchinfon’s
*
I

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
opinions were condemned as erroneous, and Hie book herfelf banilhed. Several of her difciples withdrew x ' from the province of their own accord. Vane quitted America in difgnft, unlamented even by thofe who had lately admired him; fome of whom now regarded him as a mere vifionary, and others as one of thofe dark turbulent fpirits doomed to embroil every fociety into which they enter 22 .
However much thefe theological con teds might Thefeaaries difquiet the colony of Maffachufets Bay, they^’*™^' contributed to the more fpeedy population of Rhode Hand. America. When Williams was banilhed from Salem in the year one thoufand fix hundred and thirty-four, fuch was the attachment of his hearers to a pallorwhofe piety they revered, that a good number of them voluntarily accompanied him in his exile. They direffed their march towards the fouth ; and having purchafed from the natives a confiderable trad! of land, to which Williams gave the name of Providence, they fettled there.
They were joined foon after by fome of thofe to whom the proceedings againft Mrs. Hutchinfon gave difguft; and by a tranfa£lion with the Indians they obtained a right to a fertile ifland in Narag- anfet Bay, which acquired the name of Rhode Ifland. Williams remained among them upwards of forty years, refpefted as the father and the guide of the colony which lie had planted. His fpirit differed from that of the Puritans in Maffachufets; The,r mo *
deration.
22 Mather, book vii. c. 3. Hutchinron, p. 53. 74. Neal, p. 1 . 144. 165, &c. Chalmers, p. 163.

M2 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
B o o k it was mild and tolerating; and having ventured x ‘ himfelf to rejeft ellablifhed opinions, he endeavoured to fecure the fame liberty to other men, by maintaining, that the exercife of private judgement was a natural and facred right; that the civil magiflrate has no compulfive jurifdiftion in the concerns of religion; that the punilhment of any perfon on account of his opinions, was an encroachment on confcience , and an aft of perfection Thefe humane principles he inllilled into his followers; and all who felt or dreaded opprelfion in other fettlements , reforted to a community in which univerfal toleration was known to be a fundamental maxim. In the plantations of Providence and Rhode Ifland , political union was eltablifhed by voluntary affo- ciation, and the equality of condition among the members, as well as their religious opinions; their form of government was purely democratical, the fupreme power being lodged in the freemen perfonally allembled. In this Rate they remained until they were incorporated by charter Colony of Con- To fimilar caufes the colony of Connefticut
nefticut. is indebted for its origin. The rivallhip between Mr. Cotton and Mr. Hooker, two favorite minif- ters in the fettlement of Mafl'achufets Bay, dif- pofed the latter, who was leall fuccefsful in this conteft for fame and power , to wifli for fome fettlement at a diftance from a competitor by
-3 Neal’s Hift. of N. Eng. p. 141.
=4 Hntchinfon, p. 3S. Neal, ii. 142. Dougl. Sum. ii. £• "6, &c. Chalmers, ch. ii.
t

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i 4 3
whom his reputation was eclipfed. A good book number of thofe who had imbibed Mrs. Hut- X- chinfon’s notions, and were offended at fuch as combated them, offered to accompany him. Having employed proper perfons to explore the country, they pitched upon the weft fide of the great river Connecticut as the moft inviting fta- ,
tion; and in the year one thoufand fix hundred and thirty-fix, about a hundred perfons, with their wives and families, after a fatiguing march of many days through woods and fwamps, arrived there, and laid the foundation of the towns of Hartford, Springfield, and Weatherfield. This fettlement was attended with peculiar irregularities.
Part of the diftrict now occupied lay beyond the limits of the territory granted to the colony of Maflachufets Bay, and yet the emigrants took a commilfton from the governor and court of aftift- ants, empowering them to exercife jurifdiftion in that country. The Dutch from Manhados or New York, having difcovered the river Connecticut, and eftablifhed fome trading houfes upon it, had acquired all the right that prior poffeflion confers. Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brook, the heads of two illuftrious families, were lb much alarmed at the arbitrary meafures of Charles I. both in his civil and eccleliaftical adminiftration, that they took a refolution, not unbecoming young men of noble birth and liberal fentiments, of retiring to the New World, in order to enjoy fuch a form of religion as they approved of, and thofe liberties which they deemed effential to the

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
ill
book well -being of fociety. They, too, fixed on the X ' banks of the Connecticut as their place of fettle- ment, and had taken polfeffion, by building a fort at the mouth of the river, which, from their united names, was called Say Brook. The emigrants from Mafiachufets, without regarding either the defects in their own right or the pretenfions of other claimants, kept. pofTefhon , and proceeded with vigor to clear and cultivate the country. By degrees they got rid of every competitor. The Dutch, recently fettled in America, and too feeble to engage in a war, peaceably withdrew from Connefticut. Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brook made over to the colony whatever title they might have to any lands in that region. Society was eflablillied by a voluntary compad of the freemen; and though they foon difclaimed all dependence on the colony of Mafiachufets Bay, they retained fucli veneration for its legiflative vvifdom, as to adopt a form of government nearly refembling its inftitutions, with refpeft both to civil and ecclefiaftical policy. At a fubfequent period, the colony of Connefticut was likewife incorporated by royal charter 2<: .
OFNewHamp- The hiflory of the firft attempts to people the finreandMam.pj.Qyjj-| C g S of New Hampshire and Main, which form the fourth and mod extenfive divifion in New England, is obfcure and perplexed, by the interfering claims of various proprietors. The
company
-s Hutchinfon, p. 44, &e. Neal, i. 147. Douglas, ii. l$8, &c. Chalmers’ Annals, ch. is.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 145
company of Plymouth had inconfiderately par- boor celled out the northern part of the territory x ‘ contained in its grant among different perfons: of thefe only Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain Mafoii feem to have had any ferious intention to occupy the lands allotted to them. Their efforts to accomplifli this were meritorious and perfever- ing, but unfuccefsful. The expenfe of fettling colonies in an uncultivated country mull neceffarily be great and immediate; the profpeCl of a return is often uncertain and always remote. The funds of two private adventurers were not adequate to fuch an undertaking. Nor did the planters whom they fent out poffefs that principle of enthufiafm, which animated their neighbours of Maffachufeta with vigor, to ftruggle through all the hardlliips and dangers to which fociety, in its infancy, is expofed in a favage land. Gorges and Mafon, it is probable, mull have abandoned their defign, if, from the fame motives that fettlements had been made in Rhode Ifland and Connecticut, colonifts had not unexpectedly migrated into New Hamplhire and Main. Mr. Wheelwright, a minifter of fume note, nearly related to Mrs. Hutchinfon, and one of her molt fervent admirers and partifans, had, on this account, been baniflied from the province of Maffaehufets Bay lS . In queft of a new Ration , he took a courfe oppofite to the other exiles, and advancing towards the north, founded the town of Exeter , on a fmall river
a t Hutchinfon, p. 70.
L

146 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOO
X.
flowing into Pifkataqua Bay. His followers, few in number, but firmly united, were of fuch rigid principles, that even the churches of Maffachufets did not appear to them fulficiently pure. From time to time they received fome recruits, whom love of novelty , or diffatisfablion with the eccle- fiaftical inftitutions of the other colonies, prompt* ed to join them. Their plantations were widely difperfed, but the country was thinly peopled, and its political ftate extremely unfettled. The colony of Maffachufets Bay claimed jurifdi&ion over them , as occupying lar.ds fituated within the limits of their grant. Gorges and Mafon affert- ed the rights conveyed to them as proprietors by their charter. In feveral diftrifls, the planters, without regarding the pretenfions of either party, governed themfeives by maxims and laws copied from thofe of their brethren in the adjacent colonies - 7 . The (lift reduction of the political conflitution in the provinces of New Hamplliire and Main into a regular and permanent form, was fubi’equent to the revolution.
By extending their fettlements , the Englilh became expofed to new danger. The tribes of Indians around Maffachufets Bay were feeble and unwariike ; yet from regard to juflice, as well, as motives of prudence , the firft coloniffs were ftudious to obtain the confentof the natives before they ventured to occupy any of their lands; and though in fuch tranfa£iions the confideration given
27 Hutchinfon , p. 103, &:c. 176. Douglas’s Sum. ii. 25t, &c. Chalmers' Annals, ch. 17.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.
147
was often very inadequate to the value of the hook territory acquired , it was fufficient to fatisfy the The ^ rth demands of the proprietors. The Englifh took encroach- quiet poffeffion of the lands thus conveyed to ” ien , K „ ot th ?,
1 1 ....... . } Englifh rehtt-
thern, and no open holtihty broke out between ed by the them and the ancient poffeff’ors. But the colonies " atlvcs- of Providence and Connedlicut foon found that they were furrounded by more powerful and martial nations. Among thefe the moft confi- derable were the Naraganfets and Pequods; the former feated on the Bay which bears their name, and the latter occupying the territory which ftretches from the river Pequod along the banks of the Connecticut. The Pc-quods were a formidable people, who could bring into the field a thoufand warriors, not inferior in courage to
' _ O
any in the New World. They forefaw , not only that the extermination of the Indian race mull be the confequence of permitting the Englifh to fpread over the continent of America, but that if meafures were not fpeedily concerted to prevent it, the calamity would be unavoidable. With this view they applied to the Naraganfets, reqtieft- ing them to forget ancient animolities for a moment, and to cooperate with them in expelling a common enemy who threatened both with deftruftion. They reprefented that, when thofe ftrangers firft landed, the objeCf of their vifit was not fufpefled, and no proper precautions were taken to check their progrefs; that now, by fending out colonies in one year towards three different quarters, their intentions were manifeft,
L 2
I
4

*4 8 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
P 0 o K and the people of America muft abandon their ^ native feats to make way for unjufl intruders.
But the Naraganfets and Pequods, like moll of the contiguous tribes in America, were rivals, and there fub lifted between them an hereditary and implacable enmity. Revenge is the darling paffion offavages; in order to fecure the indulgence of which there is no prefent advantage that they Wat with the will not facrifice, and no future confequence which Feiuodtnbe«. do not totally difregard. The Naraganfets, inftead of clofnig with the prudent propofal of their neighbours, difeovered their hoftile intentions to the governor of MalTachufets Bay, and, eager to lay hold on fuch a favorable opportunity of wreaking their vengeance on their ancient foes, entered into an alliance with the Englifh againft them. The Pequods, more exafperated than difeouraged by the imprudence and treachery of their countrymen, took the field, and carried on the war in the ufual mode of Americans. They furprifed ftragglers, and fealped them ; they plundered and burnt remote fettlements; they attacked Fort Say Brook without fuccefs, though garrifoned only by twenty men; and w'hen the Englifh began to act olfenfively, they retired to faftneffes which they deemed inacceffible. The different colonies had agreed to unite againft the common enemy, each furnifhing a quota of men in proportion to its numbers. The troops of Connecticut which lay moll expofed to danger were foon alfembled. The march of thofe from MalTachufets, w’hich formed the mol) conftderabl*

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 149
body, was retarded by the moft lingular caufe book that ever influenced the operations of a military p uri gj atl0 , force. When they were muttered previous to of the army, their departure, it was found that fome of the officers, as well as of the private foldiers, were ftill under a covenant of works; and that the bleffing of God could not be implored or expe&ed to crown the arms of fuch unhallowed men with fuccefs. The alarm was general, and many arrangements neceffary in order to call out the unclean, and to render this little band fufficiently pure to fight the battles of a people who entertained high ideas of their own fanflity JS .
Meanwhile the Connecticut troops, reinforced Defeat of the by a fmall detachment from Say Brook, found In ‘ Ua, “' it neceffary to advance towards the enemy. They were potted on a rifing ground, in the middle of a fwamp towards the head of the river Miftick, which they had furrounded with palifadoes, the belt defence that their flender fkill in the art of fortification had difcovered. Though they knew that the Englilh were in motion, yet, with the ufual improvidence and fecurity of favages, they took no meafures either to obferve their progrefs, or to guard againft being furprifed themfelves.
The enemy, unperceived, reached the palifadoes, M #y so. and if a dog had not given the alarm by barking, the Indians mutt have been maffacred without refiftance. In a moment, however, they flarted to arms, and raifing the war- cry, prepared to
L *
18 Neal, 1 . i 6 t.

i5o HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book repel the affailants. But at that early period of x ' their intercourfe with the Europeans, the Americans were little acquainted with the ufe of gunpowder, and dreaded its effefls extremely. While fome of the Englifli galled them with an incelfant lire through the intervals between the palifadoes, others forced their way by the entries into the fort, filled only with branches of trees; and fetting fare to the huts which were covered with reeds, the confufion and terror quickly became general. Many of the women and children perillied in the flames; and the warriors , in endeavouring to efcape., were either flain by the Englifli, or falling into the hands of their Indian allies, who furrounded the fort at a dillance, were referved for a more cruel fate. After the junchion of the troops from Maf- fachufets, the Englifli refolved to purfue their viftory; and hunting the Indians from one place of retreat to another, fome fubfequent encounters were hardly lefs fatal to them than the aftion on the Miltick. In lefs than three months the tribe of Pequods was extirpated : a few miferable fugitives who took refuge among the neighbouring Indians, being incorporated by them, loft their Cruelties ex- name as a diftin£l people. In this firft eflay of T !1 T d .r gamft their arms, the colonifts of New England feem to have been conducted by fkilful and enterprifmg officers, and difplayed both courage and per- feverance as foldiers. But they flamed their laurels by the ufe which they made of vidory. Inftead oftreating the Pequods as an independent people, who made a gallant effort to defend the property,

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i5i
the rights, and the freedom of their nation , they BOOR retaliated upon them all the barbarities ofAmerican x '
war. Some they maffacred in cold blood, others they gave up to be tortured by their Indian allies, a confiderable number they fold as flaves in Bermudas , the reft were reduced to fervitude among themfelves ~ 9 .
Butreprehenftble as this conduct of the Englifli Emigrations mult be deemed, their vigorous efforts in this fromE " sland ' decilive campaign filled all the furrounding tribes of Indians with fuch an high opinion of their valor as fecured a long tranquillity to all their fettlements. At the fame time the violence of adminiftration in England continued to increafe their population and ftrength, by forcing man'y refpeftable fubjefts to tear themfelves from all the tender connexions that bind men to their native country, and to fly for refuge to a region of the New World, which hitherto prefented to them nothing that could allure them thither but exemption from oppreffion. The number of Prohibited by thofe emigrants drew the attention of government, roya! t ,rocla - and appeared fo formidable, that a proclamation was iffued, prohibiting mafters of fliips from carrying paffengers to New England without fpecial permiftion. On many occafions this injunction was eluded or difregarded. Fatally for the king, it operated with full effect in one inftance. Sir Arthur Haflerig, John Hampden, Oliver Cromwell, andfome other perfons whofe principles and views
Hutchinfon, p. $8. 76, &c. Mather, Magnalia, b. vii.
«h. 6. Hubbard’s State of N. Eng. pag. 5. 116, &c.
L 4

i5a HISTORY OF AMERICA,
book coincided with theirs, impatient to enjoy thofe civil and religious liberties which they ftruggled in vain to obtain in Great Britain, hired fome fliips to carry them and their attendants to New England. By order of council, an embargo was laid on thefe when on the point of failing; and Charles, far from fufpefling that the future revolutions in his kingdoms were to be excited and dire£led by perfons in fuch an humble fphere of life, forcibly detained the men deftined to overturn his throne, and to terminate his days by a violent death 3°.
But, in fpite of all the efforts of government to check this fpirit of migration, the meafures of the king and his minifters were confidered by a great body of the people as fo hoflile to thofe rights which they deemed moft valuable, that in the courfe of the year one thoufand fix hundred and thirty-eight , above three thoufand perfons embarked for New England , chufing rather to expofe themfelves to all the confequences of difregarding the royal proclamation, than to remain longer under oppreffion. Exafperated at this contempt of his authority, Charles had recourfe to a violent but effeclual mode of accomplifliing what he had in view. A writ of quo warranto was jffued againfl the corporation of Mnffachufets Colony of Mat- Bay. The colonifts had conformed fo little to the
fachufets Bay terms Q f their charter, that judgment was given fued at law, . ’ Jo o
and found to agamft them without difficulty. They were found
have forfeited to }j ave f or f e ited all their rights as a corporation, its rights. ® r r
30 Mather, Magnalia, b. i. ch. 5. p. 43. Neal’s Hift. of N. Eng. i, 151. Chalmers’ Annals, i. iss, 160, &c.

HISTORY O k F AMERICA. i53
which of courfe returned to the crown, and Charles book began to take meafures for new modelling the x ' political frame of the colony, and veiling the ad- miniftration of its affairs in other hands. But his plans were never carried into execution. In every corner of his dominions, the ftorm now began to gather , which foon burft out with fuch fatal violence , that Charles, -during the remainder of his unfortunate reign, occupied with domeltic and i
more interefling cares, had not leifure to bellow any attention upon a remote and inconliderable province 3I .
On the meeting of the Long Parliament, fuch a Revolution took place in England, that all the motives for migrating to the new world ceafed.
The maxims of the Puritans with refpe£l to the government both of church and flate, became predominant in the nation, and were enforced by the hand of power. Their oppreffors were humbled; that perfect fyllem of reformed polity, j
which had long been the obje£l of their admiration and delire, was ellablilhed by law; and amjdll the intrigues and conflidls of an obllinate civil .
war, turbulent and afpiring fpirits found fuch full i
occupation, that they had no inducement to quit a bufy theatre, on which they had rifen to acl a |
moll confpicuous part. From the year one thou- fand fix hundred and twenty, when thef ril feeble colony was conduced to New England by the State of the Brownifts, to the year one thoufand fix hundred ,
3i Hutchinfon, p. 86. joj, Sec. Chalmers’ Annals, i, i6i s

BOO
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154 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
and forty, it has been computed, that twenty- one thoufand two hundred Britifh fubje£ls had fettled there. The money expended by various adventurers during that period in fitting out ihips, in purchaling flock, and tranfporting fet- lers , amounted , on a moderate calculation , nearly to two hundred thoufand pounds 32 : a vaft furri in that age, and which no principles, inferior in force to thofe wherewith the Puritans were animated, could have perfuaded men to lay out, on the uncertain profpedi of obtaining an eftablifliment in a remote uncultivated region, which, from its fituation and climate, could allure them with no hope but that of finding fubfiflence and enjoying freedom. For fome years, even fubfiflence was procured with difficulty; and it was towards the clofe of the period to which our narrative is arrived, before the produft of the fettlement yielded the planters any return for their flock. About that time they began to export corn in fmall quantities to the Weft Indies, and made fome feeble attempts to extend the filhery, and to open the trade in lumber, which have fince proved the ftaple articles of commerce in the colony 33 . Since the year one thoufand fix hundred and forty, the number of people with which New England has recruited the population of the parent ftate, is fuppofed
32 Mather, b. i. ch. 4. p. 17. ch. 3. p. 23. Hntchinfon, p. 193. Chalmers’ Annals, p. 163.
33 Hutchinfon, p. 91, 92.
1

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i55
at leaf! to equal what may have been drained from it by occafional migrations thither.
But though the hidden change of fyftem in Great Britain hopt entirely the influx of fettlers into New England , the principles of the colonifts coincided fo perfectly with tbofe of the popular leaders in parliament, that they were foon dif- tinguifhed by peculiar marks of their brotherly aiieCiion. By a vote of the Houfe of Commons in the year one thoufand fix hundred and forty- two , the people in all the different plantations of New England were exempted from payment of any duties, either upon goods exported thither, or upon thofe which they imported into tiie mother country, until the Houfe fhall take farther order to the contrary. This was afterwards confirmed by the authority of both Houles. Encouraged by fuch an extraordinary privilege, induflry made rapid progrefs in all the diftri£ts of New England, and population increafed along with it. In return for thofe favors, the colonifts applauded the meafures of parliament, celebrated its generous efforts to vindicate the rights and liberties of the nation, prayed for the fuccefs of its arms, and framed regulations in order to prevent any exertion in favor of the king on the other fide of the Atlantic
Relying on the indulgent partiality with which all their proceedings were viewed by men thus clofely united with them in fentiments and willies,
34 Hutchinfon, p. 114. App. 517. Chalmers’ Annals, i.
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Exemption from certain duties granted to the colo nies.
1646 .

i56 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
book the people of New England ventured on a meafure, x ' which not only increased their fecurity and power, but may be regarded as a confiderable flep towards independence. Under the imprefiion or pretext of the danger to which they were expofed from the furrounding tribes of Indians, the four colo- i«45. nies of Maffachufets, Plymouth, Connecticut, and co.if'(kr'!yof^ ewflaven > entered into a league of perpetual the New Eng. confederacy , offenlive and defenfive; an idea fa- land ftates. m jij ar to feveral leading men in the colonies, as it was framed in imitation of the famous bond of union among the Dutch provinces , in whofe dominions the Brownifts had long relided. It was ftipulated, that the confederates fhould henceforth be diftinguifhed by the name of the United Colonies of New England; that each colony fhall remain feparate and diflinCl, and have ex- elufive jurifdiCtion within its own territory; that in every war offenfive or defenfive , each of the confederates fhall furnilh its quota of men, pro- vifions, and money, at a rate to be fixed from time to time, in proportion to the number of people in each fettlement; that an affembly com- pofed of two commiflioners from each colony fhall be held annually, with power to deliberate and decide in all points of common concern to the confederacy; and every determination, in which fix of their number concur, fhall be binding on the whole I n this tranfaCtion the colonies of New England feem to have confidered
3 ? Neal’s Hilt. ofN. Eng. i. sos, &c. Hutchinfon, p. 1*4. Chalmers’ Ann. p. 177,

HISTORY OF AMERICA. j5;
themfelves as independent focieties, poffeffing all£B o o K the rights of fovereignty, and free from the control x ' of any fuperior power. The governing party in England , occupied with affairs of more urgent concern , and no wife difpofed to obferve the conduct of their brethren in America with any jealous attention , buffered the meafure to pafs without animadverfion.
Emboldened by this connivance the fprit of independence gathered ftrength, and foon difplay- ed itfelf more openly : fome perfons of note in the colony of Maffachufets, averfe to the fyftem of ecclefiaftical polity eftablifhed there, and preferring to it the government and difcipline of the churches of England or Scotland , having remonftrated to the general court againft the in- juflice of depriving them of their rights as freemen, i 6 and of their privileges as Chriftians, becaufe they could not join as members with any of the congregational churches, petitioned that they might no longer be bound to obey laws to which they had not affented, nor be fubjeft to taxes im- pofed by an affembly in which they were not reprefented. Their demands were not only re- Petition of. jefted, but they were imprifoned and fined as «jea t 'd inte ™ difturbers of the public peace; and when they appointed fome of their number to lay their grievances before parliament, the annual court, in order to prevent this appeal to the fupreme power, attempted firft to feize their papers, and then to obftru£l their embarkation for England.
But though neither ofthefe could be accomplifhed,

138 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
I
book Inch was the addrefs and Influence of the colonies’ agents in England, that no inquiry fesms to have been made into this tranfaflion i6 . This was followed by an indication, full lefs ambiguous, of the afpiring fpirit prevalent among the people of Maffachufets. Under every form of government the right of coining money has been con- fidered as a prerogative peculiar to fovereignty, and which no fubordinate member in any flate is entitled to claim. Regardlefs of this eftabliflied maxim , the general court ordered a coinage of 16S2. fdver money at Boflon , damped with the name ing aflbm °i by °^' l ^ e colony, and a tree as an apt fymbol of the coionitU. its progreifive vigor 37. Even this ufurpation efcaped without notice. The Independents, having now humbled all rival fedls , engrolled the whole direction of affairs in Great Britain ; and long accuffomed to admire the government of New England, framed agreeably to thofe principles which they had adopted as the moft perfect model of civil and ecclefiaffical polity, they were unwilling to Rain its reputation , by cenfuring any part of its conduit.
Sroimveii pa- When Cromwell ufurped the fupreme power, KewEu^hnd ^ ie c0 *° !1 ' es of New England continued to Hand colonies. as high in his eftimation. As he had deeply „ imbibed all the fanatical notions of the Independents , and was perpetually furrounded by
36 Neal’s Hill. ofN. Eng. i. 213, Hutchinfon’s Hi ft. 145, &c. Colledb. 188, &c. Chaim. Anil. 179. Mather, Magnal. B. iii. ch. i. p. 30.
37 Hutchinfon, 177, 178. Chalmers’ Annals, p. iSt.

HISTORY OF AMERICA. i5g
the mofl eminent and artful teachers of that fe&, book
he kept a conftant correfpondence with the lead- x ’
ing men in the American fettlements, who feem
to have looked up to him as a zealous patron 38.
He in return confidered them as his moll devoted
adherents, attached to him no lefs by affcftion
than by principle. He foon gave a ftriking proof
of this. On the conqueft of Jamaica, he formed Propores to
a fcheme for the fecurity and improvement of the tra " lr :° rt the . ' . J * commits to
acqumtion made by his victorious arms, faited Jamaica, to the ardor of an impetuous fpirit that delighted in accomplifhing its ends by extraordinary means.
He propofed to tranfport the people of New England to that ifland, and employed every argument calculated to make impreflion upon them, in order to obtain their confent. He endeavoured to roufe their religious zeal by reprefenting what a fatal blow it would be to the man of fin, if a colony of the faithful w r ere fettled in the midif of his territories in the new world. He allured them with profpefls of immenfe wealth in a fertile region, which would reward the induflry of thofe who cultivated it, with all the precious productions of the torrid zone, and exprelfed his fervent wilh that they might take poffefhon of it, in order to fulfil God’s promife of making his people the head and not the tail. He affured them of being fupported by the whole force of his authority,
and of vefting all the powers of government entirely - 1*11 i i*°* i Coionifts de-
111 their hands, but by this time the colonuts clineaccepting
this offer.
S 3 Hntchinfon, App. $20, &c. Collect, p* 233.

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160 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
k were attached to a country in which they had refided for many years, and where , though they did not attain opulence, they enjoyed the comforts of life in great abundance 5 and they dreaded fo much the noxious climate of the Weft Indies, which had proved fatal to a great number of the Engliih who firft fettled in Jamaica , that they declined , though in the molt refpeStful terms, clofing with the Protestor’s propofttion 39 .
39 Hutchinfon, p. 190, &c. Chalmers, p. 188.
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