§ 241 MOTIVES OF THE COLONISTS 21 "younger sons of gentry families for whom there was now no career at home, America beckoned alluringly as the land of opportunity and adventure. The period, too, was one of rapid rise in the cost of living; and the heads of some good families found themselves unable to keep pace with old associates. Some of these men preferred leadership in the New World to taking in sail at home. None of these "gentlemen" were used to steady work, and they were restive under discipline; so sometimes they drew QUEEN ELIZABETH KNIGHTING DRAKE, on board the Golden Hind on his return from raiding Spanish America in his voyage round the globe (1581). From a drawing by Sir John Gilbert. down abuse from strict commanders like the worthy Captain John Smith. But they were of that "restless, pushing material of which the world's best pathfinders have ever been made"; and when they had learned the needs of frontier life, their pluck and endurance made them splendid colonists.2 1 Channing, United States, I, 143-144. 2 Source Book, No. 17. No doubt, the chief loadstone for most early settlers of all classes was some wild dream of wealth (Source Book, Nos. 8–9). In the first colonies, too, the expectations of sudden riches were more extravagant than in later attempts, and led for a time to disastrous neglect of the right sort of work. Still the motive was a proper one. It calls for no sneer. The same desire to better one's condition, in a later century, lured the descendants of the first settlers to people the continent from the Appalachians to the Golden Gate. Moreover, the motive was not mere greed. The youth was moved by a vision of romance and adventure. He was drawn partly by the glitter of gold, but quite as much by the mystery of new lands bosomed in the beauty of unknown seas. Best of all, these motives of gain and of noble adventure were infused with a high patriotism. Englishmen knew that in building their own fortunes on that distant frontier, just as truly as when they had trod the deck of Drake's ship, they were widening the power of the little home island, which they rightly believed to be the world's best hope. FOR LIBRARY WORK, see suggestions at the close of chapter v. The references in the text to the Source Book give work enough where that volume is accessible. CHAPTER IV EARLY VIRGINIA (A PROPRIETARY COLONY, 1607-1624) 25. FOUR points demand notice in the Virginia charter of 1606 (§ 22). Grantees. The company of stockholders was divided into two sub-companies. One of these was made up mainly of Londoners, and is known as the London Company. The other was made up of gentlemen from the west of England, and is called the Plymouth Company. These proprietary companies were to remain in England. Territory. The name Virginia then applied to the whole region claimed by England on the Atlantic coast, between the Spaniards on the south and the French on the north. This made a tract about 800 miles long, reaching from the 34th to the 45th parallel. Within this territory, each company was to have a district 100 miles along the coast and 100 miles inland, -the London Company's tract to be located somewhere in southern Virginia, the Plymouth Company's somewhere in the north. The exact location of these grants was to be fixed by the position of the first settlements. The Londoners were to choose anywhere between the 34th and the 41st parallel (or between Cape Fear and the Hudson). The western merchants were to place their settlement anywhere between the 38th and the 45th parallel (between the Potomac and Maine). Neither Company was to plant a colony within a hundred miles of one established by the other. This arrangement left the middle district, from the Potomac to the Hudson, open to whichever Company should first occupy it. Probably the King's intention was to encourage rivalry; but, in fact, the dubious overlapping region was avoided by both parties. There was room for six 100-mile locations outside of it. Settlers' rights. The charter gave the future settlers no share in governing themselves; but it did promise them "the liberties, franchises, and immunities" of Englishmen. This clause (found also in Gilbert's and in nearly all later charters) did not mean "the right to vote" or to hold office: not all Englishmen had such privileges at home. It meant such rights as jury trial, habeas-corpus privileges, and free speech, so far as those rights were then understood in England. Government. In England there was to be a Council for the double company, with general oversight. In each colony there was to be a lower Council appointed by that higher Council. These local Councils were to govern the settlers according to laws to be drawn up by the King. The Instructions drawn up by James before the first expedition sailed (Source Book, No. 17), provided that death or mutilation could be inflicted upon no offender until after conviction by a jury, and for only a small number of crimes, for that day; but the appointed Council were to punish minor offenses (such as idling and drunkenness) at their discretion, by whipping or imprisonment. This authority seems extreme to us, but it was much like that possessed then by the justices of an English county. 26. This plan of government proved a poor one. In England it was partly royal and partly proprietary, without a clear division between authorities. In the colonies there was no single governor, but an unwieldy committee. No other English colonial charter was so imperfect an instrument of government; but, under this crude grant, was founded the first permanent English colony. In 1607, the Plymouth Company made a fruitless attempt at settlement on the coast of Maine (§ 58), and then remained inactive for twelve years. But in December of 1606 the London Company sent out, in three small vessels, a more successful expedition to "southern Virginia." The 104 colonists reached the Chesapeake in the spring of 1607, and planted Jamestown on the banks of a pleasant river flowing into the south side of the Bay. To avoid Spanish attack from the sea, they chose a site some thirty miles up the stream. For some years this was the only regular settlement. § 27] A PLANTATION COLONY 25 The company of 27. The colony was a great "plantation." stockholders in England were proprietors. They directed the enterprise, selected settlers, appointed officers, furnished transportation and supplies and capital. The colonists were employees and servants. They did the work, -- cleared forests, built rude forts and towns, and raised crops,-facing disease, famine, and savage warfare. The managing Council at Jamestown were not so much political rulers as industrial overseers. Their task was a kind of housekeeping on a large scale. The products of the settlers' labor went into a common stock. Lumber, sassafras, dyestuffs, were shipped to the Company to help meet expenses. Grain was kept in colonial store houses, to be guarded and distributed by a public official. Here, too, were kept the supplies from England, - medicines, |