ment of one party was to be made within less than one hundred miles of the nearest settlement of the other. The nature and extent of these grants will be fully understood from an examination of the accompanying map. Only the London Company was successful under its charter London in planting an American colony. Company The man who was chiefly instrumental in organizing the London Company was Bartholomew Gosnold. His leading associates were Edward Wingfield, a rich merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, and John Smith, a man of genius. Others who aided the enterprise were Sir John Popham, chief-justice of England, Richard Hakluyt, a historian, and Sir Ferdinand Gorges, a distinguished nobleman. By the terms of the charter, the affairs of the company were to be administered by a Superior Council, residing in England, and an Inferior Council, residing in the colony. The members of the former body were to be chosen by the king, and to hold office at his pleasure; the members of the lower council were also selected by the royal direction, and were subject to removal by the same power. All legislative authority was likewise vested in the monarch. In the first organization of the companies not a single principle of self-government was admitted. The most foolish clause in the patent was that which required the proposed colony or colonies to hold all property in common for a period of five years. The wisest provision in the instrument was that which allowed the emigrants to retain in the New World all the rights and privileges of Englishmen. Plymouth 1606 1607 In the month of August, 1606, the Plymouth Company sent their first ship to America. The voyage, which was one of exploration, was but half completed, when the company's vessel was captured by a Spanish man-of-war. In the autumn another ship was sent out, which remained on the American coast until the following spring, and then returned with glowing accounts of the country. Encouraged by these reports, the company, in the summer of 1607, despatched a colony of a hundred persons. Arriving at the mouth of the River Kennebec, the colonists began a settlement under favorable circumstances. Some fortifications were thrown up, a storchouse and several cabins built, and the place named St. George. Then the ships returned to England, leaving a promising colony of forty-five members; but the winter of 1607-8 was very severe; some of the settlers were starved and some frozen, the storehouse burned, and when summer came the remnant escaped to England. 190 The London Company had better fortune. A fleet of three vessels was fitted out, and the command given to Christopher Newport. On the 69th of December the ships, having on board a hundred and five colonists, among whom were Wingfield and Smith, left England. Newport, to begin with, committed the astonishing folly of taking the old route by way of the Canaries and the West Indies, and did not reach the American coast until the month of April. It was the design that a landing should be made in the neighborhood of Roanoke Island, but a storm prevailed and carried the ships northward into the Chesapeake. Entering the magnificent bay and coasting along the southern shore, the vessels came to the mouth of a broad and beautiful river, which was named in honor of King James. Proceeding up this stream about fifty miles, Newport noticed on the northern bank a peninsula more attractive than the rest for its verdure and beauty; the ships were moored, and the emigrants John Smitt I went on shore. Here, on the 13th day of May (Old Style), in the year fames loun 1607, were laid the foundations of Jamestown, the oldest English settle 1667 ment in America. It was within a month of a hundred and ten years after the discovery of the continent by the elder Cabot, and nearly fortytwo years after the founding of St. Augustine. So long a time had been required to plant the first feeble germ of English civilization in the New World. After the unsuccessful attempt to form a settlement at the mouth Plymenett to of the Kennebec, very little was done by the Plymouth Company for several years; yet the purpose of planting colonies was not relinquished. Meanwhile, a new impetus was given to the affairs of North Virginia by Virginia the ceaseless activity and exhaustless energies of John Smith. Wounded John Frutt by an accident, and discouraged, as far as it was possible for such a man to be discouraged, by the distractions and turbulence of the Jamestown 1609 colony, Smith left that settlement in 1609, and returned to England. Omontt recovering his health he formed a partnership with four wealthy merchants of London, with a view to the fur-trade and probable establishment of colonies within the limits of the Plymouth grant. Two ships were accordingly freighted with goods and put under Smith's command. The summer of 1614 was spent on the coast of lower Maine, where a profitable traffic was carried on with the Indians. The crews of the vessels were well satisfied through the long days of July with the pleasures and profits of the teeming fisheries, but Smith himself found nobler work. Beginning as far north as practicable, he patiently explored the country, and drew a map of the whole coast-line from the Penobscot River to Cape Cod. In this map, which is still extant, and a marvel of accuracy considering the circumstances under which it was made, the country was called NEW ENGLAND-a name which Prince Charles confirmed, and which has ever since remained as the designation of the Northeastern States of the republic. In the month of November the ships re 1614 new England Smith turned to Plymouth, taking with them many substantial proofs of a successful voyage. Smith now pleaded more strongly than ever in behalf of colonization. Some of his friends in the Plymouth Company gave him aid, and 1415 in 1615 a small colony of sixteen persons was sent out in a single ship. When nearing the American coast, they encountered a terrible storm, and after being driven about for two or three weeks were obliged to return to England. In spite of these reverses, the undaunted leader renewed the enterprise, and again raised a company of emigrants. Part of his crew became mutinous, betrayed him, and left him in mid-ocean. His own ship was run down and captured by a band of French pirates, and himself imprisoned in the harbor of Rochelle. Later in the same year he escaped in an open boat and made his way back to London. With astonishing industry, he now published a description of New England, and was more zealous than ever in inciting the company of Plymouth to energetic action. In these efforts he was much impeded. The London Company was jealous of its rival, and put obstacles in the way of every enterprise. The whole of the years 1617-18 was spent in making and unmaking plans of colonization, until finally, on the petition of some of its own leading members, the Plymouth Company was formally superseded by a new corporation called the COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH, consisting of forty of the most wealthy and influential men of the kingdom. On this body were conferred, by the terms of the new charter, almost unlimited powers and privileges. All that part of America lying between the fortieth and the forty-eighth parallels of north latitude, and extending from ocean to ocean, was given to the council in fee simple. More than a million of square miles were embraced in the grant, and absolute jurisdiction over this immense tract was committed to forty men. How King James was ever induced to sign such a charter has remained an unsolved mystery. 1617-18 Council A plan of colonizing was now projected on a grand scale. John Smith was appointed admiral of New England for life. The king, notwithstanding the opposition of the House of Commons, issued a proclamation enforcing the provisions of the charter, and everything gave promise of the early settlement of America. Such were the schemes of The men to possess and people the Western Continent. Meanwhile, a Power Puritan higher than the will of man was working in the same direction. The time had come when, without the knowledge or consent of James I., without the knowledge or consent of the Council of Plymouth, a permanent settlement should be made on the bleak shores of New England. The PURITANS! Name of all names in the early history of the |