man, to be cultivated for his own private benefit. This regulation gave a powerful impulse to industry. Larger assignments were made, and soon the community system was abandoned, and industry on private account created an ample supply of food for all.1

A third charter was obtained by the London Company, on the 22d of March, 1612, by which the control of the king was annulled. The Supreme Council was abolished, and the whole company, sitting as a democratic assembly, elected the officers, and ordained the laws, for the colony. Yet no political privilege was granted to the settlers. Their very existence as a body politic, was completely ignored. They had no voice in the choice of rulers and the enactment of laws. Yet they were contented; and at the beginning of 1613 there were a thousand Englishmen in Virginia. At about this time an event occurred, which proved of permanent benefit to the settlement. Powhatan had continued to manifest hostile feelings ever since the departure of Smith. For the purpose of extorting advantageous terms of peace from the Indian king, Captain Argall (a sort of buccaneer), bribed an Indian chief, with a copper kettle, to betray the trusting Pocahontas into his hands. She was induced to go on board his vessel, where she was detained as a prisoner for several months, until Powhatan ransomed her. In the mean while, a mutual attachment had grown up between the maiden and John Rolfe, a young Englishman of good family. He had instructed her in letters and religion: and, with the consent of Powhatan, she received the rite of Christian baptism, and became the wife of Rolfe, in April, 1613. This union brought peace, and Powhatan was ever afterward the friend of the English.

Prosperity now smiled upon the settlement, yet the elements of a permanent State were wanting. There were no families in Virginia, and all the settlers indulged in anticipations of returning to England, which they regarded as home. Gates went thither in March, 1614, leaving the administration of government with Sir Thomas Dale, who ruled with wisdom and energy for about two years, and then departed, after appointing George Yeardley deputygovernor. During Yeardley's administration, the culture of the tobacco plant' was promoted, and so rapidly did it gain in favor, that it soon became, not only the principal article of export, but the currency of the colony. And now [1617] Argall, the buccaneer, was appointed deputy-governor. He was a despot in feelings and practice, and soon disgusted the people. He was succeeded by Yeardley, who was appointed governor in 1619; and then dawned the natal morning of Virginia as a Republican State. Yeardley abolished martial law,

1

1 A similar result was seen in the operations of the Plymouth colony. See page 116. 2 Note 7, page 58.

3 This plant, yet very extensively cultivated in Virginia and the adjoining States, was first discovered by Sir Francis Drake, near Tabaco, in Yucatan: hence its name. Drake and Raleigh first introduced it into England. King James conceived a great hatred of it, and wrote a treatise against its use. He forbade its cultivation in England, but could not prevent its importation from Virginia. It became a very profitable article of commerce, and the streets of Jamestown were planted with it. Other agricultural productions were neglected, and while cargoes of tobacco were preparing for England, the necessaries of life were wanting. The money value of tobacco was about sixty-six cents a pound.

2

released the planters from feudal service to the colony,' and established representative government. The settlement was divided into eleven boroughs, and two representatives, called burgesses, were chosen by the people for each. These, with the governor and council, constituted the colonial government. The burgesses were allowed to debate all matters pertaining to the good of the colony; but their enactments were not legal until sanctioned by the company in England. The most important event of that year occurred on the 28th of June. On that day, the first representative assembly ever convened in America, met at Jamestown. Then and there, the foundations of the VIRGINIA commonwealth were laid. The people now began to regard Virginia as their home, and "fell to building houses and planting corn. Within two years afterward, one hundred and fifty reputable young women were sent over to become wives to the planters, the tribe of gold-seekers and "gentlemen” was extinct, for "it was not the will of God that the new State should be formed of such material; that such men should be the fathers of a progeny born on the American soil, who were one day to assert American liberty by their eloquence, and defend it by their valor." *

3

4

CHAPTER II.

NEW YORK [1609–1623].

5

IN a preceding chapter, we have considered the discovery and exploration of the river, bearing his name, by Henry Hudson, then in the service of the Dutch East India Company. On his return to England [Nov. 1609], he forwarded to his employers in Amsterdam," a brilliant account of his discoveries in America. Jealous of the maritime enterprise and growing power of the Dutch, the British king would not allow Hudson to go to Holland, fearing he might be employed in making further discoveries, or in planting settlements in America. This narrow and selfish policy of James was of no avail, for the ocean pathway to new and fertile regions, once opened, could easily be traversed by inferior navigators. This fact was soon demonstrated. In 1610, some wealthy merchants of Amsterdam, directors of the Dutch East India Company,7 sent a ship from the Texel, laden with merchandise, to traffic with the Indians upon the Mauritius, as the present Hudson River was then called. Hudson's ship (the Half-Moon3) was also sent hither the same year on a like errand; and for three

8

1 Page 68.

2 Yeardley found the people possessed with an intense desire for that freedom which the English constitution gave to every subject of the realm, and it was impossible to reconcile that feeling with the exercise of the arbitrary power which had hitherto prevailed. IIe, therefore, formed a plan for a popular assembly as similar to the English parliament as circumstances would allow. 3 Page 105. 4 Bancroft. 5 Page 59.

6 Page 59.

7 Note 5, page 59.

8 So named, in honor of Prince Maurice, of Nassau.

9 Page 59.

years afterward, private enterprise dispatched many vessels from Holland, to traffic for furs and peltries. Among other commanders came the bold Adrian Block, the first navigator of the dangerous strait in the East River, called Hell-Gate. Block's vessel was accidentally burned in the autumn of 1613. when he and his companions erected some rude huts for shelter, near the site of the Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway, New York. These huts formed the germ of our great commercial metropolis. During the ensuing winter they constructed a vessel from the fine timber which grew upon Manhattan Island, and early in the spring they sailed up Long Island Sound on a voyage of discovery which extended to Nahant. Block first discovered the Connecticut and Thames Rivers, and penetrated Narraganset Bay to the site of Providence.

Intent upon gain, Dutch trading vessels now frequently ascended the Mauritius, and a brisk trade in furs and peltries was opened with the Indian tribes, almost two hundred miles from the ocean. The traders built a fort and storehouse upon a little island just below Albany, in 1614, which they called Fort Nassau; and nine years later, Fort Orange was erected near the river, a little. south of the foot of the present State-street, in Albany, on the site of Albany. There is a doubt about a fort being erected on the southern extremity of Manhattan Island, at this time, as some chroniclers have asserted. It is probable the trading-house erected there was palisaded, as a precautionary measure, for they could not well determine the disposition of the Indians.

1

2

On the 11th of October, 1614, a special charter was granted to a company of Amsterdam merchants, giving them the monopoly of trade in the New World, from the latitude of Cape May to that of Nova Scotia, for three years. The territory was named NEW NETHERLAND, in the charter, which title it held until it became an English province in 1664. Notwithstanding it was included in the grant of James to the Plymouth company, no territorial jurisdiction being claimed, and no English settlements having been made northward of Richmond, in Virginia, the Dutch were not disturbed in their traffic. The popular story, that Argall entered the Bay of New York on his return from Acadie in 1613, and made the Dutch traders promptly surrender the place to the English crown, seems unsusceptible of proof.

3

Success attended the Dutch from the beginning. The trade in furs and peltries became very lucrative, and the company made an unsuccessful application for a renewal of their charter. More extensive operations were in contemplation; and on the 3d of June, 1621, the States General of Holland' incorporated the Dutch West India Company, and invested it with almost regal powers, for planting settlements in America from Cape Horn to Newfoundland; and in Africa, between the Cape of Good Hope and the Tropic of Cancer, The special object of its enterprise was New Netherland, and especially the region of the Mauritius." The company was not completely organized

1 Page 144.

2 Page 63.

3 See Brodhead's "History of the State of New York," Appendix E, where the matter is discussed at some length. 4 Note 7, page 59. 5 Page 71.

until the spring of 1623, when it commenced operations with vigor. Its first efforts were to plant a permanent colony, and thus establish a plausible pretext for territorial jurisdiction, for now the English had built rude cabins on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. In April, 1623, thirty families, chiefly Walloons (French Protestants who had fled to Holland), arrived at Manhattan, under the charge of Cornelius Jacobsen May, who was sent to reside in New Netherland, as first director, or governor. Eight of the families went up the Mauritius or Hudson River, and settled at Albany; the remainder chose their place of abode across the channel of the East River, and settled upon lands now covcred by the eastern portions of Brooklyn, and the Navy Yard.2 Then were planted the fruitful seeds of a Dutch colony-then were laid the foundations of the future com

3

ERLAND.

monwealth of NEW YORK. The territory was erected into SEAL OF NEW NETHa province and the armorial distinction of a count was granted.*

CHAPTER III.

MASSACHUSETTS [1606-1020].

SOON after obtaining their charter, in 1606, the PLYMOUTH COMPANY' dispatched an agent in a small vessel, with two captive Indians, to examine North Virginia. This vessel was captured by a Spanish cruiser. Another vessel, fitted out at the sole expense of Sir John Popham, and commanded by Martin Pring, was sent, and reached America. Pring confirmed the accounts. of Gosnold and others, concerning the beauty and fertility of the New England region. The following year [1607], George Popham' came, with one hundred immigrants, and landing at the mouth of the Sagadahoc or Kennebec [August 21], they erected there a small stockade, a storehouse, and a few huts. All but forty-five returned to England in the vessels; those remained, and named their settlement St. George. A terrible winter ensued. Fire consumed their store-house and some of their provisions, and the keen frosts and deep snows

1

Page 78.

2 The first white child born in New Netherland was Sarah Rapelje, daughter of one of the Walloon settlers. Her birth occurred on the 7th of June, 1625. She has a number of descendants on Long Island. 3 Page 144.

4 Several hundred years ago, there were large districts of country in England, and on the continent, governed by Earls, who were subject to the crown, however. These districts were called counties, and the name is still retained, even in the United States, and indicates certain judicial and other jurisdiction. New Netherland was constituted a county of Holland, having all the individual privileges appertaining to an earldom, or separate government. The armorial distinction of an earl, or count, was a kind of cap, called coronet, seen over the shield in the above engraved representation of the seal of New Netherland. The figure of a beaver, on the shield, is emblematic of the Hudson River regions (where that animal then abounded), and of one of the grand objects of settlement there, the trade in furs. 7 Note 2, page 63.

5

Page 63.

6

Page 58.

locked the waters and the forests against the fisherman and hunter. Famine menaced them, but relief came before any were made victims. Of all the company, only Popham, their president, died. Lacking courage to brave the perils of the wilderness, the settlement was abandoned, and the immigrants went back to England [1608] at the very time when the Frenchmen, who were to build Quebec,' were upon the ocean. Traffic with the Indian tribes was continued, but settlements were not again attempted for several years."

Only the coast of the extensive country was seen by the several navigators who visited it. The vast interior, now called NEW ENGLAND, was an unknown land, until Captain John Smith, with the mind of a philosopher and the courage of a hero, came, in 1614, and explored, not only the shores but the rivers which penetrated the wilderness. Only himself and four London merchants had an interest in the expedition, which proved highly successful, not only in discoveries, but in trade. With only eight men, Smith examined the region between Cape Cod and the Penobscot, constructed a map of the country, and after an absence of less than seven months, he returned to England, and laid a report before Prince Charles (afterward the unfortunate king who lost his head), the heir apparent to the throne. The prince, delighted with the whole account, confirmed the title which Smith had given to the territory delineated on the map, and it was named NEW ENGLAND. Crime, as usual, dimmed the luster of the discovery. Hunt, commander of one of the vessels of the expedition, kidnapped twenty-seven of the Indians, with Squanto," their chief, as soon as Smith had departed, took them to Spain and sold some of them into slavery.* And now, at various points from Florida to Newfoundland, men-stealers of different nations, had planted the seeds of hatred and distrust, whose fruits, in after years were wars, and complicated troubles.

5

At the close of 1614, the Plymouth company employed Smith to make further explorations in America and to plant a colony. He sailed in the spring of 1615, but was driven back by a tempest. He sailed again on the 4th of July following. His crew became mutinous, and finally his vessel was captured by a French pirate, and they were all taken to France. Smith escaped to England, in an open boat, and arousing the sluggish energies of the Plymouth company and others, they planned vast schemes of colonization, and he was made admiral for life. Eager for gains, some of the members, joining with others, applied for a new charter. It was withheld for a long time. Finally, the king granted a charter [November 3, 1620] to forty of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the realm, who assumed the corporate title of THE COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH, and superseded the original PLYMOUTH COMPANY." The vast domain of more than a million of square miles, lying between the fortieth and forty-eighth degree of north latitude, and westward to the South Sea,"

1 Page 49.

2 The celebrated Lord Bacon, and others, fitted out an expedition to Newfoundland in 1610, but it was unsuccessful. Page 114.

3

4 When some benevolent friars heard of Hunt's intentions, they took all of the Indians not yet sold, to instruct them as missionaries. Among them was Squanto.

5 See pages 42 and 49.

6 Page 63.

7 Page 42.