1621. Glebe lands. The Virginia company having ordered a hundred acres of land in each of the boroughs to be laid off for a glebe, and £200 sterling to be raised, as a standing and certain revenue, out of the profits out of each parish, to make a living; this stiMinister's pend was thus settled : That the minister shall receive yearly 1500 hundred pounds of tobacco, and 16 barrels of corn; which were collectively estimated at £200 sterling. There were at this time five ministers only in the colony.2 stipend. Parliamen tary acts respecting tobacco. Ill effects of them. The English parliament resolved, "that all foreign tobacco shall be barred; but that of Virginia, or any of the king's dominions, shall not be held foreign." A bill, for the restraint of the inordinate use of tobacco, was soon after brought in, which, after various amendments, passed in May. Its requisitions are very remarkable. No tobacco was to be imported after the first of October, 1621, but from Virginia and the Somer isles; and, after that day, none was to be planted in England. There was to be paid to the king, for custom, six pence a pound, in consideration of the loss, which he might sustain in his revenue. None was to be sold by the merchant for more than eight shillings, and by the retailer none for more than ten shillings, the pound; but they, who should sell tobacco by the pipe, might make the most they could. This is the first instance, which occurs, of the modern policy of promoting the importation of the colonies, in preference to the productions of foreign nations.3 The measures of king James embarrassed not the company only, but the plantation. Individuals who had suffered extremely from the irregularity of his conduct, and from these exclusive regulations, applied to parliament for redress. During the debate on the subject, two planters of Virginia complained of the irregularities of the farmers of the revenue. A committee was appointed, "to examine this business, and to consider in what manner to relieve them, with power to send for the patentees, and to see the patents; " yet no relief was obtained. The treasurer and company of Virginia addressed another petition to king James; but, obtaining nothing, they sought a more effectual remedy of their evils. They procured warehouses, and appointed factors, at Middleburgh and Flushing, and compounded with the magistrates of those towns at the rate of a penny a pound on the import, and the same on the export of their only merchandize. King James soon felt the ill effects of his own mistaken policy. No Virginian products were exported to England this year; all were sent to Holland. The defalcation of the revenue, which was the immediate effect, occasioned an order in October, that 1 Stith, 173. 2 Chalmers, b. 1. 50. 3 Chalmers, b. 1. 51, 70-74, 111. See NOTE XXIII. BRITISH COLONIES. no tobacco, or other productions of the colonies, should thence- 1621. forth be carried into foreign parts, until they were first landed in England, and the custom paid. This order, however, was either disregarded or eluded; for tobacco was still sent from Virginia, and even from the Somer Isles to Holland.1 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, intrusted with the principal direction of the affairs of the Plymouth company, reflecting on the prodigious extent of the region to be planted, and on the little progress of colonization, conceived the design of persuading the Scotch nation to form a settlement within the limits of New England. Easily procuring the consent of the company, and the approbation of Sir William Alexander of Menstry, a person of considerable influence, he prosecuted that enterprise; and Sept. 10. king James gave Alexander a patent of the whole territory of Nova ScoAcadie, by the name of Nova Scotia.2 It was erected into a tia to Sir palatinate, to be holden as a fief of the crown of Scotland; and the proprietary was invested with the accustomed regal power, belonging to a count palatine. An unsuccessful attempt was soon after made to effect a settlement of the territory; and the French continued their occupancy.3 Patent of W. Alexan der. son. John Mason procured from the council of Plymouth a grant Grant to of all the land from the river of Naumkeag round Cape Ann to John Mathe river Merrimack; and up each of those rivers to the farthest head of them; then to cross over from the head of the one to the head of the other; with all the islands lying within three This district was called Mariana.4 miles of the coast. The West India Company of Holland was now established by a charter from the States General, investing it with an exclusive 1 Chalmers, b. 1. 51, 52. Robertson, book 9. 2 It was bounded on the north, east, and south, by the river St. Lawrence and the ocean; and on the west by the river St. Croix. See the charter, in Latin, in Hazard, i. 134-145, from Mem. de l'Amerique. Chalmers, b. 1. 91, 92. It was given under the great seal of Scotland; yet, as Chalmers remarks, "it would probably have embarrassed the wisest civilian of that kingdom to discover by what right the king of Scotland conveyed that extensive dominion." 3 Chalmers, b. 1.91. Belknap, Biog. ii. 55. Purchas, v. 1871, 1873. Sir William the next year sent a ship with a colony "of purpose to plant;" but the season was so late, that they were obliged to stay through the winter at Newfoundland. Another ship with provisions was sent the next year (1623); yet, "by reason of some unexpected occasions," they resolved not to plant then, but merely to discover and take possession. Sailing from Newfoundland, they coasted along the shore of Nova Scotia, and on Port Joli river found a fit place for a plantation. Returning to Newfoundland in July, they left their ship there, Both these writers and took passage for England, with the intention of resuming the enterprise of planting a colony the next year. Purchas, ibid. Laet, 62. stop here, in their accounts of Nova Scotia, excepting Laet's mention of the change 1622. trade to the western coast of Africa, and to the eastern shores of America from Newfoundland to the straits of Magellan.1 Holland W. India Historians have affirmed, that the States General, this year, made a grant of the country of New Netherlands to the West N. Nether India company; but the English deny, that they had power to grant what had been given to the Plymouth company two years before, by the king of England.2 lands. Part of land grant- Baltimore. The Narra gansets threaten war. Sir George Calvert, a Roman Catholic, having obtained from the king of England a grant of part of Newfoundland, that he might enjoy, in this retreat, that freedom of conscience which was denied him in his own country, sent Edward Wynne with a small colony to that island, to make preparation for his reception. The proprietor, now created lord Baltimore, was so delighted with the account which he received of the flourishing state of the colony, that he afterward removed to it with his family; built a house, and a strong fort, at Ferryland; and resided on the island many years.3 1622. THE Narraganset Indians, conscious of their power,4 aspired at an extension of empire on the ruins of their neighbours, who 1 De Laet, Jaerlyck Verhaal. Hazard, Coll. i. 120-131., where there is a translation of this charter. It is dated" at the Hague on the third day of the month of June, in the year sixteen hundred and twenty one."* Chalmers [b. 1. 569.] says, "The month of June, 1620, is the epoch of the famous West India company of Holland," and refers, for his authorities, to Corps Diplomatique and Leonard; but I follow these original authorities which I have examined. The company was empowered to form colonies, erect "forts, and make alliances, both on the continent and islands of America." Anderson, having said that the company was erected at the expiration of the truce between Spain and Holland, this year [1621], observes, that it "began with two towering projects, both which miscarried in the end, viz. 1. To drive the Portuguese out of Brazil. And, 2. To attack Peru." *—“Graven-Haghe, op den derden dagh der Maendt van Junio, in 't Jaer sesthien-hondert een-en-tvvintich." 2 Smith, N. York, i. 3. Chalmers, b. 1. 569, 570, says, this charter of New Netherlands, given by the States General, though often mentioned by writers, and relied on by governors, has neither been given by them to the world; nor have they informed us where it may be found. Laet asserts the fact, but without adducing any authority. Having mentioned the administration of H. Christiaens, and a subsequent one of J. Elkens, under the auspices of the States General, he adds, that the Hollanders thus held North River several years, until it began to be settled by the West India company under a new and most ample patent from those States :-" atque ita nostri ab anno cIciɔcXIV ad aliquot succedentes tenuerunt: Donec a societate India Occidentalis, novo et amplissimo eorundam præpotentum Dominorum diplomate ipsis concesso, porro ab ipsis hoc flumen adiri et coloniis deductis amplius habitari cœpit." Nov. Orb. 73. See 1614. 3 Univ. Hist. xxxix. 250. Chalmers [b. 1. 201.] says that Calvert established the settlement at Ferryland the next year [1622], and governed it by his depu ty; and that he visited it in person in the beginning of the reign of Charles I. The original English appellation of the territory, ceded to him, was Avalon. 4 Prince [1622] says, they could raise above 5000 fighting men. Gookin, who was his authority, received his information from "ancient Indians ;" and says, "all do agree they were a great people, and oftentimes waged war with the Pawkunnawkutts and Massachusetts, as well as with the Pequots." Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. i. 148. had been wasted by mortal diseases. The English, they foresaw, 1622. might be an obstacle to their ambition; for Masassoit, their own most potent rival, had already taken shelter under their wings. No sooner therefore did Canonicus, the chief sachem of the Narragansets, understand that the people of Plymouth were distressed by the burden of additional settlers, without proportionate means for their support, than he bade defiance to their power. Regardless of the peace, recently concluded, his tribe first offered them repeated menaces; and he next sent to them, as a signal of challenge, a bundle of arrows, tied together with a snake skin. The governor, having taken advice, sent an answer, that if they chose war rather than peace, they might begin when they would; that the English had done them no wrong; nor did they fear them, nor should they find them unprovided. By a different messenger, and in more direct acceptance of the challenge, the snakeskin was sent back, charged with powder and bullets. The Indians, however, refused to receive it. They were even afraid to let it continue in their houses; and it was at length brought back to Plymouth. Although policy dictated this resolute measure, on the part of the English; yet prudence required them to use the means of farther security. They accordingly impaled February. the town and fortified it, and erected in four bulwarks or jetties three Plymouth impaled gates, which were guarded every day, and locked every night. In and fortithe succeeding summer, they built a strong and handsome fort, with fied. a flat roof and battlement, on which cannon were mounted, and a watch kept; it was also used as a place of public worship.2 at Wessa Thomas Weston, a merchant of good reputation in London, Weston's having procured for himself a patent for a tract of land in Mas- settlement sachusetts Bay, sent two ships with 50 or 60 men, at his own gusset. charge, to settle a plantation. Many of these adventurers being sick on their arrival at Plymouth, most of the company remained there during the greater part of the summer, and were treated with hospitality and kindness by the inhabitants. Some of their number, in the meantime, finding a place in the Bay of Massachusetts, named Wessagusset, which they judged convenient for 1 Prince, 1622, from Bradford's History and Winslow's Relation. Hubbard, N. Eng. c. 12. Morton, an. 1621. There is a remarkable coincidence, in the form of this challenge, with that of the challenge given by the Scythian prince to Darius. Five arrows made a part of the present, sent by his herald to the Persian king. Rollin, Anc. Hist. b. 6. s. 4. The manner of declaring war by the Aracaunian Indians of South America was, by sending from town to town an arrow clenched in a dead man's hand: "el modo de declarar guerra es enviar de Pueblo en Pueblo la mano de un disunto empuñada una flecha, que llaman de la convocatoria." Alcedo, Art. CHILE. 2 Prince, 1622, from Bradford and Winslow. Hubbard, N. Eng. c. 12. Mather, Magnal. b. 1. p. 10. Gov. Bradford, referring to the impaling of the town, says, "taking in the top of the hill under which our town is seated." Intelligence of the massacre in Virginia reached Plymouth in May, and was the immediate incitement to the erection of this fort. 1622. settlement, the whole company removed to it, and began a plantation.1 March 22, What had been merely dreaded at Plymouth, was experienced in all its horrors in her sister colony. By a preconcerted conspiracy, the Indians in the neighbourhood of Virginia, on the 22d of March, fell on the English, 347 of whom, unresisting and defenceless, were cruelly massacred. The massacre was conducted with indiscriminate barbarity. No regard was shown to dignity; no gratitude, for benefits. Six of the council were slain, one of whom, Mr. George Thorpe, a very respectable and pious man, who had the principal management of the lands and affairs of the college, had been a distinguished friend and benefactor of the Indians. An exterminating war between the English and the Indians immediately succeeded this massacre. The people, concerned in the care and culture of the college lands, experiencing a great slaughter, those lands were now abandoned; and no public institution was again attempted for the benefit of the natives of Virginia, until benefactions were made by the Honourable Robert Boyle.3 To the horrors of massacre were soon superadded the miseries of famine. Of eighty plantations, which were advancing fast toward completion, eight only remained; and of the numerous settlers, who had been transported to Virginia at a great expense, 1800 only survived these disasters.4 1 Morton, 44. Mather, Magnal. b. 1. 11. Prince, 1619-1622. See A. D. 1624. Weston was one of the merchant adventurers, who, in 1619, sent proposals to Leyden for transporting the English Congregation to America. He appears to have been active in promoting the Plymouth settlement from that time until this year. Why he now withdrew his patronage we are not informed; but by a letter from him, received at this time, addressed to governor Carver, "we find," says governor Bradford, "he has quite deserted us, and is going to settle a Plantation of his own." See Prince, 65, 70, 114, 118. 2 Smith, Virg. 144-149, where are the numbers slain at the several plantations. Purchas, v. 1788-1790. Beverly, 61, 62. Keith, 138. Stith, 211. Nemattanow, a famous Indian warrior, believed by the natives to be invulnerable, was killed by the English in 1621; and Keith [137.] says, it was in revenge of his death, that Opechancanough plotted this massacre. Chalmers [b. 1. 58.] says, "it ought to be observed, that the emigrants, notwithstanding the humane instructions of their sovereign and the prudent orders of the company, had never been solicitous to cultivate the good will of the aborigines; and had neither asked permission when their country was occupied, nor had given a price for invaluable property, which was taken without authority." 3 Stith, 217, 295. Mr. Boyle's donation was annexed to the professorships of William and Mary college, as a sixth professorship, for the instruction of the Indians and their conversion to Christianity. Jefferson, Virg. Query xv. 4 Purchas, b. 9. c. 15. Chalmers, b. 1. 59. In the year 1620 there were about 2260 inhabitants in Virginia. [See that year.] In 1621, governor Wyat brought over nearly 700, which addition makes 2960. Deduct from this number 347 for the loss in the massacre, and the remainder is 2613. If, as Purchas leads us to believe, there were but 1800 left after the massacre and famine, upwards of 800 are still unaccounted for. The natural deaths in the colony since 1620 may partly account for this deficiency; but some accessions to it have probably been omitted, which might counterbalance that loss. It is indeed expressly said in Purchas, that "in the yeeres 1619, 1620, and 1621, there hath |