Beginnings of Self-Government

London and Plymouth Colonies.

Of the chartered Col onies there were two varieties—proprietary provinces and cor porate Colonies. Though alike in the fact that the patentees who founded them were mesne tenants of the Crown, they were quite unlike in their internal organization and to a considerable extent also in the character of the people who inhabited them. The proprietary province was a development from the principle of the fief, though with many variations. The early charters of discovery, those for example which were granted to John and Sebastian Cabot and to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, contemplated the founding of feudal principalities in the New World. The grant to Sir Walter Raleigh, which resulted in the abortive colonial experiment at Roanoke, was of the same character. At the period of transition from the rule of the Tudors to that of the Stuarts, trading companies and companies for colonization were increas ing in number and importance. The joint companies which were chartered by James I. in 16o6, one to have its residence at Lon don and the other at Plymouth, were of this character. They were granted the right to colonize, the one in northern and the other in southern "Virginia"; the intervening territory, three degrees in breadth, being left common to the two. The rights of the companies were confined to settlement and trade. The Ply mouth patentees achieved no permanent result ; but those of Lon don founded Jamestown (1607) and other settlements along the James river, which later became the province of Virginia.

But before this result bad been reached the London patentees had secured in succession two new charters, one in 1609 and an other in 1612. By means of these grants they had practically separated from the Plymouth company, had secured a conces sion of territory 400m. broad and extending through the con tinent, and had been able to perfect the organization of their company. By the grant of 16o6 the right to govern the Colonies had been reserved to councils of royal appointees, but by their later charters the London patentees were fully incorporated, and in connection therewith received not only the power to grant land but rights of government as well. This made the Virginia Company of London the proprietor of the province which it was founding. It now appointed resident governors, councillors and other officials and instructed and controlled them in all ways, subject of course to the general supervision of the King in coun cil. Under the charter of 16o6, in order to facilitate colonization on a strange continent, joint management of land and trade was temporarily instituted. But under the fully organized company this system was abandoned, and private property in land and the control of trade through private "magazines" were estab lished. A number of distinct plantations and settlements were founded. From these localities, in 1619, under authority from the company, representatives were elected who met with the governor and council at Jamestown and formed the first colonial assembly held on American soil. Its acts were duly submitted

to the company in London for its approval or disapproval. Other assemblies were called, the tobacco industry was established and the principles upon which traffic in that staple was to be con ducted with Europe were announced. Thus Virginia assumed the form of a proprietary province, with an English trading company as its proprietor.

New England Council.—Meantime west of England men had been making fishing voyages and voyages of discovery to northern "Virginia," which now was coming to be known as New England. In 162o a new charter was procured, the reorganized company being known, in brief, as the New England Council. Like the London patentees, this body was now fully incorpo rated and received a grant of the vast territory between 4o° and N. lat. and extending through to the South Sea (Pacific). Full rights of government, as well as of trade and settlement, were also bestowed. The moving spirit in this revived enterprise was Sir Ferdinando Gorges (q.v.), an Anglican and royalist from the west of England. For a time John Mason (q.v.) was his most active coadjutor. Such backing as the company received came from nobles and courtiers, and it had the sympathy of the court. But lack of resources and of active interest on the part of most of the patentees, together with the development of a Puritan interest in New England, led to the failure of this enter prise. No Colony was established directly by the council itself, but that part of its vast territory which lay adjacent to the coast was parcelled out among the patentees and by them a few weak and struggling settlements were founded. They were all pro prietary in character. But, as events proved, Plymouth Colony (founded in 162o), which was Puritan and Separatist to the core, became a patentee of the New England council ; and the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (founded 1628-30), which was to become the citadel of Puritanism in America, procured the original title to its soil from the same source. At the outset both Massa chusetts and Plymouth must be classed as proprietary settle ments, though far different from such in spirit and destiny. Massachusetts soon (in 1629) secured a royal charter for its territory between the Merrimac and Charles rivers, and thus took a long step towards independence of the council. At the same time the Plymouth settlers were throwing aside the sys tem of joint management of land which, as in the case of Vir ginia, had been imposed upon them by adventurers who had lent money for the enterprise ; were paying their debts to these same adventurers; and were establishing a system of self-government similar to that of Massachusetts. Thus a strong Puritan inter est grew up in the midst of the domain granted to the New Eng land council, and in connection therewith the type of colony to which we have given the name corporate came into existence.