12. Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. viii, p. 190.
13. Cited by Alexander Brown, Genesis of the United States (Boston, 1890), pp. 9 f. The original source is not indicated.
14. It is given in Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. viii, pp. 17-23.
15. W. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (Cambridge, 1892), vol. ii, pp. 31-33.
16. M. J. Bonn, Die Englische Kolonisation in Irland (Stuttgart, 1906), vol. i, pp. 265-373.
17. Brown, Genesis, p. 860.
18. Hakluyt, Voyages, vols. vii, p. 144, and iii, p. 89.
19. Ibid., vol. ii, p. 108; cf. also the earlier charter of Richard II (1391), cited by C. T. Carr, Select Charters of Trading Companies (Selden Society, London, 1913), pp. xi ff.
20. Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. viii, p. 20. Professor H. L. Osgood states that “by the realm was usually meant England, Wales, and Berwick on Tweed.” The American Colonies in the 17th Century (New York, 1907), vol. iii, p. 6. In Gilbert’s charter, the words “realmes of England and Ireland” are used. Scotland, of course, was a separate realm.
21. Brown, Genesis, p. 20.
22. Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. viii, p. 157.
23. S. Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes (ed. Glasgow, 1905), vol. XVIII, p. 302.
24. The clandestine nature of the voyage is proved by B. F. de Costa, “Gosnold and Pring,” in N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, 1878, vol. XXXII, pp. 76-80.
25. Purchas, Pilgrimes, vol. XVIII, pp. 322-28.
26. “We found the land a place answerable to the intent of our discovery, viz. fit for any nation to inhabit.” “Rosier’s Relation,” in Burrage, Early English and French Voyages (New York, 1906), p. 371. Sir F. Gorges, “A Briefe Narration of the Originall Undertakings, etc., 1658,” in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Series III, vol. vi, p. 50.
27. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1574-1660, p. 695 (hereafter cited as Cal. State Pap., Col.); J. P. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine (Prince Society, Boston, 1890), vol. i, p. 65.
28. The river was formerly thought to be the Kennebec. Cf. Burrage, Early Voyages. In Burrage’s edition of Rosier’s Relation (Gorges Society, Portland, 1887), there is an exhaustive survey of the literature.
29. H. S. Burrage, Beginnings of Colonial Maine (Portland, 1914), p. 32.
30. Marc Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France; Paris, 1609.
31. Ellis, The Red Man, p. 242; J. Winsor, “The Rival Claimants for North America,” American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, 1894, pp. 415-17.
CHAPTER III
THE RACE FOR EMPIRE
During the period upon which our story now enters, all of North America was claimed by the three contestants for empire—Spain, England, and France. The claims of the first covered the entire western world beyond the line established by the treaty of Tordesillas; while those of he other two are indicated, at least as to their minimum extent, by the patents granted. Adrian Gilbert, in his application to Queen Elizabeth, had asked leave to “inhabit and enjoy” all places discovered between the equator and the North Pole;1 and although these limits are nowhere given in any single charter, those granted to various companies show English claims extending from at least 10° to 52° North Latitude, or from Panama to Labrador.2 Following the difficulties of colonizing in Maine and Nova Scotia, mentioned in the last chapter, the French King granted to Madame de Guercheville all of the continent from Florida to the St. Lawrence, thus overlapping the Spanish and English claims.3
The title to newly acquired lands, originally deriving validity from Papal sanction, even in the eyes of Englishmen, had gradually come to rest upon the right of discovery.4 This theory was based upon the principle of Roman Law that the finder could appropriate what belonged to no one. A heathen was considered as nullus, hence his property had no owner, and American soil could be appropriated by whoever first found it. Although it was agreed by all that discovery must be consummated by possession and use, there were two very difficult questions, as to which the law was silent, in connection with the new situations now arising. One of these was the length of time which might elapse between discovery and taking possession, before the claim should become invalid through failure to consummate the discovery; while the other was that of the extent of territory involved by the above acts.5 The claims of the three contestants were preposterous, though no one more so than another, perhaps; and, in the absence of any superior authority, it is difficult to see how the matter could have been settled otherwise than by power of the sword, which thus replaced the Pope as arbiter. At the time we are now considering, it would seem as if, theoretically, England’s claim to any part of the New World were the least valid of the three. Although it was necessarily based solely on the voyage of Cabot, she had made no effort to colonize for nearly ninety years, and as yet had failed to do so successfully. To the south, Spanish titles were, in part, unassailable;6 while in the north, French claims were being made good by the struggling colony at Port Royal, and by scattered traders in furs.
The treaty of peace with Spain, in 1604, which followed almost automatically upon the accession of James to the English throne, changed the situation in important respects with reference to the success of English colonization. Privateering, which, in spite of many brilliant exploits, had become “a sordid and prosaic business,” and decreasingly profitable, came to a legal end temporarily under the English flag. It is true that certain of the larger venturers in the trade merely flew the Dutch flag instead, and continued their depredations; but the calling no longer offered its former opportunities, either for restless spirits or for the employment of capital. The more legitimate commerce with the Spanish possessions, such as the import of salt from Venezuela, which had grown to large proportions during the war, was also ended by the terms of the treaty, which completely surrendered English rights of trade with the Indies.7
Meanwhile, the amount of capital seeking investment had become large, and owing to the enormous increase of bullion,