in the American seas, pretending, under Alexander's bull, to the exclusive right of navigating them.

Robert, earl of Warwick, having the last year received a patent from the council of Plymouth, of all that part of New-England, which extends from Narraganset river one hundred and twenty miles, on a strait line, near the shore, towards the south-east, from sea to sea, now made it over to William viscount Say and Seal, Robert, lord Brook, and their associates. This is the original patent for Connecticut.

In the month of May, the king granted a license, under his sign manual, to William Claiborne, "to traffic in those parts of America, for which there was already no patent granted for the sole trade." Claiborne and his associates, with the intention of monopolizing the trade of the Chesapeake, planted a small colony on the island of Kent.

By the treaty of St. Germain, in the following year, Charles I. resigned the right which he had claimed to New-France, Acadia and Canada, as the property England, to Louis XIII. king of France.

of

Sir Thomas Warner, governor of St. Christopher, established a small colony on the island of Montserrat. Antigua was settled at the same time.

George lord Baltimore, sickened by the severity of the climate, and barrenness of the soil, in his province of Avalon, having visited that of Virginia, was much pleased with the mildness of the weather and the fertility of the land, and observing that the settlements in the latter province did not extend behind the river Potomac, on his return, solicited a grant, but before the patent could be prepared and pass the seals, he died, on

the 16th of April. On the 20th of June following, his eldest son Cecilius Calvert lord Baltimore, received a grant of a vast tract of land to the northward of the river Potomac, which was erected into a province, by the name of Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, queen of England, and daughter of Henry IV. of France; this included the island of Kent, of which we have seen William Clayborne had possessed himself the preceding

year.

This grant gave umbrage to the Virginians; in a petition to the king, they remonstrated against "some grants of a great portion of the lands of the colony, so near their habitations, as will be a general disheartening to them, if they shall be divided into several govern. ments." Clayborne lay claim to his island, and declared his intention to disown the jurisdiction of Maryland, countenanced by the Virginians, whose jealousy of the new grantee was extended to the members of the religion he professed; the legislature passed severe laws against sectaries of all denominations: this was an inconsiderate act; it occasioned the flight of some of the planters to other colonies, and prevented the arrival of others who intended to remove to Virginia.

This year was built the first house in Connecticut. Lord Baltimore sent over his brother, George Calvert, with about two hundred Roman Catholics; they sailed from England in the month of November, and arrived in the Chesapeake in the following year; proceeding to the Potomac, he passed by the Indian town of that name, and went to Piscataway, where by presents to the head men, he conciliated their friendship to such a degree, that they offered to sell one part of the town to him, and to live in the other, till they could gather their 13

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harvest, when they would resign the whole to the English. Calvert, thus obtaining possession of the town, gave it the name of St. Mary's.

The king now gave a special commission to the archbishop and eleven other persons, for governing the American colonies, and an order was given to the lords commissioners of the cinque ports and other sea ports, to stop the promiscuous and disorderly departure of the king's subjects to America, and the sending of a governor-general thither was spoken of.

As soon as information of this reached Boston, there was a general meeting of as many of the colonists, as eould be called together, and the clergy were wished to attend it, and give their advice; all the ministers appeared, except one, and the meeting came to an unanimous resolution, that if such a governor were sent, he ought not to be received, but the people should, if able, defend their lawful rights, otherwise temporise.

In the summer, the council of Plymouth surrendered its charter to the king, that instrument being complained of in parliament, who construed it as a monopoly: and soon after, a quo warranto was brought against the governor, deputy governor and assistants of the corporation of Massachusetts, on which a judgment was soon obtained against them. Preparations were made for sending over a governor-general, but a large ship, which was built for that purpose, fell asunder in the launching, and the scheme was abandoned.

In the fall, the patentees of Connecticut sent over John Winslow, as the first governor of that colony; the Dutch of New Netherlands opposed his taking possession of his government, but he prevented them, and

built a fort at the entrance of Connecticut river, which he called Saybrook.

The French this year made their first establishment at Cayenne, in the West Indies, under Monsieur de Bouligny.

In the following year, the settlement of Providence was began, under the auspices of Roger Williams, a minister, who had been driven away from Massachusetts; and John Wheelright, another minister from the same colony, who was ordered by the general court to remove out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on a charge of sedition and contempt of authority, began a plantation at Rhode Island.

Although the people in Virginia, at a great distance from the throne, and ever awed by the authority derived from a royal commission, submitted for a considerable time to governor Harvey's exactions and tyranny, their patience was at length exhausted; roused almost to madness, they seized and sent Sir John a prisoner to England.

The king found the mode, adopted by his subjects, in Virginia, to redress their own grievances, quite repug. nant to his idea of the passive obedience due to a monarch; he considered it as an encroachment on his rights, and a daring act of rebellion; he refused to admit to his presence two colonists, who had come over with the governor, in order to lay the complaints of their countrymen at the foot of the throne, and far from hearkening to their solicitations, he renewed the powers of Sir John, and commanded him to return immediately to Jamestown.

Charles did not, however, persist long in the determination of disregarding the remonstrances of the colonists;

either affected by their distress, or conscious of the dan ger he ran in provoking them, to assert their rights by violence, he despatched, in the following year, Sir John Berk ey, to supersede governor Harvey.

The new administrator, on meeting the colonists, imparted to them the orders he had received, to rule the country, according to the laws of England, and he soon after directed an election of burgesses, to meet him and the council in a general assembly.

In the month of April, the king issued a proclamation, to restrain the transportation of his subjects to America. it forbade the granting of any license for that purpose, unless the applicant produced a certificate of his having taken the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and conformed to the discipline of the church of England; and an ordinance was issued, forbidding all persons to entertain any stranger that should arrive in the colonies, with intention to reside, or allow him an habitation, without liberty from the standing council.

The plan of uniting the government of the American colonies, under one officer, was revived, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges was appointed governor-general, but it does not appear that he ever acted under his commission.

Governor Berkley had it in strict charge, to require from every vessel sailing from Virginia, a bond with surety, for the landing of her cargo in some part of the king's European dominions.

Monsieur d'Ernambuc, the founder of the French colony in the island of St. Christophers, brought from that island one hundred soldiers, to Martinico; he built a fort, which he called St. Peters', and began the settle. ment of that island.