Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/170

142 bear this Appellation) under a Jurisdiction imposed upon them by the Conqueror; Colonies are formed of national People v. g. British in the British Colonies, transported to form a Settlement in a foreign or remote Country.

The first Settlers of our Colonies, were formed from various Sorts of People, 1. Laudably ambitious Adventurers. 2. The Malecontents, the Unfortunate, the Necessitous from Home. 3. Transported Criminals. The present Proportion of these Ingredients in the several Plantations varies much, for Reasons which shall be mentioned in the particular Sections of Colonies, and does depend much upon the Condition of the first Settlers : Some were peopled by Rebel Tories, some by Rebel Whigs (that Principle which at one Time is called Royalty, at another Time is called Rebellion) some by Church of England-Men, some by Congregationalisms or Independents, some by Quakers, some by Papists (Maryland and Monserrat) the most unfit People to incorporate with our Constitution.

Colonies have an incidental good Effect, they drain from the Mother-Country the Disaffected and the Vicious (in this same Manner, subsequent Colonies purge the more ancient Colonies) ; Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, drained from Massachusetts-Bay, the Antinomians, Quakers, and other wild Sectaries. Perhaps in after Times (as it is at Times with the Lord Lieutenants and other high Officers in Ireland) some Malecontents of Figure, capable of being troublesome to the Administration at Home, may be sent in some great Offices to the Plantations.

In our Colonies we have four Sorts of People. 1. Masters that is Planters and Merchants. 2. White Servants. 3. Indian Servants. 4. Slaves for Life, mostly Negroes. White Servants are of two Sorts, viz. Poor People from Great-Britain, and Ireland mostly, these are bound or sold, as some express it, for a certain Number of Years, to reimburse the transporting Charges, with some additional Profit ; the others are Criminals judicially transported, and their Time of Exile and Servitude sold by certain Undertakers and their Agents.

In our American Settlements, generally the Designations are, Province, where the King appoints a Governor ; Colony, where the Freemen elect their own Governor : This customary Acceptation is not universal ; Virginia is called a Colony, perhaps because formerly a Colony, and the most ancient. We have some Settlements with a Governor only ; others with