Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/55

] might plant anywhere between the thirty-eighth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, or between Delaware Bay and Halifax; but neither company were to begin its settlement within a hundred miles of any spot previously occupied by the other. Each colony was to extend along the coast fifty miles either way from the point first occupied, and from the same point inland a hundred miles, embracing ten thousand square miles of continental territory. The supreme government of the colonies that were to be settled, was vested in a council, resident in England, named by the king, with laws and ordinances given under his sign manual; and the subordinate jurisdiction was committed to a council, resident in America, which was also nominated by the king, and to act conformably to his instructions. The charter, while it thus restricted the emigrants in the important article of internal regulations, secured to them and their descendants all the rights of denizens, in the same manner as if they had remained or had been born in England; and granted them the privilege of holding their lands in America by the freest and least burdensome tenure. The king permitted whatever was necessary for the sustenance or commerce of the new colonies to be exported from England, during the space of seven years, without pacing any duty; and, as a farther incitement to industry, he granted them liberty of trade with other nations; and appropriated the duty to be levied on foreign commodities, as a fund for the benefit of the colonies, for the period of twenty-one years. He also granted them liberty of coining money, of repelling enemies, and of detaining ships trading there without their leave "In this singular charter," says Dr. Robertson, "the contents of which have been little attended to by the historians of America, some articles are as unfavorable to the rights of the colonists as others are to the interest of the parent state. By placing the legislative and executive powers in a council nominated by the crown, and guided by its instructions, every person settling in America seems to be bereaved of the noblest privilege of a free man; by the unlimited permission of trade with foreigners, the parent state is deprived of that exclusive commerce which has been deemed the chief advantage resulting from the establishment of colonies. But in the infancy of colonization, and without the guidance of observation or experience, the ideas of men, with respect to the mode of forming new settlements, were not fully unfolded or properly arranged. At a period when they could not foresee the future grandeur and importance of the communities which they were about to call into existence, they were ill qualified to concert the best plan for governing them. Besides, the English of that age, accustomed to the high prerogative and arbitrary rule of their monarchs, were not animated with such liberal sentiments, either concerning their own personal or political rights, as have become familiar in the more mature and improved state of their constitution."