Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/164



HE conſtitution of the ſtate, and its ſeveral charters?

Queen Elizabeth by her letters-patent, bearing date March 25, 1584, licenſed Sir Walter Raleigh to ſearch for remote heathen lands, not inhabited by chriſtian people, and granted to him, in fee ſimple, all the ſoil within 200 leagues of the places where his people ſhould, within 6 years make their dwellings or abidings; reſerving only to herſelf and her ſucceſſors, their allegiance and one-fifth part of all the gold and ſilver ore they ſhould obtain. Sir Walter immediately ſent out two ſhips which viſited Wococon iſland in North-Carolina, and the next year diſpatched ſeven with 107 men, who ſettled in Roanoke iſland, about latitude 35° 50′. Here Okiſko, King of the Weopomeiocs, in a full council of his people is ſaid to have acknowledged himſelf the homager of the Queen of England, and, after her, of Sir Walter Raleigh. A ſupply of 50 men were ſent in 1586, and 150 in 1587. With theſe laſt, Sir Walter ſent a governor, appointed him 12 aſſiſtants, gave them a charter of incorporation, and inſtructed them to ſettle on Cheſapeak bay. They landed however at Hattoraſk. In 1588, when a fleet was ready to ſail with a new ſupply of coloniſts and neceſſaries, they were detained by the Queen to aſſiſt againſt the Spaniſh armada. Sir Walter having now expended 40,000l. in theſe