THE

CHAPTER IV

IMPERIAL COUNCILS, 1606-25

HE year 1606 marked the beginning of systematic colonization not only in Virginia, but in Ireland.

After the rebellion in Ulster in 1605, the whole Province was practically depopulated and confiscated to the Crown. This situation furnished an opportunity for the English to gain a new foothold in Ireland by colonization, and James, in his eagerness for his own aggrandizement, was not slow to take advantage of it. One of the persons who was consulted concerning the proper methods to be employed, or who at least felt at liberty to offer his advice, was Sir Francis Bacon. That it was acceptable is shown by the fact that the King appointed him Solicitor-General the next year. The advice so given is preserved in the form of a tract entitled Certain Considerations touching the Plantation in Ireland, which, though not dated, shows on its face that it was written after the Virginia Charter of 1606 had been granted.

In order to appreciate the purport of Bacon's advice, it is necessary to consider the methods of administration of the dependencies then prevailing. Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, were each administered by the King in Council through a royal Governor assisted by a royal Council, with the concurrence of an Assembly representing the people. The Governor of Ireland was called the King's Deputy or Viceroy, it being thus recognized as a petty kingdom, that is, a State which had formerly been a Kingdom, but which was now a dependency,

retaining its royal organization to some extent. Since 1495, when the law called Poynings' Law was enacted,so called because suggested by Sir Edward Poynings, the King's Deputy, upon his pacification of Ireland, -no Parliament could be held in Ireland without the King being officially informed of it, and no Acts could be introduced in an Irish Parliament without having previously received the approbation and license of the King under the Great Seal. The Irish Parliament was thus a merely deliberative and registering body, like the French parlements.

Sir Francis Bacon, after referring to the fact that the plan for the colonization of Ulster, which had already been partly formed, provided for a local Commission in that Province, suggested:

That your Majesty would make a correspondency between the Commission there, and a Council of Plantation here; wherein I warrant myself by the precedent of the like Council of Plantation for Virginia; an enterprise in my opinion differing as much from this as Amadis de Gaul differs from Cæsar's Commentaries. But when I speak of a Council of Plantation, I mean some persons chosen by way of reference, upon whom the labor may rest to prepare and report things to the Council of State here that concern that business. For although your Majesty have a grave and sufficient Council in Ireland, from whom and upon whom the Commissioners are to have assistance and dependence; yet that supplies not the purpose whereof I speak. For considering that upon the advertisements as well of the Commissioners as of the Council of Ireland itself, there will be many occasions to crave directions from your Majesty and your Privy Council here, which are busied with a world of affairs, it cannot but give greater expedition, and hence better perfection unto such directions and resolutions, if the matters may be considered of aforehand by such as may have a continual care of the cause. And it will be likewise a comfort and satisfaction to some principal undertakers, if they may be admitted of that Council.

Bacon evidently here suggests the institution of a Permanent Commission, or "Council in England," for the affairs of Ireland, standing in the same relation to the King in Council as did a referee in chancery to the Chancellor, that is, having the duty to ascertain and report the facts in each case of complaint or request from the colonists or any persons interested in the colonies, and their conclusions on the facts, for the information of the King and the Privy Council.

In this there would have been implied a criticism upon the plan of American government contained in the Virginia Charter of 1606, had he not differentiated America from Ireland, since the "Council in England for Virginia" was, as has been said, in no sense a mere referee of the Privy Council, but was itself an Imperial Administrative Council,-that is, a body with greater powers than the Privy Council, without the concurrence of the King, could exercise. That he did differentiate the case of America and Ireland shows his remarkable sagacity. Ireland was a dependency destined by nature for ultimate incorporation into the body of the Realm of England. America was a dependency destined by nature never to be so incorporated. The affairs of Ireland, though essentially affairs of the Empire, were so closely connected with the affairs of the Realm, that Bacon thought they should be managed by the King in Council assisted by a referee body. The affairs of America were strictly affairs of the Empire, and, as such, were, as he thought, properly in the hands of a Council separate from the Privy Council, and which could act in the first instance, subject to the superintendence of the King.

The kernel of the whole matter lay in the last sentence: "And it will be likewise a comfort and satisfaction to some principal undertakers, if they may be admitted of that Council." In order to appreciate this proposition, it is necessary to consider the circumstances under which

colonization, at that time, had to be carried on. Emigration was then a new idea, and when it was broached, the dangers of the enterprise deterred all except those persons of small means who were willing to undergo the risk in order to better their financial condition, or who were influenced by religious or missionary motives. Such emigration had to be encouraged by pecuniary assistance. King James had not money enough to pay for the luxuries he insisted upon having. The House of Commons could not be asked to grant taxes for colonization purposes, to be expended, necessarily, under the King's supervision,—when it was already objecting to his requests for money. It was necessary, therefore, to adopt a plan which would attract private contributions. There were two classes of persons who would be likely to be interested in colonization,-one made up of those who had capital to invest for the sake of profit, and the other of those who were willing to contribute for the public good or for religious or missionary reasons, without regard to return or profit. The character of colonial administration had, as it then appeared to Bacon, to be adjusted to the existing circumstances so as to allow capitalists and religious and missionary enthusiasts to share in it with the public authorities. This required that the enterprise should be partly private and partly public, and the form which naturally and inevitably suggested itself for the purpose was that of a guild or privileged private company, the members of which, when it was organized for objects external to its own membership, were called "undertakers."

Although privileged private corporations are little known at the present day, being used almost entirely for colonizing operations in uncivilized regions, they were very common at that period, and their rights and status were well and even commonly understood. The guilds practically controlled the city of London. The accepted

definition of a guild is," a voluntary association for mutual protection, for common mercantile aims, or for religious worship." In the mercantile guilds of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, these three objects were combined. The characteristic of a guild was that it might admit or exclude any persons it saw fit. It was this characteristic which distinguished a guild from a municipal corporation. A guild could not exercise any jurisdiction outside its own membership except by way of protection of its members. By grant from the King or the Parliament, it could, however, receive any governmental privileges whatever, but it did not, by so doing, lose its power to admit persons to the freedom of the company and exclude persons from its freedom. The members of the guild were called brethren" or "freemen"; its meetings were called "Courts." The officers were originally elective by the members, and were called by various names-the head officer being more usually called" the Master" and his Council being called "Wardens." The law-making body was composed of the Master and Wardens and representatives of the whole membership called "Assistants." The meetings at which all the guild-associates were present, as, for instance, for the purpose of election of officers, were called "the General Courts." The English mercantile and trading guilds organized for colonizing purposes were exactly like the French privileged companies which began to be formed at about the same time. Any governmental privileges conferred by royal charter to exercise jurisdiction beyond the membership of the guild were, in contemplation of law, held at the will of the King, and could be resumed by him at any time without his showing special cause, and the long continuance of the guilds in the use of these privileges did not interfere with the King's rights. It mattered not with how great governmental privileges they were endowed, they were essentially private