London and the Kingdom Volume II Part 2

Early in the following year (8 Jan., 1610) a committee was appointed, including the four commissioners who had viewed the plantation, to confer with commissioners appointed by the Privy Council as to the best means of carrying out the work. In the meantime the sum of 5,000, or one-fourth part of the 20,000 required, was to be immediately levied on the princ.i.p.al companies according to their corn a.s.sessment.(108) Some of the companies complained of the unfairness of a.s.sessing them according to the existing corn rate, inasmuch as a great change had taken place since that rate had been made: "Divers companies are decayed and others growne to bee of greater liability, so as particuler men of some companies are now exceedinglie overcharged and others greatelye favoured." It was too late to make any alteration in the payment of the first two instalments, as the plantation was to commence in the summer,(109) but a new a.s.sessment for corn was made in July with the view of making the rate more equitable.(110)

(M41)

On the 28th January (1610) the committee appointed by the court of Common Council came to terms with the Privy Council, and a special agreement was signed by both parties embodying all the essential conditions of the plantation in twenty-seven articles. A period of seven years was allowed the City to make such other reasonable demands as time might show to be needful.(111)

(M42)

The articles were read at the Common Council held two days later (30 Jan.), when it was decided to form a company in the city of London for the purpose of carrying out the plantation, the company to consist of a governor, a deputy-governor and twenty-four a.s.sistants, of whom the Recorder of the city was to be one. The governor and five of the a.s.sistants were to be aldermen of the city, the rest commoners.(112) On the 4th February the lords of the council informed Sir Arthur Chichester that the "n.o.ble and worthy work of the plantation in Ulster undertaken by the city" was concluded, and the articles signed. The city had chosen a governor and a council of a.s.sistants for the more orderly disposition of their affairs. They had also elected John Rowley to be their agent, and he and others would shortly set out for Ireland. The lords commended him to the deputy's care, and he was instructed to see that they were furnished with a sufficient number of labourers for felling timber, digging stone and burning lime. Sir Arthur's services in forwarding a work which the king had so much at heart would not go, they a.s.sured him, unrewarded.(113)

(M43)

The articles of the plantation had not long been signed before the government broke faith with the City, and the latter were asked to forego no less than 2,000 acres of land agreed to be a.s.signed to them. This iniquitous proposal on the part of the king's commissioners was laid before a special court of Common Council (7 June, 1610) by Alderman c.o.c.kaine, the governor of the Irish Society. After long deliberation the court decided to stand upon their rights, and rejected the proposal. Six weeks later (22 July) they saw fit to change their minds, and they agreed to surrender the 2,000 acres whilst refusing to accede to other demands.(114)

(M44)

It was no easy task the City had undertaken. Great difficulty was experienced in getting the companies to pay up their quota of the 20,000 to be raised for the purpose of the plantation. The wardens of the Mercers, the Clothworkers and other companies were committed to prison by order of the Court of Aldermen for refusing or failing to pay the sums at which their respective companies had been a.s.sessed.(115) The masters or wardens of the companies were not so much to blame as the individual members of the companies who refused to pay. Thus, a sum of 200 due from Sir John Spencer, the rich Clothworker, remained unpaid at his death. It was eventually paid by his son-in-law, Lord Compton, after much solicitation.(116) Even when the money was got in there was a difficulty in forwarding it to its destination, so infested was the Irish coast with pirates who lay in wait for the money sent by the City for the works at Coleraine.(117)

(M45)

Early in the following year (31 Jan., 1611) the livery companies were called upon to certify to the Irish Society, within one week, whether or no they were willing to accept an allotment of the Irish estate proportionate to the money by them advanced, and to cultivate and plant the same at their own cost and charges, according to the "printed book" of the plantation, or leave the letting and disposing thereof to the governor and committees. They were warned that, in any case, they would still have to contribute towards the charge of building houses and fortifications and freeing of t.i.thes.(118) In response to the mayor's precept eight of the princ.i.p.al companies of the city, viz., the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Salters, Ironmongers and Vintners, and ten of the inferior companies, viz., the Dyers, Pewterers, Founders, Whitebakers, Broderers, Armourers, Tilers and Bricklayers, Blacksmiths, Weavers and Woodmongers, signified their willingness to accept a proportionate part of the land (27 Feb.). The remainder of the companies preferred to leave the lands alone, but they were allowed to come in afterwards if they saw reason to change their mind.(119)

(M46)

By July (1611) nearly the whole of the 20,000 had been expended. The Common Council thereupon resolved that a further sum of 10,000 should be levied on the companies at the same rate as the last two payments. A day was appointed for the companies to send in a written notice whether they agreed to contribute to this fresh sum or were ready to forfeit the money they had already subscribed and lose all their right in the plantation.(120). 5,000 was to be ready by the 10th August. The remainder was not demanded until July, 1612.(121)

(M47)

Hitherto the agreement between the lords of the council and the citizens of London had been carried out by one side only. The City had found the money wherewith to carry out the work of the plantation, but as yet not an acre of land had been a.s.signed. It is not surprising, therefore, that when the Grocers' Company were called upon to contribute their _quota_ to the 5,000 demanded in July, 1612, they desired the lord mayor not to press the matter until the a.s.surance of the lands and other hereditaments for which money had been formerly disbursed should have been obtained from his majesty.(122) At length, on the 29th March, 1613, the Irish Society received its charter of incorporation.

(M48)

Notwithstanding the great difficulty experienced in getting in the last 5,000-as much as 3,667 10_s._ being still outstanding in October, 1612(123)-the Common Council found itself under the unpleasant necessity of asking the companies for another 10,000 within a few weeks of the incorporation of the Irish Society. Not only had the whole of the 30,000 formerly subscribed been expended, but the Irish Society had borrowed 3,000 from the Chamber of London.(124) The money was to be raised by the end of May.

(M49)

James had already begun to show impatience-even before the granting of the charter of incorporation to the Irish Society-at the little progress made in the work of the plantation. At the close of the last year (21 Dec., 1612) he had himself written to Sir Arthur Chichester directing him to send home an account of what the Londoners had done; for, notwithstanding their pretence of great expenditure, there was, so he was informed, little outward show for it.(125) Fault was found with them, not only for failing to build houses according to the articles of agreement, but for their humane treatment of the "mere Irish," instead of driving them forth to perish in the narrow districts set apart for them.(126)

(M50)

On Midsummer-day (1613) Sir Henry Montague, the Recorder, and Sir William c.o.c.kaine, the governor of the Irish Society, signified to the Common Council that it was the king's wish that the walls and fortifications of Derry should be at once taken in hand. The court agreed to lose no time in carrying out the king's wishes, and further resolved to despatch "some great and worthy magistrate," as well as "some commoner of special countenance and credit," to take an exact notice, view and account of the whole work of the plantation, and of all works done and to be done, and, in a word, to do all that they deemed necessary for the good of the plantation. The choice of the court fell upon Alderman George Smithes and Matthias Springham, a Merchant Taylor.(127)

(M51)

These two proceeded to Ireland, and, having viewed the plantation, sent home from Dublin a detailed report of all they had seen and done.(128) The report was submitted to the Common Council on the 8th November (1613).

Among other things they had taken great pains to make an equal division of the land as far as was possible into twelve parts, with the view of distributing it among the livery companies as proposed, and a "plott" of the division was laid before the court. But they were of opinion that the city of Londonderry and its land of 4,000 acres, and the town of Coleraine with its 3,000 acres, its ferries and fisheries, could not be conveniently divided, but the rents and profits of them might be divided among the several companies. As to the fortification of Derry, the commissioners had consulted ten military experts on the matter and plans had been drafted; but it was necessary to gather material before the wall could be commenced, and this the commissioners recommended should be taken in hand at once.

(M52)

On the 17th December lots were publicly drawn to decide the particular lands which each of the twelve princ.i.p.al companies, combined with several of the inferior companies in such a way as to make their total contributions to amount, as far as might be, to one-twelth of the whole sum (40,000) contributed, should hold.(129) The companies at once took possession of their property so far as they could do so; but livery of seisin was not and could not be made to them until James had granted (30 Sep., 1615), both to the Irish Society and to the companies, a licence in mortmain. This licence was expressly granted "to the end that they might be the better encouraged and enabled to proceed and finish the same plantation, and in future times reap some gains and benefits of their great travails and expenses bestowed therein."(130) It may be inferred from this that James had little expectation that the undertakers would reap much gain or profit from their enterprise notwithstanding former professions. For some years to come there was no gain, little or great. No sooner had the allotment of land to the companies taken place than they were called upon to raise a further sum of 5,000,(131) and at the end of another twelve months a further sum of 7,500, making in all a sum total of 52,500 which they had subscribed towards the plantation.(132) It was not until 1623 that the profits of the plantation began to exceed the costs and the Irish Society was in a position to pay a dividend.(133)

(M53) (M54)

In years gone by, when some of the companies sold their Irish estate, there was no question as to their power of alienation or their absolute right to the proceeds of the sale, but of late years a cry has been raised that the companies held their estates in a fiduciary capacity, and that they could not legally alienate their Irish property without accounting for the proceeds of the sale as public trustees. It had got abroad that those companies who had not already parted with their Irish estates-as the Haberdashers had done as far back as the year 1675, and the Merchant Taylors, the Goldsmiths and the Vintners, between the years 1728 and 1737-were meditating a sale. In response to the cry thus raised a select Parliamentary Committee was appointed to enquire "as to the Terms of the Charters or other Instruments by which their Estates in Ireland were granted to the Irish Society and to the London companies, and as to the Trusts and Obligations (if any) attaching to the Ownership of such Estates." Any trust or obligation in connection with the tenure of these estates would naturally be comprised within the four corners of the charters and instruments mentioned in the order of reference just cited, but these the committee practically ignored, on the ground that the task of p.r.o.nouncing with decisive authority upon their legal construction could only be performed by a judicial tribunal.(134) We have it, however, on the authority of so sound a lawyer as the late Sir George Jessel, that the companies are ordinary owners of their Irish estates in fee simple, subject only to the reservations expressly contained in the conveyance to them.(135)

CHAPTER XX.

(M55)

Contemporaneously with the plantation of Ulster, another and more distant enterprise of somewhat similar character was being carried out in America; and to this, as to every great public undertaking, the citizens of London must need be called to lend their a.s.sistance. A company formed in 1606, and composed, in part at least, of London merchants, the object of which was the colonisation of Virginia, had proved a failure after a hopeless struggle for three years. It was therefore determined to reconstruct the company on a different basis and to make an entirely fresh start.

(M56)

In the spring of 1609 the company wrote to Sir Humphrey Weld,(136) then mayor of London, for a.s.sistance in financing the undertaking, urging him at the same time to diminish the risk of pestilence and famine in the city by removing the surplus population to Virginia. For the sake of convenience they purposed to issue no bills of adventure for less than 12 10_s._, but if his lordship were to make any "ceas.e.m.e.nt" (a.s.sessment) or raise subscriptions from the best disposed and most able of the companies, the council and company of the plantation would be willing to give bills of adventure to the masters and wardens for the general use and behoof of each company, or in the case of subscription by the wards to the alderman and deputy of each ward for the benefit of the ward. Should the emigrants "demaund what may be theire present mayntenaunce, what maye be theire future hopes?" they might be told that the company was for the present prepared to offer them "meate, drinke and clothing, with an howse, orchard and garden for the meanest family, and a possession of lands to them and their posterity." Any alderman of the city subscribing 50 would be reckoned as an original member of the council of the company, and take equal share of the profits with the rest; their deputies, too, would be admitted to the same privileges on payment of half that sum.

(M57)

In response to a precept no less than fifty-six companies agreed to take ventures in the plantation. The Grocers subscribed the sum of 487 10_s._, or more than double the amount subscribed by any other company. The Mercers, the Goldsmiths and the Merchant Taylors contributed respectively the next highest amount, viz., 200; whilst the Drapers and Fishmongers subscribed severally 150, the Stationers 125, the Clothworkers 100, and the Salters 50. In addition to these contributions made by the companies in their corporate capacity other sums were ventured by individual members.(137) Bills of adventure were thereupon given to the several companies for the money subscribed, ent.i.tling them to have rateably "theire full parte of all such lands, tenements and hereditaments" as should from time to time be recovered, planted and inhabited, as also "of all such mines and minerals of gould, silver and other metals or treasure, pearles, precious stones, or any kind of wares or marchaundizes, comodities or profitts whatsoever," as should be obtained or gotten in the voyage.(138)

(M58)

With the a.s.sistance thus afforded by the citizens of London the Virginia Company had no difficulty in obtaining another charter from the Crown (23 May, 1609). Among the adventurers to whom the charter was granted, and who embraced representatives of every rank, profession and occupation, we find Humphrey Weld, the mayor, whose name immediately follows those of the peers of the realm who shared in the undertaking, and Nicholas Ferrar, skinner, who died in 1620, and gave by will "300 to the college in Virginia, to be paid when there shall be ten of the infidels' children placed in it, and in the meantime twenty-four pounds by the yeare to be disbursed unto three discreete and G.o.dly men in the colonie, which shall honestly bring up three of the infidels' children in Christian religion and some good course to live by."(139)

(M59)

In the meantime (15 May) seven vessels with emigrants on board had set sail from Woolwich. After frequent delays on the south coast of England they crossed the Atlantic and reached their destination on the 11th August. Yellow fever had unfortunately broken out on board ship during the long voyage, and this, together with the plague, which is generally believed to have been conveyed to Virginia by the fleet, committed great havoc among the early emigrants.(140)

(M60)

It was not long before more money was wanted, and again application was made to the livery companies. The Mercers declined to make any further advance;(141) but with the a.s.sistance of the other companies the sum of 5,000 was raised, which was afterwards increased to 18,000.(142) Nevertheless, in spite of every exertion, the company was in the autumn of 1611 on the very verge of ruin, and something had to be done to prevent its utter collapse. It was accordingly again re-constructed, its domains were made to comprise the Bermudas, or Somers Islands, and a third charter granted (12 March, 1612), in which a number of citizens are named as having become adventurers since the last letters patent.(143)

(M61)

A special feature of the charter was the authorisation of one or more lottery or lotteries to be held for the benefit of the company,(144) by virtue of which a lottery was soon afterwards opened in London. The chief prize fell to one Thomas Sharplys, or Sharplisse, a tailor of London, who won "four thousand crowns in fair plate."(145) The lucky winner used the same motto on this occasion as was used by the Merchant Taylors' Company in their venture in the lottery of 1569.(146) The City's records are unaccountably silent on the matter of this lottery, but we learn from other sources that the Grocers' Company adventured the sum of 62 10_s._ of their common goods and drew a prize of 13 10_s._ An offer being made to them to accept the prize subject to a rebate of 10, or in lieu thereof "a faire rounde salt with a cover of silver all gilt," weighing over 44 ozs. at 6_s._ 7_d._ per oz., amounting to the sum of 14 19_s._ 1_d._, the company resolved to accept the salt, "both in respect it would not be so much losse to the company ... and alsoe in regard this company wants salts." The balance of 1 9_s._ was ordered to be paid out of the common goods of the company.(147) Not only the companies but several of the city parishes had ventures in a small way in the lottery. Thus the vestry of St. Mary Colechurch agreed (7 June) to adventure the sum of 6 of the church stock, whereby the church was the gainer of "twoe spones, price twenty shillinge."(148) The parish of St. Mary Woolchurch adventured a less sum, taking only fifty lots at a shilling apiece, in return for which it got a prize of ten shillings.(149) That the lottery was not taken up in the way it was hoped it would be is shown by the fact that just before the drawing-which took place in a house at the west end of St. Paul's, and lasted from the 29th June till the 20th July-no less than 60,000 blanks were taken out, in order to increase the number of chances in favour of the adventurers.(150)

(M62)

Two years later (1614) another lottery for the same purpose was set on foot. On the 1st April the lords of the council addressed a circular letter to the city companies,(151) enclosing a copy of a pamphlet by Sir Thomas Smith, ent.i.tled "A declaration of the present estate of the English in Virginia, with the final resolucon of the Great Lotterye intended for their supply," and exhorting them to do their best to make the lottery a success. The object is there described as a "worthy and Christian enterprise, full of honour and profitt to His Majestie and the whole realme." A copy of this letter was forwarded to the several companies through Sir Thomas Middleton, the mayor,(152) who, as we have already said, was himself a member of the Council of the Virginia Company in 1609.

The lotteries, however, found but little favour with the companies, who were actively engaged at the time in managing their recently acquired Irish estates, and had but little money to spare. The Merchant Taylors'

Company contented themselves with voting only 50 out of their common stock for the lottery, leaving it to individual members to venture further sums on their own account as each might think fit.(153) The Grocers'

Company, of which Middleton was a member, voted nothing out of their common stock, but each member was exhorted "for the general advancement of Christianity and good of the commonwealth," to write with his own hands how much he was willing to venture. This was accordingly done (15 April), the lord mayor himself setting the example; but as to the result the company's records fail to give any information.(154)

(M63)