THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



Transporta- 

 tion. 



Gilbert's 

 Charter. 



both the Spaniard and Portugal, through the length of 

 their journeys, cannot well attain unto.' What was to 

 be the weakness of all early English attempts at coloni- 

 sation is foreshadowed in his further suggestion that 

 'we might inhabit some part of those countries, and 

 settle there such needy people of our country, which 

 now trouble the commonwealth, and through want here 

 at home are forced to commit outrageous offences, 

 whereby they are daily consumed with the gallows.' 

 And this scheme might be carried out, he adds, ' without 

 injury done to any Christian prince, by crossing them 

 in any of their used trades, whereby they might take 

 any just occasion of offence.' Hakluyt, writing in 1584, 

 makes the same recommendation and supports it by 

 the same arguments, which no doubt were intended to 

 appeal to the Queen's well-known resolve to maintain 

 peace. Portugal and Spain, he says, have found em- 

 ployment for all their subjects, so that these two 

 nations breed no pirates ; ' whereas we and the French 

 are most infamous for our outrageous, common, and 

 daily piracies.' By planting the coast of America, 

 between 30 and 60 degrees of Northern latitude, we may 

 provide for the unprofitable members of the common- 

 wealth, and greatly advance English trade. 



Hakluyt was by profession a man of peace; but 

 there is little doubt that Gilbert would have been glad 

 to be let slip at the throat of Spain. In a paper of 

 1577, probably drafted by him, the Queen is advised 

 to prepare a fleet of warships under pretence of a 

 voyage of discovery, and to attack the Spaniards in 

 their cherished West Indies. When in 1578 he suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a charter 'to inhabit and possess 



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