40 



a word, the natives of Newfoundland were exterminated b}' deeds as 

 disgracetul and as damning as any which appear in the deahngs of the 

 Spaniards with those of Cuba, or South America. 



From the fragmentary accounts that have come down to us of the 

 events connected with our suljjcct, we may conchide that the habits of 

 the fishermen who visited the American coasts. were loose and immoral. 

 They could hardly have been otherwise. It was not until late in the 

 sixteenth century that bibles, or other printed books, were in common 

 use anywhere, or that the manufacture of writing-paper and time- 

 pieces was commenced in England ; while gentlemen who could not 

 write still helped the memory by notches made in sticks, and ate their 

 food without forks. Chimneys in dwelling-houses were rare; and even 

 after the accession of Elizabeth, the floor of the presence-chamber of 

 the royal palace was covered with hay. That, in this state of society, 

 the humble class of whom I speak were rude, ignorant, lawless, and 

 wicked, cannot excite surprise. 



Our attention is now to be directed to incidents of moment. It is 

 estimated that two hundred English ships went annually to Newfound- 

 land about the year 1600, and that they employed, as catchers on 

 board and as curers on shore, quite ten thousand men and boys. The 

 vessels commonly left England in March and returned in September ; 

 the fishermen passing their winters at home, idly spending their sum- 

 mer's earnings, or " share-money." The prosperous condition of the 

 fishery was often spoken of in terms like the following : " To come," 

 says Sir WiUiam Monson, (writing in 1610,) "to the particulars of augr 

 mentation of our trade, of our plantations, and our discoveries, because 

 every man shall have his due therein, I will begin with Newfoundland, 

 lying upon the main continent of America, which the King of Spain 

 challenges as first discoverer ; but as we acknowledge the King of 

 Spain the first right of the west and southwest parts of America, so 

 we, and all the world, must confess that we were the first who took 

 possession, for the crown of England, of the north part thereof, and not 

 above two years' difference betwixt the one and the other. And as the 

 Spaniards have from that day and year held their possession in the 

 west, so have we done the like in the north ; and though there is no 

 respect in comparison of the wealth betwixt the two countries, yet 

 England may boast that the discovery, from the year aforesaid to this very 

 day, hath afforded the subject, annually, one hundred and twenty thousand 

 ^pounds, and increased the number of many a good ship, and mariners, as our 

 western parts can witness by their fishing in Newfoundland.^'' 



That in the manner of prosecuting the fishery, much time and money 

 were lost, is obvious to practical men without explanation. To plant a 

 colony, and thus afford inducements to the fishermen to live perma- 

 nently near the fishing-grounds, was an object highly desirable to per- 

 sons of broad and liberal views. The plan, postponed by the untimely 

 end of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and the attention bestowed upon coloni- 

 zation in the more genial region of Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh, his 

 kinsman and associate, was now to be renewed. 



In 1610, and the year following, two charters were granted for the 

 purpose. The first, from the rank of several of the patentees, is de- 

 serving special mention. The merit of the enterprise belongs to Mr. 



