SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER. 83 



to a motion made by Sir William Alexander, Knight," and that it was his pleasure that 

 the council, if they should see it for the good of the kingdom, should give him a grant 

 of the lands lying between New England and Newfoundland, " to be holden of vs 

 from our Kingdome of Scotland as a part tlierenf" etc. 



The Privy Council, having acceded to the royal request, a warrant for a charter was 

 granted at "Windsor Castle on the 10th of September, 1621, and on the 29th of the same 

 mouth the charter passed under the Great Seal, appointing Sir William Alexander 

 hereditary lieutenant of the new colony. The face of the patent indicated the importance 

 of the transaction. The initial letter contained portraits of the King and his lieutenant, 

 the former seated on his throne and in the act of handing the charter to the latter. The 

 border of the instrument was decorated with embellishments illustrating the customs 

 and productions of the colony. 



The document is very voluminous. It commences by setting forth the reasons 

 already given, and goes on to say that from " his sovereign anxiety to propagate the 

 Christian faith, and to secure the wealth, prosperity and peace of the native subjects of 

 our Kingdom of Scotland," the King grants him the country described as follows: 

 " All and single the lands of the continent and islands situated and lying in America, 

 within the head or promontory commonly called Cape of Sable, lying near the forty-third 

 degree of North Latitude or thereabouts ; from this cape, stretching along the shores of 

 the sea westward to the roadstead of St Mary, commonly called St. Mary's Bay, and thence 

 northward by a straight line crossing the entrance or mouth of the great roadstead 

 which runs toward the eastern part of the land between the countries of the Suriqui and 

 Etechemini, commonly called Suriquois and Etechemines, to the river commonly known 

 by the name of St. Croix, and to the remotest springs or source from the western side ot 

 the same, which enter into the first-mentioned, river ; thence by an imaginary straight 

 line which is conceived to extend through the land, or run northward to the neaiest bay, 

 river or stream emptying into the great river of Canada; and going from that eastward 

 along the low shores of the same river of Canada to the river, port or shore commonly 

 known and called by the name of Grathepe, or Gaspie, and thence south-southeast to the 

 isles called Bacalaos, or Cape Breton, leaving the said isles on the right, and the mouth 

 of the said river of Canada, or Large Bay, and the territory of Newfoundland, with the 

 islands belonging to the same lands on the left ; thence to the headland or point of Cape 

 Breton, aforesaid, lying near latitude 45° or thereabouts ; and from the said point of Cape 

 Breton toward the south and west to the above-mentioned Cape Sable, where the boundary 

 began" — including the islands off the coast, Sable Island among the rest. 



It will be seen that this territory included all Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince 

 Edward Island, part of the Slate of Maine, and that portion of the Province of Quebec 

 south of the St. Lawrence, comprising altogether an area 54,000 square miles. It was in 

 all future time to have the name of New Scotland or, as it appears in the courtly Latin 

 of the original. Nova Scotia, the first time the name ajipears, and now, we may say, the 

 only permanent memorial of the undertaking. 



This charter gave almost unlimited privileges and powers. It gi-auted all mines (with 

 the exception of a tenth part of the gold and silver), pearls, precious stones, quarries, 

 forests, fisheries (in both salt and fresh water), hunting, hawking, and anything that may 

 be sold or inherited^, the gift and right of patronages of churches, chapels and benefices ; 



