Oct. 25. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



321 



lands, or rents inEngland to Francis my son, or his issue, 

 then my son shall forfeit and lose to his eldest son all 

 lands and estates and rents in England herein settled, 

 entailed, or given him, and to be forfeited during his 

 life." 



George either died, or was killed, in the mns- 

 sacres by the Indians ; as was also Francis, third 

 son of Thomas, along with hii wife and family, as 

 alluded to in his father's will, dated 1698. 



These attacks on the infant colony were insti- 

 gated by the Dutch and Swedes of the New Nether- 

 lands, as they called New Albion, and who did all 

 they coulil to obstruct and thwart the Earl Pala- 

 tine's plans, as is alluded to in T/ie Theatre of the 

 Empire of Great Britnin: Speed and Basset, 

 1676, dedicated to James I. ; and recommended as 

 a most authentic work by Sir Richard St. George, 

 Norroy King of Arms. 



" Moreover these proceedings, upon complaint made 

 to his late Majesty, and by whom represented to the 

 State of Holland, were absolutely disowned by them, 

 and wholly laid upon the East India Company of Am- 

 sterdam. The most northerly part towards New 

 England was by his Majesty granted by patent to Sir 

 Edmund Plowden, by the name of New Albion. The 

 most southerly towards Virginia to Sir George Calvert, 

 now Lord Baltimore, by the name of Maryland. The 

 Dutch, upon some consideration agreed on, were forth- 

 with to have quitted the place ; yet, for all this, as the 

 custom of this people is never to let go any opportunity 

 that serves their turn, whether by right or wrong, 

 they took advantage of the unhappy dissentions and 

 cruel wars that soon after happened within this nation : 

 they not only stood upon higher demands than was at 

 first agreed on, but also contrived to stir up the natives 

 against the English, that they might have the better 

 opportunity of fixing themselves. In this state things 

 remained till his present Majesty, after his restoration, 

 resolved to send three ships of war." 



Charles 11. most tyrannically, privately, without 

 sanction from Parliament, and without even allud- 

 ing to his Ikther's charter to Sir Edmund Plowden, 

 gave a charter of the Province to his brother James, 

 at the same time creating him Duke of Albany. 

 Before James was duly clothed with the powers of 

 Governor, he sold a large portion of it to Lord 

 Berkeiy for 65,000/. For years afterwards, the 

 Duke of York's title was dis[)uted, and many dis- 

 turbances arose, and Chancery suits, as entered in 

 the American chancery suits of that period. Lord 

 Sutherland, as the colonial officer, disputed the 

 validity of the Duke's claim. A greater act of 

 injustice could hardly be perpetrated than this 

 virtual abrogation of the original charter, after so 

 many years of labour had been expended, charges 

 incurred, loss of estates and relations, and the 

 other evils attending planting tliis c(jlony wliicli 

 absence from J^igland gave rise to. Sir Edmund 

 PlowdcMi was not inferior to any of his co-governors 

 in ability, fortune, position, or family. Though 

 he made a greater sacrifice than any, he never re- 



ceived the slightest compensation like the other 

 early colonisers. We conclude that family dissen- 

 tions connected with the disinheritance of Francis 

 Plowden, must have tended to facilitate Charles II.'s 

 Illegal conduct ; for, in Thomas Plowden's 

 Will, 1698, In the Prerogative Court of Canter- 

 bury, he alludes to his son-in-law, "Walter Hall, 

 illegally and forcibly retaining papers connected 

 with the estates: Province of New Albion Char- 

 ter, the Patent for the Peerage of Ireland. The 

 first cousin of the disinherited son was a Col. 

 Plowden of the Life Guards, who followed 

 j James II.'s fortunes, and accompanied him on his 

 ( leaving England, and died as his chamberlain at St. 

 Germains in France. These documents may have 

 come into his hands, and have been lost in France. 

 It is quite clear that the only estate which came 

 to Thomas's eldest son James of Ewhurst was 

 Lassam in Southampton, and his son James 

 also held it ; he was married to Sarah Chichely, 

 daughter of Sir John Chichely, son of Sir Henry 

 Chichely, formerly Governor of Virginia, the lineal 

 descendant of Thomas, Lord Mayor of London, 

 and brother of Archbishop Chichely, founder of 

 All Souls, Oxford. This family is now extinct in 

 the male, but still exist in the female line in the 

 Plowden family, which is the nearest of kin of any 

 family, and consequently has a stronger claim to 

 the Fellowships of that college as founder's kin. 

 There can be no question but that the family 

 have a legal claim against the government for the 

 unjust alienation of that province to James II.; 

 but the loss of the charter, and the Ignorance of 

 the family that It was enrolled in Ireland (now- 

 found), prevented the heir and representative of 

 Sir Edmund from claiming compensation. No- 

 thing but an act of parliament can nullify the 

 sacred rights of a charter ; if it were not so, no 

 i public or private right woidd be safe a day. As 

 to his peerage, it was litigated at the time, and 

 decided in his favour; but the Commonwealth 

 I did not favour the restoration of titles granted 

 j by Charles I., and on the Restoration, Sir Ed- 

 j mund's papers were lost to those to whom they 

 I would have been useful. Notwithstanding the 

 sarcastic and Ijad spirit In which Beaiichamp 

 Plantagenet's Neiv Albion of 1648 was reviewed 

 by J\Ir. Pennington of Philadelphia, I trust that 

 the Americans will treat the early pioneer of one 

 of tiie best portions of America in a more liberal 

 spirit, and do justice to his memory. We have 

 now no new worlds to discover ; and the present 

 race of men can hardly appreciate the labours, 

 dangers, and hardships our first colonisers had to 

 endure — but they however know the value of 

 their exertions. Tiicy have secured for America 

 one of the finest countries in tiic world, which 

 may one day be an empire of vast j)Ower. Its 

 I separation from the mother country wiis the 

 greatest national calamity that ever befell her. 



