112. STATEN ISLAND INSTITUTE oF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
soil to the specialty of raising sheep on account of the growing | 
demand for wool and the greater profit in producing it. 
We clearly distinguish in studying these times two classes of 
men participating in the “ Western Planting,” as it was quaintly 
called. And these classes may be considered to have been ani- 
mated by motives quite distinct, quite different, and on our part, 
at least, not always quite appreciated. 
First, there were statesmen and patriots like Popham, the great 
Bacon, the Earl of Southampton, Sir Thomas Smith, George 
Abbot, one of the translators of the Bible, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of Westminster, and Sir Ed- 
win Sandys. None of these, I think, ever set foot in Virginia, 
but they had more to do with the plantation, in the highest and 
best sense, than those who under their inspiration and direction 
actually sailed the seas and landed in person here. These men 
and their associates were the guiding minds, often concealed and 
out of sight amid occurrences of vast movement set in motion by 
themselves, ever with the best and most unselfish designs. 
The other class constituted the hardy sailors who loved the 
romance of adventure and the dangers of the sea, those daring and 
desperate men whose occupations were gone when came “ the pip- 
5) 
ing times of peace,’ the younger sons of the gentry who had 
quickly spent their small portion on coming of age, unfit for serious 
life, but ever ready to’ draw a sword whether cause be good or 
bad, the keen and thrifty merchants who saw good bartering ahead ; 
others, nondescript, having no reason to stay at home and some 
excellent ones for departing, and finally and best of all, those who 
were prompted by a steady purpose to do honor to God and coun- 
try and to help themselves and their countrymen to a larger sphere 
of civil and religious liberty. 
The petition for a charter seems to have been so adroitly drawn 
and tactfully furthered that on April 10, 1606, James I issued the 
letters patent under which we must date the faint beginnings of 
free government in the New World. The charter once issued, 
preparations were rapidly made to send out the colonizers. 
