the soundnesse of your opinion about the things we haue talked of Enr. Whether you spake as you did of Ignorance or for triall to proue what I could or would say in these cases it is not greatly materiall I haue spoken nothing I hope but what is â—…it and probable in the cause and the same in such sort as may suffice to satisfie you or any other that will with veritie and probabilitie be satisfied in these points therefore I trust that you will take all that I haue spoken in good part as proceeding from a minde that would willingly gratifie all but offend none Resp. You haue in truth satisfied me to the sull concerning those things of which I desired a Resolution and did somewhat doubt with my selfe that it was not to be had For now I perceiue that to make a good Plantation store of people to inhabit and store of Prouision to inable them to inhabite it are necessary I perceiue also that our Land is able to affoord both both People and Prouision plentifully if good courses might be taken for procuring them Wherefore as I cannot but acknowledg my selfe much beholding vnto you for that you haue brought me out of errour into the truth as out of darknesse into light so I cannot but prosesse that I now wish with all my heart that I might liue to heare and know these or some of these worthy commendable and necessary Proiects brought to some good effect and will from henceforth bee as ready to incourage and perswade others thereunto as I haue beene heretofore to discourage and disswade them therefrom Enr. If you be so well minded whereof I am very glad then you haue done contradicting and I shall not need to bethinke my selfe of any further answers Resp. I haue done obiecting and opposing for I perceiue it is to 〈◊〉 â—…nd but if there doe come any thing into my mind concerning these proiects wherein I shall need some better information then I can gather to my selfe I will make bold to come vnto you once more but that shall be not as an opposite and gain-saier but as a Scholler that desireth to learne that so I may haue mine owne mind and vnderstanding so well informed and prepared that I may be able to confer with and if need be to informe others Enr. Come and welcome whensoeuer you see it good The end of the second Part. A PLAINE PATH-WAY TO PLANTATIONS That is A Discourse in generall concerning the Plantation of our English people in other Countries The third Part. LONDON Printed by G. P. for Iohn Marriot THE PATH-WAY TO PLANTATIONS The third Part. The Speakers be Respire a Farmer Enrubie a Merchant Respire ONce againe M. Enrubie I am come to trouble you a little For by often thinking and as it were meditating vpon these new and notable businesses of Plantation which I hope will and wish may take good effect some things are come into my mind that need a better wit and vnderstanding then mine to open them to me I pray you therefore a little to instruct me therein Enr. With a verie good will I will doe what I may Aske me what you will Resp. The great and goodly workes that we haue talked of I see to be exceeding good and necessarie for our people and meanes enough to be had for setting them forward What therefore may be the reason they goe on no better Enr. There may diuers reasons or causes thereof be conceiued The maine or principall whereof in my conceit is this There wanteth among vs a generall and setled resolution to proceed with them Resp. What might worke such a Resolution Enr. A like knowledge and perswasion of the Necessitie Abilitie and Opportunitie that our whole Nation hath thereunto Resp. I pray you speake somewhat of each of these seuerally Enr. I haue reasonably well done it alreadie if you call to mind what hath passed betweene vs in conference For in our first dayes Labour I shewed you manifoldly that a Plantation is for our Land at this present time verie needfull And indeed it is so needfull and necessarie that vnlesse God take away the present necessitie thereof by war or pestilence or both if it be not this way remedied this Land cannot but shortly come for want thereof to verie great miserie and euill And at our next meeting I shewed you that there are both people enow and meanes for prouision enough to performe such a businesse and that in a large and ample both manner and measure if good courses be taken for it accordingly which can be best done by some Act of Parliament if the Estates of the Land might be pleased to take this matter into their consideration as a matter that highly and neerely concerneth the common good at this instant Matters of ten times lesse moment are ordinarily vouchsafed the help and authoritie of that most high and honourable Court and therefore great hope we may conceiue that in due time which is euen now this also shall For opportunitie I take it it hath passed betweene vs in our whole conference as a matter granted that there is opportunitie thereto offered vs abundantly because as it is most certainly knowne and out of all controuersie there are sundry Places and Countreys where Plantations may be made and our people may inhabite if they will Resp. What take you for a second cause Enr. The want of some good order and course for such a purpose such I meane as may be setled generally all the Land ouer by Regall and Legall authoritie and not by priuate agreements and directions only which if I be not much deceiued will neuer effect such a worke while the world standeth The ancient Romans well vnderstanding this neuer therefore attempted the plantation of any one Collony or City alone or of any of those lands they had gotten in warre but that first there was Lâ—…x lâ—…ta a speciall Law or publike Decree much like an Act of Parliament with vs made for it the titles whereof were De Colonys dedâ—…cendis De Agris diuideâ—…dis and other like Resp. The Kings Maiesty permitteth any that will to goe Enr. 1. First that is more then we doe know whatsoeuer folke doe say 2. Experience doth shew there must be vsed to the thorow effecting of any such attâ—…mpt a Coactiâ—…e as well as a Permissiue power It is not an easie matter scarce to be hoped for in these daies and in our land to make if need should be any great army for the field much lesse to get Voluntaries enough for a Plantation considering that it is easier to get carelesse young men and single men to goe out of their Country vnto a warfare then to get setled Housholders and whole Families men women and children to goe into a strange country to a plantation and habitation Resp. What may be a third cause Enr. The want of industry and inclination to labour and take any paines in our people who
will neuer say well Many idle wretches when they come into such places because they cannot haue the plenty without paines not finde those golden mountaines they dreamed of at home though many things bee notable and very good yet will cauill at and blame euery thing Suppose it be somewhat as they say that is The ground not so fruitfull as some places here in England yet doth it follow therefore it is not worth the hauing If I be not deceiued There bee few Countries in Europe that can compare with England for richnesse of the Soile and fatnesse of the earth yet we all know they are not therefore forsaken Againe in England it selfe all places are not alike good As there be some of excellent mold so there be barren heath and hungry Soiles a great many yet we see people are glad to inhabit them Be it then that some of those parts be no better then our worser grounds our heaths Mendip hills Wiltshire downes Salisbury plaines and other like yet I hopâ—… they are better then none A great deale of such ground together I thinke may be as good as a little good ground If any man will thus consider of such complaints and murmurs he shall see no great cause to regard them These therefore thus satisfied if you haue any thing else to say say on Resp. Some say also That those Countries are so ouer growne with wood trees bushes and such like that there is no roome for building no ground for pasture and tillage or at least not without excessiue labour and charge or intolerable and pitâ—…ifull spoile of the woods and timbor to no vse Enr. It cannot be but that those countries hauing either not at all or but little as yet beene inhabited must needs be much ouergrowne with woods and no small part thereof to be a very Forrest and Wildernesse yet certaine it is that there are a thing very admirable and almost beyond expectation there are I say in them to be found many goodly parts of those Countries that are very cleare of woods faire and goodly open champion ground large Meadowes and Pastures many hundred sometimes thousands of Acres together So that besides the wood-lands there is abundantly roome and ground enough to build and inhabit vpon for more people I beleeue then will hastily be gotten ouer to dwell there and more ground open and cleare already rid for pasture and tillage then yet there will be people and cattle enough had thither to such vses the same to conuert and employ And therefore there needs not either that Complaint which they make of the excessiue store and encomberment of woods nor which is worse of that present and hastie spoile and burning vp of woods on the sudden for making of roome that some doe talke of and would haue to be made and as it is reported haue already made by burning vp thousands of Acres together This truly in my opinion is a thing very wicked and such as cannot but be displeasing to Almightie God who abhorreth all wilfull waste and spoile of his good creatures Gather vp that which is left saith our Sauiour Ioh. 6. 12. that nothing be lost and a thing that in common ciuilitie and humane policie should not be suffered to be done or being done not passe vnpunished Wee may know by our owne present want of wood here in England what a pretious commoditie wood is and be warned by our owne harmes to make much of it if we haue plenty thereof and no further nor faster to cut it downe then present vse and good occasions from time to time shall require We should not be so blinde as not to foresee that if the countries come once to be inhabited there will be so many and so great occasions of cutting downe wood and timber trees as will quickly cause infinite store thereof necessarily to be imployed and so the grounds from time to time speedily enough to be made cleare and ridde for other vses For first the very building of Houses to which adde the necessary making of fences about houses and grounds will vse an infinit deale of Wood and Timber Secondly The store that will daily and yeerely be spent in necessary vses for fire which at the first specially till houses bee warme and drie and the ayre corrected will and must be more than ordinarie cannot but if once any number of Inhabitants goe ouer be exceeding great Thirdly The building and making of Ships and shipping will require and consume very much there And such order may bee taken that by the woods there great spare a thing very needfull may be made in England of our Woods here for that vse Fourthly To these places may be transplanted the making of Glasse and Iron as well for England as for the same Countries two things that as it is well knowne doe deuoure yet vpon necessary vses wonderfull store of Wood continually Fiftly The Trades of Potters for earthen vessels and of Coupers for treen Vessels both very necessary specially at the first will and must still from time to time spend vp much Wood and Timber Sixtly And little behinde them in expence of Wood will be that very necessary Trade of making of Salt considering how great vse there is and will be thereof there for the fishing voyages besides all other vses thereof both there and else-where Seuenthly No small quantity thereof likewise may be cut vp and transported into England for our Buildings for Coupers Ioyners and Trunk-makers trades heere which now at a daerer hand wee buy and fetch out of other Countries Eighthly Besides the Woods standing are of themselues and by industry more may be made a great fortification for the Inhabitants against man and Beast till the Countries be and can be better employed and fortified These and other like necessary and great vses of wood considered which either must or may be made thereof little reason or cause is there why as if it could like the waters in the riuers neuer be spent while the world stands there should any sudden and needlesse spoile by fire or any other wastfull hauocke be made thereof and seuerely deserue they to be punished that shall make it and sharply the rest to be restrained that none like hereafter be made Resp. These Countries are full of wilde Beasts Beares c. Enr. 1. Some of them as the Summer Ilands haue no such at all No harmfull thing in them 2. None of them especially Newfound Land as farre as I heare haue any or at least any store of noysome creatures as of Serpents Crocodiles c. as haue many parts of this Continent which yet long hath beene and still be inhabited 3. It is well there are some beasts there wilde at least if not tame That is an argument vndeniable that tame beasts may there be bred and liue 4. Better wilde then none at all For of some of them some good vse may be made for the present viz. for labour for
Countrey Parish twentie or thirtie Housholds at the least Which begun with such conuenient distance and sufficient amplenesse of ground annexed may admit in time a double or treble increase And thirdly To haue and set vp among themselues all manner of Sciences Trades Handicrafts and Employments necessarie and conuenient for the cohabitation and life of Man Resp. This would require a greater number then yet you haue spoken of I thinke so great out of all question as in all England is not to be had Enr. I am not of your mind Few men doe well consider what a number for such a purpose in all England is to be had if there were once good courses taken for the hauing of them For my owne part truly I am fully perswaded That there are few Townes and Parishes in England but haue in them of all sorts one and other that might to such a purpose be spared enough to make and plant in such a sort as I haue said before as great a Towne and Parish in some new Plantation as that within England in which at this present they doe dwell and abide A number I suppose sufficient presently to furnish at large more then all any one Plantation that is now in hand Thirdly The attempts at the beginning specially cannot but be liable to some dangers of the Enemie If then their number be but small and they goe forth as hitherto by scores or hundreds Alas what strength can they be of either to subdue the Borderers or resist the Inuaders The Aduersarie may wait a time at his best leasure when they are growne a litle worth the rifling to displant them of their seates and as to the French in Terra Florida the Spaniard did to dispatch them of their liues Whereas if they goe out by thousands or ten thousands as all good Plantations should and euer haue done First They shall be able to withstand and if need be to subdue the Naturalls adiacent and then within a few yeeres partly of themselues and partly by the assistance of their Confederates which the stronger they see ours to be the firmer no doubt will they be vnto them they will by Gods blessing and aid be so well fortified by Land and prouided by Sea that they shall as little need to feare any forraine forces there as we God be praysed doe here and happely grow no lesse famous for martiall and ciuill policie both in that Continent then our Nation is in this Fourthly Now it is a fit time and we are well at leisure for such a purpose to attend such an employment whereas if any trouble if any warres by Sea or by Land should arise vs here And doe we thinke or are we sure these Halcion dayes will euer hold we should haue neither time nor meanes to spare to prosecute any such businesse abroad As therefore a man that will build a great House must follow it closely while the Summer lasteth and the weather is faire lest the Winter come on which will both hurt and hinder his worke so it is good for vs in this faire time of Peace and Summer like weather of leisure and libertie to follow these businesses with speed lest in time we say Had we thought this We know Pòst est occasio calua This is a point of that worth and weight that it alone me thinkes should be enough to stir vp all England to take heed that she doe not sit still Iudg. 18. 9. and let it slip out of her hands For as saith the Poet Nec quae praeterijt cursu reuocabitur vnda Nec quae praeterijt hora redire potest That is Nor can the tide that 's eb'd and gone int's proper course reuoked be Nor can the time when once it 's past returne againe we plainely see Fifthly If this worke should be intercepted by any vnexpected accident before it be brought to some perfection that is That the present Plantation may if need be for a time subsist of it selfe in what a miserie should they be poore wretches that haue aduentured the first attempt And which God forbid who can tell if we dally and delay and make not greater speed thither and thereabout then yet we doe whether some other Nation of better spirit and worthier resolution may not to our great shame and confusion step in before vs and stop the gate against vs Sixthly Besides the setting forth by great numbers is no small incouragement vnto them that doe goe forth for the present and a notable inducement to others as vnto a hopefull businesse to second them from time to time hereafter whereas on the contrarie as experience plainely proues this going forth by handfuls discomforts them that be sent away emboldens the Aduersarie disâ—…redites the Action and But who can reckon vp all the euils thereof discourageth euerie one that heareth thereof to aduenture either his person or his purse in it as doubting lest the attempt come at length as other-like heretofore haue done to iust nothing and that they which are thither gone are as banished or condemned persons but cast away These causes and reasons considered I rest confident that it is necessarie there should into these Plantations be remoued yeerely for a time ten or twelue thousands at the least Whom these satisfie not I might send to the Bee-hiues where they may obserue that the smallest swarmes doe seldome prosper but the greatest neuer lightly faile or to the Locusts of the Earth in whom Salomon Prou. 30. 37. noteth this for a point of their excellent wisdome that they goe forth by heapâ—…s or great troupes But not resting thereon though these naturall experiments are not to be despised I will remit them to one of the greatest Politicians that euer was among men I meane Moses a man full of the Spirit of God and all wisedome who conducting the Children of Israel to the Landward of promise a Land formerly inhabited a Land alreadie builded and planted a Land reasonably well cleared of Woods and wild-Beasts yet tels them whose number was not small as this one instance may declare viz. that when they came out of Aegypt there were of them men besides Children and Strangers Sixe hundred thousand and this withall that when they passed into the Land fourtie yeeres after vnder the hand of Ioshua out of two Tribes and an halfe that dwelt on this side Iordan there went fourtie thousand men of warre to assist the rest that therefore the Lord would not destroy their Enemies all at once but by little and little lest the wild-Beasts of the Field should increase vpon them Deuter. 7. 22. Whence they may gather That if so great a multitude were in Moses opinion with the least to inhabite an emptie Land of no greater Continent and spaciousnesse then that was and it were but for feare of the increase of the wild-Beasts against them and therefore vpon good pollicie and for a time it were better some of the men of that
by him most affected all tending to this maine end To moue our people of England to plant themselues abroad and free themselues of that penurie and perill of want wherein they liue at home But none that I know hath handled the point in generall viz. to shew the benefit and the good the lawfulnesse and the ancient and frequent vse the facilitie and necessitie that is indeed if I may so speake the Doctrine of Plantations That taske therefore haue I vndertaken which how I haue performed I leaue to others to iudge requesting this at your hands beneuolent and curteous Readers that you obserue and consider First That I am the first that hath broken this Ice and searched out this way and that therefore it must needs be to me more rough and rude then if I had passed a smooth water and gone along in an vsuall and beaten path Secondly That my whole purpose and intent is principally and specially to doe some good this way for and with the meaner sort of our people to whose capacitie therefore it was fit and more then fit necessarie that I should fit and frame my speech That obserued I doubt not but you will not onely beare with but also approue of my plainnesse as best befitting my purpose to worke and my subiect to worke vpon the more learned and iudicious sort I freely and ingeniously acknowledge my selfe more desirous to haue my Teachers and directours in this kind of Learning then my Readers and Followers If any thinke it a point beyond my Compasse for a Diuine by Profession to deale with an argument of this Nature viz. to intreat of Plantations which are commonly taken to be a matter altogether of Temporall and Secular right Let him be pleased to know First That I am not alone nor the first in this attempt but haue for my president the precedent examples of some farre before me in Learning and Knowledge as Master Hackluit who long since wrote a great Volumne of English Voiages Master Crashaw in England and Master Whitaker in Virginia who haue both employed their Pens and paines for that Plantation Secondly That Plantations are Actions wherein we also of the Cleargie are as farre interessed as any other They are as free for vs as for others and if men will haue any hope that they shall prosper in their hands we must haue a distinct part a certaine share and Cleargie-like Portion in them as well as men of other places and qualities haue theirs And therefore to write and discourse of and for them it behoueth and becommeth vs of the Cleargie as well and as much as any other Thirdly That one proper and principall end of Plantations is or should be the enlargement of Christs Church on Earth and the publishing of his Gospell to the Sons of Men and therefore in that respect it cannot but properly and directly belong vnto them to whom Christ hath giuen commandement and authority aboue others to take care of his Flock to seeke the furtherance of the Gospel and to sound forth the glad tidings of Saluation to all Nations to be principall Agents therein and speciall furtherers thereof That my proofes and examples are most out of the Bible and Sacred Histories I haue done it of purpose not onely because they are with me most familiar and of best authoritie but because they should be so with all Christians euen the Lay sort likewise As I am not of the Papists opinion that is to care little for the Scripture so I like not to be of the Popish fashion which is to fill the peoples eares with sound of the Names of Fathers Councels and others-like which they nor are nor can be acquainted with but to let them heare little and see lesse the Word of God in which they easily might and certainly should be ripe and ready and well both seene and read Besides for this present argument it is so frequent in the Scriptures that there is not any substantiall point thereabout for or of the which because the practice thereof was verie much in those times there is not some either precept or president to be found If I haue any where dissented from the common practice and shewed some dislike of the ordinarie proceedings in these Proiects I desire but so farre to be borne with and accepted as I bring good reason for it and declare or intimate some iust and reasonable cause thereof Though I haue not presumed to set downe any certaine and regular platforme of a good and right Plantation which happely to haue done would haue seemed in me too much either boldnesse or rashnesse yet thus much I presume to affirme of that I haue written that if any will read and consider it well he may without any great labour collect and find out a true and good platforme of such an Action I haue so answered many and most of the common Obiections made against and about these attempts that out of and by the same an answer may likewise be shaped to any other obiection that lightly can be made there-against The whole I haue so drawne vnto certaine heads and sâ—…rted againe into seuerall parts as I thought might best accord with the matter haudled and be most likely to yeeld ease and delight to the Reader Wherein that I haue digested all into the forme of a Conference or Dialogue hauing so many examples for it and most of them from the best of all Ages I am so far from fearing lest thereby I should offend any that I presume rather that in that point and paines aboue the rest howsoeuer I be a little the larger because of the Interlocution I shall be the better accepted my meaning and drift the sooner perceiued and my Labours and Lines the oftner lookt vpon and perused And now that I may reuert my speech to you my countrimen and friends you I say of the meaner sort for whose sake chiefly out of the abundance of my ardent loue and feruent desire to doe you good I haue put my selfe to all this paines I haue vndertaken this worke Be pleased I pray you to peruse that is to reade and cause to be read to you ouer and ouer this booke which I haue written to you and for you The Argument whereof I intreat therein is of Plantations which howsoeuer attempted by many worthy great and honourable Personages yet seeme little to bee accepted and respected of you for whom of all other they are most necessary and to whom properly they are intended Looks vpon the miserie and want wherein you doe and abiding in England you cannot but liue Looke vpon the plentie and felicitie wherein going hence you may liue Preferre not pouertie before riches nor your perpetuall euill and wretchednesse before perpetuall good happines Now is a time wherein you may do you and yours nitie for euer if you will Now God doth offer you that Opportugood with choice of place to rid your selues from your present miserie and
courses The Magistrates of our Land haue of late made many good statutes and prouisions for the beating downe of drunkennes for setting the poore and idle people to worke and other like but how little effect hath followed Drunkennesse encreaseth daily and laughes the Lawes to scorne Pouertie more more ariseth and idle people still doe multiply Other sinnes and disorders are sometimes punished but yet they still remaine and as it were in despite of Lawes they spread more and more abroad The reason is if a man may be bold to giue the reason of it They strike at the boughes but not at the Rootes If there were the like good Orders taken for the rooting out and beating downe of Idlenesse it selfe in our Land which can be done no other way but by Plantations both Idlenesse it selfe and all the rest of the Euils beforenamed and other like that arise out of it would vanish away as smoake before the winde and melt as Waxe against the Fire Then these blinde and filthy Ale-houses which are none other than the Deuils Dennes wherein lurke his beastly slaues day and night which all the Iustices in the Countrey cannot now keepe downe would sinke of themselues to thâ—…â—…ound Then these Tobacco-shops that now stinke all the Land ouer would shortly cease to â—…ume out their infernal smoakes and come to a lower rate and reckoning by an hundred fold Then the many idle Trades which of late are risen vp in the Land vnder colour to keepe people from idlenesse and to set the poore on worke such I say as the former Ages knew not and our present Age needes not as which serue to nothing but to the increase of pride and vanitie in the world would quickly grow out of request Then the Prisons and Sheriffes Wards would not be one halfe so full of Malefactors and Bankrupts as now they are And last of all but not the least for who can reckon vp all the benefits that this one Remedy would bring vnto our Land then should not one halfe so many people of our Land bee cut off by shamefull violent and vntimely deaths as now there are Resp. Your speeches are very probable but by this meanes so many idle people of our Land as you intimate being remoued the Plantations will then be pestered with them there as much and as bad as we are here and so those good workes be discredited and haply euerthrowne thereby It is but the remouing of euill from one place to another Enr. Howsoeuer such a Remouall made our Land which is the poynt in question shall be cleared and cured But of that extreme hurt to the Plantations that you fore-cast there is no feare For whereas there are in our Land at this present many idle persons some are such as gladly would worke if they could get it They are idle not for any delight they haue in idlenesse but because they can get no body nor meanes to set them on worke Some are idle indeed as may worke and will not They haue wherewithall to keepe themselues from idlenesse that is worke enough of their owne to doe but delighting in idlenesse and counting it a disgrace to men of their meanes to worke and labour in their vocation they will haue and hyre others to doe their worke to be their seruants and labourers which they needed not and which other men of like quality and ability that are thrifty and good Common-wealths men indeed doe not nor will doe and they themselues the while liue idlely spend their time vainely lye at the Ale-house or Tauerne bibbing and bowzing beastly sit at Cards or Tables loosely haunt idle and lewd company shamefully and giue themselues to no good practice or exercise commendably but runne on from ill to worse to the shame and discredit of themselues and their friends and many times to the vtter vndoing and ouerthrow of them and theirs miserably A third sort there are as it were a mixt kinde of people neither altogether idle nor yet well and sufficiently set aworke Of these some worke at a low and small rate many times glad to serue for any thing rather than to begge steale or starue and some of them set vp idle and pelting Trades as it were shifts to liue by for lacke of better imployment that so they may haue one way or other somewhat to liue vpon Of all these if the first and third sort were remoued into Plantations where they might haue either good Liuings of their owne to liue vpon or good imployment by others to labour vpon it is no doubt but that the most part of them would be glad of the exchange and proue laborious and industrious people to their owne good and the good not the hurt of the Countrey into which they shall be remoued And then for the second or middle sort it is not much to be doubted but that the occasions of their idlenesse taken away as I said but now they also will leaue to be idle fall to doe their owne worke as they should learne to thriue and become profitable to themselues and this our Countrey wherein they remaine and â—…e at length as much ashamed to be idle and vaine henceforth as heretofore they were to worke and labour If any continue their former lewd and disordered courses being but a few so many of their wonted Companions being seuered and gone from them there is hope that a little seuerity of the Laws which easily reclaimeth a few when on a multitude sometimes it can doe little good will and may bring them also to a better course And thus I hope you see That it is not impossible the idlenesse that is in our Land to be notably cured and expelled and that this may be done either onely or at least no way so soundly readily and speedily as by Plantations And therefore the slate of our Land considered if there were no other benefit that might arise of Plantations yet this alone viz. the rooting out and destroying of idlenesse out of the Land which else Uiper-like will in time root out and destroy the Land it selfe wherein it is bred were cause all-sufficient and reason enough why such attempts should be vndertaken and by all possible meanes furthered and hastened Resp. I cannot but like well of all that hitherto you haue said touching the goodnesse and necessity of these Actions But yet mee thinkes there may be a Question Whether they be lawfull or not For mee thinkes it should neither be lawfull for any people to forsake the Countrey wherein God hath placed them and in which they and their Progenitors for many generations haue remained nor to inuade and enter vpon a strange Countrey of which they haue no warrant nor assurance that God is pleased they should aduenture vpon it Enr. If any will make question of the lawfulnesse of such Actions Nature it selfe which hath taught the Bees when their Hiue is ouer-full to part Company and
be further satisfied in Resp. The Enterprises themselues Plantations I meane you haue well shewed me to be in themselues very commendable and good and for our Land and Nation at this present exceeding necessarie yet as I suppose there cannot or there will not sufficient and conuenient means be had for the expedition and performance therof as is requisite as may appeare by the â—…ll successe the giuing ouer or slow proceeding of such Actions heretofore from time to time to the notable hinderance of the Gospel the great dishonour and reproach of our Nation and the extreme losse and disaduantage of the Vndertakers and Aduenturers and then to what end is it to take in hand impossibilities Enr. You say well and therefore for speedie and due remedie in this behalfe especially and aboue all other things as wherein alone the true and perfect cure of those euils doth consist it were to be wished that by Act of Parliament some good courses might speedily be taken throughout the Land by which it might effectually be accomplished For Plantations indeed are properly a matter of publique and generall and not as the practice is with vs of priuate and particular Action If it seeme to any a matter too meane and vnworthy a Parliamentarie consideration for my part I protest I can in no wise be of their opinion vnlesse I may plainly be taught and informed that it is no part of a Fathers care to place abroad his Children as they grow vp but to keepe them still vnder his owne Roofe till they eate him out of House and home or of an Housholders prouidence to foresee that his Meyny exceed not his meanes or of the Sheephâ—…ards dutie when his Flocke is increased to prouide them larger pastures or of the Gardiners charge when his plants and sets are ouer thicke and doe incomber the ground to remoue disperse them into other plots where hauing more roome they may bigger grow and better prosper Resp. Till that may be obtained which all men know cannot possibly be on a suddaine and those attempts being now begun doe necessarily require speedie and much supply and continuall furtherance lest else besides all other euils that be â—…all on vs which is written in the Gospel Luk. 14. 29. viz hauing laid such foundations and being not able to performe them all that behold them mocke vs saying These men these Englishmen began Plantations here and there and now are not able to make an end of any one of them what courses might there be taken for the speedie effecting of them in some tolerable measure and commendable manner Enr. Till some good course that way a thing in mine opinion much to be desired may be obtained and prouided if I might be bold to speake my minde and toward a common good why should it not be free and without offence for any man as a well willer to so good a worke to speake since as it hath been well and of old obserued Aliquando est olitor opportuna locutus A meane man may sometime speake to the purpose I could be willing to acquaint you or any other with what inferiour courses I haue conceiued might the meane while be taken and followed for the bringing of the same to some tolerable estate and reasonable good effect Resp. I pray you let me heare them for I hope no man will dislike with any man to put to his helping hand to doe any good in this great worke which so much concerneth all specially when as you intend not to vrge or binde any man to your words but leaue it free to all men to accept or reiect as it pleaseth them Enr. Trusting then of fauourable acceptation I will speake what I thinke Two things there be aboue all other most materiall and necessarie for such a businesse to be prouided that is men and money People to goe to the Plantation and Prouision to set them forth Both which howsoeuer to some they may be thought impossible to be had I am perswaded if good courses for them might be vsed though not without some difficultie And what high and worthy enterprize is there that euer hath without some difficultie beene atchieued may sufficiently be obtained 1 For Money well knowne it is that many Honourable and other worthy Persons haue this way employed much and no doubt intend to proceed accordingly 2 It cannot be but that some of those that aduenture in person intending there to inhabit doe and will goe some of them sufficiently and many of them some-what prouided that way Few will goe with an emptie purse 3 For procuring what farther shall be needfull it seemeth vnto me it were verie requisite and a thing not verie hard to be obtained by some or other that some Letters Patent vnder the great Seale of England or other like course might be set forth for some gâ—…nerall and Yeerely Collection or contribution to that purpose and the Briefes Bookes rather for it to be directed either to the Lord Bishops of euerie Diocesse or to the Sherife of euerie Shire by them to be dispersed into euerie Parish For likely it is that many well-disposed able men would giue to this great and worthy worke more liberally then to others many of farre lesse importance and yet good summes of Money haue thus beene oft collected specially if men may perceiue by the remouing and departure of any it redounds indeed as is pretended to the common good 4 Probable also it is that the Iustices of euerie Shire vpon good intimation of the cause vnto them would be pleased to bestow some part of that Money which quarterly at their Sessions is receiued by the name of Hospitall Money toward the setting forth of some maimed Souldiers or some other poore of the said Countrey yeerely into some or other of those Plantations 5 Neither is it improbable that the Churchwardens and Ouerseers for the Poore that haue as in sundry Parishes within this Land they haue seuerall portions and summes of Money by well disposed people in their last Wils or otherwise giuen and bequeathed for and toward the reliefe of the Poore in their Parish committed to their charge and custodie may be perswaded and drawne or otherwise caused to conferre and lay out the said portions or summes of Money or the greatest part thereof in this sort to the setting forth of some of the Poore of their Parish Children or other that else must within the same continually be relieued and maintained Resp. That were very vnreasonable and euill too I thinke for what consciâ—…nce were this to sulsifie the trust reposed in them and to defraud their Poore of their reliefe Enr. No euill no wrong no defrauding at all howsoeuer you vpon the suddaine doe so take it but rather this were a readie way to employ it indeed to their vse to whom by the Donours it was properly intended whereas now for the most part you shall â—…ind if you