this venerable Hall, whose very walls eloquently remind us of the mighty
genius of Francis Bacon, it is interesting to recall that these two
charters of government, which were the beginning of Constitutionalism in
America and therefore the germ of the Constitution of the United States,
were put in legal form for royal approval by Lord Bacon himself. Thus
the immortal Treasurer of this Inn is directly linked with the
development of Constitutional freedom in America.

Bacon became a member of the council for the Virginia Company in 1609.
His deep interest in it is attested in the dedication to him by William
Strachey in 1618 of the latter's _Historie of Travaile into Virginia
Brittania_.

In his speech in the House of Commons on January 30, 1621, Bacon saw a
vision of the future and predicted the growth of America, when he said:

"This kingdom now first in His Majesty's Times hath gotten a lot or
portion in the New World by the plantation of Virginia and the
Summer Islands. And certainly it is with the kingdoms on earth as it
is in the kingdom of heaven, sometimes a grain of mustard seed
proves a great tree."

Truly the mustard seed of Virginia did become a great tree in the
American Commonwealth.

One of Bacon's nephews, also of the Inns of Court, Nathaniel Bacon,
became the first Liberal leader in the Colonies, and led the first
revolt against colonial misrule. He was probably of Gray's Inn, for it
is difficult to imagine a Bacon studying in any Inn than the one to
which the great Bacon had given so much loving care.