Raleigh. It was the first of many specimens of absentee landlordism from
which America was to suffer. It began by setting apart an enormous stretch
of territory, bounded on the north by the latitude of the St. Croix River,
and on the south by that of Cape Fear, and extending westward
indefinitely. To this domain was given the general title of Virginia. It
was subdivided into two approximately equal parts, with a neutral zone
between them, which covered the space now occupied by the cities of New
York, Philadelphia, and Washington, and the land adjoining them. The
northern division was given in charge to the "Plymouth Company," and the
southern to the "London Company"; they were separate mercantile and
colonizing organizations, but the charter applied to both alike.

The colonies were to be under the immediate control of a council composed
of residents, but appointed by the king; this council was subordinate to
another, meeting in England; and this in its turn was subject to the
king's absolute authority. The emigrants were to pay a yearly rent of
one-fifth of the gold and silver produced, and a third as much of the
copper. A five per cent duty levied on alien traffic was for the first
five-and-twenty years to inure to the benefit of the colony, but afterward
should be the exclusive perquisite of the Crown. The right to call
themselves and their children English was permitted to the emigrants; and
they were also allowed to defend themselves against attacks, though it was
enjoined upon them to treat the natives with kindness, and to endeavor to
draw them into the fold of the Church.

Such was James's idea of what a charter for an American colony should be.
He was taking much for granted when he assumed the right to control the
emigrants at all; and he was careful to deprive them of any chance to
control in the least degree their own affairs. America was to be the abode
of liberty; but this monarch thought only of making it a field for his