THE THREE SHIPS SAIL
Elizabeth of England died in 1603. There came to the English throne James
Stuart, King of Scotland, King now of England and Scotland. In 1604 a
treaty of peace ended the long war with Spain. Gone was the sixteenth
century; here, though in childhood, was the seventeenth century.
Now that the wars were over, old colonization schemes were revived in the
English mind. Of the motives, which in the first instance had prompted
these schemes, some with the passing of time had become weaker, some
remained quite as strong as before. Most Englishmen and women knew now that
Spain had clay feet; and that Rome, though she might threaten, could not
always perform what she threatened. To abase the pride of Spain, to make
harbors of refuge for the angel of the Reformation--these wishes, though
they had not vanished, though no man could know how long the peace with
Spain would last, were less fervid than they had been in the days of Drake.
But the old desire for trade remained as strong as ever. It would be a
great boon to have English markets in the New World, as well as in the Old,
to which merchants might send their wares, and from which might be drawn in
bulk, the raw stuffs that were needed at home. The idea of a surplus
population persisted; England of five million souls still thought that she
was crowded and that it would be well to have a land of younger sons, a
land of promise for all not abundantly provided for at home. It were surely
well, for mere pride's sake, to have due lot and part in the great New
World! And wealth like that which Spain had found was a dazzle and a lure.
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