8. Newfoundland claims to be the oldest British colony. True, it was taken possession of by Gilbert in the name of Queen Elizabeth, but no regular settlement was made there until long afterwards. The island was inhabited mainly by a floating population that came and went. Some thousands of fishermen came in spring, and on the approach of winter re-embarked with the cod they had caught and cured. The English government wanted no regular settlers here. They wished to preserve the island simply as a fishing-station, and the fisheries as nurseries for the navy. In spite of all discouragement settlers constantly increased, but more than a hundred years passed, after Gilbert took possession, before the first governor was appointed.
9. The country around Hudson Bay was claimed by the English by right of discovery. Hudson Strait and Bay recall the name of Henry Hudson, who, in the service of King James, first entered and explored these seas. His fate is, perhaps, the saddest that any of the brave men, engaged in discoveries in these icy regions, have suffered. The crew mutinied, and Hudson, with his son and seven others, was turned adrift in a small boat and never afterwards heard of.
10. The Hudson Bay Company was authorised by Charles II. in 1670, to take possession of the lands around Hudson Bay. It was soon found that the country was too cold for colonists to settle in it, but that a valuable fur trade could be carried on. "Forts," or trading-stations, were accordingly set up on the shores of the Bay, and trade was opened with the Indian trappers who came once a year with their annual catch of furs.
11. Each summer a ship arrived from London, bringing all that the Indian most needed or most fancied, such as guns, knives, axes, spirits, looking-glasses, blankets, beads, and trinkets of all sorts. When these had been properly arranged in the great room of the fort, the traffic began. The Indians were first admitted to the outer room with their bundles of furs. Each skin was examined and the price decided on was paid in the form of little coloured sticks. With these counters each red man passed into the inner room and exchanged them for such articles as he wished to purchase.
12. Before concluding this short sketch of the progress made in English colonization during the reigns of the Stuarts, justice compels us to say that the "Merry Monarch"—who is supposed never to have said a foolish thing, and never to have done a wise one—acted wisely on behalf of his colonies. He established a Colonial Council to take the oversight of all the colonies and see to their welfare. They were to arrange for a common system of government and trade, to assist the right sort of people to emigrate, and to bind the mother-country and the colonies together by schemes for mutual help.
(5) STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY AT SEA.
1. Britain has long been acknowledged mistress of the seas, and our very existence as a nation, still more as an empire, depends on our being able to keep that position; for it is only by command of the sea that we can defend the scattered parts of our empire, and make sure of being fed at home, seeing that a large part of our food comes from abroad. England began to be a great Sea Power when the Spanish Armada was destroyed (1588), but more than a hundred years had yet to pass before she could lay undisputed claim to the foremost place upon the seas. Meanwhile, a great struggle took place between the Dutch and English for the leading place.
2. No braver or more skilful seamen ever sailed the seas than our Dutch rivals. Holland was at last obliged to yield the palm, because she had to defend her borders from attack by France on land whilst carrying on war with England at sea. We owe much to the fact that our land is encircled by the sea. Hence Shakespeare speaks of it as
"This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands."
3. Had James I. been like the great queen whom he succeeded, Holland would probably not have got the start of England, as she did, when he was king. Under his timid government our nation sank to a low place among the Powers of Europe, whilst Holland stepped forward and took our place as the rival of Spain, and in the course of a few years made herself the first maritime state in the world. The Dutch became great ship-builders, and in their ships carried on the trade of a large part of Europe. They became in fact the great ocean carriers of the day, holding the position which is now held by ourselves; or to quote the writer of Fights for the Flag—"They swept the Spanish flag from the seas. The carrying trade of the world was in their hands. They fished in all waters, traded in all ports, gathered the wealth of the world under all skies, and, as far as marine qualities were concerned, might almost have been web-footed."