, and to establish and
govern colonies within the region between 40 deg. and 48 deg., north latitude,
in America. The New England Council possessed neither the capital nor
the popular support necessary for engaging in colonizing ventures; and
during the fifteen years of its existence it did little but sublet to
others the rights which it possessed. Of the council's land grants, of
which there were many both to individuals and to corporations, and
which, often conflicting, furnished the grounds for innumerable future
disputes, four only are important as the basis of permanent colonies in
New England. The territory at Plymouth was granted to the Pilgrims in
1621; in 1628 the territory between the Merrimac and the Charles Rivers
was conveyed to the Company of Massachusetts Bay; and two grants made in
1629, of territory between the Merrimac and the Piscataqua to John
Mason, of territory between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec to Fernando
Gorges, mark the beginnings of the colonies of New Hampshire and Maine.
All its ventures profited the New England Council nothing. February 3,
1635, the territory within its jurisdiction was parceled out among the
patentees, and on June 7, its charter of fruitless privileges was
surrendered.

It was reserved for the London Company to begin the planting of the
first American commonwealth; but it was by happy chances rather than by
wise foresight in the promoters that the colony outlived the company.
The first comers, who were set down at Jamestown in 1607, would soon
have perished but for the harsh good sense of the redoubtable Captain
John Smith; and two years' experience with the wilderness and the
Indian, with dissensions among settlers and councillors, demonstrated
that the patent was unsuited to the purposes for which it had been
granted. More colonists were needed in the colony, more capital required
to transport and maintain them, more authority to direct and control
them. To meet these needs, a charter was obtained in 1609 which created
an incorporated joint-stock company under the title of "The Treasurer
and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the
First Colony of Virginia." Shares were offered for subscription, to be
paid for in money by the adventurers who remained in England, and in
personal service by the planters who went to the colony. Each
shareholder, whether adventurer or planter, was a member of the company,
and was to receive such dividends as his