me and
colonial expansion. The Dutch war and the conquest of Jamaica recalled
to men's minds the triumphs of Elizabeth; and those who gathered round
Charles II--bankrupt nobles, pushing merchants, and able
statesmen--turned to the business of trade and colonies with an
enthusiasm unknown since the days of Gilbert and Raleigh.

Yet it was an enthusiasm well tempered to practical ends, purged of
resplendent visions and vague idealisms. The plantations, regarded as
incidents in the life of commerce, were thought to be important when
they were found to be prosperous. In 1661 the king was assured that his
American possessions were "beginning to grow into Commodities of great
value and Esteeme, and though some of them continue in tobacco yet upon
the Returne hither it smells well, and paies more Custome to his
Majestie than the East Indies four times ouer." It was a statement of
which the new king was not likely to miss the significance. Determined
to preserve the prerogative without offending the nation, Charles was
never indifferent to the material welfare of England; the expansion of
trade would increase his own revenue, while the vigilance which
preserves liberty he thought likely to be relaxed among a prosperous and
well-fed people. To commercial and colonial expansion the merry monarch
therefore gave his best attention. If he yawned over dull reports in
council, he listened to them with ready intelligence, and was prepared
to encourage every reasonable project for the extension of the empire.

For new colonial ventures opportunity was not lacking. Widely separated
settlements along the American coast were cut in twain by New Netherland
and flanked on either side by the possessions of France and Spain. To
forestall rivals in occupying all the territory claimed by England, and
to exploit intelligently its commercial resources, seemed at once a
public duty and a private opportunity. And no region was thought more
important, either in a commercial or a military way, than the Cape Fear
and Charles River valleys. So at least reasoned the Earl of Clarendon,
Ashley Cooper, and Sir John Colleton; to them, associated with five
others, was accordingly issued in 1663, and again in 1665, a proprietary
grant to the Carolinas. The patentees, upon whom the charter conferred
the usual right to establish and govern colonies, expected that the
surplus population of Barbados and the Bahamas, where capital and
slavery were driving out whit