Volume 3 > Half-Volume 5

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from henceforward be equally free, and alike capable
of the said properties, privileges, protections, im-
munities, and rights of government, granted unto
us; and the merchants and merchant ships of all
nations may freely come to and trade with us without
being liable in their persons or goods to any manner
of capture, confiscation, seizure, forfeiture, attach-
ment, arrest, restraint, or prohibition for or by
reason of any embargo, breach of the peace, letters
of marque or reprisals, declaration of war with any
foreign prince, potentate, or state, or upon any
other account or pretence whatsoever. And we do
hereby not only grant, concede, and declare a gene-
ral and equal freedom of government and trade to
those of all nations who shall hereafter be of or con-
cerned with us, but also a full and free liberty of
conscience in matters of religion, so as the same be
not understood to allow, connive at, or indulge the
blaspheming of God's holy name, or any of his divine
attributes, or of the unhallowing or profaning the
Sabbath-day; and, finally, as the best and surest
means to render any government successful, durable,
and happy, it shall, by the help of Almighty God,
be ever our constant and chiefest care, that all our
further constitutions, laws, and ordinances be con-
sonant and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, right
reason, and the examples of the wisest and justest
nations; that from the righteousness thereof we may
reasonably hope for and expect the blessings of pro-
sperity and increase." So far all was well, but the
want of a leading spirit, of one who could overawe
the refractory, and of summary laws for their punish-
ment, soon began to be felt; Mr. Paterson, before
sailing, had been refused a position, and the event
showed the grossness of that error. In the original
articles of the company it had been agreed that he
should be allowed two per cent, on the stock, and
three per cent, on the profits, but he had given
up both these claims long before leaving Scotland.
"It was not," he said, "suspicion of the justice or
gratitude of the company, nor a consciousness that
his services could ever become useless to them, but
the ingratitude of some individuals experienced in
life, which made it a matter of common prudence in
him to ask a retribution for six years of his time, and
�10,000 spent in promoting the establishment of the
company. But now," he continues, "that I see it
standing upon the authority of parliament, and sup-
ported by so many great and good men, I release
all claim to that retribution; happy in the noble con-
cession made to me, but happier in the return which
I now make for it." The whole management was
vested in a council of seven, under regulations, the
fifth of which ran thus�"That after their landing
and settlement as aforesaid, they, the council, shall
class and divide the whole freemen inhabitants of the
said colony into districts, each district to contain at
least fifty and not exceeding sixty freemen inhabi-
tants, who shall elect yearly any one freeman inhabi-
tant whom they shall think fit to represent them in
a parliament or council-general of the said colony,
which parliament shall be called or adjourned by
the said council as they see cause; and being so
constitute, may, with consent of the said council,
make and enact such rules, ordinances, and constitu-
tions, and impose such taxes, as they think fit and
needful for the good of the establishment, improve-
ment, and support of the said colony; providing
alway, that they lay no further duties or impositions
of trade than what is after stated." One of the
councillors, writing at this time to the directors at
home, says, "We found the inconvenience of calling
a parliament, and of telling the inhabitants that they
were freemen so soon. They had not the true notion
of liberty. The thoughts of it made them insolent,
and ruined command. You know that it's expressly
in the 'Encouragements,' that they are to serve for
three years, and at the three years' end to have a
division of land." It was the opinion of this director
that no parliament should have been called till at
least the three years of servitude had expired. Even
then, from the characters of the settlers, who had
not been selected with that care which an experiment
of such vast consequence demanded, there might have
existed causes for delaying the escape. Among the
better class, there were too many young men of
birth. These were inexperienced and wholly unfit
for exercising authority, and equally ill adapted for
submitting to it. Among the lower class were many
who had been opposed to the Revolution, and who
had resorted to the colony purely from dissatisfaction
with the government at home. These, instead of
submitting with patience to the privations and labour
necessary in that state of society in which they were
now placed, would gladly have laid aside the mattock
and the axe, and have employed themselves in plun-
dering incursions upon the Indians or the Spaniards.
The subscribers to the scheme were so numerous,
that the idle, the unprincipled, and profligate had
found but too little difficulty in attaching themselves
to the infant colony. Those who were nominated
to the council, too, had been selected without judg-
ment. "There was not," Paterson writes in a letter
to Mr. Shields, "one of the old council fitted for
government, and things were gone too far before the
new took place."
The colony was first established at the beginning
of winter, the best season for Europeans first en-
countering the climate of  Darien; and the first letter
from the council to the directors thus expresses the
satisfaction of the colonists with their new destina-
tion:�"As to the country, we find it very healthful;
for though we arrived here in the rainy season, from
which we had little or no shelter for several weeks
together, and many sick among us, yet we are so far
recovered, and in so good a state of health, as could
hardly anywhere be expected among such a number
of men together. In fruitfulness this country seems
not to give place to any in the world; for we have
seen several of the fruits, as cocoa-nuts, barillas,
sugar-canes, maize, oranges, &c. &c., all of them,
in their kinds, the best anywhere to be found. Nay,
there is hardly a foot of ground but may be culti-
vated; for even upon the very tops and sides of the
hills there is commonly three or four feet deep of
rich earth, without so much as a stone to be found
therein. Here is good hunting and fowling, and
excellent fishing in the bays and creeks of the coast;
so that, could we improve the season of the year just
now begun, we should soon be able to subsist of our-
selves; but building and fortifying will lose us a whole
year's planting." This was, however, no more than
all of them must have foreseen; and they never
doubted of obtaining more provisions than they could
want from the West India islands or from the
American colonies. Orders, however, as has al-
ready been noticed, were sent out after them to all
the English governors, prohibiting all communica-
tion with them. These proclamations were rigidly
adhered to, and the unfortunate Scottish colonists
were denied those supplies which had seldom been
withheld from lawless smugglers, buccaneers, and
pirates. In addition to this, which was the prin-
cipal source of all their misfortunes, those who super-
intended the equipment of the expedition had,
through carelessness or design, furnished them with
provisions, part of which were uneatable; the con-
sequence of which was, that the colony had to be put