Encovragements, for such as shall have intention to bee vnder-takers in the new plantation of Cape Briton, now New Galloway in America

In Short

Published in 1625, this promotional treatise champions the establishment of a Scottish colony on Cape Breton Island, renamed New Galloway. The author outlines the profound moral, patriotic, and economic justifications for overseas plantation, drawing parallels to classical empires and Spanish success. He details the fertile landscape, abundant natural resources, and temperate climate, while offering concrete financial terms for prospective settlers. Ultimately, it serves as an urgent call to action, pressing impoverished gentlemen and restless youth to forge a prosperous, honorable legacy abroad rather than languishing in domestic decay.

The Story

The treatise opens by establishing colonization as a universal, divine mandate practiced by every great civilization from Adam and Noah to the Greeks and Romans. The author situates his own venture within a grand historical continuum of global discovery, citing the legendary exploits of Columbus, Cortez, Drake, and Raleigh. Having secured a royal patent for Cape Breton—now officially named New Galloway—from King James and received the continued encouragement of King Charles, the author outlines the precise rationale driving his enterprise.

The argument unfolds through three foundational motives. First, it champions the spiritual duty to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ among the native inhabitants, replacing ignorance with Christian worship. Second, it appeals to patriotic duty, arguing that overseas enterprise cures the domestic ills plaguing Scotland, specifically pointing to widespread idleness, prodigality, and the crushing financial burden of cautionarie, where individuals are entangled in mutual debts. Third, it highlights the undeniable prospect of private economic utility, demonstrating how industrious labor can vastly expand a family's patrimony.

Transitioning from philosophy to practical geography, the text provides a detailed survey of New Galloway. Situated between the forty-fifth and fifty-seventh degrees, the island boasts an exceptionally temperate climate comparable to the garden regions of France, alongside excellent harbors, navigable rivers teeming with salmon, and vast forests of oak, ash, and pine. The soil matches the fertility of Europe’s finest lands, naturally yielding maize, beans, pumpkins, roots, and an abundance of fruits. Furthermore, the surrounding sea offers an inexhaustible mine of wealth through rich fisheries of cod, herring, and whales, echoing the industrious model of the Hollanders.

Addressing potential anxieties regarding safety, the author describes the native population as few in number, poor, and unequipped with iron or steel weapons, rendering them entirely incapable of threatening a well-ordered plantation. Building upon this secure foundation, the text presents a comprehensive set of offers for prospective adventurers. Ministers receive entirely free passage, maintenance, and future parish allocations. Gentlemen and artisans are offered free transportation for themselves, families, and household goods, alongside provisions, sowing corn, hereditary land grants, and life-rents. In return, the undertaker asks only for a thirteenth part of the land's eventual increase, payable in local commodities rather than money, setting a strict deadline of December first for enrollment.

The work culminates in a stirring final appeal, fiercely condemning the domestic vices, hollow pride, and financial ruin of those who choose inaction over enterprise. It urges gentlemen of spirit to seize the enduring honor of planting a new dominion, ensuring their names are remembered with glory by posterity rather than lost to perpetual oblivion.

How It Unfolds

The historical precedent The treatise begins by mapping the grand lineage of global colonization, tracing it from biblical beginnings through the rise and fall of ancient empires. It invokes the enduring fame of classical and modern discoverers to prove that founding colonies is the ultimate hallmark of a great civilization.

The personal calling The author explains how he obtained a royal patent for Cape Breton from the late King James and resolved to follow the proven paths of earlier adventurers. He presents his enterprise as a natural extension of royal will under King Charles, designed to serve God, king, and country simultaneously.

The three driving motives The core argument breaks down into three distinct incentives: propagating the Christian faith among heathens, curing domestic idleness and financial distress in Scotland, and acquiring private wealth through honest industry. Special emphasis is placed on escaping the crushing burden of mutual debts known as cautionarie.

The description of New Galloway The text provides a rich geographical survey of the island, detailing its temperate climate, fertile soil, excellent harbors, and abundant timber. It catalogues the immense natural wealth of the land, from native crops and fruits to wild animals and rich rivers.

The harvest of the sea A significant portion highlights the vast fisheries surrounding the island, framing the sea as a golden mine akin to the foundational wealth of Holland. Cod, herring, whales, and shellfish are presented as immediate commodities that will fund broader economic prosperity.

The nature of the inhabitants The narrative reassures prospective settlers by characterizing the native population as sparse, poor, and lacking advanced weapons. It argues that their small numbers and primitive condition pose no obstacle to peaceful coexistence and trade.

The specific offers and terms The work outlines precise contracts for ministers, gentlemen, and artisans, guaranteeing free passage, provisions, and land tenure. In exchange, the undertaker requests only a modest thirteenth part of the land's yield in local commodities.

The final exhortation The book concludes with a passionate rebuke of domestic sloth and a final plea for noble spirits to embrace the enterprise. It contrasts the glory of building a lasting heritage with the shame of dying forgotten in idle poverty.

The People

The text is anchored by several key figures whose ambitions, authorities, and actions shape the enterprise. Sir Robert Gordon, writing as Lochinvar, stands at the center as the primary undertaker and visionary. He wants to fulfill his duty to God and king while rescuing his estate and peers from financial ruin, and what stands in his way is widespread skepticism, domestic sloth, and crushing debt; he ends up as a dedicated promoter staking his resources on a new colonial future.

Sovereigns King James and King Charles provide the foundational royal authority and encouragement, granting the patent and inspiring loyal subjects to action. Captain John Smith and Captain Newport appear as trusted historical actors whose documented experiences in Virginia guide Gordon’s understanding of New World relations. Smith records the practical realities of plantation, while Newport interacts directly with native leaders.

Among those leaders, Powhatan emerges as a prominent figure from Virginian precedents, depicted as a powerful king who freely traded land and even offered alternative territory to English colonists, serving as an exemplar of amicable native interaction. Finally, biblical and historical figures like Abraham, Solomon, and classical conquerors are invoked as moral archetypes, each wanting to establish enduring legacies through wisdom, commerce, or statecraft. Through these figures, the text weaves a network of authority and precedent that validates the modern Scottish adventurer's ambitions.

In Its Own Voice

Describing his primary spiritual motivation for crossing the Atlantic, the author emphasizes the divine duty of religious conversion:

As the chiefe and primarie end of mans creation is the Worshippe of GOD; so shall the first, and speciall motive of my proceeding be the advancement of his Glorie, and that by the propagation of the Gospell of IESVS CHRIST amongst an Heathen people, where Christianitie hath not beene knowne, nor the worshippe of the true GOD.

Detailing the economic promise of the surrounding waters, he identifies the ocean as a boundless source of wealth:

Fish is the maine Staple, from whence is to be extracted, a present commoditie to produce the rest: which howsoever it may seeme meane and base, yet it is the Myne, and the Sea is the source of these silvered streames of all these vertues, which hath made the Hollanders, the miracle of industrie, & patterne of perfection for these affaires.

What It's Really About

Beneath its promotional surface, the book examines the moral decay of seventeenth-century Scottish society, diagnosing a culture crippled by aristocratic idleness, prodigality, and the systemic trap of mutual debt known as cautionarie. It questions why a nation with such proud historical roots allows its younger sons and gentlemen to languish in poverty or shameful domestic schemes. The author argues that true nobility requires active virtue, labor, and public service rather than empty titles and inherited privilege. Ultimately, the work uses colonial expansion as an ethical crucible, asserting that reclaiming the wilderness is inseparable from spiritual redemption and the moral regeneration of the commonwealth.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in early modern history, colonial studies, or Scottish literature will find this text a fascinating window into the seventeenth-century mind. Reading it feels like sitting across from an impassioned, pragmatic promoter whose blend of biblical piety, classical learning, and urgent economic realism brings the colonial impulse into sharp focus. What stays with you is the raw intensity of a society trying to reinvent itself, grappling with very modern anxieties over debt, economic stagnation, and generational decline.

Honesty requires acknowledging its difficulties: the seventeenth-century spelling and archaic syntax demand patience, and its period attitudes toward indigenous peoples reflect the paternalistic and expansionist biases of its era. Yet, looking past these barriers reveals a remarkably transparent business proposal wrapped in humanist philosophy. It rewards the modern reader not merely as a historical artifact, but as a passionate human document about the desperate desire to build a better life against insurmountable odds.