the leaders of the early English colonies in North America -all gained their first experience in Ireland, and England learnt to establish herself beyond the Irish Sea before she leaped the Atlantic.'' The first British colony in America, at Roanoke, was established by Sir Richard Grenville, in 1585, under a charter held by Raleigh, his half-brother. The remaining colonists had to be rescued and taken back to England the next year after failing to support themselves. One of them, surveyor Thomas Hariot, wrote afterwards: 'Some of our companie towards the ende of the yeare, shewed themselves too fierce, in slaying some of the people, on some towns, upon causes that on our part might easily enough have been borne with all. '~ 2 There are many interconnections between the British colony of Ireland and the British colonies in the Americas. The plantation of southern Ireland with English and Scottish Protestants preceded the establishment of Virginia, and this experience strongly influenced the development of the British colonies, distinguishing them from French imperialism in the region. The plantation of northern Ireland came soon after, leading the English commander in Ulster to remark that as great care was needed there as 'if these new colonies were to be led to inhabit among the barbarous Indians'.'The same propaganda was used to entice colonists to both Ireland and America, and, indeed, 'Many of the same men, often the seagoing at Glasgow University Library on June 24, 2015 rac.sagepub.com Downloaded from * Of this enterprise, Fall comments. 'Petty and brutal as was this &dquo;combined operation&dquo;, it possesses interest because it brought together, when they were umor and obscure, two great men who were later to co-operate on a tar greater scale.'&dquo; Is this really the pomt'?
