diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:20:03 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:20:03 -0700 |
| commit | fe9054df41c3973bb4b286f06bc43ef1750d4e9d (patch) | |
| tree | 0f97cdc01b0341df5b4447b754de6dff9bdc5bd8 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2898-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 127648 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2898-h/2898-h.htm | 5814 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2898.txt | 5329 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2898.zip | bin | 0 -> 123679 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/pofos10.txt | 5076 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/pofos10.zip | bin | 0 -> 121841 bytes |
9 files changed, 16235 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2898-h.zip b/2898-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0ecf93 --- /dev/null +++ b/2898-h.zip diff --git a/2898-h/2898-h.htm b/2898-h/2898-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04f3395 --- /dev/null +++ b/2898-h/2898-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5814 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pioneers of the Old South + A Chronicle of English Colonial Beginnings, Volume 5 In + The Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Mary Johnston + +Editor: Allen Johnson + +Release Date: December 29, 2008 [EBook #2898] +Last Updated: January 25, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean, Justin Philips, The James J. Kelly +Library Of St. Gregory's University, Alev Akman, and David Widger + + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH + </h1> + <h2> + A CHRONICLE OF ENGLISH COLONIAL BEGINNINGS + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Mary Johnston + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH</b> </a> + <br /><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> THE + THREE SHIPS SAIL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> THE + ADVENTURERS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> JAMESTOWN + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> JOHN + SMITH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> THE + "SEA ADVENTURE" <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> SIR + THOMAS DALE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> YOUNG + VIRGINIA <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> ROYAL + GOVERNMENT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> MARYLAND + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> CHURCH + AND KINGDOM <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> COMMONWEALTH + AND RESTORATION <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> NATHANIEL + BACON <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> REBELLION + AND CHANGE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> THE + CAROLINAS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> ALEXANDER + SPOTSWOOD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> GEORGIA + <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE NAVIGATION LAWS + </a><br /><br /> <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE </a><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE THREE SHIPS SAIL + </h2> + <p> + Elizabeth of England died in 1603. There came to the English throne James + Stuart, King of Scotland, King now of England and Scotland. In 1604 a + treaty of peace ended the long war with Spain. Gone was the sixteenth + century; here, though in childhood, was the seventeenth century. + </p> + <p> + Now that the wars were over, old colonization schemes were revived in the + English mind. Of the motives, which in the first instance had prompted + these schemes, some with the passing of time had become weaker, some + remained quite as strong as before. Most Englishmen and women knew now + that Spain had clay feet; and that Rome, though she might threaten, could + not always perform what she threatened. To abase the pride of Spain, to + make harbors of refuge for the angel of the Reformation—these + wishes, though they had not vanished, though no man could know how long + the peace with Spain would last, were less fervid than they had been in + the days of Drake. But the old desire for trade remained as strong as + ever. It would be a great boon to have English markets in the New World, + as well as in the Old, to which merchants might send their wares, and from + which might be drawn in bulk, the raw stuffs that were needed at home. The + idea of a surplus population persisted; England of five million souls + still thought that she was crowded and that it would be well to have a + land of younger sons, a land of promise for all not abundantly provided + for at home. It were surely well, for mere pride's sake, to have due lot + and part in the great New World! And wealth like that which Spain had + found was a dazzle and a lure. "Why, man, all their dripping-pans are pure + gold, and all the chains with which they chain up their streets are massy + gold; all the prisoners they take are fettered in gold; and for rubies and + diamonds they go forth on holidays and gather 'em by the seashore!" So the + comedy of "Eastward Ho!" seen on the London stage in 1605—"Eastward + Ho!" because yet they thought of America as on the road around to China. + </p> + <p> + In this year Captain George Weymouth sailed across the sea and spent a + summer month in North Virginia—later, New England. Weymouth had + powerful backers, and with him sailed old adventurers who had been with + Raleigh. Coming home to England with five Indians in his company, Weymouth + and his voyage gave to public interest the needed fillip towards action. + Here was the peace with Spain, and here was the new interest in Virginia. + "Go to!" said Mother England. "It is time to place our children in the + world!" + </p> + <p> + The old adventurers of the day of Sir Humphrey Gilbert had acted as + individuals. Soon was to come in the idea of cooperative action—the + idea of the joint-stock company, acting under the open permission of the + Crown, attended by the interest and favor of numbers of the people, and + giving to private initiative and personal ambition, a public tone. Some + men of foresight would have had Crown and Country themselves the + adventurers, superseding any smaller bodies. But for the moment the + fortunes of Virginia were furthered by a group within the great group, by + a joint-stock company, a corporation. + </p> + <p> + In 1600 had come into being the East India Company, prototype of many + companies to follow. Now, six years later, there arose under one royal + charter two companies, generally known as the London and the Plymouth. The + first colony planted by the latter was short-lived. Its letters patent + were for North Virginia. Two ships, the Mary and John and the Gift of God, + sailed with over a hundred settlers. These men, reaching the coast of what + is now Maine, built a fort and a church on the banks of the Kennebec. Then + followed the usual miseries typical of colonial venture—sickness, + starvation, and a freezing winter. With the return of summer the + enterprise was abandoned. The foundation of New England was delayed + awhile, her Pilgrims yet in England, though meditating that first remove + to Holland, her Mayflower only a ship of London port, staunch, but with no + fame above another. + </p> + <p> + The London Company, soon to become the Virginia Company, therefore engages + our attention. The charter recites that Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George + Somers, Knights, Richard Hakluyt, clerk, Prebendary of Westminster, + Edward-Maria Wingfield, and other knights, gentlemen, merchants, and + adventurers, wish "to make habitation, plantation, and to deduce a colony + of sundry of our people into that part of America commonly called + Virginia." It covenants with them and gives them for a heritage all + America between the thirty-fourth and the forty-first parallels of + latitude. + </p> + <p> + The thirty-fourth parallel passes through the middle of what is now South + Carolina; the forty-first grazes New York, crosses the northern tip of New + Jersey, divides Pennsylvania, and so westward across to that Pacific or + South Sea that the age thought so near to the Atlantic. All England might + have been placed many times over in what was given to those knights, + gentlemen, merchants, and others. + </p> + <p> + The King's charter created a great Council of Virginia, sitting in London, + governing from overhead. In the new land itself there should exist a + second and lesser council. The two councils had authority within the range + of Virginian matters, but the Crown retained the power of veto. The + Council in Virginia might coin money for trade with the Indians, expel + invaders, import settlers, punish ill-doers, levy and collect taxes—should + have, in short, dignity and power enough for any colony. Likewise, acting + for the whole, it might give and take orders "to dig, mine and search for + all manner of mines of gold, silver and copper... to have and enjoy... + yielding to us, our heirs and successors, the fifth part only of all the + same gold and silver, and the fifteenth part of all the same copper." + </p> + <p> + Now are we ready—it being Christmas-tide of the year 1606—to + go to Virginia. Riding on the Thames, before Blackwall, are three ships, + small enough in all conscience' sake, the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, + and the Discovery. The Admiral of this fleet is Christopher Newport, an + old seaman of Raleigh's. Bartholomew Gosnold captains the Goodspeed, and + John Ratcliffe the Discovery. The three ships have aboard their crews and + one hundred and twenty colonists, all men. The Council in Virginia is on + board, but it does not yet know itself as such, for the names of its + members have been deposited by the superior home council in a sealed box, + to be opened only on Virginia soil. + </p> + <p> + The colonists have their paper of instructions. They shall find out a safe + port in the entrance of a navigable river. They shall be prepared against + surprise and attack. They shall observe "whether the river on which you + plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If it be out of any + lake the passage to the other sea will be the more easy, and like + enough... you shall find some spring which runs the contrary way toward + the East India sea." They must avoid giving offense to the "naturals"—must + choose a healthful place for their houses—must guard their shipping. + They are to set down in black and white for the information of the Council + at home all such matters as directions and distances, the nature of soils + and forests and the various commodities that they may find. And no man is + to return from Virginia without leave from the Council, and none is to + write home any discouraging letter. The instructions end, "Lastly and + chiefly, the way to prosper and to achieve good success is to make + yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and + to serve and fear God, the Giver of all Goodness, for every plantation + which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out." + </p> + <p> + Nor did they lack verses to go by, as their enterprise itself did not lack + poetry. Michael Drayton wrote for them:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Britons, you stay too long, + Quickly aboard bestow you, + And with a merry gale, + Swell your stretched sail, + With vows as strong + As the winds that blow you. + + Your course securely steer, + West and by South forth keep; + Rocks, lee shores nor shoals, + Where Eolus scowls, + You need not fear, + + So absolute the deep. + And cheerfully at sea + Success you still entice, + To get the pearl and gold, + And ours to hold + VIRGINIA, + Earth's only paradise!... + + And in regions far + Such heroes bring ye forth + As those from whom we came; + And plant our name + Under that star + Not known unto our north. +</pre> + <p> + See the parting upon Thames's side, Englishmen going, English kindred, + friends, and neighbors calling farewell, waving hat and scarf, standing + bare-headed in the gray winter weather! To Virginia—they are going + to Virginia! The sails are made upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, + and the Discovery. The last wherry carries aboard the last adventurer. The + anchors are weighed. Down the river the wind bears the ships toward the + sea. Weather turning against them, they taste long delay in the Downs, but + at last are forth upon the Atlantic. Hourly the distance grows between + London town and the outgoing folk, between English shores and where the + surf breaks on the pale Virginian beaches. Far away—far away and + long ago—yet the unseen, actual cables hold, and yesterday and today + stand embraced, the lips of the Thames meet the lips of the James, and the + breath of England mingles with the breath of America. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE ADVENTURERS + </h2> + <p> + What was this Virginia to which they were bound? In the sixteenth and + early seventeenth centuries the name stood for a huge stretch of littoral, + running southward from lands of long winters and fur-bearing animals to + lands of the canebrake, the fig, the magnolia, the chameleon, and the + mockingbird. The world had been circumnavigated; Drake had passed up the + western coast—and yet cartographers, the learned, and those who took + the word from the learned, strangely visualized the North American + mainland as narrow indeed. Apparently, they conceived it as a kind of + extended Central America. The huge rivers puzzled them. There existed a + notion that these might be estuaries, curling and curving through the land + from sea to sea. India—Cathay—spices and wonders and Orient + wealth—lay beyond the South Sea, and the South Sea was but a few + days' march from Hatteras or Chesapeake. The Virginia familiar to the mind + of the time lay extended, and she was very slender. Her right hand touched + the eastern ocean, and her left hand touched the western. + </p> + <p> + Contact and experience soon modified this general notion. Wider knowledge, + political and economic considerations, practical reasons of all kinds, + drew a different physical form for old Virginia. Before the seventeenth + century had passed away, they had given to her northern end a baptism of + other names. To the south she was lopped to make the Carolinas. Only to + the west, for a long time, she seemed to grow, while like a mirage the + South Sea and Cathay receded into the distance. + </p> + <p> + This narrative, moving with the three ships from England, and through a + time span of less than a hundred and fifty years, deals with a region of + the western hemisphere a thousand miles in length, several hundred in + breadth, stretching from the Florida line to the northern edge of + Chesapeake Bay, and from the Atlantic to the Appalachians. Out of this + Virginia there grow in succession the ancient colonies and the modern + States of Virginia, Maryland, South and North Carolina, and Georgia. + </p> + <p> + But for many a year Virginia itself was the only settlement and the only + name. This Virginia was a country favored by nature. Neither too hot nor + too cold, it was rich-soiled and capable of every temperate growth in its + sunniest aspect. Great rivers drained it, flowing into a great bay, almost + a sea, many-armed as Briareus, affording safe and sheltered harbors. + Slowly, with beauty, the land mounted to the west. The sun set behind + wooded mountains, long wave-lines raised far back in geologic time. The + valleys were many and beautiful, watered by sliding streams. Back to the + east again, below the rolling land, were found the shimmering levels, the + jewel-green marshes, the wide, slow waters, and at last upon the Atlantic + shore the thunder of the rainbow-tinted surf. Various and pleasing was the + country. Springs and autumns were long and balmy, the sun shone bright, + there was much blue sky, a rich flora and fauna. There were mineral wealth + and water power, and breadth and depth for agriculture. Such was the + Virginia between the Potomac and the Dan, the Chesapeake and the + Alleghanies. + </p> + <p> + This, and not the gold-bedight slim neighbor of Cathay, was now the lure + of the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery. But those aboard, + obsessed by Spanish America, imperfectly knowing the features and + distances of the orb, yet clung to their first vision. But they knew there + would be forest and Indians. Tales enough had been told of both! + </p> + <p> + What has to be imaged is a forest the size of Virginia. Here and there, + chiefly upon river banks, show small Indian clearings. Here and there are + natural meadows, and toward the salt water great marshes, the home of + waterfowl. But all these are little or naught in the whole, faint + adornments sewed upon a shaggy garment, green in summer, flame-hued in + autumn, brown in winter, green and flower-colored in the spring. Nor was + the forest to any appreciable extent like much Virginian forest of today, + second growth, invaded, hewed down, and renewed, to hear again the sound + of the axe, set afire by a thousand accidents, burning upon its own + funeral pyres, all its primeval glory withered. The forest of old Virginia + was jocund and powerful, eternally young and eternally old. The forest was + Despot in the land—was Emperor and Pope. + </p> + <p> + With the forest went the Indian. They had a pact together. The Indians + hacked out space for their villages of twenty or thirty huts, their maize + and bean fields and tobacco patches. They took saplings for poles and bark + to cover the huts and wood for fires. The forest gave canoe and bow and + arrow, household bowls and platters, the sides of the drum that was beaten + at feasts. It furnished trees serviceable for shelter when the foe was + stalked. It was their wall and roof, their habitat. It was one of the Four + Friends of the Indians—the Ground, the Waters, the Sky, the Forest. + The forest was everywhere, and the Indians dwelled in the forest. Not + unnaturally, they held that this world was theirs. + </p> + <p> + Upon the three ships, sailing, sailing, moved a few men who could speak + with authority of the forest and of Indians. Christopher Newport was upon + his first voyage to Virginia, but he knew the Indies and the South + American coast. He had sailed and had fought under Francis Drake. And + Bartholomew Gosnold had explored both for himself and for Raleigh. These + two could tell others what to look for. In their company there was also + John Smith. This gentleman, it is true, had not wandered, fought, and + companioned with romance in America, but he had done so everywhere else. + He had as yet no experience with Indians, but he could conceive that rough + experiences were rough experiences, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, or + America. And as he knew there was a family likeness among dangerous + happenings, so also he found one among remedies, and he had a bag full of + stories of strange happenings and how they should be met. + </p> + <p> + They were going the old, long West Indies sea road. There was time enough + for talking, wondering, considering the past, fantastically building up + the future. Meeting in the ships' cabins over ale tankards, pacing up and + down the small high-raised poop-decks, leaning idle over the side, + watching the swirling dark-blue waters or the stars of night, lying idle + upon the deck, propped by the mast while the trade-winds blew and up + beyond sail and rigging curved the sky—they had time enough indeed + to plan for marvels! If they could have seen ahead, what pictures of + things to come they might have beheld rising, falling, melting one into + another! + </p> + <p> + Certain of the men upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the + Discovery stand out clearly, etched against the sky. + </p> + <p> + Christopher Newport might be forty years old. He had been of Raleigh's + captains and was chosen, a very young man, to bring to England from the + Indies the captured great carrack, Madre de Dios, laden with fabulous + treasure. In all, Newport was destined to make five voyages to Virginia, + carrying supply and aid. After that, he would pass into the service of the + East India Company, know India, Java, and the Persian Gulf; would be + praised by that great company for sagacity, energy, and good care of his + men. Ten years' time from this first Virginia voyage, and he would die + upon his ship, the Hope, before Bantam in Java. + </p> + <p> + Bartholomew Gosnold, the captain of the Goodspeed, had sailed with thirty + others, five years before, from Dartmouth in a bark named the Concord. He + had not made the usual long sweep southward into tropic waters, there to + turn and come northward, but had gone, arrow-straight, across the north + Atlantic—one of the first English sailors to make the direct passage + and save many a weary sea league. Gosnold and his men had seen Cape Ann + and Cape Cod, and had built upon Cuttyhunk, among the Elizabeth Islands, a + little fort thatched with rushes. Then, hardships thronging and quarrels + developing, they had filled their ship with sassafras and cedar, and + sailed for home over the summer Atlantic, reaching England, with "not one + cake of bread" left but only "a little vinegar." Gosnold, guiding the + Goodspeed, is now making his last voyage, for he is to die in Virginia + within the year. + </p> + <p> + George Percy, brother of the Earl of Northumberland, has fought bravely in + the Low Countries. He is to stay five years in Virginia, to serve there a + short time as Governor, and then, returning to England, is to write "A + Trewe Relacyion", in which he begs to differ from John Smith's "Generall + Historie." Finally, he goes again to the wars in the Low Countries, serves + with distinction, and dies, unmarried, at the age of fifty-two. His + portrait shows a long, rather melancholy face, set between a lace collar + and thick, dark hair. + </p> + <p> + A Queen and a Cardinal—Mary Tudor and Reginald Pole—had stood + sponsors for the father of Edward-Maria Wingfield. This man, of an ancient + and honorable stock, was older than most of his fellow adventurers to + Virginia. He had fought in Ireland, fought in the Low Countries, had been + a prisoner of war. Now he was presently to become "the first president of + the first council in the first English colony in America." And then, + miseries increasing and wretched men being quick to impute evil, it was to + be held with other assertions against him that he was of a Catholic + family, that he traveled without a Bible, and probably meant to betray + Virginia to the Spaniard. He was to be deposed from his presidency, return + to England, and there write a vindication. "I never turned my face from + daunger, or hidd my handes from labour; so watchful a sentinel stood + myself to myself." With John Smith he had a bitter quarrel. + </p> + <p> + Upon the Discovery is one who signed himself "John Radclyffe, comenly + called," and who is named in the London Company's list as "Captain John + Sicklemore, alias Ratcliffe." He will have a short and stormy Virginian + life, and in two years be done to death by Indians. John Smith quarreled + with him also. "A poor counterfeited Imposture!" said Smith. Gabriel + Archer is a lawyer, and first secretary or recorder of the colony. Short, + too, is his life. His name lives in Archer's Hope on the James River in + Virginia. John Smith will have none of him! George Kendall's life is more + nearly spun than Ratcliffe's or Archer's. He will be shot for treason and + rebellion. Robert Hunt is the chaplain. Besides those whom the time dubbed + "gentlemen," there are upon the three ships English sailors, English + laborers, six carpenters, two bricklayers, a blacksmith, a tailor, a + barber, a drummer, other craftsmen, and nondescripts. Up and down and to + and fro they pass in their narrow quarters, microscopic upon the bosom of + the ocean. + </p> + <p> + John Smith looms large among them. John Smith has a mantle of marvelous + adventure. It seems that he began to make it when he was a boy, and for + many years worked upon it steadily until it was stiff as cloth of gold and + voluminous as a puffed-out summer cloud. Some think that much of it was + such stuff as dreams are made of. Probably some breadths were the fabric + of vision. Still it seems certain that he did have some kind of an + extraordinary coat or mantle. The adventures which he relates of himself + are those of a paladin. Born in 1579 or 1580, he was at this time still a + young man. But already he had fought in France and in the Netherlands, and + in Transylvania against the Turks. He had known sea-fights and shipwrecks + and had journeyed, with adventures galore, in Italy. Before Regal, in + Transylvania, he had challenged three Turks in succession, unhorsed them, + and cut off their heads, for which doughty deed Sigismund, a Prince of + Transylvania, had given him a coat of arms showing three Turks' heads in a + shield. Later he had been taken in battle and sold into slavery, whereupon + a Turkish lady, his master's sister, had looked upon him with favor. But + at last he slew the Turk and escaped, and after wandering many days in + misery came into Russia. "Here, too, I found, as I have always done when + in misfortune, kindly help from a woman." He wandered on into Germany and + thence into France and Spain. Hearing of wars in Barbary, he crossed from + Gibraltar. Here he met the captain of a French man-of-war. One day while + he was with this man there arose a great storm which drove the ship out to + sea. They went before the wind to the Canaries, and there put themselves + to rights and began to chase Spanish barks. Presently they had a great + fight with two Spanish men-of-war, in which the French ship and Smith came + off victors. Returning to Morocco, Smith bade the French captain good-bye + and took ship for England, and so reached home in 1604. Here he sought the + company of like-minded men, and so came upon those who had been to the New + World—"and all their talk was of its wonders." So Smith joined the + Virginia undertaking, and so we find him headed toward new adventures in + the western world. + </p> + <p> + On sailed the three ships—little ships—sailing-ships with a + long way to go. + </p> + <p> + "The twelfth day of February at night we saw a blazing starre and + presently a storme.... The three and twentieth day [of March] we fell with + the Iland of Mattanenio in the West Indies. The foure and twentieth day we + anchored at Dominico, within fourteene degrees of the Line, a very faire + Iland, full of sweet and good smells, inhabited by many Savage Indians.... + The six and twentieth day we had sight of Marigalanta, and the next day + wee sailed with a slacke sail alongst the Ile of Guadalupa.... We sailed + by many Ilands, as Mounserot and an Iland called Saint Christopher, both + uninhabited; about two a clocke in the afternoone wee anchored at the Ile + of Mevis. There the Captaine landed all his men.... We incamped ourselves + on this Ile six days.... The tenth day [April] we set saile and disimboged + out of the West Indies and bare our course Northerly.... The six and + twentieth day of Aprill, about foure a clocke in the morning, wee descried + the Land of Virginia."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Percy's "Discourse in Purchas, His Pilgrims," vol. IV, p. + 1684. Also given in Brown's "Genesis of the United States", + vol. I, p. 152. +</pre> + <p> + During the long months of this voyage, cramped in the three ships, these + men, most of them young and of the hot-blooded, physically adventurous + sort, had time to develop strong likings and dislikings. The hundred and + twenty split into opposed camps. The several groups nursed all manner of + jealousies. Accusations flew between like shuttlecocks. The sealed box + that they carried proved a manner of Eve's apple. All knew that seven on + board were councilors and rulers, with one of the number President, but + they knew not which were the seven. Smith says that this uncertainty + wrought much mischief, each man of note suggesting to himself, "I shall be + President—or, at least, Councilor!" The ships became cursed with a + pest of factions. A prime quarrel arose between John Smith and + Edward-Maria Wingfield, two whose temperaments seem to have been poles + apart. There arose a "scandalous report, that Smith meant to reach + Virginia only to usurp the Government, murder the Council, and proclaim + himself King." The bickering deepened into forthright quarrel, with at + last the expected explosion. Smith was arrested, was put in irons, and + first saw Virginia as a prisoner. + </p> + <p> + On the twenty-sixth day of April, 1607, the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, + and the Discovery entered Chesapeake Bay. They came in between two capes, + and one they named Cape Henry after the then Prince of Wales, and the + other Cape Charles for that brother of short-lived Henry who was to become + Charles the First. By Cape Henry they anchored, and numbers from the ships + went ashore. "But," says George Percy's Discourse, "we could find nothing + worth the speaking of, but faire meadows and goodly tall Trees, with such + Fresh-waters running through the woods as I was almost ravished at the + first sight thereof. At night, when wee were going aboard, there came the + Savages creeping upon all foure from the Hills like Beares, with their + Bowes in their mouths, charged us very desperately in the faces, hurt + Captaine Gabriel Archer in both his hands, and a sayler in two places of + the body very dangerous. After they had spent their Arrowes and felt the + sharpnesse of our shot, they retired into the Woods with a great noise, + and so left us." + </p> + <p> + That very night, by the ships' lanterns, Newport, Gosnold, and Ratcliffe + opened the sealed box. The names of the councilors were found to be + Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Ratcliffe, Edward-Maria + Wingfield, John Martin, John Smith, and George Kendall, with Gabriel + Archer for recorder. From its own number, at the first convenient time, + this Council was to choose its President. All this was now declared and + published to all the company upon the ships. John Smith was given his + freedom but was not yet allowed place in the Council. So closed an + exciting day. In the morning they pressed in parties yet further into the + land, but met no Indians—only came to a place where these savages + had been roasting oysters. The next day saw further exploring. "We marched + some three or foure miles further into the Woods where we saw great + smoakes of fire. Wee marched to those smoakes and found that the Savages + had beene there burning downe the grasse....We passed through excellent + ground full of Flowers of divers kinds and colours, anal as goodly trees + as I have seene, as cedar, cipresse and other kindes; going a little + further we came into a little plat of ground full of fine and beautifull + strawberries, foure times bigger and better than ours in England. All this + march we could neither see Savage nor Towne."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Percy's "Discourse." +</pre> + <p> + The ships now stood into those waters which we call Hampton Roads. Finding + a good channel and taking heart therefrom, they named a horn of land Point + Comfort. Now we call it Old Point Comfort. Presently they began to go up a + great river which they christened the James. To English eyes it was a + river hugely wide. They went slowly, with pauses and waitings and + adventures. They consulted their paper of instructions; they scanned the + shore for good places for their fort, for their town. It was May, and all + the rich banks were in bloom. It seemed a sweet-scented world of promise. + They saw Indians, but had with these no untoward encounters. Upon the + twelfth of May they came to a point of land which they named Archer's + Hope. Landing here, they saw "many squirels, conies, Black Birds with + crimson wings, and divers other Fowles and Birds of divers and sundrie + colours of crimson, watchet, Yellow, Greene, Murry, and of divers other + hewes naturally without any art using... store of Turkie nests and many + Egges." They liked this place, but for shoal water the ships could not + come near to land. So on they went, eight miles up the river. + </p> + <p> + Here, upon the north side, thirty-odd miles from the mouth, they came to a + certain peninsula, an island at high water. Two or three miles long, less + than a mile and a half in breadth, at its widest place composed of marsh + and woodland, it ran into the river, into six fathom water, where the + ships might be moored to the trees. It was this convenient deep water that + determined matters. Here came to anchor the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, + and the Discovery. Here the colonists went ashore. Here the members of the + Council were sworn, and for the first President was chosen Edward-Maria + Wingfield. Here, the first roaming and excitement abated, they began to + unlade the ships, and to build the fort and also booths for their present + sleeping. A church, too, they must have at once, and forthwith made it + with a stretched sail for roof and a board between two trees whereon to + rest Bible and Book of Prayer. Here, for the first time in all this + wilderness, rang English axe in American forest, here was English law and + an English town, here sounded English speech. Here was placed the germ of + that physical, mental, and, spiritual power which is called the United + States of America. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. JAMESTOWN + </h2> + <p> + In historians' accounts of the first months at Jamestown, too much, + perhaps, has been made of faction and quarrel. All this was there. Men set + down in a wilderness, amid Virginian heat, men, mostly young, of the + active rather than the reflective type, men uncompanioned by women and + children, men beset with dangers and sufferings that were soon to tag + heavily their courage and patience—such men naturally quarreled and + made up, quarreled again and again made up, darkly suspected each the + other, as they darkly suspected the forest and the Indian; then, need of + friendship dominating, embraced each the other, felt the fascination of + the forest, and trusted the Indian. However much they suspected rebellion, + treacheries, and desertions, they practiced fidelities, though to varying + degrees, and there was in each man's breast more or less of courage and + good intent. They were prone to call one another villain, but actual + villainy—save as jealousy, suspicion, and hatred are villainy—seems + rarely to have been present. Even one who was judged a villain and shot + for his villainy seems hardly to have deserved such fate. Jamestown + peninsula turned out to be feverous; fantastic hopes were matched by + strange fears; there were homesickness, incompatibilities, unfamiliar food + and water and air, class differences in small space, some petty tyrannies, + and very certain dangers. The worst summer heat was not yet, and the fort + was building. Trees must be felled, cabins raised, a field cleared for + planting, fishing and hunting carried on. And some lading, some first + fruits, must go back in the ships. No gold or rubies being as yet found, + they would send instead cedar and sassafras—hard work enough, there + at Jamestown, in the Virginian low-country, with May warm as northern + midsummer, and all the air charged with vapor from the heated river, with + exhalations from the rank forest, from the many marshes. + </p> + <p> + "The first night of our landing, about midnight," says George Percy in his + "Discourse", "there came some Savages sayling close to our quarter; + presently there was an alarm given; upon that the savages ran away.... Not + long after there came two Savages that seemed to be Commanders, bravely + dressed, with Crownes of coloured haire upon their heads, which came as + Messengers from the Werowance of Paspihe, telling us that their Werowance + was comming and would be merry with us with a fat Deere. The eighteenth + day the Werowance of Paspihe came himselfe to our quarter, with one + hundred Savages armed which guarded him in very warlike manner with Bowes + and Arrowes." Some misunderstanding arose. "The Werowance, [seeing] us + take to our armes, went suddenly away with all his company in great + anger." The nineteenth day Percy with several others going into the woods + back of the peninsula met with a narrow path traced through the forest. + Pursuing it, they came to an Indian village. "We Stayed there a while and + had of them strawberries and other thinges.... One of the Savages brought + us on the way to the Woodside where there was a Garden of Tobacco and + other fruits and herbes; he gathered Tobacco and distributed to every one + of us, so wee departed." + </p> + <p> + It is evident that neither race yet knew if it was to be war or peace. + What the white man thought and came to think of the red man has been set + down often enough; there is scantier testimony as to what was the red + man's opinion of the white man. Here imagination must be called upon. + </p> + <p> + Newport's instructions from the London Council included exploration before + he should leave the colonists and bring the three ships back to England. + Now, with the pinnace and a score of men, among whom was John Smith, he + went sixty miles up the river to where the flow is broken by a world of + boulders and islets, to the hills crowned today by Richmond, capital of + Virginia. The first adventurers called these rapid and whirling waters the + Falls of the Farre West. To their notion they must lie at least half-way + across the breadth of America. Misled by Indian stories, they believed and + wrote that five or six days' march from the Falls of the Farre West, even + through the thick forest, would bring them to the South Sea. The Falls of + the Farre West, where at Richmond the James goes with a roaring sound + around tree-crowned islet—it is strange to think that they once + marked our frontier! How that frontier has been pushed westward is a + romance indeed. And still, today, it is but a five or six days' journey to + that South Sea sought by those early Virginians. The only condition for us + is that we shall board a train. Tomorrow, with the airship, the South Sea + may come nearer yet! + </p> + <p> + The Indians of this part of the earth were of the great Algonquin family, + and the tribes with which the colonists had now to do were drawn, probably + by a polity based on blood ties, into a loose confederation within the + larger mass. Newport was "told that the name of the river was Powhatan, + the name of the chief Powhatan, and the name of the people Powhatans." But + it seemed that the chief Powhatan was not at this village but at another + and a larger place named Werowocomoco, on a second great river in the back + country to the north and east of Jamestown. Newport and his men were "well + entreated" by the Indians. "But yet," says Percy, "the Savages murmured at + our planting in the Countrie." + </p> + <p> + The party did not tarry up the river. Back came their boat through the + bright weather, between the verdurous banks, all green and flower-tinted + save where might be seen the brown of Indian clearings with bark-covered + huts and thin, up-curling blue smoke. Before them once more rose + Jamestown, palisaded now, and riding before it the three ships. And here + there barked an English dog, and here were Englishmen to welcome + Englishmen. Both parties had news to tell, but the town had most. On the + 26th of May, Indians had made an attack four hundred of them with the + Werowance of Paspihe. One Englishman had been killed, a number wounded. + Four of the Council had each man his wound. + </p> + <p> + Newport must now lift anchor and sail away to England. He left at + Jamestown a fort "having three Bulwarkes at every corner like a halfe + Moone, and foure or five pieces of Artillerie mounted in them," a street + or two of reed-thatched cabins, a church to match, a storehouse, a + market-place and drill ground, and about all a stout palisade with a gate + upon the river side. He left corn sown and springing high, and some food + in the storehouse. And he left a hundred Englishmen who had now tasted of + the country fare and might reasonably fear no worse chance than had yet + befallen. Newport promised to return in twenty weeks with full supplies. + </p> + <p> + John Smith says that his enemies, chief amongst whom was Wingfield, would + have sent him with Newport to England, there to stand trial for attempted + mutiny, whereupon he demanded a trial in Virginia, and got it and was + fully cleared. He now takes his place in the Council, beforetime denied + him. He has good words only for Robert Hunt, the chaplain, who, he says, + went from one to the other with the best of counsel. Were they not all + here in the wilderness together, with the savages hovering about them like + the Philistines about the Jews of old? How should the English live, unless + among themselves they lived in amity? So for the moment factions were + reconciled, and all went to church to partake of the Holy Communion. + </p> + <p> + Newport sailed, having in the holds of his ships sassafras and valuable + woods but no gold to meet the London Council's hopes, nor any certain news + of the South Sea. In due time he reached England, and in due time he + turned and came again to Virginia. But long was the sailing to and fro + between the daughter country and the mother country and the lading and + unlading at either shore. It was seven months before Newport came again. + </p> + <p> + While he sails, and while England-in-America watches for him longingly, + look for a moment at the attitude of Spain, falling old in the procession + of world-powers, but yet with grip and cunning left. Spain misliked that + English New World venture. She wished to keep these seas for her own; + only, with waning energies, she could not always enforce what she + conceived to be her right. By now there was seen to be much clay indeed in + the image. Philip the Second was dead; and Philip the Third, an indolent + king, lived in the Escurial. + </p> + <p> + Pedro de Zuniga is the Spanish Ambassador to the English Court. He has + orders from Philip to keep him informed, and this he does, and from time + to time suggests remedies. He writes of Newport and the First Supply. + "Sire.... Captain Newport makes haste to return with some people—and + there have combined merchants and other persons who desire to establish + themselves there; because it appears to them the most suitable place that + they have discovered for privateering and making attacks upon the merchant + fleets of Your Majesty. Your Majesty will command to see whether they will + be allowed to remain there.... They are in a great state of excitement + about that place, and very much afraid lest Your Majesty should drive them + out of it.... And there are so many... who speak already of sending people + to that country, that it is advisable not to be too slow; because they + will soon be found there with large numbers of people."* In Spain the + Council of State takes action upon Zuniga's communications and closes a + report to the King with these words: "The actual taking possession will be + to drive out of Virginia all who are there now, before they are + reenforced, and.... it will be well to issue orders that the small fleet + stationed to the windward, which for so many years has been in state of + preparation, should be instantly made ready and forthwith proceed to drive + out all who are now in Virginia, since their small numbers will make this + an easy task, and this will suffice to prevent them from again coming to + that place." Upon this is made a Royal note: "Let such measures be taken + in this business as may now and hereafter appear proper." + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Brown's "Genesis of the United States", vol. 1, pp. 116-118. +</pre> + <p> + It would seem that there was cause indeed for watching down the river by + that small, small town that was all of the United States! But there + follows a Spanish memorandum. "The driving out... by the fleet stationed + to the windward will be postponed for a long time because delay will be + caused by getting it ready."* Delay followed delay, and old Spain—conquistador + Spain—grew older, and the speech on Jamestown Island is still + English. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 127. +</pre> + <p> + Christopher Newport was gone; no ships—the last refuges, the last + possibilities for home-turning, should the earth grow too hard and the sky + too black—rode upon the river before the fort. Here was the summer + heat. A heavy breath rose from immemorial marshes, from the ancient floor + of the forest. When clouds gathered and storms burst, they amazed the + heart with their fearful thunderings and lightnings. The colonists had no + well, but drank from the river, and at neither high nor low tide found the + water wholesome. While the ships were here they had help of ship stores, + but now they must subsist upon the grain that they had in the storehouse, + now scant and poor enough. They might fish and hunt, but against such + resources stood fever and inexperience and weakness, and in the woods the + lurking savages. The heat grew greater, the water worse, the food less. + Sickness began. Work became toil. Men pined from homesickness, then, + coming together, quarreled with a weak violence, then dropped away again + into corners and sat listlessly with hanging heads. + </p> + <p> + "The sixth of August there died John Asbie of the bloodie Flixe. The ninth + day died George Flowre of the swelling. The tenth day died William Bruster + gentleman, of a wound given by the Savages.... The fourteenth day Jerome + Alikock, Ancient, died of a wound, the same day Francis Mid-winter, Edward + Moris, Corporall, died suddenly. The fifteenth day their died Edward + Browne and Stephen Galthrope. The sixteenth day their died Thomas Gower + gentleman. The seventeenth day their died Thomas Mounslie. The eighteenth + day theer died Robert Pennington and John Martine gentlemen. The + nineteenth day died Drue Piggase gentleman. + </p> + <p> + "The two and twentieth day of August there died Captain Bartholomew + Gosnold one of our Councell, he was honourably buried having all the + Ordnance in the Fort shot off, with many vollies of small shot.... + </p> + <p> + "The foure and twentieth day died Edward Harrington and George Walker and + were buried the same day. The six and twentieth day died Kenelme + Throgmortine. The seven and twentieth day died William Roods. The eight + and twentieth day died Thomas Stoodie, Cape Merchant. The fourth day of + September died Thomas Jacob, Sergeant. The fifth day there died Benjamin + Beast...."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Percy's "Discourse." +</pre> + <p> + Extreme misery makes men blind, unjust, and weak of judgment. Here was + gross wretchedness, and the colonists proceeded to blame A and B and C, + lost all together in the wilderness. It was this councilor or that + councilor, this ambitious one or that one, this or that almost certainly + ascertained traitor! Wanting to steal the pinnace, the one craft left by + Newport, wanting to steal away in the pinnace and leave the mass—small + enough mass now!—without boat or raft or straw to cling to, made the + favorite accusation. Upon this count, early in September, Wingfield was + deposed from the presidency. Ratcliffe succeeded him, but presently + Ratcliffe fared no better. One councilor fared worse, for George Kendall, + accused of plotting mutiny and pinnace stealing, was given trial, found + guilty, and shot. + </p> + <p> + "The eighteenth day [of September] died one Ellis Kinistone.... The same + day at night died one Richard Simmons. The nineteenth day there died one + Thomas Mouton...." + </p> + <p> + What went on, in Virginia, in the Indian mind, can only be conjectured. As + little as the white mind could it foresee the trend of events or the + ultimate outcome of present policy. There was exhibited a see-saw policy, + or perhaps no policy at all, only the emotional fit as it came hot or + cold. The friendly act trod upon the hostile, the hostile upon the + friendly. Through the miserable summer the hostile was uppermost; then + with the autumn appeared the friendly mood, fortunate enough for "the most + feeble wretches" at Jamestown. Indians came laden with maize and venison. + The heat was a thing of the past; cool and bracing weather appeared; and + with it great flocks of wild fowl, "swans, geese, ducks and cranes." + Famine vanished, sickness decreased. The dead were dead. Of the hundred + and four persons left by Newport less than fifty had survived. But these + may be thought of as indeed seasoned. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. JOHN SMITH + </h2> + <p> + With the cool weather began active exploration, the object in chief the + gathering from the Indians, by persuasion or trade or show of force, food + for the approaching winter. Here John Smith steps forward as leader. + </p> + <p> + There begins a string of adventures of that hardy and romantic individual. + How much in Smith's extant narrations is exaggeration, how much is + dispossession of others' merits in favor of his own, it is difficult now + to say.* A thing that one little likes is his persistent depreciation of + his fellows. There is but one Noble Adventurer, and that one is John + Smith. On the other hand evident enough are his courage and initiative, + his ingenuity, and his rough, practical sagacity. Let us take him at + something less than his own valuation, but yet as valuable enough. As for + his adventures, real or fictitious, one may see in them epitomized the + adventures of many and many men, English, French, Spanish, Dutch, blazers + of the material path for the present civilization. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Those who would strike John Smith from the list of + historians will commend the author's caution to the reader + before she lets the Captain tell his own tale. Whatever + Smith may not have been, he was certainly a consummate + raconteur. He belongs with the renowned story-tellers of the + world, if not with the veracious chroniclers.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + In December, rather autumn than winter in this region, he starts with the + shallop and a handful of men up a tributary river that they have learned + to call the Chickahominy. He is going for corn, but there is also an idea + that he may hear news of that wished-for South Sea. + </p> + <p> + The Chickahominy proved itself a wonderland of swamp and tree-choked + streams. Somewhere up its chequered reaches Smith left the shallop with + men to guard it, and, taking two of the party with two Indian guides, went + on in a canoe up a narrower way. Presently those left with the boat + incautiously go ashore and are attacked by Indians. One is taken, + tortured, and slain. The others get back to their boat and so away, down + the Chickahominy and into the now somewhat familiar James. But Smith with + his two men, Robinson and Emry, are now alone in the wilderness, up among + narrow waters, brown marshes, fallen and obstructing tree trunks. Now come + the men-hunting Indians—the King of Pamaunck, says Smith, with two + hundred bowmen. Robinson and Emry are shot full of arrows. Smith is + wounded, but with his musket deters the foe, killing several of the + savages. His eyes upon them, he steps backward, hoping he may beat them + off till he shall recover the shallop, but meets with the ill chance of a + boggy and icy stream into which he stumbles, and here is taken. + </p> + <p> + See him now before "Opechancanough, King of Pamaunck!" Savages and + procedures of the more civilized with savages have, the world over, a + family resemblance. Like many a man before him and after, Smith casts + about for a propitiatory wonder. He has with him, so fortunately, "a round + ivory double-compass dial." This, with a genial manner, he would present + to Opechancanough. The savages gaze, cannot touch through the glass the + moving needle, grunt their admiration. Smith proceeds, with gestures and + what Indian words he knows, to deliver a scientific lecture. Talking is + best anyhow, will give them less time in which to think of those men he + shot. He tells them that the world is round, and discourses about the sun + and moon and stars and the alternation of day and night. He speaks with + eloquence of the nations of the earth, of white men, yellow men, black + men, and red men, of his own country and its grandeurs, and would explain + antipodes. + </p> + <p> + Apparently all is waste breath and of no avail, for in an hour see him + bound to a tree, a sturdy figure of a man, bearded and moustached, with a + high forehead, clad in shirt and jerkin and breeches and hosen and shoon, + all by this time, we may be sure, profoundly in need of repair. The tree + and Smith are ringed by Indians, each of whom has an arrow fitted to his + bow. Almost one can hear a knell ringing in the forest! But + Opechancanough, moved by the compass, or willing to hear more of + seventeenth-century science, raises his arm and stops the execution. + Unbinding Smith, they take him with them as a trophy. Presently all reach + their town of Orapaks. + </p> + <p> + Here he was kindly treated. He saw Indian dances, heard Indian orations. + The women and children pressed about him and admired him greatly. Bread + and venison were given him in such quantity that he feared that they meant + to fatten and eat him. It is, moreover, dangerous to be considered + powerful where one is scarcely so. A young Indian lay mortally ill, and + they took Smith to him and demanded that forthwith he be cured. If the + white man could kill—how they were not able to see—he could + likewise doubtless restore life. But the Indian presently died. His + father, crying out in fury, fell upon the stranger who could have done so + much and would not! Here also coolness saved the white man. + </p> + <p> + Smith was now led in triumph from town to town through the winter woods. + The James was behind him, the Chickahominy also; he was upon new great + rivers, the Pamunkey and the Rappahannock. All the villages were much + alike, alike the still woods, the sere patches from which the corn had + been taken, the bear, the deer, the foxes, the turkeys that were met with, + the countless wild fowl. Everywhere were the same curious, crowding + savages, the fires, the rustic cookery, the covering skins of deer and fox + and otter, the oratory, the ceremonial dances, the manipulations of + medicine men or priests—these last, to the Englishmen, pure "devils + with antique tricks." Days were consumed in this going from place to + place. At one point was produced a bag of gunpowder, gained in some way + from Jamestown. It was being kept with care to go into the earth in the + spring and produce, when summer came, some wonderful crop. + </p> + <p> + Opechancanough was a great chief, but higher than he moved Powhatan, chief + of chiefs. This Indian was yet a stranger to the English in Virginia. Now + John Smith was to make his acquaintance. + </p> + <p> + Werowocomoco stood upon a bluff on the north side of York River. Here came + Smith and his captors, around them the winter woods, before them the broad + blue river. Again the gathered Indians, men and women, again the staring, + the handling, the more or less uncomplimentary remarks; then into the + Indian ceremonial lodge he was pushed. Here sat the chief of chiefs, + Powhatan, and he had on a robe of raccoon skins with all the tails + hanging. About him sat his chief men, and behind these were gathered + women. All were painted, head and shoulders; all wore, bound about the + head, adornments meant to strike with beauty or with terror; all had + chains of beads. Smith does not report what he said to Powhatan, or + Powhatan to him. He says that the Queen of Appamatuck brought him water + for his hands, and that there was made a great feast. When this was over, + the Indians held a council. It ended in a death decree. Incontinently + Smith was seized, dragged to a great stone lying before Powhatan, forced + down and bound. The Indians made ready their clubs; meaning to batter his + brains out. Then, says Smith, occurred the miracle. + </p> + <p> + A child of Powhatan's, a very young girl called Pocahontas, sprang from + among the women, ran to the stone, and with her own body sheltered that of + the Englishman....* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * A vast amount of erudition has been expended by historical + students to establish the truth or falsity of this + Pocahontas story. The author has refrained from entering the + controversy, preferring to let the story stand as it was + told by Captain Smith in his "General History" (1624).— + Editor. +</pre> + <p> + What, in Powhatan's mind, of hesitation, wiliness, or good nature backed + his daughter's plea is not known. But Smith did not have his brains beaten + out. He was released, taken by some form of adoption into the tribe, and + set to using those same brains in the making of hatchets and ornaments. A + few days passed and he was yet further enlarged. Powhatan longed for two + of the great guns possessed by the white men and for a grindstone. He + would send Smith back to Jamestown if in return he was sure of getting + those treasures. It is to be supposed that Smith promised him guns and + grindstones as many as could be borne away. + </p> + <p> + So Werowocomoco saw him depart, twelve Indians for escort. He had leagues + to go, a night or two to spend upon the march. Lying in the huge winter + woods, he expected, on the whole, death before morning. But "Almighty God + mollified the hearts of those sterne barbarians with compassion." And so + he was restored to Jamestown, where he found more dead than when he left. + Some there undoubtedly welcomed him as a strong man restored when there + was need of strong men. Others, it seems, would as lief that Pocahontas + had not interfered. + </p> + <p> + The Indians did not get their guns and grindstones. But Smith loaded a + demi-culverin with stones and fired upon a great tree, icicle-hung. The + gun roared, the boughs broke, the ice fell rattling, the smoke spread, the + Indians cried out and cowered away. Guns and grindstone, Smith told them, + were too violent and heavy devils for them to carry from river to river. + Instead he gave them, from the trading store, gifts enticing to the savage + eye, and not susceptible of being turned against the donors. + </p> + <p> + Here at Jamestown in midwinter were more food and less mortal sickness + than in the previous fearful summer, yet no great amount of food, and now + suffering, too, from bitter cold. Nor had the sickness ended, nor + dissensions. Less than fifty men were all that held together England and + America—a frayed cord, the last strands of which might presently + part.... + </p> + <p> + Then up the river comes Christopher Newport in the Francis and John, to be + followed some weeks later by the Phoenix. Here is new life—stores + for the settlers and a hundred new Virginians! How certain, at any rate, + is the exchange of talk of home and hair-raising stories of this + wilderness between the old colonists and the new! And certain is the + relief and the renewed hopes. Mourning turns to joy. Even a conflagration + that presently destroys the major part of the town can not blast that + felicity. + </p> + <p> + Again Newport and Smith and others went out to explore the country. They + went over to Werowocomoco and talked with Powhatan. He told them things + which they construed to mean that the South Sea was near at hand, and they + marked this down as good news for the home Council—still impatient + for gold and Cathay. On their return to Jamestown they found under way new + and stouter houses. The Indians were again friendly; they brought venison + and turkeys and corn. Smith says that every few days came Pocahontas and + attendant women bringing food. + </p> + <p> + Spring came again with the dogwood and the honeysuckle and the + strawberries, the gay, returning birds, the barred and striped and mottled + serpents. The colony was one year old. Back to England sailed the Francis + and John and the Phoenix, carrying home Edward-Maria Wingfield, who has + wearied of Virginia and will return no more. + </p> + <p> + What rests certain and praiseworthy in Smith is his thoroughness and + daring in exploration. This summer he went with fourteen others down the + river in an open boat, and so across the great bay, wide as a sea, to what + is yet called the Eastern Shore, the counties now of Accomac and + Northampton. Rounding Cape Charles these indefatigable explorers came upon + islets beaten by the Atlantic surf. These they named Smith's Islands. + Landing upon the main shore, they met "grimme and stout" savages, who took + them to the King of Accomac, and him they found civil enough. This side of + the great bay, with every creek and inlet, Smith examined and set down + upon the map he was making. Even if he could find no gold for the Council + at home, at least he would know what places were suited for "harbours and + habitations." Soon a great storm came up, and they landed again, met yet + other Indians, went farther, and were in straits for fresh water. The + weather became worse; they were in danger of shipwreck—had to bail + the boat continually. Indians gathered upon the shore and discharged + flights of arrows, but were dispersed by a volley from the muskets. The + bread the English had with them went bad. Wind and weather were adverse; + three or four of the fifteen fell ill, but recovered. The weather + improved; they came to the seven-mile-wide mouth of "Patawomeck"—the + Potomac. They turned their boat up this vast stream. For a long time they + saw upon the woody banks no savages. Then without warning they came upon + ambuscades of great numbers "so strangely painted, grimed and disguised, + shouting, yelling and crying, as we rather supposed them so many divils." + Smith, in midstream, ordered musket-fire, and the balls went grazing over + the water, and the terrible sound echoed through the woods. The savages + threw down their bows and arrows and made signs of friendliness. The + English went ashore, hostages were exchanged, and a kind of amicableness + ensued. After such sylvan entertainment Smith and his men returned to the + boat. The oars dipped and rose, the bright water broke from them; and + these Englishmen in Old Virginia proceeded up the Potomac. Could they have + seen—could they but have seen before them, on the north bank, + rising, like the unsubstantial fabric of a dream, there above the trees, a + vast, white Capitol shining in the sunlight! + </p> + <p> + Far up the river, they noticed that the sand on the shore gleamed with + yellow spangles. They looked and saw high rocks, and they thought that + from these the rain had washed the glittering dust. Gold? Harbors they had + found—but what of gold? What, even, of Cathay? + </p> + <p> + Going down stream, they sought again those friendly Indians. Did they know + gold or silver? The Indians looked wise, nodded heads, and took the + visitors up a little tributary river to a rocky hill in which "with shells + and hatchets" they had opened as it were a mine. Here they gathered a + mineral which, when powdered, they sprinkled over themselves and their + idols "making them," says the relation, "like blackamoors dusted over with + silver." The white men filled their boat with as much of this ore as they + could carry. High were their hopes over it, but when it was subsequently + sent to London and assayed, it was found to be worthless. + </p> + <p> + The fifteen now started homeward, out of Potomac and down the westward + side of Chesapeake. In their travels they saw, besides the Indians, all + manner of four-footed Virginians. Bears rolled their bulk through these + forests; deer went whither they would. The explorers might meet foxes and + catamounts, otter, beaver and marten, raccoon and opossum, wolf and Indian + dog. Winged Virginians made the forests vocal. The owl hooted at night, + and the whippoorwill called in the twilight. The streams were filled with + fish. Coming to the mouth of the Rappahannock, the travelers' boat + grounded upon sand, with the tide at ebb. Awaiting the water that should + lift them off, the fifteen began with their swords to spear the fish among + the reeds. Smith had the ill luck to encounter a sting-ray, and received + its barbed weapon through his wrist. There set in a great swelling and + torment which made him fear that death was at hand. He ordered his funeral + and a grave to be dug on a neighboring islet. Yet by degrees he grew + better and so out of torment, and withal so hungry that he longed for + supper, whereupon, with a light heart, he had his late enemy the sting-ray + cooked and ate him. They then named the place Sting-ray Island and, the + tide serving, got off the sand-bar and down the bay, and so came home to + Jamestown, having been gone seven weeks. + </p> + <p> + Like Ulysses, Smith refuses to rust in inaction. A few days, and away he + is again, first up to Rappahannock, and then across the bay. On this + journey he and his men come up with the giant Susquehannocks, who are not + Algonquins but Iroquois. After many hazards in which the forest and the + savage play their part, Smith and his band again return to Jamestown. In + all this adventuring they have gained much knowledge of the country and + its inhabitants—but yet no gold, and no further news of the South + Sea or of far Cathay. + </p> + <p> + It was now September and the second summer with its toll of fever victims + was well-nigh over. Autumn and renewed energy were at hand. All the land + turned crimson and gold. At Jamestown building went forward, together with + the gathering of ripened crops, the felling of trees, fishing and fowling, + and trading for Indian corn and turkeys. + </p> + <p> + One day George Percy, heading a trading party down the river, saw coming + toward him a white sailed ship, the Mary and Margaret-it was Christopher + Newport again, with the second supply. Seventy colonists came over on the + Mary and Margaret, among them a fair number of men of note. Here were + Captain Peter Wynne and Richard Waldo, "old soldiers and valiant + gentlemen," Francis West, young brother of the Lord De La Warr, Rawley + Crashaw, John Codrington, Daniel Tucker, and others. This is indeed an + important ship. Among the laborers, the London Council had sent eight + Poles and Germans, skilled in their own country in the production of + pitch, tar, glass, and soap-ashes. Here, then, begin in Virginia other + blood strains than the English. And in the Mary and Margaret comes with + Master Thomas Forest his wife, Mistress Forest, and her maid, by name Anne + Burras. Apart from those lost ones of Raleigh's colony at Roanoke, these + are the first Englishwomen in Virginia. There may be guessed what welcome + they got, how much was made of them. + </p> + <p> + Christopher Newport had from that impatient London Council somewhat + strange orders. He was not to return without a lump of gold, or a certain + discovery of waters pouring into the South Sea, or some notion gained of + the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. He had been given a barge which + could be taken to pieces and so borne around those Falls of the Far West, + then put together, and the voyage to the Pacific resumed. Moreover, he had + for Powhatan, whom the minds at home figured as a sort of Asiatic Despot, + a gilt crown and a fine ewer and basin, a bedstead, and a gorgeous robe. + </p> + <p> + The easiest task, that of delivering Powhatan's present and placing an + idle crown upon that Indian's head who, among his own people, was already + sufficiently supreme, might be and was performed. And Newport with a large + party went again to the Falls of the Far West and miles deep into the + country beyond. Here they found Indians outside the Powhatan Confederacy, + but no South Sea, nor mines of gold and silver, nor any news of the lost + colony of Roanoke. In December Newport left Virginia in the Mary and + Margaret, and with him sailed Ratcliffe. Smith succeeded to the + presidency. + </p> + <p> + About this time John Laydon, a laborer, and Anne Burras, that maid of + Mistress Forest's, fell in love and would marry. So came about the first + English wedding in Virginia. + </p> + <p> + Winter followed with snow and ice, nigh two hundred people to feed, and + not overmuch in the larder with which to do it. Smith with George Percy + and Francis West and others went again to the Indians for corn. Christmas + found them weather-bound at Kecoughtan. "Wherever an Englishman may be, + and in whatever part of the world, he must keep Christmas with feasting + and merriment! And, indeed, we were never more merrie, nor fedde on more + plentie of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle and good bread; nor never + had better fires in England than in the drie, smokie houses of + Kecoughtan!" + </p> + <p> + But despite this Christmas fare, there soon began quarrels, many and + intricate, with Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE "SEA ADVENTURE" + </h2> + <p> + Experience is a great teacher. That London Company with Virginia to + colonize had now come to see how inadequate to the attempt were its means + and strength. Evidently it might be long before either gold mines or the + South Sea could be found. The company's ships were too slight and few; + colonists were going by the single handful when they should go by the + double. Something was at fault in the management of the enterprise. The + quarrels in Virginia were too constant, the disasters too frequent. More + money, more persons interested with purse and mind, a great company + instead of a small, a national cast to the enterprise these were + imperative needs. In the press of such demands the London Company passed + away. In 1609 under new letters patent was born the Virginia Company. + </p> + <p> + The members and shareholders in this corporation touch through and through + the body of England at that day. First names upon the roll come Robert + Cecil, Thomas Howard, Henry Wriothesley, William Herbert, Henry Clinton, + Richard Sackville, Thomas Cecil, Philip Herbert—Earls of Salisbury, + Suffolk, Southampton, Pembroke, Lincoln, Dorset, Exeter, and Montgomery. + Then follow a dozen peers, the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, a hundred + knights, many gentlemen, one hundred and ten merchants, certain physicians + and clergymen, old soldiers of the Continental wars, sea-captains and + mariners, and a small host of the unclassified. In addition shares were + taken by fifty-six London guilds or industrial companies. Here are the + Companies of the Tallow and Wax Chandlers, the Armorers and Girdlers, + Cordwayners and Carpenters, Masons, Plumbers, Founders, Poulterers, Cooks, + Coopers, Tylers and Brick Layers, Bowyers and Vinters, Merchant Taylors, + Blacksmiths and Weavers, Mercers, Grocers, Turners, Gardeners, Dyers, + Scriveners, Fruiterers, Plaisterers, Brown Bakers, Imbroiderers, + Musicians, and many more. + </p> + <p> + The first Council appointed by the new charter had fifty-two members, + fourteen of whom sat in the English House of Lords, and twice that number + in the Commons. Thus was Virginia well linked to Crown and Parliament. + </p> + <p> + This great commercial company had sovereign powers within Virginia. The + King should have his fifth part of all ore of gold and silver; the laws + and religion of England should be upheld, and no man let go to Virginia + who had not first taken the oath of supremacy. But in the wide field + beside all this the President—called the Treasurer—and the + Council, henceforth to be chosen out of and by the whole body of + subscribers, had full sway. No longer should there be a second Council + sitting in Virginia, but a Governor with power, answerable only to the + Company at home. That Company might tax and legislate within the Virginian + field, punish the ill-doer or "rebel," and wage war, if need be, against + Indian or Spaniard: + </p> + <p> + One of the first actions of the newly constituted body was to seek remedy + for the customary passage by way of the West Indies—so long and so + beset by dangers. They sent forth a small ship under Captain Samuel + Argall, with instructions "to attempt a direct and cleare passage, by + leaving the Canaries to the East, and from thence to run a straight + westerne course.... And so to make an experience of the Winds and Currents + which have affrighted all undertakers by the North." + </p> + <p> + This Argall, a young man with a stirring and adventurous life behind him + and before him, took his ship the indicated way. He made the voyage in + nine weeks, of which two were spent becalmed, and upon his return reported + that it might be made in seven, "and no apparent inconvenience in the + way." He brought to the great Council of the Company a story of necessity + and distress at Jamestown, and the Council lays much of the blame for that + upon "the misgovernment of the Commanders, by dissention and ambition + among themselves," and upon the idleness of the general run, "active in + nothing but adhearing to factions and parts." The Council, sitting afar + from a savage land, is probably much too severe. But the "factions and + parts" cannot easily be denied. + </p> + <p> + Before Argall's return, the Company had commissioned as Governor of + Virginia Sir Thomas Gates, and had gathered a fleet of seven ships and two + pinnaces with Sir George Somers as Admiral, in the ship called the Sea + Adventure, and Christopher Newport as Vice-Admiral. All weighed anchor + from Falmouth early in June and sailed by the newly tried course, south to + the Canaries and then across. These seven ships carried five hundred + colonists, men, women, and children. + </p> + <p> + On St. James's day there rose and broke a fearsome storm. Two days and + nights it raged, and it scattered that fleet of seven. Gates, Somers, and + Newport with others of "rancke and quality" were upon the Sea Adventure. + How fared this ship with one attendant pinnace we shall come to see + presently. But the other ships, driven to and fro, at last found a + favorable wind, and in August they sighted Virginia. On the eleventh of + that month they came, storm-beaten and without Governor or Admiral or Sea + Adventure, into "our Bay" and at last to "the King's River and Town." Here + there swarmed from these ships nigh three hundred persons, meeting and met + by the hundred dwelling at Jamestown. This was the third supply, but it + lacked the hundred or so upon the Sea Adventure and the pinnace, and it + lacked a head. "Being put ashore without their Governor or any order from + him (all the Commissioners and principal persons being aboard him) no man + would acknowledge a superior." + </p> + <p> + With this multitude appeared once more in Virginia the three ancient + councilors—Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin. Apparently here came fresh + fuel for factions. Who should rule, and who should be ruled? Here is an + extremely old and important question, settled in history only to be + unsettled again. Everywhere it rises, dust on Time's road, and is laid + only to rise again. + </p> + <p> + Smith was still President. Who was in the right and who in the wrong in + these ancient quarrels, the recital of which fills the pages of Smith and + of other men, is hard now to be determined. But Jamestown became a place + of turbulence. Francis West was sent with a considerable number to the + Falls of the Far West to make there some kind of settlement. For a like + purpose Martin and Percy were dispatched to the Nansemond River. All along + the line there was bitter falling out. The Indians became markedly + hostile. Smith was up the river, quarreling with West and his men. At last + he called them "wrongheaded asses," flung himself into his boat, and made + down the river to Jamestown. Yet even so he found no peace, for, while he + was asleep in the boat, by some accident or other a spark found its way to + his powder pouch. The powder exploded. Terribly hurt, he leaped overboard + into the river, whence he was with difficulty rescued. + </p> + <p> + Smith was now deposed by Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin, because, "being an + ambityous, onworthy, and vayneglorious fellowe," say his detractors, "he + wolde rule all and ingrose all authority into his own hands." Be this as + it may, Smith was put on board one of the ships which were about to sail + for England. Wounded, and with none at Jamestown able to heal his hurt, he + was no unwilling passenger. Thus he departed, and Virginia knew Captain + John Smith no more. Some liked him and his ways, some liked him not nor + his ways either. He wrote of his own deeds and praised them highly, and + saw little good in other mankind, though here and there he made an + exception. Evident enough are faults of temper. But he had great courage + and energy and at times a lofty disinterestedness. + </p> + <p> + Again winter drew on at Jamestown, and with it misery on misery. George + Percy, now President, lay ill and unable to keep order. The multitude, + "unbridled and heedless," pulled this way and that. Before the cold had + well begun, what provision there was in the storehouse became exhausted. + That stream of corn from the Indians in which the colonists had put + dependence failed to flow. The Indians themselves began systematically to + spoil and murder. Ratcliffe and fourteen with him met death while loading + his barge with corn upon the Pamunkey. The cold grew worse. By midwinter + there was famine. The four hundred—already noticeably dwindled—dwindled + fast and faster. The cold was severe; the Indians were in the woods; the + weakened bodies of the white men pined and shivered. They broke up the + empty houses to make fires to warm themselves. They began to die of hunger + as well as by Indian arrows. On went the winter, and every day some died. + Tales of cannibalism are told....This was the Starving Time. + </p> + <p> + When the leaves were red and gold, England-in-America had a population of + four hundred and more. When the dogwood and the strawberry bloomed, + England-in-America had a population of but sixty. + </p> + <p> + Somewhat later than this time there came from the pen of Shakespeare a + play dealing with a tempest and shipwreck and a magical isle and rescue + thereon. The bright spirit Ariel speaks of "the still-vex'd Bermoothes." + These were islands "two hundred leagues from any continent," named after a + Spanish Captain Bermudez who had landed there. Once there had been + Indians, but these the Spaniards had slain or taken as slaves. Now the + islands were desolate, uninhabited, "forlorn and unfortunate." Chance + vessels might touch, but the approach was dangerous. There grew rumors of + pirates, and then of demons. "The Isles of Demons," was the name given to + them. "The most forlorn and unfortunate place in the world" was the + description that fitted them in those distant days: + </p> + <p> + All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement Inhabits here: some heavenly + power guide us Out of this fearful country. + </p> + <p> + When Shakespeare so wrote, there was news in England and talk went to and + fro of the shipwreck of the Sea Adventure upon the rocky teeth of the + Bermoothes, "uninhabitable and almost inaccessible," and of the escape and + dwelling there for months of Gates and Somers and the colonists in that + ship. It is generally assumed that this incident furnished timber for the + framework of The Tempest. + </p> + <p> + The storm that broke on St. James's Day, scattering the ships of the third + supply, drove the Sea Adventure here and there at will. Upon her watched + Gates and Somers and Newport, above a hundred men, and a few women and + children. There sprang a leak; all thought of death. Then rose a cry "Land + ho!" The storm abated, but the wind carried the Sea Adventure upon this + shore and grounded her upon a reef. A certain R. Rich, gentleman, one of + the voyagers, made and published a ballad upon the whole event. If it is + hardly Shakespearean music, yet it is not devoid of interest. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +... The Seas did rage, the windes did blowe, + Distressed were they then; + Their shippe did leake, her tacklings breake, + In daunger were her men; + But heaven was pylotte in this storme, + And to an Iland neare, + Bermoothawes called, conducted them, + Which did abate their feare. +</pre> + <p> + Using the ship's boats they got to shore, though with toil and danger. + Here they found no sprites nor demons, nor even men, but a fair, + half-tropical verdure and, running wild, great numbers of swine. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + And then on shoare the iland came + Inhabited by hogges, + Some Foule and tortoyses there were, + They only had one dogge, + To kill these swyne, to yield them foode, + That little had to eate. + Their store was spent and all things scant, + Alas! they wanted meate. + + They did not, however, starve. + + A thousand hogges that dogge did kill + Their hunger to sustaine. +</pre> + <p> + Ten months the Virginia colonists lived among the "still-vex'd + Bermoothes." The Sea Adventure was but a wreck pinned between the reefs. + No sail was seen upon the blue water. Where they were thrown, there Gates + and Somers and Newport and all must stay for a time and make the best of + it. They builded huts and thatched them, and they brought from the wrecked + ship, pinned but half a mile from land, stores of many kinds. The clime + proved of the blandest, fairest; with fishing and hunting they maintained + themselves. Days, weeks, and months went by. They had a minister, Master + Buck. They brought from the ship a bell and raised it for a church-bell. A + marriage, a few deaths, the birth of two children these were events on the + island. One of these children, the daughter of John Rolfe, gentleman, and + his wife, was christened Bermuda. Gates and Somers held kindly sway. The + colonists lived in plenty, peace, and ease. But for all that, they were + shipwrecked folk, and far, far out of the world, and they longed for the + old ways and their own kin. Day followed day, but no sail would show to + bear them thence; and so at last, taking what they could from the forests + of the island, and from the Sea Adventure, they set about to become + shipwrights. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + And there two gallant pynases, + Did build of Seader-tree, + The brave Deliverance one was call'd, + Of seaventy tonne was shee, + The other Patience had to name, + Her burthen thirty tonne.... +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +... The two and forty weekes being past + They hoyst sayle and away; + Their shippes with hogges well freighted were, + Their harts with mickle joy. +</pre> + <p> + And so to Virginia came... + </p> + <p> + What they found when they came to Virginia was dolor enough. On Jamestown + strand they beheld sixty skeletons "who had eaten all the quick things + that weare there, and some of them had eaten snakes and adders." Somers, + Gates, and Newport, on entering the town, found it "rather as the ruins of + some auntient fortification than that any people living might now inhabit + it." + </p> + <p> + A pitiable outcome, this, of all the hopes of fair "harbours and + habitations," of golden dreams, and farflung dominion. All those whom + Raleigh had sent to Roanoke were lost or had perished. Those who had named + and had first dwelled in Jamestown were in number about a hundred. To + these had been added, during the first year or so, perhaps two hundred + more. And the ships that had parted from the Sea Adventure had brought in + three hundred. First and last, not far from seven hundred English folk had + come to live in Virginia. And these skeletons eating snakes and adders + were all that remained of that company; all those others had died + miserably and their hopes were ashes with them. + </p> + <p> + What might Sir Thomas Gates, the Governor, do? "That which added most to + his sorowe, and not a little startled him, was the impossibilitie.. how to + amend one whitt of this. His forces were not of habilitie to revenge upon + the Indian, nor his owne supply (now brought from the Bermudas) sufficient + to relieve his people." So he called a Council and listened in turn to Sir + George Somers, to Christopher Newport, and to "the gentlemen and Counsaile + of the former Government." The end and upshot was that none could see + other course than to abandon the country. England-in-America had tried and + failed, and had tried again and failed. God, or the course of Nature, or + the current of History was against her. Perhaps in time stronger forces + and other attempts might yet issue from England. But now the hour had come + to say farewell! + </p> + <p> + Upon the bosom of the river swung two pinnaces, the Discovery and the + Virginia, left by the departing ships months before, and the Deliverance + and the Patience, the Bermuda pinnaces. Thus the English abandoned the + little town that was but three years old. Aboard the four small ships they + went, and down the broad river, between the flowery shores, they sailed + away. Doubtless under the trees on either hand were Indians watching this + retreat of the invaders of their forests. The plan of the departing + colonists was to turn north, when they had reached the sea, and make for + Newfoundland, where they might perhaps meet with English fishing ships. So + they sailed down the river, and doubtless many hearts were heavy and sad, + but others doubtless were full of joy and thankfulness to be going back to + an older home than Virginia. + </p> + <p> + The river broadened toward Chesapeake—and then, before them, what + did they see? What deliverance for those who had held on to the uttermost? + They saw the long boat of an English ship coming toward them with flashing + oars, bringing news of comfort and relief. There, indeed, off Point + Comfort lay three ships, the De La Warr, the Blessing, and the Hercules, + and they brought, with a good company and good stores, Sir Thomas West, + Lord De La Warr, appointed, over Gates, Lord Governor and Captain General, + by land and sea, of the Colony of Virginia. + </p> + <p> + The Discovery, the Virginia, the Patience, and the Deliverance thereupon + put back to that shore they thought to have left forever. Two days later, + on Sunday the 10th of June, 1610, there anchored before Jamestown the De + La Warr, the Blessing, and the Hercules; and it was thus that the new Lord + Governor wrote home: "I... in the afternoon went ashore, where after a + sermon made by Mr. Buck... I caused my commission to be read, upon which + Sir Thomas Gates delivered up...unto me his owne commission, both patents, + and the counsell seale; and then I delivered some few wordes unto the + Company.... and after... did constitute and give place of office and + chardge to divers Captaines and gentlemen and elected unto me a + counsaile." + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The dead was alive again. Saith Rich's ballad: + + And to the adventurers* thus he writes, + "Be not dismayed at all, + For scandall cannot doe us wrong, + God will not let us fall. + Let England knowe our willingnesse, + For that our worke is good, + WE HOPE TO PLANT A NATION + WHERE NONE BEFORE HATH STOOD." + + * The Virginia Company. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. SIR THOMAS DALE + </h2> + <p> + In a rebuilded Jamestown, Lord De La Warr, of "approved courage, temper + and experience," held for a short interval dignified, seigneurial sway, + while his restless associates adventured far and wide. Sir George Somers + sailed back to the Bermudas to gather a cargo of the wild swine of those + woods, but illness seized him there, and he died among the beautiful + islands. That Captain Samuel Argall who had traversed for the Company the + short road from the Canaries took up Smith's fallen mantle and carried on + the work of exploration. It was he who found, and named for the Lord + Governor, Delaware Bay. He went up the Potomac and traded for corn; + rescued an English boy from the Indians; had brushes with the savages. In + the autumn back to England with a string of ships went that tried and + tested seafarer Christopher Newport. Virginia wanted many things, and + chiefly that the Virginia Company should excuse defect and remember + promise. So Gates sailed with Newport to make true report and guide + exertion. Six months passed, and the Lord Governor himself fell ill and + must home to England. So away he, too, went and for seven years until his + death ruled from that distance through a deputy governor. De La Warr was a + man of note and worth, old privy councilor of Elizabeth and of James, + soldier in the Low Countries, strong Protestant and believer in + England-in-America. Today his name is borne by a great river, a great bay, + and by one of the United States. + </p> + <p> + In London, the Virginia Company, having listened to Gates, projected a + fourth supply for the colony. Of those hundreds who had perished in + Virginia, many had been true and intelligent men, and again many perhaps + had been hardly that. But the Virginia Company was now determined to + exercise for the future a discrimination. It issued a broadside, making + known that it was sending a new supply of men and all necessary provision + in a fleet of good ships, under the conduct of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir + Thomas Dale, and that it was not intended any more to burden the action + with "vagrant and unnecessary persons... but honest and industrious men, + as Carpenters, Smiths, Coopers, Fishermen, Tanners, Shoemakers, + Shipwrights, Brickmen, Gardeners, Husbandmen, and laboring men of all + sorts that... shall be entertained for the Voyage upon such termes as + their qualitie and fitnesse shall deserve." Yet, in spite of precautions, + some of the other sort continued to creep in with the sober and + industrious. Master William Crashaw, in a sermon upon the Virginia + venture, remarks that "they who goe... be like for aught I see to those + who are left behind, even of all sorts better and worse!" This probably + hits the mark. + </p> + <p> + The Virginia Company meant at last to have order in Virginia. To this + effect, a new office was created and a strong man was found to fill it. + Gates remained De La Warr's deputy governor, but Sir Thomas Dale went as + Marshal of Virginia. The latter sailed in March, 1611, with "three ships, + three hundred people, twelve kine, twenty goats, and all things needful + for the colony." Gates followed in May with other ships, three hundred + colonists, and much cattle. + </p> + <p> + For the next few years Dale becomes, in effect, ruler of Virginia. He did + much for the colony, and therefore, in that far past that is not so + distant either, much for the United States—a man of note, and worth + considering. + </p> + <p> + Dale had seen many years of service in the Low Countries. He was still in + Holland when the summons came to cross the ocean in the service of the + Virginia Company. On the recommendation of Henry, Prince of Wales, the + States-General of the United Netherlands consented "that Captain Thomas + Dale (destined by the King of Great Britain to be employed in Virginia in + his Majesty's service) may absent himself from his company for the space + of three years, and that his said company shall remain meanwhile vacant, + to be resumed by him if he think proper." + </p> + <p> + This man had a soldier's way with him and an iron will. For five years in + Virginia he exhibited a certain stern efficiency which was perhaps the + best support and medicine that could have been devised. At the end of that + time, leaving Virginia, he did not return to the Dutch service, but became + Admiral of the fleet of the English East India Company, thus passing from + one huge historic mercantile company to another. With six ships he sailed + for India. Near Java, the English and the Dutch having chosen to quarrel, + he had with a Dutch fleet "a cruel, bloody fight." Later, when peace was + restored, the East India Company would have given him command of an allied + fleet of English and Dutch ships, the objective being trade along the + coast of Malabar and an attempt to open commerce with the Chinese. But Sir + Thomas Dale was opening commerce with a vaster, hidden land, for at + Masulipatam he died. "Whose valor," says his epitaph, "having shined in + the Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." + </p> + <p> + But now in Maytime of 1611 Dale was in Virginian waters. By this day, + beside the main settlement of Jamestown, there were at Cape Henry and + Point Comfort small forts garrisoned with meager companies of men. Dale + made pause at these, setting matters in order, and then, proceeding up the + river, he came to Jamestown and found the people gathered to receive him. + Presently he writes home to the Company a letter that gives a view of the + place and its needs. Any number of things must be done, requiring + continuous and hard work, "as, namely, the reparation of the falling + Church and so of the Store-house, a stable for our horses, a munition + house, a Powder house, a new well for the amending of the most unwholesome + water which the old afforded. Brick to be made, a sturgion house... a + Block house to be raised on the North side of our back river to prevent + the Indians from killing our cattle, a house to be set up to lodge our + cattle in the winter, and hay to be appointed in his due time to be made, + a smith's forge to be perfected, caske for our Sturgions to be made, and + besides private gardens for each man common gardens for hemp and flax and + such other seeds, and lastly a bridge to land our goods dry and safe upon, + for most of which I take present order." + </p> + <p> + Dale would have agreed with Dr. Watts that + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do! +</pre> + <p> + If we of the United States today will call to mind certain Western small + towns of some decades ago—if we will review them as they are + pictured in poem and novel and play—we may receive, as it were out + of the tail of the eye, an impression of some aspects of these western + plantings of the seventeenth century. The dare-devil, the bully, the + tenderfoot, the gambler, the gentleman-desperado had their counterparts in + Virginia. So had the cool, indomitable sheriff and his dependable posse, + the friends generally of law and order. Dale may be viewed as the + picturesque sheriff of this earlier age. + </p> + <p> + But it must be remembered that this Virginia was of the seventeenth, not + of the nineteenth century. And law had cruel and idiot faces as well as + faces just and wise. Hitherto the colony possessed no written statutes. + The Company now resolved to impose upon the wayward an iron restraint. It + fell to Dale to enforce the regulations known as "Lawes and Orders, + dyvine, politique, and martiall for the Colonye of Virginia"—not + English civil law simply, but laws "chiefly extracted out of the Lawes for + governing the army in the Low Countreys." The first part of this code was + compiled by William Strachey; the latter part is thought to have been the + work of Sir Edward Cecil, Sir Thomas Gates, and Dale himself, approved and + accepted by the Virginia Company. Ten years afterwards, defending itself + before a Committee of Parliament, the Company through its Treasurer + declared "the necessity of such laws, in some cases ad terrorem, and in + some to be truly executed." + </p> + <p> + Seventeenth-century English law herself was terrible enough in all + conscience, but "Dale's Laws" went beyond. Offences ranged from failure to + attend church and idleness to lese majeste. The penalties were gross—cruel + whippings, imprisonments, barbarous puttings to death. The High Marshal + held the unruly down with a high hand. + </p> + <p> + But other factors than this Draconian code worked at last toward order in + this English West. Dale was no small statesman, and he played ferment + against ferment. Into Virginia now first came private ownership of land. + So much was given to each colonist, and care of this booty became to each + a preoccupation. The Company at home sent out more and more settlers, and + more and more of the industrious, peace-loving sort. By 1612 the English + in America numbered about eight hundred. Dale projected another town, and + chose for its site the great horseshoe bend in the river a few miles below + the Falls of the Far West, at a spot we now call Dutch Gap. Here Dale laid + out a town which he named Henricus after the Prince of Wales, and for its + citizens he drafted from Jamestown three hundred persons. To him also are + due Bermuda and Shirley Hundreds and Dale's Gift over on the Eastern + Shore. As the Company sent over more colonists, there began to show, up + and down the James though at far intervals, cabins and clearings made by + white men, set about with a stockade, and at the river edge a rude landing + and a fastened boat. The restless search for mines of gold and silver now + slackened. Instead eyes turned for wealth to the kingdom of the plant and + tree, and to fur trade and fisheries. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Hitherto there had been no trading or landholding by + individuals. All the colonists contributed the products of + their toil to the common store and received their supplies + from the Company. The adventurers (stockholders) contributed + money to the enterprise; the colonists, themselves and their + labor. +</pre> + <p> + Those ships that brought colonists were in every instance expected to + return to England laden with the commodities of Virginia. At first cargoes + of precious ores were looked for. These failing, the Company must take + from Virginia what lay at hand and what might be suited to English needs. + In 1610 the Company issued a paper of instructions upon this subject of + Virginia commodities. The daughter was expected to send to the mother + country sassafras root, bay berries, puccoon, sarsaparilla, walnut, + chestnut, and chinquapin oil, wine, silk grass, beaver cod, beaver and + otter skins, clapboard of oak and walnut, tar, pitch, turpentine, and + powdered sturgeon. + </p> + <p> + It might seem that Virginia was headed to become a land of fishers, of + foresters, and vine dressers, perhaps even, when the gold should be at + last discovered, of miners. At home, the colonizing merchants and + statesmen looked for some such thing. In return for what she laded into + ships, Virginia was to receive English-made goods, and to an especial + degree woolen goods, "a very liberall utterance of our English cloths into + a maine country described to be bigger than all Europe." There was to be + direct trade, country kind for country kind, and no specie to be taken out + of England. The promoters at home doubtless conceived a hardy and simple + trans-Atlantic folk of their own kindred, planters for their own needs, + steady consumers of the plainer sort of English wares, steady gatherers, + in return, of necessaries for which England otherwise must trade after a + costly fashion with lands which were not always friendly. A simple, + sturdy, laborious Virginia, white men and Indians. If this was their + dream, reality was soon to modify it. + </p> + <p> + A new commodity of unsuspected commercial value began now to be grown in + garden-plots along the James—the "weed" par excellence, tobacco. + That John Rolfe who had been shipwrecked on the Sea Adventure was now a + planter in Virginia. His child Bermuda had died in infancy, and his wife + soon after their coming to Jamestown. Rolfe remained, a young man, a good + citizen, and a Christian. And he loved tobacco. On that trivial fact + hinges an important chapter in the economic history of America. In 1612 + Rolfe planted tobacco in his own garden, experimented with its culture, + and prophesied that the Virginian weed would rank with the best Spanish. + It was now a shorter plant, smaller-leafed and smaller-flowered, but time + and skilful gardening would improve it. + </p> + <p> + England had known tobacco for thirty years, owing its introduction to + Raleigh. At first merely amused by the New World rarity, England was now + by general use turning a luxury into a necessity. More and more she + received through Dutch and Spanish ships tobacco from the Indies. Among + the English adventurers to Virginia some already knew the uses of the + weed; others soon learned from the Indians. Tobacco was perhaps not + indigenous to Virginia, but had probably come through southern tribes who + in turn had gained it from those who knew it in its tropic habitat. Now, + however, tobacco was grown by all Virginia Indians, and was regarded as + the Great Spirit's best gift. In the final happy hunting-ground, kings, + werowances, and priests enjoyed it forever. When, in the time after the + first landing, the Indians brought gifts to the adventurers as to beings + from a superior sphere, they offered tobacco as well as comestibles like + deer-meat and mulberries. Later, in England and in Virginia, there was + some suggestion that it might be cultivated among other commodities. But + the Company, not to be diverted from the path to profits, demanded from + Virginia necessities and not new-fangled luxuries. Nevertheless, a little + tobacco was sent over to England, and then a little more, and then a + larger quantity. In less than five years it had become a main export; and + from that time to this profoundly has it affected the life of Virginia + and, indeed, of the United States. + </p> + <p> + This then is the wide and general event with which John Rolfe is + connected. But there is also a narrower, personal happening that has + pleased all these centuries. Indian difficulties yet abounded, but Dale, + administrator as well as man of Mars, wound his way skilfully through them + all. Powhatan brooded to one side, over there at Werowocomoco. Captain + Samuel Argall was again in Virginia, having brought over sixty-two + colonists in his ship, the Treasurer. A bold and restless man, explorer no + less than mariner, he again went trading up the Potomac, and visited upon + its banks the village of Japazaws, kinsman of Powhatan. Here he found no + less a personage than Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas. An idea came into + Argall's active and somewhat unscrupulous brain. He bribed Japazaws with a + mighty gleaming copper kettle, and by that chief's connivance took + Pocahontas from the village above the Potomac. He brought her captive in + his boat down the Chesapeake to the mouth of the James and so up the river + to Jamestown, here to be held hostage for an Indian peace. This was in + 1613. + </p> + <p> + Pocahontas stayed by the James, in the rude settlers' town, which may have + seemed to the Indian girl stately and wonderful enough. Here Rolfe made + her acquaintance, here they talked together, and here, after some scruples + on his part as to "heathennesse," they were married. He writes of "her + desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God; her + capableness of understanding; her aptnesse and willingnesse to recieve + anie good impression, and also the spiritual, besides her owne incitements + stirring me up hereunto." First she was baptized, receiving the name + Rebecca, and then she was married to Rolfe in the flower-decked church at + Jamestown. Powhatan was not there, but he sent young chiefs, her brothers, + in his place. Rolfe had lands and cabins thereupon up the river near + Henricus. He called this place Varina, the best Spanish tobacco being + Varinas. Here he and Pocahontas dwelled together "civilly and lovingly." + When two years had passed the couple went with their infant son upon a + visit to England. There court and town and country flocked to see the + Indian "princess." After a time she and Rolfe would go back to Virginia. + But at Gravesend, before their ship sailed, she was stricken with smallpox + and died, making "a religious and godly end," and there at Gravesend she + is buried. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, who was brought up in England, returned + at last to Virginia and lived out his life there with his wife and + children. Today no small host of Americans have for ancestress the + daughter of Powhatan. In England-in-America the immediate effect of the + marriage was really to procure an Indian peace outlasting Pocahontas's + brief life. + </p> + <p> + In Dale's years there rises above the English horizon the cloud of New + France. The old, disaster-haunted Huguenot colony in Florida was a thing + of the past, to be mourned for when the Spaniard wiped it out—for at + that time England herself was not in America. But now that she was + established there, with some hundreds of men in a Virginia that stretched + from Spanish Florida to Nova Scotia, the French shadow seemed ominous. And + just in this farther region, amid fir-trees and snow, upon the desolate + Bay of Fundy, the French for some years had been keeping the breath of + life in a huddle of cabins named Port Royal. More than this, and later + than the Port Royal building, Frenchmen—Jesuits that!—were + trying a settlement on an island now called Mount Desert, off a coast now + named Maine. The Virginia Company-doubtless with some reference back to + the King and Privy Council—De La Warr, Gates, the deputy governor, + and Dale, the High Marshal, appear to have been of one mind as to these + French settlements. Up north there was still Virginia—in effect, + England! Hands off, therefore, all European peoples speaking with an + un-English tongue! + </p> + <p> + Now it happened about this time that Captain Samuel Argall received a + commission "to go fishing," and that he fished off that coast that is now + the coast of Maine, and brought his ship to anchor by Mount Desert. + Argall, a swift and high-handed person, fished on dry land. He swept into + his net the Jesuits on Mount Desert, set half of them in an open boat to + meet with what ship they might, and brought the other half captive to + Jamestown. Later, he appeared before Port Royal, where he burned the + cabins, slew the cattle, and drove into the forest the settler Frenchmen. + But Port Royal and the land about it called Acadia, though much hurt, + survived Argall's fishing.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Argall, on his fishing trip, has been credited with + attacking not only the French in Acadia but the Dutch + traders on Manhattan. But there are grounds for doubt if he + did the latter. +</pre> + <p> + There was also on Virginia in these days the shadow of Spain. In 1611 the + English had found upon the beach near Point Comfort three Spaniards from a + Spanish caravel which, as the Englishmen had learned with alarm, "was + fitted with a shallop necessarie and propper to discover freshetts, + rivers, and creekes." They took the three prisoner and applied for + instructions to Dale, who held them to be spies and clapped them into + prison at Point Comfort. + </p> + <p> + That Dale's suspicions were correct, is proved by a letter which the King + of Spain wrote in cipher to the Spanish Ambassador in London ordering him + to confer with the King as to the liberty of three prisoners whom + Englishmen in Virginia have captured. The three are "the Alcayde Don Diego + de Molino, Ensign Marco Antonio Perez, and Francisco Lembri an English + pilot, who by my orders went to reconnoitre those ports." Small wonder + that Dale was apprehensive. "What may be the daunger of this unto us," he + wrote home, "who are here so few, so weake, and unfortified,... I refer me + to your owne honorable knowledg." + </p> + <p> + Months pass, and the English Ambassador to Spain writes from Madrid that + he "is not hasty to advertise anything upon bare rumours, which hath made + me hitherto forbeare to write what I had generally heard of their intents + against Virginia, but now I have been... advertised that without question + they will speedily attempt against our plantation there. And that it is a + thing resolved of, that ye King of Spain must run any hazard with England + rather than permit ye English to settle there....Whatsoever is attempted, + I conceive will be from ye Havana." + </p> + <p> + Rumors fly back and forth. The next year 1613—the Ambassador writes + from Madrid: "They have latelie had severall Consultations about our + Plantation in Virginia. The resolution is—That it must be removed, + but they thinke it fitt to suspend the execution of it,... for that they + are in hope that it will fall of itselfe." + </p> + <p> + The Spanish hope seemed, at this time, not at all without foundation. + Members of the Virginia Company had formed the Somers Islands Company + named for Somers the Admiral—and had planted a small colony in + Bermuda where the Sea Adventure had been wrecked. Here were fair, fertile + islands without Indians, and without the diseases that seemed to rise, no + man knew how, from the marshes along those lower reaches of the great + river James in Virginia. Young though it was, the new plantation + "prospereth better than that of Virginia, and giveth greater incouragement + to prosecute yt." In England there arose, from some concerned, the cry to + Give up Virginia that has proved a project awry! As Gates was once about + to remove thence every living man, so truly they might "now removed to + these more hopeful islands!" The Spanish Ambassador is found writing to + the Spanish King: "Thus they are here discouraged... on account of the + heavy expenses they have incurred, and the disappointment, that there is + no passage from there to the South Sea... nor mines of gold or silver." + This, be it noted, was before tobacco was discovered to be an economic + treasure. + </p> + <p> + The Elizabeth from London reached Virginia in May, 1613. It brought to the + colony news of Bermuda, and incidentally of that new notion brewing in the + mind of some of the Company. When the Elizabeth, after a month in + Virginia, turned homeward, she carried a vigorous letter from Dale, the + High Marshal, to Sir Thomas Smith, Treasurer of the Company. + </p> + <p> + "Let me tell you all at home [writes Dale] this one thing, and I pray + remember it; if you give over this country and loose it, you, with your + wisdoms, will leap such a gudgeon as our state hath not done the like + since they lost the Kingdom of France; be not gulled with the clamorous + report of base people; believe Caleb and Joshua; if the glory of God have + no power with them and the conversion of these poor infidels, yet let the + rich mammons' desire egge them on to inhabit these countries. I protest to + you, by the faith of an honest man, the more I range the country the more + I admire it. I have seen the best countries in Europe; I protest to you, + before the Living God, put them all together, this country will be + equivalent unto them if it be inhabited with good people." + </p> + <p> + If ever Mother England seriously thought of moving Virginia into Bermuda, + the idea was now given over. Spain, suspending the sword until Virginia + "will fall of itselfe," saw that sword rust away. + </p> + <p> + Five years in all Dale ruled Virginia. Then, personal and family matters + calling, he sailed away home to England, to return no more. Soon his star + "having shined in the Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." At the + helm in Virginia he left George Yeardley, an honest, able man. But in + England, what was known as the "court party" in the Company managed to + have chosen instead for De La Warr's deputy governor, Captain Samuel + Argall. It proved an unfortunate choice. Argall, a capable and daring + buccaneer, fastened on Virginia as on a Spanish galleon. For a year he + ruled in his own interest, plundering and terrorizing. At last the outcry + against him grew so loud that it had to be listened to across the + Atlantic. Lord De La Warr was sent out in person to deal with matters but + died on the way; and Captain Yeardley, now knighted and appointed + Governor, was instructed to proceed against the incorrigible Argall. But + Argall had already departed to face his accusers in England. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA + </h2> + <p> + The choice of Sir Edwyn Sandys as Treasurer of the Virginia Company in + 1619 marks a turning-point in the history of both Company and colony. At a + moment when James I was aiming at absolute monarchy and was menacing + Parliament, Sandys and his party—the Liberals of the day—turned + the sessions of the Company into a parliament where momentous questions of + state and colonial policy were freely debated. The liberal spirit of + Sandys cast a beam of light, too, across the Atlantic. When Governor + Yeardley stepped ashore at Jamestown in mid-April, he brought with him, as + the first fruits of the new regime, no less a boon than the grant of a + representative assembly. + </p> + <p> + There were to be in Virginia, subject to the Company, subject in its turn + to the Crown, two "Supreme Councils," one of which was to consist of the + Governor and his councilors chosen by the Company in England. The other + was to be elected by the colonists, two representatives or burgesses from + each distinct settlement. Council and House of Burgesses were to + constitute the upper and lower houses of the General Assembly. The whole + had power to legislate upon Virginian affairs within the bounds of the + colony, but the Governor in Virginia and the Company in England must + approve its acts. + </p> + <p> + A mighty hope in small was here! Hedged about with provisions, curtailed + and limited, here nevertheless was an acorn out of which, by natural + growth and some mutation, was to come popular government wide and deep. + The planting of this small seed of freedom here, in 1619, upon the banks + of the James in Virginia, is an event of prime importance. + </p> + <p> + On the 30th of July, 1619, there was convened in the log church in + Jamestown the first true Parliament or Legislative Assembly in America. + Twenty-two burgesses sat, hat on head, in the body of the church, with the + Governor and the Council in the best seats. Master John Pory, the speaker, + faced the Assembly; clerk and sergeant-at-arms were at hand; Master Buck, + the Jamestown minister, made the solemn opening prayer. The political + divisions of this Virginia were Cities, Plantations, and Hundreds, the + English population numbering now at least a thousand souls. Boroughs + sending burgesses were James City, Charles City, the City of Henricus, + Kecoughtan, Smith's Hundred, Flowerdieu Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Martin + Brandon, Ward's Plantation, Lawne's Plantation, and Argall's Gift. This + first Assembly attended to Indian questions, agriculture, and religion. + </p> + <p> + Most notable is this year 1619, a year wrought of gold and iron. John + Rolfe, back in Virginia, though without his Indian princess, who now lies + in English earth, jots down and makes no comment upon what he has written: + "About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty + Negars." + </p> + <p> + No European state of that day, few individuals, disapproved of the African + slave trade. That dark continent made a general hunting-ground. England, + Spain, France, the Netherlands, captured, bought, and sold slaves. + Englishmen in Virginia bought without qualm, as Englishmen in England + bought without qualm. The cargo of the Dutch ship was a commonplace. The + only novelty was that it was the first shipload of Africans brought to + English-America. Here, by the same waters, were the beginnings of popular + government and the young upas-tree of slavery. A contradiction in terms + was set to resolve itself, a riddle for unborn generations of Americans. + </p> + <p> + Presently there happened another importation. Virginia, under the new + management, had strongly revived. Ships bringing colonists were coming in; + hamlets were building; fields were being planted; up and down were to be + found churches; a college at Henricus was projected so that Indian + children might be taught and converted from "heathennesse." Yet was the + population almost wholly a doublet—and—breeches—wearing + population. The children for whom the school was building were Indian + children. The men sailing to Virginia dreamed of a few years there and + gathered wealth, and then return to England. + </p> + <p> + Apparently it was the new Treasurer, Sir Edwyn Sandys, who first grasped + the essential principle of successful colonization: Virginia must be HOME + to those we send! Wife and children made home. Sandys gathered ninety + women, poor maidens and widows, "young, handsome, and chaste," who were + willing to emigrate and in Virginia become wives of settlers. They sailed; + their passage money was paid by the men of their choice; they married—and + home life began in Virginia. In due course of time appeared fair-haired + children, blue or gray of eye, with all England behind them, yet + native-born, Virginians from the cradle. + </p> + <p> + Colonists in number sailed now from England. Most ranks of society and + most professions were represented. Many brought education, means, + independent position. Other honest men, chiefly young men with little in + the purse, came over under indentures, bound for a specified term of years + to settlers of larger means. These indentured men are numerous; and when + they have worked out their indebtedness they will take up land of their + own. + </p> + <p> + An old suggestion of Dale's now for the first time bore fruit. Over the + protest of the "country party" in the Company, there began to be sent each + year out of the King's gaols a number, though not at any time a large + number, of men under conviction for various crimes. This practice + continued, or at intervals was resumed, for years, but its consequences + were not so dire, perhaps, as we might imagine. The penal laws were + execrably brutal, and in the drag-net of the law might be found many + merely unfortunate, many perhaps finer than the law. + </p> + <p> + Virginia thus was founded and established. An English people moved through + her forests, crossed in boats her shining waters, trod the lanes of + hamlets builded of wood but after English fashions. Climate, surrounding + nature, differed from old England, and these and circumstance would work + for variation. But the stock was Middlesex, Surrey, Devon, and all the + other shires of England. Scotchmen came also, Welshmen, and, perhaps as + early as this, a few Irish. And there were De La Warr's handful of Poles + and Germans, and several French vinedressers. + </p> + <p> + Political and economic life was taking form. That huge, luxurious, + thick-leafed, yellow-flowered crop, alike comforting and extravagant, that + tobacco that was in much to mould manners and customs and ways of looking + at things, was beginning to grow abundantly. In 1620, forty thousand + pounds of tobacco went from Virginia to England; two years later went + sixty thousand pounds. The best sold at two shillings the pound, the + inferior for eighteen pence. The Virginians dropped all thought of + sassafras and clapboard. Tobacco only had any flavor of Golconda. + </p> + <p> + At this time the rich soil, composed of layer on layer of the decay of + forests that had lived from old time, was incredibly fertile. As fast as + trees could be felled and dragged away, in went the tobacco. Fields must + have laborers, nor did these need to be especially intelligent. Bring in + indentured men to work. Presently dream that ships, English as well as + Dutch, might oftener load in Africa and sell in Virginia, to furnish the + dark fields with dark workers! In Dale's time had begun the making over of + land in fee simple; in Yeardley's time every "ancient" colonist—that + is every man who had come to Virginia before 1616—was given a goodly + number of acres subject to a quit-rent. Men of means and influence + obtained great holdings; ownership, rental, sale, and purchase of the land + began in Virginia much as in older times it had begun in England. Only + here, in America, where it seemed that the land could never be exhausted, + individual holdings were often of great acreage. Thus arose the Virginia + Planter. + </p> + <p> + In Yeardley's time John Berkeley established at Falling Creek the first + iron works ever set up in English-America. There were by this time in + Virginia, glass works, a windmill, iron works. To till the soil remained + the chief industry, but the tobacco culture grew until it overshadowed the + maize and wheat, the pease and beans. There were cattle and swine, not a + few horses, poultry, pigeons, and peacocks. + </p> + <p> + In 1621 Yeardley, desiring to be relieved, was succeeded by Sir Francis + Wyatt. In October the new Governor came from England in the George, and + with him a goodly company. Among others is found George Sandys, brother of + Sir Edwyn. This gentleman and scholar, beneath Virginia skies and with + Virginia trees and blossoms about him, translated the "Metamorphoses" of + Ovid and the First Book of the "Aeneid", both of which were published in + London in 1626. He stands as the first purely literary man of the English + New World. But vigorous enough literature, though the writers thereof + regarded it as information only, had, from the first years, emanated from + Virginia. Smith's "True Relation", George Percy's "Discourse", Strachey's + "True Repertory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates", and his + "Historie of Travaile into Virginia Brittannia", Hamor's "True Discourse", + Whitaker's "Good News"—other letters and reports—had already + flowered, all with something of the strength and fragrance of Elizabethan + and early Jacobean work. + </p> + <p> + For some years there had seemed peace with the Indians. Doubtless members + of the one race may have marauded, and members of the other showed + themselves highhanded, impatient, and unjust, but the majority on each + side appeared to have settled into a kind of amity. Indians came singly or + in parties from their villages to the white men's settlements, where they + traded corn and venison and what not for the magic things the white man + owned. A number had obtained the white man's firearms, unwisely sold or + given. The red seemed reconciled to the white's presence in the land; the + Indian village and the Indian tribal economy rested beside the English + settlement, church, and laws. Doubtless a fragment of the population of + England and a fragment of the English in Virginia saw in a pearly dream + the red man baptized, clothed, become Christian and English. At the least, + it seemed that friendliness and peace might continue. + </p> + <p> + In the spring of 1622 a concerted Indian attack and massacre fell like a + bolt from the blue. Up and down the James and upon the Chesapeake, + everywhere on the same day, Indians, bursting from the dark forest that + was so close behind every cluster of log houses, attacked the colonists. + Three hundred and forty-seven English men, women, and children were slain. + But Jamestown and the plantations in its neighborhood were warned in time. + The English rallied, gathered force, turned upon and beat back to the + forest the Indian, who was now and for a long time to come their open foe. + </p> + <p> + There followed upon this horror not a day or a month but years of + organized retaliation and systematic harrying. In the end the great + majority of the Indians either fell or were pushed back toward the upper + Pamunkey, the Rappahannock, the Potomac, and westward upon the great shelf + or terrace of the earth that climbed to the fabled mountains. And with + this westward move there passed away that old vision of wholesale + Christianizing. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. ROYAL GOVERNMENT + </h2> + <p> + In November, 1620, there sailed into a quiet harbor on the coast of what + is now Massachusetts a ship named the Mayflower, having on board one + hundred and two English Non-conformists, men and women and with them a few + children. These latest colonists held a patent from the Virginia Company + and have left in writing a statement of their object: "We... having + undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, + and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in + the northern parts of Virginia—". The mental reservation is, of + course, "where perchance we may serve God as we will!" In England there + obtained in some quarters a suspicion that "they meant to make a free, + popular State there." Free—Popular—Public Good! These are + words that began, in the second quarter of the seventeenth century, to + shine and ring. King and people had reached the verge of a great struggle. + The Virginia Company was divided, as were other groups, into factions. The + court party and the country party found themselves distinctly opposed. The + great, crowded meetings of the Company Sessions rang with their divisions + upon policies small and large. Words and phrases, comprehensive, sonorous, + heavy with the future, rose and rolled beneath the roof of their great + hall. There were heard amid warm discussion: Kingdom and Colony—Spain—Netherlands—France—Church + and State—Papists and Schismatics—Duties, Tithes, Excise + Petitions of Grievances—Representation—Right of Assembly. + Several years earlier the King had cried, "Choose the Devil, but not Sir + Edwyn Sandys!" Now he declared the Company "just a seminary to a seditious + parliament!" All London resounded with the clash of parties and opinions.* + "Last week the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cavendish fell so foul at a + Virginia... court that the lie passed and repassed.... The factions... are + grown so violent that Guelfs and Ghibellines were not more animated one + against another!" + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * In his work on "Joint-stock Companion", vol.II, pp. 266 + ff., W. R. Scott traces the history of these acute + dissensions in the Virginia Company and draws conclusions + distinctly unfavorable to the management of Sandys and his + party.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + Believing that the Company's sessions foreshadowed a "seditious + parliament," James Stuart set himself with obstinacy and some cunning to + the Company's undoing. The court party gave the King aid, and + circumstances favored the attempt. Captain Nathaniel Butler, who had once + been Governor of the Somers Islands and had now returned to England by way + of Virginia, published in London "The Unmasked Face of Our Colony in + Virginia", containing a savage attack upon every item of Virginian + administration. + </p> + <p> + The King's Privy Council summoned the Company, or rather the "country" + party, to answer these and other allegations. Southampton, Sandys, and + Ferrar answered with strength and cogency. But the tide was running + against them. James appointed commissioners to search out what was wrong + with Virginia. Certain men were shipped to Virginia to get evidence there, + as well as support from the Virginia Assembly. In this attempt they + signally failed. Then to England came a Virginia member of the Virginia + Council, with long letters to King and Privy Council: the + Sandys-Southampton administration had done more than well for Virginia. + The letters were letters of appeal. The colony hoped that "the Governors + sent over might not have absolute authority, but might be restrained to + the consent of the Council.... But above all they made it their most + humble request that they might still retain the liberty of their General + Assemblies; than which nothing could more conduce to the publick + Satisfaction and publick Liberty." + </p> + <p> + In London another paper, drawn by Cavendish, was given to King and Privy + Council. It answered many accusations, and among others the statement that + "the Government of the companies as it then stood was democratical and + tumultuous, and ought therefore to be altered, and reduced into the Hands + of a few." It is of interest to hear these men speak, in the year 1623, in + an England that was close to absolute monarchy, to a King who with all his + house stood out for personal rule. "However, they owned that, according to + his Majesty's Institution, their Government had some Show of a + democratical Form; which was nevertheless, in that Case, the most just and + profitable, and most conducive to the Ends and Effects aimed at + thereby.... Lastly, they observed that the opposite Faction cried out + loudly against Democracy, and yet called for Oligarchy; which would, as + they conceived, make the Government neither of better Form, nor more + monarchical." + </p> + <p> + But the dissolution of the Virginia Company was at hand. In October, 1623, + the Privy Council stated that the King had "taken into his princely + Consideration the distressed State of the Colony of Virginia, occasioned, + as it seemed, by the Ill Government of the Company." The remedy for the + ill-management lay in the reduction of the Government into fewer hands. + His Majesty had resolved therefore upon the withdrawal of the Company's + charter and the substitution, "with due regard for continuing and + preserving the Interest of all Adventurers and private persons + whatsoever," of a new order of things. The new order proved, on + examination, to be the old order of rule by the Crown. Would the Company + surrender the old charter and accept a new one so modeled? + </p> + <p> + The Company, through the country party, strove to gain time. They met with + a succession of arbitrary measures and were finally forced to a decision. + They would not surrender their charter. Then a writ of quo warranto was + issued; trial before the King's Bench followed; and judgment was rendered + against the Company in the spring term of 1624. Thus with clangor fell the + famous Virginia Company. + </p> + <p> + That was one year. The March of the next year James Stuart, King of + England, died. That young Henry who was Prince of Wales when the Susan + Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery sailed past a cape and named it + for him Cape Henry, also had died. His younger brother Charles, for whom + was named that other and opposite cape, now ascended the throne as King + Charles the First of England. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia no more General Assemblies are held for four years. King + Charles embarks upon "personal rule." Sir Francis Wyatt, a good Governor, + is retained by commission and a Council is appointed by the King. No + longer are affairs to be conducted after a fashion "democratical and + tumultuous." Orders are transmitted from England; the Governor, assisted + by the Council, will take into cognizance purely local needs; and when he + sees some occasion he will issue a proclamation. + </p> + <p> + Wyatt, recalled finally to England; George Yeardley again, who died in a + year's time; Francis West, that brother of Lord De La Warr and an ancient + planter—these in quick succession sit in the Governor's chair. + Following them John Pott, doctor of medicine, has his short term. Then the + King sends out Sir John Harvey, avaricious and arbitrary, "so haughty and + furious to the Council and the best gentlemen of the country," says + Beverley, "that his tyranny grew at last insupportable." + </p> + <p> + The Company previously, and now the King, had urged upon the Virginians a + diversified industry and agriculture. But Englishmen in Virginia had the + familiar emigrant idea of making their fortunes. They had left England; + they had taken their lives in their hands; they had suffered fevers, + Indian attacks, homesickness, deprivation. They had come to Virginia to + get rich. Now clapboards and sassafras, pitch, tar, and pine trees for + masts, were making no fortune for Virginia shippers. How could they, these + few folk far off in America, compete in products of the forest with + northern Europe? As to mines of gold and silver, that first rich vision + had proved a disheartening mirage. "They have great hopes that the + mountains are very rich, from the discovery of a silver mine made nineteen + years ago, at a place about four days' journey from the falls of James + river; but they have not the means of transporting the ore." So, + dissatisfied with some means of livelihood and disappointed in others, the + Virginians turned to tobacco. + </p> + <p> + Every year each planter grew more tobacco; every year more ships were + laden. In 1628 more than five hundred thousand pounds were sent to + England, for to England it must go, and not elsewhere. There it must + struggle with the best Spanish, for a long time valued above the best + Virginian. Finally, however, James and after him Charles, agreed to + exclude the Spanish. Virginia and the Somers Islands alone might import + tobacco into England. But offsetting this, customs went up ruinously; a + great lump sum must go annually to the King; the leaf must enter only at + the port of London; so forth and so on. Finally Charles put forth his + proposal to monopolize the industry, giving Virginia tobacco the English + market but limiting its production to the amount which the Government + could sell advantageously. Such a policy required cooperation from the + colonists. The King therefore ordered the Governor to grant a Virginia + Assembly, which in turn should dutifully enter into partnership with him—upon + his terms. So the Virginia Assembly thus came back into history. It made a + "Humble Answere" in which, for all its humility, the King's proposal was + declined. The idea of the royal monopoly faded out, and Virginia continued + on its own way. + </p> + <p> + The General Assembly, having once met, seems of its own motion to have + continued meeting. The next year we find it in session at Jamestown, and + resolving "that we should go three severall marches upon the Indians, at + three severall times of the yeare," and also "that there be an especiall + care taken by all commanders and others that the people doe repaire to + their churches on the Saboth day, and to see that the penalty of one pound + of tobacco for every time of absence, and 50 pounds for every month's + absence... be levyed, and the delinquents to pay the same." About this + time we read: "Dr. John Pott, late Governor, indicted, arraigned, and + found guilty of stealing cattle, 13 jurors, 3 whereof councellors. This + day wholly spent in pleading; next day, in unnecessary disputation." + </p> + <p> + These were moving times in the little colony whose population may by now + have been five thousand. Harvey, the Governor, was rapacious; the King at + home, autocratic. Meanwhile, signs of change and of unrest were not + wanting in Europe. England was hastening toward revolution; in Germany the + Thirty Years' War was in mid-career; France and Italy were racked by + strife; over the world the peoples groaned under the strain of oppression. + In science, too, there was promise of revolution. Harvey—not that + Governor Harvey of Virginia, but a greater in England was writing upon the + circulation of the blood. Galileo brooded over ideas of the movement of + the earth; Kepler, over celestial harmonies and solar rule. Descartes was + laying the foundation of a new philosophy. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime, far across the Atlantic, bands of Virginians went out + against the Indians—who might, or might not, God knows! have put in + a claim to be considered among the oppressed peoples. In Virginia the fat, + black, tobacco-fields, steaming under a sun like the sun of Spain, called + for and got more labor and still more labor. Every little sailing ship + brought white workmen—called servants—consigned, indentured, + apprenticed to many-acred planters. These, in return for their passage + money, must serve Laban for a term of years, but then would receive + Rachel, or at least Leah, in the shape of freedom and a small holding and + provision with which to begin again their individual life. If they were + ambitious and energetic they might presently be able, in turn, to import + labor for their own acres. As yet, in Virginia, there were few African + slaves—not more perhaps than a couple of hundred. But whenever ships + brought them they were readily purchased. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia, as everywhere in time of change, there arose anomalies. Side + by side persisted a romantic devotion to the King and a determination to + have popular assemblies; a great sense of the rights of the white + individual together with African slavery; a practical, easy-going, + debonair naturalism side by side with an Established Church penalizing + alike Papist, Puritan, and atheist. Even so early as this, the social tone + was set that was to hold for many and many a year. The suave climate was + somehow to foster alike a sense of caste and good neighborliness—class + distinctions and republican ideas. + </p> + <p> + The "towns" were of the fewest and rudest—little more than small + palisaded hamlets, built of frame or log, poised near the water of the + river James. The genius of the land was for the plantation rather than the + town. The fair and large brick or frame planter's house of a later time + had not yet risen, but the system was well inaugurated that set a main or + "big" house upon some fair site, with cabins clustered near it, and all + surrounded, save on the river front, with far-flung acres, some planted + with grain and the rest with tobacco. Up and down the river these estates + were strung together by the rudest roads, mere tracks through field and + wood. The cart was as yet the sole wheeled vehicle. But the Virginia + planter—a horseman in England—brought over horses, bred + horses, and early placed horsemanship in the catalogue of the necessary + colonial virtues. At this point, however, in a land of great and lesser + rivers, with a network of creeks, the boat provided the chief means of + communication. Behind all, enveloping all, still spread the illimitable + forest, the haunt of Indians and innumerable game. + </p> + <p> + Virginians were already preparing for an expansion to the north. There was + a man in Virginia named William Claiborne. This individual—able, + determined, self-reliant, energetic—had come in as a young man, with + the title of surveyor-general for the Company, in the ship that brought + Sir Francis Wyatt, just before the massacre of 1622. He had prospered and + was now Secretary of the Province. He held lands, and was endowed with a + bold, adventurous temper and a genius for business. In a few years he had + established widespread trading relations with the Indians. He and the men + whom he employed penetrated to the upper shores of Chesapeake, into the + forest bordering Potomac and Susquehanna: Knives and hatchets, beads, + trinkets, and colored cloth were changed for rich furs and various + articles that the Indians could furnish. The skins thus gathered Claiborne + shipped to London merchants, and was like to grow wealthy from what his + trading brought. + </p> + <p> + Looking upon the future and contemplating barter on a princely scale, he + set to work and obtained exhaustive licenses from the immediate Virginian + authorities, and at last from the King himself. Under these grants, + Claiborne began to provide settlements for his numerous traders. Far up + the Chesapeake, a hundred miles or so from Point Comfort, he found an + island that he liked, and named it Kent Island. Here for his men he built + cabins with gardens around them, a mill and a church. He was far from the + river James and the mass of his fellows, but he esteemed himself to be in + Virginia and upon his own land. What came of Claiborne's enterprise the + sequel has to show. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. MARYLAND + </h2> + <p> + There now enters upon the scene in Virginia a man of middle age, not + without experience in planting colonies, by name George Calvert, first + Lord Baltimore. Of Flemish ancestry, born in Yorkshire, scholar at Oxford, + traveler, clerk of the Privy Council, a Secretary of State under James, + member of the House of Commons, member of the Virginia Company, he knew + many of the ramifications of life. A man of worth and weight, he was + placed by temperament and education upon the side of the court party and + the Crown in the growing contest over rights. About the year 1625, under + what influence is not known, he had openly professed the Roman Catholic + faith—and that took courage in the seventeenth century, in England! + </p> + <p> + Some years before, Calvert had obtained from the Crown a grant of a part + of Newfoundland, had named it Avalon, and had built great hopes upon its + settlement. But the northern winter had worked against him. He knew, for + he had resided there himself with his family in that harsh clime. "From + the middle of October to the middle of May there is a sad fare of winter + on all this land." He is writing to King Charles, and he goes on to say "I + have had strong temptations to leave all proceedings in plantations... but + my inclination carrying me naturally to these kind of works... I am + determined to commit this place to fishermen that are able to encounter + storms and hard weather, and to remove myself with some forty persons to + your Majesty's dominion of Virginia where, if your Majesty will please to + grant me a precinct of land... I shall endeavour to the utmost of my + power, to deserve it." + </p> + <p> + With his immediate following he thereupon does sail far southward. In + October, 1629, he comes in between the capes, past Point Comfort and so up + to Jamestown—to the embarrassment of that capital, as will soon be + evident. + </p> + <p> + Here in Church of England Virginia was a "popish recusant!" Here was an + old "court party" man, one of James's commissioners, a person of rank and + prestige, known, for all his recusancy, to be in favor with the present + King. Here was the Proprietary of Avalon, guessed to be dissatisfied with + his chilly holding, on the scent perhaps of balmier, easier things! + </p> + <p> + The Assembly was in session when Lord Baltimore came to Jamestown. All + arrivers in Virginia must take the oath of supremacy. The Assembly + proposed this to the visitor who, as Roman Catholic, could not take it, + and said as much, but offered his own declaration of friendliness to the + powers that were. This was declined. Debate followed, ending with a + request from the Assembly that the visitor depart from Virginia. Some + harshness of speech ensued, but hospitality and the amenities fairly saved + the situation. One Thomas Tindall was pilloried for "giving my lord + Baltimore the lie and threatening to knock him down." Baltimore thereupon + set sail, but not, perhaps, until he had gained that knowledge of + conditions which he desired. + </p> + <p> + In England he found the King willing to make him a large grant, with no + less powers than had clothed him in Avalon. Territory should be taken from + the old Virginia; it must be of unsettled land—Indians of course not + counting. Baltimore first thought of the stretch south of the river James + between Virginia and Spanish Florida—a fair land of woods and + streams, of good harbors, and summer weather. But suddenly William + Claiborne was found to be in London, sent there by the Virginians, with + representations in his pocket. Virginia was already settled and had the + intention herself of expanding to the south. + </p> + <p> + Baltimore, the King, and the Privy Council weighed the matter. Westward, + the blue mountains closed the prospect. Was the South Sea just beyond + their sunset slopes, or was it much farther away, over unknown lands, than + the first adventurers had guessed? Either way, too rugged hardship marked + the west! East rolled the ocean. North, then? It were well to step in + before those Hollanders about the mouth of the Hudson should cast nets to + the south. Baltimore accordingly asked for a grant north of the Potomac. + </p> + <p> + He received a huge territory, stretching over what is now Maryland, + Delaware, and a part of Pennsylvania. The Potomac, from source to mouth, + with a line across Chesapeake and the Eastern Shore to the ocean formed + his southern frontier; his northern was the fortieth parallel, from the + ocean across country to the due point above the springs of the Potomac. + Over this great expanse he became "true and absolute lord and + proprietary," holding fealty to England, but otherwise at liberty to rule + in his own domain with every power of feudal duke or prince. The King had + his allegiance, likewise a fifth part of gold or silver found within his + lands. All persons going to dwell in his palatinate were to have "rights + and liberties of Englishmen." But, this aside, he was lord paramount. The + new country received the name Terra Mariae—Maryland—for + Henrietta Maria, then Queen of England. + </p> + <p> + Here was a new land and a Lord Proprietor with kingly powers. Virginians + seated on the James promptly petitioned King Charles not to do them wrong + by so dividing their portion of the earth. But King and Privy Council + answered only that Virginia and Maryland must "assist each other on all + occasions as becometh fellow-subjects." William Claiborne, indeed, + continued with a determined voice to cry out that lands given to Baltimore + were not, as had been claimed, unsettled, seeing that he himself had under + patent a town on Kent Island and another at the mouth of the Susquehanna. + </p> + <p> + Baltimore was a reflective man, a dreamer in the good sense of the term, + and religiously minded. At the height of seeming good fortune he could + write: + </p> + <p> + "All things, my lord, in this world pass away.... They are but lent us + till God please to call for them back again, that we may not esteem + anything our own, or set our hearts upon anything but Him alone, who only + remains forever." Like his King, Baltimore could carry far his prerogative + and privilege, maintaining the while not a few degrees of inner freedom. + Like all men, here he was bound, and here he was free. + </p> + <p> + Baltimore's desire was for "enlarging his Majesty's Empire," and at the + same time to provide in Maryland a refuge for his fellow Catholics. These + were now in England so disabled and limited that their status might fairly + be called that of a persecuted people. The mounting Puritanism promised no + improvement. The King himself had no fierce antagonism to the old + religion, but it was beginning to be seen that Charles and Charles's realm + were two different things. A haven should be provided before the storm + blackened further. Baltimore thus saw put into his hands a high and holy + opportunity, and made no doubt that it was God-given. His charter, indeed, + seemed to contemplate an established church, for it gave to Baltimore the + patronage of all churches and chapels which were to be "consecrated + according to the ecclesiastical laws of our kingdom of England"; + nevertheless, no interpretation of the charter was to be made prejudicial + to "God's holy and true Christian religion." What was Christian and what + was prejudicial was, fortunately for him, left undefined. No obstacles + were placed before a Catholic emigration. + </p> + <p> + Baltimore had this idea and perhaps a still wider one: a land—Mary's + land—where all Christians might foregather, brothers and sisters in + one home! Religious tolerance—practical separation of Church and + State—that was a broad idea for his age, a generous idea for a Roman + Catholic of a time not so far removed from the mediaeval. True, wherever + he went and whatever might be his own thought and feeling, he would still + have for overlord a Protestant sovereign, and the words of his charter + forbade him to make laws repugnant to the laws of England. But Maryland + was distant, and wise management might do much. Catholics, Anglicans, + Puritans, Dissidents, and Nonconformists of almost any physiognomy, might + come and be at home, unpunished for variations in belief. + </p> + <p> + Only the personal friendship of England's King and the tact and suave + sagacity of the Proprietary himself could have procured the signing of + this charter, since it was known—as it was to all who cared to busy + themselves with the matter—that here was a Catholic meaning to take + other Catholics, together with other scarcely less abominable sectaries, + out of the reach of Recusancy Acts and religious pains and penalties, to + set them free in England-in-America; and, raising there a state on the + novel basis of free religion, perhaps to convert the heathen to all manner + of errors, and embark on mischiefs far too large for definition. Taking + things as they were in the world, remembering acts of the Catholic Church + in the not distant past, the ill-disposed might find some color for the + agitation which presently did arise. Baltimore was known to be in + correspondence with English Jesuits, and it soon appeared that Jesuit + priests were to accompany the first colonists. At that time the Society of + Jesus loomed large both politically and educationally. Many may have + thought that there threatened a Rome in America. But, however that may + have been, there was small chance for any successful opposition to the + charter, since Parliament had been dissolved by the King, not to be + summoned again for eleven years. The Privy Council was subservient, and, + as the Sovereign was his friend, Baltimore saw the signing of the charter + assured and began to gather together his first colonists. Then, somewhat + suddenly, in April, 1632, he sickened, and died at the age of fifty-three. + </p> + <p> + His son, Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, took up his father's work. + This young man, likewise able and sagacious, and at every step in his + father's confidence, could and did proceed even in detail according to + what had been planned. All his father's rights had descended to him; in + Maryland he was Proprietary with as ample power as ever a Count Palatine + had enjoyed. He took up the advantage and the burden. + </p> + <p> + The father's idea had been to go with his colonists to Maryland, and this + it seems that the son also meant to do. But now, in London, there deepened + a clamor against such Catholic enterprise. Once he were away, lips would + be at the King's ear. And with England so restless, in a turmoil of new + thought, it might even arise that King and Privy Council would find + trouble in acting after their will, good though that might be. The second + Baltimore therefore remained in England to safeguard his charter and his + interests. + </p> + <p> + The family of Baltimore was an able one. Cecil Calvert had two brothers, + Leonard and George, and these would go to Maryland in his place. Leonard + he made Governor and Lieutenant-general, and appointed him councilor. + Ships were made ready—the Ark of three hundred tons and the Dove of + fifty. The colonists went aboard at Gravesend, where these ships rode at + anchor. Of the company a great number were Protestants, willing to take + land, if their condition were bettered so, with Catholics. Difficulties of + many kinds kept them all long at the mouth of the Thames, but at last, + late in November, 1633, the Ark and the Dove set sail. Touching at the + Isle of Wight, they took aboard two Jesuit priests, Father White and + Father Altham, and a number of other colonists. Baltimore reported that + the expedition consisted of "two of my brothers with very near twenty + other gentlemen of very good fashion, and three hundred labouring men well + provided in all things." + </p> + <p> + These ships, with the first Marylanders, went by the old West Indies sea + route. We find them resting at Barbados; then they swung to the north and, + in February, 1634, came to Point Comfort in Virginia. Here they took + supplies, being treated by Sir John Harvey (who had received a letter from + the King) with "courtesy and humanity." Without long tarrying, for they + were sick now for land of their own, they sailed on up the great bay, the + Chesapeake. + </p> + <p> + Soon they reached the mouth of the Potomac—a river much greater than + any of them, save shipmasters and mariners, had ever seen—and into + this turned the Ark and the Dove. After a few leagues of sailing up the + wide stream, they came upon an islet covered with trees, leafless, for + spring had hardly broken. The ships dropped anchor; the boats were + lowered; the people went ashore. Here the Calverts claimed Maryland "for + our Savior and for our Sovereign Lord the King of England," and here they + heard Mass. St. Clement's they called the island. + </p> + <p> + But it was too small for a home. The Ark was left at anchor, while Leonard + Calvert went exploring with the Dove. Up the Potomac some distance he + went, but at the last he wisely determined to choose for their first town + a site nearer the sea. The Dove turned and came back to the Ark, and both + sailed on down the stream from St. Clement's Isle. Before long they came + to the mouth of a tributary stream flowing in from the north. The Dove, + going forth again, entered this river, which presently the party named the + River St. George. Soon they came to a high bank with trees tinged with the + foliage of advancing spring. Here upon this bank the English found an + Indian village and a small Algonquin group, in the course of extinction by + their formidable Iroquois neighbors, the giant Susquehannocks. The white + men landed, bearing a store of hatchets, gewgaws, and colored cloth. The + first Lord Baltimore, having had opportunity enough for observing savages, + had probably handed on to his sagacious sons his conclusions as to ways of + dealing with the natives of the forest. And the undeniable logic of events + was at last teaching the English how to colonize. Englishmen on Roanoke + Island, Englishmen on the banks of the James, Englishmen in that first New + England colony, had borne the weight of early inexperience and all the + catalogue of woes that follow ignorance. All these early colonists alike + had been quickly entangled in strife with the people whom they found in + the land. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + First they fell on their knees, + And then on the Aborigines. +</pre> + <p> + But by now much water had passed the mill. The thinking kind, the wiser + sort, might perceive more things than one, and among these the fact that + savages had a sense of justice and would even fight against injustice, + real or fancied. + </p> + <p> + The Calverts, through their interpreter, conferred with the inhabitants of + this Indian village. Would they sell lands where the white men might + peaceably settle, under their given word to deal in friendly wise with the + red men? Many hatchets and axes and much cloth would be given in return. + </p> + <p> + To a sylvan people store of hatchets and axes had a value beyond many + fields of the boundless earth. The Dove appeared before them, too, at the + psychological moment. They had just discussed removing, bag and baggage, + from the proximity of the Iroquois. In the end, these Indians sold to the + English their village huts, their cleared and planted fields, and miles of + surrounding forest. Moreover they stayed long enough in friendship with + the newcomers to teach them many things of value. Then they departed, + leaving with the English a clear title to as much land as they could + handle, at least for some time to come. Later, with other Indians, as with + these, the Calverts pursued a conciliatory policy. They were aided by the + fact that the Susquehannocks to the north, who might have given trouble, + were involved in war with yet more northerly tribes, and could pay scant + attention to the incoming white men. But even so, the Calverts proved, as + William Penn proved later, that men may live at peace with men, honestly + and honorably, even though hue of skin and plane of development differ. + </p> + <p> + Now the Ark joins the Dove in the River St. George. The pieces of ordnance + are fired; the colonists disembark; and on the 27th of March, 1634, the + Indian village, now English, becomes St. Mary's. + </p> + <p> + On the whole how advantageously are they placed! There is peace with the + Indians. Huts, lodges, are already built, fields already cleared or + planted. The site is high and healthful. They have at first few + dissensions among themselves. Nor are they entirely alone or isolated in + the New World. There is a New England to the north of them and a Virginia + to the south. From the one they get in the autumn salted fish, from the + other store of swine and cattle. Famine and pestilence are far from them. + They build a "fort" and perhaps a stockade, but there are none of the + stealthy deaths given by arrow and tomahawk in the north, nor are there + any of the Spanish alarms that terrified the south. From the first they + have with them women and children. They know that their settlement is + "home." Soon other ships and colonists follow the Ark and the Dove to St. + Mary's, and the history of this middle colony is well begun. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia, meantime, there was jealousy enough of the new colony, taking + as it did territory held to be Virginian and renaming it, not for the old, + independent, Protestant, virgin queen, but for a French, Catholic, queen + consort—even settling it with believers in the Mass and bringing in + Jesuits! It was, says a Jamestown settler, "accounted a crime almost as + heinous as treason to favour, nay to speak well of that colony." Beside + the Virginian folk as a whole, one man, in particular, William Claiborne, + nursed an individual grievance. He had it from Governor Calvert that he + might dwell on in Kent Island, trading from there, but only under license + from the Lord Proprietor and as an inhabitant of Maryland, not of + Virginia. Claiborne, with the Assembly at Jamestown secretly on his side, + resisted this interference with his rights, and, as he continued to trade + with a high hand, he soon fell under suspicion of stirring up the Indians + against the Marylanders. + </p> + <p> + At the time, this quarrel rang loud through Maryland and Virginia, and + even echoed across the Atlantic. Leonard Calvert had a trading-boat of + Claiborne's seized in the Patuxent River. Thereupon Claiborne's men, with + the shallop Cockatrice, in retaliation attacked Maryland pinnaces and lost + both their lives and their boat. For several years Maryland and Kent + Island continued intermittently to make petty war on each other. At last, + in 1638, Calvert took the island by main force and hanged for piracy a + captain of Claiborne's. The Maryland Assembly brought the trader under a + Bill of Attainder; and a little later, in England, the Lords Commissioners + of Foreign Plantations formally awarded Kent Island to the Lord + Proprietor. Thus defeated, Claiborne, nursing his wrath, moved down the + bay to Virginia. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. CHURCH AND KINGDOM + </h2> + <p> + Virginia, all this time, with Maryland a thorn in her side, was wrestling + with an autocratic governor, John Harvey. This avaricious tyrant sowed the + wind until in 1635 he was like to reap the whirlwind. Though he was the + King's Governor and in good odor in England, where rested the overpower to + which Virginia must bow, yet in this year Virginia blew upon her courage + until it was glowing and laid rude hands upon him. We read: "An Assembly + to be called to receive complaints against Sr. John Harvey, on the + petition of many inhabitants, to meet 7th of May." But, before that month + was come, the Council, seizing opportunity, acted for the whole. + Immediately below the entry above quoted appears: "On the 28th of April, + 1635, Sr. John Harvey thrust out of his government, and Capt. John West + acts as Governor till the King's pleasure known."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Hening's "Statutes" vol. I p. 223. +</pre> + <p> + So Virginia began her course as rebel against political evils! It is of + interest to note that Nicholas Martian, one of the men found active + against the Governor, was an ancestor of George Washington. + </p> + <p> + Harvey, thrust out, took first ship for England, and there also sailed + commissioners from the Virginia Assembly with a declaration of wrongs for + the King's ear. But when they came to England, they found that the King's + ear was for the Governor whom he had given to the Virginians and whom + they, with audacious disobedience, had deposed. Back should go Sir John + Harvey, still governing Virginia; back without audience the so-called + commissioners, happy to escape a merited hanging! Again to Jamestown + sailed Harvey. In silence Virginia received him, and while he remained + Governor no Assembly sat. + </p> + <p> + But having asserted his authority, the King in a few years' time was + willing to recall his unwelcome representative. So in 1639 Governor Harvey + vanishes from the scene, and in comes the well-liked Sir Francis Wyatt as + Governor for the second time. For two years he remains, and is then + superseded by Sir William Berkeley, a notable figure in Virginia for many + years to come. The population was now perhaps ten thousand, both English + born and Virginians born of English parents. A few hundred negroes moved + in the tobacco fields. More would be brought in and yet more. And now + above a million pounds of tobacco were going annually to England. + </p> + <p> + The century was predominantly one of inner and outer religious conflict. + What went on at home in England reechoed in Virginia. The new Governor was + a dyed-in-the-wool Cavalier, utterly stubborn for King and Church. The + Assemblies likewise leaned that way, as presumably did the mass of the + people. It was ordered in 1631: "That there bee a uniformitie throughout + this colony both in substance and circumstance to the cannons and + constitutions of the church of England as neere as may bee, and that every + person yeald readie obedience unto them uppon penaltie of the paynes and + forfeitures in that case appoynted." And, indeed, the pains and + forfeitures threatened were savage enough. + </p> + <p> + Official Virginia, loyal to the Established Church, was jealous and + fearful of Papistry and looked askance at Puritanism. It frowned upon + these and upon agnosticisms, atheisms, pantheisms, religious doubts, and + alterations in judgment—upon anything, in short, that seemed to push + a finger against Church and Kingdom. Yet in this Virginia, governed by Sir + William Berkeley, a gentleman more cavalier than the Cavaliers, more + royalist than the King, more churchly than the Church, there lived not a + few Puritans and Dissidents, going on as best they might with Established + Church and fiery King's men. Certain parishes were predominantly Puritan; + certain ministers were known to have leanings away from surplices and + genuflections and to hold that Archbishop Laud was some kin to the Pope. + In 1642, to reenforce these ministers, came three more from New England, + actively averse to conformity. But Governor and Council and the majority + of the Burgesses will have none of that. The Assembly of 1643 takes sharp + action. + </p> + <p> + For the preservation of the puritie of doctrine and unitie of the church, + IT IS ENACTED that all ministers whatsoever which shall reside in the + collony are to be conformable to the orders and constitutions of the + church of England, and the laws therein established, and not otherwise to + be admitted to teach or preach publickly or privately. And that the Gov. + and Counsel do take care that all nonconformists upon notice of them shall + be compelled to depart the collony with all conveniencie. And so in + consequence out of Virginia, to New England where Independents were + welcome, or to Maryland where any Christian might dwell, went these + tainted ministers. But there stayed behind Puritan and nonconforming minds + in the bodies of many parishioners. They must hold their tongues, indeed, + and outwardly conform—but they watched lynx-eyed for their + opportunity and a more favorable fortune. + </p> + <p> + Having launched thunderbolts against schismatics of this sort, Berkeley, + himself active and powerful, with the Council almost wholly of his party + and the House of Burgesses dominantly so, turned his attention to "popish + recusants." Of these there were few or none dwelling in Virginia. Let them + then not attempt to come from Maryland! The rulers of the colony + legislated with vigor: papists may not hold any public place; all statutes + against them shall be duly executed; popish priests by chance or intent + arriving within the bounds of Virginia shall be given five days' warning, + and, if at the end of this time they are yet upon Virginian soil, action + shall be brought against them. Berkeley sweeps with an impatient broom. + </p> + <p> + The Kingdom is cared for not less than the Church in Virginia. Any and all + persons coming into the colony by land and by sea shall have administered + to them the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance. "Which if any shall refuse + to take," the commander of the fort at Point Comfort shall "committ him or + them to prison." Foreigners in birth and tongue, foreigners in thought, + must have found the place and time narrow indeed. + </p> + <p> + On the eve of civil war there arose on the part of some in England a + project to revive and restore the old Virginia Company by procuring from + Charles, now deep in troubles of his own, a renewal of the old letters + patent and the transference of the direct government of the colony into + the hands of a reorganized and vast corporation. Virginia, which a score + of years before had defended the Company, now protested vigorously, and, + with regard to the long view of things, it may be thought wisely. The + project died a natural death. The petition sent from Virginia shows + plainly enough the pen of Berkeley. There are a multitude of reasons why + Virginia should not pass from King to Company, among which these are + worthy of note: "We may not admit of so unnatural a distance as a Company + will interpose between his sacred majesty and us his subjects from whose + immediate protection we have received so many royal favours and gracious + blessings. For, by such admissions, we shall degenerate from the condition + of our birth, being naturalized under a monarchical government and not a + popular and tumultuary government depending upon the greatest number of + votes of persons of several humours and dispositions." + </p> + <p> + When this paper reached England, it came to a country at civil war. The + Long Parliament was in session. Stafford had been beheaded, the Star + Chamber swept away, the Grand Remonstrance presented. On Edgehill bloomed + flowers that would soon be trampled by Rupert's cavalry. In Virginia the + Assembly took notice of these "unkind differences now in England," and + provided by tithing for the Governor's pension and allowance, which were + for the present suspended and endangered by the troubles at home. That the + forces banded against the Lord's anointed would prove victorious must at + this time have appeared preposterously unlikely to the fiery Governor and + the ultra-loyal Virginia whom he led. The Puritans and Independents in + Virginia—estimated a little earlier at "a thousand strong" and now, + for all the acts against them, probably stronger yet—were to be + found chiefly in the parishes of Isle of Wight and Nansemond, but had + representatives from the Falls to the Eastern Shore. What these Virginians + thought of the "unkind differences" does not appear in the record, but + probably there was thought enough and secret hopes. + </p> + <p> + In 1644, the year of Marston Moor, Virginia, too, saw battle and sudden + and bloody death. That Opechancanough who had succeeded Powhatan was now + one hundred years old, hardly able to walk or to see, dwelling harmlessly + in a village upon the upper Pamunkey. All the Indians were broken and + dispersed; serious danger was not to be thought of. Then, of a sudden, the + flame leaped again. There fell from the blue sky a massacre directed + against the outlying plantations. Three hundred men, women, and children + were killed by the Indians. With fury the white men attacked in return. + They sent bodies of horse into the untouched western forests. They chased + and slew without mercy. In 1646 Opechancanough, brought a prisoner to + Jamestown, ended his long tale of years by a shot from one of his keepers. + The Indians were beaten, and, lacking such another leader, made no more + organized and general attacks. But for long years a kind of border warfare + still went on. + </p> + <p> + Even Maryland, tolerant and just as was the Calvert policy, did not + altogether escape Indian troubles. She had to contend with no such able + chief as Opechancanough, and she suffered no sweeping massacres. But after + the first idyllic year or so there set in a small, constant friction. So + fast did the Maryland colonists arrive that soon there was pressure of + population beyond those first purchased bounds. The more thoughtful among + the Indians may well have taken alarm lest their villages and + hunting-grounds might not endure these inroads. Ere long the English in + Maryland were placing "centinells" over fields where men worked, and + providing penalties for those who sold the savages firearms. But at no + time did young Maryland suffer the Indian woes that had vexed young + Virginia. + </p> + <p> + Nor did Maryland escape the clash of interests which beset the beginnings + of representative assemblies in all proprietary provinces. The second, + like the first, Lord Baltimore, was a believer in kings and aristocracies, + in a natural division of human society into masters and men. His effort + was to plant intact in Maryland a feudal order. He would be Palatine, the + King his suzerain. In Maryland the great planters, in effect his barons, + should live upon estates, manorial in size and with manorial rights. The + laboring men—the impecunious adventurers whom these greater + adventurers brought out—would form a tenantry, the Lord + Proprietary's men's men. It is true that, according to charter, provision + was made for an Assembly. Here were to sit "freemen of the province," that + is to say, all white males who were not in the position of indentured + servants. But with the Proprietary, and not with the Assembly, would rest + primarily the lawmaking power. The Lord Proprietary would propose + legislation, and the freemen of the country would debate, in a measure + advise, represent, act as consultants, and finally confirm. Baltimore was + prepared to be a benevolent lord, wise, fatherly. + </p> + <p> + In 1635 met the first Assembly, Leonard Calvert and his Council sitting + with the burgesses, and this gathering of freemen proceeded to inaugurate + legislation. There was passed a string of enactments which presumably + dealt with immediate wants at St. Mary's, and which, the Assembly + recognized, must have the Lord Proprietary's assent. A copy was therefore + sent by the first ship to leave. So long were the voyages and so slow the + procedure in England that it was 1637 before Baltimore's veto upon the + Assembly's laws reached Maryland. It would seem that he did not disapprove + so much of the laws themselves as of the bold initiative of the Assembly, + for he at once sent over twelve bills of his own drafting. Leonard Calvert + was instructed to bring all freemen together in Assembly and present for + their acceptance the substituted legislation. + </p> + <p> + Early in 1638 this Maryland Assembly met. The Governor put before it for + adoption the Proprietary's laws. The vote was taken. Governor and some + others were for, the remainder of the Assembly unanimously against, the + proposed legislation. There followed a year or two of struggle over this + question, but in the end the Proprietary in effect acknowledged defeat. + The colonists, through their Assembly, might thereafter propose laws to + meet their exigencies, and Governor Calvert, acting for his brother, + should approve or veto according to need. + </p> + <p> + When civil war between King and Parliament broke out in England, sentiment + in Maryland as in Virginia inclined toward the King. But that Puritan, + Non-conformist, and republican element that was in both colonies might be + expected to gain if, at home in England, the Parliamentary party gained. A + Royal Governor or a Lord Proprietary's Governor might alike be perplexed + by the political turmoil in the mother country. Leonard Calvert felt the + need of first-hand consultation with his brother. Leaving Giles Brent in + his place, he sailed for England, talked there with Baltimore himself, + perplexed and filled with foreboding, and returned to Maryland not greatly + wiser than when he went. + </p> + <p> + Maryland was soon convulsed by disorders which in many ways reflected the + unsettled conditions in England. A London ship, commanded by Richard + Ingle, a Puritan and a staunch upholder of the cause of Parliament, + arrived before St. Mary's, where he gave great offense by his blatant + remarks about the King and Rupert, "that Prince Rogue." Though he was + promptly arrested on the charge of treason, he managed to escape and soon + left the loyal colony far astern. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime Leonard Calvert had come back to Maryland, where he found + confusion and a growing heat and faction and side-taking of a bitter sort. + To add to the turmoil, William Claiborne, among whose dominant traits was + an inability to recognize defeat, was making attempts upon Kent Island. + Calvert was not long at St. Mary's ere Ingle sailed in again with + letters-of-marque from the Long Parliament. Ingle and his men landed and + quickly found out the Protestant moiety of the colonists. There followed + an actual insurrection, the Marylanders joining with Ingle and much aided + by Claiborne, who now retook Kent Island. The insurgents then captured St. + Mary's and forced the Governor to flee to Virginia. For two years Ingle + ruled and plundered, sequestrating goods of the Proprietary's adherents, + and deporting in irons Jesuit priests. At the end of this time Calvert + reappeared, and behind him a troop gathered in Virginia. Now it was + Ingle's turn to flee. Regaining his ship, he made sail for England, and + Maryland settled down again to the ancient order. The Governor then + reduced Kent Island. Claiborne, again defeated, retired to Virginia, + whence he sailed for England. + </p> + <p> + In 1647 Leonard Calvert died. Until the Proprietary's will should be + known, Thomas Greene acted as Governor. Over in England, Lord Baltimore + stood at the parting of the ways. The King's cause had a hopeless look. + Roundhead and Parliament were making way in a mighty tide. Baltimore was + marked for a royalist and a Catholic. If the tide rose farther, he might + lose Maryland. A sagacious mind, he proceeded to do all that he could, + short of denying his every belief, to placate his enemies. He appointed as + Governor of Maryland William Stone, a Puritan, and into the Council, + numbering five members, he put three Puritans. On the other hand the + interests of his Maryland Catholics must not be endangered. He required of + the new Governor not to molest any person "professing to believe in Jesus + Christ, and in particular any Roman Catholic." In this way he thought + that, right and left, he might provide against persecution. + </p> + <p> + Under these complex influences the Maryland Assembly passed in 1649 an Act + concerning Religion. It reveals, upon the one hand, Christendom's + mercilessness toward the freethinker—in which mercilessness, whether + through conviction or policy, Baltimore acquiesced—and, on the other + hand, that aspiration toward friendship within the Christian fold which is + even yet hardly more than a pious wish, and which in the seventeenth + century could have been felt by very few. To Baltimore and the Assembly of + Maryland belongs, not the glory of inaugurating an era of wide toleration + for men and women of all beliefs or disbeliefs, whether Christian or not, + but the real though lesser glory of establishing entire toleration among + the divisions within the Christian circle itself. According to the Act,* + </p> + <p> + "Whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands + thereunto belonging, shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is curse + him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall + deny the holy Trinity,... or the Godhead of any of the said three persons + of the Trinity, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any + reproachful speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, + or any of the said three persons thereof, shall be punished with death and + confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord + Proprietary and his heires.... Whatsoever person or persons shall from + henceforth use or utter any reproachfull words, or speeches, concerning + the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Saviour, or the holy Apostles + or Evangelists, or any of them, shall in such case for the first offence + forfeit to the said Lord Proprietary and his heires the sum of five pound + sterling.... Whatsoever person shall henceforth upon any occasion... + declare, call, or denominate any person or persons whatsoever inhabiting, + residing, traffiqueing, trading or comerceing within this Province, or + within any of the Ports, Harbors, Creeks or Havens to the same belonging, + an heritick, Scismatick, Idolator, puritan, Independant, Presbiterian, + popish priest, Jesuite, Jesuited papist, Lutheran, Calvenist, Anabaptist, + Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Roundhead, Separtist, or any other name + or term in a reproachful manner relating to matter of Religion, shall for + every such Offence forfeit... the sum of tenne shillings sterling.... + </p> + <p> + "Whereas the inforceing of the conscience in matters of Religion hath + frequently fallen out to be of dangerous Consequence in those + commonwealths where it hath been practised,... be it therefore also by the + Lord Proprietary with the advice and consent of this Assembly, ordeyned + and enacted... that no person or persons whatsoever within this + Province...professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth + bee any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of + his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof... nor anyway + compelled to the beleif or exercise of any other Religion against his or + her consent, soe as they be not unfaithfull to the Lord Proprietary or + molest or conspire against the civill Government..." + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * "Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General + Assembly", vol. I, pp. 244-247. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION + </h2> + <p> + On the 30th of January, 1649, before the palace of Whitehall, Charles the + First of England was beheaded. In Virginia the event fell with a shock. + Even those within the colony who were Cromwell's men rather than Charles's + men seem to have recoiled from this act. Presently, too, came fleeing + royalists from overseas, to add their passionate voices to those of the + royalists in Virginia. Many came, "nobility, clergy and gentry, men of the + first rate." A thousand are said to have arrived in the year after the + King's death. + </p> + <p> + In October the Virginia Assembly met. Parliament men—and now these + were walking with head in the air—might regret the execution of the + past January, and yet be prepared to assert that with the fall of the + kingdom fell all powers and offices named and decreed by the hapless + monarch. What was a passionate royalist government doing in Virginia now + that England was a Commonwealth? The passionate government answered for + itself in acts passed by this Assembly. With swelling words, with a tragic + accent, it denounced the late happenings in England and all the Roundhead + wickedness that led up to them. It proclaimed loyalty to "his sacred + Majesty that now is"—that is, to Charles Stuart, afterwards Charles + the Second, then a refugee on the Continent. Finally it enacted that any + who defended the late proceedings, or in the least affected to question + "the undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty that now is to the + Collony of Virginia" should be held guilty of high treason; and that + "reporters and divulgers" of rumors tending to change of government should + be punished "even to severity." + </p> + <p> + Berkeley's words may be detected in these acts of the Assembly. In no + great time the Cavalier Governor conferred with Colonel Henry Norwood, one + of the royalist refugees to Virginia. Norwood thereupon sailed away upon a + Dutch ship and came to Holland, where he found "his Majesty that now is." + Here he knelt, and invited that same Majesty to visit his dominion of + Virginia, and, if he liked it, there to rest, sovereign of the Virginian + people. But Charles still hoped to be sovereign in England and would not + cross the seas. He sent, however, to Sir William Berkeley a renewal of his + Governor's commission, and appointed Norwood Treasurer of Virginia, and + said, doubtless, many gay and pleasant things. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia there continued to appear from England adherents of the + ancient regime. Men, women, and children came until to a considerable + degree the tone of society rang Cavalier. This immigration, now lighter, + now heavier, continued through a rather prolonged period. There came now + to Virginia families whose names are often met in the later history of the + land. Now Washingtons appear, with Randolphs, Carys, Skipwiths, Brodnaxes, + Tylers, Masons, Madisons, Monroes, and many more. These persons are not + without means; they bring with them servants; they are in high favor with + Governor and Council; they acquire large tracts of virgin land; they bring + in indentured labor; they purchase African slaves; they cultivate tobacco. + From being English country gentlemen they turn easily to become Virginia + planters. + </p> + <p> + But the Virginia Assembly had thrown a gauntlet before the victorious + Commonwealth; and the Long Parliament now declared the colony to be in + contumacy, assembled and dispatched ships against her, and laid an embargo + upon trade with the rebellious daughter. In January of 1652 English ships + appeared off Point Comfort. Four Commissioners of the Commonwealth were + aboard, of whom that strong man Claiborne was one. After issuing a + proclamation to quiet the fears of the people, the Commissioners made + their way to Jamestown. Here was found the indomitable Berkeley and his + Council in a state of active preparation, cannon trained. But, when all + was said, the Commissioners had brought wisely moderate terms: submit + because submit they must, acknowledge the Commonwealth, and, that done, + rest unmolested! If resistance continued, there were enough Parliament men + in Virginia to make an army. Indentured servants and slaves should receive + freedom in exchange for support to the Commonwealth. The ships would come + up from Point Comfort, and a determined war would be on. What Sir William + Berkeley personally said has not survived. But after consultation upon + consultation Virginia surrendered to the commonwealth. + </p> + <p> + Berkeley stepped from the Governor's chair, retiring in wrath and + bitterness of heart to his house at Greenspring. In his place sat Richard + Bennett, one of the Commissioners. Claiborne was made Secretary. King's + men went out of office; Parliament men came in. But there was no + persecution. In the bland and wide Virginia air minds failed to come into + hard and frequent collision. For all the ferocities of the statute books, + acute suffering for difference of opinion, whether political or religious, + did not bulk large in the life of early Virginia. + </p> + <p> + The Commissioners, after the reduction of Virginia, had a like part to + play with Maryland. At St. Mary's, as at Jamestown, they demanded and at + length received submission to the Commonwealth. There was here the less + trouble owing to Baltimore's foresight in appointing to the office of + Governor William Stone, whose opinions, political and religious, accorded + with those of revolutionary England. Yet the Governor could not bring + himself to forget his oath to Lord Baltimore and agree to the demand of + the Commissioners that he should administer the Government in the name of + "the Keepers of the Liberties of England." After some hesitation the + Commissioners decided to respect his scruples and allow him to govern in + the name of the Lord Proprietary, as he had solemnly promised. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia and in Maryland the Commonwealth and the Lord Protector stand + where stood the Kingdom and the King. Many are far better satisfied than + they were before; and the confirmed royalist consumes his grumbling in his + own circle. The old, exhausting quarrel seems laid to rest. But within + this wider peace breaks out suddenly an interior strife. Virginia would, + if she could, have back all her old northward territory. In 1652 Bennett's + Government goes so far as to petition Parliament to unseat the Catholic + Proprietary of Maryland and make whole again the ancient Virginia. The + hand of Claiborne, that remarkable and persistent man, may be seen in + this. + </p> + <p> + In Maryland, Puritans and Independents were settled chiefly about the + rivers Severn and Patuxent and in a village called Providence, afterwards + Annapolis. These now saw their chance to throw off the Proprietary's rule + and to come directly under that of the Commonwealth. So thinking, they put + themselves into communication with Bennett and Claiborne. In 1654 Stone + charged the Commissioners with having promoted "faction, sedition, and + rebellion against the Lord Baltimore." The charge was well founded. + Claiborne and Bennett assumed that they were yet Parliament Commissioners, + empowered to bring "all plantations within the Bay of Chesapeake to their + due obedience to the Parliament and Commonwealth of England." And they + were indeed set against the Lord Baltimore. Claiborne would head the + Puritans of Providence; and a troop should be raised in Virginia and march + northward. The Commissioners actually advanced upon St. Mary's, and with + so superior a force that Stone surrendered, and a Puritan Government was + inaugurated. A Puritan Assembly met, debarring any Catholics. Presently it + passed an act annulling the Proprietary's Act of Toleration. Professors of + the religion of Rome should "be restrained from the exercise thereof." The + hand of the law was to fall heavily upon "popery, prelacy, or + licentiousness of opinion." Thus was intolerance alive again in the only + land where she had seemed to die! + </p> + <p> + In England now there was hardly a Parliament, but only the Lord Protector, + Oliver Cromwell. Content with Baltimore's recognition of the Protectorate, + Cromwell was not prepared to back, in their independent action, the + Commissioners of that now dissolved Parliament. Baltimore made sure of + this, and then dispatched messengers overseas to Stone, bidding him do all + that lay in him to retake Maryland. Stone thereupon gathered several + hundred men and a fleet of small sailing craft, with which he pushed up + the bay to the Severn. In the meantime the Puritans had not been idle, but + had themselves raised a body of men and had taken over the Golden Lyon, an + armed merchantman lying before their town. On the 24th of March, 1655, the + two forces met in the Battle of the Severn. "In the name of God, fall on!" + cried the men of Providence, and "Hey for St. Mary's!" cried the others. + The battle was won by the Providence men. They slew or wounded fifty of + the St. Mary's men and desperately wounded Stone himself and took many + prisoners, ten of whom were afterwards condemned to death and four were + actually executed. + </p> + <p> + Now followed a period of up and down, the Commissioners and the + Proprietary alike appealing to the Lord Protector for some expression of + his "determinate will." Both sides received encouragement inasmuch as he + decided for neither. His own authority being denied by neither, Cromwell + may have preferred to hold these distant factions in a canceling, + neutralizing posture. But far weightier matters, in fact, were occupying + his mind. In 1657, weary of her "very sad, distracted, and unsettled + condition," Maryland herself proceeded—Puritan, Prelatist, and + Catholic together—to agree henceforth to disagree. Toleration viewed + in retrospect appears dimly to have been seen for the angel that it was. + Maryland would return to the Proprietary's rule, provided there should be + complete indemnity for political offenses and a solemn promise that the + Toleration Act of 1649 should never be repealed. This without a smile + Baltimore promised. Articles were signed; a new Assembly composed of all + manner of Christians was called; and Maryland returned for a time to her + first allegiance. + </p> + <p> + Quiet years, on the whole, follow in Virginia under the Commonwealth. The + three Governors of this period—Bennett, Digges, and Mathews are all + chosen by the Assembly, which, but for the Navigation Laws,* might almost + forget the Home Government. Then Oliver Cromwell dies; and, after an + interval, back to England come the Stuarts. Charles II is proclaimed King. + And back into office in Virginia is brought that staunch old monarchist, + Sir William Berkeley—first by a royalist Assembly and presently by + commission from the new King. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * See Editor's Note on the Navigation Laws at the end of + this volume. +</pre> + <p> + Then Virginia had her Long Parliament or Assembly. In 1661, in the first + gush of the Restoration, there was elected a House of Burgesses so + congenial to Berkeley's mind that he wished to see it perpetuated. For + fifteen years therefore he held it in being, with adjournments from one + year into another and with sharp refusals to listen to any demand for new + elections. Yet this demand grew, and still the Governor shut the door in + the face of the people and looked imperiously forth from the window. His + temper, always fiery, now burned vindictive; his zeal for King and Church + and the high prerogatives of the Governor of Virginia became a consuming + passion. + </p> + <p> + When Berkeley first came to Virginia, and again for a moment in the flare + of the Restoration, his popularity had been real, but for long now it had + dwindled. He belonged to an earlier time, and he held fast to old ideas + that were decaying at the heart. A bigot for the royal power, a man of + class with a contempt for the generality and its clumsily expressed needs, + he grew in narrowness as he grew in years. Berkeley could in these later + times write home, though with some exaggeration: "I thank God there are no + free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred + years; for learning has brought disobedience into the world and printing + has divulged them, and libels against the best governments! God keep us + from both!" But that was the soured zealot for absolutism—William + Berkeley the man was fond enough of books and himself had written plays. + </p> + <p> + The spirit of the time was reactionary in Virginia as it was reactionary + in England. Harsh servant and slave laws were passed. A prison was to be + erected in each county; provision was made for pillory and stocks and + duckingstool; the Quakers were to be proceeded against; the Baptists who + refused to bring children to baptism were to suffer. Then at last in 1670 + came restriction of the franchise: + </p> + <p> + "Act III. ELECTION OF BURGESSES BY WHOM. WHEREAS the usuall way of + chuseing burgesses by the votes of all persons who having served their + tyme are freemen of this country who haveing little interest in the + country doe oftener make tumults at the election to the disturbance of his + Majestie's peace, than by their discretions in their votes provide for the + conservation thereof, by makeing choyce of persons fitly qualifyed for the + discharge of soe greate a trust, And whereas the lawes of England grant a + voyce in such election only to such as by their estates real or personall + have interest enough to tye them to the endeavour of the publique good; IT + IS HEREBY ENACTED, that none but freeholders and housekeepers who only are + answerable to the publique for the levies shall hereafter have a voice in + the election of any burgesses in this country." + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *Hening's "Statutes", vol. II, p. 280. +</pre> + <p> + Three years later another woe befell the colony. That same Charles II—to + whom in misfortune Virginia had so adhered that for her loyalty she had + received the name of the Old Dominion—now granted "all that entire + tract, territory, region, and dominion of land and water commonly called + Virginia, together with the territory of Accomack," to Lord Culpeper and + the Earl of Arlington. For thirty-one years they were to hold it, paying + to the King the slight annual rent of forty shillings. They were not to + disturb the colonists in any guaranteed right of life or land or goods, + but for the rest they might farm Virginia. The country cried out in anger. + The Assembly hurried commissioners on board a ship in port and sent them + to England to besiege the ear of the King. + </p> + <p> + Distress and discontent increased, with good reason, among the mass of the + Virginians. The King in England, his councilors, and Parliament, played an + unfatherly role, while in Virginia economic hardships pressed ever harder + and the administration became more and more oppressive. By 1676 the + gunpowder of popular indignation was laid right and left, awaiting the + match. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. NATHANIEL BACON + </h2> + <p> + To add to the uncertainty of life in Virginia, Indian troubles flared up + again. In and around the main settlements the white man was safe enough + from savage attack. But it was not so on the edge of the English world, + where the white hue ran thin, where small clusters of folk and even single + families built cabins of logs and made lonely clearings in the wilderness. + </p> + <p> + Not far from where now rises Washington the Susquehannocks had taken + possession of an old fort. These Indians, once in league with the Iroquois + but now quarreling violently with that confederacy, had been defeated and + were in a mood of undiscriminating bitterness and vengeance. They began to + waylay and butcher white men and women and children. In self protection + Maryland and Virginia organized in common an expedition against the Indian + stronghold. In the deep woods beyond the Potomac, red men and white came + to a parley. The Susquehannocks sent envoys. There was wrong on both + sides. A dispute arose. The white men, waxing angry, slew the envoys—an + evil deed which their own color in Maryland and in Virginia reprehended + and repudiated. But the harm was done. From the Potomac to the James + Indians listened to Indian eloquence, reciting the evils that from the + first the white man had brought. Then the red man, in increasing numbers, + fell upon the outlying settlements of the pioneers. + </p> + <p> + In Virginia there soon arose a popular clamor for effective action. Call + out the militia of every county! March against the Indians! Act! But the + Governor was old, of an ill temper now, and most suspicious of popular + gatherings for any purpose whatsoever. He temporized, delayed, refused all + appeals until the Assembly should meet. + </p> + <p> + Dislike of Berkeley and his ways and a growing sense of injury and + oppression began to quiver hard in the Virginian frame. The King was no + longer popular, nor Sir William Berkeley, nor were the most of the + Council, nor many of the burgesses of that Long Assembly. There arose a + loud demand for a new election and for changes in public policy. + </p> + <p> + Where a part of Richmond now stands, there stretched at that time a tract + of fields and hills and a clear winding creek, held by a young planter + named Nathaniel Bacon, an Englishman of that family which produced "the + wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind." The planter himself lived farther + down the river. But he had at this place an overseer and some indentured + laborers. This Nathaniel Bacon was a newcomer in Virginia—young man + who had been entered in Gray's Inn, who had traveled, who was rumored to + have run through much of his own estate. He had a cousin, also named + Nathaniel Bacon, who had come fifteen years earlier to Virginia "a very + rich, politic man and childless," and whose representations had perhaps + drawn the younger Bacon to Virginia. At any rate he was here, and at the + age of twenty-eight the owner of much land and the possessor of a seat in + the Council. But, though he sat in the Council, he was hardly of the mind + of the Governor and those who supported him. + </p> + <p> + It was in the spring of 1676 that there began a series of Indian attacks + directed against the plantations and the outlying cabins of the region + above the Falls of the Far West. Among the victims were men of Bacon's + plantation, for his overseer and several of his servants were slain. The + news of this massacre of his men set their young master afire. Even a less + hideous tale might have done it, for he was of a bold and ardent nature. + </p> + <p> + Riding up the forest tracks, a company of planters from the threatened + neighborhood gathered together. "Let us make a troop and take fire and + sword among them!" There lacked a commander. "Mr. Bacon, you command!" + Very good; and Mr. Bacon, who is a born orator, made a speech dealing with + the "grievances of the times." Very good indeed; but still there lacked + the Governor's commission. "Send a swift messenger to Jamestown for it!" + </p> + <p> + The messenger went and returned. No commission. Mr. Bacon had made an + unpleasant impression upon Sir William Berkeley. This young man, the + Governor said, was "popularly inclined"—had "a constitution not + consistent with" all that Berkeley stood for. Bacon and his neighbors + listened with bent brows to their envoy's report. Murmurs began and + deepened. "Shall we stand idly here considering formalities, while the + redskins murder?" Commission or no commission, they would march; and in + the end, march they did—a considerable troop—to the up-river + country, with the tall, young, eloquent man at their head. + </p> + <p> + News reached the Governor at Jamestown that they were marching. In a + tight-lipped rage he issued a proclamation and sent it after them. They + and their leader were acting illegally, usurping military powers that + belonged elsewhere! Let them disband, disperse to their dwellings, or + beware action of the rightful powers! Troubled in mind, some disbanded and + dispersed, but threescore at least would by no means do so. Nor would the + young man "of precipitate disposition" who headed the troop. He rode on + into the forest after the Indians, and the others followed him. Here were + the Falls of the Far West, and here on a hill the Indians had a "fort." + This the Virginia planters attacked. The hills above the James echoed to + the sound of the small, desperate fray. In the end the red men were + routed. Some were slain; some were taken prisoner; others escaped into the + deep woods stretching westward. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime another force of horsemen had been gathered. It was headed + by Berkeley and was addressed to the pursuit and apprehension of Nathaniel + Bacon, who had thus defied authority. But before Berkeley could move far, + fire broke out around him. The grievances of the people were many and + just, and not without a family resemblance to those that precipitated the + Revolution a hundred years later. Not Bacon alone, but many others who + were in despair of any good under their present masters were ready for + heroic measures. Berkeley found himself ringed about by a genuine popular + revolt. He therefore lacked the time now to pursue Nathaniel Bacon, but + spurred back to Jamestown there to deal as best he might with dangerous + affairs. At Jamestown, willy-nilly, the old Governor was forced to promise + reforms. The Long Assembly should be dissolved and a new Assembly, more + conformable to the wishes of the people, should come into being ready to + consider all their troubles. So writs went out; and there presently + followed a hot and turbulent election, in which that "restricted + franchise" of the Long Assembly was often defied and in part set aside. + Men without property presented themselves, gave their voices, and were + counted. Bacon, who had by now achieved an immense popularity, was chosen + burgess for Henricus County. + </p> + <p> + In the June weather Bacon sailed down to Jamestown, with a number of those + who had backed him in that assumption of power to raise troops and go + against the Indians. When he came to Jamestown it was to find the high + sheriff waiting for him by the Governor's orders. He was put under arrest. + Hot discussion followed. But the people were for the moment in the + ascendent, and Bacon should not be sacrificed. A compromise was reached. + Bacon was technically guilty of "unlawful, mutinous and rebellious + practises." If, on his knees before Governor, Council, and Burgesses, he + would acknowledge as much and promise henceforth to be his Majesty's + obedient servant, he and those implicated with him should be pardoned. He + himself might be readmitted to the Council, and all in Virginia should be + as it had been. He should even have the commission he had acted without to + go and fight against the Indians. + </p> + <p> + Bacon thereupon made his submission upon his knees, promising that + henceforth he would "demean himself dutifully, faithfully, and peaceably." + Formally forgiven, he was restored to his place in the Virginia Council. + An eyewitness reports that presently he saw "Mr. Bacon on his quondam seat + with the Governor and Council, which seemed a marvellous indulgence to one + whom he had so lately proscribed as a rebel." The Assembly of 1676 was of + a different temper and opinion from that of the Long Assembly. It was an + insurgent body, composed to a large degree of mere freemen and small + planters, with a few of the richer, more influential sort who nevertheless + queried that old divine right of rule. Berkeley thought that he had good + reason to doubt this Assembly's intentions, once it gave itself rein. He + directs it therefore to confine its attention to Indian troubles. It did, + indeed, legislate on Indian affairs by passing an elaborate act for the + prosecution of the war. An army of a thousand white men was to be raised. + Bacon was to be commander-in-chief. All manner of precautions were to be + taken. But this matter disposed of, the Assembly thereupon turned to "the + redressing several grievances the country was then labouring under; and + motions were made for inspecting the public revenues, the collectors' + accounts," and so forth. The Governor thundered; friends of the old order + obstructed; but the Assembly went on its way, reforming here and reforming + there. It even went so far as to repeal the preceding Assembly's + legislation regarding the franchise. All white males who are freemen were + now privileged to vote, "together with the freeholders and housekeepers." + </p> + <p> + A certain member wanted some detail of procedure retained because it was + customary. "Tis true it has been customary," answered another, "but if we + have any bad customs amongst us, we are come here to mend 'em!" + "Whereupon," says the contemporary narrator, "the house was set in a + laughter." But after so considerable an amount of mending there threatened + a standstill. What was to come next? Could men go further—as they + had gone further in England not so many years ago? Reform had come to an + apparent impasse. While it thus hesitated, the old party gained in life. + </p> + <p> + Bacon, now petitioning for his promised commission against the Indians, + seems to have reached the conclusion that the Governor might promise but + meant not to perform, and not only so, but that in Jamestown his very life + was in danger. He had "intimation that the Governor's generosity in + pardoning him and restoring him to his place in the Council were no other + than previous wheedles to amuse him." + </p> + <p> + In Jamestown lived one whom a chronicler paints for us as "thoughtful Mr. + Lawrence." This gentleman was an Oxford scholar, noted for "wit, learning, + and sobriety... nicely honest, affable, and without blemish in his + conversation and dealings." Thus friends declared, though foes said of him + quite other things. At any rate, having emigrated to Virginia and married + there, he had presently acquired, because of a lawsuit over land in which + he held himself to be unjustly and shabbily treated through influences of + the Governor, an inveterate prejudice against that ruler. He calls him in + short "an old, treacherous villain." Lawrence and his wife, not being + rich, kept a tavern at Jamestown, and there Bacon lodged, probably having + been thrown with Lawrence before this. Persons are found who hold that + Lawrence was the brain, Bacon the arm, of the discontent in Virginia. + There was also Mr. William Drummond, who will be met with in the account + of Carolina. He was a "sober Scotch gentleman of good repute"—but no + more than Lawrence on good terms with the Governor of Virginia. + </p> + <p> + On a morning in June, when the Assembly met, it was observed that + Nathaniel Bacon was not in his place in the Council—nor was he to be + found in the building, nor even in Jamestown itself, though Berkeley had + Lawrence's inn searched for him. He had left the town—gone up the + river in his sloop to his plantation at Curles Neck "to visit his wife, + who, as she informed him, was indisposed." In truth it appears that Bacon + had gone for the purpose of gathering together some six hundred up-river + men. Or perhaps they themselves had come together and, needing a leader, + had turned naturally to the man who was under the frown of an unpopular + Governor and all the Governor's supporters in Virginia. At any rate Bacon + was presently seen at the head of no inconsiderable army for a colony of + less than fifty thousand souls. Those with him were only up-river men; but + he must have known that he could gather besides from every part of the + country. Given some initial success, he might even set all Virginia + ablaze. Down the river he marched, he and his six hundred, and in the + summer heat entered Jamestown and drew up before the Capitol. The space in + front of this building was packed with the Jamestown folk and with the six + hundred. Bacon, a guard behind him, advanced to the central door, to find + William Berkeley standing there shaking with rage. The old royalist has + courage. He tears open his silken vest and fine shirt and faces the young + man who, though trained in the law of the realm, is now filling that law + with a hundred wounds. He raises a passionate voice. "Here! Shoot me! + 'Fore God, a fair mark—a fair mark! Shoot!" + </p> + <p> + Bacon will not shoot him, but will have that promised commission to go + against the Indians. Those behind him lift and shake their guns. "We will + have it! We will have it!" Governor and Council retire to consider the + demand. If Berkeley is passionate and at times violent, so is Bacon in his + own way, for an eye-witness has to say that "he displayed outrageous + postures of his head, arms, body and legs, often tossing his hand from his + sword to his hat," and that outside the door he had cried: "Damn my blood! + I'll kill Governor, Council, Assembly and all, and then I'll sheathe my + sword in my own heart's blood!" He is no dour, determined, unwordy + revolutionist like the Scotch Drummond, nor still and subtle like "the + thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." He is young and hot, a man of oratory and + outward acts. Yet is he a patriot and intelligent upon broad public needs. + When presently he makes a speech to the excited Assembly, it has for + subject-matter "preserving our lives from the Indians, inspecting the + public revenues, the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the grievances and + calamities of that deplorable country." It has quite the ring of young + men's speeches in British colonies a century later! + </p> + <p> + The Governor and his party gave in perforce. Bacon got his commission and + an Act of Indemnity for all chance political offenses. General and + Commander-in-chief against the Indians—so was he styled. Moreover, + the Burgesses, with an alarmed thought toward England, drew up an + explanatory memorial for Charles II's perusal. This paper journeyed forth + upon the first ship to sail, but it had for traveling companion a letter + secretly sent from the Governor to the King. The two communications were + painted in opposite colors. "I have," says Berkeley, "for above thirty + years governed the most flourishing country the sun ever shone over, but + am now encompassed with rebellion like waters." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. REBELLION AND CHANGE + </h2> + <p> + Bacon with an increased army now rode out once more against the Indians. + He made a rendezvous on the upper York—the old Pamunkey—and to + this center he gathered horsemen until there may have been with him not + far from a thousand mounted men. From here he sent detachments against the + red men's villages in all the upper troubled country, and afar into the + sunset woods where the pioneer's cabin had not yet been builded. He acted + with vigor. The Indians could not stand against his horsemen and concerted + measures, and back they fell before the white men, westward again; or, if + they stayed in the ever dwindling villages, they gave hostages and oaths + of peace. Quiet seemed to descend once more upon the border. + </p> + <p> + But, if the frontier seemed peaceful, Virginia behind the border was a + bubbling cauldron. Bacon had now become a hero of the people, a Siegfried + capable of slaying the dragon. Nor were Lawrence and Drummond idle, nor + others of their way of thinking. The Indian troubles might soon be + settled, but why not go further, marching against other troubles, more + subtle and long-continuing, and threatening all the future? + </p> + <p> + In the midst of this speculation and promise of change, the Governor, + feeling the storm, dissolved the Assembly, proclaimed Bacon and his + adherents rebels and traitors, and made a desperate attempt to raise an + army for use against the new-fangledness of the time. This last he could + not do. Private interest led many planters to side with him, and there was + a fair amount of passionate conviction matching his own, that his Majesty + the King and the forces of law and order were being withstood, and without + just cause. But the mass of the people cried out to his speeches, "Bacon! + Bacon!" As the popular leader had been warned from Jamestown by news of + personal danger, so in his turn Berkeley seems to have believed that his + own liberty was threatened. With suddenness he departed the place, boarded + a sloop, and was "wafted over Chesapeake Bay thirty miles to Accomac." The + news of the Governor's flight, producing both alarm in one party and + enthusiasm in the other, tended to precipitate the crisis. Though the + Indian trouble might by now be called adjusted, Bacon, far up the York, + did not disband his men. He turned and with them marched down country, not + to Jamestown, but to a hamlet called Middle Plantation, where later was to + grow the town of Williamsburg. Here he camped, and here took counsel with + Lawrence and Drummond and others, and here addressed, with a curious, + lofty eloquence, the throng that began to gather. Hence, too, he issued a + "Declaration," recounting the misdeeds of those lately in power, + protesting against the terms rebel and traitor as applied to himself and + his followers, who are only in arms to protect his Majesty's demesne and + subjects, and calling on those who are well disposed to reform to join him + at Middle Plantation, there to consider the state of the country which had + been brought into a bad way by "Sir William's doting and irregular + actings." + </p> + <p> + Upon his proclamation many did come to Middle Plantation, great planters + and small, men just freed from indentured service, holders of no land and + little land and much land, men of all grades of weight and consideration + and all degrees of revolutionary will, from Drummond—with a reported + speech, "I am in overshoes; I will be in overboots!" and a wife Sarah who + snapped a stick in two with the cry, "I care no more for the power of + England than for this broken straw!"—to those who would be + revolutionary as long as, and only when, it seemed safe to be so. + </p> + <p> + How much of revolution, despite that speech about his Majesty's demesne + and subjects, was in Bacon's mind, or in Richard Lawrence's mind and + William Drummond's mind, or in the mind of their staunchest supporters, + may hardly now be resolved. Perhaps as much as was in the mind of Patrick + Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason a century later. + </p> + <p> + The Governor was in Accomac, breathing fire and slaughter, though as yet + without brand or sword with which to put his ardent desires into + execution. But he and the constituted order were not without friends and + supporters. He had, as his opponents saw, a number of "wicked and + pernicious counsellors, aides and assistants against the commonalty in + these our cruel commotions." Moreover—and a great moreover is that!—it + was everywhere bruited that he had sent to England, to the King, "for two + thousand Red Coates." Perhaps the King—perhaps England—will + take his view, and, not consulting the good of Virginia, send the Red + Coats! What then? + </p> + <p> + Bacon, as a measure of opposition, proposed "a test or recognition," to be + signed by those here at Middle Plantation who earnestly do wish the good + of Virginia. It was a bold test! Not only should they covenant to give no + aid to the whilom?? Governor against this new general and army, but if + ships should bring the Red Coats they were to withstand them. There is + little wonder that "this bugbear did marvellously startle" that body of + Virginia horsemen, those progressive gentlemen planters, and others. Yet + in the end, after violent contentions, the assembly at Middle Plantation + drew up and signed a remarkable paper, the "Oath at Middle Plantation." + Historically, it is linked on the one hand with that "thrusting out of his + government" of Sir John Harvey in Charles I's time, and on the other with + Virginian proceedings a hundred years later under the third George. If his + Majesty had been, as it was rumored, wrongly informed that Virginia was in + rebellion; if, acting upon that misinformation, he sent troops against his + loyal Virginians—who were armed only against an evil Governor and + intolerable woes then these same good loyalists would "oppose and suppress + all forces whatsoever of that nature, until such time as the King be fully + informed of the state of the case." What was to happen if the King, being + informed, still supported Berkeley and sent other Red Coats was not taken + into consideration. + </p> + <p> + This paper, being drawn, was the more quickly signed because there + arrived, in the midst of the debate, a fresh Indian alarm. Attack + threatened a fort upon the York—whence the Governor had seen fit to + remove arms and ammunition! The news came most opportunely for Bacon. + "There were no more discourses." The major portion of the large assemblage + signed. + </p> + <p> + The old Government in Virginia was thus denied. But it was held that + government there must be, and that the people of Virginia through + representatives must arrange for it. Writs of election, made as usual in + the King's name, and signed by Bacon and by those members of the Council + who were of the revolt, went forth to all counties. The Assembly thus + provided was to meet at Jamestown in September. + </p> + <p> + So much business done, off rode Bacon and his men to put down this latest + rising of the Indians. Not only these but red men in a new quarter, tribes + south of the James, kept them employed for weeks to come. Nor were they + unmindful of that proud old man, Sir William Berkeley, over on the Eastern + Shore, a well-peopled region where traveling by boat and by sandy road was + sufficiently easy. Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond finally decided to take + Sir William captive and to bring him back to Jamestown. For this purpose + they dispatched a ship across the Bay, with two hundred and fifty men, + under the command of Giles Bland, "a man of courage and haughty bearing," + and "no great admirer of Sir William's goodness." The ship proceeded to + the Accomac shore, anchored in some bight, and sent ashore men to treat + with the Governor. But the Governor turned the tables on them. He made + himself captor, instead of being made captive. Bland and his lieutenants + were taken, whereupon their following surrendered into Berkeley's hands. + Bland's second in command was hanged; Bland himself was held in irons. + </p> + <p> + Now Berkeley's star was climbing. In Accomac he gathered so many that, + with those who had fled with him and later recruits who crossed the Bay, + he had perhaps a thousand men. He stowed these upon the ship of the + ill-fated Bland and upon a number of sloops. With seventeen sail in all, + the old Governor set his face west and south towards the mouth of the + James. + </p> + <p> + In that river, on the 7th of September, 1676, there appeared this fleet of + the King's Governor, set on retaking Virginia. Jamestown had notice. The + Bacon faction held the place with perhaps eight hundred men, Colonel + Hansford at their head. Summoned by Berkeley to surrender, Hansford + refused, but that same night, by advice of Lawrence and Drummond, + evacuated the place, drawing his force off toward the York. The next day, + emptied of all but a few citizens, Jamestown received the old Governor and + his army. + </p> + <p> + The tidings found Bacon on the upper York. Acting with his accustomed + energy, he sent out, far and wide, ringing appeals to the country to rouse + itself, for men to join him and march to the defeat of the old tyrant. + Numbers did come in. He moved with "marvelous celerity." When he had, for + the time and place, a large force of rebels, he marched, by stream and + plantation, tobacco field and forest, forge and mill, through the early + autumn country to Jamestown. Civil war was on. + </p> + <p> + Across the narrow neck of the Jamestown peninsula had been thrown a sort + of fortification with ditch, earthwork, and palisade. Before this Bacon + now sounded trumpets. No answer coming, but the mouths of cannon appearing + at intervals above the breastwork, the "rebel" general halted, encamped + his men, and proceeded to construct siege lines of his own. The work must + be done exposed to Sir William's iron shot. + </p> + <p> + Now comes a strange and discreditable incident. Patriots, revolutionists, + who on the whole would serve human progress, have yet, as have we all, + dark spots and seamy sides. Bacon's parties of workmen were threatened, + hindered, driven from their task by Berkeley's guns. Bacon had a curious, + unadmirable idea. He sent horsemen to neighboring loyalist plantations to + gather up and bring to camp, not the planters—for they are with + Berkeley in Jamestown—but the planters' wives. Here are Mistress + Bacon (wife of the elder Nathaniel Bacon), Mistress Bray; Mistress + Ballard, Mistress Page, and others. Protesting, these ladies enter Bacon's + camp, who sends one as envoy into the town with the message that, if + Berkeley attacks, the whole number of women shall be placed as shield to + Bacon's men who build earthworks. + </p> + <p> + He was as good—or as bad—as his word. At the first show of + action against his workmen these royalist women were placed in the front + and were kept there until Bacon had made his counter-line of defense. Sir + William Berkeley had great faults, but at times—not always—he + displayed chivalry. For that day "the ladies' white aprons" guarded + General Bacon and all his works. The next day, the defenses completed, + this "white garde" was withdrawn. + </p> + <p> + Berkeley waited no longer but, though now at a disadvantage, opened fire + and charged with his men through gate and over earthworks. The battle that + followed was short and decisive. Berkeley's chance-gathered army was no + match for Bacon's seasoned Indian fighters and for desperate men who knew + that they must win or be hanged for traitors. The Governor's force wavered + and, unable to stand its ground, turned and fled, leaving behind some dead + and wounded. Then Bacon, who also had cannon, opened upon the town and the + ships that rode before it. In the night the King's Governor embarked for + the second time and with him, in that armada from the Eastern Shore, the + greater part of the force he had gathered. When dawn came, Bacon saw that + the ships, large and small, were gone, sailing back to Accomac. Bacon and + his following thus came peaceably into Jamestown, but with the somewhat + fell determination to burn the place. It should "harbor no more rogues." + What Bacon, Lawrence, Drummond, Hansford, and others really hoped—whether + they forecasted a republican Virginia finally at peace and prosperous—whether + they saw in a vision a new capital, perhaps at Middle Plantation, perhaps + at the Falls of the Far West, a capital that should be without old, + tyrannic memories—cannot now be said. However it all may be, they + put torch to the old capital town and soon saw it consumed, for it was no + great place, and not hard to burn. + </p> + <p> + Jamestown had hardly ceased to smoke when news came that loyalists under + Colonel Brent were gathering in northern counties. Bacon, now ill but + energetic to the end, turned with promptness to meet this new alarm. He + crossed the York and marched northward through Gloucester County. But the + rival forces did not come to a fight. Brent's men deserted by the double + handful. They came into Bacon's ranks "resolving with the Persians to go + and worship the rising sun." Or, hanging fire, reluctant to commit + themselves either way, they melted from Brent, running homeward by every + road. Bacon, with an enlarged, not lessened army, drew back into + Gloucester. Revolutionary fortunes shone fair in prospect. Yet it was but + the moment of brief, deceptive bloom before decay and fall. + </p> + <p> + At this critical moment Bacon fell sick and died. Some said that he was + poisoned, but that has never been proved. The illness that had attacked + him during his siege of Jamestown and that held on after his victory seems + to have sufficed for his taking off. In Gloucester County he "surrendered + up that fort he was no longer able to keep, into the hands of that grim + and all-conquering Captaine Death." His body was buried, says the old + account, "but where deposited till the Generall day not knowne, only to + those who are resolutely silent in that particular." + </p> + <p> + With Bacon's death there fell to pieces all this hopeful or unhopeful + movement. Lawrence might have a subtle head and Drummond the courage to + persevere; Hansford, Cheeseman, Bland, and others might have varied + abilities. But the passionate and determined Bacon had been the organ of + action; Bacon's the eloquence that could bring to the cause men with + property to give as well as men with life to lose. It is a question how + soon, had Bacon not died, must have failed his attempt at revolution, + desperate because so premature. + </p> + <p> + Back came Berkeley from Accomac, his turbulent enemy thus removed. All who + from the first had held with the King's Governor now rode emboldened. Many + who had shouted more or less loudly for the rising star, now that it was + so untimely set, made easy obeisance to the old sun. A great number who + had wavered in the wind now declared that they had done no such thing, but + had always stood steadfast for the ancient powers. + </p> + <p> + The old Governor, who might once have been magnanimous, was changed for + the worse. He had been withstood; he would punish. He now gave full rein + to his passionate temper, his bigotry for the throne, and his feeling of + personal wrong. He began in Virginia to outlaw and arrest rebels, and to + doom them to hasty trials and executions. There was no longer a united + army to meet, but only groups and individuals striving for safety in + flight or hiding. Hansford was early taken and hanged with two lieutenants + of Bacon, Wilford and Farlow. Cheeseman died in prison. Drummond was taken + in the swamps of the Chickahominy and carried before the Governor. + Berkeley brought his hands together. "Mr. Drummond, you are very welcome! + I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia! Mr. Drummond you shall + be hanged in half an hour!" Not in half an hour, but on the same day he + was hanged, imperturbable Scot to the last. Lawrence, held by many to have + been more than Bacon the true author of the attempt, either put an end to + himself or escaped northward, for he disappears from history. "The last + account of Mr. Lawrence was from an uppermost plantation whence he and + four other desperadoes with horses, pistols, etc., marched away in a snow + ankle deep." They "were thought to have cast themselves into a branch of + some river, rather than to be treated like Drummond." Thus came to early + and untimely end the ringleaders of Bacon's Rebellion. In all, by the + Governor's command, thirty-seven men suffered death by hanging. + </p> + <p> + There comes to us, down the centuries, the comment of that King for whom + Berkeley was so zealous, a man who fell behind his colonial Governor in + singleness of interest but excelled him in good nature. "That old fool," + said the second Charles, "has hanged more men in that naked country than I + have done for the murder of my father!" + </p> + <p> + That letter which Berkeley had written some months before to his sovereign + about the "waters of rebellion" was now seen to have borne fruit. In + January, while the Governor was yet running down fugitives, confiscating + lands, and hanging "traitors," a small fleet from England sailed in, + bringing a regiment of "Red Coates," and with them three commissioners + charged with the duty of bringing order out of confusion. These + commissioners, bearing the King's proclamation of pardon to all upon + submission, were kinder than the irascible and vindictive Governor of + Virginia, and they succeeded at last in restraining his fury. They made + their report to England, and after some months obtained a second royal + proclamation censuring Berkeley's vengeful course, "so derogatory to our + princely clemency," abrogating the Assembly's more violent acts, and + extending full pardon to all concerned in the late "rebellion," saving + only the arch-rebel Bacon—to whom perhaps it now made little + difference if they pardoned him or not. + </p> + <p> + But with this piece of good nature, so characteristic of the second + Charles, there came neither to the King in person nor to England as a + whole any appreciation of the true ills behind the Virginian revolt, nor + any attempt to relieve them. Along with the King's first proclamation came + instructions for the Governor. "You shall be no more obliged to call an + Assembly once every year, but only once in two years.... Also whensoever + the Assembly is called fourteen days shall be the time prefixed for their + sitting and no longer." And the narrowed franchise that Bacon's Assembly + had widened is narrowed again. "You shall take care that the members of + the Assembly be elected only by freeholders, as being more agreeable to + the custom of England." Nor is the grant to Culpeper and Arlington + revoked. Nor, wider and deeper, are the Navigation Laws in any wise + bettered. No more than before, no more indeed than a century later, is + there any conception that the child exists no more for the parent than the + parent for the child. + </p> + <p> + Sir William Berkeley's loyalty had in the end overshot itself. His zeal + fatigued the King, and in 1677 he was recalled to England. As Governor of + Virginia he had been long popular at first but in his old age detested. He + had great personal courage, fidelity, and generosity for those things that + ran with the current of a deep and narrow soul. He passes from the New + World stage, a marked and tragic figure. Behind him his vengeances + displeased even loyalist Virginia, willing on the whole to let bygones be + bygones among neighbors and kindred. It is said that; when his ship went + down the river, bonfires were lighted and cannon and muskets fired for + joy. And so beyond the eastward horizon fades the old reactionary. + </p> + <p> + Herbert Jeffreys and then Sir Henry Chicheley follow Berkeley as Governors + of Virginia; they are succeeded by Lord Culpeper and he by Lord Howard of + Effingham. King Charles dies and James the Second rules in England. + Culpeper and Effingham play the Governor merely for what they can get for + themselves out of Virginia.* The price of tobacco goes down, down. The + crops are too large; the old poor remedies of letting much acreage go + unplanted, or destroying and burning where the measure of production is + exceeded, and of petitions to the King, are all resorted to, but they + procure little relief. Virginia cannot be called prosperous. England hears + that the people are still disaffected and unquiet and England stolidly + wonders why. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * In 1684 the Crown purchased from Culpeper all his rights + except in the Northern Neck. +</pre> + <p> + During the reign of the second Charles, Maryland had suffered from + political unrest somewhat less than Virginia. The autocracy of Maryland + was more benevolent and more temperate than that of her southern neighbor. + The name of Calvert is a better symbol of wisdom than the name of + Berkeley. Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, dying in 1675, has a fair + niche in the temple of human enlightenment. His son Charles succeeded, + third Lord Baltimore and Lord Proprietary of Maryland. Well-intentioned, + this Calvert lacked something of the ability of either his father or his + grandfather. Though he lived in Maryland while his father had lived in + England, his government was not as wise as his father's had been. + </p> + <p> + But in Maryland, even before the death of Cecil Calvert, inherent evils + were beginning to form of themselves a visible body. In Maryland, as in + Virginia, there set in after the Restoration a period of reaction, of + callous rule in the interests of an oligarchy. In 1669 a "packed" Council + and an "aristocratic" Assembly procured a restriction of the franchise + similar to that introduced into Virginia. As in Virginia, an Assembly + deemed of the right political hue was kept in being by the device of + adjournment from year to year. In Maryland, as in Virginia, public + officials were guilty of corruption and graft. In 1676 there seems to have + lacked for revolt, in Maryland, only the immediate provocative of acute + Indian troubles and such leaders as Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond. The new + Lord Baltimore being for the time in England, his deputy writes him that + never were any "more replete with malignancy and frenzy than our people + were about August last, and they wanted but a monstrous head to their + monstrous body." Two leaders indeed appeared, Davis and Pate by name, but + having neither the standing nor the strength of the Virginia rebels, they + were finally taken and hanged. What supporters they had dispersed, and the + specter of armed insurrection passed away. + </p> + <p> + The third Lord Baltimore, like his father, found difficulty in preserving + the integrity of his domain. His father had been involved in a long + wrangle over the alleged invasion of Maryland by the Dutch. Since then, + New Netherland had passed into English hands. Now there occurred another + encroachment on the territory of Maryland. This time the invader was an + Englishman named William Penn. Just as the idea of a New World freedom for + Catholics had appealed to the first Lord Baltimore, so now to William + Penn, the Quaker, came the thought of freedom there for the Society of + Friends. The second Charles owed an old debt to Penn's father. He paid it + in 1681 by giving to the son, whom he liked, a province in America. Little + by little, in order to gain for Penn access to the sea, the terms of his + grant were widened until it included, beside the huge Pennsylvanian + region, the tract that is now Delaware, which was then claimed by + Baltimore. Maryland protested against the grant to Penn, as Virginia had + protested against the grant to Baltimore—and equally in vain. + England was early set upon the road to many colonies in America, destined + later to become many States. One by one they were carved out of the first + great unity. + </p> + <p> + In 1685 the tolerant Charles the Second died. James the Second, a + Catholic, ruled England for about three years, and then fled before the + Revolution of 1688. William and Mary, sovereigns of a Protestant England, + came to the throne. We have seen that the Proprietary of Maryland and his + numerous kinsmen and personal adherents were Catholics. Approximately one + in eight of other Marylanders were fellows in that faith. Another eighth + of the people held with the Church of England. The rest, the mass of the + folk, were dissenters from that Church. And now all the Protestant + elements together—the Quakers excepted—solidified into + political and religious opposition to the Proprietary's rule. Baltimore, + still in England, had immediately, upon the accession of William and Mary, + dispatched orders to the Maryland Council to proclaim them King and Queen. + But his messenger died at sea, and there was delay in sending another. In + Maryland the Council would not proclaim the new sovereigns without + instructions, and it was even rumored that Catholic Maryland meant to + withstand the new order. + </p> + <p> + In effect the old days were over. The Protestants, Churchmen and + Dissenters alike, proceeded to organize under a new leader, one John + Coode. They formed "An Association in arms for the defense of the + Protestant religion, and for asserting the right of King William and Queen + Mary to the Province of Maryland and all the English Dominions." Now + followed a confused time of accusations and counter-accusations, with + assertions that Maryland Catholics were conspiring with the Indians to + perpetrate a new St. Bartholomew massacre of Protestants, and hot + counter-assertions that this is "a sleveless fear and imagination fomented + by the artifice of some ill-minded persons." In the end Coode assembled a + force of something less than a thousand men and marched against St. + Mary's. The Council, which had gathered there, surrendered, and the + Association for the Defense found itself in power. It proceeded to call a + convention and to memorialize the King and Queen, who in the end approved + its course. Maryland passed under the immediate government of the Crown. + Lord Baltimore might still receive quit-rents and customs, but his + governmental rights were absorbed into the monarchy. Sir Lionel Copley + came out as Royal Governor, and a new order began in Maryland. + </p> + <p> + The heyday of Catholic freedom was past. England would have a Protestant + America. Episcopalians were greatly in the minority, but their Church now + became dominant over both Catholic and Dissenter, and where the + freethinker raised his head he was smitten down. Catholic and Dissenter + and all alike were taxed to keep stable the Established Church. The old + tolerance, such as it was, was over. Maryland paced even with the rest of + the world. + </p> + <p> + Presently the old capital of St. Mary's was abandoned. The government + removed to the banks of the Severn, to Providence—soon, when Anne + should be Queen, to be renamed Annapolis. In vain the inhabitants of St. + Mary's remonstrated. The center of political gravity in Maryland had + shifted. + </p> + <p> + The third Lord Baltimore died in 1715. His son Benedict, fourth lord, + turned from the Catholic Church and became a member of the Church of + England. Dying presently, he left a young son, Charles, fifth Lord + Baltimore, to be brought up in the fold of the Established Church. + Reconciled now to the dominant creed, with a Maryland where Catholics were + heavily penalized, Baltimore resumed the government under favor of the + Crown. But it was a government with a difference. In Maryland, as + everywhere, the people were beginning to hold the reins. Not again the old + lord and the old underling! For years to come the lords would say that + they governed, but strong life arose beneath, around, and above their + governing. + </p> + <p> + Maryland had by 1715 within her bounds more than forty thousand white men + and nearly ten thousand black men. She still planted and shipped tobacco, + but presently found how well she might raise wheat, and that it, too, was + valuable to send away in exchange for all kinds of manufactured things. + Thus Maryland began to be a land of wheat still more than a land of + tobacco. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, conditions of life in Maryland paralleled pretty closely + those in Virginia. Maryland was almost wholly rural; her plantations and + farms were reached with difficulty by roads hardly more than bridle-paths, + or with ease by sailboat and rowboat along the innumerable waterways. + Though here and there manors—large, easygoing, patriarchal places, + with vague, feudal ways and customs—were to be found, the moderate + sized plantation was the rule. Here stood, in sight usually of blue water, + the planter's dwelling of brick or wood. Around it grew up the typical + outhouses, household offices, and storerooms; farther away yet clustered + the cabin quarters alike of slaves and indentured labor. Then stretched + the fields of corn and wheat, the fields of tobacco. Here, at river or bay + side, was the home wharf or landing. Here the tobacco was rolled in casks; + here rattled the anchor of the ship that was to take it to England and + bring in return a thousand and one manufactured articles. There were no + factories in Maryland or Virginia. Yet artisans were found among the + plantation laborers—"carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, + tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, and knitters." + Throughout the colonies, as in every new country, men and women, besides + being agriculturists, produced homemade much that men, women, and children + needed. But many other articles and all luxuries came in the ships from + overseas, and the harvest of the fields paid the account. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. THE CAROLINAS + </h2> + <p> + The first settlers on the banks of the James River, looking from beneath + their hands southward over plain land and a haze of endless forests, + called that unexplored country South Virginia. It stretched away to those + rivers and bays, to that island of Roanoke, whence had fled Raleigh's + settlers. Beyond that, said the James River men, was Florida. Time passed, + and the region of South Virginia was occasionally spoken of as Carolina, + though whether that name was drawn from Charles the First of England, or + whether those old unfortunate Huguenots in Florida had used it with + reference to Charles the Ninth of France, is not certainly known. + </p> + <p> + South Virginia lay huge, unknown, unsettled. The only exception was the + country immediately below the southern banks of the lower James with the + promontory that partially closed in Chesapeake Bay. Virginia, growing + fast, at last sent her children into this region. In 1653 the Assembly + enacted: "Upon the petition of Roger Green, clarke, on the behalfe of + himselfe and inhabitants of Nansemund river, It is ordered by this present + Grand Assembly that tenn thousand acres of land be granted unto one + hundred such persons who shall first seate on Moratuck or Roanoke river + and the land lying upon the south side of Choan river and the ranches + thereof, Provided that such seaters settle advantageously for security and + be sufficiently furnished with amunition and strength...." + </p> + <p> + Green and his men, well furnished presumably with firelocks, bullets, and + powder-horns, went into this hinterland. At intervals there followed other + hardy folk. Quakers, subject to persecution in old Virginia, fled into + these wilds. The name Carolina grew to mean backwoods, frontiersman's + land. Here were forest and stream, Indian and bear and wolf, blue waters + of sound and sea, long outward lying reefs and shoals and islets, fertile + soil and a clime neither hot nor cold. Slowly the people increased in + number. Families left settled Virginia for the wilderness; men without + families came there for reasons good and bad. Their cabins, their tiny + hamlets were far apart; they practised a hazardous agriculture; they + hunted, fished, and traded with the Indians. The isolation of these + settlers bred or increased their personal independence, while it robbed + them of that smoothness to be gained where the social particles rub + together. This part of South Virginia was soon to be called North + Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Far down the coast was Cape Fear. In the year of the Restoration a handful + of New England men came here in a ship and made a settlement which, not + prospering, was ere long abandoned. But New Englanders traded still in + South Virginia as along other coasts. Seafarers, they entered at this + inlet and at that, crossed the wide blue sounds, and, anchoring in mouths + of rivers, purchased from the settlers their forest commodities. Then over + they ran to the West Indies, and got in exchange sugar and rum and + molasses, with which again they traded for tobacco in Carolina, in + Virginia, and in Maryland. These ships went often to New Providence in the + Bahamas and to Barbados. There began, through trade and other + circumstances, a special connection between the long coast line and these + islands that were peopled by the English. The restored Kingdom of England + had many adherents to reward. Land in America, islands and main, formed + the obvious Fortunatus's purse. As the second Charles had divided Virginia + for the benefit of Arlington and Culpeper, so now, in 1663, to "our right + trusty and right well-beloved cousins and counsellors, Edward, Earl of + Clarendon, our High Chancellor of England, and George, Duke of Albemarle, + Master of our Horse and CaptainGeneral of all our Forces, our right trusty + and well-beloved William, Lord Craven, John, Lord Berkeley, our right + trusty and well-beloved counsellor, Anthony, Lord Ashley, Chancellor of + our Exchequer, Sir George Carteret, Knight and Baronet, Vice-Chamberlain + of our Household, and our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Berkeley, + Knight, and Sir John Colleton, Knight and Baronet," he gave South + Virginia, henceforth called the Carolinas, a region occupying five degrees + of latitude, and stretching indefinitely from the seacoast toward the + setting sun. + </p> + <p> + This huge territory became, like Maryland, a province or palatinate. In + Maryland was one Proprietary; in Carolina there were eight, though for + distinction the senior of the eight was called the Palatine. As in + Maryland, the Proprietaries had princely rights. They owed allegiance to + England, and a small quit-rent went to the King. They were supposed to + govern, in the main, by English law and to uphold the religion of England. + They were to make laws at their discretion, with "the advice, assent, and + approbation of the freemen, or of their deputies, who were to be assembled + from time to time as seemed best." + </p> + <p> + John Locke, who wrote the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", wrote + also, with Ashley at his side, "The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, + in number a Hundred and Twenty, agreed upon by the Palatine and Lords + Proprietors, to remain the sacred and unalterable form and Rule of + government of Carolina forever." + </p> + <p> + "Forever" is a long word with ofttimes a short history. The Lords + Proprietors have left their names upon the maps of North and South + Carolina. There are Albemarle Sound and the Ashley and Cooper rivers, + Clarendon, Hyde, Carteret, Craven, and Colleton Counties. But their + Fundamental Constitutions, "in number a hundred and twenty," written by + Locke in 1669, are almost all as dead as the leaves of the Carolina forest + falling in the autumn of that year. + </p> + <p> + The grant included that territory settled by Roger Green and his men. + Among the Proprietors sat Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, the + only lord of Carolina actually upon American ground. Following + instructions from his seven fellows Berkeley now declared this region + separated from Virginia and attached to Carolina. He christened it + Albemarle. Strangely enough, he sent as Governor that Scotchman, William + Drummond, whom some years later he would hang. Drummond should have a + Council of six and an Assembly of freemen that might inaugurate + legislation having to do with local matters but must submit its acts to + the Proprietaries for veto or approval. This was the settlement in + Carolina of Albemarle, back country to Virginia, gatherer thence of many + that were hardy and sound, many that were unfortunate, and many that were + shiftless and untamed. An uncouth nurse of a turbulent democracy was + Albemarle. + </p> + <p> + Cape Fear, far down the deeply frayed coast, seemed a proper place to + which to send a colony. The intrusive Massachusetts men were gone. But + "gentlemen and merchants" of Barbados were interested. It is a far cry + from Barbados to the Carolina shore, but so is it a far cry from England. + Many royalists had fled to Barbados during the old troubles, so that its + English population was considerable. A number may have welcomed the chance + to leave their small island for the immense continent; and an English + trading port as far south as Cape Fear must have had a general appeal. So, + in 1665, came Englishmen from Barbados and made, up the Cape Fear River, a + settlement which they named Clarendon, with John Yeamans of Barbados as + Governor. But the colony did not prosper. There arose the typical colonial + troubles—sickness, dissensions, improvidence, quarrels with the + aborigines. Nor was the site the best obtainable. The settlers finally + abandoned the place and scattered to various points along the northern + coast. + </p> + <p> + In 1669 the Lords Proprietaries sent out from England three ships, the + Carolina, the Port Royal, and the Albemarle, with about a hundred + colonists aboard. Taking the old sea road, they came at last to Barbados, + and here the Albemarle, seized by a storm, was wrecked. The two other + ships, with a Barbados sloop, sailed on anal were approaching the Bahamas + when another hurricane destroyed the Port Royal. The Carolina, however, + pushed on with the sloop, reached Bermuda, and rested there; then, + together with a small ship purchased in these islands, she turned west by + south and came in March of 1670 to the good harbor of Port Royal, South + Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Southward from the harbor where the ships rode, stretched old Florida, + held by the Spaniards. There was the Spanish town, St. Augustine. Thence + Spanish ships might put forth and descend upon the English newcomers. The + colonists after debate concluded to set some further space between them + and lands of Spain. The ships put again to sea, beat northward a few + leagues, and at last entered a harbor into which emptied two rivers, + presently to be called the Ashley and the Cooper. Up the Ashley they went + a little way, anchored, and the colonists going ashore began to build upon + the west bank of the river a town which for the King they named Charles + Town. Ten years later this place was abandoned in favor of the more + convenient point of land between the two rivers. Here then was builded the + second and more enduring Charles Town—Charleston, as we call it now, + in South Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Colonists came fast to this Carolina lying south. Barbados sent many; + England, Scotland, and Ireland contributed a share; there came Huguenots + from France, and a certain number of Germans. In ten years after the first + settling the population numbered twelve hundred, and this presently + doubled and went on to increase. The early times were taken up with the + wrestle with the forest, with the Indians, with Spanish alarms, with + incompetent governors, with the Lords Proprietaries' Fundamental + Constitutions, and with the restrictions which English Navigation Laws + imposed upon English colonies. What grains and vegetables and tobacco they + could grow, what cattle and swine they could breed and export, preoccupied + the minds of these pioneer farmers. There were struggling for growth a + rough agriculture and a hampered trade with Barbados, Virginia, and New + England—trade likewise with the buccaneers who swarmed in the West + Indian waters. + </p> + <p> + Five hundred good reasons allowed, and had long allowed, free bootery to + flourish in American seas. Gross governmental faults, Navigation Acts, and + a hundred petty and great oppressions, general poverty, adventurousness, + lawlessness, and sympathy of mishandled folk with lawlessness, all + combined to keep Brother of the Coast, Buccaneer, and Filibuster alive, + and their ships upon all seas. Many were no worse than smugglers; others + were robbers with violence; and a few had a dash of the fiend. All nations + had sons in the business. England to the south in America had just the + ragged coast line, with its off-lying islands and islets, liked by all + this gentry, whether smuggler or pirate outright. Through much of the + seventeenth century the settlers on these shores never violently + disapproved of the pirate. He was often a "good fellow." He brought in + needed articles without dues, and had Spanish gold in his pouch. He was + shrugged over and traded with. + </p> + <p> + He came ashore to Charles Town, and they traded with him there. At one + time Charles Town got the name of "Rogue's Harbor." But that was not + forever, nor indeed, as years are counted, for long. Better and better + emigrants arrived, to add to the good already there. The better type + prevailed, and gave its tone to the place. There set in, on the Ashley and + Cooper rivers, a fair urban life that yet persists. + </p> + <p> + South Carolina was trying tobacco and wheat. But in the last years of the + seventeenth century a ship touching at Charleston left there a bag of + Madagascar rice. Planted, it gave increase that was planted again. + Suddenly it was found that this was the crop for low-lying Carolina. Rice + became her staple, as was tobacco of Virginia. + </p> + <p> + For the rice-fields South Carolina soon wanted African slaves, and they + were consequently brought in numbers, in English ships. There began, in + this part of the world, even more than in Virginia, the system of large + plantations and the accompanying aristocratic structure of society. But in + Virginia the planter families lived broadcast over the land, each upon its + own plantation. In South Carolina, to escape heat and sickness, the + planters of rice and indigo gave over to employees the care of their great + holdings and lived themselves in pleasant Charleston. These plantations, + with their great gangs of slaves under overseers, differed at many points + from the more kindly, semi-patriarchal life of the Virginian plantation. + To South Carolina came also the indentured white laborer, but the black + was imported in increasing numbers. + </p> + <p> + From the first in the Carolinas there had been promised fair freedom for + the unorthodox. The charters provided, says an early Governor, "an + overplus power to grant liberty of conscience, although at home was a hot + persecuting time." Huguenots, Independents, Quakers, dissenters of many + kinds, found on the whole refuge and harbor. In every colony soon began + the struggle by the dominant color and caste toward political liberty. + King, Company, Lords Proprietaries, might strive to rule from over the + seas. But the new land fast bred a practical rough freedom. The English + settlers came out from a land where political change was in the air. The + stream was set toward the crumbling of feudalism, the rise of democracy. + In the New World, circumstances favoring, the stream became a tidal river. + Governors, councils, assemblies, might use a misleading phraseology of a + quaint servility toward the constituted powers in England. Tory parties + might at times seem to color the land their own hue. But there always ran, + though often roughly and with turbulence, a set of the stream against + autocracy. + </p> + <p> + In Carolina, South and North, by the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and in that + region called Albemarle, just back of Virginia, there arose and went on, + through the remainder of the seventeenth century and in the eighteenth, + struggles with the Lords Proprietaries and the Governors that these named, + and behind this a more covert struggle with the Crown. The details + differed, but the issues involved were much the same in North and South + Carolina. The struggle lasted for the threescore and odd years of the + proprietary government and renewed itself upon occasion after 1729 when + the Carolinas became royal colonies. Later, it was swept, a strong + affluent, into the great general stream of colonial revolt, culminating in + the Revolution. + </p> + <p> + Into North Carolina, beside the border population entering through + Virginia and containing much of a backwoods and derelict nature, came many + Huguenots, the best of folk, and industrious Swiss, and Germans from the + Rhine. Then the Scotch began to come in numbers, and families of Scotch + descent from the north of Ireland. The tone of society consequently + changed from that of the early days. The ruffian and the shiftless sank to + the bottom. There grew up in North Carolina a people, agricultural but + without great plantations, hardworking and freedom-loving. + </p> + <p> + South Carolina, on the other hand, had great plantations, a town society, + suave and polished, a learned clergy, an aristocratic cast to life. For + long, both North and South clung to the sea-line and to the lower + stretches of rivers where the ships could come in. Only by degrees did + English colonial life push back into the forests away from the sea, to the + hills, and finally across the mountains. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD + </h2> + <p> + In the spring of 1689, Virginians flocked to Jamestown to hear William and + Mary proclaimed Lord and Lady of Virginia. The next year there entered, as + Lieutenant-Governor, Francis Nicholson, an odd character in whom an + immediate violence of temper went with a statesmanlike conception of + things to be. Two years he governed here, then was transferred to + Maryland, and then in seven years came back to the James. He had not been + liked there, but while he was gone Virginia had endured in his stead Sir + Edmund Andros. That had been swapping the witch for the devil. Virginia in + 1698 seems to have welcomed the returning Nicholson. + </p> + <p> + Jamestown had been hastily rebuilt, after Bacon's burning, and then by + accident burned again. The word malaria was not in use, but all knew that + there had always been sickness on that low spit running out from the + marshes. The place might well seem haunted, so many had suffered there and + died there. Poetical imagination might have evoked a piece of sad + pageantry—starving times, massacres, quarrels, executions, cruel and + unusual punishments, gliding Indians. A practical question, however, faced + the inhabitants, and all were willing to make elsewhere a new capital + city. + </p> + <p> + Seven miles back from the James, about halfway over to the blue York, + stood that cluster of houses called Middle Plantation, where Bacon's men + had taken his Oath. There was planned and builded Williamsburg, which was + to be for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia. It was named for + King William, and there was in the minds of some loyal colonists the + notion, eventually abandoned, of running the streets in the lines of a + huge W and M. The long main street was called Duke of Gloucester Street, + for the short-lived son of that Anne who was soon to become Queen. At one + end of this thoroughfare stood a fair brick capitol. At the other end + nearly a mile away rose the brick William and Mary College. Its story is + worth the telling. + </p> + <p> + The formal acquisition of knowledge had long been a problem in Virginia. + Adult colonists came with their education, much or little, gained already + in the mother country. In most cases, doubtless, it was little, but in + many cases it was much. Books were brought in with other household + furnishing. When there began to be native-born Virginians, these children + received from parents and kindred some manner of training. Ministers were + supposed to catechise and teach. Well-to-do and educated parents brought + over tutors. Promising sons were sent to England to school and university. + But the lack of means to knowledge for the mass of the colony began to be + painfully apparent. + </p> + <p> + In the time of Charles the First one Benjamin Symms had left his means for + the founding of a free school in Elizabeth County, and his action had been + solemnly approved by the Assembly. By degrees there appeared other similar + free schools, though they were never many nor adequate. But the first + Assembly after the Restoration had made provision for a college. Land was + to have been purchased and the building completed as speedily as might be. + The intent had been good, but nothing more had been done. + </p> + <p> + There was in Virginia, sent as Commissioner of the Established Church, a + Scotch ecclesiastic, Dr. James Blair. In virtue of his office he had a + seat in, the Council, and his integrity and force soon made him a leader + in the colony. A college in Virginia became Blair's dream. He was + supported by Virginia planters with sons to educate—daughters' + education being purely a domestic affair. Before long Blair had raised in + promised subscriptions what was for the time a large sum. With this for a + nucleus he sailed to England and there collected more. Tillotson, + Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, helped + him much. The King and Queen inclined a favorable ear, and, though he met + with opposition in certain quarters, Blair at last obtained his charter. + There was to be built in Virginia and to be sustained by taxation a great + school, "a seminary of ministers of the gospel where youths may be piously + educated in good letters and manners; a certain place of universal study, + or perpetual college of divinity, philosophy, languages and other good + arts and sciences." Blair sailed back to Virginia with the charter of the + college, some money, a plan for the main building drawn by Christopher + Wren, and for himself the office of President. + </p> + <p> + The Assembly, for the benefit of the college, taxed raw and tanned hides, + dressed buckskin, skins of doe and elk, muskrat and raccoon. The + construction of the new seat of learning was begun at Williamsburg. When + it was completed and opened to students, it was named William and Mary. + Its name and record shine fair in old Virginia. Colonial worthies in + goodly number were educated at William and Mary, as were later + revolutionary soldiers and statesmen, and men of name and fame in the + United States. Three American Presidents—Jefferson, Monroe, and + Tyler—were trained there, as well as Marshall, the Chief Justice, + four signers of the Declaration of Independence, and many another man of + mark. + </p> + <p> + The seventeenth century is about to pass. France and England are at war. + The colonial air vibrates with the struggle. There is to be a brief lull + after 1697, but the conflict will soon be resumed. The more northerly + colonies, the nearer to New France, feel the stronger pulsation, but + Virginia, too, is shaken. England and France alike play for the support of + the red man. All the western side of America lies open to incursion from + that pressed-back Indian sea of unknown extent and volume. Up and down, + the people, who have had no part in making that European war, are + sensitive to the menace of its dangers. In Virginia they build blockhouses + and they keep rangers on guard far up the great rivers. + </p> + <p> + All the world is changing, and the changes are fraught with significance + for America. Feudalism has passed; scholasticism has gone; politics, + commerce, philosophy, religion, science, invention, music, art, and + literature are rapidly altering. In England William and Mary pass away. + Queen Anne begins her reign of twelve years. Then, in 1714, enters the + House of Hanover with George the First. It is the day of Newton and Locke + and Berkeley, of Hume, of Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope, Prior, and Defoe. + The great romantic sixteenth century, Elizabeth's spacious time, is gone. + The deep and narrow, the intense, religious, individualistic seventeenth + century is gone. The eighteenth century, immediate parent of the + nineteenth, grandparent of the twentieth, occupies the stage. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1704, just over a decade since Dr. Blair had obtained the + charter for his College, the erratic and able Governor of Virginia, + Francis Nicholson, was recalled. For all that he was a wild talker, he had + on the whole done well for Virginia. He was, as far as is known, the first + person actually to propose a federation or union of all those + English-speaking political divisions, royal provinces, dominions, + palatinates, or what not, that had been hewed away from the vast original + Virginia. He did what he could to forward the movement for education and + the fortunes of the William and Mary College. But he is quoted as having + on one occasion informed the body of the people that "the gentlemen + imposed upon them." Again, he is said to have remarked of the servant + population that they had all been kidnapped and had a lawful action + against their masters. "Sir," he stated to President Blair, who would have + given him advice from the Bishop of London, "Sir, I know how to govern + Virginia and Maryland better than all the bishops in England! If I had not + hampered them in Maryland and kept them under, I should never have been + able to govern them!" To which Blair had to say, "Sir, if I know anything + of Virginia, they are a good-natured, tractable people as any in the + world, and you may do anything with them by way of civility, but you will + never be able to manage them in that way you speak of, by hampering and + keeping them under!"* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * William and Mary College Quarterly, vol. I, p. 66. +</pre> + <p> + About this time arrived Claude de Richebourg with a number of Huguenots + who settled above the Falls. First and last, Virginia received many of + this good French strain. The Old Dominion had now a population of over + eighty thousand persons—whites, Indians in no great number, and + negroes. The red men are mere scattered dwellers in the land east of the + mountains. There are Indian villages, but they are far apart. Save upon + the frontier fringe, the Indian attacks no more. But the African is here + to stay. + </p> + <p> + "The Negroes live in small Cottages called Quarters... under the direction + of an Overseer or Bailiff; who takes care that they tend such Land as the + Owner allots and orders, upon which they raise Hogs and Cattle and plant + Indian Corn, and Tobacco for the Use of their Master.... The Negroes are + very numerous, some Gentlemen having Hundreds of them of all Sorts, to + whom they bring great Profitt; for the Sake of which they are obliged to + keep them well, and not over-work, starve or famish them, besides other + Inducements to favour them; which is done in a great Degree, to such + especially that are laborious, careful and honest; tho' indeed some + Masters, careless of their own Interest or deputation, are too cruel and + negligent. The Negroes are not only encreased by fresh supplies from + Africa and the West India Islands, but also are very prolific among + themselves; and they that are born here talk good English and affect our + Language, Habits and Customs.... Their work or Chimerical (hard Slavery) + is not very laborious; their greatest Hardship consisting in that they and + their Posterity are not at their own Liberty or Disposal, but are the + Property of their Owners; and when they are free they know not how to + provide so well for themselves generally; neither did they live so + plentifully nor (many of them) so easily in their own Country where they + are made Slaves to one another, or taken Captive by their Ennemies."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * It is an English clergyman, the Reverend Hugh Jones, who + is writing ("The Present State of Virginia") in the year + 1724. He writes and never sees that, though every + amelioration be true, yet there is here old Inequity. +</pre> + <p> + The white Virginians lived both after the fashion of England and after + fashions made by their New World environment. They are said to have been + in general a handsome folk, tall, well-formed, and with a ready and + courteous manner. They were great lovers of riding, and of all country + life, and few folk in the world might overpass them in hospitality. They + were genial, they liked a good laugh, and they danced to good music. They + had by nature an excellent understanding. Yet, thinks at least the + Reverend Hugh Jones, they "are generally diverted by Business or + Inclination from profound Study, and prying into the Depth of + Things....They are more inclinable to read Men by Business and + Conversation, than to dive into Books... they are apt to learn, yet they + are fond of and will follow their own Ways, Humours and Notions, being not + easily brought to new Projects and Schemes." + </p> + <p> + It was as Governor of these people that, in succession to Nicholson, + Edward Nott came to Virginia, the deputy of my Lord Orkney. Nott died soon + afterward, and in 1710 Orkney sent to Virginia in his stead Alexander + Spotswood. This man stands in Virginia history a manly, honorable, popular + figure. Of Scotch parentage, born in Morocco, soldier under Marlborough, + wounded at Blenheim, he was yet in his thirties when he sailed across the + Atlantic to the river James. Virginia liked him, and he liked Virginia. A + man of energy and vision, he first made himself at home with all, and then + after his own impulses and upon his own lines went about to develop and to + better the colony. He had his projects and his hobbies, mostly useful, and + many sounding with a strong modern tone. Now and again he quarreled with + the Assembly, and he made it many a cutting speech. But it, too, and all + Virginia and the world were growing modern. Issues were disengaging + themselves and were becoming distinct. In these early years of the + eighteenth century, Whig and Tory in England drew sharply over against + each other. In Virginia, too, as in Maryland, the Carolinas, and all the + rest of England-in-America, parties were emerging. The Virginian flair for + political life was thus early in evidence. To the careless eye the colony + might seem overwhelmingly for King and Church. "If New England be called a + Receptacle of Dissenters, and an Amsterdam of Religion, Pennsylvania the + Nursery of Quakers; Maryland the Retirement of Roman Catholicks, North + Carolina the Refuge of Runaways and South Carolina the Delight of + Buccaneers and Pyrates, Virginia may be justly esteemed the happy Retreat + of true Britons and true Churchmen for the most Part." This "for the most + part" paints the situation, for there existed an opposition, a minority, + which might grow to balance, and overbalance. In the meantime the House of + Burgesses at Williamsburg provided a School for Discussion. + </p> + <p> + At the time when Parson Jones with his shrewd eyes was observing society + in the Old Dominion, Williamsburg was still a small village, even though + it was the capital. Towns indeed, in any true sense, were nowhere to be + found in Virginia. Yet Williamsburg had a certain distinction. Within it + there arose, beneath and between old forest trees, the college, an + admirable church—Bruton Church—the capitol, the Governor's + house or "palace," and many very tolerable dwelling-houses of frame and + brick. There were also taverns, a marketplace, a bowling-green, an + arsenal, and presently a playhouse. The capitol at Williamsburg was a + commodious one, able to house most of the machinery of state. Here were + the Council Chamber, "where the Governor and Council sit in very great + state, in imitation of the King and Council, or the Lord Chancellor and + House of Lords," and the great room of the House of Burgesses, "not unlike + the House of Commons." Here, at the capitol, met the General Courts in + April and October, the Governor and Council acting as judges. There were + also Oyer and Terminer and Admiralty Courts. There were offices and + committee rooms, and on the cupola a great clock, and near the capitol was + "a strong, sweet Prison for Criminals; and on the other side of an open + Court another for Debtors... but such Prisoners are very rare, the + Creditors being generally very merciful.... At the Capitol, at publick + Times, may be seen a great Number of handsome, well-dressed, compleat + Gentlemen. And at the Governor's House upon Birth-Nights, and at Balls and + Assemblies, I have seen as fine an Appearance, as good Diversion, and as + splendid Entertainments, in Governor Spotswood's Time, as I have seen + anywhere else." + </p> + <p> + It is a far cry from the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery, + from those first booths at Jamestown, from the Starving Time, from + Christopher Newport and Edward-Maria Wingfield and Captain John Smith to + these days of Governor Spotswood. And yet, considering the changes still + to come, a century seems but a little time and the far cry not so very + far. + </p> + <p> + Though the Virginians were in the mass country folk, yet villages or + hamlets arose, clusters of houses pressing about the Court House of each + county. There were now in the colony over a score of settled counties. The + westernmost of these, the frontier counties, were so huge that they ran at + least to the mountains, and, for all one knew to the contrary, presumably + beyond. But "beyond" was a mysterious word of unknown content, for no + Virginian of that day had gone beyond. All the way from Canada into South + Carolina and the Florida of that time stretched the mighty system of the + Appalachians, fifteen hundred miles in length and three hundred in + breadth. Here was a barrier long and thick, with ridge after ridge of + lifted and forested earth, with knife-blade vales between, and only here + and there a break away and an encompassed treasure of broad and fertile + valley. The Appalachians made a true Chinese Wall, shutting all + England-in-America, in those early days, out from the vast inland plateau + of the continent, keeping upon the seaboard all England-in-America, from + the north to the south. To Virginia these were the mysterious mountains + just beyond which, at first, were held to be the South Sea and Cathay. + Now, men's knowledge being larger by a hundred years, it was known that + the South Sea could not be so near. The French from Canada, going by way + of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, had penetrated very far beyond + and had found not the South Sea but a mighty river flowing into the Gulf + of Mexico. What was the real nature of this world which had been found to + lie over the mountains? More and more Virginians were inclined to find + out, foreseeing that they would need room for their growing population. + Continuously came in folk from the Old Country, and continuously + Virginians were born. Maryland dwelt to the north, Carolina to the south. + Virginia, seeking space, must begin to grow westward. + </p> + <p> + There were settlements from the sea to the Falls of the James, and upon + the York, the Rappahannock, and the Potomac. Beyond these, in the + wilderness, might be found a few lonely cabins, a scattered handful of + pioneer folk, small blockhouses, and small companies of rangers charged + with protecting all from Indian foray. All this country was rolling and + hilly, but beyond it stood the mountains, a wall of enchantment, against + the west. + </p> + <p> + Alexander Spotswood, hardy Scot, endowed with a good temperamental blend + of the imaginative and the active, was just the man, the time being ripe, + to encounter and surmount that wall. Fortunately, too, the Virginians were + horsemen, man and horse one piece almost, New World centaurs. They would + follow the bridle-tracks that pierced to the hilly country, and beyond + that they might yet make way through the primeval forest. They would + encounter dangers, but hardly the old perils of seacoast and foothills. + Different, indeed, is this adventure of the Governor of Virginia and his + chosen band from the old push afoot into frowning hostile woods by the men + of a hundred and odd years before! + </p> + <p> + Spotswood rode westward with a company drawn largely from the colonial + gentry, men young in body or in spirit, gay and adventurous. The whole + expedition was conceived and executed in a key both humorous and knightly. + These "Knights"* set face toward the mountains in August, 1716. They had + guides who knew the upcountry, a certain number of rangers used to Indian + ways, and servants with food and much wine in their charge. So out of + settled Virginia they rode, and up the long, gradual lift of earth above + sea-level into a mountainous wilderness, where before them the Aryan had + not come. By day they traveled, and bivouacked at night. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * On the sandy roads of settled Virginia horses went unshod, + but for the stony hills and the ultimate cliffs they must + have iron shoes. After the adventure and when the party had + returned to civilization, the Governor, bethinking himself + that there should be some token and memento of the exploit, + had made in London a number of small golden horseshoes, set + as pins to be worn in the lace cravats of the period. Each + adventurer to the mountains received one, and the band has + kept, in Virginian lore, the title of the Knights of the + Golden Horseshoe. +</pre> + <p> + Higher and more rugged grew the mountains. Some trick of the light made + them show blue, so that they presently came to be called the Blue Ridge, + in contradistinction to the westward lying, gray Alleghanies. They were + like very long ocean combers, with at intervals an abrupt break, a gap, + cliff-guarded, boulder-strewn, with a narrow rushing stream making way + between hemlocks and pines, sycamore, ash and beech, walnut and linden. + </p> + <p> + Towards these blue mountains Spotswood and his knights rode day after day + and came at last to the foot of the steep slope. The long ridges were + high, but not so high but that horse and man might make shift to scramble + to the crest. Up they climbed and from the heights they looked across and + down into the Valley of Virginia, twenty miles wide, a hundred and twenty + long—a fertile garden spot. Across the shimmering distances they saw + the gray Alleghanies, fresh barrier to a fresh west. Below them ran a + clear river, afterwards to be called the Shenandoah. They gazed—they + predicted colonists, future plantations, future towns, for that great + valley, large indeed as are some Old World kingdoms. They drank the health + of England's King, and named two outstanding peaks Mount George and Mount + Alexander; then, because their senses were ravished by the Eden before + them, they dubbed the river Euphrates. They plunged and scrambled down the + mountain side to the Euphrates, drank of it, bathed in it, rested, ate, + and drank again. The deep green woods were around them; above them they + could see the hawk, the eagle, and the buzzard, and at their feet the + bright fish of the river. + </p> + <p> + At last they reclimbed the Blue Ridge, descended its eastern face, and, + leaving the great wave of it behind them, rode homeward to Williamsburg in + triumph. + </p> + <p> + We are thus, with Spotswood and his band, on the threshold of expanding + American vistas. This Valley of Virginia, first a distant Beulah land for + the eye of the imagination only, presently became a land of pioneer + cabins, far apart—very far apart—then a settled land, of + farms, hamlets, and market towns. Nor did the folk come only from that + elder Virginia of tidal waters and much tobacco, of "compleat gentlemen" + at the capital, and of many slaves in the fields. But downward from the + Potomac, they came south into this valley, from Pennsylvania and Maryland, + many of them Ulster Scots who had sailed to the western world. In America + they are called the Scotch Irish, and in the main they brought stout + hearts, long arms, and level heads. With these they brought in as luggage + the dogmas of Calvin. They permeated the Valley of Virginia; many moved on + south into Carolina; finally, in large part, they made Kentucky and + Tennessee. Germans, too, came into the valley—down from Pennsylvania—quiet, + thrifty folk, driven thus far westward from a war-ravished Rhine. + </p> + <p> + Shrewd practicality trod hard upon the heels of romantic fancy in the mind + of Spotswood. His Order of the Knights of the Horseshoe had a fleeting + existence, but the Vision of the West lived on. Frontier folk in growing + numbers were encouraged to make their way from tidewater to the foot of + the Blue Ridge. Spotsylvania and King George were names given to new + counties in the Piedmont in honor of the Governor and the sovereign. + German craftsmen, who had been sent over by Queen Anne—vine-dressers + and ironworkers—were settled on Spotswood's own estate above the + falls of the Rapidan. The little town of Germanna sprang up, famous for + its smelting furnaces. + </p> + <p> + To his country seat in Spotsylvania, Alexander Spotswood retired when he + laid down the office of Governor in 1722. But his talents were too + valuable to be allowed to rust in inactivity. He was appointed deputy + Postmaster-General for the English colonies, and in the course of his + administration made one Benjamin Franklin Postmaster for Philadelphia. He + was on the point of sailing with Admiral Vernon on the expedition against + Cartagena in 1740, when he was suddenly stricken and died. He was buried + at Temple Farm by Yorktown. On the expedition to Cartagena went one + Lawrence Washington, who named his country seat after the Admiral and + whose brother George many years later was to receive the surrender of + Cornwallis and his army hard by the resting-place of Alexander Spotswood. + Colonial Virginia lies behind us. The era of revolution and statehood + beckons us on. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. GEORGIA + </h2> + <p> + Below Charleston in South Carolina, below Cape Fear, below Port Royal, a + great river called the Savannah poured into the sea. Below the Savannah, + past the Ogeechee, sailing south between the sandy islands and the main, + ships came to the mouth of the river Altamaha. Thus far was Carolina. But + below Altamaha the coast and the country inland became debatable, probably + Florida and Spanish, liable at any rate to be claimed as such, and + certainly open to attack from Spanish St. Augustine. + </p> + <p> + Here lay a stretch of seacoast and country within hailing distance of + semi-tropical lands. It was low and sandy, with innumerable slow-flowing + watercourses, creeks, and inlets from the sea. The back country, running + up to hills and even mountains stuffed with ores, was not known—though + indeed Spanish adventurers had wandered there and mined for gold. But the + lowlands were warm and dense with trees and wild life. The Huguenot + Ribault, making report of this region years and years before, called it "a + fayre coast stretching of a great length, covered with an infinite number + of high and fayre trees," and he described the land as the "fairest, + fruitfullest, and pleasantest of all the world, abounding in hony, + venison, wilde fowle, forests, woods of all sorts, Palm-trees, Cypresse + and Cedars, Bayes ye highest and greatest; with also the fayrest vines in + all the world.... And the sight of the faire medows is a pleasure not able + to be expressed with tongue; full of Hernes, Curlues, Bitters, Mallards, + Egrepths, Woodcocks, and all other kind of small birds; with Harts, + Hindes, Buckes, wilde Swine, and all other kindes of wilde beastes, as we + perceived well, both by their footing there and... their crie and roaring + in the night."* This is the country of the liveoak and the magnolia, the + gray, swinging moss and the yellow jessamine, the chameleon and the + mockingbird. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America", vol. + V, p. 357. +</pre> + <p> + The Savannah and Altamaha rivers and the wide and deep lands between fell + in that grant of Charles II's to the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina—Albemarle, + Clarendon, and the rest. But this region remained as yet unpeopled save by + copper-hued folk. True, after the "American Treaty" of 1670 between + England and Spain, the English built a small fort upon Cumberland Island, + south of the Altamaha, and presently another Fort George—to the + northwest of the first, at the confluence of the rivers Oconee and + Oemulgee. There were, however, no true colonists between the Savannah and + the Altamaha. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1717—the year after Spotswood's Expedition—the + Carolina Proprietaries granted to one Sir Robert Mountgomery all the land + between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, "with proper jurisdictions, + privileges, prerogatives, and franchises." The arrangement was feudal + enough. The new province was to be called the Margravate of Azilia. + Mountgomery, as Margrave, was to render to the Lords of Carolina an annual + quitrent and one-fourth part of all gold and silver found in Azilia. He + must govern in accordance with the laws of England, must uphold the + established religion of England, and provide by taxation for the + maintenance of the clergy. In three years' time the new Margrave must + colonize his Margravate, and if he failed to do so, all his rights would + disappear and Azilia would again dissolve into Carolina. + </p> + <p> + This was what happened. For whatever reason, Mountgomery could not obtain + his colonists. Azilia remained a paper land. The years went by. The + country, unsettled yet, lapsed into the Carolina from which so tentatively + it had been parted. Over its spaces the Indian still roved, the tall + forests still lifted their green crowns, and no axe was heard nor any + English voice. + </p> + <p> + In the decade that followed, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina ceased to + be Lords Proprietors. Their government had been, save at exceptional + moments, confused, oppressive, now absent-minded, and now mistaken and + arbitrary. They had meant very well, but their knowledge was not exact, + and now virtual revolution in South Carolina assisted their demise. After + lengthy negotiations, at last, in 1729, all except Lord Granville + surrendered to the Crown, for a considerable sum, their rights and + interests. Carolina, South and North, thereupon became royal colonies. + </p> + <p> + In England there dwelled a man named James Edward Oglethorpe, son of Sir + Theophilus Oglethorpe of Godalming in Surrey. Though entered at Oxford, he + soon left his books for the army and was present at the siege and taking + of Belgrade in 1717. Peace descending, the young man returned to England, + and on the death of his elder brother came into the estate, and was + presently made Member of Parliament for Haslemere in Surrey. + </p> + <p> + His character was a firm and generous one; his bent, markedly humane. + "Strong benevolence of soul," Pope says he had. His century, too, was + becoming humane, was inquiring into ancient wrongs. There arose, among + other things, a belated notion of prison reform. The English Parliament + undertook an investigation, and Oglethorpe was of those named to examine + conditions and to make a report. He came into contact with the + incarcerated—not alone with the law-breaker, hardened or yet to be + hardened, but with the wrongfully imprisoned and with the debtor. The + misery of the debtor seems to have struck with insistent hand upon his + heart's door. The parliamentary inquiry was doubtless productive of some + good, albeit evidently not of great good. But though the inquiry was over, + Oglethorpe's concern was not over. It brooded, and, in the inner clear + light where ideas grow, eventually brought forth results. + </p> + <p> + Numbers of debtors lay in crowded and noisome English prisons, there often + from no true fault at all, at times even because of a virtuous action, + oftenest from mere misfortune. If they might but start again, in a new + land, free from entanglements! Others, too, were in prison, whose crimes + were negligible, mere mistaken moves with no evil will behind them—or, + if not so negligible, then happening often through that misery and + ignorance for which the whole world was at fault. There was also the broad + and well-filled prison of poverty, and many of the prisoners there needed + only a better start. James Edward Oglethorpe conceived another settlement + in America, and for colonists he would have all these down-trodden and + oppressed. He would gather, if he might, only those who when helped would + help themselves—who when given opportunity would rise out of old + slough and briar. He was personally open to the appeal of still another + class of unfortunate men. He had seen upon the Continent the distress of + the poor and humble Protestants in Catholic countries. Folk of this kind—from + France, from Germany—had been going in a thin stream for years to + the New World. But by his plan more might be enabled to escape petty + tyranny or persecution. He had influence, and his scheme appealed to the + humane thought of his day—appealed, too, to the political thought. + In America there was that debatable and unoccupied land south of Charles + Town in South Carolina. It would be very good to settle it, and none had + taken up the idea with seriousness since Azilia had failed. Such a colony + as was now contemplated would dispose of Spanish claims, serve as a buffer + colony between Florida and South Carolina, and establish another place of + trade. The upshot was that the Crown granted to Oglethorpe and twenty + associates the unsettled land between the Savannah and the Altamaha, with + a westward depth that was left quite indefinite. This territory, which was + now severed from Carolina, was named Georgia after his Majesty King George + II, and Oglethorpe and a number of prominent men became the trustees of + the new colony. They were to act as such for twenty-one years, at the end + of which time Georgia should pass under the direct government of the + Crown. Parliament gave to the starting of things ten thousand pounds, and + wealthy philanthropic individuals followed suit with considerable + donations. The trustees assembled, organized, set to work. A philanthropic + body, they drew from the like minded far and near. Various agencies worked + toward getting together and sifting the colonists for Georgia. Men visited + the prisons for debtors and others. They did not choose at random, but + when they found the truly unfortunate and undepraved in prison they drew + them forth, compounded with their creditors, set the prisoners free, and + enrolled them among the emigrants. Likewise they drew together those who, + from sheer poverty, welcomed this opportunity. And they began a + correspondence with distressed Protestants on the Continent. They also + devised and used all manner of safeguards against imposition and the + inclusion of any who would be wholly burdens, moral or physical. So it + happened that, though misfortune had laid on almost all a heavy hand, the + early colonists to Georgia were by no means undesirable flotsam and + jetsam. The plans for the colony, the hopes for its well-being, wear a + tranquil and fair countenance. + </p> + <p> + Oglethorpe himself would go with the first colonists. His ship was the + Anne of two hundred tons burden—the last English colonizing ship + with which this narrative has to do—and to her weathered sails there + still clings a fascination. On board the Anne, beside the crew and master, + are Oglethorpe himself and more than a hundred and twenty Georgia + settlers, men, women, and children. The Anne shook forth her sails in + mid-November, 1732, upon the old West Indies sea road, and after two + months of prosperous faring, came to anchor in Charles Town harbor. + </p> + <p> + South Carolina, approving this Georgia settlement which was to open the + country southward and be a wall against Spain, received the colonists with + hospitality. Oglethorpe and the weary colonists rested from long travel, + then hoisted sail again and proceeded on their way to Port Royal, and + southward yet to the mouth of the Savannah. Here there was further + tarrying while Oglethorpe and picked men went in a small boat up the river + to choose the site where they should build their town. + </p> + <p> + Here, upon the lower reaches, there lay a fair plateau, a mile long, + rising forty feet above the stream. Near by stood a village of + well-inclined Indians—the Yamacraws. Ships might float upon the + river, close beneath the tree-crowned bluff. It was springtime now and + beautiful in the southern land—the sky azure, the air delicate, the + earth garbed in flowers. Little wonder then that Oglethorpe chose Yamacraw + Bluff for his town. + </p> + <p> + A trader from Carolina was found here, and the trader's wife, a + half-breed, Mary Musgrove by name, did the English good service. She made + her Indian kindred friends with the newcomers. From the first Oglethorpe + dealt wisely with the red men. In return for many coveted goods, he + procured within the year a formal cession of the land between the two + rivers and the islands off the coast. He swore friendship and promised to + treat the Indians justly, and he kept his oath. The site chosen, he now + returned to the Anne and presently brought his colonists up the river to + that fair place. As soon as they landed, these first Georgians began + immediately to build a town which they named Savannah. + </p> + <p> + Ere long other emigrants arrived. In 1734 came seventy-eight German + Protestants from Salzburg, with Baron von Reck and two pastors for + leaders. The next year saw fifty-seven others added to these. Then came + Moravians with their pastor. All these strong, industrious, religious folk + made settlements upon the river above Savannah. Italians came, Piedmontese + sent by the trustees to teach the coveted silk-culture. Oglethorpe, when + he sailed to England in 1734, took with him Tomochi-chi, chief of the + Yamacraws, and other Indians. English interest in Georgia increased. + Parliament gave more money—26,000 pounds. Oglethorpe and the + trustees gathered more colonists. The Spanish cloud seemed to be rolling + up in the south, and it was desirable to have in Georgia a number of men + who were by inheritance used to war. Scotch Highlanders—there would + be the right folk! No sooner said than gathered. Something under two + hundred, courageous and hardy, were enrolled from the Highlands. The + majority were men, but there were fifty women and children with them. All + went to Georgia, where they settled to the south of Savannah, on the + Altamaha, near the island of St. Simon. Other Highlanders followed. They + had a fort and a town which they named New Inverness, and the region that + they peopled they called Darien. + </p> + <p> + Oglethorpe himself left England late in 1735, with two ships, the Symond + and the London Merchant, and several hundred colonists aboard. Of these + folk doubtless a number were of the type the whole enterprise had been + planned to benefit. Others were Protestants from the Continent. Yet others—notably + Sir Francis Bathurst and his family—went at their own charges. After + Oglethorpe himself, most remarkable perhaps of those going to Georgia were + the brothers John and Charles Wesley. Not precisely colonists are the + Wesleys, but prospectors for the souls of the colonists, and the souls of + the Indians—Yamacraws, Uchees, and Creeks. + </p> + <p> + They all landed at Savannah, and now planned to make a settlement south of + their capital city, by the mouth of Altamaha. Oglethorpe chose St. Simon's + Island, and here they built, and called their town Frederica. + </p> + <p> + "Each Freeholder had 60 Feet in Front by 90 Feet in depth upon the high + Street for House and Garden; but those which fronted the River had but 30 + in Front, by 60 Feet in depth. Each Family had a Bower of Palmetto Leaves + finished upon the back Street in their own Lands. The side toward the + front Street was set out for their Houses. These Palmetto Bowers were very + convenient shelters, being tight in the hardest Rains; they were about 20 + Feet long and 14 Feet wide, and in regular Rows looked very pretty, the + Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome, and of a good Colour. The whole + appeared something like a Camp; for the Bowers looked like Tents, only + being larger and covered with Palmetto Leaves."* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Moore's "Voyage to Georgia". Quoted in Winsor's "Narrative + and Critical History of America", vol. V, p. 378. +</pre> + <p> + Their life sounds idyllic, but it will not always be so. Thunders will + arise; serpents be found in Eden. But here now we leave them—in + infant Savannah—in the Salzburgers' village of Ebenezer and in the + Moravian village nearby—in Darien of the Highlanders—and in + Frederica, where until houses are built they will live in palmetto bowers. + </p> + <p> + Virginia, Maryland, the two Carolinas, Georgia—the southern sweep of + England-in-America—are colonized. They have communication with one + another and with middle and northern England-in-America. They also have + communication with the motherland over the sea. The greetings of kindred + and the fruits of labor travel to and fro: over the salt, tumbling waves. + But also go mutual criticism and complaint. "Each man," says Goethe, "is + led and misled after a fashion peculiar to himself." So with those mass + persons called countries. Tension would come about, tension would relax, + tension would return and increase between Mother England and Daughter + America. In all these colonies, in the year with which this narrative + closes, there were living children and young persons who would see the + cord between broken, would hear read the Declaration of Independence. So—but + the true bond could never be broken, for mother and daughter after all are + one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE NAVIGATION LAWS + </h2> + <p> + Three acts of Parliament—the Navigation Act of 1660, the Staple Act + of 1663, and the Act of 1673 imposing Plantation Duties—laid the + foundation of the old colonial system of Great Britain. Contrary to the + somewhat passionate contentions of older historians, they were not + designed in any tyrannical spirit, though they embodied a theory of + colonization and trade which has long since been discarded. In the + seventeenth century colonies were regarded as plantations existing solely + for the benefit of the mother country. Therefore their trade and industry + must be regulated so as to contribute most to the sea power, the commerce, + and the industry of the home country which gave them protection. Sir + Josiah Child was only expressing a commonplace observation of the + mercantilists when he wrote "That all colonies or plantations do endamage + their Mother-Kingdoms, whereof the trades of such Plantations are not + confined by severe Laws, and good execution of those Laws, to the + Mother-Kingdom." + </p> + <p> + The Navigation Act of 1660, following the policy laid down in the statute + of 1651 enacted under the Commonwealth, was a direct blow aimed at the + Dutch, who were fast monopolizing the carrying trade. It forbade any goods + to be imported into or exported from His Majesty's plantations except in + English, Irish, or colonial vessels of which the master and three fourths + of the crew must be English; and it forbade the importation into England + of any goods produced in the plantations unless carried in English + bottoms. Contemporary Englishmen hailed this act as the Magna Charta of + the Sea. There was no attempt to disguise its purpose. "The Bent and + Design," wrote Charles Davenant, "was to make those colonies as much + dependant as possible upon their Mother-Country," by preventing them from + trading independently and so diverting their wealth. The effect would be + to give English, Irish, and colonial shipping a monopoly of the carrying + trade within the Empire. The act also aided English merchants by the + requirement that goods of foreign origin should be imported directly from + the place of production; and that certain enumerated commodities of the + plantations should be carried only to English ports. These enumerated + commodities were products of the southern and semitropical plantations: + "Sugars, Tobacco, Cotton-wool, Indicoes, Ginger, Fustick or other dyeing + wood." + </p> + <p> + To benefit British merchants still more directly by making England the + staple not only of plantation products but also of all commodities of all + countries, the Act of 1663 was passed by Parliament. "No Commoditie of the + Growth Production or Manufacture of Europe shall be imported into any Land + Island Plantation Colony Territory or Place to His Majestie belonging... + but what shall be bona fide and without fraude laden and shipped in + England Wales [and] the Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede and in English built + Shipping." The preamble to this famous act breathed no hostile intent. The + design was to maintain "a greater correspondence and kindnesse" between + the plantations and the mother country; to encourage shipping; to render + navigation cheaper and safer; to make "this Kingdome a Staple not only of + the Commodities of those Plantations but also of the Commodities of other + Countries and places for the supplying of them—" it "being the usage + of other nations to keepe their [Plantations] Trade to themselves." + </p> + <p> + The Act of 1673 was passed to meet certain difficulties which arose in the + administration of the Act of 1660. The earlier act permitted colonial + vessels to carry enumerated commodities from the place of production to + another plantation without paying duties. Under cover of this provision, + it was assumed that enumerated commodities, after being taken to a + plantation, could then be sent directly to continental ports free of duty. + The new act provided that, before vessels left a colonial port, bonds + should be given that the enumerated commodities would be carried only to + England. If bonds were not given and the commodities were taken to another + colonial port, plantation duties were collected according to a prescribed + schedule. + </p> + <p> + These acts were not rigorously enforced until after the passage of the + administrative act of 1696 and the establishment of admiralty courts. Even + then it does not appear that they bore heavily on the colonies, or + occasioned serious protest. The trade acts of 1764 and 1765 are described + in "The Eve of the Revolution".—EDITOR. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + </h2> + <p> + The literature of the Colonial South is like the leaves of Vallombrosa for + multitude. Here may be indicated some volumes useful in any general + survey. + </p> + <p> + VIRGINIA + </p> + <p> + Hakluyt's "Principal Voyages." 12 vols. (Hakluyt Society. Extra Series, + 1905-1907.) "The Prose Epic of the modern English nation." + </p> + <p> + "Purchas, His Pilgrims." 20 vols. (Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, + 1905-1907.) + </p> + <p> + Hening's "Statutes at Large," published in 1823, is an eminently valuable + collection of the laws of colonial Virginia, beginning with the Assembly + of 1619. Hening's own quotation from Priestley, "The Laws of a country are + necessarily connected with everything belonging to the people of it: so + that a thorough knowledge of them and of their progress would inform us of + everything that was most useful to be known," indicates the range and + weight of his thirteen volumes. + </p> + <p> + William Stith's "The History of the Discovery and First Settlement of + Virginia" (1747) gives some valuable documents and a picture of the first + years at Jamestown. + </p> + <p> + Alexander Brown's "Genesis of the United States", 2 vols. (1890), is a + very valuable work, giving historical manuscripts and tracts. Less + valuable is his "First Republic in America" (1898), in which the author + attempts to weave his material into a historical narrative. + </p> + <p> + Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth + Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey. + The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth + Century" (1907) and "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth + Century", 2 vols. (1910). + </p> + <p> + John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E. + Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in + lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary + distinction. + </p> + <p> + On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give + credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske + accepts the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited them + (2 vols., 1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more reliable + than the "True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters of Smith's + credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles Deane, Henry + Adams, and Alexander Brown. + </p> + <p> + Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a + painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in the + light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of + literary attractiveness. + </p> + <p> + MARYLAND + </p> + <p> + "The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official + documents of the province. John L. Bozman's "History of Maryland", 2 vols. + (1837), contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658. + </p> + <p> + J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece of + work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable books by + John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. Browne, + "Maryland, The History of a Palatinate" ("American Commonwealth Series," + 1884). Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert" (1890). + </p> + <p> + THE CAROLINAS + </p> + <p> + "The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a mine + of information about both North and South Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), remains + the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729. + </p> + <p> + Samuel A. Ashe's "History of North Carolina" (1908) carries the political + history down to 1783. + </p> + <p> + Edward McCrady's "History of South Carolina under the Proprietary + Government" (1897) and "South Carolina under the Royal Government" (1899) + have superseded the older histories by Ramsay and Hewitt. + </p> + <p> + GEORGIA + </p> + <p> + The best histories of Georgia are those by William B. Stevens, 2 vols. + (1847, 1859), and Charles C. Jones, 2 vols. (1883). Robert Wright's + "Memoir of General James Oglethorpe" (1867) is still the best life of the + founder of Georgia. + </p> + <p> + In the "American Nation Series" and in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical + History of America", the reader will find accounts of the Southern + colonies written by specialists and accompanied by much critical + apparatus. Further lists will be found appended to the articles on the + several States in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica", 11th edition. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH *** + +***** This file should be named 2898-h.htm or 2898-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/9/2898/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean, Justin Philips, The James J. Kelly +Library Of St. Gregory's University, Alev Akman, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/2898.txt b/2898.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9095ca --- /dev/null +++ b/2898.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5329 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pioneers of the Old South + A Chronicle of English Colonial Beginnings, Volume 5 In + The Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Mary Johnston + +Editor: Allen Johnson + +Posting Date: December 29, 2008 [EBook #2898] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean, Justin Philips, The James J. Kelly +Library Of St. Gregory's University, and Alev Akman + + + + + + +PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH + +A CHRONICLE OF ENGLISH COLONIAL BEGINNINGS + +By Mary Johnston + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE THREE SHIPS SAIL + II. THE ADVENTURERS + III. JAMESTOWN + IV. JOHN SMITH + V. THE SEA ADVENTURE + VI. SIR THOMAS DALE + VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA + VIII. ROYAL GOVERNMENT + IX. MARYLAND + X. CHURCH AND KINGDOM + XI. COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION + XII. NATHANIEL BACON + XIII. REBELLION AND CHANGE + XIV. THE CAROLINAS + XV. ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD + XVI. GEORGIA + + + THE NAVIGATION LAWS + + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + + + +PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH + + + +CHAPTER I. THE THREE SHIPS SAIL + +Elizabeth of England died in 1603. There came to the English throne +James Stuart, King of Scotland, King now of England and Scotland. In +1604 a treaty of peace ended the long war with Spain. Gone was the +sixteenth century; here, though in childhood, was the seventeenth +century. + +Now that the wars were over, old colonization schemes were revived +in the English mind. Of the motives, which in the first instance had +prompted these schemes, some with the passing of time had become weaker, +some remained quite as strong as before. Most Englishmen and women knew +now that Spain had clay feet; and that Rome, though she might threaten, +could not always perform what she threatened. To abase the pride of +Spain, to make harbors of refuge for the angel of the Reformation--these +wishes, though they had not vanished, though no man could know how long +the peace with Spain would last, were less fervid than they had been in +the days of Drake. But the old desire for trade remained as strong as +ever. It would be a great boon to have English markets in the New World, +as well as in the Old, to which merchants might send their wares, and +from which might be drawn in bulk, the raw stuffs that were needed +at home. The idea of a surplus population persisted; England of five +million souls still thought that she was crowded and that it would +be well to have a land of younger sons, a land of promise for all not +abundantly provided for at home. It were surely well, for mere pride's +sake, to have due lot and part in the great New World! And wealth like +that which Spain had found was a dazzle and a lure. "Why, man, all their +dripping-pans are pure gold, and all the chains with which they chain up +their streets are massy gold; all the prisoners they take are fettered +in gold; and for rubies and diamonds they go forth on holidays and +gather 'em by the seashore!" So the comedy of "Eastward Ho!" seen on the +London stage in 1605--"Eastward Ho!" because yet they thought of America +as on the road around to China. + +In this year Captain George Weymouth sailed across the sea and spent +a summer month in North Virginia--later, New England. Weymouth had +powerful backers, and with him sailed old adventurers who had been +with Raleigh. Coming home to England with five Indians in his company, +Weymouth and his voyage gave to public interest the needed fillip +towards action. Here was the peace with Spain, and here was the new +interest in Virginia. "Go to!" said Mother England. "It is time to place +our children in the world!" + +The old adventurers of the day of Sir Humphrey Gilbert had acted as +individuals. Soon was to come in the idea of cooperative action--the +idea of the joint-stock company, acting under the open permission of the +Crown, attended by the interest and favor of numbers of the people, and +giving to private initiative and personal ambition, a public tone. +Some men of foresight would have had Crown and Country themselves the +adventurers, superseding any smaller bodies. But for the moment the +fortunes of Virginia were furthered by a group within the great group, +by a joint-stock company, a corporation. + +In 1600 had come into being the East India Company, prototype of many +companies to follow. Now, six years later, there arose under one royal +charter two companies, generally known as the London and the Plymouth. +The first colony planted by the latter was short-lived. Its letters +patent were for North Virginia. Two ships, the Mary and John and the +Gift of God, sailed with over a hundred settlers. These men, reaching +the coast of what is now Maine, built a fort and a church on the banks +of the Kennebec. Then followed the usual miseries typical of colonial +venture--sickness, starvation, and a freezing winter. With the return of +summer the enterprise was abandoned. The foundation of New England was +delayed awhile, her Pilgrims yet in England, though meditating that +first remove to Holland, her Mayflower only a ship of London port, +staunch, but with no fame above another. + +The London Company, soon to become the Virginia Company, therefore +engages our attention. The charter recites that Sir Thomas Gates and +Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hakluyt, clerk, Prebendary of +Westminster, Edward-Maria Wingfield, and other knights, gentlemen, +merchants, and adventurers, wish "to make habitation, plantation, and +to deduce a colony of sundry of our people into that part of America +commonly called Virginia." It covenants with them and gives them for +a heritage all America between the thirty-fourth and the forty-first +parallels of latitude. + +The thirty-fourth parallel passes through the middle of what is now +South Carolina; the forty-first grazes New York, crosses the northern +tip of New Jersey, divides Pennsylvania, and so westward across to that +Pacific or South Sea that the age thought so near to the Atlantic. All +England might have been placed many times over in what was given to +those knights, gentlemen, merchants, and others. + +The King's charter created a great Council of Virginia, sitting in +London, governing from overhead. In the new land itself there should +exist a second and lesser council. The two councils had authority within +the range of Virginian matters, but the Crown retained the power of +veto. The Council in Virginia might coin money for trade with the +Indians, expel invaders, import settlers, punish ill-doers, levy and +collect taxes--should have, in short, dignity and power enough for any +colony. Likewise, acting for the whole, it might give and take orders +"to dig, mine and search for all manner of mines of gold, silver and +copper... to have and enjoy... yielding to us, our heirs and successors, +the fifth part only of all the same gold and silver, and the fifteenth +part of all the same copper." + +Now are we ready--it being Christmas-tide of the year 1606--to go to +Virginia. Riding on the Thames, before Blackwall, are three ships, small +enough in all conscience' sake, the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and +the Discovery. The Admiral of this fleet is Christopher Newport, an old +seaman of Raleigh's. Bartholomew Gosnold captains the Goodspeed, and +John Ratcliffe the Discovery. The three ships have aboard their crews +and one hundred and twenty colonists, all men. The Council in Virginia +is on board, but it does not yet know itself as such, for the names of +its members have been deposited by the superior home council in a sealed +box, to be opened only on Virginia soil. + +The colonists have their paper of instructions. They shall find out a +safe port in the entrance of a navigable river. They shall be prepared +against surprise and attack. They shall observe "whether the river on +which you plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If it be +out of any lake the passage to the other sea will be the more easy, and +like enough... you shall find some spring which runs the contrary +way toward the East India sea." They must avoid giving offense to the +"naturals"--must choose a healthful place for their houses--must +guard their shipping. They are to set down in black and white for the +information of the Council at home all such matters as directions and +distances, the nature of soils and forests and the various commodities +that they may find. And no man is to return from Virginia without leave +from the Council, and none is to write home any discouraging letter. The +instructions end, "Lastly and chiefly, the way to prosper and to achieve +good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of +your country and your own, and to serve and fear God, the Giver of +all Goodness, for every plantation which our Heavenly Father hath not +planted shall be rooted out." + +Nor did they lack verses to go by, as their enterprise itself did not +lack poetry. Michael Drayton wrote for them:-- + + Britons, you stay too long, + Quickly aboard bestow you, + And with a merry gale, + Swell your stretched sail, + With vows as strong + As the winds that blow you. + + Your course securely steer, + West and by South forth keep; + Rocks, lee shores nor shoals, + Where Eolus scowls, + You need not fear, + + So absolute the deep. + And cheerfully at sea + Success you still entice, + To get the pearl and gold, + And ours to hold + VIRGINIA, + Earth's only paradise!... + + And in regions far + Such heroes bring ye forth + As those from whom we came; + And plant our name + Under that star + Not known unto our north. + +See the parting upon Thames's side, Englishmen going, English kindred, +friends, and neighbors calling farewell, waving hat and scarf, standing +bare-headed in the gray winter weather! To Virginia--they are going to +Virginia! The sails are made upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and +the Discovery. The last wherry carries aboard the last adventurer. The +anchors are weighed. Down the river the wind bears the ships toward the +sea. Weather turning against them, they taste long delay in the Downs, +but at last are forth upon the Atlantic. Hourly the distance grows +between London town and the outgoing folk, between English shores and +where the surf breaks on the pale Virginian beaches. Far away--far away +and long ago--yet the unseen, actual cables hold, and yesterday and +today stand embraced, the lips of the Thames meet the lips of the James, +and the breath of England mingles with the breath of America. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE ADVENTURERS + +What was this Virginia to which they were bound? In the sixteenth +and early seventeenth centuries the name stood for a huge stretch of +littoral, running southward from lands of long winters and fur-bearing +animals to lands of the canebrake, the fig, the magnolia, the chameleon, +and the mockingbird. The world had been circumnavigated; Drake had +passed up the western coast--and yet cartographers, the learned, and +those who took the word from the learned, strangely visualized the North +American mainland as narrow indeed. Apparently, they conceived it as a +kind of extended Central America. The huge rivers puzzled them. There +existed a notion that these might be estuaries, curling and curving +through the land from sea to sea. India--Cathay--spices and wonders and +Orient wealth--lay beyond the South Sea, and the South Sea was but a few +days' march from Hatteras or Chesapeake. The Virginia familiar to the +mind of the time lay extended, and she was very slender. Her right hand +touched the eastern ocean, and her left hand touched the western. + +Contact and experience soon modified this general notion. Wider +knowledge, political and economic considerations, practical reasons of +all kinds, drew a different physical form for old Virginia. Before the +seventeenth century had passed away, they had given to her northern +end a baptism of other names. To the south she was lopped to make the +Carolinas. Only to the west, for a long time, she seemed to grow, while +like a mirage the South Sea and Cathay receded into the distance. + +This narrative, moving with the three ships from England, and through a +time span of less than a hundred and fifty years, deals with a region +of the western hemisphere a thousand miles in length, several hundred +in breadth, stretching from the Florida line to the northern edge of +Chesapeake Bay, and from the Atlantic to the Appalachians. Out of this +Virginia there grow in succession the ancient colonies and the modern +States of Virginia, Maryland, South and North Carolina, and Georgia. + +But for many a year Virginia itself was the only settlement and the only +name. This Virginia was a country favored by nature. Neither too hot nor +too cold, it was rich-soiled and capable of every temperate growth in +its sunniest aspect. Great rivers drained it, flowing into a great +bay, almost a sea, many-armed as Briareus, affording safe and sheltered +harbors. Slowly, with beauty, the land mounted to the west. The sun set +behind wooded mountains, long wave-lines raised far back in geologic +time. The valleys were many and beautiful, watered by sliding streams. +Back to the east again, below the rolling land, were found the +shimmering levels, the jewel-green marshes, the wide, slow waters, and +at last upon the Atlantic shore the thunder of the rainbow-tinted surf. +Various and pleasing was the country. Springs and autumns were long and +balmy, the sun shone bright, there was much blue sky, a rich flora and +fauna. There were mineral wealth and water power, and breadth and depth +for agriculture. Such was the Virginia between the Potomac and the Dan, +the Chesapeake and the Alleghanies. + +This, and not the gold-bedight slim neighbor of Cathay, was now the +lure of the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery. But those +aboard, obsessed by Spanish America, imperfectly knowing the features +and distances of the orb, yet clung to their first vision. But they knew +there would be forest and Indians. Tales enough had been told of both! + +What has to be imaged is a forest the size of Virginia. Here and there, +chiefly upon river banks, show small Indian clearings. Here and there +are natural meadows, and toward the salt water great marshes, the home +of waterfowl. But all these are little or naught in the whole, faint +adornments sewed upon a shaggy garment, green in summer, flame-hued in +autumn, brown in winter, green and flower-colored in the spring. Nor +was the forest to any appreciable extent like much Virginian forest of +today, second growth, invaded, hewed down, and renewed, to hear again +the sound of the axe, set afire by a thousand accidents, burning upon +its own funeral pyres, all its primeval glory withered. The forest of +old Virginia was jocund and powerful, eternally young and eternally old. +The forest was Despot in the land--was Emperor and Pope. + +With the forest went the Indian. They had a pact together. The Indians +hacked out space for their villages of twenty or thirty huts, their +maize and bean fields and tobacco patches. They took saplings for poles +and bark to cover the huts and wood for fires. The forest gave canoe and +bow and arrow, household bowls and platters, the sides of the drum that +was beaten at feasts. It furnished trees serviceable for shelter when +the foe was stalked. It was their wall and roof, their habitat. It was +one of the Four Friends of the Indians--the Ground, the Waters, the Sky, +the Forest. The forest was everywhere, and the Indians dwelled in the +forest. Not unnaturally, they held that this world was theirs. + +Upon the three ships, sailing, sailing, moved a few men who could speak +with authority of the forest and of Indians. Christopher Newport was +upon his first voyage to Virginia, but he knew the Indies and the South +American coast. He had sailed and had fought under Francis Drake. And +Bartholomew Gosnold had explored both for himself and for Raleigh. These +two could tell others what to look for. In their company there was also +John Smith. This gentleman, it is true, had not wandered, fought, and +companioned with romance in America, but he had done so everywhere else. +He had as yet no experience with Indians, but he could conceive that +rough experiences were rough experiences, whether in Europe, Asia, +Africa, or America. And as he knew there was a family likeness among +dangerous happenings, so also he found one among remedies, and he had a +bag full of stories of strange happenings and how they should be met. + +They were going the old, long West Indies sea road. There was time +enough for talking, wondering, considering the past, fantastically +building up the future. Meeting in the ships' cabins over ale tankards, +pacing up and down the small high-raised poop-decks, leaning idle over +the side, watching the swirling dark-blue waters or the stars of night, +lying idle upon the deck, propped by the mast while the trade-winds +blew and up beyond sail and rigging curved the sky--they had time enough +indeed to plan for marvels! If they could have seen ahead, what pictures +of things to come they might have beheld rising, falling, melting one +into another! + +Certain of the men upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the +Discovery stand out clearly, etched against the sky. + +Christopher Newport might be forty years old. He had been of Raleigh's +captains and was chosen, a very young man, to bring to England from the +Indies the captured great carrack, Madre de Dios, laden with fabulous +treasure. In all, Newport was destined to make five voyages to Virginia, +carrying supply and aid. After that, he would pass into the service of +the East India Company, know India, Java, and the Persian Gulf; would be +praised by that great company for sagacity, energy, and good care of his +men. Ten years' time from this first Virginia voyage, and he would die +upon his ship, the Hope, before Bantam in Java. + +Bartholomew Gosnold, the captain of the Goodspeed, had sailed with +thirty others, five years before, from Dartmouth in a bark named the +Concord. He had not made the usual long sweep southward into tropic +waters, there to turn and come northward, but had gone, arrow-straight, +across the north Atlantic--one of the first English sailors to make the +direct passage and save many a weary sea league. Gosnold and his men +had seen Cape Ann and Cape Cod, and had built upon Cuttyhunk, among the +Elizabeth Islands, a little fort thatched with rushes. Then, hardships +thronging and quarrels developing, they had filled their ship with +sassafras and cedar, and sailed for home over the summer Atlantic, +reaching England, with "not one cake of bread" left but only "a little +vinegar." Gosnold, guiding the Goodspeed, is now making his last voyage, +for he is to die in Virginia within the year. + +George Percy, brother of the Earl of Northumberland, has fought bravely +in the Low Countries. He is to stay five years in Virginia, to serve +there a short time as Governor, and then, returning to England, is to +write "A Trewe Relacyion", in which he begs to differ from John Smith's +"Generall Historie." Finally, he goes again to the wars in the Low +Countries, serves with distinction, and dies, unmarried, at the age +of fifty-two. His portrait shows a long, rather melancholy face, set +between a lace collar and thick, dark hair. + +A Queen and a Cardinal--Mary Tudor and Reginald Pole--had stood sponsors +for the father of Edward-Maria Wingfield. This man, of an ancient and +honorable stock, was older than most of his fellow adventurers to +Virginia. He had fought in Ireland, fought in the Low Countries, had +been a prisoner of war. Now he was presently to become "the first +president of the first council in the first English colony in America." +And then, miseries increasing and wretched men being quick to impute +evil, it was to be held with other assertions against him that he was of +a Catholic family, that he traveled without a Bible, and probably +meant to betray Virginia to the Spaniard. He was to be deposed from his +presidency, return to England, and there write a vindication. "I never +turned my face from daunger, or hidd my handes from labour; so watchful +a sentinel stood myself to myself." With John Smith he had a bitter +quarrel. + +Upon the Discovery is one who signed himself "John Radclyffe, comenly +called," and who is named in the London Company's list as "Captain John +Sicklemore, alias Ratcliffe." He will have a short and stormy Virginian +life, and in two years be done to death by Indians. John Smith quarreled +with him also. "A poor counterfeited Imposture!" said Smith. Gabriel +Archer is a lawyer, and first secretary or recorder of the colony. +Short, too, is his life. His name lives in Archer's Hope on the James +River in Virginia. John Smith will have none of him! George Kendall's +life is more nearly spun than Ratcliffe's or Archer's. He will be shot +for treason and rebellion. Robert Hunt is the chaplain. Besides those +whom the time dubbed "gentlemen," there are upon the three ships +English sailors, English laborers, six carpenters, two bricklayers, +a blacksmith, a tailor, a barber, a drummer, other craftsmen, and +nondescripts. Up and down and to and fro they pass in their narrow +quarters, microscopic upon the bosom of the ocean. + +John Smith looms large among them. John Smith has a mantle of marvelous +adventure. It seems that he began to make it when he was a boy, and for +many years worked upon it steadily until it was stiff as cloth of gold +and voluminous as a puffed-out summer cloud. Some think that much of it +was such stuff as dreams are made of. Probably some breadths were the +fabric of vision. Still it seems certain that he did have some kind +of an extraordinary coat or mantle. The adventures which he relates of +himself are those of a paladin. Born in 1579 or 1580, he was at this +time still a young man. But already he had fought in France and in +the Netherlands, and in Transylvania against the Turks. He had known +sea-fights and shipwrecks and had journeyed, with adventures galore, in +Italy. Before Regal, in Transylvania, he had challenged three Turks in +succession, unhorsed them, and cut off their heads, for which doughty +deed Sigismund, a Prince of Transylvania, had given him a coat of arms +showing three Turks' heads in a shield. Later he had been taken in +battle and sold into slavery, whereupon a Turkish lady, his master's +sister, had looked upon him with favor. But at last he slew the Turk +and escaped, and after wandering many days in misery came into Russia. +"Here, too, I found, as I have always done when in misfortune, kindly +help from a woman." He wandered on into Germany and thence into France +and Spain. Hearing of wars in Barbary, he crossed from Gibraltar. Here +he met the captain of a French man-of-war. One day while he was with +this man there arose a great storm which drove the ship out to sea. They +went before the wind to the Canaries, and there put themselves to rights +and began to chase Spanish barks. Presently they had a great fight with +two Spanish men-of-war, in which the French ship and Smith came off +victors. Returning to Morocco, Smith bade the French captain good-bye +and took ship for England, and so reached home in 1604. Here he sought +the company of like-minded men, and so came upon those who had been to +the New World--"and all their talk was of its wonders." So Smith +joined the Virginia undertaking, and so we find him headed toward new +adventures in the western world. + +On sailed the three ships--little ships--sailing-ships with a long way +to go. + +"The twelfth day of February at night we saw a blazing starre and +presently a storme.... The three and twentieth day [of March] we fell +with the Iland of Mattanenio in the West Indies. The foure and twentieth +day we anchored at Dominico, within fourteene degrees of the Line, +a very faire Iland, full of sweet and good smells, inhabited by +many Savage Indians.... The six and twentieth day we had sight of +Marigalanta, and the next day wee sailed with a slacke sail alongst the +Ile of Guadalupa.... We sailed by many Ilands, as Mounserot and an Iland +called Saint Christopher, both uninhabited; about two a clocke in the +afternoone wee anchored at the Ile of Mevis. There the Captaine landed +all his men.... We incamped ourselves on this Ile six days.... The tenth +day [April] we set saile and disimboged out of the West Indies and bare +our course Northerly.... The six and twentieth day of Aprill, about +foure a clocke in the morning, wee descried the Land of Virginia."* + + * Percy's "Discourse in Purchas, His Pilgrims," vol. IV, p. + 1684. Also given in Brown's "Genesis of the United States", + vol. I, p. 152. + +During the long months of this voyage, cramped in the three ships, these +men, most of them young and of the hot-blooded, physically adventurous +sort, had time to develop strong likings and dislikings. The hundred and +twenty split into opposed camps. The several groups nursed all manner of +jealousies. Accusations flew between like shuttlecocks. The sealed box +that they carried proved a manner of Eve's apple. All knew that seven on +board were councilors and rulers, with one of the number President, but +they knew not which were the seven. Smith says that this uncertainty +wrought much mischief, each man of note suggesting to himself, "I shall +be President--or, at least, Councilor!" The ships became cursed with +a pest of factions. A prime quarrel arose between John Smith and +Edward-Maria Wingfield, two whose temperaments seem to have been poles +apart. There arose a "scandalous report, that Smith meant to reach +Virginia only to usurp the Government, murder the Council, and proclaim +himself King." The bickering deepened into forthright quarrel, with at +last the expected explosion. Smith was arrested, was put in irons, and +first saw Virginia as a prisoner. + +On the twenty-sixth day of April, 1607, the Susan Constant, the +Goodspeed, and the Discovery entered Chesapeake Bay. They came in +between two capes, and one they named Cape Henry after the then Prince +of Wales, and the other Cape Charles for that brother of short-lived +Henry who was to become Charles the First. By Cape Henry they anchored, +and numbers from the ships went ashore. "But," says George Percy's +Discourse, "we could find nothing worth the speaking of, but faire +meadows and goodly tall Trees, with such Fresh-waters running through +the woods as I was almost ravished at the first sight thereof. At night, +when wee were going aboard, there came the Savages creeping upon all +foure from the Hills like Beares, with their Bowes in their mouths, +charged us very desperately in the faces, hurt Captaine Gabriel +Archer in both his hands, and a sayler in two places of the body very +dangerous. After they had spent their Arrowes and felt the sharpnesse +of our shot, they retired into the Woods with a great noise, and so left +us." + +That very night, by the ships' lanterns, Newport, Gosnold, and Ratcliffe +opened the sealed box. The names of the councilors were found to be +Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Ratcliffe, Edward-Maria +Wingfield, John Martin, John Smith, and George Kendall, with Gabriel +Archer for recorder. From its own number, at the first convenient time, +this Council was to choose its President. All this was now declared and +published to all the company upon the ships. John Smith was given his +freedom but was not yet allowed place in the Council. So closed an +exciting day. In the morning they pressed in parties yet further into +the land, but met no Indians--only came to a place where these savages +had been roasting oysters. The next day saw further exploring. "We +marched some three or foure miles further into the Woods where we saw +great smoakes of fire. Wee marched to those smoakes and found that the +Savages had beene there burning downe the grasse....We passed through +excellent ground full of Flowers of divers kinds and colours, anal as +goodly trees as I have seene, as cedar, cipresse and other kindes; going +a little further we came into a little plat of ground full of fine and +beautifull strawberries, foure times bigger and better than ours in +England. All this march we could neither see Savage nor Towne."* + + * Percy's "Discourse." + +The ships now stood into those waters which we call Hampton Roads. +Finding a good channel and taking heart therefrom, they named a horn +of land Point Comfort. Now we call it Old Point Comfort. Presently they +began to go up a great river which they christened the James. To English +eyes it was a river hugely wide. They went slowly, with pauses and +waitings and adventures. They consulted their paper of instructions; +they scanned the shore for good places for their fort, for their +town. It was May, and all the rich banks were in bloom. It seemed a +sweet-scented world of promise. They saw Indians, but had with these +no untoward encounters. Upon the twelfth of May they came to a point +of land which they named Archer's Hope. Landing here, they saw "many +squirels, conies, Black Birds with crimson wings, and divers other +Fowles and Birds of divers and sundrie colours of crimson, watchet, +Yellow, Greene, Murry, and of divers other hewes naturally without any +art using... store of Turkie nests and many Egges." They liked this +place, but for shoal water the ships could not come near to land. So on +they went, eight miles up the river. + +Here, upon the north side, thirty-odd miles from the mouth, they came to +a certain peninsula, an island at high water. Two or three miles long, +less than a mile and a half in breadth, at its widest place composed of +marsh and woodland, it ran into the river, into six fathom water, where +the ships might be moored to the trees. It was this convenient deep +water that determined matters. Here came to anchor the Susan Constant, +the Goodspeed, and the Discovery. Here the colonists went ashore. Here +the members of the Council were sworn, and for the first President was +chosen Edward-Maria Wingfield. Here, the first roaming and excitement +abated, they began to unlade the ships, and to build the fort and also +booths for their present sleeping. A church, too, they must have at +once, and forthwith made it with a stretched sail for roof and a board +between two trees whereon to rest Bible and Book of Prayer. Here, for +the first time in all this wilderness, rang English axe in American +forest, here was English law and an English town, here sounded English +speech. Here was placed the germ of that physical, mental, and, +spiritual power which is called the United States of America. + + + +CHAPTER III. JAMESTOWN + +In historians' accounts of the first months at Jamestown, too much, +perhaps, has been made of faction and quarrel. All this was there. Men +set down in a wilderness, amid Virginian heat, men, mostly young, of the +active rather than the reflective type, men uncompanioned by women and +children, men beset with dangers and sufferings that were soon to tag +heavily their courage and patience--such men naturally quarreled and +made up, quarreled again and again made up, darkly suspected each the +other, as they darkly suspected the forest and the Indian; then, need of +friendship dominating, embraced each the other, felt the fascination +of the forest, and trusted the Indian. However much they suspected +rebellion, treacheries, and desertions, they practiced fidelities, +though to varying degrees, and there was in each man's breast more or +less of courage and good intent. They were prone to call one another +villain, but actual villainy--save as jealousy, suspicion, and hatred +are villainy--seems rarely to have been present. Even one who was judged +a villain and shot for his villainy seems hardly to have deserved such +fate. Jamestown peninsula turned out to be feverous; fantastic +hopes were matched by strange fears; there were homesickness, +incompatibilities, unfamiliar food and water and air, class differences +in small space, some petty tyrannies, and very certain dangers. The +worst summer heat was not yet, and the fort was building. Trees must be +felled, cabins raised, a field cleared for planting, fishing and hunting +carried on. And some lading, some first fruits, must go back in the +ships. No gold or rubies being as yet found, they would send instead +cedar and sassafras--hard work enough, there at Jamestown, in the +Virginian low-country, with May warm as northern midsummer, and all the +air charged with vapor from the heated river, with exhalations from the +rank forest, from the many marshes. + +"The first night of our landing, about midnight," says George Percy in +his "Discourse", "there came some Savages sayling close to our quarter; +presently there was an alarm given; upon that the savages ran away.... +Not long after there came two Savages that seemed to be Commanders, +bravely dressed, with Crownes of coloured haire upon their heads, which +came as Messengers from the Werowance of Paspihe, telling us that their +Werowance was comming and would be merry with us with a fat Deere. The +eighteenth day the Werowance of Paspihe came himselfe to our quarter, +with one hundred Savages armed which guarded him in very warlike manner +with Bowes and Arrowes." Some misunderstanding arose. "The Werowance, +[seeing] us take to our armes, went suddenly away with all his company +in great anger." The nineteenth day Percy with several others going into +the woods back of the peninsula met with a narrow path traced through +the forest. Pursuing it, they came to an Indian village. "We Stayed +there a while and had of them strawberries and other thinges.... One +of the Savages brought us on the way to the Woodside where there was a +Garden of Tobacco and other fruits and herbes; he gathered Tobacco and +distributed to every one of us, so wee departed." + +It is evident that neither race yet knew if it was to be war or peace. +What the white man thought and came to think of the red man has been set +down often enough; there is scantier testimony as to what was the red +man's opinion of the white man. Here imagination must be called upon. + +Newport's instructions from the London Council included exploration +before he should leave the colonists and bring the three ships back to +England. Now, with the pinnace and a score of men, among whom was John +Smith, he went sixty miles up the river to where the flow is broken by +a world of boulders and islets, to the hills crowned today by Richmond, +capital of Virginia. The first adventurers called these rapid and +whirling waters the Falls of the Farre West. To their notion they must +lie at least half-way across the breadth of America. Misled by Indian +stories, they believed and wrote that five or six days' march from the +Falls of the Farre West, even through the thick forest, would bring them +to the South Sea. The Falls of the Farre West, where at Richmond the +James goes with a roaring sound around tree-crowned islet--it is strange +to think that they once marked our frontier! How that frontier has been +pushed westward is a romance indeed. And still, today, it is but a five +or six days' journey to that South Sea sought by those early Virginians. +The only condition for us is that we shall board a train. Tomorrow, with +the airship, the South Sea may come nearer yet! + +The Indians of this part of the earth were of the great Algonquin +family, and the tribes with which the colonists had now to do +were drawn, probably by a polity based on blood ties, into a loose +confederation within the larger mass. Newport was "told that the name of +the river was Powhatan, the name of the chief Powhatan, and the name of +the people Powhatans." But it seemed that the chief Powhatan was not at +this village but at another and a larger place named Werowocomoco, on +a second great river in the back country to the north and east of +Jamestown. Newport and his men were "well entreated" by the Indians. +"But yet," says Percy, "the Savages murmured at our planting in the +Countrie." + +The party did not tarry up the river. Back came their boat through the +bright weather, between the verdurous banks, all green and flower-tinted +save where might be seen the brown of Indian clearings with bark-covered +huts and thin, up-curling blue smoke. Before them once more rose +Jamestown, palisaded now, and riding before it the three ships. And +here there barked an English dog, and here were Englishmen to welcome +Englishmen. Both parties had news to tell, but the town had most. On the +26th of May, Indians had made an attack four hundred of them with the +Werowance of Paspihe. One Englishman had been killed, a number wounded. +Four of the Council had each man his wound. + +Newport must now lift anchor and sail away to England. He left at +Jamestown a fort "having three Bulwarkes at every corner like a halfe +Moone, and foure or five pieces of Artillerie mounted in them," a street +or two of reed-thatched cabins, a church to match, a storehouse, a +market-place and drill ground, and about all a stout palisade with a +gate upon the river side. He left corn sown and springing high, and some +food in the storehouse. And he left a hundred Englishmen who had now +tasted of the country fare and might reasonably fear no worse chance +than had yet befallen. Newport promised to return in twenty weeks with +full supplies. + +John Smith says that his enemies, chief amongst whom was Wingfield, +would have sent him with Newport to England, there to stand trial for +attempted mutiny, whereupon he demanded a trial in Virginia, and got it +and was fully cleared. He now takes his place in the Council, beforetime +denied him. He has good words only for Robert Hunt, the chaplain, who, +he says, went from one to the other with the best of counsel. Were they +not all here in the wilderness together, with the savages hovering about +them like the Philistines about the Jews of old? How should the English +live, unless among themselves they lived in amity? So for the moment +factions were reconciled, and all went to church to partake of the Holy +Communion. + +Newport sailed, having in the holds of his ships sassafras and valuable +woods but no gold to meet the London Council's hopes, nor any certain +news of the South Sea. In due time he reached England, and in due time +he turned and came again to Virginia. But long was the sailing to and +fro between the daughter country and the mother country and the lading +and unlading at either shore. It was seven months before Newport came +again. + +While he sails, and while England-in-America watches for him longingly, +look for a moment at the attitude of Spain, falling old in the +procession of world-powers, but yet with grip and cunning left. Spain +misliked that English New World venture. She wished to keep these seas +for her own; only, with waning energies, she could not always enforce +what she conceived to be her right. By now there was seen to be much +clay indeed in the image. Philip the Second was dead; and Philip the +Third, an indolent king, lived in the Escurial. + +Pedro de Zuniga is the Spanish Ambassador to the English Court. He has +orders from Philip to keep him informed, and this he does, and from time +to time suggests remedies. He writes of Newport and the First Supply. +"Sire.... Captain Newport makes haste to return with some people--and +there have combined merchants and other persons who desire to establish +themselves there; because it appears to them the most suitable place +that they have discovered for privateering and making attacks upon +the merchant fleets of Your Majesty. Your Majesty will command to see +whether they will be allowed to remain there.... They are in a great +state of excitement about that place, and very much afraid lest Your +Majesty should drive them out of it.... And there are so many... who +speak already of sending people to that country, that it is advisable +not to be too slow; because they will soon be found there with large +numbers of people."* In Spain the Council of State takes action upon +Zuniga's communications and closes a report to the King with these +words: "The actual taking possession will be to drive out of Virginia +all who are there now, before they are reenforced, and.... it will be +well to issue orders that the small fleet stationed to the windward, +which for so many years has been in state of preparation, should be +instantly made ready and forthwith proceed to drive out all who are now +in Virginia, since their small numbers will make this an easy task, and +this will suffice to prevent them from again coming to that place." Upon +this is made a Royal note: "Let such measures be taken in this business +as may now and hereafter appear proper." + + * Brown's "Genesis of the United States", vol. 1, pp. 116-118. + + +It would seem that there was cause indeed for watching down the river +by that small, small town that was all of the United States! But there +follows a Spanish memorandum. "The driving out... by the fleet stationed +to the windward will be postponed for a long time because delay will +be caused by getting it ready."* Delay followed delay, and old +Spain--conquistador Spain--grew older, and the speech on Jamestown +Island is still English. + + * Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 127. + + +Christopher Newport was gone; no ships--the last refuges, the last +possibilities for home-turning, should the earth grow too hard and the +sky too black--rode upon the river before the fort. Here was the summer +heat. A heavy breath rose from immemorial marshes, from the ancient +floor of the forest. When clouds gathered and storms burst, they amazed +the heart with their fearful thunderings and lightnings. The colonists +had no well, but drank from the river, and at neither high nor low tide +found the water wholesome. While the ships were here they had help of +ship stores, but now they must subsist upon the grain that they had in +the storehouse, now scant and poor enough. They might fish and hunt, but +against such resources stood fever and inexperience and weakness, and in +the woods the lurking savages. The heat grew greater, the water +worse, the food less. Sickness began. Work became toil. Men pined from +homesickness, then, coming together, quarreled with a weak violence, +then dropped away again into corners and sat listlessly with hanging +heads. + +"The sixth of August there died John Asbie of the bloodie Flixe. The +ninth day died George Flowre of the swelling. The tenth day died William +Bruster gentleman, of a wound given by the Savages.... The fourteenth +day Jerome Alikock, Ancient, died of a wound, the same day Francis +Mid-winter, Edward Moris, Corporall, died suddenly. The fifteenth day +their died Edward Browne and Stephen Galthrope. The sixteenth day their +died Thomas Gower gentleman. The seventeenth day their died Thomas +Mounslie. The eighteenth day theer died Robert Pennington and John +Martine gentlemen. The nineteenth day died Drue Piggase gentleman. + +"The two and twentieth day of August there died Captain Bartholomew +Gosnold one of our Councell, he was honourably buried having all the +Ordnance in the Fort shot off, with many vollies of small shot.... + +"The foure and twentieth day died Edward Harrington and George Walker +and were buried the same day. The six and twentieth day died Kenelme +Throgmortine. The seven and twentieth day died William Roods. The eight +and twentieth day died Thomas Stoodie, Cape Merchant. The fourth day of +September died Thomas Jacob, Sergeant. The fifth day there died Benjamin +Beast...."* + + * Percy's "Discourse." + +Extreme misery makes men blind, unjust, and weak of judgment. Here was +gross wretchedness, and the colonists proceeded to blame A and B and +C, lost all together in the wilderness. It was this councilor or that +councilor, this ambitious one or that one, this or that almost certainly +ascertained traitor! Wanting to steal the pinnace, the one craft left by +Newport, wanting to steal away in the pinnace and leave the mass--small +enough mass now!--without boat or raft or straw to cling to, made the +favorite accusation. Upon this count, early in September, Wingfield +was deposed from the presidency. Ratcliffe succeeded him, but presently +Ratcliffe fared no better. One councilor fared worse, for George +Kendall, accused of plotting mutiny and pinnace stealing, was given +trial, found guilty, and shot. + +"The eighteenth day [of September] died one Ellis Kinistone.... The same +day at night died one Richard Simmons. The nineteenth day there died one +Thomas Mouton...." + +What went on, in Virginia, in the Indian mind, can only be conjectured. +As little as the white mind could it foresee the trend of events or +the ultimate outcome of present policy. There was exhibited a see-saw +policy, or perhaps no policy at all, only the emotional fit as it came +hot or cold. The friendly act trod upon the hostile, the hostile upon +the friendly. Through the miserable summer the hostile was uppermost; +then with the autumn appeared the friendly mood, fortunate enough for +"the most feeble wretches" at Jamestown. Indians came laden with maize +and venison. The heat was a thing of the past; cool and bracing weather +appeared; and with it great flocks of wild fowl, "swans, geese, ducks +and cranes." Famine vanished, sickness decreased. The dead were dead. +Of the hundred and four persons left by Newport less than fifty had +survived. But these may be thought of as indeed seasoned. + + + +CHAPTER IV. JOHN SMITH + +With the cool weather began active exploration, the object in chief the +gathering from the Indians, by persuasion or trade or show of force, +food for the approaching winter. Here John Smith steps forward as +leader. + +There begins a string of adventures of that hardy and romantic +individual. How much in Smith's extant narrations is exaggeration, +how much is dispossession of others' merits in favor of his own, it is +difficult now to say.* A thing that one little likes is his persistent +depreciation of his fellows. There is but one Noble Adventurer, and that +one is John Smith. On the other hand evident enough are his courage and +initiative, his ingenuity, and his rough, practical sagacity. Let us +take him at something less than his own valuation, but yet as valuable +enough. As for his adventures, real or fictitious, one may see in +them epitomized the adventures of many and many men, English, +French, Spanish, Dutch, blazers of the material path for the present +civilization. + + * Those who would strike John Smith from the list of + historians will commend the author's caution to the reader + before she lets the Captain tell his own tale. Whatever + Smith may not have been, he was certainly a consummate + raconteur. He belongs with the renowned story-tellers of the + world, if not with the veracious chroniclers.--Editor. + +In December, rather autumn than winter in this region, he starts with +the shallop and a handful of men up a tributary river that they have +learned to call the Chickahominy. He is going for corn, but there is +also an idea that he may hear news of that wished-for South Sea. + +The Chickahominy proved itself a wonderland of swamp and tree-choked +streams. Somewhere up its chequered reaches Smith left the shallop with +men to guard it, and, taking two of the party with two Indian guides, +went on in a canoe up a narrower way. Presently those left with the +boat incautiously go ashore and are attacked by Indians. One is taken, +tortured, and slain. The others get back to their boat and so away, down +the Chickahominy and into the now somewhat familiar James. But Smith +with his two men, Robinson and Emry, are now alone in the wilderness, up +among narrow waters, brown marshes, fallen and obstructing tree trunks. +Now come the men-hunting Indians--the King of Pamaunck, says Smith, with +two hundred bowmen. Robinson and Emry are shot full of arrows. Smith +is wounded, but with his musket deters the foe, killing several of the +savages. His eyes upon them, he steps backward, hoping he may beat them +off till he shall recover the shallop, but meets with the ill chance of +a boggy and icy stream into which he stumbles, and here is taken. + +See him now before "Opechancanough, King of Pamaunck!" Savages and +procedures of the more civilized with savages have, the world over, a +family resemblance. Like many a man before him and after, Smith casts +about for a propitiatory wonder. He has with him, so fortunately, "a +round ivory double-compass dial." This, with a genial manner, he would +present to Opechancanough. The savages gaze, cannot touch through the +glass the moving needle, grunt their admiration. Smith proceeds, +with gestures and what Indian words he knows, to deliver a scientific +lecture. Talking is best anyhow, will give them less time in which to +think of those men he shot. He tells them that the world is round, and +discourses about the sun and moon and stars and the alternation of day +and night. He speaks with eloquence of the nations of the earth, of +white men, yellow men, black men, and red men, of his own country and +its grandeurs, and would explain antipodes. + +Apparently all is waste breath and of no avail, for in an hour see him +bound to a tree, a sturdy figure of a man, bearded and moustached, with +a high forehead, clad in shirt and jerkin and breeches and hosen and +shoon, all by this time, we may be sure, profoundly in need of repair. +The tree and Smith are ringed by Indians, each of whom has an arrow +fitted to his bow. Almost one can hear a knell ringing in the forest! +But Opechancanough, moved by the compass, or willing to hear more of +seventeenth-century science, raises his arm and stops the execution. +Unbinding Smith, they take him with them as a trophy. Presently all +reach their town of Orapaks. + +Here he was kindly treated. He saw Indian dances, heard Indian orations. +The women and children pressed about him and admired him greatly. Bread +and venison were given him in such quantity that he feared that they +meant to fatten and eat him. It is, moreover, dangerous to be considered +powerful where one is scarcely so. A young Indian lay mortally ill, and +they took Smith to him and demanded that forthwith he be cured. If the +white man could kill--how they were not able to see--he could likewise +doubtless restore life. But the Indian presently died. His father, +crying out in fury, fell upon the stranger who could have done so much +and would not! Here also coolness saved the white man. + +Smith was now led in triumph from town to town through the winter woods. +The James was behind him, the Chickahominy also; he was upon new great +rivers, the Pamunkey and the Rappahannock. All the villages were much +alike, alike the still woods, the sere patches from which the corn had +been taken, the bear, the deer, the foxes, the turkeys that were +met with, the countless wild fowl. Everywhere were the same curious, +crowding savages, the fires, the rustic cookery, the covering skins +of deer and fox and otter, the oratory, the ceremonial dances, the +manipulations of medicine men or priests--these last, to the Englishmen, +pure "devils with antique tricks." Days were consumed in this going from +place to place. At one point was produced a bag of gunpowder, gained +in some way from Jamestown. It was being kept with care to go into the +earth in the spring and produce, when summer came, some wonderful crop. + +Opechancanough was a great chief, but higher than he moved Powhatan, +chief of chiefs. This Indian was yet a stranger to the English in +Virginia. Now John Smith was to make his acquaintance. + +Werowocomoco stood upon a bluff on the north side of York River. Here +came Smith and his captors, around them the winter woods, before them +the broad blue river. Again the gathered Indians, men and women, again +the staring, the handling, the more or less uncomplimentary remarks; +then into the Indian ceremonial lodge he was pushed. Here sat the chief +of chiefs, Powhatan, and he had on a robe of raccoon skins with all +the tails hanging. About him sat his chief men, and behind these were +gathered women. All were painted, head and shoulders; all wore, bound +about the head, adornments meant to strike with beauty or with terror; +all had chains of beads. Smith does not report what he said to Powhatan, +or Powhatan to him. He says that the Queen of Appamatuck brought him +water for his hands, and that there was made a great feast. When this +was over, the Indians held a council. It ended in a death decree. +Incontinently Smith was seized, dragged to a great stone lying before +Powhatan, forced down and bound. The Indians made ready their clubs; +meaning to batter his brains out. Then, says Smith, occurred the +miracle. + +A child of Powhatan's, a very young girl called Pocahontas, sprang from +among the women, ran to the stone, and with her own body sheltered that +of the Englishman....* + + * A vast amount of erudition has been expended by historical + students to establish the truth or falsity of this + Pocahontas story. The author has refrained from entering the + controversy, preferring to let the story stand as it was + told by Captain Smith in his "General History" (1624).-- + Editor. + +What, in Powhatan's mind, of hesitation, wiliness, or good nature backed +his daughter's plea is not known. But Smith did not have his brains +beaten out. He was released, taken by some form of adoption into the +tribe, and set to using those same brains in the making of hatchets and +ornaments. A few days passed and he was yet further enlarged. Powhatan +longed for two of the great guns possessed by the white men and for a +grindstone. He would send Smith back to Jamestown if in return he +was sure of getting those treasures. It is to be supposed that Smith +promised him guns and grindstones as many as could be borne away. + +So Werowocomoco saw him depart, twelve Indians for escort. He had +leagues to go, a night or two to spend upon the march. Lying in the +huge winter woods, he expected, on the whole, death before morning. +But "Almighty God mollified the hearts of those sterne barbarians with +compassion." And so he was restored to Jamestown, where he found more +dead than when he left. Some there undoubtedly welcomed him as a strong +man restored when there was need of strong men. Others, it seems, would +as lief that Pocahontas had not interfered. + +The Indians did not get their guns and grindstones. But Smith loaded a +demi-culverin with stones and fired upon a great tree, icicle-hung. The +gun roared, the boughs broke, the ice fell rattling, the smoke spread, +the Indians cried out and cowered away. Guns and grindstone, Smith told +them, were too violent and heavy devils for them to carry from river to +river. Instead he gave them, from the trading store, gifts enticing to +the savage eye, and not susceptible of being turned against the donors. + +Here at Jamestown in midwinter were more food and less mortal sickness +than in the previous fearful summer, yet no great amount of food, and +now suffering, too, from bitter cold. Nor had the sickness ended, nor +dissensions. Less than fifty men were all that held together England +and America--a frayed cord, the last strands of which might presently +part.... + +Then up the river comes Christopher Newport in the Francis and John, to +be followed some weeks later by the Phoenix. Here is new life--stores +for the settlers and a hundred new Virginians! How certain, at any +rate, is the exchange of talk of home and hair-raising stories of this +wilderness between the old colonists and the new! And certain is +the relief and the renewed hopes. Mourning turns to joy. Even a +conflagration that presently destroys the major part of the town can not +blast that felicity. + +Again Newport and Smith and others went out to explore the country. They +went over to Werowocomoco and talked with Powhatan. He told them things +which they construed to mean that the South Sea was near at hand, and +they marked this down as good news for the home Council--still impatient +for gold and Cathay. On their return to Jamestown they found under way +new and stouter houses. The Indians were again friendly; they brought +venison and turkeys and corn. Smith says that every few days came +Pocahontas and attendant women bringing food. + +Spring came again with the dogwood and the honeysuckle and the +strawberries, the gay, returning birds, the barred and striped and +mottled serpents. The colony was one year old. Back to England sailed +the Francis and John and the Phoenix, carrying home Edward-Maria +Wingfield, who has wearied of Virginia and will return no more. + +What rests certain and praiseworthy in Smith is his thoroughness and +daring in exploration. This summer he went with fourteen others down the +river in an open boat, and so across the great bay, wide as a sea, to +what is yet called the Eastern Shore, the counties now of Accomac and +Northampton. Rounding Cape Charles these indefatigable explorers came +upon islets beaten by the Atlantic surf. These they named Smith's +Islands. Landing upon the main shore, they met "grimme and stout" +savages, who took them to the King of Accomac, and him they found civil +enough. This side of the great bay, with every creek and inlet, Smith +examined and set down upon the map he was making. Even if he could find +no gold for the Council at home, at least he would know what places were +suited for "harbours and habitations." Soon a great storm came up, and +they landed again, met yet other Indians, went farther, and were in +straits for fresh water. The weather became worse; they were in danger +of shipwreck--had to bail the boat continually. Indians gathered upon +the shore and discharged flights of arrows, but were dispersed by a +volley from the muskets. The bread the English had with them went bad. +Wind and weather were adverse; three or four of the fifteen fell ill, +but recovered. The weather improved; they came to the seven-mile-wide +mouth of "Patawomeck"--the Potomac. They turned their boat up this vast +stream. For a long time they saw upon the woody banks no savages. Then +without warning they came upon ambuscades of great numbers "so strangely +painted, grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying, as we +rather supposed them so many divils." Smith, in midstream, ordered +musket-fire, and the balls went grazing over the water, and the terrible +sound echoed through the woods. The savages threw down their bows and +arrows and made signs of friendliness. The English went ashore, hostages +were exchanged, and a kind of amicableness ensued. After such sylvan +entertainment Smith and his men returned to the boat. The oars dipped +and rose, the bright water broke from them; and these Englishmen in Old +Virginia proceeded up the Potomac. Could they have seen--could they but +have seen before them, on the north bank, rising, like the unsubstantial +fabric of a dream, there above the trees, a vast, white Capitol shining +in the sunlight! + +Far up the river, they noticed that the sand on the shore gleamed with +yellow spangles. They looked and saw high rocks, and they thought that +from these the rain had washed the glittering dust. Gold? Harbors they +had found--but what of gold? What, even, of Cathay? + +Going down stream, they sought again those friendly Indians. Did they +know gold or silver? The Indians looked wise, nodded heads, and took +the visitors up a little tributary river to a rocky hill in which +"with shells and hatchets" they had opened as it were a mine. Here they +gathered a mineral which, when powdered, they sprinkled over themselves +and their idols "making them," says the relation, "like blackamoors +dusted over with silver." The white men filled their boat with as much +of this ore as they could carry. High were their hopes over it, but +when it was subsequently sent to London and assayed, it was found to be +worthless. + +The fifteen now started homeward, out of Potomac and down the westward +side of Chesapeake. In their travels they saw, besides the Indians, all +manner of four-footed Virginians. Bears rolled their bulk through these +forests; deer went whither they would. The explorers might meet foxes +and catamounts, otter, beaver and marten, raccoon and opossum, wolf and +Indian dog. Winged Virginians made the forests vocal. The owl hooted +at night, and the whippoorwill called in the twilight. The streams +were filled with fish. Coming to the mouth of the Rappahannock, the +travelers' boat grounded upon sand, with the tide at ebb. Awaiting the +water that should lift them off, the fifteen began with their swords to +spear the fish among the reeds. Smith had the ill luck to encounter a +sting-ray, and received its barbed weapon through his wrist. There set +in a great swelling and torment which made him fear that death was at +hand. He ordered his funeral and a grave to be dug on a neighboring +islet. Yet by degrees he grew better and so out of torment, and withal +so hungry that he longed for supper, whereupon, with a light heart, he +had his late enemy the sting-ray cooked and ate him. They then named the +place Sting-ray Island and, the tide serving, got off the sand-bar and +down the bay, and so came home to Jamestown, having been gone seven +weeks. + +Like Ulysses, Smith refuses to rust in inaction. A few days, and away +he is again, first up to Rappahannock, and then across the bay. On this +journey he and his men come up with the giant Susquehannocks, who are +not Algonquins but Iroquois. After many hazards in which the forest +and the savage play their part, Smith and his band again return to +Jamestown. In all this adventuring they have gained much knowledge of +the country and its inhabitants--but yet no gold, and no further news of +the South Sea or of far Cathay. + +It was now September and the second summer with its toll of fever +victims was well-nigh over. Autumn and renewed energy were at hand. All +the land turned crimson and gold. At Jamestown building went forward, +together with the gathering of ripened crops, the felling of trees, +fishing and fowling, and trading for Indian corn and turkeys. + +One day George Percy, heading a trading party down the river, saw coming +toward him a white sailed ship, the Mary and Margaret-it was Christopher +Newport again, with the second supply. Seventy colonists came over on +the Mary and Margaret, among them a fair number of men of note. Here +were Captain Peter Wynne and Richard Waldo, "old soldiers and valiant +gentlemen," Francis West, young brother of the Lord De La Warr, Rawley +Crashaw, John Codrington, Daniel Tucker, and others. This is indeed an +important ship. Among the laborers, the London Council had sent eight +Poles and Germans, skilled in their own country in the production of +pitch, tar, glass, and soap-ashes. Here, then, begin in Virginia other +blood strains than the English. And in the Mary and Margaret comes with +Master Thomas Forest his wife, Mistress Forest, and her maid, by name +Anne Burras. Apart from those lost ones of Raleigh's colony at Roanoke, +these are the first Englishwomen in Virginia. There may be guessed what +welcome they got, how much was made of them. + +Christopher Newport had from that impatient London Council somewhat +strange orders. He was not to return without a lump of gold, or a +certain discovery of waters pouring into the South Sea, or some notion +gained of the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. He had been given a +barge which could be taken to pieces and so borne around those Falls of +the Far West, then put together, and the voyage to the Pacific resumed. +Moreover, he had for Powhatan, whom the minds at home figured as a sort +of Asiatic Despot, a gilt crown and a fine ewer and basin, a bedstead, +and a gorgeous robe. + +The easiest task, that of delivering Powhatan's present and placing +an idle crown upon that Indian's head who, among his own people, was +already sufficiently supreme, might be and was performed. And Newport +with a large party went again to the Falls of the Far West and miles +deep into the country beyond. Here they found Indians outside the +Powhatan Confederacy, but no South Sea, nor mines of gold and silver, +nor any news of the lost colony of Roanoke. In December Newport left +Virginia in the Mary and Margaret, and with him sailed Ratcliffe. Smith +succeeded to the presidency. + +About this time John Laydon, a laborer, and Anne Burras, that maid of +Mistress Forest's, fell in love and would marry. So came about the first +English wedding in Virginia. + +Winter followed with snow and ice, nigh two hundred people to feed, and +not overmuch in the larder with which to do it. Smith with George +Percy and Francis West and others went again to the Indians for +corn. Christmas found them weather-bound at Kecoughtan. "Wherever an +Englishman may be, and in whatever part of the world, he must keep +Christmas with feasting and merriment! And, indeed, we were never more +merrie, nor fedde on more plentie of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild +fowle and good bread; nor never had better fires in England than in the +drie, smokie houses of Kecoughtan!" + +But despite this Christmas fare, there soon began quarrels, many and +intricate, with Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough. + + + +CHAPTER V. THE "SEA ADVENTURE" + +Experience is a great teacher. That London Company with Virginia to +colonize had now come to see how inadequate to the attempt were its +means and strength. Evidently it might be long before either gold mines +or the South Sea could be found. The company's ships were too slight and +few; colonists were going by the single handful when they should go by +the double. Something was at fault in the management of the enterprise. +The quarrels in Virginia were too constant, the disasters too frequent. +More money, more persons interested with purse and mind, a great +company instead of a small, a national cast to the enterprise these were +imperative needs. In the press of such demands the London Company passed +away. In 1609 under new letters patent was born the Virginia Company. + +The members and shareholders in this corporation touch through and +through the body of England at that day. First names upon the roll come +Robert Cecil, Thomas Howard, Henry Wriothesley, William Herbert, Henry +Clinton, Richard Sackville, Thomas Cecil, Philip Herbert--Earls of +Salisbury, Suffolk, Southampton, Pembroke, Lincoln, Dorset, Exeter, +and Montgomery. Then follow a dozen peers, the Lord Bishop of Bath and +Wells, a hundred knights, many gentlemen, one hundred and ten merchants, +certain physicians and clergymen, old soldiers of the Continental wars, +sea-captains and mariners, and a small host of the unclassified. In +addition shares were taken by fifty-six London guilds or industrial +companies. Here are the Companies of the Tallow and Wax Chandlers, the +Armorers and Girdlers, Cordwayners and Carpenters, Masons, Plumbers, +Founders, Poulterers, Cooks, Coopers, Tylers and Brick Layers, Bowyers +and Vinters, Merchant Taylors, Blacksmiths and Weavers, Mercers, +Grocers, Turners, Gardeners, Dyers, Scriveners, Fruiterers, Plaisterers, +Brown Bakers, Imbroiderers, Musicians, and many more. + +The first Council appointed by the new charter had fifty-two members, +fourteen of whom sat in the English House of Lords, and twice that +number in the Commons. Thus was Virginia well linked to Crown and +Parliament. + +This great commercial company had sovereign powers within Virginia. The +King should have his fifth part of all ore of gold and silver; the laws +and religion of England should be upheld, and no man let go to Virginia +who had not first taken the oath of supremacy. But in the wide field +beside all this the President--called the Treasurer--and the Council, +henceforth to be chosen out of and by the whole body of subscribers, +had full sway. No longer should there be a second Council sitting in +Virginia, but a Governor with power, answerable only to the Company at +home. That Company might tax and legislate within the Virginian field, +punish the ill-doer or "rebel," and wage war, if need be, against Indian +or Spaniard: + +One of the first actions of the newly constituted body was to seek +remedy for the customary passage by way of the West Indies--so long and +so beset by dangers. They sent forth a small ship under Captain Samuel +Argall, with instructions "to attempt a direct and cleare passage, by +leaving the Canaries to the East, and from thence to run a straight +westerne course.... And so to make an experience of the Winds and +Currents which have affrighted all undertakers by the North." + +This Argall, a young man with a stirring and adventurous life behind him +and before him, took his ship the indicated way. He made the voyage +in nine weeks, of which two were spent becalmed, and upon his return +reported that it might be made in seven, "and no apparent inconvenience +in the way." He brought to the great Council of the Company a story of +necessity and distress at Jamestown, and the Council lays much of the +blame for that upon "the misgovernment of the Commanders, by dissention +and ambition among themselves," and upon the idleness of the general +run, "active in nothing but adhearing to factions and parts." The +Council, sitting afar from a savage land, is probably much too severe. +But the "factions and parts" cannot easily be denied. + +Before Argall's return, the Company had commissioned as Governor of +Virginia Sir Thomas Gates, and had gathered a fleet of seven ships and +two pinnaces with Sir George Somers as Admiral, in the ship called the +Sea Adventure, and Christopher Newport as Vice-Admiral. All weighed +anchor from Falmouth early in June and sailed by the newly tried course, +south to the Canaries and then across. These seven ships carried five +hundred colonists, men, women, and children. + +On St. James's day there rose and broke a fearsome storm. Two days and +nights it raged, and it scattered that fleet of seven. Gates, Somers, +and Newport with others of "rancke and quality" were upon the Sea +Adventure. How fared this ship with one attendant pinnace we shall come +to see presently. But the other ships, driven to and fro, at last found +a favorable wind, and in August they sighted Virginia. On the eleventh +of that month they came, storm-beaten and without Governor or Admiral +or Sea Adventure, into "our Bay" and at last to "the King's River and +Town." Here there swarmed from these ships nigh three hundred persons, +meeting and met by the hundred dwelling at Jamestown. This was the third +supply, but it lacked the hundred or so upon the Sea Adventure and the +pinnace, and it lacked a head. "Being put ashore without their Governor +or any order from him (all the Commissioners and principal persons being +aboard him) no man would acknowledge a superior." + +With this multitude appeared once more in Virginia the three ancient +councilors--Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin. Apparently here came fresh +fuel for factions. Who should rule, and who should be ruled? Here is +an extremely old and important question, settled in history only to be +unsettled again. Everywhere it rises, dust on Time's road, and is laid +only to rise again. + +Smith was still President. Who was in the right and who in the wrong in +these ancient quarrels, the recital of which fills the pages of Smith +and of other men, is hard now to be determined. But Jamestown became a +place of turbulence. Francis West was sent with a considerable number to +the Falls of the Far West to make there some kind of settlement. For a +like purpose Martin and Percy were dispatched to the Nansemond River. +All along the line there was bitter falling out. The Indians became +markedly hostile. Smith was up the river, quarreling with West and his +men. At last he called them "wrongheaded asses," flung himself into +his boat, and made down the river to Jamestown. Yet even so he found no +peace, for, while he was asleep in the boat, by some accident or other +a spark found its way to his powder pouch. The powder exploded. Terribly +hurt, he leaped overboard into the river, whence he was with difficulty +rescued. + +Smith was now deposed by Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin, because, "being +an ambityous, onworthy, and vayneglorious fellowe," say his detractors, +"he wolde rule all and ingrose all authority into his own hands." Be +this as it may, Smith was put on board one of the ships which were about +to sail for England. Wounded, and with none at Jamestown able to heal +his hurt, he was no unwilling passenger. Thus he departed, and Virginia +knew Captain John Smith no more. Some liked him and his ways, some liked +him not nor his ways either. He wrote of his own deeds and praised them +highly, and saw little good in other mankind, though here and there he +made an exception. Evident enough are faults of temper. But he had great +courage and energy and at times a lofty disinterestedness. + +Again winter drew on at Jamestown, and with it misery on misery. George +Percy, now President, lay ill and unable to keep order. The multitude, +"unbridled and heedless," pulled this way and that. Before the cold had +well begun, what provision there was in the storehouse became exhausted. +That stream of corn from the Indians in which the colonists had put +dependence failed to flow. The Indians themselves began systematically +to spoil and murder. Ratcliffe and fourteen with him met death while +loading his barge with corn upon the Pamunkey. The cold grew worse. +By midwinter there was famine. The four hundred--already noticeably +dwindled--dwindled fast and faster. The cold was severe; the Indians +were in the woods; the weakened bodies of the white men pined and +shivered. They broke up the empty houses to make fires to warm +themselves. They began to die of hunger as well as by Indian arrows. +On went the winter, and every day some died. Tales of cannibalism are +told....This was the Starving Time. + +When the leaves were red and gold, England-in-America had a population +of four hundred and more. When the dogwood and the strawberry bloomed, +England-in-America had a population of but sixty. + +Somewhat later than this time there came from the pen of Shakespeare a +play dealing with a tempest and shipwreck and a magical isle and rescue +thereon. The bright spirit Ariel speaks of "the still-vex'd Bermoothes." +These were islands "two hundred leagues from any continent," named after +a Spanish Captain Bermudez who had landed there. Once there had been +Indians, but these the Spaniards had slain or taken as slaves. Now the +islands were desolate, uninhabited, "forlorn and unfortunate." Chance +vessels might touch, but the approach was dangerous. There grew rumors +of pirates, and then of demons. "The Isles of Demons," was the name +given to them. "The most forlorn and unfortunate place in the world" was +the description that fitted them in those distant days: + +All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement Inhabits here: some heavenly +power guide us Out of this fearful country. + +When Shakespeare so wrote, there was news in England and talk went to +and fro of the shipwreck of the Sea Adventure upon the rocky teeth of +the Bermoothes, "uninhabitable and almost inaccessible," and of the +escape and dwelling there for months of Gates and Somers and the +colonists in that ship. It is generally assumed that this incident +furnished timber for the framework of The Tempest. + +The storm that broke on St. James's Day, scattering the ships of the +third supply, drove the Sea Adventure here and there at will. Upon her +watched Gates and Somers and Newport, above a hundred men, and a few +women and children. There sprang a leak; all thought of death. Then +rose a cry "Land ho!" The storm abated, but the wind carried the Sea +Adventure upon this shore and grounded her upon a reef. A certain R. +Rich, gentleman, one of the voyagers, made and published a ballad upon +the whole event. If it is hardly Shakespearean music, yet it is not +devoid of interest. + +... The Seas did rage, the windes did blowe, + Distressed were they then; + Their shippe did leake, her tacklings breake, + In daunger were her men; + But heaven was pylotte in this storme, + And to an Iland neare, + Bermoothawes called, conducted them, + Which did abate their feare. + +Using the ship's boats they got to shore, though with toil and danger. +Here they found no sprites nor demons, nor even men, but a fair, +half-tropical verdure and, running wild, great numbers of swine. + + And then on shoare the iland came + Inhabited by hogges, + Some Foule and tortoyses there were, + They only had one dogge, + To kill these swyne, to yield them foode, + That little had to eate. + Their store was spent and all things scant, + Alas! they wanted meate. + + They did not, however, starve. + + A thousand hogges that dogge did kill + Their hunger to sustaine. + +Ten months the Virginia colonists lived among the "still-vex'd +Bermoothes." The Sea Adventure was but a wreck pinned between the reefs. +No sail was seen upon the blue water. Where they were thrown, there +Gates and Somers and Newport and all must stay for a time and make the +best of it. They builded huts and thatched them, and they brought from +the wrecked ship, pinned but half a mile from land, stores of many +kinds. The clime proved of the blandest, fairest; with fishing and +hunting they maintained themselves. Days, weeks, and months went by. +They had a minister, Master Buck. They brought from the ship a bell and +raised it for a church-bell. A marriage, a few deaths, the birth of two +children these were events on the island. One of these children, the +daughter of John Rolfe, gentleman, and his wife, was christened Bermuda. +Gates and Somers held kindly sway. The colonists lived in plenty, peace, +and ease. But for all that, they were shipwrecked folk, and far, far out +of the world, and they longed for the old ways and their own kin. Day +followed day, but no sail would show to bear them thence; and so at +last, taking what they could from the forests of the island, and from +the Sea Adventure, they set about to become shipwrights. + + And there two gallant pynases, + Did build of Seader-tree, + The brave Deliverance one was call'd, + Of seaventy tonne was shee, + The other Patience had to name, + Her burthen thirty tonne.... + +... The two and forty weekes being past + They hoyst sayle and away; + Their shippes with hogges well freighted were, + Their harts with mickle joy. + +And so to Virginia came... + +What they found when they came to Virginia was dolor enough. On +Jamestown strand they beheld sixty skeletons "who had eaten all the +quick things that weare there, and some of them had eaten snakes and +adders." Somers, Gates, and Newport, on entering the town, found it +"rather as the ruins of some auntient fortification than that any people +living might now inhabit it." + +A pitiable outcome, this, of all the hopes of fair "harbours and +habitations," of golden dreams, and farflung dominion. All those whom +Raleigh had sent to Roanoke were lost or had perished. Those who had +named and had first dwelled in Jamestown were in number about a hundred. +To these had been added, during the first year or so, perhaps two +hundred more. And the ships that had parted from the Sea Adventure had +brought in three hundred. First and last, not far from seven hundred +English folk had come to live in Virginia. And these skeletons eating +snakes and adders were all that remained of that company; all those +others had died miserably and their hopes were ashes with them. + +What might Sir Thomas Gates, the Governor, do? "That which added most to +his sorowe, and not a little startled him, was the impossibilitie.. how +to amend one whitt of this. His forces were not of habilitie to revenge +upon the Indian, nor his owne supply (now brought from the Bermudas) +sufficient to relieve his people." So he called a Council and listened +in turn to Sir George Somers, to Christopher Newport, and to "the +gentlemen and Counsaile of the former Government." The end and upshot +was that none could see other course than to abandon the country. +England-in-America had tried and failed, and had tried again and failed. +God, or the course of Nature, or the current of History was against her. +Perhaps in time stronger forces and other attempts might yet issue from +England. But now the hour had come to say farewell! + +Upon the bosom of the river swung two pinnaces, the Discovery and the +Virginia, left by the departing ships months before, and the Deliverance +and the Patience, the Bermuda pinnaces. Thus the English abandoned the +little town that was but three years old. Aboard the four small ships +they went, and down the broad river, between the flowery shores, they +sailed away. Doubtless under the trees on either hand were Indians +watching this retreat of the invaders of their forests. The plan of the +departing colonists was to turn north, when they had reached the sea, +and make for Newfoundland, where they might perhaps meet with English +fishing ships. So they sailed down the river, and doubtless many +hearts were heavy and sad, but others doubtless were full of joy and +thankfulness to be going back to an older home than Virginia. + +The river broadened toward Chesapeake--and then, before them, what did +they see? What deliverance for those who had held on to the uttermost? +They saw the long boat of an English ship coming toward them with +flashing oars, bringing news of comfort and relief. There, indeed, off +Point Comfort lay three ships, the De La Warr, the Blessing, and the +Hercules, and they brought, with a good company and good stores, Sir +Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, appointed, over Gates, Lord Governor and +Captain General, by land and sea, of the Colony of Virginia. + +The Discovery, the Virginia, the Patience, and the Deliverance thereupon +put back to that shore they thought to have left forever. Two days +later, on Sunday the 10th of June, 1610, there anchored before Jamestown +the De La Warr, the Blessing, and the Hercules; and it was thus that the +new Lord Governor wrote home: "I... in the afternoon went ashore, where +after a sermon made by Mr. Buck... I caused my commission to be read, +upon which Sir Thomas Gates delivered up...unto me his owne commission, +both patents, and the counsell seale; and then I delivered some few +wordes unto the Company.... and after... did constitute and give place +of office and chardge to divers Captaines and gentlemen and elected unto +me a counsaile." + + The dead was alive again. Saith Rich's ballad: + + And to the adventurers* thus he writes, + "Be not dismayed at all, + For scandall cannot doe us wrong, + God will not let us fall. + Let England knowe our willingnesse, + For that our worke is good, + WE HOPE TO PLANT A NATION + WHERE NONE BEFORE HATH STOOD." + + * The Virginia Company. + + + +CHAPTER VI. SIR THOMAS DALE + +In a rebuilded Jamestown, Lord De La Warr, of "approved courage, temper +and experience," held for a short interval dignified, seigneurial sway, +while his restless associates adventured far and wide. Sir George Somers +sailed back to the Bermudas to gather a cargo of the wild swine of those +woods, but illness seized him there, and he died among the beautiful +islands. That Captain Samuel Argall who had traversed for the Company +the short road from the Canaries took up Smith's fallen mantle and +carried on the work of exploration. It was he who found, and named for +the Lord Governor, Delaware Bay. He went up the Potomac and traded for +corn; rescued an English boy from the Indians; had brushes with the +savages. In the autumn back to England with a string of ships went that +tried and tested seafarer Christopher Newport. Virginia wanted many +things, and chiefly that the Virginia Company should excuse defect and +remember promise. So Gates sailed with Newport to make true report and +guide exertion. Six months passed, and the Lord Governor himself fell +ill and must home to England. So away he, too, went and for seven years +until his death ruled from that distance through a deputy governor. De +La Warr was a man of note and worth, old privy councilor of Elizabeth +and of James, soldier in the Low Countries, strong Protestant and +believer in England-in-America. Today his name is borne by a great +river, a great bay, and by one of the United States. + +In London, the Virginia Company, having listened to Gates, projected +a fourth supply for the colony. Of those hundreds who had perished in +Virginia, many had been true and intelligent men, and again many perhaps +had been hardly that. But the Virginia Company was now determined to +exercise for the future a discrimination. It issued a broadside, +making known that it was sending a new supply of men and all necessary +provision in a fleet of good ships, under the conduct of Sir Thomas +Gates and Sir Thomas Dale, and that it was not intended any more to +burden the action with "vagrant and unnecessary persons... but honest +and industrious men, as Carpenters, Smiths, Coopers, Fishermen, Tanners, +Shoemakers, Shipwrights, Brickmen, Gardeners, Husbandmen, and laboring +men of all sorts that... shall be entertained for the Voyage upon such +termes as their qualitie and fitnesse shall deserve." Yet, in spite of +precautions, some of the other sort continued to creep in with the sober +and industrious. Master William Crashaw, in a sermon upon the Virginia +venture, remarks that "they who goe... be like for aught I see to those +who are left behind, even of all sorts better and worse!" This probably +hits the mark. + +The Virginia Company meant at last to have order in Virginia. To this +effect, a new office was created and a strong man was found to fill it. +Gates remained De La Warr's deputy governor, but Sir Thomas Dale went +as Marshal of Virginia. The latter sailed in March, 1611, with "three +ships, three hundred people, twelve kine, twenty goats, and all things +needful for the colony." Gates followed in May with other ships, three +hundred colonists, and much cattle. + +For the next few years Dale becomes, in effect, ruler of Virginia. He +did much for the colony, and therefore, in that far past that is not +so distant either, much for the United States--a man of note, and worth +considering. + +Dale had seen many years of service in the Low Countries. He was still +in Holland when the summons came to cross the ocean in the service of +the Virginia Company. On the recommendation of Henry, Prince of Wales, +the States-General of the United Netherlands consented "that Captain +Thomas Dale (destined by the King of Great Britain to be employed in +Virginia in his Majesty's service) may absent himself from his company +for the space of three years, and that his said company shall remain +meanwhile vacant, to be resumed by him if he think proper." + +This man had a soldier's way with him and an iron will. For five years +in Virginia he exhibited a certain stern efficiency which was perhaps +the best support and medicine that could have been devised. At the end +of that time, leaving Virginia, he did not return to the Dutch service, +but became Admiral of the fleet of the English East India Company, thus +passing from one huge historic mercantile company to another. With six +ships he sailed for India. Near Java, the English and the Dutch having +chosen to quarrel, he had with a Dutch fleet "a cruel, bloody fight." +Later, when peace was restored, the East India Company would have given +him command of an allied fleet of English and Dutch ships, the objective +being trade along the coast of Malabar and an attempt to open commerce +with the Chinese. But Sir Thomas Dale was opening commerce with a +vaster, hidden land, for at Masulipatam he died. "Whose valor," says his +epitaph, "having shined in the Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." + +But now in Maytime of 1611 Dale was in Virginian waters. By this day, +beside the main settlement of Jamestown, there were at Cape Henry and +Point Comfort small forts garrisoned with meager companies of men. Dale +made pause at these, setting matters in order, and then, proceeding up +the river, he came to Jamestown and found the people gathered to receive +him. Presently he writes home to the Company a letter that gives a view +of the place and its needs. Any number of things must be done, requiring +continuous and hard work, "as, namely, the reparation of the falling +Church and so of the Store-house, a stable for our horses, a munition +house, a Powder house, a new well for the amending of the most +unwholesome water which the old afforded. Brick to be made, a sturgion +house... a Block house to be raised on the North side of our back river +to prevent the Indians from killing our cattle, a house to be set up to +lodge our cattle in the winter, and hay to be appointed in his due time +to be made, a smith's forge to be perfected, caske for our Sturgions +to be made, and besides private gardens for each man common gardens +for hemp and flax and such other seeds, and lastly a bridge to land our +goods dry and safe upon, for most of which I take present order." + +Dale would have agreed with Dr. Watts that + + Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do! + +If we of the United States today will call to mind certain Western small +towns of some decades ago--if we will review them as they are pictured +in poem and novel and play--we may receive, as it were out of the tail +of the eye, an impression of some aspects of these western plantings of +the seventeenth century. The dare-devil, the bully, the tenderfoot, the +gambler, the gentleman-desperado had their counterparts in Virginia. So +had the cool, indomitable sheriff and his dependable posse, the friends +generally of law and order. Dale may be viewed as the picturesque +sheriff of this earlier age. + +But it must be remembered that this Virginia was of the seventeenth, not +of the nineteenth century. And law had cruel and idiot faces as well as +faces just and wise. Hitherto the colony possessed no written statutes. +The Company now resolved to impose upon the wayward an iron restraint. +It fell to Dale to enforce the regulations known as "Lawes and Orders, +dyvine, politique, and martiall for the Colonye of Virginia"--not +English civil law simply, but laws "chiefly extracted out of the Lawes +for governing the army in the Low Countreys." The first part of this +code was compiled by William Strachey; the latter part is thought to +have been the work of Sir Edward Cecil, Sir Thomas Gates, and Dale +himself, approved and accepted by the Virginia Company. Ten years +afterwards, defending itself before a Committee of Parliament, the +Company through its Treasurer declared "the necessity of such laws, in +some cases ad terrorem, and in some to be truly executed." + +Seventeenth-century English law herself was terrible enough in all +conscience, but "Dale's Laws" went beyond. Offences ranged from failure +to attend church and idleness to lese majeste. The penalties were +gross--cruel whippings, imprisonments, barbarous puttings to death. The +High Marshal held the unruly down with a high hand. + +But other factors than this Draconian code worked at last toward order +in this English West. Dale was no small statesman, and he played ferment +against ferment. Into Virginia now first came private ownership of land. +So much was given to each colonist, and care of this booty became +to each a preoccupation. The Company at home sent out more and more +settlers, and more and more of the industrious, peace-loving sort. By +1612 the English in America numbered about eight hundred. Dale projected +another town, and chose for its site the great horseshoe bend in the +river a few miles below the Falls of the Far West, at a spot we now call +Dutch Gap. Here Dale laid out a town which he named Henricus after the +Prince of Wales, and for its citizens he drafted from Jamestown three +hundred persons. To him also are due Bermuda and Shirley Hundreds and +Dale's Gift over on the Eastern Shore. As the Company sent over more +colonists, there began to show, up and down the James though at far +intervals, cabins and clearings made by white men, set about with a +stockade, and at the river edge a rude landing and a fastened boat. The +restless search for mines of gold and silver now slackened. Instead eyes +turned for wealth to the kingdom of the plant and tree, and to fur trade +and fisheries. + + * Hitherto there had been no trading or landholding by + individuals. All the colonists contributed the products of + their toil to the common store and received their supplies + from the Company. The adventurers (stockholders) contributed + money to the enterprise; the colonists, themselves and their + labor. + +Those ships that brought colonists were in every instance expected +to return to England laden with the commodities of Virginia. At first +cargoes of precious ores were looked for. These failing, the Company +must take from Virginia what lay at hand and what might be suited to +English needs. In 1610 the Company issued a paper of instructions upon +this subject of Virginia commodities. The daughter was expected to +send to the mother country sassafras root, bay berries, puccoon, +sarsaparilla, walnut, chestnut, and chinquapin oil, wine, silk grass, +beaver cod, beaver and otter skins, clapboard of oak and walnut, tar, +pitch, turpentine, and powdered sturgeon. + +It might seem that Virginia was headed to become a land of fishers, of +foresters, and vine dressers, perhaps even, when the gold should be +at last discovered, of miners. At home, the colonizing merchants and +statesmen looked for some such thing. In return for what she laded into +ships, Virginia was to receive English-made goods, and to an especial +degree woolen goods, "a very liberall utterance of our English cloths +into a maine country described to be bigger than all Europe." There was +to be direct trade, country kind for country kind, and no specie to be +taken out of England. The promoters at home doubtless conceived a hardy +and simple trans-Atlantic folk of their own kindred, planters for their +own needs, steady consumers of the plainer sort of English wares, steady +gatherers, in return, of necessaries for which England otherwise must +trade after a costly fashion with lands which were not always friendly. +A simple, sturdy, laborious Virginia, white men and Indians. If this was +their dream, reality was soon to modify it. + + +A new commodity of unsuspected commercial value began now to be grown in +garden-plots along the James--the "weed" par excellence, tobacco. That +John Rolfe who had been shipwrecked on the Sea Adventure was now a +planter in Virginia. His child Bermuda had died in infancy, and his wife +soon after their coming to Jamestown. Rolfe remained, a young man, a +good citizen, and a Christian. And he loved tobacco. On that trivial +fact hinges an important chapter in the economic history of America. +In 1612 Rolfe planted tobacco in his own garden, experimented with its +culture, and prophesied that the Virginian weed would rank with the +best Spanish. It was now a shorter plant, smaller-leafed and +smaller-flowered, but time and skilful gardening would improve it. + +England had known tobacco for thirty years, owing its introduction to +Raleigh. At first merely amused by the New World rarity, England was +now by general use turning a luxury into a necessity. More and more she +received through Dutch and Spanish ships tobacco from the Indies. Among +the English adventurers to Virginia some already knew the uses of the +weed; others soon learned from the Indians. Tobacco was perhaps not +indigenous to Virginia, but had probably come through southern tribes +who in turn had gained it from those who knew it in its tropic habitat. +Now, however, tobacco was grown by all Virginia Indians, and +was regarded as the Great Spirit's best gift. In the final happy +hunting-ground, kings, werowances, and priests enjoyed it forever. When, +in the time after the first landing, the Indians brought gifts to the +adventurers as to beings from a superior sphere, they offered tobacco as +well as comestibles like deer-meat and mulberries. Later, in England and +in Virginia, there was some suggestion that it might be cultivated among +other commodities. But the Company, not to be diverted from the path +to profits, demanded from Virginia necessities and not new-fangled +luxuries. Nevertheless, a little tobacco was sent over to England, and +then a little more, and then a larger quantity. In less than five years +it had become a main export; and from that time to this profoundly has +it affected the life of Virginia and, indeed, of the United States. + +This then is the wide and general event with which John Rolfe is +connected. But there is also a narrower, personal happening that has +pleased all these centuries. Indian difficulties yet abounded, but Dale, +administrator as well as man of Mars, wound his way skilfully through +them all. Powhatan brooded to one side, over there at Werowocomoco. +Captain Samuel Argall was again in Virginia, having brought over +sixty-two colonists in his ship, the Treasurer. A bold and restless man, +explorer no less than mariner, he again went trading up the Potomac, +and visited upon its banks the village of Japazaws, kinsman of Powhatan. +Here he found no less a personage than Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas. +An idea came into Argall's active and somewhat unscrupulous brain. +He bribed Japazaws with a mighty gleaming copper kettle, and by that +chief's connivance took Pocahontas from the village above the Potomac. +He brought her captive in his boat down the Chesapeake to the mouth of +the James and so up the river to Jamestown, here to be held hostage for +an Indian peace. This was in 1613. + +Pocahontas stayed by the James, in the rude settlers' town, which may +have seemed to the Indian girl stately and wonderful enough. Here Rolfe +made her acquaintance, here they talked together, and here, after some +scruples on his part as to "heathennesse," they were married. He writes +of "her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God; her +capableness of understanding; her aptnesse and willingnesse to +recieve anie good impression, and also the spiritual, besides her owne +incitements stirring me up hereunto." First she was baptized, receiving +the name Rebecca, and then she was married to Rolfe in the flower-decked +church at Jamestown. Powhatan was not there, but he sent young chiefs, +her brothers, in his place. Rolfe had lands and cabins thereupon up +the river near Henricus. He called this place Varina, the best Spanish +tobacco being Varinas. Here he and Pocahontas dwelled together "civilly +and lovingly." When two years had passed the couple went with their +infant son upon a visit to England. There court and town and country +flocked to see the Indian "princess." After a time she and Rolfe would +go back to Virginia. But at Gravesend, before their ship sailed, she was +stricken with smallpox and died, making "a religious and godly end," and +there at Gravesend she is buried. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, who was brought +up in England, returned at last to Virginia and lived out his life there +with his wife and children. Today no small host of Americans have for +ancestress the daughter of Powhatan. In England-in-America the immediate +effect of the marriage was really to procure an Indian peace outlasting +Pocahontas's brief life. + +In Dale's years there rises above the English horizon the cloud of New +France. The old, disaster-haunted Huguenot colony in Florida was a thing +of the past, to be mourned for when the Spaniard wiped it out--for +at that time England herself was not in America. But now that she +was established there, with some hundreds of men in a Virginia that +stretched from Spanish Florida to Nova Scotia, the French shadow seemed +ominous. And just in this farther region, amid fir-trees and snow, upon +the desolate Bay of Fundy, the French for some years had been keeping +the breath of life in a huddle of cabins named Port Royal. More than +this, and later than the Port Royal building, Frenchmen--Jesuits +that!--were trying a settlement on an island now called Mount Desert, +off a coast now named Maine. The Virginia Company-doubtless with some +reference back to the King and Privy Council--De La Warr, Gates, the +deputy governor, and Dale, the High Marshal, appear to have been of +one mind as to these French settlements. Up north there was still +Virginia--in effect, England! Hands off, therefore, all European peoples +speaking with an un-English tongue! + +Now it happened about this time that Captain Samuel Argall received a +commission "to go fishing," and that he fished off that coast that is +now the coast of Maine, and brought his ship to anchor by Mount Desert. +Argall, a swift and high-handed person, fished on dry land. He swept +into his net the Jesuits on Mount Desert, set half of them in an open +boat to meet with what ship they might, and brought the other half +captive to Jamestown. Later, he appeared before Port Royal, where +he burned the cabins, slew the cattle, and drove into the forest the +settler Frenchmen. But Port Royal and the land about it called Acadia, +though much hurt, survived Argall's fishing.* + + * Argall, on his fishing trip, has been credited with + attacking not only the French in Acadia but the Dutch + traders on Manhattan. But there are grounds for doubt if he + did the latter. + +There was also on Virginia in these days the shadow of Spain. In 1611 +the English had found upon the beach near Point Comfort three Spaniards +from a Spanish caravel which, as the Englishmen had learned with alarm, +"was fitted with a shallop necessarie and propper to discover freshetts, +rivers, and creekes." They took the three prisoner and applied for +instructions to Dale, who held them to be spies and clapped them into +prison at Point Comfort. + +That Dale's suspicions were correct, is proved by a letter which the +King of Spain wrote in cipher to the Spanish Ambassador in London +ordering him to confer with the King as to the liberty of three +prisoners whom Englishmen in Virginia have captured. The three are "the +Alcayde Don Diego de Molino, Ensign Marco Antonio Perez, and Francisco +Lembri an English pilot, who by my orders went to reconnoitre those +ports." Small wonder that Dale was apprehensive. "What may be the +daunger of this unto us," he wrote home, "who are here so few, so weake, +and unfortified,... I refer me to your owne honorable knowledg." + +Months pass, and the English Ambassador to Spain writes from Madrid that +he "is not hasty to advertise anything upon bare rumours, which hath +made me hitherto forbeare to write what I had generally heard of their +intents against Virginia, but now I have been... advertised that without +question they will speedily attempt against our plantation there. And +that it is a thing resolved of, that ye King of Spain must run +any hazard with England rather than permit ye English to settle +there....Whatsoever is attempted, I conceive will be from ye Havana." + +Rumors fly back and forth. The next year 1613--the Ambassador writes +from Madrid: "They have latelie had severall Consultations about our +Plantation in Virginia. The resolution is--That it must be removed, but +they thinke it fitt to suspend the execution of it,... for that they are +in hope that it will fall of itselfe." + +The Spanish hope seemed, at this time, not at all without foundation. +Members of the Virginia Company had formed the Somers Islands Company +named for Somers the Admiral--and had planted a small colony in Bermuda +where the Sea Adventure had been wrecked. Here were fair, fertile +islands without Indians, and without the diseases that seemed to rise, +no man knew how, from the marshes along those lower reaches of the +great river James in Virginia. Young though it was, the new plantation +"prospereth better than that of Virginia, and giveth greater +incouragement to prosecute yt." In England there arose, from some +concerned, the cry to Give up Virginia that has proved a project awry! +As Gates was once about to remove thence every living man, so truly +they might "now removed to these more hopeful islands!" The Spanish +Ambassador is found writing to the Spanish King: "Thus they are here +discouraged... on account of the heavy expenses they have incurred, and +the disappointment, that there is no passage from there to the South +Sea... nor mines of gold or silver." This, be it noted, was before +tobacco was discovered to be an economic treasure. + +The Elizabeth from London reached Virginia in May, 1613. It brought to +the colony news of Bermuda, and incidentally of that new notion brewing +in the mind of some of the Company. When the Elizabeth, after a month in +Virginia, turned homeward, she carried a vigorous letter from Dale, the +High Marshal, to Sir Thomas Smith, Treasurer of the Company. + +"Let me tell you all at home [writes Dale] this one thing, and I pray +remember it; if you give over this country and loose it, you, with your +wisdoms, will leap such a gudgeon as our state hath not done the like +since they lost the Kingdom of France; be not gulled with the clamorous +report of base people; believe Caleb and Joshua; if the glory of God +have no power with them and the conversion of these poor infidels, yet +let the rich mammons' desire egge them on to inhabit these countries. +I protest to you, by the faith of an honest man, the more I range the +country the more I admire it. I have seen the best countries in Europe; +I protest to you, before the Living God, put them all together, this +country will be equivalent unto them if it be inhabited with good +people." + +If ever Mother England seriously thought of moving Virginia into +Bermuda, the idea was now given over. Spain, suspending the sword until +Virginia "will fall of itselfe," saw that sword rust away. + +Five years in all Dale ruled Virginia. Then, personal and family matters +calling, he sailed away home to England, to return no more. Soon his +star "having shined in the Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." At +the helm in Virginia he left George Yeardley, an honest, able man. But +in England, what was known as the "court party" in the Company managed +to have chosen instead for De La Warr's deputy governor, Captain Samuel +Argall. It proved an unfortunate choice. Argall, a capable and daring +buccaneer, fastened on Virginia as on a Spanish galleon. For a year +he ruled in his own interest, plundering and terrorizing. At last the +outcry against him grew so loud that it had to be listened to across the +Atlantic. Lord De La Warr was sent out in person to deal with matters +but died on the way; and Captain Yeardley, now knighted and appointed +Governor, was instructed to proceed against the incorrigible Argall. But +Argall had already departed to face his accusers in England. + + + +CHAPTER VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA + +The choice of Sir Edwyn Sandys as Treasurer of the Virginia Company in +1619 marks a turning-point in the history of both Company and colony. At +a moment when James I was aiming at absolute monarchy and was menacing +Parliament, Sandys and his party--the Liberals of the day--turned the +sessions of the Company into a parliament where momentous questions of +state and colonial policy were freely debated. The liberal spirit of +Sandys cast a beam of light, too, across the Atlantic. When Governor +Yeardley stepped ashore at Jamestown in mid-April, he brought with him, +as the first fruits of the new regime, no less a boon than the grant of +a representative assembly. + +There were to be in Virginia, subject to the Company, subject in its +turn to the Crown, two "Supreme Councils," one of which was to consist +of the Governor and his councilors chosen by the Company in England. +The other was to be elected by the colonists, two representatives or +burgesses from each distinct settlement. Council and House of Burgesses +were to constitute the upper and lower houses of the General Assembly. +The whole had power to legislate upon Virginian affairs within the +bounds of the colony, but the Governor in Virginia and the Company in +England must approve its acts. + +A mighty hope in small was here! Hedged about with provisions, curtailed +and limited, here nevertheless was an acorn out of which, by natural +growth and some mutation, was to come popular government wide and deep. +The planting of this small seed of freedom here, in 1619, upon the banks +of the James in Virginia, is an event of prime importance. + +On the 30th of July, 1619, there was convened in the log church in +Jamestown the first true Parliament or Legislative Assembly in America. +Twenty-two burgesses sat, hat on head, in the body of the church, with +the Governor and the Council in the best seats. Master John Pory, the +speaker, faced the Assembly; clerk and sergeant-at-arms were at hand; +Master Buck, the Jamestown minister, made the solemn opening prayer. +The political divisions of this Virginia were Cities, Plantations, +and Hundreds, the English population numbering now at least a thousand +souls. Boroughs sending burgesses were James City, Charles City, the +City of Henricus, Kecoughtan, Smith's Hundred, Flowerdieu Hundred, +Martin's Hundred, Martin Brandon, Ward's Plantation, Lawne's Plantation, +and Argall's Gift. This first Assembly attended to Indian questions, +agriculture, and religion. + +Most notable is this year 1619, a year wrought of gold and iron. John +Rolfe, back in Virginia, though without his Indian princess, who now +lies in English earth, jots down and makes no comment upon what he has +written: "About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that +sold us twenty Negars." + +No European state of that day, few individuals, disapproved of the +African slave trade. That dark continent made a general hunting-ground. +England, Spain, France, the Netherlands, captured, bought, and sold +slaves. Englishmen in Virginia bought without qualm, as Englishmen +in England bought without qualm. The cargo of the Dutch ship was a +commonplace. The only novelty was that it was the first shipload of +Africans brought to English-America. Here, by the same waters, were the +beginnings of popular government and the young upas-tree of slavery. A +contradiction in terms was set to resolve itself, a riddle for unborn +generations of Americans. + +Presently there happened another importation. Virginia, under the new +management, had strongly revived. Ships bringing colonists were coming +in; hamlets were building; fields were being planted; up and down were +to be found churches; a college at Henricus was projected so that Indian +children might be taught and converted from "heathennesse." Yet was the +population almost wholly a doublet--and--breeches--wearing population. +The children for whom the school was building were Indian children. +The men sailing to Virginia dreamed of a few years there and gathered +wealth, and then return to England. + +Apparently it was the new Treasurer, Sir Edwyn Sandys, who first grasped +the essential principle of successful colonization: Virginia must be +HOME to those we send! Wife and children made home. Sandys gathered +ninety women, poor maidens and widows, "young, handsome, and chaste," +who were willing to emigrate and in Virginia become wives of settlers. +They sailed; their passage money was paid by the men of their choice; +they married--and home life began in Virginia. In due course of time +appeared fair-haired children, blue or gray of eye, with all England +behind them, yet native-born, Virginians from the cradle. + +Colonists in number sailed now from England. Most ranks of society +and most professions were represented. Many brought education, means, +independent position. Other honest men, chiefly young men with little +in the purse, came over under indentures, bound for a specified term of +years to settlers of larger means. These indentured men are numerous; +and when they have worked out their indebtedness they will take up land +of their own. + +An old suggestion of Dale's now for the first time bore fruit. Over the +protest of the "country party" in the Company, there began to be sent +each year out of the King's gaols a number, though not at any time a +large number, of men under conviction for various crimes. This practice +continued, or at intervals was resumed, for years, but its consequences +were not so dire, perhaps, as we might imagine. The penal laws were +execrably brutal, and in the drag-net of the law might be found many +merely unfortunate, many perhaps finer than the law. + +Virginia thus was founded and established. An English people moved +through her forests, crossed in boats her shining waters, trod the +lanes of hamlets builded of wood but after English fashions. +Climate, surrounding nature, differed from old England, and these and +circumstance would work for variation. But the stock was Middlesex, +Surrey, Devon, and all the other shires of England. Scotchmen came also, +Welshmen, and, perhaps as early as this, a few Irish. And there were De +La Warr's handful of Poles and Germans, and several French vinedressers. + +Political and economic life was taking form. That huge, luxurious, +thick-leafed, yellow-flowered crop, alike comforting and extravagant, +that tobacco that was in much to mould manners and customs and ways +of looking at things, was beginning to grow abundantly. In 1620, forty +thousand pounds of tobacco went from Virginia to England; two years +later went sixty thousand pounds. The best sold at two shillings the +pound, the inferior for eighteen pence. The Virginians dropped all +thought of sassafras and clapboard. Tobacco only had any flavor of +Golconda. + +At this time the rich soil, composed of layer on layer of the decay of +forests that had lived from old time, was incredibly fertile. As fast as +trees could be felled and dragged away, in went the tobacco. Fields must +have laborers, nor did these need to be especially intelligent. Bring in +indentured men to work. Presently dream that ships, English as well as +Dutch, might oftener load in Africa and sell in Virginia, to furnish the +dark fields with dark workers! In Dale's time had begun the making over +of land in fee simple; in Yeardley's time every "ancient" colonist--that +is every man who had come to Virginia before 1616--was given a goodly +number of acres subject to a quit-rent. Men of means and influence +obtained great holdings; ownership, rental, sale, and purchase of the +land began in Virginia much as in older times it had begun in England. +Only here, in America, where it seemed that the land could never be +exhausted, individual holdings were often of great acreage. Thus arose +the Virginia Planter. + +In Yeardley's time John Berkeley established at Falling Creek the first +iron works ever set up in English-America. There were by this time in +Virginia, glass works, a windmill, iron works. To till the soil remained +the chief industry, but the tobacco culture grew until it overshadowed +the maize and wheat, the pease and beans. There were cattle and swine, +not a few horses, poultry, pigeons, and peacocks. + +In 1621 Yeardley, desiring to be relieved, was succeeded by Sir Francis +Wyatt. In October the new Governor came from England in the George, and +with him a goodly company. Among others is found George Sandys, brother +of Sir Edwyn. This gentleman and scholar, beneath Virginia skies +and with Virginia trees and blossoms about him, translated the +"Metamorphoses" of Ovid and the First Book of the "Aeneid", both of +which were published in London in 1626. He stands as the first purely +literary man of the English New World. But vigorous enough literature, +though the writers thereof regarded it as information only, had, from +the first years, emanated from Virginia. Smith's "True Relation", +George Percy's "Discourse", Strachey's "True Repertory of the Wracke +and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates", and his "Historie of Travaile +into Virginia Brittannia", Hamor's "True Discourse", Whitaker's "Good +News"--other letters and reports--had already flowered, all with +something of the strength and fragrance of Elizabethan and early +Jacobean work. + +For some years there had seemed peace with the Indians. Doubtless +members of the one race may have marauded, and members of the other +showed themselves highhanded, impatient, and unjust, but the majority +on each side appeared to have settled into a kind of amity. Indians came +singly or in parties from their villages to the white men's settlements, +where they traded corn and venison and what not for the magic things +the white man owned. A number had obtained the white man's firearms, +unwisely sold or given. The red seemed reconciled to the white's +presence in the land; the Indian village and the Indian tribal economy +rested beside the English settlement, church, and laws. Doubtless a +fragment of the population of England and a fragment of the English in +Virginia saw in a pearly dream the red man baptized, clothed, become +Christian and English. At the least, it seemed that friendliness and +peace might continue. + +In the spring of 1622 a concerted Indian attack and massacre fell like +a bolt from the blue. Up and down the James and upon the Chesapeake, +everywhere on the same day, Indians, bursting from the dark forest that +was so close behind every cluster of log houses, attacked the colonists. +Three hundred and forty-seven English men, women, and children were +slain. But Jamestown and the plantations in its neighborhood were warned +in time. The English rallied, gathered force, turned upon and beat back +to the forest the Indian, who was now and for a long time to come their +open foe. + +There followed upon this horror not a day or a month but years of +organized retaliation and systematic harrying. In the end the great +majority of the Indians either fell or were pushed back toward the upper +Pamunkey, the Rappahannock, the Potomac, and westward upon the great +shelf or terrace of the earth that climbed to the fabled mountains. And +with this westward move there passed away that old vision of wholesale +Christianizing. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. ROYAL GOVERNMENT + +In November, 1620, there sailed into a quiet harbor on the coast of what +is now Massachusetts a ship named the Mayflower, having on board one +hundred and two English Non-conformists, men and women and with them +a few children. These latest colonists held a patent from the Virginia +Company and have left in writing a statement of their object: "We... +having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian +faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first +colony in the northern parts of Virginia--". The mental reservation is, +of course, "where perchance we may serve God as we will!" In England +there obtained in some quarters a suspicion that "they meant to make a +free, popular State there." Free--Popular--Public Good! These are words +that began, in the second quarter of the seventeenth century, to shine +and ring. King and people had reached the verge of a great struggle. The +Virginia Company was divided, as were other groups, into factions. The +court party and the country party found themselves distinctly opposed. +The great, crowded meetings of the Company Sessions rang with +their divisions upon policies small and large. Words and phrases, +comprehensive, sonorous, heavy with the future, rose and rolled beneath +the roof of their great hall. There were heard amid warm discussion: +Kingdom and Colony--Spain--Netherlands--France--Church and +State--Papists and Schismatics--Duties, Tithes, Excise Petitions of +Grievances--Representation--Right of Assembly. Several years earlier +the King had cried, "Choose the Devil, but not Sir Edwyn Sandys!" Now +he declared the Company "just a seminary to a seditious parliament!" All +London resounded with the clash of parties and opinions.* "Last week +the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cavendish fell so foul at a Virginia... +court that the lie passed and repassed.... The factions... are grown so +violent that Guelfs and Ghibellines were not more animated one against +another!" + + * In his work on "Joint-stock Companion", vol.II, pp. 266 + ff., W. R. Scott traces the history of these acute + dissensions in the Virginia Company and draws conclusions + distinctly unfavorable to the management of Sandys and his + party.--Editor. + +Believing that the Company's sessions foreshadowed a "seditious +parliament," James Stuart set himself with obstinacy and some cunning +to the Company's undoing. The court party gave the King aid, and +circumstances favored the attempt. Captain Nathaniel Butler, who had +once been Governor of the Somers Islands and had now returned to England +by way of Virginia, published in London "The Unmasked Face of Our Colony +in Virginia", containing a savage attack upon every item of Virginian +administration. + +The King's Privy Council summoned the Company, or rather the "country" +party, to answer these and other allegations. Southampton, Sandys, and +Ferrar answered with strength and cogency. But the tide was running +against them. James appointed commissioners to search out what was wrong +with Virginia. Certain men were shipped to Virginia to get evidence +there, as well as support from the Virginia Assembly. In this attempt +they signally failed. Then to England came a Virginia member of the +Virginia Council, with long letters to King and Privy Council: the +Sandys-Southampton administration had done more than well for Virginia. +The letters were letters of appeal. The colony hoped that "the Governors +sent over might not have absolute authority, but might be restrained +to the consent of the Council.... But above all they made it their most +humble request that they might still retain the liberty of their +General Assemblies; than which nothing could more conduce to the publick +Satisfaction and publick Liberty." + +In London another paper, drawn by Cavendish, was given to King and Privy +Council. It answered many accusations, and among others the statement +that "the Government of the companies as it then stood was democratical +and tumultuous, and ought therefore to be altered, and reduced into the +Hands of a few." It is of interest to hear these men speak, in the year +1623, in an England that was close to absolute monarchy, to a King who +with all his house stood out for personal rule. "However, they owned +that, according to his Majesty's Institution, their Government had some +Show of a democratical Form; which was nevertheless, in that Case, the +most just and profitable, and most conducive to the Ends and Effects +aimed at thereby.... Lastly, they observed that the opposite Faction +cried out loudly against Democracy, and yet called for Oligarchy; which +would, as they conceived, make the Government neither of better Form, +nor more monarchical." + +But the dissolution of the Virginia Company was at hand. In October, +1623, the Privy Council stated that the King had "taken into his +princely Consideration the distressed State of the Colony of Virginia, +occasioned, as it seemed, by the Ill Government of the Company." The +remedy for the ill-management lay in the reduction of the Government +into fewer hands. His Majesty had resolved therefore upon the withdrawal +of the Company's charter and the substitution, "with due regard for +continuing and preserving the Interest of all Adventurers and private +persons whatsoever," of a new order of things. The new order proved, on +examination, to be the old order of rule by the Crown. Would the Company +surrender the old charter and accept a new one so modeled? + +The Company, through the country party, strove to gain time. They met +with a succession of arbitrary measures and were finally forced to a +decision. They would not surrender their charter. Then a writ of +quo warranto was issued; trial before the King's Bench followed; and +judgment was rendered against the Company in the spring term of 1624. +Thus with clangor fell the famous Virginia Company. + +That was one year. The March of the next year James Stuart, King of +England, died. That young Henry who was Prince of Wales when the Susan +Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery sailed past a cape and named +it for him Cape Henry, also had died. His younger brother Charles, for +whom was named that other and opposite cape, now ascended the throne as +King Charles the First of England. + +In Virginia no more General Assemblies are held for four years. +King Charles embarks upon "personal rule." Sir Francis Wyatt, a good +Governor, is retained by commission and a Council is appointed by +the King. No longer are affairs to be conducted after a fashion +"democratical and tumultuous." Orders are transmitted from England; +the Governor, assisted by the Council, will take into cognizance purely +local needs; and when he sees some occasion he will issue a proclamation. + +Wyatt, recalled finally to England; George Yeardley again, who died in +a year's time; Francis West, that brother of Lord De La Warr and an +ancient planter--these in quick succession sit in the Governor's chair. +Following them John Pott, doctor of medicine, has his short term. +Then the King sends out Sir John Harvey, avaricious and arbitrary, +"so haughty and furious to the Council and the best gentlemen of the +country," says Beverley, "that his tyranny grew at last insupportable." + +The Company previously, and now the King, had urged upon the Virginians +a diversified industry and agriculture. But Englishmen in Virginia +had the familiar emigrant idea of making their fortunes. They had left +England; they had taken their lives in their hands; they had suffered +fevers, Indian attacks, homesickness, deprivation. They had come to +Virginia to get rich. Now clapboards and sassafras, pitch, tar, and pine +trees for masts, were making no fortune for Virginia shippers. How could +they, these few folk far off in America, compete in products of the +forest with northern Europe? As to mines of gold and silver, that first +rich vision had proved a disheartening mirage. "They have great hopes +that the mountains are very rich, from the discovery of a silver mine +made nineteen years ago, at a place about four days' journey from the +falls of James river; but they have not the means of transporting the +ore." So, dissatisfied with some means of livelihood and disappointed in +others, the Virginians turned to tobacco. + +Every year each planter grew more tobacco; every year more ships were +laden. In 1628 more than five hundred thousand pounds were sent to +England, for to England it must go, and not elsewhere. There it must +struggle with the best Spanish, for a long time valued above the best +Virginian. Finally, however, James and after him Charles, agreed to +exclude the Spanish. Virginia and the Somers Islands alone might import +tobacco into England. But offsetting this, customs went up ruinously; a +great lump sum must go annually to the King; the leaf must enter only +at the port of London; so forth and so on. Finally Charles put forth his +proposal to monopolize the industry, giving Virginia tobacco the English +market but limiting its production to the amount which the Government +could sell advantageously. Such a policy required cooperation from the +colonists. The King therefore ordered the Governor to grant a Virginia +Assembly, which in turn should dutifully enter into partnership with +him--upon his terms. So the Virginia Assembly thus came back into +history. It made a "Humble Answere" in which, for all its humility, the +King's proposal was declined. The idea of the royal monopoly faded out, +and Virginia continued on its own way. + +The General Assembly, having once met, seems of its own motion to have +continued meeting. The next year we find it in session at Jamestown, and +resolving "that we should go three severall marches upon the Indians, at +three severall times of the yeare," and also "that there be an especiall +care taken by all commanders and others that the people doe repaire to +their churches on the Saboth day, and to see that the penalty of one +pound of tobacco for every time of absence, and 50 pounds for every +month's absence... be levyed, and the delinquents to pay the same." +About this time we read: "Dr. John Pott, late Governor, indicted, +arraigned, and found guilty of stealing cattle, 13 jurors, 3 whereof +councellors. This day wholly spent in pleading; next day, in unnecessary +disputation." + +These were moving times in the little colony whose population may by now +have been five thousand. Harvey, the Governor, was rapacious; the King +at home, autocratic. Meanwhile, signs of change and of unrest were not +wanting in Europe. England was hastening toward revolution; in Germany +the Thirty Years' War was in mid-career; France and Italy were racked +by strife; over the world the peoples groaned under the strain +of oppression. In science, too, there was promise of revolution. +Harvey--not that Governor Harvey of Virginia, but a greater in England +was writing upon the circulation of the blood. Galileo brooded over +ideas of the movement of the earth; Kepler, over celestial harmonies and +solar rule. Descartes was laying the foundation of a new philosophy. + +In the meantime, far across the Atlantic, bands of Virginians went out +against the Indians--who might, or might not, God knows! have put in a +claim to be considered among the oppressed peoples. In Virginia the +fat, black, tobacco-fields, steaming under a sun like the sun of Spain, +called for and got more labor and still more labor. Every little sailing +ship brought white workmen--called servants--consigned, indentured, +apprenticed to many-acred planters. These, in return for their passage +money, must serve Laban for a term of years, but then would receive +Rachel, or at least Leah, in the shape of freedom and a small holding +and provision with which to begin again their individual life. If they +were ambitious and energetic they might presently be able, in turn, to +import labor for their own acres. As yet, in Virginia, there were few +African slaves--not more perhaps than a couple of hundred. But whenever +ships brought them they were readily purchased. + +In Virginia, as everywhere in time of change, there arose anomalies. +Side by side persisted a romantic devotion to the King and a +determination to have popular assemblies; a great sense of the rights +of the white individual together with African slavery; a practical, +easy-going, debonair naturalism side by side with an Established Church +penalizing alike Papist, Puritan, and atheist. Even so early as this, +the social tone was set that was to hold for many and many a year. The +suave climate was somehow to foster alike a sense of caste and good +neighborliness--class distinctions and republican ideas. + +The "towns" were of the fewest and rudest--little more than small +palisaded hamlets, built of frame or log, poised near the water of the +river James. The genius of the land was for the plantation rather than +the town. The fair and large brick or frame planter's house of a later +time had not yet risen, but the system was well inaugurated that set a +main or "big" house upon some fair site, with cabins clustered near it, +and all surrounded, save on the river front, with far-flung acres, some +planted with grain and the rest with tobacco. Up and down the river +these estates were strung together by the rudest roads, mere tracks +through field and wood. The cart was as yet the sole wheeled vehicle. +But the Virginia planter--a horseman in England--brought over horses, +bred horses, and early placed horsemanship in the catalogue of the +necessary colonial virtues. At this point, however, in a land of great +and lesser rivers, with a network of creeks, the boat provided the chief +means of communication. Behind all, enveloping all, still spread the +illimitable forest, the haunt of Indians and innumerable game. + +Virginians were already preparing for an expansion to the north. There +was a man in Virginia named William Claiborne. This individual--able, +determined, self-reliant, energetic--had come in as a young man, with +the title of surveyor-general for the Company, in the ship that brought +Sir Francis Wyatt, just before the massacre of 1622. He had prospered +and was now Secretary of the Province. He held lands, and was endowed +with a bold, adventurous temper and a genius for business. In a few +years he had established widespread trading relations with the Indians. +He and the men whom he employed penetrated to the upper shores of +Chesapeake, into the forest bordering Potomac and Susquehanna: Knives +and hatchets, beads, trinkets, and colored cloth were changed for rich +furs and various articles that the Indians could furnish. The skins thus +gathered Claiborne shipped to London merchants, and was like to grow +wealthy from what his trading brought. + +Looking upon the future and contemplating barter on a princely scale, +he set to work and obtained exhaustive licenses from the immediate +Virginian authorities, and at last from the King himself. Under these +grants, Claiborne began to provide settlements for his numerous traders. +Far up the Chesapeake, a hundred miles or so from Point Comfort, he +found an island that he liked, and named it Kent Island. Here for his +men he built cabins with gardens around them, a mill and a church. +He was far from the river James and the mass of his fellows, but he +esteemed himself to be in Virginia and upon his own land. What came of +Claiborne's enterprise the sequel has to show. + + + +CHAPTER IX. MARYLAND + +There now enters upon the scene in Virginia a man of middle age, not +without experience in planting colonies, by name George Calvert, first +Lord Baltimore. Of Flemish ancestry, born in Yorkshire, scholar at +Oxford, traveler, clerk of the Privy Council, a Secretary of State under +James, member of the House of Commons, member of the Virginia Company, +he knew many of the ramifications of life. A man of worth and weight, he +was placed by temperament and education upon the side of the court party +and the Crown in the growing contest over rights. About the year 1625, +under what influence is not known, he had openly professed the Roman +Catholic faith--and that took courage in the seventeenth century, in +England! + +Some years before, Calvert had obtained from the Crown a grant of a part +of Newfoundland, had named it Avalon, and had built great hopes upon its +settlement. But the northern winter had worked against him. He knew, for +he had resided there himself with his family in that harsh clime. "From +the middle of October to the middle of May there is a sad fare of winter +on all this land." He is writing to King Charles, and he goes on to +say "I have had strong temptations to leave all proceedings in +plantations... but my inclination carrying me naturally to these kind of +works... I am determined to commit this place to fishermen that are able +to encounter storms and hard weather, and to remove myself with some +forty persons to your Majesty's dominion of Virginia where, if your +Majesty will please to grant me a precinct of land... I shall endeavour +to the utmost of my power, to deserve it." + +With his immediate following he thereupon does sail far southward. In +October, 1629, he comes in between the capes, past Point Comfort and so +up to Jamestown--to the embarrassment of that capital, as will soon be +evident. + +Here in Church of England Virginia was a "popish recusant!" Here was an +old "court party" man, one of James's commissioners, a person of rank +and prestige, known, for all his recusancy, to be in favor with +the present King. Here was the Proprietary of Avalon, guessed to be +dissatisfied with his chilly holding, on the scent perhaps of balmier, +easier things! + +The Assembly was in session when Lord Baltimore came to Jamestown. +All arrivers in Virginia must take the oath of supremacy. The Assembly +proposed this to the visitor who, as Roman Catholic, could not take it, +and said as much, but offered his own declaration of friendliness to +the powers that were. This was declined. Debate followed, ending with +a request from the Assembly that the visitor depart from Virginia. Some +harshness of speech ensued, but hospitality and the amenities fairly +saved the situation. One Thomas Tindall was pilloried for "giving my +lord Baltimore the lie and threatening to knock him down." Baltimore +thereupon set sail, but not, perhaps, until he had gained that knowledge +of conditions which he desired. + +In England he found the King willing to make him a large grant, with no +less powers than had clothed him in Avalon. Territory should be taken +from the old Virginia; it must be of unsettled land--Indians of course +not counting. Baltimore first thought of the stretch south of the river +James between Virginia and Spanish Florida--a fair land of woods and +streams, of good harbors, and summer weather. But suddenly William +Claiborne was found to be in London, sent there by the Virginians, with +representations in his pocket. Virginia was already settled and had the +intention herself of expanding to the south. + +Baltimore, the King, and the Privy Council weighed the matter. Westward, +the blue mountains closed the prospect. Was the South Sea just beyond +their sunset slopes, or was it much farther away, over unknown lands, +than the first adventurers had guessed? Either way, too rugged hardship +marked the west! East rolled the ocean. North, then? It were well to +step in before those Hollanders about the mouth of the Hudson should +cast nets to the south. Baltimore accordingly asked for a grant north of +the Potomac. + +He received a huge territory, stretching over what is now Maryland, +Delaware, and a part of Pennsylvania. The Potomac, from source to mouth, +with a line across Chesapeake and the Eastern Shore to the ocean formed +his southern frontier; his northern was the fortieth parallel, from the +ocean across country to the due point above the springs of the +Potomac. Over this great expanse he became "true and absolute lord and +proprietary," holding fealty to England, but otherwise at liberty to +rule in his own domain with every power of feudal duke or prince. The +King had his allegiance, likewise a fifth part of gold or silver found +within his lands. All persons going to dwell in his palatinate were to +have "rights and liberties of Englishmen." But, this aside, he was lord +paramount. The new country received the name Terra Mariae--Maryland--for +Henrietta Maria, then Queen of England. + +Here was a new land and a Lord Proprietor with kingly powers. Virginians +seated on the James promptly petitioned King Charles not to do them +wrong by so dividing their portion of the earth. But King and Privy +Council answered only that Virginia and Maryland must "assist each +other on all occasions as becometh fellow-subjects." William Claiborne, +indeed, continued with a determined voice to cry out that lands given +to Baltimore were not, as had been claimed, unsettled, seeing that he +himself had under patent a town on Kent Island and another at the mouth +of the Susquehanna. + +Baltimore was a reflective man, a dreamer in the good sense of the term, +and religiously minded. At the height of seeming good fortune he could +write: + +"All things, my lord, in this world pass away.... They are but lent +us till God please to call for them back again, that we may not esteem +anything our own, or set our hearts upon anything but Him alone, who +only remains forever." Like his King, Baltimore could carry far his +prerogative and privilege, maintaining the while not a few degrees of +inner freedom. Like all men, here he was bound, and here he was free. + +Baltimore's desire was for "enlarging his Majesty's Empire," and at +the same time to provide in Maryland a refuge for his fellow Catholics. +These were now in England so disabled and limited that their status +might fairly be called that of a persecuted people. The mounting +Puritanism promised no improvement. The King himself had no fierce +antagonism to the old religion, but it was beginning to be seen that +Charles and Charles's realm were two different things. A haven should be +provided before the storm blackened further. Baltimore thus saw put into +his hands a high and holy opportunity, and made no doubt that it was +God-given. His charter, indeed, seemed to contemplate an established +church, for it gave to Baltimore the patronage of all churches and +chapels which were to be "consecrated according to the ecclesiastical +laws of our kingdom of England"; nevertheless, no interpretation of the +charter was to be made prejudicial to "God's holy and true Christian +religion." What was Christian and what was prejudicial was, fortunately +for him, left undefined. No obstacles were placed before a Catholic +emigration. + +Baltimore had this idea and perhaps a still wider one: a land--Mary's +land--where all Christians might foregather, brothers and sisters in +one home! Religious tolerance--practical separation of Church and +State--that was a broad idea for his age, a generous idea for a Roman +Catholic of a time not so far removed from the mediaeval. True, wherever +he went and whatever might be his own thought and feeling, he would +still have for overlord a Protestant sovereign, and the words of his +charter forbade him to make laws repugnant to the laws of England. But +Maryland was distant, and wise management might do much. Catholics, +Anglicans, Puritans, Dissidents, and Nonconformists of almost any +physiognomy, might come and be at home, unpunished for variations in +belief. + +Only the personal friendship of England's King and the tact and suave +sagacity of the Proprietary himself could have procured the signing of +this charter, since it was known--as it was to all who cared to busy +themselves with the matter--that here was a Catholic meaning to take +other Catholics, together with other scarcely less abominable sectaries, +out of the reach of Recusancy Acts and religious pains and penalties, to +set them free in England-in-America; and, raising there a state on the +novel basis of free religion, perhaps to convert the heathen to all +manner of errors, and embark on mischiefs far too large for definition. +Taking things as they were in the world, remembering acts of the +Catholic Church in the not distant past, the ill-disposed might find +some color for the agitation which presently did arise. Baltimore was +known to be in correspondence with English Jesuits, and it soon appeared +that Jesuit priests were to accompany the first colonists. At that time +the Society of Jesus loomed large both politically and educationally. +Many may have thought that there threatened a Rome in America. But, +however that may have been, there was small chance for any successful +opposition to the charter, since Parliament had been dissolved by the +King, not to be summoned again for eleven years. The Privy Council was +subservient, and, as the Sovereign was his friend, Baltimore saw the +signing of the charter assured and began to gather together his first +colonists. Then, somewhat suddenly, in April, 1632, he sickened, and +died at the age of fifty-three. + +His son, Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, took up his father's +work. This young man, likewise able and sagacious, and at every step in +his father's confidence, could and did proceed even in detail according +to what had been planned. All his father's rights had descended to +him; in Maryland he was Proprietary with as ample power as ever a Count +Palatine had enjoyed. He took up the advantage and the burden. + +The father's idea had been to go with his colonists to Maryland, and +this it seems that the son also meant to do. But now, in London, there +deepened a clamor against such Catholic enterprise. Once he were away, +lips would be at the King's ear. And with England so restless, in a +turmoil of new thought, it might even arise that King and Privy Council +would find trouble in acting after their will, good though that might +be. The second Baltimore therefore remained in England to safeguard his +charter and his interests. + +The family of Baltimore was an able one. Cecil Calvert had two brothers, +Leonard and George, and these would go to Maryland in his place. Leonard +he made Governor and Lieutenant-general, and appointed him councilor. +Ships were made ready--the Ark of three hundred tons and the Dove of +fifty. The colonists went aboard at Gravesend, where these ships rode at +anchor. Of the company a great number were Protestants, willing to take +land, if their condition were bettered so, with Catholics. Difficulties +of many kinds kept them all long at the mouth of the Thames, but at +last, late in November, 1633, the Ark and the Dove set sail. Touching at +the Isle of Wight, they took aboard two Jesuit priests, Father White and +Father Altham, and a number of other colonists. Baltimore reported that +the expedition consisted of "two of my brothers with very near twenty +other gentlemen of very good fashion, and three hundred labouring men +well provided in all things." + +These ships, with the first Marylanders, went by the old West Indies sea +route. We find them resting at Barbados; then they swung to the north +and, in February, 1634, came to Point Comfort in Virginia. Here they +took supplies, being treated by Sir John Harvey (who had received +a letter from the King) with "courtesy and humanity." Without long +tarrying, for they were sick now for land of their own, they sailed on +up the great bay, the Chesapeake. + +Soon they reached the mouth of the Potomac--a river much greater than +any of them, save shipmasters and mariners, had ever seen--and into this +turned the Ark and the Dove. After a few leagues of sailing up the wide +stream, they came upon an islet covered with trees, leafless, for spring +had hardly broken. The ships dropped anchor; the boats were lowered; the +people went ashore. Here the Calverts claimed Maryland "for our Savior +and for our Sovereign Lord the King of England," and here they heard +Mass. St. Clement's they called the island. + +But it was too small for a home. The Ark was left at anchor, while +Leonard Calvert went exploring with the Dove. Up the Potomac some +distance he went, but at the last he wisely determined to choose for +their first town a site nearer the sea. The Dove turned and came back +to the Ark, and both sailed on down the stream from St. Clement's Isle. +Before long they came to the mouth of a tributary stream flowing in +from the north. The Dove, going forth again, entered this river, which +presently the party named the River St. George. Soon they came to a high +bank with trees tinged with the foliage of advancing spring. Here upon +this bank the English found an Indian village and a small Algonquin +group, in the course of extinction by their formidable Iroquois +neighbors, the giant Susquehannocks. The white men landed, bearing a +store of hatchets, gewgaws, and colored cloth. The first Lord Baltimore, +having had opportunity enough for observing savages, had probably handed +on to his sagacious sons his conclusions as to ways of dealing with the +natives of the forest. And the undeniable logic of events was at last +teaching the English how to colonize. Englishmen on Roanoke Island, +Englishmen on the banks of the James, Englishmen in that first New +England colony, had borne the weight of early inexperience and all the +catalogue of woes that follow ignorance. All these early colonists alike +had been quickly entangled in strife with the people whom they found in +the land. + + First they fell on their knees, + And then on the Aborigines. + +But by now much water had passed the mill. The thinking kind, the wiser +sort, might perceive more things than one, and among these the fact that +savages had a sense of justice and would even fight against injustice, +real or fancied. + +The Calverts, through their interpreter, conferred with the inhabitants +of this Indian village. Would they sell lands where the white men might +peaceably settle, under their given word to deal in friendly wise with +the red men? Many hatchets and axes and much cloth would be given in +return. + +To a sylvan people store of hatchets and axes had a value beyond many +fields of the boundless earth. The Dove appeared before them, too, at +the psychological moment. They had just discussed removing, bag and +baggage, from the proximity of the Iroquois. In the end, these Indians +sold to the English their village huts, their cleared and planted +fields, and miles of surrounding forest. Moreover they stayed long +enough in friendship with the newcomers to teach them many things of +value. Then they departed, leaving with the English a clear title to as +much land as they could handle, at least for some time to come. Later, +with other Indians, as with these, the Calverts pursued a conciliatory +policy. They were aided by the fact that the Susquehannocks to the +north, who might have given trouble, were involved in war with yet more +northerly tribes, and could pay scant attention to the incoming white +men. But even so, the Calverts proved, as William Penn proved later, +that men may live at peace with men, honestly and honorably, even though +hue of skin and plane of development differ. + +Now the Ark joins the Dove in the River St. George. The pieces of +ordnance are fired; the colonists disembark; and on the 27th of March, +1634, the Indian village, now English, becomes St. Mary's. + +On the whole how advantageously are they placed! There is peace with +the Indians. Huts, lodges, are already built, fields already cleared +or planted. The site is high and healthful. They have at first few +dissensions among themselves. Nor are they entirely alone or isolated +in the New World. There is a New England to the north of them and a +Virginia to the south. From the one they get in the autumn salted fish, +from the other store of swine and cattle. Famine and pestilence are far +from them. They build a "fort" and perhaps a stockade, but there are +none of the stealthy deaths given by arrow and tomahawk in the north, +nor are there any of the Spanish alarms that terrified the south. From +the first they have with them women and children. They know that their +settlement is "home." Soon other ships and colonists follow the Ark and +the Dove to St. Mary's, and the history of this middle colony is well +begun. + +In Virginia, meantime, there was jealousy enough of the new colony, +taking as it did territory held to be Virginian and renaming it, not +for the old, independent, Protestant, virgin queen, but for a French, +Catholic, queen consort--even settling it with believers in the Mass +and bringing in Jesuits! It was, says a Jamestown settler, "accounted a +crime almost as heinous as treason to favour, nay to speak well of that +colony." Beside the Virginian folk as a whole, one man, in particular, +William Claiborne, nursed an individual grievance. He had it from +Governor Calvert that he might dwell on in Kent Island, trading from +there, but only under license from the Lord Proprietor and as an +inhabitant of Maryland, not of Virginia. Claiborne, with the Assembly +at Jamestown secretly on his side, resisted this interference with his +rights, and, as he continued to trade with a high hand, he soon fell +under suspicion of stirring up the Indians against the Marylanders. + +At the time, this quarrel rang loud through Maryland and Virginia, and +even echoed across the Atlantic. Leonard Calvert had a trading-boat of +Claiborne's seized in the Patuxent River. Thereupon Claiborne's men, +with the shallop Cockatrice, in retaliation attacked Maryland pinnaces +and lost both their lives and their boat. For several years Maryland and +Kent Island continued intermittently to make petty war on each other. +At last, in 1638, Calvert took the island by main force and hanged +for piracy a captain of Claiborne's. The Maryland Assembly brought the +trader under a Bill of Attainder; and a little later, in England, the +Lords Commissioners of Foreign Plantations formally awarded Kent Island +to the Lord Proprietor. Thus defeated, Claiborne, nursing his wrath, +moved down the bay to Virginia. + + + +CHAPTER X. CHURCH AND KINGDOM + +Virginia, all this time, with Maryland a thorn in her side, was +wrestling with an autocratic governor, John Harvey. This avaricious +tyrant sowed the wind until in 1635 he was like to reap the whirlwind. +Though he was the King's Governor and in good odor in England, where +rested the overpower to which Virginia must bow, yet in this year +Virginia blew upon her courage until it was glowing and laid rude hands +upon him. We read: "An Assembly to be called to receive complaints +against Sr. John Harvey, on the petition of many inhabitants, to meet +7th of May." But, before that month was come, the Council, seizing +opportunity, acted for the whole. Immediately below the entry above +quoted appears: "On the 28th of April, 1635, Sr. John Harvey thrust out +of his government, and Capt. John West acts as Governor till the King's +pleasure known."* + + * Hening's "Statutes" vol. I p. 223. + +So Virginia began her course as rebel against political evils! It is +of interest to note that Nicholas Martian, one of the men found active +against the Governor, was an ancestor of George Washington. + +Harvey, thrust out, took first ship for England, and there also sailed +commissioners from the Virginia Assembly with a declaration of wrongs +for the King's ear. But when they came to England, they found that the +King's ear was for the Governor whom he had given to the Virginians and +whom they, with audacious disobedience, had deposed. Back should go +Sir John Harvey, still governing Virginia; back without audience the +so-called commissioners, happy to escape a merited hanging! Again to +Jamestown sailed Harvey. In silence Virginia received him, and while he +remained Governor no Assembly sat. + +But having asserted his authority, the King in a few years' time was +willing to recall his unwelcome representative. So in 1639 Governor +Harvey vanishes from the scene, and in comes the well-liked Sir Francis +Wyatt as Governor for the second time. For two years he remains, and is +then superseded by Sir William Berkeley, a notable figure in Virginia +for many years to come. The population was now perhaps ten thousand, +both English born and Virginians born of English parents. A few hundred +negroes moved in the tobacco fields. More would be brought in and yet +more. And now above a million pounds of tobacco were going annually to +England. + +The century was predominantly one of inner and outer religious conflict. +What went on at home in England reechoed in Virginia. The new Governor +was a dyed-in-the-wool Cavalier, utterly stubborn for King and Church. +The Assemblies likewise leaned that way, as presumably did the mass +of the people. It was ordered in 1631: "That there bee a uniformitie +throughout this colony both in substance and circumstance to the cannons +and constitutions of the church of England as neere as may bee, and +that every person yeald readie obedience unto them uppon penaltie of the +paynes and forfeitures in that case appoynted." And, indeed, the pains +and forfeitures threatened were savage enough. + +Official Virginia, loyal to the Established Church, was jealous and +fearful of Papistry and looked askance at Puritanism. It frowned upon +these and upon agnosticisms, atheisms, pantheisms, religious doubts, and +alterations in judgment--upon anything, in short, that seemed to push a +finger against Church and Kingdom. Yet in this Virginia, governed by +Sir William Berkeley, a gentleman more cavalier than the Cavaliers, more +royalist than the King, more churchly than the Church, there lived not +a few Puritans and Dissidents, going on as best they might with +Established Church and fiery King's men. Certain parishes were +predominantly Puritan; certain ministers were known to have leanings +away from surplices and genuflections and to hold that Archbishop Laud +was some kin to the Pope. In 1642, to reenforce these ministers, came +three more from New England, actively averse to conformity. But Governor +and Council and the majority of the Burgesses will have none of that. +The Assembly of 1643 takes sharp action. + +For the preservation of the puritie of doctrine and unitie of the +church, IT IS ENACTED that all ministers whatsoever which shall reside +in the collony are to be conformable to the orders and constitutions +of the church of England, and the laws therein established, and not +otherwise to be admitted to teach or preach publickly or privately. +And that the Gov. and Counsel do take care that all nonconformists +upon notice of them shall be compelled to depart the collony with all +conveniencie. And so in consequence out of Virginia, to New England +where Independents were welcome, or to Maryland where any Christian +might dwell, went these tainted ministers. But there stayed behind +Puritan and nonconforming minds in the bodies of many parishioners. They +must hold their tongues, indeed, and outwardly conform--but they watched +lynx-eyed for their opportunity and a more favorable fortune. + +Having launched thunderbolts against schismatics of this sort, Berkeley, +himself active and powerful, with the Council almost wholly of his +party and the House of Burgesses dominantly so, turned his attention +to "popish recusants." Of these there were few or none dwelling in +Virginia. Let them then not attempt to come from Maryland! The rulers of +the colony legislated with vigor: papists may not hold any public place; +all statutes against them shall be duly executed; popish priests by +chance or intent arriving within the bounds of Virginia shall be given +five days' warning, and, if at the end of this time they are yet upon +Virginian soil, action shall be brought against them. Berkeley sweeps +with an impatient broom. + +The Kingdom is cared for not less than the Church in Virginia. Any +and all persons coming into the colony by land and by sea shall have +administered to them the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance. "Which if any +shall refuse to take," the commander of the fort at Point Comfort +shall "committ him or them to prison." Foreigners in birth and tongue, +foreigners in thought, must have found the place and time narrow indeed. + +On the eve of civil war there arose on the part of some in England a +project to revive and restore the old Virginia Company by procuring from +Charles, now deep in troubles of his own, a renewal of the old letters +patent and the transference of the direct government of the colony into +the hands of a reorganized and vast corporation. Virginia, which a score +of years before had defended the Company, now protested vigorously, and, +with regard to the long view of things, it may be thought wisely. The +project died a natural death. The petition sent from Virginia shows +plainly enough the pen of Berkeley. There are a multitude of reasons +why Virginia should not pass from King to Company, among which these +are worthy of note: "We may not admit of so unnatural a distance as a +Company will interpose between his sacred majesty and us his subjects +from whose immediate protection we have received so many royal favours +and gracious blessings. For, by such admissions, we shall degenerate +from the condition of our birth, being naturalized under a monarchical +government and not a popular and tumultuary government depending +upon the greatest number of votes of persons of several humours and +dispositions." + +When this paper reached England, it came to a country at civil war. The +Long Parliament was in session. Stafford had been beheaded, the Star +Chamber swept away, the Grand Remonstrance presented. On Edgehill +bloomed flowers that would soon be trampled by Rupert's cavalry. In +Virginia the Assembly took notice of these "unkind differences now +in England," and provided by tithing for the Governor's pension and +allowance, which were for the present suspended and endangered by the +troubles at home. That the forces banded against the Lord's anointed +would prove victorious must at this time have appeared preposterously +unlikely to the fiery Governor and the ultra-loyal Virginia whom he led. +The Puritans and Independents in Virginia--estimated a little earlier +at "a thousand strong" and now, for all the acts against them, probably +stronger yet--were to be found chiefly in the parishes of Isle of Wight +and Nansemond, but had representatives from the Falls to the Eastern +Shore. What these Virginians thought of the "unkind differences" does +not appear in the record, but probably there was thought enough and +secret hopes. + +In 1644, the year of Marston Moor, Virginia, too, saw battle and sudden +and bloody death. That Opechancanough who had succeeded Powhatan was +now one hundred years old, hardly able to walk or to see, dwelling +harmlessly in a village upon the upper Pamunkey. All the Indians were +broken and dispersed; serious danger was not to be thought of. Then, +of a sudden, the flame leaped again. There fell from the blue sky a +massacre directed against the outlying plantations. Three hundred men, +women, and children were killed by the Indians. With fury the white men +attacked in return. They sent bodies of horse into the untouched western +forests. They chased and slew without mercy. In 1646 Opechancanough, +brought a prisoner to Jamestown, ended his long tale of years by a shot +from one of his keepers. The Indians were beaten, and, lacking such +another leader, made no more organized and general attacks. But for long +years a kind of border warfare still went on. + +Even Maryland, tolerant and just as was the Calvert policy, did not +altogether escape Indian troubles. She had to contend with no such able +chief as Opechancanough, and she suffered no sweeping massacres. But +after the first idyllic year or so there set in a small, constant +friction. So fast did the Maryland colonists arrive that soon there was +pressure of population beyond those first purchased bounds. The more +thoughtful among the Indians may well have taken alarm lest their +villages and hunting-grounds might not endure these inroads. Ere long +the English in Maryland were placing "centinells" over fields where men +worked, and providing penalties for those who sold the savages firearms. +But at no time did young Maryland suffer the Indian woes that had vexed +young Virginia. + +Nor did Maryland escape the clash of interests which beset the +beginnings of representative assemblies in all proprietary provinces. +The second, like the first, Lord Baltimore, was a believer in kings and +aristocracies, in a natural division of human society into masters and +men. His effort was to plant intact in Maryland a feudal order. He would +be Palatine, the King his suzerain. In Maryland the great planters, in +effect his barons, should live upon estates, manorial in size and with +manorial rights. The laboring men--the impecunious adventurers whom +these greater adventurers brought out--would form a tenantry, the +Lord Proprietary's men's men. It is true that, according to charter, +provision was made for an Assembly. Here were to sit "freemen of the +province," that is to say, all white males who were not in the position +of indentured servants. But with the Proprietary, and not with the +Assembly, would rest primarily the lawmaking power. The Lord Proprietary +would propose legislation, and the freemen of the country would debate, +in a measure advise, represent, act as consultants, and finally confirm. +Baltimore was prepared to be a benevolent lord, wise, fatherly. + +In 1635 met the first Assembly, Leonard Calvert and his Council +sitting with the burgesses, and this gathering of freemen proceeded to +inaugurate legislation. There was passed a string of enactments which +presumably dealt with immediate wants at St. Mary's, and which, the +Assembly recognized, must have the Lord Proprietary's assent. A copy was +therefore sent by the first ship to leave. So long were the voyages and +so slow the procedure in England that it was 1637 before Baltimore's +veto upon the Assembly's laws reached Maryland. It would seem that +he did not disapprove so much of the laws themselves as of the bold +initiative of the Assembly, for he at once sent over twelve bills of +his own drafting. Leonard Calvert was instructed to bring all freemen +together in Assembly and present for their acceptance the substituted +legislation. + +Early in 1638 this Maryland Assembly met. The Governor put before it for +adoption the Proprietary's laws. The vote was taken. Governor and some +others were for, the remainder of the Assembly unanimously against, the +proposed legislation. There followed a year or two of struggle over this +question, but in the end the Proprietary in effect acknowledged defeat. +The colonists, through their Assembly, might thereafter propose laws +to meet their exigencies, and Governor Calvert, acting for his brother, +should approve or veto according to need. + +When civil war between King and Parliament broke out in England, +sentiment in Maryland as in Virginia inclined toward the King. But +that Puritan, Non-conformist, and republican element that was in +both colonies might be expected to gain if, at home in England, the +Parliamentary party gained. A Royal Governor or a Lord Proprietary's +Governor might alike be perplexed by the political turmoil in the mother +country. Leonard Calvert felt the need of first-hand consultation with +his brother. Leaving Giles Brent in his place, he sailed for England, +talked there with Baltimore himself, perplexed and filled with +foreboding, and returned to Maryland not greatly wiser than when he +went. + +Maryland was soon convulsed by disorders which in many ways reflected +the unsettled conditions in England. A London ship, commanded by Richard +Ingle, a Puritan and a staunch upholder of the cause of Parliament, +arrived before St. Mary's, where he gave great offense by his blatant +remarks about the King and Rupert, "that Prince Rogue." Though he was +promptly arrested on the charge of treason, he managed to escape and +soon left the loyal colony far astern. + +In the meantime Leonard Calvert had come back to Maryland, where he +found confusion and a growing heat and faction and side-taking of a +bitter sort. To add to the turmoil, William Claiborne, among whose +dominant traits was an inability to recognize defeat, was making +attempts upon Kent Island. Calvert was not long at St. Mary's ere Ingle +sailed in again with letters-of-marque from the Long Parliament. Ingle +and his men landed and quickly found out the Protestant moiety of +the colonists. There followed an actual insurrection, the Marylanders +joining with Ingle and much aided by Claiborne, who now retook Kent +Island. The insurgents then captured St. Mary's and forced the +Governor to flee to Virginia. For two years Ingle ruled and plundered, +sequestrating goods of the Proprietary's adherents, and deporting in +irons Jesuit priests. At the end of this time Calvert reappeared, and +behind him a troop gathered in Virginia. Now it was Ingle's turn to +flee. Regaining his ship, he made sail for England, and Maryland settled +down again to the ancient order. The Governor then reduced Kent Island. +Claiborne, again defeated, retired to Virginia, whence he sailed for +England. + +In 1647 Leonard Calvert died. Until the Proprietary's will should be +known, Thomas Greene acted as Governor. Over in England, Lord Baltimore +stood at the parting of the ways. The King's cause had a hopeless look. +Roundhead and Parliament were making way in a mighty tide. Baltimore was +marked for a royalist and a Catholic. If the tide rose farther, he might +lose Maryland. A sagacious mind, he proceeded to do all that he could, +short of denying his every belief, to placate his enemies. He appointed +as Governor of Maryland William Stone, a Puritan, and into the Council, +numbering five members, he put three Puritans. On the other hand the +interests of his Maryland Catholics must not be endangered. He required +of the new Governor not to molest any person "professing to believe +in Jesus Christ, and in particular any Roman Catholic." In this way he +thought that, right and left, he might provide against persecution. + +Under these complex influences the Maryland Assembly passed in 1649 an +Act concerning Religion. It reveals, upon the one hand, Christendom's +mercilessness toward the freethinker--in which mercilessness, whether +through conviction or policy, Baltimore acquiesced--and, on the other +hand, that aspiration toward friendship within the Christian fold which +is even yet hardly more than a pious wish, and which in the seventeenth +century could have been felt by very few. To Baltimore and the Assembly +of Maryland belongs, not the glory of inaugurating an era of wide +toleration for men and women of all beliefs or disbeliefs, whether +Christian or not, but the real though lesser glory of establishing +entire toleration among the divisions within the Christian circle +itself. According to the Act,* + +"Whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands +thereunto belonging, shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is curse +him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or +shall deny the holy Trinity,... or the Godhead of any of the said three +persons of the Trinity, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall use or +utter any reproachful speeches, words or language concerning the +said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shall be +punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her +lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires.... Whatsoever +person or persons shall from henceforth use or utter any reproachfull +words, or speeches, concerning the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of +our Saviour, or the holy Apostles or Evangelists, or any of them, shall +in such case for the first offence forfeit to the said Lord Proprietary +and his heires the sum of five pound sterling.... Whatsoever person +shall henceforth upon any occasion... declare, call, or denominate any +person or persons whatsoever inhabiting, residing, traffiqueing, trading +or comerceing within this Province, or within any of the Ports, Harbors, +Creeks or Havens to the same belonging, an heritick, Scismatick, +Idolator, puritan, Independant, Presbiterian, popish priest, Jesuite, +Jesuited papist, Lutheran, Calvenist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, +Barrowist, Roundhead, Separtist, or any other name or term in a +reproachful manner relating to matter of Religion, shall for every such +Offence forfeit... the sum of tenne shillings sterling.... + +"Whereas the inforceing of the conscience in matters of Religion +hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous Consequence in those +commonwealths where it hath been practised,... be it therefore also +by the Lord Proprietary with the advice and consent of this Assembly, +ordeyned and enacted... that no person or persons whatsoever within this +Province...professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth +bee any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect +of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof... nor anyway +compelled to the beleif or exercise of any other Religion against his or +her consent, soe as they be not unfaithfull to the Lord Proprietary or +molest or conspire against the civill Government..." + + * "Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General + Assembly", vol. I, pp. 244-247. + + + +CHAPTER XI. COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION + +On the 30th of January, 1649, before the palace of Whitehall, Charles +the First of England was beheaded. In Virginia the event fell with a +shock. Even those within the colony who were Cromwell's men rather than +Charles's men seem to have recoiled from this act. Presently, too, came +fleeing royalists from overseas, to add their passionate voices to those +of the royalists in Virginia. Many came, "nobility, clergy and gentry, +men of the first rate." A thousand are said to have arrived in the year +after the King's death. + +In October the Virginia Assembly met. Parliament men--and now these were +walking with head in the air--might regret the execution of the past +January, and yet be prepared to assert that with the fall of the kingdom +fell all powers and offices named and decreed by the hapless monarch. +What was a passionate royalist government doing in Virginia now that +England was a Commonwealth? The passionate government answered for +itself in acts passed by this Assembly. With swelling words, with a +tragic accent, it denounced the late happenings in England and all the +Roundhead wickedness that led up to them. It proclaimed loyalty to "his +sacred Majesty that now is"--that is, to Charles Stuart, afterwards +Charles the Second, then a refugee on the Continent. Finally it enacted +that any who defended the late proceedings, or in the least affected to +question "the undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty that now is to +the Collony of Virginia" should be held guilty of high treason; and +that "reporters and divulgers" of rumors tending to change of government +should be punished "even to severity." + +Berkeley's words may be detected in these acts of the Assembly. In no +great time the Cavalier Governor conferred with Colonel Henry Norwood, +one of the royalist refugees to Virginia. Norwood thereupon sailed away +upon a Dutch ship and came to Holland, where he found "his Majesty +that now is." Here he knelt, and invited that same Majesty to visit his +dominion of Virginia, and, if he liked it, there to rest, sovereign of +the Virginian people. But Charles still hoped to be sovereign in England +and would not cross the seas. He sent, however, to Sir William Berkeley +a renewal of his Governor's commission, and appointed Norwood Treasurer +of Virginia, and said, doubtless, many gay and pleasant things. + +In Virginia there continued to appear from England adherents of the +ancient regime. Men, women, and children came until to a considerable +degree the tone of society rang Cavalier. This immigration, now lighter, +now heavier, continued through a rather prolonged period. There came now +to Virginia families whose names are often met in the later history +of the land. Now Washingtons appear, with Randolphs, Carys, Skipwiths, +Brodnaxes, Tylers, Masons, Madisons, Monroes, and many more. These +persons are not without means; they bring with them servants; they are +in high favor with Governor and Council; they acquire large tracts +of virgin land; they bring in indentured labor; they purchase African +slaves; they cultivate tobacco. From being English country gentlemen +they turn easily to become Virginia planters. + +But the Virginia Assembly had thrown a gauntlet before the victorious +Commonwealth; and the Long Parliament now declared the colony to be +in contumacy, assembled and dispatched ships against her, and laid an +embargo upon trade with the rebellious daughter. In January of 1652 +English ships appeared off Point Comfort. Four Commissioners of the +Commonwealth were aboard, of whom that strong man Claiborne was one. +After issuing a proclamation to quiet the fears of the people, +the Commissioners made their way to Jamestown. Here was found the +indomitable Berkeley and his Council in a state of active preparation, +cannon trained. But, when all was said, the Commissioners had brought +wisely moderate terms: submit because submit they must, acknowledge the +Commonwealth, and, that done, rest unmolested! If resistance continued, +there were enough Parliament men in Virginia to make an army. Indentured +servants and slaves should receive freedom in exchange for support to +the Commonwealth. The ships would come up from Point Comfort, and a +determined war would be on. What Sir William Berkeley personally said +has not survived. But after consultation upon consultation Virginia +surrendered to the commonwealth. + +Berkeley stepped from the Governor's chair, retiring in wrath and +bitterness of heart to his house at Greenspring. In his place sat +Richard Bennett, one of the Commissioners. Claiborne was made Secretary. +King's men went out of office; Parliament men came in. But there was +no persecution. In the bland and wide Virginia air minds failed to come +into hard and frequent collision. For all the ferocities of the statute +books, acute suffering for difference of opinion, whether political or +religious, did not bulk large in the life of early Virginia. + +The Commissioners, after the reduction of Virginia, had a like part to +play with Maryland. At St. Mary's, as at Jamestown, they demanded and at +length received submission to the Commonwealth. There was here the less +trouble owing to Baltimore's foresight in appointing to the office +of Governor William Stone, whose opinions, political and religious, +accorded with those of revolutionary England. Yet the Governor could +not bring himself to forget his oath to Lord Baltimore and agree to the +demand of the Commissioners that he should administer the Government +in the name of "the Keepers of the Liberties of England." After some +hesitation the Commissioners decided to respect his scruples and allow +him to govern in the name of the Lord Proprietary, as he had solemnly +promised. + +In Virginia and in Maryland the Commonwealth and the Lord Protector +stand where stood the Kingdom and the King. Many are far better +satisfied than they were before; and the confirmed royalist consumes his +grumbling in his own circle. The old, exhausting quarrel seems laid +to rest. But within this wider peace breaks out suddenly an interior +strife. Virginia would, if she could, have back all her old northward +territory. In 1652 Bennett's Government goes so far as to petition +Parliament to unseat the Catholic Proprietary of Maryland and make whole +again the ancient Virginia. The hand of Claiborne, that remarkable and +persistent man, may be seen in this. + +In Maryland, Puritans and Independents were settled chiefly about +the rivers Severn and Patuxent and in a village called Providence, +afterwards Annapolis. These now saw their chance to throw off the +Proprietary's rule and to come directly under that of the Commonwealth. +So thinking, they put themselves into communication with Bennett and +Claiborne. In 1654 Stone charged the Commissioners with having promoted +"faction, sedition, and rebellion against the Lord Baltimore." The +charge was well founded. Claiborne and Bennett assumed that they were +yet Parliament Commissioners, empowered to bring "all plantations within +the Bay of Chesapeake to their due obedience to the Parliament and +Commonwealth of England." And they were indeed set against the Lord +Baltimore. Claiborne would head the Puritans of Providence; and a troop +should be raised in Virginia and march northward. The Commissioners +actually advanced upon St. Mary's, and with so superior a force that +Stone surrendered, and a Puritan Government was inaugurated. A Puritan +Assembly met, debarring any Catholics. Presently it passed an act +annulling the Proprietary's Act of Toleration. Professors of the +religion of Rome should "be restrained from the exercise thereof." +The hand of the law was to fall heavily upon "popery, prelacy, or +licentiousness of opinion." Thus was intolerance alive again in the only +land where she had seemed to die! + +In England now there was hardly a Parliament, but only the Lord +Protector, Oliver Cromwell. Content with Baltimore's recognition of the +Protectorate, Cromwell was not prepared to back, in their independent +action, the Commissioners of that now dissolved Parliament. Baltimore +made sure of this, and then dispatched messengers overseas to Stone, +bidding him do all that lay in him to retake Maryland. Stone thereupon +gathered several hundred men and a fleet of small sailing craft, with +which he pushed up the bay to the Severn. In the meantime the Puritans +had not been idle, but had themselves raised a body of men and had taken +over the Golden Lyon, an armed merchantman lying before their town. On +the 24th of March, 1655, the two forces met in the Battle of the Severn. +"In the name of God, fall on!" cried the men of Providence, and "Hey for +St. Mary's!" cried the others. The battle was won by the Providence men. +They slew or wounded fifty of the St. Mary's men and desperately wounded +Stone himself and took many prisoners, ten of whom were afterwards +condemned to death and four were actually executed. + +Now followed a period of up and down, the Commissioners and the +Proprietary alike appealing to the Lord Protector for some expression of +his "determinate will." Both sides received encouragement inasmuch as he +decided for neither. His own authority being denied by neither, Cromwell +may have preferred to hold these distant factions in a canceling, +neutralizing posture. But far weightier matters, in fact, were occupying +his mind. In 1657, weary of her "very sad, distracted, and unsettled +condition," Maryland herself proceeded--Puritan, Prelatist, and +Catholic together--to agree henceforth to disagree. Toleration viewed +in retrospect appears dimly to have been seen for the angel that it was. +Maryland would return to the Proprietary's rule, provided there should +be complete indemnity for political offenses and a solemn promise that +the Toleration Act of 1649 should never be repealed. This without a +smile Baltimore promised. Articles were signed; a new Assembly composed +of all manner of Christians was called; and Maryland returned for a time +to her first allegiance. + +Quiet years, on the whole, follow in Virginia under the Commonwealth. +The three Governors of this period--Bennett, Digges, and Mathews are +all chosen by the Assembly, which, but for the Navigation Laws,* might +almost forget the Home Government. Then Oliver Cromwell dies; and, after +an interval, back to England come the Stuarts. Charles II is proclaimed +King. And back into office in Virginia is brought that staunch old +monarchist, Sir William Berkeley--first by a royalist Assembly and +presently by commission from the new King. + + * See Editor's Note on the Navigation Laws at the end of + this volume. + + +Then Virginia had her Long Parliament or Assembly. In 1661, in the +first gush of the Restoration, there was elected a House of Burgesses so +congenial to Berkeley's mind that he wished to see it perpetuated. For +fifteen years therefore he held it in being, with adjournments from one +year into another and with sharp refusals to listen to any demand for +new elections. Yet this demand grew, and still the Governor shut the +door in the face of the people and looked imperiously forth from the +window. His temper, always fiery, now burned vindictive; his zeal for +King and Church and the high prerogatives of the Governor of Virginia +became a consuming passion. + +When Berkeley first came to Virginia, and again for a moment in the +flare of the Restoration, his popularity had been real, but for long now +it had dwindled. He belonged to an earlier time, and he held fast to old +ideas that were decaying at the heart. A bigot for the royal power, +a man of class with a contempt for the generality and its clumsily +expressed needs, he grew in narrowness as he grew in years. Berkeley +could in these later times write home, though with some exaggeration: +"I thank God there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall +not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience into +the world and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best +governments! God keep us from both!" But that was the soured zealot +for absolutism--William Berkeley the man was fond enough of books and +himself had written plays. + +The spirit of the time was reactionary in Virginia as it was reactionary +in England. Harsh servant and slave laws were passed. A prison was to +be erected in each county; provision was made for pillory and stocks and +duckingstool; the Quakers were to be proceeded against; the Baptists +who refused to bring children to baptism were to suffer. Then at last in +1670 came restriction of the franchise: + +"Act III. ELECTION OF BURGESSES BY WHOM. WHEREAS the usuall way of +chuseing burgesses by the votes of all persons who having served their +tyme are freemen of this country who haveing little interest in the +country doe oftener make tumults at the election to the disturbance of +his Majestie's peace, than by their discretions in their votes provide +for the conservation thereof, by makeing choyce of persons fitly +qualifyed for the discharge of soe greate a trust, And whereas the +lawes of England grant a voyce in such election only to such as by +their estates real or personall have interest enough to tye them to +the endeavour of the publique good; IT IS HEREBY ENACTED, that none but +freeholders and housekeepers who only are answerable to the publique for +the levies shall hereafter have a voice in the election of any burgesses +in this country." + + *Hening's "Statutes", vol. II, p. 280. + + +Three years later another woe befell the colony. That same Charles +II--to whom in misfortune Virginia had so adhered that for her loyalty +she had received the name of the Old Dominion--now granted "all that +entire tract, territory, region, and dominion of land and water commonly +called Virginia, together with the territory of Accomack," to Lord +Culpeper and the Earl of Arlington. For thirty-one years they were to +hold it, paying to the King the slight annual rent of forty shillings. +They were not to disturb the colonists in any guaranteed right of life +or land or goods, but for the rest they might farm Virginia. The country +cried out in anger. The Assembly hurried commissioners on board a ship +in port and sent them to England to besiege the ear of the King. + +Distress and discontent increased, with good reason, among the mass of +the Virginians. The King in England, his councilors, and Parliament, +played an unfatherly role, while in Virginia economic hardships pressed +ever harder and the administration became more and more oppressive. +By 1676 the gunpowder of popular indignation was laid right and left, +awaiting the match. + + + +CHAPTER XII. NATHANIEL BACON + +To add to the uncertainty of life in Virginia, Indian troubles flared up +again. In and around the main settlements the white man was safe enough +from savage attack. But it was not so on the edge of the English world, +where the white hue ran thin, where small clusters of folk and even +single families built cabins of logs and made lonely clearings in the +wilderness. + +Not far from where now rises Washington the Susquehannocks had taken +possession of an old fort. These Indians, once in league with the +Iroquois but now quarreling violently with that confederacy, had +been defeated and were in a mood of undiscriminating bitterness and +vengeance. They began to waylay and butcher white men and women and +children. In self protection Maryland and Virginia organized in common +an expedition against the Indian stronghold. In the deep woods beyond +the Potomac, red men and white came to a parley. The Susquehannocks sent +envoys. There was wrong on both sides. A dispute arose. The white men, +waxing angry, slew the envoys--an evil deed which their own color in +Maryland and in Virginia reprehended and repudiated. But the harm +was done. From the Potomac to the James Indians listened to Indian +eloquence, reciting the evils that from the first the white man had +brought. Then the red man, in increasing numbers, fell upon the outlying +settlements of the pioneers. + +In Virginia there soon arose a popular clamor for effective action. Call +out the militia of every county! March against the Indians! Act! But the +Governor was old, of an ill temper now, and most suspicious of popular +gatherings for any purpose whatsoever. He temporized, delayed, refused +all appeals until the Assembly should meet. + +Dislike of Berkeley and his ways and a growing sense of injury and +oppression began to quiver hard in the Virginian frame. The King was +no longer popular, nor Sir William Berkeley, nor were the most of the +Council, nor many of the burgesses of that Long Assembly. There arose a +loud demand for a new election and for changes in public policy. + +Where a part of Richmond now stands, there stretched at that time a +tract of fields and hills and a clear winding creek, held by a young +planter named Nathaniel Bacon, an Englishman of that family which +produced "the wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind." The planter himself +lived farther down the river. But he had at this place an overseer +and some indentured laborers. This Nathaniel Bacon was a newcomer +in Virginia--young man who had been entered in Gray's Inn, who had +traveled, who was rumored to have run through much of his own estate. +He had a cousin, also named Nathaniel Bacon, who had come fifteen years +earlier to Virginia "a very rich, politic man and childless," and whose +representations had perhaps drawn the younger Bacon to Virginia. At any +rate he was here, and at the age of twenty-eight the owner of much land +and the possessor of a seat in the Council. But, though he sat in +the Council, he was hardly of the mind of the Governor and those who +supported him. + +It was in the spring of 1676 that there began a series of Indian attacks +directed against the plantations and the outlying cabins of the region +above the Falls of the Far West. Among the victims were men of Bacon's +plantation, for his overseer and several of his servants were slain. The +news of this massacre of his men set their young master afire. Even a +less hideous tale might have done it, for he was of a bold and ardent +nature. + +Riding up the forest tracks, a company of planters from the threatened +neighborhood gathered together. "Let us make a troop and take fire and +sword among them!" There lacked a commander. "Mr. Bacon, you command!" +Very good; and Mr. Bacon, who is a born orator, made a speech dealing +with the "grievances of the times." Very good indeed; but still there +lacked the Governor's commission. "Send a swift messenger to Jamestown +for it!" + +The messenger went and returned. No commission. Mr. Bacon had made an +unpleasant impression upon Sir William Berkeley. This young man, +the Governor said, was "popularly inclined"--had "a constitution not +consistent with" all that Berkeley stood for. Bacon and his neighbors +listened with bent brows to their envoy's report. Murmurs began and +deepened. "Shall we stand idly here considering formalities, while the +redskins murder?" Commission or no commission, they would march; and in +the end, march they did--a considerable troop--to the up-river country, +with the tall, young, eloquent man at their head. + +News reached the Governor at Jamestown that they were marching. In a +tight-lipped rage he issued a proclamation and sent it after them. They +and their leader were acting illegally, usurping military powers that +belonged elsewhere! Let them disband, disperse to their dwellings, or +beware action of the rightful powers! Troubled in mind, some disbanded +and dispersed, but threescore at least would by no means do so. Nor +would the young man "of precipitate disposition" who headed the troop. +He rode on into the forest after the Indians, and the others followed +him. Here were the Falls of the Far West, and here on a hill the Indians +had a "fort." This the Virginia planters attacked. The hills above the +James echoed to the sound of the small, desperate fray. In the end the +red men were routed. Some were slain; some were taken prisoner; others +escaped into the deep woods stretching westward. + +In the meantime another force of horsemen had been gathered. It was +headed by Berkeley and was addressed to the pursuit and apprehension +of Nathaniel Bacon, who had thus defied authority. But before Berkeley +could move far, fire broke out around him. The grievances of the people +were many and just, and not without a family resemblance to those that +precipitated the Revolution a hundred years later. Not Bacon alone, but +many others who were in despair of any good under their present masters +were ready for heroic measures. Berkeley found himself ringed about by +a genuine popular revolt. He therefore lacked the time now to pursue +Nathaniel Bacon, but spurred back to Jamestown there to deal as best +he might with dangerous affairs. At Jamestown, willy-nilly, the old +Governor was forced to promise reforms. The Long Assembly should be +dissolved and a new Assembly, more conformable to the wishes of the +people, should come into being ready to consider all their troubles. +So writs went out; and there presently followed a hot and turbulent +election, in which that "restricted franchise" of the Long Assembly +was often defied and in part set aside. Men without property presented +themselves, gave their voices, and were counted. Bacon, who had by now +achieved an immense popularity, was chosen burgess for Henricus County. + +In the June weather Bacon sailed down to Jamestown, with a number of +those who had backed him in that assumption of power to raise troops +and go against the Indians. When he came to Jamestown it was to find the +high sheriff waiting for him by the Governor's orders. He was put under +arrest. Hot discussion followed. But the people were for the moment +in the ascendent, and Bacon should not be sacrificed. A compromise +was reached. Bacon was technically guilty of "unlawful, mutinous and +rebellious practises." If, on his knees before Governor, Council, and +Burgesses, he would acknowledge as much and promise henceforth to be his +Majesty's obedient servant, he and those implicated with him should +be pardoned. He himself might be readmitted to the Council, and all in +Virginia should be as it had been. He should even have the commission he +had acted without to go and fight against the Indians. + +Bacon thereupon made his submission upon his knees, promising that +henceforth he would "demean himself dutifully, faithfully, and +peaceably." Formally forgiven, he was restored to his place in the +Virginia Council. An eyewitness reports that presently he saw "Mr. +Bacon on his quondam seat with the Governor and Council, which seemed +a marvellous indulgence to one whom he had so lately proscribed as a +rebel." The Assembly of 1676 was of a different temper and opinion from +that of the Long Assembly. It was an insurgent body, composed to a large +degree of mere freemen and small planters, with a few of the richer, +more influential sort who nevertheless queried that old divine right of +rule. Berkeley thought that he had good reason to doubt this Assembly's +intentions, once it gave itself rein. He directs it therefore to confine +its attention to Indian troubles. It did, indeed, legislate on Indian +affairs by passing an elaborate act for the prosecution of the war. +An army of a thousand white men was to be raised. Bacon was to be +commander-in-chief. All manner of precautions were to be taken. But this +matter disposed of, the Assembly thereupon turned to "the redressing +several grievances the country was then labouring under; and motions +were made for inspecting the public revenues, the collectors' accounts," +and so forth. The Governor thundered; friends of the old order +obstructed; but the Assembly went on its way, reforming here and +reforming there. It even went so far as to repeal the preceding +Assembly's legislation regarding the franchise. All white males who are +freemen were now privileged to vote, "together with the freeholders and +housekeepers." + +A certain member wanted some detail of procedure retained because it was +customary. "Tis true it has been customary," answered another, "but +if we have any bad customs amongst us, we are come here to mend 'em!" +"Whereupon," says the contemporary narrator, "the house was set in +a laughter." But after so considerable an amount of mending there +threatened a standstill. What was to come next? Could men go further--as +they had gone further in England not so many years ago? Reform had come +to an apparent impasse. While it thus hesitated, the old party gained in +life. + +Bacon, now petitioning for his promised commission against the Indians, +seems to have reached the conclusion that the Governor might promise but +meant not to perform, and not only so, but that in Jamestown his very +life was in danger. He had "intimation that the Governor's generosity +in pardoning him and restoring him to his place in the Council were no +other than previous wheedles to amuse him." + +In Jamestown lived one whom a chronicler paints for us as "thoughtful +Mr. Lawrence." This gentleman was an Oxford scholar, noted for "wit, +learning, and sobriety... nicely honest, affable, and without blemish in +his conversation and dealings." Thus friends declared, though foes said +of him quite other things. At any rate, having emigrated to Virginia and +married there, he had presently acquired, because of a lawsuit over land +in which he held himself to be unjustly and shabbily treated through +influences of the Governor, an inveterate prejudice against that ruler. +He calls him in short "an old, treacherous villain." Lawrence and +his wife, not being rich, kept a tavern at Jamestown, and there Bacon +lodged, probably having been thrown with Lawrence before this. Persons +are found who hold that Lawrence was the brain, Bacon the arm, of the +discontent in Virginia. There was also Mr. William Drummond, who will be +met with in the account of Carolina. He was a "sober Scotch gentleman of +good repute"--but no more than Lawrence on good terms with the Governor +of Virginia. + +On a morning in June, when the Assembly met, it was observed that +Nathaniel Bacon was not in his place in the Council--nor was he to be +found in the building, nor even in Jamestown itself, though Berkeley had +Lawrence's inn searched for him. He had left the town--gone up the river +in his sloop to his plantation at Curles Neck "to visit his wife, who, +as she informed him, was indisposed." In truth it appears that Bacon +had gone for the purpose of gathering together some six hundred up-river +men. Or perhaps they themselves had come together and, needing a leader, +had turned naturally to the man who was under the frown of an unpopular +Governor and all the Governor's supporters in Virginia. At any rate +Bacon was presently seen at the head of no inconsiderable army for +a colony of less than fifty thousand souls. Those with him were only +up-river men; but he must have known that he could gather besides from +every part of the country. Given some initial success, he might even set +all Virginia ablaze. Down the river he marched, he and his six hundred, +and in the summer heat entered Jamestown and drew up before the Capitol. +The space in front of this building was packed with the Jamestown folk +and with the six hundred. Bacon, a guard behind him, advanced to the +central door, to find William Berkeley standing there shaking with rage. +The old royalist has courage. He tears open his silken vest and fine +shirt and faces the young man who, though trained in the law of the +realm, is now filling that law with a hundred wounds. He raises a +passionate voice. "Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark--a fair mark! +Shoot!" + +Bacon will not shoot him, but will have that promised commission to go +against the Indians. Those behind him lift and shake their guns. "We +will have it! We will have it!" Governor and Council retire to consider +the demand. If Berkeley is passionate and at times violent, so is +Bacon in his own way, for an eye-witness has to say that "he displayed +outrageous postures of his head, arms, body and legs, often tossing his +hand from his sword to his hat," and that outside the door he had cried: +"Damn my blood! I'll kill Governor, Council, Assembly and all, and +then I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!" He is no dour, +determined, unwordy revolutionist like the Scotch Drummond, nor still +and subtle like "the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." He is young and hot, a +man of oratory and outward acts. Yet is he a patriot and intelligent +upon broad public needs. When presently he makes a speech to the excited +Assembly, it has for subject-matter "preserving our lives from the +Indians, inspecting the public revenues, the exorbitant taxes, and +redressing the grievances and calamities of that deplorable country." It +has quite the ring of young men's speeches in British colonies a century +later! + +The Governor and his party gave in perforce. Bacon got his commission +and an Act of Indemnity for all chance political offenses. General and +Commander-in-chief against the Indians--so was he styled. Moreover, +the Burgesses, with an alarmed thought toward England, drew up an +explanatory memorial for Charles II's perusal. This paper journeyed +forth upon the first ship to sail, but it had for traveling companion +a letter secretly sent from the Governor to the King. The two +communications were painted in opposite colors. "I have," says Berkeley, +"for above thirty years governed the most flourishing country the sun +ever shone over, but am now encompassed with rebellion like waters." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. REBELLION AND CHANGE + +Bacon with an increased army now rode out once more against the Indians. +He made a rendezvous on the upper York--the old Pamunkey--and to this +center he gathered horsemen until there may have been with him not far +from a thousand mounted men. From here he sent detachments against the +red men's villages in all the upper troubled country, and afar into +the sunset woods where the pioneer's cabin had not yet been builded. He +acted with vigor. The Indians could not stand against his horsemen and +concerted measures, and back they fell before the white men, westward +again; or, if they stayed in the ever dwindling villages, they gave +hostages and oaths of peace. Quiet seemed to descend once more upon the +border. + +But, if the frontier seemed peaceful, Virginia behind the border was +a bubbling cauldron. Bacon had now become a hero of the people, a +Siegfried capable of slaying the dragon. Nor were Lawrence and Drummond +idle, nor others of their way of thinking. The Indian troubles might +soon be settled, but why not go further, marching against other +troubles, more subtle and long-continuing, and threatening all the +future? + +In the midst of this speculation and promise of change, the Governor, +feeling the storm, dissolved the Assembly, proclaimed Bacon and his +adherents rebels and traitors, and made a desperate attempt to raise an +army for use against the new-fangledness of the time. This last he could +not do. Private interest led many planters to side with him, and there +was a fair amount of passionate conviction matching his own, that his +Majesty the King and the forces of law and order were being withstood, +and without just cause. But the mass of the people cried out to his +speeches, "Bacon! Bacon!" As the popular leader had been warned from +Jamestown by news of personal danger, so in his turn Berkeley seems to +have believed that his own liberty was threatened. With suddenness he +departed the place, boarded a sloop, and was "wafted over Chesapeake Bay +thirty miles to Accomac." The news of the Governor's flight, producing +both alarm in one party and enthusiasm in the other, tended to +precipitate the crisis. Though the Indian trouble might by now be called +adjusted, Bacon, far up the York, did not disband his men. He turned and +with them marched down country, not to Jamestown, but to a hamlet called +Middle Plantation, where later was to grow the town of Williamsburg. +Here he camped, and here took counsel with Lawrence and Drummond and +others, and here addressed, with a curious, lofty eloquence, the throng +that began to gather. Hence, too, he issued a "Declaration," recounting +the misdeeds of those lately in power, protesting against the terms +rebel and traitor as applied to himself and his followers, who are only +in arms to protect his Majesty's demesne and subjects, and calling on +those who are well disposed to reform to join him at Middle Plantation, +there to consider the state of the country which had been brought into a +bad way by "Sir William's doting and irregular actings." + +Upon his proclamation many did come to Middle Plantation, great planters +and small, men just freed from indentured service, holders of no +land and little land and much land, men of all grades of weight and +consideration and all degrees of revolutionary will, from Drummond--with +a reported speech, "I am in overshoes; I will be in overboots!" and a +wife Sarah who snapped a stick in two with the cry, "I care no more for +the power of England than for this broken straw!"--to those who would be +revolutionary as long as, and only when, it seemed safe to be so. + +How much of revolution, despite that speech about his Majesty's demesne +and subjects, was in Bacon's mind, or in Richard Lawrence's mind and +William Drummond's mind, or in the mind of their staunchest supporters, +may hardly now be resolved. Perhaps as much as was in the mind of +Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason a century later. + +The Governor was in Accomac, breathing fire and slaughter, though as +yet without brand or sword with which to put his ardent desires into +execution. But he and the constituted order were not without friends +and supporters. He had, as his opponents saw, a number of "wicked and +pernicious counsellors, aides and assistants against the commonalty in +these our cruel commotions." Moreover--and a great moreover is that!--it +was everywhere bruited that he had sent to England, to the King, "for +two thousand Red Coates." Perhaps the King--perhaps England--will take +his view, and, not consulting the good of Virginia, send the Red Coats! +What then? + +Bacon, as a measure of opposition, proposed "a test or recognition," to +be signed by those here at Middle Plantation who earnestly do wish the +good of Virginia. It was a bold test! Not only should they covenant to +give no aid to the whilom?? Governor against this new general and army, +but if ships should bring the Red Coats they were to withstand them. +There is little wonder that "this bugbear did marvellously startle" that +body of Virginia horsemen, those progressive gentlemen planters, and +others. Yet in the end, after violent contentions, the assembly at +Middle Plantation drew up and signed a remarkable paper, the "Oath at +Middle Plantation." Historically, it is linked on the one hand with +that "thrusting out of his government" of Sir John Harvey in Charles I's +time, and on the other with Virginian proceedings a hundred years later +under the third George. If his Majesty had been, as it was rumored, +wrongly informed that Virginia was in rebellion; if, acting upon that +misinformation, he sent troops against his loyal Virginians--who were +armed only against an evil Governor and intolerable woes then these same +good loyalists would "oppose and suppress all forces whatsoever of that +nature, until such time as the King be fully informed of the state +of the case." What was to happen if the King, being informed, still +supported Berkeley and sent other Red Coats was not taken into +consideration. + +This paper, being drawn, was the more quickly signed because there +arrived, in the midst of the debate, a fresh Indian alarm. Attack +threatened a fort upon the York--whence the Governor had seen fit to +remove arms and ammunition! The news came most opportunely for Bacon. +"There were no more discourses." The major portion of the large +assemblage signed. + +The old Government in Virginia was thus denied. But it was held that +government there must be, and that the people of Virginia through +representatives must arrange for it. Writs of election, made as usual in +the King's name, and signed by Bacon and by those members of the Council +who were of the revolt, went forth to all counties. The Assembly thus +provided was to meet at Jamestown in September. + +So much business done, off rode Bacon and his men to put down this +latest rising of the Indians. Not only these but red men in a new +quarter, tribes south of the James, kept them employed for weeks +to come. Nor were they unmindful of that proud old man, Sir William +Berkeley, over on the Eastern Shore, a well-peopled region where +traveling by boat and by sandy road was sufficiently easy. Bacon, +Lawrence, and Drummond finally decided to take Sir William captive and +to bring him back to Jamestown. For this purpose they dispatched a ship +across the Bay, with two hundred and fifty men, under the command of +Giles Bland, "a man of courage and haughty bearing," and "no great +admirer of Sir William's goodness." The ship proceeded to the Accomac +shore, anchored in some bight, and sent ashore men to treat with the +Governor. But the Governor turned the tables on them. He made himself +captor, instead of being made captive. Bland and his lieutenants were +taken, whereupon their following surrendered into Berkeley's hands. +Bland's second in command was hanged; Bland himself was held in irons. + +Now Berkeley's star was climbing. In Accomac he gathered so many that, +with those who had fled with him and later recruits who crossed the +Bay, he had perhaps a thousand men. He stowed these upon the ship of the +ill-fated Bland and upon a number of sloops. With seventeen sail in all, +the old Governor set his face west and south towards the mouth of the +James. + +In that river, on the 7th of September, 1676, there appeared this fleet +of the King's Governor, set on retaking Virginia. Jamestown had notice. +The Bacon faction held the place with perhaps eight hundred men, Colonel +Hansford at their head. Summoned by Berkeley to surrender, Hansford +refused, but that same night, by advice of Lawrence and Drummond, +evacuated the place, drawing his force off toward the York. The next +day, emptied of all but a few citizens, Jamestown received the old +Governor and his army. + +The tidings found Bacon on the upper York. Acting with his accustomed +energy, he sent out, far and wide, ringing appeals to the country to +rouse itself, for men to join him and march to the defeat of the old +tyrant. Numbers did come in. He moved with "marvelous celerity." When +he had, for the time and place, a large force of rebels, he marched, by +stream and plantation, tobacco field and forest, forge and mill, through +the early autumn country to Jamestown. Civil war was on. + +Across the narrow neck of the Jamestown peninsula had been thrown a sort +of fortification with ditch, earthwork, and palisade. Before this +Bacon now sounded trumpets. No answer coming, but the mouths of cannon +appearing at intervals above the breastwork, the "rebel" general halted, +encamped his men, and proceeded to construct siege lines of his own. The +work must be done exposed to Sir William's iron shot. + +Now comes a strange and discreditable incident. Patriots, +revolutionists, who on the whole would serve human progress, have yet, +as have we all, dark spots and seamy sides. Bacon's parties of workmen +were threatened, hindered, driven from their task by Berkeley's guns. +Bacon had a curious, unadmirable idea. He sent horsemen to neighboring +loyalist plantations to gather up and bring to camp, not the +planters--for they are with Berkeley in Jamestown--but the planters' +wives. Here are Mistress Bacon (wife of the elder Nathaniel Bacon), +Mistress Bray; Mistress Ballard, Mistress Page, and others. Protesting, +these ladies enter Bacon's camp, who sends one as envoy into the town +with the message that, if Berkeley attacks, the whole number of women +shall be placed as shield to Bacon's men who build earthworks. + +He was as good--or as bad--as his word. At the first show of action +against his workmen these royalist women were placed in the front and +were kept there until Bacon had made his counter-line of defense. +Sir William Berkeley had great faults, but at times--not always--he +displayed chivalry. For that day "the ladies' white aprons" guarded +General Bacon and all his works. The next day, the defenses completed, +this "white garde" was withdrawn. + +Berkeley waited no longer but, though now at a disadvantage, opened fire +and charged with his men through gate and over earthworks. The battle +that followed was short and decisive. Berkeley's chance-gathered army +was no match for Bacon's seasoned Indian fighters and for desperate men +who knew that they must win or be hanged for traitors. The Governor's +force wavered and, unable to stand its ground, turned and fled, leaving +behind some dead and wounded. Then Bacon, who also had cannon, opened +upon the town and the ships that rode before it. In the night the King's +Governor embarked for the second time and with him, in that armada from +the Eastern Shore, the greater part of the force he had gathered. When +dawn came, Bacon saw that the ships, large and small, were gone, sailing +back to Accomac. Bacon and his following thus came peaceably into +Jamestown, but with the somewhat fell determination to burn the place. +It should "harbor no more rogues." What Bacon, Lawrence, Drummond, +Hansford, and others really hoped--whether they forecasted a republican +Virginia finally at peace and prosperous--whether they saw in a vision +a new capital, perhaps at Middle Plantation, perhaps at the Falls of +the Far West, a capital that should be without old, tyrannic +memories--cannot now be said. However it all may be, they put torch +to the old capital town and soon saw it consumed, for it was no great +place, and not hard to burn. + +Jamestown had hardly ceased to smoke when news came that loyalists under +Colonel Brent were gathering in northern counties. Bacon, now ill but +energetic to the end, turned with promptness to meet this new alarm. He +crossed the York and marched northward through Gloucester County. But +the rival forces did not come to a fight. Brent's men deserted by +the double handful. They came into Bacon's ranks "resolving with the +Persians to go and worship the rising sun." Or, hanging fire, reluctant +to commit themselves either way, they melted from Brent, running +homeward by every road. Bacon, with an enlarged, not lessened army, drew +back into Gloucester. Revolutionary fortunes shone fair in prospect. Yet +it was but the moment of brief, deceptive bloom before decay and fall. + +At this critical moment Bacon fell sick and died. Some said that he was +poisoned, but that has never been proved. The illness that had attacked +him during his siege of Jamestown and that held on after his victory +seems to have sufficed for his taking off. In Gloucester County he +"surrendered up that fort he was no longer able to keep, into the hands +of that grim and all-conquering Captaine Death." His body was buried, +says the old account, "but where deposited till the Generall day not +knowne, only to those who are resolutely silent in that particular." + +With Bacon's death there fell to pieces all this hopeful or unhopeful +movement. Lawrence might have a subtle head and Drummond the courage +to persevere; Hansford, Cheeseman, Bland, and others might have varied +abilities. But the passionate and determined Bacon had been the organ +of action; Bacon's the eloquence that could bring to the cause men with +property to give as well as men with life to lose. It is a question how +soon, had Bacon not died, must have failed his attempt at revolution, +desperate because so premature. + +Back came Berkeley from Accomac, his turbulent enemy thus removed. +All who from the first had held with the King's Governor now rode +emboldened. Many who had shouted more or less loudly for the rising +star, now that it was so untimely set, made easy obeisance to the old +sun. A great number who had wavered in the wind now declared that they +had done no such thing, but had always stood steadfast for the ancient +powers. + +The old Governor, who might once have been magnanimous, was changed for +the worse. He had been withstood; he would punish. He now gave full rein +to his passionate temper, his bigotry for the throne, and his feeling of +personal wrong. He began in Virginia to outlaw and arrest rebels, and to +doom them to hasty trials and executions. There was no longer a united +army to meet, but only groups and individuals striving for safety +in flight or hiding. Hansford was early taken and hanged with two +lieutenants of Bacon, Wilford and Farlow. Cheeseman died in prison. +Drummond was taken in the swamps of the Chickahominy and carried before +the Governor. Berkeley brought his hands together. "Mr. Drummond, you +are very welcome! I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia! +Mr. Drummond you shall be hanged in half an hour!" Not in half an hour, +but on the same day he was hanged, imperturbable Scot to the last. +Lawrence, held by many to have been more than Bacon the true author of +the attempt, either put an end to himself or escaped northward, for he +disappears from history. "The last account of Mr. Lawrence was from an +uppermost plantation whence he and four other desperadoes with horses, +pistols, etc., marched away in a snow ankle deep." They "were thought +to have cast themselves into a branch of some river, rather than to +be treated like Drummond." Thus came to early and untimely end the +ringleaders of Bacon's Rebellion. In all, by the Governor's command, +thirty-seven men suffered death by hanging. + +There comes to us, down the centuries, the comment of that King for whom +Berkeley was so zealous, a man who fell behind his colonial Governor in +singleness of interest but excelled him in good nature. "That old fool," +said the second Charles, "has hanged more men in that naked country than +I have done for the murder of my father!" + +That letter which Berkeley had written some months before to his +sovereign about the "waters of rebellion" was now seen to have borne +fruit. In January, while the Governor was yet running down fugitives, +confiscating lands, and hanging "traitors," a small fleet from England +sailed in, bringing a regiment of "Red Coates," and with them three +commissioners charged with the duty of bringing order out of confusion. +These commissioners, bearing the King's proclamation of pardon to all +upon submission, were kinder than the irascible and vindictive Governor +of Virginia, and they succeeded at last in restraining his fury. They +made their report to England, and after some months obtained a second +royal proclamation censuring Berkeley's vengeful course, "so derogatory +to our princely clemency," abrogating the Assembly's more violent acts, +and extending full pardon to all concerned in the late "rebellion," +saving only the arch-rebel Bacon--to whom perhaps it now made little +difference if they pardoned him or not. + +But with this piece of good nature, so characteristic of the second +Charles, there came neither to the King in person nor to England as a +whole any appreciation of the true ills behind the Virginian revolt, nor +any attempt to relieve them. Along with the King's first proclamation +came instructions for the Governor. "You shall be no more obliged to +call an Assembly once every year, but only once in two years.... Also +whensoever the Assembly is called fourteen days shall be the time +prefixed for their sitting and no longer." And the narrowed franchise +that Bacon's Assembly had widened is narrowed again. "You shall take +care that the members of the Assembly be elected only by freeholders, +as being more agreeable to the custom of England." Nor is the grant +to Culpeper and Arlington revoked. Nor, wider and deeper, are the +Navigation Laws in any wise bettered. No more than before, no more +indeed than a century later, is there any conception that the child +exists no more for the parent than the parent for the child. + +Sir William Berkeley's loyalty had in the end overshot itself. His zeal +fatigued the King, and in 1677 he was recalled to England. As Governor +of Virginia he had been long popular at first but in his old age +detested. He had great personal courage, fidelity, and generosity for +those things that ran with the current of a deep and narrow soul. He +passes from the New World stage, a marked and tragic figure. Behind him +his vengeances displeased even loyalist Virginia, willing on the whole +to let bygones be bygones among neighbors and kindred. It is said that; +when his ship went down the river, bonfires were lighted and cannon and +muskets fired for joy. And so beyond the eastward horizon fades the old +reactionary. + +Herbert Jeffreys and then Sir Henry Chicheley follow Berkeley as +Governors of Virginia; they are succeeded by Lord Culpeper and he by +Lord Howard of Effingham. King Charles dies and James the Second rules +in England. Culpeper and Effingham play the Governor merely for what +they can get for themselves out of Virginia.* The price of tobacco goes +down, down. The crops are too large; the old poor remedies of letting +much acreage go unplanted, or destroying and burning where the measure +of production is exceeded, and of petitions to the King, are all +resorted to, but they procure little relief. Virginia cannot be called +prosperous. England hears that the people are still disaffected and +unquiet and England stolidly wonders why. + + * In 1684 the Crown purchased from Culpeper all his rights + except in the Northern Neck. + +During the reign of the second Charles, Maryland had suffered from +political unrest somewhat less than Virginia. The autocracy of Maryland +was more benevolent and more temperate than that of her southern +neighbor. The name of Calvert is a better symbol of wisdom than the name +of Berkeley. Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, dying in 1675, has +a fair niche in the temple of human enlightenment. His son Charles +succeeded, third Lord Baltimore and Lord Proprietary of Maryland. +Well-intentioned, this Calvert lacked something of the ability of either +his father or his grandfather. Though he lived in Maryland while his +father had lived in England, his government was not as wise as his +father's had been. + +But in Maryland, even before the death of Cecil Calvert, inherent evils +were beginning to form of themselves a visible body. In Maryland, as in +Virginia, there set in after the Restoration a period of reaction, +of callous rule in the interests of an oligarchy. In 1669 a "packed" +Council and an "aristocratic" Assembly procured a restriction of the +franchise similar to that introduced into Virginia. As in Virginia, +an Assembly deemed of the right political hue was kept in being by the +device of adjournment from year to year. In Maryland, as in Virginia, +public officials were guilty of corruption and graft. In 1676 there +seems to have lacked for revolt, in Maryland, only the immediate +provocative of acute Indian troubles and such leaders as Bacon, +Lawrence, and Drummond. The new Lord Baltimore being for the time in +England, his deputy writes him that never were any "more replete with +malignancy and frenzy than our people were about August last, and they +wanted but a monstrous head to their monstrous body." Two leaders indeed +appeared, Davis and Pate by name, but having neither the standing nor +the strength of the Virginia rebels, they were finally taken and +hanged. What supporters they had dispersed, and the specter of armed +insurrection passed away. + +The third Lord Baltimore, like his father, found difficulty in +preserving the integrity of his domain. His father had been involved in +a long wrangle over the alleged invasion of Maryland by the Dutch. Since +then, New Netherland had passed into English hands. Now there occurred +another encroachment on the territory of Maryland. This time the invader +was an Englishman named William Penn. Just as the idea of a New World +freedom for Catholics had appealed to the first Lord Baltimore, so now +to William Penn, the Quaker, came the thought of freedom there for +the Society of Friends. The second Charles owed an old debt to Penn's +father. He paid it in 1681 by giving to the son, whom he liked, a +province in America. Little by little, in order to gain for Penn access +to the sea, the terms of his grant were widened until it included, +beside the huge Pennsylvanian region, the tract that is now Delaware, +which was then claimed by Baltimore. Maryland protested against +the grant to Penn, as Virginia had protested against the grant to +Baltimore--and equally in vain. England was early set upon the road to +many colonies in America, destined later to become many States. One by +one they were carved out of the first great unity. + +In 1685 the tolerant Charles the Second died. James the Second, a +Catholic, ruled England for about three years, and then fled before +the Revolution of 1688. William and Mary, sovereigns of a Protestant +England, came to the throne. We have seen that the Proprietary of +Maryland and his numerous kinsmen and personal adherents were Catholics. +Approximately one in eight of other Marylanders were fellows in that +faith. Another eighth of the people held with the Church of England. The +rest, the mass of the folk, were dissenters from that Church. And now +all the Protestant elements together--the Quakers excepted--solidified +into political and religious opposition to the Proprietary's rule. +Baltimore, still in England, had immediately, upon the accession of +William and Mary, dispatched orders to the Maryland Council to proclaim +them King and Queen. But his messenger died at sea, and there was delay +in sending another. In Maryland the Council would not proclaim the new +sovereigns without instructions, and it was even rumored that Catholic +Maryland meant to withstand the new order. + +In effect the old days were over. The Protestants, Churchmen and +Dissenters alike, proceeded to organize under a new leader, one John +Coode. They formed "An Association in arms for the defense of the +Protestant religion, and for asserting the right of King William and +Queen Mary to the Province of Maryland and all the English Dominions." +Now followed a confused time of accusations and counter-accusations, +with assertions that Maryland Catholics were conspiring with the Indians +to perpetrate a new St. Bartholomew massacre of Protestants, and hot +counter-assertions that this is "a sleveless fear and imagination +fomented by the artifice of some ill-minded persons." In the end Coode +assembled a force of something less than a thousand men and marched +against St. Mary's. The Council, which had gathered there, surrendered, +and the Association for the Defense found itself in power. It proceeded +to call a convention and to memorialize the King and Queen, who in the +end approved its course. Maryland passed under the immediate government +of the Crown. Lord Baltimore might still receive quit-rents and customs, +but his governmental rights were absorbed into the monarchy. Sir Lionel +Copley came out as Royal Governor, and a new order began in Maryland. + +The heyday of Catholic freedom was past. England would have a Protestant +America. Episcopalians were greatly in the minority, but their Church +now became dominant over both Catholic and Dissenter, and where the +freethinker raised his head he was smitten down. Catholic and Dissenter +and all alike were taxed to keep stable the Established Church. The old +tolerance, such as it was, was over. Maryland paced even with the rest +of the world. + +Presently the old capital of St. Mary's was abandoned. The government +removed to the banks of the Severn, to Providence--soon, when Anne +should be Queen, to be renamed Annapolis. In vain the inhabitants of +St. Mary's remonstrated. The center of political gravity in Maryland had +shifted. + +The third Lord Baltimore died in 1715. His son Benedict, fourth lord, +turned from the Catholic Church and became a member of the Church of +England. Dying presently, he left a young son, Charles, fifth Lord +Baltimore, to be brought up in the fold of the Established Church. +Reconciled now to the dominant creed, with a Maryland where Catholics +were heavily penalized, Baltimore resumed the government under favor of +the Crown. But it was a government with a difference. In Maryland, as +everywhere, the people were beginning to hold the reins. Not again the +old lord and the old underling! For years to come the lords would say +that they governed, but strong life arose beneath, around, and above +their governing. + +Maryland had by 1715 within her bounds more than forty thousand white +men and nearly ten thousand black men. She still planted and shipped +tobacco, but presently found how well she might raise wheat, and +that it, too, was valuable to send away in exchange for all kinds of +manufactured things. Thus Maryland began to be a land of wheat still +more than a land of tobacco. + +For the rest, conditions of life in Maryland paralleled pretty closely +those in Virginia. Maryland was almost wholly rural; her plantations +and farms were reached with difficulty by roads hardly more than +bridle-paths, or with ease by sailboat and rowboat along the innumerable +waterways. Though here and there manors--large, easygoing, patriarchal +places, with vague, feudal ways and customs--were to be found, the +moderate sized plantation was the rule. Here stood, in sight usually of +blue water, the planter's dwelling of brick or wood. Around it grew up +the typical outhouses, household offices, and storerooms; farther away +yet clustered the cabin quarters alike of slaves and indentured labor. +Then stretched the fields of corn and wheat, the fields of tobacco. +Here, at river or bay side, was the home wharf or landing. Here the +tobacco was rolled in casks; here rattled the anchor of the ship +that was to take it to England and bring in return a thousand and one +manufactured articles. There were no factories in Maryland or Virginia. +Yet artisans were found among the plantation laborers--"carpenters, +coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, +weavers, and knitters." Throughout the colonies, as in every new +country, men and women, besides being agriculturists, produced homemade +much that men, women, and children needed. But many other articles and +all luxuries came in the ships from overseas, and the harvest of the +fields paid the account. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE CAROLINAS + +The first settlers on the banks of the James River, looking from beneath +their hands southward over plain land and a haze of endless forests, +called that unexplored country South Virginia. It stretched away to +those rivers and bays, to that island of Roanoke, whence had fled +Raleigh's settlers. Beyond that, said the James River men, was Florida. +Time passed, and the region of South Virginia was occasionally spoken of +as Carolina, though whether that name was drawn from Charles the First +of England, or whether those old unfortunate Huguenots in Florida had +used it with reference to Charles the Ninth of France, is not certainly +known. + +South Virginia lay huge, unknown, unsettled. The only exception was the +country immediately below the southern banks of the lower James with the +promontory that partially closed in Chesapeake Bay. Virginia, growing +fast, at last sent her children into this region. In 1653 the Assembly +enacted: "Upon the petition of Roger Green, clarke, on the behalfe +of himselfe and inhabitants of Nansemund river, It is ordered by this +present Grand Assembly that tenn thousand acres of land be granted unto +one hundred such persons who shall first seate on Moratuck or Roanoke +river and the land lying upon the south side of Choan river and the +ranches thereof, Provided that such seaters settle advantageously for +security and be sufficiently furnished with amunition and strength...." + +Green and his men, well furnished presumably with firelocks, bullets, +and powder-horns, went into this hinterland. At intervals there followed +other hardy folk. Quakers, subject to persecution in old Virginia, +fled into these wilds. The name Carolina grew to mean backwoods, +frontiersman's land. Here were forest and stream, Indian and bear and +wolf, blue waters of sound and sea, long outward lying reefs and shoals +and islets, fertile soil and a clime neither hot nor cold. Slowly the +people increased in number. Families left settled Virginia for the +wilderness; men without families came there for reasons good and bad. +Their cabins, their tiny hamlets were far apart; they practised a +hazardous agriculture; they hunted, fished, and traded with the Indians. +The isolation of these settlers bred or increased their personal +independence, while it robbed them of that smoothness to be gained where +the social particles rub together. This part of South Virginia was soon +to be called North Carolina. + +Far down the coast was Cape Fear. In the year of the Restoration a +handful of New England men came here in a ship and made a settlement +which, not prospering, was ere long abandoned. But New Englanders traded +still in South Virginia as along other coasts. Seafarers, they entered +at this inlet and at that, crossed the wide blue sounds, and, +anchoring in mouths of rivers, purchased from the settlers their forest +commodities. Then over they ran to the West Indies, and got in exchange +sugar and rum and molasses, with which again they traded for tobacco in +Carolina, in Virginia, and in Maryland. These ships went often to New +Providence in the Bahamas and to Barbados. There began, through trade +and other circumstances, a special connection between the long coast +line and these islands that were peopled by the English. The restored +Kingdom of England had many adherents to reward. Land in America, +islands and main, formed the obvious Fortunatus's purse. As the second +Charles had divided Virginia for the benefit of Arlington and Culpeper, +so now, in 1663, to "our right trusty and right well-beloved cousins and +counsellors, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, our High Chancellor of England, +and George, Duke of Albemarle, Master of our Horse and CaptainGeneral of +all our Forces, our right trusty and well-beloved William, Lord Craven, +John, Lord Berkeley, our right trusty and well-beloved counsellor, +Anthony, Lord Ashley, Chancellor of our Exchequer, Sir George Carteret, +Knight and Baronet, Vice-Chamberlain of our Household, and our trusty and +well-beloved Sir William Berkeley, Knight, and Sir John Colleton, Knight +and Baronet," he gave South Virginia, henceforth called the Carolinas, +a region occupying five degrees of latitude, and stretching indefinitely +from the seacoast toward the setting sun. + +This huge territory became, like Maryland, a province or palatinate. In +Maryland was one Proprietary; in Carolina there were eight, though +for distinction the senior of the eight was called the Palatine. As in +Maryland, the Proprietaries had princely rights. They owed allegiance to +England, and a small quit-rent went to the King. They were supposed +to govern, in the main, by English law and to uphold the religion of +England. They were to make laws at their discretion, with "the advice, +assent, and approbation of the freemen, or of their deputies, who were +to be assembled from time to time as seemed best." + +John Locke, who wrote the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", +wrote also, with Ashley at his side, "The Fundamental Constitutions of +Carolina, in number a Hundred and Twenty, agreed upon by the Palatine +and Lords Proprietors, to remain the sacred and unalterable form and +Rule of government of Carolina forever." + +"Forever" is a long word with ofttimes a short history. The Lords +Proprietors have left their names upon the maps of North and South +Carolina. There are Albemarle Sound and the Ashley and Cooper rivers, +Clarendon, Hyde, Carteret, Craven, and Colleton Counties. But their +Fundamental Constitutions, "in number a hundred and twenty," written +by Locke in 1669, are almost all as dead as the leaves of the Carolina +forest falling in the autumn of that year. + +The grant included that territory settled by Roger Green and his men. +Among the Proprietors sat Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, +the only lord of Carolina actually upon American ground. Following +instructions from his seven fellows Berkeley now declared this region +separated from Virginia and attached to Carolina. He christened it +Albemarle. Strangely enough, he sent as Governor that Scotchman, William +Drummond, whom some years later he would hang. Drummond should have +a Council of six and an Assembly of freemen that might inaugurate +legislation having to do with local matters but must submit its acts +to the Proprietaries for veto or approval. This was the settlement in +Carolina of Albemarle, back country to Virginia, gatherer thence of many +that were hardy and sound, many that were unfortunate, and many that +were shiftless and untamed. An uncouth nurse of a turbulent democracy +was Albemarle. + +Cape Fear, far down the deeply frayed coast, seemed a proper place to +which to send a colony. The intrusive Massachusetts men were gone. But +"gentlemen and merchants" of Barbados were interested. It is a far +cry from Barbados to the Carolina shore, but so is it a far cry from +England. Many royalists had fled to Barbados during the old troubles, so +that its English population was considerable. A number may have welcomed +the chance to leave their small island for the immense continent; and an +English trading port as far south as Cape Fear must have had a general +appeal. So, in 1665, came Englishmen from Barbados and made, up the Cape +Fear River, a settlement which they named Clarendon, with John Yeamans +of Barbados as Governor. But the colony did not prosper. There arose the +typical colonial troubles--sickness, dissensions, improvidence, quarrels +with the aborigines. Nor was the site the best obtainable. The settlers +finally abandoned the place and scattered to various points along the +northern coast. + +In 1669 the Lords Proprietaries sent out from England three ships, +the Carolina, the Port Royal, and the Albemarle, with about a hundred +colonists aboard. Taking the old sea road, they came at last to +Barbados, and here the Albemarle, seized by a storm, was wrecked. The +two other ships, with a Barbados sloop, sailed on anal were approaching +the Bahamas when another hurricane destroyed the Port Royal. The +Carolina, however, pushed on with the sloop, reached Bermuda, and rested +there; then, together with a small ship purchased in these islands, she +turned west by south and came in March of 1670 to the good harbor of +Port Royal, South Carolina. + +Southward from the harbor where the ships rode, stretched old Florida, +held by the Spaniards. There was the Spanish town, St. Augustine. Thence +Spanish ships might put forth and descend upon the English newcomers. +The colonists after debate concluded to set some further space between +them and lands of Spain. The ships put again to sea, beat northward a +few leagues, and at last entered a harbor into which emptied two rivers, +presently to be called the Ashley and the Cooper. Up the Ashley they +went a little way, anchored, and the colonists going ashore began to +build upon the west bank of the river a town which for the King they +named Charles Town. Ten years later this place was abandoned in favor of +the more convenient point of land between the two rivers. Here then was +builded the second and more enduring Charles Town--Charleston, as we +call it now, in South Carolina. + +Colonists came fast to this Carolina lying south. Barbados sent many; +England, Scotland, and Ireland contributed a share; there came Huguenots +from France, and a certain number of Germans. In ten years after +the first settling the population numbered twelve hundred, and this +presently doubled and went on to increase. The early times were taken up +with the wrestle with the forest, with the Indians, with Spanish alarms, +with incompetent governors, with the Lords Proprietaries' Fundamental +Constitutions, and with the restrictions which English Navigation Laws +imposed upon English colonies. What grains and vegetables and tobacco +they could grow, what cattle and swine they could breed and export, +preoccupied the minds of these pioneer farmers. There were struggling +for growth a rough agriculture and a hampered trade with Barbados, +Virginia, and New England--trade likewise with the buccaneers who +swarmed in the West Indian waters. + +Five hundred good reasons allowed, and had long allowed, free bootery to +flourish in American seas. Gross governmental faults, Navigation +Acts, and a hundred petty and great oppressions, general poverty, +adventurousness, lawlessness, and sympathy of mishandled folk with +lawlessness, all combined to keep Brother of the Coast, Buccaneer, and +Filibuster alive, and their ships upon all seas. Many were no worse than +smugglers; others were robbers with violence; and a few had a dash of +the fiend. All nations had sons in the business. England to the south in +America had just the ragged coast line, with its off-lying islands and +islets, liked by all this gentry, whether smuggler or pirate outright. +Through much of the seventeenth century the settlers on these shores +never violently disapproved of the pirate. He was often a "good fellow." +He brought in needed articles without dues, and had Spanish gold in his +pouch. He was shrugged over and traded with. + +He came ashore to Charles Town, and they traded with him there. At one +time Charles Town got the name of "Rogue's Harbor." But that was not +forever, nor indeed, as years are counted, for long. Better and better +emigrants arrived, to add to the good already there. The better type +prevailed, and gave its tone to the place. There set in, on the Ashley +and Cooper rivers, a fair urban life that yet persists. + +South Carolina was trying tobacco and wheat. But in the last years of +the seventeenth century a ship touching at Charleston left there a bag +of Madagascar rice. Planted, it gave increase that was planted again. +Suddenly it was found that this was the crop for low-lying Carolina. +Rice became her staple, as was tobacco of Virginia. + +For the rice-fields South Carolina soon wanted African slaves, and they +were consequently brought in numbers, in English ships. There began, in +this part of the world, even more than in Virginia, the system of large +plantations and the accompanying aristocratic structure of society. But +in Virginia the planter families lived broadcast over the land, each +upon its own plantation. In South Carolina, to escape heat and sickness, +the planters of rice and indigo gave over to employees the care of +their great holdings and lived themselves in pleasant Charleston. These +plantations, with their great gangs of slaves under overseers, differed +at many points from the more kindly, semi-patriarchal life of the +Virginian plantation. To South Carolina came also the indentured white +laborer, but the black was imported in increasing numbers. + +From the first in the Carolinas there had been promised fair freedom +for the unorthodox. The charters provided, says an early Governor, "an +overplus power to grant liberty of conscience, although at home was a +hot persecuting time." Huguenots, Independents, Quakers, dissenters of +many kinds, found on the whole refuge and harbor. In every colony soon +began the struggle by the dominant color and caste toward political +liberty. King, Company, Lords Proprietaries, might strive to rule from +over the seas. But the new land fast bred a practical rough freedom. The +English settlers came out from a land where political change was in the +air. The stream was set toward the crumbling of feudalism, the rise of +democracy. In the New World, circumstances favoring, the stream became +a tidal river. Governors, councils, assemblies, might use a misleading +phraseology of a quaint servility toward the constituted powers in +England. Tory parties might at times seem to color the land their own +hue. But there always ran, though often roughly and with turbulence, a +set of the stream against autocracy. + +In Carolina, South and North, by the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and in +that region called Albemarle, just back of Virginia, there arose and +went on, through the remainder of the seventeenth century and in the +eighteenth, struggles with the Lords Proprietaries and the Governors +that these named, and behind this a more covert struggle with the Crown. +The details differed, but the issues involved were much the same in +North and South Carolina. The struggle lasted for the threescore and +odd years of the proprietary government and renewed itself upon occasion +after 1729 when the Carolinas became royal colonies. Later, it was +swept, a strong affluent, into the great general stream of colonial +revolt, culminating in the Revolution. + +Into North Carolina, beside the border population entering through +Virginia and containing much of a backwoods and derelict nature, came +many Huguenots, the best of folk, and industrious Swiss, and Germans +from the Rhine. Then the Scotch began to come in numbers, and families +of Scotch descent from the north of Ireland. The tone of society +consequently changed from that of the early days. The ruffian and the +shiftless sank to the bottom. There grew up in North Carolina a +people, agricultural but without great plantations, hardworking and +freedom-loving. + +South Carolina, on the other hand, had great plantations, a town +society, suave and polished, a learned clergy, an aristocratic cast to +life. For long, both North and South clung to the sea-line and to the +lower stretches of rivers where the ships could come in. Only by degrees +did English colonial life push back into the forests away from the sea, +to the hills, and finally across the mountains. + + + +CHAPTER XV. ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD + +In the spring of 1689, Virginians flocked to Jamestown to hear William +and Mary proclaimed Lord and Lady of Virginia. The next year there +entered, as Lieutenant-Governor, Francis Nicholson, an odd character +in whom an immediate violence of temper went with a statesmanlike +conception of things to be. Two years he governed here, then was +transferred to Maryland, and then in seven years came back to the James. +He had not been liked there, but while he was gone Virginia had endured +in his stead Sir Edmund Andros. That had been swapping the witch for the +devil. Virginia in 1698 seems to have welcomed the returning Nicholson. + +Jamestown had been hastily rebuilt, after Bacon's burning, and then by +accident burned again. The word malaria was not in use, but all knew +that there had always been sickness on that low spit running out from +the marshes. The place might well seem haunted, so many had suffered +there and died there. Poetical imagination might have evoked a piece of +sad pageantry--starving times, massacres, quarrels, executions, cruel +and unusual punishments, gliding Indians. A practical question, however, +faced the inhabitants, and all were willing to make elsewhere a new +capital city. + +Seven miles back from the James, about halfway over to the blue York, +stood that cluster of houses called Middle Plantation, where Bacon's men +had taken his Oath. There was planned and builded Williamsburg, which +was to be for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia. It +was named for King William, and there was in the minds of some loyal +colonists the notion, eventually abandoned, of running the streets in +the lines of a huge W and M. The long main street was called Duke of +Gloucester Street, for the short-lived son of that Anne who was soon +to become Queen. At one end of this thoroughfare stood a fair brick +capitol. At the other end nearly a mile away rose the brick William and +Mary College. Its story is worth the telling. + +The formal acquisition of knowledge had long been a problem in Virginia. +Adult colonists came with their education, much or little, gained +already in the mother country. In most cases, doubtless, it was +little, but in many cases it was much. Books were brought in with other +household furnishing. When there began to be native-born Virginians, +these children received from parents and kindred some manner of +training. Ministers were supposed to catechise and teach. Well-to-do +and educated parents brought over tutors. Promising sons were sent to +England to school and university. But the lack of means to knowledge for +the mass of the colony began to be painfully apparent. + +In the time of Charles the First one Benjamin Symms had left his means +for the founding of a free school in Elizabeth County, and his action +had been solemnly approved by the Assembly. By degrees there appeared +other similar free schools, though they were never many nor adequate. +But the first Assembly after the Restoration had made provision for a +college. Land was to have been purchased and the building completed as +speedily as might be. The intent had been good, but nothing more had +been done. + +There was in Virginia, sent as Commissioner of the Established Church, +a Scotch ecclesiastic, Dr. James Blair. In virtue of his office he had a +seat in, the Council, and his integrity and force soon made him a +leader in the colony. A college in Virginia became Blair's dream. He +was supported by Virginia planters with sons to educate--daughters' +education being purely a domestic affair. Before long Blair had raised +in promised subscriptions what was for the time a large sum. With this +for a nucleus he sailed to England and there collected more. Tillotson, +Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, helped +him much. The King and Queen inclined a favorable ear, and, though he +met with opposition in certain quarters, Blair at last obtained his +charter. There was to be built in Virginia and to be sustained by +taxation a great school, "a seminary of ministers of the gospel where +youths may be piously educated in good letters and manners; a certain +place of universal study, or perpetual college of divinity, philosophy, +languages and other good arts and sciences." Blair sailed back to +Virginia with the charter of the college, some money, a plan for the +main building drawn by Christopher Wren, and for himself the office of +President. + +The Assembly, for the benefit of the college, taxed raw and tanned +hides, dressed buckskin, skins of doe and elk, muskrat and raccoon. The +construction of the new seat of learning was begun at Williamsburg. When +it was completed and opened to students, it was named William and Mary. +Its name and record shine fair in old Virginia. Colonial worthies +in goodly number were educated at William and Mary, as were later +revolutionary soldiers and statesmen, and men of name and fame in +the United States. Three American Presidents--Jefferson, Monroe, and +Tyler--were trained there, as well as Marshall, the Chief Justice, four +signers of the Declaration of Independence, and many another man of +mark. + +The seventeenth century is about to pass. France and England are at war. +The colonial air vibrates with the struggle. There is to be a brief lull +after 1697, but the conflict will soon be resumed. The more northerly +colonies, the nearer to New France, feel the stronger pulsation, but +Virginia, too, is shaken. England and France alike play for the support +of the red man. All the western side of America lies open to incursion +from that pressed-back Indian sea of unknown extent and volume. Up and +down, the people, who have had no part in making that European war, +are sensitive to the menace of its dangers. In Virginia they build +blockhouses and they keep rangers on guard far up the great rivers. + +All the world is changing, and the changes are fraught with significance +for America. Feudalism has passed; scholasticism has gone; politics, +commerce, philosophy, religion, science, invention, music, art, and +literature are rapidly altering. In England William and Mary pass away. +Queen Anne begins her reign of twelve years. Then, in 1714, enters the +House of Hanover with George the First. It is the day of Newton and +Locke and Berkeley, of Hume, of Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope, Prior, and +Defoe. The great romantic sixteenth century, Elizabeth's spacious time, +is gone. The deep and narrow, the intense, religious, individualistic +seventeenth century is gone. The eighteenth century, immediate parent of +the nineteenth, grandparent of the twentieth, occupies the stage. + +In the year 1704, just over a decade since Dr. Blair had obtained the +charter for his College, the erratic and able Governor of Virginia, +Francis Nicholson, was recalled. For all that he was a wild talker, he +had on the whole done well for Virginia. He was, as far as is known, +the first person actually to propose a federation or union of all +those English-speaking political divisions, royal provinces, dominions, +palatinates, or what not, that had been hewed away from the vast +original Virginia. He did what he could to forward the movement for +education and the fortunes of the William and Mary College. But he is +quoted as having on one occasion informed the body of the people that +"the gentlemen imposed upon them." Again, he is said to have remarked of +the servant population that they had all been kidnapped and had a lawful +action against their masters. "Sir," he stated to President Blair, who +would have given him advice from the Bishop of London, "Sir, I know how +to govern Virginia and Maryland better than all the bishops in England! +If I had not hampered them in Maryland and kept them under, I should +never have been able to govern them!" To which Blair had to say, "Sir, +if I know anything of Virginia, they are a good-natured, tractable +people as any in the world, and you may do anything with them by way +of civility, but you will never be able to manage them in that way you +speak of, by hampering and keeping them under!"* + + * William and Mary College Quarterly, vol. I, p. 66. + +About this time arrived Claude de Richebourg with a number of Huguenots +who settled above the Falls. First and last, Virginia received many of +this good French strain. The Old Dominion had now a population of +over eighty thousand persons--whites, Indians in no great number, and +negroes. The red men are mere scattered dwellers in the land east of the +mountains. There are Indian villages, but they are far apart. Save upon +the frontier fringe, the Indian attacks no more. But the African is here +to stay. + +"The Negroes live in small Cottages called Quarters... under the +direction of an Overseer or Bailiff; who takes care that they tend such +Land as the Owner allots and orders, upon which they raise Hogs +and Cattle and plant Indian Corn, and Tobacco for the Use of their +Master.... The Negroes are very numerous, some Gentlemen having Hundreds +of them of all Sorts, to whom they bring great Profitt; for the Sake of +which they are obliged to keep them well, and not over-work, starve or +famish them, besides other Inducements to favour them; which is done +in a great Degree, to such especially that are laborious, careful and +honest; tho' indeed some Masters, careless of their own Interest or +deputation, are too cruel and negligent. The Negroes are not only +encreased by fresh supplies from Africa and the West India Islands, but +also are very prolific among themselves; and they that are born here +talk good English and affect our Language, Habits and Customs.... Their +work or Chimerical (hard Slavery) is not very laborious; their greatest +Hardship consisting in that they and their Posterity are not at their +own Liberty or Disposal, but are the Property of their Owners; and +when they are free they know not how to provide so well for themselves +generally; neither did they live so plentifully nor (many of them) so +easily in their own Country where they are made Slaves to one another, +or taken Captive by their Ennemies."* + + * It is an English clergyman, the Reverend Hugh Jones, who + is writing ("The Present State of Virginia") in the year + 1724. He writes and never sees that, though every + amelioration be true, yet there is here old Inequity. + +The white Virginians lived both after the fashion of England and after +fashions made by their New World environment. They are said to have +been in general a handsome folk, tall, well-formed, and with a ready and +courteous manner. They were great lovers of riding, and of all country +life, and few folk in the world might overpass them in hospitality. They +were genial, they liked a good laugh, and they danced to good music. +They had by nature an excellent understanding. Yet, thinks at least +the Reverend Hugh Jones, they "are generally diverted by Business +or Inclination from profound Study, and prying into the Depth of +Things....They are more inclinable to read Men by Business and +Conversation, than to dive into Books... they are apt to learn, yet they +are fond of and will follow their own Ways, Humours and Notions, being +not easily brought to new Projects and Schemes." + +It was as Governor of these people that, in succession to Nicholson, +Edward Nott came to Virginia, the deputy of my Lord Orkney. Nott +died soon afterward, and in 1710 Orkney sent to Virginia in his stead +Alexander Spotswood. This man stands in Virginia history a manly, +honorable, popular figure. Of Scotch parentage, born in Morocco, soldier +under Marlborough, wounded at Blenheim, he was yet in his thirties when +he sailed across the Atlantic to the river James. Virginia liked him, +and he liked Virginia. A man of energy and vision, he first made himself +at home with all, and then after his own impulses and upon his own lines +went about to develop and to better the colony. He had his projects and +his hobbies, mostly useful, and many sounding with a strong modern tone. +Now and again he quarreled with the Assembly, and he made it many a +cutting speech. But it, too, and all Virginia and the world were growing +modern. Issues were disengaging themselves and were becoming distinct. +In these early years of the eighteenth century, Whig and Tory in England +drew sharply over against each other. In Virginia, too, as in Maryland, +the Carolinas, and all the rest of England-in-America, parties were +emerging. The Virginian flair for political life was thus early in +evidence. To the careless eye the colony might seem overwhelmingly for +King and Church. "If New England be called a Receptacle of Dissenters, +and an Amsterdam of Religion, Pennsylvania the Nursery of Quakers; +Maryland the Retirement of Roman Catholicks, North Carolina the Refuge +of Runaways and South Carolina the Delight of Buccaneers and Pyrates, +Virginia may be justly esteemed the happy Retreat of true Britons and +true Churchmen for the most Part." This "for the most part" paints the +situation, for there existed an opposition, a minority, which might grow +to balance, and overbalance. In the meantime the House of Burgesses at +Williamsburg provided a School for Discussion. + +At the time when Parson Jones with his shrewd eyes was observing society +in the Old Dominion, Williamsburg was still a small village, even though +it was the capital. Towns indeed, in any true sense, were nowhere to be +found in Virginia. Yet Williamsburg had a certain distinction. Within +it there arose, beneath and between old forest trees, the college, an +admirable church--Bruton Church--the capitol, the Governor's house or +"palace," and many very tolerable dwelling-houses of frame and brick. +There were also taverns, a marketplace, a bowling-green, an arsenal, and +presently a playhouse. The capitol at Williamsburg was a commodious +one, able to house most of the machinery of state. Here were the Council +Chamber, "where the Governor and Council sit in very great state, in +imitation of the King and Council, or the Lord Chancellor and House of +Lords," and the great room of the House of Burgesses, "not unlike the +House of Commons." Here, at the capitol, met the General Courts in April +and October, the Governor and Council acting as judges. There were also +Oyer and Terminer and Admiralty Courts. There were offices and committee +rooms, and on the cupola a great clock, and near the capitol was "a +strong, sweet Prison for Criminals; and on the other side of an open +Court another for Debtors... but such Prisoners are very rare, the +Creditors being generally very merciful.... At the Capitol, at publick +Times, may be seen a great Number of handsome, well-dressed, compleat +Gentlemen. And at the Governor's House upon Birth-Nights, and at Balls +and Assemblies, I have seen as fine an Appearance, as good Diversion, +and as splendid Entertainments, in Governor Spotswood's Time, as I have +seen anywhere else." + +It is a far cry from the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the +Discovery, from those first booths at Jamestown, from the Starving Time, +from Christopher Newport and Edward-Maria Wingfield and Captain John +Smith to these days of Governor Spotswood. And yet, considering the +changes still to come, a century seems but a little time and the far cry +not so very far. + + +Though the Virginians were in the mass country folk, yet villages or +hamlets arose, clusters of houses pressing about the Court House of each +county. There were now in the colony over a score of settled counties. +The westernmost of these, the frontier counties, were so huge that they +ran at least to the mountains, and, for all one knew to the contrary, +presumably beyond. But "beyond" was a mysterious word of unknown +content, for no Virginian of that day had gone beyond. All the way from +Canada into South Carolina and the Florida of that time stretched the +mighty system of the Appalachians, fifteen hundred miles in length and +three hundred in breadth. Here was a barrier long and thick, with +ridge after ridge of lifted and forested earth, with knife-blade +vales between, and only here and there a break away and an encompassed +treasure of broad and fertile valley. The Appalachians made a true +Chinese Wall, shutting all England-in-America, in those early days, out +from the vast inland plateau of the continent, keeping upon the seaboard +all England-in-America, from the north to the south. To Virginia these +were the mysterious mountains just beyond which, at first, were held +to be the South Sea and Cathay. Now, men's knowledge being larger by a +hundred years, it was known that the South Sea could not be so near. +The French from Canada, going by way of the St. Lawrence and the Great +Lakes, had penetrated very far beyond and had found not the South Sea +but a mighty river flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. What was the real +nature of this world which had been found to lie over the mountains? +More and more Virginians were inclined to find out, foreseeing that they +would need room for their growing population. Continuously came in folk +from the Old Country, and continuously Virginians were born. Maryland +dwelt to the north, Carolina to the south. Virginia, seeking space, must +begin to grow westward. + +There were settlements from the sea to the Falls of the James, and +upon the York, the Rappahannock, and the Potomac. Beyond these, in the +wilderness, might be found a few lonely cabins, a scattered handful of +pioneer folk, small blockhouses, and small companies of rangers charged +with protecting all from Indian foray. All this country was rolling and +hilly, but beyond it stood the mountains, a wall of enchantment, against +the west. + +Alexander Spotswood, hardy Scot, endowed with a good temperamental blend +of the imaginative and the active, was just the man, the time being +ripe, to encounter and surmount that wall. Fortunately, too, the +Virginians were horsemen, man and horse one piece almost, New World +centaurs. They would follow the bridle-tracks that pierced to the hilly +country, and beyond that they might yet make way through the primeval +forest. They would encounter dangers, but hardly the old perils of +seacoast and foothills. Different, indeed, is this adventure of the +Governor of Virginia and his chosen band from the old push afoot into +frowning hostile woods by the men of a hundred and odd years before! + +Spotswood rode westward with a company drawn largely from the colonial +gentry, men young in body or in spirit, gay and adventurous. The +whole expedition was conceived and executed in a key both humorous and +knightly. These "Knights"* set face toward the mountains in August, +1716. They had guides who knew the upcountry, a certain number of +rangers used to Indian ways, and servants with food and much wine in +their charge. So out of settled Virginia they rode, and up the long, +gradual lift of earth above sea-level into a mountainous wilderness, +where before them the Aryan had not come. By day they traveled, and +bivouacked at night. + + * On the sandy roads of settled Virginia horses went unshod, + but for the stony hills and the ultimate cliffs they must + have iron shoes. After the adventure and when the party had + returned to civilization, the Governor, bethinking himself + that there should be some token and memento of the exploit, + had made in London a number of small golden horseshoes, set + as pins to be worn in the lace cravats of the period. Each + adventurer to the mountains received one, and the band has + kept, in Virginian lore, the title of the Knights of the + Golden Horseshoe. + +Higher and more rugged grew the mountains. Some trick of the light made +them show blue, so that they presently came to be called the Blue Ridge, +in contradistinction to the westward lying, gray Alleghanies. They were +like very long ocean combers, with at intervals an abrupt break, a gap, +cliff-guarded, boulder-strewn, with a narrow rushing stream making way +between hemlocks and pines, sycamore, ash and beech, walnut and linden. + +Towards these blue mountains Spotswood and his knights rode day after +day and came at last to the foot of the steep slope. The long ridges +were high, but not so high but that horse and man might make shift to +scramble to the crest. Up they climbed and from the heights they looked +across and down into the Valley of Virginia, twenty miles wide, a +hundred and twenty long--a fertile garden spot. Across the shimmering +distances they saw the gray Alleghanies, fresh barrier to a fresh west. +Below them ran a clear river, afterwards to be called the Shenandoah. +They gazed--they predicted colonists, future plantations, future towns, +for that great valley, large indeed as are some Old World kingdoms. +They drank the health of England's King, and named two outstanding +peaks Mount George and Mount Alexander; then, because their senses were +ravished by the Eden before them, they dubbed the river Euphrates. They +plunged and scrambled down the mountain side to the Euphrates, drank +of it, bathed in it, rested, ate, and drank again. The deep green woods +were around them; above them they could see the hawk, the eagle, and the +buzzard, and at their feet the bright fish of the river. + +At last they reclimbed the Blue Ridge, descended its eastern face, and, +leaving the great wave of it behind them, rode homeward to Williamsburg +in triumph. + +We are thus, with Spotswood and his band, on the threshold of expanding +American vistas. This Valley of Virginia, first a distant Beulah land +for the eye of the imagination only, presently became a land of pioneer +cabins, far apart--very far apart--then a settled land, of farms, +hamlets, and market towns. Nor did the folk come only from that elder +Virginia of tidal waters and much tobacco, of "compleat gentlemen" at +the capital, and of many slaves in the fields. But downward from +the Potomac, they came south into this valley, from Pennsylvania and +Maryland, many of them Ulster Scots who had sailed to the western +world. In America they are called the Scotch Irish, and in the main +they brought stout hearts, long arms, and level heads. With these they +brought in as luggage the dogmas of Calvin. They permeated the Valley +of Virginia; many moved on south into Carolina; finally, in large +part, they made Kentucky and Tennessee. Germans, too, came into the +valley--down from Pennsylvania--quiet, thrifty folk, driven thus far +westward from a war-ravished Rhine. + +Shrewd practicality trod hard upon the heels of romantic fancy in the +mind of Spotswood. His Order of the Knights of the Horseshoe had a +fleeting existence, but the Vision of the West lived on. Frontier folk +in growing numbers were encouraged to make their way from tidewater +to the foot of the Blue Ridge. Spotsylvania and King George were names +given to new counties in the Piedmont in honor of the Governor and +the sovereign. German craftsmen, who had been sent over by Queen +Anne--vine-dressers and ironworkers--were settled on Spotswood's own +estate above the falls of the Rapidan. The little town of Germanna +sprang up, famous for its smelting furnaces. + +To his country seat in Spotsylvania, Alexander Spotswood retired when +he laid down the office of Governor in 1722. But his talents were too +valuable to be allowed to rust in inactivity. He was appointed deputy +Postmaster-General for the English colonies, and in the course of his +administration made one Benjamin Franklin Postmaster for Philadelphia. +He was on the point of sailing with Admiral Vernon on the expedition +against Cartagena in 1740, when he was suddenly stricken and died. He +was buried at Temple Farm by Yorktown. On the expedition to Cartagena +went one Lawrence Washington, who named his country seat after the +Admiral and whose brother George many years later was to receive the +surrender of Cornwallis and his army hard by the resting-place of +Alexander Spotswood. Colonial Virginia lies behind us. The era of +revolution and statehood beckons us on. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. GEORGIA + +Below Charleston in South Carolina, below Cape Fear, below Port Royal, a +great river called the Savannah poured into the sea. Below the Savannah, +past the Ogeechee, sailing south between the sandy islands and the main, +ships came to the mouth of the river Altamaha. Thus far was Carolina. +But below Altamaha the coast and the country inland became debatable, +probably Florida and Spanish, liable at any rate to be claimed as such, +and certainly open to attack from Spanish St. Augustine. + +Here lay a stretch of seacoast and country within hailing distance of +semi-tropical lands. It was low and sandy, with innumerable slow-flowing +watercourses, creeks, and inlets from the sea. The back country, running +up to hills and even mountains stuffed with ores, was not known--though +indeed Spanish adventurers had wandered there and mined for gold. But +the lowlands were warm and dense with trees and wild life. The Huguenot +Ribault, making report of this region years and years before, called it +"a fayre coast stretching of a great length, covered with an infinite +number of high and fayre trees," and he described the land as the +"fairest, fruitfullest, and pleasantest of all the world, abounding in +hony, venison, wilde fowle, forests, woods of all sorts, Palm-trees, +Cypresse and Cedars, Bayes ye highest and greatest; with also the +fayrest vines in all the world.... And the sight of the faire medows +is a pleasure not able to be expressed with tongue; full of Hernes, +Curlues, Bitters, Mallards, Egrepths, Woodcocks, and all other kind +of small birds; with Harts, Hindes, Buckes, wilde Swine, and all other +kindes of wilde beastes, as we perceived well, both by their footing +there and... their crie and roaring in the night."* This is the country +of the liveoak and the magnolia, the gray, swinging moss and the yellow +jessamine, the chameleon and the mockingbird. + + * Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America", vol. + V, p. 357. + +The Savannah and Altamaha rivers and the wide and deep lands between +fell in that grant of Charles II's to the eight Lords Proprietors of +Carolina--Albemarle, Clarendon, and the rest. But this region remained +as yet unpeopled save by copper-hued folk. True, after the "American +Treaty" of 1670 between England and Spain, the English built a small +fort upon Cumberland Island, south of the Altamaha, and presently +another Fort George--to the northwest of the first, at the confluence of +the rivers Oconee and Oemulgee. There were, however, no true colonists +between the Savannah and the Altamaha. + +In the year 1717--the year after Spotswood's Expedition--the Carolina +Proprietaries granted to one Sir Robert Mountgomery all the land +between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, "with proper jurisdictions, +privileges, prerogatives, and franchises." The arrangement was feudal +enough. The new province was to be called the Margravate of Azilia. +Mountgomery, as Margrave, was to render to the Lords of Carolina an +annual quitrent and one-fourth part of all gold and silver found in +Azilia. He must govern in accordance with the laws of England, must +uphold the established religion of England, and provide by taxation for +the maintenance of the clergy. In three years' time the new Margrave +must colonize his Margravate, and if he failed to do so, all his rights +would disappear and Azilia would again dissolve into Carolina. + +This was what happened. For whatever reason, Mountgomery could not +obtain his colonists. Azilia remained a paper land. The years went +by. The country, unsettled yet, lapsed into the Carolina from which so +tentatively it had been parted. Over its spaces the Indian still roved, +the tall forests still lifted their green crowns, and no axe was heard +nor any English voice. + +In the decade that followed, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina ceased +to be Lords Proprietors. Their government had been, save at exceptional +moments, confused, oppressive, now absent-minded, and now mistaken and +arbitrary. They had meant very well, but their knowledge was not exact, +and now virtual revolution in South Carolina assisted their demise. +After lengthy negotiations, at last, in 1729, all except Lord Granville +surrendered to the Crown, for a considerable sum, their rights and +interests. Carolina, South and North, thereupon became royal colonies. + +In England there dwelled a man named James Edward Oglethorpe, son of Sir +Theophilus Oglethorpe of Godalming in Surrey. Though entered at Oxford, +he soon left his books for the army and was present at the siege and +taking of Belgrade in 1717. Peace descending, the young man returned to +England, and on the death of his elder brother came into the estate, and +was presently made Member of Parliament for Haslemere in Surrey. + +His character was a firm and generous one; his bent, markedly humane. +"Strong benevolence of soul," Pope says he had. His century, too, was +becoming humane, was inquiring into ancient wrongs. There arose, among +other things, a belated notion of prison reform. The English Parliament +undertook an investigation, and Oglethorpe was of those named to +examine conditions and to make a report. He came into contact with the +incarcerated--not alone with the law-breaker, hardened or yet to be +hardened, but with the wrongfully imprisoned and with the debtor. The +misery of the debtor seems to have struck with insistent hand upon his +heart's door. The parliamentary inquiry was doubtless productive of some +good, albeit evidently not of great good. But though the inquiry was +over, Oglethorpe's concern was not over. It brooded, and, in the inner +clear light where ideas grow, eventually brought forth results. + +Numbers of debtors lay in crowded and noisome English prisons, there +often from no true fault at all, at times even because of a virtuous +action, oftenest from mere misfortune. If they might but start again, in +a new land, free from entanglements! Others, too, were in prison, whose +crimes were negligible, mere mistaken moves with no evil will behind +them--or, if not so negligible, then happening often through that misery +and ignorance for which the whole world was at fault. There was also the +broad and well-filled prison of poverty, and many of the prisoners there +needed only a better start. James Edward Oglethorpe conceived another +settlement in America, and for colonists he would have all these +down-trodden and oppressed. He would gather, if he might, only those who +when helped would help themselves--who when given opportunity would rise +out of old slough and briar. He was personally open to the appeal of +still another class of unfortunate men. He had seen upon the Continent +the distress of the poor and humble Protestants in Catholic countries. +Folk of this kind--from France, from Germany--had been going in a thin +stream for years to the New World. But by his plan more might be enabled +to escape petty tyranny or persecution. He had influence, and his +scheme appealed to the humane thought of his day--appealed, too, to the +political thought. In America there was that debatable and unoccupied +land south of Charles Town in South Carolina. It would be very good to +settle it, and none had taken up the idea with seriousness since Azilia +had failed. Such a colony as was now contemplated would dispose of +Spanish claims, serve as a buffer colony between Florida and South +Carolina, and establish another place of trade. The upshot was that the +Crown granted to Oglethorpe and twenty associates the unsettled land +between the Savannah and the Altamaha, with a westward depth that +was left quite indefinite. This territory, which was now severed from +Carolina, was named Georgia after his Majesty King George II, and +Oglethorpe and a number of prominent men became the trustees of the new +colony. They were to act as such for twenty-one years, at the end of +which time Georgia should pass under the direct government of the Crown. +Parliament gave to the starting of things ten thousand pounds, and +wealthy philanthropic individuals followed suit with considerable +donations. The trustees assembled, organized, set to work. A +philanthropic body, they drew from the like minded far and near. Various +agencies worked toward getting together and sifting the colonists for +Georgia. Men visited the prisons for debtors and others. They did +not choose at random, but when they found the truly unfortunate and +undepraved in prison they drew them forth, compounded with their +creditors, set the prisoners free, and enrolled them among the +emigrants. Likewise they drew together those who, from sheer poverty, +welcomed this opportunity. And they began a correspondence with +distressed Protestants on the Continent. They also devised and used all +manner of safeguards against imposition and the inclusion of any who +would be wholly burdens, moral or physical. So it happened that, though +misfortune had laid on almost all a heavy hand, the early colonists to +Georgia were by no means undesirable flotsam and jetsam. The plans +for the colony, the hopes for its well-being, wear a tranquil and fair +countenance. + +Oglethorpe himself would go with the first colonists. His ship was the +Anne of two hundred tons burden--the last English colonizing ship with +which this narrative has to do--and to her weathered sails there still +clings a fascination. On board the Anne, beside the crew and master, are +Oglethorpe himself and more than a hundred and twenty Georgia +settlers, men, women, and children. The Anne shook forth her sails in +mid-November, 1732, upon the old West Indies sea road, and after two +months of prosperous faring, came to anchor in Charles Town harbor. + +South Carolina, approving this Georgia settlement which was to open the +country southward and be a wall against Spain, received the colonists +with hospitality. Oglethorpe and the weary colonists rested from long +travel, then hoisted sail again and proceeded on their way to Port +Royal, and southward yet to the mouth of the Savannah. Here there was +further tarrying while Oglethorpe and picked men went in a small boat up +the river to choose the site where they should build their town. + +Here, upon the lower reaches, there lay a fair plateau, a mile +long, rising forty feet above the stream. Near by stood a village of +well-inclined Indians--the Yamacraws. Ships might float upon the +river, close beneath the tree-crowned bluff. It was springtime now and +beautiful in the southern land--the sky azure, the air delicate, the +earth garbed in flowers. Little wonder then that Oglethorpe chose +Yamacraw Bluff for his town. + +A trader from Carolina was found here, and the trader's wife, a +half-breed, Mary Musgrove by name, did the English good service. She +made her Indian kindred friends with the newcomers. From the first +Oglethorpe dealt wisely with the red men. In return for many coveted +goods, he procured within the year a formal cession of the land between +the two rivers and the islands off the coast. He swore friendship and +promised to treat the Indians justly, and he kept his oath. The site +chosen, he now returned to the Anne and presently brought his colonists +up the river to that fair place. As soon as they landed, these first +Georgians began immediately to build a town which they named Savannah. + +Ere long other emigrants arrived. In 1734 came seventy-eight German +Protestants from Salzburg, with Baron von Reck and two pastors for +leaders. The next year saw fifty-seven others added to these. Then came +Moravians with their pastor. All these strong, industrious, religious +folk made settlements upon the river above Savannah. Italians came, +Piedmontese sent by the trustees to teach the coveted silk-culture. +Oglethorpe, when he sailed to England in 1734, took with him +Tomochi-chi, chief of the Yamacraws, and other Indians. English interest +in Georgia increased. Parliament gave more money--26,000 pounds. +Oglethorpe and the trustees gathered more colonists. The Spanish cloud +seemed to be rolling up in the south, and it was desirable to have in +Georgia a number of men who were by inheritance used to war. Scotch +Highlanders--there would be the right folk! No sooner said than +gathered. Something under two hundred, courageous and hardy, were +enrolled from the Highlands. The majority were men, but there were fifty +women and children with them. All went to Georgia, where they settled +to the south of Savannah, on the Altamaha, near the island of St. Simon. +Other Highlanders followed. They had a fort and a town which they named +New Inverness, and the region that they peopled they called Darien. + +Oglethorpe himself left England late in 1735, with two ships, the Symond +and the London Merchant, and several hundred colonists aboard. Of these +folk doubtless a number were of the type the whole enterprise had been +planned to benefit. Others were Protestants from the Continent. Yet +others--notably Sir Francis Bathurst and his family--went at their own +charges. After Oglethorpe himself, most remarkable perhaps of those +going to Georgia were the brothers John and Charles Wesley. Not +precisely colonists are the Wesleys, but prospectors for the souls of +the colonists, and the souls of the Indians--Yamacraws, Uchees, and +Creeks. + +They all landed at Savannah, and now planned to make a settlement south +of their capital city, by the mouth of Altamaha. Oglethorpe chose St. +Simon's Island, and here they built, and called their town Frederica. + +"Each Freeholder had 60 Feet in Front by 90 Feet in depth upon the high +Street for House and Garden; but those which fronted the River had but +30 in Front, by 60 Feet in depth. Each Family had a Bower of Palmetto +Leaves finished upon the back Street in their own Lands. The side toward +the front Street was set out for their Houses. These Palmetto Bowers +were very convenient shelters, being tight in the hardest Rains; they +were about 20 Feet long and 14 Feet wide, and in regular Rows looked +very pretty, the Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome, and of a +good Colour. The whole appeared something like a Camp; for the Bowers +looked like Tents, only being larger and covered with Palmetto Leaves."* + + * Moore's "Voyage to Georgia". Quoted in Winsor's "Narrative + and Critical History of America", vol. V, p. 378. + +Their life sounds idyllic, but it will not always be so. Thunders will +arise; serpents be found in Eden. But here now we leave them--in infant +Savannah--in the Salzburgers' village of Ebenezer and in the Moravian +village nearby--in Darien of the Highlanders--and in Frederica, where +until houses are built they will live in palmetto bowers. + +Virginia, Maryland, the two Carolinas, Georgia--the southern sweep of +England-in-America--are colonized. They have communication with one +another and with middle and northern England-in-America. They also have +communication with the motherland over the sea. The greetings of kindred +and the fruits of labor travel to and fro: over the salt, tumbling +waves. But also go mutual criticism and complaint. "Each man," says +Goethe, "is led and misled after a fashion peculiar to himself." So with +those mass persons called countries. Tension would come about, tension +would relax, tension would return and increase between Mother England +and Daughter America. In all these colonies, in the year with which this +narrative closes, there were living children and young persons who +would see the cord between broken, would hear read the Declaration of +Independence. So--but the true bond could never be broken, for mother +and daughter after all are one. + + + + +THE NAVIGATION LAWS + +Three acts of Parliament--the Navigation Act of 1660, the Staple Act +of 1663, and the Act of 1673 imposing Plantation Duties--laid the +foundation of the old colonial system of Great Britain. Contrary to +the somewhat passionate contentions of older historians, they were not +designed in any tyrannical spirit, though they embodied a theory of +colonization and trade which has long since been discarded. In the +seventeenth century colonies were regarded as plantations existing +solely for the benefit of the mother country. Therefore their trade and +industry must be regulated so as to contribute most to the sea power, +the commerce, and the industry of the home country which gave them +protection. Sir Josiah Child was only expressing a commonplace +observation of the mercantilists when he wrote "That all colonies or +plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms, whereof the trades of +such Plantations are not confined by severe Laws, and good execution of +those Laws, to the Mother-Kingdom." + +The Navigation Act of 1660, following the policy laid down in the +statute of 1651 enacted under the Commonwealth, was a direct blow aimed +at the Dutch, who were fast monopolizing the carrying trade. It forbade +any goods to be imported into or exported from His Majesty's plantations +except in English, Irish, or colonial vessels of which the master +and three fourths of the crew must be English; and it forbade the +importation into England of any goods produced in the plantations unless +carried in English bottoms. Contemporary Englishmen hailed this act +as the Magna Charta of the Sea. There was no attempt to disguise its +purpose. "The Bent and Design," wrote Charles Davenant, "was to make +those colonies as much dependant as possible upon their Mother-Country," +by preventing them from trading independently and so diverting their +wealth. The effect would be to give English, Irish, and colonial +shipping a monopoly of the carrying trade within the Empire. The act +also aided English merchants by the requirement that goods of foreign +origin should be imported directly from the place of production; and +that certain enumerated commodities of the plantations should be carried +only to English ports. These enumerated commodities were products of the +southern and semitropical plantations: "Sugars, Tobacco, Cotton-wool, +Indicoes, Ginger, Fustick or other dyeing wood." + +To benefit British merchants still more directly by making England the +staple not only of plantation products but also of all commodities of +all countries, the Act of 1663 was passed by Parliament. "No Commoditie +of the Growth Production or Manufacture of Europe shall be imported into +any Land Island Plantation Colony Territory or Place to His Majestie +belonging... but what shall be bona fide and without fraude laden and +shipped in England Wales [and] the Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede and +in English built Shipping." The preamble to this famous act breathed no +hostile intent. The design was to maintain "a greater correspondence and +kindnesse" between the plantations and the mother country; to encourage +shipping; to render navigation cheaper and safer; to make "this Kingdome +a Staple not only of the Commodities of those Plantations but also +of the Commodities of other Countries and places for the supplying +of them--" it "being the usage of other nations to keepe their +[Plantations] Trade to themselves." + +The Act of 1673 was passed to meet certain difficulties which arose +in the administration of the Act of 1660. The earlier act permitted +colonial vessels to carry enumerated commodities from the place of +production to another plantation without paying duties. Under cover of +this provision, it was assumed that enumerated commodities, after being +taken to a plantation, could then be sent directly to continental ports +free of duty. The new act provided that, before vessels left a colonial +port, bonds should be given that the enumerated commodities would be +carried only to England. If bonds were not given and the commodities +were taken to another colonial port, plantation duties were collected +according to a prescribed schedule. + +These acts were not rigorously enforced until after the passage of the +administrative act of 1696 and the establishment of admiralty courts. +Even then it does not appear that they bore heavily on the colonies, +or occasioned serious protest. The trade acts of 1764 and 1765 are +described in "The Eve of the Revolution".--EDITOR. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The literature of the Colonial South is like the leaves of Vallombrosa +for multitude. Here may be indicated some volumes useful in any general +survey. + + +VIRGINIA + +Hakluyt's "Principal Voyages." 12 vols. (Hakluyt Society. Extra Series, +1905-1907.) "The Prose Epic of the modern English nation." + +"Purchas, His Pilgrims." 20 vols. (Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, +1905-1907.) + +Hening's "Statutes at Large," published in 1823, is an eminently +valuable collection of the laws of colonial Virginia, beginning with the +Assembly of 1619. Hening's own quotation from Priestley, "The Laws of +a country are necessarily connected with everything belonging to the +people of it: so that a thorough knowledge of them and of their progress +would inform us of everything that was most useful to be known," +indicates the range and weight of his thirteen volumes. + +William Stith's "The History of the Discovery and First Settlement of +Virginia" (1747) gives some valuable documents and a picture of the +first years at Jamestown. + +Alexander Brown's "Genesis of the United States", 2 vols. (1890), is +a very valuable work, giving historical manuscripts and tracts. Less +valuable is his "First Republic in America" (1898), in which the author +attempts to weave his material into a historical narrative. + +Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth +Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey. +The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth +Century" (1907) and "Institutional History of Virginia in the +Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1910). + +John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E. +Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in +lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary +distinction. + +On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give +credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske +accepts the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited +them (2 vols., 1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more +reliable than the "True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters +of Smith's credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles +Deane, Henry Adams, and Alexander Brown. + +Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a +painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in +the light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of +literary attractiveness. + + +MARYLAND + +"The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official +documents of the province. John L. Bozman's "History of Maryland", 2 +vols. (1837), contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658. + +J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece +of work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable +books by John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. +Browne, "Maryland, The History of a Palatinate" ("American Commonwealth +Series," 1884). Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert" +(1890). + + +THE CAROLINAS + +"The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a +mine of information about both North and South Carolina. + +Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), +remains the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729. + +Samuel A. Ashe's "History of North Carolina" (1908) carries the +political history down to 1783. + +Edward McCrady's "History of South Carolina under the Proprietary +Government" (1897) and "South Carolina under the Royal Government" +(1899) have superseded the older histories by Ramsay and Hewitt. + + +GEORGIA + +The best histories of Georgia are those by William B. Stevens, 2 vols. +(1847, 1859), and Charles C. Jones, 2 vols. (1883). Robert Wright's +"Memoir of General James Oglethorpe" (1867) is still the best life of +the founder of Georgia. + +In the "American Nation Series" and in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical +History of America", the reader will find accounts of the Southern +colonies written by specialists and accompanied by much critical +apparatus. Further lists will be found appended to the articles on the +several States in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica", 11th edition. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH *** + +***** This file should be named 2898.txt or 2898.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/9/2898/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean, Justin Philips, The James J. Kelly +Library Of St. Gregory's University, and Alev Akman + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2898.zip b/2898.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9c8693 --- /dev/null +++ b/2898.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70bdf0f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2898 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2898) diff --git a/old/pofos10.txt b/old/pofos10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f61393f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pofos10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5076 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext Pioneers of the Old South, by Johnston + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655 + + +Title: Pioneers of the Old South, A Chronicle of English Colonial Beginnings + +Author: Mary Johnston + +Release Date: November, 2001 [Etext #2898] +[Most recently updated June 24, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Project Gutenberg's Etext Pioneers of the Old South, by Johnston +******This file should be named pofos10.txt or pofos10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, pofos11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pofos10a.txt + +Scanned by Dianne Bean. +Proofread by Justin Philips + +THIS BOOK, VOLUME 5 IN THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES, ALLEN JOHNSON, +EDITOR, WAS DONATED TO PROJECT GUTENBERG BY THE JAMES J. KELLY LIBRARY OF +ST. +GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 +or +ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 + +Or /etext00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +Something is needed to create a future for Project Gutenberg for +the next 100 years. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and will be tax deductible to the extent +permitted by law. + +Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655 [USA] + +We are working with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation to build more stable support and ensure the +future of Project Gutenberg. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +You can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext01, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + + + +THIS BOOK, VOLUME 5 IN THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES, ALLEN JOHNSON, +EDITOR, WAS DONATED TO PROJECT GUTENBERG BY THE JAMES J. KELLY LIBRARY OF +ST. +GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + +Scanned by Dianne Bean. +Proofread by Justin Philips + + + + + +PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH, A CHRONICLE OF ENGLISH COLONIAL BEGINNINGS + +BY MARY JOHNSTON + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. THE THREE SHIPS SAIL +II. THE ADVENTURERS +III. JAMESTOWN +IV. JOHN SMITH +V. THE SEA ADVENTURE +VI. SIR THOMAS DALE +VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA +VIII. ROYAL GOVERNMENT +IX. MARYLAND +X. CHURCH AND KINGDOM +XI. COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION +XII. NATHANIEL BACON +XIII. REBELLION AND CHANGE +XIV. THE CAROLINAS +XV. ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD +XVI. GEORGIA + +THE NAVIGATION LAWS + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH + +CHAPTER I. THE THREE SHIPS SAIL + +Elizabeth of England died in 1603. There came to the English throne James +Stuart, King of Scotland, King now of England and Scotland. In 1604 a +treaty of peace ended the long war with Spain. Gone was the sixteenth +century; here, though in childhood, was the seventeenth century. + +Now that the wars were over, old colonization schemes were revived in the +English mind. Of the motives, which in the first instance had prompted +these schemes, some with the passing of time had become weaker, some +remained quite as strong as before. Most Englishmen and women knew now that +Spain had clay feet; and that Rome, though she might threaten, could not +always perform what she threatened. To abase the pride of Spain, to make +harbors of refuge for the angel of the Reformation--these wishes, though +they had not vanished, though no man could know how long the peace with +Spain would last, were less fervid than they had been in the days of Drake. +But the old desire for trade remained as strong as ever. It would be a +great boon to have English markets in the New World, as well as in the Old, +to which merchants might send their wares, and from which might be drawn in +bulk, the raw stuffs that were needed at home. The idea of a surplus +population persisted; England of five million souls still thought that she +was crowded and that it would be well to have a land of younger sons, a +land of promise for all not abundantly provided for at home. It were surely +well, for mere pride's sake, to have due lot and part in the great New +World! And wealth like that which Spain had found was a dazzle and a lure. +"Why, man, all their dripping-pans are pure gold, and all the chains with +which they chain up their streets are massy gold; all the prisoners they +take are fettered in gold; and for rubies and diamonds they go forth on +holidays and gather 'em by the seashore!" So the comedy of "Eastward Ho!" +seen on the London stage in 1605--"Eastward Ho!" because yet they thought +of America as on the road around to China. + +In this year Captain George Weymouth sailed across the sea and spent a +summer month in North Virginia--later, New England. Weymouth had powerful +backers, and with him sailed old adventurers who had been with Raleigh. +Coming home to England with five Indians in his company, Weymouth and his +voyage gave to public interest the needed fillip towards action. Here was +the peace with Spain, and here was the new interest in Virginia. "Go to!" +said Mother England. "It is time to place our children in the world!" + +The old adventurers of the day of Sir Humphrey Gilbert had acted as +individuals. Soon was to come in the idea of cooperative action--the idea +of the joint-stock company, acting under the open permission of the Crown, +attended by the interest and favor of numbers of the people, and giving to +private initiative and personal ambition, a public tone. Some men of +foresight would have had Crown and Country themselves the adventurers, +superseding any smaller bodies. But for the moment the fortunes of Virginia +were furthered by a group within the great group, by a joint-stock company, +a corporation. + +In 1600 had come into being the East India Company, prototype of many +companies to follow. Now, six years later, there arose under one royal +charter two companies, generally known as the London and the Plymouth. The +first colony planted by the latter was short-lived. Its letters patent were +for North Virginia. Two ships, the Mary and John and the Gift of God, +sailed with over a hundred settlers. These men, reaching the coast of what +is now Maine, built a fort and a church on the banks of the Kennebec. Then +followed the usual miseries typical of colonial venture--sickness, +starvation, and a freezing winter. With the return of summer the enterprise +was abandoned. The foundation of New England was delayed awhile, her +Pilgrims yet in England, though meditating that first remove to Holland, +her Mayflower only a ship of London port, staunch, but with no fame above +another. + +The London Company, soon to become the Virginia Company, therefore engages +our attention. The charter recites that Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George +Somers, Knights, Richard Hakluyt, clerk, Prebendary of Westminster, +Edward-Maria Wingfield, and other knights, gentlemen, merchants, and +adventurers, wish "to make habitation, plantation, and to deduce a colony +of sundry of our people into that part of America commonly called +Virginia." It covenants with them and gives them for a heritage all America +between the thirty-fourth and the fortyfirst parallels of latitude. + +The thirty-fourth parallel passes through the middle of what is now South +Carolina; the forty-first grazes New York, crosses the northern tip of New +Jersey, divides Pennsylvania, and so westward across to that Pacific or +South Sea that the age thought so near to the Atlantic. All England might +have been placed many times over in what was given to those knights, +gentlemen, merchants, and others. + +The King's charter created a great Council of Virginia, sitting in London, +governing from overhead. In the new land itself there should exist a second +and lesser council. The two councils had authority within the range of +Virginian matters, but the Crown retained the power of veto. The Council in +Virginia might coin money for trade with the Indians, expel invaders, +import settlers, punish illdoers, levy and collect taxes--should have, in +short, dignity and power enough for any colony. Likewise, acting for the +whole, it might give and take orders "to dig, mine and search for all +manner of mines of gold, silver and copper . . . to have and enjoy . . . +yielding to us, our heirs and successors, the fifth part only of all the +same gold and silver, and the fifteenth part of all the same copper." + +Now are we ready--it being Christmas-tide of the year 1606--to go to +Virginia. Riding on the Thames, before Blackwall, are three ships, small +enough in all conscience' sake, the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the +Discovery. The Admiral of this fleet is Christopher Newport, an old seaman +of Raleigh's. Bartholomew Gosnold captains the Goodspeed, and John +Ratcliffe the Discovery. The three ships have aboard their crews and one +hundred and twenty colonists, all men. The Council in Virginia is on board, +but it does not yet know itself as such, for the names of its members have +been deposited by the superior home council in a sealed box, to be opened +only on Virginia soil. + +The colonists have their paper of instructions. They shall find out a safe +port in the entrance of a navigable river. They shall be prepared against +surprise and attack. They shall observe "whether the river on which you +plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If it be out of any +lake the passage to the other sea will be the more easy, and like enough . +. . you shall find some spring which runs the contrary way toward the East +India sea." They must avoid giving offense to the "naturals" -- must choose a +healthful place for their houses -- must guard their shipping. They are to set +down in black and white for the information of the Council at home all such +matters as directions and distances, the nature of soils and forests and +the various commodities that they may find. And no man is to return from +Virginia without leave from the Council, and none is to write home any +discouraging letter. The instructions end, "Lastly and chiefly, the way to +prosper and to achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind +for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God, the +Giver of all Goodness, for every plantation which our Heavenly Father hath +not planted shall be rooted out." + +Nor did they lack verses to go by, as their enterprise itself did not lack +poetry. Michael Drayton wrote for them:-- + +Britons, you stay too long, +Quickly aboard bestow you, + And with a merry gale, + Swell your stretched sail, +With vows as strong +As the winds that blow you. + +Your course securely steer, +West and by South forth keep; + Rocks, lee shores nor shoals, + Where Eolus scowls, +You need not fear, + +So absolute the deep. +And cheerfully at sea + Success you still entice, + To get the pearl and gold, +And ours to hold +VIRGINIA, +Earth's only paradise! . . . + +And in regions far +Such heroes bring ye forth + As those from whom we came; + And plant our name +Under that star +Not known unto our north. + +See the parting upon Thames's side, Englishmen going, English kindred, +friends, and neighbors calling farewell, waving hat and scarf, standing +bare-headed in the gray winter weather! To Virginia--they are going to +Virginia! The sails are made upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and +the Discovery. The last wherry carries aboard the last adventurer. The +anchors are weighed. Down the river the wind bears the ships toward the +sea. Weather turning against them, they taste long delay in the Downs, but +at last are forth upon the Atlantic. Hourly the distance grows between +London town and the outgoing folk, between English shores. and where the +surf breaks on the pale Virginian beaches. Far away--far away and long +ago--yet the unseen, actual cables hold, and yesterday and today stand +embraced, the lips of the Thames meet the lips of the James, and the breath +of England mingles with the breath of America. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE ADVENTURERS + +What was this Virginia to which they were bound? In the sixteenth and early +seventeenth centuries the name stood for a huge stretch of littoral, +running southward from lands of long winters and fur-bearing animals to +lands of the canebrake, the fig, the magnolia, the chameleon, and the +mockingbird. The world had been circumnavigated; Drake had passed up the +western coast--and yet cartographers, the learned, and those who took the +word from the learned, strangely visualized the North American mainland as +narrow indeed. Apparently, they conceived it as a kind of extended Central +America. The huge rivers puzzled them. There existed a notion that these +might be estuaries, curling and curving through the land from sea to sea. +India--Cathay--spices and wonders and Orient wealth--lay beyond the South +Sea, and the South Sea was but a few days' march from Hatteras or +Chesapeake. The Virginia familiar to the mind of the time lay extended, and +she was very slender. Her right hand touched the eastern ocean, and her +left hand touched the western. + +Contact and experience soon modified this general notion. Wider knowledge, +political and economic considerations, practical reasons of all kinds, drew +a different physical form for old Virginia. Before the seventeenth century +had passed away, they had given to her northern end a baptism of other +names. To the south she was lopped to make the Carolinas. Only to the west, +for a long time, she seemed to grow, while like a mirage the South Sea and +Cathay receded into the distance. + +This narrative, moving with the three ships from England, and through a +time span of less than a hundred and fifty years, deals with a region of +the western hemisphere a thousand miles in length, several hundred in +breadth, stretching from the Florida line to the northern edge of +Chesapeake Bay, and from the Atlantic to the Appalachians. Out of this +Virginia there grow in succession the ancient colonies and the modern +States of Virginia, Maryland, South and North Carolina, and Georgia. + +But for many a year Virginia itself was the only settlement and the only +name. This Virginia was a country favored by nature. Neither too hot nor +too cold, it was rich-soiled and capable of every temperate growth in its +sunniest aspect. Great rivers drained it, flowing into a great bay, almost +a sea, many-armed as Briareus, affording safe and sheltered harbors. +Slowly, with beauty, the land mounted to the west. The sun set behind +wooded mountains, long wave-lines raised far back in geologic time. The +valleys were many and beautiful, watered by sliding streams. Back to the +east again, below the rolling land, were found the shimmering levels, the +jewel-green marshes, the wide, slow waters, and at last upon the Atlantic +shore the thunder of the rainbow-tinted surf. Various and pleasing was the +country. Springs and autumns were long and balmy, the sun shone bright, there +was much blue sky, a rich flora and fauna. There were mineral wealth and +water power, and breadth and depth for agriculture. Such was the Virginia +between the Potomac and the Dan, the Chesapeake and the Alleghanies. + +This, and not the gold-bedight slim neighbor of Cathay, was now the lure of +the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery. But those aboard, +obsessed by Spanish America, imperfectly knowing the features and distances +of the orb, yet clung to their first vision. But they knew there would be +forest and Indians. Tales enough had been told of both! + +What has to be imaged is a forest the size of Virginia. Here and there, +chiefly upon river banks, show small Indian clearings. Here and there are +natural meadows, and toward the salt water great marshes, the home of +waterfowl. But all these are little or naught in the whole, faint +adornments sewed upon a shaggy garment, green in summer, flame-hued in +autumn, brown in winter, green and flower-colored in the spring. Nor was +the forest to any appreciable extent like much Virginian forest of today, +second growth, invaded, hewed down, and renewed, to hear again the sound of +the axe, set afire by a thousand accidents, burning upon its own funeral +pyres, all its primeval glory withered. The forest of old Virginia was +jocund and powerful, eternally young and eternally old. The forest was +Despot in the land--was Emperor and Pope. + +With the forest went the Indian. They had a pact together. The Indians +hacked out space for their villages of twenty or thirty huts, their maize +and bean fields and tobacco patches. They took saplings for poles and bark +to cover the huts and wood for fires. The forest gave canoe and bow and +arrow, household bowls and platters, the sides of the drum that was beaten +at feasts. It furnished trees serviceable for shelter when the foe was +stalked. It was their wall and roof, their habitat. It was one of the Four +Friends of the Indians--the Ground, the Waters, the Sky, the Forest. The +forest was everywhere, and the Indians dwelled in the forest. Not +unnaturally, they held that this world was theirs. + +Upon the three ships, sailing, sailing, moved a few men who could speak +with authority of the forest and of Indians. Christopher Newport was upon +his first voyage to Virginia, but he knew the Indies and the South American +coast. He had sailed and had fought under Francis Drake. And Bartholomew +Gosnold had explored both for himself and for Raleigh. These two could tell +others what to look for. In their company there was also John Smith. This +gentleman, it is true, had not wandered, fought, and companioned with +romance in America, but he had done so everywhere else. He had as yet no +experience with Indians, but he could conceive that rough experiences were +rough experiences, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. And as he +knew there was a family likeness among dangerous happenings, so also he +found one among remedies, and he had a bag full of stories of strange +happenings and how they should be met. + +They were going the old, long West Indies sea road. There was time enough +for talking, wondering, considering the past, fantastically building up the +future. Meeting in the ships' cabins over ale tankards, pacing up and down +the small high-raised poop-decks, leaning idle over the side, watching +the swirling dark-blue waters or the stars of night, lying idle upon the +deck, propped by the mast while the trade-winds blew and up beyond sail and +rigging curved the sky--they had time enough indeed to plan for marvels! If +they could have seen ahead, what pictures of things to come they might have +beheld rising, falling, melting one into another! + +Certain of the men upon the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the +Discovery stand out clearly, etched against the sky. + +Christopher Newport might be forty years old. He had been of Raleigh's +captains and was chosen, a very young man, to bring to England from the +Indies the captured great carrack, Madre de Dios, laden with fabulous +treasure. In all, Newport was destined to make five voyages to Virginia, +carrying supply and aid. After that, he would pass into the service of the +East India Company, know India, Java, and the Persian Gulf; would be +praised by that great company for sagacity, energy, and good care of his +men. Ten years' time from this first Virginia voyage, and he would die upon +his ship, the Hope, before Bantam in Java. + +Bartholomew Gosnold, the captain of the Goodspeed, had sailed with thirty +others, five years before, from Dartmouth in a bark named the Concord. He +had not made the usual long sweep southward into tropic waters, there to +turn and come northward, but had gone, arrowstraight, across the north +Atlantic--one of the first English sailors to make the direct passage and +save many a weary sea league. Gosnold and his men had seen Cape Ann and +Cape Cod, and had built upon Cuttyhunk, among the Elizabeth Islands, a +little fort thatched with rushes. Then, hardships thronging and quarrels +developing, they had filled their ship with sassafras and cedar, and sailed +for home over the summer Atlantic, reaching England, with "not one cake of +bread" left but only "a little vinegar." Gosnold, guiding the Goodspeed, is +now making his last voyage, for he is to die in Virginia within the year. + +George Percy, brother of the Earl of Northumberland, has fought bravely in +the Low Countries. He is to stay five years in Virginia, to serve there a +short time as Governor, and then, returning to England, is to write "A +Trewe Relacyion", in which he begs to differ from John Smith's "Generall +Historie." Finally, he goes again to the wars in the Low Countries, serves +with distinction, and dies, unmarried, at the age of fifty-two. His +portrait shows a long, rather melancholy face, set between a lace collar +and thick, dark hair. + +A Queen and a Cardinal--Mary Tudor and Reginald Pole--had stood sponsors +for the father of Edward-Maria Wingfield. This man, of an ancient and + +honorable stock, was older than most of his fellow adventurers to Virginia. +He had fought in Ireland, fought in the Low Countries, had been a prisoner +of war. Now he was presently to become "the first president of the first +council in the first English colony in America." And then, miseries +increasing and wretched men being quick to impute evil, it was to be held +with other assertions against him that he was of a Catholic family, that he +traveled without a Bible, and probably meant to betray Virginia to the +Spaniard. He was to be deposed from his presidency, return to England, +and there write a vindication. "I never turned my face from daunger, or +hidd my handes from labour; so watchful a sentinel stood myself to myself." +With John Smith he had a bitter quarrel. + +Upon the Discovery is one who signed himself "John Radclyffe, comenly +called," and who is named in the London Company's list as "Captain John +Sicklemore, alias Ratcliffe." He will have a short and stormy Virginian +life, and in two years be done to death by Indians. John Smith quarreled +with him also. "A poor counterfeited Imposture!" said Smith. Gabriel Archer +is a lawyer, and first secretary or recorder of the colony. Short, too, is +his life. His name lives in Archer's Hope on the James River in Virginia. +John Smith will have none of him! George Kendall's life is more nearly spun +than Ratcliffe's or Archer's. He will be shot for treason and rebellion. +Robert Hunt is the chaplain. Besides those whom the time dubbed +"gentlemen," there are upon the three ships English sailors, English +laborers, six carpenters, two bricklayers, a blacksmith, a tailor, a +barber, a drummer, other craftsmen, and nondescripts. Up and down and to +and fro they pass in their narrow quarters, microscopic upon the bosom of +the ocean. + +John Smith looms large among them. John Smith has a mantle of marvelous +adventure. It seems that he began to make it when he was a boy, and for +many years worked upon it steadily until it was stiff as cloth of gold and +voluminous as a puffed-out summer cloud. Some think that much of it was +such stuff as dreams are made of. Probably some breadths were the fabric of +vision. Still it seems certain that he did have some kind of an +extraordinary coat or mantle. The adventures which he relates of himself +are those of a paladin. Born in 1579 or 1580, he was at this time still a +young man. But already he had fought in France and in the Netherlands, and +in Transylvania against the Turks. He had known sea-fights and shipwrecks +and had journeyed, with adventures galore, in Italy. Before Regal, in +Transylvania, he had challenged three Turks in succession, unhorsed them, +and cut off their heads, for which doughty deed Sigismund, a Prince of +Transylvania, had given him a coat of arms showing three Turks' heads in a +shield. Later he had been taken in battle and sold into slavery, whereupon +a Turkish lady, his master's sister, had looked upon him with favor. But at +last he slew the Turk and escaped, and after wandering many days in misery +came into Russia. "Here, too, I found, as I have always done when in +misfortune, kindly help from a woman." He wandered on into Germany and thence +into France and Spain. Hearing of wars in Barbary, he crossed from Gibraltar. +Here he met the captain of a French man-of-war. One day while he was with this +man there arose a great storm which drove the ship out to sea. They went +before the wind to the Canaries, and there put themselves to rights and began +to chase Spanish barks. Presently they had a great fight with two Spanish men-of-war, in which the French +ship and Smith came off victors. Returning to +Morocco, Smith bade the French captain good-bye and took ship for England, and +so reached home in 1604. Here he sought the company of like-minded men, and so +came upon those who had been to the New World--"and all their talk was of its +wonders." So Smith joined the Virginia undertaking, and so we find him headed +toward new adventures in the western world. + +On sailed the three ships--little ships--sailing-ships with a long way to go. + +"The twelfth day of February at night we saw a blazing starre and presently +a storme . . . . The three and twentieth day [of March] we fell with the +Iland of Mattanenio in the West Indies. The foure and twentieth day we +anchored at Dominico, within fourteene degrees of the Line, a very faire +Iland, full of sweet and good smells, inhabited by many Savage Indians .... +The six and twentieth day we had sight of Marigalanta, and the next day wee +sailed with a slacke sail alongst the Ile of Guadalupa . . . . We sailed by +many Ilands, as Mounserot and an Iland called Saint Christopher, both +uninhabited; about two a clocke in the afternoone wee anchored at the Ile +of Mevis. There the Captaine landed all his men . . . . We incamped +ourselves on this Ile six days . . . . The tenth day [April] we set saile +and disimboged out of the West Indies and bare our course Northerly .... +The six and twentieth day of Aprill, about foure a clocke in the morning, +wee descried the Land of Virginia."* + +* Percy's "Discourse in Purchas, His Pilgrims," vol. IV, p. 1684. +Also given in Brown's "Genesis of the United States", vol. I, p. 152. + + +During the long months of this voyage, cramped in the three ships, these +men, most of them young and of the hot-blooded, physically adventurous +sort, had time to develop strong likings and dislikings. The hundred and +twenty split into opposed camps. The several groups nursed all manner of +jealousies. Accusations flew between like shuttlecocks. The sealed box that +they carried proved a manner of Eve's apple. All knew that seven on board +were councilors and rulers, with one of the number President, but they knew +not which were the seven. Smith says that this uncertainty wrought much +mischief, each man of note suggesting to himself, "I shall be +President--or, at least, Councilor!" The ships became cursed with a pest of +factions. A prime quarrel arose between John Smith and Edward-Maria +Wingfield, two whose temperaments seem to have been poles apart. There +arose a "scandalous report, that Smith meant to reach Virginia only to +usurp the Government, murder the Council, and proclaim himself King." The +bickering deepened into forthright quarrel, with at last the expected +explosion. Smith was arrested, was put in irons, and first saw Virginia as +a prisoner. + +On the twenty-sixth day of April, 1607, the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, +and the Discovery entered Chesapeake Bay. They came in between two capes, +and one they named Cape Henry after the then Prince of Wales, and the other +Cape Charles for that brother of short-lived Henry who was to become +Charles the First. By Cape Henry they anchored, and numbers from the ships +went ashore. "But," says George Percy's Discourse, "we could find nothing +worth the speaking of, but faire meadows and goodly tall Trees, with such +Fresh-waters running through the woods as I was almost ravished at the +first sight thereof. At night, when wee were going aboard, there came the +Savages creeping upon all foure from the Hills like Beares, with their +Bowes in their mouths, charged us very desperately in the faces, hurt +Captaine Gabriel Archer in both his hands, and a sayler in two places of +the body very dangerous. After they had spent their Arrowes and felt the +sharpnesse of our shot, they retired into the Woods with a great noise, and +so left us." + +That very night, by the ships' lanterns, Newport, Gosnold, and Ratcliffe +opened the sealed box. The names of the councilors were found to be +Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Ratcliffe, Edward-Maria +Wingfield, John Martin, John Smith, and George Kendall, with Gabriel Archer +for recorder. From its own number, at the first convenient time, this +Council was to choose its President. All this was now declared and +published to all the company upon the ships. John Smith was given his +freedom but was not yet allowed place in the Council. So closed an exciting +day. In the morning they pressed in parties yet further into the land, but +met no Indians--only came to a place where these savages had been roasting +oysters. The next day saw further exploring. "We marched some three or +foure miles further into the Woods where we saw great smoakes of fire. Wee +marched to those smoakes and found that the Savages had beene there burning +downe the grasse . . . .We passed through excellent ground full of Flowers +of divers kinds and colours, anal as goodly trees as I have seene, as +cedar, cipresse and other kindes; going a little further we came into a +little plat of ground full of fine and beautifull strawberries, foure times +bigger and better than ours in England. All this march we could neither see +Savage nor Towne."* + +* Percy's "Discourse." + + +The ships now stood into those waters which we call Hampton Roads. Finding +a good channel and taking heart therefrom, they named a horn of land Point +Comfort. Now we call it Old Point Comfort. Presently they began to go up a +great river which they christened the James. To English eyes it was a river +hugely wide. They went slowly, with pauses and waitings and adventures. +They consulted their paper of instructions; they scanned the shore for good +places for their fort, for their town. It was May, and all the rich banks +were in bloom. It seemed a sweet-scented world of promise. They saw +Indians, but had with these no untoward encounters. Upon the twelfth of May +they came to a point of land which they named Archer's Hope. Landing here, +they saw "many squirels, conies, Black Birds with crimson wings, and divers +other Fowles and Birds of divers and sundrie colours of crimson, watchet, +Yellow, Greene, Murry, and of divers other hewes naturally without any art +using . . . store of Turkie nests and many Egges." They liked this place, +but for shoal water the ships could not come near to land. So on they went, +eight miles up the river. + +Here, upon the north side, thirty-odd miles from the mouth, they came to a +certain peninsula, an island at high water. Two or three miles long, less +than a mile and a half in breadth, at its widest place composed of marsh +and woodland, it ran into the river, into six fathom water, where the ships +might be moored to the trees. It was this convenient deep water that +determined matters. Here came to anchor the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and +the Discovery. Here the colonists went ashore. Here the members of the Council +were sworn, and for the first President was chosen Edward-Maria Wingfield. +Here, the first roaming and excitement abated, they began to unlade the ships, +and to build the fort and also booths for their present sleeping. A church, +too, they must have at once, and forthwith made it with a stretched sail for +roof and a board between two trees whereon to rest Bible and Book of Prayer. +Here, for the first time in all this wilderness, rang English axe in American +forest, here was English law and an English town, here sounded English +speech. Here was placed the germ of that physical, mental, and, spiritual +power which is called the United States of America. + + + +CHAPTER III. JAMESTOWN + +In historians' accounts of the first months at Jamestown, too much, +perhaps, has been made of faction and quarrel. All this was there. Men set +down in a wilderness, amid Virginian heat, men, mostly young, of the active +rather than the reflective type, men uncompanioned by women and children, +men beset with dangers and sufferings that were soon to tag heavily their +courage and patience--such men naturally quarreled and made up, quarreled +again and again made up, darkly suspected each the other, as they darkly +suspected the forest and the Indian; then, need of friendship dominating, +embraced each the other, felt the fascination of the forest, and trusted +the Indian. However much they suspected rebellion, treacheries, and +desertions, they practiced fidelities, though to varying degrees, and +there was in each man's breast more or less of courage and good intent. +They were prone to call one another villain, but actual villainy--save as +jealousy, suspicion, and hatred are villainy--seems rarely to have been +present. Even one who was judged a villain and shot for his villainy seems +hardly to have deserved such fate. Jamestown peninsula turned out to be +feverous; fantastic hopes were matched by strange fears; there were +homesickness, incompatibilities, unfamiliar food and water and air, class +differences in small space, some petty tyrannies, and very certain dangers. +The worst summer heat was not yet, and the fort was building. Trees must be +felled, cabins raised, a field cleared for planting, fishing and hunting +carried on. And some lading, some first fruits, must go back in the ships. +No gold or rubies being as yet found, they would send instead cedar and +sassafras--hard work enough, there at Jamestown, in the Virginian +low-country, with May warm as northern midsummer, and all the air charged +with vapor from the heated river, with exhalations from the rank forest, +from the many marshes. + +"The first night of our landing, about midnight," says George Percy in his +"Discourse", "there came some Savages sayling close to our quarter; +presently there was an alarm given; upon that the savages ran away . . . . +Not long after there came two Savages that seemed to be Commanders, bravely +dressed, with Crownes of coloured haire upon their heads, which came as +Messengers from the Werowance of Paspihe, telling us that their Werowance +was comming and would be merry with us with a fat Deere. The eighteenth day +the Werowance of Paspihe came himselfe to our quarter, with one hundred +Savages armed which guarded him in very warlike manner with Bowes and +Arrowes." Some misunderstanding arose. "The Werowance, [seeing] us take to +our armes, went suddenly away with all his company in great anger." The +nineteenth day Percy with several others going into the woods back of the +peninsula met with a narrow path traced through the forest. Pursuing it, +they came to an Indian village. "We Stayed there a while and had of them +strawberries and other thinges . .. . One of the Savages brought us on the +way to the Woodside where there was a Garden of Tobacco and other fruits +and herbes; he gathered Tobacco and distributed to every one of us, so wee +departed." + +It is evident that neither race yet knew if it was to be war or peace. What +the white man thought and came to think of the red man has been set down +often enough; there is scantier testimony as to what was the red man's +opinion of the white man. Here imagination must be called upon. + +Newport's instructions from the London Council included exploration before +he should leave the colonists and bring the three ships back to England. +Now, with the pinnace and a score of men, among whom was John Smith, he +went sixty miles up the river to where the flow is broken by a world of +boulders and islets, to the hills crowned today by Richmond, capital of +Virginia. The first adventurers called these rapid and whirling waters the +Falls of the Farre West. To their notion they must lie at least half-way +across the breadth of America. Misled by Indian stories, they believed and +wrote that five or six days' march from the Falls of the Farre West, even +through the thick forest, would bring them to the South Sea. The Falls of +the Farre West, where at Richmond the James goes with a roaring sound +around tree-crowned islet--it is strange to think that they once marked our +frontier! How that frontier has been pushed westward is a romance indeed. +And still, today, it is but a five or six days' journey to that South Sea +sought by those early Virginians. The only condition for us is that we +shall board a train. Tomorrow, with the airship, the South Sea may come +nearer yet! + +The Indians of this part of the earth were of the great Algonquin family, +and the tribes with which the colonists had now to do were drawn, probably +by a polity based on blood ties, into a loose confederation within the +larger mass. Newport was "told that the name of the river was Powhatan, +the name of the chief Powhatan, and the name of the people Powhatans." But +it seemed that the chief Powhatan was not at this village but at another +and a larger place named Werowocomoco, on a second great river in the back +country to the north and east of Jamestown. Newport and his men were "well +entreated" by the Indians. "But yet," says Percy, "the Savages murmured at +our planting in the Countrie." + +The party did not tarry up the river. Back came their boat through the +bright weather, between the verdurous banks, all green and flower-tinted +save where might be seen the brown of Indian clearings with bark-covered +huts and thin, up-curling blue smoke. Before them once more rose Jamestown, +palisaded now, and riding before it the three ships. And here there barked +an English dog, and here were Englishmen to welcome Englishmen. Both +parties had news to tell, but the town had most. On the 26th of May, +Indians had made an attack four hundred of them with the Werowance of +Paspihe. One Englishman had been killed, a number wounded. Four of the +Council had each man his wound. + +Newport must now lift anchor and sail away to England. He left at Jamestown +a fort "having three Bulwarkes at every corner like a halfe Moone, and +foure or five pieces of Artillerie mounted in them," a street or two of +reed-thatched cabins, a church to match, a storehouse, a market-place and +drill ground, and about all a stout palisade with a gate upon the river +side. He left corn sown and springing high, and some food in the +storehouse. And he left a hundred Englishmen who had now tasted of the +country fare and might reasonably fear no worse chance than had yet +befallen. Newport promised to return in twenty weeks with full supplies. + +John Smith says that his enemies, chief amongst whom was Wingfield, would +have sent him with Newport to England, there to stand trial for attempted +mutiny, whereupon he demanded a trial in Virginia, and got it and was fully +cleared. He now takes his place in the Council, beforetime denied him. He +has good words only for Robert Hunt, the chaplain, who, he says, went from +one to the other with the best of counsel. Were they not all here in the +wilderness together, with the savages hovering about them like the +Philistines about the Jews of old? How should the English live, unless +among themselves they lived in amity? So for the moment factions were +reconciled, and all went to church to partake of the Holy Communion. + +Newport sailed, having in the holds of his ships sassafras and valuable +woods but no gold to meet the London Council's hopes, nor any certain news +of the South Sea. In due time he reached England, and in due time he turned +and came again to Virginia. But long was the sailing to and fro between +the daughter country and the mother country and the lading and unlading +at either shore. It was seven months before Newport came again. + +While he sails, and while England-in-America watches for him longingly, +look for a moment at the attitude of Spain, falling old in the procession +of world-powers, but yet with grip and cunning left. Spain misliked that +English New World venture. She wished to keep these seas for her own; only, +with waning energies, she could not always enforce what she conceived to be +her right. By now there was seen to be much clay indeed in the image. +Philip the Second was dead; and Philip the Third, an indolent king, lived +in the Escurial. + +Pedro de Zuniga is the Spanish Ambassador to the English Court. He has +orders from Philip to keep him informed, and this he does, and from time to +time suggests remedies. He writes of Newport and the First Supply. "Sire. . +. . Captain Newport makes haste to return with some people--and there have +combined merchants and other persons who desire to establish themselves +there; because it appears to them the most suitable place that they have +discovered for privateering and making attacks upon the merchant fleets of +Your Majesty. Your Majesty will command to see whether they will be allowed +to remain there . . . . They are in a great state of excitement about that +place, and very much afraid lest Your Majesty should drive them out of it . +. . . And there are so many . . . who speak already of sending people to +that country, that it is advisable not to be too slow; because they will +soon be found there with large numbers of people."* In Spain the +Council of State takes action upon Zuniga's communications and closes a +report to the King with these words: "The actual taking possession will be +to drive out of Virginia all who are there now, before they are reenforced, +and .. . . it will be well to issue orders that the small fleet stationed +to the windward, which for so many years has been in state of preparation, +should be instantly made ready and forthwith proceed to drive out all who +are now in Virginia, since their small numbers will make this an easy task, +and this will suffice to prevent them from again coming to that place." +Upon this is made a Royal note: "Let such measures be taken in this +business as may now and hereafter appear proper." + +* Brown's "Genesis of the United States", vol. 1, pp. 116-118. + + +It would seem that there was cause indeed for watching down the river by +that small, small town that was all of the United States! But there follows +a Spanish memorandum. "The driving out . . . by the fleet stationed to the +windward will be postponed for a long time because delay will be caused by +getting it ready."* Delay followed delay, and old Spain--conquistador Spain +--grew older, and the speech on Jamestown Island is still English. + +* Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 127. + + +Christopher Newport was gone; no ships--the last refuges, the last +possibilities for hometurning, should the earth grow too hard and the sky +too black--rode upon the river before the fort. Here was the summer heat. A +heavy breath rose from immemorial marshes, from the ancient floor of the +forest. When clouds gathered and storms burst, they amazed the heart with +their fearful thunderings and lightnings. The colonists had no well, but +drank from the river, and at neither high nor low tide found the water +wholesome. While the ships were here they had help of ship stores, but now +they must subsist upon the grain that they had in the storehouse, now scant +and poor enough. They might fish and hunt, but against such resources stood +fever and inexperience and weakness, and in the woods the lurking savages. +The heat grew greater, the water worse, the food less. Sickness began. Work +became toil. Men pined from homesickness, then, coming together, quarreled +with a weak violence, then dropped away again into corners and sat +listlessly with hanging heads. + +"The sixth of August there died John Asbie of the bloodie Flixe. The ninth +day died George Flowre of the swelling. The tenth day died William Bruster +gentleman, of a wound given by the Savages .... The fourteenth day Jerome +Alikock, Ancient, died of a wound, the same day Francis Mid-winter, Edward +Moris, Corporall, died suddenly. The fifteenth day their died Edward Browne +and Stephen Galthrope. The sixteenth day their died Thomas Gower gentleman. +The seventeenth day their died Thomas Mounslie. The eighteenth day theer +died Robert Pennington and John Martine gentlemen. The nineteenth day died +Drue Piggase gentleman. + +"The two and twentieth day of August there died Captain Bartholomew Gosnold +one of our Councell, he was honourably buried having all the Ordnance in +the Fort shot off, with many vollies of small shot .... + +"The foure and twentieth day died Edward Harrington and George Walker and +were buried the same day. The six and twentieth day died Kenelme +Throgmortine. The seven and twentieth day died William Roods. The eight and +twentieth day died Thomas Stoodie, Cape Merchant. The fourth day of +September died Thomas Jacob,Sergeant. The fifth day there died Benjamin +Beast . . . ."* + +* Percy's "Discourse." + + +Extreme misery makes men blind, unjust, and weak of judgment. Here was +gross wretchedness, and the colonists proceeded to blame A and B and C, +lost all together in the wilderness. It was this councilor or that +councilor, this ambitious one or that one, this or that almost certainly +ascertained traitor! Wanting to steal the pinnace, the one craft left by +Newport, wanting to steal away in the pinnace and leave the mass--small +enough mass now!--without boat or raft or straw to cling to, made the +favorite accusation. Upon this count, early in September, Wingfield was +deposed from the presidency. Ratcliffe succeeded him, but presently +Ratcliffe fared no better. One councilor fared worse, for George Kendall, +accused of plotting mutiny and pinnace stealing, was given trial, found +guilty, and shot. + +"The eighteenth day [of September] died one Ellis Kinistone . . .. The same +day at night died one Richard Simmons. The nineteenth day there died one +Thomas Mouton . . . ." + +What went on, in Virginia, in the Indian mind, can only be conjectured. As +little as the white mind could it foresee the trend of events or the +ultimate outcome of present policy. There was exhibited a see-saw policy, +or perhaps no policy at all, only the emotional fit as it came hot or cold. +The friendly act trod upon the hostile, the hostile upon the friendly. +Through the miserable summer the hostile was uppermost; then with the +autumn appeared the friendly mood, fortunate enough for "the most feeble +wretches" at Jamestown. Indians came laden with maize and venison. The heat +was a thing of the past; cool and bracing weather appeared; and with it +great flocks of wild fowl, "swans, geese, ducks and cranes." Famine +vanished, sickness decreased. The dead were dead. Of the hundred and four +persons left by Newport less than fifty had survived. But these may be +thought of as indeed seasoned. + + + +CHAPTER IV. JOHN SMITH + +With the cool weather began active exploration, the object in chief the +gathering from the Indians, by persuasion or trade or show of force, food +for the approaching winter. Here John Smith steps forward as leader. + +There begins a string of adventures of that hardy and romantic individual. +How much in Smith's extant narrations is exaggeration, how much is +dispossession of others' merits in favor of his own, it is difficult now to +say.* A thing that one little likes is his persistent depreciation of his +fellows. There is but one Noble Adventurer, and that one is John Smith. On +the other hand evident enough are his courage and initiative, his +ingenuity, and his rough, practical sagacity. Let us take him at something +less than his own valuation, but yet as valuable enough. As for his +adventures, real or fictitious, one may see in them epitomized the +adventures of many and many men, English, French, Spanish, Dutch, blazers +of the material path for the present civilization. + +* Those who would strike John Smith from the list of historians will +commend the author's caution to the reader before she lets the Captain tell +his own tale. Whatever Smith may not have been, he was certainly a +consummate raconteur. He belongs with the renowned story-tellers of the +world, if not with the veracious chroniclers.--Editor. + + +In December, rather autumn than winter in this region, he starts with the +shallop and a handful of men up a tributary river that they have learned to +call the Chickahominy. He is going for corn, but there is also an idea that +he may hear news of that wished-for South Sea. + +The Chickahominy proved itself a wonderland of swamp and tree-choked +streams. Somewhere up its chequered reaches Smith left the shallop with men +to guard it, and, taking two of the party with two Indian guides, went on +in a canoe up a narrower way. Presently those left with the boat +incautiously go ashore and are attacked by Indians. One is taken, tortured, +and slain. The others get back to their boat and so away, down the +Chickahominy and into the now somewhat familiar James. But Smith with his +two men, Robinson and Emry, are now alone in the wilderness, up among +narrow waters, brown marshes, fallen and obstructing tree trunks. Now come +the men-hunting Indians - the King of Pamaunck, says Smith, with two hundred +bowmen. Robinson and Emry are shot full of arrows. Smith is wounded, but +with his musket deters the foe, killing several of the savages. His eyes +upon them, he steps backward, hoping he may beat them off till he shall +recover the shallop, but meets with the ill chance of a boggy and icy +stream into which he stumbles, and here is taken. + +See him now before "Opechancanough, King of Pamaunck!" Savages and +procedures of the more civilized with savages have, the world over, a +family resemblance. Like many a man before him and after, Smith casts about +for a propitiatory wonder. He has with him, so fortunately, "a round ivory +double-compass dial." This, with a genial manner, he would present to +Opechancanough. The savages gaze, cannot touch through the glass the moving +needle, grunt their admiration. Smith proceeds, with gestures and what +Indian words he knows, to deliver a scientific lecture. Talking is best +anyhow, will give them less time in which to think of those men he shot. He +tells them that the world is round, and discourses about the sun and moon +and stars and the alternation of day and night. He speaks with eloquence of +the nations of the earth, of white men, yellow men, black men, and red men, +of his own country and its grandeurs, and would explain antipodes. + +Apparently all is waste breath and of no avail, for in an hour see him +bound to a tree, a sturdy figure of a man, bearded and moustached, with a +high forehead, clad in shirt and jerkin and breeches and hosen and shoon, +all by this time, we may be sure, profoundly in need of repair. The tree +and Smith are ringed by Indians, each of whom has an arrow fitted to his +bow. Almost one can hear a knell ringing in the forest! But Opechancanough, +moved by the compass, or willing to hear more of seventeenth-century +science, raises his arm and stops the execution. Unbinding Smith, they take +him with them as a trophy. Presently all reach their town of Orapaks. + +Here he was kindly treated. He saw Indian dances, heard Indian orations. +The women and children pressed about him and admired him greatly. Bread and +venison were given him in such quantity that he feared that they meant to +fatten and eat him. It is, moreover, dangerous to be considered powerful +where one is scarcely so. A young Indian lay mortally ill, and they took +Smith to him and demanded that forthwith he be cured. If the white man +could kill -- how they were not able to see -- he could likewise doubtless +restore life. But the Indian presently died. His father, crying out in fury, +fell upon the stranger who could have done so much and would not! Here also +coolness saved the white man. + +Smith was now led in triumph from town to town through the winter woods. +The James was behind him, the Chickahominy also; he was upon new great +rivers, the Pamunkey and the Rappahannock. All the villages were much +alike, alike the still woods, the sere patches from which the corn had been +taken, the bear, the deer, the foxes, the turkeys that were met with, the +countless wild fowl. Everywhere were the same curious, crowding savages, +the fires, the rustic cookery, the covering skins of deer and fox and +otter, the oratory, the ceremonial dances, the manipulations of medicine +men or priests--these last, to the Englishmen, pure "devils with antique +tricks." Days were consumed in this going from place to place. At one point +was produced a bag of gunpowder, gained in some way from Jamestown. It was +being kept with care to go into the earth in the spring and produce, when +summer came, some wonderful crop. + +Opechancanough was a great chief, but higher than he moved Powhatan, chief +of chiefs. This Indian was yet a stranger to the English in Virginia. Now +John Smith was to make his acquaintance. + +Werowocomoco stood upon a bluff on the north side of York River. Here came +Smith and his captors, around them the winter woods, before them the broad +blue river. Again the gathered Indians, men and women, again the staring, +the handling, the more or less uncomplimentary remarks; then into the +Indian ceremonial lodge he was pushed. Here sat the chief of chiefs, +Powhatan, and he had on a robe of raccoon skins with all the tails hanging. +About him sat his chief men, and behind these were gathered women. All were +painted, head and shoulders; all wore, bound about the head, adornments +meant to strike with beauty or with terror; all had chains of beads. Smith +does not report what he said to Powhatan, or Powhatan to him. He says that +the Queen of Appamatuck brought him water for his hands, and that there was +made a great feast. When this was over, the Indians held a council. It +ended in a death decree. Incontinently Smith was seized, dragged to a great +stone lying before Powhatan, forced down and bound. The Indians made ready +their clubs; meaning to batter his brains out. Then, says Smith, occurred +the miracle. + +A child of Powhatan's, a very young girl called Pocahontas, sprang from +among the women, ran to the stone, and with her own body sheltered that of +the Englishman....* + +* A vast amount of erudition has been expended by historical students to +establish the truth or falsity of this Pocahontas story. The author has +refrained from entering the controversy, preferring to let the story stand +as it was told by Captain Smith in his "General History" (1624).--Editor. + + +What, in Powhatan's mind, of hesitation, wiliness, or good nature backed +his daughter's plea is not known. But Smith did not have his brains beaten +out. He was released, taken by some form of adoption into the tribe, and +set to using those same brains in the making of hatchets and ornaments. A +few days passed and he was yet further enlarged. Powhatan longed for two of +the great guns possessed by the white men and for a grindstone. He would +send Smith back to Jamestown if in return he was sure of getting those +treasures. It is to be supposed that Smith promised him guns and +grindstones as many as could be borne away. + +So Werowocomoco saw him depart, twelve Indians for escort. He had leagues +to go, a night or two to spend upon the march. Lying in the huge winter +woods, he expected, on the whole, death before morning. But "Almighty God +mollified the hearts of those sterne barbarians with compassion." And so he +was restored to Jamestown, where he found more dead than when he left. Some +there undoubtedly welcomed him as a strong man restored when there was need +of strong men. Others, it seems, would as lief that Pocahontas had not +interfered. + +The Indians did not get their guns and grindstones. But Smith loaded a +demi-culverin with stones and fired upon a great tree, icicle-hung. The gun +roared, the boughs broke, the ice fell rattling, the smoke spread, the +Indians cried out and cowered away. Guns and grindstone, Smith told them, +were too violent and heavy devils for them to carry from river to river. +Instead he gave them, from the trading store, gifts enticing to the savage +eye, and not susceptible of being turned against the donors. + +Here at Jamestown in midwinter were more food and less mortal sickness than +in the previous fearful summer, yet no great amount of food, and now +suffering, too, from bitter cold. Nor had the sickness ended, nor +dissensions. Less than fifty men were all that held together England and +America--a frayed cord, the last strands of which might presently part . . . . + +Then up the river comes Christopher Newport in the Francis and John, to be +followed some weeks later by the Phoenix. Here is new life--stores for the +settlers and a hundred new Virginians! How certain, at any rate, is the +exchange of talk of home and hair-raising stories of this wilderness +between the old colonists and the new! And certain is the relief and the +renewed hopes. Mourning turns to joy. Even a conflagration that presently +destroys the major part of the town can not blast that felicity. + +Again Newport and Smith and others went out to explore the country. They +went over to Werowocomoco and talked with Powhatan. He told them things +which they construed to mean that the South Sea was near at hand, and they +marked this down as good news for the home Council--still impatient for +gold and Cathay. On their return to Jamestown they found under way new and +stouter houses. The Indians were again friendly; they brought venison and +turkeys and corn. Smith says that every few days came Pocahontas and +attendant women bringing food. + +Spring came again with the dogwood and the honeysuckle and the +strawberries, the gay, returning birds, the barred and striped and mottled +serpents. The colony was one year old. Back to England sailed the Francis +and John and the Phoenix, carrying home Edward-Maria Wingfield, who has +wearied of Virginia and will return no more. + +What rests certain and praiseworthy in Smith is his thoroughness and daring +in exploration. This summer he went with fourteen others down the river in +an open boat, and so across the great bay, wide as a sea, to what is yet +called the Eastern Shore, the counties now of Accomac and Northampton. +Rounding Cape Charles these indefatigable explorers came upon islets beaten +by the Atlantic surf. These they named Smith's Islands. Landing upon the +main shore, they met "grimme and stout" savages, who took them to the King +of Accomac, and him they found civil enough. This side of the great bay, +with every creek and inlet, Smith examined and set down upon the map he was +making. Even if he could find no gold for the Council at home, at least he +would know what places were suited for "harbours and habitations." Soon a +great storm came up, and they landed again, met yet other Indians, went +farther, and were in straits for fresh water. The weather became worse; +they were in danger of shipwreck--had to bail the boat continually. Indians +gathered upon the shore and discharged flights of arrows, but were +dispersed by a volley from the muskets. The bread the English had with them +went bad. Wind and weather were adverse; three or four of the fifteen fell +ill, but recovered. The weather improved; they came to the seven-mile-wide +mouth of "Patawomeck"--the Potomac. They turned their boat up this vast +stream. For a long time they saw upon the woody banks no savages. Then +without warning they came upon ambuscades of great numbers "so strangely +painted, grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying, as we rather +supposed them so many divils." Smith, in midstream, ordered musket-fire, +and the balls went grazing over the water, and the terrible sound echoed +through the woods. The savages threw down their bows and arrows and made +signs of friendliness. The English went ashore, hostages were exchanged, +and a kind of amicableness ensued. After such sylvan entertainment Smith +and his men returned to the boat. The oars dipped and rose, the bright +water broke from them; and these Englishmen in Old Virginia proceeded up +the Potomac. Could they have seen--could they but have seen before them, on +the north bank, rising, like the unsubstantial fabric of a dream, there +above the trees, a vast, white Capitol shining in the sunlight! + +Far up the river, they noticed that the sand on the shore gleamed with +yellow spangles. They looked and saw high rocks, and they thought that from +these the rain had washed the glittering dust. Gold? Harbors they had +found--but what of gold? What, even, of Cathay? + +Going down stream, they sought again those friendly Indians. Did they know +gold or silver? The Indians looked wise, nodded heads, and took the +visitors up a little tributary river to a rocky hill in which "with shells +and hatchets" they had opened as it were a mine. Here they gathered a +mineral which, when powdered, they sprinkled over themselves and their +idols "making them," says the relation, "like blackamoors dusted over with +silver." The white men filled their boat with as much of this ore as they +could carry. High were their hopes over it, but when it was subsequently +sent to London and assayed, it was found to be worthless. + +The fifteen now started homeward, out of Potomac and down the westward side +of Chesapeake. In their travels they saw, besides the Indians, all manner +of four-footed Virginians. Bears rolled their bulk through these forests; +deer went whither they would. The explorers might meet foxes and +catamounts, otter, beaver and marten, raccoon and opossum, wolf and Indian +dog. Winged Virginians made the forests vocal. The owl hooted at night, and +the whippoorwill called in the twilight. The streams were filled with fish. +Coming to the mouth of the Rappahannock, the travelers' boat grounded upon +sand, with the tide at ebb. Awaiting the water that should lift them off, +the fifteen began with their swords to spear the fish among the reeds. +Smith had the ill luck to encounter a sting-ray, and received its barbed +weapon through his wrist. There set in a great swelling and torment which +made him fear that death was at hand. He ordered his funeral and a grave to +be dug on a neighboring islet. Yet by degrees he grew better and so out of +torment, and withal so hungry that he longed for supper, whereupon, with a +light heart, he had his late enemy the sting-ray cooked and ate him. They +then named the place Sting-ray Island and, the tide serving, got off the +sand-bar and down the bay, and so came home to Jamestown, having been gone +seven weeks. + +Like Ulysses, Smith refuses to rust in inaction. A few days, and away he is +again, first up to Rappahannock, and then across the bay. On this journey +he and his men come up with the giant Susquehannocks, who are not +Algonquins but Iroquois. After many hazards in which the forest and the +savage play their part, Smith and his band again return to Jamestown. In +all this adventuring they have gained much knowledge of the country and its +inhabitants--but yet no gold, and no further news of the South Sea or of +far Cathay. + +It was now September and the second summer with its toll of fever victims +was well-nigh over. Autumn and renewed energy were at hand. All the land +turned crimson and gold. At Jamestown building went forward, together with +the gathering of ripened crops, the felling of trees, fishing and fowling, +and trading for Indian corn and turkeys. + +One day George Percy, heading a trading party down the river, saw coming +toward him a white sailed ship, the Mary and Margaret-it was Christopher +Newport again, with the second supply. Seventy colonists came over on the +Mary and Margaret, among them a fair number of men of note. Here were +Captain Peter Wynne and Richard Waldo, "old soldiers and valiant gentlemen," +Francis West, young brother of the Lord De La Warr, Rawley Crashaw, John +Codrington, Daniel Tucker, and others. This is indeed an important ship. Among +the laborers, the London Council had sent eight Poles and Germans, skilled in +their own country in the production of pitch, tar, glass, and soap-ashes. +Here, then, begin in Virginia other blood strains than the English. And in the +Mary and Margaret comes with Master Thomas Forest his wife, Mistress Forest, +and her maid, by name Anne Burras. Apart from those lost ones of Raleigh's +colony at Roanoke, these are the first Englishwomen in Virginia. There may be +guessed what welcome they got, how much was made of them. + +Christopher Newport had from that impatient London Council somewhat strange +orders. He was not to return without a lump of gold, or a certain discovery +of waters pouring into the South Sea, or some notion gained of the fate of +the lost colony of Roanoke. He had been given a barge which could be taken +to pieces and so borne around those Falls of the Far West, then put +together, and the voyage to the Pacific resumed. Moreover, he had for +Powhatan, whom the minds at home figured as a sort of Asiatic Despot, a +gilt crown and a fine ewer and basin, a bedstead, and a gorgeous robe. + +The easiest task, that of delivering Powhatan's present and placing an idle +crown upon that Indian's head who, among his own people, was already +sufficiently supreme, might be and was performed. And Newport with a large +party went again to the Falls of the Far West and miles deep into the +country beyond. Here they found Indians outside the Powhatan Confederacy, +but no South Sea, nor mines of gold and silver, nor any news of the lost +colony of Roanoke. In December Newport left Virginia in the Mary and +Margaret, and with him sailed Ratcliffe. Smith succeeded to the presidency. + +About this time John Laydon, a laborer, and Anne Burras, that maid of +Mistress Forest's, fell in love and would marry. So came about the first +English wedding in Virginia. + +Winter followed with snow and ice, nigh two hundred people to feed, and not +overmuch in the larder with which to do it. Smith with George Percy and +Francis West and others went again to the Indians for corn. Christmas found +them weather-bound at Kecoughtan. "Wherever an Englishman may be, and in +whatever part of the world, he must keep Christmas with feasting and +merriment! And, indeed, we were never more merrie, nor fedde on more +plentie of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle and good bread; nor never +had better fires in England than in the drie, smokie houses of Kecoughtan!" + +But despite this Christmas fare, there soon began quarrels, many and +intricate, with Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough. + + + +CHAPTER V. THE "SEA ADVENTURE" + +Experience is a great teacher. That London Company with Virginia to +colonize had now come to see how inadequate to the attempt were its means +and strength. Evidently it might be long before either gold mines or the +South Sea could be found. The company's ships were too slight and few; +colonists were going by the single handful when they should go by the +double. Something was at fault in the management of the enterprise. The +quarrels in Virginia were too constant, the disasters too frequent. More +money, more persons interested with purse and mind, a great company instead +of a small, a national cast to the enterprise these were imperative needs. +In the press of such demands the London Company passed away. In 1609 under +new letters patent was born the Virginia Company. + +The members and shareholders in this corporation touch through and through +the body of England at that day. First names upon the roll come Robert +Cecil, Thomas Howard, Henry Wriothesley, William Herbert, Henry Clinton, +Richard Sackville, Thomas Cecil, Philip Herbert--Earls of Salisbury, +Suffolk, Southampton, Pembroke, Lincoln, Dorset, Exeter, and Montgomery. +Then follow a dozen peers, the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, a hundred +knights, many gentlemen, one hundred and ten merchants, certain physicians +and clergymen, old soldiers of the Continental wars, sea-captains and +mariners, and a small host of the unclassified. In addition shares were +taken by fifty-six London guilds or industrial companies. Here are the +Companies of the Tallow and Wax Chandlers, the Armorers and Girdlers, +Cordwayners and Carpenters, Masons, Plumbers, Founders, Poulterers, Cooks, +Coopers, Tylers and Brick Layers, Bowyers and Vinters, Merchant Taylors, +Blacksmiths and Weavers, Mercers, Grocers, Turners, Gardeners, Dyers, +Scriveners, Fruiterers, Plaisterers, Brown Bakers, Imbroiderers, Musicians, +and many more. + +The first Council appointed by the new charter had fifty-two members, +fourteen of whom sat in the English House of Lords, and twice that number +in the Commons. Thus was Virginia well linked to Crown and Parliament. + +This great commercial company had sovereign powers within Virginia. The +King should have his fifth part of all ore of gold and silver; the laws and +religion of England should be upheld, and no man let go to Virginia who had +not first taken the oath of supremacy. But in the wide field beside all +this the President--called the Treasurer -and the Council, henceforth to be +chosen out of and by the whole body of subscribers, had full sway. No +longer should there be a second Council sitting in Virginia, but a Governor +with power, answerable only to the Company at home. That Company might tax +and legislate within the Virginian field, punish the ill-doer or "rebel," +and wage war, if need be, against Indian or Spaniard: + +One of the first actions of the newly constituted body was to seek remedy +for the customary passage by way of the West Indies -so long and so beset +by dangers. They sent forth a small ship under Captain Samuel Argall, with +instructions "to attempt a direct and cleare passage, by leaving the +Canaries to the East, and from thence to run a straight westerne course . . +. . And so to make an experience of the Winds and Currents which have +affrighted all undertakers by the North." + +This Argall, a young man with a stirring and adventurous life behind him +and before him, took his ship the indicated way. He made the voyage in nine +weeks, of which two were spent becalmed, and upon his return reported that +it might be made in seven, "and no apparent inconvenience in the way." He +brought to the great Council of the Company a story of necessity and +distress at Jamestown, and the Council lays much of the blame for that upon +"the misgovernment of the Commanders, by dissention and ambition among +themselves," and upon the idleness of the general run, "active in nothing +but adhearing to factions and parts." The Council, sitting afar from a +savage land, is probably much too severe. But the "factions and parts" +cannot easily be denied. + +Before Argall's return, the Company had commissioned as Governor of +Virginia Sir Thomas Gates, and had gathered a fleet of seven ships and two +pinnaces with Sir George Somers as Admiral, in the ship called the Sea +Adventure, and Christopher Newport as Vice-Admiral. All weighed anchor from +Falmouth early in June and sailed by the newly tried course, south to the +Canaries and then across. These seven ships carried five hundred colonists, +men, women, and children. + +On St. James's day there rose and broke a fearsome storm. Two days and +nights it raged, and it scattered that fleet of seven. Gates, Somers, and +Newport with others of "rancke and quality" were upon the Sea Adventure. +How fared this ship with one attendant pinnace we shall come to see +presently. But the other ships, driven to and fro, at last found a +favorable wind, and in August they sighted Virginia. On the eleventh of +that month they came, storm-beaten and without Governor or Admiral or Sea +Adventure, into "our Bay" and at last to "the King's River and Town." Here +there swarmed from these ships nigh three hundred persons, meeting and met +by the hundred dwelling at Jamestown. This was the third supply, but it +lacked the hundred or so upon the Sea Adventure and the pinnace, and it +lacked a head. "Being put ashore without their Governor or any order from +him (all the Commissioners and principal persons being aboard him) no man +would acknowledge a superior." + +With this multitude appeared once more in Virginia the three ancient +councilors--Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin. Apparently here came fresh fuel +for factions. Who should rule, and who should be ruled? Here is an +extremely old and important question, settled in history only to be +unsettled again. Everywhere it rises, dust on Time's road, and is laid only +to rise again. + +Smith was still President. Who was in the right and who in the wrong in +these ancient quarrels, the recital of which fills the pages of Smith and +of other men, is hard now to be determined. But Jamestown became a place of +turbulence. Francis West was sent with a considerable number to the Falls +of the Far West to make there some kind of settlement. For a like purpose +Martin and Percy were dispatched to the Nansemond River. All along the line +there was bitter falling out. The Indians became markedly hostile. Smith +was up the river, quarreling with West and his men. At last he called them +"wrongheaded asses," flung himself into his boat, and made down the river +to Jamestown. Yet even so he found no peace, for, while he was asleep in the +boat, by some accident or other a spark found its way to his powder pouch. +The powder exploded. Terribly hurt, he leaped overboard into the river, +whence he was with difficulty rescued. + +Smith was now deposed by Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin, because, "being an +ambityous, onworthy, and vayneglorious fellowe," say his detractors, "he +wolde rule all and ingrose all authority into his own hands." Be this as it +may, Smith was put on board one of the ships which were about to sail for +England. Wounded, and with none at Jamestown able to heal his hurt, he was +no unwilling passenger. Thus he departed, and Virginia knew Captain John +Smith no more. Some liked him and his ways, some liked him not nor his ways +either. He wrote of his own deeds and praised them highly, and saw little +good in other mankind, though here and there he made an exception. Evident +enough are faults of temper. But he had great courage and energy and at +times a lofty disinterestedness. + +Again winter drew on at Jamestown, and with it misery on misery. George +Percy, now President, lay ill and unable to keep order. The multitude, +"unbridled and heedless," pulled this way and that. Before the cold had +well begun, what provision there was in the storehouse became exhausted. +That stream of corn from the Indians in which the colonists had put +dependence failed to flow. The Indians themselves began systematically to +spoil and murder. Ratcliffe and fourteen with him met death while loading +his barge with corn upon the Pamunkey. The cold grew worse. By midwinter +there was famine. The four hundred--already noticeably dwindled--dwindled +fast and faster. The cold was severe; the Indians were in the woods; the +weakened bodies of the white men pined and shivered. They broke up the +empty houses to make fires to warm themselves. They began to die of hunger +as well as by Indian arrows. On went the winter, and every day some died. +Tales of cannibalism are told . . . .This was the Starving Time. + +When the leaves were red and gold, England-in-America had a population of +four hundred and more. When the dogwood and the strawberry bloomed, +England-in-America had a population of but sixty. + +Somewhat later than this time there came from the pen of Shakespeare a play +dealing with a tempest and shipwreck and a magical isle and rescue thereon. +The bright spirit Ariel speaks of "the still-vex'd Bermoothes." These were +islands "two hundred leagues from any continent," named after a Spanish +Captain Bermudez who had landed there. Once there had been Indians, but +these the Spaniards had slain or taken as slaves. Now the islands were +desolate, uninhabited, "forlorn and unfortunate." Chance vessels might +touch, but the approach was dangerous. There grew rumors of pirates, and +then of demons. "The Isles of Demons," was the name given to them. "The +most forlorn and unfortunate place in the world" was the description that +fitted them in those distant days: + +All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement Inhabits here: some heavenly +power guide us Out of this fearful country. + +When Shakespeare so wrote, there was news in England and talk went to and +fro of the shipwreck of the Sea Adventure upon the rocky teeth of the +Bermoothes, "uninhabitable and almost inaccessible," and of the escape and +dwelling there for months of Gates and Somers and the colonists in that +ship. It is generally assumed that this incident furnished timber for the +framework of The Tempest. + +The storm that broke on St. James's Day, scattering the ships of the third +supply, drove the Sea Adventure here and there at will. Upon her watched +Gates and Somers and Newport, above a hundred men, and a few women and +children. There sprang a leak; all thought of death. Then rose a cry "Land +ho!" The storm abated, but the wind carried the Sea Adventure upon this +shore and grounded her upon a reef. A certain R. Rich, gentleman, one of +the voyagers, made and published a ballad upon the whole event. If it is +hardly Shakespearean music, yet it is not devoid of interest. + +. . . The Seas did rage, the windes did blowe, + Distressed were they then; +Their shippe did leake, her tacklings breake, + In daunger were her men; +But heaven was pylotte in this storme, + And to an Iland neare, +Bermoothawes called, conducted them, + Which did abate their feare. + +Using the ship's boats they got to shore, though with toil and +danger. Here they found no sprites nor demons, nor even men, but +a fair, half-tropical verdure and, running wild, great numbers of +swine. + +And then on shoare the iland came + Inhabited by hogges, +Some Foule and tortoyses there were, + They only had one dogge, +To kill these swyne, to yield them foode, + That little had to eate. +Their store was spent and all things scant, + Alas! they wanted meate. + +They did not, however, starve. + +A thousand hogges that dogge did kill + Their hunger to sustaine. + +Ten months the Virginia colonists lived among the "still-vex'd Bermoothes." +The Sea Adventure was but a wreck pinned between the reefs. No sail was +seen upon the blue water. Where they were thrown, there Gates and Somers +and Newport and all must stay for a time and make the best of it. They +builded huts and thatched them, and they brought from the wrecked ship, +pinned but half a mile from land, stores of many kinds. The clime proved of +the blandest, fairest; with fishing and hunting they maintained themselves. +Days, weeks, and months went by. They had a minister, Master Buck. They +brought from the ship a bell and raised it for a church-bell. A marriage, a +few deaths, the birth of two children these were events on the island. One +of these children, the daughter of John Rolfe, gentleman, and his wife, was +christened Bermuda. Gates and Somers held kindly sway. The colonists lived +in plenty, peace, and ease. But for all that, they were shipwrecked folk, +and far, far out of the world, and they longed for the old ways and their +own kin. Day followed day, but no sail would show to bear them thence; and +so at last, taking what they could from the forests of the island, and from +the Sea Adventure, they set about to become shipwrights. + +And there two gallant pynases, + Did build of Seader-tree, +The brave Deliverance one was call'd, + Of seaventy tonne was shee, +The other Patience had to name, + Her burthen thirty tonne . . . . + +. . . The two and forty weekes being past + They hoyst sayle and away; +Their shippes with hogges well freighted were, + Their harts with mickle joy. + +And so to Virginia came . . . + +What they found when they came to Virginia was dolor enough. On Jamestown +strand they beheld sixty skeletons "who had eaten all the quick things that +weare there, and some of them had eaten snakes and adders." Somers, Gates, +and Newport, on entering the town, found it "rather as the ruins of some +auntient fortification than that any people living might now inhabit it." + +A pitiable outcome, this, of all the hopes of fair "harbours and +habitations," of golden dreams, and farflung dominion. All those whom +Raleigh had sent to Roanoke were lost or had perished. Those who had named +and had first dwelled in Jamestown were in number about a hundred. To these +had been added, during the first year or so, perhaps two hundred more. And +the ships that had parted from the Sea Adventure had brought in three +hundred. First and last, not far from seven hundred English folk had come +to live in Virginia. And these skeletons eating snakes and adders were all +that remained of that company; all those others had died miserably and +their hopes were ashes with them. + +What might Sir Thomas Gates, the Governor, do? "That which added most to +his sorowe, and not a little startled him, was the impossibilitie. . how to +amend one whitt of this. His forces were not of habilitie to revenge upon +the Indian, nor his owne supply (now brought from the Bermudas) sufficient +to relieve his people." So he called a Council and listened in turn to Sir +George Somers, to Christopher Newport, and to "the gentlemen and Counsaile +of the former Government." The end and upshot was that none could see other +course than to abandon the country. England-in-America had tried and +failed, and had tried again and failed. God, or the course of Nature, or +the current of History was against her. Perhaps in time stronger forces and +other attempts might yet issue from England. But now the hour had come to +say farewell! + +Upon the bosom of the river swung two pinnaces, the Discovery and the +Virginia, left by the departing ships months before, and the Deliverance +and the Patience, the Bermuda pinnaces. Thus the English abandoned the +little town that was but three years old. Aboard the four small ships they +went, and down the broad river, between the flowery shores, they sailed away. +Doubtless under the trees on either hand were Indians watching this retreat of +the invaders of their forests. The plan of the departing colonists was to turn +north, when they had reached the sea, and make for Newfoundland, where they +might perhaps meet with English fishing ships. So they sailed down the river, +and doubtless many hearts were heavy and sad, but others doubtless were full +of joy and thankfulness to be going back to an older home than Virginia. + +The river broadened toward Chesapeake--and then, before them, what did they +see? What deliverance for those who had held on to the uttermost? They saw +the long boat of an English ship coming toward them with flashing oars, +bringing news of comfort and relief. There, indeed, off Point Comfort lay +three ships, the De La Warr, the Blessing, and the Hercules, and they +brought, with a good company and good stores, Sir Thomas West, Lord De La +Warr, appointed, over Gates, Lord Governor and CaptainGeneral, by land and +sea, of the Colony of Virginia. + +The Discovery, the Virginia, the Patience, and the Deliverance thereupon +put back to that shore they thought to have left forever. Two days later, +on Sunday the 10th of June, 1610, there anchored before Jamestown the De La +Warr, the Blessing, and the Hercules; and it was thus that the new Lord +Governor wrote home: "I . . . in the afternoon went ashore, where after a +sermon made by Mr. Buck . . . I caused my commission to be read, upon which +Sir Thomas Gates delivered up ...unto me his owne commission, both patents, +and the counsell seale; and then I delivered some few wordes unto the +Company .. . . and after . . . did constitute and give place of office and +chardge to divers Captaines and gentlemen and elected unto me a counsaile." + +The dead was alive again. Saith Rich's ballad: + +And to the adventurers* thus he writes, + "Be not dismayed at all, +For scandall cannot doe us wrong, + God will not let us fall. +Let England knowe our willingnesse, + For that our worke is good, +WE HOPE TO PLANT A NATION + WHERE NONE BEFORE HATH STOOD." + +* The Virginia Company. + + + +CHAPTER VI. SIR THOMAS DALE + +In a rebuilded Jamestown, Lord De La Warr, of "approved courage, temper and +experience," held for a short interval dignified, seigneurial sway, while +his restless associates adventured far and wide. Sir George Somers sailed +back to the Bermudas to gather a cargo of the wild swine of those woods, +but illness seized him there, and he died among the beautiful islands. That +Captain Samuel Argall who had traversed for the Company the short road from +the Canaries took up Smith's fallen mantle and carried on the work of +exploration. It was he who found, and named for the Lord Governor, Delaware +Bay. He went up the Potomac and traded for corn; rescued an English boy +from the Indians; had brushes with the savages. In the autumn back to +England with a string of ships went that tried and tested seafarer +Christopher Newport. Virginia wanted many things, and chiefly that the +Virginia Company should excuse defect and remember promise. So Gates sailed +with Newport to make true report and guide exertion. Six months passed, and +the Lord Governor himself fell ill and must home to England. So away he, +too, went and for seven years until his death ruled from that distance +through a deputy governor. De La Warr was a man of note and worth, old +privy councilor of Elizabeth and of James, soldier in the Low Countries, +strong Protestant and believer in England-in-America. Today his name is +borne by a great river, a great bay, and by one of the United States. + +In London, the Virginia Company, having listened to Gates, projected a +fourth supply for the colony. Of those hundreds who had perished in +Virginia, many had been true and intelligent men, and again many perhaps +had been hardly that. But the Virginia Company was now determined to +exercise for the future a discrimination. It issued a broadside, making +known that it was sending a new supply of men and all necessary provision +in a fleet of good ships, under the conduct of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir +Thomas Dale, and that it was not intended any more to burden the action +with "vagrant and unnecessary persons . . . but honest and industrious men, +as Carpenters, Smiths, Coopers, Fishermen, Tanners, Shoemakers, +Shipwrights, Brickmen, Gardeners, Husbandmen, and laboring men of all sorts +that . . . shall be entertained for the Voyage upon such termes as their +qualitie and fitnesse shall deserve." Yet, in spite of precautions, some of +the other sort continued to creep in with the sober and industrious. Master +William Crashaw, in a sermon upon the Virginia venture, remarks that "they +who goe . . . be like for aught I see to those who are left behind, even +of all sorts better and worse!" This probably hits the mark. + +The Virginia Company meant at last to have order in Virginia. To this +effect, a new office was created and a strong man was found to fill it. +Gates remained De La Warr's deputy governor, but Sir Thomas Dale went as +Marshal of Virginia. The latter sailed in March, 1611, with "three ships, +three hundred people, twelve kine, twenty goats, and all things needful for +the colony." Gates followed in May with other ships, three hundred +colonists, and much cattle. + +For the next few years Dale becomes, in effect, ruler of Virginia. He did +much for the colony, and therefore, in that far past that is not so distant +either, much for the United States - a man of note, and worth considering. + +Dale had seen many years of service in the Low Countries. He was still in +Holland when the summons came to cross the ocean in the service of the +Virginia Company. On the recommendation of Henry, Prince of Wales, the +States-General of the United Netherlands consented "that Captain Thomas +Dale (destined by the King of Great Britain to be employed in Virginia in +his Majesty's service) may absent himself from his company for the space of +three years, and that his said company shall remain meanwhile vacant, to be +resumed by him if he think proper." + +This man had a soldier's way with him and an iron will. For five years in +Virginia he exhibited a certain stern efficiency which was perhaps the best +support and medicine that could have been devised. At the end of that time, +leaving Virginia, he did not return to the Dutch service, but became +Admiral of the fleet of the English East India Company, thus passing from +one huge historic mercantile company to another. With six ships he sailed +for India. Near Java, the English and the Dutch having chosen to quarrel, +he had with a Dutch fleet "a cruel, bloody fight." Later, when peace was +restored, the East India Company would have given him command of an allied +fleet of English and Dutch ships, the objective being trade along the coast +of Malabar and an attempt to open commerce with the Chinese. But Sir +Thomas Dale was opening commerce with a vaster, hidden land, for at +Masulipatam he died. "Whose valor," says his epitaph, "having shined in the +Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." + +But now in Maytime of 1611 Dale was in Virginian waters. By this day, +beside the main settlement of Jamestown, there were at Cape Henry and Point +Comfort small forts garrisoned with meager companies of men. Dale made +pause at these, setting matters in order, and then, proceeding up the +river, he came to Jamestown and found the people gathered to receive him. +Presently he writes home to the Company a letter that gives a view of the +place and its needs. Any number of things must be done, requiring +continuous and hard work, "as, namely, the reparation of the falling Church +and so of the Store-house, a stable for our horses, a munition house, a +Powder house, a new well for the amending of the most unwholesome water +which the old afforded. Brick to be made, a sturgion house . . . a Block +house to be raised on the North side of our back river to prevent the +Indians from killing our cattle, a house to be set up to lodge our cattle +in the winter, and hay to be appointed in his due time to be made, a +smith's forge to be perfected, caske for our Sturgions to be made, and +besides private gardens for each man common gardens for hemp and flax and +such other seeds, and lastly a bridge to land our goods dry and safe upon, +for most of which I take present order." + +Dale would have agreed with Dr. Watts that + +Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do! + +If we of the United States today will call to mind certain Western small +towns of some decades ago--if we will review them as they are pictured in +poem and novel and play--we may receive, as it were out of the tail of the +eye, an impression of some aspects of these western plantings of the +seventeenth century. The dare-devil, the bully, the tenderfoot, the +gambler, the gentleman-desperado had their counterparts in Virginia. So had +the cool, indomitable sheriff and his dependable posse, the friends +generally of law and order. Dale may be viewed as the picturesque sheriff +of this earlier age. + +But it must be remembered that this Virginia was of the seventeenth, not of +the nineteenth century. And law had cruel and idiot faces as well as faces +just and wise. Hitherto the colony possessed no written statutes. The +Company now resolved to impose upon the wayward an iron restraint. It fell +to Dale to enforce the regulations known as "Lawes and Orders, dyvine, +politique, and martiall for the Colonye of Virginia"--not English civil law +simply, but laws "chiefly extracted out of the Lawes for governing the army +in the Low Countreys." The first part of this code was compiled by William +Strachey; the latter part is thought to have been the work of Sir Edward +Cecil, Sir Thomas Gates, and Dale himself, approved and accepted by the +Virginia Company. Ten years afterwards, defending itself before a Committee +of Parliament, the Company through its Treasurer declared "the necessity of +such laws, in some cases ad terrorem, and in some to be truly executed." + +Seventeenth-century English law herself was terrible enough in all +conscience, but "Dale's Laws" went beyond. Offences ranged from failure to +attend church and idleness to lese majeste. The penalties were gross--cruel +whippings, imprisonments, barbarous puttings to death. The High Marshal +held the unruly down with a high hand. + +But other factors than this Draconian code worked at last toward order in +this English West. Dale was no small statesman, and he played ferment +against ferment. Into Virginia now first came private ownership of land. +So much was given to each colonist, and care of this booty became to each a +preoccupation. The Company at home sent out more and more settlers, and +more and more of the industrious, peace-loving sort. By 1612 the English in +America numbered about eight hundred. Dale projected another town, and +chose for its site the great horseshoe bend in the river a few miles below +the Falls of the Far West, at a spot we now call Dutch Gap. Here Dale laid +out a town which he named Henricus after the Prince of Wales, and for its +citizens he drafted from Jamestown three hundred persons. To him also are +due Bermuda and Shirley Hundreds and Dale's Gift over on the Eastern Shore. +As the Company sent over more colonists, there began to show, up and down +the James though at far intervals, cabins and clearings made by white men, +set about with a stockade, and at the river edge a rude landing and a +fastened boat. The restless search for mines of gold and silver now +slackened. Instead eyes turned for wealth to the kingdom of the plant and +tree, and to fur trade and fisheries. + +* Hitherto there had been no trading or landholding by individuals. All the +colonists contributed the products of their toil to the common store and +received their supplies from the Company. The adventurers (stockholders) +contributed money to the enterprise; the colonists, themselves and their +labor. + + +Those ships that brought colonists were in every instance expected to +return to England laden with the commodities of Virginia. At first cargoes +of precious ores were looked for. These failing, the Company must take from +Virginia what lay at hand and what might be suited to English needs. In +1610 the Company issued a paper of instructions upon this subject of +Virginia commodities. The daughter was expected to send to the mother +country sassafras root, bay berries, puccoon, sarsaparilla, walnut, +chestnut, and chinquapin oil, wine, silk grass, beaver cod, beaver and +otter skins, clapboard of oak and walnut, tar, pitch, turpentine, and +powdered sturgeon. + +It might seem that Virginia was headed to become a land of fishers, of +foresters, and vine dressers, perhaps even, when the gold should be at last +discovered, of miners. At home, the colonizing merchants and statesmen +looked for some such thing. In return for what she laded into ships, +Virginia was to receive English-made goods, and to an especial degree +woolen goods, "a very liberall utterance of our English cloths into a maine +country described to be bigger than all Europe." There was to be direct +trade, country kind for country kind, and no specie to be taken out of +England. The promoters at home doubtless conceived a hardy and simple +trans-Atlantic folk of their own kindred, planters for their own needs, +steady consumers of the plainer sort of English wares, steady gatherers, in +return, of necessaries for which England otherwise must trade after a +costly fashion with lands which were not always friendly. A simple, sturdy, +laborious Virginia, white men and Indians. If this was their dream, reality +was soon to modify it. + + +A new commodity of unsuspected commercial value began now to be grown in +garden-plots along the James -- the "weed" par excellence, tobacco. That John +Rolfe who had been shipwrecked on the Sea Adventure was now a planter in +Virginia. His child Bermuda had died in infancy, and his wife soon after +their coming to Jamestown. Rolfe remained, a young man, a good citizen, and +a Christian. And he loved tobacco. On that trivial fact hinges an important +chapter in the economic history of America. In 1612 Rolfe planted tobacco +in his own garden, experimented with its culture, and prophesied that the +Virginian weed would rank with the best Spanish. It was now a shorter +plant, smaller-leafed and smaller-flowered, but time and skilful gardening +would improve it. + +England had known tobacco for thirty years, owing its introduction to +Raleigh. At first merely amused by the New World rarity, England was now by +general use turning a luxury into a necessity. More and more she received +through Dutch and Spanish ships tobacco from the Indies. Among the English +adventurers to Virginia some already knew the uses of the weed; others soon +learned from the Indians. Tobacco was perhaps not indigenous to Virginia, +but had probably come through southern tribes who in turn had gained it +from those who knew it in its tropic habitat. Now, however, tobacco was +grown by all Virginia Indians, and was regarded as the Great Spirit's best +gift. In the final happy hunting-ground, kings, werowances, and priests +enjoyed it forever. When, in the time after the first landing, the Indians +brought gifts to the adventurers as to beings from a superior sphere, they +offered tobacco as well as comestibles like deer-meat and mulberries. +Later, in England and in Virginia, there was some suggestion that it might +be cultivated among other commodities. But the Company, not to be diverted +from the path to profits, demanded from Virginia necessities and not +new-fangled luxuries. Nevertheless, a little tobacco was sent over to +England, and then a little more, and then a larger quantity. In less than +five years it had become a main export; and from that time to this +profoundly has it affected the life of Virginia and, indeed, of the United +States. + +This then is the wide and general event with which John Rolfe is connected. +But there is also a narrower, personal happening that has pleased all these +centuries. Indian difficulties yet abounded, but Dale, administrator as +well as man of Mars, wound his way skilfully through them all. Powhatan +brooded to one side, over there at Werowocomoco. Captain Samuel Argall was +again in Virginia, having brought over sixty-two colonists in his ship, the +Treasurer. A bold and restless man, explorer no less than mariner, he again +went trading up the Potomac, and visited upon its banks the village of +Japazaws, kinsman of Powhatan. Here he found no less a personage than +Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas. An idea came into Argall's active and +somewhat unscrupulous brain. He bribed Japazaws with a mighty gleaming +copper kettle, and by that chief's connivance took Pocahontas from the +village above the Potomac. He brought her captive in his boat down the +Chesapeake to the mouth of the James and so up the river to Jamestown, here +to be held hostage for an Indian peace. This was in 1613. + +Pocahontas stayed by the James, in the rude settlers' town, which may have +seemed to the Indian girl stately and wonderful enough. Here Rolfe made her +acquaintance, here they talked together, and here, after some scruples on +his part as to "heathennesse," they were married. He writes of "her desire +to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God; her capableness of +understanding; her aptnesse and willingnesse to recieve anie good +impression, and also the spiritual, besides her owne incitements stirring +me up hereunto." First she was baptized, receiving the name Rebecca, and +then she was married to Rolfe in the flower-decked church at Jamestown. +Powhatan was not there, but he sent young chiefs, her brothers, in his +place. Rolfe had lands and cabins thereupon up the river near Henricus. He +called this place Varina, the best Spanish tobacco being Varinas. Here he +and Pocahontas dwelled together "civilly and lovingly." When two years had +passed the couple went with their infant son upon a visit to England. There +court and town and country flocked to see the Indian "princess." After a +time she and Rolfe would go back to Virginia. But at Gravesend, before +their ship sailed, she was stricken with smallpox and died, making "a +religious and godly end," and there at Gravesend she is buried. Her son, +Thomas Rolfe, who was brought up in England, returned at last to Virginia +and lived out his life there with his wife and children. Today no small +host of Americans have for ancestress the daughter of Powhatan. In +England-in-America the immediate effect of the marriage was really to +procure an Indian peace outlasting Pocahontas's brief life. + +In Dale's years there rises above the English horizon the cloud of New +France. The old, disaster-haunted Huguenot colony in Florida was a thing of +the past, to be mourned for when the Spaniard wiped it out--for at that +time England herself was not in America. But now that she was established +there, with some hundreds of men in a Virginia that stretched from Spanish +Florida to Nova Scotia, the French shadow seemed ominous. And just in +this farther region, amid fir-trees and snow, upon the desolate Bay of +Fundy, the French for some years had been keeping the breath of life in a +huddle of cabins named Port Royal. More than this, and later than the Port +Royal building, Frenchmen--Jesuits that!--were trying a settlement on an +island now called Mount Desert, off a coast now named Maine. The Virginia +Company-doubtless with some reference back to the King and Privy +Council--De La Warr, Gates, the deputy governor, and Dale, the High +Marshal, appear to have been of one mind as to these French settlements. Up +north there was still Virginia--in effect, England! Hands off, therefore, +all European peoples speaking with an un-English tongue! + +Now it happened about this time that Captain Samuel Argall received a +commission "to go fishing," and that he fished off that coast that is now +the coast of Maine, and brought his ship to anchor by Mount Desert. Argall, +a swift and high-handed person, fished on dry land. He swept into his net +the Jesuits on Mount Desert, set half of them in an open boat to meet with +what ship they might, and brought the other half captive to Jamestown. +Later, he appeared before Port Royal, where he burned the cabins, slew the +cattle, and drove into the forest the settler Frenchmen. But Port Royal and +the land about it called Acadia, though much hurt, survived Argall's +fishing.* + +* Argall, on his fishing trip, has been credited with attacking not only +the French in Acadia but the Dutch traders on Manhattan. But there are +grounds for doubt if he did the latter. + + +There was also on Virginia in these days the shadow of Spain. In 1611 the +English had found upon the beach near Point Comfort three Spaniards from a +Spanish caravel which, as the Englishmen had learned with alarm, "was +fitted with a shallop necessarie and propper to discover freshetts, rivers, +and creekes." They took the three prisoner and applied for instructions to +Dale, who held them to be spies and clapped them into prison at Point Comfort. + +That Dale's suspicions were correct, is proved by a letter which the King +of Spain wrote in cipher to the Spanish Ambassador in London ordering him +to confer with the King as to the liberty of three prisoners whom +Englishmen in Virginia have captured. The three are "the Alcayde Don Diego +de Molino, Ensign Marco Antonio Perez, and Francisco Lembri an English +pilot, who by my orders went to reconnoitre those ports." Small wonder that +Dale was apprehensive. "What may be the daunger of this unto us," he wrote +home, "who are here so few, so weake, and unfortified, . . . I refer me to +your owne honorable knowledg." + +Months pass, and the English Ambassador to Spain writes from Madrid that he +"is not hasty to advertise anything upon bare rumours, which hath made me +hitherto forbeare to write what I had generally heard of their intents +against Virginia, but now I have been . . . advertised that without +question they will speedily attempt against our plantation there. And that +it is a thing resolved of, that ye King of Spain must run any hazard with +England rather than permit ye English to settle there . . . .Whatsoever is +attempted, I conceive will be from ye Havana." + +Rumors fly back and forth. The next year 1613--the Ambassador writes from +Madrid: "They have latelie had severall Consultations about our Plantation +in Virginia. The resolution is--That it must be removed, but they thinke +it fitt to suspend the execution of it, . . . for that they are in hope +that it will fall of itselfe." + +The Spanish hope seemed, at this time, not at all without foundation. +Members of the Virginia Company had formed the Somers Islands Company named +for Somers the Admiral--and had planted a small colony in Bermuda where +the Sea Adventure had been wrecked. Here were fair, fertile islands without +Indians, and without the diseases that seemed to rise, no man knew how, +from the marshes along those lower reaches of the great river James in +Virginia. Young though it was, the new plantation "prospereth better than +that of Virginia, and giveth greater incouragement to prosecute yt." In +England there arose, from some concerned, the cry to Give up Virginia that +has proved a project awry! As Gates was once about to remove thence every +living man, so truly they might "now removed to these more hopeful +islands!" The Spanish Ambassador is found writing to the Spanish King: +"Thus they are here discouraged . . . on account of the heavy expenses they +have incurred, and the disappointment, that there is no passage from there +to the South Sea . . . nor mines of gold or silver." This, be it noted, was +before tobacco was discovered to be an economic treasure. + +The Elizabeth from London reached Virginia in May, 1613. It brought to the +colony news of Bermuda, and incidentally of that new notion brewing in the +mind of some of the Company. When the Elizabeth, after a month in Virginia, +turned homeward, she carried a vigorous letter from Dale, the High Marshal, +to Sir Thomas Smith, Treasurer of the Company. + +"Let me tell you all at home [writes Dale] this one thing, and I pray +remember it; if you give over this country and loose it, you, with your +wisdoms, will leap such a gudgeon as our state hath not done the like since +they lost the Kingdom of France; be not gulled with the clamorous report of +base people; believe Caleb and Joshua; if the glory of God have no power +with them and the conversion of these poor infidels, yet let the rich +mammons' desire egge them on to inhabit these countries. I protest to you, +by the faith of an honest man, the more I range the country the more I +admire it. I have seen the best countries in Europe; I protest to you, +before the Living God, put them all together, this country will be +equivalent unto them if it be inhabited with good people." + +If ever Mother England seriously thought of moving Virginia into Bermuda, +the idea was now given over. Spain, suspending the sword until Virginia +"will fall of itselfe," saw that sword rust away. + +Five years in all Dale ruled Virginia. Then, personal and family matters +calling, he sailed away home to England, to return no more. Soon his star +"having shined in the Westerne, was set in the Easterne India." At the helm +in Virginia he left George Yeardley, an honest, able man. But in England, +what was known as the "court party" in the Company managed to have chosen +instead for De La Warr's deputy governor, Captain Samuel Argall. It proved +an unfortunate choice. Argall, a capable and daring buccaneer, fastened on +Virginia as on a Spanish galleon. For a year he ruled in his own interest, +plundering and terrorizing. At last the outcry against him grew so loud +that it had to be listened to across the Atlantic. Lord De La Warr was sent +out in person to deal with matters but died on the way; and Captain +Yeardley, now knighted and appointed Governor, was instructed to proceed +against the incorrigible Argall. But Argall had already departed to face +his accusers in England. + + + +CHAPTER VII. YOUNG VIRGINIA + +The choice of Sir Edwyn Sandys as Treasurer of the Virginia Company in 1619 +marks a turningpoint in the history of both Company and colony. At a moment +when James I was aiming at absolute monarchy and was menacing Parliament, +Sandys and his party--the Liberals of the day--turned the sessions of the +Company into a parliament where momentous questions of state and colonial +policy were freely debated. The liberal spirit of Sandys cast a beam of +light, too, across the Atlantic. When Governor Yeardley stepped ashore at +Jamestown in mid-April, he brought with him, as the first fruits of the new +regime, no less a boon than the grant of a representative assembly. + +There were to be in Virginia, subject to the Company, subject in its turn +to the Crown, two "Supreme Councils," one of which was to consist of the +Governor and his councilors chosen by the Company in England. The other was +to be elected by the colonists, two representatives or burgesses from each +distinct settlement. Council and House of Burgesses were to constitute the +upper and lower houses of the General Assembly. The whole had power to +legislate upon Virginian affairs within the bounds of the colony, but the +Governor in Virginia and the Company in England must approve its acts. + +A mighty hope in small was here! Hedged about with provisions, curtailed +and limited, here nevertheless was an acorn out of which, by natural growth +and some mutation, was to come popular government wide and deep. The +planting of this small seed of freedom here, in 1619, upon the banks of the +James in Virginia, is an event of prime importance. + +On the 30th of July, 1619, there was convened in the log church in +Jamestown the first true Parliament or Legislative Assembly in America. +Twenty-two burgesses sat, hat on head, in the body of the church, with the +Governor and the Council in the best seats. Master John Pory, the speaker, +faced the Assembly; clerk and sergeant-at-arms were at hand; Master Buck, +the Jamestown minister, made the solemn opening prayer. The political +divisions of this Virginia were Cities, Plantations, and Hundreds, the +English population numbering now at least a thousand souls. Boroughs +sending burgesses were James City, Charles City, the City of Henricus, +Kecoughtan, Smith's Hundred, Flowerdieu Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Martin +Brandon, Ward's Plantation, Lawne's Plantation, and Argall's Gift. This +first Assembly attended to Indian questions, agriculture, and religion. + +Most notable is this year 1619, a year wrought of gold and iron. John +Rolfe, back in Virginia, though without his Indian princess, who now lies +in English earth, jots down and makes no comment upon what he has written: +"About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty +Negars." + +No European state of that day, few individuals, disapproved of the African +slave trade. That dark continent made a general hunting-ground. England, +Spain, France, the Netherlands, captured, bought, and sold slaves. +Englishmen in Virginia bought without qualm, as Englishmen in England +bought without qualm. The cargo of the Dutch ship was a commonplace. The +only novelty was that it was the first shipload of Africans brought to +English-America. Here, by the same waters, were the beginnings of popular +government and the young upas-tree of slavery. A contradiction in terms +was set to resolve itself, a riddle for unborn generations of Americans. + +Presently there happened another importation. Virginia, under the new +management, had strongly revived. Ships bringing colonists were coming in; +hamlets were building; fields were being planted; up and down were to be +found churches; a college at Henricus was projected so that Indian children +might be taught and converted from "heathennesse." Yet was the population +almost wholly a doublet - and - breeches - wearing population. The children for +whom the school was building were Indian children. The men sailing to +Virginia dreamed of a few years there and gathered wealth, and then return +to England. + +Apparently it was the new Treasurer, Sir Edwyn Sandys, who first grasped +the essential principle of successful colonization: Virginia must be HOME +to those we send! Wife and children made home. Sandys gathered ninety +women, poor maidens and widows, "young, handsome, and chaste," who were +willing to emigrate and in Virginia become wives of settlers. They sailed; +their passage money was paid by the men of their choice; they married--and +home life began in Virginia. In due course of time appeared fair-haired +children, blue or gray of eye, with all England behind them, yet +native-born, Virginians from the cradle. + +Colonists in number sailed now from England. Most ranks of society and most +professions were represented. Many brought education, means, independent +position. Other honest men, chiefly young men with little in the purse, +came over under indentures, bound for a specified term of years to settlers +of larger means. These indentured men are numerous; and when they have +worked out their indebtedness they will take up land of their own. + +An old suggestion of Dale's now for the first time bore fruit. Over the +protest of the "country party" in the Company, there began to be sent each +year out of the King's gaols a number, though not at any time a large +number, of men under conviction for various crimes. This practice +continued, or at intervals was resumed, for years, but its consequences +were not so dire, perhaps, as we might imagine. The penal laws were +execrably brutal, and in the drag-net of the law might be found many merely +unfortunate, many perhaps finer than the law. + +Virginia thus was founded and established. An English people moved through +her forests, crossed in boats her shining waters, trod the lanes of hamlets +builded of wood but after English fashions. Climate, surrounding nature, +differed from old England, and these and circumstance would work for +variation. But the stock was Middlesex, Surrey, Devon, and all the other +shires of England. Scotchmen came also, Welshmen, and, perhaps as early as +this, a few Irish. And there were De La Warr's handful of Poles and +Germans, and several French vinedressers. + +Political and economic life was taking form. That huge, luxurious, +thick-leafed, yellow-flowered crop, alike comforting and extravagant, that +tobacco that was in much to mould manners and customs and ways of looking +at things, was beginning to grow abundantly. In 1620, forty thousand pounds +of tobacco went from Virginia to England; two years later went sixty +thousand pounds. The best sold at two shillings the pound, the inferior for +eighteen pence. The Virginians dropped all thought of sassafras and +clapboard. Tobacco only had any flavor of Golconda. + +At this time the rich soil, composed of layer on layer of the decay of +forests that had lived from old time, was incredibly fertile. As fast as +trees could be felled and dragged away, in went the tobacco. Fields must +have laborers, nor did these need to be especially intelligent. Bring in +indentured men to work. Presently dream that ships, English as well as +Dutch, might oftener load in Africa and sell in Virginia, to furnish the +dark fields with dark workers! In Dale's time had begun the making over of +land in fee simple; in Yeardley's time every "ancient" colonist--that is +every man who had come to Virginia before 1616--was given a goodly number +of acres subject to a quit-rent. Men of means and influence obtained great +holdings; ownership, rental, sale, and purchase of the land began in +Virginia much as in older times it had begun in England. Only here, in +America, where it seemed that the land could never be exhausted, individual +holdings were often of great acreage. Thus arose the Virginia Planter. + +In Yeardley's time John Berkeley established at Falling Creek the first +iron works ever set up in English-America. There were by this time in +Virginia, glass works, a windmill, iron works. To till the soil remained +the chief industry, but the tobacco culture grew until it overshadowed the +maize and wheat, the pease and beans. There were cattle and swine, not a +few horses, poultry, pigeons, and peacocks. + +In 1621 Yeardley, desiring to be relieved, was succeeded by Sir Francis +Wyatt. In October the new Governor came from England in the George, and +with him a goodly company. Among others is found George Sandys, brother of +Sir Edwyn. This gentleman and scholar, beneath Virginia skies and with +Virginia trees and blossoms about him, translated the "Metamorphoses" of +Ovid and the First Book of the "Aeneid", both of which were published in +London in 1626. He stands as the first purely literary man of the English +New World. But vigorous enough literature, though the writers thereof +regarded it as information only, had, from the first years, emanated from +Virginia. Smith's "True Relation", George Percy's "Discourse", Strachey's +"True Repertory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates", and +his "Historie of Travaile into Virginia Brittannia", Hamor's "True +Discourse", Whitaker's "Good News"--other letters and reports--had already +flowered, all with something of the strength and fragrance of Elizabethan +and early Jacobean work. + +For some years there had seemed peace with the Indians. Doubtless members +of the one race may have marauded, and members of the other showed +themselves highhanded, impatient, and unjust, but the majority on each side +appeared to have settled into a kind of amity. Indians came singly or in +parties from their villages to the white men's settlements, where they +traded corn and venison and what not for the magic things the white man +owned. A number had obtained the white man's firearms, unwisely sold or +given. The red seemed reconciled to the white's presence in the land; the +Indian village and the Indian tribal economy rested beside the English +settlement, church, and laws. Doubtless a fragment of the population of +England and a fragment of the English in Virginia saw in a pearly dream the +red man baptized, clothed, become Christian and English. At the least, it +seemed that friendliness and peace might continue. + +In the spring of 1622 a concerted Indian attack and massacre fell like a +bolt from the blue. Up and down the James and upon the Chesapeake, +everywhere on the same day, Indians, bursting from the dark forest that was +so close behind every cluster of log houses, attacked the colonists. Three +hundred and fortyseven English men, women, and children were slain. But +Jamestown and the plantations in its neighborhood were warned in time. The +English rallied, gathered force, turned upon and beat back to the forest +the Indian, who was now and for a long time to come their open foe. + +There followed upon this horror not a day or a month but years of organized +retaliation and systematic harrying. In the end the great majority of the +Indians either fell or were pushed back toward the upper Pamunkey, the +Rappahannock, the Potomac, and westward upon the great shelf or terrace of +the earth that climbed to the fabled mountains. And with this westward move +there passed away that old vision of wholesale Christianizing. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. ROYAL GOVERNMENT + +In November, 1620, there sailed into a quiet harbor on the coast of what is +now Massachusetts a ship named the Mayflower, having on board one hundred +and two English Non-conformists, men and women and with them a few +children. These latest colonists held a patent from the Virginia Company +and have left in writing a statement of their object: "We . . . having +undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, +and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in +the northern parts of Virginia--". The mental reservation is, of course, +"where perchance we may serve God as we will!" In England there obtained in +some quarters a suspicion that "they meant to make a free, popular State +there." Free -- Popular -- Public Good! These are words that began, in the +second quarter of the seventeenth century, to shine and ring. King and +people had reached the verge of a great struggle. The Virginia Company was +divided, as were other groups, into factions. The court party and the +country party found themselves distinctly opposed. The great, crowded +meetings of the Company Sessions rang with their divisions upon policies +small and large. Words and phrases, comprehensive, sonorous, heavy with the +future, rose and rolled beneath the roof of their great hall. There were +heard amid warm discussion: Kingdom and +Colony -- Spain -- Netherlands -- France -- Church and State -- Papists and +Schismatics -- Duties, Tithes, Excise Petitions of +Grievances -- Representation -- Right of Assembly. Several years earlier the +King had cried, "Choose the Devil, but not Sir Edwyn Sandys!" Now he +declared the Company "just a seminary to a seditious parliament!" All +London resounded with the clash of parties and opinions.* "Last week the +Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cavendish fell so foul at a Virginia . . . +court that the lie passed and repassed . . . . The factions . . . are grown +so violent that Guelfs and Ghibellines were not more animated one against +another!" + +* In his work on "Joint-stock Companion", vol.II, pp. 266 ff., W. +R. Scott traces the history of these acute dissensions in the +Virginia Company and draws conclusions distinctly unfavorable to +the management of Sandys and his party.--Editor. + + +Believing that the Company's sessions foreshadowed a "seditious +parliament," James Stuart set himself with obstinacy and some cunning to +the Company's undoing. The court party gave the King aid, and circumstances +favored the attempt. Captain Nathaniel Butler, who had once been Governor +of the Somers Islands and had now returned to England by way of Virginia, +published in London "The Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia", +containing a savage attack upon every item of Virginian administration. + +The King's Privy Council summoned the Company, or rather the "country" +party, to answer these and other allegations. Southampton, Sandys, and +Ferrar answered with strength and cogency. But the tide was running against +them. James appointed commissioners to search out what was wrong with +Virginia. Certain men were shipped to Virginia to get evidence there, as +well as support from the Virginia Assembly. In this attempt they signally +failed. Then to England came a Virginia member of the Virginia Council, +with long letters to King and Privy Council: the Sandys-Southampton +administration had done more than well for Virginia. The letters were +letters of appeal. The colony hoped that "the Governors sent over might +not have absolute authority, but might be restrained to the consent of the +Council . . . . But above all they made it their most humble request that +they might still retain the liberty of their General Assemblies; than which +nothing could more conduce to the publick Satisfaction and publick Liberty." + +In London another paper, drawn by Cavendish, was given to King and Privy +Council. It answered many accusations, and among others the statement that +"the Government of the companies as it then stood was democratical and +tumultuous, and ought therefore to be altered, and reduced into the Hands +of a few." It is of interest to hear these men speak, in the year 1623, in +an England that was close to absolute monarchy, to a King who with all his +house stood out for personal rule. "However, they owned that, according to +his Majesty's Institution, their Government had some Show of a democratical +Form; which was nevertheless, in that Case, the most just and profitable, +and most conducive to the Ends and Effects aimed at thereby . . . . Lastly, +they observed that the opposite Faction cried out loudly against Democracy, +and yet called for Oligarchy; which would, as they conceived, make the +Government neither of better Form, nor more monarchical." + +But the dissolution of the Virginia Company was at hand. In October, 1623, +the Privy Council stated that the King had "taken into his princely +Consideration the distressed State of the Colony of Virginia, occasioned, +as it seemed, by the Ill Government of the Company." The remedy for the +ill-management lay in the reduction of the Government into fewer hands. His +Majesty had resolved therefore upon the withdrawal of the Company's charter +and the substitution, "with due regard for continuing and preserving the +Interest of all Adventurers and private persons whatsoever," of a new order +of things. The new order proved, on examination, to be the old order of +rule by the Crown. Would the Company surrender the old charter and accept a +new one so modeled? + +The Company, through the country party, strove to gain time. They met with +a succession of arbitrary measures and were finally forced to a decision. +They would not surrender their charter. Then a writ of quo warranto was +issued; trial before the King's Bench followed; and judgment was rendered +against the Company in the spring term of 1624. Thus with clangor fell the +famous Virginia Company. + +That was one year. The March of the next year James Stuart, King of +England, died. That young Henry who was Prince of Wales when the Susan +Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery sailed past a cape and named it +for him Cape Henry, also had died. His younger brother Charles, for whom +was named that other and opposite cape, now ascended the throne as King +Charles the First of England. + +In Virginia no more General Assemblies are held for four years. King +Charles embarks upon "personal rule." Sir Francis Wyatt, a good Governor, +is retained by commission and a Council is appointed by the King. No longer +are affairs to be conducted after a fashion "democratical and tumultuous." +Orders are transmitted from England; the Governor, assisted by the Council, +will take into cognizance purely local needs; and when he sees some + +occasion he will issue a proclamation. + +Wyatt, recalled finally to England; George Yeardley again, who died in a +year's time; Francis West, that brother of Lord De La Warr and an ancient +planter -- these in quick succession sit in the Governor's chair. Following +them John Pott, doctor of medicine, has his short term. Then the King sends +out Sir John Harvey, avaricious and arbitrary, "so haughty and furious to +the Council and the best gentlemen of the country," says Beverley, "that +his tyranny grew at last insupportable." + +The Company previously, and now the King, had urged upon the Virginians a +diversified industry and agriculture. But Englishmen in Virginia had the +familiar emigrant idea of making their fortunes. They had left England; +they had taken their lives in their hands; they had suffered fevers, Indian +attacks, homesickness, deprivation. They had come to Virginia to get rich. +Now clapboards and sassafras, pitch, tar, and pine trees for masts, were +making no fortune for Virginia shippers. How could they, these few folk far +off in America, compete in products of the forest with northern Europe? As +to mines of gold and silver, that first rich vision had proved a +disheartening mirage. "They have great hopes that the mountains are very +rich, from the discovery of a silver mine made nineteen years ago, at a +place about four days' journey from the falls of James river; but they have +not the means of transporting the ore." So, dissatisfied with some means of +livelihood and disappointed in others, the Virginians turned to tobacco. + +Every year each planter grew more tobacco; every year more ships were +laden. In 1628 more than five hundred thousand pounds were sent to England, +for to England it must go, and not elsewhere. There it must struggle with +the best Spanish, for a long time valued above the best Virginian. Finally, +however, James and after him Charles, agreed to exclude the Spanish. +Virginia and the Somers Islands alone might import tobacco into England. +But offsetting this, customs went up ruinously; a great lump sum must go +annually to the King; the leaf must enter only at the port of London; so +forth and so on. Finally Charles put forth his proposal to monopolize the +industry, giving Virginia tobacco the English market but limiting its +production to the amount which the Government could sell advantageously. +Such a policy required cooperation from the colonists. The King therefore +ordered the Governor to grant a Virginia Assembly, which in turn should +dutifully enter into partnership with him -- upon his terms. So the Virginia +Assembly thus came back into history. It made a "Humble Answere" in which, +for all its humility, the King's proposal was declined. The idea of the +royal monopoly faded out, and Virginia continued on its own way. + +The General Assembly, having once met, seems of its own motion to have +continued meeting. The next year we find it in session at Jamestown, and +resolving "that we should go three severall marches upon the Indians, at +three severall times of the yeare," and also "that there be an especiall +care taken by all commanders and others that the people doe repaire to +their churches on the Saboth day, and to see that the penalty of one pound +of tobacco for every time of absence, and 50 pounds for every month's +absence . . . be levyed, and the delinquents to pay the same." About this +time we read: "Dr. John Pott, late Governor, indicted, arraigned, and found +guilty of stealing cattle, 13 jurors, 3 whereof councellors. This day +wholly spent in pleading; next day, in unnecessary disputation." + +These were moving times in the little colony whose population may by now +have been five thousand. Harvey, the Governor, was rapacious; the King at +home, autocratic. Meanwhile, signs of change and of unrest were not wanting +in Europe. England was hastening toward revolution; in Germany the Thirty +Years' War was in mid-career; France and Italy were racked by strife; over +the world the peoples groaned under the strain of oppression. In science, +too, there was promise of revolution. Harvey--not that Governor Harvey of +Virginia, but a greater in England was writing upon the circulation of the +blood. Galileo brooded over ideas of the movement of the earth; Kepler, +over celestial harmonies and solar rule. Descartes was laying the +foundation of a new philosophy. + +In the meantime, far across the Atlantic, bands of Virginians went out +against the Indians -- who might, or might not, God knows! have put in a +claim to be considered among the oppressed peoples. In Virginia the fat, +black, tobacco-fields, steaming under a sun like the sun of Spain, called +for and got more labor and still more labor. Every little sailing ship +brought white workmen -- called servants -- consigned, indentured, apprenticed +to many-acred planters. These, in return for their passage money, must +serve Laban for a term of years, but then would receive Rachel, or at least +Leah, in the shape of freedom and a small holding and provision with which +to begin again their individual life. If they were ambitious and energetic +they might presently be able, in turn, to import labor for their own acres. +As yet, in Virginia, there were few African slaves -- not more perhaps than a +couple of hundred. But whenever ships brought them they were readily +purchased. + +In Virginia, as everywhere in time of change, there arose anomalies. Side +by side persisted a romantic devotion to the King and a determination to +have popular assemblies; a great sense of the rights of the white +individual together with African slavery; a practical, easy-going, debonair +naturalism side by side with an Established Church penalizing alike Papist, +Puritan, and atheist. Even so early as this, the social tone was set that +was to hold for many and many a year. The suave climate was somehow to +foster alike a sense of caste and good neighborliness -- class distinctions +and republican ideas. + +The "towns" were of the fewest and rudest -- little more than small palisaded +hamlets, built of frame or log, poised near the water of the river James. +The genius of the land was for the plantation rather than the town. The +fair and large brick or frame planter's house of a later time had not yet +risen, but the system was well inaugurated that set a main or "big" house +upon some fair site, with cabins clustered near it, and all surrounded, +save on the river front, with far-flung acres, some planted with grain and +the rest with tobacco. Up and down the river these estates were strung +together by the rudest roads, mere tracks through field and wood. The cart +was as yet the sole wheeled vehicle. But the Virginia planter -- a horseman +in England -- brought over horses, bred horses, and early placed horsemanship +in the catalogue of the necessary colonial virtues. At this point, however, +in a land of great and lesser rivers, with a network of creeks, the boat +provided the chief means of communication. Behind all, enveloping all, +still spread the illimitable forest, the haunt of Indians and innumerable +game. + +Virginians were already preparing for an expansion to the north. There was +a man in Virginia named William Claiborne. This individual--able, +determined, self-reliant, energetic--had come in as a young man, with the +title of surveyorgeneral for the Company, in the ship that brought Sir +Francis Wyatt, just before the massacre of 1622. He had prospered and was +now Secretary of the Province. He held lands, and was endowed with a bold, +adventurous temper and a genius for business. In a few years he had +established widespread trading relations with the Indians. He and the men +whom he employed penetrated to the upper shores of Chesapeake, into the +forest bordering Potomac and Susquehanna: Knives and hatchets, beads, +trinkets, and colored cloth were changed for rich furs and various articles +that the Indians could furnish. The skins thus gathered Claiborne shipped +to London merchants, and was like to grow wealthy from what his trading +brought. + +Looking upon the future and contemplating barter on a princely scale, he +set to work and obtained exhaustive licenses from the immediate Virginian +authorities, and at last from the King himself. Under these grants, +Claiborne began to provide settlements for his numerous traders. Far up the +Chesapeake, a hundred miles or so from Point Comfort, he found an island +that he liked, and named it Kent Island. Here for his men he built cabins +with gardens around them, a mill and a church. He was far from the river +James and the mass of his fellows, but he esteemed himself to be in +Virginia and upon his own land. What came of Claiborne's enterprise the +sequel has to show. + + + +CHAPTER IX. MARYLAND + +There now enters upon the scene in Virginia a man of middle age, not +without experience in planting colonies, by name George Calvert, first Lord +Baltimore. Of Flemish ancestry, born in Yorkshire, scholar at Oxford, +traveler, clerk of the Privy Council, a Secretary of State under James, +member of the House of Commons, member of the Virginia Company, he knew +many of the ramifications of life. A man of worth and weight, he was placed +by temperament and education upon the side of the court party and the Crown +in the growing contest over rights. About the year 1625, under what +influence is not known, he had openly professed the Roman Catholic +faith -- and that took courage in the seventeenth century, in England! + +Some years before, Calvert had obtained from the Crown a grant of a part of +Newfoundland, had named it Avalon, and had built great hopes upon its +settlement. But the northern winter had worked against him. He knew, for he +had resided there himself with his family in that harsh clime. "From the +middle of October to the middle of May there is a sad fare of winter on all +this land." He is writing to King Charles, and he goes on to say "I have +had strong temptations to leave all proceedings in plantations . . . but my +inclination carrying me naturally to these kind of works . . . I am +determined to commit this place to fishermen that are able to encounter +storms and hard weather, and to remove myself with some forty persons to +your Majesty's dominion of Virginia where, if your Majesty will please to +grant me a precinct of land . . . I shall endeavour to the utmost of my +power, to deserve it." + +With his immediate following he thereupon does sail far southward. In +October, 1629, he comes in between the capes, past Point Comfort and so up +to Jamestown -- to the embarrassment of that capital, as will soon be evident. + +Here in Church of England Virginia was a "popish recusant!" Here was an old +"court party" man, one of James's commissioners, a person of rank and +prestige, known, for all his recusancy, to be in favor with the present +King. Here was the Proprietary of Avalon, guessed to be dissatisfied with +his chilly holding, on the scent perhaps of balmier, easier things! + +The Assembly was in session when Lord Baltimore came to Jamestown. All +arrivers in Virginia must take the oath of supremacy. The Assembly proposed +this to the visitor who, as Roman Catholic, could not take it, and said as +much, but offered his own declaration of friendliness to the powers that +were. This was declined. Debate followed, ending with a request from the +Assembly that the visitor depart from Virginia. Some harshness of speech +ensued, but hospitality and the amenities fairly saved the situation. One +Thomas Tindall was pilloried for "giving my lord Baltimore the lie and +threatening to knock him down." Baltimore thereupon set sail, but not, +perhaps, until he had gained that knowledge of conditions which he desired. + +In England he found the King willing to make him a large grant, with no +less powers than had clothed him in Avalon. Territory should be taken from +the old Virginia; it must be of unsettled land -- Indians of course not +counting. Baltimore first thought of the stretch south of the river James +between Virginia and Spanish Florida--a fair land of woods and streams, of +good harbors, and summer weather. But suddenly William Claiborne was found +to be in London, sent there by the Virginians, with representations in his +pocket. Virginia was already settled and had the intention herself of +expanding to the south. + +Baltimore, the King, and the Privy Council weighed the matter. Westward, +the blue mountains closed the prospect. Was the South Sea just beyond their +sunset slopes, or was it much farther away, over unknown lands, than the +first adventurers had guessed? Either way, too rugged hardship marked the +west! East rolled the ocean. North, then? It were well to step in before +those Hollanders about the mouth of the Hudson should cast nets to the +south. Baltimore accordingly asked for a grant north of the Potomac. + +He received a huge territory, stretching over what is now Maryland, +Delaware, and a part of Pennsylvania. The Potomac, from source to mouth, +with a line across Chesapeake and the Eastern Shore to the ocean formed his +southern frontier; his northern was the fortieth parallel, from the ocean +across country to the due point above the springs of the Potomac. Over this +great expanse he became "true and absolute lord and proprietary," holding +fealty to England, but otherwise at liberty to rule in his own domain with +every power of feudal duke or prince. The King had his allegiance, likewise +a fifth part of gold or silver found within his lands. All persons going to +dwell in his palatinate were to have "rights and liberties of Englishmen." +But, this aside, he was lord paramount. The new country received the name +Terra Mariae -- Maryland -- for Henrietta Maria, then Queen of England. + +Here was a new land and a Lord Proprietor with kingly powers. Virginians +seated on the James promptly petitioned King Charles not to do them wrong +by so dividing their portion of the earth. But King and Privy Council +answered only that Virginia and Maryland must "assist each other on all +occasions as becometh fellow-subjects." William Claiborne, indeed, continued +with a determined voice to cry out that lands given to Baltimore were not, +as had been claimed, unsettled, seeing that he himself had under patent a +town on Kent Island and another at the mouth of the Susquehanna. + +Baltimore was a reflective man, a dreamer in the good sense of the term, +and religiously minded. At the height of seeming good fortune he could write: + +"All things, my lord, in this world pass away . . . . They are but lent us +till God please to call for them back again, that we may not esteem +anything our own, or set our hearts upon anything but Him alone, who only +remains forever." Like his King, Baltimore could carry far his prerogative +and privilege, maintaining the while not a few degrees of inner freedom. +Like all men, here he was bound, and here he was free. + +Baltimore's desire was for "enlarging his Majesty's Empire," and at the +same time to provide in Maryland a refuge for his fellow Catholics. These +were now in England so disabled and limited that their status might fairly +be called that of a persecuted people. The mounting Puritanism promised no +improvement. The King himself had no fierce antagonism to the old religion, +but it was beginning to be seen that Charles and Charles's realm were two +different things. A haven should be provided before the storm blackened +further. Baltimore thus saw put into his hands a high and holy opportunity, +and made no doubt that it was God-given. His charter, indeed, seemed to +contemplate an established church, for it gave to Baltimore the patronage +of all churches and chapels which were to be "consecrated according to the +ecclesiastical laws of our kingdom of England"; nevertheless, no +interpretation of the charter was to be made prejudicial to "God's holy and +true Christian religion." What was Christian and what was prejudicial was, +fortunately for him, left undefined. No obstacles were placed before a +Catholic emigration. + +Baltimore had this idea and perhaps a still wider one: a land -- Mary's +land -- where all Christians might foregather, brothers and sisters in one +home! Religious tolerance -- practical separation of Church and State -- that +was a broad idea for his age, a generous idea for a Roman Catholic of a +time not so far removed from the mediaeval. True, wherever he went and +whatever might be his own thought and feeling, he would still have for +overlord a Protestant sovereign, and the words of his charter forbade him +to make laws repugnant to the laws of England. But Maryland was distant, +and wise management might do much. Catholics, Anglicans, Puritans, +Dissidents, and Nonconformists of almost any physiognomy, might come and be +at home, unpunished for variations in belief. + +Only the personal friendship of England's King and the tact and suave +sagacity of the Proprietary himself could have procured the signing of this +charter, since it was known -- as it was to all who cared to busy themselves +with the matter -- that here was a Catholic meaning to take other Catholics, +together with other scarcely less abominable sectaries, out of the reach of +Recusancy Acts and religious pains and penalties, to set them free in +England-in-America; and, raising there a state on the novel basis of free +religion, perhaps to convert the heathen to all manner of errors, and embark +on mischiefs far too large for definition. Taking things as they were in +the world, remembering acts of the Catholic Church in the not distant past, +the ill-disposed might find some color for the agitation which presently did +arise. Baltimore was known to be in correspondence with English Jesuits, and +it soon appeared that Jesuit priests were to accompany the first colonists. At +that time the Society of Jesus loomed large both politically and +educationally. Many may have thought that there threatened a Rome in America. +But, however that may have been, there was small chance for any successful +opposition to the charter, since Parliament had been dissolved by the King, +not to be summoned again for eleven years. The Privy Council was subservient, +and, as the Sovereign was his friend, Baltimore saw the signing of the charter +assured and began to gather together his first colonists. Then, somewhat +suddenly, in April, 1632, he sickened, and died at the age of fifty-three. + +His son, Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, took up his father's work. +This young man, likewise able and sagacious, and at every step in his +father's confidence, could and did proceed even in detail according to what +had been planned. All his father's rights had descended to him; in Maryland +he was Proprietary with as ample power as ever a Count Palatine had +enjoyed. He took up the advantage and the burden. + +The father's idea had been to go with his colonists to Maryland, and this +it seems that the son also meant to do. But now, in London, there deepened +a clamor against such Catholic enterprise. Once he were away, lips would be +at the King's ear. And with England so restless, in a turmoil of new +thought, it might even arise that King and Privy Council would find trouble +in acting after their will, good though that might be. The second Baltimore +therefore remained in England to safeguard his charter and his interests. + +The family of Baltimore was an able one. Cecil Calvert had two brothers, +Leonard and George, and these would go to Maryland in his place. Leonard he +made Governor and Lieutenant-general, and appointed him councilor. Ships +were made ready -- the Ark of three hundred tons and the Dove of fifty. The +colonists went aboard at Gravesend, where these ships rode at anchor. Of +the company a great number were Protestants, willing to take land, if their +condition were bettered so, with Catholics. Difficulties of many kinds kept +them all long at the mouth of the Thames, but at last, late in November, +1633, the Ark and the Dove set sail. Touching at the Isle of Wight, they +took aboard two Jesuit priests, Father White and Father Altham, and a +number of other colonists. Baltimore reported that the expedition consisted +of "two of my brothers with very near twenty other gentlemen of very good +fashion, and three hundred labouring men well provided in all things." + +These ships, with the first Marylanders, went by the old West Indies sea +route. We find them resting at Barbados; then they swung to the north and, +in February, 1634, came to Point Comfort in Virginia. Here they took +supplies, being treated by Sir John Harvey (who had received a letter from +the King) with "courtesy and humanity." Without long tarrying, for they +were sick now for land of their own, they sailed on up the great bay, the +Chesapeake. + +Soon they reached the mouth of the Potomac -- a river much greater than any +of them, save shipmasters and mariners, had ever seen -- and into this turned +the Ark and the Dove. After a few leagues of sailing up the wide stream, +they came upon an islet covered with trees, leafless, for spring had hardly +broken. The ships dropped anchor; the boats were lowered; the people went +ashore. Here the Calverts claimed Maryland "for our Savior and for our +Sovereign Lord the King of England," and here they heard Mass. St. +Clement's they called the island. + +But it was too small for a home. The Ark was left at anchor, while Leonard +Calvert went exploring with the Dove. Up the Potomac some distance he went, +but at the last he wisely determined to choose for their first town a site +nearer the sea. The Dove turned and came back to the Ark, and both sailed +on down the stream from St. Clement's Isle. Before long they came to the +mouth of a tributary stream flowing in from the north. The Dove, going +forth again, entered this river, which presently the party named the River +St. George. Soon they came to a high bank with trees tinged with the +foliage of advancing spring. Here upon this bank the English found an +Indian village and a small Algonquin group, in the course of extinction by +their formidable Iroquois neighbors, the giant Susquehannocks. The white +men landed, bearing a store of hatchets, gewgaws, and colored cloth. The +first Lord Baltimore, having had opportunity enough for observing savages, +had probably handed on to his sagacious sons his conclusions as to ways of +dealing with the natives of the forest. And the undeniable logic of events +was at last teaching the English how to colonize. Englishmen on Roanoke +Island, Englishmen on the banks of the James, Englishmen in that first New +England colony, had borne the weight of early inexperience and all the +catalogue of woes that follow ignorance. All these early colonists alike +had been quickly entangled in strife with the people whom they found in the +land. + +First they fell on their knees, +And then on the Aborigines. + +But by now much water had passed the mill. The thinking kind, the wiser +sort, might perceive more things than one, and among these the fact that +savages had a sense of justice and would even fight against injustice, real +or fancied. + +The Calverts, through their interpreter, conferred with the inhabitants of +this Indian village. Would they sell lands where the white men might +peaceably settle, under their given word to deal in friendly wise with the +red men? Many hatchets and axes and much cloth would be given in return. + +To a sylvan people store of hatchets and axes had a value beyond many +fields of the boundless earth. The Dove appeared before them, too, at the +psychological moment. They had just discussed removing, bag and baggage, +from the proximity of the Iroquois. In the end, these Indians sold to the +English their village huts, their cleared and planted fields, and miles of +surrounding forest. Moreover they stayed long enough in friendship with the +newcomers to teach them many things of value. Then they departed, leaving +with the English a clear title to as much land as they could handle, at +least for some time to come. Later, with other Indians, as with these, the +Calverts pursued a conciliatory policy. They were aided by the fact that +the Susquehannocks to the north, who might have given trouble, were +involved in war with yet more northerly tribes, and could pay scant +attention to the incoming white men. But even so, the Calverts proved, as +William Penn proved later, that men may live at peace with men, honestly +and honorably, even though hue of skin and plane of development differ. + +Now the Ark joins the Dove in the River St. George. The pieces of ordnance +are fired; the colonists disembark; and on the 27th of March, 1634, the +Indian village, now English, becomes St. Mary's. + +On the whole how advantageously are they placed! There is peace with the +Indians. Huts, lodges, are already built, fields already cleared or +planted. The site is high and healthful. They have at first few dissensions +among themselves. Nor are they entirely alone or isolated in the New World. +There is a New England to the north of them and a Virginia to the south. +From the one they get in the autumn salted fish, from the other store of +swine and cattle. Famine and pestilence are far from them. They build a +"fort" and perhaps a stockade, but there are none of the stealthy deaths +given by arrow and tomahawk in the north, nor are there any of the Spanish +alarms that terrified the south. From the first they have with them women +and children. They know that their settlement is "home." Soon other ships +and colonists follow the Ark and the Dove to St. Mary's, and the history of +this middle colony is well begun. + +In Virginia, meantime, there was jealousy enough of the new colony, taking +as it did territory held to be Virginian and renaming it, not for the old, +independent, Protestant, virgin queen, but for a French, Catholic, queen +consort -- even settling it with believers in the Mass and bringing in +Jesuits! It was, says a Jamestown settler, "accounted a crime almost as +heinous as treason to favour, nay to speak well of that colony." Beside the +Virginian folk as a whole, one man, in particular, William Claiborne, +nursed an individual grievance. He had it from Governor Calvert that he +might dwell on in Kent Island, trading from there, but only under license +from the Lord Proprietor and as an inhabitant of Maryland, not of Virginia. +Claiborne, with the Assembly at Jamestown secretly on his side, resisted +this interference with his rights, and, as he continued to trade with a +high hand, he soon fell under suspicion of stirring up the Indians against +the Marylanders. + +At the time, this quarrel rang loud through Maryland and Virginia, and even +echoed across the Atlantic. Leonard Calvert had a trading-boat of +Claiborne's seized in the Patuxent River. Thereupon Claiborne's men, with +the shallop Cockatrice, in retaliation attacked Maryland pinnaces and lost +both their lives and their boat. For several years Maryland and Kent Island +continued intermittently to make petty war on each other. At last, in 1638, +Calvert took the island by main force and hanged for piracy a captain of +Claiborne's. The Maryland Assembly brought the trader under a Bill of +Attainder; and a little later, in England, the Lords Commissioners of +Foreign Plantations formally awarded Kent Island to the Lord Proprietor. +Thus defeated, Claiborne, nursing his wrath, moved down the bay to Virginia. + + + +CHAPTER X. CHURCH AND KINGDOM + +Virginia, all this time, with Maryland a thorn in her side, was wrestling +with an autocratic governor, John Harvey. This avaricious tyrant sowed the +wind until in 1635 he was like to reap the whirlwind. Though he was the +King's Governor and in good odor in England, where rested the overpower to +which Virginia must bow, yet in this year Virginia blew upon her courage +until it was glowing and laid rude hands upon him. We read: "An Assembly to +be called to receive complaints against Sr. John Harvey, on the petition of +many inhabitants, to meet 7th of May." But, before that month was come, the +Council, seizing opportunity, acted for the whole. Immediately below the +entry above quoted appears: "On the 28th of April, 1635, Sr. John Harvey +thrust out of his government, and Capt. John West acts as Governor till the +King's pleasure known."* + +* Hening's "Statutes" vol. I p. 223. + + +So Virginia began her course as rebel against political evils! It is of +interest to note that Nicholas Martian, one of the men found active against +the Governor, was an ancestor of George Washington. + +Harvey, thrust out, took first ship for England, and there also sailed +commissioners from the Virginia Assembly with a declaration of wrongs for +the King's ear. But when they came to England, they found that the King's +ear was for the Governor whom he had given to the Virginians and whom they, +with audacious disobedience, had deposed. Back should go Sir John Harvey, +still governing Virginia; back without audience the so-called +commissioners, happy to escape a merited hanging! Again to Jamestown sailed +Harvey. In silence Virginia received him, and while he remained Governor no +Assembly sat. + +But having asserted his authority, the King in a few years' time was +willing to recall his unwelcome representative. So in 1639 Governor Harvey +vanishes from the scene, and in comes the well-liked Sir Francis Wyatt as +Governor for the second time. For two years he remains, and is then +superseded by Sir William Berkeley, a notable figure in Virginia for many +years to come. The population was now perhaps ten thousand, both English +born and Virginians born of English parents. A few hundred negroes moved in +the tobacco fields. More would be brought in and yet more. And now above a +million pounds of tobacco were going annually to England. + +The century was predominantly one of inner and outer religious conflict. +What went on at home in England reechoed in Virginia. The new Governor was +a dyed-in-the-wool Cavalier, utterly stubborn for King and Church. The +Assemblies likewise leaned that way, as presumably did the mass of the +people. It was ordered in 1631: "That there bee a uniformitie throughout +this colony both in substance and circumstance to the cannons and +constitutions of the church of England as neere as may bee, and that every +person yeald readie obedience unto them uppon penaltie of the paynes and +forfeitures in that case appoynted." And, indeed, the pains and forfeitures +threatened were savage enough. + +Official Virginia, loyal to the Established Church, was jealous and fearful +of Papistry and looked askance at Puritanism. It frowned upon these and +upon agnosticisms, atheisms, pantheisms, religious doubts, and alterations +in judgment -- upon anything, in short, that seemed to push a finger against +Church and Kingdom. Yet in this Virginia, governed by Sir William Berkeley, +a gentleman more cavalier than the Cavaliers, more royalist than the King, +more churchly than the Church, there lived not a few Puritans and +Dissidents, going on as best they might with Established Church and fiery +King's men. Certain parishes were predominantly Puritan; certain ministers +were known to have leanings away from surplices and genuflections and to +hold that Archbishop Laud was some kin to the Pope. In 1642, to reenforce +these ministers, came three more from New England, actively averse to +conformity. But Governor and Council and the majority of the Burgesses will +have none of that. The Assembly of 1643 takes sharp action. + +For the preservation of the puritie of doctrine and unitie of the church, +IT IS ENACTED that all ministers whatsoever which shall reside in the +collony are to be conformable to the orders and constitutions of the church +of England, and the laws therein established, and not otherwise to be +admitted to teach or preach publickly or privately. And that the Gov. and +Counsel do take care that all nonconformists upon notice of them shall be +compelled to depart the collony with all conveniencie. And so in +consequence out of Virginia, to New England where Independents were +welcome, or to Maryland where any Christian might dwell, went these tainted +ministers. But there stayed behind Puritan and nonconforming minds in the +bodies of many parishioners. They must hold their tongues, indeed, and +outwardly conform -- but they watched lynx-eyed for their opportunity and a +more favorable fortune. + +Having launched thunderbolts against schismatics of this sort, Berkeley, +himself active and powerful, with the Council almost wholly of his party +and the House of Burgesses dominantly so, turned his attention to "popish +recusants." Of these there were few or none dwelling in Virginia. Let them +then not attempt to come from Maryland! The rulers of the colony legislated +with vigor: papists may not hold any public place; all statutes against +them shall be duly executed; popish priests by chance or intent arriving +within the bounds of Virginia shall be given five days' warning, and, if at +the end of this time they are yet upon Virginian soil, action shall be +brought against them. Berkeley sweeps with an impatient broom. + +The Kingdom is cared for not less than the Church in Virginia. Any and all +persons coming into the colony by land and by sea shall have administered +to them the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance. "Which if any shall refuse to +take," the commander of the fort at Point Comfort shall "committ him or +them to prison." Foreigners in birth and tongue, foreigners in thought, +must have found the place and time narrow indeed. + +On the eve of civil war there arose on the part of some in England a +project to revive and restore the old Virginia Company by procuring from +Charles, now deep in troubles of his own, a renewal of the old letters +patent and the transference of the direct government of the colony into the +hands of a reorganized and vast corporation. Virginia, which a score of +years before had defended the Company, now protested vigorously, and, with +regard to the long view of things, it may be thought wisely. The project +died a natural death. The petition sent from Virginia shows plainly enough +the pen of Berkeley. There are a multitude of reasons why Virginia should +not pass from King to Company, among which these are worthy of note: "We +may not admit of so unnatural a distance as a Company will interpose +between his sacred majesty and us his subjects from whose immediate +protection we have received so many royal favours and gracious blessings. +For, by such admissions, we shall degenerate from the condition of our +birth, being naturalized under a monarchical government and not a popular +and tumultuary government depending upon the greatest number of votes of +persons of several humours and dispositions." + +When this paper reached England, it came to a country at civil war. The +Long Parliament was in session. Stafford had been beheaded, the Star +Chamber swept away, the Grand Remonstrance presented. On Edgehill bloomed +flowers that would soon be trampled by Rupert's cavalry. In Virginia the +Assembly took notice of these "unkind differences now in England," and +provided by tithing for the Governor's pension and allowance, which were +for the present suspended and endangered by the troubles at home. That the +forces banded against the Lord's anointed would prove victorious must at +this time have appeared preposterously unlikely to the fiery Governor and +the ultra-loyal Virginia whom he led. The Puritans and Independents in +Virginia -- estimated a little earlier at "a thousand strong" and now, for +all the acts against them, probably stronger yet -- were to be found chiefly +in the parishes of Isle of Wight and Nansemond, but had representatives +from the Falls to the Eastern Shore. What these Virginians thought of the +"unkind differences" does not appear in the record, but probably there was +thought enough and secret hopes. + +In 1644, the year of Marston Moor, Virginia, too, saw battle and sudden and +bloody death. That Opechancanough who had succeeded Powhatan was now one +hundred years old, hardly able to walk or to see, dwelling harmlessly in a +village upon the upper Pamunkey. All the Indians were broken and dispersed; +serious danger was not to be thought of. Then, of a sudden, the flame +leaped again. There fell from the blue sky a massacre directed against the +outlying plantations. Three hundred men, women, and children were killed by +the Indians. With fury the white men attacked in return. They sent bodies +of horse into the untouched western forests. They chased and slew without +mercy. In 1646 Opechancanough, brought a prisoner to Jamestown, ended his +long tale of years by a shot from one of his keepers. The Indians were +beaten, and, lacking such another leader, made no more organized and +general attacks. But for long years a kind of border warfare still went on. + +Even Maryland, tolerant and just as was the Calvert policy, did not +altogether escape Indian troubles. She had to contend with no such able +chief as Opechancanough, and she suffered no sweeping massacres. But after +the first idyllic year or so there set in a small, constant friction. So +fast did the Maryland colonists arrive that soon there was pressure of +population beyond those first purchased bounds. The more thoughtful among +the Indians may well have taken alarm lest their villages and +hunting-grounds might not endure these inroads. Ere long the English in +Maryland were placing "centinells" over fields where men worked, and +providing penalties for those who sold the savages firearms. But at no time +did young Maryland suffer the Indian woes that had vexed young Virginia. + +Nor did Maryland escape the clash of interests which beset the beginnings +of representative assemblies in all proprietary provinces. The second, like +the first, Lord Baltimore, was a believer in kings and aristocracies, in a +natural division of human society into masters and men. His effort was to +plant intact in Maryland a feudal order. He would be Palatine, the King his +suzerain. In Maryland the great planters, in effect his barons, should live +upon estates, manorial in size and with manorial rights. The laboring men -- +the impecunious adventurers whom these greater adventurers brought out -- +would form a tenantry, the Lord Proprietary's men's men. It is true that, +according to charter, provision was made for an Assembly. Here were to sit +"freemen of the province," that is to say, all white males who were not in +the position of indentured servants. But with the Proprietary, and not with +the Assembly, would rest primarily the lawmaking power. The Lord +Proprietary would propose legislation, and the freemen of the country would +debate, in a measure advise, represent, act as consultants, and finally +confirm. Baltimore was prepared to be a benevolent lord, wise, fatherly. + +In 1635 met the first Assembly, Leonard Calvert and his Council sitting +with the burgesses, and this gathering of freemen proceeded to inaugurate +legislation. There was passed a string of enactments which presumably dealt +with immediate wants at St. Mary's, and which, the Assembly recognized, +must have the Lord Proprietary's assent. A copy was therefore sent by +the first ship to leave. So long were the voyages and so slow the procedure +in England that it was 1637 before Baltimore's veto upon the Assembly's +laws reached Maryland. It would seem that he did not disapprove so much of +the laws themselves as of the bold initiative of the Assembly, for he at +once sent over twelve bills of his own drafting. Leonard Calvert was +instructed to bring all freemen together in Assembly and present for their +acceptance the substituted legislation. + +Early in 1638 this Maryland Assembly met. The Governor put before it for +adoption the Proprietary's laws. The vote was taken. Governor and some +others were for, the remainder of the Assembly unanimously against, the +proposed legislation. There followed a year or two of struggle over this +question, but in the end the Proprietary in effect acknowledged defeat. The +colonists, through their Assembly, might thereafter propose laws to meet +their exigencies, and Governor Calvert, acting for his brother, should +approve or veto according to need. + +When civil war between King and Parliament broke out in England, sentiment +in Maryland as in Virginia inclined toward the King. But that Puritan, +Non-conformist, and republican element that was in both colonies might be +expected to gain if, at home in England, the Parliamentary party gained. A +Royal Governor or a Lord Proprietary's Governor might alike be perplexed by +the political turmoil in the mother country. Leonard Calvert felt the need +of first-hand consultation with his brother. Leaving Giles Brent in his +place, he sailed for England, talked there with Baltimore himself, +perplexed and filled with foreboding, and returned to Maryland not greatly +wiser than when he went. + +Maryland was soon convulsed by disorders which in many ways reflected the +unsettled conditions in England. A London ship, commanded by Richard Ingle, +a Puritan and a staunch upholder of the cause of Parliament, arrived before +St. Mary's, where he gave great offense by his blatant remarks about the +King and Rupert, "that Prince Rogue." Though he was promptly arrested on +the charge of treason, he managed to escape and soon left the loyal colony +far astern. + +In the meantime Leonard Calvert had come back to Maryland, where he found +confusion and a growing heat and faction and side-taking of a bitter sort. +To add to the turmoil, William Claiborne, among whose dominant traits was +an inability to recognize defeat, was making attempts upon Kent Island. +Calvert was not long at St. Mary's ere Ingle sailed in again with +letters-of-marque from the Long Parliament. Ingle and his men landed and +quickly found out the Protestant moiety of the colonists. There followed an +actual insurrection, the Marylanders joining with Ingle and much aided by +Claiborne, who now retook Kent Island. The insurgents then captured St. +Mary's and forced the Governor to flee to Virginia. For two years Ingle +ruled and plundered, sequestrating goods of the Proprietary's adherents, +and deporting in irons Jesuit priests. At the end of this time Calvert +reappeared, and behind him a troop gathered in Virginia. Now it was Ingle's +turn to flee. Regaining his ship, he made sail for England, and Maryland +settled down again to the ancient order. The Governor then reduced Kent +Island. Claiborne, again defeated, retired to Virginia, whence he sailed +for England. + +In 1647 Leonard Calvert died. Until the Proprietary's will should be known, +Thomas Greene acted as Governor. Over in England, Lord Baltimore stood at +the parting of the ways. The King's cause had a hopeless look. Roundhead +and Parliament were making way in a mighty tide. Baltimore was marked for a +royalist and a Catholic. If the tide rose farther, he might lose Maryland. +A sagacious mind, he proceeded to do all that he could, short of denying +his every belief, to placate his enemies. He appointed as Governor of +Maryland William Stone, a Puritan, and into the Council, numbering five +members, he put three Puritans. On the other hand the interests of his +Maryland Catholics must not be endangered. He required of the new Governor +not to molest any person "professing to believe in Jesus Christ, and in +particular any Roman Catholic." In this way he thought that, right and left, +he might provide against persecution. + +Under these complex influences the Maryland Assembly passed in 1649 an Act +concerning Religion. It reveals, upon the one hand, Christendom's +mercilessness toward the freethinker -- in which mercilessness, whether +through conviction or policy, Baltimore acquiesced -- and, on the other hand, +that aspiration toward friendship within the Christian fold which is even +yet hardly more than a pious wish, and which in the seventeenth century +could have been felt by very few. To Baltimore and the Assembly of Maryland +belongs, not the glory of inaugurating an era of wide toleration for men +and women of all beliefs or disbeliefs, whether Christian or not, but the +real though lesser glory of establishing entire toleration among the +divisions within the Christian circle itself. According to the Act,* + +"Whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands +thereunto belonging, shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is curse +him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall +deny the holy Trinity, . . . or the Godhead of any of the said three +persons of the Trinity, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter +any reproachful speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy +Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shall be punished with +death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to +the Lord Proprietary and his heires . . . . Whatsoever person or persons +shall from henceforth use or utter any reproachfull words, or speeches, +concerning the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Saviour, or the holy +Apostles or Evangelists, or any of them, shall in such case for the first +offence forfeit to the said Lord Proprietary and his heires the sum of five +pound sterling . . . . Whatsoever person shall henceforth upon any occasion +. . . declare, call, or denominate any person or persons whatsoever +inhabiting, residing, traffiqueing, trading or comerceing within this +Province, or within any of the Ports, Harbors, Creeks or Havens to the same +belonging, an heritick, Scismatick, Idolator, puritan, Independant, +Presbiterian, popish priest, Jesuite, Jesuited papist, Lutheran, Calvenist, +Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Roundhead, Sepatist, or any +other name or term in a reproachful manner relating to matter of Religion, +shall for every such Offence forfeit . . . the sum of tenne shillings +sterling . . . . + +"Whereas the inforceing of the conscience in matters of Religion hath +frequently fallen out to be of dangerous Consequence in those commonwealths +where it hath been practised, . . . be it therefore also by the Lord +Proprietary with the advice and consent of this Assembly, ordeyned and +enacted . . . that no person or persons whatsoever within this Province . . +.professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth bee any waies +troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her +religion nor in the free exercise thereof . . . nor anyway compelled to the +beleif or exercise of any other Religion against his or her consent, soe as +they be not unfaithfull to the Lord Proprietary or molest or conspire +against the civill Government . . ." + +* "Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General +Assembly", vol. I, pp. 244-247. + + + +CHAPTER XI. COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION + +On the 30th of January, 1649, before the palace of Whitehall, Charles the +First of England was beheaded. In Virginia the event fell with a shock. +Even those within the colony who were Cromwell's men rather than Charles's +men seem to have recoiled from this act. Presently, too, came fleeing +royalists from overseas, to add their passionate voices to those of the +royalists in Virginia. Many came, "nobility, clergy and gentry, men of the +first rate." A thousand are said to have arrived in the year after the +King's death. + +In October the Virginia Assembly met. Parliament men -- and now these were +walking with head in the air -- might regret the execution of the past +January, and yet be prepared to assert that with the fall of the kingdom +fell all powers and offices named and decreed by the hapless monarch. What +was a passionate royalist government doing in Virginia now that England was +a Commonwealth? The passionate government answered for itself in acts +passed by this Assembly. With swelling words, with a tragic accent, it +denounced the late happenings in England and all the Roundhead wickedness +that led up to them. It proclaimed loyalty to "his sacred Majesty that now +is" -- that is, to Charles Stuart, afterwards Charles the Second, then a +refugee on the Continent. Finally it enacted that any who defended the late +proceedings, or in the least affected to question "the undoubted and +inherent right of his Majesty that now is to the Collony of Virginia" +should be held guilty of high treason; and that "reporters and divulgers" +of rumors tending to change of government should be punished "even to +severity." + +Berkeley's words may be detected in these acts of the Assembly. In no great +time the Cavalier Governor conferred with Colonel Henry Norwood, one of the +royalist refugees to Virginia. Norwood thereupon sailed away upon a Dutch +ship and came to Holland, where he found "his Majesty that now is." Here he +knelt, and invited that same Majesty to visit his dominion of Virginia, +and, if he liked it, there to rest, sovereign of the Virginian people. But +Charles still hoped to be sovereign in England and would not cross the +seas. He sent, however, to Sir William Berkeley a renewal of his Governor's +commission, and appointed Norwood Treasurer of Virginia, and said, +doubtless, many gay and pleasant things. + +In Virginia there continued to appear from England adherents of the ancient +regime. Men, women, and children came until to a considerable degree the +tone of society rang Cavalier. This immigration, now lighter, now heavier, +continued through a rather prolonged period. There came now to Virginia +families whose names are often met in the later history of the land. Now +Washingtons appear, with Randolphs, Carys, Skipwiths, Brodnaxes, Tylers, +Masons, Madisons, Monroes, and many more. These persons are not without +means; they bring with them servants; they are in high favor with Governor +and Council; they acquire large tracts of virgin land; they bring in +indentured labor; they purchase African slaves; they cultivate tobacco. +From being English country gentlemen they turn easily to become Virginia +planters. + +But the Virginia Assembly had thrown a gauntlet before the victorious +Commonwealth; and the Long Parliament now declared the colony to be in +contumacy, assembled and dispatched ships against her, and laid an embargo +upon trade with the rebellious daughter. In January of 1652 English ships +appeared off Point Comfort. Four Commissioners of the Commonwealth were +aboard, of whom that strong man Claiborne was one. After issuing a +proclamation to quiet the fears of the people, the Commissioners made their +way to Jamestown. Here was found the indomitable Berkeley and his Council +in a state of active preparation, cannon trained. But, when all was said, +the Commissioners had brought wisely moderate terms: submit because submit +they must, acknowledge the Commonwealth, and, that done, rest unmolested! +If resistance continued, there were enough Parliament men in Virginia to +make an army. Indentured servants and slaves should receive freedom in +exchange for support to the Commonwealth. The ships would come up from +Point Comfort, and a determined war would be on. What Sir William Berkeley +personally said has not survived. But after consultation upon consultation +Virginia surrendered to the commonwealth. + +Berkeley stepped from the Governor's chair, retiring in wrath and +bitterness of heart to his house at Greenspring. In his place sat Richard +Bennett, one of the Commissioners. Claiborne was made Secretary. King's men +went out of office; Parliament men came in. But there was no persecution. +In the bland and wide Virginia air minds failed to come into hard and +frequent collision. For all the ferocities of the statute books, acute +suffering for difference of opinion, whether political or religious, did +not bulk large in the life of early Virginia. + +The Commissioners, after the reduction of Virginia, had a like part to play +with Maryland. At St. Mary's, as at Jamestown, they demanded and at length +received submission to the Commonwealth. There was here the less trouble +owing to Baltimore's foresight in appointing to the office of Governor +William Stone, whose opinions, political and religious, accorded with those +of revolutionary England. Yet the Governor could not bring himself to +forget his oath to Lord Baltimore and agree to the demand of the +Commissioners that he should administer the Government in the name of "the +Keepers of the Liberties of England." After some hesitation the +Commissioners decided to respect his scruples and allow him to govern in +the name of the Lord Proprietary, as he had solemnly promised. + +In Virginia and in Maryland the Commonwealth and the Lord Protector stand +where stood the Kingdom and the King. Many are far better satisfied than +they were before; and the confirmed royalist consumes his grumbling in his +own circle. The old, exhausting quarrel seems laid to rest. But within this +wider peace breaks out suddenly an interior strife. Virginia would, if she +could, have back all her old northward territory. In 1652 Bennett's +Government goes so far as to petition Parliament to unseat the Catholic +Proprietary of Maryland and make whole again the ancient Virginia. The hand +of Claiborne, that remarkable and persistent man, may be seen in this. + +In Maryland, Puritans and Independents were settled chiefly about the +rivers Severn and Patuxent and in a village called Providence, afterwards +Annapolis. These now saw their chance to throw off the Proprietary's rule +and to come directly under that of the Commonwealth. So thinking, they put +themselves into communication with Bennett and Claiborne. In 1654 Stone +charged the Commissioners with having promoted "faction, sedition, and +rebellion against the Lord Baltimore." The charge was well founded. +Claiborne and Bennett assumed that they were yet Parliament Commissioners, +empowered to bring "all plantations within the Bay of Chesapeake to their +due obedience to the Parliament and Commonwealth of England." And they were +indeed set against the Lord Baltimore. Claiborne would head the Puritans of +Providence; and a troop should be raised in Virginia and march northward. +The Commissioners actually advanced upon St. Mary's, and with so superior +a force that Stone surrendered, and a Puritan Government was inaugurated. +A Puritan Assembly met, debarring any Catholics. Presently it passed an act +annulling the Proprietary's Act of Toleration. Professors of the religion +of Rome should "be restrained from the exercise thereof." The hand of the +law was to fall heavily upon "popery, prelacy, or licentiousness of +opinion." Thus was intolerance alive again in the only land where she had +seemed to die! + +In England now there was hardly a Parliament, but only the Lord Protector, +Oliver Cromwell. Content with Baltimore's recognition of the Protectorate, +Cromwell was not prepared to back, in their independent action, the +Commissioners of that now dissolved Parliament. Baltimore made sure of +this, and then dispatched messengers overseas to Stone, bidding him do all +that lay in him to retake Maryland. Stone thereupon gathered several +hundred men and a fleet of small sailing craft, with which he pushed up the +bay to the Severn. In the meantime the Puritans had not been idle, but had +themselves raised a body of men and had taken over the Golden Lyon, an +armed merchantman lying before their town. On the 24th of March, 1655, the +two forces met in the Battle of the Severn. "In the name of God, fall on!" +cried the men of Providence, and "Hey for St. Mary's!" cried the others. +The battle was won by the Providence men. They slew or wounded fifty of the +St. Mary's men and desperately wounded Stone himself and took many +prisoners, ten of whom were afterwards condemned to death and four were +actually executed. + +Now followed a period of up and down, the Commissioners and the Proprietary +alike appealing to the Lord Protector for some expression of his +"determinate will." Both sides received encouragement inasmuch as he +decided for neither. His own authority being denied by neither, Cromwell +may have preferred to hold these distant factions in a canceling, +neutralizing posture. But far weightier matters, in fact, were occupying +his mind. In 1657, weary of her "very sad, distracted, and unsettled +condition," Maryland herself proceeded -- Puritan, Prelatist, and Catholic +together -- to agree henceforth to disagree. Toleration viewed in retrospect +appears dimly to have been seen for the angel that it was. Maryland would +return to the Proprietary's rule, provided there should be complete +indemnity for political offenses and a solemn promise that the Toleration +Act of 1649 should never be repealed. This without a smile Baltimore +promised. Articles were signed; a new Assembly composed of all manner of +Christians was called; and Maryland returned for a time to her first +allegiance. + +Quiet years, on the whole, follow in Virginia under the Commonwealth. The +three Governors of this period -- Bennett, Digges, and Mathews are all chosen +by the Assembly, which, but for the Navigation Laws,* might almost forget +the Home Government. Then Oliver Cromwell dies; and, after an interval, +back to England come the Stuarts. Charles II is proclaimed King. And back +into office in Virginia is brought that staunch old monarchist, Sir +William Berkeley -- first by a royalist Assembly and presently by commission +from the new King. + +* See Editor's Note on the Navigation Laws at the end of this volume. + + +Then Virginia had her Long Parliament or Assembly. In 1661, in the first +gush of the Restoration, there was elected a House of Burgesses so +congenial to Berkeley's mind that he wished to see it perpetuated. For +fifteen years therefore he held it in being, with adjournments from one +year into another and with sharp refusals to listen to any demand for new +elections. Yet this demand grew, and still the Governor shut the door in +the face of the people and looked imperiously forth from the window. His +temper, always fiery, now burned vindictive; his zeal for King and Church +and the high prerogatives of the Governor of Virginia became a consuming +passion. + +When Berkeley first came to Virginia, and again for a moment in the flare +of the Restoration, his popularity had been real, but for long now it had +dwindled. He belonged to an earlier time, and he held fast to old ideas +that were decaying at the heart. A bigot for the royal power, a man of +class with a contempt for the generality and its clumsily expressed needs, +he grew in narrowness as he grew in years. Berkeley could in these later +times write home, though with some exaggeration: "I thank God there are no +free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred +years; for learning has brought disobedience into the world and printing +has divulged them, and libels against the best governments! God keep us +from both!" But that was the soured zealot for absolutism -- William Berkeley +the man was fond enough of books and himself had written plays. + +The spirit of the time was reactionary in Virginia as it was reactionary in +England. Harsh servant and slave laws were passed. A prison was to be +erected in each county; provision was made for pillory and stocks and +duckingstool; the Quakers were to be proceeded against; the Baptists who +refused to bring children to baptism were to suffer. Then at last in 1670 +came restriction of the franchise: + +"Act III. ELECTION OF BURGESSES BY WHOM. WHEREAS the usuall way of chuseing +burgesses by the votes of all persons who having served their tyme are +freemen of this country who haveing little interest in the country doe +oftener make tumults at the election to the disturbance of his Majestie's +peace, than by their discretions in their votes provide for the +conservation thereof, by makeing choyce of persons fitly qualifyed for the +discharge of soe greate a trust, And whereas the lawes of England grant a +voyce in such election only to such as by their estates real or personall +have interest enough to tye them to the endeavour of the publique good; IT +IS HEREBY ENACTED, that none but freeholders and housekeepers who only are +answerable to the publique for the levies shall hereafter have a voice in +the election of any burgesses in this country." + +*Hening's "Statutes", vol. II, p. 280. + + +Three years later another woe befell the colony. That same Charles II -- to +whom in misfortune Virginia had so adhered that for her loyalty she had +received the name of the Old Dominion -- now granted "all that entire tract, +territory, region, and dominion of land and water commonly called Virginia, +together with the territory of Accomack," to Lord Culpeper and the Earl of +Arlington. For thirty-one years they were to hold it, paying to the King +the slight annual rent of forty shillings. They were not to disturb the +colonists in any guaranteed right of life or land or goods, but for the +rest they might farm Virginia. The country cried out in anger. The Assembly +hurried commissioners on board a ship in port and sent them to England to +besiege the ear of the King. + +Distress and discontent increased, with good reason, among the mass of the +Virginians. The King in England, his councilors, and Parliament, played an +unfatherly role, while in Virginia economic hardships pressed ever harder and +the administration became more and more oppressive. By 1676 the gunpowder of +popular indignation was laid right and left, awaiting the match. + + + +CHAPTER XII. NATHANIEL BACON + +To add to the uncertainty of life in Virginia, Indian troubles flared up +again. In and around the main settlements the white man was safe enough +from savage attack. But it was not so on the edge of the English world, +where the white hue ran thin, where small clusters of folk and even single +families built cabins of logs and made lonely clearings in the wilderness. + +Not far from where now rises Washington the Susquehannocks had taken +possession of an old fort. These Indians, once in league with the Iroquois +but now quarreling violently with that confederacy, had been defeated and +were in a mood of undiscriminating bitterness and vengeance. They began to +waylay and butcher white men and women and children. In self protection +Maryland and Virginia organized in common an expedition against the Indian +stronghold. In the deep woods beyond the Potomac, red men and white came to +a parley. The Susquehannocks sent envoys. There was wrong on both sides. A +dispute arose. The white men, waxing angry, slew the envoys -- an evil deed +which their own color in Maryland and in Virginia reprehended and +repudiated. But the harm was done. From the Potomac to the James Indians +listened to Indian eloquence, reciting the evils that from the first the +white man had brought. Then the red man, in increasing numbers, fell upon +the outlying settlements of the pioneers. + +In Virginia there soon arose a popular clamor for effective action. Call +out the militia of every county! March against the Indians! Act! But the +Governor was old, of an ill temper now, and most suspicious of popular +gatherings for any purpose whatsoever. He temporized, delayed, refused all +appeals until the Assembly should meet. + +Dislike of Berkeley and his ways and a growing sense of injury and +oppression began to quiver hard in the Virginian frame. The King was no +longer popular, nor Sir William Berkeley, nor were the most of the Council, +nor many of the burgesses of that Long Assembly. There arose a loud demand +for a new election and for changes in public policy. + +Where a part of Richmond now stands, there stretched at that time a tract +of fields and hills and a clear winding creek, held by a young planter +named Nathaniel Bacon, an Englishman of that family which produced "the +wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind." The planter himself lived farther +down the river. But he had at this place an overseer and some indentured +laborers. This Nathaniel Bacon was a newcomer in Virginia -- young man who +had been entered in Gray's Inn, who had traveled, who was rumored to have +run through much of his own estate. He had a cousin, also named Nathaniel +Bacon, who had come fifteen years earlier to Virginia "a very rich, politic +man and childless," and whose representations had perhaps drawn the younger +Bacon to Virginia. At any rate he was here, and at the age of twenty-eight +the owner of much land and the possessor of a seat in the Council. But, +though he sat in the Council, he was hardly of the mind of the Governor and +those who supported him. + +It was in the spring of 1676 that there began a series of Indian attacks +directed against the plantations and the outlying cabins of the region +above the Falls of the Far West. Among the victims were men of Bacon's +plantation, for his overseer and several of his servants were slain. The +news of this massacre of his men set their young master afire. Even a less +hideous tale might have done it, for he was of a bold and ardent nature. + +Riding up the forest tracks, a company of planters from the threatened +neighborhood gathered together. "Let us make a troop and take fire and +sword among them!" There lacked a commander. "Mr. Bacon, you command!" Very +good; and Mr. Bacon, who is a born orator, made a speech dealing with the +"grievances of the times." Very good indeed; but still there lacked the +Governor's commission. "Send a swift messenger to Jamestown for it!" + +The messenger went and returned. No commission. Mr. Bacon had made an +unpleasant impression upon Sir William Berkeley. This young man, the +Governor said, was "popularly inclined" -- had "a constitution not consistent +with" all that Berkeley stood for. Bacon and his neighbors listened with +bent brows to their envoy's report. Murmurs began and deepened. "Shall we +stand idly here considering formalities, while the redskins murder?" +Commission or no commission, they would march; and in the end, march they +did -- a considerable troop -- to the up-river country, with the tall, young, +eloquent man at their head. + +News reached the Governor at Jamestown that they were marching. In a +tight-lipped rage he issued a proclamation and sent it after them. They and +their leader were acting illegally, usurping military powers that belonged +elsewhere! Let them disband, disperse to their dwellings, or beware action +of the rightful powers! Troubled in mind, some disbanded and dispersed, but +threescore at least would by no means do so. Nor would the young man "of +precipitate disposition" who headed the troop. He rode on into the forest +after the Indians, and the others followed him. Here were the Falls of the +Far West, and here on a hill the Indians had a "fort." This the Virginia +planters attacked. The hills above the James echoed to the sound of the +small, desperate fray. In the end the red men were routed. Some were slain; +some were taken prisoner; others escaped into the deep woods stretching +westward. + +In the meantime another force of horsemen had been gathered. It was headed +by Berkeley and was addressed to the pursuit and apprehension of Nathaniel +Bacon, who had thus defied authority. But before Berkeley could move far, +fire broke out around him. The grievances of the people were many and just, +and not without a family resemblance to those that precipitated the +Revolution a hundred years later. Not Bacon alone, but many others who were +in despair of any good under their present masters were ready for heroic +measures. Berkeley found himself ringed about by a genuine popular revolt. +He therefore lacked the time now to pursue Nathaniel Bacon, but spurred +back to Jamestown there to deal as best he might with dangerous affairs. At +Jamestown, willy-nilly, the old Governor was forced to promise reforms. The +Long Assembly should be dissolved and a new Assembly, more conformable to +the wishes of the people, should come into being ready to consider all +their troubles. So writs went out; and there presently followed a hot and +turbulent election, in which that "restricted franchise" of the Long +Assembly was often defied and in part set aside. Men without property +presented themselves, gave their voices, and were counted. Bacon, who had +by now achieved an immense popularity, was chosen burgess for Henricus County. + +In the June weather Bacon sailed down to Jamestown, with a number of those +who had backed him in that assumption of power to raise troops and go +against the Indians. When he came to Jamestown it was to find the high +sheriff waiting for him by the Governor's orders. He was put under arrest. +Hot discussion followed. But the people were for the moment in the +ascendent, and Bacon should not be sacrificed. A compromise was reached. +Bacon was technically guilty of "unlawful, mutinous and rebellious +practises." If, on his knees before Governor, Council, and Burgesses, he +would acknowledge as much and promise henceforth to be his Majesty's +obedient servant, he and those implicated with him should be pardoned. He +himself might be readmitted to the Council, and all in Virginia should be +as it had been. He should even have the commission he had acted without to +go and fight against the Indians. + +Bacon thereupon made his submission upon his knees, promising that +henceforth he would "demean himself dutifully, faithfully, and peaceably." +Formally forgiven, he was restored to his place in the Virginia Council. An +eyewitness reports that presently he saw "Mr. Bacon on his quondam seat +with the Governor and Council, which seemed a marvellous indulgence to one +whom he had so lately proscribed as a rebel." The Assembly of 1676 was of a +different temper and opinion from that of the Long Assembly. It was an +insurgent body, composed to a large degree of mere freemen and small +planters, with a few of the richer, more influential sort who nevertheless +queried that old divine right of rule. Berkeley thought that he had good +reason to doubt this Assembly's intentions, once it gave itself rein. He +directs it therefore to confine its attention to Indian troubles. It did, +indeed, legislate on Indian affairs by passing an elaborate act for the +prosecution of the war. An army of a thousand white men was to be raised. +Bacon was to be commander-in-chief. All manner of precautions were to be +taken. But this matter disposed of, the Assembly thereupon turned to "the +redressing several grievances the country was then labouring under; and +motions were made for inspecting the public revenues, the collectors' +accounts," and so forth. The Governor thundered; friends of the old order +obstructed; but the Assembly went on its way, reforming here and reforming +there. It even went so far as to repeal the preceding Assembly's +legislation regarding the franchise. All white males who are freemen were +now privileged to vote, "together with the freeholders and housekeepers." + +A certain member wanted some detail of procedure retained because it was +customary. "Tis true it has been customary," answered another, "but if we +have any bad customs amongst us, we are come here to mend 'em!" +"Whereupon," says the contemporary narrator, "the house was set in a +laughter." But after so considerable an amount of mending there threatened +a standstill. What was to come next? Could men go further -- as they had gone +further in England not so many years ago? Reform had come to an apparent +impasse. While it thus hesitated, the old party gained in life. + +Bacon, now petitioning for his promised commission against the Indians, +seems to have reached the conclusion that the Governor might promise but +meant not to perform, and not only so, but that in Jamestown his very life +was in danger. He had "intimation that the Governor's generosity in +pardoning him and restoring him to his place in the Council were no other +than previous wheedles to amuse him." + +In Jamestown lived one whom a chronicler paints for us as "thoughtful Mr. +Lawrence." This gentleman was an Oxford scholar, noted for "wit, learning, +and sobriety . . . nicely honest, affable, and without blemish in his +conversation and dealings." Thus friends declared, though foes said of him +quite other things. At any rate, having emigrated to Virginia and married +there, he had presently acquired, because of a lawsuit over land in which +he held himself to be unjustly and shabbily treated through influences of +the Governor, an inveterate prejudice against that ruler. He calls him in +short "an old, treacherous villain." Lawrence and his wife, not being rich, +kept a tavern at Jamestown, and there Bacon lodged, probably having been +thrown with Lawrence before this. Persons are found who hold that Lawrence +was the brain, Bacon the arm, of the discontent in Virginia. There was also +Mr. William Drummond, who will be met with in the account of Carolina. He +was a "sober Scotch gentleman of good repute" -- but no more than Lawrence on +good terms with the Governor of Virginia. + +On a morning in June, when the Assembly met, it was observed that Nathaniel +Bacon was not in his place in the Council -- nor was he to be found in the +building, nor even in Jamestown itself, though Berkeley had Lawrence's inn +searched for him. He had left the town -- gone up the river in his sloop to +his plantation at Curles Neck "to visit his wife, who, as she informed him, +was indisposed." In truth it appears that Bacon had gone for the purpose of +gathering together some six hundred up-river men. Or perhaps they +themselves had come together and, needing a leader, had turned naturally to +the man who was under the frown of an unpopular Governor and all the +Governor's supporters in Virginia. At any rate Bacon was presently seen at +the head of no inconsiderable army for a colony of less than fifty thousand +souls. Those with him were only up-river men; but he must have known that +he could gather besides from every part of the country. Given some initial +success, he might even set all Virginia ablaze. Down the river he marched, +he and his six hundred, and in the summer heat entered Jamestown and drew +up before the Capitol. The space in front of this building was packed with +the Jamestown folk and with the six hundred. Bacon, a guard behind him, +advanced to the central door, to find William Berkeley standing there +shaking with rage. The old royalist has courage. He tears open his silken +vest and fine shirt and faces the young man who, though trained in the law +of the realm, is now filling that law with a hundred wounds. He raises a +passionate voice. "Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark -- a fair mark! +Shoot!" + +Bacon will not shoot him, but will have that promised commission to go +against the Indians. Those behind him lift and shake their guns. "We will +have it! We will have it!" Governor and Council retire to consider the +demand. If Berkeley is passionate and at times violent, so is Bacon in his +own way, for an eye-witness has to say that "he displayed outrageous +postures of his head, arms, body and legs, often tossing his hand from his +sword to his hat," and that outside the door he had cried: "Damn my blood! +I'll kill Governor, Council, Assembly and all, and then I'll sheathe my +sword in my own heart's blood!" He is no dour, determined, unwordy +revolutionist like the Scotch Drummond, nor still and subtle like "the +thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." He is young and hot, a man of oratory and outward +acts. Yet is he a patriot and intelligent upon broad public needs. When +presently he makes a speech to the excited Assembly, it has for +subject-matter "preserving our lives from the Indians, inspecting the +public revenues, the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the grievances and +calamities of that deplorable country." It has quite the ring of young +men's speeches in British colonies a century later! + +The Governor and his party gave in perforce. Bacon got his commission and +an Act of Indemnity for all chance political offenses. General and +Commander-in-chief against the Indians -- so was he styled. Moreover, the +Burgesses, with an alarmed thought toward England, drew up an explanatory +memorial for Charles II's perusal. This paper journeyed forth upon the +first ship to sail, but it had for traveling companion a letter secretly +sent from the Governor to the King. The two communications were painted in +opposite colors. "I have," says Berkeley, "for above thirty years governed +the most flourishing country the sun ever shone over, but am now +encompassed with rebellion like waters." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. REBELLION AND CHANGE + +Bacon with an increased army now rode out once more against the Indians. He +made a rendezvous on the upper York -- the old Pamunkey -- and to this center +he gathered horsemen until there may have been with him not far from a +thousand mounted men. From here he sent detachments against the red men's +villages in all the upper troubled country, and afar into the sunset woods +where the pioneer's cabin had not yet been builded. He acted with vigor. +The Indians could not stand against his horsemen and concerted measures, +and back they fell before the white men, westward again; or, if they stayed +in the ever dwindling villages, they gave hostages and oaths of peace. +Quiet seemed to descend once more upon the border. + +But, if the frontier seemed peaceful, Virginia behind the border was a +bubbling cauldron. Bacon had now become a hero of the people, a Siegfried +capable of slaying the dragon. Nor were Lawrence and Drummond idle, nor +others of their way of thinking. The Indian troubles might soon be settled, +but why not go further, marching against other troubles, more subtle and +long-continuing, and threatening all the future? + +In the midst of this speculation and promise of change, the Governor, +feeling the storm, dissolved the Assembly, proclaimed Bacon and his +adherents rebels and traitors, and made a desperate attempt to raise an +army for use against the new-fangledness of the time. This last he could +not do. Private interest led many planters to side with him, and there was +a fair amount of passionate conviction matching his own, that his Majesty +the King and the forces of law and order were being withstood, and without +just cause. But the mass of the people cried out to his speeches, "Bacon! +Bacon!" As the popular leader had been warned from Jamestown by news of +personal danger, so in his turn Berkeley seems to have believed that his +own liberty was threatened. With suddenness he departed the place, boarded +a sloop, and was "wafted over Chesapeake Bay thirty miles to Accomac." The +news of the Governor's flight, producing both alarm in one party and +enthusiasm in the other, tended to precipitate the crisis. Though the +Indian trouble might by now be called adjusted, Bacon, far up the York, did +not disband his men. He turned and with them marched down country, not to +Jamestown, but to a hamlet called Middle Plantation, where later was to +grow the town of Williamsburg. Here he camped, and here took counsel with +Lawrence and Drummond and others, and here addressed, with a curious, lofty +eloquence, the throng that began to gather. Hence, too, he issued a +"Declaration," recounting the misdeeds of those lately in power, protesting +against the terms rebel and traitor as applied to himself and his +followers, who are only in arms to protect his Majesty's demesne and +subjects, and calling on those who are well disposed to reform to join him +at Middle Plantation, there to consider the state of the country which had +been brought into a bad way by "Sir William's doting and irregular actings." + +Upon his proclamation many did come to Middle Plantation, great planters +and small, men just freed from indentured service, holders of no land and +little land and much land, men of all grades of weight and consideration +and all degrees of revolutionary will, from Drummond -- with a reported +speech, "I am in overshoes; I will be in overboots!" and a wife Sarah who +snapped a stick in two with the cry, "I care no more for the power of +England than for this broken straw!" -- to those who would be revolutionary +as long as, and only when, it seemed safe to be so. + +How much of revolution, despite that speech about his Majesty's demesne and +subjects, was in Bacon's mind, or in Richard Lawrence's mind and William +Drummond's mind, or in the mind of their staunchest supporters, may hardly +now be resolved. Perhaps as much as was in the mind of Patrick Henry, +Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason a century later. + +The Governor was in Accomac, breathing fire and slaughter, though as yet +without brand or sword with which to put his ardent desires into execution. +But he and the constituted order were not without friends and supporters. +He had, as his opponents saw, a number of "wicked and pernicious +counsellors, aides and assistants against the commonalty in these our cruel +commotions." Moreover -- and a great moreover is that! -- it was everywhere +bruited that he had sent to England, to the King, "for two thousand Red +Coates." Perhaps the King -- perhaps England -- will take his view, and, not +consulting the good of Virginia, send the Red Coats! What then? + +Bacon, as a measure of opposition, proposed "a test or recognition," to be +signed by those here at Middle Plantation who earnestly do wish the good of +Virginia. It was a bold test! Not only should they covenant to give no aid +to the whilom?? Governor against this new general and army, but if ships +should bring the Red Coats they were to withstand them. There is little +wonder that "this bugbear did marvellously startle" that body of Virginia +horsemen, those progressive gentlemen planters, and others. Yet in the end, +after violent contentions, the assembly at Middle Plantation drew up and +signed a remarkable paper, the "Oath at Middle Plantation." Historically, +it is linked on the one hand with that "thrusting out of his government" of +Sir John Harvey in Charles I's time, and on the other with Virginian +proceedings a hundred years later under the third George. If his Majesty +had been, as it was rumored, wrongly informed that Virginia was in +rebellion; if, acting upon that misinformation, he sent troops against his +loyal Virginians -- who were armed only against an evil Governor and +intolerable woes then these same good loyalists would "oppose and suppress +all forces whatsoever of that nature, until such time as the King be fully +informed of the state of the case." What was to happen if the King, being +informed, still supported Berkeley and sent other Red Coats was not taken +into consideration. + +This paper, being drawn, was the more quickly signed because there arrived, +in the midst of the debate, a fresh Indian alarm. Attack threatened a fort +upon the York -- whence the Governor had seen fit to remove arms and +ammunition! The news came most opportunely for Bacon. "There were no more +discourses." The major portion of the large assemblage signed. + +The old Government in Virginia was thus denied. But it was held that +government there must be, and that the people of Virginia through +representatives must arrange for it. Writs of election, made as usual in +the King's name, and signed by Bacon and by those members of the Council +who were of the revolt, went forth to all counties. The Assembly thus +provided was to meet at Jamestown in September. + +So much business done, off rode Bacon and his men to put down this latest +rising of the Indians. Not only these but red men in a new quarter, tribes +south of the James, kept them employed for weeks to come. Nor were they +unmindful of that proud old man, Sir William Berkeley, over on the Eastern +Shore, a well-peopled region where traveling by boat and by sandy road was +sufficiently easy. Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond finally decided to take +Sir William captive and to bring him back to Jamestown. For this purpose +they dispatched a ship across the Bay, with two hundred and fifty men, +under the command of Giles Bland, "a man of courage and haughty bearing," +and "no great admirer of Sir William's goodness." The ship proceeded to the +Accomac shore, anchored in some bight, and sent ashore men to treat with +the Governor. But the Governor turned the tables on them. He made himself +captor, instead of being made captive. Bland and his lieutenants were +taken, whereupon their following surrendered into Berkeley's hands. Bland's +second in command was hanged; Bland himself was held in irons. + +Now Berkeley's star was climbing. In Accomac he gathered so many that, with +those who had fled with him and later recruits who crossed the Bay, he had +perhaps a thousand men. He stowed these upon the ship of the ill-fated +Bland and upon a number of sloops. With seventeen sail in all, the old +Governor set his face west and south towards the mouth of the James. + +In that river, on the 7th of September, 1676, there appeared this fleet of +the King's Governor, set on retaking Virginia. Jamestown had notice. The +Bacon faction held the place with perhaps eight hundred men, Colonel +Hansford at their head. Summoned by Berkeley to surrender, Hansford +refused, but that same night, by advice of Lawrence and Drummond, evacuated +the place, drawing his force off toward the York. The next day, emptied of +all but a few citizens, Jamestown received the old Governor and his army. + +The tidings found Bacon on the upper York. Acting with his accustomed +energy, he sent out, far and wide, ringing appeals to the country to rouse +itself, for men to join him and march to the defeat of the old tyrant. +Numbers did come in. He moved with "marvelous celerity." When he had, for +the time and place, a large force of rebels, he marched, by stream and +plantation, tobacco field and forest, forge and mill, through the early +autumn country to Jamestown. Civil war was on. + +Across the narrow neck of the Jamestown peninsula had been thrown a sort +of fortification with ditch, earthwork, and palisade. Before this Bacon now +sounded trumpets. No answer coming, but the mouths of cannon appearing at +intervals above the breastwork, the "rebel" general halted, encamped his +men, and proceeded to construct siege lines of his own. The work must be +done exposed to Sir William's iron shot. + +Now comes a strange and discreditable incident. Patriots, revolutionists, +who on the whole would serve human progress, have yet, as have we all, dark +spots and seamy sides. Bacon's parties of workmen were threatened, +hindered, driven from their task by Berkeley's guns. Bacon had a curious, +unadmirable idea. He sent horsemen to neighboring loyalist plantations to +gather up and bring to camp, not the planters -- for they are with Berkeley +in Jamestown -- but the planters' wives. Here are Mistress Bacon (wife of the +elder Nathaniel Bacon), Mistress Bray; Mistress Ballard, Mistress Page, and +others. Protesting, these ladies enter Bacon's camp, who sends one as envoy +into the town with the message that, if Berkeley attacks, the whole number +of women shall be placed as shield to Bacon's men who build earthworks. + +He was as good -- or as bad -- as his word. At the first show of action against +his workmen these royalist women were placed in the front and were kept +there until Bacon had made his counter-line of defense. Sir William +Berkeley had great faults, but at times -- not always -- he displayed chivalry. +For that day "the ladies' white aprons" guarded General Bacon and all his +works. The next day, the defenses completed, this "white garde" was withdrawn. + +Berkeley waited no longer but, though now at a disadvantage, opened fire +and charged with his men through gate and over earthworks. The battle that +followed was short and decisive. Berkeley's chance-gathered army was no +match for Bacon's seasoned Indian fighters and for desperate men who knew +that they must win or be hanged for traitors. The Governor's force wavered +and, unable to stand its ground, turned and fled, leaving behind some dead +and wounded. Then Bacon, who also had cannon, opened upon the town and the +ships that rode before it. In the night the King's Governor embarked for +the second time and with him, in that armada from the Eastern Shore, the +greater part of the force he had gathered. When dawn came, Bacon saw that +the ships, large and small, were gone, sailing back to Accomac. Bacon and +his following thus came peaceably into Jamestown, but with the somewhat +fell determination to burn the place. It should "harbor no more rogues." +What Bacon, Lawrence, Drummond, Hansford, and others really hoped -- whether +they forecasted a republican Virginia finally at peace and +prosperous -- whether they saw in a vision a new capital, perhaps at Middle +Plantation, perhaps at the Falls of the Far West, a capital that should be +without old, tyrannic memories -- cannot now be said. However it all may be, +they put torch to the old capital town and soon saw it consumed, for it was +no great place, and not hard to burn. + +Jamestown had hardly ceased to smoke when news came that loyalists under +Colonel Brent were gathering in northern counties. Bacon, now ill but +energetic to the end, turned with promptness to meet this new alarm. He +crossed the York and marched northward through Gloucester County. But the +rival forces did not come to a fight. Brent's men deserted by the double +handful. They came into Bacon's ranks "resolving with the Persians to go +and worship the rising sun." Or, hanging fire, reluctant to commit +themselves either way, they melted from Brent, running homeward by every +road. Bacon, with an enlarged, not lessened army, drew back into +Gloucester. Revolutionary fortunes shone fair in prospect. Yet it was but +the moment of brief, deceptive bloom before decay and fall. + +At this critical moment Bacon fell sick and died. Some said that he was +poisoned, but that has never been proved. The illness that had attacked him +during his siege of Jamestown and that held on after his victory seems to +have sufficed for his taking off. In Gloucester County he "surrendered up +that fort he was no longer able to keep, into the hands of that grim and +all-conquering Captaine Death." His body was buried, says the old account, +"but where deposited till the Generall day not knowne, only to those who +are resolutely silent in that particular." + +With Bacon's death there fell to pieces all this hopeful or unhopeful +movement. Lawrence might have a subtle head and Drummond the courage to +persevere; Hansford, Cheeseman, Bland, and others might have varied +abilities. But the passionate and determined Bacon had been the organ of +action; Bacon's the eloquence that could bring to the cause men with +property to give as well as men with life to lose. It is a question how +soon, had Bacon not died, must have failed his attempt at revolution, +desperate because so premature. + +Back came Berkeley from Accomac, his turbulent enemy thus removed. All who +from the first had held with the King's Governor now rode emboldened. Many +who had shouted more or less loudly for the rising star, now that it was so +untimely set, made easy obeisance to the old sun. A great number who had +wavered in the wind now declared that they had done no such thing, but had +always stood steadfast for the ancient powers. + +The old Governor, who might once have been magnanimous, was changed for the +worse. He had been withstood; he would punish. He now gave full rein to his +passionate temper, his bigotry for the throne, and his feeling of personal +wrong. He began in Virginia to outlaw and arrest rebels, and to doom them +to hasty trials and executions. There was no longer a united army to meet, +but only groups and individuals striving for safety in flight or hiding. +Hansford was early taken and hanged with two lieutenants of Bacon, Wilford +and Farlow. Cheeseman died in prison. Drummond was taken in the swamps of +the Chickahominy and carried before the Governor. Berkeley brought his +hands together. "Mr. Drummond, you are very welcome! I am more glad to see +you than any man in Virginia! Mr. Drummond you shall be hanged in half an +hour!" Not in half an hour, but on the same day he was hanged, +imperturbable Scot to the last. Lawrence, held by many to have been more +than Bacon the true author of the attempt, either put an end to himself or +escaped northward, for he disappears from history. "The last account of Mr. +Lawrence was from an uppermost plantation whence he and four other +desperadoes with horses, pistols, etc., marched away in a snow ankle deep." +They "were thought to have cast themselves into a branch of some river, +rather than to be treated like Drummond." Thus came to early and untimely +end the ringleaders of Bacon's Rebellion. In all, by the Governor's +command, thirty-seven men suffered death by hanging. + +There comes to us, down the centuries, the comment of that King for whom +Berkeley was so zealous, a man who fell behind his colonial Governor in +singleness of interest but excelled him in good nature. "That old fool," +said the second Charles, "has hanged more men in that naked country than I +have done for the murder of my father!" + +That letter which Berkeley had written some months before to his sovereign +about the "waters of rebellion" was now seen to have borne fruit. In +January, while the Governor was yet running down fugitives, confiscating +lands, and hanging "traitors," a small fleet from England sailed in, +bringing a regiment of "Red Coates," and with them three commissioners +charged with the duty of bringing order out of confusion. These +commissioners, bearing the King's proclamation of pardon to all upon +submission, were kinder than the irascible and vindictive Governor of +Virginia, and they succeeded at last in restraining his fury. They made +their report to England, and after some months obtained a second royal +proclamation censuring Berkeley's vengeful course, "so derogatory to our +princely clemency," abrogating the Assembly's more violent acts, and +extending full pardon to all concerned in the late "rebellion," saving only +the arch-rebel Bacon -- to whom perhaps it now made little difference if they +pardoned him or not. + +But with this piece of good nature, so characteristic of the second +Charles, there came neither to the King in person nor to England as a whole +any appreciation of the true ills behind the Virginian revolt, nor any +attempt to relieve them. Along with the King's first proclamation came +instructions for the Governor. "You shall be no more obliged to call an +Assembly once every year, but only once in two years . . . . Also +whensoever the Assembly is called fourteen days shall be the time prefixed +for their sitting and no longer." And the narrowed franchise that Bacon's +Assembly had widened is narrowed again. "You shall take care that the +members of the Assembly be elected only by freeholders, as being more +agreeable to the custom of England." Nor is the grant to Culpeper and +Arlington revoked. Nor, wider and deeper, are the Navigation Laws in any +wise bettered. No more than before, no more indeed than a century later, is +there any conception that the child exists no more for the parent than the +parent for the child. + +Sir William Berkeley's loyalty had in the end overshot itself. His zeal +fatigued the King, and in 1677 he was recalled to England. As Governor of +Virginia he had been long popular at first but in his old age detested. He +had great personal courage, fidelity, and generosity for those things that +ran with the current of a deep and narrow soul. He passes from the New +World stage, a marked and tragic figure. Behind him his vengeances +displeased even loyalist Virginia, willing on the whole to let bygones be +bygones among neighbors and kindred. It is said that; when his ship went +down the river, bonfires were lighted and cannon and muskets fired for joy. +And so beyond the eastward horizon fades the old reactionary. + +Herbert Jeffreys and then Sir Henry Chicheley follow Berkeley as Governors +of Virginia; they are succeeded by Lord Culpeper and he by Lord Howard of +Effingham. King Charles dies and James the Second rules in England. +Culpeper and Effingham play the Governor merely for what they can get for +themselves out of Virginia.* The price of tobacco goes down, down. The +crops are too large; the old poor remedies of letting much acreage go +unplanted, or destroying and burning where the measure of production is +exceeded, and of petitions to the King, are all resorted to, but they +procure little relief. Virginia cannot be called prosperous. England hears +that the people are still disaffected and unquiet and England stolidly +wonders why. + +* In 1684 the Crown purchased from Culpeper all his rights except in the +Northern Neck. + + +During the reign of the second Charles, Maryland had suffered from +political unrest somewhat less than Virginia. The autocracy of Maryland was +more benevolent and more temperate than that of her southern neighbor. The +name of Calvert is a better symbol of wisdom than the name of Berkeley. +Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, dying in 1675, has a fair niche in +the temple of human enlightenment. His son Charles succeeded, third Lord +Baltimore and Lord Proprietary of Maryland. Well-intentioned, this Calvert +lacked something of the ability of either his father or his grandfather. +Though he lived in Maryland while his father had lived in England, his +government was not as wise as his father's had been. + +But in Maryland, even before the death of Cecil Calvert, inherent evils +were beginning to form of themselves a visible body. In Maryland, as in +Virginia, there set in after the Restoration a period of reaction, of +callous rule in the interests of an oligarchy. In 1669 a "packed" Council and +an "aristocratic" Assembly procured a restriction of the franchise similar to +that introduced into Virginia. As in Virginia, an Assembly deemed of the right +political hue was kept in being by the device of adjournment from year to +year. In Maryland, as in Virginia, public officials were guilty of corruption +and graft. In 1676 there seems to have lacked for revolt, in Maryland, only +the immediate provocative of acute Indian troubles and such leaders as Bacon, +Lawrence, and Drummond. The new Lord Baltimore being for the time in England, +his deputy writes him that never were any "more replete with malignancy and +frenzy than our people were about August last, and they wanted but a +monstrous head to their monstrous body." Two leaders indeed appeared, Davis +and Pate by name, but having neither the standing nor the strength of the +Virginia rebels, they were finally taken and hanged. What supporters they +had dispersed, and the specter of armed insurrection passed away. + +The third Lord Baltimore, like his father, found difficulty in preserving +the integrity of his domain. His father had been involved in a long wrangle +over the alleged invasion of Maryland by the Dutch. Since then, New +Netherland had passed into English hands. Now there occurred another +encroachment on the territory of Maryland. This time the invader was an +Englishman named William Penn. Just as the idea of a New World freedom for +Catholics had appealed to the first Lord Baltimore, so now to William Penn, +the Quaker, came the thought of freedom there for the Society of Friends. +The second Charles owed an old debt to Penn's father. He paid it in 1681 by +giving to the son, whom he liked, a province in America. Little by little, +in order to gain for Penn access to the sea, the terms of his grant were +widened until it included, beside the huge Pennsylvanian region, the tract +that is now Delaware, which was then claimed by Baltimore. Maryland +protested against the grant to Penn, as Virginia had protested against the +grant to Baltimore -- and equally in vain. England was early set upon the +road to many colonies in America, destined later to become many States. One +by one they were carved out of the first great unity. + +In 1685 the tolerant Charles the Second died. James the Second, a Catholic, +ruled England for about three years, and then fled before the Revolution of +1688. William and Mary, sovereigns of a Protestant England, came to the +throne. We have seen that the Proprietary of Maryland and his numerous +kinsmen and personal adherents were Catholics. Approximately one in eight +of other Marylanders were fellows in that faith. Another eighth of the +people held with the Church of England. The rest, the mass of the folk, +were dissenters from that Church. And now all the Protestant elements +together -- the Quakers excepted -- solidified into political and religious +opposition to the Proprietary's rule. Baltimore, still in England, had +immediately, upon the accession of William and Mary, dispatched orders to +the Maryland Council to proclaim them King and Queen. But his messenger +died at sea, and there was delay in sending another. In Maryland the +Council would not proclaim the new sovereigns without instructions, and it +was even rumored that Catholic Maryland meant to withstand the new order. + +In effect the old days were over. The Protestants, Churchmen and Dissenters +alike, proceeded to organize under a new leader, one John Coode. They +formed "An Association in arms for the defense of the Protestant religion, +and for asserting the right of King William and Queen Mary to the Province +of Maryland and all the English Dominions." Now followed a confused time of +accusations and counter-accusations, with assertions that Maryland +Catholics were conspiring with the Indians to perpetrate a new St. +Bartholomew massacre of Protestants, and hot counter-assertions that this +is "a sleveless fear and imagination fomented by the artifice of some +ill-minded persons." In the end Coode assembled a force of something less +than a thousand men and marched against St. Mary's. The Council, which had +gathered there, surrendered, and the Association for the Defense found +itself in power. It proceeded to call a convention and to memorialize the +King and Queen, who in the end approved its course. Maryland passed under +the immediate government of the Crown. Lord Baltimore might still receive +quit-rents and customs, but his governmental rights were absorbed into the +monarchy. Sir Lionel Copley came out as Royal Governor, and a new order +began in Maryland. + +The heyday of Catholic freedom was past. England would have a Protestant +America. Episcopalians were greatly in the minority, but their Church now +became dominant over both Catholic and Dissenter, and where the freethinker +raised his head he was smitten down. Catholic and Dissenter and all alike were +taxed to keep stable the Established Church. The old tolerance, such as it +was, was over. Maryland paced even with the rest of the world. + +Presently the old capital of St. Mary's was abandoned. The government +removed to the banks of the Severn, to Providence -- soon, when Anne should +be Queen, to be renamed Annapolis. In vain the inhabitants of St. Mary's +remonstrated. The center of political gravity in Maryland had shifted. + +The third Lord Baltimore died in 1715. His son Benedict, fourth lord, +turned from the Catholic Church and became a member of the Church of +England. Dying presently, he left a young son, Charles, fifth Lord +Baltimore, to be brought up in the fold of the Established Church. +Reconciled now to the dominant creed, with a Maryland where Catholics were +heavily penalized, Baltimore resumed the government under favor of the +Crown. But it was a government with a difference. In Maryland, as +everywhere, the people were beginning to hold the reins. Not again the old +lord and the old underling! For years to come the lords would say that +they governed, but strong life arose beneath, around, and above their +governing. + +Maryland had by 1715 within her bounds more than forty thousand white men +and nearly ten thousand black men. She still planted and shipped tobacco, +but presently found how well she might raise wheat, and that it, too, was +valuable to send away in exchange for all kinds of manufactured things. +Thus Maryland began to be a land of wheat still more than a land of tobacco. + +For the rest, conditions of life in Maryland paralleled pretty closely +those in Virginia. Maryland was almost wholly rural; her plantations and +farms were reached with difficulty by roads hardly more than bridle-paths, +or with ease by sailboat and rowboat along the innumerable waterways. +Though here and there manors -- large, easygoing, patriarchal places, with +vague, feudal ways and customs -- were to be found, the moderate sized +plantation was the rule. Here stood, in sight usually of blue water, the +planter's dwelling of brick or wood. Around it grew up the typical +outhouses, household offices, and storerooms; farther away yet clustered +the cabin quarters alike of slaves and indentured labor. Then stretched the +fields of corn and wheat, the fields of tobacco. Here, at river or bay +side, was the home wharf or landing. Here the tobacco was rolled in casks; +here rattled the anchor of the ship that was to take it to England and +bring in return a thousand and one manufactured articles. There were no +factories in Maryland or Virginia. Yet artisans were found among the +plantation laborers -- "carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, +curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, and knitters." Throughout the +colonies, as in every new country, men and women, besides being +agriculturists, produced homemade much that men, women, and children +needed. But many other articles and all luxuries came in the ships from +overseas, and the harvest of the fields paid the account. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE CAROLINAS + +The first settlers on the banks of the James River, looking from beneath +their hands southward over plain land and a haze of endless forests, called +that unexplored country South Virginia. It stretched away to those rivers +and bays, to that island of Roanoke, whence had fled Raleigh's settlers. +Beyond that, said the James River men, was Florida. Time passed, and the +region of South Virginia was occasionally spoken of as Carolina, though +whether that name was drawn from Charles the First of England, or whether +those old unfortunate Huguenots in Florida had used it with reference to +Charles the Ninth of France, is not certainly known. + +South Virginia lay huge, unknown, unsettled. The only exception was the +country immediately below the southern banks of the lower James with the +promontory that partially closed in Chesapeake Bay. Virginia, growing fast, +at last sent her children into this region. In 1653 the Assembly enacted: +"Upon the petition of Roger Green, clarke, on the behalfe of himselfe and +inhabitants of Nansemund river, It is ordered by this present Grand +Assembly that tenn thousand acres of land be granted unto one hundred such +persons who shall first seate on Moratuck or Roanoke river and the land +lying upon the south side of Choan river and the ranches thereof, Provided +that such seaters settle advantageously for security and be sufficiently +furnished with amunition and strength . . . ." + +Green and his men, well furnished presumably with firelocks, bullets, and +powder-horns, went into this hinterland. At intervals there followed other +hardy folk. Quakers, subject to persecution in old Virginia, fled into +these wilds. The name Carolina grew to mean backwoods, frontiersman's land. +Here were forest and stream, Indian and bear and wolf, blue waters of sound +and sea, long outward lying reefs and shoals and islets, fertile soil and a +clime neither hot nor cold. Slowly the people increased in number. Families +left settled Virginia for the wilderness; men without families came there +for reasons good and bad. Their cabins, their tiny hamlets were far apart; +they practised a hazardous agriculture; they hunted, fished, and traded +with the Indians. The isolation of these settlers bred or increased their +personal independence, while it robbed them of that smoothness to be gained +where the social particles rub together. This part of South Virginia was +soon to be called North Carolina. + +Far down the coast was Cape Fear. In the year of the Restoration a handful +of New England men came here in a ship and made a settlement which, not +prospering, was ere long abandoned. But New Englanders traded still in +South Virginia as along other coasts. Seafarers, they entered at this inlet +and at that, crossed the wide blue sounds, and, anchoring in mouths of +rivers, purchased from the settlers their forest commodities. Then over +they ran to the West Indies, and got in exchange sugar and rum and +molasses, with which again they traded for tobacco in Carolina, in +Virginia, and in Maryland. These ships went often to New Providence in the +Bahamas and to Barbados. There began, through trade and other +circumstances, a special connection between the long coast line and these +islands that were peopled by the English. The restored Kingdom of England +had many adherents to reward. Land in America, islands and main, formed the +obvious Fortunatus's purse. As the second Charles had divided Virginia for +the benefit of Arlington and Culpeper, so now, in 1663, to "our right +trusty and right well-beloved cousins and counsellors, Edward, Earl of +Clarendon, our High Chancellor of England, and George, Duke of Albemarle, +Master of our Horse and CaptainGeneral of all our Forces, our right trusty +and well-beloved William, Lord Craven, John, Lord Berkeley, our right +trusty and well-beloved counsellor, Anthony, Lord Ashley, Chancellor of our +Exchequer, Sir George Carteret, Knight and Baronet, ViceChamberlain of our +Household, and our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Berkeley, Knight, +and Sir John Colleton, Knight and Baronet," he gave South Virginia, +henceforth called the Carolinas, a region occupying five degrees of +latitude, and stretching indefinitely from the seacoast toward the setting +sun. + +This huge territory became, like Maryland, a province or palatinate. In +Maryland was one Proprietary; in Carolina there were eight, though for +distinction the senior of the eight was called the Palatine. As in Maryland, +the Proprietaries had princely rights. They owed allegiance to England, and a +small quit-rent went to the King. They were supposed to govern, in the main, +by English law and to uphold the religion of England. They were to make laws +at their discretion, with "the advice, assent, and approbation of the freemen, +or of their deputies, who were to be assembled from time to time as seemed +best." + +John Locke, who wrote the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", wrote +also, with Ashley at his side, "The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, +in number a Hundred and Twenty, agreed upon by the Palatine and Lords +Proprietors, to remain the sacred and unalterable form and Rule of +government of Carolina forever." + +"Forever" is a long word with ofttimes a short history. The Lords +Proprietors have left their names upon the maps of North and South +Carolina. There are Albemarle Sound and the Ashley and Cooper rivers, +Clarendon, Hyde, Carteret, Craven, and Colleton Counties. But their +Fundamental Constitutions, "in number a hundred and twenty," written by +Locke in 1669, are almost all as dead as the leaves of the Carolina forest +falling in the autumn of that year. + +The grant included that territory settled by Roger Green and his men. Among +the Proprietors sat Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, the only +lord of Carolina actually upon American ground. Following instructions from +his seven fellows Berkeley now declared this region separated from Virginia +and attached to Carolina. He christened it Albemarle. Strangely enough, he +sent as Governor that Scotchman, William Drummond, whom some years later he +would hang. Drummond should have a Council of six and an Assembly of +freemen that might inaugurate legislation having to do with local matters +but must submit its acts to the Proprietaries for veto or approval. This +was the settlement in Carolina of Albemarle, back country to Virginia, +gatherer thence of many that were hardy and sound, many that were +unfortunate, and many that were shiftless and untamed. An uncouth nurse of +a turbulent democracy was Albemarle. + +Cape Fear, far down the deeply frayed coast, seemed a proper place to which +to send a colony. The intrusive Massachusetts men were gone. But "gentlemen +and merchants" of Barbados were interested. It is a far cry from Barbados +to the Carolina shore, but so is it a far cry from England. Many royalists +had fled to Barbados during the old troubles, so that its English +population was considerable. A number may have welcomed the chance to leave +their small island for the immense continent; and an English trading port +as far south as Cape Fear must have had a general appeal. So, in 1665, came +Englishmen from Barbados and made, up the Cape Fear River, a settlement +which they named Clarendon, with John Yeamans of Barbados as Governor. But +the colony did not prosper. There arose the typical colonial +troubles -- sickness, dissensions, improvidence, quarrels with the aborigines. +Nor was the site the best obtainable. The settlers finally abandoned the +place and scattered to various points along the northern coast. + +In 1669 the Lords Proprietaries sent out from England three ships, the +Carolina, the Port Royal, and the Albemarle, with about a hundred colonists +aboard. Taking the old sea road, they came at last to Barbados, and here +the Albemarle, seized by a storm, was wrecked. The two other ships, with a +Barbados sloop, sailed on anal were approaching the Bahamas when another +hurricane destroyed the Port Royal. The Carolina, however, pushed on with +the sloop, reached Bermuda, and rested there; then, together with a small +ship purchased in these islands, she turned west by south and came in March +of 1670 to the good harbor of Port Royal, South Carolina. + +Southward from the harbor where the ships rode, stretched old Florida, held +by the Spaniards. There was the Spanish town, St. Augustine. Thence Spanish +ships might put forth and descend upon the English newcomers. The colonists +after debate concluded to set some further space between them and lands of +Spain. The ships put again to sea, beat northward a few leagues, and at +last entered a harbor into which emptied two rivers, presently to be called +the Ashley and the Cooper. Up the Ashley they went a little way, anchored, +and the colonists going ashore began to build upon the west bank of the +river a town which for the King they named Charles Town. Ten years later +this place was abandoned in favor of the more convenient point of land +between the two rivers. Here then was builded the second and more enduring +Charles Town--Charleston, as we call it now, in South Carolina. + +Colonists came fast to this Carolina lying south. Barbados sent many; +England, Scotland, and Ireland contributed a share; there came Huguenots +from France, and a certain number of Germans. In ten years after the first +settling the population numbered twelve hundred, and this presently doubled +and went on to increase. The early times were taken up with the wrestle +with the forest, with the Indians, with Spanish alarms, with incompetent +governors, with the Lords Proprietaries' Fundamental Constitutions, and +with the restrictions which English Navigation Laws imposed upon English +colonies. What grains and vegetables and tobacco they could grow, what +cattle and swine they could breed and export, preoccupied the minds of +these pioneer farmers. There were struggling for growth a rough agriculture +and a hampered trade with Barbados, Virginia, and New England -- trade +likewise with the buccaneers who swarmed in the West Indian waters. + +Five hundred good reasons allowed, and had long allowed, free bootery to +flourish in American seas. Gross governmental faults, Navigation Acts, and +a hundred petty and great oppressions, general poverty, adventurousness, +lawlessness, and sympathy of mishandled folk with lawlessness, all combined +to keep Brother of the Coast, Buccaneer, and Filibuster alive, and their +ships upon all seas. Many were no worse than smugglers; others were robbers +with violence; and a few had a dash of the fiend. All nations had sons in +the business. England to the south in America had just the ragged coast +line, with its off-lying islands and islets, liked by all this gentry, +whether smuggler or pirate outright. Through much of the seventeenth +century the settlers on these shores never violently disapproved of the +pirate. He was often a "good fellow." He brought in needed articles without +dues, and had Spanish gold in his pouch. He was shrugged over and traded with. + +He came ashore to Charles Town, and they traded with him there. At one time +Charles Town got the name of "Rogue's Harbor." But that was not forever, +nor indeed, as years are counted, for long. Better and better emigrants +arrived, to add to the good already there. The better type prevailed, and +gave its tone to the place. There set in, on the Ashley and Cooper rivers, +a fair urban life that yet persists. + +South Carolina was trying tobacco and wheat. But in the last years of the +seventeenth century a ship touching at Charleston left there a bag of +Madagascar rice. Planted, it gave increase that was planted again. Suddenly +it was found that this was the crop for low-lying Carolina. Rice became her +staple, as was tobacco of Virginia. + +For the rice-fields South Carolina soon wanted African slaves, and they +were consequently brought in numbers, in English ships. There began, in +this part of the world, even more than in Virginia, the system of large +plantations and the accompanying aristocratic structure of society. But in +Virginia the planter families lived broadcast over the land, each upon its +own plantation. In South Carolina, to escape heat and sickness, the +planters of rice and indigo gave over to employees the care of their great +holdings and lived themselves in pleasant Charleston. These plantations, +with their great gangs of slaves under overseers, differed at many points +from the more kindly, semi-patriarchal life of the Virginian plantation. To +South Carolina came also the indentured white laborer, but the black was +imported in increasing numbers. + +From the first in the Carolinas there had been promised fair freedom for +the unorthodox. The charters provided, says an early Governor, "an overplus +power to grant liberty of conscience, although at home was a hot +persecuting time." Huguenots, Independents, Quakers, dissenters of many +kinds, found on the whole refuge and harbor. In every colony soon began the +struggle by the dominant color and caste toward political liberty. King, +Company, Lords Proprietaries, might strive to rule from over the seas. But +the new land fast bred a practical rough freedom. The English settlers came +out from a land where political change was in the air. The stream was set +toward the crumbling of feudalism, the rise of democracy. In the New World, +circumstances favoring, the stream became a tidal river. Governors, +councils, assemblies, might use a misleading phraseology of a quaint +servility toward the constituted powers in England. Tory parties might at +times seem to color the land their own hue. But there always ran, though +often roughly and with turbulence, a set of the stream against autocracy. + +In Carolina, South and North, by the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and in that +region called Albemarle, just back of Virginia, there arose and went on, +through the remainder of the seventeenth century and in the eighteenth, +struggles with the Lords Proprietaries and the Governors that these named, +and behind this a more covert struggle with the Crown. The details +differed, but the issues involved were much the same in North and South +Carolina. The struggle lasted for the threescore and odd years of the +proprietary government and renewed itself upon occasion after 1729 when the +Carolinas became royal colonies. Later, it was swept, a strong affluent, +into the great general stream of colonial revolt, culminating in the +Revolution. + +Into North Carolina, beside the border population entering through Virginia +and containing much of a backwoods and derelict nature, came many +Huguenots, the best of folk, and industrious Swiss, and Germans from the +Rhine. Then the Scotch began to come in numbers, and families of Scotch +descent from the north of Ireland. The tone of society consequently changed +from that of the early days. The ruffian and the shiftless sank to the +bottom. There grew up in North Carolina a people, agricultural but without +great plantations, hardworking and freedom-loving. + +South Carolina, on the other hand, had great plantations, a town society, +suave and polished, a learned clergy, an aristocratic cast to life. For +long, both North and South clung to the sea-line and to the lower stretches +of rivers where the ships could come in. Only by degrees did English +colonial life push back into the forests away from the sea, to the hills, +and finally across the mountains. + + + +CHAPTER XV. ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD + +In the spring of 1689, Virginians flocked to Jamestown to hear William and +Mary proclaimed Lord and Lady of Virginia. The next year there entered, as +LieutenantGovernor, Francis Nicholson, an odd character in whom an +immediate violence of temper went with a statesmanlike conception of things +to be. Two years he governed here, then was transferred to Maryland, and +then in seven years came back to the James. He had not been liked there, +but while he was gone Virginia had endured in his stead Sir Edmund Andros. +That had been swapping the witch for the devil. Virginia in 1698 seems to +have welcomed the returning Nicholson. + +Jamestown had been hastily rebuilt, after Bacon's burning, and then by +accident burned again. The word malaria was not in use, but all knew that +there had always been sickness on that low spit running out from the +marshes. The place might well seem haunted, so many had suffered there and +died there. Poetical imagination might have evoked a piece of sad +pageantry -- starving times, massacres, quarrels, executions, cruel and +unusual punishments, gliding Indians. A practical question, however, faced +the inhabitants, and all were willing to make elsewhere a new capital city. + +Seven miles back from the James, about halfway over to the blue York, stood +that cluster of houses called Middle Plantation, where Bacon's men had +taken his Oath. There was planned and builded Williamsburg, which was to be +for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia. It was named for King +William, and there was in the minds of some loyal colonists the notion, +eventually abandoned, of running the streets in the lines of a huge W and +M. The long main street was called Duke of Gloucester Street, for the +short-lived son of that Anne who was soon to become Queen. At one end of +this thoroughfare stood a fair brick capitol. At the other end nearly a +mile away rose the brick William and Mary College. Its story is worth the +telling. + +The formal acquisition of knowledge had long been a problem in Virginia. +Adult colonists came with their education, much or little, gained already +in the mother country. In most cases, doubtless, it was little, but in many +cases it was much. Books were brought in with other household furnishing. +When there began to be native-born Virginians, these children received from +parents and kindred some manner of training. Ministers were supposed to +catechise and teach. Well-to-do and educated parents brought over tutors. +Promising sons were sent to England to school and university. But the lack +of means to knowledge for the mass of the colony began to be painfully +apparent. + +In the time of Charles the First one Benjamin Symms had left his means for +the founding of a free school in Elizabeth County, and his action had been +solemnly approved by the Assembly. By degrees there appeared other similar +free schools, though they were never many nor adequate. But the first +Assembly after the Restoration had made provision for a college. Land was +to have been purchased and the building completed as speedily as might be. +The intent had been good, but nothing more had been done. + +There was in Virginia, sent as Commissioner of the Established Church, a +Scotch ecclesiastic, Dr. James Blair. In virtue of his office he had a seat +in, the Council, and his integrity and force soon made him a leader in the +colony. A college in Virginia became Blair's dream. He was supported by +Virginia planters with sons to educate -- daughters' education being purely a +domestic affair. Before long Blair had raised in promised subscriptions +what was for the time a large sum. With this for a nucleus he sailed to +England and there collected more. Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and +Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, helped him much. The King and Queen +inclined a favorable ear, and, though he met with opposition in certain +quarters, Blair at last obtained his charter. There was to be built in +Virginia and to be sustained by taxation a great school, "a seminary of +ministers of the gospel where youths may be piously educated in good +letters and manners; a certain place of universal study, or perpetual +college of divinity, philosophy, languages and other good arts and +sciences." Blair sailed back to Virginia with the charter of the college, +some money, a plan for the main building drawn by Christopher Wren, and for +himself the office of President. + +The Assembly, for the benefit of the college, taxed raw and tanned hides, +dressed buckskin, skins of doe and elk, muskrat and raccoon. The +construction of the new seat of learning was begun at Williamsburg. When it +was completed and opened to students, it was named William and Mary. Its +name and record shine fair in old Virginia. Colonial worthies in goodly +number were educated at William and Mary, as were later revolutionary +soldiers and statesmen, and men of name and fame in the United States. +Three American Presidents -- Jefferson, Monroe, and Tyler -- were trained +there, as well as Marshall, the Chief Justice, four signers of the +Declaration of Independence, and many another man of mark. + +The seventeenth century is about to pass. France and England are at war. +The colonial air vibrates with the struggle. There is to be a brief lull +after 1697, but the conflict will soon be resumed. The more northerly +colonies, the nearer to New France, feel the stronger pulsation, but +Virginia, too, is shaken. England and France alike play for the support of +the red man. All the western side of America lies open to incursion from +that pressed-back Indian sea of unknown extent and volume. Up and down, the +people, who have had no part in making that European war, are sensitive to +the menace of its dangers. In Virginia they build blockhouses and they keep +rangers on guard far up the great rivers. + +All the world is changing, and the changes are fraught with significance +for America. Feudalism has passed; scholasticism has gone; politics, +commerce, philosophy, religion, science, invention, music, art, and +literature are rapidly altering. In England William and Mary pass away. +Queen Anne begins her reign of twelve years. Then, in 1714, enters the +House of Hanover with George the First. It is the day of Newton and Locke +and Berkeley, of Hume, of Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope, Prior, and Defoe. +The great romantic sixteenth century, Elizabeth's spacious time, is gone. +The deep and narrow, the intense, religious, individualistic seventeenth +century is gone. The eighteenth century, immediate parent of the +nineteenth, grandparent of the twentieth, occupies the stage. + +In the year 1704, just over a decade since Dr. Blair had obtained the +charter for his College, the erratic and able Governor of Virginia, Francis +Nicholson, was recalled. For all that he was a wild talker, he had on the +whole done well for Virginia. He was, as far as is known, the first person +actually to propose a federation or union of all those English-speaking +political divisions, royal provinces, dominions, palatinates, or what not, +that had been hewed away from the vast original Virginia. He did what he +could to forward the movement for education and the fortunes of the William +and Mary College. But he is quoted as having on one occasion informed the +body of the people that "the gentlemen imposed upon them." Again, he is +said to have remarked of the servant population that they had all been +kidnapped and had a lawful action against their masters. "Sir," he stated +to President Blair, who would have given him advice from the Bishop of +London, "Sir, I know how to govern Virginia and Maryland better than all +the bishops in England! If I had not hampered them in Maryland and kept +them under, I should never have been able to govern them!" To which Blair +had to say, "Sir, if I know anything of Virginia, they are a good-natured, +tractable people as any in the world, and you may do anything with them by +way of civility, but you will never be able to manage them in that way you +speak of, by hampering and keeping them under!"* + +* William and Mary College Quarterly, vol. I, p. 66. + + +About this time arrived Claude de Richebourg with a number of Huguenots who +settled above the Falls. First and last, Virginia received many of this +good French strain. The Old Dominion had now a population of over eighty +thousand persons -- whites, Indians in no great number, and negroes. The red +men are mere scattered dwellers in the land east of the mountains. There +are Indian villages, but they are far apart. Save upon the frontier fringe, +the Indian attacks no more. But the African is here to stay. + +"The Negroes live in small Cottages called Quarters . . . under the +direction of an Overseer or Bailiff; who takes care that they tend such +Land as the Owner allots and orders, upon which they raise Hogs and Cattle +and plant Indian Corn, and Tobacco for the Use of their Master .... The +Negroes are very numerous, some Gentlemen having Hundreds of them of all +Sorts, to whom they bring great Profitt; for the Sake of which they are +obliged to keep them well, and not over-work, starve or famish them, +besides other Inducements to favour them; which is done in a great Degree, +to such especially that are laborious, careful and honest; tho' indeed some +Masters, careless of their own Interest or deputation, are too cruel and +negligent. The Negroes are not only encreased by fresh supplies from Africa +and the West India Islands, but also are very prolific among themselves; +and they that are born here talk good English and affect our Language, +Habits and Customs . . . . Their work or Chimerical (hard Slavery) is not +very laborious; their greatest Hardship consisting in that they and their +Posterity are not at their own Liberty or Disposal, but are the Property of +their Owners; and when they are free they know not how to provide so well +for themselves generally; neither did they live so plentifully nor (many of +them) so easily in their own Country where they are made Slaves to one +another, or taken Captive by their Ennemies."* + +* It is an English clergyman, the Reverend Hugh Jones, who is writing ("The +Present State of Virginia") in the year 1724. He writes and never sees +that, though every amelioration be true, yet there is here old Inequity. + + +The white Virginians lived both after the fashion of England and after +fashions made by their New World environment. They are said to have been in +general a handsome folk, tall, well-formed, and with a ready and courteous +manner. They were great lovers of riding, and of all country life, and few +folk in the world might overpass them in hospitality. They were genial, +they liked a good laugh, and they danced to good music. They had by nature +an excellent understanding. Yet, thinks at least the Reverend Hugh Jones, +they "are generally diverted by Business or Inclination from profound +Study, and prying into the Depth of Things . . . .They are more inclinable +to read Men by Business and Conversation, than to dive into Books . . . +they are apt to learn, yet they are fond of and will follow their own Ways, +Humours and Notions, being not easily brought to new Projects and Schemes." + +It was as Governor of these people that, in succession to Nicholson, Edward +Nott came to Virginia, the deputy of my Lord Orkney. Nott died soon +afterward, and in 1710 Orkney sent to Virginia in his stead Alexander +Spotswood. This man stands in Virginia history a manly, honorable, popular +figure. Of Scotch parentage, born in Morocco, soldier under Marlborough, +wounded at Blenheim, he was yet in his thirties when he sailed across the +Atlantic to the river James. Virginia liked him, and he liked Virginia. A +man of energy and vision, he first made himself at home with all, and then +after his own impulses and upon his own lines went about to develop and to +better the colony. He had his projects and his hobbies, mostly useful, and +many sounding with a strong modern tone. Now and again he quarreled with +the Assembly, and he made it many a cutting speech. But it, too, and all +Virginia and the world were growing modern. Issues were disengaging +themselves and were becoming distinct. In these early years of the +eighteenth century, Whig and Tory in England drew sharply over against each +other. In Virginia, too, as in Maryland, the Carolinas, and all the rest of +England-in-America, parties were emerging. The Virginian flair for +political life was thus early in evidence. To the careless eye the colony +might seem overwhelmingly for King and Church. "If New England be called a +Receptacle of Dissenters, and an Amsterdam of Religion, Pennsylvania the +Nursery of Quakers; Maryland the Retirement of Roman Catholicks, North +Carolina the Refuge of Runaways and South Carolina the Delight of +Buccaneers and Pyrates, Virginia may be justly esteemed the happy Retreat +of true Britons and true Churchmen for the most Part." This "for the most +part" paints the situation, for there existed an opposition, a minority, +which might grow to balance, and overbalance. In the meantime the House of +Burgesses at Williamsburg provided a School for Discussion. + +At the time when Parson Jones with his shrewd eyes was observing society in +the Old Dominion, Williamsburg was still a small village, even though it +was the capital. Towns indeed, in any true sense, were nowhere to be found +in Virginia. Yet Williamsburg had a certain distinction. Within it there +arose, beneath and between old forest trees, the college, an admirable +church -- Bruton Church -- the capitol, the Governor's house or "palace," and +many very tolerable dwelling-houses of frame and brick. There were also +taverns, a marketplace, a bowling-green, an arsenal, and presently a +playhouse. The capitol at Williamsburg was a commodious one, able to house +most of the machinery of state. Here were the Council Chamber, "where the +Governor and Council sit in very great state, in imitation of the King and +Council, or the Lord Chancellor and House of Lords," and the great room of +the House of Burgesses, "not unlike the House of Commons." Here, at the +capitol, met the General Courts in April and October, the Governor and +Council acting as judges. There were also Oyer and Terminer and Admiralty +Courts. There were offices and committee rooms, and on the cupola a great +clock, and near the capitol was "a strong, sweet Prison for Criminals; and +on the other side of an open Court another for Debtors . . . but such +Prisoners are very rare, the Creditors being generally very merciful . . . . At the Capitol, at publick Times, +may be seen a great Number of handsome, +well-dressed, compleat Gentlemen. And at the Governor's House upon +Birth-Nights, and at Balls and Assemblies, I have seen as fine an +Appearance, as good Diversion, and as splendid Entertainments, in Governor +Spotswood's Time, as I have seen anywhere else." + +It is a far cry from the Susan Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery, +from those first booths at Jamestown, from the Starving Time, from +Christopher Newport and Edward-Maria Wingfield and Captain John Smith to +these days of Governor Spotswood. And yet, considering the changes still to +come, a century seems but a little time and the far cry not so very far. + + +Though the Virginians were in the mass country folk, yet villages or +hamlets arose, clusters of houses pressing about the Court House of each +county. There were now in the colony over a score of settled counties. The +westernmost of these, the frontier counties, were so huge that they ran at +least to the mountains, and, for all one knew to the contrary, presumably +beyond. But "beyond" was a mysterious word of unknown content, for no +Virginian of that day had gone beyond. All the way from Canada into South +Carolina and the Florida of that time stretched the mighty system of the +Appalachians, fifteen hundred miles in length and three hundred in breadth. +Here was a barrier long and thick, with ridge after ridge of lifted and +forested earth, with knife-blade vales between, and only here and there a +break away and an encompassed treasure of broad and fertile valley. The +Appalachians made a true Chinese Wall, shutting all England-in-America, in +those early days, out from the vast inland plateau of the continent, +keeping upon the seaboard all England-in-America, from the north to the +south. To Virginia these were the mysterious mountains just beyond which, +at first, were held to be the South Sea and Cathay. Now, men's knowledge +being larger by a hundred years, it was known that the South Sea could not +be so near. The French from Canada, going by way of the St. Lawrence and +the Great Lakes, had penetrated very far beyond and had found not the South +Sea but a mighty river flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. What was the real +nature of this world which had been found to lie over the mountains? More +and more Virginians were inclined to find out, foreseeing that they would +need room for their growing population. Continuously came in folk from the +Old Country, and continuously Virginians were born. Maryland dwelt to the +north, Carolina to the south. Virginia, seeking space, must begin to grow +westward. + +There were settlements from the sea to the Falls of the James, and upon the +York, the Rappahannock, and the Potomac. Beyond these, in the wilderness, +might be found a few lonely cabins, a scattered handful of pioneer folk, +small blockhouses, and small companies of rangers charged with protecting +all from Indian foray. All this country was rolling and hilly, but beyond +it stood the mountains, a wall of enchantment, against the west. + +Alexander Spotswood, hardy Scot, endowed with a good temperamental blend of +the imaginative and the active, was just the man, the time being ripe, to +encounter and surmount that wall. Fortunately, too, the Virginians were +horsemen, man and horse one piece almost, New World centaurs. They would +follow the bridle-tracks that pierced to the hilly country, and beyond that +they might yet make way through the primeval forest. They would encounter +dangers, but hardly the old perils of seacoast and foothills. Different, +indeed, is this adventure of the Governor of Virginia and his chosen band +from the old push afoot into frowning hostile woods by the men of a hundred +and odd years before! + +Spotswood rode westward with a company drawn largely from the colonial +gentry, men young in body or in spirit, gay and adventurous. The whole +expedition was conceived and executed in a key both humorous and knightly. +These "Knights"* set face toward the mountains in August, 1716. They had +guides who knew the upcountry, a certain number of rangers used to Indian +ways, and servants with food and much wine in their charge. So out of +settled Virginia they rode, and up the long, gradual lift of earth above +sea-level into a mountainous wilderness, where before them the Aryan had +not come. By day they traveled, and bivouacked at night. + +* On the sandy roads of settled Virginia horses went unshod, but for the +stony hills and the ultimate cliffs they must have iron shoes. After the +adventure and when the party had returned to civilization, the Governor, +bethinking himself that there should be some token and memento of the +exploit, had made in London a number of small golden horseshoes, set as pins +to be worn in the lace cravats of the period. Each adventurer to the mountains +received one, and the band has kept, in Virginian lore, the title of the +Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. + + +Higher and more rugged grew the mountains. Some trick of the light made +them show blue, so that they presently came to be called the Blue Ridge, in +contradistinction to the westward lying, gray Alleghanies. They were like +very long ocean combers, with at intervals an abrupt break, a gap, +cliff-guarded, boulder-strewn, with a narrow rushing stream making way +between hemlocks and pines, sycamore, ash and beech, walnut and linden. + +Towards these blue mountains Spotswood and his knights rode day after day +and came at last to the foot of the steep slope. The long ridges were high, +but not so high but that horse and man might make shift to scramble to the +crest. Up they climbed and from the heights they looked across and down +into the Valley of Virginia, twenty miles wide, a hundred and twenty long -- a +fertile garden spot. Across the shimmering distances they saw the gray +Alleghanies, fresh barrier to a fresh west. Below them ran a clear river, +afterwards to be called the Shenandoah. They gazed -- they predicted +colonists, future plantations, future towns, for that great valley, large +indeed as are some Old World kingdoms. They drank the health of England's +King, and named two outstanding peaks Mount George and Mount Alexander; +then, because their senses were ravished by the Eden before them, they +dubbed the river Euphrates. They plunged and scrambled down the mountain +side to the Euphrates, drank of it, bathed in it, rested, ate, and drank +again. The deep green woods were around them; above them they could see the +hawk, the eagle, and the buzzard, and at their feet the bright fish of the +river. + +At last they reclimbed the Blue Ridge, descended its eastern face, and, +leaving the great wave of it behind them, rode homeward to Williamsburg in +triumph. + +We are thus, with Spotswood and his band, on the threshold of expanding +American vistas. This Valley of Virginia, first a distant Beulah land for +the eye of the imagination only, presently became a land of pioneer cabins, +far apart -- very far apart -- then a settled land, of farms, hamlets, and +market towns. Nor did the folk come only from that elder Virginia of tidal +waters and much tobacco, of "compleat gentlemen" at the capital, and of +many slaves in the fields. But downward from the Potomac, they came south +into this valley, from Pennsylvania and Maryland, many of them Ulster Scots +who had sailed to the western world. In America they are called the +Scotch Irish, and in the main they brought stout hearts, long arms, and +level heads. With these they brought in as luggage the dogmas of Calvin. +They permeated the Valley of Virginia; many moved on south into Carolina; +finally, in large part, they made Kentucky and Tennessee. Germans, too, +came into the valley -- down from Pennsylvania -- quiet, thrifty folk, driven +thus far westward from a war-ravished Rhine. + +Shrewd practicality trod hard upon the heels of romantic fancy in the mind +of Spotswood. His Order of the Knights of the Horseshoe had a fleeting +existence, but the Vision of the West lived on. Frontier folk in growing +numbers were encouraged to make their way from tidewater to the foot of the +Blue Ridge. Spotsylvania and King George were names given to new counties +in the Piedmont in honor of the Governor and the sovereign. German +craftsmen, who had been sent over by Queen Anne -- vine-dressers and +ironworkers -- were settled on Spotswood's own estate above the falls of the +Rapidan. The little town of Germanna sprang up, famous for its smelting +furnaces. + +To his country seat in Spotsylvania, Alexander Spotswood retired when he +laid down the office of Governor in 1722. But his talents were too valuable +to be allowed to rust in inactivity. He was appointed deputy +Postmaster-General for the English colonies, and in the course of his +administration made one Benjamin Franklin Postmaster for Philadelphia. He +was on the point of sailing with Admiral Vernon on the expedition against +Cartagena in 1740, when he was suddenly stricken and died. He was buried at +Temple Farm by Yorktown. On the expedition to Cartagena went one Lawrence +Washington, who named his country seat after the Admiral and whose brother +George many years later was to receive the surrender of Cornwallis and his +army hard by the resting-place of Alexander Spotswood. Colonial Virginia +lies behind us. The era of revolution and statehood beckons us on. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. GEORGIA + +Below Charleston in South Carolina, below Cape Fear, below Port Royal, a +great river called the Savannah poured into the sea. Below the Savannah, +past the Ogeechee, sailing south between the sandy islands and the main, +ships came to the mouth of the river Altamaha. Thus far was Carolina. But +below Altamaha the coast and the country inland became debatable, probably +Florida and Spanish, liable at any rate to be claimed as such, and +certainly open to attack from Spanish St. Augustine. + +Here lay a stretch of seacoast and country within hailing distance of +semi-tropical lands. It was low and sandy, with innumerable slow-flowing +watercourses, creeks, and inlets from the sea. The back country, running up +to hills and even mountains stuffed with ores, was not known -- though indeed +Spanish adventurers had wandered there and mined for gold. But the lowlands +were warm and dense with trees and wild life. The Huguenot Ribault, making +report of this region years and years before, called it "a fayre coast +stretching of a great length, covered with an infinite number of high and +fayre trees," and he described the land as the "fairest, fruitfullest, and +pleasantest of all the world, abounding in hony, venison, wilde fowle, +forests, woods of all sorts, Palm-trees, Cypresse and Cedars, Bayes ye +highest and greatest; with also the fayrest vines in all the world . . . . +And the sight of the faire medows is a pleasure not able to be expressed +with tongue; full of Hernes, Curlues, Bitters, Mallards, Egrepths, +Woodcocks, and all other kind of small birds; with Harts, Hindes, Buckes, +wilde Swine, and all other kindes of wilde beastes, as we perceived well, +both by their footing there and . . . their crie and roaring in the +night."* This is the country of the liveoak and the magnolia, the gray, +swinging moss and the yellow jessamine, the chameleon and the mockingbird. + +* Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America", vol. V, p. 357. + + +The Savannah and Altamaha rivers and the wide and deep lands between fell +in that grant of Charles II's to the eight Lords Proprietors of +Carolina -- Albemarle, Clarendon, and the rest. But this region remained as +yet unpeopled save by copperhued folk. True, after the "American Treaty" of +1670 between England and Spain, the English built a small fort upon +Cumberland Island, south of the Altamaha, and presently another Fort +George -- to the northwest of the first, at the confluence of the rivers +Oconee and Oemulgee. There were, however, no true colonists between the +Savannah and the Altamaha. + +In the year 1717 -- the year after Spotswood's Expedition -- the Carolina +Proprietaries granted to one Sir Robert Mountgomery all the land between +the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, "with proper jurisdictions, privileges, +prerogatives, and franchises." The arrangement was feudal enough. The new +province was to be called the Margravate of Azilia. Mountgomery, as +Margrave, was to render to the Lords of Carolina an annual quitrent and +one-fourth part of all gold and silver found in Azilia. He must govern in +accordance with the laws of England, must uphold the established religion +of England, and provide by taxation for the maintenance of the clergy. In +three years' time the new Margrave must colonize his Margravate, and if he +failed to do so, all his rights would disappear and Azilia would again +dissolve into Carolina. + +This was what happened. For whatever reason, Mountgomery could not obtain +his colonists. Azilia remained a paper land. The years went by. The +country, unsettled yet, lapsed into the Carolina from which so tentatively +it had been parted. Over its spaces the Indian still roved, the tall +forests still lifted their green crowns, and no axe was heard nor any +English voice. + +In the decade that followed, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina ceased to be +Lords Proprietors. Their government had been, save at exceptional moments, +confused, oppressive, now absent-minded, and now mistaken and arbitrary. +They had meant very well, but their knowledge was not exact, and now +virtual revolution in South Carolina assisted their demise. After lengthy +negotiations, at last, in 1729, all except Lord Granville surrendered to +the Crown, for a considerable sum, their rights and interests. Carolina, +South and North, thereupon became royal colonies. + +In England there dwelled a man named James Edward Oglethorpe, son of Sir +Theophilus Oglethorpe of Godalming in Surrey. Though entered at Oxford, he +soon left his books for the army and was present at the siege and taking of +Belgrade in 1717. Peace descending, the young man returned to England, and +on the death of his elder brother came into the estate, and was presently +made Member of Parliament for Haslemere in Surrey. + +His character was a firm and generous one; his bent, markedly humane. +"Strong benevolence of soul," Pope says he had. His century, too, was +becoming humane, was inquiring into ancient wrongs. There arose, among +other things, a belated notion of prison reform. The English Parliament +undertook an investigation, and Oglethorpe was of those named to examine +conditions and to make a report. He came into contact with the incarcerated +-- not alone with the law-breaker, hardened or yet to be hardened, but with +the wrongfully imprisoned and with the debtor. The misery of the debtor +seems to have struck with insistent hand upon his heart's door. The +parliamentary inquiry was doubtless productive of some good, albeit +evidently not of great good. But though the inquiry was over, Oglethorpe's +concern was not over. It brooded, and, in the inner clear light where ideas +grow, eventually brought forth results. + +Numbers of debtors lay in crowded and noisome English prisons, there often +from no true fault at all, at times even because of a virtuous action, +oftenest from mere misfortune. If they might but start again, in a new +land, free from entanglements! Others, too, were in prison, whose crimes +were negligible, mere mistaken moves with no evil will behind them -- or, if +not so negligible, then happening often through that misery and ignorance +for which the whole world was at fault. There was also the broad and +well-filled prison of poverty, and many of the prisoners there needed only +a better start. James Edward Oglethorpe conceived another settlement in +America, and for colonists he would have all these down-trodden and +oppressed. He would gather, if he might, only those who when helped would +help themselves -- who when given opportunity would rise out of old slough +and briar. He was personally open to the appeal of still another class of +unfortunate men. He had seen upon the Continent the distress of the poor +and humble Protestants in Catholic countries. Folk of this kind -- from +France, from Germany -- had been going in a thin stream for years to the New +World. But by his plan more might be enabled to escape petty tyranny or +persecution. He had influence, and his scheme appealed to the humane +thought of his day -- appealed, too, to the political thought. In America +there was that debatable and unoccupied land south of Charles Town in South +Carolina. It would be very good to settle it, and none had taken up the +idea with seriousness since Azilia had failed. Such a colony as was now +contemplated would dispose of Spanish claims, serve as a buffer colony +between Florida and South Carolina, and establish another place of trade. +The upshot was that the Crown granted to Oglethorpe and twenty associates +the unsettled land between the Savannah and the Altamaha, with a westward +depth that was left quite indefinite. This territory, which was now severed +from Carolina, was named Georgia after his Majesty King George II, and +Oglethorpe and a number of prominent men became the trustees of the new +colony. They were to act as such for twenty-one years, at the end of which +time Georgia should pass under the direct government of the Crown. +Parliament gave to the starting of things ten thousand pounds, and wealthy +philanthropic individuals followed suit with considerable donations. The +trustees assembled, organized, set to work. A philanthropic body, they drew +from the like minded far and near. Various agencies worked toward getting +together and sifting the colonists for Georgia. Men visited the prisons for +debtors and others. They did not choose at random, but when they found the +truly unfortunate and undepraved in prison they drew them forth, compounded +with their creditors, set the prisoners free, and enrolled them among the +emigrants. Likewise they drew together those who, from sheer poverty, +welcomed this opportunity. And they began a correspondence with distressed +Protestants on the Continent. They also devised and used all manner of +safeguards against imposition and the inclusion of any who would be wholly +burdens, moral or physical. So it happened that, though misfortune had laid +on almost all a heavy hand, the early colonists to Georgia were by no means +undesirable flotsam and jetsam. The plans for the colony, the hopes for its +well-being, wear a tranquil and fair countenance. + +Oglethorpe himself would go with the first colonists. His ship was the Anne +of two hundred tons burden -- the last English colonizing ship with which this +narrative has to do -- and to her weathered sails there still clings a +fascination. On board the Anne, beside the crew and master, are Oglethorpe +himself and more than a hundred and twenty Georgia settlers, men, women, +and children. The Anne shook forth her sails in mid-November, 1732, upon +the old West Indies sea road, and after two months of prosperous faring, +came to anchor in Charles Town harbor. + +South Carolina, approving this Georgia settlement which was to open the +country southward and be a wall against Spain, received the colonists with +hospitality. Oglethorpe and the weary colonists rested from long travel, +then hoisted sail again and proceeded on their way to Port Royal, and +southward yet to the mouth of the Savannah. Here there was further tarrying +while Oglethorpe and picked men went in a small boat up the river to choose +the site where they should build their town. + +Here, upon the lower reaches, there lay a fair plateau, a mile long, rising +forty feet above the stream. Near by stood a village of well-inclined +Indians -- the Yamacraws. Ships might float upon the river, close beneath the +tree-crowned bluff. It was springtime now and beautiful in the southern +land -- the sky azure, the air delicate, the earth garbed in flowers. Little +wonder then that Oglethorpe chose Yamacraw Bluff for his town. + +A trader from Carolina was found here, and the trader's wife, a half-breed, +Mary Musgrove by name, did the English good service. She made her Indian +kindred friends with the newcomers. From the first Oglethorpe dealt wisely +with the red men. In return for many coveted goods, he procured within the +year a formal cession of the land between the two rivers and the islands +off the coast. He swore friendship and promised to treat the Indians +justly, and he kept his oath. The site chosen, he now returned to the Anne +and presently brought his colonists up the river to that fair place. As +soon as they landed, these first Georgians began immediately to build a +town which they named Savannah. + +Ere long other emigrants arrived. In 1734 came seventy-eight German +Protestants from Salzburg, with Baron von Reck and two pastors for leaders. +The next year saw fifty-seven others added to these. Then came Moravians +with their pastor. All these strong, industrious, religious folk made +settlements upon the river above Savannah. Italians came, Piedmontese sent +by the trustees to teach the coveted silk-culture. Oglethorpe, when he +sailed to England in 1734, took with him Tomochi-chi, chief of the +Yamacraws, and other Indians. English interest in Georgia increased. +Parliament gave more money -- 26,000 pounds. Oglethorpe and the trustees +gathered more colonists. The Spanish cloud seemed to be rolling up in the +south, and it was desirable to have in Georgia a number of men who were by +inheritance used to war. Scotch Highlanders -- there would be the right folk! +No sooner said than gathered. Something under two hundred, courageous and +hardy, were enrolled from the Highlands. The majority were men, but there +were fifty women and children with them. All went to Georgia, where they +settled to the south of Savannah, on the Altamaha, near the island of St. +Simon. Other Highlanders followed. They had a fort and a town which they +named New Inverness, and the region that they peopled they called Darien. + +Oglethorpe himself left England late in 1735, with two ships, the Symond +and the London Merchant, and several hundred colonists aboard. Of these +folk doubtless a number were of the type the whole enterprise had been +planned to benefit. Others were Protestants from the Continent. Yet +others -- notably Sir Francis Bathurst and his family -- went at their own +charges. After Oglethorpe himself, most remarkable perhaps of those going +to Georgia were the brothers John and Charles Wesley. Not precisely +colonists are the Wesleys, but prospectors for the souls of the colonists, +and the souls of the Indians -- Yamacraws, Uchees, and Creeks. + +They all landed at Savannah, and now planned to make a settlement south of +their capital city, by the mouth of Altamaha. Oglethorpe chose St. Simon's +Island, and here they built, and called their town Frederica. + +"Each Freeholder had 60 Feet in Front by 90 Feet in depth upon the high +Street for House and Garden; but those which fronted the River had but 30 +in Front, by 60 Feet in depth. Each Family had a Bower of Palmetto Leaves +finished upon the back Street in their own Lands. The side toward the front +Street was set out for their Houses. These Palmetto Bowers were very +convenient shelters, being tight in the hardest Rains; they were about 20 +Feet long and 14 Feet wide, and in regular Rows looked very pretty, the +Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome, and of a good Colour. The whole +appeared something like a Camp; for the Bowers looked like Tents, only +being larger and covered with Palmetto Leaves."* + +* Moore's "Voyage to Georgia". Quoted in Winsor's "Narrative and +Critical History of America", vol. V, p. 378. + + +Their life sounds idyllic, but it will not always be so. Thunders will +arise; serpents be found in Eden. But here now we leave them -- in infant +Savannah -- in the Salzburgers' village of Ebenezer and in the Moravian +village nearby -- in Darien of the Highlanders -- and in Frederica, where until +houses are built they will live in palmetto bowers. + +Virginia, Maryland, the two Carolinas, Georgia -- the southern sweep of +England-in-America -- are colonized. They have communication with one another +and with middle and northern England-in-America. They also have +communication with the motherland over the sea. The greetings of kindred +and the fruits of labor travel to and fro: over the salt, tumbling waves. +But also go mutual criticism and complaint. "Each man," says Goethe, "is +led and misled after a fashion peculiar to himself." So with those mass +persons called countries. Tension would come about, tension would relax, +tension would return and increase between Mother England and Daughter +America. In all these colonies, in the year with which this narrative +closes, there were living children and young persons who would see the cord +between broken, would hear read the Declaration of Independence. So -- but +the true bond could never be broken, for mother and daughter after all are +one. + + + +THE NAVIGATION LAWS + +Three acts of Parliament -- the Navigation Act of 1660, the Staple Act of +1663, and the Act of 1673 imposing Plantation Duties -- laid the foundation +of the old colonial system of Great Britain. Contrary to the somewhat +passionate contentions of older historians, they were not designed in any +tyrannical spirit, though they embodied a theory of colonization and trade +which has long since been discarded. In the seventeenth century colonies +were regarded as plantations existing solely for the benefit of the mother +country. Therefore their trade and industry must be regulated so as to +contribute most to the sea power, the commerce, and the industry of the +home country which gave them protection. Sir Josiah Child was only +expressing a commonplace observation of the mercantilists when he wrote +"That all colonies or plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms, whereof +the trades of such Plantations are not confined by severe Laws, and good +execution of those Laws, to the Mother-Kingdom." + +The Navigation Act of 1660, following the policy laid down in the statute +of 1651 enacted under the Commonwealth, was a direct blow aimed at the +Dutch, who were fast monopolizing the carrying trade. It forbade any goods +to be imported into or exported from His Majesty's plantations except in +English, Irish, or colonial vessels of which the master and three fourths +of the crew must be English; and it forbade the importation into England of +any goods produced in the plantations unless carried in English bottoms. +Contemporary Englishmen hailed this act as the Magna Charta of the Sea. +There was no attempt to disguise its purpose. "The Bent and Design," wrote +Charles Davenant, "was to make those colonies as much dependant as possible +upon their Mother-Country," by preventing them from trading independently +and so diverting their wealth. The effect would be to give English, Irish, +and colonial shipping a monopoly of the carrying trade within the Empire. +The act also aided English merchants by the requirement that goods of +foreign origin should be imported directly from the place of production; +and that certain enumerated commodities of the plantations should be +carried only to English ports. These enumerated commodities were products +of the southern and semitropical plantations: "Sugars, Tobacco, +Cotton-wool, Indicoes, Ginger, Fustick or other dyeing wood." + +To benefit British merchants still more directly by making England the +staple not only of plantation products but also of all commodities of all +countries, the Act of 1663 was passed by Parliament. "No Commoditie of the +Growth Production or Manufacture of Europe shall be imported into any Land +Island Plantation Colony Territory or Place to His Majestie belonging . . . +but what shall be bona fide and without fraude laden and shipped in England +Wales [and] the Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede and in English built +Shipping." The preamble to this famous act breathed no hostile intent. The +design was to maintain "a greater correspondence and kindnesse" between the +plantations and the mother country; to encourage shipping; to render +navigation cheaper and safer; to make "this Kingdome a Staple not only of +the Commodities of those Plantations but also of the Commodities of other +Countries and places for the supplying of them -- " it "being the usage of +other nations to keepe their [Plantations] Trade to themselves." + +The Act of 1673 was passed to meet certain difficulties which arose in the +administration of the Act of 1660. The earlier act permitted colonial +vessels to carry enumerated commodities from the place of production to +another plantation without paying duties. Under cover of this provision, it +was assumed that enumerated commodities, after being taken to a plantation, +could then be sent directly to continental ports free of duty. The new act +provided that, before vessels left a colonial port, bonds should be given +that the enumerated commodities would be carried only to England. If bonds +were not given and the commodities were taken to another colonial port, +plantation duties were collected according to a prescribed schedule. + +These acts were not rigorously enforced until after the passage of the +administrative act of 1696 and the establishment of admiralty courts. Even +then it does not appear that they bore heavily on the colonies, or +occasioned serious protest. The trade acts of 1764 and 1765 are described +in "The Eve of the Revolution". -- EDITOR. + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The literature of the Colonial South is like the leaves of Vallombrosa for +multitude. Here may be indicated some volumes useful in any general survey. + +VIRGINIA + +Hakluyt's "Principal Voyages." 12 vols. (Hakluyt Society. Extra Series, +1905-1907.) "The Prose Epic of the modern English nation." + +"Purchas, His Pilgrims." 20 vols. (Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, 1905-1907.) + +Hening's "Statutes at Large," published in 1823, is an eminently valuable +collection of the laws of colonial Virginia, beginning with the Assembly of +1619. Hening's own quotation from Priestley, "The Laws of a country are +necessarily connected with everything belonging to the people of it: so +that a thorough knowledge of them and of their progress would inform us of +everything that was most useful to be known," indicates the range and +weight of his thirteen volumes. + +William Stith's "The History of the Discovery and First Settlement of +Virginia" (1747) gives some valuable documents and a picture of the first +years at Jamestown. + +Alexander Brown's "Genesis of the United States", 2 vols. (1890), is a very +valuable work, giving historical manuscripts and tracts. Less valuable is +his "First Republic in America" (1898), in which the author attempts to +weave his material into a historical narrative. + +Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth +Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey. +The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth +Century" (1907) and "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth +Century", 2 vols. (1910). + +John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E. +Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in +lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary +distinction. + +On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give +credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske accepts +the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited them (2 vols., +1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more reliable than the +"True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters of Smith's +credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles Deane, Henry +Adams, and Alexander Brown. + +Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a +painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in the +light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of +literary attractiveness. + +MARYLAND + +"The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official documents +of the province. John L. Bozman's "History of Maryland", 2 vols. (1837), +contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658. + +J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece of +work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable books by +John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. Browne, "Maryland, +The History of a Palatinate " ("American Commonwealth Series," 1884). +Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert" (1890). + +THE CAROLINAS + +"The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a mine +of information about both North and South Carolina. + +Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), remains +the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729. + +Samuel A. Ashe's "History of North Carolina" (1908) carries the political +history down to 1783. + +Edward McCrady's "History of South Carolina under the Proprietary +Government" (1897) and "South Carolina under the Royal Government" (1899) +have superseded the older histories by Ramsay and Hewitt. + +GEORGIA + +The best histories of Georgia are those by William B. Stevens, 2 vols. +(1847, 1859), and Charles C. Jones, 2 vols. (1883). Robert Wright's "Memoir +of General James Oglethorpe" (1867) is still the best life of the founder +of Georgia. + +In the "American Nation Series" and in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical +History of America", the reader will find accounts of the Southern colonies +written by specialists and accompanied by much critical apparatus. Further +lists will be found appended to the articles on the several States in "The +Encyclopaedia Britannica", 11th edition. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Pioneers of the Old South, by Johnston + + diff --git a/old/pofos10.zip b/old/pofos10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3acb05c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pofos10.zip |