Читать книгу Great Events in the History of North and South America - Charles A. Goodrich - Страница 15

Table of Contents

Unsuccessful attempts to settle America—Expeditions of Sir Humphrey Gilbert—Sir Walter Raleigh—Sir Richard Grenville—Sir John White-First permanent settlement at Jamestown—Colonists early in want—Dissensions in their Councils—Hostility of the Indians—Capture of Captain Smith—Generous conduct of Pocahontas—Gloomy condition of the Colony—Timely arrival of assistance—Returning prosperity—Establishment of a Provisional government—Introduction of Negro Slavery—Cruel Massacre of the Colonists.

When the new world, as America has since been familiarly called, was opened to the enterprise and cupidity of Europeans, it became an object to effect settlements in it from time to time. Accordingly, during a period of more than one hundred years from the discovery of San Salvador by Columbus, attempts were made for this purpose, either by adventurers in search of other discoveries, or by expeditions fitted out to occupy regions already known. So far, however, as the northern portion of the continent was concerned, these attempts proved entirely without success. There was no want of excitement and effort at this remarkable era, on the part of individuals. The strange story of the voyages of Columbus awakened the spirit of adventure in Europe, as it was never felt before. Vessel after vessel, and fleet after fleet, were despatched to the new-discovered continent, but the object in view was rather to find gold than a home; and even where the latter was sought, the preparations were either inadequate, or the undertaking was indifferently contrived and managed. Sebastian Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland; James Cartier, who first entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence; Ferdinand de Soto, who first ascertained the existence of the Mississippi; Sir Walter Raleigh, among the earliest adventurers to Virginia, and Bartholomew Gosnold, to whom Cape Cod was first known, and all of whom attempted settlements for a longer or shorter period, were unsuccessful, and disappointed in the end. The English were not thoroughly engaged in the business of colonizing America, until the latter part of the sixteenth century, when several successive attempts were made to settle Virginia. The first expedition was conducted by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who failed in his object, having never reached Virginia; and being shipwrecked, perished with all his crew on the return voyage to England. In 1584, the enterprise was confided to the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, who, in the spring of that year, despatched two small barks, under the command severally of Amidas and Barlow. After going much farther south than was necessary, and experiencing the sickness incident to the season, they proceeded northerly till they made a harbor, taking possession of the adjoining land, "for the queen's most excellent majestie," and in a short time afterward came to the island of Roanoke. Nothing was effected by this voyage, except a little trafficking with the natives, and the favorable account which was given of the country, upon the return of the expedition. In the third expedition, which was conducted by Sir Richard Grenville, under Sir Walter, in 1585, a company was landed on Roanoke, consisting of one hundred and eight persons, who, upon the return of the ship, were left to settle the country. But being reduced to extremities for want of sustenance, and by the hostility of the Indians, they all returned to England the next year with Sir Francis Drake. In the mean while, 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh and his associates made a voyage to Virginia, taking supplies for the colony; but after spending some time in the country, and not finding the colonists, they returned to England.

Early Settlers trading with the Natives.

In the earlier attempts at settlement, after the spirit of conquest and adventure had been somewhat satiated, the object in view, so far as the English were engaged in it, was the acquisition of tributary provinces, and the wealth which they would bring to the parent states. In this line of policy, England but followed the example of Spain and Portugal, yet with far less energy, and with no manner of success. The signal failures that were experienced turned attention, at length, to more sober and rational projects—to regular colonization and commerce. But the success, even here, was quite indifferent for several years. Mercenary views obtained the precedence. That moral heroism, which submits to any extremity of toil and self-denial for the objects of religious faith, could not be summoned to the support of these merely secular adventures. So far as colonization was calculated upon as a source of wealth directly, it did not feel the influence of a self-sustaining motive. It needed, as will soon be seen, other views of colonization, to render the scheme completely successful, in regions remote from tropical riches and luxuries. What more might have been done to insure success, had the kings and princes of Europe been at leisure to prosecute the object with the means in their power, is not now to be ascertained. It is clear, from the history of the times, that they could ill afford the necessary leisure, in consequence of the multiplicity and weight of their own individual concerns. Wars, negociations, schemes of policy, and the adjustment of ecclesiastical relations, occupied the rulers of England and France, as also Germany and nearly all the continent, almost exclusively through the sixteenth century. Of that which was achieved in the way of discovery and temporary settlement, in the northern portion of the American continent, much was left to individual enterprise and resources; and the universal failure of permanent colonization was almost the unavoidable result, connected, indeed, with the mercenary motive and bad management with which it was prosecuted.

The first settlement of a permanent character, effected by the English in North America, was at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. To that portion of the continent, as has been just detailed, more numerous and vigorous efforts at settlement had been directed than to any other on the coast, and with what results has also appeared. No one can read the account of these early and unfortunate attempts to settle our country, without deeply lamenting the fate of those brave adventurers who were engaged in them. In the Virginia enterprise, religion and its blessings were not the direct moving influences on the minds of the adventurers; but they were a gallant and public spirited class of the English people, and many of them of the better orders of society.

Their failure, however, did not check the spirit of enterprise; a settlement was determined on, and it was providentially effected. Under the sanction of a grant from King James, of the southern equal half of the territory lying between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, an association was constituted, called the London Company, who undertook the colonization of their portion of the country. This was called the Southern Colony. The expedition consisted of three small vessels, under the command of Captain Christopher Newport, a man of great nautical experience. Neither they who were designed for the magistracy, nor the code of laws, could be known until the arrival of the fleet in Virginia, when the sealed orders, committed to the commander, might be broken. It would seem, from the early accounts, that a portion of the emigrants were but little influenced by the considerations of religion or propriety, from the disorders that occurred during the voyage; but their pious preacher, Mr. Hunt, at length, "with the water of patience and his godly exhortations (but chiefly by his true-devoted examples) quenched these flames of envy and dissension."

In searching for Roanoke, they were driven by a storm to a different part of the coast; the first land they made being a cape, which they called Cape Henry. Thus discovering and sailing up the Chesapeake bay, they came, at length, to a place suited to their purpose. Here they commenced in earnest their great work of settlement, calling the place Jamestown, in honor of King James. According to directions, the box containing the orders was opened, and the names of Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Radcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall, were found as constituting the council. These were to choose a president from among themselves, for a year, who, with the council, should conduct and govern the colony. Mr. Wingfield was elected president, while one of the most distinguished of them, Captain John Smith, on account of suspicions entertained respecting his ambitious views, was excluded, for a time, from the council. The plan of government was, that matters of moment were to be examined by a jury, but determined by the major part of the council, in which the president had two votes.

While erecting accommodations for themselves, and during the absence of a portion of the men on discoveries in the country, they were molested by the savages, with some small loss, and were in danger of total extirpation, "had it not chanced that a crosse-barre, shot from the ships, stroke down a bough from a tree amongst them (the savages), that caused them to retire." These, it seems, on other occasions, after troubling the planters, "by the nimbleness of their heeles, escaped." What with labor by day, and watching by night—with felling trees, and planting the ground—with resisting hostile attacks, rëloading ships, and effecting governmental business—the settlers found their hands and their hearts fully, and often painfully, occupied. Several weeks were spent in this manner, and after adjusting their disputes, and receiving Smith into the council, with a handsome remuneration for the wrong he had received, they all partook of the Holy Communion, the savages at the same time desiring peace with them. On the 15th of June, 1607, Captain Newport returned to England with the intelligence of their success, leaving in Virginia one hundred emigrants.

The departure of Newport was the signal for want, and an increase of their difficulties. While the vessels were with them, provisions, at some rate, were to be had; but after they left, "there remained neither taverne, beere-house, nor place of reliefe, but the common kettell. Had we beene as free from all shine as gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been cannonized for saints—we might truly call it (the damaged grain) so much bran than corne, our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air: with this lodging and diet, our extreme toil, in bearing and planting pallisadoes, so strained and bruised us, and our continual labor, in the extremity of the heat, had so weakened us, as were cause sufficient to have made us miserable in our native country, or any other place in the world."[5] This was truly a hard lot—through the summer they lived on the products of the sea. During that time, they buried fifty of their number. At the point, however, of their greatest scarcity, they were happily supplied with fruit and provisions by the Indians.

Their difficulties were greatly increased by the perverseness or incapacity of several of their council. In this body, changes and deposals took place from time to time, until the management of every thing abroad, fell into the hands of Captain Smith. Of this extraordinary man, much might be related, were there space; but we can pursue only the course of events as they occurred in the settlement of this country. In the mean while, by his energy and example in labor, "himselfe alwayes bearing the greatest taske for his own share," he set the men effectually to work in providing for themselves comfortable lodgings. This done, the necessity of procuring a more permanent supply of provisions, and of receiving the friendship of the natives, or subjecting them to the power of the colonists, engaged him for a period in the most daring projects. In this, he passed through a wonderful vicissitude of fortune—the colony in the mean while sustaining a precarious existence, by means of the dissensions that prevailed, the hostility of the Indians, and the sickness that wasted the whites. On one occasion, while exploring the country, after he left his boat, and was proceeding in company with two Englishmen, and a savage for his guide, he was beset with two hundred savages. The Englishmen were killed; the savage he tied to his arm with his garter, using him as a buckler. Smith was soon wounded and taken prisoner; but not until he had killed three of the Indians. The fear inspired by his bravery checked their advance, till he sunk to the middle in a miry spot which was in his way, as he retreated backward. Even then they dared not come near him, till, being nearly dead with cold, he threw away his arms. Upon being taken, he presented to their king a round ivory compass, which was the means of saving him from instant death. Just as they were preparing to pierce him with their arrows, the chief, lifting the compass, they all laid down their bows and arrows, at the same time releasing him from his pitiable situation.

Smith saved from Death.

At length he was brought to Powhatan, their emperor. It soon became evident that they were preparing to put him to death after their peculiarly fantastic and barbarous ceremonies. A long consultation was held, and the conclusion was, "two great stones were brought before Powhatan, then as many as could lay hands on him dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head; and being ready with their clubs to beate out his brains, Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head into her armes, and laid her owne upon his, to save him from death: whereat the emperor was contented he should live."

Friendship with the whites soon followed this event. Smith was taken to Jamestown by his guides, and contracts were made with the Indians by means of presents, which secured a portion of their territory to the English. Every few days, Pocahontas with her attendants brought to Captain Smith provisions in such quantity as to save the lives of the colonists.

This condition of things could not always last: the support thus received could be but precarious at the best; and it happened favorably that, for a period, the spirits and courage of the small band of emigrants were sustained by the arrival of two ships from England, laden with supplies, and bringing a complement of men. They arrived indeed at different times, having been separated by stormy weather. In consequence of these arrivals, and one other before the end of the year 1608, the number of colonists amounted to nearly three hundred.

In 1609, a new charter was granted to the London company, with enlarged privileges, as well as more definite limits, and with the addition of five hundred adventurers. Sir Thomas West, Lord De la War, was now appointed governor for life; Sir Thomas Gates, his lieutenant; Sir George Somers, admiral; and other high officers were appointed for life. By the new charter, the right of absolute property was vested in the company; the crown to receive one-fifth of all ore of gold and silver found there for all manner of services. The governor, though unable himself immediately to leave England, lost no time in fitting out a fleet for Virginia. Of the nine ships constituting the expedition, eight arrived in season at Jamestown. The other, having Sir Thomas, the admiral, on board, was wrecked on the Bermudas; and it was not until they could fit up craft to convey them to Virginia, that they reached Jamestown, which was in the spring of the following year. This disaster and delay seemed to be highly providential in the end, as the colonists were rëunited with one hundred and fifty men, and a full supply of provisions, at a time when they had been reduced to the greatest extremities. Captain Smith, disabled by a severe accidental wound, had returned to England. In consequence of his departure, the settlement had been thrown into great confusion. Complaints, disputes, and insubordination ensued; the savages became hostile, and often imbrued their hands in the blood of the whites; and finally, starvation followed in the train of the other calamities. Roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, starch, the skins of horses, and even human flesh, were devoured in order to support life. In a few days more, had not relief been brought to them, the whole colony would probably have perished.

On the arrival of Sir Thomas, the affairs of the settlement seemed so desperate, that it was determined to return with the miserable remnant to England. In putting the plan into execution, and just as they were leaving the mouth of the river, the long-boat of Lord De la War was descried. As he had three ships well furnished with provisions, the colonists were persuaded to return, and renew their efforts to settle the country. This was on the 9th of June, 1610, and proved to be the crisis of the colony. It was now, in the providence of God, destined to live. Improvements began to be made—forts were erected—and the former idleness and misrule of the people in a great measure disappeared. In the spring of the succeeding year, however, the health of Lord De la War became seriously affected, and he consequently returned to England. The administration was then committed to Sir Thomas Dale for a short period. He acquitted himself well in it, though he had some difficulty with the colonists, who had not all been reduced to the requisite order and submission. The government passed into the hands of Sir Thomas Gates, upon his arrival at Jamestown, in August, 1611. He came over with a fleet of six ships, and three hundred men, bringing with him kine and other cattle, munitions of war, and a large supply of provisions.

Being thus strengthened, the English extended their domain from time to time. In the course of the present year, they built a town, which they called Henrico, in honor of Prince Henry, and in the subsequent year, they seized a place called Apamatuck, on account of some injury they had received from its inhabitants. Here they built a town, which they called the New Bermudas. About this period, a Captain Argal, sailing up the Patawomeakee, secured Pocahontas by stratagem; the consequence of which was, her acquaintance with an English gentleman, named John Rolfe, and her marriage to him, together with peace between the whites and Powhatan.

The plan of providing for the colony was now changed. Instead of feeding out of the common store, and laboring jointly together, the people were allowed to hold each a lot of his own, with a sufficient time to cultivate it. This change produced the most beneficial results, as it prevented the idleness and inefficiency which are apt to attend a common-stock social establishment, and multiplied, in a ten-fold degree, the amount of their provisions. The experiment having been so propitious, the original plan of a community of labor and supply was finally abandoned. The government of the colony at this time was again in the hands of Sir Thomas Dale; the former governor, Sir Thomas Gates, having returned to England in the spring of 1614. Governor Dale continued about two years, superintending satisfactorily the affairs of the colony, and, having chosen Captain George Yeardley to be deputy-governor, he returned to England, accompanied by Pocahontas and her husband. Pocahontas became a Christian and a mother; and it may be added, that her descendants, in a subsequent age, inherited her lands in Virginia, and that some of the first families of that state trace from her their lineage.

Yeardley applied himself to the cultivation of tobacco, and was highly successful in an attack on the savages, who refused to pay their annual tribute of corn. He continued in the colony about a year, when, by an appointment made in England, the government devolved on Captain Argal, before named. Argal found Jamestown in a bad condition; the dwellings, which were slight structures, had mostly disappeared, and the public works neglected or in decay, and "the colonie dispersed all about, planting Tobacco." A reformation to some extent was effected. At this period, 1617, more colonists arrived; but it would seem, from a remark in a narrative of that date, that the number of the higher classes of society exceeded their wants; "for, in Virginia, a plaine souldier, that can use a pickaxe and spade, is better than five knights, although they were knights that could break a lance; for men of great place, not inured to those encounters, when they finde things not suitable, grow many times so discontented, they forget themselves, and oft become so carelesse, that a discontented melancholy brings them to much sorrow, and to others, much miserie." When it was ascertained that great multitudes were preparing, in England, to be sent, the colonists, in a communication to the council, entreated that provisions might be forwarded as well as people, and gave the company to understand, "what they did suffer for want of skilful husbandmen and meanes to set their plough on worke, having as good land as any man can desire."

In the year 1619, the settlements of Virginia were favored with the establishment of a provincial legislature, which was constituted of delegates chosen by themselves, as they were divided into eleven corporations. The first meeting of the legislature was on the 19th of June, having been convoked by the governor-general of the colony. This was a great and desirable change from the sort of vassalage in which they had previously lived. This general assembly debated and decided all matters that were deemed essential to the welfare of the colony. A great addition was made to the number of the colonists the two following years, among whom were one hundred and fifty young women, of good character, designed as the future wives of the colonists. During the summer of 1620, a Dutch armed ship arrived at the colony, and sold them twenty negroes, at which period the system of slave holding, with its attendant crimes and evils, commenced in this country.

The year 1621 was rendered memorable by the arrival of Sir Francis Wyatt, who brought with him, from the London company, a more perfect constitution and form of government, than the colony had previously enjoyed, although the general representative character of its government had been established in 1619. The following year was rendered still more memorable by the massacre of a large number of whites, through the treachery of the Indians. The instigator and executor of this tragedy was the successor of Powhatan, named Opecancanough. He had enlisted the savages in all the vicinity in the infernal plot. The colonists, in the security of friendship and good understanding, which had existed between them and that people, were wholly off their guard, and unprepared for the blow. It was inflicted simultaneously, at a time agreed upon, and three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children, were at once butchered, in several and separate places. It had been universal, but for the providence of God. A converted Indian, coming to the knowledge of the plot the night before its execution, disclosed it to the whites in season to save the greater number of settlements. The Indians, in their turn, now suffered the vengeance of the colonists, who felt authorized to procure the means of future security against similar acts of treachery. The emigrations had been so numerous, through the few preceding years, that the colonists, at this time, amounted to several thousands. Thus the people, with various fortune, and after incredible hardships, had placed their colony on a firm basis, having learned many useful lessons from their own errors, imprudence, or sufferings. And such was the beginning of the American republic in its southern portion, nearly two hundred and fifty years ago.