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CHAP. first company to remain. It was hoped, that if surrounded by social and domestic ties, future colonists would learn tc 1586. look upon it as their true home. Sir Walter's second company was composed of emigrants with their families, who should cultivate the soil, and eventually found a State for themselves and their posterity. Queen Elizabeth pro fessed to favor the enterprise, but did nothing to aid it The expedition was fitted out with all that was necessary to form an agricultural settlement. Raleigh appointed John White governor, with directions to form the settle1587. ment on the shores of Chesapeake bay.

Jan.,

They came first to the Island of Roanoke, there to behold a melancholy spectacle-the bleaching bones of the July, men whom Grenville had left. All had become a desert. Doubtless they had been murdered by the Indians. Fernando, the naval officer in command of the fleet, refused to assist in exploring the shores of the Chesapeake, and the colonists were compelled to remain on the Island of Roanoke. The scene of two failures was to be the witness of a third. The Indians were evidently hostile. The colonists becoming alarmed, urged the governor to hasten Aug. to England and speedily bring them assistance. Previous

to his leaving, Mrs. Dare, his daughter, and wife of one of his lieutenants, gave birth to a female child,—the first child of English parentage born on the soil of the United States; it was appropriately named Virginia.

White on his return found England in a state of great excitement. The Pope had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth, and had absolved her subjects from their allegiance to her throne; at the same time promising her kingdom to any Catholic prince who should take possession of it. The revengeful Philip, of Spain, that good son of the Church, had been for three years preparing an immense army and fleet, with which he intended to invade and conquer England. The fleet was boastfully named the Invin1588. cible Armada. The English naval commanders flocked

VIII.

home from every part of the world to defend their native CHAP land, and to battle for the Protestant religion. English seamanship and bravery completely triumphed. From 1588. that hour the prestige of Spain on the ocean was gone-it passed to England. It is not strange that in such exciting times the poor colonists of Roanoke were overlooked or forgotten. As soon as the danger was passed, aid was sent ; but it came too late: not a vestige of the colony was to be found; death had done its work, whether by the hand of the savage, or by disease, none can tell. What may have been their sufferings is veiled in darkness. Eighty years after, the English were told by the Indians that the Hatteras tribe had adopted the colonists into their number. The probability is that they were taken prisoners and carried far into the interior. A few years before Sir Francis Drake had broken up the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine. Thus, one hundred years after the first voyage of Columbus, the continent was once more in the pos session of the Red Men.

Sir Walter Raleigh had now expended nearly all his fortune; yet, when he saw no prospect of ever deriving benefit from his endeavors, he sent several times, at his own expense, to seek for the lost colonists and to render them aid. Sir Walter's genius and perseverance prepared the way for the successful settlement of Virginia; he had sown the seed, others enjoyed the harvest. The remainder of his life was clouded by misfortune. On the accession of James I., he was arraigned on a frivolous charge of high treason; a charge got up by his enemies, never substantiated, and never believed by those who condemned him. On his trial he defended himself with a dignity and consciousness of innocence that excited the admiration of the world and put to shame his enemies. His remaining property was taken from him by the king, and for thirteen years he was left to languish in the Tower of London;

VIII.

CHAP. James not yet daring to order the execution of the patriot statesman, who was an ornament to England and the age in which he lived. After the lapse of sixteen years the hour came, and Sir Walter met death on the scaffold with the calmness and dignity of an innocent and Christian

1588.

man.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA.

London and Plymouth Companies.-King James' Laws.-The Voyage and Arrival.-Jamestown.-John Smith; his Character, Energy, Captivity, and Release.-Misery of the Colonists.-New Emigrants.-Lord Delaware.—Sir Thomas Gates.-Pocahontas; her Capture and Marriage.— Yeardley. First Legislative Assembly.

IX.

THE bold and energetic Elizabeth was succeeded by the CHAP timid and pedantic James I. To sustain herself against the power of Spain, she had raised a strong military force, 1606. both on sea and land. But James had an instinctive dread of gunpowder, he was in favor of peace at all hazards, even at the expense of national honor. He disbanded the greater portion of the army, and dismissed many of those employed in the navy. These men, left without regular employment, were easily induced to try their fortunes as colonists in Virginia. They were not good material, as we shall see, but they prepared the way for better men, and ultimately for success. Sir Walter Raleigh having sacrificed his fortune in fruitless attempts to found a colony, had induced some gentlemen to form a company, and engage in the enterprise. To this company he had transferred his patent, with all its privileges, on very liberal terms. The company manifested but little energy: they had neither the enthusiasm nor the liberality of Sir Walter.

England claimed the territory from Cape Fear, in North Carolina, to Newfoundland, and to the West indefinitely.

IX.

CHAP. This territory King James divided into two parts: South Virginia, extending from Cape Fear to the Potomac ; and 1606. North Virginia, from the mouth of the Hudson to Newfoundland. There were now formed two companies: one known as the London Company, principally composed of "noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants," residing in London; the other the Plymouth Company, composed of "knights, gentlemen, and merchants," living in the West of England. To the London Company James granted South Virginia, to the Plymouth Company North Virginia. The region between the Potomac and the mouth of the Hudson was to be neutral ground, on which the companies were at liberty to form settlements within fifty miles of their respective boundaries. The London Company was the first to send emigrants.

1607

King James was enamored of what he called kingcraft. He believed that a king had a divine right to make and unmake laws at his own pleasure, and was bound by no obligation, not even to keep his own word. In maintaining the former of these kingly rights, James sometimes found difficulty; he was more successful in exercising the latter. He took upon himself the authority and labor of framing laws for the colony about to sail. These laws are a fair specimen of his kingcraft. They did not grant a single civil privilege to the colonists, who had no vote in choosing their own magistrates; but were to be governed by two councils, both appointed by the king,-one residing in England, the other in the colony. In religious matters, differences of opinion were forbidden; all must conform to the rites of the church of England. The Indians were to be treated kindly, and if possible, converted to Christianity.

Three ships were sent with one hundred and five emigrants; of the whole number, not twenty were agriculturists or mechanics,-there was not a family nor a woman in the company. The great majority were gentlemen, a