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THE HISTORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA
[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON _From the painting attributed
to Gilbert Stuart in the National Portrait Gallery._]
THE HISTORY
OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES
OF NORTH AMERICA
1497-1763
BY
REGINALD W. JEFFERY, M.A.
BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in 1908_
PREFACE
It has been my object in this small book to put into a handy form a
short narrative of the History of the Thirteen Colonies. In the limited
space at my command I have endeavoured to give as often as possible the
actual words of contemporaries, hoping that the reader may thereby be
tempted to search further for himself amongst the mass of documentary
evidence which still needs so much careful study. I cannot send this
book into the world without acknowledging my indebtedness to both the
Beit Professor of Colonial History, Mr H. E. Egerton, and the Beit
Lecturer on Colonial History, Mr W. L. Grant, whose kind suggestions
have proved most valuable. At the same time I must thank Mr E. L. S.
Horsburgh, for by his action the writing of this little work was made
possible.
R. W. J.
OXFORD, 1908
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA
Spanish, French, and Dutch colonisation--English colonisation
--The Cabotian discoveries--The Cabots' second voyage--The
Bull of Alexander VI.--The voyages of John Rut and Master Hore
--Newfoundland Fishery--Cabot, Willoughby, and Chancellor--The
attraction of the West--The North-West Passage--Martin
Frobisher--Sir Humphrey Gilbert--Sir John Hawkins and Sir
Francis Drake--Sir Walter Raleigh--The Elizabethan Period 1
CHAPTER II
VIRGINIA: THE FIRST GREAT COLONY OF THE BRITISH
Character of the men--Raleigh's Virginian colonies--Motives
for colonisation--Gosnold and Pring--Richard Hakluyt--Elizabeth
and James I.--Formation of the London and Plymouth Companies--
The government of the London Company--The Virginian settlers--
Foundation of Jamestown--Captain John Smith--The lust for gold
--Smith's good work--English interest in Virginia--Sir George
Somers and Sir Thomas Gates--Lord Delawarr--Improvements in
Virginia--The Princess Pocahontas--Samuel Argall--Sir Thomas
Dale--Yeardley and the first Representative Assembly--The
Company in danger--The abolition of the Company--A change in
the character of Virginian history--Wyatt and Harvey as
Governors--A land of peace and plenty--Sir William Berkeley
--Trouble with the Indians--Virginia and the Civil War--
Berkeley's dislike of education--Arlington and Culpeper--
Virginia under Berkeley--Bacon's rising--Sir Herbert Jeffreys
--Virginia and the Revolution--Virginia in the eighteenth
century--Robert Dinwiddie 19
CHAPTER III
THE COLONISATION OF MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS
The colonisation of Maryland--Lord Baltimore--Leonard Calvert
--Quarrel over the Isle of Kent--The Civil War--The Commonwealth
--Lord Baltimore restored--A spirit of unrest in Maryland--
Francis Nicholson--Irreligion of the colonists--Industry in
Maryland--The Carolinas--The foundation of the colony--Its
progress--The Fundamental Constitutions--State of anarchy--
South Carolina--William Sayle--Joseph West--Amalgamation of
the two Carolinas--Danger from French and Spaniards--Queen
Anne's War--Indian troubles--The Treaty of Utrecht--The
Carolinas become a Crown colony--Interest of Carolina history 54
CHAPTER IV
THE PURITANS IN PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS
Character of New England colonies--The Plymouth Company--The
Puritans--William Bradford--The Pilgrim Fathers--The
foundation of New Plymouth--Life in the colony--Description
of the colony--Development of government--The Civil War--
Ineffectual attempts to obtain a charter--The foundation of
Massachusetts--Ferdinando Gorges, John White, and John
Endecott--A charter granted--John Winthrop--Government of
Massachusetts--Puritan intolerance--Roger Williams--Harry
Vane, John Wheelwright, and Mrs Anne Hutchinson--Harvard
College--The New England Confederacy--Massachusetts and the
Home Government--Brutality to Quakers--King Philip's War--
Edward Randolph's complaints--The rule of Sir Edmund Andros
--The Revolution of 1688--A new charter--Sir William Phipps
--The Earl of Bellomont and Governor Fletcher--Advance of
the colony 76
CHAPTER V
CONNECTICUT; RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATION; NEW
HAVEN; MAINE; NEW HAMPSHIRE
Quarrelsome provinces--The foundation of Connecticut--The Pequod
War--The Restoration--Sir Edmund Andros--Connecticut's progress
--Foundation of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation--Samuel
Gorton--Government of the colony--The Royal Commissioners in
Rhode Island--James II. and the Revolution--The foundation of
New Haven--The regicides in New Haven--The foundation of Maine
--Sir Ferdinando Gorges--The Restoration in Maine--Descriptions
of Maine--Gorges sells his rights--The foundation of New
Hampshire--The greed of Massachusetts--New Hampshire and the
Revolution--The necessity of union 107
CHAPTER VI
THE FIGHT WITH THE DUTCH FOR THEIR SETTLEMENT OF NEW NETHERLANDS
The Dutch Wars--The position of New York--The New Netherlands
--Stuyvesant's attack on New Sweden--Nicolls' attack on the
New Netherlands--Splendid work of Nicolls--The character of
New York--Government of New York and Albany--Francis Lovelace
--The Dutch recapture New York--New Jersey--Thomas Dongan--The
Leisler Rising--Lack of a Constitution--The Earl of Bellomont
and Lord Cornbury--Governors of the early eighteenth century
--Lucrative character of governor's post 128
CHAPTER VII
THE QUAKER SETTLEMENTS AND GEORGIA
The Quakers in America--East and West New Jersey--Delaware--
The Jerseys under one governor--The Jerseys united--William
Penn--The foundation of Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--Penn's
constitution--The Revolution and after--Penn regains
proprietorship--Intercolonial disputes--An asylum of rest--
John and Thomas Penn--The foundation of Georgia--Oglethorpe's
difficulties--John and Charles Wesley--War with Spain--Attack
on St. Augustine--Oglethorpe's daring--Quarrels concerning
slavery--Oglethorpe's work--Georgia becomes a Crown colony--
The coming struggle with France 146
CHAPTER VIII
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND
Population of Puritan colonies--Towns--Wooden houses--Industry
and commerce--Minor industries--Shipbuilding--Eighteenth-century
commerce--Agriculture--Want of money--The colonial mint--Paper
money--Wages and prices--The poor-law--Slavery--Missionary
efforts--Religion--Education--Literature--Printing--Means of
travel--Curious laws--The character of the settlers 168
CHAPTER IX
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN
AND MIDDLE COLONIES
Character of the colonies--Classes in colonial society--
Indentured servants--Slavery--White population--Industry
and commerce--Money--Education--Literature--Religion--Town
life--Conclusion 187
CHAPTER X
THE FRENCH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA
Early French voyages--Jacques Cartier--The Marquis de la Roche
--Samuel Champlain--A passage to the East--The Franciscans and
Jesuits--The Company of the One Hundred Associates--Character
of Champlain--Colbert and colonisation--The Company of the West
--System of government--Count Frontenac--Western discoveries--
Joliet and Marquette--La Salle--The Mississippi--La Salle's great
expedition--His failure--His place in history--The Iroquois--The
Treaty of Utrecht 200
CHAPTER XI
FRENCH AGGRESSION
The colonies were not united--Dongan and Denonville--King
William's war--The Albany Conference--Expedition against Quebec
--The Abenaki Indians--Incapacity of the colonies--The Treaty
of Ryswick--The War of the Spanish Succession--The horrors of
Indian warfare--Samuel Vetch--Colonial jealousies--English
indifference--The capture of Acadia--Colonial fear of English
interference--The English view of the colonials--The Hill-Walker
expedition--Walker's cowardice--The character of the expedition
--The Treaty of Utrecht--A lost opportunity--Relations between
Indians and Canadian Government--The French scheme--Crown Point
--The War of the Austrian Succession--Louisburg--Character of
forces--The capture of Louisburg--Shirley's plans--The Treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle 224
CHAPTER XII
THE CLIMAX: THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONISTS
The colonial share in the capture of Canada--The internal
jealousies of the colonies--French aggression in the Ohio
valley--George Washington--Results of the campaign of 1754--
Character of General Braddock--Schemes for 1755--Braddock's
disaster--The work of Dinwiddie and Johnson--The deportation
of the Acadians--The results of the campaign of 1755--The
Seven Years' War--The character of the Marquis de Montcalm--
Webb, Abercromby, and Loudoun--Unsuccessful attack upon
Louisburg--Montcalm at Fort William Henry--The rise of William
Pitt--The plan of campaign of 1758--The character of General
Wolfe--The capture of Louisburg--Abercromby's disaster at
Ticonderoga--The character of Lord Howe--Capture of Forts
Frontenac and Duquesne--The campaigns of 1759--Amherst's
delay--The siege of Quebec--English despair--The discovery of
the path--Death of Wolfe--Wolfe and Montcalm--The climax--The
collapse of the French Empire in the West--The rise of a new
nation 254
CHRONOLOGY 285
BIBLIOGRAPHY 296
INDEX 299
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GEORGE WASHINGTON _Frontispiece_
_From the painting attributed to Gilbert Stuart in the
National Portrait Gallery._
_To face page_
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 14
_From an engraving by J. Honbraken in the British
Museum._
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 30
_From an engraving in his "Generall Historie of Virginia."_
MAP OF NORTH AMERICA, 1755 144
WILLIAM PITT, LORD CHATHAM 166
_From the painting by W. Hoare in the National Portrait
Gallery._
QUEBEC FROM POINT LEVY IN 1761 200
_From an engraving by R. Short._
THE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM 246
_From a painting by J. B. Massé._
GENERAL JAMES WOLFE 270
_From the picture by Schaak in the National Portrait
Gallery._
THE DEATH OF WOLFE 278
_After the painting by B. West._
THE HISTORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA
It would be out of place in this small book to give in detail a history
of all the discoveries which were made along the shores of North and
South America at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth
centuries. As the main object is to depict briefly the political history
of the Thirteen English Colonies on the North American seaboard, it will
be unnecessary to say more than a few words about the discoverers whose
enterprise and bravery made colonisation possible. With the Spanish,
French, and Dutch voyagers it is not proposed to deal; their stories are
well known, and affected but little the establishment of our early
settlements in the West. Like the British nation, these three peoples
also strove to create lasting empires in America; but unlike their
rival, they failed. The Spaniards made the fatal error of attempting to
settle during the period of exploration. They based their colonies upon
slavery, and a mistaken commercial policy; and the sparseness of their
colonists made them incapable of contending against the pressure of
surrounding savagery. The result was that they, who were without the
traditions of public morality and who were to a certain extent lacking
in administrative powers, became intermixed with the inferior races with
whom they came in contact. The French were no more successful in their
endeavours to establish a New France beyond the sea; they failed, partly
because of the French temperament, and partly through obvious errors.
The French character was buoyant and cheerful--both excellent natural
gifts for colonists--but they were unable to combine the spirit of
adventure with that patient commercial industry which so wonderfully
distinguished the Puritan emigrants. The Dutch might have proved serious
rivals to the British in the West had they been able to rise from the
position of mere traders, and had they had a sufficiently large
population on which to draw. Their commercial system deteriorated,
becoming uneconomic and non-progressive; while their arduous and gallant
struggle against Philip II. and Alva had necessarily handicapped them in
the race for colonial aggrandisement.
The English, in strong contrast to these competitors, never drew a
distinct or sharp line between the soldier and the trader. The story of
Great Britain's expansion contains the names of hundreds of gallant
heroes, but they were at the same time sober and industrious men. The
plodding and commercial characteristics possessed by the British
colonial saved him from perpetrating those foolish errors of the
Spaniard which arose from a desire to gain rapid wealth and a tawdry
glory. One fact stands out pre-eminent amongst the reasons of British
success--the English kept their period of exploration almost entirely
separate from their epoch of settlement. The glorious dreams of
Eldorado, the visions of the golden city of Manoa had been dispersed
like a morning mist when the period of colonisation dawned bright and
clear at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
The period which coincides with the reign of Henry VII. forms one of the
greatest epochs of history; it was indeed the veritable Renaissance, the
birth of the New World. It was at this moment that the history of
America, the modern history of England, and the present history of
Europe practically began. These startling facts were due to the
simultaneous discoveries in the East and the West. The voyages of
Bartholomew Diaz, of Christopher Columbus, and of Vasco de Gama might
well have astonished the world, but seem to have had very little effect
upon the English as a nation. England was not yet ready to take up the
position of Mistress of the Seas; the time was not yet ripe for colonial
advancement. The country, from both political and social points of view,
was still suffering from the confusion and anarchy which had resulted
from the rule of the Lancastrians, and from the chaos left by the Wars
of the Roses. Two men, however, seem to have understood something of the
possibilities that lay open to them in the West. John and his son
Sebastian Cabot, of Genoese stock, but sometime resident in Venice,
sailed, under the patronage of Henry VII., from Bristol, in 1497, to
discover the island of Cathay. John Cabot is described as one who had
"made himself very expert and cunning in knowledge of the circuit of the
world and Ilands of the same, as by a Sea card and other
demonstrations."[1] The royal charter, granted to these men in March
1496, contained a most important clause, "to saile to all parts,
countreys, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under
our banners and ensignes, ... to set up our banners and ensignes in
every village, towne, castle, isle, or maine land of them newly found
... as our vassals, and lieutenants, getting unto us the rule, title,
and jurisdiction of the same."[2] Bacon, in his _History of Henry VII._,
refers to Cabot's now celebrated voyage. "There was one Sebastian
Gabato, a Venetian living in Bristow, a man seen and expert in
cosmography and navigation. This man seeing the success and emulating
perhaps the enterprise of Christopherus Columbus in that fortunate
discovery towards the south-west, which had been by him made some six
years before, conceited with himself that lands might likewise be
discovered towards the north-west. And surely it may be that he had more
firm and pregnant conjectures of it than Columbus had of his at the
first. For the two great islands of the Old and New World, being in the
shape and making of them broad towards the north and pointed towards the
south, it is likely that the discovery just began where the lands did
meet. And there had been before that time a discovery of some lands
which they took to be islands, and were indeed of America towards the
north-west."[3] Bacon is here calling attention to what has since become
the great controversial question of whether or not the Norsemen
discovered the American continent in the eleventh century. It is very
improbable that the Cabots knew anything of this tradition; and this
voyage was solely the outcome of the discoveries of Columbus. Their
object is definitely stated to have been a "great desire to traffique
for the spices as the Portingals did."[4] It is a remarkable fact that
very little is known of this voyage, and there are practically no
English records available in which to find the history of so great an
event. A Bristol book contains this terse mention of the exploring
expedition: "In the year 1497, the 24th of June, on St John's day, was
Newfoundland found by Bristol men in a ship called the _Mathew_."[5]
Carrying out the commands of the charter, John Cabot and his son planted
the English standard upon American soil, but they did little besides: no
explorations were made into the interior; they were completely satisfied
with the all-important fact of discovery. As a proof of their success,
Sebastian Cabot brought back three Indians "in their demeanour like to
bruite beastes," but who seem to have settled down and taken up English
customs, for Robert Fabian says, "of the which upon two yeeres after, I
saw two apparelled after the maner of Englishmen in Westminster pallace,
which that time I could not discerne from Englishmen."[6]
The restless ambition of the Cabots incited them to a further voyage in
February 1498, the charter on this occasion being granted only to the
father. They again started from Bristol, and sailed along the North
American coasts from the ice-bound shores of Newfoundland[7] to the
sunny Carolinas or Florida. The younger Cabot afterwards wrote that he
sailed "unto the Latitude of 67 degrees and a halfe under the North Pole
... finding still the open Sea without any maner of impediment, he
thought verily by that way to have passed on still the way to Cathaia
which is in the East."[8] This voyage is recorded by Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, and was frequently quoted as a reason for England's claim to
North America. "The countreys lying north of Florida, God hath reserved
the same to be reduced unto Christian civility by the English nation.
For not long after that Christopher Columbus had discovered the Islands
and continent of the West Indies for Spaine, John and Sebastian Cabot
made discovery also of the rest from Florida northwards to the behoofe
of England."[9] The Cabots disappear from English history for a time and
there are no records of the reception of this voyage. It was undoubtedly
of twofold importance; it started that "will o' the wisp" of the
North-West Passage, that led so many men to risk and lose their lives;
and it may also be regarded as the foundation-stone of the English power
in the West.
The next few years of the history of the exploration of America is
filled with the records of Spaniards, Italians, and Frenchmen. The
voyage of the Bristol merchants by which North America had just been
discovered had no effect, and awakened no enthusiasm in the hearts of
the English during the early portion of the sixteenth century. Henry
VII. and his more adventurous son were both such severe and orthodox
Catholics that they hesitated to trespass upon the limitations laid down
by the bull of Alexander VI., by which everything on the western side of
an imaginary line between the forty-first and forty-fourth meridians
west of Greenwich belonged to Spain; while the Brazil coast, the East
Indies, and Africa south of the Canary Islands fell to Portugal.
Between 1500 and 1550 only two true voyages of discovery have been
chronicled. The first was in 1527, when a canon of St Paul's,
erroneously named Albert de Prado, sailed with two ships in search of
the Indies. It is probable that this was the voyage of John Rut of the
Royal Navy, with whom, there is reason to suppose, a Spaniard, called
Albert de Prado, sailed. They failed to make any real discoveries, but
brought back a cargo of fish from the inhospitable shores of
Newfoundland and Labrador. The second voyage was that of Master Hore, in
1536, who, it is supposed, set out in the spirit of a Crusader, but who
was more probably a briefless barrister accompanied by "many gentlemen
of the Innes of Court and of the Chancery."[10] They were shipwrecked on
the Newfoundland coast, where, as none of them knew how to fish, and
although Hore told them they would go to unquenchable fire, they began
to eat one another. "On the fieldes and deserts here and there, the
fellowe killed his mate, while he stooped to take up a roote for his
reliefe, and cutting out pieces of his bodie whom he had murthered,
broyled the same on the coles and greedily devoured them."[11] Luckily
for the remainder, a French ship was blown into the harbour, and they
seized her with all the food she had on board, sailing home in safety,
leaving the French sailors to a horrible fate, which they seemed to have
escaped; for "certaine moneths after, those Frenchmen came into England
and made complaint to King Henry the 8: the king ... was so mooved with
pitie, that he punished not his subjects, but of his owne purse made
full and royale recompense unto the French."[12]
The two voyages here set forth are the only ones that are actually
recorded, but there is reason for supposing that English ships were
quite familiar with the coast of what was afterwards called Maine.
Between 1501 and 1510 there are many scattered intimations of English
voyages; and one patent in particular, in the first year of the
sixteenth century, shows that men of some importance were granted leave
to sail and discover in the West. In 1503 a man brought hawks from
Newfoundland to Henry VII.; and in the next year a priest is paid £2 to
go to the same island. In or about the eighth year of Henry VIII.,
Sebastian Cabot was again in the employ of the English and in command of
an expedition to Brazil, which only failed owing to "the cowardise and
want of stomack" of his partner, Sir Thomas Pert.[13] It is evident from
the first Act of Parliament relating to America, passed in 1541, that
the Newfoundland fishery was carried on by Devonshire fishermen almost
continuously from the discovery of the island; and the Act of 1548,
prohibiting the exaction of dues, shows "that the trade out of England
to Newfoundland was common."[14] Anthony Parkhurst corroborates this
fact in a letter to Richard Hakluyt in 1578, in which he says, "The
Englishmen, who commonly are lords of the harbors where they fish, and
do use all strangers helpe in fishing if need require, according to an
old custome of the countrey."[15] It may, therefore, be inferred that
the growth of the Newfoundland fisheries, together with the increasing
knowledge of the country and its products, helped to suggest to the
Englishmen of the period the possibilities of future colonisation.
The great voyager Sebastian Cabot returned to England in 1548 from his
sojourn in Spain. Under the patronage of Charles V. he had made several
voyages, including one of particular importance to the Rio de la Plata.
On his arrival in England he was rewarded by Edward VI. with a pension
of £166, 13s. 4d., as a slight evidence of that king's appreciation of
his manifold services. Old man though he was, his mind still ran on the
discovery of a North-West, or North-East Passage to the Indies, and he
became the governor of a company of merchant adventurers for the
discovery of regions beyond the sea. He did not participate in any of
these discoveries, "because there are nowe many yong and lustie Pilots
and Mariners of good experience, by whose forwardnesse I doe rejoyce in
the fruit of my labours and rest with the charge of this office."[16]
Amongst the young and lusty pilots were Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard
Chancellor, who turned their attentions to a North-East passage. The
former died on his vessel in the midst of the ice floes in 1553, while
the latter succeeded in reaching Archangel, and so brought about,
through a successor, Anthony Jenkinson, the foundation of the Muscovy
Company.
It was, however, the discovery of America, and in particular of the
North-West Passage, that offered great inducements to Englishmen. The
American continent had an ever fascinating attraction, for the reports
of its vast wealth drew adventurous spirits as with a magnet. The gold
of Mexico and Peru dazzled their eyes and made them hope to find some
similar hoard on every barren strip of shore from Patagonia to
Newfoundland. "It was thought that in those unknown lands, peopled by
'anthropophagi and men whose heads did grow beneath their shoulders,'
lay all the treasures of the earth. That was an irresistible temptation
to the great merchants of England, citizens of no mean city, pursuing no
ignoble nor sordid trade."[17] Thus early in the reign of Elizabeth
there was an attempt at American plantation; it certainly was only an
attempt, for it in no way furthered the schemes of colonisation. Thomas
Stukeley, a member of a good Devonshire family, planned, with the
sanction of the queen, in 1563, to colonise Florida. He made the fatal
mistake of so many others, of converting a colonising expedition into
one of mere buccaneering. Spanish and French vessels were his real
objects, not the foundation of an English settlement in the New World.
The scheme naturally failed; and Stukeley removed his activities to
Barbary, where he met a glorious death amongst the chivalry of Portugal
upon the classic field of Alcazar.
The search for the North-West Passage was even more tempting than the
projection of imaginary colonies in the South; it opened before the eyes
of speculative voyagers a promise of all the wealth of the East. A large
proportion of Hakluyt's great prose epic--that marvellous work of
adventure--is filled with the search for Cathay. That mystic land became
the purpose and the goal of hundreds of seamen who, during the
centuries, struggled and toiled through overwhelming perils, ever to be
baffled by the solid and impenetrable ice. Those wild north seas seem
to have caused little terror to the Tudor sea-dogs; Master Thorne, for
example, deserves to live in the memory of Englishmen for all time
simply for one remark with which he is credited. When the objection of
the ice was proposed to him, he waived it on one side with words which
might well be taken as the motto of the British Empire: "There is no
land unhabitable and no sea innavigable."[18] Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in
particular, tried to encourage men to push forward in their adventurous
discoveries, and there is no doubt that his famous work, _A Discourse to
prove a passage by the North West to Cathaya and the East Indies_, did a
great deal to stimulate men in their hopeless task.
It was largely due to this _Discourse_ that Martin Frobisher sailed to
find the tantalising passage, in June 1576, under the patronage of the
all-powerful Earl of Warwick. He sighted Greenland, and then reached
that inlet on the American coast which he called Frobisher Bay. He
brought back with him samples of a black stone which were supposed to
contain gold, and thus added the temptation of easily acquired wealth to
the sufficiently delusive and dangerous task of discovering the passage.
The possibility of mineral wealth in the Arctic Regions brought about
the formation of the Company of Cathay, under the government of Michael
Lok; and as its Captain-General, Frobisher undertook a second voyage in
May 1577. His object was "the further discovering of the passage to
Cathay, and other Countreys, thereunto adjacent, by West North-West
navigations: which passage or way is supposed to be on the North and
North-West part of America ... where through our Merchants may have
course and recourse with their merchandise."[19] Frobisher took
possession of the barren territory, and on his return Queen Elizabeth
"named it very properly Meta Incognita, as a marke and bound utterly
hitherto unknown."[20] The gold-refiners of London were still deceived
by the black stones; and again Frobisher sailed, in May 1578, to work
this imaginary mine. He took with him on this occasion "a strong fort or
house of timber" for the shelter of "one hundreth persons, whereof 40
should be mariners for the use of ships, 30 Miners for gathering the
gold Ore together for the next yere, and 30 souldiers for the better
guard of the rest, within which last number are included the Gentlemen,
Gold finers, Bakers, Carpenters & all necessary persons."[21] This might
be regarded as an early attempt to found a colony, for Frobisher seems
to have hoped to establish a thriving industry in this desolate and
ice-bound land; but as a matter of fact these "necessary persons" did
nothing at all except to discover an island which existed only in their
imaginations, and they returned to England in the autumn. Frobisher's
efforts as a discoverer now ceased; for his seamanship and courage were
required in home waters for the protection of his native land.
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE _From an engraving by J.
Honbraken in the British Museum._]
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother of Raleigh, was the "first of our
nation that carried people to erect an habitation and government in
those northerly countreys of America."[22] He was a man bold in action
and chivalrous in character; he was one of those giants of the
Elizabethan period, and if he had any faults they were only those of his
age, while his virtues were all his own. As early as 1563 he was
connected with schemes for colonisation in the formation of a company
for the discovery of new trades. He it is who has the proud position of
being the founder of our premier colony, Newfoundland. In 1578, letters
patent were granted to him by Queen Elizabeth for establishing a colony
in North America. He made his first voyage in that year, sailing from
Dartmouth in September. The expedition was a complete failure, and
fearing lest his patent should expire, he undertook that voyage which
has made him one of the most famous men in history. In 1583 he sailed to
Newfoundland, and took possession in the name of the Virgin Queen, "and
signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they should take the
same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene of England."[23]
His great action was not allowed to be forgotten; the gallant knight
himself never saw England again, but passed to his grave beneath the
rough waters of the Atlantic. Hakluyt, however, printed the story of an
eye-witness, Edward Hayes, who gave a graphic account of the whole
expedition. Gilbert insisted on returning in the _Squirrel_, a small
crazy craft, rather than in the larger vessel, known as the _Hinde_. The
weather became very foul; and on Monday afternoon, the 9th of September,
Hayes says, "the frigate was neere cast away oppressed by the waves, yet
at that time recovered: and giving foorth signes of joy the Generall,
sitting abaft with a booke in his hand cried out unto us in the Hind (so
oft as we did approach within hearing) We are as neere to heaven by sea
as by land." About twelve that night, the frigate being ahead of the
Hinde, her lights suddenly went out; and after a minute's awful
silence, the men of the Hinde exclaimed, "the General was cast
away."[24] Thus the hero, strong in his belief and fear of God, with
chivalrous and stainless name, found his last resting-place in the sea.
He was a forerunner of the very noblest type, an example to the men of
his own generation, and to those fearless adventurers who have helped to
create the British Empire in all parts of the world.
The northern portions of America were for the most part more easily
accessible to the English, and the dangers of Spanish and Portuguese
attacks were more remote. The West Indies, however, and even South
America, were not without their fascination, and many Englishmen made
voyages to those parts, not so much for the purposes of discovery as for
trade, buccaneering, and booty. The earliest of these West Indian
trading voyages was that of Thomas Tison, who, it is known, sailed to
the West, some time previous to the year 1526. He dwelt on one of the
West Indian Islands as a secret factor for some English merchants; and
"it is probable that some of our marchants had a kinde of trade to the
West Indies even in those ancient times and before also: neither doe I
see," says Hakluyt, "any reason why the Spaniards should debarre us from
it at this present."[25] As a trader, pirate, and slave-dealer, Sir John
Hawkins made three celebrated voyages in 1562, 1564, and 1568, between
Guinea and the West Indies. On one of these he was accompanied by
Francis Drake, who was destined for far greater things than
slave-dealing. After many adventures off the Spanish main, Drake, in the
spirit of a Crusader, started on his momentous voyage round the world.
In a small vessel called the _Golden Hinde_ or _Pelican_, with a still
smaller ship, the _Elizabeth_, the great seaman sailed from Plymouth in
February 1577. Sailing down the South American coast, he at last arrived
at the Straits of Magellan, where one of his company, Master Thomas
Doughty, mutinied and was executed. After being deserted by the
_Elizabeth_, the voyage proceeded along the shores of Chili and Peru;
and passing still farther north, it is probable that Drake discovered
"that portion of North America now known as Oregon, and anticipated by
centuries the progress of English colonisation: the New Albion, which he
took over from the Indians, being probably the British Columbia of
to-day."[26] Drake's return was made without any very serious mishaps,
and he dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound in November 1580. It was a fine
exploit, and roundly applauded throughout the country. No one, however,
realised at that time, nor indeed for generations to come, that Drake
had discovered and annexed what was afterwards to become so large a
portion of the British dominions beyond the seas.
One man in particular could not fail to be moved to enthusiasm by these
voyages of discovery. The dream of a great country in the far West,
peopled by the Anglo-Saxon race, was ever before the eyes of Sir Walter
Raleigh. The character of this great man of action was not without many
faults, for it was composed of much fine gold tempered with clay. His
endeavours, however, to extend the limits of Britain's rule excite the
imagination and entrance the mind of the reader. The mantle of Gilbert
fell upon the shoulders of Raleigh, who at once attempted to carry on
the work of colonisation which had been started by his half-brother in
Newfoundland; and the road to which was about to be pointed out by
Richard Hakluyt in his _Discourse of Western Planting_. Raleigh must
have appreciated the appeal made by Sir George Peckham, friend of
Gilbert, when he said, "Behold heere, good countreymen, the manifold
benefits, commodities and pleasures heretofore unknowen, by Gods
especiall blessing not onely reveiled unto us, but also as it were
infused into our bosomes, who though hitherto like dormice have
slumbered in ignorance thereof, being like the cats that are loth for
their prey to wet their feet: yet if now therefore at the last we would
awake, and with willing mindes (setting frivolous imaginations aside)
become industrious instruments to ourselves, questionlesse we should not
only hereby set forth the glory of our heavenly father, but also easily
attaine to the end of all good purposes that may be wished or
desired."[27] Up to this time, by a curious chance, the coastline of the
modern United States, from the St Lawrence to the Savannah River, had
scarcely been visited and was, in fact, very little known. Here then was
an opportunity for Raleigh; and a land, where, if effort was made, the
greatest success might be achieved. The land had been unspoilt and
untouched by the Spaniards; those few hardy seamen who had entered
harbour or creek had found no signs of gold, and had sailed away again.
But it was a land of excellent climate, freed from the ice and fogs of
the more northern latitudes in which the Elizabethan seamen had shown
such pluck and powers of endurance. Captain Carlile, the son-in-law of
Francis Walsingham, had already in 1583 issued his encouraging report
concerning American trade. Raleigh could not fail to be struck by the
sentence, "that whereas one adventureth in the great enterprise, an
hundred for that one will of themselves bee willing and desirous to
adventure in the next."[28] Gilbert's patent for the colonisation of
North America had been transferred to Raleigh, who, with great caution,
in 1584 dispatched two sea-captains, Amidas and Barlow, to spy out this
land of promise. The narrative of these adventurers as given in
_Hakluyt's Voyages_ is extremely picturesque. They steered a more
southerly course than that of any previous British explorer, and finally
reached the island of Roanoke, now within the limits of North Carolina.
They described it as a land flowing with milk and honey. "The second of
July, we found shole water, wher we smelt so sweet and so strong a smel,
as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with
all kinde of odoriferous flowers.... We found the people most gentle,
loving, and faithfull, voide of all guile and treason, and such as live
after the maner of the golden age."[29] Amidas and Barlow thus brought
back to their patron Raleigh a story full of hope and wondrous
possibilities. They had found a land worthy of colonisation and well
suited to the English; and this land of promise and of future greatness
was christened by the Virgin Queen--Virginia.
The days of exploration and discovery by sea in the West had practically
come to an end; the great epoch of colonisation was about to begin. When
Elizabeth came to the throne, English ships had seldom sailed further
than Iceland in the north and the Levant in the south-east, where a
lucrative trade had sprung up as early as 1511. But by the end of the
sixteenth century, owing to the encouragement of the Tudor sovereigns,
the religious persecutions, and the "peculiar" policy of Elizabeth, the
English flag had been proudly borne into all the seas of the world. The
globe had been circumnavigated by Drake and Cavendish; trade through
Archangel had been established with Russia; spices had been brought from
the Indies by the East India Company; "the commodious and gainful voyage
to Brazil"[30] was regularly undertaken by the merchants of Southampton;
while a vast fishing trade had steadily grown up off the coasts of
Newfoundland. Above all the "navigations, voyages, traffiques, and
discoveries of the English nation" had laid the foundation for greater
things. Raleigh's dreams were to be accomplished, though not by himself.
Like so many others he was attracted by gold; his thoughts lay too
readily in the discovery of an El Dorado in South America, of which the
Elizabethan poet wrote:--
"Guiana whose rich feet are mines of gold."
The grain of mustard seed had, however, been planted; the idea had been
put forth to the world; a new nation was to rise in the Western
hemisphere; and, although no definite results were to be seen by the
eyes of the Elizabethans, yet their wild adventures, their acts of
knight-errantry, their perils and their sufferings had paved the way for
the industrious, sober, steady, and more prudent enterprises of Stuart
Cavaliers and of Puritan Pilgrims.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 154.
[2] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 143.
[3] _Bacon's Works_ (ed. 1870), vi. 196.
[4] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 153.
[5] Barrett, _History and Antiquities of Bristol_ (1789), p. 172.
[6] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 155.
[7] It is thought by some that Cabot sailed to Greenland. Cf. Biggar,
_Voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte Reals_ (Paris, 1903).
[8] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 150.
[9] _Ibid._, viii. p. 37.
[10] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 3.
[11] _Ibid._, viii. p. 5.
[12] _Ibid._, viii. p. 7.
[13] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, x. p. 2.
[14] _Ibid._, viii. p. 9.
[15] _Ibid._, viii. p. 10.
[16] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 149.
[17] Fletcher, _Cornhill Magazine_, Dec. 1902.
[18] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, ii. p. 178.
[19] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 212.
[20] _Ibid._, vii. p. 320.
[21] _Ibid._, vii. p. 321.
[22] _Ibid._, vii. p. 38.
[23] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 54.
[24] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 74.
[25] _Ibid._, x. pp. 6, 7.
[26] Egerton, _Origin and Growth of the English Colonies_, p. 65.
[27] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), viii. p. 123.
[28] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), viii. p. 141.
[29] _Ibid._, viii. pp. 298 and 305.
[30] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, xi. p. 25.