Produced by Linda Cantoni and David Widger
THE
LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE
AMERICAN FORCES,
DURING THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY,
AND
FIRST PRESIDENT
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
COMPILED UNDER THE INSPECTION OF
THE HONOURABLE BUSHROD WASHINGTON,
FROM
_ORIGINAL PAPERS_
BEQUEATHED TO HIM BY HIS DECEASED RELATIVE, AND NOW IN POSSESSION OF
THE AUTHOR.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
AN INTRODUCTION,
CONTAINING A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE COLONIES PLANTED BY THE ENGLISH
ON THE
CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA,
FROM THEIR SETTLEMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THAT WAR WHICH TERMINATED
IN THEIR
INDEPENDENCE.
BY JOHN MARSHALL.
VOL. I.
THE CITIZENS' GUILD
OF WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD HOME
FREDERICKSBURG, VA.
1926
[Illustration: General Washington
_From the full length portrait by John Trumbull at Yale University_
_This portrait is one of 54 canvasses the artist presented to Yale
University in return for an annuity of $1,000. Washington was in his
forty-third year and it is considered the best likeness of him at the
outbreak of the Revolution. The canvas depicts him, "six feet two
inches in height, with brown hair, blue eyes, large head and hands,
and strong arms."_]
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
In his will George Washington bequeathed to his favorite nephew,
Bushrod Washington, his personal letters, private papers and secret
documents accumulated during a lifetime of service to his country.
When the bequest became known, many of the literary men of the country
were proposed for the commission to write the authorized life of our
First President.
Bushrod Washington's choice fell upon John Marshall, Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court. To him he handed over all the precious papers left
him by his distinguished relative. George Washington and Marshall's
father, Thomas Marshall, were boyhood companions, so John Marshall
knew "the Father of His Country" as a neighbor and friend from his
earliest youth, and served under him in the Revolution.
If it be true that it takes a great man to interpret the life of a
great man then Bushrod Washington made no mistake in the selection of
a biographer. For Marshall, under the influence of Washington, came to
be nearly as great a man as the character whose life and achievements
held his deepest thought for nearly a quarter of a century. Certainly
his services to his country rank close to Washington's. Marshall's
sympathetic understanding of his subject, his first-hand knowledge of
events with his remarkable powers of expression qualified him to
produce the masterpiece that has come down to us.
Seven years were spent in preparing the first edition, published in
1804-07. The work was based chiefly on Washington's own diaries and
letters and secret archives and it told not simply the epic story of
this great life but the truth about the birth of our nation. Marshall
later spent fifteen years revising the first edition, verifying to the
last detail every chapter, page and paragraph of his monumental work.
The first edition, published by C.P. Wayne of Philadelphia, was an
achievement in beautiful printing and bookmaking and still stands out
today as such. The present publishers have followed the format of the
original edition but have used the revised text which Marshall spent
so many years in perfecting.
Washington's personality lives on in John Marshall's great biography.
He still has the power to raise up men to greatness as he did during
his lifetime. The precepts, the principles and the shining example of
this foremost of self-educated, self-made Americans have the power to
uplift and start toward new heights of achievement, all who come in
contact with him. The work is now reissued in the hope that it may
give his countrymen of the present day the benefit of the counsel, the
guidance and the inspiration that has proven so valuable in the past.
February 22nd, 1926.
PREFACE
BY THE AUTHOR
A desire to know intimately those illustrious personages, who have
performed a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world, is,
perhaps, implanted in every human bosom. We delight to follow them
through the various critical and perilous situations in which they
have been placed, to view them in the extremes of adverse and
prosperous fortune, to trace their progress through all the
difficulties they have surmounted, and to contemplate their whole
conduct, at a time when, the power and the pomp of office having
disappeared, it may be presented to us in the simple garb of truth.
If among those exalted characters which are produced in every age,
none can have a fairer claim to the attention and recollection of
mankind than those under whose auspices great empires have been
founded, or political institutions deserving to be permanent,
established; a faithful representation of the various important events
connected with the life of the favourite son of America, cannot be
unworthy of the general regard. Among his own countrymen it will
unquestionably excite the deepest interest.
As if the chosen instrument of Heaven, selected for the purpose of
effecting the great designs of Providence respecting this our western
hemisphere, it was the peculiar lot of this distinguished man, at
every epoch when the destinies of his country seemed dependent on the
measures adopted, to be called by the united voice of his fellow
citizens to those high stations on which the success of those measures
principally depended. It was his peculiar lot to be equally useful in
obtaining the independence, and consolidating the civil institutions,
of his country. We perceive him at the head of her armies, during a
most arduous and perilous war on the events of which her national
existence was staked, supporting with invincible fortitude the unequal
conflict. That war being happily terminated, and the political
revolutions of America requiring that he should once more relinquish
his beloved retirement, we find him guiding her councils with the same
firmness, wisdom, and virtue, which had, long and successfully, been
displayed in the field. We behold him her chief magistrate at a time
when her happiness, her liberty, perhaps her preservation depended on
so administering the affairs of the Union, that a government standing
entirely on the public favour, which had with infinite difficulty been
adopted, and against which the most inveterate prejudices had been
excited, should conciliate public opinion, and acquire a firmness and
stability that would enable it to resist the rude shocks it was
destined to sustain. It was too his peculiar fortune to afford the
brightest examples of moderation and patriotism, by voluntarily
divesting himself of the highest military and civil honours when the
public interests no longer demanded that he should retain them. We
find him retiring from the head of a victorious and discontented army
which adored him, so soon as the object for which arms had been taken
up was accomplished; and withdrawing from the highest office an
American citizen can hold, as soon as his influence, his character,
and his talents ceased to be necessary to the maintenance of that
government which had been established under his auspices.
He was indeed, "first in war,[1] first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his fellow citizens."
[Footnote 1: The expressions of a resolution prepared by
general Lee, and passed in the house of representatives of
the United States, on their being informed of the death of
general Washington.]
A faithful detail of the transactions of a person so pre-eminently
distinguished will be looked for with avidity, and the author laments
his inability to present to the public a work which may gratify the
expectations that have been raised. In addition to that just
diffidence of himself which he very sincerely feels, two causes beyond
his control combine to excite this apprehension.
Accustomed to look in the page of history for incidents in themselves
of great magnitude, to find immense exertions attended with
inconsiderable effects, and vast means employed in producing
unimportant ends, we are in the habit of bestowing on the recital of
military actions, a degree of consideration proportioned to the
numbers engaged in them. When the struggle has terminated, and the
agitations felt during its suspense have subsided, it is difficult to
attach to enterprises, in which small numbers have been concerned,
that admiration which is often merited by the talents displayed in
their execution, or that interest which belongs to the consequences
that have arisen from them.
The long and distressing contest between Great Britain and these
states did not abound in those great battles which are so frequent in
the wars of Europe. Those who expect a continued succession of
victories and defeats; who can only feel engaged in the movements of
vast armies, and who believe that a Hero must be perpetually in
action, will be disappointed in almost every page of the following
history. Seldom was the American chief in a condition to indulge his
native courage in those brilliant achievements to which he was
stimulated by his own feelings, and a detail of which interests,
enraptures, and astonishes the reader. Had he not often checked his
natural disposition, had he not tempered his ardour with caution, the
war he conducted would probably have been of short duration, and the
United States would still have been colonies. At the head of troops
most of whom were perpetually raw because they were perpetually
changing; who were neither well fed, paid, clothed, nor armed; and who
were generally inferior, even in numbers, to the enemy; he derives no
small title to glory from the consideration, that he never despaired
of the public safety; that he was able at all times to preserve the
appearance of an army, and that, in the most desperate situation of
American affairs, he did not, for an instant, cease to be formidable.
To estimate rightly his worth we must contemplate his difficulties. We
must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made of
those means. To preserve an army when conquest was impossible, to
avoid defeat and ruin when victory was unattainable, to keep his
forces embodied and suppress the discontents of his soldiers,
exasperated by a long course of the most cruel privations, to seize
with unerring discrimination the critical moment when vigorous
offensive operations might be advantageously carried on, are actions
not less valuable in themselves, nor do they require less capacity in
the chief who performs them, than a continued succession of battles.
But they spread less splendour over the page which recounts them, and
excite weaker emotions in the bosom of the reader.
There is also another source from which some degree of disappointment
has been anticipated. It is the impossibility of giving to the public
in the first part of this work many facts not already in their
possession.
The American war was a subject of too much importance to have remained
thus long unnoticed by the literary world. Almost every event worthy
of attention, which occurred during its progress, has been gleaned up
and detailed. Not only the public, but much of the private
correspondence of the commander in chief has been inspected, and
permission given to extract from it whatever might properly be
communicated. In the military part of this history, therefore, the
author can promise not much that is new. He can only engage for the
correctness with which facts are stated, and for the diligence with
which his researches have been made.
The letters to and from the commander in chief during the war, were
very numerous and have been carefully preserved. The whole of this
immensely voluminous correspondence has, with infinite labour, been
examined; and the work now offered to the public is, principally,
compiled from it. The facts which occurred on the continent are,
generally, supported by these letters, and it has therefore been
deemed unnecessary to multiply references to them. But there are many
facts so connected with those events, in which the general performed a
principal part, that they ought not to be omitted, and respecting
which his correspondence cannot be expected to furnish satisfactory
information.
Such facts have been taken from the histories of the day, and the
authority relied on for the establishment of their verity has been
cited. Doddesly's Annual Register, Belsham, Gordon, Ramsay, and
Stedman have, for this purpose, been occasionally resorted to, and are
quoted for all those facts which are detailed in part on their
authority. Their very language has sometimes been employed without
distinguishing the passages, especially when intermingled with others,
by marks of quotation, and the author persuades himself that this
public declaration will rescue him from the imputation of receiving
aids he is unwilling to acknowledge, or of wishing, by a concealed
plagiarism, to usher to the world, as his own, the labours of others.
In selecting the materials for the succeeding volumes, it was deemed
proper to present to the public as much as possible of general
Washington himself. Prominent as he must be in any history of the
American war, there appeared to be a peculiar fitness in rendering him
still more so in one which professes to give a particular account of
his own life. His private opinions therefore; his various plans, even
those which were never carried into execution; his individual
exertions to prevent and correct the multiplied errors committed by
inexperience, are given in more minute detail; and more copious
extracts from his letters are taken, than would comport with the plan
of a more general work.
Many events too are unnoticed, which in such a composition would be
worthy of being introduced, and much useful information has not been
sought for, which a professed history of America ought to comprise.
Yet the history of general Washington, during his military command and
civil administration, is so much that of his country, that the work
appeared to the author to be most sensibly incomplete and
unsatisfactory, while unaccompanied by such a narrative of the
principal events preceding our revolutionary war, as would make the
reader acquainted with the genius, character, and resources of the
people about to engage in that memorable contest. This appeared the
more necessary as that period of our history is but little known to
ourselves. Several writers have detailed very minutely the affairs of
a particular colony, but the _desideratum_ is a composition which
shall present in one connected view, the transactions of all those
colonies which now form the United States.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America.... Views of discovery
relinquished by Henry VII.... Resumed by Elizabeth.... Letters patent
to Sir Humphry Gilbert.... His voyages and death.... Patent to Sir
Walter Raleigh.... Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.... Colonists
carried back to England by Drake.... Grenville arrives with other
colonists.... They are left on Roanoke Island.... Are destroyed by the
Indians.... Arrival of John White.... He returns to England for
succour.... Raleigh assigns his patent.... Patent to Sir Thomas Gates
and others.... Code of laws for the proposed colony drawn up by the
King.
CHAPTER II.
Voyage of Newport.... Settlement at Jamestown.... Distress of
colonists.... Smith.... He is captured by the Indians.... Condemned to
death, saved by Pocahontas.... Returns to Jamestown.... Newport
arrives with fresh settlers.... Smith explores the Chesapeake.... Is
chosen president.... New charter.... Third voyage of Newport.... Smith
sails for Europe.... Condition of the colony.... Colonists determine
to abandon the country.... Are stopped by Lord Delaware.... Sir Thomas
Dale.... New charter.... Capt. Argal seizes Pocahontas.... She marries
Mr. Rolf.... Separate property in lands and labour.... Expedition
against Port Royal.... Against Manhadoes.... Fifty acres of land for
each settler.... Tobacco.... Sir Thomas Dale.... Mr. Yeardley....
First assembly.... First arrival of females.... Of convicts.... Of
African slaves.... Two councils established.... Prosperity of the
colony.... Indians attempt to massacre the whites.... General war....
Dissolution of the company.... Arbitrary measures of the crown.... Sir
John Harvey.... Sir William Berkeley.... Provincial assembly
restored.... Virginia declares in favour of Charles II.... Grant to
Lord Baltimore.... Arrival of a colony in Maryland.... Assembly
composed of freemen.... William Claybourne.... Assembly composed of
representatives.... Divided into two branches.... Tyrannical
proceedings.
CHAPTER III.
First ineffectual attempts of the Plymouth company to settle the
country.... Settlement at New Plymouth.... Sir Henry Rosewell and
company.... New charter.... Settlements prosecuted vigorously....
Government transferred to the colonists.... Boston founded....
Religious intolerance.... General court established.... Royal
commission for the government of the plantations.... Contest with the
French colony of Acadié.... Hugh Peters.... Henry Vane.... Mrs.
Hutchison.... Maine granted to Gorges.... Quo warranto against the
patent of the colony.... Religious dissensions.... Providence
settled.... Rhode Island settled.... Connecticut settled.... War with
the Pequods.... New Haven settled.
CHAPTER IV.
Massachusetts claims New Hampshire and part of Maine.... Dissensions
among the inhabitants.... Confederation of the New England
colonies.... Rhode Island excluded from it.... Separate chambers
provided for the two branches of the Legislature.... New England takes
part with Parliament.... Treaty with Acadié.... Petition of the
non-conformists.... Disputes between Massachusetts and Connecticut....
War between England and Holland.... Machinations of the Dutch at
Manhadoes among the Indians.... Massachusetts refuses to join the
united colonies in the war.... Application of New Haven to Cromwell
for assistance.... Peace with the Dutch.... Expedition of Sedgewic
against Acadié.... Religious intolerance.
CHAPTER V.
Transactions succeeding the restoration of Charles II.... Contests
between Connecticut and New Haven.... Discontents in Virginia....
Grant to the Duke of York.... Commissioners appointed by the crown....
Conquest of the Dutch settlements.... Conduct of Massachusetts to the
royal commissioners.... Their recall.... Massachusetts evades a
summons to appear before the King and council.... Settlement of
Carolina.... Form of government.... Constitution of Mr. Locke....
Discontents in the county of Albemarle.... Invasion from Florida....
Abolition of the constitution of Mr. Locke.... Bacon's rebellion....
His death.... Assembly deprived of judicial power.... Discontents in
Virginia.... Population of the colony.
CHAPTER VI.
Prosperity of New England.... War with Philip.... Edward Randolph
arrives in Boston.... Maine adjudged to Gorges.... Purchased by
Massachusetts.... Royal government erected in New Hampshire....
Complaints against Massachusetts.... Their letters patent
cancelled.... Death of Charles II.... James II. proclaimed.... New
commission for the government of New England.... Sir Edmond Andros....
The charter of Rhode Island abrogated.... Odious measures of the new
government.... Andros deposed.... William and Mary proclaimed....
Review of proceedings in New York and the Jerseys.... Pennsylvania
granted to William Penn.... Frame of government.... Foundation of
Philadelphia laid.... Assembly convened.... First acts of the
legislature.... Boundary line with Lord Baltimore settled.
CHAPTER VII.
New charter of Massachusetts.... Affairs of New York.... War with
France.... Schenectady destroyed.... Expedition against Port Royal....
Against Quebec.... Acadié recovered by France.... Pemaquid taken....
Attempt on St. Johns.... Peace.... Affairs of New York.... Of
Virginia.... Disputes between England and France respecting boundary
in America.... Recommencement of hostilities.... Quotas of the
respective colonies.... Treaty of neutrality between France and the
five nations.... Expedition against Port Royal.... Incursion into
Massachusetts.... Plan for the invasion of Canada.... Port Royal
taken.... Expedition against Quebec.... Treaty of Utrecht.... Affairs
of New York.... Of Carolina.... Expedition against St. Augustine....
Attempt to establish the Episcopal church.... Invasion of the
colony.... Bills of credit issued.... Legislature continues itself....
Massacre in North Carolina by the Indians.... Tuscaroras defeated....
Scheme of a Bank.
CHAPTER VIII.
Proceedings of the legislature of Massachusetts.... Intrigues of the
French among the Indians.... War with the savages.... Peace....
Controversy with the governor.... Decided in England.... Contests
concerning the governor's salary.... The assembly adjourned to
Salem.... Contest concerning the salary terminated.... Great
depreciation of the paper currency.... Scheme of a land bank....
Company dissolved by act of Parliament.... Governor Shirley
arrives.... Review of transactions in New York.
CHAPTER IX.
War with the southern Indians.... Dissatisfaction of Carolina with the
proprietors.... Rupture with Spain.... Combination to subvert the
proprietary government.... Revolution completed.... Expedition from
the Havanna against Charleston.... Peace with Spain.... The
proprietors surrender their interest to the crown.... The province
divided.... Georgia settled.... Impolicy of the first regulations....
Intrigues of the Spaniards with the slaves of South Carolina....
Insurrection of the slaves.
CHAPTER X.
War declared against Spain.... Expedition against St. Augustine....
Georgia invaded.... Spaniards land on an island in the Alatamaha....
Appearance of a fleet from Charleston.... Spanish army re-embarks....
Hostilities with France.... Expedition against Louisbourg....
Louisbourg surrenders.... Great plans of the belligerent powers....
Misfortunes of the armament under the duke D'Anville.... The French
fleet dispersed by a storm.... Expedition against Nova Scotia....
Treaty of Aix la Chapelle.... Paper money of Massachusetts
redeemed.... Contests between the French and English respecting
boundaries.... Statement respecting the discovery of the
Mississippi.... Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada....
Relative strength of the French and English colonies.... Defeat at the
Little Meadows.... Convention at Albany.... Plan of union.... Objected
to both in America and Great Britain.
CHAPTER XI.
General Braddock arrives.... Convention of governors and plan of the
campaign.... French expelled from Nova Scotia, and inhabitants
transplanted.... Expedition against fort Du Quêsne.... Battle of
Monongahela.... Defeat and death of General Braddock.... Expedition
against Crown Point.... Dieskau defeated.... Expedition against
Niagara.... Frontiers distressed by the Indians.... Meeting of the
governors at New York.... Plan for the campaign of 1756.... Lord
Loudoun arrives.... Montcalm takes Oswego.... Lord Loudoun abandons
offensive operations.... Small-pox breaks out in Albany.... Campaign
of 1757 opened.... Admiral Holbourne arrives at Halifax.... Is joined
by the earl of Loudoun.... Expedition against Louisbourg
relinquished.... Lord Loudoun returns to New York.... Fort William
Henry taken.... Controversy between Lord Loudoun and the assembly of
Massachusetts.
CHAPTER XII.
Preparations for the campaign of 1758.... Admiral Boscawen and General
Amherst arrive at Halifax.... Plan of the campaign.... Expedition
against Louisbourg, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point.... General
Abercrombie repulsed under the walls of Ticonderoga.... Fort
Frontignac taken.... Expedition against Fort Du Quêsne....
Preparations for the campaign of 1759.... General Amherst succeeds
General Abercrombie.... Plan of the campaign.... Ticonderoga and Crown
Point taken.... Army goes into winter quarters.... French repulsed at
Oswego.... Defeated at Niagara.... Niagara taken.... Expedition
against Quebec.... Check to the English army.... Battle on the Plains
of Abraham.... Death of Wolfe and Montcalm.... Quebec capitulates....
Garrisoned by the English under the command of General Murray....
Attempt to recover Quebec.... Battle near Sillery.... Quebec besieged
by Monsieur Levi.... Siege raised.... Montreal capitulates.... War
with the southern Indians.... Battle near the town of Etchoe.... Grant
defeats them and burns their towns.... Treaty with the Cherokees....
War with Spain.... Success of the English.... Peace.
CHAPTER XIII.
Opinions on the supremacy of parliament, and its right to tax the
colonies.... The stamp act.... Congress at New York.... Violence in
the towns.... Change of administration.... Stamp act repealed....
Opposition to the mutiny act.... Act imposing duties on tea, &c.,
resisted in America.... Letters from the assembly of Massachusetts to
members of the administration.... Petition to the King.... Circular
letter to the colonial assemblies.... Letter from the Earl of
Hillsborough.... Assembly of Massachusetts dissolved.... Seizure of
the Sloop Liberty.... Convention at Fanueil Hall.... Moderation of its
proceedings.... Two British regiments arrive at Boston.... Resolutions
of the house of Burgesses of Virginia.... Assembly dissolved.... The
members form an association.... General measures against
importation.... General court convened in Massachusetts.... Its
proceedings.... Is prorogued.... Duties, except that on tea,
repealed.... Circular letter of the earl of Hillsborough.... New York
recedes from the non-importation agreement in part.... Her example
followed.... Riot in Boston.... Trial and acquittal of Captain
Preston.
CHAPTER XIV.
Insurrection in North Carolina.... Dissatisfaction of
Massachusetts.... Corresponding-committees.... Governor Hutchinson's
correspondence communicated by Dr. Franklin.... The assembly petition
for his removal.... He is succeeded by General Gage.... Measures to
enforce the act concerning duties.... Ferment in America.... The tea
thrown into the sea at Boston.... Measures of Parliament.... General
enthusiasm in America.... A general congress proposed.... General Gage
arrives.... Troops stationed on Boston neck.... New counsellors and
judges.... Obliged to resign.... Boston neck fortified.... Military
stores seized by General Gage.... Preparations for defence.... King's
speech.... Proceedings of Parliament.... Battle of Lexington....
Massachusetts raises men.... Meeting of Congress.... Proceedings of
that body.... Transactions in Virginia.... Provincial congress of
South Carolina.... Battle of Breed's hill.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America.... Views of
discovery relinquished by Henry VII.... Resumed by
Elizabeth.... Letters patent to Sir Humphry Gilbert.... His
voyages and death.... Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh....
Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.... Colonists carried back
to England by Drake.... Grenville arrives with other
colonists.... They are left on Roanoke Island.... Are
destroyed by the Indians.... Arrival of John White.... He
returns to England for succour.... Raleigh assigns his
patent.... Patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others.... Code of
laws for the proposed colony drawn up by the King.
The United States of America extend, on the Atlantic, from the bay of
Passamaquoddi in the 45th, to Cape Florida in the 25th, degree of
north latitude; and thence, on the gulf of Mexico, including the small
adjacent islands to the mouth of the Sabine, in the 17th degree of
west longitude from Washington. From the mouth of the Sabine to the
Rocky mountains, they are separated from Spanish America by a line
which pursues an irregular north-western direction to the 42d degree
of north latitude, whence it proceeds west, to the Pacific. On the
north they are bounded by the British provinces; from which, between
the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky, or Stony mountains, they are
separated by the 49th parallel of north latitude. Their northern
boundary, west of these mountains, has not yet been adjusted.
The extent of this vast Republic, in consequence of its recent
acquisition of almost unexplored territory, has not yet been
accurately ascertained; but may be stated at two millions of square
miles.
Its population, which began on the Atlantic, and is travelling rapidly
westward, amounted in 1820, according to the census of that year, to
nine millions six hundred and fifty-four thousand four hundred and
fifteen persons. The enumerations which have been made under the
authority of government, show an augmentation of numbers at the rate
of about thirty-four _per centum_[2] in ten years; and it is probable,
that for many years to come, this ratio will not be materially
changed.
[Footnote 2: The general estimate in the United States is,
that their population doubles in twenty-five years.]
Public sentiment, to which the policy of the government conforms, is
opposed to a large military establishment; and the distance of the
United States from the great powers of the world, protects them from
the danger to which this policy might otherwise expose them.
The navy has become an object of great interest to the nation, and may
be expected to grow with its resources. In April 1816, Congress passed
an act appropriating one million of dollars annually, to its gradual
increase; and authorising the construction of nine ships, to rate not
less than seventy-four guns each, and of twelve, to rate not less than
forty-four guns each.
The execution of this act is in rapid progress. Inconsiderable as the
navy now is, with respect to the number and force of its ships, it is
deemed inferior to none in existence for the bravery and skill of its
officers and men. When we take into view the extensive sea coast of
the United States, the magnificent lakes, or inland seas, which form a
considerable part of their northern frontier, the abundance of their
materials for ship building, and the genius of their population for
maritime enterprise, it is not easy to resist the conviction that this
bulwark of defence will, at no very distant period, attain a size and
strength sufficient to ensure the safety of the nation and the respect
of the world.
The net revenue of the United States amounted, in the year 1822, to
considerably more than twenty millions of dollars; and, unless a
course of legislation unfavourable to its augmentation be adopted,
must grow with their population.
In arts, in arms, and in power, they have advanced, and are advancing,
with unexampled rapidity.
The history of their progress, from the first feeble settlements made
by Europeans on a savage coast, to their present state of greatness;
while it has just claims to the attention of the curious of all
nations, may be expected deeply to interest every American.
[Sidenote: Commission of Cabot.]
Soon after the return of Columbus from that memorable voyage which
opened the vast regions of the west to civilized man, the maritime
states of Europe manifested a desire to share with Spain, the glory,
the wealth, and the dominion to be acquired in the new world. By no
one of these states, was this desire carried into action more promptly
than by England, Henry VII. had received communications from Columbus,
during the tedious and uncertain negotiations of that great man, at
the dilatory court of Ferdinand, which prepared him for the important
discoveries afterwards made, and inclined him to countenance the
propositions of his own subjects for engaging in similar adventures.
On the 5th of March 1495, he granted a commission to John Cabot, an
enterprising Venetian who had settled in Bristol, and to his three
sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, empowering them, or either of
them, to sail under the banner of England, towards the east, north, or
west, in order to discover countries unoccupied by any Christian
state, and to take possession of them in his name.
[Sidenote: His voyage to America.]
It does not appear that the expedition contemplated at the date of
this commission was prosecuted immediately; but in May 1496, Cabot,
with his second son, Sebastian, sailed from Bristol in a small
squadron, consisting of one ship furnished by the King, and four barks
fitted out by merchants of that city; and, steering almost due west,
discovered the islands of Newfoundland and St. Johns, and, soon
afterward, reached the continent of North America, along which he
sailed from the fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of north
latitude, in the vain hope of discovering a passage into the Pacific.
Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that
immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico as far north
as has yet been explored; and to this voyage, the English trace their
title to the country they afterwards acquired by settlement, and by
arms.
France, which has since contested with Britain the possession of a
considerable portion of this important territory, has also advanced
claims to its discovery; but they seem not to be well founded.
[Sidenote: The scheme of making settlements relinquished.]
The ardour which had been excited in the bosom of Henry for making
acquisitions in the new world, expired with this first effort. Cabot,
on his return, found that monarch entirely disinclined to the farther
prosecution of a scheme in which he had engaged with some zeal, the
commencement of which had been attended with encouraging appearances.
Several causes are supposed to have contributed to suspend the
pursuits of the English in America. Previous to its discovery, the
Portuguese had explored the Azores, or Western Islands; in consequence
of which they claimed this continent, and contended for the exclusion
of the Spaniards from the Western Ocean. The controversy was decided
by the Pope, who, on the 7th of May 1493, of his own "mere liberality
and certain knowledge, and the plenitude of apostolic authority,"
granted to Spain, the countries discovered or to be discovered by her,
to the westward of a line to be drawn from pole to pole, a hundred
leagues west of the Azores; (excepting such countries as might be in
the possession of any other Christian prince antecedent to the year
1493;) and to Portugal, her discoveries eastward of that line.
The validity of this grant was probably strengthened, in the opinion
of Henry, by other circumstances. He set a high value on the
friendship of the King of Spain, with whom he was then negotiating the
marriage which afterwards took place between his eldest son and
Catharine, the daughter of that monarch. Ferdinand was jealous to
excess of all his rights; and Henry was not inclined to interrupt the
harmony subsisting between the two crowns, by asserting claims to the
country discovered by Cabot, which was obviously within the limits to
which the pretensions of Spain extended.
[Sidenote: Renewed by Elizabeth.]
The fisheries of Newfoundland were carried on by individuals, to a
considerable extent, and a paltry traffic was continued with the
natives; but no serious design of acquiring territory, and planting
colonies in America was formed until the reign of Elizabeth, when a
plan for making permanent settlements was proposed and patronized by
several persons of rank and influence. To select a man qualified for
this arduous task, and disposed to engage in it, was among the first
objects to which their attention was directed. Sir Humphry Gilbert had
rendered himself conspicuous by his military services, and by a
treatise concerning the north-west passage, in which great ingenuity
and learning, are stated by Dr. Robertson, to be mingled with the
enthusiasm, the credulity, and sanguine expectation which incite men
to new and hazardous undertakings. On this gentleman the adventurers
turned their eyes, and he was placed at the head of the enterprise. On
the 11th of June 1578, he obtained letters patent from the Queen,
vesting in him the powers that were required; on receiving which, he,
with the associates of his voyage, embarked for America. But his
success did not equal his expectations. The various difficulties
inseparable from the settlement of a distant, unexplored country,
inhabited only by savages; the inadequacy of the supplies which could
be furnished for a colony by the funds of a few private individuals;
the misfortune of having approached the continent too far towards the
north, where the cold barren coast of Cape Breton was rather
calculated to repel than invite a settlement; have been assigned as
the probable causes of his failure.[3]
[Footnote 3: Robertson. Chalmer.]
Two expeditions conducted by this gentleman ended disastrously. In the
last, he himself perished; having done nothing farther in the
execution of his patent, than taking possession of the island of
Newfoundland, in the name of Elizabeth.
Sir Walter Raleigh, alike distinguished by his genius, his courage,
and the severity of his fate, had been deeply interested in the
adventures in which his half brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, had wasted
his fortune, and was not deterred by their failure, or by the
difficulties attending such an enterprise, from prosecuting with
vigour, a plan so well calculated to captivate his bold and romantic
temper.
{1584}
[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh.]
On the 26th of March, he obtained a patent from the Queen; and, on the
27th of April, dispatched two small vessels under the command of
captains Amidas and Barlow for the purpose of visiting the country,
and of acquiring some previous knowledge of those circumstances which
might be essential to the welfare of the colony he was about to plant.
To avoid the error of Gilbert in holding too far north, Amidas and
Barlow took the route by the Canaries, and the West India islands, and
approached the North American continent towards the gulf of Florida.
On the 2d of July, they touched at a small island situate on the inlet
into Pamplico sound, whence they proceeded to Roanoke, near the mouth
of Albemarle sound.
{1585}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.]
After employing a few weeks in traffic with the Indians, from whom
they collected some confused accounts respecting the neighbouring
continent, they took with them two of the natives, who willingly
accompanied them, and embarked for England, where they arrived on the
15th of September. The splendid description which they gave of the
soil, the climate, and the productions of the country they had
visited, so pleased Elizabeth, that she bestowed on it the name of
Virginia, as a memorial that it had been discovered during the reign
of a virgin Queen.[4] Raleigh, encouraged by their report to hasten
his preparations for taking possession of the property, fitted out a
squadron consisting of seven small ships, laden with arms, ammunition,
provisions, and passengers, which sailed from Plymouth on the 9th of
April, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, who was his
relation, and interested with him in the patent. Having taken the
southern route, and wasted some time in cruising against the
Spaniards, Sir Richard did not reach the coast of North America, until
the close of the month of June. He touched at both the islands on
which Amidas and Barlow had landed, and made some excursions into
different parts of the continent around Pamplico, and Albemarle
sounds.
[Footnote 4: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: First colony.]
Having established a colony, consisting of one hundred and eight
persons, in the island of Roanoke, an incommodious station, without
any safe harbour, he committed the government of it to Mr. Ralph Lane;
and, on the 25th of August, sailed for England.[5]
[Footnote 5: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1586}
[Sidenote: Colonists carried back to England by Drake.]
An insatiate passion for gold, attended by an eager desire to find it
in the bowels of the earth, for a long time the disease of Europeans
in America, became the scourge of this feeble settlement. The English
flattered themselves that the country they had discovered could not be
destitute of those mines of the precious metals with which Spanish
America abounded. The most diligent researches were made in quest of
them; and the infatuating hope of finding them stimulated the
colonists to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. The
Indians soon discerned the object for which they searched with so much
avidity, and amused them with tales of rich mines in countries they
had not yet explored. Seduced by this information, they encountered
incredible hardships, and, in this vain search wasted that time which
ought to have been employed in providing the means of future
subsistence. Mutual suspicion and disgust between them and the natives
ripened into open hostility; and, the provisions brought from England
being exhausted, they were under the necessity of resorting for food
to the precarious supplies which could be drawn from the rivers and
woods. In this state of distress, they were found, in June, by Sir
Francis Drake, who was then returning from a successful expedition
against the Spaniards in the West Indies. He agreed to supply them
with about one hundred men, four months' provisions, and a small
vessel; but, before she could be brought into a place of security, and
the men and stores disembarked, she was driven out to sea by a sudden
and violent storm. Discouraged by this misfortune, and worn out with
fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously determined to abandon
the colony, and were, at their own request, taken on board the fleet
which sailed for England.[6]
[Footnote 6: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
Thus terminated the first English colony planted in America. The only
acquisition made by this expensive experiment, was a better knowledge
of the country and its inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Grenville plants a second colony.]
[Sidenote: Destroyed by the Indians.]
A few days after the departure of Drake with Lane and his associates,
a small vessel which had been dispatched by Raleigh with a supply of
provisions, reached its place of destination. Not finding the
colonists, this vessel returned to England. Soon after its departure,
Sir Richard Grenville arrived with three ships and ample supplies.
Having searched in vain for the colonists he had left, and being
unable to conjecture their fate, he placed fifteen men in the island
with provisions for two years, for the purpose of retaining possession
of the country, and returned to England. This small party was soon
destroyed by the Indians.
{1587}
Not discouraged by the ill success which had thus far attended his
efforts to make a settlement in America, Raleigh, in the following
year, fitted out three ships under the command of captain John White,
and, it is said, directed the colony to be removed to the waters of
the Chesapeake, which bay had been discovered by Lane in the preceding
year. Instructed by calamity, he adopted more efficacious means for
preserving and continuing the colony than had before been used. The
number of men was greater; they were accompanied by some women, and
their supply of provisions was more abundant. Mr. White was appointed
their governor, twelve assistants were assigned him as a council, and
a charter incorporating them by the name of the governor and
assistants of the city of Raleigh in Virginia, was granted them.
[Sidenote: Third colony arrives.]
Thus prepared for a permanent settlement, they arrived in July at
Roanoke, where they received the melancholy intelligence of the loss
of their countrymen who had been left there by Sir Richard Grenville.
They determined, however, to remain at the same place, and began to
make the necessary preparations for their accommodation. Aware of the
danger to be apprehended from the hostile disposition of their
neighbours, they endeavoured to effect a reconciliation with the
natives, one of whom, who had accompanied Amidas and Barlow to
England, and who was distinguished by his unshaken attachment to the
English, was christened, and styled Lord of _Dassa Monpeake_, an
Indian nation in the neighbourhood.[7]
[Footnote 7: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
About the same time the first child of English parentage was born in
America. She was the daughter of Ananias Dare, and, after the place of
her birth, was named _Virginia_.
{1588}
Soon perceiving their want of many things essential to the
preservation, and comfortable subsistence of a new settlement, the
colonists, with one voice, deputed their governor, to solicit those
specific aids which their situation particularly and essentially
required. On his arrival in England, he found the whole nation alarmed
at the formidable preparations for their invasion, made by Philip II.
of Spain; and Raleigh, Grenville, and the other patrons of the colony,
ardently engaged in those measures of defence which the public danger
demanded. Mingling, however, with his exertions to defend his native
country, some attention to the colony he had planted, Raleigh found
leisure to fit out a small fleet for its relief, the command of which
was given to Sir Richard Grenville; but, the apprehensions from the
Spanish armament still increasing, the ships of force prepared by
Raleigh were detained in port by order of the Queen, and Sir Richard
Grenville was commanded not to leave Cornwall, where his services were
deemed necessary. On the 22d of April, White put to sea with two small
barks, but, instead of hastening to the relief of his distressed
countrymen, wasted his time in cruising; and, being beaten by a
superior force, was totally disabled from prosecuting his voyage.[8]
[Footnote 8: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
{1589}
[Sidenote: Raleigh assigns his patent.]
The attention of Raleigh being directed to other more splendid
objects, he assigned his patent to Sir Thomas Smith and a company of
merchants in London.
{1590}
[Sidenote: Third colony lost.]
After this transfer, a year was permitted to elapse before any effort
was made for the relief of the colony. In March, three ships fitted
out by the company, in one of which Mr. White embarked, sailed from
Plymouth; but, having cruelly and criminally wasted their time in
plundering the Spaniards in the West Indies, they did not reach
Hatteras until the month of August. They fired a gun to give notice of
their arrival, and sent a party to the place where the colony had been
left; but no vestige of their countrymen could be found. In attempting
the next day to go to Roanoke, one of the boats, in passing a bar, was
half filled with water, another was overset, and six men were drowned.
Two other boats were fitted out with nineteen men to search the island
thoroughly on which the colony had been left.
At the departure of Mr. White, it was in contemplation to remove about
fifty miles into the country; and it had been agreed that, should the
colonists leave the island, they would carve the name of the place to
which they should remove, on some tree, door, or post; with the
addition of a cross over it, as a signal of distress, if they should
be really distressed at the time of changing their situation. After
considerable search, the word CROATAN was found carved in fair capital
letters on one of the chief posts, but unaccompanied by the sign of
distress which had been agreed on.
Croatan was the name of an Indian town on the north side of Cape
Lookout, and for that place, the fleet weighed anchor the next day.
Meeting with a storm, and several accidents, they were discouraged
from proceeding on their voyage, and, determining to suspend their
search, returned to the West Indies.
The company made no farther attempt to find these lost colonists; nor
has the time or the manner of their perishing ever been discovered.[9]
[Footnote 9: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1602}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Gosnald.]
The subsequent voyages made by the English to North America were for
the sole purpose of traffic, and were unimportant in their
consequences, until the year 1602, when one was undertaken by
Bartholomew Gosnald, which contributed greatly to the revival of the
then dormant spirit of colonising in the new world. He sailed from
Falmouth in a small bark with thirty-two men; and steering nearly
west, reached the American continent, on the 11th of May, in about
forty-three degrees of north latitude.
Finding no good harbour at this place, Gosnald put to sea again and
stood southward. The next morning, he descried a promontory which he
called cape Cod, and, holding his course along the coast as it
stretched to the south-west, touched at two islands, the first of
which he named Martha's Vineyard, and the second, Elizabeth's Island.
Having passed some time at these places, examining the country, and
trading with the natives, he returned to England.[10]
[Footnote 10: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
This voyage was completed in less than four months, and was attended
with important consequences. Gosnald had found a healthy climate, a
rich soil, good harbours, and a route which shortened considerably the
distance to the continent of North America. He had seen many of the
fruits known and prized in Europe, blooming in the woods; and had
planted European grain which grew rapidly. Encouraged by this
experiment, and delighted with the country, he formed the resolution
of transporting thither a colony, and of procuring the co-operation of
others by whom his plan might be supported. So unfortunate however had
been former attempts of this sort, that men of wealth and rank, though
strongly impressed by his report of the country, were slow in giving
full faith to his representations, and in entering completely into his
views. One vessel was fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, and
another by the earl of Southampton, and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in
order to learn whether Gosnald's account of the country was to be
considered as a just representation of its state, or as the
exaggerated description of a person fond of magnifying his own
discoveries. Both returned with a full confirmation of his veracity,
and with the addition of so many new circumstances in favour of the
country, as greatly increased the desire of settling it.
Richard Hackluyt, prebendary of Westminster, a man of distinguished
learning and intelligence, contributed more than any other by his
judicious exertions, to form an association sufficiently extensive,
powerful, and wealthy, to execute the often renewed, and often
disappointed project of establishing colonies in America.
At length, such an association was formed; and a petition was
presented to James I., who had succeeded to the crown of England,
praying the royal sanction to the plan which was proposed. That
pacific monarch was delighted with it, and immediately acceded to the
wishes of its projectors.
[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others.]
On the 10th of April, letters patent were issued under the great seal
of England, to the petitioners, Sir Thomas Gates and his associates,
granting to them those territories in America, lying on the sea coast,
between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude, and which either
belonged to that monarch, or were not then possessed by any other
Christian prince or people; and also the islands adjacent thereto, or
within one hundred miles thereof. They were divided, at their own
desire, into two companies. One, consisting of certain knights,
gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers of the city of London, and
elsewhere, was called the first colony, and was required to settle
between the 34th and 41st degrees of north latitude; the other,
consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other
adventurers of Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, and elsewhere, was named the
second colony, and was ordered to settle between the 38th and 45th
degrees of north latitude; yet so that the colony last formed should
not be planted within one hundred miles of the prior establishment.
The adventurers were empowered to transport so many English subjects
as should be willing to accompany them, who, with their descendants,
were, at all times, to enjoy the same liberties, within any other
dominions of the crown of England, as if they had remained, or were
born, within the realm. A council consisting of thirteen, to be
appointed and removed at the pleasure of the crown, was established
for each colony, to govern it according to such laws as should be
given under the sign manual and privy seal of England.
Two other boards to consist also of thirteen persons each, and to be
appointed by the King, were invested with the superior direction of
the affairs of the colonies.
The adventurers were allowed to search for, and open mines of gold,
silver, and copper, yielding one-fifth of the two former metals, and
one-fifteenth of the last, to the King; and to make a coin which
should be current both among the colonists and natives.
The president and council were authorised to repel those who should,
without their authority, attempt to settle, or trade, within their
jurisdiction, and to seize, and detain the persons, and effects, of
such intruders, until they should pay a duty of two and one-half _per
centum ad valorem_, if subjects, but of five _per centum_ if aliens.
These taxes were to be applied, for twenty-one years, to the use of
the adventurers, and were afterwards to be paid into the royal
exchequer.
[Sidenote: Code of laws for the colony drawn up by the King.]
While the council for the patentees were employed in making
preparations to secure the benefits of their grant, James was
assiduously engaged in the new, and, to his vanity, the flattering
task of framing a code of laws for the government of the colonies
about to be planted. Having at length prepared this code, he issued it
under the sign manual, and privy seal of England. By these
regulations, he vested the general superintendence of the colonies, in
a council in England, "composed of a few persons of consideration and
talents." The church of England was established. The legislative and
executive powers within the colonies, were vested in the president and
councils; but their ordinances were not to touch life or member, were
to continue in force only until made void by the King, or his council
in England for Virginia, and were to be in substance, consonant to the
laws of England. They were enjoined to permit none to withdraw the
people from their allegiance to himself, and his successors; and to
cause all persons so offending to be apprehended, and imprisoned until
reformation; or, in cases highly offensive, to be sent to England to
receive punishment. No person was to be permitted to remain in the
colony without taking the oath of obedience. Tumults, mutiny, and
rebellion, murder, and incest, were to be punished with death; and for
these offences, the criminal was to be tried by a jury. Inferior
crimes were to be punished in a summary way, at the discretion of the
president and council.
Lands were to be holden within the colony as the same estates were
enjoyed in England. Kindness towards the heathen was enjoined; and a
power reserved to the King, and his successors to ordain farther laws,
so that they were consonant to the jurisprudence of England.[11]
[Footnote 11: Robertson.]
Under this charter, and these laws, which manifest, at the same time,
a total disregard of all political liberty, and a total ignorance of
the real advantages which a parent state may derive from its colonies;
which vest the higher powers of legislation in persons residing out of
the country, not chosen by the people, nor affected by the laws they
make, and yet leave commerce unrestrained; the patentees proceeded to
execute the arduous and almost untried task of peopling a strange,
distant, and uncultivated land, covered with woods and marshes, and
inhabited only by savages easily irritated, and when irritated, more
fierce than the beasts they hunted.