Writings of John Fiske
A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FOR SCHOOLS. With Topical Analysis,
Suggestive Questions and Directions for Teachers, by FRANK A. HILL.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. CONSIDERED WITH SOME REFERENCE
TO ITS ORIGINS. With Questions on the Text by FRANK A. HILL, and
Bibliographical Notes.
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. In Riverside Literature Series, No. 62.
THE DISCOVERY AND SPANISH CONQUEST OF AMERICA. With Maps.
OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS.
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND or, The Puritan Theocracy in its
Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty.
THE SAME. _Illustrated Edition._ Containing Portraits, Maps,
Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and Other Historic Materials.
THE DUTCH AND QUAKER COLONIES. 2 vols. crown 8vo.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 2 vols.
THE SAME. _Illustrated Edition._ Containing Portraits, Maps,
Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and Other Historic Materials.
2 vols.
THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789.
THE SAME. _Illustrated Edition._ Containing Portraits, Maps,
Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and Other Historic Materials.
THE DESTINY OF MAN, viewed in the Light of His Origin.
THE IDEA OF GOD, as affected by Modern Knowledge. A Sequel to "The
Destiny of Man."
THROUGH NATURE TO GOD.
MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS. Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by
Comparative Mythology.
OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. Based on the Doctrine of Evolution,
with Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy.
THE UNSEEN WORLD, and other Essays.
EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST.
DARWINISM, and Other Essays.
AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEAS.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO
[Illustration: MAP OF TIDEWATER VIRGINIA]
OLD VIRGINIA
AND HER NEIGHBOURS
BY
JOHN FISKE
Οὐ λίθοι, οὐδὲ ξύλα, οὐδὲ
Τέχνη τεκτόνων αἱ πόλεις εἶσιν
Ἀλλ' ὅπού ποτ' ἂν ὦσιν ἌΝΔΡΕΣ
Αὑτοὺς σώζειν εἰδότες,
Ἐνταῦθα τείχη καὶ πόλεις.
_Alcæus_
[Illustration: The Riverside Press]
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT 1897 BY JOHN FISKE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
To
MY OLD FRIEND AND COMRADE
JOHN KNOWLES PAINE
COMPOSER OF ST. PETER, OEDIPUS TYRANNUS, THE "SPRING"
AND C MINOR SYMPHONIES, AND OTHER NOBLE WORKS
I dedicate this book
"Long days be his, and each as lusty-sweet
As gracious natures find his song to be;
May age steal on with softly-cadenced feet
Falling in music, as for him were meet
Whose choicest note is harsher-toned than he!"
PREFACE.
IN the series of books on American history, upon which I have for many
years been engaged, the present volumes come between "The Discovery
of America" and "The Beginnings of New England." The opening chapter,
with its brief sketch of the work done by Elizabeth's great sailors,
takes up the narrative where the concluding chapter of "The Discovery
of America" dropped it. Then the story of Virginia, starting with
Sir Walter Raleigh and Rev. Richard Hakluyt, is pursued until the
year 1753, when the youthful George Washington sets forth upon
his expedition to warn the approaching Frenchmen from any further
encroachment upon English soil. That moment marks the arrival of a new
era, when a book like the present--which is not a local history nor a
bundle of local histories--can no longer follow the career of Virginia,
nor of the southern colonies, except as part and parcel of the career
of the American people. That "continental state of things," which was
distinctly heralded when the war of the Spanish Succession broke out
during Nicholson's rule in Virginia, had arrived in 1753. To treat
it properly requires preliminary consideration of many points in the
history of the northern colonies, and it is accordingly reserved for a
future work.
It will be observed that I do not call the present work a "History of
the Southern Colonies." Its contents would not justify such a title,
inasmuch as its scope and purpose are different from what such a title
would imply. My aim is to follow the main stream of causation from the
time of Raleigh to the time of Dinwiddie, from its sources down to its
absorption into a mightier stream. At first our attention is fixed
upon Raleigh's Virginia, which extends from Florida to Canada, England
thrusting herself in between Spain and France. With the charter of 1609
(see below, vol. i. p. 145) Virginia is practically severed from North
Virginia, which presently takes on the names of New England and New
Netherland, and receives colonies of Puritans and Dutchmen, with which
this book is not concerned.
From the territory of Virginia thus cut down, further slices are carved
from time to time; first Maryland in 1632, then Carolina in 1663,
then Georgia in 1732, almost at the end of our narrative. Colonies
thus arise which present a few or many different social aspects from
those of Old Virginia; and while our attention is still centred upon
the original commonwealth as both historically most important and
in personal detail most interesting, at the same time the younger
commonwealths claim a share in the story. A comparative survey of the
social features in which North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland
differed from one another, and from Virginia, is a great help to the
right understanding of all four commonwealths. To Maryland I find that
I have given 107 pages, while the Carolinas, whose history begins
practically a half century later, receive 67 pages; a mere mention of
the beginnings of Georgia is all that suits the perspective of the
present story. The further development of these southern communities
will, it is hoped, receive attention in a later work.
As to the colonies founded in what was once known as North Virginia,
I have sketched a portion of the story in "The Beginnings of New
England," ending with the accession of William and Mary. The remainder
of it will form the subject of my next work, already in preparation,
entitled "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America;" which will
comprise a sketch of the early history of New York, New Jersey,
Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with a discussion of the contributions to
American life which may be traced to the Dutch, German, Protestant
French, and Scotch-Irish migrations previous to the War of Independence.
To complete the picture of the early times and to "make connections"
with "The American Revolution," still another work will be needed,
which shall resume the story of New England at the accession of William
and Mary. With that story the romantic fortunes of New France are
inseparably implicated, and in the course of its development one colony
after another is brought in until from the country of the Wabenaki
to that of the Cherokees the whole of English America is involved in
the mightiest and most fateful military struggle which the eighteenth
century witnessed. The end of that conflict finds thirteen colonies
nearly ripe for independence and union.
The present work was begun in 1882, and its topics have been treated
in several courses of lectures at the Washington University in St.
Louis, and elsewhere. In 1895 I gave a course of twelve such lectures,
especially prepared for the occasion, at the Lowell Institute in
Boston. But the book cannot properly be said to be "based upon"
lectures; the book was primary and the lectures secondary.
The amount of time spent in giving lectures and in writing a schoolbook
of American history has greatly delayed the appearance of this book. It
is more than five years since "The Discovery of America" was published;
I hope that "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies" will appear after a much
shorter interval.
CAMBRIDGE, _October_ 10, 1897.
CONTENTS.
VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.
THE SEA KINGS.
PAGE
Tercentenary of the Discovery of America, 1792 1
The Abbé Raynal and his book 2
Was the Discovery of America a blessing or a curse to
mankind? 3
The Abbé Genty's opinion 4
A cheering item of therapeutics 4
Spanish methods of colonization contrasted with English 5
Spanish conquerors value America for its supply of precious
metals 6
Aim of Columbus was to acquire the means for driving the
Turks from Europe 7
But Spain used American treasure not so much against Turks
as against Protestants 8
Vast quantities of treasure taken from America by Spain 9
Nations are made wealthy not by inflation but by production 9
Deepest significance of the discovery of America; it opened
up a fresh soil in which to plant the strongest type of
European civilization 10
America first excited interest in England as the storehouse
of Spanish treasure 11
After the Cabot voyages England paid little attention to
America 12
Save for an occasional visit to the Newfoundland fisheries 13
Earliest English reference to America 13
Founding of the Muscovy Company 14
Richard Eden and his books 15
John Hawkins and the African slave trade 15, 16
Hawkins visits the French colony in Florida 17
Facts which seem to show that thirst is the mother of invention 18
Massacre of Huguenots in Florida; escape of the painter Le
Moyne 18
Hawkins goes on another voyage and takes with him young
Francis Drake 19
The affair of San Juan de Ulua and the journey of David
Ingram 20
Growing hostility to Spain in England 21
Size and strength of Elizabeth's England 21, 22
How the sea became England's field of war 22
Loose ideas of international law 23
Some bold advice to Queen Elizabeth 23
The sea kings were not buccaneers 24
Why Drake carried the war into the Pacific Ocean 25
How Drake stood upon a peak in Darien 26
Glorious voyage of the Golden Hind 26, 27
Drake is knighted by the Queen 27
The Golden Hind's cabin is made a banquet-room 28
Voyage of the half-brothers, Gilbert and Raleigh 28
Gilbert is shipwrecked, and his patent is granted to Raleigh 29
Raleigh's plan for founding a Protestant state in America
may have been suggested to him by Coligny 30
Elizabeth promises self-government to colonists in America 31
Amidas and Barlow visit Pamlico Sound 31
An Ollendorfian conversation between white men and red men 32
The Queen's suggestion that the new country be called in
honour of herself Virginia 32
Raleigh is knighted, and sends a second expedition under
Ralph Lane 32
Who concludes that Chesapeake Bay would be better than
Pamlico Sound 33
Lane and his party on the brink of starvation are rescued by
Sir Francis Drake 33
Thomas Cavendish follows Drake's example and circumnavigates
the earth 34
How Drake singed the beard of Philip II. 34
Raleigh sends another party under John White 35
The accident which turned White from Chesapeake Bay to
Roanoke Island 35
Defeat of the Invincible Armada 36, 37
The deathblow at Cadiz 38
The mystery about White's colony 38, 39
Significance of the defeat of the Armada 39, 40