[Illustration: LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS.]
A
POPULAR HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES
OF
AMERICA:
FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY MARY HOWITT.
Illustrated with Numerous Engravings.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1860.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of
New York.
CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERIES—TO THE YEAR 1521.
America discovered by the Vikings.—Runic pillars of Rask and
Finn Magnusen.—Christopher Columbus: his various voyages.—John
and Sebastian Cabot.—The Portuguese.—Vasco de Gama and
Cortereal.—John Verazzani despatched by Francis I. reaches Nova
Scotia.—Jacques Cartier’s voyages.—Ponce de Leon discovers
Florida.—Fernandez de Cordova discovers Yucatan.—Conquest of
Mexico by Cortes 1–12
CHAPTER II.
DISCOVERIES—(_continued_).
Pamphilo de Narvaez’ expedition to Florida.—Ferdinand de Soto
lands with 600 men.—Their adventures in search of
gold.—Sufferings and death of de Soto.—The Mississippi
discovered.—Florida colonised by Huguenots.—The French
settlement destroyed by Pedro Melendez.—English
discovery.—Willoughby and Richard Chancellor.—Frobisher.—Sir
Humphrey Gilbert.—Sir Walter Raleigh.—The colony of Virginia
and its fortunes.—Sir Francis Drake 13–28
CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERIES—(_continued_).
Second attempt of Raleigh to colonise Virginia.—Rupture with
the natives.—Delay in the supply of necessaries to the
colonists.—Misfortunes of Raleigh.—His efforts for the
colony.—Bartholomew Gosnold lands at Cape Cod.—Penobscot river
discovered.—The voyages of the French.—Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Acadia.—Quebec founded in 1608.—Samuel
Champlain.—Henry Hudson’s voyages to the north.—He endeavours
to discover a passage to the Pacific.—His sufferings and death 29–38
CHAPTER IV.
COLONISATION OF VIRGINIA.
New motives for colonisation in the seventeenth
century.—England steps into the field of enterprise.—The
Plymouth and London Companies founded.—Vain effort of the
Plymouth Company.—The London Company despatches a squadron,
which lands in Chesapeake Bay.—The settlement of Jamestown
formed.—Wingfield and Smith.—Extraordinary adventures of
Smith.—His life saved by the Indian girl, Pocahontas.—Gold,
mania in the colony.—Dissatisfaction of the London
Company.—Lord de la Ware appointed governor.—Famine in the
colony.—New settlements and new charter.—Pocahontas visits
England.—Land-law in Virginia.—Written constitution.—Unexpected
rising among the Indians.—New laws.—Governors of
Virginia.—Democratic spirit.—Tobacco 39–75
CHAPTER V.
COLONISATION OF MARYLAND.
The London Company’s second charter.—Clayborne.—Sir George
Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, obtains from James I. a
grant of land, which is called Maryland.—Cecil Calvert sends
Leonard Calvert to Maryland with emigrants.—Clayborne’s attempt
to discourage the colonists.—His turbulence.—Incursions of the
Indians.—Puritanism.—Toleration of the government.—Political
troubles.—The dissensions compromised 76–87
CHAPTER VI.
COLONISATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Smith’s Voyage to Massachusetts Bay.—New England.—Hunt kidnaps
the Indians.—King James grants the “great patent.”—Puritanism
in England.—The Pilgrim Fathers.—Commencement of English
Nonconformity.—Policy of James I. towards the Church of
England.—Oppression, and resistance of the bigotry of
James.—Struggle between established authority and the spirit of
liberty 88–97
CHAPTER VII.
THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
Many Puritans find refuge in Holland.—The congregation at
Leyden determine to remove to America.—They obtain a patent
from the Virginia Company.—The Mayflower and the Speedwell
leave Leyden.—The Mayflower sails from Plymouth alone.—The
emigrants land at Cape Cod.—Their sufferings.—The settlement of
New Plymouth founded.—Hardship and labour.—Friendly relations
established with the Indians.—The “unruly colony” at
Weymouth.—Gradual rise of New Plymouth 98–111
CHAPTER VIII.
MASSACHUSETTS-BAY COLONY.
Attempts to colonise the coast.—Portsmouth founded.—Richard
Vines’ expedition.—First settlement of Maine and Nova
Scotia.—New emigrants.—Settlement founded in the wilderness of
Salem.—John Winthrop.—Settlement at Boston.—Fortunes of the
colonists.—Bigotry creeps in among them.—Friendly disposition
of the Indian chiefs.—Commencement of trade with Virginia, and
with the Dutch, on the Hudson.—Representative government
established at Massachusetts.—Arrival of Henry Vane 112–121
CHAPTER IX.
RHODE ISLAND.—ROGER WILLIAMS AND ANNE HUTCHINSON.
Roger Williams arrives at Massachusetts.—His liberal doctrines
procure his expulsion from the colony.—His residence among the
Indians.—His character.—He obtains a charter, and founds the
province of Rhode Island, under the title of Providence
Plantation.—The Pequods and others threaten
Massachusetts.—Williams negotiates with them for his
persecutors.—Anne Hutchinson and her opinions.—She is banished,
and founds a new settlement in the neighbourhood of
Providence.—Her melancholy death 122–130
CHAPTER X.
SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.
The Connecticut river discovered.—John Winthrop obtains a
commission from England to build a fort, &c., at the mouth of
the Connecticut river.—Severity of the first winter, and
hardships endured by the colonists.—Attempt of the Dutch to
take possession.—Great emigration to the valley of the
Connecticut.—Expedition against the Pequods.—Terrible massacre
of the Pequods, who are annihilated as a tribe.—Theophilus
Eaton and John Davenport found the settlement of Quinnipiack or
New Haven 131–140
CHAPTER XI.
THE NEW ENGLAND UNION.
Complaints made against Massachusetts.—Laud appointed
commissioner over the colonies.—Preparations for
resistance.—Fearful religious persecutions in England.—The
danger averted from the colonies by the breaking out of the
great civil war.—Union of the states for mutual
protection.—Fate of the chief Miantonomob.—Roger Williams
obtains the acknowledgment of Rhode Island as a separate
state.—Fundamental laws of Massachusetts.—Educational
measures.—Samuel Gorton founds a settlement at Shawomet.—He is
summoned by Massachusetts and put in irons.—He escapes to
England.—The colonists repudiate the interference of the home
government.—Cromwell’s good will towards the new
Englanders.—The quakers persecuted in Massachusetts.—Their
obstinacy.—John Eliot among the Indians 141–160
CHAPTER XII.
NEW NETHERLANDS—NEW SWEDEN.
Hudson’s visit to New York Bay.—Indian traditions concerning
the event.—Particulars of Hudson’s visit.—Dutch settlements
around the Hudson.—Cornelius May.—Friendship between the Dutch
settlers and the New Plymouth colonists.—Charter obtained by
the “college of nineteen.”—Swedish emigration.—Settlement of
Swedes in Delaware Bay.—The Dutch governor Kieft.—His massacre
of the Indians.—Their vengeance.—A truce effected.—John
Underhill protector of the New Netherlands 161–173
CHAPTER XIII.
NEW YORK.—NEW SWEDEN.
Peter Stuyvesant arrives as governor.—State of the New
Netherlands.—Symptoms of weakness.—War between England and
Holland.—Stuyvesant subdues the Swedish settlement.—Tolerant
spirit among the Dutch.—Quarrel between governor Stuyvesant and
his people.—Sir Richard Nichols takes possession of New
Amsterdam.—Surinam left to the Dutch in exchange for New
Netherlands 174–182
CHAPTER XIV.
THE RESTORATION AND ITS EFFECTS.
The Restoration.—Execution of Hugh Peters and of Sir Henry
Vane.—Whalley and Goffe, the regicides, fly to Boston, and are
sheltered by the New Englanders.—The younger Winthrop obtains a
charter for Connecticut.—Happiness of the colony.—Life in
Connecticut.—Educational provisions.—Rhode Island obtains a
charter.—Quakerism established in Rhode Island.—Effect of the
Restoration on the remaining States 183–192
CHAPTER XV.
MASSACHUSETTS UNDER CHARLES II.
Deputation to Charles II. from Massachusetts.—The charter
confirmed with certain restrictions.—Struggle between the
colony and the home government.—Remonstrance addressed to the
king.—Collision between the constables of Massachusetts and the
Royal Commissioners.—Massachusetts refuses to send deputies to
England.—Prosperity of the colony.—Indian and white population
of New England.—Indian warfare and disaster.—The “swamp
fight.”—Destruction of the red men.—Their firmness.—Philip of
Pocanoket.—Results of the war.—Escape of Anne Brackett 193–207
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHARTER OF MASSACHUSETTS ANNULLED.
The London merchants jealous of Massachusetts.—Maine redeemed
by Massachusetts for £1200.—New Hampshire separated from
Massachusetts and constituted a royal province.—Cranfield sent
out as governor.—Associations formed to resist taxes imposed by
him.—Retirement of Cranfield.—The charter of Massachusetts
threatened.—Efforts made by the colony to preserve it.—Vain
remonstrances.—The charter annulled 208–212
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SETTLEMENT OF CAROLINA.
South Virginia.—Carolina.—Tract of land granted by Charles I.
to Sir Robert Heath.—William Drummond.—Barbadoes planters in
Clarendon county.—The settlement of Albemarle.—Locke’s grand
model constitution and its provisions.—Its indifferent
reception among the colonists.—George Fox visits
Carolina.—Dissatisfaction with the English
government.—Navigation Laws.—John Culpepper’s arrest and
acquittal.—Governor Sothel’s tyranny.—Emigrants at Port
Royal.—Carteret county.—Charleston founded.—Prosperity of South
Carolina.—Influx of emigrants.—Huguenot fugitives.—The
Menigault family.—Slavery.—The buccaneers favoured in South
Carolina.—Disturbances.—Return of Sothel.—The grand model
constitution abrogated 213–234
CHAPTER XVIII.
VIRGINIA UNDER CHARLES II.
The Restoration disastrous to Virginia.—Sir William Berkeley
elected governor.—Loyalty of the colony.—Change in the form of
government.—Slavery in Virginia.—Tobacco cultivation.—Picture
of life in Virginia.—The Navigation Act enforced.—The English
episcopal church becomes the state religion.—The justiciary
government changed.—Exploring expedition.—Arbitrary grants of
land.—Dissatisfaction in the colony.—Incursions of the
Indians.—Nathaniel Bacon’s insurrection.—He obtains his
commission as commander against the Indians.—Berkeley’s
treachery.—Power of Bacon.—Sir William Berkeley at
Jamestown.—His flight.—Jamestown taken and burnt by the
insurgents.—Death of Bacon.—Cruelty of Berkeley.—His
death.—Culpepper’s administration.—Slave-code.—Spirit of the
Virginians in 1688 235–257
CHAPTER XIX.
MARYLAND UNDER CHARLES II.
Lord Baltimore’s liberal policy.—His toleration and
justice.—The Quakers and their position.—George Fox.—Adventure
of John Jay.—Administration of Thomas Notley.—Lord Baltimore
persecuted in England on account of his tolerance.—The
liberties of Maryland threatened, but preserved by the
dethronement of James II. 258–263
CHAPTER XX.
SETTLEMENT OF NEW JERSEY.—THE QUAKERS.
The land between the Hudson and Delaware made over to Lord
Berkeley and Sir G. Carteret.—The Delaware Indians in New
Jersey.—Philip Carteret arrives in Newark Bay.—Disorders in the
colony.—Lord Lovelace’s system of government.—The Duke of
York’s tyranny.—The “holy experiment” of the Quakers.—Creed of
the Quakers.—Their steadfastness under oppression and
persecution.—The fundamental laws of New Jersey as established
by the Quakers.—Emigrating Quaker-companies.—Resignation of the
territory by the Duke of York.—The Quakers firmly settled in
the New World 264–275
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Account of William Penn.—His reverses and constancy.—His
various imprisonments.—His wish to provide for the Quakers an
asylum in the New World.—He purchases land of Charles II., and
founds Pennsylvania.—The constitution of the new colony.—The
“holy experiment.”—The “free society of traders”
formed.—Surrender of territory by the Duke of York.—The first
assembly convened at Chester.—Penn’s celebrated treaty with the
Indians.—The “gospel tree.”—Peace between Quakers and
Indians.—Philadelphia founded.—Penn’s visit to Lord
Baltimore.—His return to England and subsequent
misfortunes.—His opinions on slavery 276–290
CHAPTER XXII.
NEW FRANCE.—DISCOVERIES IN THE GREAT LAKE REGION.
The French, settlers in Canada.—Their dealings with the
Indians.—The Jesuit missionaries and their labours.—Brebeuf and
Daniel live among the Indians.—The villages of St. Louis and
St. Ignatius founded.—Enthusiasm awakened in France.—Missionary
labours among the Indians.—Charles Raymbault and Claude
Pijart.—Jogues, his sufferings and heroism.—His fate.—Indian
warfare and cruelty.—Chaumonot’s labours.—Missionary
enthusiasm.—Mesnard.—Allouez 291–305
CHAPTER XXIII.
DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Franciscan friars as missionaries.—Marquette’s design of
navigating the “Great River.”—Discouraging reports among the
Indians.—The expedition sets forth.—Bancroft’s account of the
journey.—Indian villages.—The river Illinois.—Joliet and Robert
Cavalier la Salle.—Colony planted on Lake Michigan.—Hennepin’s
travels.—Tonti and his misfortunes.—French colonising
expedition.—Erection of Fort St. Louis.—La Salle
murdered.—Hostilities of the Iroquois.—Small extent of the
French settlements 306–318
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE COLONIES AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1688.
Quarrels in Carolina between dissenters and churchmen.—John
Archdale, chosen proprietary, favours the dissenters.—His
successor, Blake, sides with the churchmen.—Unsettled condition
of North Carolina.—Disturbances in the colony.—Governorship of
Nicholson and Andros.—Independent spirit of the
Virginians.—Maryland.—Its condition and
productions.—Pennsylvania.—The charter of
privileges.—Constitution of New Jersey.—New York.—Unpopularity
of James II.—Governor Dongan.—Leisler’s insurrection.—His
execution.—Benjamin Fletcher governor.—Captain Kidd the
pirate.—Lord Cornbury.—His duplicity and profligacy.—The
conquest of Canada urged.—Robert Hunter governor of New
York.—Yale college founded 319–343
CHAPTER XXV.
THE FIRST INTERCOLONIAL WAR.—THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT.
Andros expelled from Boston.—Massachusetts engages in war
against Canada and the Indians.—Sir William Phipps’s expedition
against Nova Scotia.—Indian warfare.—Prisoners sold to the
French.—New charter for Massachusetts.—The witch mania.—Mather
and his book.—Absurd and cruel persecution of supposed
witches.—Penn’s judgment in a case of witchcraft.—Renewed
Indian warfare.—Indian outrages.—Judicial code of Massachusetts 344–359
CHAPTER XXVI.
SETTLEMENT OF LOUISIANA.—QUEEN ANNE’S WAR.
Callieres excites the Indians against the British.—Lemonie
d’Ilberville’s expedition.—Arrival at Ship Island.—The
settlement of Detroit.—English expedition to explore the mouth
of the Mississippi.—The “English turn.”—The settlement of
Natchez.—The settlers of Biloxi.—William III. declares war
against France and Spain.—Combats between the settlers and the
various nations.—Deerfield destroyed.—Atrocities of Indian
warfare.—Port Royal taken.—Admiral Walker’s exploits.—The
Tuscarora Indians.—Issues of paper money.—The two Carolinas
become separate royal governments.—Enactments with regard to
slaves.—The treaty of Utrecht.—Population of the colonies in
1714.—Piracy 360–379
CHAPTER XXVII.
LAW’S BUBBLE.—LOUISIANA ESTABLISHED.—GROWTH OF LIBERTY IN THE STATES.
State of the American colonies at the accession of the House of
Hanover.—The “Mississippi scheme.”—John Law’s bank.—New Orleans
founded.—Louisiana established.—Destruction of the Natchez race
of Indians.—War with the Chicasaws.—Breaking out of the
small-pox in Boston.—Inoculation.—Benjamin Franklin and the
“New England covenant.”—British restrictions on colonial
manufactures.—Dispute on the salary of the Governor of
Massachusetts.—Liberty of the press advocated.—Acquittal of
John Zenger the printer 380–389
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA, AND PROGRESS OF THE STATES.
Oglethorpe’s benevolent exertions.—He obtains a charter for
Georgia.—His departure from England in 1732.—The town of
Savannah laid out.—The Moravians establish themselves in
Georgia.—The town of Augusta founded.—Friendly disposition of
the Indians.—Progress of the colony.—John and Charles Wesley in
Georgia.—Whitfield and his preaching.—The Baptists.—False alarm
for a negro rising.—War between England and Spain.—Oglethorpe’s
services against the Spaniards.—Character of Oglethorpe.—The
boundary of Maine.—The slave-trade.—Attitude of England with
regard to the slave-trade.—Hospitality of the
Virginians.—General advance of the colonies 390–406
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.
PAGE
LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS _frontispiece_
PORTRAIT OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS _to face_ 2
POCAHONTAS INTERCEDING FOR JOHN SMITH „ 47
FIRST MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY IN VIRGINIA „ 60
ROGER WILLIAMS’ DEPARTURE FROM SALEM „ 124
JOHN ELIOT PREACHING TO THE INDIANS „ 159
BAXTER PRESENTING THE CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND „ 191
EJECTMENT OF THE SHERIFF BY THE PEOPLE OF NEW
HAMPSHIRE „ 210
BACON ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL „ 245
RECEPTION OF PENN „ 282
PENN AND THE INDIANS „ 284
PENN’S DEPARTURE „ 288
WHITFIELD PREACHING „ 396
A POPULAR
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERIES.
The mighty hemisphere of the West lay for countless ages shrouded from
the knowledge of the rest of the world, as by the darkness of night,
waiting for the appointed time of its revelation. That appointed time
was the close of the fifteenth century, for although upwards of four
hundred years earlier, after the reign of Alfred of England, and
Charlemagne in France, America was discovered by some of those
adventurous Scandinavian Vikings—the true ancestors of the so-called
Anglo-Saxons, who, in their stout-built little ships, traversed all
seas—still the knowledge of this discovery produced so little effect on
the rest of the world, that afterwards, when America was rediscovered,
the history of the Scandinavian colonisers was regarded as mythical. The
antiquarian researches, however, of Rafn and others, leave no doubt of
the fact. These bold adventurers, at home on the most perilous seas,
having colonised Iceland, Greenland, and afterwards Newfoundland or Nova
Scotia, came at length, in the year 1000, to the coast of America, where
a colony was formed under the name of _Vinland hin Goda_, or Vineland
the Good—so called from the abundance of wild grapes which grew there,
and because the mildness of the climate and the fertility of the soil
delighted the discoverers, accustomed as they were to the savage
sterility and severe cold of Greenland and Iceland, and even of their
native north.
The tract of country first explored by these earliest European
discoverers is supposed to extend down the coast from about where Boston
is now situated to New York. According also to the antiquarians, Rask
and Finn Magnusen, boundary pillars were discovered by them, in the year
1824, on the eastern shore of Baffin’s Bay, exhibiting Runic
inscriptions, and the date 1135. The generally uncivilised state of the
rest of Europe prevented these early Scandinavian discoveries from
producing any permanent or important effect. The time when this great
discovery of a second world could be availing was not yet come. The
precursors of knowledge had yet to be born; society lay under a night of
barbarous ignorance, and glimpses of light, coming from whatever quarter
they might, were lost in the density of its shadow.
The important thirteenth century arrived: Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus,
Albertus Magnus, and Vicentius of Beauvais, lived. A breath of true life
awakened the general mind, and geographical, as well as other knowledge
began to be studied. In the meantime, Iceland, which must be regarded as
the mother of colonisation, had lost her noble independent spirit with
her republican form of government, and become a fief of the crown of
Norway. In consequence, however, of her remote position, as well as her
high reputation for learning, she was made the depository of the most
ancient records of Europe, which was then agitated by internal
convulsions, and here they were carefully preserved for ages. In this
remote _Ultima Thule_ lay sealed up, as it were, the keys of a mighty
knowledge, which would unlock a second world. Here, accordingly, in the
month of February, 1477, came Christopher Columbus, “the sea,” says he,
“not being at that time covered with ice, and being resorted to by
traders from Bristol.” This is singular. Some historians doubt whether
Columbus heard any tidings here of the early discovery and colonisation
of America. No doubt he did; no doubt, in his conversations with Bishop
Skalholt and other learned men, he would hear the extraordinary fact of
a great country having been discovered by their ancestors beyond the
Western Ocean. They had found land where he had believed it to exist,
whether a part of Asia or not was of no consequence, and this
information would not be lost on a mind like his. No doubt, also, hither
came the Cabots, merchants of Bristol, who, in their process of
discovery, sailed northward, as if following the guidance of Icelandic
tradition, and arrived on the dreary coasts of Labrador, before Columbus
discovered the mainland of America.
[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.]
Columbus having, at the age of twenty-one, sailed, as we have said, to
Iceland, “to see if it were inhabited,” returned to Spain resolved to
navigate the great Western Sea, and discover the land which lay beyond.
He was one of the elect of Providence, men of the time and the hour,
whose work is appointed them to do, and spite of impediment,
discouragement, and adversity, who must succeed in doing it. The history
of his eventful life is well known; with inflexible resolution and deep
religious ardour, he pursued his object, and finally won the ear of
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. On August 3rd, 1492, he set sail as
Admiral of the Seas and Lands which he expected to discover, and on
October 11, after a tedious voyage and long anxiety, stepped on shore of
one of the Bahama Islands with tears of joy and fervent thanksgiving;
and after kissing the soil of the New World, he planted here the cross,
in token of Christian possession.
Gold dust and Japan, or Cipango, as it was called, were the objects of
search, and Columbus, after twelve days, again set sail in the hope of
finding them. He found several other of the West India Islands, and
finally the beautiful Cuba, the most beautiful island in the world. He
believed that now indeed he had found the long-sought-for Cipango; and
San Domingo, which he next discovered, he imagined to be the ancient
Ophir, the source of all the riches of Solomon.
Columbus’s discoveries were confined principally to the West India
Islands; nor was it till his third voyage that he touched the mainland,
near the mouth of the river Oronoco.
The Cabots, as we have seen, enterprising merchants of Bristol, which
was at that time the second port in England, and accustomed to the
navigation of the northern seas, had discovered, in 1496, the coast of
Labrador—a country which could neither be mistaken for Cipango nor for
Ophir—a savage arctic region, abounding in white bears and deer of a
gigantic size, and inhabited by men clad in skins and armed with bows
and clubs.
About two years afterwards, Sebastian Cabot, the son, again sailed for
Labrador, by way of Iceland, and thence proceeding southward along the
shores of the new country advanced into a more hospitable climate, until
want of provisions compelled him to return. On a subsequent voyage,
steering still to his favourite north, in search of a north-west
passage, he entered Hudson’s Bay, but was now compelled to return in
consequence of insubordination among his crews. In 1526, having gone to
Spain, he was nominated by Charles V. as pilot-major of the kingdom, and
in the April of this year, proceeding across the Atlantic, explored the
river La Plata and some of its tributaries, erecting forts, and
endeavouring, but unsuccessfully, to plant colonies.
“The career of Sebastian Cabot,” says Bancroft, “was in the issue as
honourable as the beginning was glorious. He conciliated universal
esteem by the placid mildness of his character. Unlike the stern
enthusiasm of Columbus, he was distinguished for serenity and
contentment. For sixty years he was renowned for his achievements and
skill.” It is, however, greatly to be regretted that, of all his voyages
and discoveries, no detailed account has been preserved. In 1548 he was
pensioned by Edward VI. as “The Great Seaman,” and through his advice
and influence it was that an expedition to the North of Europe was
undertaken, which opened to England the important trade with Russia. He
lived to extreme old age, but the place of his death and burial is
unknown.
The fame of Cabot rests less on any discovery of summer lands, affluent
in natural beauty and precious commodities, than on his having made
known rich fisheries, the wealth and value of which remain to the
present day. The immense shoals of cod in the shallows of those new seas
soon attracted the attention of other voyagers, and within seven years
of Cabot’s discovery, the hardy fishermen of Brittany and Normandy
frequented the abundant fisheries of Newfoundland; Cape Breton remaining
as a memorial of them to this day. This fishery, on the coast and bank
of Newfoundland, formed the first link between Europe and North America.
The Portuguese, excited by the success of England and Spain, entered
eagerly into competition with them. Emanuel, king of Portugal, animated
also by the great success of his expedition under Vasco de Gama, who,
having for the first time doubled the Cape of Good Hope, had reached
India, thus opening to Europe all the vast treasures of the Indian
Ocean, now sent out Gaspar Cortereal with two vessels, to follow in the
course of the Cabots, and explore the north-western seas. Accordingly,
reaching the shores of North America, he coasted for about seven hundred
miles, admiring as he went along the beauty and fertility of the
country, and the grandeur of its forests, the pines of which appeared to
him admirably suited for the masts and yards of shipping. The commerce,
however, which occupied these Portuguese was of a much less innocent
kind than that of timber, or than the cod-fishing of the French;
Cortereal freighted his vessels with a number of inoffensive natives,
whom he sold for slaves, intending to return for more. But he never
returned; he lost his life, it is said, in a contest with the natives,
whom he was endeavouring to kidnap.
The successful trade which the bold fishermen of France carried on, and
some of the natives whom they had taken into their own country, turned
the attention of Francis I. to the subject of discovery. He fitted out a
fleet under the command of John Verrazzani, a Florentine, commissioned
to explore for the French monarch these new realms of wonder and hope.
Verrazzani sailed by way of Madeira, and after a most stormy voyage, had
the satisfaction of discovering land in a latitude which was unknown to
any European navigator. Sailing for a long time in search of harbourage,
he at length cast anchor on the coast of North Carolina. The natives had
as yet seen no white man; they were of a gentle and peaceful character,
dressed in skins, and ornamented with garlands of feathers. Coasting
northward, he relates, in his letter to Francis I., that nothing could
equal the beauty of the country; the climate was soft and balmy, the
groves full of beautiful trees and flowers which diffused a delicious
odour. The red colour of the earth, and the fragrance of the groves,
suggested at once the idea of gold dust and the spices of the East.
Still advancing northward, they reached Nova Scotia, where natives of
another character met them.
From this point he returned homeward; his narrative of this coasting
voyage being the earliest record of that part of the new world now
extant. Of Verrazzani’s further discoveries nothing is known, although
it is said that he visited the coast of America three times. He is
believed to have perished at sea.
Ten years afterwards, the Admiral Chabot, whose duties brought him into
connexion with the Newfoundland fishermen, became interested in the
subject of discovery. Jaques Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, was
despatched with two ships on the commission to explore those northern
coasts of the new world already so familiar to the fishermen. Cartier
made a wonderfully speedy voyage. In twenty days from leaving St. Malo,
he was on the coast of Newfoundland, and after partly circumnavigating
the island, he planted a cross bearing the arms of France, in token of
having taken possession for that country.
Sailing within the magnificent bay on its west, he reached the estuary
of a vast river, which he ascended, until he could see land on both
sides; further he was unable to advance, being unprepared to winter
there. He turned his face homeward, therefore, and in thirty days
reached St. Malo, carrying two natives with him.
The success of this voyage caused a second expedition to be soon fitted
out. Three well-furnished vessels were provided by government, and
several of the young nobility joined in the enterprise. Solemn
preparations were made for departure, the ships’ companies assembled in
the cathedral to receive absolution and the blessing of the bishop; and
thus they set sail, full of hope and schemes for the colonising of that
splendid territory which was to be called New France. This voyage,
however, unlike the former, was stormy, and passing the west of
Newfoundland on the day of St. Lawrence, they gave the name of that
saint to the noble bay which expanded before them, and which name not
alone the gulf, but the magnificent river which falls into it, bear to
this day. Cartier again sailed up the river, but in a boat, and as far
as Hochelaga, where, ascending a hill, he was struck by the magnificent
view of woods, mountain, and river, which lay behind him. Anticipating
this as the site of the future metropolis of a splendid empire, he
called the hill Mont-Real, and “time,” says the historian, “which has
transferred the name to the island, is realising his visions.” He and
his companions spent the winter in these seas, and in the spring
departed, having basely kidnapped an Indian chief who had treated them
with the utmost kindness.
The report which the adventurers carried home of the severity of the
climate abated the ardour of colonisation for a few years. At length, in
an interval of peace, the remembrance of that magnificent river, which
exceeded in grandeur any river of Europe, awoke anew the spirit of
adventure, and Francis de la Roque, lord of Robertval in Picardy, was
appointed viceroy of the unknown regions of Norimbega, that is to say,
all the vast territories around the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, with
all its islands; and Cartier, on account of his knowledge and
experience, was associated in the enterprise, as captain-general and
chief pilot. Cartier was also commissioned to take with him artisans of
all kinds, that useful colonies might be established. We must suppose
that but little public enthusiasm existed on the subject; for Cartier
had to ransack the jails to make up his complement of men. This was an
ill-starred enterprise altogether; the two leaders did not even act in
concert. Cartier set sail long before his superior, ascended the St.
Lawrence, built a fort near the present site of Quebec, where he passed
the winter in hostility with the natives, and in the spring set sail
homeward, meeting Robertval on his way out, off Newfoundland. Robertval,
though he remained a twelvemonth in his new territory of Norimbega,
effected very little, and so returned home.
For the next fifty years nothing was done by France, which was absorbed
by her own internal conflicts—feudalism against monarchical power,
Calvinism against Catholicism. In the meantime, however, the value and
importance of the northern fisheries increased, and in 1578 no less than
one hundred and fifty French ships were employed in the Newfoundland
trade.
While the French were thus vainly endeavouring to colonise the regions
of Acadia and Canada lying around the bay and along the river of St.
Lawrence, the Spaniards were occupied in the south. The brilliant
discoveries of Spain had kindled the most extraordinary enthusiasm
throughout the nation for adventure beyond the seas. Nothing was too
extravagant for their imaginations to conceive of the new world, where
it was believed “that the natives ignorantly wore the most precious
ornaments, and the sands of every river sparkled with gold.” Spaniards,
high and low, young and old, rich and poor, were all ready to rush to
the conquest and the spoil. Among others, Juan Ponce de Leon, an aged
veteran in the wars of Granada, a companion of Columbus in his second
voyage, and some time governor of Porto Rico, fitted out three ships at
his own expense, and resolved to go forth to seek his fortune, and more
especially to seek for that which he had been told existed in those
paradisiacal regions of the sun and the palm—a fountain whose waters
possessed the extraordinary virtues of restoring or perpetuating youth.
In search of this poetical fountain, Ponce de Leon set sail with his
three ships, in March 1512. On Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call
_Pascua Florida_, the aged adventurer discovered a glorious land,
covered with woods, which were brilliant with flowers. Spite of the
marvellous beauty of the country, to which he gave the name of Florida,
it was some time before he was able to land, in consequence of stormy
weather. At length a landing was effected, and formal possession taken
of the country; but though he remained exploring the coast for several
weeks, the fountain of youth was nowhere to be found, the natives were
hostile, and Ponce de Leon returned to Porto Rico still an old man. A
new and splendid region had, however, been discovered, and thither Ponce
de Leon returned a few years afterwards, intending to select a site for
a colony, but in a contest with the natives was mortally wounded.
Ponce de Leon’s discovery had opened a new path for Spanish commerce
through the Gulf of Florida, and in 1516 Diego Miruelo, a bold sea
captain, trafficking with the natives, brought away gold which he had
obtained in exchange for toys, and thus gave a yet more brilliant
colouring to the reports current regarding the wealth of this new
region.
In 1517, Francisco Fernandez de Cordova discovered the province of
Yucatan and the Bay of Campeachy, but soon afterwards, like Ponce de
Leon, was mortally wounded by the natives. The pilot of Fernandez in the
following year conducted another squadron to the same shores, under the
command of Grijalva. The amount of gold which was here collected, and
the costly presents of the unsuspecting natives together with the
rumours of the magnificent empire of Montezuma, excited the general
imagination, and led to the enterprise of Cortes.
While events were thus opening the way for the conquest of Mexico, seven
wealthy men of St. Domingo, at the head of whom was Lucas Vasquez de
Ayllon, despatched two vessels as slavers to seek for labourers in their
mines and plantations. These ships were driven northward from the
Bahamas by adverse winds upon the coast of Carolina, which they called
Chicora; they anchored at the Cambahee river, to which they gave the
name of Jordan. The natives received them with great kindness, being new
to the sight of Europeans, and visited their ships in crowds, both with
curiosity and good faith, but when they were all below, the hatches were
suddenly closed, and the perfidious Spaniards sailed away. One of these
ships was lost, the captives in the other refused food, and died of
starvation and distress of mind.
Again de Ayllon sailed with three ships to the newly-discovered Chicora,
of which he was appointed governor, intending now to take formal
possession. But the largest of his ships was stranded and lost at the
mouth of the river Cambahee, and he himself, though received with
apparent kindness by the natives, narrowly escaped with his life, many
of his men having been killed, the friendly aspect being merely a feint
on the part of the incensed natives to get them more completely into
their power. This unsuccessful attempt preyed so severely upon de
Ayllon’s heart as to cause his death.
But now let us return to the discoveries of Francisco Fernandez de
Cordova and Grijalva on the northern coast of Yucatan. On approaching
the shore, the Spaniards had been astonished to find no longer rude and
half-clad savages, but people well dressed in cotton garments, and
dwelling apparently in edifices of stone. They were of a bold and
martial character, and received the strangers with demonstrations of
hostility. Cordova being, as we have said, wounded, his expedition
hastened back to Cuba, only however to be followed by a second, when the
southern coast of Mexico was discovered, and Juan de Grijalva carried
home with him a large amount of treasure obtained by traffic with the
natives. Valesquez, the governor of Cuba, highly pleased with the result
of this expedition, resolved on the conquest of this rich country, and
hastily fitted out an armament of eleven vessels for this purpose,
giving the command to Fernando Cortes.
In March, 1519, Cortes landed in Tabasco, a southern province of Mexico,
where he defeated the natives with great slaughter. Advancing from this
point westward, he reached San Juan de Ulloa, where he was kindly
received by two officers of the monarch, Montezuma, who had been sent to
inquire into the object of his visit, and to offer him any assistance
which he might require. Cortes replied with great courtesy that his
business was important, and could be confided to no less a person than
Montezuma himself. The great monarch of Mexico, not being accustomed to
such interviews, his officers made valuable presents to Cortes, and set
before him the impossibility of his request. In vain; Cortes was
determined; messengers were sent backwards and forwards, and magnificent
presents still made to Cortes, with the request finally that he would
depart. But no; Cortes destroyed his vessels, to prevent his soldiers
escaping, and marched to the capital of Mexico. As he advanced, the
disaffected in Montezuma’s kingdom joined him. Montezuma was overcome by
alarm.
The Spaniards marched onward; and the vast plain of Mexico opened before
them. It was covered with villages and cultivated fields, all wearing an
aspect of prosperity. In the middle of the plain, partly encompassed by
a lake, and partly built on the islands within it, towered aloft the
city of Mexico, like some gorgeous fairyland city. The Spaniards could
scarcely believe their senses; it seemed more like a splendid vision
than reality. Montezuma received the strangers with great pomp and
kindness; admitted them into the city; appropriated to their use
splendid accommodations; supplied all their wants, and presented them
with gifts.
Cortes, astonished at what had befallen him, and anxious for his own
safety, thus shut up in the very heart of a city which might, after all,
be hostile, resolved on a bold expedient, which he accomplished with
wonderful success. He seized the person of Montezuma, whom he held as a
hostage for the good faith of the nation. And thus, having the
astonished monarch in his power, so wrought upon his mind, as to induce
him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the crown of Spain, and subject
his kingdom to an annual tribute.
Cortes, after this, was compelled to return to Cuba for a short time,
and the Mexicans, incensed by the cruelties and wanton excesses of the
Spaniards, who remained in charge of the monarch and his capital, rose
in arms. Cortes returned, and at once threw aside the mask of moderation
which he had hitherto worn. He compelled Montezuma, who was in his
power, to interpose with his exasperated people; the captive monarch did
so, and an aspect of submission was for the moment assumed. The Mexicans
reverenced their monarch almost as a divinity, and bowed their heads and
dropped their weapons at sight of him; but when, in obedience to the
commands of Cortes, he endeavoured to awaken amicable sentiments in
their breasts towards the Spaniards, their rage burst forth in fury, and
snatching up their arms, they assailed their enemies with tenfold
determination, and in this fresh onset the unfortunate Montezuma was
himself mortally wounded. The Mexicans, seeing their king fall by their
own hands, believed that the vengeance of heaven was pursuing them, and
fled; and Montezuma, refusing all food, survived but a short time.
The position of Cortes, in the heart of an exasperated nation, was
perilous in the extreme. He commenced his retreat from the capital, and
fighting almost every yard of ground, found himself on the sixth day in
a spacious valley, hemmed in by an innumerable army. Nothing was left
but to conquer or die; and they were but a handful of men. Multitudes
thronged in upon them, sufficient alone to trample them to dust. At that
moment Cortes beheld the great Mexican banner advancing, and
recollecting to have heard that upon its fate depended the fate of every
Mexican battle, resolved, at the head of his bravest men, to hew his way
to the standard, and gain possession of it. He did so. The Mexicans,
panic-stricken, threw down their arms and fled to the mountains.
The determination of Cortes was undaunted; he resolved to accomplish the
conquest of Mexico, and four months after his retreat, having received
fresh supplies and reinforcements, he again departed for the interior,
and after a siege of twenty-five days, the successor of Montezuma having
fallen into his hands, the city yielded, and the wealthy Mexico became a
province of Spain. This occurred in August, 1521.
While the conquest of Mexico was taking place, another important event
occurred in the history of Spanish discoveries. Ferdinand Magellan,
having spent several months in exploring the coast of South America,
finally passed through the strait which bears his name, thus
accomplishing the discovery so long-sought-for of a western passage to
India.