John Cabot. Whether he returned safe or died on the voyage, we do not
know. The English did not then attach enough importance to the western
world to make records of Cabot’s voyages. They were disappointed at not
finding gold and gems nor a direct passage to the East. To England in
the early sixteenth century the new-found land was valuable only as a
“cod fish coast.”
Sebastian Cabot, the son of the “great Admiral,” was, like his father,
a chart-maker and navigator. He is said to have accompanied his father
on one or both of his voyages, but there is no proof that he went on
either.
The great object of Sebastian Cabot’s ambition was the discovery of
a direct route to Asia. He undertook, under authority of the king of
Spain, a westward expedition to reach the Pacific. On this voyage
he discovered a great river which he named La Plata. Afterwards he
returned to England and received from Edward VI. a pension for his
services as Great Pilot. In 1553, he took part in the expedition to
find a northeast passage to Asia; later, in search of a northwest
passage, he sailed along the coast of America as far south, it is said,
as Chesapeake Bay.
Sir Francis Drake
A Famous English Adventurer
The first expeditions which came to the New World were bent on
discovery, exploration, conquest, and plunder. It was many years before
any attempts at settlement were made. The Spaniards, as you know, kept
a southernly course and reached the West Indies and the adjacent coasts
of North and South America. They reached Mexico and Peru, and made
themselves masters of silver, gold, and other treasures.
It never occurred to them that the natives had any rights to be
regarded. The only right that they recognized was that of the
strongest. Against their war horses and coats of mail and firearms,
what were the reed spears and arrows of the natives? The Indians fell
before the Spaniards like grain before the scythe.
To the conquered natives, life was a worse fate than death. With brutal
cruelty they were driven to labor in the mines for their taskmasters.
Ship after ship crossed the ocean, bearing to Spain the treasures taken
from these mines, or stolen from the homes and temples of the living
and the tombs of the dead.
But the Spaniards were not suffered to possess nor convey in peace
their ill-gotten gains. The other nations of Europe took advantage
of every pretext to spoil the spoiler. England was foremost in these
attacks on Spain. The two countries were not at open war, but they
were on unfriendly terms. The expeditions against Spain were undertaken
by bold seamen who took as much delight in the damage inflicted on
Spain as in the booty gained. They were not openly authorized by the
English queen, but it was understood that they would be overlooked and
that Elizabeth was not averse to receiving a share of the booty.
Among the freebooters most feared and hated by the Spaniards was Sir
Francis Drake. This famous English seamen was born about 1540, in
Devonshire, England. He was one of the twelve sons of a poor naval
chaplain, and it is said that he was educated at the expense of Sir
John Hawkins, a famous naval officer who was his kinsman. At the age
of eighteen, Drake had become master of a ship that traded between
England and France and Holland. This vessel he sold, “the narrow seas
not being large enough for his aspiring mind,” and invested all his
savings in Hawkins’s expedition to Mexico. This fleet was defeated by
the Spaniards, and Drake, who behaved gallantly in action, lost his
all. He “vowed the Spaniards should pay him with interest,” and shortly
afterwards he made good his word.
In 1572 with three small ships, he attacked and plundered several
Spanish settlements on the Isthmus of Panama and brought away as much
silver, gold, and jewels, as he could carry. During this expedition,
accompanied by eighteen Englishmen and thirty Indians, he made a
journey across the Isthmus. From the top of a tree, he beheld the
waters of the Pacific, and expressed his resolve to “sail once in an
English ship on that sea.” After his return to England, he served four
years in Ireland, but he did not forget either the western ocean or
his resolve. Secretly encouraged by Queen Elizabeth, he undertook an
expedition “to discomfort the Spanish as far as possible.”
A few days before Christmas in 1577, he set sail from Plymouth,
intending to pass through the Straits of Magellan and make the circuit
of the globe. Drake’s fleet consisted of five small vessels and a crew
of a hundred and sixty-six men. In the end, two of these vessels were
left on the coast of Brazil. As Drake passed the western coast of
America he stopped to attack the Spanish settlements. We are told that
his men “being weary, contented themselves with as many bars and wedges
of gold as they could carry, burying above fifteen tons of silver in
the sand and under old trees.”
In August, 1578, Drake entered the Straits of Magellan. Adverse
currents and storms separated the three vessels and only the Golden
Hind, originally called the Pelican, passed through to continue the
course. Along the coasts of Chili and Peru the Englishmen sailed,
plundering till they were weary of spoils. From one ship they got “a
prodigious quantity of gold, silver, and jewels,”--“thirteen chests of
coin, eighty pounds of gold, twenty-six tons of silver, besides jewels
and plate.” The writers of the time who give an exact list of the
captured treasures passed lightly over the natural objects and wonders
of the New World. “They saw many strange birds, beasts, fishes, fruits,
trees, and plants too tedious to mention,” says one.
Drake coasted along the western shore of America, trying to discover a
passage to the Atlantic. He landed and claimed the country, which he
called New Albion, for Queen Elizabeth and England. Turning from the
severe cold of the northern seas, he sailed across the Pacific and the
Indian Ocean, stopping at Java and other islands. Resuming his voyage,
he doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed along the coast of Africa.
In November, 1579, he re-entered the harbor of Plymouth, having made
the circuit of the globe in two years and ten months. He was the
first commander to take his ship around the world; Magellan, who had
undertaken the same voyage, died on the route. Drake, “the master thief
of the unknown world,” at once became a popular hero. He presented to
the queen “great stores of silver, gold, and gems,” and received from
her the honor of knighthood.
A few years later, war was openly declared between England and Spain.
Drake was sent with a fleet to attack the Spanish colonies in America;
he captured and plundered several settlements in the West Indies and in
Florida, and burned the fort of St. Augustine. Sailing on north to Sir
Walter Raleigh’s colony at Roanoke, he brought away the disheartened
colonists. It is said that he carried back to England the potato and
the tobacco, two plants contributed by the New World to the Old.
Drake reached England in 1586, and the next year he led a fleet
to inflict injury on the great Spanish fleet, proudly called the
Invincible Armada, which was being collected to invade England. He
entered the harbor of Cadiz and burned about a hundred ships. This he
called “singeing the beard of the king of Spain.” The Armada, delayed
for a year by this mischance, was refitted and sailed to attack
England. It is said that when the news of its approach was brought to
Plymouth the commanders of the English fleet were playing bowls. Drake,
who served as vice-admiral under Lord Howard, insisted on finishing
the game, saying, “There is plenty of time to win the game and thrash
the Spaniards, too!” The great Armada was defeated by the brave little
English fleet, aided by tempests and contrary winds.
In 1589 Drake made an expedition to Portugal and a few years later he
and Sir John Hawkins were sent with a fleet to attack the West Indies.
He and his old commander could not agree on the plan of action, and
their expedition was unsuccessful. Hawkins died at Porto Rico. A few
weeks later, Drake died, “his death being supposed to be hastened by
his unsuccessfulness in his voyage; his great spirit always accustomed
to victory and success, not being able to bear the least check of
fortune.”
Sir Walter Raleigh
The Father of American Colonization
You are not to suppose that the English claimed nothing of the New
World except what they could plunder from Spain. They were, on the
whole, willing to respect the rights of Spain to the West Indies and to
the adjacent parts of the continent which Spaniards had discovered and
settled.
More and more the English thought that it would be a good thing to have
colonies in the New World to hold the land which they claimed by virtue
of Cabot’s discoveries. Reasons for “western planting,” or establishing
colonies in America, were given by Hakluyt, an Englishman of the
sixteenth century. Among its advantages, he said, were these,--(1)
the soil yields products needed for England, (2) the passage was so
easy “it may be made twice in the year,” (3) “this enterprise may stay
the Spanish king from flowing over all the face of that waste firm of
America,” (4) it may enlarge the glory of God and “provide safe and
sure place” for religious refugees, (5) poor men and those of evil life
may there begin anew, (6) wandering beggars “may there be unladen.”
[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH]
The “Father of American Colonization” was an English gentleman, a
soldier, courtier, and author, Sir Walter Raleigh. He was born in 1552
in Devonshire, a fair coastland, the home of Drake and many other bold
seamen. In Raleigh’s home were several children, an own brother and
three half-brothers, the children of his mother by a former marriage.
One of these half-brothers, thirteen years his senior, was Humphrey
Gilbert who grew to be a brave and enterprising gentleman.
Walter Raleigh seems to have had little schooling in his youth. He
chose war as his profession and spent several years fighting in France
and the Netherlands. Meanwhile his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of land for “planting and
inhabiting certain northern parts of America which extended beyond the
twenty-fifth degree of north latitude.” Raleigh returned to England
and sailed with Gilbert in 1579 to Newfoundland; storms and perhaps an
encounter with the Spanish forced them to return without landing.
Raleigh spent two years in Ireland, fighting to suppress the risings
there, then returned to England and became a favorite at court. There
is a pretty story of the way in which he was first brought to Queen
Elizabeth’s notice and favor. It is said that one day the queen was
walking with her attendants along the London streets, then rough and
unpaved. She came to a mudhole, and hesitated for fear of soiling
her shoes. Among the bystanders was Raleigh, a handsome, graceful,
gentleman-soldier. He took off his new velvet mantle and spread it upon
the ground so that the queen might pass dry-shod.
However he first won the queen’s notice, he had by 1583 become such a
favorite that she was not willing for him to join Sir Humphrey Gilbert
on a second expedition to Newfoundland. He contributed a large share
of the expenses of this expedition, which was even more ill-fated than
the former one. Sir Humphrey, it is true, reached Newfoundland and took
possession of it, but on the return voyage the fleet was overtaken by
storm, and two vessels, in one of which was Sir Humphrey, were lost.
These disasters did not destroy Sir Walter’s interest in discoveries.
He got the queen to transfer to him the grant made to his half-brother,
giving him for six years the privilege of sending out expeditions “to
discover such remote barbarous lands as were not actually possessed by
any Christian people,” and to take possession of them in the name of
the queen.
Several expeditions were sent out under this grant, or patent, as it
was called. The first, in 1584, consisted of two vessels under Captains
Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. They reached the coast of North
Carolina and cast anchor on the island of Roanoke, which they claimed
in the queen’s name and for Sir Walter’s use. The name Virginia
was given to this land in honor of Elizabeth, the virgin queen. No
settlement was made at that time but the next year seven vessels under
Sir Richard Grenville were sent out with about a hundred colonists.
They entered Chesapeake Bay and James River and explored the country.
Homesickness and hardships discouraged these colonists, and when Sir
Francis Drake came to the settlement, after his expedition against the
Spaniards in the West Indies, they embarked with him and returned to
England. A few days after their departure, reinforcements and supplies
sent by Raleigh reached the deserted colony.
About this time tobacco, introduced into England by Lane, Hawkins, or
Drake, was brought into use by Sir Walter Raleigh. Tytler says, “There
is a well-known tradition that Sir Walter first began to smoke it
privately in his study, and his servant coming in as he was intent upon
his book, seeing the smoke issuing from his mouth, threw all the liquor
in his face by way of extinguishing the fire; and running down stairs
alarmed the family with piercing cries that his master, before they
could get up, would be burnt to ashes.”
In 1587 another colony of two hundred and fifty men under John White
was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh. That summer a child was born to Eleanor
Dare, John White’s daughter; this girl, the first English child born in
America, received the name of Virginia Dare.
Fears of the Spanish invasion which threatened England kept Sir
Walter for several years from sending aid to the colony. When at last
ships reached Roanoke Island the colonists and all signs of them had
disappeared; on a tree was found carved the word “Croatoan,” but what
this meant no one ever knew.
Raleigh now gave up his patent to a company in London, from which
he was to receive one-fifth of gold and silver found in the lands
discovered. He gave up his colonizing plans in order to fight the
Spaniards. The queen, however, would not consent to his going, as he
wished, on the English expedition to seize the Spanish treasure-fleet.
His place was taken by Sir Richard Grenville, the story of whose
gallant death is told in Lord Tennyson’s ballad, “The Revenge.”
Later, Raleigh sent out an expedition to the interior of South America;
he believed that in Guiana was situated El Dorado, a fabled land of
gold and treasure. He himself on a later voyage went four hundred miles
up the Orinoco River and brought back some gold and the first mahogany
wood seen in England. He wrote an account of his “Discovery of the
Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana.”
In 1603 James I. succeeded Elizabeth on the English throne, and from
that time Raleigh was in disfavor. He was accused of treason; on the
unproved charge he was condemned to death and was kept in prison about
thirteen years with the sentence hanging over him. During this time
he devoted himself to study and wrote his noble “History of the World.”
He was released in 1616 to lead an expedition to the Orinoco. There
he had a skirmish with the Spaniards and brought back no treasure
to appease the king for this attack on the enemy with which James
was trying to keep on friendly terms. The old charge of treason was
revived, and Sir Walter was beheaded in 1618, really as a sacrifice to
gain the good will of Spain. “We have not such another head to be cut
off,” said a bystander at the execution.
Captain John Smith
“Let him not boast who puts his armor on
As he who puts it off, the battle done,”
says an American poet. To the credit of John Smith--soldier, leader,
reformer, discoverer, author--be it remembered that he never “talked
big” till he had “acted big,”--that his deeds ever went before his
words.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH]
He was the first Englishman who wrote a book in the United States.
His “True Relation of Virginia” was written in the intervals between
tree-cutting, house-building, exploration, and adventure, and sent
by the vessel which returned to England in June, 1608. Much doubt
has been cast--Fiske and other historians assert that it has been
unjustly cast--on Smith’s statements. In details--dates and figures--we
may believe that the soldier-author was not always accurate. Had he
misrepresented facts, or misstated essentials, however, we may be sure
he would have been promptly and eagerly contradicted by the “gentlemen
of rank” who were actors and eye-witnesses with him, and who never
missed an opportunity to vent their jealous hate on plain John Smith
who outshone them all.
John Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England, about 1580. As a child he
longed for a life of adventure, and when he was thirteen he sold his
school-books and planned to go to sea; however, he thought better of
the matter and remained at home two years longer with his mother. After
her death he went to the Continent and became a soldier. He served
in France and in Holland and then drifted East to fight against the
Turks. There, he tells us, he had wonderful adventures. During a siege
he fought three Turkish soldiers, one after another, and killed them
all. Later, he was taken prisoner and sold as a slave, but escaped. He
made his way home, through Russia, Austria, Spain, and Morocco. When he
reached England in 1605, he found an expedition being planned to settle
the New World and he resolved to join it.
The first English expeditions to make settlements in America were
sent out under the authority of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter
Raleigh, and other individuals. Later on, the difficult and expensive
work of colonization was undertaken by companies. These had regular
trading agents and workmen, and expected rich profits from trade with
the colonies. The colonies in the New World were encouraged by the
sovereign, also, who regarded them as a check on the power of Spain to
the south and on that of France to the north.
A band of about a hundred men sent out by the London Company, left
England in December, 1606, in three little vessels, the Discovery, the
Good Speed, and the Susan Constant. The party was led by Christopher
Newport who had served under Raleigh and had himself captured Spanish
treasure-ships. After a roundabout voyage by the West Indies, further
delayed by contrary winds, in the spring of 1607 the colonists entered
a noble bay. “The low shores were covered with flowers of divers
colors; the goodly trees were in full foliage, and all nature seemed
kind and benignant.”
The Englishmen called the capes on either side of the bay Cape Henry
and Cape Charles, in honor of the king’s two sons; the river up which
they sailed and the settlement they founded were named for King James.
The landing at Jamestown was made May 13, 1607.
The band was ill fitted for the work before it. In it there were
only a few workmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and masons, and many
“gentlemen”--men “that never did know what a day’s work was,” and that
came for adventure or in search of gold. There had been, it seems,
jealous disputes on the way out, and John Smith had been put under
arrest. After they landed, the settlers opened the sealed instructions
given when they left England and found that Smith was appointed one
of the directors of the colony; at first he was not allowed to take
his place, but in course of time he became not only a director, but
president, of the colony.
Some of the colonists busied themselves those spring days planting
gardens as in England, and planting also cotton and orange trees, we
are told. Others looked around for gold and set out to discover the
Pacific Ocean, which they thought was near at hand. Unfortunately a
malarial site had been chosen for the colony, and in the hot, wet
summer, the men, unaccustomed to the climate, fell sick.
Their ill-health was increased by bad water and lack of food. By
September half of the hundred colonists had died of famine and fever:
there were not enough able-bodied men to bury the dead in decent
fashion; the bodies were “trailed out of their cabins like dogs to
be buried.” Fortunately the Indians did not choose this time for an
attack; instead, they brought corn and game to trade for beads, bells,
and other trinkets.
The Indians of this section were Algonquins, like those later
encountered in Massachusetts, but these were stronger and more hostile.
They attacked the white men, “creeping from the hills like bears, with
their bows in their mouths.” They were repulsed, but for many years
there was the fear and danger of them for the colonists.
The Jamestown colony, like many of the other early ones, was managed by
a “common-store system.” All food and supplies raised or bought were
put into a common store-house and dealt out in equal portions. All
articles collected for export were put into a common store and sent
back to England. There was no reward for individual effort, and many of
the colonists shirked work or labored in a half-hearted fashion.
There was one man who was always ready to do his part and do it well.
This was John Smith. He helped cut trees, and build cabins, and erect
a log palisade around the settlement. He was liked and feared by the
Indians from whom he secured corn needed by the colonists. He was a
sober and upright man and endeavored to establish law and order in the
colony. In order to check the use of bad language, he had account kept
of the oaths uttered by each man and at night for each one a can of
cold water was poured down his sleeve. Strict as he was, he was always
just and reasonable; he set the example of working hard, and never
required of others more than he was willing to perform himself.
His chief relaxation was an adventurous journey in boat or afoot
through the country, of which he gave a glowing description. “Here
are mountains, hills, plains,” he said, “and rivers and brooks all
running most pleasantly into a fair bay, compassed but for the mouth,
with fruitful and delightsome land.... The vesture of the earth in most
places doth manifestly prove the nature of the soil to be lusty and
very rich.”
On one of the expeditions, in December, 1607, into Powhatan’s country
he and the men with him were captured. He was carried to the chief
Powhatan--an old man who was “well beaten with many cold and stormy
winters,” said Captain Smith. Captain Smith tells us that he was
released at the request of the chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, just as he
was about to be killed. This story has been doubted. Nothing is said
about it in the “True Relation” sent from Virginia in 1608. But this
book was brought out by the directors of the Company. It was not to
their interest to publish an incident which showed that the settlers
had the hostility of the great Indian chief. The Company wished the
colony to be thought successful and prosperous so as to induce men to
go out. Later, settlers found it impossible to inform their friends at
home of their sufferings.
In 1608 came more colonists, including some women and children. In this
year Captain Smith set out in an open boat and explored Chesapeake Bay,
of which he made a map that remained the authoritative one for over
a hundred years. Smith returned to Jamestown in September, and was
elected president of the colony which was in sore straits, needing a
firm and able man at its head. “You must obey this now for a law,” he
said, “He that will not work shall not eat.” Under this rule disorder
was suppressed and idlers were forced to labor. Smith’s prudence and
wisdom saved the colony from ruin.