THE NEW WORLD
To most of the sailors of Elizabeth's time the chief inducement to make
a voyage to the westward lay in the possibility of winning Spanish gold
in one way or another, but a few sailed with quite a different object.
A little more than a century before Drake's famous voyage around the
world, Columbus had crossed the Atlantic, hoping to find a shorter
passage to India. In the days of Elizabeth it was well known that a
continent blocked the way to Asia, but mariners had no idea that North
America was nearly as broad as it has proved to be, and they were ever
hoping to find a passage through it to the wonderful countries of
spices and gems and perfumes.
Interest in the New World was increasing. Every year new maps, books of
travel, and descriptions of various parts of the earth, especially of
America, were published, some of the descriptions real and some almost
wholly imaginative; but whatever they were, they always found readers.
One man who watched eagerly for whatever came from the press about the
New World was a sea-captain named Martin Frobisher. He read all these
books, he studied globes and charts, and at last he felt sure that he
knew the way to fame and wealth, but he was a poor man and he could not
carry out his plans alone. He sought an audience with the queen.
"I've heard of you before, my gallant captain," said Elizabeth
graciously. "Didn't you care for the building of one of my ships that
were sent against the Irish rebels?"
"I did, your Majesty, and if only that ship belonged to me, I would put
her to a noble use."
"And what might that be?" asked the queen.
"Your Majesty, men have sailed to the northeast, to the south, and to
the west, but no man has yet gone to the north of the New World. There
lies the way to India, and to find that way is the only thing in all
the world that is yet left undone whereby a man may become both rich
and notable."
"And so you plan to go to the northwest?" asked Elizabeth.
"He who has little gold must have few plans, but it might well be that
as the southern land tapers to a point, so the northern land narrows,
and then with an open sea and a short voyage to Cathay, what would the
wealth of the Spanish mines be to us? We could buy and sell in every
clime. Give us the riches of India, and we could fit out a fleet that
would drive King Philip from the shores of the New World, from the
waters of the Atlantic, from----"
"Perchance from the face of the earth, my captain?" interrupted
Elizabeth. "I promise you that I will think of this scheme of yours."
Elizabeth did think of it, but to her mind there was a far greater
charm in a wild voyage of buccaneering than in the possibilities of
slow gain by trading with people across two oceans, and she gave
Frobisher no help. He won a friend, however, in the Earl of Warwick,
and the fleet of three daring little vessels set out for the north.
Elizabeth did not help to pay the costs of the voyage, but she stood
on the shore and waved her royal hand to the commander as he dropped
slowly down the Thames.
Frobisher came home with great joy. He had entered the strait that is
called after him, and he had seen, as he believed, America lying on his
left hand and Asia on his right. That was surely the way to India. It
is no wonder that crowds went to visit his tiny barque.
"Can you not give me a memento of the voyage?" asked a lady.
"Next year I will bring you a memento from China," answered Frobisher.
"Shall it be silks or jewels or perfumes?"
"Beggars should not be choosers," said the lady with a smile, "but give
me a bit of this strange black stone as a pledge that you will not
forget me next year when you are even more famous than you are to-day."
"One of the sailors brought that aboard," said Frobisher. "It looks
like sea-coal, but it is as heavy as iron."
This little gift put Frobisher at the head of a fleet of fifteen
vessels, but he was no longer free to win glory as an explorer. The
bit of black stone was dropped into the fire to see whether it would
burn, and then vinegar was poured upon it. It glittered, and an Italian
chemist declared that it was rich in gold. After this there was no
difficulty in raising funds for a voyage to the marvelous country of
the north where gold lay about on the surface of the ground.
The ships sailed, but they met icebergs, fog, and storm. Frobisher
hesitated. He believed that he could force his way to the Pacific, but
his orders were to make sure of the gold, and he loaded his ships with
what proved to be only worthless earth. In later years he won honors
and wealth, but his dream of finding the Northwest Passage was never
realized.
Thus far most people had thought of America as a place where a man
might be fortunate enough to find a gold mine, but where he was quite
as likely to be killed by the Indians or captured by the Spaniards.
Others looked upon it as a troublesome mass of land that blocked the
way to the riches of commerce with India. To one young courtier this
strange New World was something more than the home of possible gold
mines, and in his mind it was certainly not an obstacle to wealth and
success. This young man was named Walter Raleigh. He had shown his
scholarship at Oxford and his bravery in a campaign in Ireland. It came
to pass that he and the lord deputy of Ireland disagreed. "I wish to
defend myself before the royal council," said Raleigh. This defence was
managed so skilfully that the queen listened with the closest attention.
"Bring that young Raleigh to me," she commanded when the council
dissolved.
Raleigh knelt before her and kissed her hand.
"Young man," said she, "you seem to have been in no way worsted by
those mighty councilors of mine."
"Your Majesty," answered Raleigh with the look of admiration that was
so dear to Elizabeth, "could one fail to be aroused to the best that is
in him when he has the honor of speaking in the glorious presence of
his sovereign?"
"What can you do?" asked the queen bluntly, but most graciously, for
this kind of flattery was ever a delight to her.
"Shall I bring from Ireland the bodies of those who have dared to rebel
against your Majesty's wise and gentle rule?" asked Raleigh, "that they
may testify of me?"
"You can fight. Can you do aught beside?"
"Truly, yes, I can count myself the happiest and most favored of
mortals in that upon me is turned the kindly thought of her who
surpasseth all other women as far as the glowing sun doth surpass the
beams of the farthing rushlight."
Raleigh was wise enough to keep the favor that he had won. Elizabeth
could rebuke a maid of honor for wearing too expensive a gown, but of
her courtiers she demanded the most handsome attire that their purses
could provide. This new favorite had only a shallow purse, but he
willingly spent every penny that he could raise on brilliant apparel,
and he neglected no opportunity to make himself of use to the queen.
One morning the rain was falling fast, and one of the ladies in waiting
said:--
"Surely your Majesty will remain indoors to-day."
"My servants may dread the raindrops," answered Elizabeth, "but a queen
should fear nothing."
"With two thousand gowns she may well afford to spoil one for every
shower," said one lady to another. This was before the days of
umbrellas, but there was nothing to do save to hope for sunshine. The
hour for the walk came, and the queen went forth. The sun had come out.
"Someone has been praying for clear skies," said she, "and verily I
wish he had broadened his prayer a bit and prayed also for dry ground."
"It must have been young Raleigh," said one of the ladies to another a
little pointedly. "He loves to dwell in the sunshine as the moth loves
the beam of the candle."
"There isn't another man in England who can tell just what to do in any
difficulty as well as he," declared another lady.
"Then I would that he were here now," whispered the first. "The queen
will go straight across that miry place, and if she is ill, we shall
have to bear the blame."
"There he comes as if he had been sent for by courier," said the
second, for Raleigh was approaching. He was decked out in the bravest
attire and was daintily picking his way along the muddy road.
"It's but this day week that he had a new scarlet cloak," said a lady
in the train, "and see the gorgeousness of the blue plush that he
wears this morning! I'll warrant he put his last shilling into it."
The queen hesitated a moment, but there was no hesitation in Raleigh.
Quick as thought, he slipped off the shining blue plush mantle and
spread it on the ground before Elizabeth.
"She who is to her devoted people the glory of the sunlight must never
fail to see under her feet the reflection of that clear sky which
her shining has bestowed upon her fortunate subjects." So said the
courtier, and he well knew that in the glance of approval given him by
Elizabeth lay the promise of many cloaks.
He rose rapidly in the queen's favor. She gave him whatever he asked,
and he did not hesitate to ask for what he wanted. Elizabeth had a
fashion of rewarding a favorite by giving him a "monopoly," as it was
called, that is, the sole right to sell some one thing. One man had
the right to sell gunpowder, another salt, while yet another was the
only man in England who was allowed to collect and export old shoes.
To Raleigh she gave the privilege of exporting woolen cloth, and at
another time the sole right to sell wine in the kingdom. He was no
longer a poor young courtier, straining every resource to dress as
handsomely as the taste of the queen demanded. Now he wore silver armor
that sparkled with rubies and pearls and diamonds. Even his shoes were
so encrusted with jewels that they were said to be worth more than six
thousand gold pieces. Money flowed freely into his coffers. Besides
Elizabeth's other gifts, he could ask for his monopolies whatever price
he chose, and whoever wished to buy must pay it. There were rumors that
this brilliant young favorite had higher aspirations, even to the hand
of the queen herself. The story is told that one day when Raleigh was
standing by a window, tracing idly scrolls and letters on the pane with
a diamond, he heard the queen coming up softly behind him. He went on
as if he did not know of her presence and wrote on the glass:--
"Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall."
Elizabeth drew a diamond ring from her finger and put an ending to the
couplet:--
"If thy heart fail thee, do not climb at all."
With such encouragement, it is no wonder that Raleigh felt sure of her
interest in whatever he wished to attempt. He had a great undertaking
in mind, and between his compliments to Elizabeth his thoughts often
turned to the westward, to the wonderful New World. It was not hard
to persuade the queen to give him a grant of land in America, and he
sent out two barques to explore the coast north of Florida. When the
skippers returned, Raleigh brought them before the queen.
"Is this new country so much better than our own old England?" she
asked.
"Nothing could be better than the land which has the happiness to be
ruled directly by your Majesty," answered Raleigh, "but, truly, the New
World is a goodly place."
"How does it differ from our land?" asked the queen of one of the
skippers, and he answered:--
"Your Majesty, as we drew near the shore, there was no smell of wharfs
or fishing, but a fragrance as if we were in the midst of some delicate
garden."
"We have perfumes in England," said the queen. "Did you discover
anything better than pleasant odors?" she asked of the second skipper.
"Yes, your Majesty, we found what is not in all England, for when we
landed, the low, sandy shore was so overgrown with grapes that the very
beating and surge of the sea overflowed them; the vines ran over hills
and plains, they climbed every little shrub, and they made their way
to the tops of the cedars. I do think that in all the world the like
abundance is not to be found."
"Perfumes and grapes," said the queen. "Raleigh, my man, that is a good
beginning. Send your skippers away, and tell me what is your request,
for I know you have one. When will you ever cease begging, Walter?"
"When you cease to be so kind a benefactress," was the courtier's
shrewd and graceful reply.
The skippers were sent away, and the queen said:--
"Now tell me about this land of grapes. Fruit and perfumes are well
enough, but they do little to fill an empty treasury. What else lies
within your patent?"
"There are beasts of all kinds that roam the forests, there are birds
and fish, there are the highest and reddest cedars of the world, coral
of red and white, pearls, fruits, vegetables, natives that are gentle
and kindly and void of all guile and treason."
"What do you call this paradise of yours?"
"The natives call it Wingina."
"I'll give you a better name. It was visited while a virgin queen was
on the throne, so call it Virginia, and I'll be its godmother."
"O, Madam," said Raleigh with enthusiasm, "never had a sovereign such a
chance to add to the glory of her renown. America is not only a country
in which one may make a fortune, it is a fortune in itself. Why should
it not become a second home of the English nation?"
The queen's eyes kindled. "How could that be?" she asked.
"Your Majesty," he answered, eagerly, "the soil of Virginia is the
richest in the world. The natives sow their corn in May and they reap
it in July; they sow it again in June and July, and they reap it but
two months after the planting. Our men put peas into the ground, and in
ten days they were fourteen inches high. Beans and wheat and oats may
be had for the asking."
"And supposing my good friend Philip should fall upon these amazingly
fertile lands, he might put the colonists to the sword even before
their peas were above the ground."
"Might we not also fancy a strong band of colonists building vessels
of the goodly trees of the Virginia forests and sailing out boldly
into the Atlantic to capture the treasure ships of Spain? Might not
the colonists steer to the northward and free our Newfoundland fishing
grounds from the hateful presence of the Spaniard?"
"'Walter, thou reasonest well,'" laughed the queen, "but one little
thing you've mayhap forgot. Tell me, Walter, my man, where shall we
find these worthy colonists who are to raise corn in two months and
fight King Philip while it is growing?"
"Your Majesty," answered the courtier gravely, "those who are driven
from England will be our colonists."
"Driven from England," repeated the queen, "what mean you by that?"
"Our farmers have long been raising sheep instead of grain," said he.
"One man can easily care for many sheep. Those men that are driven
from their old farm work can find naught else to do. They must starve
or steal, and, Madam, it grieves me sorely to see that twenty or even
thirty are often hanged before the hour of noon for stealing a shilling
or perchance but a morsel of bread."
"They who steal must be punished," said the queen, "but it would please
me well if there were some other remedy than hanging."
"The corn of Virginia will be a remedy, my queen, and there is yet
another benefit that would come to England from colonies across the
Atlantic. We wish to spread our commerce to foreign lands, but if we
have a second England on the other side of the sea, will not our own
countrymen of America buy and sell with us? Cannot laws be made that
they shall trade with no others, if, indeed, they should be so disloyal
as to think of such a thing? Why need we care for trade with a nation
across the Pacific when we can trade with our own people in Virginia?"
"Walter, you are wonderfully in earnest about this scheme of yours.
It would ill become me to question the fairness or worthiness of my
godchild, and I will think of what you say, I will think of it."
Elizabeth thought of the plan, indeed the air was so full of talk
about the proposed Virginian colony that she could have hardly helped
thinking about it. In Virginia there was fertile soil, a good hope
of finding gems and gold, and little probability of trouble with the
Indians. Her councilors discussed the plan. Said one to another:--
"Think you that the queen will aid young Raleigh?"
"'Sir Walter' you must say now that he has become a knight," rejoined
the second. "Yes, I do believe that she will. Has she not followed his
every whim till Leicester has fairly turned green with jealousy? She
has just given him the wine monopoly, and that is worth thousands of
pounds in a single year. If she gives him that, would she withhold aid
for the bringing up of this 'godchild' of hers?"
"You're a shrewd man, I admit," said the first, "but I've watched this
queen of ours since she was no higher than my table, and I've never
yet seen her affection for any one get the better of her. She's a
woman, but she's also a queen, and she's more queen than woman."
"I'm not the man to hold an opinion and fear to back it up," rejoined
the other. "I've a fair bit of land down in Devon, and I'll wager it
against that house of yours in London that she'll help 'educate the
godchild.'"
The land was lost, for Elizabeth could not bear to part with her gold
pieces unless she could be sure of a generous return. Raleigh did not
give up his plan, however, and soon a company of colonists was sent to
Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. The colony
failed because the new settlers were too eager to search for gold to
spend their time planting corn and beans, or even peas that would grow
fourteen inches in ten days. "They are lazy and homesick, and they talk
too much," reported the governor, and when a fleet of Drake's came to
shore, they all went aboard and sailed for home.
These homesick colonists carried tobacco with them to England,
and smoking soon became the fashionable amusement. Sir Walter was
enthusiastic in its praise.
"One would think that this wonderful plant of yours was your own
child," said the queen to him as he sat puffing out the smoke from his
silver pipe, "you claim for it so many virtues."
"You say well, Madam," declared Sir Walter. "It is verily a wonderful
plant."
"And I suppose you would even say that you could tell the weight of
that smoke of yours. There's no boundary to your impudence."
"Indeed I can, your Majesty," returned Sir Walter calmly.
"I'll wager this pin against your buckle that you cannot," retorted the
queen.
"I'll take the wager," said he, "and with the more joy since the
experiment will secure me the delight of your presence." He weighed
some tobacco and put it into his pipe. Then after he had smoked it he
weighed the ashes. "The difference is the weight of the smoke," said
he, and Elizabeth paid the bet. "Many a man have I known who has turned
his gold into smoke," she declared merrily, "but you are surely the
first who has turned his smoke into gold. You're a marvelous man, Sir
Walter."