Early English Colonisation
(1603-1688).
(1) ENGLAND'S SUCCESS IN COLONIZING.
1. As far as we have gone in our story we have followed the fortunes
of England in the times of the Tudors, and have seen her rise to a
high place among the nations as one of the great Sea Powers. So far
we have spoken only of the making of _England_ and its expansion into
the "United Kingdom." What we have said, as yet, relates only to the
laying of the foundation-stones on which the British Empire has been
built. Our next task is to show how that empire began and how it
afterwards grew and became great. When James I. came to the throne
of England the _King's Realm_ was limited to the _Home Countries_
that form the United Kingdom. The rest of the empire has been
acquired in the course of the three centuries that separate the death
of Queen Elizabeth from that of Queen Victoria.
2. The expansion of the empire has been effected in three ways: (1)
by peaceful occupation, (2) by force of arms, and (3) by friendly
treaty. When the territory taken possession of was thinly occupied
by wandering tribes, as in North America, or by mere savages, as in
Australia, we have been able to gain an easy settlement without the
sacrifice of many lives. Some countries have come to us as the fruit
of conquest, examples of which we have in India, Canada, and Cape
Colony. And certain territories we have acquired by purchase or by
friendly arrangement with the native chiefs, as in the case of New
Zealand and the Straits Settlements.
3. Of these possessions only a certain number are rightly termed
_colonies_. True British colonies are settlements where men from our
own shores have been able to make a permanent home, found a family,
and rear children in robust health. Men of our stock can only plant
such colonies where a temperate climate prevails, where wheat and
other cereals thrive, and where flocks and herds can be successfully
reared; such colonies we have in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
4. But the term "colony" has a wider application than this. We
speak, for instance, of our West Indian colonies, where the climate
is too hot for our race to flourish. Here the British resident is
usually the owner of some plantation of sugar or tobacco, and for
some years he superintends his crops, but always returns "home" as
soon as he has made what he considers sufficient to live upon, in
comfort, for the rest of his days. In fact, the term "colony" is
generally applied to any of the British possessions beyond the seas,
with the exception of India. And the whole of such possessions, with
the same exception, may be conveniently referred to as our _Colonial
Empire_.
5. It is now admitted on all sides that the British have surpassed
all nations in the art of colonizing. Their success is due to a
variety of causes, among which we may reckon their adventurous
spirit, their love of liberty, their energy and enterprise. This
spirit has made the Briton often restless and discontented with what
he considers his humdrum life at home. It has driven him forth to
seek a more varied and fuller life in the midst of dangers and
difficulties, where he hopes to find free scope for his energies, and
full liberty to follow his own bent and go his own way. But the mere
spirit of adventure would not have insured success. That has come to
him because he is gifted with great pluck, where fighting has to be
done, with good staying power under stress and storm, with
self-reliance when cut off from friends, and above all with a spirit
of justice and fair-play.
6. Possessing these qualities he has been able to conquer his foes
and afterwards to gain their good-will. When, for instance, the
brave Sikhs of India were thoroughly beaten, they readily took
service under our flag and helped us to put down the Sepoy Mutiny.
To make the men you have conquered follow you gladly; that is the
secret of empire. England's success in colonizing and ruling the
native races within the borders of her realm is also largely due to
the fact that she has avoided that common fault of most other nations
in dealing with their colonies--over-governing, treating them as
children needing precise rules and many restrictions. England, on
the other hand, has seldom kept her colonies in leading-strings
longer than it was necessary.
7. Much, however, of Britain's success in the management of her
colonies is the result of experience, and the outcome of repeated
failure, which is always ready to yield lessons of wisdom to those
who are willing to learn. We did not learn all at once to set a true
value on colonies. Their worth was measured, at first, by the amount
of gold or silver that could be got out of them. It took some time
for the truth to be clearly seen that _the richest land is that which
can feed most people_.
8. If we wish now-a-days to ascertain the value of any colony to the
motherland, we ask ourselves one or two such questions as these: Is
it a country where our surplus population may make new permanent
homes and bring up healthy families? Is it a country that offers a
good field of commerce for our merchants? We usually find that
"trade follows the flag." Where the Union Jack flies, there, as a
rule, the people trade mostly with the home-country. In New Zealand,
for instance, seven-tenths of the total trade is done with the United
Kingdom.
9. We have thus learned to value our colonies chiefly as places for
the reception of our surplus products and population. And our
success in keeping them attached to the motherland and loyal to the
old flag, that has "braved a thousand years the battle and the
breeze," arises from the fact, that we leave them as free as possible
to manage their own affairs and to spend their own money in their own
way. And this is only right, for a colony has a great deal to do for
itself which has been done for us in the old country by our
forefathers. A young colony, like a young householder, has to
furnish and set its house in order. It has, for example, to provide
roads and bridges, railways, and telegraphs; it has to bank the
rivers, drain the marshes, and clear the forests. It is, therefore,
only right that no attempt should be made to tax our colonies or to
restrict their trade for the benefit of the mother-country.
(2) ENGLAND'S FIRST COLONY.
1. Sir Walter Raleigh made strenuous efforts, in the reign of
Elizabeth, to found a colony in Virginia, but the men who first
consented to go as emigrants, were not true colonists, but mere
adventurers on the hunt for gold. Failing in their search for gold,
they returned to England, taking with them a sample of the strange
herb they had learnt from the Indians to smoke. Two further attempts
made by Raleigh to colonize Virginia ended in failure and disaster.
2. The first offshoot of the English race destined to take root in
America, sailed from England in the third year of James I.'s reign.
After a tedious voyage the expedition entered Chesapeake Bay too late
in the season for the seed they had brought with them to be sown that
year (1607). Ascending a stream which they called the James River,
they chose for the site of their settlement a peninsula about forty
miles from its mouth, where they built a village of rude huts to
which they gave the name of Jamestown, and which proved the first
permanent settlement of the English in the New World.
3. It cannot be said that these emigrants deserved to succeed any
better than those who preceded them. We can only wonder, after the
sad experience already bought at such a heavy cost, that men of the
same stamp should still be sent over as colonists. Most of the
present company were mere idle adventurers and worthless fellows who
had never done an honest day's work at home. The new colony,
consequently, was soon in danger of extinction. In six months half
of the settlers were swept away by disease, wretched food, and other
hardships. The remnant owed its escape to the resource and energy of
one of their number, John Smith, who is entitled to the honour of
being the first to plant the English race within the borders of what
is now the United States.
4. Smith was a true Briton in many things besides the name, a man
who would "stand no nonsense," who on being chosen leader soon made
it plain that no drones should live in the hive. He soon proved
himself the head and heart of the whole colony. Having provided a
plenteous store of deer's flesh, wild-fowl, and maize-bread for the
winter--"for he was more wakeful to gather provisions than the
covetous to find gold"--he left the camp to explore the country
round. Whilst thus engaged, Smith had the misfortune to fall into
the hands of Indians.
5. "I was brought," he says, "to the village where the great chief
Powhatan has his spacious wigwam. There they performed a war-dance
around me, every one in the ring brandishing his weapons. One of my
captors having been wounded, I cried out that at Jamestown I had some
medicine to cure him. They would not let me fetch it; but I was
permitted to send a letter, in which I asked my friends to put what I
wanted under a great rock outside the town. To the astonishment of
the Indian messengers who delivered my letter, the things I had
promised were found by them the next day at the appointed place. On
their return every one was full of wonder because of the
'talking-leaf.'"
6. "They thought it was all due to magic, and met in council to
decide my fate. Some feared to put me to death, others feared to let
me live. After a long and solemn talk there was a dead silence,
whilst a huge stone was dragged into the centre, and I was forced to
kneel down beside it, Indians standing around with their heavy clubs.
At this critical moment the chief's daughter, Pocahontas, a young
girl of ten or twelve, flew to my side and, spreading her arms over
me pleaded for my life. Another council was held, and I was set
free."
7. Meanwhile everything had fallen into confusion at Jamestown, and
Smith had much ado to keep the men from sailing away in the pinnace.
In the following spring another party of emigrants arrived, composed
mostly of mere reckless adventurers, whose one object was to find
gold. "When you send again," Smith wrote to the Council at home, "I
entreat you rather send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners,
fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees' roots than a
thousand of such as we have.... Nothing is to be won here but by
honest toil." Under Smith's rule the colony passed safely through
another winter, and then an explosion of a bag of gunpowder slung
around his neck, rendered him for a time useless, and he returned to
England.
8. The colony went to pieces in Smith's absence, and within six
months of his departure it was reduced to a miserable remnant of
sixty persons, supporting themselves mainly on roots and berries.
They were on the point of abandoning their settlement and had just
reached the mouth of the river when they were astonished by the sight
of a ship coming up to meet them. The ship was the forerunner of a
small squadron, under the command of Lord de la Warr, who had been
sent to the relief of the colony.
9. The turning-point had come. The new governor had brought
provisions for a year and a large band of emigrants. He assembled
the old settlers, sternly rebuked them for their "sluggish idleness,"
and entreated them to amend their ways, and so avoid the sword of
justice, which he was determined to wield. It is amusing to read the
old chronicler's idea of hard work. "Let not any man," says he, "be
discouraged by the relation of their daily labour. It began at six
and went on till ten, and again from two to four when they went to
church, and after that returned home and received their rations."
10. With the coming of Lord de la Warr, the prospects of the colony
began to brighten and progress to be made. The first decided step
onward was taken when a few acres of land were assigned to each
settler for his orchard and garden and other private uses. Hitherto
all had been expected to work for the common good, and the result had
been reluctant labour and waste of time, the few willing to work
having no heart to do so, when the majority were idly whiling away
the time. Hence we see the advantage of giving every man the right
to hold private property.
11. The colonists for some little time lost much of their labour in
growing grapes, but on turning their chief attention and care to the
cultivation of tobacco, they found themselves on the highway to
prosperity. Very soon the fields, the gardens, the public squares,
even the sides of the streets of Jamestown, were planted with tobacco
for the English market. Few women had as yet dared to cross the
Atlantic, but the growing prosperity of the colony induced ninety
women to throw in their lot with their countrymen in Virginia. They
were not long in finding husbands. Thus arose new English homes in
the land beyond the seas. England's first colony had taken root, and
in time a new English nation sprang therefrom.
[Illustration: THE PILGRIM FATHERS LEAVING ENGLAND.]
12. From the many blunders made in trying to found our first colony,
we learned how to secure success in similar undertakings in future.
Virginia served as our school of wisdom and experience in planting
colonies; we had still to learn, by losing her and her sister states,
how to keep colonies within the empire after planting them.
(3) "FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND."
1. The second English colony in America was founded, in 1620, by a
very different class of persons from those reckless adventurers who,
in Elizabeth's reign, threw away their lives in Virginia. The
founders of _New England_, as this second colony was named, were a
devoted band of earnest persons, knit together by religious ties, who
went out there as pilgrims in search of a land where they could enjoy
religious freedom.
2. The "Pilgrim Fathers," as many love to call them, belonged to the
religious body known as "Puritans." The Puritans thought that the
English Church needed further reform, and many of them refused to
attend divine worship in the parish churches as the law directed.
For their disobedience, they had been fined and in other ways
punished. When James I. came to the throne, they hoped to be left
free to worship God as they thought best. In this they were,
unhappily, doomed to disappointment.
3. King James was exceedingly bitter against the Puritans, and said,
"I will make them conform, or harry them out of the land." And out
of the land the more zealous resolved to go. They first sought an
asylum in Holland; but they could not feel at home there, for the
language and manners of the Dutch seemed to them harsh and uncouth.
At last they were moved to make real English homes for themselves
across the Atlantic.
4. They knew from the reports that had come to them that they must
expect much toil and suffering. "But we are well weaned," wrote
their pastor, "from the delicate milk of the mother-country, and
inured to the difficulties of a strange land; the people are
industrious and frugal. We are knit together as a body in a most
sacred covenant of the Lord, by virtue whereof we hold ourselves
strictly tied to all care of each other's good and of the whole. It
is not with us as with men whom small things can discourage."
5. Accordingly, a little company of one hundred and twenty,
including men, women, and children, set sail from Plymouth in the
_Mayflower_, bound for the country round the river Hudson. But the
captain of the _Mayflower_, either mistaking his course, or driven
out of it, brought his ship to anchor in the harbour of Cape Cod, on
a barren and bleak coast in Massachusetts. The country was then
buried in snow, and the whole winter was before them. There were
none to show them kindness or bid them welcome, but they were not
disheartened.
6. The first thing was to choose a good spot for the settlement. An
exploring party landed, but after several days discovered nothing of
value but a heap of maize in a deserted Indian village. Many graves
were scattered about the country, but no Indians were seen. They
afterwards learnt that a pestilence had swept off the Indians in that
part, so that no difficulty arose from the hostility of the natives.
7. Meanwhile the carpenter had been busy repairing their large boat
or shallop. As soon as it was ready a party set off to explore the
coast. The cold was so severe that the spray of the waves froze as
it fell on them, making their clothes like coats of steel. On the
third day, the pilot of the shallop, who had been in those regions
before, assures them that they can reach a good harbour before
nightfall. After some hours' sailing, a storm of snow and rain
breaks upon them: the sea swells, the rudder breaks, the boat must
now be steered with oars; the storm increases and night is at hand.
To reach the harbour before dark, as much sail as possible is borne;
the mast breaks into three pieces and the sail falls overboard. But
the tide is favourable, and as darkness sets in, they enter a fair
harbour, and step ashore wet, and cold, and weak.
8. Morning, as it dawned, showed the place to be a small island in a
well-sheltered bay. Here they remained for a day to recruit, and as
the next day was the "Christian Sabbath," they felt bound to rest and
"keep it holy." On Monday the exploring party made their way to the
mainland. The granite boulder on which they stepped on landing has
ever since been treasured by their descendants. Here the "Pilgrim
Fathers" resolved to settle. They called the town, which in time
grew up on this spot, _New Plymouth_, in memory of the port from
which they had last set sail.
9. No holiday-task lay before the settlers. Huts had to be built in
the intervals of rain and snow. Meanwhile the _Mayflower_ was their
home, but so ill provided were they for enduring the rigours of
winter that by cold or famine half the company were cut off before
the spring. In April, the vessel which had sheltered them so long
sailed away for England, leaving the survivors ready to bear their
hard lot with a stout heart. Thrifty and industrious as they were,
their progress was very slow; and at the end of ten years they
numbered only three hundred souls. They had, however, struck deep
root and remained steadfast. "Let it not be grievous unto you," some
of their brethren in England had written to them in the midst of
their sufferings, "that yours has been the task to break the ice for
others. The honour shall be yours to the world's end."
10. At last the time came for a large increase of their numbers from
home. In 1630 seven hundred emigrants set sail for the land of
freedom in the West; for Charles I. was now on the throne and had
begun his arbitrary rule. Before the assembling of the Long
Parliament (1640), which carried on the struggle that ended with the
execution of the king, no less than two hundred emigrant ships,
carrying twenty thousand Englishmen, had crossed the Atlantic. Nor
were these men the waifs and strays, the mere wreckage of society,
but men of means and character, ready to risk all for the privilege
of serving God according to their conscience. As the ships bore them
away out of sight of their native land, they remembered it, not with
feelings of bitterness for the ill treatment they had received on
account of their religion, but as the home of their fathers. As its
shores faded from their sight there arose from every heart the tender
cry, "_Farewell, dear England!_"
(4) PROGRESS IN COLONIZING.
1. We have now sketched out the circumstances attending the planting
of our first two colonies--Virginia and New England. Between these
two colonies was planted another, called Maryland, in honour of
Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I.
2. _Maryland_ was in most respects a highly-favoured colony. It was
founded, in 1633, by Lord Baltimore, who seems to have risen above
most men of his age in his readiness to tolerate men of a different
faith from his own. Baltimore declared himself a Catholic, and was
desirous of providing a home in America for men of his creed, since
they were debarred from the free exercise of their religion in
England. Neither Virginia nor New England would have suited his
purpose; none but members of the Church of England were welcomed in
the former, and none but Puritans of the strictest order were
tolerated in the latter.
3. It was otherwise ordered in Maryland. "No person within this
province," ran the earliest law of the colony, "professing to be a
Christian, shall be in any way troubled or molested for his or her
religion, or in the free exercise thereof." Due consideration also
was shown to the rights of the natives. The first act of the
governor was to purchase land from the Indians, and with their
consent he took possession of a village, which he named St. Mary's.
The settlers then went resolutely to work, learning all they could
from the natives, whose goodwill it was easy to gain by presents of
cloth and axes, of hoes and knives.
The Indian women taught the wives of the new comers to make bread of
maize; the warriors of the tribe gave many valuable hints in hunting
and fishing. Thus the foundation of Maryland was peacefully and
happily laid. In six months it advanced more than Virginia had done
in as many years.
4. In the course of the next hundred years such progress was made in
building up a new English nation on the other side of the Atlantic,
that no less than thirteen flourishing colonies, including the three
already mentioned, were established in what is now the United States.
But as these colonies have long ceased to form part of our empire we
do not propose to give here any further details respecting them. We
cannot, however, but feel proud of the fact that the great American
nation has sprung mainly from our race, that it speaks our language,
that its laws are based on ours, and that it inherits our love of
justice and freedom.
5. Whilst the colonies that have since grown into the United States
were taking root, our countrymen settled in some of the American
islands, which have since become valuable possessions. An English
vessel bound for Virginia, when it was an infant colony, happened to
be wrecked on one of the Bermuda islands. The _Bermudas_ form a
cluster of a hundred small islands, and in one of the recesses of the
inland sea, which they enclose, is a splendid harbour with an
entrance so narrow as to render it beyond the reach of attack.
Seeing the value of these islands as a secure refuge for our shipping
in the North Atlantic, the shipwrecked mariner took possession in the
name of King James, and ever since they have remained in our hands as
a military post and naval station of no mean importance.
6. In the West India Islands also the English, in spite of the
Spaniards, gained a footing, _Barbados_ being their earliest
settlement in that quarter. The first recorded visit of Englishmen
was in the year 1605, when the crew of the "Olive Blossom" landed,
and erected a cross as a memorial of the event, cutting at the same
time upon the bark of a tree, "James, King of England and of this
island." Barbados was the first English colony in which the
sugar-cane was planted, and sugar soon became a great source of
wealth to the planters. The civil war in the reign of Charles I.
induced many Englishmen to cast in their lot with the settlers of
this little island in the summer seas. Many of the West India
Islands have changed hands more than once, but Barbados from its
first settlement, in 1624, has remained in our possession.
7. _Jamaica_, the largest of our West India colonies, fell as easily
as a ripe fruit into English hands in the days of Cromwell's rule.
Cromwell took great pride in his new colony, and aided the colonists
very materially by sending some thousands of Scottish prisoners of
war after his victory at Worcester, to work in the sugar plantations.
These men after a few years became free labourers, and many worked
their way, as Scotsmen know how, to high place and fortune.
8. _Newfoundland_ claims to be the oldest British colony. True, it
was taken possession of by Gilbert in the name of Queen Elizabeth,
but no regular settlement was made there until long afterwards. The
island was inhabited mainly by a floating population that came and
went. Some thousands of fishermen came in spring, and on the
approach of winter re-embarked with the cod they had caught and
cured. The English government wanted no regular settlers here. They
wished to preserve the island simply as a fishing-station, and the
fisheries as nurseries for the navy. In spite of all discouragement
settlers constantly increased, but more than a hundred years passed,
after Gilbert took possession, before the first governor was
appointed.
9. The country around _Hudson Bay_ was claimed by the English by
right of discovery. Hudson Strait and Bay recall the name of Henry
Hudson, who, in the service of King James, first entered and explored
these seas. His fate is, perhaps, the saddest that any of the brave
men, engaged in discoveries in these icy regions, have suffered. The
crew mutinied, and Hudson, with his son and seven others, was turned
adrift in a small boat and never afterwards heard of.
10. The Hudson Bay Company was authorised by Charles II. in 1670, to
take possession of the lands around Hudson Bay. It was soon found
that the country was too cold for colonists to settle in it, but that
a valuable fur trade could be carried on. "Forts," or
trading-stations, were accordingly set up on the shores of the Bay,
and trade was opened with the Indian trappers who came once a year
with their annual catch of furs.
11. Each summer a ship arrived from London, bringing all that the
Indian most needed or most fancied, such as guns, knives, axes,
spirits, looking-glasses, blankets, beads, and trinkets of all sorts.
When these had been properly arranged in the great room of the fort,
the traffic began. The Indians were first admitted to the outer room
with their bundles of furs. Each skin was examined and the price
decided on was paid in the form of little coloured sticks. With
these counters each red man passed into the inner room and exchanged
them for such articles as he wished to purchase.
12. Before concluding this short sketch of the progress made in
English colonization during the reigns of the Stuarts, justice
compels us to say that the "Merry Monarch"--who is supposed never to
have said a foolish thing, and never to have done a wise one--acted
wisely on behalf of his colonies. He established a Colonial Council
to take the oversight of all the colonies and see to their welfare.
They were to arrange for a common system of government and trade, to
assist the right sort of people to emigrate, and to bind the
mother-country and the colonies together by schemes for mutual help.
(5) STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY AT SEA.
1. Britain has long been acknowledged mistress of the seas, and our
very existence as a nation, still more as an empire, depends on our
being able to keep that position; for it is only by command of the
sea that we can defend the scattered parts of our empire, and make
sure of being fed at home, seeing that a large part of our food comes
from abroad. England began to be a great Sea Power when the Spanish
Armada was destroyed (1588), but more than a hundred years had yet to
pass before she could lay undisputed claim to the foremost place upon
the seas. Meanwhile, a great struggle took place between the Dutch
and English for the leading place.
2. No braver or more skilful seamen ever sailed the seas than our
Dutch rivals. Holland was at last obliged to yield the palm, because
she had to defend her borders from attack by France on land whilst
carrying on war with England at sea. We owe much to the fact that
our land is encircled by the sea. Hence Shakespeare speaks of it as
"This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands."
3. Had James I. been like the great queen whom he succeeded, Holland
would probably not have got the start of England, as she did, when he
was king. Under his timid government our nation sank to a low place
among the Powers of Europe, whilst Holland stepped forward and took
our place as the rival of Spain, and in the course of a few years
made herself the first maritime state in the world. The Dutch became
great ship-builders, and in their ships carried on the trade of a
large part of Europe. They became in fact the great ocean carriers
of the day, holding the position which is now held by ourselves; or
to quote the writer of _Fights for the Flag_--"They swept the Spanish
flag from the seas. The carrying trade of the world was in their
hands. They fished in all waters, traded in all ports, gathered the
wealth of the world under all skies, and, as far as marine qualities
were concerned, might almost have been web-footed."
4. During our Civil War, in the reign of Charles I., the Dutch
profited much by our home troubles. Much of the English trade fell
into their hands, their ships being largely employed in carrying
goods to and from our English ports. But no sooner was King Charles
executed than steps were taken to revive English shipping. In the
early days of the Commonwealth a _Navigation Act_ was passed, which
struck a serious blow at the Dutch carrying trade. By this Act it
was ordered that no goods should be imported into England except in
English vessels, or in those belonging to the country in which the
goods were produced.
5. The Dutch regarded this Act as a dagger aimed at their heart.
There was another thing which rankled within them. English ships of
war had for centuries claimed the right to require all foreign ships
to salute them by lowering their topsails, or striking their flag,
whenever they met in the narrow waters of the English Channel; and
now, under the rule of Cromwell, the captains of our warships were
ordered to enforce this claim. Before long "the greatest naval power
of the day and the greatest naval power of the future" launched their
forces against each other--the Dutch under their celebrated admiral,
Van Tromp, and the English under Robert Blake, who became equally
famous.
6. The English were first afloat. Blake sailed north to sweep the
Dutch fishermen off the coasts of England and Scotland; for the
poaching of the Hollanders had been one of the grievances which
brought on the war. This was an easy task. The enemy's guard-ships
were taken or sunk, the cargoes of poached herrings were thrown into
the sea; but the fishermen's boats were spared by the English
Admiral, since they belonged, as he said, to poor families and formed
their only means of a livelihood. Dutch merchantmen returning from
the Indies were snapped up in the Channel and sent as prizes up the
Thames in scores. Very soon Van Tromp was on the heels of our
admiral with a magnificent fleet, but a storm so battered his ships
that he had to return and refit.
7. On the approach of winter the English fleet broke up for their
winter quarters; for at that time the thought of a winter campaign
never entered men's minds. Van Tromp, however, was daring enough to
face the winter storms and take the risk. He suddenly appeared off
the Downs with ninety sail. Blake could only muster half that
number, but he thought it more honourable to risk a battle than seek
safety in flight. The unequal contest went on doggedly till dusk,
when Blake withdrew his shattered fleet into the Thames after three
of his ships had been sunk and two taken.
8. Van Tromp now sailed the Channel, it is said, with a broom at the
mast-head of his ship as a sign that he had "swept the English from
the Channel." The English did not regard the result of the battle
with dismay. On the contrary, the reports of the battle were read
with pride; and the Council of State thanked Blake for his services.
The real battle which should decide the question of superiority at
sea had yet to be fought.
9. Van Tromp's triumph with the broom at his masthead did not last
long. In less than three months the English were again on the sea
with a powerful fleet, and took up their station off Portland. They
had no need to go in search of Tromp, for he could not help bringing
the merchant-ships that he was escorting home right past them. At
length he was seen coming up the Channel with a huge convoy of at
least 150 sail under his wing. His warships were between them and
the English. The moment had come, and every sailor in the two ships
felt it, to test their prowess. It was the first time the two great
admirals had met on equal terms.
10. The close and desperate fighting that ensued told sorely on both
sides. A hundred men fell on board the English admiral's flag-ship;
and at the end of the day the ship itself, which had gone foremost
into battle, had its masts down, its rigging gone, and its hull
riddled. Some of its shattered sisters were glad enough to crawl
into Portsmouth. Of the Dutch ships one was burnt, one blown up, and
six taken or sunk.
11. During the night the two fleets continued working slowly along
the Channel eastwards. Van Tromp had his men-of-war in the form of a
crescent with the convoy between its horns. With daylight came a
renewal of the fighting which lasted until sunset. Never was sterner
fighting done. One Dutch captain, for instance, when grappled on
each side by an English ship, set fire to his own vessel that the
three might burn together. The English, however, drew off, leaving
the Dutchman to its fate.
12. The dawn of the third day saw the brave old Tromp still keeping
guard like a hen over her brood of chickens. His line, however, was
on that day broken through, and then an exciting chase followed,
which ended in the capture of some fifty merchant-ships. Two other
desperate battles took place the same year, and both ended favourably
for England. On the last day of the last battle, the grand old Dutch
admiral was pierced to the heart with a musket-ball.
13. This war dealt a severe blow to the Dutch carrying-trade, and
brought Holland to the brink of ruin. "The Zuyder Zee," it is said,
"became a forest of masts; the country was full of beggars; grass
grew in the streets, and in Amsterdam fifteen hundred houses were
empty." Peace with England (1654) alone saved the Dutch from utter
ruin. And this peace left England, for the time at least, mistress
of the seas.
(6) OUR GREAT "GENERAL-AT-SEA."
1. Robert Blake, whose victories at sea are second only to those of
Nelson, was not learned in the arts of seamanship. In his day it was
quite usual for generals to take command at sea, leaving the
navigation of the ships in the hands of the "Masters." Blake,
however, did not fight the less well because he went to sea in full
military uniform, including his top-boots. In the excitement of
battle some of these "Admirals-in-spurs" forgot the language of the
sea. It is said that General Monk, in the middle of a sea-fight,
sent a shout of laughter round his own decks by giving the order, as
to cavalry, "wheel to the left."
2. Blake, our great "General-at-Sea" had all the qualities of a
great commander, except perhaps his outward look and mien. He was a
little man, of rather a melancholy turn, and chary of his words. He
had however, that magnetic influence over his men that bespeaks the
true leader--the influence that made them ready to follow wherever he
led the way, regardless of chances and risks. He was also beloved by
them for his constant care and thought for their welfare. He set
himself, with all his heart and strength, to remove all abuses from
the navy and to introduce numberless reforms. None knew better that
success in the day of battle depends greatly upon previous attention
to what seems "little things."
3. Blake had no ends of his own to serve. In the face of any
question that presented itself, his one thought was, "What do the
interest and honour of England require?" The watchword of his life
was that grand word DUTY, which Nelson set before the eyes of his
sailors on the morning of Trafalgar. These two great admirals are
well linked together by the poet Campbell in his famous sea-song:--
"The spirit of your fathers
Shall start from every wave--
For the deck it was their field of fame,
And Ocean was their grave:
Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell
Your manly hearts shall glow,
As you sweep through the deep,
While the stormy winds do blow;
While the battle rages loud and long
And the stormy winds do blow."
4. No sooner had our great admiral ended the war with the Dutch, in
the way already described, than he was despatched by Cromwell with a
powerful fleet to the Mediterranean, which had long been infested by
pirates in league with the Governors, or Deys, of the Barbary States.
These pirates not only seized the cargoes of the merchant ships, but
sold their crews and passengers into slavery.
5. When Blake, in the course of his cruise, appeared before Tunis
and demanded the release of all Christian prisoners and slaves, the
Dey pointed defiantly to his castles at the entrance of the harbour
and his nine cruisers anchored beneath their guns. Blake replied by
leading in his ships and cannonading the Dey's batteries at close
range. When this terrible hail of shot had dismounted the enemy's
guns, the admiral lowered his long-boats, and having manned each with
a picked crew sent them through the smoke straight at the pirate
ships. Cutlasses, pikes, and pistols first did their deadly work and
then firebrands did the rest. When the English fleet put out to sea
that night every one of the Dey's ships was wrapped in flames.
6. This exploit marks a turning-point in our commercial history.
Hitherto merchant vessels were expected to protect themselves and
take the risks of capture. Blake's round of the Mediterranean, with
his ships of war, let princes and pirates know that henceforth any
wrong done to an English vessel would be avenged as a national
insult, that to attack a ship flying the flag of England would be
regarded as an attack upon England itself. As soon as it was seen
that England's arm was long enough, and ready enough, to strike at
all offenders on the seas, the English began to take the foremost
place as "carriers of the sea," for foreign merchants soon came to
the belief that their goods would be safest where the flag of England
insured protection.
7. Blake's next great object was to sap the power of Spain with whom
Cromwell had gone to war to enforce England's claim to trade with the
Spanish colonies of America. Annually there came to Spain from the
Western World a great fleet, known as the "plate fleet," freighted
with gold and silver, quicksilver and pearls, sugar, hides, and
dye-wood. To cut off these supplies was to sever the sinews of war
at a stroke. For nearly two years Blake kept watch outside Cadiz for
the expected plate-ships, but they had run into harbour at Santa
Cruz, under the great peak of Teneriffe, and were waiting there until
the way home was clear. Here, at length, Blake resolved to come and
burn the ships he saw no hope of capturing.
8. Santa Cruz was then one of the strongest naval stations in the
world. The harbour, shaped like a horseshoe, was defended at the
entrance and sides by forts, armed with heavy guns, and well
garrisoned. Armed vessels were moored in a semi-circle at the bottom
of the harbour and in front of them were stationed the royal galleons
that had escorted the plate-fleet across the Atlantic. Blake must
have seen at once that these ships would act as a screen between his
own squadron and the great Spanish batteries on the shore, that
one-half of the Spanish force would get in the way of the other in
resisting an attack.
9. Our great sea-general knew well the kind of place he was about to
assail, but judged that his ships were equal to the task. At any
rate he resolved to make the daring attempt, a solemn prayer being
first of all offered on board each ship to the great Disposer of
events. Wind and tide favouring, anchors were weighed, and in a
brief space of time the castles at the entrance were passed, and the
ships stationed for the attack.
10. For four hours the old peak of Teneriffe looked down upon a
scene which might seem like an imitation of his own volcanic
outbursts. The Spaniards fought with great courage, but Blake's
fire, by its speed and deadly aim, was overwhelming. By two o'clock
the battle was clearly won. Two of the Spanish galleons had gone
down, and every other Spanish ship in the harbour was in flames. The
most extraordinary thing now happened to complete the English
triumph. Just at the right moment the wind veered round and enabled
the whale squadron to leave the harbour without the loss of a single
ship, though many of course were too much battered for further
service.
11. Blake, like Nelson, was not permitted to return home alive to
receive the thanks and homage of his admiring countrymen. The fleet,
headed by his battered flagship, the _George_, had passed the
Eddystone and was seen approaching Plymouth harbour. The Hoe was
crowded with thousands waiting to welcome their hero home. But at
that moment, all unknown to them, Blake lay dying in his cabin. Just
as the _George_ dropped her anchor, the hero drew his last breath
(1657). His corpse was carried in state to Westminster Abbey and
there buried. Never has England had a more devoted and unselfish
servant, nor the English sailor a kinder and nobler captain.
12. The warships of England now rode triumphant on the seas. But
their triumph did not long remain unchallenged. Throughout a large
part of Charles II.'s reign, the English and the Dutch strove
constantly for the mastery. Having to defend their homes against the
French, the Dutch, at last, felt compelled to retire from the
struggle with England for the sovereignty of the seas. In 1674 they
finally made peace with England ceding the island of St. Helena--of
some value as a place of call to ships sailing to and from the East
Indies--and admitting England's claim to a salute from all foreign
ships passing through the "narrow seas" around her coasts.