VIRGINIA, FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 1756.
Terrible as was the fate of Gilbert and his associates, the ardor of Raleigh was not daunted, nor his energies depressed. High in favor with Elizabeth, he found no difficulty in procuring a patent similar to that which had been granted to his unfortunate brother. Prompt in the execution, as intrepid in the projection of his plans, he speedily equipped two small vessels, under Amadas and Barlow, to obtain further information of the coasts, the soil, and the inhabitants of the regions he designed to colonize. Approaching America by the gulf of Florida, they touched first at the island of Ocakoke, which runs parallel to the greater part of North Carolina, and then at Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemarle sound. In both they had some intercourse with the natives, whom they found to be savages, with all the characteristic qualities of uncivilized life—bravery, aversion to labor, hospitality, a propensity to admire and a willingness to exchange their rude productions for English commodities, especially for iron, or any of the useful metals of which they were destitute. After spending a few weeks in this traffic, and in visiting some parts of the adjacent continent, Amadas and Barlow returned to England, and gave a most fervid description of the country they had been sent to explore.
Delighted with the prospect of possessing a territory so far superior to any hitherto visited by her subjects, Elizabeth was pleased to honor both the newly discovered country and herself, by bestowing upon it the title of Virginia.
These favorable circumstances not only encouraged the enterprising spirit of Raleigh, but, by their effect on public opinion, assisted him in his arrangements to form a permanent settlement; and he was soon enabled to dispatch seven ships, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, one of the most valorous spirits of the age, with Ralph Lane, as governor of the colony, accompanied by Heriot, a mathematician of celebrity, and some other men of science. Sailing from Plymouth on the 9th of April,they proceeded to Virginia by the way of the West Indies, and, having narrowly escaped shipwreck at cape Fear, anchored at Wocokon, on the 26th of June. From this island Grenville went to the continent, accompanied by several gentlemen, and discovered various Indian towns. He then proceeded to cape Hatteras, where he was visited by Granganimo, the prince seen by Amadas and Barlow the preceding year; and having viewed the island of Roanoke, he embarked for England, leaving one hundred and seven persons under the government of Mr. Lane, to form a plantation, and to commence the first English colony ever planted in America.
The chief employment of this party, during their year’s residence in the new world, consisted in obtaining a more correct and extensive knowledge of the country; a pursuit in which the persevering abilities of Heriot were exercised with peculiar advantage. His unremitting endeavors to instruct the savages, and diligent inquiries into their habits and character, by adding to the stock of human knowledge, rendered the expedition not wholly unproductive of benefit to mankind. He endeavored to avail himself of the admiration expressed by the savages for the guns, the clock, the telescopes, and other implements that attested the superiority of the colonists, in order to lead their minds to the great source of all sense and science. But, unfortunately, the majority of the colonists were much less distinguished by piety or prudence, than by a vehement impatience to acquire sudden wealth; their first pursuit was gold; and, eagerly listening to the agreeable fictions of the natives, the adventurers consumed their time, and endured amazing hardships, in pursuit of a phantom, to the utter neglect of the means of providing for their future subsistence. The stock of provisions brought from England was exhausted; and the colony, reduced to the utmost distress, was preparing to disperse into different districts of the country in quest of food, when Sir Francis Drake appeared with his fleet, returning from a successful expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. A scheme which he formed, of furnishing Lane and his associates with such supplies as might enable them to remain with comfort in their station, was disappointed by a sudden storm, in which the vessel he had destined for their service was dashed to pieces; and as he could not supply them with another, at their joint request, as they were worn out with fatigue and famine, he carried them home to England.
Had the Virginia adventurers, however, remained but a little time longer at their plantation, they would have received supplies from home; for, a few days after their departure, a ship, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to their relief, arrived at Hatteras, and made diligent search for them, but, not finding them, returned to England. Within a few days after this ship had left the coast, Sir Richard Grenville arrived at Virginia with three new vessels laden with provisions. Searching in vain for the colony that he planted, but yet unwilling to lose possession of the country, he left fifty of his crew to keep possession of the island of Roanoke, and returned to England. This was, indeed, but an inauspicious commencement for English attempts at transatlantic colonization; but, though its immediate results did not realize the high expectations which had been formed, its consequences were indirectly very beneficial. It gave Heriot opportunity to describe its soil, climate, productions, and the manners of its inhabitants, with a degree of accuracy which merits no inconsiderable praise, when compared with the childish and marvellous tales published by several of the early visitants of the new world.
Another consequence of this abortive colony is important enough to entitle it to a place in history. Lane and his associates, by their constant intercourse with the Indians, had acquired a relish for their favorite enjoyment of smoking tobacco; to the use of which, the credulity of that people not only ascribed a thousand imaginary virtues, but their superstition considered the plant itself as a gracious gift of the gods, for the solace of human kind, and the most acceptable offering which man can present to heaven. They brought with them a specimen of this new commodity to England, and taught their countrymen the method of using it; which Raleigh and some young men of fashion fondly adopted. From its being deemed a fashionable acquirement, and from the favorable opinion of its salutary qualities entertained by several physicians, the practice of smoking spread rapidly among the English; and by a singular caprice of the human species, no less inexplicable than unexampled, it has become almost as universal as the demands of those appetites originally implanted in our nature.
Virginian Colony.
Amidst all the discouraging circumstances with which the settlement of Virginia was attended, Raleigh still remained devotedly attached to the object; and early in the year 1587, equipped another company of adventurers, incorporated by the title of the Borough of Raleigh, in Virginia. John White was constituted governor, in whom, with a council of twelve persons, the legislative power was vested. They were directed to plant at the bay of Chesapeak, and to erect a fort there. This expedition sailed from Plymouth on the 8th of May, and about the 16th of July fell in with the Virginian coast. Arriving at Hatteras on the 22d of July, the governor, with a select party, proceeded to Roanoke, and landed at that part of the island where the men were left the year preceding; but discovered no signs of them, excepting the bones of one man, who had been slain by the savages. The next day the governor and several of his company went to the north end of the island, where Lane had erected his fort, and had built several decent dwelling houses, hoping to obtain some intelligence of his fellow countrymen; but, on coming to the place, and finding the fort razed, and all the houses, though standing unhurt, overgrown with weedsand vines, and deer feeding within them, they returned, in despair of ever seeing the objects of their research alive. Orders were given the same day for the repair of the houses, and for the erection of new cottages; and all the colony, consisting of one hundred and seventeen persons, soon after landed, and commenced a second plantation.