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was never felt before. Vessel after vessel, and fleet after fleet, were despatched to the new-discovered continent, but the object in view was rather to find gold than a home; and even where the latter was sought, the preparations were either inadequate, or the undertaking was indifferently contrived and managed. Sebastian Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland; James Cartier, who first entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence; Ferdinand de Soto, who first ascertained the existence of the Mississippi; Sir Walter Raleigh, among the earliest adventurers to Virginia, and Bartholomew Gosnold, to whom Cape Cod was first known, and all of whom attempted settlements for a longer or shorter period, were unsuccessful, and disappointed in the end. The English were not thoroughly engaged in the business of colonizing America, until the latter part of the sixteenth century, when several successive attempts were made to settle Virginia. The first expedition was conducted by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who failed in his object, having never reached Virginia; and being shipwrecked, perished with all his crew on the return voyage to England. In 1584, the enterprise was confided to the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, who, in the spring of that year, despatched two small barks, under the command severally of Amidas and Barlow. After going much farther south than was necessary, and experiencing the sickness incident to the season, they proceeded northerly till they made a harbor, taking possession of the adjoining land, "for the queen's most excellent majestie," and in a short time afterward came to the island of Roanoke. Nothing was effected by this voyage, except a little trafficking with the natives, and the favorable account which was given of the country, upon the return of the expedition. In the third expedition, which was conducted by Sir Richard Grenville, under Sir Walter, in 1585, a company was landed on Roanoke, consisting of one hundred and eight persons, who, upon the return of the ship, were left to settle the country. But being reduced to extremities for want of sustenance, and by the hostility of the Indians, they all returned to England the next year with Sir Francis Drake. In the mean while, 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh and his associates made a voyage to Virginia, taking supplies for the colony; but after spending some time in the country, and not finding the colonists, they returned to England.

      Early Settlers trading with the Natives.

      In the earlier attempts at settlement, after the spirit of conquest and adventure had been somewhat satiated, the object in view, so far as the English were engaged in it, was the acquisition of tributary provinces, and the wealth which they would bring to the parent states. In this line of policy, England but followed the example of Spain and Portugal, yet with far less energy, and with no manner of success. The signal failures that were experienced turned attention, at length, to more sober and rational projects—to regular colonization and commerce. But the success, even here, was quite indifferent for several years. Mercenary views obtained the precedence. That moral heroism, which submits to any extremity of toil and self-denial for the objects of religious faith, could not be summoned to the support of these merely secular adventures. So far as colonization was calculated upon as a source of wealth directly, it did not feel the influence of a self-sustaining motive. It needed, as will soon be seen, other views of colonization, to render the scheme completely successful, in regions remote from tropical riches and luxuries. What more might have been done to insure success, had the kings and princes of Europe been at leisure to prosecute the object with the means in their power, is not now to be ascertained. It is clear, from the history of the times, that they could ill afford the necessary leisure, in consequence of the multiplicity and weight of their own individual concerns. Wars, negociations, schemes of policy, and the adjustment of ecclesiastical relations, occupied the rulers of England and France, as also Germany and nearly all the continent, almost exclusively through the sixteenth century. Of that which was achieved in the way of discovery and temporary settlement, in the northern portion of the American continent, much was left to individual enterprise and resources; and the universal failure of permanent colonization was almost the unavoidable result, connected, indeed, with the mercenary motive and bad management with which it was prosecuted.

      The first settlement of a permanent character, effected by the English in North America, was at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. To that portion of the continent, as has been just detailed, more numerous and vigorous efforts at settlement had been directed than to any other on the coast, and with what results has also appeared. No one can read the account of these early and unfortunate attempts to settle our country, without deeply lamenting the fate of those brave adventurers who were engaged in them. In the Virginia enterprise, religion and its blessings were not the direct moving influences on the minds of the adventurers; but they were a gallant and public spirited class of the English people, and many of them of the better orders of society.

      Their failure, however, did not check the spirit of enterprise; a settlement was determined on, and it was providentially effected. Under the sanction of a grant from King James, of the southern equal half of the territory lying between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, an association was constituted, called the London Company, who undertook the colonization of their portion of the country. This was called the Southern Colony. The expedition consisted of three small vessels, under the command of Captain Christopher Newport, a man of great nautical experience. Neither they who were designed for the magistracy, nor the code of laws, could be known until the arrival of the fleet in Virginia, when the sealed orders, committed to the commander, might be broken. It would seem, from the early accounts, that a portion of the emigrants were but little influenced by the considerations of religion or propriety, from the disorders that occurred during the voyage; but their pious preacher, Mr. Hunt, at length, "with the water of patience and his godly exhortations (but chiefly by his true-devoted examples) quenched these flames of envy and dissension."

      In searching for Roanoke, they were driven by a storm to a different part of the coast; the first land they made being a cape, which they called Cape Henry. Thus discovering and sailing up the Chesapeake bay, they came, at length, to a place suited to their purpose. Here they commenced in earnest their great work of settlement, calling the place Jamestown, in honor of King James. According to directions, the box containing the orders was opened, and the names of Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Radcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall, were found as constituting the council. These were to choose a president from among themselves, for a year, who, with the council, should conduct and govern the colony. Mr. Wingfield was elected president, while one of the most distinguished of them, Captain John Smith, on account of suspicions entertained respecting his ambitious views, was excluded, for a time, from the council. The plan of government was, that matters of moment were to be examined by a jury, but determined by the major part of the council, in which the president had two votes.

      While erecting accommodations for themselves, and during the absence of a portion of the men on discoveries in the country, they were molested by the savages, with some small loss, and were in danger of total extirpation, "had it not chanced that a crosse-barre, shot from the ships, stroke down a bough from a tree amongst them (the savages), that caused them to retire." These, it seems, on other occasions, after troubling the planters, "by the nimbleness of their heeles, escaped." What with labor by day, and watching by night—with felling trees, and planting the ground—with resisting hostile attacks, rëloading ships, and effecting governmental business—the settlers found their hands and their hearts fully, and often painfully, occupied. Several weeks were spent in this manner, and after adjusting their disputes, and receiving Smith into the council, with a handsome remuneration for the wrong he had received, they all partook of the Holy Communion, the savages at the same time desiring peace with them. On the 15th of June, 1607, Captain Newport returned to England with the intelligence of their success, leaving in Virginia one hundred emigrants.

      The departure of Newport was the signal for want, and an increase of their difficulties. While the vessels were with them, provisions, at some rate, were to be had; but after they left, "there remained neither taverne, beere-house, nor place of reliefe, but the common kettell. Had we beene as free from all shine as gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been cannonized for saints—we might truly call it (the damaged grain) so much bran than corne, our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air: with this lodging and diet, our extreme toil, in bearing and planting pallisadoes, so strained and bruised

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