The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5)
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CHAPTER XIV.
Insurrection in North Carolina.... Dissatisfaction of
Massachusetts.... Corresponding-committees.... Governor Hutchinson's
correspondence communicated by Dr. Franklin.... The assembly petition
for his removal.... He is succeeded by General Gage.... Measures to
enforce the act concerning duties.... Ferment in America.... The tea
thrown into the sea at Boston.... Measures of Parliament.... General
enthusiasm in America.... A general congress proposed.... General Gage
arrives.... Troops stationed on Boston neck.... New counsellors and
judges.... Obliged to resign.... Boston neck fortified.... Military
stores seized by General Gage.... Preparations for defence.... King's
speech.... Proceedings of Parliament.... Battle of Lexington....
Massachusetts raises men.... Meeting of Congress.... Proceedings of
that body.... Transactions in Virginia.... Provincial congress of
South Carolina.... Battle of Breed's hill.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America.... Views of
discovery relinquished by Henry VII.... Resumed by
Elizabeth.... Letters patent to Sir Humphry Gilbert.... His
voyages and death.... Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh....
Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.... Colonists carried back
to England by Drake.... Grenville arrives with other
colonists.... They are left on Roanoke Island.... Are
destroyed by the Indians.... Arrival of John White.... He
returns to England for succour.... Raleigh assigns his
patent.... Patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others.... Code of
laws for the proposed colony drawn up by the King.
The United States of America extend, on the Atlantic, from the bay of
Passamaquoddi in the 45th, to Cape Florida in the 25th, degree of
north latitude; and thence, on the gulf of Mexico, including the small
adjacent islands to the mouth of the Sabine, in the 17th degree of
west longitude from Washington. From the mouth of the Sabine to the
Rocky mountains, they are separated from Spanish America by a line
which pursues an irregular north-western direction to the 42d degree
of north latitude, whence it proceeds west, to the Pacific. On the
north they are bounded by the British provinces; from which, between
the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky, or Stony mountains, they are
separated by the 49th parallel of north latitude. Their northern
boundary, west of these mountains, has not yet been adjusted.
The extent of this vast Republic, in consequence of its recent
acquisition of almost unexplored territory, has not yet been
accurately ascertained; but may be stated at two millions of square
miles.
Its population, which began on the Atlantic, and is travelling rapidly
westward, amounted in 1820, according to the census of that year, to
nine millions six hundred and fifty-four thousand four hundred and
fifteen persons. The enumerations which have been made under the
authority of government, show an augmentation of numbers at the rate
of about thirty-four _per centum_[2] in ten years; and it is probable,
that for many years to come, this ratio will not be materially
changed.
[Footnote 2: The general estimate in the United States is,
that their population doubles in twenty-five years.]
Public sentiment, to which the policy of the government conforms, is
opposed to a large military establishment; and the distance of the
United States from the great powers of the world, protects them from
the danger to which this policy might otherwise expose them.
The navy has become an object of great interest to the nation, and may
be expected to grow with its resources. In April 1816, Congress passed
an act appropriating one million of dollars annually, to its gradual
increase; and authorising the construction of nine ships, to rate not
less than seventy-four guns each, and of twelve, to rate not less than
forty-four guns each.
The execution of this act is in rapid progress. Inconsiderable as the
navy now is, with respect to the number and force of its ships, it is
deemed inferior to none in existence for the bravery and skill of its
officers and men. When we take into view the extensive sea coast of
the United States, the magnificent lakes, or inland seas, which form a
considerable part of their northern frontier, the abundance of their
materials for ship building, and the genius of their population for
maritime enterprise, it is not easy to resist the conviction that this
bulwark of defence will, at no very distant period, attain a size and
strength sufficient to ensure the safety of the nation and the respect
of the world.
The net revenue of the United States amounted, in the year 1822, to
considerably more than twenty millions of dollars; and, unless a
course of legislation unfavourable to its augmentation be adopted,
must grow with their population.
In arts, in arms, and in power, they have advanced, and are advancing,
with unexampled rapidity.
The history of their progress, from the first feeble settlements made
by Europeans on a savage coast, to their present state of greatness;
while it has just claims to the attention of the curious of all
nations, may be expected deeply to interest every American.
[Sidenote: Commission of Cabot.]
Soon after the return of Columbus from that memorable voyage which
opened the vast regions of the west to civilized man, the maritime
states of Europe manifested a desire to share with Spain, the glory,
the wealth, and the dominion to be acquired in the new world. By no
one of these states, was this desire carried into action more promptly
than by England, Henry VII. had received communications from Columbus,
during the tedious and uncertain negotiations of that great man, at
the dilatory court of Ferdinand, which prepared him for the important
discoveries afterwards made, and inclined him to countenance the
propositions of his own subjects for engaging in similar adventures.
On the 5th of March 1495, he granted a commission to John Cabot, an
enterprising Venetian who had settled in Bristol, and to his three
sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, empowering them, or either of
them, to sail under the banner of England, towards the east, north, or
west, in order to discover countries unoccupied by any Christian
state, and to take possession of them in his name.
[Sidenote: His voyage to America.]
It does not appear that the expedition contemplated at the date of
this commission was prosecuted immediately; but in May 1496, Cabot,
with his second son, Sebastian, sailed from Bristol in a small
squadron, consisting of one ship furnished by the King, and four barks
fitted out by merchants of that city; and, steering almost due west,
discovered the islands of Newfoundland and St. Johns, and, soon
afterward, reached the continent of North America, along which he
sailed from the fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of north
latitude, in the vain hope of discovering a passage into the Pacific.
Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that
immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico as far north
as has yet been explored; and to this voyage, the English trace their
title to the country they afterwards acquired by settlement, and by
arms.
France, which has since contested with Britain the possession of a
considerable portion of this important territory, has also advanced
claims to its discovery; but they seem not to be well founded.
[Sidenote: The scheme of making settlements relinquished.]
The ardour which had been excited in the bosom of Henry for making
acquisitions in the new world, expired with this first effort. Cabot,
on his return, found that monarch entirely disinclined to the farther
prosecution of a scheme in which he had engaged with some zeal, the
commencement of which had been attended with encouraging appearances.
Several causes are supposed to have contributed to suspend the
pursuits of the English in America. Previous to its discovery, the
Portuguese had explored the Azores, or Western Islands; in consequence
of which they claimed this continent, and contended for the exclusion
of the Spaniards from the Western Ocean. The controversy was decided
by the Pope, who, on the 7th of May 1493, of his own "mere liberality
and certain knowledge, and the plenitude of apostolic authority,"
granted to Spain, the countries discovered or to be discovered by her,
to the westward of a line to be drawn from pole to pole, a hundred
leagues west of the Azores; (excepting such countries as might be in
the possession of any other Christian prince antecedent to the year
1493;) and to Portugal, her discoveries eastward of that line.
The validity of this grant was probably strengthened, in the opinion
of Henry, by other circumstances. He set a high value on the
friendship of the King of Spain, with whom he was then negotiating the
marriage which afterwards took place between his eldest son and
Catharine, the daughter of that monarch. Ferdinand was jealous to
excess of all his rights; and Henry was not inclined to interrupt the
harmony subsisting between the two crowns, by asserting claims to the
country discovered by Cabot, which was obviously within the limits to
which the pretensions of Spain extended.
[Sidenote: Renewed by Elizabeth.]
The fisheries of Newfoundland were carried on by individuals, to a
considerable extent, and a paltry traffic was continued with the
natives; but no serious design of acquiring territory, and planting
colonies in America was formed until the reign of Elizabeth, when a
plan for making permanent settlements was proposed and patronized by
several persons of rank and influence. To select a man qualified for
this arduous task, and disposed to engage in it, was among the first
objects to which their attention was directed. Sir Humphry Gilbert had
rendered himself conspicuous by his military services, and by a
treatise concerning the north-west passage, in which great ingenuity
and learning, are stated by Dr. Robertson, to be mingled with the
enthusiasm, the credulity, and sanguine expectation which incite men
to new and hazardous undertakings. On this gentleman the adventurers
turned their eyes, and he was placed at the head of the enterprise. On
the 11th of June 1578, he obtained letters patent from the Queen,
vesting in him the powers that were required; on receiving which, he,
with the associates of his voyage, embarked for America. But his
success did not equal his expectations. The various difficulties
inseparable from the settlement of a distant, unexplored country,
inhabited only by savages; the inadequacy of the supplies which could
be furnished for a colony by the funds of a few private individuals;
the misfortune of having approached the continent too far towards the
north, where the cold barren coast of Cape Breton was rather
calculated to repel than invite a settlement; have been assigned as
the probable causes of his failure.[3]
[Footnote 3: Robertson. Chalmer.]
Two expeditions conducted by this gentleman ended disastrously. In the
last, he himself perished; having done nothing farther in the
execution of his patent, than taking possession of the island of
Newfoundland, in the name of Elizabeth.
Sir Walter Raleigh, alike distinguished by his genius, his courage,
and the severity of his fate, had been deeply interested in the
adventures in which his half brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, had wasted
his fortune, and was not deterred by their failure, or by the
difficulties attending such an enterprise, from prosecuting with
vigour, a plan so well calculated to captivate his bold and romantic
temper.
{1584}
[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh.]
On the 26th of March, he obtained a patent from the Queen; and, on the
27th of April, dispatched two small vessels under the command of
captains Amidas and Barlow for the purpose of visiting the country,
and of acquiring some previous knowledge of those circumstances which
might be essential to the welfare of the colony he was about to plant.
To avoid the error of Gilbert in holding too far north, Amidas and
Barlow took the route by the Canaries, and the West India islands, and
approached the North American continent towards the gulf of Florida.
On the 2d of July, they touched at a small island situate on the inlet
into Pamplico sound, whence they proceeded to Roanoke, near the mouth
of Albemarle sound.
{1585}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.]
After employing a few weeks in traffic with the Indians, from whom
they collected some confused accounts respecting the neighbouring
continent, they took with them two of the natives, who willingly
accompanied them, and embarked for England, where they arrived on the
15th of September. The splendid description which they gave of the
soil, the climate, and the productions of the country they had
visited, so pleased Elizabeth, that she bestowed on it the name of
Virginia, as a memorial that it had been discovered during the reign
of a virgin Queen.[4] Raleigh, encouraged by their report to hasten
his preparations for taking possession of the property, fitted out a
squadron consisting of seven small ships, laden with arms, ammunition,
provisions, and passengers, which sailed from Plymouth on the 9th of
April, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, who was his
relation, and interested with him in the patent. Having taken the
southern route, and wasted some time in cruising against the
Spaniards, Sir Richard did not reach the coast of North America, until
the close of the month of June. He touched at both the islands on
which Amidas and Barlow had landed, and made some excursions into
different parts of the continent around Pamplico, and Albemarle
sounds.
[Footnote 4: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: First colony.]
Having established a colony, consisting of one hundred and eight
persons, in the island of Roanoke, an incommodious station, without
any safe harbour, he committed the government of it to Mr. Ralph Lane;
and, on the 25th of August, sailed for England.[5]
[Footnote 5: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1586}
[Sidenote: Colonists carried back to England by Drake.]
An insatiate passion for gold, attended by an eager desire to find it
in the bowels of the earth, for a long time the disease of Europeans
in America, became the scourge of this feeble settlement. The English
flattered themselves that the country they had discovered could not be
destitute of those mines of the precious metals with which Spanish
America abounded. The most diligent researches were made in quest of
them; and the infatuating hope of finding them stimulated the
colonists to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. The
Indians soon discerned the object for which they searched with so much
avidity, and amused them with tales of rich mines in countries they
had not yet explored. Seduced by this information, they encountered
incredible hardships, and, in this vain search wasted that time which
ought to have been employed in providing the means of future
subsistence. Mutual suspicion and disgust between them and the natives
ripened into open hostility; and, the provisions brought from England
being exhausted, they were under the necessity of resorting for food
to the precarious supplies which could be drawn from the rivers and
woods. In this state of distress, they were found, in June, by Sir
Francis Drake, who was then returning from a successful expedition
against the Spaniards in the West Indies. He agreed to supply them
with about one hundred men, four months' provisions, and a small
vessel; but, before she could be brought into a place of security, and
the men and stores disembarked, she was driven out to sea by a sudden
and violent storm. Discouraged by this misfortune, and worn out with
fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously determined to abandon
the colony, and were, at their own request, taken on board the fleet
which sailed for England.[6]
[Footnote 6: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
Thus terminated the first English colony planted in America. The only
acquisition made by this expensive experiment, was a better knowledge
of the country and its inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Grenville plants a second colony.]
[Sidenote: Destroyed by the Indians.]
A few days after the departure of Drake with Lane and his associates,
a small vessel which had been dispatched by Raleigh with a supply of
provisions, reached its place of destination. Not finding the
colonists, this vessel returned to England. Soon after its departure,
Sir Richard Grenville arrived with three ships and ample supplies.
Having searched in vain for the colonists he had left, and being
unable to conjecture their fate, he placed fifteen men in the island
with provisions for two years, for the purpose of retaining possession
of the country, and returned to England. This small party was soon
destroyed by the Indians.
{1587}
Not discouraged by the ill success which had thus far attended his
efforts to make a settlement in America, Raleigh, in the following
year, fitted out three ships under the command of captain John White,
and, it is said, directed the colony to be removed to the waters of
the Chesapeake, which bay had been discovered by Lane in the preceding
year. Instructed by calamity, he adopted more efficacious means for
preserving and continuing the colony than had before been used. The
number of men was greater; they were accompanied by some women, and
their supply of provisions was more abundant. Mr. White was appointed
their governor, twelve assistants were assigned him as a council, and
a charter incorporating them by the name of the governor and
assistants of the city of Raleigh in Virginia, was granted them.
[Sidenote: Third colony arrives.]
Thus prepared for a permanent settlement, they arrived in July at
Roanoke, where they received the melancholy intelligence of the loss
of their countrymen who had been left there by Sir Richard Grenville.
They determined, however, to remain at the same place, and began to
make the necessary preparations for their accommodation. Aware of the
danger to be apprehended from the hostile disposition of their
neighbours, they endeavoured to effect a reconciliation with the
natives, one of whom, who had accompanied Amidas and Barlow to
England, and who was distinguished by his unshaken attachment to the
English, was christened, and styled Lord of _Dassa Monpeake_, an
Indian nation in the neighbourhood.[7]
[Footnote 7: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
About the same time the first child of English parentage was born in
America. She was the daughter of Ananias Dare, and, after the place of
her birth, was named _Virginia_.
{1588}
Soon perceiving their want of many things essential to the
preservation, and comfortable subsistence of a new settlement, the
colonists, with one voice, deputed their governor, to solicit those
specific aids which their situation particularly and essentially
required. On his arrival in England, he found the whole nation alarmed
at the formidable preparations for their invasion, made by Philip II.
of Spain; and Raleigh, Grenville, and the other patrons of the colony,
ardently engaged in those measures of defence which the public danger
demanded. Mingling, however, with his exertions to defend his native
country, some attention to the colony he had planted, Raleigh found
leisure to fit out a small fleet for its relief, the command of which
was given to Sir Richard Grenville; but, the apprehensions from the
Spanish armament still increasing, the ships of force prepared by
Raleigh were detained in port by order of the Queen, and Sir Richard
Grenville was commanded not to leave Cornwall, where his services were
deemed necessary. On the 22d of April, White put to sea with two small
barks, but, instead of hastening to the relief of his distressed
countrymen, wasted his time in cruising; and, being beaten by a
superior force, was totally disabled from prosecuting his voyage.[8]
[Footnote 8: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
{1589}
[Sidenote: Raleigh assigns his patent.]
The attention of Raleigh being directed to other more splendid
objects, he assigned his patent to Sir Thomas Smith and a company of
merchants in London.
{1590}
[Sidenote: Third colony lost.]
After this transfer, a year was permitted to elapse before any effort
was made for the relief of the colony. In March, three ships fitted
out by the company, in one of which Mr. White embarked, sailed from
Plymouth; but, having cruelly and criminally wasted their time in
plundering the Spaniards in the West Indies, they did not reach
Hatteras until the month of August. They fired a gun to give notice of
their arrival, and sent a party to the place where the colony had been
left; but no vestige of their countrymen could be found. In attempting
the next day to go to Roanoke, one of the boats, in passing a bar, was
half filled with water, another was overset, and six men were drowned.
Two other boats were fitted out with nineteen men to search the island
thoroughly on which the colony had been left.
At the departure of Mr. White, it was in contemplation to remove about
fifty miles into the country; and it had been agreed that, should the
colonists leave the island, they would carve the name of the place to
which they should remove, on some tree, door, or post; with the
addition of a cross over it, as a signal of distress, if they should
be really distressed at the time of changing their situation. After
considerable search, the word CROATAN was found carved in fair capital
letters on one of the chief posts, but unaccompanied by the sign of
distress which had been agreed on.
Croatan was the name of an Indian town on the north side of Cape
Lookout, and for that place, the fleet weighed anchor the next day.
Meeting with a storm, and several accidents, they were discouraged
from proceeding on their voyage, and, determining to suspend their
search, returned to the West Indies.
The company made no farther attempt to find these lost colonists; nor
has the time or the manner of their perishing ever been discovered.[9]
[Footnote 9: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1602}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Gosnald.]
The subsequent voyages made by the English to North America were for
the sole purpose of traffic, and were unimportant in their
consequences, until the year 1602, when one was undertaken by
Bartholomew Gosnald, which contributed greatly to the revival of the
then dormant spirit of colonising in the new world. He sailed from
Falmouth in a small bark with thirty-two men; and steering nearly
west, reached the American continent, on the 11th of May, in about
forty-three degrees of north latitude.
Finding no good harbour at this place, Gosnald put to sea again and
stood southward. The next morning, he descried a promontory which he
called cape Cod, and, holding his course along the coast as it
stretched to the south-west, touched at two islands, the first of
which he named Martha's Vineyard, and the second, Elizabeth's Island.
Having passed some time at these places, examining the country, and
trading with the natives, he returned to England.[10]
[Footnote 10: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
This voyage was completed in less than four months, and was attended
with important consequences. Gosnald had found a healthy climate, a
rich soil, good harbours, and a route which shortened considerably the
distance to the continent of North America. He had seen many of the
fruits known and prized in Europe, blooming in the woods; and had
planted European grain which grew rapidly. Encouraged by this
experiment, and delighted with the country, he formed the resolution
of transporting thither a colony, and of procuring the co-operation of
others by whom his plan might be supported. So unfortunate however had
been former attempts of this sort, that men of wealth and rank, though
strongly impressed by his report of the country, were slow in giving
full faith to his representations, and in entering completely into his
views. One vessel was fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, and
another by the earl of Southampton, and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in
order to learn whether Gosnald's account of the country was to be
considered as a just representation of its state, or as the
exaggerated description of a person fond of magnifying his own
discoveries. Both returned with a full confirmation of his veracity,
and with the addition of so many new circumstances in favour of the
country, as greatly increased the desire of settling it.
Richard Hackluyt, prebendary of Westminster, a man of distinguished
learning and intelligence, contributed more than any other by his
judicious exertions, to form an association sufficiently extensive,
powerful, and wealthy, to execute the often renewed, and often
disappointed project of establishing colonies in America.
At length, such an association was formed; and a petition was
presented to James I., who had succeeded to the crown of England,
praying the royal sanction to the plan which was proposed. That
pacific monarch was delighted with it, and immediately acceded to the
wishes of its projectors.