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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.



CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION, PROGRESS OF COMMERCE, ROANOKE SETTLEMENTS,

Merit of discovering America,— Advancement of Commerce by the cru-
sades — in the Italian cities — in Spai?i,i?i Portugal, — Discovery of Ame-
rica, — England, — Want of Commerce in early times, — Voyages of the
Cabots, — Progress of English discovery — Frobisher — Gilbert — Ra-
leigh, — Failure of the Roanoke settlements.

The claims of the Icelanders, the Welsh, and even the Norwegians* to
the discovery of America, seem in modern times to be universally set aside
in favor of a native of a milder clime. Indeed the evidence by which their
respective claims were sought to be established was so vague, contradicto-
ry and unsatisfactory;! and their discoveries if proven, so entirely acciden-
tal, and useless to mankind, that it is not at all astonishing that all the me-
rit should be given to that individual whose brilliant genius first demon-
strated a priori the existence of a continent in the western waters, and
whose adventurous daringj led him to risque his life in the search of a
world, of the existence of which he was only informed by his science, with
little aid of any human experience; or that posterity should give to Colum-
bus the undivided glory of an exploit for which he received only the igno-
miny of his contemporaries, and to Italy the honor due the birth place of so
distinguished a son, from whose brilliant achievements she has received
little else.

The spirit of commerce and navigation had been spreading extensively
in Europe, for some time prior to the discovery of America. The mari-
time towns of Italy early perceived and enjoyed the advantages of trade,
and Venice, Genoa and Pisa sprung under the magic of its influence, from
insignificant towns to the wealth and splendor of populous and magnificent
cities. This favorable result was much promoted by the crusades. In the
Holy wars the Italian cities furnished the transports necessary for the con-
veyance of the immense hordes of northern and western warriors, with their
accoutrements and attendants, which a love of military adventure, and reli-
gious fanaticism, were pouring upon the plains of Asia. The vast sums
received for these services, and for the supply of provisions to the christian

* Winterbotham's America, vol. I. p. 1 and 2., and Hinton's United States.

t Bancroft's Hist. U. States, vol. I. p. 6, and notes.

t " L'ltalie reparut, avec les divins tresors que les Grees fugitifs rapporterent dans
sou sein; la ciel lui revela ses lois; I'audace d« ses en/ants decouvrit un nouvel hemis-
phere.'' — De Stael — Corinne.



532 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

host, together with the privileges granted them in many of the conquered
p] aceg) „_the discovery of new subjects of commerce, and opening new ave-
nues of trade,— the extension of the knowledge of the countries of the east
and the people who inhabited them, — conspiring with the freedom of com-
merce and boldness of enterprize of the Italian towns themselves, and the
taste spread through Europe by the returning soldiers of the cross for those
eastern luxuries and refinements to which they had become accustomed, —
expanded the commerce of the world immensely beyond all former bounds,
and threw that commerce almost exclusively into the hands of the towns of
Italy.*

The spirit of discovery and commercial adventure so happily aroused and
extended by the wild and visionary schemes of religious bigots for the
emancipation of the holy land was destined to be yet further extended by
religious zeal mingled with ignorant superstition. Benjamin, a Jew, tra-
velled from Constantinople through the countries of the Euxine and Cas-
pian Seas to Chinese Tartary, in the vain hope of discovering his own sect
ruling in opulence and power, some country of which Europe was igno-
rant, Innoeen* IV. sent two monks to Zengis Khan in the midst of his
victories, and equally ignorant of the Pope as of the christian doctrines,
with orders to embrace the christian religion, and to cease desolating the
earth- St- Louis of France being made -to believe that a Tartar Chan had
embraced the christian faith, and perceiving the advantages which the
christians could have by the exertions of such an ally, m their future wars
with the Saracens, immediately despatched two monks to him as ambassa-
dors; and one of these made a more extensive circuit through the interior
of Asia than any European had done before him.

To these succeeded the long commercial and exploring expeditions of the
celebrated Venetian adventurer, Marco Polo, who in the course of his
rambling perigrinations of 26 years duration, penetrated to Cambalu or
Pekin the capital of the great empire of Cathay or China, and increased
immensely the information of Europe as to the situation and condition of
countries, from which they had long drawn luxuries, through circuitous
commerce, without knowing even the position of the country whence they
came.

Half a century after the Venetian had astonished the yet ignorant and
A D 13^2 a ^ most serai-barbarous inhabitants of Europe, with his ac-
count of the" vast 'extent wealth, population, variety of manu-
factures and extent of trade of the east, his account was confirmed in the most
essential particulars by Sir John iViandeville an English gentleman, who
excited by his example visited most of the countries^of the east which he
had described.

Whilst this spirit of enterprise was developing itself, and Europe, be-
coming more settled and civilized, was looking with eager anxiety towards
the vast fields for commerce opening to the east,— another ton of Italy, so
obscure or so neglected, that we know not his history, habits or profession,
was about to produce a new era in the history of commerce, and to advance
the world a great step in the progress of knowledge and civilization.—
Flavio Gioia, a citizen of Ama^ji, discovered the properties of the magnet,
and applied it to that indispensable instrument of modem navigation, the
Mariner's compass. This discovery rendered it no longer necessary for



* Robertson's Ch. V. and History of America.



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 533

the cautious mariner to hug the coast for his safety, but he might boldly
venture upon the broad bosom of the deep, and though the sun went down,
and the stars shone not, he feared nothing, for the humble citizen of Amalfi
had provided him with a guide safer than the coast, and an unerring pilot,
whose knowledge darkness and storms could not obscure or obliterate.

The first dawning of this bolder spirit seems to have been exhibited by
the Spaniards in the discovery of the Canary and Fortunate Islands, which
lie near five hundred miles from the coast of Spain, and more than a hun-
dred and Rfty from the African coast. But although Spain was destined to
surpass all other nations in the magnitude of her maritime discoveries, by
the discovery of America, yet she was not the immediate agent of extending
that spirit of maritime adventure, and "nautical information which contribut-
ed so materially in bringing about that event. Her discoveries of the For-
tunate and the Canary Isles seem rather to have been the result of accident
than a permanent course of well directed experiments. It is to one of the
smallest and least powerful kingdoms of Europe that we are indebted for
that boldness of conception and persevering enthusiasm of execution, in
voyages of discovery, from which only grandeur of results in any under-
taking can ever be expected to spring.

The final expulsion of the Moors from Portugal, left many ardent and
"adventurous spirits without occupation, and Portugal being a small mari-
time state, too weak to cope with the powerful kingdoms in its neighbor-
hood, whose prowess was equal to its own, naturally looked upon the sea
A T) 1411 as tne ^ e ^ °^ ts future exploits, and source of its future great-

' ness. John I. surnamed the Bastard, having fixed his own ti-
tle to the crown by a peace with Castile, determined to find employment
for the restless spirits of his. kingdom by an expedition against the Moors
-on the neighboring coast of Africa, but whilst it was fitting out he des-
patched a f^w vessels along the coast of Africa in search of undiscovered
countries. This expedition succeeded in doubling- Cape Non, which had
hitherto been the Ultima Thulc of modern navigation.
A n HI" The success of the king's expedition against the Moors in-

' fused into the nation a spirit for new enterprises. Prince
Henry, duke of Yiseo, the fourth son of John by the. sister of Henry IV.
of England, became the patron and superintendant of the new enterprizes.
A r> ill 9 Under his auspices Porto Santo, and Madeira were discoveF-

' ed and colonized. It was to his care that the latter island was
indebted for a stock of domestic animals, a supply of seeds, and slips of the
A D i a on ^,^;u, ' tne cultivation of which, produced such a valuable article

' of commerce for the Portuguese, and of luxury for the world.
The discovery of these islands introduced among the Spaniards a bolder
system of navigation. They no longer crept along the coast from head
land to head land, which was in truth the most difficult and dangerous
navigation, but they ventured to keep the open sea, and Avere thus enabled
to pass with ease difficulties which had before, seemed insuperable. Cape
Bojardor which had been a barrier for twenty years, was passed, and the
whole coast explored from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verd. Prince Henry
whose mind seems to have been in advance of the age in which he lived,
manifestly contemplated a passage to India, around the southern coast of
Africa. He was not deterred bv the idea which many had taken up from
the- writings of the ancients that the regions of the torrid zone were render-
ed uninhabitable by their excessive heat, even when this idea seemed to be



534 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA-

confirmed as they advanced south, by finding the inhabitants jet black, their
hair short and curled, their noses flat, and their lips thick. Nor was he
deterred by the captious objections of the envious little politicians about his
father's court But with the double view of silencing objections, enlisting
religious zeal in his favor, and acquiring a title to his discoveries, the va-
lidity of which no christian prince or country of that day would have dared
to dispute, — he obtained a bull from Pope Eugene IV. giving him an ex-
clusive right to all countries which he should discover from Cape Non to
the continent of India.

The fame of prince Henry's discoveries spread rapidly through Europe,
and attracted to him all of the adventurous spirits of the age, who had ac-

n 1 AiQ quire<i any knowledge of the science of navigation. The
* Cape de Verd Islands, and the Azores were discovered, and

every discovery added new stimulus to naval enterprise, as every voyage
added new information to naval science.

n yam * n the midst of his successful career he was unfortunately
A. D. 14bd. checked by the hand of death, and Alphonso who occupied the
throne at the time of his death, being busily engaged in other pursuits, siif :
fered the spirit of enterprize to languish during the remainder of his reign.

n ^A<z\ -'S*? son an< ^ successor John II. speedily revived the spirit of
Jfc. L). i '* sl - discovery among his subjects, and by his zeal and efficiency
more than compensated for the supineness of h is \ predecessor. He soon
found out the advantages of a trade with the natives of the African coast,
after he passed the Great Desert, and reached the regions of ivory, gold
and precious gums. He had the merit of demonstrating the fallacy of the
opinion that the torrid zone was uninhabitable, and found that so far from
this, it was populous and fertile., He too conceived the idea of opening an
intercourse with India, around the southern point of Africa, and persevered
in his favorite object with unwavering zeal, until the practicability of accom-
plishing his wishes, was fully established by Bartholomew Diaz, who
reached the extreme southern point but was unable to pass it, by reason of
the violent storms which he there encountered, and the crazy condition of
his vessel. This point which Diaz named Cabo Tormentozo, in commemo-
ration of the difficulties which he had there encountered, John called the
Cape of Good Hope, in manifestation of his delight at the certain prospect of
the accomplishment of his wishes. It has retained the latter name.

This near prospect of an easier and more direct route to India, had al-
ready began to excite the jealousy of the Venetians, who then nearly mo-
nopolized the trade of India, and to elevate the hopes of. the Portuguese,
who expected to enjoy a portion of the wealth and luxury which the Veni-
tians derived from that trade; when the minds of both, and indeed of all
Europe were turned in another direction by the occurrence of an event in
the history of maritime discovery, compared with which all others sunk
into insignificance.

This event was the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus.
a , ., i4Q9 The education of this daring mariner, his disappointments
' ' and dangers, his difficulties and his brilliant success, or

the melancholy story of his sad reverses, and the example afforded in him
of the ingratitude of kings it is not the purpose of the writer to narrate.
He refrains from recounting so temptingly interesting a narrative, becausr
it would lead him too far from his purpose, which is only to narrate suc-
cinctly the progress of navigation and discovery to the time of the first colo-



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 535

ny settled in Virginia,— and because the same story has been so Well told
by Robertson, Irving* and others, that it ought to be familiar to all.

Notwithstanding the advances in navigation which have been enumerat-
ed, the art of ship building was still in such a rude and imperfect state, that
the vessels in which Columbus embarked on an unknown sea, a modern
mariner with all the. advantages of modern science would scarcely venture
in, to cross the Atlantic. The largest was a vessel of no considerable bur*
den,f and the two others scarcely superior in burden to large boats, and the
united crews of the three only amounted to ninety men, including officers,
and, a few gentlemen, adventurers from Isabella's court.

But notwithstanding these inadequate means for the prosecution of mari-
time discovery, the ardour of enterprize was so much excited by the brilliant
achievements of Columbus, the greedy thirst for gain, and hope of finding
Some country abounding in gold, together with the eager desire which still
prevailed of discovering some passage through the great continent of Ame-
rica, which might lead to India, that in twenty six years from the first disco-
very of land by Columbus; — the Spaniards had visited all of the islands of
the West Indies, they had sailed on the eastern coast of America from the
Rio de la Plata to the western extremity of the Mexican Gulf — they had dis-
covered the great southern ocean, and had acquired considerable knowledge
of the coast of Florida. It is also said that these voyages in search of a nearer
passage to the East Indies, had extended much further north, but not however
until that country had been discovered by the sea-men of another nation, of
whose exploits in the field of maritime adventure we shall presently speak.

The great interior was still unkown, the whole western and the extreme
south eastern coast was still undiscovered, and the long line of coast from
Florida to Labrador had only been seen, and touched upon in a few places;

England did not at an early period make those advances in navigation,
to which the eminent advantages of her insular situation invited, and gave
no promise of that maritime distinction, and commercial wealth, to which
the wise policy of her subsequent rulers have led her to attain. From the
times of the conquest to the discovery of America, England had been en-
gaged, in perpetual wars, either foreign or domestic, and thus while the;
southern portion of Europe and the free cities on the Rhine were advancing
so rapidly in opulence and power, England was destitute of even the germ
of that naval strength to which she is so much indebted for her present
greatness. Every article of foreign growth or fabric which she consumed,
was wafted to her shores in the barks of other nations, and the subsequent
mistress of the seas scarcely dared to float her flag beyond the limits of her
own narrow jurisdiction. Scarcely an English ship traded with Spain
or Portugal before the beginning of the fifteenth century, and it required
another half century to give the British mariner courage enough to ven-
ture to the east of the Pillars of Hercules. ;[:

Feeble as the marine of England then was, her reigning monarch Henry
VII. did not lack the spirit required for undertaking great enterprises, and
accident only deprived him of the glory of being the patron of the discoverer

- ■ ■ — - — — — •-

* This work the writer regrets that by some accident, he has never had an oppor-
tunity of looking into until recently, and that very superficially and hurriedly, or it
might have been useful to him in this sketch. It seems to be unaccountably scarce,
and far too little known for its great merit. • ,. -

t Robertson — Hist. America, 49.

^'Robertson's Virginia, p. 18—19.



536 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

@f America. Columbus after the failure of his own native country of Ge-
noa, to encourage his great enterprize, and his second . rebuff 'from his
adopted country Portugal,* fearing another refusal from the king of Castile
to whose court he then directed his steps, despatched his brother Bartholo-
mew to England to solicit the aid of Henry VII. who being then at peace
was supposed -to have leisure to undertake a great enterprize which pro-
mised such jenown to "himself and emolument to England. Bartholomew
was captured, by pirates on his voyage, and robbed of all- his effects, which,
with an illness that followed, prevented him from presenting himself- at
court, after he arrived in England,- until he could provide himself with suit-'

P h 1 ° l4S8t a ^ e a PP are l by his skill i n drawing maps and sea-charts.
D ' i 'rHe brought himself to the notice of Henry by presenting
him with a map,f and upon his representing to him the proposal of Colum-
bus, ha accepted it with "a joyful countenance, and bade him fetch his bro-^
ther." §. So much delay had been produced by the circumstances mentioned'
that Bartholomew, hastening to Castile, learned at Paris, from Charles,
king of France, that his brother Christopher's efforts had already been
crowned with the most brilliant success. ||

i When we reflect upon the difficulties which were thrown in the way of
Columbus at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, even after they became
convinced of the practicability of his scheme, and the yet more arduous dif-
ficulties which he encountered on his voyage, from the mutinous timidity of
his crew,- we may well doubt whether Henry's courage would have sus-
tained him in the actual accomplishment of the enterprize, or whether Eng-
land at that time afforded mariners sufficiently hardy to have persevered a-
sufficient length of time in a seemingly endless voyage upon an unknown
sea.
.Fortunately, perhaps for mankind the courage of England was not put

T 24- 14-Q7 t0 t ' le test °^ ma k m S tne ^ rst great adventure, and wheth-
" • ' er she would have succeeded in that or not, she was not des-

titute of . sufficient courage to undertake an enterprize of very considerable
magnitude, at that day, soon after the existence of land in our western
hemisphere had been discovered.

- The merit of this new enterprize is also due to a native of Italy, and his
motive was the same which prevailed in most of the adventures of the time,
the desire to discover a new route to India.

Giovanni Gaboto, better known by his Anglicised name of John Cabot,



* " Christophoro- Colon temendo, se parimente, i Re'Castiglia non assentessero alia
sua impresa, non gli bisognasse proporla di nuovo a qualche altro principe, &. cosi in
cio passasse lungo tempo; man do in Inghelterra vn slio fratello che haueiia appressu
dise, chiamato Bartolomeo Colon." Extract from the 13th ch. of his. Chris. Col. by
his sonFenran: Col. preserved in Hackly t, vol. III. p. 22.

t "Pastilo adunque Bartolomeo Colon per Inghelterra, voile la sua sorte, che desse
in man di corsali, i quali lo spogliarono insieme con .gli altri della sua naue. Per la
qual cosa, & per la sua pouerta & infirmita, che in cosi diverse terre lo assalisono
crudelmente, prolungo per gran tempo la sua ambasciata, fin que aquistata on pcco di
faculta con lar carte, ch ei fabricava comincio afar praticbe co il Re Enrico Settimc
a cui appresento vn mappa mondo." Hackly t, vol. III. p. 22.

iThis date is preserved in some curious verses upon the- map, of which- ^ve give a
specimen. "Bartholmew Colon- de Terra Rubra." "The yecre of Grace, a thousand
and four hundred and fourscore" "And eight, and on the thirteenth day of Febnarv
more "In London published this worke. To Christ all laud therefore. . "idem."

§ "Con allegro volto accetto la sua_offerta, & mandolo a chiamare." Idpm.
. II " Gia scoperte L, Indie." Hackly t III— 24.



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 537

a Venetian merchant who had settled at Bristol, obtained from Henry a
eharter for himself and his three sons Lewis, Sebastian and Santius, allow-
ing them fall power and authority to saii into all places in the eastern, wes-
tern or northern sea under the banners of England, with five ships, at their
own proper costs and charges, to discover countries before unknown to
christians, to plant the banners of England in all such places, and to take
possession of them, to hold as vassals of England, to have the exclusive mo-
nopoly of the trade of all such places, paying to the king one-fifth of the
clear profits of every voyage. All other persons were prohibited from vis-
iting such places, and the Cabots were bound always to land on their re-
turn only at Bristol *

Under this patent containing "the worst features of colonial monopoly
and commercial restriction," John Oabot and his celebrated son Sebastian
embarked for the west. The object of Cabot being to discover the passage
to India, he pursued a course more northwardly than any selected by pre-
vious navigators, and the first land he reached was the coast of Newfound-
land, which on that account he named Prima Vista, next the Island of Sfe
John, and finally the continent, among the " Polar bears, the rude savages