SECOND VOYAGE OF GRENVILLE. 117 III. with the favorite amusement of the lethargic Indians; CHAP. and they introduced into England the general use of tobacco.1 The return of Lane was a precipitate desertion; a little delay would have furnished the colony with ample supplies. A few days after its departure a ship arrived, laden with all stores, needed by the infant settlement. It had been despatched by Raleigh; but finding "the paradise of the world" deserted, it could only return to England. Another fortnight had hardly elapsed, when Sir Richard Grenville appeared off the coast with three well furnished ships, and renewed the vain search for the English colony. Unwilling that the English should lose possession of the country, he left fifteen men on the island of Roanoke, to be the guardians of English rights.3 1586. Raleigh was not dismayed by ill success, nor borne 1587. down by losses. The enthusiasm of the people of England was diminished by the reports of the unsuccessful company of Lane; but the decisive testimony of Hariot to the excellence of the country, still rendered it easy to collect a new colony for America. The wisdom of Raleigh was particularly displayed in the policy, which he now adopted. He deter 1 On the settlement, see Lane's Particularities, &c. in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 311-322, the original account. The reader may compare Camden, p. 286; Stith, p. 12-21; Smith, v. i. p. 86-99; Belknap, v. i. p. 213-216; Williamson, v. i. p. 37-51; Martin, v. i. p. 1224; Tytler's Raleigh, p. 56-68; Thomson's Raleigh, c. i. and ii. p. 3 Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 323. Stith, 22, and Belknap, v. i. p. 217, say fifty men; erroneously. Smith, v. i. p. 99, began the error. Jan. 7. 26. CHAP. mined to plant an agricultural state; to send emiIII. grants with wives and families, who should at once 1587. make their homes in the New World; and, that life and property might be secured, he granted a charter of incorporation for the settlement, and established a municipal government for "the city of Raleigh." John White was appointed its governor; and to him, with eleven assistants, the administration of the colony was entrusted. A fleet of transport ships was prepared at the expense of the proprietary; "Queen Elizabeth, the godmother of Virginia,” declined contributing "to its education." The comApril pany, as it embarked, was cheered by the presence of women; and an ample provision of the implements of husbandry gave a pledge for successful industry. In July, they arrived on the coast of North-Carolina; they were saved from the dangers of Cape Fear; and, passing Cape Hatteras, they hastened to the isle of Roanoke, to search for the handful of men, whom Grenville had left there as a garrison. They found the tenements deserted and overgrown with weeds; human bones lay scattered on the field; wild deer were reposing in the untenanted houses; and were feeding on the productions, which a rank vegetation still forced from the gardens. The fort was in ruins. No vestige of surviving life appeared. The miserable men, whom Grenville had left, had been murdered by the Indians. The instructions of Raleigh had designated the place for the new settlement on the bay of the Chesapeake. It marks but little union, that Fernando, CITY OF RALEIGH FOUNDED. MANTEO. 119 III. 1587. 23. the naval officer, eager to renew a profitable traffic CHAP. in the West Indies, refused his assistance in exploring the coast, and White was compelled to remain on Roanoke. The fort of Governor Lane, "with sundry decent dwelling-houses," had been built at the northern extremity of the island; it was there, that the foundations of the city of Raleigh were laid. July The island of Roanoke is now almost uninhabited; commerce has selected securer harbors for its pursuits; the intrepid pilot and the hardy "wrecker," rendered adventurously daring by their familiarity with the dangers of the coast, and in their natures wild as the storms to which their skill bids defiance, unconscious of the associations by which they are surrounded, are the only tenants of the spot, where the inquisitive stranger may yet discern the ruins of the fort, round which the cottages of the new settlement were erected. 28. But disasters thickened. A tribe of savages dis- July played implacable jealousy and murdered one of the assistants. The mother and the kindred of Manteo welcomed the English to the island of Croatan ; and a mutual friendship was continued. But even this alliance was not unclouded. A detachment of the English, discovering a company of the natives whom they esteemed their enemies, fell upon them by night, as the harmless men were sitting fearlessly by their fires; and the havoc was begun, before it was perceived that these were friendly Indians. 13. The vanities of the world were not forgotten in Aug. Roanoke; and Manteo, the faithful Indian chief, III. CHAP. "by the commandment of Sir Walter Raleigh," was christened on Roanoke, and invested with the title1 1587. of a feudal baron. It was the first peerage, erected 18. by the English in America; and remained a solitary dignity, till Locke and Shaftesbury suggested the establishment of palatinates in Carolina, and Manteo shared his honors with the greatest philospher of his age. As the time for the departure of the ship for England drew near, the emigrants became gloomy with apprehensions; they were conscious of their dependence on Europe; and they, with one voice, women as well as men, urged the governor to return and use his vigorous intercession for the prompt despatch of reinforcements and supplies. It was in vain that he pleaded a sense of honor, which called him to remain and share in person the perils of the colony, which he was appointed to govern. He was forced to yield to the general importunity. upon Yet previous to his departure, his daughter, Eleanor Dare, the wife of one of the assistants, gave Aug. birth to a female child, the first offspring of English parents on the soil of the United States. The child was named from the place of its birth. The colony, now composed of eighty-nine men, seventeen women and two children, whose names are all preserved, might reasonably hope for the speedy return of the Aug. governor, who, as he sailed for England, left with them, as hostages, his daughter and his grandchild, VIRGINIA DARE. 27. 1 Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonguepeuk. NO RELIEF FOR THE ROANOKE COLONY. 121 III. And yet even those ties were insufficient. The CHAP. colony received no seasonable relief; and the further history of this neglected plantation is involved in 1587. gloomy uncertainty. The inhabitants of "the city of Raleigh," the emigrants from England and the first-born of America, failed, like their predecessors, in establishing an enduring settlement; but, unlike their predecessors, they awaited death in the land of their adoption. If America had no English town, it soon had English graves.1 For when White reached England, he found its whole attention absorbed by the threats of an invasion from Spain; and Grenville, Raleigh and Lane, not less than Frobisher, Drake and Hawkins, were engaged in planning measures of resistance. Yet Raleigh, whose patriotism did not diminish his generosity, found means to despatch White with supplies 1588. April in two vessels. But the company, desiring a gainful 22. voyage rather than a safe one, ran in chase of prizes; till at last, one of them fell in with men-of-war from Rochelle, and, after a bloody fight, was boarded and rifled. Both ships were compelled to return immediately to England, to the ruin of the colony and the displeasure of its author. The delay was fatal; the independence of the English kingdom and the security of the protestant reformation were in danger; nor could the poor colonists of Roanoke be 1 The original account of White, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 340–348. The story is repeated by Smith, Stith, Keith, Burk, Belknap, Williamson, Martin, Thomson, Tytler, and others. VOL. I. 2 16 2 Hakluyt, edition 1589, p. 771; quoted in Oldys, p. 98, 99; Caylus, v. i. p. 106, 107. Tytler, p. 75; Thomson, p. 40; Belknap's American Biography, v. i. p. 219 Stith's Virginia, p. 25. |