The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 9

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062

USA > Maryland > The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations > Part 9

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The voyage of Gosnold, however inconsiderable it may ap- 1603. pear, is said to have had important effects. He had found a Captain healthy climate, a rich soil, and good harbours, far to the north pedition. of the place where the English had attempted to make a settle- ment. Its distance from England was dimished, almost a third part, by the new course he had pointed out. The pacific reign of James had now succeeded to that of Elizabeth, whose govern- ment, as well from her parsimony, as from the happy content of her subjects under it, had not been favourable to colonization. In addition to which, the frequent wars with Spain, which had afforded her subjects such constant employment, and presented to them such alluring prospects both of fame and wealth, having now ceased under James, persons of high rank and ardent am- bition became impatient to find some exercise for their activity and talents. New plans for establishing colonies in America were the result. Under all these circumstances, the reverend Mr. Richard Hackluyt, a prebendary of the cathedral of West- minster, (to whom England is said to have been more indebted for its American possessions than to any other man of that age, and whose valuable collection of voyages and discoveries, pub- lished by him in the year 1589, diffused a relish among his countrymen for the sciences of geography and navigation,) was: induced to project a scheme for sending in the year 1603, a small fleet on a voyage, similar to that of Gosnold's, and prevailed upon several gentlemen and merchants of Bristol to embrace and join in the undertaking.t Previous to any preparations for

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 219, 220.

+ It is said in Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, p. 222, that Mr. Hackluyt " had a pre- bend in the cathedral of Bristol," and in the Modern Universal History, vol. 39, p. 240, that he was " a Prebendary in the cathedral of Bristol." This corres-

Pring's ex-

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SEC. IV. this purpose, it is said to have been deemed by them necessary 1603. to apply to Sir Walter Raleigh, who was still looked upon as the proprietor of Virginia, in order to procure his licence. On Mr. Hackluyt's application to Sir Walter, they received all the encouragement they could desire ; for he not only granted them a licence under his hand and seal, but also made over to them all the profits which should arise from the voyage. After they were thus empowered, they raised a joint stock of a thousand pounds, and fitted out two small vessels, the one called the Speed- well, commanded by captain Martin Pring, of the burthen of fifty tons, with thirty men and boys ; the other a bark of 26 tons, called the Discoverer, commanded by Mr. William Brown, who had under him a mate and eleven men, and a boy .* These ves- sels were victualled for eight months, and had a large cargo on board, consisting of all sorts of goods that were deemed pro- per for barter in that country. They sailed from King's Road, near Bristol, on the 20th of March, 1602-3. Being hindered by contrary winds, they put into Milford Haven, where they con- tinued till the 10th of April following, and then proceeded on their voyage. They did not pursue the short route, which Gos- nold took, but went by the Azores, and arrived without any re- markable accident, in the beginning of June, on the coast of North America, between the forty-third and forty-fourth degrees of north latitude, among a multitude of islands, in the mouth of Penobscot bay. Ranging the coast to the south-west, and pas- sing the Saco, Kennebunk, York, and Piscataqua rivers, they proceeded into the bay of Massachusetts. They went on shore here, but not finding any sassafras-wood, the collection of which was a great object of their voyage, they coasted further along, till they entered a large sound, supposed to be what is now called the Vineyard sound, and came to an anchor on the north side of it. Here they landed at an excellent harbour in a bay, which, in honour of the mayor of Bristol, they called Whitson bay ; men- tioned to be in about forty-one degrees and some few minutes north latitude. Having built a hut, and inclosed it with a bar-

ponds with his influence with the Bristol merchants. He is however styled, " Prebendary of Westminster," in the first Virginia charter of 1606, and by Ro- bertson. He might, perhaps, have had a prebend in both cathedrals at different times.

* These vessels appear very small to us at this day for such long voyages ; but, according to Hume, such was the mode of building them at that time. See his Appendix to queen Elizabeth's reign.

I 6

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

ricade, some of them kept constant guard in it, while others were SEC. IV. employed in collecting sassafras in the woods. The natives 1603. came and trafficked with them, forty or fifty in a company, and sometimes upward of an hundred, and would eat and drink, and be merry with them. Observing a lad in the company, playing upon a guitar, they seemed much pleased at it, got round about him, and taking hands, danced twenty or thirty in a ring, after their manner. It was observed, that they were more afraid of two mastiff dogs, which the English had with them, than of twenty men ; so that when our voyagers wish- ed to get rid of their company, they let loose one of these mas- tiffs, upon which the natives would immediately shriek out, and run away to the woods. After remaining here about seven weeks, the bark was despatched, well freighted with sassafras, for Eng- land. Soon after her departure, some alarming appearances of hostility began to be manifested on the part of the Indians ; which might, probably, be owing to the above mentioned impro -. per conduct towards them, as well as the erecting a fortification in their country ; for not long afterwards, when most of the men were absent from the fort, a large party of Indians came and sur- rounded it, and would probably have surprised it, if the captain of the ship had not fired two guns, and alarmed the workmen in the woods. This induced them to accelerate the lading and depar- ture of the ship, for which they had procured a very valuable car- go of skins and furs, in exchange for the commodities which they had bartered with the Indians. Amongst the curiosities which they brought back with them, was a canoe, or boat used by the inhabitants, made of the bark of the birch tree, sewed together with twigs, the seams covered with rosin and turpentine ; and though it was seventeen feet long, four broad, and capable of carrying nine persons, it did not weigh sixty pounds. These boats the inhabitants rowed, or rather paddled, with two wooden instruments, similar to baker's peels, by which they went at a great rate. On the day before the embarkation of the English, an incident occurred, which seemed to confirm the suspected hos- tility of the natives. They came in great numbers to the woods where the English had cut the sassafras, and set fire to it ; which seemed to be designed to let them know, that they would pre- serve nothing in their country, which should invite such guests to visit them again. On the ninth of August our voyagers quit- ted the coast, and sailed for England, arriving in the mouth of

INTRODUCTION TO A

SEC. IV. the Bristol channel in five weeks ; but meeting there with con- 1603. trary winds, they could not reach King's road before the second of October : and they had the satisfaction of finding that their bark was safely arrived a fortnight before them.'

Captain Bartholo- mew Gil- age. In the same year also, and while Pring was employed in this voyage, captain Bartholomew Gilbert, who had been the year bert's voy- before with captain Gosnold, was sent by some merchants of London, on a further discovery, to the southern part of Virginia ; it being intended also, that he should search for the lost En- glish colony. Sailing from Plymouth on the tenth of May, in a bark of fifty tons, by the way of the West Indies, where they made a short stay, they arrived on the 25th of July, off the Capes of Chesapeake bay, which Gilbert was very desirous of entering ; but the wind blowing hard, with a high sea, though they beat about for two or three days, they could not get in, and were obliged to bear away to the eastward. On the twenty- . ninth they anchored about a mile from the shore ; and the cap- tain, with four of his best men and two lads, landed in their boat. Being provided with arms, he and his men marched some short distance up into the country : but, in their march, they were set upon and overpowered by the natives, and all killed ; and it was not without difficulty, that the two young men who were left with the boat, could reach the ship again to bring the news. They being now, in all, but eleven men and boys in the ship, were afraid to venture the loss of any more of their small com- pany ; and their provisions growing short, the master, Henry Sute, who had taken the command, resolved, though they were in extreme want of wood and water, to return homewards ; which they did, and arrived in the river Thames about the end of September.t

* Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, p. 222. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 240. Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 145.

t Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 223. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 146. The above account of Gilbert's voyage is extracted from Harris's Voyages, with which Holmes's Annals correspond. But it may be proper to be informed, that Old- mixon in his British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 219, gives a different relation of this expedition. He says, that "Gilbert proceeded from the Carribee islands to the bay of Chesapeake, in Virginia, being the first that sailed up into it, and landed there. The Indians set upon him and his company in the woods ; and captain Gilbert and four or five of his men, were killed by their arrows : upon which his crew returned home." But, as the above mentioned collection of voy- ages by Harris, is not only posterior in time, but also rather a more authentic work than Oldmixon's, the narration of the former is here adopted in the text. There is an obscurity, however, in Harris's account of it as to the place where Gil-

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

The pacific disposition of king James, and his inexperience SEC. IV. in the usage and law of nations, had induced him to sup- 1604. pose, that by his mere accession to the throne of England, peace was thereby restored between England and Spain, he having been always before, as king of Scotland, in amity with Spain. He had on the 23d of June, 1603, before any terms of peace were concerted, or even proposed by Spain, re- called all the letters of marque that had been granted by Eliza- beth against the nation ; and, although a sort of peace actually existed between Spain and England from the commencement of his reign, yet it was not until the 18th of August, 1604, that the treaty of peace was signed between the two nations .* This event removed many of the obstacles that stood in the way of the British trade, and opened to their ships a free access to many countries, to which they had not before resorted. The old passion for the discovery of a north-west passage, now revived again in its full vigour. With a view to this discovery, two noble- men of the highest rank and influence in the kingdom, were in- duced to send out a ship under the command of captain George Weymouth. Writers who have mentioned this voyage, differ 1605. so widely, and give such contradictory accounts of it, that it Captain has become scarcely entitled to notice. It seems that they sailed Wey- on the last day of May, 1605, from Dartmouth, (some say, from voyage. mouth's the Downs,) and met with nothing of consequence, till such time as they judged themselves to be very near the coast of what was then called Virginia; but the winds carrying them to the northward, in the latitude of 41º 30', and their wood and water beginning to grow extremely short, they became very de- sirous of seeing land. By their charts they had reason to ex- pect it, and therefore bore directly in with it, according to their instructions, yet they found none in a run of almost 50 leagues. After running this distance they discovered several islands, on one of which they landed, and called it St. George.t Within

bert was killed. As only a day or two intervened between his quitting the capes of Chesapeake and the time of his landing, it would seem that it could not be higher to the north-eastward than the Hudson's river. More probably, however, some where along the sea-coast of Maryland, or state of Delaware.

* Hume's Hist. of Eng. end of ch. 45, in James I. reign.

t In Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 223, this island is said to be that which is now called Long island, near New York. But if they bore directly in for the land when they were in 40° 30' latitude, as said above, they would most pro- bably make it in the same parallel; and the island, which they called St. George would then probably be Nantucket, or Martha's Vineyard. The improbability

VOL. I .- 11

INTRODUCTION, &c.

SEC. IV. three leagues of this island, they came into a harbour, which 1605. they called Pentecost harbour, because it was about Whitsuntide they discovered it .* They then sailed up a great river forty miles ;+ set up crosses in several places, and had some traffick with the natives. In July they returned to England, carrying with them five Indians ; one a Sagamore, and three others of them, persons of distinction, whom they had taken as prisoners.}

of their being able to ascertain, during their short stay, whether Long island was an island or part of the main land, opposes the idea, that the island, which they called St. George, was Long island.

* In the Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 39, p. 240, this harbour is said to be the mouth of Hudson's river. But if the island just before mentioned be either Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, and the harbour which they called Pentecost, was "within three leagues of the island," it must have been some harbour on the southern coast of Massachusetts, near to those islands.

t In the Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 39, p. 240, this river is supposed to be the Hud- son, which supposition corresponds with that of the island which they called St. George, being Long island. It is proper to mention two other suppositions very widely different. Dr. Belknap (in his Amer. Biog. ii. 149) is satisfied, that it was the Penobscot in Maine, and ()Idmixon (Brit. Emp. in Amer. vol. 1, p. 220) seems as certain, that it was "the river Powhatan, southward of the bay of Chesapeake," now called James river, in Virginia. In medio tutissimus ibis, may be here adopted ; and it seems not too hazardous to conclude, (though such conclusion may be denominated mere conjecture from circumstances) that the island, they called St. George, might be Martha's Vineyard, Pentecost harbor- Buzzard's bay, and the great river up which they sailed forty miles,"-Long island sound. The shallowness of the Connecticut river at its mouth, and the narrow- ness of it "forty miles up," would seem to preclude a supposition of that being the river meant by the voyagers : though this has been supposed by Beverly, in his Hist. of Virg. (B. 1, ch. 1, sec. 12,) yet, in his preface to that work, (edition of 1722,) out of contradiction to Oldmixon, with whom he had a personal quar- rel in England, he observes, that capt. Weymouth's voyage was only to Hud- son's river.

# See Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, p. 223. Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 150.

SECTION V.

The progress of the French in settling colonies in America-A settlement of convicts on the Isle of Sables, by the French-Chauvin's voyages to the St. Lawrence-Pontgrave's voyage to the same-The Sieur de Mont's commis- sion, and voyages under it-His patent revoked-Pontrincourt's endeavours to fix a settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia-The Sieur de Mont obtains a restoration of his grant-and establishes the first permanent colony in Cana- da, under the conduct of Champlain.

The connection which necessarily subsists between the events SECT. V. attending the early settlements of the French in Acadia, now 1598. called Nova Scotia, and Canada, and those of the former Brit- The pro- gress of the ish colonies in North America, must apologise for a short di- French in gression here, in taking a cursory notice of the early progress lonies in

settling co- of those French settlements. In doing this it will be necessary North to carry the attention of the reader a few years back. America.

That great and good monarch, Henry IV. of France, (having acceded to the throne of that kingdom in the year 1589,) as soon as he had defeated his enemies, the Guise faction, and ob- tained quiet possession of the crown, with a liberality of mind, which always marked his character, issued his edict of the 4th of July, 1590, whereby he revoked those extorted from his pre- decessor by the Leaguers, and established religious liberty of conscience throughout his dominions. A restless disposition, however, which appears to have too much attended the conduct of the Hugonots or Protestants of France, throughout their un- happy civil wars of the sixteenth century, did not permit them to rest quiet with these concessions of Henry .* Indeed, as he had been a Protestant and one of their leaders, and had obtained the crown principally by their means, they might naturally look up to him for greater favours than a mere toleration. Be this as it may, he thought it proper to yield to the importunities of their deputies, who had for that purpose waited upon him at Nantz, where he then was, by issuing another edict, bearing date the 13th of April, 1598, since well known and celebrated in history under the emphatic denomination of "The Edict of Nantz ;"

* The Hugonots, or Protestants of France, are said to have been at this time, about a twelfth part of the nation .- Voltaire's Age of Lewis XIV. vol. 2, p. 183.

INTRODUCTION TO A

SECT. V. the revocation of which by Louis XIV., in the year 1685, is 1598. said to have been productive of much mischief to France for many succeeding years. By this edict of Henry, the Protestants were not only restored to the free enjoyment of their religion, and a safe protection in their civil rights by the establishment of particular tribunals of justice for them, but they were also ad- vanced to an almost equal share of political liberty, by a free admission to all employments of trust, profit, and honour in the state .*

of Sables, by the French.

A settle- ment of convicts France, having thus recovered some tranquility after fifty years of internal commotion since her last attempts at colonization in on the isle 1549,t was now enabled to exercise again, the enterprizing talents of her citizens. In the same year in which the Protes- tants obtained from Henry the edict of Nantes, (1598,) the Mar- quis de la Roche, a Breton gentleman, receiving from the king a commission to conquer Canada, and other countries, not pos- sessed by any christian prince, sailed from France, in quality of lord-lieutenant of those countries, taking with him a person of the name of Chetodel, of Normandy, for his pilot. The mar- quis, having most absurdly pitched upon the isle of Sables, (which lies about fifty leagues to the south-east of Cape Breton, is about ten leagues in circumference, and is itself a mere sand- bank,) as a proper place for a settlement, left there about forty malefactors, the refuse of the French jails .; The history of those poor wretches, contains the history of the expedition. The marquis, after cruising for some time on the coast of Nova Scotia, returned to France, without being able to carry them off the miserable island ; and is said to have died of grief for hav- ing lost all his interest at that court. As for his wretched colo- ny, they must all have perished, had not a French ship been wrecked upon the island, and a few sheep driven upon it at the same time. With the boards of the wreck they erected huts ; with the sheep, they supported nature : and when they had eat them up, they lived on fish. Their clothes wearing out, they made coats of seal's skins ; and in this miserable condition, they spent seven years, till Henry IV. ordered Chetodel to go and bring them back to France. Chetodel found only twelve of them alive; and when he returned, Henry had the curiosity to

* Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 24, p. 334, 342, 377.

t See before, p. 38.

¿ See a like colony of convicts authorized by the commission to Quartier, be- fore mentioned, and referred to in a note in p. 37.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

see them in their seal-skin dresses. Their appearance moved SECT. V. this generous and humane monarch so much, that he ordered 1598. them a general pardon for their offences, and gave each of them fifty crowns to begin the world with anew .*

Though la Roche's patent had been very ample and exclusive, yet private adventurers still continued to trade to the river St. Lawrence, without any notice being taken of them by the gov- ernment. Amongst others was one Pontgravé, a merchant of St. Malo, who had made several trading voyages for furs, to Ta- doussac.t Upon the death of the Marquis de la Roche, his patent was renewed in favour of Mons. de Chauvin, a com- mander in the French navy, who put himself under the direc- tion of Pontgravé ; as the latter might justly be supposed, from his frequent trading voyages to that country, to have acquired a considerable knowledge of it. In the year 1600, Chauvin, at- tended by Pontgravé, made a voyage to Tadoussac, where he left some of his people, and returned with a very profitable quan- the St. tity of furs to France. These people, whom he left, would have perished by hunger or disease, during the following winter, but for the compassion of the natives. Chauvin, in the next year, (1601,) made a second voyage with the same good fortune as the first, and sailed up the St. Lawrence as high as Trois Ri- vieres; but while preparing for a third voyage, (in the year after,) he died.

1600. Chauvin's voyages to

Lawrence.

The many specimens of profit to be made by the Canadian trade, led the public to think favourably of it. M. de Chatte, the governor of Dieppe, succeeded Chauvin as governor of Ca- nada. De Chatte's scheme seems to have been, to have carried on that trade with France, by a company of Rouen merchants and adventurers. An armament for this purpose, was according- ly equipped, and the command of it given to Pontgravé, with pow- ers to extend his discoveries up the river St. Lawrence. Pont- gravé, with his squadron, sailed in 1603, having in his company Samuel Champlain, afterwards the famous founder of Quebec, Pont- who had been a captain in the navy, and was a man of talents grave's and enterprise. Arriving at Tadoussac, they left their ships the St. there, and in a long-boat they proceeded up the river as far as the falls of St. Louis, and then returned to France.

1603.

voyage up

Lawrence.

* Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 39, p. 408.

t Tadoussac is a town, or place, at the mouth of the Saguenay, a small river emptying into the St. Lawrence from the north, considerably below Quebec, and ninety leagues from the mouth of the St. Lawrence.

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SECT. V. While Pontgravé was engaged in this voyage of 1603, De Chatte died, and was succeeded in his patent by Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, styled in the king's commission to him, "gen- tilhomme ordinaire de notre chambre." The tenor of his letters patent, (as we have it at large in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 45,) bearing date November 8th, 1603, appears to have been as well for colonizing the country then called Acadie, (which comprehended Canada, as well as what is now called Nova Scotia,) as for encouraging the fur-trade carried on there. A difference of opinion is said to have taken place, on the occa- sion of granting these letters patent, between king Henry and his very able minister, the duke of Sully. The duke declared roundly, that all settlements in America above the fortieth degree of north latitude, could be of no utility; and that all pretended advantages insisted upon in their favour, were but so many com- mercial chimeras. Here again, (observes the historian,*) the monarch was right and the minister wrong, as we know by ex- perience. By these letters patent, the Sieur de Monts was con- stituted and appointed the king's lieutenant-general, to represent his person, in the country, territory, coasts, and confines of Acadie, from the fortieth degree of north latitude to the forty-sixth. The extent of this portion of the continent was, from that part of the coast of New Jersey, in the latitude of Philadelphia, to the northern extremity of Cape Breton. Had the Sieur de Monts fixed his settlement or colony, at this time, on that part of the continent as low as, or near to the fortieth degree, which he might have done, the country being then unsettled by any Eu- ropeans, and entirely open to him, very different indeed might have been the present situation of affairs in North America. But it is probable, that as all northern furs are said to be much better than those of a southern climate, the French found greater profits from that trade in Canada, than the English did from the southern part of the continent, which they were at this time ex- ploring. The Sieur de Monts, was therefore, soon enabled to form a company under his patent, more considerable than any that had yet undertaken that trade. For their further encourage- ment, it seems, the king, soon after the former patent to the Sieur de Monts, granted also to him and his associates, an ex- clusive right to the commerce of peltry in Acadie, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus encouraged, they fitted out four ships.

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The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 9

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823 Publication date: 1837 Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver Number of Pages: 1062

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062