USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
France, after fifty years of internal commotions, hav- ing recovered her tranquility, was enabled to renew her enterprizes for the colonization of Canada. Henry IV, gave to the Marquis de la Roche, a commission to con- quer that country, and other countries in America, not possessed by any Christian prince. The marquis took with him, a Norman named Chetodel, as his pilot, and a number of convicts out of prison. He landed forty of these men on the isle of Sable, and proceeded to Acadia, made researches in that region, and returned to France,
V. CARO. 6
4
CHAPTER (1600
without attempting to make any settlement, or having it in his power to carry back those miserable outcasts, whom he had set on shore. He was prevented, by vari- ous misfortunes, from returning to America, and died of vexation.
His patent was renewed in the following year, in favor of Monsieur de Chauvin, who now made a voyage up the river St. Lawrence, to Tadoussac, two hundred and seventy miles from the sea. He returned home with a load of furs, leaving some of his people, who were ena- bled, by the kindness of the natives, to encounter the severity of the climate. He made a second voyage, the next year, with the same good fortune; and sailed up the St. Lawrence, as high as the place on which the town of Trois Rivieres has since been built,
This year, William Parker sailed from Plymouth, in England, with two ships, one pinnace, and two shallops, to Cumana; and having taken the pearl fishery in that island, with the governor of Canada, who was there with a company of soldiers, he received five hundred pounds, in pearl, for the ransom of the whole; proceeding to Porto Bello, he made himself master of it, remained on it one day, plundered, and left it, without injury to its buildings.
Although the disastrous effect of Raleigh's attempt, to effect a settlement in America, together with the war with Spain, checked the spirit of colonization, it was now revived: Bartholomew Gosnold sailed, in a small bark, from Falmouth, with thirty-two persons, for the northern ports of Virginia, with the design of beginning a plantation. One is surprised, at the smallness of the means, which were depended upon, for the establishment of the English colonies in America. Of the thirty-
2
43
THE SECOND
1602]
two persons who embarked with Gosnold, eight were ""mariners and sailors ; twelve purposed, after the dis- covery of a proper place for a plantation, to return with . the ship to England; the rest, in all twelve persons, were to remain there for population," Instead of making the usual circuit, by the Canaries and West Indies, he steered, as near as the wind would permit, due west, and was the first Englishman who came in a direct course, to this part of America. After a passage of seven weeks, he discovered land on the American coast; and soon after, meta smallop, with sails and oars, having on board eight Indians. These people first hailed the English : after signs of a friendly disposition, and a long speech made by one of the Indians, they jumped on board: they were "all naked, having loose deer skins about their shoulders, and near their waiste, seal skins tied fast, like Irish dinmic trowsers." One of them, who seemed to be their chief, wore a waistcoat, breeches, cloth stockings, shoes, and a hat; one or two others, had a few things of European fabric ; and these, " with a piece of chalk, described the coast thereabouts, and could name Placentia, of Newfoundland : they spoke divers Christian words." Their vessel was supposed to have belonged to some unfortunate fishermen, from Biscay, wrecked on the coast. Sailing along the coast, captain Gosnold discovered, on the next day, ahead, land, in the latitude of forty-two degrees, where he came to anchor; and taking a great number of cod, he called it cape Cod. On the following day, he coasted the land southerly, and in attempting to double a point, he came suddenly into shoal water, and called the place Point Care; Dr. Belknap supposes this to have been the point, now called Malesbarre, or Sandy
$4
CHAPTER
[1602
Point, the southern extremity of the county of Barnsta- stable, in Massachusetts : he proceeded southerly, as far as an island, which, in honor of the queen, he called Elizabeth island, a name which it still retains : he found on it, a pond of fresh water, two miles in eir. cumference, in the centre of which, is a small, rocky, isle, on which he began to erect a fort and store house. In the year 1797, Dr. Belknap visited this spot, and. discovered the remains of the cellar of this house, the stones of which were, evidently, taken from the neigh- bouring beach, the rock of the isle being less moveable, and lying in ledges. While the men were occupied in this work, Gosnold went to the main land, to traffic with the natives, who dwelt on the banks of the river, on which the town of New Bedford now stands. In nineteen days, the fort and house were completed ; but, discontents arising among those who were to remain in the country, the design of a settlement was abandoned, and the whole of the company returned to England.
Sir Walter, although he had no longer, any particular interest in the colony of Virginia, made a further effort for the discovery and relief, of the men left there by go- vernor White. He purchased, and fitted out a bark, and despatched Samuel Mace, an able seaman, from Weymouth, who left that port in the month of March, fell on the American coast, in about the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude, and proceeded along it, but returned home without effecting the object of his mis- sion. This was the fifth attempt of Sir Walter, to suc- cour his colonists, since the year 1587. "At this last time, to avoid all excuse, he bought a bark, and hired all the company, for wages by the month; but they fell forty leagues to the southward of Hattaracke, in thirty-
45
THE SECOND.
1603]
four degrees, or thereabouts ; and having there spent a monto, when they came along the coast to seek the peo- ple, they did it not, pretending, that the extremity of weather, and loss of some principal tackle, forced, them from the object of searching for the port of Hatta- racke, to which they were sent."
Notwithstanding the vast expense of men and trea- sure, wasted in the attempt to establish an English col- ony, on the shores of the northern continent of Amer- ica, at the expiration of about twenty years, since the first voyage of Amidas and Barlow, to Ocracock, there was not, at the death of queen Elizabeth, the 24th of March, 1603, a single individual settled on the main ; and, although upwards of a century had elapsed, since the discovery of the new world by Columbus, no Eu- ropean nation, excepting the Spaniards, had succeeded in making any settlement on it; and a few soldiers of that nation, maintained at two or three posts in Florida, appear to have been all the Europeans in North Amer- ica. As before the attempts of the British, the whole northern continent, was known to the Europeans under the appellation of Florida, now all that part of it, from the spot, on which the first adventurers of that nation landed, northly, was called Virginia, as far at least, as the river St. Lawrence. The geographers of the day, re- presented that vast extent of country, as divided into three parts : Canada belonging to the French, Virginia to the English, and Florida to the Spaniards : within these insipient divisions, no settlement had as yet been made, so as to have entitled any part of it to a par- ticular name.
It is surprising, to find with how much difficulty the colonists provided for their subsistence; the woods
-16
CHAPTER. [1603
teemed with buffalo, deer, opossums, and squirrels ; there were immense banks of oysters and cockles, and herrings visited the rivers yearly, in large shoals : the sea and rivers supplied fish in abundance ; the trees of the forest yielded honey in quantity, as well as grapes, persimons, plumbs, and other fruit : wild tur- keys and other game, were in plenty ; and we have seen, that, whatever was committed to the ground yielded am- ple returns : the Indians drew from their gardens, large supplies of beans, peas, and pumpkins: in the spring, the ground was covered with strawberries : the briers af- forded black and other berries : shrubs yielded chinca- pins : land turtles were easily procured.
The failure, of Sir Walter's efforts to plant a colony in Virginia, is to be attributed to the ordinary cause of the failure of most of men's attempts: the absence of the eye of the master, the great distance at which the operations he directed, were to be executed, and the small share of his attention, which other more impor- tant, immediate, or near objects of his ambition, or ease, allowed him to bestow on his colony. There cannot be any doubt, that, if one half of the treasure that was fruitlessly wasted, had been disbursed in these and sub- sequent operations, under the immediate direction of a man of ordinary prudence, a very different result would have been obtained.
The spot selected was not, it is true, the most eligi- ble one ; but the climate was extremely mild : the land, though generally barren, was sufficiently variegated with fertile spots.
-
47.
CHAPTER III.
TOWARDS the middle of the month of April, 1603, a ship of fifty tons, called the Speedwell, was despatched from Milford Haven, for the further discovery of the northern part of Virginia, under the command of Martin Pring; a bark of twenty-six tons, called the Discovery, was also put under Pring's orders; he reached the American coast early in June, between the 43d and 44th degrees of northern latitude, among a number of islands, in the mouth of Penobscot bay, and proceeded southerly to a bay, which he called Whotson bay, in honor of the mayor of Bristol, who had patronised and was interested in the expedition ; he there built a hut, which he surround- ed with a palissade ; here a part of his men kept guard, while the others were employed in collecting sassafras, with which he was directed to load his vessels. The na- tives visited the English, and demcaned themselves, and were treated, in a friendly manner; and after a stay of seven weeks, a cargo being obtained for the bark, she was despatched home. Soon afterwards, the Indians mani- fested hostile intentions. Pring hastened the loading of the ship, and sailed for England on the 9th of August.
In the mean while, another attempt had been made to search for and relieve the colonists left by governor White, near Cape Hatteras. Bartholomew Gilbert sailed for this purpose, in a bark of fifty tons, on the 10th of May ‹
18
CHAPTER
[1603
he took the old route, by the West Indies, and descried the continent on the 23d of July, about the 40th degree of northern latitude. Adverse winds prevented him from proceeding to the Chesapeake, where he was directed to land. Having gone ashore with four men, the Indians fell upon and destroyed this small party. Dismayed at the event, the people on board weighed anchor immedi- ately, and returned home.
Henry IV. of France, being ever intent on es- tablishing a French colony, on the northern part of the continent, granted this year to Pierre de Gaet, Sieur du Montz, a lord of his bed chamber, a patent for all the land, between the 40th and 46th degrees of northern lati- tude, including not only what is now known to us as the provinces of Canada and New-Brunswick, the New - Eng- land states, and those of New-York, New-Jersey and Pennsylvania, constituting him his lieutenant-general in that region.
Samuel Champlain, of Bronage, in France, sailed up the St. Lawrence, and anchored at Tadoussac.
Although the Europeans had as yet no settlement on the northern continent of America, they employed 200 ships and 10,000 men, in the fisheries of New- Foundland.
In the following year, the Sieur Dumontz sailed for America, taking Champlain as his pilot, and attended by Mons. Potrincourt, with a number of adventurers. On their arrival, Dumontz made a grant to Potrincourt of a tract of land, which was called Port Royal, a name which it retained till the English, in the reign and in honor of queen Ann, substituted to it that of Annapolis. Dumontz, leaving the grantee in possession of his new acquisition with a few colonists, proceeded up a river
-
2
49
THE THIRD.
1604]
then called by the natives Scoodick, but afterwards St. Croix, which, in the treaty by which the independence of the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, is named, as constituting a part of the boundary of the do. minions of the contracting parties. On an island, in the middle of this river, Dumontz wintered and erected a fort, part of the foundations of which were discovered in 1798, by Professor Webber, who attended the Ameri- can commissioners.
On the 18th of August, king James concluded a trea. ty of peace with Phillip II. of Spain. By this event, a number of his subjects, of birth and enterprise, to whom the war had afforded employment for their talents, find- ing their attention and hopes excited by the great suc- cess of the Spaniards in South America, turned their thoughts towards emulating their rivals, on the northern continent.
The discovery of gold mines, and of a north-west passage to the Indies, was the prominent object of the adventurers' ambition. The earl of Southampton, and the earl of Arundel, fitted out a ship, and gave the com- mand of it to George Weymouth. He sailed from the Downs with twenty-eight persons, on the 31st of March, and forty-four days after made land in about 41 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. After coasting awhile, he entered and sailed about 60 miles up the river which is now called Penobscot, in the state of Maine. He set up crosses in several places, in token of his having taken possession of the country, had some traffic with the natives, and in the month of July returned to England, carrying with him five Indians, one a Sagamore, and three chiefs.
The year 1605 is remarkable for the first attempt to the establishment of the British empire in the West In- N. CARO. 7
50
CHAPTER [1600
dia islands. The crew of a ship, called the Olive Blos. som, owned by Sir Oliver Leigh, bound from London to Surinam, landed on and took possession of the island of Barbadoes; they found it abandoned by the native Charaibs, and erected a cross, on which they inscribed James, king of England, and of this island.
The ill success of the attempts made by individuals of the English nation, during near a quarter of a century, which had elapsed since the expedition under the orders of Amidas and Barlow, having evinced that private means were insufficient for the accomplishment of the desired end, in the spring of the following year, an asso- ciation was formed in London, composed of men of in- fluence, talent and wealth, with a view, by their united stock and efforts, to overcome the difficulties, which had heretofore attended the establishment of an English colony in the new world.
Sir Richard Hackluyt, one of the dignitaries of West- minster, was among the foremost. Historians place the name of this gentleman, immediately after that of Sir Walter Raleigh, in the list of the promoters of this noble undertaking. Educated under the directions of a kins- man of great natural and commercial information, he had bestowed an early attention upon history and geography, and in his more mature years had translated into Eng- lish, relations which had been published in Spain and Portugal, of the voyages and discoveries of the adven- turers of those nations, and had published accounts of the expeditions of the navigators of his own. The sup- port of the crown was sought and obtained, and king James favored the association with a charter.
This instrument bears date the 10th of April. It incorporates Sir Thomas Smith, Sir John Somers,
1
51
THE THIRD.
1806]
Richard Hackluyt, Edward M. Wingfield, of the city of London, and the individuals who may thereafter be join- ed to them, as the first colony, and authorizes them to begin their settlement or plantation, at any place on the coast of Virginia, in America, between the 34th and- 41 st degree of northern latitude, and a grant is made to them of all the country for the distance of fifty miles on the coast, on each side of the spot, on which they may make their first settlement, and one hundred miles back, miking in the whole 10,000 square miles, or six mil- lions four hundred thousand acres, together with all the islands over and against the coast, within the distance of one hundred miles.
Thomas Hanham, Raleigh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, of the town of Plymouth, and such individuals, who may thereafter be joined to them, are by the same instrument incorporated as the second company. They are directed to make their first settle- ment on the same coast, within the 38th and 45th de- grees of northern latitude, and the same extent of terri- tory is allotted to them as to the first colony, of which the spot on which they may begin their first establish- ment is likewise to be the centre. But it is provided, that after either colony shall have begun its settlement, the other shall not begin its own, within a less distance than one hundred miles. All the king's subjects are forbidden to settle, on the back of the lands of the colo- nies, without the king's license.
The internal government of each colony is given to a council of thirteen persons, to be constituted by the king, and regulated by his instructions, under his sign manual, and a council of Virginia, the members of which are likewise to be chosen by the king, to regulate the seve- ral affairs of both colonies.
50
CHAPTER
[1606
The colonies are to search for and obtain gold, silver and copper, not only within their respective limits, but also in the lands on the back of them, paying to the king one fifth of the gold and silver, and one fifteenth of the copper.
The councils are respectively authorized to establish and cause to be struck, a coin, to be current. in the colonies.
Leave is granted to the patentees, to carry to Virginia such of the king's subjects, as may be willing to remove thither, (excepting only those whom he may specially forbid from emigrating,) and to take for this purpose a sufficiency of shipping and ammunition of war; and they are authorized to repel invasion or insult, by force.
A duty of two and a half per cent. on the commerce of the king's subjects, and five per cent. on that of foreign- ers, on sales and purchases, was granted to the colonies for the term of twenty years, after which it was to be collected for the king.
The exportation of the company's goods from any of the king's dominions, were to be free from duty.
All persons, born in Virginia, were to be British natural born subjects.
The king declares to all Christian kings, princes and states, that if any person within the colonies, or any by their license, shall rob or spoil, by sea or by land, or commit any act of insult or unlawful hostility, on the subjects of any king, prince or state, in amity with him, he will, on complaint, cause proclamation to be made within some convenient part of England, commanding proper satisfaction to be made, and on default will put the offender out of his liegeance and protection, and it shall be lawful for the party injured to pursue him with hostility.
1
-
53
THE THIRD.
1606]
Lastly, lands in Virginia are to be holden of the king, as of the manors of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in free and common socage ; not in capite.
The charter was accompanied with instructions and. orders, under the king's sign manual, by which a board, to be styled the king's council for Virginia, was estab- lished, consisting of William Wade, lieutenant of the tower of London, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Walter Cope, Sir George Moore, Sir Thomas Popham, Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, Sir John Trevor, Sir Henry Montague, recorder of the city of London, Sir William Romney, knights, John Doderidge, solicitor-general, and Tho- mas Warr, esquire, John Eldred, of the city of London, Thomas James, of Bristol, and John Bragg, of the county of Devon, merchants. It being soon af- ter found difficult to convene a board, the members resi- ding at a considerable distance from each other, the king created twenty-six new members; sixteen of whom were presented to him by the first, and the rest by the second colony. The council was now divided into two boards, to each of which were committed the affairs of one of. the colonies.
These councils were, at the pleasure of the king and his heirs, to give instructions to a council resident in each colony, the members of which they were for the first time to appoint ; the king reserving to himself the right of new modelling and increasing the number of the members of such councils.
The colonial councils were respectively to consist of thirteen members, at most. They were to choose among themselves a president ; this officer was not to be a minister of the gospel : his election was to be an- nual, and he, as well as the members, were removable at the pleasure of the board.
54
CHAPTER [1606
It was recommended to these councils, to provide for the celebration of divine worship among the colonists, and as soon and as much as possible among the Indians, according to the rites of the church of England.
They were charged to guard against attempts to de- coy any of the whites from their allegiance, and to cause to be arrested and imprisoned, and in flagrant cases to be sent to England, any person endeavoring so to do.
Tumult, rebellion, conspiracy, mutiny, sedition, murder, were directed to be punished with death, with- out benefit of clergy. The president and council were constituted a court in each colony, having cognizance of these offences; the trial was to be by jury, but this tribunal was authorized to suspend the execution of its sentence until the king's pleasure was known; it had jurisdiction of lesser offences, for which corporeal or pe- cuniary punishment was denounced, and it was even au- thorized to award damages to the injured. Its pro- ceedings were to be summary and oral, until sentence, which, with the nature of the offence, was to be reduced to writing, and subscribed by all the councillors present.
During the first five years after their landing, the co- lonists were to trade altogether in one, or at most three common stocks, in each colony. The fruit of their la- bors, and all the goods and commodities imported, were to be deposited in a common warehouse, and a treasurer or cape merchant, was to be appointed by the council, in each colony, and with the assistance of clerks, was to re- ceive, preserve, and deliver out the joint property. In return for his labor, each colonist was to be supplied with necessaries, out of the colony's stores.
.
The adventurers of the first colony were to appoint one or more companies, each consisting of three persons
55
THE THIRD.
1603]
at the least, to reside in London, or at such other place as the council should appoint, during the first five years, to receive and take charge of all commodities to bc shipped to or landed from the colony ; and the adven- . turers of the second, were to make similar appointments at or in the neighborhood of Plymouth.
Every colonist was to take an oath of obedience, and that prescribed by the 4th of James.
The legislative power was vested in the colonial coun- cils, but they were not restricted from denouncing any punishment affecting life or limb, and their acts were liable to be rescinded by the king, or his council for Vir- ginia, in England.
It was recommended to the colonists to treat the In- dians with kindness, and to endeavor to bring them to the knowledge of God, and obedience to the king.
Finally, the members of the king's council for Vir- ginia, in England, were to take such oaths as the privy council should appoint, and the colonial council such as the king's council for Virginia should require.
The adventurers for the first colony, eager to realize the hopes, which the formation of so respectable an asso- ciation had excited, soon fitted out two ships and a small bark, which they placed under the orders of Christopher Newport; his instructions bear date the 10th of De- cember. A list of the persons who were to compose the first colonial council, was committed in a sealed co- ver to his care and that of Bartholomew Gosnold and John Radcliffe, with directions to open it within twenty- four hours after their landing in Virginia, and not be- fore ; and it was ordered, that immediately after its being opened, the councillors should be proclaimed, a presi- dent chosen, and government organised : Newport was
-------------
56
CHAPTER
[1607
instructed to spend two months, in discovering and re- connoitering the rivers and harbors of the country, with such vessels and crews as the council should direct, and to return with such commodities as could in the mean- while be procured, leaving the bark for the service-of the colony. 1
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.