IV. CHAP. promised to them, the sons of Abraham were acting, from first to last, under the express command of God; that their government was directly and visibly carried on by His Word; and that, in the fulfilment of that Word, they were made to execute upon nations whose iniquity was full, the punishment denounced against them by the great Judge of all. To enter, therefore, upon a like career of conquest, and to plead, in vindication of it, the sanction of a like command, when the command itself was not given, was to justify a vicious act by an argument yet more vicious. And the consequence of such fallacious reasonings would obviously be to cast the cloak of Divine authority over any counsel, which the violence or fraud of human policy might suggest. In other res pects he sets Such a consequence, it is certain, was not present to forth truly the mind of the writer, who, in the present instance, which ought advanced the argument; for, in the broadest and such enter- most unreserved manner, he states a desire to pro the motives to animate prises. His particu lar argument Queen's title mote the glory of God to be the only proper ground, upon which any enterprise, for opening and maintaining intercourse with heathen lands, can be established, or made to prosper. Still, the profession of this principle, however just and righteous in itself, must not blind us to the fallacy of the general argument, by which he attempts to defend it. The particular argument, by which the same writer to prove the tries to show the lawful title of the Queen to the land visited by Sir Humfrey Gilbert, is advanced curious but with as much gravity as if it were really valid; to those countries unsound. IV. although it were difficult to imagine any plea more CHAP. absurd and vague than that which he assumes for its basis. He asserts that Queen Elizabeth only claimed the restoration of a territory which had belonged to England, since the year 1170; that, about that time, a Welsh prince had planted a colony there; that sundry Welsh names were still to be found in the country, as witnesses of the fact 27; and, that, even the record of Montezuma's speech which he delivered at Mexico in the presence of Cortez, and which is set forth in the Spanish Chronicles, makes reference to the same. Leaving, however, this strange legend, our author derives another, and more specious, argument, from the fact that the same land had been discovered by Cabot 28, under the authority of the Letters Patent 27 The reader may perhaps wish to see this argument stated in Peckham's own words: It is very evident that the planting there shall in time right amply enlarge her Maiestie's territories and dominions, or (I might rather say) restore to her Highnesse ancient right and interest in those countries, into the which a noble and worthy personage, lineally descended from the blood royall, borne in Wales, named Madock ap Owen Gwyneth, departing from the coast of England, about the yeere of our Lord God 1170, arrived and there planted himself and his colonies, and afterward returned himself into England, leaving certaine of his people there, as appeareth in an ancient Welsh Chronicle, where he then gave to certaine islands, beastes and foules sundry Welsh names, as the Island of Pengwin, which yet to 28 Speaking of this discovery IV. CHAP. from Henry the Seventh. But the argument can scarcely be regarded as altogether conclusive, for the question still remains unanswered,-by what authority did Henry grant these Letters Patent? That the titles, which Peckham tries to establish in favour of Elizabeth, were as good as those which any other Christian sovereign could show for their claim to foreign countries, before such time as they had actual possession of them, through the discoveries of Columbus or Cortez, of Pizarro or Albuquerque, there is no doubt; and, so far, the assertion to that effect, with which he ends this part of his argument, is correct. Nevertheless, much more direct and tangible evidence than that which he brings forward is required, ere we can accompany the writer to the conclusion which he is so anxious to establish. Nevertheless, the After having made, however, every abatement, main object from the force of his arguments, which such consi which he seeks to at- derations demand, there is no doubt but that the tain is that ever to be by a Chris which ought main and prominent object which this 'chief advenrecognised turer,' in the first effort to plant a British settlement tían land. abroad, desired to promote, was the extension of Christian truth by the extension of the Christian name; and, that, had the same object been faithfully recognised, or earnestly sought after, by those who followed him, the records of our Colonial History would have supplied materials of a far more grateful character than those which it now presents to our view. CHAPTER V. ATTEMPTS TO COLONIZE VIRGINIA IN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. A. D. 1584-1590. Letters Patent granted to Ralegh for discovering and planting new lands, March 25, 1584-Amadas and Barlowe discover that part of America, to which the name of VIRGINIA was given by Elizabeth— Ralegh's Patent for discovering foreign countries confirmed by Parliament, December 18, 1584; and a second fleet sent out by him under Greenvill, April 9, 1585—Colony left in the island of Roanoak under the charge of Lane-Its disastrous fortunes-Brought home by Drake, July 27, 1586-Fifteen more men left afterwards by Greenvill in the same place, who soon perished-Evidences of right feeling and conduct in some of the chief parties engaged in these transactions-One, is the consciousness that much of their misery was the consequence of unjust treatment of the natives by some of the colonists—Another, is the desire evinced by them to teach the natives the knowledge of the true God, and of His Son Jesus Christ-Remarkably illustrated by the report of the philosopher Hariot-The discovery of Tobacco noticed in his report-Circumstances which disposed the natives to receive the Christian faith-The Holy Scriptures read and explained to them by Hariot -Their desire to learn them, to be present at the public worship of the English, and to be prayed for by them in sickness-Such evidences valuable on their own account, and overlooked by most former writers-Valuable, also, as giving a right view of the character of Hariot-Another attempt to colonize Virginia, under Governor White, in 1587-He returns to England for suppliesThe first recorded Baptism of a native of Virginia, August 13, 1587 -The supplies for the colony intercepted; and it was lost in consequence-White's last voyage to Virginia, in 1590, not productive VOL. 1. G CHAP. tent, granted discovering new lands, March 25, 1584. of any benefit-Ralegh makes over his Patent to Sir Thomas Smith and others, in 1588-9; and gives one hundred pounds for the propagation of the Christian faith in Virginia-No traces of any English settlement to be found in Virginia at the end of Elizabeth's reign. Letters Pa- THE failure of the expedition under Sir Humfrey to Ralegh for Gilbert, of which an account has been given in the and planting preceding chapter, checked not the spirit of adventure. Ralegh was eager to rush forward and secure the prize, which his brother had failed to grasp; and obtained from Queen Elizabeth, in the very next year, fresh Letters Patent, which were to continue for the space of six years, and which conferred, upon him and his heirs, the same powers, expressed for the most part in the same words, as those which had been vested in his brother. They contain also the same provision, which has been noticed in the former instance,—namely, that the statutes, lawes, and ordinances,' established by him, in the countries of which he should take possession, should be, as nere as conueniently may bee, agreeable to the forme of the lawes, statutes, gouernment, or pollicie of England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian faith, nowe professed in the Church of England, nor in any wise to withdrawe away any of the subiects or people of those lands or places from the alleagance of' the Queen, her heires and successours, as their immediate Soueraigne vnder God'.' Amadas and These Letters bear date the twenty-fifth of March, 1 Hakluyt, iii. 297-301. Bancroft, in his history of the United States, observes, with regard to this charter, that it was drawn according to the principles of feudal law, and with strict regard to the Christian faith, as professed in the Church of England.' i. 92. |