Chapter 3

CHAMPLAIN (sham-plane), at the beginning of the seventeenth century, crossed the Atlantic in two pigmy barks--one of twelve, the other of fifteen tons--and ascended the St. Lawrence on an exploring tour. At Hochelaga all was changed. The Indian town had vanished, and not a trace remained of the savage population which Cartier saw there seventy years before.

[Footnote: This fact illustrates the frequent and rapid changes which took place among the aboriginal tribes.]

Champlain was captivated by the charms of the new world, and longed to plant a French empire and the Catholic faith amid its savage wilds.

DE MONTS (mong) received a grant of all the territory between the fortieth and forty-sixth parallels of latitude.

[Footnote: Between the sites of Philadelphia and Montreal.]

This tract was termed _Acadia_, a name afterward confined to New Brunswick and the adjacent islands, and now to Nova Scotia. With Champlain, he founded Port Royal, N. S., in 1605. This was _the first permanent French settlement in America._ It was three years before a cabin was built in Canada, and two before the James River was discovered.

CHAMPLAIN RETURNED in 1608, and established a trading post at Quebec. _This was the first permanent French settlement in Canada._ The next summer, in his eager desire to explore the country, he joined a war party of the Hurons against the Iroquois, or Five Nations of Central New York.

[Footnote: The interference of Champlain with the Indians secured the inveterate hostility of the Iroquois tribes. Not long after, they seized the missionaries who came among them, tortured and put them to death. This cut off any farther explorations toward the south. The French, therefore, turned their attention toward the west.]

On this journey he discovered that beautiful lake which bears his name. Amid discouragements which would have overwhelmed a less determined spirit, Champlain firmly established the authority of France on the banks of the St. Lawrence. "The Father of New France," as he has been termed, reposes in the soil he won to civilization.

THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES.--The explorers of the Mississippi valley were mostly Jesuit priests. The French names which they gave still linger throughout that region. Their hope was to convert the Indians to the Christian faith. They pushed their way through the forest with unflagging energy. They crept along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. They traversed the Great Lakes. In 1668 they founded the mission of St. Mary, the oldest European settlement in Michigan. Many of them were murdered by the savages; some were scalped; some were burned in rosin-fire; some scalded with boiling water. Yet, as soon as one fell out of the ranks, another sprang forward to fill the post. We shall name but two of these patient, indefatigable pioneers of New France.

_FATHER MARQUETTE_ (mar-ket), hearing from some wandering Indians of a great river which they termed the "Father of Waters," determined to visit it. He floated in a birch-bark canoe down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi (1673), and thence to the mouth of the Arkansas.

[Footnote: Soon after, while on another expedition, he went ashore for the purpose of quiet devotion. After waiting long for his return, his men, seeking him, found that he had died while at prayer. He was buried near the mouth of the Marquette. Years after, when the tempest raged, and the Indian was tossing on the angry waves, he would seek to still the storm by invoking the aid of the pious Marquette.]

_LA SALLE_ was educated as a Jesuit, but had established a trading post at the outlet of Lake Ontario. He undertook various expeditions full of romantic adventure. Inflamed with a desire to find the mouth of the Mississippi, he made his way (1682) to the Gulf of Mexico. He named the country Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV., king of France.

RESULTS OF FRENCH ENTERPRISE.--Before the close of the seventeenth century, the French had explored the Great Lakes, the Fox, Maumee, Wabash, Wisconsin and Illinois Rivers, and the Mississippi from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf. They had traversed a region including what is now known as Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, the Canadas and Acadia.

[Footnote: As we shall see hereafter, the English at this time clung to a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast.]

In 1688 it had a population of 11,000.

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ENGLISH EXPLORATIONS.

We have seen how the Cabots, sailing under an English flag, discovered the American continent, exploring its coast from Labrador to Albemarle Sound. Though the English claimed the northern part of the continent by right of this discovery, yet during the sixteenth century they paid little attention to it. At the close of that period, however, maritime enterprise was awakened and British sailors cruised on every sea. Like the other navigators of the day, they were eager to discover the western passage to Asia.

FROBISHER made the first of these attempts to go north of America to Asia--Cabot's plan repeated. He pushed through unknown waters, threading his perilous way among icebergs, until (1576) he entered Baffin Bay. Here he heaped a pile of stones, declared the country an appendage of the British crown, and returned home.

[Footnote: One of the sailors brought back a stone which was thought to contain gold. A fleet of fifteen vessels was forthwith equipped for this new El Dorado The northwest passage to Cathay was forgotten. After innumerable perils incident to Arctic regions, the ships were loaded with the precious ore and returned. Unfortunately history neglects to tell us what became of the cargo.]

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE was a famous sailor. In one of his expeditions on the Isthmus of Panama, he climbed to the top of a lofty tree, whence he saw the Pacific Ocean. Looking out on its broad expanse, he resolved to "sail an English ship on those seas." Returning to England he equipped a squadron. He sailed through the Straits of Magellan, coasting along the Pacific shore to the southern part of Oregon. He refitted his ship in San Francisco harbor, and thence sailing westward, returned home (1579) by the Cape of Good Hope.

[Footnote: He was thus the first Englishman who explored the Pacific coast, and the second European who circumnavigated the globe.]

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT was not a sailor, but he had studied the accounts of American discoveries, and concluded that instead of random expeditions after gold and spices, companies should be sent out to form permanent settlements. His attempts to colonize the new world, however, ended fatally. Sailing home in a bark of only ten-tons burden, in the midst of a fearful storm the light of his little vessel suddenly disappeared. Neither ship nor crew was ever seen again.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH was a half-brother of Gilbert, and adopted his views of American colonization. Being a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, he easily obtained from her a patent of an extensive territory, which was named Virginia in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.

[Footnote: Raleigh was not only a man of dauntless courage, but he also added to a handsome person much learning and many accomplishments. Meeting Queen Elizabeth one day while she was walking, he spread his mantle over a wet place in the path for her to tread upon. She was so pleased with his gallantry that she admitted him to court, and he continued a favorite during her entire lifetime. Conversing with her one day upon the singular properties of tobacco, the new Indian weed which was coming into use, he assured her that he could tell the exact weight of smoke in any quantity consumed. The incredulous Queen dared him to a wager. Accepting it, Raleigh weighed his tobacco, smoked it, and then carefully weighing the ashes, stated the difference. Paying the bet, Elizabeth remarked that she "had before heard of turning gold into smoke, but he was the first who had turned smoke into gold." This incident illustrates the friendly relations between Raleigh and the Queen. After her death, he was accused by James I. of treason, was imprisoned for many years, and at the age of 65 was executed. On the scaffold he asked for the axe, and feeling the edge, observed, with a smile, "This is a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases." Then composedly laying his bead on the block, and moving his lips as in prayer, he gave the fatal signal.]

_Raleigh's first attempt to plant a colony_ was on Roanoke Island. The settlers made no endeavor to cultivate the soil, but spent most of their time in hunting for gold and pearls.

[Footnote: They believed the Roanoke River had its head-waters in golden rocks, by the Pacific Ocean. The walls of a great city near its fountain were affirmed to be thickly studded with pearls.]

At last they were nearly starved, when Drake, happening to stop there on one of his exploring tours, took pity on them and carried them home. They had lived long enough in America to learn the use of tobacco and the potato. These they introduced into England. The custom of "drinking tobacco," as it was called, soon became the fashion.

[Footnote: An amusing story is told of Raleigh while he was learning to smoke. On entering his study one morning to bring his master a cup of ale, his servant saw a cloud of smoke issuing from Sir Walter's mouth. Frantically dashing the liquor in his face, he rushed down stairs imploring help, for his master would soon be burnt to ashes!]

_Raleigh's Second Attempt_.--Raleigh, undiscouraged by this failure, still clung to his colonizing scheme. The next time he sent out families, instead of single men. John White was appointed governor of the city of Raleigh, which they were to found on Chesapeake Bay. A granddaughter of Governor White, born soon after they reached Roanoke Island, was the first English child born in America. The governor, on returning to England to secure supplies, found the public attention absorbed by the threatened attack of the Spanish Armada. It was three years before he was able to come back. Meanwhile, his family, and the colony he had left alone in the wilderness, had perished. How, we do not know. The imagination can only picture what history has failed to record.

Raleigh had now spent about $200,000, a great sum for that day, on this American colony; and, disheartened, transferred his patent to other parties.

TRADING VOYAGES.--Fortunately for American interests, trading ventures were more profitable than colonizing ones. English vessels frequented the Banks of Newfoundland, and probably occasionally visited Virginia.

[Footnote: The English ships were at that time accustomed to steer southward along the coast of Spain, Portugal, and Africa, as far as the Canary Islands, then they followed the track of Columbus to the West India Islands, and thence along the coast of Florida]

Gosnold, a master of a small bark (1602), discovered and named Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and other neighboring localities. Loading his vessel with sassafras-root, which was then highly esteemed as a medicine, he returned home to publish the most favorable reports of the region he had visited. Some British merchants accordingly sent out the next year a couple of vessels under Captain Pring. He discovered several harbors in Maine, and brought back his ships loaded with furs and sassafras.

[Footnote: northward to the point they wished to reach. Navigators knew this was a roundabout way, but they were afraid to try the northern route straight across the Atlantic. Gosnold made the voyage _directly_ from England to Massachusetts, thus shortening the route 3,000 miles. This gave a great impulse to colonization, since it was in effect bringing America 3,000 miles nearer England.]

As the result of these various explorations, many felt an earnest desire to colonize the new world. James I. accordingly granted the vast territory of Virginia, as it was called, to two companies, the London and the Plymouth.

THE LONDON COMPANY, whose principal men resided at London, had the tract between the thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth degrees of latitude. This was called South Virginia. They sent out a colony in 1607 under Captain Newport. He made at Jamestown the _first permanent English settlement in the United States_.

[Footnote: The river was called James, and the town Jamestown, in honor of the king of England. The headlands received the names of Cape Henry and Cape Charles from the king's sons; and the deep water for anchorage "which put the emigrants in good comfort," gave the name Point Comfort.]

THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY, whose principal men resided in Plymouth, had the tract between the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees of latitude. This was called North Virginia.

[Footnote: They sent out a colony under Captain Popham (poo-am), in the same year with the London Company. He settled at the mouth of the Kennebec, but the entire party returned home the next spring, discouraged by the severity of the climate.]

THE CHARTER granted to these companies was the first under which English colonies were planted in the United States. It is therefore worthy of careful study. It contained no idea of self-government. The people were not to have the election of an officer. The king was to appoint a council which was to reside in London, and have general control of all the colonies; and also a council to reside in each colony, and have control of its local affairs. The Church of England was the established religion. Moreover, for five years, all the proceeds of the colonial industry and commerce were to be applied to a common fund, no one being allowed the fruits of his individual labor.

DUTCH EXPLORATIONS.

During all this time, the Dutch manifested no interest in the new world. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Captain Henry Hudson, an English navigator in the Dutch service, entered the harbor of New York. Hoping to reach the Pacific Ocean, he afterward ascended the noble river which bears his name (1609).

On this discovery, the Dutch based their claim to the region extending from the Delaware River to Cape Cod. They gave to it the name of New Netherland.

EXTENT OF THESE EXPLORATIONS.

1. The Spaniards confined their settlements and explorations to the West Indies and the adjacent mainland, and in the United States made settlements only in Florida and New Mexico.

2. The French claimed the whole of New France, and made their first settlements in Acadia and Canada.

3. The English explored the Atlantic coast at various points, and claimed this vast territory, which they termed Virginia, having made their first settlement at Jamestown.

[Footnote: After this time, the English is the only nation that directly influences the history of the United States. The country was settled mainly by emigrants from Great Britain, and in the next epoch all the colonies become dependencies of that empire.]

4. The Dutch laid claim to New Netherland, but made no settlement till 1613.

The Rival Claims.--These four claims overlapped one another, and necessarily produced much confusion. While the first few settlements were separated by hundreds of miles of savage forests, this was of little account. But as the settlements increased, the rival claims became a source of constant strife, and were decided principally by the sword.

[Footnote: It is noticeable that the English grants all extended westward to the Pacific Ocean, the French southward from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, and the Spanish northward to the Arctic Ocean. None of the European nations had any idea of the immense territory they were donating.]

Two Centuries of Exploration and One of Settlement.--These explorations had lasted during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and at the close of the sixteenth century, the only permanent settlements were those of the Spaniards at St. Augustine and Santa Fe. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, permanent settlements multiplied. They were made by

The FRENCH at _Port Royal, N S.,_ in _1605_;

The ENGLISH at _Jamestown,_ in _1607_;

The FRENCH at _Quebec,_ in _1608_;

The DUTCH at _New York,_ in _1613_;

The ENGLISH at _Plymouth_, in _1620_.

[Footnote: Here lay the shaggy continent from Florida to the Pole, outstretched in savage slumber. On the bank of the James River was a nest of woebegone Englishmen, a handful of fur-traders at the mouth of the Hudson, and a few shivering Frenchmen among the snowdrifts of Acadia; while amid still wilder desolation Champlain upheld the banner of France over the icy rock of Quebec. These were the advance guard of civilization, the messengers of promise to a desert continent. Yet, not content with inevitable woes, they were rent by petty jealousies and miserable quarrels, while each little fragment of rival nationalities, just able to keep up its own wretched existence on a few square miles, begrudged to all the rest the smallest share in a domain which all the nations of Europe could not have sufficed to fill.--_Parkman._]

Summary of the History of the First Epoch, arranged in Chronological Order.

1492. Columbus discovered the New World, October 12 1497. The Cabots discovered Labrador, July 3 1498. The Cabots explored the Atlantic Coast South America was discovered by Columbus, August 10 Vasco de Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and discovered a passage to India 1512. Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, April 6 1513. Balboa saw the Pacific Ocean, September 29 1519-21. Cortez conquered Mexico 1520. Magellan discovered and sailed through the straits which bear his name, into the Pacific Ocean; and his vessel returning home by the Cape of Good Hope, had made the first circumnavigation of the globe 1524. Verrazani explored the coast of North America 1528. Narvaez explored part of Florida 1534-35. Cartier discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and ascended the river to Montreal 1539-41. De Soto rambled over the Southern States and in 1541 discovered the Mississippi River 1540-42. Cabrillo explored California and sailed along the Pacific Coast 1541-42. Roberval attempted to plant a colony on the St. Lawrence, but failed 1562. Ribaut attempted to plant a Huguenot colony at Port Royal, but failed 1564. Laudonniere attempted to plant a Huguenot colony on the St. John's River. It was destroyed by the Spaniards 1565. Melendez founded a colony at St. Augustine, Florida; first permanent settlement in the United States 1576-7. Frobisher tried to find a northwest passage; entered Baffin Bay, and twice attempted to found a colony in Labrador, but failed 1578-80. Drake sailed along Pacific Coast to Oregon; wintered in San Francisco, and circumnavigated the globe 1582. Espejo founded Santa Fe; second oldest town in the United States 1583. Gilbert was lost at sea 1583-7. Raleigh twice attempted to plant a colony in Virginia 1602. Gosnold discovered Cape Cod, May 14 1605 De Monts established a colony at Port Royal, Nova Scotia first permanent French settlement in America 1607 The English settled Jamestown first permanent English settlement in America, May 23 1608 Champlain planted a colony at Quebec first permanent French settlement in Canada, 1609 Hudson discovered the Hudson River, Champlain discovered Lake Champlain, 1613 Settlement of New York by the Dutch, 1620 Pilgrims settled at Plymouth first English settlement in New England December 21

REFERENCES FOR READING

Irving's Columbus-Parkman's Pioneers of France Jesuits in North America, and Discovery of the Great West--Longfellow's Sir Humphrey Gilbert (Poem)--De Vere's Romance of American History--Abbott's Biography of Illustrious Men and Women--T. Irving's De Soto in Florida--Help's Spanish Conquest of America-Biddle's Sebastian Cabot--Nicholls's John Cabot--Barlow's Vision of Columbus (Poem) and Poems on Columbus by Samuel Rogers and F R Lowell-Simms's Damsel of Danen (Poem)--Scibner's Monthly, Nov 1874 art, Pictures from Florida--Harper's Magazine, Nov etc 1874, art The first Century of the Republic--Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella (Columbus)--Hawk's History of North Carolina (Lost Colony of Roanoke)--Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley--Wallace's Fair God (Fiction)--Barnes's Popular History of United States

EPOCH II.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES.

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From 1607--the Founding of Jamestown, To 1775--the Breaking out of the Revolution.

This Epoch traces the early history of the thirteen colonies--Virginia, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Georgia. The Cavaliers land in Virginia, and the Puritans in Massachusetts. Immigration increases and the settlements multiply along the whole coast. The colonies, however, still have little history in common. Each by itself struggles with the wilderness, contends with the Indian, and develops the principles of liberty.

[Footnote: _Questions on the Geography of the Second Epoch_.--Names of places in italic letters may be found on the map for Epoch III. Locate Jamestown. Salem. _Charlestown_. Boston. _Cambridge_. Swanzea. Providence. Bristol. Hadley. Hatfield. Portsmouth. Dover. Hartford. Wethersfield. New Haven. Windsor. Saybrook. New York. Albany. Schenectady. Elizabethtown. Wilminton. Philadelphia. St. Mary's. Edenton. Charleston. Savannah. Haverhill. Deerfield. St. Augustine. Quebec. Louisburg.

Locate Fort Venango. Oswego. Presque Isle. Fort Le Boeuf. Crown Point. Fort Ticonderoga. Fort Niagara. Fort du Quesne. Fort William Henry. Fort Edward.

Describe the Ohio River. Monongahela River. French Creek. Chowan River. Ashley River, Cooper River. River St. John. Potomac River. James River. Hudson River. Connecticut River. Mohawk River. Delaware River. Kennebec River. Penobscot River. _Mystic River_. Miami River. St. Lawrence River.

Locate Manhattan Island. Alleghany Mountains. Cape Breton. Massachusetts Bay. _Albemarle Sound_. Chesapeake Bay.]

VIRGINIA.

THE CHARACTER of the colonists was poorly adapted to endure the hardships incident to a settlement in a new country. They were mostly gentlemen by birth, unused to labor. They had no families, and came out in search of wealth or adventure, expecting, when rich, to return to England. The climate was unhealthy, and before the first autumn half of their number had perished.

JOHN SMITH saved the colony from ruin. First as a member of the council, and afterward as president, his services were invaluable. He persuaded the settlers to erect a fort and to build log huts for the winter. He made long voyages, carefully exploring Chesapeake Bay, securing the friendship of the Indians, and bringing back boat-loads of supplies. He trained the tender gentlemen till they learned how to swing the axe in the forest. He declared that "he who would not work, might not eat." He taught them that industry and self-reliance are the surest guarantees to fortune.