modern times. The old fears and discontents of the colonists had revived ; and when Smith returned to the settlement, he found all hands preparing to escape in the pinnace as soon as the ice should break in the river. With much persuasion and a few wholesome threats he induced the majority to abandon this project, but the factious spirits of the colony, burning with resentment against him and his influence, made a conspiracy to kill him, and he knew not what hour might be his last. In the midst of these dark days Captain Newport arrived from England. He brought a full store of supplies and one hundred and twenty emigrants. Great was the joy throughout the little plantation; only the president was at heart as much grieved as gladdened, for he saw ..::in the character of the new comers no promise of anything but vexation and disaster...Here were thirty-four gentlemen at the head of the list to begin with; then came gold-hunters, jewelers, engravers, adventurers, strollers and vagabonds, many of whom had more business in jail than at Jamestown. To add to Smith's chagrin, this company of worthless creatures had been sent out contrary to his previous protest and injunction. He had urged Newport to bring over only a few industrious mechanics and laborers; but the love of gold among the members of the London Company had prevailed over common sense to send to Virginia another crowd of profligates. The kind of industry which Smith had encouraged in the colony was now laughed at. As soon as the weather would permit, the newcomers and as many of the old settlers as had learned nothing from the past year's experience began to stroll about the country digging for gold. In a bank of sand at the mouth of a small tributary of the James some glittering particles were found, and the whole settlement was ablaze with excitement. Martin and Newport, both members of the council, were carried away with the common fanaticism. The former already in imagination saw himself loaded with wealth and honored with a peerage. The latter, having filled one of his ships with the supposed gold-dust, sent it to England, and then sailed up James River to find the Pacific Ocean! Fourteen weeks of the precious springtime, that ought to have been given to ploughing and planting, were consumed in this stupid nonsense. Even the Indians ridiculed the madness of men who for imaginary grains of gold were wasting their chances for a crop of corn. In this general folly Smith was quite forgotten; but foreseeing that the evil must soon work its own cure, he kept his patience, and in the mean time busied himself with one of his most brilliant and successful enterprises; this was no less than the exploration of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Accompanied by Dr. Russell and thirteen other comrades who had remained faithful to him, he left Jamestown on the 2d day of June. He had nothing but an open barge of three tons' burden, but in this he steered boldly out by way of Hampton Roads and Cape Henry as far as Smith's Island. Returning thence around the peninsula which ends with Cape Charles, the survey of the eastern shore of the bay was begun, and continued northward as far as the river Wicomico, in Maryland. From this point the expedition crossed over to the mouth of the Patuxent, and thence coasted northward along the western side to the PatapsHere some members of the company became discontented, and insisted on returning to the colony. Smith gave a reluctant consent, but in steering southward had the good fortune to enter the mouth of the Potomac. The crew were so much pleased with the prospect that they agreed to explore the great river before returning homeward. Accordingly, the co. barge was steered up stream as far as the falls above Georgetown. The country was much admired; and when the explorers were tired of adventure, they dropped down the river to the bay, and turning southward, reached Jamestown on the 21st of July. JAMESTOWN AND VICINITY. After a rest of three days a second voyage was begun. This time the expedition reached the head of the bay, and sailed up the Susquehanna River until the volume of water would float the barge no farther. Here an acquaintance was made with a race of Indians of gigantic stature and fiercer disposition than was known among the natives of Virginia. On the return voyage Smith passed down the bay, exploring every sound and inlet of any note, as far as the mouth of the Rappahannoc; this stream he ascended to the head of navigation, and then, returning by way of the York and Chesapeake Rivers, reached Jamestown on the 7th of Septem ber. He had been absent a little more than three months, had explored the winding coast of the great bay for fully three thousand miles, had encountered hostile savages by hundreds and thousands, had been driven hither and thither by storms, once wrecked, once stung by a poisonous fish and brought so near to death that his comrades digged his grave; now he was come back to the colony with a MAP OF THE CHESAPEAKE, which he sent by Newport to England, and which is still preserved. Only one man had been lost on the expedition. Richard Fetherstone had died, and was buried on the Rappahannoc. Within three days after Smith's return to Jamestown he was formally elected president. He entered at once upon the duties of his office, correcting abuses, enforcing the laws and restoring order to the distracted colony. There was a marked change for the better; gold-hunting became unpopular, and the rest of the year was noted as a season of great prosperity. Late in the autumn Newport arrived with seventy additional immigrants, increasing the number to more than two hundred. The health was so good that only seven deaths occurred between September and May of the following year. Excellent discipline was maintained. Every well man was obliged to work six hours a day. New houses were built, new fields fenced in; and all through the winter the sound of axe and saw and hammer gave token of a prosperous and growing village. Such was the condition of affairs in the spring of 1609. ΟΝ CHAPTER X. VIRGINIA.-THE SECOND CHARTER. N the 23d of May, 1609, King James, without consulting the wishes of his American colonists, revoked their constitution, and granted to the London Company a new charter, by the terms of which the government of Virginia was completely changed. The territory included under the new patent extended from Cape Fear to Sandy Hook, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The members of the Superior Council were now to be chosen by the stockholders of the company, vacancies were to be filled by the councilors, who were also empowered to elect a governor from their own number. The council was at once organized in accordance with this charter, and the excellent Lord De La Ware chosen governor for life. With him were joined in authority Sir Thomas Gates, lieutenant-general; Sir George Somers, admiral; Christopher Newport, vice-admiral; Sir Thomas Dale, high marshal; Sir Ferdinand Wainman, master of horse; and other dignitaries of similar sort. Attracted by the influence of these noblemen, a large company of more than five hundred emigrants was speedily collected, and early in June a fleet of nine vessels sailed for America. Lord Delaware did not himself accompany the expedition, but delegated his authority to three commissioners, Somers, Gates and Newport. About the middle of July the ships, then passing the West Indies, were overtaken and scattered by a storm. One small vessel was wrecked, and another, having on board the commissioners of Lord Delaware, was driven ashore on one of the Bermuda Islands, where the crew remained until April of the following year; the other seven ships came safely to Jamestown. But who should now be governor? Captain Smith was at first disposed to give up his office, but in a few days the affairs of the colony were plainly going to ruin, and he was urged by the old settlers and the better class of new-comers to continue in authority. Accordingly, declaring that his powers as president under the old constitution did not cease until some one should arrive from England properly commissioned to supersede him, he kept resolutely to the discharge of his duties, although in daily peril of his life. He arrested Ratcliffe* and Archer, put some of the most rebellious brawlers in prison, and then, in order to distract the attention of the rest, planned two new settlements, one, of a hundred and twenty men, under the command of Martin, to be established at Nansemond; the other, of the same number, under Captain West, to form a colony at the falls of the James. Both companies behaved badly. In a few days after their departure troubles arose between West's men and the Indians. The president was sent for in order to settle the difficulty; but finding his efforts unavailing, he returned to Jamestown. On his way down the river, while asleep in the boat, a bag of gunpowder lying near by exploded, burning and tearing his flesh so terribly that in his agony he leaped overboard. Being rescued from the river, he was carried to the fort, where he lay for some time racked with fever and tortured with his wounds. Finally, despairing of relief under the imperfect medical treatment which the colony afforded, he decided to return to England. He accordingly delegated his authority to Sir George Percy, a brother of the earl of Northumberland, and about the middle of Sep* This man's real name was not Ratcliffe, but Sicklemore. He had been president of the colony in 1607, and was an accomplished thief as well as an impostor. tember, 1609, left the scene of his heroic toils and sufferings, never to return. There remained at Jamestown a colony of four hundred and ninety persons, well armed, well sheltered and well supplied. But such was the viciousness and profligacy of the greater number, and such the insubordination and want of proper leadership, after Smith's departure, that by the beginning of winter the settlement was face to face with starvation. The Indians became hostile and hovered around the plantations, stragglers were intercepted and murdered, houses were fired at every opportunity, disease returned to add to the desolation, and cold and hunger completed the terrors of a winter which was long remembered with a shudder and called THE STARVING TIME. By the last of March there were only sixty persons alive, and these, if help had not come speedily, could hardly have lived a fortnight. Meanwhile, Sir Thomas Gates and his companions, who had been shipwrecked in the Bermudas, had constructed out of the materials of their old ship, with such additional timber as they could cut from the forest, two small vessels, and set sail for Virginia. They came in full expectation of a joyful greeting from a happy colony. What, therefore, was their disappointment and grief when a few wan, half-starved wretches crawled out of their cabins to beg for bread! Whatever stores the commissioners had brought with them were distributed to the famishing settlers, and Gates assumed control of the government. But the colonists had now fully determined to abandon for ever a place which promised them nothing but disaster and death. In vain did the commissioners remonstrate; they were almost driven by the clamors around them to yield to the common will. An agreement was made to sail for Newfoundland; there the remnant of the Virginia colony should be distributed among the fishermen until such time as some friendly ship might carry them back to England. On the 8th of June Jamestown was abandoned. The disheartened settlers, now grown resentful, were anxious before leaving to burn the town, but Gates defeated this design, and was himself the last man to go on board. Four pinnaces lay at their moorings in the river; embarking in these, the colonists dropped down with the tide, and it seemed as though the enterprise of Raleigh and Gosnold had ended in failure and humiliation. But Lord Delaware was already on his way to America. Before the escaping settlers had passed out of the mouth of the river, the ships of the noble governor came in sight. Here were additional immigrants, plentiful supplies and promise of better things to come. Would the |