Ralph Lane was appointed by Raleigh governor of the colony, which consisted of one hundred and eight persons. Sir Richard Grenville took command of the fleet, and several learned and accomplished men attended the expedition, one of whom has transmitted to posterity many interesting particulars of the nature of the country, and the habits, manners, and government of its inhabitants.

The English soon began to maltreat the harmless, unpretending, and simple natives, and they, on the other hand, to July 11, 1586. grow jealous of the power of the overbearing strangers. They soon learned the inordinate passion of the newcomers for gold, and, taking advantage of their credulity, inflicted upon them the labor of many fruitless expeditions in search of pretended mines,-hoping at the same time, by these divisions, to weaken the power of the little colony to such a degree that they might be able to destroy it in detachment; but the English were too cautious for this, and went too short a distance, and in force too powerful for the Indians to encounter with the great disparity of arms. The greatest advantage which accrued from these expeditions, and indeed from the whole attempt at a settlement, was the discovery of Chesapeake Bay.

The little colony, finding no gold, and receiving no supplies from England, had begun to despond, when most unexpectedly Sir Francis Drake arrived, on his return from his expedition against the Spaniards in South America, with a fleet of three and twenty ships. The sagacity of Drake perceived in a moment what was necessary for the colony, and his generosity supplied them with provisions, vessels, and other things necessary to maintain their position, extend their researches, and, if necessary, to return to England; but the accomplishment of his purpose was defeated by a violent storm which suddenly arose, and nearly wrecked his whole fleet, driving the vessel of provisions intended for the colony to sea, and destroying the vessels which had been set apart to be left for their use. He would have supplied others; but the colony, with their governor at their head, earnestly requesting

June 19. permission to return to England, he complied with their

wishes. Thus terminated the first English settlement in America. This little colony, during its sojourn with the Indians, had acquired something of their fondness for the use of tobacco, and learned to regard it with almost the same superstitious reverence, as a powerful medicinal agent. Upon their return, they introduced the use of this plant into England; and a weed at first disgusting and nauseating to all who use it, has become gradually the favorite luxury (and indeed with many a necessary of life) of all classes of society, and of both the young and the old throughout the world, -and this, after experience has proved that in most cases it is an injury rather than a benefit to the health.

A few days after Lane's departure, an English vessel arrived on the coast with every necessary for the colony, but finding it de

serted, returned home. Sir Richard Grenville arrived soon after with three ships, well furnished with stores for the colony; but not finding it, he also returned, leaving fifteen men on Roanoke Island, to keep possession in the name of Great Britain.

The genius of Sir Walter Raleigh was not of a nature to succumb to slight failures, or ordinary difficulties. The suc1587. ceeding year another colony was dispatched to settle in Virginia; and that they might consider their settlement permanent, and Virginia their home, many persons with wives and families were sent.

A charter of incorporation was granted for a town, to be

Jan. 7. called the City of Raleigh, a name revived in after times in the present metropolis of North Carolina. John White was appointed governor, and, with eleven assistants, constituted the administration for the control of the colony. Ample provision was made by the noble and liberal proprietor for the comfort of the colonists, and a plentiful stock of instruments of husbandry provided, to enable them to supply their own future wants, and establish themselves on the only footing which could possibly be expected to be permanent.

The company embarked in April, and arrived in July April 26. at the place where they expected to find the fifteen unfortunate men whom Grenville had left. But their grounds were grown up in weeds, their tenantless dwellings had become the abode of the wild animals of the forest, and their scattered bones, blanching in the sun, were the last sad memorials which told their fate to their anxious countrymen. Whether they fell by civil dissensions among themselves, by famine or disease, or were yet more miserably cut off by the overpowering numbers of a savage host, taking advantage of their desolate situation, (deprived of sympathy, and destitute of the hope of succor,) is one of the mysteries of history which the ken of man may not unravel.

The sagacity of Raleigh had directed the new settlement to be made on the shores of the magnificent Chesapeake, and there was the new city to be built; but the naval officer, preferring trade with the West Indies to exploring the coast, left White on July 23. Roanoke Island, and compelled him to establish himself

there. The colony soon became involved in difficulties with the natives, partly from accident, and partly from the previously enJuly 28. gendered hostility of some of the tribes. Indeed, it would seem impossible a priori, (even if we had not, unfortunately, too much experience of the fact,) that two nations of such different degrees of civilization, manners, and habits, with such different designs, could long remain together in peace, harmony, and on the footing of equals. It would seem to be the nature of man that the ignorant tribe should be jealous, treacherous, and vindictive,—that the more civilized should be greedy, rapacious, and overbearing. And when a spirit of suspicion is once excited. the imprudence of

a single individual too often involves in a quarrel all of the citizens of the little communities: nothing is extenuated, and nothing is attributed to accident; but suspicion in the injured party supplies the place of malice in the aggressor. These difficulties made the colonists feel more anxiously their dependence upon England, and forced upon them a melancholy foreboding, that without frequent and effectual assistance from the mother country, they could not long sustain themselves in a strange and distant land, the natives of which had become bitterly hostile. Under this impression, when their last ship was about to depart from England, they forced their reluctant governor, by excessive importunity, to desert his charge, in order that he might lend his personal aid and influence in sending them succor from home. He sailed with the Aug. 27. ship, but not until after his daughter, Eleanor Dare, the wife of one of the assistant governors, had presented him with the first white child born on the continent of North America. Aug. 18. This child was christened Virginia Dare, and, with her mother, was esteemed a sufficient pledge of the exertions of the governor in aid of the colony, and of his speedy return. White found all England engaged in anxious preparation to meet the threatened Spanish invasion, but this did not prevent the generous Raleigh from dispatching him with two ships of supplies for the relief of the colony. But the spirit of gain overcame the spirit of humanity, and even the tender ties of parental affection: instead of going at once to the coloApril 22. ny, he employed himself in taking Spanish prizes, and was at last himself overcome and rifled, which compelled him to return to England, much to the chagrin of the noble proprietor, and probably the destruction of the neglected colony.

1588.

The Invincible Armada of Spain had to be overcome, and the safety of England herself to be secured, before another effort could be made to succor the little colony at Roanoke; and when this was accomplished, leisure found the noble patron of the enterprise too much impoverished by his previous unprofitable exertions to fit out, at his own expense, another expedition. He was obliged to assign an extensive portion of his powers to a company of merchants and others who might carry his schemes into execution; but with his profuse liberality, the active spring which had quickened previous expeditions was gone, the spirit of gain rather than of glory presided over the destinies of infant America, and it was not until another year had elapsed, that White was sent in quest of his subjects and his daughter.

1590.

When he arrived the colony was gone; an inscription on the bark of a tree, indicating Croatan as the place whither they had gone, was the last record of their existence seen by a civilized eye. Conjecture has pointed to an amalgamation with the tribe of Hatteras Indians as the history of their destiny, and old Indian traditions and the physical characteristics of that tribe are said to confirm the idea; but while humanity may indulge a hope,