1605

GORGES' COLONIAL SCHEMES.

23

of royal favour. In the first year of the new reign he was restored to his governorship of Plymouth, and for the rest of his career we find him figuring as a strenuous competitor in the servile race for court patronage.

Gorges' brief and discreditable connexion with Essex was probably not without its influence on the history of New England. Even if there had been no question of material interests, the betrayer of Essex would necessarily have been an object of suspicion and hatred to the Puritans. It is no doubt due, at least in part, to this cause that, while Gorges plays a prominent part in the colonization of New England, we have but little direct evidence as to his character. The Puritan chroniclers furnish us with ample, if at times indiscriminating, accounts of their own heroes; but in dealing with the great enemy of New England Puritanism they content themselves with vague denunciations and disparagement. Thus our knowledge of Gorges is mainly derived from the references in public documents and from his own writings, in which a style originally careless and void of literary skill has in all likelihood been made yet more confused by the errors of editors and printers. Yet even in its present state Gorges' work gives us a clear and definite impression of the writer, as a man of resolute purpose and clear but narrow views, whose zeal for the public good was often blended with personal cupidity and ambition, but not wholly overlaid by them.

Gorges' position at Plymouth must have brought him into close contact with those who were interested in American discovery, probably with many who had actually taken part in it. His own thoughts seem to have been first turned that way when Weymouth, on his return in the summer of 1605, brought with him five natives, three of whom Gorges summarily seized.1 By good fortune, they were of the same tribe, but

1 Gorges' Description, p. 50.

of different villages. Thus, while they could readily communicate with one another, they were also able after a while to give Gorges a comprehensive description of their country. Their feeling towards their captors seems to have been, on the whole, friendly, and for the next fifteen years they served to keep open communication between the natives and successive English voyagers and explorers.

The Plymouth, or North Virginia, Company was formally incorporated in April 1606, and in the same Voyages in summer two voyages were made. The first of these was a complete failure, resulting in the loss of the vessel or vessels engaged and the capture of the crews, among them Gorges' two natives.1

1606.

Another vessel sent out by Popham in the same year fared better. Pring, who was in command, was already in some degree acquainted with the coast, and now made a complete survey of it.2 His report decided the council of the company to undertake a colony. In June 1607 a hundred and twenty settlers were sent out in two vessels, one commanded by Raleigh Gilbert, the other by George Popham, a brother of the Chief Justice. Popham was also appointed to the presidency of the colony. He was, as it would seein, hardly young or vigorous enough for such a task, though otherwise well fitted for his post.3

The attempted colony at

The whole history of the colony is a curious comment on the seemingly small chances whereby the fate of young communities is determined. In every respect the composition of the colony seemed Sagadahoe. far better than that of the party which in the previous year had been sent to Virginia. Setting aside 2 Gorges, p. 53.

1 For this voyage see Appendix A.

3 Gorges, p. 55, says that Popham' was well stricken in years before he went, and had long been an infirm man.'

4 A full diary of the proceedings of the colonists is given by Strachey, pp. 163-180.

1607

POPHAM'S COLONY.

25

Popham's advanced age, the leaders seem to have been all well fitted for their posts. We read of no disputes nor mistakes; perfect harmony and perfect obedience seem to have prevailed. In their dealings with the natives the English were both just and prudent, erring neither by severity nor over-confidence. It is clear that the settlers were industrious, since before the winter fifty houses, an intrenched fort, a church, and a storehouse had been finished, and a pinnace of thirty tons built. As the colonists did not reach America till August it was too late to till the soil, and they had to depend for food on their trade with the natives and on the supplies sent from England. Accordingly, all the time that could be spared from building and fortifying their habitations was spent in exploring the coast and its inlets.

Failure of the colony.

But despite the good order of the colonists and the prudence shown by the leaders, the settlement was overthrown by a series of untoward mishaps. Misfortune began with a winter of exceptional severity. The Thames was frozen over so hard that a fair was held and boats built upon it. In New England the weather was such that nothing could be done in the way of exploration or trade. Despite the cold, however, there was little sickness among the settlers, and only Popham died, as much perhaps from the infirmity of age as from the climate. A worse blow to the colony was the loss of its principal supporter, the Chief Justice. Moreover, the same ship which brought tidings of his death also announced that of Sir John Gilbert. His brother Raleigh inherited the family estate. His uncle's spirit was not strong enough in him to make him reject the life of an English squire for that of an American colonist. His desertion, the loss of the two Pophams, the destruction of the fort by fire, and above all the severity of the winter, so completely disheartened the settlers that with one accord they at once resolved to

forsake their new home. For seven years no attempt was made to revive the settlement or to form a fresh one. The Plymouth Company confined its efforts to voyages for trade and exploration, and left the task of colonization. to their more vigorous and fortunate rivals in London.

John

Smith ex

Nevertheless Sir Francis Popham, the son of the Chief Justice, made some faint attempts to follow up his father's schemes, while Gorges seems never plores New to have abandoned his hopes of colonization. England. Before long they were joined by an ally better fitted probably than any other man who could have been found in that day to enlist influential support and to attract popular interest towards their designs. In 1609 Captain John Smith left Virginia, never to revisit it. His services in the cause of colonization were no longer rendered to that settlement with which tradition has justly associated his name, but were devoted to exploring the northern coast and advocating the advantages to be obtained from it by plantation and fisheries. His first voyage thither was made in 1614, on behalf of four London merchants with whom he was himself connected as a partner. The insufficiency of his charts withheld Smith from making a thorough survey of the country, and he had to content himself with a cargo of fish and furs worth nearly fifteen hundred pounds. The voyage had one memorable result. Hitherto the land north of Cape Cod had been commonly known to Englishmen as North Virginia. That name Smith now changed to the more distinctive title. of New England.3 The fidelity with which the Puritan. colonies reproduced many of the best phases of English thought and political life gave a significance to the 1 A Brief Relation, p. 4.

2 New England's Trials, p. 240. 3 Smith's General History, p. 699. I had taken a draught of the coast and called it New England.' Again (New England's Trials, p. 243) he says, 'This Virgin's sister called New England, An. 1616, at my humble suit by our most gracious King Charles.' (Cf. p. 937.) Elsewhere Smith says, 'New

1614

VOYAGES OF 1614.

27

name beyond what was dreamt of by the author. Another incident of the voyage deserves notice, as having had its effect on the future relations between the English and the Indians. During Smith's temporary absence Hunt, the master of one of the vessels, deceitfully captured thirty of the natives with the intention of selling them in some Spanish port.1 Hitherto all the dealings of English voyagers with the natives of New England seem to have been just and their relations friendly. This one act created distrust and a desire for revenge which made themselves felt at the expense of later explorers.

Meanwhile Gorges had succeeded in securing the help of Lord Southampton," who had, like himself, Voyage been among the friends and followers of Essex. sent out by Aided by other subscribers, they furnished a ship and sent it out in June 1614 under the command of a Captain Hobson.8

Gorges.

They appear to have set great store by the friendship and promised help of an Indian named Epenow, who sailed with them. He had been found in London by Captain Harley, one of those who shared Popham's failure. Epenow can hardly have been among the Indians kidnapped by Hunt, though Gorges seems to have been of that opinion. But be that as it may, the England is that part of America in the ocean sea opposite to Nova Albion, in the South Sea, discovered by the most memorable Sir Francis Drake in his voyage about the world, in regard whereof this is styled New England, being in the same latitude' (Description of New England, p. 188). And again (p. 192), 'That part we call New England is betwixt the degrees of 41 and 45.' It is not unlikely that Smith gave currency to an existing though not generally accepted name.

1 Brief Relation, p. 6. Smith's Description, p. 219.

2 Gorges, p. 59.

The voyage is described by Gorges, p. 60, and in the Brief Relation, p. 5, &c. Smith also mentions it.

4 Gorges says that he was one of twenty-nine who had been captured by a ship of London. This must refer to Hunt. On the other hand, it seems impossible that one of Hunt's prisoners could have been brought to London