Chapters of Erie : and other essays by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Smith, John, 1580-1631, Erie Railroad Company, Legal tender, Finance -- Great Britain, Railroads -- United States
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood and Company
Published: 1871-10-18T05:00:00+00:00

of these articles is unknown; but the indefatigable Mr. Deane has unearthed in the Colonial Office a letter of Ratcliffe, alias Sieklemore, dated 4th October, 1609, in which he announces to the Lord Treasurer that " this man [Smith] is sent home to answere some misdemeanors whereof I perswade me he can scarcely clear himselfe from great imputation of blame." Be yond a doubt, the difficulties of the situation were very great, and the men Smith had to control were originally poor mate rial, and were made desperate by their trials ; but it is equally certain that his career in Virginia terminated disastrously, both for himself and for the settlement. The Virginia Company, notwithstanding his applications, never consented to employ him again.

The Colony went on from bad to worse. George Percy, a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, succeeded Smith in the Presidency. The condition of the colonists between Smith's departure in October, 1609, and the arrival of Sir Thomas Gates, in May, 1610, was terrible. Percy "was so sicke hee could neither goe nor stand." Ratcliffe, with a num ber of others, was killed by Indians. The remainder fed on roots, acorns, fish, and actually on the savages whom they killed, and on each other, one man murdering his wife and eating her. Out of the whole number, said to have been five hundred, not more than sixty were living when Gates arrived; and that the situation was beyond hope is proved by the fact that Gates immediately took them on board ship, and, aban doning Jamestown, set sail for England. It was only an accident that they fell in with a new expedition under Lord Delaware at the mouth of the river, who brought with him a year's provisions, and restored the fortunes of the settlement. In spite of the discouragement produced in England by the news of these disasters, the Company renewed its efforts, and again sent out Sir Thomas Gates with six vessels and three hundred men, who arrived in August, 1611. The government was now in the hands of Sir Thomas Dale, who had assumed it in May, 1611, and retained it till 1616. If the ultimate success of the Colony was due to any single man, the merit

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