Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/605

Rh president. He repaired the church and store- house. redttced the fort to a “ five-square form."

trained the watch. and exercised the company every Saturday. But the retttrn of Capt. Newport with seventy colonists did not improve the condi- tion of affairs. The new settlers were eager to ob- tain riches. not to build tip the. colony. Newport and Itatclit‘l‘e conspired to depose Smith. several exploring expeditious proved fruitless, and great discontent followed. In the next ycar there were Indian uprisings and insubordinatiou atuong the settlers, and evil accounts of Smith's administra- tion were carried to England by Newport and Capt. |. The company at home were dis- 1 land. devoting the remainder of his life to that Samuel A rgall. his children. Vrginia being the other. ananuary.

Hit-3. he again sailed from Plymouth with two ships. llis intention was. after the ﬁshing was ou-r. to remain in New England with ﬁftfx'" men and begin a colony. Within 130 leagues out a storm compelled him to return. “it 2-1 June he again set out with a veSsel of sixty tons and thirty- etght men. but his ship was captured by a French man-of—war. and he was carried to La Rochelle. lle escaped. and on his return home wrote an ac- count of his voyages to New England. which he published (1616). He then set himself resolutely to obtain means to establish a colony in New Eng-

gusted that the returning ships were not freighted | project. eVerywhcre beseechtng a hearing for his

with the products of the country: the promoters had received no proﬁts from their ventures. and no gold had been found. A new charter was granted. and the powers that were previously reserved to the king were transferred to the company. Lord Delaware was made governor. and three coinmis— sinners—Newport. Sir Thomas Gates. and Sir George Sotners—were etttpowet'etl to manage the affairs of the colony until his arrival.

In May. 1609. they set sail with more than 500 people and nine ships: but one vessel was sunk on the voyage. and the " Sea-Venture." with 150 men. the new commissions. bills of lading. all sorts of instructions. and much provision. was wrecked on the Bermudas. (This incident furnished the basis for Shakespeare's play. " The Tempest") Seven vessels reached Jamestown in August. bringing several gentlemen of good means and a crowd of the riff—raft of London. " dissolute gallants. broken tradesmen, gentlemen impoverished in spirit and in fortune. rakes and libertiues. men more ﬁtted to corrupt. than to found a commonwealth." Disorder quickly ensued. and the neWeomers would have de- posed Smith on report of thc new commission. but they could show no warrant. the state papers having been sent over in the wrecked " Sea-Venture." He therefore held on to his authority and enforced it to save the whole colony from anarchy. But at the ex- piration of his year he resigned. and Capt. Martin was elected president. But. knowing his inability, he too resigned after holding ofﬁce three hours. and Smith again became president.

Having subdued the refractory. he set out on new explorations. and endeavored to establish new set— tlements. On one of these he met with the acci- dent that suddenly termiuated his career in Vir- ginia. \Vhile he was sleeping in his boat his powder-bag exploded. severely wounding him. To quench the ﬁames. he leaped into the river. and before he was rescued was nearly drownet. When he rctttrued to the fort. the rebels Rateliﬁe. A reher. and others. who were awaiting trial for conspi- racy. united against him. and he would probably have been murdered had he not promised to re- turn to England. He arrived in London in the autumn of 1609. Failing to obtain employment in the Virginia company in 161-1. be persuaded some London merchants to ﬁt him out for a private sailing adventure to the coast of New England. With two ships he arrived in April within the territory appropriated to the Plym- outh (otnpany. named Several points. and made a map of “such portion as he saw." This is the ﬁrst fair approach to the real contour of the New England coast. Having examined the shore from l’enubseot to Cape. Cod. and secured 40.000 cod- ﬁsh. he returned to England within six months of his departure. This was his whole experience in New England. which he ever afterward regarded as particularly his discovery. and spoke of as one of scheme. and so far succeeding that he obtained the promise of twenty ships of sail to go with him the next ycar (1617'). the title of admiral during his life. and half the proﬁts of the enterprise to be di- vided between himself and his Companions. But nothing came of this fair beginning except the title of “Adtniral of New England." which he at once assumed and were all his life. styling him- self on the title-page of all that he printed “ Some- timc governor of Virginia and admiral of New England." After this he remained in England and devoted himself to his works. which are large- ly eulogistic of himself.

Smith was a product of his adventurous and boastful age. His low origin may have hindered his advancement. but it doubtless embittered his spirit toward those better born. He had. no doubt. courage. immense energy. and a great deal of tact. Ilis reputation rests almost wholly upon his own writings. and he is the most entertaining of the travel-writers of his day. He had a better compre- hension of colonization than most of his Virginia associates. and the “sticking” of the settlement for two and a half years was largely due to his courage :md good sense. But he has doubtless ap- propriated credit to himself in Virginia that was due to others. Smith's romantic appearance in history is chicﬁy due to his facility as a writer of romance. He was never knighted. although it has been said that he was. Ilis arms were not grant- ed for services in America. William Segar. "the King of Arines of England." in August. 1625 (nearly a generation after the services are said to have been rendered), ecrtiﬁed that he had seen Sigismund‘s patent. and had had a copy thereof recorded in the herald's ofﬁce. All this is evi- dent: but Segar tnust have been imposed upon (in the patent itself). as he was when be granted “ the royal arms of Arragon. with a canton of Brabant. to George Brandon. the common hangman of Lon- don." Smith owes his exalted position in our his- tory to the Oxford Tract of 1612. and to his owtt " Generall llistorie." a work which is tlms perfectly described by Capt. George Percy in a letter to the Earl of Northumherland: “ The Author bathe not spared to appropriate many deserts to himself which he never perforated. and has shifted his relacyons with many falseties and nialycyous detractyons." He was buried in St. Sepulchre's church. London. His Works are “ A True Relation." the ﬁrst tract ever published relating to the colony at Jamestown (London. 1608: reprinted. with introduction and notes. by Charles Deane_ Boston. 1567): " A )lap of Virginia" (1613): “ A Description of New Eng- land " (1616: rcpt'inted in 1792. 1836. and 1865. also a German version. 1628): “New England‘s Trials" (1620: 2d ed.. 1622: reprints. 1H6? and 1873); "The General] Historie of Virginia. New England. and the Summer Isles " (1624). and was republished with Smith‘s “True Travels" (Rich-