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 CHAPTER IV.

FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

It was now the turn of the English, who had thus far been slow to realize the great value of the newly-discovered districts, to send out expeditions with a view to the planting of settlements in North-east America. In the early part of the 16th century, several voyages to the North-west were made under British leadership, and some slight knowledge of the limits, though scarcely of the geography, of the western coasts of North America was gained by the brilliant pirate Drake, who sailed as far north as the present state of Oregon; but it was reserved to the half-brothers, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, to give the first real impulse to the intelligent exploration of the western seaboard of North America.

The brothers appear to have been first roused to take an interest in the New World from the reports given at the court of Elizabeth by some of the unhappy Frenchmen, who, as we have seen, were rescued from a fearful fate by an English vessel after their escape from the colony on the River of May. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, after a long negotiation, obtained a charter from Elizabeth in 1578, granting him full power for six years to discover "remote, heathen and barbarous lands not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people," and to take possession of them for his own benefit; and Sir Walter was among the earliest to come to his aid with money and advice, though he was forbidden by the maiden monarch to take any personal share in the enterprise.

Gilbert's first attempt to start for the West failed at the very outset, through the loss of one of his vessels and the desertion of many of his followers. The second expedition, which started in 1583, reached St. John's, Newfoundland, in safety, and, landing, Sir Humphrey read aloud his commission to the motley crowd of fishermen of all nations there assembled. A pillar bearing the arms of England was then set up, in token that the land henceforth belonged to the English monarch, and the voyage was resumed;