Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/57

 Captain John Smith and his Critics, by Mr. Charles Poindexter, late librarian of the State Library of Virginia, in which strong evidence is advanced to show that the Newes from Virginia is in a garbled form in its present shape. The conclusions reached by Professor Edward Arber, the English editor of Smith&#8217;s works, should carry great weight as being those of a man entirely free from the sectional feeling which has colored the attacks upon, as well as the defence of, Captain Smith on this side of the Atlantic. His point of view was impartial and disinterested. &#8220;Posterity will see in Smith,&#8221; he wrote in the introduction to his edition, &#8220;a noble example of what a Christian Gentleman and Officer may be, may do, and may endure.&#8221; The introduction, as far as made up by contributions from Professor Arber&#8217;s pen, is a most striking tribute to the character and services of Captain Smith in his career in Virginia. It has been the curious fate of this remarkable man to be pursued, after death, by an animosity as unrelenting as that from which he suffered in life. His faults were upon the surface, but these faults, which are to-day reflected in his writings, were such as to excite the keenest antagonism in the minds of many persons who were thrown with him. His enemies during his life were not more bitter than his enemies have been since his death. The spirit animating the most persistent detractors of Smith has been at once puerile and ignoble. That this great man was egotistic and self-assertive, it is impossible to deny, but that he was brave, steadfast, sagacious, and far-seeing, no one will question who approaches the study of his career with the critical faculty free from all prejudice. His example and his teachings were in every instance marked by the highest practical wisdom. His services in the first settlement of Virginia were of incalculable value in their influence, and the general voice of the Colony and the State has not been incorrect in proclaiming him the real founder of the community. prompted him to exaggerate the prevalence among the Indians of the report that the South Sea was situated not far from Jamestown; that is to say, he desired not only to pass over in silence all that was calculated to injure the prospects of the Colony in the English mind, but also to bring out in the broadest light every fact that would increase public interest in the Virginian enterprise. The interviews with Opechancanough and Powhatan, recorded in the Newes from Virginia, recall very forcibly the information which Ralph Lane obtained from the Indians