Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/64

 4 INTRODUCTION. map. ii. their situation to all its rigours. Before the 1607. month of September, fifty of the company were buried. Among them was Bartholomew Gos- nald, who had originated the expedition, and had contributed more than any other person towards its being carried on. This .scene of distress was heightened by internal dissension. The president was charged with having embezzled the best stores of the colony, and with feasting at his private table on beef, bread, and aqua vitae, then deemed luxuries of the highest order, while famine and death devoured his fellow adventurers. No crime could, in the public opinion, have been more atrocious. To complete the odium against him, he was detected in an attempt to escape from them and their calamities, in the bark which had been left by Newport. The general indigna- tion could be no longer restrained. He was deposed and Ratcliffe chosen to succeed him. As misfortune is not unfrequently the parent of moderation and reflection, this state of mi- sery produced a system of conduct towards the neighbouring Indians, which, for the moment, disarmed their resentments, and induced them to bring in such supplies as the country, in that season, aiforded; and thereby to preserve the remnant of the colony. It produced another effect not less important. Their sense of im- Stith.