Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/80

 50 INTRODUCTION. chap, a. a sufficient quantity of other arms and amrau- 1609. ration. 1 The fair prospects of the colony were soon blasted by those scenes of folly and crime, of riot and insubordination which ensued. Various pretenders immediately advanced their claims to the supreme command. The choice, at length, fell upon captain Percy, who derived much consideration from the virtues of his heart, as well as from his illustrious family ; but his talents, at no time suited to the storms of his new and difficult station, were rendered still less competent to the task, by a long course of ill health, which had deter- mined him to return to England, from which he was with difficulty dissuaded. Being ge- nerally confined by sickness to his bed, he was incapable of maintaining his authority, and a total confusion with its accustomed baneful consequences ensued. The Indians, understanding that the man, the effects of whose conduct and vigour they had so often experienced and so much dreaded, no longer governed the colonists, attacked them on all sides. Captains West and Martin, having lost their boats and nearly half their men, were driven from the falls of James' river and from Nansemond, into Jamestown. The stock of provisions was lavishly wasted, and a famine, 1 Stith.