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number was the ship appointed for Master Lane and his company) was driven to put to sea in great danger, in avoyding the coast, and could never see us againe untill we met in England. Many also of our small pinnaces and boates were lost in this storm.

"Notwithstanding after all this, the generall offered them, (with consent of his captains,) another ship with some provision, although not such a one for their turnes as might have been spared them before, this being unable to be brought into their harbour. Or else, if they would, to give them passage into England, although he knew he should perform it with greater difficulty than he might have done before. "But Master Lane, with those of the chiefest of his company he had there with him, considering what should be best for them to doe, made request unto the generall under their hands, that they might have passage for England: the which being granted, and the rest sent for out of the country and shipped, we departed from that coast the 18th of June.

"And so, God be thanked, both they and we in good safety arrived at Portsmouth in July 28, 1586, to the great glory of God, and to no small honour to our prince, our country and ourselves."

And

upon this state of facts, the modern historian utters his sentence of condemnation against Lane. He says that "Lane shared the despondency of his men," and requested with them passage to England. And again, "the return of Lane was a precipitate desertion: a little delay would have furnished the colony with ample supplies. A few days after its departure, ship arrived laden with all stores needed by the infant settlement." And further, "another fortnight had hardly elapsed when Sir Richard Grenville appeared off the coast with three well furnished ships." Ah! he knows all that now; but did Lane know these vessels were at hand? He had been expecting these very supplies for months and months, and yet they came not. Is he to be judged on the ex post facto wisdom" of the historian? But take the facts as stated. What proof is there that Lane desponded with his men? They all being "desirous to stay" gladly accepted the first offer of Sir Francis Drake to give them a vessel. Does this indicate despondency? A storm drove that vessel off, and she returned to Carolina no more. Another is offered, the best Drake could offer, doubtless; but what was she! A vessel, that from her size, could not be brought into their harbor. Was she then to remain in the open roadstead, anchored at sea, on the coast of North Carolina? Of what use would she have been to the colonists, and how long would she have remained unshattered? Beside,

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to man and sail her would have probably required half if not more of all Lane's men, for Drake expressly said the sole care of her must be among the colonists. And where was she to sail? What Lane wanted was small craft, a pinnace and boats, to explore the sounds and rivers. She could not enter the sound. For his purposes, she was useless then ; as the writer just quoted says, "not such a one for their turnes as might have been spared them before."

But even she, unfit as she was, was not rejected without consideration. There was no "precipitate desertion" by Lane. He was directly the opposite of precipitate, for he called into consultation "the chiefest of his company." Hariot was among them, so was Stafford, so was Amadas, "the admiral of the company," who had been on the coast of North Carolina, and in its waters before. They all joined in the request to Drake to take them to England; and Lane, as if he foresaw that at some future day the historian might throw obloquy on him for this departure from Carolina, caused his companions to verify its necessity in writing; for they made their request "under their hands." Indeed, we think that the conduct of Lane, in this very particular of leaving with the colony for England, is one of the strongest evidences that he was fitted for his position as its governor and head. He enumerates very distinctly the reasons which influenced him :-the weakness of his company,-its small number,-the loss of the first vessel with his provision and her officers,-the impossibility of making use of the second vessel, or even safely mooring her in any harbor he knew, the disappointment in the expected and long-due supplies from England, and the reasonable calculations that they would not come during the year,-all these were weighty considerations for him as the responsible head. And, that he might be sure he estimated them calmly and dispassionately, he took counsel with his chief and best companions, and found that they viewed them precisely as he did, and actually requested him to take the colony back in Drake's fleet. And not until he had thus considered the whole subject did he act. was cool deliberation and inquiry such as became a man responsible for the lives and safety of more than a hundred of his fellow-creatures; and let any one disposed hastily to condemn Lane, just imagine himself to be in precisely similar circumstances, and ask himself if, being so, he would not have acted very much as Lane did, except, perhaps, after much shorter deliberation. There is, in writing history, a considerate justice due even to the minor personages of life's drama. Let them have it].

Now here

No. 5.

THE THIRD VOYAGE

MADE

BY A SHIP, SENT IN THE YEAR

1586

TO THE RELIEF OF THE COLONY PLANTED IN

VIRGINIA.

AT THE SOLE CHARGE OF

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

[Reprinted from HAKLUYT, Vol. III., page 265].

[This is the narrative of the voyage made by the vessel that arrived on the coast of Carolina, immediately after Lane and the colonists left in Drake's fleet. From it we learn:

1. That the colonists under Lane had resolutely determined "to spend the residue of their lifetime in that country;" which negatives the idea of that "despondency" of which Bancroft speaks.

2. That they came to this resolution after the "colony half despaired of the coming of any supply" from England, such as had been promised, and as they expected.

3. That, like sensible men, after making such a determination, "they sowed, planted, and set such things as were necessary for their reliefe in so plentifull a maner, as might have sufficed them two yeeres without any further labour."

4. That when Drake arrived, "their corne which they had sowed was within one fortnight of reaping."

5. That when the storm drove off the vessels, their numbers were greatly diminished, because in the ships designed by Drake for them, "at that instant were the chiefest of the English colony."

The writer of this short story (we know not who he was) calls North Carolina "this paradise of the world." The old state is not quite that, but it is a country to which the affections of its children, wherever they may be scattered, cling with wonderful tenacity. We have met North Carolinians in many and widely separated regions of our common country we have encountered few whose hearts did not dwell with fond affection on their native land. In these exceptions there was a cause. The men were such as their countrymen could neither respect nor esteem. God had made them very little; they thought themselves very great; and their countrymen, with pious reverence, acquiesced in the decree of heaven. The men hated them accordingly.

Sir Richard Greenville's arrival with three ships is also here noted. He left fifteen men on Roanoake island, not fifty, as Smith, Stith and others have said].

In the year of our Lord 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh, at his own charge, prepared a ship of a hundred tons, freighted with all manner of things, in most plentiful manner, for the supply and relief of his colony then remaining in Virginia; but before they set sail from England it was after Easter, so that our colony half despaired of the coming of any supply, wherefore every man pre

pared for himself, determining resolutely to spend the residue of their life time in that country. And for the better performance of this their determination, they sowed, planted, and set such things as were necessary for their relief in so plentiful a manner as might have sufficed them two years without any labor. Thus, trusting to their own harvest, they passed the summer till the tenth of June, at which time their corn which they had sowed was within one fortnight of reaping; but then it happened that Sir Francis Drake, in his prosperous return from the sacking of Saint Domingo, Cartagena, and Saint Augustine, determined in his way homeward to visit his countrymen, the English colony then remaining in Virginia. So, passing along the coast of Florida, he fell in with the parts where our English colony inhabited, and having espied some of that company, there he anchored and went aland, where he conferred with them of their state and welfare, and how things had past with them. They assured him that they lived all, but hitherto in some scarcity, and as yet could hear of no supply out of England, therefore they requested him that he would leave with them some two or three ships, that if in some reasonable time they heard not out of England, they might then return themselves. Which he agreed to. Whilst some were then writing their letters to send into England, and some others making reports of the accidents of their travels each to the other, some on land, some on board, a great storm arose, and drove the most of their fleet from their anchors to sea, in which ships, at that instant, were the chiefest of the English colony; the rest on land perceiving this, hasted to those three sails which were appointed to be left there, and for fear they should be left behind, they left all things confusedly, as if they had been chased from thence by a mighty army, and no doubts so they were; for the hand of God came upon them for the cruelty and outrages committed by some of them against the native inhabitants of that country.

Immediately after the departing of our English colony out of this paradise of the world, the ships above mentioned, sent and set forth at the charges of Sir Walter Raleigh, and his discretion, arrived at Hatorask, who after some time spent in seeking our colony up in the country, and not finding them, returned with all the aforesaid provision into England.

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