The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 | Page 8

been assigned as the probable causes of his failure.[3]
[Footnote 3: Robertson. Chalmer.]
Two expeditions conducted by this gentleman ended disastrously. In the last, he himself perished; having done nothing farther in the execution of his patent, than taking possession of the island of Newfoundland, in the name of Elizabeth.
Sir Walter Raleigh, alike distinguished by his genius, his courage, and the severity of his fate, had been deeply interested in the adventures in which his half brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, had wasted his fortune, and was not deterred by their failure, or by the difficulties attending such an enterprise, from prosecuting with vigour, a plan so well calculated to captivate his bold and romantic temper.
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[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh.]
On the 26th of March, he obtained a patent from the Queen; and, on the 27th of April, dispatched two small vessels under the command of captains Amidas and Barlow for the purpose of visiting the country, and of acquiring some previous knowledge of those circumstances which might be essential to the welfare of the colony he was about to plant. To avoid the error of Gilbert in holding too far north, Amidas and Barlow took the route by the Canaries, and the West India islands, and approached the North American continent towards the gulf of Florida. On the 2d of July, they touched at a small island situate on the inlet into Pamplico sound, whence they proceeded to Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemarle sound.
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[Sidenote: Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.]
After employing a few weeks in traffic with the Indians, from whom they collected some confused accounts respecting the neighbouring continent, they took with them two of the natives, who willingly accompanied them, and embarked for England, where they arrived on the 15th of September. The splendid description which they gave of the soil, the climate, and the productions of the country they had visited, so pleased Elizabeth, that she bestowed on it the name of Virginia, as a memorial that it had been discovered during the reign of a virgin Queen.[4] Raleigh, encouraged by their report to hasten his preparations for taking possession of the property, fitted out a squadron consisting of seven small ships, laden with arms, ammunition, provisions, and passengers, which sailed from Plymouth on the 9th of April, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, who was his relation, and interested with him in the patent. Having taken the southern route, and wasted some time in cruising against the Spaniards, Sir Richard did not reach the coast of North America, until the close of the month of June. He touched at both the islands on which Amidas and Barlow had landed, and made some excursions into different parts of the continent around Pamplico, and Albemarle sounds.
[Footnote 4: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: First colony.]
Having established a colony, consisting of one hundred and eight persons, in the island of Roanoke, an incommodious station, without any safe harbour, he committed the government of it to Mr. Ralph Lane; and, on the 25th of August, sailed for England.[5]
[Footnote 5: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
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[Sidenote: Colonists carried back to England by Drake.]
An insatiate passion for gold, attended by an eager desire to find it in the bowels of the earth, for a long time the disease of Europeans in America, became the scourge of this feeble settlement. The English flattered themselves that the country they had discovered could not be destitute of those mines of the precious metals with which Spanish America abounded. The most diligent researches were made in quest of them; and the infatuating hope of finding them stimulated the colonists to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. The Indians soon discerned the object for which they searched with so much avidity, and amused them with tales of rich mines in countries they had not yet explored. Seduced by this information, they encountered incredible hardships, and, in this vain search wasted that time which ought to have been employed in providing the means of future subsistence. Mutual suspicion and disgust between them and the natives ripened into open hostility; and, the provisions brought from England being exhausted, they were under the necessity of resorting for food to the precarious supplies which could be drawn from the rivers and woods. In this state of distress, they were found, in June, by Sir Francis Drake, who was then returning from a successful expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. He agreed to supply them with about one hundred men, four months' provisions, and a small vessel; but, before she could be brought into a place of security, and the men and stores disembarked, she was driven out to sea by a sudden and violent storm. Discouraged by this misfortune, and worn out with fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously determined to abandon the colony,