Old Virginia and Her Neighbours

For Reference Do Not Take From the Library REFERENCE DO NOT REMOVE FROM LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/oldvirginiah01fisk illr. jFiefec'fi |)istoricaI QMorfes. THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest. With Maps. 2 vols, crown Svo, ;f4.oo. OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS. 2 vols, crown 8vo, $4.00. Illustrated Edition. Containing Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and other Historic Materials. 2 vols. 8vo, $8.00. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND, or the Puri- tan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty. Crown Svo, $z-oo. Illustrated Edition. Containing Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and other Historic Materials. Svo, J4.00. THE DUTCH AND QUAKER COLONIES IN AMER- ICA. With 8 Maps. 2 vols, crown Svo, J4.00. NEW FRANCE AND NEW ENGLAND. With Maps. Crown Svo, $1.65, net. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 2 vols, crown Svo, $4.00. Illustrated Edition. Containing Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and other Historic Materials. 2 vols. Svo, )J8.oo. THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789. Crown Svo, $2. 00. Illustrated Edition. Containing Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Contemporary Views, Prints, and other Historic Materials. Svo, ^4.00. THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY IN THE CIVIL WAR. With 23 Maps and Plans. Crown Svo, J2.00. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. In Riverside Library for Young People. i6nio, 75 cents. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FOR SCHOOLS. With Topical Analysis, .Suggestive Questions, and Directions for Teachers, bv Frank A. Hill. i2mo, $1.00, net. CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. Considered with some Reference to its Origins. Crown Svo, ;pi.oo, net. For Mr. Fiske''s Historical and Philosophical Works and Essays see pages at the back 0/ Volume II. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., Boston- AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEAS, viewed from the Stand- point of Universal History. i2mo, JSi.oo. Harper & Brothers, New York. i I I Fredorlcksb 31A P OF TIDEWATER VIRGINIA SOUTHirl.\\3IPT0N/ / ^^\^!?.,-" ,L' HE M.-N. CO., BUTFALO.N.Y. Loneitude West I Longhudo West froiajGrccnw ) 31 OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS BY JOHN FISKE Ov KC9oi, ovSe $v\a, ouSe Te;^|/>J TeKTOVuiV ai Tr6A6t9 e7crt;' 'AAA' OTTOu nor' ay wcnv 'ANAPE2 AvTOus crioC^eti' eiSoT«, 'EvTavda reCxV "<>' ffoAeis. AICCEUS IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY (arte (HtlicciStDe i9rcs,0, <!ramliri&Be REFERENCE DONOTREMOVEFROMLIBRART VIRGINIA BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM - DUP AlfiE3D 3^DD=^7 COPYEIGHT, 1897 BY JOHN FISKE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ; " To MY OLD FRIEND AND COMRADE JOHN KNOWLES PAINE COMPOSER OF ST. PETER, OEDIPUS TYRANNUS, THE " SPRING " AND C MINOR SYMPHONIES, AND OTHER NOBLE WORKS 31 betiicatc ttis booft " Long days be his, and each as lusty-sweet As gracious natures find his song to be May age steal on with softly-cadenced feet Falling in music, as for him were meet Wboae choicest note ia harsher-toned than he I PREFACE. In the series of books on American history, upon which I have for many years been engaged, the present volumes come between " The Discov- ery of America " and " The Beginnings of New England." The opening chapter, with its brief sketch of the work done by Elizabeth's great sail- ors, takes up the narrative where the concluding chapter of " The Discovery of America " dropped it. Then the story of Virginia, starting with Sir Walter Raleigh and Rev. Richard Hakluyt, is pursued imtil the year 1753, when the youthful George Washington sets forth upon his expedition to warn the approaching Frenchmen from any further encroachment upon English soil. That mo- ment marks the arrival of a new era, when a book like the present — which i-s not a local history nor a bundle of local histories — can no longer follow the career of Virginia, nor of the southern colonies, except as part and parcel of the career of the American people. That "continental state of things," which was distinctly heralded when the war of the Spanish Succession broke out during Nicholson's rule in Virginia, had arrived in 1753. To treat it properly requires preliminary consid- eration of many points in the history of the north- vi PREFACE. ern colonies, and it is accordingly reserved for a future work. It will be observed that I do not call the present work a " History of the Southern Colonies." Its contents would not justify such a title, inasmuch as its scope and purpose are different from what such a title would imply. My aim is to follow the main stream of causation from the time of Raleigh to the time of Dinwiddle, from its sources down to its absorption into a mightier stream. At first our attention is fixed upon Raleigh's Vir- ginia, which extends from Florida to Canada, Eng- land thrusting herself in between Spain and France. With the charter of 1609 (see below, vol. i. p. 145) Virginia is practically severed from North Virginia, which presently takes on the names of New England and New Netherland, and receives colonies of Puritans and Dutchmen, with which this book is not concerned. From the territory of Virginia thus cut down, further slices are carved from time to time ; first Maryland in 1632, then Carolina in 1663, then Georgia in 1732, almost at the end of our narrative. Colonies thus arise which present a few or many different social aspects from those of Old Virginia ; and while our attention is still centred upon the original commonwealth as both histori- cally most important and in personal detail most interesting, at the same time the younger common- PREFACE. vii wealths claim a share in the story. A compara- tive survey of the social features in which North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland differed from one another, and from Virginia, is a great help to the right understanding of all four com- monwealths. To Maryland I find that I have given 107 pages, while the Carolinas, whose history begins practically a half century later, receive 67 pages ; a mere mention of the beginnings of Georgia is all that suits the perspective of the present story. The further development of these southern communities will, it is hoped, receive attention in a later work. As to the colonies founded in what was once known as North Virginia, I have sketched a por- tion of the story in " The Beginnings of New England," ending with the accession of William and Mary. The remainder of it will form the subject of my next work, already in preparation, entitled " The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America ; " which will comprise a sketch of the early history of New York, New Jersey, Dela- ware, and Pennsylvania, with a discussion of the contributions to American life which may be traced to the Dutch, German, Protestant French, and Scotch-Irish migrations previous to the War of Independence. To complete the picture of the early times and to " make connections " with " The American Revo- viii PREFACE. lutlon," still another work will be needed, which shall resume the story of New England at the acces' sion of William and Mary. With that story the romantic fortunes of New France are inseparably implicated, and in the course of its development one colony after another is brought in until from the country of the Wabenaki to that of the Chero- kees the whole of English America is involved in the mightiest and most fateful military struggle which the eighteenth century witnessed. The end of that conflict finds thirteen colonies nearly ripe for independence and union. The present work was begun in 1882, and its topics have been treated in several courses of lectures at the Washington University in St. Louis, and elsewhere. In 1895 I gave a course of twelve such lectures, especially prepared for the occasion, at the Lowell Institute in Boston. But the book cannot properly be said to be " based upon " lectures ; the book was primary and the lectures sec- ondary. The amount of time spent in giving lectures and in writing a schoolbook of American history has greatly delayed the appearance of this book. It is more than five years since " The Discovery of " America was published ; I hope that " The Dutch and Quaker Colonies " will appear after a much shorter interval. Cambridge, October 10, 1897. CONTENTS. VOLUME I. CHAPTER I. THK SEA KINGS. FAOB Tercentenary of the Discovery of America, 1792 ... 1 The Abb^ Raynal and his book ..... 2 Was the Discovery of America a blessing or a curse to mankind ? . .3 The Abb^ Genty's opinion 4 A cheering item of therapeutics 4 Spanish methods of colonization contrasted with English . 5 Spanish conquerors value America for its supply of precious metals 6 Aim of Columbus was to acquire the means for driving the Turks from Europe ...'..•. 7 But Spain used American treasui'e not so much against Turks as against Protestants ....... 8 Vast quantities of treasure taken from America by Spain . 9 Nations are made wealthy not by inflation but by produc- tion ........... 9 Deepest significance of the discovery of America ; it opened up a fresh soil in which to plant the strongest type of European civilization ....... 10 America first excited interest in England as the storehouse of Spanish treasure 11 After the Cabot voyages England paid little attention to America ......... 12 Save for an occasional visit to the Newfoundland fisheries . 13 Earliest English reference to America .... 13 Founding of the Muscovy Company 14 Richard Eden and his books ...... 15 CONTENTS. John Hawkins and the African slave trade . .15, 16 Hawkins visits the French colony in Florida ..

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