MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS

197

with the waxen leaves and scarlet berries of the holly. The communion table was covered with a "fair white linen cloth," and bore bread from the wheat fields around Jamestown, and wine from the luscious grapes from the adjacent woods. All the people at Jamestown were spectators of the nuptials. There were Sir Thomas Gates, and Master Sparks who had been co-ambassador with Rolfe to the court of Powhatan. Young George Percy and Henry Spilman were there; and near them, an earnest watcher of the ceremony, was the elder brother of Pocahontas, with her younger brother and many youths and maidens from the forest. There, too, was Mistress John Rolfe, Mrs. Easton and child, and Mistress Horton and grand-child with her late maid-servant, Elizabeth Parsons, who, on Christmas Eve previously, had married Thomas Powell. These were all the English women then in Virginia, and all returned to Europe.

When all things were in readiness, the bride and groom entered the chapel. Pocahontas was dressed in a simple tunic of white muslin from the looms of Dacca. Her arms were bare even to her shoulders; and hanging loosely to her feet was a robe of rich stuff presented to her by Sir Thomas Dale, and fancifully embroidered by herself and her maidens. A gaudy fillet encircled her head, and held the gay plumage of birds and a veil of gauze, while her wrists and ankles were adorned with the simple jewelry of the native workshops. Rolfe was attired in the gay clothing of an English cavalier of that period, and upon his thigh he wore the short sword of a gentleman of distinction in society. He was a noble specimen of manly beauty and dignity in form and carriage, and she of womanly modesty and lovely simplicity. Upon the chancel steps, where no railing interfered, the good Whittaker stood in sacerdotal robes, and, with impressive voice, pronounced the marriage ritual of the Anglican Church, there first planted on the American continent. The governor, sitting on his right on a richlycarved chair of state, with his ever-attendant halberdiers with helmets at his back, heartily said Amen! at the conclusion of the ceremony.

So were wedded the Rose of England and the Totem or Indian symbol of nationality, giving promise of a friendly union of races in Virginia. It brought present peace, and Powhatan was ever afterward the fast friend of the English. Rolfe and his spouse "lived civilly and lovingly together" until the departure of Governor Sir Thomas Dale for England in 1616, whither they, with several others of the settlement and all the English women there, accompanied him. There the "Lady Rebecca" received great attentions from the court and all below it. The Lord Bishop of London entertained her with "festival and pomp," and at court she was treated with the ceremonious respect due to the daughter of a monarch. The silly

bigot on the British throne was angry because one of his subjects had dared to marry a lady of royal blood; and Captain Smith, for fear of the royal displeasure, would not allow her to call him "father" as she desired to do. Her simple, tender heart was grieved because of his seeming want of affection for her. The king, in his absurd dreams of the royal prerogative, imagined that Rolfe or his descendants might lay claim to the crown of Virginia, in behalf of his royal wife! And it was considered in council whether he had not committed treason!

Pocahontas remained in England about a year; and when she was about to embark for America with her husband and son, and Tomocome, her father's chief councillor, she sickened and died at Gravesend in June, 1617, when she was not quite twenty-two years of age. She left a son, Thomas Rolfe, who became a distinguished man in Virginia, and whose descendants have been numbered among the honorable citizens of that commonwealth.

Prosperity was now the destiny of the settlements in Virginia, although the prime element of a permanent state-the family-was yet wanting. Because of this want, the settlers continually indulged in dreams of returning home to England. Dale, who had ruled with wisdom as well as energy, discouraged this feeling, and by engaging them in the cultivation of the tobacco plant, somewhat allayed it. His successors encouraged its production, and in spite of the silly efforts of King James to prevent its use in England, by forbidding its cultivation in the British islands, its growth and exportation to the mother country soon became the staple and very profitable business of the planters in Virginia. Its culture became a mania. The streets of Jamestown were planted with it, and food-producing products were so neglected that while great cargoes of tobacco were preparing for England, the necessaries of life were wanting. It became the currency of the country, the money value of a pound of tobacco being fixed at about sixty-six cents.

Dale left Argall as deputy governor, but his petty tyranny and rank dishonesty disgusted the people. The story of his bad conduct told in England checked emigration, and his office was given to the excellent George Yeardley, a wise statesman and friend of man. On the death of Lord De la Warr while he was on a voyage to resume the reins of government there, Yeardley was appointed governor with broad discretionary powers. Abolishing martial law, releasing the planters from feudal service and confirming their titles to lands in their possession, and establishing a representative government on the banks of the James, he laid the foundations of a permanent colony. He had found the settlers yearning for the freedom enjoyed by their fellow-subjects in England under the British constitution. He could not

WIVES FOR THE PLANTERS.

199

reconcile that freedom with then existing disabilities, so, with the sanction of the Company, he introduced a new political system in Virginia. The settlements were divided into eleven boroughs, each having two representatives, called burgesses, who were chosen by the people. These, with the governor and council, constituted the colonial government. The burgesses were allowed to debate all questions pertaining to the colony, but their decisions were not law until confirmed by the Company in England. Because of these liberties, the settlers expressed their gratitude; and when in June, 1619, a representative assembly met at Jamestown, they felt that they had a home in Virginia. They "fell to building houses and planting corn," says an old chronicler; and these houses were soon made happy ones by domestic virtues. Within two years after the first meeting of the House of Burgesses -the first representative assembly in America-about two hundred and fifty reputable young women were sent over from England to become wives for the planters. These were received with gladness, and cherished with fondThe tribe of gold-seekers had disappeared. Industry was the rule and not the exception in the settlements, and the COLONY of Virginia was firmly established.

ness.

Explorations in New England-Kidnapping Indians-Religious Parties in England-Persecutions-A Theological Conference-Bad Conduct of King James-Puritans in HollandLongings for America-Preparations for Emigration-"Pilgrims" go to America-Constitution of Government Signed-Founding of Plymouth-Sufferings of the Emigrants-First Marriage in Plymouth Colony.

W

E have considered the failures of the Plymouth Company to plant settlements in America. We will now consider other attempts and failures, and the permanent establishment of a settlement in New England.

The restless Captain Smith did not long remain idle after his return from Virginia. In company with four London merchants, he fitted out two ships for the purpose of discovery and traffic in the northern regions of America. Captain Thomas Hunt commanded one of the vessels, and Smith sailed in the other. They left the Downs at the beginning of March, 1614, and first landed on the island of Mohegan, about twenty miles from the mouth of the Penobscot River, where they sought whales, but finding none Smith left the crews to engage in common fishing, while he and eight men, in a small boat, should explore the neighboring coasts and gather furs. They went up the several rivers far into the interior, and explored the whole coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. Smith constructed a map of the region; and after an absence of seven months, the vessels returned to England with cargoes of considerable value. He laid his map before Prince Charles, the heir apparent to the throne, and a man of considerable literary and artistic taste. The Prince procured from his father a confirmation of the title of New England, which Smith had given to the country, on his map; and so that region from twenty miles eastward of the Hudson River has ever since been called. As usual, crime dimmed the lustre of these achievements. Whilst Smith was exploring the coasts, Captain Hunt, an avaricious and profligate man, wishing, apparently, to impede settlements by inflaming the wrath of the Indians, so that he and a few others might enjoy the monopoly of traffic on that coast, kidnapped twenty-seven of the savages at Cape Cod, with Squanto their chief, and taking them to Spain sold them for slaves. Some

CAPTAIN SMITH AND NEW ENGLAND.

201

of them were taken by benevolent friars, who educated them for missionaries among the tribes, but only Squanto returned to America. The effect of this crime satisfied the apparent wishes of Hunt. The next fishing vessels that came from New England brought word that the natives were greatly exasperated.

This news did not discourage Captain Smith. On his return he had an interview with the energetic and ever-hopeful Ferdinando Gorges, and inspired him with such desires to plant a settlement in New England, that the Plymouth Company asked Smith to lead a colony thither. He believed that he could allay the anger of the natives, as he had done in Virginia, and having accepted the invitation of the Company, he sailed with two ships and some emigrants in the spring of 1615. Smith's ship was shattered by a tempest and returned to port. On the 4th of July following he sailed again, in a bark of sixty tons, and was soon captured by a French squadron. While on board one of the Gallic vessels, he wrote an account of his voyage to New England, which was published the next year. After a brief captivity, he was released and returned home. Meanwhile, the Plymouth Company had made him admiral of New England; but, discouraged by ill luck, the association had again abandoned the project of planting a colony there. Smith now drops almost out of sight in history. He lived to see his friend, Prince Charles, seated on the throne of his father; and, not long afterwards (1631), the founder of the Virginia colony died at the age of fifty-one years.

Thus far English settlements in America had been attempted by private adventurers, or commercial associations, with no higher aim than the acquisition of wealth. That acquisition was denied, and full success was not obtained until better men, with more exalted motives, came to people the lands. These came to New England with families and were prepared to stay, not so much for the betterment of their temporal estates, as for the unmolested enjoyment of civil and religious freedom, which was denied them at home.

We have seen how three powerful religious parties-Roman Catholic, Anglican and Puritan-crystallized into distinct sects at about the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, all struggling for supremacy. The Puritans were fewer in numbers than either of their antagonists, but were stronger in the moral power which asserts and defends the rights of man. They boldly declared the right of private judgment in religious matters to be inalienable, and that every human being was endowed with the natural privilege of worshipping the Creator in accordance with the dictates of conscience. Upon the same platform of principles they asserted the rights of the people to the enjoyment of civil freedom. The Puritan pulpits became the tribunes of the com