read his Commission and entred into consultation for the good of the Colony In which secret counsell I will a little leaue his Lordship that wee may duly obserue the reuealed counsell of God He that shal but turne vp his eye and behold the spangled Canopie of heauen shall but cast down his eye and consider the imbroidered Carpet of the earth and withall shall marke how the heauens heare the earth the earth heare the corne and oyle and they relieue the necessities of man that man wil acknowledge Gods infinite prouidence But hee that shall further obserue how God inclineth all casuall euents to worke the necessary helpe of his Saints must needs adore the Lords infinite goodnesse Neuer had any people more iust cause to cast themselues at the foot-stoole of God and to reuerence his mercy then our distressed Colony for if God had not sent Sir Thomas Gates from the Bermudos within foure daies they had all beene famished if God had not directed the heart of that worthy Knight to saue the Fort from fire at their shipping they had been destitute of a present harbor and succor if they had abandoned the Fort any longer time and had not so soone returned questionlesse the Indians would haue destroied the Fort which had beene the meanes of our safety among them and a terrour vnto them If they had set Saile sooner and had lanched into the vast Ocean who could haue promised that they should haue encountred the Fleet of the Lo. La-ware especially when they made for the New-found land a course contrary to our Nauies approaching If the Lord La-ware had not brought with him a yeares prouision what comfort could those soules haue receiued to haue beene relanded to a second destruction Brachium Domini this was thearme of the Lord of Hosts who would haue his people to passe the redde Sea and Wildernesse and then to possesse the land of Canaan It was diuinely spoken of heathen Socrates Si Deus sit solicitus prote cur tu tibi sis solicitus if God for man be carefull why should man be ouer distrustfull The noble Lord gouernor after mature deliberation deliuered some few words to the company laying iust blame vpon them for their haughty vanities and sluggish idlenesse earnestly entreating them to amend those desperate follies lest he should be compelled to draw the sword of Iustice and to cut off such delinquents which he had rather draw euen to the shedding of his vital blood to protect them from iniuries heartning them with relation of that store hee had brought with him constituting officers of all conditions to rule ouer them alotting euery man his particular place to watch vigilantly and worke painefully This Oration and direction being receiued with a generall applause you might shortly behold the idle and restie diseases of a diuided multitude by the vnity and authority of this gouernment to be substantially cured Those that knew not the way to goodnes before but cherished singularity and faction can now chalke out the path of all respectiue duetie and seruice euery man endeuouring to out-strip each other in diligence the French preparing to plant the Vines the English labouring in the woods and groundes euery man knoweth his charge and dischargeth the same with alacrity Neither let any man be discouraged by the relation of their daily labor as though the sappe of their bodies should be spent for other mens profite the setled times of working to effect all themselues or the Aduenturers neede desire requiring no more pains then from sixe of clocke in the morning vntill ten and from two of the clocke in the afternoone till foure at both which times they are prouided of spiritual and corporall relieâ—e First they enter into the Church and make their prayers vnto God next they returne to their houses and receiue their proportion of foode Nor should it be conceiued that this busines excludeth Gentlemen whose breeding neuer knew what a daies labour meant for though they cannot digge vse the square nor practise the axe and chizell yet may the stayde spirits of any condition finde how to employ the force of knowledge the exercise of counsell the operation and power of their best breeding and qualities The houses which are built are as warme and defensible against winde and weather as if they were tiled and slated being couered aboue with strong boordes and matted round within according to the fashion of the Indians Our forces are now such as are able to tame the fury and treachery of the Sauages our Forts assure the Inhabitants and frustrate all assailants And to leaue no discouragement in the heart of any who personally shall enter into this great action I will communicate a double comfort first Sir George Summers that worthy Admiral hath vndertaken a dangerous aduenture for the good of the Colony Vpon the fifteenth of Iune accompanied with Captaine Samuel Argoll he returned in two Pinaces vnto the Bermudos promising if by any meanes God will open a way to that Iland of Rockes that he would soone returne with sixe moneths prouision of flesh and with liue Hogges to store againe Virginia It is but eleuen daies saile and we hope that God will send a pillar of fire to direct his iourney The other comfort is that the Lord gouernour hath built two new Forts the one called Fort Henry and the other Fort Charles in honor of our most noble Prince and his hopefull brother vpon a pleasant hill and neere a little riuelet which we call South hampton riuer They stand in a wholsome ayre hauing plenty of springs of sweete water they command a great circuit of ground containing wood pasture and meadow with apt places for vines corne and gardens In which Forts it is resolued that all those that come out of England shall be at their first landing quartered that the wearisomnes of the sea may bee refreshed in this pleasing part of the countrey The fertility of the soile the temperature of the climate the form of gouernment the condition of our people their daily inuocating of the name of God being thus expressed Why should the successe by the rules of mortall iudgement be despaired Why should not the rich haruest of our hopes be seasonably expected I dare say that the resolution of Caesar in Fraunce the designes of Alexander in Greece the discoueries of Hernando Cortes in the West and of Emanuel King of Portugale in the East were not incouraged vpon so firme grounds of state and possibility All which I could demonstrate out of their owne Records were I not preuented with hast to satisfie their longings who with an open care hearken after the commodities of the countrey whose appetites I will no longer frustrate then their eyes can runne ouer this succinct Narration I called it a succinct Narration because the commodities in former Treatises haue beene largely described which I will only here epitomise lest any man should change his resolution when the same grounds remaine
not their conuersion who cannot vnderstand vs nor our martyrdome when the people of Florida did deuoure the Preachers of the word without speaking any word Non quia Christiani sed quia homines not because they were christian men but because they were men wee cannot be said to be martyrs when wee are not killed because wee are christians And therefore the Iesuite Acosta confesseth notwithstanding Bellarmines relation of Indian miracles that they haue no tongues they haue no signes from heauen and they can haue no martyrdome and by consequent there is no meanes left of Apostolicall preaching For the second to preach the Gospell to a nation conquered and to set their soules at liberty when we haue brought their bodies to slauerie It may be a matter sacred in the Preachers but I know not how iustifiable in the rulers Who for their meere ambition doe set vpon it the glosse of religion Let the diuines of Salamanca discusse that question how the possessor of the west Indies first destroied and then instructed The third belongs to vs who by way of marchandizing and trade doe buy of them the pearles of earth and sell to them the pearles of heauen which action if it be vnlawfull it must proceede from one of these three grounds either because we come to them or trade with them or tarrie and dwell and possesse part of their country amongst them Is it vnlawfull because wee come to them why is it not a dutie of christianitie to behold the imprinted footsteps of Gods glorie in euery region vnder heauen Is it not against the lawe of nations to violate a peaceable stranger or to denie him harbour The Ethiopians Egyptians and men of China are branded with a foule marke of sanguinarie and barbarous inhumanity for blessing their Idols with the bloud of strangers It is not vnlawfull to trade with them except Salomon shall bee condemned for sending for gold to Ophir Abraham for making a league with Abimelech and all christendome shall bee traduced for hauing comerce with Turks and miscreants Finallie it is not vnlawfull that wee possesse part of their land and dwell with them and defend our selues from them Partlie because there is no other moderate and mixt course to bring them to conuersion but by dailie conuersation where they may see the life and learne the language each of other Partlie because there is no trust to the fidelitie of humane beasts except a man will make a league with Lions Beares and Crocodiles Partlie because there is roome sufficient in the land as Sichem sometime said for them and vs the extent of an hundred miles being scarce peopled with 2000. inhabitants Partlie because they haue violated the lawe of nations and vsed our Ambassadors as Ammon did the seruants of Dauid If in him it were a iust cause to warre against the Ammonites it is lawfull in vs to secure our selues against the infidels But chieflie because Paspehay one of their Kings sold vnto vs for copper land to inherit and inhabite Powhatan their chiefe King receiued voluntarilie a crowne and a scepter with a full acknowledgement of dutie and submission Principallie when Captaine Newport was with Powhatan at Warow a comaco hee desired him to come from Iames towne as a place vnholesome and to take possession of an other whole kingdome which he gaue vnto him If any man alleadge that this was done in subtlety not that they euer meant we should possesse them but that they might first gaine by vs and then destroy vs. This makes our cause much the iuster when God turned their subtletie to our vtilitie giuing vnto vs a lawfull possession as Pharaoe gaue Goshen to Israell or Ephron sold his caue to Abraham and freeing vs from all impious and sinister construction If anie man alleadge that yet wee can possesse no farther limits than was allotted by composition and that fortitudo sine iustitia est iniquitatis Materia fortitude without iustice is but the firebrand of iniquitie Let him know that Plato defineth it to bee no iniustice to take a sword out of the hand of a mad man That Austen hath allowed it for a lawfull offensiue warre quod vlciscitur iniurias that reuengeth bloudie iniuries So that if iust offences fhall arise it can bee no more iniustice to warre against infidells than it is when vpon iust occasions wee warre against Christians And therefore I cannot see but that these truths will fanne away all those chaffie imputations which anie Romish boasters that challenge a monopolie of all conuersions will cast vpon it or any scrupulous conscience can impute vnto it Certainlie the Church of Geneua in the yeere 1555. determined in a Synode whereof Caluine was president to send Peter Richier and William Quadrigarius vnder a French Captaine to Brasilia who although they were supplanted by the comming of the Cardinall of Loraine and the trecherie of their double hearted leader yet would not the Church of Geneua after a Synodicall consultation haue sent their ministers to such an aduenture had not all scruples in their iudgement beene cleared by the light of Scripture When therefore it is a sweete smelling sacrifice to propagate the name of Iesus Christ when the Babylonish Inchantresse if her owne Calenders are to bee credited hath compassed sea and land to make sixe eight or ten millions of Romish proselites When there is no other mixt moderate course to transport the Virginian soules to heauen When there hath beene a reall concession from their rurall Emperour that hath licensed vs to negotiate among them and to possesse their countrie with them When there is more vnpeopled continent of earth than wee and they before the dissolution of the pillars of heauen can ouerburden with multitude When we neuer intend to play the Rehoboams and to scourge them with scorpions It is not good to create more sinnes then God euer censured nor to brand that action with impietie which God hath begun for promulgating of his glorie Nunquid ideo deforme est quia figura mentitur is the action therefore deformed because a false glasse doth slaunder it Concerning the other braunch of this discourse wherein some slie whisperers would seeme to cast an aspersion of iniustice vpon the action supposing some forraine Prince to haue a former interest Certainlie hee is but a rotten subiect that quarells the actions of his countrie descrying a serpentine stinge vnder the faire leaues of pietie And though it bee not for a theoreticall Schollar to circumscribe the dominions of Princes yet a few proofes from antiquitie shall suffice to controwle ignorant or presumptuous follie In the yeere 1170. Madocke the sonne of Owen Guyneth Prince of Northwales leauing the land in contention betwixt his two brethren Howell and Dauid sailed into the West Indies and after a second and a third returne and supplie setled himselfe in those dominions In the yeere 1495. Iohn Cabot a Venetian but the indenized subiect of King Henrie the seauenth discouered the North
hold no likenesse and proportion But to cleare all doubts Sir Thomas Gates thus relateth the tragedie There was one of the companie who mortally hated his wife and therefore secretly killed her then cut her in pieces and hid her in diuers parts of his house when the woman was missing the man suspected his house searched and parts of her mangled body were discouered to excuse himselfe he said that his wife died that hee hid her to satisfie his hunger and that he fed daily vpon her Vpon this his house was againe searched where they found a good quantitie of meale oatemeale beanes and pease Hee thereupon was araigned confessed the murder and was burned for his horrible villany Now shall the scandalous reports of a viperous generation preponderate the testimonies of so worthie leaders shall their venemous tongues blast the reputation of an auncient worthy Peere who vpon the ocular certainty of future blessings hath protested in his Letters that he will sacrifice himselfe for his Countrie in this seruice if he may be seconded and if the company doe giue it ouer he will yet lay all his fortunes vpon the prosecution of the plantation shall sworne lyes and combined oathes so far priuiledge trechery and piracy as to rob vs of our hopes to quell our noble resolutions God forbid Qui in mendacio confidit cito diffidit a lyers confidence is but a blazing diffidence Vnto Treasons you may ioyne couetousnesse in the Mariners who for their priuate lucre partly imbezeled the prouisions partly preuented our trade with the Indians making the matches in the night and forestalling our market in the day whereby the Virginians were glutted with our trifles and inhaunced the prices of their Corne and Victuall That Copper which before would haue prouided a bushell would not now obtaine so much as a pottle Non habet euentus sordida praeda bonos the consequent of sordid gaine is vntimely wretchednesse Ioyne vnto these an other euill there is great store of Fish in the riuer especially of Sturgeon but our men prouided no more of them then for present necessitie not barrelling vp any store against that season the Sturgeon returned to the sea And not to dissemble their folly they suffered fourteene nets which was all they had to rot and spoile which by orderly drying and mending might haue been preserued but being lost all help of fishing perished Quanto maiora timentur dispendia tanto promptior debet esse cautela fundamentall losses that cannot be repealed ought with the greatest caution to be preuented The state of the Colony by these accidents began to find a sensible declyning which Powhatan as a greedy Vulture obseruing and boyling with desire of reuenge he inuited Captaine Ratclife and about thirty others to trade for Corne and vnder the colour of fairest friendship he brought them within the compasse of his ambush whereby they were cruelly murthered and massacred For vpon confidence of his fidelitie they went one and one into seuerall houses which caused their seuerall destructions when if but any sixe had remained together they would haue been a bulwarke for the generall preseruation After this Powhatan in the night cut off some of our boats he draue away all the Deere into the farther part of the Countrie hee and his people destroyed our Hogs to the number of about sixe hundred he sent none of his Indians to trade with vs but laied secret ambushes in the woods that if one or two dropped out of the fort alone they were indaungered Cast vp this reckoning together want of gouernment store of idlenesse their expectations frustrated by the Traitors their market spoyled by the Mariners our nets broken the deere chased our boats lost our hogs killed our trade with the Indians forbidden some of our men fled some murthered and most by drinking of the brackish water of Iames fort weakened and indaungered famyne and sicknesse by all these meanes increased here at home the monies came in so slowly that the Lo. Laware could not be dispatched till the Colony was worne and spent with difficulties Aboue all hauing neither Ruler nor Preacher they neither feared God nor man which prouoked the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and pulled downe his iudgements vpon them Discite iustitiam moniti Now whether it were that God in mercie to vs would weede out these ranke hemlockes or whether in iudgement to them he would scourge their impieties or whether in wisedome he would trie our patience Vt magna magnè desideremus that wee may beg great blessings earnestly our hope is that our Sunne shall not set in a cloude since this violent storme is dispersed since all necessarie things are prouided an absolute and powerfull gouernment is setled as by this insuing relation shall be described When Sir Thomas Gates arriued in Virginia the strange and vnexpected condition wherein he found the Colony gaue him to vnderstand how neuer was there more neede of all the powers of judgement then at this present it being now his charge both to saue such as he found so forlorne and wretched as to redeeme himselfe and his from fal ing into the like calamities All which considered he entred into consultation with Sir George Summers and Captaine Newport and the Gentlemen and councell of the former gouernment They examined first their store which after two cakes a day to a man would hold out but sixteene dayes it being fiue moneths betwixt the stealing away of the Swallow and his landing the Corne of the Indians but newly sowed not an eye of Sturgeon as yet appeared in the riuer And therefore at the same consultation it was concluded by a generall approbation That they should abandon the Countrie and in the foure Pinaces which remained in the riuer they should make for the New found land where it beeing fishing time they might meete with many English Ships into which they hoped to disperse the most of the Company This conclusion taking effect vpon the seuenth of Iune Sir Thomas Gates hauing appointed euery ship her complement and number and deliuered likewise to each a proportionable weight of prouision caused euery man to repaire aboord his company and of his company himselfe remained last on shore to keepe the towne from being burned which some of our owne company maliciously threatned About noone they fell downe with the tyde to the Iland of Hogges and the next morning to the Mulbury Iland at what time they discouered the long Boate of the Lord Laware which his Lordship hearing of this resolution by the Captaine of the Fort which standeth at the mouth of the riuer suddenly dispatched with letters to Sir Thomas Gates which informed him of his Lordships arriuall Vpon receite of these letters Sir Thomas Gates bore vp the Helme and that night with a fauourable winde relanded all our men at the Fort. Before which the tenth of Iune being Sunday his Lordship came with all his Fleete went ashore in the afternoone heard a Sermon