Polynesian., 1851-03-29


survivors either returning home, or dispers-
ing themselves through those American set
Elements In which they could find refuge.
Paterson, who had been the first to step on
board the vessel at Leith, when the expedi-
ton set out. was the last to quit the darling
soil on which his fancy had built city sur
passing in wealth and beauty all the cities of
the earth.
The company at home was not aware of
the full extent of the misery endured by the
wretched colonists, and second expedition
was sent out from Scotland. under the charge
Of Capt. Campbell of Binab, with 800 men,
raised from his own estate, whom he carried
out in his own ship. Most of these men had
served under his command in Flanders,
where he had acquired high military
reputation. AS the colonists were begin
ming to be involved in hostilities with the
Spaniards, the arrival Of Captain Campbell,
with his body of tried men, was very oppor-
tune.
The Spaniards had not, hitherto, offered
any molestation to the colony at Darien; and
jealous as they were of any encroachment
upon their American dominions, it is probable
that they would have continued on friendly
terms with 1t, but, sseing the colony disowned
by its own king, and its founders treated as
vagabonds and outlaws, they could not resist
the temptation to attack it, Accordingly,
about the time that Captain Campbell arrived
at the colony, it was threatened with the ap-
proach of a Spanish land force, Of 1000 men,
and squadron Of eleven ships. Captain
Campbell having been unanimously chosen
commander, marched against the land force
with body of 200 men, and completely
broke and dispersed it. Returning to the
fort however, from this successful expedition,
he found that the Spanish ships had, in the
meantime, arrived in the narbor, and were
investing the town. The seige lasted for six
weeks, the colonists defending themselves
with the utmost bravery; but at length, pro-
visions having been quite exhausted, and
ammunition having become so scarce tina,
the pewter dishes had to be melted down to
make balls, they were obliged to capitulate
The Spaniards granted honorable terms to
them all except Capt. Campbell, who, think
ing it impossible that they would forget the
injuries he had done them, had made his es-
cape to New York, from whence he took pas
sage to Scotland. The wretched remainder
of the colonists were so weak, that they were
unable to weigh the anchor of the vessel
which was to carry them away, without the
assistance of the victorious Spaniards. Tos-
sed about for many months, forced to take
refuge in English and Spanish ports, they
were so thinned by shipwreck, famine, and
disease, that not more than thirty of them
ever saw Scotland again. Paterson, crushed
by the sense of the awful amount Of misery
Of which he had been the unwilling, and GER
tainly not the blameworthy cause, had become
lunatic, during his passage home, after the
failure OF the first colony; but before the
news of the total abandonment reached Scot
land, he had so far recovered as to receive
the blow manfully, and even to make fresh
proposals for starting the scheme again, on a
better footing.
Such was the end of the Darien scheme
a scheme which, though probably far over
rated by its sanguine protector, was really
feasible enough, but which was ruined by the
illiberal jealousy Of King William and a
strong English party. Scotland was in a state
of violent excitement; nothing could be heard
but the sounds of lamentation and ill-suppres-
sed wrath against the king, who was con-
ceived to be the sole cause of the national
disaster Whole families had been ruined,
children deprived of their fortunes, maidens
made pennyless, and all owing, as was
thought, to the same hand as had issued the
orders for the massacre Glencoe. The ma
tional Indignation against William increased
the feeling in favor of the exiled Stuarts. In
Edinburgh, especially, the commotion almost
amounted to rebellion.
1t was long before the Scotch forgot or
forgave the ruin of their favorite subject
At the union Of the two kingdoms, in 1907,
some compensation was made to the losers,
by government, not nearly sufficient, however
to cover the national losses; and for more
than eighty years the memory of Williams S
conduct, in the Darien scheme, ranked in
the hearts of the Scotch. Besides impeding
the union itself, it contributed greatly to
strengthen the Jacobite feeling which broke
out in the rebellons Of l7I5 and l745. Even
SO late as the year l7sS, when some gentle
men in Edinburgh proposed to erect monu-
ment to commemorate King William and the
Revolution of 1858, the affair was remem-
bered and an anonymous letter, which ap-
peared in the newsPapers-proposing that
the site of the intended monument should be
the valley of Glencoe, and that there should
be executed, on one side of the base, re-
presentation, in relieve, of the massacre, and
on the other, a view of the Scottish colony on
the Isthmus of Darian-produced such an
impression, that the gentlemen were obliged
to abandon their scheme.
Paterson died, soon after the union, in
neglect and poverty, yet respected by all who
knew him. There can be no doubt that he
was man of enlarged capacities, who had
the welfare of Scotland at heart; but he was
far too sanguine in his views, and did not
sufficiently regard the circumstances by
which he was surrounded. At the same time,
it is but justice to say, that his Darien
scheme was feasible, and would have fulfilled
all reasonable expectations, if not frsutrated
in the manner which has been described
Nothing in the whole course Of history re-
fleets so much disgrace on England. as the
ruin Of the Darien scheme. But let the
peoPle Of England be free OF the stain which
from this cause affects their country; the
cr;,,a l,ae ,t the door If a handful of oo