Washington sentinel., 1854-05-21

spoke lor The Union IN the halls of legislation.
This moral and intellectual pyramid has since de-
scended below the surface of the earth; bur his
influence is sill weighty from the Atlantic 10 the
Paclhc Had our thirteen States been expanded
INTO thousand, he would still have gone for the
country as " one and indivisible forever"
We have reason, Virginians 10 congratulate
ourselves that the history of the Old Dominion is
so free from everything doubtful obscure. There
are no clouds al jamestown. We know the exact
day on which our fathers set sail from England,
and the time al which they reached the Pow
hatan, their cautious movements up the river,
the CONSERVATION of the Indians at their arrival,
and the day on which they landed These incl
dents familiar TO our children. There are
lions whose annals veiled in ambiguity or dis
figured by fable. Large portions of the Grecian
history fictitious. Doubt has been thrown on
the wanderings of the Pelasgi, on the introduce
lion OF alphabetical writing, on the numbers who
resisted Aerxes at Thermopyle, and on the battles
of Marathon and Mycale. The Imagination of
Greek historians too fertile and mercurial 10
be trusted al all times and their love of country
was a passion with them so vivid that Justice
IS not always measured out TO their enemies
Much OF the Roman history is apocryphal. After
long and laborious research, DIR. Arnold was forced
10 the conclusion that one-haf of it is fabulous
and entitled, of course, 10 more faith than
Persian or Lapland tale. Gibbon spent the whole
OF his meridian life in the retirement OF Lausanne
Ia collecting its documents, and then produced a
history open TO criticism. The early chroni-
clers of England abound in the marvellous.
Even Hume has been set aside in some things
by that cross-examination which has always
been common in the court of the historic muse
But, turning over the documents belonging to
the jamestown colony, the mind is perplex-
ed by no doubt IN relation 10 the origin of Vir-
ginia or the motives by which its settlers were
impelled or the facts that took place either at the
time or subsequently to the landing. The early
history OF the most renowned nations may be IN
volved in night but the diamond points of truth
are assembled like stars in the frmanient ofJames-
| town, We have histories quaint and ambitious,
perhaps in style, but clear in their statements and
| sometimes forcble. We need, however, the rise
| of an historian who will combine strength with
| blandness of words, and who will apply the hand
| of taste 10 the somewhat crude materials of our
history. We need historian like our country
man Irving who evolved the life Of Columbus
from the faded parchments of the Escurial or Pres
colt, who illustrated the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella; Ticknor, who has devoted the greater
part of his life 10 the illustration of the Spanish
literature. And all present will doubtless join me
in the wish that whenever such an historian shall
appear lie may be native of Virginia, and receive
his coronation, not on the plain of Olympia, the
sleeps OF Delphi but among the woods and ever
greens OF jamestown where our sires first planted
their transatlantic feet.
Permit me, then, 10 state one or two facts con-
nected with our colonial history the value of which
is enhanced by their authenticity. An attempt
had been made by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1884 10
settle on Roanoke island the coast of North Car
oilna put from causes generally knoWn II faleu.
Sir w alter incurred the dspleasure fixing James,
and was subsequently attain'ed of high treason,
committed 10 the Tower oil London, and executed
in l6lS, in the face of law and evidence. Any
privileges or charters granted 10 him were re-
voked and transferred by James the First of
England TO certain knights and merchants in
London. The names of those who sailed un-
der these charters are given by Stith, one of our
historians, and we are now calling 10 mind the
anniversary of their landing. II was probably
t.rLt Ia,r al -
alone has power 10 produce which sires
left their ships and imprinted their footsteps on
our SOIL How unlike the gloomy day in Decem-
ber which the Pilgrims of the Mayhower arriv-
ed on Plymouth rock. Along the banks of Pow
hatan river, now called the James, the wilderness
had blossomed far and wide; the spring had elicit
ed myriads of leaves, and the rich foliage was in
| terspersed with sylvan flowers. The beams OF the
sun We're at tull-play on the waters, and gliding
violet woods and dales and all the upland features
1 of the landscape. We may well imagine that not
| a bird was dumb on that ever TO be remembered
| day. II the embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delft
! Haven, in 1920, has been embalmed by the pencil
of Wier in our Capitol, The arrival OF our fathers
at jamestown is an event not less worthy Of equal
| distinction. May the artist be son of the Old
Dominion. In this wish we may all unite without
the least injustice 10 any other artist, whether he
arise among the larch trees of the St Croix, on
the Hudson in the vale of Wyoming, on the shores
| of Ontario or the banks of the Rio Grande.
l
thus TO expose themselves in the wilderness con-
stitute a legitimate inquiry. They appear TO have
differed from those which influenced the Plymouth
colonists. In the reign of James The First of Eng
land, the outward form of religion was In unset
tied state. At this very time, Scotland was convuls
ed 10 its centre by the articles Of Perth and that
country rolling out its chariots for conflict |
based on the rights OF conscience. The Plymouth |
colonists left England for Holland to enjoy freedom
in worshippng their creatorin the form they prefer
red but, failing to find employment lortherchildren
they concluded TO attempt the American desert, |
sooner than forego the inestimabe privilege OF re-
ligous liberty. The inducement one of mix
ed kind. but the sacred motive weighed profoundly |
on their minds. For this they were willing 10 |
brave the dangers of the sea- 10 encounter the in
conveniences OF the forest, to defy the tomahawk |
ofthe savage and 10 thrust the Anglo-Saxon axe |
into rough and untamed wilderness. They de-
sired 10 found communities IN which the Divine |
laws should be observed, schools established, |
churches reared, colleges endowed, and toleration
enjoyed Some Of their acts seem inconsistent |
with federation, but must not forget that old |
England believed in witchcraft that Chief JUS |
uce Hale had not surmounted the superstition of
his day, and that the jamestown coonists were |
not free from melancholy deusions, and even in |
tolerant and over rigid laws. We do not suppose, |
however, that the same motives precisely were
operating at jamestown prevailed al Plymouth |
The Norman and chvalrous element was felt in
Virginia, though the Anglo Saxon principle might
have preponderated in the population Cavaliers
led the way, some OF whom were fond Of romantic
adventure. They were conlormists for the most
part, 10 that church which established by law
over all England. in the regns OF Edward the Sixth
and OF Queen Elizabeth. They had no persecution
to fear they were not thinking of conscience nor
were their maginations looming futurity de-
lighted with this empire Of ours, which has since
sprung from those germs of population which
were buried in the soil of jamestown. We must
remember that sires were but men, and men
struggling for subsistence. The London merchants
looked tor returns for their outlay, and there were
dreams Of gold INDUCED in perhaps by all. They
might have imagined rich fleece 10 be suspended
on every tree. The cavalier might have marked
out the boundaries Of his park in proximity TO
which his Norman castle was 10 stand, and among
the copses of which his deer 10 saunter;
and the Anglo.Saxon was busy in depicting the
homestead he was 10 rear enyironed with its
hedge-row fence and embelshed by the wild plants
of the forest. The rural taste of England was
transferred to TIE banks of the James, and that
taste has not been altogether exterminated by the
lapse of more than two centuries. Such was the
simple drama which was enacted in our colonial
infancy. Its beginning amidst rustic scenes
/ but y was IN due time 10 expand, and TO unfold
4 the doors OF thirteen colonies and display many
fields OF battle on which our spangledbanner was
TO wave IN triumph. In the revolutionary contest