Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-06-09
From the Southern Literary Messenger for june
CELEBRATION AT JAMESTOWN.


CELEBRATION AT JAMESIOWS'
R.nort of the ProrreI.n-s ofNs Celebration % sNs
Iwo Hundred and F,jiUth unnecessary o. 'nc LIZ
glish .Seillfm. nj at James'oTn. c... Or
Tn. Jamestown Society Of Washington Clty, az
association consisting Of Virginia gentlemen ree.u'D
tbsra having determined 10 celebrate, 81 ths tiie "
Ia,n.e,own the Two hundred and fitch AnniVersaJ
~ tha seemsnt invited Ex President Tyler o,el's
~ an Grafton, and MIR. James Barron Hope foen,
nm the occasioD. The invitations were kindly aceep
cd by those gentlemen.
EX-PRESIDENT TYLER'S GRAFTON.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen Of he
" Ltmestorn Society:
conyratulste Won on the success which mas
crowned your efforts You have founded roc'e'y
which trust is destined to early or premature u
cay. Virginia has been awakened oy your ."a,
and her patriotic sons and daughters are mere w
YOU 1t is fitting that it should be SO. ms l'en'. VI
OF glorious ancestry should bs kept br!gn' ~ he
recollectons 4. their pnsterity; and the ho,o u h
in the Of civilization. and brave 90 -, 10
of freedom, should be recounteo rom se"1, ,
to generation. Your society is designed 10 oe Inc
connecting link between the past and tha hSh'y iu
ture which is yet 10 be. IL there eve. 80 nc, nen
worthy to be held in remembrance tney "oe uooe
who settled this now hourlshinS county, a,. noot
porated with its very soil the Prn'; sron, ,hs,
rlsht-wlat wonderful results have arisen from that
event which we have met here to c-ebratei a small
BODY of men planted this spot the seea o ihgh'y
empire. 1t sprung up, lila grown al nrs. a'u
often near perishing, but finally u gre" anu noulis
ed until at This day millions OF the human aniy smell
ter under its branches and its leaves are waered by
m. d.vs of two oceans. To me you nave assigned
the task of opening the record, I" tne Pasl auu u
tracing the developments OF this great adventure.
can do no more than furnish Drisi sketches vi the
c.ntnr;es and shall do so without an fhJrt TO cothe
them in drapery which is either rhetorical or art-
ncial
The reign Of Elizabeth had ended by her death 10
l6U3 Her efforts to COLOMBO America unoer tne eau
of Sir Walter Raleigh, name iustrious 10 history,
had after several adventures. disastrousiy tailed and
the despondencs consequent upon those natures mao
rendered almost torpid upon the snplect the great
mind of England. Fi:aen years had elapsed ana no
efort had been made to rekinde the enthusiasm
which had characterized the antecedsnt period.
angle voice was at last heard addressing itself to the
mobiles and gentry, and urging Tile vast Importance
to England and the world, of co.onizing the country
which the Virgin Queen had called virginia ana
which embraced all The region lying between the 34h
and 45th degrees of n. latitude with IFS unlimited ana
sudefned western boundary. IL Was the voice OF
Bartholomew Gosnold Some attention was gwen
to his representations and urgent Solicitations YET le
prosoect of success gloomy and rhyless, uhtli
one, the report OF whose heroic daring and boid au
ventures in other lands had preceded nun, tnade MS
appearance in London, and united with uosno'a ~
urging the enterprise. That man was Johh oi''h'
GOsnold had visited the coast o 'nk r 81. 49,
once and bs doubtless failed not to speak OF lis beau
tiful scenery it's magnificent forests, ana It's fertile
goldsmith united in his person ana bearing, grace
and refinement and policy and forethought with a
courage which no danger cou,d appai. anu "a rsso!u
ton which no difficulties could suodue. His broad
a1nsrisnce in active affairs of the world, aud
his extraordinary faculty of extricating himself
from situations of extreme peril, together with
the romantic turn manifested 6y hin from an
early period of life, gave to his repre-, entatiOns
more than ordinary force and designated him as Que
whose connexiuu with such adventure, WAS of in
calculabe values others soon united with Gosnold
aud Smith IL. urging the enterprise, and resorted 10
every legitimate argument 10 forward 1t. The de.
yout and pious Christian was told that new and
more expanded theatre than had before presented it.
self, WAS opened TO missionary labors. Before the
capitalist, DESTROYS of making profitable Investment
of surplus capital was spread out temptngly, the
profits that would ultimately most nurely arise from
the investment-and to the patriot was represented
the glory Of extending the English name and Ian
guage and dominion, over regions OF almost bound
less extent. These arguments had the Desired elect
company organized, at the head OF which WAS
placed Sir Thomas Smith, one of the able councillors
of Elizabeih's time, and q charter duly granted by
King James l., and on the 18Th of December l606,
two ships the of 100 tons and the other o! A. aud
pinnscs Of % tons with their living freight, accom-
panied by the tears of SONS and the cheers Of Others
set sail from Blackwell for this terra incognAd. And
now they are aaoat upon the wild waves OF the Allan.
tic those small ships and that little plnnace surpassed
in tonnage by the vessels that hourly pass and re-
pas. this spot upon some coasting voyage, or IN me
traffic of the Bay and rivers-tbe adventurous in ALL
one hundred men-maasured by tho magnitude Of thu
enterprise, and its dangers, how contemplate, small
and inadequate do these msans to Meet 1t appear to
have bssn. The hazards OF the sea- country OF
vast extent inhabited by warke tribes OF different
racs-a wilderness ia which ray of civilization was
TO be fo,lnd--a new world to be reclaimed from lts
long night Of barbarsm and deep gloom, and that lit
tie fleet and those hundred men were tn he the po-
neers, of such enerprse!. As II TO mark 1.-THE mad
ness of the hour" there was at work amid small
nharo ~. hnaa edv q
and i'll will directed against the man who, II human
agency could accomplish II, was ultimately to save
them from starvation and death. What comnenta-
~ on the nrmity Of poor human nature 10 exhibited
in this fact. But good Master Hunt WAS with them
10 ndmunsh and reprOve and there went forth at the
rising and setting OF the sum- over the vide waste of
waters, the voice of prayer, uing into repose the
spirit Of unwise contention and ascending 10 the throne
OF the Creator Those prayers were heard, and when
the little Dinnace OF ~ TONS "the captain being lgno
rant of the coast and marners having lost their reck
oning by three days" in the act of abandoning
the voyage and returning to England, a tempest
snatched her from the hands Of captain and crew and
drove her upon her destined way within the Capes-
aud thus on this day two hundred and fifty years ago.
those tempest tos vessels swung quietly on their an
chors in yonder stream, and that body of Adventures
landed this beach and prepared to make it the place
OF their abode
the fortlfcation. made of logs and brush TO guard
against surprise from savage foe, is hastily con
sructed. Now after the lapse of centuries, we their
descendants and successors, come here to revisit
their graves and to tread the soil which is haowed
by their suffsriDgs, and WAS often watered by their
tears. What though all be now chaDged-what
though in place of the unbroken forest, boundless
fields, covered with luxuriant crops, everywhere
abound1 What though the fort and hastily construct
ed breast. work. and the red man to restrain whose
saults they were erected, have long since passed
awayl What though no trace of the city. reared by
the hands Of that "nobe army of martyrs" in the
Of civilization, remans save yon broken stee-
pie, and that small brick house, which has baen pre-.
served by successive proprletors for plantation pur
poses, but whose vaults constituted the powder mag
azine Of other days, and the prison house of Ope.
that most subtle chieain Of the Indian
tribel What though what was then Peninsula is
now changed into an Islaud by a stream, which, az
late fifty years ago. WAS so narrow az to have pre-
scented no impeachment in the way Of free to the
land, but which is now broad and deep enough to
Goat either Of the vessels that brought over the first
emigrsnts; and what though the waters now cover
large portion of what in early days was firm land on
which numerous habitations stood What if the in.
scrptons on the monuments erected over the dead,
he rendered ilegibe by time and the monuments
themselves be 10 Fragments yet there glory Gu
oircling those ruins, and arising from the earth on
which those Adventures trod, which decay cannot
reach, and which the laspe Of CENTURIES can only
make moreimposng. We ara here 10 do them re-
verence and in the silent homage of the heart to ut
ter thanksgiving aud praise to Heavenly Parent
dence, their hardy and successful adventures have
conferred upon us and upon the world.
need not dwell upon the hazards encountered by
the early settlers, the narrow escapes OF the colo
ny from entire destruction. The red and white man
stood face to face, and the last regarded by the
first as daring intruder and deadly enemy. The
contest between them contest of life and death.
UDlike the Indians Of Peru, who approached the
Spaniards with and reverence superior beings
the Indians here looked upon the settlers with
sion and made war upon them without loss oil time
But st more formidable enemy chung around and
about them, and preyed upon their flesh and con-
.umed the marrow Of their bones. Hunger gaunt
and horrible, wasted them away and brought on dis
csse and death. In year from the time Of their
landing their numbers reduced from loo TO 80,
and they too would have persisted but tor timely sup
plies of corn, which Smith had procured by prOsscu
ting traffic full of danger With the Indians. Among
those who persisted was Bartholomew Gosnold. the
originator Of the expedition. We may be permitted
to regret that he did not live long enough to
the frat glimmerng sf success in that adventure he