Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-01
VIRGINIA.
The Early History Of the First
Of the Colonies.

Bt. Louis News. A,I
Last evening Mr.. John Fiske. Of
Cambridge, Mass, delivered the first
of a series of lectures on American
history at Memorial Hall. A fair
audience greeted the lecturer, who
took for his subject, Virginia in the
Colonial Period"
The speaker began by saying that
the Pope by a bull gave all Of North
America to Spain, but it was at a time
when the Pope and his bulls began to
be ~disregarded. England was the pro-
gressive nation of that age. While
Charles V affected to be the ~autocrat
ofEurope, and, abdicatiHg, ~bequeathed
the greatest empire on earth to Philip,
the result of the Armada showed
England to be improbable. AT an
early date she began to compete with
Spain for possession of the New
World, Drake, Frobisher; Humphrey
and Raleigh, one after another ex-
plored the new wonderland. Raleigh
made the first English settlement on
Roanoke Island, but after expanding
his fortune to make it a success, he
was forced to confess that his Roanoke
Island colony was a dreary failure.
This adventurous pioneer was finally,
after twelve years Imprisonment,
executed to crafty a weak and dis.
honest piece of Stuart diplomacy.
The next attempt to ~colonize Virginia
was more successful under the enlight-
.ened management OF Captain John
Smith, whose adventurous history puts
to shame the tales of M~unchausen.
He was born in Lincolnshire, England,
ran away from home at the early sage
of16, and served in the wal then going
onin the Netherlands. Returning, he
started to fight the Turks, and while
on board a ship off Marseilles, was
thrown into the sea. Escaping to
land, he made his way to Austria,
where he defeated in single combat
three champions. He was sold in
slavery at Adrianople. MASKING the
scull Of his keeper, he fed to England
and embarked tof America where he
took charge of the infant colony at
jamestown. After theregime ofSmith,
Jamestown relapsed into anarchy and
passed into the hands Of Lord Della
ware and Sir Thomas Dale. In 1910
a terrible Indian massacre occurred
aud 400 scalps were taken. In 1923
the King demanded the charter of the
colony, which was followed by a long
contest. The King triumphed, but
was too busy at home in the years fol-
lowing to tyrannizen over his American
subjects. The inhabitants were com
posed of English yeomanry, ex.
patiated criminals, ad~venturers and
slaves. Many children were kidnapped
and sent to Virginia, where they were
bound out for a term of years. The
felons we're the ~progenitors of the So
called white trash" which later be-
came so common in the Southern
States. AT that time tobacco served
as circulating medium and a standard
IF value. The artisans were thinkers
and the merchants peddlers. The
roads were bride paths, which high
waymen f%requented withimpunity. The
planters we're hospitable, and their
tables were ador0ed with silver plate
and the best wines. Libraries were
few aud school facilities miserable.
The first newspaper was started in
1876. The church, too, was degraded,
and the learned professions we're filed
with Charlatans, empires and mounte-
banks. Just before the revolution a
political revival took place, and the
one great name of this period is that
of John Marshall,
Bacon made a strong effort to turn
back the tide of royal tyranny. He
burned jamestown to prevent its be-
ing occupied by Berkely, a creature Of
the King, After his death, however,
oppression followed oppression. A
property qualification was made the
basis Of suffrage. The grievances of
the people increased until too heavy
to be borne; and when Massachusetts,
assumed an attitude Of defiance to the
mother country, Virginia was the first
of the States to respond sustaining
her.