The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-04-09
.sIr Ferdinando corees.

One VI bue mOSI conspicuous ngureS In tn6
history of the colonization of New England,
is Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Yet hitherto little
has been known concerning him. The
works that have come down to us pertaining
to that important epoch in the history of
the mother country have only scanty allu-
sions to him, while Of original documents,
such as letters written by Georges, from
which added facts could be obtained, few
were known still to be in existence. Indeed
not long ago one connected with the family,
in answer to an inquiry in the London
Notes and Queries" doubted whether any
original papers of Sir Ferdnando are now
extant." But Mr.. Baxter, whose study of
our early New England history had devel-
oped an interest in Sir Ferdinando, having
been invited to prepare for the Prince Society
a monograph upon the life and works of
Gorges, commenced careful search for such
papers, visiting England for this purpose.
He first examined in the British Museum
every manuscript and printed book of the
10th and 18th centuries pertaining to New
England. He also examined the papers in
the Public Records Office In London relating
to colonial and state affairs in the same peri
cd. He then visited Plymouth, Bristol,
Wraxall, Ashton, and various public libra
ries. The correspondence of Sir Robert
Cecil. the chief secretary of Elizabeth and
James, was also examined. The result was
most gratifying. Mr.. Baxter, at the end of
his extended researches, found himself in
possession of nearly two hundred manu-
scripts, large portion of which, he tells us,
were copies Of letters which bore the sigma
ture of Sir Ferdinando Georges. These were
found to contain valuable materials for a life
OF Georges, and in the well printed volume
prepared by Mr.. Baxter, and now published
by the Prince Society, we have memoir of
Sir Ferdinando which abounds in fresh in
formation, and which gives US for the first
time a connected view of the invaluable SER
vices rendered by Gorges in the discovery
and settlement Of New England.
The date of the birth of Sir Ferdinando
Gorges is unknown. He was an infant at
the time of the death Of his father, Edward
Gorges, in 1868. Through the Champernouns
he was related to the Raleighs and the Gill
berts. and he seems to have inherited a like
adventurous spirit. At an early age ne en-
tered the English army. He served In
Holland and the Low Countries. In 1895 he
returned to England and was ordered to take
charge of the erection of some new fortifca-
tions at Plymouth, with authority to muster
the militia of Devonshire when occasion re-
CURED. With others he became involved in
the rebellious schemes of the Earl OF Essex.
Gorges objected to these schemes as impossi-
BILE of accomplishment, but he was arrested
with Essex and other of the latter's followers,
and for while was in peril But he cleared
himself at length, although Essex was er-
ronously led to believe that Gorges had
proved traitor to him. Gorges was now
restored to his command at Plymouth, and
from this time on to the end of his life he
was engaged in enterprises connected with
the colonization of New England. Moved by