The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-07-29
Hon. Charles F. Warren, on
4 Centre of Historical Interest

liz e.
station to take the preliminary steps TO
celebrate the events which have made
Roanoke Island a centre of historical IN
terest. We have met to devise the ways
and to procure the means with when 10
commemorate these events and to marx
the spot with appropriate monument lot
those who come after us. 1t IS a duty we
owe our State and her history. Here
have occurred scenes and incidents IN the
history of the New World of the Eng
disappearing race which should never
be forgotten, but should be recorded and
preserved in marble or granite. Upon
this little island the first English colo
nists set their feet. built their dwell
ings, soWed their crops and performed
their religious devotions in the West
crn World. Upon its soil landed the
first English women who crossed the
ocean to find homes upon the neWlySdls-
covered continent, and here was born
and christened the first English child
who saw the light of day in the New
World. Here the customs, laws and
language of England were first trans
planted and stuck their roots in the soil.
The coloniSts. although never again to
see the shores of the mother lane rise
from the sea, were still bound to her by
all of the ties of language, friendship
and blood. 'They changed their climate,
not their affections, who crossed the
sea-" No record has, or can, come down
to tell us the story of their wanderlngS
or of their fate; whether the savage de-
stroyed them, or whether the vast wilder
ness swallowed them up. Their fate is
shrouded with mystery and tinged with
romance, and historian and poet have
found it an inviting theme.
1t is fit and appropriate to consider on
this occasion the motives and causes
which induced these first colonists to
cross the trackles ocean, and to plant
upon this spot English civilization. 1t
was the great age Of Elizabeth-great
in discovery, science, learning, Htera-
ture and in all the arts of peace, and
great and glorious feats of arms upon both
land and sea. It's intellectual splendor
will shed it's light through the ages yet
to come. 1t was the age of Walsing-
ham and Cecil in statecraft, of Spencer,
Bacon and Shakespeare in letters, Of
Coke in law, of Gilbert, Frobisher,
Granville, Raleigh and Drake upon the
sea. 1t was a time of restless energy
and activity in the menta1 and physical
| world. The Spaniard had conquered the
greater part of the New World and had
become master of the sea. He poured
into the lap of Spain the products and
vast wealth of her colonies. The sea
became the chosen field of adventure and
enterprise. Some were actuated by the
desire to discover the Northwest pas
sage to far Cathay and to share the
fabulous riches OF her This
delusive dream has left many daring
sailors and their ships locked in the en-
braces of the frozen North. Some were
moved by the fierce desire to grapple
with the power Of Spain upon the sea
and to wrest from her the spoils with
which her ships were laden. All ages
have their delusions which lead men on
and this age sought the Fountain of
Youth and the treasures of Ell Dorado.
They believed that the new continent
was stored with mines Of gold, silver
and gems. The more far-sighted were
moved by an ambition to extend the
power and dominion of England by plant
ing colonies in the Western Hemisphere
and to check and humble the power of
Spain. Three centuries after his death
this dream of Sir Walter Raleigh was to
be realized and the Giant Republic was
to Wrest from Span the last of her Am
erican possessions. This colonizing poll
cy of England was to become in other
ages the source of her true glory and
strength. Other Englands are now scat
tered over the world.
Frobisher had essayed three times
without success, to discover the North
west passage and had made discoveries
in North America which are still linked
to his name. Vessels under letters OF
marque were fitted out and sailed from
the English ports. Drake in the Colder
Hind had sailed around the world and
had returned to England laden with the
plundered Spaniard. England wa
then at peace with Spain and the act
was one of piracy. Instead of being
punished Drake was knighted by the
Queen. The Spaniard in those days was
an Egyptian whom it was awful tt
spoil. Sir Walter Raleigh. Grenville
Gilbert and many another sturdy fight
err and adventurer took to the sea. A
his time was laid the foundation Of Eng
Iand's supremacy upon the sea, with al
it's cost of suffering. treasure and blood
until in the splendid lines of kiplng i
has become her doom and pride:
We have fed our sea for a Thousand
years,
And she halls us, still unfed.
There's never a wave of all her wave
But marks our English dead.
We have strewed our best to the weed
unrest.
To the shark and the sheering gull:
If blood be the price of admiralty
Good God. we ha' paid it full.
There's never a flood goes shorewart
But lifts a keel we manned:
There's never an ebb goes seward nov
But drops our dead on the sand
But drops our dead on the SAND forlorn
From the Ducies to the Swim:
If blood be the price Of admiralty,
Good God. we ha' paid it in.
We must feed our sea for a thousan,
years,
For that is our doom and pride:
AS it was when they sailed with tn
t Golden Hind,
Or the wreck that struck last tide:
Or the wreck that lies on the spoutiny
t reef,
Where the CHASTITY hlue-lights flare;
, IF blood no tho Drjce Of admiralty