The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-05

of the'English race in
49, the New World as on
this historic spot. The whole pano-
rama of American history unrolls it
Self before US. That history began
more than three hundred years
when men Of the English race, land
ing upon the sand banks which guard
our eastern shore, laid their first firm
grasp upon the American continent
How unconscious were those obscure
sailors that they were there enactlng
one of the most significant scenes in
he worlds history! Three and a
quarter centuries have elapsed since
that day, yet even now. after all the
tremendous results that have followed
in their train, we cannot fully APP
nreciate the vast significance Of that
simple ceremony. But for that cere-
monv there may never have been a
Cite Of Raleigh in Virginia. James
town n Plymouth Rock may never
have become immortal names IN
American history, and English settlers
may never have found their way to
the shores Of Albemarle Sound. Per
haps Wolfe might never have scaled
the Heights of Abraham, and Daniel
Boone mightSpever have cleared the
way for English civilization beyond
the Alleghanies. There may have
been no Thomas Jefferson to write
a Declaration Of Independence, no
George Washington to make good its
principles for the benefit Of all man
kind, no Constitution Of the United
States to apply them practically to
the government of IL mighty people.
For there upon h coast Of North
Carolina men speaking the English
language, thoroughly imbued with the
principles of English law and Eng
ljsh liberty, first set foot on Ameri-
can soil with a view to permanent
possession, and thus led the way to
the planting of English civilization
amid the wild tor ests Of the New
World.
l am fully aware that many emil
nent historians sharply dissent from
this view. They count Sir Walter
Raleigh's efforts to plant an English
great failures Of history. This seems
to me a narrow, short-sighted view.
II would doubtless be correct were
1t possible to say that the history
OF the Roanoke settlements began alb
ruptly in the year 1854 and d
abruptly in he year 1887. But you
cannot measure great historic events
with a yard stick. Men die, ideas are
immortal. The idea Of another Eng
land beyond the waters Of the At
lantic, conceived by the master mind
of Sir Walter Raleigh, was the germ
from which, through the developments
OF three centuries, has evolved the
century. There is a vital connection
both physical and spiritual, between
Roanoke and jamestown. Among
those who founded jamestown were
Ten of the men who had co-operated
with Raleigh in the settlements al
In these me- we have the
physical connection between the two
while to the idea conceived by Raleigh
and to the spirit of conques; and
colonization which his attempts or
inns island called into existence, the
English race in Europe, in Asia, ir
Africa, in Australia and the islands OF
me sea, n in America, owes The
worldwide performance which i
tocay enjoys among the races Of man
klnd. Nothing can be clearer, there
lore, than that We. looking back ONel
the events of the last three centuries
o1h a the Roanoke settlements a:
The beginning of English colonization
In America and throughout the world
The details of no event in English
or American history have been mor'
ldlthfuliy recorded, or are bette
known than the details Of the thre,
expeditions which Sir Walter Raleigh
CURING the years 15S4-15S6, sent t.
Island. No good purpose
therefore, would be served We're
now to repea that familiar story. 0
me authors of those events, however
the same cannot be said. Ever il
England, whose history was so great
~ enriched by their splendid deeds
an eminent British historian classe
some of them as among England
forgotten worthless Their memoir,
deserves a better fate from English
speaking peoples on either side of tn
Atlantic Men who conceive and mel
VINO execute great IDEAS should for