JOHN SMITH OF VIRGINIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5802, 20 January 1906, Page 16

JOHN SMITH OF VIRGINIA.

“Captain John Sm.tii 11, ,\. G. iirad-lr-y. Mluaiillbin ami CV. London. Trm >tDry lit till! life Dl the i'.li/.LD I ball :i(lv< nmi IT, ID who'll i>«-(on I'.T lie- • n-tual iniiii hi In'inding thr British •,h< .inn in Mi.- ' I'. n;'lth M>• 11 of Ail inn" iiini Mi B i m 1. i ■ y li.',-. done hr ■.■.ml. u.-ll 'I Ilf I il Ilf :■ VDliian 111' ancient. f.unil-. . .) i -),: i >,mil,ln,in .it Willoughby in i,,n. (.hr !hii- in : hr year 1 .‘jH<>. fairly : ~ ~> ■ r 3 in I.<ht.!i Grammar .Si'in.iil, lm 1,. n u. v...n-1-r n1.i,.m1. A' i lm • i : it.inn. m- fin her having been , ! 11111I■.1 ■. .'•■iiirii found 1 1 (in-'•! .. ;.i .t.■ i. ji . flint. foreign i xsi, ■ !i.-l.'l ill I wo short ,i - . I-' r.i i n i ■. . 111< I 1 1 ,. I il I'.liii to lolH) ... I .i ~l'|jii|- in lim Lov t Vi u iii 1; i I --il 11 • r In- visited Scotland, 1 : II! 11,t; 1.1 }lil- native Village be 1,. 1 n :i inf in (he ior.nl. nmi stud,ti! • , . i.i ■, in- in theory mid tlm eraU ~ •.bin/ in pr.ielice. At the age of t .-i.iv lm iva-. again in tin- Low (.'(iiin- , iv.-. .nid -,lml i ly .il l ni‘ found his v.'ay ,n i-‘ company back to the '‘land of .!■ ii,in n.” Bobbed l.y ins diipiiialc--.. li<> -il■•<l t!,i land in search of thorn and , • • -..-iivi-. Onn la cal in- finally fought, inis was baulked of lull satisfaction l.y ;n i ■ side li.ieril T,ill(ii. Al Mill .MCI lies Smith fool slii). lot Italy. On tin- mytiio■ lm ■.v.is attac'ia-d as an Englishman anil I'm'.- lain l.y a rald.ln of pilgnms on llmir •.’.'ay to llnmi'. A storm arose, and. 1 1 kit Jonah of old and tlm aged uncle of To Kocti in later times, he iv.a. cam overboard. Probably land ucis very close at, the titim, for ho reached I he’shore of the island of St, .Mary and, joinin'/, a Breton boat, took jiar! in a hit of private ring. A Vonolian tn-a----t-nro chip wax captured in tin* A.lriatie S'-a. and Smith took for Id- .'..h.i.ii; (In--aim of lAttlo prize money. and also. as , hn hitn.»’ir refolded, “a litth- liox God I sotii mo worth no.tr as nincii tnoro.' | So ■.■-■as vinuo rewarded (inis l;ir, and | I,ln- truth of tiio proverb of the rolling | Mom- sadly di.-couninl. j After m -ny ndveiil.iires lie found his ] wav to tV'ii.it i'i now Hen/n iv. and saw ! much terrible •■.orvice against. tin- Turks, j Vcommg hist a cavalry captain and sill)- j teipi.-nt ly one .•Mining an army that, in- j eluded sever',! other Britons winch was j ■jverconto to fho last man hy a Turkish .trmy. Left for dead on the field among Uic thirty thousand slain, he was discovered and nursed hack to health hy camp Sold by these as a alavo is. a Turkish p-islra, lie wan sunt us a pre-ent to a ‘'fair tmatreaf* of hi* owner in the city of Constantinople. IhiKsnd oil to (lie Russian Tartar;,-, lie a pent. some time in e.rnei siavery, hut eventually iwajuxl into Russian territory on tile higher reaches of tint Don river, and was made welcome hy a Christian garrison. Helped from post to post hy tiu> kindly Russians fie reached Rein ltd. and eventually got back to Hungarian territory. Here lie met many old comrades, and was equipped with amide means to continue ins journee west ward. Travelling through Germany. Prance, and Spain, lie finally .-ri'-.'.ed into Africa, ami after considerable adventure on the Mediterranean ■o s', foregathered with countrymen, in ! i" in-dan English man-of-war. Some ■ ,i ins went made in the Atlantic, n.I .in indecisive hut Moody forty-eight '■l hat ti- fought with two Spanish ■ ■ ■ <i. Short ly after this Smith made 1., ,■■■>>■ hark to England onto more. I Minima rises Smith's own story aa iv ' .ily enough told hy himself in "Tho i; . Travels and Adventures and ol>--i-vat ions of Captain John Smith.” per two yearn after his return ho lived a cpiict life. Queen Elizabeth was dearl. and James of Scotland had In-gun his p.iliev of trurkling to Spain to tho disgust 'of all enterprising "English traders, adventurers, and freebooters. America, was closed against legitimate

English trade and settlement. Haieie.iT> previous attempt at colonisation i.i Virginia, of which much was expect-i-d had proved a fiasco. No further progress was made till IC(W. after Janies had issued ids charter for the founding of American colonies. On one of the three chips despatched hy tile new landon company John Smith set sail for America. Leaving England on Decemlier 19 they arrived at the West Indices on March IM, RUI". At Nevis Smith came to tlie front—as a mutineer, and ho was put in irons by "Wingfield, the presidentdesignate of tho now colony. In irons lie remained till some time after the party reached Virginia Hero they met'with a hostile reception from the Indians, and Smith was made a member of tins Council and released then or shortly after. As a member of a small exploring partv Smith penetrated some distance up tho James River, and during their absence tho Indians made a strong attack upon those who had been left behind. .After the return of tho exploring party repeated attacks were A fort* was built, and better precautions titan previously were taken. When the ships itad left for home a bad Unto set iu. Sickness, quarrelling and failure of supplies, with al! tho other usual concomitants of settlements hy inexperienced men, reduced all to a miserable condition. Tho President was deposed and another set in his place, and Smith, as might have lawn expected from the nature of his adventurous life, became moro and more the main reliance of tho party. Ho searched the surrounding country for provisions, and made friends with some at least of the Indian tribes. He brought in frequent supplies, am) in ono way and another by sheer foroo of character gradually came to dominate tho whole settlement. But oven when anxiety about supplies ceased through tho advent of a season of

i plenty, quarrels continued, and plots j and mutinies were punished by cxecu- | tiuns.

On a foraging expedition Smith was at length captured hy Indians, and witli tills event began the allegedly great-x.t vunanco of his romantic life. When he. was brought before Powhatan, the chief, he was sentenced to immediate execution, “when Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter, whom no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death: whereat tho emperor was content lie; should live to make him hatchets am! her bells,, heads, and copper. ’’ Adopted shortly after aa a son by the chief. Smith was despatched to the rettlemenl with an Indian escort, for ‘‘two groat guns ami a grindstone.” It is fair to say that the. Pocahontas episode is alleged to have been merely romance in another sense and to have been quite an after-thought of Smith’s. Thin v stoutly denied by other authorities. and as the question is incapable of determination it must be left among tilings neither proven nor otherwise. Certain it is that Pocahontas was only a child at the time of Smith’s capture, ami that similar "romances'' have been frequent accompaniments of tales of colonial pioneering. The young woman in question subsequently married another white man and proved a person of high intelligence and feeling. She visited England some years later and died whilo there, and it was then that tho world first heard of Smith’s escape owing to her alleged intervention. Space fails to recount oven .summarily a tit,ho of tho further story of tho early days of Virginia. Smithy undoubtedly became a fast friend ol tho Indians. Tho colonists still quarrelled bitterly among themselves, and most of them at length desisted from all useful work in a frenzied pursuit of imaginary gold among the sands of tho James River. A high proportion of mica dust

was in j > • a ke ti by all except Smith for a ,-iipeiaijumlamof tile previous metal. A shipload of the sand was sent to England. and t in.- temporal y madness icing lulled tor a while. Sm.tii got .some ii-eful work done, and carried on further exploration and trade with the Indians. The Potoiii.n and other rivers, as well as tlie deeply indented sea coast, were largely explored, and in all thene expedition- Stue.li was the n eeigm -ed leader and authority. Alter a tetiirn fi tun i.ne ol tiiia- expedition- he found letter-, patent fiem London eon-titut ing him lormal pieailenl oi tile Council—an honour which had practically come to iuui long before, tint had no ollicud recognition. Repeated interference iriim the stay-at-home autliorlties irntated the new president. He reported h.s Ira mlltness with tile Indians, and out of t id- grew a scheme by the company lor the formal recognition of tlm Miveieignty ot Powhatan. .Smith smiled scornfully at an order to crown tHat dusky monarch, hut earned out instructions. Suit-! queue correspondence witli hi. eonipaiiv rece.i! .Smith as not only disgusted with the < out rare in-true-t.ons lie received, hut ai-o ready to speak id- mind in plain terms regarding tin- incompetence of tlie se who presumed to dictate to him. 'Troubles with visiting slops, with new arrivals, with tiie Imli:iins, all t.ixed .Smith's masterinli;ito 'he ill nio-t. During lim necessarily frequent absences about tiie newly discovered country the settlers did little work mid quarrelled among themselves. .Some Dutchmen among tho .settlors even descried to Hie Indians, and gave great trouble, Aetna! lighting with hostile tribe- became common. New settlers, however, canto in increasingly large iiuinberi-, and the colony wan at last undoubtedly securely founded. Troubles and blunders of al! kinds were still abundant, and a plot lor the murder of -Smith, while he lay suffering from tlie effect - of an accident, illustrated the character of -oine of the settlers. As a result of this, and for various business purposes. Smith nailed for England on Oct. 1009. As coon as lie had left chr.os set iu in the new colony, and the Indians, no longer restrained hy tiie presence of tlie only man who could manage them, made frequent attacks on the cottiers, eventually reducing them to the depths of wa it and despair. They were relieved hy tho visit of an English ship, hut the story of Virginia there trier is no longer the story of John Smith, lie was some time in England before lie recovered bia health, and subsequently ho took a large part in schemes tor tho colonisation oi New England. In tiie course of one of hi; voyages to that northern region his ship, after heating oil a piratical attack, was caiitured by a French fleet. Smith's persuasive powers secured its release by the Admiral in command, and keeping in company with ins late captors lie was played a scurvy trick hy his own companions and crew. During his absence or a visit to the French Admiral his ship cleared off, and lie was left a penniless geest of itis foreign friend. With tho French lie saw several captures trunk; and plenty of fighting. Quarrelling at last with itis entertainers lie left then at In Rochelle, and got homo once more. Here he prosecuted his runaway companions and crew, and got several of them “laid hy the heels” in gaol. Thereafter lie devoted himself to advocating American colonisation, and on the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers in was mortified to have his proffered sendees declined. He continuously wrote and spoke in pursuance of his policy of arousing Englishmen to a reaTsati'on cf the possibilities of American settlement, hut took no further part iu expeditions himself. He lived here and there with wealthy friends and patrons, and died a comparatively young man at London on Juno *2lst, 1031. Mr Bradley has had available all Smith’s printed writings and the works of former authors and has sifted from a mass of unessential details as stirring a narrative as any in fiction. This book contains much compact history as well,

and is written in a straightforward natural style tii.it make- n exceedingly pleasant as well a.- instructive reading.