2.20 
Discoveries and Settlements Book I. 
have remaining, ferves to correft all that has been faid 
by different Authors upon this Subje6l ^ and does a very 
fingular Piece of Juftice to the Memory of Sir JValter., 
who might feem to have abandoned thofe who went upon 
his Faith to fettle in Virginia •, I have judged it both rea- 
fonable and requifite to infert the whole Paper here, with 
this farther Obfervation, that Mr. Richard Hackluit re- 
ceived, as he acknowledges, great Affiftances from Sir 
Walter Raleigh., in compiling his excellent Colleftion, and 
the Papers of Mr. Hackluit falling upon his Death into 
the Hands of Mr. Samuel Purchas^ he made fuch ufe of 
them as he thought fit, having by no Means a Capacity 
adequate to his Undertaking ; and from his fourth Vo- 
lume, Page 1653, we tranfcribe the Account before 
mentioned, which feems to be no more than a Memo- 
randum from a larger Relation of the Voyage to which 
it refers ; and which, if it had been given us at length in 
the Manner that fuch things were given by Mr. Hackluit., 
would very probably have furnifhed us with other curious 
Particulars. As it is, thus it runs : 
A Brief Note of the fending another Bark this prefent 
Year 1602, by Sir Walter Raleigh^ for the fearching 
out of his Colony in Virginia. 
“ Samuel Mace of Weymouth., a very fufficient Mar- 
riner, an honeft fober Man, who had been at Virginia 
“ twice before, was employed thither by Sir Walter Ra- 
“ leigh, to find thefe People which were left there in the 
“ Year 1587 ; to whofe Succour he hath fent five differ- 
“ ent times at his own Charges- The Parties by him fet 
forth performed nothing, fome of them following 
“ their own Profit elfewhere, others returning with frivo- 
“ loLis Allegations *, at this laft Time, to avoid all Ex- 
cufe, he bought a Bark, and hired all the Company 
“ for Wages by the Month, who departed {romWeymouth 
“ in March laft, 1602, fell forty Leagues from the South- 
“ weftward of Haterajke in 34 Degrees, or thereabouts ; 
“ and having there fpent a Month, when they Ihould 
“ have come along the Coaft to feek the People, they 
“ did it not, pretending the Extremity of Weather, and 
“ Lofs of fome principal Ground-tackle, forced and fear- 
“ ed them from feeking the Port of Haterajke., to which 
“ they were fent. From that Place where they abode, they 
“ brought Saffafras, Radix China, or the China Root, 
Benjamin, Caffia lignea, and the Bark of a kind of a 
Tree more ftrong than any Spice as yet known, with 
“ diverfe other Commodities, which hereafter, in a large 
“ Difcourfe, may come to light.” 
1 7. It may be very natural for the Reader to think 
that I ought to have changed the Order of the two laft 
Paragraphs, and that I fhould have concluded my Ac- 
count of the Voyages to America^ before I had drawn 
up a general View of fuch naval Tranfadions as hap- 
pened in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth •, but I dare af- 
fure him that I confidered this attentively, and that I 
quitted what I faw was the regular Method, in order to 
obtain what appears to me to be the great End of Me- 
thod, Clearnefs, and being perfectly underftood. By draw- 
ing together the naval Tranfadions in the Time of this 
famous Queen, I have fhewn how fhe was occupied 
throughout the whole Courfe of the Government, fo, as 
not to'^have it in her Power to attend to the Eftabliftiment 
of Colonies, which are a Work of Time, of Leifure, 
and of Recollection. But v/hat the Nature and Circum- 
ftances of her Adminiftration would allow her to do for 
Trade, ftie moft certainly did ; and that ftie did it by 
Fits and Starts, was owing not to any Fault in her or in 
her Minifters, but to the Faults of the Times, which 
did not permit her to do it otherwife. This, as I have 
difpofed the Thing, will to the Reader appear at firft Sight 
to be the Truth, becaufe he will fee that in the latter Part 
of her Reign the Defire of planting revived, and in the 
Courfe of it all the different Parts of America^ fome 
from one Motive, and fome from another, were vifited 
and difcoveredt 
This I take to be the true State of the Matter •, for 
though there are many Writers, who, in their general 
Characters of that Queen, have afcribed to her the Be- 
2 
ginning of our Plantations, yet undoubtedly they were 
therein either miftaken themfelves, or delivered their 
Sentiments in fuch a Manner as occafioned their being 
miftaken by others. The Glories . of that Period of 
Time are fo many, and fo great, that they need no falfe 
Colours to heighten them \ on the contrary, they are 
leffened thereby ; For when, upon Enquiry, it is found 
that Part of them are mifreprefented, it naturally leads 
People to doubt of the reft •, and, as in all other Cafes, 
fo here. Flattery debafes what it meant to exalt, and 
really leffens what it feems to extol. The Bufinefs ' of 
Planting is indeed highly advantageous •, and I believe 
it will appear from the follovv^ing Sediions, that no Na- 
tion has gained more by it than our own j but then it is 
the Bufinefs of peaceable and fettled Times, when Nad-, 
ons grow full, and Difcharges of People become ne- 
ceffary, which was not furely the Cafe under this great 
Princefs. The great and real Excellency of her Admi- 
niftration confifted in this, that fhe always, and in all 
things, confulted the Good of her People ; and theWifdom 
of her Minifters is vifible chiefly from hence, that they did 
not obftinately purfue good things in Seafon and out of 
Seafon, but chofe, as the Circumftances of things diredt- 
ed, to do the beft for the Nation that their Situation 
would allow. It was the Opinion of feveral great Men 
in her Time, and upon their Authority it has grown to 
be a received and fettled Notion fmce, that the Queen 
went rather too far into the Spanijh War, and that her 
Subjedls would have been greater Gainers, if fhe had 
either avoided that War entirely, or if fhe had ended it 
fooner, which perhaps might be true. 
But after confidering, as maturely as it is poffible for 
me to do, all that has been faid by Sir Robert Cotton 
and other able Writers upon this Subjedt, I am thorough- 
ly convinced that the Queen adled upon right Principles, 
and that fhe began and continued the W ar with no other 
View than the Good of her People. I am at the farpe 
time, hov/ever, perfuaded that fhe extended her Views 
in this Refpedl, very far beyond her own Times, and that 
fhe was fenfible enough fhe might have ended the Con- 
teft with Spain earlier, and with a Profpedl of much more 
Quiet to herfelf, than to her dying Day fbe enjoyed. 
But this was not the Difpofition of Elizabeth , if it had, 
the whole Turn of her Condudt would have differed 
widely from what it was •, and fhe facrificed willingly 
and knowingly the Tranquility of her own Government, 
to fix the Welfare of her Subjedls upon a folid Foundation. 
In this confifted the Strength of her Mind and the Great- 
nefs of her Genius j whoever confiders her in another 
Light will miftake her Charadler. She faw plainly that 
extenfive Trade and fuperior naval Force were things 
neceflary to the Felicity of the Inhabitants of this Ifland ; 
but file faw at the fame Time that it was impolTible 
thefe fhould be attained, if the Power of Spain was not 
deftroyed. This therefore became her fettled Point, which 
once gained, flie knew the other muft follow, and there- 
fore from this flie never departed •, flie was very fenfible 
that if the Spanijh Power was once removed, the Trade 
and naval Force of this Nation would have room enough 
to grow and profper, and therefore fhe refolved to re- 
move it : She could not but know that this would prove 
a Work 'of great Difficulty *, that it would expofe her to 
a long and expenfive War abroad, and which was worfe 
ftill, to many Commotions, Plots, and Confpiracies, at 
home •, but that did not at all move her fne was bent 
upon doing what the Safety and W ell-being of the Nati- 
on required ; and though fne could not but forefee that 
the Advantages fhe laboured to procure muft belong 
rather to Pofterity, than to the People fhe governed, 
yet fhe refolved to hazard all Things to procure them. ^ 
This was her Syftem, vaft and extenfive in itfelf, big 
with Difficulties and Dangers, extremely liable to be 
mifunderftood, mifinterpreted, and mifreprefented , full 
of Incertainties, and requiring a great Length of Time, 
and a conftant Series of Labours, to acc'omplifh it. If it 
had been poffible to have fet fuch a Scheme as this before 
the Eyes of a Monarch of ordinary Qualities and Virtues, 
it would, without doubt, have raifed Aftonifliment and 
Terror j but to a Mind like hers, capable of looking 
J 
