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EAVING the Spaniards to drowsily persist, along the coasts of Florida, where they made no material and lasting impression on American history, we turn to the English, the real colonizers of our part of the Continent, and the real builders of the republic.

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Who that beheld Sir Walter Raleigh, at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, could have taken him to be one of the profoundly earnest men of his times, one of the most farsighted, one of the most heroic and enterprising? To the casual eye, he seemed a carpet knight; a gallant beau among fair women; handsome, polished, tactful, assiduous seeker of the Queen's favor. Brave in velvet and fine laces, shimmering with a lavish display of magnificent diamonds, suave and highheaded, it is no wonder that the ladies smiled on him, that the rival aspirants for Elizabeth's friendship envied him, and that the common people hated him.

But underneath that outward appearance of levity and pride, was the stern fibre of splendid manhood. Like Henry of Navarre, his love of pleasure and of magnificence did not dull the ardor of his serious

purpose nor enervate his soul. Even when he flung his cloak upon the muddy ground, to keep the queenly feet from being soiled, it is more than probable that he was thinking of securing those charters which would open to him the distant gates of a New World.

Born to affluence, educated according to the highest standards of his day, his birth, his accomplishments and his manners would have assured his cordial reception in the most exclusive social circle.

Yet so keen was his appetite for adventure and so earnest his zeal as a Protestant, that we find him a volunteer soldier in France, giving six years of his young manhood to the cause of the Huguenots. In this manner, he laid the foundation of the implacable hatred of Rome-a hatred that was at length to slake itself in his life-blood.

After his glorious, unselfish service among the French Protestants, we find him in the Netherlands, aiding the unconquerable Dutch in their marvellous resistance to the full strength of Catholic Spain.

And Rome made another entry in her deadly account against him. Returning to England, he speedily

becomes a favorite with the Queen. She heaps honors and wealth upon him. She appoints him to positions of great responsibility and power. He is one of those who plan the defense against The Great Armada. He is a principal commander in the expedition which sinks the Spanish fleet off Cadiz. In fact, it was said and believed at the time that Raleigh was the brains of the expedition. This was another load of fuel to the hatred of Rome and Spain. Under a temporary cloud, because of the seduction of one of the Queen's maids, he weds the young woman, and she makes him a most excellent wife.

But his consuming passion is for adventure, for exploration, for treasure-seeking. Securing most liberal charters from Queen Elizabeth, who was lavish with what wasn't hers, Raleigh spent, in his several expeditions to our shores, a sum which would now be worth much more than a million dollars. It was his own money-not a cent did the Queen, or any one else, invest in the venture.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the halfbrother of Sir Walter Raleigh, commanded one of these litttle fleets; but his attempt to colonize was a failure. Not daunted, he sailed gain, and was lost at sea.

Sir Walter himself commanded the expedition which landed at the mouth of the Orinoco; and, in boats, he explored the up-river county for 400 miles. He treated the Indians with kindness, and never had the slightest trouble with them. They responded to his friendliness, and remembered him gratefully many

years.

In December, 1890, at a meeting of the American Historical Association, Professor Stephen B. Weeks, of the Johns Hopkins University, read a most scholarly and valuable paper on the subject of the Raleigh expeditions. He proves conclusively that the "lost" colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, simply moved to another locality, and gradually amalgamated with the friendly tribe of Hatteras Indians. Instead of having been exterminated by the savages, they were received as members of the family; and they are now represented by thousands of the mixed race, commonly called Croatan Idians.

Professor Weeks' paper is so complete and so conclusive that I can neither condense nor improve it. I present it, in full:

The English race has had three homes. Old England was to be found amid the primitive forests of Germany; Middle England is Britain; New England is America. We revere the region which nourished our ancestors during the childhood of the race and developed in them the qualities of bravery, purity, and patriotism. No spot in Britain, remarks an English historian, can be so sacred to Englishmen as that which first felt the tread of English feet; and to to Americans no spot should be so sacred as Roanoke Island in Dare County, North Carolina, within sight and sound of the stormy Atlantic, where the first English settlement in the new world was made. Here landed in 1585 the first forerunners of the Englishspeaking millions now in America; here was turned the first spade of

earth to receive English seed; here the first English house was built; and here on the 18th of August, 1587, Virginia Dare, the first of Anglo-Americans, was born.

In the spring of 1584, under a patent from the queen, Sir Walter Raleigh sent out two ships to make discoveries. They reached the coast of North Carolina in July, made some explorations, and returned with two natives and flattering reports to England. In April, 1585, a fleet of seven vessels under the command of Sir Richard Grenville sailed for America. A settlement was made on Roanoke Island and Ralph Lane was placed in command. The colonists explored almost the whole coast of the state. They traversed the whole length of Pamlico and Albermarle sounds. They explored the Chowan and Roanoke rivers and penetrated Virginia nearly as far as the site of Norfolk. In June, 1586, because of trouble with the Indians, shortness of provisions, and the gloomy prospect of affairs in Europe, the whole colony returned to England with the fleet of Sir Francis Drake. Thus ended the first English settlement in America.

In 1587 Raleigh sent out a second colony under the command of John White. The settlement was fixed on the site occupied by the first colony and White returned to England at once for further supplies. He did not then revisit the colony, nor was the effort to reach it in 1588 successful. The war for religious liberty was now coming on; Protestant England was struggling against Catholic Spain, and all the valor of Raleigh, Grenville, and Lane was needed by their royal mis

tress to meet the Invincible Armada.

The vessels sailed

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The colony was forgotten for the time, but in February, 1590 (1591), through the influence of Raleigh, White secured the release of three merchantmen bound for the West Indies, then detained by an embargo on condition that they bear supplies and passengers to Virginia. These conditions were not fulfilled. White went out alone, unaccompanied by even a servant. March 20, 1591, but the seamen thought more of plundering than planting. They cruised for months in the Spanish main, took a number of rich prizes, and reached Virginia in August. Here they encountered heavy gales and lost seven of their best seamen in trying to reach Roanoke. At last a boat was anchored off the fort. They sounded trumpet call and many familiar English tunes, but received no answer. At daybreak they landed; as they stepped upon the sandy beach they saw carved in the very brow of a tree the "fair Roman lettters C. R. O." They advanced to the fort. The houses had been taken down, and the place had been inclosed with a palisado of great trees. They saw many bars of iron, two pigs of lead, iron fowlers, ironlocker shot, and similar heavy things scattered here and there and overgrown with grass. They found where some chests had been buried and then dug up again, their contents spoiled and scattered. White saw some of his own chests broken open, his books torn from their covers, his pictures and maps rotten from the rain, and his armor almost eaten through with rust. One of the principal posts at the right side