第 8 节
作者:疯狂热线      更新:2021-12-07 09:33      字数:9321
  overmuch in the larder with which to do it。 Smith with George Percy and
  Francis West and others went again to the Indians for corn。 Christmas found
  them weather…bound at Kecoughtan。 〃Wherever an Englishman may be; and in
  whatever part of the world; he must keep Christmas with feasting and
  merriment! And; indeed; we were never more merrie; nor fedde on more
  plentie of good oysters; fish; flesh; wild fowle and good bread; nor never
  had better fires in England than in the drie; smokie houses of Kecoughtan!〃
  But despite this Christmas fare; there soon began quarrels; many and
  intricate; with Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough。
  CHAPTER V。 THE 〃SEA ADVENTURE〃
  Experience is a great teacher。 That London Company with Virginia to
  colonize had now come to see how inadequate to the attempt were its means
  and strength。 Evidently it might be long before either gold mines or the
  South Sea could be found。 The company's ships were too slight and few;
  colonists were going by the single handful when they should go by the
  double。 Something was at fault in the management of the enterprise。 The
  quarrels in Virginia were too constant; the disasters too frequent。 More
  money; more persons interested with purse and mind; a great company instead
  of a small; a national cast to the enterprise these were imperative needs。
  In the press of such demands the London Company passed away。 In 1609 under
  new letters patent was born the Virginia Company。
  The members and shareholders in this corporation touch through and through
  the body of England at that day。 First names upon the roll come Robert
  Cecil; Thomas Howard; Henry Wriothesley; William Herbert; Henry Clinton;
  Richard Sackville; Thomas Cecil; Philip HerbertEarls of Salisbury;
  Suffolk; Southampton; Pembroke; Lincoln; Dorset; Exeter; and Montgomery。
  Then follow a dozen peers; the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells; a hundred
  knights; many gentlemen; one hundred and ten merchants; certain physicians
  and clergymen; old soldiers of the Continental wars; sea…captains and
  mariners; and a small host of the unclassified。 In addition shares were
  taken by fifty…six London guilds or industrial companies。 Here are the
  Companies of the Tallow and Wax Chandlers; the Armorers and Girdlers;
  Cordwayners and Carpenters; Masons; Plumbers; Founders; Poulterers; Cooks;
  Coopers; Tylers and Brick Layers; Bowyers and Vinters; Merchant Taylors;
  Blacksmiths and Weavers; Mercers; Grocers; Turners; Gardeners; Dyers;
  Scriveners; Fruiterers; Plaisterers; Brown Bakers; Imbroiderers; Musicians;
  and many more。
  The first Council appointed by the new charter had fifty…two members;
  fourteen of whom sat in the English House of Lords; and twice that number
  in the Commons。 Thus was Virginia well linked to Crown and Parliament。
  This great commercial company had sovereign powers within Virginia。 The
  King should have his fifth part of all ore of gold and silver; the laws and
  religion of England should be upheld; and no man let go to Virginia who had
  not first taken the oath of supremacy。 But in the wide field beside all
  this the Presidentcalled the Treasurer …and the Council; henceforth to be
  chosen out of and by the whole body of subscribers; had full sway。 No
  longer should there be a second Council sitting in Virginia; but a Governor
  with power; answerable only to the Company at home。 That Company might tax
  and legislate within the Virginian field; punish the ill…doer or 〃rebel;〃
  and wage war; if need be; against Indian or Spaniard:
  〃One of the first actions of the newly constituted body was to seek remedy
  for the customary passage by way of the West Indies …so long and so beset
  by dangers。 They sent forth a small ship under Captain Samuel Argall; with
  instructions 〃to attempt a direct and cleare passage; by leaving the
  Canaries to the East; and from thence to run a straight westerne course 。 。
  。 。 And so to make an experience of the Winds and Currents which have
  affrighted all undertakers by the North。〃
  This Argall; a young man with a stirring and adventurous life behind him
  and before him; took his ship the indicated way。 He made the voyage in nine
  weeks; of which two were spent becalmed; and upon his return reported that
  it might be made in seven; 〃and no apparent inconvenience in the way。〃 He
  brought to the great Council of the Company a story of necessity and
  distress at Jamestown; and the Council lays much of the blame for that upon
  〃the misgovernment of the Commanders; by dissention and ambition among
  themselves;〃 and upon the idleness of the general run; 〃active in nothing
  but adhearing to factions and parts。〃 The Council; sitting afar from a
  savage land; is probably much too severe。 But the 〃factions and parts〃
  cannot easily be denied。
  Before Argall's return; the Company had commissioned as Governor of
  Virginia Sir Thomas Gates; and had gathered a fleet of seven ships and two
  pinnaces with Sir George Somers as Admiral; in the ship called the Sea
  Adventure; and Christopher Newport as Vice…Admiral。 All weighed anchor from
  Falmouth early in June and sailed by the newly tried course; south to the
  Canaries and then across。 These seven ships carried five hundred colonists;
  men; women; and children。
  On St。 James's day there rose and broke a fearsome storm。 Two days and
  nights it raged; and it scattered that fleet of seven。 Gates; Somers; and
  Newport with others of 〃rancke and quality〃 were upon the Sea Adventure。
  How fared this ship with one attendant pinnace we shall come to see
  presently。 But the other ships; driven to and fro; at last found a
  favorable wind; and in August they sighted Virginia。 On the eleventh of
  that month they came; storm…beaten and without Governor or Admiral or Sea
  Adventure; into 〃our Bay〃 and at last to 〃the King's River and Town。〃 Here
  there swarmed from these ships nigh three hundred persons; meeting and met
  by the hundred dwelling at Jamestown。 This was the third supply; but it
  lacked the hundred or so upon the Sea Adventure and the pinnace; and it
  lacked a head。 〃Being put ashore without their Governor or any order from
  him (all the Commissioners and principal persons being aboard him) no man
  would acknowledge a superior。〃
  With this multitude appeared once more in Virginia the three ancient
  councilorsRatcliffe; Archer; and Martin。 Apparently here came fresh fuel
  for factions。 Who should rule; and who should be ruled? Here is an
  extremely old and important question; settled in history only to be
  unsettled again。 Everywhere it rises; dust on Time's road; and is laid only
  to rise again。
  Smith was still President。 Who was in the right and who in the wrong in
  these ancient quarrels; the recital of which fills the pages of Smith and
  of other men; is hard now to be determined。 But Jamestown became a place of
  turbulence。 Francis West was sent with a considerable number to the Falls
  of the Far West to make there some kind of settlement。 For a like purpose
  Martin and Percy were dispatched to the Nansemond River。 All along the line
  there was bitter falling out。 The Indians became markedly hostile。 Smith
  was up the river; quarreling with West and his men。 At last he called them
  〃wrongheaded asses;〃 flung himself into his boat; and made down the river
  to Jamestown。 Yet even so e found no peace; for; while he was asleep in the
  boat; by some accident or other a spark found its way to his powder pouch。
  The powder exploded。 Terribly hurt; he leaped overboard into the river;
  whence he was with difficulty rescued。
  Smith was now deposed by Ratcliffe; Archer; and Martin; because; 〃being an
  ambityous; onworthy; and vayneglorious fellowe;〃 say his detractors; 〃he
  wolde rule all and ingrose all authority into his own hands。〃 Be this as it
  may; Smith was put on board one of the ships which were about to sail for
  England。 Wounded; and with none at Jamestown able to heal his hurt; he was
  no unwilling passenger。 Thus he departed; and Virginia knew Captain John
  Smith no more。 Some liked him and his ways; some liked him not nor his ways
  either。 He wrote of his own deeds and praised them highly; and saw little
  good in other mankind; though here and there he made an exception。 Evident
  enough are faults of temper。 But he had great courage and energy and at
  times a lofty disinterestedness。
  Again winter drew on at Jamestown; and with it misery on misery。 George
  Percy; now President; lay ill and unable to keep order。 The multitude;
  〃unbridled and heedless;〃 pulled this way and that。 Before the cold had
  well begun; what provision there was in the storehouse became exhausted。
  That stream of corn from the Indians in which the colonists had put
  dependence failed to flow。 The Indians themselves began systematically to
  spoil and murder。 Ratcliffe and fourteen with him met death while loading
  his barge with corn upon the Pamunkey。 The cold grew worse。 By midwinter
  there was famine。 The four hundredalready noticeably dwindleddwindled
  fast and faster。 The cold was severe; the Indians were in the woods; the
  weakened bodies of the white men pined and shivered。 They broke up the
  empty houses to make fires to warm themselves。 They began to die of hunger
  as well as by Indian arrows。 On went the winter; and every day