Book Description

Excerpt from Address at the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of Jamestown It seems to me that what is said on this spot on this occa sion should relate to the spiritual side of the work and the fruits of the Jamestown settlement, whose Three Hundredth Anniversary we are here today to celebrate, rather than to the material or physical side. And it is in this spirit that I wish to deal with it in this presence. And first on this spot on this occasion I wish to mention with reverence the name of Sir Walter Raleigh: Lord, and Chief Governor of Virginia, to whom, under God's Provi dence, more than any other human being is due the fact that this Country belongs to the English Speaking Race, and the Civilization which it represents. Three hundred years ago, on this Island - which until then, through all the ages, since the birth of things, had lain desert and untrodden by any feet save those of the wild beast and the yet wilder savage, - to which Spain had simply asserted a traditionary right as a part of the vast unknown region of the American Continent - landed a little band of sea-worn Englishmen and took posession in the name of God and of the Crown of England. Since the 20th day of December preceding, when they weighed anchor in the River Thames and dropped down the stream with the receding tide, they had in their three little ships been making their way slowly and painfully across the wintry Atlantic. These small vessels: The Sarah Con stant, (of one hundred tons) with Captain Christopher New port, the Admiral, in command, The Goodspeed, (of forty tons) with Captain Bartholomew Cosmold, the vice-admiral, and The Discovery, a pinnace, (of twenty tons), with Cap tain John Ratcliffe, had, reckoning all the time since they weighed anchor in the Thames until they dropped anchor inthe Powhatan, made only about one knot per hour. Time moves slowly when weighted with the burden of Fate. Those frail boats in which men might hesitate now to cruise along the margin of the coast, bore in their wombs the destinies of Nations. When on May 13, 1607, they moored to the trees of this Island in six fathom water, they moored Europe to Amer ica. They moored the Old to the New. They moored the English Civilization with all its possibilities to the New World with all its possibilities. There were times when it appeared that their cables were in danger of parting. But though frayed to the slenderest, they never wholly gave way. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.