And the undeniable logic of events
was at last teaching the English how to colonize. Englishmen on Roanoke
Island, Englishmen on the banks of the James, Englishmen in that first New
England colony, had borne the weight of early inexperience and all the
catalogue of woes that follow ignorance. All these early colonists alike
had been quickly entangled in strife with the people whom they found in the
land.
First they fell on their knees,
And then on the Aborigines.
But by now much water had passed the mill. The thinking kind, the wiser
sort, might perceive more things than one, and among these the fact that
savages had a sense of justice and would even fight against injustice, real
or fancied.
The Calverts, through their interpreter, conferred with the inhabitants of
this Indian village. Would they sell lands where the white men might
peaceably settle, under their given word to deal in friendly wise with the
red men? Many hatchets and axes and much cloth would be given in return.
To a sylvan people store of hatchets and axes had a value beyond many
fields of the boundless earth. The Dove appeared before them, too, at the
psychological moment. They had just discussed removing, bag and baggage,
from the proximity of the Iroquois. In the end, these Indians sold to the
English their village huts, their cleared and planted fields, and miles of
surrounding forest. Moreover they stayed long enough in friendship with the
newcomers to teach them many things of value.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114