Captain John Smith. C. H. Forbes-Lindsay
might have amassed a ready fortune in the days when such qualities as his ensured wealth to the unscrupulous adventurers on land and sea, whose predatory careers were countenanced and abetted by monarchs and men in high places. In his latter years, when embittered by his failure to secure money for legitimate exploration, he writes:[1] “Had I set myself to persuade men that I knew of a mine of gold, as I know many to have done in sheer deception; or had I advanced some wild scheme for a passage to the South Sea; or some plot to loot a foreign monastery; or the equipment of a fleet to make prizes of rich East Indiamen; or letters of marque to rob some poor merchant or honest fisherman, multitudes with their money would have contended to be first employed.”
1. Here, and in a few instances in the following pages, I have made slight changes in the wording, without affecting the meaning, of Smith’s expressions. Although he is a very clear writer, the English of Shakespeare’s time is not always readily understandable by us.—C. H. F-L.
Queen Elizabeth, the wisest and the most humane sovereign of her time, had ample excuse for the license which she extended to her sea captains in the matter of attacking the Spanish possessions and ships. It was a measure of self-defence, designed for the protection of the liberties and religion of her subjects against the aggressive power of Spain, which, after the discovery of America, bid fair, unless checked, to make her the mistress of the world. Smith was in his ninth year when our dauntless ancestors, by shattering the great Armada, scotched the pride of Philip and halted his ambition. This was of all naval battles, perhaps, the most momentous to the Anglo-Saxon race and certainly of vital consequence to America, for had Philip’s fleet gained a victory on that occasion, we, as a nation, had never been. It is more than probable that the old religion would have been re-established in England, with a stop to the march of liberty and independence, and certain that Spain would have found no obstacle to the acquisition of the entire American continent. The immediate effect of England’s victory was to set her on the highway to the naval supremacy of the world, and the generation to which John Smith belonged maintained a constant struggle for the command of the seas. Later generations of Englishmen carried on the contest with Holland and afterwards with France.
We have seen that John Smith lived in a period of the world that afforded the adventurer ample and varied scope for the exercise of talents and energy, but in any other age than his own a man of Smith’s extraordinary parts must have taken a prominent place among his contemporaries. In the period following the decline of the Roman power, when the nations of Europe were in the formative stage, such a man would surely have been one of the great dukes (duces), or leaders who founded dynasties of kings. At the present day he might be an explorer, a captain of industry, or a statesman—for Smith had the qualities that ensure success in any walk of life.
It is a wonderful and inspiring story, that of the stripling who, without money or friends, boldly left his native land and, abandoning himself to the chance currents of a strange world, at the age when the modern schoolboy is seeking distinction on the football field, was learning the art of arms in the practical school of war. Dame Fortune surely smiled upon the errant boy and, whilst she led him into constant adventure and danger, as frequently saw him safely out of them.
During his checkered career as a soldier of fortune his lot is often cast in hard places and his life is constantly endangered. He is shipwrecked and narrowly escapes drowning. Robbed and landed upon a foreign shore with empty purse, he is forced to sell his cloak in order to meet his needs. Like Jonah of old, he is thrown overboard by a superstitious crew, but contrives to swim to an uninhabited island. He is sorely wounded in battle and captured by the Turks, who sell him into slavery.
The life was always arduous, for in those days mere travel was beset by dangers and difficulty, but as we follow the lad in his adventures we are cheered by many a bright spot and many a fine success. For John Smith was never the kind to be depressed or defeated by adversity. Indeed, he reminds one of those toys, called “bottle imps,” that may be rolled over in any direction but cannot be made to lie down. Hardly has he met with a reverse than he sets about repairing it and always with success. To-day he is cold, hungry, and half clad, his purse as flat as a flounder, but soon afterwards we see him going gayly on his way with a pocket full of sequins, his share in a prize which he had helped to capture. He wins his spurs in the Low Countries and in the war against the Turks is granted a coat of arms for the exploit of defeating three of the enemy’s champions in single combat. His military services earn for him the title of captain and the command of a regiment of horse.
All these things, and many more equally remarkable, befall John Smith before he has reached the age of twenty-four. He has now spent eight years abroad, except for a brief return to England, and all this time he is fighting on land and at sea, or roaming through foreign countries in search of experience and adventure. Keenly observant always, he extracts from each occasion—as the bee gathers honey from every flower—some knowledge to be turned to useful account in later life.
Smith has no other purpose during this early period of his life than to learn what he can of the world and the practice of arms—in short to qualify himself for a life of action in an age when brawn is no less essential to success than brain. It is a stern school in which he acquires his training but an effective one, and he makes the most of his opportunities. We see the expansion of his mind keeping pace with the development of his muscle, until the Captain John Smith who joins the colonists bound for Virginia appears as a man of perfect physique and mature judgment. It is not improbable that the hardships and exposure of his life may have sown the seeds of disease but, if so, he has not contributed to such a condition by his habits. In that day the soldiers of all nations were addicted to brawling, drinking, pillaging, and gambling. But these practices had no attraction for Smith. His sword never lagged in the scabbard on good occasion for its use, but he was no swashbuckler seeking unnecessary trouble; he drank wine sparingly but found no pleasure in gluttony; he paid for what he took, even in an enemy’s country and counted it a disgrace to rob a defenceless man; in the matter of money, as in everything else, he was the most generous of mortals and had rather hand a man his purse than to win that of the other by dicing. Withal he did not set himself up to be better than his fellows and we have the testimony of two of his countrymen, who followed him through the wars in Transylvania, that he was respected and beloved by his comrades and the soldiers under his command.
Hitherto Smith has been associated with men whose experience was greater than his own. They have been his masters, both in the sense of teachers and commanders. As a subordinate he has performed his duties so well as to call forth the praise and admiration of his superiors. Now we find him going out to a land which is equally strange to him and to his companions. No man of them enjoys the advantage of knowing more than the others about those distant parts and their people. Rank and money will count for little in the new life. Each man’s worth will be measured by his character and his actions. Under such conditions, a man of Smith’s extraordinary ability must sooner or later become the leader, even among others much older than himself.
The foundation of Virginia and, as I have said, that of the United States was laid by Captain John Smith in spite of tremendous difficulties. Some of these were such as would naturally attend the settlement of a strange land among hostile inhabitants, but it is not too much to say that the greater part of them were due to the incompetence of the colonists and their constant quarrels among themselves. More than once they brought affairs to such a pass that nothing but the prompt and energetic action of Smith saved the colony from total destruction.
These differences broke out before they had reached the shores of America, and we see Captain John Smith landed in chains, a prisoner under absurd charges trumped up by pettifoggers who are envious of his evident fitness for command and accuse him of a design to usurp it. They scheme to send him back to England, but at the very outset they learn that they cannot dispense with the services of this, the ablest man among them. It is he who shows them how to fortify the settlement. He repels the attacks of the Indians. He and he only, dares lead exploring expeditions into unknown regions. Captured by the most powerful chief of that part of the country, Smith converts him into an ally. He makes treaties with the surrounding tribes and secures their friendship for the settlers. Time and again,