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THE BIRTH 0/ AMERICA 
 
THE BIRTH 
 of AMERICA 
 
 AN HISTORICAL DRAMA 
 IN THREE ACTS 
 
 BY 
 
 Matthew Page Andrews 
 
 Author of "A merican History and Government,^ ' 
 
 **The American'' s Creed and Its Meaning,^' 
 
 "yl Heritage of Freedom,''^ etc. 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 The Norman, Remington Co. 
 1920 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE NORMAN, REMINGTON CO. 
 
 DRAMATIC RIGHTS CONTROLLED 
 
 BY 
 
 MATTHEW PAGE ANDREWS 
 
 CAUTION 
 
 Special notice should be taken that it is necessary to 
 have a valid contract for production obtained from the 
 owner of the dramatic rights before The Birth of America 
 may be publicly or privately produced by professionals or 
 amateurs. This inhibition applies to "readings," tableaux, 
 or anything of such character approximating a performance. 
 
 Act of Congress, March 4, 1909: 
 Section 28 
 
 "That any person ivho ivilfully or for profit shall infringe 
 any copyright secured by this act, or luho shall knowingly 
 and ivilfully aid or abet such infringement shall be deemed 
 guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall 
 be punished by imprisonment for not exceeding one year, 
 or by a fine of not less than $ioo nor more than $i,ooo, or 
 both, in the discretion of the Court." 
 
 OEC 28 i920 
 ^CI.A605570 
 
^ 
 
 5 APOLOGIA 
 
 Having missed ancestral participation in the 
 earliest proceedings of both the first colonies 
 through tardiness in the arrival of John Page 
 in the Virginia of the sixteen-forties, together 
 with a like delinquency in the embarkation of 
 John Andrews for Massachusetts in the sixteen- 
 fifties, the writer humbly yields seniority to his 
 betters and respectfully dedicates the following 
 lines to the descendants of the courageous men 
 and women who, in the dawn of the seventeenth 
 century, first established the beginnings of "a 
 new nation" under the Assembly at Jamestown 
 and the Compact at Plymouth, brother enter- 
 prises grounded on the inalienable rights of 
 man. 
 
The Birth of America 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 In "The Birth of America" the characters are 
 taken from history and their sayings are based on actual 
 events of the day. In not a few instances these sayings 
 are in the exact words of their utterances three hundred 
 and more years ago. 
 
 The verification of this statement may be had 
 through consulting the documents gathered and pub- 
 lished by Alexander Brown in his "Genesis of the 
 United States." In very brief fashion, also, these mat- 
 ters are set forth in the author's "A Heritage of Free- 
 dom" ; and the reader may find a fuller discussion from 
 the dramatic and literary viewpoint in Professor 
 Charles Mills Gayley's "Shakespeare and the Foun- 
 ders of Liberty in America," — both the last-named 
 volumes appearing from the press almost simultane- 
 ously and wholly without collaboration on the part of 
 their writers. 
 
 To the public, perhaps, the matter of the most lively 
 interest is the appearance of Shakespeare in the play 
 and the evidence of his real interest in, and intimate 
 knowledge of, the first colonization in 
 Sandys, America. It was both natural and easy 
 
 Southampton, for Shakespeare to take an interest in 
 and the. great enterprise of the London Com- 
 
 Shakespeare pany, the real founders of the Plymouth 
 settlement as well as that at James- 
 town. Among them he counted many of his best 
 patrons, of whom one was Henry Wriothesley, third 
 Earl of Southampton, the able and trusted associate of 
 Sir Edwin Sandys. To Southampton, Shakespeare, 
 with every evidence of admiration and affection, had 
 dedicated his early verse. 
 
Historical Introduction 
 
 From one of these twain the great dramatist must 
 have received in confidence certain details about the 
 wreck on the Bermudas of the Charter Ship of Gov- 
 ernor Gates and Admiral Somers, of 
 Lady Elizabeth their rescue and ultimate arrival at 
 Howard Jamestown after all had, for many 
 
 months, been given up for lost. 
 These details were contained in a "Letter to an Excel- 
 lent Lady," which also contained important and con- 
 fidential information of the state of affairs in the first 
 colony. Had this letter reached the king at that time, 
 it would most likely have caused him to assume abso- 
 lute control of the colony. In The Tempest, Shakes- 
 peare uses a number of expressions which, apparently, 
 he could have got from no other source than from 
 this letter. The letter was not published until 1625, 
 and The Tempest was first put on the stage in the 
 fall of 161 1.* 
 
 The selection of Lady Elizabeth Howard as the 
 "Excellent Lady," to whom the letter is addressed, is 
 based on the well-founded conjecture of Professor Gay- 
 ley. She was the widow of one of the 
 Sir Francis founders of the Jamestown enterprise 
 Bacon and the daughter-in-law of another. 
 
 Moreover, she was the near neighbor of 
 the writer of the letter, William Strachey. It was 
 most natural for her to submit the letter to Sir Edwin 
 Sandys or to the Earl of Southampton. Although 
 Sandys planned and wrote the adroitly worded char- 
 ters of Virginia, which gradually led up to the grant 
 of self-government to the colonists, the lawyers who 
 
 *"The letter was always in the keeping of those vitally 
 concerned until Purchas got hold of it. That Shakespeare 
 was allowed to read it and to use certain of its materials 
 for a play, as with just discrimination and due discretion 
 he did, is illustrative of the closeness of his intimacy with 
 the patriot leaders of the Virginia enterprise." — Gayley: 
 Shakespeare and the Founders of Liberty in America. 
 
Historical Introduction xi 
 
 prepared the technical terminology of these documents 
 for the signature of James I were Sir Francis Bacon 
 and Sir Henry Hobart.f 
 
 The correspondence of Ambassador Zuniga and of 
 his successors, Velasco and Count Gondomar, is full 
 of urgent appeals for the extermination of the English 
 settlement in Virginia. These emissaries of 
 Spanish Philip III employed spies not only to watch 
 Plots the proceedings of the London Company in 
 England, but to investigate the plans of the 
 colonists in America, Gondomar, in particular, assured 
 James I that Sir Edwin Sandys and his associates of 
 the Virginia Company in London, were plotting to 
 overthrow, in the New World, at least, the doctrine 
 of the divine right of kings, with a view to creating 
 self-government by the people. He warned James that 
 their design was not so much to search for gold and to 
 plant tobacco as to take away the government from 
 the King and place it in the power of the people. Re- 
 ferring to Sir Edwin Sandys and his patriot party. 
 
 fMichael Drayton, fellow-poet and friend of Shakespeare, 
 inscribed the first verses dedicated to the English colonists 
 in America. These verses, possibly inspired or suggested 
 by Southampton, were written in honor of the departure of 
 the Sarah Constant, the Goodspeed, and the Discovery, bear- 
 ing the first permanent English settlers to American 
 shores. 
 
 You brave heroique minds, 
 Worthy your countries name, 
 That honour still pursue, 
 Goe, and subdue, 
 Whilst lovt'ring hinds 
 
 Lurk here at home with shame. . . . 
 
 And in regions farre. 
 
 Such heroes bring yee foorth 
 As those from whom we came; 
 And plant our name 
 Under that starre 
 
 Not knowne unto our north. 
 
xii Historical Introduction 
 
 Gondomar told the King, "That though they might 
 have a fair pretence for their meetings, yet he would 
 find in the end that the Virginia Court in London 
 ufould prove a seminary for a seditious Parliament." 
 
 It is natural to represent Southampton in the role 
 of sending a message to Shakespeare; it is natural for 
 him, as the dramatist's patron, to suggest the writing 
 
 of The Tempest; and it is equally 
 The O riff in of natural for Sandys to suggest that 
 "The Tempest" Shakespeare should bring with him 
 
 "a new recruit for Virginia." John 
 Jefferson was then probably planning for his emigra- 
 tion to the new settlement, which he undertook shortly 
 thereafter. It was natural, also, for Shakespeare to 
 be acquainted with Lawrence Washington, the "master 
 of Sulgrave Manor," who was related by marriage 
 to Sandys. The romantic story of the wreck off the 
 "still-vex't Bermoothes" is historical and is repro- 
 duced in some detail in the play. The imagination is 
 free to play as it will upon the significance of Shakes- 
 peare's conceptions in The Tempest, both as to char- 
 acters and plot. 
 
 Captain John Smith's part as the officially licensed 
 historian of James I is brought out. In his accounts, 
 he doubtless satisfied his royal master by belittling the 
 
 character of the patriot participants 
 Smith's Part in in the planning of political liberty, 
 Beclouding the both in the London Company and at 
 Early History Jamestown. Nor did he spare the 
 of America Pilgrims in his sweeping depreciation 
 
 of his contemporaries. Because the 
 Pilgrims refused his proffered guidance. Smith wrote 
 afterwards of them as follows: "Some hundred of 
 your Brownists of England, Amsterdam, and Leyden, 
 went to New Plimouth, whose humorous ignorances 
 caused them, for more than a year to endure a wonder- 
 ful deal of misery, with an infinite patience ; saying my 
 
Historical Introduction xlil 
 
 books and maps were much better cheap [cheaper] 
 than my self to teach them. . . . Such humorists will 
 never believe well, till they be beaten with their own 
 rod." The first colonists at Jamestown have suffered 
 in historical repute and perspective for upwards of 
 three centuries because of Smith's misrepresentations, 
 and the Pilgrims must have shared their fate but for 
 their good fortune in having, in Governor Bradford, 
 so excellent an (uncensored) historian of their enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Stephen Hopkins affords a link between Shakes- 
 peare's "Bermoothes," together with the settlement at 
 James Towne, and the Pilgrim emigrants. It is com- 
 paratively little known that the 
 Stephen Hopkins father of Oceanus Hopkins, born 
 and the Invitation on board the Mayflower, had sur- 
 to the Exiles vived the storm immortalized by 
 
 Shakespeare and had been an 
 earlier emigrant to the Virginia colony. It is interest- 
 ing, also, to know of Sir Edwin Sandys' active and 
 long-continued efforts to "regain" the exiles in the 
 Netherlands and secure for them homes and religious 
 freedom in America. He began these efforts at about 
 the time of the opening of the first Act, and persisted 
 in them to the time he was removed from control of 
 the London Company by order of the King. 
 
 In the last two Acts, all the characters represented 
 are historical except Croatan, — "a convenient con- 
 ceit" — and Kanawha; so, in effect, at least, are the 
 spoken parts and the happen- 
 Historical Basis ings by them brought out. 
 
 for the Jamestown Many of the phrases used are 
 
 and the Plymouth verbatim reproductions of 
 
 Scenes and Characters the original records or of the 
 sayings of the characters rep- 
 resented; e. g., Sandys' reference to government "by 
 consente"; Martin's speech about his special rights; 
 
xiv Historical Introduction 
 
 the letter from Sir William Newce; Winslow's ref- 
 erence to "one inch of hell," and Bradford's rejoinder 
 about Seneca and his inference as to sea-sickness. 
 
 Even comparatively little-known characters like Sec- 
 retary Pory and Mistress Cicely Jordan are historical 
 figures. Mistresses Jordan and Madison figured in 
 the first breach of promise suit brought up in the New 
 World. Captain Jordan, of "Jordan's Journey," was 
 killed (as were most of the characters represented in 
 Act II, Scene II) in the great Indian massacre follow- 
 ing the building of the "College at Henricus," — the 
 "killing" foretold by Kanawha and the convert 
 Chanco. Mistress Cicely became thereafter the "fas- 
 cinating widow" of the colony and was much sought 
 after. She ultimately accepted the offer of a pastor in 
 the colony, but "threw him over" for what seemed to 
 her a more likely match. The minister was not to be 
 set aside so easily, however, and brought suit. Mis- 
 tress Madison was summoned as a witness in the case. 
 
 In the last Act, the scenes and characters are so 
 well known in American history, thanks to Bradford 
 and other historians in sympathy with the aims of the 
 New England colonists, that little comment is needed ; 
 only, in this play, the historical connection between 
 the Pilgrims and the great leaders of the Elizabethan 
 age is, perhaps, for the first time portrayed. 
 
 The idea of a special drama to be presented in con- 
 nection with the Pilgrim Tercentenary was indirectly 
 brought to the attention of the author by the Reverend 
 Harold N. Arrowsmith. It was modified and ex- 
 panded in its conception by reason of a suggestion of 
 President Frank J. Goodnow, of the Johns Hopkins 
 University, in order to embrace the three hundred and 
 first anniversary of the Legislative Assembly of Vir- 
 ginia, which, in 19 19, the nation had seemingly over- 
 looked. Cordial recommendations for the further ex- 
 pansion of the play were then made by Mrs. Florence 
 
Historical Introduction xv 
 
 Lewis Speare, charter member of the "47 Workshop" 
 Theatre of Harvard University, by vi^hom it was sub- 
 sequently arranged for the stage and produced. The 
 author would also express appreciation for the read- 
 ings of Dr. James W. Bright, Professor of English 
 Literature; of Dean John H. Latane, Professor of 
 American History at the Johns Hopkins University; 
 and of the generous approval of Julian Street, play- 
 wright and author. 
 
 M. P. A. 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 ACT I 
 
 Sir Edwin Sandys, 
 
 Leading Founder of Liberty in America 
 Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, 
 
 Associate of Sandys and early patron of Shakespeare 
 Sir Francis Bacon, 
 Counsel at Court in preparing the colonial charters for 
 
 the signature of the King 
 William Shakespeare 
 
 John Jefferson Ancestor of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 Stephen Hopkins, 
 
 Survivor of the Tempest, sojourner at Jamestown, and 
 
 subsequently father of Oceanus Hopkins, 
 
 born on board the "Mayflower" 
 
 Lady Sandys Wife to Sir Edwin 
 
 Lady Elizabeth Howard, 
 
 Widow of Theophilus Howard 
 
 Jane Burras Maid to Lady Sandys 
 
 Manservant 
 
 ACT H— Scene I 
 
 Chanco Indian convert in Virginia 
 
 Powhatan Indian chief 
 
 Opechancanough Brother to Powhatan 
 
 Croatan Old Indian woman 
 
 Kanawha Indian maiden 
 
 Other Indians: warriors and women 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 Scene II 
 
 Captain William Powell First settler 
 
 Captain Francis West, 
 
 First settler and son to Lord De La JVarr 
 Captain Samuel Jordan^ of "Jordan's Journey" 
 Isaac Madison 
 John Jefferson 
 Rev. Richard Buck 
 John Pory, 
 
 Secretary-Speaker of the House of Burgesses, former 
 member of Parliament from Bridgewater, 
 England 
 John Rolfe 
 Nathaniel Powell 
 
 Ensign R.o^s.n<iGn am. Nephew to Governor Yeardley 
 Captain John Martin 
 
 Patrick Gookin Soldier 
 
 Chanco, with other Indian converts 
 Mistress Cicely Jordan. . .Wife to Samuel Jordan 
 Mistress Mary Madison . Wife to Isaac Madison 
 Indian in background 
 
 ACT III 
 
 William Bradford Historian of the Pilgrims 
 
 John Carver First Governor of the Pilgrims 
 
 John Alden 
 Edward Win slow 
 Captain Miles Standish 
 
 William Brewster Spiritual leader 
 
 Stephen Hopkins 
 
 Mistress Bradford Wife to William Bradford 
 
 Mistress Elizabeth Hopkins, 
 
 Wife to Stephen Hopkins 
 Priscilla Mullens 
 Other Pilgrims, both men and women 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 Proclaimed by Clio, Muse of History, or by a 
 "Herald" 
 
 (Spoken slowly, intensively) 
 
 Alexander conquered his little world, and 
 died, and left us a pretty story. 
 
 Caesar won a larger world, and, dying, left 
 a longer story, with thoughts of imperial 
 power. 
 
 Lastly, Napoleon overran many lands and 
 threatened the Earth. But the Empire of 
 Napoleon fell in pieces ere himself was dead. 
 
 These three. Theirs was a kingdom of the 
 flesh; and, like all flesh, it ran its span and 
 perished. 
 
 Hereupon, we purpose setting forth the 
 greater triumph of one who, on a firm and 
 final foundation, built a Kingdom of the 
 Mind. 
 
 His is the immortal soul to establish the 
 immortal principle that self-government may 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 be added to self-control, and with it man's right 
 to life, liberty, and freedom of conscience. 
 
 Confronted and hedged about in the Old 
 World by the "divine right of kings," this 
 Prophet of Progress planned for the New 
 World the Ideal of a "free -popular State," 
 whose inhabitants should have "no Govern- 
 ment putt upon them except by their own con" 
 sente." 
 
 This Ideal has spread from a single settle- 
 ment to many States. The many are merged 
 in one, and popular government is extended 
 from sea to sea. 
 
 Its appeal has caught the imagination of mil- 
 lions in the older nations and its spirit is spread- 
 ing over the Earth. 
 
 Under its banner, freedom and liberty go 
 marching on — and the end is not yet. 
 
 Behold, then, the portrayal of the beginnings 
 of this New Order: 
 
 The Founding of Liberty in America 
 under the guiding hand of Edwin Sandys, 
 patriot, scholar, philosopher, statesman, sage, 
 and friend of man. 
 
THE BIRTH e?/ AMERICA 
 
 ACT I 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Drawing room in the London house of Sir 
 Edwin Sandys, Founder of Liberty in America. 
 Time: Morning in September, 1610, subse- 
 quently to the receipt of news from Virginia 
 that the Charter Ship, the "Sea-Venture," with 
 Governor Sir Thomas Gates and Admiral 
 Somers, had been wrecked of the Bermudas, 
 but that "all hands" had survived the storm 
 and had arrived, "after many months," at 
 James Towne. 
 
 Curtain rises upon Lady Sandys and her 
 friend, Elizabeth Howard {daughter of George 
 Hume, Earl of Dunbar, and widow of Baron 
 Theophilus Howard, of Essex, who, with his 
 father, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, was a liberal 
 subscriber to the colonial enterprise) ; also, 
 Jane Burras, maid to Lady Sandys and sister 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 of Anne Burras Laydon, who, as maid to Mrs. 
 Forest, was the first Englishwoman married in 
 America and the mother of Virginia Laydon, 
 the first child horn at Jamestown. Windows 
 are open. From east window an arch may be 
 seen with inscription thereon. Within, table 
 and writing desk; shelves of books; a few large 
 pictures, among which is a recently done por- 
 trait of the master of the house. The ladies 
 are evidently expecting visitors and are inter- 
 ested in overseeing the last touches put on the 
 table, desk, etc., with which the maid is busying 
 herself. 
 
 Jane: Anst ye talk of what America will be, 
 how do the people fare with wild beasts, wild 
 woods, and wilder salvages? 
 
 Lady Sandys: They are brave men that dare 
 a thousand leagues of sea and the red and 
 bloody-minded Indians 1 
 
 Lady Howard: And even braver women 1 
 Wouldst thou hazard this adventure, Jane? 
 
 Jane: My sister has ventured it, ma'am. 
 
 Lady Howard: 'Tis said that scarce had Mis- 
 tress Forest stepped ashore, when she lost her 
 maid, thy sister, to worthy John Laydon. 
 
 Lady Sandys: Ay, if the whole story be told, 
 she chose him from no less than seven suitors 1 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 Jane: One don't often see the likes o' that 
 in Old England, ma'am ! 
 
 Lady Howard: {Musingly) 'Tis said that 
 single men are very lonely over there. {Pause) 
 For aught we know about the rest, six suitors 
 may yet be single. {To Lady Sandys) Sir Ed- 
 win has urged others to encourage women set- 
 tlers. His good preachings may be put in prac- 
 tice here at home ! 
 
 Jane: {To Lady Sandys) I'd venture the 
 v'yage with but 'alf a chance, ma'am, I'm sure, 
 ma'am, my sister would give me a home and 
 welcome. I could work in service for my pass- 
 age over. 
 
 Lady Howard: — Virginia Laydon, the first 
 child born of English parentage at James 
 Towne — may she live long and happily I 
 
 Jane: {To Lady Sandys) — ^An' then, I'd 
 want to save the little darlin' from those seal- 
 pin' salvages. She is nigh one year old, ma'am. 
 {Starts to go.) 
 
 Lady Sandys: But stop a moment. Have you 
 not heard that there are scores of Indian women 
 in America to be had for the asking? 
 
 Jane: Have no fear of thim, ma'am, with 
 their haythen paint and feathers. My brother 
 William, than whom there be no bolder sailor, 
 
8 The Birth of America 
 
 says the Spaniard may have them ; but an Eng- 
 lishman, — be he Celt or Saxon, holds true to 
 race and lineage. (Exit.) 
 
 Lady Howard: Canst thou not picture this 
 land of wonders — and the "new nation" fore- 
 told by gallant Raleigh? Jane is right about 
 our race and people. 'Tis born in the blood. 
 But we must make Christians of these salvages. 
 
 Lady Sandys: That is a chief est part of our 
 purpose. Great things are astir in these our 
 days. 
 
 Lady Howard: Yes, and great men. {Stand- 
 ing before it, she gazes at Sir Edwin's portrait.) 
 My noble husband oft has told me that in Sir 
 Edwin England held the master statesman of 
 our age and times — a prophet and builder of 
 a new order. 
 
 Lady Sandys : ( Goes over and gratefully em- 
 braces Lady Howard) My instincts have ever 
 made me know that my husband is great among 
 men; yet, — it gives me joy to hear from the 
 mouths of others what I have always felt is true. 
 Thy husband was most generous in this Vir- 
 ginia enterprise. So was his noble father, the 
 Earl of Suffolk. 
 
 Lady Howard: The patriot adventurers of 
 our London Company have suffered three long 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 years of steady loss in the Virginia enterprise — 
 enough and more to break the will of lesser 
 souls. 
 
 Lady Sandys: And we are like to suffer even 
 greater losses for thrice as long. Those who 
 know our higher purpose look for no sordid 
 gains from this great emprise. 
 
 Lady Howard: {With intense fervor of con- 
 viction) When lesser souls have faltered, Sir 
 Edwin has been a constant star to guide and 
 cheer. I know that he has hid his fears for our 
 daring venture — fear of devastating disease 
 in fever-stricken James Towne; fear of the 
 interference of the King; fear of the news, with 
 every boat, of fatal Indian stratagem or massa- 
 cre; fear of Spanish spies, and traitors here, — 
 nay, fear of fear itself with Englishmen at 
 home. In very truth, thy husband has borne a 
 front unflinching 'gainst the well-considered loss 
 of everything that man holds dear — the loss of 
 home and of fortune, • by confiscation of the 
 King; the loss of his proper liberty; and of life 
 itself. Brute courage is a common attribute. 
 With that men are endowed as if by nature ; so 
 the lower animals; but faith, with the courage 
 to endure such things as these, is granted to 
 but few. Founded on right, 'tis the calm 
 
lo The Birth of America 
 
 courage of firm resolve when others doubt, 
 and the courage to bear an equal mien in 
 Triumph or Disaster, Sir Edwin is a noble 
 man who walks with kings, nor loses sight and 
 touch with common men. In him is an union 
 of all that's fine and free in our blood of inter- 
 mingled Celt and Saxon. 
 
 Lady Sandys: {Plainly thrilled by the exalted 
 fervor of Lady Howard) Elizabeth, thou art 
 a true daughter of Hume and Howard; thy 
 speech breathes the spirit of thy generous 
 Theophilus, and thy thoughts are inspired by a 
 constant contemplation of a noble purpose. 
 Reflected in thee are the hopes and fears of the 
 greatest enterprise ere planned to benefit ages 
 still to come, — and nations yet to be. 
 
 Lady Howard: I know thou hast Sir Edwin's 
 amplest confidence. He has told thee of my 
 letter from Virginia 
 
 Lady Sandys: — ^Addressed to "An Excel- 
 lent Lady" by thy former neighbor, Master 
 William Strachey? 
 
 Lady Howard: Yes, and now thou knowest 
 Aat which, if further carried, would change the 
 course of history and give us over to the power 
 of Spain. 
 
 Lady Sandys: And are there not women in 
 
The Birth of America i i 
 
 the world with whom secrets are as safe as 
 with any man? 
 
 Lady Howard: Where they touch home and 
 hearth, husband and children. — Thine own 
 house is not safe. When others have kept their 
 peace thy husband has freely spoke his mind in 
 Parliament concerning the threatened rights of 
 Englishmen. 
 
 Lady Sandys: Have kept their peace, or 
 worse ! 
 
 Lady Howard: I know it. Had I, too, not 
 been counted worthy of my husband's confi- 
 dence, the main hope of the Virginia enterprise 
 would even now be snuffed out like a candle 
 
 Lady Sandys : — I long to hear 1 I knew 
 something of moment brought thee here from 
 thy sweet Essex downs. 
 
 Lady Howard: But recently I was honored 
 by a visit from Lady Zuniga, wife of his Ex- 
 cellency, the Ambassador of Spain, who thought 
 that by some chance 
 
 Lady Sandys: — She would happen there 
 upon letters from Virginia ? 
 
 Lady Howard: Thou hast said it — but, con- 
 trariwise, thy innocent Elizabeth, upon return- 
 ing the gracious visit of her Ladyship, guile- 
 
12 The Birth of America 
 
 lessly happened upon n plan the Spaniards have 
 devised for spying out the colony. 
 
 Lady Sandys: And what else? thou innocent 
 child! kinswoman of that Howard of Effing- 
 ham who smote the Great Armada 1 
 
 Lady Howard: Oh, I told her ladyship many 
 things. 
 
 Lady Sandys: Many things about the colony? 
 
 Lady Howard: Many things from a simple 
 Englishwoman, which I wot not will much de- 
 ceive His Majesty of Spain should they reach 
 his earl 
 
 {Enter Jane) 
 
 Jane: The master has come and with him are 
 two gentlemen. (Exit.) 
 
 Lady Sandys: {To Lady Howard) — The 
 Earl of Southampton and Sir Francis Bacon. 
 
 Lady Howard: Should the mantle of thy 
 prophet-husband fall upon another, I pray it 
 will be the Earl. 
 
 Lady Sandys: And my Lord Bacon? 
 
 Lady Howard: Oh, he is a courtier first and 
 a patriot whilst 'tis safe. 
 
 {Enter Sandys, Bacon, and Henry 
 Wriothesley, Earl of Southamp- 
 ton, friend and early patron of 
 Shakespeare) 
 
 I 
 
The Birth of America 13 
 
 Lady Sandys: {To Bacon and Southampton) 
 You are welcome. 
 
 Bacon: The fame of thy hospitality has 
 spread abroad and there gather here the choic- 
 est spirits of these times. 
 
 Lady Sandys: I but do my little part to help 
 on a new age. My house is honored by their 
 presence. I know but little of the problems of 
 State. With them I dare not meddle, but every 
 woman knows that a new Britannia is being 
 born across the seas. 
 
 Sandys: My love, the Earl {turning to South- 
 ampton) has sent word to Master William 
 Shakespeare to join us here to-day; whilst I, in 
 turn, have expressed the hope that he bring at 
 least one new recruit for America. 
 
 Lady Howard: The stirring verse of 
 Michael Drayton still echoes through the land. 
 
 Lady Sandys: We'll leave them to their de- 
 liberations. ( To Lady Howard) Come, let me 
 show thee my wonderful fowl from America. 
 All England will some day be smoking our Vir- 
 ginia weed and feasting upon these new birds. 
 Save Her Majesty, the Queen, I am the first 
 woman in England to have served a turkey. I 
 shall be the first to breed them here. 
 
14 The Birth of America 
 
 {Exeunt Lady Sandys and Lady Howard 
 at right. Enter JVilliam Shakespeare 
 and John Jefferson, — an^cestor of 
 Thomas Jefferson — at left). 
 
 Sandys: Welcome, Master Shakespeare and 
 Master Jefferson. 
 
 Southampton: {To, Shakespeare) Thrice 
 welcome, thou master player. What fresh 
 characters hast thou conjured back to earth of 
 late? 
 
 Shakespeare: Many thanks for thy greeting, 
 my Lord. "Master Shakespeare" I owe by our 
 good English right and custom. "Master play- 
 er," if I be one, / owe wholly to thy earliest aid 
 and patronage. 
 
 Southampton: I count it an high honor that 
 thy verse should be dedicate to me. Thy genius 
 is thine own and I, — I but subscribed to the 
 means that set it forth. 
 
 Shakespeare: My Lords, what news have you 
 from Virginia? There are as many rumors on 
 the street as there are sailors in London town. 
 
 Southampton: In part, the news is wonderful. 
 
 Sandys: Far better than we had hoped for. 
 
 Bacon: The Charter is safe at James Towne 
 and those aboard the Sea-Venture^ who for 
 
The Birth of America 15 
 
 twelve months and more we in England had 
 given up for lost ! 
 
 Jefferson: Admiral Somers, Governor Gates, 
 and all their gallant company? 
 
 Southampton: All's well that ends well. They 
 are safe. 
 
 Shakespeare: And their good ship, the Sea- 
 Venturef 
 
 Southampton: The mighty tempest of last 
 June a year tossed the Venture on an island of 
 the New Indies. 
 
 Sandys: "Bermoothes," as the sailors call it. 
 When the ship struck its rockbound coast, all 
 hands were scattered in the terrible darkness 
 of the storm. Each group thought their fellows 
 drowned and bewailed their loss 'til chance 
 wandering brought them together with every 
 soul on board saved from the waves. 
 
 Jefferson: The sailors say that there has been 
 no fiercer storm at sea than this; that strange 
 lights flashed from mast to mast and spirits 
 talked of thrall and free. 
 
 Sandys: The storm was truly dreadful, but 
 now a good Providence has become, in the 
 tongue of the sailors, witchcraft, magic, sor- 
 cery I 
 
 Southampton: A fitting subject for Master 
 
1 6 The Birth of America 
 
 Shakespeare, — a miraculous rescue from the 
 vasty deep, — a smack and touch of good and 
 evil spirits, witchcraft and the like, fit to stir 
 the fancies of men. 
 
 Shakespeare: {Aside) A tempest, — the 
 Charter ship wrecked on strange island shores, 
 — the crew lost and found again. Miraculous 
 indeed! {Aloud) How came at last the Gover- 
 nor and his following to Virginia ? 
 
 Sandys: No whit disheartened, my Lord Ad- 
 miral caused to be built two ships of cedar 
 wood, naming them the Patience and the Deliv- 
 erance, and after eleven months all arrived 
 safe at James Towne. 
 
 Bacon: The loss of the Charter would have 
 been more grievous than the loss of the ship and 
 settlers. We may not have got another such 
 signature from His Majesty; but our good 
 friend Jefferson, and many other such daring 
 Englishmen do freely offer themselves a new 
 supply on behalf of our Great Experiment. 
 
 Jefferson: I am much in spirit by reason of 
 these glad tidings. So soon as I set my affairs 
 in order, I shall turn my face towards this brave 
 New World. It is whispered by those who live 
 under the shadow of a despot here that in this 
 new land men really shall be free. 
 
The Birth of America 17 
 
 Sandys: 'Tis a good thought; but we must 
 keep our hopes and fears within our inmost 
 circle. Captain Bargrave {whom I have since 
 had cause to mistrust) heard me say that we are 
 setting up In Virginia a free popular State, 
 whose Inhabitants shall have no government put 
 upon them except by their own consent. This, 
 our highest aim, must be hid from His Majesty. 
 We must prate to him of large returns from 
 gold and silver mines, — (pause) which are 
 not! {Laughter) 
 
 Southampton: Captain Smith helped us to a 
 shiphold of shining ore — "fool's gold," — It was 
 a great blow to His Majesty! 
 
 Sandys: Not to say others who had in sight 
 easy gains without expense I {Laughter) 
 
 Bacon: The recent Charter, giving powers of 
 government to the London Company, points 
 the way to political liberty; but His Majesty 
 sees It not as yet, though the Spanish minister 
 and his spies have hinted darkly of plots and 
 treasons afloat against the divine right of kings. 
 
 Sandys: {Addressing all) We are much In 
 debt to the skill of Sir Francis in making our 
 Charter ready for the signature of the King. 
 
 Bacon: Thou mayst now draw up another 
 such Charter to inclvide the still vexed Ber- 
 
1 8 The Birth of America 
 
 moothes. In't we'll loudly laud His Majesty, 
 but withal draw a second stroke to secure the 
 rights of fellow-countrymen transplanted on 
 this new and virgin soil. 
 
 Sandys: If the truth be told, a year ago Cap- 
 tain Gabriel Archer called for a Parliament in 
 Virginia to protest the sovereign rule of Cap- 
 tain Smith. 
 
 Jefferson: Captain Archer died in the serv- 
 ice of the settlement and merits praise from us 
 in that he, with Captains Martin and Percy, 
 are abused to the King by Smith and other min- 
 ions of His Majesty. 
 
 Sandys: True, Captain Martin is our most 
 successful settler. In command of the Benja- 
 min, he sailed the seas with Drake and rescued 
 Raleigh's ill-timed colony at Roanoke. 
 
 Southampton: And the noble Percy, the brave 
 young brother of Northumberland. What did 
 the bold but boastful Smith call these three? 
 
 Sandys: "Tiffity-tafFety ne'er-do-wells!" 
 
 {Exclamations of disapproval or dis- 
 gust from all) 
 
 Shakespeare: (Aside) "The still vexed Ber- 
 moothes" — the spirit of liberty. 'Tis worth a 
 play, even if it be a play on words, — an' 'twill 
 please my Lord and noble patron. (Aloud to 
 
The Birth of America 19 
 
 Southampton) My Lord, the story of this tem- 
 pest enthralls my fancies. The wreck of the Sea- 
 Venture and the building of the Deliverance. 
 I'll create a new character whom I'll call Mi- 
 randa. She shall symbolize America, and in 
 her I'll portray my perfect woman, unspoiled 
 by social arts or stratagem. 
 
 Southampton: Set forth thy play, Master 
 Shakespeare, so that new emigrants may be em- 
 boldened to join those already gone. I would 
 recall the lines indited by thy friend and fellow- 
 player, Michael Drayton, writ in celebration of 
 the first ships sailing for America 
 
 Sandys: The Sarah Constant, the Good- 
 speed, and the Discovery, three years since this 
 next December. 
 
 Shakespeare: My Lord, he spoke of "brave 
 heroique minds," adjuring them "in regions 
 farre, such heroes bring yee foorth as those 
 from whom we came." {Rises to go.) 
 
 Sandys: But see, my good Shakespeare, see 
 that in thy play thou dost not make our purpose 
 plain to stir His Majesty's jealous fears for 
 royal prerogative. The land is full of Philip's 
 Spanish spies, and they have the ear of the 
 King. 
 
 Southampton: Sandys is right. Set up a 
 
20 The Birth of America 
 
 parable. Be not too fast in putting forth our 
 prime conceits in this affair, or all will yet be 
 lost. The hope of liberty hangs upon a thread. 
 
 Shakespeare: {Aside) "A free popular 
 State." I mistrust that phrase. The people 
 may get overset with liberty — vacantly crying 
 hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day! 
 
 Sandys: Read this in strictest confidence, 
 Master Shakespeare. {Hands him MS.) In 
 these private letters. Secretary Strachey tells 
 the story of the shipwreck and the intimate state 
 at James Towne. Were this to reach the ears 
 of the King, he would seize the reins of abso- 
 lute control, mark us for failure, and justify his 
 act. 
 
 Southampton: At James Towne, affairs 
 were critical, but De La Warr has saved the 
 day. In due time, these brave Englishmen will 
 manage their own affairs. Once that is done — 
 English liberty never goes backward, and the 
 will of kings must bend before it. With us, 
 this Scottish monarch has overrid our Magna 
 Charta. But in America — (Pause) 'Tis not 
 so easy to reach a thousand leagues across the 
 seas ! 
 
 {Pause) 
 
 Shakespeare: My Lord, to-day I dine with 
 
The Birth of America 21 
 
 the Master of Sulgrave Manor. Have I per- 
 mission to acquaint him with the general nature 
 of the news from Virginia? 
 
 Sandys: I'll vouch for Master Lawrence 
 Washington. My nephew Robert has won the 
 hand of his sister, Alice. 
 
 Exeunt Shakespeare and Jeffer- 
 son. 
 
 Sandys: {Returning across room from a 
 private desk) On behalf of our party in the 
 London Company I have to-day writ further 
 advices to certain self-exiled Englishmen in the 
 Netherlands, inviting them to leave alien lands 
 and join with our own stock in Virginia. 
 
 Southampton: Thy purpose has been dis- 
 cussed before. England's loss in these sturdy 
 souls is Holland's gain. The times are out of 
 joint, but are not proper for revolution. 'Tis 
 best to bear awhile with ills we have than fly 
 to those unknown. 
 
 Sandys: Our plan points the way to regain 
 these Englishmen and secure for them religious 
 freedom, as we have sought political liberty at 
 James Towne. I have proposed to them a 
 scheme for self-government and hope to secure 
 a charter from the King. 
 
 Southampton: But will this not arouse the 
 
22 The Birth of America 
 
 jealousy of His Majesty and put in jeopardy- 
 all our plans? 
 
 Bacon: {With a show of impatience at this 
 new turn of affairs) His Majesty may let these 
 Brownists go, but 'tis certain he'll deny their 
 charter. I must be going on affairs of moment. 
 I attend His Majesty's court at noon to-day. 
 {Exit.) 
 
 Sandys: We risk much in this offer to the 
 dissenting exiles, but the game is worth the can- 
 dle. My brother, Samuel, lessee of Scrooby 
 Manor, knows these men of Scrooby well. For 
 William Brewster he has a most particular 
 esteem. Our friends at Court will persuade His 
 Majesty and secure his consent. 
 
 Southampton: Dost thou expect the King's 
 consent for these dissenters 'gainst whom His 
 Majesty has sworn all temporal enmity in the 
 hope of winning eternal reward? 
 
 Sandys: His Majesty may be reached in 
 divers ways. {Aside to Southampton.) 
 
 Southampton: {Aloud) Marvelous! A 
 haven in America for the harried of Church 
 and State. Will wonders never cease ! Sandys, 
 thou art the master of magic, Prospero, of 
 whom Shakespeare muttered when thou didst 
 speak of witchcraft, sorcery, and the like. 
 
The Birth of America 23 
 
 Thine is the political magic that must create a 
 new order. 
 
 {Manservant announces visitor.) 
 {Enter Stephen Hopkins.) 
 
 Sandys: Here's Master Stephen Hopkins — 
 all at once a survivor of the tempest, a mes- 
 senger from Virginia, and a friend to Master 
 Brewster. 
 
 Hopkins: My Lords, I am returned from 
 Virginia, not because of sufferings there nor 
 fear of the fevers which cramp the settlers in 
 the lowlands of the coast. Rather do I see 
 Opportunity in America and would carry news 
 and fresh hope to my fellow-countrymen in the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 Southampton: Didst thou not in an excess 
 of zeal incite revolution in Bermuda? 
 
 Hopkins: True, my Lord, but the sincerity 
 of my purpose and the frank confession of my 
 error won for me the intercession of both the 
 Admiral and the Governor and procured me not 
 mere pardon but their good will and favor. 
 
 Sandys: I believe thee, Master Hopkins. I 
 believe in the great purpose and fine courage of 
 thy fellow-Brownists now in exile for their faith 
 in the Netherlands. Here are private letters 
 to Brewster, Bradford, and thy worthy pastor. 
 
24 The Birth of America 
 
 John Robinson, We may seem to differ in our 
 tenets, but, like my brother of Scrooby Manor, 
 I am out of patience with those in State or 
 Church who seek by force to fit opinion in a 
 single iron mould. 
 
 Hopkins: Thy brother hast been most kind to 
 those who have barely 'scaped the 
 
 Sandys: Beware thy speech — even walls 
 have ears at times. I am prepared to suffer 
 much for the faith that's in me, but I would not 
 so unduly. I would be useful to our cause 
 whilst I may. 
 
 Hopkins: I hope to take passage for Hol- 
 land within the week. {Moves to go through 
 door by which he entered.) 
 
 Sandys: Nay, take this door and pass not 
 near yonder arch. A Spanish wolf in English 
 wool awaits thy coming and wouldst know thy 
 mission here. Godspeed thy journey. 
 {Exit Hopkins.) 
 
 Southampton: My thoughts are fixed upon 
 our gifted Shakespeare. Thy word of caution 
 was not lost. 
 
 Sandys: Thou thyself shouldst be the first 
 to recall that fateful February when his play 
 on our Second Richard caused the great Eliza- 
 beth. . . . 
 
The Birth of America 25 
 
 Southampton: ... In her declining years, 
 surrounded, flattered, and deceived as she then 
 was by a group of absolutists who did lead her 
 to betray her earlier and better self. 
 
 Sandys: The Court party denounced the play 
 as teaching that authority lies with the body 
 politic and that royalty is responsible to the 
 people. 
 
 Southampton: Yes, I was condemned to the 
 Tower; and then, two years later, thou sentest 
 me word of thy hopes of the new king and of 
 thy journey to greet him at Scotland's border 
 to bring him hence to London Town. But these 
 are harrowing memories. I must be hence. 
 Soon or late our Royal Master will learn the 
 truth and move against our London Company. 
 We have those in our ranks who are not of our 
 way of thinking. (Exit.) 
 
 Sandys: (Turns to window facing arch — is 
 silent a moment. Enter Lady Sandys quietly 
 from side. Hands Sir Edwin a letter.) My 
 love, I was thinking that just seven years have 
 passed since I, all hopeful of better things, 
 brought his Stuart Majesty through yonder 
 gate, now arched to despotism and — ha 1 — re- 
 inforced by Holy Writ! James has set upon 
 the eastern side 
 
26 The Birth of America 
 
 Lady Sandys: "There shall enter into the 
 gates of this city {pause) kings and princes" 
 
 Sandys: Thou knowest it well; but over 
 against that perversion of a half-truth, I ever 
 hold in mind the text of the James Towne pas- 
 tor who preached in welcome of Governor 
 Gates and our recent Charter. {Opens packet 
 of papers.) Here it is {reads) : "Now the 
 Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of 
 thy country and from thy kindred, and from 
 thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew 
 thee. And I will make of thee a great nation 
 . . . and in thee shall all families of the earth 
 be blessed." 
 
 Lady Sandys: That is a prophecy that will be 
 fulfilled in God's good time, an we labour and 
 pray for it. 
 
 Sandys: The people of America will be free 
 whilst we are half in bondage. They will have 
 free assemblies whilst we still suffer grievous 
 wrongs. But the torch of liberty which we shall 
 light in the New World will serve to guide our 
 posterity here — for in AMERICA "shall all 
 the families of the earth be blessed." {Opens 
 letter.) A letter from my Lord, the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. {Reads.) It is as I 
 had reason to suspect — he will not sanction the 
 
The Birth of America 27 
 
 departure of the Brownists through England 
 to the New World. Other means for this must, 
 and will, be found. Wait, work, and hope. 
 We are at the threshold of a new age. 
 
 Curtain 
 
 ACT II 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Open place in forest some thirty miles outside 
 of Jamestown. 
 
 Time: Late afternoon of July 28, 16 19, two 
 days before meeting of First Legislative As- 
 sembly at Jamestown and shortly after the first 
 secret attacks upon the settlers since the mar- 
 riage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 16 14. 
 
 Curtain rises on the Christian Indian, 
 Chanco, standing in an attitude of prayer to 
 the Great White Spirit of the Palefaces, face 
 upturned, hands widestretched, with palms 
 towards the heavens. As he stands thus, an 
 Indian girl steals through the gloom, glancing 
 backwards as if fearing pursuit. She glides 
 softly up to Chanco and touches his arm gently, 
 still glancing backwards. Chanco stands stoic- 
 ally, without moving. She speaks softly, calling 
 his name. 
 
28 The Birth of America 
 
 Chanco: {Turns and speaks curiously, ques- 
 tioningly) Kanawha! 
 
 Kanawha: Chanco prays to Paleface God. 
 {Pointing up.) 
 
 Chanco: The Paleface chiefs know and they 
 teach me. 
 
 Kanawha: I know Paleface teaching, too. 
 
 Chanco: Powhatan, father of Matoaka, 
 sees Matoaka in the sky. {Again pointing up- 
 wards. ) 
 
 Kanawha: But {shudders slightly) — Ope- 
 chancanough — he, too, is great chief — he will 
 kill. 
 
 Chanco: Yes. 
 
 Kanawha: {Slowly) Matoaka — Pocahon- 
 tas — Rebecca. Kanawha would be like her,— 
 follow the white man's God. 
 
 Chanco: The father of Kanawha hates 
 Paleface Christians. He will kill you. 
 
 Kanawha: Listen to Kanawha. She has 
 heard the old men's council, seen them shake 
 their angry war clubs and cry "Kill the Paleface 
 tribe" ! They have sent for Croatan. She 
 will chant the war cry. 
 
 Chanco: Chanco goes to the Paleface wig- 
 wams. {Starts, but she detains him.) 
 
 Kanawha: Wait! {Looking about her cau" 
 
The Birth of America 29 
 
 tiously) Join in the camp-fire council, dance 
 the death dance with the young men. Then 
 when they forget, slip into the deep woods' 
 shelter and go to the Paleface wigwams. 
 {Tom-toms heard in the distance.) Here they 
 meet beneath the oak trees. 
 
 Kanawha slips quietly out and 
 Chanco glides away in the shadows. 
 Tom-toms grow louder; enter Indian 
 squaws, bringing with them wood for 
 camp-fire. They squat in circle close 
 beside it. Enter PowHATAN and his 
 brother, Opechancanough. Enter 
 medicine men and others, hideously 
 painted. Young men stand leaning 
 against trees, scowling, arms crossed, 
 looking down on the group of squt- 
 ting squaws and medicine men. 
 Enter aged Indian woman {equivalent 
 to sorceress or witch). 
 Old Woman: {Turning to Powhatan) 
 Powhatan, great Chief Powhatan! {Turn- 
 ing to Opechancanough) Opechancanough, 
 strong to fight ! 
 
 Powhatan and chorus of voices: 
 Croatan! Croatan! 
 Old Woman: You call me "Croatan," It is 
 
30 The Birth of America 
 
 well. Paleface no more at Roanoke! The 
 moon is dying I Let the Paleface follow the 
 moon ! The Great Spirit of the Sun says Kill I 
 Kill! KILL! 
 
 Powhatan: Matoaka is dead in the Paleface 
 wigwam beyond the Great Waters. What says 
 Matoaka, my daughter, by Paleface men called 
 
 Pocahontas ? — Matoaka 
 
 Opechancanough: The Great Spirit has 
 tasted Paleface blood! These are dead. 
 {Makes circle around head and holds up all ten 
 fingers.) No Paleface dogs! No moon I 
 {Cries of assent.) 
 Chant led hy Croatan, Kill! Kill! 
 KILL! Tom-toms, war dance. Ope- 
 chancanough passes by. Looks 
 at Chanco, who shows no fear and 
 returns gaze — immovable — stoically 
 inscrutable. 
 While dance and cries of "Kill!" go on, 
 Chanco slips away. 
 Curtain 
 
 ACT II 
 
 Scene II 
 Jamestown, outside the house of Captain 
 William Powell, a first settler, chief gunner at 
 
The Birth of America 31 
 
 Jamestown, and a Burgess sitting for "James 
 Citie." A low rustic fence marks boundry be- 
 tween grounds of the house and the cleared 
 land. A gate through which the wives of the 
 settlers appear later. 
 
 Time: Afternoon of July 29, 16 19, prior to 
 formal gathering on the following day of the 
 First Legislative Assembly in America. 
 
 Curtain rises upon Captain Powell, Captain 
 Francis West, Captain Samuel Jordan, Isaac 
 Madison, John Jefferson, the Reverend Richard 
 Buck, and John Pory, newly-arrived Secretary 
 under Governor Yeardley and former member 
 of Parliament from Bridgewater, England. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Praise be to God! To-morrow's 
 the day when the free men of these plantartions 
 meet to make laws in their own right. 
 
 West: 'Twill summon the first Parliament in 
 the New World. 
 
 Jefferson: Fortunately the first but happily 
 not the last. I foresee as many Parliaments as 
 there are settlements on these thousand miles of 
 coast. 
 
 West: True, word has just come that Brad- 
 ford, Brewster, and the Separatists now in the 
 Netherlands have a patent from our London 
 
32 The Birth of America 
 
 Company and are preparing to take ship for 
 America. 
 
 Powell: For some place, it is said, this side 
 of Hudson's river at whose island entrance the 
 Dutch are now established. 
 
 Jordan: Captain Argall should have dis- 
 lodged the Dutchmen as he did the French in 
 Acadie. Did not the great Cabot lay good 
 claim to all this coast in the name of England? 
 But what of these Separatists? 
 
 Jefferson: 'Tis rumored that Samuel Sandys 
 of Scrooby Manor saw them safe from Eng- 
 land and helped them on to Holland. 
 
 Jordan: And now Sir Edwin Sandys helps 
 them on to us! I like them not. They'll stir 
 up strife. 
 
 Jefferson: Shame on thy speech, Captain 
 Jordan. Hast thou not caught the noble spirit 
 of Sir Edwin and the Founders of our New 
 Britannia? Wouldst thou, in one breath, praise 
 him for the sacrifice of his private means — nay, 
 for risking life itself — on behalf of our liberty; 
 and then decry him for aiding these most excel- 
 lent exiled Englishmen to a home in our yet 
 untrammeled world? 
 
 Jordan: They teach heretical doctrines and 
 swear no allegiance to the Church, 
 
The Birth of America 33 
 
 West: We owe no blind obedience to king or 
 bishop here. America is large enough to shelter 
 men of all beliefs, if they be but good citizens 
 and strive for the public weal. 
 
 Powell: I feel that the spirit of thy father, 
 the good Lord De La Warr, is with us in thee, 
 his noble son. 
 
 Jefferson: Lord De La Warr saved the col- 
 ony when hope seemed lost. I heard the news 
 nine years since this next September from Sir 
 Edwin Sandys himself. ( Turning to Rev. 
 Buck.) He showed me also the text of thy 
 sermon and thy prophecy that "in America shall 
 all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 
 Madison: In America we shall be free to 
 speak our minds. The King will not prorogue 
 our Parliament here, albeit His Majesty has 
 called no Parliament in England for these many 
 years. 
 
 Jordan: But the King's governor will, if the 
 King so commands. 
 
 Madison: An we pay his salary, he will be 
 circumspect enough upon reporting to the King, 
 seeing that he is beholden to us for his wages. 
 {Expressions of approval.) 
 
 Jefferson: The Spanish Gondomar, suc- 
 cessor to Zuniga, has reported to the King that 
 
34 The Birth of America 
 
 the London Company has ever been a "Semi- 
 nary for sedition." I fear for the noble Sandys. 
 His writings have been publicly burned and he 
 is threatened with confinement in the Tower. 
 
 West: Our Governor Yeardley, who is now 
 given power to do that which Sandys has la- 
 bored for from the beginning, is one of us and 
 has an interest in this plantation. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Where a man's treasure is, there 
 will his heart be also. 
 
 {Enter John Rolfe, Nathaniel 
 Powell, and Ensign Rossingham.) 
 
 Here are further representatives of the out- 
 lying plantations — Burgesses gathered from 
 far and near for our great Assembly. Here's 
 Master Rolfe {turning to Pory) whose mar- 
 riage with the Princess Pocahontas has saved 
 us from the deadly enmity of the great chief 
 Powhatan. {Turning to Rolfe) Our honor- 
 able Secretary Pory, sometime member of 
 Parliament from Bridgewater, who has been 
 asked to preside over the Burgesses on the mor- 
 row. (7^0 Pory) And here is Captain Na- 
 thaniel Powell, who, with Admiral Newport, 
 explored the Bay of Chesapeake to its farthest 
 limits — and Ensign Rossingham, nephew of our 
 noble Governor. 
 
The Birth of America 35 
 
 Pory: I myself was present when the Prin- 
 cess Pocahontas came to Court. (Turning to 
 Captain West) As "Lady Rebecca," she was 
 presented to the Queen by thy mother, Lady 
 De La Warr. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Rebecca was her baptismal name. 
 {Enter Captain John Martin, of 
 Martin's Brandon.) 
 
 Rev. Buck: {To Secretary Pory) Greet- 
 ings to Captain John Martin of Martin's Bran- 
 don, master of ordnance — a captain under 
 Drake on many seas, and the settler who has 
 done most of all to extend the bounds of our 
 colony. 
 
 Martin: {Bluntly) What's this I hear is pro- 
 posed against the Burgesses from Brandon? 
 
 West: 'Tis said that they will be denied their 
 seats unless they and thou yield special claims 
 for indulgences not granted to the other planta- 
 tions, 
 
 Martin: I hold my patent for my service 
 done, which no new or late comer can merit or 
 challenge. I came with the first supply. I have 
 borne the burden and heat of the day. Shall I 
 now be deprived of that which is mine own? 
 
 Jefferson: Special privilege may be granted 
 to no one in perpetuity. We deny only that 
 
36 The Birth of America 
 
 single claim of privilege and exemption from 
 future dues. All other rewards thou shouldst 
 have — and they are justly merited. 
 
 Martin: By the soul of the mighty Drake! 
 I'll carry this matter before the London Com- 
 pany and mayhap His Majesty himself. I go 
 to see the Governor. {In going of to left, 
 meets middle-aged soldier.) 
 
 Soldier: Sir, it's meself could get no worrk 
 in the auld countrie, so I've me bag and baggage 
 here in me own person. Oi was a soldier in the 
 Low Countrie. 
 
 Martin: I, too, fought the Spaniard in the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 Soldier: Oi knew ye. Captain, so soon as Oi 
 laid me eyn upon ye ! Is it that 
 
 Martin: Oh, ha 1 ha I ha I Bless my stars! 
 As I live, 'tis Patrick Gookin of County Cork ! 
 How camest thou here? 
 
 Gookin: Oi come from Newce's Town, 
 County Cork, by order of Sir William Newce. 
 {Hands Martin a note.) 
 
 Martin: {Hums over beginning — reads 
 aloud principal point of interest) Sir William 
 says : "Wholly upon my own adventure, I pur- 
 pose sending to Virginia eighty to one hundred 
 
The Birth of America 37 
 
 settlers. With them will be shipped some forty 
 young cattle, of which news has reached us there 
 is great need in America. I am promised a set- 
 tlement at a place which shall be called New 
 Porte Newce in Virginia. Moreover, your 
 noble Governor has writ that he has 'conceived 
 great hope if this Irish plantation prosper that 
 from Ireland great multitude of people, both 
 high and low, will be like to come hither.' " 
 
 Good! come with me. Thou shalt make thy 
 home at Martin's Brandon. Virginia is hous- 
 ing men of many faiths — common citizens in a 
 common cause and comrades-at-arms in a com- 
 mon danger. Again, welcome. We are free 
 men here. 
 
 Gookin: An' didst ye not say ye would be 
 seeing of the Governor? 
 
 Martin : Oh ! I had forgot. I'll see him on 
 the morrow, man. Come, we'll have a bit of 
 Dutch ale together. 
 
 {Makes sailor-sign of drinking grog. 
 Gookin delighted. Exeunt on side 
 opposite to original direction.) 
 
 Jefferson: Our Captain Martin's an English- 
 man of whom we may be proud. He has won 
 bountiful Success out of black Despair; but in 
 this matter of privilege, the Burgesses will rule 
 
38 The Birth of America 
 
 — not the Governor — nor even the King him- 
 self. 
 
 Pory: How, man, dost dare defy His 
 Majesty? 
 
 Jefferson: His Majesty has attempted no in- 
 justice in this matter. Hast thou read Master 
 Shakespeare's play on King Richard? Dost 
 think James will follow in Richard's footsteps, 
 to be succeeded by another Henry? This mat- 
 ter 
 
 Rev. Buck: Of present interest now are 
 
 the great acts proposed for the morrow. I 
 have received amplest assurances that Church 
 attendance will be carefully guarded. 
 
 Madison: Likewise, there will be laws en- 
 acted against excess in apparel. Tobacco has 
 yielded us of late so great returns that some 
 upstart unthrifts here would outgroom attend- 
 ants at His Majesty's Court! There is yet seri- 
 ous business iri taming this great wilderness. 
 
 William Powell: And keeping watch on red 
 men, who may seem peaceable now, but are 
 ever fit for stratagem and sudden death 
 
 Jordan: Opechancanough has made over- 
 much excuse, and, to my mind, a false show of 
 penitence for the ten foul murders done this 
 past springtime. 
 
The Birth of America 39 
 
 Powell: Our supplies of powder ran short, 
 Master Pory. The naturals no longer heard 
 the ring of our fowling pieces. They believed 
 our guns were "sick," as are early settlers with 
 the ague and fever of the lowlands. That made 
 them bold. 
 
 Jordan: Their penitence is Opechanca- 
 nough's pretense. They do not try to appre- 
 hend the murderers. 
 
 West: It is said their fathers surprised De 
 Ayllon and three hundred Spaniards on this 
 very coast. We face Indian attacks from 
 within and Spanish invasion from without — 
 forts on the Chesapeake and stockades against 
 the wilderness. 
 
 Powell: Old Argall hanged, sans judge and 
 jury, some seven of these Spanish spies, as an 
 ensample to the rest. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Brethren and Christians all, 
 should we not forget the offenses of certain un- 
 tutored and perchance wronged salvages? Are 
 we not gaining new converts? Powhatan him- 
 self has heard me in most solemn fashion, and 
 a handsome tithe of our increasing means has 
 been given for the education of all these natu- 
 rals. To which monies also have been added 
 from followers of Christ across the sea; and, 
 
40 The Birth of America 
 
 good men, dying, have willed a share of their 
 estates for the conversion of the heathen. 
 
 West: On the morrow, laws will be proposed 
 to set aside public lands for a free school and a 
 college at Henricus. 
 
 Jefferson: These acts will pass. A majority 
 of the Burgesses favor them. Ten thousand 
 acres of land will be set aside for this noble end. 
 
 Rev. Buck: In England, Master George 
 Thorpe has taken to himself an Indian boy and 
 showed him how to read and write. What he 
 has done with this one natural, he purposes to 
 do with many others. He will join us in the 
 next supply. 
 
 Enter Chanco {Indian convert) — in 
 background — accompanied by Indian 
 group. Beckons to Captain West 
 and John Rolfe. They confer at 
 distance. 
 
 Rev. Buck: {Pointing to group) There are 
 certain of our Christian converts. Master Pory. 
 Chanco, their leader, is our near neighbor; 
 others are from the East Shore of Virginia 
 across the Bay. They are the subjects of De- 
 bedeavon, called by us "The Laughing King". 
 He and his live apart from the Powhatans 
 
The Birth of America 41 
 
 amidst such plentiful supplies of fish and fowl 
 as no other land has seen the like. 
 
 Madison: The mild climate and bountiful 
 soil makes for milder natures there. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Wild and strong they are, yet not 
 given wholly over to savage customs and still 
 more savage hates. On our part, we have not 
 always dealt justly with these naturals, and 
 Debedeavon has attended court for redress of 
 the grievances of his people. 
 
 Jefferson: Happily, he was aided by worthy 
 counsel and got amends. 
 
 Rev. Buck: Furthermore, he pays the Powha- 
 tans tribute to live in peace and enjoy the bounty 
 of his pleasant estate. 
 
 Pory: Forsooth, I would be frank with them 
 — and all of you. I do not like these salvages. 
 They move about with stealthy steps and hate- 
 ful looks. But yesterday it seemed to me that 
 sundry of your Master Rolfe's redskinned kins- 
 men eyed this baldness above my brow with 
 marked disfavor! Without doubt they thought 
 my scalp and skull would prove the more diffi- 
 cult to divorce on this account. For if, per- 
 chance, some damnable devil had to hasten his 
 bloody custom, his clutching fingers would find 
 
42 The Birth of America 
 
 no forelock ready to relieve me of mine proper 
 toppiece ! 
 
 {Laughter from the elder settlers) 
 
 Jefferson: Now I perceive why it was thou 
 changest thy goodly quarters from high ground 
 up the river to humbler but safer ground near 
 Powell's ordnance 
 
 {More laughter) 
 
 Pory: As accredited minister of the realm, 
 I've been in France, Italy, and in Greece. In 
 Constantinople I was given up for lost, where 
 messages on my person borne were worth a 
 patriotic killing to any band of worthy assassins, 
 yet never before have I felt myself in such 
 jeopardy of my life. Why, one recent night in 
 that upper dwelling, I chanced to rouse from 
 sleep and at the window came I suddenly upon 
 a redskin. It was in the ghost-like darkness 
 of a spent moon. Immovable he seemed; yet, 
 gliding immovable-like, he vanished into thin 
 air! I'd sooner front some twenty Turks in a 
 street at midnight than walk abroad by day 
 whilst knowing that one such redskin lives in 
 yonder forest 1 
 
 {Much show of enjoyment by all, except 
 Captain Powell. The latter seems 
 preoccupied and has frequently glanced 
 
The Birth of America 43 
 
 at the group containing Chanco, West 
 and Rolfe) 
 Laugh, on, if you willl But commend me to 
 your jolly Debedeavon and a long or longer 
 life on the Eastern Shore ! for, by the scalpel 1 
 Death lurks here by day, and at night looks in 
 the window 1 Was it not Will Shakespeare who 
 made Caesar say that, "Cowards die many times 
 before their death"? But also even mighty 
 Caesar said: 
 
 **Let me have men about me that are fat. 
 Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' 
 nights." 
 In double sooth, I swear these naturals are 
 twice as lean and hungry as any Cassius, and 
 withal twenty times as numerous. One may 
 but hope that they do not think as much ! 
 
 {Exit Indian group and Rolfe and 
 West earnestly talking) 
 Rev. Buck: I will join these converts and 
 wish them Godspeed in their mission. 
 Jefferson: I would go with thee. 
 Rev. Buck: Come. (Exeunt Rev. Buck 
 and Jefferson.) 
 
 Powell: Our worthy minister is far too trust- 
 ful of these salvages. I tell him and all alike 
 that Opechancanough has foul murder in his 
 
44 The Birth of America 
 
 heart. He is an arch-conspirator. Ke thinks 
 in terms of all of us to compass the complete 
 extermination of this colony as that at Roanoke 
 where naught remained but that one word 
 Croatan. 
 
 {Enter from house in background Mis- 
 tresses Cicely Jordan and Mary 
 Madison) 
 Ho ! Here's Mistress Cicely Jordan and Mis- 
 tress Madison. 
 
 Mistress Jordan: {Addressing Pory) Again 
 we bid thee welcome to Virgina, Master Secre- 
 tary. 
 
 Madison: When these twain meet together 
 we know that much ground has been covered 
 and all matters disposed of. 
 
 Pory : And always rightly 1 
 
 Mistress Jordan: Quite knightly said, Sir 
 Secretary. 
 
 Mistress Madison: Now, what was all that 
 merriment about? 
 
 Mistress Jordan: I know it was some brutal 
 jest over the foibles of us poor women. 
 
 Pory : Our best thoughts are ever fixed upon 
 the excellencies of the fair sex. Mistress Jordan. 
 
 Jordan: I am loath to be a seeming-contrary 
 witness, but our merry thoughts were at Secre- 
 
The Birth of America 45 
 
 tary Pory's expense. He chanced to see what 
 we see daily — or nightly, for that matter — a 
 prowling Indian, when our watchdogs warn 
 them not away. 
 
 Mistress Madison: {Aside and suddenly be- 
 come serious) Many of our best dogs have 
 strangely died of late. 
 
 Mistress Jordan: Nay, the talk was not all 
 at the expense of our guest. I overheard it 
 said that the Burgesses will, forsooth, tax our 
 appearance, meaning our apparel, in accord 
 with its respective bravery. To illustrate : a 
 man's doublet, or a woman's bodice. 
 
 Jordan: A bachelor is taxed but once by that 
 unequal measure, a benedict four times. 
 
 Powell: Now how dost thou make that out, 
 friend Jordan? 
 
 Jordan: For every frill a married man puts 
 upon his apparel, his wife must needs add three 
 to hers. 
 
 Mistress Jordan: Fie upon thee, Samuel, 
 Thy many plants have grown so great that they 
 have rooted out my roses. Money may not grow 
 on trees, but, in America, it lies in leaves and 
 leaves and yet more leaves I 
 
 Jordan: And hard and honest labor! 
 
 Pory: By your leave or leaves, ladies, your 
 
46 The Birth of America 
 
 good health and a wealthy world of good Vir- 
 ginia weed! {Proposes toast.) I fancy I am just 
 beginning to forget yonder wilderness and its 
 villainous dark-skinned denizens. 
 
 {Indian passes in background, catching 
 eye of Secretary Pory) 
 
 Mistress Jordan: Tell us the news from 
 Court and London Town and what may now be 
 the fashions there. 
 
 Pory: Well, for one thing, hast thou read 
 His Majesty's pamphlet, "A Counterblast 
 Against Tobacco," duly imprinted in London 
 for the guidance of His Majesty's loyal sub- 
 jects? 
 
 Jordan: Did he decry its use? 
 
 Pory: Assuredly he did. His Majesty at- 
 tempted it, and forthwith sent for a doctor of 
 physic. Citizens of Virginia, I would not stir 
 you up to mutiny and rage, but His Majesty 
 has termed your chiefest source of revenue a 
 "most detestable weed" with "vile" fumes — 
 
 Jordan: Why, good Queen Bess smoked it 
 and at once pronounced it "a vegetable of singu- 
 lar strength and power." 
 
 Pory: True, but Her Majesty was a woman, 
 and ably disguised her feelings in the matter. 
 Having pronounced her august opinion, she dis- 
 
The Birth of America 47 
 
 erectly, and with marked fortitude, retired. I 
 heard the rest from a maid of honor at the 
 Court. 
 
 Mistress Madison: Now, is this the sum and 
 finish of all thy knightly speeches, Master 
 Pory? 
 
 Pory: Pray, do me no injustice. Mistress 
 Madison. I fear thou dost but draw unwar- 
 ranted conclusions from my manner of awkward 
 speech. I cast no reflections, only I do most 
 stoutly maintain that woman is the braver sex. 
 I would but stress the point, for I know that 
 since the other night in yonder house, courage 
 is not my strong suit; therefore would I praise 
 it most in others. 
 
 {Noise of drums and martial music) 
 
 Mistress Jordan : Oh I There go the Gover- 
 nor and his Council, with a brave array of hal- 
 berdiers ! Come ! Let's go see what may be 
 seenl {All start) 
 
 Pory: {Loath to move, aside) : A weari- 
 some, noisy fan-fare this I I'll stay and smoke 
 it out. 
 
 {Indian appears in background.) 
 
 No, I'll join the rest; {Aloud) : 
 
 "The man that hath no music in him- 
 self, 
 
48 The Birth of America 
 
 Nor is not moved with concord of sweet 
 
 sounds, 
 Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and 
 spoils" ! 
 Mistress Jordan: {To Pory) A fine senti- 
 ment ! Master Pory. We'll yet make of thee a 
 good Virginia settler. Thou wilt learn to like 
 our company here. 
 
 Pory: {Looks behind him) Have I my way, 
 I'll never separate myself from it! 
 Exeunt all. 
 {Rev. Richard BuciC and John Jef- 
 ferson re-enter together from direc- 
 tion opposite to those going out) 
 
 Rev. Buck: Chanco must be wrong. The 
 very fervor of his conversion and his excess of 
 zeal for our faith misleads him. I cannot be- 
 lieve so ill of these benighted children of the 
 forest. They do not plan our complete exter- 
 mination here. We shall establish schools for 
 them, buy land of them, and trade with them. 
 
 J ef arson: The untutored savage apprehends 
 little of our religious form and ceremony and 
 naught as yet of political liberty, self-control, 
 and self-government. {With great fervor) : 
 But to-morrow the General Assembly of Vir- 
 
The Birth of America 49 
 
 ginia will make history that shall be echoed and 
 re-echoed throughout the world. To-morrow 
 we light the torch of Liberty, and the teeming 
 millions of all lands will see it and be glad. For 
 some it will be a beacon to guide their footsteps 
 hither, and the first to come will be our own 
 exiled Englishmen in the Netherlands; others 
 in the Old World will be inspired to emulate 
 this example and free themselves from tyranny. 
 Here let us scotch autocracy forever, and may 
 our watchword be — Sic Semper Tyrannis. 
 America for the free. 
 
 Curtain 
 
 ACT III 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Cabin of Mayflower. Time : Afternoon of 
 November 20, (N.S.) 1620. 
 
 Curtain rises on William Bradford, seated 
 at table writing. Mistress Bradford near at 
 hand apparently busy in expectation of a meet- 
 ing. Spinning wheel, etc. Knock at door of 
 cabin. Mistress Bradford goes to door and 
 opens slightly. 
 
 Bradford: {Looking up from work) Who's 
 there ? 
 
50 The Birth of America 
 
 Mistress Bradford: 'Tis Mistress Elizabeth 
 Hopkins and Priscilla Mullens, come to ask if 
 they may be useful here. I have told them thou 
 wast at thy work in preparation for special 
 counselling on our future course. 
 
 Bradford: My report is finished. Bid them 
 enter. 
 
 {Enter Mistress Hopkins and Pris- 
 cilla Mullens) 
 
 Priscilla, my child, how fares thy father after 
 his chill and long exposure to the storm? 
 
 Priscilla!: Praise be to God, he is improved 
 and hopes to be upon his feet again. 
 
 Bradford: {To Mistress Hopkins) Hast 
 thy husband returned with the party of explora- 
 tion? I put much faith in his service to us here. 
 He has had rare experience of shipwreck at sea ; 
 and, at James Towne, did also learn some 
 knowledge of this new country. 
 
 Mistress Hopkins: I have seen them leaving 
 the shore and pulling hard for the ship. I had 
 feared for their safety. They have been gone 
 since the early dawn of yesterday. 
 
 {Enter John Carver, John Alden, 
 and Edward Winslow) 
 
 Bradford: You are in proper time. Master 
 Carver. {To John Alden) I know that our 
 
The Birth of America 51 
 
 modest and ever faithful John Alden comes to 
 report the completion of repairs on our wrecked 
 boat, else he would not now be present. 
 
 John Alden: {Who has not failed to see P^IS- 
 CILLA — at a distance — under some embarrass- 
 ment) It is — that is — it is very nearly so. Mas- 
 ter Carver asked me in. 
 
 (Bradford smiles slightly and looks in- 
 quiringly at WiNSLOW) 
 
 Carver: Winslow did not go with the rest. 
 With William Mullens he has suffered greatly 
 from last Friday's storm and the overturning 
 of the boat. 
 
 Mistress Bradford: We have been on board 
 this ship three-score days and more. I trust 
 that the time to land be not much longer de- 
 layed. Not a few have been rendered ill from 
 our cramped quarters here. 
 
 Winslow: If our stormy voyage to these 
 shores be, as termed by Elder Brewster, "one 
 inch of hell," it was, in truth, a most slow inch 
 in passing. Assuredly, I'll not be the first to 
 offer to retrace it ! 
 
 Mistress Bradford: The Master of the May- 
 flower himself declared he ne'er has seen a more 
 furious ocean. 
 
 Bradford: A firm and stable earth is our 
 
52 The Birth of America 
 
 proper element. We need not marvel at our 
 long disquietude, now happily past; we have 
 in the sayings of Seneca, sage of ancient Rome, 
 that he was "much affected" with sailing a few 
 leagues off the coast of Italy. 
 
 {Enter Miles Standish, Elder 
 Brewster and Stephen Hopkins) 
 
 Carver: Here at last are Captain Standish, 
 Elder Brewster, and our experienced Master 
 Hopkins. Are the others returned safe to the 
 Mayflower? 
 
 Standish: All are returned and are busy with 
 their several duties ere night o'ertake them. 
 
 {Stage business in foregoing as to the 
 women, — and especially Priscilla 
 Mullens and John Alden) 
 
 Mistress Bradford: {To Priscilla Mul- 
 lens and Elizabeth Hopkins) Come, let us 
 leave the men to counsel upon certain weighty 
 matters. May God guide and guard their de- 
 liberations. 
 
 {Exeunt women) 
 
 Standish: The Captain has declared his un- 
 shakable decision that the winter gales be too 
 fresh and perilous to essay a landing in Virginia. 
 
The Birth of America 53 
 
 Carver: But the patent of the London Com- 
 pany, which was won for us from His Majesty 
 through the long and patient intercession of 
 our chiefest patron, the noble Sandys, entitles 
 us to land many leagues to the south. Shall we 
 go beyond and above this title, and thus give 
 further basis for complaint to his enemies at the 
 Court and in the Company? 
 
 Bradford: This is the coast of New Britannia 
 or New England, named by Captain Smith. 
 From the master of a passing fishing-smack re- 
 turning from the great north shoals, we learned 
 to-day that Sandys is deposed from leadership 
 in the Company by order of the King. 
 
 Hopkins: His Majesty had writ the Com- 
 pany before their fall elections a letter of in- 
 structions, to wit: "Choose the devil, if you will, 
 but not Sir Edwin Sandys." 
 
 Brewster: Is it not understood amongst the 
 leaders of this our enterprise that the more we 
 make a public show of thanks to our friends in 
 the London Company, the more we hurt their 
 cause and influence with the King? His Ma- 
 jesty has already taken sharp offense in that the 
 Company has granted freedom to the body poli- 
 tic at James Towne. His threat to dissolve 
 
54 The Birth of America 
 
 the Company may be turned to immediate 
 action. 
 
 Carver: If praise be given for this our haz- 
 ardous undertaking, let it not be given first to 
 any man or group of men. Let glory and honor 
 be given to the Lord Almighty. Man is but the 
 humble instrument of His Holy Will. 
 {Solemn assent from all) 
 
 Hopkins: Captain Smith has been inform- 
 ing against the Company and his former 
 associates at James Towne. He has been ap- 
 pointed the chief licensed historian of His Ma- 
 jesty for the Plantations in Virginia. His 
 "True Relation" is indeed a brave tale in which 
 he falsely glorifies himself whilst he libels those 
 who have opposed the absolute and sovereign 
 rule of the King. 
 
 Bradford: Yet, withal, he is a great adven- 
 turer, than whom there has been no bolder. I 
 do not despair of him, but rather hope the Lord 
 will show him the error of his ways ! 
 
 Brewster: He writ letters to Pastor Robin- 
 son offering to lead and guide us in the New 
 World. But of a certainty he is not of our way 
 of thought or behavior. We were warned of 
 him by Sir Edwin, whose highest aim he would 
 betray. 
 
The Birth of America 55 
 
 Hopkins : Adventurous he is, but jealous of all 
 authority save his own or the King's, — a veri- 
 table trouble-maker. At James Towne he was 
 landed first in chains under accusation of incit- 
 ing mutiny with the crew of the Sarah Constant, 
 under Newport's command. His secret ap- 
 pointment to the first Council of the Colony by 
 the King saved him from condemnation and 
 death. Lastly, he left James Towne under in- 
 dictment of attempt to betray to the Indians 
 Captain Francis West, the gallant son of the 
 good Lord De La Warr. 
 
 Bradford: The charges have, however, not 
 been proved. 
 
 Carver: They were not pressed to the end. 
 Captain Smith has the ear of the King. Now, 
 seeing that his offer of leadership was refused, 
 no doubt he will abuse us also to His Majesty 
 and in his writings yet to be. 
 
 Brewster: We are well rid of him. May the 
 Lord have mercy upon his soul. 
 
 Bradford: Without doubt, Southampton 
 will be chosen to the place so long and 
 nobly held by Sandys in the London Company. 
 Though not so wise nor constant, he is as true 
 a friend of freedom as Sir Edwin. Withal it 
 
56 The Birth of America 
 
 is said he is to be elected a member of the 
 Council for New England. 
 
 Brewster: The last is timely news and well 
 said. 
 
 Standish: We have tarried all too long on 
 this coast without decision made. There are 
 those with us who would, as they say, "take 
 their liberty" ; since we appear to lack authority 
 in New England. 
 
 Bradford: Among those who came aboard 
 at old Plymouth are some not altogether tem- 
 pered to godliness. They were at the last 
 shuffled in upon us. Therefore, let us act at 
 once, and action here is as good as action yon- 
 der. Great enterprises must be met with an- 
 swerable courages. By your instructions, I have 
 prepared, in part, a compact of Government. 
 
 Brewster: This is a rock-bound coast of 
 weather-beaten face, and, summer being done, 
 all things now present a wild and savage hue. 
 But is there not advantage here? 'Tis certain 
 that all of those at James Towne are not like 
 Samuel Sandys of Scrooby Manor, nor Master 
 Jefferson, Sir Edwin's friend. Some would not 
 welcome us as neighbors there. 
 
 Hopkins: But His Majesty — 
 
 Carver: Albeit the King caused the Dutch, 
 
The Birth of America 57 
 
 his allies, to stop our printing press at Leyden, 
 His Majesty has promised the London-Virginia 
 Company not to molest us in America, — not- 
 withstanding which, if there should afterwards 
 be a purpose to wrong us, though we had a seal 
 as broad as the house floor, there would be 
 means enough found to recall or reverse it. We 
 must rest herein on God's Providence. 
 
 Brewster: Let us hear and discuss the terms 
 of our compact of government. A compact, if 
 wisely made, will quiet certain discontents and 
 murmurings which arise among some and mutin- 
 ous speeches and carriages in others. Such an 
 act by us done might be as firm as any patent 
 of King or Company; and, in some respects, 
 more sure. 
 
 Bradford: Having in good faith clave to- 
 gether through many and sore trials, we may 
 hope to win the good-will of all by a just and 
 equal carriage in matters affecting first, our- 
 selves, secondly, the strangers shuffled in upon 
 us, and thirdly, the naturals in yonder wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 ( Takes up paper from off the table and 
 reads) : 
 Therefore, let us, having undertaken for the 
 glory of God, and advancement of the Christian 
 
The Birth of America 
 
 faith, and honor of our King and Country, a 
 voyage to plant the first colony in the northern 
 parts of Virginia, do covenent and combine our- 
 selves together into a civil body politic, for our 
 better ordering and preservation and further- 
 ance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue 
 hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just 
 and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, 
 and offices, from time to time, as shall be 
 thought most meet and covenient for the gen^ 
 eral good of the Colony, unto which we promise 
 all due submission and obedience. 
 
 Hopkins: Knowledge of the charters drawn 
 up for the signature of the King on behalf of 
 our plantations in South Virginia show that we 
 should have both beginning and end of our 
 patent phrased in the legal language of the 
 Court. 
 
 Bradford: I have that language here. We 
 would open this document with certain formal 
 words which do always encumber the themes of 
 the doctors in the law. Thus: "In the name of 
 God, Amen. We whose names are under writ- 
 ten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign 
 Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of 
 Great Britain, France, and Ireland king, de- 
 fender of the faith, etc." The closing would 
 
The Birth of America 59 
 
 be like unto the beginning. Thus: "In witness 
 whereof we have hereunder subscribed our 
 names at Cap-Codd the 1 1 of November, in 
 the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, 
 King James, of England, France, and Ireland 
 the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. 
 Anno Dom. 1620." Are we now prepared 
 to sign ? 
 
 {Assent general) 
 
 Brewster: And if we do, we shall prepare to 
 make a landing on the morrow. Captain Stand- 
 ish, are all things ready? 
 
 Standish: The neighboring coast has been ex- 
 plored for many miles up and down and not a 
 few inland. We shall throw out guards and 
 make our debarkation and landing sure. 
 
 Bradford: Captain Standish, send for the 
 other men of our Company. We must sign 
 our covenant and choose our leader here. 
 
 Brewster: Let us give all due diligence to 
 make our calling and election sure; for if we 
 do these things, we shall never fail. 
 {Others file in) 
 
 Curtain 
 
6o The Birth of America 
 
 ACT III 
 
 Scene II 
 
 {Tableau) 
 Curtain rises upon Pilgrims — men and wo- 
 men — grouped as in famous Pilgrim picture. 
 Door of cabin open {or other stage effect to 
 give idea of well-known portrayal of historic 
 landing). Chorus in background singing Pil- 
 grim hymn. 
 
 {A chorus should sing at close of each 
 act songs appropriate to the time and 
 occasion. ) 
 
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